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Das plötzliche Ende des romantischen Komponisten Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847) gibt uns auch heute noch Rätsel auf. Einiges deutet auf ein rupturiertes zerebrales Aneurysma mit konsekutiver Subarachnoidalblutung hin. Das Quellenmaterial zu den Symptomen seiner Todeskrankheit wird in dieser Arbeit ausführlich vorgestellt und diskutiert. Eine mögliche familiäre Disposition im Sinne eines Ehlers-Danlos-Syndroms Typ IV wird erörtert.
Virtual reality (VR) offers the opportunity to create virtual worlds that could replace real experiences. This research investigates the influence of user motivation, temporal distance and experience type on the satisfaction with the VR experience, and the degree of acceptance of a VR experience as a substitute for a real experience. The results suggest that the degree of acceptance of a VR experience as a substitute for a real experience is higher for passive VR experiences compared to active VR experiences. Furthermore, the results support the assumption that users are more satisfied with passive VR experiences.
Purpose: Participation and accessibility issues faced by gamers with multi-sensory disabilities are themes yet to be fully understood by accessible technology researchers. In this work, we examine the personal experiences and perceptions of individuals with deafblindness who play games despite their disability, as well as the reasons that lead some of them to stop playing games.
Materials and methods: We conducted 60 semi-structured interviews with individuals living with deafblindness in five European countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Greece and Sweden.
Results: Participants stated that reasons for playing games included them being a fun and entertaining hobby, for socialization and meeting others, or for occupying the mind. Reasons for stop playing games included essentially accessibility issues, followed by high cognitive demand, changes in gaming experience due their disability, financial reasons, or because the accessible version of a specific game was not considered as fun as the original one.
Conclusions: We identified that a considerable number of individuals with deafblindness enjoy playing casual mobile games such as Wordfeud and Sudoku as a pastime activity. Despite challenging accessibility issues, games provide meaningful social interactions to players with deafblindness. Finally, we introduce a set of user-driven recommendations for making digital games more accessible to players with a diverse combination of sensory abilities.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION
- Digital games were considered a fun and entertaining hobby by participants with deafblindness. Furthermore, participants play games for socialization and meeting others, or for occupying the mind.
- Digital games provide meaningful social interactions and past time to persons with deafblindness.
- On top of accessibility implications, our findings draw attention to the importance of the social element of gaming for persons with deafblindness.
- Based on interviews, we introduce a set of user-driven recommendations for making digital games more accessible to players with a diverse combination of sensory abilities.
Non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injuries typically occur during cutting maneuvers and are associated with high peak knee abduction moments (KAM) within early stance. To screen athletes for injury risk or quantify the efficacy of prevention programs, it may be necessary to design tasks that mimic game situations. Thus, this study compared KAMs and ranking consistency of female handball players in three sport-specific fake-and-cut tasks of increasing complexity. The biomechanics of female handball players (n = 51, mean ± SD: 66.9 ± 7.8 kg, 1.74 ± 0.06 m, 19.2 ± 3.4 years) were recorded with a 3D motion capture system and force plates during three standardized fake-and-cut tasks. Task 1 was designed as a simple pre-planned cut, task 2 included catching a ball before a pre-planned cut in front of a static defender, and task 3 was designed as an unanticipated cut with three dynamic defenders involved. Inverse dynamics were used to calculate peak KAM within the first 100 ms of stance. KAM was decomposed into the frontal plane knee joint moment arm and resultant ground reaction force. RANOVAs (α ≤ 0.05) were used to reveal differences in the KAM magnitudes, moment arm, and resultant ground reaction force for the three tasks. Spearman's rank correlations were calculated to test the ranking consistency of the athletes' KAMs. There was a significant task main effect on KAM (p = 0.02; ηp2 = 0.13). The KAM in the two complex tasks was significantly higher (task 2: 1.73 Nm/kg; task 3: 1.64 Nm/kg) than the KAM in the simplest task (task 1: 1.52 Nm/kg). The ranking of the peak KAM was consistent regardless of the task complexity. Comparing tasks 1 and 2, an increase in KAM resulted from an increased frontal plane moment arm. Comparing tasks 1 and 3, higher KAM in task 3 resulted from an interplay between both moment arm and the resultant ground reaction force. In contrast to previous studies, unanticipated cutting maneuvers did not produce the highest KAMs. These findings indicate that the players have developed an automated sport-specific cutting technique that is utilized in both pre-planned and unanticipated fake-and-cut tasks.
