Ambidexterity Through the Lens of Conventions? A Qualitative Study on Personal Virtual Assistants

Personal virtual assistants (PVAs) are demanded to effectively fulfil and support employee’s tasks in organizations. Today, PVAs are mainly trusted to take over simple administrative tasks, thus, limiting their potential long-term impact on employees and entire organizations. To overcome this shortcoming, we introduce the pragmatic perspective of the Economics of Conventions (EC) to analyze and understand employees’ plural motives and behaviors that may explain sustained or fragmented potential PVA use in organizations, especially taking the organizational challenge of ambidexterity into account. In doing so, we provide a deepened understanding of PVAs’ capabilities and give propositions for their organizational implementation and use. We also offer new avenues for future research by calling for a more holistic theoretical foundation of organizational artificial intelligence solutions that consider and represent organizations and their employees in their complexity, respectively their plural orders of worth

Significant: Materiality and Semantics of Plant Labels in Botanical Gardens and Gene Banks

Der Katalog liefert Bild- und Textquellen zu Pflanzenetiketten aus verschiedensten Materialien und Institutionen von Lebendsammlungen. Vorangestellt ist eine ausführliche Einleitung zum Etikettieren von Pflanzen in Genbanken und Botanischen Garten.The catalogue encompasses image and text sources on plant labels of different materials and from various living collections. It is accompanied by a philosophical introduction on the labeling of plants in gene banks and botanical gardens

Computerbasierte Erfassung von Fremdsprachenkompetenzen im Unterricht der Primarstufe: Bericht zum Projekt „Erfassung von Entwicklungsprofilen im frühen schulischen Fremdsprachenlernen“

Le projet « Recensement des profils de développement dans le cadre de l’apprentissage précoce des langues étrangères à l’école » fait partie du programme de recherche 2012-2015 du Centre scientifique de compétence sur le plurilinguisme (CSP). Son objectif était de contribuer à créer, dans le cadre de l’enseignement des langues étrangères à l’école primaire (de la troisième à la sixième), une culture d’évaluation à la fois informatisée et orientée sur l’apprentissage grâce au développement d’instruments adaptés à la vérification des compétences. Les travaux de développement se sont inspirés du concept de la progression des apprentissages (learning progressions), surtout appliqué en didactique des sciences naturelles, où il constitue souvent la base des programmes, de l’enseignement et de l’évaluation.The project “Mapping developmental profiles in early language learning at school” is part of the research programme 2012-2015 of the Research Centre on Multilingualism. The overall objective of the project was to develop adequate instruments to assess language competence and thus contribute to a learning- oriented and computer-assisted assessment culture in foreign language instruction at primary schools (third to sixth class). To develop these instruments, the general work processes were guided by the notion of learning progressions, which are frequently used as the basis for developing curricula, teaching and conducting assessments in (most commonly) the natural sciences.Das Projekt „Erfassung von Entwicklungsprofilen im frühen schulischen Fremdsprachenlernen“ ist Teil des Forschungsprogramms 2012-2015 des Wissenschaftlichen Kompetenzzentrums für Mehrsprachigkeit (KFM). Das Ziel bestand darin, durch die Entwicklung von geeigneten Instrumenten zur Kompetenzerfassung einen Beitrag zu einer lernorientierten und gleichzeitig computerunterstützten Beurteilungskultur im Fremdsprachenunterricht an Primarschulen (dritte bis sechste Klasse) zu leisten. Die Entwicklungsarbeiten orientierten sich an der Idee von Lernprogressionen (learning progressions), mit der vor allem in der Didaktik der Naturwissenschaften als Grundlage für Curricula, Unterricht und Beurteilung gearbeitet wird.Il progetto sui ”profili di sviluppo nell’apprendimento delle lingue straniere nella scuola elementare” rientra nel programma di ricerca 2012-2015 del Centro scientifico di competenza per il plurilinguismo. Attraverso l’elaborazione di strumenti idonei al rilevamento di competenze si è voluto fornire, nell’ambito dell’insegnamento delle lingue straniere nella scuola elementare (dal terzo al sesto anno), un contributo a una cultura della valutazione che sia orientata all’apprendimento e che si affidi al contempo all’ausilio di mezzi informatici. Il lavoro di elaborazione era incentrato sulle progressioni di apprendimento (learning progressions), un concetto sovente applicato ai programmi, alle lezioni e alle valutazioni nella didattica delle scienze naturali

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage in children with interstitial lung disease: Determine etiologies!

