University of Augsburg

How age and sex interaction is associated with immune aging with implications for vaccines and age-related autoimmunity

Immunosenescence is not a uniform decline but a trajectory shaped jointly by age and sex. Using continuous high-dimensional immunophenotyping, we show that aging T cells accumulate a senescent signature of CD28 loss and CD57 gain, and that males reach an inverted CD4:CD8 ratio ea...

Do they care? An analysis of stakeholder perspectives on sustainability in luxury sailing yachts

This paper presents a thorough investigation of the notion of sustainability within the specific market sector of luxury sailing yachts. The study explores the various ways in which this concept is perceived, evaluated and operationalised. It examines the relationship between env...

Non-uniformly elliptic variational problems on BV

Abstract We establish $$\operatorname {W}^{1,1}$$ W 1 , 1 -regularity and higher gradient integrability for relaxed minimizers of convex integral functionals on $$\operatorname {BV}$$ BV . Unlike classical examples such as the minimal surface integrand, we only require linear gro...

Assessing climate change-related health hazards: An interactive tool for regional risk analysis in Germany

An interactive online health risk assessment has been created to visualize the health risks associated with climate change at the district level (NUTS3) across Germany. The tool provides a comprehensive assessment by depicting both the current risk patterns and projected conditio...

State of development of regional hospice and palliative care networks in Germany and a descriptive comparison of the role of coordination: results of an online survey using a maturity model

Abstract Background Regional hospice and palliative care networks (RHPCNs) aim to establish frameworks for care-management level collaboration between end-of-life care providers within specific regions. Since 2022, political support for RHPCNs in Germany has been bolstered by a n...

Demographic transition and the rise of wealth inequality

Abstract We analyse the contribution of rising longevity to the increase in wealth inequality in the U.S. over the past seventy years. To do so, we construct an overlapping generations (OLG) model with multiple sources of inequality, carefully calibrated to the data. Our key find...

Explainable Autonomous Robots: Taxonomy, State, and Trends — An Implementation-driven Mapping Study

As autonomous robots increasingly operate in dynamic environments shared with humans, explaining their decisions and behaviors is essential for trust, transparency, and effective human-robot interaction. Although eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) has received substantial...

Agents Through the Ages

Abstract Over several decades, research on socially interactive agents has transformed human–machine interaction, evolving from early script-based systems to today’s generative, multimodal agents. Tracing this development through the ages, this article reflects on major conceptua...

Transferability of ion force fields to OPC water: Maintaining single-ion and ion-pairing properties

Accurate ion force fields are essential for molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecular systems, particularly in combination with modern water models such as OPC. While OPC water provides an accurate description of key water properties and has been successfully applied in biom...

Sample Source and Cryopreservation Affect Flow-Cytometric Profiling of Immune-Escape-Related Markers on AML Blasts

Background/Objectives: Flow-cytometric readouts in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) may depend on specimen source and processing. We assessed whether sample source (peripheral blood [PB] vs. bone marrow [BM]) and cryopreservation influence immune-evasion-related markers on AML blasts...

Do not smile when acquiring consumer selfies for multi-attribute skin profiling and baseline deep learning evaluation

Abstract The increasing demand for personalized skincare solutions highlights a significant gap: many consumers struggle to find suitable products without professional guidance. While the commercial potential for tailored product recommendations is vast, a key challenge remains t...

Mapping gendered ageism in health care: concepts, contexts, and gaps

While ageism and sexism are increasingly acknowledged as critical determinants of health and health care, the concept of “gendered ageism” remains under-theorised and empirically underdeveloped, with notable gaps in conceptual clarity and engagement with how age and gender co-con...

What constitutes successful collaborative conjecturing-and-proving processes? Relations between beginning undergraduates’ resources, conjecturing-and-proving processes, and performance

Abstract Students’ difficulties with mathematical argumentation, conjecturing, and proving, as well as with collaborating effectively, have long been documented in the literature. While there is some research on what constitutes successful proving processes, systematic investigat...

Identifying the scale of effect of habitat for diversity and biomass of multiple arthropod taxa

Abstract Context Understanding how landscape composition influences biodiversity is a central objective of landscape ecology. Because species respond to environmental conditions across different spatial scales, landscape effects are inherently scale-dependent, making the identifi...

DECIDER-2: Prospective randomized multicenter phase III trial of decitabine and venetoclax administered in combination with all-trans retinoic acid or placebo in patients with acute myeloid leukemia who are ineligible for induction chemotherapy

Abstract Background Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is predominantly a disease of older patients with a poor long-term survival. Approval of the combination of venetoclax (VEN) with azacitidine (AZA) or decitabine (DAC) in the European Union in 2021 for the treatment of patients wit...

Investigating changes in the blood-brain barrier in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: design and methodology of a longitudinal dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI study

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) are clinically and biologically heterogeneous and lack reliable biomarkers for stratification, treatment response and course prediction. Evidence from postmortem, fluid biomarker, and neuroimaging studies suggests that changes in the blood-...

Fostering the collaborative diagnosis of cross-domain skills in video-based simulations: An analysis of collaborative diagnostic activities

Abstract Teachers’ ability to assess pupils’ knowledge and skills is a crucial component of their daily responsibilities, as accurate diagnoses influence both the support provided to pupils and their learning outcomes. Traditionally, diagnosing pupils’ skills is an individual tas...

The value of a name – an ex-ante rethink of fund naming strategies considering the ESMA guidelines

Purpose This study aims to evaluate ESMA guidelines as a policy solution to align fund naming strategies with actual practices. It addresses the sustainable development challenge of greenwashing, which misdirects capital away from genuine environmental and social solutions. Desig...