TY - JOUR
A1 - Welke, Robert-William
A1 - Sperber, Hannah Sabeth
A1 - Bergmann, Ronny
A1 - Koikkarah, Amit
A1 - Menke, Laura
A1 - Sieben, Christian
A1 - Krüger, Detlev H.
A1 - Chiantia, Salvatore
A1 - Herrmann, Andreas
A1 - Schwarzer, Roland
T1 - Characterization of hantavirus N protein intracellular dynamics and localization
JF - Viruses
N2 - Hantaviruses are enveloped viruses that possess a tri-segmented, negative-sense RNA genome.
The viral S-segment encodes the multifunctional nucleocapsid protein (N), which is involved in genome packaging, intracellular protein transport, immunoregulation, and several other crucial processes during hantavirus infection.
In this study, we generated fluorescently tagged N protein constructs derived from Puumalavirus (PUUV), the dominant hantavirus species in Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe.
We comprehensively characterized this protein in the rodent cell line CHO-K1, monitoring the dynamics of N protein complex formation and investigating co-localization with host proteins as well as the viral glycoproteins Gc and Gn.
We observed formation of large, fibrillar PUUV N protein aggregates, rapidly coalescing from early punctate and spike-like assemblies.
Moreover, we found significant spatial correlation of N with vimentin, actin, and P-bodies but not with microtubules. N constructs also co-localized with Gn and Gc albeit not as strongly as the glycoproteins associated with each other.
Finally, we assessed oligomerization of N constructs, observing efficient and concentration-dependent multimerization, with complexes comprising more than 10 individual proteins.
KW - hantavirus
KW - N protein
KW - oligomerization
KW - actin
KW - P-bodies
KW - vimentin
KW - Number and Brightness
KW - Puumalavirus
KW - macromolecular assemblies
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/v14030457
SN - 1999-4915
VL - 14
IS - 3
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Dineva, Ekaterina Ivanova
A1 - Pearson, Jeniveve
A1 - Ilyin, Ilya
A1 - Verma, Meetu
A1 - Diercke, Andrea
A1 - Strassmeier, Klaus
A1 - Denker, Carsten
T1 - Characterization of chromospheric activity based on Sun-as-a-star spectral and disk-resolved activity indices
JF - Astronomische Nachrichten = Astronomical notes
N2 - The strong chromospheric absorption lines Ca ii H & K are tightly connected to stellar surface magnetic fields. Only for the Sun, spectral activity indices can be related to evolving magnetic features on the solar disk. The Solar Disk-Integrated (SDI) telescope feeds the Potsdam Echelle Polarimetric and Spectroscopic Instrument (PEPSI) of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) at Mt. Graham International Observatory, Arizona, U.S.A. We present high-resolution, high-fidelity spectra that were recorded on 184 & 82 days in 2018 & 2019 and derive the Ca ii H & K emission ratio, that is, the S-index. In addition, we compile excess brightness and area indices based on full-disk Ca ii K-line-core filtergrams of the Chromospheric Telescope (ChroTel) at Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, Spain and full-disk ultraviolet (UV) 1600 angstrom images of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Thus, Sun-as-a-star spectral indices are related to their counterparts derived from resolved images of the solar chromosphere. All indices display signatures of rotational modulation, even during the very low magnetic activity in the minimum of Solar Cycle 24. Bringing together different types of activity indices has the potential to join disparate chromospheric datasets yielding a comprehensive description of chromospheric activity across many solar cycles.
KW - astronomical databases
KW - miscellaneous
KW - methods
KW - data analysis
KW - activity
KW - Sun
KW - atmosphere
KW - chromosphere
KW - techniques
KW - spectroscopic
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/asna.20223996
SN - 0004-6337
SN - 1521-3994
VL - 343
IS - 5
PB - Wiley-VCH
CY - Weinheim
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Kruse, Marlen
A1 - Altattan, Basma
A1 - Laux, Eva-Maria
A1 - Grasse, Nico
A1 - Heinig, Lars
A1 - Möser, Christin
A1 - Smith, David M.
A1 - Hölzel, Ralph
T1 - Characterization of binding interactions of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and DNA-peptide nanostructures
JF - Scientific reports
N2 - Binding interactions of the spike proteins of the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to a peptide fragment derived from the human angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor are investigated.
The peptide is employed as capture moiety in enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and quantitative binding interaction measurements that are based on fluorescence proximity sensing (switchSENSE).
In both techniques, the peptide is presented on an oligovalent DNA nanostructure, in order to assess the impact of mono- versus trivalent binding modes.
As the analyte, the spike protein and several of its subunits are tested as well as inactivated SARS-CoV-2 and pseudo viruses. While binding of the peptide to the full-length spike protein can be observed, the subunits RBD and S1 do not exhibit binding in the employed concentrations.
Variations of the amino acid sequence of the recombinant full-length spike proteins furthermore influence binding behavior. The peptide was coupled to DNA nanostructures that form a geometric complement to the trimeric structure of the spike protein binding sites.
An increase in binding strength for trimeric peptide presentation compared to single peptide presentation could be generally observed in ELISA and was quantified in switchSENSE measurements. Binding to inactivated wild type viruses could be shown as well as qualitatively different binding behavior of the Alpha and Beta variants compared to the wild type virus strain in pseudo virus models.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16914-9
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 12
IS - 1
PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature
CY - London
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Huschek, Gerd
A1 - Rawel, Harshadrai M.
A1 - Schweikert, Torsten
A1 - Henkel-Oberländer, Janin
A1 - Sagu Tchewonpi, Sorel
T1 - Characterization and optimization of microwave-assisted extraction of B-phycoerythrin from Porphyridium purpureum using response surface methodology and Doehlert design
JF - Bioresource Technology Reports
N2 - Microalgae are one of the most promising food source of the future.
Nowadays, extracts of high-value active substances of biomass are business aims for the development of food additives in personalized nutrition, in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
A new-patented vertical farming cultivation technology was used for production of Porphyridium purpureum. In this work, microwave assisted extraction was used to extract B-phycoerythrin from Porphyridium purpureum biomass.
Response surface methodology was implemented for optimization.
Numerical optimization established the best point of the experimental domain (biomass/solvent of 16.8 mg/mL, time of 172 s, and temperature of 30 degrees C) with a desirability value of 0.82.
Corresponding experimental responses values of 7.2 mg, 8.5 % and 13,961 PA/mu g biomass were obtained for extracted proteins, extraction yield and extracted B-phycoerythrin, respectively.
Final freeze-dried product indicated protein content of 55 % using Kjeldahl while targeted mass spectrometry analysis revealed that B-phycoerythrin represented 93 % of the total protein.
KW - porphyridium purpureum
KW - B-phycoerythrin
KW - microwave-assisted extraction
KW - optimization
KW - mass spectrometry
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biteb.2022.101212
SN - 2589-014X
VL - 19
PB - Elsevier
CY - Amsterdam
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Kojda, Danny
A1 - Hofmann, Tommy
A1 - Gostkowska-Lekner, Natalia Katarzyna
A1 - Habicht, Klaus
T1 - Characterization and modeling of the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity in sintered porous silicon-aluminum nanomaterials
JF - Nano research
N2 - Nanostructured silicon and silicon-aluminum compounds are synthesized by a novel synthesis strategy based on spark plasma sintering (SPS) of silicon nanopowder, mesoporous silicon (pSi), and aluminum nanopowder. The interplay of metal-assisted crystallization and inherent porosity is exploited to largely suppress thermal conductivity. Morphology and temperature-dependent thermal conductivity studies allow us to elucidate the impact of porosity and nanostructure on the macroscopic heat transport. Analytic electron microscopy along with quantitative image analysis is applied to characterize the sample morphology in terms of domain size and interpore distance distributions. We demonstrate that nanostructured domains and high porosity can be maintained in densified mesoporous silicon samples. In contrast, strong grain growth is observed for sintered nanopowders under similar sintering conditions. We observe that aluminum agglomerations induce local grain growth, while aluminum diffusion is observed in porous silicon and dispersed nanoparticles. A detailed analysis of the measured thermal conductivity between 300 and 773 K allows us to distinguish the effect of reduced thermal conductivity caused by porosity from the reduction induced by phonon scattering at nanosized domains. With a modified Landauer/Lundstrom approach the relative thermal conductivity and the scattering length are extracted. The relative thermal conductivity confirms the applicability of Kirkpatrick's effective medium theory. The extracted scattering lengths are in excellent agreement with the harmonic mean of log-normal distributed domain sizes and the interpore distances combined by Matthiessen's rule.
KW - thermal conductivity
KW - mesoporous silicon
KW - porosity
KW - spark plasma
KW - sintering
KW - nanoscale modeling
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4123-y
SN - 1998-0124
SN - 1998-0000
VL - 15
IS - 6
SP - 5663
EP - 5670
PB - Tsinghua Univ. Press
CY - Beijing
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Ilic, Ivan
A1 - Schutjajew, Konstantin
A1 - Zhang, Wuyong
A1 - Oschatz, Martin
T1 - Changes of porosity of hard carbons during mechanical treatment and the relevance for sodium-ion anodes
JF - Carbon : an international journal sponsored by the American Carbon Society
N2 - Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionized battery technology. However, the scarcity of lithium in nature is driving the search for alternatives. For that reason, sodium-ion batteries have attracted increasing attention in recent years. The main obstacle to their development is the anode as, unlike for lithium-ion batteries, graphite cannot be used due to the inability to form stoichiometrically useful intercalation compounds with sodium. A promising candidate for sodium storage is hard carbon a form of nongraphitisable carbon, that can be synthesized from various precursor materials. Processing of hard carbons is often done by using mechanochemical treatments. Although it is generally accepted and often observed that they can influence the porosity of hard carbons, their effect on battery performance not well understood. Here, the changes in porosity occurring during ball milling are elucidated and related to the properties of hard carbons in sodium storage. Analysis by combined gas physisorption and small angle X-ray scattering shows that porosity changes during ball milling with a significant increase of the open porosity, unsuitable for reversible sodium storage, and decrease of the closed porosity, suitable for reversible sodium storage. While pristine hard carbon can store 58.5 mAh g(-1) in the closed pores, upon 5 h of mechanical treatment in a ball mill it can only store 35.5 mAh g(-1). The obtained results are furthermore pointing towards the disputed "intercalation-adsorption" mechanism.
KW - Hard carbons
KW - Sodium-ion batteries
KW - Anodes
KW - Microporosity
KW - Ball milling
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2021.09.063
SN - 0008-6223
SN - 1873-3891
VL - 186
SP - 55
EP - 63
PB - Elsevier Science
CY - Amsterdam [u.a.]
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Botteri, Edoardo
A1 - Peveri, Giulia
A1 - Berstad, Paula
A1 - Bagnardi, Vincenzo
A1 - Chen, Sairah L. F.
A1 - Sandanger, Torkjel M.
A1 - Hoff, Geir
A1 - Dahm, Christina C.
A1 - Antoniussen, Christian S.
A1 - Tjonneland, Anne
A1 - Eriksen, Anne Kirstine
A1 - Skeie, Guri
A1 - Perez-Cornago, Aurora
A1 - Huerta, Jose Maria
A1 - Jakszyn, Paula
A1 - Harlid, Sophia
A1 - Sundstroem, Bjoern
A1 - Barricarte, Aurelio
A1 - Monninkhof, Evelyn M.
A1 - Derksen, Jeroen W. G.
A1 - Schulze, Matthias Bernd
A1 - Bueno-de-Mesquita, Bas
A1 - Sanchez, Maria-Jose
A1 - Cross, Amanda J.
A1 - Tsilidis, Konstantinos K.
A1 - De Magistris, Maria Santucci
A1 - Kaaks, Rudolf
A1 - Katzke, Verena
A1 - Rothwell, Joseph A.
A1 - Laouali, Nasser
A1 - Severi, Gianluca
A1 - Amiano, Pilar
A1 - Contiero, Paolo
A1 - Sacerdote, Carlotta
A1 - Goldberg, Marcel
A1 - Touvier, Mathilde
A1 - Freisling, Heinz
A1 - Viallon, Vivian
A1 - Weiderpass, Elisabete
A1 - Riboli, Elio
A1 - Gunter, Marc J.
A1 - Jenab, Mazda
A1 - Ferrari, Pietro
T1 - Changes in lifestyle and risk of colorectal cancer in the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition
JF - The American journal of gastroenterology : AJG
N2 - INTRODUCTION:
We investigated the impact of changes in lifestyle habits on colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in a multicountry European cohort.
METHODS:
We used baseline and follow-up questionnaire data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer cohort to assess changes in lifestyle habits and their associations with CRC development. We calculated a healthy lifestyle index (HLI) score based on smoking status, alcohol consumption, body mass index, and physical activity collected at the 2 time points. HLI ranged from 0 (most unfavorable) to 16 (most favorable). We estimated the association between HLI changes and CRC risk using Cox regression models and reported hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
RESULTS:
Among 295,865 participants, 2,799 CRC cases were observed over a median of 7.8 years. The median time between questionnaires was 5.7 years. Each unit increase in HLI from the baseline to the follow-up assessment was associated with a statistically significant 3% lower CRC risk. Among participants in the top tertile at baseline (HLI > 11), those in the bottom tertile at follow-up (HLI <= 9) had a higher CRC risk (HR 1.34; 95% CI 1.02-1.75) than those remaining in the top tertile. Among individuals in the bottom tertile at baseline, those in the top tertile at follow-up had a lower risk (HR 0.77; 95% CI 0.59-1.00) than those remaining in the bottom tertile.
DISCUSSION:
Improving adherence to a healthy lifestyle was inversely associated with CRC risk, while worsening adherence was positively associated with CRC risk. These results justify and support recommendations for healthy lifestyle changes and healthy lifestyle maintenance for CRC prevention.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.14309/ajg.0000000000002065
SN - 0002-9270
SN - 1572-0241
VL - 118
IS - 4
SP - 702
EP - 711
PB - Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
CY - Philadelphia
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Kretzschmar, Mirjam E.
A1 - Ashby, Ben
A1 - Fearon, Elizabeth
A1 - Overton, Christopher E.
A1 - Panovska-Griffiths, Jasmina
A1 - Pellis, Lorenzo
A1 - Quaife, Matthew
A1 - Rozhnova, Ganna
A1 - Scarabel, Francesca
A1 - Stage, Helena B.
A1 - Swallow, Ben
A1 - Thompson, Robin N.
A1 - Tildesley, Michael J.
A1 - Villela, Daniel Campos
T1 - Challenges for modelling interventions for future pandemics
JF - Epidemics
N2 - Mathematical modelling and statistical inference provide a framework to evaluate different non-pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical interventions for the control of epidemics that has been widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, lessons learned from this and previous epidemics are used to highlight the challenges for future pandemic control. We consider the availability and use of data, as well as the need for correct parameterisation and calibration for different model frameworks. We discuss challenges that arise in describing and distinguishing between different interventions, within different modelling structures, and allowing both within and between host dynamics. We also highlight challenges in modelling the health economic and political aspects of interventions. Given the diversity of these challenges, a broad variety of interdisciplinary expertise is needed to address them, combining mathematical knowledge with biological and social insights, and including health economics and communication skills. Addressing these challenges for the future requires strong cross disciplinary collaboration together with close communication between scientists and policy makers.
KW - Mathematical models
KW - Pandemics
KW - Pharmaceutical interventions
KW - Non-pharmaceutical interventions
KW - Policy support
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epidem.2022.100546
SN - 1755-4365
SN - 1878-0067
VL - 38
PB - Elsevier
CY - Amsterdam
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Mazarei, Elham
A1 - Barker, John R.
T1 - CH2 + O-2
BT - reaction mechanism, biradical and zwitterionic character, and formation of CH2OO, the simplest Criegee intermediate
JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : PCCP ; a journal of European Chemical Societies
N2 - The singlet and triplet potential surfaces for the title reaction were investigated using the CBS-QB3 level of theory. The wave functions for some species exhibited multireference character and required the CASPT2/6-31+G(d,p) and CASPT2/aug-cc-pVTZ levels of theory to obtain accurate relative energies. A Natural Bond Orbital Analysis showed that triplet (CH2OO)-C-3 (the simplest Criegee intermediate) and (CH2O2)-C-3 (dioxirane) have mostly polar biradical character, while singlet (CH2OO)-C-1 has some zwitterionic character and a planar structure. Canonical variational transition state theory (CVTST) and master equation simulations were used to analyze the reaction system. CVTST predicts that the rate constant for reaction of (CH2)-C-1 + O-3(2) is more than ten times as fast as the reaction of (CH2)-C-3 ((XB1)-B-3) + O-3(2) and the ratio remains almost independent of temperature from 900 K to 3000 K. The master equation simulations predict that at low pressures the (CH2O)-C-1 + O-3 product set is dominant at all temperatures and the primary yield of OH radicals is negligible below 600 K, due to competition with other primary reactions in this complex system.
Y1 - 2021
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cp04372b
SN - 1463-9076
SN - 1463-9084
VL - 24
IS - 2
SP - 914
EP - 927
PB - Royal Society of Chemistry
CY - Cambridge
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Ramm, Franziska
A1 - Jack, Lena
A1 - Kaser, Danny
A1 - Schloßhauer, Jeffrey L.
A1 - Zemella, Anne
A1 - Kubick, Stefan
T1 - Cell-Free Systems Enable the Production of AB(5) Toxins for Diagnostic Applications
JF - Toxins
N2 - Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) represents a versatile key technology for the production of toxic proteins. As a cell lysate, rather than viable cells, is used, the toxic effects on the host organism can be circumvented. The open nature of cell-free systems allows for the addition of supplements affecting protein concentration and folding. Here, we present the cell-free synthesis and functional characterization of two AB(5) toxins, namely the cholera toxin (Ctx) and the heat-labile enterotoxin (LT), using two eukaryotic cell-free systems based on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf21) cells. Through an iterative optimization procedure, the synthesis of the individual AB(5) toxins was established, and the formation of multimeric structures could be shown by autoradiography. A functional analysis was performed using cell-based assays, thereby demonstrating that the LT complex induced the characteristic cell elongation of target cells after 24 h. The LT complex induced cell death at higher concentrations, starting at an initial concentration of 5 nM. The initial toxic effects of the Ctx multimer could already be detected at 4 nM. The detection and characterization of such AB(5) toxins is of utmost importance, and the monitoring of intracellular trafficking facilitates the further identification of the mechanism of action of these toxins. We showed that the B-subunit of LT (LTB) could be fluorescently labeled using an LTB-Strep fusion protein, which is a proof-of-concept for future Trojan horse applications. Further, we performed a mutational analysis of the CtxA subunit as its template was modified, and an amber stop codon was inserted into CtxA's active site. Subsequently, a non-canonical amino acid was site-specifically incorporated using bio-orthogonal systems. Finally, a fluorescently labeled CtxA protein was produced using copper-catalyzed click reactions as well as a Staudinger ligation. As expected, the modified Ctx multimer no longer induced toxic effects. In our study, we showed that CFPS could be used to study the active centers of toxins by inserting mutations. Additionally, this methodology can be applied for the design of Trojan horses and targeted toxins, as well as enabling the intracellular trafficking of toxins as a prerequisite for the analysis of the toxin's mechanism of action.
KW - cholera toxin
KW - heat-labile enterotoxin
KW - AB(5) toxins
KW - eukaryotic
KW - cell-free systems
KW - orthogonal systems
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins14040233
SN - 2072-6651
VL - 14
IS - 4
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Schloßhauer, Jeffrey
A1 - Cavak, Niño
A1 - Zemella, Anne
A1 - Thoring, Lena
A1 - Kubick, Stefan
T1 - Cell engineering and cultivation of chinese hamster ovary cells for the development of orthogonal eukaryotic cell-free translation systems
JF - Frontiers in molecular biosciences
N2 - The investigation of protein structures, functions and interactions often requires modifications to adapt protein properties to the specific application. Among many possible methods to equip proteins with new chemical groups, the utilization of orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNA pairs enables the site-specific incorporation of non-canonical amino acids at defined positions in the protein. The open nature of cell-free protein synthesis reactions provides an optimal environment, as the orthogonal components do not need to be transported across the cell membrane and the impact on cell viability is negligible. In the present work, it was shown that the expression of orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases in CHO cells prior to cell disruption enhanced the modification of the pharmaceutically relevant adenosine A2a receptor. For this purpose, in complement to transient transfection of CHO cells, an approach based on CRISPR/Cas9 technology was selected to generate a translationally active cell lysate harboring endogenous orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase.
KW - orthogonal translation
KW - cell-free protein synthesis
KW - CRISPR
KW - amber suppression
KW - E. coli tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase
KW - M. mazei pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase
KW - membrane protein
KW - C12orf35
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2022.832379
SN - 2296-889X
VL - 9
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Fischer, Eric W.
