Intercultural Communication and Collaboration in Software Development

Master's thesis in Business administration (BE501)Many Global Software firms outsource parts of their operations to other countries due to cheaper labour costs and to find employees with high knowledge within a specific area. Collaboration and communication between different nationalities aredifficult not only due to the distance geographically,but also distances in cultural aspects. The purpose of this study is to investigatedifferent factors that impact intercultural communication and collaboration in software development firms. Previous research in this field shows various factors impacting intercultural communication and collaboration in software development companies. To investigate these factors exploratory mixed-method design has been used. Initially, qualitative methodology was used to collect data from semi-structured interviews. Eight interviews were conducted with various work roles within a single Norwegian firm. The interviewees explain how various factors impact their communication and collaboration withcolleagues inIndia and Ukraine. These results have been analysed. Secondly, a quantitative survey was conducted based on Isern ́s (2014) eight identity factors of intercultural communication. Other factors based on the findings from the interviewshave also been discussed

Optimeringsmetoder anvendt på klassifikasjon av hyperspektrale data

The purpose of this thesis has been to test the Support Vector Machine (SVM) based classifier on hyperspectral data by using quadratic optimizing theory. This has been done by solving the quadratic program C-SVM by using the central path method. The thesis compares the performance of the central path method with other commonly known methods such as matlab's quadprog function, the on-line algorithm and a simple algorithm called center algorithm. They all solves the C-SVM problem or related problems. By also taking advantage of the power in kernel functions C-SVM becomes a powerful tool for classifying hyperspectral data. The kernel functions transform feature space in to an higer dimention where the data can be separated by a linear discriminant function. By introducing a loss tolerance C, the classifier also generalizes to non-linear separable cases. For classifying hyperspectral data this is a promising method because it generalizes well from a training and validation set to an unseen test set

Molecular Mechanisms of Retinoid Receptors in Diabetes-Induced Cardiac Remodeling

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM), a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients, is characterized by ventricular dysfunction, in the absence of coronary atherosclerosis and hypertension. There is no specific therapeutic strategy to effectively treat patients with DCM, due to a lack of a mechanistic understanding of the disease process. Retinoic acid, the active metabolite of vitamin A, is involved in a wide range of biological processes, through binding and activation of nuclear receptors: retinoic acid receptors (RAR) and retinoid X receptors (RXR). RAR/RXR-mediated signaling has been implicated in the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism. Recently, it has been reported that activation of RAR/RXR has an important role in preventing the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy, through improving cardiac insulin resistance, inhibition of intracellular oxidative stress, NF-κB-mediated inflammatory responses and the renin-angiotensin system. Moreover, downregulated RAR/RXR signaling has been demonstrated in diabetic myocardium, suggesting that impaired RAR/RXR signaling may be a trigger to accelerate diabetes-induced development of DCM. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of retinoid receptors in the regulation of cardiac metabolism and remodeling under diabetic conditions is important in providing the impetus for generating novel therapeutic approaches for the prevention and treatment of diabetes-induced cardiac complications and heart failure

