Playing God? Synthetic biology as a theological and ethical challenge

In the ethical debate over synthetic biology the formula “playing god” is widely used in order to attack this new branch of biotechnology. The article analyses, contextualizes and criticises this usage with respect to the theological concepts of creation, sin and humans as created in the image of God. Against the background of these theological understandings an ethical corridor of how to responsibly cope with the societal challenges of synthetic biology is presented

Between Club and Commerce: Comparing the Organisation of Sports in Britain and Germany from the Late Nineteenth to the early Twentieth Century

Nathaus K. Between Club and Commerce: Comparing the Organisation of Sports in Britain and Germany from the Late Nineteenth to the early Twentieth Century. In: Eisenberg C, Gestrich A, eds. The Cultural Industries in the Late Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Britain and Germany Compared. Augsburg: Wissner; In Press

Why was there a ‘Rock Revolution’ in Britain? Comparing the Production and Evaluation of Popular Music in Britain and West Germany, 1950-80

Nathaus K. Why was there a ‘Rock Revolution’ in Britain? Comparing the Production and Evaluation of Popular Music in Britain and West Germany, 1950-80. In: Eisenberg C, Gestrich A, eds. The Cultural Industries in the Late Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Britain and Germany Compared. Augsburg: Wissner; In Press

Preparation and properties of B6O/TiB2-composites

B 6O/TiB 2 composites with varying compositions were produced by FAST/SPS at temperatures between 1850 and 1900°C following a non-reactive or a reactive sintering route. The densification, phase and microstructure formation and the mechanical and thermal properties were investigated. The comparison to an also investigated pure B 6O material showed that the addition of TiB 2 in a non-reactive sintering route promotes the B 6O densification. Further improvement was obtained by sintering reactive B-TiO 2 mixtures which also results in materials with a finer grain size and thus in enhanced mechanical properties. The fracture toughness was significantly improved in all composites and is up to 4.0MPam 1/2 (SEVNB) and 2.6-5.0MPam 1/2 (IF method) while simultaneously a high hardness of up to 36GPa (HV 0.4) and 28GPa (HV 5) could be preserved. The high temperature properties at 1000°C of hardness, thermal conductivity and CTE were up to 20GPa, 18W/mK and 6.63×10 -6/K, respectively

Beyond spikes: Multiscale computational analysis of in vivo long-term recordings in the cockroach circadian clock

Gefördert durch den Publikationsfonds der Universität Kasse

Nitrogen isotope values of Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet) grains: towards a reconstruction of past cultivation conditions in the Sahel, West Africa

© 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. The nitrogen isotope compositions of charred wheat and barley grains reflect manuring intensity and have been used to reconstruct past manuring practices at archaeological sites across Europe and western Asia. To assess whether this analytical method can be applied to a staple crop in the West African Sahel, the nitrogen isotope values of Pennisetum glaucum grains in this region were determined and the effect of charring ascertained. Pennisetum glaucum ears were collected from fields in northeast Senegal, where the fertilisation histories of the plots (manure and/or household waste) were known. The nitrogen isotope values of these millet grains provide an insight into the values to expect for P. glaucum grains grown with low to moderate addition of manure/household waste in a semi-arid climate. Charring of P. glaucum grains by heating at 215–260 °C for 4–24 h increases their nitrogen isotope values by a maximum of 0.34‰. In light of these modern data, the nitrogen isotope values of millet grains recovered from the archaeological settlement mound of Tongo Maaré Diabal, Mali, can be interpreted as evidence for modest levels of manure/household waste input throughout the occupation of the site from cal ad 500–1150. This study demonstrates the potential for nitrogen isotope values of P. glaucum grains to shed light on past farming practices in West Africa

Nitrogen isotope values of Pennisetum glaucum (pearl millet) grains: towards a reconstruction of past cultivation conditions in the Sahel, West Africa

The nitrogen isotope compositions of charred wheat and barley grains reflect manuring intensity and have been used to reconstruct past manuring practices at archaeological sites across Europe and western Asia. To assess whether this analytical method can be applied to a staple crop in the West African Sahel, the nitrogen isotope values of Pennisetum glaucum grains in this region were determined and the effect of charring ascertained. Pennisetum glaucum ears were collected from fields in northeast Senegal, where the fertilisation histories of the plots (manure and/or household waste) were known. The nitrogen isotope values of these millet grains provide an insight into the values to expect for P. glaucum grains grown with low to moderate addition of manure/household waste in a semi-arid climate. Charring of P. glaucum grains by heating at 215–260 °C for 4–24 h increases their nitrogen isotope values by a maximum of 0.34‰. In light of these modern data, the nitrogen isotope values of millet grains recovered from the archaeological settlement mound of Tongo Maaré Diabal, Mali, can be interpreted as evidence for modest levels of manure/household waste input throughout the occupation of the site from cal ad 500–1150. This study demonstrates the potential for nitrogen isotope values of P. glaucum grains to shed light on past farming practices in West Africa

A methodology for the annotation of surgical videos for supervised machine learning applications

PURPOSE: Surgical data science is an emerging field focused on quantitative analysis of pre-, intra-, and postoperative patient data (Maier-Hein et al. in Med Image Anal 76: 102306, 2022). Data science approaches can decompose complex procedures, train surgical novices, assess outcomes of actions, and create predictive models of surgical outcomes (Marcus et al. in Pituitary 24: 839-853, 2021; Røadsch et al. in Nat Mach Intell, 2022). Surgical videos contain powerful signals of events that may impact patient outcomes. A necessary step before the deployment of supervised machine learning methods is the development of labels for objects and anatomy. We describe a complete method for annotating videos of transsphenoidal surgery. METHODS: Endoscopic video recordings of transsphenoidal pituitary tumor removal surgeries were collected from a multicenter research collaborative. These videos were anonymized and stored in a cloud-based platform. Videos were uploaded to an online annotation platform. Annotation framework was developed based on a literature review and surgical observations to ensure proper understanding of the tools, anatomy, and steps present. A user guide was developed to trained annotators to ensure standardization. RESULTS: A fully annotated video of a transsphenoidal pituitary tumor removal surgery was produced. This annotated video included over 129,826 frames. To prevent any missing annotations, all frames were later reviewed by highly experienced annotators and a surgeon reviewer. Iterations to annotated videos allowed for the creation of an annotated video complete with labeled surgical tools, anatomy, and phases. In addition, a user guide was developed for the training of novice annotators, which provides information about the annotation software to ensure the production of standardized annotations. CONCLUSIONS: A standardized and reproducible workflow for managing surgical video data is a necessary prerequisite to surgical data science applications. We developed a standard methodology for annotating surgical videos that may facilitate the quantitative analysis of videos using machine learning applications. Future work will demonstrate the clinical relevance and impact of this workflow by developing process modeling and outcome predictors