Zürcher Fachhochschule

Summary Literary sources provide limited information on specific developments during the civil wars of the late Roman Republic, including the Sertorian War. This study describes the attack on the Vascon settlement of Irulegi (Aranguren valley, Navarre), in northern Spain, within the context of this conflict, using the methodological and theoretical frameworks of conflict archaeology. In doing so, it seeks to demonstrate that Roman cultural influences were operating during this period and that the Vascones were involved in the conflict. Although it remains uncertain which side the defenders supported, the available evidence suggests that the attack occurred between 76 and 72 BC and that the Vascones of Irulegi may have supported Sertorius.

Abstract Background Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has revolutionized Public Health Microbiology and has been used routinely for identification, epidemiological surveillance and monitoring antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In this study, in silico gene detection and clonality analysis identified the presence of multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Infantis isolates with extended-spectrum β-lactamase AMR determinants harbored on a megaplasmid (pESI-like plasmid) called IncFIB (K)_1_Kpn3 in the Ecuadorian population.Heatmap of multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella enterica serovar Infantis.Red = Resistance and yellow = Susceptibility.Plasmid IncFIB (K)_1_Kpn3 diagram in Ecuadorian strains Methods Twelve S. Infantis strains were obtained from urine cultures of patients aged 9 months to 95 years (11 female, 1 male) between 2022-2024. WGS was performed using Oxford Nanopore MinION (Rapid Barcoding Kit 24 V14 (SQK-RBK114.24). Data were processed using Galaxy Australia: Porechop for trimming, Flye for de novo assembly, and Abricate (Virulence Factor Database, ResFinder, and PlasmidFinder). Results The presence of blaCTX-M-65, amongst other resistance determinants conferring resistance to β-lactams, macrolides, aminoglycosides, tetracycline, sulfonamide, phenicol and fosfomycin were identified (Figure 1). Analyses of the genome indicated that the resistance were located on a 322518 bp plasmid that showed 99 % sequence similarity to an IncFIB plasmid (CP016409) (Figure 2). Clonality analysis showed that 100% isolates were belong to clone ST32 and all harbored the IncFIB plasmid. Furthermore, this plasmid contained genes associated with virulence, such as ybt (iron uptake), fae (fimbriae) which enhance the colonization capability and fitness of the bacterium. Conclusion The emergence of the multidrug-resistant (MDR) ESBL-producing S. enterica serovar Infantis has been linked to the presence of a unique pESI or pESI-like megaplasmid that enhances bacterial adaptation. The presence of pESI-like plasmids has demonstrated the emergence of a stable, resistant ST32 clone that has been circulating in the Ecuadorian population for some time, probably since 2014 (first reports). Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

Understanding.On the Negativity of Metaphor Between Philosophy and Psychiatric Diagnostics.The question of the epistemological status of metaphors addresses problems, which are more generally linked to the relation of linguistic expressions to reality.If we focus less on a classical truth postulate, but rather on the meaning-constituting function of language, we can work out the potential that lies in thinking of metaphor both as a positively determinable means of communication and as a negatively indeterminate expressive act.In the following, the productive power of this dialectic will be shown.This will be done by contrasting research on the understanding of metaphor in people diagnosed with schizophrenia with Jacques Lacans' thesis that all speech is built on psychotic-metonymic structures.In the following, I argue against views that conceive schizophrenic language disorders solely as an absence of understanding, and argue for a creative moment of non-understanding (in the sense of understanding differently).This is not, however, to make a relativistic argument that epistemic value should either be attributed to no speech at all or to every speech.Rather, the point is to highlight the normative moment of a linguistic positivism that analogizes the understanding of metaphors to the understanding of concepts and seeks to prove this conviction in empirical experiments.Diese epistemologische Ambivalenz der Metapher, die

Internet of Things (IoT) systems are pervasive and increasingly managed through mobile applications. However, poorly designed mobile applications can expose sensitive information to external adversaries. Mitigating such vulnerabilities requires both developers and researchers to apply well-established practices and design secure systems based on clearly defined approaches for vulnerability detection. Although databases such as Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) and Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) catalog known IoT vulnerabilities, no standardised methodology exists for detecting security weaknesses in IoT Mobile applications (IoTMas) during IoT mobile application development. Building on prior research, our research objectives are to: (1) identify, classify, and prioritize critical security vulnerabilities in IoTMAs, (2) survey existing Vulnerability Detection Approaches (VDAs) for IoT mobile applications, (3) critically evaluate the effectiveness of existing VDAs by analyzing their evaluation methodologies and dataset validation, and (4) formulate evidence-based recommendations based on the limitations of existing methods for detecting security vulnerabilities in IoTMAs. We performed a systematic literature review (SLR) from selected primary studies (PSs). From 856 papers retrieved from six academic databases—Scopus, Springer, and Engineering Village, which hosts Compendex (covering IEEE Xplore and the ACM Digital Library), and Inspec (IET)—we reviewed 39 research papers. Our findings include: (1) identification of 52 security vulnerabilities, eight critical (i.e, reported in at least four studies); (2) discovery of seven distinct VDAs; (3) comprehensive VDAs effectiveness evaluation using empirical metrics, accuracy assessments, reproducibility analysis, comparative studies, and validation across diverse IoTMAs marketplaces; (4) recommendations to guide developers and practitioners in selecting appropriate VDAs, thereby supporting the development of secure IoTMAs and enhanced penetration testing. Our study raises awareness of state-of-the-art VDAs, identifies research gaps in existing approaches, and provides recommendations to enhance existing techniques and guide new development, supporting software engineers in making informed technique selection decisions.

