cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Milk Curd Obstruction in Human Milk-Fed Preterm Infants
Creators: name: Longardt, Ann Carolin
name: Loui, Andrea
name: Bührer, Christoph
name: Berns, Monika
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Milk curd obstruction
subject: Neonate
subject: Protein
subject: Intestinal obstruction
subject: Fortified breast milk
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Background: Milk curd obstruction as a cause of intestinal obstruction has been known since 1959, but has nearly disappeared. However, in recent years it has experienced a revival in small premature infants. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of milk curd obstruction (lactobezoar) in preterm infants. Methods: Data of preterm infants with milk curd obstruction cared for at a large tertiary neonatal intensive care unit between 2012 and 2016 were retrieved from the electronic registry and paper records. Results: A total of 10 infants (2 girls, 8 boys) were identified: the median birth weight was 595 g (range 270-922), gestational age was 24.4 weeks (23.4-27.0), weight-for-gestational age percentile was 16 (0-62), and age at diagnosis was 28 days (16-64). Five infants (50%) were small for gestational age. All neonates had received fortified human milk (added protein 2.0 g/100 mL, range 0-2.8; added calcium 2,400 μmol/100 mL, range 0-6 844; added phosphate 2,400 μmol/100 mL, range 0-5,178). Seven neonates underwent surgery, and 2 infants died. Hyperechoic masses in extended bowel loops, visualised by abdominal ultrasound, and pale/acholic faeces were hallmarks of milk curd obstruction. Conclusions: In this study, milk curd obstruction occurred exclusively in infants with a birth weight < 1,000 g (2.2%) and <28 weeks' gestational age (2.4%). Male and small for gestational age infants appeared to be at increased risk. Paying attention to the colour of the faeces of infants at risk might help to diagnose milk curd obstruction at an early stage.
Scaling Properties of Weakly Self-Avoiding Fractional Brownian Motion in One Dimension
Creators: name: Bock, Wolfgang
name: Bornales, Jinky
name: Cabahug, Cresente
name: Eleutério, Samuel
name: Streit, Ludwig
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Computational Physics (physics.comp-ph)
subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We use an off-lattice discretization of fractional Brownian motion and a Metropolis Algorithm to determine the asymptotic scaling of this discretized fractional Brownian motion under the influence of an excluded volume as in the Edwards and Domb-Joyce models. We find a good agreement between the Flory index describing the scaling of end-to-end length with a mean field formula proposed earlier for this class of models.
Evaluating Substrate Rehabilitation Techniques for Bottom Culture of the Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) in Chesapeake Bay
Creators: name: Long, Jessie Todd
Publisher: name: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Biology
subject: Environmental studies
subject: aquaculture
subject: Chesapeake Bay
subject: harrow
subject: oysters
subject: rehabilitation
subject: substrate

description: The degradation of Chesapeake Bay bottom conditions and oyster beds over the past century from habitat destruction, overharvesting, disease, and sedimentation have resulted in many areas that are detrimental for healthy oyster populations. In leased oyster aquaculture areas, unsuitable bottom characteristics result in suboptimal survival. Although the addition of oyster shell as substrate has been a common practice for building new oyster beds, the current high cost and lack of available shell can make this approach impractical. The goal of this study was to measure the effects of new and traditional bottom rehabilitation techniques (harrowing and shell addition) on oyster survival and growth on three distinct bottom types. The data revealed that treatments, whether singularly or in combination, were insignificant in respect to oyster size and survival across all bottom types. However, the observed bottom type had a significant effect on the percentage of oyster survival.
Application of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Psychiatry
Creators: name: Herrera-Melendez, Ana-Lucia
name: Bajbouj, Malek
name: Aust, Sabine
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Major depressive disorder
subject: Psychiatry
subject: Transcranial direct current stimulation
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulation technique, which noninvasively alters cortical excitability via weak polarizing currents between two electrodes placed on the scalp. Since it is comparably easy to handle, cheap to use and relatively well tolerated, tDCS has gained increasing interest in recent years. Based on well-known behavioral effects, a number of clinical studies have been performed in populations including patients with major depressive disorder followed by schizophrenia and substance use disorders, in sum with heterogeneous results with respect to efficacy. Nevertheless, the potential of tDCS must not be underestimated since it could be further improved by systematically investigating the various stimulation parameters to eventually increase clinical efficacy. The present article briefly explains the underlying physiology of tDCS, summarizes typical stimulation protocols and then reviews clinical efficacy for various psychiatric disorders as well as prevalent adverse effects. Future developments include combined and more complex interactions of tDCS with pharmacological or psychotherapeutic interventions. In particular, using computational models to individualize stimulation protocols, considering state dependency and applying closed-loop technologies will pave the way for tDCS-based personalized interventions as well as the development of home treatment settings promoting the role of tDCS as an effective treatment option for patients with mental health problems.
GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF COMPOST AMENDED TOPSOILS FOR USE ON HIGHWAY SLOPES
Creators: name: Duzgun, Ahmet Okan
Publisher: name: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Civil engineering
subject: FOS: Civil engineering

