Ein webbasiertes Evaluationssystem für Hochschulen

Angetrieben durch die Hochschulgesetzgebung, Maßnahmen zur systematischen und regelmäßigen Veranstaltungsevaluation von Fachbereichen zu ergreifen, wurde das Projekt „Webbasiertes Evaluationssystem“ vom Total Quality Management (TQM) der Technischen Fachhochschule Wildau (TFH Wildau) angeregt. Um einen hohen Qualitätsstandard der Lehre sicherzustellen, wollte die TFH Wildau die Qualität der Veranstaltungen messbar machen und suchte nach technischen Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten. Ziel bei diesem Projekt war eine umfassende Lösung, die es auf einfache und kostengünstige Art ermöglicht, Evaluationsdaten zu erheben, elektronisch zu erfassen und auszuwerten sowie den Dozenten und der Hochschulleitung zur Verfügung zu stellen. Die Lehreinheiten erhalten auf diese Weise einen schnellen und fundierten Einblick in ihre Leistungen sowie eine entsprechende Einschätzung und können daraus konkrete Anregungen zur Weiterentwicklung ihrer fachlichen Kompetenz gewinnen. Die aus der Evaluierung hervorgehenden Informationen können zudem zur internen Rechenschaftslegung sowie zur kontinuierlichen Qualitätssicherung und -verbesserung genutzt werden

Prototyp eines mobilen Warenausgangs- und Liefersystems

Der zu erwartende Wandel des gesamten Marktes in den nächsten Jahren – insbesondere durch den Einsatz von eCommerce und mCommerce – macht auch eine Anpassung der Unternehmen und ihrer Logistik erforderlich. Der Einsatz moderner Informationstechnologie (IT) erlaubt die Optimierung von Prozessen und einen verbesserten Kundenservice, wie z. B. die Verfolgung von Paketen, die heute bei kleinen und mittleren Speditionen noch nicht zum Standard gehört. Durch den Einsatz von Warenwirtschaftssystemen mit Barcodeintegration wird in Großhandelsunternehmen mit eigenem Fuhrpark eine Paketverfolgung nur bis zur Laderampe, also „Inhouse“, gesichert. Die weiterführende Verfolgung der Sendungen fehlt jedoch. In größeren Logistikunternehmen ist, durch Ausstattung der Nutzfahrzeuge mit relativ aufwändiger Bordelektronik, das Tracking und Tracing der Versandeinheiten zwar weitestgehend gesichert. Verbesserungspotential liegt hier aber unter anderem in der Disposition und im Tracking der Transporthilfsmittel (Gitterboxen, Paletten), die zurzeit in der Regel noch nicht systematisch erfasst und verfolgt werden

Datenerfassung und Visualisierung von Vitalparametern und Primärsignalen auf dem Computer und auf mobilen Endgeräten

In Kliniken besteht der Bedarf nach einer lückenlosen Aufzeichnung der Vitalparameter (z. B. Herzfrequenz, Blutdruck) und Primärsignale (z. B. EKG). Besonders in der Notfallmedizin ist eine ständige Patientenüberwachung lebensnotwendig. Zudem dienen die erfassten Daten der aktuellen Patienten-Dokumentation, aber auch zur Analyse im Bereich der Forschung und für Studien. Für diesen Zweck wurde das Telematik-System »Multi-Patientenmonitoring« entwickelt. Dieses System dient der Datenerfassung, Signalvisualisierung und Echtzeitübertragung von Vitalparametern an beliebig viele PCs und mobile Geräte des Krankenhausnetzwerkes. Motiviert durch das Universitätsklinikum Tübingen wurde das Projekt von der Wildauer Firma ixellence initiiert und in interdisziplinärer Zusammenarbeit mit medizinischen Einrichtungen, dem Fachgebiet Telematik an der TFH Wildau und der Philips Medizin-Systeme GmbH realisiert.Hospitals need a complete recording of vital parameters (e.g. heart frequency, blood pressure) and primary signals (e.g. ECG). Especially in intensive care units the permanent monitoring and the recording of the current status of the patient is vital. Furthermore, these data are useful for the patient documentation and in fields of research and studies. For this purpose a multi-monitoring system was developed. This system provides the data acquisition, signal visualization and real time transmission of vital parameters to PCs and mobile devices in the hospital network. With this system it is possible to get a fast overview of the current patient status and its history. Furthermore physicians can monitor the patients mobile and in real time. The project was developed in co-operation with medical research facilities, the Chair of Telematics at the University of Applied Sciences in Wildau, and with the companies Philips Medical Systems and ixellence

Active Learning in Nursing Education

ALINE is a pedagogical model developed to aid nursing faculty transition from passive to active learning. Based on constructionist theory, ALINE serves as a tool for organizing curriculum for online and classroom based interaction and permits positioning the student as the active player and the instructor, the facilitator to nursing competency

