Das Problem der verantworteten Therapieentscheidung in der Neonatologie

Definition of the problem: Physicians and nurses who work in neonatology—as in intensive care at all—are often forced to decide whether to stop or to continue with the treatment of a severely ill patient. The literature provides several decision making instruments, which are meant to help and to rationalize such decisions. Method and conclusion: Two of these instruments (“Schema zur ethischen Urteilsbildung nach dem Muster der aristotelischen Ethik”, Honnefelder 1994; “Nimwegener Methode für ethische Fallbesprechung”, Gordijn 1998) were tested by retrospectively examining two cases of our NICU. Results of our study show that the use of a decision making instrument is basically helpful. But the above mentioned instruments showed also shortcomings when used in the framework of neonatology. Therefore we developed the “Kölner Arbeitsbogen zur ethischen Entscheidungsfindung in der Neonatologie”, which is adapted to the specific needs of neonatology.     

Industrial applications of product design through the inversion of latent variable models

A methodology, presented by Jaeckle and MacGregor [C.M. Jaeckle and J.F. MacGregor, Product Design Through Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Process Data, AIChE J. 44 (5) (1998) 1105–1118.], for finding a window of process operating conditions within which a product with specified quality characteristics can be produced is applied to two industrial polymerization processes. The approach uses historical data available on the process operating conditions and on the corresponding product quality for a range of existing product grades. Latent variable models — built using the existing data — are inverted to obtain a window of operating conditions, which are not only capable of yielding the desired product but are also consistent with past operating procedures and constraints. A semi-batch emulsion polymerization process for manufacturing various grades of a copolymer latex, and a batch solution polymerization process for manufacturing a range of polymer resins are considered.     

Influence of organic and colloidal fouling on the removal of sulphamethoxazole by nanofiltration membranes.

This study investigated the effects of organic and colloidal fouling on the removal of a representative micropollutant sulphamethoxazole by two commercially available NF membranes. Alginate, bovine serum albumin and colloidal silica were selected as model foulants to simulate hydrophilic and hydrophobic organic fractions, and colloidal matter that are often found in treated effluent and surface water. Membrane fouling was related to the membrane and foulant characteristics and subsequently the separation behaviour of the micropollutant sulphamethoxazole under different solution pH. On the basis of these results, it was confirmed that membrane fouling is strongly dependent on both the foulant and membrane characteristics. The complex relationship among retention mechanisms, fouling mechanisms and the effects of fouling on retention was systematically delineated. Of the three model foulants selected for this study, colloidal fouling resulted in the most significant reduction in retention of sulphamethoxazole as well as inorganic salts, while flux decline as a result of colloidal fouling was quite moderate. Reduction in retention caused by fouling was attributed to a phenomenon known as cake-enhance concentration polarisation, which was a predominant mechanism of colloidal fouling. In addition, the reported results suggested that the effect of fouling on retention is also membrane pore size dependent.     

Behavior change through wearables: the interplay between self-leadership and IT-based leadership

Electronic Markets - Physical inactivity is a global public health problem that poses health risks to individuals and imposes financial burdens on already strained healthcare systems. Wearables...     

Improved Accuracy of High-Order WENO Finite Volume Methods on Cartesian Grids

We propose a simple modification of standard weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) finite volume methods for Cartesian grids, which retains the full spatial order of accuracy of the one-dimensional discretization when applied to nonlinear multidimensional systems of conservation laws. We derive formulas, which allow us to compute high-order accurate point values of the conserved quantities at grid cell interfaces. Using those point values, we can compute a high-order flux at the center of a grid cell interface. Finally, we use those point values to compute high-order accurate averaged fluxes at cell interfaces as needed by a finite volume method. The method is described in detail for the two-dimensional Euler equations of gas dynamics. An extension to the three-dimensional case as well as to other nonlinear systems of conservation laws in divergence form is straightforward. Furthermore, similar ideas can be used to improve the accuracy of WENO type methods for hyperbolic systems which are not in divergence form. Several test computations confirm the high-order accuracy for smooth nonlinear problems.     

Knowledge-intensive business services in the new mode of knowledge production

The new mode of knowledge production is seen as a distinct form of economic organisation used for exchanging and creating knowledge. The emphasis is laid on the role of business services in innovative networks as carriers of knowledge and intermediates between science (knowledge creator) and their customers (knowledge user). The empirical analysis shows that knowledge-intensive business services are able to make existing knowledge useful for, their customers, improving the customer's performance and productivity and contributing to technological and structural change.This paper is based on a presentation at the International Conference on Science, Technology and Society, 16–22 March 1998, Tokyo.     

Detection of Maillard products of lactose in heated or processed milk by HPLC/DAD

 Two HPLC methods with diode array detection were used to separate Maillard products from milk components. The Maillard products 4-(β-d-galactopyranosyloxy)-2-hydroxy-2-methyl-2H-pyran-3(6H)-one (2), 1-[3-(β-d-galactopyranosyloxy)-2-furanyl]-1-ethanone (4), 4-(β-d-galactopyranosyloxy)-5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-methyl-3(2H)-furanone (5), isomaltol (7), maltol (9), 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one (6), and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfuraldehyde (8) were determined using a water-methanol gradient. Furthermore, 4,5-dihydroxy-2-(β-d-galactopyranosyloxy)-5-methyl-2-cyclopenten-1-one (3) was separated from the milk components by applying the interaction reagent octylamine. Several heated or processed milk samples were analyzed, and formation of the Maillard products was determined and quantified. Thus it was found that 2 and 3 are early products of the Maillard reaction in milk, whereas after prolonged heating 4, 5, and particularly 9 and 6 become more important. Compounds 7 and 8 were not detected, even if the samples were heated under stringent conditions.     

Einführung eAkte — Herausforderung Protokollierung

Mit Einführung eines Dokumentmanagement-und Vorgangsbearbeitungssystems (DMS) muss sich die Verwaltung der Herausforderung der automatisiert erfolgenden Protokollierung stellen. An einem DMS zeigt sich u.a. sehr deutlich, dass verschiedene Typen von Protokolldaten zu unterscheiden sind.