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The present study deals with the topic how a town can use its cultural heritage or,
more precisely, its industrial culture as a means to market itself as an innovative
business location and to foster a more pronounced sense of civic cohesion among
residents. Economic theory suggests that, nowadays, traditional location factors
such as access to resources and a performant infrastructure are less important than
in the industrial age. Recently, factors like a city’s potential to generate and retain
human and creative capital have emerged. Accordingly, the economic and social
role of cities has shifted – from a place where workers lived and manufactured
goods towards a deeply interwoven ecosystem of knowledge-intense value creation.
The question at the root of the present study is how Heidenheim’s rich industrial
cultural heritage can be used as a future-pointing source of power for rebranding
the town. This rebranding concept has to be developed according to the town’s role
in past, present and future, thus creating actual economic and societal value.
Industrial culture bears branding potential and is closely related to various aspects
of modern life and work. The study examines possibilities to create awareness for
these relations connecting past, present and future. Their relevance shall be
emphasized in order to establish both points of orientation and authenticity of place
in times when macroeconomic and societal trends are difficult to predict. Ideally,
residents shall be given a sort of local identification to hold on to, and potential
investors and entrepreneurs shall be encouraged to sustainably experience the
innovation-based DNA of Heidenheim. Therefore, the study searches for a value
proposition that takes into account the points mentioned above on terms of an
innovative theoretic framework. As a result of this thesis, precise suggestions for
the implementation of a new branding strategy based on the conceptual guidelines
developed in this study will be proposed to the municipality of Heidenheim and, in
addition, an interface using principles of virtual and augmented reality will be
introduced.
Development and trial of a blended learning concept for students in engineering study courses
(2018)
Potentials of Digital Business Models – Empirical investigation of data driven impacts in industry
(2018)
Hardcore Gamer Profiling
(2018)
The increasing prevalence of myopia throughout the industrialized world in recent decades has caused costs and problems for the eye health. Changed lifestyle and behavior are the main causes. For the pathogenesis of myopia, the amount of time spent outdoor and near activities play an important role. Various options for the treatment of myopia have been described as effective in the literature. Normal single vision glasses and contact lenses can only provide clear vision, but do not reduce myopia progression. Orthokeratology shows a slowing of axial growth, but has an increased risk of infectious keratitis. Low-dose atropine (0.01%) is currently the best pharmacological option. It proved safe, effective and showed the least rebound effect with negligible side effects. Other options for the treatment of myopia include special glasses, behavioral changes and prolonged outdoor exposure (to prevent the onset of myopia), as well as other methods. An increasingly important myopia management option is multifocal contact lenses, that provide a peripheral treatment zone producing myopic defocus. Such myopia control lenses are available as customized or as daily or monthly lenses. Children benefit from wearing contact lenses more than just having refractive error correction and myopia control, they have a better self-esteem and improved quality of life. The numerous findings on the safety and efficacy of soft multifocal distance center contact lenses in children to reduce the progression of myopia suggest that this modality should be considered as a main treatment option. Less, but similar to orthokeratology, when wearing soft lenses there is a risk of developing potentially serious complications such as microbial keratitis. The introduction of child-appropriate risk minimization strategies, and patient and parent education with regular monitoring is essential and leads to successful contact lens wear. This literature review summarized the actual knowledge about myopia management, prevalence, etiology and the visual and healthy consequences of myopia.
The three currently most important strategies for slowing the progression of myopia are soft multifocal distance center contact lenses, Orthokeratology and low-dose atropine ophthalmic drops.
Purpose: Recent studies found a reduction of myopia progression with multifocal contact lenses, however, with yet unclear mechanism. This raises the hypothesis that the addition zones of the multifocal contact lenses induce myopic defocus on the retina, which consequentially leads to choroidal thickening and therefore inhibited eye growth. We tested the effect of the optical design of multifocal contact lenses on choroidal thickness.