Web APIs are essential in modern software systems, with OpenAPI as the standard specification for describing RESTful APIs. Despite widespread adoption, OpenAPI specifications are mainly textual documents that become verbose, deeply nested, and difficult to navigate at scale. Current tools like Swagger Editor lack graphical design capabilities, impeding effective prototyping for large teams and non-technical users. To address this gap, we present APICAnvas, a visual design tool enabling users to interact with OpenAPI specifications through both editable YAML and graphical interfaces with bidirectional synchronization. We evaluated the tool with 13 participants across two tasks: creating new APIs and modifying existing ones. Results show 83% successfully created APIs from scratch and 75% correctly updated existing APIs, demonstrating the tool’s effectiveness across diverse experience levels.

As numerical simulations grow in complexity, their demands on computing time and energy increase. Accelerators for numerical computation offer significant efficiency gains in many computationally-intensive scientific fields, but their use in simulating spiking neural networks in computational neuroscience is hindered by challenges, mainly in effective parallelism and efficient use of memory in the presence of sparse representations and sparse communication. The BrainScaleS architectures are neuromorphic substrates that can emulate spiking neural networks at accelerated timescales compared to real time, which offers an advantage for studying complex plasticity rules that require extended simulation runtimes. This work presents the implementation of a calcium-based plasticity rule that integrates calcium dynamics based on the synaptic tagging-and-capture hypothesis on the BrainScaleS-2 system. The implementation of the plasticity rule for a single synapse involves incorporating the calcium dynamics and the plasticity rule equations. The calcium dynamics are mapped to the analog circuits of BrainScaleS-2, while the plasticity rule equations are numerically solved on its embedded digital processors. The main hardware constraints include the speed of the processors and the use of integer arithmetic. By adjusting the timestep of the numerical solver and introducing stochastic rounding, we demonstrate that BrainScaleS-2 accurately emulates a single synapse following a calcium-based plasticity rule across four established stimulation protocols and validate our implementation against a software reference model.

This paper addresses the problem of crossregister generalization in argument mining within political discourse.We examine whether models trained on adversarial, spontaneous U.S. presidential debates can generalize to the more diplomatic and prepared register of UN Security Council (UNSC) speeches.To this end, we conduct a comprehensive evaluation across four core argument mining tasks.Our experiments show that the tasks of detecting and classifying argumentative units transfer well across registers, while identifying and labeling argumentative relations remains notably challenging, likely due to register-specific differences in how argumentative relations are structured and expressed.As part of this work, we introduce ArgUNSC, a new corpus of 144 UNSC speeches manually annotated with claims, premises, and their argumentative links.It provides a resource for future in-and cross-domain studies and novel research directions at the intersection of argument mining and political science.

ObjectivesTo identify differences in the mean vitamin D concentrations in samples obtained from a private laboratory in Quito and to explore their relationship with the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods spanning from 2018 to 2022.DesignA combination of an interrupted time series design and a retrospective cross-sectional approach.Setting and participantsThe study involved 9285 participants who had their 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels tested at a well-known private laboratory in Quito, Ecuador, from 2018 to 2022.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe 25(OH)D levels were analysed and assessed for correlations with age, and the year the measurements were taken.ResultsThe mean 25(OH)D level was 27.53 ng/mL (± 14.11). Approximately 68.8% of participants had serum 25(OH)D levels of less than 30 ng/mL, and 0.6% showed potential harm from excess 25(OH)D, with levels over 100 ng/mL. The analysis indicated a significant monthly increase of 0.133 units in 25(OH)D levels (p=0.006). However, the period after March 2020, compared with before, saw a non-significant decrease of 1.605 units in mean 25(OH)D levels (p=0.477).ConclusionsThe study’s findings indicate a significant prevalence of 25(OH)D deficiency, underscoring the necessity for preventative measures. However, the increasing trend in high 25(OH)D levels is concerning, emphasising the importance of prudent vitamin D supplement prescriptions and public education against self-medication. For efficient resource allocation and targeting of those with higher risks, it may be advantageous to concentrate vitamin D testing on specific population groups.