A baseline survey for capturing the hearing ability and hearing disability of students at the universities of Oldenburg, Groningen and the University of applied sciences Utrecht

Mittels einer Anfang 2011 durchgeführten Online-Erhebung wurden Studierende an den Universitäten Oldenburg, Groningen und der Hochschule Utrecht in Bezug auf die Hörsituation an ihrer Bildungseinrichtung befragt. Die Erhebung verfolgte das Ziel, den Anteil der Studierenden mit einer Hörbeeinträchtigung an den genannten Standorten differenziert zu erfassen. Eine statistische Analyse der Daten ergab, dass an allen drei Einrichtungen mehr als 25 Prozent der Studierenden von einer Beeinträchtigung im Hören betroffen waren, wobei eine Geräuschempfindlichkeit die am häufigsten genannte Hörbeeinträchtigung darstellte. (DIPF/Orig.)Data of hearing in university context based situations were collected in an online survey by the universities of Oldenburg and Groningen and the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. The study examined the subjective hearing ability of all students including the numbers of students with hearing disabilities. The results show that 25 percent of the participants mention at least one kind of hearing-disability. Hypersensitivity to sound is named first as of the main hearing-disabilities. (DIPF/Orig.

The sound of study:Student experiences of listening in the university soundscape

The students from three universities (Groningen, Oldenburg and the University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht) were surveyed on the experience of hearing and listening in their study. Included in the online survey were established questionnaires on hearing loss, tinnitus, hyperacusis, a subscale on psychosocial strain resulting from impaired hearing and a questionnaire about students’ perceptions of listening ease in study environments. Results from the 10,466 students who completed the survey (13% response rate) are highlighted, with particular attention to listening ease and measures proposed by students for improving it. A consequence from our findings is that more effective classroom practice may be won if study soundscapes can be improved, while universities might exercise greater inclusive responsibility for study as high quality sensory experience for the benefit of all students

Can the Weak Surface Currents of the Cape Verde Frontal Zone Be Measured With Altimetry?

Three data types are compared in the low-current-velocity regime in the southeastern North Atlantic, between 12-degrees-N and 30-degrees-N, 29-degrees-W and 18-degrees-W: Geosat altimetric sea level and derived surface geostrophic velocities, shallow current meter velocities, and dynamic heights derived from hydrographic data from cruises 4, 6, and 9 of the research vessel Meteor. The four current meter daily time series, at depths around 200 m, were smoothed over 1 month; the altimetric geostrophic velocities were computed from sea surface slopes over 142 km every 17 days. The correlation coefficients between the current meter and altimetric geostrophic velocities range between 0.64 and 0.90 for the moorings near 29-degrees-N but between 0.32 and 0.71 for the two around 21-degrees-N; the associated rms discrepancies between the two measurement types range between 1.5 and 4.4 cm/s, which is 49% to 127% of the rms of the respective current meter time series. Dynamic heights relative to 1950 dbar for the months of November 1986 (d(M4)), November 1987 (d(M6)), and February 1989 (d(M9)) were computed from Meteor cruises 4, 6, and 9. Both dynamic heights and altimetric heights (h(M4), h(M6), h(M9)) were averaged over 1-degrees boxes for the duration of each cruise. Differences d(M4) - d(M6) and d(M9) - d(M6) were computed only at bins where at least one station from both cruises existed, Assuming that dynamic heights d in dynamic centimeters are equivalent to sea level h in centimeters, the standard deviation sigma of the differences ((h(M4) - h(M6)) - (d(M4) - d(M6))) and corresponding M9 - M6 values was 2.1 cm. This value (squared) is only 13% of the (5.8 cm)2 variance of the dynamic height differences and is indistinguishable from the 2.7- to 5.6-cm natural variability of sea level in the area expected between the times when the ship and the satellite sampled the ocean. The areally averaged discrepancy for M9 - M6 was only 0.7 cm, but the corresponding value for M4 - M6 was 5.2 cm. A systematic difference between the water vapor corrections used before and after July 1987 is responsible for the M4 - M6 difference. The average M4 - M6 discrepancy is only 0.1 cm using the Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center correction, with a standard deviation of 3.1 cm. In spite of the underlying differences in sampling and physics, including unknown barotropic components not included in our hydrographic dynamic heights, and in data errors, including water vapor, ionospheric, and orbital effects on the altimetry, consistent interannual changes of the mean sea level from the independently obtained altimetric and hydrographic data sets are obtained, and correlated seasonal changes in surface currents are observed with both altimetry and current meters

