Light and Media Projections in Patient Rooms: A Preliminary Case Study

New media and lighting technology and new ways to connect and control it have the potential to improve the environment in hospitals with the goal of increasing patient satisfaction. How should such system be designed to do so and how can it be tested? In this paper it is investigated how a specific case, an interactive lighting and media system installed in a patient room, can be improved to support a greater experience of patient satisfaction. Through questionnaires given to 14 mothers who have just given birth and their husbands staying in an interactive patient room, the experience of staying in the room and the patient satisfaction have been assessed. The results from the questionnaires are hereto combined to data log on how the media system has been used, which additionally leads to a design evaluation for the interactive media system. The results imply several areas which can be improved to meet the specific needs of the patients and thereby provide higher patient satisfaction. Hereto, the main findings suggest that the control of the lighting needs to be less complicated, the different lighting settings needs to be better tailored to the actual needs, noise from the projector and light coming from the iPad needs to be reduced, and for critical situations, the medical equipment needs to be an exact copy of what the caregivers are used to

Afledte Kvalitetsomkostninger: Et Modelperspektiv med Empirisk Udgangspunkt

I traditionel økonomistyring og internt regnskabsvæsen registreres normalt kun hvad man kunne kalde de direkte målbare kvalitetsomkostninger. Disse bygger på, at kun synlige effekter fra kvalitetsproblemer indgår i virksomhedens beslutningsgrundlag. På grund af øget fokus på kvalitet - og dermed på kvalitetsomkostningernes voksende betydning, specielt i relation til virksomhedens forøgede anvendelse af avanceret og fleksibelt produktionsudstyr, hvor flere produkter ofte produceres sammen og dermed påvirker prioritetsrækkefølgen - bør en virksomhed gøre sig tanker om hvordan de forskellige produktvarianter og ordrer påvirker ressourcer og kvalitetsomkostninger. For at tage højde for dette, betragtes en beregningsmodel til at visualisere defektprocenternes betydning rent omkostningsmæssigt i sammenhæng med de traditionelle produktionsparametre, som kapacitetsudnyttelse, ordrestørrelse, teknologi etc. Størrelsen af disse afledte omkostninger bør – så vidt der ikke er mulighed for eliminering - også indgå i virksomhedens langsigtede beslutningsgrundlag og formål

Sustainable Value Creation Through Business Models: The What, the Who and the How

Purpose: We discuss traditional assumptions about value creation and confront these with current viewson sustainable value creation (SVC). Against this backdrop, the articles contained in the special issue‘Sustainable Value Creation Through Business Models’ are introduced, and their contributions to the explorationof SVC are highlighted.*Methodology: Assumptions about value creation are summarised and turned into an initial theoreticalframework concerning the what, who and how of value creation. This framework is used to structure anddiscuss current views on SVC that have been presented in the sustainable business model (SBM) litterature.Findings: The proposed framework identifies cornerstones for theorising about SVC in regard to thewhat, who and how of value creation. A main finding is that, although value creation and SVC are widelydiscussed in the literature, there are huge gaps in terms of the who, what and how of value creation, particularlyin the SBM field.Research implications and limitations: The major implication is that the SBM discourse still lacks clearSVC concepts, and closing this gap may enable the creation of a new multi- and interdisciplinary researchprogramme. A major limitation of this paper is the mainly theoretical and preliminary nature of the presenteddiscussion and framework.Originality and value: There is a surprising dearth of definitions and concepts of value creation in boththe traditional business model and SBM research. The originality and value of this paper lie in its potentialto stimulate further research on the theoretical foundations of SVC. Various theoretical propositionsare developed, including notions such as stakeholder-responsive and relational interpretations of valuecreation

Protein quality control in the nucleus

In their natural environment, cells are regularly exposed to various stress conditions that may lead to protein misfolding, but also in the absence of stress, misfolded proteins occur as the result of mutations or failures during protein synthesis. Since such partially denatured proteins are prone to aggregate, cells have evolved several elaborate quality control systems to deal with these potentially toxic proteins. First, various molecular chaperones will seize the misfolded protein and either attempt to refold the protein or target it for degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome system. The degradation of misfolded proteins is clearly compartmentalized, so unique degradation pathways exist for misfolded proteins depending on whether their subcellular localization is ER/secretory, mitochondrial, cytosolic or nuclear. Recent studies, mainly in yeast, have shown that the nucleus appears to be particularly active in protein quality control. Thus, specific ubiquitin-protein ligases located in the nucleus, target not only misfolded nuclear proteins, but also various misfolded cytosolic proteins which are transported to the nucleus prior to their degradation. In comparison, much less is known about these mechanisms in mammalian cells. Here we highlight recent advances in our understanding of nuclear protein quality control, in particular regarding substrate recognition and proteasomal degradation

Neurobehavioral deficits at age 7 years associated with prenatal exposure to toxicants from maternal seafood diet

To determine the possible neurotoxic impact of prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), we analyzed banked cord blood from a Faroese birth cohort for PCBs. The subjects were born in 1986–1987, and 917 cohort members had completed a series of neuropsychological tests at age 7 years. Major PCB congeners (118, 138, 153, and 180), the calculated total PCB concentration, and the PCB exposure estimated in a structural equation model showed weak associations with test deficits, with statistically significant negative associations only with the Boston Naming test. Likewise, neither hexachlorobenzene nor p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene showed clear links to neurobehavioral deficits. Thus, these associations were much weaker than those associated with the cord-blood mercury concentration, and adjustment for mercury substantially attenuated the regression coefficients for PCB exposure. When the outcomes were joined into motor and verbally mediated functions in a structural equation model, the PCB effects remained weak and virtually disappeared after adjustment for methylmercury exposure, while mercury remained statistically significant. Thus, in the presence of elevated methylmercury exposure, PCB neurotoxicity may be difficult to detect, and PCB exposure does not explain the methylmercury neurotoxicity previously reported in this cohort

Serum Concentrations of Antibodies Against Vaccine Toxoids in Children Exposed Perinatally to Immunotoxicants

Background: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) may cause immunotoxic effects, but the detailed dose–response relationship and possible vulnerable time windows of exposure are uncertain. In this study we applied serum concentrations of specific antibodies against childhood vaccines as sentinels of immunotoxicity. Objectives: The main objective was to assess the possible dependence of antibody concentrations against diphtheria and tetanus toxoids in children with regard to prenatal and postnatal PCB exposures. Methods: From a cohort of 656 singleton births formed in the Faroe Islands during 1999–2001, children were invited for examination with assessment of serum antibody concentrations at 5 years (before and after a booster vaccination) and at 7 years of age. Total PCB concentrations were determined in serum from ages 5 and 7 years, and data were also available on PCB concentrations in maternal pregnancy serum, maternal milk, and, for a subgroup, the child’s serum at 18 months of age. Results: A total of 587 children participated in the examinations at ages 5 and/or 7 years. At age 5 years, before the booster vaccination, the antidiphtheria antibody concentration was inversely associated with PCB concentrations in milk and 18-month serum. Results obtained 2 years later showed an inverse association of concentrations of antibodies against both toxoids with PCB concentrations at 18 months of age. The strongest associations suggested a decrease in the antibody concentration by about 20% for each doubling in PCB exposure. At age 5 years, the odds of an antidiphtheria antibody concentration below a clinically protective level of 0.1 IU/L increased by about 30% for a doubling in PCB in milk and 18-month serum. Conclusions: Developmental PCB exposure is associated with immunotoxic effects on serum concentrations of specific antibodies against diphtheria and tetanus vaccinations. The immune system development during the first years of life appears to be particularly vulnerable to this exposure