Measuring the Use of the Active and Assisted Living Prototype CARIMO for Home Care Service Users: Evaluation Framework and Results

To address the challenges of aging societies, various information and communication technology (ICT)-based systems for older people have been developed in recent years. Currently, the evaluation of these so-called active and assisted living (AAL) systems usually focuses on the analyses of usability and acceptance, while some also assess their impact. Little is known about the actual take-up of these assistive technologies. This paper presents a framework for measuring the take-up by analyzing the actual usage of AAL systems. This evaluation framework covers detailed information regarding the entire process including usage data logging, data preparation, and usage data analysis. We applied the framework on the AAL prototype CARIMO for measuring its take-up during an eight-month field trial in Austria and Italy. The framework was designed to guide systematic, comparable, and reproducible usage data evaluation in the AAL field; however, the general applicability of the framework has yet to be validated

From soldiers to citizens the civil reintegration of demobilized soldiers of the German Wehrmacht and the Imperial Japanese Army after unconditional surrender in 1945

Demilitarization and democratization of Germany and Japan constituted the Allies essential goals of the Second World War; when the war was concluded and plans for postwar settlements were set up, the two countries militaries were dissolved and their personnel disbanded. Demobilized soldiers returned to their war-maimed countries as soon as they were released from the custody of the respective Allied power to which they had surrendered. Most returned before 1948, although for some, Soviet captivity meant up to ten years of forced labor. This dissertation analyzes the situation of demobilized soldiers after their return home. It examines how returnees former soldiers, now civilians were perceived and treated by the American occupation in the American zone of occupation of Germany and in Japan, and by their own governments. Demobilized soldiers were, based on their indoctrination in the military and their engagement in the fighting of the war, understood as potential proponents of militarism, and as adversaries of democracy by the occupation. The German and Japanese administrations saw them in a more productive light, as a significant economic force and as potential supporters of democracy. As a consequence, policies with regard to demobilized soldiers oscillated between restrictions imposed by the occupation and material support provided by the national governments; between demilitarization and reconstruction. The analysis of archival material has yielded that the material provisions proved to be decisive in assuring the integration of former soldiers in postwar civil society, and in avoiding their alienation with the democratic governments. Demobilized soldiers were at the same time the embodiment and the culprits of defeat, both perpetrators and victims of militarism. Their numbers and presence in contemporary discourse underscore their significance in postwar German and Japanese societies. Tracing the transition from war to peace through the study of veterans under American occupation, this dissertation shows how the occupation as well as German and Japanese policies were successful despite their very different motivations in preventing the re-emergence of militarism, and in integrating veterans into German and Japanese civil society

Identification of Plk1 type II inhibitors by structure-based virtual screening

Protein kinases are targets for drug development. Dysregulation of kinase activity leads to various diseases, e.g. cancer, inflammation, diabetes. Human polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1), a serine/threonine kinase, is a cancer-relevant gene and a potential drug target which attracts increasing attention in the field of cancer therapy. Plk1 is a key player in mitosis and modulates entry into mitosis and the spindle checkpoint at the meta-/anaphase transition. Plk1 overexpression is observed in various human tumors, and it is a negative prognostic factor for cancer patients. The same catalytical mechanism and the same co-substrate (ATP) lead to the problem of inhibitor selectivity. A strategy to solve this problem is represented by targeting the inactive conformation of kinases. Kinases undergo conformational changes between active and inactive conformation and thus an additional hydrophobic pocket is created in the inactive conformation where the surrounding amino acids are less conserved. A "homology model" of the inactive conformation of Plk1 was constructed, as the crystal structure in its inactive conformation is unknown. A crystal structure of Aurora A kinase served as template structure. With this homology model a receptor-based pharmacophore search was performed using SYBYL7.3 software. The raw hits were filtered using physico-chemical properties. The resulting hits were docked using Gold3.2 software, and 13 candidates for biological testing were manually selected. Three compounds of the 13 tested exhibit anti-proliferative effects in HeLa cancer cells. The most potent inhibitor, SBE13, was further tested in various other cancer cell lines of different origins and displayed EC50 values between 12 microM and 39 microM. Cancer cells incubated with SBE13 showed induction of apoptosis, detected by PARP (Poly-Adenosyl-Ribose-Polymerase) cleavage, caspase 9 activation and DAPI staining of apoptotic nuclei

Role of the cellular environment in interstitial stem cell proliferation in Hydra

The role of the cellular environment on hydra stem cell proliferation and differentiation was investigated by introduction of interstitial cells into host tissue of defined cellular composition. In epithelial tissue lacking all non-epithelial cells the interstitial cell population did not grow but differentiated into nerve cells and nematocytes. In host tissue with progressively increased numbers of nerve cells growth of the interstitial cell population was positively correlated to the nerve cell density. In agreement with previous observations (Bode et al. 1976), growth of the interstitial cell population was also found to be negatively correlated to the level of interstitial cells present. The strong correlation between the growth of the interstitial cell population and the presence of interstitial cells and nerve cells implies that interstitial cell proliferation is controlled by a feedback signal from interstitial cells and their derivatives. Our results suggest that the cellular environment of interstitial cells provides cues which are instrumental in stem cell decision making

The spatial-temporal patterns of Asian summer monsoon precipitation in response to Holocene insolation change: a model-data synthesis