Methods: 18 myopic students wore four different contact lenses ((1) single-vision lens corrected for distance, (2) single-vision lens with +2.50 D full-field defocus, (3) “Multifocal center-distance” design, addition +2.50 D, (4) “Multifocal center-near” design, addition +2.50 D) for each 30 minutes on their right eye. Automated analysis of the macular choroidal thickness, vitreous chamber depth and eccentric photorefraction were performed before and after each contact lens.
Results: Choroidal thickness and vitreous chamber depth showed no significant differences to baseline with none of the contact lenses. Choroidal thickness increased the most with the “Multifocal center-distance” and the full-field defocus lens, followed by the “Multifocal center-near” and the single-vision contact lens (+2.1 ± 11.1 μm, +2.0 ± 11.1 μm, +1.6 ± 11.3 μm, +0.9 ± 11.2 μm, respectively). The “Multifocal center-distance” design showed an overall more myopic refractive profile than the other lenses. Changes of vitreous chamber depth occurred in anti-phase to these of choroidal thickness.
Conclusion: Multifocal contact lenses have no significant influence on choroidal thickness and after short-term wear. Therefore, it is assumed that it is not the main contributor to the protective effect of multifocal contact lenses in myopia control.
This research looks into the question of where and how Artificial Intelligence and Big Data can be usefully implemented into Affiliate Marketing. By consulting relevant literature and qualified experts, this work identifies 6 areas, where Artificial Intelligence can be beneficial. These areas were found to be Affiliate Recruitment, Affiliate Management, Product Data Feed Optimization, Tracking, Attribution and Forecasting.
The implementation of Artificial Intelligence in these areas revealed 3 advantages to the Affiliate Marketing channel: Saving of time, support of decision-making, and incentivizing of publishers. While a more detailed study of this research topic would be necessary for validating the results, the findings show that the implementation of Artificial Intelligence technology can help a business gain competitive advantage.
While Virtual Reality (VR) has been applied to various domains to provide new visualization and interaction capabilities, enabling programmers to utilize VR for their software development and maintenance tasks has been insufficiently explored. In this paper, we present the Hyper-Display Environment (HyDE) in the form of a mixed-reality (HyDE-MR) or virtual reality (HyDE-VR) variant respectively, which provides simultaneous multiple operating system window visualization with integrated keyboard/mouse viewing and interaction using MR or in pure VR via a virtual keyboard. This paper applies HyDE in a software development case study as an alternative to typical non-VR Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), supporting software engineering tasks with multiple live screens in VR as an augmented virtuality. The MR solution concept enables programmers to benefit from VR visualization and virtually unlimited information displays while supporting their more natural keyboard interaction for basic code-centric tasks. Thus, developers can leverage VR paradigms and capabilities while directly interacting with their favorite tools to develop and maintain program code. A prototype implementation is described, with a case study demonstrating its feasibility and an initial empirical study showing its potential.
This paper describes an application analysis of one important topic of diversity
marketing – gender marketing. With the help of two surveys and content analyses
in two different media sectors – television and print media – the general trend of
gender representation in advertising could be located. While most survey
respondents are still using characteristics for males and females which were
shaped by traditional gender roles, most of them believe that the roles from the
1950s are outdated and that the media should adapt to the changes in societies in
regard to gender roles. However, the content analyses have shown that the
marketers have already adapted and are primarily presenting the viewers
contemporary images of men and women instead of the stereotyped ones from the
1950s. The only issue that has not changed yet is the color coding which starts to
differentiate between males and females since childhood. The findings of this
paper suggest that the perception and the reality do not always correspond with
each other and that, although the adoption of the change of gender roles is
advancing, it is still not completed yet.
Purpose
To determine the stereo threshold and inherent variability with a monitor-based two-rod test at various eccentricities of the visual field. Additionally, to evaluate the duration of this procedure.
