Challenge For Teams Research Articles

Restorative dentistry clinical decision-making for hypodontia: retained primary molars.

Primary molar teeth that are retained beyond their exfoliation pose a clinical decision-making challenge for dental teams. The retention of these teeth may be due to absence of a permanent successor. As a result, careful planning is required to determine if retention or extraction is necessary. This article aims to discuss the prevalence of retained primary molars, assessment and treatment planning considerations, from both orthodontic and restorative perspectives.

DataPype: A Fully Automated Unified Software Platform for Computer-Aided Drug Design.

With the advent of computer-aided drug design (CADD), traditional physical testing of thousands of molecules has now been replaced by target-focused drug discovery, where potentially bioactive molecules are predicted by computer software before their physical synthesis. However, despite being a significant breakthrough, CADD still faces various limitations and challenges. The increasing availability of data on small molecules has created a need to streamline the sourcing of data from different databases and automate the processing and cleaning of data into a form that can be used by multiple CADD software applications. Several standalone software packages are available to aid the drug designer, each with its own specific application, requiring specialized knowledge and expertise for optimal use. These applications require their own input and output files, making it a challenge for nonexpert users or multidisciplinary discovery teams. Here, we have developed a new software platform called DataPype, which wraps around these different software packages. It provides a unified automated workflow to search for hit compounds using specialist software. Additionally, multiple virtual screening packages can be used in the one workflow, and if different ways of looking at potential hit compounds all predict the same set of molecules, we have higher confidence that we should make or purchase and test the molecules. Importantly, DataPype can run on computer servers, speeding up the virtual screening for new compounds. Combining access to multiple CADD tools within one interface will enhance the early stage of drug discovery, increase usability, and enable the use of parallel computing.

Retrospector: Rapid collaborative reflection to improve collaborative practices

Online platforms for freelancing allow teams performing complex work to be assembled in a matter of minutes and dispersed nearly as quickly. With such short time frames, ad hoc and virtual teams have few opportunities to learn strategies and effective team practices to work with their colleagues. Without such practices, teams are prone to work sub-optimally and lack direction. One key challenge in virtual teams discovering effective team practices is that because the practices ought to involve situated knowledge, it takes time to coalesce, as team members learn about each other over time. This work introduces Retrospector, that ad hoc teams can use to reflect collaboratively and reinforce effective team practices. Our interface accelerates the discovery of practices in situ and then guides them in reinforcing and applying these practices to future tasks. We conducted a between-subjects experiment (N=75) to assess our design with crowdworkers from the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. This randomized controlled experiment showed that teams using our system for approximately six minutes of collaborative reflection were able to discover effective practices more successfully and had significantly improved team performance and viability. These results indicate that deliberate support for improving team practices can improve outcomes even through very short interaction. We conclude with design implications and opportunities for future work.

Go.Data as a digital tool for case investigation and contact tracing in the context of COVID-19: a mixed-methods study

BackgroundA manual approach to case investigation and contact tracing can introduce delays in response and challenges for field teams. Go.Data, an outbreak response tool developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, streamlines data collection and analysis during outbreaks. This study aimed to characterize Go.Data use during COVID-19, elicit shared benefits and challenges, and highlight key opportunities for enhancement.MethodsThis study utilized mixed methods through qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey with Go.Data implementors on their experiences during COVID-19. Survey data was analyzed for basic univariate statistics. Interview data were coded using deductive and inductive reasoning and thematic analysis of categories. Overarching themes were triangulated with survey data to clarify key findings.ResultsFrom April to June 2022, the research team conducted 33 interviews and collected 41 survey responses. Participants were distributed across all six WHO regions and 28 countries. While most implementations represented government actors at national or subnational levels, additional inputs were collected from United Nations agencies and universities. Results highlighted WHO endorsement, accessibility, adaptability, and flexible support modalities as main enabling factors. Formalization and standardization of data systems and people processes to prepare for future outbreaks were a welcomed byproduct of implementation, as 76% used paper-based reporting prior and benefited from increased coordination around a shared platform. Several challenges surfaced, including shortage of the appropriate personnel and skill-mix within teams to ensure smooth implementation. Among opportunities for enhancements were improved product documentation and features to improve usability with large data volumes.ConclusionsThis study was the first to provide a comprehensive picture of Go.Data implementations during COVID-19 and what joint lessons could be learned. It ultimately demonstrated that Go.Data was a useful complement to responses across diverse contexts, and helped set a reproducible foundation for future outbreaks. Concerted preparedness efforts across the domains of workforce composition, data architecture and political sensitization should be prioritized as key ingredients for future Go.Data implementations. While major developments in Go.Data functionality have addressed some key gaps highlighted during the pandemic, continued dialogue between WHO and implementors, including cross-country experience sharing, is needed ensure the tool is reactive to evolving user needs.

