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Operations management (OM) is a relatively new field of business, having become recognised as a standalone discipline in the mid 1980s. With this in mind, this study analyses the origins, geographical regions, countries, and institutions, of OM research in 11 top level academic journals from 1985 through 2010. Since the field is rather new and is still being developed, an analysis of current and past research constituents offers a unique opportunity to assess how research and education in OM has spread across the globe. We identify those geographic regions and countries that encourage and support OM research and education from the academic institutions within their boundaries. Further, through the research contributions of affiliated authors and PhD graduates, we identify those institutions within each country that are the leaders in terms of OM research and education efforts. We consider the research of faculty affiliated with each institution as well as the research of each institution’s PhD graduates. ...

A large proportion of duplicates, originating from ubiquitously expressed genes, acquire testis-biased expression. Identifying the underlying cause of this observation requires determining whether the duplicates have altered functions relative to the parental genes. Typically, statistical methods are used to test for positive selection, signature of which in protein sequence of duplicates implies functional divergence. When assumptions are violat ed, however, such tests can lead to false inference of positive selection. More convincing evidence for naturally selected functional changes would be the occurrence of structural changes with similar functional consequences in independent duplicates of the same gene. We investigated two testis-specific duplicates of the broadly expressed enzyme gene Aldehyde dehydrogenase (Aldh )t hat arose in different Drosophila lineages. The duplicates show a typical pattern of accelerated amino acid substitutions relative to their broadly expressed paralogs, with statistical evidence for positive selection in both cases. Importantly, in both duplicates, width of the entrance to the substrate binding site, known a priori to influence substrate specificity, and otherwise conserved throughout the genus Drosophila, has been reduced, resulting in narrowing of the entrance. Protein structure modeling suggests that the reduction of the size of the enzyme’s substrate entry channel, which is likely to shift substrate specificity toward smaller aldehydes, is accounted for by the positively selected parallel substitutions in one duplicate but not the other. Evolution of the testis-specific duplicates was accompanied by reduction in expression of the ancestral Aldh in males, supporting the hypothesis that the duplicates may have helped resolve intralocus sexual conflict over Aldh function.

Individuals experiencing a highly caring, task-involving, and low ego-involving exercise climate have reported greater ownership in exercise class and empowerment to exercise in general.This study examined the relationship between ownership and empowerment in exercise, with 2 context-specific outcomes, satisfaction with physical education (PE) and physical activity, respectively. Given the mission of PE to foster individuals' lifelong physical activity habit, the perceptions of high school students were collected for this study. Ownership in exercise was hypothesized to be significantly, positively correlated with students reporting satisfaction in PE more than their satisfaction in physical activity, whereas empowerment in exercise was hypothesized to be more strongly, positively correlated with students' physical activity satisfaction. A second purpose of this study was to test the measurement quality of the updated Empowerment in Exercise Scale (EES; now 13 items).High school students (N = 502, 43% female) in a Midwestern U.S. school district completed a survey.Confirmatory factor analysis supported the internal measurement structure of the EES (λ = .62-.91; McDonald's omega = .89) across student gender (strong invariance). Additionally, the structural equation modeling analysis revealed only 1 parameter moderated by the students' gender (latent mean of ownership). The hypotheses were supported, such that ownership in exercise was more strongly correlated with PE satisfaction (r = .87) and empowerment in exercise had a stronger correlation with physical activity satisfaction (r = .92).These results support the beneficial effect a satisfying experience in PE can have on students' satisfaction with physical activity outside of school.

