How to be sanguine in Sarajevo: Leadership as transformation or tragedy?

Not all successful leadership is good leadership. As Peter Drucker once remarked, the 20th century produced three great leaders: Hitler, Stalin and Mao. Conversely, many leaders who fail to achieve their aims nonetheless deserve respect and praise. In fact we can probably learn more about how to do good by studying those who struggle for it in almost impossible circumstances. This is what we had in mind when we first took a group of company executives to Sarajevo in 1996, shortly after the signing the cease-fire known as the Dayton Accord. The context was a short course on leadership of change and continuity, conceived by one of the authors, co-ordinated by the other and commissioned by British Aerospace plc (now BAE Systems plc). Our aim was to study what happens when ‘transformation’ becomes an overwhelming reality. We learned a good deal about change, continuity and leadership; but we learned more about this radical approach to management education, which is the focus of this paper. We offer as a case-study one particular encounter drawn from over 10 years of engagement. In summer of 2004 three former Prime Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina met with a group of senior executives (mainly British and American) to reflect on this particular leadership role. The paper explores both the content and process of this ‘event’, with commentary on: a) the role of the individual leader, illuminated by the fact that we studied three people who have consecutively held the same post, within and impacting on the ’same’ context; b) the practice of reflection in this particular setting; that is, how to be reflective and to draw lessons from experiences riddled with the presence of evil; c) the design and ethics of leadership development programmes in which the moral predicaments of participants become the central topic. We conclude that management education must be radically reconfigured if it is to address greatness as well as effectiveness. The emancipatory aims of so-called critical management education go some way to addressing our concerns, but our own case presents us with grounds for profound pessimism, in the light of which we find hope only in the possible cathartic effects of confronting the tragic aspects of leadership and change. We recommend leadership development and management education that engages with these ethical realities

Körper im elektronischen Raum: Modelle für Menschen und interaktive Systeme

Im Kontakt mit Medientechnik wird der menschliche Körper öfters als veraltete Hardware abgetan, insbesondere wenn darüber lediglich gedacht und gesprochen bzw. geschrieben wird. Konkret, unter Einsatz aller Sinneskanäle erweist er sich jedoch als eine vielfach einzusetzende Schnittstelle und nach wie vor volltaugliches Interaktionsmedium, das sowohl mit der Maschine selber als auch mit anderen (menschlichen oder zumindest humanoiden) Körpern innerhalb maschineller Umgebungen komplex kommunizieren kann. Computer und Internet sind nicht nur Arbeitswerkzeuge und Informationsleiter, sondern zunehmend auch kommunikative Partner, deren Informationsverarbeitungsweisen in Wechselbeziehungen mit den (zwischen)menschlichen Kommunikationsmustern zu denken sind. Wie beschreibt und gestaltet sich am besten die multimediale Verwandtschaft "neuer" Medien und des "altbekannten" Körpers im elektronischen Interaktionsraum von Kunst, Technik und Wissenschaft? Die Arbeit fasst den Vorsatz, die Darstellungs- und Wahrnehmungsmodalitäten des menschlichen Körpers im neumedialen Kontext jenseits üblicher Prämierungen und unnötiger Reduzierungen zukunftsträchtig auswerten sowie kommunizieren zu können. Trotz plausibler Diskurskritik wird versucht, ergiebige Ansätze einer praktisch informierten - sowie an die Praxis rückkoppelnden - medientheoretischen Diskussion um den Körper im virtuellen sowie insbesondere konkreten elektronischen Raum zu eruieren. Dazu wird der dominante Körperdiskurs benutzt - und zugleich unterlaufen, indem sein kreativ handelndes sowie sein künstlerisch-cum-wissenschaftlich "be-handeltes" Referenzobjekt untersucht wird. Dies geschieht auch durch den eigenen, multimedial und interaktiv eingesetzten Körper des Autors wie auch die Körper der Interviewten, der Kooperierenden und nicht zuletzt der RezipientInnen. Eine mehrfache Rehabilitierung des pessimistisch medialisierten, zerredeten Körpers erfolgt im aktuell fruchtbarsten sowie symptomatisch mythenreichsten Zwischenfeld von (Tanz)Kunst und Technologie - eben nicht nur rein wissenschaftlich, sondern auch ästhetisch-produktiv durch die eigene und eigentliche interdisziplinäre Tätigkeit. Daraus werden relevante Modelle zur theoretischen und praktischen Arbeit mit dem Körper im elektronischen Raum sowie allgemeine Vorschläge für Beschreibung und Gestaltung interdisziplinärer Kooperationsprojekte abgeleitet.In contact with media technology the human body is often being dismissed as hardware out of date - especially if merely thought and talked or written about. Concretely, with all the sensory channels employed, the body proves to be a diversely applicable interface and still a fully compatible interactive medium that can communicate with the machine itself as well as with other (human or at least humanoid) bodies within technical environments in a complex way. Computers and the Internet are not only instruments and conductors but increasingly also communicative partners, whose ways of information processing should be conceived in association with (inter)personal communication patterns. How are the multimodal affinities of "new" media and the "good old" body to be described and designed within the electronic interactions of art, technology and science? Beyond traditional hierarchies and unnecessary reductions the project attempts to elicit the seminal modalities of (re)production as well as perception that the human body is capable of in the context of new media. In spite of plausible discourse critique, productive approaches at a practically informed media-theory discussion on the body in the virtual and especially in the concrete electronic space are elicited - and eventually feedbacked to the practical field. For this purpose the dominant body discourse is used, yet at the same time undermined by investigating its object in the state of acting as well as in the state of being acted-upon, artistically and scientifically. This also happens through the own, multimediatized and inter-activated body of the author as well as the bodies of the persons interviewed, cooperating and, lastly, addressed. A manifold rehabilitation of the pessimistically mediatized and talked-apart body takes place at the both topically prolific and symptomatically mythologized crossings of (dance) art and technology - not only scientifically but also in terms of the author's aesthetic production within the interdisciplinary field. Deriving from all this, models for theoretical and practical treatment of the body in the electronic space as well as general propositions for description and design of interdisciplinary cooperation projects are developed finally

