Ring tests as main parts of the quality assurance and control programme for the comparability of analytical data within the ICP Forests monitoring programme

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Artificial intelligence in human genomics and biomedicine - Dynamics, potentials and challenges

The increasing availability of extensive and complex data has made human genomics and its applications in (bio)medicine an at­ tractive domain for artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of advanced machine learning (ML) methods. These methods are linked not only to the hope of improving diagnosis and drug development. Rather, they may also advance key issues in biomedicine, e. g. understanding how individual differences in the human genome may cause specific traits or diseases. We analyze the increasing convergence of AI and genom­ics, the emergence of a corresponding innovation system, and how these associative AI methods relate to the need for causal knowledge in biomedical research and development (R&D) and in medical prac­tice. Finally, we look at the opportunities and challenges for clinical practice and the implications for governance issues arising from this convergence.Die zunehmende Verfügbarkeit umfangreicher und komplexer Daten hat die Humangenomik und ihre Anwendungsbereiche in der (Bio-)Medizin zu einem attraktiven Bereich für künstliche Intelligenz (KI) vor allem in Form von fortgeschrittenen Methoden des maschinellen Lernens (ML) gemacht. Diese Methoden sind nicht nur mit der Hoffnung verbunden, Diagnosen und die Medikamentenentwicklung zu verbessern. Sie könnten auch darum, Kernthemen in der Biomedizin voranzubringen, z. B. zu verstehen, wie individuelle Unterschiede im menschlichen Genom bestimmte Merkmale oder Krankheiten verursachen können. Wir analysieren die zunehmende Konvergenz von KI und Genomik, das Entstehen eines entsprechenden Innovationssystems und wie diese assoziativen KI‑Methoden mit dem Bedarf an kausalem Wissen in der biomedizinischen Forschung und Entwicklung und in der medizinischen Praxis zusammenhängen. Schließlich betrachten wir die Potenziale und Herausforderungen für die klinische Praxis und die sich aus dieser Konvergenz ergebenden Implikationen für Governance-Fragen

GMOs Across the Atlantic

GMOs Across the AtlanticSacrificing Precaution in the Name of Free Trade?Kofi Annan once said “[…] that arguing against globalisation is like arguing against the laws of gravity”. The world has evolved into a place of omnipresent interconnectivity where people are linked across borders by economic, political, friendly and family ties. Although risks have likewise become globalised in the process, risk management still largely constitutes a national issue. While transnational food scandals as the BSE crisis in 1997 or the horse meat scandal of 2013 have shaken consumers within and beyond the European Union (EU), Member States (MS) nonetheless continue to insist on their sovereignty to approach and handle uncertain risks by themselves. There are a variety of levels related to dealing with uncertain risks that are affected by this controversy. Amongst them are science as in risk assessment, law as in risk regulation and politics as in risk management and the overall coordinating risk governance processes. As neither science or law nor politics are able to provide fully sound and satisfying solutions for coping with uncertain risks, controversy and heated debate remains even long after a political decision has been made on a case. It is striking how all these disciplines attempt to appropriately respond to uncertainty, while they do actually add more complexity and differing opinions. There consequently is no solid ground for policy-makers to base their final decisions on and justify the particular regulation or acceptance of risks. It remains an issue how politics can effectively work in light of uncertainty. This is especially important when considering the effects of globalisation. Through international trade and the flow of goods through the world economy, products associated with uncertain risk cross national borders on a daily basis and need to be regulated. The ongoing negotiations on a free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States of America have highlighted the difficulties regarding this process. If successfully concluded, supposedly by the end of 2014, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would constitute the largest free trade zone worldwide and both the EU and the US would benefit tremendously. However, negotiations have not gone so smoothly due to prevailing disagreement over the rules that should apply for the TTIP. With regards to food safety, the EU and the US have already had difficulties in the past to agree on a common denominator. Related differences and incompatibilities become evident in the debate on food safety. Although consumer protection is a highlyranked principle for both parties, there is little agreement on what requires strict protective measures and what should be regulated only mildly. In the past and recently, problematic issues for the EU have included US exports of genetically modified crops into the EU as well as meat imports from American hormone-treated or -fed animals and chicken meat that was treated with chlorine. On the part of the US, concerns have mostly been about EU lactic-acid washed meat, raw milk cheese and dairy imports into the States. Both parties have according precautionary measures in place, but request each other to drop the various bans and ease regulatory practices and processes on other products

