Federal Ministry Of Education Research Articles

Levels of high-sensitive troponin T and mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin after COVID-19 vaccination

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Background/Introduction To increase vaccine safety, adverse events of COVID-19 vaccines are continuously monitored. This also includes rare complications of the cardiovascular system. However, it has so far been scarcely investigated whether chronic and subtle, clinically inapparent myocardial and/or vascular injury occurs in a COVID-19 vaccinated population on a broader basis. Purpose The aim of this study was to analyse chronic and subclinical adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines on the cardiovascular system. Vaccine-associated myocardial involvement was examined by measuring high-sensitive troponin T (hsTnT) while mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) levels were evaluated to assess endothelial dysfunction. Methods This was a prospective observational study with a vulnerable population of healthcare workers (HCWs) and elderly (> 70 years) patients who were vaccinated with either the ChAdOx1 nCov-19 adenoviral vector vaccine (AZ) and the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (BNT), or with BNT/BNT between the 12th of January and 30th of November 2021 (Figure 1). HsTnT and MR-proADM was measured in blood samples at three visits (V1: 1st baseline, immediately before vaccination; V2: 3-4 weeks after 1st vaccination; V3: 3-4 weeks after 2nd vaccination). HsTnT levels were further compared with a healthy reference cohort. Results 120 participants were included (V1=119, V2=120, V3=120). 50 (41.7%) received AZ/BNT. 70 (58.3%) were vaccinated with BNT/BNT of whom 20 (16.7%) were elderly and 50 (41.7%) were HCWs. Median hsTnT levels were at 4ng/L, 5ng/L and 4ng/L (V1-V3) for AZ/BNT and at 6ng/L, 6ng/L and 6ng/L (V1-V3) for BNT/BNT, respectively (Figure 2). Levels of MR-proADM were 0.43nmol/L, 0.46nmol/L and 0.44nmol/L (V1-V3) in the AZ/BNT cohort and 0.49nmol/L, 0.43nmol/L and 0.49nmol/L in the BNT/BNT group. Change of hsTnT and MR-proADM values between visits did not show significant increases. Two cases had a transient (7ng/L, 19ng/L, 5ng/L; male, 29 years) or permanent (15ng/L, 21ng/L, 25ng/L; male, 37 years) increase in hsTnT levels, exceeding the upper reference limit (≥ 14ng/L). Compared to the reference population (n=300), median hsTnT was significantly higher at all visits for both vaccination groups (p<0.05), without significant differences between the AZ/BNT and BNT/BNT cohorts. Conclusion(s) With two individual exceptions, no overall chronic myocardial injury or endothelial involvement was observed up to 4 weeks after the 2nd SARS-CoV-2 vaccination when comparing hsTnT and MR-proADM after both vaccinations to baseline values.Figure 1Vaccination scheme.Figure 2.hsTnT values at V1-V3.

The Impact of Passive Social Media Viewers in Influence Maximization

A frequently studied problem in the context of digital marketing for online social networks is the influence maximization problem that seeks for an initial seed set of influencers to trigger an information propagation cascade (in terms of active message forwarders) of expected maximum impact. Previously studied problems typically neglect that the probability that individuals passively view content without forwarding it is much higher than the probability that they forward content. Considering passive viewing enables us to maximize more natural (social media) marketing metrics, including (a) the expected organic reach, (b) the expected number of total impressions, or (c) the expected patronage, all of which are investigated in this paper for the first time in the context of influence maximization. We propose mathematical models to maximize these objectives, whereby the model for variant (c) includes individual’s resistances and uses a multinomial logit model to model customer behavior. We also show that these models can be easily adapted to a competitive setting in which the seed set of a competitor is known. In a computational study based on network graphs from Twitter (now X) and from the literature, we show that one can increase the expected patronage, organic reach, and number of total impressions by 36% on average (and up to 13 times in particular cases) compared with seed sets obtained from the classical maximization of message-forwarding users. History: Accepted by Andrea Lodi, Area Editor for Design & Analysis of Algorithms—Discrete. Funding: This work was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research of Austria and by the Austrian Agency for International Mobility and Cooperation in Education, Science and Research [Reference ICM-2019-13384]. Supplemental Material: The software that supports the findings of this study is available within the paper and its Supplemental Information ( https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/suppl/10.1287/ijoc.2023.0047 ) as well as from the IJOC GitHub software repository ( https://github.com/INFORMSJoC/2023.0047 ). The complete IJOC Software and Data Repository is available at https://informsjoc.github.io/ .

