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CEOs (chief executive officers) are paid more if they outperform other firms in their blockholders' portfolios. For every percentage point by which their own firm's return exceeds the return of the largest blockholders basket of investments in a year, their compensation increases by over $9,800. Once we benchmark to this portfolio, industry returns and own firm returns are of little importance. When the firm is a larger portion of the blockholders portfolio and when the blockholder is experienced, the reward for outperforming the blockholders portfolio is greater. Our results are robust to alternate industry classifications and definitions of blockholders., John T. Schuessler, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Wendy's International, was no doubt pleased to receive a near 50% increase in his compensation package in 2002. Wendy's stock price [...]

The next-generation Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard introduces a new Multi-Type Tree (MTT) block partitioning structure that supports Binary-Tree (BT) and Ternary-Tree (TT) splits in both vertical and horizontal directions. This new approach leads to five possible splits at each block depth. It thereby improves the coding efficiency of VVC over that of the preceding High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, which only supports Quad-Tree (QT) partitioning with a single split per block depth. However, MTT also has brought a considerable impact on encoder computational complexity. This paper proposes a two-stage learning-based technique to tackle the complexity overhead of MTT in VVC intra encoders. In our scheme, the input block is first processed by a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to predict its spatial features through a vector of probabilities describing the partition at each $4\times 4$ edge. Subsequently, a Decision Tree (DT) model leverages this vector of spatial features to predict the most likely splits at each block. Finally, based on this prediction, only the $N$ most likely splits are processed by the Rate-Distortion (RD) process of the encoder. In order to train our CNN and DT models on a wide range of image contents, we also propose a public VVC frame partitioning dataset based on existing image dataset encoded with the VVC reference software encoder. Our solution relying on the top-3 configuration reaches 47.4% complexity reduction for a negligible bitrate increase of 0.79%. A top-2 configuration enables a higher complexity reduction of 70.4% for 2.49% bitrate loss. These results emphasize a better trade-off between VTM intra-coding efficiency and complexity reduction compared to the state-of-the-art solutions. The source code of the proposed method and the training dataset are made publicly available at GitHub.

The Functional Safety Standards Committee (FSSC) turned one year old. This article describes the FSSC results both in terms of sponsorship of IEEE Computer Society safety-related standards (for example, IEEE P2851) and of nurturing new initiatives.

Genetic code expansion has pushed protein chemistry past the canonical 22 amino acids. The key enzymes that make this possible are engineered aminoacyl tRNA synthetases. However, as the number of genetically encoded amino acids has increased over the years, obvious limits in the type and size of novel side chains that can be accommodated by the synthetase enzyme become apparent. Here, we show that chemically acylating tRNAs allow for robust, site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids into proteins in zebrafish embryos, an important model organism for human health and development. We apply this approach to incorporate a unique photocaged histidine analogue for which synthetase engineering efforts have failed. Additionally, we demonstrate optical control over different enzymes in live embryos by installing photocaged histidine into their active sites.

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has developed an integrated, systems approach to strategy. The approach has resulted in a vision and strategy framework that is built for the long term and has proven itself in execution during a turbulent decade marked by changing national security priorities, economic uncertainty, and transformative technological advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, hypersonics, and cyber. This case study demonstrates how articulating a bold vision and strategy, coupled with an innovative and lasting implementation plan, has enabled APL to achieve a new level of national impact by becoming truly and overtly strategy driven. It did so by introducing, in stages, a system composed of six strategic planning methods that are often implemented separately or partially: a classic vision framework, a one-page strategy articulation adapted from industry, a continuous decision-making process, a strict alignment of resources to strategic priorities, regular accountability reviews, and a genuine engagement of the entire staff in fostering innovation aligned with the vision and strategy. The case study narrative includes expository descriptions of each system element and hard-won lessons learned during implementation. This can give the practitioner confidence that vision and strategy need not end up sitting on the shelf, but rather can be successfully applied to drive an organization forward through turbulent times.

Skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue in the human body. Known for its primary role in movement, muscle also plays important roles in regulating metabolism, maintaining body temperature and providing large stores of protein, carbohydrates and fats. Muscle cells (known as ‘muscle fibres’) can rapidly adapt to exercise or disuse by changing size and function. Many myths and misconceptions have proliferated through the years related to skeletal muscle, exercise training and human performance. Some of these myths have spanned centuries, but more recent research has passed doubt on these stories. In this article, we address common misconceptions, including the ‘go big or go home’ and ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’ approaches to training. Clarification of these myths could positively impact individual exercise programs/therapies and their outcomes.

The effects of manufacturing conditions on the microstructure evolution of Ni-based superalloys are poorly understood, and the interchangeable terminology to describe some microstructure phenomena is inconsistent. This critical review aimed to address these issues through the discussion of seven microstructure phenomena that occur during thermomechanical processing of safety-critical components used in jet engines. Each phenomenon is outlined with reference to grain nucleation and growth mechanisms, as well as processing conditions under which they are observed. The processing conditions where each phenomenon dominates are visualised through a series of contour plots. Through this graphical representation, gaps of understanding in microstructure evolution were identified and accompanied by recommendations for areas of further study.

Studies on employee engagement relate highly engaged workers to organizational bottom-line benefits. Positive psychology can help organizations understand more about employee engagement. The concept and causes of employee engagement, and its benefits for the organization and for the individual are examined.

The impact of liquidity, on securities listing, is examined.

Background: Tropical enteropathy is an asymptomatic villous atrophy of the small bowel that is prevalent in the developing world and is associated with altered intestinal function and integrity. The histology of tropical enteropathy resembles that seen in small-bowel bacterial overgrowth. Objective: This study tested the hypothesis that treatment of 3-5y-old Malawian children with the probiotic Lactobacillus GG would improve their intestinal function and integrity. Design: Clinically healthy children (n = 164) were enrolled in a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind trial. Intestinal function and integrity were measured by using the site-specific sugar-absorption test before and after 30 d of treatment with Lactobacillus GG or placebo. The primary outcomes were the ratios of urinary lactulose to mannitol (L:M) and of urinary sucrose to lactulose (S:L) excretion. Results: Of the 161 children who completed the study, 119 (73%) had tropical enteropathy on enrollment (L:M > 0.10). Children receiving Lactobacillus GG did not differ significantly from the placebo group in the excretion (in % of dose administered) of mannitol ([bar.x] [+ or -] SD: 8.9 [+ or -] 4.4 and 8.9 [+ or -] 3.9, respectively), lactulose (0.31 [+ or -] 0.20 and 0.33 [+ or -] 0.23, respectively), or sucrose (0.078 [+ or -] 0.058 and 0.082 [+ or -] 0.075, respectively). L:M and S:L also did not differ significantly between the Lactobacillus and placebo groups (0.19 [+ or -] 0.13 and 0.20 [+ or -] 0.12, respectively, for L:M; 0.58 [+ or -] 0.46 and 0.65 [+ or -] 0.57, respectively, for S:L). Conclusion: Administration of Lactobacillus GG for 30 d had no effect on the intestinal integrity of 3-5-y-old Malawian children. KEY WORDS Tropical enteropathy, ratio of lactulose to mannitol, Lactobacillus GG, probiotics, children, Malawi

As the number of Mergers & Acquisitions rise in China, HR professionals will find themselves having to increasingly grapple with integration issues. While the amalgamation of the core businesses may [...]

With the millennium fast approaching, the year-2000 (Y2K) date crisis is on everyone's mind. The following are selected letters 'Practical Programmer' columnist Robert Glass inspired with his January 1997 column, […]

Human resource (HR) managers can follow a six-step plan to align HR functions and policies with their company's business strategy. The first step is creating a team to oversee the alignment. The team should then assess the company's current strategy and HR management practices to determine the HR practices that must be changed. These practices can then be redesigned and implemented while their impact on the business plan should be monitored., A coordinated, systematic approach is the key to realigning the HR function and redesigning people management practices to support business goals. As growth strategies return to the forefront of management [...]

