Reciprocity and Workers' Tastes for Representation

Using unique survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, this study examines the influence of reciprocal inclinations on workers' sorting into codetermined firms. Employees with strong negative reciprocal inclinations are more likely to work in firms with a works council while employees with strong positive reciprocal inclinations are less likely to work in such firms. We argue that these findings conform to hypotheses derived from the experimental literature. Moreover, the results showstriking gender differences in the relationship between reciprocity and taste for representation. These differences can be partially explained by gender-specific differences in the average degree of labor force attachment.Works council, negative reciprocity, positive reciprocity, sorting, gender

Dynamische Kapazitätssteuerung in medizinischen Einrichtungen

Aufgrund des immer stärker werdenden Kostendrucks im Gesundheitswesen rückt zusehends die dynamische Kapazitätssteuerung in den Fokus medizinischer Einrichtungen. Dabei spielen insbesondere die Probleme der Ressourcenauslastung durch Patientenaufnahme und der Ressourcenzuweisung auf verschiedene Patienten eine wichtige Rolle. Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert nun beide Problemstellungen, indem sie diese als Markovsche Entscheidungsprozesse formuliert und auf optimale Politiken hin untersucht

Towards a Better Understanding of the Local Attractor in Particle Swarm Optimization: Speed and Solution Quality

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is a popular nature-inspired meta-heuristic for solving continuous optimization problems. Although this technique is widely used, the understanding of the mechanisms that make swarms so successful is still limited. We present the first substantial experimental investigation of the influence of the local attractor on the quality of exploration and exploitation. We compare in detail classical PSO with the social-only variant where local attractors are ignored. To measure the exploration capabilities, we determine how frequently both variants return results in the neighborhood of the global optimum. We measure the quality of exploitation by considering only function values from runs that reached a search point sufficiently close to the global optimum and then comparing in how many digits such values still deviate from the global minimum value. It turns out that the local attractor significantly improves the exploration, but sometimes reduces the quality of the exploitation. As a compromise, we propose and evaluate a hybrid PSO which switches off its local attractors at a certain point in time. The effects mentioned can also be observed by measuring the potential of the swarm

PPAR-Targeted Therapies in the Treatment of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Diabetic Patients.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR), ligand-activated transcription factors of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily, have been identified as key metabolic regulators in the liver, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue, among others. As a leading cause of liver disease worldwide, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) cause a significant burden worldwide and therapeutic strategies are needed. This review provides an overview of the evidence on PPAR-targeted treatment of NAFLD and NASH in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus. We considered current evidence from clinical trials and observational studies as well as the impact of treatment on comorbid metabolic conditions such as obesity, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular disease. Future areas of research, such as possible sexually dimorphic effects of PPAR-targeted therapies, are briefly reviewed

Action biases perceptual decisions towards expected outcomes

We predict how our actions will influence the world around us. Prevailing models in the action control literature propose that we use these predictions to suppress or ‘cancel’ perception of expected action outcomes, to highlight more informative surprising events. However, contrasting normative Bayesian models in sensory cognition suggest that we are more, not less, likely to perceive what we expect–given that what we expect is more likely to occur. Here we adjudicated between these models by investigating how expectations influence perceptual decisions about action outcomes in a signal detection paradigm. Across three experiments, participants performed one of two manual actions that were sometimes accompanied by brief presentation of expected or unexpected visual outcomes.Contrary to dominant cancellation models but consistent with Bayesian accounts, we found that observers were biased to report the presence of expected action outcomes. There were no effects of expectation on sensitivity. Computational modelling revealed that the action-induced bias reflected a sensory bias in how evidence was accumulated rather than a baseline shift in decision circuits. Expectation effects remained in Experiments 2 and 3 when orthogonal cues indicated which finger was more likely to be probed (i.e.,task-relevant). These biases towards perceiving expected action outcomes are suggestive of a mechanism that would enable generation of largely veridical representations of our actions and their consequences in an inherently uncertain sensory world

Towards strategic design: the experience of two Colombian MSMEs

This qualitative-interpretive study reflects on the experience of two MSMEs that adapted rapidly to meet the need for protection products and maintain their production in the midst of confinement decreed by the city and country authorities, as a containment measure for the pandemic caused by the Covid-19, and where design was a key factor. The different experiences are organized taken the Product sociotechnical Cycles (PstC) model as a conceptual basis, analyzing the case studies from the organizational capabilities of industrial design, as well as from design-driven innovation. The article ends by summarizing the learnings, emphasizing the value of design with a strategic focus, in these processes of change

