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Introduction: Cranial CT scans are associated with radiation exposure to the eye lens, which is a particularly radiosensitive organ. Children are more vulnerable to radiation than adults. Therefore, it is essential to use the available dose reduction techniques to minimize radiation exposure. According to the European Consensus on patient contact shielding by the IRCP from 2021, shielding is not recommended in most body areas anymore. This study aims to evaluate whether bismuth shielding as well as its combination with other dose-saving technologies could still be useful. Methods: Cranial CT scans of a pediatric anthropomorphic phantom were performed on two up-to-date MDCT scanners. Eye lens dose measurements were performed using thermoluminescent dosimeters. Furthermore, the impact of BS and of the additional placement of standoff foam between the patient and BS on image quality was also assessed. Results: Bismuth shielding showed a significant lens dose reduction in both CT scanners (GE: 41.50 ± 4.04%, p < 0.001; Siemens: 29.75 ± 6.55%, p = 0.00). When combined with AEC, the dose was lowered even more (GE: 60.75 ± 3.30%, p < 0.001; Siemens: 41.25 ± 8.02%, p = 0.00). The highest eye dose reduction was achieved using BS + AEC + OBTCM (GE: 71.25 ± 2.98%, p < 0.001; Siemens: 58.75 ± 5.85%, p < 0.001). BS caused increased image noise in the orbital region, which could be mitigated by foam placement. Eye shielding had no effect on the image noise in the cranium. Conclusions: The use of BS in cranial CT can lead to a significant dose reduction, which can be further enhanced by its combination with other modern dose reduction methods. BS causes increase in image noise in the orbital region but not in the cranium. The additional use of standoff foam reduces image noise in the orbital region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here the aim is to describe and reflect on how the value-creating science method and its digital tool Loop Me (social media platform) have been implemented in a research project. The research project aimed to explore collaboration processes and working methods that social services designed for internal and external collaboration in relation to labour market integration and reduced income support. A further aim within the research project was to understand how collegial learning unfolded. Common to both researchers and practitioners was a desire to try an interactive research method that gave the opportunity to understand how the collaboration- and development process developed over time through employee reflection in relation to given assignments/ situations. The article thus does not focus on the research questions in the project, but on the usability of the method and the type of data that was the basis for various qualitative analyses within an organisational working life context. The researchers and practitioners have chosen to adapt the method somewhat to work for the specific context in which the research study was carried out. We reflect on what we adapted, why and how, and conclude that the method leaves room for context-specific adaptations, which previous studies on interactive research methods have shown to be significant for implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multiple COVID-19 vaccines developed over the past months are typically thought of as the only means to meet the challenges posed by the current pandemic. Still, public opinion on vaccines is heavily divided. And, of course, discussions about compulsory vaccination, oftentimes based on fundamental rights arguments, tend to become heated. This note This note builds on the arguments developed in the author's master thesis Anja Krasser, 'Die grundrechtliche Zulässigkeit einer Impfpflicht in Österreich' (Universität Graz 2019) which have previously been summarized in Anja Krasser, 'Zur grundrechtlichen Zulässigkeit einer Impfpflicht' (2020) 2020/206 RdM 136. analyses the issues at hand based on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to medicines, including their availability and affordability, is a major public health challenge worldwide. This research aimed to characterise rectal formulations containing amoxicillin for the treatment of pneumonia in children under five, as an accessible alternative to existing formulations. Lipophilic Suppocire (S-NA15) and hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG; 80% PEG 1500 and 20% PEG 4000, w/w) suppositories containing 250 mg amoxicillin were prepared. Hardness, apparent viscosity, uniformity of mass, uniformity of content, disintegration and dissolution time were determined. Irritation potential was screened using a slug mucosal assay and antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus determined by isothermal microcalorimetry. Both lipophilic and hydrophilic formulations met the European Pharmacopoeia standards for suppositories when tested in vitro. They disintegrated within 30 min with rapid amoxicillin release profiles (98.6 ± 0.9%, 94.9 ± 1.2% over 30 min, respectively). Over-encapsulation of S-NA15 suppositories with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose shells slowed drug release and improved stability over 2 months. S-NA15 suppositories were classified as non-irritant and PEG suppositories only mildly irritant. Antibacterial efficacy of formulations was equivalent to amoxicillin alone. Both PEG and over-encapsulated S-NA15 rectal formulations developed in the present work have shown promise based on pre-clinical screening, and further development is justified to develop a product with commercial potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensified training may lead to fatigue or even a state of overreaching with temporary reductions in performance. Any aid helping to prevent these consequences and to better tolerate such a training regime would be of great importance. 