Team Promotion Focus and Subordinate Deviance: A Prediction Using Leader Humility, Follower Attachment Style, and Organization Centralization

The purpose of this study is to assess how accurately leader humility, organizational centralization, and follower attachment styles (secure, anxious, avoidant) predict positive and negative team performance. Quantitative research on leader humility has only been in existence for 20 years. The research design is a non-experimental, quantitative, predictive correlational design to determine the relationship, strength, and direction of the relationship between the predictor variables and the criterion variables (team promotion focus and subordinate deviance). The sample includes 93 followers in a one-year old leader-follower dyad employed in the United States. A 9-item scale was used to measure leader humility, a 4-item scale was used to measure team promotion focus, a self-report questionnaire was used to measure attachment style, a 10-item scale was used to measure subordinate deviance, and a 5-item scale was used to measure centralization. Data were collected through a survey emailed to participants. A multiple regression analysis was conducted. The combination of the predictor variables accurately predicted team promotion focus and subordinate deviance, and the results were statistically significant. The conclusion is that leader humility and organizational provides the most signal predicting team promotion focus, and anxious attachment style provides the most signal predicting subordinate deviance. Recommendations for future research include researching other team performance outcomes, tighter geographic boundaries, and use a different attachment style instrument

Hydrogen bonding and packing density are factors most strongly connected to limiting sites of high flexibility in the 16S rRNA in the 30S ribosome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Conformational flexibility in structured RNA frequently is critical to function. The 30S ribosomal subunit exists in different conformations in different functional states due to changes in the central part of the 16S rRNA. We are interested in evaluating the factors that might be responsible for restricting flexibility to specific parts of the 16S rRNA using biochemical data obtained from the 30S subunit in solution. This problem was approached taking advantage of the observation that there must be a high degree of conformational flexibility at sites where UV photocrosslinking occurs and a lack of flexibility inhibits photoreactivity at many other sites that are otherwise suitable for reaction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We used 30S x-ray structures to quantify the properties of the nucleotide pairs at UV- and UVA-s⁴U-induced photocrosslinking sites in 16S rRNA and compared these to the properties of many hundreds of additional sites that have suitable geometry but do not undergo photocrosslinking. Five factors that might affect RNA flexibility were investigated – RNA interactions with ribosomal proteins, interactions with Mg²⁺ions, the presence of long-range A minor motif interactions, hydrogen bonding and the count of neighboring heavy atoms around the center of each nucleobase to estimate the neighbor packing density. The two factors that are very different in the unreactive inflexible pairs compared to the reactive ones are the average number of hydrogen bonds and the average value for the number of neighboring atoms. In both cases, these factors are greater for the unreactive nucleotide pairs at a statistically very significant level.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The greater extent of hydrogen bonding and neighbor atom density in the unreactive nucleotide pairs is consistent with reduced flexibility at a majority of the unreactive sites. The reactive photocrosslinking sites are clustered in the 30S subunit and this indicates nonuniform patterns of hydrogen bonding and packing density in the 16S rRNA tertiary structure. Because this analysis addresses inter-nucleotide distances and geometry between nucleotides distant in the primary sequence, the results indicate regional and global flexibility of the rRNA.</p

Expenditures, investment and financing for sustainable development in Trinidad and Tobago

