A Multilevel Model of Minority Director Participation Linking Board Diversity and Firm Performance

A board’s work is largely dependent on the collective contributions of individual directors; thus, greater board diversity, with increased knowledge complementarity, should encourage firm performance. However, empirical evidence of a board diversity/firm performance relationship is weak and inconsistent. We address this issue theoretically and empirically by moving from a monolithic, compositional view of board diversity to a multi-level approach. We argue that the realization of diversity benefits is likely dependent on individual and board processes that help transform the potential value of diverse directors into realized board and firm benefits. Drawing from the boards and team diversity literatures, we develop a multi-level model to investigate the antecedents and consequences of minority directors’ participation. Strong empirical support offers several contributions to the literature

Socioeconomic Impacts on Survival Differ by Race/Ethnicity among Adolescents and Young Adults with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Shorter survival has been associated with low socioeconomic status (SES) among elderly non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients; however it remains unknown whether the same relationship holds for younger patients. We explored the California Cancer Registry (CCR), to investigate this relationship in adolescent and young adult (AYA) NHL patients diagnosed from 1996 to 2005. A case-only survival analysis was conducted to examine demographic and clinical variables hypothesized to be related to survival. Included in the final analysis were 3,489 incident NHL cases. In the multivariate analyses, all-cause mortality (ACM) was higher in individuals who had later stage at diagnosis (P < .05) or did not receive first-course chemotherapy (P < .05). There was also a significant gradient decrease in survival, with higher ACM at each decreasing quintile of SES (P < .001). Overall results were similar for lymphoma-specific mortality. In the race/ethnicity stratified analyses, only non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs) had a significant SES-ACM trend (P < .001). Reduced overall and lymphoma-specific survival was associated with lower SES in AYAs with NHL, although a significant trend was only observed for NHWs

Kids, Adolescents, and Young Adult Cancer Study—A Methodologic Approach in Cancer Epidemiology Research

Advances have been made in treatment and outcomes for pediatric cancer. However adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer have not experienced similar relative improvements. We undertook a study to develop the methodology necessary for epidemiologic cancer research in these age groups. Our goal was to create the Kids, Adolescents, and Young Adults Cancer (KAYAC) project to create a resource to address research questions relevant to this population. We used a combination of clinic and population-based ascertainment to enroll 111 cases aged 0–39 for this methodology development study. The largest groups of cancer types enrolled include: breast cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, and melanoma. The overall participation rate is 69.8% and varies by age and tumor type. The study included patients, mothers, and fathers. The methods used to establish this resource are described, and the values of the resource in studies of childhood and young adult cancer are outlined

Application of Metapopulation Theory to Northern Bobwhite Conservation

Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) populations have declined throughout the majority of the species’ range, and have experienced the largest declines in fragmented habitats, suggesting landscape scale processes may be responsible for this decline. We used the results from a stochastic population dynamics model of South Texas bobwhites as conceptual justification for use of metapopulation theory in bobwhite management. Annual quasi-extinction probabilities for isolated bobwhite populations were 0.003 (95% CI: 0.001 0.006), 0.105 (95% CI: 0.083 0.126), and 0.773 (95% CI: 0.750 0.796) for simulated populations harvested at 20, 30, and 40% annually. The probability of regional persistence at 30% harvest increased to ~ 100% in scenarios where we modeled 5 occupied hypothetical 800-ha habitat patches; however, at 40% harvest rates, probability of regional metapopulation persistence did not reach 95% until 12 habitat patches were occupied. This suggests bobwhites probably require somewhere from 800 to 9,600 ha of available habitat space to maintain 95% probability of regional metapopulation persistence as harvest varies from 0 to 40% annually. Our results have strong implications for bobwhite harvest management given the high probability of quasi-extinction of isolated populations at rates of harvest 25%. Multiple patches of habitat (where individual patch size is 800 ha) must be available to ensure bobwhite metapopulation persistence

CCAFS’s Low- Emissions Development (LED) research and engagement impact on innovation and scaling-up mitigation options in agriculture

