Temporary Group Research Articles

Vocal repertoire of the New Zealand kea parrot Nestor notabilis

Abstract The unique alpine-living kea parrot Nestor notabilis has been the focus of numerous cognitive studies, but its communication system has so far been largely neglected. We examined 2,884 calls recorded in New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Based on audio and visual spectrographic differences, these calls were categorised into seven distinct call types: the non-oscillating ‘screech’ contact call and ‘mew’; and the oscillating ‘trill’, ‘chatter’, ‘warble’ and ‘whistle’; and a hybrid ‘screech-trill’. Most of these calls contained aspects that were individually unique, in addition to potentially encoding for an individual’s sex and age. Additionally, for each recording, the sender’s previous and next calls were noted, as well as any response given by conspecifics. We found that the previous and next calls made by the sender were most often of the same type, and that the next most likely preceding and/or following call type was the screech call, a contact call which sounds like the ‘kee-ah’ from which the bird’s name derives. As a social bird capable of covering large distances over visually obstructive terrain, long distance contact calls may be of considerable importance for social cohesion. Contact calls allow kea to locate conspecifics and congregate in temporary groups for social activities. The most likely response to any given call was a screech, usually followed by the same type of call as the initial call made by the sender, although responses differed depending on the age of the caller. The exception was the warble, the kea’s play call, to which the most likely response was another warble. Being the most common call type, as well as the default response to another call, it appears that the ‘contagious’ screech contact call plays a central role in kea vocal communication and social cohesion.

Is retirement beneficial or harmful to mental health?

Is retirement beneficial or harmful to mental health?

The effect of stallions on social interactions in domestic and semi feral harems

Earlier research indicates that stallions may supress interactions of their harem members, leading to less stable hierarchies and friendship bonds in harems compared to non-stallion groups. In this paper, the effect of the presense of a stallion on the social behaviour of mares was studied by comparing six harems containing stallions to four mixed sex groups not containing stallions. Both temporary and permanent harems were studied, giving the possibility to investigate the effect of group stability on social interactions.A significant linear hierarchy was found in all non-stallion groups that were used for comparison, while the hierarchies were only found to be linear in three of the six harems containing stallions (Landaus h′, p<0.05). Aggression rate was lower (t-test, p<0.05) and fewer friendship bonds (G-test, p<0.0001) were found within the harems, compared to the groups without stallions. Stallions seldom intervene directly in interactions between harem members. Thus, our results give support to the hypothesis that stallions may suppress interactions of harem members, but in a more indirect way than with direct interference. In addition, our results give support for earlier findings that aggression rate may be affected by group stability. We found a higher aggression rate in the temporary harems compared to the permanent harems (Kruskal–Wallis, p<0.05) and in the temporary non-stallion group compared to the permanent non-stallion group. The results have significance for further research on social structure of mammals, and may be applied in management of domestic animals.

Temporary Auxiliary Partial Orthotopic Liver Transplantation Using a Small Graft for Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy

Donor shortage is a major issue in liver transplantation. We have successfully performed temporary auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation (APOLT) using a small volume graft procured from a living donor for recipients with familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP). The aim of this study was to evaluate this procedure by comparing it with standard living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). We compared 13 recipients undergoing this procedure with 23 recipients undergoing a standard LDLT for the treatment of FAP. The estimated donor graft volume and the graft volume/recipient's standard liver volume ratio were significantly smaller in the temporary APOLT group than in the standard LDLT group. Postoperative complications were comparable, although the hospital stay was longer in the temporary APOLT group. All the patients safely underwent a remnant native liver resection about 2 months after their first operation in the temporary APOLT group. No symptoms related to FAP developed before the remnant liver resection, and no significant differences in graft and patient survival were observed between the two groups. We successfully performed temporary APOLT using a small volume liver graft without postoperative liver failure for FAP. Temporary APOLT for FAP might be a useful alternative procedure for expanding the donor pool for LDLT.

Consensus statement of the ESICM task force on colloid volume therapy in critically ill patients: editors’ reply to Zacharowski et al.

