"Sensory Fit Panel" – Development of a new Advertising Claim Support method to assess aesthetic diaper fit performance in an objective, reliable and reproducible way

For the product design of diapers, the fit on the baby plays a significant role. In particular, innovation in the areas of fit and freedom of movement have become increasingly important as lower order needs like leakage are sufficiently met by most products. Today’s methods to measure diaper fit focus on technical measurements (engineering and technical fit) and parents’ subjective perceptions. While these methods are useful tools for product development purposes, they are not seen as sufficient for Advertising Claim Support needs. However, when a new fit innovation should be advertised, particularly when this is done in a competitive way, a robust technical support is needed to defend this claim in case of challenges by competitors or regulatory bodies. For this purpose, methods need to be objective and technically sound in order to be acceptable to advertising regulatory bodies. Independent, objective ratings would substantiate claims on a more reliable and reproducible base. To meet this need, the diaper fit sensory panel method was developed. This test reapplies the established sensory methodology used, e.g. to assess taste or smell in food and beverages

Marktforschung in der Praxis: Kundenpräferenzen beim Kauf eines neuen Fernsehgerätes

In der heutigen Zeit sind Medien aller Art im alltäglichen Leben anzutreffen. Ob früh am Morgen die frisch gedruckte Zeitung, das Radio in der Küche, der Lieblingsfilm im Fernsehen oder das Internet via Mobiltelefon. Viele Menschen können sich heutzutage ein Leben ohne Mobiltelefon oder Fernsehgerät nicht mehr vorstellen. Die Industrie hat dies erkannt und bringt fast täglich neue Weiterentwicklungen auf den Markt. Smartphones, die beinahe so viel können wie ein Laptop oder Fernseher, die den Zuschauer via 3D-Technologie in das Geschehen eintauchen lassen, entwickeln sich zu Standardprodukten. Bei der heutigen Geschwindigkeit der Neuentwicklungen und den immer kürzer werdenden Produktlebenszyklen ist es besonders wichtig, den Endverbraucher vom Mehrwert zu überzeugen. In diesem Zusammenhang ist es notwendig herauszukristallisieren, worauf der Endkunde Wert legt und welche Informationsschwächen er hat. Hierzu haben acht Studierende der TH Wildau aus dem Fachbereich Betriebswirtschaft/Wirtschaftsinformatik eine empirische Studie entwickelt.In your everyday life, media of all kinds are found. Whether early in the morning, freshly printed newspaper, the radio in the kitchen, favorite movies on TV or the Internet via mobile phone. Many people can not imagine a life without mobile phone or TV. The industry has recognized that and almost every day they have new developments for the market. Smartphones have nearly as much as functions as a laptop or a television and are able to bring the viewers into actions via 3D technology as a standard. Because of the speed of new developments and the shortening product life cycle it is especially important to convince the consumer«s added value. In this case it is important to have a look what is significant for the end consumer and what lack of information does the consumer have. Concerning these problems, eight students of the University of Applied Science Wildau from the Department of Business Administration and Business Informatics designed an empirical study

Immune Markers and Tumor-Related Processes Predict Neoadjuvant Therapy Response in the WSG-ADAPT HER2-Positive/Hormone Receptor-Positive Trial in Early Breast Cancer

Prognostic or predictive biomarkers in HER2-positive early breast cancer (EBC) may inform treatment optimization. The ADAPT HER2-positive/hormone receptor-positive phase II trial (NCT01779206) demonstrated pathological complete response (pCR) rates of ~40% following de-escalated treatment with 12 weeks neoadjuvant ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) ± endocrine therapy. In this exploratory analysis, we evaluated potential early predictors of response to neoadjuvant therapy. The effects of PIK3CA mutations and immune (CD8 and PD-L1) and apoptotic markers (BCL2 and MCL1) on pCR rates were assessed, along with intrinsic BC subtypes. Immune response and pCR were lower in PIK3CA-mutated tumors compared with wildtype. Increased BCL2 at baseline in all patients and at Cycle 2 in the T-DM1 arms was associated with lower pCR. In the T-DM1 arms only, the HER2-enriched subtype was associated with increased pCR rate (54% vs. 28%). These findings support further prospective pCR-driven de-escalation studies in patients with HER2-positive EBC

Triplet Exciton Generation in Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells based on Endohedral Fullerenes

Organic bulk-heterojunctions (BHJ) and solar cells containing the trimetallic nitride endohedral fullerene 1-[3-(2-ethyl)hexoxy carbonyl]propyl-1-phenyl-Lu3N@C80 (Lu3N@C80-PCBEH) show an open circuit voltage (VOC) 0.3 V higher than similar devices with [6,6]-phenyl-C[61]-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM). To fully exploit the potential of this acceptor molecule with respect to the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells, the short circuit current (JSC) should be improved to become competitive with the state of the art solar cells. Here, we address factors influencing the JSC in blends containing the high voltage absorber Lu3N@C80-PCBEH in view of both photogeneration but also transport and extraction of charge carriers. We apply optical, charge carrier extraction, morphology, and spin-sensitive techniques. In blends containing Lu3N@C80-PCBEH, we found 2 times weaker photoluminescence quenching, remainders of interchain excitons, and, most remarkably, triplet excitons formed on the polymer chain, which were absent in the reference P3HT:PC61BM blends. We show that electron back transfer to the triplet state along with the lower exciton dissociation yield due to intramolecular charge transfer in Lu3N@C80-PCBEH are responsible for the reduced photocurrent

A New Human Somatic Stem Cell from Placental Cord Blood with Intrinsic Pluripotent Differentiation Potential

