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The current transition towards renewable energies has led to an increased utilization of Photovoltaic (PV) sources and battery energy storage systems to complement the PV panels. To facilitate energy transfer among PVs, batteries, and loads, multiple converters are required. Thus, this transformation in the energy system has resulted in an increase in converter-interfaced elements. Within this context, three-port converters allow for replacing multiple converters with a single one. These three-port converters use a high-frequency AC resonant link for the bidirectional transfer of energy across the different ports. This architecture uses multiple switches and has a variable operating frequency. These characteristics make the simulation of these converters computationally heavy. Thus, averaged models are required, especially for simulating multiple converters connected in parallel or composing a microgrid. In this paper, an averaged model for this type of converter is developed. The methodology is first demonstrated and applied to a two-port DC/DC converter, and subsequently extended to the three-port DC/DC/DC version. Afterwards, control strategies for three-port DC/DC/DC converters are proposed based on the elements connected to their ports. The developed model for three-port DC/DC/DC converters is then implemented in an islanded DC microgrid to demonstrate their parallel operation. The proposed developed averaged models and the test DC microgrid are implemented in MATLAB/Simulink.

Retinoic acid (RA) regulates stemness and differentiation in human embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Ewing sarcoma (ES) is a pediatric tumor that may arise from the abnormal development of ESCs. Here we show that RA impairs the viability of SK-ES-1 ES cells and affects the cell cycle. Cells treated with RA showed increased levels of p21 and its encoding gene, CDKN1A. RA reduced mRNA and protein levels of SRY-box transcription factor 2 (SOX2) as well as mRNA levels of beta III Tubulin (TUBB3), whereas the levels of CD99 increased. Exposure to RA reduced the capability of SK-ES-1 to form tumorspheres with high expression of SOX2 and Nestin. Gene expression of CD99 and CDKN1A was reduced in ES tumors compared to non-tumoral tissue, whereas transcript levels of SOX2 were significantly higher in tumors. For NES and TUBB3, differences between tumors and control tissue did not reach statistical significance. Low expression of CD99 and NES, and high expression of SOX2, were significantly associated with a poorer patient prognosis indicated by shorter overall survival (OS). Our results indicate that RA may display rather complex modulatory effects on multiple target genes associated with the maintenance of stem cell’s features versus their differentiation, cell cycle regulation, and patient prognosis in ES.

The dynamics of electrical systems have changed significantly with the increasing penetration of non-conventional loads such as hydrogen electrolysers. As a result, detailed investigations are required to quantify and characterize these loads’ effects on the dynamic response of interconnected synchronous machines after being subjected to a disturbance. Many studies have focused on the effects of conventional static and dynamic loads. However, the impact of hydrogen electrolysers on the stability of power systems’ rotor angles is rarely studied. This paper assesses the effect of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers on small-disturbance rotor-angle stability. Dynamic modelling and the control of a PEM electrolyser as a load are first studied to achieve this. Then, the proposed electrolyser model is tested in the Amercoeur plant, which is part of the Belgian power system, to study its effect on the small-signal rotor-angle stability. Two approaches are considered to examine this impact: an analytical approach and time-domain simulations. The analytical approach consists of establishing a state-space model of the Belgian test system through linearisation around an operating point of the non-linear differential and the algebraic equations of the synchronous generators, the PEM electrolyser, the loads, and the network. The obtained state-space model allows for the determination of the eigenvalues, which are useful to evaluate the effect of the PEM electrolyser on the small-signal rotor-angle stability. This impact is investigated by examining the movement of the eigenvalues in the left complex half-plane. The obtained results show that the PEM electrolyser affects the electromechanical modes of synchronous machines by increasing their oscillation frequencies. The results also show that the effect of the electrolyser on these modes can be improved by adjusting the inertial constant and the damping coefficient of the synchronous machines. These results are consolidated through time-domain simulations using the software Matlab/Simscape from the version MatlabR2022a-academic use from Mathworks.

Rudolf Haag’s Local Quantum Physics (LQP) is an alternative framework to conventional relativistic quantum field theory for combining special relativity and quantum theory based on first principles, making it of great interest for the purposes of conceptual analysis despite currently being relatively limited as a tool for making experimental predictions. In LQP, the elementary particles are defined as species of causal link between interaction events, together with which they comprise its most fundamental entities. This notion of particle has yet to be independently assessed as such. Here, it is captured via a set of propositions specifying particle characteristics and then compared to previous particle notions. Haag’s particle differs decisively with respect to mechanical intuitions about particles by lacking, among other things, even an approximate independent space–time location. This notion is thus found to differ greatly even from those of relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, which have been applied to the known elementary particles.

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) affects up to 75% of women at least once during their lifetime, and up to 8% of women suffer from frequent recurrent episodes of VVC (RVVC). A lack of a protective host response underlies vaginal Candida infections, while a dysregulated hyperinflammatory response may drive RVVC. This study aimed to investigate the systemic inflammatory protein profile in women with RVVC in an African population, considering the potential influence of hormonal contraceptive use on systemic inflammation. Using multiplex Proximity Extension Assay technology, we measured 92 circulatory inflammatory proteins in plasma samples from 158 RVVC patients and 92 asymptomatic women (controls). Hormonal contraceptive use was not found to have a statistically significant correlation with a systemic inflammatory protein profile in either RVVC patients or the asymptomatic women. RVVC women had lower circulating Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 (FGF-21) concentrations compared with healthy controls (adjusted p value = 0.028). Reduced concentrations of FGF-21 may be linked to the immune pathology observed in RVVC cases through IL-1β. This study may help to identify new biomarkers for the diagnosis and future development of novel immunomodulatory treatments for RVVC.

Telomeres are ribonucleoprotein structures that form a protective buffer at the ends of chromosomes, maintaining genomic integrity during the cell cycle. A decrease in average telomere length is associated with with age and with aging-related diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. In this study, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial over six months to compare the effects of the Astragalus-based supplement versus a placebo on telomere length (TL) in 40 healthy volunteers (mean age 56.1 ± 6.0 years). Twenty subjects received the supplement, and 20 received placebo capsules. All participants completed the study, and no adverse side effects were reported at six months. Subjects taking the Astragalus-based supplement exhibited significantly longer median TL (p = 0.01) and short TL (p = 0.004), along with a lower percentage of short telomeres, over the six-month period, while the placebo group showed no change in TL. This trial confirmed that the supplement significantly lengthens both median and short telomeres by increasing telomerase activity and reducing the percentage of short telomeres (

Biosurfactants are much-discussed alternatives to petro- and oleochemical surfactants. Alcanivorax borkumensis, a marine, Gram-negative γ-proteobacterium, produces a glycine-glucolipid biosurfactant from hydrocarbons, pyruvate, and acetate as carbon sources. Sustainable acetate production from lignocellulose or syngas adds to its relevance for the bioeconomy. This study investigated nitrogen sources and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios (C/N) to optimize fed-batch fermentation for biosurfactant production using A. borkumensis with acetate as the carbon source. Urea enabled high biosurfactant production, which was confirmed in DO-based fed-batch fermentation. Varying C/N ratios led to increased glycine-glucolipid production and decreased biomass production, with improvement plateauing at a C/N ratio of 26.7 Cmol Nmol−1. pH-stat fed-batch fermentation using glacial acetic acid as the carbon source and a pH-adjusting agent doubled the biosurfactant production. Finally, bubble-free membrane aeration was used to prevent extensive foam formation observed during conventional bubble aeration. The efficient production made it possible to investigate the bioactivity of glycine-glucolipid in combination with antibiotics against various microorganisms. Our findings allow for the leverage of glycine-glucolipid biosurfactant production using acetate as a carbon source.

