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In childhood, a multitude of causes lead to pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP), an excessive surfactant accumulation in the alveolar space, limiting gas exchange. Autoantibodies against granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) causing autoimmune PAP, the principal aetiology in adults, are rare. In this first case series on autoimmune PAP, we detail the presentation and management issues of four children. Whereas three children presented insidiously with progressive dyspnoea, one was acutely sick with suspected pneumonia. During management, one patient was hospitalised with coronavirus disease 2019, noninvasively ventilated, and recovered. All treatment modalities known from adults including whole-lung lavage, augmentation of GM-CSF by inhaled GM-CSF, removal of neutralising antibody by plasmapheresis and interruption of antibody production using rituximab were considered; however, not all options were available at all sites. Inhaled GM-CSF appeared to be a noninvasive and comfortable therapeutic approach. The management with best benefit-to-harm ratio in autoimmune PAP is unknown and specialised physicians must select the least invasive and most effective treatment. To collect this cohort in a rare condition became feasible as patients were submitted to an appropriate registry. To accelerate the authorisation of novel treatments for autoimmune PAP, competent authorities should grant an inclusion of adolescents into trials in adults.

Ecosystem services such as food provisioning, climate regulation, nutrient cycling, or recreation in open landscapes underpin human wellbeing. They are highly dependent on land use, land cover and utilization pattern as well as environmental factors like climate, topography and soil. In consequence, ecosystem services supply shows a high spatial variability. However, it is less clear if the perception of the importance of ecosystem services is similarly heterogeneous in space and amongst societal actors. The aim of this large-scale study was to explore whether land cover and climate gradients as well as socio-cultural factors influence the perceptions of ecosystem services of four groups of societal actors: citizens, farmers, foresters and nature managers. Spatially explicit survey data of 3018 respondents allowed to gain insight into the distribution of perceived importance of 21 ecosystem services in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany together with the respondents' socio-cultural characterisation (e.g. gender, education and hobbies in nature). Responses were analysed through descriptive statistics, redundancy analysis, and Generalized Linear Models. Results reveal that the perceived importance of many ecosystem services was consistently high across groups, although perception differed for some ecosystem services (e.g. production of energy plants and timber as well as recreation in urban green space). Compared to other actor groups, farmers attributed slightly lower importance to all ES except provisioning services. Socio-cultural factors better explained variability in perceived importance of ecosystem services than land cover and climate gradients. This might be either explained by the fact that the environmental gradients vary not strong enough in our case study or that they do not shape the perceptions of respondents. A limitation of the study is that the sample of respondents obtained is not representative for the population, but biased towards persons interested in the topics of the survey. Still the consensus indicated by the overall positive perception of ecosystem services among respondents highlights the integrative potential of ecosystem services when included in decision-making.

At sea, wind forcing is responsible for the formation and development of surface waves and represents an important source of near-surface turbulence. Therefore, processes related to near-surface turbulence and wave breaking, such as sea spray emission and air–sea gas exchange, are often parameterised with wind speed. Thus, shipborne wind speed measurements provide highly relevant observations. They can, however, be compromised by flow distortion due to the ship's structure and objects near the anemometer that modify the airflow, leading to a deflection of the apparent wind direction and positive or negative acceleration of the apparent wind speed. The resulting errors in the estimated true wind speed can be greatly magnified at low wind speeds. For some research ships, correction factors have been derived from computational fluid dynamic models or through direct comparison with wind speed measurements from buoys. These correction factors can, however, lose their validity due to changes in the structures near the anemometer and, thus, require frequent re-evaluation, which is costly in either computational power or ship time. Here, we evaluate if global atmospheric reanalysis data can be used to quantify the flow distortion bias in shipborne wind speed measurements. The method is tested on data from the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition onboard the R/V Akademik Tryoshnikov, which are compared to ERA-5 reanalysis wind speeds. We find that, depending on the relative wind direction, the relative wind speed and direction measurements are biased by −37 % to +22 % and -17∘ to +11∘ respectively. The resulting error in the true wind speed is +11.5 % on average but ranges from −4 % to +41 % (5th and 95th percentile). After applying the bias correction, the uncertainty in the true wind speed is reduced to ±5 % and depends mainly on the average accuracy of the ERA-5 data over the period of the experiment. The obvious drawback of this approach is the potential intrusion of model biases in the correction factors. We show that this problem can be somewhat mitigated when the error propagation in the true wind correction is accounted for and used to weight the observations. We discuss the potential caveats and limitations of this approach and conclude that it can be used to quantify flow distortion bias for ships that operate on a global scale. The method can also be valuable to verify computational fluid dynamic studies of airflow distortion on research vessels.

