Good Corporation, Bad Corporation: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Economy

This textbook provides an innovative, internationally oriented approach to the teaching of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics. Drawing on case studies involving companies and countries around the world, the textbook explores the social, ethical, and business dynamics underlying CSR in such areas as global warming, genetically modified organisms (GMO) in food production, free trade and fair trade, anti-sweatshop and living-wage movements, organic foods and textiles, ethical marketing practices and codes, corporate speech and lobbying, and social enterprise. The book is designed to encourage students and instructors to challenge their own assumptions and prejudices by stimulating a class debate based on each case study.https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/oer-ost/1007/thumbnail.jp

Planetary landing: modelling and control of the propulsion descent

In the propulsive phase, after parachute release, of planetary landing like Mars or Moon, horizontal motion is obtained by tilting the axial thrust, so that it aligns either to the negative velocity vector (gravity turn) or to the requested acceleration vector. The latter strategy is assumed here, as it allows pinpoint landing. As such, tilt angles (pitch and yaw) become proportional to the horizontal acceleration. Instead of designing a hierarchical guidance and control in which horizontal acceleration becomes the attitude control target, a unique control system can be designed based on the fourth order dynamics from angular acceleration to position. The paper shows that the combined dynamics can be (quasi) input-state linearized except the nonlinear factor of the tilt angles (the axial thrust imposed by vertical braking). The paper shows that control design around the reference trajectory (tilt and position) given by the guidance can exploit the quasi linearization, but tracking error stability must be proved in presence of a not stabilizable external disturbance. The paper is restricted to closed-loop control strategies, and their effectiveness is proved through Monte Carlo simulations

Present and future of surface-enhanced Raman scattering

The discovery of the enhancement of Raman scattering by molecules adsorbed on nanostructured metal surfaces is a landmark in the history of spectroscopic and analytical techniques. Significant experimental and theoretical effort has been directed toward understanding the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect and demonstrating its potential in various types of ultrasensitive sensing applications in a wide variety of fields. In the 45 years since its discovery, SERS has blossomed into a rich area of research and technology, but additional efforts are still needed before it can be routinely used analytically and in commercial products. In this Review, prominent authors from around the world joined together to summarize the state of the art in understanding and using SERS and to predict what can be expected in the near future in terms of research, applications, and technological development. This Review is dedicated to SERS pioneer and our coauthor, the late Prof. Richard Van Duyne, whom we lost during the preparation of this article

Brief Report: Hispanic Patients\u27 Trajectory of Cancer Symptom Burden, Depression, Anxiety, and Quality of Life

Background: Anxiety and depression symptoms are known to increase cancer symptom burden, yet little is known about the longitudinal integrations of these among Hispanic/Latinx patients. The goal of this study was to explore the trajectory and longitudinal interactions among anxiety and depression, cancer symptom burden, and health-related quality of life in Hispanic/Latinx cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. METHODS: Baseline behavioral assessments were performed before starting chemotherapy. Follow-up behavioral assessments were performed at 3, 6, and 9 months after starting chemotherapy. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, Fisher\u27s exact tests, and Mann-Whitney tests explored associations among outcome variables. Adjusted multilevel mixed-effects linear regression models were also used to evaluate the association between HADS scores, follow-up visits, FACT-G scale, MDASI scale, and sociodemographic variables. RESULTS: Increased cancer symptom burden was significantly related to changes in anxiety symptoms\u27 scores (adjusted beta^ = 0.11 [95% CI: 0.02, 0.19]. Increased quality of life was significantly associated with decreased depression and anxiety symptoms (adjusted beta^ = -0.33; 95% CI: -0.47, -0.18, and 0.38 adjusted beta^= -0.38; 95% CI: -0.55, -0.20, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the need to conduct periodic mental health screenings among cancer patients initiating cancer treatment

Biomimetic Magnetic Nanocarriers Drive Choline Kinase Alpha Inhibitor inside Cancer Cells for Combined Chemo-Hyperthermia Therapy

Choline kinase a1 (ChoKa1) has become an excellent antitumor target. Among all the inhibitors synthetized, the new compound Ff35 shows an excellent capacity to inhibit ChoKa1 activity. However, soluble Ff35 is also capable of inhibiting choline uptake, making the inhibitor not selective for ChoKa1. In this study, we designed a new protocol with the aim of disentangling whether the Ff35 biological action is due to the inhibition of the enzyme and/or to the choline uptake. Moreover, we offer an alternative to avoid the inhibition of choline uptake caused by Ff35, since the coupling of Ff35 to novel biomimetic magnetic nanoparticles (BMNPs) allows it to enter the cell through endocytosis without interacting with the choline transporter. This opens the possibility of a clinical use of Ff35. Our results indicate that Ff35-BMNPs nanoassemblies increase the selectivity of Ff35 and have an antiproliferative effect. Also, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the tandem Ff35-BMNPs and hyperthermia.This research was funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CGL2013-46612 and CGL2016-76723 projects), Ramón y Cajal programme (RYC-2014-16901) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). Also, this research was aided by the Andalusian regional government (CTS-236)

