Finanzierung von Nonprofit-Organisationen

Die Entscheidung in einer Nonprofit-Organisation, sich in ihrem Finanzierungsmix am Branchendurchschnitt zu orientieren oder bewusst einen eigenen Weg bei der Finanzmittelbeschaffung zu verfolgen, hat Konsequenzen für das Organisationswachstum: Eigenwillige Organisationen wachsen tendenziell schneller als ihre angepassten Pendants. Das zeigt eine Langzeituntersuchung von 12 Organisationen, die sich für Blinde und sehbehinderte Menschen in der Schweiz engagieren. Sie gibt erste Antworten auf die bislang noch wenig entwickelte Forschung über die Determinanten von strategischen Finanzierungsentscheidungen in NPO

Generation of the transport service offer with application to timetable planning considering constraints due to maintenance work

Line planning is an important step in strategic timetable planning in public transport. In this step the transport offer for the customer is generated by the public transport operator, whereby the resulting costs for the operator should be as deep as possible. Mathematical models for line planning allow to create optimized line plans quickly. Planners can use these models to rate and select different alternatives. This is particularly valuable under the aspect of increasing maintenance and construction tasks of the railway infrastructure. We show, that in this case, it is possible to create functional requirements for automated timetable creation from the result of line planning step. The practical use of the involved models is illustrated by a real application example

Generation of interactive questionnaires using YAWL-based workflow models

A concept is introduced in this article which has strong practical impact for computer aided system configuration. System configuration is a cumbersome and fault sensitive task while setting up systems in a broad range of business applications like ERP (enterprise resource planning) and other workflow-systems. Given a generic process or workflow model in YAWL-notation (yet another workflow language) or any other process modeling language like business process model and notation or WFMC (workflow management coalition), it could be stated that, by using a set of reduction rules as introduced, it is possible to generate a hierarchically structured tree of sub graphs of the workflow graph-representation. According to the notation used, authors call these sub graphs facts. The tree structure of the graph-representation on one hand and the logical relation between the branches and leafs of the tree on the other can be utilized to create a set of constraints and dependencies among the single facts. Some researchers showed that the nested branches can be associated to (predefined) questions with respect to the configuration of a workflow management system, for instance an ERP-application. They presented an algorithm which dynamically sorts the questions and answers in a maximum efficient configuration path, while working through the corresponding questionnaire. By combining the different elements as facts, constraints on questions, and configuration space, it is thus possible to algorithmically generate the efficient structured and interactive questionnaire for the configuration of workflow systems and algorithmically check the consistency (dead lock free, free of synchronization structural conflict) of the underlying workflow model. The concept was tested in the prototype of the interactive questionnaire for configuration of the web-service based ERP-Application Posity

Light-coupled cryogenic probes to detect low-micromolar samples and allow for an automated NMR platform

Recent advances in NMR fragment screening use sample illumination to boost NMR sensitivity, reduce measurement time to a few seconds, and reduce sample concentration to a few micromolars. Nevertheless, the absence of a fully automated solution to measure several hundreds of samples with photoinduced hyperpolarization limits the large-scale applicability of the method. We present a setup to couple an optical fiber with a cryogenic probe using the flow-cell accessory port. This setup is compatible with commercially available autosamplers, enabling the fully automated measurement of several hundreds of samples per day.</p

Evaluation of the delay management potential on a macroscopic level

In general, macroscopic models in delay management allow for the optimization of large networks with reasonable computational effort. The main limitations here arise from the aggregated consideration of the infrastructure. In this paper, an evaluation of potential application of macroscopic models for delay management through a real case study is discussed. A macroscopic model is built by applying first a micro-macro transformation on a calibrated microscopic model, to provide an exact calculation of minimum running times and headways. On this macroscopic model, two disruption scenarios are analyzed and solved by using Event Activity Networks, to show the potential benefits and the limitations of delay management. The case study is based on a real railway infrastructure in Switzerland, and it is implemented in LinTim, an opensource software, which allows for an integrated development of both the macroscopic scenario and the delay management solutions

Cohort profile: the South African HIV Cancer Match (SAM) Study, a national population-based cohort.

PURPOSE The South African HIV Cancer Match (SAM) Study is a national cohort of people living with HIV (PLWH). It was created using probabilistic record linkages of routine laboratory records of PLWH retrieved by National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) and cancer data from the National Cancer Registry. The SAM Study aims to assess the spectrum and risk of cancer in PLWH in the context of the evolving South African HIV epidemic. The SAM Study's overarching goal is to inform cancer prevention and control programmes in PLWH in the era of antiretroviral treatment in South Africa. PARTICIPANTS PLWH (both adults and children) who accessed HIV care in public sector facilities and had HIV diagnostic or monitoring laboratory tests from NHLS. FINDINGS TO DATE The SAM cohort currently includes 5 248 648 PLWH for the period 2004 to 2014; 69% of these are women. The median age at cohort entry was 33.0 years (IQR: 26.2-40.9). The overall cancer incidence in males and females was 235.9 (95% CI: 231.5 to 240.5) and 183.7 (181.2-186.2) per 100 000 person-years, respectively.Using data from the SAM Study, we examined national cancer incidence in PLWH and the association of different cancers with immunodeficiency. Cancers with the highest incidence rates were Kaposi sarcoma, cervix, breast, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and eye cancer. FUTURE PLANS The SAM Study is a unique, evolving resource for research and surveillance of malignancies in PLWH. The SAM Study will be regularly updated. We plan to enrich the SAM Study through record linkages with other laboratory data within the NHLS (eg, tuberculosis, diabetes and lipid profile data), mortality data and socioeconomic data to facilitate comprehensive epidemiological research of comorbidities among PLWH