Subjects and methods
A pilot trial was conducted in five ophthalmologically normal subjects (2 male and 3 female) aged 21 – 23 years. Two black rods on white background, which appeared under an angle of 1° were presented in a viewing distance of 5.0 meters. The right rod was stationary, whilst the left rod appeared under a stereoscopic parallax, with an either proximal or distal displacement to the image plane. Threshold determination was assessed at seven eccentricities of the visual field by a staircase method. Eccentricities were 0° centrally, 5° to the right and left, 10° to the right and left and 15° to the right and left of the visual field. Proximal and distal displacement as well as the sequence of eccentricities were presented in random order. Stereo acuity was measured in two different sessions for four subjects and in five different sessions for one subject. For all sessions the duration was recorded. All sessions were separated by a time interval of at least 24 hours and no longer than 7 days. Evaluation was made by Wilcoxon test and Kruskal Wallis test at the 95% confidence level (CI) and the median was assessed for all thresholds.
Results
Stereo acuity declines with increasing eccentricities of the retina similar to visual acuity. While at 0° eccentricity thresholds were found to be lowest with (median) 5.0 seconds of arc (‘’) and the CI (0.5’’, 30.5’’) for all measurements, they increased to 112.2’’ at 15° eccentricity to the left in proximal displacement. Distal it was 19.9’’ centrally and 112.2’’ to the right at 15° eccentricity with CI (0.5’’, 30.5’’) for all measurements.
Repeatability of the threshold determination was found to be best at 0° eccentricity with proximal displacement showing the exact same result in the repetitive session and poorest repetition was found at 15° eccentricity to the left with distal displacement. Distal repeatability was worse than proximal. Median and CI of duration time was 5.3 (3.2, 8.3) minutes.
Conclusion
Stereo acuity thresholds are repeatable however increase with increasing eccentricity. Repetitions of the threshold determination do not vary considerably. The duration of these measurements indicates the monitor-based two-rod test as a fast procedure, that can be applied in future studies. The test program is limited by an imperfect algorithm and the stereoscopic images evoke cues, this should be reworked.
Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive literature review about albinism as an inherited metabolic disorder of melanin synthesis along with those related conditions impacting the visual system. As such, it addresses eye care emphasizing the visual consequences of albinism along with diagnostic and treatment options.
Methods: Background knowledge about ocular development is given as well as information about etiological biochemical and genetic processes. The current classification, clinical findings and their assessment and management options are presented based on recent results of research. In conclusion, two case reports are described as examples of visual care options.
Results: Melanin plays a big role in the retinal and chiasmal development. Melanin biosynthesis can be disrupted by different genes in various ways which leads to the current classification of albinism. Clinical findings include fundus hypopigmenta-tion, nystagmus, iris transillumination, photophobia, foveal hypoplasia, excessive chiasmal decussation, reduced visual acuity, high astigmatism (with-the-rule), strabismus and decreased stereopsis. Treatment options to improve visual acuity, fixation and binocularity are (tinted) prescription lenses and contact lenses, low vision aids, surgical procedures and vision therapy. Medication and supplementa-tion for increased pigmentation are currently being tested on mice.
Conclusions: Albinism is caused by genetic mutations resulting in ocular and cutaneous hypopigmentation. It establishes various phenotypes that require different therapy approaches in order to improve vision and therefore quality of life.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of the iPad Aniseikonia Test for
measurement size lens-induced aniseikonia. The iPad Aniseikonia Test is a new
computer-based test designed for measuring aniseikonia in vertical direction. The iPad
Test uses red-green anaglyphs.
Methods
Aniseikonia was induced in 21 subjects by means of afocal size lenses. Resulting
aniseikonia was measured in vertical direction by the iPad Aniseikonia Test. The
measurement was performed in dark condition with appropriate correction of refractive
error. All subject were patients with normal vision with no anisometropia or other
ocular problem.
Results:
Afocal size lenses of known magnification were used to induce aniseikonia. 5
measurements were taken in each subject, ranging from zero to 7 % magnification.
When using the regression analysis, the slope of the fitted line significantly differs from
1. The average slope of regression line is 0,58.
Conclusions:
Only moderate accuracy was found for tested target size and orientation. In all cases the
iPad Aniseikonia Test underestimates the level of aniseikonia. However for gross
assessment of anisometropia in clinical practice it could be successfully used. Further
study with different target size should be addressed.