Mutual epithelium-macrophage dependency in liver carcinogenesis mediated by ST18

The ST18 gene has been proposed to act either as a tumor suppressor or as an oncogene in different human cancers, but direct evidence for its role in tumorigenesis has been lacking thus far. Here, we demonstrate that ST18 is critical for tumor progression and maintenance in a mouse model of liver cancer, based on oncogenic transformation and adoptive transfer of primary precursor cells (hepatoblasts). ST18 messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein were detectable neither in normal liver nor in cultured hepatoblasts, but were readily expressed after subcutaneous engraftment and tumor growth. ST18 expression in liver cells was induced by inflammatory cues, including acute or chronic inflammation in vivo, as well as coculture with macrophages in vitro. Knocking down the ST18 mRNA in transplanted hepatoblasts delayed tumor progression. Induction of ST18 knockdown in pre-established tumors caused rapid tumor involution associated with pervasive morphological changes, proliferative arrest, and apoptosis in tumor cells, as well as depletion of tumor-associated macrophages, vascular ectasia, and hemorrhage. Reciprocally, systemic depletion of macrophages in recipient animals had very similar phenotypic consequences, impairing either tumor development or maintenance, and suppressing ST18 expression in hepatoblasts. Finally, RNA sequencing of ST18-depleted tumors before involution revealed down-regulation of inflammatory response genes, pointing to the suppression of nuclear factor kappa B–dependent transcription. Conclusion: ST18 expression in epithelial cells is induced by tumor-associated macrophages, contributing to the reciprocal feed-forward loop between both cell types in liver tumorigenesis. Our findings warrant the exploration of means to interfere with ST18-dependent epithelium–macrophage interactions in a therapeutic setting. (Hepatology 2017;65:1708-1719)

Immunomodulatory Activity of Dietary Fiber: Arabinoxylan and Mixed-Linked Beta-Glucan Isolated from Barley Show Modest Activities in Vitro

High intake of dietary fiber is claimed to protect against development of colorectal cancer. Barley is a rich source of dietary fiber, and possible immunomodulatory effects of barley polysaccharides might explain a potential protective effect. Dietary fiber was isolated by extraction and enzyme treatment. A mixed-linked β-glucan (WSM-TPX, 96.5% β-glucan, Mw 886 kDa), an arabinoxylan (WUM-BS-LA, 96.4% arabinoxylan, Mw 156 kDa), a mixed-linked β-glucan rich fraction containing 10% arabinoxylan (WSM-TP) and an arabinoxylan rich fraction containing 30% mixed-linked β-glucan (WUM-BS) showed no significant effect on IL-8 secretion and proliferation of two intestinal epithelial cell lines, Caco-2 and HT-29, and had no significant effect on the NF-κB activity in the monocytic cell line U937-3κB-LUC. Further enriched arabinoxylan fractions (WUM-BS-LA) from different barley varieties (Tyra, NK96300, SB94897 and CDCGainer) were less active than the mixed-linked β-glucan rich fractions (WSM-TP and WSM-TPX) in the complement-fixing test. The mixed-linked β-glucan rich fraction from NK96300 and CDCGainer showed similar activities as the positive control while mixed-linked β-glucan rich fractions from Tyra and SB94897 were less active. From these results it is concluded that the isolated high molecular weight mixed-linked β-glucans and arabinoxylans from barley show low immunological responses in selected in vitro test systems and thus possible anti-colon cancer effects of barley dietary fiber cannot be explained by our observations

Distinct signatures of the immune responses in low risk versus high risk neuroblastoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Over 90% of low risk (LR) neuroblastoma patients survive whereas less than 30% of high risk (HR) patients are long term survivors. Age (children younger than 18 months old) is associated with LR disease. Considering that adaptive immune system is well developed in older children, and that T cells were shown to be involved in tumor escape and progression of cancers, we sought to determine whether HR patients may tend to show a signature of adaptive immune responses compared to LR patients who tend to have diminished T-cell responses but an intact innate immune response.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed microarray analysis of RNA extracted from the tumor specimens of HR and LR patients. Flow cytometry was performed to determine the cellular constituents in the blood while multiplex cytokine array was used to detect the cytokine profile in patients' sera. A HR tumor cell line, SK-N-SH, was also used for detecting the response to IL-1β, a cytokines which is involved in the innate immune responses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Distinct patterns of gene expression were detected in HR and LR patients indicating an active T-cell response and a diminished adaptive immune response, respectively. A diminished adaptive immune response in LR patients was evident by higher levels of IL-10 in the sera. In addition, HR patients had lower levels of circulating myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC) compared with a control LR patient. LR patients showed slightly higher levels of cytokines of the innate immune responses. Treatment of the HR tumor line with IL-1β induced expression of cytokines of the innate immune responses.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This data suggests that adaptive immune responses may play an important role in the progression of HR disease whereas innate immune responses may be active in LR patients.</p

