733 research outputs found
STARTING UP A NEW B2C BUSINESS
No full textEveryone who wanted to start their own businesses faced with the problem of lack of information on how to start a new business in general, and about the features of doing business in a particular area.
The thesis reveals questions about what steps need to be taken to launch a premium burger restaurant on the Helsinki market, and moreover the research considers the reasonability of its launch.
To find out the state of the market and the industry as a whole, the author conducts two types of research, namely: the researcher conducts two qualitative interviews with the founders of successful premium burger restaurant chains in Helsinki and beyond, and also the writer conducts a quantitative market segmentation survey to define target customers for the new restaurant.
In conclusion, the author of the thesis creates a viable business plan on the basis of conducted researches and knowledge gained during university studies. Currently, the company is on the stage of development and the management team searches for funding to start the restaurant
Effect of different storage conditions of clinical specimens on detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
No full textDie weltweite Zunahme der Tuberkulose, die Gefahr der schnellen Verbreitung
der Erkrankung und die Entstehung multiresistenter Stämme von M. tuberculosis
erfordern eine frühzeitige Diagnose der Erkrankung. Um dies zu gewährleisten,
sollte der Nachweis und die Anzucht von M. tuberculosis aus
Untersuchungsmaterialien möglichst schnell erfolgen. In der vorliegenden
Arbeit wurde untersucht, ob die Lagerung von relevantem Untersuchungsmaterial
mit unterschiedlichen Erregerdichten (105 KBE/ml, 103 KBE/ml und 101 KBE/ml)
über 24, 48 bzw. 72 Stunden bei unterschiedlichen Temperaturen (4°C, 20°C bzw.
36°C) einen Einfluss auf den kulturellen und mikroskopischen Nachweis von M.
tuberculosis hat. Dafür wurden drei Untersuchungsmaterialien (BAL-Flüssigkeit,
Magensaft und gepufferter Magensaft) mit 10 verschiedenen M. tuberculosis-
Isolaten versetzt. Alle 2700 Proben wurden entsprechend der Routinediagnostik
zur Tuberkulose dekontaminiert, nach der Ziehl-Neelsen-Methode gefärbt und
mikroskopiert und auf ein flüssiges und zwei feste Nährmedien verimpft. Die
verwendeten Medien waren MGIT-Flüssigkulturen, Löwenstein-Jensen- und
Stonebrink-Agar. Es konnten nach bis zu 3 Tagen Lagerung aus allen Proben
Mykobakterien angezüchtet werden. Die Lagerung führte zwar zu einer
signifikanten Verzögerung des Wachstums, wobei der Nachweis in den MGIT-
Röhrchen früher als auf den festen Nährböden gelang. Die Einflüsse der
unterschiedlichen Lagerungstemperaturen und –zeiten auf den kulturellen
Nachweis waren jedoch nicht signifikant unterschiedlich, sodass sich keine
Empfehlung für eine optimale Lagerungstemperatur unter 36°C ablesen ließ. Die
Mikroskopieergebnisse zeigten ebenfalls keine Einbußen durch die gewählten
Lagerungsbedingungen. Somit können BAL- und Magensaftproben, falls
erforderlich, bedenkenlos bis zu drei Tagen bei der jeweiligen
Umgebungstemperatur gelagert werden, ohne dass sich dieses auf die
anschließende Diagnostik negativ auswirkt.The global increase of tuberculosis, the dangerously fast spread of the
disease and the emergence of multi-resistant strains of M. tuberculosis, make
an early diagnosis of the disease imperative. To ensure this happens, there
should be extremely rapid detection and growth of a M. tuberculosis in culture
from clinical specimens obtained. The present study submitted examines whether
storing of the relevant specimen with different pathogenic density (105, 103
and 101) at 4, 20 and 36 degrees Celsius for a period of 24, 48 or 72 hours
affects the microscopic and cultural identification of M. tuberculosis. To
find out, three specimens (bronchoalveolar lavage, gastric juices and buffered
gastric juices) were mixed with 10 different M. tuberculosis isolates. All
2.700 samples were decontaminated by the NALC method according to routine
tuberculosis diagnostics, stained as per the Ziehl-Neelsen method, were
microscopically examined, and inoculated to one liquid and two solid culture
mediums. The media employed were liquid MGIT tube, Löwenstein-Jensen medium
and Stonebrink medium. After storage of up to three days, mycobacteria could
be grown from all the samples. Storage did lead to a significant slowing of
growth. For MGIT tubes the growth could be established earlier than for solid
culture media. However, the influences of different storage temperatures and
periods on the growth of M. tuberculosis in culture showed no significant
differences, which is why no recommendation could be derived for an optimum
storage temperature of below 36 degrees Celsius. Microscopy results also
failed to exhibit adverse effects of different storage conditions. Samples of
BAL and gastric juices can therefore be kept up to three days in a given
ambient temperature without adverse effects on a subsequent diagnosis