Highlights: • Slice and transient simulations of Holocene climate change were performed. • Spatial–temporal patterns of Holocene Asian summer precipitation are investigated. • A tripole pattern of summer precipitation can be seen over monsoonal Asia. • Insolation change is a key factor for Holocene Asian summer monsoon change. • Internal feedbacks are important to Holocene Asian summer precipitation changes. Abstract: Paleoclimate proxy records of precipitation/effective moisture show spatial–temporal inhomogeneous over Asian monsoon and monsoon marginal regions during the Holocene. To investigate the spatial differences and diverging temporal evolution over monsoonal Asia and monsoon marginal regions, we conduct a series of numerical experiments with an atmosphere–ocean–sea ice coupled climate model, the Kiel Climate Model (KCM), for the period of Holocene from 9.5 ka BP to present (0 ka BP). The simulations include two time-slice equilibrium experiments for early Holocene (9.5 ka BP) and present-day (0 ka BP), respectively and one transient simulation (HT) using a scheme for model acceleration regarding to the Earth's orbitally driven insolation forcing for the whole period of Holocene (from 9.5 to 0 ka BP). The simulated summer precipitation in the equilibrium experiments shows a tripole pattern over monsoonal Asia as depicted by the first modes of empirical orthogonal function (EOF1) of H0K and H9K. The transient simulation HT exhibits a wave train pattern in the summer precipitation across the Asian monsoon region associated with a gradually decreased trend in the strength of Asian summer monsoon, as a result of the response of Asian summer monsoon system to the Holocene orbitally-forced insolation change. Both the synthesis of multi-proxy records and model experiments confirm the regional dissimilarity of the Holocene optimum precipitation/effective moisture over the East Asian summer monsoon region, monsoon marginal region, and the westerly-dominated areas, suggesting the complex response of the regional climate systems to Holocene insolation change in association with the internal feedbacks within climate system, such as the air-sea interactions associated with the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the evolution of Asian summer monsoon during the Holocene

Beträchtlicher Forschungsbedarf bei der Evaluierung arbeitsmarktpolitischer Maßnahmen: Das Beispiel der Mitnahmeeffekte bei Strukturanpassungsmaßnahmen für ostdeutsche Wirtschaftsunternehmen

Obwohl beträchtliche Mittel in die aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik fließen, fehlt es bislang an einer systematischen Evaluierung der arbeitsmarktpolitischen Instrumente. Dies liegt primär an der Unzugänglichkeit geeigneter Daten. Am Beispiel der Mitnahmeeffekte bei Strukturanpassungsmaßnahmen für ostdeutsche Wirtschaftsunternehmen werden exemplarisch die Probleme aufgezeigt, die aus der prekären Datenlage entstehen.

Sensitivity of the CaCO3 content of marine sediments to the kinetic expression of CaCO3 dissolution

The preservation of calcite in marine sediments depends on the CaCO3 saturation state of the ambient pore waters and - to a lesser degree - of overlying seawater. A simple sensitivity analysis shows that the two common expressions to quantify the saturation of seawater with respect to CaCO3 (ΔCO3 =[CO3 ]-[CO3 ]sat , Ω = [CO3 ]/[CO3 ]sat ), when used for the calculation of the time dependent rate of CaCO3 dissolution either in the water column or in the sediments, yield very different rates of CaCO3 dissolution. With the help of an ocean biogeochemical model it was found that different kinetic expressions for pelagic CaCO3 dissolution in an ocean acidification scenario result in a wide range of surface to mid-depth calcite fluxes in the open ocean, which has strong implications for particle ballasting, the flux of calcite to the sediments and finally the global carbon cycle. In the present study we employ a marine sediment model that is fed by calcite and other biogeochemical fluxes from the ocean biogeochemical model using different realizations of calcite dissolution kinetics under (1) preindustrial and (2) last glacial maximum background climate conditions to assess the model-data agreement of the calcite content of deep sea sediments. A better understanding of the mechanisms driving calcite dissolution in the ocean is important to assess the time scale of calcite compensation, for example during glacial-interglacial cycles, but also in future greenhouse scenarios

Climate and marine biogeochemistry during the Holocene from transient model simulations

Climate and marine biogeochemistry changes over the Holocene are investigated based on transient global climate and biogeochemistry model simulations over the last 9500 years. The simulations are forced by accelerated and non-accelerated orbital parameters, respectively, and atmospheric PCO2, CH4, and N2O. The analysis focusses on key climatic parameters of relevance to the marine biogeochemistry, and on the physical and biogeochemical processes that drive atmosphere-ocean carbon fluxes and changes in the oxygen minimum zones (OMZs). The simulated global mean ocean temperature is characterized by a mid-Holocene cooling and a late Holocene warming, a common feature among Holocene climate simulations which, however, contradicts a proxy-derived mid-Holocene climate optimum. As the most significant result, and only in the non-accelerated simulation, we find a substantial increase in volume of the OMZ in the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) continuing into the late Holocene. The concurrent increase in apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) and age of the water mass within the EEP OMZ can be attributed to a weakening of the deep northward inflow into the Pacific. This results in a large-scale mid-to-late Holocene increase in AOU in most of the Pacific and hence the source regions of the EEP OMZ waters. The simulated expansion of the EEP OMZ raises the question of whether the deoxygenation that has been observed over the last 5 decades could be a - perhaps accelerated - continuation of an orbitally driven decline in oxygen. Changes in global mean biological production and export of detritus remain of the order of 10 %, with generally lower values in the mid-Holocene. The simulated atmosphere-ocean CO2 flux would result in atmospheric pCO2 changes of similar magnitudes to those observed for the Holocene, but with different timing. More technically, as the increase in EEP OMZ volume can only be simulated with the non-accelerated model simulation, non-accelerated model simulations are required for an analysis of the marine biogeochemistry in the Holocene. Notably, the long control experiment also displays similar magnitude variability to the transient experiment for some parameters. This indicates that also long control runs are required when investigating Holocene climate and marine biogeochemistry, and that some of the Holocene variations could be attributed to internal variability of the atmosphere-ocean system