Lithium-ion batteries exhibit a well-known trade-off between energy and power, which is problematic for electric vehicles which require both high energy during discharge (high driving range) and high power during charge (fast-charge capability). We use two commercial lithium-ion cells (high-energy [HE] and high-power) to parameterize and validate physicochemical pseudo-two-dimensional models. In a systematic virtual design study, we vary electrode thicknesses, cell temperature, and the type of charging protocol. We are able to show that low anode potentials during charge, inducing lithium plating and cell aging, can be effectively avoided either by using high temperatures or by using a constant-current/constant-potential/constant-voltage charge protocol which includes a constant anode potential phase. We introduce and quantify a specific charging power as the ratio of discharged energy (at slow discharge) and required charging time (at a fast charge). This value is shown to exhibit a distinct optimum with respect to electrode thickness. At 35°C, the optimum was achieved using an HE electrode design, yielding 23.8 Wh/(min L) volumetric charging power at 15.2 min charging time (10% to 80% state of charge) and 517 Wh/L discharge energy density. By analyzing the various overpotential contributions, we were able to show that electrolyte transport losses are dominantly responsible for the insufficient charge and discharge performance of cells with very thick electrodes.
In this project, different calcification methods for collagen and collagen coatings were compared in terms of their applicability for 3D printing and production of collagen-coated scaffolds. For this purpose, scaffolds were printed from polycaprolactone PCL using the EnvisionTec 3D Bioplotter and then coated with collagen. Four different coating methods were then applied: hydroxyapatite (HA) powder directly in the collagen coating, incubation in 10× SBF, coating with alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and coating with poly-L-aspartic acid. The results were compared by ESEM, µCT, TEM, and EDX. HA directly in the collagen solution resulted in a pH change and thus an increase in viscosity, leading to clumping on the scaffolds. As a function of incubation time in 10× SBF as well as in ALP, HA layer thickness increased, while no coating on the collagen layer was apparently observed with poly-L-aspartic acid. Only ultrathin sections and TEM with SuperEDX detected nano crystalline HA in the collagen layer. Exclusively the incubation in poly-L-aspartic acid led to HA crystals within the collagen coating compared to all other methods where the HA layers formed in different forms only at the collagen layer.
The impact of the circular economy on sustainable development: A European panel data approach
(2022)
The circular economy (CE) has attracted considerable attention because of its potential to help achieve sustainable development (SD). This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the effect of the CE on the three dimensions of SD at the country level. We analysed the impact of each CE source of value (renewable energy, reuse, repair, recycling) and the influence of an overall factor-analysis-derived measure of the CE on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of SD. The aim was to compare the individual impacts and outcomes of the CE and its sources of value in a single study. Panel data analysis was performed using a sample of 25 European countries for the period 2010 to 2019. The findings show a major impact of the CE on achieving SD, which has positive
effects on the economy, environment and society. However, the results show that the impact of each CE value source on the three SD dimensions varies. While renewable energies and reuse reduce the impact on the environment, recycling has no effect, and repair increases GHG emissions. However, repair is the only CE source with a positive economic impact at the country level. Finally, renewable energy, repair and recycling reduce unemployment. Decision makers should conduct impact analysis to design suitable, efficient and targeted measures depending on each country's specific objectives.
The accurate diagnosis of state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) is of utmost importance for battery users and for battery manufacturers. State diagnosis is commonly based on measuring battery current and using it in Coulomb counters or as input for a current-controlled model. Here we introduce a new algorithm based on measuring battery voltage and using it as input for a voltage-controlled model. We demonstrate the algorithm using fresh and pre-aged lithium-ion battery single cells operated under well-defined laboratory conditions on full cycles, shallow cycles, and a dynamic battery electric vehicle load profile. We show that both SOC and SOH are accurately estimated using a simple equivalent circuit model. The new algorithm is self-calibrating, is robust with respect to cell aging, allows to estimate SOH from arbitrary load profiles, and is numerically simpler than state-of-the-art model-based methods.
