The facilitation of Rydberg excitations in a gas of atoms provides an ideal model system to study epidemic evolution on (dynamic) networks and self-organization of complex systems to the critical point of a nonequilibrium phase transition. Using Monte Carlo simulations and a machine learning algorithm we show that the universality class of this phase transition can be tuned but is robust against decay inherent to the self-organization process. The classes include directed percolation (DP), the most common class in short-range spreading models, and mean-field (MF) behavior, but also different types of anomalous directed percolation (ADP), characterized by rare long-range excitation processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To obtain initial data on sentinel lymph node (SLN) visualisation by pre-operative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and intra-operative bimodal SLN identification using a new magnetic fluorescent hybrid tracer in prostate cancer (PCa) patients.
Methods: Ten patients at > 5% risk for lymph node (LN) invasion were included. The day before surgery, a magnetic fluorescent hybrid tracer consisting of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) and indocyanine green was transrectally injected into the prostate.
This study used cross-sectional UK Biobank data to estimate the influence of active and passive commuting modes and commuting distance on cardiovascular disease (CVD) -related biomarkers as measures of health outcomes. The analysis applied logistic regression to assess the risk of exhibiting individual biomarker values outside a predefined reference interval and standard linear regression to estimate the relation between commuting practices and a composite CVD index. The study sample comprised 208,893 UK Biobank baseline survey participants aged 40 to 69 who use various modes of transport to commute to work at least once a week.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study examines the social media activities of gambling providers in Germany, focusing on the platform Twitter. A collection of 34.151 tweets from 13 Twitter accounts was made, representing casinos, sports betting, state lotteries, social lotteries and lottery brokers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPre-exposing (priming) plants to mild, non-lethal elevated temperature improves their tolerance to a later higher-temperature stress (triggering stimulus), which is of great ecological importance. 'Thermomemory' is maintaining this tolerance for an extended period of time. NAM/ATAF1/2/CUC2 (NAC) proteins are plant-specific transcription factors (TFs) that modulate responses to abiotic stresses, including heat stress (HS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
May 2022
An observational cross-sectional survey was planned and carried out to evaluate the economic impact of the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic on dental practices in Germany. An online-questionnaire was developed and previously calibrated by a group consisting of experts from dentists, lawyers, and business economists (n = 21; Intra-Class-Coefficient > 0.8).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study applies a machine learning (ML) approach to around 400,000 observations from the German Socio-Economic Panel to assess the relation between life satisfaction and age. We show that with our ML-based approach it is possible to isolate the effect of age on life satisfaction across the lifecycle without explicitly parameterizing the complex relationship between age and other covariates-this complex relation is taken into account by a feedforward neural network. Our results show a clear U-shape relation between age and life satisfaction across the lifespan, with a minimum at around 50 years of age.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBy applying multivariate regression to 2020 survey data from four Tehran hospitals, we measure eight recognized sources of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic-related anxiety among 723 healthcare workers (HCWs) with diverse sociodemographic characteristics employed across different hospital areas and positions. The most prominent anxiety source identified is the risk of workplace COVID-19 contraction and transmission to family, followed by uncertainty about organizational support for personal and family needs in the event of worker infection. A supplemental qualitative analysis of 68 respondents in the largest hospital identifies four additional anxiety sources, namely, health, finances, workload, and leadership.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
August 2021
Oral healthcare is organized subsidiarily and independently by nation states in Europe and also within the EU and consequently, major differences between the nation states and the various oral healthcare systems in Europe are present. The socialization in the respective catchment area can have an impact on the job choice and the perception of employment opportunities of different professional groups. Therefore, the purpose of this survey was to elucidate the influence of different oral healthcare systems on students living or studying in the respective catchment area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDimethyl sulfoxide is a well-known and widely used dermal penetration enhancer. Its incorporation in transdermal patches would be highly desirable; however, due to its volatility this is extremely challenging. Here, we report on the feasibility of a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) containing transdermal system containing estradiol as a model compound.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCyclobenzoins are shape-persistent macrocycles of interest in the preparation of optoelectronic and porous materials. New cyclotetrabenzoins derived from biphenyl, naphthalene, and tolane skeletons were synthesized using -heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed benzoin condensation. Their preparation proceeded with different regioselectivity than that observed in the cyanide-catalyzed preparation of the parent cyclotetrabenzoin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
