Long Island University

Interferons (IFNs) are the most important cytokines in antiviral immune responses. "Natural IFN-producing cells" (IPCs) in human blood express CD4 and major histocompatibility complex class II proteins, but have not been isolated and further characterized because of their rarity, rapid apoptosis, and lack of lineage markers. Purified IPCs are here shown to be the CD4(+)CD11c- type 2 dendritic cell precursors (pDC2s), which produce 200 to 1000 times more IFN than other blood cells after microbial challenge. pDC2s are thus an effector cell type of the immune system, critical for antiviral and antitumor immune responses.

In many modern-day control problems encountered in the fluid, petroleum, power, gas and paper industries, cross coupling (interaction) between controlled and manipulated variables can be so severe that any attempt to employ single-loop controllers results in unacceptable performance. In all these situations, any workable control strategy most take into account the true multivariable nature of the plant and address itself directly to the design of a compatible multivariable controller. Any practical design technique most be able to cope with load disturbance, plant saturation, measurement noise, process lag, sensitivity and also incorporate suitable criteria delimiting transient behavior and steady-state performance. These difficulties, when compounded by the fact that many plants (such as chemical reactors) are inherently open-loop unstable have hindered the development of an inclusive frequency-domain analytic design methodology. However, a solution based on a least-square Wiener-Hopf minimization of an appropriately chosen cost functional is now available. The optimal controller obtained by this method guarantees an asymptotically stable and dynamical closed-loop configuration irrespective of whether or not the plant is proper, stable, or minimum-phase and also permits the stability margin of the optimal design to be ascertained in advance. The main purpose of this paper is to lay bare the physical assumptions underlying the choice of model and to present an explicit formula for the optimal controller.

This paper investigates how an organizational competence in boundary spanning emerges in practice by drawing on the concepts of boundary spanner and boundary object. Using data from two qualitative field studies, we argue that in order for boundary spanning to emerge a new joint field of practice must be produced. Our data illustrate that some agents partially transform their practices in local settings so as to accommodate the interests of their counterparts. While negotiating the new joint field, these agents become what we call boundary spanners-in-practice who produce and use objects which become locally useful and which acquire a common identity—hence, boundary objects-in-use. Moreover, we show how boundary spanners-in-practice use various organizational and professional resources including the influence that comes with being nominated to boundary spanners’ roles to create the new joint field. The conditions necessary for boundary spanners-in-practice to emerge are outlined and discussed, as are important implications for IS implementation and use.

This update and revision of the international guideline for urticaria was developed following the methods recommended by Cochrane and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) working group. It is a joint initiative of the Dermatology Section of the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA²LEN) and its Urticaria and Angioedema Centers of Reference and Excellence (UCAREs and ACAREs), the European Dermatology Forum (EDF; EuroGuiDerm), and the Asia Pacific Association of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology with the participation of 64 delegates of 50 national and international societies and from 31 countries. The consensus conference was held on 3 December 2020. This guideline was acknowledged and accepted by the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). Urticaria is a frequent, mast cell-driven disease that presents with wheals, angioedema, or both. The lifetime prevalence for acute urticaria is approximately 20%. Chronic spontaneous or inducible urticaria is disabling, impairs quality of life, and affects performance at work and school. This updated version of the international guideline for urticaria covers the definition and classification of urticaria and outlines expert-guided and evidence-based diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the different subtypes of urticaria.

Online education in its various modes has been growing steadily worldwide due to the confluence of new technologies, global adoption of the Internet, and intensifying demand for a workforce trained periodically for the ever-evolving digital economy. Online education is on track to become mainstream by 2025. This editorial documents country-level factors that impact quantity and quality of online education. Such factors include industry (business); governments at local, state, and federal levels; country laws; ICT capacity; Internet/mobile technology diffusion; and income and digital divide. We provide implications for country and world organizations concerning online education.

This study examined the ability of a theoretical model to predict types and levels of parental involvement during the elementary and middle school years. Predictor variables included parents' motivational beliefs about involvement, perceptions of invitations to involvement from others, and perceived life context variables. Analyses of responses from 853 parents of 1st- through 6th-grade students enrolled in an ethnically diverse metropolitan public school system in the mid-southern United States revealed that model constructs predicted significant portions of variance in parents' home- and school-based involvement even when controlling for family socioeconomic status. The predictive power of specific model constructs differed for elementary and middle school parents. Results are discussed in terms of research on parental involvement and school practice.