IMMUNOREACT 0: Biopsy-based immune biomarkers as predictors of response to neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer—A systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textBackground: The main therapy for rectal cancer patients is neoadjuvant therapy (NT) followed by surgery. Immune biomarkers are emerging as potential predictors of the response to NT. We performed a meta-analysis to estimate their predictive significance. Methods: A systematic literature search of PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE and EMBASE databases was performed to identify eligible studies. Studies on patients with rectal cancer undergoing NT in which the predictive significance of at least one of the immunological markers of interest was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in pretreatment biopsies were included. Results: Seventeen studies reporting sufficient data met the inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. High levels of total CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), as well as stromal and intraepithelial CD8+ compartments, significantly predicted good pathological response to NT. Moreover, high levels of total (tumoral and immune cell expression) PD-L1 resulted associated to a good pathological response. On the contrary, high levels of intraepithelial CD4+ TILs were correlated with poor pathological response. FoxP3+ TILs, tumoral PD-L1 and CTLA-4 were not correlated to the treatment response. Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicated that high-density TILs might be predictive biomarkers of pathological response in patients that underwent NT for rectal cancer
285: The Isobaric Laparoscopic Myomectomy (ILM) With Lucini’s Laparotenser: 748 Consecutive Cases
No full text
Isobaric gasless laparoscopic myomectomy for removal of large uterine leiomyomas
No full textBackground: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of isobaric laparoscopic removal of large myomas (>= 8 cm) using the Laparotenser, a subcutaneous abdominal wall-lifting system. Methods: A series of 63 consecutive patients with at least one large symptomatic subserosal or intramural uterine myoma (>= 8 cm) underwent an isobaric gasless laparoscopic myomectomy. Conventional laparotomy instruments were used. Results: The procedure was successfully completed for all 63 consecutive patients. The average size of the dominant myoma was 11 cm. The mean number of myomas removed from each patient was 3.6. The mean blood loss was 143 ml, and the mean operating time was 72 min. No intraoperative complication occurred. Conclusions: Gasless laparoscopic myomectomy for the removal of large myomas using the Laparotenser is feasible and safe. It offers several advantages over laparoscopy with pneumoperitoneum. Conclusions: Gasless laparoscopic myomectomy for the removal of large myomas using the Laparotenser is feasible and safe. It offers several advantages over laparoscopy with pneumoperitoneum
M-MRAC for Nonlinear Systems with Bounded Disturbances
No full textThis paper presents design and performance analysis of a modified reference model MRAC (M-MRAC) architecture for a class of multi-input multi-output uncertain nonlinear systems in the presence of bounded disturbances. M-MRAC incorporates an error feedback in the reference model definition, which allows for fast adaptation without generating high frequency oscillations in the control signal, which closely follows the certainty equivalent control signal. The benefits of the method are demonstrated via a simulation example of an aircraft's wing rock motion
M-MRAC for Nonlinear Systems with Bounded Disturbances
No full textThis paper presents design and performance analysis of a modified reference model MRAC (M-MRAC) architecture for a class of multi-input multi-output uncertain nonlinear systems in the presence of bounded disturbances. M-MRAC incorporates an error feedback in the reference model definition, which allows for fast adaptation without generating high frequency oscillations in the control signal, which closely follows the certainty equivalent control signal. The benefits of the method are demonstrated via a simulation example of an aircraft's wing rock motion
On the Robustness Properties of M-MRAC
No full textThe paper presents performance and robustness analysis of the modified reference model MRAC (model reference adaptive control) or M-MRAC in short, which differs from the conventional MRAC systems by feeding back the tracking error to the reference model. The tracking error feedback gain in concert with the adaptation rate provides an additional capability to regulate not only the transient performance of the tracking error, but also the transient performance of the control signal. This differs from the conventional MRAC systems, in which we have only the adaptation rate as a tool to regulate just the transient performance of the tracking error. It is shown that the selection of the feedback gain and the adaptation rate resolves the tradeoff between the robustness and performance in the sense that the increase in the feedback gain improves the behavior of the adaptive control signal, hence improves the systems robustness to time delays (or unmodeled dynamics), while increasing the adaptation rate improves the tracking performance or systems robustness to parametric uncertainties and external disturbances
Culture, role and group work : a social network analysis perspective on an online collaborative course
No full textThis paper discusses the patterns of network dynamics within a multicultural online collaborative learning environment. It analyses the interaction of participants (both students and facilitators) within a discussion board that was established as part of a 3-month online collaborative course. The study employs longitudinal probabilistic social network analysis (SNA) to identify the patterns and trends within the network. It conjectures and tests a set of hypotheses concerning the tendencies towards homophily/heterophily and preferential attachment. The paper presents identified interaction network patterns in relation to cultural differences. It also evaluates network dynamics by considering participant roles and group work in the course under study. Results of social network analyses are reported along with measures of statistical confidence in findings. The potential for extending exploratory SNA methods and visualisation techniques in educational research are discussed here
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