Chemical abundance of the LINER galaxy UGC 4805 with SDSS-IV MaNGA

Chemical abundance determinations in Low-Ionization Nuclear Line Regions (LINERs) are especially complex and uncertain because the nature of the ionizing source of this kind of object is unknown. In this work, we study the oxygen abundance in relation to the hydrogen abundance (O/H) of the gas phase of the UGC 4805 LINER nucleus. Optical spectroscopic data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies (MaNGA) survey was employed to derive the O/H abundance of the UGC 4805 nucleus based on the extrapolation of the disk abundance gradient, on calibrations between O/H abundance and strong emission-lines for Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) as well as on photoionization models built with the Cloudy code, assuming gas accretion into a black hole (AGN) and post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (p-AGB) stars with different effective temperatures. We found that abundance gradient extrapolations, AGN calibrations, AGN and p-AGB photoionization models produce similar O/H values for the UGC 4805 nucleus and similar ionization parameter values. The study demonstrated that the methods used to estimate the O/H abundance using nuclear emission-line ratios produce reliable results, which are in agreement with the O/H values obtained from the independent method of galactic metallicity gradient extrapolation. Finally, the results from the WHAN diagram combined with the fact that the high excitation level of the gas has to be maintained at kpc scales, we suggest that the main ionizing source of the UGC 4805 nucleus probably has a stellar origin rather than an AGN.Instituto de Astrofísica de La Plat

RANK links senescence to stemness in the mammary epithelia, delaying tumor onset but increasing tumor aggressiveness

Rank signaling enhances stemness in mouse and human mammary epithelial cells (MECs) and mediates mammary tumor initiation. Mammary tumors initiated by oncogenes or carcinogen exposure display high levels of Rank and Rank pathway inhibitors have emerged as a new strategy for breast cancer prevention and treatment. Here, we show that ectopic Rank expression in the mammary epithelia unexpectedly delays tumor onset and reduces tumor incidence in the oncogene-driven Neu and PyMT models. Mechanistically, we have found that ectopic expression of Rank or exposure to Rankl induces senescence, even in the absence of other oncogenic mutations. Rank leads to DNA damage and senescence through p16/p19. Moreover, RANK-induced senescence is essential for Rank-driven stemness, and although initially translates into delayed tumor growth, eventually promotes tumor progression and metastasis. We uncover a dual role for Rank in the mammary epithelia: Rank induces senescence and stemness, delaying tumor initiation but increasing tumor aggressiveness

Dynamical Equilibrium in the Molecular ISM in 28 Nearby Star-forming Galaxies

We compare the observed turbulent pressure in molecular gas, P_(turb), to the required pressure for the interstellar gas to stay in equilibrium in the gravitational potential of a galaxy, P_(DE). To do this, we combine arcsecond resolution CO data from PHANGS-ALMA with multiwavelength data that trace the atomic gas, stellar structure, and star formation rate (SFR) for 28 nearby star-forming galaxies. We find that P_(turb) correlates with—but almost always exceeds—the estimated P_(DE) on kiloparsec scales. This indicates that the molecular gas is overpressurized relative to the large-scale environment. We show that this overpressurization can be explained by the clumpy nature of molecular gas; a revised estimate of P_(DE) on cloud scales, which accounts for molecular gas self-gravity, external gravity, and ambient pressure, agrees well with the observed P_(turb) in galaxy disks. We also find that molecular gas with cloud-scale P_(turb) ≈ P_(DE) ≳ 10⁵ kB K cm⁻³ in our sample is more likely to be self-gravitating, whereas gas at lower pressure it appears more influenced by ambient pressure and/or external gravity. Furthermore, we show that the ratio between P_(turb) and the observed SFR surface density, Σ_(SFR), is compatible with stellar feedback-driven momentum injection in most cases, while a subset of the regions may show evidence of turbulence driven by additional sources. The correlation between Σ_(SFR) and kpc-scale P_(DE) in galaxy disks is consistent with the expectation from self-regulated star formation models. Finally, we confirm the empirical correlation between molecular-to-atomic gas ratio and kpc-scale P_(DE) reported in previous works

Sleep duration and napping in relation to colorectal and gastric cancer in the MCC-Spain study

