Control rooms play a crucial role in monitoring and managing safety-critical systems, such as power grids, emergency response, and transportation networks. As these systems become increasingly complex and generate more data, the role of human operators is evolving amid growing reliance on automation and autonomous decision-making. This paper explores the balance between leveraging automation for efficiency and preserving human intuition and ethical judgment, particularly in high-stakes scenarios. Through an analysis of control room trends, operator attitudes, and models of human-computer collaboration, this paper highlights the benefits and challenges of automation, including risks of deskilling, automation bias, and accountability. The paper advocates for a hybrid approach of collaborative autonomy, where humans and systems work in partnership to ensure transparency, trust, and adaptability.

The Active Radar Interferometer (AcRaIn) represents a novel approach in secondary radar technology, aimed at environments with high reflective clutter, such as pipes and tunnels. This study introduces a compact design minimizing peripheral components and leveraging commercial semiconductor technologies operating in the 24 GHz ISM band. A heterodyne principle was adopted to enhance unambiguity and phase coherence without requiring synchronization or separate communication channels. Experimental validation involved free-space and pipe measurements, demonstrating functionality over distances up to 150 m. The radar system effectively reduced interference and achieved high precision in both straight and bent pipe scenarios, with deviations below 1.25% compared to manual measurements. By processing signals at intermediate frequencies, advantages such as improved efficiency, isolation, and system flexibility were achieved. Notably, the integration of amplitude modulation suppressed passive clutter, enabling clearer signal differentiation. Key challenges identified include optimizing signal processing and addressing logarithmic signal attenuation for better precision. These findings underscore AcRaIn’s potential for pipeline monitoring and similar applications.

This research delves into the emerging paradigm of biocultural systems, focusing on the intricate social-ecological dynamics which created and maintained an ancient farming system, the European wood-pastures. Innovatively conceptualizing wood-pastures as biocultural systems, this study employs a network approach to unravel the complex interactions between human activities and the natural particularities within these environments. By using field surveys and interviews conducted in Transylvania, Romania, this research reconstructs the traditional social-ecological drivers behind the preservation of ancient wood-pastures and their Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP). It identifies key variables and their centrality within the biocultural network, emphasizing that the rich natural values of wood-pastures are inextricably linked to management features. We employ RLQ and fourth corner analyses to investigate the interconnections among biophysical context, biocultural features (i.e. human made and natural features), and NCP, revealing significant correlations and gradients between the broad biophysical setting and the wood-pasture NCP. The findings underscore the importance of maintaining traditional management practices and stewardship to conserve the biodiversity and cultural heritage of wood-pastures. We contribute to a deeper comprehension of biocultural systems and offer insights for effective management and governance of traditional farming landscapes in Europe and beyond.

Penicillium sp. (IBWF 040-09) produces a protease inhibitor that can potentially be used against the main protease of human African trypanosomiasis. Since the target substance is formed intracellularly (under nutrient limitation), the fungal pellet is preferred compared to the free mycelia in bioreactor cultivation. The optimization of the production of protease inhibitor became the main focus of this study. The effects of the concentrations of spores, calcium chloride, and Pluronic F68 were investigated with regard to fungal growth, pellet morphology, and the production of protease inhibitor. The combination of adjusting the spore concentration and adding Pluronic F68 and calcium chloride increased the probability of achieving the desired morphology. This ensured better reproducibility of the production of the target substance by Penicillium sp. (IBWF 040-09) with the bioreactor system used. In addition, the protease inhibitor was tested in a resazurin assay and showed no noticeable cytotoxic effects on peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from whole blood cells.

The Duffing equation containing a cubic nonlinearity is probably the most popular example of a nonlinear oscillator. For its harmonically excited, slightly damped, and softening version, stationary large amplitude solutions at subcritical excitation frequencies are obtained when standard semi-analytical methods like Harmonic Balance or Perturbation Analysis are applied. These solutions have the shape of a nose in the amplitude-frequency diagram. In prior work, it has been observed that these solutions may contain large errors and that high ansatz orders may be necessary when applying the Harmonic Balance or other semi-analytical methods to make them converge. Some of these solutions are observed to be asymptotically stable, while in most cases, they are unstable. The current paper aims to give a descriptive explanation for this behavior of the nose solutions, which is mainly related to the exact solution of the free undamped vibrations. Based on this, approximations of the nose solutions are calculated with a procedure combining properties of Perturbation Analysis and Harmonic Balance. Therein, the exact solution of the free undamped vibrations is taken as the zeroth approximation, while higher-order solution parts are calculated by balancing the harmonics, and the phase shift of the zeroth approximation is calculated by a residuum minimization. This method just requires the solution of a system of linear algebraic equations, while systems of nonlinear algebraic equations have to be solved in the case of directly applying Harmonic Balance.

The fiber volume fraction significantly influences the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced composites. However, accurate measurements can be particularly challenging in natural-fiber-reinforced polymers. This study compared indirect methods using gravimetric and volumetric measurements with a U-Net-based direct method using micro-CT images for flax-fiber-reinforced polymers made via compression molding at 2.33–13.5 bar. A notable discrepancy was observed between the direct and indirect methods, with the latter yielding a fiber volume fraction approximately 25% lower than what could be determined optically. This difference arose from the matrix being absorbed by the fibers, resulting in a mixed region between dry fiber and pure matrix, further explained using a four-phase model. Our findings indicate that the volume fraction depended on the applied pressure. Specifically, we established a linear relationship between the fiber volume fraction and the pressure up to 9.4 bar, beyond which the fiber volume fraction plateaued. Furthermore, we examined the impact of void distribution in relation to pressure. At lower pressures, voids were distributed irregularly throughout the composite, whereas at higher pressures, the overall number of voids decreased, and they tended to concentrate primarily in the center.