A1 - Saalfrank, Peter
T1 - Cavity-induced non-adiabatic dynamics and spectroscopy of molecular rovibrational polaritons studied by multi-mode quantum models
JF - The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr
N2 - We study theoretically the quantum dynamics and spectroscopy of rovibrational polaritons formed in a model system composed of a single rovibrating diatomic molecule, which interacts with two degenerate, orthogonally polarized modes of an optical Fabry-Perot cavity. We employ an effective rovibrational Pauli-Fierz Hamiltonian in length gauge representation and identify three-state vibro-polaritonic conical intersections (VPCIs) between singly excited vibro-polaritonic states in a two-dimensional angular coordinate branching space. The lower and upper vibrational polaritons are of mixed light-matter hybrid character, whereas the intermediate state is purely photonic in nature. The VPCIs provide effective population transfer channels between singly excited vibrational polaritons, which manifest in rich interference patterns in rotational densities. Spectroscopically, three bright singly excited states are identified when an external infrared laser field couples to both a molecular and a cavity mode. The non-trivial VPCI topology manifests as pronounced multi-peak progression in the spectral region of the upper vibrational polariton, which is traced back to the emergence of rovibro-polaritonic light-matter hybrid states. Experimentally, ubiquitous spontaneous emission from cavity modes induces a dissipative reduction of intensity and peak broadening, which mainly influences the purely photonic intermediate state peak as well as the rovibro-polaritonic progression. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0098006
SN - 0021-9606
SN - 1089-7690
VL - 157
IS - 3
PB - American Institute of Physics
CY - Melville
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Fischer, Eric Wolfgang
A1 - Anders, Janet
A1 - Saalfrank, Peter
T1 - Cavity-altered thermal isomerization rates and dynamical resonant localization in vibro-polaritonic chemistry
JF - The journal of chemical physics : bridges a gap between journals of physics and journals of chemistr
N2 - It has been experimentally demonstrated that reaction rates for molecules embedded in microfluidic optical cavities are altered when compared to rates observed under "ordinary" reaction conditions. However, precise mechanisms of how strong coupling of an optical cavity mode to molecular vibrations affects the reactivity and how resonance behavior emerges are still under dispute. In the present work, we approach these mechanistic issues from the perspective of a thermal model reaction, the inversion of ammonia along the umbrella mode, in the presence of a single-cavity mode of varying frequency and coupling strength. A topological analysis of the related cavity Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface in combination with quantum mechanical and transition state theory rate calculations reveals two quantum effects, leading to decelerated reaction rates in qualitative agreement with experiments: the stiffening of quantized modes perpendicular to the reaction path at the transition state, which reduces the number of thermally accessible reaction channels, and the broadening of the barrier region, which attenuates tunneling. We find these two effects to be very robust in a fluctuating environment, causing statistical variations of potential parameters, such as the barrier height. Furthermore, by solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation in the vibrational strong coupling regime, we identify a resonance behavior, in qualitative agreement with experimental and earlier theoretical work. The latter manifests as reduced reaction probability when the cavity frequency omega(c) is tuned resonant to a molecular reactant frequency. We find this effect to be based on the dynamical localization of the vibro-polaritonic wavepacket in the reactant well.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0076434
SN - 0021-9606
SN - 1089-7690
VL - 156
IS - 15
PB - American Institute of Physics
CY - Melville, NY
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Miklashevsky, Alex
T1 - Catch the star! Spatial information activates the manual motor system
JF - PLoS ONE
N2 - Previous research demonstrated a close bidirectional relationship between spatial attention and the manual motor system. However, it is unclear whether an explicit hand movement is necessary for this relationship to appear. A novel method with high temporal resolution–bimanual grip force registration–sheds light on this issue. Participants held two grip force sensors while being presented with lateralized stimuli (exogenous attentional shifts, Experiment 1), left- or right-pointing central arrows (endogenous attentional shifts, Experiment 2), or the words "left" or "right" (endogenous attentional shifts, Experiment 3). There was an early interaction between the presentation side or arrow direction and grip force: lateralized objects and central arrows led to a larger increase of the ipsilateral force and a smaller increase of the contralateral force. Surprisingly, words led to the opposite pattern: larger force increase in the contralateral hand and smaller force increase in the ipsilateral hand. The effect was stronger and appeared earlier for lateralized objects (60 ms after stimulus presentation) than for arrows (100 ms) or words (250 ms). Thus, processing visuospatial information automatically activates the manual motor system, but the timing and direction of this effect vary depending on the type of stimulus.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262510
SN - 1932-6203
SP - 1
EP - 30
PB - PLOS
CY - San Francisco, California, US
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Schaefer, Laura
A1 - Bittmann, Frank
T1 - Case Study: Intra- and Interpersonal Coherence of Muscle and Brain Activity of Two Coupled Persons during Pushing and Holding Isometric Muscle Action
JF - Brain Sciences
N2 - Inter-brain synchronization is primarily investigated during social interactions but had not been examined during coupled muscle action between two persons until now. It was previously shown that mechanical muscle oscillations can develop coherent behavior between two isometrically interacting persons. This case study investigated if inter-brain synchronization appears thereby, and if differences of inter- and intrapersonal muscle and brain coherence exist regarding two different types of isometric muscle action. Electroencephalography (EEG) and mechanomyography/mechanotendography (MMG/MTG) of right elbow extensors were recorded during six fatiguing trials of two coupled isometrically interacting participants (70% MVIC). One partner performed holding and one pushing isometric muscle action (HIMA/PIMA; tasks changed). The wavelet coherence of all signals (EEG, MMG/MTG, force, ACC) were analyzed intra- and interpersonally. The five longest coherence patches in 8–15 Hz and their weighted frequency were compared between real vs. random pairs and between HIMA vs. PIMA. Real vs. random pairs showed significantly higher coherence for intra-muscle, intra-brain, and inter-muscle-brain activity (p < 0.001 to 0.019). Inter-brain coherence was significantly higher for real vs. random pairs for EEG of right and central areas and for sub-regions of EEG left (p = 0.002 to 0.025). Interpersonal muscle-brain synchronization was significantly higher than intrapersonal one, whereby it was significantly higher for HIMA vs. PIMA. These preliminary findings indicate that inter-brain synchronization can arise during muscular interaction. It is hypothesized both partners merge into one oscillating neuromuscular system. The results reinforce the hypothesis that HIMA is characterized by more complex control strategies than PIMA. The pilot study suggests investigating the topic further to verify these results on a larger sample size. Findings could contribute to the basic understanding of motor control and is relevant for functional diagnostics such as the manual muscle test which is applied in several disciplines, e.g., neurology, physiotherapy.
KW - interpersonal muscle action
KW - wavelet coherence
KW - inter-brain synchronization
KW - inter-muscle-brain synchronization
KW - electroencephalography (EEG)
KW - mechanomyography (MMG)
KW - holding isometric muscle action (HIMA)
KW - pushing isometric muscle action (PIMA)
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12060703
SN - 2076-3425
VL - 12
PB - MDPI Open Access Publishing
CY - Basel, Schweiz
ET - 6
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Barcena, Maria Luisa
A1 - Aslam, Muhammad
A1 - Pozdniakova, Sofya
A1 - Norman, Kristina
A1 - Ladilov, Yury
T1 - Cardiovascular inflammaging: mechanisms and translational aspects
JF - Cells
N2 - Aging is one of the major non-reversible risk factors for several chronic diseases, including cancer, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and it is a key cause of multimorbidity, disability, and frailty (decreased physical activity, fatigue, and weight loss). The underlying cellular mechanisms are complex and consist of multifactorial processes, such as telomere shortening, chronic low-grade inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, accumulation of senescent cells, and reduced autophagy. In this review, we focused on the molecular mechanisms and translational aspects of cardiovascular aging-related inflammation, i.e., inflammaging.
KW - cardiac inflammaging
KW - vascular senescence
KW - mitochondrial homeostasis
KW - microbiome
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11061010
SN - 2073-4409
VL - 11
IS - 6
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Muntaha, Sidratul Nur
A1 - Li, Xiaoping
A1 - Compart, Julia
A1 - Apriyanto, Ardha
A1 - Fettke, Jörg
T1 - Carbon pathways during transitory starch degradation in Arabidopsis differentially affect the starch granule number and morphology in the dpe2/phs1 mutant background
JF - Plant physiology and biochemistry : an official journal of the Federation of European Societies of Plant Physiology
N2 - The Arabidopsis knockout mutant lacking both the cytosolic disproportionating enzyme 2 (DPE2) and the plastidial phosphorylase (PHS1) had a dwarf-growth phenotype, a reduced and uneven distribution of starch within the plant rosettes, and a lower starch granule number per chloroplast under standard growth conditions. In contrast, a triple mutant impaired in starch degradation by its additional lack of the glucan, water dikinase (GWD) showed improved plant growth, a starch-excess phenotype, and a homogeneous starch distribution. Furthermore, the number of starch granules per chloroplast was increased and was similar to the wild type. We concluded that ongoing starch degradation is mainly responsible for the observed phenotype of dpe2/phs1. Next, we generated two further triple mutants lacking either the phosphoglucan, water dikinase (PWD), or the disproportionating enzyme 1 (DPE1) in the background of the double mutant. Analysis of the starch metabolism revealed that even minor ongoing starch degradation observed in dpe2/phs1/pwd maintained the double mutant phenotype. In contrast, an additional blockage in the glucose pathway of starch breakdown, as in dpe2/phs1/ dpe1, resulted in a nearly starch-free phenotype and massive chloroplast degradation. The characterized mutants were discussed in the context of starch granule formation.
KW - Starch granules
KW - Starch metabolism
KW - Starch granule number per
KW - chloroplast
KW - Starch morphology
KW - LCSM
KW - Arabidopsis thaliana
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2022.03.033
SN - 0981-9428
SN - 1873-2690
VL - 180
SP - 35
EP - 41
PB - Elsevier
CY - Paris
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Ay-Bryson, Destina Sevde
A1 - Weck, Florian
A1 - Kühne, Franziska
T1 - Can simulated patient encounters appear authentic?
BT - development and pilot results of a rating instrument based on the portrayal of depressive patients
JF - Training and education in professional psychology
N2 - Public Significance Statement This study demonstrates that simulated patients (SPs) can authentically portray a depressive case. The results provide preliminary evidence of psychometrically sound properties of the rating scale that contributes to distinguishing between authentic and unauthentic SPs and may thus foster SPs' dissemination into evidence-based training.
For training purposes, simulated patients (SPs), that is, healthy people portraying a disorder, are disseminating more into clinical psychology and psychotherapy. In the current study, we developed an observer-based rating instrument for the evaluation of SP authenticity-namely, it not being possible to distinguish them from real patients-so as to foster their use in evidence-based training. We applied a multistep inductive approach to develop the Authenticity of Patient Demonstrations (APD) scale. Ninety-seven independent psychotherapy trainees, 77.32% female, mean age of 31.49 (SD = 5.17) years, evaluated the authenticity of 2 independent SPs, each of whom portrayed a depressive patient. The APD demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .83) and a strong correlation (r = .82) with an established tool for assessing SP performance in medical contexts. The APD scale distinguished significantly between an authentic and unauthentic SP (d = 2.35). Preliminary evidence for the psychometric properties of the APD indicates that the APD could be a viable tool for recruiting, training, and evaluating the authenticity of SPs. Strengths, limitations, and future directions are also discussed in detail.
KW - authenticity
KW - evidence-based training
KW - standardized patients
KW - role-play
KW - mental disorders
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000349
SN - 1931-3918
SN - 1931-3926
VL - 16
IS - 1
SP - 20
EP - 27
PB - American Psychological Association
CY - Washington
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Eccard, Jana
T1 - Can rolling composite wildflower blocks increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes better than wildflowers strips?
JF - Journal of applied ecology : an official journal of the British Ecological Society
N2 - Biodiversity and abundance of wildlife has dramatically declined in agricultural landscapes. Sown, short-lived wildflower (WF) strips along the margins of crop fields are a widespread and often subsidised in agri-environmental schemes, intended to enhance biodiversity, provide refuges for wild plant and arthropod populations and to provide ecosystem services to crops. Meanwhile, WF elements are also criticised, since their functionality decreases with plant succession, the removal of aged WF strip poses an ecological trap for the attracted arthropod populations and only common and mobile species benefit. Further, insects in WF strips are impacted by pesticides from agricultural fields due to shared boundaries with crop fields and by edge effects. The performance of the measure could be improved by combining several WF strips of different successional stages, each harbouring a unique community of plants and arthropods, into persistent, composite WF block, where successional stages exist in parallel. Monitoring data on many taxa in the literature shows, that a third of species are temporarily present in an ageing WF stip, thus offering composite WF blocks should increase cumulative species richness by 28%-39% compared to annual richness in WF strips. Persistence of composite WF blocks would offer reliable refuge for animal and plant populations, also supporting their predators and herbivores. Further, WF blocks have less boundaries to crops compared to WF strips of the same area, and are less impacted by edge effects and pesticides. Policy implications. Here I suggest a change of conservation practice changing from successional WF strips to composite WF blocks. By regular removal and replacement of aged WF strips either within the block (rotational) or at its margins (rolling), the habitat heterogeneity in composite WF block could be perpetuated. Rolling composite WF blocks change locations over years, and the original location can be reconverted to arable land while a nearby WF block is still available to wildlife. A change in agricultural schemes would be necessary, since in some European countries clustered WF strips are explicitly not subsidised.
KW - AES
KW - agriculture
KW - biodiversity
KW - CAP
KW - conservation scheme
KW - field margins
KW - insects
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14147
SN - 0021-8901
SN - 1365-2664
VL - 59
IS - 5
SP - 1172
EP - 1177
PB - Wiley-Blackwell
CY - Oxford
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Negyesi, Janos
A1 - Hortobagyi, Tibor
A1 - Hill, Jessica
A1 - Granacher, Urs
A1 - Nagatomi, Ryoichi
T1 - Can compression garments reduce the deleterious effects of physical exercise on muscle strength?
BT - a systematic review and meta-analyses
JF - Sports medicine
N2 - Background
The use of compression garments (CGs) during or after training and competition has gained popularity in the last few decades. However, the data concerning CGs' beneficial effects on muscle strength-related outcomes after physical exercise remain inconclusive.
Objective
The aim was to determine whether wearing CGs during or after physical exercise would facilitate the recovery of muscle strength-related outcomes.
Methods
A systematic literature search was conducted across five databases (PubMed, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, Scopus, and EBSCOhost). Data from 19 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including 350 healthy participants were extracted and meta-analytically computed. Weighted between-study standardized mean differences (SMDs) with respect to their standard errors (SEs) were aggregated and corrected for sample size to compute overall SMDs. The type of physical exercise, the body area and timing of CG application, and the time interval between the end of the exercise and subsequent testing were assessed.
Results
CGs produced no strength-sparing effects (SMD [95% confidence interval]) at the following time points (t) after physical exercise: immediately <= t < 24 h: - 0.02 (- 0.22 to 0.19), p = 0.87; 24 <= t < 48 h: - 0.00 (- 0.22 to 0.21), p = 0.98; 48 <= t < 72 h: - 0.03 (- 0.43 to 0.37), p = 0.87; 72 <= t < 96 h: 0.14 (- 0.21 to 0.49), p = 0.43; 96 h <= t: 0.26 (- 0.33 to 0.85), p = 0.38. The body area where the CG was applied had no strength-sparing effects. CGs revealed weak strength-sparing effects after plyometric exercise.
Conclusion
Meta-analytical evidence suggests that wearing a CG during or after training does not seem to facilitate the recovery of muscle strength following physical exercise. Practitioners, athletes, coaches, and trainers should reconsider the use of CG as a tool to reduce the effects of physical exercise on muscle strength.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01681-4
SN - 0112-1642
SN - 1179-2035
VL - 52
IS - 9
SP - 2159
EP - 2175
PB - Springer
CY - Northcote
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Nievas, Cecilia
A1 - Pilz, Marco
A1 - Prehn, Karsten
A1 - Schorlemmer, Danijel
A1 - Weatherill, Graeme
A1 - Cotton, Fabrice
T1 - Calculating earthquake damage building by building
BT - the case of the city of Cologne, Germany
JF - Bulletin of earthquake engineering : official publication of the European Association for Earthquake Engineering
N2 - The creation of building exposure models for seismic risk assessment is frequently challenging due to the lack of availability of detailed information on building structures. Different strategies have been developed in recent years to overcome this, including the use of census data, remote sensing imagery and volunteered graphic information (VGI). This paper presents the development of a building-by-building exposure model based exclusively on openly available datasets, including both VGI and census statistics, which are defined at different levels of spatial resolution and for different moments in time. The initial model stemming purely from building-level data is enriched with statistics aggregated at the neighbourhood and city level by means of a Monte Carlo simulation that enables the generation of full realisations of damage estimates when using the exposure model in the context of an earthquake scenario calculation. Though applicable to any other region of interest where analogous datasets are available, the workflow and approach followed are explained by focusing on the case of the German city of Cologne, for which a scenario earthquake is defined and the potential damage is calculated. The resulting exposure model and damage estimates are presented, and it is shown that the latter are broadly consistent with damage data from the 1978 Albstadt earthquake, notwithstanding the differences in the scenario. Through this real-world application we demonstrate the potential of VGI and open data to be used for exposure modelling for natural risk assessment, when combined with suitable knowledge on building fragility and accounting for the inherent uncertainties.
KW - Building exposure modelling
KW - Seismic damage assessment
KW - Scenario
KW - earthquake
KW - Seismic risk
KW - Cologne
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10518-021-01303-w
SN - 1570-761X
SN - 1573-1456
VL - 20
IS - 3
SP - 1519
EP - 1565
PB - Springer
CY - Dordrecht
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Weaver, Catherine
A1 - Heinzel, Mirko
A1 - Jorgensen, Samantha
A1 - Flores, Joseph
T1 - Bureaucratic representation in the IMF and the World Bank
JF - Global perspectives
N2 - The legitimacy and effectiveness of international organizations are often linked directly to issues of representation—not only on their high-level governing boards and in top leadership but also within their staff. This article explores two key questions of bureaucratic representation in the critical cases of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. First, we seek to unpack three essential dimensions of staff representation—nationality, education, and gender—to explain how representation may matter for international organizations. Second, we aim to describe the multiple dimensions of representation in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank over the past twenty years by deploying a novel dataset on staff demographics, focusing on ranks with decision-making authority within the institutions. Our descriptive analysis reveals that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have made considerable efforts to diversify their bureaucracies. Nonetheless, representation remains uneven; for example, nationals from middle- and low-income countries, women, and staff without economics degrees from prominent US- or UK-based universities are less present in key leadership positions. These results may be well explained by the particular needs of the institutions’ technical mandates and limits in the supply of qualified staff and, as such, need not be seen as suboptimal. Nonetheless, perceived imbalances in representation may continue to pose external legitimation and operational challenges to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in a complex political environment where such multidimensional representation is important to sustaining the buy-in of donor and borrower countries alike. To this end, we recommend that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank enhance their diversity and inclusion efforts by increasing transparency via reporting disaggregated data on workforce composition and introducing annual requirements to publish progress reports with management feedback to strengthen internal and external accountability.
KW - representation
KW - international bureaucracy
KW - multilateralism
KW - World Bank
KW - IMF
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2022.39684
SN - 2575-7350
VL - 3
IS - 1
PB - University of California Press
CY - Oakland, CA
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Warchold, Anne
A1 - Pradhan, Prajal
A1 - Thapa, Pratibha
A1 - Putra, Muhammad Panji Islam Fajar
A1 - Kropp, Jürgen
T1 - Building a unified sustainable development goal database
BT - why does sustainable development goal data selection matter?
JF - Sustainable development
N2 - The 2020s are an essential decade for achieving the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For this, SDG research needs to provide evidence that can be translated into concrete actions. However, studies use different SDG data, resulting in incomparable findings. Researchers primarily use SDG databases provided by the United Nations (UN), the World Bank Group (WBG), and the Bertelsmann Stiftung & Sustainable Development Solutions Network (BE-SDSN). We compile these databases into one unified SDG database and examine the effects of the data selection on our understanding of SDG interactions. Among the databases, we observed more different than similar SDG interactions. Differences in synergies and trade-offs mainly occur for SDGs that are environmentally oriented. Due to the increased data availability, the unified SDG database offers a more nuanced and reliable view of SDG interactions. Thus, the SDG data selection may lead to diverse findings, fostering actions that might neglect or exacerbate trade-offs.
