Coping with loss: cell adaptation to cytoskeleton disruption

Unravelling the role of cytoskeleton regulators may be complicated by adaptations to experimental manipulations. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Cerikan et al. (2016) reveal how acute effects of DOCK6 RhoGEF depletion on RAC1 and CDC42 activation are reversed over time by compensatory mechanisms that re-establish cellular homeostasis

Recent Trends in Resource Sharing Among the Poor

Motivated in part by the dramatic changes in the United States economy and public assistance policies, many researchers have examined the changes in the resources of the low-income population over the last two decades, with particular attention paid to income from earnings and public assistance programs. One source of income that has received comparatively little attention is income from private transfers. However, private transfers may be a key source of support for low-income individuals, especially for those who have had little attachment to the labor force or who have experienced reductions in public assistance. In this paper, we provide a conceptual discussion of private transfers drawing on several related literatures and provide new empirical evidence regarding the significance of private of transfers as a source income. We find that private transfers are an important source of income for many less-skilled households, the contribution of private transfers to total income has increased over time, and shared living arrangements are a common mechanism for providing assistance.

A TARGET CONSUMER PROFILE AND POSITIONING FOR PROMOTION OF A NEW LOCALLY BRANDED BEEF PRODUCT

This research examines the consumer profile and positioning for a new locally branded beef product. The research involves 413 beef consumers in California. The target consumers for the new locally branded beef product are approximately one-third of beef consumers in the local area. They are older, married, and from higher dual-income households. The target consumers for the new locally branded beef product are likely to have purchased other branded beef products. Approximately one-half of the beef consumers indicated that they make their meat purchase decisions in the store. The characteristics of beef that are important to the consumers when purchasing beef are price, quality, and appearance of the beef. Therefore, competitive pricing, packaging that highlights the product, and point of purchase material that focuses on the brand concept are very important to the positioning and marketing of the new branded beef product.Consumer/Household Economics,

Evaluation of management measures of software development. Volume 1: Analysis summary

The conceptual model, the data classification scheme, and the analytic procedures are explained. The analytic results are summarized and specific software measures for collection and monitoring are recommended

Consumer Attitudes toward Milk Products Produced from Cloned Cows

The use of simulated test-marketing technology and concept exposure for a branded and priced milk product shows that consumers had similar purchase interest for the full-priced product and the product offered at a 25-percent discount when they were told that the reason for the discount was that the product was produced using biotechnology. Furthermore, there was a slight reduction in purchase interest in the discounted milk when consumers were told that the product was from cloned cows. However, when consumers were offered the conventional product at the market price and they were later told that the product was from cloned cows, the purchase interest dropped from 25 percent to only 6.3 percent. Thus if producers adopt the cloning process and do not educate the consumers and pass along the benefits of lower-priced milk, it appears that consumers will react negatively when they learn of the change in production method and may purchase a different brand or type of milk.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Surface crack growth in fiber composites

The results of an experimental study of damage extension and failure in glass and graphite/epoxy laminates containing partially through-thickness surface cracks are presented. The laminates studied are divided between those containing four plies, 90/0/0/90, 15/-15/-15/15, and 45/-45/-45/45, and those containing 12-16 plies of the general configurations 0/90, + or - 45, and 0/+ or - 60. Most of the results are for surface cracks of various lengths and several depths. Stable damage extension in laminates containing surface cracks is predominantly delamination between plies, and tends to be much more extensive prior to failure than is the case with through-thickness cracks, resulting in approximately notch-insensitive behavior in most cases. A greater tendency for notch-sensitive behavior is found for 0/90 graphite/epoxy laminates for which stable damage extension is more limited. The rate of damage extension with increasing applied stress depends upon the composite system and ply configuration as well as the crack length and depth. An approximate semiempirical method is presented for estimating the growth rate of large damage-regions

Habitual Drunkenness Affecting Family Relations

Most jurisdictions recognize habitual drunkenness either as an independent ground for divorce or consider it as a factor in determining some other wrong. An examination of the cited cases indicates that the drunkenness complained of must produce some adverse effect upon the family, either of a mental, physical, or economic nature. The courts, in guarding the marital institution, will not permit a divorce where the complainant has condoned the actions of the defendant, connived to bring about the ground for dissolution of the marriage, or where there is premarital knowledge of the intemperance

Habitual Drunkenness Affecting Family Relations

Most jurisdictions recognize habitual drunkenness either as an independent ground for divorce or consider it as a factor in determining some other wrong. An examination of the cited cases indicates that the drunkenness complained of must produce some adverse effect upon the family, either of a mental, physical, or economic nature. The courts, in guarding the marital institution, will not permit a divorce where the complainant has condoned the actions of the defendant, connived to bring about the ground for dissolution of the marriage, or where there is premarital knowledge of the intemperance

Does responsibility affect the public valuation of health care interventions? A relative valuation approach to health care safety

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright © 2012, International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR).Objective - Health services often spend more on safety interventions than seems cost-effective. This study investigates whether the public value safety-related health care improvements more highly than the same improvements in contexts where the health care system is not responsible. Method - An online survey was conducted to elicit the relative importance placed on preventing harms caused by 1) health care (hospital-acquired infections, drug administration errors, injuries to health care staff), 2) individuals (personal lifestyle choices, sports-related injuries), and 3) nature (genetic disorders). Direct valuations were obtained from members of the public by using a person trade-off or “matching” method. Participants were asked to choose between two preventative interventions of equal cost and equal health benefit per person for the same number of people, but differing in causation. If participants indicated a preference, their strength of preference was measured by using person trade-off. Results - Responses were obtained from 1030 people, reflecting the sociodemographic mix of the UK population. Participants valued interventions preventing hospital-acquired infections (1.31) more highly than genetic disorders (1.0), although drug errors were valued similarly to genetic disorders (1.07), and interventions to prevent injury to health care staff were given less weight than genetic disorders (0.71). Less weight was also given to interventions related to lifestyle (0.65) and sports injuries (0.41). Conclusion - Our results suggest that people do not attach a simple fixed premium to “safety-related” interventions but that preferences depend more subtly on context. The use of the results of such public preference surveys to directly inform policy would therefore be premature.Brunel University