Transformative leadership competencies for organizational digital transformation

Despite the flourishing literature on digital transformation (DT), there is still less research on the human side of DT—particularly on leaders’ competencies required to successfully trigger and drive organizational transformation in the context of the digital age. The human-centric approach and the leadership role are essential to understanding how organizations navigate DT by integrating digital-based knowledge. To understand the competencies necessary for a leader to drive organizational DT, this study combines and analyzes the results from a literature review on leadership styles and the findings from the semistructured interviews with 64 leaders of SMEs across a wide range of industries engaged in a DT journey. The analysis proposes the notion of transformative leadership to determine the capacity leaders must have to navigate organizational DT and identifies and describes the six competencies that distinguish a transformative leader

Kafka at the West Bank checkpoint: de-normalizing the Palestinian encounter before the law

The checkpoint has emerged as a quintessential trope within the contemporary Palestinian imagination, to such an extent that “checkpoint narratives” have arguably come to assume a dangerously “normalized” status as everyday, even iconic features of Palestinian existence. Turning to the films Route 181 by Michel Khleifi and Eyal Sivan, and like twenty impossibles by Annemarie Jacir, this article explores how alternative representations (and theorizations) of checkpoint encounter might serve to “de-normalize” the checkpoint in a way that invites us to interrogate the very nature of the checkpoint apparatus in itself, including the nature of the “law” that it represents. Mobilizing the critical paradigms of the “state of exception” and “homo sacer” drawn from the theoretical work of Giorgio Agamben and the literary work of Franz Kafka, the article argues that apprehension of the enduring oddity and abnormality of the checkpoint serves as a vital mode of critical resistance to the policies of “spatio-cide”, “securitization” and colonialism exercised at the hands of the State of Israel through the checkpoint mechanism

The initial education of high school teachers : a critical review of major issues and trends

This paper draws on major research findings in international literature in order to provide a critical review of a number of key issues and trends in the initial education of high school teachers. Firstly, this paper contextualizes the prevalent discourse surrounding the field of initial teacher education (ITE) and explores the effect that this discourse has on the conceptualization of teachers’ work. Secondly, this paper focuses on the debates regarding the most propitious site for the teacher education enterprise, the programme structure for ITE, the field placement or practicum, the relationship between subject study and pedagogy, and the overall effectiveness of teacher education. The paper concludes by considering the new challenges that the field of initial teacher education must confront and the implications of such challenges for the ITE curriculum.peer-reviewe

Temporal-to-Nasal Macular Ganglion Cell and Inner Plexiform Layer Ratios in a Large Adult Twin Cohort: Correlations With Age and Heritability

PURPOSE: Temporal-to-nasal macular ganglion cell layer thickness ratios are reduced in albinism. We explored similar ratios in a large twin cohort to investigate ranges in healthy adults, correlations with age, and heritability. METHODS: More than 1000 twin pairs from TwinsUK underwent macular optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans. Automated segmentation yielded thicknesses for the combined ganglion cell and inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) in Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study subfields. Participants with diseases likely to affect these layers or segmentation accuracy were excluded. Inner and outer ratios were defined as the ratio of temporal-to-nasal GCIPL thickness for inner and outer subfields respectively. Corresponding ratios were obtained from a smaller cohort undergoing OCTs with a different device (three-dimensional (3D)-OCT, Topcon, Japan). RESULTS: Scans from 2300 twins (1150 pairs) were included (mean [SD] age, 53.9 (16.5) years). Mean (SD) inner and outer ratios were 0.89 (0.09) and 0.84 (0.11), correlating negatively with age (coefficients, −0.17 and −0.21, respectively). In males (150 pairs) ratios were higher and did not correlate significantly with age. Intrapair correlation coefficients were higher in monozygotic than dizygotic pairs; age-adjusted heritability estimates were 0.20 and 0.23 for inner and outer ratios, respectively. For the second cohort (n = 166), mean (SD) ratios were 0.93 (0.08) and 0.91 (0.09), significantly greater than for the larger cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Our study gives reference values for temporal-to-nasal macular GCIPL subfield ratios. Weak negative correlations with age emerged. Genetic factors may contribute to ∼20% to 23% of the variance in healthy individuals. The ratios differ according to the OCT platform used

Definitive zygosity scores in the peas in the pod questionnaire is a sensitive and accurate assessment of the zygosity of adult twins

Twin researchers face the challenge of accurately determining the zygosity of twins for research. As part of the annual questionnaire between 1999 and 2006, 8,307 twins from the TwinsUK registry were asked to complete five questions (independently from their co-twin) to ascertain their self-perceived zygosity during childhood on up to five separate occasions. This questionnaire is known as the ‘peas in the pod’ questionnaire (PPQ), but there is little evidence of its validation. Answers were scored and classified as monozygotic (MZ), dizygotic (DZ), or unknown zygosity (UZ) and were compared with 4,484 twins with genotyping data who had not been selected for zygosity. Of these, 3,859 individuals (46.5% of those who had a zygosity from PPQ) had zygosity classified by both the PPQ and genotyping. Of the 708 individual twins whose answers meant that they were consistently classed as MZ in the PPQ, 683 (96.5%) were MZ within the genotype data. Of the 945 individual twins consistently classed as DZ within questionnaire, 936 (99.0%) were DZ in the genotype data. Where both twins scored MZ consistently across multiple questionnaires, 99.6% were MZ on genotyping, 99.7% were DZ on genotyping if both twins consistently scored DZ. However, for the initial questionnaire, 88.6% of those scoring as MZ were genotypically MZ and 98.7% DZ. For twin pairs where both scored UZ, 94.7% were DZ. Using the PPQ on a single occasion provided a definitive classification of whether the twin was MZ or DZ with an overall accuracy of 86.9%, increasing to 97.9% when there was a consistent classification of zygosity across multiple questionnaires. This study has shown that the PPQ questionnaire is an excellent proxy indicator of zygosity in the absence of genotyping information

Glaucoma Patients Have a Lower Abundance of Butyrate-Producing Taxa in the Gut

PURPOSE: Glaucoma is an eye disease that is the most common cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. It has been suggested that gut microbiota can produce reactive oxygen species and pro-inflammatory cytokines that may travel from the gastric mucosa to distal sites, for example, the optic nerve head or trabecular meshwork. There is evidence for a gut-eye axis, as microbial dysbiosis has been associated with retinal diseases. We investigated the microbial composition in patients with glaucoma and healthy controls. Moreover, we analyzed the association of the gut microbiome with intraocular pressure (IOP; risk factor of glaucoma) and vertical cup-to-disc ratio (VCDR; quantifying glaucoma severity).METHODS: The discovery analyses included participants of the Rotterdam Study and the Erasmus Glaucoma Cohort. A total of 225 patients with glaucoma and 1247 age- and sex-matched participants without glaucoma were included in our analyses. Stool samples were used to generate 16S rRNA gene profiles. We assessed associations with 233 genera and species. We used data from the TwinsUK and the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) to replicate our findings.RESULTS: Several butyrate-producing taxa (e.g. Butyrivibrio, Caproiciproducens, Clostridium sensu stricto 1, Coprococcus 1, Ruminococcaceae UCG 007, and Shuttleworthia) were less abundant in people with glaucoma compared to healthy controls. The same taxa were also associated with lower IOP and smaller VCDR. The replication analyses confirmed the findings from the discovery analyses.CONCLUSIONS: Large human studies exploring the link between the gut microbiome and glaucoma are lacking. Our results suggest that microbial dysbiosis plays a role in the pathophysiology of glaucoma.</p

Suboptimal maternal nutrition, during early fetal liver development, promotes lipid accumulation in the liver of obese offspring

Maternal nutrition during the period of early organ development can modulate the offspring's ability to metabolise excess fat as young adults when exposed to an obesogenic environment. This study examined the hypothesis that exposing offspring to nutrient restriction coincident with early hepatogenesis would result in endocrine and metabolic adaptations that subsequently lead to increased ectopic lipid accumulation within the liver. Pregnant sheep were fed either 50 or 100% of total metabolisable energy requirements from 30 to 80 days gestation and 100% thereafter. At weaning, offspring were made obese, and at ∼1 year of age livers were sampled. Lipid infiltration and molecular indices of gluconeogenesis, lipid metabolism and mitochondrial function were measured. Although hepatic triglyceride accumulation was not affected by obesity per se, it was nearly doubled in obese offspring born to nutrient-restricted mothers. This adaptation was accompanied by elevated gene expression for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARG) and its co-activator PGC1α, which may be indicative of changes in the rate of hepatic fatty acid oxidation. In contrast, maternal diet had no influence on the stimulatory effect of obesity on gene expression for a range of proteins involved in glucose metabolism and energy balance including glucokinase, glucocorticoid receptors and uncoupling protein 2. Similarly, although gene expressions for the insulin and IGF1 receptors were suppressed by obesity they were not influenced by the prenatal nutritional environment. In conclusion, excess hepatic lipid accumulation with juvenile obesity is promoted by suboptimal nutrition coincident with early development of the fetal liver

Nitrosative and Oxidative Stresses Contribute to Post-Ischemic Liver Injury Following Severe Hemorrhagic Shock: The Role of Hypoxemic Resuscitation

Purpose: Hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation is frequently associated with liver ischemia-reperfusion injury. The aim of the study was to investigate whether hypoxemic resuscitation attenuates liver injury. Methods: Anesthetized, mechanically ventilated New Zealand white rabbits were exsanguinated to a mean arterial pressure of 30 mmHg for 60 minutes. Resuscitation under normoxemia (Normox-Res group, n = 16, PaO2 = 95–105 mmHg) or hypoxemia (Hypox-Res group, n = 15, PaO 2 = 35–40 mmHg) followed, modifying the FiO 2. Animals not subjected to shock constituted the sham group (n = 11, PaO 2 = 95–105 mmHg). Indices of the inflammatory, oxidative and nitrosative response were measured and histopathological and immunohistochemical studies of the liver were performed. Results: Normox-Res group animals exhibited increased serum alanine aminotransferase, tumor necrosis factor- alpha, interleukin (IL)-1b and IL-6 levels compared with Hypox-Res and sham groups. Reactive oxygen species generation, malondialdehyde formation and myeloperoxidase activity were all elevated in Normox-Res rabbits compared with Hypox-Res and sham groups. Similarly, endothelial NO synthase and inducible NO synthase mRNA expression was up-regulated and nitrotyrosine immunostaining increased in animals resuscitated normoxemically, indicating a more intense nitrosative stress. Hypox-Res animals demonstrated a less prominent histopathologic injury which was similar to sham animals. Conclusions: Hypoxemic resuscitation prevents liver reperfusion injury through attenuation of the inflammatory respons