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BACKGROUND: The 69th World Health Assembly endorsed the global health sector strategy on viral hepatitis to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030. Achieving and measuring the 2030 targets requires a substantial increase in the capacity to test and treat viral hepatitis infections and a mechanism to monitor the progress of hepatitis elimination. This study aimed to identify the gaps in data availability or quality and create a new mechanism to monitor the progress of hepatitis elimination. METHODS: In 2020, using a questionnaire, we collected empirical, systematic, modelled, or surveyed data-reported by WHO country and WHO regional offices-on indicators of progress towards elimination of viral hepatitis, including burden of infection, incidence, mortality, and the cascade of care, and validated these data. FINDINGS: WHO received officially validated country-provided data from 130 countries or territories, and used partner-provided data for 70 countries or territories. We estimated that in 2019, globally, 295·9 million (3·8%) people were living with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and 57·8 million (0·8%) people were living with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Globally, there were more than 3·0 million new infections with HBV and HCV and more than 1·1 million deaths due to the viruses in 2019. In 2019, 30·4 million (95% CI 24·3-38·0) individuals living with hepatitis B knew their infection status and 6·6 million (5·3-8·3) people diagnosed with hepatitis B received treatment. Among people with HCV infection, 15·2 million (95% CI 12·1-19·0) had been diagnosed between 2015 and 2019, and 9·4 million (7·5-11·7) people diagnosed with hepatitis C infection were treated with direct-acting antiviral drugs between 2015 and 2019. INTERPRETATION: There has been notable global progress towards hepatitis elimination. In 2019, 30·4 million (10·3%) people living with hepatitis B knew their infection status, which was slightly higher than in 2015 (22·0 million; 9·0%), and 6·6 million (22·7%) of those diagnosed with hepatitis B received treatment, compared with 1·7 million (8·0%) in 2015. Mortality from hepatitis C has declined since 2019, driven by an increase in HCV treatment ten times that of the strategy baseline. However, an estimated 89·7% of HBV infections and 78·6% of HCV infections remain undiagnosed. A new global strategy for 2022-30, based on these new estimates, should be implemented urgently to scale up the screening and treatment of viral hepatitis. FUNDING: World Health Organization.

Abstract: Introduction: The Stress Overload Scale (SOS; Amirkhan, 2012 , 2018 ) was introduced as a two-factorial self-report measure of stress to overcome limitations of other scales. Methods: We developed a German translation of the SOS and validated it in addition to a short version and an extra-short version. Furthermore, we tested whether manipulating the time frame introduced as retention interval in the instructions affected its psychometric properties. Results: Using two independent age-heterogeneous convenience samples ( Ntotal = 1,239), we found good psychometric properties for a modified German short version of the SOS-S (SOS-S-G) and a new extra-short version (SOS-XS-G), but not for the German long version of the SOS. Moreover, manipulating the time frame of the SOS did not affect its psychometric quality. Discussion The SOS enriches the repertoire of self-report measures of stress as it captures the nonpathological core facets of stress in line with theoretical stress conceptualizations.

Data-driven approaches have gained interest recently in the field of wind energy. Data-driven online estimators have been investigated and demonstrated in several applications such as online loads estimation, wake center position estimations, online damage estimation. The present work demonstrates the application of machine learning algorithms to formulate an estimator of the internal loads acting on the bearings of the drivetrain of onshore wind turbines. The loads estimator is implemented as a linear state-space model that is augmented with a non-linear feed-forward neural network. The estimator infers the loads time series as a function of the standard measurements from the SCADA and condition monitoring systems (CMS). A formal analysis of the available data is carried out to define the structure of the virtual sensor regarding the order of the models, number of states, architecture of neural networks. Correlation coefficient of 98% in the time domain and matching of the frequency signature are achieved. Several applications are mentioned and discussed in this work such as online estimation of the forces for monitoring and model predictive control applications.

This article turns to the queer memorial activism of the Uckermark Initiative in Germany. This network of feminist, lesbian, queer and trans antifascist activists has been organizing for over two decades to memorialize forgotten victims of Nazi terror – girls and young women who were incarcerated for their non-conforming gender, sexual and social behaviour at the Uckermark Youth concentration camp. The Uckermark Initiative’s memorial activism instantiates my thinking about the performative affects and effects of such organizing. I conceptualize the durational counter-memorial activism enacted on the former camp site as memory care work, which I argue produces new social formations that I term queer akinship. Queer akinship is a social formation enabled by relations of adjacency, where subjects develop queer kin relations through the durational work of caring for the remembrance of forgotten victims of state violence.