KW - inequalities
KW - SDG indicator databases
KW - SDG interactions
KW - SDG networks;
KW - SDGs
KW - synergies and trade-offs
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2316
SN - 0968-0802
SN - 1099-1719
PB - Wiley
CY - Hoboken
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Richly, Keven
A1 - Schlosser, Rainer
A1 - Boissier, Martin
T1 - Budget-conscious fine-grained configuration optimization for spatio-temporal applications
JF - Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment
N2 - Based on the performance requirements of modern spatio-temporal data mining applications, in-memory database systems are often used to store and process the data. To efficiently utilize the scarce DRAM capacities, modern database systems support various tuning possibilities to reduce the memory footprint (e.g., data compression) or increase performance (e.g., additional indexes). However, the selection of cost and performance balancing configurations is challenging due to the vast number of possible setups consisting of mutually dependent individual decisions. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to jointly optimize the compression, sorting, indexing, and tiering configuration for spatio-temporal workloads. Further, we consider horizontal data partitioning, which enables the independent application of different tuning options on a fine-grained level. We propose different linear programming (LP) models addressing cost dependencies at different levels of accuracy to compute optimized tuning configurations for a given workload and memory budgets. To yield maintainable and robust configurations, we extend our LP-based approach to incorporate reconfiguration costs as well as a worst-case optimization for potential workload scenarios. Further, we demonstrate on a real-world dataset that our models allow to significantly reduce the memory footprint with equal performance or increase the performance with equal memory size compared to existing tuning heuristics.
KW - General Earth and Planetary Sciences
KW - Water Science and Technology
KW - Geography, Planning and Development
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.14778/3565838.3565858
SN - 2150-8097
VL - 15
IS - 13
SP - 4079
EP - 4092
PB - Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
CY - [New York]
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Irob, Katja
A1 - Blaum, Niels
A1 - Baldauf, Selina
A1 - Kerger, Leon
A1 - Strohbach, Ben
A1 - Kanduvarisa, Angelina
A1 - Lohmann, Dirk
A1 - Tietjen, Britta
T1 - Browsing herbivores improve the state and functioning of savannas
BT - A model assessment of alternative land-use strategies
JF - Ecology and evolution
N2 - Changing climatic conditions and unsustainable land use are major threats to savannas worldwide. Historically, many African savannas were used intensively for livestock grazing, which contributed to widespread patterns of bush encroachment across savanna systems. To reverse bush encroachment, it has been proposed to change the cattle-dominated land use to one dominated by comparatively specialized browsers and usually native herbivores. However, the consequences for ecosystem properties and processes remain largely unclear. We used the ecohydrological, spatially explicit model EcoHyD to assess the impacts of two contrasting, herbivore land-use strategies on a Namibian savanna: grazer- versus browser-dominated herbivore communities. We varied the densities of grazers and browsers and determined the resulting composition and diversity of the plant community, total vegetation cover, soil moisture, and water use by plants. Our results showed that plant types that are less palatable to herbivores were best adapted to grazing or browsing animals in all simulated densities. Also, plant types that had a competitive advantage under limited water availability were among the dominant ones irrespective of land-use scenario. Overall, the results were in line with our expectations: under high grazer densities, we found heavy bush encroachment and the loss of the perennial grass matrix. Importantly, regardless of the density of browsers, grass cover and plant functional diversity were significantly higher in browsing scenarios. Browsing herbivores increased grass cover, and the higher total cover in turn improved water uptake by plants overall. We concluded that, in contrast to grazing-dominated land-use strategies, land-use strategies dominated by browsing herbivores, even at high herbivore densities, sustain diverse vegetation communities with high cover of perennial grasses, resulting in lower erosion risk and bolstering ecosystem services.
KW - browsing
KW - ecohydrology
KW - land use
KW - plant community
KW - savanna
KW - wildlife
KW - management
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8715
SN - 2045-7758
VL - 12
IS - 3
PB - Wiley
CY - Hoboken
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Apel, Heiko
A1 - Vorogushyn, Sergiy
A1 - Merz, Bruno
T1 - Brief communication: impact forecasting could substantially improve the emergency management of deadly floods: case study July 2021 floods in Germany
JF - Natural hazards and earth system sciences
N2 - Floods affect more people than any other natural hazard; thus flood warning and disaster management are of utmost importance.
However, the operational hydrological forecasts do not provide information about affected areas and impact but only discharge and water levels at gauges.
We show that a simple hydrodynamic model operating with readily available data is able to provide highly localized information on the expected flood extent and impacts, with simulation times enabling operational flood warning.
We demonstrate that such an impact forecast would have indicated the deadly potential of the 2021 flood in western Germany with sufficient lead time.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3005-2022
SN - 1561-8633
SN - 1684-9981
VL - 22
IS - 9
SP - 3005
EP - 3014
PB - European Geophysical Society
CY - Katlenburg-Lindau
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Wulff, Peter
A1 - Buschhüter, David
A1 - Westphal, Andrea
A1 - Mientus, Lukas
A1 - Nowak, Anna
A1 - Borowski, Andreas
T1 - Bridging the gap between qualitative and quantitative assessment in science education research with machine learning
BT - a case for pretrained language models-based clustering
JF - Journal of science education and technology
N2 - Science education researchers typically face a trade-off between more quantitatively oriented confirmatory testing of hypotheses, or more qualitatively oriented exploration of novel hypotheses. More recently, open-ended, constructed response items were used to combine both approaches and advance assessment of complex science-related skills and competencies. For example, research in assessing science teachers' noticing and attention to classroom events benefitted from more open-ended response formats because teachers can present their own accounts. Then, open-ended responses are typically analyzed with some form of content analysis. However, language is noisy, ambiguous, and unsegmented and thus open-ended, constructed responses are complex to analyze. Uncovering patterns in these responses would benefit from more principled and systematic analysis tools. Consequently, computer-based methods with the help of machine learning and natural language processing were argued to be promising means to enhance assessment of noticing skills with constructed response formats. In particular, pretrained language models recently advanced the study of linguistic phenomena and thus could well advance assessment of complex constructs through constructed response items. This study examines potentials and challenges of a pretrained language model-based clustering approach to assess preservice physics teachers' attention to classroom events as elicited through open-ended written descriptions. It was examined to what extent the clustering approach could identify meaningful patterns in the constructed responses, and in what ways textual organization of the responses could be analyzed with the clusters. Preservice physics teachers (N = 75) were instructed to describe a standardized, video-recorded teaching situation in physics. The clustering approach was used to group related sentences. Results indicate that the pretrained language model-based clustering approach yields well-interpretable, specific, and robust clusters, which could be mapped to physics-specific and more general contents. Furthermore, the clusters facilitate advanced analysis of the textual organization of the constructed responses. Hence, we argue that machine learning and natural language processing provide science education researchers means to combine exploratory capabilities of qualitative research methods with the systematicity of quantitative methods.
KW - Attention to classroom events
KW - Noticing
KW - NLP
KW - ML
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-022-09969-w
SN - 1059-0145
SN - 1573-1839
VL - 31
IS - 4
SP - 490
EP - 513
PB - Springer
CY - Dordrecht
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Lehmann, Nico
A1 - Kuhn, Yves-Alain
A1 - Keller, Martin
A1 - Aye, Norman
A1 - Herold, Fabian
A1 - Draganski, Bogdan
A1 - Taube, Wolfgang
A1 - Taubert, Marco
T1 - Brain activation during active balancing and its behavioral relevance in younger and older adults
BT - a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study
JF - Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
N2 - Age-related deterioration of balance control is widely regarded as an important phenomenon influencing quality of life and longevity, such that a more comprehensive understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying this process is warranted.
Specifically, previous studies have reported that older adults typically show higher neural activity during balancing as compared to younger counterparts, but the implications of this finding on balance performance remain largely unclear.
Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), differences in the cortical control of balance between healthy younger (n = 27) and older (n = 35) adults were explored.
More specifically, the association between cortical functional activity and balance performance across and within age groups was investigated. To this end, we measured hemodynamic responses (i.e., changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin) while participants balanced on an unstable device.
As criterion variables for brain-behavior-correlations, we also assessed postural sway while standing on a free-swinging platform and while balancing on wobble boards with different levels of difficulty.
We found that older compared to younger participants had higher activity in prefrontal and lower activity in postcentral regions.
Subsequent robust regression analyses revealed that lower prefrontal brain activity was related to improved balance performance across age groups, indicating that higher activity of the prefrontal cortex during balancing reflects neural inefficiency.
We also present evidence supporting that age serves as a moderator in the relationship between brain activity and balance, i.e., cortical hemodynamics generally appears to be a more important predictor of balance performance in the older than in the younger. Strikingly, we found that age differences in balance performance are mediated by balancing-induced activation of the superior frontal gyrus, thus suggesting that differential activation of this region reflects a mechanism involved in the aging process of the neural control of balance.
Our study suggests that differences in functional brain activity between age groups are not a mere by-product of aging, but instead of direct behavioral relevance for balance performance.
Potential implications of these findings in terms of early detection of fall-prone individuals and intervention strategies targeting balance and healthy aging are discussed.
KW - aging
KW - neuroimaging
KW - functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)
KW - balance
KW - postural control
KW - prefrontal cortex
KW - neural inefficiency
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2022.828474
SN - 1663-4365
VL - 14
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Bär, Christian
A1 - Bandara, Lashi
T1 - Boundary value problems for general first-order elliptic differential operators
JF - Journal of functional analysis
N2 - We study boundary value problems for first-order elliptic differential operators on manifolds with compact boundary. The adapted boundary operator need not be selfadjoint and the boundary condition need not be pseudo-local.We show the equivalence of various characterisations of elliptic boundary conditions and demonstrate how the boundary conditions traditionally considered in the literature fit in our framework. The regularity of the solutions up to the boundary is proven. We show that imposing elliptic boundary conditions yields a Fredholm operator if the manifold is compact. We provide examples which are conveniently treated by our methods.
KW - elliptic differential operators of firstorder
KW - elliptic boundary
KW - conditions
KW - boundary regularity
KW - Fredholm property
KW - H-infinity-functional calculus
KW - maximal regularity
KW - Rarita-Schwinger
KW - operator
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfa.2022.109445
SN - 0022-1236
SN - 1096-0783
VL - 282
IS - 12
PB - Elsevier
CY - Amsterdam [u.a.]
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Polley, Nabarun
A1 - Werner, Peter
A1 - Balderas-Valadez, Ruth Fabiola
A1 - Pacholski, Claudia
T1 - Bottom, top, or in between
BT - combining plasmonic nanohole arrays and hydrogel microgels for optical fiber snsor applications
JF - Advanced materials interfaces
N2 - Attractive label-free plasmonic optical fiber sensors can be developed by cleverly choosing the arrangement of plasmonic nanostructures and other building blocks. Here, the final response depends very much on the alignment and position (stacking) of the individual elements. In this work, three different types of fiber optic sensing geometries fabricated by simple layer-by-layer stacking are presented, consisting of stimulus-sensitive poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (polyNIPAM) microgel arrays and plasmonic nanohole arrays (NHAs), namely NHA/polyNIPAM, polyNIPAM/NHA, polyNIPAM/NHA/polyNIPAM. Their optical response to a representative stimulus, namely temperature, is investigated. NHA/polyNIPAM monitors the volume phase transition of polyNIPAM microgels through changes in the spectral position and the amplitude of the reflection minimum of plasmonic NHA. In contrast, polyNIPAM/NHA shows a more complex response to the swelling and collapse of polyNIPAM microgels in their reflectance spectra. The most pronounced changes in optical response are observed by monitoring the amplitude of the reflectance minimum of this sensor during heating/cooling cycles. Finally, the triple stack of polyNIPAM/NHA/polyNIPAM at the end of a optical fiber tip combines the advantages of the NHA/polyNIPAM, polyNIPAM/NHA double stacks for optical sensing. The unique layer-by-layer stacking of microgel and nanostructure is customizable and can be easily adopted for other applications.
KW - bottom-up fabrication
KW - layer-by-layer stacking
KW - microgel arrays
KW - optical
KW - fiber sensors
KW - plasmonic nanohole arrays
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202102312
SN - 2196-7350
VL - 9
IS - 15
PB - Wiley
CY - Hoboken
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Floyd, Thomas G.
A1 - Song, Ji-Inn
A1 - Hapeshi, Alexia
A1 - Laroque, Sophie
A1 - Hartlieb, Matthias
A1 - Perrier, Sebastien
T1 - Bottlebrush copolymers for gene delivery: influence of architecture, charge density, and backbone length on transfection efficiency
JF - Journal of materials chemistry : B, materials for biology and medicine
N2 - The influence of polymer architecture of polycations on their ability to transfect mammalian cells is probed. Polymer bottle brushes with grafts made from partially hydrolysed poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) are used while varying the length of the polymer backbone as well as the degree of hydrolysis (cationic charge content). Polyplex formation is investigated via gel electrophoresis, dye-displacement and dynamic light scattering. Bottle brushes show a superior ability to complex pDNA when compared to linear copolymers. Also, nucleic acid release was found to be improved by a graft architecture. Polyplexes based on bottle brush copolymers showed an elongated shape in transmission electron microscopy images. The cytotoxicity against mammalian cells is drastically reduced when a graft architecture is used instead of linear copolymers. Moreover, the best-performing bottle brush copolymer showed a transfection ability comparable with that of linear poly(ethylenimine), the gold standard of polymeric transfection agents, which is used as positive control. In combination with their markedly lowered cytotoxicity, cationic bottle brush copolymers are therefore shown to be a highly promising class of gene delivery vectors.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d2tb00490a
SN - 2050-750X
SN - 2050-7518
VL - 10
IS - 19
SP - 3696
EP - 3704
PB - Royal Society of Chemistry
CY - London [u.a.]
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Nagakura, Toshiki
A1 - Schubert, Florian
A1 - Wagner, Dirk
A1 - Kallmeyer, Jens
T1 - Biological sulfate reduction in deep subseafloor sediment of Guaymas Basin
JF - Frontiers in microbiology
N2 - Sulfate reduction is the quantitatively most important process to degrade organic matter in anoxic marine sediment and has been studied intensively in a variety of settings. Guaymas Basin, a young marginal ocean basin, offers the unique opportunity to study sulfate reduction in an environment characterized by organic-rich sediment, high sedimentation rates, and high geothermal gradients (100-958 degrees C km(-1)). We measured sulfate reduction rates (SRR) in samples taken during the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 385 using incubation experiments with radiolabeled (SO42-)-S-35 carried out at in situ pressure and temperature. The highest SRR (387 nmol cm(-3) d(-1)) was recorded in near-surface sediments from Site U1548C, which had the steepest geothermal gradient (958 degrees C km(-1)). At this site, SRR were generally over an order of magnitude higher than at similar depths at other sites (e.g., 387-157 nmol cm(-3) d(-1) at 1.9 mbsf from Site U1548C vs. 46-1.0 nmol cm(-3) d(-1) at 2.1 mbsf from Site U1552B). Site U1546D is characterized by a sill intrusion, but it had already reached thermal equilibrium and SRR were in the same range as nearby Site U1545C, which is minimally affected by sills. The wide temperature range observed at each drill site suggests major shifts in microbial community composition with very different temperature optima but awaits confirmation by molecular biological analyses. At the transition between the mesophilic and thermophilic range around 40 degrees C-60 degrees C, sulfate-reducing activity appears to be decreased, particularly in more oligotrophic settings, but shows a slight recovery at higher temperatures.
KW - sulfate reduction
KW - subsurface life
KW - deep biosphere
KW - thermophiles;
KW - Guaymas Basin
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.845250
SN - 1664-302X
VL - 13
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Schittko, Conrad
A1 - Onandia, Gabriela
A1 - Bernard-Verdier, Maud
A1 - Heger, Tina
A1 - Jeschke, Jonathan M.
A1 - Kowarik, Ingo
A1 - Maaß, Stefanie
A1 - Joshi, Jasmin
T1 - Biodiversity maintains soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon in novel urban ecosystems
JF - Journal of ecology
N2 - Biodiversity in urban ecosystems has the potential to increase ecosystem functions and support a suite of services valued by society, including services provided by soils. Specifically, the sequestration of carbon in soils has often been advocated as a solution to mitigate the steady increase in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere as a key driver of climate change. However, urban ecosystems are also characterized by an often high level of ecological novelty due to profound human-mediated changes, such as the presence of high numbers of non-native species, impervious surfaces or other disturbances. Yet it is poorly understood whether and how biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning and services of urban soils under these novel conditions. In this study, we assessed the influence of above- and below-ground diversity, as well as urbanization and plant invasions, on multifunctionality and organic carbon stocks of soils in non-manipulated grasslands along an urbanization gradient in Berlin, Germany. We focused on plant diversity (measured as species richness and functional trait diversity) and, in addition, on soil organism diversity as a potential mediator for the relationship of plant species diversity and ecosystem functioning. Our results showed positive effects of plant diversity on soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon stocks along the entire gradient. Structural equation models revealed that plant diversity enhanced soil multifunctionality and soil organic carbon by increasing the diversity of below-ground organisms. These positive effects of plant diversity on soil multifunctionality and soil fauna were not restricted to native plant species only, but were also exerted by non-native species, although to a lesser degree. Synthesis. We conclude that enhancing diversity in plants and soil fauna of urban grasslands can increase the multifunctionality of urban soils and also add to their often underestimated but very valuable role in mitigating effects of climate change.
KW - Anthropocene
KW - biological invasions
KW - ecosystem function and services;
KW - functional diversity
KW - global change
KW - non-native species
KW - novel
KW - ecosystems
KW - urbanization
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13852
SN - 0022-0477
SN - 1365-2745
VL - 110
IS - 4
SP - 916
EP - 934
PB - Wiley
CY - Hoboken
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Zhang, Kai
A1 - Hu, Jiege
A1 - Yang, Shuai
A1 - Xu, Wei
A1 - Wang, Zhichao
A1 - Zhuang, Peiwen
A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter
A1 - Luo, Zhuhua
T1 - Biodegradation of polyester polyurethane by the marine fungus Cladosporium halotolerans 6UPA1
JF - Journal of hazardous materials
N2 - Lack of degradability and the accumulation of polymeric wastes increase the risk for the health of the environment. Recently, recycling of polymeric waste materials becomes increasingly important as raw materials for polymer synthesis are in short supply due to the rise in price and supply chain disruptions. As an important polymer, polyurethane (PU) is widely used in modern life, therefore, PU biodegradation is desirable to avoid its accumulation in the environment. In this study, we isolated a fungal strain Cladosporium halotolerans from the deep sea which can grow in mineral medium with a polyester PU (Impranil DLN) as a sole carbon source. Further, we demonstrate that it can degrade up to 80% of Impranil PU after 3 days of incubation at 28 celcius by breaking the carbonyl groups (1732 cm(-1)) and C-N-H bonds (1532 cm(-1) and 1247 cm(-1)) as confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed polyols and alkanes as PU degradation intermediates, indicating the hydrolysis of ester and urethane bonds. Esterase and urease activities were detected in 7 days-old cultures with PU as a carbon source. Transcriptome analysis showed a number of extracellular protein genes coding for enzymes such as cutinase, lipase, peroxidase and hydrophobic surface binding proteins A (HsbA) were expressed when cultivated on Impranil PU. The yeast two-hybrid assay revealed that the hydrophobic surface binding protein ChHsbA1 directly interacts with inducible esterases, ChLip1 (lipase) and ChCut1 (cutinase). Further, the KEGG pathway for "fatty acid degradation " was significantly enriched in Impranil PU inducible genes, indicating that the fungus may use the degradation intermediates to generate energy via this pathway. Taken together, our data indicates secretion of both esterase and hydrophobic surface binding proteins by C. halotolerans plays an important role in Impranil PU absorption and subsequent degradation. Our study provides a mechanistic insight into Impranil PU biodegradation by deep sea fungi and provides the basis for future development of biotechnological PU recycling.
KW - Impranil PU degradation
KW - Lipase
KW - Cutinase
KW - HsbA
KW - Fatty acid degradation
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129406
SN - 0304-3894
SN - 1873-3336
VL - 437
PB - Elsevier
CY - Amsterdam
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Radbruch, Moritz Jan Florian
A1 - Pischon, Jeanette Hannah Charlotte
A1 - Du, Fang
A1 - Haag, Rainer
A1 - Schumacher, Fabian
A1 - Kleuser, Burkhard
A1 - Mundhenk, Lars
A1 - Gruber, Achim
T1 - Biodegradable core-multishell nanocarrier: topical tacrolimus delivery for treatment of dermatitis
JF - Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society and of the Japanese Society of Drug Delivery Systems
N2 - Two challenges in topical drug delivery to the skin include solubilizing hydrophobic drugs in water-based formulations and increasing drug penetration into the skin. Polymeric core-multishell nanocarrier (CMS), particularly the novel biodegradable CMS (bCMS = hPG-PCL1.1K-mPEG(2k)-CMS) have shown both advantages on excised skin ex vivo.
Here, we investigated topical delivery of tacrolimus (TAC; > 500 g/mol) by bCMS in a hydrogel on an oxazolone-induced model of dermatitis in vivo. As expected, bCMS successfully delivered TAC into the skin.
However, in vivo they did not increase, but decrease TAC penetration through the stratum corneum compared to ointment.
