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The number of additive manufacturing methods and materials is growing rapidly, leaving gaps in the knowledge of specific material properties. A relatively recent addition is the metal-filled filament to be printed similarly to the fused filament fabrication (FFF) technology used for plastic materials, but with additional debinding and sintering steps. While tensile, bending, and shear properties of metals manufactured this way have been studied thoroughly, their fatigue properties remain unexplored. Thus, the paper aims to determine the tensile, fatigue, and impact strengths of Markforged 17-4 PH and BASF Ultrafuse 316L stainless steel to answer whether the metal FFF can be used for structural parts safely with the current state of technology. They are compared to two 316L variants manufactured via selective laser melting (SLM) and literature results. For extrusion-based additive manufacturing methods, a significant decrease in tensile and fatigue strength is observed compared to specimens manufactured via SLM. Defects created during the extrusion and by the pathing scheme, causing a rough surface and internal voids to act as local stress risers, handle the strength decrease. The findings cast doubt on whether the metal FFF technique can be safely used for structural components; therefore, further developments are needed to reduce internal material defects.
The data presented here contain information on cheating behavior from experiments and general self-reported attitudes related to honesty-related social norms and trust, together with individual-level demographic variables. Our sample included 493 university students in five countries, namely, Germany, Vietnam, Taiwan, China, and Japan. The experiment was monetarily incentivized based on the performance on a matrix task. The participants also answered a survey questionnaire. The dataset is valuable for academic researchers in sociology, psychology, and economics who are interested in honesty, norms, and cultural differences.
The concept of Circular Economy (CE) is becoming increasingly important in the pursuit of more sustainable societies. CE strategies are being applied in the sustainable management of a plethora of areas, such as energy, water, food and eco-industrial parks. The present paper focuses on the question of how CE principles can support the sustainable management of water in the agricultural sector around the world, considering different legislative environments, water resources management guidelines, environmental stressors, and CE practices. Considering these practices and circumstances, seven countries were compared: Brazil, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, and Taiwan. Together, CE experts in the seven countries developed a set of 44 criteria to assess each of these areas. Broader establishment and respect of water resources legislation was found to be strongly correlated with lower agricultural water use. While the application of CE practices was found to not be correlated with lower consumption, this is still novel in most countries. Based on the studied countries, it can be concluded that a global CE agenda has not been reached for water resources. Further application and variety of practices is required to better represent the impact of CE on a national scale, but local success stories could support the wider application of CE in agriculture. The findings and the framework of the study can be applied to other countries in directing CE strategies for more sustainable water use in agriculture. Increasing CE implementation, motivated by legislation and better management can help ensure water security throughout nations.
Die umlagefinanzierte gesetzliche Rentenversicherung kann angesichts der demografischen Entwicklung eine auskömmliche Versorgung im Alter bald nicht mehr sichern. Indem die Bürger:innen über eine kapitalgedeckte Alterssicherung am Unternehmensvermögen mittelbar beteiligt werden, könnte die Rentenlücke zumindest teilweise geschlossen werden. Das Unternehmensvermögen sollte bei einem neuen Reformanlauf auch vollständig in die Erbschaftsteuer einbezogen werden; dabei darf aber der Fortbestand der Unternehmen nicht gefährdet werden. Die Erbschaftsteuer auf Unternehmensvermögen könnte dabei als Finanzierungsquelle für eine kapitalgedeckte Altersgrundsicherung dienen.
Background: In recent years, the volume of medical knowledge and health data has increased rapidly. For example, the increased availability of electronic health records (EHRs) provides accurate, up-to-date, and complete information about patients at the point of care and enables medical staff to have quick access to patient records for more coordinated and efficient care. With this increase in knowledge, the complexity of accurate, evidence-based medicine tends to grow all the time. Health care workers must deal with an increasing amount of data and documentation. Meanwhile, relevant patient data are frequently overshadowed by a layer of less relevant data, causing medical staff to often miss important values or abnormal trends and their importance to the progression of the patient’s case.
Objective: The goal of this work is to analyze the current laboratory results for patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and classify which of these lab values could be abnormal the next time the test is done. Detecting near-future abnormalities can be useful to support clinicians in their decision-making process in the ICU by drawing their attention to the important values and focus on future lab testing, saving them both time and money. Additionally, it will give doctors more time to spend with patients, rather than skimming through a long list of lab values.
Methods: We used Structured Query Language to extract 25 lab values for mechanically ventilated patients in the ICU from the MIMIC-III and eICU data sets. Additionally, we applied time-windowed sampling and holding, and a support vector machine to fill in the missing values in the sparse time series, as well as the Tukey range to detect and delete anomalies. Then, we used the data to train 4 deep learning models for time series classification, as well as a gradient boosting–based algorithm and compared their performance on both data sets.
Results: The models tested in this work (deep neural networks and gradient boosting), combined with the preprocessing pipeline, achieved an accuracy of at least 80% on the multilabel classification task. Moreover, the model based on the multiple convolutional neural network outperformed the other algorithms on both data sets, with the accuracy exceeding 89%.
Conclusions: In this work, we show that using machine learning and deep neural networks to predict near-future abnormalities in lab values can achieve satisfactory results. Our system was trained, validated, and tested on 2 well-known data sets to ensure that our system bridged the reality gap as much as possible. Finally, the model can be used in combination with our preprocessing pipeline on real-life EHRs to improve patients’ diagnosis and treatment.
Der Automobilhandel befindet sich in einer momentanen Phase des Umbruchs. Der Trend zum Kauferlebnis online, verstärkt durch die Pandemie, und die durch die Dieselproblematik entfachte Diskussion zum Emissionsausstoß und Fahrverboten für Verbrennungsmotoren im Fahrzeugbereich, treibt den Wandel zu elektrischen Antriebstechnologien an. Durch diese Umstellung ergeben sich neue Möglichkeiten für das Fahrzeug im Bereich der Digitalisierung. Die branchenübergreifende Digitalisierung findet sich auch in den neuen Vertriebssystemen der Automobilhersteller wieder. Hierbei ist zudem eine Veränderung der Absatzkanäle zu beobachten. Der Kunde weicht beim Autokauf davon ab, exklusiv zu dem Händler seines Vertrauens zu gehen und sich hier durch den gesamten Verkaufsprozess hinweg betreuen zu lassen. Vielmehr verschieben sich einzelne Teilbereiche in das Internet. So müssen etablierte Prozesse neugestaltet werden, um weiterhin im Markt und im Wettbewerb bestehen zu können.
Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Beantwortung zweier Forschungsfragen. Zum einen soll der Status-Quo der Digitalisierung von Vertriebsinstrumenten im Autohaus untersucht werden. Konkret geht es dabei um die Frage, in welcher Art und Weise die Digitalisierung den Vertrieb beeinflusst und welche Effekte sich daraus ergeben. Zum anderen stellt sich die Frage wie die Digitalisierung in Form des Internets, als Absatzkanal für die Automobilindustrie geeignet ist, und ob derart komplexe Produkte wie ein Neufahrzeug über diesen Kanal abgesetzt werden können. Weiterhin soll betrachtet werden, welche Veränderungen in den Vertriebsstrukturen das beim stationären Autohändler verursacht.
Die Arbeit befasst sich ausschließlich mit der Digitalisierung bei Vertragshändlern mit Volumenzielen im Neuwagen-Bereich. Damit sind die Luxus- oder Premiummarken ausgeschlossen. Außerdem wird im Autohaus in zwei Kundenkategorien unterschieden. Es gibt die Großabnehmer und die Einzelkunden. Die Großabnehmer sind Unternehmen, die durch eine vordefinierte Anzahl an Mindestabnahmen einen besonderen Status und Konditionen genießen. Die Einzelkunden sind private Abnehmer oder gewerbliche Kunden, die die Mindestabnahme nicht erreichen. Die Arbeit beschränkt sich ausschließlich auf die Analyse und Auswirkungen der Veränderungen im Segment der Einzelkunden.
The future of German pharmacy business models with retail clinics as USP against online pharmacies
(2022)
Purpose: This study aims to discuss the chances of in-store pharmacies through in-store health services, e. g. vaccinations or Covid-19 tests, in Germany. As a result, retail clinics could lead to a USP against online pharmacies. Additionally, the study will show how possible retail clinics could look like and how the acceptance in the population is.
Research Methodology: To conduct the survey, Google Forms was used together with MS Excel for the analysis. Various studies were reviewed, and care was taken to work as closely as possible to practice and its figures from e. g. associations, companies, or statista.
Results: The launch of retail clinics could give German stationary pharmacies a new boost and differentiate them from online pharmacies on the market. Pharmaceutical services are in great demand among the population, hopefully, the legal framework will soon be in place, and the proper services will have to be offered to be able to fully generate the large sales potential.
Discussion and Conclusion: The study only points to a general overview of how health services can help store pharmacies in the competition with online pharmacies in Germany. Yet there are also other possible USPs for store pharmacies, which are not concluded in that study. In addition, the legal framework under which pharmacies operate must be analyzed in detail by legal experts to obtain a precise overview of what is possible for pharmacies in the area of pharmaceutical services and retail clinics. The study is useful for pharmacists, business economists in general as well as in health care management.
The objective of this study is to allow a better understanding of the role of industry 4.0 technologies, especially filament extrusion technology in the reduction of costs, environmental impact, energy consumption, and the possibility to expand the range of printable materials. The study focuses on the desktop Filament Extruders available in the market now, where these machines are assessed and future possible modifications for these apparatuses are presented. The research leading to the publication of this study consists of a review of the existing literature, in addition, information from different extruders manufacturers’ websites has been used. The study has demonstrated that the extrusion of material at home is still not an exact science, and the process ends up costing the user large sums of money over time. However, there are still limitations to the use of this technology such as the lack of standardized extrusion settings, the necessity of pre-drying the pellets, and the complexity of the extruder cleaning process after each use.
Implementation strategies of a modern showroom concept for retailers with a wide range of products
(2022)
This paper suggests a new business model based on modern technology for retail. In the age of digitalization, stationary retail is losing market shares to online retail. Therefore, there is an obvious need for change in businesses. The concept developed in this paper combines the strengths of online and stationary retail to benefit stationary retail. In the approach taken in this paper, the basis for change is modern technology. Finding innovative ways to use technologies like NFC, AI, and robotics is regarded as the key factor to sustainable success. As the implementation of modern technologies entails a particular investment, the customers’ opinion on structural changes like these has been included in the consideration. Therefore, a survey has been conducted to find out which level of innovation current customers are willing to accept thus emphasizing the need for certain changes and dissuading specific others. The result of this paper is the modern showroom concept which takes the customers’ opinion into account while implementing the right amount of technology that should pave the way to a sustainable future for stationary retail.
Railroads, roads, rivers, and airways are the most common modes of transportation for people and commodities. The cost of different ways of transportation varies according to distance, luxury, size, fragility, and other factors. When the following factors are accounted for, the vehicle might become prohibitively expensive for many individuals. A new means of conveyance has been developed. Elon Musk initially proposed it as the fifth mode of transportation in 2012. For commuters and goods, Hyperloop offers a quick and cost-effective way of transportation. The Hyperloop is essentially a vacuum tube train that transports people or products at incredible speeds while efficiently. Compared to traditional forms of transportation, the Hyperloop is ideal since it is highly energy-efficient, quiet, and self-contained. Increased cargo delivery speeds will be the most evident benefit of this idea to the industry. Hyperloop also has the potential to make a significant contribution to green supply chains. It is a carbon-free form of transportation that has changed inland freight transportation and maritime and air freight transit. It can move freight below, above ground, and under-water. The aim of this paper is to explain this new innovative technology as a development for logistic concepts.
