@misc{TopcuMadabhushiStaat2022, author = {Topcu, Murat and Madabhushi, Gopal Santana Phani and Staat, Manfred}, title = {Datasets from FEM Simulations done with COMSOL Multiphysics and Code_Aster}, doi = {10.6084/m9.figshare.19333295.v2}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Datasets from FEM Simulations done with COMSOL Multiphysics and Code_Aster for an elastic stress transfer between matrix and fibres having a variable radius.}, language = {en} } @article{ThiebesKleinZingsheimetal.2022, author = {Thiebes, Anja Lena and Klein, Sarah and Zingsheim, Jonas and M{\"o}ller, Georg H. and G{\"u}rzing, Stefanie and Reddemann, Manuel A. and Behbahani, Mehdi and Cornelissen, Christian G.}, title = {Effervescent atomizer as novel cell spray technology to decrease the gas-to-liquid ratio}, series = {pharmaceutics}, volume = {14}, journal = {pharmaceutics}, number = {11}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, doi = {10.3390/pharmaceutics14112421}, pages = {Artikel 2421}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Cell spraying has become a feasible application method for cell therapy and tissue engineering approaches. Different devices have been used with varying success. Often, twin-fluid atomizers are used, which require a high gas velocity for optimal aerosolization characteristics. To decrease the amount and velocity of required air, a custom-made atomizer was designed based on the effervescent principle. Different designs were evaluated regarding spray characteristics and their influence on human adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells. The arithmetic mean diameters of the droplets were 15.4-33.5 µm with decreasing diameters for increasing gas-to-liquid ratios. The survival rate was >90\% of the control for the lowest gas-to-liquid ratio. For higher ratios, cell survival decreased to approximately 50\%. Further experiments were performed with the design, which had shown the highest survival rates. After seven days, no significant differences in metabolic activity were observed. The apoptosis rates were not influenced by aerosolization, while high gas-to-liquid ratios caused increased necrosis levels. Tri-lineage differentiation potential into adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts was not negatively influenced by aerosolization. Thus, the effervescent aerosolization principle was proven suitable for cell applications requiring reduced amounts of supplied air. This is the first time an effervescent atomizer was used for cell processing.}, language = {en} } @book{Laack2022, author = {Laack, Walter van}, title = {Greater Than the Entire Universe}, publisher = {van Laack GmbH}, address = {Aachen}, isbn = {978-3-936624-52-6}, pages = {120 Seiten}, year = {2022}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{StaatTran2022, author = {Staat, Manfred and Tran, Ngoc Trinh}, title = {Strain based brittle failure criteria for rocks}, series = {Proceedings of (NACOME2022) The 11th National Conference on Mechanics, Vol. 1. Solid Mechanics, Rock Mechanics, Artificial Intelligence, Teaching and Training}, booktitle = {Proceedings of (NACOME2022) The 11th National Conference on Mechanics, Vol. 1. Solid Mechanics, Rock Mechanics, Artificial Intelligence, Teaching and Training}, publisher = {Nha xuat ban Khoa hoc tu nhien va Cong nghe (Verlag Naturwissenschaft und Technik)}, address = {Hanoi}, isbn = {978-604-357-084-7}, pages = {500 -- 509}, year = {2022}, abstract = {When confining pressure is low or absent, extensional fractures are typical, with fractures occurring on unloaded planes in rock. These "paradox" fractures can be explained by a phenomenological extension strain failure criterion. In the past, a simple empirical criterion for fracture initiation in brittle rock has been developed. But this criterion makes unrealistic strength predictions in biaxial compression and tension. A new extension strain criterion overcomes this limitation by adding a weighted principal shear component. The weight is chosen, such that the enriched extension strain criterion represents the same failure surface as the Mohr-Coulomb (MC) criterion. Thus, the MC criterion has been derived as an extension strain criterion predicting failure modes, which are unexpected in the understanding of the failure of cohesive-frictional materials. In progressive damage of rock, the most likely fracture direction is orthogonal to the maximum extension strain. The enriched extension strain criterion is proposed as a threshold surface for crack initiation CI and crack damage CD and as a failure surface at peak P. Examples show that the enriched extension strain criterion predicts much lower volumes of damaged rock mass compared to the simple extension strain criterion.