To Report, or Not to Report, that Is the Question! The Struggle in Determining a Report-Worthy Cyber Incident

Scientific Conference (2022, April 13)

EXCESSIVE MICROBIAL MUCIN FORAGING INDUCED BY DIETARY FIBER DEPRIVATION MODULATES SUSCEPTIBILITY TO INFECTIOUS AND AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES

Doctoral thesis (2022)

The gastrointestinal (GI) mucus layer is a protective and lubricating hydrogel of polymer-forming glycoproteins that covers our intestinal epithelium. This mucus layer serves as an interface between the ... [more ▼]

The gastrointestinal (GI) mucus layer is a protective and lubricating hydrogel of polymer-forming glycoproteins that covers our intestinal epithelium. This mucus layer serves as an interface between the intestinal epithelium and environment as well as a as first line of defense against the potentially harmful microorganisms. While the GI mucus layer closer to the gut epithelium is highly condensed and acts as a physical barrier for invading microorganisms, further away from the epithelium, proteolytic degradation makes it loose. This looser part of the mucus layer serves as an attachment site and a nutrient source for some commensal gut bacteria. The molecular mechanisms that drive the mucus–microbe interactions are emerging and are important to understand the functional role of the gut microbiome in health and disease. Previous work by my research group showed that a dietary fiber-deprived gut microbiota erodes the colonic mucus barrier and enhances susceptibility to a mucosal pathogen Citrobacter rodentium, a mouse model for human Escherichia coli infections. In this PhD thesis, I studied role of the gut mucus layer in the context of various other infectious and autoimmune diseases by inducing the natural erosion of the mucus layer by dietary fiber deprivation. In order to unravel the mechanistic details in the intricate interactions between diet, mucus layer and gut microbiome, I leveraged our previously established gnotobiotic mouse model hosting a synthetic human gut microbiota of fully characterized 14 commensal bacteria (14SM). I employed three different types of infectious diseases for the following reasons: 1) attaching and effacing (A/E) pathogen (C. rodentium), to better understand which commensal bacteria aid in enhancing the pathogen susceptibility when a fiber-deprived gut microbiota erodes the mucus barrier; 2) human intracellular pathogens (Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Tyhimurium) to investigate, whether like the A/E pathogen, erosion of the mucus layer could affect the infection dynamics; and 3) a mouse nematode parasite – Trichuris muris, which is a model for the human parasite Trichuris trichiura – to study how changes in the mucin–microbiome interactions drive the worm infection, as mucins play an important role in worm expulsion. In my thesis, I used various combinations of 14SM by dropping out individual or all mucin-degrading bacteria from the microbial community to show that, in the face of reduced dietary fiber, the commensal gut bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila is responsible for enhancing susceptibility to C. rodentium, most likely by eroding the protective gut mucus layer. For my experiments with intracellular pathogens (L. monocytogenes and S. Tyhimurium, I found that dietary fiber deprivation provided protection against the infection by both L. monocytogenes and S. Typhimurium. This protective effect against the pathogens was driven directly by diet and not by the microbial erosion of the mucus layer, since a similar protective effect was observed in both gnotobiotic and germ-free mice. Finally, for the helminth model, I showed that that fiber deprivation-led elevated microbial mucin foraging promotes clearance of the parasitic worm by shifting the host immune response from a susceptible, Th1 type to a resistant, Th2 type. In the context of autoimmune disease, I focused on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Although IBD results from genetic predisposition, the contribution of environmental triggers is thought to be crucial. Diet–gut microbiota interactions are considered to be an important environmental trigger, but the precise mechanisms are unknown. As a model for IBD, I employed IL-10-/- mice which are known to spontaneously develop IBD-like colitis in conventional mice. Using our 14SM gnotobiotic mouse model, I showed that in a genetically susceptible host, microbiota-mediated erosion of the mucus layer following dietary fiber deprivation is sufficient to induce lethal colitis. Furthermore, my results show that this effect was clearly dependent on interaction all three factors: microbiome, diet and genetic susceptibility. Leaving out only one of these factors eliminated the lethal phenotype. The novel findings arising from my PhD thesis will help the scientific community to enhance our understanding of the functional role of mucolytic bacteria and the GI mucus layer in shaping our health. Overall, given a reduced consumption of dietary fiber in industrialized countries compared to developing countries, my results have profound implications for potential treatment and prevention strategies by leveraging diet to engineer the gut microbiome, especially in the context of personalized medicine. [less ▲]

