High-resolution laboratory-based thermal infrared spectroscopy is an up-and-coming tool in the field of geological remote sensing. Its spatial resolution allows for detailed analyses at centimeter to sub-millimeter scale. However, this increase in resolution creates challenges with sample characteristics such as grain size, surface roughness and porosity that can influence the spectral signature. This research explores the effect of rock sample surface preparation on the TIR spectral signatures. We applied three surface preparation methods (split, saw and polish) to determine how the resulting differences in surface roughness affects both the spectral shape as well as the spectral contrast. The selected samples are a pure quartz sandstone, a quartz sandstone containing a small percentage of kaolinite, and an intermediate-grained gabbro. To avoid instrument or measurement type biases we conducted measurements on three TIR instruments, resulting in directional hemispherical reflectance spectra, emissivity spectra and bi-directional reflectance images. Surface imaging and analyses were performed with scanning electron microscopy and profilometer measurements. We demonstrate that surface preparation affects the TIR spectral signatures influencing both the spectral contrast as well as the spectral shape. The results show that polished surfaces predominantly display a high spectral contrast while the sawed and split surfaces display up to 25% lower reflectance values. Furthermore, the sawed and split surfaces display spectral signature shape differences at specific wavelengths, which we link to mineral transmission features, surface orientation effects and multiple reflections in fine-grained minerals. Hence, the influence of rock surface preparation should be taken in consideration to avoid an inaccurate geological interpretation.

Machine learning (ML) offers potential opportunities to enhance the learning, teaching and assessments within veterinary medical education including but not limited to assisting with admissions processes as well as student progress evaluations. The purpose of this primer is to assist veterinary educators in appraising and potentially adopting these rapid upcoming advances in data science and technology. In the first section, we introduce ML concepts and highlight similarities/differences between ML and classical statistics. In the second section, we provide a step-by-step worked example using simulated veterinary student data to answer a hypothesis driven question. Python syntax with explanations is provided within the text to create a random forest ML prediction model and within each step, specific considerations such as how to manage incomplete student records are highlighted when applying ML algorithms within the veterinary education field. The results from the simulated data demonstrate how decisions by the veterinary educator during ML model creation may impact the most important features contributing to the model. These results highlight the need for the veterinary educator to be fully transparent during the creation of ML models and future research is needed to establish guidelines for handling data not missing at random in medical education, and preferred methods for model evaluation.

Aircraft emissions represent a relevant amount of human induced CO2. Globally, up to 2.5 per cent of such emissions stem from the aviation industry. In order to investigate the effects within the atmosphere, realistic flight profiles are necessary to provide quantitatively tangible values of emissions. The flight profiles and the according fuel consumption can be calculated by using waypoints from flight plans and Base of Aircraft Data (BADA). This paper presents an approach to refine the fuel consumption by integrating the passenger load into the calculation. Since effects of emissions have to be assessed on a greater scale, such as on the European air traffic network, the presented approach provides cost functions for CO2 emissions for different aircraft types and load factors. The cost functions were derived by means of regression analyses of BADA based calculated flight profiles with a step size of one second. The calculations are based on real historic traffic scenarios of several days. The derived aircraft specific fuel burn coefficients enable a simple and efficient integration of CO2 estimations depending on the flight distance, load factor and aircraft type. This can be applied to large traffic scenarios to also study different set-ups such as travel restrictions, other disruptions or an alteration in the traffic system as a whole. In order to enable the assessment of further aspects of such changes to the European air traffic system at large and to foster reproducibility and comparability of related studies, we provide further general-purpose cost estimation functions for several important key characteristics. Besides fuel consumption, we develop cost estimations for air navigation fees and maintenance for conventional aircraft. Those functions are also provided for the design concept of a short-range all-electric aircraft. This propeller aircraft features game-changing technologies such as active laminar flow control, active load alleviation and advanced materials and structure concepts. The approaches discussed in this paper will focus on the generic aspects of aircraft related costs, which can be derived from general available data. For the sake of reproducibility, the results will be made publicly available.

Different factors seemingly account for the emergence of present-day languages in our species. Human self-domestication has been recently invoked as one important force favouring language complexity mostly via a cultural mechanism. As a consequence, evolutionary changes impacting on aggression levels are expected to have fostered this process. Here we hypothesise about a positive effect of dog-human interactions on aggression management and more generally, on our self-domestication, ultimately, contributing to aspects of language evolution. We review evidence of diverse sort (ethological mostly, but also archaeological, genetic, and physiological) supporting a positive feedback loop between dog domestication and human-self domestication that might have favoured the mechanisms promoting structural complexity in human languages.

A geometric Planck-scale model of quantum electrodynamics is tested against observations. Based on Dirac’s proposal to describe spin 1/2 particles as tethered objects, elementary fermions are conjectured to be fluctuating rational tangles with unobservable tethers. As Battey-Pratt and Racey showed, when such tangles propagate, they obey the free Dirac equation. Classifying rational tangles yields the observed spectrum of elementary fermions. Classifying deformations of tangle cores yields exactly three types of gauge interactions. They exchange three types of elementary gauge bosons and have the symmetry groups U(1), broken SU(2) and SU(3). The possible rational tangles for fermions, Higgs and gauge bosons allow only the observed Feynman diagrams. The complete Lagrangian of the standard model arises, including the Lagrangian of quantum electrodynamics. Over 50 tests of the tangle model are deduced. They include details on the perturbation expansion of the g-factor and the existence of limit values for electric and magnetic fields. Measurements agree with most tests, though this could change in the future. Some tests are genuine predictions that still need to be checked. In particular, the geometry of the process occurring at QED interaction vertices suggests an ab-initio estimate for the fine structure constant. In addition, the average geometric shapes of the elementary particle tangles suggest ab-initio lower and upper limits for the mass values of the electron and the other leptons.

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is a well investigated and widely used treatment modality for a number of musculoskeletal disorders. A limitation of ESWT is its potential painfulness at higher, clinically relevant energy flux density (EFD), which may limit its applicability and, thus, effectiveness. Various studies in the literature demonstrated that neither application of a higher number of extracorporeal shock waves with lower EFD nor use of local anesthesia may solve this problem. Based on the results of several other studies in the literature it is hypothesized here that in patients suffering from musculoskeletal disorders that can be treated with ESWT, pretreatment with a pulsed, high power laser with a wavelength of 904 or 905 nanometers (hereafter: "laser pretreatment") does not only allow to apply higher EFDs in subsequent ESWT but actually results in faster and/or better treatment outcome than ESWT without laser pretreatment. Accordingly, it is hypothesized here that combining ESWT with laser pretreatment leads to synergistic effects and, thus, is superior to either treatment modality alone. Confirming this hypothesis in preclinical and clinical research may raise significance and increase the use of ESWT in physical and rehabilitation medicine, with immediate benefit for patients.

The study of order patterns of three equally spaced values $x_t,x_{t+d},x_{t+2d}$ in a time series is a powerful tool. The lag $d$ is changed in a wide range so that differences of frequencies of order patterns become autocorrelation functions. Similar to a spectrogram in speech analysis, four ordinal autocorrelation functions are used to visualize big data series, as for instance heart and brain activity over many hours. The method applies to real data without preprocessing, outliers and missing data do not matter. On the theoretical side, we study properties of order correlation functions and show that the four autocorrelation functions are orthogonal in a certain sense. An analysis of variance of a modified permutation entropy can be performed with four variance components associated with the functions.

Epigenetic changes are a hallmark of short- and long-term transcriptional regulation, and hence instrumental in the control of cellular identity and plasticity. Epigenetic mechanisms leading to changes in chromatin structure, accessibility for recruitment of transcriptional complexes, and interaction of enhancers and promoters all contribute to acute and chronic adaptations of cells, tissues and organs to internal and external perturbations. Similarly, the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) is activated by stimuli that alter the cellular energetic demand, and subsequently controls complex transcriptional networks responsible for cellular plasticity. It thus is of no surprise that PGC-1α is under the control of epigenetic mechanisms, and constitutes a mediator of epigenetic changes in various tissues and contexts. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the link between epigenetics and PGC-1α in health and disease.

Natural products (NPs) have been the centre of attention of the scientific community in the last decencies and the interest around them continues to grow incessantly. As a consequence, in the last 20 years, there was a rapid multiplication of various databases and collections as generalistic or thematic resources for NP information. In this review, we establish a complete overview of these resources, and the numbers are overwhelming: over 120 different NP databases and collections were published and re-used since 2000. 98 of them are still somehow accessible and only 50 are open access. The latter include not only databases but also big collections of NPs published as supplementary material in scientific publications and collections that were backed up in the ZINC database for commercially-available compounds. Some databases, even published relatively recently are already not accessible anymore, which leads to a dramatic loss of data on NPs. The data sources are presented in this manuscript, together with the comparison of the content of open ones. With this review, we also compiled the open-access natural compounds in one single dataset a COlleCtion of Open NatUral producTs (COCONUT), which is available on Zenodo and contains structures and sparse annotations for over 400000 non-redundant NPs, which makes it the biggest open collection of NPs available to this date.

The automatic recognition of scanned Medieval manuscripts still represents a challenge due to degradation, non standard layouts, or notations. This paper focuses on the Medieval square notation developed around the 11th century which is composed of staff lines, clefs, accidentals, and neumes which are basically connected single notes. We present a novel approach to tackle the automatic transcription by applying CNN/LSTM networks that are trained using the segmentation-free CTC-loss-function which considerably facilitates the GT-production. For evaluation, we use three different manuscripts and achieve a dSAR of 86.0% on the most difficult book and 92.2% on the cleanest one. To further improve the results, we apply a neume dictionary during decoding which yields a relative improvement of about 5%.

The evolving collective psyche of humanity reveals a shift from predominantly masculine to increasingly feminine characteristics since around 1500 A.D. This transformation, termed 'trans-genderization,' is attributed to identified psychological factors. Remarkably, the collective psyche has undergone similar transitions in the past since the emergence of humanity.

This article is a commentary on the publication Guo J, Hai H, Ma Y. Application of extracorporeal shock wave therapy in nervous system diseases: A review. Front Neurol. (2022) 13:963849. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.963849 (1). In the opinion of the authors of this commentary the information provided in the Section "Principles of ESWT" in (1) is partly incorrect and misleading. This is due to the fact that important, published knowledge regarding focused extracorporeal shock wave therapy (fESWT) and radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy (rESWT) was disregarded in (1).

Special machinery engineering is of great importance to the manufacturing industry and makes a comparatively large contribution to many economies. Digital transformation is already well advanced in many producing industries, and modern ICT technologies such as agents, service orientation, digital twins and artificial intelligence are being used with increasing success. In addition to improving specific product characteristics such as reliability or flexibility, the adoption of modern ICT technologies to ensure sustainability is being intensively discussed. So far, however, there has been little uptake of these technologies in the special machinery industry; sustainability receives little attention. This article examines in detail the reasons for and impediments to the adoption of modern ICT technologies based on a study among special machinery manufacturers. Observations of existing challenges were gathered during daily work, described in detail, and used to derive conclusions about causal barriers. From this, detailed requirements are derived to promote the adoption of modern ICT technologies in the special machinery engineering sector and, ultimately, to bring sustainability more into focus.

The choice of parameters for laser beams used in the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases is of great importance. First, to reach high penetration depths into biological tissue and, secondly, to achieve the required effects on a molecular level. The penetration depth depends on the wavelength since there are multiple light-absorbing and scattering molecules in tissue with different absorption spectra. The present study is the first comparing the penetration depth of 1064 nm laser light with light of a smaller wavelength (905 nm) using high-fidelity laser measurement technology. Penetration depths in two types of tissue (porcine skin and bovine muscle) were investigated. The transmittance of 1064 nm light through both tissue types was consistently higher than of 905 nm light. The largest differences (up to 5.9%) were seen in the upper 10 mm of tissue, while the difference vanished with increasing tissue thickness. The higher penetration was most likely due to a combination of lower absorption in hemoglobin and less scattering at larger wavelengths, and not due to absorption in melanin. Overall, differences in penetration depth were comparably small and high peak power and short pulse lengths of laser light seem to be more important to efficiently treat deep musculoskeletal diseases.

In this contribution, we aim to show that opinion dynamics and population balance modeling can benefit from an exchange of problems and methods. To support this claim, the Deffuant-Weisbuch model, a classical approach in opinion dynamics, is formulated as a population balance model. This new formulation is subsequently analyzed in terms of moment equations, and conservation of the first and second order moment is shown. Exemplary results obtained by our formulation are presented and agreement with the original model is found. Also the influence of the initial distribution is studied. Additionally, the Deffuant-Weisbuch model is transferred to engineering and interpreted as mass transfer between liquid droplets which results in a more flexible formulation compared to alternatives from the literature. On the one hand, it is concluded that the transfer of opinion-dynamics problems to the domain of population balance modeling offers some interesting insights as well as stimulating challenges for the population-balance community. On the other hand, it is inferred that population-balance methods can contribute to the solution of problems in opinion dynamics. In a broad outlook, some further possibilities of how the two fields can possibly benefit from a close interaction are outlined.

Knowledge about laminar-turbulent transition on operating multi-megawatt wind turbine blades needs sophisticated equipment like hot-films or microphone arrays. Contrarily thermographic pictures can easily be taken from the ground and temperature differences indicate different states of the boundary layer. The accuracy however, still is an open question, so that an aerodynamic glove known from experimental research on aero-planes was used to classify the boundary-layer state of a 2 megawatt wind turbine blade operating in the orthern part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. State-of-the-art equipment for measurering static surface pressure was used for monitoring the lift distribution. To distinguish laminar and turbulent parts of the boundary layer (suction side only) 48 microphones were applied together with ground-based thermographic cameras from two teams. Additionally, an optical camera mounted on the hub was used to survey vibrations. During start-up (from 0 to 9 rpm) extended, but irregularly shaped regions of a laminar boundary layer were observed which had the same extension measured both with microphones and Thermography. When an approximately constant rotor rotation (9 rpm corresponding to approximately 6 m/s wind-speed) was achieved, a flow transition was visible at the expected position of 40 % chord length on the rotor blade, which was fouled with dense turbulent wedges and an almost complete turbulent state on the glove was detected. In all observations, quantitative determination of the flow transition positions from thermography and microphones agree well within their accuracy.