Global warming is exacerbating flood hazards, making the robustness of flood risk management a critical issue. Without considering future scenarios, flood risk analysis built only on historical knowledge may not adequately address the coming challenges posed by climate change. A comprehensive risk analysis framework based on both historical inundations and future projections to tackle uncertainty is still lacking. In this view, a scenario-based, data-driven risk analysis framework that for the first time integrates recent historical floods and future risk trends is here presented, consisting of flood inundation-prone and high-risk zones. Considering the Poyang Lake Eco-Economic Zone (PLEEZ) in China as the study area, we reproduced historical inundation scenarios of major flood events by using Sentinel-1 imagery from 2015 to 2021, and used them to build the risk baseline model. The results show that 11.7% of the PLEEZ is currently exposed to the high-risk zone. In the SSP2-RCP4.5 scenario, the risk would gradually decrease after peaking around 2040 (with a 19.3% increase in high-risk areas), while under the traditional fossil fuel-dominated development pathway (SSP5-RCP8.5), the risk peak would occur with a higher intensity about a decade earlier. The attribution analysis results reveal that the intensification of heavy rainfall is the dominant driver of future risk increase and that the exploitation of unused land such as wetlands induces a significant increase in risk. Finally, a hierarchical panel of recommended management measures was developed. We hope that our risk analysis framework inspires newfound risk awareness and provides the basis for more effective flood risk management in river basins.

Vertebral fragility fractures (VFF) pose a challenge for appropriate care. The aim of this study was to develop consensus recommendations for the management of VFF in older people from a multidisciplinary approach. Specialists in osteoporosis belonging to different scientific societies reviewed the main clinical practice guidelines published in Spain in 2014. Thirty-five recommendations for the management of VFF were evaluated by seven experts using an anonymous survey. Consensus was defined as 80% of responses of 8 (agree) and 9 (strongly agree) on a Likert scale. Consensus was achieved in 22 recommendations (62.8%). The experts agreed on the need for anamnesis, clinical assessment, and laboratory tests, including erythrocyte sedimentation rate, proteinography, and the assessment of levels of calcium, vitamin D, alkaline phosphatase, and thyroid-stimulating hormone. Optional tests, such as bone turnover markers (BTMs), magnetic resonance imaging, bone scintigraphy, or using a fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX®), did not achieve an agreed consensus. Also, there was consensus regarding the administration of calcium/vitamin D supplements, the withdrawal of toxic habits, and personalized physical exercise. Participants agreed on the administration of teriparatide for 24 months and then a switch to denosumab or bisphosphonates in patients at high risk of fracture. Specialists in osteoporosis, primary care physicians, and geriatricians should be involved in the follow-up of patients with VFF. Although there was multidisciplinary agreement on diagnostic tests and non-pharmacological and pharmacological treatment in frail older people, therapeutic objectives should be individualized for every patient. In addition to the specific recommendations, close collaboration between the geriatrician and the primary care physician is essential for the optimal chronic management of frail patients with fragility fractures.

Brewer’s spent yeast (BSY) is a plentiful by-product of the brewing process. Currently regarded as a waste product, this low-value material is used in animal feed formulations or disposed of. However, BSY is known to be nutritionally dense, particularly regarding high-quality proteins, fibre, vitamins, and minerals. Previous work has examined the effect of a process including fermentation with Lactobacillus amylovorus FST 2.11 on BSY and indicates a reduction in bitterness intensity and an increase in sour and fruity flavours. The current study expands on this previous work, examining the changes in composition and functionality resulting from this upcycling process. The major changes include protein degradation and a decrease in pH, leading to increased protein solubility by 41%, increased foam stability by up to 69% at pH 7, and improved emulsion stabilising characteristics as well as differences in rheological behaviour during heating. Compositional changes are also detailed, with evidence of glucan and trehalose degradation. These changes in the physical and functional properties of BSY provide useful information, particularly with regard to the incorporation of BSY into food products for human consumption.

Reliance on animal foods must be reduced to improve planetary and human well-being. This research studied plant-based cheese alternatives (PBCA) relative to dairy cheese in a consumer taste test with 157 consumers in New Zealand. A case study approach used cream cheese (commercially available) as the focal product category (2 PBCA, 2 dairy) and implemented a multi-response paradigm (hedonic, sensory, emotional, conceptual, situational). “Beyond liking” insights were established, including drivers of liking (sensory, non-sensory) and sensory drivers of non-sensory product associations. Two consumer segments were identified, of which the largest (n = 111) liked PBCA and dairy samples equally (6.5–6.7 of 9). In this PBCA Likers cluster, the key sensory drivers of liking were ‘creamy/smooth mouthfeel’, ‘dissolves quickly in mouth’, and ‘sweet’, while a significant penalty was associated with ‘mild/bland flavour’. The non-sensory data contributed additional consumer insights, including the four samples being perceived as differently appropriate for 9 of 12 use situations, with PBCA being regarded as less appropriate. In the limited confines of this case on cream cheese, the findings show that PBCA need not be inferior to their dairy counterparts despite a general narrative to the contrary. Of note, the results were obtained among participants who were open to eating a more PB diet but were not vegetarian or vegan.

