An analysis of barriers employees face when they engage creatively

Mestrado Bolonha em ManagementIn today's world, there are many articles and books that provide information on how companies can motivate their employees to get more involved in the company. Others show how workers' creativity can be enhanced, but always from a managerial or boardroom perspective. In contrast to these articles, this dissertation does not focus on what a business can do to encourage the creativity of its employees. This paper serves the purpose of giving employees a voice and showing their perception of barriers once they act proactively. The literature identifies many barriers that make it difficult for employees to act creatively. Barriers described in the literature focus strongly on the co-workers' refusal to change, resource restrictions, and strong hierarchical levels. The right leadership in the process of implementing ideas plays an essential role and gives employees the feeling of being supported. To investigate the topic in more detail 20 interviews were carried out. The interviews were semi-structured and a high diversity among participants was ensured. Answers were then coded according to 11 subcategories. Findings of the analysis mostly agree with literature, but some differences were identified. Respondents most frequently mentioned the following barriers in the interviews: Lack of support & communication, interpersonal challenges like resistance to change, time scarcity, unsupportive culture, and inefficient or chaotic structures. Nevertheless, employees were motivated to implement their ideas at the start. Most started an initiative because they were intrinsically motivated by the value of their idea. A few others wanted to improve working conditions for co-workers, or simply contribute something to the company’s success. Only a few were driven by extrinsic factors. This motivation was maintained for some participants despite challenges. Especially employees surrounded by supportive leaders maintained a positive attitude. However, most of the interviewees were frustrated after encountering barriers. They even declared to never engage creatively at their current company again.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

HBV and HCV genome in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis

HBV and HCV genome in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis. Patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis are at risk for infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). As peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMNC) are known to be susceptible to infection of both HBV and HCV, assessment of viral genomes in those cells could uncover occult infections not detected by serologic methods or virus determination in serum. We investigated all 67 patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis at a single dialysis unit by PCR for the presence of HBV or HCV genomes in serum as well as in PMNC. None of the 67 patients was HBsAg positive or showed HBV-DNA in serum, but in 5 patients HBV-DNA in PMNC was detected as the only marker of HBV-infection; those patients were also anti-HBc negative. In 9 patients HCV-RNA was positive in serum; in 5 of those patients it was also found in PMNC. Three of these infected patients were negative for anti-HCV. One other patient had no anti-HCV or HCV-RNA in serum, but was positive for HCV-RNA in PMNC. Thus, in 6 patients (8.9%) undergoing chronic hemodialysis we found evidence of infection with HBV or HCV by detecting viral genomes in PMNC without the presence of viremia, antigenemia or specific viral antibodies in serum. The detection of viral genomes in PMNC could be useful in the positive identification of additional potentially infectious patients

F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET features of focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) of the liver

PET imaging. The lesions were found incidentally. The 18F-FDG PET of Vienna, Vienna, Austria imaging was performed with a dedicated PET tomograph after intravenous injection of 300-370 MBq 18F-FDG. The 18F-FDG accumulation in the lesions was (semi)quantified by calculating the standardized uptake value (SUV) and SUV has been corrected for the lean body mass (LBM). Eight patients with liver metastases spread from melanoma (nΩ2) and colorectal carcinoma (nΩ6) served as controls. The size of the FNH lesions and of the control group ranged from 2.0 to 8.5 cm (mean 4.83 cm∫2.37) and from 1.5 to 6 cm (mean 3.28∫1.52), respectively. Results: While in malignant liver lesions the accumulation of 18F-FDG was significantly increased, all FNH lesions showed normal or even decreased accumulation of 18F-FDG. In FNH lesions, SUV ranged between 1.5 and 2.6 (mean 2.12∫0.38), whereas all liver metastases showed an increased SUV rang- PET is a new imaging method that has been successfully applied to image malignant tumors. While a large number of studies has been published in the last years about the usefulness of 18F-FDG PET in a variety of malignant diseases, the glucose metabolism of FNH in vivo has not bee

Understanding Phishing Email Processing and Perceived Trustworthiness Through Eye Tracking