Service Quality Implications of Long Periods of Consecutive Working Days: An Empirical Study of Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing Teams

Problem definition: We examine the effects of prolonged consecutive working days without breaks on care quality and explore its association with daily staffing levels in neonatal intensive care nursing teams. Academic/practical relevance: Healthcare organizations typically base staffing guidelines on safe daily metrics like nurse-to-patient ratios. However, in response to unforeseen demand spikes or staff shortages, managers often depend on staff working additional consecutive days to bridge staffing gaps. This approach, although addressing immediate staffing needs, can inadvertently impact care quality and safety, potentially undermining the benefits of higher staffing levels. Methodology: Using longitudinal data from 62 German neonatal units, we analyze the effect of nursing teams’ consecutive working days on the time from admission to full enteral feeding for 847 low-birth-weight babies, considering nurse-to-patient ratios and patient complexity. Results: Longer consecutive working periods harmfully affect care quality, especially during staffing shortages. The detrimental impact on days with low staffing is particularly pronounced in patients with less complex medical needs. Limiting the team-average number of consecutive working days to two days would have reduced the time to full enteral feeding in our study by 6.4%. Shifting from half a day less to half a day more than the average number of consecutive working days has an impact equal to 20% of the difference in time taken to reach full enteral feeding between low- and high-birth-weight babies. Managerial implications: Limiting consecutive working days could significantly improve intensive care outcomes. Management should monitor consecutive working days alongside daily staffing levels. Policy makers should consider introducing limits on the number of consecutive working days for intensive care nurses. Funding: This work was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany [Grant 01GY1152]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0021 .

Clinical Supervision for Quality Education Delivery in Public Schools in Nigeria

This paper discussed clinical supervision for quality education delivery in public schools in Nigeria. Clinical supervision is a formal process of professional support and learning that enables individual practitioners to develop knowledge and competence, assume responsibility for their own practice, and enhance consumer protection and safety of care in complex clinical situations. Clinical supervision stands as the cornerstone of educational excellence in Nigerian public schools, offering a dynamic and transformative approach to elevate the quality of education delivery. The paper emphasized that clinical supervision can bring about quality education delivery in several key aspects which include: Professional Growth and Development, Contextual Adaptation, Innovative Pedagogies and Technology Integration, Quality Assurance and Standardization, Professional Collaboration and Peer Learning, Emotional and Social Well-being, Observation and Feedback, Assessment of Teacher Competencies and Reflective practices. Also, identified the impacts of clinical supervision on quality education delivery, which includes: Enhanced Teaching Practices, Professional Development, Increased Teacher Self-Efficacy, Alignment with Standards, Retention and Job Satisfaction, Technology Integration, Positive Student Outcomes, Promotion of Reflective Practice, Enhanced Collaboration, Leadership Development and Quality Assurance. It therefore concluded that clinical supervision emerges not merely as a pedagogical process but as a transformative force poised to elevate the landscape of education delivery in public schools across Nigeria. The paper likewise made some outstanding suggestions that; School Administrators should clearly define the objectives of clinical supervision, outlining specific goals for professional development, teaching improvement, and student outcomes. This clarity provides a roadmap for both supervisors and educators. Finally, Federal ministry of education should offer regular professional development opportunities aligned with the needs identified through clinical supervision. Provide access to workshops, training sessions, and resources to enhance educators' skills and knowledge.

Evaluation of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular safety in patients receiving chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy: a prospective cohort study

Assessment of cardiovascular risk is critical for patients with cancer. Previous retrospective studies suggest potential cardiotoxicity of CAR T cell therapies. We aimed to prospectively assess cardiotoxicity and the predictive value of cardiac biomarkers and classical risk factors (age, cardiac function, diabetes, arterial hypertension, smoking) for cardiac events and all-cause mortality (ACM). In this prospective cohort study, all patients treated with CAR T cell constructs (axi-cel, tisa-cel, brexu-cel, ide-cel, or the 3rd generation CAR HD-CAR-1) from Oct 1, 2018, to Sept 30, 2022at the University Hospital Heidelberg were included. Surveillance included cardiac assessment with biomarkers (high-sensitive Troponin T (hs-cTnT), N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP)), 12-lead-ECG, and 2D echocardiography. ACM was defined as the primary study endpoint, while cardiotoxicity, defined by clinical syndromes of heart failure or decline in ejection fraction, served as a secondary endpoint. Overall, 137 patients (median age 60, range 20-83, IQR 16), were included in the study. 46 patients died during the follow up period (median 0.75 years, range 0.02-4.33, IQR 0.89) 57 month, with a median survival of 0.57 years (range 0.03-2.38 years, IQR 0.79). A septal wall thickness above 11mm (HR 2.48, 95%-CI=1.10-5.67, p=0.029) was associated with an increased risk of ACM, with a trend seen for reduced left ventricular ejection fraction prior to therapy (LVEF <40%; HR 9.17, 95%-CI=1.30-183.11, p=0.051). Secondary endpoint was reached by 93 patients while no baseline parameter was able to predict an elevated risk. However, hs-cTnT change from baseline of 50% or more during the first 14 days after CAR infusion predicted ACM (HR 3.81, 95%-CI=1.58-9.45; p=0.003). None of the baseline characteristics was able to predict the incidence of cardiac events. Reduced pre-lymphodepletion ejection fraction and early post-infusion biomarker kinetics may be associated with increased ACM and cardiotoxicity events. These findings may help to identify patients who could benefit from intensified cardio-oncological surveillance. The German Center for Cardiovascular Research, German Research Foundation, and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Elementary School Teachers’ Dispositions about the Assessment of Students

