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Background Bench and virtual reality nonbiological simulator models for anatomic endoscopic enucleation of the prostate (AEEP) surgery have been reported in the literature. These models are acceptable but have limited practical applications. Objective To validate a fresh-frozen human cadaver model for holmium AEEP training and assess its content validity. Design, setting, and participants Holmium AEEP operations on fresh-frozen cadavers performed by an experienced surgeon were recorded, and a video, including the main steps of the operation, was produced. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis The video and an accompanying questionnaire were subsequently distributed electronically to ESUT AEEP study group experts and associates (N = 32) for assessment of the AEEP training model. A ten-point Likert global rating scale was used to measure the content validity. Results and limitations A total of 26 answers were returned (81%). The experts agreed on the model’s suitability for AEEP training (mean Likert score: 8). According to the responses, “identifying anatomic structures and landmarks” was the most valuable aspect of the model in terms of AEEP training (median Likert score: 9). Conversely, the experts found the model’s ability, in terms of demonstrating laser and tissue reactions, to be weak (median Likert score: 6) Conclusions Based on the content validity assessment, the fresh-frozen cadaver-training model for laser AEEP seems to be a promising model for demonstrating and learning the correct prostate enucleation technique. Patient summary An increasing number of researchers have proposed that anatomic endoscopic enucleation of the prostate (AEEP) should replace transurethral resection of the prostate surgery and become the gold standard for treatment of bladder outlet obstruction due to benign prostatic hyperplasia. AEEP requires anatomic familiarity for enucleation, technical knowledge, and a solid training program before starting with the first cases. This is the first cadaver study to assess the content validity of a fresh-frozen human cadaver model for AEEP training., Take Home Message Anatomic endoscopic enucleation of the prostate (AEEP) has a steep learning curve and not become widespread due to the lack of a standardized training program. This is the first cadaver study validating a fresh-frozen human cadaver model for AEEP training

Hybrid nucleic acid nanostructures partition architectural and functional roles between ribonucleic acid (RNA) joints and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) connectors. Nanoshapes self-assemble from nucleic acid modules through synergistic stabilization of marginally stable base pairing interactions within circularly closed polygons. Herein, we report the development of hybrid nanoshapes that include multiple different RNA modules such as internal loop and three-way junction (3WJ) motifs. An iterative mix-and-match screening approach was used to identify suitable DNA connectors that furnished stable nanoshapes for combinations of different RNA modules. The resulting complex multicomponent RNA-DNA hybrid nanoshapes were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging. Our research provides proof of concept for modular design, assembly and screening of RNA-DNA hybrid nanoshapes as building blocks for complex extended nucleic acid materials with features at the sub-10 nm scale.

The preparation of nucleic acid nanostructures has relied predominantly on procedures of additive fabrication in which complex architectures are assembled by concerted self-assembly and sequential addition of building blocks. We had previously established RNA-DNA hybrid nanoshapes with modular architectures that enable multistep synthetic approaches inspired by organic molecular synthesis where additive and transformative steps are used to prepare complex molecular architectures. We report the establishment of module replacement and strand exchange as synthetic transformations in nucleic acid hybrid nanoshapes, which are enabled by minimally destabilizing sequence elements such as a single unpaired overhang nucleotide or a mismatch base pair. Module exchange facilitated by thermodynamic lability triggers adds a powerful transformative approach to the repertoire of additive and transformative synthetic methods for the preparation of complex composite materials.

Despite 2-factor authentication and other modern approaches, authentication by password is still the most commonly used method on the Internet. Unfortunately, as analyses show, many users still choose weak and easy-to-guess passwords. To alleviate the significant effects of this problem, systems often employ textual or graphical feedback to make the user aware of this problem, which often falls short on engaging the user and achieving the intended user reaction, i.e., choosing a stronger password.In this paper, we introduce auditory feedback as a complementary method to remedy this problem, using the advantages of sound as an affective medium. We investigate the conceptual space of creating usable auditory feedback on password strength, including functional and non-functional requirements, influences and design constraints. We present web-based implementations of four sonification designs for evaluating different characteristics of the conceptual space and define a research roadmap for optimization, evaluation and applications.

