New Prospects for Organizational Democracy? How the Joint Pursuit of Social and Financial Goals Challenges Traditional Organizational Designs

Some interesting exceptions notwithstanding, the traditional logic of economic efficiency has long favored hierarchical forms of organization and disfavored democracy in business. What does the balance of arguments look like, however, when values besides efficient revenue production are brought into the picture? The question is not hypothetical: In recent years, an ever increasing number of corporations have developed and adopted socially responsible behaviors, thereby hybridizing aspects of corporate businesses and social organizations. We argue that the joint pursuit of financial and social objectives warrants significant rethinking of organizational democracy’s merits compared both to hierarchy and to non-democratic alternatives to hierarchy. In making this argument, we draw on an extensive literature review to document the relative lack of substantive discussion of organizational democracy since 1960. And we draw lessons from political theory, suggesting that the success of political democracy in integrating diverse values offers some grounds for asserting parallel virtues in the business case

Antipersistant Effects in the Dynamics of a Competing Population

We consider a population of agents competing for finite resources using strategies based on two channels of signals. The model is applicable to financial markets, ecosystems and computer networks. We find that the dynamics of the system is determined by the correlation between the two channels. In particular, occasional mismatches of the signals induce a series of transitions among numerous attractors. Surprisingly, in contrast to the effects of noises on dynamical systems normally resulting in a large number of attractors, the number of attractors due to the mismatched signals remains finite. Both simulations and analyses show that this can be explained by the antipersistent nature of the dynamics. Antipersistence refers to the response of the system to a given signal being opposite to that of the signal's previous occurrence, and is a consequence of the competition of the agents to make minority decisions. Thus, it is essential for stabilizing the dynamical systems.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Humic substances removal by activated carbon

Humic substances are a major concern to the water treatment industry because they can cause odor and color problems and are potentially toxic and/or cancinogenic. A commercial humic acid and fulvic acid extracted from peat were used to evaluate the removal or humic substances by various activated carbons. Different analytical methods were investigated to measure the concentration of humic substances and their chloroform formation potential. Total organic carbon measurement and ultraviolet/visible absorbance correlate well with the chloroform formation potential of humic substances. Pore volumes of activated carbon in pores between 100 and 500 Å radius were correlated with adsorption capacity. A decrease of pH in solution, lower molecular weight fractions of humic substances, smaller carbon particles, and presence of soluble alum were found to increase the carbon adsorption. Chemical pretreatment with alum increased the adsorption capacity of carbon almost threefold. This increase of adsorption capacity is probably because of the removal of weakly- or non-adsorbable humic substances by alum coagulation. The presence of soluble alum in the solution also enhances the adsorbability of humic substances. The application of a developed mathematical model to predict the performance of the carbon bed for the adsorption of humic substances was successful. Model parameter estimation techniques and model verification were evaluated and the applicability of the model was verified. In general, this model is sensitive to values of adsorption capacity of activated carbon and the surface diffusion coefficient was also correlated with the adsorption capacity. The higher the adsorption capacity, the lower the diffusion coefficient. Based on the model predictions, the empty bed contact time of the carbon bed and the influent concentrations were the two most important factors in designing a carbon bed for humic substances removal.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe

Manipulation of External Tachodynamometer by the Patient: Case Report

External tachodynamometer has frequently been used to evaluate premature labor. In three cases, the patient was apparently able to record uterine contraction-like curves by means of abdominal pressure. In two of these cases, the patient was evidently using this manipulation to gain attention and support from her husband and/or family members. In the third case, described in this paper, because false curves were recorded, an emergency Caesarean section was performed under the impression that abruptio placenta had occurred

On The Nature of Variations in the Measured Star Formation Efficiency of Molecular Clouds

Measurements of the star formation efficiency (SFE) of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the Milky Way generally show a large scatter, which could be intrinsic or observational. We use magnetohydrodynamic simulations of GMCs (including feedback) to forward-model the relationship between the true GMC SFE and observational proxies. We show that individual GMCs trace broad ranges of observed SFE throughout collapse, star formation, and disruption. Low measured SFEs (<<1%) are "real" but correspond to early stages, the true "per-freefall" SFE where most stars actually form can be much larger. Very high (>>10%) values are often artificially enhanced by rapid gas dispersal. Simulations including stellar feedback reproduce observed GMC-scale SFEs, but simulations without feedback produce 20x larger SFEs. Radiative feedback dominates among mechanisms simulated. An anticorrelation of SFE with cloud mass is shown to be an observational artifact. We also explore individual dense "clumps" within GMCs and show that (with feedback) their bulk properties agree well with observations. Predicted SFEs within the dense clumps are ~2x larger than observed, possibly indicating physics other than feedback from massive (main sequence) stars is needed to regulate their collapse.Comment: Fixed typo in the arXiv abstrac