The study aim was to assess teachers’ dispositions towards student assessment based on national standards. National Standards for teachers’ professional development were developed under the Federal Ministry of Education; Government of Pakistan in 2009. For this end, interviews with 32 teachers working in elementary schools were conducted. It was observed that most of the teachers have different valuable viewpoints regarding the process of student assessment. However, this study explored that mostly teachers were involved in administering the verbal assessment and on paper assessment, and practical tasks, i.e., debates, demonstrations, individual as well as group activities effectively. The study further also revealed that teachers gave the same attention to all students and showed nothing likes or dislikes during assessment. The rubrics and answer keys were prepared in advance by teachers to ensure the accuracy of the results. Besides this, student learning outcomes, fairness and objectivity in assessment, etc. were assessed to authenticate the quality of education in the region. The given study also added the recommendations.

Verification and Processing of Academic Certificates Using Web Services

A web service is a set of code of a server application that performs a specific task or service whenever it is invoked through a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) by a client application that is connected to the server over the Internet. Web services are one of the digital strategies that can be used by the government for curtailing academic certificate scandals being perpetrated by fraudulent individuals in various sectors of the economy. The traditional method of checking academic records and certificates manually is inefficient and prone to forgery by unscrupulous elements. Similarly, the e-transcript system being adopted by some organizations to authenticate the academic qualifications of individuals for possible admission or employment still involves a manual process. The objective of this work therefore is to show how web services for certificate verification of all tiers of the educational system in Nigeria can be maintained by one central body which is the Federal Ministry of Education in Nigeria to enable various end-users (such as educational institutions, commercial organizations, etc) use the web services to authenticate and process the academic records of individuals effortlessly. A simulated data of 20 SSCE results of students who completed their secondary school education at various institutions was used to illustrate the application of a web service. The web service program was written in Java. A client application which was also written in Java was used to query the web service through RPC to authenticate and process the certificate claims of a sample of five students for admission into a tertiary institution. Results showed that the web service excellently ascertained the eligible candidates for admission and those that were not. The web service technology is therefore highly recommended for use by the federal ministry of education in Nigeria to eradicate the academic certificate scandals amongst the citizenry.

Clinical and genetic keys to cerebellar ataxia due to FGF14 GAA expansions

SCA27B caused by FGF14 intronic heterozygous GAA expansions with at least 250 repeats accounts for 10-60% of cases with unresolved cerebellar ataxia. We aimed to assess the size and frequency of FGF14 expanded alleles in individuals with cerebellar ataxia as compared with controls and to characterize genetic and clinical variability. We sized this repeat in 1876 individuals from France sampled for research purposes in this cross-sectional study: 845 index cases with cerebellar ataxia and 324 affected relatives, 475 controls, as well as 119 cases with spastic paraplegia, and 113 with familial essential tremor. A higher frequency of expanded allele carriers in index cases with ataxia was significant only above 300 GAA repeats (10.1%, n=85) compared with controls (1.1%, n=5) (p<0.0001) whereas GAA250-299 alleles were detected in 1.7% of both groups. Eight of 14 index cases with GAA250-299 repeats had other causal pathogenic variants (4/14) and/or discordance of co-segregation (5/14), arguing against GAA causality. We compared the clinical signs in 127 GAA≥300 carriers to cases with non-expanded GAA ataxia resulting in defining a key phenotype triad: onset after 45 years, downbeat nystagmus, episodic ataxic features including diplopia; and a frequent absence of dysarthria. All maternally transmitted alleles above 100 GAA were unstable with a median expansion of+18 repeats per generation (r2=0.44; p<0.0001). In comparison, paternally transmitted alleles above 100 GAA mostly decreased in size (-15 GAA (r2=0.63; p<0.0001)), resulting in the transmission bias observed in SCA27B pedigrees. SCA27B diagnosis must consider both the phenotype and GAA expansion size. In carriers of GAA250-299 repeats, the absence of documented familial transmission and a presentation deviating from the key SCA27B phenotype, should prompt the search for an alternative cause. Affected fathers have a reduced risk of having affected children, which has potential implications for genetic counseling. This work was supported by the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, grant number 13338 to JLM, the Association Connaître les Syndrome Cérébelleux - France (to GS) and by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 779257 ("SOLVE-RD" to GS). DP holds a Fellowship award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). SK received a grant (01GM1905C) from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany, through the TreatHSP network. This work was supported by the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council grants (GNT2001513 and MRFF2007677) to MB and PJL.