Sleep duration is a novel and potentially modifiable risk factor for cancer. We evaluated the association of self-reported sleep duration and daytime napping with odds of colorectal and gastric cancer. We included 2008 incident colorectal cancer cases, 542 gastric cancer cases and 3622 frequency-matched population controls, recruited in the MCC-Spain case-control study (2008-2013). Sleep information, socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics were obtained through personal interviews. Multivariable adjusted logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for cancer, across categories of sleep duration (? 5, 6, 7, 8, ? 9 hours/day), daytime napping frequency (naps/week) and duration (minutes/nap). Compared to 7 hours of sleep, long sleep was associated with increased odds of colorectal (OR?9 hours: 1.59; 95%CI 1.30-1.94) and gastric cancer (OR?9 hours: 1.95; 1.37-2.76); short sleep was associated with increased odds of gastric cancer (OR?5 hours: 1.32; 0.93-1.88). Frequent and long daytime naps increased the odds of colorectal (OR6-7 naps/week, ?30 min: 1.32; 1.14-1.54) and gastric cancer (OR6-7 naps/week, ?30 min: 1.56; 1.21-2.02). Effects of short sleep and frequent long naps were stronger among participants with night shift-work history. Sleep and circadian disruption may jointly play a role in the etiology of colorectal and gastric cancer.Funding: The study was funded by the “Accion Transversal del Cancer”, approved on the Spanish Ministry Council on 11 October 2007, by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III-FEDER (PI08/1770, PI08/0533, PI08/1359, PI09/00773-Cantabria, PI09/01286-León, PI09/01903-Valencia, PI09/02078-Huelva, PI09/01662-Granada, PI11/01403, PI11/01889-FEDER, PI11/00226, PI11/01810, PI11/02213, PI12/00488, PI12/00265, PI12/01270, PI12/00715, PI12/00150), by the Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla (API 10/09), by the ICGC International Cancer Genome Consortium CLL (The ICGC CLL-Genome Project is funded by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and Red Temática de Investigación del Cáncer (RTICC) del ISCIII (RD12/0036/0036)), by the Junta de Castilla y León (LE22A10-2), by the Consejería de Salud of the Junta de Andalucía (2009-S0143), by the Conselleria de Sanitat of the Generalitat Valenciana (AP_061/10), by the Recercaixa (2010ACUP 00310), by the European Commission grants FOOD-CT-2006-036224-HIWATE, by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) Scientific Foundation, by the Catalan Government DURSI grant 2009SGR1489. KP received a predoctoral grant PFIS (FI09/00385). MCT is funded by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RYC-2017-01892) from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and cofunded by the European Social Fund. ISGlobal acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019–2023” Program (CEX2018-000806-S), and support from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Program. Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) of the Catalan Government grant 2017SGR723. Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) Scientific Foundation. DC is supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness—Carlos III Institute of Health cofunded by FEDER funds/European Regional Develpment Fund (ERDF)—a way to build Europe (PI17/01280), the Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red: Epidemiologia y Salud Publica (CIBERESP, Spain) and the Agencia de Gestio d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR), CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional suport (2017SGR1085). VM is funded by the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) of the Catalan Government grant 2017SGR723; Instituto de Salud Carlos III, co-funded by FEDER funds—a way to build Europe—; Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) Scientific Foundation. Sample collection of this work was supported by the Xarxa de Bancs de Tumors de Catalunya sponsored by Pla Director d’Oncología de Catalunya (XBTC)", Plataforma Biobancos PT13/0010/0013" and ICOBIOBANC, sponsored by the Catalan Institute of Oncology. We thank CERCA Program, Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional support

Molecular Gas Properties on Cloud Scales across the Local Star-forming Galaxy Population

Using the PHANGS–ALMA CO(2–1) survey, we characterize molecular gas properties on ~100 pc scales across 102,778 independent sightlines in 70 nearby galaxies. This yields the best synthetic view of molecular gas properties on cloud scales across the local star-forming galaxy population obtained to date. Consistent with previous studies, we observe a wide range of molecular gas surface densities (3.4 dex), velocity dispersions (1.7 dex), and turbulent pressures (6.5 dex) across the galaxies in our sample. Under simplifying assumptions about subresolution gas structure, the inferred virial parameters suggest that the kinetic energy of the molecular gas typically exceeds its self-gravitational binding energy at ~100 pc scales by a modest factor (1.3 on average). We find that the cloud-scale surface density, velocity dispersion, and turbulent pressure (1) increase toward the inner parts of galaxies, (2) are exceptionally high in the centers of barred galaxies (where the gas also appears less gravitationally bound), and (3) are moderately higher in spiral arms than in inter-arm regions. The galaxy-wide averages of these gas properties also correlate with the integrated stellar mass, star formation rate, and offset from the star-forming main sequence of the host galaxies. These correlations persist even when we exclude regions with extraordinary gas properties in galaxy centers, which contribute significantly to the inter-galaxy variations. Our results provide key empirical constraints on the physical link between molecular cloud populations and their galactic environment