Stable water isotopologues (SWIs) are useful tracers of moist diabatic processes in the atmospheric water cycle. They provide a framework to analyse moist processes on a range of timescales from large-scale moisture transport to cloud formation, precipitation and small-scale turbulent mixing. Laser spectrometric measurements on research vessels produce high-resolution time series of the variability of the water vapour isotopic composition in the marine boundary layer. In this study, we present a 5-month continuous time series of such ship-based measurements of δ2H and δ18O from the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (ACE) in the Atlantic and the Southern Ocean in the time period from November 2016 to April 2017. We analyse the drivers of meridional SWI variations in the marine boundary layer across diverse climate zones in the Atlantic and Southern Ocean using Lagrangian moisture source diagnostics and relate vertical SWI differences to near-surface wind speed and ocean surface state. The median values of δ18O, δ2H and deuterium excess during ACE decrease continuously from low to high latitudes. These meridional SWI distributions reflect climatic conditions at the measurement and moisture source locations, such as air temperature, specific humidity and relative humidity with respect to sea surface temperature. The SWI variability at a given latitude is highest in the extratropics and polar regions with decreasing values equatorwards. This meridional distribution of SWI variability is explained by the variability in moisture source locations and its associated environmental conditions as well as transport processes. The westward-located moisture sources of water vapour in the extratropics are highly variable in extent and latitude due to the frequent passage of cyclones and thus widen the range of encountered SWI values in the marine boundary layer. Moisture loss during transport further contributes to the high SWI variability in the extratropics. In the subtropics and tropics, persistent anticyclones lead to well-confined narrow easterly moisture source regions, which is reflected in the weak SWI variability in these regions. Thus, the expected range of SWI signals at a given latitude strongly depends on the large-scale circulation. Furthermore, the ACE SWI time series recorded at 8.0 and 13.5 m above the ocean surface provide estimates of vertical SWI gradients in the lowermost marine boundary layer. On average, the vertical gradients with height found during ACE are -0.1‰m-1 for δ18O, -0.5‰m-1 for δ2H and 0.3 ‰ m−1 for deuterium excess. Careful calibration and post-processing of the SWI data and a detailed uncertainty analysis provide a solid basis for the presented gradients. Using sea spray concentrations and sea state conditions, we show that the vertical SWI gradients are particularly large during high wind speed conditions with increased contribution of sea spray evaporation or during low wind speed conditions due to weak vertical turbulent mixing. Although further SWI measurements at a higher vertical resolution are required to validate these findings, the simultaneous SWI measurements at several heights during ACE show the potential of SWIs as tracers for vertical mixing and sea spray evaporation in the lowermost marine boundary layer.

Abstract Social interaction deficits are evident in many psychiatric conditions and specifically in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but hard to assess objectively. We present a digital tool to automatically quantify biomarkers of social interaction deficits: the simulated interaction task (SIT), which entails a standardized 7-min simulated dialog via video and the automated analysis of facial expressions, gaze behavior, and voice characteristics. In a study with 37 adults with ASD without intellectual disability and 43 healthy controls, we show the potential of the tool as a diagnostic instrument and for better description of ASD-associated social phenotypes. Using machine-learning tools, we detected individuals with ASD with an accuracy of 73%, sensitivity of 67%, and specificity of 79%, based on their facial expressions and vocal characteristics alone. Especially reduced social smiling and facial mimicry as well as a higher voice fundamental frequency and harmony-to-noise-ratio were characteristic for individuals with ASD. The time-effective and cost-effective computer-based analysis outperformed a majority vote and performed equal to clinical expert ratings.