Changes in companies often lead employees to resign and look for another job. Companies suffer from the decrease of human capital, so 're-recruitment' strategies should be employed to ensure stability even during transition periods. The company should first identify the importance of the workforce by gauging if their loss would significantly affect the organization. The company should also measure up to the needs that motivate employees to stay and should come up with plans by which they could ensure employees that their needs are well taken care of., Re-recruiting 'Human Capital' During Turbulent Times In times of turmoil, companies need a strategy for retaining and revitalizing key employees and groups. This three-step plan can help companies minimize the [...]

Most companies have difficulty successfully initiating organizational changes in areas such as operations, systems and procedures. Successful fulfillment of these changes requires them to initially be evaluated using criteria linked to the company's 'culture.' These criteria must be taken into consideration as a whole when evaluating proposed changes. They include rules and policies, goals and measurement, customs and norms, training, ceremonies and events, management behaviors, rewards and recognition, communications, physical environment and organizational structure., Employers seeking effective change must tenaciously apply pertinent cultural 'levers' to implement and measure their plans. Achieving and sustaining the goals of organizational change is difficult at best - and [...]

The sequential solid/gas single-crystal to single-crystal reaction of [Rh(Cy2P(CH2)3PCy2)(COD)][BArF4] (COD = cyclooctadiene) with H2or D2was followed in situ by solid-state 31P{1H} NMR spectroscopy (SSNMR) and ex situ by solution quenching and GC-MS. This was quantified using a two-step Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kologoromov (JMAK) model that revealed an inverse isotope effect for the second addition of H2, that forms a σ-alkane complex [Rh(Cy2P(CH2)3PCy2)(COA)][BArF4]. Using D2, a temporal window is determined in which a structural solution for this σ-alkane complex is possible, which reveals an η2,η2-binding mode to the Rh(I) center, as supported by periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Extensive H/D exchange occurs during the addition of D2, as promoted by the solid-state microenvironment.

Strong leadership is vital to the success of any organizational change initiative. To become effective leaders, managers must learn to develop relationship power and to minimize their dependence on position power to get things done. Because relationship-based management involves employee participation and motivation, it helps boost employee commitment, loyalty, motivation and performance. Managers can develop relationship power by cultivating the key attributes needed to promote the change process. These attributes are creativity, team orientation, appreciation, accountability, coaching and listening. A model is developed for helping managers modify their behaviors to develop these leadership qualities., Leadership of a change effort cannot be delegated. Many of the day-to-day aspects of a change effort, such as gathering information, developing ideas for new methods and procedures, and designing [...]

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE. HERE'S HOW YOU CAN ADAPT SOME FAMILIAR COMMUNICATION MODELS TO NIP BUDDING RUMORS ON THE OFFICE GRAPEVINE. The company is being sold.' [...]

Treatment with thymopentin may prevent disease progression among asymptomatic HIV-infected patients who have been taking zidovudine (AZT) for longer than six months. HIV-infected patients who take AZT for more than six months may develop resistance to the drug. Researchers divided 352 patients with CD4 cell counts of 200-500 per cubic millimeter into two groups: one group had been taking AZT for longer than six months, the other had been treated with AZT for six months or less. In the long-term treatment group, fewer patients treated with thymopentin converted to AIDS or died than did patients in the same group who received placebo. The protective effect of thymopentin was not observed in the short-term AZT treatment group.

Managers can manage human performance by making work motivating and fun. Although it is widely believed that no one person can motivate another, there is a four-step model that can help managers create an atmosphere that will foster their employees' internal motivation and will it to grow. This performance improvement model works well for managing both individual perfomance and team performance. The first step involves goal-setting to allow employees to plan a course of action and avoid confusion. The second step is measuring performance to enable managers to determine if goals have been achieved and to track their progress. Next comes providing feedback and coaching so that workers will learn, grow and improve their performance. The final step is providing rewards and recognition to give people a good reason to work harder and perform better., Can human performance be managed? This is a question asked by numerous managers in companies around the world. Successful managers already know the answer: Yes. They don't even ask the [...]