Retrieval of Water Vapour Profiles from GLORIA Nadir Observations

We present the first analysis of water vapour profiles derived from nadir measurements by the infrared imaging Fourier transform spectrometer GLORIA (Gimballed Limb Observer for Radiance Imaging of the Atmosphere). The measurements were performed on 27 September 2017, during the WISE (Wave driven ISentropic Exchange) campaign aboard the HALO aircraft over the North Atlantic in an area between 37°–50°N and 20°–28°W. From each nadir recording of the 2-D imaging spectrometer, the spectral radiances of all non-cloudy pixels have been averaged after application of a newly developed cloud filter. From these mid-infrared nadir spectra, vertical profiles of H2O have been retrieved with a vertical resolution corresponding to five degrees of freedom below the aircraft. Uncertainties in radiometric calibration, temperature and spectroscopy have been identified as dominating error sources. Comparing retrievals resulting from two different a priori assumptions (constant exponential vs. ERA 5 reanalysis data) revealed parts of the flight where the observations clearly show inconsistencies with the ERA 5 water vapour fields. Further, a water vapour inversion at around 6 km altitude could be identified in the nadir retrievals and confirmed by a nearby radiosonde ascent. An intercomparison of multiple water vapour profiles from GLORIA in nadir and limb observational modes, IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) satellite data from two different retrieval processors, and radiosonde measurements shows a broad consistency between the profiles. The comparison shows how fine vertical structures are represented by nadir sounders as well as the influence of a priori information on the retrievals

Electromagnetic interaction of split-ring resonators: The role of separation and relative orientation

Extinction cross-section spectra of split-ring-resonator dimers have been measured at near-infrared frequencies with a sensitive spatial modulation technique. The resonance frequency of the dimer\u27s coupled mode as well as its extinction cross-section and its quality factor depend on the relative orientation and separation of the two split-ring resonators. The findings can be interpreted in terms of electric and magnetic dipole-dipole interaction. Numerical calculations based on a Discontinuous Galerkin Time-Domain approach are in good agreement with the experiments and support our physical interpretation

Antimicrobial Potential of Bacteria Associated with Marine Sea Slugs from North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Nudibranchia, marine soft-bodied organisms, developed, due to the absence of a protective shell, different strategies to protect themselves against putative predators and fouling organisms. One strategy is to use chemical weapons to distract predators, as well as pathogenic microorganisms. Hence, these gastropods take advantage of the incorporation of chemical molecules. Thereby the original source of these natural products varies; it might be the food source, de novo synthesis from the sea slug, or biosynthesis by associated bacteria. These bioactive molecules applied by the slugs can become important drug leads for future medicinal drugs. To test the potential of the associated bacteria, the latter were isolated from their hosts, brought into culture and extracts were prepared and tested for antimicrobial activities. From 49 isolated bacterial strains 35 showed antibiotic activity. The most promising extracts were chosen for further testing against relevant pathogens. In that way three strains showing activity against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and one strain with activity against enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli, respectively, were identified. The obtained results indicate that the sea slug associated microbiome is a promising source for bacterial strains, which hold the potential for the biotechnological production of antibiotics

Detection and attribution of aerosol-cloud interactions in large-domain large-eddy simulations with the ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic model

Clouds and aerosols contribute the largest uncertainty to current estimates and interpretations of the Earth’s changing energy budget. Here we use a new-generation large-domain large-eddy model, ICON-LEM (ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic Large Eddy Model), to simulate the response of clouds to realistic anthropogenic perturbations in aerosols serving as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). The novelty compared to previous studies is that (i) the LEM is run in weather prediction mode and with fully interactive land surface over a large domain and (ii) a large range of data from various sources are used for the detection and attribution. The aerosol perturbation was chosen as peak-aerosol conditions over Europe in 1985, with more than fivefold more sulfate than in 2013. Observational data from various satellite and ground-based remote sensing instruments are used, aiming at the detection and attribution of this response. The simulation was run for a selected day (2 May 2013) in which a large variety of cloud regimes was present over the selected domain of central Europe. It is first demonstrated that the aerosol fields used in the model are consistent with corresponding satellite aerosol optical depth retrievals for both 1985 (perturbed) and 2013 (reference) conditions. In comparison to retrievals from ground-based lidar for 2013, CCN profiles for the reference conditions were consistent with the observations, while the ones for the 1985 conditions were not. Similarly, the detection and attribution process was successful for droplet number concentrations: the ones simulated for the 2013 conditions were consistent with satellite as well as new ground-based lidar retrievals, while the ones for the 1985 conditions were outside the observational range. For other cloud quantities, including cloud fraction, liquid water path, cloud base altitude and cloud lifetime, the aerosol response was small compared to their natural variability. Also, large uncertainties in satellite and ground-based observations make the detection and attribution difficult for these quantities. An exception to this is the fact that at a large liquid water path value (LWP > 200 g m−2), the control simulation matches the observations, while the perturbed one shows an LWP which is too large. The model simulations allowed for quantifying the radiative forcing due to aerosol–cloud interactions, as well as the adjustments to this forcing. The latter were small compared to the variability and showed overall a small positive radiative effect. The overall effective radiative forcing (ERF) due to aerosol–cloud interactions (ERFaci) in the simulation was dominated thus by the Twomey effect and yielded for this day, region and aerosol perturbation −2.6 W m$^{-2}$. Using general circulation models to scale this to a global-mean present-day vs. pre-industrial ERFaci yields a global ERFaci of −0.8 W m$^{-2}$