description: The amounts of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated in the U.S. increase every year, and about 30% of MSW generated is either recyclable or compostable. Utilization of compost-amended topsoils as a vegetative growth layer on highway slopes contributes to large volume beneficial reuse of these materials. This study examines the shear and hydraulic properties of two types of composts, biosolids and leaf compost, and their blends with a topsoil. Direct shear and consolidated-undrained (CU) triaxial compression tests were performed to obtain the shear strength parameters, which were then used to analyze the highway slope stability. Flexible-wall hydraulic conductivity tests and unsaturated hydraulic tests were performed to evaluate the saturated and unsaturated hydraulic behavior of the materials, respectively. Compost addition resulted in an increase in effective friction angle, whereas modest changes were observed in effective cohesion, total cohesion and total friction angle of topsoil. No significant change was observed on factors of safety of highway slopes by compost treatment, under both saturated and unsaturated conditions. Two shape parameters determined via digital image analysis, angularity and form 2D, correlated well with the measured effective friction angles of the materials tested. Compost treatment resulted in an increase in saturated hydraulic conductivity and the plant-available water content. Unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of all materials were comparable at the matric potential of field capacity (10 kPa), and the compost-amended topsoils experienced 1-3 orders of decrease in their unsaturated hydraulic conductivities during the drying process.
Orientierungspunkte für sparsamen Gasverbrauch bei Warmwasser
Creators: name: Ehmler, Hartmut
name: Urban, Ute
name: Huber, Michael
name: Hoffmann, Rana
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023

description: Ableitung von Kriterien, wie viel Energieverbrauch (pro Kopf) für die Erzeugung von Trinkwarmwasser als sparsam anzusehen ist
PREDICTING WIND PRESSURE ON LOWRISE BUILDINGS WITH PROTECTIVE PARAPETS USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS
Creators: name: Wang, Yanan
Publisher: name: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Civil engineering
subject: FOS: Civil engineering
subject: artificial neural network
subject: backpropagation
subject: low rise building
subject: pressure coefficients

description: Wind hazards cause tremendous destruction and threaten people’s safety and economical losses. To improve current provision toward wind load and strengthen buildings against wind forces, it’s vital to properly characterize wind loading on buildings in wind hazard. The turbulence created by the bluff body makes analytical modeling difficult. Therefore, engineers typically turn to wind tunnel tests. This thesis investigates the application of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to predict the wind pressure on low-rise buildings with protective parapets. With existing experimental datasets conducted in BLWT, ANN models were trained to model non-linear relationship between inputs, such as tap coordinates and parapet height, and outputs, such as pressure coefficients. The developed model was used to predict pressure coefficients with unseen parapet height to cut down experimental cost.
Substance Use and Prevention Programs in Berlin's Party Scene: Results of the SuPrA-Study
Creators: name: Betzler, Felix
name: Ernst, Felicitas
name: Helbig, Jonas
name: Viohl, Leonard
name: Roediger, Lukas
name: Meister, Sarah
name: Romanczuk-Seiferth, Nina
name: Heinz, Andreas
name: Ströhle, Andreas
name: Köhler, Stephan
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Nightlife
subject: Berlin
subject: Drugs
subject: Drug checking
subject: Clubs
subject: Party scene
subject: Substance use
subject: Prevention
subject: Party drugs
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Background: Berlin is internationally known for its nightlife. In a nation-wide and Europe-wide comparison, the use of legal and illegal substances is comparatively higher in Berlin than in other similar cities. However, few data exist about the drug use in the party scene. Objective: This study aims to assess the sociodemographic characteristics of Berlin's party scene and its patterns of substance use as well as expectations towards prevention in order to derive appropriate preventive measures. Methods: Using questionnaires, both online (n = 674) and in the field (n = 203), a total of 877 people of the Berlin party scene were interviewed. The questionnaires ascertained the demographic information of the participants and patterns of substance use in the scene. It also collected the demand for consulting services and personal assessments on the usefulness of prospective and existing prevention programs and offers. Results: The study participants were 29 years old (SD 7.5); 43% were female. Alcohol is the most common substance in the party scene, followed by cannabis, MDMA/Ecstasy, amphetamine, cocaine, and ketamine. In this particular cohort, methamphetamine and legal highs did not play a major role. The most demanded preventive measure was more education about drugs and the so called drug-checking. Conclusions: Prevention in this area is both needed and requested, and an expansion of the existing programs (e.g., by so far politically controversial drug-checking) should be considered.
OPTIMIZING PHASED DEVELOPMENT OF A PRE-DESIGNED RAIL TRANSIT LINE
Creators: name: Wu, Fei
Publisher: name: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Civil engineering
subject: FOS: Civil engineering
subject: Transportation