Disruption of nNOS-NOS1AP protein-protein interactions suppresses neuropathic pain in mice

Elevated N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) activity is linked to central sensitization and chronic pain. However, NMDAR antagonists display limited therapeutic potential because of their adverse side effects. Novel approaches targeting the NR2B-PSD95-nNOS complex to disrupt signaling pathways downstream of NMDARs show efficacy in preclinical pain models. Here, we evaluated the involvement of interactions between neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and the nitric oxide synthase 1 adaptor protein (NOS1AP) in pronociceptive signaling and neuropathic pain. TAT-GESV, a peptide inhibitor of the nNOS-NOS1AP complex, disrupted the in vitro binding between nNOS and its downstream protein partner NOS1AP but not its upstream protein partner postsynaptic density 95 kDa (PSD95). Putative inactive peptides (TAT-cp4GESV and TAT-GESVΔ1) failed to do so. Only the active peptide protected primary cortical neurons from glutamate/glycine-induced excitotoxicity. TAT-GESV, administered intrathecally (i.t.), suppressed mechanical and cold allodynia induced by either the chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel or a traumatic nerve injury induced by partial sciatic nerve ligation. TAT-GESV also blocked the paclitaxel-induced phosphorylation at Ser15 of p53, a substrate of p38 MAPK. Finally, TAT-GESV (i.t.) did not induce NMDAR-mediated motor ataxia in the rotarod test and did not alter basal nociceptive thresholds in the radiant heat tail-flick test. These observations support the hypothesis that antiallodynic efficacy of an nNOS-NOS1AP disruptor may result, at least in part, from blockade of p38 MAPK-mediated downstream effects. Our studies demonstrate, for the first time, that disrupting nNOS-NOS1AP protein-protein interactions attenuates mechanistically distinct forms of neuropathic pain without unwanted motor ataxic effects of NMDAR antagonists

Utility and lower limits of frequency detection in surface electrode stimulation for somatosensory brain-computer interface in humans

Objective: Stimulation of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) has been successful in evoking artificial somatosensation in both humans and animals, but much is unknown about the optimal stimulation parameters needed to generate robust percepts of somatosensation. In this study, the authors investigated frequency as an adjustable stimulation parameter for artificial somatosensation in a closed-loop brain-computer interface (BCI) system. Methods: Three epilepsy patients with subdural mini-electrocorticography grids over the hand area of S1 were asked to compare the percepts elicited with different stimulation frequencies. Amplitude, pulse width, and duration were held constant across all trials. In each trial, subjects experienced 2 stimuli and reported which they thought was given at a higher stimulation frequency. Two paradigms were used: first, 50 versus 100 Hz to establish the utility of comparing frequencies, and then 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 Hz were pseudorandomly compared. Results: As the magnitude of the stimulation frequency was increased, subjects described percepts that were “more intense” or “faster.” Cumulatively, the participants achieved 98.0% accuracy when comparing stimulation at 50 and 100 Hz. In the second paradigm, the corresponding overall accuracy was 73.3%. If both tested frequencies were less than or equal to 10 Hz, accuracy was 41.7% and increased to 79.4% when one frequency was greater than 10 Hz (p = 0.01). When both stimulation frequencies were 20 Hz or less, accuracy was 40.7% compared with 91.7% when one frequency was greater than 20 Hz (p < 0.001). Accuracy was 85% in trials in which 50 Hz was the higher stimulation frequency. Therefore, the lower limit of detection occurred at 20 Hz, and accuracy decreased significantly when lower frequencies were tested. In trials testing 10 Hz versus 20 Hz, accuracy was 16.7% compared with 85.7% in trials testing 20 Hz versus 50 Hz (p < 0.05). Accuracy was greater than chance at frequency differences greater than or equal to 30 Hz. Conclusions: Frequencies greater than 20 Hz may be used as an adjustable parameter to elicit distinguishable percepts. These findings may be useful in informing the settings and the degrees of freedom achievable in future BCI systems

Reverse genetics in Candida albicans predicts ARF cycling is essential for drug resistance and virulence

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Effect of adductor canal block on medial compartment knee pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis: Retrospective comparative study

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common disease in middle-aged and elderly people. Pain is the chief complaint of symptomatic KOA and a leading cause of chronic disability, which is most often found in medial knees. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of pain relief and functional improvement in KOA patients treated with ultrasound-guided adductor canal block (ACB)