The human brain performs tasks with an outstanding energy efficiency, i.e., with approximately 20 Watts. The state-of-the-art Artificial/Deep Neural Networks (ANN/DNN), on the other hand, have recently been shown to consume massive amounts of energy. The training of these ANNs/DNNs is done almost exclusively based on the back-propagation algorithm, which is known to be biologically implausible. Th

This thesis addresses the critical issue of design and development of products like production machines for SMEs and rural communities as an essential capability to foster local technology development within the innovation systems of Latin America. What is studied and discussed in this thesis is the pre-requisites for effective application of design and development methods, like design thinking fo

Pupil diameter is a reliable indicator of mental effort, but it must be baseline corrected to account for its idiosyncratic nature. Established methods for measuring baselines cannot be applied in virtual reality (VR) experiments. To reliably measure a pupil diameter baseline in VR, we propose a short testing environment of visual arithmetic tasks. In an experiment with 66 university students, we

INTRODUCTION: Maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection can affect pregnancy outcome, but the placental response to and the effect of timing of infection is not well studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the placental levels of inflammatory and cardiovascular markers in pregnancies complicated by SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to non-infected pregnancies, and to investigate whether there was an ass

Severe babesiosis with 9.8% parasitemia was diagnosed in a patient in the Netherlands who had previously undergone splenectomy. We confirmed Babesia venatorum using PCR and sequencing. B. venatorum was also the most prevalent species in Ixodes ricinus ticks collected around the patient's home. Our findings warrant awareness for severe babesiosis in similar patients.

In the 1980ies much effort was made to get a, till then, unknown Viking Age silver hoard into the University Museum of Lund for registration. It was a large hoard consisting of over 900 coins, jewelry and hacksilver. We succeeded to have the hoard on display a few days in 1986.Thereafter the hoard was collected again by the finders and its further destiny is unknown. This is very much to regret asIn the 1980s much effort was made to get an, until then, unknown Viking Age silver hoard into the University Museum of Lund for registration. It was a large hoard consisting of over 900 coins, jewelry and hacksilver. We succeeded to have the hoard on display a few days in 1986.Thereafter the hoard was collected again by the finders and its further destiny was unknown. This was very much to regret

Changes in land cover and land use (LULC) are one of the main drivers of erosion and runoff. How ever, most research has relied on short-term observations and only focused on one or two land cover types. We investigated the long-term trade-off between common agricultural land covers (sugarcane, pasture, and soybean), runoff, and soil loss rates. We compared these to native forest (wooded Cerrado)

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The aim of this work was to explore molecular amino acids (AAs) and related structures of HLA-DQA1-DQB1 that underlie its contribution to the progression from stages 1 or 2 to stage 3 type 1 diabetes.METHODS: Using high-resolution DQA1 and DQB1 genotypes from 1216 participants in the Diabetes Prevention Trial-Type 1 and the Diabetes Prevention Trial, we applied hierarchically orga

The complex topography in mountainous regions, exemplified by factors like slope aspect, leads to noticeable variations in vegetation patterns, which are fundamental for understanding mountain ecosystems. However, a consistent global-scale quantification of topography's influence on vegetation patterns is still lacking. Here, we utilize two phenological metrics as proxies for vegetation-maximum ve

A Python package to evaluate Wannier, Wannier–Stark, and EZ (both energy and location Z resolved) levels for quantum cascade lasers is presented. We provide the underlying theory in detail with a focus on the orthonormality and periodicity of the generated states.

Groundwater models can be powerful tools for managing groundwater resources, optimizing their use, mitigating risks, and provide decision-makers with forecasts of different management actions. To fulfill this purpose, it is generally advocated that a model should quantify the uncertainty associated with the outcomes it aims to assess, the rationale being that decisions made without an understandin

Carbon sequestration is an essential ecosystem service (ES) for climate change mitigation. For reasons of simplicity this ES is often quantified considering carbon storage in four carbon pools: aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, dead organic matter and soil organic carbon. Indicators of these four pools are estimated by modelling, reference values, or field methods and data processing of di

Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye (Shakespeare, Loves Labours Lost), but the bodily features governing this critical biological choice are still debated. Eye movement studies have demonstrated that males sample coarse body regions expanding from the face, the breasts and the midriff, while making female attractiveness judgements with natural vision. However, the visual system ubiquitously ex