Throughout history, natural products have played a dominant role in the treatment of human ailments. For example, the legendary discovery of penicillin transformed global existence. Presently, natural products comprise a large portion of current-day pharmaceutical agents, most notably in the area of cancer therapy. Examples include Taxol, vinblastine, and camptothecin. These structurally unique agents function by novel mechanisms of action; isolation from natural sources is the only plausible method that could have led to their discovery. In addition to terrestrial plants as sources for starting materials, the marine environment (e.g., ecteinascidin 743, halichondrin B, and dolastatins), microbes (e.g., bleomycin, doxorubicin, and staurosporin), and slime molds (e.g., epothilone B) have yielded remarkable cancer chemotherapeutic agents. Irrespective of these advances, cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide. Undoubtedly, the prevention of human cancer is highly preferable to treatment. Cancer chemoprevention, the use of vaccines or pharmaceutical agents to inhibit, retard, or reverse the process of carcinogenesis, is another important approach for easing this formidable public health burden. Similar to cancer chemotherapeutic agents, natural products play an important role in this field. There are many examples, including dietary phytochemicals such as sulforaphane and phenethyl isothiocyanate (cruciferous vegetables) and resveratrol (grapes and grape products). Overall, natural product research is a powerful approach for discovering biologically active compounds with unique structures and mechanisms of action. Given the unfathomable diversity of nature, it is reasonable to suggest that chemical leads can be generated that are capable of interacting with most or possibly all therapeutic targets.

Transgenic maize engineered to express insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has become widely adopted in U.S. agriculture. In 2009, Bt maize was planted on more than 22.2 million hectares, constituting 63% of the U.S. crop. Using statistical analysis of per capita growth rate estimates, we found that areawide suppression of the primary pest Ostrinia nubilalis (European corn borer) is associated with Bt maize use. Cumulative benefits over 14 years are an estimated $3.2 billion for maize growers in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, with more than $2.4 billion of this total accruing to non-Bt maize growers. Comparable estimates for Iowa and Nebraska are $3.6 billion in total, with $1.9 billion for non-Bt maize growers. These results affirm theoretical predictions of pest population suppression and highlight economic incentives for growers to maintain non-Bt maize refugia for sustainable insect resistance management.

When pigeons' standing on one or the other side of a chamber was reinforced on two concurrent variable-interval schedules, the ratio of time spent on the left to time spent on the right was directly proportional to the ratio of reinforcements produced by standing on the left to reinforcements produced by standing on the right. The constant of proportionality was less than unity for all pigeons, indicating a bias toward the right side of the chamber. The biased matching relation obtained here is comparable to the matching relation obtained with concurrent reinforcement of key pecks. The present results, together with related research, suggest that the ratio of time spent in two activities equals the ratio of the "values" of the activities. The value of an activity is the product of several parameters, such as rate and amount of reinforcement, contingent on that activity.

Inflammation and the resulting accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in the intrinsic and photoaging of human skin in vivo. Environmental insults such as ultraviolet (UV) rays from sun, cigarette smoke exposure and pollutants, and the natural process of aging contribute to the generation of free radicals and ROS that stimulate the inflammatory process in the skin. UV irradiation initiates and activates a complex cascade of biochemical reactions in human skin. In short, UV causes depletion of cellular antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes (SOD, catalase), initiates DNA damage leading to the formation of thymidine dimmers, activates the neuroendocrine system leading to immunosuppression and release of neuroendocrine mediators, and causes increased synthesis and release of pro-inflammatory mediators from a variety of skin cells. The pro-inflammatory mediators increase the permeability of capillaries leading to infiltration and activation of neutrophils and other phagocytic cells into the skin. The net result of all these effects is inflammation and free radical generation (both reactive oxygen and nitrogen species). Furthermore, elastsases and other proteases (cathepsin G) released from neutrophils cause further inflammation, and activation of matrix metalloproteases. The inflammation further activates the transcription of various matrixes degrading metalloproteases, leading to abnormal matrix degradation and accumulation of non-functional matrix components. In addition, the inflammation and ROS cause oxidative damage to cellular proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, which accumulates in the dermal and epidermal compartments, contributing to the aetiology of photoaging. Strategies to prevent photodamage caused by this cascade of reactions initiated by UV include: prevention of UV penetration into skin by physical and chemical sunscreens, prevention/reduction of inflammation using anti-inflammatory compounds (e.g. cyclooxygenase inhibitors, inhibitors of cytokine generation); scavenging and quenching of ROS by antioxidants; inhibition of neutrophil elastase activity to prevent extracellular matrix damage and activation of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), and inhibition of MMP expression (e.g. by retinoids) and activity (e.g. by natural and synthetic inhibitors).

