Estudo exploratório da integração de processos em uma instituição pública de ensino superior a partir das funcionalidades de um sistema de gestão de processos de negócio

Pós-graduação em Engenharia de Produção - FEB

Trägerkatalysatoren auf Polymerbasis für industrielle Olefinpolymerisationsprozesse

Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit werden Trägersysteme auf Basis von Polystyrol nach unterschiedlichen Konzepten hergestellt und in Propen-, Ethen- sowie Ethen-Hexen-Polymerisationengetestet. Eine universelle Einsetzbarkeit wird durch das Konzept der nichtkovalenten Metallocenbindung erreicht.Mit partiell reversibel vernetzten Trägern, die nicht mehr vollständig fragmentieren können, wird es möglich, harte, gleichmäßige Produktteilchen mit Schüttdichten über 400g/l zu erhalten. Diese Systeme erreichen bei Ethen-Hexen-Copolymerisationen Produktivitäten über 2500 Gramm Produkt pro Gramm Katalysator und Stunde bei einem sehr gleichmäßigen Aktivitätsverlauf.

Landwirtschaftliche Schaderregerprognose mit Hilfe von geographischen Informationssystemen

In der hier vorliegenden Arbeit wurde am Beispiel der Kraut- und Knollenfäule an Kartoffeln Phytophthora infestans und des Kartoffelkäfers Leptinotarsa decemlineata untersucht, ob durch den Einsatz von Geographischen Informationssystemen (GIS) landwirtschaftliche Schader¬reger¬prognosen für jeden beliebigen Kartoffelschlag in Deutschland erstellt werden können. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, wurden die Eingangsparameter (Temperatur und relative Luftfeuchte) der Prognosemodelle für die beiden Schaderreger (SIMLEP1, SIMPHYT1, SIMPHYT3 and SIMBLIGHT1) so aufbereitet, dass Wetterdaten flächendeckend für Deutschland zur Verfügung standen. Bevor jedoch interpoliert werden konnte, wurde eine Regionalisierung von Deutschland in Interpolationszonen durchgeführt und somit Naturräume geschaffen, die einen Vergleich und eine Bewertung der in ihnen liegenden Wetterstationen zulassen. Hierzu wurden die Boden-Klima-Regionen von SCHULZKE und KAULE (2000) modifiziert, an das Wetterstationsnetz angepasst und mit 5 bis 10 km breiten Pufferzonen an der Grenze der Interpolationszonen versehen, um die Wetterstationen so häufig wie möglich verwenden zu können. Für die Interpolation der Wetterdaten wurde das Verfahren der multiplen Regression gewählt, weil dieses im Vergleich zu anderen Verfahren die geringsten Abweichungen zwischen interpolierten und gemessenen Daten aufwies und den technischen Anforderungen am besten entsprach. Für 99 % aller Werte konnten bei der Temperaturberechnung Abweichungen in einem Bereich zwischen -2,5 und 2,5 °C erzielt werden. Bei der Berechnung der relativen Luftfeuchte wurden Abweichungen zwischen -12 und 10 % relativer Luftfeuchte erreicht. Die Mittelwerte der Abweichungen lagen bei der Temperatur bei 0,1 °C und bei der relativen Luftfeuchte bei -1,8 %. Zur Überprüfung der Trefferquoten der Modelle beim Betrieb mit interpolierten Wetterdaten wurden Felderhebungsdaten aus den Jahren 2000 bis 2007 zum Erstauftreten der Kraut- und Knollenfäule sowie des Kartoffelkäfers verwendet. Dabei konnten mit interpolierten Wetterdaten die gleichen und auch höhere Trefferquoten erreicht werden, als mit der bisherigen Berechnungsmethode. Beispielsweise erzielte die Berechnung des Erstauftretens von P. infestans durch das Modell SIMBLIGHT1 mit interpolierten Wetterdaten im Schnitt drei Tage geringere Abweichungen im Vergleich zu den Berechnungen ohne GIS. Um die Auswirkungen interpretieren zu können, die durch Abweichungen der Temperatur und der relativen Luftfeuchte entstanden wurde zusätzlich eine Sensitivitätsanalyse zur Temperatur und relativen Luftfeuchte der verwendeten Prognosemodelle durchgeführt. Die Temperatur hatte bei allen Modellen nur einen geringen Einfluss auf das Prognoseergebnis. Veränderungen der relativen Luftfeuchte haben sich dagegen deutlich stärker ausgewirkt. So lag bei SIMBLIGHT1 die Abweichung durch eine stündliche Veränderung der relativen Luftfeuchte (± 6 %) bei maximal 27 Tagen, wogegen stündliche Veränderungen der Temperatur (± 2 °C) eine Abweichung von maximal 10 Tagen ausmachten. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit zeigen, dass durch die Verwendung von GIS mindestens die gleichen und auch höhere Trefferquoten bei Schaderregerprognosen erzielt werden als mit der bisherigen Verwendung von Daten einer nahegelegenen Wetterstation. Die Ergebnisse stellen einen wesentlichen Fortschritt für die landwirtschaftlichen Schaderregerprognosen dar. Erstmals ist es möglich, bundesweite Prognosen für jeden beliebigen Kartoffelschlag zur Bekämpfung von Schädlingen in der Landwirtschaft bereit zu stellen.

