Incidence of Listeria spp. in fish and environment of fish markets in Northern Greece

The incidence of Listeria spp. in the salt-water edible fish and in the environment of fish markets in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece was studied. One hundred and twenty raw/fresh fish bought at the fish markets of Thessaloniki (Northern Greece), were sampled and tested for presence of Listeria species using a two step enrichment procedure, followed by plating on two selective agars and subsequent biochemical identification of the isolates. Five fish samples were positive for Listeria spp. and in only one sample L. monocytogenes was detected. Also, 100 samples of knives, hands, boxes etc were sampled and 18 samples were positive for Listeria spp. and five for L. monocytogenes. L. innocua was more common being detected in four fish samples and 13 environmental samples. L. seeligeri was detected only in one environmental sample. Our findings indicate that only a few fish were contaminated with Listeria spp., while the level of contamination of the environment of fish markets was higher.     

Multi-view visualizations for emergency communities of volunteers

Information and communication technologies might empower emergency communities of volunteers by assisting community participation and improving their capacity to respond to unexpected events. However, designing technology for such purpose places unique visualization challenges that go beyond the current state of research on public participation tools and related technologies. Empowering these communities requires developing representations that enable collaborative reflection, promote mutual visibility of volunteers’ efforts and sustain a shared view of the community. Similarly, it is necessary to envision visualizations that facilitate sense making of large, simultaneous and distributed pieces of heterogeneous information with different levels of credibility and priority. Accordingly, this paper identifies and characterizes these challenges to propose a multi-view and multi-abstraction-level visualization approach for emergency communities of volunteers. In particular, it combines time-oriented visualizations, space-filling visualization techniques, interaction mechanisms and coordinated maps to support community participation as well as collaborative and individual sense making. The application of these visualization techniques is discussed through the development of a set of design prototypes.     

Conflict resolution effectiveness on the implementation efficiency and achievement of business objectives in IT programs: A study of IT vendors

ContextThe information technology (IT) field presents a unique context for the management of multiple projects because of the variety of stakeholders involved, the complexity of interdependencies among projects, and the frequent use of external vendors. In practice, IT vendors typically employ advanced project governance techniques such as program management to work effectively with the numbers and variety of clients while still pursuing the benefits of a single oversight. These structural features lend themselves to conflict across teams with individual requirements. However, little research exists on program management, much less in the IT context, that represents conflict across IT project teams.ObjectiveIn this study, the effectiveness of conflict resolution on the implementation efficiency and fulfillment of business objectives is studied through the lens of constructive controversy theories. A number of hypotheses are derived by tailoring the constructive conflict resolution concepts to IT context and making a comprehensive literature review to identify the mediator and dependent variables. A model is developed to consider the management of conflict across multiple projects combined into a single program.MethodA quantitative questionnaire related to the program environment was developed for five variables to include conflict resolution, cognition-based trust, interpersonal cooperation, business objectives and implementation efficiency. The hypotheses were tested by performing a survey study, where a number of well-established measures in the literature were used. 92 paired responses from program teams in 38 organizations located in India were obtained and represent a variety of individual characteristics, and program sizes.ResultsThis study identified the composite role of constructive conflict resolution and cognition-based trust in improving interpersonal cooperation. The impacts of constructive conflict resolution on business objectives were not fully mediated by cognition-based trust and interpersonal cooperation, although implementation efficiency is fully mediated.ConclusionThe management of conflict promotes trust and interpersonal cooperation necessary to improve the efficient completion of the program and benefits to the organization.     

Reflections on privacy,identity and consent in on-line services

The paper gives an overview of the evolution of the laws protecting personal data privacy in the UK over the last 30 years. Against this background, the author considers: the compromises to personal data privacy brought about by the electronic age; individual motivations for using e-services and the balance of risks and benefits; the place of identity management in e-transactions; and, the ways that data guardianship can be improved by an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of those responsible for personal data in organisations, data handlers and individual citizens. The conclusions reached are that once personal data has been recorded electronically it persists and the divide between public and private space is blurred. Citizens should retain rights to personal data including the right to be asked for their consent before it is shared or linked for commercial or administrative purposes. This puts a particular duty on government to behave (and be perceived to behave) responsibly and transparently with regard to the collection, use and disposal of personal data so as to create trust and support democracy.     

Biomedical applications of mRNA nanomedicine

As an attractive alternative to plasmid DNA, messenger RNA (mRNA) has recently emerged as a promising class of nucleic acid therapeutics for biomedical applications. Advances in addressing the inherent shortcomings of mRNA and in the development of nanoparticle-based delivery systems have prompted the development and clinical translation of mRNA-based medicines. In this review, we discuss the chemical modification strategies of mRNA to improve its stability, minimize immune responses, and enhance translational efficacy. We also highlight recent progress in nanoparticle-based mRNA delivery. Considerable attention is given to the increasingly widespread applications of mRNA nanomedicine in the biomedical fields of vaccination, protein-replacement therapy, gene editing, and cellular reprogramming and engineering.