The lethality of the aggressive brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) results in part from its strong propensity to invade surrounding normal brain tissue. Although oncogenic drivers such as epidermal growth factor receptor activation and Phosphatase and Tensin homolog inactivation are thought to promote the motility and invasiveness of GBM cells via phosphatidylinostitol 3-kinase activation, other unexplored mechanisms may also contribute to malignancy. Here we demonstrate that several components of the planar cell polarity (PCP) arm of non-canonical Wnt signaling including VANGL1, VANGL2 and FZD7 are transcriptionally upregulated in glioma and correlate with poorer patient outcome. Knockdown of the core PCP pathway component VANGL1 suppresses the motility of GBM cell lines, pointing to an important mechanistic role for this pathway in glioblastoma malignancy. We further observe that restoration of Nrdp1, a RING finger type E3 ubiquitin ligase whose suppression in GBM also correlates with poor prognosis, reduces GBM cell migration and invasiveness by suppressing PCP signaling. Our observations indicate that Nrdp1 physically interacts with the Vangl1 and Vangl2 proteins to mediate the K63-linked polyubiquitination of the Dishevelled, Egl-10 and Pleckstrin (DEP) domain of the Wnt pathway protein Dishevelled (Dvl). Ubiquitination hinders Dvl binding to phosphatidic acid, an interaction necessary for efficient Dvl recruitment to the plasma membrane upon Wnt stimulation of Fzd receptor and for the propagation of downstream signals. We conclude that the PCP pathway contributes significantly to the motility and hence the invasiveness of GBM cells, and that Nrdp1 acts as a negative regulator of PCP signaling by inhibiting Dvl through a novel polyubiquitination mechanism. We propose that the upregulation of core PCP components, together with the loss of the key negative regulator Nrdp1, act coordinately to promote GBM invasiveness and malignancy.

As procurement auctions increasingly move to digital platforms, more data and information is available (or can be made available) to bidders. Despite this trend, relatively little is known about the impact of information asymmetries in these settings. We investigate two such differences in first‐price sealed‐bid reverse auctions with a common value. In a design that mirrors real construction procurement auctions, our laboratory experiment tests the impact of the precision of a bidder's cost estimate and the degree to which bidders know the inherent cost estimate precisions in the auction. We find that more understanding of estimate precision decreases bidder profit, counter to our expectation; however, we also find evidence of strategic behavior from those bidders that ratchets up pressure on competitors and pushes competitors toward bankruptcy. Most notably, understanding just one's own precision can help avoid the winner's curse in some settings. The same result does not apply if bidders also know their competitor's precision; more information does not help. The implication from our realistic setting—that reduced uncertainty may not help the bidder—raises important questions about the degree of transparency that is optimal in procurement auctions.

The July 23, 2012 CME was an extremely fast backside event, reaching ∼1 AU (STEREO-A) within 20 h as compared to ∼3–6 days for typical CME events. Here, we present results from a simulation study of the CME and its driven shock using a combined kinematic and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation model, H3DMHD. In general, the model results match well with in situ measurements in the arrival time of the CME-driven shock and the total magnetic field strength, assuming an initial CME speed of 3100 km/s. Based on extrapolation of an empirical model, the fast CME and its large magnetic field (| B |∼120 nT) are capable of producing an extremely large geomagnetic storm ( Dst ∼−545 nT), comparable to the well-known Halloween storm in 2003, if the CME had made a direct impact to the Earth. We investigated the effect of the adiabatic index ( γ ). It is found that the shock tends to arrive slightly later for a smaller γ value, and γ =5/3 provides the best agreement for the shock arrival time. We also demonstrate that the strength (the Mach number) of the CME-driven fast-mode shock is not the largest at the “nose” of the CME. This is mainly due to the manifestation of fast-mode wave speed upstream of the shock.

The decaying fruit in which Drosophila melanogaster feed and breed can contain ethanol in concentrations as high as 6–7%. In this cosmopolitan species, populations from temperate regions are consistently more resistant to ethanol poisoning than populations from the tropics, but little is known about the physiological basis of this difference. I show that when exposed to low levels of ethanol vapor, flies from a tropical African population accumulated 2–3 times more internal ethanol than flies from a European population, giving evidence that faster ethanol catabolism by European flies contributes to the resistance difference. Using lines differing only in the origin of their third chromosome, however, I show that faster ethanol elimination cannot fully explain the resistance difference, because relative to African third chromosomes, European third chromosomes confer substantially higher ethanol resistance, while having little effect on internal ethanol concentrations. European third chromosomes also confer higher resistance to acetic acid, a metabolic product of ethanol, than African third chromosomes, suggesting that the higher ethanol resistance conferred by the former might be due to increased resistance to deleterious effects of ethanol-derived acetic acid. In support of this hypothesis, when ethanol catabolism was blocked with an Alcohol dehydrogenase mutant, there was no difference in ethanol resistance between flies with European and African third chromosomes.

