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The combustion of petroleum-based fossil fuels is associated with a high environmental burden. Several alternative fuels, including synthetic fuels (e.g., gas-to-liquid, GTL) and biofuels (e.g., rapeseed methyl ester, RME) have been studied in the last few years. While the advantages for the environment (sustainability of biofuels) are well known, research on the resulting health effects from combustion aerosols of these alternative fuels is still scarce. Consequently, we investigated the chemical combustion profile from three distinct fuel types, including a petroleum-based fossil fuel (B0) and two alternative fuels (GTL, RME) under real exposure conditions. We sampled particulate matter (PM2.5, PM0.25) and the gas phase from heavy-duty machinery and evaluated the general pattern of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, elemental and organic carbon as well as a range of transition metals in the size segregated PM and/or gas phase. The use of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry enabled us to classify distinct methylated PAHs in the PM samples and its high abundance, especially in the fine fraction of PM. We found that (methylated) PAHs were highly abundant in the PM of B0 compared to GTL and RME. Highest concentrations of targeted aromatic species in the gas phase were released from B0. In summary, we demonstrated that GTL and RME combustion released lower amounts of chemical compounds related to adverse health effects, thus, the substitution of petroleum-based fuels could improve air quality for human and the environment.

The Storkwitz carbonatite breccia, located near Delitzsch, Germany, is one of the few European domestic rare earth elements (REE) deposits, but is relatively understudied owing to more than 100 m of Cenozoic sedimentary cover. We present the results of a petrological investigation of the recently acquired ∼700 m-deep SES 1/2012 borehole. The Storkwitz breccia is composed of clasts of country rock and carbonatite ranging from

IntroductionLipids and fatty acids are key components in metabolic processes of the human placenta, thereby contributing to the development of the fetus. Placental dyslipidemia and aberrant activity of lipases have been linked to diverse pregnancy associated complications, such as preeclampsia and preterm birth. The serine hydrolases, diacylglycerol lipase alpha and beta (DAGL alpha, DAGL beta) catalyze the degradation of diacylglycerols, leading to the formation of monoacylglycerols (MAG), including one main endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). The major role of DAGL in the biosynthesis of 2-AG is evident from various studies in mice but has not been investigated in the human placenta. Here, we report the use of the small molecule inhibitor DH376, in combination with the ex vivo placental perfusion system, activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) and lipidomics, to determine the impact of acute DAGL inhibition on placental lipid networks. MethodsDAGL alpha and DAGL beta mRNA expression was detected by RT-qPCR and in situ hybridization in term placentas. Immunohistochemistry staining for CK7, CD163 and VWF was applied to localize DAGL beta transcripts to different cell types of the placenta. DAGL beta activity was determined by in- gel and MS-based activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) and validated by addition of the enzyme inhibitors LEI-105 and DH376. Enzyme kinetics were measured by EnzChek (TM) lipase substrate assay. Ex vivo placental perfusion experiments were performed +/- DH376 [1 mu M] and changes in tissue lipid and fatty acid profiles were measured by LC-MS. Additionally, free fatty acid levels of the maternal and fetal circulations were determined. ResultsWe demonstrate that mRNA expression of DAGL beta prevails in placental tissue, compared to DAGL alpha (p

Objectives: The objective of this study is to determine the role of preoperative ultrasound diagnosis of soft tissue tumors of the hand and digits. Furthermore, this study investigates the accuracy of ultrasound in comparison to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Method: A retrospective data analysis [for full text, please go to the a.m. URL]

The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany in 2020 brought many regulations to impede its transmission such as lockdown. Hence, in this study, we compared the annual air pollutants (CO, NO, NO2, O3, PM10, PM2.5, and BC) in Augsburg in 2020 to the record data in 2010-2019. The annual air pollutants in 2020 were significantly (p, The work is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (42101470), Support Project of High-level Teachers in Beijing Municipal Universities in the Period of 13th Five–year Plan (CIT&TCD201904037), the Germany Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) as part of SmartAQnet (19F2003B), the dtec.bw -Digitalization and Technology Research Center of the Bundeswehr (project MORE). We would like to thank to the Administration of Augsburg City for giving access to the traffic data (Tiefbauamt, Markus Furnier).