Can Gender Nouns Influence the Stereotypes of Animals?

Educating about animals in zoos and aquariums poses daily challenges for education teams, who must not only master biological content but also possess communication skills to adapt information for diverse ages and cultures. This research consists of two sequential studies designed to investigate the impact of grammatical genders on animal stereotypes and elicited emotions. In Study 1, four animals were independently chosen based on a set of predefined conditions, which were then used in Study 2. The second study explored whether the presence of grammatical genders in the Portuguese language influenced the perceived stereotypes of four animals (panda bear, giraffe, polar bear, and cheetah) using the Stereotype Content Model framework. For comparison, English-speaking participants were also surveyed, as English lacks grammatical genders. The results demonstrated that grammatical genders influenced the perceived gender, as well as, although only slightly, the warmth, competence, and elicited emotions of some animals. All animals under study were associated with the protective stereotype, regardless of the presence of grammatical gender. This study emphasizes the significance of subtle yet crucial elements in communication, such as grammatical genders, in shaping stereotypes and innate emotional associations concerning animals.

Planetary scientific target detection via deep learning: A case study for finding shatter cones in Mars rover images

AbstractPast, present, and forthcoming planetary rover missions to Mars and other planetary bodies are equipped with a large number of scientific cameras. The very large number of images resulting from this, combined with tight time constraints for navigation, measurements, and analyses, pose a major challenge for the mission teams in terms of scientific target evaluation. Shatter cones are the only macroscopic evidence for impact‐induced shock metamorphism and therefore impact craters on Earth. The typical features of shatter cones, such as striations and horsetail structures, are particularly suitable for machine learning methods. The necessary training images do not exist for such a case; therefore, we pursued the approach of producing them artificially. Using PRo3D, a viewer developed for the interactive exploration and geologic analysis of high‐resolution planetary surface reconstructions, we virtually placed shatter cones in 3‐D background scenes processed from true Mars rover imagery. We use PRo3D‐rendered images of such scenes as training data for machine learning architectures. Terrestrial analog studies in Ethiopia supported our lab work and were used to test the resulting neural network of this feasibility study. The result showed that our approach with shatter cones in artificial Mars rover scenes is suitable to train neural networks for automatic detection of shatter cones. In addition, we have identified several aspects that can be used to improve the training of the neural network and increase the recognition rate. For example, using background data with a higher resolution in order to have equal resolution of object (shatter cone) and Martian background and increase the number of objects that can be placed in the training data set. Also using better lighting reconstructions and a better radiometric adaption between object and Martian background would further improve the results.

The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Assertive Community Treatment Team Functions, Clinical Services, and Observable Outcomes—A Provincial Survey in Ontario, Canada

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams provide the most intensive care for patients with serious mental illness. This online study surveyed the 88 ACT and Flexible ACT (FACT) teams in Ontario, Canada (144/232 surveys, 62.1%) during the height of Covid-19 in 2021, and qualitative thematic analysis on impact of team function and patient outcome showed challenges of teams switching to virtual care, reduced psychosocial services, division to smaller groups, staff redeployment, having unequal compensations, and exacerbated regional differences; there were also increased patient stress, loneliness, hospital and ER visits, substance use and related deaths, and police/crisis team involvement. There was limited morbidity related to actual Covid-19; and positive adaptations included observed independence and resilience, increased interdependence with community partners, and new communication formats.