Reservoirs are installed as long-term assets to guarantee water and energy security for decades, if not centuries. However, the effect of siltation undermines reservoirs’ sustainability because it significantly reduces the reservoirs’ original capacity. The present paper attempts to evaluate the global reservoir siltation problem with the optimism bias theorem introduced by Kahneman and Tversky and applied to infrastructural mega-projects by Flyvbjerg and Ansar using artificial neural networks (ANNs) algorithms for large Japanese reservoirs. Japan possesses suitable long-term data and a legal directive concerning the sediment capacity siltation duration, which serves as a valid guide to check whether, over the past 100 years, engineers, planners and managers were capable of judging the sediment input correctly. Various ANN models were established to emulate Japanese reservoir siltation behavior. The networks demonstrate that reservoirs in Japan suffer from optimism bias. In contrast to the law, the dead storage volume of an average dam is supposed to reach capacity after 52 years. This finding joins the overall observation that mega-projects generally and globally suffer from optimism bias. The emulations were subsequently screened for a presumed influence of governance actions, namely, indicating plus monitoring and the change in the market competition situation. While reservoir siltation appears to continue regardless of the level of competition in public procurement, monitoring directives appear to have a considerable impact on improved siltation management, which demonstrates that dedicated governance action can significantly strengthen the sustainable behavior of key infrastructure elements such as reservoirs.

Die öffentliche Bereitstellung von Forschungsdaten zur Nachnutzung im Sinne von Open Science ist Bestandteil des Lebenszyklus von Forschungsdaten und erlangt zunehmende Relevanz. Eine zitierbare Veröffentlichung dieser Daten zeugt von einer transparenten Forschung, belegt die Forschungsleistung eines Forschenden sowie der jeweiligen Einrichtung und macht Forschung reproduzierbar und damit überprüfbar. Forschungsförderer erwarten bereits bei der Antragstellung die Dokumentation und Planung eines umsichtigen und nachhaltigen Umgangs mit Forschungsdaten, bspw. in Form eines Datenmanagementplans, der unter anderem Angaben zu geplanten Lizenzen für Forschungsdaten, Rechten an Daten etc. enthält. Die Umsetzung des Datenmanagementplans ist ein kontinuierlicher Prozess im Laufe eines Projekts und nicht auf eine Datenveröffentlichung zum Projektende hin beschränkt. Der Umgang mit Forschungsdaten wird unter anderem in den Richtlinien Guter Wissenschaftlicher Praxis[1], den Open-Access-Policies von Hochschulen, Forschungsinstituten und Forschungsförderern sowie in den “Data Policies” von Zeitschriften adressiert. Repositorien bilden das technische Grundgerüst für das Forschungsdatenmanagement, da sie den gesamten Prozess von der Übernahme über die Qualitätskontrolle bis hin zur zitierfähigen Veröffentlichung unterstützen. Softwarelösungen für Repositorien sind für unterschiedliche Zwecke und Einsatzszenarien verfügbar. Zu den verbreitetsten zählen beispielsweise Fedora, DSpace, MyCoRe, Islandora, EPrints, Dataverse, Rosetta, Archivematica und Invenio. Die Bestimmung von Kriterien für die Auswahl eines Repositoriums ist nicht trivial und es müssen neben Aspekten der Wirtschaftlichkeit, Skalierbarkeit und Funktionalität noch weitere Kriterien wie die Dokumentation, Verbreitung, Entwicklungsperspektive sowie das Daten- und Lizenzmodell berücksichtigt werden. Der Aufwand für die Erarbeitung eines Kriterienkatalogs darf nicht unterschätzt werden. Im Folgenden bezeichnet Repositorium eine Softwarelösung, die - eingebettet in eine Organisationsstruktur und gegebenenfalls im Kontext weiterer Systeme - Forschungsdaten übernimmt, verwaltet und publiziert. Daraus ergeben sich zwangsläufig Abhängigkeiten zur betreibenden organisatorischen Einheit und der grundlegenden technischen Infrastruktur für den Betrieb der Software und die Speicherung der Daten. In diesem Artikel werden verschiedene Aspekte präsentiert, die für den Auswahlprozess potentiell relevant sind. [1] Siehe auch Kodex der DFG zur guten wissenschaftlichen Praxis: https://www.dfg.de/foerderung/grundlagen_rahmenbedingungen/gwp/

