Protein misfolding in neurodegenerative diseases : implications and strategies

A hallmark of neurodegenerative proteinopathies is the formation of misfolded protein aggregates that cause cellular toxicity and contribute to cellular proteostatic collapse. Therapeutic options are currently being explored that target different steps in the production and processing of proteins implicated in neurodegenerative disease, including synthesis, chaperone-assisted folding and trafficking, and degradation via the proteasome and autophagy pathways. Other therapies, like mTOR inhibitors and activators of the heat shock response, can rebalance the entire proteostatic network. However, there are major challenges that impact the development of novel therapies, including incomplete knowledge of druggable disease targets and their mechanism of action as well as a lack of biomarkers to monitor disease progression and therapeutic response. A notable development is the creation of collaborative ecosystems that include patients, clinicians, basic and translational researchers, foundations and regulatory agencies to promote scientific rigor and clinical data to accelerate the development of therapies that prevent, reverse or delay the progression of neurodegenerative proteinopathies.Peer reviewe

MODEL CITIZEN OR SQUEAKY WHEEL? HOW EMPLOYEES OF LOWER SOCIAL CLASS ORIGINS FACE AMBIVALENT REACTIONS AT WORK

Employees of lower social class origins can elicit ambivalent reactions when they make it into elite, high-status organizations. On the one hand, they can be seen as misfits and face discrimination in work outcomes, such as lower performance evaluations and job rewards. On the other hand, their achievements can be viewed as admirable and earn them higher than usual evaluations and rewards. Drawing on the ambivalence-amplification theory, I propose that such ambivalence toward employees of lower social class origins leads to especially amplified reactions to their behaviors. When they engage in behaviors that support the existing norms in the organization (such as being courteous and helpful), those behaviors are seen as role-congruent and rewarded more highly than similar behaviors of employees with higher social class origins. By contrast, when they engage in behaviors that challenge such norms (such as speaking up with ideas and concerns), those behaviors are seen as role-incongruent and receive more negative evaluations than similar behaviors of higher-class employees. Through a field study of working professionals and two experiments, I examine this idea in the context of social caste in India. I replicate these findings in the context of socioeconomic status in the U.S. using two experiments

Do Female Employees at Small and Medium Enterprises Perceive Open Source Software Usefulness and Satisfaction Differently from Male Employees? A Survey Analysis

Many companies, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), use open source software (OSS) to promote the strategic application of their information technology assets. Several studies have claimed that male and female employees in SMEs differ in their use of various information technologies. This study investigates the factors influencing the perceived usefulness of and satisfaction with OSS among employees at SMEs in various industries, specifically comparing male and female employee perceptions. For this purpose, this study uses a proposed research model to examine the effects of quality factors—such as ease of maintenance, cost advantage, customization, and job relevance—on perceived usefulness of and satisfaction with OSS. Data were collected from 328 randomly selected survey responses of employees in various organizations using OSS. A structural equational model was created using AMOS 22.0 to test the proposed hypotheses in the research model. Results show that all OSS quality factors were significantly related to the perceived usefulness of OSS in both genders, positively affecting satisfaction. Moreover, the perceptions of male and female employees differed in relation to each research model variable. These findings suggest that employees value specific OSS qualities while perceiving its usefulness and their satisfaction

Does State-Driven Social Economy Work? The Case of Community Business in South Korea

What is the role of the government in enhancing social economy? South Korea has implemented projects and programs to enhance social economy. This paper discusses the positive role of government intervention by looking at the case of community business in South Korea. In addition, some limitations are discussed. Qualitative data based on in-depth interviews with diverse stakeholders and participants were included. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of government documents and literature was conducted. In spite of some bureaucratic and institutional limitations, the village company program of Korea has played an important role in enhancing the social economy for ten years. In particular, the early stages of government intervention in Korea have been successful. However, when the government intends to get involved in enhancing the social economy, it is necessary to carefully prepare formal and informal institutions