Includes bibliographyMain Statistical Points GEF funding has proceeded in recent years primarily via the World Bank, UNDP and UNEP. It has provided approximately US$5m in funding for projects totaling approximately US$18m in value (therefore over 70% locally cofinanced).   Total public expenditure (capital and recurrent) on environmental projects (as identified herein) has ranged between 0.15% to 0.21% of GDP over the period or approximately between US$2 to US$3 per capital. o The capital (development) portion of this environmental expenditure has been increasing sharply over the decade, ranging from approximately 4% to 47% over the last seven years of the decade. The major portion of this increase is attributable to the increasing EMA financial capabilities. The Ministry of Environment, which was formed in 1999, has no actual budgetary allocation. It provides policy direction to the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and an administrative function for the Green Fund. The financial capability of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) (including government budgetary allocations as well as other loan and grant funds) has more than doubled over the last half of the decade relative to government's total (capital and recurrent) budget, reaching 0.12% of this figure. The EMa's financial capability has also quadrupled relative to GDP over the same period reaching approximately 0.04% of GDP. The EMA was formed in 1995 to undertake all environmental management and monitoring functions nationally. Private sector environmental expenditure is primarily in the petrochemical companies and via the environmental NGo's. o Environmental data from these sources is not easily obtained. 2. Operations The Green Fund was introduced in September 2000 as a means of raising money for undertaking various environmental projects. It is raised by a tax of 0.05% on the gross revenue of all companies operating in Trinidad and Tobago. Information available to the Consultants indicate that, up to the present, the fund has raised under TT$50 million. No indication is immediately available of the potential value of the fund but the Consultant's estimates are that the Fund could raise between TT$150 million -TT$250 million annually. Information on the Fund is sketchy- the following being the only information known at present: No present mechanism for disbursement of the funds. The funds are to be disbursed and managed by a Board of Directors, which has not been set up as yet. They will take policy guidance from the MOE. The funds are administered by the Ministry of the Environment from a special fund set aside by the Ministry of Finance. No project priorities have been identified by the MOE for the disbursement of the funds. The Fund is primarily designed to support NGO environmental operations. The intention of the Green Fund is to allow the Government to remove itself from implementation of environmental projects -deferring to NGo's and helping by providing finance-. The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) is a statutory body established by the government of Trinidad & Tobago to address the country's environmental problems. The EMA was established in June 1995 under the Environmental Management Act, No. 3 of 1995. Under the Environmental Management Act, the EMA is mandated to: Write and enforce laws and regulations for environmental management. Educate the public about the nation's environmental issues through awareness programmes. Issue Certificates of Environmental Clearance to new development projects that may impact the environment; in some cases an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) may be a requirement to the developer. Co-ordinate environmental functions performed by organizations and persons in Trinidad and Tobago. Provide for the designation and protection of environmentally sensitive areas and species. Develop and establish environmental standards and criteria. Ensure the effective enforcement of environmental laws, for example, through the use of fines.   3. Main Conclusions While many environmental initiatives may be being undertaken within both the Public and Private sector in Trinidad and Tobago, there is at present very little necessity for accounting of these initiatives. These generally become aggregated with other operational areas and lose their particular environmental" identity. It is, therefore, very difficult for organizations to identify their "environmental" expenditures. The continuous growth in scope and capability of the EMA may cause a more dedicated approach to maintain specific "environment" accounts as organizations -both Public and Private- may be subject to environmental monitoring activities from the EMA. By these organizations maintaining specific accounts on expenditures on environmental activities, they may be more able to cope with this new regulatory mechanism. The Governmental accounting system does not allow for desegregation of the Audited Accounts. It is likely that this will not change. It is expected that based on the points above, better environmental accounting will become more standardized within the organizations and this data will be better sourced at the individual organisation level rather than at the level of the Ministry of Finance's audited statements. The major drawbacks of this are that there will be no standardization in reporting, no central repository of information and th monetary information will be unaudited, and therefore, not official government accounts. Institutional strengthening activities may need to be implemented within both Public and Private sector organizations to provide for environmental accounting capabilities. This is especially so in light of the EMa's expected active role in monitoring environmental compliance. Rules for administration of and access to the Green Fund need to be quickly developed and enacted. Implementation of the Green Fund will require institutional strengthening within NGo's to allow them to have the technical capability to write proper project documents. The roles to be maintained by the various players in the environmental financing and project development structure are evolving in the right direction and should be maintained, as follows: a. Ministry of Environment should remain in policy formulation and facilitation -not getting directly involved but providing guidance and maintenance and distribution of the Green- Fund. The Ministry should have oversight in strategic planning, looking at wider issues and be ultimately accountable to the Ministry of Finance b. EMA remain as the managing (policing, enforcement of the EM Act) arm of the Ministry of Environment. c. State organizations and Private companies maintain their environmental operations -with an obvious need for expansion thereof due to the enforcement threat of the EMA-. d. NGo's remain as the facilitating agencies to actually do the work on environmental conservation/preservation -active in the field or in doing research and other studies-. 4. Summary Tables The following are based on the information available and represented within this report. Table A PUBLIC ENVIRONMENTAL EXPENDITURE (CAPITAL + RECURRENT) AS PERCENTAGE OF THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 % of GDP 0.16 0.15 0.15 0.21 0.21 0.17 0.20 Source: Author's calculations   Table B PUBLIC ENVIRONMENTAL EXPENDITURE (CAPITAL + RECURRENT) AS PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 % of Budget 0.48 0.44 0.46 0.65 0.59 0.75 0.67 Source: Author's calculations   Table C CAPITAL PORTION OF PUBLIC ENVIRONMENTAL EXPENDITURE AS PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL PUBLIC ENVIRONMENTAL EXPENDITURE Year 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 % of Total Public Environmental Expenditure 3.62 6.32 8.70 13.72 36.24 41.93 47.68 Source: Author's calculations   Table D EMA FINANCING AS PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET Year 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 % of Budget 0.05 0.09 0.08 0.10 0.12 Source: Author's calculations   Table E EMA FINANCING AS PERCENTAGE OF THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT Year 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 % of GDP 0.01 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.04 Source: Author's calculations

The PhenX Toolkit: Measurement Protocols for Assessment of Social Determinants of Health.