LCA-GIS Integrated approach for a Sustainable Land Use Under Energy Crops

In genere, negli studi di vocazionalità delle colture, vengono presi in considerazione solo variabili ambientali pedo-climatiche. La coltivazione di una coltura comporta anche un impatto ambientale derivante dalle pratiche agronomiche ed il territorio può essere più o meno sensibile a questi impatti in base alla sua vulnerabilità. In questo studio si vuole sviluppare una metodologia per relazionare spazialmente l’impatto delle colture con le caratteristiche sito specifiche del territorio in modo da considerare anche questo aspetto nell’allocazione negli studi di vocazionalità. LCA è stato utilizzato per quantificare diversi impatti di alcune colture erbacee alimentari e da energia, relazionati a mappe di vulnerabilità costruite con l’utilizzo di GIS, attraverso il calcolo di coefficienti di rischio di allocazione per ogni combinazione coltura-area vulnerabile. Le colture energetiche sono state considerate come un uso alternativo del suolo per diminuire l’impatto ambientale. Il caso studio ha mostrato che l’allocazione delle colture può essere diversa in base al tipo e al numero di impatti considerati. Il risultato sono delle mappe in cui sono riportate le distribuzioni ottimali delle colture al fine di minimizzare gli impatti, rispetto a mais e grano, due colture alimentari importanti nell’area di studio. Le colture con l’impatto più alto dovrebbero essere coltivate nelle aree a vulnerabilità bassa, e viceversa. Se il rischio ambientale è la priorità, mais, colza, grano, girasole, e sorgo da fibra dovrebbero essere coltivate solo nelle aree a vulnerabilità bassa o moderata, mentre, le colture energetiche erbacee perenni, come il panico, potrebbero essere coltivate anche nelle aree a vulnerabilità alta, rappresentando cosi una opportunità per aumentare la sostenibilità di uso del suolo rurale. Lo strumento LCA-GIS inoltre, integrato con mappe di uso attuale del suolo, può aiutare a valutarne il suo grado di sostenibilità ambientale.

Sviluppo di metodologie innovative di supporto decisionale alla progettazione basate su indicatori di prestazione

Il progetto di ricerca è finalizzato allo sviluppo di una metodologia innovativa di supporto decisionale nel processo di selezione tra alternative progettuali, basata su indicatori di prestazione. In particolare il lavoro si è focalizzato sulla definizione d’indicatori atti a supportare la decisione negli interventi di sbottigliamento di un impianto di processo. Sono stati sviluppati due indicatori, “bottleneck indicators”, che permettono di valutare la reale necessità dello sbottigliamento, individuando le cause che impediscono la produzione e lo sfruttamento delle apparecchiature. Questi sono stati validati attraverso l’applicazione all’analisi di un intervento su un impianto esistente e verificando che lo sfruttamento delle apparecchiature fosse correttamente individuato. Definita la necessità dell’intervento di sbottigliamento, è stato affrontato il problema della selezione tra alternative di processo possibili per realizzarlo. È stato applicato alla scelta un metodo basato su indicatori di sostenibilità che consente di confrontare le alternative considerando non solo il ritorno economico degli investimenti ma anche gli impatti su ambiente e sicurezza, e che è stato ulteriormente sviluppato in questa tesi. Sono stati definiti due indicatori, “area hazard indicators”, relativi alle emissioni fuggitive, per integrare questi aspetti nell’analisi della sostenibilità delle alternative. Per migliorare l’accuratezza nella quantificazione degli impatti è stato sviluppato un nuovo modello previsionale atto alla stima delle emissioni fuggitive di un impianto, basato unicamente sui dati disponibili in fase progettuale, che tiene conto delle tipologie di sorgenti emettitrici, dei loro meccanismi di perdita e della manutenzione. Validato mediante il confronto con dati sperimentali di un impianto produttivo, si è dimostrato che tale metodo è indispensabile per un corretto confronto delle alternative poiché i modelli esistenti sovrastimano eccessivamente le emissioni reali. Infine applicando gli indicatori ad un impianto esistente si è dimostrato che sono fondamentali per semplificare il processo decisionale, fornendo chiare e precise indicazioni impiegando un numero limitato di informazioni per ricavarle.