Introduction In Germany, inpatient rehabilitation is a well-established additive option in the therapeutic concept for children and adolescents with diabetes. However, its contribution in pediatric diabetes care is not known exactly. Our objective was to analyze inpatient rehabilitation in pediatric diabetes over eight years in Germany. Methods We requested secondary data from the German Statutory Pension Insurance Scheme to evaluate all completed inpatient rehabilitations for children and adolescents with diabetes (ICD-code E10-14) reimbursed by this institution between 2006 and 2013. For each type of diabetes, we analyzed the distribution of admissions by year, age-group, sex, nationality, and other documented diagnoses. All analyses were conducted via remote computing with IBM SPSS Version 24. Results Between 2006 and 2013, 5,403 admissions to inpatient rehabilitation for 4,746 children and adolescents with diabetes were documented. For type 1 diabetes (T1D; 88.5% of admissions), the number of yearly admissions increased from 458 in 2006 to 688 in 2013 (p=0.013), especially for age-group>5-10. The increase for type 2 diabetes (T2D) was not significant. Admissions were more frequent for girls (53.6%, p≤0.001), age>10-15 years (42.8%, p=0.001), and German nationality (98.5%). Obesity (T1D: 11.1%; T2D: 87.9%) and mental disorders (T1D: 11.6%; T2D: 27.4%) were the most frequent documented diagnoses in addition to diabetes. Conclusion This study provides a comprehensive overview of inpatient rehabilitation for children and adolescents with diabetes over many years in Germany. Until 2013, inpatient rehabilitation remained important in pediatric diabetes care, especially for children with mental disorders or obesity.

In the treatment of children/adolescents with diabetes medical rehabilitation plays an important role. It was the aim of the survey to analyze trends in the number of patients admitted to rehabilitation, the quality of diabetes care, the incidence of acute complications, risk factors for cardiovascular co-morbidities like lipids and blood pressure and the familial status nationwide and over a period of 13 years. Methods: Currently seven hospitals offer in-patient rehabilitation for children/adolescents with diabetes in Germany. Six hospitals participated in the survey. All children/adolescents (n=7.163) who participated in an in-patient rehabilitation 01/01/2004-31/12/2016 were included. Clinical/familial data were assessed: age, sex, family situation, type/duration of diabetes, insulin dosage, self-monitoring, acute complications, height, body weight, blood pressure and laboratory parameters. For collecting and storage of data the computer software DPV® (Diabetes-Patienten-Verlaufsdokumentation, University of Ulm, Germany) was used. Statistical analyses were performed using the programme SAS (Statistical Analysis Software 9.4, SAS Institute Inc, Cary, North Carolina, USA). Results: During the study period 7.163 patients took part in 10.987 in-patient rehabilitation procedures. The yearly number of patients participating in rehabilitation remained stable. There was no change in the quality of diabetes control (HbA1c: p=0.30, fasting blood glucose: p=0.80). The incidence of severe hypoglycaemia decreased (p

The two research questions of this paper are: How does the rhetorical situation trigger the accounting communication in a case of conflict? Which persuasive strategies are chosen to alter the situation? The paper accordingly combines Bitzer's theory of the rhetorical situation with the Aristotelian framework of persuasive appeals and insights from argumentation theory. The paper empirically demonstrates the usefulness of this framework to deepen our understanding of accounting communication in a historical case study. The historical case is the change of monetary policy of a public financial institution, the Bank deutscher Länder BdL, and its conflict with the government in 1955/56. The analysis of the rhetorical discourse focuses on the narrative part of BdL's Annual Report 1955, the Gürzenich hall speech of German Chancellor Adenauer on 23 May 1956, and the Monthly Report of May 1956. The paper demonstrates how the rhetorical situation triggers the accounting communication of the BdL. It also reveals changes in the argumentation strategy and the affective appeals as reactions to the new rhetorical situation created by the Chancellor's speech.

The emergence of cognitive interaction technology offering intuitive and personalized support for humans in daily routines is essential for the success of future smart environments. Social robotics and ambient assisted living are well-established, active research fields but in the real world the number of smart environments that support humans efficiently on a daily basis is still rather low. We argue that research on ambient intelligence and human–robot interaction needs to be conducted in a strongly interdisciplinary process to facilitate seamless integration of assistance technologies into the users daily lives. With the cognitive service robotics apartment (CSRA), we are developing a novel kind of laboratory following this interdisciplinary approach. It combines a smart home with ambient intelligence functionalities with a cognitive social robot with advanced manipulation capabilities to explore the all day use of cognitive interaction technology for human assistance. This lab in conjunction with our development approach opens up new lines of inquiry and allows us to address new research questions in human–machine, human–agent and human–robot interaction

Background: International guidelines recommend psychosocial care for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Objective: To assess psychological care in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes in a real-world setting and to evaluate associations with metabolic outcome. Methods: Delivery of psychological care, HbA1c, and rates of severe hypoglycemia and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes from 199 diabetes care centers participating in the German diabetes survey (DPV) were analyzed. Results: Overall, 12 326 out of 31 861 children with type 1 diabetes were supported by short-term or continued psychological care (CPC). Children with psychological care had higher HbA1c (8.0% vs 7.7%, P

