Elevation gradient of successful plant traits for colonizing alpine summits under climate change

Upward migration of plant species due to climate change has become evident in several European mountain ranges. It is still, however, unclear whether certain plant traits increase the probability that a species will colonize mountain summits or vanish, and whether these traits differ with elevation. Here, we used data from a repeat survey of the occurrence of plant species on 120 summits, ranging from 2449 to 3418 m asl, in south-eastern Switzerland to identify plant traits that increase the probability of colonization or extinction in the 20th century. Species numbers increased across all plant traits considered. With some traits, however, numbers increased proportionally more. The most successful colonizers seemed to prefer warmer temperatures and well-developed soils. They produced achene fruits and/or seeds with pappus appendages. Conversely, cushion plants and species with capsule fruits were less efficient as colonizers. Observed changes in traits along the elevation gradient mainly corresponded to the natural distribution of traits. Extinctions did not seem to be clearly related to any trait. Our study showed that plant traits varied along both temporal and elevational gradients. While seeds with pappus seemed to be advantageous for colonization, most of the trait changes also mirrored previous gradients of traits along elevation and hence illustrated the general upward migration of plant species. An understanding of the trait characteristics of colonizing species is crucial for predicting future changes in mountain vegetation under climate change.

Successful bilateral lung transplantation after previous pneumonectomy

Objective: To present the feasibility of bilateral lung transplantation after previously performed pneumonectomy.Methods: A 32 years old women underwent right pneumonectomy for bronchiectasis-related destroyed lung. Eight months later, she developed a vascular post-pneumonectomy syndrome and underwent realigning of the mediastinum by an intrathoracic expander that was complicated by an adult respiratory distress syndrome of the left lung requiring mechanical ventilation, arterio-venous CO2 removal (Novalung) and finally bilateral lung transplantation. Via clamshell incision, the post-pneumonectomy cavity was dissected and the superior vena cava (SVC) and carina were exposed. The pulmonary vessel stumps were dissected intrapericardically after realization of a right-sided hemi-pericardectomy. Extracorporeal circulation was started after central cannulation of the aorta and the inferior vena cava. A right upper lobe sleeve resection of the donor lung was performed. The intermediate bronchus was then implanted in the dissected recipient carina after realization of a hilar release maneuver. The right pulmonary artery was clamped between SVC andthe ascending aorta followed by end -to-end anastomosis of the donor and recipient artery and left atrial cuffs, respectively. Satisfactory graft function allowed decanulation and standard transplantation of the left lung without extracorporeal circulation.Results: Bronchoscopy and trans-esophageal echocardiography demonstrated a patent airway and vascular anastomoses without stenosis. Follow-up revealed excellent gas exchanges, no airway complications and well-functioning grafts on both sides with right-sided ventilation and perfusion two months after transplantation of 37% and 22%, respectively.Conclusion: This is to our knowledge the first report of successful bilateral lung transplantation after previous pneumonectomy unrelated to transplantation.

Iowa Cultural Leadership Partners 2013 Interview Highlights, September 2013

The Cultural Leadership Partners Program of the Iowa Arts Council and Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs (IAC/DCA) engages leaders in Iowa’s arts and cultural community that have demonstrated an exemplary record of programming and managerial excellence, as well as exceptional community service to the citizens of Iowa on a year-round basis. After a rigorous application process, organizations selected to become Cultural Leadership Partners (CLPs) receive annual operating support from IAC/DCA. This document will not only serve to communicate to CLPs what the IAC/DCA has learned from these conversations, but that it will act as a catalyst for further development of the program and inform how IAC/DCA can support, challenge, connect, and partner with Iowa’s leading arts and cultural institutions.

Inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion: long-term successful urea treatment.

Hyponatremia is the main complication of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH), sometimes fatal. Treatment strategy depends on the cause and the severity of the hyponatremia. Recent studies have shown the efficacy of urea in treating acute hyponatremia secondary to SIADH, by inducing an osmotic water drive. We describe an infant with chronic hyponatremia secondary to SIADH in which the long-term oral treatment with urea was successful and well tolerated. The aim of this paper is to highlight the potential benefits of urea treatment in case of chronic hyponatremia secondary to SIADH. CONCLUSION: Chronic oral urea treatment in children with SIADH allows an easy and safe water and sodium control and may permit a decrease in fluid restriction in this situation.