Using machine learning (ML) techniques in general and deep learning techniques in specific needs a certain amount of data often not available in large quantities in technical domains. The manual inspection of machine tool components and the manual end-of-line check of products are labor- intensive tasks in industrial applications that companies often want to automate. To automate classification processes and develop reliable and robust machine learning-based classification and wear prognostics models, one needs real-world datasets to train and test the models. The presented dataset consists of images of defects on ball screw drive spindles showing the progression of the defects on the spindle surface. The dataset is analysed via an initial object detection model available under: https://github.com/2Obe?tab=repositories. The reuse potential of the dataset lays in the development of failure detection and failure forecasting models for the purpose of condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. The dataset is available under https://doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000129520.

Datenrepositorien gehören inzwischen zum Kernangebot vieler Bibliotheken. In diesem Kontext sind kooperative Betriebsmodelle eine selten genutzte, aber sehr attraktive Möglichkeit. Durch die Arbeitsteilung und die Trennung von technischem Betrieb und inhaltlicher Betreuung kann so auch bei einer begrenzten Ressourcenlage ein angemessenes Ergebnis erlangt werden. Für Konzeption, Implementierung und Betrieb eines Repositoriums bedarf es qualifiziertes Fachpersonal sowohl auf technischer als auch auf bibliothekarischer bzw. kuratierender Seite. Angesichts des gegenwärtigen Fachkräftemangels sollte daher kritisch hinterfragt werden, ob jede Bibliothek „das Rad neu erfinden“ muss. Das Kommunikations-, Informations-, Medienzentrum (KIM) der Universität Konstanz hat sich deshalb für eine kooperative Umsetzung mit FIZ Karlsruhe – Leibniz-Institut für Informationsinfrastruktur (FIZ Karlsruhe) entschieden. So wurde das Datenrepositorium KonDATA der Universität Konstanz basierend auf dem von FIZ Karlsruhe betriebenen Dienst RADAR realisiert. Mit „RADAR Local“ stellt FIZ Karlsruhe eine anpassbare Repositoriums-Lösung bereit, die lokal an der Universität betrieben wird. Pflege und Wartung der Software werden dabei remote von Mitarbeiter*innen des Leibniz-Instituts erledigt. Dadurch ist vor Ort kein technisches Personal notwendig, sodass sich das KIM auf die bibliothekarischen Kernkompetenzen bei der Kuratierung der Daten fokussieren kann. Dieser Artikel beschreibt den Bedarf der Universität Konstanz, den Auswahlprozess bis zur geeigneten Lösung und wie das gewählte kooperative Betriebsmodell ausgestaltet und umgesetzt wurde. Anschließend werden das Betriebsmodell, seine Vor- und Nachteile sowie seine langfristigen Auswirkungen diskutiert.