Image-based 3D reconstruction has been successfully employed for micro-measurements and industrial quality control purposes. However, obtaining a highly-detailed and reliable 3D reconstruction and inspection of non-collaborative surfaces is still an open issue. Photometric stereo (PS) offers the high spatial frequencies of the surface, but the low frequency is erroneous due to the mathematical model's assumptions and simplifications on how light interacts with the object surface. Photogrammetry, on the other hand, gives precise low-frequency information but fails to utilize high frequencies. As a result, in this research, we present a fusion strategy in Fourier domain to replace the low spatial frequencies of PS with the corresponding photogrammetric frequencies in order to have correct low frequencies while maintaining high frequencies from PS. The proposed method was tested on three different objects. Different cloud-to-cloud comparisons were provided between reference data and the 3D points derived from the proposed method to evaluate high and low frequency information. The obtained 3D findings demonstrated how the proposed methodology generates a high-detail 3D reconstruction of the surface topography (below 20 µm) while maintaining low-frequency information (0.09 µm on average for three different testing objects) by fusing photogrammetric and PS depth data with the proposed FFT-based method.

Investment theories have claimed reciprocal relations between intelligence and investment traits (i.e., personality traits related to seeking out, and dealing with, cognitive challenges). However, previous research has primarily addressed the effects of investment traits on intellectual development (environmental enrichment hypothesis) and often focused on either childhood or later adulthood. The present study investigated the effects of intelligence on investment traits (environmental success hypothesis) from mid to late adolescence.In a 3-year longitudinal survey (2008-2011) covering four measurement occasions, the predictive effects of both fluid and crystallized intelligence on intraindividual change in both the achievement motive (i.e., hope for success and fear of failure) and need for cognition were examined. Overall, 476 adolescents (tSecond-order latent growth models indicated that fluid intelligence predicted a steeper growth in hope for success (β = .40), but was unrelated to change in the other investment traits. Crystallized intelligence had no effects on the investment traits under study.The results contribute to the research on the bidirectionality of intelligence and investment traits and add to our understanding of personality development from mid to late adolescence. Specifically, they underline the importance of nurturing hope for success especially in individuals with lower intelligence, but also show that support for the environmental success hypothesis seems to be limited to certain investment traits.

Ein Großteil aller Schwangeren leidet zu Beginn der Schwangerschaft an Übelkeit und Erbrechen, manche von ihnen an einer besonders schweren Form, der Hyperemesis gravidarum. Ursachen, Folgen und Therapieoptionen der Erkrankung werden kontinuierlich erforscht. Ein neuer Definitionsansatz soll nun für mehr Vergleichbarkeit der Studienergebnisse sorgen.

People who inject drugs (PWID) in Kenya have high HIV (range across settings: 14-26%) and hepatitis C virus (HCV; 11-36%) prevalence. We evaluated the impact of existing and scaled-up interventions on HIV and HCV incidence among PWID in Kenya.HIV and HCV transmission model among PWID, calibrated to Nairobi and Kenya's Coastal region.For each setting, we projected the impact (percent of HIV/HCV infections averted in 2020) of existing coverages of antiretroviral therapy (ART; 63-79%), opioid agonist therapy (OAT; 8-13%) and needle and syringe programmes (NSP; 45-61%). We then projected the impact (reduction in HIV/HCV incidence over 2021-2030), of scaling-up harm reduction [Full harm reduction ('Full HR'): 50% OAT, 75% NSP] and/or HIV (UNAIDS 90-90-90) and HCV treatment (1000 PWID over 2021-2025) and reducing sexual risk (by 25/50/75%). We estimated HCV treatment levels needed to reduce HCV incidence by 90% by 2030.In 2020, OAT and NSP averted 46.0-50.8% (range of medians) of HIV infections and 50.0-66.1% of HCV infections, mostly because of NSP. ART only averted 12.9-39.8% of HIV infections because of suboptimal viral suppression (28-48%). Full HR and ART could reduce HIV incidence by 51.5-64% and HCV incidence by 84.6-86.6% by 2030. Also halving sexual risk could reduce HIV incidence by 68.0-74.1%. Alongside full HR, treating 2244 PWID over 2021-2025 could reduce HCV incidence by 90% by 2030.Existing interventions are having substantial impact on HIV and HCV transmission in Kenya. However, to eliminate HIV and HCV, further scale-up is needed with reductions in sexual risk and HCV treatment.