Women in leadership: Three essays

GENDER EMPOWERMENT: EFFECTS OF GODS, GEOGRAPHY, AND GDP¦Fenley, M., & Antonakis, J.¦ABSTRACT¦We examined the determinants of women's empowerment in the economy and political leadership in 178 countries. Given the androcentric nature of most religions, we hypothesized that high degrees of country-level theistic belief create social conditions that impede the progression of women to power. The dependent variable was the Gender Empowerment index of the United Nations Development Program, which captures the participation of women in political leadership, management, and their share of national income. Controlling for GDP per capita as well as the fixed-effects of the dominant type of religion and legal origin and instrumenting all endogenous variables with geographic or historical variables, our results show that atheism has a significant positive effect on gender empowerment. These results are driven by the rule of law, which in addition to being a catalyst for economic development, appears to crowd-out the informal regulation of behavior due to religious norms.¦DEVELOPING WOMEN LEADERS: COMPARING A TRANSFORMATIONAL AND A CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP INTERVENTION¦Fenley, M., Jacquart, P., & Antonakis, J.¦ABSTRACT¦Along with a gender imbalance in leadership role occupancy, most leadership interventions have been conducted with samples of men. We conducted an experiment wherein we assigned female participants (n = 38, mean age = 35 years) to one of two conditions: Transformational (i.e., "standard") leadership training or charismatic leadership training. The two interventions were essentially equivalent, except that we also focused on developing the "charismatic leadership tactics" (e.g., rhetorical skills) of participants in the charismatic condition. After the interventions, we randomly assigned participants into problem-solving teams that required extensive interaction. Each team had an equal number of participants having received transformational training or charismatic training. At the end of the team exercises, participants rated each of their team members on a leadership prototypicality measure. Results indicated that those who received charismatic training scored higher (a) on prototypicality (standardized  = .42) and (b) on a test of declarative knowledge of charismatic rhetorical strategies (i.e., a manipulation check, standardized  = .76). Furthermore, the score on the test fully mediated the effect of the treatment on prototypicality (standardized indirect  = .32). We discuss the importance and practical implications of these results.¦CHANGING ATTITUDES TOWARDS WOMEN IN A MALE SEX-TYPE WORK ENVIRONMENT: EVIDENCE FROM A FIELD EXPERIMENT IN EUROPEAN ATHLETICS¦Fenley, M.¦ABSTRACT¦Most sports organizations have a similar gender gap in leadership as do the majority of non-sport organizations. Women's careers sputter somewhere at coaching level positions and few women obtain top leadership positions. Greater awareness of gender inequalities in general, and in leadership in particular, could decrease gender discrimination and increase women's presence at upper levels. The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of an intervention using an online gender awareness exercise. Participants (n = 1,001 participants, n = 32 countries) were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions in a 2 (a discriminating perspective-taking story or a non-discriminating perspective-taking story) by 2 (gender quiz or no gender quiz) by 2 (diversity quiz or no diversity quiz) factorial design. The results show that the online perspective taking exercise changed initial sexist attitudes. Participants having taken a diversity quiz had less sexist attitudes (as measured by the Modern- and Old-fashioned sexism scale) than did participants who did not take the diversity quiz (irrespective of perspective-taking story). The combination of having taken a diversity quiz with a gender quiz had the biggest impact on attitudes for the non-discriminating story.

Successful migration of three tracers without identification of sentinel nodes during intraoperative lymphatic mapping for non-small cell lung cancer.

Prospective comparative evaluation of patent V blue, fluorescein and (99m)TC-nanocolloids for intraoperative sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping during surgery for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Ten patients with peripherally localised clinical stage I NSCLC underwent thoracotomy and peritumoral subpleural injection of 2 ml of patent V blue dye, 1 ml of 10% fluorescein and 1ml of (99m)Tc-nanocolloids (0.4 mCi). The migration and spatial distribution pattern of the tracers was assessed by direct visualisation (patent V blue), visualisation of fluorescence signalling by a lamp of Wood (fluorescein) and radioactivity counting with a hand held gamma-probe ((99m)Tc-nanocolloids). Lymph nodes at interlobar (ATS 11), hilar (ATS 10) and mediastinal (right ATS 2,4,7; left ATS 5,6,7) levels were systematically assessed every 10 min up to 60 min after injection, followed by lobectomy and formal lymph node dissection. Successful migration from the peritumoral area to the mediastinum was observed for all three tracers up to 60 min after injection. The interlobar lympho-fatty tissue (station ATS 11) revealed an early and preferential accumulation of all three tracers for all tumours assessed and irrespective of the tumour localisation. However, no preferential accumulation in one or two distinct lymph nodes was observed up to 60 min after injection for all three tracers assessed. Intraoperative SLN mapping revealed successful migration of the tracers from the site of peritumoral injection to the mediastinum, but in a diffuse pattern without preferential accumulation in sentinel lymph nodes.