description: A novel model is developed for optimizing the phased development of a pre-designed rail transit line. The investment plan and extension phases of the line are optimized over continuous time and under budget constraints to maximize net present value (NPV) over an analysis period. This model determines the maximal allowable train headway while considering demand elasticity. This model is first formulated for a one-directional extension problem, and then modified for its two-directional version. A genetic algorithm with customized operators is developed for optimizing the sequence and grouping of station completions. For each problem version the model is demonstrated with a numerical case and its corresponding optimized solution. The sensitivity of results to several important input parameters is analyzed. Results show that potential demand and in-vehicle time value greatly influence the optimized NPV, while unit construction cost and potential demand are most influential on the optimized extension plan.
Atopic Patients Show Increased Interleukin 4 Plasma Levels but the Degree of Elevation Is Not Sufficient to Upregulate Interleukin-4-Sensitive Genes
Creators: name: Marbach-Breitrück, Eugenia
name: Kalledat, Andrea
name: Heydeck, Dagmar
name: Stehling, Sabine
name: Fluhr, Joachim W.
name: Zuberbier, Torsten
name: Kuhn, Hartmut
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Atopic diseases
subject: Interleukins
subject: Lipid mediators
subject: Lipoxygenases
subject: Monocytes
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Background: Atopic diseases constitute a major health challenge for industrialized countries, and elevated levels of interleukin 4 (IL-4) frequently characterize these disorders. Previous in vitro analyses have indicated that IL-4 strongly upregulates the expression of IL-4-sensitive genes in human monocytes. Objective: To explore whether similar expression alterations may contribute to the pathomechanisms of atopic diseases in vivo we carried out a small-scale case-control clinical study (n = 43), in which we quantified the plasma levels of IgE and IL-4 as well as the expression of selected IL4- sensitive genes in blood leukocytes. Methods: 34 allergic patients suffering from allergic rhinitis (n = 11), atopic eczema (n = 11) and allergic asthma (n = 12) as well as 9 healthy control individuals were recruited. IgE and IL-4 plasma levels were determined by ELISA, and the expression of selected IL-4-sensitive gene products in blood leukocytes was quanti-fied by qRT-PCR. In addition, the fatty acid oxygenase activity of isolated monocytes was measured by RP-HPLC analysis of the arachidonic acid oxygenation products (ex vivo activity assays). Results: We found that plasma levels of IgE and IL-4 were significantly elevated in atopic patients but the degree of elevation was not sufficient to upregulate the expression of the selected IL-4-sensitive genes in circulating leukocytes. Moreover, the arachidonic acid oxygenase activity of blood monocytes was not significantly altered in atopic patients. Conclusion: Our data suggest that the IL-4 plasma levels of atopic patients are not high enough to impact the expression of IL-4-sensitive genes.
A power-law decay model with autocorrelation for posting data to social networking services
Creators: name: Fujiyama, Toshifumi
name: Matsui, Chihiro
name: Takemura, Akimichi
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Statistics Theory (math.ST)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 62M10

description: We propose a power-law decay model with autocorrelation for posting data to social networking services concerning particular events such as national holidays or major sport events. In these kinds of events we observe people's interest both before and after the events. In our model the number of postings has a Poisson distribution whose expected value decays as a power law. Our model also incorporates autocorrelations by autoregressive specification of the expected value. We show that our proposed model well fits the data from social networking services.
Pressure-Induced Enhancement of the Magnetic Anisotropy in Mn(N(CN)$_{2}$)$_{2}$
Creators: name: Quintero, P. A.
name: Rajan, D.
name: Peprah, M. K.
name: Brinzari, T. V.
name: Fishman, R. S.
name: Talham, D. R.
name: Meisel, M. W.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Using dc and ac magnetometry, the pressure dependence of the magnetization of the three-dimensional antiferromagnetic coordination polymer Mn(N(CN)$_{2}$)$_{2}$ was studied up to 12 kbar and down to 8K. The magnetic transition temperature, $T_c$, increases dramatically with applied pressure $(P)$, where a change from $T_c(P=\text{ambient}) = 16.0$ K to $T_c(P=12.1$~kbar$) = 23.5$ K was observed. In addition, a marked difference in the magnetic behavior is observed above and below 7.1 kbar. Specifically, for $P<7.1$ kbar, the differences between the field-cooled and zero-field-cooled (fc-zfc) magnetizations, the coercive field, and the remanent magnetization decrease with increasing pressure. However, for $P>7.1$ kbar, the behavior is inverted. Additionally, for $P>8.6$ kbar, minor hysteresis loops are observed. All of these effects are evidence of the increase of the superexchange interaction and the appearance of an enhanced exchange anisotropy with applied pressure.
description: 9 pages, 7 figures, with 7 additional figures as Supplemental Material
RELIABILITY-BASED MODELING FOR MISSOURI RIVER DAM SYSTEM
Creators: name: Ma, Zihui
Publisher: name: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Civil engineering
subject: FOS: Civil engineering
subject: Dam system
subject: Reliability