Mars lacks a global magnetic field and instead has a unique, ‘hybrid’ magnetosphere composed of crustal magnetic fields, which are stronger in the Southern hemisphere than the Northern hemisphere. These crustal fields are believed to drive a twist in the magnetotail at Mars. This is important because heavy ions escape from this induced magnetotail, which is a major source of atmospheric erosion. We present analysis of heavy ions produced in Mars’ upper atmosphere that are transported downtail along the twisted current sheet and observed by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. We identified O+, O$_2\, ^+$, and CO$_2\, ^+$ being accelerated to different energies at a range of distances downtail and found that heavy ions in the 10–50 eV energy population have the highest flux. We present tail slices of ion fluxes for different interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) configurations based on the BY component of the IMF and find that the different configurations affect the degree of tail twist and the transport of heavy ions in the induced magnetotail lobes. We find that the total escape rate for O+, O$_2\, ^+$, and CO$_2\, ^+$ is 5.5e24 s-1, with 50% escaping between 2–200 eV.

Background Where the critical view of safety cannot be established during cholecystectomy, certain salvage techniques are indicated to reduce the likelihood of bile duct injury. The present study describes a salvage technique termed the “laparoscopic lumen-guided cholecystectomy” (LLC) and reports its peri-operative outcomes. Method A summary of the technique is as follows: (1) Hartmann’s pouch is incised and stones are evacuated; (2) the cystic anatomy is inspected from the inside of the gallbladder; (3) the lumen is used to guide retrograde dissection towards the cystic pedicle; (4) cystic duct control is achieved if deemed safe. LLC cases performed between June 2020 and January 2022 in a single health board were included. The operative details and peri-operative outcomes of the technique are reported and compared to cases of similar difficulty where the LLC was not attempted. Results LLC was performed in 4.6% (27/587) of cases. In all 27 cases, LLC was performed for a “frozen” cholecystohepatic triangle. Hartmann’s pouch was completely excised in all cases (27/27) and cystic duct control was achieved in 85.2% of cases (23/27). No cases of bile leak or ductal injury were reported. Rates of bile leak, post-operative complications and ERCP were lower following LLC compared to the group where LLC was not attempted (p Conclusion LLC is a safe salvage technique and should be considered in cases where the critical view of safety cannot be established. The technique achieves cystic duct control in the majority of cases and favourable outcomes in the face of a difficult cholecystectomy.

Venus lacks a significant intrinsic magnetic field, and thus, its atmosphere and ionosphere interact directly with the solar wind flow and magnetic field from the Sun. Interplanetary magnetic fields (IMF) can penetrate into the ionosphere when the upstream solar wind dynamic pressure is stronger than the ionospheric plasma pressure. Magnetic topology can be inferred at Venus if it is defined as the magnetic connectivity to the collisional atmosphere/ionosphere, rather than connectivity to the planet’s surface. Magnetic topology can be inferred from the pitch angle and energy distribution of superthermal (> ~1 eV) electrons. More specifically, the presence of loss cones in electron pitch angle distributions infers connectivity to the nightside collisional atmosphere and the presence of ionospheric photoelectrons (identified from electron energy distributions) indicates connectivity to the dayside collisional ionosphere. We design automated procedures to determine magnetic topology with electron and magnetic field measurements by the Venus Express spacecraft over its entire mission (2006-2014). This allows us to provide the first statistical mapping of magnetic topology at Venus. We also examine how the upstream drivers affect the low-altitude magnetic topology, revealing different magnetized states of the Venus ionosphere. We find that open and closed (a surprising topology not expected at Venus) fields cluster around the terminator and draped fields dominate other regions. Our results also reveal that there is more dayside magnetic connectivity in the -E (solar wind motional electric field) hemisphere than the +E hemisphere, and during solar maximum. During solar minimum, however, there is more nightside magnetic connectivity. Last but not the least, to understand the true nature of these magnetic topologies and broadly speaking the planet-solar wind interaction, we need to think about possible ways to measure the deeply penetrated magnetic fields at Venus and Mars.

Anandamide (AEA) is an endogenous ligand of the cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors, being a component of the endocannabinoid signaling system, which supports the maintenance or regaining of neural homeostasis upon internal and external challenges. AEA is thought to play a protective role against the development of pathological states after prolonged stress exposure, including depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Here, we used the chronic social defeat (CSD) stress as an ethologically valid model of chronic stress in male mice. We characterized a genetically modified mouse line where AEA signaling was reduced by deletion of the gene encoding the AEA synthesizing enzyme N-acyl-phosphatidylethanolamine-hydrolyzing phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD) specifically in neurons activated at the time of CSD stress. One week after the stress, the phenotype was assessed in behavioral tests and by molecular analyses. We found that NAPE-PLD deficiency in neurons activated during the last three days of CSD stress led to an increased anxiety-like behavior. Investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenotype may suggest three main altered pathways to be affected: (i) desensitization of the negative feedback loop of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, (ii) disinhibition of the amygdala by the prefrontal cortex, and (iii) altered neuroplasticity in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.

