A Condition Monitoring Concept Studied at the MST Prototype for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a future ground-based gamma-ray observatory that will provide unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution for the detection of gamma rays with energies above a few tens of GeV. In comparison to existing instruments (like H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS) the sensitivity will be improved by installing two extended arrays of telescopes in the northern and southern hemisphere, respectively. A large number of planned telescopes (>100 in total) motivates the application of predictive maintenance techniques to the individual telescopes. A constant and automatic condition monitoring of the mechanical telescope structure and of the drive system (motors, gears) is considered for this purpose. The condition monitoring system aims at detecting degradations well before critical errors occur; it should help to ensure long-term operation and to reduce the maintenance efforts of the observatory. We present approaches for the condition monitoring of the structure and the drive system of Medium-Sized Telescopes (MSTs), respectively. The overall concept has been developed and tested at the MST prototype for CTA in Berlin. The sensors used, the joint data acquisition system, possible analysis methods (like Operational Modal Analysis, OMA, and Experimental Modal Analysis, EMA) and first performance results are discussed.Comment: 36th International Cosmic Ray Conference -ICRC2019- 8 pages, 4 figure

On the Relation between the General Affective Meaning and the Basic Sublexical, Lexical, and Inter-lexical Features of Poetic Texts - A Case Study Using 57 Poems of H. M. Enzensberger

The literary genre of poetry is inherently related to the expression and elicitation of emotion via both content and form. To explore the nature of this affective impact at an extremely basic textual level, we collected ratings on eight different general affective meaning scales—valence, arousal, friendliness, sadness, spitefulness, poeticity, onomatopoeia, and liking—for 57 German poems (“die verteidigung der wölfe”) which the contemporary author H. M. Enzensberger had labeled as either “friendly,” “sad,” or “spiteful.” Following Jakobson's (1960) view on the vivid interplay of hierarchical text levels, we used multiple regression analyses to explore the specific influences of affective features from three different text levels (sublexical, lexical, and inter-lexical) on the perceived general affective meaning of the poems using three types of predictors: (1) Lexical predictor variables capturing the mean valence and arousal potential of words; (2) Inter-lexical predictors quantifying peaks, ranges, and dynamic changes within the lexical affective content; (3) Sublexical measures of basic affective tone according to sound-meaning correspondences at the sublexical level (see Aryani et al., 2016). We find the lexical predictors to account for a major amount of up to 50% of the variance in affective ratings. Moreover, inter-lexical and sublexical predictors account for a large portion of additional variance in the perceived general affective meaning. Together, the affective properties of all used textual features account for 43–70% of the variance in the affective ratings and still for 23–48% of the variance in the more abstract aesthetic ratings. In sum, our approach represents a novel method that successfully relates a prominent part of variance in perceived general affective meaning in this corpus of German poems to quantitative estimates of affective properties of textual components at the sublexical, lexical, and inter-lexical level

An Extended View on Measuring Tor AS-level Adversaries

Tor provides anonymity to millions of users around the globe which has made it a valuable target for malicious actors. As a low-latency anonymity system, it is vulnerable to traffic correlation attacks from strong passive adversaries such as large autonomous systems (ASes). In preliminary work, we have developed a measurement approach utilizing the RIPE Atlas framework -- a network of more than 11,000 probes worldwide -- to infer the risk of deanonymization for IPv4 clients in Germany and the US. In this paper, we apply our methodology to additional scenarios providing a broader picture of the potential for deanonymization in the Tor network. In particular, we (a) repeat our earlier (2020) measurements in 2022 to observe changes over time, (b) adopt our approach for IPv6 to analyze the risk of deanonymization when using this next-generation Internet protocol, and (c) investigate the current situation in Russia, where censorship has been intensified after the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to our results, Tor provides user anonymity at consistent quality: While individual numbers vary in dependence of client and destination, we were able to identify ASes with the potential to conduct deanonymization attacks. For clients in Germany and the US, the overall picture, however, has not changed since 2020. In addition, the protocols (IPv4 vs. IPv6) do not significantly impact the risk of deanonymization. Russian users are able to securely evade censorship using Tor. Their general risk of deanonymization is, in fact, lower than in the other investigated countries. Beyond, the few ASes with the potential to successfully perform deanonymization are operated by Western companies, further reducing the risk for Russian users

The Effect of Outcome Severity on Moral Judgment and Interpersonal Goals of Perpetrators, Victims, and Bystanders

