St. Cloud State University

A management construct cannot be used effectively by practitioners and researchers if a common agreement on its definition is lacking. Such is the case with the term “supply chain management”—so many definitions are used that there is little consensus on what it means. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the existing research in an effort to understand the concept of “supply chain management.” Various definitions of SCM and “supply chain” are reviewed, categorized, and synthesized. Definitions of supporting constructs of SCM and a framework are then offered to establish a consistent means to conceptualize SCM. Antecedents and consequences of SCM are identified, and the boundaries of SCM in terms of business functions and organizations are proposed. A conceptual model and unified definition of SCM are then presented that indicate the nature, antecedents, and consequences of the phenomena.

We conducted an analysis of global forest cover to reveal that 70% of remaining forest is within 1 km of the forest's edge, subject to the degrading effects of fragmentation. A synthesis of fragmentation experiments spanning multiple biomes and scales, five continents, and 35 years demonstrates that habitat fragmentation reduces biodiversity by 13 to 75% and impairs key ecosystem functions by decreasing biomass and altering nutrient cycles. Effects are greatest in the smallest and most isolated fragments, and they magnify with the passage of time. These findings indicate an urgent need for conservation and restoration measures to improve landscape connectivity, which will reduce extinction rates and help maintain ecosystem services.

This article argues the personal/professional/political emancipatory potential of autoethnographic performance as a method of inquiry. Autoethnographic performance is the convergence of the “autobiographic impulse” and the “ethnographic moment” represented through movement and critical self-reflexive discourse in performance, articulating the intersections of peoples and culture through the innersanctions of the always migratory identity. The article offers evaluative standards for the autoethnographic performance methodology, calling on the body as a site of scholarly awareness and corporeal literacy. Autoethnographic performance makes us acutely conscious of how we “ Iwitness” our own reality constructions. Interpreting culture through the self-reflections and cultural refractions of identity is a defining feature of autoethnographic performance.

Abstract Common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are predicted to collectively explain 40–50% of phenotypic variation in human height, but identifying the specific variants and associated regions requires huge sample sizes 1 . Here, using data from a genome-wide association study of 5.4 million individuals of diverse ancestries, we show that 12,111 independent SNPs that are significantly associated with height account for nearly all of the common SNP-based heritability. These SNPs are clustered within 7,209 non-overlapping genomic segments with a mean size of around 90 kb, covering about 21% of the genome. The density of independent associations varies across the genome and the regions of increased density are enriched for biologically relevant genes. In out-of-sample estimation and prediction, the 12,111 SNPs (or all SNPs in the HapMap 3 panel 2 ) account for 40% (45%) of phenotypic variance in populations of European ancestry but only around 10–20% (14–24%) in populations of other ancestries. Effect sizes, associated regions and gene prioritization are similar across ancestries, indicating that reduced prediction accuracy is likely to be explained by linkage disequilibrium and differences in allele frequency within associated regions. Finally, we show that the relevant biological pathways are detectable with smaller sample sizes than are needed to implicate causal genes and variants. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive map of specific genomic regions that contain the vast majority of common height-associated variants. Although this map is saturated for populations of European ancestry, further research is needed to achieve equivalent saturation in other ancestries.

Abstract The interest in strategic human resource management (HRM) has spawned a number of empirical research studies that investigated the impact of HRM practices on organizational performance. However, very little attention has been paid to address the impact of HRM practices on operations management and to generalize the findings across countries and industries. Success of some business decisions (e.g. globalization and merger and acquisition) necessitates recognition and reconciliation of the differences among HRM practices in different countries and industries. This study attempts to generalize the efficacy of seven HRM practices proposed by Pfeffer in the context of country and industry, focusing primarily on the effects of these practices on operations. The findings provide overall support for Pfeffer’s seven HRM practices and empirically validate an ideal‐type HRM system for manufacturing plants.

Service quality has been conceptualized as the difference between perceived service performance and expected service level. The authors study the effect of consumers' cultural orientation on their service quality expectations. Using the Hofstede dimensions of culture operationalized at the individual level and the dimensions of service quality from the SERVQUAL scale, they develop and test hypotheses relating dimensions of culture with overall service expectations and dimensions of those expectations. Results show that consumers low on power distance have high overall service quality expectations and expect responsive and reliable service. Individualistic consumers have high overall service quality expectations and expect empathy and assurance from the service provider Consumers high on uncertainty avoidance and short-termoriented consumers have high overall service quality expectations.

