NAVIGATING ETHICAL AND MORAL CHALLENGES LEADERS FACE IN STAKEHOLDER CAPITALISM

One can assume that the ethical business leader of the 21st century will need to become a leader of community in which they operate, answering to all stakeholders, guiding all stakeholders, mediating all stakeholders’ concerns. A virtuous position at first glance and one leader wants to aspire to in theory but frequently fail at in practice. The current paper strives to underline the need of ethical conduct at both leader and stakeholders’ level and proposes the introduction of a code of ethical principles to be followed and introduced by the leader and all stakeholders in an organization. Such a code should promote a set of well-established principles to be agreed and followed by the parties involved. A five criteria set is proposed for the development of further codes of conduct, that will lead to more appropriate judgements and findings

Coarse Projective kMC Integration: Forward/Reverse Initial and Boundary Value Problems

In "equation-free" multiscale computation a dynamic model is given at a fine, microscopic level; yet we believe that its coarse-grained, macroscopic dynamics can be described by closed equations involving only coarse variables. These variables are typically various low-order moments of the distributions evolved through the microscopic model. We consider the problem of integrating these unavailable equations by acting directly on kinetic Monte Carlo microscopic simulators, thus circumventing their derivation in closed form. In particular, we use projective multi-step integration to solve the coarse initial value problem forward in time as well as backward in time (under certain conditions). Macroscopic trajectories are thus traced back to unstable, source-type, and even sometimes saddle-like stationary points, even though the microscopic simulator only evolves forward in time. We also demonstrate the use of such projective integrators in a shooting boundary value problem formulation for the computation of "coarse limit cycles" of the macroscopic behavior, and the approximation of their stability through estimates of the leading "coarse Floquet multipliers".Comment: Submitted to Journal of Computational Physic

Why leadership fails? Few causes for why good leaders do bad things:

The six factors considered for achieving success in leadership are clarity, role modeling, achievability, commitment, transparency and openness. The article analyzes the factors that generate a failure of leadership, even for the so-called widely renewed good leaders, precisely the behavior causes and developments that lead to failure and not their acquiring process. The chosen target population is represented by the leaders ruling large organizations, which need an integrated vision to produce effective leadership. The perspective will have a theoretical basis but also an empirical one. The quantitative part relies on a survey conducted among leaders for three different industries (pharmaceutical, IT and telecom). They were asked questions regarding the causes, which produce leadership failure and finally produce misconduct and breaches of the compliance rules and regulations. In addition, the survey asked the participants to develop their proposals for preventing leadership failure. It was established the importance of the tone from the top, leading by example, a clear mechanism for checking the health of the organization from a leadership perspective. The article will also show that the way to prevent leadership failure and avoid behaviors that lead to misconduct is a permanent journey

Evaluation of strategies to optimize training populations for genomic prediction in oat (Avena sativa)

publishedVersio

Evaluation of strategies to optimize training populations for genomic prediction in oat (Avena sativa)

publishedVersio

Development and Validation of Markers for the Fertility Restorer Gene Rf1 in Sunflower

Hybrid breeding in sunflowers based on CMS PET1 requires development of restorer lines carrying, in most cases, the restorer gene Rf1. Markers for marker-assisted selection have been developed, but there is still need for closer, more versatile, and co-dominant markers linked to Rf1. Homology searches against the reference sunflower genome using sequences of cloned markers, as well as Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC)-end sequences of clones hybridizing to them, allowed the identification of two genomic regions of 30 and 3.9 Mb, respectively, as possible physical locations of the restorer gene Rf1 on linkage group 13. Nine potential candidate genes, encoding six pentatricopeptide repeat proteins, one tetratricopeptide-like helical domain, a probable aldehyde dehydrogenase 22A1, and a probable poly(A) polymerase 3 (PAPS3), were identified in these two genomic regions. Amplicon targeted next generation sequencing of these nine candidate genes for Rf1 was performed in an association panel consisting of 27 maintainer and 32 restorer lines and revealed the presence of 210 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and 67 Insertions/Deletions (INDELs). Association studies showed significant associations of 10 SNPs with fertility restoration (p-value lt 10(-4)), narrowing Rf1 down to three candidate genes. Three new markers, one co-dominant marker 67N04_P and two dominant markers, PPR621.5R for restorer, and PPR621.5M for maintainer lines were developed and verified in the association panel of 59 sunflower lines. The versatility of the three newly developed markers, as well as of three existing markers for the restorer gene Rf1 (HRG01 and HRG02, Cleaved Amplified Polymorphic Sequence (CAPS)-marker H13), was analyzed in a large association panel consisting of 557 accessions

Association analysis of genes involved in maize (Zea mays L.) root development with seedling and agronomic traits under contrasting nitrogen levels

Genotypes with large and well distributed root system might have the potential to adapt to soils with limited nutrient availability. For this purpose, an association study (AS) panel consisting of 74 diverse set of inbred maize lines were screened for seedling root traits and adult plant root traits under two contrasting nitrogen (N) levels (low and high N). Allele re-sequencing of RTCL, RTH3, RUM1, and RUL1 genes related to root development was carried out for AS panel lines. Association analysis was carried out between individual polymorphisms, and both seedling and adult plant traits, while controlling for spurious associations due to population structure and kinship relations. Based on the SNPs identified in RTCL, RTH3, RUM1, and RUL1, lines within the AS panel were grouped into 16, 9, 22, and 7 haplotypes, respectively. Association analysis revealed several polymorphisms within root genes putatively associated with the variability in seedling root and adult plant traits development under contrasting N levels. The highest number of significantly associated SNPs with seedling root traits were found in RTCL (19 SNPs) followed by RUM1 (4 SNPs) and in case of RTH3 and RUL1, two and three SNPs, respectively, were significantly associated with root traits. RTCL and RTH3 were also found to be associated with grain yield. Thus considerable allelic diversity is present within the candidate genes studied and can be utilized to develop functional markers that allow identification of maize lines with improved root architecture and yield under N stress conditions