Honeybee swarms and complex brains show many parallels in how they make decisions. In both, separate populations of units (bees or neurons) integrate noisy evidence for alternatives, and, when one ...population exceeds a threshold, the alternative it represents is chosen. We show that a key feature of a brain—cross inhibition between the evidence-accumulating populations—also exists in a swarm as it chooses its nesting site. Nest-site scouts send inhibitory stop signals to other scouts producing waggle dances, causing them to cease dancing, and each scout targets scouts' reporting sites other than her own. An analytic model shows that cross inhibition between populations of scout bees increases the reliability of swarm decision-making by solving the problem of deadlock over equal sites.
This study aimed to show that SHOX2 DNA methylation is a tumor marker in patients with suspected lung cancer by using bronchial fluid aspirated during bronchoscopy. Such a biomarker would be ...clinically valuable, especially when, following the first bronchoscopy, a final diagnosis cannot be established by histology or cytology. A test with a low false positive rate can reduce the need for further invasive and costly procedures and ensure early treatment.
Marker discovery was carried out by differential methylation hybridization (DMH) and real-time PCR. The real-time PCR based HeavyMethyl technology was used for quantitative analysis of DNA methylation of SHOX2 using bronchial aspirates from two clinical centres in a case-control study. Fresh-frozen and Saccomanno-fixed samples were used to show the tumor marker performance in different sample types of clinical relevance.
Valid measurements were obtained from a total of 523 patient samples (242 controls, 281 cases). DNA methylation of SHOX2 allowed to distinguish between malignant and benign lung disease, i.e. abscesses, infections, obstructive lung diseases, sarcoidosis, scleroderma, stenoses, at high specificity (68% sensitivity 95% CI 62-73%, 95% specificity 95% CI 91-97%).
Hypermethylation of SHOX2 in bronchial aspirates appears to be a clinically useful tumor marker for identifying subjects with lung carcinoma, especially if histological and cytological findings after bronchoscopy are ambiguous.
We present a dynamical systems analysis of a decision-making mechanism inspired by collective choice in house-hunting honeybee swarms, revealing the crucial role of cross-inhibitory 'stop-signalling' ...in improving the decision-making capabilities. We show that strength of cross-inhibition is a decision-parameter influencing how decisions depend both on the difference in value and on the mean value of the alternatives; this is in contrast to many previous mechanistic models of decision-making, which are typically sensitive to decision accuracy rather than the value of the option chosen. The strength of cross-inhibition determines when deadlock over similarly valued alternatives is maintained or broken, as a function of the mean value; thus, changes in cross-inhibition strength allow adaptive time-dependent decision-making strategies. Cross-inhibition also tunes the minimum difference between alternatives required for reliable discrimination, in a manner similar to Weber's law of just-noticeable difference. Finally, cross-inhibition tunes the speed-accuracy trade-off realised when differences in the values of the alternatives are sufficiently large to matter. We propose that the model, and the significant role of the values of the alternatives, may describe other decision-making systems, including intracellular regulatory circuits, and simple neural circuits, and may provide guidance in the design of decision-making algorithms for artificial systems, particularly those functioning without centralised control.
Compaction simulators are frequently used in the formulation and process development of tablets, bringing about the advantages of flexibility, low material consumption, and high instrumentation to ...generate the most possible process understanding. However, their capability of resembling general aspects of rotary press compaction and their precision in simulating or mimicking sub-processes such as feeding and filling need to be systematically studied. The effect of material deformation behavior, blend composition, and feeding on tensile strength and simulation precision as compared with rotary presses of different scales is evaluated in this study. Generally, good simulation performance was found for the studied compaction simulator. Compaction profile-sensitivity was demonstrated for highly visco-plastic materials while shear-sensitivity in feeding was demonstrated for lubricated blends of ductile particles. Strategies for the compensation of both in compaction simulator experiments are presented by careful investigation of the compaction stress over time profiles and introduction of a compaction simulator-adapted shear number approach to account for differences in layout and operation mode between compaction simulator and rotary press, respectively. These approaches support the general aim of this study to provide a more straightforward determination of scaling process parameters between rotary press and compaction simulator and facilitate a quicker and more reliable process transfer.
„Was tun, wenn Patient*innen aufgrund von Blindheit oder Erkrankungen wie Parkinson ihre Therapieeinheiten nicht auf der Verordnung abzeichnen können? Welche Lösung gibt es, wenn sie allein in die ...Praxis kommen, also keine Angehörigen dabei sind und es aufgrund vollständiger Geschäftsfähigkeit auch keine gesetzliche Betreuung gibt? Ist dann zum Beispiel ein Unterschriftenstempel zulässig?“
Therapeut aus Sachsen
„Was tun, wenn Patient*innen aufgrund von Blindheit oder Erkrankungen wie Parkinson ihre Therapieeinheiten nicht auf der Verordnung abzeichnen können? Welche Lösung gibt es, wenn sie allein in die ...Praxis kommen, also keine Angehörigen dabei sind und es aufgrund vollständiger Geschäftsfähigkeit auch keine gesetzliche Betreuung gibt? Ist dann zum Beispiel ein Unterschriftenstempel zulässig?“
Therapeut aus Sachsen
Size selectivity of aqueous pores in Vicia leaf cuticles was investigated by measuring the penetration of calcium salts into the abaxial surface of detached leaves. Molecular weights of salts ranged ...from 111 g mol(-1) to 755 g mol(-1). Penetration in light at 20 degrees C and 100% humidity was a first order process and rate constants of penetration ranged from 0.39 h(-1) (CaCl2) to 0.058 h(-1) (Ca-lactobionate). Penetration was a first order process in the dark as well, but the rate constants were smaller by a factor of 1.82. Plotting logarithmatised rate constants versus anhydrous molecular weights resulted in straight lines both in light and in the dark. The slopes per hour were very similar and the average slope was -1.2x10(-3) mol g(-1). Hence, size selectivity was not affected by stomatal opening, and in light or darkness permeability of Vicia cuticles decreased by a factor of 2.9 when molecular weight increased from 100 g mol(-1) to 500 g mol(-1). Silver nitrate was preferentially precipitated as silver chloride in guard cells, glandular trichomes and at the base of trichomes. It was concluded that these precipitates mark the location of aqueous pores in Vicia leaf cuticles. The size selectivity of aqueous pores in Vicia leaf cuticles is small compared to that observed in poplar leaf cuticles, in which permeability decreased by a factor of 7-13 for the same range of molecular weights. It is also much smaller than size selectivity of the lipophilic pathway in cuticles. These findings suggest that active ingredients of pesticides, growth regulators and chemical inducers with high molecular weights penetrate leaves at higher rates when formulated as ions.
The classical participation approach in mobility research and urban planning in Germany involves panels, discussions and workshops. Those are mainly targeted towards local residents of urban ...districts and typically have a homogeneous, older audience. A big part of the relevant demographic cannot be reached using these participation instruments. Additionally, in contrast to car or even bike traffic, pedestrians are not very well covered in mobility research. The conventional instruments of urban planning are not suitable for the evaluation of the requirements and problems of pedestrians in urban spaces. We tackled these different problems and implemented a user-centered and in-situ participation approach for pedestrians, using a mobile application and a web app to engage pedestrians while walking. In this paper we report on our concept and its implementation as well as lessons learned from our field trial.
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