The objective of CCAFS’s Flagship 3 on Low-emission Development (LED) is to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while ensuring food security at large scales. Research focused on estimating GHG emissions, developing LED technical options, and identifying mechanisms for scaling up options. Results informed the feasibility of an LED framework in agriculture and built a community of practice for implementation of LED at scale. This report provides a synthesis of the Flagship’s outputs, outcomes, and impacts. LED research outputs The Flagship reported 1,001 outputs from 2011 to 2020. CCAFS’s other flagships and regional programs contributed an additional 866 outputs related to the LED program. Most outputs (42%) were reports and journal articles (Figure 1). LED research outcomes The CCAFS LED Flagship generated 60 outcomes from 2011-2020 (Table 1). The Flagship informed 16 LED policies and plans, 8 improved MRV systems, and contributed to developing 8 LED finance and investment plans. This review of the CCAFS LED Flagship found that the Flagship: - Produced significant new knowledge about greenhouse gas emissions for smallholder farmers, low-cost emissions estimation methods and tools, a database of emission factors representing agricultural systems in low and middle-income countries, a web- based knowledge platform for Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV), and a web-based guidance to low-emission development resources; Emission factors were generated for paddy-rice (99), rice-wheat system (56), livestock (34), and maize-wheat systems (25). - Provided evidence for climate action by providing decision-makers with ex-ante analysis and tools to identify targets, LED options, and the suitability of options for different production systems; - Developed and tested approaches for integrating mitigation into national and sub- national agricultural development programs, sustainability initiatives, and private sector investment to support large-scale adoption of LED options; - Contributed to 60 significant outcomes, i.e., use of research outputs at scale, from 2011- 2020. The majority of outcomes informed LED policies and plans, improved MRV systems, or enhanced LED finance and investment at global, regional, and national levels; and - Generated impacts over 10 years with the potential to reduce emissions by 196 M tons of CO2e, including the adoption of mitigation options by 36 M farmers in 69 M hectares of land with more than US$4 billion investment committed from national and sub-national governments, global climate finance, the private sector, and bilateral/multilateral funding organizations. Lessons from the CCAFS LED experience - Partnerships with research users across the public and private sectors can lead to innovation in mitigation research and scaling. Partnering with entities who conveyed their research needs to us and wanted to use results to design their programs generated the most impact. This happened with USAID, DfID/FCDO, IFAD, ADB, World Bank, Climate Bonds Initiative, responsAbility, Impossible Foods, the GRA and others. It required an entrepreneurial approach to approaching partners to offer services rather than pre-determined research projects. Partnership with the GRA was especially productive, gave us government legitimacy and helped us develop access to a wider base of contacts. Regular UNFCCC COP presence helped us to build visibility and expand our partnerships. - Research focused on countries with existing leadership in LED in agriculture where demonstrable progress was possible: Vietnam, Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, China, Kenya, and Ethiopia. - Investing in communities of practice through initial workshops and science-policy forums helped rapidly develop the LED framework for agriculture and built CCAFS’ networks for collaboration and impact. - Rapid analysis of NDC data, e.g., after the 2015 Paris COP, providing infographics that can be used in a wide range of presentation contexts (e.g., maps of NDCs), and making databases widely available, such as the NDC analysis in 2015 generated a lot of interest and ongoing use. - A focus on high-impact mitigation actions that contribute meaningfully to global targets is a priority, rather than on practices promising insignificant (i.e., low) mitigation co- benefits. - Prioritize geographic emissions hotspots, countries, and value chains to generate large - A huge appetite exists in the finance community for technical information and developing pipeline of mitigation projects in the supply chain and landscape. - Support the transition to a policy, finance and market environment, for example, conditional finance, regulations, and company accountability; to mainstream GHG mitigation in the agriculture sector

LLAMA : stellar populations in the nuclei of ultra-hard X-ray-selected AGN and matched inactive galaxies

The relation between nuclear (.50 pc) star formation and nuclear galactic activity is still elusive; theoretical models predict a link between the two, but it is unclear whether active galactic nuclei (AGNs) should appear at the same time, before, or after nuclear star formation activity. We present a study of this relation in a complete, volume-limited sample of nine of the most luminous (log L14−195 keV > 1042.5 erg s−1 ) local AGNs (the LLAMA sample), including a sample of 18 inactive control galaxies (six star-forming; 12 passive) that are matched by Hubble type, stellar mass (9.5 . log M?/M . 10.5), inclination, and distance. This allows us to calibrate our methods on the control sample and perform a differential analysis between the AGN and control samples. We performed stellar population synthesis on VLT/X-shooter spectra in an aperture corresponding to a physical radius of ≈150 pc. We find young (.30 Myr) stellar populations in seven out of nine AGNs and in four out of six star-forming control galaxies. In the non-star-forming control population, in contrast, only two out of 12 galaxies show such a population. We further show that these young populations are not indicative of ongoing star formation, providing evidence for models that see AGN activity as a consequence of nuclear star formation. Based on the similar nuclear star formation histories of AGNs and star-forming control galaxies, we speculate that the latter may turn into the former for some fraction of their time. Under this assumption, and making use of the volume completeness of our sample, we infer that the AGN phase lasts for about 5% of the nuclear starburst phase

DHODH modulates transcriptional elongation in the neural crest and melanoma

Melanoma is a tumour of transformed melanocytes, which are originally derived from the embryonic neural crest. It is unknown to what extent the programs that regulate neural crest development interact with mutations in the BRAF oncogene, which is the most commonly mutated gene in human melanoma1. We have used zebrafish embryos to identify the initiating transcriptional events that occur on activation of human BRAF(V600E) (which encodes an amino acid substitution mutant of BRAF) in the neural crest lineage. Zebrafish embryos that are transgenic for mitfa:BRAF(V600E) and lack p53 (also known as tp53) have a gene signature that is enriched for markers of multipotent neural crest cells, and neural crest progenitors from these embryos fail to terminally differentiate. To determine whether these early transcriptional events are important for melanoma pathogenesis, we performed a chemical genetic screen to identify small-molecule suppressors of the neural crest lineage, which were then tested for their effects on melanoma. One class of compound, inhibitors of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH), for example leflunomide, led to an almost complete abrogation of neural crest development in zebrafish and to a reduction in the self-renewal of mammalian neural crest stem cells. Leflunomide exerts these effects by inhibiting the transcriptional elongation of genes that are required for neural crest development and melanoma growth. When used alone or in combination with a specific inhibitor of the BRAF(V600E) oncogene, DHODH inhibition led to a marked decrease in melanoma growth both in vitro and in mouse xenograft studies. Taken together, these studies highlight developmental pathways in neural crest cells that have a direct bearing on melanoma formation