Zdravljenje hude zastrupitve s kvetiapinom in citalopramom z nizkim odmerkom intravenske lipidne emulzije

The treatment of quetiapine and/or citalopram poisoning is mainly supportive and involves gastric lavage, activated charcoal, intubation, and mechanical ventilation. Recently, however, there were reports of successful treatment with intravenous lipid emulsion. Here we report a case of a 19-year-old Caucasian girl who ingested approximately 6000 mg of quetiapine, 400 mg of citalopram, and 45 mg of bromazepam in a suicide attempt. The patient developed ventricular tachycardia and epileptic seizures 12 h after admission to the hospital. As the patient’s condition deteriorated, we combined standard therapy (intubation, mechanical ventilation, and vasopressors) with low-dose intravenous lipid emulsion (ILE) (a total of 300 mL of 20 % lipid emulsion) and normalised her heart rhythm and stopped the seizures. She was discharged to the psychiatric ward after 48 h and home after a prolonged (2-month) psychiatric rehabilitation. Intravenous lipid emulsion turned out to be effective even in the lower dose range than previously reported for quetiapine poisoning in patients presenting with seizure and ventricular arrhythmia. To our knowledge, there are no case reports describing the use of ILE in treating citalopram poisoning.Zastrupitve s kvetiapinom in/ali citalopramom večinoma zdravimo podporno. Ob zdravljenju s spiranjem želodca, aktivnim ogljem, intubacijo in mehansko ventilacijo pa so opisani primeri uspešnega zdravljenja z intravensko lipidno emulzijo. Predstavljamo primer 19-letne ženske, ki je v samomorilne namene zaužila približno 6000 mg kvetiapina, 400 mg citaloprama in 45 mg bromazepama. Bolnica je imela 12 ur po sprejemu prekatno tahikardijo in epileptične napade. Ob kliničnem poslabšanju stanja smo jo zdravili s standardno terapijo (intubacija, mehanska ventilacija, vazopresorna podpora) in nizkim odmerkom intravenske lipidne emulzije (celokupno 300 mL 20 % lipidne emulzije). Srčni ritem se je po terapiji normaliziral, epileptični krči so prenehali. Po 48 urah zdravljenja v enoti intenzivne terapije je bila premeščena na oddelek za psihiatrijo in po 2-mesečnem zdravljenju domov. Zastrupitev s kvetiapinom in citalopramom, ki se pri bolniku kaže z epileptičnimi krči in prekatnimi motnjami ritma, lahko uspešno zdravimo z nizkimi odmerki intravenske lipidne emulzije

Menedžerske šole

Menedžerske šole so se pojavile v svetu pred približno sto leti v ZDA, od tam pa so se razširile v zahodno in v srednjo Evropo. V srednji in zahodni Evropi smo nekaj časa sledili ameriškemu modelu, vendar postaja vse bolj jasno, da potrebujemo šole, ki bodo ponujale v prakso usmerjen študij, uporaben za danes in jutri. Menedžerske šole v Ameriki so zašle v krizo, ker so njihovi programi preveč akademski in ker v večini primerov izobražujejo študente, ki še nimajo delovnih izkušenj. Največji problem razvoja menedžmenta predstavlja premajhno število usposobljenih profesorjev. Center Brdo, edina menedžerska šola v Sloveniji, problem usposobljenosti profesorjev rešuje na ta način, da je pritegnila iz sveta skupino uglednih profesorjev, obenem pa vzgaja generacijo svojih učiteljev. Pri Centru Brdo je tudi sedež Združenja managerskih šol Srednje in Vzhodne Evrope (CEEMAN), v katero je vključenih 51 menedžerskih šol. Namen Združenja je pospešiti razvoj menedžmenta, povezovati dejavnost šol in skrbeti za kakovost menedžerskih programov izobraževanja