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) and α-ketoglutaric acid (α-KG) supplementation has been suggested to support favorable training outcomes but its effectiveness to facilitate adaptations during an intensified training period has never been investigated. During an in-season competition break (2 weeks), seventeen young outfield soccer players (age:14.7 ± 0.4 yr) performed a 9-day lasting shock microcyle including 5–7 repeated sprint exercise sessions in addition to the regular training (∼6 sessions/wk) and match (1–2 matches/wk) schedule. Before the training period a treadmill test to exhaustion, a YOYO intermittent recovery level 2 (YYIR2) and a repeated sprint ability (RSA) test were performed. The treadmill test was repeated 3 days after the shock microcycle whereas the YYIR2 and the RSA test on day 10 after the training. Magnitude based inference analysis showed likely positive effects of the 5-HMF/α-KG compared to the control group for changes in the maximal running velocity (+0.3 ± 0.7 vs. −0.3 ± 0.8 km/h) and running velocity at lactate turn-point 1 (+0.2 ± 0.4 vs. −0.2 ± 0.6) and lactate turn-point 2 (+0.4 ± 0.4 vs. −0.2 ± 0.6 km/h, for the 5-HMF/α-KG and placebo group, respectively). Training improved YYIR2 performance (+180 ± 67 vs. +200 ± 168m) and RSA (mean time: −0.1 ± 0.1 vs. −0.1 ± 0.1s, for the 5-HMF/α-KG and placebo group, respectively) in both groups and to the same extent. In conclusion, an in-season shock microcyle including repeated sprint training improves YYIR2 performance and RSA in youth soccer players. Supplementation with 5-HMF/α-KG did not modify training adaptations but led to likely positive exercise performance responses shortly after the intensified training regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of the first century CE, we see a broad reception of Catullus, both members of the nobility and professional writers such as Pliny the Younger, Martial and Statius. Three significant aspects are to be considered: By reading and adapting Catullus, they can establish a connection with the great writers of the past. Given the rise of Latin literary canons in the first century, Catullus is a particularly suitable model to be imitated, and maybe even to surpass. The most important aspect, for amateurs and professionals alike, is the social representation inherent in the act of reception. The Catullan oeuvre mainly appeals to writers because parts of its poetic programme can also be found in the set of rules the nobility abides by and in their sociable institutions. The way Catullus celebrates amicitia in his poems becomes a model of self-representation for an elite which seeks to impress with cultural savoirfaire; likewise, it serves to create consensus and self-assurance. Finally professional writers read and appropriate Catullus in like manner, with regard to social aspects. Catullan poetry serves as a way of displaying friendship, especially when looking at the interchange between poeta and patronus; this is quite similar to amateur poetry in the style of Pliny. It is a means of establishing proximity, familiarity and community between socially unequal parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The ongoing transition from a conventional energy supply towards an energy system based on renewable sources requires fundamental changes to the energy infrastructure. In particular, the move from centralized towards distributed power generation significantly increases the demand for ICT-based management and control. Today ICT-based energy management is mostly purely central, making the critical infrastructure of power supply sometimes inflexible and potentially vulnerable to (cyber-)attacks. Addressing these challenges, the future grid requires high automation and distributed intelligence on field level being able to work independently from a central system. Distribution grids are often sparsely monitored and a system wide upgrade of measuring technology is associated with high costs. However, information about load behavior at the nodes of a grid is essential for grid state identification and load forecasting. This paper shows the concept of load balancing and the related IT architecture for monitoring and control of distributed energy systems, where smart metering and smart home technologies play a key role in the smart grid of the future. Readers are invited to contribute to the research work and field laboratory of the University of Bayreuth, which is operated by an innovative utility company in Bavaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution focuses on Prudentius' martyr poems collected under the title Peristephanon. A constitutive feature of this collection is the fact that it does not highlight martyrs originating from one certain place, but includes martyrs coming from the most diverse locations -- a feature that, as will be argued, serves the function of establishing coherence and consensus among the Christian community as a whole. Furthermore, the performative dimension of these texts is considered. Here, I concentrate on two aspects: 1. the virtuoso mastery of pagan culture and the transformations this culture undergoes when transferred to a Christian context; 2. the staging of a space of religious experience and agency, where the reader himself is made a virtual pilgrim. In order to emphasize both these aspects, motives contained in the collection and especially in Pe. 9 (the hymnus on Cassianus) are analyzed and interpretated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the development of car engines, regression models that are based on machine learning techniques are increasingly important for tasks which require a prediction of results in real-time. While the validation of a model is a key part of its identification process, existing computation- or visualization-based techniques do not adequately support all aspects of model validation. The main contribution of this paper is an interactive approach called HyperMoVal that is designed to support multiple tasks related to model validation: 1) comparing known and predicted results, 2) analyzing regions with a bad fit, 3) assessing the physical plausibility of models also outside regions covered by validation data, and 4) comparing multiple models. The key idea is to visually relate one or more n-dimensional scalar functions to known validation data within a combined visualization. HyperMoVal lays out multiple 2D and 3D sub-projections of the n-dimensional function space around a focal point. We describe how linking HyperMoVal to other views further extends the possibilities for model validation. Based on this integration, we discuss steps towards supporting the entire workflow of identifying regression models. An evaluation illustrates a typical workflow in the application context of car-engine design and reports general feedback of domain experts and users of our approach. These results indicate that our approach significantly accelerates the identification of regression models and increases the confidence