Dear Dr. Zacharowski and Colleagues, Through the promotion of education, research and professional development, scientific societies have an extremely important role in the community of clinicians and scientists. A scientific society also has a political role in representing the particular concerns and interests of the medical community in its relationships with governmental entities. The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) accomplishes these tasks with special focus on the educational task. Several initiatives serve this purpose, including the production of recommendations and guidelines through the activity of task forces, working groups and the Systematic Review Group. The latter two are permanent entities. Task forces are temporary groups of experts with resources to accomplish a specific objective, namely the production of consensus-based recommendations on specific issues in collaboration with international associations. Zacharowski et al. [1] commented on the recently published consensus statement of the ESICM Task Force on colloid volume therapy in critically ill patients [2]. Dr. Reinhart and colleagues [3] in their reply reported the criteria and process adopted for the composition of their task force, explaining that the selection criteria clearly take account of the 11 recommendations of the Guidelines International Network [4]. In agreement with this concept, task forces are validated by the ESICM, provided that the methodology is robust and conflicts of interest clearly disclosed. Dr. Zacharowski and colleagues also expressed concern regarding the apparent shortness of the editorial process at Intensive Care Medicine, with the approval of the submitted article within 48 h. This aspect needs clarification. The article produced by the task force coordinated by Dr. Reinhart, like any other article proposed to the ESICM for endorsement, was peer-reviewed by various independent referees before being approved. The article as published was revised and corrected by the authors following the suggestions of three reviewers, and only after that was it endorsed. The Editor-in-Chief of the journal and the Chair of the Editorial and Publishing Committee acted together, and the reviewers were chosen jointly. Only after having received endorsement by the ESICM was the article submitted officially to the journal. In such cases the editorial office may require additional revisions or accept as valid the comments of the reviewers chosen for the endorsement process. This is a summary of the process applied to the article before it was accepted apparently within 2 days.

Multilevel Societies of Female Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Atlantic and Pacific: Why Are They So Different?

We can examine the evolution of multilevel societies using comparative studies. Intraspecific comparisons are valuable because confounding factors are reduced. Female sperm whales live in multilevel societies. However, studies at several locations have found substantial and consistent differences in social structure between the eastern Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, even though nuclear DNA shows no significant differentiation between the populations. In the Pacific, female sperm whales live in nearly permanent social units that typically contain about 11 females and immatures of multiple unrelated matrilines. These units form temporary groups with other units for periods of days, apparently exclusively with other units from the same cultural clan. Clans contain thousands of females, are not distinct in nuclear DNA, but are sympatric and have distinctive culturally determined vocalizations and movement patterns. In the North Atlantic social units rarely group with other units, and there is no evidence for sympatric cultural clans. Possible drivers of these contrasts include oceanographic differences, predation, the effects of whaling, and culture. We suggest that protection against predation by killer whales is the primary reason for grouping in the Pacific, and as killer whales do not seem such a threat in the Atlantic, social units there rarely form groups, and have not evolved the clans that primarily function to structure interunit interactions. This analysis highlighted several factors that may influence the evolution of multilevel societies, ranging from the attributes of resources, to predation, anthropogenic effects, culture, and even the cultures of other species.

Operatic flash mob: Consumer arousal, connectedness and emotion

ABSTRACTThis study examines the influence of an operatic flash mob on consumer behaviour and consumer experience in a public market. A field experiment was conducted to assess the impact of operatic music on consumers' emotions and connectedness in three conditions: spontaneous live music (flash mob), recorded music, and no music. We analyse audience responses to the shopping experience in all three conditions, with particular focus on temporary group formation and felt emotion. Results show that the flash mob enhanced consumer arousal, connectedness and positive emotions, as well as consumer‐to‐consumer interaction. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Cyanoacetamide-based oxime carbonates: an efficient, simple alternative for the introduction of Fmoc with minimal dipeptide formation

Nowadays, most peptides are chemically achieved by using the Fmoc/tBu protection strategy, due to its fully orthogonal character, mild temporary group removal and resin cleavage steps. However, its introduction into N-unprotected amino acids is not exempt of synthetic inconveniences, such as dipeptide formation. Lately, novel oxime carbonates were introduced in the arsenal of reagents for the introduction of Fmoc, presenting almost negligible percentage of side-products. Herein, an enforced version of this family of Fmoc-carbonates is presented, containing stable and highly acidic cyanoacetamide-based oximes as leaving group. Such reactive species, affordable in only two steps from simple, readily available starting materials, show unusual ability to obtain the corresponding Fmoc-protected residues in high yield and minimal impact of detrimental side-products, mainly Fmoc-dipeptides.