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{Gaigall2022, author = {Gaigall, Daniel}, title = {On Consistent Hypothesis Testing In General Hilbert Spaces}, series = {Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Statistics: Theory and Applications (ICSTA'22)}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Statistics: Theory and Applications (ICSTA'22)}, publisher = {Avestia Publishing}, address = {Orl{\´e}ans, Kanada}, doi = {10.11159/icsta22.157}, pages = {Paper No. 157}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Inference on the basis of high-dimensional and functional data are two topics which are discussed frequently in the current statistical literature. A possibility to include both topics in a single approach is working on a very general space for the underlying observations, such as a separable Hilbert space. We propose a general method for consistently hypothesis testing on the basis of random variables with values in separable Hilbert spaces. We avoid concerns with the curse of dimensionality due to a projection idea. We apply well-known test statistics from nonparametric inference to the projected data and integrate over all projections from a specific set and with respect to suitable probability measures. In contrast to classical methods, which are applicable for real-valued random variables or random vectors of dimensions lower than the sample size, the tests can be applied to random vectors of dimensions larger than the sample size or even to functional and high-dimensional data. In general, resampling procedures such as bootstrap or permutation are suitable to determine critical values. The idea can be extended to the case of incomplete observations. Moreover, we develop an efficient algorithm for implementing the method. Examples are given for testing goodness-of-fit in a one-sample situation in [1] or for testing marginal homogeneity on the basis of a paired sample in [2]. Here, the test statistics in use can be seen as generalizations of the well-known Cram{\´e}rvon-Mises test statistics in the one-sample and two-samples case. The treatment of other testing problems is possible as well. By using the theory of U-statistics, for instance, asymptotic null distributions of the test statistics are obtained as the sample size tends to infinity. Standard continuity assumptions ensure the asymptotic exactness of the tests under the null hypothesis and that the tests detect any alternative in the limit. Simulation studies demonstrate size and power of the tests in the finite sample case, confirm the theoretical findings, and are used for the comparison with concurring procedures. A possible application of the general approach is inference for stock market returns, also in high data frequencies. In the field of empirical finance, statistical inference of stock market prices usually takes place on the basis of related log-returns as data. In the classical models for stock prices, i.e., the exponential L{\´e}vy model, Black-Scholes model, and Merton model, properties such as independence and stationarity of the increments ensure an independent and identically structure of the data. Specific trends during certain periods of the stock price processes can cause complications in this regard. In fact, our approach can compensate those effects by the treatment of the log-returns as random vectors or even as functional data.}, language = {en} } @article{RuebbelkeVoegeleGrajewskietal.2023, author = {R{\"u}bbelke, Dirk and V{\"o}gele, Stefan and Grajewski, Matthias and Zobel, Luzy}, title = {Cross border adjustment mechanism: Initial data for the assessment of hydrogen-based steel production}, series = {Data in Brief}, volume = {47}, journal = {Data in Brief}, number = {Article 108907}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {2352-3409}, doi = {10.1016/j.dib.2023.108907}, pages = {1 -- 5}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Ambitious climate targets affect the competitiveness of industries in the international market. To prevent such industries from moving to other countries in the wake of increased climate protection efforts, cost adjustments may become necessary. Their design requires knowledge of country-specific production costs. Here, we present country-specific cost figures for different production routes of steel, paying particular attention to transportation costs. The data can be used in floor price models aiming to assess the competitiveness of different steel production routes in different countries (R{\"u}bbelke, 2022).