Behavioral, educational, and methodological perspectives on multicultural team learning processes

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-192).This study starts from the notion that leadership is about mobilizing learning, and simultaneously pursues multifaceted purposes that benefit from each other: 1) to shed new light on learning behaviors of teams facing unfamiliarity, 2) develop one model of practical and effective leadership education, and 3) apply new technology to make methodological contributions to organizational studies, leadership education, and management practices. 1) The central research question is what behavioral factors affect team learning when the team faces both internal and external unfamiliarity - which stems from diversity and cultural barriers, and disruptive threats from the environment. The study examines 6 multicultural teams undergoing increasingly complex tasks, revealing the structures and processes with which they self-organized and temporal responses to the difficulties. 2) The experimental setting was a 10-days intensive leadership workshop with a distinct educational purpose to raise the participants' levels of contextual, reflective, and moral awareness, with the premise that exercising leadership involves mobilizing learning to adapt to unfamiliarity. The study attempts to assess the effectiveness of the workshop, while examining the effects of exercise of leadership on the teams' learning processes. 3) The study also applies wearable sensors that capture nonlinguistic social signals and visualize group interaction patterns, for 3 intended applications as (a) research tool for social network analysis to supplement ethnography, (b) learning tool to stimulate reflection and dialogue, and (c) intervention tool to alter the flows of information.(cont.) The study identified 3 team learning strategies: inoculation (face internal difficulties earlier and get prepared for an external threat), time out (stop actions when facing a threat and use it to re-orient team's attention to internal difficulties), and structure it away (develop an internal structure that eliminates the internal difficulties). The conditions for team learning and personal development, appropriate challenge and support, resulted from exercise of leadership that emerged from complex interactions among the team members and the facilitators. Commonly observed signs of such conditions included surfacing and facing conflicts, revealing vulnerabilities, accommodating emotional breakdowns, and sense of mutual respect based on demonstrated acceptance. The study indicates that use of sensors contributed to formation of the team learning condition.by Naoto Kanehira.S.M

Innovations for Sustainability: Pathways to an efficient and post-pandemic future

3rd Report prepared by The World in 2050 initiativ

OX40 ligand expressed in glioblastoma modulates adaptive immunity depending on the microenvironment: a clue for successful immunotherapy

Background: Glioblastoma is the most malignant human brain tumor and has a dismal prognosis; however, some patients show long-term survival. The interaction between the costimulatory molecule OX40 and its ligand OX40L generates key signals for T-cell activation. The augmentation of this interaction enhances antitumor immunity. In this present study, we explored whether OX40 signaling is responsible for antitumor adaptive immunity against glioblastoma and also established therapeutic antiglioma vaccination therapy. Methods: Tumor specimens were obtained from patients with primary glioblastoma (n = 110) and grade III glioma (n = 34). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), flow cytometry, and immunohistochemistry were used to analyze OX40L expression in human glioblastoma specimens. Functional consequences of OX40 signaling were studied using glioblastoma cell lines, mouse models of glioma, and T cells isolated from human subjects and mice. Cytokine production assay with mouse regulatory T cells was conducted under hypoxic conditions (1.5% O_2). Results: OX40L mRNA was expressed in glioblastoma specimens and higher levels were associated with prolonged progression-free survival of patients with glioblastoma, who had undergone gross total resection. In this regard, OX40L protein was expressed in A172 human glioblastoma cells and its expression was induced under hypoxia, which mimics the microenvironment of glioblastoma. Notably, human CD4 T cells were activated when cocultured in anti-CD3-coated plates with A172 cells expressing OX40L, as judged by the increased production of interferon-γ. To confirm the survival advantage of OX40L expression, we then used mouse glioma models. Mice bearing glioma cells forced to express OX40L did not die during the observed period after intracranial transplantation, whereas all mice bearing glioma cells lacking OX40L died. Such a survival benefit of OX40L was not detected in nude mice with an impaired immune system. Moreover, compared with systemic intraperitoneal injection, the subcutaneous injection of the OX40 agonist antibody together with glioma cell lysates elicited stronger antitumor immunity and prolonged the survival of mice bearing glioma or glioma-initiating cell-like cells. Finally, OX40 triggering activated regulatory T cells cultured under hypoxia led to the induction of the immunosuppressive cytokine IL10. Conclusion: Glioblastoma directs immunostimulation or immunosuppression through OX40 signaling, depending on its microenvironment