Indigo in the nanochannels of zeolite L : towards a new type of colorant

A host-guest based colorant was synthesized by intercalating indigo molecules into the nanochannels of zeolite L (ZL). Reductive washing thereby ensured the efficient and selective removal of non-intercalated indigo molecules. The UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrum of the product after intercalation and reductive washing (designated as indigo-ZL) was found to resemble the solution spectrum of indigo, leading to the conclusion that the formation of indigo aggregates is prevented due to the steric constraints imposed by the microporous structure of ZL. The application of indigo-ZL on cotton was tested by roll coating. The light absorption properties of the resulting textile prints showed no significant alteration when compared to the pure indigo-ZL powder. The UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra of mixtures consisting of indigo-ZL and a further ZL-based colorant were successfully predicted by the weighted addition of the respective primary spectra

Clinical trial updates and hotline sessions presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2008

This article summarizes the results of a number of clinical trials in the field of cardiovascular medicine which were presented during the Hotline and Clinical Trial Update Sessions at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, held in Munich, Germany, from 30th August to 3rd September 2008. The data were presented by leading experts in the field with relevant positions in the trials. It is important to note that unpublished reports should be considered as preliminary data, as the analysis may change in the final publications. The comprehensive summaries have been generated from the oral presentation and the webcasts of the European Society of Cardiology and should provide the readers with the most comprehensive information on diagnostic and therapeutic developments in cardiovascular medicine

Analysis of ceiling effects occurring with speech recognition tests in adult cochlear-implanted patients

This article presents a simple method of analysing speech test scores which are biased through ceiling effects. Eighty postlingually deafened adults implanted with a MED-EL COMBI 40/40+ cochlear implant (CI) were administered a numbers test and a sentence test at initial device activation and at 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months thereafter. As a measure for speech recognition performance, the number of patients who scored at the `ceiling level' (i.e. at least 95% correct answers) was counted at each test interval. Results showed a quick increase in this number soon after device activation as well as a continuous improvement over time ( numbers test: 1 month: 51%; 6 months: 73%; 24 months: 88%; sentence test: 1 month: 33%; 6 months: 49%; 24 months: 64%). The new method allows for the detection of speech recognition progress in CI patient samples even at late test intervals, where improvement curves based on averaged scores are usually assuming a flat shape. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

Declining morphological diversity in snakefly larvae during last 100 million years

Raphidioptera, the group of snakeflies, is a rather species-poor in-group of Holometabola. Yet, fossils of snakeflies indicate that the group was more diverse in the past. Here we compare the morphological diversity of snakefly larvae over time. Snakefly larvae are well represented in Cretaceous and Eocene ambers facilitating such a comparison. We used measurements of discrete dimensions as a basis for comparison. This reveals a larger diversity of snakefly larvae in the Cretaceous, especially in relation to head shapes and morphology of the antennae, which were much more variable. In particular, some Cretaceous larvae possessed greatly elongated head capsules and uniquely long and prominent antennae, unparalleled among modern forms. Already by the Eocene, snakefly larvae were less variable than those of the Cretaceous, although some still possessed longer antennae than modern-day larvae. The loss of morphological diversity supports the already well-established loss of taxonomic diversity in the group across time. Quite likely, this also indicates a loss of ecological diversity. These results are comparable to losses in different lineages of the closely related group Neuroptera

MultiMediate '22: Backchannel Detection and Agreement Estimation in Group Interactions

Backchannels, i.e. short interjections of the listener, serve important meta-conversational purposes like signifying attention or indicating agreement. Despite their key role, automatic analysis of backchannels in group interactions has been largely neglected so far. The MultiMediate challenge addresses, for the first time, the tasks of backchannel detection and agreement estimation from backchannels in group conversations. This paper describes the MultiMediate challenge and presents a novel set of annotations consisting of 7234 backchannel instances for the MPIIGroupInteraction dataset. Each backchannel was additionally annotated with the extent by which it expresses agreement towards the current speaker. In addition to a an analysis of the collected annotations, we present baseline results for both challenge tasks.Comment: ACM Multimedia 202

