Search Results (30)

This paper investigates the cultural landscapes established by nineteenth-century German immigrants in South Australia and the southern Riverina of New South Wales, with particular attention to settlement patterns, architectural traditions and toponymic transformation. German immigration to Australia, though numerically modest compared to the Americas, significantly shaped local communities, especially due to religious cohesion among Lutheran migrants. These settlers established distinct, enduring rural enclaves characterized by linguistic, religious and architectural continuity. The paper examines three manifestations of these cultural landscapes. A rich toponymic landscape was created by imposing on natural landscape features and newly founded settlements the names of the communities from which the German settlers originated. It discusses the erosion of German toponyms under wartime nationalist pressures, the subsequent partial reinstatement and the implications for cultural memory. The study traces the second manifestation of a cultural landscapes in the form of nucleated villages such as Hahndorf, Bethanien and Lobethal, which often followed the Hufendorf or Straßendorf layout, integrating Silesian land-use principles into the Australian context. Intensification of land use through housing subdivisions in two communities as well as agricultural intensification through broad acre farming has led to the fragmentation (town) and obliteration (rural) of the uniquely German form of land use. The final focus is the material expression of cultural identity through architecture, particularly the use of traditional Fachwerk (half-timbered) construction and adaptations such as pug-and-pine walling suited to local materials and climate. The paper examines domestic forms, including the distinctive black kitchen, and highlights how environmental and functional adaptation reshaped German building traditions in the antipodes. Despite a conservation movement and despite considerable documentation research in the late twentieth century, the paper shows that most German rural structures remain unlisted and vulnerable. Heritage neglect, rural depopulation, economic rationalization, lack of commercial relevance and local government policy have accelerated the decline of many of these vernacular buildings. The study concludes by problematizing the sustainability of conserving German Australian rural heritage in the face of regulatory, economic and demographic pressures. With its layering of intangible (toponymic), structural (buildings) and land use (cadastral) features, the examination of the cultural landscape established by nineteenth-century German immigrants adds to the body of literature on immigrant communities, settler colonialism and landscape research. Full article

Cultural norms, beliefs, and practices influence parental expectations, children’s responses, and the acceptance of behaviour management techniques (BMTs) in paediatric dentistry. Despite this, the existing guidelines often adopt a standardized approach, overlooking critical cultural differences. This scoping review maps the links between culture and behaviour management strategies in paediatric dental settings. A scoping review following PRISMA guidelines was conducted across PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and hand-searched sources from the inception of the databases to 31 January 2025. A total of 671 studies were identified, with 15 meeting the inclusion criteria. Data on the key findings were inductively analyzed to assess cultural influences on parental acceptance, child behavior, and communication. The findings show that non-invasive BMTs such as TellShow–Do and positive reinforcement were the most accepted across cultures, while passive and active restraints were least accepted, especially in Western populations. Parental preferences varied; Jordanian parents were more accepting of passive restraint than German parents, while general anaesthesia was preferred in Bahrain. Cultural norms shaped communication styles—Latino families emphasized warm interpersonal interactions, whereas Pakistani families exhibited limited parental involvement due to language barriers. Black and Hispanic Medicaid-enrolled mothers in the U.S. reported lower satisfaction with pain management, highlighting disparities in culturally competent care. In conclusion, cultural factors significantly influence paediatric behaviour management in dental clinics. Integrating cultural competence into practice can enhance communication, improve patient compliance, and promote equitable care. Further research is needed, particularly in Africa and South America, to inform globally inclusive behaviour management guidelines. Full article

Background: The German Black Pied Dairy (DSN) cattle is an endangered dual-purpose breed considered an ancestor of the modern Holstein population. DSN is known for its high milk yield, favorable milk composition, and good meat quality. Maintaining a functional body structure is essential for ensuring sustained performance across multiple lactations in dual-purpose breeds like DSN. This study aims to identify candidate genes and genetic regions associated with conformation traits in DSN cattle through genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Methods: The analysis utilized imputed whole-genome sequencing data of 1852 DSN cows with conformation data for 19 linear traits and four composite scores derived from these traits. GWAS was performed using linear mixed models. Results: In total, we identified 118 sequence variants distributed across 24 quantitative trait locus (QTL) regions comprising 74 positional candidate genes. Among the most significant findings were variants associated with “Rump width” on chromosome 21 and “Teat length” on chromosome 22, with AGBL1 and SRGAP3 identified as the most likely candidate genes. Additionally, a QTL region on chromosome 15 linked to “Central ligament” contained 39 olfactory receptor genes, and a QTL region on chromosome 23 associated with “Hock quality” included eight immune-related genes, notably, BOLA and TRIM family members. Conclusions: Selective breeding for favorable alleles of the investigated conformation traits may contribute to DSN’s longevity, robustness, and overall resilience. Hence, continuous focus on healthy udders, feet, and legs in herd management contributes to preserving DSN’s positive traits while improving conformation. Full article