Value-based controlling & international accounting
of Economic Value Added (EVA) – An overview
(2022)
This paper will discuss an important target variable in value-based management: the Economic Value Added (or EVA). EVA is a measure of a company's financial performance based on the residual wealth calculated by deducting its cost of capital from its operting profit, adjusted for taxes on a cash basis. EVA can also be referred to as economic profit, as it attempts to capture the true economic profit of a company. This measure was devised by management consulting firm Stern Value Management, originally incorporated as Stern Stewart & Co. This research will also discuss adjustments and different types of assumptions that are necessary for the calculation as well as how to use them properly to obtain an interpretable result. Paper will explain the formula and which conversions should be considered. It remains to be noted that the EVA concept only leads to small progress from a scientific point of view, but that the clever marketing by Stern & Stewart has initiated a renaissance of the underlying residual profit concept. The paper provides practitioners and academics with a good overview of the demonstrable added value of EVA controlling and, in contrast, also illustrates the weaknesses of the calculation model or the inaccuracy due to interpretation variables, which overall limit the value of EVA as a management key performance indicator. The research includes comprehensive and substantial discussion in the scientific literature on EVA and its interpretation.
In 2019 at IBM, it was found that there is a strong dependence on a few large banks in bank sales, and the growth targets of the sales division cannot be achieved due to the existing business with these same customers. To counteract this dependency, an NCA-specific sales team for the banking industry was established to support small and medium-sized banks with personal commitment and expertise and to develop them into long-term business partners of IBM. This research focuses on the development of a performance measurement system for NCA-Sales teams. It postulates the hypothesis that more effective and better-suited performance measurement systems can be developed for NCA-Sales of information technology towards financial institutions. Authors use the methodology of expert interviews and Mayrings qualitative content analysis to gain insights into the relevant factors that need to be considered when evaluating the performance of such sales teams. The paper identifies stakeholders, challenges, and goals that should be integrated into a performance measurement system as well as KPIs to measure them. The results are being consolidated into a conceptual sketch for an NCA-sales optimized PMS. The paper distinguishes itself from other research through an approach that gives detailed guidance for the practical implementation of its findings. The research was conducted with professionals in the IT sector; however, all of them were working for the same company, and the data was collected in the short span of one week as it was part of a research. The outcome can be used for further studies on how to effectively measure performance in NCA-Sales teams.
This scientific paper aimed to examine workplace stressors and factors influencing the Work-Life-Balance of nursing staff to understand potential factors and challenges. The Covid-19-pandemic has only again demonstrated the importance of sufficient and well-educated nursing staff. To ensure this, it is also important to consider the well-being of the nurses, because this influences their job performance, the turnover rate and the number of sick employees. To examine the workplace stressors and the Work-Life-Balance of nursing staff, different theoretical approaches and study findings are taken under consideration to determine their influence on the perceived stress of employees in general and nurses in particular and also the importance of a healthy Work-Life-Balance. The study was conducted by the Declaration of Helsinki and Tokyo. Many different factors make the job as a nurse potentially more stressful than for example administrative occupations. Moreover, there are plenty of difficulties for a healthy Work-Life-Balance for nursing staff and also potential negative effects resulting from a poor Work-Life-Balance or a high amount of workplace stressors. It can be concluded that a solution approach for the workplace stressors and a better Work-Life-Balance can only be reached if the employer and the employees work together to decrease the amount of stress, to offer and learn better mechanisms to cope with stress and to incorporate ways to ensure a better Work-Life-Balance.
Purpose: In this article, the canvas used to simplify business modeling of a platform and its visual depiction are put into the entrepreneurial context, and critically reflected accordingly. Furthermore, it is discussed to what extent the canvas is advantageous, disadvantageous, applicable, not applicable, or even contradictory.
Methodology: The analysis is based on theoretical research. Additionally, qualitative interviews with business founders were conducted.
Results: The results conclude that the canvas employed to ease the business model sharpening process supplies founders with essential aspects to cover, yet they are part of a large set of factors that play in.
Conclusion: The limitations of this study are rooted in the chosen research design based on the conceptual review.
Objective: In this article, the methods used to simplify the business modelling and founding of new companies are presented and critically reflected. Furthermore, it is discussed to what extent a specific method is advantageous, disadvantageous, applicable, not applicable, or even contradictory.
Methodology: The theoretical analysis is underpinned by a qualitative interview study asking company founders about applying the methods mentioned above. The work is based on scientific papers and books and is complemented by the data originating from a specially designed study.
Findings: The results conclude that business model founding instruments provide strategic guidelines favouring entrepreneurs, yet they turn out to be minor in its real-life significance as numerous factors rooted in different fields of expertise play in.
Value Added: The added value of this paper is in the elaboration of efficiency bringing and risk-minimizing components of the methods, respectively. Accordingly, managers and entrepreneurs of all industries are intended to be equipped with sufficient information content that eases the decision for or against one of the methods as realistic expectations considering the application are likely to emerge.
Recommendations: The limitations of this study are rooted in the chosen qualitative research since every interviewee is a subject to their individual perception.
The following paper aims to find out consumers' expectations and attitudes towards the innovation "Metaverse". It will also be explored which role the Meta Group plays in mass adaption and how the company influences consumers' possible use and opinion on the project. These results are connected to the fashion industry, further exploring new types of products and a possible distribution channel. Therefore, this study is useful to developers of Metaverses and AR/VR products, the Meta Group, and fashion companies. The main results of this research are: Meta and the Metaverse are seen as critical, the required technology has not yet reached mainstream use, but interest is present. Digital fashion had participants divided, some not willing to spend any money and some already having spent over 100€, although the Metaverse's influence on future purchases is little. The Metaverse could serve as a new distribution channel for clothing products. To conduct this research Google Forms was used. The research is classified as survey-based. The biggest limitation is the nonexistence of the Metaverse as envisioned by Meta, making it hard for participants to answer some of the questions asked.
