Comparison of H2O2 screen-printed sensors with different Prussian blue nanoparticles as electrode material

In order to determine hydrogen peroxide condensing from gaseous and liquid phases screen-printed electrodes with controlled and adjustable thickness, shape and size of the working electrode as well as electrode paste composition were investigated. For this purpose Prussian blue (PB) nanoparticles with a different particle size distribution of 20- 30 nm (synthesized) and 60-100 nm (commercially available) were mixed with carbon paste and screen-printed on Al2O3 templates to establish H2O2-sensitive electrode. These two types of screen-printed sensors were compared to the commercial one during measurements in H2O2/water solutions at concentrations between 10-5 and 10-2 M H2O2. The linear signal in the investigated concentration range was found only for the sensor with the commercially available PB particles. Thus, this sensor prepared with PB particles of the size 60-100 nm showed the most reproducible and time-stable response versus the analyte in comparison to the others. This result offers the possibility to create sensors with adjustable design adapted to the concrete functionality. Thin films of collecting electrolytes based on agarose gels were printed on the sensor structures. They showed a distinct response on the application of H2O2-containing aerosols and gaseous phase

Crizotinib: aseptic abscesses in multiple organs during treatment of EML4-ALK-positive NSCLC

Purpose We report a novel side efect of Crizotinib, an oral ALK inhibitor used in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with activating rearrangement of EML4-ALK. It expands the known spectrum of complications of Crizotinib. Methods Clinical case report. Results Multiple aseptic and recurrent abscesses were observed in the liver, thoracic wall as well as in both kidneys in a 75-year-old female patient sufering from NSCLC who had been treated with Crizotinib for almost 2 years. After discontinuation of the treatment the abscesses dissolved spontaneously and did not reoccur. Conclusion Aseptic abscesses under treatment with Crizotinib are not restricted to the kidneys as described before, but can also occur in other abdominal organs as the liver and even in the thoracic wall. We postulate that this fnding may point to a yet unknown not tissue-dependent mechanism of actio

Unlocking the power of generative AI models and systems such asGPT-4 and ChatGPT for higher education

Generative AI technologies, such as large language models, have the potential to revolutionize much of our higher education teaching and learning. ChatGPT is an impressive, easy-to-use, publicly accessible system demonstrating the power of large language models such as GPT-4. Other compa- rable generative models are available for text processing, images, audio, video, and other outputs and we expect a massive further performance increase, integration in larger software systems, and diffusion in the coming years. This technological development triggers substantial uncertainty and change in university-level teaching and learning. Students ask questions like: How can ChatGPT or other artificial intelligence tools support me? Am I allowed to use ChatGPT for a seminar or final paper, or is that cheating? How exactly do I use ChatGPT best? Are there other ways to access models such as GPT-4? Given that such tools are here to stay, what skills should I acquire, and what is obsolete? Lecturers ask similar questions from a different perspective: What skills should I teach? How can I test students competencies rather than their ability to prompt generative AI models? How can I use ChatGPT and other systems based on generative AI to increase my efficiency or even improve my students learning experience and outcomes? Even if the current discussion revolves around ChatGPT and GPT-4, these are only the forerunners of what we can expect from future generative AI-based models and tools. So even if you think ChatGPT is not yet technically mature, it is worth looking into its impact on higher education. This is where this whitepaper comes in. It looks at ChatGPT as a contemporary example of a conversational user interface that leverages large language models. The whitepaper looks at ChatGPT from the perspective of students and lecturers. It focuses on everyday areas of higher education: teaching courses, learning for an exam, crafting seminar papers and theses, and assessing students learning outcomes and performance. For this purpose, we consider the chances and concrete application possibilities, the limits and risks of ChatGPT, and the underlying large language models. This serves two purposes: First, we aim to provide concrete examples and guidance for individual students and lecturers to find their way of dealing with ChatGPT and similar tools. Second, this whitepaper shall inform the more extensive organizational sensemaking processes on embracing and enclosing large language models or related tools in higher education. We wrote this whitepaper based on our experience in information systems, computer science, management, and sociology. We have hands-on experience in using generative AI tools. As professors, postdocs, doctoral candidates, and students, we constantly innovate our teaching and learning. Fully embracing the chances and challenges of generative AI requires adding further perspectives from scholars in various other disciplines (focusing on didactics of higher education and legal aspects), university administrations, and broader student groups. Overall, we have a positive picture of generative AI models and tools such as GPT-4 and ChatGPT. As always, there is light and dark, and change is difficult. However, if we issue clear guidelines on the part of the universities, faculties, and individual lecturers, and if lecturers and students use such systems efficiently and responsibly, our higher education system may improve. We see a greatchance for that if we embrace and manage the change appropriately