A good stereopsis (depth perception) is needed in everyday life, regardless whether a person is a professional driver or chef. Good estimation of distance, and of what is further and what closer, could mean the difference between a crushed and a whole car or between a bloody and a healthy finger. The main theme of this Master thesis is detect and quantify major factors in depth perception. Do the younger estimate the depth better than the older; do they have better depth perception with greater or smaller pupil distance; does depth perception depend on gender; what happens with stereopsis when vision is fogged by +0,5 and +1,0 D? These are the questions dealt with in this Master thesis.
To answer these questions measurements were made on 51 subjects (mean age 45,0 +/- 13,32 years) of whom 25 were women, mean age 45,5 +/-13,55 years (12 with PD<62 mm, mean and 13 with PD>66 mm) and 26 men, mean age 44,4 +/- 13,34 years (13 with PD<62 mm and, 13 with PD >66 mm). Each of these four groups was further divided by age (one in range 20 to 35 years and second in range 50 to 65 years).
The measurements were made with a few assumptions. The first assumption was that stereopsis is in direct correlation with visual acuity, the second assumption was that persons with bigger interpupillar distance have better stereopsis, and the third assumption was that with age the stereopsis ability decreases.
The measurements were done with modified Frisby–Davis test expanded from four geometrical shapes to twenty-five circles. The stereopsis was measured with full refractive correction at 4,5 and 3,0 meters. Later, stereopsis was measured with fogging with +0,5 and +1,0 D at the 4,5 and 3,0 meter distances.
Statistically there is no correlation (or very weak) between stereopsis and the visual acuity for whole group of 51 test persons, but if only young test persons are taken in consideration, the correlation becomes significant, r(20)=0,566, p=0,009 at 4,5 m and r(20)=0,456, p=0,043 at 3,0 m and that matches the assumption. Stereopsis is in no or weak positive correlation with pupil distance r(51)=0,059, p=0,679, which is in total contrast to the assumption. Stereopsis is in positive correlation with age at 4,5 meters measuring distance, r(51)=0,371, p=0,007, which corresponds to assumption. In addition, stereopsis is better in females than in males by 32,5%.
Based on the results it can be concluded that the stereopsis is in negative correlation with age, in positive correlation with visual acuity, females have better stereopsis than males and statistically, the correlation between stereopsis and pupil distance (PD) has not been proved. The most important conclusion is that the decreased visual acuity brings significant fall of stereopsis. A deficit in refraction of -0,50 D decreases stereo acuity by about 90% (nearly 2x) and a deficit of -1,0 D decreases stereo acuity by about 220% (about 3x).
Keywords: Stereopsis, stereo acuity, depth perception, pupil distance (PD), visual acuity (VA).
Abstract
1.1 Purpose
The purpose of this study is to prescribe follicular-like conjunctivitis associated with Siliconhydrogels
(FoCoSi) in silicone hydrogel contact lens wearers as a novel subtype of
the well prescribed contact lens induced papillary conjunctivitis (CLPC).
1.2 Methods
1211 patients who wore silicon hydrogels were included in this prospective, nonrandomised,
single center study. Subjective symptoms and clinical signs were evaluated
for daily wear (DW) and continuous wear (CW) populations for several (Lotrafilcon A,
Lotrafilcon B, Senofilcon A, Galyfilcon A) silicon hydrogel lens types. CCLRU and other
specifically developed grading scale were utilized for evaluation. Grading of 2 and above
was rated as clinically significant. Statistical evaluation was performed for eyes rather
than subjects.
1.3 Results
The clinical presentation of FoCoSi could be confirmed and showed an incidence of
3.8%. Lotrafilcon A followed by Senofilcon A on a CW modality presented, with a risk
ratio of 2.49 and 1.53 respectively, the highest affinity for developing FoCoSi. Fluorescein
positive spots showed the closest correlation with subjective symptoms reported
by patients and divided FoCoSi into an active and dormant form. Besides Protein, Lipid
deposition on the contact lens surface and air pollution like Ozone or fine and ultrafine
particles seems to be important factors in developing FoCoSi, whereas mechanical irritation
played a minor role.
