In Führung gehen mit b:e-learning®. Das andere Trainingskonzept für Führungskräfte im Bildungs-, Sozial- und Gesundheitssektor

In vielen Unternehmen arbeiten heute Menschen in Führungspositionen, die über kaum eine bzw. keinerlei Ausbildung im Bereich Management und Personalführung verfügen. Eine große Anzahl von Arbeitnehmern in Deutschland klagt massiv über Probleme mit Vorgesetzten. Die Persönlichkeit und Kompetenz eines Chefs sowie sein Umgang mit den Mitarbeitern gelten heute als entscheidende Faktoren für den langfristigen Erfolg eines Unternehmens, denn die "richtige" Auswahl und der "richtige" Einsatz von Mitarbeitern stellt in einem rohstoffarmen Land wie Deutschland eine der wichtigsten Ressourcen jedes Unternehmens dar. Wenig qualifizierte Führungskräfte und unzufriedene Arbeitnehmer hingegen bedeuten einen Wettbewerbsnachteil. Die Realität in vielen (nicht nur den deutschen) Unternehmen mit nicht oder schlecht ausgebildeten Chefs lässt die Forderung nach nachhaltig wirksamen Aus-, Fort- und Weiterbildungsangeboten im Managementbereich laut werden. Angebotene Führungskräftetrainings stehen jedoch im Verdacht, teuer und wenig effektiv zu sein. Die Bedeutung der Führungskräfteausbildung für den Wirtschaftsstandort Deutschland und die Kritik an bestehenden Führungskräftetrainings motivierten mich, die Wirksamkeit und Nachhaltigkeit des Führungstrainingskonzepts der Europäischen Gesellschaft für Coaching, Klienting und Supervision (EG) zu untersuchen. Die Teilnehmer an EG-Führungskräftetrainings werden - so die Ergebnisse meiner Untersuchung - in ihrer Kommunikationskompetenz und Selbstreflexionsfähigkeit gefördert und sicherer im Umgang mit Unsicherheit (Management des Wandels = Change Management). Sie wenden die vermittelten Kompetenzen und Werte in ihrem Berufsalltag an und bewerten ihre Trainer als wirksame sowie fördernde "LernBEGLEITER". Das Konzept, mit dem die EG-Trainer die Teilnehmer ihrer Führungskräftetrainings nachhaltig fordern und fördern, nennen sie: blended and experience learning = b:e-learning® Mit Einzel-, Partner- und Gruppenarbeiten, Kurzvorträgen und Präsentationen, Videotraining, Erforschungsaufgaben, Literaturrecherche, Portfolio, setzen die EG-Trainer in ihren Trainingsseminaren unterschiedlichste Lernkonzepte ein. Dieses Lernen auf der Basis verschiedener Ansätze und Methoden nennen die Trainer: "blended learning". Unter "experience learning" verstehen sie das Lernen auf Grund eigener Erfahrungen, das Lernen mit Unterstützung und Wahrnehmung der eigenen Emotionen. Im b:e-learning® wechseln sich Präsenz- und Selbstlernphasen ergänzend ab

Beer Mats make bad Frisbees

In this article we show why flying and rotating beer mats, CDs, or other flat disks will eventually flip in the air and end up flying with backspin, thus, making them unusable as frisbees. The crucial effect responsible for the flipping is found to be the lift attacking not in the center of mass but slightly offset to the forward edge. This induces a torque leading to a precession towards backspin orientation. An effective theory is developed providing an approximate solution for the disk's trajectory with a minimal set of parameters. Our theoretical results are confronted with experimental results obtained using a beer mat shooting apparatus and a high speed camera. Very good agreement is found.Comment: 4 videos in ancillary file

HIV transmission by human bite: a case report and review of the literature—implications for post-exposure prophylaxis

We report a case of a probable HIV-1 transmission by human bite. The analyzed data from ten previously reported suspected or allegedly confirmed HIV transmissions revealed a deep bleeding bite wound as the primary risk factor. A high HIV plasma viral load and bleeding oral lesions are present most of the time during HIV transmission by bite. HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) should be recommended in case of a bleeding wound resulting from a bite of an HIV-infected person. PEP was missed in this presented case

Massive stars in metal-poor dwarf galaxies are often extreme rotators

We probe how common extremely rapid rotation is among massive stars in the early universe by measuring the OBe star fraction in nearby metal-poor dwarf galaxies. We apply a new method that uses broad-band photometry to measure the galaxy-wide OBe star fractions in the Magellanic Clouds and three more distant, more metal-poor dwarf galaxies. We find OBe star fractions of ~20% in the Large Magellanic Cloud (0.5 Z_Solar), and ~30% in the Small Magellanic Cloud (0.2 Z_Solar) as well as in the so-far unexplored metallicity range from 0.1 Z_solar to 0.2 Z_solar occupied by the other three dwarf galaxies. Our results imply that extremely rapid rotation is common among massive stars in metal-poor environments such as the early universe.Comment: Conference proceedings for a talk in IAU Symposium 361: Massive Stars Near and Far, Ballyconnell, Ireland, 9-13 May 202

Wound Healing in Mice with High-Fat Diet- or ob Gene-Induced Diabetes-Obesity Syndromes: A Comparative Study