Automatic measurement of departing times in smartphone alerting systems: A pilot study

Aim Smartphone alerting systems (SAS) alert volunteers in close vicinity of suspected out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Some systems use sophisticated algorithms to select those who will probably arrive first. Precise estimation of departing times and travel times may help to further improve algorithms. We developed a global positioning system (GPS) based method for automatic measurements of departing times. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate feasibility and precision of the method. Methods Region of Lifesavers alerting app (iOS/ Android, version 3.0, FirstAED ApS, Denmark) was used in this study. 27 experiments were performed with 9 students, who were instructed to stay in their flats during the study days. A geofence was set for each alarm in the alerting system with a radius of 10 m (8 cases), 15 m (10 cases), and 20 m (9 cases) around the GPS position at which the alarm was accepted in the app. The system logged responders as being departed when the smartphone position was registered outside the geofence. The students were instructed to manually start a stopwatch at the time of the alert and to stop the stopwatch once they had entered the street in front of their flat. Results The median difference between automatically and manually retrieved times were −16 seconds [interquartile range IQR 50 seconds] (geofence 10 m), 30 seconds [IQR 25 seconds] (15 m), and 20 seconds [IQR 13 seconds] (20 m), respectively. The 20 m geofence was associated with the smallest interquartile range. Conclusion Departing times of volunteer responders in SAS can be retrieved automatically using GPS and a geofence

Evidence for West Nile Virus and Usutu Virus Infections in Wild and Resident Birds in Germany, 2017 and 2018

Wild birds play an important role as reservoir hosts and vectors for zoonotic arboviruses and foster their spread. Usutu virus (USUV) has been circulating endemically in Germany since 2011, while West Nile virus (WNV) was first diagnosed in several bird species and horses in 2018. In 2017 and 2018, we screened 1709 live wild and zoo birds with real-time polymerase chain reaction and serological assays. Moreover, organ samples from bird carcasses submitted in 2017 were investigated. Overall, 57 blood samples of the live birds (2017 and 2018), and 100 organ samples of dead birds (2017) were positive for USUV-RNA, while no WNV-RNA-positive sample was found. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the first detection of USUV lineage Europe 2 in Germany and the spread of USUV lineages Europe 3 and Africa 3 towards Northern Germany. USUV antibody prevalence rates were high in Eastern Germany in both years. On the contrary, in Northern Germany, high seroprevalence rates were first detected in 2018, with the first emergence of USUV in this region. Interestingly, high WNV-specific neutralizing antibody titers were observed in resident and short-distance migratory birds in Eastern Germany in 2018, indicating the first signs of a local WNV circulation

Leaping and Landing in Brave Spaces

Vapor-fed electrolysis of water has been performed using membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) incorporating earth-abundant catalysts and bipolar membranes (BPMs). Catalyst films containing CoP nanoparticles, carbon black, and Nafion were synthesized, characterized, and integrated into cathodes of MEAs. The CoP-containing MEAs exhibited stable (>16 h) vapor-fed electrolysis of water at room temperature at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² with 350 mV of additional overvoltage relative to MEA's formed from Pt/C cathodic electrocatalysts due to slower hydrogen-evolution reaction kinetics under vapor-fed conditions and fewer available triple-phase boundaries in the catalyst film. Additionally, catalyst films containing a [NiFe]-layered double hydroxide ([NiFe]-LDH) as well as a hydroxide ion conductor, hexamethyl-p-terphenyl poly(benzimidazolium) (HMT-PMBI), were synthesized, characterized, and integrated into the anodes of the MEAs. The [NiFe]-LDH-containing MEAs exhibited overvoltages at 10 mA cm⁻² that were similar to those of IrO_x-containing MEAs for vapor-fed electrolysis of water at room temperature. A BPM was formed by pairing Nafion with HMT-PMBI, resulting in a locally alkaline environment of HMT-PMBI to stabilize the [NiFe]-LDH and a locally acidic environment to stabilize the CoP. BPM-based MEAs were stable (>16 h) for vapor-fed electrolysis of water at room temperature at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻², with a change in the pH gradient of 1 unit over 16 h of electrolysis for IrOx-containing MEAs. The stability of [NiFe]-LDH-based MEAs under vapor-fed conditions was dependent on the catalyst film morphology and resulting BPM interface, with stable operation at 10 mA cm⁻² achieved for 16 h. All MEAs exhibited a drift in the operating voltage over time associated with dehydration. These results demonstrate that earth-abundant catalysts and BPMs can be incorporated into stable, room-temperature, vapor-fed water-splitting cells operated at 10 mA cm⁻²

