Waking Up a Sleeping Giant: Lessons from Two Extended Pilots to Transform Public Organizations by Internal Crowdsourcing

Digital transformation is a main driver for change, evolution, and disruption in organizations. As digital transformation is not solely determined by technological advancements, public environments necessitate changes in organizational practice and culture alike. A mechanism that seeks to realize employee engagement to adopt innovative modes of problem-solving is internal crowdsourcing, which flips the mode of operation from top-down to bottom-up. This concept is thus disrupting public organizations, as it heavily builds on IT-enabled engagement platforms that overcome the barriers of functional expertise and routine processes. Within this paper, we reflect on two design science projects that were piloted for six months within public organizations. We derive insights on the sociotechnical effects of internal crowdsourcing on organizational culture, social control, individual resources, motivation, and empowerment. Furthermore, using social cognitive theory, we propose design propositions for internal crowdsourcing, that guide future research and practice-oriented approaches to enable innovation in public organizations

Untersuchung der Nutzung unterschiedlicher Transkriptionsstartpunkte für mRNA von humanem Kathepsin D unter dem Einfluß von Calcitriol

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden die Transkriptionsstartstellen für mRNA von humanem Kathepsin D unter dem Einfluß von Calcitriol in U937-Zellen untersucht. Zu diesem Zweck wurde die Methode der kompetitiven RT-PCR der Fragestellung entsprechend modifiziert. Die Methode der kompetitiven PCR basiert auf der kompetitiven Co-Amplifikation einer spezifischen Target-Sequenz (DNA bzw. revers transkribierte RNA) - also der zu bestimmenden Ziel-DNA-Menge - zusammen mit bekannten Mengen eines internen Standards (Kompetitor, Standard-DNA) im selben Reaktionsgefäß. Die Methode erlaubt den Nachweis kleinster Mengen von DNA bzw. RNA und zugleich deren Quantifizierung. Der dazu benötigte Kompetitor konnte mittels In-vitro-Mutagenese entwickelt werden, bis auf eine Deletion von 30 Bp ist er identisch mit der zu bestimmenden Sequenz. Es wurde mRNA aus Calcitriol-stimulierten U937-Zellen und aus Kontroll-U937-Zellen isoliert und untersucht. Mit dieser Arbeit konnte gezeigt werden, daß in beiden Fällen mehrere Transkriptionsstartstellen für Kathepsin D benutzt werden. Weiterhin konnte eine etwa 8-fache Steigerung der Transkriptionsrate für Kathepsin-D-mRNA unter Calcitriol-Stimulierung nachgewiesen werden. Eine schwerpunktmäßige Nutzung einer bestimmten Startstelle als Ursache für die gesteigerte Transkriptionsrate, wie dies etwa in Östrogen-stimulierten MCF7-Zellen der Fall ist, konnte nicht gezeigt werden

Untersuchung der Nutzung unterschiedlicher Transkriptionsstartpunkte für mRNA von humanem Kathepsin D unter dem Einfluß von Calcitriol

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden die Transkriptionsstartstellen für mRNA von humanem Kathepsin D unter dem Einfluß von Calcitriol in U937-Zellen untersucht. Zu diesem Zweck wurde die Methode der kompetitiven RT-PCR der Fragestellung entsprechend modifiziert. Die Methode der kompetitiven PCR basiert auf der kompetitiven Co-Amplifikation einer spezifischen Target-Sequenz (DNA bzw. revers transkribierte RNA) - also der zu bestimmenden Ziel-DNA-Menge - zusammen mit bekannten Mengen eines internen Standards (Kompetitor, Standard-DNA) im selben Reaktionsgefäß. Die Methode erlaubt den Nachweis kleinster Mengen von DNA bzw. RNA und zugleich deren Quantifizierung. Der dazu benötigte Kompetitor konnte mittels In-vitro-Mutagenese entwickelt werden, bis auf eine Deletion von 30 Bp ist er identisch mit der zu bestimmenden Sequenz. Es wurde mRNA aus Calcitriol-stimulierten U937-Zellen und aus Kontroll-U937-Zellen isoliert und untersucht. Mit dieser Arbeit konnte gezeigt werden, daß in beiden Fällen mehrere Transkriptionsstartstellen für Kathepsin D benutzt werden. Weiterhin konnte eine etwa 8-fache Steigerung der Transkriptionsrate für Kathepsin-D-mRNA unter Calcitriol-Stimulierung nachgewiesen werden. Eine schwerpunktmäßige Nutzung einer bestimmten Startstelle als Ursache für die gesteigerte Transkriptionsrate, wie dies etwa in Östrogen-stimulierten MCF7-Zellen der Fall ist, konnte nicht gezeigt werden

Photocatalytic nucleophilic addition of alcohols to styrenes in Markovnikov and anti-Markovnikov orientation