Reshaping the immune balance by adoptive transfer of regulatory T-cells (Tregs) has emerged as a promising strategy to combat undesired immune reactions, including in Graft-versus-Host Disease (GvHD), which is the most lethal non-relapse complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Currently however, little is known about the potentially inhibitory in vivo effects of conventional immunosuppressive drugs, which are routinely used to treat GvHD, on adoptively transferred Tregs. Here we demonstrate drug-specific effects of the conventional immunosuppressive drugs Cyclosporine A, Mycophenolate mofetil and methylprednisolone on adoptively transferred Tregs in a humanized NOD/SCID/IL2Rgamma-/- GvHD mouse model. The clinical course of GvHD and postmortem organ histology, including cellular organ infiltration, showed that co-administration of Cyclosporine A and Tregs is highly beneficial as it enhanced Treg accumulation at inflammatory sites like lung and liver. Similarly, co-administration of Mycophenolate mofetil and Tregs improved clinical signs of GvHD. In contrast, co-administration of methylprednisolone and Tregs resulted in reduced Treg recruitment to inflammatory sites and the fast deterioration of some animals. Consequently, when clinical trials investigating safety and efficacy of adjunctive Treg therapy in GvHD are designed, we suggest co-administering Cyclosporine A, whereas high doses of glucocorticosteroids should be avoided.

Microbial fuel cells are a promising technology for future wastewater treatment, as it allows cleaning and power generation simultaneously. The bottleneck of microbial fuel cells is often its cathodes because they determine the power output. Gas diffusion electrodes might overcome this bottleneck due to their low production costs and high oxygen reduction rates. However, biofilm formation on the gas diffusion electrodes reduces their performance over time. In this work, a new reactor design of the microbial fuel cell using rotating gas diffusion electrodes is presented. The biofilm growth on the electrode during operation was observed and its effect on the performance of the microbial fuel cell was examined. In addition, different antifouling strategies were investigated over a period of 80 days. It was found that already after 7 days of operation a complete biofilm had grown on an untreated gas diffusion electrode. However, this does not seem to affect the performance of the cells in the beginning. Differences in the performance of the reactors with and without an antifouling strategy only become apparent from day 15 onwards. The use of UV radiation and antibacterial membranes leads to the best results with maximum power densities of approx. 200 mW m−2 while the untreated microbial fuel cell only achieves a maximum power density of approx. 20 mW m−2.

For nine popular geometrical visual-illusion figures, a mathematical analysis is provided along with a characterization of the figures’ psychological effectiveness. Supported by graphical illustrations, for the L and the T, it is shown how mathematical singularities of these figures can be isolated, and the illusions annihilated. For the Poggendorff, the Hering, and the Zöllner figures, building on observations from Kennedy and Portal (1990), sighting the figures from specific vantage points at a shallow angle is proposed as a means to overcome these illusions. For the T, the Oppel–Kundt, the Müller–Lyer, and the Ebbinghaus figures, a new experiment demonstrated that observers were able to find a slant of the stimuli at which the illusory impressions vanished. Task demands on part of the beholders comprise discrimination and identification. The observed independence of response bias and sensitivity in psychometric functions can possibly be explained by the intrusion of identifying responses into discrimination tasks.

The seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were designed to lead the modern Anthropocene to a lifestyle that was demanded by the Brundtland commission. Their objective is a common good that does not exploit the planet’s environment and is thus long-term. Though virtually separated, contemporary research shows that the seventeen SDGs are in- tertwined. This is also the case for water and energy (SDG 6 and 7). The present research offers the first holistic indicator set that is designed to demonstrate the synergies and trade-offs between electrical energy gener- ation and necessary water supply. It is founded on the SDG principles, follows a mindset based on the security definition established by Grey and Sadoff and is designed around the various technical dependencies of electrical energy and water. The set endeavors to reflect the manifoldness by which electrical energy is dependent on water supply in a dynamic eco- logic, economic and social environment. As electrical energy and water interactions are identified for a regional level, the set is designed to be applicable on any administrative or basin area with moderate data avail- ability. Thereby, the set includes industrializing and non-industrialized countries. It is based on six main indicators and sixteen sub indicators and seen as conceptual design for further discussion before application. The present paper argues and presents how those indicators are formed, why they are need, how and why they should be applied and why it is necessary if not inevitable to design cross-SDG indicators in a holistic view.