Core self-evaluation (CSE) represents the fundamental appraisals individuals make about their self-worth and capabilities. CSE is conceptualized as a higher order construct composed of broad and evaluative traits (e.g., self-esteem and generalized self-efficacy). The authors review 15 years of CSE theory and research, focusing in particular on the outcomes, mediators, and moderators of CSE via qualitative and quantitative literature reviews. Meta-analytic results support the relation of CSE with various outcomes, including job and life satisfaction, in-role and extra-role job performance, and perceptions of the work environment (e.g., job characteristics and fairness). The authors conclude with a critical evaluation of CSE theory, measurement, and construct validity, highlighting areas of promise and concern for future CSE research. Key topics requiring further research include integrating CSE within an approach/avoidance framework, ruling out alternative explanations for the emergence of the higher order construct, testing the possibility of intraindividual change in CSE, evaluating the usefulness of CSE for staffing and performance management, and moving beyond CSE to also consider core external evaluations.

“Public entrepreneurship” is the process of introducing innovation—the generation, translation, and implementation of new ideas—into the public sector. The research described here focuses on “policy entrepreneurs.” These are public entrepreneurs who, from outside the formal positions of government, introduce, translate, and help implement new ideas into public practice.

A 54-year-old man received a four chamber pacing system for severe congestive heart failure (NYHA functional Class IV). His ECG showed a left bundle branch block (200-msec QRS duration) with 200-msec PR interval, normal QRS axis, and 90-msec interatrial interval. An acute hemodynamic study with insertion of four temporary leads was performed prior to the implant, which demonstrated a significant increase in cardiac output and decrease of pulmonary capillary wedge pressure. A permanent pacemaker was implanted based on the encouraging results of the acute study. The right chamber leads were introduced by cephalic and subclavian approaches. The left atrium was paced with a coronary sinus lead, Medtronic SP 2188-58 model. An epicardial Medtronic 5071 lead was placed on the LV free wall. The four leads were connected to a standard bipolar DDD pacemaker, Chorus 6234. The two atrial leads were connected via a Y-connector to the atrial channel of the pacemaker with a bipolar pacing configuration. The two ventricular leads were connected in a similar fashion to the ventricular channel of the device. The right chamber leads were connected to the distal poles. The left chamber leads were connected to the proximal poles of the pacemaker. Six weeks later, the patient's clinical status improved markedly with a weight loss of 17 kg and disappearance of peripheral edema. His functional class was reduced to NYHA II. Four chamber pacing is technically feasible. In patients with evidence of interventricular dyssynchrony, this original pacing mode probably provides a mechanical activation sequence closer to the natural one.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Abstract Shotgun metagenomics and marker gene amplicon sequencing can be used to directly measure or predict the functional repertoire of the microbiota en masse , but current methods do not readily estimate the functional capability of individual microorganisms. Here we present BugBase, an algorithm that predicts organism-level coverage of functional pathways as well as biologically interpretable phenotypes such as oxygen tolerance, Gram staining and pathogenic potential, within complex microbiomes using either whole-genome shotgun or marker gene sequencing data. We find BugBase’s organism-level pathway coverage predictions to be statistically higher powered than current ‘bag-of-genes’ approaches for discerning functional changes in both host-associated and environmental microbiomes.

Strollo, Patrick J. JR*; Soose, Ryan J.†; Maurer, Joachim T.‡; de Vries, Nico§; Cornelius, Jason‖; Froymovich, Oleg¶; Hanson, Ronald D.#; Padhya, Tapan A.**; Steward, David L.††; Boyd Gillespie, M.‡‡; Woodson, Tucker§§; Van de Heyning, Paul H.‖‖; Goetting, Mark G.¶¶; Vanderveken, Oliver M.‖‖; Feldman, Neil##; Knaack, Lennart***; STROHL, Kingman P.††† for the STAR (Stimulation Therapy for Apnea Reduction) Trial Group Author Information

We report the results of ultimatum game experiments designed to test for differences in the behavior of women and men. Women's proposals are on average more generous than men's, regardless of the sex of the partner, and women respondents are more likely to accept an offer of a given amount. A given offer is more likely to be accepted if it comes from a woman; we term this result chivalry . Women paired with women almost never fail to reach an agreement; we term this result solidarity . Age, earnings, and race also significantly affect proposals and the rates of rejection.

This paper examines processes of trial-and-error learning during the development of a technological innovation by an interorganizational joint venture created expressly for developing and commercializing products from the new technology. We develop a model of adaptive learning, which incorporates elements from laboratory models of learning and applies them to the field research setting. The learning model focuses on relationships between the goals, actions, and outcomes of an innovation team within the joint venture as it develops the innovation over time, and the influences that environmental events and external interventions by resource controllers in parent companies have on the learning process. The model is tested based on a real-time longitudinal study of the development of a biomedical innovation (therapeutic apheresis) from 1983 to 1988. Different patterns of learning were observed in different periods of innovation development. Event time series analyses clearly contradict the learning model during an initial expansion period, but strongly support the model during a subsequent contraction period. Explanations for why these different patterns of organizational learning occurred over time are provided, and focus on a set of organizational structures and practices which are commonly used to manage innovation development, but which inhibit learning.