Purpose Brace treatment is the most common nonoperative treatment to prevent curve progression in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). The goal of this review and analysis is to characterize curve behavior after completion of brace treatment and to identify factors that may facilitate the estimation of long-term curve progression. Method A review of the English language literature was completed using the MEDLINE (PUBMED) database of publications after 1990 until September 2020. Studies were included if they detailed a minimum of 1 year post-brace removal follow-up of AIS patients. Data retrieved from the articles included Cobb angle measurements of the major curves at “in-brace,” weaning, and follow-up visit(s) for all patients described and for subset populations. Results From 75 articles, 18 relevant studies describing a follow-up period of 1–25 years following brace removal were included in the analyses. The reviewed literature demonstrates that curves continue to progress after brace treatment is completed with three main phases of progression: (i) immediate (upon brace removal) where a mean curve progression of 7° occurs; (ii) short term (within five years of brace removal) where a relatively high progression rate is evident (0.8°/year); and (iii) long term (more than five years after brace removal) where the progression rate slows (0.2°/year). The magnitude and rate of curve progression is mainly dependent on the degree of curve at weaning as curves weaned at Conclusion Curves continue to progress after brace removal and the rate and magnitude of progression are associated with the curve size at weaning, with larger curves typically exhibiting more rapid and severe progression. This analysis provides physicians and patients the ability to estimate long-term curve size based on the curve size at the time of weaning. Level of evidence IV.

Background Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit frequent behavioral deficits in facial emotion recognition (FER). It remains unknown whether these deficits arise because facial emotion information is not encoded in their neural signal or because it is encodes but fails to translate to FER behavior (deployment). This distinction has functional implications, including constraining when differences in social information processing occur in ASD, and guiding interventions (i.e., developing prosthetic FER vs. reinforcing existing skills). Methods We utilized a discriminative and contemporary machine learning approach—deep convolutional neural networks—to classify facial emotions viewed by individuals with and without ASD (N = 88) from concurrently recorded electroencephalography signals. Results The convolutional neural network classified facial emotions with high accuracy for both ASD and non-ASD groups, even though individuals with ASD performed more poorly on the concurrent FER task. In fact, convolutional neural network accuracy was greater in the ASD group and was not related to behavioral performance. This pattern of results replicated across three independent participant samples. Moreover, feature importance analyses suggested that a late temporal window of neural activity (1000–1500 ms) may be uniquely important in facial emotion classification for individuals with ASD. Conclusions Our results reveal for the first time that facial emotion information is encoded in the neural signal of individuals with (and without) ASD. Thus, observed difficulties in behavioral FER associated with ASD likely arise from difficulties in decoding or deployment of facial emotion information within the neural signal. Interventions should focus on capitalizing on this intact encoding rather than promoting compensation or FER prostheses.

V tem pismu poročamo o prvi sistematični študiji tipa populacije supertermičnih elektronov v sončevem vetru, imenovane ojačitve pri 90° PA (ang. pitch angle). Ta populacija je bila najdena v bližini medplanetarnih udarnih valov, pri čemer smo analizirali dvourne časovne intervale centrirane na udarnih valovih. Ojačitve pri 90° PA smo našli pri 114 od 232 (49 %) dogodkov, kar pomeni, da je ta tip populacije dokaj pogost v sončevem vetru. Statistična analiza lastnosti medplanetarnih udarnih valov je pokazala, da ni bistvenih razlik v lastnostih med udarnimi valovi ob katerih so bile ojačitve prosotne in tistimi kjer jih ni bilo. Preliminarna analiza fluktuacij električnega polja pa je pokazala, da je njihova aktivnost intenzivnejša v bližini udarnih valov, ob katerih smo našli ojačitve pri 90° PA.

Refraction effects, their description and modeling are important aspects of underwater and multimedia photogrammetry. For hemispherical interfaces, the usual approach to refraction is to rely on standard pinhole representations, e.g. by employing the Brown model. This is strictly only possible if entrance pupil of the lens and dome center coincide which is not trivial to achieve. However, simulations and other authors show that systematic residual errors occur with these approaches up to considerable margins if offsets of some millimeters are present. Hence, we propose a novel efficient, yet strict optimization algorithm to account for offsets between dome port centers and entrance pupil. It is about two orders of magnitude faster than standard ray tracing implementations that account for refraction while providing similar or equal results. The algorithm is employed for analysis on a simulation and two real data sets and performance of additionally estimating the dome center is investigated. Our method is capable of improving accuracy in one data set at a maximum of 30% but even so cannot provide improvements for the second data sets. An explicit calibration model is hence to be chosen carefully and most likely relies on the offset’s margins and each individual application.

