Applying “Design Thinking” in the context of media management education

“Design Thinking” – a cross-disciplinary and user centered method – is an approach towards the discovery of solutions and sparks innovative thinking in many ways. It also can be argued, that designers put themselves in the place of the user rather than co-creating with the consumer. Innovation is one of the current keywords across many industries, and many attempt to find new solutions to daily problems. Design Thinking as method allows to understand user needs and understand their principle problems in daily life. The design process uses intensive collaboration in cross-disciplinary settings and is divided into the exploration of the problem space and the solution space to achieve new ways of solving existing problems. Design Thinking has to integrate into the innovation process and into organizational structures right from the beginning. It constitutes a complement to classical analytical processes for problems that require lateral, not linear thinking. This article reviews the practical application of this energetic methodology in the academic context and presents some hands-on examples. The course series has been established by the Entertainment and Media Management Lab. (EMMi Lab.) at the Tampere University of Technology (TUT) and was held in cooperation with students from the University of Tampere (UTA), and the Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK). One course has been held in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal, Germany. This article describes how to train students especially with strong technical background and analytical mind-sets in the development of innovations in the field of media, foster creative thinking, and achieve problem solutions beyond the current state of the art. We present the basic curriculum, course structure, goals & objectives, applied methods, settings, and theoretical aspects of Design Thinking. Our experience and reflections on conducting the courses concludes this article. The article shall be an introductory guide for anyone who intends to organize a similar course in the university context.     

Categorization of ambient media projects on their business models, innovativeness, and characteristics—evaluation of Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Award Projects of 2010

Ambient Media describe media environments, where the medium is embedded within the natural environment. They follow the anytime, anywhere, and anyhow principle for media access. The Nokia Ubimedia MindTreks Awards have been established a few years ago to explore the potential of ambient media. In this article we analyze the total project portfolio submitted to the 4th Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards in 2010 according to their business value, innovativeness, and use of ambient media. The aim of this article is to gain insights into the general characteristics of ambient media, their properties, and business functions. The article rounds up in providing a substantial framework and guidelines for ambient media developers in their product designs.     

Differential Impact of Hyperglycemia in Critically Ill Patients: Significance in Acute Myocardial Infarction but Not in Sepsis?

Hyperglycemia is a common condition in critically ill patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). These patients represent an inhomogeneous collective and hyperglycemia might need different evaluation depending on the underlying disorder. To elucidate this, we investigated and compared associations of severe hyperglycemia (>200 mg/dL) and mortality in patients admitted to an ICU for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or sepsis as the two most frequent admission diagnoses. From 2006 to 2009, 2551 patients 69 (58–77) years; 1544 male; 337 patients suffering from type 2 diabetes (T2DM)) who were admitted because of either AMI or sepsis to an ICU in a tertiary care hospital were investigated retrospectively. Follow-up of patients was performed between May 2013 and November 2013. In a Cox regression analysis, maximum glucose concentration at the day of admission was associated with mortality in the overall cohort (HR = 1.006, 95% CI: 1.004–1.009; p < 0.001) and in patients suffering from myocardial infarction (HR = 1.101, 95% CI: 1.075–1.127; p < 0.001) but only in trend in patients admitted to an ICU for sepsis (HR = 1.030, 95% CI: 0.998–1.062; p = 0.07). Severe hyperglycemia was associated with adverse intra-ICU mortality in the overall cohort (23% vs. 13%; p < 0.001) and patients admitted for AMI (15% vs. 5%; p < 0.001) but not for septic patients (39% vs. 40%; p = 0.48). A medical history of type 2 diabetes (n = 337; 13%) was not associated with increased intra-ICU mortality (15% vs. 15%; p = 0.93) but in patients with severe hyperglycemia and/or a known medical history of type 2 diabetes considered in combination, an increased mortality in AMI patients (intra-ICU 5% vs. 13%; p < 0.001) but not in septic patients (intra-ICU 38% vs. 41%; p = 0.53) could be evidenced. The presence of hyperglycemia in critically ill patients has differential impact within the different etiological groups. Hyperglycemia in AMI patients might identify a sicker patient collective suffering from pre-diabetes or undiagnosed diabetes with its’ known adverse consequences, especially in the long-term. Hyperglycemia in sepsis might be considered as adaptive survival mechanism to hypo-perfusion and consecutive lack of glucose in peripheral cells. AMI patients with hyperglycemic derailment during an ICU-stay should be closely followed-up and extensively screened for diabetes to improve patients’ outcome.     

