The loss of full muscle activation contributes to weakness of the quadriceps muscle in patients with deficiency of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). We examined whether a deficit of voluntary activation (VA) of the quadriceps muscle can be reversed by reconstruction of the ACL and assessed its influence on muscle strength and clinical parameters. We evaluated 12 male subjects with an isolated tear of the ACL and 12 matched control subjects before operation and two years after reconstruction of the ACL. Assessment included measurements of isometric knee-extension torque at maximal voluntary contraction (MVC force), knee stability tests, the International Knee Ligament Standard Evaluation Form and the Tegner activity score. A sensitive method of twitch interpolation was used to quantify the VA and to calculate true muscle force. Before operation we found a deficit of VA on both the injured (mean ±SEM 74.9 ± 3.5%) and the uninjured side (74.6 ± 3.0%) in comparison with the control group (91 ± 0.9%). Two years after reconstruction of the ACL the VA improved significantly on both sides but remained less than that of the controls. Correlation analysis revealed an improvement of the VA in patients who returned to a higher level of activity. The deficit of true muscle force, however, persisted regardless of the clinical outcome and ligament stability.

Abstract. This study presents the results of the Fourth Filter Radiometer Comparison that was held in Davos, Switzerland, between 28 September and 16 October 2015. Thirty filter radiometers and spectroradiometers from 12 countries participated including reference instruments from global aerosol networks. The absolute differences of all instruments compared to the reference have been based on the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) criterion defined as follows: 95% of the measured data has to be within 0.005 ± 0.001∕m (where m is the air mass). At least 24 out of 29 instruments achieved this goal at both 500 and 865 nm, while 12 out of 17 and 13 out of 21 achieved this at 368 and 412 nm, respectively. While searching for sources of differences among different instruments, it was found that all individual differences linked to Rayleigh, NO2, ozone, water vapor calculations and related optical depths and air mass calculations were smaller than 0.01 in aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 500 and 865 nm. Different cloud-detecting algorithms used have been compared. Ångström exponent calculations showed relatively large differences among different instruments, partly because of the high calculation uncertainty of this parameter in low AOD conditions. The overall low deviations of these AOD results and the high accuracy of reference aerosol network instruments demonstrated a promising framework to achieve homogeneity, compatibility and harmonization among the different spectral AOD networks in the near future.

In reference to the increasing significance of citation counting in evaluations of scientists and science institutes as well as in science historiography, it is analyzed empirically what is cited in which frequency and what types of citations in scientific texts are used. Content analyses refer to numbers of references, self-references, publication language of references cited, publication types of references cited, and type of citation within the texts. Validity of citation counting is empirically analyzed with reference to random samples of English and German journal articles as well as German textbooks, encyclopedias, and test-manuals from psychology. Results show that 25% of all citations are perfunctory, more than 50% of references are journal articles and up to 40% are books and book-chapters, 10% are self-references. Differences between publications from various psychological sub-disciplines, publication languages, and types of publication are weak. Thus, validity of evaluative citation counting is limited because at least one quarter refers to perfunctory citations exhibiting a very low information utility level and by the fact that existing citationdatabases refer to journal articles only.

Geospatial information modelling (GIM) is used for decades to document phenomena of the real world. Visualizing and analysing GIM data are usually accomplished by geographic information system tools. The construction industry, on the other hand, uses usually computer-aided design (CAD) tools to plan buildings. With the introduction of building information modelling (BIM), modelling in CAD was enhanced to the entire life cycle of constructions. BIM and GIM are not independent of each other, e.g. BIM uses geospatial data for planning purposes. However, integrating both is challenging since the modelling methods differ. The paper describes approaches to establish interoperability between models of both domains. A literature review reveals the problems and challenges different researchers tackled to achieve interoperability.

Abstract. The DWD national radiation measurement network comprises 82 automatic sites, 29 manned sites with shaded and unshaded pyranometer and the BSRN station at Lindenberg. The quality assessment routinely applied takes into account the basic astronomical and empirical considerations as well as some interdependencies like total to diffuse flux relation and cross checking with sunshine duration.A more advanced quality assessment approach attempts to routinely utilise timeseries of clear sky radiative transfer simulations for every site. For that purpose a link to cloud coverage obtained from Meteosat second generation geostationary satellite data, highly resolved in time and space, was established. There is a predefined calibration cycle of 30 month for automatic stations. Data analysis on this timescale allows for the detection of sensor degradation, wrong calibration or configuration and other possible local disturbances. Furthermore using satellite cloud mask enables the identification of larger clear sky regions characterized by similar atmospheric conditions. Thus, in a regionalization step correction or recalibration of moderate quality data to a higher level can be considered.The paper provides an overview of DWD surface radiation network and the current activities to improve automatic quality assessment using remotely sensed data and clear sky modeling for the upgrading of radiation data.

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Abstract. The Precision Solar Spectroradiometer (PSR) is a new spectroradiometer developed at PhysikalischMeteorologisches Observatorium Davos -World Radiation Center (PMOD-WRC), Davos, measuring direct solar irradiance at the surface, in the 300-1020 nm spectral range and at high temporal resolution. The purpose of this work is to investigate the instrument's potential to retrieve integrated water vapour (IWV) using its spectral measurements. Two different approaches were developed in order to retrieve IWV: the first one uses single-channel and wavelength measurements, following a theoretical water vapour high absorption wavelength, and the second one uses direct sun irradiance integrated at a certain spectral region. IWV results have been validated using a 2-year data set, consisting of an AERONET sun-photometer Cimel CE318, a Global Positioning System (GPS), a microwave radiometer profiler (MWP) and radiosonde retrievals recorded at Meteorological Observatorium Lindenberg, Germany. For the monochromatic approach, better agreement with retrievals from other methods and instruments was achieved using the 946 nm channel, while for the spectral approach the 934-948 nm window was used. Compared to other instruments' retrievals, the monochromatic approach leads to mean relative differences up to 3.3 % with the coefficient of determination (R 2 ) being in the region of 0.87-0.95, while for the spectral approach mean relative differences up to 0.7 % were recorded with R 2 in the region of 0.96-0.98. Uncertainties related to IWV retrieval methods were investigated and found to be less than 0.28 cm for both methods. Absolute IWV deviations of differences between PSR and other instruments were determined the range of 0.08-0.30 cm and only in extreme cases would reach up to 15 %.

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