Porcine endogenous retrovirus C (PERV-C) is a gammaretrovirus present in the genome of many, but not all, pigs. It is an ecotropic virus, able to infect only pig cells. In contrast, PERV-A and PERV-B, which are present in all pigs, can infect cells of multiple host species, including humans, thereby posing a risk for xenotransplantation when pigs are used as donor animals. Notably, PERV-C can recombine with PERV-A to produce PERV-A/C recombinants that can infect human cells and replicate to higher titers compared to the paternal PERV-A. The objective of this study is to evaluate the reliability of both existing and newly developed polymerase chain reactions (PCR) methods for detecting PERV-C, with the aim of selecting PERV-C-free pigs to be used for xenotransplantation. To detect PERV-C by PCR, specific primers targeting the region of the envelope protein gene, which differs from that of PERV-A and PERV-B due to its unique receptor binding site, must be employed. In this study, new PCR assays were developed to detect PERV-C and a total of ten PCR assays and one real-time PCR assay were evaluated for their reliability in detecting PERV-C. These assays were used to screen indigenous Greek black pigs, Auckland Island pigs, and German slaughterhouse pigs. Two of the PCR assays consistently yielded reliable results, whereas the other PCRs and the real-time PCR gave false positive results. Using the reliable assays, it was shown that one out of four indigenous Greek black pigs (using the same method in a previous publication 11 of 21 pigs were found PERV-C-negative), one out of ten German slaughterhouse pigs, the pig kidney cell line PK15, and all the Auckland Island pigs were PERV-C-negative. The reliable PCR assays will enable the screening of PERV-C-negative donor pigs to be used in xenotransplantation. Most importantly, all the Auckland Island pigs that were genetically modified in Germany for use in clinical trials were PERV-C-negative. Full article

Strawberries hold significant economic importance in both German and global agriculture. However, their yield is often adversely affected by fungal diseases. This study describes Neopestalotiopsis rosae as a newly emerging pathogen responsible for leaf blight and fruit rot in strawberries in Germany. Infected plants were observed in Hohenheim, Germany. A combination of morphological and molecular analyses, along with pathogenicity tests, confirmed the identity of N. rosae as the causal agent. Morphological examination of conidia and mycelium revealed key characteristics including the presence of versicolorous median cells, conidial appendages, black spherical conidiomata formation as well as changing colony color and fluffy texture. These properties align with the established descriptions for the species. Molecular analysis, particularly the sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer and β-tubulin regions allowed the precise identification of the pathogen. Artificial inoculation of healthy strawberry plants with conidial suspension derived from the isolated strain resulted in the development of characteristic symptoms, including necrotic leaf spots and water-soaked fruit lesions, similar to those observed on the original infected plants. To our knowledge, this study presents the first documented occurrence of N. rosae in Germany, highlighting its emergence as a significant threat to strawberry production in Europe. Full article

In 1926, a New York Times article described the cultural and ethnic flows in south Brazil as a “Melting Pot”. The report predicted that German Brazilians, tied to their ethnoracial origin, would soon be Brazilianized. The study of congregational song practices offers insight into the relationship between migration, race, culture, and ethnicity. Moreover, investigating Brazilian Lutheran singing practices helps us understand how the New York Times’ prediction unfolded on the ground. This paper examines the Brazilian Lutheran hymnal Livro de Canto, published in 2017, and displays how Brazil’s ethnoracial diversity is manifested and negotiated in the Lutheran context, both musically and theologically. By interviewing members of the hymnal committee and investigating how they dealt with Brazil’s ethnoraciality in the context of the hymnal compilation, this paper demonstrates ways denominations and churchgoers negotiate theological, cultural, musical, and ethnoracial identities through congregational singing. More importantly, it showcases how Brazilian Lutheran church music practices inform broader social conversations around racism, nationalism, Blackness, and Brazilianness. Full article

