Quantum-chemical calculation of characteristics of electronic structure of solid bodies

The report presents the main provisions of quantum-chemical calculations using the Hartree-Fock method. The concentration of quantum chemical calculations for materials possessing a crystal lattice is described. The concept of application of methods of molecular dynamics in the conduct of quantum chemical calculations is formulated. On its basis, the concept of performing automated calculations using certain automation algorithms is constructed

“Funny How?” A Serious Look at Humor in Conversational Agents

Conversational agents are rapidly advancing in terms of their capabilities and human likeness - both of which are intended to enhance the user experience and engagement. One human quality that can potentially increase trust and likeability is humor. However, what is considered humorous and what is not depends on many contextual and personal factors that are not only difficult for machines to detect, but even humans are still struggling to understand them. This makes training AI to be humorous highly challenging. But is this due only to the technical limitations? In this provocation paper, we discuss the hindrances to utilizing humor in commercial conversational agents and propose addressing this topic from a social and political perspective

Leitprojekt ECR_Energy City Graz-Reininghaus

Die Gelegenheit zur Erstellung des Rahmenplanes Energie ECR für das Areal von Graz-Reininghaus ist einzigartig. Erstmalig in der Steiermark kann die energetische Ausrichtung eines ganzen Stadtteils auf Gebäudeverbandsebene (Quartier- und Stadtteilebene) wissenschaftlich betrachtet und strategisch vorbereitet werden. Das Haus der Zukunft Plus Leitprojekt ECR Energy City Graz Reininghaus ist eine Kooperation zwischen der Stadt Graz, dem Land Steiermark und verschiedenen Instituten der TU Graz unter Leitung des Instituts für Städtebau. Das Grazer Umweltamt und die Energie Graz liefern fachlichen Input für das Projekt. Bei Bedarf werden zusätzliche Experten und Ämter der Stadt Graz zu Rate gezogen. In Zukunft werden sich die Gebäude vom Energieverbraucher zum Energieerzeuger wandeln. Der Plus-Energieansatz soll in der ECR Energy City Graz Reininghaus nicht auf Gebäudeebene, sondern auf Quartiersebene stattfinden. Im Rahmenplan Energie ECR wird die Optimierung somit nicht innerhalb der Systemgrenze eines Gebäudes, sondern auf Ebene der einzelnen Stadtquartiere und auf Ebene des gesamten Stadtteils von Graz-Reininghaus erarbeitet. Ziel ist ein energieautarker, CO2-neutraler Stadtteil. Derzeit entsteht der erste Stadtbaustein in Graz-Reininghaus: das Demobauvorhaben Wohnbau „Plus-Energieverbund Reininghaus Süd“. Im Süden der Peter Rosegger Straße, im Stadtquartier 9, errichtet die Fa. WEGRAZ und die Firma Aktiv Klimahaus GmbH. in vier Bauabschnitten ein städtisches Wohnquartier mit rund 140 Wohneinheiten. Der Plusenergieansatz findet gemäß dem Energierahmenplan innerhalb eines multifunktionalen Gebäudeverbundes statt. In einem ersten Schritt wird das einzelne Gebäude optimiert und wandelt sich vom Energieverbraucher zum Energieerzeuger, im zweiten Schritt bringen Synergien innerhalb des Gebäudeverbundes eine weitere Optimierung des Systems

Exploring urban and regional infrastructure from a spatial perspective

Urban and regional infrastructures regain interdisciplinary interest in course of the ‘infrastructural turn’. Contemporary questions exceed beyond engineering and technology but reach into social, political, economic, and ecological spheres. Therefore, the ARL:Univie International Summer School 2021 “Urban and Regional Infrastructures” invited international young researchers to Vienna to discuss the state-of-the-art of infrastructure-related research. This special issue compiles the contributions and opens up the discussion on the present role, effects and future challenges of urban and regional infrastructures to an interdisciplinary planning-oriented scientific community

Plasmid-Mediated Transmission of KPC-2 Carbapenemase in Enterobacteriaceae in Critically III Patients

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) cause health care-associated infections worldwide, and they are of severe concern due to limited treatment options. We report an outbreak of KPC-2-producing CRE that was caused by horizontal transmission of a promiscuous plasmid across different genera of bacteria and hospitals in Germany. Eleven isolates (8 Citrobacter freundii, 2 Klebsiella oxytoca, and 1 Escherichia coli) were obtained from seven critically ill patients during the six months of the outbreak in 2016. One patient developed a CRE infection while the other six patients were CRE-colonized. Three patients died in the course of the hospital stay. Six of the seven patients carried the same C. freundii clone; one K. oxytoca clone was found in two patients, and one patient carried E. coli and C. freundii. Molecular analysis confirmed the presence of a conjugative, blaKPC-2-carrying 70 kb-IncN plasmid in C. freundii and E. coli and an 80 kb-IncN plasmid in K. oxytoca. All transconjugants harbored either the 70 or 80 kb plasmid with blaKPC-2, embedded within transposon variant Tn4401g. Whole genome sequencing and downstream bioinformatics analyses of all plasmid sequences showed an almost perfect match when compared to a blaKPC-2-carrying plasmid of a large outbreak in another German hospital two years earlier. Differences in plasmid sizes and open reading frames point to the presence of inserted mobile genetic elements. There are few outbreak reports worldwide on the transmission of blaKPC-2-carrying plasmids across different bacterial genera. Our data suggest a regional and supraregional spread of blaKPC-2-carrying IncN-plasmids harboring the Tn4401g isoform in Germany.</p

Prolonged Outbreak of Mycobacterium chimaera Infection After Open-Chest Heart Surgery

A thorough epidemiological and microbiological investigation of this prolonged outbreak involving 6 open-chest heart surgery patients provided evidence for the airborne transmission of Mycobacterium chimaera, a slow-growing nontuberculous mycobacteria, from contaminated heater-cooler unit water tank

How Does Ionizing Irradiation Contribute to the Induction of Anti-Tumor Immunity?

Radiotherapy (RT) with ionizing irradiation is commonly used to locally attack tumors. It induces a stop of cancer cell proliferation and finally leads to tumor cell death. During the last years it has become more and more evident that besides a timely and locally restricted radiation-induced immune suppression, a specific immune activation against the tumor and its metastases is achievable by rendering the tumor cells visible for immune attack. The immune system is involved in tumor control and we here outline how RT induces anti-inflammation when applied in low doses and contributes in higher doses to the induction of anti-tumor immunity. We especially focus on how local irradiation induces abscopal effects. The latter are partly mediated by a systemic activation of the immune system against the individual tumor cells. Dendritic cells are the key players in the initiation and regulation of adaptive anti-tumor immune responses. They have to take up tumor antigens and consecutively present tumor peptides in the presence of appropriate co-stimulation. We review how combinations of RT with further immune stimulators such as AnnexinA5 and hyperthermia foster the dendritic cell-mediated induction of anti-tumor immune responses and present reasonable combination schemes of standard tumor therapies with immune therapies. It can be concluded that RT leads to targeted killing of the tumor cells and additionally induces non-targeted systemic immune effects. Multimodal tumor treatments should therefore tend to induce immunogenic tumor cell death forms within a tumor microenvironment that stimulates immune cells