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We examine how hospital cost efficiency can improve because of knowledge spillover effects, arising from the experiences of members of a healthcare system. We identify two types of functional technology networks—that we term repository-type and workflow-type networks—which are defined by the adoption patterns of different types of electronic health record (EHR) systems application functions by hospitals in a health system. Additionally, we examine how structural features of these two network types—namely, network centrality and interconnectedness—impact such knowledge spillover effects. By analyzing seven years of panel data for 1,420 U.S. hospitals across 216 health systems, and data obtained from surveys of healthcare experts, we found that greater centrality of nodes in repository-type networks enhances the influence of partners' experiences on cost efficiency but has the opposite effect in workflow-type networks, while greater interconnectedness of workflow-type networks enhances the influence of partners' experiences on cost efficiency. Interestingly, we found the opposite effect in repository-type networks, where greater interconnectedness diminishes the influence of partners' experiences on cost efficiency. We discuss reasons for this surprising and counterintuitive finding. Overall, our results demonstrate that at least in healthcare settings where information technologies enable knowledge-sharing networks to be formed, benefits can accrue through knowledge spillover effects; moreover, variations across functional categories of technologies adopted in a network context can result in different technology-network structures with differential impacts on hospital cost efficiency because of their influence on knowledge spillover at both the hospital and system levels. Not only can these results explain mixed findings in the literature that has been dominated by a focus on cost efficiency outcomes dependent solely on the EHR adoption choices of individual hospitals, but they also provide the basis for guidelines for a network-based perspective of technology adoption. We discuss other possible settings to which our empirical findings can be reasonably generalized, including supply chain technologies and the Internet of Things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over thousands of years the brain has evolved. Our ability to change its structure is quite limited. What we can do is change the way we work with the brain and appeal to it. These notions are the building blocks for this paper. Three strands of intellectual work (neuroscience to include social intelligence, pedagogy, and environment/culture) are explored. Their relationship with each other is considered. The objective is to find a path with a higher probability of closing the fiercely persistent gender gap in educational performance especially for the performance of young men of color. Instruction informed by the gender findings emerging from neuroscience to include social intelligence is a path forward likely to produce better best practices and educational interventions. The environment/culture strand aligned with better best educational practices will produce an intervention that works thus yielding a performance pay off for boys and girls. New male schools along with new ways of working with the parents of those who populate these schools and new ways of engaging the community can produce enduring performance success. Educational interventions that work will aid in shrinking the persistent performance gap. This should insure that every child has a chance to wisely invest every day so that he or she can participate in the emerging flat world as an option.

Biological resistance to pesticides, vaccines, antibiotics, and chemotherapies creates huge costs to society, including extensive morbidity and mortality. We simultaneously face costly resistance to social changes, such as those required to resolve human–wildlife conflicts and conserve biodiversity and the biosphere. Viewing resistance as a force that impedes change from one state to another, we suggest that an analysis of biological resistance can provide unique and potentially testable insights into understanding resistance to social changes. We review key insights from managing biological resistance and develop a framework that identifies seven strategies to overcome resistance. We apply this framework to consider how it might be used to understand social resistance and generate potentially novel hypotheses that may be useful to both enhance the development of strategies to manage resistance and modulate change in socio‐ecological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Dichoteleas Kieffer (Scelionidae: Scelioninae) is known only from the Old World: Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Madagascar, southern India, the island of New Guinea, and eastern Australia. After revision, 10 species are recognized. Four species were previously recognized and are redescribed: D. ambositrae Risbec (Madagascar), D. indicus Saraswat (India: Kerala), D. rugosus Kieffer (Australia: Queensland), and D. subcoeruleus Dodd (Australia: Queensland). Six species are described as new: D. fulgidus sp. nov. (Indonesia: Papua Barat), D. fuscus sp. nov. (Papua New Guinea, Australia: Queensland), D. hamatus sp. nov. (Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa)., D. rubyae sp. nov. (Madagascar), D. striatus sp. nov. (Madagascar), and D. umbra sp. nov. (Tanzania). Dichoteleas pappi Szabó is treated as a junior synonym of D. rugosus. An identification key to species of the genus is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A focus on the interaction between cognitive schemas and context in situ has been suggested as fundamental in organizational decision making and information interpretation. Past research suggests that the situation and the social interaction that occur during learning at the cognitive level consist of factors that affect the process, but the research lacks a coherent explanation for how those factors affect it. We propose a conceptualization of learning, termed situated learning, which accounts for these factors. By drawing on situated cognition theory, social learning theory, and the theory of mental models, we identify and measure four components of situated learning, that is, thematic focus, cognitive absorption, social structure, and participation. Among the most important lessons for researchers and practitioners is the need to consider learning as a constellation of the four components instead of an indivisible phenomenon. This perspective can enhance our understanding of cognitive processes, such as information interpretation and decision making.