The Influence of Fire and Deforestation on the Floral Symmetry and Fitness of Adenocalymma nodosun (Bignoniaceae)

Burnings and deforestation are severe disturbances to plants and may represent a stressful situation for plant growth, and they can also affect plant-pollinator interactions and the reproductive success of plants. In this study, we verified the variation in floral symmetry of Adenocalymma nodosum (Bignoniacea) in two areas, one post-fire and other after deforestation. We also verified the effects on plant-pollinator interactions and fruit set production. Results showed that A. nodosum flowers were more asymmetric in mowing areas than in fire areas. Asymmetrical flowers presented low nectar concentration and bee visitation rates. Although mowed environments produce fewer fruits and seeds than areas affected by fire, the change was not significant. Soil from the burnt area showed higher nutrient and organic matter concentration and less aluminum than that of mowed areas. Our results showed that A. nodosum flowers in the deforestation area are more asymmetric than those in the post-fire area. This result suggest that Cerrado plants may be less adapted to deforestation than to fire, since they have been facing fire events for thousand years in this biome. We suggest that the effects of environmental stress on the development and fitness of plants may provide an important breakthrough to the understanding of insect-plant interactions in Cerrado savanna, where burnings and deforestation are frequent anthropogenic effects

GESTANTES NO CÁRCERE E A VIOLAÇÃO AO PRINCÍPIO DA DIGNIDADE DA PESSOA HUMANA

A vida da gestante no cárcere e seus desdobramentos, considerando o período que passa no cárcere e consequentemente a estadia do recém-nascido no ambiente prisional. Este artigo visa explanar o tratamento em que a gestante e o recém-nascido são expostos dentro do presídio. Ocorrendo, na maioria dos casos, a violação à um dos princípios mais importante, previsto na Constituição Federal, sendo este o da dignidade da pessoa humana. As gestantes, puérperas e recém-nascidos são expostos ao descaso de uma instituição que de modo algum visa dar qualquer tipo de assistência mínima para ambos nesse período. Haverá conceituação com base na legislação nacional e formas de combate contra este vilipêndio à dignidade da pessoa humana

GESTANTES NO CÁRCERE E A VIOLAÇÃO AO PRINCÍPIO DA DIGNIDADE DA PESSOA HUMANA

A vida da gestante no cárcere e seus desdobramentos, considerando o período que passa no cárcere e consequentemente a estadia do recém-nascido no ambiente prisional. Este artigo visa explanar o tratamento em que a gestante e o recém-nascido são expostos dentro do presídio. Ocorrendo, na maioria dos casos, a violação à um dos princípios mais importante, previsto na Constituição Federal, sendo este o da dignidade da pessoa humana. As gestantes, puérperas e recém-nascidos são expostos ao descaso de uma instituição que de modo algum visa dar qualquer tipo de assistência mínima para ambos nesse período. Haverá conceituação com base na legislação nacional e formas de combate contra este vilipêndio à dignidade da pessoa humana

The cytoplasmic domain of the AAA+ protease FtsH is tilted with respect to the membrane to facilitate substrate entry

AAA+ proteases are degradation machines that use ATP hydrolysis to unfold protein substrates and translocate them through a central pore toward a degradation chamber. FtsH, a bacterial membrane-anchored AAA+ protease, plays a vital role in membrane protein quality control. How substrates reach the FtsH central pore is an open key question that is not resolved by the available atomic structures of cytoplasmic and periplasmic domains. In this work, we used both negative stain TEM and cryo-EM to determine 3D maps of the full-length Aquifex aeolicus FtsH protease. Unexpectedly, we observed that detergent solubilization induces the formation of fully active FtsH dodecamers, which consist of two FtsH hexamers in a single detergent micelle. The striking tilted conformation of the cytosolic domain in the FtsH dodecamer visualized by negative stain TEM suggests a lateral substrate entrance between the membrane and cytosolic domain. Such a substrate path was then resolved in the cryo-EM structure of the FtsH hexamer. By mapping the available structural information and structure predictions for the transmembrane helices to the amino acid sequence we identified a linker of ∼20 residues between the second transmembrane helix and the cytosolic domain. This unique polypeptide appears to be highly flexible and turned out to be essential for proper functioning of FtsH as its deletion fully eliminated the proteolytic activity of FtsH