This paper presents the design and evaluation of four sonification methods to support monitoring and diagnosis in Electrocardiography (ECG). In particular we focus on an ECG abnormality called ST-elevation which is an important indicator of a myocardial infarction. Since myocardial infarction represents a life-threatening condition it is of essential value to detect an ST-elevation as early as possible. As part of the evaluated sound designs, we propose two novel sonifications: (i) Polarity sonification, a continuous parameter-mapping sonification using a formant synthesizer and (ii) Stethoscope sonification, a combination of the ECG signal and a stethoscope recording. The other two designs, (iii) the water ambience sonification and the (iv) morph sonification, were presented in our previous work about ECG sonification (Aldana Blanco AL, Steffen G, Thomas H (2016) In: Proceedings of Interactive Sonification Workshop (ISon). Bielefeld, Germany). The study evaluates three components across the proposed sonifications (1) detection performance, meaning if participants are able to detect a transition from healthy to unhealthy states, (2) classification accuracy, that evaluates if participants can accurately classify the severity of the pathology, and (3) aesthetics and usability (pleasantness, informativeness and long-term listening). The study results show that the polarity design had the highest accuracy rates in the detection task whereas the stethoscope sonification obtained the better score in the classification assignment. Concerning aesthetics, the water ambience sonification was regarded as the most pleasant. Furthermore, we found a significant difference between sound/music experts and non-experts in terms of the error rates obtained in the detection task using the morph sonification and also in the classification task using the stethoscope sonification. Overall, the group of experts obtained lower error rates than the group of non-experts, which means that further training could improve accuracy rates and, particularly for designs that rely mainly on pitch variations, additional training is needed in the non-experts group.

The use of Personal Voice Assistants (PVAs)1 such as Alexa and the Google Assistant is rising steadily, but there is a lack of research investigating common issues and requests of PVAs in the context of smart home control. We address this research question with an online survey (n = 65), using a qualitative evaluation of users’ problems and improvement requests. Our analysis leads to a partly hierarchic clustering of issues & recommendations for interaction capabilities of PVAs into seven basic categories, allowing us in turn to derive implications and to condense them into design guidelines for future Human-Agent Interaction (HAI) with PVAs. Specifically, we formulate and elaborate the concepts Authentication & Authorization, Activity-Based Interaction, Situated Dialogue, and Explainability & Transparency as key topics for making progress towards smooth interaction with smart homes.

Smart products not only provide novel functionalities, but also may establish new business models, markets, or distribution channels, strengthen relationships with consumers, and/or add smart remote services. While many technical obstacles of such products have already been overcome, the broad market dissemination of smart products still poses some vital managerial challenges for decision makers. In this paper, we outline the technical potential and future trends of smart consumer products, discuss economic challenges in four scopes, namely, preference-based new product development, market analysis, supply chain design, and industry development, and, in particular, we highlight research perspectives for management science in this promising field.

Objectives We compared the spatial concepts given to sounds' directions by blind football players with both blind non-athletes and sighted individuals. Method Participants verbally described the directions of sounds around them by using predefined spatial concept labels, under two blocked conditions: 1) facing front, 2) pointing with the hand towards the stimulus. Results Blind football players categorized the directions more precisely (i.e., they used simple labels for describing the cardinal directions and combined labels for the intermediate ones) than the other groups, and their categorization was less sensitive to the response conditions than blind non-athletes. Sighted participants' categorization was similar to previous studies, in which the front and back regions were generally more precisely described than the sides, where simple labels were often used for describing directions around the absolute left and right. Conclusions The differences in conceptual categorization of sound directions are a) in sighted individuals, influenced by the representation of the visual space b) in blind individuals, influenced by the level of expertise in action and locomotion based on non-visual information, which can be increased by auditive stimulation provided by blind football training.

Today's computing technology is radically different from that of 10 years ago. Devices such as smartphones, tablets, and even wearable devices are found wherever we are. Researchers and developers can take advantage of this new era by knowing that the public has personal access to highly interactive multimedia devices. Interfaces involving sound are already in the hands of millions of people. For information display, sound promises an alternative to squeezing information through small screens that then force us to attend to them, thus making us lose awareness of our immediate environment. This special issue looks at some of the upcoming research on how such interaction with sound can be used in a variety of areas and applications.

