Explore the vast range of titles available.

\"How can you establish a customer-centric culture in an organization? This is the first comprehensive book on how to actually do service design to improve the quality and the interaction between service providers and customers. You'll learn specific facilitation guidelines on how to run workshops, perform all of the main service design methods, implement concepts in reality, and embed service design successfully in an organization. Service design requires a common language across disciplines to break down silos within an organization. This book provides a consistent model for accomplishing this and offers hands-on descriptions of every single step, tool, and method used. You'll be able to focus on your customers and iteratively improve their experience. Move from theory to practice and build sustainable business success.\"-- Provided by publisher.

Lidar remote sensing has proven to be a powerful tool for estimating ground elevation, canopy height, and additional vegetation parameters, which in turn are valuable information for the investigation of ecosystems. Spaceborne lidar systems, like the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI), can deliver these height estimates on a near global scale. This paper analyzes the accuracy of the first version of GEDI ground elevation and canopy height estimates in two study areas with temperate forests in the Free State of Thuringia, central Germany. Digital terrain and canopy height models derived from airborne laser scanning data are used as reference heights. The influence of various environmental and acquisition parameters (e.g., canopy cover, terrain slope, beam type) on GEDI height metrics is assessed. The results show a consistently high accuracy of GEDI ground elevation estimates under most conditions, except for areas with steep slopes. GEDI canopy height estimates are less accurate and show a bigger influence of some of the included parameters, specifically slope, vegetation height, and beam sensitivity. A number of relatively high outliers (around 9–13% of the measurements) is present in both ground elevation and canopy height estimates, reducing the estimation precision. Still, it can be concluded that GEDI height metrics show promising results and have potential to be used as a basis for further investigations.

\"In this book, you'll find 54 hands-on descriptions that help you do the key methods used in service design. These methods include instructions, guidelines, and tips and tricks for activities, within research, ideation, prototyping, and facilitation. This is the print version of the method companion to the book \"This is service design doing\" (#TiSDD). It includes the same content that you can find free on the book website, tisdd.com, but nicely revisualized and presented in a professional bound format ...\"--Back cover.

Deadwood is a vital component of forest ecosystems, significantly contributing to biodiversity and carbon storage. Accurate mapping of deadwood is essential for ecological monitoring and sustainable forest management. This study introduces a method for downed deadwood mapping using a convolutional neural network (CNN) applied to very high-resolution UAV RGB imagery. The research was conducted in Hainich National Park, central Germany, aiming to enhance the precision of coarse woody debris (CWD) delineation in a dense and structurally diverse temperate deciduous forest. Key objectives included testing the deep learning (DL) model’s performance at area, length, and object levels and benchmarking its accuracy against a traditional object-based image analysis (OBIA) method. Deadwood volume was calculated from the mapping results. By implementing a U-Net architecture with a ResNet-34 backbone and utilizing data augmentation techniques, the model achieved very high classification performance (F1-scores between 73% and 96%). It provided precise delineation of individual CWD objects from the underlying ground, representing detailed stem forms. High precision values highlight the reliability of the mapping results, while lower recall values indicate that some CWD objects, especially smaller branches, were missed. The DL approach achieved higher accuracy values across all testing methods compared to the OBIA method. The study also addresses the challenges posed by spectral ambiguities in decomposed deadwood and recommends future research directions for enhancing model generalization across diverse forest types and acquisition conditions.

This book tackles the problem of the insufficient and expensive charging infrastructure in Germany.It assesses the lack of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles with regard to regulatory and competition law, as well as economic aspects.

