Open Access

In this paper, we introduce the international program erp4students as general example on how to successfully prepare university students for the world of works without having to give up the basic principle in higher education, i.e., to exclusively provide sustainable education. We start with introducing the basic concept and design of the program and provide information regarding the demographic development over the past decade and implemented quality assurance mechanisms. Subsequently, the scope and design of and hitherto achieved insights from the Learning Culture Survey are outlined. On the basis of found results, we finally discuss how erp4students can deal with possible culture-specific issues that latest might emerge when the program gets available for learners in the Asian context.

The main requirements of efficient steganographic systems are transparency, robustness and security. In this work, the proposed system is designed to achieve these requirements, as follows: to increase the transparency and robustness, the proposed system uses the transform domain technique, in this case the wavelet domain technique to embed the color secret image into the color cover image. To achieve high security, chaotic systems are used to accomplish the following two purposes: firstly to scramble the secret color image before hiding it into the color cover image, secondly to randomly select the embedding positions in the cover image. Three chaotic systems with many combinations are used for the scrambling and the embedding process. Experimental results including Mean Square Error (MSE), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Correlation, Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and embedding capacity demonstrate that the proposed system has good performance as compared with other existing methods without attack and under different types of attacks such as filtering and noise attacks. Simulation results show that the combination of chaotic systems providing the best performance include the use of Logistic and Hénon maps for the embedding process and Arnold's cat map for the encryption process. The MSE, PSNR, correlation, SNR and embedding capacity obtained in this case reach up to 0.0010, 78.1dB, 0.9999, 67.2dB and 0.39% respectively when the secret image is Airplane with 32×32 pixels and the cover image is Girl with 512×512 pixels. For the extracted secret image, the chaotic system set that provides the best performance includes the use of Arnold's cat map for the encryption process. The MSE, PSNR, correlation and SNR obtained in this case reach up to 0.0846, 58.9dB, 1 and 56.1dB respectively. As compared with other methods, the proposed method achieves gains without any attack of 8.2dB for the stego image and 32.4dB for the extracted secret image in PSNR when the secret image is Airplane with 256×256 pixels and the cover image is Girl with 512×512 pixels.

The efficiency of nitrous oxide in an equimolar mixture with oxygen or in concentrations up to 70% is approved for short painful procedures. Evaluation of the vitamin B12 levels in anesthetic staff applying nitrous oxide showed reduced vitamin B12 plasma levels. This study examines the vitamin B12 status of medical staff working with nitrous oxide in a pediatric emergency department (ED). Medical staff of the ED at the University Children's Hospital Zurich participated. The vitamin B12 status was evaluated by measuring homocysteine, methylmalonic acid, vitamin B12, blood count, and the MTHFR C677T genotype. As a control group, medical personnel working in the “nitrous oxide–free” pediatric intensive care unit were recruited.