Establishing neuronal circuits requires interactions between pre- and postsynaptic neurons. While presynaptic neurons were shown to play instructive roles for the postsynaptic neurons, how postsynaptic neurons provide feedback to regulate the presynaptic neuronal development remains elusive. To elucidate the mechanisms for circuit formation, we study the development of barrel cortex (the primary sensory cortex, S1), whose development is instructed by presynaptic thalamocortical axons (TCAs). In the first postnatal weeks, TCA terminals arborize in layer (L) 4 to fill in the barrel center, but it is unclear how TCA development is regulated. Here, we reported that the deletion of Lhx2 specifically in the cortical neurons in the conditional knockout (cKO) leads to TCA arborization defects, which is accompanied with deficits in sensory-evoked and spontaneous cortical activities and impaired lesion-induced plasticity following early whisker follicle ablation. Reintroducing Lhx2 back in L4 neurons in cKO ameliorated TCA arborization and plasticity defects. By manipulating L4 neuronal activity, we further demonstrated that Lhx2 induces TCA arborization via an activity-dependent mechanism. Additionally, we identified the extracellular signaling protein Sema7a as an activity-dependent downstream target of Lhx2 in regulating TCA branching. Thus, we discovered a bottom-up feedback mechanism for the L4 neurons to regulate TCA development.

The whiskers of rodents are a key sensory organ that provides critical tactile information for animal navigation and object exploration throughout life. Previous work has explored the developmental sensory-driven activation of the primary sensory cortex processing whisker information (wS1), also called barrel cortex. This body of work has shown that the barrel cortex is already activated by sensory stimuli during the first postnatal week. However, it is currently unknown when over the course of development these stimuli begin being processed by higher-order cortical areas, such as secondary whisker somatosensory area (wS2). Here we investigate the developmental engagement of wS2 by whisker stimuli and the emergence of corticocortical communication from wS1 to wS2. Usingin vivowide-field imaging and multielectrode recordings in control and conditional KO mice of either sex with thalamocortical innervation defects, we find that wS1 and wS2 are able to process bottom-up information coming from the thalamus from birth. We also identify that it is only at the end of the first postnatal week that wS1 begins to provide functional excitation into wS2, switching to more inhibitory actions after the second postnatal week. Therefore, we have uncovered a developmental window when information transfer between wS1 and wS2 reaches mature function.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTAt the end of the first postnatal week, the primary whisker somatosensory area starts providing excitatory input to the secondary whisker somatosensory area 2. This excitatory drive weakens during the second postnatal week and switches to inhibition in the adult.

To address the question which neocortical layers and cell types are important for the perception of a sensory stimulus, we performed multielectrode recordings in the barrel cortex of head-fixed mice performing a single-whisker go/no-go detection task with vibrotactile stimuli of differing intensities. We found that behavioral detection probability decreased gradually over the course of each session, which was well explained by a signal detection theory-based model that posits stable psychometric sensitivity and a variable decision criterion updated after each reinforcement, reflecting decreasing motivation. Analysis of multiunit activity demonstrated highest neurometric sensitivity in layer 4, which was achieved within only 30 ms after stimulus onset. At the level of single neurons, we observed substantial heterogeneity of neurometric sensitivity within and across layers, ranging from nonresponsiveness to approaching or even exceeding psychometric sensitivity. In all cortical layers, putative inhibitory interneurons on average proffered higher neurometric sensitivity than putative excitatory neurons. In infragranular layers, neurons increasing firing rate in response to stimulation featured higher sensitivities than neurons decreasing firing rate. Offline machine-learning-based analysis of videos of behavioral sessions showed that mice performed better when not moving, which at the neuronal level, was reflected by increased stimulus-evoked firing rates.

The idea of a general working model of attachment suggests a high consistency among the attachments to different attachment figures. However, many empirical results show that attachments to different attachment figures differ substantially. In this study, 512 emerging adults rated their attachment quality to one parent, the romantic partner, and several friends over three measurement occasions. We used a multilevel structural equation model to examine the degree of consistency and different aspects of specificity. Attachment to parents was strongly associated with the attachment to friends (around r = .4) and less strongly with the attachment to romantic partners (around r = .3). However, most of the variance was specific to the different attachment figures. Attachments to different friends were more strongly correlated with each other than with the attachments to figures of other domains. The results hint at the existence of specific attachment patterns for every domain of attachment figures.

