The rapid diffusion of Cloud Computing influences the way enterprise software is developed, distributed, and implemented. This uptake of Cloud Computing has profound implications for the IT industry ...and related industries, as it does not only affect the vendors' business models but also the other actors in the business ecosystem. This paper addresses how the value network of enterprise software solutions changes as a consequence of shifting from on-premise to Cloud-based technology. Based on a literature study and fifteen expert interviews in three case studies, we present a generic value network for Cloud-based enterprise software. We analysed the impact of the shift to Cloud-based enterprise software for each stakeholder in the network. In particular, we found that the role of the consultative partner is more focussed on business process management and that technical consulting remains relevant due to IT security, data migration, interface definition, customizing, and mobile application development. The vendor becomes a service provider and acts in several roles. The emerging technological platform offers opportunities for external developers, partners, and customers. The Cloud consumer can concentrate on his core business, but needs to consider applying best practices processes when receiving public Cloud services.
•Enterprise Resource Planning is shifting from on-premise to Cloud-based.•This shift changes the role of various stakeholders in the business ecosystem.•Value-added Resellers have to extend their offer with business process management.•Extension includes analysis of client's workflows and standardized Cloud solutions.•Vendors are now penetrating the Value-Added Resellers' managed Cloud market.
There is a critical need to attain new sustainable materials for direct upgrade of waste heat to electrical energy via the thermoelectric effect. Here we demonstrate that the thermoelectric ...performance of silicene nanoribbons can be improved dramatically by introducing nanopores and tuning the Fermi energy. We predict that values of electronic thermoelectric figure of merit ZTe up to 160 are achievable, provided the Fermi energy is located approximately 100 meV above the charge neutrality point. Including the effect of phonons yields a value for the full figure of merit of ZT = 3.5. Furthermore the sign of the thermopower S can be varied with achievable values as high as S = +/- 500 μV/K. As a method of tuning the Fermi energy, we analyse the effect of doping the silicene with either a strong electron donor (TTF) or a strong electron acceptor (TCNQ) and demonstrate that adsorbed layers of the former increases ZTe to a value of 3.1, which is insensitive to temperature over the range 100 K - 400 K. This combination of a high, temperature-insensitive ZTe, and the ability to choose the sign of the thermopower identifies nanoporous silicene as an ideal thermoelectric material with the potential for unprecedented performance.
Reported here are C1‐linked spiro‐bifluorene dimers. A comprehensive study is carried out to analyze the electronic properties of these highly twisted structures. This work shows that the C1‐position ...enables the design of pure hydrocarbon materials, with a high triplet energy, for hosting blue phosphors in efficient phosphorescent OLEDs (PhOLEDs). To date, this work describes the highest performance of blue PhOLEDs ever reported for pure hydrocarbons (external quantum efficiency of ca. 23 %), thus highlighting the potential of the C1‐spirobifluorene scaffold in organic electronics.
Phosphorescence with a twist: The highly twisted C1‐linked spiro‐bifluorene dimers are reported. This work shows that the C1‐position enables the design of pure hydrocarbon materials, with a high triplet energy, for hosting blue phosphors in highly efficient phosphorescent OLEDs (PhOLEDs).
Switzerland, like other high-income countries, is facing a major public health challenge with the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases. Discussions are currently on-going in Switzerland ...regarding the implementation of a Front-of-Pack nutrition label (FoPL) as a public health measure to guide consumers towards healthier food choices, and the Nutri-Score represents an alternative supported by multiple actors. To date, no studies have investigated the performance of the Nutri-Score among Swiss consumers. This study aimed to compare the response of Swiss consumers to five FoPLs (Health Star Rating system, Multiple Traffic Lights, Nutri-Score, Reference Intakes and Warning symbol) in terms of perception and understanding of these labels and effects on food choices.
In 2019, 1,088 Swiss consumers were recruited and asked to select one product from among a set of three foods with different nutritional profiles and then classify the products within the sets according to their nutritional quality. Tasks were performed in situations without a label and then with one of the five FoPLs-depending on the group in which they were randomized-on the pack. Finally, participants were questioned on their perceptions regarding the label to which they were exposed.
All FoPLs were favorably perceived, with marginal differences between FoPLs. The Nutri-Score demonstrated the highest percentage of improvement in food choices and the highest overall performance in helping consumers rank the products according to their nutritional quality.