description: Recently, the dam failure types shift from traditional causes (such as system nature of incidents) to operational risk. These failures occur because of unforeseen combinations of usual conditions. Since the operational components have complex internal and external interactions, we take them into an integrated system. Moreover, the Monte-Carlo simulation method was applied to develop a reliability-based model to study the system performance. Our approach incorporates different sources of uncertainty, including failure probability of components such as turbines and spillway gate facilities. This model allowed us to evaluate the reliability and availability of the system. The system reliability analysis helps us understand the relationship between failure modes and safety decisions made. In further, the model also allows experimenting on operational strategies as well as maintenance guidelines. This thesis presents the framework we have developed and illustrated the results and analysis of our application in the Missouri River mainstem reservoir system. In addition, four scenarios which Corps engineers are going to consider, have been applied to explicit the impacts of modeling system with different maintenance strategies. Besides, we used the stochastic time-series inflow instead of our historical data to evaluate the system performance.
Stochastic Noncircular Motion and Outflows Driven by Magnetic Activity in the Galactic Bulge Region
Creators: name: Suzuki, Takeru K.
name: Fukui, Yasuo
name: Torii, Kazufumi
name: Machida, Mami
name: Matsumoto, Ryoji
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: By performing a global magneto-hydrodynamical simulation for the Milky Way with an axisymmetric gravitational potential, we propose that spatially dependent amplification of magnetic fields possibly explains the observed noncircular motion of the gas in the Galactic center region. The radial distribution of the rotation frequency in the bulge region is not monotonic in general. The amplification of the magnetic field is enhanced in regions with stronger differential rotation, because magnetorotational instability and field-line stretching are more effective. The strength of the amplified magnetic field reaches >~ 0.5 mG, and radial flows of the gas are excited by the inhomogeneous transport of angular momentum through turbulent magnetic field that is amplified in a spatially dependent manner. In addition, the magnetic pressure-gradient force also drives radial flows in a similar manner. As a result, the simulated position-velocity diagram exhibits a time-dependent asymmetric parallelogram-shape owing to the intermittency of the magnetic turbulence; the present model provides a viable alternative to the bar-potential-driven model for the parallelogram-shape of the central molecular zone. This is a natural extension into the central few 100 pc of the magnetic activity, which is observed as molecular loops at radii from a few 100 pc to 1 kpc. Furthermore, the time-averaged net gas flow is directed outward, whereas the flows are highly time-dependent, which we discuss from a viewpoint of the outflow from the bulge.
description: 12 pages, 13 figures, MNRAS in press
Restoration Space: Designing for Improved Workplace Culture and Health
Creators: name: Knoebel, Adam Thomas
Publisher: name: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Architecture
subject: FOS: Civil engineering
subject: Culture
subject: Depression
subject: Workplace

