Nodes on ropes: a comprehensive data and control flow for steering ensemble simulations

Flood disasters are the most common natural risk and tremendous efforts are spent to improve their simulation and management. However, simulation-based investigation of actions that can be taken in case of flood emergencies is rarely done. This is in part due to the lack of a comprehensive framework which integrates and facilitates these efforts. In this paper, we tackle several problems which are related to steering a flood simulation. One issue is related to uncertainty. We need to account for uncertain knowledge about the environment, such as levee-breach locations. Furthermore, the steering process has to reveal how these uncertainties in the boundary conditions affect the confidence in the simulation outcome. Another important problem is that the simulation setup is often hidden in a black-box. We expose system internals and show that simulation steering can be comprehensible at the same time. This is important because the domain expert needs to be able to modify the simulation setup in order to include local knowledge and experience. In the proposed solution, users steer parameter studies through the World Lines interface to account for input uncertainties. The transport of steering information to the underlying data-flow components is handled by a novel meta-flow. The meta-flow is an extension to a standard data-flow network, comprising additional nodes and ropes to abstract parameter control. The meta-flow has a visual representation to inform the user about which control operations happen. Finally, we present the idea to use the data-flow diagram itself for visualizing steering information and simulation results. We discuss a case-study in collaboration with a domain expert who proposes different actions to protect a virtual city from imminent flooding. The key to choosing the best response strategy is the ability to compare different regions of the parameter space while retaining an understanding of what is happening inside the data-flow system.     

Proteomics identification of differentially expressed proteins in the muscle of dysferlin myopathy patients

The muscular dystrophies are a large and heterogeneous group of neuromuscular disorders that can be classified according to the mode of inheritance, the clinical phenotype and the molecular defect. To better understand the pathological mechanisms of dysferlin myopathy we compared the protein-expression pattern in the muscle biopsies of six patients with this disease with six patients with limb girdle muscular dystrophy 2A, five with facioscapulohumeral dystrophy and six normal control subjects. To investigate differences in the expression levels of skeletal muscle proteins we used 2-DE and MS. Western blot or immunohistochemistry confirmed relevant results. The study showed specific increase expression of proteins involved in fast-to-slow fiber type conversion (ankyrin repeat protein 2), type I predominance (phosphorylated forms of slow troponin T), sarcomere stabilization (actinin-associated LIM protein), protein ubiquitination (TRIM 72) and skeletal muscle differentiation (Rho-GDP-dissociation inhibitor ly-GDI) in dysferlin myopathy. As anticipated, we also found differential expression of proteins common to all the muscular dystrophies studied. This comparative proteomic analysis suggests that in dysferlin myopathy (i) the type I fiber predominance is an active process of fiber type conversion rather than a selective loss of type II fibers and (ii) the dysregulation of proteins involved in muscle differentiation further confirms the role of dysferlin in this process.     

Aspekte der künstlichen Ernährung bei demenzkranken Patienten in der Geriatrie

Definition of the problem: The discussion of the appropriateness of artificial nutrition in patients with advanced dementia seems to be solved on medical grounds. If it is taken for granted that a solid and valid moral judgement in medical practice rests on actual medical facts, then one needs to consider normative arguments more carefully if it can be shown that the common medical understanding of the connection between advanced dementia and artificial nutrition seems misleading. This includes a critical discussion of recently published empirical studies, which are used to justify the belief that tube feeding is useless for elderly patients in terms of their nutritional state, quality of life, and mortality. Arguments and Conclusion: This paper puts forward a threefold approach: (1) the interdependence of nutritional state and type and grade of dementia is shown, (2) a working model is presented that should avoid the poor outcomes reported in the recent medical literature, and (3) it is argued that the discussion cannot be grounded solely in medical facts because of the limitations of recently published medical evidence. Normative aspects should be given more weight.     

Very low noise mixer at 115 GHz using a Mott diode cooled to 20 K

Measurements on a cooled resistive mixer are reported using a Mott-barrier diode cooled to 20 K, operating at 115 GHz and pumped with a local oscillator power as low as 150 ?W. The mixer noise temperature of 200 K is not only the lowest reported for a resistive mixer above 90 GHz but indicates that some improvement in shot-noise models for resistive mixers is desirable.