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Phoenix666 writes:

Geert Hofstede's "Culture's Consequences" is one of the most influential management books of the 20th century. With well over 80,000 citations, Hofstede argues that 50 percent of managers' differences in their reactions to various situations are explained by cultural differences. Now, a researcher at the University of Missouri has determined that culture plays little or no part in leaders' management of their employees; this finding could impact how managers are trained and evaluated globally.

"We all want a higher quality of life, a desirable workplace environment and meaningful work -- no matter our home country," said Arthur Jago, professor of management in the Robert J. Trulaske College of Business at MU. "In management theory, we focus more on leaders' differences rather than their similarities. By analyzing the data in a new way, I found that managers across country borders and across cultures are more alike than different."

Crud. Does this mean you can't get away from PHB's no matter where you go?

Original Submission

n1 writes:

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle charges it used trades involving customer cash to lower the firm's borrowing costs in violation of the SEC's Customer Protection Rule.

[...] According to the SEC's order, Morgan Stanley had its affiliate, Morgan Stanley Equity Financing Ltd., serve as a customer of its U.S. broker-dealer, a relationship that allowed the affiliate to use margin loans from the U.S. broker-dealer to finance the costs of hedging swap trades with customers. The margin loans lowered the borrowing costs incurred to hedge these swap trades and reduced the U.S. broker-dealer's customer reserve account deposit requirements by tens to hundreds of millions of dollars per day.

The SEC order finds that Morgan Stanley's affiliated transactions violated the Customer Protection Rule and that as a result of inaccurately calculating its customer reserve account requirements, it submitted inaccurate reports to the SEC. Morgan Stanley provided substantial cooperation during the SEC's investigation and has agreed to review its compliance with the Customer Protection Rule and to take remedial steps to improve its calculation processes. Morgan Stanley also significantly increased the amount of excess funds it maintains in its customer reserve account.

Source: The Securities and Exchange Commission

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Phoenix666 writes:

Stradivarius violins are renowned for their supposedly superior sound when compared to other instruments. This has resulted in numerous studies hunting for a scientific reason for why Strads sound so good. A number of these studies have focused on the chemical composition of the wood in violins made in Cremona by Antonio Stradivari in the 17th and 18th centuries. Others have considered the violins made by Stradivari's contemporary, Joseph Guarneri del Gesu, whose violins are widely considered to be just as good.

Research often looks at how the materials used in the construction of the instrument define its superior quality. For example, one study argued that a "little ice age" which affected Europe from 1645 to 1715, was responsible for the slow-growth wood used in the construction of the violins that gives them a particular quality. This type of wood would have been available to all violin makers in Europe so other work has looked at the particular varnish applied to Strads. But the most recent study on this showed that Stradivari finishes were also commonly used by other craftsmen and artists and were not particularly special.

Now a team of scientists from National Taiwan University have tried to uncover the secret of Stradivarius violins by analysing the chemistry of the wood they're made from. The researchers found that the aged and treated maple wood had very different properties from that used to make modern instruments. But is there really a secret to be found in the Stradivarius?

Original Submission

n1 writes:

The day after Inner City Press asked both US Ambassador Samantha Power and UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the UN Mission in South Sudan giving automatic weapons to warlord James Koang, who killed civilians, a new UN outrage was brought to the attention of Inner City Press and after its publishing and asking about it (video here), was confirmed by the UN.

Since the UN covered up its arming of South Sudan warlord Koang, and refuses to answer written questions including about its use of public funds, we published this report on this we'll follow up:

The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, UNAMI, under the authority of the UN Department of Safety and Security (DSS), have "lost" 25 weapons from their armory in their base in the Green Zone in Baghdad.

The loss includes 18 Glock 9mm pistols, 5 G36 assault rifles, and 2 G36 sniper rifles. Sources say that 10,000s of thousands of rounds of ammunition are also missing.

DSS only discovered or internally acknowledged this months after the fact and cannot account for their loss. The UN's Fijian Guard Unit have had to start patrolling inside the base.

Source: Inner City Press
Related: Small Arms Survey Sudan [PDF]

Washington Post: Report: U.N. gave arms to South Sudan rebels later implicated in massacre

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

What one piece of technology would most improve your working life?

Chances are it wouldn't be a glove. But car workers in Germany are now using smart gloves that not only save time but prevent accidents as well.

It is an example of how tech-enhanced humans are fighting back against the seemingly unstoppable rise of the robots.

At BMW's spare parts plant in Dingolfing, for example, which employs around 17,500 people, hand-held barcode readers have been replaced by gloves that scan objects when you put your thumb and forefinger together. The data is sent wirelessly to a central computer.

The hi-tech gloves allow workers to keep hold of items with both hands while scanning more quickly. While this may only save a few seconds each time, BMW reckons it adds up to 4,000 work minutes, or 66 hours, a day.

It's not just gloves; the article gives several examples of cool technology that help workers.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

A team of researchers at the University of Chicago has developed new technology that allows for recording and viewing the process by which a silicon nanowire is consumed by an individual cell. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the team describes the technique they used and why they believe it could lead to new ways of merging biological systems and electronic devices.

Prior research has shown that certain types of cells would consume silicon nanowires introduced to the same petri dish. In this new effort, the researchers have developed a way to study the process, revealing how it comes about—a necessary step before attempting to use the nanowires to control the behavior of a cell or as a means of tricking a cell into consuming a drug.

Scientists are eager to find a way to gain control over cells in order to combat diseases at a cellular level. That was what led researchers to search for a material that could be consumed naturally by a cell, but which could also be used as a control mechanism.

J. F. Zimmerman et al. Cellular uptake and dynamics of unlabeled freestanding silicon nanowires, Science Advances (2016). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1601039

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

To develop new treatments for skin cancer, drugs need to be tested on animals. Now scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne have been able to grow mouse skin stem cells in a dish. These stem cells in a test-tube could reduce the number of animal experiments.

Wounds need to heal and dead hairs need to be replaced. Responsible for this are the so-called hair follicle stem cells in our skin. These stem cells can mature into all the different cell types in the skin epidermis. If they are out of control skin cancer can develop.

"We wanted to develop a system to study hair follicle stem cells in the skin and their role in cancer development", explains Carlos Andrés Chacón-Martínez, a scientist in the group of Sara Wickström at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne. "Usually we need to use model organisms, such as mice. But it requires a large number of animals and years to study. With our new method we can readily investigate these stem cells in a petri dish in short periods. As a result we don't need that many animals anymore."

Carlos Andrés Chacón‐Martínez et al. Hair follicle stem cell cultures reveal self‐organizing plasticity of stem cells and their progeny, The EMBO Journal (2016). DOI: 10.15252/embj.201694902

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

A former IT executive from Australia's Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has been jailed for taking bribes from software company ServiceMesh.

Keith Robert Hunter has been sent down for three and a half years and will serve at least two years and three months, for dishonestly causing financial disadvantage by deception.

Hunter initially contested the charge but later changed his plea to guilty, thereby admitting that payments made to his personal bank account from the the ACE Foundation were an inducement to purchase ServiceMesh software.

ServiceMesh's founder Eric Pulier created the Foundation in 2014, the year after ServiceMesh was acquired by CSC. Pulier became head of strategy for CSC's Emerging Business Group, a position from which he was suspended in April 2015 before resigning later that month as details of the the bribery scandal emerged.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

A West Virginia University mathematics researcher has developed an algorithm to mobilize unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in team missions.

The new technology allows a team of UAVs to fly autonomously to complete complex coordinated missions.

"Someone on the ground sets an area to be scanned by the UAVs. Within the area, the person selects different priority points for information-gathering. The algorithm then sets what coordinates are surveyed by which UAVs, and determines a plan for them so that it also covers as much of the area as possible without depleting the battery life," said Marjorie Darrah, whose project is funded by the Army Research Laboratory.

"The technology is not bypassing the ground station, not taking over the flight plan. It is just giving the ground station help to complete a complex mission with three planes at once."

The new genetic algorithm is designed for the Raven, a UAV used by United States military and Special Operations Command as well as military operations in Austria, Estonia, Italy, Denmark, Spain and the Czech Republic.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Guess what task the goal-driven nerd billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, the world's fifth richest man, set himself this year. Solving the Kashmir crisis? Eradicating polio? Choosing and solving one of the problems in the Millennium Prize?

Don't be daft. He's turned his house into a robot buddy.

"My personal challenge for 2016 was to build a simple AI to run my home - like Jarvis in Iron Man," Zuck explains on his Facebook page in a post unexpectedly titled "Building Jarvis".

Facebook's corporate communications chiefs must have had high hopes for their CEO's Christmas Story. Jarvis would be like the Baby Jesus. Zuckerberg would learn from it ("These challenges always lead me to learn more than I expected") while he taught it. The Jarvis Story promised to do two things. It would position the founder as a fearless DIY pioneer, while allowing us to marvel at the wonder that is Facebook AI. For as you'd expect, Facebook's chatbots and other services are heavily promoted.

But, if anything, the Miracle of Jarvis achieves the exact opposite.

Mark Zuckerberg is a visionary.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

In the developing world, where isolated villages may be accessible only by rough roads, aerial drones can do a lot of good. With this in mind, the Government of Malawi and UNICEF have announced an initiative aimed at further developing humanitarian uses for the aircraft. They've established a drone testing corridor in Malawi, which is reportedly the first of its kind anywhere in Africa.