Brewer’s spent yeast (BSY) is one of the brewing industry’s most plentiful side-streams. Abundant, low-cost and high in nutrients, it has great potential for application in food technology and human nutrition. With the ever-increasing interest in sustainability, waste reduction and circular food systems, the use of BSY as a novel food ingredient may be the route to add exponential value while reducing the environmental impact. However, negative flavour characteristics and high amounts of alcohol severely limit the current applications of BSY. This study explores the use of processing involving lactic acid bacteria (LAB) fermentation technology as a means of improving BSY quality characteristics and examines the effects of this process on the chemical, nutritional and sensory characteristics of BSY. The results reveal that BSY is a suitable substrate for LAB fermentation, successfully supporting the growth of Lactobacillus amylovorus FST 2.11. Compared to the unfermented BSY (CBSY), fermentation significantly reduced the perceptible bitterness of the BSY as detected by a sensory panel, from 6.0 ± 2.8 units to 0.9 ± 0.7 units, respectively. Fermented BSY (PBSY) had enhanced sour and fruity flavours, and a variety of other volatile compounds and metabolites were determined. Protein profiles showed significant protein degradation, and free amino acid levels were greatly increased following fermentation, from 2.8 ± 0.2 g/100 g to 10.5 ± 0.4 g/100 g, respectively. Protein quality was high, with the CBSY and PBSY providing well over the required level (>100%) of essential amino acids per gram protein, with the exception of sulphur amino acids (98%). Major physical differences were observed using scanning electron microscopy. This study concludes that LAB fermentation positively affects the sensory and nutritional characteristics of BSY and can aid in the incorporation of brewer’s spent yeast into foods for human consumption.

The academic discussion of charisma takes two major voices as the point of departure: Max Weber and St. Paul. In both areas, sociology and religion, charisma is seen as a quality of persons. My argument is that entire cultures can be suffused by this force, and that social life, education, and modes of expression can be bearers and transmitters of charismatic force. I approach the argument conceptually, drawing on a remarkable passage in Goethe’s autobiography Dichtung und Wahrheit. What Goethe calls “the demonic” is charisma conceived as a force that can penetrate, unpredictably, either natural phenomena or persons. To these I add institution, cultures, and structures of government. The charisma of larger structures, like personal charisma, has a life-cycle, charisma in its cultural structuring being as unstable as in its personal embodiment. The idea opens cultural transformations to analysis. Clifford Geertz has provided a model. The sea-changes that transformed western European culture from the twelfth to the thirteenth century show us the end of a life-cycle of charismatic culture, and the transition to intellectual or textual culture. Charisma moved out of the realm of the lived and expressed social forms and into art and artifice, rationalizing philosophy, theology, liturgy and other forms of Christian discourse (sermons). Three voices from the later thirteenth century observe this development closely—the loss of charisma as a political–social–cultural force—and lament the loss.

The ontology of Local Quantum Physics, Rudolf Haag’s framework for relativistic quantum theory, is reviewed and discussed. It is one of spatiotemporally localized events and unlocalized causal intermediaries, including the elementary particles, which come progressively into existence in accordance with a fundamental arrow of time. Haag’s conception of quantum theory is distinguished from others in which events are also central, especially those of Niels Bohr and John Wheeler, with which it has been compared.

Developments in deep learning techniques have led to significant advances in automated abnormality detection in radiological images and paved the way for their potential use in computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems. However, the development of CAD systems for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis is hampered by the lack of training data that is of good visual and diagnostic quality, of sufficient size, variety, and, where relevant, containing fine-region annotations. This study presents a collection of annotations/segmentations of pulmonary radiological manifestations that are consistent with TB in the publicly available and widely used Shenzhen chest X-ray (CXR) dataset made available by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and obtained via a research collaboration with No. 3. People’s Hospital Shenzhen, China. The goal of releasing these annotations is to advance the state of the art for image segmentation methods toward improving the performance of the fine-grained segmentation of TB-consistent findings in digital chest X-ray images. The annotation collection comprises the following: (1) annotation files in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format that indicate locations and shapes of 19 lung pattern abnormalities for 336 TB patients; (2) mask files saved in PNG format for each abnormality per TB patient; and (3) a comma-separated values (CSV) file that summarizes lung abnormality types and numbers per TB patient. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first collection of pixel-level annotations of TB-consistent findings in CXRs.

Stiction, run-in wear and friction of lubricated polyoxymethylene homopolymer (POM)- and aliphatic polyamide (PA46)-steel tribosystems were investigated for mild-loaded mixed lubrication conditions with and without thermal conditioning of the polymers in the lubricant prior to testing. Macroscopic oscillatory tribometry and standard gliding experiments were carried out. The hypothesis that sorption of a lubricant into a thermoplastic polymer and partial solving of the surface by the lubricant can change wear rate and friction was tested. It was found that for POM-lubricant-pairings, the tribological behavior is dominated by the sorption of the lubricant into the polymer; it is not influenced by the spreading energy. For the PA46-lubricant pairings, no mass uptake by sorption was measured, and the tribological behavior is influenced by spreading and changes in hardness due to thermal aging. For mild loading in mixed lubricated conditions, friction and wear properties seem to be primarily determined by the hardness-dependence of abrasive contact and less by adhesion or hysteretic mechanisms.

Classification of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) and drug-sensitive tuberculosis (DS-TB) from chest radiographs remains an open problem. Our previous cross validation performance on publicly available chest X-ray (CXR) data combined with image augmentation, the addition of synthetically generated and publicly available images achieved a performance of 85% AUC with a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). However, when we evaluated the CNN model trained to classify DR-TB and DS-TB on unseen data, significant performance degradation was observed (65% AUC). Hence, in this paper, we investigate the generalizability of our models on images from a held out country’s dataset. We explore the extent of the problem and the possible reasons behind the lack of good generalization. A comparison of radiologist-annotated lesion locations in the lung and the trained model’s localization of areas of interest, using GradCAM, did not show much overlap. Using the same network architecture, a multi-country classifier was able to identify the country of origin of the X-ray with high accuracy (86%), suggesting that image acquisition differences and the distribution of non-pathological and non-anatomical aspects of the images are affecting the generalization and localization of the drug resistance classification model as well. When CXR images were severely corrupted, the performance on the validation set was still better than 60% AUC. The model overfitted to the data from countries in the cross validation set but did not generalize to the held out country. Finally, we applied a multi-task based approach that uses prior TB lesions location information to guide the classifier network to focus its attention on improving the generalization performance on the held out set from another country to 68% AUC.

The worldwide transformation from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources will increase the demand for biomass. However, the ash content of many available biomass sources exceeds the limits of national standards. In this study, short-rotation coppice willow biomass was hydrothermally treated at 150, 170 and 185 °C. The higher heating value increased by 2.6% from x¯ = 19,279 J × g−1 to x¯ = 19,793 J × g−1 at 185 °C treatment temperature. The mean ash content was reduced by 53% from x¯ = 1.97% to x¯ = 0.93% at 170 °C treatment temperature, which was below the limit for category TW1b of the European pellet standard for thermally treated biomass. The nitrogen, sulfur and cadmium concentrations were reduced below the limits for category TW1b of the European biomass pellet standard (N: from 0.52% to 0.34%, limit at 0.5%; S: from 0.051% to 0.024%, limit at 0.04%; Cd: from 0.83 mg × kg−1 to 0.37 mg × kg−1, limit at 0.5 mg × kg−1). The highest reduction rates were sampled for phosphor (80–84%), potassium (78–90%), chlorine (96–98%) and lithium (96–98%). The reduction behavior of the elements is discussed according to the chemical processes at the onset of hydrothermal carbonization. The results of this study show that HTT has the potential to expand the availability of biomass for the increasing worldwide demand in the future.

