The effects of postural threat on sample entropy

The objectives of this thesis were to 1) explore the effects of postural threat on sample entropy, a measure interpreted to reflect the attentional investment in postural control, and to 2) examine the relationships between threat-related changes in physiological arousal, perceived anxiety, attention focus, conventional postural control measures, and sample entropy. A secondary data analysis was conducted on a combined data set derived from two published studies; each study used the postural perturbation threat model which allowed for a comparison between No Threat and Threat conditions. Young adults (N = 105) stood without (No Threat) and with (Threat) the expectation of receiving a temporally and directionally unpredictable support surface translation in the forward or backward direction. Mean electrodermal activity and anterior-posterior centre of pressure mean position, root mean square, mean power frequency, power within low (0–0.05 Hz), medium (0.5–1.8 Hz), and high frequency (1.8–5 Hz) components, and sample entropy were calculated for each trial. Anxiety and attention focus to movement processes, task objectives, threat-related stimuli, self-regulatory strategies, and task-irrelevant information were rated after each trial. The results of the thesis showed that postural threat had a significant effect on sample entropy; higher values were reported in the Threat compared to No Threat condition. However, threat-related changes in physiological arousal, perceived anxiety, and attention focus were not significantly related to changes in sample entropy. Threat-related changes in sample entropy were related to changes in sway amplitude and frequency. The results of this thesis suggest a shift to a more automatic control of posture when threatened despite evidence of increased attention to postural control

Specialised professional training makes a difference! The importance and prestige of typical duties in all-day schools from the perspective of teachers, leisure educators, principals and coordinators of extended education

In Austria there is a specialised education (60 ECTS) for "leisure educators", who are professionals working in all-day schools in the field of extended education but who are not teachers. Despite the existence of leisure educators, also teachers are often tasked with supervising extended education settings like lunchtime, extra-curricular activities and uncommitted free time in all-day schools in Austria. This paper aims to illustrate the difference of prestige that comes with different fields of duty in extended education and the implications of that difference. The paper is based on a quantitative study carried out in all-day schools in Vienna. It looks at the prestige of typical professional duties in all-day schools and at the importance attached to these duties by different professional groups. Leisure educators assign a higher importance to non-formal activities than teachers or other professional groups do. Yet, these activities represent relevant fields of duty in respect of training children and adolescents in 21st century skills. Hence the authors propose to address typical extended education duties in teacher education to enable all-day school professional teams to work on eye-level and efficiently. (DIPF/Orig.

Affect in science communication: a data-driven analysis of TED Talks on YouTube

Science communication is evolving: Increasingly, it is directed at the public rather than academic peers. Understanding the circumstances under which the public engages with scientific content is therefore crucial to improving science communication. In this article, we investigate the role of affect on audience engagement with a modern form of science communication: TED Talks on the social media platform YouTube. We examined how two aspects of affect, valence and density are associated with public engagement with the talk in terms of popularity (reflecting views and likes) and polarity (reflecting dislikes and comments). We found that the valence of TED Talks was associated with both popularity and polarity: Positive valence was linked to higher talk popularity and lower talk polarity. Density, on the other hand, was only associated with popularity: Higher affective density was linked to higher popularity—even more so than valence—but not polarity. Moreover, the association between affect and engagement was moderated by talk topic, but not by whether the talk included scientific content. Our results establish affect as an important covariate of audience engagement with scientific content on social media, which science communicators may be able to leverage to steer engagement and increase reach

Improvement of Capture Compound Mass Spectrometry Technology (CCMS) for the Profiling of Human Kinases by Combination with 2D LC-MS/MS

An increasingly popular and promising field in functional proteomics is the isolation of proteome subsets based on small molecule-protein interactions. One platform approach in this field are Capture Compounds that contain a small molecule of interest to bind target proteins, a photo-activatable reactivity function to covalently trap bound proteins, and a sorting function to isolate captured protein conjugates from complex biological samples for direct protein identification by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (nLC-MS/MS). In this study we used staurosporine as a selectivity group for analysis in HepG2 cells derived from human liver. In the present study, we combined the functional isolation of kinases with different separation workflows of automated split-free nanoflow liquid chromatography prior to mass spectrometric analysis. Two different CCMS setups, CCMS technology combined with 1D LC-MS and 2D LC-MS, were compared regarding the total number of kinase identifications. By extending the chromatographic separation of the tryptic digested captured proteins from 1D LC linear gradients to 2D LC we were able to identify 97 kinases. This result is similar to the 1D LC setup we previously reported but this time 4 times less input material was needed. This makes CCMS of kinases an even more powerful tool for the proteomic profiling of this important protein family

Upscaling of in-situ Automated Fiber Placement with LM-PAEK – from Panel to Fuselage

The application of thermoplastic CFRPs in large aerospace components enables a modern and differential approach to Aircraft manufacturing. Most importantly the opportunity of dust-free joining of components by means of thermoplastic welding technologies allow subassemblies to be pre-equipped with system and cabin elements that are then subsequently joined. The Institute for Structures and Design of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has been working on in-situ Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) with different thermoplastic matrix materials with the goal to develop a suitable single stage manufacturing process for thermoplastic CFRPs. Different aspects of the scale-up were investigated including the overall ply design, manufacturability of complex areas of a fuselage, first ply adhesion, and the overall laminate quality with regard to weldability. The manufacturing of a test shell with 4 m diameter is presented in this work. It identified key areas of the process that require further refinement in order to assure manufacturability and weldability of AFP-produced parts. Using the results, a holistic approach to the manufacturing process is proposed for the direct manufacturing of large-scale components made with the in-situ AFP Process

Emergency and Scheduled Respite Care for Caregivers of Persons with Dementia: A Proposed Program

Introduction: Respite care is defined as providing the primary caregiver with relief or a reprieve from care commitments on a short-term or emergency basis. Despite a demonstrated interest in and need for respite care programs, our research has shown that scarce resources exist via a statewide dementia respite program administered by Vermont’s five Area Agencies on Aging. Grants are small and many families do not fall within the eligibility requirements. In FY2010, only 290 families across the state met eligibility requirements (physicians’ diagnosis of dementia, income less than 300% of poverty line, unpaid caregiver, primary residence in VT) and were awarded limited funding for the provision of outside care (up to $750.00 each). For many of these families, this money is typically used to provide substitute care when the primary caregiver is not available. To date, there is no true emergency respite program in place for caregivers. This has placed a strain on families and day facilities, particularly when situations arise in which a caregiver is unable to pick up their family member due to an emergency situation. Our goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of a respite program to address this need.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1061/thumbnail.jp

Three-dimensional imaging of the larynx for pre-operative planning of laryngeal framework surgery

Modern laryngeal framework surgery (LFS) requires an exact understanding of the laryngeal biomechanics and precise pre-operative planning, for which bi-planar imaging is not sufficient. The aim of the study was to test whether MIMICS®, a commercially available software package for three-dimensional (3D) rendering of high-resolution computerised tomography (HRCT), is suitable for 3D imaging of the larynx, analysis of laryngeal biomechanics and pre-operative planning. We examined four cadaver larynx and one patient larynx. In the five larynges, all relevant structures and landmarks could be 3D visualised. Superimposing of two HRCT scans shows that when the arytenoids move from ‘respiration' to ‘phonation', they perform a rotating, translating and tilting motion. Moreover, we could demonstrate that the vocal fold elongates by 7% with cricothyroid approximation. We conclude that MIMCS® is well suited for 3D imaging of the larynx, analysis of laryngeal biomechanics and pre-operative planning of LFS procedure