OBJECTIVES In this prospective preclinical study, we evaluated T1-weighted signal intensity in the deep cerebellar nuclei (CN) and globus pallidus (GP) up to 24 days after repeated administration of linear and macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) using homologous imaging and evaluation methods as in the recently published retrospective clinical studies. In a second part of the study, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) spaces were evaluated for contrast enhancement by fluid-attenuated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty adult male Wistar-Han rats were randomly divided into a control and 5 GBCA groups (n = 10 per group). The administered GBCAs were gadodiamide, gadopentetate dimeglumine, and gadobenate dimeglumine (linear GBCAs) as well as gadobutrol and gadoterate meglumine (macrocyclic GBCAs) and saline (control). Over a period of 2 weeks, the animals received 10 intravenous injections at a dose of 2.5 mmol Gd/kg body weight, each on 5 consecutive days per week. Before GBCA administration, as well as 3 and 24 days after the last injection, a whole-brain MRI was performed using a standard T1-weighted 3-dimensional turbo spin echo sequence on a clinical 1.5 T scanner. The ratios of signal intensities in deep CN to pons (CN/Po) and GP to thalamus (GP/Th) were determined. For the evaluation of the CSF spaces, 18 additional rats were randomly divided into 6 groups (n = 3 per group) that received the same GBCAs as in the first part of the study. After MR cisternography for anatomical reference, a fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequence was performed before and 1 minute after intravenous injection of a dose of 1 mmol Gd/kg body weight GBCA or saline. RESULTS A significantly increased signal intensity ratio of CN/Po was observed 3 and 24 days after the last injection of gadodiamide and gadobenate dimeglumine. No significant changes were observed between the 2 time points. Gadopentetate dimeglumine injection led to a moderately elevated but statistically not significant CN/Po signal intensity ratio. No increased CN/Po signal intensity ratios were determined in the MRI scans of rats that received macrocyclic GBCAs gadobutrol and gadoterate meglumine or saline. The ratio of signal intensity in GP/Th was not elevated in any group injected with GBCAs or saline. Enhanced signal intensities of CSF spaces were observed in the postcontrast fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images of all animals receiving GBCAs but not for saline. CONCLUSIONS In this animal study in rats, increased signal intensity in the CN was found up to 24 days after multiple, extended doses of linear GBCAs. However, in contrast to clinical reports, the signal enhancement in the GP was not reproduced, demonstrating the limitations of this animal experiment. The elevated signal intensities remained persistent over the entire observation period. In contrast, no changes of signal intensities in either the CN or the GP were observed for macrocyclic GBCAs. However, all GBCAs investigated were able to pass the blood-CSF barrier in rats to a certain, not yet quantified extent.

Der zunehmende Wunsch der Verbraucher nach einem natürlichen Lebensstil führt unter anderem zu einem erhöhten Konsum von Rohmilch und Milchprodukten aus unpasteurisierter Milch (Hudopisk et al., 2013). Rohmilchkonsumenten bevorzugen Rohmilch zum Einen wegen des subjektiven Eindrucks eines besseren Geschmacks und zum Anderen versprechen sie sich gesundheitliche Vorteile, wie eine reduzierte Empfindlichkeit gegen Allergien und eine bessere Qualität der enthaltenen Nährstoffe, durch den Verzehr unbehandelter Milch (Claeys et al., 2014). Mit dem Konsum von Rohmilch gehen allerdings mikrobiologische Risiken einher, da Rohmilch aufgrund ihres neutralen pH-Wertes, dem hohen Nährstoffgehalt und der hohen Wasseraktivität einen guten Nährboden für mikrobielles Wachstum darstellt. Das Wachstum von verschiedenen Mikroorganismen wird dabei größtenteils durch die Temperatur, die kompetitive Begleitflora und die Anwesenheit von Hemmstoffen beeinflusst (Claeys et al., 2013).Mögliche Kontaminationen der Rohmilch resultieren entweder aus einer direkten Abgabe von Mikroorganismen durch das Euter, als Konsequenz von Entzündungen oder durch eine indirekte Kontamination während des Melkvorgangs oder der späteren Handhabung (EFSA, 2015).

Simulating free-surface and pressurised flow is important to many fields of application, especially in network approaches. Modelling equations to describe flow behaviour arising in these problems are often expressed by one-dimensional formulations of the hyperbolic shallow water equations. One established approach to realise their numerical computation is the method of lines based on semi-discretisation in space (Steinebach and Rentrop, An adaptive method of lines approach for modeling flow and transport in rivers. In: Vande Wouwer, Saucez, Schiesser (eds) Adaptive method of lines, pp 181–205. Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, London, New York, Washington, DC, 2001; Steinebach and Weiner, Appl Numer Math 62:1567–1578, 2012; Steinebach et al., Modeling and numerical simulation of pipe flow problems in water supply systems. In: Martin, Klamroth, et al. (eds) Mathematical optimization of water networks. International series of numerical mathematics, vol 162, pp 3–15. Springer, Basel, 2012). It leads to index-one DAE systems as algebraic constraints are required to realise coupling and boundary conditions of single reaches.Linearly implicit ROW schemes proved to be effective to solve these DAE systems (Steinebach and Rentrop, An adaptive method of lines approach for modeling flow and transport in rivers. In: Vande Wouwer, Saucez, Schiesser (eds) Adaptive method of lines, pp 181–205. Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, London, New York, Washington, DC, 2001). However, under certain conditions an extended partial explicit time-integration of the shallow water equations could be worthwhile to save computational effort. To restrict implicit solution by ROW schemes to stiff components while using explicit solution by RK methods for remaining terms, we adapt ROW method ROS34PRW (Rang, J Comput Appl Math 262:105–114, 2014) to an AMF and IMEX combining approach (Hundsdorfer and Verwer, Numerical solution of time-dependent advection-diffusion-reaction equations. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 2003). Applied to first test problems regarding open channel flow, efficiency is analysed with respect to flow behaviour. Results prove to be advantageous especially concerning dynamical flow.