In his autobiographical account ‘My Life as a Lawyer’ Ole Lando wrote: ‘I set out to try and unify the substantive contract law in the EU. My efforts started in 1976’. These efforts were to lead to the publication of the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) in 1995 (Part I), 2002 (Parts I and II), and 2003 (Part III). According to Hugh Beale it is that work for which Ole Lando is best known; and it is for that work that he is regarded as ‘one of the most influential figures in the development of European private law to date’. The present contribution therefore deals with these Principles of European Contract Law. Acquis commun, Acquis communautaire, Commentaries on European Contract Laws, Lando, Ole, Non-legislative codification, Principles of European Contract Law, Restatements, Textual Layers, UNIDROIT

Multi- and hyperspectral (MS and HS) imaging are currently deployed at a wide range of spatial dimensions (“scales”), ranging from satellites observing the Earth and other planets down to lab-scale sensing for small sample spectral analysis. New techniques such as UAS-borne imaging or terrestrial scanning of vertical targets are emerging and allow to observe any target at a wide and contiguous range of scales. Deploying spectral imaging on unmanned aerial platforms or drones creates one of the most promising application fields of spectral imaging in the last decade. Lightweight, low-cost, customizable and usable by anyone and nearly anywhere, UAS close the scale gap between airborne and ground-based spectroscopy and offer individual solutions for the respective application. The following chapter will give an insight on the principles of multi- and hyperspectral imaging that are required to understand the physical nature of spectroscopic processes as well as sensor-specific and external influence factors during the acquisition of spectral data. In later sections, the state of the art on drone-borne multi-and hyperspectral sensors, common and application-specific data correction and processing workflows are given to outline remaining challenges.

Hyperspectral imaging is a most promising innovative technology for non-invasive material mapping and is starting to be adapted in a wide range of applications, including geosciences, ag-riculture, and food quality control. Novel processing workflows have revolutionized the way we can correct, interpret, and integrate hyperspectral data in the past decade. The reprojection of planar hyperspectral scans to real 3D point cloud representations (“hyperclouds”) has opened up new possibilities for the mapping of large and topographically complex targets. So far, only a few tools have been developed to process and visualize this kind of data. In this contribution we pre-sent an open-source hypercloud dataset capturing complex but spectacularly well exposed geolo-gy from the Black Angel Mountain in Maarmorilik, West Greenland, alongside a detailed and interactive tutorial documenting the workflow that was used to create it.

Automatic transfer of text between domains has become popular in recent times. One of its aims is to preserve the semantic content of text being translated from source to target domain. However, it does not explicitly maintain other attributes between the source and translated text, for e.g., text length and descriptiveness. Maintaining constraints in transfer has several downstream applications, including data augmentation and de-biasing. We introduce a method for such constrained unsupervised text style transfer by introducing two complementary losses to the generative adversarial network (GAN) family of models. Unlike the competing losses used in GANs, we introduce cooperative losses where the discriminator and the generator cooperate and reduce the same loss. The first is a contrastive loss and the second is a classification loss, aiming to regularize the latent space further and bring similar sentences across domains closer together. We demonstrate that such training retains lexical, syntactic, and domain-specific constraints between domains for multiple benchmark datasets, including ones where more than one attribute change. We show that the complementary cooperative losses improve text quality, according to both automated and human evaluation measures., Comment: Accepted to ACL 2022

Building robust multimodal models are crucial for achieving reliable deployment in the wild. Despite its importance, less attention has been paid to identifying and improving the robustness of Multimodal Sentiment Analysis (MSA) models. In this work, we hope to address that by (i) Proposing simple diagnostic checks for modality robustness in a trained multimodal model. Using these checks, we find MSA models to be highly sensitive to a single modality, which creates issues in their robustness; (ii) We analyze well-known robust training strategies to alleviate the issues. Critically, we observe that robustness can be achieved without compromising on the original performance. We hope our extensive study-performed across five models and two benchmark datasets-and proposed procedures would make robustness an integral component in MSA research. Our diagnostic checks and robust training solutions are simple to implement and available at https://github. com/declare-lab/MSA-Robustness., Comment: NAACL 2022