(1) Background: Sensing of critical events or flow signatures in nature often presents itself as a coupled interaction between a fluid and arrays of slender flexible beams, such a wind-hairs or whiskers. It is hypothesized that important information is gained in highly noisy environments by the inter-correlation within the array. (2) Methods: The present study uses a model sea lion head with artificial whiskers in the form of slender beams (optical fibres), which are subjected to a mean flow with overlaid turbulent structures generated in the wake of a cylinder. Motion tracking of the array of fibres is used to analyse the correlation of the bending deformations of pairs of fibres. (3) Results: Cross-correlation of the bending signal from tandem pairs of whiskers proves that the detection of vortices and their passage along the animals head is possible even in noisy environments. The underlying pattern, during passage of a vortex core, is a jerk-like response of the whiskers, which can be found at later arrival-times in similar form in the downstream whisker's response. (4) Conclusion: Coherent vortical structures can be detected from cross-correlation of pairs of cantilever-beam like sensors even in highly turbulent flows. Such vortices carry important information within the environment, e.g. the underlying convection velocity. More importantly in nature, these vortices are characteristic elementary signals left by prey and predators. The present work can help to further develop flow, or critical event, sensory systems which can overcome high noise levels due to the proposed correlation principle.

A recent study published in Nature Medicine (Mautner et al., Nat Med 2023 Nov 2. doi: 10.1038/s41591-023-02632-w. Epub ahead of print) reported findings regarding a four-arm parallel, multicenter, single-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial with 480 patients, aimed at comparing the therapeutic effectiveness of orthobiologic interventions against corticosteroid injections for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA). The study concluded that, one-year post-treatment, all orthobiologic therapies examined were equivalent in effectiveness to each other and to corticosteroid injections. While we commend the scope and methodological rigor of the trial, the publication could be enhanced by a more comprehensive presentation of data to support the conclusions drawn. Particularly, the omission of baseline data for primary outcomes, the missing context to evaluate absolute values, the lack of discussion regarding interindividual variability, and the unexpectedly favorable results for corticosteroids that contrast the established literature, are areas that merit additional examination and insight. Here we aim to highlight these points for consideration, and advocate for the release of supplementary data to facilitate a comprehensive understanding and utilization of this rich dataset.

Inflammation has a critical role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis. On the molecular level, inflammatory pathways negatively impact endothelial barrier properties and thus tissue homeostasis. Conformational changes and destruction of the glycocalyx further promote proinflammatory pathways also contributing to procoagulability and a prothrombotic state. In addition, changes in the extracellular matrix composition lead to (peri-)vascular remodelling and alterations of the vessel wall, e.g., aneurysm formation. Moreover, progressive fibrosis leads to reduced tissue perfusion due to loss of functional capillaries. The present review aims at discussing molecular and clinical effects of inflammatory processes on the micro- and microvas-culature with a focus on peripheral artery disease.

Many patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) suffer from shortness of breath and severe chest pain. Here we report successful therapy of a patient with diagnosis of COVID-19, severe chest pain and significant shortness of breath, using radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy (rESWT). The latter started seven days after beginning of symptoms and drug therapy without success, and involved daily application of 15.000 to 20.000 radial extracorporeal shock waves over the intercostal muscles as well as the paravertebral muscles of the thoracic and lumbar spine, diaphragm and flanks. Immediately after the first rESWT session the patient experienced significant pain relief and improvement of breathing. Four days later the pain had completely subsided and breathing was largely normalized. This type of noninvasive, non-pharmacologic treatment could help many COVID-19 patients or patients who still suffer from breathing problems weeks after having been infected with SARS-CoV-2, giving them back quality of life.

Background: Spine shape parameters, such as leg length, kyphotic or lordotic angle, are influenced by low back pain. There is also evidence that the thoracolumbar fascia plays a role in such pa-thologies. This study examined the immediate effects of a myofascial release technique (MFR) on the thoracolumbar fascia and of an osteopathic treatment (OMT) on postural parameters in pa-tients with acute low back pain (aLBP). Methods: This study was a single-blind randomized pla-cebo-controlled trial. Seventy-one subjects (43.8 ± 10.5 years) suffering from aLBP were randomly and blinded assigned to three groups to be treated with MFR, OMT or a placebo intervention. Spinal shape parameters (functional leg length discrepancy (fLLD), kyphotic angle, lordotic an-gle) were measured before and after the intervention using video raster stereography. Results: Within the MFR group, fLLD reduced by 5.2 mm, p < 0.001 and kyphotic angle by 8.2 degrees, p < 0.001. Within the OMT group, fLLD reduced by 4.5 mm, p < 0.001 and kyphotic angle by 8.4 °, p = 0.007. Conclusion: MFR and OMT have an influence on fLLD and the kyphotic angle in aLBP patients. The interventions could have a regulating effect on the impaired neuromotor control of the lumbar muscles.

With the advent of real-time MRI, the motion and passage of cerebrospinal fluid can be visualized without gating and exclusion of low-frequency waves. This imaging modality gives insights into low-volume, rapidly oscillating cardiac-driven movement as well as sustained, high-volume, slowly oscillating inspiration-driven movement.Inspiration means a spontaneous or artificial increase in the intrathoracic dimensions independent of body position. Alterations in thoracic diameter enable the thoracic and spinal epidural venous compartments to be emptied and filled, producing an upward surge of cerebrospinal fluid inside the spine during inspiration; this surge counterbalances the downward pooling of venous blood toward the heart.Real-time MRI, as a macroscale in vivo observation method, could expand our knowledge of neurofluid dynamics, including how astrocytic fluid preloading is adjusted and how brain buoyancy and turgor are maintained in different postures and zero gravity.Along with these macroscale findings, new microscale insights into aquaporin-mediated fluid transfer, its sensing by cilia and its tuning by nitric oxide will be reviewed. By incorporating clinical knowledge spanning several disciplines, certain disorders—congenital hydrocephalus with Chiari malformation, idiopathic intracranial hypertension and adult idiopathic hydrocephalus—are interpreted and reviewed according to current concepts, from the basics of the interrelated systems to their pathology.

Enclosed public spaces are the hotspots for airborne disease transmission. To measure and maintain indoor air quality in terms of airborne transmission, an open source, low cost and distributed array of Particulate Matter Sensors has been developed and named as Dynamic Aerosol Transport for Indoor Ventilation or DATIV system. This system can use multiple Particulate Matter Sensors (PMS) simultaneously and can be remotely controlled using a Raspberry Pie based operating system. The data acquisition system can be easily operated using the GUI within any common browser installed on a remote device such as a PC or Smartphone with corresponding IP address. The software architecture and validation measurements are presented together with possible future developments.

The synthesis and crystal structure of pyrazine-2,5-diyldimethanol (pzydmH2, C8H8N2O2) a new symmetric water-soluble N,O-chelating tetra-dentate organic ligand is reported and an environmentally friendly method was used to synthesize coordination compounds in water under ambient conditions from the reaction of pzydmH2 with the halide salts of Cu(II), Zn(II), Hg(II) and Cd(II): {[Cu(pzydmH2)0.5(µ-Br)(Br)(H2O)]·H2O}n 1, {[Zn2(pzydmH2)(µ-Cl)(Cl)3(H2O)]·H2O}n 2, [Hg2(pzydmH2)0.5(µ-Cl)2(Cl)2]n 3, {[Cd2(pzydmH2)(µ-Cl)4]·H2O}n 4, and {[Cd2(pzydmH2)(µ-Br)4]·H2O}n 5. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that 1-3 are 1D coordination polymers and 4 and 5 are 3D coordination networks, all constructed by bridging pyrazine-2,5-diyldimethanol and halogen ions. The hydroxyl groups in the organic linker extend the 1D chains to non-covalent 3D networks. In all non-covalent and covalent 3D networks water molecules were trapped by strong hydrogen bond interactions. Supramolecular analysis revealed strong O-H···O, O-H···N, O-H···X and week of C-H···O, C-H···X (X = Cl, Br) hydrogen bonds, as well as π-π(pyrazine ring), metal-halogen···π(pyrazine ring) and O-H···ring(5-membered chelate ring) interactions. Also X···O weak halogen bonds are present in 1-5 (X = Cl and Br).

This study investigated the factors that influence consumer acceptance of fungus-resistant grape varieties (FRGV) in Germany. The qualitative research methodology involved conducting semi-structured interviews including sensory evaluation test with focus groups consisting of 48 consumers, and the data were evaluated using content analysis. The findings revealed that the attractiveness of a grape variety is determined by four distinct attributes. Furthermore, FRGV can be made more attractive to consumers by using denominations based on established grape varieties or by using and associating them with their sensory patterns. The sensory acceptance of FRGV varies significantly across consumer segments and vinification methods. Providing relevant information about the benefits of resistant grape varieties has a positive impact on consumer acceptance, and the level of interest and relevance varies by the target group. The study suggests that it is possible to enhance consumer acceptance by offering attractive grape varieties, targeting group-specific sensory profiles and engaging in storytelling campaigns that educate consumers about the advantages of resistant grapes.

Laser therapy devices (LTDs) operating with near-infrared laser light are increasingly being used in sports medicine. For several reasons the users cannot evaluate whether or not such devices emit laser beams according to the specifications provided by the manufacturer and the settings of the device. In this study the laser beams from two different LTDs that can be used in sports medicine were thoroughly characterized by measuring the emitted power, pulse shapes and lengths, and spatial intensity distributions using professional, high-fidelity laser measurement technology. This was repeated for three units of each LDT independently to distinguish problems of individual units from potential intrinsic instrument design errors. The laser beams from the units of one LTD agreed with the settings at the device, with the measured average power for these units being within 3.3% of the set power. In contrast, the laser beams from the units of the other LTD showed large deviations between the settings and the actual emitted light. This device came with three laser diodes that could be used independently and simultaneously. The average power differed greatly between the units as well as between the laser diodes within each unit. Some laser diodes emitted essentially no light, which could lead to a lack of treatment of patients. Other laser diodes emitted much more power than set at the device (up to 230%) that could result in skin irritations or burnings of patients. These findings indicate a need for better standardization and consistency of therapeutic laser light sources.

There is increasing interest in the application of near-infrared (NIR) laser light for the treatment of various musculoskeletal disorders. The present study thoroughly examined the physical characteristics of laser beams from two different laser therapy devices that are commercially available for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. Then, these laser beams were used to measure the penetration depth in various biological tissues from different animal species. The key result of the present study was the finding that for all investigated tissues, most of the initial light energy was lost in the first one to two millimeters, more than 90% of the light energy was absorbed within the first ten millimeters, and there was hardly any light energy left after 15 – 20 mm of tissue. Furthermore, the investigated laser therapy devices fundamentally differed in several laser beam parameters that can have an influence on how light is transmitted through tissue. Overall, the present study showed that a laser therapy device that is supposed to reach deep layers of tissue for treatments of musculoskeletal disorders should operate with a wavelength between 800 nm and 905 nm, a top-hat beam profile, and it should emit very short pulses with a large peak power.

Ultrafast chip nanocalorimetry opens up remarkable possibilities in materials science by allowing samples to be cooled and heated at extremely high rates. Due to heat transfer limitations, controlled ultrafast cooling and heating can only be achieved for tiny samples in calorimeters with a micron-thick membrane. Even if ultrafast heating can be controlled under quasi-adiabatic conditions, ultrafast controlled cooling can be performed if the calorimetric cell is located in a heat-conducting gas. It was found that the maximum possible cooling rate increases as 1/r0 with decreasing radius r0 of the hot zone of the membrane. The possibility of increasing the maximum cooling rate with decreasing r0 was successfully implemented in many experiments. In this regard, it is interesting to answer the question: what is the maximum possible cooling rate in such experiments if r0 tends to zero? Indeed, on submicron scales, the mean free path of gas molecules lmfp becomes comparable to r0, and the temperature jump that exists at the membrane/gas interface becomes significant. Considering the limitation associated with thermal resistance at the membrane/gas interface and considering the transfer of heat through the membrane, we show that the controlled cooling rate can reach billions of K/s, up to 1010 K/s.

Even today, the automatic digitisation of scanned documents in general but especially the automatic optical music recognition (OMR) of historical manuscripts still remain an enormous challenge, since both handwritten musical symbols and text have to be identified. This paper focuses on the Medieval so-called square notation developed in the 11th-12th century, which is already composed of staff lines, staves, clefs, accidentals, and neumes, that are roughly spoken connected single notes. The aim is to develop an algorithm that captures both the neume and pitch, that is melody information that can be used to reconstruct the original writing. Our pipeline is similar to the standard OMR approach and comprises a novel staff line and symbol detection algorithm, based on deep Fully Convolutional Networks (FCN), which perform pixel-based predictions for either staff lines or symbols and their respective types. Then, the staff line detection combines the extracted lines to staves and yields an F1-score of over 99% for both detecting lines and complete staves. For the music symbol detection we choose a novel approach that skips the step to identify neumes and instead directly predicts note components (NCs) and their respective affiliation to a neume. Furthermore, the algorithm detects clefs and accidentals. Our algorithm recognises these symbols with an F1-score of over 96% if the type is ignored and predicts the true symbol sequence of a staff with a diplomatic symbol accuracy rate (dSAR) of about 87%. If only the NCs without their respective connection to a neume, all clefs, and accidentals are of interest the algorithm reaches an harmonic symbol accuracy rate (hSAR) of approximately 90%.

Various tissue resident stem cells are receiving attention from basic scientists and clinicians as they hold certain promise for regenerative medicine. This paper is intended to clarify and facilitate the understanding, development and adoption of regenerative medicine in general and specifically of therapies based on unmodified, autologous adipose-derived regenerative cells (UA-ADRCs). To this end, results of landmark experiments on stem cells and stem cell therapy performed in the labs of the authors are summarized, the most intriguing of which are the following: (i) vascular associated mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be isolated from different organs (adipose tissue, heart, skin, bone marrow and skeletal muscle) and differentiated into ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm, providing significant support for the hypothesis of the existence of a small, ubiquitously distributed, universal vascular associated stem cell with full pluripotency; (ii) the orientation and differentiation of MSCs are driven by signals of the respective microenvironment; and (iii) these stem cells irrespective of the tissue origin exhibit full pluripotent differentiation potential without any prior genetic modification or the need for culturing. They can be obtained from a small amount of adipose tissue when using the appropriate technology for isolating the cells, and can be harvested from and re-applied to the same patient at the point of care without the need for complicated processing, manipulation, culturing, expensive equipment, or repeat interventions. These findings demonstrate the potential of UA-ADRCs for triggering the development of an entire new generation of medicine for the benefit of patients and of healthcare systems.

Deterioration of concrete subjected to freezing and thawing climatic conditions is one of most important factors affecting the durability of concrete infrastructure in cold climates. The freeze-thaw resistance of cementitious materials like concrete and mortar can be determined by the CDF test (Capillary Suction of De-icing chemicals and Freeze-Thaw Test). Here, concrete specimens are subjected to repeated freeze-thaw cycles with simultaneous addition of de-icing salt and the amount of material weathered near the surface is determined. For concretes with adequate freeze-thaw resistance, this test method works very well. However, specimens with inadequate or unknown performance often experience increased edge weathering, which is caused by the detachment of the lateral isolation tape. The increasing edge influence thus leads to a falsification of the results and consequently to an underestimation of the actual freeze-thaw resistance of the material. In materials research in particular, however, concretes with high levels of weathering are studied in order to be able to investigate various factors of influence on the freeze-thaw resistance of concretes in a targeted manner. This paper presents a novel methodology that delivers new information regarding the weathering of CDF test samples and the associated distribution function of the height decrease using high resolution 3D scan data. The results indicate a correlation between the progression of the distribution function and the sample's maximum aggregate size. The change of the sample volume can be used to support the weathering results of the standard CDF methodology. The increase of the surface area is used to estimate the tortuosity of the sample surface. It indicates an asymptotic curve approaching a specific maximum value, which is dependent on the the weathering depth of the sample.

In the theoretical treatment of crystallization it is commonly assumed that relaxation processes of the liquid proceed fast as compared to crystal nucleation and growth processes. Actually, it is supposed that the liquid is located always in the metastable state corresponding to the current values of pressure and temperature. However, near and below the glass transition temperature, Tg, this condition is commonly not fulfilled. In such cases, in the treatment of crystallization, deviations of the state of the liquid from the respective metastable equilibrium state have to be accounted for in determining the kinetic coefficients governing the crystallization kinetics, the thermodynamic driving force of crystallization, and the surface tension of the aggregates of the newly evolving crystal phase including the surface tension of critical clusters affecting considerably the crystal nucleation rate. These factors may considerably influence the course of the overall crystallization process. A theoretical analysis of the resulting effects is given in the present paper by numerical solutions of the J(ohnson)–M(ehl)–A(vrami)–K(olmogorov)–equation employed as the tool to model the overall crystallization kinetics and by analytical estimates of the crystallization peak temperatures in dependence on cooling and heating rates. The results are shown to be in good agreement with experimental data. Possible extensions of the theory to be explored in future analysis are anticipated.

Coronaviruses are a large family of diverse enveloped RNA viruses found in numerous animal species. They are well-known for their ability to cross species barriers and have been transmitted from bats or intermediate hosts to humans on several occasions. Four of the seven human coronaviruses (hCoVs) are responsible for approximately 20% of common colds (hCoV-229E, -NL63, -OC43, -HKU1). Two others (SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV) cause severe and frequently lethal respiratory syndromes but have only spread to very limited extents in human populations. In contrast, SARS-CoV-2, while exhibiting intermediate pathogenicity, has a profound impact on public health due to its enormous spread. In this review, we discuss which initial features of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein and subsequent adaptations to the new human host may have helped this pathogen to cause the COVID-19 pandemic. Our focus is on host forces driving changes in the Spike protein and their consequences for virus infectivity, pathogenicity, immune evasion and resistance to preventive or therapeutic agents. In addition, we discuss the significance and perspectives of broad-spectrum therapeutics and vaccines.

(1) Background: Globally, neck pain is prevalent, affecting around thirty percent of the population annually. To better understand the influence of pain on the myofascial layers, the present study investigated these on the upper trapezius muscle in unilateral, more severe neck pain. (2) Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study. Forty patients (42.2 ± 14.7) with a confirmed diagnosis of unilateral neck pain were examined using durometry and indentometry. The study evaluated stiffness, elasticity, and pressure pain threshold of both sides of the neck (symptomatic side: SS; healthy side: HS). Furthermore, the range of motion of the cervical spine (lateral flexion, rotation) was quantified using a digital goniometer. (3) Results: A significant lateral discrepancy was observed in stiffness between groups (durometry: SS – 33.76 ± 7.78, HS – 29.75 ± 7.45, p&lt;0.001; indentometry: SS – 59.73 ± 33.93, HS – 4.18 ± 12.69, p=0.024). In contrast, no differences were found between the comparison sides of the upper trapezius for the parameter’s elasticity (SS – 0.101 ± 1.09, HS – -0.006 ± 0.29, p=0.416), cervical spine mobility (lateral flexion: SS – 37.08 ± 8.15, HS – 37.73 ± 7.61, p=0.559; rotation: SS – 73.55 ± 12.37, HS – 72.85 ± 11.10, p=0.660) and algometry (SS – 36.41 ± 17.53, HS – 37.22 ± 17.00, p=0.657). (4) Conclusion: Overall, it can be concluded that more severe neck pain unilaterally shows differences in stiffness on the same side. Future research is needed to investigate the links.

Atmospheric corrosion of aluminum aircraft structures occurs due to numerous reasons. A typical phenomenon leading to corrosion is the deliquescence of contaminants such as salts due to changes in relative humidity (RH) caused by aircraft operation at different altitudes and climate zones. Currently, corrosion of aircrafts is controlled by scheduled inspections. In contrast, the present contribution aims for a continuous monitoring approach by using the acoustic emission (AE) method to detect and further evaluate atmospheric corrosion. The AE method is frequently used for corrosion detection at typically immersion-like conditions or for corrosion types where stress-induced cracking is involved. However, it has not yet been demonstrated for atmospheric corrosion at unloaded aluminum structures. To address this question, the present investigation uses small droplets of a corrosive sodium chloride (NaCl) solution to induce atmospheric corrosion on aluminum alloy AA2024-T351. Operating conditions of an aircraft are simulated by a controlled variation in RH. In addition, videos of the corrosion site are recorded to visually observe the corrosion process. Pitting corrosion is generated and clearly measurable AE signals are detected. An automatic video processing algorithm looking for sudden changes on the corrosion site mainly detects hydrogen bubbles formed when aluminum reacts with aqueous solutions. A clear correlation between the observed pitting corrosion, the AE and the hydrogen bubble activity and the RH, i.e., the electrolyte present at the aluminum surface, is found. Thus, the findings demonstrate the applicability of the AE method for monitoring atmospheric corrosion of aluminum aircraft structures by today’s measurement equipment. Numerous potential effects that can cause measurable AE signals are investigated and discussed. Among these, bubble activity is clearly considered to be the most emissive one.

We point out that field equations of general relativity are implied by a maximal force given by c⁴/4G, analogous to the way that special relativity is implied by a maximal speed given by c. We present some of the arguments for this equivalence. The maxi-mal force naturally plays the role of an elastic constant for space-time. Implications of the maximal force for gravitational wave measurements, cosmology and black holes are highlighted. Quantum aspects of the maximal force are discussed.

This case study investigates the heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) in a patient with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We report the case of a 58-year old male who contracted COVID-19. During his disease, 24-hour Holter electrocardiography (ECG) was performed continuously. For comparison, his 24-hour Holter ECGs from the previous 10 years were available. In this patient, COVID-19 was associated with a decrease in HR and a paradoxical decline in HRV. An abrupt decline in HRV and a decrease in HR may signal the onset of COVID-19 before common symptoms such as dry cough or fever appear. In addition, HRV and HR measurements may help to evaluate the course of the disease.

Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is a safe and effective treatment option for various pathologies of the musculoskeletal system. Many studies addressed the molecular and cellular mechanisms of action of ESWT. However, no uniform concept could be established in this matter until now. We performed a systematic review of the effects of exposure of musculoskeletal tissue to extracorporeal shock waves (ESWs) reported in the literature. The key results were as follows: (i) compared to the effects of many other forms of therapy, the clinical benefit of ESWT does not appear to be based on a single mechanism; (ii) different tissues respond to the same mechanical stimulus in different ways; (iii) just because a mechanism of action of ESWT was described in a study does not automatically mean that this mechanism was relevant to the observed clinical effect; (iv) focused ESWs and radial ESWs seem to act in a similar way; and (v) even the most sophisticated research into the effects of exposure of musculoskeletal tissue to ESWs cannot substitute clinical research in order to determine the optimum intensity, treatment frequency and localization of ESWT.

The synthesis and structure of the 4,4′-dipyridyl N,N′-donor ligand with a central thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole (tztz) unit, named Dptztz is presented. With the linker Dptztz and isophthalate (benzene-1,3-dicarboxylate, 1,3-BDC²⁻) the mixed-linker, two-dimensional coordination network [Zn(1,3-BDC)Dptztz]·DMF could be obtained (DMF = dimethylformamide), which belongs to the class of coordination polymers with interdigitated structures (CIDs). The incorporated DMF solvent molecules can be removed through solvent exchange and evacuation such that the supramolecular 3D packing of the 2D networks retains porosity for CO₂ adsorption in activated [Zn(1,3-BDC)Dptztz]. The first sorption study of a tztz-functionalized porous metal-organic framework material yields a BET surface of 417 m²/g from CO₂ adsorption. The heat of adsorption for CO₂ exhibits a relative maximum with 27.7 kJ/mol at adsorbed CO₂ of about 4 cm³/g STP which is interpreted as a gate-opening effect.

Accurately estimating the current state of local traffic scenes is one of the key problems in the development of software components for automated vehicles. In addition to details on free space and drivability, static and dynamic traffic participants, information on the semantics may also be included in the desired representation. Multi-layer grid maps allow to include all this information in a common representation. However, most existing grid mapping approaches only process range sensor measurements such as LIDAR and Radar and solely model occupancy without semantic states. In order to add sensor redundancy and diversity it is desired to add vision based sensor setups in a common grid map representation. In this work, we present a semantic evidential grid mapping pipeline including estimates for eight semantic classes that is designed for straightforward fusion with range sensor data. Unlike in other publication our representation explicitly models uncertainties in the evdiential model. We present results of our grid mapping pipeline based on a monocular vision setup and a stereo vision setup. Our mapping resulsts are accurate and dense mapping due to the incorporation of a disparity- or depth-based ground surface estimation in the inverse perspective mapping. We conclude this paper by providing a detailed quantitative evaluation based on real traffic scenarios in the Kitti odometry benchmark and demonstrating the advantages compared to other semantic grid mapping approaches.

We report a novel dual-band barrier infrared detector (DBIRD) design using type-II superlattices (T2SLs). The DBIRD structure consists of back-to-back barrier diodes: a "blue channel" (BC) diode which has an nBp architecture, an n-type layer of larger bandgap for absorbing blue band infrared/barrier/p-type layer, and a "red channel" (RC) diode which has an pBn architecture, a p-type layer of smaller bandgap for absorbing red band infrared/barrier/n-type layer. Each has a unipolar barrier using a T2SL lattice matched to a GaSb substrate to impede the flow of majority carriers from the absorbing layer. Each channel in the DBIRD can be independently accessed with a low bias voltage, as is preferable for high-speed thermal imaging. Device modeling of DBIRDs and simulation results of the current-voltage characteristics under dark and illuminated conditions are also presented. They predict that dual-band operation of the DBIRD will produce low dark currents and 27-33% quantum efficiencies for the in-band photons in the BC with λc=5.58 μm, and a nearly-constant 33% in the RC with λc=8.05 μm. The spectral quantum efficiency of the BC for 500 K blackbody radiation is approximately 20% over the range of λ=3 − 4.2 μm, while that of the RC has a peak of 42% at 5.7 μm. The DBIRD may provide improved high-speed dual-band imaging in comparison with NBn dual-band detectors.

Proposal: Pineal region cysts (PCs) may affect the tectum and aqueduct and cause deep central vein congestion and endocrine dysfunction. In addition to headaches, PC often causes a broad range of symptoms, leading to prolonged diagnosis and therapy. The aims of this study are to reveal parameters that might explain the ambiguity of the symptoms and to identify factors association with the respiration driven neurofluid preload system. Methods: This retrospective study included 28 paediatric patients (mean age 11.6 years) who received surgical treatment for pineal region cysts and 18 patients (mean age 11.3 years) who were followed conservatively. Multiple clinical patient characteristics, such as symptoms, time to neuroimaging diagnosis, cyst size, ventricular indices, head circumference and postoperative outcome, were analysed. Four patients were investigated for CSF dynamics with real-time MRI. The mean follow-up time was 1.6 years. Results: The most common early onset symptoms were headaches (92%), blurred vision (42.8%), sleep disturbances (39.3%) and vertigo (32.1%). Tectum contact was observed in 82% of patients, and MRI examinations revealed that imaging flow void signals were absent in 32.1% of patients. The mean cyst diameters were 13.7 mm for the axial axis and 15.6 mm for the longitudinal axis. Together with a postoperative flow void signal, 4 patients recovered their respiration-driven CSF upward flow, which was not detectable before OP. After operation in 92.1% of patients, the leading symptoms improved without any mortality or morbidity. Conclusion: Despite proximity to the tectum and aqueduct with frequently absent aqueductal flow void signals, hydrocephalic ventricular enlargement was never detected. Data from real-time MRI depicted a reduced preoperative filling of the ventricular CSF compartments, indicating a diminished fluid preload, which recovered postoperatively.

