421 research outputs found
Becoming âleaderfulâ: Leading forward in turbulent times
Background: Purpose: The primary aim of the paper is to offer a practice-based understanding of leadership based on the concept of âleaderfulâ practice. In supporting this concept, the paper describes the contexts that shape leadership capacity and introduces an integrative framework that further illustrates âleaderfulâ practice.
Methodology: The paper draws on prior research conducted by the authors in a variety of industries. Insights were gleaned from both theoretical perspectives and qualitative data drawn from a number of empirical studies.
Findings: In order to lead confidently in turbulent times, leaders need to first unlearn the conventional wisdom of leadership. Three contextual enablers contribute to âleaderfulâ practice, namely problem, action, and experience. Becoming âleaderfulâ is being mindful of how these three enablers could be harnessed and integrated to facilitate change in meaningful ways.
Practical Implications: In order to promote âleaderfulâ practice, both reflective and conversational spaces are imperative. Such spaces help leaders to be mindful of their internal and external contexts, including a keen awareness of self and others in framing references of the past for the future. In doing so, leaders need to be âpresentâ to confront âwickedâ problems and take action through collective experience and intelligence.
Originality/Value: Understanding how leaders think, feel, and act in actual practice helps us understand the genuine characteristics of leadership. The paper introduces a framework of âleaderfulâ practice with a focus on leading with confidence. It extends current understanding of leadership practice by viewing âleaderfulâ practice from the perspective of problem, action, and experience
Diagnostic tests for Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C): A critical review
Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) is a neurovisceral lysosomal cholesterol trafficking and lipid storage disorder caused by mutations in one of the two genes, NPC1 or NPC2. Diagnosis has often been a difficult task, due to the wide range in age of onset of NP-C and clinical presentation of the disease, combined with the complexity of the cell biology (filipin) laboratory testing, even in combination with genetic testing. This has led to substantial delays in diagnosis, largely depending on the access to specialist centres and the level of knowledge about NP-C of the physician in the area. In recent years, advances in mass spectrometry has allowed identification of several sensitive plasma biomarkers elevated in NP-C (e.g. cholestane-3β,5ι,6β-triol, lysosphingomyelin isoforms and bile acid metabolites), which, together with the concomitant progress in molecular genetic technology, have greatly impacted the strategy of laboratory testing. Specificity of the biomarkers is currently under investigation and other pathologies are being found to also result in elevations. Molecular genetic testing also has its limitations, notably with unidentified mutations and the classification of new variants. This review is intended to increase awareness on the currently available approaches to laboratory diagnosis of NP-C, to provide an up to date, comprehensive and critical evaluation of the various techniques (cell biology, biochemical biomarkers and molecular genetics), and to briefly discuss ongoing/future developments. The use of current tests in proper combination enables a rapid and correct diagnosis in a large majority of cases. However, even with recent progress, definitive diagnosis remains challenging in some patients, for whom combined genetic/biochemical/cytochemical markers do not provide a clear answer. Expertise and reference laboratories thus remain essential, and further work is still required to fulfill unmet needs
Understanding Multi-Device Usage Patterns: Physical Device Configurations and Fragmented Workflows
To better ground technical (systems) investigation and interaction design of cross-device experiences, we contribute an in-depth survey of existing multi-device practices, including fragmented workflows across devices and the way people physically organize and configure their workspaces to support such activity. Further, this survey documents a historically significant moment of transition to a new future of remote work, an existing trend dramatically accelerated by the abrupt switch to work-from-home (and having to contend with the demands of home-at-work) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We surveyed 97 participants, and collected photographs of home setups and open-ended answers to 50 questions categorized in 5 themes. We characterize the wide range of multi-device physical configurations and identify five usage patterns, including: partitioning tasks, integrating multi-device usage, cloning tasks to other devices, expanding tasks and inputs to multiple devices, and migrating between devices. Our analysis also sheds light on the benefits and challenges people face when their workflow is fragmented across multiple devices. These insights have implications for the design of multi-device experiences that support people's fragmented workflows
AirConstellations: In-Air Device Formations for Cross-Device Interaction via Multiple Spatially-Aware Armatures
AirConstellations supports a unique semi-fixed style of cross-device interactions via multiple self-spatially-aware armatures to which users can easily attach (or detach) tablets and other devices. In particular, AirConstellations affords highly flexible and dynamic device formations where the users can bring multiple devices together in-air - with 2-5 armatures poseable in 7DoF within the same workspace - to suit the demands of their current task, social situation, app scenario, or mobility needs. This affords an interaction metaphor where relative orientation, proximity, attaching (or detaching) devices, and continuous movement into and out of ad-hoc ensembles can drive context-sensitive interactions. Yet all devices remain self-stable in useful configurations even when released in mid-air. We explore flexible physical arrangement, feedforward of transition options, and layering of devices in-air across a variety of multi-device app scenarios. These include video conferencing with flexible arrangement of the person-space of multiple remote participants around a shared task-space, layered and tiled device formations with overview+detail and shared-to-personal transitions, and flexible composition of UI panels and tool palettes across devices for productivity applications. A preliminary interview study highlights user reactions to AirConstellations, such as for minimally disruptive device formations, easier physical transitions, and balancing "seeing and being seen"in remote work