1.4 Conclusion
FoCoSi is a novel and relevant subtype of CLPC. Further studies should be performed
to validate these findings and clear up several questions about the aetiology of FoCoSi
and CLPC.
Keywords: Giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC), contact lens-induced papillary conjunctivitis
(CLPC), follicular-like conjunctivitis associated with siliconhydrogels (FoCoSi)
Purpose: Although the frequency in which practitioners are fitting scleral
contact lenses is increasing, the recommendation for proper tear layer depth
(thickness) varies amongst experts. The main goal of this paper is to clinically
verify the effect of varying tear layer depths on induced corneal edema during
lens wear.
Methods: Ten subjects with healthy eyes were fitted with scleral lenses on their
right eye. Each of them was fit with two different lenses: one with an apical
clearance of 200 μm and another with an apical clearance of 600 μm. They wore
the lenses for 8 hours on two different days, with at least a one week wash-out
period. Lenses were applied at 8 a.m. on each of the testing days. Pachymetry
measurements were taken one day prior to lens wear at 4 p.m., on the day of
wear prior to lens application, and after removal of the lenses at 4 p.m.
Measurements were collected using both the Pentacam® HR Corneal
Tomographer, as well as the Visante Anterior Segment Optical Coherence
Tomographer (OCT). The apical clearance was measured using the
Visante OCT at two intervals during the test day: immediately after application of
the lens and immediately prior to the removal of the lens.
Results: In this study, there was found to be no significant difference in corneal
edematous response during lens wear between the two test groups. The study
shows that the eyes with the lenses have a statistically significantly thicker
cornea compared to the non-lens-wearing eye after wearing either lens for 8
hours, lying within clinically and physiologically acceptable limits.
Conclusion: Our clinical results do not correlate with current theoretical
calculations, which predict a greater amount of corneal swelling with increasing
tear layer thickness. It has to be evaluated if the effect on corneal edema
changes with longer wearing periods, larger samples or other influences.
Key words: scleral (contact) lens, corneal edema, pachymetry, tear layer
thickness, vaulting, apical clearance
Purpose
Automated scanpath comparison metrics should deliver an objective method to
evaluate the similarity of scanpaths. The aim of this thesis is an evaluation of
seven existing scanpath comparison metrics in static and dynamic tasks in order
to provide a guidline that helps to decide which algorithm has to be chosen for a
special kind of task.
Methods
The applicability of the algorithms for a static, visual search task and a dynamic,
interactive video game task as well as their constraints and limitations were tested.
Therefore, binocular gaze data were recorded by using the eye tracking system The
Eye Tribe (The Eye Tribe ApS, Copenhagen/ Denmark). Objective task performance
measures from 21 subjects were used in order to create scanpath groupings
for which a relevant effect of dissimilarity was to be expected. Objective task performance
measures such as task performance time were statistically evaluated and
compared to the results gained by the comparison metrics.
Results
Four of the algorithms being used successfully identified differences for static and
dynamic tasks: MultiMatch, iComp, SubsMatch and the Hidden Markov Model.
ScanMatch was very sensitive for the static task but not applicable to the dynamic
task whereas FuncSim was suitable for dynamic but not for static tasks. Eyenalysis
failed to detect any effect.
Conclusion
The applicability of scanpath comparison metrics depends on the state of the task,
respectively on the kind of experimental set up. In future, the application area for
eye tracking will expand and an improvement of automated scanpath comparison
metrics is therefore required.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation of measured visual acuity
(VA) both static and dynamic obtained with static and dynamic measuring tests, as well
as, response time to visual stimulus and analysis of its influence on dynamic visual
acuity. The aim was to compare the results gathered for the three age groups and
analyze the possible differences.
