IT-Systeme für Verkehrsunternehmen: Das Branchenmodell ITVU

ITVU („IT-Systeme für Verkehrsunternehmen“) ist ein Branchenmodell (Domain-Modell) für den öffentlichen Personenverkehr mit Bahnen, Bussen, und Straßenbahnen. Modelliert werden die Kern-Geschäftsprozesse im Zusammenhang mit der Personenbeförderung, z.B. Fahrplanerstellung, Fahrgastinformation und Ticketing. ITVU modelliert mit Mitteln der UML 2 - Die Geschäftsprozesse - Die IT-Systemlandschaft zur Unterstützung dieser Geschäftsprozesse - Das Klassenmodell als Architekturgrundlage von IT-Systemen und deren Vernetzun

Mitarbeiterbeteiligung: Welches Modell sollte gewählt werden?

Mehr Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmer sollen sich an ihren Unternehmen beteiligen können. In diesem Ziel sind sich die Parteien einig, zeigen doch die Erfahrungen, dass Mitsprache und Beteiligung der Beschäftigten den Renditezielen der Unternehmensführung nicht widersprechen. Karl-Josef Laumann, Minister für Arbeit, Gesundheit und Soziales des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, stellt hier kurz die »Betriebliche Bündnisse für Soziale Kapitalpartnerschaften« von der CDU/CSU vor. Wichtig sei es vor allem, auf betrieblicher Ebene Gestaltungsspielräume zu eröffnen, so dass individuelle Sozialpartnerschaften umgesetzt werden könnten. Dagegen hält Olaf Scholz, Erster Parlamentarischer Geschäftsführer der SPD-Bundestagsfraktion, den von der SPD vorgeschlagenen »Deutschlandfonds« für das bessere Modell: Auf der einen Seite erwerben die Mitarbeiter Anteile am Deutschlandfonds. Der Fonds stellt auf der anderen Seite die Einlagen der Mitarbeiter den entsprechenden arbeitgebenden Unternehmen als Beteiligungskapital zur Verfügung. Für Claus Schäfer, WSI, können alle bisherigen Vorschläge zwei zentrale Probleme nicht lösen, nämlich ein zusätzliches Einkommen für die Arbeitnehmer zu schaffen und Einkommens- und/oder Vermögensrisiken zu vermeiden. Auch Oliver Stettes, Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, Köln, plädiert für andere Methoden: »Wer seine Mitarbeiter am Unternehmenserfolg partizipieren lassen möchte, um Motivation und Bindung zu fördern, kann dies unabhängig von der Rechtsform durch variable, erfolgsabhängige Lohnbestandteile zum Beispiel in Form von Gewinnbeteiligungen erreichen. … Hier sind eher die Tarifparteien gefordert, um Unternehmen und Belegschaften den hierfür erforderlichen Verteilungsspielraum zu eröffnen.« Auch nach Meinung von Alexander Gunkel, Deutsche Arbeitgeberverbände, lassen sich »alle wesentlichen mit der Mitarbeiterkapitalbeteiligung in Verbindung gebrachten Vorteile und Ziele … auf andere Weise einfacher und wirksamer erreichen.«Unternehmen, Arbeitnehmerbeteiligung, Erfolgsbeteiligung, Deutschland

Controversies in Choledochal Malformation in Children:An International Survey among Pediatric Hepatobiliary Surgeons and Gastroenterologists

Background: While congenital choledochal malformation (CCM) is relatively well known within the pediatric surgical and pediatric gastroenterological communities, many controversies and questions remain. Methods: In this paper, we will discuss the results of an international Delphi survey among members of the European Reference Network RARE-LIVER and of the faculty of the Biliary Atresia and Related Diseases (BARD) network to identify the most common practices as well as controversies regarding diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of this still enigmatic disease. Results: Twenty-two individual respondents completed the survey. While there seems to be agreement on the definitions of CCM, preoperative workup, surgical approach and follow-up still vary considerably. The mainstay of treatment remains the removal of the entire extrahepatic biliary tract, clearance of debris both proximally and distally, followed by reconstruction with (according to 86% of respondents) a Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy. Nonetheless, both laparoscopic and robotic-assisted resections are gaining ground with the suggestion that this might be facilitated by concentration of care and resources in specialized centers. However, long-term outcomes are still lacking. Conclusions: As even post-surgical CCM has to be considered as having premalignant potential, follow-up should be well-organized and continued into adulthood. This seems to be lacking in many centers. International cooperation for both benchmarking and research is paramount to improving care for this rare disease

