Johannes Kepler University of Linz

About: Johannes Kepler University of Linz is a education organization based out in Linz, Oberösterreich, Austria. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Thin film. The organization has 6605 authors who have published 19243 publications receiving 385667 citations.

Mental distress and quality of life in the hard of hearing

Abstract: Objective: This study aims to compare levels of psychological distress and the quality of life in the hard of hearing with levels reported by the signing deaf, and the hearing population. Method: A total of 373 members of the Hard of Hearing Association completed the brief WHO's Quality of Life, 12-item General Health Questionnaire and Brief Symptom Inventory, and provided details about their initial and current deafness. Results: The hard of hearing have worse social relationships than the signing deaf, and are disadvantaged relative to the hearing in all areas measured. Quality of life is related to the level of satisfaction with the hearing achieved by hearing aids. Conclusion: General psychiatrists need to be aware that patients who are hard of hearing may be even more isolated than deaf people in a signing community. Hard of hearing patients with unsatisfactory hearing aids can be greatly assisted by cochlear implants.

Normal mode analysis of the spectral density of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson light-harvesting protein: how the protein dissipates the excess energy of excitons.

Abstract: We report a method for the structure-based calculation of the spectral density of the pigment–protein coupling in light-harvesting complexes that combines normal-mode analysis with the charge density coupling (CDC) and transition charge from electrostatic potential (TrEsp) methods for the computation of site energies and excitonic couplings, respectively The method is applied to the Fenna–Matthews–Olson (FMO) protein in order to investigate the influence of the different parts of the spectral density as well as correlations among these contributions on the energy transfer dynamics and on the temperature-dependent decay of coherences The fluctuations and correlations in excitonic couplings as well as the correlations between coupling and site energy fluctuations are found to be 1 order of magnitude smaller in amplitude than the site energy fluctuations Despite considerable amplitudes of that part of the spectral density which contains correlations in site energy fluctuations, the effect of these correla

Reengineering legacy applications into software product lines: a systematic mapping

Abstract: Software Product Lines (SPLs) are families of systems that share common assets allowing a disciplined reuse. Rarely SPLs start from scratch, instead they usually start from a set of existing systems that undergo a reengineering process. Many approaches to conduct the reengineering process have been proposed and documented in research literature. This scenario is a clear testament to the interest in this research area. We conducted a systematic mapping study to provide an overview of the current research on reengineering of existing systems to SPLs, identify the community activity in regarding of venues and frequency of publications in this field, and point out trends and open issues that could serve as references for future research. This study identified 119 relevant publications. These primary sources were classified in six different dimensions related to reengineering phases, strategies applied, types of systems used in the evaluation, input artefacts, output artefacts, and tool support. The analysis of the results points out the existence of a consolidate community on this topic and a wide range of strategies to deal with different phases and tasks of the reengineering process, besides the availability of some tools. We identify some open issues and areas for future research such as the implementation of automation and tool support, the use of different sources of information, need for improvements in the feature management, the definition of ways to combine different strategies and methods, lack of sophisticated refactoring, need for new metrics and measures and more robust empirical evaluation. Reengineering of existing systems into SPLs is an active research topic with real benefits in practice. This mapping study motivates new research in this field as well as the adoption of systematic reuse in software companies.

RF system concepts for highly integrated RFICs for W-CDMA mobile radio terminals

Abstract: The standardization phase for third-generation wide-band CDMA systems like the universal mobile telecommunication system, which will add broad-band data to support video, Internet access, and other high-speed services for untethered devices is running toward its finalization. As is typical for mobile communication systems standardization, sufficient RF performance has been assumed and most efforts have been put to digital baseband issues. This is especially true for the mobile phone transceivers, the RF part of which is (although its baseband part is much more complex in terms of number of devices) still the bottleneck of the entire system. Meanwhile, in the RF concept engineering of today's commercial products, an accurate prediction of the needed RF performance by using RF system simulation is indispensable. This is, in particular, the case with third-generation wireless systems, which, from the RF design point-of-view, are quite different from second-generation time-division multiple access/frequency-division multiple-access systems due to the fact that the user signals are now separated in the code domain rather than in the time and/or frequency domain. The paper gives an insight of how to derive receiver requirements for third-generation mobiles in terms recognizable by microwave designers, reports on the system simulation-based design, and performance of silicon-based RF integrated circuits for mobile terminal use, and discusses some future technologies and techniques and their possible impact on portable wireless devices.

Is it sex or personality? the impact of sex stereotypes on discrimination in applicant selection

Abstract: This paper goes one step further than previous experimental studies by adopting correspondence testing to investigate the impact of usually unobservable variables. When testing for discrimination it may not be sufficient to control for human capital only. Specific personality traits that are more commonly associated with men than women in general seem to contribute to success particularly in many attractive, highly paid jobs. A successful manager, for example, is supposed to be ambitious, competitive, and dominant, which are stereotypically masculine traits. Alternatively, stereotypically feminine characteristics are preferred in many traditionally female occupations. A good nurse or kindergarten teacher, for example, seems to require