A Multistep Tag Comparison Method for a Low-Power L2 Cache

Tag comparison in a highly associative cache consumes a significant portion of the cache energy. Existing methods for tag comparison reduction are based on predicting either cache hits or cache misses. In this paper, we present novel ideas for both cache hit and miss predictions. We present a partial tag-enhanced Bloom filter to improve the accuracy of the cache miss prediction method and hot/cold checks that control data liveness to reduce the tag comparisons of the cache hit prediction method. We also combine both methods so that their order of application can be dynamically adjusted to adapt to changing cache access behavior, which further reduces tag comparisons. To overcome the common limitation of multistep tag comparison methods, we propose a method that reduces tag comparisons while meeting the given performance bound. Experimental results showed that the proposed method reduces the energy consumption of tag comparison by an average of 88.40%, which translates to an average reduction of 35.34% (40.19% with low-power data access) in the total energy consumption of the L2 cache and a further reduction of 8.86% (10.07% with low-power data access) when compared with existing methods.X1179sciescopu

Swiftly judging whom to bring on board: How person perception (accurate or not) influences selection of prospective team members

We develop and test a holistic model of how team members’ swift judgments about a prospective team member impact their selection decisions and how accurate those judgments are in predicting the prospective member’s performance. Applying the social psychology literature on person perception to the organizational literature on team member selection, we argue that team members’ perceptions of the prospective member’s competence primarily shape their predictions about the prospective member’s task-related performance in the team, whereas perceptions of warmth primarily shape predictions about the prospective member’s interpersonal contextual performance in the team. We further propose that, although team members rely on both performance predictions when choosing a prospective member, predicted task-related performance receives more weight than predicted interpersonal contextual performance, and that the importance of predicted interpersonal contextual performance is elevated when team task interdependence is high. Importantly, we theorize that the predictions about task-related performance show good accuracy, whereas the predictions about interpersonal contextual performance do not, which makes the reliance on the latter erroneous. Across two studies utilizing prospective members’ actual task-related and interpersonal contextual performance (objective and peer-rated), as well as team members’ predictions about such performances, we found support for our predictions. Our research resolves several outstanding puzzles in the literature on person perception, integrates it into organizational research, and offers novel and actionable insights for selecting prospective team members

Negative Impact of Social Network Services Based on Stressor-Stress-Outcome: The Role of Experience of Privacy Violations

Social network service (SNS) information has benefited many individuals. However, as such information has increased exponentially, the number of SNS users has increased dramatically and negative effects of SNSs on users have emerged. Many SNS users experience negative psychological conditions such as fatigue, burnout, and stress. Thus, in this study, we investigated the SNS and user characteristics that affect SNS fatigue, living disorder, and reduced SNS use intention. We developed a research model to examine the impact of two SNS characteristics (irrelevant information overload and open reachability) and two user characteristics (engagement and maintaining self-reputation) on SNS fatigue. We also examined the role of the experience of privacy violations in the relationship between living disorder and reduced SNS use intention. We collected data from 579 SNS users and created a partial least squares structural equation model to test the hypotheses. The results of the analysis showed that three factors, other than open reachability, positively affected SNS fatigue. Furthermore, we found that SNS fatigue significantly affected living disorder and reduced SNS use intention, and that experience of privacy violations significantly affected the relationship between living disorder and reduced SNS use intention. These results expand our understanding of SNS fatigue and users’ negative behaviors

Empirical Study on the Factors Influencing Process Innovation When Adopting Intelligent Robots at Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises—The Role of Organizational Supports

Robot technology at small- and medium-sized enterprises has become a crucial part of current business operations. Beginning with the manufacturing industry, more industries than ever before have recently begun making use of robot technology to increase operational efficiency and productivity. However, prior studies regarding innovation related to intelligent robot use have been limited to developing strategies for describing robot technologies in general. Therefore, we developed a research model for investigating process innovation as it relates to intelligent robots. Based on the literature, two variables of technology benefits (direct usefulness and indirect usefulness) and two constructs of environmental pressure (industry and government) were incorporated into the research model as key determinants of a firm’s process innovation. Furthermore, organizational supports as moderating variables were added to the relationship between technology benefits and process innovation. We collected 257 responses in managerial position at various firms in order to test the proposed hypotheses using structural equation modeling in the statistical software (AMOS 22.0). The results revealed that all variables have a significant impact on process innovation, as well as the moderator. The findings of this study provide theoretical and practical implications for process innovation based on intelligent robot technology