QuNex—An integrative platform for reproducible neuroimaging analytics

Introduction: Neuroimaging technology has experienced explosive growth and transformed the study of neural mechanisms across health and disease. However, given the diversity of sophisticated tools for handling neuroimaging data, the field faces challenges in method integration, particularly across multiple modalities and species. Specifically, researchers often have to rely on siloed approaches which limit reproducibility, with idiosyncratic data organization and limited software interoperability. Methods: To address these challenges, we have developed Quantitative Neuroimaging Environment & Toolbox (QuNex), a platform for consistent end-to-end processing and analytics. QuNex provides several novel functionalities for neuroimaging analyses, including a “turnkey” command for the reproducible deployment of custom workflows, from onboarding raw data to generating analytic features. Results: The platform enables interoperable integration of multi-modal, community-developed neuroimaging software through an extension framework with a software development kit (SDK) for seamless integration of community tools. Critically, it supports high-throughput, parallel processing in high-performance compute environments, either locally or in the cloud. Notably, QuNex has successfully processed over 10,000 scans across neuroimaging consortia, including multiple clinical datasets. Moreover, QuNex enables integration of human and non-human workflows via a cohesive translational platform. Discussion: Collectively, this effort stands to significantly impact neuroimaging method integration across acquisition approaches, pipelines, datasets, computational environments, and species. Building on this platform will enable more rapid, scalable, and reproducible impact of neuroimaging technology across health and disease

Cooperativity and flexibility in enzyme evolution

Enzymes are flexible catalysts, and there has been substantial discussion about the extent to which this flexibility contributes to their catalytic efficiency. What has been significantly less discussed is the extent to which this flexibility contributes to their evolvability. Despite this, recent years have seen an increasing number of both experimental and computational studies that demonstrate that cooperativity and flexibility play significant roles in enzyme innovation. This review covers key developments in the field that emphasize the importance of enzyme dynamics not just to the evolution of new enzyme function(s), but also as a property that can be harnessed in the design of new artificial enzymes.The European Research Council has provided financial support under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 306474. This work was also funded by the Feder Funds, Grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BIO2015-66426-R and CSD2009-00088) and the Human Frontier Science Program (RGP0041/2017). A.P. is a Wenner-Gren Foundations Postdoctoral Fellow and S. C. L. K. is a Wallenberg Academy Fellow

QuNex—An integrative platform for reproducible neuroimaging analytics

Introduction: Neuroimaging technology has experienced explosive growth and transformed the study of neural mechanisms across health and disease. However, given the diversity of sophisticated tools for handling neuroimaging data, the field faces challenges in method integration, particularly across multiple modalities and species. Specifically, researchers often have to rely on siloed approaches which limit reproducibility, with idiosyncratic data organization and limited software interoperability.Methods: To address these challenges, we have developed Quantitative Neuroimaging Environment & Toolbox (QuNex), a platform for consistent end-to-end processing and analytics. QuNex provides several novel functionalities for neuroimaging analyses, including a “turnkey” command for the reproducible deployment of custom workflows, from onboarding raw data to generating analytic features.Results: The platform enables interoperable integration of multi-modal, community-developed neuroimaging software through an extension framework with a software development kit (SDK) for seamless integration of community tools. Critically, it supports high-throughput, parallel processing in high-performance compute environments, either locally or in the cloud. Notably, QuNex has successfully processed over 10,000 scans across neuroimaging consortia, including multiple clinical datasets. Moreover, QuNex enables integration of human and non-human workflows via a cohesive translational platform.Discussion: Collectively, this effort stands to significantly impact neuroimaging method integration across acquisition approaches, pipelines, datasets, computational environments, and species. Building on this platform will enable more rapid, scalable, and reproducible impact of neuroimaging technology across health and disease

Dancing sympathy beyond human failure

abstract The article explores the concepts, tools and methods that may be taken on board by artistic researchers when venturing into uncertain futures. The approaching hay-day of Artistic Research calls for a repositioning of this academic and cultural avantgarde that is assuming real power and must thus take clear opposition against dominant politics and corporate capitalism keeping the human and non-human kinds in perpetual crisis. Next to Science and Technology, Art has finally reached a status of an equivalued cornerstone, and within this level playing field a new research-based approach is needed where power relationships, decision-making mechanisms, dominant narratives or prevalent aesthetics are boldly investigated and critically questioned, (re)instituting the importance of artistic disruption and establishing art-thinking as the key to not only question but also design pathways to meaningful change. Deeply intertwined research methodologies ranging from social to natural sciences, from humanities via (critically reflected) technologies to the (technologically emancipated) arts, should be left to safely mingle and mutually inspire. Rather than colonizing it with yet another false supremacy, we should be learning from the Global South, where collective dancing, storytelling or performing still presents a norm of how to generate new knowledge or reach consensus. Artistic Research can contribute to crafting better worlds even once AI entities get accepted as fellow researchers (if not dancers), their agency reflected in an attitude of radical sympathy (re)instituting care, justice and solidarity by ways of sound research activism