Differences in the resulting mean concentrations were mostly non-significant in the skin (epidermis: 35.7 +/- 20.9 ng/cm(2) for bCMS vs. 92.6 +/- 62.7 ng/cm(2) for ointment; dermis: 76.8 +/- 26.8 ng/cm(2) vs 118.2 +/- 50.4 ng/cm(2)), but highly significant in blood (plasma: 1.1 +/- 0.4 ng/ml vs 11.3 +/- 9.3 ng/ml; erythrocytes: 0.5 +/- 0.2 ng/ml vs 3.4 +/- 2.4 ng/ml) and liver (0.01 +/- 0.01 ng/mg vs 0.03 +/- 0.01 ng/mg). bCMS were detected in the stratum corneum but not in viable skin or beyond.
The therapeutic efficacy of TAC delivered by bCMS was equivalent to that of standard TAC ointment.
Our results suggest that bCMS may be a promising carrier for the topical delivery of TAC. The quantitative difference to previous results should be interpreted in light of structural differences between murine and human skin, but highlights the need as well as potential methods to develop more a complex ex vivo analysis on human skin to ensure quantitative predictive value.
KW - drug delivery systems
KW - core-multishell (CMS) nanocarriers
KW - tacrolimus
KW - topical drug delivery
KW - dermal drug administration
KW - penetration enhancement
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2022.07.025
SN - 0168-3659
SN - 1873-4995
VL - 349
SP - 917
EP - 928
PB - Elsevier
CY - New York, NY [u.a.]
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Saidi, Karim
A1 - Zouhal, Hassane
A1 - Boullosa, Daniel
A1 - Dupont, Gregory
A1 - Hackney, Anthony C.
A1 - Bideau, Benoit
A1 - Granacher, Urs
A1 - Ben Abderrahman, Abderraouf
T1 - Biochemical markers and wellness status during a congested match play period in elite soccer players
JF - International journal of sports physiology and performance : IJSSP
N2 - Objectives:
To analyze biochemical markers, wellness status, and physical fitness in elite soccer players in relation to changes in training and match exposure during a congested period of match play.
Methods:
Fourteen elite soccer players were evaluated 3 times (T1, T2, and T3) over 12 weeks (T1-T2: 6-wk regular period of match play and T2-T3: 6-wk congested period of match play). Players performed vertical jump tests, repeated shuttle sprint ability test, and the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test at T1, T2, and T3. Plasma C-reactive protein, creatinine, and creatine kinase were analyzed at T1, T2, and T3. Wellness status was measured daily using the Hopper questionnaire (delayed onset of muscle soreness, stress, fatigue, and sleep quality). Training session rating of perceived exertion was also recorded on a daily basis.
Results:
A significant increase was found in stress, fatigue, delayed onset of muscle soreness scores, and Hopper index during the congested period (between T2 and T3) compared with the regular period (between T1 and T2) (.001 < P < .008, 0.8 < ES < 2.3). Between T2 and T3, significant relationships were found between the percentage variations (Delta%) of C-reactive protein, and Delta% of creatine kinase with the Hopper Index, and the Delta% of fatigue score. In addition, the Delta% of fatigue score and Delta% of delayed onset of muscle soreness score correlated with Delta% Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test and Delta% best of repeated shuttle sprint ability test (.49 < r < P < .01).
Conclusions:
An intensive period of congested match play significantly compromised elite soccer players' physical fitness and wellness status. Elite soccer players' wellness status reflects declines in physical fitness during this period while biochemical changes do not.
KW - training
KW - congested calendar
KW - overtraining
KW - overreaching
KW - recovery
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2020-0914
SN - 1555-0265
SN - 1555-0273
VL - 17
IS - 4
SP - 605
EP - 620
PB - Human Kinetics Publ.
CY - Champaign
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Felser, Claudia
A1 - Drummer, Janna-Deborah
T1 - Binding out of relative clauses in native and non-native sentence comprehension
JF - Journal of psycholinguistic research
N2 - Pronouns can sometimes covary with a non c-commanding quantifier phrase (QP). To obtain such 'telescoping' readings, a semantic representation must be computed in which the QP's semantic scope extends beyond its surface scope. Non-native speakers have been claimed to have more difficulty than native speakers deriving such non-isomorphic syntax-semantics mappings, but evidence from processing studies is scarce. We report the results from an eye-movement monitoring experiment and an offline questionnaire investigating whether native and non-native speakers of German can link personal pronouns to non c-commanding QPs inside relative clauses. Our results show that both participant groups were able to obtain telescoping readings offline, but only the native speakers showed evidence of forming telescoping dependencies during incremental parsing. During processing the non-native speakers focused on a discourse-prominent, non-quantified alternative antecedent instead. The observed group differences indicate that non-native comprehenders have more difficulty than native comprehenders computing scope-shifted representations in real time.
KW - Pronoun binding
KW - c-command
KW - Eye-movement monitoring
KW - Non-native language
KW - processing
KW - German
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-022-09845-z
SN - 0090-6905
SN - 1573-6555
VL - 51
IS - 4
SP - 763
EP - 788
PB - Springer
CY - New York
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Yang, Jingdan
A1 - Kim, Jae-Hyun
A1 - Tuomainen, Outi
A1 - Rattanasone, Nan Xu
T1 - Bilingual Mandarin-English preschoolers’ spoken narrative skills and contributing factors
BT - A remote online story-retell study
JF - Frontiers in Psyhology
N2 - This study examined the spoken narrative skills of a group of bilingual Mandarin–English speaking 3–6-year-olds (N = 25) in Australia, using a remote online story-retell task. Bilingual preschoolers are an understudied population, especially those who are speaking typologically distinct languages such as Mandarin and English which have fewer structural overlaps compared to language pairs that are typologically closer, reducing cross-linguistic positive transfer. We examined these preschoolers’ spoken narrative skills as measured by macrostructures (the global organization of a story) and microstructures (linguistic structures, e.g., total number of utterances, nouns, verbs, phrases, and modifiers) across and within each language, and how various factors such as age and language experiences contribute to individual variability. The results indicate that our bilingual preschoolers acquired spoken narrative skills similarly across their two languages, i.e., showing similar patterns of productivity for macrostructure and microstructure elements in both of their two languages. While chronological age was positively correlated with macrostructures in both languages (showing developmental effects), there were no significant correlations between measures of language experiences and the measures of spoken narrative skills (no effects for language input/output). The findings suggest that although these preschoolers acquire two typologically diverse languages in different learning environments, Mandarin at home with highly educated parents, and English at preschool, they displayed similar levels of oral narrative skills as far as these macro−/micro-structure measures are concerned. This study provides further evidence for the feasibility of remote online assessment of preschoolers’ narrative skills.
KW - narrative skills
KW - Mandarin-English bilinguals
KW - preschoolers
KW - macrostructure
KW - microstructure
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.797602
SN - 1664-1078
VL - 13
PB - Frontiers Media SA
CY - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Nathan, Ran
A1 - Monk, Christopher T.
A1 - Arlinghaus, Robert
A1 - Adam, Timo
A1 - Alós, Josep
A1 - Assaf, Michael
A1 - Baktoft, Henrik
A1 - Beardsworth, Christine E.
A1 - Bertram, Michael G.
A1 - Bijleveld, Allert
A1 - Brodin, Tomas
A1 - Brooks, Jill L.
A1 - Campos-Candela, Andrea
A1 - Cooke, Steven J.
A1 - Gjelland, Karl O.
A1 - Gupte, Pratik R.
A1 - Harel, Roi
A1 - Hellstrom, Gustav
A1 - Jeltsch, Florian
A1 - Killen, Shaun S.
A1 - Klefoth, Thomas
A1 - Langrock, Roland
A1 - Lennox, Robert J.
A1 - Lourie, Emmanuel
A1 - Madden, Joah R.
A1 - Orchan, Yotam
A1 - Pauwels, Ine S.
A1 - Riha, Milan
A1 - Röleke, Manuel
A1 - Schlägel, Ulrike
A1 - Shohami, David
A1 - Signer, Johannes
A1 - Toledo, Sivan
A1 - Vilk, Ohad
A1 - Westrelin, Samuel
A1 - Whiteside, Mark A.
A1 - Jaric, Ivan
T1 - Big-data approaches lead to an increased understanding of the ecology of animal movement
JF - Science
N2 - Understanding animal movement is essential to elucidate how animals interact, survive, and thrive in a changing world. Recent technological advances in data collection and management have transformed our understanding of animal "movement ecology" (the integrated study of organismal movement), creating a big-data discipline that benefits from rapid, cost-effective generation of large amounts of data on movements of animals in the wild. These high-throughput wildlife tracking systems now allow more thorough investigation of variation among individuals and species across space and time, the nature of biological interactions, and behavioral responses to the environment. Movement ecology is rapidly expanding scientific frontiers through large interdisciplinary and collaborative frameworks, providing improved opportunities for conservation and insights into the movements of wild animals, and their causes and consequences.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg1780
SN - 0036-8075
SN - 1095-9203
VL - 375
IS - 6582
SP - 734
EP - +
PB - American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science
CY - Washington
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Krupnik, Seweryn
A1 - Wagner, Aleksandra
A1 - Vincent, Olga
A1 - Rudek, Tadeusz J.
A1 - Wade, Robert
A1 - Misik, Matúš
A1 - Akerboom, Sanne
A1 - Foulds, Chris
A1 - Smith Stegen, Karen
A1 - Adem, Çiğdem
A1 - Batel, Susana
A1 - Rabitz, Florian
A1 - Certomà, Chiara
A1 - Chodkowska-Miszczuk, Justyna
A1 - Dokupilová, Dušana
A1 - Leiren, Merethe D.
A1 - Ignatieva, Frolova M.
A1 - Gabaldón-Estevan, Daniel.
A1 - Horta, Ana
A1 - Karnøe, Peter
A1 - Lilliestam, Johan
A1 - Loorbach, Derk A.
A1 - Mühlemeier, Susan
A1 - Némoz, Sophie
A1 - Nilsson, Måns
A1 - Osička, Jan
A1 - Papamikrouli, Louiza
A1 - Pellizioni, Luigi
A1 - Sareen, Siddharth
A1 - Sarrica, Mauro
A1 - Seyfang, Gill
A1 - Sovacool, Benjamin K.
A1 - Telesiene, Audrone
A1 - Zapletalova, Veronika
A1 - von Wirth, Timo
T1 - Beyond technology
BT - a research agenda for social sciences and humanities research on renewable energy in Europe
JF - Energy research & social science
N2 - This article enriches the existing literature on the importance and role of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in renewable energy sources research by providing a novel approach to instigating the future research agenda in this field. Employing a series of in-depth interviews, deliberative focus group workshops and a systematic horizon scanning process, which utilised the expert knowledge of 85 researchers from the field with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and expertise, the paper develops a set of 100 priority questions for future research within SSH scholarship on renewable energy sources. These questions were aggregated into four main directions: (i) deep transformations and connections to the broader economic system (i.e. radical ways of (re)arranging socio-technical, political and economic relations), (ii) cultural and geographical diversity (i.e. contextual cultural, historical, political and socio-economic factors influencing citizen support for energy transitions), (iii) complexifying energy governance (i.e. understanding energy systems from a systems dynamics perspective) and (iv) shifting from instrumental acceptance to value-based objectives (i.e. public support for energy transitions as a normative notion linked to trust-building and citizen engagement). While this agenda is not intended to be—and cannot be—exhaustive or exclusive, we argue that it advances the understanding of SSH research on renewable energy sources and may have important value in the prioritisation of SSH themes needed to enrich dialogues between policymakers, funding institutions and researchers. SSH scholarship should not be treated as instrumental to other research on renewable energy but as intrinsic and of the same hierarchical importance.
KW - horizon scanning
KW - research priorities
KW - funding directions
KW - EU Horizon Europe
KW - research-policy interface
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102536
SN - 22146296
VL - 89
PB - Elsevier
CY - Amsterdam
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Almeida, Mara
A1 - Ranisch, Robert
T1 - Beyond safety: mapping the ethical debate on heritable genome editing interventions
JF - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
N2 - Genetic engineering has provided humans the ability to transform organisms by direct manipulation of genomes within a broad range of applications including agriculture (e.g., GM crops), and the pharmaceutical industry (e.g., insulin production). Developments within the last 10 years have produced new tools for genome editing (e.g., CRISPR/Cas9) that can achieve much greater precision than previous forms of genetic engineering. Moreover, these tools could offer the potential for interventions on humans and for both clinical and non-clinical purposes, resulting in a broad scope of applicability. However, their promising abilities and potential uses (including their applicability in humans for either somatic or heritable genome editing interventions) greatly increase their potential societal impacts and, as such, have brought an urgency to ethical and regulatory discussions about the application of such technology in our society. In this article, we explore different arguments (pragmatic, sociopolitical and categorical) that have been made in support of or in opposition to the new technologies of genome editing and their impact on the debate of the permissibility or otherwise of human heritable genome editing interventions in the future. For this purpose, reference is made to discussions on genetic engineering that have taken place in the field of bioethics since the 1980s. Our analysis shows that the dominance of categorical arguments has been reversed in favour of pragmatic arguments such as safety concerns. However, when it comes to involving the public in ethical discourse, we consider it crucial widening the debate beyond such pragmatic considerations. In this article, we explore some of the key categorical as well sociopolitical considerations raised by the potential uses of heritable genome editing interventions, as these considerations underline many of the societal concerns and values crucial for public engagement. We also highlight how pragmatic considerations, despite their increasing importance in the work of recent authoritative sources, are unlikely to be the result of progress on outstanding categorical issues, but rather reflect the limited progress on these aspects and/or pressures in regulating the use of the technology.
KW - Ethics
KW - Medical humanities
KW - Science, technology and society
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01147-y
SN - 2662-9992
VL - 9
IS - 1
PB - Springer Nature
CY - London
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Adair, Gigi
A1 - McLaughlin, Carly
T1 - Beyond humanitarianism
BT - reading counternarratives of forced migration from the global south
JF - Narrating Flight and Asylum
Y1 - 2022
SN - 978-3-86821-965-4
SP - 165
EP - 182
PB - Trier
CY - WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Mar, Kathleen A.
A1 - Unger, Charlotte
A1 - Walderdorff, Ludmila
A1 - Butler, Tim
T1 - Beyond CO2 equivalence
BT - The impacts of methane on climate, ecosystems, and health
JF - Environmental science & policy
N2 - In this article we review the physical and chemical properties of methane (CH4) relevant to impacts on climate, ecosystems, and air pollution, and examine the extent to which this is reflected in climate and air pollution governance. Although CH4 is governed under the UNFCCC climate regime, its treatment there is limited to the ways in which it acts as a "CO2 equivalent" climate forcer on a 100-year time frame. The UNFCCC framework neglects the impacts that CH4 has on near-term climate, as well its impacts on human health and ecosystems, which are primarily mediated by methane's role as a precursor to tropospheric ozone. Frameworks for air quality governance generally address tropospheric ozone as a pollutant, but do not regulate CH4 itself. Methane's climate and air quality impacts, together with its alarming rise in atmospheric concentrations in recent years, make it clear that mitigation of CH4 emissions needs to be accelerated globally. We examine challenges and opportunities for further progress on CH4 mitigation within the international governance landscapes for climate change and air pollution.
KW - Methane
KW - Climate governance
KW - Air pollution
KW - International policy
KW - Short-lived climate pollutants
KW - Global warming potential
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2022.03.027
SN - 1462-9011
SN - 1873-6416
VL - 134
SP - 127
EP - 136
PB - Elsevier
CY - Oxford
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Vietze, Jana
A1 - Schwarzenthal, Miriam
A1 - Moffitt, Ursula
A1 - Civitillo, Sauro
T1 - Beyond 'migrant background': how to select relevant, social justice oriented, and feasible social categories in educational research
JF - European journal of psychology of education
N2 - Across continental Europe, educational research samples are often divided by 'migrant background', a binary variable criticized for masking participant heterogeneity and reinforcing exclusionary norms of belonging.
This study endorses more meaningful, representative, and precise research by offering four guiding questions for selecting relevant, social justice oriented, and feasible social categories for collecting and analysing data in psychological and educational research. Using a preregistered empirical example, we first compare selected social categories ('migrant background', family heritage, religion, citizenship, cultural identification, and generation status) in their potential to reveal participant heterogeneity.
Second, we investigate differences in means and relations between variables (discrimination experiences, perceived societal Islamophobia, and national identity) and academic motivation among 1335 adolescents in Germany (48% female, M-age = 14.69). Regression analyses and multigroup SEM revealed differential experiences with and implications of discrimination for academic motivation.
Results highlight the need for a deliberate, transparent use of social categories to make discrimination visible and centre participants' subjective experiences.
KW - migrant background
KW - labels
KW - social categories
KW - discrimination
KW - academic
KW - motivation
KW - national identity
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-022-00611-2
SN - 0256-2928
SN - 1878-5174
VL - 38
IS - 1
SP - 389
EP - 408
PB - Springer
CY - New York
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Madani, Amiera
A1 - Anghileri, Lucia
A1 - Heydenreich, Matthias
A1 - Möller, Heiko Michael
A1 - Pieber, Bartholomäus
T1 - Benzylic fluorination induced by a charge-transfer complex with a solvent-dependent selectivity switch
JF - Organic letters / publ. by the American Chemical Society
N2 - We present a divergent strategy for the fluorination of phenylacetic acid derivatives that is induced by a charge-transfer complex between Selectfluor and 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine. A comprehensive investigation of the conditions revealed a critical role of the solvent on the reaction outcome. In the presence of water, decarboxylative fluorination through a single-electron oxidation is dominant. Non-aqueous conditions result in the clean formation of alpha-fluoro-alpha-arylcarboxylic acids.
KW - Charge transfer
KW - Halogenation
KW - Oxidation
KW - Reaction products
KW - Reagents
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.2c02050
SN - 1523-7060
SN - 1523-7052
VL - 24
IS - 29
SP - 5376
EP - 5380
PB - American Chemical Society
CY - Washington
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Gericke, Christian
A1 - Soemer, Alexander
A1 - Schiefele, Ulrich
T1 - Benefits of Mind Wandering for Learning in School Through Its Positive Effects on Creativity
JF - Frontiers in Education
N2 - There is broad agreement among researchers to view mind wandering as an obstacle to learning because it draws attention away from learning tasks. Accordingly, empirical findings revealed negative correlations between the frequency of mind wandering during learning and various kinds of learning outcomes (e.g., text retention). However, a few studies have indicated positive effects of mind wandering on creativity in real-world learning environments. The present article reviews these studies and highlights potential benefits of mind wandering for learning mediated through creative processes. Furthermore, we propose various ways to promote useful mind wandering and, at the same time, minimize its negative impact on learning.
KW - mind wandering
KW - creativity
KW - divergent thinking
KW - incubation effect
KW - school learning
KW - creative problem solving
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.774731
SN - 2504-284X
VL - 7
PB - Frontiers Media SA
CY - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Escalante, Ignacio
A1 - Dominguez, Marisol
A1 - Gomez-Ruiz, Daisy Alejandra
A1 - Machado, Glauco
T1 - Benefits and costs of mixed-species aggregations in Harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones)
JF - Frontiers in ecology and evolution
N2 - Many animals form aggregations with individuals of the same species (single-species aggregations, SSA). Less frequently, individuals may also aggregate with individuals of other species (mixed-species aggregations, MSA). Although the benefits and costs of SSA have been intensively studied, the same is not true for MSA. Here, we first review the cases of MSA in harvestmen, an arachnid order in which the records of MSA are more frequent than other arthropod orders. We then propose several benefits and costs of MSA in harvestmen, and contrast them with those of SSA. Second, using field-gathered data we describe gregariousness in seven species of Prionostemma harvestmen from Costa Rica. These species form MSA, but individuals are also found solitarily or in SSA. We tested one possible benefit and one possible cost of gregariousness in Prionostemma harvestmen. Regarding the benefit, we hypothesized that individuals missing legs would be more exposed to predation than eight-legged individuals and thus they should be found preferentially in aggregations, where they would be more protected from predators. Our data, however, do not support this hypothesis. Regarding the cost, we hypothesized that gregariousness increases the chances of parasitism. We found no support for this hypothesis either because both mite prevalence and infestation intensity did not differ between solitary or aggregated individuals. Additionally, the type of aggregation (SSA or MSA) was not associated with the benefit or the cost we explored. This lack of effect may be explained by the fluid membership of the aggregations, as we found high turnover over time in the number of individuals and species composition of the aggregations. In conclusion, we hope our review and empirical data stimulate further studies on MSA, which remains one of the most elusive forms of group living in animals.