When two actors have the same mental state but one happens to harm another person (unlucky actor) and the other one does not (lucky actor), the latter elicits a milder moral judgement. To understand how this outcome effect would affect post-harm interactions between victims and perpetrators, we examined how the social role from which transgressions are perceived moderates the outcome effect, and how outcome effects on moral judgements transfer to agentic and communal interpersonal goals. Three vignette experiments (N = 950) revealed similar outcome effects on moral judgement across social roles. In contrast, outcome effects on agentic and communal goals varied by social role: victims exhibited the strongest outcome effects and perpetrators the weakest, with bystanders falling in between. Moral judgement did not mediate the effects of outcome severity on interpersonal goals. We discuss the possibility that outcome severity raises normative expectations regarding post-harm interactions that are unrelated to moral considerations

Annotation-efficient learning of surgical instrument activity in neurosurgery

Machine learning-based solutions rely heavily on the quality and quantity of the training data. In the medical domain, the main challenge is to acquire rich and diverse annotated datasets for training. We propose to decrease the annotation efforts and further diversify the dataset by introducing an annotation-efficient learning workflow. Instead of costly pixel-level annotation, we require only image-level labels as the remainder is covered by simulation. Thus, we obtain a large-scale dataset with realistic images and accurateground truth annotations. We use this dataset for theinstrument localization activity task together with a student-teacher approach. We demonstrate the benefits of our workflow compared to state-of-the-art methods in instrument localization that are trained only on clinical datasets, which are fully annotated by human experts

Immunology of IL-12

As its first identified member, Interleukin-12 (IL-12) named a whole family of cytokines. In response to pathogens, the heterodimeric protein, consisting of the two subunits p35 and p40, is secreted by phagocytic cells. Binding of IL-12 to the IL-12 receptor (IL-12R) on T and natural killer (NK) cells leads to signaling via signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 (STAT4) and subsequent interferon gamma (IFN-γ) production and secretion. Signaling downstream of IFN-γ includes activation of T-box transcription factor TBX21 (Tbet) and induces pro-inflammatory functions of T helper 1 (TH1) cells, thereby linking innate and adaptive immune responses. Initial views on the role of IL-12 and clinical efforts to translate them into therapeutic approaches had to be re-interpreted following the discovery of other members of the IL-12 family, such as IL-23, sharing a subunit with IL-12. However, the importance of IL-12 with regard to immune processes in the context of infection and (auto-) inflammation is still beyond doubt. In this review, we will provide an update on functional activities of IL-12 and their implications for disease. We will begin with a summary on structure and function of the cytokine itself as well as its receptor and outline the signal transduction and the transcriptional regulation of IL-12 secretion. In the second part of the review, we will depict the involvement of IL-12 in immune-mediated diseases and relevant experimental disease models, while also providing an outlook on potential translational approaches

Positive FP-CIT SPECT (DaTSCAN) in Clinical Alzheimer's Disease – An Unexpected Finding?

Clinically, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is by far the most common cause of dementia. Criteria for the diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are highly specific but not at all sensitive, which is reflected by the higher number of DLB cases detected histopathologically at autopsy. Imaging of dopamine transporter with FP-CIT SPECT is one possibility to increase sensitivity. Pathological confirmation was also included in the revised consensus criteria for the diagnosis of DLB. However, in the absence of parkinsonism, one of the core features, a clinical diagnosis of AD is more likely. The role of FP-CIT SPECT in DLB diagnosis remains to be clarified. Based on our 3 case reports and a review of the literature, the utility of this imaging method in the differential diagnosis of AD and DLB is highlighted

Infektiöse Klauenerkrankungen des Dermatitis-Digitalis-Komplexes: Untersuchung und Bewertung der Haupteinflussfaktoren auf die Entstehung von infektiösen Klauenerkrankungen des Dermatitis - Digitalis -Komplexes

Der Bericht zeigt die Situation der infektiösen Klauenerkrankung des Dermatitis-Digitales-Komplexes in zehn sächsischen Milchviehbetreiben und macht die Haupteinflussfaktoren im Bereich Haltung und Management auf die Entstehung dieser Erkrankung deutlich. Aus den erkannten Einflussfaktoren, die sich in drei wesentlichen Aussagen zusammenfassen lassen, werden Handlungsempfehlungen zur Vermeidung und zur betriebsindividuellen Sanierung dieses Erkrankungskomplexes abgeleitet. Der Bericht richtet sich an Landwirte, Tierärzte, Berufschullehrer sowie Mitarbeiter von Behörden. Redaktionsschluss: 03.06.202