In the last years, social robots have become a trending topic. Indeed, robots which communicate with us and mimic human behavior patterns are fascinating. However, while there is a massive body of research on their design and acceptance in different fields of application, their market potential has been rarely investigated. As their future integration in society may have a vast disruptive potential, this work aims at shedding light on the market potential, focusing on the assistive health domain. A study with 197 persons from Italy (age: M = 67.87; SD = 8.87) and Germany (age: M = 62.15; SD = 6.14) investigates cultural acceptance, desired functionalities, and purchase preferences. The participants filled in a questionnaire after watching a video illustrating some examples of social robots. Surprisingly, the individual perception of health status, social status as well as nationality did hardly influence the attitude towards social robots, although the German group was somewhat more reluctant to the idea of using them. Instead, there were significant correlations with most dimensions of the Almere model (like perceived enjoyment, sociability, usefulness and trustworthiness). Also, technology acceptance resulted strongly correlated with the individual readiness to invest money. However, as most persons consider social robots as “Assistive Technological Devices” (ATDs), they expected that their provision should mirror the usual practices followed in the two Countries for such devices. Thus, to facilitate social robots’ future visibility and adoption by both individuals and health care organisations, policy makers would need to start integrating them into official ATDs databases.
High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC), as the modern form of TLC (thin-layer chromatography), is suitable for detecting pharmaceutically active compounds over a wide polarity range using the gradient multiple development (GMD) technique. Diode-array detection (DAD) in conjunction with HPTLC can simultaneously acquire ultraviolet‒visible (UV‒VIS) and fluorescence spectra directly from the plate. Visualization as a contour plot helps to identify separated zones. An orange peel extract is used as an example to show how GMD‒DAD‒HPTLC in seven different developments with seven different solvents can provide an overview of the entire sample. More than 50 compounds in the extract can be separated on a 6-cm HPTLC plate. Such separations take place in the biologically inert stationary phase of HPTLC, making it a suitable method for effect-directed analysis (EDA). HPTLC‒EDA can even be performed with living organism, as confirmed by the use of Aliivibrio fischeri bacteria to detect bioluminescence as a measure of toxicity. The combining of gradient multiple development planar chromatography with diode-array detection and effect-directed analysis (GMD‒DAD‒HPTLC‒EDA) in conjunction with specific staining methods and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF‒MS) will be the method of choice to find new chemical structures from plant extracts that can serve as the basic structure for new pharmaceutically active compounds.
Industrial companies can use blockchain to assist them in resolving their trust and security issues. In this research, we provide a fully distributed blockchain-based architecture for industrial IoT, relying on trust management and reputation to enhance nodes’ trustworthiness. The purpose of this contribution is to introduce our system architecture to show how to secure network access for users with dynamic authorization management. All decisions in the system are made by trustful nodes’ consensus and are fully distributed. The remarkable feature of this system architecture is that the influence of the nodes’ power is lowered depending on their Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS), and the nodes’ significance and authority is determined by their behavior in the network.
This impact is based on game theory and an incentive mechanism for reputation between nodes. This system design can be used on legacy machines, which means that security and distributed systems
can be put in place at a low cost on industrial systems. While there are no numerical results yet, this work, based on the open questions regarding the majority problem and the proposed solutions based on a game-theoretic mechanism and a trust management system, points to what and how industrial IoT and existing blockchain frameworks that are focusing only on the power of PoW and PoS can be secured more effectively.
Background: Running overuse injuries (ROIs) occur within a complex, partly injury-specific interplay between training loads and extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors. Biomechanical risk factors (BRFs) are related to the individual running style. While BRFs have been reviewed regarding general ROI risk, no systematic review has addressed BRFs for specific ROIs using a standardized methodology.
Objective: To identify and evaluate the evidence for the most relevant BRFs for ROIs determined during running and to
suggest future research directions.
Design: Systematic review considering prospective and retrospective studies. (PROSPERO_ID: 236,832).
Data Sources: PubMed. Connected Papers. The search was performed in February 2021.
Eligibility Criteria: English language. Studies on participants whose primary sport is running addressing the risk for the seven most common ROIs and at least one kinematic, kinetic (including pressure measurements), or electromyographic BRF. A BRF needed to be identified in at least one prospective or two independent retrospective studies. BRFs needed to be determined during running.