KW - alarm signals
KW - aggregation size
KW - autotomy
KW - chemical defenses
KW - dilution
KW - effect
KW - ectoparasitism
KW - group living
KW - roosting site
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.766323
SN - 2296-701X
VL - 9
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Bruno, Daniele
T1 - Being fully excused for wrongdoing
JF - Pacific philosophical quarterly
N2 - On the classical understanding, an agent is fully excused for an action if and only if performing this action was a case of faultless wrongdoing. A major motivation for this view is the apparent existence of paradigmatic types of excusing considerations, affecting fault but not wrongness. I show that three such considerations, ignorance, duress and compulsion, can be shown to have direct bearing on the permissibility of actions. The appeal to distinctly identifiable excusing considerations thus does not stand up to closer scrutiny, undermining the classical view and giving us reason to seek alternative ways of drawing the justification/excuse distinction.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/papq.12425
SN - 0279-0750
SN - 1468-0114
VL - 104
IS - 2
SP - 324
EP - 347
PB - Wiley-Blackwell
CY - Hoboken, NJ
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Parry, Victor
A1 - Schlägel, Ulrike E.
A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph
A1 - Weithoff, Guntram
T1 - Behavioural Responses of Defended and Undefended Prey to Their Predator
BT - A Case Study of Rotifera
JF - Biology
N2 - Predation is a strong species interaction causing severe harm or death to prey. Thus, prey species have evolved various defence strategies to minimize predation risk, which may be immediate (e.g., a change in behaviour) or transgenerational (morphological defence structures). We studied the behaviour of two strains of a rotiferan prey (Brachionus calyciflorus) that differ in their ability to develop morphological defences in response to their predator Asplanchna brightwellii. Using video analysis, we tested: (a) if two strains differ in their response to predator presence and predator cues when both are undefended; (b) whether defended individuals respond to live predators or their cues; and (c) if the morphological defence (large spines) per se has an effect on the swimming behaviour. We found a clear increase in swimming speed for both undefended strains in predator presence. However, the defended specimens responded neither to the predator presence nor to their cues, showing that they behave indifferently to their predator when they are defended. We did not detect an effect of the spines on the swimming behaviour. Our study demonstrates a complex plastic behaviour of the prey, not only in the presence of their predator, but also with respect to their defence status.
KW - animal behaviour
KW - transgenerational response
KW - Brachionus calyciflorus
KW - Asplanchna brightwellii
KW - video analysis
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081217
SN - 2079-7737
VL - 11
IS - 8
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel, Schweiz
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Parry, Victor
A1 - Schlägel, Ulrike E.
A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph
A1 - Weithoff, Guntram
T1 - Behavioural responses of defended and undefended prey to their predator
BT - a case study of rotifera
JF - Biology : open access journal
N2 - Many animals that have to cope with predation have evolved mechanisms to reduce their predation risk. One of these mechanisms is change in morphology, for example, the development of spines. These spines are induced, when mothers receive chemical signals of a predator (kairomones) and their daughters are then equipped with defensive spines. We studied the behaviour of a prey and its predator when the prey is either defended or undefended. We used common aquatic micro-invertebrates, the rotifers Brachionus calyciflorus (prey) and Asplanchna brightwellii (predator) as experimental animals. We found that undefended prey increased its swimming speed in the presence of the predator. The striking result was that the defended prey did not respond to the predator's presence. This suggests that defended prey has a different response behaviour to a predator than undefended conspecifics. Our study provides further insights into complex zooplankton predator-prey interactions. Predation is a strong species interaction causing severe harm or death to prey. Thus, prey species have evolved various defence strategies to minimize predation risk, which may be immediate (e.g., a change in behaviour) or transgenerational (morphological defence structures). We studied the behaviour of two strains of a rotiferan prey (Brachionus calyciflorus) that differ in their ability to develop morphological defences in response to their predator Asplanchna brightwellii. Using video analysis, we tested: (a) if two strains differ in their response to predator presence and predator cues when both are undefended; (b) whether defended individuals respond to live predators or their cues; and (c) if the morphological defence (large spines) per se has an effect on the swimming behaviour. We found a clear increase in swimming speed for both undefended strains in predator presence. However, the defended specimens responded neither to the predator presence nor to their cues, showing that they behave indifferently to their predator when they are defended. We did not detect an effect of the spines on the swimming behaviour. Our study demonstrates a complex plastic behaviour of the prey, not only in the presence of their predator, but also with respect to their defence status.
KW - animal behaviour
KW - transgenerational response
KW - Brachionus calyciflorus
KW - Asplanchna brightwellii
KW - video analysis
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081217
SN - 2079-7737
VL - 11
IS - 8
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Fuhrmeister, Pamela
A1 - Madec, Sylvain
A1 - Lorenz, Antje
A1 - Elbuy, Shereen
A1 - Bürki Foschini, Audrey Damaris
T1 - Behavioural and EEG evidence for inter-individual variability in late encoding stages of word production
JF - Language, cognition and neuroscience
N2 - Individuals differ in the time needed to name a picture. This contribution asks whether this inter-individual variability emerges in earlier stages of word production (e.g. lexical selection) or later stages (e.g. articulation) and examines the consequences of this variability for EEG group results. We measured participants' (N = 45) naming latencies and continuous EEG in a picture-word interference task and naming latencies in a delayed naming task. Inter-individual variability in naming latencies in immediate naming (in contrast with inter-item variability) was not larger than the variability in the delayed task, suggesting that some variability in immediate naming originates in later stages of word production. EEG data complemented this interpretation: Differences between relatively fast vs. slow speakers emerged in response-aligned analyses in a time window close to the vocal response. We additionally present a method to assess the generalisability of the timing of effects across participants based on random sampling.
KW - Word production
KW - inter-individual variability
KW - event-related potentials
KW - picture-word-interference
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2022.2030483
SN - 2327-3798
SN - 2327-3801
VL - 37
IS - 7
SP - 902
EP - 924
PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
CY - Abingdon
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - da Silva Costa, Andreia Abud
A1 - Hortobagyi, Tibor
A1 - den Otter, Rob
A1 - Sawers, Andrew
A1 - Moraes, Renato
T1 - Beam width and arm position but not cognitive task affect walking balance in older adults
JF - Scientific reports
N2 - Detection of changes in dynamic balance could help identify older adults at fall risk. Walking on a narrow beam with its width, cognitive load, and arm position manipulated could be an alternative to current tests. Therefore, we examined additive and interactive effects of beam width, cognitive task (CT), and arm position on dynamic balance during beam walking in older adults. Twenty older adults (69 +/- 4y) walked on 6, 8, and 10-cm wide beams (2-cm high, 4-m-long), with and without CT, with three arm positions (free, crossed, akimbo). We determined cognitive errors, distance walked, step speed, root mean square (RMS) of center of mass (COM) displacement and trunk acceleration in the frontal plane. Beam width decrease progressively reduced distance walked and increased trunk acceleration RMS. Step speed decreased on the narrowest beam and with CT. Arm crossing decreased distance walked and step speed. COM displacement RMS and cognitive errors were not affected by any manipulation. In conclusion, distance walked indicated that beam width and arm position, but less so CT, affected dynamic balance, implying that beam walking has the potential to become a test of fall risk. Stability measurements suggested effective trunk adjustments to control COM position and keep dynamic balance during the task.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-10848-y
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 12
IS - 1
PB - Nature Research
CY - London
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Thapa, Samudrajit
A1 - Park, Seongyu
A1 - Kim, Yeongjin
A1 - Jeon, Jae-Hyung
A1 - Metzler, Ralf
A1 - Lomholt, Michael A.
T1 - Bayesian inference of scaled versus fractional Brownian motion
JF - Journal of physics : A, mathematical and theoretical
N2 - We present a Bayesian inference scheme for scaled Brownian motion, and investigate its performance on synthetic data for parameter estimation and model selection in a combined inference with fractional Brownian motion. We include the possibility of measurement noise in both models. We find that for trajectories of a few hundred time points the procedure is able to resolve well the true model and parameters. Using the prior of the synthetic data generation process also for the inference, the approach is optimal based on decision theory. We include a comparison with inference using a prior different from the data generating one.
KW - Bayesian inference
KW - scaled Brownian motion
KW - single particle tracking
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/ac60e7
SN - 1751-8113
SN - 1751-8121
VL - 55
IS - 19
PB - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY - Bristol
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Berner, Nadine
A1 - Trauth, Martin H.
A1 - Holschneider, Matthias
T1 - Bayesian inference about Plio-Pleistocene climate transitions in Africa
JF - Quaternary science reviews : the international multidisciplinary research and review journal
N2 - During the last 5 Ma the Earth's ocean-atmosphere system passed through several major transitions, many of which are discussed as possible triggers for human evolution. A classic in this context is the possible influence of the closure of the Panama Strait, the intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation, a stepwise increase in aridity in Africa, and the first appearance of the genus Homo about 2.5 - 2.7 Ma ago. Apart from the fact that the correlation between these events does not necessarily imply causality, many attempts to establish a relationship between climate and evolution fail due to the challenge of precisely localizing an a priori unknown number of changes potentially underlying complex climate records. The kernel-based Bayesian inference approach applied here allows inferring the location, generic shape, and temporal scale of multiple transitions in established records of Plio-Pleistocene African climate. By defining a transparent probabilistic analysis strategy, we are able to identify conjoint changes occurring across the investigated terrigenous dust records from Ocean Drilling Programme (ODP) sites in the Atlantic Ocean (ODP 659), Arabian (ODP 721/722) and Mediterranean Sea (ODP 967). The study indicates a two-step transition in the African climate proxy records at (2.35-2.10) Ma and (1.70 - 1.50) Ma, that may be associated with the reorganization of the Hadley-Walker Circulation. .
KW - Plio-Pleistocene
KW - Hadley-Walker Circulation
KW - climate transition
KW - Bayesian inference
KW - time series analysis
KW - ODP 659
KW - ODP 721/722
KW - ODP 967
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107287
SN - 0277-3791
SN - 1873-457X
VL - 277
PB - Elsevier
CY - Oxford
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Seckler, Henrik
A1 - Metzler, Ralf
T1 - Bayesian deep learning for error estimation in the analysis of anomalous diffusion
JF - Nature Communnications
N2 - Modern single-particle-tracking techniques produce extensive time-series of diffusive motion in a wide variety of systems, from single-molecule motion in living-cells to movement ecology. The quest is to decipher the physical mechanisms encoded in the data and thus to better understand the probed systems. We here augment recently proposed machine-learning techniques for decoding anomalous-diffusion data to include an uncertainty estimate in addition to the predicted output. To avoid the Black-Box-Problem a Bayesian-Deep-Learning technique named Stochastic-Weight-Averaging-Gaussian is used to train models for both the classification of the diffusionmodel and the regression of the anomalous diffusion exponent of single-particle-trajectories. Evaluating their performance, we find that these models can achieve a wellcalibrated error estimate while maintaining high prediction accuracies. In the analysis of the output uncertainty predictions we relate these to properties of the underlying diffusion models, thus providing insights into the learning process of the machine and the relevance of the output.
KW - random-walk
KW - models
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34305-6
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 13
PB - Nature Publishing Group UK
CY - London
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Seckler, Henrik
A1 - Metzler, Ralf
T1 - Bayesian deep learning for error estimation in the analysis of anomalous diffusion
JF - Nature Communications
N2 - Modern single-particle-tracking techniques produce extensive time-series of diffusive motion in a wide variety of systems, from single-molecule motion in living-cells to movement ecology. The quest is to decipher the physical mechanisms encoded in the data and thus to better understand the probed systems. We here augment recently proposed machine-learning techniques for decoding anomalous-diffusion data to include an uncertainty estimate in addition to the predicted output. To avoid the Black-Box-Problem a Bayesian-Deep-Learning technique named Stochastic-Weight-Averaging-Gaussian is used to train models for both the classification of the diffusion model and the regression of the anomalous diffusion exponent of single-particle-trajectories. Evaluating their performance, we find that these models can achieve a well-calibrated error estimate while maintaining high prediction accuracies. In the analysis of the output uncertainty predictions we relate these to properties of the underlying diffusion models, thus providing insights into the learning process of the machine and the relevance of the output.
Diffusive motions in complex environments such as living biological cells or soft matter systems can be analyzed with single-particle-tracking approaches, where accuracy of output may vary. The authors involve a machine-learning technique for decoding anomalous-diffusion data and provide an uncertainty estimate together with predicted output.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34305-6
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 13
IS - 1
PB - Nature portfolio
CY - Berlin
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Pietrek, Anou F.
A1 - Kangas, Maria
A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold
A1 - Rapp, Michael A.
A1 - Heinzel, Stephan
A1 - Van der Kaap-Deeder, Jolene
A1 - Heissel, Andreas
T1 - Basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration in major depressive disorder
JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry - Mood Disorders
N2 - Basic psychological needs theory postulates that a social environment that satisfies individuals’ three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness leads to optimal growth and well-being. On the other hand, the frustration of these needs is associated with ill-being and depressive symptoms foremost investigated in non-clinical samples; yet, there is a paucity of research on need frustration in clinical samples. Survey data were compared between adult individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 115; 48.69% female; 38.46 years, SD = 10.46) with those of a non-depressed comparison sample (n = 201; 53.23% female; 30.16 years, SD = 12.81). Need profiles were examined with a linear mixed model (LMM). Individuals with depression reported higher levels of frustration and lower levels of satisfaction in relation to the three basic psychological needs when compared to non-depressed adults. The difference between depressed and non-depressed groups was significantly larger for frustration than satisfaction regarding the needs for relatedness and competence. LMM correlation parameters confirmed the expected positive correlation between the three needs. This is the first study showing substantial differences in need-based experiences between depressed and non-depressed adults. The results confirm basic assumptions of the self-determination theory and have preliminary implications in tailoring therapy for depression.
KW - basic need satisfaction and frustration
KW - depressive symptoms
KW - clinical sample
KW - need profiles
KW - social environment
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.962501
SN - 1664-0640
SP - 1
EP - 10
PB - Frontiers Media S.A.
CY - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Ilicic, Doris
A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter
T1 - Basal parasitic fungi in marine food webs-a mystery yet to unravel
JF - Journal of Fungi
N2 - Although aquatic and parasitic fungi have been well known for more than 100 years, they have only recently received increased awareness due to their key roles in microbial food webs and biogeochemical cycles. There is growing evidence indicating that fungi inhabit a wide range of marine habitats, from the deep sea all the way to surface waters, and recent advances in molecular tools, in particular metagenome approaches, reveal that their diversity is much greater and their ecological roles more important than previously considered. Parasitism constitutes one of the most widespread ecological interactions in nature, occurring in almost all environments. Despite that, the diversity of fungal parasites, their ecological functions, and, in particular their interactions with other microorganisms remain largely speculative, unexplored and are often missing from current theoretical concepts in marine ecology and biogeochemistry. In this review, we summarize and discuss recent research avenues on parasitic fungi and their ecological potential in marine ecosystems, e.g., the fungal shunt, and emphasize the need for further research.
KW - basal fungi
KW - parasites
KW - Chytridiomycota
KW - Rozellomycota
KW - food web
KW - biological carbon pump
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/jof8020114
SN - 2309-608X
VL - 8
IS - 2
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Esmaeilishirazifard, Elham
A1 - Usher, Louise
A1 - Trim, Carol
A1 - Denise, Hubert
A1 - Sangal, Vartul
A1 - Tyson, Gregory H.
A1 - Barlow, Axel
A1 - Redway, Keith F.
A1 - Taylor, John D.
A1 - Kremyda-Vlachou, Myrto
A1 - Davies, Sam
A1 - Loftus, Teresa D.
A1 - Lock, Mikaella M. G.
A1 - Wright, Kstir
A1 - Dalby, Andrew
A1 - Snyder, Lori A. S.
A1 - Wuster, Wolfgang
A1 - Trim, Steve
A1 - Moschos, Sterghios A.
T1 - Bacterial adaptation to venom in snakes and arachnida
JF - Microbiology spectrum
N2 - Notwithstanding their 3 to 5% mortality, the 2.7 million envenomation-related injuries occurring annually-predominantly across Africa, Asia, and Latin America-are also major causes of morbidity. Venom toxin-damaged tissue will develop infections in some 75% of envenomation victims, with E. faecalis being a common culprit of disease; however, such infections are generally considered to be independent of envenomation.
Animal venoms are considered sterile sources of antimicrobial compounds with strong membrane-disrupting activity against multidrug-resistant bacteria.
However, venomous bite wound infections are common in developing nations. Investigating the envenomation organ and venom microbiota of five snake and two spider species, we observed venom community structures that depend on the host venomous animal species and evidenced recovery of viable microorganisms from black-necked spitting cobra (Naja nigricollis) and Indian ornamental tarantula (Poecilotheria regalis) venoms. Among the bacterial isolates recovered from N. nigricollis, we identified two venom-resistant, novel sequence types of Enterococcus faecalis whose genomes feature 16 virulence genes, indicating infectious potential, and 45 additional genes, nearly half of which improve bacterial membrane integrity.
Our findings challenge the dogma of venom sterility and indicate an increased primary infection risk in the clinical management of venomous animal bite wounds. IMPORTANCE Notwithstanding their 3 to 5% mortality, the 2.7 million envenomation-related injuries occurring annually-predominantly across Africa, Asia, and Latin America-are also major causes of morbidity. Venom toxin-damaged tissue will develop infections in some 75% of envenomation victims, with E. faecalis being a common culprit of disease; however, such infections are generally considered to be independent of envenomation. Here, we provide evidence on venom microbiota across snakes and arachnida and report on the convergent evolution mechanisms that can facilitate adaptation to black-necked cobra venom in two independent E. faecalis strains, easily misidentified by biochemical diagnostics.
Therefore, since inoculation with viable and virulence gene-harboring bacteria can occur during envenomation, acute infection risk management following envenomation is warranted, particularly for immunocompromised and malnourished victims in resource-limited settings.
These results shed light on how bacteria evolve for survival in one of the most extreme environments on Earth and how venomous bites must be also treated for infections.
KW - drug resistance evolution
KW - extremophiles
KW - genome analysis
KW - microbiome
KW - multidrug resistance
KW - venom
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.02408-21
SN - 2165-0497
VL - 10
IS - 3
PB - American Society for Microbiology
CY - Birmingham, Ala.
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Dämpfling, Helge L. C.
A1 - Mielke, Christian
A1 - Koellner, Nicole
A1 - Lorenz, Melanie
A1 - Rogass, Christian
A1 - Altenberger, Uwe
A1 - Harlov, Daniel E.
A1 - Knoper, Michael
T1 - Automatic element and mineral detection in thin sections using hyperspectral transmittance imaging microscopy (HyperTIM)
JF - European journal of mineralogy
N2 - In this study we present a novel method for the automatic detection of minerals and elements using hyperspectral transmittance imaging microscopy measurements of complete thin sections (HyperTIM).
This is accomplished by using a hyperspectral camera system that operates in the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) range with a specifically designed sample holder, scanning setup, and a microscope lens.
We utilize this method on a monazite ore thin section from Steenkampskraal (South Africa), which we analyzed for the rare earth element (REE)-bearing mineral monazite ((Ce,Nd,La)PO4), with high concentrations of Nd. The transmittance analyses with the hyperspectral VNIR camera can be used to identify REE minerals and Nd in thin sections.
We propose a three-point band depth index, the Nd feature depth index (NdFD), and its related product the Nd band depth index (NdBDI), which enables automatic mineral detection and classification for the Nd-bearing monazites in thin sections. In combination with the average concentration of the relative Nd content, it permits a destruction-free, total concentration calculation for Nd across the entire thin section.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-34-275-2022
SN - 0935-1221
SN - 1617-4011
VL - 34
IS - 3
SP - 275
EP - 284
PB - Copernicus
CY - Göttingen
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Stojkoski, Viktor
A1 - Sandev, Trifce
A1 - Kocarev, Ljupco
A1 - Pal, Arnab
T1 - Autocorrelation functions and ergodicity in diffusion with stochastic resetting
JF - Journal of physics : A, Mathematical and theoretical
N2 - Diffusion with stochastic resetting is a paradigm of resetting processes. Standard renewal or master equation approach are typically used to study steady state and other transport properties such as average, mean squared displacement etc.
What remains less explored is the two time point correlation functions whose evaluation is often daunting since it requires the implementation of the exact time dependent probability density functions of the resetting processes which are unknown for most of the problems.
We adopt a different approach that allows us to write a stochastic solution for a single trajectory undergoing resetting.
Moments and the autocorrelation functions between any two times along the trajectory can then be computed directly using the laws of total expectation. Estimation of autocorrelation functions turns out to be pivotal for investigating the ergodic properties of various observables for this canonical model.
In particular, we investigate two observables (i) sample mean which is widely used in economics and (ii) time-averaged-mean-squared-displacement (TAMSD) which is of acute interest in physics.
We find that both diffusion and drift-diffusion processes with resetting are ergodic at the mean level unlike their reset-free counterparts. In contrast, resetting renders ergodicity breaking in the TAMSD while both the stochastic processes are ergodic when resetting is absent. We quantify these behaviors with detailed analytical study and corroborate with extensive numerical simulations.
Our results can be verified in experimental set-ups that can track single particle trajectories and thus have strong implications in understanding the physics of resetting.