We report a quasi-experimental investigation of an adaptation of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) with a group of suicidal adolescents with borderline personality features. The DBT group (n = 29) received 12 weeks of twice weekly therapy consisting of individual therapy and a multifamily skills training group. The treatment as usual (TAU) group (n = 82) received 12 weeks of twice weekly supportive-psychodynamic individual therapy plus weekly family therapy. Despite more severe pre-treatment symptomatology in the DBT group, at post-treatment this group had significantly fewer psychiatric hospitalizations during treatment, and a significantly higher rate of treatment completion than the TAU group. There were no significant differences in the number of suicide attempts made during treatment. Examining pre-post change within the DBT group, there were significant reductions in suicidal ideation, general psychiatric symptoms, and symptoms of borderline personality. DBT appears to be a promising treatment for suicidal adolescents with borderline personality characteristics.

Biomechanical analysis is a powerful tool in the evaluation of movement dysfunction in orthopaedic and neurologic populations. Three-dimensional (3D) motion capture systems are widely used, accurate systems, but are costly and not available in many clinical settings. The Microsoft Kinect™ has the potential to be used as an alternative low-cost motion analysis tool. The purpose of this study was to assess concurrent validity of the Kinect™ with Brekel Kinect software in comparison to Vicon Nexus during sagittal plane gait kinematics. Twenty healthy adults (nine male, 11 female) were tracked while walking and jogging at three velocities on a treadmill. Concurrent hip and knee peak flexion and extension and stride timing measurements were compared between Vicon and Kinect™. Although Kinect measurements were representative of normal gait, the Kinect™ generally under-estimated joint flexion and over-estimated extension. Kinect™ and Vicon hip angular displacement correlation was very low and error was large. Kinect™ knee measurements were somewhat better than hip, but were not consistent enough for clinical assessment. Correlation between Kinect™ and Vicon stride timing was high and error was fairly small. Variability in Kinect™ measurements was smallest at the slowest velocity. The Kinect™ has basic motion capture capabilities and with some minor adjustments will be an acceptable tool to measure stride timing, but sophisticated advances in software and hardware are necessary to improve Kinect™ sensitivity before it can be implemented for clinical use.

A study was conducted to determine if analysis of variance techniques are appropriate when the dependent variable has a dichotomous (zero‐one) distribution. Several 1‐, 2‐, and 3‐way analysis of variance configurations were investigated with regard to both the size of the Type I error and the Power. The findings show the analysis of variance to be an appropriate statistical technique for analyzing dichotomous data in fixed effects models where cell frequencies are equal under the following conditions: (a) the proportion of responses in the smaller response category is equal to or greater than .2 and there are at least 20 degrees of freedom for error, or (b) the proportion of responses in the smaller response category is less than .2 and there are at least 40 degrees of freedom for error.

The study reported here examined how various characteristics of the board of directors and other governance features affected the occurrence of U.S. corporate fraud in the 1978–2001 period. The findings suggest that board composition and the structure of a board's oversight committees are significantly correlated with the incidence of corporate fraud. In the sample, as the number of independent outside directors increased on a board and in the board's audit and compensation committees, the likelihood of corporate wrongdoing decreased.

Increasingly, firms source more complex and strategic as well as harder to codify information technology projects to low-cost offshore locations. Completing such projects successfully requires close collaboration among all participants. Yet, achieving such collaboration is extremely difficult because of the complexity of the context: multiple and over lapping boundaries associated with diverse organizational and national contexts separate the participants. These boundaries also lead to a pronounced imbalance of resources among onshore and offshore contributors giving rise to status differences and inhibiting collaboration. This research adopts a practice perspective to investigate how differences in country and organizational contexts give rise to boundaries and associated status differences in offshore application development projects and how these boundaries and status differences can be renegotiated in practice to establish effective collaboration. To illustrate and refine the theory, a qualitative case study of a large financial services firm, which sourced a variety of high-end IT work to its wholly owned subsidiaries (“captive centers”) and to third party vendors in multiple global locations (in particular, to India and Russia), is presented. Using a grounded theory approach, the paper finds that differences in country contexts gave rise to a number of boundaries that inhibited collaboration effectiveness, while differences in organizational contexts were largely mediated through organizational practices that treated vendor centers and captive units similarly. It also shows that some key onshore managers were able to alleviate status differences and facilitate effective collaboration across diverse country contexts by drawing on their position and resources. Implications are drawn for the theory and practice of global software development and multiparty collaboration.