}, language = {en} } @article{RingersBialonskiEgeetal.2023, author = {Ringers, Christa and Bialonski, Stephan and Ege, Mert and Solovev, Anton and Hansen, Jan Niklas and Jeong, Inyoung and Friedrich, Benjamin M. and Jurisch-Yaksi, Nathalie}, title = {Novel analytical tools reveal that local synchronization of cilia coincides with tissue-scale metachronal waves in zebrafish multiciliated epithelia}, series = {eLife}, volume = {12}, journal = {eLife}, publisher = {eLife Sciences Publications}, issn = {2050-084X}, doi = {10.7554/eLife.77701}, pages = {27 Seiten}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Motile cilia are hair-like cell extensions that beat periodically to generate fluid flow along various epithelial tissues within the body. In dense multiciliated carpets, cilia were shown to exhibit a remarkable coordination of their beat in the form of traveling metachronal waves, a phenomenon which supposedly enhances fluid transport. Yet, how cilia coordinate their regular beat in multiciliated epithelia to move fluids remains insufficiently understood, particularly due to lack of rigorous quantification. We combine experiments, novel analysis tools, and theory to address this knowledge gap. To investigate collective dynamics of cilia, we studied zebrafish multiciliated epithelia in the nose and the brain. We focused mainly on the zebrafish nose, due to its conserved properties with other ciliated tissues and its superior accessibility for non-invasive imaging. We revealed that cilia are synchronized only locally and that the size of local synchronization domains increases with the viscosity of the surrounding medium. Even though synchronization is local only, we observed global patterns of traveling metachronal waves across the zebrafish multiciliated epithelium. Intriguingly, these global wave direction patterns are conserved across individual fish, but different for left and right noses, unveiling a chiral asymmetry of metachronal coordination. To understand the implications of synchronization for fluid pumping, we used a computational model of a regular array of cilia. We found that local metachronal synchronization prevents steric collisions, i.e., cilia colliding with each other, and improves fluid pumping in dense cilia carpets, but hardly affects the direction of fluid flow. In conclusion, we show that local synchronization together with tissue-scale cilia alignment coincide and generate metachronal wave patterns in multiciliated epithelia, which enhance their physiological function of fluid pumping.}, language = {en} } @article{MoraisSumanSchoeningetal.2023, author = {Morais, Paulo V. and Suman, Pedro H. and Sch{\"o}ning, Michael Josef and Siqueira Junior, Jos{\´e} R. and Orlandi, Marcelo O.}, title = {Layer-by-layer film based on Sn₃O₄ nanobelts as sensing units to detect heavy metals using a capacitive field-effect sensor platform}, series = {Chemosensors}, volume = {11}, journal = {Chemosensors}, number = {8}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2227-9040}, doi = {10.3390/chemosensors11080436}, pages = {Artikel 436}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Lead and nickel, as heavy metals, are still used in industrial processes, and are classified as "environmental health hazards" due to their toxicity and polluting potential. The detection of heavy metals can prevent environmental pollution at toxic levels that are critical to human health. In this sense, the electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor (EIS) field-effect sensor is an attractive sensing platform concerning the fabrication of reusable and robust sensors to detect such substances. This study is aimed to fabricate a sensing unit on an EIS device based on Sn₃O₄ nanobelts embedded in a polyelectrolyte matrix of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) using the layer-by-layer (LbL) technique. The EIS-Sn₃O₄ sensor exhibited enhanced electrochemical performance for detecting Pb²⁺ and Ni²⁺ ions, revealing a higher affinity for Pb²⁺ ions, with sensitivities of ca. 25.8 mV/decade and 2.4 mV/decade, respectively. Such results indicate that Sn₃O₄ nanobelts can contemplate a feasible proof-of-concept capacitive field-effect sensor for heavy metal detection, envisaging other future studies focusing on environmental monitoring.