An agenda for rethinking mid-career master programs in public administration

The pace of societal change and the development of societal challenges have speeded up considerably during the last couple of decades, with substantial impact on different levels, i.e. ranging from global to local, or from business to government. When focusing on the public domain, these changes and challenges have had a major impact on public professionals, who face different and frequently changing questions. Mid-career programs in Public Administration (MPA) have the mission to support enrolled professionals in dealing with these changes and challenges. This article is about the development of such MPAs. Both substantive and didactic development is needed. To counter institutional inertia it seems vital to institutionalize a regular rethinking and adaptation of curricula and didactic strategies. This article identified some important points of attention and some options to deal with these in order to continuously improve the contribution of MPA programs to relevant and effective professional development and ongoing professional learning

LPS unmasking of Shigella flexneri reveals preferential localisation of tagged outer membrane protease IcsP to septa and new poles

The Shigella flexneri outer membrane (OM) protease IcsP (SopA) is a member of the enterobacterial Omptin family of proteases which cleaves the polarly localised OM protein IcsA that is essential for Shigella virulence. Unlike IcsA however, the specific localisation of IcsP on the cell surface is unknown. To determine the distribution of IcsP, a haemagglutinin (HA) epitope was inserted into the non-essential IcsP OM loop 5 using Splicing by Overlap Extension (SOE) PCR, and IcsP(HA) was characterised. Quantum Dot (QD) immunofluorescence (IF) surface labelling of IcsP(HA) was then undertaken. Quantitative fluorescence analysis of S. flexneri 2a 2457T treated with and without tunicaymcin to deplete lipopolysaccharide (LPS) O antigen (Oag) showed that IcsP(HA) was asymmetrically distributed on the surface of septating and non-septating cells, and that this distribution was masked by LPS Oag in untreated cells. Double QD IF labelling of IcsP(HA) and IcsA showed that IcsP(HA) preferentially localised to the new pole of non-septating cells and to the septum of septating cells. The localisation of IcsP(HA) in a rough LPS S. flexneri 2457T strain (with no Oag) was also investigated and a similar distribution of IcsP(HA) was observed. Complementation of the rough LPS strain with rmlD resulted in restored LPS Oag chain expression and loss of IcsP(HA) detection, providing further support for LPS Oag masking of surface proteins. Our data presents for the first time the distribution for the Omptin OM protease IcsP, relative to IcsA, and the effect of LPS Oag masking on its detection.Elizabeth Ngoc Hoa Tran, Matthew Thomas Doyle, Renato Moron

Recognising the importance of shellfish to First Nations peoples, Indigenous and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in aquaculture and coastal management in Australia

Throughout the world, there is a growing recognition of the importance and need for incorporation of Indigenous and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of First Nations peoples in shellfish aquaculture and coastal management. In Australia, however, the incorporation of First Nations TEK of shellfish aquaculture and coastal management is in its infancy. This is a concern because the combined perspectives of Indigenous knowledge and Western Science are needed to restore culturally and economically significant shellfish and create successful, respectful and sustainable outcomes. The aims of this perspective piece are first to describe the evidence for the importance of shellfish aquaculture and management to First Nations peoples of Australia and second to highlight the opportunity to incorporate First Nations TEK in shellfish restoration and aquaculture in Australia. Already, models of successful incorporation of TEK of shellfish exist in Aotearoa, which provide an example for incorporation of TEK of shellfish in Australia. First Nations peoples of Australia hold a deep cultural connection with shellfish and Sea Country that has persisted for millennia. If we are to appropriately sustain and restore shellfish and manage our coasts, we must incorporate First Nations TEK and views, and respect and protect their ongoing connections to Sea Country

An experimental study of executive function and social impairment in Cornelia de Lange syndrome

Background Extreme shyness and social anxiety is reported to be characteristic of adolescents and adults with Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS); however, the nature of these characteristics is not well documented. In this study, we develop and apply an experimental assessment of social anxiety in a group of adolescents and adults with CdLS to determine the nature of the social difficulties and whether they are related to impairments in executive functioning. Methods A familiar and unfamiliar examiner separately engaged in socially demanding tasks comprising three experimental conditions with a group of individuals with CdLS (n = 25; % male = 44; mean age = 22.16; SD = 8.81) and a comparable group of individuals with Down syndrome (DS; n = 20; % male = 35; mean age = 24.35; SD = 5.97). Behaviours indicative of social anxiety were coded. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool version, an informant measure of executive function, was completed by participants’ caregivers. Results Significantly less verbalisation was observed in the CdLS group than the DS group in conditions requiring the initiation of speech. In the CdLS group, impairments in verbalisation were not associated with a greater degree of intellectual disability but were significantly correlated with impairments in both planning and working memory. This association was not evident in the DS group. Conclusions Adolescents and adults with CdLS have a specific difficulty with the initiation of speech when social demands are placed upon them. This impairment in verbalisation may be underpinned by specific cognitive deficits, although further research is needed to investigate this fully

Adaptive and maladaptive consequences of “matching habitat choice:” lessons from a rapidly-evolving butterfly metapopulation