Methods
The test groups consisted of 75 subjects between 10 and 60 years old, categorized in
three age groups. The measurements of static and dynamic visual acuity and reaction
time were conducted. The set of nine tests (five with radial magnification speed and four
simulating driving condition at 72 km/h and 130 km/h) was designed in order to measure
dynamic visual acuity and the set of two tests for reaction time measurement.
Results
Compared to static visual acuity in both tests, the results obtained with measurements
of dynamic visual acuity resulted in lower values depending on Landolt ring size and
magnification speed of animation. In average, the dynamic visual acuities in tests with
different magnification speeds were lower than static by 0.4 visual acuity units, or 31%
and the average of dynamic visual acuity after subtracting motoric component (reaction
time) was for 0.2 visual acuity worse than static or 15%. In the second test simulating
driving conditions at 72 km/h the average drop in dynamic visual acuity was 33% while
at 130 km/h average drop for younger and middle age groups was 37% and for older
group was 44% and after subtracting motor component values for 72 km/h speed
simulation average drop in visual acuity values was 23% for all three groups; for 130
km/h speed simulation younger and middle aged group average drop of visual acuity
was 20% and with older group it was 24%.
Conclusion
The tests used in this study were simple and fast and revealed significant difference
between static and dynamic visual acuity and influence of reaction time on dynamic
Nataša Vujko Muždalo Abstract
2
visual acuity values. It is hoped that this thesis will be a positive contribution in testing
and training of dynamic visual and sensory response skill with drivers, sportsmen and
people with visual-motor dysfunction.
Keywords: Dynamic visual acuity (DVA), static visual acuity (SVA), reaction time (RT),
motoric component, dynamic visual acuity test, reaction time test, radial increase in size
Ophthalmic lenses are ideally measured in accordance with the center of rotation of the eye. Therefore a measuring device was constructed due to this principle to measure lenses with a focimeter. In this work that measuring device was validated. Lenses of ± 4 dpt in spherical and aspherical design were measured across a field of 9x9 measuring points being at 5° distance from each other. This corresponds to a field of view of 40°. The measurement points in x- and y- direction were theoretically calculated to validate the measurement results. Regarding angles of incidence up to 20° it was supposed that the main optical aberration depends on a change in the sagittal and tangential sphere powers which is also defined as astigmatism. Therefore the calculation presents the tangential and sagittal oblique sphere powers depending on the different angles of the line of vision. On average the measurement results and the calculated data of the spherical designed lenses coincide quite good (correlation at 0,98), the systematic deviation of both values on average is 0.01 dpt and the random error (standard deviation) amounts 0.03 dpt on average. The minimum deviation is -0.06 dpt and the maximum is 0.09 dpt. Common focimeters have a measuring inaccuracy of up to 0.06 dpt (Diepes, Blendowske 2002). Therefore the quality of the measured data should be reliable. The aspherical designed lenses were compared to the spherical designed lenses. With increased angles of incidence the astigmatism of the aspherical lenses leads to lower values than the astigmatism of the spherical lenses
The present thesis deals with alternative powertrains, focusing on electric vehicles
and hybrid vehicles and which of those alternative powertrains is considered as
sustainable for the future. It explores the question, which alternative powertrain is
worthwhile investing in for German automotive suppliers. The aim is to clarify
which of the two powertrains is already established on the market and what the
future prospects of those powertrains are. The question here is evaluated based on
the analysis of current literature as well as through the use of a SWOT analysis
and the use of the scoring model.
As a result it is clear that there is a need for alternative powertrains and the entire
automotive industry invests a lot in the development and research of alternative
powertrains. According to the German Federal Government, one million electric
vehicles should be on German roads by 2020. With pure electric vehicles, however,
the goal will be difficult to reach. Therefore, there is a lot of vested interest in
the development of hybrid vehicles on the market. It shows that the hybrid vehicle
has considerable advantages over the electric vehicle and the hybrid vehicle is
already seen as a transitional solution for pure electric vehicles. The hybrid vehicle
is also already established in the market and has better chances on the market
in the future. Therefore, it makes sense for German automotive suppliers to invest
in hybrid vehicles and to focus on this market, since there the chances of success
are greater and the future potential of this market is higher.