The quantification of antibiotics (ABs) in sediments is an analytical challenge, but at the same time, it is indispensable to understand the fate of ABs in aquatic systems such as rivers. The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive method to determine 19 ABs classified as macrolides, sulfonamides, fluoroquinolones, tetracyclines, clindamycin and trimethoprim in river sediments, using a combination of pressurized liquid extraction and solid phase extraction with the separation and detection with liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Our results showed that the physical-chemical properties (e.g., log(Kow) value) of the analytes affected the extraction efficiency. Therefore, we propose to order ABs based on their log(Kow) values instead of traditional classification (macrolides, sulfonamides etc.) to select a suitable extraction solvent. ABs with log(Kow) values below zero (mainly fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines) were difficult to extract with all of the tested protocols compared to ABs with a log(Kow) larger than zero. After comparing different extraction protocols for ABs from solid and sediments, we concluded that recoveries in the range of 0.8 to 64.8% could be achieved for ABs with a log(Kow) value larger than zero using a mixture of acetonitrile and 50 mM phosphoric acid (50/50, v/v) in two extraction cycles at 100 °C.

Geometrical visual illusions have long been used as tools in neuroscience. Most commonly, researchers have taken illusions as a given and attempted to explain phenomenal impressions in terms of known neural mechanisms. In a psychophysical approach to this topic, it is customary to modify stimuli until conditions for which illusions are enhanced, attenuated, or annihilated have been found. Additionally, the focus is not exclusively on response bias but equally on sensitivity, because observers may fall prey to an illusion but at the same time be able to discriminate between stimuli perfectly. For the T-figure, the length of the undivided line is usually overestimated relative to the length of the divided line, and evidence has accrued that suggests that the illusion may be due to the processing of the figure as a coherent unit (a “T-schema”). Dissecting the T or tilting its lines influenced the amount of illusion, suggesting that interactions between orientation-sensitive and end-inhibited neurons are at work. Examples of cognate research with the Ponzo, Ebbinghaus, and Müller-Lyer illusions are also discussed.

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are a type of genetic material that do not encode proteins but regulate the gene expression at an epigenetic level, such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). The role played by ncRNAs in many physiological and pathological processes has gained attention during the last few decades, as they might be useful in the diagnosis, treatment and management of several human disorders, including endocrine and oncological diseases. Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare and aggressive endocrine cancer, still characterized by high mortality and morbidity due to both endocrine and oncological complications. Despite the rarity of this disease, recently, the role of ncRNA has been quite extensively evaluated in ACC. In order to better explore the role of the ncRNA in human ACC, this review summarizes the current knowledge on ncRNA dysregulation in ACC and its potential role in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of this tumor.

The universally conserved P-loop GTPases control diverse cellular processes, like signal transduction, ribosome assembly, cell motility, and intracellular transport and translation. YchF belongs to the Obg-family of P-loop GTPases and is one of the least characterized member of this family. It is unique because it preferentially hydrolyses ATP rather than GTP, but its physiological role is largely unknown. Studies in different organisms including humans suggest a possible role of YchF in regulating the cellular adaptation to stress conditions. In the current study, we explored the role of YchF in the model organism Escherichia coli. By western blot and promoter fusion experiments, we demonstrate that YchF levels decrease during stress conditions or when cells enter stationary phase. The decline in YchF levels trigger increased stress resistance and cells lacking YchF are resistant to multiple stress conditions, like oxidative stress, replication stress, or translational stress. By in vivo site directed cross-linking we demonstrate that YchF interacts with the translation initiation factor 3 (IF3) and with multiple ribosomal proteins at the surface of the small ribosomal subunit. The absence of YchF enhances the anti-association activity of IF3, stimulates the translation of leaderless mRNAs, and increases the resistance against the endoribonuclease MazF, which generates leaderless mRNAs during stress conditions. In summary, our data identify YchF as a stress-responsive regulator of leaderless mRNA translation.