On the decomposition behaviour of Al-4.5 at% Zn-2 to 3 at% Mg alloys during continuous heating

The decomposition processes taking place in the Al-4.5 at % Zn-2 to 3 at % Mg alloys were studied during continuous heating by means of electrical resistivity, XSAS and DSC measurements and by TEM investigations. It was found that the room temperature pre-ageing has no significant influence on the processes taking place above 230° C. Several temperature ranges were determined in which the decomposition of the solid solution and/or the transformation of the different particles of the second phases take place by different mechanisms.     

2099 Aluminum-Lithium with Key-Locked Inserts for Aerospace Applications

The purpose of this study was to determine the acceptability of nonpenetrating, key-locked inserts in 2099 aluminum-lithium. The tests conducted to make this assessment were: (1) microscopic examination for thread damage and delaminations after key installation, (2) pull-out load at 21 °C (70 °F) and −179 °C (−290 °F), and (3) mechanical cycling tests at room temperature and −179 °C (−290 °F). The test results indicated that for the three sizes evaluated, key-locked inserts in 2099-T6 and 2099-T8 were acceptable and although delaminations did occur on some T6 temper specimens, it was only as a failure mode at ultimate load and such behavior was judged to be acceptable.     

Alterations in Serum Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Eicosanoids in Patients with Mild to Moderate Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Smoking is a major risk factor for several diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To better understand the systemic effects of cigarette smoke exposure and mild to moderate COPD—and to support future biomarker development—we profiled the serum lipidomes of healthy smokers, smokers with mild to moderate COPD (GOLD stages 1 and 2), former smokers, and never-smokers (n = 40 per group) (ClinicalTrials.gov registration: {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT01780298","term_id":"NCT01780298"}}NCT01780298). Serum lipidome profiling was conducted with untargeted and targeted mass spectrometry-based lipidomics. Guided by weighted lipid co-expression network analysis, we identified three main trends comparing smokers, especially those with COPD, with non-smokers: a general increase in glycero(phospho)lipids, including triglycerols; changes in fatty acid desaturation (decrease in ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and an increase in monounsaturated fatty acids); and an imbalance in eicosanoids (increase in 11,12- and 14,15-DHETs (dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acids), and a decrease in 9- and 13-HODEs (hydroxyoctadecadienoic acids)). The lipidome profiles supported classification of study subjects as smokers or non-smokers, but were not sufficient to distinguish between smokers with and without COPD. Overall, our study yielded further insights into the complex interplay between smoke exposure, lung disease, and systemic alterations in serum lipid profiles.     

Wrapping of Web Sources with restricted Query Interfaces by Query Tunneling

Information sources in the World Wide Web usually offer two different schemes to their users, an Interface Schema which the user can query and a Result Schema which the user can browse. Often the Interface Schema is more restricted than the Result Schema, moreover many sources offer keyword-search interfaces only. Thus query capabilities of such sources are very small and a useful integration into a mediator-based information system using query capabilities is almost impossible. We propose the Query Tunnelling architecture for the wrapping of these restricted web sources. Wrapping of sources by Query Tunneling hides restrictive query interfaces and makes such sources fully queryable based on their result schema. The process of Query Tunneling is divided into two main steps, Query Relaxation to make a higher order query suitable to a restricted interface and Result Restriction in order to filter the results using the original query.     

Bioenergetic Alterations of Metabolic Redox Coenzymes as NADH,FAD and FMN by Means of Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Techniques

