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ZusammenfassungDurch die Covid-19-Pandemie und die entsprechenden „Lock-Downs“ wurde der digitale Lehrbetrieb an Hochschulen weiter in den Vordergrund gerückt. Die in den vergangenen Jahren und Jahrzehnten gesammelten Erfahrungen im E‑Learning und Blended Learning-Bereich sind zwar hilfreich, für die jetzt geforderte rein digitale Lehre in den meisten Fällen aber noch unzureichend.Im Wintersemester 2020/2021 haben die Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster und die Fachhochschule Südwestfalen eine Online-Lehrveranstaltung zum Thema „Fundamentals of Business Process Management“ im Rahmen der jeweiligen Bachelorstudiengänge Wirtschaftsinformatik durchgeführt. Die Online-Vorlesung selbst diente als Vorbereitung auf eine darauf aufbauende seminaristisch angelegte internationale Winter School. Die Inhalte basierten auf einem anerkannten und gleichnamigen Lehrbuch, für die Online-Vorlesung wurde auf entsprechendes von den Lehrbuchautor*innen vorbereitetes und durch die Dozent*innen kuratiertes Videomaterial zurückgegriffen. Während an der Fachhochschule regelmäßige virtuelle Austauschrunden (Video-Konferenzen) angeboten wurden, um potenzielle Fragen der Studierenden zu beantworten, war der Vorbereitungskurs an der Universität als reine Online-Veranstaltung ausgelegt. Die Prüfung wurde an beiden Hochschulen als Open Book Online-Klausur über die jeweilige Lehrplattform abgelegt. Die entsprechenden Aufgaben wurden von den Dozent*innen arbeitsteilig zuerst auf der eigenen Lehrplattform (Moodle) erstellt und dann in die jeweils andere Lehrplattform übertragen.In diesem Artikel berichten wir von diesem hochschulübergreifend durchgeführten Modul und explizieren aufbauend auf den Erfahrungen der Dozent*innen sowie dem Feedback der Studierenden Herausforderungen und Lessons Learned. Wir diskutieren Möglichkeiten zur Weiterentwicklung und geben Hinweise für die zukünftige Gestaltung entsprechender Kurse.

One of the most significant recent technological developments concerns the development and implementation of ‘intelligent machines’ that draw on recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. However, there are growing tensions between human freedoms and machine controls. This article reports the findings of a workshop that investigated the application of the principles of human freedom throughout intelligent machine development and use. Forty IS researchers from ten different countries discussed four contemporary AI and humanity issues and the most relevant IS domain challenges. This article summarizes their experiences and opinions regarding four AI and humanity themes: Crime & conflict, Jobs, Attention, and Wellbeing. The outcomes of the workshop discussions identify three attributes of humanity that need preservation: a critique of the design and application of AI, and the intelligent machines it can create; human involvement in the loop of intelligent machine decision-making processes; and the ability to interpret and explain intelligent machine decision-making processes. The article provides an agenda for future AI and humanity research.

Only few European research institutions have managed to implement structural changes and modernise their management towards higher gender equality. At the same time, gender equality is recognised to be an essential component towards achieving innovativeness and better performance. The EQUAL-IST project (“Gender Equality Plans for Information Sciences and Technology Research Institutions”) was aimed at addressing this challenge by designing and implementing tailored Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) in the six involved STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) research institutions from Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, and Ukraine. In order to increase acceptance, minimise potential resistances, and ensure sustainability of the interventions promoting gender equality initiated within the project, it was decided to follow a participatory approach to GEP design. This approach means that internal stakeholders were engaged in the GEP design, including decision-makers, academic and non-academic staff members, and students. In order to support this approach, an innovative online crowdsourcing platform, called CrowdEquality, was developed and applied within the project. Internal stakeholders from the involved research institutions were invited to collectively use the developed platform during the following processes: (i) identification of specific challenges related to gender equality, which exist in the research institution (‘problems’); (ii) generation of promising initiatives (‘solutions’) that could address each of the identified challenges; and (iii) voting on the selected feasible ideas. This article reports on the course and outcomes of using the CrowdEquality platform for the participatory GEP design within the EQUAL-IST project. Furthermore, it is reflected in the article on the challenges faced and lessons learned during the platform development and operation. The article provides valuable insights to the research institutions willing to apply a participatory approach to GEP design.