This article presents a methodology for the 3D reconstruction of welds under water. A monocular measuring system, equipped with a hemispherical (dome) port, and its methodology are introduced. Furthermore, a simple but effective approach for the alignment of a dome port and the entrance pupil of a lens is presented. The alignment is mechanically supported by the presented lens alignment shell. Turbidity experiments in the laboratory quantify the accuracy of the 3D reconstruction of an underwater welded hollow weld in comparison with a high-quality reference measurement. The analyses show that the system is capable to reconstruct the surface of the weld in high quality using least-squares image matching. The quality level ranges from 0.06 mm in clear water to 0.11 mm in turbid water featuring a visibility of ~ 140 mm.

Understanding and considering refraction effects are important parts of the demanding task of multimedia photogrammetry, especially with planar interfaces, so-called ”flat ports”. Yet, it remains challenging to determine reliable calibration results that are both quickly acquired and physically interpretable. In this contribution, a novel object-based optimization algorithm, relying on ray tracing methods, is introduced. It enables calibrating physical parameters of all involved refractive properties with reduced computational effort, compared to other standard algorithms in ray tracing. We show that this solution produces equally accurate results as other ray tracing approaches while improving processing speed by a factor of approximately ten and providing a statistical metric in object space. Furthermore, we show in a laboratory investigation that explicit calibration of refractive properties is crucial even with orthogonally aligned bundle-invariant interfaces for highest accuracy, as accuracy in object space is decreased by about 10% with implicit calibration. With deviation from orthogonality by about ten degrees this decreases even further to almost no useful results and accuracy loss of more than 50% compared to explicit calibration results.

Within the project VRscan3D, funded by DAAD, a terrestrial laser scanner simulator has been developed as educational tool for learning and teaching laser scanning processes. The main goal of the VirScan3D project is to cover engineering digitisation and will be solved through the development of a virtual system that allows users to create realistic data in the absence of a real measuring device in a modelled real-life environment (digital twin). The implementation of the virtual laser scanner is realised within a game engine, which allows for fast and easy 3D visualisation and navigation. Real-life buildings and urban surroundings can be digitised, modelled and integrated into the simulator, thus creating a digital copy of a real-world environment. This article describes the technical realization of the simulator and its evaluation as well as usability testing results conducted by independent users from university courses.

The Goethe Elephant skull is a cultural object of great interest. For the highly accurate 3D digitisation of the object, a hand-held 3D scanning system (Creaform GO!Scan) and Structure-from-Motion (DSLR camera) were used. The aim is a complete spatial reconstruction with a resolution of 0.5 mm and an accuracy level of approximate 0.5 mm. The skull consists of three parts, which have very complex but also very simple surface structures. For both methods the data acquisition and processing is described in detail. In both cases, a complete textured meshed 3D model could be calculated without shadows due to the use of camera-fixed lighting. The 3D models fulfil the desired target resolution and accuracy, verified by independent reference lengths and by the manufacturer's specifications. In addition, the colour values of the texture were calibrated with the help of the ColorChecker Digital SG. A visual and geometric comparison of the two models shows that both methods are very well suited for high-precision 3D object reconstruction on a similar level of accuracy. Furthermore, the advantages and disadvantages of the methods are compared. The main advantage of the applied hand-held scanner is the real-time verification of the model during data acquisition. The established SfM convinces with its flexibility regarding resolution and camera positioning.

Characterization of karst systems and forecast of their state variables are essential for groundwater management and engineering in karst regions. These objectives can be met by the use of process-based discrete-continuum models (DCMs). However, results of DCMs may suffer from inversion nonuniqueness. It has been demonstrated that the joint inversion of observations regulated by different natural processes can tackle the nonuniqueness issue in groundwater modeling. However, this has not been tested for DCMs thus far. This research proposes a methodology for the joint inversion of hydro-thermo-chemo-graphs, applying to two small-scale sink-to-spring experiments at Freiheit Spring, Minnesota, USA. In order to address conceptual uncertainty, a multimodel approach was implemented, featuring seven mutually exclusive variants. Spring hydro-thermo-chemo-graphs, for all the variants simulated by MODFLOW-CFPv2, were jointly inverted using a weighted least squares algorithm. Subsequently, models were compared in terms of inversion and forecast performances, as well as parameter uncertainties. Results reveal the suitability of the DCM approach for simultaneous inversion and forecast of hydro-physico-chemical behavior of karst systems, even at a scale of meters and seconds. The estimated volume of the tracer conduit passage ranges from approximately 46–51 m3, which is comparable to the estimate from the flood-pulse method. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the thermograph and hydrograph contain more information about aquifer characteristics than the chemograph. However, this finding can be site-specific and should depend on the analysis scale, the considered conceptual models, and the hydrological state, which are potentially affected by minor unaccountable processes and features.

