Towards a business and production engineering concept for individual beer brewing applying digitalization methodologies

Individualization is a common trend in many fields of production across the industries. Also in the food sector, significant changes can be observed. For many products, individual offerings towards the customer are meanwhile either mandatory or at least help to increase the sales and revenue. Somehow, individual product design and production contradicts scaling effects, which are especially important for food production. On the other hand, as digitalization is implemented in a fairly limited way in the food sector, currently great chances can be observed to build a unique selling proposition and consequently gain market share by implementing appropriate measures to enable a digital food factory. This is where the proposed idea comes into the game. The starting point is the idea to produce individually developed beer and ship it to the individual customer. The beer can be designed on a web page based on typical parameters, like beer type, bitterness, colour, or alcohol concentration. In an expert mode, individual beer creations may be thoughtful, allowing the creation of completely individual recipes (for sure, not guaranteeing the customer a perfect drinking experience). In any way, the data from the web page is directly fed to the brewing equipment in the brewing facility. There, using newly to be developed specialized machines, the individually ordered beer will be produced automatically. In this paper we discuss the individual challenges at each point in the production cycles and propose solutions to those

The relationship between leader emotional intelligence and psychological climate: An exploratory study

This study, which was conducted in a clothing manufacturing plant, investigated the relationship between two important constructs for organisations, namely : leader emotional intelligence and psychological climate. A random cluster sample of 600 participants were drawn from a total employee population of 1725 and 297 completed responses were returned for analyses (49,5% response rate). An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted on both the Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (SUEIT) and the Organisational Climate Questionnaire of Koys and DeCotiis (1991). Both scales were found to be valid and reliable. Stepwise Discriminant analysis provided evidence that a single psychological climate existed in the organisation. The results of a Pearson correlation analysis and Hierarchical Multiple Regression further indicated that leader emotional intelligence is significantly positively related to the psychological climate

On Spatial Consensus Formation: Is the Sznajd Model Different from a Voter Model?

In this paper, we investigate the so-called ``Sznajd Model'' (SM) in one dimension, which is a simple cellular automata approach to consensus formation among two opposite opinions (described by spin up or down). To elucidate the SM dynamics, we first provide results of computer simulations for the spatio-temporal evolution of the opinion distribution $L(t)$, the evolution of magnetization $m(t)$, the distribution of decision times $P(\tau)$ and relaxation times $P(\mu)$. In the main part of the paper, it is shown that the SM can be completely reformulated in terms of a linear VM, where the transition rates towards a given opinion are directly proportional to frequency of the respective opinion of the second-nearest neighbors (no matter what the nearest neighbors are). So, the SM dynamics can be reduced to one rule, ``Just follow your second-nearest neighbor''. The equivalence is demonstrated by extensive computer simulations that show the same behavior between SM and VM in terms of $L(t)$, $m(t)$, $P(\tau)$, $P(\mu)$, and the final attractor statistics. The reformulation of the SM in terms of a VM involves a new parameter $\sigma$, to bias between anti- and ferromagnetic decisions in the case of frustration. We show that $\sigma$ plays a crucial role in explaining the phase transition observed in SM. We further explore the role of synchronous versus asynchronous update rules on the intermediate dynamics and the final attractors. Compared to the original SM, we find three additional attractors, two of them related to an asymmetric coexistence between the opposite opinions.Comment: 22 pages, 20 figures. For related publications see http://www.ais.fraunhofer.de/~fran

Physical activity patterns across time-segmented youth sport flag football practice.