This research paper discusses how RFID technology could improve current deposit bottle logistic processes in food retailing and which obstacles impede successful implementations. Research Methodology include desk research: Library, EBSCOhost, wiso.net, Google Scholar, Scientific Journals, Statista, SpringerLink. Implementation of RFID is potentially beneficial, but same obstacles remain outlook. To validate the conclusion further studying and practical proof of concept are necessary. Contributions: supply chain management, return logistics, food retail, beverage industry
Global vernetzte Supply Chains (SC) führen bei den Unternehmen zu geringeren Kosten, aber zugleich erhöhen diese auch die Abhängigkeit ggü. den Lieferanten und die Störanfälligkeit der SCs wird erhöht. In den vergangenen Jahren haben zudem die Unsicherheiten für die SCs stark zugenommen. Treiber waren hier u.a. der Brexit, Handelskonflikte oder auch die Corona-Pandemie. In diesem Zusammenhang steht verstärkt die Entwicklung neuer SC-Strategien im Fokus der Unternehmen. Dabei wird stark auf die Verbesserung der Resilienz der SCs geachtet, um dadurch u.a. die Risiken für die SCs zu reduzieren. Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit den Auswirkungen steigender Unsicherheiten auf das Design sowie die Resilienz von SCs und hat das Ziel zu ermitteln, ob es Änderungen in der SC bedarf, um auf die Auswirkungen steigender Unsicherheiten zu reagieren und wie die Resilienz zukünftig sichergestellt werden kann (Trade-off zwischen Resilienz und Kosteneffizienz). Im Rahmen der Untersuchung erfolgte eine qualitative Forschung in Form von Experteninterviews, da so u.a. spezifische Meinungen oder auch Begründungen und Einstellungen von bestimmten Personen zu den vorliegenden Thematiken ermittelt werden können. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Kosten weiterhin meist der entscheidende Aspekt sind und es mehr Transparenz, Flexibilität sowie ein besseres Risikomanagement nötig ist. Des Weiteren bedarf es zukünftig u.a. einer größeren Berücksichtigung von Unsicherheiten, eine Erhöhung von Sicherheitsbeständen sowie eine Verringerung der Komplexität der SCs und u.U. mehr Local Sourcing. Es empfiehlt sich eine weitere Untersuchung hinsichtlich der Kosten, die durch Resilienz-Instrumente sowie durch fehlende Resilienz entstehen können, durchzuführen.
This scientific paper aims to collect and analyze various digital technologies connected to pharmacies and Health 4.0. Thus, the goal is to give basic recommendations for actions for pharmacies to remain successful businesses in the digital future of healthcare. While the total health sector is growing continuously, the total number of pharmacies is shrinking. To be able to face the competitive pressure on the pharmaceutical market, pharmacies have to integrate more efficient digital technologies to be able to increase customers’ experience. Hence, the acceptance and attitude of the German society towards digital health solutions are examined using a short survey and a precise questionnaire. After a detailed analysis of the survey results and the questionnaire answered by a pharmacist, specific digital methods and technologies which make sense for pharmacies can be elaborated. As the future of pharmacies is still quite unexplored, while the health market is shifting to more efficient digital solutions, pharmacies have to adapt to current developments fast. Therefore, this paper can serve as a guideline for pharmacies in the rapid changes toward more digital markets.
Die vorliegende Ausarbeitung beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, ob weibliche Führungskräfte aufgrund spezieller Führungskompetenzen auf den langfristigen Unternehmenserfolg einzahlen. Besondere Beachtung findet hierbei der Faktor der Emotionalen Intelligenz. Nach wie vor ist der Anteil weiblicher Führungskräfte auf deutschen Managementebenen auffallend gering. Um ein Verständnis für die Hintergründe dieser Thematik zu entwickeln, werden zunächst die Ursachen geschlechtsbedingter Differenzierungen erläutert. Die wesentlichen Erkenntnisse entstammen dem Bereich der Geschlechterforschung. Im Anschluss werden diese im Kontext der Führung beleuchtet. Ein besonderes Augenmerk liegt auf der Frage, ob und inwiefern sich ein potentieller weiblicher Führungsstil von der als männlich geltenden Führung unterscheidet. Im weiteren Verlauf des Artikels wird das Phänomen der Emotionalen Intelligenz im Detail betrachtet. Dieses gilt im Kontext der Führung seit geraumer Zeit als Erfolgsfaktor. Ob und inwiefern diese Annahme tatsächlich Bestand hat, soll daher zunächst herausgestellt werden. Abschließend wird geprüft, ob es sich bei der Emotionalen Intelligenz um eine vorwiegend weibliche Kompetenz handelt
In recent years, the retail virtual store has become the main trend in social services. More and more people tend to shop in retail virtual stores. With the development of 3D virtual reality, this trend is getting stronger and stronger. Therefore, the development prospect of virtual retail stores has attracted much attention. This paper examines the impact of companies' and users' popularization of helmet gadgets on in-store traffic and analyzes how virtual reality (VR) could enhance the customer experience throughout the shopping trip. A qualitative research design has been used, which also included conversations with both professionals and consumers. Moreover, this paper seeks to break new ground by attempting to use the current literature to help predict future directions and trends for online shopping.
This paper is structured into two parts, which are closely related: first, the analysis of the parlamentary and governmental measures against the covid-19 pandemic; and second, the future regulatory framework about freedom of movement and other rights in the European area, according to the new European pact on migration and asylum.
Freedom of trade, occupation and profession in times of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa
(2022)
This paper evaluates the freedom of trade, occupation, and profession in South Africa from a Covid-19 pandemic context. It does that by focusing on the pertinent provisions and rights contained in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution) and relevant international and regional human rights instruments. It proceeds by discussing the interlinkage between (the freedom of trade, occupation, and profession and other pertinent fundamental) rights, limitation, enforcement, and interpretation of rights. This is followed by some final observations.
This paper analyzes some of the assumptions in which the varied use of technologies to confront the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and protect people's health has impacted on the fundamental right to the protection of personal data; to do so, it starts from the premise that the use of these technologies cannot mean an affectation to the referred fundamental right, much less an indiscriminate treatment of such data without any minimum control whatsoever.