Quasi-Fuchsian manifolds close to the Fuchsian locus are foliated by constant mean curvature surfaces

E-print/Working paper (2022)

Sustainability and Circular Economy in Learning Factories – Case Studies

in SSRN (2022, April 11)

Since the mitigation of climate change is one of the biggest challenges to face on a global scale, the topic has become more relevant also in industrial context. Learning factories have proven to be ... [more ▼]

Since the mitigation of climate change is one of the biggest challenges to face on a global scale, the topic has become more relevant also in industrial context. Learning factories have proven to be suitable environments to address and convey competencies to tackle industrial challenges in an interactive way. Hence, several learning factories are already dealing with sustainability topics in various use cases. This paper strives to present a state of the art of sustainability and circular economy in learning factories. Therefore, a classification framework is developed based on the state of the art of several learning factories and existing literature regarding the topic. This framework is then used to systematically describe the different activities regarding sustainability and circular economy that are currently ongoing in learning factories worldwide. This can be used to get an idea about the different aspects of the topic and how to address them, but furthermore also offers assistance to identify “blind spots” which could and should be addressed in learning factories in the future. [less ▲]

Differential Phase Compensation in Over-the-air Precoding Test-bed for a Multi-beam Satellite

Scientific Conference (2022, April 10)

This article presents a closed-loop differential phase compensation system for a precoding-enabled multibeam satellite forward link and its validation by live experiments on a GEO satellite scenario. The ... [more ▼]

This article presents a closed-loop differential phase compensation system for a precoding-enabled multibeam satellite forward link and its validation by live experiments on a GEO satellite scenario. The precoding operation avoids inter-beam interference and maximizes the spectrum efficiency by full frequency reuse as an alternative to the traditional two-color or four-color reuse methods proposed in the DVB-S2 standard. However, the satellite payload introduces differential phase and frequency impairments, which can degrade the precoding performance. This work describes the implementation of the differential phase and frequency tracking and compensation loop in an end-to-end testbed over a multibeam satellite system with independent local oscillators. The developed system performs end-to-end real-time communication over the satellite link, including channel measurements and precompensation. Results are validated by an over-the-air demonstration using two beams of the SES-14 multibeam satellite. Each beam is transmitted by independent transponders, which results in differential frequency and phase offsets due to the transponder undisciplined local oscillators. This phase offset makes it impossible to use precoding without the phase compensation loop. We prove that the implemented system can successfully track and compensate the differential phase and frequency to improve precoding performance. [less ▲]

Des individualistes aux globalistes. Quelques réflexions sur les origines et l'évolution de l'orchestre d'harmonie vers une formation de concert

Presentation (2022, April 09)

Unsichtbares sichtbar machen

Article for general public (2022)

Does (Re-)Entering the Labor Market at Advanced Ages Protect Against Cognitive Decline? A Panel-Matching Difference-in-differences Approach

E-print/Working paper (2022)

While prolonged labor market participation becomes increasingly important in ageing societies, evidence of the impacts of entering or exiting work beyond age 65 on cognitive functioning is scarce. We ... [more ▼]

While prolonged labor market participation becomes increasingly important in ageing societies, evidence of the impacts of entering or exiting work beyond age 65 on cognitive functioning is scarce. We estimate these effects using panel-matching difference-in-differences with populationrepresentative panel datasets from South Korea and the United States. We compare countries and across socioeconomic characteristics. We find general positive effects of entering the labor market in South Korea, while only individuals with high assets in the US benefit from entering the labor market. Exiting the labor market does not result in changes in cognitive functioning in Korea but is followed by a cognitive decline in individuals with low assets in the US. Findings suggest that the benefits and disincentives from late-life labor status transitions on cognitive functioning vary between South Korea and the US and across socioeconomic groups. [less ▲]

Reliquienverehrung und Hagiographie in Trier am Vorabend der Reformation. Zur ‘Strategie’ der nördlichen Abteien und Stifte

Presentation (2022, April 09)

The Instrumental Turn of Nationality: An Investment Law Perspective

Scientific Conference (2022, April 08)

This workshop takes a holistic approach to examine the role and future of nationality in a globalised world, taking citizenship by investment (CBI) schemes as a point of departure. It explores the ... [more ▼]

This workshop takes a holistic approach to examine the role and future of nationality in a globalised world, taking citizenship by investment (CBI) schemes as a point of departure. It explores the implications and impacts of CBI schemes, followed by a discussion on the instrumental turn of nationality in different areas, including EU law, private international law, human rights law, immigration law, diplomatic protection and international investment law. [less ▲]