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Gaigall2023, author = {Gaigall, Daniel}, title = {On selected problems in multivariate analysis}, doi = {10.15488/14304}, pages = {17 Seiten}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Selected problems in the field of multivariate statistical analysis are treated. Thereby, one focus is on the paired sample case. Among other things, statistical testing problems of marginal homogeneity are under consideration. In detail, properties of Hotelling's T² test in a special parametric situation are obtained. Moreover, the nonparametric problem of marginal homogeneity is discussed on the basis of possibly incomplete data. In the bivariate data case, properties of the Hoeffding-Blum-Kiefer-Rosenblatt independence test statistic on the basis of partly not identically distributed data are investigated. Similar testing problems are treated within the scope of the application of a result for the empirical process of the concomitants for partly categorial data. Furthermore, testing changes in the modeled solvency capital requirement of an insurance company by means of a paired sample from an internal risk model is discussed. Beyond the paired sample case, a new asymptotic relative efficiency concept based on the expected volumes of multidimensional confidence regions is introduced. Besides, a new approach for the treatment of the multi-sample goodness-of-fit problem is presented. Finally, a consistent test for the treatment of the goodness-of-fit problem is developed for the background of huge or infinite dimensional data.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BuesgenKloeserKohletal.2023, author = {B{\"u}sgen, Andr{\´e} and Kl{\"o}ser, Lars and Kohl, Philipp and Schmidts, Oliver and Kraft, Bodo and Z{\"u}ndorf, Albert}, title = {From cracked accounts to fake IDs: user profiling on German telegram black market channels}, series = {Data Management Technologies and Applications}, booktitle = {Data Management Technologies and Applications}, editor = {Cuzzocrea, Alfredo and Gusikhin, Oleg and Hammoudi, Slimane and Quix, Christoph}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-031-37889-8 (Print)}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-37890-4_9}, pages = {176 -- 202}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Messenger apps like WhatsApp and Telegram are frequently used for everyday communication, but they can also be utilized as a platform for illegal activity. Telegram allows public groups with up to 200.000 participants. Criminals use these public groups for trading illegal commodities and services, which becomes a concern for law enforcement agencies, who manually monitor suspicious activity in these chat rooms. This research demonstrates how natural language processing (NLP) can assist in analyzing these chat rooms, providing an explorative overview of the domain and facilitating purposeful analyses of user behavior. We provide a publicly available corpus of annotated text messages with entities and relations from four self-proclaimed black market chat rooms. Our pipeline approach aggregates the extracted product attributes from user messages to profiles and uses these with their sold products as features for clustering. The extracted structured information is the foundation for further data exploration, such as identifying the top vendors or fine-granular price analyses. Our evaluation shows that pretrained word vectors perform better for unsupervised clustering than state-of-the-art transformer models, while the latter is still superior for sequence labeling.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KohlFreyerKraemeretal.2023, author = {Kohl, Philipp and Freyer, Nils and Kr{\"a}mer, Yoka and Werth, Henri and Wolf, Steffen and Kraft, Bodo and Meinecke, Matthias and Z{\"u}ndorf, Albert}, title = {ALE: a simulation-based active learning evaluation framework for the parameter-driven comparison of query strategies for NLP}, series = {Deep Learning Theory and Applications}, booktitle = {Deep Learning Theory and Applications}, editor = {Conte, Donatello and Fred, Ana and Gusikhin, Oleg and Sansone, Carlo}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-031-39058-6 (Print)}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-39059-3_16}, pages = {235 -- 253}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Supervised machine learning and deep learning require a large amount of labeled data, which data scientists obtain in a manual, and time-consuming annotation process. To mitigate this challenge, Active Learning (AL) proposes promising data points to annotators they annotate next instead of a subsequent or random sample. This method is supposed to save annotation effort while maintaining model