While the quality literature abounds with prescriptions for how quality should be managed, no one has proposed an organization-theory explanation for how quality is managed in organizations. This paper proposes a system-structural model of quality management that relates organizational quality context, actual quality management, ideal quality management, and quality performance. The relationships between organizational quality context and actual and ideal quality management are investigated using data collected from 152 managers from 77 business units of 20 manufacturing and service companies. A previously reported instrument is used to measure managers' perceptions of ideal and actual quality management in terms of eight critical factors including product/service design, training, employee relations, and top management leadership. Several measures are used to characterize organizational quality context including company type, company size, degree of competition, and corporate support for quality. The results indicate that organizational quality context influences managers' perceptions of both ideal and actual quality management. This suggests that knowledge of organizational quality context is useful for explaining and predicting quality management practice. Important contextual variables are corporate support for quality, past quality performance, managerial knowledge, and the extent of external quality demands.

We describe the cyclic coordinate-exchange algorithm for constructing D-optimal and linear-optimal experimental designs. The algorithm uses a variant of the Gauss-Southwell cyclic coordinate-descent algorithm within the k-exchange algorithm to achieve substantive reductions in required computing. Among its advantages are the following: Candidate sets, which grow exponentially in the number of factors, need not be explicitly constructed or enumerated. Convex design spaces (or mixed convex by discrete design spaces) are handled directly, without the need for sophisticated nonlinear programming routines or candidate-set adjustment. For design problems having 10 or more factors, the reductions in execution time are typically two or more orders of magnitude when compared to standard candidateset- based procedures such as k exchange, yet the designs produced exhibit no loss of efficiency.

This project tests for the effect of social status in a laboratory experimental market. We consider a special "box design" market in which a vertical overlap in supply and demand ensure that there are multiple equilibrium prices. We manipulate the relative social status of our subjects by awarding high status to a subset of the group based on one of two procedures. In the first, a subject's score on a trivia quiz determines his or her status; in another, subjects are assigned randomly to a higher-status or lower-status group. In both treatments we find that average prices are higher in markets where higher-status sellers face lowerstatus buyers, and lower when buyers have higher status than sellers. Across all sessions, the higher-status side of the market captures a greater share of the surplus, earning significantly more than their lower-status counterparts.

Abstract Angiosperms are the cornerstone of most terrestrial ecosystems and human livelihoods 1,2 . A robust understanding of angiosperm evolution is required to explain their rise to ecological dominance. So far, the angiosperm tree of life has been determined primarily by means of analyses of the plastid genome 3,4 . Many studies have drawn on this foundational work, such as classification and first insights into angiosperm diversification since their Mesozoic origins 5–7 . However, the limited and biased sampling of both taxa and genomes undermines confidence in the tree and its implications. Here, we build the tree of life for almost 8,000 (about 60%) angiosperm genera using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes 8 . This 15-fold increase in genus-level sampling relative to comparable nuclear studies 9 provides a critical test of earlier results and brings notable change to key groups, especially in rosids, while substantiating many previously predicted relationships. Scaling this tree to time using 200 fossils, we discovered that early angiosperm evolution was characterized by high gene tree conflict and explosive diversification, giving rise to more than 80% of extant angiosperm orders. Steady diversification ensued through the remaining Mesozoic Era until rates resurged in the Cenozoic Era, concurrent with decreasing global temperatures and tightly linked with gene tree conflict. Taken together, our extensive sampling combined with advanced phylogenomic methods shows the deep history and full complexity in the evolution of a megadiverse clade.

