BackgroundOne of the most effective current approaches to preventing stroke events is the reduction of lifestyle risk factors, such as unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and smoking. In this study, we assessed the efficacy and usability of the phone-based Computer-aided Prevention System (CAPSYS) in supporting the reduction of lifestyle-related risk factors.MethodsA single-centre two-arm clinical trial was performed between January 2013 and February 2014, based on individual follow-up periods of six months with 94 patients at high risk of stroke, randomly assigned to an intervention group (IC: 48; advised to use the CAPSYS system) or a standard care group (SC: 46). Study parameters, such as blood pressure, blood values (HDL, LDL, HbA1c, glycaemia and triglycerides), weight, height, physical activity as well as nutrition and smoking habits were captured through questionnaires and medical records at baseline and post-intervention and analysed to detect significant changes. The usability of the intervention was assessed based on the standardised System Usability Scale (SUS) complemented by a more system-specific user satisfaction and feedback questionnaire.ResultsThe statistical evaluation of primary measures revealed significant decreases of systolic blood pressure (mean of the differences = –9 mmHg; p = 0.03; 95 % CI = [–17.29, –0.71]), LDL (pseudo-median of the differences = –7.9 mg/dl; p = 0.04; 95 % CI = [–18.5, –0.5]) and triglyceride values (pseudo-median of the differences = –12.5 mg/dl; p = 0.04; 95 % CI = [–26, –0.5]) in the intervention group, while no such changes could be observed in the control group. Furthermore, we detected a statistically significant increase in self-reported fruit and vegetable consumption (pseudo-median of the differences = 5.4 servings/week; p = 0.04; 95 % CI = [0.5, 10.5]) and a decrease in sweets consumption (pseudo-median of the differences = –2 servings/week; p = 0.04; 95 % CI = [–4, –0.00001]) in the intervention group. The usability assessment showed that the CAPSYS system was, in general, highly accepted by the users (average SUS score: 80.1).ConclusionsThe study provided encouraging results indicating that a computerised phone-based lifestyle coaching system, such as CAPSYS, can support the usual treatment in reducing cerebro-cardiovascular risk factors and that such an approach is well applicable in practice.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02444715

Without geospatial data management, today’s challenges in big data applications such as earth observation, geographic information system/building information modeling (GIS/BIM) integration, and 3D/4D city planning cannot be solved. Furthermore, geospatial data management plays a connecting role between data acquisition, data modelling, data visualization, and data analysis. It enables the continuous availability of geospatial data and the replicability of geospatial data analysis. In the first part of this article, five milestones of geospatial data management research are presented that were achieved during the last decade. The first one reflects advancements in BIM/GIS integration at data, process, and application levels. The second milestone presents theoretical progress by introducing topology as a key concept of geospatial data management. In the third milestone, 3D/4D geospatial data management is described as a key concept for city modelling, including subsurface models. Progress in modelling and visualization of massive geospatial features on web platforms is the fourth milestone which includes discrete global grid systems as an alternative geospatial reference framework. The intensive use of geosensor data sources is the fifth milestone which opens the way to parallel data storage platforms supporting data analysis on geosensors. In the second part of this article, five future directions of geospatial data management research are presented that have the potential to become key research fields of geospatial data management in the next decade. Geo-data science will have the task to extract knowledge from unstructured and structured geospatial data and to bridge the gap between modern information technology concepts and the geo-related sciences. Topology is presented as a powerful and general concept to analyze GIS and BIM data structures and spatial relations that will be of great importance in emerging applications such as smart cities and digital twins. Data-streaming libraries and “in-situ” geo-computing on objects executed directly on the sensors will revolutionize geo-information science and bridge geo-computing with geospatial data management. Advanced geospatial data visualization on web platforms will enable the representation of dynamically changing geospatial features or moving objects’ trajectories. Finally, geospatial data management will support big geospatial data analysis, and graph databases are expected to experience a revival on top of parallel and distributed data stores supporting big geospatial data analysis.

The article contains sections titled: 1. Aluminum Sulfate and Alums 1.1. Aluminum Sulfate 1.1.1. Properties 1.1.2. Production 1.1.3. Uses 1.2. Alums 1.2.1. Potassium Aluminum Sulfate 1.2.2. Ammonium Aluminum Sulfate 1.2.3. Sodium Aluminum Sulfate 2. Aluminates 2.1. Sodium Aluminate 2.2. Barium Aluminates 3. Aluminum Alkoxides 4. Aluminum Chloride 4.1. Anhydrous Aluminum Chloride 4.1.1. Properties 4.1.2. Production 4.1.3. Quality Specifications and Analysis 4.1.4. Handling, Storage, and Transportation 4.1.5. Uses 4.2. Aluminum Chloride Hexahydrate 4.3. Basic Aluminum Chlorides 5. Toxicology

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Most of us have learned about rotation operators as by-products of angular momentum operators when studying quantum mechanics. Euler angles seem to be inextricably interwoven with this approach as necessary means to parametrize rotations. However, for good reasons we all avoid using them unless we are forced to in order to solve a specific molecular or solid-state problem that requires extensive symmetry analysis. In such a case we rather try to rely on tables that some more knowledgeable (or more patient) collegues have compiled. These problems are compounded when double groups and half-integral representations of the rotation group come into play, as in relativistic molecular electronic structure calculations that have attracted much interest recently.There was a method capable of curing these problems all along, but most of it seems to have been forgotten and buried under nineteenth century mathematics. A much more practical parametrization of the rotation group than that provided by the Euler angles had been worked out in 1840 by 0. Rodrigues that can be polished up by employing quaternion algebra invented by Hamilton in 1843. The Rodrigues parametrization (for the curious: half the rotation angle and the unit vector along the rotation axis) is always unique, unlike Euler angles. It is also easy to determine and furnishes a scheme for the multiplication of rotations.The quaternion method has been recently forged into a useful tool for practical calculations employing spinor representations by, among others, the author of the present book. This novel approach is fairly simple to use and will end up in textbooks of group theory before too long. This book by Altmann is an impressive start.After a well-researched chapter on the relevant history (most profitably read after studying the book), a terse introduction to symmetry and matrix representations of point groups is given. Then rotations, their relationship to angular momentum, and spinors are discussed. This is followed by an introduction to the group SU(2) and its relationship to rotations and to stereographic projection and projective representations. The core of the book is contained in chapters dealing with the geometry, topology and algebra of rotations as well as with spinor representations and double groups. Finally, the method presented are illustrated by applications to the point groups D6, D3, and C,, and the double group D3.It seems worth mentioning that all proofs are constructive in such a way that they always explicitly provide matrices consistent with the Condon and Shortley phase conventions. In all chapters numerous problems are included, some of which serve to shorten the more technical proofs. For this reason complete solutions are provided to all problems.The book is extremely well written and produced: it is fun to read. Rarely does one encounter such pleasures while expanding one's bag of theoretical tools.