Known as the Humanitarian UAS Testing Corridor (UAS – unmanned aircraft system), it will extend along a 40-km (25-mile) swath of land, extending up to an altitude of 500 m (1,640 ft).

Plans call on it to facilitate testing in three main areas – the delivery of items such as medical supplies, samples or vaccines; the extension of Wi-Fi or cellphone signals across difficult terrain, particularly in emergencies; and the capture and analysis of aerial imagery for development, and during humanitarian crises such as natural disasters.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

It has been known for a long time that early risers work less efficiently at night than night owls do. But researchers from the Higher School of Economics and Oxford University have uncovered new and distinctive features between the night activities of these two types of individuals. At night, early risers demonstrate a quicker reaction time when solving unusual attention-related tasks than night owls, but these early risers make more mistakes along the way.

Twenty-six volunteers (13 male, 13 female) with an average age of 25 participated in the study. Participants were required to stay awake for 18 hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., and adhere to their normal routine. At the beginning and end of their time spent awake, the participants completed an Attention Network Test (ANT) and a Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire to help assess their chronotype.

[...] Overall, the evening people turned out to be slower but more efficient compared to the early risers, according to the second ANT taken at 2:00 a.m. after 18 hours of being awake. 'On the one hand, it's known that night owls are more efficient in the late hours, but how this influences the speed and accuracy with which attention-related tasks are completed remains unclear. Our study demonstrated how night owls working late at night "sacrifice" speed for accuracy,' explained Andriy Myachykov.

Nicola L. Barclay, Andriy Myachykov. Sustained wakefulness and visual attention: moderation by chronotype. Experimental Brain Research, 2016; DOI: 10.1007/s00221-016-4772-8

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

A centuries-old herbal medicine, discovered by Chinese scientists and used to effectively treat malaria, has been found to potentially aid in the treatment of tuberculosis and may slow the evolution of drug resistance.

In a promising study led by Robert Abramovitch, a Michigan State University microbiologist and TB expert, the ancient remedy artemisinin stopped the ability of TB-causing bacteria, known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, to become dormant. This stage of the disease often makes the use of antibiotics ineffective.

The study is published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

"When TB bacteria are dormant, they become highly tolerant to antibiotics," Abramovitch said, an assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine. "Blocking dormancy makes the TB bacteria more sensitive to these drugs and could shorten treatment times."

Huiqing Zheng, et. al., Inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DosRST signaling and persistence. Nature Chemical Biology, 2016; DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2259

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

After two years of development and testing, a commercial drone delivery operation has officially received the government go-ahead in the south of France. The General Directorate for Civil Aviation recently granted authorization to DPDgroup, the international express subsidiary of French postal service Le Groupe La Poste, to operate a weekly delivery service stretching between two depots in the Provence region.

Packages will be loaded onto a hexacopter in the town of Saint-Maximin-La-Sainte-Beaume, then autonomously flown about 15 km (9 miles) to a remotely-located group of tech start-ups near the town of Pourrières.

Users will drop off and pick up parcels at outdoor terminals at either end of the route. Those parcels can weigh up to 3 kg (6.6 lb), and will be automatically attached to or taken from the undercarriage of the drone.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Obesity's effects extend all through the body, and the liver is one of the more serious victims. Poor diet can cause fat to build up in the organ, leading to chronic liver disease and other serious health issues like diabetes and heart disease. Now a team from Saint Louis University has found that switching off a particular protein decreased the body fat and improved the blood sugar levels of mice.
...
"When I think of fatty liver disease, I think of fatty hepatocytes – liver cells," explains Baldan. "Each cell has many lipid droplets, and those droplets contain triglycerides. The lipid droplets aren't skinny-dipping in the cells, though. They are coated by proteins. One such protein is called 'fat-specific protein 27,' or FSP27."

The function of body fat is to store energy for later use. But what FSP27 does is prevent those lipids from mobilizing – being used – and instead encourages them to stay put in the cell. A high-fat diet increases the amount of FSP27 and, in turn, the amount of fat that builds up in the liver. Inversely, triglycerides can also accumulate as a result of fasting, which sees the body begin to process more stored fat, sending mobilized fat to the liver for processing.

Knowing this, the team hypothesized that shutting off FSP27 should reduce fat build-up. To test the idea, the researchers used two groups of obese mice, afflicted with high blood sugar and fatty liver disease. The difference was, one group was fed a high-fat diet, while the other mice were genetically modified. Some of each group were then treated with antisense oligonucleotides, polymers which essentially switch off FSP27.

Mice treated with a compound to shut off the fat-specific protein FSP27 showed significant declines in fat.

Original Submission