Movements in cattle after captive bolt stunning cause problems in the slaughter process and lead to uncertainties in assessing stunning effectiveness. The objective of this study was to categorize and quantify these movements and determine animal- and process-related impact factors, as well as connections to stunning effectiveness and shooting position. In total 2911 cows, heifers, and bulls (dairy, beef, and crossbreeds) were examined (mean age 3.02 years). Movements from landing until at least four minutes after sticking were recorded by action cams (Apeman^® A100). Nine movement categories were defined (“kicking hind limb”, “twitching”, “bending and stretching hind limb”, “lifting and bending forelimb”, “body arching laterally”, “body arching ventrally”, and “arching backwards”). According to the movement severity, a score was assigned to each category. The scores were summed, either for certain process intervals, e.g., LANDING (ejection from the stunning box), HOISTING, or STICKING, or for the total time between LANDING and end of the FOURTH MINUTE OF BLEEDING (sum score). Statistical analysis (ANOVA) was performed on the scores. Only 6.6% of cattle showed no movement. Most movements occurred during STICKING and FIRST MINUTE OF BLEEDING, occurring rarely up to 8 min after sticking. While cows moved most at LANDING, bulls and heifers moved more if all process intervals were considered. The sum score was highest in German Angus, Charolais, and Limousin and lowest in Brown Swiss and Simmental. The score at LANDING was highest in German Angus and Black Holstein. The use of pneumatic stunners and an increase in bolt-exit length significantly reduced movements. No impact of stunning effectiveness on movements was found, but only 19 cattle showed reduced effectiveness. Full article

Ancient Ardaxšīr Khwarrah, today known as Shahr-e Gur, situated near the modern town of Firuzabad in Fars, Iran, holds historical significance as the inaugural capital city of the Sasanian Empire. During archaeological excavations conducted in 2005 by an Iranian–German team directed by Mas‘oud Azarnoush and Dietrich Huff, a mud-brick complex was uncovered, revealing a remarkably well-preserved stretch of wall painting and a polychrome painted floor. The discovery prompted the hypothesis of a potential funerary context dating back to the Sasanian period. Both the wall painting and painted floor have suffered extensive deterioration attributed to the environmental conditions of the archaeological site, which was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2020. To address the urgent need for preservation and further understanding of the site’s artistic and structural elements, an emergency diagnostic project was initiated. Non-invasive investigations were carried out on the wall and floor by optical digital microscopy and portable energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence. Additionally, representative minute samples underwent analysis through various techniques, including micro-X-ray fluorescence, polarised light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, micro-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The palette of the floor and mural paintings were identified to contain red and yellow ochres, lead-based pigments, carbon black and bone white. The unexpected presence of Egyptian blue mixed with green earth was recognised in the green hues of the wall painting. The detection of protein material in both the wall painting and polychrome floor indicates the use of “a secco” technique, thereby shedding light on the artistic practices employed in Ardaxšīr Khwarrah. Full article

This study outlines a recycling initiative conducted at Rekular GmbH, focusing on the recycling of 100 refrigerators. The recycling process employed a combination of manual dismantling, depollution, and mechanical processing techniques. Manual dismantling followed a predefined protocol to extract various materials, while the mechanical and physical processes involved shredding, zigzag, magnetic, and eddy current separation (ECS) to liberate and separate different materials. The resulting ferrous, non-ferrous and polymer product fractions were analyzed and categorized, providing valuable insights into the quality of interim products in the refrigerator recycling process. Simulations were then performed using FactSage^TM version 8.2 and HSC Chemistry 10 version 10.3.7.1 software to simulate the recovery of metals from the ferrous and non-ferrous fractions using pyro metallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods. An electric arc furnace (EAF) was utilized for iron (Fe), while a re-smelter process for aluminium (Al), and the black copper route was simulated for copper (Cu) recovery. The recovery rates including metallurgical, mechanical, and physical processes are as follows: Fe (78%), Al (68.4%), and Cu (52.4%). In contrast, the recovery rates through metallurgical processes are as follows: Al (99%), Fe (79%), and Cu (88%). This discrepancy is attributed to losses of these elements resulting from incomplete liberation in mechanical processing. Additionally, a product/centric approach was applied and the recycling index reached 76% for recovery the Al, Cu, and Fe metals in a refrigerator recycling process. Turning to the environmental impact evaluation within the life cycle assessment (LCA), the process unit with the highest emissions per refrigerator in the recycling process was the use of nitrogen during the shredding process, accounting for 3.7 kg CO₂ eq/refrigerator. Subsequently, the consumption of medium voltage electricity from the German grid during mechanical and physical separations contributed to 0.6 kg CO₂ eq/refrigerator. The EAF, and electrolytic refining stages in the metallurgical recovery process also had a notable impact, generating 10.7 kg CO₂ eq/refrigerator. Full article