KW - autocorrelations
KW - ergodicity
KW - diffusion
KW - stochastic resetting
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/ac4ce9
SN - 1751-8113
SN - 1751-8121
VL - 55
IS - 10
PB - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY - Bristol
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Puppe, Daniel
A1 - Leue, Martin
A1 - Sommer, Michael
A1 - Schaller, Jörg
A1 - Kaczorek, Danuta
T1 - Auto-fluorescence in phytoliths
BT - a mechanistic understanding derived from microscopic and spectroscopic analyses
JF - Frontiers in Environmental Science
N2 - The detection of auto-fluorescence in phytogenic, hydrated amorphous silica depositions (phytoliths) has been found to be a promising approach to verify if phytoliths were burnt or not, especially in archaeological contexts. However, it is unknown so far at what temperature and how auto-fluorescence is induced in phytoliths. We used fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to analyze auto-fluorescence in modern phytoliths extracted from plant samples or in intact leaves of winter wheat. Leaves and extracted phytoliths were heated at different temperatures up to 600 degrees C. The aims of our experiments were i) to find out what temperature is needed to induce auto-fluorescence in phytoliths, ii) to detect temperature-dependent changes in the molecular structure of phytoliths related to auto-fluorescence, and iii) to derive a mechanistic understanding of auto-fluorescence in phytoliths. We found organic compounds associated with phytoliths to cause auto-fluorescence in phytoliths treated at temperatures below approx. 400 degrees C. In phytoliths treated at higher temperatures, i.e., 450 and 600 degrees C, phytolith auto-fluorescence was mainly caused by molecular changes of phytolith silica. Based on our results we propose that auto-fluorescence in phytoliths is caused by clusterization-triggered emissions, which are caused by overlapping electron clouds forming non-conventional chromophores. In phytoliths heated at temperatures above about 400 degrees C dihydroxylation and the formation of siloxanes result in oxygen clusters that serve as non-conventional chromophores in fluorescence events. Furthermore, SEM-EDX analyses revealed that extractable phytoliths were dominated by lumen phytoliths (62%) compared to cell wall phytoliths (38%). Our findings might be not only relevant in archaeological phytolith-based examinations, but also for studies on the temperature-dependent release of silicon from phytoliths and the potential of long-term carbon sequestration in phytoliths.
KW - fluorescence microscopy
KW - FTIR spectroscopy
KW - SEM-EDX
KW - burnt phytoliths;
KW - carbon sequestration
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.915947
SN - 2296-665X
VL - 10
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Johansson, Fredrik O. L.
A1 - Leitner, Torsten
A1 - Bidermane, Ieva
A1 - Born, Artur
A1 - Föhlisch, Alexander
A1 - Svensson, Svante
A1 - Mårtensson, Nils
A1 - Lindblad, Andreas
T1 - Auger- and photoelectron coincidences of molecular O2 adsorbed on Ag(111)
JF - Journal of electron spectroscopy and related phenomena : the international journal on theoretical and experimental aspects of electron spectroscopy
N2 - The oxygen on Ag(111) system has been investigated with Auger electron-photoelectron coincidence spectroscopy (APECS).
The coincidence spectra between O 1s core level photoelectrons and O KLL Auger electrons have been studied together with Ag(3)d/AgM4,5NN coincidences.
We also describe the electron-electron coincidence spectrometer setup, CoESCA, consisting of two angle resolved time-of-flight spectrometers at a synchrotron light source.
Contributions from molecular oxygen and chemisorbed oxygen are assigned using the coincidence data, conclusions are drawn primarily from the O 1s/O KLL data.
The data acquisition and treatment procedure are also outlined.
The chemisorbed oxygen species observed are relevant for the catalytic ethylene oxidation.
KW - oxygen/Ag(111)
KW - Auger electron
KW - photoelectron
KW - coincidence
KW - APECS
KW - spectroscopy
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elspec.2022.147174
SN - 0368-2048
SN - 1873-2526
VL - 256
PB - Elsevier
CY - New York, NY [u.a.]
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Gerlach, Marius
A1 - Preitschopf, Tobias
A1 - Karaev, Emil
A1 - Quitian-Lara, Heidy Mayerly
A1 - Mayer, Dennis
A1 - Bozek, John
A1 - Fischer, Ingo
A1 - Fink, Reinhold F.
T1 - Auger electron spectroscopy of fulminic acid, HCNO
BT - an experimental and theoretical study
JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies
N2 - HCNO is a molecule of considerable astrochemical interest as a precursor to prebiotic molecules. It is synthesized by preparative pyrolysis and is unstable at room temperature. Here, we investigate its spectroscopy in the soft X-ray regime at the C 1s, N 1s and O 1s edges. All 1s ionization energies are reported and X-ray absorption spectra reveal the transitions from the 1s to the pi* state. Resonant and normal Auger electron spectra for the decay of the core hole states are recorded in a hemispherical analyzer. An assignment of the experimental spectra is provided with the aid of theoretical counterparts. The latter are using a valence configuration interaction representation of the intermediate and final state energies and wavefunctions, the one-center approximation for transition rates and band shapes according to the moment theory. The computed spectra are in very good agreement with the experimental data and most of the relevant bands are assigned. Additionally, we present a simple approach to estimate relative Auger transition rates on the basis of a minimal basis representation of the molecular orbitals. We demonstrate that this provides a qualitatively good and reliable estimate for several signals in the normal and resonant Auger electron spectra which have significantly different intensities in the decay of the three core holes.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d2cp02104h
SN - 1463-9076
SN - 1463-9084
VL - 24
IS - 25
SP - 15217
EP - 15229
PB - Royal Society of Chemistry
CY - Cambridge
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Padash, Amin
A1 - Sandev, Trifce
A1 - Kantz, Holger
A1 - Metzler, Ralf
A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei
T1 - Asymmetric Levy flights are more efficient in random search
JF - Fractal and fractional
N2 - We study the first-arrival (first-hitting) dynamics and efficiency of a one-dimensional random search model performing asymmetric Levy flights by leveraging the Fokker-Planck equation with a delta-sink and an asymmetric space-fractional derivative operator with stable index alpha and asymmetry (skewness) parameter beta.
We find exact analytical results for the probability density of first-arrival times and the search efficiency, and we analyse their behaviour within the limits of short and long times.
We find that when the starting point of the searcher is to the right of the target, random search by Brownian motion is more efficient than Levy flights with beta <= 0 (with a rightward bias) for short initial distances, while for beta>0 (with a leftward bias) Levy flights with alpha -> 1 are more efficient.
When increasing the initial distance of the searcher to the target, Levy flight search (except for alpha=1 with beta=0) is more efficient than the Brownian search. Moreover, the asymmetry in jumps leads to essentially higher efficiency of the Levy search compared to symmetric Levy flights at both short and long distances, and the effect is more pronounced for stable indices alpha close to unity.
KW - asymmetric Levy flights
KW - first-arrival density
KW - search efficiency
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/fractalfract6050260
SN - 2504-3110
VL - 6
IS - 5
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Herbst, Konstantin
A1 - Baalmann, Lennart R.
A1 - Bykov, Andrei
A1 - Engelbrecht, N. Eugene
A1 - Ferreira, Stefan E. S.
A1 - Izmodenov, Vladislav V.
A1 - Korolkov, Sergey D.
A1 - Levenfish, Ksenia P.
A1 - Linsky, Jeffrey L.
A1 - Meyer, Dominique M. -A.
A1 - Scherer, Klaus
A1 - Strauss, R. Du Toit
T1 - Astrospheres of planet-hosting cool stars and beyond when modeling meets observations
JF - Space science reviews
N2 - Thanks to dedicated long-term missions like Voyager and GOES over the past 50 years, much insight has been gained on the activity of our Sun, the solar wind, its interaction with the interstellar medium, and, thus, about the formation, the evolution, and the structure of the heliosphere. Additionally, with the help of multi-wavelength observations by the Hubble Space Telescope, Kepler, and TESS, we not only were able to detect a variety of extrasolar planets and exomoons but also to study the characteristics of their host stars, and thus became aware that other stars drive bow shocks and astrospheres. Although features like, e.g., stellar winds, could not be measured directly, over the past years several techniques have been developed allowing us to indirectly derive properties like stellar mass-loss rates and stellar wind speeds, information that can be used as direct input to existing astrospheric modeling codes. In this review, the astrospheric modeling efforts of various stars will be presented. Starting with the heliosphere as a benchmark of astrospheric studies, investigating the paleo-heliospheric changes and the Balmer H alpha projections to 1 pc, we investigate the surroundings of cool and hot stars, but also of more exotic objects like neutron stars. While pulsar wind nebulae (PWNs) might be a source of high-energy galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), the astrospheric environments of cool and hot stars form a natural shield against GCRs. Their modulation within these astrospheres, and the possible impact of turbulence, are also addressed. This review shows that all of the presented modeling efforts are in excellent agreement with currently available observations.
KW - Magneto-hydrodynamic modeling
KW - Stochastic differential equations
KW - Galactic cosmic rays
KW - Heliosphere
KW - Astrosphere
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-022-00894-3
SN - 0038-6308
SN - 1572-9672
VL - 218
IS - 4
PB - Springer Nature
CY - Dordrecht
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Griggio, Massimo
A1 - Bedin, Luigi R.
A1 - Raddi, Roberto
A1 - Reindl, Nicole
A1 - Tomasella, Lina
A1 - Scalco, M.
A1 - Salaris, M.
A1 - Cassisi, S.
A1 - Ochner, P.
A1 - Ciroi, S.
A1 - Rosati, P.
A1 - Nardiello, Domenico
A1 - Anderson, J.
A1 - Libralato, Mattia
A1 - Bellini, A.
A1 - Vallenari, A.
A1 - Spina, L.
A1 - Pedani, M.
T1 - Astro-photometric study of M37 with Gaia and wide-field ugi-imaging
JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2 - We present an astrometric and photometric wide-field study of the Galactic open star cluster M37 (NGC 2099). The studied field was observed with ground-based images covering a region of about four square degrees in the Sloan-like filters ugi. We exploited the Gaia catalogue to calibrate the geometric distortion of the large field mosaics, developing software routines that can be also applied to other wide-field instruments. The data are used to identify the hottest white dwarf (WD) member candidates of M37. Thanks to the Gaia EDR3 exquisite astrometry we identified seven such WD candidates, one of which, besides being a high-probability astrometric member, is the putative central star of a planetary nebula. To our knowledge, this is a unique object in an open cluster, and we have obtained follow-up low-resolution spectra that are used for a qualitative characterization of this young WD. Finally, we publicly release a three-colour atlas and a catalogue of the sources in the field of view, which represents a complement of existing material.
KW - catalogues
KW - white dwarfs
KW - open clusters and associations: individual:
KW - M37 (NGC2099)
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac1920
SN - 0035-8711
SN - 1365-2966
VL - 515
IS - 2
SP - 1841
EP - 1853
PB - Oxford University Press
CY - Oxford
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Wachs, Sebastian
A1 - Bilz, Ludwig
A1 - Wettstein, Alexander
A1 - Wright, Michelle F.
A1 - Kansok-Dusche, Julia
A1 - Krause, Norman
A1 - Ballaschk, Cindy
T1 - Associations between witnessing and perpetrating online hate speech among adolescents
BT - testing moderation effects of moral disengagement and empathy
JF - Psychology of violence
N2 - Objective:
The open expression of hatred, hostility, and violence against minorities has become a common online phenomenon. Adolescents are at particular risk of being involved in different hate speech roles (e.g., witness, perpetrator).
However, the correlates of their involvement as perpetrators and the mechanisms that might explain their involvement in hate speech across different roles have not yet been thoroughly investigated.
To this end, this study investigates moral disengagement and empathy as correlates of online hate speech perpetration and the moderation effects of empathy and moral disengagement in the relationship between witnessing and perpetrating online hate speech.
Method:
The sample consists of 3,560 7th to 9th graders from 40 schools in Germany and Switzerland. Self-report questionnaires were utilized to assess online hate speech involvement, moral disengagement, and empathy.
Results:
Multilevel regression analyses revealed that moral disengagement and witnessing online hate speech were positively associated with online hate speech perpetration, while empathy was negatively associated with it.
The findings also showed that the positive relationship between witnessing and perpetrating online hate speech was stronger at higher levels of moral disengagement and weaker when moral disengagement was low.
The association between witnessing and perpetrating online hate speech was weaker when adolescents had higher rather than lower levels of empathy.
Conclusions:
The findings underscore the need for prevention efforts to accelerate moral engagement and empathy as critical future directions in hate speech prevention. This study also contributes to our understanding of underlying mechanisms that explain adolescents' involvement across different roles in hate speech.
KW - hate speech
KW - cyberhate
KW - empathy
KW - moral disengagement
KW - adolescents
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000422
SN - 2152-0828
SN - 2152-081X
VL - 12
IS - 6
SP - 371
EP - 381
PB - American Psychological Association
CY - Washington
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Wick, Kristin
A1 - Kriemler, Susi
A1 - Granacher, Urs
T1 - Associations between measures of physical fitness and cognitive performance in preschool children
JF - BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation
N2 - Background:
Given that recent studies report negative secular declines in physical fitness, associations between fitness and cognition in childhood are strongly discussed. The preschool age is characterized by high neuroplasticity which effects motor skill learning, physical fitness, and cognitive development. The aim of this study was to assess the relation of physical fitness and attention (including its individual dimensions (quantitative, qualitative)) as one domain of cognitive performance in preschool children. We hypothesized that fitness components which need precise coordination compared to simple fitness components are stronger related to attention.
Methods:
Physical fitness components like static balance (i.e., single-leg stance), muscle strength (i.e., handgrip strength), muscle power (i.e., standing long jump), and coordination (i.e., hopping on one leg) were assessed in 61 healthy children (mean age 4.5 +/- 0.6 years; girls n = 30). Attention was measured with the "Konzentrations-Handlungsverfahren fur Vorschulkinder" [concentration-action procedure for preschoolers]). Analyses were adjusted for age, body height, and body mass.
Results:
Results from single linear regression analysis revealed a significant (p < 0.05) association between physical fitness (composite score) and attention (composite score) (standardized ss = 0.40), showing a small to medium effect (F-2 = 0.14). Further, coordination had a significant relation with the composite score and the quantitative dimension of attention (standardized ss = 0.35; p < 0.01; standardized ss = - 0.33; p < 0.05). Coordination explained about 11% (composite score) and 9% (quantitative dimension) of the variance in the stepwise multiple regression model.
Conclusion:
The results indicate that performance in physical fitness, particularly coordination, is related to attention in preschool children. Thus, high performance in complex fitness components (i.e., hopping on one leg) tends to predict attention in preschool children. Further longitudinal studies should focus on the effectiveness of physical activity programs implementing coordination and complex exercises at preschool age to examine cause-effect relationships between physical fitness and attention precisely.
KW - Motor skills
KW - Cognitive skills
KW - Attention
KW - Kindergarten
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-022-00470-w
SN - 2052-1847
VL - 14
IS - 1
PB - BMC
CY - London
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Wachs, Sebastian
A1 - Machimbarrena, Juan Manuel
A1 - Wright, Michelle F.
A1 - Gámez-Guadix, Manuel
A1 - Yang, Soeun
A1 - Sittichai, Ruthaychonnee
A1 - Singh, Ritu
A1 - Biswal, Ramakrishna
A1 - Flora, Katerina
A1 - Daskalou, Vassiliki
A1 - Maziridou, Evdoxia
A1 - Sung Hong, Jun
A1 - Krause, Norman
T1 - Associations between coping strategies and cyberhate involvement
BT - evidence from adolescents across three world regions
JF - International journal of environmental research and public health
N2 - Cyberhate represents a risk to adolescents’ development and peaceful coexistence in democratic societies. Yet, not much is known about the relationship between adolescents’ ability to cope with cyberhate and their cyberhate involvement. To fill current gaps in the literature and inform the development of media education programs, the present study investigated various coping strategies in a hypothetical cyberhate scenario as correlates for being cyberhate victims, perpetrators, and both victim–perpetrators. The sample consisted of 6829 adolescents aged 12–18 years old (Mage = 14.93, SD = 1.64; girls: 50.4%, boys: 48.9%, and 0.7% did not indicate their gender) from Asia, Europe, and North America. Results showed that adolescents who endorsed distal advice or endorsed technical coping showed a lower likelihood to be victims, perpetrators, or victim–perpetrators. In contrast, if adolescents felt helpless or endorsed retaliation to cope with cyberhate, they showed higher odds of being involved in cyberhate as victims, perpetrators, or victim–perpetrators. Finally, adolescents who endorsed close support as a coping strategy showed a lower likelihood to be victim–perpetrators, and adolescents who endorsed assertive coping showed higher odds of being victims. In conclusion, the results confirm the importance of addressing adolescents’ ability to deal with cyberhate to develop more tailored prevention approaches. More specifically, such initiatives should focus on adolescents who feel helpless or feel inclined to retaliate. In addition, adolescents should be educated to practice distal advice and technical coping when experiencing cyberhate. Implications for the design and instruction of evidence-based cyberhate prevention (e.g., online educational games, virtual learning environments) will be discussed.
KW - cyberhate
KW - hate speech
KW - coping strategies
KW - cross-national
KW - counter-speech
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116749
SN - 1660-4601
VL - 19
SP - 1
EP - 14
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel, Schweiz
ET - 11
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Hoffmann, Stephanie
A1 - Tschorn, Mira
A1 - Michalski, Niels
A1 - Hoebel, Jens
A1 - Förstner, Bernd Rainer
A1 - Rapp, Michael A.
A1 - Spallek, Jacob
T1 - Association of regional socioeconomic deprivation and rurality with global developmental delay in early childhood
BT - Data from mandatory school entry examinations in Germany
JF - Health & place : an international journal ; a social science & medicine publication ; incorporating Geographia medica
N2 - Background:
From birth to young adulthood, health and development of young people are strongly linked to their living situation, including their family's socioeconomic position (SEP) and living environment. The impact of regional characteristics on development in early childhood beyond family SEP has been rarely investigated. This study aimed to identify regional predictors of global developmental delay at school entry taking family SEP into consideration.
Method:
We used representative, population-based data from mandatory school entry examinations of the German federal state of Brandenburg in 2018/2019 with n=22,801 preschool children. By applying binary multilevel models, we hierarchically analyzed the effect of regional deprivation defined by the German Index of Socioeconomic Deprivation (GISD) and rurality operationalized as inverted population density of the children's school district on global developmental delay (GDD) while adjusting for family SEP (low, medium and high)
Results:
Family SEP was significantly and strongly linked to GDD. Children with the highest family SEP showed a lower odds for GDD compared to a medium SEP (female: OR=4.26, male: OR=3.46) and low SEP (female: OR=16.58, male: OR=12.79). Furthermore, we discovered a smaller, but additional and independent effect of regional socioeconomic deprivation on GDD, with a higher odds for children from a more deprived school district (female: OR=1.35, male: OR=1.20). However, rurality did not show a significant link to GDD in preschool children beyond family SEP and regional deprivation.
Conclusion:
Family SEP and regional deprivation are risk factors for child development and of particular interest to promote health of children in early childhood and over the life course.
KW - Health inequalities
KW - Spatial analysis
KW - Regional deprivation
KW - Rurality
KW - Developmental delay
KW - Children
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102794
SN - 1353-8292
SN - 1873-2054
VL - 75
PB - Elsevier Science
CY - Amsterdam [u.a.]
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Osei, Francis
A1 - Block, Andrea
A1 - Wippert, Pia-Maria
T1 - Association of primary allostatic load mediators and metabolic syndrome (MetS): A systematic review
JF - Frontiers in Endocrinology
N2 - Allostatic load (AL) exposure may cause detrimental effects on the neuroendocrine system, leading to metabolic syndrome (MetS). The primary mediators of AL involve serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS; a functional HPA axis antagonist); further, cortisol, urinary norepinephrine (NE), and epinephrine (EPI) excretion levels (assessed within 12-h urine as a golden standard for the evaluation of the HPA axis activity and sympathetic nervous system activity). However, the evidence of an association between the primary mediators of AL and MetS is limited. This systematic review aimed to critically examine the association between the primary mediators of AL and MetS. PubMed and Web of Science were searched for articles from January 2010 to December 2021, published in English. The search strategy focused on cross-sectional and case–control studies comprising adult participants with MetS, obesity, overweight, and without chronic diseases. The STROBE checklist was used to assess study quality control. Of 770 studies, twenty-one studies with a total sample size (n = 10,666) met the eligibility criteria. Eighteen studies were cross-sectional, and three were case–control studies. The included studies had a completeness of reporting score of COR % = 87.0 ± 6.4%. It is to be noted, that cortisol as a primary mediator of AL showed an association with MetS in 50% (urinary cortisol), 40% (serum cortisol), 60% (salivary cortisol), and 100% (hair cortisol) of the studies. For DHEAS, it is to conclude that 60% of the studies showed an association with MetS. In contrast, urinary EPI and urinary NE had 100% no association with MetS. In summary, there is a tendency for the association between higher serum cortisol, salivary cortisol, urinary cortisol, hair cortisol, and lower levels of DHEAS with MetS. Future studies focusing on longitudinal data are warranted for clarification and understanding of the association between the primary mediators of AL and MetS.
