Training on the project: a quantifying approach to competence development

In the project ‘Competence-Driven Project Portfolio Analysis’ (CDPPA), an integrated system for supporting R&D project selection, staff assignment and activity scheduling with special consideration of the strategic development of competencies has been designed and implemented prototypically. The system has been field-tested at the Electronic Commerce Competence Center (EC3), a public–private partnership R&D enterprise. Experiences from this trial application are summarised and discussed, particularly concerning data collection and competence measurement, the benefits and limits of the chosen multi-criteria decision analysis approach, the evaluation of introduced changes to the decision-making processes, and the transparency of the formal planning model and its components.     

Harnessing collective intelligence of Web 2.0: group adoption and use of Internet-based collaboration technologies

Along with the advent of Web 2.0, mass collaboration is of paramount importance in knowledge exploration and diffusion. However, the extent to which Internet-based collaboration technologies can be used to develop new knowledge and to leverage the wisdom of crowds heavily depends on the collective willingness to adopt such tools together. In this study, the adoption and use of instant messaging has been conceptualized as a group-referent intentional social action. The concept of ‘we-intention’, which refers to one's perception of the group acting as a unit, is the focus of our interest. The cognitive, affective and social dimensions that contribute to ‘we-intention’ to adopt and use instant messaging were investigated. A survey was conducted and the findings provided empirical evidence supporting the idea that cognitive, affective and social factors jointly lead to the development of we-intention. This study is expected to provide some useful insights to both researchers and practitioners.     

Investigating the role of a Web-based tool to promote collective knowledge in medical communities

The paper reports a case study where a relatively lightweight technology in the form of a Web-based questionnaire was used to support members of a real community of professionals in externalizing and sharing their good practices and achieving a better awareness of and agreement on topics of common interest. We focused on an important medical association that counts more 1000 doctors all around the world as its members. In particular, we report how this association used the occasion of the on-line survey enabled by our technology to increase the awareness of its members about the actual heterogeneity of preferences existing in their daily clinical practice, and to trigger discussion toward a better consensus on best practices, appropriate indications, and treatments of choice for their profession and practice. We also report the result of a post-hoc evaluation of the Web-based technology employed, and draw some implications for the better design of this kind of tool in order to collect and share collective knowledge in specific professional domains.     

Serum thyroglobulin antibody levels within or near to the reference range may interfere with thyroglobulin measurement

High concentration of thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) is a major limiting factor of thyroglobulin measurements in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. We investigated whether thyroglobulin antibody added to serum samples could interfere with the thyroglobulin assay. Thyroglobulin levels in serum samples with different concentrations of thyroglobulin were measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay before and after the addition of increasing concentrations of thyroglobulin antibody using the secondary calibrator solution of the thyroglobulin assay kit containing sheep thyroglobulin antibody to reach thyroglobulin antibody levels within or near to the reference range. Thyroglobulin and thyroglobulin antibody concentrations were also measured in 134 serum samples from 27 patients after thyroid ablation. There was a strong negative association (slope = −1.179) between thyroglobulin antibody and thyroglobulin concentrations in samples with added thyroglobulin antibody (beta = −0.86; P < 0.001). Changes in thyroglobulin concentrations were described mathematically as loss of thyroglobulin% = −0.2408 × Ln(thyroglobulin antibody IU/ml) + 0.1944. Thyroglobulin concentrations were significantly lower than those calculated from experiments with added thyroglobulin antibody in 26/134 samples from patients after thyroid ablation. We conclude that if the same TgAb interference exists in the presence of naturally occurring human TgAb, our observation may prove to be useful during follow-up of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. However, further studies are needed to explore the clinical relevance of thyroglobulin antibody levels within or near to the reference range in monitoring these patients.     

High-throughput study of alpha-synuclein expression in yeast using microfluidics for control of local cellular microenvironment

Microfluidics is an emerging technology which allows the miniaturization, integration, and automation of fluid handling processes. Microfluidic systems offer low sample consumption, significantly reduced processing time, and the prospect of massive parallelization. A microfluidic platform was developed for the control of the soluble cellular microenvironment of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells, which enabled high-throughput monitoring of the controlled expression of alpha-synuclein (aSyn), a protein involved in Parkinson's disease. Y-shaped structures were fabricated using particle desorption mass spectrometry-based soft-lithography techniques to generate biomolecular gradients along a microchannel. Cell traps integrated along the microchannel allowed the positioning and monitoring of cells in precise locations, where different, well-controlled chemical environments were established. S. cerevisiae cells genetically engineered to encode the fusion protein aSyn-GFP (green fluorescent protein) under the control of GAL1, a galactose inducible promoter, were loaded in the microfluidic structure. A galactose concentration gradient was established in the channel and a time-dependent aSyn-GFP expression was obtained as a function of the positioning of cells along the galactose gradient. Our results demonstrate the applicability of this microfluidic platform to the spatiotemporal control of cellular microenvironment and open a range of possibilities for the study of cellular processes based on single-cell analysis.     

On the influence of the architecture of poly(ethylene glycol)-based thermoresponsive polymers on cell adhesion

Thermoresponsive polymer surface coatings are a promising tool for cell culture applications. They allow for a mild way of cell detachment that preserves the activity of membrane proteins—a prerequisite for reliable cell analysis. To enlarge the application range of these coatings to cells with different adhesion properties, we synthesized various novel poly(ethylene glycol)-based thermoresponsive polymers and describe how (i) their chemical structure and (ii) their surface density affect their efficiency. In order to quantify the influence of both factors, the time for cell spreading and rounding efficiency were observed. As a result, efficiency of cell rounding, which is closely correlated to cell detachment, is less affected by both factors than the time needed for cell spreading. This time can effectively be adjusted by the molecular architecture which includes the length of the polymer backbone and the side chains. Based on this work, recommendations are given for future optimization of functionality of thermoresponsive polymer coatings for cell culture applications.     

Observational learning from animated models: effects of studying–practicing alternation and illusion of control on transfer

Animated models explicating how a problem is solved and why a particular method is chosen are expected to be effective learning tools for novices, especially when abstract cognitive processes or concepts are involved. Cognitive load theory was used to investigate how learners could be stimulated to engage in genuine learning activities. It was hypothesized that illusion of control would impede transfer performance compared to a condition without illusion of control. Moreover, we hypothesized that learners who first studied an animated model and then solved the same problem would perform better on transfer than learners who studied the same animated model twice or who first solved the problem and then studied the animated model. In a 2 × 3 factorial experiment (N = 90) with the factors illusion of control (yes vs. no) and instruction method (study–practice, practice–study, study–study) only the first hypothesis was confirmed. Implications for the design of animated models are discussed.