description: Depression, as the leading cause of disability in the United States among people ages 15 - 44 and the top workplace issue. The goal of this thesis is to explore and identify strategies for designing for depression in the workplace. It aims to develop further the relationship between the built environment and the process of managing the vast symptoms and causes of workplace depression, stress, and anxiety. The goal will be to create spaces that encourage connection to nature, sensory comfort, physical wellness, and building social relations as a part of the solution. By understanding the difficulty of depression in the workplace and how those with depression react to their surroundings this thesis aims to design for health, engagement, and happiness.
Stroke Factors Associated with Thrombolysis Use in Hospitals in Singapore and US: A Cross-Registry Comparative Study
Creators: name: Ng, Sheryl Hui-Xian
name: Wong, Alex W. K.
name: Chen, Cynthia Huijun
name: Tan, Chuen Seng
name: Müller-Riemenschneider, Falk
name: Chan, Bernard P. L.
name: Baum, M. Carolyn
name: Lee, Jin-Moo
name: Venketasubramanian, Narayanaswamy
name: Koh, Gerald Choon-Huat
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Stroke
subject: Thrombolysis
subject: Treatment
subject: International comparison
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Background and Objectives: This paper aims to describe and compare the characteristics of 2 stroke populations in Singapore and in St. Louis, USA, and to document thrombolysis rates and contrast factors associated with its uptake in both populations. Methods: The stroke populations described were from the Singapore Stroke Registry (SSR) in -Singapore and the Cognitive Rehabilitation Research Group Stroke Registry (CRRGSR) in St. Louis, MO, USA. The registries were compared in terms of demographics and stroke risk factor history. Logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with thrombolysis uptake. Results: A total of 39,323 and 8,106 episodes were recorded in SSR and CRRGSR, respectively, from 2005 to 2012. Compared to CRRGSR, patients in SSR were older, male, and from the ethnic majority. Thrombolysis rates in SSR and CRRGSR were 2.5 and 8.2%, respectively, for the study period. History of ischemic heart disease or atrial fibrillation was associated with increased uptake in both populations, while history of stroke was associated with lower uptake. For SSR, younger age and males were associated with increased uptake, while having a history of smoking or diabetes was associated with decreased uptake. For CRRGSR, ethnic minority status was associated with decreased uptake. Conclusions: The comparison of stroke populations in Singapore and St Louis revealed distinct differences in clinicodemographics of the 2 groups. Thrombolysis uptake was driven by nonethnicity demographics in Singapore. Ethnicity was the only demographic driver of uptake in the CRRGSR population, highlighting the need to target ethnic minorities in increasing access to thrombolysis.
Cascaded Brillouin lasing in monolithic barium fluoride whispering gallery mode resonators
Creators: name: Lin, Guoping
name: Diallo, Souleymane
name: Saleh, Khaldoun
name: Martinenghi, Romain
name: Beugnot, Jean-Charles
name: Sylvestre, Thibaut
name: Chembo, Yanne K.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report the observation of stimulated Brillouin scattering and lasing at 1550~nm in barium fluoride (BaF$_2$) crystal. Brillouin lasing was achieved with ultra-high quality ($Q$) factor monolithic whispering gallery mode (WGM) mm-size disk resonators. Overmoded resonators were specifically used to provide cavity resonances for both the pump and all Brillouin Stokes waves. Single and multiple Brillouin Stokes radiations with frequency shift ranging from $8.2$ GHz up to $49$ GHz have been generated through cascaded Brillouin lasing. BaF$_2$ resonator-based Brillouin lasing can find potential applications for high-coherence lasers and microwave photonics.
Coupled spin-charge order in frustrated itinerant triangular magnets
Creators: name: Reja, Sahinur
name: Ray, Rajyavardhan
name: Brink, Jeroen van den
name: Kumar, Sanjeev
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2014
Subjects: subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We uncover four new spin-charge ordered ground states in the strong coupling limit of the Kondo lattice model on triangular geometry. Two of the states at one-third electronic filling ($n=1/3$) consist of decorated ferromagnetic chains coupled antiferromagnetically with the neighboring chains. The third magnetic ground state is noncollinear, consisting of antiferromagnetic chains separated by a pair of canted ferromagnetic chains. An even more unusual magnetic ground state, a variant of the $120^{\circ}$ Yafet-Kittel phase, is discovered at $n=2/3$. These magnetic orders are stabilized by opening a gap in the electronic spectrum: a "band effect". All the phases support modulations in the electronic charge density due to the presence of magnetically inequivalent sites. In particular, the charge ordering pattern found at $n=2/3$ is observed in various triangular lattice systems, such as, 2H-AgNiO$_2$, 3R-AgNiO$_2$ and Na$_x$CoO$_2$.
description: 5 pages, 4 figures
Possible Digenic Disease in a Caucasian Family with COL4A3 and COL4A5 Mutations
Creators: name: Choi, Mira
name: Anistan, Yoland-Marie
name: Eckardt, Kai-Uwe
name: Gollasch, Maik
name: Nickel, Peter
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: COL4A3
subject: COL4A5
subject: Alport syndrome
subject: Digenic inheritance
subject: Familial hematuria
subject: Genetic diseases
subject: Thin basement membrane
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: Microscopic hematuria is a common feature of patients with Alport syndrome, a familial nephropathy due to mutations in COL4A3, COL4A4 or COL4A5. These genes encode for α3, α4, and α5 type IV collagen polypeptide chains (collagen IV α345), crucial for the structural component of the glomerular basement membrane. Even patients with mild phenotype, namely isolated microhematuria (X-linked females with thin basement membrane on electron microscopy or heterozygous carriers of COL4A3 or COL4A4 mutations), can potentially progress to proteinuria and to end-stage renal disease. Recent pedigree analyses provided evidence for digenic inheritance of Alport syndrome by concomitant mutations in COL4A3/COL4A4 or COL4A4/COL4A5. We describe a Caucasian family with concomitant COL4A3 and COL4A5 mutations, consisting of a novel c.4484A>G COL4A3 (p.Gln1495Arg) mutation and a previously reported c.1871G>A COL4A5 (p.Gly624Asp) mutation. Our segregation analysis raises the possibility that Alport syndrome resembles also digenic inheritance by COL4A3/COL4A5.
Fermi level depinning via insertion of a graphene buffer layer at the gold-2D tin monoxide contact
Creators: name: Tian, Yujia
name: Kripalani, Devesh R.
name: Xue, Ming
name: Zhou, Kun
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Two-dimensional (2D) tin monoxide (SnO) has attracted much attention owing to its distinctive electronic and optical properties, which render itself suitable as a channel material in field effect transistors (FETs). However, upon contact with metals for such applications, the Fermi level pinning effect may occur, where states are induced in its band gap by the metal, hindering its intrinsic semiconducting properties. We propose the insertion of graphene at the contact interface to alleviate the metal-induced gap states. By using gold (Au) as the electrode material and monolayer SnO (mSnO) as the channel material, the geometry, bonding strength, charge transfer and tunnel barriers of charges, and electronic properties including the work function, band structure, density of states, and Schottky barriers are thoroughly investigated using first-principles calculations for the structures with and without graphene to reveal the contact behaviours and Fermi level depinning mechanism. It has been demonstrated that strong covalent bonding is formed between gold and mSnO, while the graphene interlayer forms weak van der Waals interaction with both materials, which minimises the perturbance to the band structure of mSnO. The effects of out-of-plane compression are also analysed to assess the performance of the contact under mechanical deformation, and a feasible fabrication route for the heterostructure with graphene is proposed. This work systematically explores the properties of the Au-mSnO contact for applications in FETs and provides thorough guidance for future exploitation of 2D materials in various electronic applications and for selection of buffer layers to improve metal-semiconductor contact.
description: 11 figures, published in 2D Materials
THE ECONOMIC EFFECT OF COMMUNITY MANAGED OPEN SPACES ON RESIDENTIAL HOUSE SALE PRICES IN THE CITY OF BALTIMORE, MD
Creators: name: Russell, Sherry Lynn
Publisher: name: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Landscape architecture
subject: Urban planning
subject: Environmental justice
subject: CMOS
subject: Community Managed Open Spaces
subject: Economic impact
subject: Parks
subject: Proximity
subject: Vacant land