BACKGROUND: Youth sport (YS) reaches a large number of children world-wide and contributes substantially to children's daily physical activity (PA), yet less than half of YS time has been shown to be spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Physical activity during practice is likely to vary depending on practice structure that changes across YS time, therefore the purpose of this study was 1) to describe the type and frequency of segments of time, defined by contextual characteristics of practice structure, during YS practices and 2) determine the influence of these segments on PA. METHODS: Research assistants video-recorded the full duration of 28 practices from 14 boys' flag football teams (2 practices/team) while children concurrently (N = 111, aged 5-11 years, mean 7.9 ± 1.2 years) wore ActiGraph GT1M accelerometers to measure PA. Observers divided videos of each practice into continuous context time segments (N = 204; mean-segments-per-practice = 7.3, SD = 2.5) using start/stop points defined by change in context characteristics, and assigned a value for task (e.g., management, gameplay, etc.), member arrangement (e.g., small group, whole group, etc.), and setting demand (i.e., fosters participation, fosters exclusion). Segments were then paired with accelerometer data. Data were analyzed using a multilevel model with segment as unit of analysis. RESULTS: Whole practices averaged 34 ± 2.4% of time spent in MVPA. Free-play (51.5 ± 5.5%), gameplay (53.6 ± 3.7%), and warm-up (53.9 ± 3.6%) segments had greater percentage of time (%time) in MVPA compared to fitness (36.8 ± 4.4%) segments (p ≤ .01). Greater %time was spent in MVPA during free-play segments compared to scrimmage (30.2 ± 4.6%), strategy (30.6 ± 3.2%), and sport-skill (31.6 ± 3.1%) segments (p ≤ .01), and in segments that fostered participation (36.1 ± 2.7%) than segments that fostered exclusion (29.1 ± 3.0%; p ≤ .01). Significantly greater %time was spent in low-energy stationary behavior in fitness (15.7 ± 3.4%) than gameplay (4.0 ± 2.9%) segments (p ≤ .01), and in sport-skill (17.6 ± 2.2%) than free-play (8.2 ± 4.2%), gameplay, and warm-up (10.6 ± 2.6%) segments (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The %time spent in low-energy stationary behavior and in MVPA differed by characteristics of task and setting demand of the segment. Restructuring the routine of YS practice to include segments conducive to MVPA could increase %time spent in MVPA during practice. As YS reaches a large number of children worldwide, increasing PA during YS has the potential to create a public health impact

Folliculin, the Product of the Birt-Hogg-Dube Tumor Suppressor Gene, Interacts with the Adherens Junction Protein p0071 to Regulate Cell-Cell Adhesion

Birt-Hogg-Dube (BHD) is a tumor suppressor gene syndrome associated with fibrofolliculomas, cystic lung disease, and chromophobe renal cell carcinoma. In seeking to elucidate the pathogenesis of BHD, we discovered a physical interaction between folliculin (FLCN), the protein product of the BHD gene, and p0071, an armadillo repeat containing protein that localizes to the cytoplasm and to adherens junctions. Adherens junctions are one of the three cell-cell junctions that are essential to the establishment and maintenance of the cellular architecture of all epithelial tissues. Surprisingly, we found that downregulation of FLCN leads to increased cell-cell adhesion in functional cell-based assays and disruption of cell polarity in a three-dimensional lumen-forming assay, both of which are phenocopied by downregulation of p0071. These data indicate that the FLCN-p0071 protein complex is a negative regulator of cell-cell adhesion. We also found that FLCN positively regulates RhoA activity and Rho-associated kinase activity, consistent with the only known function of p0071. Finally, to examine the role of Flcn loss on cell-cell adhesion in vivo, we utilized keratin-14 cre-recombinase (K14-cre) to inactivate Flcn in the mouse epidermis. The K14-Cre-Bhdflox/flox mice have striking delays in eyelid opening, wavy fur, hair loss, and epidermal hyperplasia with increased levels of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) activity. These data support a model in which dysregulation of the FLCN-p0071 interaction leads to alterations in cell adhesion, cell polarity, and RhoA signaling, with broad implications for the role of cell-cell adhesion molecules in the pathogenesis of human disease, including emphysema and renal cell carcinoma

Modulating endothelial adhesion and migration impacts stem cell therapies efficacy

