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The dramatic expansion of internet communication tools has led to the increased use of temporary online groups to solve problems, provide services, or produce new knowledge. However, many of these groups need help to collaborate effectively. The rapid development of new tools and collaboration forms requires ongoing experimentation to develop and test new ways to support this novel form of teamwork. Building on research demonstrating the use of nudges to shape behavior, we report the results of an experiment to nudge teamwork in 168 temporary online groups randomly assigned to one of four different nudge treatments. Each nudge was designed to spur one of three targeted collaborative processes (collaborator skill use, effective task strategy, and the level of collective effort) demonstrated to enhance collective intelligence in extant research. Our results support the basic notion that digitally nudging collaborative processes can improve collective intelligence. However, to our surprise, a couple of nudges had unintended negative effects and ultimately decreased collective intelligence. We discuss our results using structured speculation to systematically consider the conditions under which we would or would not expect the same patterns to materialize in order to clearly articulate directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the moderating effects of efficacy beliefs and perceived indispensability on individual efforts in early-season collegiate swimming relays. Effort changes from swimmers' individual best times to relay-leg times were compared as a function of relay members' relative strength (i.e., fastest or slowest) and serial position (i.e., first or last leg). Participants (N = 199) were collegiate swimmers in 200, 400, or 800-yard freestyle relays at fall invitational meets providing 260 cases included for analysis. Individual lifetime best times, adjusted relay times, rank, serial position, and self-report measures (i.e., efficacy, perceived indispensability of their relay performance) were used for hierarchical multiple regressions. Results indicated that the slowest relay members came closer to their individual best times compared with their team members. The fastest members showed less effort change toward their individual best times than their team members. However, efficacy beliefs in one's teammates had a small positive moderating influence on the fastest members' effort in relay performances. Based on our results, we recommend Division II and III collegiate coaches not be too concerned with positional order by particular rank at early season invitationals; instead, focus on how to obtain the most effort from each relay member. However, the slowest swimmers may perform better if not positioned first. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims. The main objective of this study was to describe the profile of patients who were benefitted in a collective effort to perform liver biopsies in Bahia, Brazil.Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample composed of all the patients who were submitted to liver biopsy during a collective effort carried out in Bahia between July 2007 and November 2009. At the time of the procedure, data on the age and gender of patients and the reason for performing the biopsy were recorded. Data on the degree of fibrosis and the presence of co-morbidities. Following statistical analysis, the frequency of the liver diseases that led to the biopsy procedure was described, and the profile of the patients was stratified into groups according to the most prevalent etiologies.Results. Of the 550 patients evaluated, 55.3% were men and 44.7% women. Mean age was 46.63 ± 11.59 years and there was no statistically significant difference in age between males and females. Of the 550 patients, 72% had hepatitis C and the mean age of these patients was 48.49 ± 10.1 years, significantly higher than the mean age of the patients with hepatitis B (40.41 ± 12.43 years). Furthermore, 70.7% of the patients with hepatitis C were between 41 and 60 years of age. The most frequent fibrosis grade was F2 (44%) and the prevalence of advanced fibrosis was 27.7%. Overall, 85 patients, most of them men, had some degree of iron overload. With respect to the safety of the biopsy procedure, severe complications occurred in only two patients.Conclusion. Hepatitis C is the predominant liver disease that demanded liver biopsy. The profile of the patients who benefitted from this collective effort is similar to that of patients in the rest of the country. Moreover, non-Ultrasonography guided liver biopsy is safe and the collective effort to carry out liver biopsies in Bahia was found to be a viable venture.

The article focuses on foundations of Colorado which came together in 2013 to create Funders Learning Network on Early Childhood Mental Health, and mentions the network's initiatives and the challenges and lessons it learned.