TY - JOUR A1 - Wilksch, Moritz A1 - Abramova, Olga T1 - PyFin-sentiment BT - towards a machine-learning-based model for deriving sentiment from financial tweets JF - International journal of information management data insights N2 - Responding to the poor performance of generic automated sentiment analysis solutions on domain-specific texts, we collect a dataset of 10,000 tweets discussing the topics of finance and investing. We manually assign each tweet its market sentiment, i.e., the investor’s anticipation of a stock’s future return. Using this data, we show that all existing sentiment models trained on adjacent domains struggle with accurate market sentiment analysis due to the task’s specialized vocabulary. Consequently, we design, train, and deploy our own sentiment model. It outperforms all previous models (VADER, NTUSD-Fin, FinBERT, TwitterRoBERTa) when evaluated on Twitter posts. On posts from a different platform, our model performs on par with BERT-based large language models. We achieve this result at a fraction of the training and inference costs due to the model’s simple design. We publish the artifact as a python library to facilitate its use by future researchers and practitioners. KW - sentiment analysis KW - financial market sentiment KW - opinion mining KW - machine learning KW - deep learning Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jjimei.2023.100171 SN - 2667-0968 VL - 3 IS - 1 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Uth, Melanie A1 - Vanrell, Maria del Mar T1 - Multilingüismo y turismo T1 - Multilingualism and tourism BT - Visiones desde la península de Yucatán y Mallorca BT - insights from the Yucatan Peninsula and Majorca JF - Energeia : online journal for linguistics, language philosophy and history of linguistics N2 - El turismo es un fenómeno territorial de contacto lingüístico-cultural que tiene impactos significativos tanto en las sociedades receptoras como, aunque en menor medida, en las sociedades de origen de los turistas. Además de las repercusiones territoriales y medioambientales, la práctica turística deja su huella en la cultura, la sociodemografía y la identidad de los destinos turísticos. Este trabajo aborda la relación entre el turismo y el multilingüismo, comparando el litoral del estado de Quintana Roo, en la península de Yucatán, México, con la isla de Mallorca. Nuestro objetivo principal es identificar tanto los puntos en común como las diferencias entre las dos regiones en el marco de los aspectos sociolingüísticos mencionados anteriormente. Esto nos permitirá distinguir las dinámicas lingüísticas regionales relacionadas con el turismo, por un lado, de aquellas dinámicas que operan a nivel global o transatlántico, por el otro. De esta manera, esperamos contribuir a un entendimiento más profundo de las dinámicas sociolingüísticas características de cada uno de los dos contextos y establecer las bases para futuros trabajos de tipo empírico. N2 - Tourism is a territorial phenomenon characterized by linguistic and cultural interactions that have significant impacts on both the host societies and, to a lesser extent, on the societies of origin of tourists. Beyond its territorial and environmental consequences, tourism profoundly influences the culture, sociodemographics, and identity of tourist destinations. This paper explores the interplay between tourism and multilingualism, drawing a comparison between the coastline of Quintana Roo in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, and the island of Mallorca. Our main goal is to identify similarities and differences between these two regions, focusing on the sociolinguistic aspects mentioned earlier. This analysis enables us to distinguish regional language dynamics associated with tourism from those operating at a global or transatlantic level. By doing so, we aim to contribute to a deeper understanding of the distinctive sociolinguistic dynamics in each of these contexts and establish a foundation for future empirical research. KW - Turismo KW - multilingüismo KW - península de Yucatán KW - Mallorca KW - análisis comparativo KW - Tourism KW - multilingualism KW - Yucatan Peninsula KW - Majorca KW - comparative analysis Y1 - 2023 UR - https://energeia-online.org/article/view/4541/3364 SN - 1869-4233 VL - VIII SP - 104 EP - 130 PB - Romanisches Seminar der Universität Zürich CY - Zürich ER - TY - GEN A1 - Degen, Andreas T1 - Analyse visueller Wahrnehmungsqualitäten von Lyrik T2 - Textpraxis : digitales Journal für Philologie / Sonderausgabe N2 - Das Projekt beschäftigt sich mit der visuellen Wirkungsdimension von Lyrik und der Möglichkeit ihrer analytischen Beschreibung. Dafür werden die Anordnung von Versen und Wörtern, Auszeichnungen und andere typographische Strukturen von nicht experimentellen Gedichten seit Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts im Rahmen von Modellanalysen untersucht. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://www.textpraxis.net/andreas-degen-visuelle-wahrnehmungsqualitaeten U6 - https://doi.org/10.17879/19958489288 SN - 2191-8236 VL - 7 IS - 2 PB - Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität CY - Münster ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balderjahn, Ingo A1 - Appenfeller, Dennis T1 - A social marketing approach to voluntary simplicity BT - communicating to consume less JF - Sustainability N2 - Higher eco-efficiency will not be enough to slow global warming caused by climate change. To keep global warming to 2 degrees, people also need to reduce their consumption. At present, however, many who would be able to do so seem unwilling to comply. Given the threats of a runaway climate change, urgent measures are needed to promote less personal consumption. This study, therefore, examines whether social marketing consume-less appeals can be used to encourage consumers to voluntarily abstain from consumption. As part of an online experiment with nearly 2000 randomly sampled users of an online platform for sustainable consumption, we tested the effectiveness of five different “consume-less” appeals based on traditional advertising formats (including emotional, informational, and social claims). The study shows that consume-less appeals are capable of limiting personal desire to buy. However, significant differences in the effectiveness of the appeal formats used in this study were observed. In addition, we found evidence of rebound effects, which leads us to critically evaluate the overall potential of social marketing to promote more resource-conserving lifestyles. While commercial consumer-free appeals have previously been studied (e.g., Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacked”), this study on the effectiveness of non-commercial consume-free appeals is novel and provides new insights. KW - social marketing KW - voluntary simplicity KW - spending patterns KW - donation behavior KW - sustainability KW - randomized trial KW - rebound-effect Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032302 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 15 IS - 3 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pinkas, Ronen T1 - Erich Fromm und das freie jüdische Lehrhaus in Frankfurt JF - Judaica: Neue Digitale Folge N2 - This article examines Erich Fromm (1900-1980) within the context of the so-called “renaissance of Jewish religious thought” in Germany during the early 20th century. It is well known that Fromm was a member of the Institute for Social Research, later called the Frankfurt School. The focus of this study, however, is on what has received little attention in research, namely Fromm’s involvement in founding the Freies jüdisches Lehrhaus (the Jewish House of Free Study) in Frankfurt. Fromm participated in the founding of the Lehrhaus as a student and later as a lecturer. During this time, Fromm also wrote his dissertation on Judaism at Heidelberg University. Methodologically, this paper intertwines the historical-biographical axis, which deals with Fromm’s connections to several thinkers: Rabbi Nehemia Nobel, Rabbi Georg Salzberger, Baruch Salman Rabinkow, Franz Rosenzweig, Ernest Simon and others, and the philosophical axis, which focuses on his dissertation, The Jewish Law. The Freies jüdisches Lehrhaus in Frankfurt is primarily associated with Franz Rosenzweig and other thinkers who worked there, such as Gershom Scholem, Ernest Simon, Leo Löwenthal and Martin Buber, who wrote Ich und Du during the years he taught there. With the exception of Buber, the Lehrhaus was their first official teaching venue. The Lehrhaus was characterized by its dialogical atmosphere, and symmetrical relationships between teachers and students, which softened some of the rigidity that was the norm at German educational frameworks at the time. This atmosphere continued to influence Fromm in his adult life, in terms of his attitude towards religion, questioning of authority and his understanding of human nature. Finally, it later played a role in his departure from Freudian libido theory. This study presents some key ideas from his dissertation, including his position on religious dogma, particularly concerning the Karaite sect, a subject that he later taught as a lecturer at the Lehrhaus. Fromm’s dissertation expresses his preoccupation with his Jewish identity and his examination of the complex theopolitical reality in which the Jews of Germany found themselves at the beginning of the 20th century, including the debates between Orthodox Jews and reformers, and between Zionists and anti-Zionists. This article supports the claim that Fromm’s position that religious factors play a central role in the historical process, which he held throughout his life, was formed in these early years. The article strengthens the scholarly position that Fromm’s Jewish background is relevant to understanding his thought in general. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.36950/jndf.2023.1.1 SN - 2673-4273 VL - 4 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 28 PB - Universität Bern CY - Bern ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wrohlich, Katharina T1 - Reformen bei Elterngeld und Ehegattensplitting könnten gleichstellungspolitische Impulse setzen T1 - Reforms of parental leave benefits and the taxation of married couples could enhance gender equality JF - Wirtschaftsdienst N2 - Germany is characterised by large gender gaps in the labour market. Both the gender pay gap as well as the gender gap in working hours are among the highest in Europe. Family policy reforms such as increasing the parental leave period that is ear-marked for fathers as well as reducing the high marginal tax rates for secondary earners resulting from the joint taxation of married couples with full income splitting (“Ehegattensplitting”) could help to mitigate the existing gender gaps in the labour market. These reforms are also paramount due to the increasing labour scarcity stemming from the demographic change. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2478/wd-2023-0169 SN - 0043-6275 SN - 1613-978X VL - 103 IS - 9 SP - 600 EP - 602 PB - ZBW CY - Hamburg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Keser, Claudia A1 - Kliemt, Hartmut A1 - Späth, Maximilian T1 - Charitable giving BT - the role of framing and information JF - PLoS ONE N2 - We investigate how different levels of information influence the allocation decisions of donors who are entitled to freely distribute a fixed monetary endowment between themselves and a charitable organization in both giving and taking frames. Participants donate significantly higher amounts, when the decision is described as taking rather than giving. This framing effect becomes smaller if more information about the charity is provided. KW - experimental economics KW - dictator game KW - experimental design KW - labor economics KW - welfare economics KW - language KW - prosocial behavior KW - university laboratories Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288400 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 18 IS - 7 PB - Public Library of Science (PLoS) CY - San Francisco, California ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wenz, Leonie A1 - Carr, Robert Devon A1 - Kögel, Noah A1 - Kotz, Maximilian A1 - Kalkuhl, Matthias T1 - DOSE - global data set of reported sub-national economic output JF - Scientific data N2 - Many phenomena of high relevance for economic development such as human capital, geography and climate vary considerably within countries as well as between them. Yet, global data sets of economic output are typically available at the national level only, thereby limiting the accuracy and precision of insights gained through empirical analyses. Recent work has used interpolation and downscaling to yield estimates of sub-national economic output at a global scale, but respective data sets based on official, reported values only are lacking. We here present DOSE — the MCC-PIK Database Of Sub-national Economic Output. DOSE contains harmonised data on reported economic output from 1,661 sub-national regions across 83 countries from 1960 to 2020. To avoid interpolation, values are assembled from numerous statistical agencies, yearbooks and the literature and harmonised for both aggregate and sectoral output. Moreover, we provide temporally- and spatially-consistent data for regional boundaries, enabling matching with geo-spatial data such as climate observations. DOSE provides the opportunity for detailed analyses of economic development at the subnational level, consistent with reported values. KW - economics KW - environmental health KW - geography Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02323-8 SN - 2052-4463 VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bersalli, Germán A1 - Tröndle, Tim A1 - Lilliestam, Johan T1 - Most industrialised countries have peaked carbon dioxide emissions during economic crises through strengthened structural change JF - Communications earth & environment N2 - As the climate targets tighten and countries are impacted by several crises, understanding how and under which conditions carbon dioxide emissions peak and start declining is gaining importance. We assess the timing of emissions peaks in all major emitters (1965–2019) and the extent to which past economic crises have impacted structural drivers of emissions contributing to emission peaks. We show that in 26 of 28 countries that have peaked emissions, the peak occurred just before or during a recession through the combined effect of lower economic growth (1.5 median percentage points per year) and decreasing energy and/or carbon intensity (0.7) during and after the crisis. In peak-and-decline countries, crises have typically magnified pre-existing improvements in structural change. In non-peaking countries, economic growth was less affected, and structural change effects were weaker or increased emissions. Crises do not automatically trigger peaks but may strengthen ongoing decarbonisation trends through several mechanisms. KW - climate-change mitigation KW - economics KW - environmental economics KW - environmental studies Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00687-8 SN - 2662-4435 VL - 4 IS - 1 SP - 44 EP - 44 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Barschkett, Mara A1 - Huebener, Mathias A1 - Leibing, Andreas A1 - Marcus, Jan A1 - Margaryan, Shushanik T1 - The long-term effects of measles vaccination on earnings and employment BT - a replication study of Atwood (American economic journal: economic policy, 2022) JF - Journal of comments and replications in economics N2 - Atwood analyzes the effects of the 1963 U.S. measles vaccination on long-run labor market outcomes, using a generalized difference-in-differences approach. We reproduce the results of this paper and perform a battery of robustness checks. Overall, we confirm that the measles vaccination had positive labor market effects. While the negative effect on the likelihood of living in poverty and the positive effect on the probability of being employed are very robust across the different specifications, the headline estimate—the effect on earnings—is more sensitive to the exclusion of certain regions and survey years. KW - measles vaccine KW - health KW - labor market outcomes KW - robustness KW - replication Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.18718/81781.30 SN - 2749-988X VL - 2 IS - 4 PB - ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics CY - Hamburg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klettke, Cornelia T1 - Pierre Klossowksi. L'acte créateur de l'écrivain peintre JF - Cahiers Erta N2 - Klossowski, who had originally started as a religious seeker of truth in his younger years, will – after his « reversal » – feel himself invested with the role of a « heretic » struggling with the libidinous search for truth. Even as the creator of a perverted metaphysics, he remains a seeker of the revelation of being, now in the role of the divine « adversary » who, thrown back on himself, tends to imitate a religious mystic. The divine is replaced by the whispers of the demon, which Klossowski experiences as « la complicité d'une force "démonique" » in the creation of his artworks. The Diana myth becomes a parable for the act of artistic creation. Sexuality, understood as the primordial ground of creative force that shapes the signe unique, the phantasm, shifts metaphysics to « phantasmaphysics » (Foucault), in which the mystery of the divine is exposed as a delusion (Wahnbild). KW - simulation KW - error as intentional KW - unique sign KW - incommunicable phantasm KW - simulacre Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4467/23538953CE.23.006.17568 SN - 2300-4681 SN - 2353-8953 VL - 33 SP - 139 EP - 157 PB - Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego CY - Gdansk ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zahedi, Anoushiravan A1 - Öznur Akalin, Renin A1 - Lawrence, Johanna E. A1 - Baumann, Annika A1 - Sommer, Werner T1 - The nature and persistence of the effects of posthypnotic suggestions on food preferences BT - the final report of an online study JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - The persistence of food preferences, which are crucial for diet-related decisions, is a significant obstacle to changing unhealthy eating behavior. To overcome this obstacle, the current study investigates whether posthypnotic suggestions (PHSs) can enhance food-related decisions by measuring food choices and subjective ratings. After assessing hypnotic susceptibility in Session 1, at the beginning of Session 2, a PHS was delivered aiming to increase the desirability of healthy food items (e.g., vegetables and fruit). After the termination of hypnosis, a set of two tasks was administrated twice, once when the PHS was activated and once deactivated in counterbalanced order. The task set consisted of rating 170 pictures of food items, followed by an online supermarket where participants were instructed to select enough food from the same item pool for a fictitious week of quarantine. After 1 week, Session 3 mimicked Session 2 without renewed hypnosis induction to assess the persistence of the PHS effects. The Bayesian hierarchical modeling results indicate that the PHS increased preferences and choices of healthy food items without altering the influence of preferences in choices. In contrast, for unhealthy food items, not only both preferences and choices were decreased due to the PHS, but also their relationship was modified. That is, although choices became negatively biased against unhealthy items, preferences played a more dominant role in unhealthy choices when the PHS was activated. Importantly, all effects persisted over 1 week, qualitatively and quantitatively. Our results indicate that although the PHS affected healthy choices through resolve, i.e., preferred more and chosen more, unhealthy items were probably chosen less impulsively through effortful suppression. Together, besides the translational importance of the current results for helping the obesity epidemic in modern societies, our results contribute theoretically to the understanding of hypnosis and food choices. KW - hypnosis KW - online supermarket KW - posthypnotic suggestions (PHSs) KW - food choice KW - eating behavior KW - food preferences KW - Bayesian analysis KW - Bayesian generalized linear mixed model Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1123907 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 14 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Apelt, Maja A1 - Koch, Annika A1 - Michalowski, Ines A1 - Molzberger, Kaspar A1 - Schenk, Liane A1 - Schmidt, Max Oliver T1 - How organisations regulate Muslim body practices BT - a comparison of schools, hospitals, and swimming pools JF - Comparative migration studies N2 - In a comparison of three human service organisations in which the human body plays a key role, we examine how organisations regulate religious body practices. We concentrate on Muslim norms of dressing and undressing as a potential focal point of cultural and religious diversity. Inspired by Ray’s (2019) idea of racialized organizations, we assume that state-run organizations in Germany are characterized by a strong commitment to religious tolerance and non-discrimination but also marked by anti- Muslim sentiment prevalent among the German population. Our study looks for mechanism that explain how Human Service Organizations accommodate Muslim body practices. It draws on qualitative empirical data collected in state-run hospitals, schools and swimming pools in Germany. Our analyses show that the organizations draw on formal and informal rules at the organizational level to accommodate Islam. We identify five general organizational mechanisms that may hinder Muslim accommodation in human service organizations. In particular, we see a risk of decoupling between the expectation of religious tolerance and processes that lead to informal discrimination, driven mainly by the difficulty of controlling group dynamics among users. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-023-00355-y SN - 2214-594X SN - 2214-8590 VL - 11 PB - European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations CY - Utrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Asche, Matthias A1 - Hesse, Christian A1 - Holý, Martin T1 - Editorial JF - Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Philosophica et historica Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.14712/23365730.2023.18 SN - 2336-5730 SN - 0323-0562 VL - 1 IS - 63 SP - 9 EP - 10 PB - Charles University, Karolinum Press CY - Prag ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hagedorn, Christiane A1 - Serth, Sebastian A1 - Meinel, Christoph T1 - The mysterious adventures of Detective Duke BT - how storified programming MOOCs support learners in achieving their learning goals JF - Frontiers in education N2 - About 15 years ago, the first Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) appeared and revolutionized online education with more interactive and engaging course designs. Yet, keeping learners motivated and ensuring high satisfaction is one of the challenges today's course designers face. Therefore, many MOOC providers employed gamification elements that only boost extrinsic motivation briefly and are limited to platform support. In this article, we introduce and evaluate a gameful learning design we used in several iterations on computer science education courses. For each of the courses on the fundamentals of the Java programming language, we developed a self-contained, continuous story that accompanies learners through their learning journey and helps visualize key concepts. Furthermore, we share our approach to creating the surrounding story in our MOOCs and provide a guideline for educators to develop their own stories. Our data and the long-term evaluation spanning over four Java courses between 2017 and 2021 indicates the openness of learners toward storified programming courses in general and highlights those elements that had the highest impact. While only a few learners did not like the story at all, most learners consumed the additional story elements we provided. However, learners' interest in influencing the story through majority voting was negligible and did not show a considerable positive impact, so we continued with a fixed story instead. We did not find evidence that learners just participated in the narrative because they worked on all materials. Instead, for 10-16% of learners, the story was their main course motivation. We also investigated differences in the presentation format and concluded that several longer audio-book style videos were most preferred by learners in comparison to animated videos or different textual formats. Surprisingly, the availability of a coherent story embedding examples and providing a context for the practical programming exercises also led to a slightly higher ranking in the perceived quality of the learning material (by 4%). With our research in the context of storified MOOCs, we advance gameful learning designs, foster learner engagement and satisfaction in online courses, and help educators ease knowledge transfer for their learners. KW - gameful learning KW - storytelling KW - programming KW - learner engagement KW - course design KW - MOOCs KW - content gamification KW - narrative Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1016401 SN - 2504-284X VL - 7 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Morris, Paul J. A1 - Bohdan, Artem A1 - Weidl, Martin S. A1 - Tsirou, Michelle A1 - Fulat, Karol A1 - Pohl, Martin T1 - Pre-acceleration in the electron foreshock. II. oblique whistler waves JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - Thermal electrons have gyroradii many orders of magnitude smaller than the finite width of a shock, thus need to be pre-accelerated before they can cross it and be accelerated by diffusive shock acceleration. One region where pre-acceleration may occur is the inner foreshock, which upstream electrons must pass through before any potential downstream crossing. In this paper, we perform a large-scale particle-in-cell simulation that generates a single shock with parameters motivated from supernova remnants. Within the foreshock, reflected electrons excite the oblique whistler instability and produce electromagnetic whistler waves, which comove with the upstream flow and as nonlinear structures eventually reach radii of up to 5 ion-gyroradii. We show that the inner electromagnetic configuration of the whistlers evolves into complex nonlinear structures bound by a strong magnetic field around four times the upstream value. Although these nonlinear structures do not in general interact with cospatial upstream electrons, they resonate with electrons that have been reflected at the shock. We show that they can scatter, or even trap, reflected electrons, confining around 0.8% of the total upstream electron population to the region close to the shock where they can undergo substantial pre-acceleration. This acceleration process is similar to, yet approximately three times more efficient than, stochastic shock drift acceleration. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acaec8 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 944 IS - 1 PB - Institute of Physics Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rothermel, Ann-Kathrin T1 - The role of evidence-based misogyny in antifeminist online communities of the ‘manosphere’ JF - Big data & society N2 - In recent years, there have been a growing number of online and offline attacks linked to a loosely connected network of misogynist and antifeminist online communities called ‘the manosphere’. Since 2016, the ideas spread among and by groups of the manosphere have also become more closely aligned with those of other Far-Right online networks. In this commentary, I explore the role of what I term ‘evidence-based misogyny’ for mobilization and radicalization into the antifeminist and misogynist subcultures of the manosphere. Evidence-based misogyny is a discursive strategy, whereby members of the manosphere refer to (and misinterpret) knowledge in the form of statistics, studies, news items and pop-culture and mimic accepted methods of knowledge presentation to support their essentializing, polarizing views about gender relations in society. Evidence-based misogyny is a core aspect for manosphere-related mobilization as it provides a false sense of authority and forges a collective identity, which is framed as a supposed ‘alternative’ to mainstream gender knowledge. Due to its core function to justify and confirm the misogynist sentiments of users, evidence-based misogyny serves as connector between the manosphere and both mainstream conservative as well as other Far-Right and conspiratorial discourses. KW - misogyny KW - male supremacy KW - far right KW - discourse KW - incels KW - radicalization KW - antifeminist KW - men's rights KW - manosphere Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517221145671 SN - 2053-9517 VL - 10 IS - 1 PB - Sage CY - Thousand Oaks, Calif. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baumgart, Lene A1 - Boos, Pauline A1 - Braunsmann, Katharina T1 - A circulatory loop BT - the reciprocal relationship of organizations, digitalization, and gender JF - Social inclusion N2 - In the digitalization debate, gender biases in digital technologies play a significant role because of their potential for social exclusion and inequality. It is therefore remarkable that organizations as drivers of digitalization and as places for social integration have been widely overlooked so far. Simultaneously, gender biases and digitalization have structurally immanent connections to organizations. Therefore, a look at the reciprocal relationship between organizations, digitalization, and gender is needed. The article provides answers to the question of whether and how organizations (re)produce, reinforce, or diminish gender‐specific inequalities during their digital transformations. On the one hand, gender inequalities emerge when organizations use post‐bureaucratic concepts through digitalization. On the other hand, gender inequalities are reproduced when organizations either program or implement digital technologies and fail to establish control structures that prevent gender biases. This article shows that digitalization can act as a catalyst for inequality‐producing mechanisms, but also has the potential to mitigate inequalities. We argue that organizations must be considered when discussing the potential of exclusion through digitalization. KW - digitalization KW - gender bias KW - gender inequalities KW - organizations Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v11i4.7056 SN - 2183-2803 VL - 11 IS - 4 SP - 160 EP - 171 PB - Cogitatio Press CY - Lisbon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baumgart, Lene A1 - Boos, Pauline A1 - Eckstein, Bernd T1 - Datafication and algorithmic contingency BT - how agile organisations deal with technical systems JF - Work organisation, labour & globalisation N2 - In the context of persistent images of self-perpetuated technologies, we discuss the interplay of digital technologies and organisational dynamics against the backdrop of systems theory. Building on the case of an international corporation that, during an agile reorganisation, introduced an AI-based personnel management platform, we show how technical systems produce a form of algorithmic contingency that subsequently leads to the emergence of formal and informal interaction systems. Using the concept of datafication, we explain how these interactions are barriers to the self-perpetuation of data-based decision-making, making it possible to take into consideration further decision factors and complementing the output of the platform. The research was carried out within the scope of the research project ‘Organisational Implications of Digitalisation: The Development of (Post-)Bureaucratic Organisational Structures in the Context of Digital Transformation’ funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). KW - digitalisation KW - datafication KW - organisation KW - agile KW - technical system KW - systems theory KW - interaction KW - algorithmic contingency KW - machine learning KW - platform Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.13169/workorgalaboglob.17.1.0061 SN - 1745-641X SN - 1745-6428 VL - 17 IS - 1 SP - 61 EP - 73 PB - Pluto Journals CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sohst, Rhea Ravenna A1 - Acostamadiedo, Eduardo A1 - Tjaden, Jasper T1 - Reducing uncertainty in Delphi surveys BT - a case study on immigration to the EU JF - Demographic research N2 - Background: Following the rapid increase of asylum seekers arriving in the European Union in 2015/16, policymakers have invested heavily in improving their foresight and forecasting capabilities. A common method to elicit expert predictions are Delphi surveys. This approach has attracted concern in the literature, given the high uncertainty in experts’ predictions. However, there exists limited guidance on specific design choices for future-related Delphi surveys. Objective: We test whether or not small adjustments to the Delphi survey can increase certainty (i.e., reduce variation) in expert predictions on immigration to the EU in 2030. Methods: Based on a two-round Delphi survey with 178 migration experts, we compare variation and subjective confidence in expert predictions and assess whether additional context information (type of migration flow, sociopolitical context) promotes convergence among experts (i.e., less variation) and confidence in their own estimates. Results: We find that additional context information does not reduce variation and does not increase confidence in expert predictions on migration. Conclusions: The results reaffirm recent concerns regarding the limited scope for reducing uncertainty by manipulating the survey setup. Persistent uncertainty may be a result of the complexity of migration processes and limited agreement among migration experts regarding key drivers. Contribution: We caution policymakers and academics on the use of Delphi surveys for eliciting expert predictions on immigration, even when conducted based on a large pool of experts and using specific scenarios. The potential of alternative approaches such as prediction markets should be further explored. KW - European Union KW - immigration KW - international migration KW - migration flows Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2023.49.36 SN - 2363-7064 SN - 1435-9871 VL - 49 SP - 983 EP - 1020 PB - Max Planck Inst. for Demographic Research CY - Rostock ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marwan, Norbert T1 - Challenges and perspectives in recurrence analyses of event time series JF - Frontiers in applied mathematics and statistics N2 - The analysis of event time series is in general challenging. Most time series analysis tools are limited for the analysis of this kind of data. Recurrence analysis, a powerful concept from nonlinear time series analysis, provides several opportunities to work with event data and even for the most challenging task of comparing event time series with continuous time series. Here, the basic concept is introduced, the challenges are discussed, and the future perspectives are summarized. KW - event time series KW - extreme events KW - recurrence analysis KW - edit distance KW - synchronization Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fams.2023.1129105 SN - 2297-4687 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krassakis, Pavlos A1 - Karavias, Andreas A1 - Zygouri, Evangelia A1 - Roumpos, Christos A1 - Louloudis, Georgios A1 - Pyrgaki, Konstantina A1 - Koukouzas, Nikolaos A1 - Kempka, Thomas A1 - Karapanos, Dimitris T1 - GIS-based assessment of hybrid pumped hydro storage as a potential solution for the clean energy transition BT - the case of the Kardia lignite mine, Western Greece JF - Sensors N2 - Planned decommissioning of coal-fired plants in Europe requires innovative technical and economic strategies to support coal regions on their path towards a climate-resilient future. The repurposing of open pit mines into hybrid pumped hydro power storage (HPHS) of excess energy from the electric grid, and renewable sources will contribute to the EU Green Deal, increase the economic value, stabilize the regional job market and contribute to the EU energy supply security. This study aims to present a preliminary phase of a geospatial workflow used to evaluate land suitability by implementing a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique with an advanced geographic information system (GIS) in the context of an interdisciplinary feasibility study on HPHS in the Kardia lignite open pit mine (Western Macedonia, Greece). The introduced geospatial analysis is based on the utilization of the constraints and ranking criteria within the boundaries of the abandoned mine regarding specific topographic and proximity criteria. The applied criteria were selected from the literature, while for their weights, the experts' judgement was introduced by implementing the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), in the framework of the ATLANTIS research program. According to the results, seven regions were recognized as suitable, with a potential energy storage capacity from 1.09 to 5.16 GWh. Particularly, the present study's results reveal that 9.27% (212,884 m(2)) of the area had a very low suitability, 15.83% (363,599 m(2)) had a low suitability, 23.99% (550,998 m(2)) had a moderate suitability, 24.99% (573,813 m(2)) had a high suitability, and 25.92% (595,125 m(2)) had a very high suitability for the construction of the upper reservoir. The proposed semi-automatic geospatial workflow introduces an innovative tool that can be applied to open pit mines globally to identify the optimum design for an HPHS system depending on the existing lower reservoir. KW - hybrid pumped hydro power storage KW - hydro power KW - hydro storage KW - GIS KW - Kardia mine KW - AHP KW - MCDM Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/s23020593 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 23 IS - 2 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - GEN A1 - Krause, Werner T1 - Rechts nur noch die Wand? T2 - Verfassungsblog : on matters constitutional Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17176/20230207-233109-0 SN - 2366-7044 PB - Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH CY - Berlin ER - TY - GEN A1 - Krause, Werner T1 - Die Macht der Sonntagsfrage T2 - Verfassungsblog : on matters constitutional N2 - Für das Jahr 2024 sind entscheidende Wahlen geplant – unter ihnen die US-Präsidentschaftswahl und die Wahlen zum Europäischen Parlament. In Deutschland werden in Brandenburg, Sachsen und Thüringen die Landtage gewählt. Wahlumfragen, insbesondere die Sonntagsfrage, sind zu einem integralen Bestandteil von Wahlkämpfen geworden; gleichzeitig steht auch deren Zuverlässigkeit im Zentrum medialer Aufmerksamkeit. Eine Debatte über die Kommunikation und Darstellung von Meinungsumfragen ist in Deutschland dringend notwendig. Eine bindende Selbstverpflichtung der Umfrageinstitute und Medienhäuser wäre eine vielversprechende Lösung. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17176/20231222-111226-0 SN - 2366-7044 PB - Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vladova, Gergana A1 - Ullrich, André A1 - Sloane, Mona A1 - Renz, André A1 - Tsui, Eric T1 - Editorial: new teaching and learning worlds BT - potentials and limitations of digitalization for innovative and sustainable research and practice in education and training JF - Frontiers in education KW - creativity KW - design thinking KW - digital education KW - 21st century skills KW - open education KW - virtual education Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1175498 SN - 2504-284X VL - 8 SP - 1 EP - 3 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stone, Kate A1 - Nicenboim, Bruno A1 - Vasishth, Shravan A1 - Rösler, Frank T1 - Understanding the effects of constraint and predictability in ERP JF - Neurobiology of language N2 - Intuitively, strongly constraining contexts should lead to stronger probabilistic representations of sentences in memory. Encountering unexpected words could therefore be expected to trigger costlier shifts in these representations than expected words. However, psycholinguistic measures commonly used to study probabilistic processing, such as the N400 event-related potential (ERP) component, are sensitive to word predictability but not to contextual constraint. Some research suggests that constraint-related processing cost may be measurable via an ERP positivity following the N400, known as the anterior post-N400 positivity (PNP). The PNP is argued to reflect update of a sentence representation and to be distinct from the posterior P600, which reflects conflict detection and reanalysis. However, constraint-related PNP findings are inconsistent. We sought to conceptually replicate Federmeier et al. (2007) and Kuperberg et al. (2020), who observed that the PNP, but not the N400 or the P600, was affected by constraint at unexpected but plausible words. Using a pre-registered design and statistical approach maximising power, we demonstrated a dissociated effect of predictability and constraint: strong evidence for predictability but not constraint in the N400 window, and strong evidence for constraint but not predictability in the later window. However, the constraint effect was consistent with a P600 and not a PNP, suggesting increased conflict between a strong representation and unexpected input rather than greater update of the representation. We conclude that either a simple strong/weak constraint design is not always sufficient to elicit the PNP, or that previous PNP constraint findings could be an artifact of smaller sample size. KW - N400 KW - anterior PNP KW - posterior P600 KW - probabilistic processing KW - constraint KW - predictability KW - entropy Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1162/nol_a_00094 SN - 2641-4368 VL - 4 IS - 2 SP - 221 EP - 256 PB - MIT Press CY - Cambridge, MA, USA ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pollatos, Olga A1 - Mönkemöller, Karla A1 - Groppe, Karoline A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Interoceptive accuracy is associated with benefits in decision making in children JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Introduction: Decision making results not only from logical analyses, but seems to be further guided by the ability to perceive somatic information (interoceptive accuracy). Relations between interoceptive accuracy and decision making have been exclusively studied in adults and with regard to complex, uncertain situations (as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task, IGT). Methods: In the present study, 1454 children (6-11 years) were examined at two time points (approximately 1 year apart) using an IGT as well as a delay-of-gratification task for sweets-items and toy-items. Interoceptive accuracy was measured using a child-adapted version of the Heartbeat Perception Task. Results: The present results revealed that children with higher, as compared to lower, interoceptive accuracy showed more advantageous choices in the IGT and delayed more sweets-items, but not toy-items, in a delay-of-gratification task at time point 2 but not at time point 1. However, no longitudinal relation between interoceptive accuracy and decision making 1 year later could be shown. Discussion: Results indicate that interoceptive accuracy relates to decision-making abilities in situations of varying complexity already in middle childhood, and that this link might consolidate across the examined 1-year period. Furthermore, the association of interoceptive accuracy and the delay of sweets-items might have implications for the regulation of body weight at a later age. KW - cardiac perception KW - interoception KW - emotion KW - decision making KW - Iowa gambling task KW - somatic-marker hypothesis KW - childhood development Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1070037 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 13 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hänel, Hilkje C. T1 - (Moralisch) guter Sex T1 - (Morally) good sex BT - eine Kritik am Zustimmungsmodell BT - a critique of the consent model JF - Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie N2 - In einem kürzlich erschienenen Artikel argumentiert Almut v. Wedelstaedt überzeugend, warum Zustimmung zwar „die Bedingung für die Legitimation von Sex“ ist (2020, 127), dass die moralische Güte von Sex aber nur dann einzuschätzen ist, wenn wir darauf achten, ob die Beteiligten der Handlung sich auf Augenhöhe begegnen. Die Idee ist: Es gibt legitime sexuelle Handlungen, die moralisch gut sind, und es gibt legitime sexuelle Handlungen, die moralisch besser sind. Hier möchte ich die Idee des besseren Sexes genauer ausloten. Während v. Wedelstaedt von moralisch gelungenem Sex spricht und somit auf der Ebene der moralischen Bewertung von Sex bleibt, möchte ich die Frage danach stellen, was Sex qualitativ gut macht. Tatsächlich wird in der Zustimmungsdebatte meist davon ausgegangen, dass diese zwei Fragen wenig gemeinsam haben; ob eine sexuelle Handlung legitim ist, hat zunächst nichts damit zu tun, ob diese auch gut ist. Ich werde drei Argumente liefern, warum wir legitimen Sex und qualitativ guten Sex zusammen betrachten sollten – und es wird sich zeigen, dass die gegenwärtige philosophische und rechtstheoretische Debatte Zustimmung verkürzt diskutiert und daher alleingenommen wenig hilfreich ist, stattdessen benötigt die Zustimmungsdebatte auch eine Untersuchung von qualitativ gutem Sex. N2 - In a recent article, Almut v. Wedelstaedt argues convincingly why consent is “the condition for the legitimation of sex” (2020, 127; my translation), but that the moral goodness of sex can only be assessed if we pay attention to whether the participants in the act meet on an equal footing; the consent criterion, v. Wedelstaedt argues, must therefore be supplemented by another criterion, namely that of equal footing. The idea is: there are legitimate sexual acts that are morally good, and there are legitimate sexual acts that are morally better. Here I would like to explore the idea of better sex in more detail. While v. Wedelstaedt speaks of morally successful sex, and thus remains on the level of moral evaluation of sex, I would like to raise the question of what makes sex qualitatively good. Indeed, the consent debate usually assumes that these two questions have little in common; whether a sexual act is legitimate has nothing to do with whether it is good to begin with. I will provide three arguments why we should consider legitimate sex and qualitatively good sex together, and it will become apparent that the current philosophical and legal theory debate discusses consent in a truncated way, and therefore taken alone, is unhelpful; instead, the consent debate also needs an examination of qualitatively good sex. KW - Sex KW - Zustimmung KW - sexuelle Handlungsfähigkeit KW - sexistische Ideologie KW - sexuelle Gewalt KW - sex KW - consent KW - sexual agency KW - sexist ideology KW - sexual violence Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.22613/zfpp/9.2.2 SN - 2409-9961 VL - 9 IS - 2 SP - 49 EP - 78 PB - Universität Salzburg CY - Salzburg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Steinrötter, Björn T1 - The principle of equivalence of legal systems in private international law and its contribution to the foundation and preservation of peace T1 - Princip jednakosti pravnih sistema u međunarodnom privatnom pravu i njegov doprinos uspostavljanju i očuvanju mira T1 - Принцип једнакости правних система у међународном приватном праву и његов допринос успостављању и очувању мира JF - Zbornik radova Pravnog fakulteta, Novi Sad JF - Зборник радова Правног факултета у Новом Саду N2 - Private international law (PIL) might seem disconnected from peacebuilding and peacekeeping efforts. However, this perception falls short. PIL, contrary to public international law’s direct peacekeeping potential, indirectly contributes to peace by fostering mutual respect between states. The relationship between PIL and peace stems from the recognition and respect states show for each other’s legal systems. PIL operates on the principle of comity, where states acknowledge the applicability of foreign laws to resolve cases. In essence, while PIL’s impact on peace is indirect and modest, its emphasis on mutual respect and fair treatment contributes to peaceful relations between states, making it an important element in the broader context of peacebuilding and peacekeeping efforts. Private international law (PIL) does not determine substantive fairness for parties but focuses on localizing cases at a meta-level of conflict-of-laws. This localization is guided by party, trade, and regulatory interests, and is rooted in neutrality and respect for other legal systems. While the principle of equivalence and neutrality remains foundational in PIL, exceptions and limitations have been established over time to address specific scenarios, ensuring a balanced approach that respects both foreign legal systems and fundamental