Threat-Balancing in Vendor Transition

While many outsourcing contracts are expiring, and vendor transition is becoming an increasing concern, little research helps organizations manage vendor transition. This paper explores vendor transition across two case sites. In one case, the outgoing vendor cooperated with the client which resulted in the client distancing itself from interactions between vendors. In the second case, the outgoing vendor was openly hostile, with the result that the client allied with the incoming vendor to manage vendor transition. These findings mirror expectations from balance of threat theory, a political science theory about interactions between nations. Balance of threat theory predicts that outgoing vendor hostility and the capability of the client to mitigate hostility determine whether a client takes a hard or soft balancing strategy during vendor transition

Spatiotemporal dipole source localization of face processing ERPs in adolescents: a preliminary study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite extensive investigation of the neural systems for face perception and emotion recognition in adults and young children in the past, the precise temporal activation of brain sources specific to the processing of emotional facial expressions in older children and adolescents is not well known. This preliminary study aims to trace the spatiotemporal dynamics of facial emotion processing during adolescence and provide a basis for future developmental studies and comparisons with patient populations that have social-emotional deficits such as autism.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We presented pictures showing happy, angry, fearful, or neutral facial expressions to healthy adolescents (aged 10–16 years) and recorded 128-channel event-related potentials (ERPs) while they performed an emotion discrimination task. ERP components were analyzed for effects of age and emotion on amplitude and latency. The underlying cortical sources of scalp ERP activity were modeled as multiple equivalent current dipoles using Brain Electrical Source Analysis (BESA).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Initial global/holistic processing of faces (P1) took place in the visual association cortex (lingual gyrus) around 120 ms post-stimulus. Next, structural encoding of facial features (N170) occurred between 160–200 ms in the inferior temporal/fusiform region, and perhaps early emotion processing (Vertex Positive Potential or VPP) in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex. Finally, cognitive analysis of facial expressions (P2) in the prefrontal cortex and emotional reactions in somatosensory areas were observed from about 230 ms onwards. The temporal sequence of cortical source activation in response to facial emotion processing was occipital, prefrontal, fusiform, parietal for young adolescents and occipital, limbic, inferior temporal, and prefrontal for older adolescents.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is a first report of high-density ERP dipole source analysis in healthy adolescents which traces the sequence of neural activity within the first 500 ms of categorizing emotion from faces. Our spatio-temporal brain source models showed the presence of adult-like cortical networks for face processing in adolescents, whose functional specificity to different emotions appear to be not yet fully mature. Age-related differences in brain activation patterns illustrate the continued development and maturation of distinct neural systems for processing facial expressions during adolescence and possible changes in emotion perception, experience, and reaction with age.</p

Frontal-Subcortical Protein Expression following Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Inflammation

BACKGROUND: Maternal immune activation (MIA) during prenatal life is a risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders including schizophrenia and autism. Such conditions are associated with alterations in fronto-subcortical circuits, but their molecular basis is far from clear. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and mass spectrometry, with targeted western blot analyses for confirmation, we investigated the impact of MIA on the prefrontal and striatal proteome from an established MIA mouse model generated in C57B6 mice, by administering the viral analogue PolyI:C or saline vehicle (control) intravenously on gestation day (GD) 9. In striatum, 11 proteins were up-regulated and 4 proteins were down-regulated in the PolyI:C mice, while 10 proteins were up-regulated and 7 proteins down-regulated in prefrontal cortex (PFC). These were proteins involved in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, oxidation and auto-immune targets, including dual specificity mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1 (MEK), eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4A-II, creatine kinase (CK)-B, L-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)-B, WD repeat-containing protein and NADH dehydrogenase in the striatum; and guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G-protein), 14-3-3 protein, alpha-enolase, olfactory maker protein and heat shock proteins (HSP) 60, and 90-beta in the PFC. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This data fits with emerging evidence for disruption of critical converging intracellular pathways involving MAPK pathways in neurodevelopmental conditions and it shows considerable overlap with protein pathways identified by genetic modeling and clinical post-mortem studies. This has implications for understanding causality and may offer potential biomarkers and novel treatment targets for neurodevelopmental conditions

The default mode network is disrupted in Parkinson's disease with visual hallucinations.