The number of pirates from Somalia acting in and around the Arabian Sea and Arab Gulf seems to have grown exponentially in recent years, catching numerous headlines and the world’s attention in the process. Although naval powers have devoted substantial energy and resources to conducting various enforcement missions, little has been done to prosecute their captured pirates. At present, the capturing powers usually either release the pirates shortly after they are captured or ‘dump’ them for trial at a developing African country. This practice hardly can be said to provide an effective deterrence to piracy. To aid in deterring these pirates through proper prosecution, the establishment of an international judicial organisation in the region – perhaps in Qatar – that focuses specifically on these types of crimes and criminals might be helpful in terms of convenience and legitimacy. This article is the first to explore this possibility from a legal perspective. Critics will be quick to question whether use of an already existing forum might be more viable. Expanding the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction to cover piracy is one option, although at least two factors frustrate this option. First, adding piracy to genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression might dilute the International Criminal Court’s focus on the ‘most serious crimes’. Second, without the cooperation of the United States and the People’s Republic of China, which are not members of the Rome Statute, it will be difficult for captured pirates by these naval powerhouses to be tried by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Another option is to establish a specialised piracy chamber within the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). At least three factors frustrate this option. First, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requires the consent of private

This study examined the relationship between college students’ perceptions of the motivational climate (i.e., caring, task- and ego-involving) in physical activity courses to their physical self-concept, hope, and happiness. Midwestern university undergraduates (N = 412), enrolled in group physical activity classes, completed the following measures: class climate, physical self-concept, hope, and happiness. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that students who perceived a caring, task-involving climate were more likely to report high physical self-concept, hope, and happiness. A gender comparison found that while perceptions of the ego-involving climate were significantly higher for males, the ego climate did not significantly contribute to the males’ canonical correlation. In addition, while physical self-concept was positively associated with climate for both genders, males were more likely to experience higher physical self-concept than females. Results suggest positive and supportive exercise environments may not only help individuals reap the physical benefits of exercise but also the psychological benefits.

The validity of historic or ancient title to territory has been tested in numerous international judicial proceedings, both in the International Court of Justice and in international arbitration. Historic title usually originates in ancient normative systems, including tributary, feudal, sultanate, and Islamic systems that predate the Western international legal system. Nevertheless, the rules against which historic title has been tested in international judicial proceedings generally require that the original titleholder be a state or a central authority that exercised territorial sovereignty over a defined space to the exclusion of other sovereign powers. The rules that apply specifically to these ancient normative systems, where allegiance to authority was personal or religious rather than territorial, have been seen as irrelevant compared to the more contemporary determinations of historic title. The only exceptions have been the French medieval customary normfrankalmoign, which the international arbitral tribunal in theMinquiers and Ecrehoscase cited as evidence that the English king exercised territorial sovereignty over the disputed islands, and the personal allegiance of theOrang Lautto the Sultan of Johore, coupled with the recognition accorded to the latter by the great maritime powers, which the International Court of Justice inMalaysiav.Singaporefound sufficient to prove the historic title of Malaysia over Pedra Branca/Pulau Batu Puteh and Middle Rocks. The principles by which historic title were adjudicated in these cases appear to be the same principles by which the Western powers dealt with the claims of the People's Republic of China and Vietnam to the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands, not only during the colonial period but also after the Second World War. This analysis suggests how the International Court of Justice or an international arbitral tribunal might, if given the opportunity, resolve these South China Sea disputes. Readers might also find this analysis to be particularly relevant to other disputes involving historic title, including the East China Sea disputes, although the focus of this article is on the South China Sea disputes. States and other commentators are left to rely on their own preferences and allegiances in reaching their own normative conclusions using the novel analysis provided by this article.

This article represents the first comprehensive analysis of the challenges to the independence and impartiality of international arbitrators in investment disputes. This article evaluates the rules that govern such challenges and asserts that the standards for challenging ICSID arbitrators are not adequate to enable real challenges to arbitrators. Indeed, only one challenge under the ICSID rules has been successful. This in itself is not necessarily problematic assuming the parties agree to dispute settlement with this in mind. This article proposes adjustment of these standards in a variety of ways to help ensure the fairness and perceived fairness of the arbitral process. Finally, this article calls for states and the arbitration community to take steps to combat conflicts of interest of international arbitrators in order to maintain the legitimacy of the regime and to continue to promote growth of the global economy. As the IBA Conflicts of Interest Subcommittee will return to the issue of conflict of interest in international arbitration shortly, this article hopes to influence its efforts, as well as the decisions of states when consenting to arbitration and when considering how to improve the system.