© Copyright © 2020 McAlaney and Hills. Social engineering attacks in the form of phishing emails represent one of the biggest risks to cybersecurity. There is a lack of research on how the common elements of phishing emails, such as the presence of misspellings and the use of urgency and threatening language, influences how the email is processed and judged by individuals. Eye tracking technology may provide insight into this. In this exploratory study a sample of 22 participants viewed a series of emails with or without indicators associated with phishing emails, whilst their eye movements were recorded using a SMI RED 500 eye-tracker. Participants were also asked to give a numerical rating of how trustworthy they deemed each email to be. Overall, it was found that participants looked more frequently at the indicators associated with phishing than would be expected by chance but spent less overall time viewing these elements than would be expected by chance. The emails that included indicators associated with phishing were rated as less trustworthy on average, with the presence of misspellings or threatening language being associated with the lowest trustworthiness ratings. In addition, it was noted that phishing indicators relating to threatening language or urgency were viewed before misspellings. However, there was no significant interaction between the trustworthiness ratings of the emails and the amount of scanning time for phishing indicators within the emails. These results suggest that there is a complex relationship between the presence of indicators associated with phishing within an email and how trustworthy that email is judged to be. This study also demonstrates that eye tracking technology is a feasible method with which to identify and record how phishing emails are processed visually by individuals, which may contribute toward the design of future mitigation approaches

The Role of Eye Gaze in Security and Privacy Applications: Survey and Future HCI Research Directions

For the past 20 years, researchers have investigated the use of eye tracking in security applications. We present a holistic view on gaze-based security applications. In particular, we canvassed the literature and classify the utility of gaze in security applications into a) authentication, b) privacy protection, and c) gaze monitoring during security critical tasks. This allows us to chart several research directions, most importantly 1) conducting field studies of implicit and explicit gaze-based authentication due to recent advances in eye tracking, 2) research on gaze-based privacy protection and gaze monitoring in security critical tasks which are under-investigated yet very promising areas, and 3) understanding the privacy implications of pervasive eye tracking. We discuss the most promising opportunities and most pressing challenges of eye tracking for security that will shape research in gaze-based security applications for the next decade

Seltene Erkrankungen in der Lehre : eine Ist-Analyse und Modellmodul-Entwicklung

Hintergrund: Eine empirische Untersuchung zur tatsächlichen Lehrpraxis an den medizinischen Fakultäten sowie eine Aufnahme der Wünsche von Medizinstudierenden und Ärzten unterschiedlicher Weiterbildungsgrade hinsichtlich Seltener Erkrankungen in der Lehre ist bisher noch nicht umfassend vorgenommen worden. Um die Integration der Seltenen Erkrankungen in die medizinische Ausbildung an deutschen Universitäten zu fördern, soll neben einer Ist-Analyse zudem die Entwicklung eines geeigneten Modellmoduls für Seltene Erkrankungen erfolgen. Dies soll einen Beitrag dazu leisten, angehende Ärzte bereits während ihres Humanmedizinstudiums für Seltene Erkrankungen zu sensibilisieren. Methoden: Es wird eine Ist- Analyse anhand einer anonymen Fragebogenumfrage an den medizinischen Fakultäten Deutschlands sowie ein leitfadengestütztes Interview mit Studierenden im praktischen Jahr, Assistenzärzten des Universitätsklinikums Frankfurt und Fachärzten für Allgemeinmedizin/ hausärztlich tätigen Internisten des Kreises Bergstraße sowie Alzey-Worms durchgeführt. Aus der Gesamtheit der studentischen Wünsche an eine Lehrveranstaltung zu Seltenen Erkrankungen, den Empfehlungen von Seiten der Assistenzärzte/ Fachärzte für Allgemeinmedizin sowie den Kompetenzbereichen und Lernzielen des NKLM wird das Modellmodul mit entsprechenden Kompetenzen und Lernzielen entwickelt. Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgerungen: In den empirisch erhobenen Daten zeigt sich, dass Mediziner aller Aus- und Weiterbildungsstufen häufiger als gedacht mit Seltenen Erkrankungen in Berührung kommen. Weiterhin ist festzustellen, dass die momentane Lehrsituation nicht optimal auf den Umgang mit Seltenen Erkrankungen vorbereitet. 29 von 33 Befragten begrüßen daher die curriculare Integration von Seltenen Erkrankungen in das Medizinstudium. Die frühe Sensibilisierung von Medizinstudierenden für die spezifischen Probleme von Menschen mit Seltenen Erkrankungen sowie die lernzielorientierte Kompetenzvermittlung zum Umgang mit solchen durch ein curricular integriertes Modellmodul, trägt zur Professionalisierung der angehenden Ärzte bei. Gleichzeitig wird die Versorgung von Menschen mit Seltenen Erkrankungen verbessert. Einerseits kann somit dem Patienten ein langer Leidensweg erspart werden, andererseits tritt bei Medizinern keine Überforderung im Umgang mit Nichtwissen über Seltene Erkrankungen ein. Die dabei eingesparten zeitlichen und finanziellen Ressourcen können in eine optimale Patientenversorgung investiert werden.Background: An empirical analysis of the actual education on faculties of medical sciences, the attention on requests of medical students and doctors of different continuing educations related to rare diseases in medical educational systems, is not completed. The integration of rare diseases should be improved on German faculties for medical studies. To reach this target, a state analysis and the development of a suitable model- module will take place in this thesis. In this way, the future doctors can be sensitized to rare diseases. Methods: With help of a self- developed and standardized questionnaire, the state analysis on German medical faculties was taken. In addition, guided interviews were implemented with students in their practical year, junior doctors from the university hospital of Frankfurt/ Main and general practitioners from Worms, Alzey and the region of Forest of Odes. The model- module is based on competence- and learning- oriented trends and the lessons learned from the state analysis. They include the requests of medical students in having courses in rare diseases, recommendations of doctors and learning targets of the NKLM. Results and conclusions: The empirical data demonstrate, that physicians of all levels of education come in contact with rare diseases more often than generally assumed. Moreover, the actual learning situations are not optimal in deal with rare diseases. 29 of 33 interviewed persons would welcome the curricular inclusion of rare diseases in medical studies. An early inclusion, awareness- raising measures and teaching professional competences in relation to rare diseases in medical studies has positive advantages. Especially improvements in medical aid for patients with rare diseases might be established and the excessive demand for medical professionals might be reduced because of ignorance about rare diseases. The saved financial and time resources could be investigated in an optimum patient care