A model of ischemic isolated acute liver failure in pigs: standardizing monitoring and treatment

Acute liver failure (ALF) models in pigs have been widely used for evaluating newly developed liver support systems. But hardly any guidelines are available for the surgical methods and the clinical management.

Randomized trial of a computerized coronary heart disease risk assessment tool in HIV-infected patients receiving combination antiretroviral therapy

Exposure to combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) can lead to important metabolic changes and increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Computerized clinical decision support systems have been advocated to improve the management of patients at risk for CHD but it is unclear whether such systems reduce patients' risk for CHD.

Resocialisation of Disabled Veterans in Former Yugoslavia

The team examined 147 amputated war veterans in the former Yugoslavia between February and December 1998. The official end of the war, substitution of lost body parts and adjustment to the new state of physical disability added extra tasks to these people's efforts to rejoin "normal life". The resocialisation process of amputated persons, i.e. the process of their return into the social environment with the related readjustment and establishment, was observed through its objective and subjective indicators. In addition to obtaining information about socio-demographic characteristics and current working status, the group focused on the psychological dimension, i.e. the individual reality of the disabled persons. In this sense they began with research into the personal, social and professional identity (how they see themselves under these altered circumstances and how they determine their place in the world). To do so they used the model of basic personality supports and observed the resocialisation according to the psychological support systems. They therefore focused on the following topics: body, social identity and belonging, personal identity, working status and engagement, individual responsibility and expectations from the social environment, and orientation towards the future. These were considered with respect to certain significant socio-demographic characteristics of the interviewees. The data were gathered through standardised interviews. Bearing in mind the unpopularity of this subject among experts in the country and the lack of material in specialist literature, the group chose to use descriptive research logic in order to "record" the situation in this field and to establish a framework for future studies which may be methodologically and statistically more complex and thematically more focused.

Posttraumatic stress disorder after implantation of a mechanical assist device followed by heart transplantation: evaluation of patients and partners

AIM: We sought to investigate the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression in patients and their partners after implantation of a mechanical assist device as a bridge to heart transplantation. METHODS: This was a retrospective assessment of 41 patients (age 46.3 +/- 12.0 years; male-female ratio, 38:3; time since transplantation, 55.3 +/- 34.2 months [range, 7-122 months) and 27 partners (male-female ratio 2:25) by standardized instruments (Impact of Event Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), in 2 University Heart Transplant Centers (Vienna, Austria, Munster, Germany). The duration of the support systems (MicroMed DeBakey-VAD in 17 patients, Novacor in 10, Thoratec in 8, TCI HeartMate in 5, and Berlin Heart Incor in 1 patient) ranged from 28 to 711 (176 +/- 146) days. RESULTS: None of the patients, but 23% of the partners (n = 6), met the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (Maercker cutoff >0). The Impact of Event Scale (IES) sum scales differed significantly between the 2 groups (21.2 +/- 15.1, mean +/- SD) for the patients versus 38.1 +/- 27.8 for the partners, respectively; P = .001). Two percent of the patients, but 19% of the partners, showed mild to moderate depression; 4% of patients, but 23% of their partners, reported mild to moderate anxiety. None of the results were significantly influenced by the time since transplantation, patient age, diagnoses, type of assist device, or indication for heart transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: Despite patients being much closer to a life threat, their partners experience significantly more psychologic distress even in the long run. Our findings highlight the need for attention to the supporting persons.

Red cell survival in relation to changes in the hematocrit: more important than you think

The management of anemia in patients with chronic renal failure has greatly improved with the availability of recombinant human erythropoietin in the late 1980s, leading to a considerable reduction in mortality and morbidity and to an improvement in quality of life. The findings from recent controlled clinical outcome trials have resulted in a rather narrow, generally accepted therapeutic hematocrit target range. However, currently available dosing algorithms do not permit achievement and maintenance of target values within the therapeutic range in many patients. One possible explanation for this failure may be the ignorance of a finite erythrocyte lifespan not integrated into most algorithms. The purpose of this article is to underline the essential role played by the erythrocyte lifespan in the erythropoietic response to recombinant human erythropoietin and to encourage the integration of this concept in the future development of computer-assisted decision support systems.

Adaptive Rückmeldungen im intelligenten Tutorensystem LARGO

Das intelligente Tutorensystem LARGO für die Rechtswissenschaften soll Jurastudenten helfen, Argumentationsstrategien zu lernen. Im verwendeten Ansatz werden Gerichtsprotokolle als Lernmaterialien verwendet: Studenten annotieren diese und erstellen graphische Repräsentationen des Argumentationsverlaufs. Das System kann dabei zur Reflexion über die von Anwälten vorgebrachten Argumente anregen und Lernende auf mögliche Schwächen in ihrer Analyse des Disputs hinweisen. Zur Erkennung von Schwächen verwendet das System Graphgrammatiken und kollaborative Filtermechanismen. Dieser Artikel stellt dar, wie in LARGO auf Basis der Bestimmung eines „Benutzungskontextes“ die Rückmeldungen im System benutzungsadaptiv gestaltet werden. Weiterhin diskutieren wir auf Basis der Ergebnisse einer kontrollierten Studie mit dem System, welche mit Jurastudierenden an der University of Pittsburgh stattfand, in wie weit der automatisch bestimmte Benutzungskontext zur Vorhersage von Lernerfolgen bei Studenten verwendbar ist.

ProFormA: An XML-based exchange format for programming tasks

Unterstützungssysteme für die Programmierausbildung sind weit verbreitet, doch gängige Standards für den Austausch von allgemeinen (Lern-) Inhalten und Tests erfüllen nicht die speziellen Anforderungen von Programmieraufgaben wie z. B. den Umgang mit komplexen Einreichungen aus mehreren Dateien oder die Kombination verschiedener (automatischer) Bewertungsverfahren. Dadurch können Aufgaben nicht zwischen Systemen ausgetauscht werden, was aufgrund des hohen Aufwands für die Entwicklung guter Aufgaben jedoch wünschenswert wäre. In diesem Beitrag wird ein erweiterbares XML-basiertes Format zum Austausch von Programmieraufgaben vorgestellt, das bereits von mehreren Systemen prototypisch genutzt wird. Die Spezifikation des Austauschformats ist online verfügbar [PFMA].

Evaluation of the Hepa Wash® treatment in pigs with acute liver failure

BACKGROUND Mortality of patients with acute liver failure (ALF) is still unacceptably high. Available liver support systems are still of limited success at improving survival. A new type of albumin dialysis, the Hepa Wash® system, was newly introduced. We evaluated the new liver support system as well as the Molecular Adsorbent Recycling System (MARS) in an ischemic porcine model of ALF. METHODS In the first study animals were randomly allocated to control (n=5) and Hepa Wash (n=6) groups. In a further pilot study, two animals were treated with the MARS-system. All animals received the same medical and surgical procedures. An intraparenchymal intracranial pressure was inserted. Hemodynamic monitoring and goal-directed fluid therapy using the PiCCO system was done. Animals underwent functional end-to-side portacaval shunt and ligation of hepatic arteries. Treatment with albumin dialysis was started after fall of cerebral perfusion pressure to 45 mmHg and continued for 8 h. RESULTS All animals in the Hepa Wash group survived the 13-hour observation period, except for one that died after stopping treatment. Four of the control animals died within this period (p=0.03). Hepa Wash significantly reduced impairment of cerebral perfusion pressure (23±2 vs. 10±3 mmHg, p=0.006) and mean arterial pressure (37±1 vs. 24±2 mmHg, p=0.006) but had no effect on intracranial pressure (14±1 vs. 15±1 mmHg, p=0.72). Hepa Wash also enhanced cardiac index (4.94±0.32 vs. 3.36±0.25 l/min/m2, p=0.006) and renal function (urine production, 1850 ± 570 vs. 420 ± 180 ml, p=0.045) and eliminated water soluble (creatinine, 1.3±0.2 vs. 3.2±0.3 mg/dl, p=0.01; ammonia 562±124 vs. 1382±92 μg/dl, p=0.006) and protein-bound toxins (nitrate/nitrite 5.54±1.57 vs. 49.82±13.27 μmol/l, p=0.01). No adverse events that could be attributed to the Hepa Wash treatment were observed. CONCLUSIONS Hepa Wash was a safe procedure and improved multiorgan system failure in pigs with ALF. The survival benefit could be the result of ameliorating different organ functions in association with the detoxification capacity of water soluble and protein-bound toxins.

Practitioners' Views of Family Strengths: A Delphi Study

Reported is a research study to assess the opinions of family practitioners on the status of families in Oklahoma. Researchers employed the Delphi method to achieve consensus among key informants in the family practice field about the strengths and weaknesses of Oklahoma families, threats facing families in the state, and means to strengthening family life in Oklahoma. The study yielded qualitative data from the key informants, which the researchers then condensed into response categories to feed back to informants to rate. Family practitioners identified resilience, spirituality, and access to support systems as the greatest strengths, and listed substance abuse, poverty, and generational cycles of dysfunction as the greatest weaknesses of Oklahoma families. Recommendations by these practitioners are given for improvements in addressing family needs.