We propose a new framework, PlasmodiumVF-Net, to analyze thick smear microscopy images for a malaria diagnosis on both image and patient-level. Our framework detects whether a patient is infected, and in case of a malarial infection, reports whether the patient is infected by Plasmodium falciparum or Plasmodium vivax. PlasmodiumVF-Net first detects candidates for Plasmodium parasites using a Mask Regional-Convolutional Neural Network (Mask R-CNN), filters out false positives using a ResNet50 classifier, and then follows a new approach to recognize parasite species based on a score obtained from the number of detected patches and their aggregated probabilities for all of the patient images. Reporting a patient-level decision is highly challenging, and therefore reported less often in the literature, due to the small size of detected parasites, the similarity to staining artifacts, the similarity of species in different development stages, and illumination or color variations on patient-level. We use a manually annotated dataset consisting of 350 patients, with about 6000 images, which we make publicly available together with this manuscript. Our framework achieves an overall accuracy above 90% on image and patient-level.

The elementary particles of relativistic quantum field theory are not simple field quanta, as has long been assumed. Rather, they supplement quantum fields, on which they depend on but to which they are not reducible, as shown here with particles defined instead as a unified collection of properties that appear in both physical symmetry group representations and field propagators. This notion of particle provides consistency between the practice of particle physics and its basis in quantum field theory.

Introduction: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and gastrointestinal (GI) problems are common in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), but not systematically assessed in regular care. We aimed to determine the prevalence of bladder and bowel dysfunction (BBD) in DMD patients compared with healthy controls (HC). Methods: The Childhood Bladder and Bowel Dysfunction Questionnaire (CBBDQ) based on the International Rome III criteria and the International Children’s Continence Society was filled out by 57 DMD patients and 56 HC. Additionally, possible associations of BBD with, for example, medication use or quality of life were evaluated in an additional questionnaire developed by experts. Results: In 74% of patients versus 56% of HC ≥ 1 LUTS (n.s.) were reported, 68% of patients versus 39% of HC reported ≥1 bowel symptom (p = 0.002) and 53% of patients versus 30% of HC reported combined LUTS and bowel symptoms (p = 0.019). A negative impact of BBD on daily life functioning was reported by 42% of patients. Conclusions: These data underscore that standard screening for BBD is needed and that the CBBDQ could be of added value to optimize DMD care.

Sustainability accounting is an emerging research area receiving growing awareness. This study examines the role of digital technology in manufacturing companies’ sustainability accounting. To guide the research, we use a triple layered business model canvas, which supports the accounting of a manufacturer’s performance for the economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability. We present an explorative case study of four Norwegian manufacturing companies representing different industries. The findings from the study indicate that while accounting for economic values is well taken care of, companies do not perform comprehensive environmental and social accounting. Furthermore, we observed a shift from a focus on sustainability issues related to the internal manufacturing process to a focus on sustainability issues for the life cycle of the product. Even though the manufacturers are at the forefront with regard to automation and control of production, with extensive use of robots giving a large amount of data, these data are not utilized towards sustainability accounting, showing that sustainability and digitalization are seen as two separate phenomena. This study sheds light on how digital data available from applied Industry 4.0 technologies could enhance sustainability accounting with limited efforts, linking sustainability and digitalization. The results provide insights for manufacturers and researchers in moving towards more sustainable operations and products.

In recent times, the use of electromagnetic tracking for navigation in surgery has quickly become a vital tool in minimally invasive surgery. In many procedures, electromagnetic tracking is used in tandem with X-ray technology to track a variety of tools and instruments. Most commercially available EM tracking systems can cause X-ray artifacts and attenuation due to their construction and the metals that form them. In this work, we provide a novel solution to this problem by creating a new radiolucent electromagnetic navigation system that has minimal impact on -ray imaging systems. This is a continuation of our previous work where we showed the development of the Anser open-source electromagnetic tracking system. Typical electromagnetic tracking systems operate by generating low frequency magnetic fields from coils that are located near the patient. These coils are typically made from copper, steel, and other dense radiopaque materials. In this work, we explore the use of low density aluminum to create these coils and we demonstrate that the effect on X-ray images is significantly reduced as a result of these novel changes in the materials used. The resulting field generator is shown to give at least a 60% reduction in the X-ray attenuation in comparison to our earlier designs. We verify that the system accuracy of approximately 1.5 mm RMS error is maintained with this change in design.

Electromagnetic tracking is a safe, reliable, and cost-effective method to track medical instruments in image-guided surgical navigation. However, patient motion and magnetic field distortions heavily impact the accuracy of tracked position and orientation. The use of redundant magnetic sensors can help to map and mitigate for patient movements and magnetic field distortions within the tracking region. We propose a planar inductive sensor design, printed on PCB and embedded into medical patches. The main advantage is the high repeatability and the cost benefit of using mass PCB manufacturing processes. The article presents new operative formulas for electromagnetic tracking of planar coils on the centimetre scale. The full magnetic analytical model is based on the mutual inductance between coils which can be approximated as being composed by straight conductive filaments. The full model is used to perform accurate system simulations and to assess the accuracy of faster simplified magnetic models, which are necessary to achieve real-time tracking in medical applications.

Due to the high switching speed of Gallium Nitride (GaN) transistors, parasitic inductances have significant impacts on power losses and electromagnetic interferences (EMI) in GaN-based power converters. Thus, the proper design of high-frequency converters in a simulation tool requires accurate electromagnetic (EM) modeling of the commutation loops. This work proposes an EM modeling of the parasitic inductance of a GaN-based commutation cell on a printed circuit board (PCB) using Advanced Design System (ADS®) software. Two different PCB designs of the commutation loop, lateral (single-sided) and vertical (double-sided) are characterized in terms of parasitic inductance contribution. An experimental approach based on S-parameters, the Cold FET technique and a specific calibration procedure is developed to obtain reference values for comparison with the proposed models. First, lateral and vertical PCB loop inductances are extracted. Then, the whole commutation loop inductances including the packaging of the GaN transistors are determined by developing an EM model of the device’s internal parasitic. The switching waveforms of the GaN transistors in a 1 MHz DC/DC converter are given for the different commutation loop designs. Finally, a discussion is proposed on the presented results and the development of advanced tools for high-frequency GaN-based power electronics design.