High-Dose Glucocorticoids for the Treatment of Sudden Hearing Loss

BackgroundSystemic glucocorticoids are commonly used for primary therapy of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). However, the comparative effectiveness and risk profiles of high-dose over lower-dose regimens remain unknown.MethodsWe randomly assigned patients with sudden hearing loss of greater than or equal to 50 dB within 7 days from onset to receive either 5 days of high-dose intravenous prednisolone at 250 mg/d (HD-Pred), 5 days of high-dose oral dexamethasone at 40 mg/d (HD-Dex), or, as a control, 5 days of oral prednisolone (Pred-Control) at 60 mg/d followed by 5 days of tapering doses. The primary outcome was the change in hearing threshold (pure tone average) in the three most affected contiguous frequencies from baseline to day 30. Secondary outcomes included speech understanding, tinnitus, communication competence, quality of life, hypertension, and insulin resistance.ResultsA total of 325 patients were randomly assigned. Mean change in 3PTAmost affected hearing threshold from baseline to 30 days was 34.2 dB (95% CI, 28.4 to 40.0) in the HD-Pred group, 41.4 dB (95% CI, 35.6 to 47.2) in the HD-Dex group, and 41.0 dB (95% CI, 35.2 to 46.8) in the Pred-Control group (P=0.09 for analysis of variance). There were more adverse events related to trial medication in the HD-Pred (n=73) and HD-Dex (n=76) groups than in the Pred-Control group (n=46).ConclusionsSystemic high-dose glucocorticoid therapy was not superior to a lower-dose regimen in patients with ISSNHL, and it was associated with a higher risk of side effects. (Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research [BMBF]; EudraCT number, 2015‐002602‐36.)

Effect of Mechanical Pressure on Lifetime, Expansion, and Porosity of Silicon Dominant Anodes in Laboratory Lithium-Ion Cells

Silicon (Si) is a promising next-generation anode material for lithium-ion batteries due to its nearly ten times higher specific capacity of 3579 mAh/gSi 1. The high and economic availability of Si due to existing industrial infrastructure is another non-technical advantage.2 The main drawback of Si is its large volume expansion of nearly 300% during full lithiation causing SEI (re-) formation, electrochemical milling, and electrode instability leading to thickness changes resulting in the disruption of the electronic pathways and decoupling of particles.2 These problems still exist in partially lithiated µm-sized Si particles with lower volume expansion.2 In this work, we study the influence of compressive force on electrode stability in full cells composed of NCA3 cathodes and silicon-dominant anodes based on µm-sized particles.2 The different mechanical pressures were applied using spring-compressed 3.34 mAh Swagelok™ T-cells (A = 0.94 cm²) with metallic lithium reference electrodes. The investigated mechanical pressure ranges from 0.02 MPa as low pressure (LP) to 2.00 MPa, as high high pressure (HHP) to determine the optimal pressure for cyclic lifetime. Firstly, we introduce an experimental methodology to precisely adjust the common three-electrode SwagelokTM cell setup. Therefore, we take the compression from the single components into account, which were measured in a universal testing machine4 for the pressure range mentioned above. The cells were built with different mechanical pressures and cycled with C/2 until a SoH of 80% of the initial capacity was reached which was measured periodically in CheckUp tests. In the post-mortem analysis, Si anodes cycled at different mechanical pressures are prepared for scanning electron microscopy using a focused ion beam cross-section polisher. The images are then analyzed regarding electrochemical milling, thickness increase, and porosity decrease at 80% SoH by comparing them to the pristine state.The HHP cells with 2 MPa show a detrimental effect on lifetime during cell cycling as depicted in Figure 1 and with only 100 cycles nearly a halved lifetime compared to a normal pressure (NP) of 0.20 MPa. Moreover, the specific discharge capacity is significantly reduced for HHP or LP compressed cells compared to NP cells (see Figure 1b). The post-mortem analysis showed a dependency of the porosity and thickness of the aged Si anodes on the applied pressure. On the particle level, no electrochemical milling was observed due to the partial lithiation of the Si anodes. Vein-like microstructures were observed for the lithiated probes which might originate from different lithiation pathways of polycrystalline Si.5 Based on these experimental results, multilayer pouch cells with the same electrode setup and balancing are produced and cycled, and the expansion of the cells is measured operando in a compression test bench. Acknowledgments: S. F. gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany), under the auspices of the ExZellTUM III project (grant number 03XP0255). The authors want to thank the research battery production team of iwb for the manufacturing of the electrodes