Early Labour App: Developing a practice-based mobile health application for digital early labour support

BackgroundPregnant women in early labour have felt excluded from professional care, and their partners have been restricted from being involved in the birthing process. Expectant parents must be better prepared to deal with fear and stress during early labour. There is a need for evidence-based information and digital applications that can empower couples during childbirth. ObjectiveTo develop and identify requirements for a practice-based mobile health (mHealth) application for Digital Early Labour Support. MethodsThis research started with creating an expert group composed of a multidisciplinary team capable of informing the app development process on evidence-based practices. In consultation with the expert group, the app was built using an agile development approach (i.e., Scrum) within a continuous software engineering setting (i.e., CI/CD, DevOps), also including user and security tests. ResultsDuring the development of the Early Labour App, two main types of challenges emerged: (1) user challenges, related to understanding the users’ needs and experience with the app, and (2) team challenges, related to the software development team in particular, and the necessary skills for translating an early labour intervention into a digital solution. This study reaffirms the importance of midwife support via blended care and the opportunity of complementing it with an app. The Early Labour App was easy to use, the women needed little to no help, and the partner’s preparation was facilitated. The combination of the app together with blended care opens up awareness, thoughts and feelings about the method and provides good preparation for the birth. ConclusionWe propose the creation of the Early Labour App, a mHealth app for early labour support. The preliminary tests conducted for the Early Labour App show that the app is mature, allowing it to be used in the project’s Randomised Control Trial, which is already ongoing.

The past will guide us: What the future could bring according to the last 40 years of IJPM?

This article examines all papers published in the International Journal of Project Management over the last 40 years (1983–2022), identifying research themes. By performing keyword co-occurrence analysis, keywords were clustered into five groups, which served for identification of the most prominent research themes shaping the Journal's publishing history - Performance Management,Risk and Construction Management,Project Governance,Project Planning and Control and Project Success. The results shed light on how these research themes developed and are interconnected over time, while the findings collected using a focus group method have provided the insightful understanding of the future trends in the field of Project Management, Organizing and Studies. It may be expected that future publishing brings a greater number of articles covering challenges of organizations, teams and individuals faced by the 4th Industrial revolution, digital transformation and sustainable development goals (SDGs), as well as articles on project finance and investment-related topics, and articles addressing a project's benefits and values. The main findings of this article may significantly contribute to researchers and PhD candidates in defining the thematic orientation of their studies, educators in creating programs which meet more accurate future demands in project management, and editors for specifying the scope of journals or conference proceedings in order to make them more influential in the research community. This paper may, moreover, serve in the phase of research-design modeling and for those performing bibliometric analyses within the other scientific areas with the intention to potentially anticipate the future research thematic-orientation in their analysis.

Community-Based Participatory Research: Insights, Challenges, and Successes From the Perspectives of Frontline Recruiters and Investigators

Employment of community-based participatory research (CBPR) strategies has helped address limitations of traditional research approaches, but we still do not have a full understanding of how study teams successfully conduct research with populations who experience health disparities. To gain insights into the unique successes and challenges of research teams conducting National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded community-engaged research studies, we conducted an online survey with 120 investigators identified through NIH RePORTER and 106 members of the academic study team (research staff) who assisted with recruitment. We examined descriptive statistics and used Chi-square analysis to compare responses between investigators and staff. Most studies targeted low-income, racial/ethnic minority populations and reported high recruitment and retention rates. The most common collaborators were community-based organizations, and the most common study purpose was to evaluate an intervention. There was generally consensus between investigators and staff about effective recruitment and retention strategies, barriers, and facilitators. However, there were also some critical differences, including perceptions about community partner roles and the value of staff input into study design and methods. After the presentation of our key findings, we share best practices for successful recruitment and retention in health disparities research using CBPR approaches.

Munchausen Syndrome: secondary gain of illness

Secondary gain occurs when a patient consciously simulates symptoms or unconsciously acts to obtain benefits. Munchausen Syndrome is a factitious disorder where individuals fake or cause illnesses or psychological traumas to gain attention or sympathy. These patients often seek emergency care and may have undergone unnecessary surgeries on multiple occasions. OBJECTIVE: To describe important characteristics contributing to the development of Munchausen Syndrome and Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. METHODOLOGY: The methodology involved a literature review conducted in 2020 using the databases SCIELO and LILACS. DISCUSSION AND RESULTS: The disease has complex diagnosis and treatment processes, as most patients simulate illness to gain secondary benefits, which are lost if discovered. CONCLUSIONS: This syndrome poses a challenge for medical teams due to the difficulty in treatment and unnecessary expenses on medications and hospitalizations of pseudo-patients seeking secondary gains.

Exploring the collaborative care of patients with pelvic fractures in Tshwane, South Africa.

