Fetal cerebral Doppler changes and outcome in late preterm fetal growth restriction: prospective cohort study

Peer reviewe

What We Can Learn about Business Modeling from Homeostasis

Business modeling methods most often model an organization’s value provision to its customers followed by the necessary activities and structure to deliver this value. These activities and structure are seen as infinitely malleable; they can be specified and engineered at will. This is hardly in line with what even laymen can observe of organizations, that they are not easy to change and that their behavior often is not directly centered on providing value to customers. Homeostasis is an almost century old model that was developed in the field of physiology to explain how living beings survive by maintaining the constancy of their internal states. Homeostasis helps to explain both the inability of organizations to provide maximum value to their customers and their reluctance to change. From this point of view, resistance to change is not something to fight or to ignore but an essential force behind organizational behavior that can either enable or defeat new business models

A placental cause of intra-uterine fetal death depends on the perinatal mortality classification system used

Different classification systems for the cause of intra-uterine fetal death (IUFD) are used internationally. About two thirds of these deaths are reported as unexplained and placental causes are often not addressed. Differences between systems could have consequences for the validity of vital statistics, for targeting preventive strategies and for counselling parents on recurrence risks. Our objective was to compare use of the Tulip classification with other currently used classification systems for causes of IUFD. We selected the extended Wigglesworth classification, modified Aberdeen and the classifications by Hey, Hovatta, de Galan-Roosen and Morrison. We also selected the ReCoDe system for relevant conditions, comparable to contributing factors in the Tulip classification. Panel classification for 485 IUFD cases in the different systems was performed by assessors after individual investigation of structured patient information. Distribution of cases into cause of death groups for the different systems varied, most of all for the placental and unknown groups. Systems with a high percentage of cases with an unknown cause of death and death groups consisting of clinical manifestations only are not discriminatory. Our largest cause of death group was placental pathology and classification systems without placental cause of death groups or minimal subdivision of this group are not useful in modern perinatal audit as loss of information occurs. The most frequent contributing factor was growth restriction. This illustrates the vital role of the placenta in determination of optimal fetal development. In the Tulip classification, mother, fetus and placenta are addressed together. The system has a clear defined subclassification of the placenta group, a low percentage of unknown causes and is easily applied by a multidisciplinary team. A useful classification aids future research into placental causes of IUFD

A multilayered approach for the analysis of perinatal mortality using different classification systems

Many classification systems for perinatal mortality are available, all with their own strengths and weaknesses: none of them has been universally accepted. We present a systematic multilayered approach for the analysis of perinatal mortality based on information related to the moment of death, the conditions associated with death and the underlying cause of death, using a combination of representatives of existing classification systems. We compared the existing classification systems regarding their definition of the perinatal period, level of complexity, inclusion of maternal, foetal and/or placental factors and whether they focus at a clinical or pathological viewpoint. Furthermore. we allocated the classification systems to one of three categories: 'when', 'what' or 'why', dependent on whether the allocation of the individual cases of perinatal mortality is based on the moment of death ('when'), the clinical conditions associated with death ('what'), or the underlying cause of death ('why'). A multilayered approach for the analysis and classification of perinatal mortality is possible by using combinations of existing systems; for example the Wigglesworth or Nordic Baltic ('when'), ReCoDe ('what') and Tulip ('why') classification systems. This approach is useful not only for in depth analysis of perinatal mortality in the developed world but also for analysis of perinatal mortality in the developing countries, where resources to investigate death are often limited. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Improving ICT4D projects with agile software development

ICT4D seeks to bridge the digital divide in developing countries. Important requirements of ICT4D projects are a demand-driven approach and participation of the local community. The fact that user collaboration is a principle of Agile software development (Agile), triggers our interest on whether Agile practices can improve ICT4D projects. This paper aims to investigate if and how Agile can contribute to the success of ICT4D projects. In order to achieve this, existing literature was consulted and an interview was held. This paper provides an overview of the critical success factors for ICT4D projects and Agile, as well as of the advantages of Agile. Agile can only work successfully when ICT4D projects are demand-driven, and when both a cultural understanding and trust are built. Notable ways in which Agile can improve ICT4D projects are by facilitating user collaboration, improving team communication, enhancing organizational learning, and by frequently delivering software

Scalability factors in an ICT4D context : A literature review

This research investigates possible scalability factors that influence an ICT4D project. By performing a literature study on four strands of literature, which include: technical literature (1), development studies (2), technology adoption (3) and ICT4D literature (4), it was found that there are seventeen factors that need to be accounted for in the development process. Furthermore, a general outline of an ICT4D development process is presented and scalability factors are related to phases in this ICT4D process. Future research could focus on validating these factors by using them in a development cycle and determining the precise influence, rather than determining an overall positive or negative influence

Reactive Species Interactome Alterations in Oocyte Donation Pregnancies in the Absence and Presence of Pre-Eclampsia

Research into fetal development and medicin

SAF : strategic alignment framework for monitoring organizations

Reaching a Strategic Alignment is a crucial aspect for any organization. The alignment can be achieved by controlling, through monitoring probes, the coherency of the Business Processes with the related Business Strategy. In this paper we present SAF, a powerful framework for those organizations that aim at a superior business performance and want to keep monitored the organization\u2019s alignment. SAF has been applied to a real case study and it has also been compared with GQM\u2009+\u2009 Strategy and Process Performance Indicators Monitoring Model

Modeling Competition-Driven Business Strategy for Business IT Alignment

Business strategy aims at supporting the vision of an enterprise, by paving the way to achieve it through goals that direct the strategy’s execution. Aligning business strategy to system requirements requires explicit models from both business strategy and requirements engineering. However, existing business strategy definition approaches are informal and their syntax is based on natural language, therefore, they cannot be used in model-driven alignment. An objective of our research is to define a well-structured business strategy modeling language. In this paper, we propose a business strategy meta-model based on Porter’s work on competition driven strategy and its extension by Stabell and Fjeldstad. Our UML meta-model is formalized in Telos and OWL. An initial validation is performed by instantiating the meta-model using a case scenario

Postnatal Catch-Up Growth After Suspected Fetal Growth Restriction at Term

Research into fetal development and medicin