Conceptualising Gamification Risks to Teamwork within Enterprise

Gamification in businesses refers to the use of technology-assisted solutions to boost or change staff attitude, perception and behaviour, in relation to certain business goals and tasks, individually or collectively. Previous research indicated that gamification techniques can introduce risks to the business environment, and not only fail to make a positive change, but also raise concerns in relation to ethics, quality of work, and well-being at a workplace. Although the problem is already recognised in principle, there is still a need to clarify and concretise those risks, their factors and their relation to the gamification dynamics and mechanics. To address this, we conducted multi-staged empirical research, including two months’ observation and interview study, in two large-scale businesses using gamification in their workplace. In this paper, we focus on gamification risks related to teamwork within the enterprise. We outline various risk mitigation strategies and map them to primary types of gamification risks. By accomplishing such conceptualisation, we pave the way towards methods to model, detect and predict gamification risks on teamwork and recommend and design practices and strategies to tackle them

Immunohistochemical localization of fibronectin as a tool for the age determination of human skin wounds

We analyzed the distribution of fibronectin in routinely embedded tissue specimens from 53 skin wounds and 6 postmortem wounds. In postmortem wounds a faint but focal positive staining was exclusively found at the margin of the specimens which dit not extend into the adjacent stroma. Vital wounds were classified into 3 groups. The first comprising lesions with wound ages ranging from a few seconds to 30 min, the second comprising those with wound ages upt to 3 weeks, and the third group with lesions more than 3 weeks old. Ten out of 17 lesions with a wound age up to 30 min showed a clear positive reaction within the wound area. Three specimens in this group were completely negative, while in 4 additional cases the result was not significantly different from postmortem lesions. These 7 cases were characterized by acute death with extremely short survival times (only seconds). In wounds up to 3 weeks old fibronectin formed a distinct network containing an increasing number of inflammatory cells corresponding to the wound age. In 2 cases with a survival time of 17 days and in all wounds older than 3 weeks fibronectin was restricted to the surface of fibroblasts and to parallel arranged fibers in the granulation tissue without any network structures. We present evidence that fibronectin is a useful marker for vital wounds with a survival time of more than a few minutes. Fibronectin appears before neutrophilic granulocytes migrate into the wound area. Since a faint positive fibronectin staining is seen in postmortem lesions and bleedings, we propose that only those wounds which show strong positive fibronectin staining also extending into the adjacent stroma should be regarded as vital

Results from PAMELA, ATIC and FERMI : Pulsars or Dark Matter ?

It is well known that the dark matter dominates the dynamics of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Its constituents remain a mystery despite an assiduous search for them over the past three decades. Recent results from the satellite-based PAMELA experiment detect an excess in the positron fraction at energies between 10-100 GeV in the secondary cosmic ray spectrum. Other experiments namely ATIC, HESS and FERMI show an excess in the total electron (\ps + \el) spectrum for energies greater 100 GeV. These excesses in the positron fraction as well as the electron spectrum could arise in local astrophysical processes like pulsars, or can be attributed to the annihilation of the dark matter particles. The second possibility gives clues to the possible candidates for the dark matter in galaxies and other astrophysical systems. In this article, we give a report of these exciting developments.Comment: 27 Pages, extensively revised and significantly extended, to appear in Pramana as topical revie

A Profile Likelihood Analysis of the Constrained MSSM with Genetic Algorithms

The Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM) is one of the simplest and most widely-studied supersymmetric extensions to the standard model of particle physics. Nevertheless, current data do not sufficiently constrain the model parameters in a way completely independent of priors, statistical measures and scanning techniques. We present a new technique for scanning supersymmetric parameter spaces, optimised for frequentist profile likelihood analyses and based on Genetic Algorithms. We apply this technique to the CMSSM, taking into account existing collider and cosmological data in our global fit. We compare our method to the MultiNest algorithm, an efficient Bayesian technique, paying particular attention to the best-fit points and implications for particle masses at the LHC and dark matter searches. Our global best-fit point lies in the focus point region. We find many high-likelihood points in both the stau co-annihilation and focus point regions, including a previously neglected section of the co-annihilation region at large m_0. We show that there are many high-likelihood points in the CMSSM parameter space commonly missed by existing scanning techniques, especially at high masses. This has a significant influence on the derived confidence regions for parameters and observables, and can dramatically change the entire statistical inference of such scans.Comment: 47 pages, 8 figures; Fig. 8, Table 7 and more discussions added to Sec. 3.4.2 in response to referee's comments; accepted for publication in JHE

Tear fluid biomarkers in ocular and systemic disease: potential use for predictive, preventive and personalised medicine

In the field of predictive, preventive and personalised medicine, researchers are keen to identify novel and reliable ways to predict and diagnose disease, as well as to monitor patient response to therapeutic agents. In the last decade alone, the sensitivity of profiling technologies has undergone huge improvements in detection sensitivity, thus allowing quantification of minute samples, for example body fluids that were previously difficult to assay. As a consequence, there has been a huge increase in tear fluid investigation, predominantly in the field of ocular surface disease. As tears are a more accessible and less complex body fluid (than serum or plasma) and sampling is much less invasive, research is starting to focus on how disease processes affect the proteomic, lipidomic and metabolomic composition of the tear film. By determining compositional changes to tear profiles, crucial pathways in disease progression may be identified, allowing for more predictive and personalised therapy of the individual. This article will provide an overview of the various putative tear fluid biomarkers that have been identified to date, ranging from ocular surface disease and retinopathies to cancer and multiple sclerosis. Putative tear fluid biomarkers of ocular disorders, as well as the more recent field of systemic disease biomarkers, will be shown

Neutralino dark matter in mSUGRA/CMSSM with a 125 GeV light Higgs scalar

The minimal supergravity (mSUGRA or CMSSM) model is an oft-used framework for exhibiting the properties of neutralino (WIMP) cold dark matter (CDM). However, the recent evidence from Atlas and CMS on a light Higgs scalar with mass m_h\simeq 125 GeV highly constrains the superparticle mass spectrum, which in turn constrains the neutralino annihilation mechanisms in the early universe. We find that stau and stop co-annihilation mechanisms -- already highly stressed by the latest Atlas/CMS results on SUSY searches -- are nearly eliminated if indeed the light Higgs scalar has mass m_h\simeq 125 GeV. Furthermore, neutralino annihilation via the A-resonance is essentially ruled out in mSUGRA so that it is exceedingly difficult to generate thermally-produced neutralino-only dark matter at the measured abundance. The remaining possibility lies in the focus-point region which now moves out to m_0\sim 10-20 TeV range due to the required large trilinear soft SUSY breaking term A_0. The remaining HB/FP region is more fine-tuned than before owing to the typically large top squark masses. We present updated direct and indirect detection rates for neutralino dark matter, and show that ton scale noble liquid detectors will either discover mixed higgsino CDM or essentially rule out thermally-produced neutralino-only CDM in the mSUGRA model.Comment: 17 pages including 9 .eps figure

Pleosporales

One hundred and five generic types of Pleosporales are described and illustrated. A brief introduction and detailed history with short notes on morphology, molecular phylogeny as well as a general conclusion of each genus are provided. For those genera where the type or a representative specimen is unavailable, a brief note is given. Altogether 174 genera of Pleosporales are treated. Phaeotrichaceae as well as Kriegeriella, Zeuctomorpha and Muroia are excluded from Pleosporales. Based on the multigene phylogenetic analysis, the suborder Massarineae is emended to accommodate five families, viz. Lentitheciaceae, Massarinaceae, Montagnulaceae, Morosphaeriaceae and Trematosphaeriaceae

First observations of separated atmospheric nu_mu and bar{nu-mu} events in the MINOS detector

The complete 5.4 kton MINOS far detector has been taking data since the beginning of August 2003 at a depth of 2070 meters water-equivalent in the Soudan mine, Minnesota. This paper presents the first MINOS observations of nuµ and [overline nu ]µ charged-current atmospheric neutrino interactions based on an exposure of 418 days. The ratio of upward- to downward-going events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation in the absence of neutrino oscillations, giving Rup/downdata/Rup/downMC=0.62-0.14+0.19(stat.)±0.02(sys.). An extended maximum likelihood analysis of the observed L/E distributions excludes the null hypothesis of no neutrino oscillations at the 98% confidence level. Using the curvature of the observed muons in the 1.3 T MINOS magnetic field nuµ and [overline nu ]µ interactions are separated. The ratio of [overline nu ]µ to nuµ events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation assuming neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate in the same manner, giving R[overline nu ][sub mu]/nu[sub mu]data/R[overline nu ][sub mu]/nu[sub mu]MC=0.96-0.27+0.38(stat.)±0.15(sys.), where the errors are the statistical and systematic uncertainties. Although the statistics are limited, this is the first direct observation of atmospheric neutrino interactions separately for nuµ and [overline nu ]µ

Association of IFNGR2 gene polymorphisms with pulmonary tuberculosis among the Vietnamese

Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) is a key molecule of T helper 1 (Th1)-immune response against tuberculosis (TB), and rare genetic defects of IFN-γ receptors cause disseminated mycobacterial infection. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether genetic polymorphisms found in the Th1-immune response genes play a role in TB. In our study, DNA samples were collected from two series of cases including 832 patients with new smear-positive TB and 506 unrelated individuals with no history of TB in the general population of Hanoi, Vietnam. Alleles of eight microsatellite markers located around Th1-immune response-related genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms near the promising microsatellites were genotyped. A set of polymorphisms within the interferon gamma receptor 2 gene (IFNGR2) showed a significant association with protection against TB (P = 0.00054). Resistant alleles tend to be less frequently found in younger age at diagnosis (P = 0.011). Luciferase assays revealed high transcriptional activity of the promoter segment in linkage disequilibrium with resistant alleles. We conclude that the polymorphisms of IFNGR2 may confer resistance to the TB development of newly infected individuals. Contribution of the genetic factors to TB appeared to be different depending on age at diagnosis

APOBEC signature mutation generates an oncogenic enhancer that drives LMO1 expression in T-ALL

Oncogenic driver mutations are those that provide a proliferative or survival advantage to neoplastic cells, resulting in clonal selection. Although most cancer-causing mutations have been detected in the protein-coding regions of the cancer genome; driver mutations have recently also been discovered within noncoding genomic sequences. Thus, a current challenge is to gain precise understanding of how these unique genomic elements function in cancer pathogenesis, while clarifying mechanisms of gene regulation and identifying new targets for therapeutic intervention. Here we report a C-to-T single nucleotide transition that occurs as a somatic mutation in noncoding sequences 4 kb upstream of the transcriptional start site of the LMO1 oncogene in primary samples from patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. This single nucleotide alteration conforms to an APOBEC-like cytidine deaminase mutational signature, and generates a new binding site for the MYB transcription factor, leading to the formation of an aberrant transcriptional enhancer complex that drives high levels of expression of the LMO1 oncogene. Since APOBEC-signature mutations are common in a broad spectrum of human cancers, we suggest that noncoding nucleotide transitions such as the one described here may activate potent oncogenic enhancers not only in T-lymphoid cells but in other cell lineages as well