INTRODUCTION: Social determinants are structures and conditions in the biological, physical, built, and social environments that affect health, social and physical functioning, health risk, quality of life, and health outcomes. The adoption of recommended, standard measurement protocols for social determinants of health will advance the science of minority health and health disparities research and provide standard social determinants of health protocols for inclusion in all studies with human participants. METHODS: A PhenX (consensus measures for&nbsp;Phenotypes and eXposures) Working Group of social determinants of health experts was convened from October 2018 to May 2020 and followed a well-established consensus process to identify and recommend social determinants of health measurement protocols. The PhenX Toolkit contains data collection protocols suitable for inclusion in a wide range of research studies. The recommended social determinants of health protocols were shared with the broader scientific community to invite review and feedback before being added to the Toolkit. RESULTS: Nineteen social determinants of health protocols were released in the PhenX Toolkit (https://www.phenxtoolkit.org) in May 2020 to provide measures at the individual and structural levels for built and natural environments, structural racism, economic resources, employment status, occupational health and safety, education, environmental exposures, food environment, health and health care, and sociocultural community context. CONCLUSIONS: Promoting the adoption of well-established social determinants of health protocols can enable consistent data collection and facilitate comparing and combining studies, with the potential to increase their scientific impact

PhenX RISING: real world implementation and sharing of PhenX measures

Abstract Background The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the PhenX RISING network and the site experiences in the implementation of PhenX measures into ongoing population-based genomic studies. Methods Eighty PhenX measures were implemented across the seven PhenX RISING groups, thirty-three of which were used at more than two sites, allowing for cross-site collaboration. Each site used between four and 37 individual measures and five of the sites are validating the PhenX measures through comparison with other study measures. Self-administered and computer-based administration modes are being evaluated at several sites which required changes to the original PhenX Toolkit protocols. A network-wide data use agreement was developed to facilitate data sharing and collaboration. Results PhenX Toolkit measures have been collected for more than 17,000 participants across the PhenX RISING network. The process of implementation provided information that was used to improve the PhenX Toolkit. The Toolkit was revised to allow researchers to select self- or interviewer administration when creating the data collection worksheets and ranges of specimens necessary to run biological assays has been added to the Toolkit. Conclusions The PhenX RISING network has demonstrated that the PhenX Toolkit measures can be implemented successfully in ongoing genomic studies. The next step will be to conduct gene/environment studies

The Children's Respiratory and Environmental Workgroup (CREW) birth cohort consortium: design, methods, and study population

Background: Single birth cohort studies have been the basis for many discoveries about early life risk factors for childhood asthma but are limited in scope by sample size and characteristics of the local environment and population. The Children’s Respiratory and Environmental Workgroup (CREW) was established to integrate multiple established asthma birth cohorts and to investigate asthma phenotypes and associated causal pathways (endotypes), focusing on how they are influenced by interactions between genetics, lifestyle, and environmental exposures during the prenatal period and early childhood. Methods and results: CREW is funded by the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, and consists of 12 individual cohorts and three additional scientific centers. The CREW study population is diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, geographical distribution, and year of recruitment. We hypothesize that there are phenotypes in childhood asthma that differ based on clinical characteristics and underlying molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, we propose that asthma endotypes and their defining biomarkers can be identified based on personal and early life environmental risk factors. CREW has three phases: 1) to pool and harmonize existing data from each cohort, 2) to collect new data using standardized procedures, and 3) to enroll new families during the prenatal period to supplement and enrich extant data and enable unified systems approaches for identifying asthma phenotypes and endotypes. Conclusions: The overall goal of CREW program is to develop a better understanding of how early life environmental exposures and host factors interact to promote the development of specific asthma endotypes.HHS/NIH [5UG3OD023282]; Columbia University [P01ES09600, R01 ES008977, P30ES09089, R01 ES013163, R827027]; Tucson Children's Respiratory Study (TCRS) [NHLBI 132523]; Infant Immune Study (IIS) [HL-56177]; Childhood Origins of Asthma Study (COAST) [P01 HL070831, U10 HL064305, R01 HL061879]; Wayne County Health, Environment, Allergy and Asthma Longitudinal Study (WHEALS) [R01 AI050681, R56 AI050681, R01 AI061774, R21 AI059415, K01 AI070606, R21 AI069271, R01 HL113010, R21 ES022321, P01 AI089473, R21 AI080066, R01 AI110450, R01 HD082147]; Fund for Henry Ford Health System; Childhood Allergy Study (CAS) [R01 AI024156, R03 HL067427, R01 AI051598]; Blue Cross Foundation Johnson; Fund for Henry Ford Hospital; Microbes, Allergy, Asthma and Pets (MAAP) [P01 AI089473]; Infant Susceptibility to Pulmonary Infections and Asthma following RSV Exposure (INSPIRE) [NIH/NIAID U19 AI 095227, NIH/NCATS UL1 TR 002243, NIH/NIAID K24 AI 077930, NIH/NHLBI R21 HD 087864, NIH/NHLBI X01 HL 134583]; Wisconsin Infant Study Cohort (WISC) [U19 AI104317, NCATS UL1TR000427]; Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH) [U54 OH010170]; RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA; NIH [U24OD023382]; Urban Environment and Childhood Asthma Study (URECA) [NO1-AI-25482, HHSN272200900052C, HHSN272201000052I, NCRR/NIH RR00052, M01RR00533, 1UL1RR025771, M01RR00071, 1UL1RR024156, UL1TR001079, 5UL1RR024992-02, NCATS/NIH UL1TR000040]; Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS) [R01 ES11170, R01 ES019890]; Epidemiology of Home Allergens and Asthma Study (EHAAS) [R01 AI035786]Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Data compatibility in the addiction sciences: An examination of measure commonality