Covid-19 outbreak had a huge impact on the economy worldwide as businesses had to close or cease their activities due to the lockdown regulations. The “luckiest” firms were able to operate but under restricted conditions. In order to avoid what certain authors called “bankruptcy epidemic” European countries took economic and fiscal measures to help companies compensate their financial losses. In addition to Government Grants, emergency legislations have been adopted with the aim to adapt insolvency and restructuring procedures to the sanitary situation and specific rules relating to company Law have also been implemented. This paper deals with the measures taken by the state of Luxembourg and gives a brief overview of the legal amendments.
The study traces the development of compulsory vaccination in Germany against the background of political discussion and legislative activities, focusing on the area of tension between state health protection and the right to medical self-determination in the context of constitutional balancing. It is based on the assumption that the right to medical self-determination traditionally dominates state decisions in a democratic constitutional state and that the scope for decision-making is constantly being further contoured in the face of current challenges.
Numerous research methods have been developed to detect anomalies in the areas of security and risk analysis. In healthcare, there are numerous use cases where anomaly detection is relevant. For example, early detection of sepsis is one such use case. Early treatment of sepsis is cost effective and reduces the number of hospital days of patients in the ICU. There is no single procedure that is sufficient for sepsis diagnosis, and combinations of approaches are needed. Detecting anomalies in patient time series data could help speed the development of some decisions. However, our algorithm must be viewed as complementary to other approaches based on laboratory values and physician judgments. The focus of this work is to develop a hybrid method for detecting anomalies that occur, for example, in multidimensional medical signals, sensor signals, or other time series in business and nature. The novelty of our approach lies in the extension and combination of existing approaches: Statistics, Self Organizing Maps and Linear Discriminant Analysis in a unique and unprecedented way with the goal of identifying different types of anomalies in real-time measurement data and defining the point where the anomaly occurs. The proposed algorithm not only has the full potential to detect anomalies, but also to find real points where an anomaly starts.
1. Among the many concerns for biodiversity in the Anthropocene, recent reports of flying insect loss are particularly alarming, given their importance as pollinators, pest control agents, and as a food source. Few insect monitoring programmes cover the large spatial scales required to provide more generalizable estimates of insect responses to global change drivers.
2. We ask how climate and surrounding habitat affect flying insect biomass using data from the first year of a new monitoring network at 84 locations across Germany comprising a spatial gradient of land cover types from protected to urban and crop areas.
3. Flying insect biomass increased linearly with temperature across Germany. However, the effect of temperature on flying insect biomass flipped to negative in the hot months of June and July when local temperatures most exceeded long-term averages.
4. Land cover explained little variation in insect biomass, but biomass was lowest in forests. Grasslands, pastures, and orchards harboured the highest insect biomass. The date of peak biomass was primarily driven by surrounding land cover, with grasslands especially having earlier insect biomass phenologies.
5. Standardised, large-scale monitoring provides key insights into the underlying processes of insect decline and is pivotal for the development of climate-adapted strategies to promote insect diversity. In a temperate climate region, we find that the positive effects of temperature on flying insect biomass diminish in a German summer at locations where temperatures most exceeded long-term averages. Our results highlight the importance of local adaptation in climate change-driven impacts on insect communities.
Das Ziel der Bundesregierung von jährlich 400.000 neuen Wohnungen (davon 100.000 mit Sozialbindung) ist gefährdet. Deutschland steht nämlich möglicherweise eine längere Stagflationsphase bevor, die nicht zuletzt durch den Abriss von Lieferketten und den Anstieg der Energiepreise bedingt ist. Investoren von Wohnungen geraten dabei wirtschaftlich in die Zange: Einerseits sind die Möglichkeiten, weitere Mieterhöhungen durchzusetzen, aufgrund sinkender Realeinkommen beschränkt. Auf der anderen Seite explodiert aufgrund steigender Baukosten und Zinsen die Kostenseite. Dies alles dürfte sich auf die Investitionsbereitschaft sehr negativ auswirken, zumal derzeit noch keine Erleichterung in Gestalt eines deutlichen Absinkens der Bodenpreise zu erkennen ist. Letzteres ist allerdings ein Argument für den verstärkten Einsatz von öffentlich ausgegebenen Erbbaurechten, über die auch Sozialbindungen für die gesamte Vertragslaufzeit auferlegt werden können.
Allerdings können u. U. in der sich abzeichnenden wirtschaftlichen Situation durchaus auch Erbbaurechtnehmer mit Bestandsverträgen in Probleme geraten. Die Ursache hierfür sind Anpassungen der Erbbauzinsen, deren Entwicklung an die Inflationsrate gekoppelt ist. Zwar existiert eine gesetzliche Billigkeitsprüfung. Diese setzt in ihrer gegenwärtigen Ausgestaltung aber möglicherweise zu geringe Hürden bei inflationsbedingt starken Erhöhungen der Erbbauzinsen. Diese Hürden könnte einerseits aber erhöht werden, indem neben den Bruttoverdiensten der Arbeitnehmer auf die Kerninflationsrate anstatt der Verbraucherpreissteigerungen Bezug genommen wird. Eine Alternative besteht in der Bezugnahme der Kappungsgrenze auf den Wohnungsmietindex, was allerdings einen Bruch mit der bisherigen wirtschaftlichen Logik der Kappungsgrenze bedeutet.
Bei von der öffentlichen Hand ausgegebenen Erbbaurechten würde sich ebenfalls eine freiwillige Bezugnahme der Anpassung der Erbbauzinsen im Rahmen von Gleitklauseln an der Kerninflationsrate empfehlen.
Die erstmalige Ausgabe von Erbbaurechten durch die öffentliche Hand sollte orientiert an langfristigen Baufinanzierungszinsen erfolgen. Dabei wäre jedoch ein Abschlag mit Blick auf die erwartete (Kern-) Inflation vorzunehmen, die bei Erbbaurechtsverträgen wegen der hier möglichen Wertsicherungsklauseln deutlich weniger auf die Rendite als bei Baufinanzierungen durchschlägt. Die Länder sind hier v. a. dahingehend gefordert, in den Gemeindeordnungen klarzustellen, dass ein derartiges Vorgehen nicht gegen das Gebot der Abgabe von Vermögenswerten zum „vollen Wert“ verstößt.