Purpose: ETV is indicated for treating obstructions of major CSF pathways. The outcome evaluation often yields success rates of only +- 70% for shunt independency. Hence, compromised CSF absorption seems to occur more often than expected. We searched for parameters suitable to assess the involved CSF dynamics. Material and Methods: This was a prospective study in 58 paediatric patients (7.7 yrs. mean age) between 2000 and 2020 with aqueductal stenosis (11/58), obstruction of the aqueduct due to tumor growth (22/58),and connatal hydrocephalus (9/58). The average follow-up interval was 4.7 years. Head circumferences, Evans- and fronto-occipital horn ratios before and 3 months after ETV were obtained as Delta-indices. Furthermore ETV success score (ETVSS), the patency of the aqueduct pre- and postoperatively as well as of the stoma were assessed by flow void signs on MRI. Evaluation on MRI also included the shape of the floor of the 3^rd ventricle and whether or not the septum pellucidum showed signs of perforation. Four patients were analysed pre- and postoperatively via real-time MRI. At least the educational status regarding protected or unprotected education was analyzed. Results:The prevalence of a bowing of the floor of the 3^rd ventricle was 72%, and the ETVSS was 71.0%. In 26 children a septal perforations or an open aqueduct prior to ETV (19) could be identified. Mean ER and FOHR were reduced by 0.03 and 0.05 , respectively. Maintained open (flow void on postop MRI) or perforation could successfully be carried out during endoscopic surgery in 44 patients (79%). The disproportionate increase of head circumference abated in 79.4% of patients. New shunt insertion occurred in 16 patients (27.5%). Intraoperatively upward CSF flow was detected in all cases. Statistical analyses(ANOVA) showed significant results for unprotected education, postoperative ER and FOHR but not for open stoma. Conclusion: The identification of flow through the stoma on postoperative MRI seems to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for ETV success. In our study, ventricular volumes were used as parameters to determine success rates as well as unprotected education. Furthermore, enabling upward CSF flow driven by inspiration seems crucial for successful ETV.

The sensitivity of macroscopic mechanical and thermal properties of grey cast iron is computationally investigated for a variety of graphite microstructures over a wide temperature range. In order to represent common graphite microstructures according to DIN EN ISO 945-1, a synthetic approach is used to algorithmically generate simulation domains. The developed mechanical and thermal model is applied in a large simulation study. The study includes statistical volume elements of the graphite microstructures classes GG-15 and IA2 to IA5, with 10 v.-%, 11 v.-% and 12 v.-% graphite, respectively, for a temperature range from 20 °C to 750 °C. Homogenized macroscopic quantities such as the Young's moduli, Poisson's ratios, yield strengths and thermal conductivities are predicted for the different microstructure classes by applying simulation and data analysis tools of the research data infrastructure Kadi4Mat.

(1) Background: The proportion of fully mechanized harvesting systems in Austria is constantly increasing especially because of the technological development of the machines, which allows them to drive on increasingly steep terrain. This leads to additional challenges and potential hazards for the operators, which may also cause higher stress levels. The purpose of this study is to develop and debate a new set of methodologies for determining time and space resolved psychophysiology data to analyze stressful and non-stressful work situations for harvester and forwarder operators; (2) Methods: we suggest a study protocol to analyze a) tasks performed by the driver, b) environmental factors, like slope gradient, c) the psychophysiological response of experts during these tasks, and d) evaluate the worker´s subjective stress and fatigue before and after a harvest operation. (3) Results: Within this manuscript we present a study protocol based on quantitative and qualitative methods, like time and space resolved psychophysiology, questionnaires, qualitative interviews, as well as video and sensor-based analysis of environmental and machine data. The first results from real measurements of a forwarder driver are presented; (4) Conclusions: This multimodal research protocol serves to explore the relationship between stress, fatigue, and performed tasks. Through our quantitative and qualitative methodology, researchers can improve the health and safety of forest workers at work, improve their productivity and reduce damage to remaining trees.

Periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PdLFs) exert important functions in oral tissue and bone remodeling following mechanical forces, which are specifically applied during orthodontic tooth movement (OTM). Located between the teeth and the alveolar bone, mechanical stress activates the mechanomodulatory functions of PdLFs including the regulation of local inflammation and activation of further bone-remodeling cells. Previous studies suggested the growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) as important pro-inflammatory regulator during the PdLFs mechanoresponse. However, the precise mechanism remains to be clarified, as GDF15 may act both intracrine and by receptor binding, potentially also in an autocrine manner. The extent to which PdLFs are susceptible to extracellular GDF15 has not yet been investigated. Thus, our study aims to examine the influence of GDF15 exposure on cellular properties of PdLFs and their mechanoresponse, which seems particularly relevant regarding disease- and aging-associated elevated GDF15 serum levels. Therefore, in addition to investigating potential GDF15 receptors, we analyzed its impact on proliferation, survival, senescence, and differentiation of human PdLFs, demonstrating a pro-osteogenic effect upon long-term stimulation. Furthermore, we detected an altered force-related inflammation and impaired osteoclast differentiation. Overall, our data suggest a major impact of extracellular GDF15 on PdLFs differentiation and their mechanoresponse.

Chitosan treatment results in significantly lower serum LDL cholesterol concentrations. To assess the working mechanism of chitosan, we measured serum surrogate markers of cholesterol absorption (campesterol, sitosterol, cholestanol), synthesis (lathosterol, lanosterol, desmosterol), and degradation to bile acids (7α-hydroxy-cholesterol, 27-hydroxy-cholesterol) corrected for cholesterol concentration (R_sterols). Over 12 weeks, 116 obese subjects (BMI 31.7, range 28.1 – 38.9 kg/m²) were studied under chitosan (n=61) and placebo treatment (n=55). The participants were briefly educated regarding improvement of nutrition quality and energy expenditure. Daily chitosan intake was 3200 mg. Serum LDL cholesterol concentration decreased significantly more (P=0.0252) under chitosan (-8.67 ± 18.18 mg/dl, 5.6%) than under placebo treatment (-1.00 ± 24.22 mg/dl, 0.9%). This reduction was not associated with the expected greater decreases in markers of cholesterol absorption under chitosan treatment. Also, increase in markers of cholesterol synthesis and bile acid synthesis under chitosan treatment was not any greater than under placebo treatment. In conclusion, a significant selective reduction of serum LDL cholesterol under chitosan treatment is neither associated with a reduction of serum surrogate markers of cholesterol absorption nor with an increases of markers for cholesterol and bile acid synthesis.

In this work, a small-strain phase-field model is presented, which is able to predict crack propagation in systems with anisotropic brittle and ductile constituents. To model the anisotropic brittle crack propagation, an anisotropic critical energy release rate is used. The brittle constituents behave linear-elastically, in a transversely isotropic manner. Ductile crack growth is realised by a special crack degradation function, depending on the accumulated plastic strain, which is calculated by following the J2-plasticity theory. The mechanical jump conditions are applied in solid-solid phase transition regions. The influence of the relevant model parameters on a crack, propagating through a planar brittle-ductile interface, and furthermore a crack developing in a domain with a single anisotropic brittle ellipsoid, embedded in a ductile matrix, is investigated. We demonstrate that important properties, concerning the mechanical behaviour of grey cast iron, such as the favoured growth of cracks along the graphite lamellae and the tension-compression load asymmetry of the stress-strain response, are covered by the model. The behaviour is analysed on basis of a simulation domain consisting of three differently oriented elliptical inclusions, embedded in a ductile matrix, which is subjected to tensile and compressive load. The used material parameters correspond to graphite lamellae and pearlite.

Background: The thoracolumbar fascia (TLF) is thought to play a role in the development of LBP, but it is not yet clear which factor of TLF changes is a cause and which is an effect. Therefore, some studies used the cross-correlation function (CCR) to reveal time-dependent relationships between biomechanical and neuromotor factors. Methods: Ten patients with acute low back pain (aLBP) were matched to healthy controls. Simultaneous recording of surface electromyography (sEMG) of the erector spinae muscle (ES) and dynamic ultrasound (US) images of TLF deformation were performed during trunk extension. CCR functions and Granger causality were used to describe the relationship between the two measures. Results: CCR time lags were significant higher in the aLBP group (p = 0.04). Granger causality (GC) showed a direct effect of TLF deformation on ES activation only in the aLBP group (p &lt; 0.03). Conclusions: The results suggest that in aLBP, ES activity is significantly affected by TLF, whereas this relation-ship is completely random in healthy subjects studied with CCR and GC comparisons of dynamic US imaging and sEMG data signals. Fascia-related disturbances in neuromotor control, particularly due to altered muscle spindle functions, are suspected as a possible mechanism behind this.

Inflammation involves the activation of innate immune cells and is believed to play an important role in the development and progression of both infectious and non-infectious diseases such as neurodegeneration, rheumatoid arthritis or cancer. Inflammation in the brain is marked by the upregulation of the translocator protein (TSPO) in microglia. Moreover, high TSPO levels are found, for example in macrophages during rheumatoid arthritis and in malignant tumor cells compared to its relatively low physiological expression. The same applies for cycloxygenase-2 (COX-2), which is constitutively expressed in the kidney, brain, thymus and gastrointestinal tract, but induced in microglia, macrophages and synoviocytes during inflammation. This puts TSPO and COX-2 in the spotlight as important targets for the diagnosis of inflammation. Imaging modalities, such as positron emission tomography and single-photon emission tomography, can be used to localize inflammatory processes and to track their progression over time. They could also enable to monitor the efficacy of therapy and predict its outcome. This review focuses on the current development of PET and SPECT tracers not only for the detection of neuroinflammation, but also for emerging diagnostic measures in infectious and other non-infectious diseases like rheumatic arthritis, cancer, cardiac inflammation and in lung diseases.

Remote sensing data are essential for monitoring Earth’s surface waters, especially since the number of publicly available in-situ data is declining. Satellite altimetry provides valuable information on water level and its variations for lakes, reservoirs, and rivers. In combination with satellite imagery, the derived time series allow for monitoring lake storage changes and river discharge. However, satellite altimetry is limited in spatial resolution due to its measurement geometry, only providing information in nadir direction beneath the satellite’s orbit. In a case study in the Mississippi River Basin (MRB), this study investigates the potential and the limitations of past and current satellite missions to monitor basin-wide storage changes. For that purpose an automated target detection is developed and the extracted lake surfaces are merged with the satellites’ tracks. This reveals that the current altimeter configuration misses about 80% of all lakes larger than 0.1 km2 in the MRB, and still 20% of lakes larger than 10 km2, corresponding to 30% and 7% of surface area, respectively. Past altimetry configurations perform even worse. From the water bodies represented by a global hydrology model, at least 91% of targets and 98% of storage changes are captured by the current altimeter configuration. This will significantly improve with the launch of the planned SWOT mission.

The aim of this study is to study the effect of aging in different media (deionized water and artificial saliva) on the force/torque generation by thermoplastic orthodontic aligners. Ten thermoformed aligners made of Essix ACE® thermoplastic sheets were aged in deionized water and in artificial saliva over two weeks at 37 C, five in each medium. The force/torque generated on upper second premolar (Tooth 25) of a resin model was measured at day 0 (before aging), 2, 4, 6, 10, and 14, using a biomechanical test set-up. The results showed that the thermocycling of aligners has no significant impact on their force/torque decay. No significant differences were also found in force/torque between the aligners stored in deionized water nor artificial saliva. The vertical extrusion-intrusion forces were measured in the range of 1.4 to 4.6 N, the horizontal oro-vestibular forces were 1.3 to 2.5 N, while the torques on mesio-distal rotation were 5.4 to 41.7 Nmm. It could be concluded that the influence of saliva on the mechanical properties can be classified as insignificant, and no significant difference between artificial aging in deionized water or artificial saliva was observed.

The Selective Paste Intrusion (SPI) method is a layer-by-layer additive manufacturing technique that allows for the production of complex geometries in concrete elements by selectively bonding aggregates with cement paste in a particle bed. To create reinforced concrete, the Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) process shall be integrated into SPI. This technique allows the production of almost free-formed reinforcement and thus complements the advantage of SPI to produce free-formed structures of almost any geometry. However, integration of WAAM into SPI poses a considerable challenge, as high temperatures are generated during the welding process. These temperatures can negatively affect the rheological properties of the cement paste, in turn the penetration behavior of the paste in the particle bed and, subsequently, the mechanical properties of the hardened concrete. A possible passive cooling strategy is to increase the protruding length of the reinforcement bars out of the particle-bed. This requires that the distance of the print nozzle to the particle bed is as well increased, since it must be possible to move it across the reinforcement. The objective was thus to investigate the effect of that distance on print quality and to quantify a maximum allowable distance for an adequate print quality (for the printer setting used) in terms of shape accuracy and concrete strength. Compressive and flexural strength tests as well as geometrical measurements using a 3D scanning method were performed on specimen, printed with varying print nozzle to particle bed distances. It can be stated that for the used SPI print-heads, nozzle-types and parameter settings, the distance between the nozzle and the particle bed should not exceed 50 mm to ensure sufficient print quality in both shape accuracy and mechanical strength.

