Capacity constraints as a trigger for high growth

High-growth enterprises (HGEs) have a large economic impact but are notoriously hard to predict. Previous research has linked high-growth episodes to the configuration of lumpy indivisible resources inside firms, such that high capacity utilisation levels might stimulate future growth. We theorize that firms reaching critically high capacity utilisation levels reach a “trigger point” involving either broad-based investment in further growth or shrinking back to previous levels. We analyze EIBIS survey data (matched to ORBIS) which features a question on time-varying capacity utilisation. Overcapacity is a transitory state. Firms enter into overcapacity after a period of the rapid growth of sales and profits, and the years surrounding overcapacity have higher employment growth rates. Firms operating at overcapacity make incremental investments (e.g. capacity expansion, process improvements and modern machinery) rather than investing in R&D and new product development. We find support for the “fork in the road” hypothesis: for some firms, overcapacity is associated with launching into massive investments and subsequent sales growth, while for other firms, overcapacity is negatively related to both investments and sales growth.

Lipid droplet evolution gives insight into polyaneuploid cancer cell lipid droplet functions

Lipid droplets (LDs) are found throughout all phyla across the tree of life. Originating as pure energy stores in the most basic organisms, LDs have evolved to fill various roles as regulators of lipid metabolism, signaling, and trafficking. LDs have been noted in cancer cells and have shown to increase tumor aggressiveness and chemotherapy resistance. A certain transitory state of cancer cell, the polyaneuploid cancer cell (PACC), appears to have higher LD levels than the cancer cell from which they are derived. PACCs are postulated to be the mediators of metastasis and resistance in many different cancers. Utilizing the evolutionarily conserved roles of LDs to protect from cellular lipotoxicity allows PACCs to survive otherwise lethal stressors. By better understanding how LDs have evolved throughout different phyla we will identify opportunities to target LDs in PACCs to increase therapeutic efficiency in cancer cells.

Recruited macrophages that colonize the post-inflammatory peritoneal niche convert into functionally divergent resident cells

Inflammation generally leads to recruitment of monocyte-derived macrophages. What regulates the fate of these cells and to what extent they can assume the identity and function of resident macrophages is unclear. Here, we show that macrophages elicited into the peritoneal cavity during mild inflammation persist long-term but are retained in an immature transitory state of differentiation due to the presence of enduring resident macrophages. By contrast, severe inflammation results in ablation of resident macrophages and a protracted phase wherein the cavity is incapable of sustaining a resident phenotype, yet ultimately elicited cells acquire a mature resident identity. These macrophages also have transcriptionally and functionally divergent features that result from inflammation-driven alterations to the peritoneal cavity micro-environment and, to a lesser extent, effects of origin and time-of-residency. Hence, rather than being predetermined, the fate of inflammation-elicited peritoneal macrophages seems to be regulated by the environment.

A Tgfbr1/Snai1-dependent developmental module at the core of vertebrate axial elongation

Formation of the vertebrate postcranial body axis follows two sequential but distinct phases. The first phase generates pre-sacral structures (the so-called primary body) through the activity of the primitive streak on axial progenitors within the epiblast. The embryo then switches to generate the secondary body (post-sacral structures), which depends on axial progenitors in the tail bud. Here we show that the mammalian tail bud is generated through an independent functional developmental module, concurrent but functionally different from that generating the primary body. This module is triggered by convergent Tgfbr1 and Snai1 activities that promote an incomplete epithelial to mesenchymal transition on a subset of epiblast axial progenitors. This EMT is functionally different from that coordinated by the primitive streak, as it does not lead to mesodermal differentiation but brings axial progenitors into a transitory state, keeping their progenitor activity to drive further axial body extension.

Variations on the death of a grandparent: an analysis of youth memoir

Purpose This paper aims to argue for the curricular inclusion of youth-generated young adult literature (YAL) alongside canonical literature and adult-generated YAL. The authors support this argument with the results of a qualitative analysis of youth memoir published in The Best Teen Writing. They strive to inform the debate between educators who value memoir as part of the secondary curriculum and critics who question the ability of youth to write purposeful, meaningful narrative. Additionally, the authors also present memoir as a unique genre for youth to document and process adolescence, and for youth to speak to issues which they deem important. Design/methodology/approach Informed theoretically by the Youth Lens, which considers how texts reinforce and/or disrupt various figurations of adolescence and youth, this study uses a multistage qualitative analysis of 83 youth memoir published in nine volumes of the Best Teen Writing from 2010 to 2018. First, the authors conducted a Labovian plot analysis to consider what themes and topics were present as well as what this sample could teach us about youth. Next, they analyzed the sample for genre hallmarks specific to creative nonfiction and memoir to consider the question of quality of youth memoir. Findings The findings suggest that there is no typical adolescence and that youth are balancing complex, intersectional identities, which they write about skillfully through memoir. These findings directly contrast with critics of youth memoir. Rather than clichéd, the memoirs the authors analyzed show youth as intercultural, capable of thoughtful reflection, capturing the transitory state of their youth (knowing they are not children anymore and lightly speculating about their future), skillfully integrating memoir genre hallmarks, and recording important events and perspectives with appeal to a broader readership. Furthermore, these findings position youth memoir as worthy of curricular inclusion alongside adult-generated YAL. Originality/value If the critics of youth memoir are the loudest voices, youth memoir will be, at best, relegated as examples for writers rather than seen as valid additions to curricular canon. This work gives due credit to the quality of published youth memoir to showcase their potential for curricular and canonical addition. This study builds on smaller-scale case studies and personal accounts to make an argument for curricular inclusion of youth voices and youth memoir in the secondary canon.

A TgfβRI/Snai1-dependent developmental module at the core of vertebrate axial elongation

ABSTRACTFormation of the vertebrate postcranial body axis follows two sequential but distinct phases. The first phase generates pre-sacral structures (the so-called primary body) through the activity of the primitive streak (PS) on axial progenitors within the epiblast. The embryo then switches to generate the secondary body (post-sacral structures), which depends on axial progenitors in the tail bud. Here we show that the mammalian tail bud is generated through an independent developmental module, concurrent but functionally different to that generating the primary body. This module is triggered by convergent TgfβRI and Snai1 activities that promote an incomplete epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) on a subset of epiblast axial progenitors. This EMT is functionally different to that coordinated by the PS, as it does not lead to mesodermal differentiation but brings axial progenitors into a transitory state, keeping their progenitor activity to drive further axial body extension.

Historiografia pedagogiczna w czasopismach tradycyjnych i elektronicznych

Scientific and research periodicals play an extremely important part in popularizing (and promoting) results of research studies, though this role is not equally appreciated across different domains of science. This becomes apparent if we compare the number of traditional and electronic titles of periodicals in such disciplines as medicine, natural science and exact science on the one side, and those that represent the humanities, broadly understood, on the other. The advantage of electronic content in the former group is overwhelming. Nowadays, we use two terms in relation to periodicals available online and launched on the electronic platform. The terms make a distinction between a degree of their involvement in the cyber space. “Digitalization” means a certain transitory state between traditional periodicals in print and virtual publications; in other words, a product of “digitization” is an electronic copy (e.g. a scanned text) of a text originally published in print, whereas the notion of “digital authorship (the author as digital producer), in Polish: cyfryzacja” deals with an entirely electronic publication with specific properties underlined by multimedia and hypertext capabilities. Digital research information as an entirely new quality has not been yet appropriately appreciated. The history of education as a discipline of research does not have its own electronic platform that would offer peer-reviewed research papers in Open Access (OA), e-books or electronic document repositories. For the time being, the most recent Polish periodical within this discipline, i.e. Biuletyn Historii Wychowania, has only a front page, ToCs and a masthead available online, without access to full-text electronic content.

Self-transcendence and Meaningful Work

Self-transcendence is a concept often evoked in different approaches to meaningful work, but which lacks clarity. This chapter considers how the subjective experience of meaningful work, centering on significance and purpose, gives rise to the idea of meaningfulness as the realization of human potential, by connecting the inner and the outer life along spiritual and social dimensions. It points to a conceptualization of self-transcendence that places greater emphasis on the intersubjective nature of meaningfulness. This raises questions such as: if meaningfulness is self-transcendent, where and how is meaning created? If transcendence denotes “beyondness” of the here and now, what does this mean in terms of the nature of work tasks and roles? If self-transcendence is an ineffable, transitory state, what might this mean for research into meaningful work? A shift in the emphasis of future research is necessary if we are to understand the self-transcendent nature of experienced meaningfulness.

Becoming a Bereaved Parent

In this essay, I explore the significance of involving personal experiences with loss in my research on parental bereavement. By intersecting autoethnography and findings from a qualitative interview study with bereaved parents following infant loss, I argue that while popular and professional accounts depict normal grief as a transitory state, parental accounts present grief as a continuing and open-ended relationship with the dead child. In acknowledgment of this, I present fragmentary, non-reifying narratives of the continuing realities of becoming a bereaved parent.