Background and Objectives: Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) has been incorporated into the treatment of dental caries in children, mainly in countries with high caries prevalence. In Europe, however, SDF started to gain popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of SDF and to evaluate dentists’/parents’ acceptance of SDF use in paediatric patients treated in a German university setting. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of all patients treated with SDF between 2017 and 2020 was carried out. Only teeth with no reported clinical/radiographic evidence of irreversible pulpal inflammation were included. The outcome measures were success, minor failures (caries progression, reversible pulpitis) and major failures (irreversible pulpitis, abscess). The treatment acceptance by dentists and the parents of SDF-treated children was cross-sectionally evaluated using questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis were performed. Results: A total of 93 patients (mean age 5.3 ± 2.9 years) with 455 treated teeth (418 primary/91.9%; 37 permanent/8.1%) were included and followed up for up to 24 months (19.9 ± 10.5 months). SDF was used for dental caries (98.2%) and hypersensitivity relief on MIH teeth (1.8%). Most teeth did not show any failure (total success 84.2%). A total of 5 teeth (1.1%) showed minor failures, and 67 teeth (14.7%) showed major failures (p = 0.001). Success/failure rates were not affected by patient compliance, gender, dentition, or operator (p > 0.05). In total, 30 questionnaires were collected from parents (mean age 36.8 ± 6.4 years). SDF was applied on anterior (n = 2/6.7%), posterior (n = 15/50%) and anterior/posterior teeth (n = 13/43.3%). At the 1-week follow-up, 80% of parents noticed black teeth discoloration. Treatment satisfaction was higher for posterior (95.2%) than for anterior teeth (36.4%; p < 0.001). In the 27 responses from clinicians, SDF was generally considered a viable option in paediatric dentistry (n = 23; 85%). Conclusions: SDF was found to be effective and well-accepted by parents and dentists for caries inactivation in a paediatric dentistry German university setting. Full article

Matricaria chamomilla flower essential oils (EOs) blue Egyptian (EO-1), chamomile German CO2 (EO-2), and chamomile German (EO-3) and the pure compound α-bisabolol were evaluated against red imported fire ants (RIFA), Solenopsis invicta Buren, black imported fire ants, S. richteri Forel (BIFA), and hybrid imported fire ants (HIFA) for their repellency and toxicity. A series of serial dilutions were tested starting from 125 µg/g until the failure of the treatment. Based on the amount of sand removed, EO-1 showed significant repellency at dosages of 7.8, 7.8, and 31.25 µg/g against RIFA, BIFA, and HIFA, respectively. EO-3 was repellent at 3.9, 7.8, and 31.25 µg/g against BIFA, RIFA, and HIFA, whereas α-bisabolol was active at 7.8, 7.8, and 31.25 µg/g against BIFA, HIFA, and RIFA, respectively. DEET (N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) was active at 31.25 µg/g. Toxicity of EOs and α-bisabolol was mild to moderate. For EO-1, LC₅₀ values were 93.6 and 188.11 µg/g against RIFA and BIFA; 98.11 and 138.4 µg/g for EO-2; and 142.92 and 202.49 µg/g for EO-3, respectively. The LC₅₀ of α-bisabolol was 159.23 µg/g against RIFA. In conclusion, M. chamomilla EOs and α-bisabolol offer great potential to be developed as imported fire ant repellents. Full article

A lack of transparency in machine learning models can limit their application. We show that analysis of variance (ANOVA) methods extract interpretable predictive models from them. This is possible because ANOVA decompositions represent multivariate functions as sums of functions of fewer variables. Retaining the terms in the ANOVA summation involving functions of only one or two variables provides an efficient method to open black box classifiers. The proposed method builds generalised additive models (GAMs) by application of L1 regularised logistic regression to the component terms retained from the ANOVA decomposition of the logit function. The resulting GAMs are derived using two alternative measures, Dirac and Lebesgue. Both measures produce functions that are smooth and consistent. The term partial responses in structured models (PRiSM) describes the family of models that are derived from black box classifiers by application of ANOVA decompositions. We demonstrate their interpretability and performance for the multilayer perceptron, support vector machines and gradient-boosting machines applied to synthetic data and several real-world data sets, namely Pima Diabetes, German Credit Card, and Statlog Shuttle from the UCI repository. The GAMs are shown to be compliant with the basic principles of a formal framework for interpretability. Full article