Pelvic fractures are complex injuries that lead to long-term disabilities and poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Even though pelvic fractures are known to be challenging to manage, there is limited information on guidelines and protocols to ensure that patients receive comprehensive and collaborative healthcare. A qualitative descriptive phenomenological approach was utilised to explore current practices and innovations of healthcare professionals (HPs) in Tshwane academic hospitals in the collaborative management and rehabilitation of patients with pelvic fractures, using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Six overarching themes were identified from the interviews with HPs: The biopsychosocial lens of the patient, limitations in approaches to care, contextual impediments to care, the team challenge; the biopsychosocial aspects of care and forging forward to improve care. A multidisciplinary approach is encouraged for the comprehensive management of pelvic fractures. However, a poor understanding of roles and poor referral structures challenge this approach. Further barriers to caring include staff shortages and limited resources. Healthcare professionals recommended interprofessional education and collaborative practice, student training and using standardised outcome measurement tools to improve care for patients with pelvic fractures.Contribution:This study lays a foundation to initiate conversations about the development of an interprofessional model of care for patients with pelvic fractures. Findings might inform health policies on the management of pelvic fractures. Healthcare professionals might apply strategies that enhance the quality of healthcare provided. Patients with pelvic fractures might receive quality interprofessional healthcare that promotes quality of life, post pelvic fractures.

Sudden Cardiac Arrests During the 2021 Taipei Marathon after COVID-19 Confinement in Taiwan

Introduction:Large-scale mass-sporting events pose unique challenges for emergency health teams. Data is limited in athletes with sudden cardiac arrests (SCAs) and the emergency medical services (EMS) in major sporting events that took place after the coronavirus pandemic.Method:This retrospective observational study describes data from the Taipei Marathon event that took place on December 19, 2021, in Taiwan. The temperature was about 15.2–19.3°C. Four SCAs among 18,144 half-marathoners and the EMS were enrolled.A medical command center was set up 100 meters from the finish line. Ten medical tents, one first-aid station, and nine event ambulances were distributed along the course, and one medical tent was placed near the baggage storage area. Each medical tent comprised: 1 doctor, 1–3 nurses, and 1–3 paramedics. The in-event EMS also comprised a mobile first-aid team. Thirty paramedics rode motorcycles and carried automated external defibrillators and emergency medical kits throughout the racecourse.Results:Among the 7,811 full- and 18,144 half-marathoners, the total number of SCAs was four male half-marathoners. Three runners (75%) stated that they decreased their weekly running volume during the pandemic restrictions’ period. Two runners (50%) experienced cardiac arrest in the final quarter of the race. The median interval of time between SCA occurrence and EMS arrival was 2.5 minutes (interquartile range, 0.5–4 minutes). Electric shocks were delivered to all the four runners (100%) experiencing ventricular fibrillation, and all of them were successfully resuscitated in the field. The median interval of cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration before return of spontaneous circulation was 8.5 minutes (interquartile range, 6–9.5 minutes).Conclusion:4/18144 is a significantly high number of SCA compared to data from the annual Taipei Half-Marathon between 2016 and 2020 and past half-marathons worldwide. The high prevalence rate of SCA (22 per 100,000) may be due to inadequate acclimation and training volumes.

Dimensions of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

This paper reports on the ACM SPLASH 2022 conference panel on the Software Profession Dimensions of DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion]. The panelists observed that increased awareness for the dimensions of DEI will help reduce inequity in systems and technologies. The panel further observed that there are dimensions of diversity to consider beyond age, color, gender, and physical ability. As technologists, we need to leverage diverse talents and perspectives, including by those who may not have in-depth domain knowledge or a university education specific to computer science or engineering. Panelists included academic researchers and industry practitioners: experts in human-computer interaction, teamwork, AI applications, systems design, and gender diversity issues. The hybrid organization of the panel enabled participants from Taiwan and North America to join the in-room Australian and New Zealand panelists. Panelists explored a variety of related topics, ranging from how software can cause harm to the risks of "unconscious bias" in R&D and the challenges of building diverse teams. Panelists shared observations that AI and ML systems can be negatively impacted by the bias inherent with inadequate or incomplete training data used to tune algorithms. The panel discussed and summarized questions to foster increased DEI awareness by software professionals, researchers, and community leaders.