Overall, the Nutri-Score was the most efficient FoPL in informing Swiss consumers of the nutritional quality of food products, and as such could be a useful tool to improve food choices and reduce the burden of chronic diseases in Switzerland.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Microfluidic devices currently play an important role in many biological, chemical, and engineering applications, and there are many ways to fabricate the necessary channel and feature dimensions. In ...this review, we provide an overview of microfabrication techniques that are relevant to both research and commercial use. A special emphasis on both the most practical and the recently developed methods for microfluidic device fabrication is applied, and it leads us to specifically address laminate, molding, 3D printing, and high resolution nanofabrication techniques. The methods are compared for their relative costs and benefits, with special attention paid to the commercialization prospects of the various technologies.
GABA(A) (gamma-aminobutyric acid type A) receptors mediate most of the 'fast' synaptic inhibition in the mammalian brain and are targeted by many clinically important drugs. Certain naturally ...occurring pregnane steroids can potently and specifically enhance GABA(A) receptor function in a nongenomic (direct) manner, and consequently have anxiolytic, analgesic, anticonvulsant, sedative, hypnotic and anaesthetic properties. These steroids not only act as remote endocrine messengers, but also can be synthesized in the brain, where they modify neuronal activity locally by modulating GABA(A) receptor function. Such 'neurosteroids' can influence mood and behaviour in various physiological and pathophysiological situations, and might contribute to the behavioural effects of psychoactive drugs.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
It has been proposed that animals have a pattern of developmental evolution resembling an hourglass because the most conserved development stage-often called the phylotypic stage-is always in ...midembryonic development. Although the topic has been debated for decades, recent studies using molecular data such as RNA-seq gene expression data sets have largely supported the existence of periods of relative evolutionary conservation in middevelopment, consistent with the phylotypic stage and the hourglass concepts. However, so far this approach has only been applied to a limited number of taxa across the tree of life. Here, using established phylotranscriptomic approaches, we found a surprising reverse hourglass pattern in two molluscs and a polychaete annelid, representatives of the Spiralia, an understudied group that contains a large fraction of metazoan body plan diversity. These results suggest that spiralians have a divergent midembryonic stage, with more conserved early and late development, which is the inverse of the pattern seen in almost all other organisms where these phylotranscriptomic approaches have been reported. We discuss our findings in light of proposed reasons for the phylotypic stage and hourglass model in other systems.
Patients suffering from alopecia areata (AA) can lose hair in focal regions, the complete scalp, including eyelashes and eyebrows, or even the entire body. The exact pathology is not yet known, but ...the most described theory is a collapse of the immune privilege system, which can be found in some specific regions of the body. Different treatment options, local and systemic, are available, but none of them have been proven to be effective in the long term as well for every treatment there should be considered for the possible side effects. In many cases, treated or non-treated, relapse often occurs. The prognosis is uncertain and is negatively influenced by the subtypes alopecia totalis and alopecia universalis and characteristics such as associated nail lesions, hair loss for more than 10 years and a positive familial history. The unpredictable course of the disease also makes it a mental struggle and AA patients are more often associated with depression and anxiety compared to the healthy population. Research into immunology and genetics, more particularly in the field of dendritic cells (DC), is recommended for AA as there is evidence of the possible role of DC in the treatment of other autoimmune diseases such as multiple Sclerosis and cancer. Promising therapies for the future treatment of AA are JAK-STAT inhibitors and PRP.
Introduction Les différents facteurs pronostics du glioblastome commencent à être bien connus. L’impact majeur de l’âge, des scores de performance et de la résection chirurgicale a été largement ...démontré. Cependant, l’agressivité de la tumeur, caractérisée par son délai de récidive, est encore assez peu étudiée et l’évolution que va suivre un patient reste en partie inconnue. Matériels et méthode Nous avons appliqué, sur l’effectif 26 981 de l’EORTC, une méthode de statistique appelée CART (Classification And Regression Trees) pour révéler les facteurs cliniques qui permettent de classer les patients en sous-groupes selon leur délai de récidive. La survie après récidive a été comparée par la méthode de Kaplan–Meier et le test des Log-rangs. Résultats Le WHO PS et l’âge à la première intervention permettent de former trois groupes de patients ayant un risque relatif de récidive de 0,6 pour les patients avec un WHO PS de 0 ou 1 et âgés de moins de 47,5 ans, 1,1 pour les patients avec un WHO PS de 0 ou 1 et âgés de plus de 47,5 ans, et de 2,2 pour les patients avec un WHO PS de 2 ou 3. De plus, des analyses de survie après récidive ont montré que les patients avec un faible risque de récidive survivent plus longtemps que les patients possédant un risque de récidive élevé. Conclusion Trois groupes de patients ayant des risques de récidive différents ont été mis en évidence. Par la suite, ces groupes formés permettront de comparer l’expression de marqueurs biologiques entre des tumeurs d’agressivités différentes, afin d’identifier des marqueurs de l’agressivité du glioblastome.
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