Hintergrund und Ziel:Tirapazamine (TPZ) ist eine Substanz mit selektiver Zytotoxizität für hypoxische (Tumor-)Zellen und wird deswegen zusammen mit Strahlentherapie angewendet. TPZ hat darüber hinaus die Eigenschaft, die Wirkung von Cisplatin zu steigern. Bisher gibt es nur wenige detaillierte Daten zur Toxizität der Kombinationstherapie. Die Autoren untersuchten Allgemeinbefinden und histologische Organveränderungen nach Gabe von TPZ plus Cisplatin im Mausmodell.Material und Methodik:Verwendet wurden C3H-Mäuse mit transplantierten RIF-1-Fibrosarkomen am Fußrücken. Pro Tier erfolgten insgesamt sechs intraperitoneale Injektionen von 4 mg/kg Cisplatin (Gesamtdosis 24 mg/kg) zusammen mit TPZ (0–28 mg/kg pro Injektion; Gesamtdosis 0, 43,2, 86,4, 129,6, 151,2, 172,8 mg/kg) plus 10 × 2 Gy auf den Tumor. Die Therapie wurde innerhalb von 2 Wochen appliziert. Der Beobachtungszeitraum betrug bis zu 35 Tage.Ergebnisse:Die zusätzliche Gabe von TPZ zu Cisplatin und Radiotherapie bewirkte dosisabhängig eine Abnahme der motorischen Aktivität sowie einen signifikanten Gewichtsverlust und führte zu einer hohen Mortalität. Die histologischen Untersuchungen zeigten Leber-, Herzmuskel- und Nierentubulusnekrosen sowie Magenulzera. Cisplatin allein bewirkte keine schwerwiegende Toxizität. Die erzielten Tumorverdopplungszeiten waren vergleichbar mit Daten aus der Literatur.Schlussfolgerung:Entgegen der Mehrheit der Angaben in der Literatur führte die zusätzliche Gabe von TPZ zu einer deutlichen Steigerung der Toxizität im Vergleich mit Cisplatin allein. Die vorliegende Studie ist die bisher erste mit detaillierten histologischen Untersuchungen zur Organtoxizität von TPZ plus Cisplatin in einem Mausmodell. Darüber hinaus ist sie eine der wenigen Studien, in denen nicht nur die Akut-, sondern auch die längerfristige Toxizität in einem fraktionierten Therapieschema untersucht wurde. Die Ergebnisse relativieren die Aussagekraft häufig üblicher tierexperimenteller Therapiestudien mit nur kurzen Behandlungs- und Beobachtungszeiträumen, bei denen methodisch bedingt wesentliche Toxizitäten übersehen werden können.

Purpose Tirapazamine (TPZ) reportedly enhances the tumor cell killing effect of cisplatin up to fivefold and it is an attractive drug for combination with radiotherapy. We evaluated the toxicity of a fractionated combined treatment. Methods Murine RIF-1 fibrosarcomas growing on the right hind foot of C3-H mice were used. Within 2 weeks, animals were treated with six i.p. injections of TPZ (43.2–172.8 mg/kg total), and/or cisplatin (24 mg/kg total) and ten fractions of 2 Gy to the tumor. All treatments were carried out under anesthesia. Maximum follow-up was 35 days. The local tumor control was determined by calculating the tumor doubling time t 2vo . In addition to standard toxicity assessment, the major inner organs were examined histologically. Results The administration of low TPZ doses to the cisplatin/radiotherapy treatment caused only little changes in tumor doubling time ( t 2vo ) and led to a lethality rate of 15–30%. Higher TPZ doses caused an increase in t 2vo , but also a further increase in lethality and toxicity in particular to the heart, liver, kidney and stomach. Cisplatin/radiotherapy treatment without TPZ produced no severe toxicity. Conclusions This is a detailed study of both the acute and delayed toxicities of combined TPZ treatment in a mouse model. In our study the addition of TPZ to the cisplatin/radiotherapy treatment caused a significant increase in toxicity with only moderate effect on the tumor.

Purpose: To evaluate residents' satisfaction with their training in radiation oncology, the first nationwide survey was done in 2006. Results were presented at the 2006 annual meeting of the German Society of Radiation Oncology (DEGRO). Material and Methods: A questionnaire with 39 questions regarding training in radiation oncology in Germany was developed and sent by e-mail. Questionnaires were returned by mail and analyzed anonymously. Results: 96 questionnaires were received. A total of 88% of respondents are pleased with their decision of training in radiation oncology. Residents are strongly motivated by their interest in oncology. Quality of training is heterogeneous and not optimal. Training in three-dimensional treatment planning, radiochemotherapy and intracavitary brachytherapy is judged adequate, whereas special techniques such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and permanent prostate implants are not covered by the majority of institutions. Organization of training in the departments is often judged insufficient. Conclusion: Radiation oncology is attractive for young doctors. However, training quality for radiation oncologists in Germany was judged to be heterogeneous and needs to be optimized. For this, results of this survey may be helpful. The overall positive judgment may help to attract more students into the field of radiation oncology, an issue that becomes increasingly important given the shortage of doctors and the strong competition with other disciplines. Modern techniques, such as IMRT, need to be integrated into training programs in order to maintain the high standard of radiation oncology in Germany.