Electrochemical Impedance Analysis of Direct Ammonia Fuel Cell Operation and Clamping Effects

In addition to being an essential chemical for fertilizers, ammonia can also be used as a hydrogen carrier or directly as a fuel. Compared to hydrogen, the main advantages are that ammonia can be liquefied in mild conditions and the technology for ammonia shipping and pipelines already exists. Compared to carbon-based synthetic fuels, no carbon dioxide is produced by the oxidation, only water and nitrogen. The theoretical voltage of a direct ammonia fuel cell (DAFC) is 1.17 V, nearly equal to the 1.23 V of hydrogen fuel cells (HFC) but a central drawback is the slow kinetics of the ammonia oxidation reaction (AOR). The AOR is even slower than the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode, which in turn is the main voltage loss component in HFCs. Consequently, due to the AOR kinetics, DAFCs typically require significantly higher platinum group metal (PGM) catalyst loadings than HFCs for the same power output.To improve the performance of our aqueous-feed DAFC, especially using non-PGM catalysts, we carried out comparisons of catalysts and anion exchange membranes (AEM), and supplemented the comparison of power, voltage, and current parameters with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Additionally, we also compared measurements in two different test cells to try to identify the cause of measurement repeatability issues that we had when using one of the cells.Initially, we assumed that the reproducibility of catalyst deposition (or lack of it) and AEM or catalyst degradation in the ammonia-containing electrolyte had caused our repeatability problems. However, following a preliminary analysis of measurement statistics, we consider problems with the cell itself a more likely cause. The maximum power of the cell depended almost inversely on the series resistance (R S, i.e., the high-frequency resistance/real-axis intercept of the EIS spectrum), and the current at given voltage varied more than the differences in the resistance alone could explain when most measurement parameters were not varied (e.g., ammonia and hydroxide concentrations, liquid and gas flow rates). The general inverse dependence on R S remained also when measuring the same electrodes in different cells, and the performance did not necessarily degrade over time so, clearly, degradation and differences between electrodes could not explain everything. When testing different screw torques and gaskets in our AEM electrolyser, we had noticed that the voltage differences were often high compared to the R S differences, and it is known that clamping torque can affect the operation of fuel cells and electrolysers significantly. Nevertheless, more detailed analysis is ongoing to determine possible other contributing factors, to optimize the use of the cell(s) in measurements, and to guide future work.This research was done under the TELEGRAM project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 101006941. The project started on the 1st of November 2020 with a duration of 42 months. The authors acknowledge support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the framework of the project Catlab (03EW0015A). Figure 1

Characterizing Reversible and Irreversible Degradation Effects of PEM Water Electrolyzer Stacks

Polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzers (PEMEL) have been identified as a key component in a decarbonized large-scale energy system, as they can produce high-purity hydrogen from renewable electricity sources for the chemical industry or energy storage. However, the long-term durability and performance of PEM electrolyzers remain a major challenge, with degradation being a critical factor that limits their lifespan and efficiency. Recent studies have focused on developing accelerated stress test (AST) protocols for PEM electrolyzers to better understand the conditions and mechanisms that lead to degradation.1, 2 Especially the reversible rise in cell potential, which in the literature is often regarded as apparent or reversible degradation, must be further investigated to find mitigation strategies for operation.3, 4 We present our research on the development of two testing protocols (static, dynamic) characterizing reversible and irreversible degradation effects for PEMEL stacks in different operation modes. Our aim is to gain a better understanding of the variance of these phenomena in general and the recovery of reversible effects across PEMEL stacks. The measurements are carried out on a commercialized Greenlight E400 test bench equipped with a 7kW 8 cell PEMEL stack (Hydrogen Innovation GmbH). The potential of all cells will be monitored during testing. The measurements include repeated electrochemical characterization protocols measuring i/E-curves, HFR and impedance spectroscopy (EIS) of the PEMEL stack and if possible, every single cell. These protocols include the introduction of low potential regeneration phases before every characterization during the test protocol to distinguish between reversible effects and the irreversible cell degradation. This was seen to be effective for potential recovery by Suermann et al. 2019 for single PEMEL cells.4 The results consist of a description of the two testing procedures and the used equipment. Due to the duration of each test protocol (3000 h) only results of the static test protocol can be presented.The contribution of the presented research is threefold. Firstly, we break down the degradation across a whole stack. Giving valuable insights regarding the distribution of cell efficiency and degradation effects. Secondly, the presented test protocols characterize and account for the reversible rise in cell/stack potential. Thirdly, the characterization of the recovery time of the cell potential across the stack will have implications for the operation of stacks to mitigate or recover these performance losses. We address both static and dynamic operation modes aiming to simulate the application of PEMEL stacks for a constant production of hydrogen used in downstream processes and the volatile operation due to a direct coupling with renewable energy sources.This publication is to be seen as presentation of first results in our ongoing research to find test protocols for short stack systems to develop operation strategies, which can be applied to large scale electrolyzer systems. Furthermore, we try to deepen the understanding of the reversible cell potential rise as well as standardize the general testing of PEMEL stacks.This work is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the project “hyBit” under the grant 03SF0687E. The authors declare that the opinions expressed in this submission are their own and are based on a thorough review of existing scientific literature. Sources 1. G. Tsotridis and A. Pilenga, EU harmonized protocols for testing of low temperature water electrolysis, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg (2021). 2. A. Voronova, H.-J. Kim, J. H. Jang, H.-Y. Park and B. Seo, International Journal of Energy Research, 46 (2022) 11867. 3. C. Rakousky, U. Reimer, K. Wippermann, S. Kuhri, M. Carmo, W. Lueke and D. Stolten, Journal of Power Sources, 342 (2017) 38. 4. M. Suermann, B. Bensmann and R. Hanke-Rauschenbach, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 166 (2019) F645-F652.