performance. However, practitioners face many AL strategies for different tasks and need an empirical basis to choose between them. Surveys categorize AL strategies into taxonomies without performance indications. Presentations of novel AL strategies compare the performance to a small subset of strategies. Our contribution addresses the empirical basis by introducing a reproducible active learning evaluation (ALE) framework for the comparative evaluation of AL strategies in NLP. The framework allows the implementation of AL strategies with low effort and a fair data-driven comparison through defining and tracking experiment parameters (e.g., initial dataset size, number of data points per query step, and the budget). ALE helps practitioners to make more informed decisions, and researchers can focus on developing new, effective AL strategies and deriving best practices for specific use cases. With best practices, practitioners can lower their annotation costs. We present a case study to illustrate how to use the framework.}, language = {en} } @article{WaldvogelFreylerHelmetal.2023, author = {Waldvogel, Janice and Freyler, Kathrin and Helm, Michael and Monti, Elena and St{\"a}udle, Benjamin and Gollhofer, Albert and Narici, Marco V. and Ritzmann, Ramona and Albracht, Kirsten}, title = {Changes in gravity affect neuromuscular control, biomechanics, and muscle-tendon mechanics in energy storage and dissipation tasks}, series = {Journal of Applied Physiology}, volume = {134}, journal = {Journal of Applied Physiology}, number = {1}, publisher = {American Physiological Society}, address = {Bethesda, Md.}, issn = {1522-1601 (Onlineausgabe)}, doi = {10.1152/japplphysiol.00279.2022}, pages = {190 -- 202}, year = {2023}, abstract = {This study evaluates neuromechanical control and muscle-tendon interaction during energy storage and dissipation tasks in hypergravity. During parabolic flights, while 17 subjects performed drop jumps (DJs) and drop landings (DLs), electromyography (EMG) of the lower limb muscles was combined with in vivo fascicle dynamics of the gastrocnemius medialis, two-dimensional (2D) kinematics, and kinetics to measure and analyze changes in energy management. Comparisons were made between movement modalities executed in hypergravity (1.8 G) and gravity on ground (1 G). In 1.8 G, ankle dorsiflexion, knee joint flexion, and vertical center of mass (COM) displacement are lower in DJs than in DLs; within each movement modality, joint flexion amplitudes and COM displacement demonstrate higher values in 1.8 G than in 1 G. Concomitantly, negative peak ankle joint power, vertical ground reaction forces, and leg stiffness are similar between both movement modalities (1.8 G). In DJs, EMG activity in 1.8 G is lower during the COM deceleration phase than in 1 G, thus impairing quasi-isometric fascicle behavior. In DLs, EMG activity before and during the COM deceleration phase is higher, and fascicles are stretched less in 1.8 G than in 1 G. Compared with the situation in 1 G, highly task-specific neuromuscular activity is diminished in 1.8 G, resulting in fascicle lengthening in both movement modalities. Specifically, in DJs, a high magnitude of neuromuscular activity is impaired, resulting in altered energy storage. In contrast, in DLs, linear stiffening of the system due to higher neuromuscular activity combined with lower fascicle stretch enhances the buffering function of the tendon, and thus the capacity to safely dissipate energy.}, language = {en} } @article{HeieisBoeckerD'Angeloetal.2023, author = {Heieis, Jule and B{\"o}cker, Jonas and D'Angelo, Olfa and Mittag, Uwe and Albracht, Kirsten and Sch{\"o}nau, Eckhard and Meyer, Andreas and Voigtmann, Thomas and Rittweger, J{\"o}rn}, title = {Curvature of gastrocnemius muscle fascicles as function of muscle-tendon complex length and contraction in humans}, series = {Physiological Reports}, volume = {11}, journal = {Physiological Reports}, number = {11}, publisher = {Wiley}, issn = {2051-817X}, doi = {10.14814/phy2.15739}, pages = {e15739, Seite 1-11}, year = {2023}, abstract = {It has been shown that muscle fascicle curvature increases with increasing contraction level and decreasing muscle-tendon complex length. The analyses were done with limited examination windows concerning contraction level, muscle-tendon complex length, and/or intramuscular position of ultrasound imaging. With this study we aimed to investigate the correlation between fascicle arching and contraction, muscle-tendon complex length and their associated architectural parameters in gastrocnemius muscles to develop hypotheses concerning