Results: Sixty-six articles fulfilled our eligibility criteria. Levels of evidence for specific ROIs ranged from conflicting to moderate evidence. Running populations and methods applied varied considerably between studies. While some BRFs appeared for several ROIs, most BRFs were specific for a particular ROI. Most BRFs derived from lower-extremity joint kinematics and kinetics were located in the frontal and transverse planes of motion. Further, plantar pressure, vertical ground reaction force loading rate and free moment-related parameters were identified as kinetic BRFs.
Conclusion: This study offers a comprehensive overview of BRFs for the most common ROIs, which might serve as a starting point to develop ROI-specific risk profiles of individual runners. We identified limited evidence for most ROI-specific risk factors, highlighting the need for performing further high-quality studies in the future. However, consensus on data collection standards (including the quantification of workload and stress tolerance variables and the reporting of injuries) is warranted.
The use of biochar is an important tool to improve soil fertility, reduce the negative environmental impacts of agriculture, and build up terrestrial carbon sinks. However, crop yield increases by biochar amendment were not shown consistently for fertile soils under temperate climate. Recent studies show that biochar is more likely to increase crop yields when applied in combination with nutrients to prepare biochar-based fertilizers. Here, we focused on the root-zone amendment of biochar combined with mineral fertilizers in a greenhouse trial with white cabbage (Brassica oleracea convar. Capitata var. Alba) cultivated in a nutrient-rich silt loam soil originating from the temperate climate zone (Bavaria, Germany). Biochar was applied at a low dosage (1.3 t ha−1). The biochar was placed either as a concentrated hotspot below the seedling or it was mixed into the soil in the root zone representing a mixture of biochar and soil in the planting basin. The nitrogen fertilizer (ammonium nitrate or urea) was either applied on the soil surface or loaded onto the biochar representing a nitrogen-enhanced biochar. On average, a 12% yield increase in dry cabbage heads was achieved with biochar plus fertilizer compared to the fertilized control without biochar. Most consistent positive yield responses were observed with a hotspot root-zone application of nitrogen-enhanced biochar, showing a maximum 21% dry cabbage-head yield increase. Belowground biomass and root-architecture suggested a decrease in the fine root content in these treatments compared to treatments without biochar and with soil-mixed biochar. We conclude that the hotspot amendment of a nitrogen-enhanced biochar in the root zone can optimize the growth of white cabbage by providing a nutrient depot in close proximity to the plant, enabling efficient nutrient supply. The amendment of low doses in the root zone of annual crops could become an economically interesting application option for biochar in the temperate climate zone.
BACKGROUND
Various neutral and alkaline peptidases are commercially available for use in protein hydrolysis under neutral to alkaline conditions. However, the hydrolysis of proteins under acidic conditions by applying fungal aspartic peptidases (FAPs) has not been investigated in depth so far. The aim of this study, thus, was to purify a FAP from the commercial enzyme preparation, ROHALASE® BXL, determine its biochemical characteristics, and investigate its application for the hydrolysis of food and animal feed proteins under acidic conditions.
RESULTS
A Trichoderma reesei derived FAP, with an apparent molecular mass of 45.8 kDa (sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; SDS-PAGE) was purified 13.8-fold with a yield of 37% from ROHALASE® BXL. The FAP was identified as an aspartate protease (UniProt ID: G0R8T0) by inhibition and nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS studies. The FAP showed the highest activity at 50°C and pH 4.0. Monovalent cations, organic solvents, and reducing agents were tolerated well by the FAP. The FAP underwent an apparent competitive product inhibition by soy protein hydrolysate and whey protein hydrolysate with apparent Ki-values of 1.75 and 30.2 mg*mL−1, respectively. The FAP showed promising results in food (soy protein isolate and whey protein isolate) and animal feed protein hydrolyses. For the latter, an increase in the soluble protein content of 109% was noted after 30 min.