Mit diesem Kapitel mochten wir Dir einen Blick „hinter die Kulissen“ ermoglichen, damit Du einen Eindruck bekommst, nach welchen Kriterien Deine Arbeit eigentlich bewertet wird. Mit diesem Wissen kannst Du Deine Arbeit vor der Abgabe selbst noch einmal uberprufen, ob sie den Kriterien standhalt. Daruber hinaus zeigen wir Dir, welchen Eindruck bestimmte Abgaben auf die Betreuerin haben konnen und wie Du diese direkt vermeiden kannst. Abschliesend geben wir Tipps fur die Vorbereitung der Verteidigung Deiner Arbeit, falls eine solche in Deiner Prufungsordnung vorgesehen ist.

Im dritten Kapitel widmen wir uns der eigentlichen Arbeit. Wir beschreiben, welche Merkmale eine gute und ausgewogene Gliederung hat und welche Abschnitte Deine Gliederung beinhalten sollte. Daruber hinaus beschaftigen wir uns ausfuhrlich mit den Themen Literatursuche und -verwaltung. Wir mochten Dir zeigen, wie und wo Du nach Literatur suchen kannst und wie Du die Qualitat von Quellen richtig einzuschatzen lernst. Zusatzlich geben wir Dir Tipps zur Literaturverwaltung und stellen gangige Tools dafur vor. Da das Lesen wissenschaftlicher Texte fur viele StudentInnen eine Herausforderung ist, empfehlen wir eine Lesereihenfolge fur wissenschaftliche Publikationen sowie die Anfertigung von Mindmaps zur Visualisierung komplexer Zusammenhange. Fur sauberes wissenschaftliches Arbeiten ist es auch wichtig, die unterschiedlichen Zitationsarten sowie die gangigen Zitierstile zu kennen. Fur das eigentliche Schreiben Deiner Arbeit besprechen wir Formatvorlagen und geben Dir Tipps hinsichtlich eines guten Schreibstils, des Einsatzes von Fremdwortern und Fachbegriffen und des Umfangs Deiner Arbeit.

Dieses erste Kapitel gibt einen Uberblick daruber, was Du von dem Buch erwarten kannst (und was nicht). Wir erklaren beispielsweise, warum wir es geschrieben haben und warum wir durchgangig die feminine Ansprache verwenden. Daruber hinaus geben wir einen Uberblick daruber, wie wir das Buch strukturiert haben und wie die einzelnen Abschnitte zusammenhangen. Durch die Vielfalt an moglichen Abschlussarbeitsthemen in der Wirtschaftsinformatik und die damit verbundenen vielfaltigen Herangehensweisen glauben wir, dass ein dediziertes Buch uber „Abschlussarbeiten in der Wirtschaftsinformatik“ sinnvoll ist. Am Ende des Kapitels zeigen wir die Struktur des Buches mithilfe einer Abbildung. Die dort eingefuhrten Symbole helfen Dir dabei, Dich schnell im Buch zurecht zu finden.

Im abschliesenden Kapitel unseres Buches mochten wir Dich motivieren! Du kannst Dich uber einen langen Zeitraum – vermutlich langer, als Du bisher eigenstandig an einem Thema gearbeitet hast – mit einem fur Dich interessanten Thema auseinandersetzen. Nutze diese Moglichkeit und wahle Dein Thema gewissenhaft aus, dann hast Du auch Spas an der Anfertigung Deiner Abschlussarbeit! Zumindest hoffen wir das in Deinem Interesse.

Business Process Management (BPM) has evolved as an integrated management discipline that aims to enable organizations to continuously innovate and improve their operations. BPM experts are exposed to communication processes involving people from various backgrounds (e.g., various business areas, fields of expertise, and cultures). Research in applied linguistics has shown that it is difficult to plan for constellations of such communication processes; thus, agile communication skills are vital for successful business communication. Teaching programs for BPM, however, do not account for these skills. Rather, they mainly address methods for the analysis, implementation, and management of business processes. As a result, graduates—though they may be technically and methodologically apt—face unexpected challenges due to communication deficiencies in BPM projects. BPM research has shown that deficiencies in communication are in fact among the most frequent reasons for project failure. In this paper, we present a course setting to teach agile communication skills in BPM education. The approach is informed by literature on BPM education as well as theories from virtual collaboration education. We have evaluated it in an international virtual seminar involving seven European universities. We argue for the importance of agile communication skills in BPM education. In addition, we present design principles for courses to teach agile communication skills that can be applied by fellow academics.

