Detergent-Specific Membrane Protein Crystallization Screens

A suite of reagents has been developed for three-dimensional crystallization of integral membranes present in solution as protein-detergent complexes (PDCs). The compositions of these reagents have been determined in part by proximity to the phase boundaries (lower consolute boundaries) of the detergents present in the PDCs. The acquisition of some of the requisite phase-boundary data and the preliminary design of several of the detergent- specific screens was supported by a NASA contract. At the time of expiration of the contract, a partial set of preliminary screens had been developed. This work has since been extended under non-NASA sponsorship, leading to near completion of a set of 20 to 30 different and unique detergent- specific 96-condition screens

Regulars

My thesis play unfolds in the wake of the pandemic we’ve collectively faced, which hovers over its dramatic landscape, but is rarely directly addressed, a narrative penumbra subtle enough to be merely suggestive, almost subliminal, even as today, in America and around the world, we navigate the pandemic’s lingering aftermath by way of our quiet struggles, individual and collective, with mental health—an insidious, one might say endemic, pandemic of its own— that we ignore at our societal peril. My mother struggled with manic depression, which inflected our fraught bond in sometimes volatile ways and may have contributed to her early death, and my father is a child Holocaust survivor, whose father’s relative unavailability was at least in part a product of recondite emotional scarring that redounded in our own relationship—though in both cases, the arc has ultimately been redemptive. Paralleling my filial experiences with mental health and generational trauma, this theatrical work refracts these ongoing interdisciplinary inquiries through both actual (Eduardo’s relationship with his mother, Julie’s with her father) and surrogate (among others, Dr. Joan Withers’ and Dr. Anya Patel’s relationships with their patients, as general practitioner and psychoanalyst, respectively) parental-filial dynamics, and through the contrapuntal lenses of two Holocaust refugees—a perpetrator, in the guise of a so-called Good German functionary not directly involved in the genocide, and a child survivor. Channeling social anthropologist Kleinman’s conception of disease as multifactorial, a manifestation of, and reaction to attritive societal exposures, and psychiatrist Engels’ complementary Biopsychosocial model, as well as my investigations around diaspora and migration—particularly the phenomenology of collective, and more specifically, cultural memory, including generational trauma’s reverberant, repercussive effect on families—this is a sprawling ensemble piece in the spirit of playwright Tom Stoppard and the filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, tracing the invisible threads that connect us all. Abidingly syncretic in its ethos, this dramatic odyssey reflects my intensely collaborative body of work as a writer, actor, performer. While vox clamantis in deserto might resonate viscerally for us as Dartmouthians, MALS alums, and in the end, merely mortal human beings, we thrive when we coexist

Human Rights of Conscientious Objectors vis-à-vis Armed Non-State Actors and De Facto Authorities

This article aims at elucidating the human rights of conscientious objectors to military service and offers detailed substantive guidance for protecting their rights vis-à-vis armed non-State actors and de facto authorities. Persons who live in territory controlled by armed groups or de facto authorities often face human rights protection gaps, for example their freedom of conscientious objection may not be recognized or fully implemented. This article analyzes the practice by international human rights mechanisms in their engagement with de facto authorities in Afghanistan (Taliban), Cyprus (northern part), the Republic of Moldova (Transnistrian region), and Azerbaijan (Nagorno-Karabakh region), along with the related international law on State responsibility and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. At the normative level, this article proposes guidelines, following a gradated approach with differentiated obligations based on the capacities of the relevant States, de facto authorities with exclusive control over territory, and armed non-State actors. The article concludes that everyone’s freedom of conscientious objection must be properly protected, irrespective of whether the conscientious objectors happen to live in a territory that is under the control of a State or whether their human rights are negatively affected either through the acts or omissions of a de facto authority or an armed non-State actor

IT Support for Intra-Organizational Innovation Networks – An Exploratory Study

The paper examines requirements for IT support in open innovation within companies. Based on an in-depth single-case study, we derive four major levels of IT requirements: incentive & inspiration, information & knowledge, communication & collaboration, and feedback & feed-forward. The multitude of requirements identified on each level clearly points to the need for IT support during the internal open innovation process. The paper concludes that many findings from prior research on innovation management systems apply to the internal open innovation context as well, but with some interesting differences. An IT system for open innovation within a company should pay particular attention to the incentives and inspiration of employees. The system should motivate all employees to participate in open innovation and stimulate innovative ideas by indicating clear benefits as well as recent needs, challenges and developments in their company’s context. Furthermore, a virtual community seems to be a powerful concept for driving open innovation in the company. It fosters the activity of and the interaction between employees, thereby addressing all of our requirement levels. To build and run such an intraorganizational open innovation community, social software offers useful concepts and applications. Based on the identified requirements, we present initial concepts for their implementation

Distance Advantages in IS Nearshoring: Do They Matter?

This paper reviews and extends previous literature on information systems offshoring by providing a critical analysis of theadvantages of shorter client-supplier distance in nearshoring projects (as compared to farshoring ones). Prior researchindicated that nearshoring brings forth a number of critical distance advantages, e.g. real-time overlaps, cultural similarities,linguistic connections, as well as political/economical similarities, and that firms increasingly consider nearshoring as part oftheir sourcing strategies in order to benefit from the relative proximity of nearshore suppliers. The conceptual paper at handdevelops six propositions challenging this simplified perspective by presenting emerging arguments which downplayfrequently mentioned advantages resulting from proximity. Our results suggest that the advantages of nearshoring overfarshoring in practice may not be as significant as previously assumed due to a number of factors including small size andavailability of nearshore labor force, limited nearshore supplier experience, and increasing international awareness

Key Differentiators of Open Innovation Platforms – A Market-oriented Perspective

Within the open innovation debate, significant attention has beenpaid to the fact that customers can be a useful source for bringingnew ideas and concepts into a company. In this context, onlineplatforms have become a widely used instrument to facilitateinteraction between companies and customers. While priorliterature discusses various aspects of open innovation platforms,a market-oriented analysis covering all types of platforms for ideacreation and concept development seems to be still missing. Byevaluating a total of 44 different innovation platforms, we identifythe degree of interrelation between five major platform attributesand develop two key differentiating dimensions: The platformoperator (company vs. third party) and the platform purpose (findsolutions vs. understand customers). The resulting classificationmatrix highlights a newly emerging category of online openinnovation platforms, opening the field for deeper investigation infuture research