Background: Health inequity (HI) remains a major challenge in public health. Improving the health of children with low socioeconomic status (SES) can help to reduce overall HI in children. Childhood obesity is a global problem, entailing several adverse health effects. It is crucial to assess influencing factors for adoption, implementation and sustainment of interventions. This review aims to identify articles reporting about influencing factors for the implementation of school-based interventions promoting obesity prevention behaviors in children with low SES. It aims to critically appraise the articles’ quality, assess influencing factors, categorize and evaluate them, and to discuss possible implications. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in 7 databases with the following main inclusion criteria: 1) school-based interventions and 2) target group aged 5–14 years. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, its five domains (intervention characteristics, inner setting, outer setting, characteristics of individuals, process) along with 39 constructs within these domains were used to deductively analyze the data. We grouped the articles with regard to the characteristics of the interventions in simple and complex interventions. For each domain, and for the groups of simple and complex interventions, the most commonly reported influencing factors are identified. Results: 6452 articles were screened, and 16 met all eligibility criteria. Included articles applied mixed methods (n=10), qualitative (n=5) and quantitative design (n=1). Of these, five were considered to report simple interventions and eleven were considered to report complex interventions. In total, 295 influencing factors were assessed. Aspects of the inner setting were reported in every study, aspects of the outer setting were the least reported domain, and in the group of simple interventions not reported at all. In the inner setting, most reported influencing factors were time (n=7), scheduling (n=6) and communication (n=6). Conclusion: This review found a wide range of influencing factors for implementation. Most important influencing factors need to be assessed for every setting. Including all stakeholders involved in the implementation process enhances the prioritization of the most important influencing factors for the specific setting. More empirical research and practical guidance are needed to promote obesity prevention behaviors among children with low SES.

Two-wheeler vehicles are the most significant mode of transportation for Kenyans in both rural and urban regions thereby contributing to local air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The transition to electric two-wheeler vehicles can make a significant contribution to reducing GHG and improving the socio-economic lives of people living in rural Kenya. Re-newable energy systems can considerably contribute to the charging of electric two-wheeled vehicles, thus leading to the reduction of carbon emissions and the expansion of renewable energy penetration in rural Kenya. Therefore, this paper focuses on integrating and modelling electric two-wheeled vehicles (e-bikes) into an off-grid photovoltaic Water-Energy Hub located in the Lake Victoria Region of Western Kenya using the Conventional and Renewable Energy Opti-mization (CARNOT) Toolbox in MATLAB / Simulink. Electricity demand data obtained from the Water-Energy Hub was investigated and analysed. Potential solar energy surplus was identified and electric two-wheeler vehicles were integrated based on the surplus. A field measurement investigation on the energy consumption of the electric two-wheeler vehicles based on the rider’s driving behaviour was also carried. The annual electricity demand of 27,267 kWh, photovoltaic (PV) electricity production of 37,785 kWh with an electricity deficit of 370 kWh were obtained from the simulation results. To reduce the electricity deficit, a load optimisation algorithm was de-veloped to optimally integrate the electric 2-wheeler vehicle into the Water-Energy Hub. It was found that using the load optimisation algorithm, the annual electricity deficit was reduced to 1 kWh and the annual electricity demand was increased by 11% (30,767 kWh) which is enough to charge 4 additional electric two-wheeler batteries daily.

Iron-containing nickel sulfides, selenides, and sulfoselenides were synthesized via a simple two-step hydrothermal reaction (temperature 160 °C) for their application as electrocatalysts in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in an alkaline solution (1 mol L–1 KOH). The study demonstrated that iron-containing nickel cobalt sulfides and selenides exhibit superior OER performance with lower overpotentials compared to iron-free nickel cobalt sulfide and selenide, which highlights the significant role of iron in enhancing OER nickel cobalt electrocatalysts: Fe0.1Ni1.4Co2.9(S0.87O0.13)4, η50 = 318 mV; Fe0.2Ni1.5Co2.8(S0.9O0.1)4, η50 = 310 mV; Fe0.3Ni1.2Co2.5(S0.9O0.1)4, η50 = 294 mV; Fe0.6Ni1.2Co2.5(S0.83O0.17)4, η50 = 294 mV, Fe0.4Ni0.7Co1.6(Se0.81O0.19)4, η50 = 306 mV compared to Ni1.0Co2.1(S0.9O0.1)4, η50 = 346 mV and Ni0.7Co1.4(Se0.85O0.15)4, η50 = 355 mV (all values at current densities η50 of 50 mA cm–2). Furthermore, the iron-containing nickel cobalt sulfoselenide Fe0.5Ni1.0Co2.0(S0.57Se0.25O0.18)4 displayed exceptional OER performance with η50 = 277 mV, surpassing the benchmark RuO2 electrode with η50 = 299 mV. The superior performance of the sulfoselenide was attributed to its low charge transfer resistance (Rct) of 0.8 Ω at 1.5 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Moreover, the sulfoselenide demonstrated remarkable stability, with only a minimal increase in overpotential (η50) from 277 mV to 279 mV after a 20 h chronopotentiometry test. These findings suggest that trimetallic iron, nickel and cobalt sulfide, selenide and especially sulfoselenide materials hold promise as high-performance, cost-effective, and durable electrocatalysts for sustainable OER reactions. This study provides a valuable approach for the development of efficient electrocatalytic materials, contributing to the advancement of renewable energy technologies.

In this paper, we present a method for detecting and quantifying pathogens in water samples. The method proposes a portable dark field imaging and analysis system for quantifying E. coli concentrations in water after being labeled with magnetic particles. The system utilizes the tracking of moving micro/nano objects close to or below the optical resolution limit confined in small sample volumes (~ 10 µl). In particular, the system analyzes the effect of volumetric changes due to bacteria conjugation to magnetic microparticles (MP) on their Brownian motion while being suspended in liquid buffer solution. The method allows for a simple inexpensive implementation and the possibility to be used as point-of-need testing system. Indeed, a work-ing prototype is demonstrated with the capacity of quantifying E. coli colony forming units (CFU) at a range of 1x10³ - 6x10³ CFU/mL.

Background: In most cases, intra-labyrinthine schwannoma (ILS) occurs in patients with unilateral hearing deterioration or neurofibromatosis type II (NF II). The pattern of localization of these tumors is various but affects mostly the cochlea. Extirpation of the ILS, if hidden by the cochlea modiolus, is difficult under the aspect of complete removal. Therefore, a tissue removal device (TRD) was designed and tested in temporal bones. The principle of handling the new device is a pushing and pipe cleaner handling inside the cochlea. This present study aimed to describe the first in vivo experience with the newly developed TRD for removing cochlear intra-labyrinthine schwannoma. Methods: In three patients, the TRD was used for the tumor removal of ILS. In two patients with a cochlear schwannoma in combination with a cochlea implantation and one patient suffering from NF II, a cochlear schwannoma was removed with the TRD. The access was performed with a posterior tympanotomy, an enlarged round window approach, and an additional second-turn access. The device was inserted and extracted gradually from the second turn access until the rings were visible in the second turn access. By pushing and pipe cleaner handling, the tumors were removed. An MRI control was performed on the day postoperatively with a T1 GAD sequence. Results: Tumor removal with the TRD was performed in a 15-minute procedure. MRI control confirmed a complete removal on the postoperative day in both cases. Conclusion: In vivo handling of the device confirmed a straightforward handling for tumor removal. MRI scanning showed a complete removal of the tumor by the TRD.

The chemical graph theory is a subfield of mathematical chemistry which applies classic graph theory to chemical entities and phenomena. Chemical graphs are main data structures to represent chemical structures in cheminformatics. Computable properties of graphs lay the foundation for (quantitative) structure activity and structure property predictions - a core discipline of cheminformatics. It has a historic relevance for natural sciences, such as chemistry, biochemistry and biology, and is in the heart of modern disciplines, such as cheminformatics and bioinformatics. This review first covers the history of chemical graph theory, then provides an overview of its various techniques and applications for CASE, and finally summarises modern tools using chemical graph theory for CASE.

We developed a novel machine learning algorithm to augment clinical diagnosis of prostate cancer utilizing first and second-order texture analysis metrics and novel application of machine learning radiomics analysis. We successfully discriminated between significant prostate cancers versus non-tumor regions and provided accurate prediction between Gleason score cohorts with statistical sensitivity of greater than 0.91 sensitivity across three separate cohorts. Tumor heterogeneity and prediction between GS cohorts were quantified using two feature selection approaches and two classifiers with tuned hyperparameters (including grid search and randomized search). There was a total of 71 patients analyzed in this study. Multiparametric MRI, incorporating T2WI and the ADC maps, were used to derive radiomics features. Recursive feature elimination (RFE), the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), and two classification approaches, including a support vector machine (SVM) (with grid search) and random forest (RF) (with randomized search), were utilized to differentiate between non-tumor regions versus significant cancer and prediction among Gleason score groups. In T2WI images, the RFE feature selection approach combined with RF and SVM classifiers outperformed LASSO with SVM and RF classifiers regarding performance. The detection precision of the radiomics framework depending on multiple imaging modalities was lower than the diagnostic accuracy of single imaging modality model with every machine learning approach assessed. The best performance was achieved by combining LASSO and SVM into a model that used both T2WI and ADC. This model had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.91. Radiomic features computed from ADC and T2WI images were used to predict three groups of Gleason score using two kinds of feature selection methods (RFE and LASSO), RF and SVM classifier models with tuned hyperparameters. Using combined sequences (T2WI and ADC map images) and combined radiomics (1st and GLCM features), LASSO, with a feature selection method with RF, was able to predict G3 with the highest sensitivity at a level AUC of 0.92. To predict G3 for single sequence (T2WI images) using GLCM features, LASSO with SVM achieved the highest sensitivity with an AUC of 0.92.

The detection and enrichment of circulating melanoma cells is a challenge as the cells are very heterogeneous in terms of their biomechanical properties and surface markers. In addition, there is a lack of valid and reliable biomarkers that predict progress and therapeutic response. We here analyzed the elasticity of A375 melanoma cells applying force spectroscopy and a microfluidic method. To identify and eventually separate circulating tumor cells, it is crucial to precisely know their physical properties. First, we used standard AFM force spectroscopy, where the elasticity of the cells is calculated from indentation with a pyramidal tip. To extend the limits of measurement with a tip, we then used cantilevers without a tip to press on the cells over a large area. The resulting Young’s moduli are slightly lower and vary less without tip presumably because of the inhomogeneity of the cells. Finally, we implemented our microfluidic method. We measured single cell elasticity by analyzing its deformation in high-speed micrographs while passing a stenosis. Combining the force field and the change in shape provides the basis for a stress strain diagram. The results from microfluidic deformation analysis were in accordance with the results from force spectroscopy. The microfluidic method provides advantages over conventional methods, since it is less invasive and less likely to harm the cell during the measurement, and the whole cell is measured as one entity without contact to a stiff substrate, while force spectroscopy is limited to the contact area of the tip, and in some cases dependent of the cell substrate interaction. Consequently, microfluidic deformation analysis allows to predict the overall elastic behavior of the whole inhomogeneous cell in three-dimensional force fields. This method may contribute to improve the detection of circulation melanoma cells in the clinical practice.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) together contribute to almost 90% of all dementia cases leading to major health challenges of our time with a substantial global socioeconomic burden. While in Alzheimer’s disease, the improved understanding of Amyloid beta (Aß) mismetabolism and tau hyperphosphorylation as pathophysiological hallmarks has led to significant clinical breakthroughs, similar advances in VaD are lacking. We thus highlight here the importance of shared pathomechanisms found in AD and VaD: Endothelial damage, blood brain barrier (BBB) breakdown and hypoperfusion inducing oxidative stress, inflammation and demyelination and thus trophic uncoupling in the neurovascular unit. A dysfunctional endothelium and BBB lead to the accumulation of neurotoxic molecules and Aß through impaired clearance, which in turn leads to neurodegeneration. In this context we discuss possible neuropathological parameters, which might serve as biomarkers and thus improve diagnostic accuracy or reveal targets for novel therapeutic strategies for both forms of dementia.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are investigated for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to their structure diversity, high specific surface area, adjustable pore size and abundant active sites. However, the poor conductivity of most MOFs restricts this application. Herein, through a facile one-step solvothermal method, the Ni-based pillared metal-organic framework [Ni2(BDC)2DABCO] (BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate, DABCO = 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane), its bimetallic nickel-iron form [Ni(Fe)(BDC)2DABCO] and their modified Ketjenblack (mKB) composites were synthesized and tested towards OER in an alkaline medium (KOH 1 mol L–1). A synergistic effect of the bimetallic nickel-iron MOF and the conductive mKB additive enhance the catalytic activity of the MOF/mKB composites. All MOF/mKB composite samples (7, 14, 22, 34 wt.% mKB) indicated much higher OER performances than the MOFs and mKB alone. The Ni-MOF/mKB14 composite (14 wt. % of mKB) demonstrated an overpotential of 294 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm–2 and Tafel slope of 32 mV dec–1, which is comparable with commercial RuO2 commonly used as a benchmark material for OER. The catalytic performance of Ni(Fe)MOF/mKB14 (0.57 wt% Fe) was improved further to an overpotential of 279 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm–2. The low Tafel slope of 25 mV dec–1 as well as a low reaction resistance due to electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement confirm the excellent OER performance of the Ni(Fe)MOF/mKB14 composite. For practical applications, the Ni(Fe)MOF/mKB14 electrocatalyst was impregnated into commercial nickel foam (NF), where overpotentials of 247 and 291 mV at current densities of 10 and 50 mA cm–2, respectively, were realized. The activity was maintained for 30 h at the applied current density of 50 mA cm–2. The electrocatalytic system consisting of earth-abundant Ni and Fe metals only would be attractive for the development of efficient, practical and economical energy conversion materials for efficient OER activity.

