Defensive Routines in Engineering Managers and Non-Engineering Managers – A Case Analysis

There is a perception that engineers experience challenges in areas such as communication, conflict resolution, and leadership. Defensive routines are actions implemented as a result of being in an embarrassing or threatening situation. This research uses a case study approach to measure whether defensive routines are more common in engineering managers or non-engineering managers. Twenty-seven managers created case studies based on their unique experiences as managers. These case studies were scored, and the results of this research indicate that engineering managers employ defensive routines more commonly than non-engineering managers

Healthcare 4.0 digital technologies impact on quality of care: A systematic literature review

The healthcare industry is transforming into Healthcare 4.0 (H4.0), an era characterized by smart and connected healthcare systems. This study presents a conceptual framework that classifies H4.0 digital technologies into information and communication technology bundles within the healthcare value chain. It also identifies barriers and evaluates digital technologies’ impact on quality measures through a systematic literature review and meta-analysis approach following the PRISMA protocol. The analysis reveals that digital technologies in the healthcare sector traditionally consist of sensing-communication and processing-actuation technologies. The findings highlight the significant influence of H4.0 digital technologies on three quality measures: patient safety, patient experience/ satisfaction, and clinical effectiveness. While these technologies offer potential benefits, they pose challenges for patients and clinicians, including intellectual property and significance concerns, especially in North America. The proposed framework addresses these issues and enables stakeholders to prioritize, review, and analyze H4.0 digital technologies to enhance patient safety, experience, and clinical effectiveness. This research contributes to the existing literature by being the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of H4.0 technologies on the quality of care. The framework provided in this study offers valuable guidance for stakeholders in selecting appropriate technologies to improve patient outcomes and support the healthcare value chain

Structure of a crystal form of human methemoglobin indicative of fiber formation

Human methemoglobin was crystallized in a unique unit cell and its structure was solved by molecular replacement. The hexagonal unit cell has unit-cell parameters a = b = 54.6, c = 677.4 Å, with symmetry consistent with space group P6₁22. The unit cell has the second highest aspect ratio of all unit cells contained in the PDB. The 12 molecules in the unit cell describe a right-handed helical filament having no polarity, which is different from the filament composed of HbS fibers, which is the only other well characterized fiber of human hemoglobin. The filaments reported here can be related to canonical sickle-cell hemoglobin filaments and to an alternative sickle-cell filament deduced from fiber diffraction by slight modifications of intermolecular contacts

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of human endothelin

Endothelin, a potent regulator of vasoconstriction and hypertension, is a naturally produced peptide of 21 amino acids containing two disulfide bonds. We have crystallized endothelin from humans using the vapor-diffusion technique, characterized the crystals by X-ray diffraction analysis, and have collected the X-ray intensities to a resolution of 1.8 A. The crystals, which demonstrate physical properties similar to most protein crystals and have a comparable solvent content, are hexagonal prisms that frequently grow to lengths of 400 microns and widths of 150 microns. The space group of the crystals is P6(1)22 (or P6(5)22), with a = 27.4, c = 79.6 A. There is one molecule of endothelin in the asymmetric unit of the crystals

Rapid Effects of Marine Reserves via Larval Dispersal

Marine reserves have been advocated worldwide as conservation and fishery management tools. It is argued that they can protect ecosystems and also benefit fisheries via density-dependent spillover of adults and enhanced larval dispersal into fishing areas. However, while evidence has shown that marine reserves can meet conservation targets, their effects on fisheries are less understood. In particular, the basic question of if and over what temporal and spatial scales reserves can benefit fished populations via larval dispersal remains unanswered. We tested predictions of a larval transport model for a marine reserve network in the Gulf of California, Mexico, via field oceanography and repeated density counts of recently settled juvenile commercial mollusks before and after reserve establishment. We show that local retention of larvae within a reserve network can take place with enhanced, but spatially-explicit, recruitment to local fisheries. Enhancement occurred rapidly (2 yrs), with up to a three-fold increase in density of juveniles found in fished areas at the downstream edge of the reserve network, but other fishing areas within the network were unaffected. These findings were consistent with our model predictions. Our findings underscore the potential benefits of protecting larval sources and show that enhancement in recruitment can be manifested rapidly. However, benefits can be markedly variable within a local seascape. Hence, effects of marine reserve networks, positive or negative, may be overlooked when only focusing on overall responses and not considering finer spatially-explicit responses within a reserve network and its adjacent fishing grounds. Our results therefore call for future research on marine reserves that addresses this variability in order to help frame appropriate scenarios for the spatial management scales of interest

Time-reversed adapted-perturbation (TRAP) optical focusing onto dynamic objects inside scattering media

The ability to steer and focus light inside scattering media has long been sought for a multitude of applications. At present, the only feasible strategy to form optical foci inside scattering media is to guide photons by using either implanted or virtual guide stars, which can be inconvenient and limits the potential applications. Here we report a scheme for focusing light inside scattering media by employing intrinsic dynamics as guide stars. By adaptively time-reversing the perturbed component of the scattered light, we show that it is possible to focus light to the origin of the perturbation. Using this approach, we demonstrate non-invasive dynamic light focusing onto moving targets and imaging of a time-variant object obscured by highly scattering media. Anticipated applications include imaging and photoablation of angiogenic vessels in tumours, as well as other biomedical uses

Interaction between Plate Make and Protein in Protein Crystallisation Screening

Background: Protein crystallisation screening involves the parallel testing of large numbers of candidate conditions with the aim of identifying conditions suitable as a starting point for the production of diffraction quality crystals. Generally, condition screening is performed in 96-well plates. While previous studies have examined the effects of protein construct, protein purity, or crystallisation condition ingredients on protein crystallisation, few have examined the effect of the crystallisation plate