description: The value of open space is a fundamental issue in landscape architecture. In post-industrial cities, population decline and low land demand have led to a large amount of vacant land. A small percentage of this land is being transformed by community groups into Community Managed Open Spaces (CMOSs). This research paper investigated the effect of parks and CMOSs on residential house sale prices in Baltimore, MD using a hierarchical regression analysis after controlling for property features and neighborhood social, economic and crime information. This study found CMOSs had a positive economic effect on house sale prices, adding 2.7% to properties sold within a quarter mile. These results provide evidence to support CMOSs as an alternative path for communities and planners to manage vacant urban land and the importance of public investment in these types of spaces.
Global coherence of quantum evolutions based on decoherent histories: theory and application to photosynthetic quantum energy transport
Creators: name: Allegra, Michele
name: Giorda, Paolo
name: Lloyd, Seth
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Assessing the role of interference in natural and artificial quantum dyanamical processes is a crucial task in quantum information theory. To this aim, an appopriate formalism is provided by the decoherent histories framework. While this approach has been deeply explored from different theoretical perspectives, it still lacks of a comprehensive set of tools able to concisely quantify the amount of coherence developed by a given dynamics. In this paper we introduce and test different measures of the (average) coherence present in dissipative (Markovian) quantum evolutions, at various time scales and for different levels of environmentally induced decoherence. In order to show the effectiveness of the introduced tools, we apply them to a paradigmatic quantum process where the role of coherence is being hotly debated: exciton transport in photosynthetic complexes. To spot out the essential features that may determine the performance of the transport we focus on a relevant trimeric subunit of the FMO complex and we use a simplified (Haken-Strobl) model for the system-bath interaction. Our analysis illustrates how the high efficiency of environmentally assisted transport can be traced back to a quantum recoil avoiding effect on the exciton dynamics, that preserves and sustains the benefits of the initial fast quantum delocalization of the exciton over the network. Indeed, for intermediate levels of decoherence, the bath is seen to selectively kill the negative interference between different exciton pathways, while retaining the initial positive one. The concepts and tools here developed show how the decoherent histories approach can be used to quantify the relation between coherence and efficiency in quantum dynamical processes.
description: 13 papges, 9 figures
Re-thinking Residence: How to Mass Produce Diversity?
Creators: name: Ahmed, Mansoor
Publisher: name: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Architecture
subject: FOS: Civil engineering
subject: Architecture
subject: Housing
subject: Lahore
subject: Modular
subject: Prefabrication

description: Due to shortage of housing, Pakistan has launched a project to build five million new dwellings within the next 5 years, through public-private partnerships. Currently, in Pakistan, only 0.3 million units are built in one year and this project would increase that number drastically, greatly impacting the environment and the built fabric. This thesis looks at an alternative to the simple idea of repeating one house to make many. It is a vision to reimagine Pakistani cities through this expansive development: mass produce dwellings that are responsive to environmental and contextual conditions, minimize the impact on existing infrastructure, energy consumption, and the environment. The proposal is an optimized system of construction that has the ability to mass-produce customizable and personalized units. The aim of this thesis is to showcase a balance between mass production and personalization.
title: Crisis Intervention in Policing and Beyond: Exploring Determinants of Empathy-based Rapport-Building
Creators: name: Zaiser, Benjamin
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2024

description: This thesis documents a series of consecutive investigations into predictors of empathy and rapport during critical incidents in law enforcement and crisis intervention in general. First, an explorative inquiry (Study 1) interviewed five accredited crisis negotiators from Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada. It performed a cognitive task analysis and found a prevalent set of (a) challenges, which are often interacting with each other, and (b) strategies, which crisis negotiators rely on during their deployment. These results equip practitioners with a better understanding of the challenges and a more effective way of utilizing strategies to effectively address them. They also point out under-researched areas in crisis negotiation literature.