OBJECTIVE: Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) in children is a rare condition resulting from different underlying diseases. This study aimed at describing characteristics and diagnostic measures in children with ILD (children\u27s interstitial lung disease, chILD) and DAH to improve the diagnostic approach by increasing clinician\u27s awareness of diagnostic shortcomings. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective data analysis of patients with ILD and DAH treated in our own or collaborating centers between 01/07/1997 and 31/12/2020 was performed. Data on clinical courses and diagnostic measures were systematically retrieved as case-vignettes and investigated. To assess suitability of diagnostic software-algorithms, the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) was revised and expanded to optimize conditions of its associated tool the Phenomizer. RESULTS: For 97 (74%) of 131 patients, etiology of pulmonary hemorrhage was clarified. For 34 patients (26%), no underlying condition was found (termed as idiopathic pulmonary hemorrhage, IPH). Based on laboratory findings or clinical phenotype/comorbidities, 20 of these patients were assigned to descriptive clusters: IPH associated with autoimmune features (9), eosinophilia (5), renal disease (3) or multiorgan involvement (3). For 14 patients, no further differentiation was possible. CONCLUSION: Complete and sometimes repeated diagnostics are essential for establishing the correct diagnosis in children with DAH. We suggest assignment of patients with IPH to descriptive clusters, which may also guide further research. Digital tools such as the Phenomizer/HPO are promising, but need to be extended to increase diagnostic accuracy

Impact of infection on proteome-wide glycosylation revealed by distinct signatures for bacterial and viral pathogens

Mechanisms of infection and pathogenesis have predominantly been studied based on differential gene or protein expression. Less is known about posttranslational modifications, which are essential for protein functional diversity. We applied an innovative glycoproteomics method to study the systemic proteome-wide glycosylation in response to infection. The protein site-specific glycosylation was characterized in plasma derived from well-defined controls and patients. We found 3862 unique features, of which we identified 463 distinct intact glycopeptides, that could be mapped to more than 30 different proteins. Statistical analyses were used to derive a glycopeptide signature that enabled significant differentiation between patients with a bacterial or viral infection. Furthermore, supported by a machine learning algorithm, we demonstrated the ability to identify the causative pathogens based on the distinctive host blood plasma glycopeptide signatures. These results illustrate that glycoproteomics holds enormous potential as an innovative approach to improve the interpretation of relevant biological changes in response to infection

Relationship between molecular pathogen detection and clinical disease in febrile children across Europe: a multicentre, prospective observational study

BackgroundThe PERFORM study aimed to understand causes of febrile childhood illness by comparing molecular pathogen detection with current clinical practice.MethodsFebrile children and controls were recruited on presentation to hospital in 9 European countries 2016-2020. Each child was assigned a standardized diagnostic category based on retrospective review of local clinical and microbiological data. Subsequently, centralised molecular tests (CMTs) for 19 respiratory and 27 blood pathogens were performed.FindingsOf 4611 febrile children, 643 (14%) were classified as definite bacterial infection (DB), 491 (11%) as definite viral infection (DV), and 3477 (75%) had uncertain aetiology. 1061 controls without infection were recruited. CMTs detected blood bacteria more frequently in DB than DV cases for N. meningitidis (OR: 3.37, 95% CI: 1.92-5.99), S. pneumoniae (OR: 3.89, 95% CI: 2.07-7.59), Group A streptococcus (OR 2.73, 95% CI 1.13-6.09) and E. coli (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.02-6.71). Respiratory viruses were more common in febrile children than controls, but only influenza A (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.11-0.46), influenza B (OR 0.12, 95% CI 0.02-0.37) and RSV (OR 0.16, 95% CI: 0.06-0.36) were less common in DB than DV cases. Of 16 blood viruses, enterovirus (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.23-0.72) and EBV (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.56-0.90) were detected less often in DB than DV cases. Combined local diagnostics and CMTs respectively detected blood viruses and respiratory viruses in 360 (56%) and 161 (25%) of DB cases, and virus detection ruled-out bacterial infection poorly, with predictive values of 0.64 and 0.68 respectively.InterpretationMost febrile children cannot be conclusively defined as having bacterial or viral infection when molecular tests supplement conventional approaches. Viruses are detected in most patients with bacterial infections, and the clinical value of individual pathogen detection in determining treatment is low. New approaches are needed to help determine which febrile children require antibiotics.FundingEU Horizon 2020 grant 668303