Local disasters such as the Ahr Valley flood in Germany, the international backdrop of the Russo-Ukrainian War, or the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic place high demands on the people and organisations that are involved in these situations and contexts to save lives, mitigate damage, provide comfort, or organise reconstruction. Novel technologies are constantly making their way into everyday life, such as artificial intelligence, big data, decentralised networks, internet of things, or virtual reality. Their adaptation, acceptance, usability, usefulness, and legal framework conditions for safety-critical systems must be researched and tested thoroughly. In this special issue, we investigate the use of computer-based solutions in areas and situations of direct relevance to people’s lives and well-being (Usable Safety), as well as contributions to user-oriented resilience concepts of sociotechnical systems concerning potential attacks (Usable Security) and data protection mechanisms (Usable Privacy).

With the commitment of more and more universities to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, standardizing the modeling is now becoming urgent. To date, published climate-relevant emissions can be based on completely different and incomparable accounting methods, as shown with results between 6 and 2696 t CO2e for the use phase of the same campus. This article aims to identify, compare, and evaluate the different modeling approaches behind this. For this purpose, this article proposes basic attributes of emissions modeling and reporting. Of the three established approaches to emissions accounting, sector logic (territorial carbon accounting) produces the lowest figures. Reporting in accordance with the greenhouse gas protocol, which has become established worldwide, can also shift the responsibility outside the institutional consumer. Life-cycle assessment, instead, essentially includes provision costs triggered by the consumer. The different modeling approaches also overlap with different coverage of emission sources, for which a standard set is being proposed. Such emissions modeling should finally lead to the determination of university-specific climate performances, i.e., the CO2e emissions per capita and per m2 of gross floor area. Infrastructure and procurement expenses must be recorded in addition and converted to an annual average.

Objectives: To investigate the feasibility and effects of a sensorimotor stabilization exercise intervention with and without behavioral treatment in nonspecific low back pain. Design: A three-armed multicenter randomized controlled trial. Setting: Five study sites across Germany (3 orthopedic university outpatient clinics, 1 university sports medicine department, and 1 clinical institution). Participants: Six hundred and sixty-two volunteers (N=662) (59% females, age 39±13y) with low back pain. Interventions: Sensorimotor training (SMT), sensorimotor training with behavioral therapy (SMT+BT), and usual care group (UCG; continuation of the already ongoing individual treatment regime). Intervention groups performed a 12-week (3wk center-based, 9wk home-based) program. Main Outcome Measures: Adherence, dropout rates, adverse events, and intervention effects on pain intensity, disability, and trunk torque (gain scores, repeated measures analysis of variance, α-level<0.05). Results: In total, 220 participants received SMT, 222 received SMT+BT, and 170 were analyzed as UCG. Dropout rates were 10% for SMT and SMT+BT at week 3, 31% and 30% at week 4, and 49% and 50% at week 12. Adherence rates above 80% were reached in both interventions; 134 adverse events occurred. Intervention effects compared to UCG were found for pain intensity (SMT, P=.011, effect size d=0.41), disability (SMT+BT, P=.020, d=0.41), and peak torque (SMT, P=.045, d=0.38; SMT+BT, P=.019, d=0.44), with overall small effect sizes. Conclusions: Participants were highly adherent to the sensorimotor exercise, but showed increased dropout rates, particularly during home-based training. Both interventions proved to be feasible, and although only SMT showed an increased effect on pain intensity compared to UCG, the SMT+BT showed positive effects on disability. Both interventions led to increases in strength, indicative of a neuromuscular adaptation.

Background: Psychoeducation positively influences the psychological components of chronic low back pain (CLBP) in conventional treatments. The digitalization of health care has led to the discussion of virtual reality (VR) interventions. However, CLBP treatments in VR have some limitations due to full immersion. In comparison, augmented reality (AR) supplements the real world with virtual elements involving one’s own body sensory perception and can combine conventional and VR approaches. Objective: The aim of this study was to review the state of research on the treatment of CLBP through psychoeducation, including immersive technologies, and to formulate suggestions for psychoeducation in AR for CLBP. Methods: A scoping review following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines was performed in August 2024 by using Livivo ZB MED, PubMed, Web of Science, American Psychological Association PsycINFO (PsycArticle), and PsyArXiv Preprints databases. A qualitative content analysis of the included studies was conducted based on 4 deductively extracted categories. Results: We included 12 studies published between 2019 and 2024 referring to conventional and VR-based psychoeducation for CLBP treatment, but no study referred to AR. In these studies, educational programs were combined with physiotherapy, encompassing content on pain biology, psychological education, coping strategies, and relaxation techniques. The key outcomes were pain intensity, kinesiophobia, pain catastrophizing, degree of disability, quality of life, well-being, self-efficacy, depression, attrition rate, and user experience. Passive, active, and gamified strategies were used to promote intrinsic motivation from a psychological point of view. Regarding user experience from a software development perspective, user friendliness, operational support, and application challenges were recommended. Conclusions: For the development of a framework for an AR-based psychoeducational intervention for CLBP, the combination of theories of acceptance and use of technologies with insights from health psychological behavior change theories appears to be of great importance. An example of a theory-based design of a psychoeducation intervention in AR for CLBP is proposed and discussed.