legal principles. N2 - Na prvi pogled može delovati da Međunarodno privatno pravo (MPP) nema veze sa naporima za uspostavljanje i očuvanje mira. Međutim, ova percepcija nije utemeljena. Suprotno neposrednom potencijalu međunarodnog javnog prava za očuvanje mira, MPP indirektno doprinosi miru podsticanjem međusobnog poštovanja između država. Odnos između MPP i mira proizlazi iz poštovanja koje države iskazuju prema pravnim sistemima drugih država. MPP funkcioniše na osnovu principa uzajamnog uvažavanja, gde države priznaju primenljivost stranih zakona za rešavanje slučajeva. U suštini, iako je uticaj MPP-a na mir indirektan i skroman, njegov naglasak na međusobnom poštovanju i pravičnom postupanju doprinosi pomirljivom tonu u odnosu između država, čineći ga važnim elementom u širem kontekstu izgradnje i očuvanja mira. MPP nema neposredni doprinos u postzanju suštinske pravičnost među stranama spora, već se fokusira na lokalizaciju slučajeva na meta-nivou sukoba zakona. Ova lokalizacija se vodi stranačkim, trgovinskim i regulatornim interesima i ukorenjena je u neutralnosti i poštovanju drugih pravnih sistema. Iako princip ekvivalencije i neutralnosti ostaje temeljni u MPP-u, su vremenom uspostavljeni izuzeci i ograničenja kako bi se adresirali specifični scenariji, osiguravajući uravnotežen pristup koji poštuje i strane pravne sisteme i temeljne pravne principe. N2 - На први поглед може деловати да Међународно приватно право (МПП) нема везе са напорима за успостављање и очување мира. Међутим, ова перцепција није утемељена. Супротно непосредном потенцијалу међународног јавног права за очување мира, МПП индиректно доприноси миру подстицањем међусобног поштовања између држава. Однос између МПП и мира произлази из поштовања које државе исказују према правним системима других држава. МПП функционише на основу принципа узајамног уважавања, где државе признају применљивост страних закона за решавање случајева. У суштини, иако је утицај МПП-а на мир индиректан и скроман, његов нагласак на међусобном поштовању и правичном поступању доприноси помирљивом тону у односу између држава, чинећи га важним елементом у ширем контексту изградње и очувања мира. МПП нема непосредни допринос у постзању суштинске правичност међу странама спора, већ се фокусира на локализацију случајева на мета-нивоу сукоба закона. Ова локализација се води страначким, трговинским и регулаторним интересима и укорењена је у неутралности и поштовању других правних система. Иако принцип еквиваленције и неутралности остаје темељни у МПП-у, су временом успостављени изузеци и ограничења како би се адресирали специфични сценарији, осигуравајући уравнотежен приступ који поштује и стране правне системе и темељне правне принципе. KW - Private International Law KW - peacebuilding and peacekeeping KW - mutual respect KW - comity KW - equivalence KW - međunarodno privatno pravo KW - uspostavljanje i održavanje mira KW - uzajamno poštovanje i uvažavanje KW - jednakost KW - међународно приватно право KW - успостављање и одржавање мира KW - узајамно поштовање и уважавање KW - једнакост Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5937/zrpfns57-40597 SN - 0550-2179 SN - 2406-1255 VL - 57 IS - 3 SP - 991 EP - 1004 PB - Univerzitet u Novom Sadu / Pravni Fakultet CY - Novi Sad ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kim, MyoungHwee A1 - Lin, Chiao-I A1 - Henschke, Jakob A1 - Quarmby, Andrew James A1 - Engel, Tilman A1 - Cassel, Michael T1 - Effects of exercise treatment on functional outcome parameters in mid-portion achilles tendinopathy BT - a systematic review JF - Frontiers in Sports and Active Living N2 - Exercise interventions are evident in the treatment of mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy (AT). However, there is still a lack of knowledge concerning the effect of different exercise treatments on improving a specific function (e.g., strength) in this population. Thus, this study aimed to systematically review the effect of exercise treatments on different functional outcomes in mid-portion AT. An electronic database of Pubmed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to 21 February 2023. Studies that investigated changes in plantar flexor function with exercise treatments were considered in mid-portion AT. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and clinical controlled trials (CCTs) were included. Functional outcomes were classified by kinetic (e.g., strength), kinematic [e.g., ankle range of motion (ROM)], and sensorimotor (e.g., balance index) parameters. The types of exercise treatments were classified into eccentric, concentric, and combined (eccentric plus concentric) training modes. Quality assessment was appraised using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale for RCTs, and the Joanna Briggs Institute scale for CCTs. The search yielded 2,260 records, and a total of ten studies were included. Due to the heterogeneity of the included studies, a qualitative synthesis was performed. Eccentric training led to improvements in power outcomes (e.g., height of countermovement jump), and in strength outcomes (e.g., peak torque). Concentric training regimens showed moderate enhanced power outcomes. Moreover, one high-quality study showed an improvement in the balance index by eccentric training, whereas the application of concentric training did not. Combined training modalities did not lead to improvements in strength and power outcomes. Plantarflexion and dorsiflexion ROM measures did not show relevant changes by the exercise treatments. In conclusion, eccentric training is evident in improving strength outcomes in AT patients. Moreover, it shows moderate evidence improvements in power and the sensorimotor parameter "balance index". Concentric training presents moderate evidence in the power outcomes and can therefore be considered as an alternative to improve this function. Kinematic analysis of plantarflexion and dorsiflexion ROM might not be useful in AT people. This study expands the knowledge what types of exercise regimes should be considered to improve the functional outcomes in AT. KW - exercise treatments KW - eccentric training KW - concentric training KW - combined training KW - kinetic parameters KW - kinematic parameters KW - sensorimotor parameters KW - mid-portion achilles tendinopathy Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2023.1144484 SN - 2624-9367 VL - 5 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kühne, Katharina A1 - Jeglinski-Mende, Melinda A. T1 - Refraining from interaction can decrease fear of physical closeness during COVID-19 JF - Scientific reports N2 - Perception of peripersonal space (PPS) and interpersonal distance (IPD) has been shown to be modified by external factors such as perceived danger, the use of tools, and social factors. Especially in times of social distancing in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital to study factors that modify PPS and IPD. The present work addresses the question of whether wearing a face mask as a protection tool and social interaction impact the perception of IPD. We tested estimated IPD in pictures at three distances: 50 cm, 90 cm, and 150 cm in both social interaction (shaking hands) and without interaction and when the two people in the pictures wore a face mask or not. Data from 60 subjects were analyzed in a linear mixed model (on both difference in distance estimation to the depicted distance and in absolute distance estimation) and in a 3 (distance: 50, 90, 150) x 2 (interaction: no interaction, shake hands), x 2 face mask (no mask, mask) rmANOVA on distance estimation difference. All analyses showed that at a distance of 50 and 90 cm, participants generally underestimated the IPD while at an IPD of 150 cm, participants overestimated the distance. This could be grounded in perceived danger and avoidance behavior at closer distances, while the wider distance between persons was not perceived as dangerous. Our findings at an IPD of 90 cm show that social interaction has the largest effect at the border of our PPS, while the face mask did not affect social interaction at either distance. In addition, the ANOVA results indicate that when no social interaction was displayed, participants felt less unsafe when depicted persons wore a face mask at distances of 90 and 150 cm. This shows that participants are on the one hand aware of the given safety measures and internalized them; on the other hand, that refraining from physical social interaction helps to get close to other persons. KW - health policy KW - human behaviour Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-34667-x SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 IS - 1 PB - Nature portfolio CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Quarmby, Andrew James A1 - Khajooei, Mina A1 - Kurtz, Philip A1 - Henschke, Jakob A1 - Kim, MyoungHwee A1 - Mayer, Frank A1 - Engel, Tilman T1 - Unexpected running perturbations BT - reliability and validity of a treadmill running protocol with analysis of provoked reflex activity in the lower extremities JF - Frontiers in sports and active living N2 - Introduction Balance is vital for human health and experiments have been conducted to measure the mechanisms of postural control, for example studying reflex responses to simulated perturbations. Such studies are frequent in walking but less common in running, and an understanding of reflex responses to trip-like disturbances could enhance our understanding of human gait and improve approaches to training and rehabilitation. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to investigate the technical validity and reliability of a treadmill running protocol with perturbations. A further exploratory aim was to evaluate the associated neuromuscular reflex responses to the perturbations, in the lower limbs. Methods Twelve healthy participants completed a running protocol (9 km/h) test-retest (2 weeks apart), whereby 30 unilateral perturbations were executed via the treadmill belts (presets:2.0 m/s amplitude;150 ms delay (post-heel contact);100ms duration). Validity of the perturbations was assessed via mean +/- SD comparison, percentage error calculation between the preset and recorded perturbation characteristics (PE%), and coefficient of variation (CV%). Test-retest reliability (TRV%) and Bland-Altman analysis (BLA; bias +/- 1.96 * SD) was calculated for reliability. To measure reflex activity, electromyography (EMG) was applied in both legs. EMG amplitudes (root mean square normalized to unperturbed strides) and latencies [ms] were analysed descriptively. Results Left-side perturbation amplitude was 1.9 +/- 0.1 m/s, delay 105 +/- 2 ms, and duration 78 +/- 1 ms. Right-side perturbation amplitude was 1.9 +/- 0.1 m/s, delay 118 +/- 2 ms, duration 78 +/- 1 ms. PE% ranged from 5-30% for the recorded perturbations. CV% of the perturbations ranged from 19.5-76.8%. TRV% for the perturbations was 6.4-16.6%. BLA for the left was amplitude: 0.0 +/- 0.3m/s, delay: 0 +/- 17 ms, duration: 2 +/- 13 ms, and for the right was amplitude: 0.1 +/- 0.7, delay: 4 +/- 40 ms, duration: 1 +/- 35 ms. EMG amplitudes ranged from 175 +/- 141%-454 +/- 359% in both limbs. Latencies were 109 +/- 12-116 +/- 23 ms in the tibialis anterior, and 128 +/- 49-157 +/- 20 ms in the biceps femoris. Discussion Generally, this study indicated sufficient validity and reliability of the current setup considering the technical challenges and limitations, although the reliability of the right-sided perturbations could be questioned. The protocol provoked reflex responses in the lower extremities, especially in the leading leg. Acute neuromusculoskeletal adjustments to the perturbations could be studied and compared in clinical and healthy running populations, and the protocol could be utilised to monitor chronic adaptations to interventions over time. KW - running KW - perturbation KW - EMG KW - reliability KW - stumbling KW - reflexes KW - split-belt treadmill KW - gait Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2023.1129058 SN - 2624-9367 VL - 5 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schaefer, Laura A1 - Bittmann, Frank T1 - Case report BT - Individualized pulsed electromagnetic field therapy in a Long COVID patient using the adaptive force as biomarker JF - Frontiers in medicine N2 - The increasing prevalence of Long COVID is an imminent public health disaster, and established approaches have not provided adequate diagnostics or treatments. Recently, anesthetic blockade of the stellate ganglion was reported to improve Long COVID symptoms in a small case series, purportedly by "rebooting" the autonomic nervous system. Here, we present a novel diagnostic approach based on the Adaptive Force (AF), and report sustained positive outcome for one severely affected Long COVID patient using individualized pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) at the area C7/T1. AF reflects the capacity of the neuromuscular system to adapt adequately to external forces in an isometric holding manner. In case, maximal isometric AF (AFiso(max)) is exceeded, the muscle merges into eccentric muscle action. Thereby, the force usually increases further until maximal AF (AFmax) is reached. In case adaptation is optimal, AFiso(max) is similar to 99-100% of AFmax. This holding capacity (AFiso(max)) was found to be vulnerable to disruption by unpleasant stimulus and, hence, was regarded as functional parameter. AF was assessed by an objectified manual muscle test using a handheld device. Prior to treatment, AFiso(max) was considerably lower than AFmax for hip flexors (62 N = similar to 28% AFmax) and elbow flexors (71 N = similar to 44% AFmax); i.e., maximal holding capacity was significantly reduced, indicating dysfunctional motor control. We tested PEMF at C7/T1, identified a frequency that improved neuromuscular function, and applied it for similar to 15 min. Immediately post-treatment, AFiso(max) increased to similar to 210 N (similar to 100% AFmax) at hip and 184 N (similar to 100% AFmax) at elbow. Subjective Long COVID symptoms resolved the following day. At 4 weeks post-treatment, maximal holding capacity was still on a similarly high level as for immediately post-treatment (similar to 100% AFmax) and patient was symptom-free. At 6 months the patient's Long COVID symptoms have not returned. This case report suggests (1) AF could be a promising diagnostic for post-infectious illness, (2) AF can be used to test effective treatments for post-infectious illness, and (3) individualized PEMF may resolve post-infectious symptoms. KW - individualized pulsed electromagnetic field KW - Adaptive Force KW - muscular holding capacity KW - case report KW - Long COVID KW - post-COVID syndrome KW - muscle weakness KW - fatigue Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.879971 SN - 2296-858X VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rodríguez Sánchez, Alejandra A1 - Wucherpfennig, Julian A1 - Rischke, Ramona A1 - Iacus, Stefano Maria T1 - Search-and-rescue in the Central Mediterranean Route does not induce migration BT - predictive modeling to answer causal queries in migration research JF - Scientific reports N2 - State- and private-led search-and-rescue are hypothesized to foster irregular migration (and thereby migrant fatalities) by altering the decision calculus associated with the journey. We here investigate this ‘pull factor’ claim by focusing on the Central Mediterranean route, the most frequented and deadly irregular migration route towards Europe during the past decade. Based on three intervention periods—(1) state-led Mare Nostrum, (2) private-led search-and-rescue, and (3) coordinated pushbacks by the Libyan Coast Guard—which correspond to substantial changes in laws, policies, and practices of search-and-rescue in the Mediterranean, we are able to test the ‘pull factor’ claim by employing an innovative machine learning method in combination with causal inference. We employ a Bayesian structural time-series model to estimate the effects of these three intervention periods on the migration flow as measured by crossing attempts (i.e., time-series aggregate counts of arrivals, pushbacks, and deaths), adjusting for various known drivers of irregular migration. We combine multiple sources of traditional and non-traditional data to build a synthetic, predicted counterfactual flow. Results show that our predictive modeling approach accurately captures the behavior of the target time-series during the various pre-intervention periods of interest. A comparison of the observed and predicted counterfactual time-series in the post-intervention periods suggest that pushback policies did affect the migration flow, but that the search-and-rescue periods did not yield a discernible difference between the observed and the predicted counterfactual number of crossing attempts. Hence we do not find support for search-and-rescue as a driver of irregular migration. In general, this modeling approach lends itself to forecasting migration flows with the goal of answering causal queries in migration research. KW - human behaviour KW - population dynamics Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-38119-4 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 IS - 1 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Trouwloon, Danick A1 - Streck, Charlotte A1 - Chagas, Thiago A1 - Martinus, Glenpherd T1 - Understanding the use of carbon credits by companies BT - a review of the defining elements of corporate climate claims JF - Global challenges (Hoboken, NJ) N2 - Worldwide, companies are increasingly making claims about their current climate efforts and their future mitigation commitments. These claims tend to be underpinned by carbon credits issued in voluntary carbon markets to offset emissions. Corporate climate claims are largely unregulated which means that they are often (perceived to be) misleading and deceptive. As such, corporate climate claims risk undermining, rather than contributing to, global climate mitigation. This paper takes as its point of departure the proposition that a better understanding of corporate climate claims is needed to govern such claims in a manner that adequately addresses potential greenwashing risks. To that end, the paper reviews the nascent literature on corporate climate claims relying on the use of voluntary carbon credits. Drawing on the reviewed literature, three key dimensions of corporate climate claims as related to carbon credits are discussed: 1) the intended use of carbon credits: offsetting versus non-offsetting claims; 2) the framing and meaning of headline terms: net-zero versus carbon neutral claims; and 3) the status of the claim: future aspirational commitments versus stated achievements. The paper thereby offers a preliminary categorization of corporate climate claims and discusses risks associated with and governance implications for each of these categories. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/gch2.202200158 SN - 2056-6646 VL - 7 IS - 4 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken, NJ ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pinkas, Ronen T1 - On prayer and dialectic in modern Jewish philosophy BT - Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig JF - Religions N2 - This paper is founded on two philosophical assumptions. The first is that there is a difference between two patterns of recognition: the dialectical and the dialogical. The second assumption is that the origins of the dialogical pattern may be found in the relationship between human beings and God, a relationship in which prayer has a major role. The second assumption leads to the supposition that the emphasis of the dialogic approach on moral responsibility is theologically grounded. In other words, the relationship between humanity and God serves as a paradigm for human relationships. By focusing on Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig, in the context of prayer and dialectic, this paper highlights the complexity of these themes in modern Jewish thought. These two important philosophers utilize dialectical reasoning while also criticizing it and offering an alternative. The conclusions of their thought, in general, and their position on prayer, in particular, demonstrate a preference for a relational way of thinking over a dialectical one, but without renouncing the latter. KW - dialectic KW - dialogue KW - prayer KW - modern Jewish philosophy KW - religious existentialism Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14080996 SN - 2077-1444 VL - 14 IS - 8 SP - 1 EP - 28 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liedl, Bernd A1 - Fritsch, Nina-Sophie A1 - Samper Mejia, Cristina A1 - Verwiebe, Roland T1 - Risk perceptions of individuals living in single-parent households during the COVID-19 crisis BT - examining the mediating and moderating role of income JF - Frontiers in sociology N2 - The COVID-19 crisis had severe social and economic impact on the life of most citizens around the globe. Individuals living in single-parent households were particularly at risk, revealing detrimental labour market outcomes and assessments of future perspectives marked by worries. As it has not been investigated yet, in this paper we study, how their perception about the future and their outlook on how the pandemic will affect them is related to their objective economic resources. Against this background, we examine the subjective risk perception of worsening living standards of individuals living in single-parent households compared to other household types, their objective economic situation based on the logarithmised equivalised disposable household incomes and analyse the relationship between those indicators. Using the German SOEP, including the SOEP-CoV survey from 2020, our findings based on regression modelling reveal that individuals living in single-parent households have been worse off during the pandemic, facing high economic insecurity. Path and interaction models support our assumption that the association between those indicators may not be that straightforward, as there are underlying mechanisms–such as mediation and moderation–of income affecting its direction and strength. With respect to our central hypotheses, our empirical findings point toward (1) a mediation effect, by demonstrating that the subjective risk perception of single-parent households can be partly explained by economic conditions. (2) The moderating effect suggests that the concrete position at the income distribution of households matters as well. While at the lower end of the income distribution, single-parent households reveal particularly worse risk perceptions during the pandemic, at the high end of the income spectrum, risk perceptions are similar for all household types. Thus, individuals living in single-parent households do not perceive higher risks of worsening living standards due to their household situation per se, but rather because they are worse off in terms of their economic situation compared to individuals living in other household types. KW - COVID-19 pandemic KW - Germany KW - household types KW - individuals living in single-parent households KW - objective labour market outcome KW - subjective risk perception Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2023.1265302 SN - 2297-7775 VL - 8 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Thienen, Julia von A1 - Weinstein, Theresa Julia A1 - Meinel, Christoph T1 - Creative metacognition in design thinking BT - exploring theories, educational practices, and their implications for measurement JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Design thinking is a well-established practical and educational approach to fostering high-level creativity and innovation, which has been refined since the 1950s with the participation of experts like Joy Paul Guilford and Abraham Maslow. Through real-world projects, trainees learn to optimize their creative outcomes by developing and practicing creative cognition and metacognition. This paper provides a holistic perspective on creativity, enabling the formulation of a comprehensive theoretical framework of creative metacognition. It focuses on the design thinking approach to creativity and explores the role of metacognition in four areas of creativity expertise: Products, Processes, People, and Places. The analysis includes task-outcome relationships (product metacognition), the monitoring of strategy effectiveness (process metacognition), an understanding of individual or group strengths and weaknesses (people metacognition), and an examination of the mutual impact between environments and creativity (place metacognition). It also reviews measures taken in design thinking education, including a distribution of cognition and metacognition, to support students in their development of creative mastery. On these grounds, we propose extended methods for measuring creative metacognition with the goal of enhancing comprehensive assessments of the phenomenon. Proposed methodological advancements include accuracy sub-scales, experimental tasks where examinees explore problem and solution spaces, combinations of naturalistic observations with capability testing, as well as physiological assessments as indirect measures of creative metacognition. KW - accuracy KW - creativity KW - design thinking KW - education KW - measurement KW - metacognition KW - innovation KW - framework Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1157001 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 14 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Busch, Aglaja A1 - Bangerter, Christian A1 - Mayer, Frank A1 - Baur, Heiner T1 - Reliability of the active knee joint position sense test and influence of limb dominance and sex JF - Scientific reports N2 - The output of a sensorimotor performance can be measured with the joint position sense (JPS) test. However, investigations of leg dominance, sex and quality measures on this test are limited. Therefore, these potential influencing factors as well as reliability and consistency measures were evaluated for angular reproduction performance and neuromuscular activity during the active knee JPS test in healthy participants. Twenty healthy participants (10 males; 10 females; age 29 +/- 8 years; height 165 +/- 39 cm; body mass 69 +/- 13 kg) performed a seated knee JPS test with a target angle of 50 degrees. Measurements were conducted in two sessions separated by two weeks and consisted of two blocks of continuous angular reproduction (three minutes each block). The difference between reproduced and target angle was identified as angular error measured by an electrogoniometer. During reproduction, the neuromuscular activity of the quadriceps muscle was assessed by surface electromyography. Neuromuscular activity was normalized to submaximal voluntary contraction (subMVC) and displayed per muscle and movement phase. Differences between leg dominance and sex were calculated using Friedman-test (alpha = 0.05). Reliability measures including intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Bland-Altman analysis (bias +/- limits of agreement (LoA)) and minimal detectable change (MDC) were analysed. No significant differences between leg dominance and sex were found in angular error and neuromuscular activity. Angular error demonstrated inter-session ICC scores of 0.424 with a bias of 2.4 degrees (+/- 2.4 degrees LoA) as well as MDC of 6.8 degrees and moderate intra-session ICC (0.723) with a bias of 1.4 degrees (+/- 1.65 degrees LoA) as well as MDC of 4.7 degrees. Neuromuscular activity for all muscles and movement phases illustrated inter-session ICC ranging from 0.432 to 0.809 with biases between - 2.5 and 13.6% subMVC and MDC from 13.4 to 63.9% subMVC. Intra-session ICC ranged from 0.705 to 0.987 with biases of - 7.7 to 2.4% subMVC and MDC of 2.7 to 46.5% subMVC. Leg dominance and sex seem not to influence angular reproduction performance and neuromuscular activity. Poor to excellent relative reliability paired with an acceptable consistency confirm findings of previous studies. Comparisons to pathological populations should be conducted with caution. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-26932-2 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dumont, Hanna A1 - Ready, Douglas D. D. T1 - On the promise of personalized learning for educational equity JF - npj science of learning N2 - Students enter school with a vast range of individual differences, resulting from the complex interplay between genetic dispositions and unequal environmental conditions. Schools thus face the challenge of organizing instruction and providing equal opportunities for students with diverse needs. Schools have traditionally managed student heterogeneity by sorting students both within and between schools according to their academic ability. However, empirical evidence suggests that such tracking approaches increase inequalities. In more recent years, driven largely by technological advances, there have been calls to embrace students' individual differences in the classroom and to personalize students' learning experiences. A central justification for personalized learning is its potential to improve educational equity. In this paper, we discuss whether and under which conditions personalized learning can indeed increase equity in K-12 education by bringing together empirical and theoretical insights from different fields, including the learning sciences, philosophy, psychology, and sociology. We distinguish between different conceptions of equity and argue that personalized learning is unlikely to result in "equality of outcomes" and, by definition, does not provide "equality of inputs". However, if implemented in a high-quality way, personalized learning is in line with "adequacy" notions of equity, which aim to equip all students with the basic competencies to participate in society as active members and to live meaningful lives. KW - Education KW - Psychology KW - Sociology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-023-00174-x SN - 2056-7936 VL - 8 IS - 1 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Warschburger, Petra A1 - Gmeiner, Michaela Silvia A1 - Bondü, Rebecca A1 - Klein, Alexandra-Maria A1 - Busching, Robert A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Self-regulation as a resource for coping with developmental challenges during middle childhood and adolescence BT - the prospective longitudinal PIER YOUTH-study JF - BMC Psychology N2 - Background Self-regulation (SR) as the ability to regulate one's own physical state, emotions, cognitions, and behavior, is considered to play a pivotal role in the concurrent and subsequent mental and physical health of an individual. Although SR skills encompass numerous sub-facets, previous research has often focused on only one or a few of these sub-facets, and only rarely on adolescence. Therefore, little is known about the development of the sub-facets, their interplay, and their specific contributions to future developmental outcomes, particularly in adolescence. To fill these research gaps, this study aims to prospectively examine (1) the development of SR and (2) their influence on adolescent-specific developmental outcomes in a large community sample. Methods/design Based on previously collected data from the Potsdam Intrapersonal Developmental Risk (PIER) study with three measurement points, the present prospective, longitudinal study aims to add a fourth measurement point (PIERYOUTH). We aim to retain at least 1074 participants now between 16 and 23 years of the initially 1657 participants (6-11 years of age at the first measurement point in 2012/2013; 52.2% female). The study will continue to follow a multi-method (questionnaires, physiological assessments, performance-based computer tasks), multi-facet (assessing various domains of SR), and multi-rater (self-, parent-, and teacher-report) approach. In addition, a broad range of adolescent-specific developmental outcomes is considered. In doing so, we will cover the development of SR and relevant outcomes over the period of 10 years. In addition, we intend to conduct a fifth measurement point (given prolonged funding) to investigate development up to young adulthood. Discussion With its broad and multimethodological approach, PIERYOUTH aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the development and role of various SR sub-facets from middle childhood to adolescence. The large sample size and low drop-out rates in the first three measurements points form a sound database for our present prospective research.Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register, registration number DRKS00030847. KW - Self-regulation KW - Adolescence KW - Prospective longitudinal study KW - Mental health Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01140-3 SN - 2050-7283 VL - 11 IS - 1 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pranav, Manasi A1 - Hultzsch, Thomas A1 - Musiienko, Artem A1 - Sun, Bowen A1 - Shukla, Atul A1 - Jaiser, Frank A1 - Shoaee, Safa A1 - Neher, Dieter T1 - Anticorrelated photoluminescence and free charge generation proves field-assisted exciton dissociation in low-offset PM6:Y5 organic solar cells JF - APL materials : high impact open access journal in functional materials science N2 - Understanding the origin of inefficient photocurrent generation in organic solar cells with low energy offset remains key to realizing high-performance donor-acceptor systems. Here, we probe the origin of field-dependent free-charge generation and photoluminescence in wnon-fullereneacceptor (NFA)-based organic solar cells using the polymer PM6 and the NFA Y5-a non-halogenated sibling to Y6, with a smaller energetic offset to PM6. By performing time-delayed collection field (TDCF) measurements on a variety of samples with different electron transport layers and active layer thickness, we show that the fill factor and photocurrent are limited by field-dependent free charge generation in the bulk of the blend. We also introduce a new method of TDCF called m-TDCF to prove the absence of artifacts from non-geminate recombination of photogenerated and dark charge carriers near the electrodes. We then correlate free charge generation with steady-state photoluminescence intensity and find perfect anticorrelation between these two properties. Through this, we conclude that photocurrent generation in this low-offset system is entirely controlled by the field-dependent dissociation of local excitons into charge-transfer states. (c) 2023 Author(s). Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0151580 SN - 2166-532X VL - 11 IS - 6 PB - AIP Publishing CY - Melville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bittmann, Frank A1 - Dech, Silas A1 - Schaefer, Laura T1 - Another way to confuse motor control BT - manual technique supposed to shorten muscle spindles reduces the muscular holding stability in the sense of adaptive force in male soccer players JF - Brain Sciences N2 - Sensorimotor control can be impaired by slacked muscle spindles. This was shown for reflex responses and, recently, also for muscular stability in the sense of Adaptive Force (AF). The slack in muscle spindles was generated by contracting the lengthened muscle followed by passive shortening. AF was suggested to specifically reflect sensorimotor control since it requires tension-length control in adaptation to an increasing load. This study investigated AF parameters in reaction to another, manually performed slack procedure in a preselected sample (n = 13). The AF of 11 elbow and 12 hip flexors was assessed by an objectified manual muscle test (MMT) using a handheld device. Maximal isometric AF was significantly reduced after manual spindle technique vs. regular MMT. Muscle lengthening started at 64.93 & PLUSMN; 12.46% of maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). During regular MMT, muscle length could be maintained stable until 92.53 & PLUSMN; 10.12% of MVIC. Hence, muscular stability measured by AF was impaired after spindle manipulation. Force oscillations arose at a significantly lower level for regular vs. spindle. This supports the assumption that they are a prerequisite for stable adaptation. Reduced muscular stability in reaction to slack procedures is considered physiological since sensory information is misled. It is proposed to use slack procedures to test the functionality of the neuromuscular system, which is relevant for clinical practice. KW - maximal isometric Adaptive Force KW - holding capacity KW - muscle stability KW - muscle instability KW - neuromuscular functioning KW - neuromuscular control KW - motor control KW - muscle spindle KW - muscle physiology KW - regulatory physiology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13071105 SN - 2076-3425 VL - 13 IS - 7 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hovhannisyan, Karen V. A1 - Nemati, Somayyeh A1 - Henkel, Carsten A1 - Anders, Janet T1 - Long-time equilibration can determine transient thermality JF - PRX Quantum N2 - When two initially thermal many-body systems start to interact strongly, their transient states quickly become non-Gibbsian, even if the systems eventually equilibrate. To see beyond this apparent lack of structure during the transient regime, we use a refined notion of thermality, which we call g-local. A system is g-locally thermal if the states of all its small subsystems are marginals of global thermal states. We numerically demonstrate for two harmonic lattices that whenever the total system equilibrates in the long run, each lattice remains g-locally thermal at all times, including the transient regime. This is true even when the lattices have long-range interactions within them. In all cases, we find that the equilibrium is described by the generalized Gibbs ensemble, with three-dimensional lattices requiring special treatment due to their extended set of conserved charges. We compare our findings with the well-known two-temperature model. While its standard form is not valid beyond weak coupling, we show that at strong coupling it can be partially salvaged by adopting the concept of a g-local temperature. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.4.030321 SN - 2691-3399 VL - 4 IS - 3 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bittmann, Frank A1 - Dech, Silas A1 - Schaefer, Laura T1 - How to confuse motor control BT - passive muscle shortening after contraction in lengthened position reduces the muscular holding stability in the sense of adaptive force JF - Life : open access journal N2 - Adaptation to external forces relies on a well-functioning proprioceptive system including muscle spindle afferents. Muscle length and tension control in reaction to external forces is most important regarding the Adaptive Force (AF). This study investigated the effect of different procedures, which are assumed to influence the function of muscle spindles, on the AF. Elbow flexors of 12 healthy participants (n = 19 limbs) were assessed by an objectified manual muscle test (MMT) with different procedures: regular MMT, MMT after precontraction (self-estimated 20% MVIC) in lengthened position with passive return to test position (CL), and MMT after CL with a second precontraction in test position (CL-CT). During regular MMTs, muscles maintained their length up to 99.7% +/- 1.0% of the maximal AF (AF(max)). After CL, muscles started to lengthen at 53.0% +/- 22.5% of AF(max). For CL-CT, muscles were again able to maintain the static position up to 98.3% +/- 5.5% of AF(max). AFiso(max) differed highly significantly between CL vs. CL-CT and regular MMT. CL was assumed to generate a slack of muscle spindles, which led to a substantial reduction of the holding capacity. This was immediately erased by a precontraction in the test position. The results substantiate that muscle spindle sensitivity seems to play an important role for neuromuscular functioning and musculoskeletal stability. KW - maximal isometric Adaptive Force KW - holding capacity KW - muscle stability KW - neuromuscular functioning KW - neuromuscular control KW - motor control KW - muscle spindle KW - muscle physiology KW - regulatory physiology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/life13040911 SN - 2075-1729 VL - 13 IS - 4 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hijazi, Saddam A1 - Freitag, Melina A. A1 - Landwehr, Niels T1 - POD-Galerkin reduced order models and physics-informed neural networks for solving inverse problems for the Navier-Stokes equations JF - Advanced modeling and simulation in engineering sciences : AMSES N2 - We present a Reduced Order Model (ROM) which exploits recent developments in Physics Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) for solving inverse problems for the Navier-Stokes equations (NSE). In the proposed approach, the presence of simulated data for the fluid dynamics fields is assumed. A POD-Galerkin ROM is then constructed by applying POD on the snapshots matrices of the fluid fields and performing a Galerkin projection of the NSE (or the modified equations in case of turbulence modeling) onto the POD reduced basis. A POD-Galerkin PINN ROM is then derived by introducing deep neural networks which approximate the reduced outputs with the input being time and/or parameters of the model. The neural networks incorporate the physical equations (the POD-Galerkin reduced equations) into their structure as part of the loss function. Using this approach, the reduced model is able to approximate unknown parameters such as physical constants or the boundary conditions. A demonstration of the applicability of the proposed ROM is illustrated by three cases which are the steady flow around a backward step, the flow around a circular cylinder and the unsteady turbulent flow around a surface mounted cubic obstacle. KW - Proper orthogonal decomposition KW - Inverse problems KW - Physics-based machine learning KW - Navier-Stokes equations Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40323-023-00242-2 SN - 2213-7467 VL - 10 IS - 1 PB - SpringerOpen CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Lena Katharina A1 - Francke, Till A1 - Grosse, Peter Martin A1 - Mayer, Christoph A1 - Bronstert, Axel T1 - Reconstructing five decades of sediment export from two glacierized high-alpine catchments in Tyrol, Austria, using nonparametric regression JF - Hydrology and earth system sciences : HESS N2 - Knowledge on the response of sediment export to recent climate change in glacierized areas in the European Alps is limited, primarily because long-term records of suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) are scarce. Here we tested the estimation of sediment export of the past five decades using quantile regression forest (QRF), a nonparametric, multivariate regression based on random forest. The regression builds on short-term records of SSCs and long records of the most important hydroclimatic drivers (discharge, precipitation and air temperature - QPT). We trained independent models for two nested and partially glacier-covered catchments, Vent (98 km(2)) and Vernagt (11.4 km(2)), in the upper otztal in Tyrol, Austria (1891 to 3772 m a.s.l.), where available QPT records start in 1967 and 1975. To assess temporal extrapolation ability, we used two 2-year SSC datasets at gauge Vernagt, which are almost 20 years apart, for a validation. For Vent, we performed a five-fold cross-validation on the 15 years of SSC measurements. Further, we quantified the number of days where predictors exceeded the range represented in the training dataset, as the inability to extrapolate beyond this range is a known limitation of QRF. Finally, we compared QRF performance to sediment rating curves (SRCs). We analyzed the modeled sediment export time series, the predictors and glacier mass balance data for trends (Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope estimator) and step-like changes (using the widely applied Pettitt test and a complementary Bayesian approach).Our validation at gauge Vernagt demonstrated that QRF performs well in estimating past daily sediment export (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) of 0.73) and satisfactorily for SSCs (NSE of 0.51), despite the small training dataset. The temporal extrapolation ability of QRF was superior to SRCs, especially in periods with high-SSC events, which demonstrated the ability of QRF to model threshold effects. Days with high SSCs tended to be underestimated, but the effect on annual yields was small. Days with predictor exceedances were rare, indicating a good representativity of the training dataset. Finally, the QRF reconstruction models outperformed SRCs by about 20 percent points of the explained variance.Significant positive trends in the reconstructed annual suspended sediment yields were found at both gauges, with distinct step-like increases around 1981. This was linked to increased glacier melt, which became apparent through step-like increases in discharge at both gauges as well as change points in mass balances of the two largest glaciers in the Vent catchment. We identified exceptionally high July temperatures in 1982 and 1983 as a likely cause. In contrast, we did not find coinciding change points in precipitation. Opposing trends at the two gauges after 1981 suggest different timings of "peak sediment". We conclude that, given large-enough training datasets, the presented QRF approach is a promising tool with the ability to deepen our understanding of the response of high-alpine areas to decadal climate change. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1841-2023 SN - 1027-5606 SN - 1607-7938 VL - 27 IS - 9 SP - 1841 EP - 1863 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mazarei, Elham A1 - Penschke, Christopher A1 - Saalfrank, Peter T1 - Band gap engineering in two-dimensional materials by functionalization BT - Methylation of graphene and graphene bilayers JF - ACS Omega N2 - Graphene is well-knownfor its unique combination of electricaland mechanical properties. However, its vanishing band gap limitsthe use of graphene in microelectronics. Covalent functionalizationof graphene has been a common approach to address this critical issueand introduce a band gap. In this Article, we systematically analyzethe functionalization of single-layer graphene (SLG) and bilayer graphene(BLG) with methyl (CH3) using periodic density functionaltheory (DFT) at the PBE+D3 level of theory. We also include a comparisonof methylated single-layer and bilayer graphene, as well as a discussionof different methylation options (radicalic, cationic, and anionic).For SLG, methyl coverages ranging from 1/8 to 1/1, (i.e.,the fully methylated analogue of graphane) are considered. We findthat up to a coverage theta of 1/2, graphene readily accepts CH3, with neighbor CH3 groups preferring trans positions. Above theta = 1/2, the tendency to accept further CH3 weakens and the lattice constant increases. The band gapbehaves less regularly, but overall it increases with increasing methylcoverage. Thus, methylated graphene shows potential for developingband gap-tuned microelectronics devices and may offer further functionalizationoptions. To guide in the interpretation of methylation experiments,vibrational signatures of various species are characterized by normal-modeanalysis (NMA), their vibrational density of states (VDOS), and infrared(IR) spectra, the latter two are obtained from ab initio moleculardynamics (AIMD) in combination with a velocity-velocity autocorrelationfunction (VVAF) approach. KW - Adsorption KW - Alkyls KW - Band structure KW - Electrical conductivity KW - Two dimensional materials Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c02068 SN - 2470-1343 VL - 8 IS - 24 SP - 22026 EP - 22041 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Adesina, Morenike O. A1 - Block, Inga A1 - Günter, Christina A1 - Unuabonah, Emmanuel Iyayi A1 - Taubert, Andreas T1 - Efficient Removal of Tetracycline and Bisphenol A from Water with a New Hybrid Clay/TiO2 Composite JF - ACS Omega N2 - New TiO2 hybrid composites were prepared fromkaolinclay, predried and carbonized biomass, and titanium tetraisopropoxideand explored for tetracycline (TET) and bisphenol A (BPA) removalfrom water. Overall, the removal rate is 84% for TET and 51% for BPA.The maximum adsorption capacities (q (m))are 30 and 23 mg/g for TET and BPA, respectively. These capacitiesare far greater than those obtained for unmodified TiO2. Increasing the ionic strength of the solution does not change theadsorption capacity of the adsorbent. pH changes only slightly changeBPA adsorption, while a pH > 7 significantly reduces the adsorptionof TET on the material. The Brouers-Sotolongo fractal modelbest describes the kinetic data for both TET and BPA adsorption, predictingthat the adsorption process occurs via a complex mechanism involvingvarious forces of attraction. Temkin and Freundlich isotherms, whichbest fit the equilibrium adsorption data for TET and BPA, respectively,suggest that adsorption sites are heterogeneous in nature. Overall,the composite materials are much more effective for TET removal fromaqueous solution than for BPA. This phenomenon is assigned to a differencein the TET/adsorbent interactions vs the BPA/adsorbent interactions:the decisive factor appears to be favorable electrostatic interactionsfor TET yielding a more effective TET removal. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.3c00184 SN - 2470-1343 VL - 8 IS - 24 SP - 21594 EP - 21604 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Erler, Alexander A1 - Riebe, Daniel A1 - Beitz, Toralf A1 - Löhmannsröben, Hans-Gerd A1 - Leenen, Mathias A1 - Pätzold, Stefan A1 - Ostermann, Markus A1 - Wójcik, Michał T1 - Mobile laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for future application in precision agriculture BT - a case study JF - Sensors N2 - In precision agriculture, the estimation of soil parameters via sensors and the creation of nutrient maps are a prerequisite for farmers to take targeted measures such as spatially resolved fertilization. In this work, 68 soil samples uniformly distributed over a field near Bonn are investigated using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). These investigations include the determination of the total contents of macro- and micronutrients as well as further soil parameters such as soil pH, soil organic matter (SOM) content, and soil texture. The applied LIBS instruments are a handheld and a platform spectrometer, which potentially allows for the single-point measurement and scanning of whole fields, respectively. Their results are compared with a high-resolution lab spectrometer. The prediction of soil parameters was based on multivariate methods. Different feature selection methods and regression methods like PLS, PCR, SVM, Lasso, and Gaussian processes were tested and compared. While good predictions were obtained for Ca, Mg, P, Mn, Cu, and silt content, excellent predictions were obtained for K, Fe, and clay content. The comparison of the three different spectrometers showed that although the lab spectrometer gives the best results, measurements with both field spectrometers also yield good results. This allows for a method transfer to the in-field measurements. KW - LIBS KW - precision agriculture KW - soil KW - multivariate methods KW - feature selection Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/s23167178 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 23 IS - 16 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schlappa, Stephanie A1 - Bressel, Lena A1 - Reich, Oliver A1 - Münzberg, Marvin T1 - Advanced particle size analysis in high-solid-content polymer dispersions using photon density wave spectroscopy JF - Polymers N2 - High-solid-content polystyrene and polyvinyl acetate dispersions of polymer particles with a 50 nm to 500 nm mean particle diameter and 12-55% (w/w) solid content have been produced via emulsion polymerization and characterized regarding their optical and physical properties. Both systems have been analyzed with common particle-size-measuring techniques like dynamic light scattering (DLS) and static light scattering (SLS) and compared to inline particle size distribution (PSD) measurements via photon density wave (PDW) spectroscopy in undiluted samples. It is shown that particle size measurements of undiluted polystyrene dispersions are in good agreement between analysis methods. However, for polyvinyl acetate particles, size determination is challenging due to bound water in the produced polymer. For the first time, water-swelling factors were determined via an iterative approach of PDW spectroscopy error (X-2) minimization. It is shown that water-swollen particles can be analyzed in high-solid-content solutions and their physical properties can be assumed to determine the refractive index, density, and volume fraction in dispersion. It was found that assumed water swelling improved the reduced scattering coefficient fit by PDW spectroscopy by up to ten times and particle size determination was refined and enabled. Particle size analysis of the water-swollen particles agreed well with offline-based state-of-the-art techniques. KW - emulsion polymerization KW - multiple light scattering KW - photon density wave KW - spectroscopy KW - particle sizing KW - swelling of polymers Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15153181 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 15 IS - 15 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hollenstein, Nora A1 - Trondle, Marius A1 - Plomecka, Martyna A1 - Kiegeland, Samuel A1 - Ozyurt, Yilmazcan A1 - Jäger, Lena Ann A1 - Langer, Nicolas T1 - The ZuCo benchmark on cross-subject reading task classification with EEG and eye-tracking data JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - We present a new machine learning benchmark for reading task classification with the goal of advancing EEG and eye-tracking research at the intersection between computational language processing and cognitive neuroscience. The benchmark task consists of a cross-subject classification to distinguish between two reading paradigms: normal reading and task-specific reading. The data for the benchmark is based on the Zurich Cognitive Language Processing Corpus (ZuCo 2.0), which provides simultaneous eye-tracking and EEG signals from natural reading of English sentences. The training dataset is publicly available, and we present a newly recorded hidden testset. We provide multiple solid baseline methods for this task and discuss future improvements. We release our code and provide an easy-to-use interface to evaluate new approaches with an accompanying public leaderboard: . KW - reading task classification KW - eye-tracking KW - EEG KW - machine learning KW - reading research KW - cross-subject evaluation Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1028824 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 13 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Michelet, Robin A1 - Bindellini, Davide A1 - Melin, Johanna A1 - Neumann, Uta A1 - Blankenstein, Oliver A1 - Huisinga, Wilhelm A1 - Johnson, Trevor N. A1 - Whitaker, Martin J. A1 - Ross, Richard A1 - Kloft, Charlotte T1 - Insights in the maturational processes influencing hydrocortisone pharmacokinetics in congenital adrenal hyperplasia patients using a middle-out approach JF - Frontiers in Pharmacology N2 - Introduction: Hydrocortisone is the standard of care in cortisol replacement therapy for congenital adrenal hyperplasia patients. Challenges in mimicking cortisol circadian rhythm and dosing individualization can be overcome by the support of mathematical modelling. Previously, a non-linear mixed-effects (NLME) model was developed based on clinical hydrocortisone pharmacokinetic (PK) pediatric and adult data. Additionally, a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model was developed for adults and a pediatric model was obtained using maturation functions for relevant processes. In this work, a middle-out approach was applied. The aim was to investigate whether PBPK-derived maturation functions could provide a better description of hydrocortisone PK inter-individual variability when implemented in the NLME framework, with the goal of providing better individual predictions towards precision dosing at the patient level. Methods: Hydrocortisone PK data from 24 adrenal insufficiency pediatric patients and 30 adult healthy volunteers were used for NLME model development, while the PBPK model and maturation functions of clearance and cortisol binding globulin (CBG) were developed based on previous studies published in the literature. Results: Clearance (CL) estimates from both approaches were similar for children older than 1 year (CL/F increasing from around 150 L/h to 500 L/h), while CBG concentrations differed across the whole age range (CBG(NLME) stable around 0.5 mu M vs. steady increase from 0.35 to 0.8 mu M for CBG (PBPK)). PBPK-derived maturation functions were subsequently included in the NLME model. After inclusion of the maturation functions, none, a part of, or all parameters were re-estimated. However, the inclusion of CL and/or CBG maturation functions in the NLME model did not result in improved model performance for the CL maturation function (& UDelta;OFV > -15.36) and the re-estimation of parameters using the CBG maturation function most often led to unstable models or individual CL prediction bias. Discussion: Three explanations for the observed discrepancies could be postulated, i) non-considered maturation of processes such as absorption or first-pass effect, ii) lack of patients between 1 and 12 months, iii) lack of correction of PBPK CL maturation functions derived from urinary concentration ratio data for the renal function relative to adults. These should be investigated in the future to determine how NLME and PBPK methods can work towards deriving insights into pediatric hydrocortisone PK. KW - hydrocortisone KW - congenital adrenal hyperplasia KW - population pharmacokinetics KW - middle-out approach KW - pediatrics KW - physiologically-based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) KW - non-linear mixed effects modelling (NLME); KW - maturation Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1090554 SN - 1663-9812 VL - 13 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nordmeyer, Sarah A1 - Kraus, Milena A1 - Ziehm, Matthias A1 - Kirchner, Marieluise A1 - Schafstedde, Marie A1 - Kelm, Marcus A1 - Niquet, Sylvia A1 - Stephen, Mariet Mathew A1 - Baczko, Istvan A1 - Knosalla, Christoph A1 - Schapranow, Matthieu-Patrick A1 - Dittmar, Gunnar A1 - Gotthardt, Michael A1 - Falcke, Martin A1 - Regitz-Zagrosek, Vera A1 - Kuehne, Titus A1 - Mertins, Philipp T1 - Disease- and sex-specific differences in patients with heart valve disease BT - a proteome study JF - Life Science Alliance N2 - Pressure overload in patients with aortic valve stenosis and volume overload in mitral valve regurgitation trigger specific forms of cardiac remodeling; however, little is known about similarities and differences in myocardial proteome regulation. We performed proteome profiling of 75 human left ventricular myocardial biopsies (aortic stenosis = 41, mitral regurgitation = 17, and controls = 17) using high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry next to clinical and hemodynamic parameter acquisition. In patients of both disease groups, proteins related to ECM and cytoskeleton were more abundant, whereas those related to energy metabolism and proteostasis were less abundant compared with controls. In addition, disease group-specific and sex-specific differences have been observed. Male patients with aortic stenosis showed more proteins related to fibrosis and less to energy metabolism, whereas female patients showed strong reduction in proteostasis-related proteins. Clinical imaging was in line with proteomic findings, showing elevation of fibrosis in both patient groups and sex differences. Disease-and sex-specific proteomic profiles provide insight into cardiac remodeling in patients with heart valve disease and might help improve the understanding of molecular mechanisms and the development of individualized treatment strategies. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.26508/lsa.202201411 SN - 2575-1077 VL - 6 IS - 3 PB - EMBO Press CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Teich, Paula A1 - Fühner, Thea Heidi A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Physical fitness of primary school children differs depending on their timing of school enrollment JF - Scientific reports N2 - Previous research has shown that children who were enrolled to school according to the legal key date (i.e., keyage children, between eight and nine years in third grade) exhibited a linear physical fitness development in the ninth year of life. In contrast, children who were enrolled with a delay (i.e., older-than-keyage children [OTK], between nine and ten years in third grade) exhibited a lower physical fitness compared to what would be expected for their age. In these studies, cross-sectional age differences within third grade and timing of school enrollment were confounded. The present study investigated the longitudinal development of keyage and OTK children from third to fifth grade. This design also afforded a comparison of the two groups at the same average chronological age, that is a dissociation of the effects of timing of school enrollment and age. We tested six physical fitness components: cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed, power of lower and upper limbs, and static balance. 1502 children (i.e., 1206 keyage and 296 OTK children) from 35 schools were tested in third, fourth, and fifth grade. Except for cardiorespiratory endurance, both groups developed from third to fourth and from fourth to fifth grade and keyage children outperformed OTK children at the average ages of 9.5 or 10.5 years. For cardiorespiratory endurance, there was no significant gain from fourth to fifth grade and keyage and OTK children did not differ significantly at 10.5 years of age. One reason for a delayed school enrollment could be that a child is (or is perceived as) biologically younger than their chronological age at the school entry examination, implying a negative correlation between chronological and biological age for OTK children. Indeed, a simple reflection of chronological age brought the developmental rate of the chronologically youngest OTK children in line with the developmental rate observed for keyage children, but did not eliminate all differences. The mapping of chronological and biological age of OTK children and other possible reasons for lower physical fitness of OTK children remain a task for future research. KW - Health care KW - Paediatrics KW - Physiology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35727-y SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 IS - 1 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Petrich, Annett A1 - Aji, Amit Koikkarah A1 - Dunsing, Valentin A1 - Chiantia, Salvatore T1 - Benchmarking of novel green fluorescent proteins for the quantification of protein oligomerization in living cells JF - PLoS one N2 - Protein-protein-interactions play an important role in many cellular functions. Quantitative non-invasive techniques are applied in living cells to evaluate such interactions, thereby providing a broader understanding of complex biological processes. Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy describes a group of quantitative microscopy approaches for the characterization of molecular interactions at single cell resolution. Through the obtained molecular brightness, it is possible to determine the oligomeric state of proteins. This is usually achieved by fusing fluorescent proteins (FPs) to the protein of interest. Recently, the number of novel green FPs has increased, with consequent improvements to the quality of fluctuation-based measurements. The photophysical behavior of FPs is influenced by multiple factors (including photobleaching, protonation-induced "blinking" and long-lived dark states). Assessing these factors is critical for selecting the appropriate fluorescent tag for live cell imaging applications. In this work, we focus on novel green FPs that are extensively used in live cell imaging. A systematic performance comparison of several green FPs in living cells under different pH conditions using Number & Brightness (N & B) analysis and scanning fluorescence correlation spectroscopy was performed. Our results show that the new FP Gamillus exhibits higher brightness at the cost of lower photostability and fluorescence probability (pf), especially at lower pH. mGreenLantern, on the other hand, thanks to a very high pf, is best suited for multimerization quantification at neutral pH. At lower pH, mEGFP remains apparently the best choice for multimerization investigation. These guidelines provide the information needed to plan quantitative fluorescence microscopy involving these FPs, both for general imaging or for protein-protein-interactions quantification via fluorescence fluctuation-based methods. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285486 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 18 IS - 8 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kappel, Christian A1 - Friedrich, Thomas A1 - Oberkofler, Vicky A1 - Jiang, Li A1 - Crawford, Tim A1 - Lenhard, Michael A1 - Bäurle, Isabel T1 - Genomic and epigenomic determinants of heat stress-induced transcriptional memory in Arabidopsis JF - Genome biology : biology for the post-genomic era N2 - Background Transcriptional regulation is a key aspect of environmental stress responses. Heat stress induces transcriptional memory, i.e., sustained induction or enhanced re-induction of transcription, that allows plants to respond more efficiently to a recurrent HS. In light of more frequent temperature extremes due to climate change, improving heat tolerance in crop plants is an important breeding goal. However, not all heat stress-inducible genes show transcriptional memory, and it is unclear what distinguishes memory from non-memory genes. To address this issue and understand the genome and epigenome architecture of transcriptional memory after heat stress, we identify the global target genes of two key memory heat shock transcription factors, HSFA2 and HSFA3, using time course ChIP-seq. Results HSFA2 and HSFA3 show near identical binding patterns. In vitro and in vivo binding strength is highly correlated, indicating the importance of DNA sequence elements. In particular, genes with transcriptional memory are strongly enriched for a tripartite heat shock element, and are hallmarked by several features: low expression levels in the absence of heat stress, accessible chromatin environment, and heat stress-induced enrichment of H3K4 trimethylation. These results are confirmed by an orthogonal transcriptomic data set using both de novo clustering and an established definition of memory genes. Conclusions Our findings provide an integrated view of HSF-dependent transcriptional memory and shed light on its sequence and chromatin determinants, enabling the prediction and engineering of genes with transcriptional memory behavior. KW - Transcriptional memory KW - Priming KW - Heat stress KW - HSFA2 KW - HSFA3 KW - Arabidopsis thaliana KW - Histone H3K4 trimethylation KW - ChIP-seq Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-023-02970-5 SN - 1474-760X VL - 24 IS - 1 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ferreira, Clara Mendes A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie A1 - Eccard, Jana T1 - So many choices, so little time BT - food preference and movement vary with the landscape of fear JF - Ecology and evolution N2 - Spatial and temporal variation in perceived predation risk is an important determinant of movement and foraging activity of animals. Foraging in this landscape of fear, individuals need to decide where and when to move, and what resources to choose. Foraging theory predicts the outcome of these decisions based on energetic trade-offs, but complex interactions between perceived predation risk and preferences of foragers for certain functional traits of their resources are rarely considered. Here, we studied the interactive effects of perceived predation risk on food trait preferences and foraging behavior in bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in experimental landscapes. Individuals (n = 19) were subjected for periods of 24 h to two extreme, risk-uniform landscapes (either risky or safe), containing 25 discrete food patches, filled with seeds of four plant species in even amounts. Seeds varied in functional traits: size, nutrients, and shape. We evaluated whether and how risk modifies forager preference for functional traits. We also investigated whether perceived risk and distance from shelter affected giving-up density (GUD), time in patches, and number of patch visits. In safe landscapes, individuals increased time spent in patches, lowered GUD and visited distant patches more often compared to risky landscapes. Individuals preferred bigger seeds independent of risk, but in the safe treatment they preferred fat-rich over carb-rich seeds. Thus, higher densities of resource levels remained in risky landscapes, while in safe landscapes resource density was lower and less diverse due to selective foraging. Our results suggest that the interaction of perceived risk and dietary preference adds an additional layer to the cascading effects of a landscape of fear which affects biodiversity at resource level. KW - foraging behavior KW - functional traits KW - giving-up density KW - myodes glareolus KW - perceived predation risk KW - seed ecology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10330 SN - 2045-7758 VL - 13 IS - 7 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stoltnow, Malte A1 - Weis, Philipp A1 - Korges, Maximilian T1 - Hydrological controls on base metal precipitation and zoning at the porphyry-epithermal transition constrained by numerical modeling JF - Scientific reports N2 - Ore precipitation in porphyry copper systems is generally characterized by metal zoning (Cu-Mo to Zn-Pb-Ag), which is suggested to be variably related to solubility decreases during fluid cooling, fluid-rock interactions, partitioning during fluid phase separation and mixing with external fluids. Here, we present new advances of a numerical process model by considering published constraints on the temperature- and salinity-dependent solubility of Cu, Pb and Zn in the ore fluid. We quantitatively investigate the roles of vapor-brine separation, halite saturation, initial metal contents, fluid mixing and remobilization as first-order controls of the physical hydrology on ore formation. The results show that the magmatic vapor and brine phases ascend with different residence times but as miscible fluid mixtures, with salinity increases generating metal-undersaturated bulk fluids. The release rates of magmatic fluids affect the location of the thermohaline fronts, leading to contrasting mechanisms for ore precipitation: higher rates result in halite saturation without significant metal zoning, lower rates produce zoned ore shells due to mixing with meteoric water. Varying metal contents can affect the order of the final metal precipitation sequence. Redissolution of precipitated metals results in zoned ore shell patterns in more peripheral locations and also decouples halite saturation from ore precipitation. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30572-5 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 IS - 1 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Apriyanto, Ardha A1 - Compart, Julia A1 - Fettke, Jörg T1 - Transcriptomic analysis of mesocarp tissue during fruit development of the oil palm revealed specific isozymes related to starch metabolism that control oil yield JF - Frontiers in plant science N2 - The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) produces a large amount of oil from the fruit. However, increasing the oil production in this fruit is still challenging. A recent study has shown that starch metabolism is essential for oil synthesis in fruit-producing species. Therefore, the transcriptomic analysis by RNA-seq was performed to observe gene expression alteration related to starch metabolism genes throughout the maturity stages of oil palm fruit with different oil yields. Gene expression profiles were examined with three different oil yields group (low, medium, and high) at six fruit development phases (4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 22 weeks after pollination). We successfully identified and analyzed differentially expressed genes in oil palm mesocarps during development. The results showed that the transcriptome profile for each developmental phase was unique. Sucrose flux to the mesocarp tissue, rapid starch turnover, and high glycolytic activity have been identified as critical factors for oil production in oil palms. For starch metabolism and the glycolytic pathway, we identified specific gene expressions of enzyme isoforms (isozymes) that correlated with oil production, which may determine the oil content. This study provides valuable information for creating new high-oil-yielding palm varieties via breeding programs or genome editing approaches. KW - starch KW - oil yield KW - fruit development KW - gene expression KW - RNA-seq KW - and palm KW - oil KW - Elaeis guineensis Jacq Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1220237 SN - 1664-462X VL - 14 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Compart, Julia A1 - Singh, Aakanksha A1 - Fettke, Jörg A1 - Apriyanto, Ardha T1 - Customizing starch properties BT - a review of starch modifications and their applications JF - Polymers N2 - Starch has been a convenient, economically important polymer with substantial applications in the food and processing industry. However, native starches present restricted applications, which hinder their industrial usage. Therefore, modification of starch is carried out to augment the positive characteristics and eliminate the limitations of the native starches. Modifications of starch can result in generating novel polymers with numerous functional and value-added properties that suit the needs of the industry. Here, we summarize the possible starch modifications in planta and outside the plant system (physical, chemical, and enzymatic) and their corresponding applications. In addition, this review will highlight the implications of each starch property adjustment. KW - starch KW - starch modification KW - in planta modification KW - physical modification KW - chemical modification KW - enzymatic modification KW - starch application Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15163491 SN - 2073-4360 VL - 15 IS - 16 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Berry, Paul E. A1 - Dammhahn, Melanie A1 - Blaum, Niels T1 - Keeping cool on hot days BT - activity responses of African antelope to heat extremes JF - Frontiers in ecology and evolution N2 - Long-lived organisms are likely to respond to a rapidly changing climate with behavioral flexibility. Animals inhabiting the arid parts of southern Africa face a particularly rapid rise in temperature which in combination with food and water scarcity places substantial constraints on the ability of animals to tolerate heat. We investigated how three species of African antelope-springbok Antidorcas marsupialis, kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros and eland T. oryx-differing in body size, habitat preference and movement ecology, change their activity in response to extreme heat in an arid savanna. Serving as a proxy for activity, dynamic body acceleration data recorded every five minutes were analyzed for seven to eight individuals per species for the three hottest months of the year. Activity responses to heat during the hottest time of day (the afternoons) were investigated and diel activity patterns were compared between hot and cool days. Springbok, which prefer open habitat, are highly mobile and the smallest of the species studied, showed the greatest decrease in activity with rising temperature. Furthermore, springbok showed reduced mean activity over the 24 h cycle on hot days compared to cool days. Large-bodied eland seemed less affected by afternoon heat than springbok. While eland also reduced diurnal activity on hot days compared to cool days, they compensated for this by increasing nocturnal activity, possibly because their predation risk is lower. Kudu, which are comparatively sedentary and typically occupy shady habitat, seemed least affected during the hottest time of day and showed no appreciable difference in diel activity patterns between hot and cool days. The interplay between habitat preference, body size, movement patterns, and other factors seems complex and even sub-lethal levels of heat stress have been shown to impact an animal's long-term survival and reproduction. Thus, differing heat tolerances among species could result in a shift in the composition of African herbivore communities as temperatures continue to rise, with significant implications for economically important wildlife-based land use and conservation. KW - springbok KW - kudu KW - eland KW - dynamic body acceleration KW - tri-axial accelerometers KW - behavioral flexibility KW - climate change KW - savanna ecology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1172303 SN - 2296-701X VL - 11 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stiegler, Jonas A1 - Pahl, Janice A1 - Guillen, Rafael Arce A1 - Ullmann, Wiebke A1 - Blaum, Niels T1 - The heat is on BT - impacts of rising temperature on the activity of a common European mammal JF - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution N2 - Climate conditions severely impact the activity and, consequently, the fitness of wildlife species across the globe. Wildlife can respond to new climatic conditions, but the pace of human-induced change limits opportunities for adaptation or migration. Thus, how these changes affect behavior, movement patterns, and activity levels remains unclear. In this study, we investigate how extreme weather conditions affect the activity of European hares (Lepus europaeus) during their peak reproduction period. When hares must additionally invest energy in mating, prevailing against competitors, or lactating, we investigated their sensitivities to rising temperatures, wind speed, and humidity. To quantify their activity, we used the overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) calculated from tri-axial acceleration measurements of 33 GPS-collared hares. Our analysis revealed that temperature, humidity, and wind speed are important in explaining changes in activity, with a strong response for high temperatures above 25 & DEG;C and the highest change in activity during temperature extremes of over 35 & DEG;C during their inactive period. Further, we found a non-linear relationship between temperature and activity and an interaction of activity changes between day and night. Activity increased at higher temperatures during the inactive period (day) and decreased during the active period (night). This decrease was strongest during hot tropical nights. At a stage of life when mammals such as hares must substantially invest in reproduction, the sensitivity of females to extreme temperatures was particularly pronounced. Similarly, both sexes increased their activity at high humidity levels during the day and low wind speeds, irrespective of the time of day, while the effect of humidity was stronger for males. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the complex relationships between extreme weather conditions and mammal behavior, critical for conservation and management. With ongoing climate change, extreme weather events such as heat waves and heavy rainfall are predicted to occur more often and last longer. These events will directly impact the fitness of hares and other wildlife species and hence the population dynamics of already declining populations across Europe. KW - activity KW - ODBA KW - animal tracking KW - European hare KW - extreme weather events KW - climate change Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1193861 SN - 2296-701X VL - 11 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cohen, Sarel A1 - Hershcovitch, Moshik A1 - Taraz, Martin A1 - Kissig, Otto A1 - Issac, Davis A1 - Wood, Andrew A1 - Waddington, Daniel A1 - Chin, Peter A1 - Friedrich, Tobias T1 - Improved and optimized drug repurposing for the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic JF - PLoS one N2 - The active global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused more than 426 million cases and 5.8 million deaths worldwide. The development of completely new drugs for such a novel disease is a challenging, time intensive process. Despite researchers around the world working on this task, no effective treatments have been developed yet. This emphasizes the importance of drug repurposing, where treatments are found among existing drugs that are meant for different diseases. A common approach to this is based on knowledge graphs, that condense relationships between entities like drugs, diseases and genes. Graph neural networks (GNNs) can then be used for the task at hand by predicting links in such knowledge graphs. Expanding on state-of-the-art GNN research, Doshi et al. recently developed the Dr-COVID model. We further extend their work using additional output interpretation strategies. The best aggregation strategy derives a top-100 ranking of 8,070 candidate drugs, 32 of which are currently being tested in COVID-19-related clinical trials. Moreover, we present an alternative application for the model, the generation of additional candidates based on a given pre-selection of drug candidates using collaborative filtering. In addition, we improved the implementation of the Dr-COVID model by significantly shortening the inference and pre-processing time by exploiting data-parallelism. As drug repurposing is a task that requires high computation and memory resources, we further accelerate the post-processing phase using a new emerging hardware-we propose a new approach to leverage the use of high-capacity Non-Volatile Memory for aggregate drug ranking. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266572 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 18 IS - 3 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kappattanavar, Arpita Mallikarjuna A1 - Hecker, Pascal A1 - Moontaha, Sidratul A1 - Steckhan, Nico A1 - Arnrich, Bert T1 - Food choices after cognitive load BT - an affective computing approach JF - Sensors N2 - Psychology and nutritional science research has highlighted the impact of negative emotions and cognitive load on calorie consumption behaviour using subjective questionnaires. Isolated studies in other domains objectively assess cognitive load without considering its effects on eating behaviour. This study aims to explore the potential for developing an integrated eating behaviour assistant system that incorporates cognitive load factors. Two experimental sessions were conducted using custom-developed experimentation software to induce different stimuli. During these sessions, we collected 30 h of physiological, food consumption, and affective states questionnaires data to automatically detect cognitive load and analyse its effect on food choice. Utilising grid search optimisation and leave-one-subject-out cross-validation, a support vector machine model achieved a mean classification accuracy of 85.12% for the two cognitive load tasks using eight relevant features. Statistical analysis was performed on calorie consumption and questionnaire data. Furthermore, 75% of the subjects with higher negative affect significantly increased consumption of specific foods after high-cognitive-load tasks. These findings offer insights into the intricate relationship between cognitive load, affective states, and food choice, paving the way for an eating behaviour assistant system to manage food choices during cognitive load. Future research should enhance system capabilities and explore real-world applications. KW - cognitive load KW - eating behaviour KW - machine learning KW - physiological signals KW - photoplethysmography KW - electrodermal activity KW - sensors Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/s23146597 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 23 IS - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Garrels, Tim A1 - Khodabakhsh, Athar A1 - Renard, Bernhard Y. A1 - Baum, Katharina T1 - LazyFox: fast and parallelized overlapping community detection in large graphs JF - PEERJ Computer Science N2 - The detection of communities in graph datasets provides insight about a graph's underlying structure and is an important tool for various domains such as social sciences, marketing, traffic forecast, and drug discovery. While most existing algorithms provide fast approaches for community detection, their results usually contain strictly separated communities. However, most datasets would semantically allow for or even require overlapping communities that can only be determined at much higher computational cost. We build on an efficient algorithm, FOX, that detects such overlapping communities. FOX measures the closeness of a node to a community by approximating the count of triangles which that node forms with that community. We propose LAZYFOX, a multi-threaded adaptation of the FOX algorithm, which provides even faster detection without an impact on community quality. This allows for the analyses of significantly larger and more complex datasets. LAZYFOX enables overlapping community detection on complex graph datasets with millions of nodes and billions of edges in days instead of weeks. As part of this work, LAZYFOX's implementation was published and is available as a tool under an MIT licence at https://github.com/TimGarrels/LazyFox. KW - Overlapping community detection KW - Large networks KW - Weighted clustering coefficient KW - Heuristic triangle estimation KW - Parallelized algorithm KW - C++ tool KW - Runtime improvement KW - Open source KW - Graph algorithm KW - Community analysis Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.1291 SN - 2376-5992 VL - 9 PB - PeerJ Inc. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gärtner, Thomas A1 - Schneider, Juliana A1 - Arnrich, Bert A1 - Konigorski, Stefan T1 - Comparison of Bayesian Networks, G-estimation and linear models to estimate causal treatment effects in aggregated N-of-1 trials with carry-over effects JF - BMC Medical Research Methodology N2 - Background The aggregation of a series of N-of-1 trials presents an innovative and efficient study design, as an alternative to traditional randomized clinical trials. Challenges for the statistical analysis arise when there is carry-over or complex dependencies of the treatment effect of interest. Methods In this study, we evaluate and compare methods for the analysis of aggregated N-of-1 trials in different scenarios with carry-over and complex dependencies of treatment effects on covariates. For this, we simulate data of a series of N-of-1 trials for Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain based on assumed causal relationships parameterized by directed acyclic graphs. In addition to existing statistical methods such as regression models, Bayesian Networks, and G-estimation, we introduce a carry-over adjusted parametric model (COAPM). Results The results show that all evaluated existing models have a good performance when there is no carry-over and no treatment dependence. When there is carry-over, COAPM yields unbiased and more efficient estimates while all other methods show some bias in the estimation. When there is known treatment dependence, all approaches that are capable to model it yield unbiased estimates. Finally, the efficiency of all methods decreases slightly when there are missing values, and the bias in the estimates can also increase. Conclusions This study presents a systematic evaluation of existing and novel approaches for the statistical analysis of a series of N-of-1 trials. We derive practical recommendations which methods may be best in which scenarios. KW - N-of-1 trials KW - Randomized clinical trials KW - Bayesian Networks; KW - G-estimation KW - Linear model KW - Simulation study KW - Chronic Nonspecific Low KW - Back Pain Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-023-02012-5 SN - 1471-2288 VL - 23 IS - 1 PB - BMC CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Moontaha, Sidratul A1 - Schumann, Franziska Elisabeth Friederike A1 - Arnrich, Bert T1 - Online learning for wearable EEG-Based emotion classification JF - Sensors N2 - Giving emotional intelligence to machines can facilitate the early detection and prediction of mental diseases and symptoms. Electroencephalography (EEG)-based emotion recognition is widely applied because it measures electrical correlates directly from the brain rather than indirect measurement of other physiological responses initiated by the brain. Therefore, we used non-invasive and portable EEG sensors to develop a real-time emotion classification pipeline. The pipeline trains different binary classifiers for Valence and Arousal dimensions from an incoming EEG data stream achieving a 23.9% (Arousal) and 25.8% (Valence) higher F1-Score on the state-of-art AMIGOS dataset than previous work. Afterward, the pipeline was applied to the curated dataset from 15 participants using two consumer-grade EEG devices while watching 16 short emotional videos in a controlled environment. Mean F1-Scores of 87% (Arousal) and 82% (Valence) were achieved for an immediate label setting. Additionally, the pipeline proved to be fast enough to achieve predictions in real-time in a live scenario with delayed labels while continuously being updated. The significant discrepancy from the readily available labels on the classification scores leads to future work to include more data. Thereafter, the pipeline is ready to be used for real-time applications of emotion classification. KW - online learning KW - real-time KW - emotion classification KW - AMIGOS dataset KW - wearable EEG (muse and neurosity crown) KW - psychopy experiments Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/s23052387 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 23 IS - 5 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mkaouer, Bessem A1 - Amara, Samiha A1 - Bouguezzi, Raja A1 - Ben Abderrahmen, Abderraouf A1 - Chaabene, Helmi T1 - Validity of a new sport-specific endurance test in artistic gymnastics JF - Frontiers in sports and active living N2 - Introduction General and particularly sport-specific testing is an integral aspect of performance optimization in artistic gymnastics. In artistic gymnastics, however, only non-specific field tests have been used to assess endurance performance (e.g., Multistage Shuttle Run Test; Cooper's Test). Methods This study aimed to examine the validity of a new sport-specific endurance test in artistic gymnastics. Fourteen elite-level gymnasts (i.e., eight males and six females) participated in this study. The newly developed artistic gymnastics-specific endurance test (AGSET) was conducted on two different occasions seven days apart to determine its reliability. To assess the concurrent validity of AGSET, participants performed the multistage shuttle run test (MSRT). Maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) were directly assessed using a portable gas analyzer system during both protocols. Additionally, the total time maintained (TTM) during the AGSET, maximum heart rate (HRmax), maximal aerobic speed (MAS), and blood lactate concentration (BLa) during the two protocols were collected. Results The main findings indicated that all variables derived from the AGSET (i.e., VO2max, MAS, HRmax, BLa, and RER) displayed very good relative (all intraclass correlation coefficients [ICC] > 0.90) and absolute (all typical errors of measurement [TEM] < 5%) reliability. Further, results showed that the ability of the AGSET to detect small changes in VO2max, MAS, BLa, and RER was good (smallest worthwhile change [SWC0.2] > TEM), except HRmax (SWC0.2 < TEM). Additionally, results showed a nearly perfect association between the VO2max values derived from the AGSET and MSRT (r = 0.985; coefficient of determination [R-2] = 97%) with no statistically significant differences (p>0.05). The mean (bias) +/- 95% limits of agreement between the two protocols were 0.28 +/- 0.55 mlminkg-1. Discussion AGSET seems to present very good reliability and concurrent validity for assessing endurance performance in elite artistic gymnastics. In addition, the newly developed protocol presents a good ability to detect small changes in performance. KW - artistic gymnastics KW - field test KW - aerobic endurance KW - validity KW - reliability KW - assessment KW - physical fitness KW - elite athletes Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2023.1159807 SN - 2624-9367 VL - 5 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Warschburger, Petra A1 - Kamrath, Clemens A1 - Lanzinger, Stefanie A1 - Sengler, Claudia A1 - Wiegand, Susanna A1 - Göldel, Julia Marlen A1 - Weihrauch-Blüher, Susann A1 - Holl, Reinhard A1 - Minden, Kirsten T1 - A prospective analysis of the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on well-being and health care among children with a chronic condition and their families BT - a study protocol of the KICK-COVID study JF - BMC pediatrics N2 - Background There is consistent evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with an increased psychosocial burden on children and adolescents and their parents. Relatively little is known about its particular impact on high-risk groups with chronic physical health conditions (CCs). Therefore, the primary aim of the study is to analyze the multiple impacts on health care and psychosocial well-being on these children and adolescents and their parents. Methods We will implement a two-stage approach. In the first step, parents and their underage children from three German patient registries for diabetes, obesity, and rheumatic diseases, are invited to fill out short questionnaires including questions about corona-specific stressors, the health care situation, and psychosocial well-being. In the next step, a more comprehensive, in-depth online survey is carried out in a smaller subsample. Discussion The study will provide insights into the multiple longer-term stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic in families with a child with a CC. The simultaneous consideration of medical and psycho-social endpoints will help to gain a deeper understanding of the complex interactions affecting family functioning, psychological well-being, and health care delivery. KW - Chronic conditions KW - COVID-19 KW - Children and adolescents KW - Parents KW - Risk perception KW - Psychosocial strain KW - Diabetes KW - Rheumatic diseases KW - Obesity Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-023-03912-7 SN - 1471-2431 VL - 23 IS - 1 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cheng, Feng A1 - Dennis, Alice B. A1 - Osuoha, Josephine Ijeoma A1 - Canitz, Julia A1 - Kirschbaum, Frank A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph T1 - A new genome assembly of an African weakly electric fish (Campylomormyrus compressirostris, Mormyridae) indicates rapid gene family evolution in Osteoglossomorpha JF - BMC genomics N2 - Background Teleost fishes comprise more than half of the vertebrate species. Within teleosts, most phylogenies consider the split between Osteoglossomorpha and Euteleosteomorpha/Otomorpha as basal, preceded only by the derivation of the most primitive group of teleosts, the Elopomorpha. While Osteoglossomorpha are generally species poor, the taxon contains the African weakly electric fish (Mormyroidei), which have radiated into numerous species. Within the mormyrids, the genus Campylomormyrus is mostly endemic to the Congo Basin. Campylomormyrus serves as a model to understand mechanisms of adaptive radiation and ecological speciation, especially with regard to its highly diverse species-specific electric organ discharges (EOD). Currently, there are few well-annotated genomes available for electric fish in general and mormyrids in particular. Our study aims at producing a high-quality genome assembly and to use this to examine genome evolution in relation to other teleosts. This will facilitate further understanding of the evolution of the osteoglossomorpha fish in general and of electric fish in particular. Results A high-quality weakly electric fish (C. compressirostris) genome was produced from a single individual with a genome size of 862 Mb, consisting of 1,497 contigs with an N50 of 1,399 kb and a GC-content of 43.69%. Gene predictions identified 34,492 protein-coding genes, which is a higher number than in the two other available Osteoglossomorpha genomes of Paramormyrops kingsleyae and Scleropages formosus. A Computational Analysis of gene Family Evolution (CAFE5) comparing 33 teleost fish genomes suggests an overall faster gene family turnover rate in Osteoglossomorpha than in Otomorpha and Euteleosteomorpha. Moreover, the ratios of expanded/contracted gene family numbers in Osteoglossomorpha are significantly higher than in the other two taxa, except for species that had undergone an additional genome duplication (Cyprinus carpio and Oncorhynchus mykiss). As potassium channel proteins are hypothesized to play a key role in EOD diversity among species, we put a special focus on them, and manually curated 16 Kv1 genes. We identified a tandem duplication in the KCNA7a gene in the genome of C. compressirostris. Conclusions We present the fourth genome of an electric fish and the third well-annotated genome for Osteoglossomorpha, enabling us to compare gene family evolution among major teleost lineages. Osteoglossomorpha appear to exhibit rapid gene family evolution, with more gene family expansions than contractions. The curated Kv1 gene family showed seven gene clusters, which is more than in other analyzed fish genomes outside Osteoglossomorpha. The KCNA7a, encoding for a potassium channel central for EOD production and modulation, is tandemly duplicated which may related to the diverse EOD observed among Campylomormyrus species. KW - Campylomormyrus KW - Pacbio sequencing KW - Gene family KW - Osteoglossomorpha KW - Kv1 Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-023-09196-6 SN - 1471-2164 VL - 