The Group Creativity Exercise Getting MBAs to Work and Think Effectively in Groups

This experiential exercise is designed to engage participants in a process of group creativity that helps students lead or be a part of a creative team. The challenging and tangible nature of building a room­height tower provides a heightened experience that elicits many issues and strong emotions. The exercise provides a robust platform from which the instructor can choose which of many group creativity subtopics to emphasize. In addition to exercise instructions, guidance is given on how learning goals related to creativity techniques, group development, interpersonal dynamics, and leadership—can be addressed in a debriefing discussion. Both “pre­taught” and “retrospective” teaching approaches are discussed, although a retrospective approach in which the instructor makes connections with theory during debriefing discussions is recommended. The experience of learning by doing should yield more realistic and memorable understanding of group creativity than could be accomplished with readings and/or lecture alone

The Group Creativity Exercise Getting MBAs to Work and Think Effectively in Groups

This experiential exercise is designed to engage participants in a process of group creativity that helps students lead or be a part of a creative team. The challenging and tangible nature of building a room­height tower provides a heightened experience that elicits many issues and strong emotions. The exercise provides a robust platform from which the instructor can choose which of many group creativity subtopics to emphasize. In addition to exercise instructions, guidance is given on how learning goals related to creativity techniques, group development, interpersonal dynamics, and leadership—can be addressed in a debriefing discussion. Both “pre­taught” and “retrospective” teaching approaches are discussed, although a retrospective approach in which the instructor makes connections with theory during debriefing discussions is recommended. The experience of learning by doing should yield more realistic and memorable understanding of group creativity than could be accomplished with readings and/or lecture alone

Electron Affinity Calculations for Thioethers

Previous work indicated that polyphenyl thioethers possessed chemical properties, related to their electron affinities, which could allow them to function as vapor phase lubricants (VPL). Indeed, preliminary tribological tests revealed that the thioethers could function as vapor phase lubricants but not over a wide temperature and hertzian pressure range. Increasing the electron affinity of the thioethers may improve their VPL properties over this range. Adding a substituent group to the thioether will alter its electron affinity in many cases. Molecular orbital calculations were undertaken to determine the effect of five different substituent groups on the electron affinity of polyphenyl thioethers. It was found that the NO2, F, and I groups increased the thioethers electron affinity by the greatest amount. Future work will involve the addition of these groups to the thioethers followed by tribological testing to assess their VPL properties

Antiepileptic drugs’ tolerability and safety – a systematic review and meta-analysis of adverse effects in dogs

<p>Various anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) are used for the management of idiopathic epilepsy (IE) in dogs. Their safety profile is an important consideration for regulatory bodies, owners and prescribing clinicians. However, information on their adverse effects still remains limited with most of it derived from non-blinded non-randomized uncontrolled trials and case reports.</p><p><span>This poster won third place, which was presented at the Veterinary Evidence Today conference, Edinburgh November 1-3, 2016. </span></p><br /> <img src="https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/rcvskmod/icons/oa-icon.jpg" alt="Open Access" /

Expression of the neuroprotective slow Wallerian degeneration (WldS) gene in non-neuronal tissues

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The slow Wallerian Degeneration (<it>Wld</it>^<it>S</it>) gene specifically protects axonal and synaptic compartments of neurons from a wide variety of degeneration-inducing stimuli, including; traumatic injury, Parkinson's disease, demyelinating neuropathies, some forms of motor neuron disease and global cerebral ischemia. The <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}gene encodes a novel Ube4b-Nmnat1 chimeric protein (Wld^Sprotein) that is responsible for conferring the neuroprotective phenotype. How the chimeric Wld^Sprotein confers neuroprotection remains controversial, but several studies have shown that expression in neurons <it>in vivo </it>and <it>in vitro </it>modifies key cellular pathways, including; NAD biosynthesis, ubiquitination, the mitochondrial proteome, cell cycle status and cell stress. Whether similar changes are induced in non-neuronal tissue and organs at a basal level <it>in vivo </it>remains to be determined. This may be of particular importance for the development and application of neuroprotective therapeutic strategies based around <it>Wld</it>^<it>S</it>-mediated pathways designed for use in human patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have undertaken a detailed analysis of non-neuronal <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}expression in <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}mice, alongside gravimetric and histological analyses, to examine the influence of <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}expression in non-neuronal tissues. We show that expression of <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}RNA and protein are not restricted to neuronal tissue, but that the relative RNA and protein expression levels rarely correlate in these non-neuronal tissues. We show that <it>Wld</it>^{<it>S </it>}mice have normal body weight and growth characteristics as well as gravimetrically and histologically normal organs, regardless of Wld^Sprotein levels. Finally, we demonstrate that previously reported <it>Wld</it>^<it>S</it>-induced changes in cell cycle and cell stress status are neuronal-specific, not recapitulated in non-neuronal tissues at a basal level.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that expression of Wld^Sprotein has no adverse effects on non-neuronal tissue at a basal level <it>in vivo</it>, supporting the possibility of its safe use in future therapeutic strategies targeting axonal and/or synaptic compartments in patients with neurodegenerative disease. Future experiments determining whether Wld^Sprotein can modify responses to injury in non-neuronal tissue are now required.</p

Nanopore sequencing of influenza A and B in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, 2022–23

Objectives: We evaluated Nanopore sequencing for influenza surveillance. Methods; Influenza A and B PCR-positive samples from hospital patients in Oxfordshire, UK, and a UK-wide population survey from winter 2022–23 underwent Nanopore sequencing following targeted rt-PCR amplification. Results: From 941 infections, successful sequencing was achieved in 292/388 (75 %) available Oxfordshire samples: 231 (79 %) A/H3N2, 53 (18 %) A/H1N1, and 8 (3 %) B/Victoria and in 53/113 (47 %) UK-wide samples. Sequencing was more successful at lower Ct values. Most same-sample replicate sequences had identical haemagglutinin segments (124/141, 88 %); 36/39 (92 %) Illumina vs. Nanopore comparisons were identical, and 3 (8 %) differed by 1 variant. Comparison of Oxfordshire and UK-wide sequences showed frequent inter-regional transmission. Infections were closely-related to 2022–23 vaccine strains. Only one sample had a neuraminidase inhibitor resistance mutation. 849/941 (90 %) Oxfordshire infections were community-acquired. 63/88 (72 %) potentially healthcare-associated cases shared a hospital ward with ≥ 1 known infectious case. 33 epidemiologically-plausible transmission links had sequencing data for both source and recipient: 8 were within ≤ 5 SNPs, of these, 5 (63 %) involved potential sources that were also hospital-acquired. Conclusions: Nanopore influenza sequencing was reproducible and antiviral resistance rare. Inter-regional transmission was common; most infections were genomically similar. Hospital-acquired infections are likely an important source of nosocomial transmission and should be prioritised for infection prevention and control

Modelling human choices: MADeM and decision‑making

Research supported by FAPESP 2015/50122-0 and DFG-GRTK 1740/2. RP and AR are also part of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics FAPESP grant (2013/07699-0). RP is supported by a FAPESP scholarship (2013/25667-8). ACR is partially supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)

26th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2017): Part 3 - Meeting Abstracts - Antwerp, Belgium. 15–20 July 2017

This work was produced as part of the activities of FAPESP Research,\ud Disseminations and Innovation Center for Neuromathematics (grant\ud 2013/07699-0, S. Paulo Research Foundation). NLK is supported by a\ud FAPESP postdoctoral fellowship (grant 2016/03855-5). ACR is partially\ud supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)