Ebenfalls vornehmlich den Aufgabenbereich der Länder (aber auch der Gemeinden) betrifft die Notwendigkeit, eine eigenständige Förderkulisse für bezahlbaren Wohnraum über Erbbaurechte aufzustellen, die perspektivisch die gesamte Vertragslaufzeit umfasst. Eine weitere Absenkung der Erbbauzinsen über das oben diskutierte Niveau (Orientierung an inflationsadjustierten langfristigen Baufinanzierungszinsen) stellt i.d.R. nur eine zweitbeste Lösung dar.
This paper presents a feasibility study for the production of recycled glycol modified polyethylene terephthalate (PETG) material for additive manufacturing. Past studies showed a variety of results for the recycling of 3D-printing material, therefore the precise effect on the material properties is not completely clear. For this work, PETG waste of the same grade was recycled once and further processed into 3D printing filament. The study compares three blend ratios between purchased plastic pellets and recycled pellets to determine the degradation effect of one recycling cycle and possible blend ratios to counter these effects. Furthermore, the results include a commercially available filament. The comparison uses the filament diameter, the dimensional accuracy of the printed test specimen and mechanical properties as quality criteria. The study shows that the recycled material has a minor decrease concerning the tensile strength and Young’s modulus.
Gait analysis is a systematic study of human movement. Combining wearable foot pressure sensors and machine learning (ML) solutions for a high-fidelity body pose tracking from RGB video frames could reveal more insights into gait abnormalities. However, accurate detection of heel strike (HS) and toe-off (TO) events is crucial to compute interpretable gait parameters. In this work, we present an experimental platform to study the timing of gait events using a new wearable foot pressure sensor (ActiSense System, IEE S.A., Luxembourg), and Google’s open-source ML solution MediaPipe Pose. For this purpose, two StereoPi systems were built to capture stereoscopic videos and images in real time. MediaPipe Pose was applied to the synchronized StereoPi cameras, and two algorithms (ALs) were developed to detect HS and TO events for gait and analysis. Preliminary results from a healthy subject walking on a treadmill show a mean relative deviation across all time spans of less than 4% for the ActiSense device and less than 16% for AL2 (33% for AL1) employing MediaPipe Pose on StereoPi videos. Finally, this work offers a platform for the development of sensor- and video-based ALs to automatically identify the timing of gait events in healthy individuals and those with gait disorders.
In this paper, the mechanical damage behavior is investigated based on the characteristic roughness on the surface and the orientation of superficial structures. The main goal is to explore the surface roughness on mechanically loaded copper conductors as a lifetime indicator. For this purpose, copper conductors are mechanically stressed in accordance with EN 50,396 and then examined metallographically and microscopically. The microstructure examination shows that the roughness is caused by material extrusion and cracks due to work hardening in the surface area. Using confocal microscopy, it is shown for the first time that significant formation of surface roughness takes place over the service life of copper conductors. The roughness increases monotonically, but not linearly with number of cycles, due to internal microstructural processes and can be divided into three sections. First inspections of the conductor surface over lifetime show a correlation between the intensity of structures orientated 45° to the loading direction and the roughness. This phenomenon, already known from microscopic slip lines, is thus also evident in macroscopic roughness formation and is well founded by the research theory on material extrusion along dislocation lines. In summary, a lifetime determination is possible based on its developing roughness which enables the utilization as a sensor element.
Concerning human and environmental health, safe alternatives to synthetic pesticides are urgently needed. Many of the currently used synthetic pesticides are not authorized for application in organic agriculture. In addition, the developed resistances of various pests against classical pesticides necessitate the urgent demand for efficient and safe products with novel modes of action. Botanical pesticides are assumed to be effective against various crop pests, and they are easily biodegradable and available in high quantities and at a reasonable cost. Many of them may act by diverse yet unexplored mechanisms of action. It is therefore surprising that only few plant species have been developed for commercial usage as biopesticides. This article reviews the status of botanical pesticides, especially in Europe and Mediterranean countries, deepening their active principles and mechanisms of action. Moreover, some constraints and challenges in the development of novel biopesticides are highlighted.
This study introduced an automated long-term fermentation process for fungals grown in pellet form. The goal was to reduce the overgrowth of bioreactor internals and sensors while better rheological properties in the fermentation broth, such as oxygen transfer and mixing time, can be achieved. Because this could not be accomplished with continuous culture and fed-batch fermentation, repeated-batch fermentation was implemented with the help of additional bioreactor internals (“sporulation supports”). This should capture some biomass during fermentation. After harvesting the suspended biomass, intermediate cleaning was performed using a cleaning device. The biomass retained on the sporulation support went through the sporulation phase. The spores were subsequently used as inocula for the next batch. The reason for this approach was that the retained pellets could otherwise cause problems (e.g., overgrowth on sensors) in subsequent batches because the fungus would then show undesirable hyphal growth. Various sporulation supports were tested for sufficient biomass fixation to start the next batch. A reproducible spore concentration within the range of the requirements could be achieved by adjusting the sporulation support (design and construction material), and an intermediate cleaning adapted to this.
Background: The STarT-MSK-Tool is an adaptation of the well established STarT-Back-Tool, used to risk-stratify patients with a wider range of musculoskeletal presentations.
Objective: To formally translate and cross-culturally adapt the Keele STarT-MSK risk stratification tool into German (STarT-MSKG) and to establish its reliability and validity.
Methods: A formal, multi-step, forward and backward translation approach was used. To assess validity patients aged ≥18 years, with acute, subacute or chronic musculoskeletal presentations in the lumbar spine, hip, knee, shoulder, or neck were included. The prospective cohort was used with initial data collected electronically at the point-of-consultation. Retest and 6-month follow-up questionnaires were sent by email. Test-retest reliability, construct validity, discriminative ability, predictive ability and floor or ceiling effects were analysed using intraclass correlation coefficient, and comparisons with a reference standard (Orebro-Musculoskeletal-Pain-Questionnaire: OMPQ) using correlations, ROC-curves and regression models.