OSHA has gone through some considerable changes recently as a result of the new Obama administration. Some changes occurring right now or soon to occur are: * Increased focus on [...]

Recombinant (genetically engineered) human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) may be an effective and safe treatment for anemia in AIDS patients who are being treated with zidovudine (AZT). Treatment with zidovudine may increase the likelihood of anemia in AIDS patients or patients with AIDS related complex. Of 255 AIDS patients with anemia who were being treated with zidovudine, 125 were treated with 100 to 200 U of r-HuEPO per kilogram of body weight and 130 were treated with a placebo, an inactive substance. Among patients with 500 IU of natural erythropoietin per liter of blood or less, those treated with r-HuEPO required fewer blood transfusions and had a larger increase in their hematocrit (percentage of red blood cells) than those who received a placebo. Treatment with r-HuEPO had no effect on patients with more than 500 IU of natural erythropoietin per liter of blood.

S&P Study Shows Int'l Re Results Down Sharply Underwriting results for non-U.S. reinsurers deteriorated substantially in 1989, as evidenced by a combined ratio of 112 percent, compared to 108.3 percent [...]

Powerlifting regularly exposes athletes to extreme stimuli such as chronic heavy resistance training (HRT), and many powerlifters choose to augment their performance with anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS). However, little is known about the myocellular adaptations that occur from long-term HRT and AAS use, especially into middle age. We were presented with the unique opportunity to study muscle cells from an elite-level powerlifter (EPL; age 40 years) with ≥ 30 years of HRT experience and ≥ 15 years of AAS use. The purpose of this case study was to identify myocellular characteristics [myosin heavy chain (MHC) fiber type, fiber size, and myonuclear content] in EPL, as well as compare these data to existing literature. The participant underwent a resting vastus lateralis muscle biopsy and single fibers were analyzed for MHC content via SDS-PAGE. A subset of fibers underwent MHC-specific imaging analysis via confocal microscopy to identify cell size (cross-sectional area, CSA) and myonuclear domain (MND) size. MHC fiber type distribution was 9% I, 12% I/IIa, 79% IIa, and 0% other isoforms. This pure MHC IIa (fast-twitch) fiber content was amongst the highest reported in the literature. Imaging analysis of MHC IIa fibers revealed a mean CSA of 4218 ± 933 μm2and MND of 12,548 ± 3181 μm3. While the fast-twitch fiber CSA was comparable to values in previous literature, mean MND was smaller than has been reported in untrained men, implying greater capacity for growth and repair. These findings showcase the unique muscle cell structure of an elite powerlifter, extending the known physiological limits of human muscle size and strength.

There can be no doubt that virtualisation is the technology trend of the moment. Google the term and more than 30m links offering expertise in the area will appear in […]

Eight years ago I began working in Afghanistan, which is repeatedly ranked the worst place in the world to be a woman, let alone one fighting for women's rights. I [...]

It is common for merger and acquisition deals in Asia to focus on pre-deal due diligence, while assessing and managing human capital is overlooked. The success of merger and acquisition deals in Asia could be considerably enhanced if companies were to place more emphasis on ensuring that the best people manage the new operation. Merger and acquisition strategy must include human capital integration, human resource financial and organizational due diligence and company-wide integration. There must be clear and constant communication from senior managers.