BACKGROUND: Visual hallucinations (VH) are one of the most striking nonmotor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD), and predict dementia and mortality. Aberrant default mode network (DMN) is associated with other psychoses. Here, we tested the hypothesis that DMN dysfunction contributes to VH in PD. METHODS: Resting state functional data was acquired from individuals with PD with VH (PDVH) and without VH (PDnonVH), matched for levodopa drug equivalent dose, and a healthy control group (HC). Independent component analysis was used to investigate group differences in functional connectivity within the DMN. In addition, we investigated whether the functional changes associated with hallucinations were accompanied by differences in cortical thickness. RESULTS: There were no group differences in cortical thickness but functional coactivation within components of the DMN was significantly lower in both PDVH and PDnonVH groups compared to HC. Functional coactivation within the DMN was found to be greater in PDVH group relative to PDnonVH group. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates, for the first time that, within a functionally abnormal DMN in PD, relatively higher "connectivity" is associated with VH. We postulate that aberrant connectivity in a large scale network affects sensory information processing and perception, and contributes to "positive" symptom generation in PD.Contract grant sponsor: Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (General Research Fund awarded to Chua and McAlonan); Infrastructural support: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and [Institute of Psychiatry] King's College London (McAlonan); Wellcome Trust; Contract grant number: 088324 (Rowe); National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (Suckling).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.2257

Maritime threat response

This report was prepared by Systems Engineering and Analysis Cohort Nine (SEA-9) Maritime Threat Response, (MTR) team members.Background: The 2006 Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Cross-Campus Integrated Study, titled “Maritime Threat Response” involved the combined effort of 7 NPS Systems Engineering students, 7 Singaporean Temasek Defense Systems Institute (TDSI) students, 12 students from the Total Ship Systems Engineering (TSSE) curriculum, and numerous NPS faculty members from different NPS departments. After receiving tasking provided by the Wayne E. Meyer Institute of Systems Engineering at NPS in support of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, the study examined ways to validate intelligence and respond to maritime terrorist attacks against United States coastal harbors and ports. Through assessment of likely harbors and waterways to base the study upon, the San Francisco Bay was selected as a representative test-bed for the integrated study. The NPS Systems Engineering and Analysis Cohort 9 (SEA-9) Maritime Threat Response (MTR) team, in conjunction with the TDSI students, used the Systems Engineering Lifecycle Process (SELP) [shown in Figure ES-1, p. xxiii ] as a systems engineering framework to conduct the multi-disciplinary study. While not actually fabricating any hardware, such a process was well-suited for tailoring to the team’s research efforts and project focus. The SELP was an iterative process used to bound and scope the MTR problem, determine needs, requirements, functions, and to design architecture alternatives to satisfy stakeholder needs and desires. The SoS approach taken [shown in Figure ES-2, p. xxiv ]enabled the team to apply a systematic approach to problem definition, needs analysis, requirements, analysis, functional analysis, and then architecture development and assessment.In the twenty-first century, the threat of asymmetric warfare in the form of terrorism is one of the most likely direct threats to the United States homeland. It has been recognized that perhaps the key element in protecting the continental United States from terrorist threats is obtaining intelligence of impending attacks in advance. Enormous amounts of resources are currently allocated to obtaining and parsing such intelligence. However, it remains a difficult problem to deal with such attacks once intelligence is obtained. In this context, the Maritime Threat Response Project has applied Systems Engineering processes to propose different cost-effective System of Systems (SoS) architecture solutions to surface-based terrorist threats emanating from the maritime domain. The project applied a five-year time horizon to provide near-term solutions to the prospective decision makers and take maximum advantage of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions and emphasize new Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) for existing systems. Results provided insight into requirements for interagency interactions in support of Maritime Security and demonstrated the criticality of timely and accurate intelligence in support of counterterror operations.This report was prepared for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland DefenseApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Blue Carbon Science, Management and Policy Across a Tropical Urban Landscape

