The Advice and Influence Networks of Transformational Leaders.

Existing transformational leadership research has focused primarily on the behaviors of leaders and their effects on followers. The authors extended this research by examining the social networks of managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors. Their focus was on the network of relationships that managers develop and whether they hold key positions in the organization's informal social networks. In a field study using data from 39 managers and 130 nonmanagement employees of 6 organizations, the authors found that managers who score higher on transformational leadership tend to hold more central positions in organizational advice and influence networks. Furthermore, the direct reports of these leaders were also more central in informal organizational networks. These results illuminate one of the ways that managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors may exert influence in organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biofilm Formation by Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Non-O157 Strains and Their Tolerance to Sanitizers Commonly Used in the Food Processing Environment

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains are important foodborne pathogens. Among these, E. coli O157:H7 is the most frequently isolated STEC serotype responsible for foodborne diseases. However, the non-O157 serotypes have been associated with serious outbreaks and sporadic diseases as well. It has been shown that various STEC serotypes are capable of forming biofilms on different food or food contact surfaces that, when detached, may lead to cross-contamination. Bacterial cells at biofilm stage also are more tolerant to sanitizers compared with their planktonic counterparts, which makes STEC biofilms a serious food safety concern. In the present study, we evaluated the potency of biofilm formation by a variety of STEC strains from serotypes O157:H7, O26:H11, and O111:H8; we also compared biofilm tolerance with two types of common sanitizers, a quaternary ammonium chloride-based sanitizer and chlorine. Our results demonstrated that biofilm formation by various STEC serotypes on a polystyrene surface was highly strain-dependent, whereas the two non-O157 serotypes showed a higher potency of pellicle formation at air-liquid interfaces on a glass surface compared with serotype O157:H7. Significant reductions of viable biofilm cells were achieved with sanitizer treatments. STEC biofilm tolerance to sanitization was strain-dependent regardless of the serotypes. Curli expression appeared to play a critical role in STEC biofilm formation and tolerance to sanitizers. Our data indicated that multiple factors, including bacterial serotype and strain, surface materials, and other environmental conditions, could significantly affect STEC biofilm formation. The high potential for biofilm formation by various STEC serotypes, especially the strong potency of pellicle formation by the curli-positive non-O157 strains with high sanitization tolerance, might contribute to bacterial colonization on food contact surfaces, which may result in downstream product contamination.     

Five-factor model of personality and transformational leadership.

This study linked traits from the 5-factor model of personality (the Big 5) to transformational leadership behavior. Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness were hypothesized to predict transformational leadership. Results based on 14 samples of leaders from over 200 organizations revealed that Extraversion and Agreeableness positively predicted transformational leadership; Openness to Experience was positively correlated with transformational leadership, but its effect disappeared once the influence of the other traits was controlled. Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were unrelated to transformational leadership. Results further indicated that specific facets of the Big 5 traits predicted transformational leadership less well than the general constructs. Finally, transformational leadership behavior predicted a number of outcomes reflecting leader effectiveness, controlling for the effect of transactional leadership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Guidelines for Determining When to Use GKS and When to Use PHIGS

GKS, GKS-3D, and PHIGS are all approved ISO standards for the application programmer interface. How does a system analyst or programmer decide which standard to use for his application? This paper discusses the range of application requirements likely to be encountered, explores the suitability of GKS and PHIGS for satisfying these requirements, and offers guidelines to aid in the decision process.     

Sampling sea surfaces with SESAMO: an autonomous craft for the study of sea-air interactions

This paper presents the system design, sea trials and Antartic exploitation of the SESAMO platform. The SESAMO (sea surface autonomous modular unit) prototype robot was especially designed to collect data and samples for the study of the sea-air interface. At sea, operations showed that a relatively simple robot could satisfactorily work in a natural, outdoor environment, dramatically facilitating the job of the human operator. To achieve high quality sampling of the surface microlayer, however, requires a large amount of time, leading to significant demands on logistics resources, mainly in terms of operating time of the support vessel.     

Improved efficient bounding method for DC contingency analysisusing reciprocity properties

The efficient bounding method for DC contingency analysis is improved using reciprocity properties. Knowing the consequences of the outage of a branch, these properties provide the consequences on that branch of various kinds of outages. This is used in order to reduce computation times and to get rid of some difficulties, such as those occurring when a branch flow is close to its limit before outage. Compensation, sparse vector, sparse inverse and bounding techniques are also used. A program has been implemented for single branch outages and tested on the actual French EHV 650 bus network. Computation times are 60% of the efficient bounding method. The relevant algorithm is described in detail in the first part of this paper. In the second part, reciprocity properties and bounding formulas are extended for multiple branch outages and for multiple generator or load outages. An algorithm is proposed in order to handle all these cases simultaneously     

Role of HIF-1alpha in hypoxia-mediated apoptosis, cell proliferation and tumour angiogenesis

As a result of deprivation of oxygen (hypoxia) and nutrients, the growth and viability of cells is reduced. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha helps to restore oxygen homeostasis by inducing glycolysis, erythropoiesis and angiogenesis. Here we show that hypoxia and hypoglycaemia reduce proliferation and increase apoptosis in wild-type (HIF-1alpha+/+) embryonic stem (ES) cells, but not in ES cells with inactivated HIF-1alpha genes (HIF-1alpha-/-); however, a deficiency of HIF-1alpha does not affect apoptosis induced by cytokines. We find that hypoxia/hypoglycaemia-regulated genes involved in controlling the cell cycle are either HIF-1alpha-dependent (those encoding the proteins p53, p21, Bcl-2) or HIF-1alpha-independent (p27, GADD153), suggesting that there are at least two different adaptive responses to being deprived of oxygen and nutrients. Loss of HIF-1alpha reduces hypoxia-induced expression of vascular endothelial growth factor, prevents formation of large vessels in ES-derived tumours, and impairs vascular function, resulting in hypoxic microenvironments within the tumour mass. However, growth of HIF-1alpha tumours was not retarded but was accelerated, owing to decreased hypoxia-induced apoptosis and increased stress-induced proliferation. As hypoxic stress contributes to many (patho)biological disorders, this new role for HIF-1alpha in hypoxic control of cell growth and death may be of general pathophysiological importance.     

Increased wound-induced platelet activation in Indo-Asians: egg, chicken, milestone?

Genetic evidence for the occurrence of two Cryptosporidium parvum subgroups is presented. This evidence is based on restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of several independent loci. Sequence analysis of the beta-tubulin intron revealed additional polymorphism. The stability of the genetic profiles following passage of C. parvum isolates between different hosts was investigated.     

GKS—The First Graphics Standard

For the first time, an international graphics standard is possible. After years of research and redesign, the GKS emerges as the most likely candidate.