Sexual assault services in the pandemic: Lessons learned

The COVID-19 pandemic created many risks for sexual assault and intimate partner violence, also termed the “shadow pandemic”. At the same time, it created challenges for sexual assault healthcare teams, counsellors and clients needing to access acute services. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to identify those challenges for sexual assault service providers, the impact of these challenges on services, clients and team members, and identify lessons learned for future pandemics. The participants were professionals from across Canada who provided either counselling or healthcare services to clients after they experienced recent sexual assaults. Semi-structured interviews were used and then content analysis was conducted to identify themes and compare experiences. Common themes from both counselling and healthcare were identified, most notably that the initial lockdown messaging created risks for clients. Messaging stated to only come to Emergency if in urgent need and they minimized the importance of their assaults. Visit volume thus dropped for the first few months but resumed and even became higher than pre-pandemic in some communities. Healthcare staff struggled to be seen as an essential service initially, but those affiliated with Emergency departments were able to continue in-person examinations and treatment. The nurses noted that the clients who did come had more serious and life-threatening injuries such as strangulation attempts, more mental health issues, and more often were in the context of intimate partner violence.

Abstract 6112: Automated scoring to assess RAD51-mediated homologous recombination in patient-derived tumor organoids of ovarian cancers

Abstract Extensive trials of PARP inhibitors (PARPi) have shown that they improve progression-free survival in patients with various cancers, including ovarian cancers. This improvement is marked in patients carrying BRCA mutations, and in Homologous Recombination Deficiency (HRD) subgroups. To date, identifying patients eligible for PARPi has been a challenge for scientific and clinical teams using next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis and the persistence of genomic scars in tumors after restoration of proficient HR or epigenetic changes is a limitation of NGS. Functional assays could be used to improve the profiling of HR status and faithfully identify HRD tumors. The Repair Capacity Test assesses the formation of RAD51 foci in proliferating cells after irradiation and can be used on fresh primary cancer tissues irradiated ex vivo as well as on Patient-Derived Tumor Organoids (PDTO). However, RAD51 foci scoring is often performed manually without any possibility for the standardization of techniques. By contrast, recent progress in whole slide imaging referring to scan a complete microscope slide and creating a single high-resolution digital file, could represent an opportunity for automatizing the evaluation of HR. The purpose of this translational study was to develop an automated tool for scoring RAD51-mediated homologous recombination, to use this tool on ovarian PDTO and to compare the result to the sensitivity to olaparib (PARPi), determined by direct exposure of PDTO to the drug. We show that immunofluorescence of RAD51 foci can be automatically detected and quantified in Cyclin A2 positive nuclei in all the cells of each PDTO slice thus offering a new opportunity for the routine management and standardization of HR assessment in PDTO that goes beyond the widely used manual estimation. Finally, this automated scoring will be optimized to directly assess HR on tumor slices to make the Repair Capacity Test a highly relevant functional precision oncology tool to identify patients who will benefit from PARPi. Citation Format: Lucie Thorel, Pierre-Marie Morice, Nicolas Elie, Louis-Bastien Weiswald, Romane Florent, Florence Giffard, Margaux Jacobs, Agathe Ricou, Raphaël Leman, Guillaume Babin, Jean-François Lebrun, Sandrine Martin, Mélanie Briand, Benoit Goudergues, Bernard Lambert, Cécile Blanc-Fournier, Dominique Vaur, Benoit Plancoulaine, Laurent Poulain. Automated scoring to assess RAD51-mediated homologous recombination in patient-derived tumor organoids of ovarian cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 6112.

Disaster Collaborative Exercises for Healthcare Teamwork in a Saudi Context

This study aimed to evaluate the development of healthcare teamwork during and after the collaboration tabletop exercises, through observation and interview methods. Integration and maturity theoretical models were employed to explain the collaborative challenges in teams that may suffer from unequally distributed power, hierarchies, and fragmentation. Using three-level collaboration tabletop exercises and the Command and control, Safety, Communication, Assessment, Treatment, Triage, Transport (CSCATTT) instrument, 100 healthcare workers were observed during each step in the implementation of the CSCATTT instrument using two simulated scenarios. The results show a lack of integration and team maturity among participants in the first scenario, leading to the delayed start of the activity, task distribution, and decision making. These shortcomings were improved in the second scenario. In-depth interviews with 20 participants in the second phase of the study revealed improved knowledge and practical skills, self-confidence, and ability in team building within trans-professional groups in the second scenario, which in concordance with the integration theory, was due to the attempts made in the first scenario. Additionally, there was an improvement in the team’s maturity, which in concordance with the maturity theory, was due to the knowledge and practical skills during scenario plays. These results indicate the importance of continuous tabletop training, and the use of CSCATTT as a collaborative instrument, to promote the development of collaboration and to test the concept of preparedness.