Genomic investigations of unexplained acute hepatitis in children

Since its first identification in Scotland, over 1,000 cases of unexplained paediatric hepatitis in children have been reported worldwide, including 278 cases in the UK1. Here we report an investigation of 38 cases, 66 age-matched immunocompetent controls and 21 immunocompromised comparator participants, using a combination of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and immunohistochemical methods. We detected high levels of adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) DNA in the liver, blood, plasma or stool from 27 of 28 cases. We found low levels of adenovirus (HAdV) and human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) in 23 of 31 and 16 of 23, respectively, of the cases tested. By contrast, AAV2 was infrequently detected and at low titre in the blood or the liver from control children with HAdV, even when profoundly immunosuppressed. AAV2, HAdV and HHV-6 phylogeny excluded the emergence of novel strains in cases. Histological analyses of explanted livers showed enrichment for T cells and B lineage cells. Proteomic comparison of liver tissue from cases and healthy controls identified increased expression of HLA class 2, immunoglobulin variable regions and complement proteins. HAdV and AAV2 proteins were not detected in the livers. Instead, we identified AAV2 DNA complexes reflecting both HAdV-mediated and HHV-6B-mediated replication. We hypothesize that high levels of abnormal AAV2 replication products aided by HAdV and, in severe cases, HHV-6B may have triggered immune-mediated hepatic disease in genetically and immunologically predisposed children

Emergence and significance of carbohydrate-specific antibodies

Carbohydrate-specific antibodies are widespread among all classes of immunoglobulins. Despite their broad occurrence, little is known about their formation and biological significance. Carbohydrate-specific antibodies are often classified as natural antibodies under the assumption that they arise without prior exposure to exogenous antigens. On the other hand, various carbohydrate-specific antibodies, including antibodies to ABO blood group antigens, emerge after the contact of immune cells with the intestinal microbiota, which expresses a vast diversity of carbohydrate antigens. Here we explore the development of carbohydrate-specific antibodies in humans, addressing the definition of natural antibodies and the production of carbohydrate-specific antibodies upon antigen stimulation. We focus on the significance of the intestinal microbiota in shaping carbohydrate-specific antibodies not just in the gut, but also in the blood circulation. The structural similarity between bacterial carbohydrate antigens and surface glycoconjugates of protists, fungi and animals leads to the production of carbohydrate-specific antibodies protective against a broad range of pathogens. Mimicry between bacterial and human glycoconjugates, however, can also lead to the generation of carbohydrate-specific antibodies that cross-react with human antigens, thereby contributing to the development of autoimmune disorders

Limited Neonatal Carbohydrate-Specific Antibody Repertoire Consecutive to Partial Prenatal Transfer of Maternal Antibodies

Despite the prominence of carbohydrate-specific antibodies in human sera, data on their emergence and antigen specificities are limited. Whereas maternal IgG are transferred prenatally to the fetal circulation, IgM present in cord blood originate from fetal B lymphocytes. Considering the limited exposure of the fetus to foreign antigens, we assessed the repertoire of carbohydrate-specific antibodies in human cord blood and matched maternal blood samples using glycan arrays. Carbohydrate-specific IgM was absent in cord blood, whereas low cord blood IgG reactivity to glycans was detectable. Comparing IgG reactivities of matched pairs, we observed a general lack of correlation in the antigen specificity of IgG from cord blood and maternal blood due to a selective exclusion of most carbohydrate-specific IgG from maternofetal transfer. Given the importance of intestinal bacteria in inducing carbohydrate-specific antibodies, we analyzed global antibody specificities toward commensal bacteria. Similar IgG reactivities to specific Bacteroides species were detected in matched cord and maternal blood samples, thus pointing to an efficient maternal transfer of anti-microbial IgG. Due to the observed selectivity in maternofetal IgG transfer, the lack of fetal antibodies to carbohydrate epitopes is only partially compensated by maternal IgG, thus resulting in a weak response to carbohydrate antigens in neonates