Technical cellulose-2.5-acetates (CA 2.5) were characterized regarding their carbohydrate composition in comparison to the raw material. The association of the CA 2.5 samples in acetone was studied by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) using various acetone grades and styrene divinylbenzene copolymer columns. In HPLC grade acetone with and without addition of 1% water up to three different pre-humps eluted in front of the main fraction of the polymer. The evaluation of the main peak by light scattering measurements resulted in high molar masses indicating that for these technical CA 2.5 samples even the main fraction is not dissolved without association. No pre-humps or association phenomena were observed after addition of 1 ppm LiBr to HPLC grade acetone or with p.a. grade acetone. In addition pre-hump enriched and pre-hump free fractions were isolated by fractionated precipitation. The carbohydrate composition of these fractions was determined and correlated with their association pattern in SEC investigations.

Two different approaches for the isolation of xylan from hemicellulose-rich sources have been investigated: Alkaline extraction from roller-mill pretreated oat spelts and Nitren extraction of birch kraft pulp. For xylan recovery from oat spelts the experiments included extraction with 5% NaOH at 90 °C, followed by precipitation in methanol or 2-propanol without neutralisation in order to facilitate NaOH recovery. A subsequent peroxide bleaching yielded a product of approximately 90% ISO brightness. The work on Nitren extraction of birch kraft pulp included the optimisation of the extraction process with regard to the Nitren charge. Nitren was much more specific in xylan extraction compared to Cuen, and up to 90% of the xylan content of the birch kraft pulp could be removed. It turned out that dried pulps were superior for this process compared to never-dried pulps, since substantial cellulose proportions in never-dried pulps were also mobilised by Nitren treatment. The properties of the recovered xylans from both processes were compared with regard to molar mass and substitution. It could be demonstrated that more or less intact arabinoxylans with molar masses of 30,000 g/mol could be obtained from oat spelts. The arabinoxylans contained 8-10 mol-% arabinofuranose and 2 mol-% 4-O-methyl-glucuronic acid substituents. Nitren extraction of a birch kraft pulp yielded xylans of 9,400 and 11,200 g/mol. Only traces of 4-0-methyl-glucuronic- and hexenuronic acid substituents could be found.

Selective polysaccharide functionalization is of importance in molecular and supramolecular structure design and the development of new products and properties. As a typical partially branched polysaccharide, starch (72% amylopectin) was selectively and completely alkylated in the secondary positions. Starting from 6-O-thexyldimethylsilyl starch (6-O-TDS starch) prepared regio-controlled, an effective alkylation takes place by using methyl iodide and benzyl bromide, respectively, and sodium hydride as a base in THF solution. Under these conditions, the silyl ether linkages are stable. The subsequent desilylation proceeded with tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride (TBAF) under mild conditions to form the alkyl starches without cleavage of the alkyl ether linkage. The pattern of functionalization could be analyzed by using the silyl alkyl ethers or subsequently 6-O-acetylated derivatives and multidimensional NMR techniques. In the case of the methyl ethers, the substituent distribution could be detected not only ...

Reaction of starch 1 dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) with bulky thexyldimethylchlorosilane (TDSCl) in the presence of pyridine leads to regioselectively functionalized silyl ethers with a degree of substitution (DS) up to 1.8. The control of the DSSi, of the regioselectivity, and of the reaction pathway is described in detail. The reaction proceeds homogeneously up to DSSi of 0.6. With ongoing silylation the polymers form a separate phase incorporating the silylating agent to form TDS-starches with DSSi values higher than 1.0. After peracetylation of the silyl starches, the substitution pattern has been characterized not only in the anhydroglucose repeating units (AGU) but also in the non-reducing terminal end groups (TEG) by means of two-dimensional 1H NMR techniques. Up to DSSi 1.0, a very high regioselective functionalization of the primary 6-OH groups in the AGU as well as in the TEG is detectable. With increasing silylation (DSSi > 1.0), the subsequent silylation takes place at the 2-OH groups of the AGU and at the 3-OH groups of the TEG. These results are compared with our own investigations on the silylation of starch in the reaction system N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP)/ammonia and on the silylation of cellulose in N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA)/LiCl/pyridine solution.