The influence of personality and ability on undergraduate teamwork and team performance

The ability to work effectively on a team is highly valued by employers, and collaboration among students can lead to intrinsic motivation, increased persistence, and greater transferability of skills. Moreover, innovation often arises from multidisciplinary teamwork. The influence of personality and ability on undergraduate teamwork and performance is not comprehensively understood. An investigation was undertaken to explore correlations between team outcomes, personality measures and ability in an undergraduate population. Team outcomes included various self-, peer- and instructor ratings of skills, performance, and experience. Personality measures and ability involved the Five-Factor Model personality traits and GPA. Personality, GPA, and teamwork survey data, as well as instructor evaluations were collected from upper division team project courses in engineering, business, political science, and industrial design at a large public university. Characteristics of a multidisciplinary student team project were briefly examined. Personality, in terms of extraversion scores, was positively correlated with instructors’ assessment of team performance in terms of oral and written presentation scores, which is consistent with prior research. Other correlations to instructor-, students’ self- and peer-ratings were revealed and merit further study. The findings in this study can be used to understand important influences on successful teamwork, teamwork instruction and intervention and to understand the design of effective curricula in this area moving forward

Gamification in Unternehmen. Beeinflussung der Unternehmenskultur durch spieletypische Elemente

Eine „gute“ Unternehmenskultur ist ein wichtiger Erfolgsfaktor für Unternehmen. Im Rahmen der digitalen Transformation wird zunehmend Gamification zur Kulturbeeinflussung eingesetzt. Dabei werden spieletypische Elemente genutzt, um für Mitarbeitende für bestimmte Handlungen Anreize zu schaffen. Im Rahmen einer Fallstudie wurden digital umgesetzte Gamification-Maßnahmen eines Unternehmens bezüglich ihrer Wahrnehmung und Beeinflussung der Arbeitsmotivation analysiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Gamification kulturwirksam zur Unternehmensführung genutzt werden kann. Die digitale Umsetzung diente als einheitlicher Impulsgeber und sorgte für Transparenz als Basis für Vertrauen. So konnte die angestrebte „Kultur auf Augenhöhe“ entwickelt werden, geprägt durch Respekt, Toleranz und Mitbestimmung. Der Erfolg der Gamification-Maßnahmen lässt sich vor allem durch die positive Wirkung auf die intrinsische Motivation sowie das gestärkte Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl der Mitarbeitenden erklären

Surgical and medical second trimester abortion in South Africa: A cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A high percentage of abortions performed in South Africa are in the second trimester. However, little research focuses on women's experiences seeking second trimester abortion or the efficacy and safety of these services.</p> <p>The objectives are to document clinical and acceptability outcomes of second trimester medical and surgical abortion as performed at public hospitals in the Western Cape Province.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a cross-sectional study of women undergoing abortion at 12.1-20.9 weeks at five hospitals in Western Cape Province, South Africa in 2008. Two hundred and twenty women underwent D&E with misoprostol cervical priming, and 84 underwent induction with misoprostol alone. Information was obtained about the procedure and immediate complications, and women were interviewed after recovery.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Median gestational age at abortion was earlier for D&E clients compared to induction (16.0 weeks vs. 18.1 weeks, p < 0.001). D&E clients reported shorter intervals between first clinic visit and abortion (median 17 vs. 30 days, p < 0.001). D&E was more effective than induction (99.5% vs. 50.0% of cases completed on-site without unplanned surgical procedure, p < 0.001). Although immediate complications were similar (43.8% D&E vs. 52.4% induction), all three major complications occurred with induction. Early fetal expulsion occurred in 43.3% of D&E cases. While D&E clients reported higher pain levels and emotional discomfort, most women were satisfied with their experience.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>As currently performed in South Africa, second trimester abortions by D&E were more effective than induction procedures, required shorter hospital stay, had fewer major immediate complications and were associated with shorter delays accessing care. Both services can be improved by implementing evidence-based protocols.</p

Endometrial stromal sarcoma: a population-based analysis

To determine independent prognostic factors for the survival of patients with endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS), data were abstracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database of the National Cancer Institute from 1988 to 2003. Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazards models were used for analyses. Of 831 women diagnosed with ESS, the median age was 52 years (range: 17–96 years). In total, 59.9% had stage I, 5.1% stage II, 14.9% stage III, and 20.1% had stage IV disease. Overall, 13.0, 36.1, and 34.7% presented with grades 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Patients with stage I–II vs III–IV disease had 5 years DSS of 89.3% vs 50.3% (P<0.001) and those with grades 1, 2, and 3 cancers had survivals of 91.4, 95.4, and 42.1% (P<0.001). In multivariate analysis, older patients, black race, advanced stage, higher grade, lack of primary surgery, and nodal metastasis were independent prognostic factors for poorer survival. In younger women (<50 years) with stage I–II disease, ovarian-sparing procedures did not adversely impact survival (91.9 vs 96.2%; P=0.1). Age, race, primary surgery, stage, and grade are important prognostic factors for ESS. Excellent survival in patients with grade 1 and 2 disease of all stages supports the concept that these tumors are significantly different from grade 3 tumors. Ovarian-sparing surgeries may be considered in younger patients with early-stage disease

Revival of the magnetar PSR J1622-4950: observations with MeerKAT, Parkes, XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR

New radio (MeerKAT and Parkes) and X-ray (XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR) observations of PSR J1622-4950 indicate that the magnetar, in a quiescent state since at least early 2015, reactivated between 2017 March 19 and April 5. The radio flux density, while variable, is approximately 100x larger than during its dormant state. The X-ray flux one month after reactivation was at least 800x larger than during quiescence, and has been decaying exponentially on a 111+/-19 day timescale. This high-flux state, together with a radio-derived rotational ephemeris, enabled for the first time the detection of X-ray pulsations for this magnetar. At 5%, the 0.3-6 keV pulsed fraction is comparable to the smallest observed for magnetars. The overall pulsar geometry inferred from polarized radio emission appears to be broadly consistent with that determined 6-8 years earlier. However, rotating vector model fits suggest that we are now seeing radio emission from a different location in the magnetosphere than previously. This indicates a novel way in which radio emission from magnetars can differ from that of ordinary pulsars. The torque on the neutron star is varying rapidly and unsteadily, as is common for magnetars following outburst, having changed by a factor of 7 within six months of reactivation.Comment: Published in ApJ (2018 April 5); 13 pages, 4 figure

The Formin-Homology Protein SmDia Interacts with the Src Kinase SmTK and the GTPase SmRho1 in the Gonads of Schistosoma mansoni

BACKGROUND:Schistosomiasis (bilharzia) is a parasitic disease of worldwide significance affecting human and animals. As schistosome eggs are responsible for pathogenesis, the understanding of processes controlling gonad development might open new perspectives for intervention. The Src-like tyrosine-kinase SmTK3 of Schistosoma mansoni is expressed in the gonads, and its pharmacological inhibition reduces mitogenic activity and egg production in paired females in vitro. Since Src kinases are important signal transduction proteins it is of interest to unravel the signaling cascades SmTK3 is involved in to understand its cellular role in the gonads. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS:Towards this end we established and screened a yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) cDNA library of adult S. mansoni with a bait construct encoding the SH3 (src homology) domain and unique site of SmTK3. Among the binding partners found was a diaphanous homolog (SmDia), which was characterized further. SmDia is a single-copy gene transcribed throughout development with a bias towards male transcription. Its deduced amino acid sequence reveals all diaphanous-characteristic functional domains. Binding studies with truncated SmDia clones identified SmTK3 interaction sites demonstrating that maximal binding efficiency depends on the N-terminal part of the FH1 (formin homology) domain and the inter-domain region of SmDia located upstream of FH1 in combination with the unique site and the SH3 domain of SmTK3, respectively. SmDia also directly interacted with the GTPase SmRho1 of S. mansoni. In situ hybridization experiments finally demonstrated that SmDia, SmRho1, and SmTK3 are transcribed in the gonads of both genders. CONCLUSION:These data provide first evidence for the existence of two cooperating pathways involving Rho and Src that bridge at SmDia probably organizing cytoskeletal events in the reproductive organs of a parasite, and beyond that in gonads of eukaryotes. Furthermore, the FH1 and inter domain region of SmDia have been discovered as binding sites for the SH3 and unique site domains of SmTK3, respectively

The duck hepatitis virus 5'-UTR possesses HCV-like IRES activity that is independent of eIF4F complex and modulated by downstream coding sequences

Duck hepatitis virus (DHV-1) is a worldwide distributed picornavirus that causes acute and fatal disease in young ducklings. Recently, the complete genome of DHV-1 has been determined and comparative sequence analysis has shown that possesses the typical picornavirus organization but exhibits several unique features. For the first time, we provide evidence that the 626-nucleotide-long 5'-UTR of the DHV-1 genome contains an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) element that functions efficiently both in vitro and in mammalian cells. The prediction of the secondary structure of the DHV-1 IRES shows significant similarity to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) IRES. Moreover, similarly to HCV IRES, DHV-1 IRES can direct translation initiation in the absence of a functional eIF4F complex. We also demonstrate that the activity of the DHV-1 IRES is modulated by a viral coding sequence located downstream of the DHV-1 5'-UTR, which enhances DHV-1 IRES activity both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, mutational analysis of the predicted pseudo-knot structures at the 3'-end of the putative DHV-1 IRES supported the presence of conserved domains II and III and, as it has been previously described for other picornaviruses, these structures are essential for keeping the normal internal initiation of translation of DHV-1

Analysis of c-KIT expression and KIT gene mutation in human mucosal melanomas

Recent data suggested an increased frequency of KIT aberrations in mucosal melanomas, whereas c-KIT in most types of cutaneous melanomas does not appear to be of pathogenetic importance. However, studies investigating the status of the KIT gene in larger, well-characterised groups of patients with mucosal melanomas are lacking. We analysed 44 archival specimens of 39 well-characterised patients with mucosal melanomas of different locations. c-KIT protein expression was determined by immunhistochemistry, KIT gene mutations were analysed by PCR amplification and DNA sequencing of exons 9, 11, 13, 17 and 18. c-KIT protein expression could be shown in 40 out of 44 (91%) tumours in at least 10% of tumour cells. DNA sequence analysis of the KIT was successfully performed in 37 patients. In 6 out of 37 patients (16%) KIT mutations were found, five in exon 11 and one in exon 18. The presence of mutations in exon 11 correlated with a significant stronger immunohistochemical expression of c-KIT protein (P=0.015). Among the six patients with mutations, in two patients the primary tumour was located in the head/neck region, in three patients in the genitourinary tract and in one patient in the anal/rectal area. In conclusion, KIT mutations can be found in a subset of patients with mucosal melanomas irrespective of the location of the primary tumour. Our data encourage therapeutic attempts with tyrosine kinase inhibitors blocking c-KIT in these patients