Task and relationship conflict in short‐term and long‐term groups

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the triple interaction of task conflict, emotion regulation and group temporariness on the emergence of relationship conflict.Design/methodology/approachA field study was conducted to test the interaction of emotion regulation and task conflict on the emergence of relationship conflict in 43 short‐term (temporary) groups and 44 long‐term groups.FindingsThe results show that the highest chance for task conflict to evolve into relationship conflict is when groups (both short‐term and long‐term) have less effective emotion regulation processes, while task and relationship conflict are rather decoupled in long‐term groups scoring high on emotion regulation.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper concludes with a discussion of the obtained results in terms of their implications for conflict management in groups. Further research should explore the moderation effects in longitudinal studies in order to fully test the variables in the model.Originality/valueThe paper answers the call for contingency models of intra‐group conflict and tests the moderating effect of two such contingencies in the relationship between task and relationship conflict.

Efficacy of temporary lower punctal occlusion in enhancing pupil dilation after 1% tropicamide instillation

Background: Pupil dilatation is essential for complete fundoscopic examinations and some eye surgeries. Whether temporary punctual occlusion will enhance the magnitude of pupillary dilation is not known. Objectives: We measured the pupil diameter after one drop of 1% tropicamide instillation with and without temporary punctal occlusion at 0 and 30 min in the same patient. Methods: Ninety-eight eyes from 49 patients at the Department of Ophthalmology, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital were randomized into temporary punctal occlusion group (group 1) and simple closure group (group 2) after instillation one drop of 1% tropicamide in both eyes. Pupil diameters were photographed and measured before starting the drop and again 30 minutes later for each patient. Results: At 30 minutes the mean pupil sizes of group 1 and group 2 were 3.92±1.53 mm and 3.83±1.43 mm, respectively. The mean difference of pupillary dilatation in group 1 was 2.75±1.94 mm whereas group 2 was 3.19±1.77 mm. The difference between the two group was statistically significant but not clinically important (p = 0.001) (95%CI (-0.69)-(-0.18)). Conclusions: Temporary punctal occlusion could enhance pupil dilation after one drop of 1% tropicamide instillation within 30 minutes. The degree of dilatation was not clinically important. Additional doses of 1% tropicamide or combination preparation will be required for clinically adequate mydriasis. Keywords: Eyelid, punctal, pupil, tear, 1% tropicamide

Efficacy of temporary lower punctal occlusion in enhancing pupil dilation after 1% tropicamide instillation

Background: Pupil dilatation is essential for complete fundoscopic examinations and some eye surgeries. Whether temporary punctual occlusion will enhance the magnitude of pupillary dilation is not known. Objectives: We measured the pupil diameter after one drop of 1% tropicamide instillation with and without temporary punctal occlusion at 0 and 30 min in the same patient. Methods: Ninety-eight eyes from 49 patients at the Department of Ophthalmology, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital were randomized into temporary punctal occlusion group (group 1) and simple closure group (group 2) after instillation one drop of 1% tropicamide in both eyes. Pupil diameters were photographed and measured before starting the drop and again 30 minutes later for each patient. Results: At 30 minutes the mean pupil sizes of group 1 and group 2 were 3.92±1.53 mm and 3.83±1.43 mm, respectively. The mean difference of pupillary dilatation in group 1 was 2.75±1.94 mm whereas group 2 was 3.19±1.77 mm. The difference between the two group was statistically significant but not clinically important (p = 0.001) (95%CI (-0.69)-(-0.18)). Conclusions: Temporary punctal occlusion could enhance pupil dilation after one drop of 1% tropicamide instillation within 30 minutes. The degree of dilatation was not clinically important. Additional doses of 1% tropicamide or combination preparation will be required for clinically adequate mydriasis. Keywords: Eyelid, punctal, pupil, tear, 1% tropicamide

Team Scaffolds: How Mesolevel Structures Enable Role-Based Coordination in Temporary Groups

