Action Plan for a Sustainable Future

As external pressures - including resource scarcity, globalization, and access to information - continue to increase, the way corporations respond to sustainability challenges will determine their long-term viability and competitiveness. In this paper, the author traces the development of a corporation s attitude toward sustainability from its being an add - on that is nice to have and may enhance corporate reputation, through an approach that sees it more as a tool of risk management, to considering it a builder of value not just for the corporation but for all its stakeholders as well. The paper focuses on the essential role of the corporate board, bringing very practical guidelines to stimulate and assist any board of a corporation embarking on the journey toward greater sustainability and value creation. The paper concludes with a detailed and invaluable checklist of questions for any board to ask itself. This list helps a board build assurance that it is on the right track. It is as useful to a company just starting on the journey as it will be to those companies already well advanced in creating sustainable shared value and that want to make sure one is not missing any opportunities

There is no free lunch: Unintended effects of the new military retirement system

In June 1986, the new Military Retirement Reform Act was signed into law with the intention of saving $2.9 billion in the 1986 accrual funding of the military retirement budget. This article provides an analysis of the potential effects of the new policy on personnel retention. It concludes that the losses of personnel due to the new retirement system are likely to be much larger than expected, the proportion of higher-quality personnel is likely to be reduced, and policies that can moderate these effects would dilute the intended future cost savings.

Laharic debris flows of Mayon Volcano, Philippines.

Laharic debris flows of Mayon Volcano, Philippines

(Table 1) Summary of maximum clast size and bed thickness of ODP Leg 126 samples

Subaerial debris flows, with water contents ranging from as little as 10 wt% up to no more than about 25 wt% (Pierson, 1986; Pierson and Costa, 1987), are non-Newtonian fluids that move as fairly coherent masses with yield strength (owing to bulk densities and viscosity that are much greater than those of clear water), which enables them to suspend and transport large clasts. Their flow behavior is thought to be predominantly laminar, although the relative importance of laminar and turbulent flow has not been established and is debatable. They leave deposits (debrites) that are characteristically poorly sorted with large clasts in their middle portions and commonly protruding from their tops. Although generally ungraded or normally graded in their upper portions, many have centimeter- to decimeter-thick inversely graded basal zones (Arguden and Rodolfo, 1990, doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1990)1022.3.CO;2)

Gene Teams are on the Field: Evaluation of Variants in Gene-Networks Using High Dimensional Modelling

In medical genetics, each genetic variant is evaluated as an independent entity regarding its clinical importance. However, in most complex diseases, variant combinations in specific gene networks, rather than the presence of a particular single variant, predominates. In the case of complex diseases, disease status can be evaluated by considering the success level of a team of specific variants. We propose a high dimensional modelling based method to analyse all the variants in a gene network together, which we name “Computational Gene Network Analysis” (CoGNA).To evaluate our method, we selected two gene networks, mTOR and TGF-$beta$. For each pathway, we generated 400 control and 400 patient group samples. mTOR and TGF-$beta$ pathways contain 31 and 93 genes of varying sizes, respectively. We produced Chaos Game Representation images for each gene sequence to obtain 2-D binary patterns. These patterns were arranged in succession, and a 3-D tensor structure was achieved for each gene network. Features for each data sample were acquired by exploiting Enhanced Multivariance Products Representation to 3-D data. Features were split as training and testing vectors. Training vectors were employed to train a Support Vector Machines classification model. We achieved more than $96$ and $99$ classification accuracies for mTOR and TGF-$beta$ networks, respectively, using a limited amount of training samples

3p abnormalities in peripheral lymphocytes in small cell lung cancer

3p abnormalities are the most frequent chromosome abnormalities in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). To date these abnormalities have only been observed in cells derived from tumor tissues. It is thought that cancer-related chromosome abnormalities in peripheral lymphocytes could help to predict cancer development, prognosis, and future metastasis. We report clonal and nonclonal 3p abnormalities in the peripheral lymphocytes of two patients with SCLC. A standard T-lymphocyte culture method and GTL banding technique were applied to the samples, and various clonal and nonclonal chromosome 3 abnormalities, i.e., -3, del(3)(p24), del(3)(p21), del(3)(p11), del(3)(q22), inv(3)(p14q29), and inv(3)(q21q29) were observed. Efforts have been made to understand if there are cancer-related chromosome abnormalities in lymphocytes and the suitability of these abnormalities to predict cancer development or metastases. As far as we know, this is the first report on chromosome 3 abnormalities in lymphocytes. Since 3p abnormalities are specific for SCLC, it is important to show that these cancer-related abnormalities can be found in blood cells

Gene Teams are on the Field: Evaluation of Variants in Gene-Networks Using High Dimensional Modelling

Abstract Variation is a key concept in every biological aspect, particularly in medical genetics. In this field, each genetic variant is evaluated mostly as an independent entity in respect of its clinical importance. This approach may be sufficient to detect the pathogenic variants in single-gene disorders. However, in most of the complex diseases, the combination of the variants in specific gene networks, rather than the presence of a certain single variant, predominates. Therefore, in case of a complex disease, the disease status can be evaluated by considering it as the success level of a team composed of certain variants. To assess the feasibility of this approach, we tested the effectiveness of high-dimensional modelling of gene network-restricted variants in distinguishing a disease status. To evaluate the proposed method, we selected two gene networks, mTOR and TGF-β. For each pathway, we generated 400 control and 400 patient group samples. The considered mTOR and TGF-β pathways contain 31 and 93 genes of varying sizes, respectively. We generated Chaos Game Representation images for each gene sequence to obtain 2-D binary patterns. Produced patterns were arranged in succession, and a 3-D tensor structure was achieved for each gene network. Features for each data sample were acquired by exploiting Enhanced Multivariance Products Representation to 3-D data. The features were split as training and testing vectors. The training vectors were employed to train a Support Vector Machines classification model. We managed to achieve more than 96% and 99% classification accuracies for mTOR and TGF-β networks, respectively, using a limited amount of training samples.</jats:p