Local implementation projects for sector coupling play an important role in the transformation to a more sustainable energy system. Despite various technical possibilities, there are various barriers to the realisation of local projects. Against this backdrop, we introduce an inter- and transdisciplinary approach to identifying and evaluating different power-to-X paths as well as setting up robust local implementation projects, which account for existing drivers and potential hurdles early on. After developing the approach conceptually, we exemplify our elaborations by applying them to a use case in the German city of Wuppertal. It can be shown that a mix of several interlinked interdisciplinary methods as well as several participatory elements is suitable for triggering a collective, local innovation process. However, the timing and extent of end-user integration remain a balancing act. The paper does not focus on a detailed description of power-to-X (PtX) as a central pillar of the sustainable transformation of the energy system. Rather, it focuses on the innovative methodological approach used to select a suitable use path and design a corresponding business model. The research approach was successfully implemented in the specific case study. However, it also becomes clear that the local-specific consideration entails limitations with regard to the transferability of the research design to other spatial contexts.

Network flexibility is the use of the thermal capacity of water that is contained in the district heating network pipes to store energy and shift the heat load in time. Through optimal control, this network flexibility can aid in applications such as peak shaving and operational heat pump optimisation. Yet, optimal control requires perfect predictions and complete knowledge of the system characteristics. In reality, this is not the case and uncertainties exist. To obtain insight into the importance of these uncertainties, this paper studies the influence of imperfect knowledge of building parameters on the optimal network flexibility activation and its performance. It is found that for the optimisation of heat pump operation, building parameter uncertainties do not present large risks. For peak shaving, a more robust result can be achieved by activating more network flexibility than may be required.

Glucose-methanol-choline (GMC) oxidoreductases are a large and diverse family of flavin-binding enzymes found in all kingdoms of life. Recently, a new related family of proteins has been discovered in algae named fatty acid photodecarboxylases (FAPs). These enzymes use the energy of light to convert fatty acids to the corresponding Cn-1 alkanes or alkenes, and hold great potential for biotechnological application. In this work, we aimed at uncovering the natural diversity of FAPs and their relations with other GMC oxidoreductases. We reviewed the available GMC structures, assembled a large dataset of GMC sequences, and found that one active site amino acid, a histidine, is extremely well conserved among the GMC proteins but not among FAPs, where it is replaced with alanine. Using this criterion, we found several new potential FAP genes, both in genomic and metagenomic databases, and showed that related bacterial, archaeal and fungal genes are unlikely to be FAPs. We also identified several uncharacterized clusters of GMC-like proteins as well as subfamilies of proteins that lack the conserved histidine but are not FAPs. Finally, the analysis of the collected dataset of potential photodecarboxylase sequences revealed the key active site residues that are strictly conserved, whereas other residues in the vicinity of the flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) cofactor and in the fatty acid-binding pocket are more variable. The identified variants may have different FAP activity and selectivity and consequently may prove useful for new biotechnological applications, thereby fostering the transition from a fossil carbon-based economy to a bio-economy by enabling the sustainable production of hydrocarbon fuels.

The service life of wood in outdoor use under humid conditions is mainly determined by its material resistance and the exposure situation. Different standards such as EN 350 (2016) point on the relevance of wood’s resistance against moisture for its expected service life. Recently, different standardized but also numerous nonstandardized methods were suggested to test the water permeability of wooden materials. In the context of this study, different European-grown soft- and hardwoods, tropical hardwoods, modified wood and wood treated with water- and oil-borne preservatives were subjected to floating and submersion tests according to CEN/TS 16818 (2018) and different short-term water uptake and release tests. Moisture performance data from field tests with the same materials were analyzed and used to assess the predictive power of different laboratory moisture indicators. The moisture characteristics suggested by CEN/TS 16818 (2018)—rm168 (residual moisture content after water uptake and release processes) and res312 (residue as a percentage of the absorbed moisture)—showed the little potential to predict the outdoor moisture performance of the tested materials. In contrast, the mean moisture content during absorption and desorption (MCmean) predicted well the outdoor moisture performance of the materials under test. Short-term water uptake and release of small specimens also showed high predictive power.

In Indonesia, the solar photovoltaic (PV) market is rapidly growing. However, studies on the outdoor performance of PV systems in this tropical rainforest country is lacking. In this work, we compare the performance of PV systems in Indonesia with PV systems in Australia (arid, desert, hot) and Italy (temperate, dry summer, hot summer). Monitoring data from 2008 to 2019, ranging from two to nine years, from fifteen PV systems of six technologies were analyzed. The performance of the PV systems was presented using their performance ratio (PR) and performance loss rate (PLR). PR was calculated using IEC standard 61724, and PLR was calculated using seasonal and trend decomposition, applying locally weighted scatterplot smoothing (STL decomposition) and the year-on-year approach from NREL/RdTools. The results showed that the CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) system had the highest average PR value of 0.88 ± 0.04. The lowest average PR was found in the a-Si (amorphous silicon) PV systems (0.78 ± 0.05). The p-Si (polycrystalline silicon) systems in the Cfb (temperate, no dry season, warm summer) climate of Italy had a higher average PR of 0.84 than those operated in climates BWh (arid, desert, hot) of Australia and Af (tropical, rainforest) of Indonesia, with the same value of 0.81. The p-Si systems showed the lowest PLR, with a value of −0.6%/year. The fastest degradation was experienced by a-Si modules at −1.58%/year. The methodological differences in the calculation of PLR using both tested approaches resulted in a significant difference in the degradation value, which demands standardization of the term and calculation methodology.

The circumstances of measurement have more direct significance in quantum than in classical physics, where they can be neglected for well-performed measurements. In quantum mechanics, the dispositions of the measuring apparatus-plus-environment of the system measured for a property are a non-trivial part of its formalization as the quantum observable. A straightforward formalization of context, via equivalence classes of measurements corresponding to sets of sharp target observables, was recently given for sharp quantum observables. Here, we show that quantum contextuality, the dependence of measurement outcomes on circumstances external to the measured quantum system, can be manifested not only as the strict exclusivity of different measurements of sharp observables or valuations but via quantitative differences in the property statistics across simultaneous measurements of generalized quantum observables, by formalizing quantum context via coexistent generalized observables rather than only its subset of compatible sharp observables. Here, the question of whether such quantum contextuality follows from basic quantum principles is then addressed, and it is shown that the Principle of Indeterminacy is sufficient for at least one form of non-trivial contextuality. Contextuality is thus seen to be a natural feature of quantum mechanics rather than something arising only from the consideration of impossible measurements, abstract philosophical issues, hidden-variables theories, or other alternative, classical models of quantum behavior.