Metabolic FLIM (fluorescence lifetime imaging) is used to image bioenergetic status in cells and tissue. Whereas an attribution of the fluorescence lifetime of coenzymes as an indicator for cell metabolism is mainly accepted, it is debated whether this is valid for the redox state of cells. In this regard, an innovative algorithm using the lifetime characteristics of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) (NAD(P)H) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) to calculate the fluorescence lifetime induced redox ratio (FLIRR) has been reported so far. We extended the FLIRR approach and present new results, which includes FLIM data of the various enzymes, such as NAD(P)H, FAD, as well as flavin mononucleotide (FMN). Our algorithm uses a two-exponential fitting procedure for the NAD(P)H autofluorescence and a three-exponential fit of the flavin signal. By extending the FLIRR approach, we introduced FLIRR1 as protein-bound NAD(P)H related to protein-bound FAD, FLIRR2 as protein-bound NAD(P)H related to free (unbound) FAD and FLIRR3 as protein-bound NAD(P)H related to protein-bound FMN. We compared the significance of extended FLIRR to the metabolic index, defined as the ratio of protein-bound NAD(P)H to free NAD(P)H. The statistically significant difference for tumor and normal cells was found to be highest for FLIRR1.     

Vortragstitel Reformulierung von Lebensmitteln: Erste Ergebnisse der sensorischen Optimierung von natriumreduziertem Schnittkäse (Senopt-Käse) anhand der Vorstufe Käsegeschmacksmatrix mit Hilfe von Salzsubstituten

Eine Reduktion der Zufuhr von Natrium (Na), das meist als Natriumchlorid (NaCl, Kochsalz) aufgenommen wird, ist ein wesentlicher Faktor in der Prävention von Hypertonie und kardiovaskulären Krankheiten. Das Speisesalz ist aber nicht nur Geschmacksträger, sondern wirkt unmittelbar auf andere Zutaten und damit auf den Herstellungsprozess. Es wirkt als Barriere gegen pathogene und Verderbnis erregende Bakterien, kontrolliert die Aktivität der Starterkulturen und moduliert Nichtstarter-Milchsäurebakterien (NSMSB) sowie die Mikrobiota. Ebenso beeinflusst es die Aktivität vieler Enzyme. Darüber hinaus kontrolliert es Synärese und Wassergehalt, Textur und funktionelle Eigenschaften der Käse. Um Na zu reduzieren, kann es daher nicht einfach weggelassen werden, sondern muss ab einer Reduktion von 10% mittels Salzaustauschstoffen substituiert werden. Ziel des aktuellen Projekts ist es, den Natriumgehalt von Schnittkäse um mindestens 30% zu senken, ohne dass sich die sensorischen Eigenschaften drastisch verändern. Um die Projektlaufzeit effektiver nutzen zu können, wurde die Auswirkungen einer NaCl-Reduzierung auf einen nicht reifebedingten, bitteren oder anderen Fremdgeschmack mit Hilfe eines trainierten Panels zunächst in einer flüssigen Käsegeschmacksmatrix untersucht. Die Untersuchungen an der Käsegeschmacksmatrix zielen darauf ab, den Einfluss von kommerziell verfügbaren Mineralsalzsubstituten für NaCl auf die Ausprägung unerwünschter geschmacklicher Eigenschaften mit dem Fokus auf dem Attribut „bitter“ zu prüfen. Es wird erwartet, dass durch die Mineralsalze bedingte Veränderungen, die durch die Käsereifung noch verstärkt werden, schon im flüssigen Produkt vorliegen. Die flüssige Käsegeschmacksmatrix enthält die geschmacksaktiven Aminosäuren, organischen Säuren und Mineralstoffe in Konzentrationen, wie sie in Gouda-Käse von Toelstede und Hofmann, 2008, bestimmt wurden. Wird der Natriumgehalt mit höherem Kaliumgehalt, stammend aus Kaliumchlorid um 30% gesenkt, fällt neben dem erwartungsgemäß weniger salzigen Geschmack ein erkennbar bitterer, metallischer Geschmack auf. Möglicherweise überdeckt oder unterdrückt ein höherer Kochsalzgehalt die Wahrnehmung von Bitterkeit. Daher wurden weitere auf dem Markt erhältliche Salzsubstitute getestet. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass beim Einsatz des Salzsubstitutes sub4salt50plus der Firma Jungbunzlauer in geeigneter Konzentration der Na Gehalt um knapp 30% gesenkt werden konnte, ohne Geschmack einzubüßen. Eine Übertragung der Ergebnisse auf das Zwischenprodukt Modellkäse mit Schnittkäse-ähnlicher, halbfester Konsistenz und auf Schnittkäse nach Gouda Art hergestellt im Technikumsmaßstab ist noch ausstehend.