Conflicts in Knowledge Management: Vistiting the Hidden Partner

As knowledge gains a reputation for being a critical resource in the information-intensive economy, organizations have doubled their efforts in trying to extract value from knowledge management policies. One particular aspect of knowledge management, which has gone unnoticed in academic research, is the presence of conflicts in knowledge activities. By adopting a conflict perspective of knowledge activities, this study arrives at a two-dimensional framework that defines knowledge conflicts in terms of its type and nature. Central to this paper is the fundamental idea that conflicts form an integral part of knowledge management and depending on how they are managed; conflicts may be formidable partners or dangerous adversaries in the corporate quest for knowledge-derived competitiveness

Soft Skill Development in Ophthalmology and its Importance to Aspiring Canadian Medical Students

Soft skills are social and emotional intelligences that facilitate harmonious interpersonal interactions. Soft skills enable physicians to understand and build rapport with patients. Soft skills are increasingly considered crucial physician qualities within surgical specialties, including ophthalmology. Although avenues exist for general soft skill development, medical students may find challenges directing their development to ophthalmic settings due to medical curricula’s limited ophthalmology exposure. This perspective commentary discusses resources to aid ophthalmic soft skill development. Lectures provide foundational knowledge. Electives and volunteering provide opportunities to practice soft skills. Electives and mentorship direct soft skills towards desired disciplines. Studying and participating in research that utilizes patient-centred outcomes improves current and future care

Characterization of Stem-Like Cells in Mucoepidermoid Tracheal Paediatric Tumor

Stem cells contribute to regeneration of tissues and organs. Cells with stem cell-like properties have been identified in tumors from a variety of origins, but to our knowledge there are yet no reports on tumor-related stem cells in the human upper respiratory tract. In the present study, we show that a tracheal mucoepidermoid tumor biopsy obtained from a 6 year-old patient contained a subpopulation of cells with morphology, clonogenicity and surface markers that overlapped with bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSCs). These cells, designated as MEi (mesenchymal stem cell-like mucoepidermoid tumor) cells, could be differentiated towards mesenchymal lineages both with and without induction, and formed spheroids in vitro. The MEi cells shared several multipotent characteristics with BM-MSCs. However, they displayed differences to BM-MSCs in growth kinectics and gene expression profiles relating to cancer pathways and tube development. Despite this, the MEi cells did not possess in vivo tumor-initiating capacity, as proven by the absence of growth in situ after localized injection in immunocompromised mice. Our results provide an initial characterization of benign tracheal cancer-derived niche cells. We believe that this report could be of importance to further understand tracheal cancer initiation and progression as well as therapeutic development

Significant Biochemical, Biophysical and Metabolic Diversity in Circulating Human Cord Blood Reticulocytes

10.1371/journal.pone.0076062PLoS ONE810-POLN

Parkin protects against LRRK2 G2019S mutant-induced dopaminergic neurodegeneration in Drosophila

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2375-09.2009Journal of Neuroscience293611257-11262JNRS

Proximity effect at superconducting Sn-Bi2Se3 interface

We have investigated the conductance spectra of Sn-Bi2Se3 interface junctions down to 250 mK and in different magnetic fields. A number of conductance anomalies were observed below the superconducting transition temperature of Sn, including a small gap different from that of Sn, and a zero-bias conductance peak growing up at lower temperatures. We discussed the possible origins of the smaller gap and the zero-bias conductance peak. These phenomena support that a proximity-effect-induced chiral superconducting phase is formed at the interface between the superconducting Sn and the strong spin-orbit coupling material Bi2Se3.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Centrality Dependence of the High p_T Charged Hadron Suppression in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 130 GeV

PHENIX has measured the centrality dependence of charged hadron p_T spectra from central Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=130 GeV. The truncated mean p_T decreases with centrality for p_T > 2 GeV/c, indicating an apparent reduction of the contribution from hard scattering to high p_T hadron production. For central collisions the yield at high p_T is shown to be suppressed compared to binary nucleon-nucleon collision scaling of p+p data. This suppression is monotonically increasing with centrality, but most of the change occurs below 30% centrality, i.e. for collisions with less than about 140 participating nucleons. The observed p_T and centrality dependence is consistent with the particle production predicted by models including hard scattering and subsequent energy loss of the scattered partons in the dense matter created in the collisions.Comment: 7 pages text, LaTeX, 6 figures, 2 tables, 307 authors, resubmitted to Phys. Lett. B. Revised to address referee concerns. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/phenix/WWW/run/phenix/papers.htm