CONCLUSION
Our results demonstrate the applicability of fungal aspartic endopeptidases in the food and animal feed industry. Efficient protein hydrolysis of industrially relevant substrates such as acidic whey or animal feed proteins could be conducted by applying fungal aspartic peptidases. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures are frequent in the age group of 15–19 years, particularly for female athletes. Although injury-prevention programs effectively reduce severe knee injuries, little is known about the underlying mechanisms and changes of biomechanical risk factors. Thus, this study analyzes the effects of a neuromuscular injury-prevention program on biomechanical parameters associated with ACL injuries in elite youth female handball players. In a nonrandomized, controlled intervention study, 19 players allocated to control (n = 12) and intervention (n = 7) group were investigated for single- and double-leg landings as well as unanticipated side-cutting maneuvers before and after a 12-week study period. The lower-extremity motion of the athletes was captured using a three-dimensional motion capture system consisting of 12 infrared cameras. A lower-body marker set of 40 markers together with a rigid body model, including a forefoot, rearfoot, shank, thigh, and pelvis segment in combination with two force plates was used to determine knee joint angles, resultant external joint moments, and vertical ground reaction forces. The two groups did not differ significantly during pretesting. Only the intervention group showed significant improvements in the initial knee abduction angle during single leg landing (p = 0.038: d = 0.518), knee flexion moment during double-leg landings (p = 0.011; d = −1.086), knee abduction moment during single (p = 0.036; d = 0.585) and double-leg landing (p = 0.006; d = 0.944) and side-cutting (p = 0.015;d = 0.561) as well as vertical ground reaction force during double-leg landing (p = 0.004; d = 1.482). Control group demonstrated no significant changes in kinematics and kinetics. However, at postintervention both groups were not significantly different in any of the biomechanical outcomes except for the normalized knee flexion moment of the dominant leg during single-leg landing. This study provides first indications that the implementation of a training intervention with specific neuromuscular exercises has positive impacts on biomechanical risk factors associated with ACL injury risk and, therefore, may help prevent severe knee injuries in elite youth female handball players.
Aerosol particles play an important role in the climate system by absorbing and scattering radiation and influencing cloud properties. They are also one of the biggest sources of uncertainty for climate modeling. Many climate models do not include aerosols in sufficient detail due to computational constraints. To represent key processes, aerosol microphysical properties and processes have to be accounted for. This is done in the ECHAM-HAM (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast-Hamburg-Hamburg) global climate aerosol model using the M7 microphysics, but high computational costs make it very expensive to run with finer resolution or for a longer time. We aim to use machine learning to emulate the microphysics model at sufficient accuracy and reduce the computational cost by being fast at inference time. The original M7 model is used to generate data of input–output pairs to train a neural network (NN) on it. We are able to learn the variables’ tendencies achieving an average R² score of 77.1%. We further explore methods to inform and constrain the NN with physical knowledge to reduce mass violation and enforce mass positivity. On a Graphics processing unit (GPU), we achieve a speed-up of up to over 64 times faster when compared to the original model.
Background: Many countries have restricted public life in order to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2). As a side effect of related measures, physical activity (PA) levels may have decreased.
Objective: We aimed (1) to quantify changes in PA and (2) to identify variables potentially predicting PA reductions.
Methods: A systematic review with random-effects multilevel meta-analysis was performed, pooling the standardized mean differences in PA measures before and during public life restrictions.
Results: A total of 173 trials with moderate methodological quality (modified Downs and Black checklist) were identified. Compared to pre-pandemic, total PA (SMD − 0.65, 95% CI − 1.10 to − 0.21) and walking (SMD − 0.52, 95% CI − 0.29 to − 0.76) decreased while sedentary behavior increased (SMD 0.91, 95% CI: 0.17 to 1.65). Reductions in PA affected all intensities (light: SMD − 0.35, 95% CI − 0.09 to − 0.61, p = .013; moderate: SMD − 0.33, 95% CI − 0.02 to − 0.6; vigorous: SMD − 0.33, − 0.08 to − 0.58, 95% CI − 0.08 to − 0.58) to a similar degree. Moderator analyses revealed no influence of variables such as sex, age, body mass index, or health status. However, the only continent without a PA reduction was Australia and cross-sectional trials yielded higher effect sizes (p < .05).
Conclusion: Public life restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in moderate reductions in PA levels and large increases in sedentary behavior. Health professionals and policy makers should therefore join forces to develop strategies counteracting the adverse effects of inactivity.
Die Optimierung der Auftragsterminierung und Einsteuerungsreihenfolge hat großen Einfluss auf die Produktivität von Fertigungssystemen. Genetische Algorithmen und Simulation sind verbreitete Werkzeuge zur Optimierung. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt einen neuen Ansatz zur Optimierung durch einen genetischen Algorithmus und der Simulation in dynamischen Modellen. Eine illustrative Fallstudie validiert den Ansatz und zeigt das Potenzial zur ganzheitlichen Verbesserung von Fertigungssystemen auf.