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between members' perceptions of staffs behaviors, motivational climate, their own behaviors, commitment to future exercise, and life satisfaction in a group-fitness setting. The theory-driven hypothesized mediating role of perceptions of the climate was also tested.Members (N = 5,541) of a national group-fitness studio franchise completed a survey regarding their class experiences. The survey included questions that measured participants' perceptions of the motivational climate (caring, task-involving, ego-involving), perceptions of staff's behaviors, their own behaviors, commitment to exercise, and life satisfaction. Structural equation modeling was used to assess both the association between variables and the theoretically driven predictive relationships.The participants perceived the environment as highly caring and task-involving and low ego-involving. They reported high exercise commitment and moderately high life satisfaction and perceived that the staffs and their own behaviors reflected caring, task-involving characteristics. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that those who perceived a higher caring, task-involving climate and lower ego-involving climate were more likely to report more task-involving, caring behaviors among the staff and themselves as well as greater commitment to exercise. In addition, a theory-driven mediational model suggested that staff behaviors may be an antecedent to members' exercise experiences by impacting their perceptions of the climate.The results of this study give direction to specific behaviors in which staff of group-fitness programs might engage to positively influence members' exercise experiences.

This study highlights how sport psychology professionals can assist sport administrators in evaluating and strengthening youth sport programs. A sport psychology research team provided expertise to two sport administrators to develop a survey to examine their athletes’ experiences participating in the programs. The study examines the relationship between athletes’ perceptions of the climate (caring, task, and ego involving) to their intrinsic motivation, caring behaviors, and future intention to participate in the sport. Volleyball clinic (Sample 1: N = 71) and basketball summer camp (Sample 2: N = 138) participants completed the survey. Canonical correlation analyses for each sample revealed one significant function indicating that the athletes’ perceptions of a caring/task-involving climate, along with low perceptions of an ego-involving climate, were associated with higher levels of intrinsic motivation, caring behaviors, and future desire to participate. Sport administrators can use this information f...

The purpose of this investigation was to report on a pilot study of a physical activity/positive life skills program called Strong Girls. The program was framed within the theoretical tenets of achievement goal perspective theory. Evaluation consisted of the participants’ perceptions of the climate (i.e., caring, task- and ego-involving), and pre-post scores for their self-perceptions and goal orientations. Results revealed participants perceived the environment to be high caring and task-involving and low ego-involving. Participants also reported a positive increase in task-orientation. Results suggest that Strong Girls is a feasible, effective youth development program, ready for larger-scale evaluation or dissemination.

The Author Affiliation Index (AAI) for ranking a set of academic journals was first presented by Gorman and Kanet (Manuf Serv Oper Manag 7:3---19, 2005). Since that time, it has become a popular method for assessing journal quality in a myriad of academic disciplines. However, a recent paper published by Agrawal et al. (Prod Oper Manag 20:280---300, 2011) pointed out several potential problems with the AAI. In this paper, we present a modified AAI that incorporates several improvements to the original AAI and addresses the three concerns expressed by Agrawal. The modified AAI allows for international institutions, introduces a weighting factor to allow for a greatly expanded set of prestigious institutions, considers the entire population of articles published in a journal during a specified time period, and utilizes a batch means approach to data collection to allow for proper statistical inference. We illustrate the modified AAI using a set of ten well-known journals that publish Operations Research and Operations Management research. The primary intent of this paper, however, is not to rank these ten journals; rather these ten journals are simply used to illustrate the use of the newly developed modified AAI.

This paper evaluates the origins of the research that has been published in the International Journal of Production Research (IJPR) for the time period 1985–2010, which includes approximately 77% of all articles that have been published in IJPR since its inception. We assess the productivity of individual authors, the author’s affiliation at the time each article was published, the country the author’s affiliation is located, and the institution where the author was granted a Ph.D. degree. By analysing the countries in which author affiliations are located, we can determine which countries are having the greatest impact on defining the research published in IJPR. For international journals, it is important to publish research from an international constituency, thus maintaining one of its purposes. By analysing the affiliations of the authors as well as where the authors received their Ph.D. training, we can determine which institutions are having the greatest contributions to the research published in IJ...