the fundamental mechanism of fascicle curving. Twelve participants were tested in five different positions (90°/105°*, 90°/90°*, 135°/90°*, 170°/90°*, and 170°/75°*; *knee/ankle angle). They performed isometric contractions at four different contraction levels (5\%, 25\%, 50\%, and 75\% of maximum voluntary contraction) in each position. Panoramic ultrasound images of gastrocnemius muscles were collected at rest and during constant contraction. Aponeuroses and fascicles were tracked in all ultrasound images and the parameters fascicle curvature, muscle-tendon complex strain, contraction level, pennation angle, fascicle length, fascicle strain, intramuscular position, sex and age group were analyzed by linear mixed effect models. Mean fascicle curvature of the medial gastrocnemius increased with contraction level (+5 m-1 from 0\% to 100\%; p = 0.006). Muscle-tendon complex length had no significant impact on mean fascicle curvature. Mean pennation angle (2.2 m-1 per 10°; p < 0.001), inverse mean fascicle length (20 m-1 per cm-1; p = 0.003), and mean fascicle strain (-0.07 m-1 per +10\%; p = 0.004) correlated with mean fascicle curvature. Evidence has also been found for intermuscular, intramuscular, and sex-specific intramuscular differences of fascicle curving. Pennation angle and the inverse fascicle length show the highest predictive capacities for fascicle curving. Due to the strong correlations between pennation angle and fascicle curvature and the intramuscular pattern of curving we suggest for future studies to examine correlations between fascicle curvature and intramuscular fluid pressure.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KloeserBuesgenKohletal.2023, author = {Kl{\"o}ser, Lars and B{\"u}sgen, Andr{\´e} and Kohl, Philipp and Kraft, Bodo and Z{\"u}ndorf, Albert}, title = {Explaining relation classification models with semantic extents}, series = {Deep Learning Theory and Applications}, booktitle = {Deep Learning Theory and Applications}, editor = {Conte, Donatello and Fred, Ana and Gusikhin, Oleg and Sansone, Carlo}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-031-39058-6 (Print)}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-39059-3_13}, pages = {189 -- 208}, year = {2023}, abstract = {In recent years, the development of large pretrained language models, such as BERT and GPT, significantly improved information extraction systems on various tasks, including relation classification. State-of-the-art systems are highly accurate on scientific benchmarks. A lack of explainability is currently a complicating factor in many real-world applications. Comprehensible systems are necessary to prevent biased, counterintuitive, or harmful decisions. We introduce semantic extents, a concept to analyze decision patterns for the relation classification task. Semantic extents are the most influential parts of texts concerning classification decisions. Our definition allows similar procedures to determine semantic extents for humans and models. We provide an annotation tool and a software framework to determine semantic extents for humans and models conveniently and reproducibly. Comparing both reveals that models tend to learn shortcut patterns from data. These patterns are hard to detect with current interpretability methods, such as input reductions. Our approach can help detect and eliminate spurious decision patterns during model development. Semantic extents can increase the reliability and security of natural language processing systems. Semantic extents are an essential step in enabling applications in critical areas like healthcare or finance. Moreover, our work opens new research directions for developing methods to explain deep learning models.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{MaurerMiskiwAcostaetal.2023, author = {Maurer, Florian and Miskiw, Kim K. and Acosta, Rebeca Ramirez and Harder, Nick and Sander, Volker and Lehnhoff, Sebastian}, title = {Market abstraction of energy markets and policies - application in an agent-based modeling toolbox}, series = {EI.A 2023: Energy Informatics}, booktitle = {EI.A 2023: Energy Informatics}, editor = {Jorgensen, Bo Norregaard and Pereira da Silva, Luiz Carlos and Ma, Zheng}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-031-48651-7 (Print)}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-48652-4_10}, pages = {139 -- 157}, year = {2023}, abstract = {In light of emerging challenges in energy systems, markets are prone to changing dynamics and market design. Simulation models are commonly used to understand the changing dynamics of future