In the past, the genetically diabetic-obese diabetes/diabetes (db/db) and obese/obese (ob/ob) mouse strains were used to investigate mechanisms of diabetes-impaired wound healing. Here we determined patterns of skin repair in genetically normal C57Bl/6J mice that were fed using a high fat diet (HFD) to induce a diabetes-obesity syndrome. Wound closure was markedly delayed in HFD-fed mice compared to mice which had received a standard chow diet (CD). Impaired wound tissue of HFD mice showed a marked prolongation of wound inflammation. Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was delayed and associated with the disturbed formation of wound margin epithelia and an impaired angiogenesis in the reduced granulation tissue. Normal wound contraction was retarded and disordered. Wound disorders in obese C57Bl/6J mice were paralleled by a prominent degradation of the inhibitor of NFκB (IκB-α) in the absence of an Akt activation. By contrast to impaired wound conditions in ob/ob mice, late wounds of HFD mice did not develop a chronic inflammatory state and were epithelialized after 11 days of repair. Thus, only genetically obese and diabetic ob/ob mice finally developed chronic wounds and therefore represent a better suited experimental model to investigate diabetes-induced wound healing disorders

"What's (the) Matter?", A Show on Elementary Particle Physics with 28 Demonstration Experiments

We present the screenplay of a physics show on particle physics, by the Physikshow of Bonn University. The show is addressed at non-physicists aged 14+ and communicates basic concepts of elementary particle physics including the discovery of the Higgs boson in an entertaining fashion. It is also demonstrates a successful outreach activity heavily relying on the university physics students. This paper is addressed at anybody interested in particle physics and/or show physics. This paper is also addressed at fellow physicists working in outreach, maybe the experiments and our choice of simple explanations will be helpful. Furthermore, we are very interested in related activities elsewhere, in particular also demonstration experiments relevant to particle physics, as often little of this work is published. Our show involves 28 live demonstration experiments. These are presented in an extensive appendix, including photos and technical details. The show is set up as a quest, where 2 students from Bonn with the aid of a caretaker travel back in time to understand the fundamental nature of matter. They visit Rutherford and Geiger in Manchester around 1911, who recount their famous experiment on the nucleus and show how particle detectors work. They travel forward in time to meet Lawrence at Berkeley around 1950, teaching them about the how and why of accelerators. Next, they visit Wu at DESY, Hamburg, around 1980, who explains the strong force. They end up in the LHC tunnel at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland in 2012. Two experimentalists tell them about colliders and our heroes watch live as the Higgs boson is produced and decays. The show was presented in English at Oxford University and University College London, as well as Padua University and ICTP Trieste. It was 1st performed in German at the Deutsche Museum, Bonn (5/'14). The show has eleven speaking parts and involves in total 20 people.Comment: 113 pages, 88 figures. An up to date version of the paper with high resolution pictures can be found at http://www.th.physik.uni-bonn.de/People/dreiner/Downloads/. In v2 the acknowledgements and a citation are correcte

Cystathionine γ Lyase Sulfhydrates the RNA Binding Protein Human Antigen R to Preserve Endothelial Cell Function and Delay Atherogenesis

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), generated by cystathionine γ lyase (CSE), is an important endogenous regulator of vascular function. The aim of the present study was to investigate the control and consequences of CSE activity in endothelial cells under physiological and proatherogenic conditions

Myeloperoxidase targets oxidative host attacks to Salmonella and prevents collateral tissue damage

Host control of infections crucially depends on the capability to kill pathogens with reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, these toxic molecules can also readily damage host components and cause severe immunopathology. Here, we show that neutrophils use their most abundant granule protein, myeloperoxidase, to target ROS specifically to pathogens while minimizing collateral tissue damage. A computational model predicted that myeloperoxidase efficiently scavenges diffusible H2O2 at the surface of phagosomal Salmonella and converts it into highly reactive HOCl (bleach), which rapidly damages biomolecules within a radius of less than 0.1 μm. Myeloperoxidase-deficient neutrophils were predicted to accumulate large quantities of H2O2 that still effectively kill Salmonella, but most H2O2 would leak from the phagosome. Salmonella stimulation of neutrophils from normal and myeloperoxidase-deficient human donors experimentally confirmed an inverse relationship between myeloperoxidase activity and extracellular H2O2 release. Myeloperoxidase-deficient mice infected with Salmonella had elevated hydrogen peroxide tissue levels and exacerbated oxidative damage of host lipids and DNA, despite almost normal Salmonella control. These data show that myeloperoxidase has a major function in mitigating collateral tissue damage during antimicrobial oxidative bursts, by converting diffusible long-lived H2O2 into highly reactive, microbicidal and locally confined HOCl at pathogen surfaces

Caloric restriction and intermittent fasting alter hepatic lipid droplet proteome and diacylglycerol species and prevent diabetes in NZO mice

AbstractCaloric restriction and intermittent fasting are known to improve glucose homeostasis and insulin resistance in several species including humans. The aim of this study was to unravel potential mechanisms by which these interventions improve insulin sensitivity and protect from type 2 diabetes. Diabetes-susceptible New Zealand Obese mice were either 10% calorie restricted (CR) or fasted every other day (IF), and compared to ad libitum (AL) fed control mice. AL mice showed a diabetes prevalence of 43%, whereas mice under CR and IF were completely protected against hyperglycemia. Proteomic analysis of hepatic lipid droplets revealed significantly higher levels of PSMD9 (co-activator Bridge-1), MIF (macrophage migration inhibitor factor), TCEB2 (transcription elongation factor B (SIII), polypeptide 2), ACY1 (aminoacylase 1) and FABP5 (fatty acid binding protein 5), and a marked reduction of GSTA3 (glutathione S-transferase alpha 3) in samples of CR and IF mice. In addition, accumulation of diacylglycerols (DAGs) was significantly reduced in livers of IF mice (P=0.045) while CR mice showed a similar tendency (P=0.062). In particular, 9 DAG species were significantly reduced in response to IF, of which DAG-40:4 and DAG-40:7 also showed significant effects after CR. This was associated with a decreased PKCε activation and might explain the improved insulin sensitivity. In conclusion, our data indicate that protection against diabetes upon caloric restriction and intermittent fasting associates with a modulation of lipid droplet protein composition and reduction of intracellular DAG species