Images observed by the twin spacecraft Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) A and B appear as complex structures for two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) on 1 August 2010. Therefore, a series of sky maps of Thomson-scattered white light by interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) on 1 August 2010 are simulated using the Hakamada–Akasofu–Fry (HAF) three-dimensional solar-wind model. A comparison between the simulated images and observations of STEREO-A and -B clarifies the structure and evolution of ICMEs (including shocks) in the observed images. The results demonstrate that the simulated images from the HAF model are very useful in the interpretation of the observed images when the ICMEs overlap within the fields of view of the instruments onboard STEREO-A and -B.

Determining the quality of research outlets is important for Operations Management (OM) for reasons well documented in the published literature. Over the past few decades, utilising several different methodologies from a variety of perspectives, 15 studies have assessed the quality of journals that publish OM research. The published results are inconsistent in that the relative quality of journals varies from one study to the next and no single set of OM journals is unanimously recognised as being the top set. Historically, OM researchers have published in a wide variety of journals, utilised a variety of research methodologies and studied a broad range of topics. Given that each of the 15 studies assessed journal quality from a different perspective and utilised different methodologies, they represent a diversity of opinions regarding the OM field and add to the knowledge base regarding the quality of OM research outlets. In this paper, we combine the published results in a data envelopment analysis (DEA...

The People's Republic of China's National People's Congress amended the 1997 Criminal Law in February 2011 in order to cover bribery of foreign government officials or officials of international public organisations, with the Amendment coming into effect on 1 May 2011. Known as the Eighth Amendment to the Criminal Law, this Amendment, inter alia, brought the PRC into line with Article 16(1) of the UN Convention against Corruption.

Research in achievement goal perspective theory suggests that the creation of a caring/task-involving (C/TI) climate results in more advantageous psychological and behavioral responses relative to an ego-involving (EI) climate; however, research has not yet examined the physiological consequences associated with psychological stress in relation to climate. Given the possible health and fitness implications of certain physiological stress responses, it is critical to understand this association. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine whether an EI climate procures increases in the stress-responsive hormone cortisol, as well as negative psychological changes, following the learning of a new skill, compared with a C/TI climate. Participants (n = 107) were randomized to a C/TI or an EI climate in which they learned how to juggle for 30 min over the course of 2 hr. Seven salivary cortisol samples were collected during this period. Results indicated that EI participants experienced greater cortisol responses after the juggling session and significantly greater anxiety, stress, shame, and self-consciousness relative to C/TI participants. In contrast, the C/TI participants reported greater enjoyment, effort, self-confidence, and interest and excitement regarding future juggling than the EI participants. These findings indicate that motivational climates may have a significant impact on both the physiological and psychological responses of participants.

Salivary cortisol is often used as an index of physiological and psychological stress in exercise science and psychoneuroendocrine research. A primary concern when designing research studies examining cortisol stems from the high cost of analysis. Planned missing data designs involve intentionally omitting a random subset of observations from data collection, reducing both the cost of data collection and participant burden. These designs have the potential to result in more efficient, cost-effective analyses with minimal power loss. Using salivary cortisol data from a previous study (Hogue, Fry, Fry, & Pressman, 2013), this article examines statistical power and estimated costs of six different planned missing data designs using growth curve modeling. Results indicate that using a planned missing data design would have provided the same results at a lower cost relative to the traditional, complete data analysis of salivary cortisol.

The field of international law often is taught and thought of as a group of disconnected substantive subfields, each with its own epistemic community. These specialized subfields range from international human rights law to the law of the sea, from international trade law to collective security law. Examples where subfields conflict with each other and separate examples where subfields complement each other have led two camps of commentators over the past decade to comprehensively define international law’s nature as either united or fragmented in a binary fashion. Even the United Nations’ International Law Commission established a study group to explore this topic, which concluded in 2006 after over four years of study that international law is fragmented due, in part, to the collision of various branches of international law.

