Success to the Successful: The Use of Systems Thinking Tools in Teaching OB

This paper discusses the use of an experiential pedagogy based on two systems thinking tools that can be incorporated in the teaching of organizational behavior (OB) concepts and case studies. It is contended that combining causal loop diagramming techniques and the application of Senge’s archetypes provides useful tools in assisting students to understand interdependencies, difficulties of implementation, impacts of assumptions, and provide further insights into OB concepts. This paper demonstrates the insights that thesecsystems thinking tools can provide by using the “Success to the successful archetype as an example

Network Journalism: Converging Competences of Media Professionals and Professionalism

The impact of the Internet and other new information- and communication technologies on the profession of journalism should not be underestimated. The Internet is changing the profession of journalism in at least three ways: it has the potential to make the journalist as an intermediary force in democracy superfluous (Bardoel, 1996); it offers the media professional a vast array of resources and sheer endless technological possibilities to work with (Quinn, 1998; Pavlik, 1999); and it creates its own type of journalism on the Net: so-called digital or rather: online journalism (Singer, 1998; Deuze, 1999). This paper will take the developments in journalism on the Internet as the starting point for a discussion about the changing face of journalism in general. The key characteristics of journalism on the Net - convergence, interactivity, customisation of content and hypertextuality - put together with the widespread use and availability of new technological ‘tools of the trade’ are putting all genres and types of journalism to the test. The outcome seems to suggest a turn towards what the authors of this article call 'network journalism’; the convergence between the core competences and functions of journalists and the civic potential of online journalism

Success to the Successful: The Use of Systems Thinking Tools in Teaching OB

This paper discusses the use of an experiential pedagogy based on two systems thinking tools that can be incorporated in the teaching of organizational behavior (OB) concepts and case studies. It is contended that combining causal loop diagramming techniques and the application of Senge’s archetypes provides useful tools in assisting students to understand interdependencies, difficulties of implementation, impacts of assumptions, and provide further insights into OB concepts. This paper demonstrates the insights that thesecsystems thinking tools can provide by using the “Success to the successful archetype as an example

Genome-wide CRISPR screen reveals novel host factors required for Staphylococcus aureus α-hemolysin-mediated toxicity

Staphylococcus aureus causes a wide variety of infections and antibiotic resistant strains are a major problem in hospitals. One of the best studied virulence factors of S. aureus is the pore-forming toxin alpha hemolysin (αHL) whose mechanism of action is incompletely understood. We performed a genome- wide loss-of-function screen using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to identify host targets required for αHL susceptibility in human myeloid cells. We found gRNAs for ten genes enriched after intoxication with αHL and focused on the top five hits. Besides a disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain-containing protein 10 (ADAM10), the host receptor for αHL, we identified three proteins, Sys1 golgi trafficking protein (SYS1), ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (ARFRP1), and tetraspanin-14 (TSPAN14) which regulate the presentation of ADAM10 on the plasma membrane post-translationally. Interestingly, we also showed that cells lacking sphingomyelin synthase 1 (SGMS1) resist αHL intoxication, but have only a slightly reduced ADAM10 surface expression. SGMS1 regulates lipid raft formation, suggesting that αHL requires these membrane microdomains for attachment and cytotoxicity

Dynamic Rectus Abdominis Muscle Sphincter for Stomal Continence

Some life-saving surgeries result in the necessity to establish permanent intestinal stomas; this outcome has an undeniable physical and emotional effect on the patient's life. Although patients with permanent stomas reasonably adjust, complications that include peristomal skin irritation, pouching system dysfunction, social inhibition, depression, and sexual dysfunction also have been reported. The quest for intestinal stomal continence has resulted in numerous non-surgical and surgical continent diversion techniques. The use of dynamic myoplasty is one of them. Dynamic myoplasty is a term given to the use of electrical stimulation devices to stimulate surgically elevated muscle flaps. It has been used to treat fecal and urinary incontinence using a gracilis muscle flap neo-sphincter. Another clinical example is use of the lattissimus dorsi muscle to augment the pump function of the heart in patients with chronic heart failure. None of the attempted techniques to maintain stomal continence have enjoyed widespread use because of associated complications or because these techniques were not able to provide complete continence. However, the use of dynamic myoplasty to achieve stomal continence has also met with limited success. Denervation atrophy caused by flap elevation to construct the sphincter and early muscle fatigue caused by continuous electrical stimulation were responsible for these disappointing results. It was our goal to see if we could make an abdominal stoma continent using dynamic myoplasty. A multiphase project was undertaken that was designed to solve the critical issues of denervation atrophy and early muscle fatigue. To solve the problem of denervation atrophy an anatomic feasibility study was undertaken in fresh human cadavers. This first study was designed to determine which local muscle could serve as an innervated and well-perfused muscle flap. The rectus abdominis muscle (RAM) was found to be ideal. Of the two RAM stoma sphincter designs the island flap was found to be superior to the peninsula flap design. The next phase of the study was to identify an animal suitable for the development of a model for stoma sphincter design. In an acute canine study, it was determined that the RAM island flap sphincter design used in human cadavers could be applied to the dog. Using an electrical stimulation device, the muscle was able to be stimulated and to generate peak pressures well above 60 mm Hg (pressure needed to maintain fecal continence in humans). Muscle fatigue was found to be directly proportional to the stimulation frequency and continence was provided at all the tested bowel pressures (30, 65 and 100 mm Hg). These promising acute functional study results paved the way for the initiation of chronic trials incorporating survival operations in dogs. In the first chronic study, it was revealed that the sphincter design was fatigue-resistant for 4 hours up to three months post-op with one of the two training protocols tested. In addition, a second chronic study was undertaken to test whether direct nerve stimulation, as opposed to intramuscular stimulation, would render more favorable results. Although the numbers were too small there was a tendency that the sphincter could be trained faster with direct nerve stimulation. However, electrode failure (displacement and lead fracture) led to a non-functioning sphincter in 63% of the cases when using direct nerve stimulation

Eerste ervaringen met het poliklinisch werpen

Door het lage uitvalspercentage en een goede groei, leidt het poliklinisch werpen voor de gehele zoogperiode tot betere technische resultaten en minder veterinaire behandelingen

From Participatory Culture to Participatory Fatigue: The Problem With the Public

The Web has changed newswork dramatically. After the turn of the Millennium, the Web 2.0 was welcomed as a unique medium of participation, interaction, and democratization. Due to the increased interactivity of many websites, and the growing prominence of social networking sites such as Facebook that invited the creation and publication of user contributions, many journalism scholars promulgated the potentials of the Web to trigger participation, a new interactivity and, eventually, more transparency, accountability, and responsiveness. In this article, I show how I was equally full of hope that the participatory potential of the Web would become widespread among news organizations. However, recent findings show that most established newsrooms still do not practice what they preach. Even more so, many newsrooms show a participation fatigue, closing user comment sections due to participation inequality or challenging phenomena such as trolls, incivility, or hate-speech. Hence, I do not believe that the majority of legacy news media will further implement accountability practices and strengthen their responsiveness toward their publics. But I still have hope, and this hope comes from entrepreneurial journalism

The European union and PSM in troubled democracies : a bridge too far?

European institutions have shaped the audiovisual media policies of the Old Continent since the advent of private cable and satellite broadcasters in the 1980s. As a result, television-mostly under public ownership-was no longer merely a national and cultural matter, but an economic and European one too, since it affected free competition and the internal market. This breakdown of borders led to the approval of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television by the Council of Europe in 1989, and to the ratification of the Television without Frontiers Directive by the then European Economic Community-now the European Union (EU)-in the same year (Council of Europe 1989)