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    Diversity of methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. and methicillin-resistant Mammaliicoccus spp. isolated from ruminants and New World camelids
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2021) Schauer, B.; Szostak, M.P.; Ehricht, R.; Monecke, S.; Feßler, A.T.; Schwarz, S.; Spergser, J.; Krametter-Frötscher, R.; Loncaric, I.
    Information about livestock carrying methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci and mammaliicocci (MRCoNS/MRM) is scarce. The study was designed to gain knowledge of the prevalence, the phenotypic and genotypic antimicrobial resistance and the genetic diversity of MRCoNS/MRM originating from ruminants and New World camelids. In addition, a multi-locus sequence typing scheme for the characterization of Mammaliicoccus (formerly Staphylococcus) sciuri was developed. The study was conducted from April 2014 to January 2017 at the University Clinic for Ruminants and the Institute of Microbiology at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. Seven hundred twenty-three nasal swabs originating from ruminants and New World camelids with and without clinical signs were examined. After isolation, MRCoNS/MRM were identified by MALDI-TOF, rpoB sequencing and typed by DNA microarray-based analysis and PCR. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted by agar disk diffusion. From all 723 nasal swabs, 189 MRCoNS/MRM were obtained. Members of the Mammaliicoccus (M.) sciuri group were predominant (M. sciuri (n = 130), followed by M. lentus (n = 43), M. fleurettii (n = 11)). In total, 158 out of 189 isolates showed phenotypically a multi-resistance profile. A seven-loci multi-locus sequence typing scheme for M. sciuri was developed. The scheme includes the analysis of internal segments of the house-keeping genes ack, aroE, ftsZ, glpK, gmk, pta1 and tpiA. In total, 28 different sequence types (STs) were identified among 92 selected M. sciuri isolates. ST1 was the most prevalent ST (n = 35), followed by ST 2 (n = 15), ST3 and ST5 (each n = 5), ST4 (n = 3), ST6, ST7, ST8, ST9, ST10 and ST11 (each n = 2).
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    Dislocations in ceramic electrolytes for solid-state Li batteries
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2021) Porz, L.; Knez, D.; Scherer, M.; Ganschow, S.; Kothleitner, G.; Rettenwander, D.
    High power solid-state Li batteries (SSLB) are hindered by the formation of dendrite-like structures at high current rates. Hence, new design principles are needed to overcome this limitation. By introducing dislocations, we aim to tailor mechanical properties in order to withstand the mechanical stress leading to Li penetration and resulting in a short circuit by a crack-opening mechanism. Such defect engineering, furthermore, appears to enable whisker-like Li metal electrodes for high-rate Li plating. To reach these goals, the challenge of introducing dislocations into ceramic electrolytes needs to be addressed which requires to establish fundamental understanding of the mechanics of dislocations in the particular ceramics. Here we evaluate uniaxial deformation at elevated temperatures as one possible approach to introduce dislocations. By using hot-pressed pellets and single crystals grown by Czochralski method of Li6.4La3Zr1.4Ta0.6O12 garnets as a model system the plastic deformation by more than 10% is demonstrated. While conclusions on the predominating deformation mechanism remain challenging, analysis of activation energy, activation volume, diffusion creep, and the defect structure potentially point to a deformation mechanism involving dislocations. These parameters allow identification of a process window and are a key step on the road of making dislocations available as a design element for SSLB.
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    Computational Inverse Problems for Partial Differential Equations (hybrid meeting)
    (Zürich : EMS Publ. House, 2020) Hohage, Thorsten; Kaltenbacher, Barbara
    Inverse problems in partial differential equations (PDEs) consist in reconstructing some part of a PDE such as a coefficient, a boundary condition, an initial condition, the shape of a domain, or a singularity from partial knowledge of solutions to the PDE. This has numerous applications in nondestructive testing, medical imaging, seismology, and optical imaging. Whereas classically mostly boundary or far field data of solutions to deterministic PDEs were considered, more recently also statistical properties of solutions to random PDEs have been studied. The study of numerical reconstruction methods of inverse problems in PDEs is at the interface of numerical analysis, PDE theory, functional analysis, statistics, optimization, and differential geometry. This workshop has mainly addressed five related topics of current interest: model reduction, control-based techniques in inverse problems, imaging with correlation data of waves, fractional diffusion, and model-based approaches using machine learning.