To simplify on-site water sampling and screening, particularly in hard-to-reach or dangerous sites, a drone equipped with a hydrophilic–lipophilic balance (HLB), thin-film solid-phase microextraction (TF-SPME) sampler was developed. The drone-based sampler was shown to protect the sorbent phase from external contamination while preventing any detectable loss of components of a spiked modified McReynolds mixture on the membrane in the sampler for at least 10 min. HLB/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) membranes deployed in flight on the drone sampler were demonstrated to extract disinfection by-products, including trichloromethane, dichloroacetonitrile, 1,1,1-trichloro-2-propanone, 2,2,2-trichloroethanol, benzonitrile, and benzyl nitrile, from hot tub water. When analyzed on-site, in duplicate, using hand-portable instrumentation, reasonably repeatable results were achieved (%relative standard deviations (RSD’s) 5–16%). Finally, drone TF-SPME sampling of an anthropogenically impacted watercourse indicated that impact from the suspected nearby landfill site was minimal, instead suggesting that internal combustion by-products from vehicles on the nearby Highway 401 played a much larger role in contaminating the watercourse. This conclusion was supported by the confirmed presence of BTEX, styrene, isopropylbenzene, propylbenzene, and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene. In addition to immediately identifying these compounds on-site using portable gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), samples were taken back to the laboratory for benchtop analysis, further supporting this conclusion.

What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why? I subsequently worked with a museum planning company and curated an exhibition on 300 years of Connecticut architecture so, it was gratifying when the host museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, subsequently asked me to organize an exhibition for the 100th anniversary of the Mark Twain house for 1974. At the same moment, decorative arts curator Jane Nylander suggested me to create a loan exhibition at Sturbridge Village about the rural New England landscape as it was affected by the decline of agriculture and the development of industrialization in the first half of the 19th century. [Extracted from the article]

Al 'Chainsaw' Dunlap's recent announcement of a 50% job cut at Sunbeam aside, 'growth' has replaced 'downsizing' as the dominant strategic focus throughout American business. Mergers and acquisitions, new market [...]

Understanding the projected costs of projects within various sectors of a country is crucial for resource allocation and timely delivery. In Colombia, comprehensive government project data is accessible through the National Government’s open data platform. Utilizing these datasets from the National Planning Department, we construct a predictive model leveraging regression analysis to estimate the expenses associated with governmental initiatives. This work evaluates several regression models, using diverse evaluation error metrics, to determine the most effective model for deployment. A key component of our approach is to combine textual attributes into a single variable, and subsequently apply text mining techniques, in order to obtain insights from free text fields in the data sets. Ultimately, the Adaboost model combined with TF-IDF emerged as the most precise combination of models, exhibiting a mean average precision error (MAPE) of 17.6%, closely followed by the Random Forest model combined with TF-IDF with a MAPE of 17.9%.

The article explores in the 2020\21 financial year, there were 15 new listings in the healthcare sector on the ASX, the highest number since FY2017. The largest listing was Australian Clinical Labs (ASX:ACL), a private hospital pathology business that raised more than $400 million. As the largest healthcare capital raising on the ASX in more than six years, the Australian Clinical Labs initial public offering (IPO) reinforced the strong investor interest.

Presents the solution to bewildering Y2K problem called "windowing." Advantages of windowing; derivation of century information from 2-digit years; limitations of windowing; need to modify program statements; adaptation of sorting and indexing routines; accurate representation of dates and times; representation of dates by integer days.

Public procurement processes related to tenders represent one of the most important financing strategies for companies in diverse sectors, as they present the opportunity to offer services, supplies and product sales to state entities. Given the high volume of public tenders in the Colombian Government SECOP II database, manually identifying tenders of interest can be a cumbersome and time-consuming process. In this work, we propose automating the identification of interesting tenders by training a supervised classification model. We manually label a sample of tenders published in the National Government open data platform, according to whether or not they are of interest to the Minuto de Dios University, and use them for model training. Several models are evaluated in order to select the best model for deployment, taking into account various metrics to determine best performance according to business needs. The best model is selected based on different analyses, comparing the application of data balancing techniques, the performance of the proposed models, and hyper-parameter settings measured against the test data.

Naturally I was excited at the prospect at having lunch at the White House with the President of the United States. Very few eleven-year-olds get to do that. I told [...]

THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS of Amalia Rodrigues he released by EMI-VC in a series of five boxed sets. The first is planned for release in June, according to the company's Portuguese [...]