Medical Case Retrieval

ABSTRACT The proposed PhD project addresses the problem of finding descriptions of diseases or patients' health records that are relevant for a given description of patient's symptoms, also known as medical case retrieval (MCR). Designing an automatic multimodal MCR system applicable to general medical data sets still presents an open research problem, as indicated by the ImageCLEF 2013 MCR challenge, where the best submitted runs achieved only moderate retrieval performance and used purely textual techniques. This project therefore aims at designing a multimodal MCR model that is capable of achieving a substantially better retrieval performance on the ImageCLEF data set than state-of-the-art techniques. Moreover, the potential of further improvement by leveraging relevance feedback of medical expert users for long-term learning will be investigated

Austria\u27s missing places of science communication

In Überlegungen zu niederschwelligem oder barrierefreiem Zugang zu Wissenschaft und entsprechender Kommunikation wird häufig darauf vergessen, dass es dafür konkrete Räume der Wissenschaftskommunikation braucht. Für Österreich macht der Autor im internationalen Vergleich jedoch nur wenige und oft schon in die Jahre gekommene Orte lebendiger Wissenschaftsvermittlung aus. Zudem fehlen bislang an Universitäten oder Forschungseinrichtungen angeschlossene Besucher*innenzentren oder Museen. Anders war die Lage vor hundert Jahren: Damals war das "Rote Wien" bei der Bereitstellung von innovativen Vermittlungsräumen für wissenschaftsferne Zielgruppen international führend. Besonders die Naturwissenschaften und ihre Erkenntnisse wurden einem breiten Zielpublikum an damals innovativen Orten mit Sammlungen, Laboratorien und Bibliotheken buchstäblich nähergebracht. Der Autor verweist in seinem Beitrag auf die aktuell erfolgreiche Praxis der Science Centers im Rahmen der Initiative Ciência Viva in Portugal. Für Österreich bedürfe es ihm zufolge einer Neuerfindung der damaligen Innovationen oder zumindest einer Orientierung an Vorbildern wie Portugal. (DIPF/Orig.)In considerations of low-threshold or barrier-free access to science and appropriate communication, it is frequently forgotten that special places for science communication are necessary. In an international comparison, the author identifies only a few and often outdated venues for lively science communication in Austria. In addition, universities or research institutions do not yet have visitor centers or museums connected to them. The situation was different one hundred years ago: At that time, "Red Vienna" was an international leader in providing innovative educational spaces for nonscientific target groups. In particular, the natural sciences and their findings were literally brought closer to a broad target audience at innovative locations with collections, laboratories and libraries. The author also refers to the successful science centers that are part of the Ciência Viva initiative in Portugal. Austria needs to reinvent the innovations of that time or at least model itself on countries like Portugal. (DIPF/Orig.

Social democracy transformed? Party change and union ties

Social democratic parties have undergone a transformative ideological and electoral shift. But how has this affected their alliance with trade unions in terms of personal ties? This article hypothesises that Social democratic parties appoint fewer union-linked ministers as they become more economically centrist and less dependent on working-class voters. However, institutions that stabilise party–union relations should moderate these effects (statutory linkages, high union density, or union involvement in policymaking). Data on 2,600 ministerial appointments in Western Europe show that there is no direct relationship between trade unionist appointments and changes in party electorates or party ideology. However, electoral change is correlated with appointment patterns when institutional stabilisers are weak. Thus, social democrats weaken their elite ties to unions in response to the middle-class shift in their electorates, but only when the institutional context is unfavourable for the party-union relationship