Education outside the classroom (EOtC) can be beneficial for students. The relationship between biological stress markers and sedentary behavior (SB) plus physical activity (PA) is insufficiently evaluated in school settings. This exploratory study aims to evaluate the association between students’ cortisol, plus circulating cell-free deoxyribonucleic acid (cfDNA) levels, and their SB, light PA (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) during outdoor and indoor classes in different seasons. We assessed data from an education outside the classroom (EOtC) program (n = 48; intervention group [IG], n = 37; control group [CG], n = 11). We sampled data on 3 school-days in three seasons (fall, spring, and summer) in normal teaching indoors (CG) and outdoor lessons (IG) in the forest. SB and PA were evaluated by accelerometry, and cortisol and cfDNA levels by saliva samples. The compositional data analysis approach analyzed SB and PA. Fitted Bayesian hierarchical linear models evaluated the association between cortisol and cfDNA, and SB/LPA/MVPA. A steady decline of cortisol in the outdoor setting is associated with relatively high levels of LPA. SB and MVPA tended to exhibit a similar effect in the indoor setting. CfDNA is positively associated with a relatively high amount of SB in the IG, the same association is likely for LPA and MVPA in both groups. LPA seems to support a healthy cortisol decrease in children during outdoor lessons. The relevance of SB/PA as a composition in relation to students stress response in school should be emphasized. This study facilitates the formulation of straightforward and directed hypotheses for further research.

The availability of high quality surface observations of precipitation and volume observations by polarimetric operational radars make it possible to constrain, evaluate and validate numerical models with a wide variety of microphysical schemes. In this article, a novel particle-based Monte-Carlo microphysical model (called “McSnow”) is used to simulate the outer rain bands of Hurricane Dorian which traversed the densely instrumented precipitation research facility operated by NASA at Wallops Island, Virginia. The rain bands showed steady stratiform vertical profiles with radar signature of dendritic growth layers near −15 °C and peak reflectivity in the bright band of 55 dBZ along with polarimetric signatures of wet snow with sizes inferred to exceed 15 mm. A 2D-video disdrometer measured frequent occurrences of large drops &gt;5 mm and combined with an optical array probe the drop size distribution was well-documented in spite of uncertainty for drops &lt;0.5 mm due to high wind gusts and turbulence. The 1D McSnow control run and four numerical “experiments” were conducted and compared with observations. One of the main findings is that even at the moderate rain rate of 10 mm/h collisional breakup is essential for the shape of the drop size distribution.

In this paper an overview of waste materials in underground coal mines is presented, whereas waste materials can be of anthropogenic or geogenic origin. Complex interactions with mine water and waste materials take place, especially during mine water level rebound. Bearing in mind that under the increasing societal pressure most, if not all underground coal mines are going to be closed rather sooner than later, it is important to understand these interactions and to predict the composition and dynamics of mine water lever rebound in underground coal mines to prevent adverse effects to the environment, especially receiving waters and drinking water resources. The second part of this article focusses on the experiences gained in the Ruhr area, a closed underground coal mining region in Western Germany, where mine water rebound has been ongoing for decades. In this regard, the modelling program DMT-Boxmodel has been developed and applied to predict the hydrodynamics and hydrogeochemical development of the water rebound. As an example, simulation results of water rebound as well as solute and PCB transport in central province of Ruhr mining area are compared to the monitoring data, and predictions over 3 decades are given. The experiences gained in the mine water management in Ruhr area can be applied in mining areas worldwide.

This study introduces a compact Raman spectrometer with a 1064 nm excitation laser coupled with a fiber probe and an inexpensive motorized stage, offering a promising alternative to widely used Raman imaging instruments with 785 nm excitation lasers. The benefits of 1064 nm excitation for biomedical applications include further suppression of fluorescence background and deeper tissue penetration. The performance of the 1064 nm instrument in detecting cancer in human bladder resectates is demonstrated. Raman images with 1064 nm excitation were collected ex vivo from 10 human tumor and non-tumor bladder specimens and the results are compared to previously published Raman images with 785 nm excitation. K-Means cluster (KMC) analysis is used after pre-processing to identify Raman signatures of control, tumor, necrosis, and lipid-rich tissues. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) groups the KMC centroids of all specimens as input. The tools for data processing and hyperspectral analysis were compiled in an open source Python library called SpectraMap (SpMap). In conclusion, the 1064 nm Raman system can differentiate between tumor and non-tumor bladder tissues in a similar way to 785 nm Raman spectroscopy. These findings hold promise for future clinical hyperspectral imaging.

New experimental and clinical findings question the historic view of hydrocephalus and its 100-year-old classification. In particular, real-time MRI evaluation of CSF flow and detailed insights into brain water regulation on the molecular scale indicate the existence of at least three main mechanisms that determine the dynamics of neurofluids. (i) Inspiration is a major driving force (ii) Adequate filling of brain ventricles by balanced cerebrospinal fluid upsurge is sensed by cilia (iii) The perivascular glial network connects the ependymal surface to the pericapillary Virchow-Robin spaces. Hitherto, these aspects have not been considered a common physiologic framework improving knowledge and therapy for severe disorders of normal-pressure and post-haemorrhagic hydrocephalus, spontaneous intracranial hypotension and spaceflight disease.

The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of artificial aging by thermocycling and mechanical loading on force/torque delivery by thermoplastic orthodontic aligners. Ten thermoformed aligners made of Zendura™ thermoplastic polyurethane sheets were aged over two weeks in deionized water by thermocycling alone (n=5) and by both thermocycling and mechanical loading (n=5). The force/torque generated on upper second premolar (Tooth 25) of a plastic model was measured before aging (as control), and after 2, 4, 6, 10, and 14 days of aging, using a biomechanical set-up. Before aging, the extrusion-intrusion forces were in the range of 2.4 to 3.0 N, the oro-vestibular forces were 1.8 to 2.0 N, and the torques on mesio-distal rotation were 13.6 to 40.0 Nmm. Pure thermocycling had no significant effect on the force decay of the aligners. However, there was a significant decrease in force/torque after 2 days of aging for both thermocycling and mechanical loading aging group, which is no longer significant over 14 days of aging. In conclusion, artificial aging of aligners in deionized water with thermocycling and mechanical loading results in a significant decrease in force/torque generation. However, the mechanical loading of aligners has a greater impact than thermocycling alone.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the debonding behavior of the interface between continuously and discontinuously fiber reinforced thermoplastics using the climbing drum peel test. The study emphasizes the importance of considering different climatic boundary conditions due to the properties of thermoplastics. Specimens with varying moisture contents are prepared and tested. It is observed that an increase in moisture content initially results in a higher fracture surface energy being required to separate the two materials, but a further increase results in a decrease of the required energy. The study presents an explanatory model of increasing plasticization of the polymer due to increased polymer chain mobility, which results in more deformation energy being required to propagate the crack. The experiment is also modeled numerically for the first time with cohesive surfaces, which successfully reproduces the force-displacement curve in the experiment.

The ability to predict the skin sensitization potential of small organic molecules is of high importance to the development and safe application of cosmetics, drugs and pesticides. One of the most widely accepted methods for predicting this hazard is the rodent local lymph node assay (LLNA). The goal of this work was to develop in silico models for the prediction of the skin sensitization potential of small molecules that go beyond the state of the art, with larger LLNA data sets and, most importantly, a robust and intuitive definition of the applicability domain, paired with additional indicators of the reliability of predictions. We explored a large variety of molecular descriptors and fingerprints in combination with random forest and support vector machine classifiers. The most suitable models were tested on holdout data, on which they yielded competitive performance (Matthews correlation coefficients up to 0.52; accuracies up to 0.76; areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves up to 0.83). The most favorable models are available via a public web service at https://nerdd.zbh.uni-hamburg.de/skinDoctor/ that, in addition to predictions, provides assessments of the applicability domain and indicators of the reliability of the individual predictions.

Hypothesis: Anti-diabetic drugs modulate p-21 activated kinase (PAK) signaling Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with increased cancer risk. PAK signaling is implicated in cellular homeostasis when regulated, and cancer when unrestrained. Recent reports provided a role for PAK signaling in glucose homeostasis, but the role of PAKs in the pathogenesis of T2DM is unknown. Here we performed a mini-meta analysis to explore if anti-diabetic drugs modify PAK signaling pathways, and provide insight regarding modulation of these pathways to potentially reduce diabetes-associated cancer risk. Methods: PAK interacting partners in T2DM were identified using online STRING database. Correlation studies were performed via systematic literature review to understand the effect of anti-diabetic drugs on PAK signaling. Mini meta analysis correlated multiple clinical studies and revealed the overall clinical response rate and percentage of adverse events in piogliazone (n=53) and metformin (n=91) treated patients with PAK-associated diseases. Results: A total of 30 PAK interacting partners were identified (10: reduced beta-cell mass; 10: beta-cell dysfunction; 10: obesity-insulin resistance) which were highly associated with Wnt, and G-protein signaling. Anti-diabetic drug metformin activated signaling pathways upstream; whereas pioglitazone inhibited pathways downstream of PAK. Overall clinical response upon pioglitazone treatment was 53%. 79% of pioglitazone and 75% of metformin treated patients had adverse events. Pioglitazone reduced molecular-PAK biomarkers of proliferation (Ki67 and CyclinD1), and metformin had the opposite effect. Conclusions: PAK signaling in T2DM likely involves Wnt and G-protein signaling which may be altered by anti-diabetic drugs metformin and pioglitazone. Apart from the therapeutic limitations of adverse events, pioglitazone may be promising in chemoprevention, however long-term multi-centered studies, which initiate pioglitazone treatment early will be required to fully assess the full potential of these drugs.

Hypothesis: Anti-diabetic drugs modulate p-21 activated kinase (PAK) signaling Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with increased cancer risk. PAK signaling is implicated in cellular homeostasis when regulated, and cancer when unrestrained. Recent reports provided a role for PAK signaling in glucose homeostasis, but the role of PAKs in the pathogenesis of T2DM is unknown. Here we explored whether PAK signaling should be targeted via chemoprevention to reduce diabetes-associated cancer risk. Methods: PAK interacting partners in T2DM were identified using online STRING database. Systematic literature review provided the effect of anti-diabetic drugs on PAK signaling. Review of clinical studies revealed the overall clinical response rate and percentage of adverse events in piogliazone (n=53) and metformin (n=91) treated patients with PAK-dependent diseases. Results: A total of 30 PAK interacting partners were identified (10: reduced beta-cell mass; 10: beta-cell dysfunction; 10: obesity-insulin resistance) which were highly associated with Wnt, and G-protein signaling. Anti-diabetic drug metformin activated signaling pathways upstream; whereas pioglitazone inhibited pathways downstream of PAK. Overall clinical response upon pioglitazone treatment was 53%. 79% of pioglitazone and 75% of metformin treated patients had adverse events. Pioglitazone reduced molecular-PAK biomarkers of proliferation (Ki67 and CyclinD1), and metformin had the opposite effect. Conclusions: PAK signaling in T2DM involves Wnt and G-protein signaling which is altered by anti-diabetic drugs metformin and pioglitazone. Apart from the therapeutic limitations of adverse events, pioglitazone is promising in chemoprevention, however long-term multi-centered studies, which initiate pioglitazone treatment early will be required to fully assess the full potential of these drugs.

Bioprocesses for the production of renewable energies and materials lack efficient separation processes for the utilized microorganisms such as algae and yeasts. Dissolved air flotation (DAF) and microflotation are promising approaches to overcome this problem. The efficiency of these processes depends on the ability of microorganisms to aggregate with microbubbles in the flotation tank. In this study, different new or adapted aggregation models for microbubbles and microorganisms are compared and investigated for their range of suitability to predict the separation efficiency of microorganisms from fermentation broths. The complexity of the heteroaggregation models range from an algebraic model to a 2D population balance model (PBM) including the formation of clusters containing several bubbles and microorganisms. The effect of bubble and cell size distributions on the flotation efficiency is considered by applying PBMs, as well. To determine the impact of the model assumptions, the modeling approaches are compared and classified for their range of applicability. Evaluating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of a DAF system shows the heterogeneity of the fluid dynamics in the flotation tank. Since analysis of the streamlines of the tank show negligible backmixing, the proposed aggregation models are coupled to the CFD data by applying a Lagrangian approach.

A controlled ammonia (NH₃) release experiment was performed at a grassland site to quantify the effect of dry deposition, at the field scale between the source and the receptors (NH₃ measurement locations), on the estimates of emission rates by means of inverse dispersion modelling. NH₃ was released for 3 hours at a constant rate of Q = 6.29 mg s⁻¹ from a grid of 36 orifices spread over an area of 250 m². The increase in line-integrated NH₃ concentration was measured with open-path optical miniDOAS devices at different locations downwind of the artificial source. Using a backward Lagrangian stochastic (bLS) dispersion model (bLSmodelR), the fraction of the modelled release rate to the emitted NH₃ (Q_bLS/Q) was calculated from the measurements of the individual instruments. Q_bLS/Q was found to be systematically lower than 1, on average between 0.69 and 0.91, depending on the location of the receptor. We hypothesized that NH₃ dry deposition to grass and soil surfaces was the main factor responsible for the observed depletion of NH₃ between source and receptor. A dry deposition algorithm based on a deposition velocity approach was included in the bLS modelling. Model deposition velocities were evaluated from a ‘big‑leaf’ canopy resistance analogy. Canopy resistances (generally termed Rc) that provided Q_bLS/Q = 1 ranged from 75 to 290 s m⁻¹, showing that surface removal of NH₃ by dry deposition can plausibly explain the original underestimation of Q_bLS/Q. The inclusion of a dry deposition process in dispersion modelling is crucial for emission estimates, which are based on concentration measurements of depositing tracers downwind of homogeneous area sources or heterogeneously distributed hot spots, such as e.g. urine patches on pastures in the case of NH₃.