Second, as crisis negotiators mentioned physical and mental exhaustion to be an inhibitor of their empathetic effort across all interviews, two randomized-controlled field experiments (Study 2 & 3) tested 52 German crisis negotiators (within subjects) on their capacity to empathize when ego depleted. They both confirmed the null hypothesis: there was no statistically significant difference in the level of empathy communicated by the crisis negotiators between control and ego depletion condition. These results contribute to the current discussion surrounding the replication crisis of the ego depletion effect.

Third, during the coding of the simulated crisis negotiations, crisis negotiators appeared to communicate in distinct ways that inadvertently undermined their efforts to empathize and build rapport with the subject. This serendipitous find was further investigated and validated using quantitative data analysis (Study 4). The study resulted in the identification of five cognitive biases and the insight that conventional approaches to empathy-based rapport-building have limits. The results can be effectively implemented in crisis intervention training and contribute to the theoretical discussion of empathy and the role it plays for rapport-building. 

Fourth, due to its conceptual relevance to empathy, projection bias was selected for further inquiry. To triangulate the findings of the qualitative data analysis (Study 4) with different methods and a different sample, an online study (Study 5) surveyed 132 crisis negotiators, police officers on patrol duty, and (non-police) crisis workers. The sample was primarily recruited from Canada and the United States. The results (a) corroborate the findings of Study 4, (b) demonstrate differences in the prevalence of projection bias between the different occupational sub-samples, and (c) provide a deeper understanding of how projection bias can undermine effective empathizing. Practical implications are discussed in terms of education and training for all professional crisis intervenors. In addition, the instrument constructed for this study contributes to future projection bias research.
Sustainability Through Adaptation: Reimagining Existing Spaces with Mass Timber Construction
Creators: name: Robbs, Amber
Publisher: name: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Architecture
subject: FOS: Civil engineering
subject: Sustainability
subject: Adaptive Reuse
subject: Architecture
subject: Historic Preservation
subject: Mass Timber
subject: Sustainability
subject: Washington Navy Yard

