Aprotinin may increase mortality in low and intermediate risk but not in high risk cardiac surgical patients compared to tranexamic acid and ε-aminocaproic acid - a meta-analysis of randomised and observational trials of over 30.000 patients

Background: To compare the effect of aprotinin with the effect of lysine analogues (tranexamic acid and ε-aminocaproic acid) on early mortality in three subgroups of patients: low, intermediate and high risk of cardiac surgery. Methods and Findings: We performed a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational with the following data sources: Medline, Cochrane Library, and reference lists of identified articles. The primary outcome measure was early (in-hospital/30-day) mortality. The secondary outcome measures were any transfusion of packed red blood cells within 24 hours after surgery, any re-operation for bleeding or massive bleeding, and acute renal dysfunction or failure within the selected cited publications, respectively. Out of 328 search results, 31 studies (15 trials and 16 observational studies) included 33,501 patients. Early mortality was significantly increased after aprotinin vs. lysine analogues with a pooled risk ratio (95% CI) of 1.58 (1.13–2.21), p<0.001 in the low (n = 14,297) and in the intermediate risk subgroup (1.42 (1.09–1.84), p<0.001; n = 14,427), respectively. Contrarily, in the subgroup of high risk patients (n = 4,777), the risk for mortality did not differ significantly between aprotinin and lysine analogues (1.03 (0.67–1.58), p = 0.90). Conclusion: Aprotinin may be associated with an increased risk of mortality in low and intermediate risk cardiac surgery, but presumably may has no effect on early mortality in a subgroup of high risk cardiac surgery compared to lysine analogues. Thus, decisions to re-license aprotinin in lower risk patients should critically be debated. In contrast, aprotinin might probably be beneficial in high risk cardiac surgery as it reduces risk of transfusion and bleeding complications

Data Elicitation for Continuous Awareness of Team Climate Characteristics to Improve Organizations’ Creativity

The creativeness of a company’s employees depends on the characteristics of working climates, e.g. au-tonomy or appropriate workload. Tools for their assessment exist, but the frequency of their applica-tion is too low to detect the relevant dynamics which characterize the varying challenges of agile and learning organizations. The evaluation of a first prototype to monitor these dynamics by frequently repeating a common online employee survey re-vealed relevant features to overcome a lack of ac-ceptance of answering the same question items in repetition. \ \ Three variables were identified which influence the acceptance of a repeated question: The time since it had last been answered, the user’s current willing-ness to participate and the user’s situation. Based on these variables, a new prototype offers users more self-determination in their rate of participation, allows for assigning dynamic repetition rates to every question item, and exploits context infor-mation to optimize the prompting of users.

Success Factors for Teaching Museum Studies in the Digital Age: Insights Into museOn | weiterbildung & netzwerk

Dorthe Hutz-Nierhoff and Antje-Sophie Menschner present ‘Success Factors for Teaching Museum Studies in the Digital Age: Insights into 'museOn | weiterbildung & netzwerk''. By demonstrating the key factors of the blended learning program museOn, the authors suggest that these factors be transferred to the basic teaching of Classics. While there may be obstacles such as the unfamiliarity of teaching staff with digital methods and traditional forms of examination, the digital format presents many benefits for a shift from teaching to learning and for fostering highly relevant skills such as digital interaction and collaborative working

Analyzing Excess Inventory of Steel Parts at a Forklift Company

A forklift company in Illinois has excessive inventory of steel parts. The excessive inventory ties up working capital and can reduce the customer service level. I obtained data from the company and analyzed the increase in inventory over the span of two years. Literature review of similar industrial practices and problems was evaluated to find practical inventory control methodologies. The four recommendations in this capstone project can reduce excessive inventory while contributing to the manufacturing company’s continuous improvement culture. The four recommendations are inexpensive, but require management sponsorship.B.A. (Bachelor of Arts

Heuristik 4.0 - Heuristiken zur Evaluation digitalisierter Arbeit bei Industrie-4.0 und KI-basierten Systemen aus soziotechnischer Perspektive

Der zunehmende Einzug von Digitaltechnik in die Industrie ermöglicht produzierenden Betrieben, agiler auf interne und externe Anforderungen zu reagieren. Software-Updates können schnell und in skalierbarem Umfang Anpassungen realisieren, z.B. in Bezug auf die algorithmische Entscheidungsherleitung, das Verhalten autonomer Teilsysteme oder die Schnittstellen, über die Mitarbeiter_innen mit dem technischen System interagieren. Vorgehensmodelle zur kontinuierlichen Weiterentwicklung, wie sie sich in dynamischen Branchen etabliert haben, sind in der Regel durch iterative Zyklen gekennzeichnet, in denen die Planung, die Umsetzung und die Evaluation von Veränderungsmaßnahmen zentrale Schritte sind. Um komplexe soziotechnische Settings unter den Bedingungen digitalisierter industrieller Arbeit ausreichend schnell evaluieren zu können, schlagen wir acht Heuristiken vor. Diese Studie stellt diese Heuristiken vor sowie Hinweise zu ihrem Einsatz und die dahinterliegende Methodik.Digitization increases the agility of manufacturing companies and enables them to adapt quickly in respect to internal and external needs. Software updates can push modifications fast and at any scale, e. g. in regard to decision inferring algorithms, the behavior of autonomous subsystems or the system's user interface. Established processes in other agile domains feature iterative development cycles that include the planning, the implementation and the evaluation of change. We propose eight heuristics to support a sufficiently fast evaluation of complex socio-technical settings, as they can be found in digitized working conditions in manufacturing. This study presents these heuristics, gives guidance on how to use them and explains their methodological background

Heuristik 4.0 - Heuristiken zur Evaluation digitalisierter Arbeit bei Industrie-4.0-Lösungen aus soziotechnischer Perspektive

Eine soziotechnische Perspektive geht über das technische System hinaus und betrachtet insbesondere die Menschen und deren Zusammenarbeit. Die acht erarbeiteten Heuristiken sind ein pragmatisches Werkzeug, das die agile Gestaltung von Industrie- 4.0- Lösungen unterstützt, indem kritische Aspekte schnell erkennbar werden. Sie adressieren die Themen Nachvollziehbarkeit, Flexibilität, Kommunikationsunterstützung, Informationsaustausch, Balance von Anstrengung und Nutzen, Kompatibilität, effiziente Aufgabenbearbeitung und unterstützende Technik

Study of the Photovoltaic Potential from the Location Resita

The present paper wants to be a first contact in analyzing and knowing the solar photovoltaic potential from Resita, this, in fact means, the 45 parallel in our country. This issue will be obtained through monitoring the produced electric energy and injected in the public grip. The research studies are extended over a period of two years to have a more exact evolution of the monitories parameters. These researches results will be then directly used in planning of photovoltaic plants in our country

Differential game theory for versatile physical human-robot interaction

The last decades have seen a surge of robots working in contact with humans. However, until now these contact robots have made little use of the opportunities offered by physical interaction and lack a systematic methodology to produce versatile behaviours. Here, we develop an interactive robot controller able to understand the control strategy of the human user and react optimally to their movements. We demonstrate that combining an observer with a differential game theory controller can induce a stable interaction between the two partners, precisely identify each other’s control law, and allow them to successfully perform the task with minimum effort. Simulations and experiments with human subjects demonstrate these properties and illustrate how this controller can induce different representative interaction strategies