Johtajan onnistumista edesauttavat ominaisuudet ja suomalaisen johtamiskulttuurin erityispiirteet

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kertoa sekä ominaisuuksista, jotka edesauttavat johtajaa onnistumaan että suomalaisen johtamiskulttuurin erityispiirteistä. Tutkimuksessa käytiin läpi tuloksellisille johtajille tyypillisiä ominaisuuksia, jotka auttavat johtajia saavuttamaan tavoitteensa. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa tehtiin selkoa suomalaisista erityispiirteistä, joita on johtajan huomioitava johtaessaan suomalaisia. Tutkimus oli luonteeltaan kvalitatiivinen ja sen pääasiallinen aineisto koostui kahden jääkiekkovalmentajan ja kahden yritysjohtajan kirjoista. Tutkimuksen tulokset tukivat monilta osin aikaisempaa tutkimusta. Tuloksellisen johtajan ominaisuudet ja suomalaiset erityispiirteet nousivat teksteistä vahvasti esille. Tuloksellisen johtajan ominaisuudet eivät takaa johtajien onnistumista, jos he eivät ymmärrä mitä ympärillä tapahtuu. Tämän vuoksi johtajan on menestyäkseen Suomessa tärkeätä tietää, miten suomalaisten kanssa tulisi menetellä.

Successful business strategies during periods of crisis

Treball Final de Carrera ( TFC ) consistent en l'anàlisi de diferents tipus d'estratègies que les empreses poden aplicar centrant-se en les idees de Michael Porter i el desenvolupament d'aquestes idees per part de diferents professionals. El TFC està dividit en dos blocs, un de teòric i un de pràctic. El primer bloc consisteix en l'anàlisi dels diferents tipus d'estratègies derivades de les idees de Michael Porter. En aquest primer bloc, hem analitzat com a través del model de les cinc forces, Porter va arribar a les estratègies genèriques. Després hem analitzat les tres estratègies genèriques conjuntament amb l'estratègia híbrida i amb l'Estratègia de l'Oceà Blau. El segon bloc està format per diversos casos pràctics d'empreses que han aconseguit l'èxit durant l'actual període de crisi en els diferents sectors de l'economia. Aquestes empreses són Yoigo com a exemple de baix cost , Starbucks com implementació d'una estratègia de diferenciació i Ryan Air exemplificant una estratègia de segmentació enfocada als baixos costos. Finalment, hem analitzat a Toyota degut a la seva estratègia híbrida i Graphenea com una companyia que implementa Estratègia de l'Oceà Blau. Totes aquestes companyies han aconseguit l'èxit durant l'actual període de crisi. El motiu és que aquestes empreses van escollir un tipus d'estratègia d'acord amb l'estructura de la indústria en la qual operen. No obstant això, la implementació d'aquestes estratègies no assegura resultats d'èxit. L'adequada aplicació d'aquestes estratègies suposa per a les empreses una demostració de que aconseguir l'èxit durant períodes de recessió econòmica és possible, vinculat a una bona gestió estratègica.

Interhemispheric coupling between the posterior sylvian regions impacts successful auditory temporal order judgment.

Accurate perception of the temporal order of sensory events is a prerequisite in numerous functions ranging from language comprehension to motor coordination. We investigated the spatio-temporal brain dynamics of auditory temporal order judgment (aTOJ) using electrical neuroimaging analyses of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) recorded while participants completed a near-threshold task requiring spatial discrimination of left-right and right-left sound sequences. AEPs to sound pairs modulated topographically as a function of aTOJ accuracy over the 39-77ms post-stimulus period, indicating the engagement of distinct configurations of brain networks during early auditory processing stages. Source estimations revealed that accurate and inaccurate performance were linked to bilateral posterior sylvian regions activity (PSR). However, activity within left, but not right, PSR predicted behavioral performance suggesting that left PSR activity during early encoding phases of pairs of auditory spatial stimuli appears critical for the perception of their order of occurrence. Correlation analyses of source estimations further revealed that activity between left and right PSR was significantly correlated in the inaccurate but not accurate condition, indicating that aTOJ accuracy depends on the functional decoupling between homotopic PSR areas. These results support a model of temporal order processing wherein behaviorally relevant temporal information--i.e. a temporal 'stamp'--is extracted within the early stages of cortical processes within left PSR but critically modulated by inputs from right PSR. We discuss our results with regard to current models of temporal of temporal order processing, namely gating and latency mechanisms.