Planck Scale Boundary Conditions and the Higgs Mass

If the LHC does only find a Higgs boson in the low mass region and no other new physics, then one should reconsider scenarios where the Standard Model with three right-handed neutrinos is valid up to Planck scale. We assume in this spirit that the Standard Model couplings are remnants of quantum gravity which implies certain generic boundary conditions for the Higgs quartic coupling at Planck scale. This leads to Higgs mass predictions at the electroweak scale via renormalization group equations. We find that several physically well motivated conditions yield a range of Higgs masses from 127-142 GeV. We also argue that a random quartic Higgs coupling at the Planck scale favors M_H > 150 GeV, which is clearly excluded. We discuss also the prospects for differentiating different boundary conditions imposed for \lambda(M_{pl}) at the LHC. A striking example is M_H = 127\pm 5 GeV corresponding to \lambda(M_{pl})=0, which would imply that the quartic Higgs coupling at the electroweak scale is entirely radiatively generated.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures; references added and other minor improvements, matches version published in JHE

Using Parahydrogen Induced Polarization to Study Steps in the Hydroformylation Reaction.

A range of iridium complexes, Ir(η3-C3H5)(CO)(PR2R’)2 (1a-1e) [where 1a, PR2R’ = PPh3, 1b P(p-tol)3, 1c PMePh2, 1d PMe2Ph and 1e PMe3] were synthesized and their reactivity as stoichiometric hydroformylation precursors studied. Para-hydrogen assisted NMR spectroscopy detected the following intermediates: Ir(H)2(η3-C3H5)(CO)(PR2R’) (2a-e), Ir(H)2(η1-C3H5)(CO)(PR2R’)2 (4d-e), Ir(H)2(η1-C3H5)(CO)2(PR2R’) (10a-e), Ir(H)2(CO-C3H5)(CO)2(PR2R’) (11a-c), Ir(H)2(CO-C3H7)(CO)2(PR2R’) (12a-c) and Ir(H)2(CO-C3H5)(CO)(PR2R’)2 (13d-e). Some of these species exist as two geometric isomers according to their multinuclear NMR characteristics. The NMR studies suggest a role for the following 16 electron species in these reactions: Ir(η3-C3H5)(CO)(PR2R’), Ir(η1-C3H5)(CO)(PR2R’)2, Ir(η1-C3H5)(CO)2(PR2R’), Ir(CO-C3H5)(CO)2(PR2R’), Ir(CO-C3H7)(CO)2(PR2R’) and Ir(CO-C3H5)(CO)(PR2R’)2. Their role is linked to several 18 electron species in order to confirm the route by which hydroformylation and hydrogenation proceeds

Comprehensive mutation analysis of 17 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat polymorphisms included in the AmpFlSTR® Yfiler® PCR amplification kit

The Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (Y-STR) polymorphisms included in the AmpFlSTR® Yfiler® polymerase chain reaction amplification kit have become widely used for forensic and evolutionary applications where a reliable knowledge on mutation properties is necessary for correct data interpretation. Therefore, we investigated the 17 Yfiler Y-STRs in 1,730–1,764 DNA-confirmed father–son pairs per locus and found 84 sequence-confirmed mutations among the 29,792 meiotic transfers covered. Of the 84 mutations, 83 (98.8%) were single-repeat changes and one (1.2%) was a double-repeat change (ratio, 1:0.01), as well as 43 (51.2%) were repeat gains and 41 (48.8%) repeat losses (ratio, 1:0.95). Medians from Bayesian estimation of locus-specific mutation rates ranged from 0.0003 for DYS448 to 0.0074 for DYS458, with a median rate across all 17 Y-STRs of 0.0025. The mean age (at the time of son’s birth) of fathers with mutations was with 34.40 (±11.63) years higher than that of fathers without ones at 30.32 (±10.22) years, a difference that is highly statistically significant (p < 0.001). A Poisson-based modeling revealed that the Y-STR mutation rate increased with increasing father’s age on a statistically significant level (α = 0.0294, 2.5% quantile = 0.0001). From combining our data with those previously published, considering all together 135,212 meiotic events and 331 mutations, we conclude for the Yfiler Y-STRs that (1) none had a mutation rate of >1%, 12 had mutation rates of >0.1% and four of <0.1%, (2) single-repeat changes were strongly favored over multiple-repeat ones for all loci but 1 and (3) considerable variation existed among loci in the ratio of repeat gains versus losses. Our finding of three Y-STR mutations in one father–son pair (and two pairs with two mutations each) has consequences for determining the threshold of allelic differences to conclude exclusion constellations in future applications of Y-STRs in paternity testing and pedigree analyses