Impulse für einen Neustart der Wissenschaftskommunikation in Österreich

Die zwei Jahre der Pandemie haben nachdrücklich vor Augen geführt, welche Bedeutung Wissenschaft und Forschung für unsere heutige Gesellschaft haben. Auch die großen Herausforderungen der unmittelbaren Zukunft – Stichwort Klimakrise – werden sich nur mithilfe der Wissenschaft und im gesellschaftlichen Dialog mit dieser bewältigen lassen. Internationale Umfragen zum Thema Wissenschaft zeigen seit längerem, dass Österreich im internationalen Vergleich eine wissenschafts- und technologieskeptische Bevölkerung hat. Es gibt zwar etliche Initiativen im Bereich Wissenschaftsvermittlung. Doch diese scheinen angesichts dieser Umfrageergebnisse wenig wirksam. Im vorliegenden forschungspolitischen Kurzdossier wird nach einer Diskussion der gesellschaftlichen Bedeutung und einer begrifflichen Reflexion von Wissenschaftskommunikation versucht, die Lage in Österreich kurz zu umreißen. Unsere Diagnose: Es fehlen mehrere Grundelemente für eine nachhaltige und wirksame Wissenschaftskommunikation wie eine Koordination der Aktivitäten, gemeinsame Strategien, eine systematische Einbeziehung der Universitäten, Aus- und Weiterbildungsangebote und konkrete Anreize. Wir sprechen uns daher für einen Neustart der Wissenschaftskommunikation in Österreich aus, genauer gesagt: für einen Neustart insbesondere der Koordination. Wir empfehlen auf Basis dieser Problemdiagnose die Veranstaltung einer österreichweiten Enquete zu Wissenschaftskommunikation sowie eine wissenschaftliche nationale und internationale Erhebung, um die Aktivitäten und Maßnahmen in diesem Bereich künftig besser und wirksamer zu gestalten

Test purchase, synthesis, and characterization of 2-methoxydiphenidine (MXP) and differentiation from its meta- and para-substituted isomers

The structurally diverse nature of the 1,2-diphenylethylamine template provides access to a range of substances for drug discovery work but some have attracted attention as ‘research chemicals’. The most recent examples include diphenidine, i.e. 1-(1,2-diphenylethyl)piperidine and 2-methoxydiphenidine, i.e. 1-[1-(2-methoxyphenyl)-2-phenylethyl]piperidine (MXP, methoxyphenidine, 2-MXP) that have been associated with uncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist activity. Analytical challenges encountered during chemical analysis include the presence of positional isomers. Three powdered samples suspected to contain 2-MXP were obtained from three Internet retailers in the United Kingdom and subjected to analytical characterization by gas chromatography (GC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to various forms of mass spectrometry (MS). Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy and thin layer chromatography were also employed. This was supported by the synthesis of all three isomers (2-, 3- and 4-MXP) by two different synthetic routes. The analytical data obtained for the three purchased samples were consistent with the synthesized 2-MXP standard and the differentiation between the isomers was possible. Distinct stability differences were observed for all three isomers during in-source collision-induced dissociation of the protonated molecule when employing detection under HPLC selected-ion monitoring detection, which added to the ability to differentiate between them. Furthermore, the analysis of a 2-MXP tablet by matrix assisted inlet ionization Orbitrap mass spectrometry confirmed that it was possible to detect the protonated molecule of 2-MXP directly from the tablet surface following addition of 3-nitrobenzonitrile as the matrix

A critical reflection of skepticism towards science and democracy in Austria

This study examines the extent to which the Austrian population is skeptical about science and democracy. Furthermore, it considers what the possible reasons for any skepticism might be and in which areas actions could be taken to improve the situation. It builds on a mixed-methods approach including a literature review of relevant social science research, a historical analysis, a secondary analysis of survey data, expert interviews, focus groups, and a stakeholder workshop. The study shows that a large share of Austrians expresses high levels of trust and support for science and democracy. However, different forms of criticism exist throughout the population, and these can be observed across all societal groups. Negative comments tend to focus on assumptions about: the practical implementation of science and democracy, links to politics, and specific technological domains. Around 10% of the population contradicts or rejects scientific knowledge on a broader scale. Our study shows that science skepticism and negative perceptions of democracy are linked, and that they are related to broader question about the role of science in society