Approximately 16 % of adult onset asthma is caused by occupational exposure. The need for early detection of irritant caused asthma is key in treating and preventing the progression of the disease. The aim of the work was to investigate if exposure to irritants cause change in gas composition in exhaled breath, the “exhalome”. We studied 15 female hairdressers exposed to a controlled dose of aerosolized bleach powder in a sealed climate chamber. The subjects’ self-reported symptoms, spirometry and gas components were monitored. The exhalome was collected for breath holding times of 2 and 10 seconds from central (400 ml) and peripheral lung (1500 ml), once prior to and twice after exposure. Thus, subjects were their own controls. The composition of the gas was analyzed using a Proton Transfer Reaction – Time of Flight – Mass Spectrometer (PTR-ToF-MS) where volatile organic compounds of mass up to 253 atomic mass units are identified with high time resolution. Preliminary analysis of the data shows a variation of the concentrations of the different gases in exhalome over the course of the day and that levels of isoprene and acetone are higher for longer breath holding time. More analysis is needed to evaluate if the technique is able to detect differences in the exhalome caused by the exposure. Detailed information on the relationships between the exhalome and inflammation processes in the respiratory tract induced by irritants is also required. This may contribute to a deeper understanding of asthma. In the future a PTR-ToF-MS could potentially be used as a real-time non-invasive tool for early detection asthma in exposed workers.

Abstract Purpose To investigate how accidents leading to fracture affect sense of coherence and health-related quality of life 6 months later and the association between the two phenomena. Materials and methods A cohort study including 201 patients admitted to hospital with fractures was conducted. Data were based on structured interviewing a few days after admission and 6 months later. Sense of coherence was evaluated with a nine-item scale and health-related quality of life was examined with the subscales of Short Form-36 (SF-36). Results Follow-up comprised 164 patients (81.6%), mean age 47 years. Sense of coherence changed to be either stronger (43%) or weaker (41%) and was stable for 15.9% of the participants. Health-related quality of life changed positively after 6 months but did not reach normative values. Strong sense of coherence was significantly associated with the SF-36 subscales emotional role functioning, social functioning, vitality, and mental health. Conclusions Accidents leading to fracture can be stressful life events that could influence an individual’s sense of coherence to be stronger or weaker. The association between sense of coherence and health-related quality of life emphasises the importance of therapists supporting the patients’ personal resources and promote a salutogenic focus. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION An injury may change an individual’s sense of coherence to be stronger or weaker. For patients who sustain fracture, sense of coherence should be included in therapists’ analysis of personal resources and support a salutogenic perspective. Health-related quality of life is especially for younger individuals affected by an accident and its consequences and need a guided and meticulous rehabilitation course.

In this paper, we present our software-supported method for analyzing the economic feasibility of business models. The method integrates the business models and business processes perspectives for analyzing how a company appropriates the financial cost and benefits. In this method, we use the Service-Dominant Business Model Radar to specify business models, then translate the specified business model into a business process for analyzing the financial feasibility of a business model. At the final step in our method, we use the generated business process in the previous step with a software-based tool, The Cost-Benefit Tracker, for analyzing the economic potential of the business model. We designed and developed the Cost-Benefit Tracker as a simple software-based BPMN 2.0 tool by integrating the concepts of the Service-Dominant Business Model Radar tightly. As a result, the software is simple and straightforward to use than enterprise BPMN 2.0 software. Hence, entrepreneurs can use the presented software-supported method to financially evaluate business model concepts specified with the Service-Dominant Business Model Radar.

A crucial part to any warehouse workflow is the process of order picking. Orders can significantly vary in the number of items, mass, volume and the total path needed to collect all the items. Some orders can be picked by just one worker, while others are required to be split up and shrunk down, so that they can be assigned to multiple workers. This paper describes the complete process of optimal order splitting. The process consists of evaluating if a given order requires to be split, determining the number of orders it needs to be split into, assigning items for every worker and optimizing the order picking routes. The complete order splitting process can be used both with and without the logistic data (mass and volume), but having logistic data improves the accuracy. Final step of the algorithm is reduction to Vehicle Routing Problem where the total number of vehicles is known beforehand. The process described in this paper is implemented in some of the largest warehouses in Bosnia and Herzegovina.