With the help of high-performance computing, we benchmarked a selection of machine learning classification algorithms on the tasks of whisker stimulus detection, stimulus classification and behavior prediction based on electrophysiological recordings of layer-resolved local field potentials from the barrel cortex of awake mice. Machine learning models capable of accurately analyzing and interpreting the neuronal activity of awake animals during a behavioral experiment are promising for neural prostheses aimed at restoring a certain functionality of the brain for patients suffering from a severe brain injury. The liquid state machine, a highly efficient spiking neural network classifier that was designed for implementation on neuromorphic hardware, achieved the same level of accuracy compared to the other classifiers included in our benchmark study. Based on application scenarios related to the barrel cortex and relevant for neuroprosthetics, we show that the liquid state machine is able to find patterns in the recordings that are not only highly predictive but, more importantly, generalizable to data from individuals not used in the model training process. The generalizability of such models makes it possible to train a model on data obtained from one or more individuals without any brain lesion and transfer this model to a prosthesis required by the patient.Author SummaryA neural prosthesis is a computationally driven device that restores the functionality of a damaged brain region for locked-in patients suffering from the aftereffects of a brain injury or severe stroke. As such devices are chronically implanted, they rely on small, low-powered microchips with limited computational resources. Based on recordings describing the neural activity of awake mice, we show that spiking neural networks, which are especially designed for microchips, are able to provide accurate classification models in application scenarios relevant in neuroprosthetics. Furthermore, models were generalizable across mice, corroborating that it will be possible to train a model on recordings from healthy individuals and transfer it to the patient’s prosthesis.

Viral infections are a constant battle between the virus and the host. While the host’s only goal is victory, the main purpose of the virus is to spread and conquer new territories at the expense of the host’s resources.

Background. Threat biases are considered key factors in the development and maintenance of anxiety. Yet, these biases are poorly operationalized and remain unquantified. Furthermore, it is unclear whether and how prior knowledge of threat and its uncertainty induce these biases and how they manifest in anxiety.Method. Participants (n=55) used prestimulus cues to decide whether the subsequently presented stimuli were threatening or neutral. The cues either provided no information about the probability (high uncertainty) or indicated high probability (low uncertainty) of encountering threatening or neutral targets. We used signal detection theory (SDT) and hierarchical drift diffusion model (HDDM) to quantify bias.Results. High uncertainty threat cues improved discrimination of subsequent threatening and neutral stimuli more than the neutral cues. However, anxiety was associated with worse discrimination of threatening versus neutral stimuli following high uncertainty threat cues. Using HDDM, we found that threat cues biased decision-making not only by shifting the starting point of evidence accumulation towards the threat decision, but also by increasing the efficiency with which sensory evidence was accumulated for both threat-related and neutral decisions. However, higher anxiety was associated with a greater shift of starting point towards the threat decision, but not with the efficiency of evidence accumulation.Conclusions. Using computational modeling, these results highlight the biases by which knowledge regarding uncertain threat improves perceptual decision-making but impairs it in case of anxiety.

Judging the overall emotional nature of a scene often requires us to deliberately integrate pieces of evidence that range from neutral to emotional in nature. Research so far has focused on relatively rapid decisions. Hence, how evidence is valuated and sampled given ample time, and the precise computations involved in integrating emotion-related evidence to form an overall perceptual decision remain unclear. Further, it is unclear how this process is influenced by decision-makers’ endogenous (voluntary) attention directed towards emotional evidence. In two experiments, human subjects (N=33 and N = 40) viewed arrays of faces with expressions ranging from extremely fearful to extremely happy. They decided whether the faces were more fearful or happier on average in the absence (Experiment 1) and presence (Experiment 2) of endogenous attention directed towards the fearful or happy faces. Results showed that subjects evaluated the same emotional faces differently depending on the face array context. While they attentionally sampled extreme emotional evidence more, they did not weigh it higher or lower in their decision making. Rather, their decision-making strategy was best modeled by weighing all pieces of context-dependent subjective evaluated emotional evidence equally. Furthermore, endogenous attention influenced sampling of the emotional evidence, but the decision-making strategy remained unchanged. In conclusion, the findings show that when forming a judgment about multiple emotional stimuli without time pressure, humans weigh multiple pieces of subjectively valuated context-dependent evidence equally. These findings elucidate specific computational mechanisms of emotion-related decision making, shedding light on the mechanisms of normal and pathological affective decisions.