Literary Critical Understanding of Šantić’s “Mythical” Fame With a Contribution to the Review of the Archive Collection of Aleksa Šantić in the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The paper consists of two, methodological and analytical, separate parts, which share the character and work of Aleksa Šantić. The first part tries, through an overview of critical valorisation, to literary critically understand the entire poetic creation of Aleksa Šantić, posing the fundamental research question of why Šantić is considered a great poet, even though his poetry, taken as a whole, viewed from an aesthetic perspective, cannot be qualified as “great”. Above all, based on the insight of criticism into the consideration of the aesthetic value of Šantić’s poetry and the conclusions derived from the comparison of already existing and own reflections, the above question is answered with the hypothesis that Šantić’s “mythical” greatness is the result of the “ordinariness” of his poetry and the ability to give that “ordinariness” a sublime sense of the “topos” of spiritual preoccupation, on the semantic level, and on the syntactic level, expressed in a simple style and phrases close to the cognitive needs of the peoples’ consciousness.&#x0D; The second part of the paper presents a documentary-historical and archival-library contribution to the research of the character and works of Aleksa Šantić, and appears as a separate review of the legacy of manuscript material kept by the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Department of Special Collections. The legacy consists of letters, correspondence, photographs, letter cards, and postcards. These biographical and historical documents serve as a source for a factual introduction to a part of Šantić’s life and activities.&#x0D; The work is the result of research conducted on the basis of the project “Unification of materials on the cultural and historical heritage of Aleksa Šantić” financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Science.

Healthcare 3.0: How to Transform Machine Learning Prototypes into Functional Healthcare Applications for Diagnostic Assistance?

AbstractBackgroundAs the number of elderly people is rapidly increasing, we are faced with the challenge that diagnostic services are demanded more frequently. At the same time, the number of medical centers and available experts remains almost constant. Tools for diagnostic assistance are urgently needed to improve the effectiveness of healthcare. In four externally funded projects, we will investigate aspects and strategies of how machine learning prototype systems can be translated into functional healthcare applications.MethodIn the ongoing project “ExplAInation” funded by the German research foundation (DFG), we are developing an artificial neural network framework to generate visual and textual explanations to improve the comprehensibility and interpretability of deep learning models. This effort includes participatory research with clinical users. In the complementary project “TESIComp” funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), we will investigate ethical and social aspects of the emerging field of computational psychiatry. Patients, caregivers, and medical doctors will be interviewed, which will be qualitatively analyzed. Within the German Medical Informatics Initiative, we will contribute to the project “Open Medical Inference” (OMI), which will develop a network of distributed machine learning evaluation services. We also participate in the international “Clinical AI‐based Diagnostics” (CAIDX) consortium, which receives funding from the European Interreg Baltic Sea Region program.ResultWe developed a deep learning application for the detection of dementia atrophy patterns in brain MRI scans. Derived relevance maps highlight diagnostically important brain areas for further evaluation by the radiologists. Interviews with clinicians will provide information on expectations, key requirements and the functional utility of machine learning‐based assistance. Interviews with patients and caregivers will elucidate future changes and challenges in the doctor’s role and responsibilities. The OMI network will allow hospitals to use distributed machine learning evaluation services remotely, without the need of operating all the tools locally. In CAIDX, we will develop best‐practice guidelines for the overarching process of integrating machine learning prototypes and commercial tools into the hospital.ConclusionIn “Healthcare 3.0”, the digital transformation will change current diagnostic procedures and roles. Our activities focus on the involved stakeholders, regulatory aspects and implementation strategies to better steer this process.

Healthcare 3.0: How to Transform Machine Learning Prototypes into Functional Healthcare Applications for Diagnostic Assistance?