Gene expression responds to the environment and can also evolve rapidly in response to altered selection regimes. Little is known, however, about the extent to which evolutionary adaptation to a particular type of stress involves changes in the within-generation ('plastic') responses of gene expression to the stress. We used microarrays to quantify gene expression plasticity in response to ethanol in laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster differing in their history of ethanol exposure. Two populations ('R' populations) were maintained on regular medium, two ('E') were maintained on medium supplemented with ethanol, and two ('M') were maintained in a mixed regime in which half of the population was reared on one medium type, and half on the other, each generation. After more than 300 generations, embryos from each population were collected and exposed to either ethanol or water as a control, and RNA was extracted from the larvae shortly after hatching. Nearly 2000 transcripts showed significant within-generation responses to ethanol exposure. Evolutionary history also affected gene expression: the E and M populations were largely indistinguishable in expression, but differed significantly in expression from the R populations for over 100 transcripts, the majority of which did not show plastic responses. Notably, in no case was the interaction between selection regime and ethanol exposure significant after controlling for multiple comparisons, indicating that adaptation to ethanol in the E and M populations did not involve substantial changes in gene expression plasticity. The results give evidence that expression plasticity evolves considerably more slowly than mean expression.

The performance of the Hakamada Akasofu-Fry, version 2 (HAFv.2) numerical model, which provides predictions of solar shock arrival times at Earth, was subjected to a statistical study to investigate those solar/interplanetary circumstances under which the model performed well/poorly during key phases (rise/maximum/decay) of solar cycle 23. In addition to analyzing elements of the overall data set (584 selected events) associated with particular cycle phases, subsets were formed such that those events making up a particular sub-set showed common characteristics. The statistical significance of the results obtained using the various sets/subsets was generally very low and these results were not significant as compared with the hit by chance rate (50%). This implies a low level of confidence in the predictions of the model with no compelling result encouraging its use. However, the data suggested that the success rates of HAFv.2 were higher when the background solar wind speed at the time of shock initiation was relatively fast. Thus, in scenarios where the background solar wind speed is elevated and the calculated success rate significantly exceeds the rate by chance, the forecasts could provide potential value to the customer. With the composite statistics available for solar cycle 23, the calculated success rate at high solar wind speed, although clearly above 50%, was indicative rather than conclusive. The RMS error estimated for shock arrival times for every cycle phase and for the composite sample was in each case significantly better than would be expected for a random data set. Also, the parameter "Probability of Detection, yes" (PODy) which presents the Proportion of Yes observations that were correctly forecast (i.e. the ratio between the shocks correctly predicted and all the shocks observed), yielded values for the rise/maximum/decay phases of the cycle and using the composite sample of 0.85, 0.64, 0.79 and 0.77, respectively. The statistical results obtained through detailed analysis of the available data provided insights into how changing circumstances on the Sun and in interplanetary space can affect the performance of the model. Since shock arrival predictions are widely utilized in making commercially significant decisions re. protecting space assets, the present detailed archival studies can be useful in future operational decision making during solar cycle 24. It would be of added value in this context to use Briggs-Rupert methodology to estimate the cost to an operator of acting on an incorrect forecast.

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediational effect of perceived affective self-regulatory efficacy on the relationship between youth sport participants' perceived caring climate and their mental well-being. Three hundred and 95 participants (mean age = 11.80 ± 1.54 years) from a Nationa

This article is the first to analyze the 2010 guidelines established by Mercosur’s Common Market Council for drafting an Agreement on Investment for Mercosur, which up until now has lacked any regulations for the promotion and protection of investment. This agreement is important not only because it potentially would fill a large gap in Mercosur law and strengthen Mercosur’s emergent common market, but also because it ostensibly represents the first time that Brazil has shown a real willingness to create an international system for investment protection, which represents a monumental breakthrough for Brazil. However, the guidelines (provided at the end of this article in an appendix) appear to have been created using the Protocol of Montevideo on Trade in Services as the model, as opposed to the more directly relevant norms from the realm of international investment law. This article explores whether this approach will lead to an international investment agreement that adequately promotes and protects investment in Mercosur. This article asserts that a better approach would be to use models from the realm of international investment law because these types of protections are needed in order to reassure investors. The sub-working group charged with drafting this agreement still is working on the draft agreement. Therefore, this article aims to influence that drafting process and subsequent debates over this draft agreement prior to its conclusion.