Results: The participants’ (n = 287) mean age was 47 (SD = 15.8) years, 51% were female, with 48.8% at low, 43.6% at medium, and 7.7% at high risk. With ICC = 0.75 (95% CI 0.69; 0.81) test-retest-reliability was good. Construct validity was good with correlations for the STarT-MSKG-Tool against the OMPQ-Tool of rs = 0.74 (95% CI 0.68, 0.79). The ability of the tool [comparison OMPQ] to predict 6-month pain and disability was acceptable with AUC = 0.77 (95% CI 0.71, 0.83) [OMPQ = 0.74] and 0.76 (95% CI 0.69, 0.82) [OMPQ = 0.72] respectively. However, the explained variance (linear/logistic regression) for predicting 6-month pain (21% [OMPQ = 17%]/logistic = 29%) and disability (linear = 20%:[OMPQ = 19%]/logistic = 26%), whilst being comparable to the existing OMPQ reference standard, fell short of the a priori target of ≥30%.
Conclusions: The German version of the STarT-MSK-Tool is a valid instrument for use across multiple musculoskeletal conditions and is availabe for use in clinical practice. Comparison with the OMPQ suggests it is a good alternative.
While the contribution of renewable energy technologies to the energy system is increasing, so is its level of complexity. In addition to new types of consumer systems, the future system will be characterized by volatile generation plants that will require storage technologies. Furthermore, a solid interconnected system that enables the transit of electrical energy can reduce the need for generation and storage systems. Therefore, appropriate methods are needed to analyze energy production and consumption interactions within different system constellations. Energy system models can help to understand and build these future energy systems. However, although various energy models already exist, none of them can cover all issues related to integrating renewable energy systems. The existing research gap is also reflected in the fact that current models cannot model the entire energy system for very high shares of renewable energies with high temporal resolution (15 min or 1-h steps) and high spatial resolution. Additionally, the low availability of open-source energy models leads to a lack of transparency about exactly how they work. To close this gap, the sector-coupled energy model (UCB-SEnMod) was developed. Its unique features are the modular structure, high flexibility, and applicability, enabling it to model any system constellation and can be easily extended with new functions due to its software design. Due to the software architecture, it is possible to map individual buildings or companies and regions, or even countries. In addition, we plan to make the energy model UCB-SEnMod available as an open-source framework to enable users to understand the functionality and configuration options more easily. This paper presents the methodology of the UCB-SEnMod model. The main components of the model are described in detail, i.e., the energy generation systems, the consumption components in the electricity, heat, and transport sectors, and the possibilities of load balancing.
In the single-processor scheduling problem with time restrictions there is one main processor and B resources that are used to execute the jobs. A perfect schedule has no idle times or gaps on the main processor and the makespan is therefore equal to the sum of the processing times. In general, more resources result in smaller makespans, and as it is in practical applications often more economic not to mobilize resources that will be unnecessary and expensive, we investigate in this paper the problem to find the smallest number B of resources that make a perfect schedule possible. We show that the decision version of this problem is NP-complete, derive new structural properties of perfect schedules, and we describe a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MIP) formulation to solve the problem. A large number of computational tests show that (for our randomly chosen problem instances) only B=3 or B=4 resources are sufficient for a perfect schedule.
Background: Stratified care has the potential to be efficient in addressing the physical and psychosocial components of low back pain (LBP) and optimise treatment outcomes essential in low-income countries. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of physiotherapists and patients in Nigeria towards stratified care for the treatment of LBP, exploring barriers and enablers to implementation.
Methods: A qualitative design with semistructured individual telephone interviews for physiotherapists and patients with LBP comprising research evidence and information on stratified care was adopted. Preceding the interviews, patients completed the Subgroups for Targeted Treatment tool. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed following grounded theory methodology.
Results: Twelve physiotherapists and 13 patients with LBP participated in the study (11 female, mean age 42.8 (SD 11.47) years). Seven key categories emerged: recognising the need for change, acceptance of innovation, resistance to change, adapting practice, patient’s learning journey, trusting the therapist and needing conviction. Physiotherapists perceived stratified care to be a familiar approach based on their background training. The prevalent treatment tradition and the patient expectations were seen as major barriers to implementation of stratified care by the physiotherapists. Patients see themselves as more informed than therapists realise, yet they need conviction through communication and education to cooperate with their therapist using this approach. Viable facilitators were also identified as patients’ trust in the physiotherapist and adaptations in terms of training and modification of the approach to enhance its use.
Conclusion: Key barriers identified are the patients’ treatment expectations and physiotherapists’ adherence to the tradition of practice. Physiotherapists might facilitate implementation of the stratified care by communication, hierarchical implementation and utilisation of patients’ trust. Possibilities to develop a consensus on key strategies to overcome barriers and on utilisation of facilitators should be tested in future research.
Productive biofilms are gaining growing interest in research due to their potential of producing valuable compounds and bioactive substances such as antibiotics. This is supported by recent developments in biofilm photobioreactors that established the controlled phototrophic cultivation of algae and cyanobacteria. Cultivation of biofilms can be challenging due to the need of surfaces for biofilm adhesion. The total production of biomass, and thus production of e.g. bioactive substances, within the bioreactor volume highly depends on the available cultivation surface. To achieve an enlargement of surface area for biofilm photobioreactors, biocarriers can be implemented in the cultivation. Thereby, material properties and design of the biocarriers are important for initial biofilm formation and growth of cyanobacteria. In this study, special biocarriers were designed and additively manufactured to investigate different polymeric materials and surface designs regarding biofilm adhesion of the terrestrial cyanobacterium Nostoc flagelliforme (CCAP 1453/33). Properties of 3D-printed materials were characterized by determination of wettability, surface roughness, and density. To evaluate the influence of wettability on biofilm formation, material properties were specifically modified by gas-phase fluorination and biofilm formation was analyzed on biocarriers with basic and optimized geometry in shaking flask cultivation. We found that different polymeric materials revealed no significant differences in wettability and with identical surface design no significant effect on biomass adhesion was observed. However, materials treated with fluorination as well as optimized biocarrier design showed improved wettability and an increase in biomass adhesion per biocarrier surface.