The ability of vegetated coastal ecosystems to sequester high rates of “blue” carbon over millennial time scales has attracted the interest of national and international policy makers as a tool for climate change mitigation. Whereas focus on blue carbon conservation has been mostly on threatened rural seascapes, there is scope to consider blue carbon dynamics along highly fragmented and developed urban coastlines. The tropical city state of Singapore is used as a case study of urban blue carbon knowledge generation, how blue carbon changes over time with urban development, and how such knowledge can be integrated into urban planning alongside municipal and national climate change obligations. A systematic review of blue carbon studies in Singapore was used to support a qualitative review of Singapore’s blue carbon ecosystems, carbon budget, changes through time and urban planning and policy. Habitat loss across all blue carbon ecosystems is coarsely estimated to have resulted in the release of ∼12.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since the beginning of the 20th century. However, Singapore’s remaining blue carbon ecosystems still store an estimated 568,971 – 577,227 tonnes of carbon (equivalent to 2.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide) nationally, with a small proportion of initial loss offset by habitat restoration. Carbon is now a key topic on the urban development and planning agenda, as well as nationally through Singapore’s contributions to the Paris Agreement. The experiences of Singapore show that coastal ecosystems and their blue carbon stocks can be successfully managed along an urban coastline, and can help inform blue carbon science and management along other rapidly urbanizing coastlines throughout the tropics

Correction: Comparing the genomes of Helicobacter pylori clinical strain UM032 and mice-adapted derivatives

Abstract is not available in fulltext.Published versio

The Core and Accessory Genomes of Burkholderia pseudomallei: Implications for Human Melioidosis

Natural isolates of Burkholderia pseudomallei (Bp), the causative agent of melioidosis, can exhibit significant ecological flexibility that is likely reflective of a dynamic genome. Using whole-genome Bp microarrays, we examined patterns of gene presence and absence across 94 South East Asian strains isolated from a variety of clinical, environmental, or animal sources. 86% of the Bp K96243 reference genome was common to all the strains representing the Bp “core genome”, comprising genes largely involved in essential functions (eg amino acid metabolism, protein translation). In contrast, 14% of the K96243 genome was variably present across the isolates. This Bp accessory genome encompassed multiple genomic islands (GIs), paralogous genes, and insertions/deletions, including three distinct lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-related gene clusters. Strikingly, strains recovered from cases of human melioidosis clustered on a tree based on accessory gene content, and were significantly more likely to harbor certain GIs compared to animal and environmental isolates. Consistent with the inference that the GIs may contribute to pathogenesis, experimental mutation of BPSS2053, a GI gene, reduced microbial adherence to human epithelial cells. Our results suggest that the Bp accessory genome is likely to play an important role in microbial adaptation and virulence

Targeted gene sanger sequencing should remain the first-tier genetic test for children suspected to have the five common X-linked inborn errors of immunity

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.To address inborn errors of immunity (IEI) which were underdiagnosed in resource-limited regions, our centre developed and offered free genetic testing for the most common IEI by Sanger sequencing (SS) since 2001. With the establishment of The Asian Primary Immunodeficiency (APID) Network in 2009, the awareness and definitive diagnosis of IEI were further improved with collaboration among centres caring for IEI patients from East and Southeast Asia. We also started to use whole exome sequencing (WES) for undiagnosed cases and further extended our collaboration with centres from South Asia and Africa. With the increased use of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), we have shifted our diagnostic practice from SS to WES. However, SS was still one of the key diagnostic tools for IEI for the past two decades. Our centre has performed 2,024 IEI SS genetic tests, with in-house protocol designed specifically for 84 genes, in 1,376 patients with 744 identified to have disease-causing mutations (54.1%). The high diagnostic rate after just one round of targeted gene SS for each of the 5 common IEI (X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) 77.4%, Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome (WAS) 69.2%, X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (XCGD) 59.5%, X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) 51.1%, and X-linked hyper-IgM syndrome (HIGM1) 58.1%) demonstrated targeted gene SS should remain the first-tier genetic test for the 5 common X-linked IEI.The Hong Kong Society for Relief of Disabled Children and Jeffrey Modell Foundation.http://www.frontiersin.org/Immunologyam2023Paediatrics and Child Healt

An analysis of Malaysia's exchange rate trends

The bilateral US$/ringgit exchange rate is critical to Malaysia's financial sector and to economic interactions with the US. Moreover, we find that movements in this bilateral rate have a major impact on trends in Malaysia's real effective exchange rate, and thus on the country's overall competitiveness in the international economic arena.BUSINES