Investigating the interplay of replication, transcription, and BER for the induction of DSBs after oxidative stress

Every day, a variety of different deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) lesions occur in our genome, threatening the integrity and inheritance of genetic information. The lesions that occur are diverse and may have distinct consequences. The damage to DNA is thereby often caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS). These can be generated both endogenously and exogenously and can be responsible for the occurrence of various lesions. One of the most common DNA damage related to ROS is oxidative base modification. Several hundreds of these occur spontaneously in our genome every day and require efficient and correct repair via base excision repair (BER). However, several studies in recent years have demonstrated that the repair process of modified bases, and in particular the most abundant oxidative base modification 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG), appears to be involved in the formation of the most dangerous lesion, the DNA double-strand break (DSB). In this work, the DSB inducing effect of oxidative stress was investigated by treatment with the established oxidative agent H2O2. A cell cycle-specific analysis was performed, which demonstrated the induction of DSBs mainly in the synthesis phase (S phase) of the cell cycle. These breaks were almost exclusively repaired via the homologous recombination (HR) repair pathway, and thus, the emergence of replication-associated one-ended DSBs was assumed. Inhibition of replication thereby led to a significant reduction of DSBs in S phase and confirmed their dependence on the replication process. In addition, a comparable reduction in induced DSBs was demonstrated by inhibition of transcription. Follow-up studies using the proximity ligation assay (PLA) confirmed the occurrence of replication-transcription conflicts after treatment with H2O2, thus identifying these events as the reason for the formation of DSBs. Replication-transcription conflicts usually occur when obstacles in the DNA interfere with the progression of one or both of these two processes. H2O2 treatment induces, to a large extent, the oxidative base modification 8-oxoG which can be removed by the BER mechanism and replaced with a correct base via the formation of a single-strand break (SSB). This work demonstrates that the initiation of BER by the specific 8-oxoguanine glycosylase (OGG1) is required for DSB formation after H2O2 treatment. Inhibition of this initiation resulted in decreased DSB numbers, which in contrast greatly increased if the repair of SSBs was prevented. The removal of the damaged base and the resulting SSB are the reason for the occurence of conflicts between replication and transcription. Due to the involvement of both replication and transcription in the formation of DSBs after H2O2 treatment, break induction should only be able to occur in regions with active transcription. As confirmed by sequencing results in this work, the breaks induced by H2O2 occur more frequently in regions of elevated transcription. In addition, an increased density of genes and GC content could be detected for these regions. This shows that the breaks induced by H2O2 occur in gene-rich regions with strong transcription. Furthermore, it could be observed that this process of DSB induction also takes place without H2O2 treatment in unbertubed, proliferating cells. Thus, it is assumed that this process is significantly involved in the induction of endogenous breaks. A mechanism was elaborated specifically occuring in S phase, requiring the interplay of replication, transcription, as well as BER. This mechanism can explain the mutagenic effect of ROS, which plays an important role in the development of various diseases and clarifies the significance of simple base modifications for the fate of a cell