KW - allostatic load
KW - cortisol
KW - dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate
KW - epinephrine
KW - norepinephrine
KW - metabolic syndrome
KW - primary marker
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2022.946740
SN - 1664-2392
VL - 13
PB - Frontiers
CY - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Ben Nsir, Siwar
A1 - Jomaa, Seifeddine
A1 - Yildirim, Umit
A1 - Zhou, Xiangqian
A1 - D'Oria, Marco
A1 - Rode, Michael
A1 - Khlifi, Slaheddine
T1 - Assessment of climate change impact on discharge of the lakhmass catchment (Northwest Tunisia)
JF - Water
N2 - The Mediterranean region is increasingly recognized as a climate change hotspot but is highly underrepresented in hydrological climate change studies. This study aims to investigate the climate change effects on the hydrology of Lakhmass catchment in Tunisia. Lakhmass catchment is a part of the Medium Valley of Medjerda in northwestern Tunisia that drains an area of 126 km(2). First, the Hydrologiska Byrans Vattenbalansavdelning light (HBV-light) model was calibrated and validated successfully at a daily time step to simulate discharge during the 1981-1986 period. The Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency and Percent bias (NSE, PBIAS) were (0.80, +2.0%) and (0.53, -9.5%) for calibration (September 1982-August 1984) and validation (September 1984-August 1986) periods, respectively. Second, HBV-light model was considered as a predictive tool to simulate discharge in a baseline period (1981-2009) and future projections using data (precipitation and temperature) from thirteen combinations of General Circulation Models (GCMs) and Regional Climatic Models (RCMs). We used two trajectories of Representative Concentration Pathways, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Each RCP is divided into three projection periods: near-term (2010-2039), mid-term (2040-2069) and long-term (2070-2099). For both scenarios, a decrease in precipitation and discharge will be expected with an increase in air temperature and a reduction in precipitation with almost 5% for every +1 degrees C of global warming. By long-term (2070-2099) projection period, results suggested an increase in temperature with about 2.7 degrees C and 4 degrees C, and a decrease in precipitation of approximately 7.5% and 15% under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. This will likely result in a reduction of discharge of 12.5% and 36.6% under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. This situation calls for early climate change adaptation measures under a participatory approach, including multiple stakeholders and water users.
KW - hydrological modeling
KW - HBV-light model
KW - Mediterranean
KW - discharge
KW - climate change
KW - RCP4,5 and 8,5
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/w14142242
SN - 2073-4441
VL - 14
IS - 14
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Henschke, Jakob
A1 - Kaplick, Hannes
A1 - Wochatz, Monique
A1 - Engel, Tilman
T1 - Assessing the validity of inertial measurement units for shoulder kinematics using a commercial sensor-software system
BT - a validation study
JF - Health science reports
N2 - Background and Aims Wearable inertial sensors may offer additional kinematic parameters of the shoulder compared to traditional instruments such as goniometers when elaborate and time-consuming data processing procedures are undertaken. However, in clinical practice simple-real time motion analysis is required to improve clinical reasoning. Therefore, the aim was to assess the criterion validity between a portable "off-the-shelf" sensor-software system (IMU) and optical motion (Mocap) for measuring kinematic parameters during active shoulder movements. Methods 24 healthy participants (9 female, 15 male, age 29 +/- 4 years, height 177 +/- 11 cm, weight 73 +/- 14 kg) were included. Range of motion (ROM), total range of motion (TROM), peak and mean angular velocity of both systems were assessed during simple (abduction/adduction, horizontal flexion/horizontal extension, vertical flexion/extension, and external/internal rotation) and complex shoulder movements. Criterion validity was determined using intraclass-correlation coefficients (ICC), root mean square error (RMSE) and Bland and Altmann analysis (bias; upper and lower limits of agreement). Results ROM and TROM analysis revealed inconsistent validity during simple (ICC: 0.040-0.733, RMSE: 9.7 degrees-20.3 degrees, bias: 1.2 degrees-50.7 degrees) and insufficient agreement during complex shoulder movements (ICC: 0.104-0.453, RMSE: 10.1 degrees-23.3 degrees, bias: 1.0 degrees-55.9 degrees). Peak angular velocity (ICC: 0.202-0.865, RMSE: 14.6 degrees/s-26.7 degrees/s, bias: 10.2 degrees/s-29.9 degrees/s) and mean angular velocity (ICC: 0.019-0.786, RMSE:6.1 degrees/s-34.2 degrees/s, bias: 1.6 degrees/s-27.8 degrees/s) were inconsistent. Conclusions The "off-the-shelf" sensor-software system showed overall insufficient agreement with the gold standard. Further development of commercial IMU-software-solutions may increase measurement accuracy and permit their integration into everyday clinical practice.
KW - diagnostic techniques and procedures
KW - kinematics
KW - shoulder joint
KW - validation study
KW - wearable devices
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.772
SN - 2398-8835
VL - 5
IS - 5
SP - 1
EP - 11
PB - Wiley
CY - Hoboken
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Pawlak, Julia
A1 - Noetzel, Dominique Christian
A1 - Drago, Claudia
A1 - Weithoff, Guntram
T1 - Assessing the toxicity of polystyrene beads and silica particles on the microconsumer Brachionus calyciflorus at different timescales
JF - Frontiers in Environmental Science
N2 - Environmental pollution by microplastics has become a severe problem in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and, according to actual prognoses, problems will further increase in the future. Therefore, assessing and quantifying the risk for the biota is crucial. Standardized short-term toxicological procedures as well as methods quantifying potential toxic effects over the whole life span of an animal are required. We studied the effect of the microplastic polystyrene on the survival and reproduction of a common freshwater invertebrate, the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus, at different timescales. We used pristine polystyrene spheres of 1, 3, and 6 µm diameter and fed them to the animals together with food algae in different ratios ranging from 0 to 50% nonfood particles. As a particle control, we used silica to distinguish between a pure particle effect and a plastic effect. After 24 h, no toxic effect was found, neither with polystyrene nor with silica. After 96 h, a toxic effect was detectable for both particle types. The size of the particles played a negligible role. Studying the long-term effect by using life table experiments, we found a reduced reproduction when the animals were fed with 3 µm spheres together with similar-sized food algae. We conclude that the fitness reduction is mainly driven by the dilution of food by the nonfood particles rather than by a direct toxic effect.
KW - microplastics
KW - rotifer
KW - freshwater
KW - natural particle
KW - toxicity
KW - environmental pollution
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.955425
SN - 2296-665X
SP - 1
EP - 11
PB - Frontiers
CY - Lausanne, Schweiz
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Pohl, Martin
A1 - Macias, Oscar
A1 - Coleman, Phaedra
A1 - Gordon, Chris
T1 - Assessing the impact of hydrogen absorption on the characteristics of the Galactic center excess
JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics
N2 - We present a new reconstruction of the distribution of atomic hydrogen in the inner Galaxy that is based on explicit radiation transport modeling of line and continuum emission and a gas-flow model in the barred Galaxy that provides distance resolution for lines of sight toward the Galactic center.
The main benefits of the new gas model are (a) the ability to reproduce the negative line signals seen with the HI4PI survey and (b) the accounting for gas that primarily manifests itself through absorption.
We apply the new model of Galactic atomic hydrogen to an analysis of the diffuse gamma-ray emission from the inner Galaxy, for which an excess at a few GeV was reported that may be related to dark matter.
We find with high significance an improved fit to the diffuse gamma-ray emission observed with the Fermi-LAT, if our new H i model is used to estimate the cosmic-ray induced diffuse gamma-ray emission.
The fit still requires a nuclear bulge at high significance. Once this is included there is no evidence of a dark-matter signal, be it cuspy or cored. But an additional so-called boxy bulge is still favored by the data.
This finding is robust under the variation of various parameters, for example, the excitation temperature of atomic hydrogen, and a number of tests for systematic issues.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac6032
SN - 0004-637X
SN - 1538-4357
VL - 929
IS - 2
PB - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY - Bristol
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Francke, Till
A1 - Heistermann, Maik
A1 - Köhli, Markus
A1 - Budach, Christian
A1 - Schrön, Martin
A1 - Oswald, Sascha
T1 - Assessing the feasibility of a directional cosmic-ray neutron sensing sensor for estimating soil moisture
JF - Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems
N2 - Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive tool for measuring hydrogen pools such as soil moisture, snow or vegetation. The intrinsic integration over a radial hectare-scale footprint is a clear advantage for averaging out small-scale heterogeneity, but on the other hand the data may become hard to interpret in complex terrain with patchy land use.
This study presents a directional shielding approach to prevent neutrons from certain angles from being counted while counting neutrons entering the detector from other angles and explores its potential to gain a sharper horizontal view on the surrounding soil moisture distribution.
Using the Monte Carlo code URANOS (Ultra Rapid Neutron-Only Simulation), we modelled the effect of additional polyethylene shields on the horizontal field of view and assessed its impact on the epithermal count rate, propagated uncertainties and aggregation time.
The results demonstrate that directional CRNS measurements are strongly dominated by isotropic neutron transport, which dilutes the signal of the targeted direction especially from the far field. For typical count rates of customary CRNS stations, directional shielding of half-spaces could not lead to acceptable precision at a daily time resolution. However, the mere statistical distinction of two rates should be feasible.
KW - water-balance
KW - quantification
KW - calibration
KW - validation
Y1 - 2021
U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022
SN - 2193-0864
SN - 2193-0856
VL - 11
SP - 75
EP - 92
PB - Copernicus Publ.
CY - Göttingen
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Fanselow, Gisbert
A1 - Zimmermann, Malte
A1 - Philipp, Mareike
T1 - Assessing the availability of inverse scope in German in the covered box paradigm
JF - Glossa : a journal of general linguistics
N2 - This paper presents the results of a novel experimental approach to relative quantifier scope in German that elicits data in an indirect manner. Applying the covered-box method (Huang et al. 2013) to scope phenomena, we show that inverse scope is available to some extent in the free constituent order language German, thereby validating earlier findings on other syntactic configurations in German (Rado & Bott 2018) and empirical claims on other free constituent order languages (Japanese, Russian, Hindi), as well as recent corpus findings in Webelhuth (2020). Moreover, the results of the indirect covered-box experiment replicate findings from an earlier direct-query experiment with comparable target items, in which participants were asked directly about the availability of surface scope and inverse scope readings. The configuration of interest consisted of canonical transitive clauses with deaccented existential subject and universal object QPs, in which the restriction of the universal QP was controlled for by the context.
KW - inverse scope
KW - covered-box
KW - free constituent order
KW - German
KW - experimental semantics
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.16995/glossa.5766
SN - 2397-1835
VL - 7
IS - 1
SP - 1
EP - 24
PB - Open Library of Humanities
CY - London
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Heinze, Peter Eric
A1 - Weck, Florian
A1 - Kühne, Franziska
T1 - Assessing Patient Preferences
BT - Examination of the German Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
N2 - Despite the positive effects of including patients’ preferences into therapy on psychotherapy outcomes, there are still few thoroughly validated assessment tools at hand. We translated the 18-item Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP) into German and aimed at replicating its factor structure. Further, we investigated the reliability of the questionnaire and its convergence with trait measures. A heterogeneous sample of N = 969 participants took part in our online survey. Performing ESEM models, we found acceptable model fit for a four-factor structure similar to the original factor structure. Furthermore, we propose an alternative model following the adjustment of single items. The German C-NIP showed acceptable to good reliability, as well as small correlations with Big-Five personality traits, trait and attachment anxiety, locus of control, and temporal focus. However, we recommend further replication of the factor structure and further validation of the C-NIP.
KW - psychotherapy
KW - preference
KW - activity preference
KW - preference assessment
KW - validation study
Y1 - 2021
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.795776
SN - 1664-1078
VL - 12
PB - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY - Lausanne
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Heinze, Peter Eric
A1 - Weck, Florian
A1 - Kühne, Franziska
T1 - Assessing patient preferences
BT - examination of the german cooper-norcross inventory of preferences
JF - Frontiers in psychology
N2 - Despite the positive effects of including patients' preferences into therapy on psychotherapy outcomes, there are still few thoroughly validated assessment tools at hand. We translated the 18-item Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP) into German and aimed at replicating its factor structure. Further, we investigated the reliability of the questionnaire and its convergence with trait measures. A heterogeneous sample of N = 969 participants took part in our online survey. Performing ESEM models, we found acceptable model fit for a four-factor structure similar to the original factor structure. Furthermore, we propose an alternative model following the adjustment of single items. The German C-NIP showed acceptable to good reliability, as well as small correlations with Big-Five personality traits, trait and attachment anxiety, locus of control, and temporal focus. However, we recommend further replication of the factor structure and further validation of the C-NIP.
KW - psychotherapy
KW - preference
KW - activity preference
KW - preference assessment
KW - validation study
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.795776
SN - 1664-1078
VL - 12
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Tetzlaff, Leonard
A1 - Hartmann, Ulrike
A1 - Dumont, Hanna
A1 - Brod, Garvin
T1 - Assessing individualized instruction in the classroom
BT - comparing teacher, student, and observer perspectives
JF - Learning and instruction : the journal of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI)
N2 - In this article, we address the measurement of individualized instruction in the context of regular classroom instruction. Our study assessed instructional practices geared towards individualization in German third grade reading lessons by combining self-report data from 621 students, from their teachers (n = 57), and live obser-vations. We then investigated the reliability of these different approaches to measuring individualization as well as the agreement between them. All three approaches yielded reliable indicators of individualized practices, but not all of them corresponded with each other. We found considerable agreement between students and observers, but neither agreed with teachers' self-reports. Upon closer examination, we found that students' ratings only correlated with teacher ratings that were provided close to the timepoint of interest. This correlation increased when teacher measures were corrected for response tendencies. We conclude with some recommendations for future studies that aim to measure individualized instruction in the classroom.
KW - Individualization
KW - Personalization
KW - Differentiation
KW - Adaptive teaching;
KW - Individualized instruction
KW - Instructional quality
KW - Learning
KW - environments
KW - Live observations
KW - Classroom research
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101655
SN - 0959-4752
SN - 1873-3263
VL - 82
PB - Elsevier
CY - Oxford
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Heyden, Janika
A1 - Natho, Stephanie
T1 - Assessing floodplain management in Germany - a case study on nationwide research and actions
JF - Sustainability
N2 - After a long history of floodplain degradation and substantial losses of inundation areas over the last decades, a rethinking of floodplain management has taken place in Germany.
Floodplains are now acknowledged as important areas for both biodiversity and society. This transformation has been significantly supported by nationwide research activities. A systematic assessment of the current floodplain management is still lacking.
We therefore developed a scheme to assess floodplain management through the steps of identification, analysis, implementation, and evaluation.
Reviewing the data and literature on nationwide floodplain-related research and activities, we defined key elements of floodplain management for Germany.
We concluded that research activities already follow a strategic nationwide approach of identifying and analyzing floodplains.
Progress in implementation is slow, however, and potentials are far from being reached.
Nevertheless, new and unique initiatives enable Germany to stay on the long-term path of giving rivers more space and improving floodplain conditions.
KW - assessment
KW - ecological condition
KW - threatened ecosystem
KW - policy
KW - floodplain restoration
KW - Germany
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710610
SN - 2071-1050
VL - 14
IS - 17
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Jesus, Sonia A.
A1 - Schmidt, Anke
A1 - Fickel, Jörns
A1 - Doherr, Marcus G.
A1 - Boonprasert, Khajohnpat
A1 - Thitaram, Chatchote
A1 - Sariya, Ladawan
A1 - Ratanakron, Parntep
A1 - Hildebrandt, Thomas Bernd
T1 - Assessing coagulation parameters in healthy Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) from European and thai populations
JF - Animals
N2 - Simple Summary Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are considered endangered and their population is in continuous decline. Understanding their social interactions, health, and welfare status has been a topic of intense research in recent decades. Coagulation assessments have been underutilized in wildlife but can give valuable information on individual health. This study aims to increase the knowledge of the coagulation status in healthy Asian elephants from different backgrounds and age groups, using a fast point-of-care analyzer. This tool can be further used in either routine health check-ups performed by caretakers or in a clinical emergency, such as in cases of elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus hemorrhagic disease outbreaks. We have also investigated the presence of genomic mutations in one coagulation factor-factor VII-where a disorder was previously reported in an Asian elephant. Hereby, we report new reference values for coagulation parameters, such as coagulation times and fibrinogen concentration of Asian elephants assessed in Thailand and in Europe, as well as several single point mutations found in the exons of Elephas maximus coagulation F7 gene. We found the point-of-care analyzer used in this study to be very practical and user friendly for a zoo and field environment and hope that this project will incentivize further coagulation studies in Asian elephants and in other wildlife species. The Asian elephant population is continuously declining due to several extrinsic reasons in their range countries, but also due to diseases in captive populations worldwide. One of these diseases, the elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) hemorrhagic disease, is very impactful because it particularly affects Asian elephant calves. It is commonly fatal and presents as an acute and generalized hemorrhagic syndrome. Therefore, having reference values of coagulation parameters, and obtaining such values for diseased animals in a very short time, is of great importance. We analyzed prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and fibrinogen concentrations using a portable and fast point-of-care analyzer (VetScan Pro) in 127 Asian elephants from Thai camps and European captive herds. We found significantly different PT and aPTT coagulation times between elephants from the two regions, as well as clear differences in fibrinogen concentration. Nevertheless, these alterations were not expected to have biological or clinical implications. We have also sequenced the coagulation factor VII gene of 141 animals to assess the presence of a previously reported hereditary coagulation disorder in Asian elephants and to investigate the presence of other mutations. We did not find the previously reported mutation in our study population. Instead, we discovered the presence of several new single nucleotide polymorphisms, two of them being considered as deleterious by effect prediction software.
KW - coagulation
KW - Asian elephant
KW - EEHV
KW - factor VII
KW - F7 gene
KW - prothrombin
KW - activated PTT
KW - fibrinogen
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030361
SN - 2076-2615
VL - 12
IS - 3
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Hoffmann, Holger
A1 - Ott, Christiane
A1 - Raupbach, Jana
A1 - Andernach, Lars
A1 - Renz, Matthias
A1 - Grune, Tilman
A1 - Hanschen, Franziska S.
T1 - Assessing bioavailability and bioactivity of 4-Hydroxythiazolidine-2-Thiones, newly discovered glucosinolate degradation products formed during domestic boiling of cabbage
JF - Frontiers in nutrition
N2 - Glucosinolates are plant secondary metabolites found in cruciferous vegetables (Brassicaceae) that are valued for their potential health benefits. Frequently consumed representatives of these vegetables, for example, are white or red cabbage, which are typically boiled before consumption. Recently, 3-alk(en)yl-4-hydroxythiazolidine-2-thiones were identified as a class of thermal glucosinolate degradation products that are formed during the boiling of cabbage. Since these newly discovered compounds are frequently consumed, this raises questions about their potential uptake and their possible bioactive functions. Therefore, 3-allyl-4-hydroxythiazolidine-2-thione (allyl HTT) and 4-hydroxy-3-(4-(methylsulfinyl) butyl)thiazolidine-2-thione (4-MSOB HTT) as degradation products of the respective glucosinolates sinigrin and glucoraphanin were investigated. After consumption of boiled red cabbage broth, recoveries of consumed amounts of the degradation products in urine collected for 24 h were 18 +/- 5% for allyl HTT and 21 +/- 4% for 4-MSOB HTT (mean +/- SD, n = 3). To investigate the stability of the degradation products during uptake and to elucidate the uptake mechanism, both an in vitro stomach and an in vitro intestinal model were applied. The results indicate that the uptake of allyl HTT and 4-MSOB HTT occurs by passive diffusion. Both compounds show no acute cell toxicity, no antioxidant potential, and no change in NAD(P)H dehydrogenase quinone 1 (NQO1) activity up to 100 mu M. However, inhibition of glycogen synthase kinases-3 (GSK-3) in the range of 20% for allyl HTT for the isoform GSK-3 beta and 29% for 4-MSOB HTT for the isoform GSK-3 alpha at a concentration of 100 mu M was found. Neither health-promoting nor toxic effects of 3-alk(en)yl-4-hydroxythiazolidine-2-thiones were found in the four tested assays carried out in this study, which contrasts with the properties of other glucosinolate degradation products, such as isothiocyanates.
KW - stomach model
KW - glycogen synthase kinase-3
KW - cytotoxicity
KW - antioxidant potential
KW - intestinal model
KW - cellular uptake
KW - isothiocyanate
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.941286
SN - 2296-861X
VL - 9
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Kothari, Kritika
A1 - Battisti, Rafael
A1 - Boote, Kenneth J.