(1) Background: To substantiate the clinical efficacy and investigate the real-world effectiveness of the herbal medicinal product BNO 1016 in acute rhinosinusitis (ARS) in the context of antibiotic stewardship. (2) Methods: Clinical efficacy: We performed a meta-analysis of the clinical trials ARhiSi-1 and ARhiSi-2 comprising 676 patients, analysing the reduction of the Major Symptom Score (MSS) and improvement of SNOT-20. Real-world effectiveness: In addition, we performed a retrospective cohort study including 203,382 patients, comparing the real-life effectiveness of BNO 1016 in reducing ARS-related adverse outcomes in comparison to antibiotics and several other established therapies. (3) Results: Clinical efficacy: Treatment with BNO 1016 ameliorated symptoms of ARS by reducing MSS by 1.9 points (p&lt;0.0001) and improved quality of life (QoL) for patients by improving SNOT-20 by 3.5 points (p=0.001) in comparison to placebo. In patients with moderate/severe symptoms, the positive effects of BNO 1016 were even more pronounced (MSS: –2.3 points (p&lt;0.0001); SNOT-20: –4.9 points (p=0.0158)) compared to placebo. Real-world effectiveness: Treatment with BNO 1016 was as effective or significantly more effective in reducing the risk for adverse ARS-related outcomes such as follow-up antibiotic prescriptions, sick leave ≥7 days or medical appointments due to ARS, especially when compared to antibiotics. (4) Conclusions: BNO 1016 is a safe and effective treatment for ARS that can help reduce the overuse of antibiotics.

The reduction of PV prices and interest in energy independence accelerate the adoption of residential battery storage. This storage can support various functions of an energy system undergoing decarbonization. In this work, operative benefits of the storage from the system perspective, namely, generation cost reduction and congestion mitigation, are investigated. Germany is chosen as a case study due to its strong reliance on variable renewable energy. For the analysis, an economic dispatch model with a high spatial resolution is coupled with a Pan-European transmission grid model. It is shown that the system's generation costs are highest when the assets are used only to maximize the PV self-consumption, and the costs are lowest when the storage also reacts to the market dynamics. This amounts to 6% cost reduction. Both operation strategies result in an equal level of grid congestion and infrastructure loading. This is improved with a strategy that accounts regional peak reduction as a secondary objective. The high congestion level emphasizes the grid expansion need to keep pace with the generation and electrification expansion necessary to decarbonize other sectors. Lastly, policymakers should enable multipurpose utilization, e.g., via the introduction of market-oriented retail electricity prices with intervention options for grid operators.

Damage in concrete structures initiates as the growth of diffuse microcracks that is followed by damage localisation and eventually leads to structural failure. Weak changes such as diffuse microcracking processes are failure precursors. Identification and characterisation of these failure precursors at an early stage of concrete degradation and application of suitable precautionary measures will considerably reduce the costs of repair and maintenance. To this end, a reduced order multiscale model for simulating microcracking-induced damage in concrete at the mesoscale levelis proposed. The model simulates the propagation of microcracks in concrete using a two-scale computational methodology. First, a realistic concrete specimen that explicitly resolves the coarse aggregates in a mortar matrix was generated at the mesoscale. Microcrack growth in the mortar matrix is modelled using a synthesis of continuum micromechanics and fracture mechanics. Model order reduction of the two-scale model is achieved using clustering technique. Model predictions are calibrated and validated using uniaxial compression tests performed in the laboratory.

Full-order state-space models represent the starting point for the development of advanced control methods for wind turbine systems (WTSs). Regarding existing control-oriented WTS models, two research gaps must be noted: (i) There exists no full-order WTS model in form of one overall ordinary differential equation that considers all dynamical effects which significantly influence the electrical power output; (ii) all existing reduced-order WTS models are subject to rather arbitrary simplifications and are not validated against a full-order model. Therefore, in this paper, two full-order nonlinear state-space models (of 11th and 9th-order in the (a, b, c)- and (d, q)-reference frame, resp.) for variable-speed variable-pitch permanent magnet synchronous generator WTSs are derived. The full-order models cover all relevant dynamical effects with significant impact on the system’s power output, including the switching behavior of the power electronic devices. Based on the full-order models, by a step-by-step model reduction procedure, two reduced-order WTS models are deduced: A non-switching (averaging) 7th-order WTS model and a non-switching 3rd-order WTS model. Comparative simulation results reveal that all models capture the dominant system dynamics properly. The full-order models allow for a detailed analysis covering the high frequency oscillations in the instantaneous power output due to the switching in the power converters. The reduced-order models provide a time-averaged instantaneous power output (which still correctly reflects the energy produced by the WTS) and come with a drastically reduced complexity making those models appropriate for large-scale power grid controller design.

Ninety percent of the existing building stock in Europe was built before 1990. These buildings are in urgent need for a significant improvement of energy-efficiency through renovation. Regrettably, so far only five percent of renovation projects have been able to yield energy-saving at deep renovation level. State-of-the-art renovation solutions are available, but costly and lengthy renovation processes and incomprehensible technical complexities hinder the achievement of a wide impact at a European scale. This paper presents research on Plug-and-Play (PnP) technologies supported by Building Information Modelling (BIM) to provide affordable, interchangeable and quick-installation solutions to overcome the main barriers of building deep renovation.

Following spinal cord injury (SCI), pathological reflexes develop that result in altered bladder function and sphincter dis-coordination, with accompanying changes in the detrusor. Bladder chemodenervation is known to ablate the pathological reflexes, but the resultant effects on the bladder tissue are poorly defined. In a rodent model of contusion SCI, we examined the effect of early bladder chemodenervation with botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) on bladder histopathology and collagen deposition. Adult female Long Evans rats were given a severe contusion SCI at spi-nal level T9. The SCI rats immediately underwent open laparotomy and received detrusor injec-tions of either BoNT-A (10 U/animal) or saline. At 8 weeks post injury, the bladders were col-lected, weighed, and examined histologically. BoNT-A injected bladders of SCI rats (SCI-BoNT-A) weighed significantly less than saline injected bladders of SCI rats (SCI-saline) (241 ± 25 mg vs. 183 ± 42 mg; p<0.05). Histological analyses showed that SCI resulted in significantly thicker bladder walls due to detrusor hypertrophy and fibrosis compared to bladders from uninjured animals (339 ± 89.0 m vs. 193 ± 47.9 m; p<0.0001). SCI-BoNT-A animals had significantly thinner bladder walls compared to SCI-saline animals (202 ± 55.4 m vs. 339 ± 89.0 m; p<0.0001). SCI-BoNT-A animals had collagen organization in the bladder walls similar to that of uninjured animals. Detrusor chemodenervation soon after SCI appears to preserve bladder tissue integrity, by reducing the development of detrusor fibrosis and hypertrophy associated with SCI.

Leptin is the archetypal adipokine that promotes a negative whole-body energy balance largely through its action on brain leptin receptors. As such, the sustained weight loss and food intake suppression induced by Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery have been attributed to enhancement of leptin receptor signalling. We formally revisited this idea in Zucker Fatty fa/fa rats, an established genetic model of leptin receptor deficiency, and carefully compared their body weight, food intake and oral glucose tolerance after RYGB with that of sham-operated fa/fa (obese) and sham-operated fa/+ (lean) rats. We found that RYGB rats sustainably lost body weight, which converged with that of lean rats and was 25.5 % lower than that of obese rats by the end of the 4 week study period. Correspondingly, daily food intake of RYGB rats was similar to that of lean rats from the second postoperative week, while it was always at least 33.9 % lower than that of obese rats. Further, oral glucose tolerance of RYGB rats was normalized at the forth postoperative week. These findings assert that leptin is not an essential mediator of the sustained weight loss and food intake suppression as well as the improved glycemic control induced by RYGB, and instead point to additional circulating and/or neural factors.

The crystal nucleation and overall crystallization kinetics of cross-linked poly(ε-caprolactone) was studied experimentally by fast scanning calorimetry in a wide temperature range. With an increasing degree of cross-linking, both the nucleation and crystallization half-times increase. Concurrently, the glass transition range shifts to higher temperatures. In contrast, the temperatures of the maximum nucleation and the overall crystallization rates remain the same independent of the degree of cross-linking. The cold crystallization peak temperature generally increases as a function of heating rate, reaching an asymptotic value near the temperature of the maximum growth rate. A theoretical interpretation of these results is given in terms of classical nucleation theory. In addition, it is shown that the average distance between the nearest cross-links is smaller than the estimated lamellae thickness, which indicates the inclusion of cross-links in the crystalline phase of the polymer.

Levan is a fructan-type exopolysaccharide, which is produced by many microbes from sucrose via extracellular levansucrases. The hydrocolloid properties of levan depend on its molecular weight, while it is unknown why and to which extent levan is functionally diverse in dependence of its size. The aim of our study was to get deeper insights into the size-dependent, functional variability of levan. For this purpose, levans of different sizes were produced using the water kefir isolate Gluconobacter albidus TMW 2.1191 and subsequently rheologically characterized. Three levan types could be identified, which are similarly branched, but significantly differ in their molecular size and rheological properties among each other. The smallest levan (< 107 Da) produced without adjustment of the pH exhibited Newton-like flow behavior up to a specific concentration of 25% (w/v). On the contrary, larger levans (> 108 Da) produced at pH ≥ 4.5 were shear-thinning and showed a gel like behavior at ≥ 5% (w/v). A third (intermediate) levan variant was obtained via production in buffers at pH 4.0 and exhibited the properties of a viscoelastic fluid at ≥ 5% (w/v). Our study reveals that the variable size and composition of levan are controllable and more decisive for its functionality than the amount of exerted levan.

The liquid droplet cooling technique for fast scanning chip calorimetry (FSC) is introduced, increasing the cooling rate for large samples on a given sensor. Reaching higher cooling rates and using a gas as the cooling medium, the common standard for ultra-fast temperature control in cooling, requires reducing the lateral dimensions of the sample and sensor. The maximum cooling rate is limited by the heat capacity of the sample and the heat exchange between the gas and the sample. The enhanced cooling performance of the new liquid droplet cooling technique is demonstrated for both metals and polymers, on examples of solidification of large samples of indium, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and poly (butylene 2,6-naphthalate) (PBN). It was found that the maximum cooling rate can be increased up to 5 MK/s in room temperature environment, that is, by 2 orders of magnitude, compared to standard gas cooling. Furthermore, modifying the droplet size and using coolants at different temperatures provide options to adjust the cooling rate in the temperature ranges of interest.

This study aimed to analyze areas of concern and support of the Austrian general population two years into the COVID-19 pandemic. A representative sample (N = 1,031) of the Austrian general population was surveyed online between April 19 and 26, 2022. A qualitative study design was used to explore the factors of most considerable current concern (question 1) and the most important sources of support (question 2). The responses to the two open-ended questions were evaluated using conventional content analysis and categories were formed according to the frequency of the answers. The analysis revealed that inflation and finances (30% of participants) and the war in Ukraine (22%) were the greatest sources of concern, followed by mental health (10%), and physical health (10%). Factors such as social contacts within and outside the family were mentioned most frequently as sources of support (36% of participants), followed by recreational activities (23%) and attitudes and abilities (22%). Compared to data collected at the end of the first year of the pandemic (between December 23, 2020, and January 4, 2021), concerns about one's financial situation was now mentioned more frequently (30,4% vs. 8,5%). On the other hand, different types of pandemic-related concerns were less often mentioned. Social contacts and recreation were mentioned as the most important sources of support at both time points (46% and 36% of the participants). Results suggest that the economic concerns are lagging behind the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. In addition, the impending war in Ukraine seems to have a relevant impact on mental health in Austria. Further nuanced qualitative research, particularly involving vulnerable groups like low-income individuals and the unemployed, is crucial.

Selective Paste Intrusion (SPI) is an additive manufacturing (AM) process in which thin layers of aggregates are selectively bonded by cement paste only where the structure is to be produced. In this way, concrete elements with complex geometries and structures can be created. Reinforcement is required to increase the flexural strength of the concrete elements and, thus, enable their applicability in practice. Integrating the reinforcement is a difficult task, particularly in the case of SPI due to the layer-wise printing method. Especially with respect to possible complex structures, the production of the reinforcement needs to be adapted to SPI, thereby offering a high degree of freedom. One concept for a reinforcement integration is combining the two additive manufacturing processes SPI and Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). However, since the two processes serve different fields of application, their compatibility is not necessarily given. Ongoing investigations show that the temperatures caused by WAAM adversely affect both, the cement paste rheology required for sufficient paste penetration into the particle bed and the overall concrete strength. This paper provides an overview of ongoing research focusing on different cooling strategies and their effects on the compressive strength of SPI-printed concrete parts.

One of the most common complications of neurogenic bladder secondary to spinal cord injury (SCI) is urinary incontinence, possibly related to bladder-emptying methods and changes in quality of life. This study aimed to identify the occurrence of this complication in adults with SCI and analyze its relationship with bladder-emptying methods, satisfaction, and lifestyle. This is a quantitative, exploratory, cross-sectional study. The variables were collected using the Bowel and Bladder Treatment Index during a telephone interview with 290 participants from February to November 2021. According to the results, 70% of the participants were male and 74.1% performed clean intermediate catheterization (CIC) as the main bladder-emptying method. Moreover, 55.6% were considered incontinent in the last year. Emptying by normal urination and bladder reflex triggering had a statistically significant relationship with urinary incontinence. A statistical association was observed between all the variables of satisfaction and lifestyle with urinary incontinence. Although CIC reduced urine leakage, a considerable number of participants still presented with frequent urine leakage. Urinary incontinence negatively altered satisfaction with the bladder-emptying method, effectiveness of bladder management, quality of life, and personal and social relationships.