There has been a strong growth in aquatic products supported by the global seafood industry. Consumers demand information transparency to support informed decisions and to verify nutrition, food safety, and sustainable operations. Supporting these needs rests on the existence of interoperable Internet of Things (IoT) platforms for traceability that goes beyond the minimum “one up, one down” scheme required by regulators. Seafood farmers, being the source of both food and food-information, are critical to achieving the needed transparency. Traditionally, seafood farmers carry the costs of providing information, while downstream actors reap the benefits, causing limited provision of information. Now, global standards for labelling, data from IoT devices, and the reciprocity of utility from collecting data while sharing them represent great potential for farmers to generate value from traceability systems. To enable this, farmers need an IoT platform integrated with other IoT platforms in the value network. This paper presents a case study of an enterprise-level IoT platform for seafood farmers that satisfies consumers’ end-to-end traceability needs while extracting data from requests for information from downstream actors.

Adequate primary stability of the acetabular revision construct is necessary for long-term implant survival. The difference in primary stability between tantalum and titanium components is unclear. Six composite hemipelvises with an acetabular defect were implanted with a tantalum augment and cup, using cement fixation between cup and augment. Relative motion was measured at cup/bone, cup/augment and bone/augment interfaces at three load levels; the results were compared to the relative motion measured at the same interfaces of a titanium cup/augment construct of identical dimensions, also implanted into composite bone. The implants showed little relative motion at all load levels between the augment and cup. At the bone/augment and bone/cup interfaces the titanium implants showed less relative motion than tantalum at 30% load (p < 0.001), but more relative motion at 50% (p = n.s.) and 100% (p < 0001) load. The load did not have a significant effect at the augment/cup interface (p = 0.086); it did have a significant effect on relative motion of both implant materials at bone/cup and bone/augment interfaces (p < 0.001). All interfaces of both constructs displayed relative motion that should permit osseointegration. Tantalum, however, may provide a greater degree of primary stability at higher loads than titanium. The clinical implication is yet to be seen

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is the most common tumor in the salivary glands, often presenting with recurrence and metastasis due to its high invasive capacity. Metallothionein (MT), a zinc storage protein that supplies this element for protease activity, is probably related to mucoepidermoid carcinoma behavior. This prompted us to characterize a cell line derived from mucoepidermoid carcinoma and to correlate metallothionein expression with transforming growth factor-α (TGF-α), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Transcriptomic analysis and cytogenetic assays were performed to detect the expression of genes of interest and cellular chromosomal alterations, respectively. MEC cells with a depleted metallothionein 2A (MT2A) gene were subjected to Western blot to correlate metallothionein expression with growth factors and MMPs. Additionally, cells with depleted MT were subjected to migration and invasion assays. The transcriptomic study revealed reads mapped to cytokeratins 19 and AE1/AE3, α-smooth muscle actin, vimentin, and fibronectin. Cytogenetic evaluation demonstrated structural and numerical alterations, including the translocation t(11;19)(q21;p13), characteristic of MEC. Metallothionein depletion was correlated with the decreased expression of TGF-α and MMP-9, while TNF-α protein levels were augmented. Migration and invasion activity were diminished after metallothionein silencing. Our findings suggest an important role of MT in MEC invasion, through the regulation of proteins involved in this process.

Thermoresponsive polymer coatings allow the control of adhesion of cells on synthetic substrates. In particular, decreasing the temperature below the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the polymer triggers the non-invasive detachment of cells from their cultivation substrate. Widening the range of applications of these coatings in cellular biotechnology requires a better understanding of their interaction with cells. By monitoring the morphological changes of cells during their detachment at various temperatures, we provide evidence that cell detachment is an active process. Analyses of cell residues that are left behind by the cells on the substrate during their detachment, further support this notion. In the second part of this work, we show that the kinetics of adhesion and the efficiency of detachment of cells can be controlled through the coadsorption of molecules bearing the peptide motif RGD (arginine-glycine-aspartic acid) with the polymers.

Rivers are important ecosystems under continuous anthropogenic stresses. The hyporheic zone is a ubiquitous, reactive interface between the main channel and its surrounding sediments along the river network. We elaborate on the main physical, biological, and biogeochemical drivers and processes within the hyporheic zone that have been studied by multiple scientific disciplines for almost half a century. These previous efforts have shown that the hyporheic zone is a modulator for most metabolic stream processes and serves as a refuge and habitat for a diverse range of aquatic organisms. It also exerts a major control on river water quality by increasing the contact time with reactive environments, which in turn results in retention and transformation of nutrients, trace organic compounds, fine suspended particles, and microplastics, among others. The paper showcases the critical importance of hyporheic zones, both from a scientific and an applied perspective, and their role in ecosystem services to answer the question of the manuscript title. It identifies major research gaps in our understanding of hyporheic processes. In conclusion, we highlight the potential of hyporheic restoration to efficiently manage and reactivate ecosystem functions and services in river corridors.

An efficient and thorough strategy to introduce undergraduate students to a numerical approach of calculating flow is outlined. First, the basic steps, especially discretization, involved when solving Navier-Stokes equations using a finite-volume method for incompressible steady-state flow are developed with the main aim being for the students to follow through from the mathematical description of a given problem to the final solution of the governing equations in a transparent way. The well-known ‘driven-cavity’ problem is used as the problem for testing coding written by the students, and the Navier-Stokes equations are initially cast in the vorticity-streamfunction form. This is followed by moving on to a solution method using the primitive variables and discussion of details such as, closure of the Navier-Stokes equations using turbulence modelling, appropriate meshing within the computation domain, various boundary conditions, properties of fluids, and the important methods for determining that a convergence solution has been reached. Such a course is found to be an efficient and transparent approach for introducing students to computational fluid dynamics.

Biosurfactants are amphiphilic secondary metabolites produced by microorganisms. Marine bacteria have recently emerged as a rich source for these natural products which exhibit surface-active properties, making them useful for diverse applications such as detergents, wetting and foaming agents, solubilisers, emulsifiers and dispersants. Although precise structural data are often lacking, the already available information deduced from biochemical analyses and genome sequences of marine microbes indicates a high structural diversity including a broad spectrum of fatty acid derivatives, lipoamino acids, lipopeptides and glycolipids. This review aims to summarise biosyntheses and structures with an emphasis on low molecular weight biosurfactants produced by marine microorganisms and describes various biotechnological applications with special emphasis on their role in the bioremediation of oil-contaminated environments. Furthermore, novel exploitation strategies are suggested in an attempt to extend the existing biosurfactant portfolio.