Here a new, intrinsically pluripotent, CD45-negative population from human cord blood, termed unrestricted somatic stem cells (USSCs) is described. This rare population grows adherently and can be expanded to 1015 cells without losing pluripotency. In vitro USSCs showed homogeneous differentiation into osteoblasts, chondroblasts, adipocytes, and hematopoietic and neural cells including astrocytes and neurons that express neurofilament, sodium channel protein, and various neurotransmitter phenotypes. Stereotactic implantation of USSCs into intact adult rat brain revealed that human Tau-positive cells persisted for up to 3 mo and showed migratory activity and a typical neuron-like morphology. In vivo differentiation of USSCs along mesodermal and endodermal pathways was demonstrated in animal models. Bony reconstitution was observed after transplantation of USSC-loaded calcium phosphate cylinders in nude rat femurs. Chondrogenesis occurred after transplanting cell-loaded gelfoam sponges into nude mice. Transplantation of USSCs in a noninjury model, the preimmune fetal sheep, resulted in up to 5% human hematopoietic engraftment. More than 20% albumin-producing human parenchymal hepatic cells with absence of cell fusion and substantial numbers of human cardiomyocytes in both atria and ventricles of the sheep heart were detected many months after USSC transplantation. No tumor formation was observed in any of these animals

Long-term risk of adverse outcomes according to atrial fibrillation type

Sustained forms of atrial fibrillation (AF) may be associated with a higher risk of adverse outcomes, but few if any long-term studies took into account changes of AF type and co-morbidities over time. We prospectively followed 3843 AF patients and collected information on AF type and co-morbidities during yearly follow-ups. The primary outcome was a composite of stroke or systemic embolism (SE). Secondary outcomes included myocardial infarction, hospitalization for congestive heart failure (CHF), bleeding and all-cause mortality. Multivariable adjusted Cox proportional hazards models with time-varying covariates were used to compare hazard ratios (HR) according to AF type. At baseline 1895 (49%), 1046 (27%) and 902 (24%) patients had paroxysmal, persistent and permanent AF and 3234 (84%) were anticoagulated. After a median (IQR) follow-up of 3.0 (1.9; 4.2) years, the incidence of stroke/SE was 1.0 per 100 patient-years. The incidence of myocardial infarction, CHF, bleeding and all-cause mortality was 0.7, 3.0, 2.9 and 2.7 per 100 patient-years, respectively. The multivariable adjusted (a) HRs (95% confidence interval) for stroke/SE were 1.13 (0.69; 1.85) and 1.27 (0.83; 1.95) for time-updated persistent and permanent AF, respectively. The corresponding aHRs were 1.23 (0.89, 1.69) and 1.45 (1.12; 1.87) for all-cause mortality, 1.34 (1.00; 1.80) and 1.30 (1.01; 1.67) for CHF, 0.91 (0.48; 1.72) and 0.95 (0.56; 1.59) for myocardial infarction, and 0.89 (0.70; 1.14) and 1.00 (0.81; 1.24) for bleeding. In this large prospective cohort of AF patients, time-updated AF type was not associated with incident stroke/SE

25th annual computational neuroscience meeting: CNS-2016

The same neuron may play different functional roles in the neural circuits to which it belongs. For example, neurons in the Tritonia pedal ganglia may participate in variable phases of the swim motor rhythms [1]. While such neuronal functional variability is likely to play a major role the delivery of the functionality of neural systems, it is difficult to study it in most nervous systems. We work on the pyloric rhythm network of the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion (STG) [2]. Typically network models of the STG treat neurons of the same functional type as a single model neuron (e.g. PD neurons), assuming the same conductance parameters for these neurons and implying their synchronous firing [3, 4]. However, simultaneous recording of PD neurons shows differences between the timings of spikes of these neurons. This may indicate functional variability of these neurons. Here we modelled separately the two PD neurons of the STG in a multi-neuron model of the pyloric network. Our neuron models comply with known correlations between conductance parameters of ionic currents. Our results reproduce the experimental finding of increasing spike time distance between spikes originating from the two model PD neurons during their synchronised burst phase. The PD neuron with the larger calcium conductance generates its spikes before the other PD neuron. Larger potassium conductance values in the follower neuron imply longer delays between spikes, see Fig. 17.Neuromodulators change the conductance parameters of neurons and maintain the ratios of these parameters [5]. Our results show that such changes may shift the individual contribution of two PD neurons to the PD-phase of the pyloric rhythm altering their functionality within this rhythm. Our work paves the way towards an accessible experimental and computational framework for the analysis of the mechanisms and impact of functional variability of neurons within the neural circuits to which they belong

BIG 3 - prediction of consumers’ urine leakage experience based on raw material properties of the diaper core

The most important need of a parent regarding diapers is the containment of urine and feces, which prevents clothes being soiled. This basic need of leakage prevention is the key parameter for diapers to achieve a good competitive market position. The most important part of the diaper in terms of leakage performance is the core, which is responsible for urine absorption and hence for the probability of leakage occurrence. Each diaper manufacturer follows his own approach on core design using different raw materials to achieve an optimized performance with minimum raw material costs. In this PhD thesis, a model is developed which identifies urine leakage influencing parameters of the diaper core in general, as well as their influence for a wide range of diapers from different countries covering different technologies and manufacturers. The model allows the performance of the main leakage influencing components, "Acquisition System" and "Absorbent Gelling Material and pulp" layer, to be estimated, based on their physical and chemical properties. Based on the performance assessment, an analysis of the cost versus performance of these raw materials is given. The model includes the applied core technology design. An estimation of raw material costs versus performance of the diaper, as a whole, is given. The key competence area of the model is to predict the urine leakage performance of competitive diapers in a fast and inexpensive way. The thesis closures by stating three business-related examples of model’s application