Background: Ceroid lipofuscinoses neuronal 6 (CLN6) disease belongs to the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs), complex and genetically heterogeneous disorders with wide geographical and phenotypic variation. The first clinical signs usually appear between 18months and 8 years, but examples of later-onset have also been reported. Common manifestations include ataxia, seizures, vision impairment, and developmental regression. Because these are shared by other neurological diseases, identification of CLN6 genetic variants is imperative for early diagnosis. Results: We present one of the largest cohorts to date of genetically diagnosed CLN6 patients screened at a single center. In total 97 subjects, originating from 20 countries were screened between 2010 and 2020. They comprised 86 late-infantile, eight juvenile, and three adult-onset cases (two patients with Kufs disease type A, and one with teenage progressive myoclonic epilepsy). The male to female ratio was 1.06: 1.00. The age at referral was between six months and 33years. The time from disease onset to referral ranged from less than 1 month to 8.3years. The clinical phenotype consisted of a combination of symptoms, as reported before.We characterized a total of 45 distinct variants defining 45 distinct genotypes. Twenty-four were novel variants, some with distinct geographic associations. Remarkably, c.257A > G (p.H86R) was present in five out of 23 unrelated Egyptian individuals but in no patients from other countries. The most common genotype was homozygosity for the c.794_796del in-frame deletion. It was present in about one-third of CLN6 patients (28 unrelated cases, and 2 familial cases), all with late-infantile onset. Variants with a high likelihood of causing loss of CLN6 function were found in 21% of cases and made up 33% of all distinct variants. Forty-four percent of variants were classified as pathogenic or likely pathogenic. Conclusions: Our study significantly expands the number of published clinical cases and the mutational spectrum of disease-associated CLN6 variants, especially for the Middle Eastern and North African regions. We confirm previous observations regarding the most prevalent symptoms and recommend including CLN6 in the genetic diagnosis of patients presenting with early-onset abnormalities of the nervous system, musculoskeletal system, and eye.

While fast and reliable analytical results are crucial for first responders to make adequate decisions, these can be difficult to establish, especially at large-scale clandestine laboratories. To overcome this issue, multiple techniques at different levels of complexity are available. In addition to the level of complexity their information value differs as well. Within this publication, a comparison between three techniques that can be applied for on-site analysis is performed. These techniques range from ones with a simple yes or no response to sophisticated ones that allows to receive complex information about a sample. The three evaluated techniques are immunoassay drug tests representing easy to handle and fast to explain systems, ion mobility spectrometry as state-of-the-art equipment that needs training and experience prior to use and ambient pressure laser desorption with the need for a highly skilled operator as possible future technique that is currently under development. In addition to the measurement of validation parameters, real case samples are investigated to obtain practically relevant information about the capabilities and limitations of these techniques for on-site operations. Results demonstrate that in general all techniques deliver valid results, but the bandwidth of information widely varies between the investigated techniques.

Remote sensing is commonly defined either as the data acquisition about an object or a process at a distance or the scanning of the Earth by satellite or high-flying aircraft. In the present article, we will consider all the relevant sensors and techniques that allow the imaging, measurement and monitoring of the Earth’s surface from a distance greater than 10 m.

Lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs) are a heterogeneous group of inherited metabolic diseases caused by mutations in genes encoding for proteins involved in the lysosomal degradation of macromolecules. They occur in approximately 1 in 5000 live births and pose a lifelong risk. Therefore, to achieve the maximum benefit from LSDs therapies, a fast and early diagnosis of the disease is required. In this framework, biomarker discovery is a significant factor in disease diagnosis and in predicting its outcomes. On the other hand, the dried blood spot (DBS)based metabolomics platform can open up new pathways for studying non-directional hypothesis approaches to biomarker discovery. This study aims to increase the efficiency of the developed methods for biomarker development in the context of rare diseases, with an improved impact on the reliability of the detected compounds. Thereby, we conducted two independent experiments and integrated them into the screening of the human blood metabolome: (1) comparison of EDTA blood and filter cards in terms of their suitability for metabolomics studies; (2) optimization of the extraction method: a side-by-side comparison of a series of buffers to the best utility to the disease of interest. The findings were compared to previous studies across parameters such as metabolite coverage, sample type suitability, and stability. The results indicate that measurements of metabolites are susceptible to differences in pre-analytical conditions and extraction solvents. This proposed approach can increase the positive rate of the future development of biomarkers. Altogether, the procedure can be easily adapted and applied to other studies, where the limited number of samples is a common barrier.

Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) are frequently incarcerated, which is associated with multiple negative health outcomes. Aim: We aimed to estimate the associations between a history of incarceration and prevalence of HIV and HCV infection among PWID in Europe. Methods: Aggregate data from PWID recruited in drug services (excluding prison services) or elsewhere in the community were reported by 17 of 30 countries (16 per virus) collaborating in a European drug monitoring system (2006–2020; n=52,368 HIV+/-; n=47,268 HCV+/-). Country-specific odds ratios (OR) and prevalence ratios (PR) were calculated from country totals of HIV and HCV antibody status and self-reported life-time incarceration history, and pooled using meta-analyses. Country-specific and overall population attributable risk (PAR) were estimated using pooled PR. Results: Univariable HIV OR ranged between 0.73 and 6.37 (median: 2.1; pooled OR: 1.92; 95% CI: 1.52–2.42). Pooled PR was 1.66 (95% CI 1.38–1.98), giving a PAR of 25.8% (95% CI 16.7–34.0). Univariable anti-HCV OR ranged between 1.06 and 5.04 (median: 2.70; pooled OR: 2.51; 95% CI: 2.17–2.91). Pooled PR was 1.42 (95% CI: 1.28–1.58) and PAR 16.7% (95% CI: 11.8–21.7). Subgroup analyses showed differences in the OR for HCV by geographical region, with lower estimates in southern Europe. Conclusion: In univariable analysis, a history of incarceration was associated with positive HIV and HCV serostatus among PWID in Europe. Applying the precautionary principle would suggest finding alternatives to incarceration of PWID and strengthening health and social services in prison and after release (‘throughcare’). © 2021 European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). All rights reserved.