Abstract This paper presents a model that relates properties of the analysts' information environment of the properties of their forecasts. First, we express forecast dispersion and error in the mean forecast in terms of analyst uncertainty and consensus (that is, the degree to which analysts share a common belief). Second, were reserve the relations to show how uncertainability and consensus cab be measured by combining forecast dispersion, error in the mean forecast, and the number of forecasts. Third, we show that the quality of common and private information available to analysts can be measured using these same observable variables. The relations we present are intuitive and easily applied in empirical studies.

This is a critical review of the global distribution, sources of variation in toxicity, anatomical partitioning, metabolism, and detoxification kinetics of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins (carbamate, TV-sulfocarbamoyl, and decarbamoyl saxitoxin derivatives) in bivalve molluscs. Marked interspecific differences in toxin accumulation are related to differences in toxin sensitivity, determined from neurological, physiological, and behavioral responses. Toxicity also varies considerably with body size, immersion time, off-bottom position, and over distances ≤1 km. Bivalve species can be broadly classified as rapid (e.g., Mytilus eduJis) or slow detoxifiers (e.g., Placopecten mageJJanicus). The former takes weeks to detoxify to the regulatory level (up to 15% toxin loss day−1); the latter takes months to years to detoxify (≤3% loss day−1). Toxin biotransformation, which may lead to changes in net toxicity, varies greatly among species. A few clam species, such as Protothaca staminea and Spisula solidissima, exhibit rapid enzymatic decarbamoylation, whereas other bivalves (e.g., Mya arenaria and M. edulis) show limited toxin metabolism and thus are useful indicators of the toxigenic source. Pronounced changes in toxin composition occur when algae are rich in low-potency, N-sulfocarbamoyl toxins. Analysis of toxin composition and relative toxin levels of viscera and other tissues can be used to predict the timing of toxic blooms. This review highlights information required to select aquaculture species and effectively manage stocks in PSP-affected areas. Caveats in the interpretation of existing data and needs for future research are identified.

This study examines the course of emotion expression development over the first 2 years of life in a sample of full-term and preterm children. 58 mother/infant pairs were videotaped at infant ages of 2 1/2, 5, 7 1/2, and 22 months, recording face-to-face interaction involving play and separation/reunion sessions. The tapes were coded on a second-to-second basis using Izard's facial affect coding system. Data analysis focused on (1) differences in expressive behavior at 22 months as a function of risk status, gender, attachment status, and patterns of earlier maternal contingency behavior; (2) stability of specific emotional expressive patterns across assessment periods; and (3) the relation of expressive behavior and security of attachment at 2 years to qualities of earlier affective interchange. Mother's contingency behavior (both general level and specific contingency patterns) appeared to have a material effect on the course of emotional development, as did birth status and gender. Prematurity was associated with differential socioemotional development well into the second year, much in contrast to the "catch-up effect" observed in linguistic and cognitive functioning. Discrete emotions analysis of attachment groups yielded differentiation along a broad negative/positive dimension, but it also showed that insecurely attached children can be characterized as showing inhibited anger expression. The results of this study are discussed within the framework of organizational models of infant affective development; attachment theory and discrete emotions approaches were found to yield different yet equally informative data on the course of socioemotional development.

Women have yet to welcome Web-based shopping as readily as men. A primary factor for this state is how men and women view shopping. Understanding those differences will help vendors address this vital pool of consumers.

The correct positioning of the nucleus is often important in defining the spatial organization of the cell, for example, in determining the cell division plane. In interphase Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells, the nucleus is positioned in the middle of the cylindrical cell in an active microtubule (MT)-dependent process. Here, we used green fluorescent protein markers to examine the dynamics of MTs, spindle pole body, and the nuclear envelope in living cells. We find that interphase MTs are organized in three to four antiparallel MT bundles arranged along the long axis of the cell, with MT plus ends facing both the cell tips and minus ends near the middle of the cell. The MT bundles are organized from medial MT-organizing centers that may function as nuclear attachment sites. When MTs grow to the cell tips, they exert transient forces produced by plus end MT polymerization that push the nucleus. After an average of 1.5 min of growth at the cell tip, MT plus ends exhibit catastrophe and shrink back to the nuclear region before growing back to the cell tip. Computer modeling suggests that a balance of these pushing MT forces can provide a mechanism to position the nucleus at the middle of the cell.