What determines citizens’ preferences over alternative decision-making procedures – the personal gain associated with a procedure, or the intrinsic value assigned to it? To answer this question, we present results of a laboratory experiment in which participants select a procedure to decide on the provision of a public good. In the first stage, they choose between majority voting and delegation to a welfare-maximizing algorithm. In the second stage, subjects either vote on the public good provision, or the decision is taken by the algorithm. We define three experimental conditions in which participants receive information about whether a majority in the group faces a positive or negative pay-off from the public good provision, about whether there is a positive group benefit from its provision, or neither kind of information. Findings confirm the importance of instrumental motives in procedural choices. At the same time, however, a significant share of participants chose a procedure that does not maximize their individual benefit. While majority voting seems to be preferred for intrinsic values of fairness and equality, support for delegation to the welfare-maximizing algorithm increases if the group benefit from a public good is known – even in participants who are net payers for its provision.

The basidiomycete Ustilago maydis

The value associated with an improved variable renewable energy (VRE) forecast has been quantified in this research. The value of improved VRE forecasts can increase with increasing VRE penetration levels as well as the range of this value becoming wider. This value also saturates with high levels of improved VRE forecasts as there is relatively lower impact of improving VRE forecasts further. This paper discusses how the improvement of VRE forecasting could impact the South African power system and representative United States power system jurisdictions.

The wind capacity factor calculator is developed to perform two main tasks: to estimate the annual energy production from the wind resource at any location in South Africa, and to compare the two datasets used in its operation with standard error analysis to determine whether both datasets are suitable for use. This paper focuses on how the software was developed and on error analysis between the CSIR PV/ wind aggregation study data and the latest Wind Atlas for South Africa data. The results will indicate the way forward after determining whether the error found between the two datasets is significant enough to replace the former with latter, going forward.

Traditional display protocols have limitations in terms of fixed frame rates, high bandwidth requirements, and precise control over the display of frames. We propose a novel scalable packetized display protocol architecture incorporating dynamic frame rates, high speed capabilities, and dynamic synchronization to bridge performance gaps. We further provide a modular FPGA implementation of the architecture for use on array emitters.

Infrared scene projectors based on superlattice light emitting diodes (SLEDs) have evolved rapidly over the past decade. Much of this development has been enabled by the design of a flexible support system for driving the SLEDs. This paper describes the system and its benefits.

Stripe rust (Pst) is a major disease of wheat crops leading untreated to severe yield losses. The use of fungicides is often essential to control Pst when sudden outbreaks are imminent. Sensors capable of detecting Pst in wheat crops could optimize the use of fungicides and improve disease monitoring in high-throughput field phenotyping. Now, deep learning provides new tools for image recognition and may pave the way for new camera based sensors that can identify symptoms in early stages of a disease outbreak within the field. The aim of this study was to teach an image classifier to detect Pst symptoms in winter wheat canopies based on a deep residual neural network (ResNet). For this purpose, a large annotation database was created from images taken by a standard RGB camera that was mounted on a platform at a height of 2 m. Images were acquired while the platform was moved over a randomized field experiment with Pst-inoculated and Pst-free plots of winter wheat. The image classifier was trained with 224 × 224 px patches tiled from the original, unprocessed camera images. The image classifier was tested on different stages of the disease outbreak. At patch level the image classifier reached a total accuracy of 90%. To test the image classifier on image level, the image classifier was evaluated with a sliding window using a large striding length of 224 px allowing for fast test performance. At image level, the image classifier reached a total accuracy of 77%. Even in a stage with very low disease spreading (0.5%) at the very beginning of the Pst outbreak, a detection accuracy of 57% was obtained. Still in the initial phase of the Pst outbreak with 2 to 4% of Pst disease spreading, detection accuracy with 76% could be attained. With further optimizations, the image classifier could be implemented in embedded systems and deployed on drones, vehicles or scanning systems for fast mapping of Pst outbreaks.