Non-invasive technologies are key to ensure the sustainable exploration and mining of critical materials such as lithium and rare earth elements (REE), which are needed to fuel battery, magnet, and photovoltaic technologies for the transition towards low-carbon economies (Simandl, 2014; Heredia et al., 2020). Innovative sensing methods such as hyperspectral imaging allow the remote identification and high spatial resolution mapping of characteristic light-material interactions (“spectral fingerprints”) indicative of specific minerals and raw materials. These maps can be produced rapidly to support geological investigations during both exploration and mining. Accurate positioning of the spectral information in 3D space allows creating digital twins of outcrops and mines and integrating the spectral mapping results with other data such as from drill-cores or geochemical sampling. However, the low concentration and generally subtle spectral features associated with Li-bearing minerals and REEs present challenges for spectral mapping at the outcrop scale and, as a result, past approaches tended to use indirect methods based on, for example, mineral associations (Cardoso-Fernandes et al., 2020). Direct mapping of REE and Li-minerals abundances is possible using high-resolution, high-quality spectral data and appropriate correction techniques. Sensor miniaturisation and development of new platforms now allow rapid data collection across large areas. These advances, combined with novel radiometric and geometric correction workflows (e.g., Thiele et al., 2021), recently allowed the direct detection of REE- and Li-bearing minerals at outcrop scale, using close-range ground-based (Boesche et al., 2015; Booysen et al., 2021) and drone-borne platforms (Booysen et al., 2020). Two case studies of open pit mines, one from Siilinjärvi, Finland, (Fig. 1), the second from Uis, Namibia (Fig. 2) demonstrate direct 3D mapping of REE and Li mineralization. First, we captured ground-based photographs that were used for structure-from-motion, multi-view-stereo (SfM-MVS) photogrammetry to create digital 3D models/point clouds. We also acquired terrestrial hyperspectral data using a Specim AisaFENIX hyperspectral line scanner (push-broom scanner). The sensor covers the electromagnetic spectrum from 350 to 2500 nm over 384 spatial pixels and creates a datacube by steady rotation on a tripod. The resulting panoramic scan covers the important spectral features for both REE (578 nm, 740 nm and 799 nm for neodymium) and Li-bearing minerals (1593 nm and 1839 nm for cookeite, and 1538 nm, 1766 nm and 1850 nm for montebrasite). However, the results are subject to immense geometric distortion as well as radiometric influences that complicate spectral mapping, spatial localization, and scaling. We applied the processing workflow of Thiele et al. (2021) to perform accurate re-projection in original 3D space, as well as important radiometric and topographic corrections by combining the hyperspectral scans with the photogrammetric 3D point clouds. We subsequently mapped the occurrence of REEs and Li-bearing minerals based on their subtle characteristic spectral absorptions, and validated the occurrences by field sampling and mineralogical and elemental analysis. Innovative remote sensing approaches allow us to rapidly create accurate digital twins of mine faces and natural geological outcrops. The 3D point clouds provide information on geological structure and can be populated with an arbitrary number of point-specific, high-dimensional spectral attributes to create so-called “hyperclouds”. Accurate processing and correction of the contained spectral information enables us to directly map the subtle spectral features indicative of Li- and REE-bearing minerals. Efficient remote mapping, even in complex terrains, is highly beneficial not only for initial targeting, but also for monitoring ore extraction, thus facilitating both exploration and optimized extraction. We thank AfriTin and Yara Oy for support during field work, access to the mine site, and geological information and geochemical data.