Seasonal snow cover is a fundamental component of both the global energy budget and the water cycle. Its properties such as fractional snow cover or albedo are particularly affected by climate change. Several methods based on satellite data products are available to estimate these properties, each one with its pros and cons. This work presents a novel methodology that integrates three indexes applied to MODIS satellite data (Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA), Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) and Melt Area Detection Index (MADI)), to perform a spatio-temporal reconstruction of the fractional snow cover and albedo at 250 m spatial resolution in the Brunswick Peninsula, southwest Patagonia during the cold season (April-October) for the period 2000-2020. Three main steps are included: (1) the increase of the spatial resolution of MODIS (MOD09) data to 250 m using a spectral fusion technique; (2) the snow-cloud discrimination; (3) the daily spatio-temporal reconstruction of snow extent and its albedo signature with subpixel detection using the endmembers extraction and spectral mixture analysis. The results show a 98% agreement between MODIS snow detection and ground-based snow measurement at the automatic weather station Tres Morros (53.3174 °S, 71.2790 °W), with fractional snow cover values between 20% and 50%, showing a close relationship between snow and vegetation type. The number of snow days compiled from the MODIS data indicates a good performance (Pearson correlation of 0.9) compared with the number of skiing days at Cerro Mirador ski centre near Punta Arenas. Although the number of seasonal snow days show a significant increase trend of 0.54 days/year in Brunswick Peninsula during the 2000-2020 period a significant decreasing trend of -4.64 days/year was detected during 2010-2020, and also below the 400 m a.s.l. elevation, which is the most affected area. A reconstruction of the monthly mean temperature using the ERA5 Land reanalysis product shows a significant warming trend in May (0.068 ºC/year) and October (0.098 ºC/year) in the 2000-2020 period. Under the future emission scenario RCP8.5, the regional climate model RegCM4 predicts further warming during 2020-2050 of 0.059 ºC/year in July, 0.088 ºC/year in August, and 0.019 ºC/year in October, which will further reduce snow cover.

Vehicle safety promises to be one of the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) biggest benefits. Higher levels of automation remove the human driver from the chain of events that can lead to a crash. Sensors play an influential role in vehicle driving as well as in ADAS by helping the driver to watch the vehicle’s surroundings for safe driving. Thus, the driving load is drastically reduced from steering as well as accelerating and braking for long-term driving. The baseline for the development of future intelligent vehicles relies even more on the fusion of data from surrounding sensors such as Camera, Lidar and Radar. These sensors not only need to perceive in clear weather but also need to detect accurately adverse weather and illumination conditions. Otherwise, a small error could have an incalculable impact on ADAS. As most of the current study is based on indoor or static testing. In order to solve this problem, this paper designs a series of dynamic test cases with the help of outdoor rain and intelligent lightning simulation facilities to make the sensor application scenarios more realistic. As a result, the effect of rainfall and illumination on sensor perception performance is investigated. As speculated, the performance of all automotive sensors is degraded by adverse environmental factors, but their behaviour is not identical. Future work on sensor model development and sensor information fusion should therefore take this into account.

Little phylogeographic structure is presumed for highly mobile species in pelagic zones. Lake Tanganyika is a unique ecosystem with a speciose and largely endemic fauna famous for its remarkable evolutionary history. In bathybatine cichlid fishes, the pattern of lake-wide population differentiation differs among species. We tested the magnifying glass hypothesis for their parasitic flatworm Cichlidogyrus casuarinus. Lake-wide population structure of C. casuarinus ex Hemibates stenosoma was assessed based on a portion of the mtCOI gene combined with morphological characterisation. Additionally, intraspecific mitogenomic variation among 80 individuals within one spatially constrained parasite metapopulation sample was assessed using shotgun NGS. While no clear geographic genetic structure was detected in parasites, both geographic and host-related phenotypic variation was apparent. The incongruence with the genetic north-south gradient observed in the host may be explained by the broad host range of this flatworm as some of its other host species previously showed no lake-wide restriction of gene flow. Our results are consistent with host driven morphological variation without genetic differentiation of the parasite, and highlight the importance of integratively approaching parasites` potential as “tags” for their hosts. We present the first parasite mitogenome from Lake Tanganyika and propose a methodological framework for studying intraspecific mitogenomic variation of dactylogyrid monogeneans.

Understanding and predicting damage progression within thin plain-woven CFRP components is an essential issue for scheduling maintenance intervals and structural inspections, and typically require extensive test series. However, uncertainties always remain and result in conservative design and unnecessary downtimes due to the repeated inspections of a healthy structure. SHM can be used to reduce these uncertainties, as it allows to evaluate the condition of a mechanical structure during operation. Numerous SHM methods are developed , that achieve different levels of damage identification but are often investigated at small coupons with non-realistic structural damages and loading conditions on both, structure and sensor. The present research investigates the electrical impedance tomography (EIT) featuring an elastoresistive thin-film sensor to evaluate damage that propagates from a circular hole in a large plate under cyclic tensile-tensile multi-block loading. Applied fatigue loads were increased multiple times up to a total number of two million cycles. During the loading damage initiated at the hole and continuously propagated into the plate. Repeated EIT evaluations of the applied sensor and validating evaluations by means of digital image correlation clearly revealed the robustness of the hardware and the potential of the SHM method for damage evaluation of plain-woven CFRP components.

Background: Recently, the management of musculoskeletal disorders with the patients' own stem cells, isolated from the walls of small blood vessels, which can be found in great numbers in the adipose tissue, has received considerable attention. On the other hand, there are still misconceptions about these adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRCs) that contain vascular-associated pluripotent stem cells (vaPS cells) in regenerative medicine. Methods: Based on our previous publications on this topic, we have developed a concept to describe the significance of the ADRCs/vaPS cells in the field of orthobiologics as briefly as possible and at the same time as precisely as possible. Results: The ADRCs/vaPS cells belong to the group of orthobiologics that are based on autologous cells. Because the latter can both stimulate a patient’s body's localized self-healing power and provide new cells that can integrate into the host tissue during the healing response when the localized self-healing power is exhausted, this group of orthobiologics appears more advantageous than cell-free orthobiologics and orthobiologics that are based on allogeneic cells. Within the group of orthobiologics that are based on autologous cells, enzymatically isolated, uncultured ADRCs/vaPS cells have several advantages over non-enzymatically isolated cells/microfragmented fat as well as over uncultured bone marrow aspirate concentrate and cultured cells (adipose-derived stem cells, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells). Conclusions: The use of ADRCs/vaPS cells can be seamlessly integrated into modern orthopedic treatment concepts, which can be understood as the optimization of a process which - albeit less efficiently - also takes place physiologically. Accordingly, this new safe and effective type of treatment is attractive in terms of holistic thinking and personalized medicine.

Current clinical treatment options for symptomatic, partial-thickness rotator cuff tear (sPTRCT) offer only limited potential for true tissue healing and improvement of clinical results. In animal models, injections of adult stem cells isolated from adipose tissue into tendon injuries evidenced histological regeneration of tendon tissue. However, it is unclear whether such beneficial effects could also be observed in a human tendon treated with fresh, uncultured, autologous, adipose derived regenerative cells (UA-ADRCs). A specific challenge in this regard is that UA-ADRCs cannot be labeled and, thus, not unequivocally identified in the host tissue. Therefore, histological regeneration of injured human tendons after injection of UA-ADRCs must be assessed using comprehensive, immunohistochemical and microscopic analysis of biopsies taken from the treated tendon a few weeks after injection of UA-ADRCs.

X-ray Fluorescence Computed Tomography (XFCT) is an emerging non-invasive imaging technique providing molecular-level data, gaining attention for high-resolution imaging. However, increased sensitivity with benchtop X-ray sources raises radiation exposure. Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly deep learning (DL), has revolutionized medical imaging by delivering high-quality images in the presence of noise. In XFCT, traditional methods rely on complex algorithms for noise reduction, but AI holds promise in addressing high-dose concerns. We present an optimized SCUNet model for noise reduction in low-concentration XRF images. Compared to higher-dose images, our method’s effectiveness is evaluated. While various denoising techniques exist for X-ray and CT, few address to XFCT. The DL model is trained and assessed using the augmented data, focusing on background noise reduction. Image quality is measured using PSNR and SSIM, comparing outcomes with 100% X-ray dose images. Results show the proposed algorithm achieves high-quality images from low-dose and low-contrast agents, with a maximum PSNR of 39.05 and SSIM of 0.86. The model outperforms BM3D, NLM, DnCNN, and SCUNet in both visual inspection and quantitative analysis, particularly in high-noise scenarios. This indicates the potential of AI, specifically the SCUNet model, in significantly improving XFCT imaging by mitigating the trade-off between sensitivity and radiation exposure.

Idiopathic lung fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and fatal degenerative lung disease of unknown etiology. Although in its final stages it implicates in a reactive manner all lung cell types, the initial damage involves the alveolar epithelial compartment, in particular the alveolar epithelial type 2 cells (AEC2s). AEC2s serve dual progenitor and surfactant secreting functions, both of which are deeply impacted in IPF. Thus, we hypothesize that the size of the surfactant processing compartment, as measured by Lysotracker incorporation, allows the identification of different epithelial states in the IPF lung. Flow cytometry analysis of epithelial Lysotracker incorporation delineates two populations (Lysohigh and Lysolow) of AEC2s which behave in a compensatory manner during bleomycin injury and in the donor/IPF lung. Employing flow cytometry and transcriptomic analysis of cells isolated from donor and IPF lungs, we demonstrate that the Lysohigh population expresses all classical AEC2 markers and is drastically diminished in IPF. The Lysolow population, which is increased in proportion in IPF, co-expresses AEC2s and basal cell markers resembling the phenotype of the previously identified intermediate AEC2 population in the IPF lung. In that regard, we provide an in-depth flow-cytometry characterization of Lysotracker uptake, HTII-280, proSP-C, mature SP-B, NGFR, KRT5 and CD24 expression in human lung epithelial cells. Combining functional analysis with extra- and intra- cellular marker expression and transcriptomic analysis, we advance the current understanding of epithelial cell behavior and fate in lung fibrosis.

Philips Visual Patient Avatar represents an alternative method of patient monitoring that, according to computer-based simulation studies, enhances diagnostic accuracy, confidence and reduces workload. After its clinical integration, we assessed pediatric anesthesia providers' perspectives on this technology. This is a single-center qualitative study, conducted at the University Hospital Zurich using in-depth individual interviews. We aimed to identify the advantages and limitations of Visual Patient Avatar in pediatric anesthesia and to assess children and parents' reactions from caregivers' perspective. Thematic analysis was used to identify the dominant themes. Fourteen members of the institution's pediatric anesthesia team were interviewed. The most prevalent themes were: children's positive reactions towards the Visual Patient Avatar (92.9%) and enhanced speed in problem identification (71.4%). Additionally, 50% of participants reported finding the Visual Patient Avatar useful for diverting children's attention during anesthesia induction, and 50% suggested that its vital sign thresholds should be adaptable for different age groups. The study revealed that the Visual Patient Avatar was recognized as a valuable tool in pediatric anesthesia, enabling prompt identification of underlying issues and receiving positive feedback from both children and parents. The most commonly voiced wish for improvement in the study was the ability to customize the Visual Patient Avatar's thresholds for different age groups.

The analysis of network structure is essential to many scientific areas, ranging from biology to sociology. As the computational task of clustering these networks into partitions, i.e., solving the community detection problem, is generally NP-hard, heuristic solutions are indispensable. The exploration of expedient heuristics has led to the development of particularly promising approaches in the emerging technology of quantum computing. Motivated by the substantial hardware demands for all established quantum community detection approaches, we introduce a novel QUBO based approach that only needs number-of-nodes many qubits and is represented by a QUBO-matrix as sparse as the input graph's adjacency matrix. The substantial improvement on the sparsity of the QUBO-matrix, which is typically very dense in related work, is achieved through the novel concept of separation-nodes. Instead of assigning every node to a community directly, this approach relies on the identification of a separation-node set, which - upon its removal from the graph - yields a set of connected components, representing the core components of the communities. Employing a greedy heuristic to assign the nodes from the separation-node sets to the identified community cores, subsequent experimental results yield a proof of concept. This work hence displays a promising approach to NISQ-ready quantum community detection, catalyzing the application of quantum computers for the network structure analysis of large scale, real world problem instances.}

Background: Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) is thought to alter fluid dynamics in human soft tissue. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of IASTM on the thoracolumbar fascia (TLF) on the water content of the lumbar myofascial tissue. Methods: 21 healthy volunteers were treated with IASTM. Before and after the procedure and 5 and 10 minutes later, lumbar bioimpedance was measured by bioimpedance analysis (BIA) and TLF stiffness by indentometry. Tissue temperature was recorded at the measurement time points using an infrared thermometer. Results: Bioimpedance increased significantly from 58.3 to 60.4 Ω (p < 0.001) at 10-minute follow-up after the treatment. Temperature increased significantly from 36.3 to 36.6° Celsius from 5 to 10 minutes after treatment (p = 0.029), while lumbar myofascial stiffness did not change significantly (p = 0.84). Conclusions: After the IASTM intervention, there was a significant increase in bioimpedance, likely due to a decrease in water content in myofascial lumbar tissue. Further studies in a randomized control trial design are needed to extrapolate the results in healthy subjects to a symptomatic population as well and to confirm the reliability of BIA in myofascial tissue.

The production of lithium-ion battery cells is characterized by a high degree of complexit due to numerous cause-effect relationships between process characteristics. Knowledge about the multi-stage production is spread among several experts, rendering tasks such as failure analysis challenging. In this paper, a method is presented, which includes expert knowledge acquisition in production ramp-up by combining Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) with a Bayesian Network. We show the effectiveness of this holistic method by building up a large scale, cross-process Bayesian Failure Network in lithium-ion battery production. Using this model, we are able to conduct root cause analyses as well as analyses of failure propagation. The former support operators in identifying root causes once a cell possesses a specific failure by calculating most-probable explanations matched to the individual battery cell data. The latter enable us to analyze propagation of failures and deviations in the production chain and thus provide support for placement of quality gates, leading to a significant reduction in scrap rate. Moreover, it gives an insight into which process steps are key drivers for which final product characteristics.