The need for comprehensive analysis to compare and combine data across multiple studies in order to validate and extend results is widely recognized. This paper aims to assess the extent of data compatibility in the substance abuse and addiction (SAA) sciences through an examination of measure commonality, defined as the use of similar measures, across grants funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Data were extracted from applications of funded, active grants involving human-subjects research in four scientific areas (epidemiology, prevention, services, and treatment) and six frequently assessed scientific domains. A total of 548 distinct measures were cited across 141 randomly sampled applications. Commonality, as assessed by density (range of 0–1) of shared measurement, was examined. Results showed that commonality was low and varied by domain/area. Commonality was most prominent for (1) diagnostic interviews (structured and semi-structured) for substance use disorders and psychopathology (density of 0.88), followed by (2) scales to assess dimensions of substance use problems and disorders (0.70), (3) scales to assess dimensions of affect and psychopathology (0.69), (4) measures of substance use quantity and frequency (0.62), (5) measures of personality traits (0.40), and (6) assessments of cognitive/neurologic ability (0.22). The areas of prevention (density of 0.41) and treatment (0.42) had greater commonality than epidemiology (0.36) and services (0.32). To address the lack of measure commonality, NIDA and its scientific partners recommend and provide common measures for SAA researchers within the PhenX Toolkit

Dynamics of magnetization at infinite temperature in a Heisenberg spin chain

Understanding universal aspects of quantum dynamics is an unresolved problem in statistical mechanics. In particular, the spin dynamics of the 1D Heisenberg model were conjectured to belong to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class based on the scaling of the infinite-temperature spin-spin correlation function. In a chain of 46 superconducting qubits, we study the probability distribution, $P(\mathcal{M})$, of the magnetization transferred across the chain's center. The first two moments of $P(\mathcal{M})$ show superdiffusive behavior, a hallmark of KPZ universality. However, the third and fourth moments rule out the KPZ conjecture and allow for evaluating other theories. Our results highlight the importance of studying higher moments in determining dynamic universality classes and provide key insights into universal behavior in quantum systems

Suppressing quantum errors by scaling a surface code logical qubit

Practical quantum computing will require error rates that are well below what is achievable with physical qubits. Quantum error correction offers a path to algorithmically-relevant error rates by encoding logical qubits within many physical qubits, where increasing the number of physical qubits enhances protection against physical errors. However, introducing more qubits also increases the number of error sources, so the density of errors must be sufficiently low in order for logical performance to improve with increasing code size. Here, we report the measurement of logical qubit performance scaling across multiple code sizes, and demonstrate that our system of superconducting qubits has sufficient performance to overcome the additional errors from increasing qubit number. We find our distance-5 surface code logical qubit modestly outperforms an ensemble of distance-3 logical qubits on average, both in terms of logical error probability over 25 cycles and logical error per cycle ($2.914\%\pm 0.016\%$ compared to $3.028\%\pm 0.023\%$). To investigate damaging, low-probability error sources, we run a distance-25 repetition code and observe a $1.7\times10^{-6}$ logical error per round floor set by a single high-energy event ($1.6\times10^{-7}$ when excluding this event). We are able to accurately model our experiment, and from this model we can extract error budgets that highlight the biggest challenges for future systems. These results mark the first experimental demonstration where quantum error correction begins to improve performance with increasing qubit number, illuminating the path to reaching the logical error rates required for computation.Comment: Main text: 6 pages, 4 figures. v2: Update author list, references, Fig. S12, Table I