Acute aortic dissection: pathogenesis, risk factors and diagnosis

Acute aortic dissection is a rare but life-threatening condition with a lethality rate of 1 to 2% per hour after onset of symptoms in untreated patients. Therefore, its prompt and proper diagnosis is vital to increase a patient's chance of survival and to prevent grievous complications. Typical symptoms of acute aortic dissection include severe chest pain, hypotension or syncope and, hence, mimic acute myocardial infarction or pulmonary embolism. Advanced age, male gender, long-term history of arterial hypertension and the presence of aortic aneurysm confer the greatest population attributable risk. However, patients with genetic connective tissue disorders such as Marfan, Loeys Dietz or Ehlers Danlos syndrome, and patients with bicuspid aortic valves are at the increased risk of aortic dissection at a much younger age. Imaging provides a robust foundation for diagnosing acute aortic dissection, as well as for monitoring of patients at increased risk of aortic disease. As yet, easily accessible blood tests play only a small role but have the potential to make diagnosis and monitoring of patients simpler and more cost-effective

The Merits and Perils of Intra-Party Democracy: Assessing the Effects of Party Reform in Germany, France and the United Kingdom

Over the past decades, European democracies have experienced diminishing trust in their political representative institutions leading to a decline in party membership as well as both reduced electoral turnout and overall political participation (Van Biezen et al., 2012). In response, many European parties began reforming themselves allowing for the direct participation of party members or even non-members in various intra-party arenas, such as leadership selections through primaries. Parties claim that such reforms increase intra-party democracy (IPD) by making internal organisation more inclusive and by providing all party members or even non-members with decision-making power perilously reserved to the party elites (Hazan and Rahat, 2010). However, the positive effect of increased IPD on membership is highly contested and surprisingly few relevant empirical and comparative studies exist. The central research question of this thesis is what are the (different) consequences of adopting different types of primary rules for party members? Hence, my aim is to examine whether the introduction of primaries is in fact as negative for party members as outlined by Katz and Mair (1994), Lefebvre (2011) or Hopkin (2001) or, alternatively, whether it represents a chance to revitalize parties as membership organizations (Macpherson, 1977; Ware, 1979; Bille, 2001). Primaries are defined as selection process for party leaders and candidates in which the final vote rests with either party members in closed primaries, or loosely defined group of party supporters or the wider electorate, open primaries. Thus, introducing a primary leads to a change in the level of intra-party democracy, as it shifts power from a more exclusive selectorate to either of the two selectorates outlined above. While this project focuses on primaries that select top-executive candidates, the theory and conceptual framework developed can be applied to primaries more broadly. The general argument put forward is that to capture the differentiated effects of party primaries we have to study the interplay between the rules determining who can vote (selectorate) and who can run (candidacy requirements) in primaries. This thesis answers its central research question by developing a conceptual framework that combines these two dimensions for party primaries that select the party leader in public office. First, it outlines the underlying logic of the conceptual framework that links the two dimensions and then provides a theoretical discussion of its consequences for party members looking specifically at the interaction between the two. To assess the consequences of different primary reforms, the thesis focuses on four dimensions of party membership: the party membership level, the turnout in primaries, the quality of membership and the attitude towards the leadership. This perspective highlights that different combinations of selection rules and candidacy requirements in primaries result in four distinct types of intra-party democracy from the perception of party members. In turn, these types lead party members to respond in a distinct fashion. Using a mixed-method case study approach, the second part of the thesis tests the theoretical framework for various Western European parties. The analysis will mainly use primary and secondary document analysis as well as new and existing survey data complemented by qualitative in-depth membership surveys. The main conclusion is that only some combinations of primary rules can lead to a positive effect for members while others do not. For example, closed primaries with open candidacy requirements will lead to more active participation of members, while open primaries with open candidacy requirements will reduce membership participation considerably.Strategic (Departmental) Ph.D. Studentship, College of Social Science and International Studies for the Department of Politics (2013-2016

Dahschur, Ägypten

The focus of the field work at Dahshur (Egypt) lays on the investigation of the area surrounding the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid. The aim was to investigate the development of the temple precinct and its surrounding area. Excavation work was conducted in six sections located to the north, east andsouth of the temple enclosure. Among the main results are the discovery of a settlement for priests south of the temple and the identification of various rituals that took place in and around the temple precinct

Elephantine, Ägypten. Der Chnumtempel des Neuen Reiches

The investigation of the relief decoration of the Khnum temple of the New Kingdom was continued in 2014 and 2015. The aim of this season was to complete the documentation of the blocks that had been reused in the temple house of Nectanebos II. The blocks appear to originate from at least two different buildings. The first building was a small barque station built by Queen Hatshepsut in the early part of her reign for the processional barque of Khnum. The second building was founded by Thutmosis I and finished or enlarged by Thutmosis II. Both buildings originally stood to the west of the main temple of Khnum, in the area later occupied by the temple house of Nectanebos II

Madīnat al-Zahrā', Spanien. Der Vorplatz des Kalifenpalastes. Die Arbeiten des Jahres 2022

In Madīnat al-Zahrāʼ (Córdoba, Spanien) lassen sich Gründung, Ausbau und Zerstörung einer Kalifenresidenz des 10. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. Exemplarisch untersuchen. Im Mittelpunkt eines sechsjährigen Projektes steht die Frage nach der materiellen Ausgestaltung der Rolle des Kalifen in der Gesellschaft und den Kontaktzonen zwischen Herrscher und Stadtbevölkerung. In Kooperation mit dem Conjunto de Madinat al-Zahra wird seit 2017 der Vorplatz des Kalifenpalastes, die sog. Plaza de Armas, untersucht. Ziel der fünften und letzten Feldkampagne war es, die Südseite des Platzes zu untersuchen. Hier grenzt der Platz an ein Wohn- und Gewerbegebiet der Stadt, mit einem Höhenunterschied von rund 16 m zwischen Platz und Stadtgebiet. In einem 13 m langen und bis zu 4 m tiefen Schnitt wurde die südöstliche Ecke des Platz es entdeckt, sowie die Reste einer über 6 m dicken Terrassenmauer. Zudem konnte der angrenzende Abschnitt des östlich angrenzenden Gebäudekomplexes untersucht werden. Hier lag ein gepflasterter Hof, der von Räumen umgeben war, darunter eine Latrine

Rancang Bangun Sistem Water Tunnel Sederhana yang Terintegrasi dengan Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)

Fenomena mekanika fluida yang terjadi di alam terutama pada bidang keteknikan memiliki kompleksitas namun memiliki peran penting seperti untuk mengetahui fenomena-fenomena fisika yang terjadi akibat interaksi antara fluida dan permukaan. Oleh karena itu, dibutuhkan suatu alat yang mampu mengkarakterisasi fenomena dalam suatu aliran yang bukan hanya melihat pergerakan fluidanya saja, namun dapat menganalisa sehingga diketahui vektor-vektor kecepatan yang terjadi dalam aliran tersebut. Tujuan dari perancangan yang dilakukan adalah mewujudkan water tunnel dengan parameter yang dapat dikontrol, harga konstruksi yang rendah, dan terintegrasi dengan Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) sehingga didapatkan hasil pengukuran secara kuantitatif. Pengukuran dengan PIV mengolah data visual partikel yang disebar ke dalam aliran dan ditangkap oleh kamera sehingga dapat diproses oleh Software PIV. Kalibrasi water tunnel yang dilakukan dengan membandingkan pengukuran karakteristik pompa dan data pengukuran PIV menunjukkan hasil yang memuaskan karena cukup sesuai dengan ekspektasi, serta hasil perancangan secara keseluruhan memenuhi kriteria yang ditentukan baik dari segi konstruksi water tunnel, hingga metode konfigurasi aliran yang dimiliki alat

Rancang Bangun Sistem Water Tunnel Sederhana yang Terintegrasi dengan Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)

Fenomena mekanika fluida yang terjadi di alam terutama pada bidang keteknikan memiliki kompleksitas namun memiliki peran penting seperti untuk mengetahui fenomena-fenomena fisika yang terjadi akibat interaksi antara fluida dan permukaan. Oleh karena itu, dibutuhkan suatu alat yang mampu mengkarakterisasi fenomena dalam suatu aliran yang bukan hanya melihat pergerakan fluidanya saja, namun dapat menganalisa sehingga diketahui vektor-vektor kecepatan yang terjadi dalam aliran tersebut. Tujuan dari perancangan yang dilakukan adalah mewujudkan water tunnel dengan parameter yang dapat dikontrol, harga konstruksi yang rendah, dan terintegrasi dengan Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) sehingga didapatkan hasil pengukuran secara kuantitatif. Pengukuran dengan PIV mengolah data visual partikel yang disebar ke dalam aliran dan ditangkap oleh kamera sehingga dapat diproses oleh Software PIV. Kalibrasi water tunnel yang dilakukan dengan membandingkan pengukuran karakteristik pompa dan data pengukuran PIV menunjukkan hasil yang memuaskan karena cukup sesuai dengan ekspektasi, serta hasil perancangan secara keseluruhan memenuhi kriteria yang ditentukan baik dari segi konstruksi water tunnel, hingga metode konfigurasi aliran yang dimiliki alat