AbstractBackgroundAs the number of elderly people is rapidly increasing, we are faced with the challenge that diagnostic services are demanded more frequently. At the same time, the number of medical centers and available experts remains almost constant. Tools for diagnostic assistance are urgently needed to improve the effectiveness of healthcare. In four externally funded projects, we will investigate aspects and strategies of how machine learning prototype systems can be translated into functional healthcare applications.MethodIn the ongoing project “ExplAInation” funded by the German research foundation (DFG), we are developing an artificial neural network framework to generate visual and textual explanations to improve the comprehensibility and interpretability of deep learning models. This effort includes participatory research with clinical users. In the complementary project “TESIComp” funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), we will investigate ethical and social aspects of the emerging field of computational psychiatry. Patients, caregivers, and medical doctors will be interviewed, which will be qualitatively analyzed. Within the German Medical Informatics Initiative, we will contribute to the project “Open Medical Inference” (OMI), which will develop a network of distributed machine learning evaluation services. We also participate in the international “Clinical AI‐based Diagnostics” (CAIDX) consortium, which receives funding from the European Interreg Baltic Sea Region program.ResultWe developed a deep learning application for the detection of dementia atrophy patterns in brain MRI scans. Derived relevance maps highlight diagnostically important brain areas for further evaluation by the radiologists. Interviews with clinicians will provide information on expectations, key requirements and the functional utility of machine learning‐based assistance. Interviews with patients and caregivers will elucidate future changes and challenges in the doctor’s role and responsibilities. The OMI network will allow hospitals to use distributed machine learning evaluation services remotely, without the need of operating all the tools locally. In CAIDX, we will develop best‐practice guidelines for the overarching process of integrating machine learning prototypes and commercial tools into the hospital.ConclusionIn “Healthcare 3.0”, the digital transformation will change current diagnostic procedures and roles. Our activities focus on the involved stakeholders, regulatory aspects and implementation strategies to better steer this process.

Business model innovation of German VET service providers in international contexts – a longitudinal survey

ABSTRACT To support German VET providers in their internationalisation, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has created two funding programs ‘Vocational Training Export’ (BEX; 2010–2017) and ‘Internationalisation of Vocational Education’ (IBB; 2017–2022) for the development of international business models in VET. In this paper, innovations of the business models of the projects are analysed in order to find out the extent to which the innovations have occurred. The sample includes all funded projects (18), in which a minimum of one organisation was funded subsequently in both funding programs. The data includes project documents and qualitative interviews with project actors. In order to identify the business model innovativeness of the projects, a model by Taran, Boer, and Lindgren is used and extended by a further dimension (system) according to Bronfenbrenner and Kell. The data shows that nearly all projects innovate in several areas of the business model. While these are mainly incremental in nature in BEX, radical innovations dominate among the IBB projects. Among other things, it is also evident that the BEX projects with their innovations relate primarily to the meso level (institutions), while the IBB projects address more strongly the exo level (societal subsystems) with their novelties.

Clinical implications of incorporating genetic and non-genetic risk factors in CanRisk-based breast cancer risk prediction

BackgroundBreast cancer (BC) risk prediction models consider cancer family history (FH) and germline pathogenic variants (PVs) in risk genes. It remains elusive to what extent complementation with polygenic risk score (PRS) and non-genetic risk factor (NGRFs) data affects individual intensified breast surveillance (IBS) recommendations according to European guidelines. MethodsFor 425 cancer-free women with cancer FH (mean age 40·6 years, range 21–74), recruited in France, Germany and the Netherlands, germline PV status, NGRFs, and a 306 variant-based PRS (PRS306) were assessed to calculate estimated lifetime risks (eLTR) and estimated 10-year risks (e10YR) using CanRisk. The proportions of women changing country-specific European risk categories for IBS recommendations, i.e. ≥20 % and ≥30 % eLTR, or ≥5 % e10YR were determined. FindingsOf the women with non-informative PV status, including PRS306 and NGRFs changed clinical recommendations for 31·0 %, (57/184, 20 % eLTR), 15·8 % (29/184, 30 % eLTR) and 22·4 % (41/183, 5 % e10YR), respectively whereas of the women tested negative for a PV observed in their family, clinical recommendations changed for 16·7 % (25/150), 1·3 % (2/150) and 9·5 % (14/147). No change was observed for 82 women with PVs in high-risk genes (BRCA1/2, PALB2). Combined consideration of eLTRs and e10YRs identified BRCA1/2 PV carriers benefitting from IBS <30 years, and women tested non-informative/negative for whom IBS may be postponed. InterpretationFor women who tested non-informative/negative, PRS and NGRFs have a considerable impact on IBS recommendations. Combined consideration of eLTRs and e10YRs allows personalizing IBS starting age. FundingHorizon 2020, German Cancer Aid, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Köln Fortune.