The factors influencing human female facial attractiveness—symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism—have been extensively studied. However, recent studies, using improved methodologies, have called into question their evolutionary utility and links with life history. The current studies use a range of approaches to quantify how important these factors actually are in perceiving attractiveness, through the use of novel statistical analyses and by addressing methodological weaknesses in the literature. Study One examines how manipulations of symmetry, averageness, femininity, and masculinity affect attractiveness using a two-alternative forced choice task, finding that increased masculinity and also femininity decrease attractiveness, compared to unmanipulated faces. Symmetry and averageness yielded a small and large effect, respectively. Study Two utilises a naturalistic ratings paradigm, finding similar effects of averageness and masculinity as Study One but no effects of symmetry and femininity on attractiveness. Study Three applies geometric face measurements of the factors and a random forest machine learning algorithm to predict perceived attractiveness, finding that shape averageness, dimorphism, and skin texture symmetry are useful features capable of relatively accurate predictions, while shape symmetry is uninformative. However, the factors do not explain as much variance in attractiveness as the literature suggests. The implications for future research on attractiveness are discussed.

The question of whether virtual quantum particles exist is considered here in light of previous critical analysis and under the assumption that there are particles in the world as described by quantum field theory. The relationship of the classification of particles to quantum-field-theoretic calculations and the diagrammatic aids that are often used in them is clarified. It is pointed out that the distinction between virtual particles and others and, therefore, judgments regarding their reality have been made on basis of these methods rather than on their physical characteristics. As such, it has obscured the question of their existence. It is here argued that the most influential arguments against the existence of virtual particles but not other particles fail because they either are arguments against the existence of particles in general rather than virtual particles per se, or are dependent on the imposition of classical intuitions on quantum systems, or are simply beside the point. Several reasons are then provided for considering virtual particles real, such as their descriptive, explanatory, and predictive value, and a clearer characterization of virtuality—one in terms of intermediate states—that also applies beyond perturbation theory is provided. It is also pointed out that in the role of force mediators, they serve to preclude action-at-a-distance between interacting particles. For these reasons, it is concluded that virtual particles are as real as other quantum particles.

Lubricated poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) and polyamide (PA46)–steel tribosystems were investigated. They show a complex but systematic transition behavior from static to boundary friction, to dynamic friction or to mixed-lubrication. Nonstandard macroscopic oscillatory tribometry as well as gliding experiments were carried out. A previous study showed that the surface and interfacial energies of PEEK, lubricant and steel can indicate trends in the tribological behavior. In the current study, these findings are confirmed for PA46 and a wider range of lubricants. It was shown that a reversal of the order of the work of spreading of two lubricants by switching from PEEK to PA46 as polymer component in the tribological system also resulted in a reversal of the coefficient of friction (COF) at low gliding velocities for these systems. The adhesion threshold of PA46 with the non-spreading lubricants water, glycerine, a water–glycerine mixture, ethylene glycol and poly-1-decene decreased with increasing solving tendency of the lubricants in contrast to the previous results for spreading lubricants for PEEK. Furthermore, the onset of forced wetting was studied for lubricants with different surface and interfacial energies and viscosities η. In general, a 1/η dependency was observed for the velocity which marks the onset of forced wetting. This agrees with theoretical models.

Handheld imaging of the tissue’s speed-of-sound (SoS) is a promising multimodal addition to diagnostic ultrasonography for the examination of tissue composition. Computed ultrasound tomography in echo mode (CUTE) probes the spatial distribution of SoS, conventionally via scanning the tissue under a varying angle of ultrasound transmission, and quantifying—in a spatially resolved way—phase variations of the beamformed echoes. So far, this technique is not applicable to imaging the lumen of vessels, where blood flow and tissue clutter inhibit phase tracking of the blood echoes. With the goal to enable the assessment of atherosclerotic plaque composition inside the carotid artery, we propose two modifications to CUTE: (a) use receive (Rx) beam-steering as opposed to transmit (Tx) beam-steering to increase acquisition speed and to reduce flow-related phase decorrelation, and (b) conduct pairwise subtraction of data obtained from repetitions of the scan sequence, to highlight blood echoes relative to static echo clutter and thus enable the phase tracking of blood echoes. These modifications were tested in a phantom study, where the echogenicity of the vessel lumen was chosen to be similar to the one of the background medium, which allows a direct comparison of SoS images obtained with the different techniques. Our results demonstrate that the combination of Rx-steering with the subtraction technique results in an SoS image of the same quality as obtained with conventional Tx-steering. Together with the improved acquisition speed, this makes the proposed technique a key step towards successful imaging of the SoS inside the carotid artery.

Cyanobacterial blooms are a major and growing problem for freshwater ecosystems worldwide that increasingly concerns public health, with an average of 60% of blooms known to be toxic. The most studied cyanobacterial toxins belong to a family of cyclic heptapeptide hepatotoxins, called microcystins. The microcystins are stable hydrophilic cyclic heptapeptides with a potential to cause cell damage following cellular uptake via organic anion-transporting proteins (OATP). Their intracellular biologic effects presumably involve inhibition of catalytic subunits of protein phosphatases (PP1 and PP2A) and glutathione depletion. The microcystins produced by cyanobacteria pose a serious problem to human health, if they contaminate drinking water or food. These toxins are collectively responsible for human fatalities, as well as continued and widespread poisoning of wild and domestic animals. Although intoxications of aquatic organisms by microcystins have been widely documented for freshwater ecosystems, such poisonings in marine environments have only occasionally been reported. Moreover, these poisonings have been attributed to freshwater cyanobacterial species invading seas of lower salinity (e.g., the Baltic) or to the discharge of freshwater microcystins into the ocean. However, recent data suggest that microcystins are also being produced in the oceans by a number of cosmopolitan marine species, so that Hepatotoxic Seafood Poisoning (HSP) is increasingly recognized as a major health risk that follows consumption of contaminated seafood.

Gold bead implantation has been used for years as an alternative method to improve function in chronic joint disease both in humans and dogs. The aims of the present study were to describe the technique of implanting 24-karat gold beads around the hip joints of dogs with chronic hip dysplasia, and to record any side effects or complications of such treatment. A prospective placebo-controlled double-blinded clinical trial was performed. Eighty dogs were randomly allocated to treatment or placebo, with 38 in the gold implantation group and 42 in the placebo group, and followed intensely for six months. The implantation technique was simple to perform, using fluoroscopy and with the dogs under inhalation anesthesia for about 30 minutes. Adverse effects, measured as pain or discomfort, were seen for a period of up to four weeks in 15 of the dogs in the gold implantation group, compared to six dogs in the placebo group. During implantation, a technical difficulty occurred as 82% of the dogs showed leakage of blood and/or synovia from the needles. The dogs in the gold implantation group were radiographed 18 months later. Of the 30 dogs that were radiographed at both inclusion and 24 months, 80% (24 dogs) showed a deterioration of the coxofemoral arthrosis, the other six had stable disease evaluated by radiography. Migration of gold beads was only observed in one dog.