El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la relación entre las percepciones de los empleados sobre el clima motivacional de su Centro de Fitness Corporativo, con su motivación intrínseca hacia la práctica física, así como sus percepciones acerca de la preocupación de los empleadores sobre sus comportamientos saludables. Participaron en el estudio 143 miembros de Centros Corporativos de Fitness del medio sur de los estados Unidos de América, a los que se les administraron los siguientes cuestionarios: 1) el Perceived Motivational Climate in Exercise Questionnaire (con escalas de orientación a metas de ego y tarea); 2) Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (con cuatro subscalas), y 3) la Valued by Employer Scale. Los análisis de regresión revelaron que las percepciones del clima motivacional de ego/tarea estaban positivamente relacionadas con el interés/diversión de los empleados, con su competencia percibida, con el esfuerzo/importancia atribuidas al ejercicio, y con su percepción de ser valorados por sus empleadores. Por lo tanto, el PMCEQ se muestra como una herramienta relevante en los estudios de psicología del ejercicio para medir las percepciones de los empleados acerca del ambiente existente en su Centro de Fitness.

The ErbB3 receptor tyrosine kinase contributes to a variety of developmental processes, and its overexpression and aberrant activation promote tumor progression and therapeutic resistance. Accumulating evidence suggests that tumor overexpression may be mediated by the loss of posttranscriptional negative regulatory mechanisms, such as protein degradation, that normally keep receptor levels in check. Our previous studies indicate that the RING finger E3 ubiquitin ligase Nrdp1, a protein lost in breast and other tumor types, suppresses ErbB3 levels by mediating ligand-independent receptor ubiquitination and degradation. Here we demonstrate that Nrdp1 preferentially associates with the nascent form of ErbB3 to accelerate its degradation, and we show that the two proteins colocalize at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Blocking the exit of ErbB3 from the ER does not affect the ability of Nrdp1 to mediate receptor ubiquitination or degradation, while functional disruption of the conserved ER-associated degradation (ERAD) pathway ATPase VCP/p97 leads to the Nrdp1-dependent accumulation of ubiquitinated ErbB3 but blocks receptor degradation. Further evidence indicates that the ErbB3 targeted by Nrdp1 for degradation is properly folded and fully functional. Collectively, these observations point to a novel mechanism of receptor tyrosine kinase quantity control wherein steady-state levels of signaling-competent receptor are dictated by an ER-localized degradation pathway.

Research has revealed that when individuals perceive a caring and task-involving climate in physical activity settings they are more likely to have positive experiences. The purpose of this paper is to provide fitness center employees with specific strategies for creating a caring, task-involving environment in their exercise settings. These strategies can help employees positively influence members’ overall exercise experiences. A variety of employee positions in fitness centers are targeted including front desk staff, membership, group fitness, personal trainers, supervisors and support staff.

The purpose of this study was to provide a physical-activity and life-skills/team-building intervention for elementary-grade girls who participated in a daily summer community camp. The intervention, called “Strong Girls,” included a group of approximately 20 sixth-grade girls. Strong Girls included two-hour sessions, twice a week for eight weeks. Each session, girls participated in physical activities, team building, and life-skills activities designed to enhance their fitness, positive thinking, confidence, and social skills. Leaders strived to foster a caring, supportive, and cooperative environment within the group. Assessment occurred via journal entries that both the Strong Girls participants and the daily summer community camp leaders completed after each session. The girls had very positive responses about their involvement in Strong Girls. Responses indicated that they valued the process of working together, demonstrated a positive perspective on session activities, and talked about strategies to...

Little is known about the roles of aldehyde dehydrogenases in non-vertebrate animals. We recently showed that in Drosophila melanogaster, an enzyme with ~70% amino acid identity to mammalian ALDH2 is necessary for detoxification of dietary ethanol. To investigate other functions of this enzyme, DmALDH, encoded by the gene Aldh, we compared two strains homozygous for Aldh-null mutations to two closely related wild type strains in measures of fitness and stress resistance in the absence of ethanol. Aldh-null strains have lower total reproductive rate, pre-adult viability, resistance to starvation, and possibly longevity than wild-type strains. When maintained under hyperoxia, Aldh nulls die more quickly and accumulate higher levels of protein carbonyls than wild-types, thereby providing evidence that DmALDH is important for detoxifying reactive aldehydes generated by lipid peroxidation. However no effect of Aldh was seen on protein carbonyl levels in flies maintained under normoxia. It is possible that Aldh nulls experience elevated rates of protein carbonylation under normoxia, but this is compensated (at a fitness cost) by increased rates of degradation of the defective proteins. Alternatively, the fitness defects of Aldh nulls under normoxia may result from the absence of one or more other functions of DmALDH, unrelated to protection against protein carbonylation.