A1 - Archontoulis, Sotirios
A1 - Confalone, Adriana
A1 - Constantin, Julie
A1 - Cuadra, Santiago
A1 - Debaeke, Philippe
A1 - Faye, Babacar
A1 - Grant, Brian
A1 - Hoogenboom, Gerrit
A1 - Jing, Qi
A1 - van der Laan, Michael
A1 - Macena da Silva, Fernando Antonio
A1 - Marin, Fabio R.
A1 - Nehbandani, Alireza
A1 - Nendel, Claas
A1 - Purcell, Larry C.
A1 - Qian, Budong
A1 - Ruane, Alex C.
A1 - Schoving, Celine
A1 - Silva, Evandro H. F. M.
A1 - Smith, Ward
A1 - Soltani, Afshin
A1 - Srivastava, Amit
A1 - Vieira, Nilson A.
A1 - Slone, Stacey
A1 - Salmeron, Montserrat
T1 - Are soybean models ready for climate change food impact assessments?
JF - European journal of agronomy : the official journal of the European Society for Agronomy
N2 - An accurate estimation of crop yield under climate change scenarios is essential to quantify our ability to feed a growing population and develop agronomic adaptations to meet future food demand. A coordinated evaluation of yield simulations from process-based eco-physiological models for climate change impact assessment is still missing for soybean, the most widely grown grain legume and the main source of protein in our food chain. In this first soybean multi-model study, we used ten prominent models capable of simulating soybean yield under varying temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentration [CO2] to quantify the uncertainty in soybean yield simulations in response to these factors. Models were first parametrized with high quality measured data from five contrasting environments. We found considerable variability among models in simulated yield responses to increasing temperature and [CO2]. For example, under a + 3 degrees C temperature rise in our coolest location in Argentina, some models simulated that yield would reduce as much as 24%, while others simulated yield increases up to 29%. In our warmest location in Brazil, the models simulated a yield reduction ranging from a 38% decrease under + 3 degrees C temperature rise to no effect on yield. Similarly, when increasing [CO2] from 360 to 540 ppm, the models simulated a yield increase that ranged from 6% to 31%. Model calibration did not reduce variability across models but had an unexpected effect on modifying yield responses to temperature for some of the models. The high uncertainty in model responses indicates the limited applicability of individual models for climate change food projections. However, the ensemble mean of simulations across models was an effective tool to reduce the high uncertainty in soybean yield simulations associated with individual models and their parametrization. Ensemble mean yield responses to temperature and [CO2] were similar to those reported from the literature. Our study is the first demonstration of the benefits achieved from using an ensemble of grain legume models for climate change food projections, and highlights that further soybean model development with experiments under elevated [CO2] and temperature is needed to reduce the uncertainty from the individual models.
KW - Agricultural Model Inter-comparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP);
KW - Model ensemble
KW - Model calibration
KW - Temperature
KW - Atmospheric CO2
KW - concentration
KW - Legume model
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2022.126482
SN - 1161-0301
SN - 1873-7331
VL - 135
PB - Elsevier
CY - Amsterdam
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Rolph, Rebecca
A1 - Overduin, Pier Paul
A1 - Ravens, Thomas
A1 - Lantuit, Hugues
A1 - Langer, Moritz
T1 - ArcticBeach v1.0
BT - a physics-based parameterization of pan-Arctic coastline erosion
JF - Frontiers in Earth Science
N2 - In the Arctic, air temperatures are increasing and sea ice is declining, resulting in larger waves and a longer open water season, all of which intensify the thaw and erosion of ice-rich coasts. Climate change has been shown to increase the rate of Arctic coastal erosion, causing problems for Arctic cultural heritage, existing industrial, military, and civil infrastructure, as well as changes in nearshore biogeochemistry. Numerical models that reproduce historical and project future Arctic erosion rates are necessary to understand how further climate change will affect these problems, and no such model yet exists to simulate the physics of erosion on a pan-Arctic scale. We have coupled a bathystrophic storm surge model to a simplified physical erosion model of a permafrost coastline. This Arctic erosion model, called ArcticBeach v1.0, is a first step toward a physical parameterization of Arctic shoreline erosion for larger-scale models. It is forced by wind speed and direction, wave period and height, sea surface temperature, all of which are masked during times of sea ice cover near the coastline. Model tuning requires observed historical retreat rates (at least one value), as well as rough nearshore bathymetry. These parameters are already available on a pan-Arctic scale. The model is validated at three study sites at 1) Drew Point (DP), Alaska, 2) Mamontovy Khayata (MK), Siberia, and 3) Veslebogen Cliffs, Svalbard. Simulated cumulative retreat rates for DP and MK respectively (169 and 170 m) over the time periods studied at each site (2007-2016, and 1995-2018) are found to the same order of magnitude as observed cumulative retreat (172 and 120 m). The rocky Veslebogen cliffs have small observed cumulative retreat rates (0.05 m over 2014-2016), and our model was also able to reproduce this same order of magnitude of retreat (0.08 m). Given the large differences in geomorphology between the study sites, this study provides a proof-of-concept that ArcticBeach v1.0 can be applied on very different permafrost coastlines. ArcticBeach v1.0 provides a promising starting point to project retreat of Arctic shorelines, or to evaluate historical retreat in places that have had few observations.
KW - permafrost
KW - erosion
KW - modelling
KW - arctic
KW - climate change
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.962208
SN - 2296-6463
VL - 10
PB - Frontiers Media
CY - Lausanne
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Radosavljevic, Boris
A1 - Lantuit, Hugues
A1 - Knoblauch, Christian
A1 - Couture, Nicole
A1 - Herzschuh, Ulrike
A1 - Fritz, Michael
T1 - Arctic nearshore sediment dynamics - an example from Herschel Island - Qikiqtaruk, Canada
JF - Journal of marine science and engineering
N2 - Increasing arctic coastal erosion rates imply a greater release of sediments and organic matter into the coastal zone. With 213 sediment samples taken around Herschel Island-Qikiqtaruk, Canadian Beaufort Sea, we aimed to gain new insights on sediment dynamics and geochemical properties of a shallow arctic nearshore zone. Spatial characteristics of nearshore sediment texture (moderately to poorly sorted silt) are dictated by hydrodynamic processes, but ice-related processes also play a role. We determined organic matter (OM) distribution and inferred the origin and quality of organic carbon by C/N ratios and stable carbon isotopes delta C-13. The carbon content was higher offshore and in sheltered areas (mean: 1.0 wt.%., S.D.: 0.9) and the C/N ratios also showed a similar spatial pattern (mean: 11.1, S.D.: 3.1), while the delta C-13 (mean: -26.4 parts per thousand VPDB, S.D.: 0.4) distribution was more complex. We compared the geochemical parameters of our study with terrestrial and marine samples from other studies using a bootstrap approach. Sediments of the current study contained 6.5 times and 1.8 times less total organic carbon than undisturbed and disturbed terrestrial sediments, respectively. Therefore, degradation of OM and separation of carbon pools take place on land and continue in the nearshore zone, where OM is leached, mineralized, or transported beyond the study area.
KW - permafrost
KW - Arctic Ocean
KW - stable carbon isotopes
KW - nitrogen
KW - sediment
KW - chemistry
KW - sediment dynamics
KW - Beaufort Sea
KW - grain size
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10111589
SN - 2077-1312
VL - 10
IS - 11
PB - MDPI
CY - Basel
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Schanner, Maximilian
A1 - Korte, Monika
A1 - Holschneider, Matthias
T1 - ArchKalmag14k: A kalman-filter based global geomagnetic model for the holocene
JF - Journal of geophysical research : Solid earth
N2 - We propose a global geomagnetic field model for the last 14 thousand years, based on thermoremanent records. We call the model ArchKalmag14k. ArchKalmag14k is constructed by modifying recently proposed algorithms, based on space-time correlations. Due to the amount of data and complexity of the model, the full Bayesian posterior is numerically intractable. To tackle this, we sequentialize the inversion by implementing a Kalman-filter with a fixed time step. Every step consists of a prediction, based on a degree dependent temporal covariance, and a correction via Gaussian process regression. Dating errors are treated via a noisy input formulation. Cross correlations are reintroduced by a smoothing algorithm and model parameters are inferred from the data. Due to the specific statistical nature of the proposed algorithms, the model comes with space and time-dependent uncertainty estimates. The new model ArchKalmag14k shows less variation in the large-scale degrees than comparable models. Local predictions represent the underlying data and agree with comparable models, if the location is sampled well. Uncertainties are bigger for earlier times and in regions of sparse data coverage. We also use ArchKalmag14k to analyze the appearance and evolution of the South Atlantic anomaly together with reverse flux patches at the core-mantle boundary, considering the model uncertainties. While we find good agreement with earlier models for recent times, our model suggests a different evolution of intensity minima prior to 1650 CE. In general, our results suggest that prior to 6000 BCE the data is not sufficient to support global models.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JB023166
SN - 2169-9313
SN - 2169-9356
VL - 127
IS - 2
PB - American Geophysical Union
CY - Washington
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Steinert, Fritjof
A1 - Stabernack, Benno
T1 - Architecture of a low latency H.264/AVC video codec for robust ML based image classification how region of interests can minimize the impact of coding artifacts
JF - Journal of Signal Processing Systems for Signal, Image, and Video Technology
N2 - The use of neural networks is considered as the state of the art in the field of image classification. A large number of different networks are available for this purpose, which, appropriately trained, permit a high level of classification accuracy. Typically, these networks are applied to uncompressed image data, since a corresponding training was also carried out using image data of similar high quality. However, if image data contains image errors, the classification accuracy deteriorates drastically. This applies in particular to coding artifacts which occur due to image and video compression. Typical application scenarios for video compression are narrowband transmission channels for which video coding is required but a subsequent classification is to be carried out on the receiver side. In this paper we present a special H.264/Advanced Video Codec (AVC) based video codec that allows certain regions of a picture to be coded with near constant picture quality in order to allow a reliable classification using neural networks, whereas the remaining image will be coded using constant bit rate. We have combined this feature with the ability to run with lowest latency properties, which is usually also required in remote control applications scenarios. The codec has been implemented as a fully hardwired High Definition video capable hardware architecture which is suitable for Field Programmable Gate Arrays.
KW - H.264
KW - Advanced Video Codec (AVC)
KW - Low Latency
KW - Region of Interest
KW - Machine Learning
KW - Inference
KW - FPGA
KW - Hardware accelerator
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11265-021-01727-2
SN - 1939-8018
SN - 1939-8115
VL - 94
IS - 7
SP - 693
EP - 708
PB - Springer
CY - New York
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Vatova, Mariyana
A1 - Rubin, Conrad
A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter
A1 - Goncalves, Susana C.
A1 - Schmidt, Susanne I.
A1 - Jarić, Ivan
T1 - Aquatic fungi: largely neglected targets for conservation
JF - Frontiers in ecology and the environment
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2495
SN - 1540-9295
SN - 1540-9309
VL - 20
IS - 4
SP - 207
EP - 209
PB - Wiley
CY - Hoboken
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Ghafarian, Fatemeh
A1 - Wieland, Ralf
A1 - Lüttschwager, Dietmar
A1 - Nendel, Claas
T1 - Application of extreme gradient boosting and Shapley Additive explanations to predict temperature regimes inside forests from standard open-field meteorological data
JF - Environmental modelling & software with environment data news
N2 - Forest microclimate can buffer biotic responses to summer heat waves, which are expected to become more extreme under climate warming. Prediction of forest microclimate is limited because meteorological observation standards seldom include situations inside forests.
We use eXtreme Gradient Boosting - a Machine Learning technique - to predict the microclimate of forest sites in Brandenburg, Germany, using seasonal data comprising weather features.
The analysis was amended by applying a SHapley Additive explanation to show the interaction effect of variables and individualised feature attributions.
We evaluate model performance in comparison to artificial neural networks, random forest, support vector machine, and multi-linear regression.
After implementing a feature selection, an ensemble approach was applied to combine individual models for each forest and improve robustness over a given single prediction model.
The resulting model can be applied to translate climate change scenarios into temperatures inside forests to assess temperature-related ecosystem services provided by forests.
KW - cooling effect
KW - machine learning
KW - ensemble method
KW - ecosystem services
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105466
SN - 1364-8152
SN - 1873-6726
VL - 156
PB - Elsevier
CY - Oxford
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Wochatz, Monique
A1 - Schraplau, Anne
A1 - Engel, Tilman
A1 - Zecher, Mahli Megan
A1 - Sharon, Hadar
A1 - Alt, Yasmin
A1 - Mayer, Frank
A1 - Kalron, Alon
T1 - Application of eccentric training in various clinical populations
BT - Protocol for a multi-centered pilot and feasibility study in people with low back pain and people with multiple sclerosis
JF - PLoS ONE
N2 - Physical activity and exercise are effective approaches in prevention and therapy of multiple diseases. Although the specific characteristics of lengthening contractions have the potential to be beneficial in many clinical conditions, eccentric training is not commonly used in clinical populations with metabolic, orthopaedic, or neurologic conditions. The purpose of this pilot study is to investigate the feasibility, functional benefits, and systemic responses of an eccentric exercise program focused on the trunk and lower extremities in people with low back pain (LBP) and multiple sclerosis (MS). A six-week eccentric training program with three weekly sessions is performed by people with LBP and MS. The program consists of ten exercises addressing strength of the trunk and lower extremities. The study follows a four-group design (N = 12 per group) in two study centers (Israel and Germany): three groups perform the eccentric training program: A) control group (healthy, asymptomatic); B) people with LBP; C) people with MS; group D (people with MS) receives standard care physiotherapy. Baseline measurements are conducted before first training, post-measurement takes place after the last session both comprise blood sampling, self-reported questionnaires, mobility, balance, and strength testing. The feasibility of the eccentric training program will be evaluated using quantitative and qualitative measures related to the study process, compliance and adherence, safety, and overall program assessment. For preliminary assessment of potential intervention effects, surrogate parameters related to mobility, postural control, muscle strength and systemic effects are assessed. The presented study will add knowledge regarding safety, feasibility, and initial effects of eccentric training in people with orthopaedic and neurological conditions. The simple exercises, that are easily modifiable in complexity and intensity, are likely beneficial to other populations. Thus, multiple applications and implementation pathways for the herein presented training program are conceivable.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270875
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 17
IS - 12
PB - Public Library of Science
CY - San Francisco, California, USA
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Song, Lina
A1 - Jie, Dongmei
A1 - Gao, Guizai
A1 - Liu, Lidan
A1 - Liu, Hongyan
A1 - Li, Dehui
A1 - Liu, Ying
T1 - Application of a topsoil phytolith dataset to quantitative paleoclimate reconstruction in Northeast China
JF - Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology : an international journal for the geo-sciences
N2 - Although phytoliths are recognized as an important proxy for paleoenvironmental reconstruction, the quantitative relationship between phytoliths and climate is still debated. In order to provide an improved basis for phytolith-based paleoclimate reconstructions, a representative modern phytolith dataset is essential. Here, we synthesize a modern topsoil phytolith dataset for Northeast China, analyze its climatic significance, and apply it to a fossil phytolith series from the Hani peat core in Northeast China. The dataset comprises 660 topsoil phytolith assemblages from 289 sample sites. We compiled modern meteorological data to assess the quantitative relationship between the phytolith assemblages and climatic variables. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and Redundancy analysis (RDA) were used to determine the dominant climatic variable influencing the phytolith distributions. The results showed that mean annual temperature (MAT) is the dominant variable controlling the spatial distribution of phytoliths, accounting for 8.91% of the total variance. Transfer function based on inverse deshrinking locally-weighted weighted averaging (LWWA_Inv) was developed for MAT (R-_boot(2) = 0.86, RMSEP = 1.02 degrees C). Applying the LWWA_Inv transfer function to fossil phytolith records from the Hani peat core enables quantitative inferences to be made about Holocene climate changes in Northeast China. Overall, combined with the LWWA_Inv method, the topsoil phytolith dataset of Northeast China can be used for reliable quantitative MAT reconstruction.
KW - Phytoliths
KW - Northeast China
KW - Transfer function
KW - paleoclimate
KW - reconstruction
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.111108
SN - 0031-0182
SN - 1872-616X
VL - 601
PB - Elsevier
CY - Amsterdam
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Doerries, Timo J.
A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei V.
A1 - Metzler, Ralf
T1 - Apparent anomalous diffusion and non-Gaussian distributions in a simple mobile-immobile transport model with Poissonian switching
JF - Interface : journal of the Royal Society
N2 - We analyse mobile-immobile transport of particles that switch between the mobile and immobile phases with finite rates. Despite this seemingly simple assumption of Poissonian switching, we unveil a rich transport dynamics including significant transient anomalous diffusion and non-Gaussian displacement distributions. Our discussion is based on experimental parameters for tau proteins in neuronal cells, but the results obtained here are expected to be of relevance for a broad class of processes in complex systems. Specifically, we obtain that, when the mean binding time is significantly longer than the mean mobile time, transient anomalous diffusion is observed at short and intermediate time scales, with a strong dependence on the fraction of initially mobile and immobile particles. We unveil a Laplace distribution of particle displacements at relevant intermediate time scales. For any initial fraction of mobile particles, the respective mean squared displacement (MSD) displays a plateau. Moreover, we demonstrate a short-time cubic time dependence of the MSD for immobile tracers when initially all particles are immobile.
KW - diffusion
KW - mobile-immobile model
KW - tau proteins
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0233
SN - 1742-5689
SN - 1742-5662
VL - 19
IS - 192
PB - Royal Society
CY - London
ER -
TY - JOUR
A1 - Hülscher, Julian
A1 - Sobel, Edward
A1 - Kallnik, Niklas
A1 - Hoffmann, J. Elis
A1 - Millar, Ian L.
A1 - Hartmann, Kai
A1 - Bernhardt, Anne
T1 - Apatites record sedimentary provenance change 4-5 myrs before clay in the Oligocene/Miocene Alpine molasse
JF - Frontiers in Earth Science
N2 - Extracting information about past tectonic or climatic environmental changes from sedimentary records is a key objective of provenance research. Interpreting the imprint of such changes remains challenging as signals might be altered in the sediment-routing system.
We investigate the sedimentary provenance of the Oligocene/Miocene Upper Austrian Northern Alpine Foreland Basin and its response to the tectonically driven exhumation of the Tauern Window metamorphic dome (28 +/- 1 Ma) in the Eastern European Alps by using the unprecedented combination of Nd isotopic composition of bulk-rock clay-sized samples and partly previously published multi-proxy (Nd isotopic composition, trace-element geochemistry, U-Pb dating) sand-sized apatite single-grain analysis.
The basin offers an excellent opportunity to investigate environmental signal propagation into the sedimentary record because comprehensive stratigraphic and seismic datasets can be combined with present research results. The bulk-rock clay-sized fraction epsilon Nd values of well-cutting samples from one well on the northern basin slope remained stable at similar to-9.7 from 27 to 19 Ma but increased after 19 Ma to similar to-9.1. In contrast, apatite single-grain distributions, which were extracted from 22 drill-core samples, changed significantly around 23.3 Ma from apatites dominantly from low-grade ( and TAMSD <<(delta(2)(Delta))over bar>> quantifiers-of FBM featuring < x(2) (Delta >> = <<(delta(2)(Delta >)over bar>> proportional to Delta(2H) (where H is the Hurst exponent and Delta is the [lag] time) changes in the presence of a power-law deterministically varying diffusivity D-proportional to(t) proportional to t(alpha-1) -germane to the process of scaled Brownian motion (SBM)-determining the strength of fractional Gaussian noise. The resulting compound "scaled-fractional" Brownian motion or FBM-SBM is found to be nonergodic, with < x(2)(Delta >> proportional to Delta(alpha+)(2H)(-1) and <(delta 2(Delta >) over bar > proportional to Delta(2H). We also detect a stalling behavior of the MSDs for very subdiffusive SBM and FBM, when alpha + 2H - 1 < 0. The distribution of particle displacements for FBM-SBM remains Gaussian, as that for the parent processes of FBM and SBM, in the entire region of scaling exponents (0 < alpha < 2 and 0 < H < 1). The FBM-SBM process is aging in a manner similar to SBM. The velocity autocorrelation function (ACF) of particle increments of FBM-SBM exhibits a dip when the parent FBM process is subdiffusive. Both for sub- and superdiffusive FBM contributions to the FBM-SBM process, the SBM exponent affects the long-time decay exponent of the ACF. Applications of the FBM-SBM-amalgamated process to the analysis of SPT data are discussed. A comparative tabulated overview of recent experimental (mainly SPT) and computational datasets amenable for interpretation in terms of FBM-, SBM-, and FBM-SBM-like models of diffusion culminates the presentation. The statistical aspects of the dynamics of a wide range of biological systems is compared in the table, from nanosized beads in living cells, to chromosomal loci, to water diffusion in the brain, and, finally, to patterns of animal movements.
Y1 - 2022
U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d2cp01741e
SN - 1463-9076
SN - 1463-9084
VL - 24
IS - 31
SP - 18482
EP - 18504
PB - RSC Publ.
CY - Cambridge
ER -