A model for organ donation in switzerland, the latin organ donation programme (lodp); an ongoing successful regional initiative

Background: The 1st Swiss federal Transplant Law was finally enforced in July 2007 with the obligation to promote quality and efficiency in transplant procedures. The LODP was created to develop organ and tissue donation in the Latin area of Switzerland covering seventeen hospitals (29% of the population).Methods: Each of the partner hospitals designated at least one Local Donor Coordinator (LDC), member of the Intensive Care team, trained in the organ donation (OD) process. The principal tasks of the LDC's are the introduction of OD procedures, organisation of educational sessions for hospital staff and execution of the Donor Action programme. The LODP has been operational since July 2009, when training of the LDC's was completed, the web-site and hotline activated and the attendance of Transplant Procurement Coordinators (TPC) during the OD process organised.Results: National and regional guidelines are accessible on the LODP website. The Hospital Attitude Survey obtained a 57% return rate. Many of the staff requested training and sessions are now running in the partner hospitals. The Medical Record Revue revealed an increase in the conversion rate from 3.5% to 4.5%. During the 5 years before creation of LODP the average annual number of utilised donors was 31, an increase of 70%, has since been observed.Conclusion: This clear progression in utilised donors in the past two years can be attributed to the fact that partner hospitals benefit from the various support given (hotline, website and from TPC's). Despite the increase in OD within the LODP the Swiss donation rates remain low, on average 11.9 donors per million population. This successful model should be applied throughout Switzerland, but the crucial point is to obtain financial support.

Karttakeppiä vai porkkanaa? Henkilöstön sitouttaminen organisaatiomuutokseen Case: Etelä-Karjalan ammattiopisto

Tutkimuksessa selvitetään ja arvioidaan Etelä-Karjalan ammattiopiston yhdistymisten toteuttamista ja henkilöstön sitouttamista organisaatio-muutokseen. Muutosprosessissa on keskitytty ensisijaisesti tavoitteisiin, johtamiseen, viestintään ja henkilöstön sitouttamiseen. Sitouttamista on tarkasteltu sekä oppilaitoksen johdon että opettajien kokemusten näkökulmasta. Tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena teemahaastatteluna. Haastateltavina olivat kuntayhtymän (hallinnon), oppilaitoksen johdon ja opettajien edustajat. Muutoksen tavoitteet on oltava kaikilleorganisaation jäsenille selvät ja oman työn kannalta merkittävät, jotta muutokseen voi lähteä mukaan. Tämä on mahdollista, jos viestintä on mukana muutoksen jokaisessa vaiheessa vuorovaikutteisena ja luottamusta kasvattavana prosessina. Muutokseen sitoutumiseen vaikuttavia tekijöitä ovat lisäksi työtyytyväisyys, palaute ja johtajuus. Hyvä muutosjohtaja on aidosti kiinnostunut alaistensa työstä, kuuntelee alaisiaan ja on läsnä työntekijän arjessa.

Diversity management and team leadership in a nonprofit organization. Case: AIESEC in Finland

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää kuinka moninaisuus ja sen johtaminen näkyvät voittoa tavoittelemattoman järjestön tiimityössä, kuinka moninaisuus ja tiimityö pystyvät selittämään motiiveja työskennellä voittoa tavoittelemattomassa järjestössä ja mitä tulisi huomioida tiimityön ja tiimin johtajuuden osalta, kun moninaisuus ja voittoa tavoittelemattoman järjestön luonne otetaan huomioon. Tämä tutkielma on laadullinen tutkimus, jossa tutkimusmenetelminä on käytetty yhdeksää teemahaastattelua, edellisen tutkimuksen tuloksia (Astikainen, 2005) sekä havainnointia. Tutkimuksen perusteellavoidaan todeta, että voittoa tavoittelemattoman järjestön luonne, tiimityö tai moninaisuus eivät sinällään merkitse paljoakaan tulosten kannalta, vaan niiden keskinäiset yhteydet. Nämä yhdessä, oikein hyödynnettynä, vaikuttavat työntekijöiden motivaatioon ja sitä kautta organisaation tuloksiin.