Chronic progressive lymphedema (CPL) is a common disease in Rhenisch German draught horses. The objective of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of this disease and its progression with age in 493 Rhenish German draught horses from different regions in Germany. We employed generalized linear models with binomial, multinomial, and normal distributions to analyse the effects of breeding association, coat colour, sex and age within sex, time of examination, limb on which CPL was recorded, and farm-related factors on disease scores. The occurrence and severity of CPL were significantly influenced by breeding area, sex, coat colour, and interaction of age by sex. Males had significantly higher CPL-scores than geldings (1.92-fold) and females (5.02-fold) as well as a faster (1.85-fold) disease progression per year of life than females (1.44-fold) and geldings (1.25-fold). Regression on age within sex was still significant when age was restricted to a minimum of 7 years in the analysis. Bay horses exhibited 1.77-fold and 2.19-fold higher CPL-scores than chestnut and black horses. Keeping horses on pasture and keeping bedding clean reduced CPL-scores, whereas feeding of hay silage and concentrates during winter increased CPL-scores. Our analysis revealed significant regression coefficients of cannon bone circumference on CPL-scores. Relationships with hoof measures and skinfold diameter at the neck were not found. In conclusion, differences among breeding districts and sexes by age had the largest impact on CPL prevalence and scores. Disease progression was evident up to a mean age of 16 years in males and 20 years in females. The identification of risk factors and their effects on CPL should help to reduce the occurrence and progression of CPL. Full article

German Black Pied (DSN) is considered an ancestral population of the Holstein breed. The goal of the current study was to fine-map genomic loci for milk production traits and to provide sequence variants for selection. We studied genome-wide associations for milk-production traits in 2160 DSN cows. Using 11.7 million variants from whole-genome sequencing of 304 representative DSN cattle, we identified 1980 associated variants (−log₁₀(p) ≥ 7.1) in 13 genomic loci on 9 chromosomes. The highest significance was found for the MGST1 region affecting milk fat content (−log₁₀(p) = 11.93, MAF = 0.23, substitution effect of the minor allele (ß_MA) = −0.151%). Different from Holstein, DGAT1 was fixed (0.97) for the alanine protein variant for high milk and protein yield. A key gene affecting protein content was CSN1S1 (−log₁₀(p) = 8.47, MAF = 049, ß_MA = −0.055%) and the GNG2 region (−log₁₀(p) = 10.48, MAF = 0.34, ß_MA = 0.054%). Additionally, we suggest the importance of FGF12 for protein and fat yield, HTR3C for milk yield, TLE4 for milk and protein yield, and TNKS for milk and fat yield. Selection for favored alleles can improve milk yield and composition. With respect to maintaining the dual-purpose type of DSN, unfavored linkage to genes affecting muscularity has to be investigated carefully, before the milk-associated variants can be applied for selection in the small population. Full article

This systematic review aims to provide deep insights on emerging trends in, and the potential of, advanced deep learning techniques, such as machine learning algorithms being partially replaced by deep learning (DL) algorithms for credit scoring owing to the higher accuracy of the latter. This review also seeks to explain the reasons that deep belief networks (DBNs) can achieve higher accuracy than shallower networks, discusses the potential classification capabilities of DL-based classifiers, and bridges DL and explainable credit scoring. The theoretical characteristics of DBNs are also presented along with the reasons for their higher accuracy compared to that of shallower networks. Studies published between 2019 and 2022 were analysed to review and compare the most recent DL techniques that have been found to achieve higher accuracies than ensemble classifiers, their hybrids, rule extraction methods, and rule-based classifiers. The models reviewed in this study were evaluated and compared according to their accuracy and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the Australian, German (categorical), German (numerical), Japanese, and Taiwanese datasets, which are commonly used in the credit scoring community. This review paper also explains how tabular datasets are converted into images for the application of a two-dimensional convolutional neural network (CNN) and how “black box” models using local and global rule extraction and rule-based methods are applied in credit scoring. Finally, a new insight on the design of DL-based classifiers for credit scoring datasets is provided, along with a discussion on promising future research directions. Full article