This chapter presents a so-called extended model-reduction technique for linear delay differential equations. The presented technique preserves the infinite-dimensional nature of the system and facilitates the preservation of properties such as system parameterizations (uncertainties). It is proved in this chapter that the extended model-reduction technique also preserves stability properties and provides a guaranteed a-priori bound on the reduction error. The reduction technique relies on the solution of matrix inequalities that characterize controllability and observability properties for time delay systems. This work presents conditions on the feasibility of these inequalities, and studies the applicability of the extended model reduction to a spatio-temporal model of neuronal activity, known as delay neural fields. Lastly, it discusses the relevance of this technique in the scope of model reduction of uncertain time delay systems, which is supported by a numerical example.

BACKGROUND The cardiovascular safety profile of dapagliflozin, a selective inhibitor of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 that promotes glucosuria in patients with type 2 diabetes, is undefined. METHODS We randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes who had or were at risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease to receive either dapagliflozin or placebo. The primary safety outcome was a composite of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), defined as cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or ischemic stroke. The primary efficacy outcomes were MACE and a composite of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure. Secondary efficacy outcomes were a renal composite (≥40% decrease in estimated glomerular filtration rate to ≥60 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area, new end-stage renal disease, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes) and death from any cause. RESULTS We evaluated 17,160 patients, including 10,186 without atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, who were followed for a median of 4.2 years. In the primary safety outcome analysis, dapagliflozin met the prespecified criterion for noninferiority to placebo with respect to MACE (upper boundary of the 95% confidence interval [CI], ≥1.3; P≥0.001 for noninferiority). In the two primary efficacy analyses, dapagliflozin did not result in a lower rate of MACE (8.8% in the dapagliflozin group and 9.4% in the placebo group; hazard ratio, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.84 to 1.03; P = 0.17) but did result in a lower rate of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure (4.9% vs. 5.8%; hazard ratio, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.95; P = 0.005), which reflected a lower rate of hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.61 to 0.88); there was no between-group difference in cardiovascular death (hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.82 to 1.17). A renal event occurred in 4.3% in the dapagliflozin group and in 5.6% in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.87), and death from any cause occurred in 6.2% and 6.6%, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.82 to 1.04). Diabetic ketoacidosis was more common with dapagliflozin than with placebo (0.3%vs. 0.1%, P = 0.02), as was the rate of genital infections that led to discontinuation of the regimen or that were considered to be serious adverse events (0.9% vs. 0.1%, P≥0.001). CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes who had or were at risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, treatment with dapagliflozin did not result in a higher or lower rate of MACE than placebo but did result in a lower rate of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure, a finding that reflects a lower rate of hospitalization for heart failure. (Funded by AstraZeneca; DECLARETIMI 58 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01730534

Introduction: In building LCAs, the calculations are carried out over a chosen reference study period (RSP), which is commonly set around 50-60 years. When developing the Danish LCA method for DGNB certification, and later for the preparation of the voluntary sustainability class for the building code, longer RSP's were suggested by technical committees. Therefore, the RSP has been based on a technical approach to the lifetime of buildings, assuming 80 years for offices, 100 years for hospitals and 120 years for residential buildings. In this study, the effects and arguments of a shorter RSP are investigated. Method: LCA-based carbon profiles of 11 building cases were carried out to compare how the RSP influences the results. RSPs of 50, 80, 100 and 120 years were investigated. The building cases represent different use types, structural systems, material choices, on-site electricity generation and installation scope. Results: Results show no notable difference in ranking, the building cases in-between, at RSPs of 50 and 120 years. Further, the relationship between the best and the worst performing building stays around a three-fold difference, regardless of the RSP. Conclusion: The longer RSPs have serious drawbacks regarding the increasing uncertainties associated with the scenarios. Further, annualizing results of longer RSPs entail a fundamental ethical issue of effectively allocating environmental loads to future generations. These specific drawbacks of uncertainty and impacts distribution are reduced by using an RSP of 50 years. The RSP of 50 years thus represents a compromise between ensuring that impacts from replacements of shorter-lived building materials will be reflected in the results, and between encouraging that more emphasis can be put on the crucial material related emissions that affects the global carbon budgets here and now. Introduction: In building LCAs, the calculations are carried out over a chosen reference study period (RSP), which is commonly set around 50-60 years. When developing the Danish LCA method for DGNB certification, and later for the preparation of the voluntary sustainability class for the building code, longer RSP's were suggested by technical committees. Therefore, the RSP has been based on a technical approach to the lifetime of buildings, assuming 80 years for offices, 100 years for hospitals and 120 years for residential buildings. In this study, the effects and arguments of a shorter RSP are investigated. Method: LCA-based carbon profiles of 11 building cases were carried out to compare how the RSP influences the results. RSPs of 50, 80, 100 and 120 years were investigated. The building cases represent different use types, structural systems, material choices, on-site electricity generation and installation scope. Results: Results show no notable difference in ranking, the building cases in-between, at RSPs of 50 and 120 years. Further, the relationship between the best and the worst performing building stays around a three-fold difference, regardless of the RSP. Conclusion: The longer RSPs have serious drawbacks regarding the increasing uncertainties associated with the scenarios. Further, annualizing results of longer RSPs entail a fundamental ethical issue of effectively allocating environmental loads to future generations. These specific drawbacks of uncertainty and impacts distribution are reduced by using an RSP of 50 years. The RSP of 50 years thus represents a compromise between ensuring that impacts from replacements of shorter-lived building materials will be reflected in the results, and between encouraging that more emphasis can be put on the crucial material related emissions that affects the global carbon budgets here and now.