in the overall engineering process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional classification algorithms can be limited in their performance on highly unbalanced data sets. A popular stream of work for countering the problem of class imbalance has been the application of a sundry of sampling strategies. In this correspondence, we focus on designing modifications to support vector machines (SVMs) to appropriately tackle the problem of class imbalance. We incorporate different "rebalance" heuristics in SVM modeling, including cost-sensitive learning, and over- and undersampling. These SVM-based strategies are compared with various state-of-the-art approaches on a variety of data sets by using various metrics, including C-mean, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, F-measure, and area under the precision/recall curve. We show that we are able to surpass or match the previously known best algorithms on each data set. In particular, of the four SVM variations considered in this correspondence, (he novel granular SVMs-repetitive undersampling algorithm (GSVM-RU) is the best in terms of both effectiveness and efficiency. GSVM-RU is effective, as it can minimize the negative effect of information loss while maximizing the positive effect of data cleaning in the undersampling process. GSVM-RU is efficient by extracting much less support vectors arid, hence, greatly speeding up SVM prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the number of plane geometric, i.e., straight-line, graphs, a set S of n points in the plane admits. We show that the number of plane geometric graphs and connected plane geometric graphs as well as the number of cycle-free plane geometric graphs is minimized when S is in convex position. Moreover, these results hold for all these graphs with an arbitrary but fixed number of edges. Consequently, we provide a unified proof that the cardinality of any family of acyclic graphs (for example spanning trees, forests, perfect matchings, spanning paths, and more) is minimized for point sets in convex position. In addition we construct a new maximizing configuration, the so-called double zig-zag chain. Most noteworthy this example bears Θ * $${{(\sqrt{72}\,}^n)}$$ = Θ *(8.4853 n ) triangulations (omitting polynomial factors), improving the previously known best maximizing examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce and discuss pseudo-simplicial complexes in &reals;d as generalizations of pseudo-triangulations in &reals;2. Our approach is based on the concept of maximal locally convex functions on polytopal domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.]( G) denote the rectilinear crossing number of a graph G. We determine [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.]( K 11)=102 and [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.]( K 12)=153. Despite the remarkable hunt for crossing numbers of the complete graph K n – initiated by R. Guy in the 1960s – these quantities have been unknown for n>10 to date. Our solution mainly relies on a tailor-made method for enumerating all inequivalent sets of points (order types) of size 11. Based on these findings, we establish a new upper bound on [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.]( K n ) for general n. The bound stems from a novel construction of drawings of K n with few crossings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address how honeynets, networks of computers intended to be compromised, can be used to increase network security in a large organizational environment. We outline the current threats Internet security is facing at present and show how honeynets can be used to learn about those threats for the future. We investigate issues researchers have to take into account before deploying or while running a honeynet. Moreover, we describe how we tied honeynet research into computer security classes at Georgia Tech to successfully train students and spark interest in computer security. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A prospective study (N=503) conducted at the Department of Psychiatry, University Clinic Graz, investigated possible differences in intensity of auto-aggression tendencies, depression, hopelessness and self-communication between patients who committed or attempted suicide (failed suicide) in a 1-year follow-up (G1), patients who committed parasuicide in the period under observation (G2) , and a non-suicidal control group (G3). In a final analysis (N=55), patients who committed or attempted suicide (n=16) differed from patients of the same age and sex in the non-suicidal control group (n=26) only in their greater self-aggression at the beginning of hospitalization. Patients who committed parasuicide (n=13) in the follow-up period were more auto-aggressive and more negative in their self-communication both at the beginning and end of hospitalization and were also more depressive and hopeless at the beginning of treatment than the non-suicidal control group (n=26). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Order types are a means to characterize the combinatorial properties of a finite point configuration. In particular, the crossing properties of all straight-line segments spanned by a planar n-point set are reflected by its order type. We establish a complete and reliable data base for all possible order types of size n=10 or less. The data base includes a realizing point set for each order type in small integer grid representation. To our knowledge, no such project has been carried out before. We substantiate the usefulness of our data base by applying it to several problems in computational and combinatorial geometry. Problems concerning triangulations, simple polygonalizations, complete geometric graphs, and k-sets are addressed. This list of applications is not meant to be exhaustive. We believe our data base to be of value to many researchers who wish to examine their conjectures on small point configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a study which implemented a clustering algorithm into an extended higher order evolution strategy in optimization problems. Explanation for a higher order evolution strategy; Discussion on Rastrigin's function; Results and discussion.

Examines the membrane association between the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria of yeast. Facilitation of the interorganelle transport of phospholipids; Subfraction of the endoplasmic reticulum.