Maintenance timetable planning based on mesoscopic infrastructure and the transport service intention

Planners of maintenance intervals and operations have a strong need for rapid development and assessment of comprehensive and reliable timetable scenarios, which are able to satisfy the requirements of both, the train operating company and the infrastructure operating company. To address these requirements, in this paper we present a use case that is based on the ‘track-choice and line-rotation’ extension of ‘PESP’, the commonly known model for the generation of periodic event schedules. We call the extended model ‘TCFPESP’. This model takes into account the event flexibility requirement of the ‘service intention’ and makes use of a mesoscopic track infrastructure representation. Both properties support an iterative timetable development process with a ‘progressive feasibility assessment’, a feature that is requested in practice. The ‘service intention’ represents the functional timetable specification. The specification is given by an integrated line concept consisting of a set of lines with data defining their types, frequencies, stop sequence, rotation times and connections. Our proposed model takes functional and operational timetable specifications as input and is applied in an iterative way by changing technical parameters in order to generate a timetable with a feasible capacity allocation. Both, the service intention as well as the mesoscopic infrastructure representation can be configured in the line planning and timetabling system Viriato. This system is widely used by public transport planners and operators. It is therefore possible to configure our timetable model by a standard planning tool. After the description of the methods developed, we provide a practical proof of concept by testing the use case for different maintenance scenarios. Thereby we can show that, based on the service intention planners are able to quickly develop feasible timetable scenarios for maintenance intervals. The use case presented in this paper refers to generating short-term timetable scenarios but can also be used in long-term strategic planning

Early Gender Gaps Among University Graduates

We use data from six cohorts of university graduates in Germany to assess the extent of gender gaps in college and labor market performance twelve to eighteen months after graduation. Men and women enter college in roughly equal numbers, but more women than men complete their degrees. Women enter college with slightly better high school grades, but women leave university with slightly lower marks. Immediately following university completion, male and female full-timers work very similar number of hours per week, but men earn more than women across the pay distribution, with an unadjusted gender gap in full-time monthly earnings of about 20 log points on average. Including a large set of controls reduces the gap to 5-10 log points. The single most important proximate factor that explains the gap is field of study at university

Decompressive craniectomy plus best medical treatment versus best medical treatment alone for spontaneous severe deep supratentorial intracerebral haemorrhage:a randomised controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether decompressive craniectomy improves clinical outcome for people with spontaneous severe deep intracerebral haemorrhage. The SWITCH trial aimed to assess whether decompressive craniectomy plus best medical treatment in these patients improves outcome at 6 months compared to best medical treatment alone.METHODS: In this multicentre, randomised, open-label, assessor-blinded trial conducted in 42 stroke centres in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, adults (18-75 years) with a severe intracerebral haemorrhage involving the basal ganglia or thalamus were randomly assigned to receive either decompressive craniectomy plus best medical treatment or best medical treatment alone. The primary outcome was a score of 5-6 on the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 180 days, analysed in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClincalTrials.gov, NCT02258919, and is completed.FINDINGS: SWITCH had to be stopped early due to lack of funding. Between Oct 6, 2014, and April 4, 2023, 201 individuals were randomly assigned and 197 gave delayed informed consent (96 decompressive craniectomy plus best medical treatment, 101 best medical treatment). 63 (32%) were women and 134 (68%) men, the median age was 61 years (IQR 51-68), and the median haematoma volume 57 mL (IQR 44-74). 42 (44%) of 95 participants assigned to decompressive craniectomy plus best medical treatment and 55 (58%) assigned to best medical treatment alone had an mRS of 5-6 at 180 days (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] 0·77, 95% CI 0·59 to 1·01, adjusted risk difference [aRD] -13%, 95% CI -26 to 0, p=0·057). In the per-protocol analysis, 36 (47%) of 77 participants in the decompressive craniectomy plus best medical treatment group and 44 (60%) of 73 in the best medical treatment alone group had an mRS of 5-6 (aRR 0·76, 95% CI 0·58 to 1·00, aRD -15%, 95% CI -28 to 0). Severe adverse events occurred in 42 (41%) of 103 participants receiving decompressive craniectomy plus best medical treatment and 41 (44%) of 94 receiving best medical treatment.INTERPRETATION: SWITCH provides weak evidence that decompressive craniectomy plus best medical treatment might be superior to best medical treatment alone in people with severe deep intracerebral haemorrhage. The results do not apply to intracerebral haemorrhage in other locations, and survival is associated with severe disability in both groups.FUNDING: Swiss National Science Foundation, Swiss Heart Foundation, Inselspital Stiftung, and Boehringer Ingelheim.</p