We describe resonance effects in laser desorption–ionization (LDI) of particles that substantially increase the sensitivity and selectivity to metals in single-particle mass spectrometry (SPMS). Within the proposed scenario, resonant light absorption by ablated metal atoms increases their ionization rate within a single laser pulse. By choosing the appropriate laser wavelength, the key micronutrients Fe, Zn and Mn can be detected on individual aerosol particles with considerably improved efficiency. These ionization enhancements for metals apply to natural dust and anthropogenic aerosols, both important sources of bioavailable metals to marine environments. Transferring the results into applications, we show that the spectrum of our KrF-excimer laser is in resonance with a major absorption line of iron atoms. To estimate the impact of resonant LDI on the metal detection efficiency in SPMS applications, we performed a field experiment on ambient air with two alternately firing excimer lasers of different wavelengths. Herein, resonant LDI with the KrF-excimer laser (248.3 nm) revealed iron signatures for many more particles of the same aerosol ensemble compared to the more common ArF-excimer laser line of 193.3 nm (nonresonant LDI of iron). Many of the particles that showed iron contents upon resonant LDI were mixtures of sea salt and organic carbon. For nonresonant ionization, iron was exclusively detected in particles with a soot contribution. This suggests that resonant LDI allows a more universal and secure metal detection in SPMS. Moreover, our field study indicates relevant atmospheric iron transport by mixed organic particles, a pathway that might be underestimated in SPMS measurements based on nonresonant LDI. Our findings show a way to improve the detection and source attribution capabilities of SPMS for particle-bound metals, a health-relevant aerosol component and an important source of micronutrients to the surface oceans affecting marine primary productivity.

The preparation of single‐phase and catalytically active GaPd2 coatings was accomplished via DC magnetron sputtering using an intermetallic sputter target. Thin and uniform layers were deposited on borosilicate glass, Si(111) and planar as well as micro‐structured stainless steel foils. The specimens were examined regarding their phase composition, film morphology and microstructure. Thin films of different layer thickness were catalytically characterized in the semi‐hydrogenation of acetylene, which was conducted at 473 K and a feed gas composition of 0.5 vol.% C2H2, 5 vol.% H2 as well as 50 vol.% C2H4 in helium. Pre‐reduction of the catalyst was found to be essential to enhance the catalytic selectivity. Sputtered GaPd2 showed a high selectivity of 73 % for the hydrogenation to ethylene at conversion levels above 80 %. The surface‐specific activity was strongly increased to 8.97 molacetylene· (A 0· h)–1 compared to bulk‐ or nanoscale GaPd2 (1.93 and 0.30 molacetylene· (A 0· h)–1, respectively) caused by the high specific surface area of the thin films.

MULSEDRO is an EIT RawMaterials project of a consortium of Finnish, German, Danish and Swedish institutions and companies that aims to develop multi-sensor drone systems for mineral exploration. In September 2018, a field campaign was performed to test the newly designed UAS systems at the Otanmäki Fe–Ti–V deposit in central Finland. In this report, the acquisition and processing of UAS-based magnetic, multi- and hyperspectral datasets in Otanmäki are described. In order to validate the drone-borne data, a ground magnetic survey was acquired and in situ measurements with hhXRF and VNIR-SWIR spectrometers, as well as magnetic susceptibility meter measurements, were performed. A strategy for integrating all the data is introduced, aiming to improve the mapping and evaluation of the near-surface oxide ore distributions. The survey area was covered with four magnetic UAS surveys using both multi- copter and fixed-wing drones equipped with fluxgate magnetometers. The drones op- erated at different altitude levels (15, 40 and 65 m a.g.l.) and line spacings (7, 20, 35 and 40 m), resulting in magnetic information with very different scales of resolution. An equivalent layer modelling (ELM) procedure was jointly applied to all the magnetic datasets to present the magnetic surveys with very different acquisition parameters in one consistent total magnetic intensity plot and to evaluate the consistency of data from the different magnetic surveys. Multi- and hyperspectral data were acquired at a high resolution and geolocated with precisely spatially surveyed control points. Although the lichen and vegetation coverage reduced the total number of visible bare ground pixels by roughly 30%, the application of different band ratios and classification algorithms made it generally possible to adequately map iron-bearing alteration minerals such as hematite and goethite from the UAS-based datasets. The combination of lightweight UAS technologies and ground truthing measurements was demonstrated to be advantageous in rapidly mapping ore-rich outcrops and created a multi-parameter and multi-scale dataset well suited to data integration. The magnetic maps correlated well with both susceptibility values from profiling and ore occurrences visible at the surface, and the iron-bearing phases could be successfully mapped by UAS-borne multi- and hyperspectral sensors in the VNIR. The acquired datasets partly complement each other, e.g. UAS-borne magnetic anomalies can be associated with ore lenses in areas where spectral features are hidden by lichen or vegetation.