This paper shows how mesolevel structures support effective coordination in temporary groups. Prior research on coordination in temporary groups describes how roles encode individual responsibilities so that coordination between relative strangers is possible. We extend this research by introducing key tenets from team effectiveness research to theorize when role-based coordination might be more or less effective. We develop these ideas in a multimethod study of a hospital emergency department (ED) redesign. Before the redesign, people coordinated in ad hoc groupings, which provided flexibility because any nurse could work with any doctor, but these groupings were limited in effectiveness because people were not accountable to each other for progress, did not have shared understanding of their work, and faced interpersonal risks when reaching out to other roles. The redesign introduced new mesolevel structures that bounded a set of roles (rather than a set of specific individuals, as in a team) and gave them collective responsibility for a whole task. We conceptualized the mesolevel structures as team scaffolds and found that they embodied the logic of both role and team structures. The team scaffolds enabled small-group interactions to take the form of an actual team process with team-level prioritizing, updating, and helping, based on newfound accountability, overlapping representations of work, and belonging—despite the lack of stable team composition. Quantitative data revealed changes to the coordination patterns in the ED (captured through a two-mode network) after the team scaffolds were implemented and showed a 40% improvement in patient throughput time.

The dynamics of group formation among leeches.

Leeches exploring a new environment continuously meet each other and merge in temporary groups. After 2–3 h, leeches become attracted to each other eventually forming a large and stable group. When their number is reduced, leeches remain solitary, behaving independently. Group formation is facilitated by body injection of serotonin (5-HT) and the level of endogenous 5-HT is elevated in leeches forming a large group. In contrast, intravenous injection of 5-HT antagonists prevented injected leeches from joining a large group of conspecifics. When sensilla near the head were ablated or the supraesophageal ganglion disconnected, leeches remained solitary, but explored the environment swimming and crawling. These results suggest that group formation is initiated by a release of 5-HT triggered by sensilla stimulation and its dynamics can be explained by the establishment of a reinforcement dynamics, as observed during human group formation. As 5-HT affects social interactions also in humans, group formation in leeches and humans share a similar dynamics and hormonal control.

Detecting Communities in Sparse MANETs

In sparse mobile ad hoc networks, placement of services and data is crucial to assure their availability to all nodes because sparse population of nodes can lead to (frequent) network partitions. If these dynamic networks display a fairly stable cluster structure, it is possible to utilize this structure to improve service and data availability. However, clustering in a dynamic network is a very challenging task due to the ever-changing topology and irregular density of such a network. In this paper, we investigate clustering of dynamic networks with the help of community detection mechanisms, using only topology information from the local routing table. The main aim of our approach is to reduce to “zero” the communication overhead needed for cluster management and to dynamically adapt to the size and layout of the network. We have performed extensive experiments to evaluate the consistency, quality, and stability of the clustering returned by our algorithms. The results show that our nonintrusive clustering indeed discovers temporary groups of nodes that form stable clusters in the network. Moreover, even though the local routing tables in general reflect slightly diverging topologies, our results still show only small differences between the communities detected at different nodes.

When groups fall apart: the Donner Party disaster

Purpose – The Donner expedition to California in 1846‐1847 is one of the darkest tales of the great migrations west. While much has been written about the tragedy, a group analysis based on business research has not been undertaken. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the story of the Donner Party is primarily a group failure, with implications for practicing managers employing temporary groups in uncertain situations.Design/methodology/approach – Group theories concerning the nature of temporary work groups, interdependence, diversity, social identity, and leadership are employed to explain how negative group processes likely contributed to the disaster.Findings – Based on books and a film about the incident, the Donner Party suffered a social breakdown based on: the changing nature of the goals of the expedition in mid‐course, which is difficult for temporary teams to handle; destructive forms of diversity based on cultural background and social status; and a lack of critical skills and effecti...

Click to Join Peptides/Proteins Together

Copper(I) is able to catalyze Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition in a "click" fashion. This copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction presents excellent chemoselectivity and occurs over a wide-range of reaction conditions. It shows tolerance to variation in both pH and solvent polarity, thereby facilitating the ligation of peptides and proteins to produce peptidomimetics and synthetic proteins. In addition, the only product formed is a 1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazole moiety, in many aspects resembling the natural peptide bond, including hydrogen-bonding capability, planarity, distance between the 1 and 4 substituents, and conformational restriction of the peptide backbone; thus the triazole-backbone-modified peptide, in which a triazole replaces the amide bond, may be anticipated to present a secondary structure similar to that of its natural counterpart. This Focus Review describes the scope and applications of copper(I)-catalyzed alkyne–azide cycloaddition in synthetic peptide/protein chemistry.