Relationships between biased dispersal and local adaptation are currently debated. Here, I show how prior work on wild butterflies casts a novel light on this topic. “Preference” is defined as the set of likelihoods of accepting particular resources after encountering them. So defined, butterfly oviposition preferences are heritable habitat adaptations distinct from both habitat preference and biased dispersal, but influencing both processes. When a butterfly emigrates after its oviposition preference begins to reduce realized fecundity, the resulting biased dispersal is analogous to that occurring when a fish emigrates after its morphological habitat adaptations reduce its feeding rate. I illustrate preference-biased dispersal with examples from metapopulations of Melitaea cinxia and Euphydryas editha. E. editha were feeding on a well-defended host, Pedicularis, when humans created patches in which Pedicularis was killed and a less-defended host, Collinsia, was rendered phenologically available. Patch-specific natural selection favoured oviposition on Collinsia in logged (“clearing”) patches and on Pedicularis in undisturbed open forest. Quantitative variation in post-alighting oviposition preference was heritable, and evolved to be consistently different between patch types. This difference was driven more by biased dispersal than by spatial variation of natural selection. Insects developing on Collinsia in clearings retained adaptations to Pedicularis in clutch size, geotaxis and oviposition preference, forcing them to choose between emigrating in search of forest habitats with Pedicularis or staying and failing to find their preferred host. Insects that stayed suffered reduction of realized fecundity after delayed oviposition on Collinsia. Those that emigrated suffered even greater fitness penalty from consistently low offspring survival on Pedicularis. Paradoxically, most emigrants reduced both their own fitness and that of the recipient populations by dispersing from a benign natal habitat to which they were maladapted into a more demanding habitat to which they were well-adapted. “Matching habitat choice” reduced fitness when evolutionary lag rendered traditional cues unreliable in a changing environment

An Integrative Approach to Understanding Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Roles of Stressors, Negative Emotions, and Moral Disengagement

Several scholars have highlighted the importance of examining moral disengagement (MD) in understanding aggression and deviant conduct across different contexts. The present study investigates the role of MD as a specific social-cognitive construct that, in the organizational context, may intervene in the process leading from stressors to counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Assuming the theoretical framework of the stressor-emotion model of CWB, we hypothesized that MD mediates, at least partially, the relation between negative emotions in reaction to perceived stressors and CWB by promoting or justifying aggressive responses to frustrating situations or events. In a sample of 1,147 Italian workers, we tested a structural equations model. The results support our hypothesis: the more workers experienced negative emotions in response to stressors, the more they morally disengaged and, in turn, enacted CW

Protecting tropical forests from the rapid expansion of rubber using carbon payments

Expansion of Hevea brasiliensis rubber plantations is a resurgent driver of deforestation, carbon emissions, and biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian rubber extent is massive, equivalent to 67% of oil palm, with rapid further expansion predicted. Results-based carbon finance could dis-incentivise forest conversion to rubber, but efficacy will be limited unless payments match, or at least approach, the costs of avoided deforestation. These include opportunity costs (timber and rubber profits), plus carbon finance scheme setup (transaction) and implementation costs. Using comprehensive Cambodian forest data, exploring scenarios of selective logging and conversion, and assuming land-use choice is based on net present value, we find that carbon prices of $30-$51 per tCO2are needed to break even against costs, higher than those currently paid on carbon markets or through carbon funds. To defend forests from rubber, either carbon prices must be increased, or other strategies are needed, such as corporate zero-deforestation pledges, and governmental regulation and enforcement of forest protection

Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus infection in chickens but not ducks is associated with elevated host immune and pro-inflammatory responses

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses cause severe infection in chickens at near complete mortality, but corresponding infection in ducks is typically mild or asymptomatic. To understand the underlying molecular differences in host response, primary chicken and duck lung cells, infected with two HPAI H5N1 viruses and a low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) H2N3 virus, were subjected to RNA expression profiling. Chicken cells but not duck cells showed highly elevated immune and pro-inflammatory responses following HPAI virus infection. HPAI H5N1 virus challenge studies in chickens and ducks corroborated the in vitro findings. To try to determine the underlying mechanisms, we investigated the role of signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT-3) in mediating pro-inflammatory response to HPAIV infection in chicken and duck cells. We found that STAT-3 expression was down-regulated in chickens but was up-regulated or unaffected in ducks in vitro and in vivo following H5N1 virus infection. Low basal STAT-3 expression in chicken cells was completely inhibited by H5N1 virus infection. By contrast, constitutively active STAT-3 detected in duck cells was unaffected by H5N1 virus infection. Transient constitutively-active STAT-3 transfection in chicken cells significantly reduced pro-inflammatory response to H5N1 virus infection; on the other hand, chemical inhibition of STAT-3 activation in duck cells increased pro-inflammatory gene expression following H5N1 virus infection. Collectively, we propose that elevated pro-inflammatory response in chickens is a major pathogenicity factor of HPAI H5N1 virus infection, mediated in part by the inhibition of STAT-3