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    Influence of molecular weight of polycation polydimethyldiallylammonium and carbon nanotube content on electric conductivity of layer-by-layer films
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2022) Neuber, Sven; Sill, Annekatrin; Efthimiopoulos, Ilias; Nestler, Peter; Fricke, Katja; Helm, Christiane A.
    For biological and engineering applications, nm-thin films with high electrical conductivity and tunable sheet resistance are desirable. Multilayers of polydimethyldiallylammonium chloride (PDADMA) with two different molecular weights (322 and 44.3 kDa) and oxidized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were constructed using the layer-by-layer technique. The surface coverage of the CNTs was monitored with a selected visible near infrared absorption peak. Both the film thickness and the surface coverage of the CNTs increased linearly with the number of CNT/PDADMA bilayers deposited (film thickness up to 80 nm). Atomic force microscopy images showed a predominantly surface-parallel orientation of CNTs. Ohmic behavior with constant electrical conductivity of each CNT/PDADMA film and conductivity up to 4 · 103 S/m was found. A change in PDADMA molecular weight by almost a factor of ten has no effect on the film thickness and electrical conductivity, only the film/air roughness is reduced. However, increasing CNT concentration in the deposition dispersion from 0.15 up to 0.25 mg/ml results in an increased thickness of a CNT/PDADMA bilayer (by a factor of three). The increased bilayer thickness is accompanied by a decreased electrical conductivity (by a factor of four). The decreased conductivity is attributed to the increased monomer/CNT ratio.
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    Deep learning-based classification of blue light cystoscopy imaging during transurethral resection of bladder tumors
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2021) Ali, Nairveen; Bolenz, Christian; Todenhöfer, Tilman; Stenzel, Arnulf; Deetmar, Peer; Kriegmair, Martin; Knoll, Thomas; Porubsky, Stefan; Hartmann, Arndt; Popp, Jürgen; Kriegmair, Maximilian C.; Bocklitz, Thomas
    Bladder cancer is one of the top 10 frequently occurring cancers and leads to most cancer deaths worldwide. Recently, blue light (BL) cystoscopy-based photodynamic diagnosis was introduced as a unique technology to enhance the detection of bladder cancer, particularly for the detection of flat and small lesions. Here, we aim to demonstrate a BL image-based artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic platform using 216 BL images, that were acquired in four different urological departments and pathologically identified with respect to cancer malignancy, invasiveness, and grading. Thereafter, four pre-trained convolution neural networks were utilized to predict image malignancy, invasiveness, and grading. The results indicated that the classification sensitivity and specificity of malignant lesions are 95.77% and 87.84%, while the mean sensitivity and mean specificity of tumor invasiveness are 88% and 96.56%, respectively. This small multicenter clinical study clearly shows the potential of AI based classification of BL images allowing for better treatment decisions and potentially higher detection rates.
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    Agent-based modeling to integrate elements from different disciplines for ambitious climate policy
    (Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell, 2022) Savin, Ivan; Creutzig, Felix; Filatova, Tatiana; Foramitti, Joël; Konc, Théo; Niamir, Leila; Safarzynska, Karolina; van den Bergh, Jeroen
    Ambitious climate mitigation policies face social and political resistance. One reason is that existing policies insufficiently capture the diversity of relevant insights from the social sciences about potential policy outcomes. We argue that agent-based models can serve as a powerful tool for integration of elements from different disciplines. Having such a common platform will enable a more complete assessment of climate policies, in terms of criteria like effectiveness, equity and public support. This article is categorized under: Climate Models and Modeling > Knowledge Generation with Models The Carbon Economy and Climate Mitigation > Policies, Instruments, Lifestyles, Behavior Policy and Governance > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance.
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    Increased static dielectric constant in ZnMnO and ZnCoO thin films with bound magnetic polarons
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2020) Vegesna, S.V.; Bhat, V.J.; Bürger, D.; Dellith, J.; Skorupa, I.; Schmidt, O.G.; Schmidt, H.