Swiss Marketing Leadership Studie 2016 : digitale Transformation im Marketing

Die meisten Schweizer Unternehmen haben verstanden, dass die Digitale Transformation das Marketing grundlegend verändert. Doch vielerorts fehlt es an strategischer Verankerung, Systematik und Ressourcen. Das Institut für Marketing Management der ZHAW School of Management hat am 8. September im Rahmen des Swiss CRM Forum seine diesjährige Swiss Marketing Leadership Studie vorgestellt. Die Befragung von 646 Schweizer Unternehmen zeigt, dass hierzulande ein grundlegendes Verständnis für die Veränderungen im Marketing vorhanden ist, welche die Digitale Transformation mit sich bringt. Allerdings befinden sich viele Unternehmen noch am Anfang des Transformationsprozesses. Auch nicht alle Unternehmen sehen die Entwicklung vornehmlich als Chance. Bisweilen fürchtet man eine Bedrohung des Status quo. Insgesamt zeigt sich, dass hierzulande noch viele Herausforderungen zu meistern sind, will man weiterhin im internationalen Wettbewerb mithalten können.­­ Kundenbeziehungsmanagement als Treiber: Bei B2C-Unternehmen geniesst die Digitale Transformation einen signifikant höheren Stellenwert als im B2B-Bereich. Insbesondere das Kundenbeziehungsmanagement gilt vielerorts als Katalysator der Entwicklung. Weniger ausgeprägt ist das Verständnis für den Wandel hingegen im Produktmanagement, wo entsprechende Methoden und Tools noch eine untergeordnete Rolle spielen. Zudem zeigt sich, dass kaum ein Unternehmen bisher ein ganzheitliches, toolbasiertes Product-Lifecycle-Management betreibt. Fachleute verzweifelt gesucht: Gemäss Studie planen Schweizer Unternehmen mehr denn je, in das Kundenbeziehungsmanagement zu investieren. Allerdings zeigen sich dabei grosse Unterschiede: Je reifer das Unternehmen bezüglich Digitalisierung, desto grösser die Bereitschaft für Investitionen. Ausserdem gibt es grosse branchenspezifische Unterschiede. Trotz teilweise reger Aktivität fehlt es jedoch an strategischer Verankerung, Systematik und vor allem Ressourcen. Entsprechende Budgets sind zwar vielerorts vorhanden, doch die Rekrutierung geeigneter Mitarbeitenden stellt eine grosse Herausforderung dar. Die Studie wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit zahlreichen Partnern aus der Privatwirtschaft realisiert

Clinical trial updates and hotline sessions presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2008

This article summarizes the results of a number of clinical trials in the field of cardiovascular medicine which were presented during the Hotline and Clinical Trial Update Sessions at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, held in Munich, Germany, from 30th August to 3rd September 2008. The data were presented by leading experts in the field with relevant positions in the trials. It is important to note that unpublished reports should be considered as preliminary data, as the analysis may change in the final publications. The comprehensive summaries have been generated from the oral presentation and the webcasts of the European Society of Cardiology and should provide the readers with the most comprehensive information on diagnostic and therapeutic developments in cardiovascular medicine