Die Effekte der stationaren Rehabilitation bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Diabetes mellitus Typ 1 wurden gepruft. Grundlage war die Diabetes-Patienten-Verlaufsdokumentation(DPV)-Wiss-Datenbank. Es wurden 1282 Patienten ausgewahlt, die zwischen 1996 und 2010 erstmalig eine stationare Rehabilitation abgeschlossen hatten und fur die Angaben vor und nach der Rehabilitation vorlagen. Veranderungen wurden mit dem „Wilcoxon signed-rank test“ und linearen Regressionsmodellen gepruft. Zum Katamnesezeitpunkt (im Mittel 7,3 Monate nach Abschluss der Rehabilitation) ergaben sich signifikante Veranderungen. Es wurden mehr Injektionen, eine vermehrte Anwendung von Analoginsulinen, mehr Insulinpumpenbehandlungen (19,9 % vs. 11,6 %, p

In this paper, we propose to make use of an auditory fuel efficiency display as means to support car drivers in adopting an energy-efficient driving style. We report on the development of the EcoSonic system as a platform for evaluating such displays and present five design approaches to guide their realization. In a study with 30 participants, we evaluated two prototype auditory displays against the baseline of visual-only eco-driving feedback in a within-subject study. Our selected designs are described in full detail. Key findings include a significantly reduced fuel consumption as well as lower engine speeds compared to the visual display. Furthermore, questionnaire analysis results confirm that the auditory conditions are less obtrusive and also seem to allow a more subconscious processing and comprehension of the provided information. Finally, we have found that the affectiveness of the display design seems to have a positive impact on its perceived helpfulness and the ability to absorb its information subconsciously.

This paper presents a novel interactive auditory data exploration method to investigate features of high-dimensional data distributions. The Mode Explorer couples a scratching-interaction on a 2D scatter plot of high-dimensional data to real-time dynamical processes, excited in data space at the nearest mode in the probability density function (pdf) obtained by kernel-density estimation. Specifically, the sign-inverted pdf is used as a potential function in which test particles perform oscillations at low friction, yielding signals that can directly be played back as sound. This Model-based sonification approach is used to interactively search the distribution for different modes, learn about their details, i.e. the Hessian matrix at the mode, and thus enable a non-parametric parameter selection for appropriate bandwidth.

Objective: To examine whether characteristics of children and adolescents who start lifestyle intervention (LI) for obesity in Germany changed over the last decade. Methods: 65,453 subjects (Results: Extreme obesity was found to be more frequent at the onset of LI (2005: 11.6; 2015: 12.7%) with a similar trend in subgroups (p < 0.001). Obesity increased (2005: 50.3%; 2015: 55.1%), and overweight decreased (2005: 34.1%; 2015: 29.0%) in the whole study population. Trends were similar for inpatient or outpatient care (all p < 0.001). Hypertension increased from 45.7% to 49.2% in the whole study population, and similar data were obtained in the subgroup of inpatients (both p < 0.0001). Dyslipidemia increased in all patients (2005: 21.9%; 2015: 28.0%) and in inpatients (2005: 20.2%; 2015: 25.7%; both p < 0.0001). Abnormal carbohydrate metabolism rose in all patients (from 5.2 to 6.4%; p = 0.0002) without significant trends in subgroups. Conclusion: During the last decade, children and adolescents presented with higher BMI SDS at the onset of LI and the proportion with obesity-related comorbidities increased. Particularly the presence of comorbidities differed between outpatients and inpatients.

We report the results of a first, collective, blind experiment in RNA three-dimensional (3D) structure prediction, encompassing three prediction puzzles. The goals are to assess the leading edge of RNA structure prediction techniques; compare existing methods and tools; and evaluate their relative strengths, weaknesses, and limitations in terms of sequence length and structural complexity. The results should give potential users insight into the suitability of available methods for different applications and facilitate efforts in the RNA structure prediction community in ongoing efforts to improve prediction tools. We also report the creation of an automated evaluation pipeline to facilitate the analysis of future RNA structure prediction exercises.

Fragestellung: Es war das Ziel der Untersuchung bundesweit die psychosozialen Charakteristika von Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Typ-1-Diabetes mellitus zu erfassen, die zu einer stationaren Rehabilitationsmasnahme eingewiesen wurden. Methodik: In die Analyse aufgenommen wurden alle Patienten

Smart homes have been mostly treated as homogeneous environments where each room is distinguished by the activities performed there but not by any fundamentally different basic parameters for systems to operate in. We argue that at least for bathroom environments, things like the extensive presence of liquid water and humidity and special privacy considerations challenge these assumptions. We discuss typical and unique challenges for ubiquitous computing interfaces in bathroom environments and we look at how actual and conceptual systems confront these challenges. We review bathroom systems in the literature and present two systems of our own to exemplify the unique challenges to smart environments the bathroom provides, one of which is presented here for the first time.

The first workshop on embodied interaction with smart environments aims to bring together the very active community of multi-modal interaction research and the rapidly evolving field of smart home technologies. Besides addressing the software architecture of such very complex systems, it puts an emphasis on questions regarding an intuitive interaction with the environment. Thereby, especially the role of agency leads to interesting challenges in the light of user interactions. We therefore encourage a lively discussion on the design and concepts of social robots and virtual avatars as well as innovative ambient devices and their implementation into smart environments.

Design Hotspots are features on a silicon chip, which are susceptible to pattern failures. While multiple methods like DRC, ORC and CFM inspection are used to identify these Hotspots, in-line monitoring of these design Hotspots has remained a challenge. Existing methods of Hotspot inspection, which include API and EBI are not suited for large scale inspection due to system limitations and throughput limitations respectively. NanoPoint inspection, which is a recent advance in BBP inspection, has enabled in-line inspection of Design Hotspots at very high throughput. In this paper, a methodology for in-line inspection of Design Hotspots using NanoPoint BBP inspection is presented.

Recent developments in the field of functional genomics have been used to increase productivity in the manufacture of industrial biochemicals. Technologies like transcriptomics and proteomics have profited from the increasing number of genome sequencing projects. Meanwhile functional genomics has evolved from several isolated technologies, such as DNA chip technology and proteomics, to combined approaches that can help us to understand why organisms produce a certain product. The combination of expression studies and kinetic studies, such as carbon flux determination or metabolite measurements, has significantly improved productivity in production processes.

Auditory data display is an interdisciplinary field linking auditory perception research, sound engineering, data mining, and human-computer interaction in order to make semantic contents of data perceptually accessible in the form of (nonverbal) audible sound. For this goal it is important to understand the different ways in which sound can encode meaning. We discuss this issue from the perspectives of language, music, functionality, listening modes, and physics, and point out some limitations of current techniques for auditory data display, in particular when targeting high-dimensional data sets. As a promising, potentially very widely applicable approach, we discuss the method of model-based sonification (MBS) introduced recently by the authors and point out how its natural semantic grounding in the physics of a sound generation process supports the design of sonifications that are accessible even to untrained, everyday listening. We then proceed to show that MBS also facilitates the design of an intuitive, active navigation through "acoustic aspects", somewhat analogous to the use of successive two-dimensional views in three-dimensional visualization. Finally, we illustrate the concept with a first prototype of a "tangible" sonification interface which allows us to "perceptually map" sonification responses into active exploratory hand motions of a user, and give an outlook on some planned extensions.

Three-dimensional RNA models fitted into crystallographic density maps exhibit pervasive conformational ambiguities, geometric errors and steric clashes. To address these problems, we present enumerative real-space refinement assisted by electron density under Rosetta (ERRASER), coupled to Python-based hierarchical environment for integrated 'xtallography' (PHENIX) diffraction-based refinement. On 24 data sets, ERRASER automatically corrects the majority of MolProbity-assessed errors, improves the average R(free) factor, resolves functionally important discrepancies in noncanonical structure and refines low-resolution models to better match higher-resolution models.

In the 1950s Corynebacterium glutamicum was found to be a very efficient producer of L-glutamic acid. Since this time biotechnological processes with bacteria of the species Corynebacterium developed to be among the most important in terms of tonnage and economical value. L-Glutamic acid and L-lysine are bulk products nowadays. L-Valine, L-isoleucine, L-threonine, L-aspartic acid and L-alanine are among other amino acids produced by Corynebacteria. Applications range from feed to food and pharmaceutical products. The growing market for amino acids produced with Corynebacteria led to significant improvements in bioprocess and downstream technology as well as in molecular biology. During the last decade big efforts were made to increase the productivity and to decrease the production costs. This review gives an overview of the world market for amino acids produced by Corynebacteria. Significant improvements in bioprocess technology, i.e. repeated fed batch or continuous production are summarised. Bioprocess technology itself was improved furthermore by application of more sophisticated feeding and automatisation strategies. Even though several amino acids developed towards commodities in the last decade, side aspects of the production process like sterility or detection of contaminants still have increasing relevance. Finally one focus of this review is on recent developments in downstream technology.

Touch can create a feeling of intimacy and connectedness. This work proposes feelabuzz, a system to transmit movements of one mobile phone to the vibration actuator of another one. This is done in a direct, non-abstract way, without the use of pattern recognition techniques in order not to destroy the feel for the other. The tactile channel enables direct communication, i. e. what another person explicitly signals, as well as implicit context communication, the complex movements any activity consists of or even those that are produced by the environment. This paper explores the potential of this approach, presents the mapping use and discusses further possible development beyond the existing prototype to enable a large-scale user study.

The purpose of this study was to assess safety and feasibility of intracoronary delivery of reviparin using a porous balloon following percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. The 2.7 mm porous balloon used in this study had 35 holes arranged in a spiral pattern. Eighteen patients (male n = 10, female n = 8, age 63 ± 9 years) undergoing successful PTCA in coronary arteries with a vessel diameter of 2.5 to 3.0 mm determined by online QCA (LAD = 11, RCX = 3, RCA = 4) were included. They received a bolus of 7,000 anti-Xa-IU reviparin followed by local delivery of 1,500 anti-Xa-IU in 4 ml with an injection pressure of 2 atm. The patients received additionally 10500 anti-Xa-units intravenously during the following 24 hours and a daily dose of 7000 anti-Xa-units reviparin subcutaneously for the following 28 days. Angiograms were obtained before and after PTCA, directly after local delivery, at 24 hours postintervention and after 6 months. The primary success rate was 100%. Quantitative coronary angiography showed a minimum luminal diameter of 0.42 ± 0.14 mm before PTCA, 1.87 ± 0.45 after PTCA, 1.67 ± 0.43 after LDD, 1.63 ± 0.46 after 24 hours, and 1.06 ± 0.6 after 6 months. Angiographic follow-up was obtained in all patients. No major complications occurred during the 6-month follow-up period. The angiographic restenosis rate was 28% (5/18) at follow-up. This study demonstrates safety and feasibility of local intracoronary delivery of reviparin with a porous balloon following PTCA even in smaller diameter coronary arteries. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Diagn. 44:267–274, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The reprocessing of medical devices is an essential process to keep a hospital functional. It is carried out in the Central Sterilization Supply Department (CSSD). Failures during reprocessing can endanger patients' safety and increase costs. The benefits of an assistance system helping workers in preventing failures are therefore obvious, whereas challenging requirements arise through process complexity, legislation, integration and hygiene restrictions. We propose an assistance system that supports the worker in the unclean area of a CSSD under these requirements. It provides a user interface for context-aware guidance and collection of process relevant data from the worker. 'Virtual touches' fulfill the hygiene requirements and are realized with a depth camera and a projected user interface. Business process models control the workflow and maintain a valid database for quality assurance and worker guidance. We evaluated the system with a user study focusing on failure prevention, task completion time and usability.

The research activities on which the following hypotheses are based are concerned with the social implications of workflow management systems (wms) and with the question of how the necessary extent of autonomy of workers can still be guaranteed under the conditions of wms [Herrmann, 95]. We have learnt that the ability of workers for autonomy and improvisation cannot evolve if wms are not adaptable. If wms are adapted by workers, it might be sensible that the result of the adaptation is stored for further application. Consequently, the organization of business processes is changed if their workflow models are adapted. We understand that this is a specific version of organizational learning, because more than one member of an organization as well as the coordination between them is affected. The adaptation of a wms includes organizational learning under three perspectives:• before a suggested adaptation has reached a state of maturity and is accepted by the members of an organization, a process of learning is required• people must be trained to carry out their tasks in accordance with the adaptation - this requires another kind of learning• the experience with those two aspects above can be used to facilitate the next process of adaptation - this is a kind of organizational learning on a meta-level.We focus on the first perspective. Since nearly every adaptation affects other cooperators the necessity for negotiation between them is obvious. We realized that the course of negotiation can be understood as a process of organizational learning . Where as, the adapted workflow model can be considered as a kind of organizational memory .

l -Isoleucine was produced in a fed-batch bioprocess with l -leucine auxotrophic Corynebacterium glutamicum strains developed by genetic engineering. An efficient supply with nutrients was achieved by applying closed-loop control of glucose as the main carbon source, with a model-based, parameter-adaptive control strategy. This control strategy is based on an extended, semi-continuous Kalman filter for process identification and a minimum variance controller. The lab scale fed-batch process with C. glutamicum SM1 and C. glutamicum DR17 pECM3::ilvA38 was characterized with respect to biomass, product and by-product accumulation. A differential analysis of growth, specific productivities, and selectivities was performed to characterize the carbon flow over process time. Characterization of l -isoleucine transport steps across the cell membrane resulted in a balance of l -isoleucine transport over process time. Up to an extracellular l -isoleucine concentration of 140 mM the cytosolic l -isoleucine, provided by the biosynthesis, was quantitatively excreted into the medium via the export carrier system. Optimized feeding profiles for l -leucine and phosphate in correlation with the on-line estimated glucose consumption were achieved up to the pilot scale (300-1 stirred tank reactor). The maximum l -isoleucine concentration was 150 mM (21 g l−1) with a space-time yield of 4.3 mmol l−1 h−1. With a 98% closed carbon balance the selectivity for isoleucine was 14%, for biomass 13%, and for CO2 68%.

