Implementing the Planning Process within DevOps Teams to Achieve Continuous Innovation

Integrating business capabilities into software development projects is still a major challenge for organizations. New ways of working are appearing in response to react to novel market places. Hence, there are more and more business managers with good IT knowledge; thus, software developers need to understand business processes. Hence, the relationship between software development, operations, and business strategy needs to be enhanced. For collecting customer perspectives in IT projects, new approaches like DevOps and BizDevOps are being used. The customer view can be integrated within software development teams through the planning processes. Our findings show that continuous innovation mechanisms are connected with the planning of customer requirements. We present planning scalability, security, and quality as rich descriptions of continuous innovation. Furthermore, we present core categories of how the customer perspectives can be integrated within a DevOps team and insights on how planning areas influence the continuous innovation mechanisms

Cooperation of translocase complexes in mitochondrial protein import

Most mitochondrial proteins are synthesized in the cytosol and imported into one of the four mitochondrial compartments: outer membrane, intermembrane space, inner membrane, and matrix. Each compartment contains protein complexes that interact with precursor proteins and promote their transport. These translocase complexes do not act as independent units but cooperate with each other and further membrane complexes in a dynamic manner. We propose that a regulated coupling of translocases is important for the coordination of preprotein translocation and efficient sorting to intramitochondrial compartments

Factors Associated with Worse Lung Function in Cystic Fibrosis Patients with Persistent Staphylococcus aureus

Background Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF). However, it is not clear which factors are associated with worse lung function in patients with persistent S. aureus airway cultures. Our main hypothesis was that patients with high S. aureus density in their respiratory specimens would more likely experience worsening of their lung disease than patients with low bacterial loads. Methods Therefore, we conducted an observational prospective longitudinal multi-center study and assessed the association between lung function and S. aureus bacterial density in respiratory samples, co-infection with other CF-pathogens, nasal S. aureus carriage, clinical status, antibiotic therapy, IL-6- and IgG-levels against S. aureus virulence factors. Results 195 patients from 17 centers were followed; each patient had an average of 7 visits. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and generalized linear mixed models. Our main hypothesis was only supported for patients providing throat specimens indicating that patients with higher density experienced a steeper lung function decline (p<0.001). Patients with exacerbations (n = 60), S. aureus small-colony variants (SCVs, n = 84) and co-infection with Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (n = 44) had worse lung function (p = 0.0068; p = 0.0011; p = 0.0103). Patients with SCVs were older (p = 0.0066) and more often treated with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (p = 0.0078). IL-6 levels positively correlated with decreased lung function (p<0.001), S. aureus density in sputa (p = 0.0016), SCVs (p = 0.0209), exacerbations (p = 0.0041) and co-infections with S. maltophilia (p = 0.0195) or A. fumigatus (p = 0.0496). Conclusions In CF-patients with chronic S. aureus cultures, independent risk factors for worse lung function are high bacterial density in throat cultures, exacerbations, elevated IL-6 levels, presence of S. aureus SCVs and co-infection with S. maltophilia. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0066976

Evaluierung der arbeitsmarktpolitischen Sonderprogramme CAST und Mainzer Modell

"Nach einer intensiven öffentlichen Debatte um die Förderung des Niedriglohnsektors im Jahr 1999 hat die Bundesregierung eine Anregung des damaligen nationalen Bündnisses für Arbeit, Ausbildung und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit aufgegriffen und das Sonderprogramm 'CAST' (Chancen und Anreize zur Aufnahme sozialversicherungspflichtiger Tätigkeiten) aufgelegt. Im Rahmen von CAST wurden ab Mitte 2000 zwei Förderkonzepte erprobt. Mit dem Modell der Saar-Gemeinschaftsinitiative des Saarlandes (SGI-Modell) konnten zusätzliche Neueinstellungen von Langzeitarbeitslosen und gering qualifizierten Arbeitslosen insbesondere durch degressive Lohnkostenzuschüsse an Betriebe gefördert werden. Demgegenüber erhielten nach dem so genannten Mainzer Modell Arbeitnehmer/innen, die eine neue sozialversicherungspflichtige Beschäftigung aufnahmen, bedürftigkeitsgeprüfte, ebenfalls degressive Zuschüsse zu den Sozialversicherungsbeiträgen und ggf. einen Kindergeldzuschlag. Während zunächst beide Förderkonzepte in jeweils einer Arbeitsmarktregion West und Ostdeutschlands erprobt wurden, wurde das SGI-Modell mit der bundesweiten Ausdehnung des Mainzer Modells ab März 2002 zehn Monate früher als ursprünglich geplant eingestellt. Die Laufzeit des Mainzer Modells hingegen wurde mit der bundesweiten Ausdehnung zunächst um ein Jahr bis Ende 2003 verlängert, dann allerdings ebenfalls vorzeitig Ende März 2003 anlässlich der Einführung der so genannten 'Midi-Jobs' (Gleitzone) beendet. Die Intention des Mainzer Modells, durch Bezuschussung der Arbeitnehmerbeiträge zur Sozialversicherung einen Anreiz für Teilzeitbeschäftigung zu setzen, wurde durch die allgemeingültige Midi-Job-Regelung für Bruttoentgelte zwischen 401 und 800 Euro monatlich ab April 2003 sozialversicherungsrechtlich fortentwickelt. Bei der Zusammenlegung von Sozial- und Arbeitslosenhilfe zur neuen Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende (Sozialgesetzbuch II) werden ab 2005 mit dem Einstiegsgeld (Paragr. 29 SGB II) und der großzügigeren Freistellung von Erwerbseinkommen (Paragr. 30 SGB II) gegenüber dem Mainzer Modell modifizierte Elemente zur Förderung niedriger Erwerbseinkommen eingeführt. Ebenfalls knüpft der Kinderzuschlag nach Paragr. 6a BKKG an die Zuschläge des Mainzer Modells an. Dieser Abschlussbericht umfasst die Evaluierungsergebnisse zu beiden Fördermodellen. In Kapitel 2 steht das Mainzer Modell im Mittelpunkt, in Kapitel 3 das SGI-Modell. In Kapitel 4 wird ein Fazit gezogen." (Textauszug