The purpose of this article is to evaluate optimal expected utility risk measures (OEU) in a risk-constrained portfolio optimization context where the expected portfolio return is maximized. We compare the portfolio optimization with OEU constraint to a portfolio selection model using value at risk as constraint. The former is a coherent risk measure for utility functions with constant relative risk aversion and allows individual specifications to the investor’s risk attitude and time preference. In a case study with three indices, we investigate how these theoretical differences influence the performance of the portfolio selection strategies. A copula approach with univariate ARMA-GARCH models is used in a rolling forecast to simulate monthly future returns and calculate the derived measures for the optimization. The results of this study illustrate that both optimization strategies perform considerably better than an equally weighted portfolio and a buy and hold portfolio. Moreover, our results illustrate that portfolio optimization with OEU constraint experiences individualized effects, e.g., less risk-averse investors lose more portfolio value in the financial crises but outperform their more risk-averse counterparts in bull markets.
Decoding the cellular network interaction of neurons and glial cells are important in the development of new therapies for diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Electrophysiological in vivo studies in mice will help to understand the highly complex network. In this paper, the optimization of epidural liquid crystal polymer (LCP) electrodes for different platinum electroplating parameters are presented and compared. Constant current and pulsed current electroplating varied in strength and duration was used to decrease the electrode impedance and to increase the charge storage capacity (CSCc). In best cases, both methods generated similar results with an impedance reduction of about 99%. However, electroplating with pulsed currents was less parameter-dependent than the electroplating with constant current. The use of ultrasound was essential to generate platinum coatings without plating defects. Electrode model parameters extracted from the electrode impedance reflected the increase in surface porosity due to the electroplating processes.
Intervention in the form of core-specific stability exercises is evident to improve trunk stability. The purpose was to assess the effect of an additional 6 weeks sensorimotor or resistance training on maximum isokinetic trunk strength and response to sudden dynamic trunk loading (STL) in highly trained adolescent athletes. The study was conducted as a single-blind, 3-armed randomized controlled trial. Twenty-four adolescent athletes (14f/10 m, 16 ± 1 yrs.;178 ± 10 cm; 67 ± 11 kg; training sessions/week 15±5; training h/week 22±8) were randomized into resistance training (RT; n=7), sensorimotor training (SMT; n = 10), and control group (CG; n = 7). Athletes were instructed to perform standardized, center-based training for 6 weeks, two times per week, with a duration of 1 h each session. SMT consisted of four different core-specific sensorimotor exercises using instable surfaces. RT consisted of four trunk strength exercises using strength training machines, as well as an isokinetic dynamometer. All participants in the CG received an unspecific heart frequency controlled, ergometer-based endurance training (50 min at max. heart frequency of 130HF). For each athlete, each training session was documented in an individual training diary (e.g., level of SMT exercise; 1RM for strength exercise, pain). At baseline (M1) and after 6 weeks of intervention (M2), participants’ maximum strength in trunk rotation (ROM:63°) and flexion/extension (ROM:55°) was tested on an isokinetic dynamometer (concentric/eccentric 30°/s). STL was assessed in eccentric (30°/s) mode with additional dynamometer-induced perturbation as a marker of core stability. Peak torque [Nm] was calculated as the main outcome. The primary outcome measurements (trunk rotation/extension peak torque: con, ecc, STL) were statistically analyzed by means of the two-factor repeated measures analysis of variance (α = 0.05). Out of 12 possible sessions, athletes participated between 8 and 9 sessions (SMT: 9 ± 3; RT: 8 ± 3; CG: 8 ± 4). Regarding main outcomes of trunk performance, experimental groups showed no significant pre–post difference for maximum trunk strength testing as well as for perturbation compensation (p > 0.05). It is concluded, that future interventions should exceed 6 weeks duration with at least 2 sessions per week to induce enhanced trunk strength or compensatory response to sudden, high-intensity trunk loading in already highly trained adolescent athletes, regardless of training regime.
Universities, as innovation drivers in science and technology worldwide, should attempt to become carbon-neutral institutions and should lead this transformation. Many universities have picked up the challenge and quantified their carbon footprints; however, up-to-date quantification is limited to use-phase emissions. So far, data on embodied impacts of university campus infrastructure are missing, which prevents us from evaluating their life cycle costs. In this paper, we quantify the embodied impacts of two university campuses of very different sizes and climate zones: the Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld (UCB), Germany, and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. We also quantify the effects of switching to full renewable energy supply on the carbon footprint of a university campus based on the example of UCB. The embodied impacts amount to 13.7 (UCB) and 26.2 (NTU) kg CO2e/m2•y, respectively, equivalent to 59.2% (UCB), and 29.8% (NTU), respectively, of the building lifecycle impacts. As a consequence, embodied impacts can be dominating; thus, they should be quantified and reported. When adding additional use-phase impacts caused by the universities on top of the building lifecycle impacts (e.g., mobility impacts), both institutions happen to exhibit very similar emissions with 124.5–126.3 kg CO2e/m2•y despite their different sizes, structures, and locations. Embodied impacts comprise 11.0–20.8% of the total impacts at the two universities. In conclusion, efficient reduction in university carbon footprints requires a holistic approach, considering all impacts caused on and by a campus including upstream effects.
Abstract: This paper is about detecting the difference between fully-random and semi-random shuffleing data sets, with the use of unsupervised learning algorithms. Because of the limits of the k-means algorithm alone, a recurrent autoencoder is used for feature extraction to improve the results of k-means. In the next step the autoencoder alone is used for clustering.
Introduction: In the last years, machine learning has been used more and more in different areas and it is also appropriate for for pattern recognition in data. Random data is characterized through the missing of defined patterns. Permutations without repetitions have the highest amount of entropy for a sequence of its length, which is similar to random data according to Andrei Kolmogorov, who states that random data have the highest amount of information and can’t be compressed. Therefore, this paper analyses the difference between random permutations and good shuffled permutations, which have some remaining patterns left. This is done via a recurrent autoencoder.