Data Stewardship – Austrian National Strategy and Alignment

Within the FAIR Data Austria project, supported by the Federal Ministry for Education, Science, and Research (BMBWF), a national strategy has been established to advance the creation of tailored Data Stewardship solutions for the Austrian context. The strategy, formalized as a toolbox, delineates various Data Steward models, corresponding competencies, and accessible training resources. Despite the crucial role of Data Stewardship in supporting data-driven scientific research, Austrian universities encounter challenges in its implementation. Issues include lack of consensus on the skills, roles, and responsibilities of Data Stewards, coupled with insufficient funding for these positions. This article explores these challenges and emphasizes the importance of addressing them to promote effective Data Stewardship within the Austrian academic landscape.

Integrate-and-fire circuit for converting analog signals to spikes using phase encoding * *The authors would like to thank Alexander Lenz and Susanne Junghans for their expertise and input, which was very valuable for implementing and testing the designed circuit. The authors would also like to thank the Technical University of Dresden for granting them access to the SpiNNaker 2 chip and its associated resources. This work was supported in part by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany in the framework of the KI-ASIC under Grant 16ES0995.

Processing sensor data with spiking neural networks on digital neuromorphic chips requires converting continuous analog signals into spike pulses. Two strategies are promising for achieving low energy consumption and fast processing speeds in end-to-end neuromorphic applications. First, to directly encode analog signals to spikes to bypass the need for an analog-to-digital converter. Second, to use temporal encoding techniques to maximize the spike sparsity, which is a crucial parameter for fast and efficient neuromorphic processing. In this work, we propose an adaptive control of the refractory period of the leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron model for encoding continuous analog signals into a train of time-coded spikes. The LIF-based encoder generates phase-encoded spikes that are compatible with digital hardware. We implemented the neuron model on a physical circuit and tested it with different electric signals. A digital neuromorphic chip processed the generated spike trains and computed the signal’s frequency spectrum using a spiking version of the Fourier transform. We tested the prototype circuit on electric signals up to 1 kHz. Thus, we provide an end-to-end neuromorphic application that generates the frequency spectrum of an electric signal without the need for an ADC or a digital signal processing algorithm.

Efficacy and safety of zapnometinib in hospitalised adult patients with COVID-19 (RESPIRE): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre, proof-of-concept, phase 2 trial

Zapnometinib is an oral, non-ATP-competitive, small-molecule inhibitor of MEK1/MEK2 with immunomodulatory and antiviral properties. We aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of zapnometinib in patients with COVID-19. In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre, proof-of-concept, phase 2 trial, we recruited hospitalised adults with moderate or severe COVID-19 from 18 hospitals in Germany, India, Romania, South Africa, and Spain. Those requiring ICU admission or ventilator support at screening or randomisation were excluded. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive oral zapnometinib (900mg on Day 1; 600mg on Days 2-6) or matching placebo, on top of standard of care. Randomisation, stratified by baseline clinical severity status (CSS 3 or 4, measured on a 7-point ordinal scale), was done using Interactive Response Technology. Patients, investigators, and the sponsor were masked to treatment allocation. The primary endpoint was CSS at Day 15 and was conducted on the full analysis set (FAS: all patients who were randomised to the study, received at least one dose of study medication and had at least one post-dose assessment of CSS, as randomised). Safety analyses were conducted on the safety analysis set (all study participants who received at least one dose of study medication, as treated). This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04776044) and EudraCT (2020-004206-59). The trial was terminated early as the emergence of the Omicron variant impacted recruitment. Between 12th April 2021 and 9th August 2022, 104 of the planned 220 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned, 103 were treated, and 101 were included in the FAS (zapnometinib: n=50; placebo: n=51). The primary outcome was not significantly different between the two groups, but patients on zapnometinib had higher odds of improved CSS versus placebo (odds ratio [OR] 1.54 [95% CI 0.72-3.33]; p=0.26). Predefined subgroup analyses identified trends for improved CSS in patients with severe disease at baseline (OR 2.57 [0.76-8.88]; p=0.13) and non-Omicron variants (OR 2.36 [0.85-6.71]; p=0.10); the p value of the CSS subgroup by Treatment interaction term in the model was p=0.28. The frequency and intensity of adverse events was low and similar between arms. Twenty (39.2%) patients treated with zapnometinib experienced adverse events compared with eighteen (34.6%) patients treated with placebo. One patient receiving zapnometinib and two patients receiving placebo died during the study. None of the deaths were considered related to study medication. These results provide proof-of-concept for the innovative approach of targeting the Raf/MEK/ERK pathway in patients with hospitalised moderate/severe COVID-19. Further clinical studies will be required to evaluate the clinical benefit of zapnometinib in this and other indications. Atriva Therapeutics GmbH and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany.