Herausforderung Informationsgesellschaft : die Aus- und Weiterbildung von IT-Fachkräften vor einer konzeptionellen Neuorientierung (The challenge of the information society : Conceptual re-orientation in the basic training and continuing education of information technology specialists)

"The creation of an 'information society' is regarded as the central challenge to the future phase of development in Europe. Implementing it represents a profound change in the working life and occupational situation of many employees, thc necessity for reformulating existing occupational descriptions as well as career orientation guidelines is becoming apparent. This is especially true for information technology (IT) specialists; they must be accorded a key role in the creation of the information society. Ever since computers began to be used for commercial applications, IT specialists have been responsible primarily for setting up and operating isolated EDP systems, which to a large extent were restricted to automatic routine tasks. Up until now these tasks have provided the basis for the occupational profile of a technician in this occupational group. However, in the last few years the traditional 'EDP system' has increasingly expandet into integrated information systems crossing organizational lines and tasks within firms; through the networking of partial systems they now span an ever increasing range of tasks and increasingly more complex unstructured job areas. Hence, ever more firms are linking information technological innovations with organisational tasks and demands on job design. The resulting erosion of traditional skilted tasks requires that the qualifications of IT specialists be redefined; their occupational profile must undergo fundamental change. The forms of applying the computer in information technology the closeness to job design and the trend to new more cooperative forms of work should be included in the standards for professional competence and the occupational identity of this group, so that it can maintain its areas of responsibility in the social work process as well as expand them for purposes of future job security. This development poses a dilemma for the training system. Owing to the fact that the basic training and continuing education institutions in the IT area traditionally exhibit a reactive attitude towards the requirements of the market and interpret all changes from the conventional standpoint of the IT specialists as a technician, they are less and less in a position to confront the increasing dynamisation of the innovation processes and the erosion of the traditional skilled tasks in the occupational field of the IT specialist. This situation demands that the inadequate reactive attitude be replaced by a more active attitude towards the market. However, this calls for conceptual clarity and an adequate interpretation scheme for the changing trends. Two central requirements ,ust thus be fulfilled in reorienting the basic training and continuing education system of IT specialists during the transition to the information society: a) The institutions must reposition themselves in their relationship to the market: Instead of taking the traditionally reactive stance they should adopt a proactive stance towards changes in the market. It is of fundamental importance for them to intensify cooperative links to the scientific community as well as to practical information sciences within the framework of a functioning network. b) Basic training and continuing education institutions need a new type of interpretation scheme for analysing changes in qualifications as well as a corresponding model for qualifications: the paradigma of the IT specialist as a technician systematically annuls essential changes in qualifications. The authors suggest an alternative model of 'holistic job design competence', which focusses and reflects on changes in the traditional skilled tasks in the occupational field as influenced by essential development trends. This new model allows basic training and continuing education institutions to adequately reflect the changes in qualifications for the IT specialists in the transition to the information society and to apply the training concepts suitably for future needs." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Informationstechnik, Professionalisierung, informationstechnische Berufe, Ausbildung, Weiterbildung, informationstechnische Berufe, Informationsgesellschaft, Berufswandel

Die Entwicklung der Arbeit aus der Perspektive ihrer Informatisierung

'Im Mittelpunkt des Beitrags stehen die Erzeugung und Nutzung von Informationen und In-formationssystemen im Arbeitsprozess und die damit verbundenen Veränderungen der Arbeit. Die historische Entwicklung der Informatisierung der Arbeit wird - ausgehend von dem ersten Auftreten des Handelskapitals und der Buchführung im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert bis zur Durchsetzung eines global verfügbaren 'Informationsraums', welcher als neuartiger sozialer Handlungsraum die aktuelle Entwicklung bestimmt - kurz skizziert. Dieser 'Informationsraum' bildet das 'Rückgrat' moderner Unternehmenskonzepte. Er ist charakteristisch für die modernen, in globalisierten Märkten agierenden horizontalen oder Netzwerkunternehmen. In solchen netzwerkförmigen Organisationsstrukturen erbrachte Teilarbeiten werden zu in sich konsistenten und zugleich veränderungsoffenen Leistungserstellungsprozessen zusammengefügt. Statt in starr vorprogrammierten Funktionsketten findet sich das Subjekt nun in offenen Verweisstrukturen, die durch reflexiven Umgang mit den Informationsobjekten charakterisiert sind. Hier ist das Funktionieren des Informationssystems von kommunikativ vermittelten Ausdeutungs- und Gestaltungsleistungen des Subjekts abhängig. Dieses ist in Zukunft nicht mehr ausschließlich an den Rand und in die Nischen geschlossener Informationssysteme gedrängt, sondern es muß sich in seinem Denken und Handeln in die Informationssysteme hineinbegeben, um den Anforderungen flexibler Produktionsprozesse gerecht zu werden. Damit entsteht eine neuartige Dichotomie von Chancen und Risiken.'(Autorenreferat

Die Entwicklung der Arbeit aus der Perspektive ihrer Informatisierung

Das theoretische Interesse der Autoren richtet sich auf Informationssysteme und den Prozess der Informatisierung, d.h. auf den Prozess der Erzeugung und Nutzung von Informationen. Die Konzentration auf soziale Formierungsprozesse, die sich unter dem Begriff der "Informatisierung" zusammenfassen lassen, eröffnet neue wissenschaftliche Interpretationszugänge in zweierlei Hinsicht: Einerseits lassen sich aktuelle gesellschaftliche Phänomene wie das Internet, die zunehmende Ökonomisierung der Lebenswelt, die Globalisierung der Produktionsstrukturen sowie zahlreiche Aspekte des kulturellen Wandels in ein umfassendes gesellschaftstheoretisches Konzept einordnen; andererseits bietet dieser Zugang die Möglichkeit, das Begriffsinstrumentarium kritischer Gesellschaftstheorie in Auseinandersetzung mit den aktuellen Entwicklungen zu reformulieren. Gegenstand des Beitrags ist die Informatisierung im Zuge der Herausbildung kapitalistischer Produktionsprozesse, in der Informationssysteme als strukturelle Abbilder und Modelle von Produktionsprozessen erzeugt und genutzt werden. Vermittelt über deren Analyse können auch die Kontinuitätsmomente der "Informationsgesellschaft" im Vergleich zu früheren Phasen der Herausbildung der kapitalistischen Produktionsweise und der Industrialisierung betrachtet werden. (ICI2