Ausschreibung "Anwendungsorientierte HPC-Software für skalierbare Parallelrechner" im Rahmen des Förderprogramms "IKT 2020 - Forschung für Innovationen" : Projektlaufzeit: 1. Juli 2013 bis 30. Juni 2016

Do remittances and social assistance transfers have different impacts on household’s expenditure patterns? While two separate strands of literature have looked at how social assistance or remittances have been spent, few studies have compared them directly. Using data from a household survey conducted in Moldova in 2011, this paper assesses the impact both types of transfers have on household expenditure patterns. Contrary to the common assumption that money is fungible, we find that social assistance and remittances have different impacts on expenditure patterns (having controlled for potential endogeneity). In other words, where the income comes from can determine how it is spent. As such, different sources of income may have different poverty impacts. In our sample, the two types of transfers are received by different, but slightly overlapping population groups. The fact that the two transfers are spent in different ways means that, to some extent, social assistance and remittances are complements rather than substitutes.

Noch sind sich die Experten nicht einig, wie schnell Blockchain das Internet revolutionieren wird. Dass das Potenzial dafür riesig ist, ist sich Professor Jens Böcker sicher. Er unterhält eine Professur für Betriebswirtschaftslehre und Marketing an der Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg und forscht zu diesem Thema.

Background: Falls are common in older adults and can result in serious injuries. Due to demographic changes, falls and related healthcare costs are likely to increase over the next years. Participation and motivation of older adults in fall prevention measures remain a challenge. The iStoppFalls project developed an information and communication technology (ICT)-based system for older adults to use at home in order to reduce common fall risk factors such as impaired balance and muscle weakness. The system aims at increasing older adults’ motivation to participate in ICT-based fall prevention measures. This article reports on usability, user-experience and user-acceptance aspects affecting the use of the iStoppFalls system by older adults. Methods: In the course of a 16-week international multicenter study, 153 community-dwelling older adults aged 65+ participated in the iStoppFalls randomized controlled trial, of which half used the system in their home to exercise and assess their risk of falling. During the study, 60 participants completed questionnaires regarding the usability, user experience and user acceptance of the iStoppFalls system. Usability was measured with the System Usability Scale (SUS). For user experience the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) was applied. User acceptance was assessed with the Dynamic Acceptance Model for the Re-evaluation of Technologies (DART). To collect more detailed data on usability, user experience and user acceptance, additional qualitative interviews and observations were conducted with participants. Results: Participants evaluated the usability of the system with an overall score of 62 (Standard Deviation, SD 15.58) out of 100, which suggests good usability. Most users enjoyed the iStoppFalls games and assessments, as shown by the overall PACES score of 31 (SD 8.03). With a score of 0.87 (SD 0.26), user acceptance results showed that participants accepted the iStoppFalls system for use in their own home. Interview data suggested that certain factors such as motivation, complexity or graphical design were different for gender and age. Conclusions: The results suggest that the iStoppFalls system has good usability, user experience and user acceptance. It will be important to take these along with factors such as motivation, gender and age into consideration when designing and further developing ICT-based fall prevention systems.