Autophagic digestion of Leishmania major by host macrophages is associated with differential expression of BNIP3, CTSE, and the miRNAs miR-101c, miR-129, and miR-210

Background Autophagy participates in innate immunity by eliminating intracellular pathogens. Consequently, numerous microorganisms have developed strategies to impair the autophagic machinery in phagocytes. In the current study, interactions between Leishmania major (L. m.) and the autophagic machinery of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) were analyzed. Methods BMDM were generated from BALB/c mice, and the cells were infected with L. m. promastigotes. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron tomography were used to investigate the ultrastructure of BMDM and the intracellular parasites. Affymetrix® chip analyses were conducted to identify autophagy-related messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). The protein expression levels of autophagy related 5 (ATG5), BCL2/adenovirus E1B 19 kDa protein-interacting protein 3 (BNIP3), cathepsin E (CTSE), mechanistic target of rapamycin (MTOR), microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3B (LC3B), and ubiquitin (UB) were investigated through western blot analyses. BMDM were transfected with specific small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) against autophagy-related genes and with mimics or inhibitors of autophagy-associated miRNAs. The infection rates of BMDM were determined by light microscopy after a parasite-specific staining. Results The experiments demonstrated autophagy induction in BMDM after in vitro infection with L. m.. The results suggested a putative MTOR phosphorylation-dependent counteracting mechanism in the early infection phase and indicated that intracellular amastigotes were cleared by autophagy in BMDM in the late infection phase. Transcriptomic analyses and specific downregulation of protein expression with siRNAs suggested there is an association between the infection-specific over expression of BNIP3, as well as CTSE, and the autophagic activity of BMDM. Transfection with mimics of mmu-miR-101c and mmu-miR-129-5p, as well as with an inhibitor of mmu-miR-210-5p, demonstrated direct effects of the respective miRNAs on parasite clearance in L. m.-infected BMDM. Furthermore, Affymetrix® chip analyses revealed a complex autophagy-related RNA network consisting of differentially expressed mRNAs and miRNAs in BMDM, which indicates high glycolytic and inflammatory activity in the host macrophages. Conclusions Autophagy in L. m.-infected host macrophages is a highly regulated cellular process at both the RNA level and the protein level. Autophagy has the potential to clear parasites from the host. The results obtained from experiments with murine host macrophages could be translated in the future to develop innovative and therapeutic antileishmanial strategies for human patients

Genome-Wide Association Analyses Point to Candidate Genes for Electric Shock Avoidance in Drosophila melanogaster

Electric shock is a common stimulus for nociception-research and the most widely used reinforcement in aversive associative learning experiments. Yet, nothing is known about the mechanisms it recruits at the periphery. To help fill this gap, we undertook a genome-wide association analysis using 38 inbred Drosophila melanogaster strains, which avoided shock to varying extents. We identified 514 genes whose expression levels and/or sequences covaried with shock avoidance scores. We independently scrutinized 14 of these genes using mutants, validating the effect of 7 of them on shock avoidance. This emphasizes the value of our candidate gene list as a guide for follow-up research. In addition, by integrating our association results with external protein-protein interaction data we obtained a shock avoidance- associated network of 38 genes. Both this network and the original candidate list contained a substantial number of genes that affect mechanosensory bristles, which are hairlike organs distributed across the fly's body. These results may point to a potential role for mechanosensory bristles in shock sensation. Thus, we not only provide a first list of candidate genes for shock avoidance, but also point to an interesting new hypothesis on nociceptive mechanisms

Combined analysis of gut microbiota, diet and PNPLA3 polymorphism in biopsy‐proven non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease

Background and aims: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a global health burden. Risk factors for disease severity include older age, increased body mass index (BMI), diabetes, genetic variants, dietary factors and gut microbiota alterations. However, the interdependence of these factors and their individual impact on disease severity remain unknown. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we performed 16S gene sequencing using fecal samples, collected dietary intake, PNPLA3 gene variants and clinical and liver histology parameters in a well-described cohort of 180 NAFLD patients. Principal component analyses were used for dimensionality reduction of dietary and microbiota data. Simple and multiple stepwise ordinal regression analyses were performed. Results: Complete data were available for 57 NAFLD patients. In the simple regression analysis, features associated with the metabolic syndrome had the highest importance regarding liver disease severity. In the multiple regression analysis, BMI was the most important factor associated with the fibrosis stage (OR per kg/m2 : 1.23, 95% CI 1.10-1.37, P < .001). The PNPLA3 risk allele had the strongest association with the histological grade of steatosis (OR 5.32, 95% CI 1.56-18.11, P = .007), followed by specific dietary patterns. Low abundances of Faecalibacterium, Bacteroides and Prevotella and high abundances of Gemmiger were associated with the degree of inflammation, ballooning and stages of fibrosis, even after taking other cofactors into account. Conclusions: BMI had the strongest association with histological fibrosis, but PNPLA3 gene variants, gut bacterial features and dietary factors were all associated with different histology features, which underscore the multifactorial pathogenesis of NAFLD

The unexpected resurgence of Weyl geometry in late 20-th century physics

Weyl's original scale geometry of 1918 ("purely infinitesimal geometry") was withdrawn by its author from physical theorizing in the early 1920s. It had a comeback in the last third of the 20th century in different contexts: scalar tensor theories of gravity, foundations of gravity, foundations of quantum mechanics, elementary particle physics, and cosmology. It seems that Weyl geometry continues to offer an open research potential for the foundations of physics even after the turn to the new millennium.Comment: Completely rewritten conference paper 'Beyond Einstein', Mainz Sep 2008. Preprint ELHC (Epistemology of the LHC) 2017-02, 92 pages, 1 figur

Sustainable Innovation in a Multi-University Master Course

Mobility, multi-locality, and transnational migration are current social developments among the population of the European Union. These social developments in society and companies, linked to the challenges of sustainability, lead to new requirements for working in the European Union. Teaching and learning in higher education needs to adapt to these requirements. As a result, new and innovative teaching and learning practices in higher education should provide competencies for transnational teamwork in the curriculum of tomorrow's engineers in order to ensure their competitiveness in the job market and advantage in their future careers. Thirteen European students from four countries participated in a new project-based course, called the "European Engineering Team". Students focused on the development of two innovative and sustainable products. The goal of this paper is to present the thermal pallet cover, which is the result of the first one-year transnational and sustainability-oriented project. This paper also aims to present the process of performing the project. It provides the overview and discussion of engineering and management tasks that students completed in the transnational environment, working remotely at their own campuses between scheduled transnational meetings. The work contributes to project-oriented learning that may constitute a basis for teaching holistic engineering courses at mechanical and industrial engineering departments

Onlinehandel und Raumentwicklung - Neue Urbanität für alte Zentren!

Die Digitalisierung unserer Gesellschaft bedeutet für den Einzelhandel und unsere Städte einen tiefgreifenden Umbruch. Viele Menschen nutzen das Internet inzwischen regelmäßig für ihren Einkauf. Weiterhin hohe Wachstumsraten sprechen für eine anhaltende Dynamik bei der Verbreitung auch in Deutschland. Die veränderten Einkaufsgewohnheiten gehen mit einer Umsatzverlagerung vom stationären Handel in den Onlinehandel einher und verändern die Nutzungsstrukturen in den Stadtzentren. Dies wirft bezüglich der Raumentwicklung vielfältige Fragen auf. Die AG "Onlinehandel und Raumentwicklung" - ein ehrenamtlich arbeitendes, zeitlich befristetes, inter- und transdisziplinäres Gremium der Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Nordrhein-Westfalen der Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft (ARL) - hat diese Fragen aufgegriffen und diskutiert.With the expansion of online trading, retail trade development has reached a new level in the process of ongoing structural change. Multi-channel concepts that combine offline and online retail are becoming increasingly important. In the course of digitalisation, "hybrid" types of enterprises that show significant differences from traditional retail stores are emerging. For providers unable to find answers to the challenges associated with this change, it will become more and more difficult to maintain their market position. The retail structures are changing - and that is changing our cities. In many town centres, the declining demand for retail space is already clearly visible today. The spatial effects depend on the specific situation at the respective location. The basic tendency is to expect a thinning out and polarisation of the urban centre systems: A few town centres with a special experiential character will assert themselves as retail locations and will be able to further distinguish themselves, in other locations the task of local supply will move into the focus in the future, and some town centres will lose their supply function. But even or especially in a digital world: Town centres are not a obsolescent model! On the contrary, the current developments can be the starting line for multifunctional locations to emerge that exude appeal for people and stay generally attractive. Fresh thinking and active engagement are needed to make this vision come true