We investigated the representation of azimuthal directions of sound sources under two different conditions. In the first experiment, we examined the participants' mental representation of sound source directions via similarity judgments. Auditory stimuli originating from sixteen loudspeakers positioned equidistantly around the participant were presented in pairs, with the first stimulus serving as the anchor, and thereby providing the context for the second stimulus. For each pair of stimuli, participants had to rate the sound source directions as either similar or dissimilar. In the second experiment, the same participants categorized single sound source directions using verbal direction labels (front, back, left, right, and combinations of any two of these). In both experiments, the directions within the front and back regions were more distinctively categorized than those on the sides, and the sides' categories included more directions than those of the front or back. Furthermore, we found evidence that the left-right decision comprises the basic differentiation of the surrounding regions. These findings illustrate what seem to be central features of the representation of directions in auditory space.

Multimodal research in human interaction has to consider a variety of factors, ranging from local short-time phenomena to complex interaction patterns. As of today, no single discipline engaged in communication research offers the methods and tools to investigate the full complexity continuum in a time-efficient way. A synthesis of qualitative and quantitative analysis is required to merge insights about micro-sequential structures with big data patterns. Using the example of a co-present dyadic negotiation analysis to combine methods offered by Conversa- tion Analysis and Data Mining, we show how such a partnership can benefit each discipline and lead to insights as well as new hypotheses evaluation opportunities.

In this paper we present BRIX, a novel modular hardware prototyping platform for applications in mobile, wearable and stationary sensing, data streaming and feedback. The system consists of three different types of compact stack-able modules, which can adapt to various applications and scenarios. The core of BRIX is a base module that contains basic motion sensors, a processor and a wireless interface. A battery module provides power for the system and makes it a mobile device. Different types of extension modules can be stacked onto the base module to extend its scope of functions by sensors, actuators and interactive elements. BRIX allows a very intuitive, inexpensive and expeditious prototyping that does not require knowledge in electronics or hardware design. In an example application, we demonstrate how BRIX can be used to track human body movements.

In this paper we present a novel approach for Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) which incorporates small mobile platforms to actuate Tangible User Interface Objects (TUIOs).We propose an application that combines gestural interaction and our actuated Tangibles, Tangible Active Objects (TAOs), for social networking. In our approach TUIOs represent messages with which the user can trigger actions with through gestural input using these objects. We conducted a case study and present the results. We demonstrate interaction with a working prototype of our embodied social networking client.

Introduction Lower pole kidney stones represent at time a challenge for the urologist. The gold standard treatment for intrarenal stones 2 cm is Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy (PCNL). The success rate of ESWL, however, decreases when it is employed for lower pole stones, and this is particularly true in the presence of narrow calices or acute infundibular angles. Studies have proved that ureteroscopy (URS) is an efficacious alternative to ESWL for lower pole stones

In this paper we propose an approach for identification of high-level object manipulation operations within a continuous multimodal time-series. We focus on a multimodal approach for robust recognition of action primitive data. Our procedure combines an unsupervised Bayesian multimodal segmentation with a supervised machine learning approach. We briefly outline (1) the unsupervised segmentation and selection of uni- and bi-manual manipulation primitives developed in our previous work. We show (2) an application of the ordered means models to classification of estimated segments. To assess the performance of our approach, we compare the computed labels to the ground truth acquired during the data recording. In our experiments we examined the robustness of the procedure on two different sets of segments: full length (≈ 95% overlap with the ground truth on average), partial length (≈ 10% overlap with ground truth on average). We have achieved a cross validation rate of ≈ 0.95 and recognition accuracy of ≈ 0.97 for full length and ≈ 0.84 for partial length test sets.

In this paper, we present a calibration-free head gesture recognition system using a motion-sensor-based approach. For data acquisition we conducted a comprehensive study with 10 subjects. We analyzed the resulting head movement data with regard to separability and transferability to new subjects. Ordered means models (OMMs) were used for classification since they provide an easy-to-use, fast, and stable approach to machine learning of time series. In result, we achieved classification rates of 85% - 95% for nodding, head shaking and tilting head gestures and good transferability. Finally, we show first promising attempts towards online recognition.