Marlon O Pflueger,1 Pasquale Calabrese,2 Erich Studerus,3 Ronan Zimmermann,4 Ute Gschwandtner,4 Stefan Borgwardt,5 Jacqueline Aston,3 Rolf-Dieter Stieglitz,6 Anita Riecher-Rössler3 1Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Basel Psychiatric Clinics, Basel, Switzerland; 2Division of Molecular andCognitive Neuroscience, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; 3Center for Gender Research and Early Detection, University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Basel, Switzerland; 4Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Hospital of the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; 5Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; 6Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland Background: Episodic memory encoding and working memory (WM) deficits are among the first cognitive signs and symptoms in the course of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. However, it is not clear whether the deficit pattern is generalized or specific in nature. We hypothesized that encoding deficits at an early stage of the disease might be due to the more fundamental WM deficits. Methods: We examined episodic memory encoding and WM by administering the California Verbal Learning Test, a 2-back task, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in 90 first-episode psychosis (FE) patients and 116 individuals with an at-risk mental state for psychosis (ARMS) compared to 57 healthy subjects. Results: Learning progress, but not span of apprehension, was diminished to a similar extent in both the ARMS and the FE. We showed that this was due to WM impairment by applying a structural equation approach. Conclusion: Thus, we conclude that verbal memory encoding deficits are secondary to primary WM impairment in emerging psychosis. Keywords: at-risk mental state, first-episode psychosis, cognition, serial position effect, recency, semantic cluster ratio, 2-back task, rate of learning

Little is known about the characteristics and treatments of patients with severe asthma across Europe, but both are likely to vary. This is the first study in the European Respiratory Society Severe Heterogeneous Asthma Research collaboration, Patient-centred (SHARP) Clinical Research Collaboration and it is designed to explore these variations. Therefore, we aimed to compare characteristics of patients in European severe asthma registries and treatments before starting biologicals.This was a cross-sectional retrospective analysis of aggregated data from 11 national severe asthma registries that joined SHARP with established patient databases.Analysis of data from 3236 patients showed many differences in characteristics and lifestyle factors. Current smokers ranged from 0% (Poland and Sweden) to 9.5% (Belgium), mean body mass index ranged from 26.2 (Italy) to 30.6 kg·m−2 (the UK) and the largest difference in mean pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s % predicted was 20.9% (the Netherlands versus Hungary). Before starting biologicals patients were treated differently between countries: mean inhaled corticosteroid dose ranged from 700 to 1335 µg·day−1 between those from Slovenia versus Poland when starting anti-interleukin (IL)-5 antibody and from 772 to 1344 µg·day−1 in those starting anti-IgE (Slovenia versus Spain). Maintenance oral corticosteroid use ranged from 21.0% (Belgium) to 63.0% (Sweden) and from 9.1% (Denmark) to 56.1% (the UK) in patients starting anti-IL-5 and anti-IgE, respectively.The severe asthmatic population in Europe is heterogeneous and differs in both clinical characteristics and treatment, often appearing not to comply with the current European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society guidelines definition of severe asthma. Treatment regimens before starting biologicals were different from inclusion criteria in clinical trials and varied between countries.