Idealisme eller egeninteresse? - Norsk deltakelse i FN-operasjoner, 1956-1998

Denne oppgaven er et bidrag til forståelsen av hvilken rolle den norske deltagelsen i FN-operasjoner har hatt i norsk forsvarshistorie. FN var viktig for norsk sikkerhetspolitikk etter andre verdenskrig og det er viktig å forstå hvorfor norske ledere har vært villige til å bruke militærmakt så langt fra vårt eget land. En stor andel av Norges befolkning har tjenestegjort i vårt vernepliktsbaserte forsvar. Det er ikke vanskelig å argumentere for at Norge trenger et forsvar for å forsvare vår frihet med tanke på vår strategiske plassering i Nord-Europa. Derimot er det ikke like lett å forstå hvorfor vi har sendt norske soldater på utenlandsoppdrag til land som er så langt hjemmefra. Denne oppgaven sammenligner og analyserer hvilke roller faktorer innen utenrikspolitikk og innenrikspolitikk har spilt når våre beslutningstagere har valgt å sende våre soldater ut i verden i FN-operasjoner. Den vil se på hvilke egeninteresser vi har hatt for å delta og hvilke idealer vi ønsket å oppfylle ved å delta. Oppgaven sammenligner de fem største FN-operasjonene vi har deltatt i mellom 1956 og 1998. Som en aktiv bidragsyter til FN-operasjoner klarte Norge å gjøre seg synlige som en viktigere aktør i FN-diplomatiet enn vår størrelse skulle tilsi. Deltagelsen har mest av alt hatt et utspring i vår situasjon som småstat i en verden som påvirkes av stormakters egeninteresser, men den har også utviklet seg til å oppfylle idealer for å bli en fredsnasjon. Norsk deltagelse i FN-operasjoner har derfor hatt elementer av både egeninteresse og av idealisme

Intercultural Communication and Collaboration in Software Development

Many Global Software firms outsource parts of their operations to other countries due to cheaper labour costs and to find employees with high knowledge within a specific area. Collaboration and communication between different nationalities aredifficult not only due to the distance geographically,but also distances in cultural aspects. The purpose of this study is to investigatedifferent factors that impact intercultural communication and collaboration in software development firms. Previous research in this field shows various factors impacting intercultural communication and collaboration in software development companies. To investigate these factors exploratory mixed-method design has been used. Initially, qualitative methodology was used to collect data from semi-structured interviews. Eight interviews were conducted with various work roles within a single Norwegian firm. The interviewees explain how various factors impact their communication and collaboration withcolleagues inIndia and Ukraine. These results have been analysed. Secondly, a quantitative survey was conducted based on Isern ́s (2014) eight identity factors of intercultural communication. Other factors based on the findings from the interviewshave also been discussed

Retinoic acid receptor signaling levels and antigen dose regulate gut homing receptor expression on CD8(+) T cells

Recent studies have highlighted a central role for intestinal dendritic cells (DCs) and vitamin A metabolite retinoic acid (RA) in the generation of alpha 4 beta 7(+) CCR9(+) "gut tropic" effector T cells. Here, using RA-responsive element reporter mice, we demonstrate that both splenic and mesenteric lymph node (MLN) DCs enhanced retinoic acid receptor (RAR) signaling in CD8(+) T cells; however, only a subset of MLN DCs, expressing the integrin alpha-chain CD103, induced an early RAR signal that is required for efficient CCR9 induction. MLN-primed CD8(+) T cells also received enhanced RAR-dependent signals compared with splenic-primed CD8(+) T cells in vivo. Further DC-mediated induction of gut homing receptors was inhibited at a high antigen dose without influencing RAR signaling events, and resulted in less efficient CD8(+) T-cell entry into the small intestinal mucosa. These results highlight a complex interplay between antigen dose and DC subset-induced RAR signaling events in the generation of tissue tropic effector T-cell subsets