Facilitating Trust Building in Networks: A Study from the Water Technology Industry

This paper analyses how action researchers can facilitate trust building processes in inter-firm networks and develops a framework for network development. A longitudinal case study of developing a regional network of water technology SMEs constitutes the empirical base. The paper argues that researchers can directly facilitate processes with a capacity to build two types of trust in different phases of network development, both characteristic-based and process-based trust. The findings indicate that processes to build characteristic-based trust can be facilitated through dialogue processes in temporary groups at network meetings. Processes to build process-based trust are stimulated by practical inter-firm teamwork. Furthermore, there seems to be a mutually reinforcing relationship between these two forms of trust formation, which can be influenced by action researchers. When the level of trust has reached a point of critical mass, new-coming firms seem to jump quickly through characteristic-based trust towards a relatively high level of process-based trust.

Application of valplast dentures in the temporary restoration of single missing anterior tooth

To evaluate the value of valplast dentures in the temporary restoration of single missing anterior tooth. Totally 76 patients who needed temporary restoration of single missing anterior tooth were involved and equally divided into two groups according to their own choices of procedures: group A, with valplast dentures as their temporary dentures and group B, with conventional removable partial dentures as their temporary dentures. Meanwhile,38 patients who had their single anterior teeth pulled out and did not need temporary dentures were enrolled as control group without any temporary restoration, and impressions were taken immediately before the temporary dentures were used (2 weeks after tooth extraction) and before the initiation of permanent restorations (97-100 days after tooth extraction).The heights of clinical crowns of the adjacent teeth were also recorded twice from plaster models made from the impressions.The height of labial gingiva recession was calculated as the difference between the two heights recorded. The height differences of clinical crowns of the adjacent teeth was 0.5mm (range: 0.0-1.2mm) in group A, which was significantly larger than those in group B [0.0mm;(range: 0.0-0.6mm)](P<0.05) and in group C[0.0mm;(range: 0.0-0.4mm)](P<0.05).However, the difference was not significant between group B and group C (P>0.05). Application of valplast denture as temporary denture may cause labial gingival recession of the adjacent teeth, and therefore is not suitable for the restoration of single missing anterior tooth.

Regioselective Semihydrogenation of Dienes

A one-pot, three-step strategy for the regioselective semihydrogenation of dienes is described. This procedure uses 9-BBN-H as a temporary protective group for alkenes. Yields range from 55% to 95%, and the reaction is tolerant of a variety of common functional groups. Additionally, the final elimination step of the sequence can be replaced with a peroxide-mediated alkylborane oxidation, generating regioselectively semihydrogenated product alcohols.

Comparison of two in vitro gonadotrophin priming protocols in maturation treatment of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome

Objective To compare the therapeutic effect of two Methods of in vitro oocyte maturation (IVM) technology with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients in infertility treatment.Methods Retrospective analysis was performed on patients with PCOS infertility who were stimulated with two different kinds of stimulating method of the IVM cycle in our center during April 2010 and August 2010.There were 20 patients in the temporary FSH stimulating group (group A) and 31 patients in the HCG stimulating group (group B).The number of oocytes maturation rate,fertilization rate,cleavage rate,excellent embryo rate,implantation rate,pregnancy rate per oocyte recycle,pregnancy rate per transfer and abortion rate of transfer were compared.Results There was no significant difference between the two groups of age,duration of infertility,body mass index,based sex hormone levels by t test(P＞0.05).There was no significant difference between the two groups of the number of oocytes retrieved,oocyte maturation rate,cleavage rate,and abortion rate of transfer(P＞0.05).In group B,the fertilization rate was 80.3%,good-quality-embryo rate was 49.8%,implantation rate was 31.5%,pregnancy rate per oocyte recycle was 54.8%,which was significantly higher than in group A (73.9%,35.4%,12.5% and 25.0%,respectively).Conclusions If IVM was used to treat PCOS patients with infertility,HCG stimulating will be better than FSH stimulating,and it could result in a higher clinical pregnancy rate. Key words: Follicle stimulating hormone/AD; Chorionic gonadotropin/AD; Polycystic ovary syndrome/DT; Fertilization in vitro