This perspective article discusses the knowledge gaps and open questions regarding the solar and interplanetary drivers of space weather conditions experienced at Mars during active and quiescent solar periods, and the need for continuous, routine observations to address them. For both advancing science and as part of the strategic planning for human exploration at Mars by the late 2030s, now is the time to consider a network of upstream space weather monitors at Mars. Our main recommendations for the heliophysics community are the following: 1. Support the advancement for understanding heliophysics and space weather science at ∼1.5 AU and continue the support of planetary science payloads and missions that provide such measurements. 2. Prioritize an upstream Mars L1 monitor and/or areostationary orbiters for providing dedicated, continuous observations of solar activity and interplanetary conditions at ∼1.5 AU. 3. Establish new or support existing 1) joint efforts between federal agencies and their divisions and 2) international collaborations to carry out #1 and #2.

Der vorliegende Beitrag arbeitet auf der Grundlage einer kleinen Auswahl von explorativen Interviews mit Fraktionsvorsitzenden aus Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) heraus, wie die Finanzsteuerung auf der Basis von Zielen und Kennzahlen heute in der politischen Praxis umgesetzt sowie für die strategisch-politische Planung berücksichtigt wird. Ebenso werden mithilfe der Befragung Defizite und Veränderungswünsche aufgezeigt. Die derzeitige Ausprägung von Leistungsinformationen im Haushalt wird als nicht hilfreich angesehen. Trotzdem sehen die Befragten den Bedarf für Zielfestlegungen und damit verbundenen Leistungsdaten. Dieser Zwischenruf soll einen Beitrag zur Debatte um die Weiterentwicklung einer Steuerung auf der Basis von Zielen und Kennzahlen leisten.

Psychological research has long been interested in whether helping can make people happy. This article summarizes empirical evidence and theoretical models on the relationship between helping and well-being. Empirical studies indicate a significant, but weak positive relationship between helping behaviors and well-being. The functional approach and self-determination theory are two theoretical frameworks that are particularly relevant for interdisciplinary investigations of this topic. The article concludes with a discussion of open questions and avenues for future research.

We investigated whether higher internal control beliefs (perceived control, political efficacy) and improved social relationships (lower loneliness, social support availability) mediated the associations between nonpolitical and political volunteering and subjective well-being (SWB; life satisfaction, emotional well-being). Moreover, we examined whether these effects differed between nonpolitical and political volunteering and across age groups. We conducted longitudinal multilevel regression analyses of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1985–2016) in younger (14–29, n = 7,547), middle-aged (40–50, n = 6,437), and older (65–75, n = 3,736) adults (see preregistration at https://osf.io/qk6mu). Significant effects on SWB emerged mainly in older adults who reported higher life satisfaction on occasions with more frequent nonpolitical volunteering than usual but lower life satisfaction on occasions with more frequent political volunteering. The negative effect of political volunteering was mediated by higher loneliness. In younger and middle-aged adults, mixed effects of nonpolitical and political volunteering on the mediating variables and no significant effects on SWB emerged. We discuss methodological, contextual, and life-stage explanations of our findings.

L’entorse de Chopart est une lésion traumatique peu connue, sous-estimée et souvent confondue avec une entorse de cheville. Le traumatisme en inversion de la cheville, souvent accompagné d’une flexion plantaire forcée du pied, représente le mécanisme lésionnel le plus fréquent. Son diagnostic repose sur un examen clinique précis nécessitant une bonne connaissance anatomique. Les signes radiographiques sont indirects et souvent discrets. Il s’agit principalement d’arrachements osseux ou de lésions osseuses par impaction ; ils peuvent parfois d’emblée justifier d’un complément scanographique. L’échographie peut également être utile en première intention. A contrario, l’IRM est actuellement réservée aux difficultés diagnostiques. Le traitement de cette pathologie est essentiellement fonctionnel. Il faut cependant connaître les quelques indications pour un traitement orthopédique (immobilisation) comme la présence d’une lésion osseuse de grande taille. Le traitement chirurgical est quant à lui exceptionnel. L’instabilité calcanéocuboïdienne ainsi que l’arthrose du Chopart sont des complications possibles (à moyen ou long terme) mais peu fréquentes.