Female preference for male color is necessary and sufficient for assortative mating in 2 cichlid sister species

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish: in two cichlid fish species beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Females choose mates based on colour, blue or red, and chemical cues but only colour triggers divergent female preferences. Reliance on one prime male characteristic may have facilitated speciation in this species-pair, but in murky waters the opportunity for visual communication is dim and the fate of the two species uncertai

Grazing interactions between Oxyrrhis marina and Synechococcus strains grown in single nitrogen sources

The goal of this study was to assess the interaction between abiotic and biotic factors on diverse Synechococcus strains isolated from the coastal California Current (CC9311, CC9605, CC9902) and the oceanic Sargasso Sea (WH8102 and mutants: JMS40 and SIO7B). Previous research has demonstrated that abiotic factors, such as nutrient source or concentration, can alter cellular structure and chemistry. These cell characteristics in turn influence biotic factors such as predation by protozoan grazers. Synechococcus strains isolated from coastal and open ocean waters were grown to nitrogen (N) depletion in N-reduced medium. After reaching stationary phase, strains were transferred to media containing nitrate, ammonium, urea, proline, alanine, glycine, or glutamine to assess the growth rates for each strain on these individual N sources. Compared to growth rates prior to N-limited stationary phase, all strains increased their growth rate in the single N source media. Synechococcus strains appear to have diverse abilities to grow on a broad range of N sources; however, the pattern of N use was not related to coastal or oligotrophic clade association. The majority of strains showed maximal growth on glycine, rather than on nitrate, ammonium, or urea. However, coastal strain CC9902 and mutants of the Sargasso Sea strain WH8102 either did not grow on or were actively inhibited by several amino acids. Further analysis of cell size, shape, and carbon:nitrogen (C:N) ratios of N source-grown coastal strain CC9311 and oceanic strain WH8102 demonstrated that cell physiological and morphological characteristics, in addition to growth rates, varied among N sources within a strain, as well as between strains. Coastal strain CC9311 and oceanic strain WH8102 were used in 30-minute grazing experiments with the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina. Overall, grazing on coastal strain CC9311 was consistently higher than grazing on open ocean strain WH8102. However, within each strain grazing behavior also varied depending on N sources for strain growth. Physiological and morphological analysis of prey, in concert with grazing experiments, suggested that N source alters prey morphology and physiology, and the predator O. marina responds to these cell alterations. While many characteristics such as C and N content, cell size, and cell shape were inter-related, grazing on coastal strain CC9311 was strongly linked to cell shape (highest on more rounded cells) and C and N content (higher on cells with higher nutrient content). In contrast to coastal strain CC9311, few clear relationships could be discerned between ocean strain WH8102 N source-grown cell characteristics and the feeding behavior of the heterotrophic dinoflagellate, O. marina. While previous work has shown that O. marina readily eats coastal strain CC9311, this study showed O. marina grazing rate is also affected by prey growth condition, reflected in the physiology and morphology of the cell. Further studies expanding the breadth of protozoan predators and Synechococcus strains would aid in the understanding of the microzooplankton\u27s role in top-down control of Synechococcus populations under different nutrient regimes and in more general issues of how resource use might affect predation

A pattern-recognition theory of search in expert problem solving

Understanding how look-ahead search and pattern recognition interact is one of the important research questions in the study of expert problem-solving. This paper examines the implications of the template theory (Gobet & Simon, 1996a), a recent theory of expert memory, on the theory of problem solving in chess. Templates are "chunks" (Chase & Simon, 1973) that have evolved into more complex data structures and that possess slots allowing values to be encoded rapidly. Templates may facilitate search in three ways: (a) by allowing information to be stored into LTM rapidly; (b) by allowing a search in the template space in addition to a search in the move space; and (c) by compensating loss in the "mind's eye" due to interference and decay. A computer model implementing the main ideas of the theory is presented, and simulations of its search behaviour are discussed. The template theory accounts for the slight skill difference in average depth of search found in chess players, as well as for other empirical data

A Case Study of Area Development

Because of the current state of our knowledge, community and area development is both an art and a science. In order to have such undertakings become more scientific, they must be undergirded by programs that include evaluation and fundamental, as well as action, research. One way of achieving the objective of more exacting measurements is to develop more precise ways of describing existing efforts. The following case study is directed to that end

Quantitative analysis by renormalized entropy of invasive electroencephalograph recordings in focal epilepsy

Invasive electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings of ten patients suffering from focal epilepsy were analyzed using the method of renormalized entropy. Introduced as a complexity measure for the different regimes of a dynamical system, the feature was tested here for its spatio-temporal behavior in epileptic seizures. In all patients a decrease of renormalized entropy within the ictal phase of seizure was found. Furthermore, the strength of this decrease is monotonically related to the distance of the recording location to the focus. The results suggest that the method of renormalized entropy is a useful procedure for clinical applications like seizure detection and localization of epileptic foci.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure