58491 research outputs found
Sort by
Correlations between gustatory, trigeminal, and olfactory functions and nasal airflow
No full textPurpose
To determine the relationship of chemosensory screening and nasal airflow tests among the same set of participants, and to determine other factors that are related to the outcomes of these tests.
Methods
Participants had no chemosensory complaints. Structured medical history was taken. Participants underwent 5 screening tests: q-sticks (orthonasal olfaction), q-powders (retronasal olfaction), trigeminal lateralization test, taste sprays, and peak nasal inspiratory flow (PNIF). Ratings of smell/taste ability and nasal airflow were obtained using visual analogue scales (VAS). Composite sinusitis symptoms and significance of olfaction questionnaire scores were also determined.
Results
Four hundred participants were included in the study, 156 men, 244 women; aged 18–82 years (mean: 46). The q-powders and taste spray scores were weakly positively correlated with all the other chemosensory tests and PNIF. However, chemosensory test scores were not correlated with VAS, composite sinusitis symptoms, and significance of olfaction questionnaire scores. Various tests showed significant decrease starting at specific ages (in years, PNIF and trigeminal lateralization: 40, q-powders: 60, and q-sticks: 70).
Conclusion
Chemosensory screening tests and self-rated chemosensory function showed no correlation in participants without chemosensory complaints. In addition, gustatory function appeared to be correlated with olfactory and trigeminal function but also with nasal airflow, and nasal airflow was related not only to olfactory but also to trigeminal and taste function. Over all, the results suggest that chemosensory functions (orthonasal olfactory, trigeminal, retronasal olfactory, gustatory) and nasal airflow are correlated with each other, which we propose may be possibly mediated, at least in part, through central nervous system interactions
Co-creation of business models for smallholder forest farmers’ organizations: Lessons learned from rural Ethiopia and Tanzania
No full textForest farmers’ organizations (FFOs) have recently gained scholarly attention as a collective action instrument to upgrade value chains. However, insights into possible business models and organizational forms of FFOs remain fragmented. This study thus aimed to co-create FFO business models in order to assess the business models in the context of the regulatory framework and the value chain upgrading theory. The Input–Output scheme and the Business Model Canvas (BMC) were merged to create an analytical lens. Participatory workshops with two farmers’ organizations, each in Ethiopia and Tanzania, were conducted and triangulated with ten focus group discussions and 25 key informant interviews. The co-created business models reflected the grassroots entrepreneurial potential of smallholders to envision FFOs. The gaps requiring external support, namely the know-how in accessing microfinance, silvicultural practices, and entrepreneurship, were revealed. We argue that the transformation from a farmers’ organization to an FFO enables wood value chain upgrading. Diversifying wood with non-wood products is key for FFOs. Regardless of how the regulatory framework shapes external support, the local government plays a pivotal role in facilitating the connection between FFOs and (non-)governmental support actors. Through this research, we develop suggestions for further empirical studies and offer several recommendations for decision-makers
Carbon reinforced concrete exposed to high temperatures
No full textThe material behavior of carbon reinforced concrete exposed to high temperatures was examined in 118 tensile and 81 bond tests using two material combinations. This analysis served to determine resilient material values under temperature influence for current carbon reinforcements and to show starting points for further test series. In this article, the test specimens for the tensile and bond tests are described in detail as well as the used test setup. Special attention is given to the physical–chemical behavior of the impregnated material, which were analyzed namely with dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Finally, the results of the tensile and bond tests under different temperature exposures are presented and classified
Anisotropy and relaminarisation of the turbulent flow near a rotating cylindrical cavity wall
No full textRotor internal cooling is a new concept for high power density electric vehicle drives. A turbulent pipe flow is injected into a cylindrical cavity in the rotor shaft of the motor. The flow is deflected in the cavity, accelerated in circumferential direction by the rotor wall and exits through an annular duct with the outer wall rotating. Due to the opposing effects of rotation on turbulence, a complex transitional flow develops. The strong shear layer in the jet region causes high turbulence production. On the other hand, these fluctuations are damped by the centrifugal forces due to the flow rotation. To investigate the influences of the rotation on the turbulence properties and the mean flow, highly resolved large eddy simulations are performed. It is shown that the turbulence production and attenuation due to rotation affect different components of the Reynolds shear stress tensor. This results in highly anisotropic turbulence. In certain areas, where the turbulence attenuation is strongest, the flow even relaminarises. Since the cooling efficiency depends on the turbulent heat transfer of the flow, the local turbulence characteristics are key quantities for the cooling application
A Halo abstraction for distributed n-dimensional structured grids within the C++ PGAS library DASH
No full textThe Partitioned Global Address Space (PGAS) library DASH provides C++ container classes for distributed N-dimensional structured grids. This article presents enhancements on top of the DASH library to support stencil operations and halo areas to conveniently and efficiently parallelize structured grids. The improvements include definitions of multiple stencil operators, automatic derivation of halo sizes, efficient halo data exchanges, as well as communication hiding optimizations. The main contributions of this article are two-fold. First, the halo abstraction concept and the halo wrapper software components are explained. Second, the code complexity and the runtime of an example code implemented in DASH and pure Message Passing Interface (MPI) are compared
SetQuence & SetOmic: Deep set transformers for whole genome and exome tumour analysis
No full textIn oncology, Deep Learning has shown great potential to personalise tasks such as tumour type classification, based on per-patient omics data-sets. Being high dimensional, incorporation of such data in one model is a challenge, often leading to one-dimensional studies and, therefore, information loss. Instead, we first propose relying on non-fixed sets of whole genome or whole exome variant-associated sequences, which can be used for supervised learning of oncology-relevant tasks by our Set Transformer based Deep Neural Network, SetQuence. We optimise this architecture to improve its efficiency. This allows for exploration of not just coding but also non-coding variants, from large datasets. Second, we extend the model to incorporate these representations together with multiple other sources of omics data in a flexible way with SetOmic. Evaluation, using these representations, shows improved robustness and reduced information loss compared to previous approaches, while still being computationally tractable. By means of Explainable Artificial Intelligence methods, our models are able to recapitulate the biological contribution of highly attributed features in the tumours studied. This validation opens the door to novel directions in multi-faceted genome and exome wide biomarker discovery and personalised treatment among other presently clinically relevant tasks
A dynamic ALE formulation for structures under moving loads
No full textThis work describes the implementation of a novel dynamic Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) formulation for the simulation of pavement structures loaded by rolling tires in a finite element framework. The proposed formulation enables the simulation of dynamic effects like acceleration, deceleration and variation of the wheel load on the pavement. The ALE scheme is described for a hyperelastic St. Venant-Kirchhoff material capable of finite deformations. With the adoption of this dynamic ALE formulation, a significant improvement in terms of speed and efficiency of the simulation is achieved in comparison to a classical transient Lagrangian formulation. This is primarily because only the relevant portion of the mesh around the applied load needs to be discretized and simulated. Another benefit is that a cumbersome moving load formulation does not need to be implemented. The results show satisfactory agreement with a conventional Lagrangian simulation with a moving load
Arten- und Biotopschutzkonzept: Neuer Annenfriedhof
No full textDer Neue Annenfriedhof ist die größte Grünanlage in Dresden-Löbtau. Neben seiner Funktion als Friedhof wird er von Anwohner*innen als Erholungsraum geschätzt und ist nicht nur als Gartendenkmal, sondern auch aus naturschutzfachlicher Sicht sehr wertvoll. Nicht zuletzt deuten einige faunistische Gutachten darauf hin, dass es sich um einen innerstädtischen Hotspot der Biodiversität handelt. Wie kann dieser geschützt und gestärkt werden? Wie lässt sich Naturschutz mit den anderen Funktionen des Friedhofs in Einklang bringen?
Ziel der Masterarbeit war es, im Rahmen eines Arten- und Biotopschutzkonzepts für den Neuen Annenfriedhof entsprechende Maßnahmen zu erarbeiten und dabei die Aufgaben der Anlage als Friedhof, Erholungsraum und Denkmal zu berücksichtigen.:1 EINLEITUNG
1.1 Problemstellung
1.2 Ziel der Arbeit
1.3 Vorgehensweise
2 ANALYSE & BEWERTUNG
2.1 Grundlagen
2.1.1 Lage
2.1.2 Bestandsplan
2.1.3 Historie
2.1.4 Charakteristik des Neuen Annenfriedhofs
2.1.5 Standortbedingungen - abiotische Faktoren
2.1.5.1 Klima
2.1.5.2 Boden & Wasserhaushalt
2.1.6 Vegetation
2.1.7 Erwähnenswerte architektonische Besonderheiten
2.2 Anforderungsprofile
2.2.1 Friedhofsnutzung
2.2.2 Erholungsnutzung
2.2.3 Denkmalschutz
2.2.4 Naturschutz
2.2.4.1 Wert als Biotop
2.2.4.1.1 Biotoptypen
2.2.4.1.2 Einzelbiotopbewertung
2.2.4.2 Wert als Habitat
2.2.4.2.1 Artvorkommen
2.2.4.2.2 Zielarten
2.2.4.2.3 Habitatkomplexe
2.2.4.3 Einbindung in Biotopverbundsystem
2.2.4.4 Gefährdungen
3 NATURSCHUTZFACHLICHES KONZEPT
3.1 Naturschutzfachliches Rahmenkonzept
4 KONFLIKTE UND SYNERGIEN DER NUTZUNGEN
4.1 Friedhofsnutzung und Naturschutz
4.2 Denkmalpflege und Naturschutz
4.3 Freiraumnutzung und Naturschutz
5 GESAMTKONZEPT
6 MAßNAHMENKATALOG
6.1 Maßnahmenkatalog - Biotopbausteine Friedhof
6.2 Maßnahmenkatalog - Zielräume
6.3 Maßnahmenkatalog - Zielarten
6.9 Mähplan
7 FAZIT UND AUSBLICK
7.1 Methodenkritik
8 VERZEICHNISSE
8.1 Abkürzungsverzeichnis
8.2 Tabellenverzeichnis
8.3 Abbildungsverzeichnis
8.4 Quellen
8.4.1 Literatur
8.4.2 Internetquellen
8.4.3 Rechtsquellen
8.4.4 Kartografische Quellen
8.4.5 Fachkonsultationen
ANHANG
PLÄN
Changes of the Arctic Ocean halocline and its relationship to Arctic climate change
No full textThe halocline layer plays a crucial role in the Arctic Ocean stratification by separating the sea ice on top of the surface mixed layer (SML) from the heat of the Atlantic Water (AW) below. This is due to the layer’s strong vertical salinity and density gradients, which provide great stability. However, this layer is not as persistent as expected, according to observations (e.g. Steele and Boyd, 1998; Björk et al., 2002; Polyakov et al., 2017). Especially in the context of climate change and Arctic amplification, a continuous description and reliable detection method of the halocline is important. In this thesis different perspectives are used to analyse the Arctic halocline layer. The focus is on the representation and detection of the halocline layer in ocean circulation models and observations.
First, the relationship between energy fluxes at the ocean and ice surface and the persistence of the halocline is analysed in an ensemble of 15 ocean circulation models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5. An increase in the surface energy flux is found in climate projections, which is not locally balanced. This is proposed to be caused partly by a significant decrease in the persistence of the halocline layer found in the models, supporting the idea of “atlantification” described by Polyakov et al. (2018).
Various methods have been used to determine the depth of the halocline base. Since the temperature difference method proposed in the author’s master’s thesis and the commonly used density ratio method proposed by Bourgain and Gascard (2011) produce many artefacts, a new method is developed in this thesis. Although the density ratio is more closely related to the definition of the halocline layer, the new method is based on vertical stability as it is strongly associated with the role of the halocline in preventing vertical mixing. Furthermore, the new method is not limited to the inner regions of the Arctic Ocean and it has been successfully used to capture the beginning of a new halocline formation in the western Eurasian Basin.:1 Introduction
2 A models’ view on the Arctic Ocean surface energy flux and the temporal change of the cold halocline
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Materials and methods
2.2.1 Model data
2.2.2 Diagnostics
2.3 Results
2.3.1 Surface Energy Fluxes
2.3.2 Halocline Diagnostics
2.3.3 Spatial distribution of Halocline Thinning Events
2.3.4 Seasonality of Cold Halocline Thinning Events
2.3.5 Correlation with Sea Ice and inflow of Atlantic Water
2.4 Discussion
3 Evaluation of the halocline in the ICON-Ocean model using tracks and Arctic wide maps
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Model, data and methods
3.2.1 Model data from experimental ICON-Ocean model
3.2.2 Observational data
3.2.3 Kriging
3.2.4 Halocline layer diagnostics
3.3 Results
3.3.1 Comparison along ITP-tracks
3.3.2 Influence of model output frequency on estimated halocline properties
3.3.3 Arctic wide comparison
3.4 Discussion
4 A new method for the halocline base depending on vertical stability
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Methods and Data
4.2.1 Methods for estimating the halocline base depth
4.2.2 Cold halostad (CHS) boundary and center estimates
4.2.3 SML depth estimate
4.2.4 Data and preprocessing
4.3 Results
4.3.1 Comparison of methods for deriving halocline base depth using case studies
4.3.2 Statistical comparison of the halocline base depth and occurrence frequency from different methods
4.3.3 Estimation of cold halostad boundaries
4.4 Discussion
5 Trend of the halocline structure in the Arctic ocean from observations
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Methods
5.2.1 Halocline layer boundary depths
5.2.2 Data
5.2.3 Empirical Orthogonal functions of the stability profile
5.2.4 Trend-analysis
5.3 Results
5.3.1 Stability structure within the halocline
5.3.2 EOF coefficient trends
5.3.3 Trends of the SML and halocline base depths
5.4 Discussion
6 Summary and Conclusions
Appendices
A Appendix A
B Appendix B
C Appendix C
D Appendix D
References
List of abbreviations and acronyms
List of tables
List of figures
AcknowledgementDie kalte Halokline spielt eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Schichtung im Arktischen Ozean, indem sie das Meereis oberhalb der gemischten Oberflächenschicht (SML) von der Wärme des Atlantikwassers (AW) darunter trennt. Dies ist auf die starken vertikalen Salzgehalts- und Dichtegradienten der Schicht zurückzuführen, die für große Stabilität sorgen. Allerdings ist diese Schicht nicht so beständig wie erwartet, wie Beobachtungen zeigen (z.B. Steele and Boyd, 1998; Björk et al., 2002; Polyakov et al., 2017). Gerade im Zusammenhang mit dem Klimawandel und der Arktischen Verstärkung (Arctic Amplification) ist eine kontinuierliche Beschreibung und verlässliche Bestimmungsmethode der Halokline wichtig. In dieser Arbeit wurden verschiedene Perspektiven zur Analyse der arktischen Halokline eingenommen. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Repräsentation und Erkennung der Halokline-Schicht in Ozeanzirkulationsmodellen und Beobachtungen.
Zunächst wird der Zusammenhang zwischen Energieflüssen an der Ozean-bzw. Eisoberfläche und der Beständigkeit der Halokline in einem Ensemble von 15 Ozeanzirkulationsmodellen aus dem Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 untersucht. Dabei wird in den Klimaprojektionen ein Anstieg des Oberflächenenergieflusses festgestellt, der lokal nicht ausgeglichen ist. Es wird angenommen, dass dies zum Teil durch eine signifikante Abnahme der Persistenz der Halokline-Schicht in den Modellen verursacht wird, was die von Polyakov et al. (2018) beschriebene Idee der “Atlantifizierung” unterstützt.
Um die Tiefe der Haloklinenunterkante zu bestimmen, wurden mehrere Methoden verwendet. Da die in der Masterarbeit des Autors vorgeschlagene Temperaturdifferenzmethode und die von Bourgain and Gascard (2011) vorgeschlagene, häufig verwendete Dichteverhältnismethode viele Artefakte erzeugen, wird in dieser Arbeit eine neue Methode entwickelt. Obwohl das Dichteverhältnis enger mit der Definition der Haloklinenschicht verbunden ist, basiert die neue Methode auf der vertikalen Stabilität, da sie eng mit der Rolle der Halokline, die vertikalen Durchmischung zu unterdrücken, zusammenhängt. Außerdem ist die neue Methode nicht auf die inneren Regionen des Arktischen Ozeans beschränkt und konnte zudem erfolgreich zur Erfassung des Beginns der Bildung einer neuen Halokline im westlichen Eurasischen Becken eingesetzt werden.:1 Introduction
2 A models’ view on the Arctic Ocean surface energy flux and the temporal change of the cold halocline
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Materials and methods
2.2.1 Model data
2.2.2 Diagnostics
2.3 Results
2.3.1 Surface Energy Fluxes
2.3.2 Halocline Diagnostics
2.3.3 Spatial distribution of Halocline Thinning Events
2.3.4 Seasonality of Cold Halocline Thinning Events
2.3.5 Correlation with Sea Ice and inflow of Atlantic Water
2.4 Discussion
3 Evaluation of the halocline in the ICON-Ocean model using tracks and Arctic wide maps
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Model, data and methods
3.2.1 Model data from experimental ICON-Ocean model
3.2.2 Observational data
3.2.3 Kriging
3.2.4 Halocline layer diagnostics
3.3 Results
3.3.1 Comparison along ITP-tracks
3.3.2 Influence of model output frequency on estimated halocline properties
3.3.3 Arctic wide comparison
3.4 Discussion
4 A new method for the halocline base depending on vertical stability
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Methods and Data
4.2.1 Methods for estimating the halocline base depth
4.2.2 Cold halostad (CHS) boundary and center estimates
4.2.3 SML depth estimate
4.2.4 Data and preprocessing
4.3 Results
4.3.1 Comparison of methods for deriving halocline base depth using case studies
4.3.2 Statistical comparison of the halocline base depth and occurrence frequency from different methods
4.3.3 Estimation of cold halostad boundaries
4.4 Discussion
5 Trend of the halocline structure in the Arctic ocean from observations
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Methods
5.2.1 Halocline layer boundary depths
5.2.2 Data
5.2.3 Empirical Orthogonal functions of the stability profile
5.2.4 Trend-analysis
5.3 Results
5.3.1 Stability structure within the halocline
5.3.2 EOF coefficient trends
5.3.3 Trends of the SML and halocline base depths
5.4 Discussion
6 Summary and Conclusions
Appendices
A Appendix A
B Appendix B
C Appendix C
D Appendix D
References
List of abbreviations and acronyms
List of tables
List of figures
Acknowledgemen