Organizational learning with a pragmatic slant

A pragmatic theory of learning is introduced as a possible way of creating organizational learning and learning organizations. This learning theory rests upon what may be termed the inquiry metaphor. Two other metaphors of learning—the knowledge acquisition and the participation metaphor—are introduced as they are mirrored in the literature and in organizational development in practice. It is argued that the important element of organizational learning and learning organizations is the creation of an experimental arena for learning in which employees are able to engage in inquiry into workplace problems and, by doing so, develop their experiences with work and workplaces.     

The Entrepreneurial University as a Learning University

The continued globalization of markets, resources, and information and the rapid pace of technological development will require radical rethinking, putting universities under constant pressure for innovation. Given universities are increasingly co‐operating and competing with the same universities at the same moment. In relation to society, universities must strive for a better demand‐response balance in the environment/university relationship. The emphasis in this article is on how the Copenhagen Business School (CBS) has increased its capacity for change through strategic management and management for quality. With its focus on the development of an environment for innovative learning, for experimentation, and for evaluation and bench marking activities, as well as through the expansion of its regional and global strategic alliances, CBS has laboured to lay the foundations of a Learning University.     

Microfluidic device capable of medium recirculation for non-adherent cell culture

We present a microfluidic device designed for maintenance and culture of non-adherent mammalian cells, which enables both recirculation and refreshing of medium, as well as easy harvesting of cells from the device. We demonstrate fabrication of a novel microfluidic device utilizing Braille perfusion for peristaltic fluid flow to enable switching between recirculation and refresh flow modes. Utilizing fluid flow simulations and the human promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60, non-adherent cells, we demonstrate the utility of this RECIR-REFRESH device. With computer simulations, we profiled fluid flow and concentration gradients of autocrine factors and found that the geometry of the cell culture well plays a key role in cell entrapping and retaining autocrine and soluble factors. We subjected HL-60 cells, in the device, to a treatment regimen of 1.25% dimethylsulfoxide, every other day, to provoke differentiation and measured subsequent expression of CD11b on day 2 and day 4 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) on day 4. Our findings display perfusion sensitive CD11b expression, but not TNF-α build-up, by day 4 of culture, with a 1:1 ratio of recirculation to refresh flow yielding the greatest increase in CD11b levels. RECIR-REFRESH facilitates programmable levels of cell differentiation in a HL-60 non-adherent cell population and can be expanded to other types of non-adherent cells such as hematopoietic stem cells.     

Determinants of bone mineral density in patients on haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis – a cross-sectional,longitudinal study

Introduction:

The aim of the study was to identify biomarkers of alteration in bone mineral density (BMD) in patients on haemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD).

Materials and methods:

In a cross-sectional, longitudinal study dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans were performed in 146 HD-patients and 28 PD-patients. Follow-up after 14 months (mean) was conducted in 73 patients. As potential biomarkers we investigated parathyroid hormone (PTH), 25-hydroxy vitamin-D, ionised calcium, albumin, phosphate, and total alkaline phosphatases (t-ALP).

Results:

Both groups of dialysis patients had lower BMD in the femoral neck (BMD_neck) (P < 0.001) and forearm (BMD_forearm) (P < 0.001) compared to healthy controls, but comparable BMD in the lumbar spine (BMD_spine). BMD did not differ between dialysis types, but patients ever-treated with glucocorticoids had significantly lower BMD, while patients with polycystic kidney disease had higher BMD. BMD correlated with body weight, actual age, age at initiation of dialysis, duration of dialysis and levels of PTH and t-ALP. However, t-ALP only remained associated with low BMD_spine after adjusting for other factors (P = 0.001). In the follow-up study all patients had decreased BMD in all three locations, but only for the lumbar spine there was a significant association between BMD and the bone markers t-ALP (P = 0.009) and PTH (P = 0.013).

Conclusions:

Both HD and PD patients have low BMD, and increased concentrations of t-ALP is associated BMD_spine after adjustment, while PTH and t-ALP is associated with decrease in BMD_spine over time. This substantiates the use of these biomarkers in both types of dialysis patients.     

Contributions of the Home Literacy Environment and Underlying Language Skills to Preschool Invented Writing

This study aimed to enhance our knowledge of the constituent variables affecting invented writing skills in 5-year-olds by investigating the concurrent relationships among home literacy, underlying language skills, and invented writing. The study comprised 111 Norwegian-speaking children (mean age: 5.7 years; 58 girls) and their parents. The children’s language skills were tested individually. The results showed that, on average, children achieved low scores on tests of word writing; however, the within-group variations in the children’s invented writing performances were large. The statistical modeling showed that parental education was significantly related to the home literacy environment, which was, in turn, directly related to both vocabulary and phonological awareness and indirectly related to invented writing skills. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

The Conceptual Nature of Gain in Vocabulary Research: An Analysis of Vocabulary Data from Schoolchildren

Two ways of measuring change are presented and compared: A conventional “change score”, defined as the difference between scores before and after an interim period, and a process-oriented approach focusing on detailed analysis of conceptually defined response patterns. The validity of the two approaches was investigated. Vocabulary knowledge was assessed by means of equivalent multiple-choice tests administered before and after an intervention, and four characteristic responses were observed: Words consistently not understood; words inconsistently understood; learned words; and words consistently understood. The results showed that inclusion of the category “words consistently not understood” offered a “truer” gain score than did the conventional change score. It captured more variance from age and cognitive constraints and appeared educationally more reliable from an assessment-for-teaching-perspective.     

From oral to written language: a developmental and interventional perspective

The article discusses relations between early oral language abilities and reading and writing development as reflected in longitudinal research. The observation that poor reading is less accurately predicted than superior reading is documented, and developmental characteristics of poor readers and superior readers, respectively, are described. The importance of early intervention is emphasized both by reference to experimental research and by a documented high consistency between reading at grades 2–3 and reading in adolescence.     

Immediate and delayed effects of invented writing intervention in preschool

This study examined the effects of a 10 week invented writing program with five-year-old preschoolers (mean age 5.7 years) on their immediate post intervention literacy skills and also the facilitative effects of the intervention on the subsequent learning to read during the first 6 months of schooling. The study included 105 children (54 girls) from 12 preschools in Norway. The preschools were randomly assigned to the experimental group with the invented writing program, or the control group with the ordinary program offered to preschoolers. The classroom-based programs (40 sessions) were conducted by the children’s regular teachers. The children’s emergent literacy skills were evaluated using a pre-test, a post-test and a follow-up test 6 months later, and the data were analyzed using latent autoregressive models. The results showed that the invented writing group performed significantly better than the control group on the post-test for the measures of phoneme awareness (d = .54), spelling (d = .65) and word reading (d = .36). Additionally, indirect effects were observed on the delayed follow-up tests on phoneme awareness (d = .45), spelling (d = .48) and word reading (d = .26). In conclusion, we argue that invented writing appeared to smooth the progress of emergent literacy skills in preschool, including the subsequent reading development in school. Contextualized in a semi-consistent orthography and a preschool tradition that does not encourage the learning of written language skills, the findings add to our knowledge of how children learn to write and read.     

Quality development in university administration: A case study

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the decision-making styles of department chairs employed by three public institutions in Jordan. A total of 95 department chairs participated in the study by completing the General Decision-Making Styles survey. The results indicated that department chairs under study have the rational decision-making style as their primary style (following a systematic approach to evaluate options and arrive at one optimal solution) and the dependent style as their backup style (consult with others in the organization when making important decisions). Moreover, there were no significant differences between decision-making styles and the proposed demographic variables (faculty and experience). Finally, several recommendations were suggested for the field of study.