The recorded history of anal fistulas dates back to the Ancient Greeks, but no fistula in history has been as well or interestingly documented as that of Louis XIV, the Sun King of France. His story illustrates not only the state (or lack thereof) of medicine at the time, but also the first recorded use of the fistulotomy. This narrative provides a unique perspective for the role of the surgeon in 17th century France as well as cementing the place of cryptoglandular fistula disease in history.

The purpose of this paper is to provide coaches strategies for creating a positive and supportive climate in sport. Strategies are provided that help coaches begin fostering motivation from the first day of meeting with their athletes. Specifically, strategies focus on helping athletes get to know each other better, gauge their success based on their effort and improvement, and bringing parents on board to be part of their children's experience.

The goal of the Battlespace Environments Institute (BEI) is to integrate Earth and space modeling capabilities into a seamless, whole-Earth common modeling infrastructure that facilitates interservice development of multiple, mission-specific environmental simulations and supports battlefield decisions, improves interoperability, and reduces operating costs.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between young athletes’ perceptions of the caring climate on their soccer teams to their enjoyment, attitudes and, behaviors toward their coach and teammates, and commitment to the sport. Athletes (N = 184) in a community soccer league volunteered to complete a survey. Results revealed that athletes who perceived a caring climate on their teams were significantly more likely to report higher enjoyment, more positive attitudes towards their coaches/teammates, greater commitment to soccer, and engage in more caring behaviors towards their coaches/teammates. Results suggest that a caring climate may benefit young athletes.

Aggressive behavior among females is observed in many species, but the mechanisms of this behavior have historically been understudied. In many species of rodents, winter-like short day photoperiods induce increased aggression levels compared to summer-like long day photoperiods. Recent reports in hamsters show that short days also increase aggression in females. We examined the effects of photoperiod on aggression in female California mice, and for the first time compare brain activity of aggression-tested female rodents under different photoperiods. We observed that female California mice were more aggressive when housed in short days versus long days. Intriguingly, we also observed that under long days female attack latency decreases with repeated testing in resident intruder tests. These data suggest that winner effects that have been described in males may also occur in females. We also used the expression of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinases (pERK) in the brain to estimate brain activity during aggression tests. pERK can alter neuronal activity in the short term and in the long term can act as a transcription factor. Using immunoblot analyses we observed that aggression-induced pERK expression in the female bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and medial amygdala occurs under both long and short days. Thus, the mechanisms controlling increased aggression under short days are still unclear and additional study is needed.

By the very nature of treaties, States give up some of their sovereignty in order to achieve a common, desired objective between the parties to the treaty. When it comes to the Chemical Weapons Convention, however, commentators overly emphasize its impact on State sovereignty and equality without acknowledging the ways that it actually preserves State sovereignty and equality, arguably better than other multilateral treaties. This article seeks to bring balance to the debate by focussing on these relatively innovative and much overlooked provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention, with the hope of encouraging the last seven non-member States to join and the rest to have even greater confidence in this most important of disarmament regimes.

Background: Limited research has investigated the relationship between individuals'perceptions of their weight status and their physical self-concept. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of college students' Body Mass Index (BMI) scores (i.e. based on actual and self-reported data), and whether students' physical self-concept scores differed according to their perceived weight status classification. Methods: Undergraduate students (N=192) completed the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire and self-reported their height, weight and weight status classification. Actual height and weight measurements were also obtained. Results: Analysis using tests revealed females had significantly higher actual than self-reported BMI scores (t = 2.16, df = 125, P< 0.05), but not males. ANOVA analyses revealed a significant difference for both females and males in physical self-concept scores based on their weight status category. Discussion: Results suggested that males, but not fema...