Insights into the structural nature of the transition state in the Kir channel gating pathway

YesIn a previous study we identified an extensive gating network within the inwardly rectifying Kir1.1 (ROMK) channel by combining systematic scanning mutagenesis and functional analysis with structural models of the channel in the closed, pre-open and open states. This extensive network appeared to stabilize the open and pre-open states, but the network fragmented upon channel closure. In this study we have analyzed the gating kinetics of different mutations within key parts of this gating network. These results suggest that the structure of the transition state (TS), which connects the pre-open and closed states of the channel, more closely resembles the structure of the pre-open state. Furthermore, the G-loop, which occurs at the center of this extensive gating network, appears to become unstructured in the TS because mutations within this region have a 'catalytic' effect upon the channel gating kinetics.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Wellcome Trust (083547/ Z/07/Z and 092970/Z/10/Z) and the British Heart Foundation (PG/09/016/ 26992)

Selectivity filter instability dominates the low intrinsic activity of the TWIK-1 K2P K+ channel

Two-pore domain K+ (K2P) channels have many important physiological functions. However, the functional properties of the TWIK-1 (K2P1.1/KCNK1) K2P channel remain poorly characterized because heterologous expression of this ion channel yields only very low levels of functional activity. Several underlying reasons have been proposed, including TWIK-1 retention in intracellular organelles, inhibition by posttranslational sumoylation, a hydrophobic barrier within the pore, and a low open probability of the selectivity filter (SF) gate. By evaluating these potential mechanisms, we found that the latter dominates the low intrinsic functional activity of TWIK-1. Investigating this further, we observed that the low activity of the SF gate appears to arise from the inefficiency of K+ in stabilizing an active (i.e. conductive) SF conformation. In contrast, other permeant ion species, such as Rb+, NH4+, and Cs+, strongly promoted a pH-dependent activated conformation. Furthermore, many K2P channels are activated by membrane depolarization via an SF-mediated gating mechanism, but we found here that only very strong nonphysiological depolarization produces voltage-dependent activation of heterologously expressed TWIK-1. Remarkably, we also observed that TWIK-1 Rb+ currents are potently inhibited by intracellular K+ (IC50 = 2.8 mM). We conclude that TWIK-1 displays unique SF gating properties among the family of K2P channels. In particular, the apparent instability of the conductive conformation of the TWIK-1 SF in the presence of K+ appears to dominate the low levels of intrinsic functional activity observed when the channel is expressed at the cell surface

An electrostatic interaction between TEA and an introduced pore aromatic drives spring-in-the-door inactivation in Shaker potassium channels

Slow inactivation of Kv1 channels involves conformational changes near the selectivity filter. We examine such changes in Shaker channels lacking fast inactivation by considering the consequences of mutating two residues, T449 just external to the selectivity filter and V438 in the pore helix near the bottom of the selectivity filter. Single mutant T449F channels with the native V438 inactivate very slowly, and the canonical foot-in-the-door effect of extracellular tetraethylammonium (TEA) is not only absent, but the time course of slow inactivation is accelerated by TEA. The V438A mutation dramatically speeds inactivation in T449F channels, and TEA slows inactivation exactly as predicted by the foot-in-the-door model. We propose that TEA has this effect on V438A/T449F channels because the V438A mutation produces allosteric consequences within the selectivity filter and may reorient the aromatic ring at position 449. We investigated the possibility that the blocker promotes the collapse of the outer vestibule (spring-in-the-door) in single mutant T449F channels by an electrostatic attraction between a cationic TEA and the quadrupole moments of the four aromatic rings. To test this idea, we used in vivo nonsense suppression to serially fluorinate the introduced aromatic ring at the 449 position, a manipulation that withdraws electrons from the aromatic face with little effect on the shape, net charge, or hydrophobicity of the aromatic ring. Progressive fluorination causes monotonically enhanced rates of inactivation. In further agreement with our working hypothesis, increasing fluorination of the aromatic gradually transforms the TEA effect from spring-in-the-door to foot-in-the-door. We further substantiate our electrostatic hypothesis by quantum mechanical calculations

Molecular Basis of Inward Rectification: Polyamine Interaction Sites Located by Combined Channel and Ligand Mutagenesis

Polyamines cause inward rectification of (Kir) K+ channels, but the mechanism is controversial. We employed scanning mutagenesis of Kir6.2, and a structural series of blocking diamines, to combinatorially examine the role of both channel and blocker charges. We find that introduced glutamates at any pore-facing residue in the inner cavity, up to and including the entrance to the selectivity filter, can confer strong rectification. As these negative charges are moved higher (toward the selectivity filter), or lower (toward the cytoplasm), they preferentially enhance the potency of block by shorter, or longer, diamines, respectively. MTSEA+ modification of engineered cysteines in the inner cavity reduces rectification, but modification below the inner cavity slows spermine entry and exit, without changing steady-state rectification. The data provide a coherent explanation of classical strong rectification as the result of polyamine block in the inner cavity and selectivity filter