Foreword, by Dr. John Carroll. I.INTELLIGENCE TESTS AND Gf-Gc THEORY. 1.A Continuum of Progress in Psychometric Theories and Measures of Intelligence: From Spearman's g to Contermporary Gf-Gc Theory. Theories of Intelligence: Three Research Traditions. Progress in Psychometric Theories and Measures of Intelligence. What Is Gf-Gc Theory? Broad and NarrowGf-Gc Abilities Definitions. The Relation BetweenGf-Gc Theory and Other Select Theories of Intelligence. Concluding Comments. 2.Gf-Gc Theory in Perspective: Supporting Evidence for Relations to Academic Achievement, Occupational Outcomes and Other Traits, and Limitations. Supporting Evidence for Gf-Gc Theory. Limitations of Gf-Gc Theory. II. THE INTELLIGENCE TEST DESK REFERENCE (ITDR): PSYCHOMETRIC, THEORETICAL, AND QUALITATIVE DESCRIPTIONS AND EVALUATIONS. 3.Understanding and Using the ITDR. of the ITDR. Understanding What Tests Measure: The Picture. Focusing the Big Picture: The Cross-Battery Perspective. Psychometric Characteristics Presented in the ITDR. Other Variables That Influence Test Performance. The ITDR Summary Pages. 4Differential Ability Scales (DAS). General Information. Composite Measure Information. Score Information. Norming Information. Reviews. Subtest Summary Pages. 5.Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC). General Information. Composite Measure Information. Score Information. Norming Information. Reviews. Subtest Summary Pages. 6.Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (KAIT). General Information. Composite Measure Information. Score Information. Norming Information. Reviews. Subtest Summary Pages. 7.Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition (SB:IV). General Information. Composite Measure Information. Score Information. Norming Information. Reviews. Subtest Summary Pages. 8.Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Third Edition (WAIS-III). General Information. Composite Measure Information. Score Information. Norming Information. Reviews. Subtest Summary Pages. 9.Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III). General Information. Composite Measure Information. Score Information. Norming Information. Reviews. Subtest Summary Pages 10. Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R). General Information. Composite Measure Information. Score Information. Norming Information. Reviews. Subtest Summary Pages. 11. Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised (WJ-R). General Information. Composite Measure Information. Score Information. Norming Information. Reviews. Subtest Summary Pages 12. Commonly Used and New Purpose Tests of Gf-Gc Abilities. Special Tests: A Supplement to Standard Intelligence Batteries. Conclusion. III. THE Gf-Gc CROSS BATTERY APPROACH TO ASSESSING AND INTERPRETING COGNITIVE ABILITIES. 13. The Gf-Gc Cross-Battery Approach: Definition and Application. A Definition of the Gf-Gc Cross-Battery Approach. Rationale for the Gf-Gc Cross-Battery Approach. Application of the Gf-Gc Cross-Battery Approach. Conclusions. 14. Gf-Gc Cross-Battery Interpretation and Selective Cross-Battery Assessment: Referral Concerns Referral Concerns and the Needs of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations. Interpreting Gf-Gc Cross-Battery Data. Addressing Referral Concerns: An Example of Selective Cross-Battery Assessment. Selective Cross-Battery Assessments: Guidelines for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Populations. Conclusions. References. Appendix A: Gf-Gc Cross-Battery Worksheets. Appendix B: Percentile Rank and Standard Score Conversion Table. Appendix C: Gf-Gc Standard Score Profile. Appendix D: Case Study Test Scores for J.J.

A hanging microliter drop of 1-octanol is shown to be an excellent preconcentration medium for headspace analysis of volatile compounds in an aqueous matrix by gas chromatography (GC) or gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Model compounds benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and o-xylene (BTEX) are conveniently and rapidly preconcentrated in the microdrop. An internal standard, decane, is present in the organic extracting solvent, and linear calibration curves of relative peak area versus aqueous concentration are obtained for the four model compounds. Detailed kinetic studies reveal that the overall rate of mass transfer is limited by both the aqueous-phase stirring rate and the degree of convection within the organic phase. The very low vapor pressure of 1-octanol results in minimal evaporation of the microdrop during the extraction time. This system represents an inexpensive, convenient, and precise sample cleanup and preconcentration method for the determination of volatile organic compounds at trace levels.

The effects of embryonic and larval exposure to environmentally relevant (ng/L) concentrations of common antidepressants, fluoxetine, sertraline, venlafaxine, and bupropion (singularly and in mixture) on C-start escape behavior were evaluated in fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas). Embryos (postfertilization until hatching) were exposed for 5 d and, after hatching, were allowed to grow in control well water until 12 d old. Similarly, posthatch fathead minnows were exposed for 12 d to these compounds. High-speed (1,000 frames/s) video recordings of escape behavior were collected and transferred to National Institutes of Health Image for frame-by-frame analysis of latency periods, escape velocities, and total escape response (combination of latency period and escape velocity). When tested 12 d posthatch, fluoxetine and venlafaxine adversely affected C-start performance of larvae exposed as embryos. Conversely, larvae exposed for 12 d posthatch did not exhibit altered escape responses when exposed to fluoxetine but were affected by venlafaxine and bupropion exposure. Mixtures of these four antidepressant pharmaceuticals slowed predator avoidance behaviors in larval fathead minnows regardless of the exposure window. The direct impact of reduced C-start performance on survival and, ultimately, reproductive fitness provides an avenue to assess the ecological relevance of exposure in an assay of relatively short duration.