The identification and labeling of non-hierarchical relations are among the most challenging tasks in ontology learning. This paper describes an approach for suggesting ontology relationship types to domain experts based on implicitly learned relations from a domain corpus. The learning process extracts verb- vectors from sentences containing domain concepts. It computes centroids for known relationship types and stores them in the knowledge base. Vectors of unknown relationships are compared to the stored centroids using the cosine similarity metric. The system then suggests the relationship type of the most similar centroid. Domain experts evaluate these suggestions to refine the knowledge base and constantly improve the component's accuracy. Using four sample ontologies on "energy sources", this paper demonstrates how link type suggestion aids the ontology design process. It also provides a statistical analysis on the accuracy and average ranking performance of batch learning versus online learning.

Semantic Web technologies in general and ontology-based approaches in particular are considered the foundation for the next generation of information services. While ontologies enable software agents to exchange knowledge and information in a standardized, intelligent manner, describing today\(\check{\rm S}\)s vast amount of information in terms of ontological knowledge remains a challenge.

International alliances in space efforts have resulted in a more rapid diffusion of space technology. This, in turn, increases pressure on organizations to push forward with technological developments and to take steps to maximize their inclusion into the research and development (RD a "one stop" information resource for policy makers, program managers, scientists, engineers, researchers and others.

Purpose: Bexarotene is a rexinoid (selective retinoid X receptor agonist) that affects proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis in preclinical studies. The relationship between bexarotene levels and biomarker changes in tumor tissues has not been previously studied. Experimental Design: BEAS-2B human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells, retinoid-resistant BEAS-2B-R1 cells, A427, H226, and H358 lung cancer cells were treated with bexarotene. Proliferation and biomarker expression were assessed. In a proof-of-principle clinical trial, bexarotene tumor tissue levels and intratumoral pharmacodynamic effects were assessed in patients with stages I to II non–small cell lung cancer. Bexarotene (300 mg/m2/day) was administered p.o. for 7 to 9 days before resection. Results: Bexarotene-induced dosage-dependent repression of growth, cyclin D1, cyclin D3, total epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and phospho-EGFR expression in BEAS-2B, BEAS-2B-R1, A427, and H358, but not H226 cells. Twelve patients were enrolled, and 10 were evaluable. Bexarotene treatment was well tolerated. There was nonlinear correlation between plasma and tumor bexarotene concentrations (r2 = 0.77). Biomarker changes in tumors were observed: repression of cyclin D1, total EGFR and proliferation in one case; repression of cyclin D3, total and phospho-EGFR in another. The cases with multiple biomarker changes had high tumor bexarotene (107-159 ng/g). A single biomarker change was detected in one case with low tumor bexarotene. Conclusion: Bexarotene represses proliferation and biomarker expression in responsive, but not resistant HBE and lung cancer cells. Similar biomarker changes occur in lung tumors when therapeutic intratumoral bexarotene levels are achieved. This proof-of-principle trial approach is useful to uncover pharmacodynamic mechanisms in vivo and relate these to intratumoral pharmacokinetic effects.

Semantic Web technologies in general and ontologybased approaches in particular are considered the foundation for the next generation of information services. While ontologies enable software agents to exchange knowledge and information in a standardised, intelligent manner, describing todays vast amount of information in terms of ontological knowledge and to track the evolution of such ontologies remains a challenge. In this paper we describe Web2.0 crawling for ontology evolution. The World Wide Web, or Web for short, is due, its evolutionary properties and social network characteristics a perfect fitting data source to evolve an ontology. The decentralised structure of the Internet, the huge amount of data and upcoming Web2.0 technologies arise several challenges for a crawling system. In this paper we present a distributed crawling system with standard browser integration. The proposed system is a high performance, sitescript based noise reducing crawler, which loads standard browser equivalent content from Web2.0 resources. Furthermore we describe the integration of this spider into our ontology evolution framework.

This paper presents the gesture desk, a new platform for a human-computer interface at a regular computer workplace. It extends classical input devices like keyboard and mouse by arm and hand gestures, without the need to use any inconvenient accessories like data gloves or markers. A central element is a “gesture box” containing two infrared cameras and a color camera which is positioned under a glass desk. Arm and hand motions are tracked in three dimensions. A synchronizer board has been developed to provide an active glare-free IR-illumination for robust body and hand tracking. As a first application, we demonstrate interactive real-time browsing and querying of auditory self-organizing maps (AuSOMs). An AuSOM is a combined visual and auditory presentation of high-dimensional data sets. Moving the hand above the desk surface allows to select neurons on the map and to manipulate how they contribute to data sonification. Each neuron is associated with a prototype vector in high-dimensional space, so that a set of 2D-topologically ordered feature maps is queried simultaneously. The level of detail is selected by hand altitude over the table surface, allowing to emphasize or deemphasize neurons on the map.