Widespread use of synthetic chemical insecticides causes growing concern regarding the risks to human health and negative impacts on the environment. At the same time, many insects have become resistant toward synthetic chemical insecticides. Baculoviruses bring many benefits and allow reduced use of synthetic insecticides when included in integrated pest management (IPM). They are specific to their target pest and thus do not have any negative effects on plants, mammals, and non-target insects including natural enemies and pollinators. In addition, their unique mode of action makes them suitable for resistance management. We provide examples of how baculoviruses can be applied in IPM strategies for open field and protected vegetable crops. In field trials, baculovirus products were applied in rotations and tankmixes with chlorantraniliprole, Bacillus thuringiensis products, and spinosad and provided promising control of target pests. The conducted trials in open field and protected vegetables show that baculoviruses can offer an effective solution to control pests in open field and protected vegetable production. Including baculoviruses gave results as good as other application strategies tested while conferring important benefits in reducing residues and improving the resistance management strategy.

The method outlined in this article is a customization of the whole exhaust exposure method generated by Mullins et al. (2016) using reprogrammed primary human airway epithelial cells as described by Martinovich et al. (2017). It has been used successfully to generate recently published data (Landwehr et al. 2021). The goal was to generate an exhaust exposure model where exhaust is collected from a modern engine, real-world exhaust concentrations are used and relevant tissues exposed to assess the effects of multiple biodiesel exposures. Exhaust was generated, gently vacuumed into a dilution chamber where it was diluted 1/15 with air and then vacuumed into an incubator containing the primary cell cultures for exposure. Exhaust physico-chemical properties including combustion gas concentrations and particle spectra were then analyzed using a combustion gas analyzer and a Universal Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer. 24 h after exposure, cellular viability and mediator release were measured using Annexin-V/PI staining and meditator multiplexing kits respectively. This method was generated to test biodiesel exhaust exposures but can be easily adapted for any type of engine exhaust exposure or even potentially other respirable environmental exposures such as woodsmoke.The main customization points for this method are: • Exhaust generated by a diesel engine equipped with EURO VI exhaust after treatment devices including diesel particulate filter and diesel oxidation catalyst. • The generated exhaust was diluted 1/15 with air to replicate real world exposure concentrations. • Used primary human airway epithelial cells obtained from bronchoscope brushings from multiple volunteers and reprogrammed to allow multiple, comparative exposures from the same individual.

Very little research has been conducted on the contribution of political education to learning progress in Germany. Hence, there is a need for intervention studies measuring performance against the theoretical background of a political competence model. This model comprises three constructs: subject knowledge, motivation and attitudes. According to this model, politics lessons should not only convey knowledge but also arouse subject interest, promote political attitudes and develop problem-solving skills. This study investigates how knowledge acquisition is influenced by intervention using theory-oriented teaching materials on the European Union, intervention using conventional textbooks on the European Union and politics lessons without any reference to the European Union. It further asks how the performance-related self-concept and subject interest in political issues impact political knowledge and whether civic virtue and trust in the system are related to it. The sample comprises 1071 pupils. Theory-oriented politics classes lead to greater growth of pupils' knowledge than in the control group. As anticipated, this study proves that a positive subject-specific self-concept impacts knowledge. The examination of political attitudes reveals a positive correlation between civic virtue and knowledge. There is no connection between trust in the political system and knowledge.

The assessment of foot pad dermatitis at slaughter is a suitable method to assess and monitor the welfare of broilers. The goals of this study were to define and validate a camera-based score that could identify macroscopic lesions of the foot pads, to identify errors, and to assess possible external factors that could influence the assessment. In the first phase 200 feet of broilers and in the second phase 500 feet were collected at slaughter, assessed visually, hung back into the evisceration line, and assessed by an automatic system. The camera score cut-off values were defined in the first (=calibration) phase. In the second (=validation) phase, the performance of diagnosis for these cut-off values was evaluated, and possible errors in the assessment of reference surface area and foot pad lesions were analyzed. The results showed that, in particular, Macro Scores 0, 2, and 3 could be identified with sufficiently high sensitivity. For Macro Score 1, the sensitivity of diagnosis was not sufficiently high in the two evaluated software versions. The current automatic assessment systems at slaughter could be adjusted to the cut-off values in order to classify foot pad dermatitis lesions. Furthermore, software updates can enhance the performance measures and lower the probability of errors.