Background: Limited knowledge of stem cell therapies‘ mechanisms of action hampers their sustainable implementation into the clinic. Specifically, the interactions of transplanted stem cells with the host vasculature and its implications for their therapeutic efficacy are not elucidated. We tested whether adhesion receptors and chemokine receptors on stem cells can be functionally modulated, and consequently if such modulation may substantially affect therapeutically relevant stem cell interactions with the host endothelium. Methods: We investigated the effects of cationic molecule polyethylenimine (PEI) treatment with or without nanoparticles on the functions of adhesion receptors and chemokine receptors of human bone marrow-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC). Analyses included MSC functions in vitro, as well as homing and therapeutic efficacy in rodent models of central nervous system´s pathologies in vivo. Findings: PEI treatment did not affect viability, immunomodulation or differentiation potential of MSC, but increased the CCR4 expression and functionally blocked their adhesion receptors, thus decreasing their adhesion capacity in vitro. Intravenously applied in a rat model of brain injury, the homing rate of PEI-MSC in the brain was highly increased with decreased numbers of adherent PEI-MSC in the lung vasculature. Moreover, in comparison to untreated MSC, PEI-MSC featured increased tumour directed migration in a mouse glioblastoma model, and superior therapeutic efficacy in a murine model of stroke. Interpretation: Balanced stem cell adhesion and migration in different parts of the vasculature and tissues together with the local microenvironment impacts their therapeutic efficacy. Funding: Robert Bosch Stiftung, IZEPHA grant, EU grant 7 FP Healt

Chromatic Bacteria – A Broad Host-Range Plasmid and Chromosomal Insertion Toolbox for Fluorescent Protein Expression in Bacteria

Differential fluorescent labeling of bacteria has become instrumental for many aspects of microbiological research, such as the study of biofilm formation, bacterial individuality, evolution, and bacterial behavior in complex environments. We designed a variety of plasmids, each bearing one of eight unique, constitutively expressed fluorescent protein genes in conjunction with one of four different antibiotic resistance combinations. The fluorophores mTagBFP2, mTurquoise2, sGFP2, mClover3, sYFP2, mOrange2, mScarlet-I, and mCardinal, encoding for blue, cyan, green, green–yellow, yellow, orange, red, and far-red fluorescent proteins, respectively, were combined with selectable markers conferring tetracycline, gentamicin, kanamycin, and/or chloramphenicol resistance. These constructs were cloned into three different plasmid backbones: a broad host-range plasmid, a Tn5 transposon delivery plasmid, and a Tn7 transposon delivery plasmid. The utility of the plasmids and transposons was tested in bacteria from the phyla Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. We were able to tag representatives from the phylum Proteobacteria at least via our Tn5 transposon delivery system. The present study enables labeling bacteria with a set of plasmids available to the community. One potential application of fluorescently-tagged bacterial species is the study of bacteria–bacteria, bacteria–host, and bacteria–environment interactions

Are ipsilateral breast tumour invasive recurrences in young (⩽40 years) women more aggressive than their primary tumours?

The characteristics of ipsilateral breast tumour recurrences (IBTRs) relative to those of their primary tumours (PTs) remain scarcely studied. Of 70 young (⩽40 years) premenopausal women with IBTRs, we studied a series of 63 with paired histological data. Median follow-up since IBTR was 10 years. Rates of histological types, grades or hormonal receptors were not significantly different in PTs and in IBTRs. The concordance between IBTRs and their PTs was good for histological types. IBTRs with conserved histological types tended to occur more locally, but not significantly sooner than others. These IBTRs had good concordance for hormone receptors. In discordant cases there were as many losses as appearances of the receptors. The concordance was weak for grades, with equivalent numbers of IBTRs graded lower as higher than their PTs. The 10-year overall survival rate was 70%. Neither the conservation of histological type, location, nor of the two combined were associated with deaths. Early (<2 years) IBTRs, tended to be associated with poorer survival (HR=2.24 (0.92–5.41); P=0.08). IBTRs did not display features of higher aggressiveness than PTs. Neither clinical nor histological definition of a true recurrence could be established other than the conservation of the histological type