electricity markets. However, existing market models were often created with specific use cases in mind, which limits their flexibility and usability. This can impose challenges for using a single model to compare different market designs. This paper introduces a new method of defining market designs for energy market simulations. The proposed concept makes it easy to incorporate different market designs into electricity market models by using relevant parameters derived from analyzing existing simulation tools, morphological categorization and ontologies. These parameters are then used to derive a market abstraction and integrate it into an agent-based simulation framework, allowing for a unified analysis of diverse market designs. Furthermore, we showcase the usability of integrating new types of long-term contracts and over-the-counter trading. To validate this approach, two case studies are demonstrated: a pay-as-clear market and a pay-as-bid long-term market. These examples demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed framework.}, language = {en} } @article{KuchlerGuenthnerRibeiroetal.2023, author = {Kuchler, Timon and G{\"u}nthner, Roman and Ribeiro, Andrea and Hausinger, Renate and Streese, Lukas and W{\"o}hnl, Anna and Kesseler, Veronika and Negele, Johanna and Assali, Tarek and Carbajo-Lozoya, Javier and Lech, Maciej and Adorjan, Kristina and Stubbe, Hans Christian and Hanssen, Henner and Kotliar, Konstantin and Haller, Berhard and Heemann, Uwe and Schmaderer, Christoph}, title = {Persistent endothelial dysfunction in post-COVID-19 syndrome and its associations with symptom severity and chronic inflammation}, volume = {26}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, address = {Dordrecht}, doi = {10.1007/s10456-023-09885-6}, pages = {547 -- 563}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Background Post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) is a lingering disease with ongoing symptoms such as fatigue and cognitive impairment resulting in a high impact on the daily life of patients. Understanding the pathophysiology of PCS is a public health priority, as it still poses a diagnostic and treatment challenge for physicians. Methods In this prospective observational cohort study, we analyzed the retinal microcirculation using Retinal Vessel Analysis (RVA) in a cohort of patients with PCS and compared it to an age- and gender-matched healthy cohort (n = 41, matched out of n = 204). Measurements and main results PCS patients exhibit persistent endothelial dysfunction (ED), as indicated by significantly lower venular flicker-induced dilation (vFID; 3.42\% ± 1.77\% vs. 4.64\% ± 2.59\%; p = 0.02), narrower central retinal artery equivalent (CRAE; 178.1 [167.5-190.2] vs. 189.1 [179.4-197.2], p = 0.01) and lower arteriolar-venular ratio (AVR; (0.84 [0.8-0.9] vs. 0.88 [0.8-0.9], p = 0.007). When combining AVR and vFID, predicted scores reached good ability to discriminate groups (area under the curve: 0.75). Higher PCS severity scores correlated with lower AVR (R = - 0.37 p = 0.017). The association of microvascular changes with PCS severity were amplified in PCS patients exhibiting higher levels of inflammatory parameters. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that prolonged endothelial dysfunction is a hallmark of PCS, and impairments of the microcirculation seem to explain ongoing symptoms in patients. As potential therapies for PCS emerge, RVA parameters may become relevant as clinical biomarkers for diagnosis and therapy management.}, language = {en} } @article{Gaigall2023, author = {Gaigall, Daniel}, title = {Allocating and forecasting changes in risk}, series = {Journal of risk}, volume = {25}, journal = {Journal of risk}, number = {3}, editor = {AitSahlia, Farid}, publisher = {Infopro Digital Risk}, address = {London}, issn = {1755-2842}, doi = {10.21314/JOR.2022.048}, pages = {1 -- 24}, year = {2023}, abstract = {We consider time-dependent portfolios and discuss the allocation of changes in the risk of a portfolio to changes in the portfolio's components. For this purpose we adopt established allocation principles. We also use our approach to obtain forecasts for changes in the risk of the portfolio's components. To put the approach into practice we present an implementation based on the output of a simulation. Allocation is illustrated with an example portfolio in the context of Solvency II. The quality of the forecasts is investigated with an empirical study.