The nucleophilic addition of methanol and other alcohols to 1,1-diphenylethylene (1) and styrene (6) into the Markovnikov- and anti-Markovnikov-type products was selectively achieved with 1-(N,N-dimethylamino)pyrene (Py) and 1,7-dicyanoperylene-3,4:9,10-tetracarboxylic acid bisimide (PDI) as photoredox catalysts. The regioselectivity was controlled by the photocatalyst. For the reductive mode towards the Markovnikov-type regioselectivity, Py was applied as photocatalyst and triethylamine as electron shuttle. This approach was also used for intramolecular additions. For the oxidative mode towards the anti-Markovnikov-type regioselectivety, PDI was applied together with Ph–SH as additive. Photocatalytic additions of a variety of alcohols gave the corresponding products in good to excellent yields. The proposed photocatalytic electron transfer mechanism was supported by detection of the PDI radical anion as key intermediate and by comparison of two intramolecular reactions with different electron density. Representative mesoflow reactor experiments allowed to significantly shorten the irradiation times and to use sunlight as “green” light source

Strategies and approaches in plasmidome studies, uncovering plasmid diversity disregarding of linear elements?

The term plasmid was originally coined for circular, extrachromosomal genetic elements. Today, plasmids are widely recognised not only as important factors facilitating genome restructuring but also as vehicles for the dissemination of beneficial characters within bacterial communities. Plasmid diversity has been uncovered by means of culture dependent or independent approaches, such as endogenous or exogenous plasmid isolation as well as PCR-based detection or transposon-aided capture, respectively. High-throughput-sequencing made possible to cover total plasmid populations in a given environment, i.e. the plasmidome, and allowed to address the quality and significance of self-replicating genetic elements. Since such efforts were and still are rather restricted to circular molecules, here we put equal emphasis on the linear plasmids which despite their frequent occurrence in a large number of bacteria are largely neglected in prevalent plasmidome conceptions.Fil: Dib, Julian Rafael. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucuman. Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiologicos; ArgentinaFil: Wagenknecht, Martin. Institut für Molekulare Mikrobiologie und Biotechnologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster.; AlemaniaFil: Farias, Maria Eugenia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucuman. Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiologicos; ArgentinaFil: Meinhardt, Friedhelm. Institut für Molekulare Mikrobiologie und Biotechnologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster.; Alemani

Strategies and approaches in plasmidome studies—uncovering plasmid diversity disregarding of linear elements?

The term plasmid was originally coined for circular, extrachromosomal genetic elements. Today, plasmids are widely recognized not only as important factors facilitating genome restructuring but also as vehicles for the dissemination of beneficial characters within bacterial communities. Plasmid diversity has been uncovered by means of culture-dependent or -independent approaches, such as endogenous or exogenous plasmid isolation as well as PCR-based detection or transposon-aided capture, respectively. High-throughput-sequencing made possible to cover total plasmid populations in a given environment, i.e., the plasmidome, and allowed to address the quality and significance of self-replicating genetic elements. Since such efforts were and still are rather restricted to circular molecules, here we put equal emphasis on the linear plasmids which—despite their frequent occurrence in a large number of bacteria—are largely neglected in prevalent plasmidome conceptions

Photoredox Catalytic Activation of Trichlorofluoromethane and Addition to Styrenes

A new method activates CCl3F by means of photoredox catalysis and functionalizes alkenes by the CCl2F group. N-phenylphenothiazine is used as strongly reducing organophotocatalyst. The photoredox catalytic approach combines the productive disposal of this ozone depleting material and greenhouse gas with the synthesis of potentially useful organic compounds, complements the concept of atom transfer radical addition, and allows for the first time direct synthetic access to the CCl2F group as structural motif. The substrate scope is broad and the multifunctionalized class of products allows for a variety of following-up transformations

Conformational control of benzophenone-sensitized charge transfer in dinucleotides

Charge transfer in DNA cannot be understood without addressing the complex conformational flexibility, which occurs on a wide range of timescales. In order to reduce this complexity four dinucleotide models 1X consisting of benzophenone linked by a phosphodiester to one of the natural nucleosides X = A, G, T, C were studied in water and methanol. The theoretical work focuses on the dynamics and electronic structure of 1G. Predominant conformations in the two solvents were obtained by molecular dynamics simulations. 1G in MeOH adopts mainly an open geometry with a distance of 12–16 Å between the two aromatic parts. In H2O the two parts of 1G form primarily a stacked conformation yielding a distance of 5–6 Å. The low-lying excited states were investigated by electronic structure theory in a QM/MM environment for representative snapshots of the trajectories. Photo-induced intramolecular charge transfer in the S1 state occurs exclusively in the stacked conformation. Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy with 1X reveals fast charge transfer from S1 in both solvents with varying yields. Significant charge transfer from the T1 state is only found for the nucleobases with the lowest oxidation potential: in H2O, charge transfer occurs with 3.2 × 109 s−1 for 1A and 6.0 × 109 s−1 for 1G. The reorganization energy remains nearly unchanged going from MeOH to the more polar H2O. The electronic coupling is rather low even for the stacked conformation with HAB = 3 meV and explains the moderate charge transfer rates. The solvent controls the conformational distribution and therefore gates the charge transfer due to differences in distance and stacking