description: In a period when it is becoming more and more apparent how we, as humans, have been negatively impacting our planet, it is important for us, as designers, to take a step back and evaluate how new methods of sustainable design can be incorporated into the existing built environment to leave a positive impression on our climate. We have discussed sustainability through design, building typologies, construction materials, and building systems but we can also explore the sustainable method of reusing the existing built environment. This thesis explores how adaptively reusing existing buildings can be a sustainable source of architecture. Buildings that have fallen into neglect and/or ruin can be revitalized through the construction method of mass timber to produce less greenhouse gas emissions during the structure’s life cycle while leaving a larger, healthier impact on our climate. This thesis explores the benefits of mass timber as a sustainable construction method and demonstrates how mass timber can be used as an alternative to steel frame construction on the site of a 1919 US Navy industrial building. The existing masonry and steel-framed structure stands as a neglected building that can be adapted through sustainable methods. By respecting the structure’s heritage and original purpose, this thesis proposes a secondary building and revitalization of the existing structure through reusing existing structures with recycled material, like mass timber. The thesis looks at opening the site to the evolving community of the Washington D.C. Navy Yard. Maintaining the site as a community gathering space, this thesis proposes a food hall program, building off the weekly farmers' markets that take place in the structure’s adjacent plaza, and aims to fill the community's need for a public civic space in the adjoining community library program. The program of this thesis aims to draw people in to explore the built environment of alternative and sustainable construction methods.
On the dispersion management of fluorite whispering-gallery mode resonators for Kerr optical frequency comb generation in the telecom and mid-infrared range
Creators: name: Lin, Guoping
name: Chembo, Yanne K.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Optical whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators have been very attracting platforms for versatile Kerr frequency comb generations. We report a systematic study on the material dispersion of various optical materials that are capable of supporting quality factors above $10^9$. Using an analytical approximation of WGM resonant frequencies in disk resonators, we investigate the effect of the geometry and transverse mode order on the total group-velocity dispersion ($GVD$). We demonstrate that the major radii and the radial mode indices play an important role in tailoring the $GVD$ of WGM resonators. In particular, our study shows that in WGM disk-resonators, the polar families of modes have very similar $GVD$, while the radial families of modes feature dispersion values that can differ by up to several orders of magnitude. The effect of these giant dispersion shifts are experimentally evidenced in Kerr comb generation with magnesium fluoride. From a more general perspective, this critical feature enables to push the zero-dispersion wavelength of fluorite crystals towards the mid-infrared (mid-IR) range, thereby allowing for efficient Kerr comb generation in that spectral range. We show that barium fluoride is the most interesting crystal in this regard, due to its zero dispersion wavelength ($ZDW$) at $1.93 \rm{μm}$ and an optimal dispersion profile in the mid-IR regime. We expect our results to facilitate the design of different platforms for Kerr frequency comb generations in both telecommunication and mid-IR spectral ranges.
Transients of platoons with asymmetric and different Laplacians
Creators: name: Herman, Ivo
name: Martinec, Dan
name: Veerman, J. J. P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Systems and Control (eess.SY)
subject: Multiagent Systems (cs.MA)
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: We consider an asymmetric control of platoons of identical vehicles with nearest-neighbor interaction. Recent results show that if the vehicle uses different asymmetries for position and velocity errors, the platoon has a short transient and low overshoots. In this paper we investigate the properties of vehicles with friction. To achieve consensus, an integral part is added to the controller, making the vehicle a third-order system. We show that the parameters can be chosen so that the platoon behaves as a wave equation with different wave velocities. Simulations suggest that our system has a better performance than other nearest-neighbor scenarios. Moreover, an optimization-based procedure is used to find the controller properties.
Treatment of Early Breast Cancer Patients: Evidence, Controversies, Consensus: Focusing on Systemic Therapy - German Experts' Opinions for the 16th International St. Gallen Consensus Conference (Vienna 2019)
Creators: name: Lüftner, Diana
name: Bauerfeind, Ingo
name: Braun, Michael
name: Brucker, Sara Y.
name: Fasching, Peter A.
name: Felberbaum, Ricardo
name: Hagemann, Friederike
name: Haidinger, Renate
name: Harbeck, Nadia
name: Hönig, Arnd
name: Huober, Jens
name: Jackisch, Christian
name: Kolberg, Hans-Christian
name: Kolberg-Liedtke, Cornelia
name: Kühn, Thorsten
name: Maass, Nicolai
name: Reimer, Toralf
name: Schneeweiss, Andreas
name: Schumacher-Wulf, Eva
name: Schütz, Florian
name: Thomssen, Christoph
name: Untch, Michael
name: Wuerstlein, Rachel
name: Thill, Marc
Publisher: name: Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: St. Gallen Consensus Conference 2019
subject: Early breast cancer
subject: Locoregional therapy
subject: Axilla
subject: Neoadjuvant treatment
subject: Systemic therapy
subject: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften::610 Medizin und Gesundheit::610 Medizin und Gesundheit

description: A German working group of leading breast cancer experts have discussed the votes at the International St. Gallen Consensus Conference in Vienna for the treatment of primary breast cancer with regard to the German AGO (Ar-beitsgemeinschaft Gynakologische Onkologie) recommendations for clinical practice in Germany. Three of the German breast cancer experts were also members of this year's St. Gallen panel. Comparing the St. Gallen recommendations with the annually updated treatment recommendations of the Gynecological Oncology Working Group (AGO Mamma 2019) and the German S3 Guideline is useful, because the recommendations of the St. Gallen panel are based on expert opinions of different countries and disciplines. The focus of this article is on systemic therapy. The motto of this year's 16th St. Gallen Consensus Conference was Estimating the magnitude of clinical benefit. The rationale behind this motto is that, for every treatment decision, a benefit-risk assessment must be taken into consideration for each patient.
Scenario-based Collision Detection Using Machine Learning for Highly Automated Driving Systems
Creators: name: Khatun, Marzana
name: jung, Rolf
name: glaß, michael
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: 91303 Autonomous Vehicles
subject: FOS: Mechanical engineering
subject: 90204 Automotive Safety Engineering

description: Highly Automated Driving (HAD) systems implement new features or functions to improve the performance, safety and comfort of partially or fully automated vehicles. The identi?cation of safety parameters by means of complex systems and the driving environment are two of the fundamental aspects that require great attention. Therefore, much research has been conducted in the ?eld of collision detection in the development of automated vehicles. However, the development of HAD systems faces the challenge of ensuring zero accidents. For this reason, collision detection in the concept phase as critical scenarios identi?cation is one of the key research points in HAD system. In this paper, a systematic approach to detect potential collisions in the early stage of HAD system development using machine learning (ML) techniques is proposed. Moreover, the performance of an ML model is investigated using two diff?erent input data sets based on knowledge-based and data-driven scenario analysis. The results of this study show that it is possible to detect the collision in the early phase of development and that knowledge can be carried forward through the development phases. Furthermore, it contributes to provide arguments and evidence for ML techniques in HAD system safety by selecting relevant and use cases.