This paper deals with the question of which factors have to be given for
successful share repurchases that create long-term shareholder value. Center of
the thesis is the agency theory and its influence on share repurchases. Based on
theoretical findings success factors for share repurchases are derived and then
verified by case studies.
The main drivers for a successful share repurchase elaborated by this paper are a
suitable long-term executive compensation, an independent board of directors and
a shareholder structure without a majority shareholder. Additionally the findings
show that tying repurchases to certain share price thresholds improves the quality
of share repurchases.
This paper aims to provide essential information about the formal aspects of the adjustment process companies in Southern Germany utilize to adjust their employees to new surroundings. In particular, it shall be investigated and defined what formal aspects are and when firms apply them. Literature shows that companies do implement language courses, intercultural trainings or provide further information about the host country before a stay abroad. Nevertheless, the phases during and after the assignment are not taken into account with the required importance. Additionally, since national culture can be broken down into different layers, the organizational culture as one layer was analyzed, too.By conducting a quantitative research among companies in Baden-Württemberg, this paper shows the different approaches for dealing with a stay abroad. Scientific literature about the topic of adjustment of globally assigned workers shall help emphasizing the need of a deeper cultural insight. Furthermore, by attempting to explain the organizations’ culture, a better understanding of the chosen training methods shall be created. Definitions in the beginning helped to understand the concept of culture, the notion and the phases of adjustment. Almost all collected data has been accessed either through JSTOR (a digital library founded to help academic libraries or publishers) or similar databases, through the companies’ websites or through the survey results it selves.The results of this research show that the phase before the stay abroad is organized well. Companies offer pre-departure training, but during and after the expatriate time a lack of support is being observed. The firms obviously underestimate the necessary help needed during the assignment and in the return phase, which is why the thesis attempts to fill this gap. Through the organizational culture, described on the companies’ webpages the author was able to draw a conclusion to the applied training methods, which results in a consistent overall picture of the described firms. Companies from the automotive sector had the highest return rate in the survey, which is why particular attention was paid to it.
Aim Patrick J. Caroline and Mark P. Andre first reported about soft lens orthokeratology in 2005. In a number of articles in the past five years, they reported about their research on this topic and their new findings. The aim of this study was to continue the research of Patrick J. Caroline and Mark P. Andre and to collect more information about the outcome of the technique. Methods Ten subjects with low myopia from -0.25 D to -1.25 D and a refractive astigmatism from plano to -0.75 D were fitted with a -10.00 D CIBA VISION AIR OPTIX® NIGHT&DAY® silicone hydrogel contact lens and were told to wear the lenses over night and everted. Corneal topography and refraction measurements were taken after one night, one week and one month of contact lens wear. Results Eight out of ten subjects finished the study, six female and two male. The mean age of the subjects was 23.9 years. With the eight subjects who finished the study, the mean change in subjective refraction was about +1.00 D in the sphere and +0.22 D in the cylinder, with maximum changes of +1.75 D sphere and +0.75 D cylinder. The mean apical power change, measured with the topographer, was 1.11 D. Changes in K - readings ranged from slight corneal steepening in both of the meridians to 0.23 mm of corneal flattening in the horizontal meridian and 0.27 mm of corneal flattening in the vertical meridian. Corneal eccentricity decreased about 0.65 on average. The main complaints and problems were the high minus power and the decentration of the contact lens and the occurrence of ghosting at night. Conclusion The results of this study show that everted wear of a high minus silicone hydrogel contact lens can lead to orthokeratology - such as changes in corneal topography and subjective refraction. These changes range from plano to +1.75 D sphere and +0.25 D to +0.75 D cylinder but are unpredictable and vary from subject to subject. Additional studies regarding the contact lens decentration and the unpredictability of the outcome need to be done to optimize the process.