Triglycerides (TGs) are the main energy storage form to accommodate for changing organismal energy demands. In Drosophila melanogaster, the TG lipase Brummer (Bmm; also known as DmATGL) is of central importance for body fat mobilization. The mammalian orthologue adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) becomes activated by the α/β-hydrolase fold domain containing 5 (ABHD5; also called CGI-58), one member of the paralogous gene pair ABHD4 and ABHD5. In Drosophila, the pummelig (puml) gene encodes the single sequence-related protein to mammalian ABHD4/ABHD5 with unknown function. Here we generate puml mutant flies, that are short-lived, store excess body fat on the expense of glycogen, and exhibit ectopic fat storage with altered TG fatty acid profile in the fly kidneys, called Malpighian tubules. TG accumulation in puml mutants is not associated with increased food intake but with elevated lipogenesis, while starvation-induced lipid mobilization is functional. Despite its structural similarity to mammalian ABHD5/CGI-58, Puml does not stimulate TG lipase activity of Bmm/DmATGL in vitro. However, a substrate screen identifies Puml as a phospholipase, that is localized on lipid droplets, mitochondria, and peroxisomes. In conclusion, our study identifies the ABHD4/5 family member Puml as a versatile phospholipase, which regulates Drosophila body fat storage and energy metabolism.

The fusion of remote sensing datasets for combined classifications has recently received great attention. Separate data acquisition and subsequent fusion allow for sensor-specific adjustments of experimental parameters and flexible sensor combinations. In mineral exploration, multi-sensor approaches are particularly promising to extend the range and accuracy of mineral phase detection. However, the time-efficient and accurate integration of data with differing resolution, field of view or acquisition modi remains challenging. This motivates us to promote a multi-source data integration based on efficient feature extraction strategies. An important pre-requisite for a successful integration is data co-registration. A workflow combining automated keypoint detection and matching provides an accurate and fast method to align multi-sensor datasets of different spatial sampling distances for a joint processing. For feature extraction, we employ innovative methods that consider both spatial and spectral aspects such as Orthogonal Total Variation Component Analysis (OTVCA). Besides the reduction of dimensionality and consequently processing time, the method allows the integration of textural and spectral information, such as short wave and long wave hyperspectral imagery or reflectance and luminescence data that are not directly interpretable with a single method. Application-relevant mineral assemblage classes such as alteration zones, ore zones or mineralized veins, become then discriminable as the spatio-spectral patterns are evident by extracting relevant features from all datasets. We use a Support Vector Machine with Radial Basis Function Kernel (SVM-RBF) to demonstrate the classification of mineralogical domains from such multi-source feature fused sets. We choose SVM as it is particularly robust when handling high-dimensional data with low number of training samples and against the heterogeneity of classes that is typical for mineralogical datasets. The optimal classification parameters are determined by five-fold cross- validation to ensure the best possible classification result with the given data. Training data required for the classification can be defined according to user knowledge, high resolution mineralogical analyses or spectral point measurements. The proposed multi-source data integration workflow shows to exceed the classification accuracy of single-source data and could be beneficial for many potential application fields in mineral exploration, mineral processing, recycling or food industry.

Monazite dating in metapelites is an emerging method to investigate polymetamorphic areas A protocol for Th–U–Pb dating of monazite by electron microprobe was adopted for a JEOL JXA-8530F. It was applied to the Variscan and Early- Alpine metamorphic Austroalpine Oetztal-Stubai Complex (OSC). In the Alpeiner Valley in the Stubai region, the Schrankogel complex is the eastern succession of the Central Metabasite Zone. In this part, metabasites are alternating with metapelites. In 4 samples from micaschist lenses, dominantly Carboniferous monazite isochrone ages at 335 ± 4 Ma, 320 ± 4 Ma; 319 ± 4 Ma and 319 ± 4 Ma were obtained. The micaschist samples with diverse modal compositions and variable bulk rock Ca contents of calculated assay, display distinct monazite microstructures, as quantified by automated SEM-MLA (mineral liberation analysis) routines. Clusters of small monazite could indicate new crystallization and yielded isochrones at 313 and 304 Ma. In contrast, corona structures of apatite and allanite around large monazites with isochrones between 350 and 315 Ma suggest a decomposition during decreasing temperature. Garnets in metapelitic assemblages display growth zonations with low pyrope contents in the cores and pyrope-rich rims. A prograde metamorphism with high pressure amphibolite-facies peak conditions at * 12 kbar and * 680 °C, and a post Pmax path with decompression to 4 kbar and 640–600 °C was estimated from the micaschists and from zoned Ca-amphiboles in retrogressed amphibolitized eclogites. The P–T path entered the monazite stability field during the decompression. This signals a Carboniferous age of the metamorphism. A minor population in one sample is composed of sporadic Permian single monazite ages. A Creta- ceous monazite population is lacking. In the wide parts of the Austroalpine basement with Carboniferous-to-Cretaceous mica mixing ages, monazite age populations allow to discriminate a distinct Permian metamorphic event.