Nationwide Study of Continuous Deep Sedation Practices Among Pediatric Palliative Care Teams.

Palliative sedation practices evolved in France when the Claeys-Leonetti law passed in 2016 authorized patient-requested continuous deep sedation (CDS) until death. Its implementation in the pediatric setting is less frequently encountered and can pose several clinical and ethical challenges for healthcare teams and families. Our study aimed to describe CDS requests and practices of patients receiving specialized pediatric palliative care in France since its legalization in 2016. We conducted a nationwide multicentric, descriptive, retrospective study using a self-report questionnaire completed by all Pediatric Palliative Care (PPC) Teams that were involved in a CDS case between January 2017 and December 2019. Six PPC teams had cared for six patients that had requested CDS, predominantly male adolescents/young adults diagnosed with a solid tumour. The refractory symptoms were diverse (pain, bleeding, sensory loss) and always coupled with psycho-existential suffering. Each request was analyzed in multidisciplinary collegial meetings. Parental consent was always obtained regardless of age. Sedation typically required the use of multiple drugs including Midazolam (n=5 cases), Chlorpromazine (n=3), Ketamine (n=2) and Propofol (n=2). Despite close monitoring, achieving a satisfactory level of deep sedation was challenging and most patients unexpectedly awoke during CDS. Death occurred between 27 and 96 hours after induction. Managing patient-requested CDS in pediatrics is challenging due to its rarity, multi-factorial refractory symptoms and drug tolerance despite polytherapy. Few recommendations exist to guide CDS practice for pediatricians. Further studies investigating pediatric CDS practices across various cultural and legal settings, refractory symptom management and specific pharmacology are warranted.

The Human Side of Software Engineering Teams: An Investigation of Contemporary Challenges

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Context:</i> There have been numerous recent calls for research on the human side of software engineering and its impact on various factors such as productivity, developer happiness and project success. An analysis of which challenges in software engineering teams are most frequent is still missing. As teams are more international, it is more frequent that their members have different human values as well as different communication habits. Additionally, virtual team setups (working geographically separated, remote communication using digital tools and frequently changing team members) are increasingly prevalent. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Objective:</i> We aim to provide a starting point for a theory about contemporary human challenges in teams and their causes in software engineering. To do so, we look to establish a reusable set of challenges and start out by investigating the effect of team virtualization. Virtual teams often use digital communication and consist of members with different nationalities that may have more divergent human values due to cultural differences compared to single nationality teams. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Method:</i> We designed a survey instrument and asked respondents to assess the frequency and criticality of a set of challenges, separated in context ”within teams” as well as ”between teams and clients”, compiled from previous empirical work, blog posts, and pilot survey feedback. For the team challenges, we asked if mitigation measures were already in place to tackle the challenge. Respondents were also asked to provide information about their team setup. The survey included the Personal Value Questionnaire to measure Schwartz human values. Finally, respondents were asked if there were additional challenges at their workplace. The survey was first piloted and then distributed to professionals working in software engineering teams via social networking sites and personal business networks. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Result:</i> In this article, we report on the results obtained from 192 respondents. We present a set of challenges that takes the survey feedback into account and introduce two categories of challenges; ”interpersonal” and ”intrapersonal”. We found no evidence for links between human values and challenges. We found some significant links between the number of distinct nationalities in a team and certain challenges, with less frequent and critical challenges occurring if 2-3 different nationalities were present compared to a team having members of just one nationality or more than three. A higher degree of virtualization seems to increase the frequency of some human challenges, which warrants further research about how to improve working processes when teams work from remote or in a distributed fashion. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Conclusion:</i> We present a set of human challenges in software engineering that can be used for further research on causes and mitigation measures, which serves as our starting point for a theory about causes of contemporary human challenges in software engineering teams. We report on evidence that a higher degree of virtualization of teams leads to an increase of certain challenges. This warrants further research to gather more evidence and test countermeasures, such as whether the employment of virtual reality software incorporating facial expressions and movements can help establish a less detached way of communication.

Borderline personality disorder and end of life: a major challenge

The care of patients suffering from a borderline personality disorder confronted with death is a relational and clinical challenge for interdisciplinary teams. In this specific context, the particular psychic vulnerability of these patients highlights multiple issues. Based on the scarce existing literature and our clinical experience, this article presents management strategies in order to best support this population weakened by serious illness as well as the interdisciplinary teams that care for them.