Tight Bounds for Delay-Sensitive Aggregation

Distributed Computing and Networkin

Fast and Sensitive Multiplex Real-Time Quantitative PCR to Detect Cutibacterium Periprosthetic Joint Infections

Diagnosis of Cutibacterium periprosthetic joint infections (PJIs) is challenging due to a long cultivation time of up to 14 days. Faster culture-independent diagnosis would improve patient care with early and accurate treatment. Specific primers and probes were designed for Cutibacterium acnes, Cutibacterium avidum, and Cutibacterium granulosum and evaluated in a multiplex TaqMan real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) format on 57 skin swabs and 20 culture-negative cerebrospinal fluid samples. The multiplex qPCR was tested in a PJI cohort of 41 sonication fluid samples from removed implants infected with different pathogens. All five culture-positive Cutibacterium PJIs were detected with the corresponding Cutibacterium-specific probe (100% positive percent agreement). The multiplex qPCR additionally detected C. avidum in two PJI sonication fluid samples that were diagnosed as Staphylococcus species infections according to culture (95% negative percent agreement). The new multiplex qPCR can provide a Cutibacterium PJI diagnosis within 1 day, allowing early and accurate antibiotic treatment. A prospective diagnostic trial in PJI with a high number of Cutibacterium species infections (shoulder PJI) is needed for further evaluation

Breeding unicorns:Developing trustworthy and scalable randomness beacons

Randomness beacons are services that periodically emit a random number, allowing users to base decisions on the same random value without trusting anyone: ideally, the randomness beacon does not only produce unpredictable values, but is also of low computational complexity for the users, bias-resistant and publicly verifiable. Such randomness beacons can serve as an important primitive for smart contracts in a variety of contexts. This paper first presents a structured security analysis, based on which we then design, implement, and evaluate a trustworthy and efficient randomness beacon. Our approach does not require users to register or run any computationally intensive operations. We then compare different implementation and deployment options on distributed ledgers, and report on an Ethereum smart contract-based lottery using our beacon

Cruise Report ALKOR 438 [AL438] - Foraminiferal biomonitoring in the North Sea, May 29 - May 31, 2014, Kiel (Germany) - Kiel (Germany)

The aim of R/V Alkor cruise AL438 was to investigate the assemblage composition, population density and distribution of Recent benthic foraminifera in the Elbe estuary and southern North Sea. We focused on an assessment of the present state of the ecosystems and a comparison with data from former decades. Our work resumed investigations of the Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut of Kiel University and the Federal Hydrographic Office from 1960s till the 1980s, as well as topical studies to the west of Helgoland. We revisited the same stations and took sediment samples with historical and modern grab samplers, box corer, Minicorer and a gravity corer. These samples were accomplished with samples from new stations in order to describe the relationships of foraminiferal faunas living in the Helgoland mud area with those inhabiting the surrounding sands. The sampling was accompanied with hydrographical measurements and water sampling to document relevant environmental parameters. The foraminiferal sampling was carried out for the first time following of the FOraminiferal BIoMOnitoring group (FOBIMO) recommendations as much as possible, in order to test the practicability of the guidelines. In total, 109 deployments at 37 stations were successfully accomplished

Relationships between ecosystem functions vary among years and plots and are driven by plant species richness

Ecosystem management aims at providing many ecosystem services simultaneously. Such ecosystem service multifunctionality can be limited by tradeoffs and increased by synergies among the underlying ecosystem functions (EF), which need to be understood to develop targeted management. Previous studies found differences in the correlation between EFs. We hypothesised that correlations between EFs are variable even under the controlled conditions of a field experiment and that seasonal and annual variation, plant species richness, and plot identity (identity effects of plots, such as the presence and proportion of functional groups) are drivers of these correlations. We used data on 31 EFs related to plants, consumers, and physical soil properties that were measured over 5 to 19 years, up to three times per year, in a temperate grassland experiment with 80 different plots, constituting six sown plant species richness levels (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 60 species). We found that correlations between pairs of EFs were variable, and correlations between two particular EFs could range from weak to strong or negative to positive correlations among the repeated measurements. To determine the drivers of pairwise EF correlations, the covariance between EFs was partitioned into contributions from species richness, plot identity, and time (including years and seasons). We found that most of the covariance for synergies was explained by species richness (26.5%), whereas for tradeoffs, most covariance was explained by plot identity (29.5%). Additionally, some EF pairs were more affected by differences among years and seasons, showing a higher temporal variation. Therefore, correlations between two EFs from single measurements are insufficient to draw conclusions on tradeoffs and synergies. Consequently, pairs of EFs need to be measured repeatedly under different conditions to describe their relationships with more certainty and be able to derive recommendations for the management of grasslands

Konzeptpapier für einen Modellstudiengang „Gesundheitspädagogik und Gesundheitsdidaktik“

Angesichts der immer stärker werdenden Diskussion um die Bedeutung von Gesundheit für den schulischen und außerschulischen Bildungs- und Lernprozess und der Risiken wachsender gesundheitlicher Ungleichheit bei Kindern und Jugendlichen (Hurrelmann/Richter 2013, Lampert et al. 2019) ist die Etablierung eines Studienganges „Gesundheitspädagogik und Gesundheitsdidaktik“ längst überfällig und von besonderer Bedeutung für gesundheitliche Chancengleichheit (Goldfriedrich & Hurrelmann, 2021a; 2021b). Dieses Konzeptpapier stellt einen Modellstudiengang vor, bei dem insbesondere die Vermittlungsebenen – also die gesundheitsdidaktischen Gegenstandsbereiche – im Vordergrund stehen. Die Ausarbeitungen des Entwurfs basieren auf der Grundlage politischer Bestrebungen, der bisherigen Forschung zur Gesundheitspädagogik und Gesundheitsdidaktik, den Erkenntnissen der Erziehungs- und Gesundheitswissenschaften sowie wissenschaftlichen und interprofessionellen Beiträgen des Netzwerks Gesundheitsdidaktik (bestehend aus 33 Expert*innen aus 24 Fachbereichen)

Moderation of Arabidopsis Root Stemness by CLAVATA1 and ARABIDOPSIS CRINKLY4 Receptor Kinase Complexes

SummaryBackgroundThe root system of higher plants originates from the activity of a root meristem, which comprises a group of highly specialized and long-lasting stem cells. Their maintenance and number is controlled by the quiescent center (QC) cells and by feedback signaling from differentiated cells. Root meristems may have evolved from structurally distinct shoot meristems; however, no common player acting in stemness control has been found so far.ResultsWe show that CLAVATA1 (CLV1), a key receptor kinase in shoot stemness maintenance, performs a similar but distinct role in root meristems. We report that CLV1 is signaling, activated by the peptide ligand CLAVATA3/EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION40 (CLE40), together with the receptor kinase ARABIDOPSIS CRINKLY4 (ACR4) to restrict root stemness. Both CLV1 and ACR4 overlap in their expression domains in the distal root meristem and localize to the plasma membrane (PM) and plasmodesmata (PDs), where ACR4 preferentially accumulates. Using multiparameter fluorescence image spectroscopy (MFIS), we show that CLV1 and ACR4 can form homo- and heteromeric complexes that differ in their composition depending on their subcellular localization.ConclusionsWe hypothesize that these homo- and heteromeric complexes may differentially regulate distal root meristem maintenance. We conclude that essential components of the ancestral shoot stemness regulatory system also act in the root and that the specific interaction of CLV1 with ACR4 serves to moderate and control stemness homeostasis in the root meristem. The structural differences between these two meristem types may have necessitated this recruitment of ACR4 for signaling by CLV1