}, language = {en} } @article{Gaigall2023, author = {Gaigall, Daniel}, title = {On the applicability of several tests to models with not identically distributed random effects}, series = {Statistics : A Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics}, volume = {57}, journal = {Statistics : A Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, address = {London}, isbn = {0323-3944}, issn = {1029-4910}, doi = {10.1080/02331888.2023.2193748}, pages = {14 Seiten}, year = {2023}, abstract = {We consider Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Cram{\´e}r-von-Mises type tests for testing central symmetry, exchangeability, and independence. In the standard case, the tests are intended for the application to independent and identically distributed data with unknown distribution. The tests are available for multivariate data and bootstrap procedures are suitable to obtain critical values. We discuss the applicability of the tests to random effects models, where the random effects are independent but not necessarily identically distributed and with possibly unknown distributions. Theoretical results show the adequacy of the tests in this situation. The quality of the tests in models with random effects is investigated by simulations. Empirical results obtained confirm the theoretical findings. A real data example illustrates the application.}, language = {en} } @article{GaigallGerstenberg2023, author = {Gaigall, Daniel and Gerstenberg, Julian}, title = {Cram{\´e}r-von-Mises tests for the distribution of the excess over a confidence level}, series = {Journal of Nonparametric Statistics}, journal = {Journal of Nonparametric Statistics}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, issn = {1048-5252 (Print)}, doi = {10.1080/10485252.2023.2173958}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The Cram{\´e}r-von-Mises distance is applied to the distribution of the excess over a confidence level. Asymptotics of related statistics are investigated, and it is seen that the obtained limit distributions differ from the classical ones. For that reason, quantiles of the new limit distributions are given and new bootstrap techniques for approximation purposes are introduced and justified. The results motivate new one-sample goodness-of-fit tests for the distribution of the excess over a confidence level and a new confidence interval for the related fitting error. Simulation studies investigate size and power of the tests as well as coverage probabilities of the confidence interval in the finite sample case. A practice-oriented application of the Cram{\´e}r-von-Mises tests is the determination of an appropriate confidence level for the fitting approach. The adoption of the idea to the well-known problem of threshold detection in the context of peaks over threshold modelling is sketched and illustrated by data examples.}, language = {en} } @article{LiphardtFernandezGonzaloAlbrachtetal.2023, author = {Liphardt, Anna-Maria and Fernandez-Gonzalo, Rodrigo and Albracht, Kirsten and Rittweger, J{\"o}rn and Vico, Laurence}, title = {Musculoskeletal research in human space flight - unmet needs for the success of crewed deep space exploration}, series = {npj Microgravity}, volume = {9}, journal = {npj Microgravity}, number = {Article number: 9}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, issn = {2373-8065}, doi = {10.1038/s41526-023-00258-3}, pages = {1 -- 9}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Based on the European Space Agency (ESA) Science in Space Environment (SciSpacE) community White Paper "Human Physiology - Musculoskeletal system", this perspective highlights unmet needs and suggests new avenues for future studies in musculoskeletal research to enable crewed exploration missions. The musculoskeletal system is essential for sustaining physical function and energy metabolism, and the maintenance of health during exploration missions, and consequently mission success, will be tightly linked to musculoskeletal function. Data collection from current space missions from pre-, during-, and post-flight periods would provide important information to understand and ultimately offset musculoskeletal alterations during long-term spaceflight. In addition, understanding the kinetics of the different components of the musculoskeletal system in parallel with a detailed description of the molecular mechanisms driving these alterations appears to be the best approach to address potential musculoskeletal problems that future exploratory-mission crew will face. These research efforts should be accompanied by technical advances in molecular and phenotypic monitoring tools to provide in-flight real-time feedback.}, language = {en} }