Project management : learning by breaking the rules

The paper explores project management in action in a large public research organisation – NLAT which decided to change its internal organisation from team-based to project-based organisation a few years ago. A systematic and comparative analysis of 8 projects reveals that adherence to the ISO 9000’s standardized rules of project management - specific staffing and project leaders, definition of milestones ex ante, procedure manuals, and formalized learning accumulation mechanisms - had little to do with the organisations success over recent years: Looking for explanations for this success, the paper focuses on the process of transferring from one project to another, enhancing organisational learning through rules breaking. We identify three elements which encourage the accumulation of knowledge and competencies, as organisational learning: low project core staffing levels which stimulates the circulation of engineers and researchers between projects and blurs project boundaries, implementing and managing thematic projects which build on specific competencies developed in dedicated projects and encouraging ‘bricolage’ to hybridise project management with traditional hierarchical management practices.PROJECT MANAGEMENT;R&D;HIGH TECH;MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

In children, the microbiota of the nasopharynx and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid are both similar and different

RATIONALE: Sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) are often obtained to elucidate the lower airway microbiota in adults. Acquiring sputum samples from children is difficult and obtaining samples via bronchoscopy in children proves challenging due to the need for anesthesia and specialized procedural expertise; therefore nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs are often used as surrogates when investigating the pediatric airway microbiota. In adults, the airway microbiota differs significantly between NP and BALF samples however, minimal data exist in children. OBJECTIVES: To compare NP and BALF samples in children undergoing clinically indicated bronchoscopy. METHODS: NP and BALF samples were collected during clinically indicated bronchoscopy. Bacterial DNA was extracted from 72 samples (36 NP/BALF pairs); the bacterial V1-V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified and sequenced on the Illumina Miseq platform. Analysis was performed using mothur software. RESULTS: Compared to NP samples, BALF had increased richness and diversity. Similarity between paired NP and BALF (intra-subject) samples was greater than inter-subject samples (P = 0.0006). NP samples contained more Actinobacteria (2.2% vs 21%; adjusted P = 1.4 × 10-6 ), while BALF contained more Bacteroidetes (29.5% vs 3.2%; adjusted P = 1.2 × 10-9 ). At the genus level several differences existed, however Streptococcus abundance was similar in both sample types (NP 37.3% vs BAL 36.1%; adjusted P = 0.8). CONCLUSION: Our results provide evidence that NP samples can be used to distinguish differences between children, but the relative abundance of organisms may differ between the nasopharynx and lower airway in pediatric patients. Studies utilizing NP samples as surrogates for the lower airway should be interpreted with caution

Impact of student-run clinic participation on empathy and interprofessional skills development in medical and pharmacy students

Background: Students participating in student-run clinics (SRCs) have opportunities to develop and practice beneficial skill sets, including empathy and interprofessional collaboration. Objectives: This study aimed to assess whether participation in an underserved SRC impacts the development of empathy and interprofessional skills in pharmacy and medical students. Methods: This study assessed empathy and interprofessional skills development through a self-assessment survey. The survey included the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) to assess empathy, the Attitudes Towards Health Care Teams/Team Skills Scale (ATHCTS/TSS) to assess interprofessional team dynamics, and a free-text response section. Participants were grouped based on whether they participated in the SRC (intervention group) or did not participate in the SRC (control group). A subgroup analysis was performed based on the participants' discipline (medicine vs. pharmacy). To compare differences in IRI, ATHCTS, and TSS scores between study groups, independent samples t-tests were performed. A thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between intervention and control groups in IRI, ATHCTS, or TSS scores. Subgroup analyses showed no significant differences in scores of student pharmacists or medical students. For both disciplines, the thematic analysis revealed the most common positive themes identified were “real-world patient interaction and care,” “impact on practice/career development.” Alternatively, it revealed the highest reported negative themes identified as “time management and operational difficulties” and “concerns about the quality of/access to care”. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that involvement in an SRC neither improves nor hinders a learner's development of empathy and interprofessional team skills. Qualitatively, students reported that participation in an SRC benefited their learning and helped develop their skills, like empathy and team dynamics, in an interprofessional setting. Future research with longitudinal monitoring or alternative assessment tools is recommended

The early intervention solution: enabling or constraining literacy learning.

Current policy, media and curriculum initiatives across Western nations are drawing literacy and literacy pedagogy toward enticingly simplistic understandings of literacy as commodity. Increasingly they focus on ‘fixing’ perceived literacy problems by assuming the primacy of early years literacy and ‘top-up’ intervention programs. In the wash-up of these narrow policies failing in their primary mission, it is important that literacy researchers and educators consider expanding notions of literacy rather than returning to ‘old’ solutions for new issues. This paper revisits a prior critique of Reading Recovery as a solution to failure to learn school-based literacy. Using data collected as part a larger study into constructions of literacy failure, we analyse the shifting ‘ways to be a reader’ required of one student during a Reading Recovery lesson. We argue that the competence required to negotiate various literacy learning contexts across one morning of learning adds to the complexity of school-based literacy learning as much as it might provide support

Association between early respiratory viral infections and structural lung disease in infants with cystic fibrosis

Background: Infants with cystic fibrosis (CF) develop structural lung disease early in life, and viral infections are associated with progressive lung disease. We hypothesized that the presence of respiratory viruses would be associated with structural lung disease on computed tomography (CT) of the chest in infants with CF. Methods: Infants with CF were enrolled before 4 months of age. Multiplex PCR assays were performed on nasal swabs to detect respiratory viruses during routine visits and when symptomatic. Participants underwent CT imaging at approximately 12 months of age. Associations between Perth–Rotterdam Annotated Grid Morphometric Analysis for CF (PRAGMA-CF) CT scores and respiratory viruses and symptoms were assessed with Spearman correlation coefficients. Results: Sixty infants were included for analysis. Human rhinovirus was the most common virus detected, on 28% of tested nasal swabs and in 85% of participants. The median (IQR) extent of lung fields that was healthy based on PRAGMA-CF was 98.7 (0.8)%. There were no associations between PRAGMA-CF and age at first virus, or detection of any virus, including rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, or parainfluenza. The extent of airway wall thickening was associated with ever having wheezed (ρ = 0.31, p = 0.02) and number of encounters with cough (ρ = 0.25, p = 0.0495). Conclusions: Infants with CF had minimal structural lung disease. We did not find an association between respiratory viruses and CT abnormalities. Wheezing and frequency of cough were associated with early structural changes

Copper-catalyzed asymmetric addition of olefin-derived nucleophiles to ketones

Enantioenriched alcohols found in an array of bioactive natural products and pharmaceutical agents are often synthesized by asymmetric nucleophilic addition to carbonyls. However, this approach generally shows limited functional group compatibility, requiring the use of preformed organometallic reagents in conjunction with a stoichiometric or sub-stoichiometric amount of chiral controller to deliver optically active alcohols. Herein we report a copper-catalyzed strategy for the stereoselective nucleophilic addition of propargylic and other alkyl groups to ketones using easily accessible (poly)unsaturated hydrocarbons as latent carbanion equivalents. Our method features the catalytic generation of highly enantioenriched organocopper intermediates and their subsequent diastereoselective addition to ketones, allowing for the effective construction of highly substituted stereochemical dyads with excellent stereocontrol. Moreover, this process is general, scalable, and occurs at ambient temperature