24 IS - 1 PB - BMC CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fehr, Jana A1 - Piccininni, Marco A1 - Kurth, Tobias A1 - Konigorski, Stefan T1 - Assessing the transportability of clinical prediction models for cognitive impairment using causal models JF - BMC medical research methodology N2 - Background Machine learning models promise to support diagnostic predictions, but may not perform well in new settings. Selecting the best model for a new setting without available data is challenging. We aimed to investigate the transportability by calibration and discrimination of prediction models for cognitive impairment in simulated external settings with different distributions of demographic and clinical characteristics. Methods We mapped and quantified relationships between variables associated with cognitive impairment using causal graphs, structural equation models, and data from the ADNI study. These estimates were then used to generate datasets and evaluate prediction models with different sets of predictors. We measured transportability to external settings under guided interventions on age, APOE & epsilon;4, and tau-protein, using performance differences between internal and external settings measured by calibration metrics and area under the receiver operating curve (AUC). Results Calibration differences indicated that models predicting with causes of the outcome were more transportable than those predicting with consequences. AUC differences indicated inconsistent trends of transportability between the different external settings. Models predicting with consequences tended to show higher AUC in the external settings compared to internal settings, while models predicting with parents or all variables showed similar AUC. Conclusions We demonstrated with a practical prediction task example that predicting with causes of the outcome results in better transportability compared to anti-causal predictions when considering calibration differences. We conclude that calibration performance is crucial when assessing model transportability to external settings. KW - Alzheimer's Disease KW - Clinical risk prediction KW - DAG KW - Causality; KW - Transportability Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-023-02003-6 SN - 1471-2288 VL - 23 IS - 1 PB - BMC CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Teich, Paula A1 - Fühner, Thea Heidi A1 - Baehr, Florian A1 - Puta, Christian A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Covid pandemic effects on the physical fitness of primary school children BT - results of the german EMOTIKON project JF - Sports Medicine - Open N2 - BackgroundIn spring of 2020, the Sars-CoV-2 incidence rate increased rapidly in Germany and around the world. Throughout the next 2 years, schools were temporarily closed and social distancing measures were put in place to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Did these social restrictions and temporary school lockdowns affect children's physical fitness? The EMOTIKON project annually tests the physical fitness of all third-graders in the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany. The tests assess cardiorespiratory endurance (6-min-run test), coordination (star-run test), speed (20-m sprint test), lower (powerLOW, standing long jump test), and upper (powerUP, ball-push test) limbs muscle power, and static balance (one-legged stance test with eyes closed). A total of 125,893 children were tested in the falls from 2016 to 2022. Primary analyses focused on 98,510 keyage third-graders (i.e., school enrollment according to the legal key date, aged 8 to 9 years) from 515 schools. Secondary analyses included 27,383 older-than-keyage third-graders (i.e., OTK, delayed school enrollment or repetition of a grade, aged 9 to 10 years), who have been shown to exhibit lower physical fitness than expected for their age. Linear mixed models fitted pre-pandemic quadratic secular trends, and took into account differences between children and schools.ResultsThird-graders exhibited lower cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed and powerUP in the Covid pandemic cohorts (2020-2022) compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts (2016-2019). Children's powerLOW and static balance were higher in the pandemic cohorts compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts. From 2020 to 2021, coordination, powerLOW and powerUP further declined. Evidence for some post-pandemic physical fitness catch-up was restricted to powerUP. Cohen's |ds| for comparisons of the pandemic cohorts 2020-2022 with pre-pandemic cohorts 2016-2019 ranged from 0.02 for powerLOW to 0.15 for coordination. Within the pandemic cohorts, keyage children exhibited developmental losses ranging from approximately 1 month for speed to 5 months for cardiorespiratory endurance. For powerLOW and static balance, the positive pandemic effects translate to developmental gains of 1 and 7 months, respectively. Pre-pandemic secular trends may account for some of the observed differences between pandemic and pre-pandemic cohorts, especially in powerLOW, powerUP and static balance. The pandemic further increased developmental delays of OTK children in cardiorespiratory endurance, powerUP and balance.ConclusionsThe Covid-19 pandemic was associated with declines in several physical fitness components in German third-graders. Pandemic effects are still visible in 2022. Health-related interventions should specifically target those physical fitness components that were negatively affected by the pandemic (cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed). KW - Sars-CoV-2 KW - Cohort study KW - Cardiorespiratory endurance KW - Muscle power KW - Physical fitness KW - Youth KW - EMOTIKON KW - Linear mixed models Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-023-00624-1 SN - 2198-9761 VL - 9 IS - 1 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Michirev, Alexej A1 - Kühne, Katharina A1 - Lindemann, Oliver A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Raab, Markus T1 - How to not induce SNAs BT - the insufficiency of directional force JF - PLoS one N2 - People respond faster to smaller numbers in their left space and to larger numbers in their right space. Here we argue that movements in space contribute to the formation of spatial-numerical associations (SNAs). We studied the impact of continuous isometric forces along the horizontal or vertical cardinal axes on SNAs while participants performed random number production and arithmetic verification tasks. Our results suggest that such isometric directional force do not suffice to induce SNAs. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288038 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 18 IS - 6 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Córdoba, Sandra Correa A1 - Tong, Hao A1 - Burgos, Asdrubal A1 - Zhu, Feng A1 - Alseekh, Saleh A1 - Fernie, Alisdair R. A1 - Nikoloski, Zoran T1 - Identification of gene function based on models capturing natural variability of Arabidopsis thaliana lipid metabolism JF - Nature Communications N2 - The use of automated tools to reconstruct lipid metabolic pathways is not warranted in plants. Here, the authors construct Plant Lipid Module for Arabidopsis rosette using constraint-based modeling, demonstrate its integration in other plant metabolic models, and use it to dissect the genetic architecture of lipid metabolism. Lipids play fundamental roles in regulating agronomically important traits. Advances in plant lipid metabolism have until recently largely been based on reductionist approaches, although modulation of its components can have system-wide effects. However, existing models of plant lipid metabolism provide lumped representations, hindering detailed study of component modulation. Here, we present the Plant Lipid Module (PLM) which provides a mechanistic description of lipid metabolism in the Arabidopsis thaliana rosette. We demonstrate that the PLM can be readily integrated in models of A. thaliana Col-0 metabolism, yielding accurate predictions (83%) of single lethal knock-outs and 75% concordance between measured transcript and predicted flux changes under extended darkness. Genome-wide associations with fluxes obtained by integrating the PLM in diel condition- and accession-specific models identify up to 65 candidate genes modulating A. thaliana lipid metabolism. Using mutant lines, we validate up to 40% of the candidates, paving the way for identification of metabolic gene function based on models capturing natural variability in metabolism. KW - Biochemical networks KW - Biochemical reaction networks KW - Genetic models KW - Plant molecular biology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40644-9 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tomowski, Maxi A1 - Lozada-Gobilard, Sissi Donna A1 - Jeltsch, Florian A1 - Tiedemann, Ralph T1 - Recruitment and migration patterns reveal a key role for seed banks in the meta-population dynamics of an aquatic plant JF - Scientific reports N2 - Progressive habitat fragmentation threatens plant species with narrow habitat requirements. While local environmental conditions define population growth rates and recruitment success at the patch level, dispersal is critical for population viability at the landscape scale. Identifying the dynamics of plant meta-populations is often confounded by the uncertainty about soil-stored population compartments. We combined a landscape-scale assessment of an amphibious plant's population structure with measurements of dispersal complexity in time to track dispersal and putative shifts in functional connectivity. Using 13 microsatellite markers, we analyzed the genetic structure of extant Oenanthe aquatica populations and their soil seed banks in a kettle hole system to uncover hidden connectivity among populations in time and space. Considerable spatial genetic structure and isolation-by-distance suggest limited gene flow between sites. Spatial isolation and patch size showed minor effects on genetic diversity. Genetic similarity found among extant populations and their seed banks suggests increased local recruitment, despite some evidence of migration and recent colonization. Results indicate stepping-stone dispersal across adjacent populations. Among permanent and ephemeral demes the resulting meta-population demography could be determined by source-sink dynamics. Overall, these spatiotemporal connectivity patterns support mainland-island dynamics in our system, highlighting the importance of persistent seed banks as enduring sources of genetic diversity. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-37974-5 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 IS - 1 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Arend, Marius A1 - Zimmer, David A1 - Xu, Rudan A1 - Sommer, Frederik A1 - Mühlhaus, Timo A1 - Nikoloski, Zoran T1 - Proteomics and constraint-based modelling reveal enzyme kinetic properties of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii on a genome scale JF - Nature Communications N2 - Metabolic engineering of microalgae offers a promising solution for sustainable biofuel production, and rational design of engineering strategies can be improved by employing metabolic models that integrate enzyme turnover numbers. However, the coverage of turnover numbers for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a model eukaryotic microalga accessible to metabolic engineering, is 17-fold smaller compared to the heterotrophic cell factory Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here we generate quantitative protein abundance data of Chlamydomonas covering 2337 to 3708 proteins in various growth conditions to estimate in vivo maximum apparent turnover numbers. Using constrained-based modeling we provide proxies for in vivo turnover numbers of 568 reactions, representing a 10-fold increase over the in vitro data for Chlamydomonas. Integration of the in vivo estimates instead of in vitro values in a metabolic model of Chlamydomonas improved the accuracy of enzyme usage predictions. Our results help in extending the knowledge on uncharacterized enzymes and improve biotechnological applications of Chlamydomonas. KW - Computational models KW - Enzymes KW - Proteomics Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40498-1 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jaiser, Ralf A1 - Akperov, Mirseid A1 - Timazhev, A. A1 - Romanowsky, Erik A1 - Handorf, Dörthe A1 - Mokhov, I. I. T1 - Linkages between arctic and mid-latitude weather and climate BT - unraveling the impact of changing sea ice and sea surface temperatures during Winter JF - Meteorologische Zeitschrift N2 - The study addresses the question, if observed changes in terms of Arctic-midlatitude linkages during winter are driven by Arctic Sea ice decline alone or if the increase of global sea surface temperatures plays an additional role. We compare atmosphere-only model experiments with ECHAM6 to ERA-Interim Reanalysis data. The model sensitivity experiment is implemented as a set of four combinations of sea ice and sea surface temperature boundary conditions. Atmospheric circulation regimes are determined and evaluated in terms of their cyclone and blocking characteristics and changes in frequency during winter. As a prerequisite, ECHAM6 reproduces general features of circulation regimes very well. Tropospheric changes induced by the change of boundary conditions are revealed and further impacts on the large-scale circulation up into the stratosphere are investigated. In early winter, the observed increase of atmospheric blocking in the region between Scandinavia and the Urals are primarily related to the changes in sea surface temperatures. During late winter, we f nd a weakened polar stratospheric vortex in the reanalysis that further impacts the troposphere. In the model sensitivity study a climatologically weakened polar vortex occurs only if sea ice is reduced and sea surface temperatures are increased together. This response is delayed compared to the reanalysis. The tropospheric response during late winter is inconclusive in the model, which is potentially related to the weak and delayed response in the stratosphere. The model experiments do not reproduce the connection between early and late winter as interpreted from the reanalysis. Potentially explaining this mismatch, we identify a discrepancy of ECHAM6 to reproduce the weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex through blocking induced upward propagation of planetary waves. KW - Weather regimes KW - Blocking KW - Cyclones KW - Wave Propagation KW - Stratosphere Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1127/metz/2023/1154 SN - 0941-2948 SN - 1610-1227 VL - 32 IS - 3 SP - 173 EP - 194 PB - Schweizerbart CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bereswill, Sarah A1 - Gatz-Miller, Hannah A1 - Su, Danyang A1 - Tötzke, Christian A1 - Kardjilov, Nikolay A1 - Oswald, Sascha A1 - Mayer, Klaus Ulrich T1 - Coupling non-invasive imaging and reactive transport modeling to investigate water and oxygen dynamics in the root zone JF - Vadose zone journal N2 - Oxygen (O-2) availability in soils is vital for plant growth and productivity. The transport and consumption of O-2 in the root zone is closely linked to soil moisture content, the spatial distribution of roots, as well as structure and heterogeneity of the surrounding soil. In this study, we measure three-dimensional root system architecture and the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil moisture (& theta;) and O-2 concentrations in the root zone of maize (Zea mays) via non-invasive imaging, and then construct and parameterize a reactive transport model based on the experimental data. The combination of three non-invasive imaging methods allowed for a direct comparison of simulation results with observations at high spatial and temporal resolution. In three different modeling scenarios, we investigated how the results obtained for different levels of conceptual complexity in the model were able to match measured & theta; and O-2 concentration patterns. We found that the modeling scenario that considers heterogeneous soil structure and spatial variability of hydraulic parameters (permeability, porosity, and van Genuchten & alpha; and n), better reproduced the measured & theta; and O-2 patterns relative to a simple model with a homogenous soil domain. The results from our combined imaging and modeling analysis reveal that experimental O-2 and water dynamics can be reproduced quantitatively in a reactive transport model, and that O-2 and water dynamics are best characterized when conditions unique to the specific system beyond the distribution of roots, such as soil structure and its effect on water saturation and macroscopic gas transport pathways, are considered. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20268 SN - 1539-1663 VL - 22 IS - 5 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mattern, Maximilian A1 - Reppert, Alexander von A1 - Zeuschner, Steffen Peer A1 - Herzog, Marc A1 - Pudell, Jan-Etienne A1 - Bargheer, Matias T1 - Concepts and use cases for picosecond ultrasonics with x-rays JF - Photoacoustics N2 - This review discusses picosecond ultrasonics experiments using ultrashort hard x-ray probe pulses to extract the transient strain response of laser-excited nanoscopic structures from Bragg-peak shifts. This method provides direct, layer-specific, and quantitative information on the picosecond strain response for structures down to few-nm thickness. We model the transient strain using the elastic wave equation and express the driving stress using Gruneisen parameters stating that the laser-induced stress is proportional to energy density changes in the microscopic subsystems of the solid, i.e., electrons, phonons and spins. The laser-driven strain response can thus serve as an ultrafast proxy for local energy-density and temperature changes, but we emphasize the importance of the nanoscale morphology for an accurate interpretation due to the Poisson effect. The presented experimental use cases encompass ultrathin and opaque metal-heterostructures, continuous and granular nanolayers as well as negative thermal expansion materials, that each pose a challenge to established all-optical techniques. KW - Picosecond ultrasonics KW - Ultrafast x-ray diffraction KW - Ultrafast x-ray KW - scattering KW - Ultrafast photoacoustics KW - Nanoscale heat transfer KW - Negative KW - thermal expansion Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacs.2023.100503 SN - 2213-5979 VL - 31 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Förstner, Bernd Rainer A1 - Böttger, Sarah Jane A1 - Moldavski, Alexander A1 - Bajbouj, Malek A1 - Pfennig, Andrea A1 - Manook, Andre A1 - Ising, Marcus A1 - Pittig, Andre A1 - Heinig, Ingmar A1 - Heinz, Andreas A1 - Mathiak, Klaus A1 - Schulze, Thomas G. A1 - Schneider, Frank A1 - Kamp-Becker, Inge A1 - Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas A1 - Padberg, Frank A1 - Banaschewski, Tobias A1 - Bauer, Michael A1 - Rupprecht, Rainer A1 - Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich A1 - Rapp, Michael A. A1 - Tschorn, Mira T1 - The associations of positive and negative valence systems, cognitive systems and social processes on disease severity in anxiety and depressive disorders JF - Frontiers in psychiatry N2 - Background Anxiety and depressive disorders share common features of mood dysfunctions. This has stimulated interest in transdiagnostic dimensional research as proposed by the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) approach by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) aiming to improve the understanding of underlying disease mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the processing of RDoC domains in relation to disease severity in order to identify latent disorder-specific as well as transdiagnostic indicators of disease severity in patients with anxiety and depressive disorders. Methods Within the German research network for mental disorders, 895 participants (n = 476 female, n = 602 anxiety disorder, n = 257 depressive disorder) were recruited for the Phenotypic, Diagnostic and Clinical Domain Assessment Network Germany (PD-CAN) and included in this cross-sectional study. We performed incremental regression models to investigate the association of four RDoC domains on disease severity in patients with affective disorders: Positive (PVS) and Negative Valance System (NVS), Cognitive Systems (CS) and Social Processes (SP). Results The results confirmed a transdiagnostic relationship for all four domains, as we found significant main effects on disease severity within domain-specific models (PVS: & beta; = -0.35; NVS: & beta; = 0.39; CS: & beta; = -0.12; SP: & beta; = -0.32). We also found three significant interaction effects with main diagnosis showing a disease-specific association. Limitations The cross-sectional study design prevents causal conclusions. Further limitations include possible outliers and heteroskedasticity in all regression models which we appropriately controlled for. Conclusion Our key results show that symptom burden in anxiety and depressive disorders is associated with latent RDoC indicators in transdiagnostic and disease-specific ways. KW - Research Domain Criteria KW - depression KW - anxiety disoders KW - disease severity KW - transdiagnostic KW - RDoC Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1161097 SN - 1664-0640 VL - 14 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Menze, Inga A1 - Müller, Notger Germar A1 - Zähle, Tino A1 - Schmicker, Marlen T1 - Individual response to transcranial direct current stimulation as a function of working memory capacity and electrode montage JF - Frontiers in human neuroscience N2 - Introduction Attempts to improve cognitive abilities via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have led to ambiguous results, likely due to the method's susceptibility to methodological and inter-individual factors. Conventional tDCS, i.e., using an active electrode over brain areas associated with the targeted cognitive function and a supposedly passive reference, neglects stimulation effects on entire neural networks. Methods We investigated the advantage of frontoparietal network stimulation (right prefrontal anode, left posterior parietal cathode) against conventional and sham tDCS in modulating working memory (WM) capacity dependent transfer effects of a single-session distractor inhibition (DIIN) training. Since previous results did not clarify whether electrode montage drives this individual transfer, we here compared conventional to frontoparietal and sham tDCS and reanalyzed data of 124 young, healthy participants in a more robust way using linear mixed effect modeling. Results The interaction of electrode montage and WM capacity resulted in systematic differences in transfer effects. While higher performance gains were observed with increasing WM capacity in the frontoparietal stimulation group, low WM capacity individuals benefited more in the sham condition. The conventional stimulation group showed subtle performance gains independent of WM capacity. Discussion Our results confirm our previous findings of WM capacity dependent transfer effects on WM by a single-session DIIN training combined with tDCS and additionally highlight the pivotal role of the specific electrode montage. WM capacity dependent differences in frontoparietal network recruitment, especially regarding the parietal involvement, are assumed to underlie this observation. KW - tDCS KW - electrode montage KW - individual differences KW - working memory KW - capacity KW - distractor inhibition KW - frontoparietal network Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1134632 SN - 1662-5161 VL - 17 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grdseloff, Nastasja A1 - Boulday, Gwenola A1 - Roedel, Claudia J. A1 - Otten, Cecile A1 - Vannier, Daphne Raphaelle A1 - Cardoso, Cecile A1 - Faurobert, Eva A1 - Dogra, Deepika A1 - Tournier-Lasserve, Elisabeth A1 - Abdelilah-Seyfried, Salim T1 - Impaired retinoic acid signaling in cerebral cavernous malformations JF - Scientific reports N2 - The capillary-venous pathology cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) is caused by loss of CCM1/Krev interaction trapped protein 1 (KRIT1), CCM2/MGC4607, or CCM3/PDCD10 in some endothelial cells. Mutations of CCM genes within the brain vasculature can lead to recurrent cerebral hemorrhages. Pharmacological treatment options are urgently needed when lesions are located in deeply-seated and in-operable regions of the central nervous system. Previous pharmacological suppression screens in disease models of CCM led to the discovery that treatment with retinoic acid improved CCM phenotypes. This finding raised a need to investigate the involvement of retinoic acid in CCM and test whether it has a curative effect in preclinical mouse models. Here, we show that components of the retinoic acid synthesis and degradation pathway are transcriptionally misregulated across disease models of CCM. We complemented this analysis by pharmacologically modifying retinoic acid levels in zebrafish and human endothelial cell models of CCM, and in acute and chronic mouse models of CCM. Our pharmacological intervention studies in CCM2-depleted human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and krit1 mutant zebrafish showed positive effects when retinoic acid levels were increased. However, therapeutic approaches to prevent the development of vascular lesions in adult chronic murine models of CCM were drug regiment-sensitive, possibly due to adverse developmental effects of this hormone. A treatment with high doses of retinoic acid even worsened CCM lesions in an adult chronic murine model of CCM. This study provides evidence that retinoic acid signaling is impaired in the CCM pathophysiology and suggests that modification of retinoic acid levels can alleviate CCM phenotypes. KW - Developmental biology KW - Molecular medicine Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31905-0 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 IS - 1 PB - Nature Portfolio CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Smith, Taylor A1 - Boers, Niklas T1 - Global vegetation resilience linked to water availability and variability JF - Nature Communications N2 - Quantifying the resilience of vegetated ecosystems is key to constraining both present-day and future global impacts of anthropogenic climate change. Here we apply both empirical and theoretical resilience metrics to remotely-sensed vegetation data in order to examine the role of water availability and variability in controlling vegetation resilience at the global scale. We find a concise global relationship where vegetation resilience is greater in regions with higher water availability. We also reveal that resilience is lower in regions with more pronounced inter-annual precipitation variability, but find less concise relationships between vegetation resilience and intra-annual precipitation variability. Our results thus imply that the resilience of vegetation responds differently to water deficits at varying time scales. In view of projected increases in precipitation variability, our findings highlight the risk of ecosystem degradation under ongoing climate change. Vegetation dynamics depend on both the amount of precipitation and its variability over time. Here, the authors show that vegetation resilience is greater where water availability is higher and where precipitation is more stable from year to year. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36207-7 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Falkenhagen, Undine A1 - Knöchel, Jane A1 - Kloft, Charlotte A1 - Huisinga, Wilhelm T1 - Deriving mechanism-based pharmacodynamic models by reducing quantitative systems pharmacology models BT - an application to warfarin JF - CPT: Pharmacometrics & Systems Pharmacology N2 - Quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) models integrate comprehensive qualitative and quantitative knowledge about pharmacologically relevant processes. We previously proposed a first approach to leverage the knowledge in QSP models to derive simpler, mechanism-based pharmacodynamic (PD) models. Their complexity, however, is typically still too large to be used in the population analysis of clinical data. Here, we extend the approach beyond state reduction to also include the simplification of reaction rates, elimination of reactions, and analytic solutions. We additionally ensure that the reduced model maintains a prespecified approximation quality not only for a reference individual but also for a diverse virtual population. We illustrate the extended approach for the warfarin effect on blood coagulation. Using the model-reduction approach, we derive a novel small-scale warfarin/international normalized ratio model and demonstrate its suitability for biomarker identification. Due to the systematic nature of the approach in comparison with empirical model building, the proposed model-reduction algorithm provides an improved rationale to build PD models also from QSP models in other applications. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/psp4.12903 SN - 2163-8306 VL - 12 IS - 4 SP - 432 EP - 443 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lewkowicz, Daniel A1 - Böttinger, Erwin A1 - Siegel, Martin T1 - Economic evaluation of digital therapeutic care apps for unsupervised treatment of low back pain BT - Monte Carlo Simulation JF - JMIR mhealth and uhealth N2 - Background: Digital therapeutic care (DTC) programs are unsupervised app-based treatments that provide video exercises and educational material to patients with nonspecific low back pain during episodes of pain and functional disability. German statutory health insurance can reimburse DTC programs since 2019, but evidence on efficacy and reasonable pricing remains scarce. This paper presents a probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) to evaluate the efficacy and cost-utility of a DTC app against treatment as usual (TAU) in Germany. Objective: The aim of this study was to perform a PSA in the form of a Monte Carlo simulation based on the deterministic base case analysis to account for model assumptions and parameter uncertainty. We also intend to explore to what extent the results in this probabilistic analysis differ from the results in the base case analysis and to what extent a shortage of outcome data concerning quality-of-life (QoL) metrics impacts the overall results. Methods: The PSA builds upon a state-transition Markov chain with a 4-week cycle length over a model time horizon of 3 years from a recently published deterministic cost-utility analysis. A Monte Carlo simulation with 10,000 iterations and a cohort size of 10,000 was employed to evaluate the cost-utility from a societal perspective. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were derived from Veterans RAND 6-Dimension (VR-6D) and Short-Form 6-Dimension (SF-6D) single utility scores. Finally, we also simulated reducing the price for a 3-month app prescription to analyze at which price threshold DTC would result in being the dominant strategy over TAU in Germany. Results: The Monte Carlo simulation yielded on average a euro135.97 (a currency exchange rate of EUR euro1=US $1.069 is applicable) incremental cost and 0.004 incremental QALYs per person and year for the unsupervised DTC app strategy compared to in-person physiotherapy in Germany. The corresponding incremental cost-utility ratio (ICUR) amounts to an additional euro34,315.19 per additional QALY. DTC yielded more QALYs in 54.96% of the iterations. DTC dominates TAU in 24.04% of the iterations for QALYs. Reducing the app price in the simulation from currently euro239.96 to euro164.61 for a 3-month prescription could yield a negative ICUR and thus make DTC the dominant strategy, even though the estimated probability of DTC being more effective than TAU is only 54.96%. Conclusions: Decision-makers should be cautious when considering the reimbursement of DTC apps since no significant treatment effect was found, and the probability of cost-effectiveness remains below 60% even for an infinite willingness-to-pay threshold. More app-based studies involving the utilization of QoL outcome parameters are urgently needed to account for the low and limited precision of the available QoL input parameters, which are crucial to making profound recommendations concerning the cost-utility of novel apps. KW - cost-utility analysis KW - cost KW - probabilistic sensitivity analysis KW - Monte Carlo simulation KW - low back pain KW - pain KW - economic KW - cost-effectiveness KW - Markov model KW - digital therapy KW - digital health app KW - mHealth KW - mobile health KW - health app KW - mobile app KW - orthopedic KW - QUALY KW - DALY KW - quality-adjusted life years KW - disability-adjusted life years KW - time horizon KW - veteran KW - statistics Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2196/44585 SN - 2291-5222 VL - 11 PB - JMIR Publications CY - Toronto ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Agthe, Maria A1 - Kayser, Daniela Niesta A1 - Schwarz, Sascha A1 - Maner, Jon K. T1 - Antecedents of the red-romance effect BT - men's attractiveness and women's fertility JF - PLOS ONE / Public Library of Science N2 - The color red has been implicated in a variety of social processes, including those involving mating. While previous research suggests that women sometimes wear red strategically to increase their attractiveness, the replicability of this literature has been questioned. The current research is a reasonably powered conceptual replication designed to strengthen this literature by testing whether women are more inclined to display the color red 1) during fertile (as compared with less fertile) days of the menstrual cycle, and 2) when expecting to interact with an attractive man (as compared with a less attractive man and with a control condition). Analyses controlled for a number of theoretically relevant covariates (relationship status, age, the current weather). Only the latter hypothesis received mixed support (mainly among women on hormonal birth control), whereas results concerning the former hypothesis did not reach significance. Women (N = 281) displayed more red when expecting to interact with an attractive man; findings did not support the prediction that women would increase their display of red on fertile days of the cycle. Findings thus suggested only mixed replicability for the link between the color red and psychological processes involving romantic attraction. They also illustrate the importance of further investigating the boundary conditions of color effects on everyday social processes. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284035 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 18 IS - 4 PB - PLOS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmicker, Marlen A1 - Frühling, Insa A1 - Menze, Inga A1 - Glanz, Wenzel A1 - Müller, Patrick A1 - Noesselt, Toemme A1 - Müller, Notger Germar T1 - The potential role of gustatory function as an early diagnostic marker for the risk of alzheimer's disease in subjective cognitive decline JF - Journal of Alzheimer's disease reports : JADR N2 - Background: Patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) report memory deterioration and are at an increased risk of converting to Alzheimer's disease (AD) although psychophysical testing does not reveal any cognitive deficit. Objective: Here, gustatory function is investigated as a potential predictor for an increased risk of progressive cognitive decline indicating higher AD risk in SCD. Methods: Measures of smell and taste perception as well as neuropsychological data were assessed in patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD): Subgroups with an increased likelihood of the progression to preclinical AD (SCD+) and those with a lower likelihood (SCD-) were compared to healthy controls (HC), patients with mild cognitive impairment and AD patients. The Sniffin' Sticks test contained 12 items with different qualities and taste was measured with 32 taste stripes (sweet, salty, bitter, sour) of different concentration. Results: Only taste was able to distinguish between HC/SCD- and SCD+ patients. Conclusion: This study provides a first hint of taste as a more sensitive marker than smell for detecting preclinical AD in SCD. Longitudinal observation of cognition and pathology are necessary to further evaluate taste perception as a predictor of pathological objective decline in cognition. KW - Alzheimer's disease KW - dementia KW - diagnostic marker KW - early diagnosis KW - subjective cognitive decline KW - taste Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3233/ADR220092 SN - 2542-4823 VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - 249 EP - 262 PB - IOS Press CY - Clifton, VA ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heistermann, Maik A1 - Francke, Till A1 - Scheiffele, Lena A1 - Petrova, Katya Dimitrova A1 - Budach, Christian A1 - Schrön, Martin A1 - Trost, Benjamin A1 - Rasche, Daniel A1 - Güntner, Andreas A1 - Doepper, Veronika A1 - Förster, Michael A1 - Köhli, Markus A1 - Angermann, Lisa A1 - Antonoglou, Nikolaos A1 - Zude, Manuela A1 - Oswald, Sascha T1 - Three years of soil moisture observations by a dense cosmic-ray neutron sensing cluster at an agricultural research site in north-east Germany JF - Earth system science data : ESSD N2 - Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) allows for the estimation of root-zone soil water content (SWC) at the scale of several hectares. In this paper, we present the data recorded by a dense CRNS network operated from 2019 to 2022 at an agricultural research site in Marquardt, Germany - the first multi-year CRNS cluster. Consisting, at its core, of eight permanently installed CRNS sensors, the cluster was supplemented by a wealth of complementary measurements: data from seven additional temporary CRNS sensors, partly co-located with the permanent ones; 27 SWC profiles (mostly permanent); two groundwater observation wells; meteorological records; and Global Navigation Satellite System reflectometry (GNSS-R). Complementary to these continuous measurements, numerous campaign-based activities provided data by mobile CRNS roving, hyperspectral im-agery via UASs, intensive manual sampling of soil properties (SWC, bulk density, organic matter, texture, soil hydraulic properties), and observations of biomass and snow (cover, depth, and density). The unique temporal coverage of 3 years entails a broad spectrum of hydro-meteorological conditions, including exceptional drought periods and extreme rainfall but also episodes of snow coverage, as well as a dedicated irrigation experiment. Apart from serving to advance CRNS-related retrieval methods, this data set is expected to be useful for vari-ous disciplines, for example, soil and groundwater hydrology, agriculture, or remote sensing. Hence, we show exemplary features of the data set in order to highlight the potential for such subsequent studies. The data are available at doi.org/10.23728/b2share.551095325d74431881185fba1eb09c95 (Heistermann et al., 2022b). Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023 SN - 1866-3508 SN - 1866-3516 VL - 15 IS - 7 SP - 3243 EP - 3262 PB - Copernics Publications CY - Katlenburg-Lindau ER - TY - JOUR A1 - de Carvalho Souza, Alyson Matheus A1 - Barrocas, Roberta A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Arnaud, Emanuel A1 - Moeller, Korbinian A1 - Rennó-Costa, César T1 - Combining virtual reality and tactile stimulation to investigate embodied finger-based numerical representations JF - Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation N2 - Finger-based representation of numbers is a high-level cognitive strategy to assist numerical and arithmetic processing in children and adults. It is unclear whether this paradigm builds on simple perceptual features or comprises several attributes through embodiment. Here we describe the development and initial testing of an experimental setup to study embodiment during a finger-based numerical task using Virtual Reality (VR) and a low-cost tactile stimulator that is easy to build. Using VR allows us to create new ways to study finger-based numerical representation using a virtual hand that can be manipulated in ways our hand cannot, such as decoupling tactile and visual stimuli. The goal is to present a new methodology that can allow researchers to study embodiment through this new approach, maybe shedding new light on the cognitive strategy behind the finger-based representation of numbers. In this case, a critical methodological requirement is delivering precisely targeted sensory stimuli to specific effectors while simultaneously recording their behavior and engaging the participant in a simulated experience. We tested the device's capability by stimulating users in different experimental configurations. Results indicate that our device delivers reliable tactile stimulation to all fingers of a participant's hand without losing motion tracking quality during an ongoing task. This is reflected by an accuracy of over 95% in participants detecting stimulation of a single finger or multiple fingers in sequential stimulation as indicated by experiments with sixteen participants. We discuss possible application scenarios, explain how to apply our methodology to study the embodiment of finger-based numerical representations and other high-level cognitive functions, and discuss potential further developments of the device based on the data obtained in our testing. KW - virtual reality KW - numerical cognition KW - finger counting KW - embodied cognition KW - cognitive science KW - virtual environment Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1119561 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 14 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stübler, Sabine A1 - Kloft, Charlotte A1 - Huisinga, Wilhelm T1 - Cell-level systems biology model to study inflammatory bowel diseases and their treatment options JF - CPT: pharmacometrics & systems pharmacology N2 - To help understand the complex and therapeutically challenging inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), we developed a systems biology model of the intestinal immune system that is able to describe main aspects of IBD and different treatment modalities thereof. The model, including key cell types and processes of the mucosal immune response, compiles a large amount of isolated experimental findings from literature into a larger context and allows for simulations of different inflammation scenarios based on the underlying data and assumptions. In the context of a large and diverse virtual IBD population, we characterized the patients based on their phenotype (in contrast to healthy individuals, they developed persistent inflammation after a trigger event) rather than on a priori assumptions on parameter differences to a healthy individual. This allowed to reproduce the enormous diversity of predispositions known to lead to IBD. Analyzing different treatment effects, the model provides insight into characteristics of individual drug therapy. We illustrate for anti-TNF-alpha therapy, how the model can be used (i) to decide for alternative treatments with best prospects in the case of nonresponse, and (ii) to identify promising combination therapies with other available treatment options. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/psp4.12932 SN - 2163-8306 VL - 12 IS - 5 SP - 690 EP - 705 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ehrig, Lukas A1 - Wagner, Ann-Christin A1 - Wolter, Heike A1 - Correll, Christoph U. A1 - Geisel, Olga A1 - Konigorski, Stefan T1 - FASDetect as a machine learning-based screening app for FASD in youth with ADHD JF - npj Digital Medicine N2 - Fetal alcohol-spectrum disorder (FASD) is underdiagnosed and often misdiagnosed as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Here, we develop a screening tool for FASD in youth with ADHD symptoms. To develop the prediction model, medical record data from a German University outpatient unit are assessed including 275 patients aged 0-19 years old with FASD with or without ADHD and 170 patients with ADHD without FASD aged 0-19 years old. We train 6 machine learning models based on 13 selected variables and evaluate their performance. Random forest models yield the best prediction models with a cross-validated AUC of 0.92 (95% confidence interval [0.84, 0.99]). Follow-up analyses indicate that a random forest model with 6 variables - body length and head circumference at birth, IQ, socially intrusive behaviour, poor memory and sleep disturbance - yields equivalent predictive accuracy. We implement the prediction model in a web-based app called FASDetect - a user-friendly, clinically scalable FASD risk calculator that is freely available at https://fasdetect.dhc-lab.hpi.de. KW - Medical research KW - Psychiatric disorders Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-023-00864-1 SN - 2398-6352 VL - 6 IS - 1 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited CY - Basingstoke ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Slosarek, Tamara A1 - Ibing, Susanne A1 - Schormair, Barbara A1 - Heyne, Henrike A1 - Böttinger, Erwin A1 - Andlauer, Till A1 - Schurmann, Claudia T1 - Implementation and evaluation of personal genetic testing as part of genomics analysis courses in German universities JF - BMC Medical Genomics N2 - Purpose Due to the increasing application of genome analysis and interpretation in medical disciplines, professionals require adequate education. Here, we present the implementation of personal genotyping as an educational tool in two genomics courses targeting Digital Health students at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) and medical students at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Methods We compared and evaluated the courses and the students ' perceptions on the course setup using questionnaires. Results During the course, students changed their attitudes towards genotyping (HPI: 79% [15 of 19], TUM: 47% [25 of 53]). Predominantly, students became more critical of personal genotyping (HPI: 73% [11 of 15], TUM: 72% [18 of 25]) and most students stated that genetic analyses should not be allowed without genetic counseling (HPI: 79% [15 of 19], TUM: 70% [37 of 53]). Students found the personal genotyping component useful (HPI: 89% [17 of 19], TUM: 92% [49 of 53]) and recommended its inclusion in future courses (HPI: 95% [18 of 19], TUM: 98% [52 of 53]). Conclusion Students perceived the personal genotyping component as valuable in the described genomics courses. The implementation described here can serve as an example for future courses in Europe. KW - Genomics education KW - Personal genotyping KW - Personalized medicine Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12920-023-01503-0 SN - 1755-8794 VL - 16 IS - 1 PB - BMC CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Agarwal, Saloni A1 - Hamidizadeh, Mojdeh A1 - Bier, Frank Fabian T1 - Detection of reverse transcriptase LAMP-amplified nucleic acid from oropharyngeal viral swab samples using biotinylated DNA probes through a lateral flow assay JF - Biosensors : open access journal N2 - This study focuses on three key aspects: (a) crude throat swab samples in a viral transport medium (VTM) as templates for RT-LAMP reactions; (b) a biotinylated DNA probe with enhanced specificity for LFA readouts; and (c) a digital semi-quantification of LFA readouts. Throat swab samples from SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative patients were used in their crude (no cleaning or pre-treatment) forms for the RT-LAMP reaction. The samples were heat-inactivated but not treated for any kind of nucleic acid extraction or purification. The RT-LAMP (20 min processing time) product was read out by an LFA approach using two labels: FITC and biotin. FITC was enzymatically incorporated into the RT-LAMP amplicon with the LF-LAMP primer, and biotin was introduced using biotinylated DNA probes, specifically for the amplicon region after RT-LAMP amplification. This assay setup with biotinylated DNA probe-based LFA readouts of the RT-LAMP amplicon was 98.11% sensitive and 96.15% specific. The LFA result was further analysed by a smartphone-based IVD device, wherein the T-line intensity was recorded. The LFA T-line intensity was then correlated with the qRT-PCR Ct value of the positive swab samples. A digital semi-quantification of RT-LAMP-LFA was reported with a correlation coefficient of R2 = 0.702. The overall RT-LAMP-LFA assay time was recorded to be 35 min with a LoD of three RNA copies/µL (Ct-33). With these three advancements, the nucleic acid testing-point of care technique (NAT-POCT) is exemplified as a versatile biosensor platform with great potential and applicability for the detection of pathogens without the need for sample storage, transportation, or pre-processing. KW - RT-LAMP KW - LFA KW - NAAT-LFA KW - semi-quantitative KW - surveillance-based diagnostics Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/bios13110988 SN - 2079-6374 VL - 13 IS - 11 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER -