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APPC Minutes - April 25, 2023
No full textMinutes of the Academic Policy and Program Committee Meeting, April 25, 2023
The Future of Banking: Consumer Protection and Contagion Risks of Cryptocurrency
Get PDFThe emergence of digital assets in the financial services industry in the 21st century raised concerns pertaining to consumer protection, regulatory oversight, and the safety and soundness of the United States financial system. In the efforts to foster digital assets in financial markets, lawmakers at both state and federal governments have begun spearheading regulatory initiatives aimed at protecting investors and consumers. This paper considers historical and current issues surrounding cryptocurrency, as well as existing policy and regulatory responses at the federal level. Among a wide array of policy issues regarding digital assets, this paper examines the consumer protection and contagion risks of cryptocurrency and their implications on U.S. financial stability. Employing the case study on the collapse of FTX cryptocurrency exchange in November 2022, this paper conducts a regression analysis between the market capitalization of FTX and other major cryptocurrency exchanges to illustrate their contagious and integrative relationships in the cryptocurrency market
Is it Time for Four? An Analysis of the Four-Day Workweek
Get PDFHave you ever sat down on a Sunday night wishing that your weekend did not fly by and was a bit longer? Do you sometimes wish you had more time to do the things you love outside of work? This is where the four-day workweek comes in. Over time, we have seen the standard United States workweek evolve from what was once a sixty-hour week, to a forty-hour week, and now we see that four-day, compressed workweeks are being implemented across not only the United States, but around the world. Increasing amounts of attention have been going towards work-life balance, job satisfaction, and employee productivity and in this paper, we will be looking at how the four-day workweek affects these variables and explore the reasons behind different findings. There have been many case studies and amounts of research conducted on these topics, but the result varies. Typically, the four-day workweek consists of four 10-hour days, but in some cases, it consists of four eight-hour days. Generally, pay will remain the same for employees who take on this schedule, which is an important factor. There are many reasons behind why a company would implement such a schedule, which include the desire to reduce costs of operating daily, reducing employee burnout, and increasing employee retention, in addition to the variables just discussed, work-life balance, productivity, and job satisfaction (Agovino, 2021). The four-day workweek is a very popular topic today and we will seek to understand the ways in which it affects employees
Roadway Characteristics and Car Accident Trends in Gettysburg, PA
Get PDFThis study addresses the rising motor vehicle accident and fatality rates in the United States (Moore, 2023). Focusing on the conditions in the Gettysburg Borough in an attempt to answer the following research questions: Are age of driver, weather conditions of car accidents, and traffic volume contributing to accidents in the Gettysburg Borough? What are the roadway characteristics of accident hot spot areas within the Gettysburg Borough? Utilizing Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) crash data from 2018 to 2022 and PennDot Average Annual Daily Traffic data, this study employs a comprehensive approach. Combining GIS analysis and statistical analysis to determine what unique factors of the Gettysburg Borough roadways are contributing to accident frequency. In this study, we used GIS spatial analysis to determine accident locations occurring within hotspot areas and accident locations occurring outside of hotspots within the Borough. We will also utilize a data collection instrument to analyze the roadway characteristics of these accident sites in the field, combined with statistical examination of age and weather conditions that contribute to traffic accidents. Results indicate that certain roadway characteristics correlate to accident likelihood in hotspot areas. Roads are significantly wider in hotspot zones, and traffic measures and road markings are more evident within hotspot locations. Analysis of PennDOT crash data for Gettysburg suggests a correlation in increased accident frequency for +50-year drivers, and teenagers aged 16-20. We will also discuss the impact of weather conditions on road safety and the correlation to accident trends
The Five Factor Model of Personality and HR Employees’ Perceptions of AI Adoption
Get PDFThe use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support Human Resources (HR) functions has recently gained influence and sparked controversy in both academic and applied settings. While studies on human-technology interaction have mainly focused on the response of humans to digital technologies in various contexts (e.g., instant messaging and social media), there remains a lack of empirical research on HR professionals’ individual perceptions of AI tools. This paper will utilize McCrae & Costa’s Big-Five Factor Model of Personality (1989) to develop five theoretical propositions about HR workers’ dispositional willingness to accept AI technology. It is proposed that while agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion, and conscientiousness are positively related to AI acceptance among HR professionals, neuroticism is negatively related to acceptance of AI technology. I also describe directions for future research, along with considerations for HR departments that are interested in incorporating AI-based tools in their operations
Domestic Material Culture and Wealth: Equality Bronze Age Houses and Intramural Tombs at Titriş Höyük, Turkey
Get PDFThis article measures differential accumulation of material wealth between houses at the intrasite level. The dwellings measured are located in two separate residential neighborhoods at the urban settlement of Titriş Höyük in southeastern Turkey. As proxies of the measurement, the author employed various architectural spaces, built-in features, and portable artifacts exposed from primary floor contexts, as well as grave inclusions from burials within the houses that were completely or partially excavated. Gini values are calculated for thirteen variables derived from the material culture. The results show that occupants of the houses shared a similar economic status from about 2300 to 2100 BCE. It is thought that a centrally planned construction of this settlement around 2300 BCE played a role in the more or less equal wealth distribution. This type of comparative research necessitates a fine-grained excavation record of domestic floors and intramural tombs, both of which are available at Titriş
Comment on “Search for Explanation of the Neutron Lifetime Anomaly”
Get PDFWe respond to issues raised by Serebrov et al. in a recent paper regarding systematic effects in the beam neutron lifetime experiment performed at NIST. We show that these effects were considered in the original analyses and that our corrections and systematic uncertainties were appropriate. We point out some misunderstandings in the analysis of Serebrov et al. None of the issues raised lead us to alter the value of the neutron lifetime reported
Genomic and Phenotypic Signatures of Bacteriophage Coevolution with the Phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae
No full textThe rate and trajectory of evolution in an obligate parasite is critically dependent on those of its host(s). Adaptation to a genetically homogeneous host population should theoretically result in specialization, while adaptation to an evolving host population (i.e., coevolution) can result in various outcomes including diversification, range expansion, and/or local adaptation. For viruses of bacteria (bacteriophages, or phages), our understanding of how evolutionary history of the bacterial host(s) impacts viral genotypic and phenotypic evolution is currently limited. In this study, we used whole genome sequencing and two different metrics of phage impacts to compare the genotypes and phenotypes of lytic phages that had either coevolved with or were repeatedly passaged on an unchanging (ancestral) strain of the phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae. Genomes of coevolved phages had more mutations than those of phages passaged on a constant host, and most mutations were in genes encoding phage tail-associated proteins. Phages from both passaging treatments shared some phenotypic outcomes, including range expansion and divergence across replicate populations, but coevolved phages were more efficient at reducing population growth (particularly of sympatric coevolved hosts). Genotypic similarity correlated with infectivity profile similarity in coevolved phages, but not in phages passaged on the ancestral host. Overall, while adaptation to either host type (coevolving or ancestral) led to divergence in phage tail proteins and infectivity patterns, coevolution led to more rapid molecular changes that increased bacterial killing efficiency and had more predictable effects on infectivity range. Together, these results underscore the important role of hosts in driving viral evolution and in shaping the genotype–phenotype relationship
Comparative Genomics of Bacillus subtilis Phages Related to phiNIT1 from Desert Soils of the Southwest United States
No full textBackground: Bacillus subtilis is a Gram-positive bacterium commonly found in soil. Phages infecting B. subtilis have diverse genomes and may be used in therapeutics against pathogenic Bacillus species. Materials and Methods: Phages were isolated and purified on B. subtilis. Comparative genomics was performed to determine taxonomy, a liquid-culture lysis assay was used to determine host range, and virion structure was observed for a representative phage by transmission electron microscopy. Results: Five phages were found to have high sequence similarity to each other and known phages, including phiNIT1. Annotation shows a conserved genome structure and protein families unique to this group. Repeated sequences are concentrated in intergenic regions at the ends of the genomes. Capsid structure and tail length suggest these phages are myoviruses. Conclusions: The phages described here share sequence similarity and genomic structure with known Bacillus phages. This study expands our understanding of the genetic diversity of Bacillus phages
Truth and Ideology in Classical China: Mohists vs Zhuangists
No full textThe Mohists and the Zhuangists agreed that truth is normative and constitutive of our attitudes, dispositions, reasoning, emotions, and actions. Truth can be defined as a series of embodied beliefs and perspectives that lead to fitting dispositions, emotions, and actions (regardless of whether they accurately describe the world, or whether there are other competing beliefs and perspectives that equally accurately or inaccurately describe the world); whereas falsity, rather than mistaken descriptions of reality, are certainties that produce unfitting behavior leading to conflict and harm. This shared understanding of truth, nevertheless, develops into two radically different sociopolitical and ethical positions. The Mohists wished to take advantage of the causal power of beliefs to implement a government-sanctioned ideology that couldn’t allow for pluralism in values, norms, beliefs, and practices. The Zhuangists, on the other hand, warned us against the dangers of using single-truth discourses to enforce ideological monopolies and engaged in a sophisticated critique of dogmatism