Spatial organization acts on cell signaling: how physical force contributes to the development of cancer
Cells constantly encounter physical forces and respond to neighbors and circulating factors by triggering intracellular signaling cascades that in turn affect their behavior. The mechanisms by which cells transduce mechanical signals to downstream biochemical changes are not well understood. In their work, Salaita and coworkers show that the spatial organization of cell surface receptors is crucial for mechanotransduction. Consequently, force modulation that disrupts the mechanochemical coupling may represent a critical step in cancerogenesis
Microwave amplification with nanomechanical resonators
Sensitive measurement of electrical signals is at the heart of modern science
and technology. According to quantum mechanics, any detector or amplifier is
required to add a certain amount of noise to the signal, equaling at best the
energy of quantum fluctuations. The quantum limit of added noise has nearly
been reached with superconducting devices which take advantage of
nonlinearities in Josephson junctions. Here, we introduce a new paradigm of
amplification of microwave signals with the help of a mechanical oscillator. By
relying on the radiation pressure force on a nanomechanical resonator, we
provide an experimental demonstration and an analytical description of how the
injection of microwaves induces coherent stimulated emission and signal
amplification. This scheme, based on two linear oscillators, has the advantage
of being conceptually and practically simpler than the Josephson junction
devices, and, at the same time, has a high potential to reach quantum limited
operation. With a measured signal amplification of 25 decibels and the addition
of 20 quanta of noise, we anticipate near quantum-limited mechanical microwave
amplification is feasible in various applications involving integrated
electrical circuits.Comment: Main text + supplementary information. 14 pages, 3 figures (main
text), 18 pages, 6 figures (supplementary information
Parameter identification problems in the modelling of cell motility
We present a novel parameter identification algorithm for the estimation of parameters in models of cell motility using imaging data of migrating cells. Two alternative formulations of the objective functional that measures the difference between the computed and observed data are proposed and the parameter identification problem is formulated as a minimisation problem of nonlinear least squares type. A LevenbergâMarquardt based optimisation method is applied to the solution of the minimisation problem and the details of the implementation are discussed. A number of numerical experiments are presented which illustrate the robustness of the algorithm to parameter identification in the presence of large deformations and noisy data and parameter identification in three dimensional models of cell motility. An application to experimental data is also presented in which we seek to identify parameters in a model for the monopolar growth of fission yeast cells using experimental imaging data. Our numerical tests allow us to compare the method with the two different formulations of the objective functional and we conclude that the results with both objective functionals seem to agree
A Novel Microwave Sensor to Detect Specific Biomarkers in Human Cerebrospinal Fluid and Their Relationship to Cellular Ischemia During Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair
Thoraco-abdominal aneurysms (TAAA) represents a particularly lethal vascular disease that without surgical repair carries a dismal prognosis. However, there is an inherent risk from
surgical repair of spinal cord ischaemia that can result in paraplegia. One method of reducing
this risk is cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage. We believe that the CSF contains clinically
significant biomarkers that can indicate impending spinal cord ischaemia. This work
therefore presents a novel measurement method for proteins, namely albumin, as a precursor
to further work in this area. The work uses an interdigitated electrode (IDE) sensor and
shows that it is capable of detecting various concentrations of albumin (from 0 to 100 g/L)
with a high degree of repeatability at 200 MHz (R2 = 0.991) and 4 GHz (R2 = 0.975)
Redox-freezing and nucleation of diamond via magnetite formation in the Earthâs mantle
Diamonds and their inclusions are unique probes into the deep Earth, tracking the deep carbon cycle to >800âkm. Understanding the mechanisms of carbon mobilization and freezing is a prerequisite for quantifying the fluxes of carbon in the deep Earth. Here we show direct evidence for the formation of diamond by redox reactions involving FeNi sulfides. Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction identifies an arrested redox reaction from pyrrhotite to magnetite included in diamond. The magnetite corona shows coherent epitaxy with relict pyrrhotite and diamond, indicating that diamond nucleated on magnetite. Furthermore, structures inherited from h-Fe3O4 define a phase transformation at depths of 320â330âkm, the base of the Kaapvaal lithosphere. The oxidation of pyrrhotite to magnetite is an important trigger of diamond precipitation in the upper mantle, explaining the presence of these phases in diamonds
Activating optomechanical entanglement
We propose an optomechanical setup where the activation of entanglement
through the pre-availability of non-classical correlations can be demonstrated
experimentally. We analyse the conditions under which the scheme is successful
and relate them to the current experimental state of the art. The successful
activation of entanglement embodies an interesting alternative to current
settings for the revelation of fully mechanical nonclassicality.Comment: Published versio
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