    A novel small signal equivalent circuit model is proposed in the inversion regime of metal/(ZnO, ZnMnO, and ZnCoO) semiconductor/Si3N4 insulator/p-Si semiconductor (MSIS) structures to describe the distinctive nonlinear frequency dependent capacitance (C-F) and conductance (G-F) behaviour in the frequency range from 50 Hz to 1 MHz. We modelled the fully depleted ZnO thin films to extract the static dielectric constant (εr) of ZnO, ZnMnO, and ZnCoO. The extracted enhancement of static dielectric constant in magnetic n-type conducting ZnCoO (εr ≥ 13.0) and ZnMnO (εr ≥ 25.8) in comparison to unmagnetic ZnO (εr = 8.3–9.3) is related to the electrical polarizability of donor-type bound magnetic polarons (BMP) in the several hundred GHz range (120 GHz for CdMnTe). The formation of donor-BMP is enabled in n-type conducting, magnetic ZnO by the s-d exchange interaction between the electron spin of positively charged oxygen vacancies Vo+ in the BMP center and the electron spins of substitutional Mn2+ and Co2+ ions in ZnMnO and ZnCoO, respectively. The BMP radius scales with the Bohr radius which is proportional to the static dielectric constant. Here we show how BMP overlap can be realized in magnetic n-ZnO by increasing its static dielectric constant and guide researchers in the field of transparent spintronics towards ferromagnetism in magnetic, n-ZnO.
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    Reciprocal space slicing: A time-efficient approach to femtosecond x-ray diffraction
    (Melville, NY : AIP Publishing LLC, 2021) Zeuschner, S.P.; Mattern, M.; Pudell, J.-E.; von Reppert, A.; Rössle, M.; Leitenberger, W.; Schwarzkopf, J.; Boschker, J.E.; Herzog, M.; Bargheer, M.
    An experimental technique that allows faster assessment of out-of-plane strain dynamics of thin film heterostructures via x-ray diffraction is presented. In contrast to conventional high-speed reciprocal space-mapping setups, our approach reduces the measurement time drastically due to a fixed measurement geometry with a position-sensitive detector. This means that neither the incident (ω) nor the exit ( 2θ ) diffraction angle is scanned during the strain assessment via x-ray diffraction. Shifts of diffraction peaks on the fixed x-ray area detector originate from an out-of-plane strain within the sample. Quantitative strain assessment requires the determination of a factor relating the observed shift to the change in the reciprocal lattice vector. The factor depends only on the widths of the peak along certain directions in reciprocal space, the diffraction angle of the studied reflection, and the resolution of the instrumental setup. We provide a full theoretical explanation and exemplify the concept with picosecond strain dynamics of a thin layer of NbO2.
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    Statistics of Stochastic Differential Equations on Manifolds and Stratified Spaces (hybrid meeting)
    (Zürich : EMS Publ. House, 2021) Li, Xue-Mei; Pokern, Yvo; Sturm, Anja
    Statistics for stochastic differential equations (SDEs) attempts to use SDEs as statistical models for real-world phenomena. This involves an understanding of qualitative properties of this class of stochastic processes which includes Brownian motion as well as estimation of parameters in the SDE or a nonparametric estimation of drift and diffusivity fields from observations. Observations can be in continuous time, in high frequency discrete time considering the limit of small inter-observation times or in discrete time with constant inter-obseration times. Application areas of SDEs where state spaces are naturally viewed as manifolds or stratified spaces include multivariate stochastic volatility models, stochastic evolution of shapes (e.g. of biological cells), time-varying image deformations for video analysis and phylogenetic trees.
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    Dynamische Systeme (hybrid meeting)
    (Zürich : EMS Publ. House, 2021) Hofer, Helmut; Hutchings, Michael; Kaloshin, Vadim
    This workshop continued a biannual series of workshops at Oberwolfach on dynamical systems that started with a meeting organized by Moser and Zehnder in 1981. Workshops in this series focus on new results and developments in dynamical systems and related areas of mathematics, with symplectic geometry playing an important role in recent years in connection with Hamiltonian dynamics. In this year special emphasis was placed on various kinds of spectra (in contact geometry, in Riemannian geometry, in dynamical systems and in symplectic topology) and their applications to dynamics.