Reverse quantum state engineering using electronic feedback loops

We propose an all-electronic technique to manipulate and control interacting quantum systems by unitary single-jump feedback conditioned on the outcome of a capacitively coupled electrometer and in particular a single-electron transistor. We provide a general scheme to stabilize pure states in the quantum system and employ an effective Hamiltonian method for the quantum master equation to elaborate on the nature of stabilizable states and the conditions under which state purification can be achieved. The state engineering within the quantum feedback scheme is shown to be linked with the solution of an inverse eigenvalue problem. Two applications of the feedback scheme are presented in detail: (i) stabilization of delocalized pure states in a single charge qubit and (ii) entanglement stabilization in two coupled charge qubits. In the latter example we demonstrate the stabilization of a maximally entangled Bell state for certain detector positions and local feedback operations.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, to be published by New Journal of Physics (2013

Grundlagenstudie zur Erfassung der Hörfähigkeit von Studierenden an den Universitäten Oldenburg, Groningen und der Hochschule Utrecht

Mittels einer Anfang 2011 durchgeführten Online-Erhebung wurden Studierende an den Universitäten Oldenburg, Groningen und der Hochschule Utrecht in Bezug auf die Hörsituation an ihrer Bildungseinrichtung befragt. Die Erhebung verfolgte das Ziel, den Anteil der Studierenden mit einer Hörbeeinträchtigung an den genannten Standorten differenziert zu erfassen. Eine statistische Analyse der Daten ergab, dass an allen drei Einrichtungen mehr als 25 Prozent der Studierenden von einer Beeinträchtigung im Hören betroffen waren, wobei eine Geräuschempfindlichkeit die am häufigsten genannte Hörbeeinträchtigung darstellte

Frequency of circulating Tregs with demethylated FOXP3 intron 1 in melanoma patients receiving tumor vaccines and potentially Treg-depleting agents

Contains fulltext : 95914.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)PURPOSE: Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are thought to inhibit antitumor immune responses, and their depletion could therefore have a synergistic effect with therapeutic cancer vaccines. We investigated the impact of three medications on blood Treg frequency in vaccinated cancer patients. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: To date, the most specific marker for human Tregs is demethylation in the DNA that encodes the transcription factor FOXP3. Thus, we used a FOXP3 methylation-specific quantitative PCR assay (MS-qPCR) to measure Treg frequencies in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of melanoma patients. The patients participated in three clinical trials that combined tumor vaccines with potential Treg-depleting agents: low-dose cyclophosphamide, anti-CD25 monoclonal antibody daclizumab, and the IL-2/diphtheria toxin fusion protein denileukin diftitox. RESULTS: In the nine control patients, blood Treg frequencies varied over time; there was a 46% reduction in one patient. In treated patients, a more than 2-fold decrease in Tregs was observed in one out of 11 patients receiving cyclophosphamide and in four out of 13 receiving daclizumab, but there was no such Treg decrease in any of the six patients who received denileukin diftitox. As a positive control, a more than 2-fold increase in blood Tregs was detected in four out of nine patients who were treated with interleukin-2. CONCLUSIONS: We used a MS-qPCR method that detects Tregs but not other activated T lymphocytes; however, none of the Treg-depleting strategies that we tested led, in the majority of patients, to a conservative 50% reduction in blood Tregs

Development of paediatric electrophysiology standards for Florida Children’s Medical Services

The Florida Children’s Medical Services (CMS) has a long-standing history of ensuring that providers of multiple paediatric subspecialties abide by the highest standards. The cardiac sub-committee has written quality standard documents that participating programmes must meet or exceed. These standards oversee paediatric cardiology services including surgery, catheterisations, and outpatient services. On April, 2012, the cardiac sub-committee decided to develop similar standards in paediatric electrophysiology. A task force was created and began this process. These standards include a catalogue of required and optional equipment, as well as staff and physician credentials. We sought to establish expectations of procedural numbers by practitioner and facility. The task force surveyed the members of the Pediatric and Congenital Electrophysiology Society. Finding no consensus, the task force is committed to generate the data by requiring that the CMS participating programmes enrol and submit data to the Multicenter Pediatric and Adult Congenital EP Quality (MAP-IT™) Initiative. This manuscript details the work of the Florida CMS Paediatric Electrophysiology Task Force