A downstream manufacturer can procure high‐quality inputs from its upstream raw material supplier to produce finished products with high quality. The manufacturer may also have the option to source alternative cheaper low‐quality inputs to partially replace the inputs from its supplier to produce finished products of lower quality. That is, the manufacturer can use a mixture of the supplier's inputs and alternative ones in product design such that product quality depends on the proportion of each input used in products. We endogenize this product quality decision in a simple analytical model to study the impact of this option on the supplier's profits. Intuitively, the option of sourcing alternative inputs could hurt the supplier in two ways: It sells fewer inputs, and it needs to set a lower wholesale price due to competitive pressure. However, our study reveals an opposite finding: The supplier can benefit not only by selling more inputs but also by setting a higher wholesale price when the manufacturer has the option of sourcing alternative low‐quality inputs. This interesting finding is due to the wholesale price push‐up effect: The upstream supplier may deliberately raise the wholesale price when sourcing alternative inputs is an option for the downstream manufacturer. This increased wholesale price encourages the manufacturer to use a higher proportion of alternative cheaper inputs in its product design; as a result, the manufacturer's marginal cost is reduced, which leads to a decrease in its retail price. Therefore, consumer demand for the manufacturer's products becomes higher, which in turn results in higher manufacturer demand for the supplier's inputs. Moreover, we show that despite this higher wholesale price, the manufacturer can earn higher profits by optimally charging a lower retail price. Furthermore, we find that the wholesale price of the supplier's inputs can exceed the manufacturer's retail price, thereby leading to a negative profit margin for the manufacturer from using the supplier's inputs. Finally, we demonstrate the robustness of our findings under several model extensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston) is a minute parasitic wasp that develops in the eggs of stink bugs. Over the past 30 years, Tr. basalis has become a model organism for studying host finding, patch defense behavior, and chemical ecology. As an entry point to better understand the molecular basis of these factors, in addition to filling a critical gap in the genomic resources available for parasitic Hymenoptera, we sequenced and assembled the genome of Tr. basalis using short (454, Illumina) and long read (Oxford Nanopore) sequencing technologies. The three sequencing methods produced 32 million reads (4.10 Gb; 27.9×), which were assembled into 7,586 scaffolds. The 147 Mb (N50: 42.8 kb) assembly contains complete sequences for 93.1% of the insect BUSCO dataset, and an extensive annotation protocol resulted in 14,158 protein-coding gene models, 12,197 (86%) of which had a blast hit in GenBank. Repetitive elements comprised 13.8% of the genome, and a phylogenomic analysis recovered Tr. basalis as sister to Chalcidoidea, a result in line with other studies. We identified 174 rapidly evolving gene families in Tr. basalis, including olfactory receptors and pheromone/general odorant binding proteins. These genetic elements are an obligatory portion of the parasitoid-host relationship, and the draft genome of Tr. basalis has and will continue to be useful in elucidating these relationships at finer resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]