What´s floating on my plasma?

We report on a preanalytical issue we encountered during routine clinical chemistry analyses, potentially leading to deviated analysis results and believe that it might help other laboratories to overcome similar problems. In a heparin-gel tube we measured an implausible glucose value of 0.06 mmol/L. Re-measurement of the same sample resulted in a glucose value of 5.4 mmol/L. After excluding an analytical error, we inspected the sample closer and found a white material as well as fatty droplets floating on the surface of the plasma tube. Evaluation of these structures revealed that the white particulate matter (WPM) consisted of fibrinogen, platelets and leukocytes and the fatty droplets most probably originated from the separator gel. We concluded that these structures formed a temporary clot in the instruments pipetting needle thereby altering the sampling volume and subsequently the measured glucose value. The formation of WPM might be attributable to high speed centrifugation, high cholesterol levels, the gel formulation or a combination of several issues such as temperature, heparin concentration, pH and patient-specific factors. The gel droplets were most probably caused by an aberrant gel formulation in combination with an improper storage of the empty tubes on the wards prior to phlebotomy. After adding an additional instrument cleansing cycle and changing to another batch of heparin tubes the problems could be significantly reduced

In-vitro hemolysis and its financial impact using different blood collection systems

Background: Hemolytic specimens are among the most challenging preanalytical issues in laboratory diagnostics. The type of blood collection tube in use is claimed to influence in vitro hemolysis. We aimed to examine this hypothesis and estimate the respective financial impact, evaluating routine blood samples from the past 4 years. Methods: A total of 47,820 hemolysis index (HI) values from five different time intervals (IV1-IV5) were compared against each other, representing the following tubes: IV1-Sarstedt Monovette; IV2-8 mL/16×100 mm Greiner BioOne (GBO) Vacuette; IV3/IV4-5 mL/16×100 mm GBO Vacuette; IV5-4.5 mL/13×75 mm GBO Vacuette. For estimation of the economic impact, material, personnel and analytical costs were calculated. Results: HI mean values in time interval IV2 were significantly higher than in all other intervals, while mean values amongst all other intervals were comparable. The number of moderately and severely hemolyzed samples increased with incrementing vacuum. Overall comparable costs between intervals IV1 and IV5 were €11,370, €14,045, €12,710, €11,213 and €8138 per 10,000 samples, respectively. Conclusions: Aspiration tubes and low vacuum tubes show comparable hemolysis rates. Increasing vacuum levels are associated with higher hemolysis rates. By decreasing in vitro hemolysis, financial savings up to €5907 per 10,000 samples could be gained

Final Report of the Muon E821 Anomalous Magnetic Moment Measurement at BNL

We present the final report from a series of precision measurements of the muon anomalous magnetic moment, a_mu = (g-2)/2. The details of the experimental method, apparatus, data taking, and analysis are summarized. Data obtained at Brookhaven National Laboratory, using nearly equal samples of positive and negative muons, were used to deduce a_mu(Expt) = 11 659 208.0(5.4)(3.3) x 10^-10, where the statistical and systematic uncertainties are given, respectively. The combined uncertainty of 0.54 ppm represents a 14-fold improvement compared to previous measurements at CERN. The standard model value for a_mu includes contributions from virtual QED, weak, and hadronic processes. While the QED processes account for most of the anomaly, the largest theoretical uncertainty, ~0.55 ppm, is associated with first-order hadronic vacuum polarization. Present standard model evaluations, based on e+e- hadronic cross sections, lie 2.2 - 2.7 standard deviations below the experimental result.Comment: Summary paper of E821 Collaboration measurements of the muon anomalous magnetic moment, each reported earlier in Letters or Brief Reports; 96 pages, 41 figures, 16 tables. Revised version submitted to PR