Electromagnetic tracking (EMT) is playing an increasingly important role in surgical navigation, medical robotics and virtual reality development as a positional and orientation reference. Though EMT is not restricted by line-of-sight requirements, measurement errors caused by magnetic distortions in the environment remain the technology’s principal shortcoming. The characterisation, reduction and compensation of these errors is a broadly researched topic, with many developed techniques relying on auxiliary tracking hardware including redundant sensor arrays, optical and inertial tracking systems. This paper describes a novel method of detecting static magnetic distortions using only the magnetic field transmitting array. An existing transmitter design is modified to enable simultaneous transmission and reception of the generated magnetic field. A mutual inductance model is developed for this transmitter design in which deviations from control measurements indicate the location, magnitude and material of the field distorter to an approximate degree. While not directly compensating for errors, this work enables users of EMT systems to optimise placement of the magnetic transmitter by characterising a distorter’s effect within the tracking volume without the use of additional hardware. The discrimination capabilities of this method may also allow researchers to apply material-specific compensation techniques to minimise position error in the clinical setting.

For the effective use of live cells in biomedicine as in vitro test systems or in biotechnology, non-invasive cell processing and characterisation are key elements. Thermoresponsive polymer coatings have been demonstrated to be highly beneficial for controlling the interaction of adherent cells through their cultivation support. However, the widespread application of these coatings is hampered by limitations in their adaptability to different cell types and because the full range of applications has not yet been fully explored. In the work presented here, we address these issues by focusing on three different aspects. With regard to the first aspect, by using well-defined laminar flow in a microchannel, a highly controllable and reproducible shear force can be applied to adherent cells. Employing this tool, we demonstrate that cells can be non-invasively detached from a support using a defined shear flow. The second aspect relates to the recent development of simple methods for patterning thermoresponsive coatings. Here, we show how such patterned coatings can be used for improving the handling and reliability of a wound-healing assay. Two pattern geometries are tested using mouse fibroblasts and CHO cells. In terms of the third aspect, the adhesiveness of cells depends on the cell type. Standard thermoresponsive coatings are not functional for all types of cells. By coadsorbing charged nanoparticles and thermoresponsive microgels, it is demonstrated that the adhesion and detachment behaviour of cells on such coatings can be modulated.

In the Copenhagen approach to quantum mechanics as characterized by Heisenberg, probabilities relate to the statistics of measurement outcomes on ensembles of systems and to individual measurement events via the actualization of quantum potentiality. Here, brief summaries are given of a series of key results of different sorts that have been obtained since the final elements of the Copenhagen interpretation were offered and it was explicitly named so by Heisenberg—in particular, results from the investigation of the behavior of quantum probability since that time, the mid-1950s. This review shows that these developments have increased the value to physics of notions characterizing the approach which were previously either less precise or mainly symbolic in character, including complementarity, indeterminism, and unsharpness.

The globally emerging concepts and strategies for a “bioeconomy” rely on the vision of a sustainable bio-based substitution process. Fossil fuels are scarce and their use contributes to global warming. To replace them in the value chains, it is essential to gain knowledge about quantities and spatial distributions of renewable resources. Decision makers specifically require knowledge-based models for rational development choices. In this paper, we demonstrate such an approach using remote sensing-derived maps that represent the potential available biomass of forests and trees outside forests (TOF). The maps were combined with infrastructure data, transport costs and wood pricing to calculate the potentially available biomass for a regional bioeconomy in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in Southwest Germany. We estimated the spatially explicit regional supply of biomass using routable data in a GIS environment, and created an approach to find the most suitable positions for biomass conversion facilities by minimizing transport distances and biomass costs. The approach resulted in the theoretical, regional supply of woody biomass with transport distances between 10 and 50 km. For a more realistic assessment, we subsequently applied several restrictions and assumptions, compiled different scenarios, optimised transport distances and identified wood assortments. Our analysis demonstrated that a regional bioeconomy using only local primary lignocellulosic biomass is possible. There would be, however, strong competition with traditional wood-processing sectors, mainly thermal utilisation and pulp and paper production. Finally, suitable positions for conversion facilities in Baden-Württemberg were determined for each of the six most plausible scenarios. This case study demonstrates the value of remote sensing and GIS techniques for a flexible, expandable and upgradable spatially explicit decision model.

Werner Heisenberg introduced the notion of quantum potentia in order to accommodate the indeterminism associated with quantum measurement. Potentia captures the capacity of the system to be found to possess a property upon a corresponding sharp measurement in which it is actualized. The specific potentiae of the individual system are represented formally by the complex amplitudes in the measurement bases of the eigenstate in which it is prepared. All predictions for future values of system properties can be made by an experimenter using the probabilities which are the squared moduli of these amplitudes that are the diagonal elements of the density matrix description of the pure ensemble to which the system, so prepared, belongs. Heisenberg considered the change of the ensemble attribution following quantum measurement to be analogous to the classical change in Gibbs’ thermodynamics when measurement of the canonical ensemble enables a microcanonical ensemble description. This analogy, presented by Heisenberg as operating at the epistemic level, is analyzed here. It has led some to claim not only that the change of the state in measurement is classical mechanical, bringing its quantum character into question, but also that Heisenberg held this to be the case. Here, these claims are shown to be incorrect, because the analogy concerns the change of ensemble attribution by the experimenter upon learning the result of the measurement, not the actualization of the potentia responsible for the change of the individual system state which—in Heisenberg’s interpretation of quantum mechanics—is objective in nature and independent of the experimenter’s knowledge.

While considering constraints in regard to sustainability, this paper reviews the development of a methodology to assess the introduction of bioenergy supply chains in Mexico based on forest woody biomass. Three research modules include analyses of forest biomass utilization residues that originated from: (1) harvesting activities, (2) non-extracted stands and (3) sawmills. A regional case study focusing on tree species of commercial importance (pine, oak and fir) in the 10 provinces with the highest timber production located in the north and central-south part of the country, is analyzed. After applying the methodology, the theoretical potential of available woody biomass for energetic use amounts to 6,357,482 m3. When applying the sustainability constraints, the technically feasible supply of forest woody biomass for energetic use sums up to 5,798,722 m3, which relate to a technical energy potential of 45.96 PJ for 2013. Moreover, a biomass energy flow chart showing energy values for each analyzed source and species is presented. Monte Carlo simulations were carried out for each cost involved in utilizing the resulting available woody biomass for energetic use. In the absence of national studies which include forest operations and bioenergy transformation to calculate the sustainable energy potential, the developed methodology adds innovation for assessing woody biomass availability.