October 2020
Obtaining information on expectations among dental students regarding their career planning was the main purpose of this observational online survey. The questionnaire was designed with 18 items in five different languages: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Data were collected on nationality, age, sex, country of residence, university attended, semester, expected year of graduation and expectations about future career.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetal-organic frameworks containing multiple metals distributed over crystallographically equivalent framework positions (mixed-metal MOFs) represent an interesting class of materials, since the close vicinity of isolated metal centers often gives rise to synergistic effects. However, appropriate characterization techniques for detailed investigations of these mixed-metal metal-organic framework materials, particularly addressing the distribution of metals within the lattice, are rarely available. The synthesis of mixed-metal FeCuBTC materials in direct syntheses proved to be difficult and only a thorough characterization using various techniques, like powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, unambiguously evidenced the formation of a mixed-metal FeCuBTC material with HKUST-1 structure, which contained bimetallic Fe-Cu paddlewheels as well as monometallic Cu-Cu and Fe-Fe units under optimized synthesis conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNarrow-leafed lupin (NLL, Lupinus angustifolius) is a promising legume crop that produces seeds with very high protein content. However, NLL accumulates toxic quinolizidine alkaloids (QAs) in most of its tissues, including the seeds. To determine the level of in situ biosynthesis in the seeds, we compared the accumulation of QAs with the expression of the biosynthetic gene lysine decarboxylase (LDC) in developing seeds and pods of a bitter (high-QA) variety of NLL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEctopias of female genital tissues are a common event in routine pathology. Mostly they derive from paramesonephric tissues displaced during embryonal development or later. However, gonadal-, mesonephric-, or mesothelial-derived tissues may also appear in unusual localizations in and outside the female genital tract.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Work hour constraints (WHC), or the mismatch between desired and actual worktime, can negatively affect work productivity, job satisfaction, worker health and job fluctuations.
Objectives: This study analyzes the WHC trends in the German nursing market between 1990 and 2015.
Methods: Using data from 25 waves (1990-1995 and 1997-2015) of the German Socio-Economic Panel, the contractual, actual, and desired worktime among a representative sample of German nurses (N = 6493) were analyzed.
This paper introduces a rapid automated process-development approach for a continuous capsule-filling process. In our proposed method, both the material attributes and the critical process parameters were varied to understand and to optimize the overall process. Using our approach a statistical process model can be generated with unprecedented speed (2 days), which is the prerequisite for effectively developing and operating continuous process platforms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Given the current prevalence of childhood obesity among Hispanic populations, and the importance of parental feeding behaviors, we aimed to assess the impact of the evidence-based Healthy Children, Healthy Families (HCHF) intervention on responsive food parenting practices (FPPs) in a low-income Hispanic population.
Methods: This community-based pilot study used a non-experimental pre/post within-subjects design. Parents ( = 94) of children aged 3-11 years old were recruited to participate in an 8-week, weekly group-based intervention.
Quintessence Int
February 2018
Objective: A trend towards increasingly new forms of dental practice has been observed in the FDI World Dental Federation. Elementary foundations such as the free dentist and therapy choice, and independent, free, self-responsible professional practice may be undermined. The current study is aimed at analyzing the general training framework, organization, and professional types of dental practice in the European Regional Organization (ERO) zone and at critically discussing selected aspects of changes in the dental profession.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe show that parametric coupling techniques can be used to generate selective entangling interactions for multi-qubit processors. By inducing coherent population exchange between adjacent qubits under frequency modulation, we implement a universal gate set for a linear array of four superconducting qubits. An average process fidelity of ℱ = 93% is estimated for three two-qubit gates via quantum process tomography.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this paper is to explore the possibility to develop an automatically adjustable, reliable, and safe capsule filling operation. Process parameters that are critical for the tamping pin process were reviewed based on the literature and via experiment. Dosing disc height, powder bed height, machine speed, pressure on the tamping pin, and immersion depth were reviewed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLupins (Lupinus spp.) are nitrogen-fixing legumes that accumulate toxic alkaloids in their protein-rich beans. These anti-nutritional compounds belong to the family of quinolizidine alkaloids (QAs), which are of interest to the pharmaceutical and chemical industries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence and determinants of time pressure among younger Australian women born between 1973 and 1978 over a 17-year period.
Methods: Using six surveys (N=14 247 at baseline in 1996) from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women`s Health (ALSWH), we estimated fixed-effects ordered logistic regression models.
Results: More than two thirds of women felt rushed, pressured, too busy every day or a few times a week, and time pressure substantially increased over the observed 17-year period.