41 research outputs found
SchlafabhÀngige Konsolidierung emotionaler und prozeduraler GedÀchtnisinhalte bei Kindern mit Autismusspektrumstörung
Bei Kindern mit Autismusspektrumstörung (ASD) ist neben charakteristischen Merkmalen wie AuffÀlligkeiten in sozialer Kommunikation und Interaktion sowie stereotypen Verhaltensweisen hÀufig die SchlafqualitÀt beeintrÀchtigt. Dabei zeigten mehrere Untersuchungen den positiven Effekt von Schlaf auf die GedÀchtniskonsolidierung. Zielsetzung der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, die schlafabhÀngige GedÀchtniskonsolidierung von emotionalen und prozeduralen Inhalten bei Kindern mit ASD zu untersuchen, um eine mögliche BeeintrÀchtigung der GedÀchtniskonsolidierung von Kindern mit ASD im Zusammenhang mit Schlafproblemen nachzuweisen.
In der prospektiven Studie wurden 21 mĂ€nnliche Autisten und 20 mĂ€nnliche Kontrollkinder zwischen 9 und 12 Jahren eingeschlossen. Kontroll- und klinische Gruppen wurden dabei nach Alter und Intelligenzquotienten gematcht. Beide Gruppen absolvierten jeweils in einer Schlaf- (mit nĂ€chtlichem Schlafintervall zwischen Encoding und Recall) und Wachbedingung (tagsĂŒber, kein Schlafintervall zwischen Encoding und Recall) verschiedene GedĂ€chtnisaufgaben am Computer. In vorliegender Arbeit wurden zwei der durchgefĂŒhrten GedĂ€chtnisaufgaben ausgewertet: Emo Memo Task (emotionale GedĂ€chtniskonsolidierung) und Button Box Task (prozedurale GedĂ€chtniskonsolidierung). Im Emo Memo Task zeigten die Kinder der klinischen Gruppe insgesamt signifikant schlechtere Ergebnisse beim Wiederkennen von emotionalen Bildinhalten. Es ergab sich in beiden Gruppen eine höhere Wiedererkennungsrate fĂŒr negative Bildhinhalte. Beide Gruppen profitierten vom Schlaf zwischen Encoding und Recall, jedoch zeigten sich diesbezĂŒglich keine Unterschiede zwischen der klinischen Gruppe und der Kontrollgruppe.
Im Button Box Task erzielten beide Gruppen Ă€hnliche Reaktionszeiten und Fehlerraten. In der freien Wiedergabe der Reihenfolge zeigten Kinder mit ASD tendenziell schlechtere Ergebnisse. FĂŒr beide Gruppen lieĂ sich im Button Box Task keine signifikante Beeinflussung der Ergebnisse durch das Schlafintervall nachweisen.
Zusammenfassend lÀsst sich sagen, dass trotz insgesamt schlechterer Leistung der klinischen Gruppe die FÀhigkeit zur schlafabhÀngigen GedÀchtniskonsolidierung bei Kindern mit ASD grundsÀtzlich vorhanden ist. Abweichungen in der Ausbildung von ReprÀsentationen im LangzeitgedÀchtnis bei ASD könnten somit möglicherweise weniger als Folge von Problemen im Konsolidierungsprozess an sich, sondern durch Unterschiede in vorgeschalteten Verarbeitungsprozessen (Encoding) erklÀrt werden
Impact of a Weekly Dance Class on the Functional Mobility and on the Quality of Life of Individuals with Parkinsonâs Disease
Individuals with Parkinsonâs disease (PD) mainly suffer from motor impairments which increase the risk of falls and lead to a decline of quality of life. Several studies investigated the long-term effect of dance for people with PD. The aims of the present study were to investigate (i) the short-term effects of dance (i.e., the effect immediately after the dance class) on motor control in individuals with PD and (ii) the long-term effects of 8âmonths of participation in the weekly dance class on the quality of life of the PD patients and their caregivers. The dance lessons took place in a ballet studio and were led by a professional dancer. Eleven people with moderate to severe PD (58â85âyears old) were subjected to a motor and quality of life assessments. With respect to the motor assessments the unified Parkinson disease rating scale III (UPDRS III), the timed up and go test (TUG), and the Semitandem test (SeTa) before and after the dance class were used. With respect to the quality of life and well-being we applied quality of life scale (QOLS) as well as the Westheimer questionnaire. Additionally, we asked the caregivers to fill out the Questionnaire for caregivers. We found a significant beneficial short-term effect for the total score of the UPDRS motor score. The strongest improvements were in rigidity scores followed by significant improvements in hand movements, finger taps, and facial expression. No significant changes were found for TUG and for SeTa. The results of the questionnaires showed positive effects of the dance class on social life, health, body-feeling and mobility, and on everyday life competences of the PD patients. Beneficial effect was also found for the caregivers. The findings demonstrate that dance has beneficial effect on the functional mobility of individuals with PD. Further, dance improves the quality of life of the patients and their caregivers. Dance may lead to better therapeutic strategies as it is engaging and enjoyable
A CubeSat Asteroid Mission: Design Study and Trade-Offs
There is considerable interest in expanding the applicability of cubesat spacecraft into lightweight, low cost missions beyond Low Earth Orbit. A conceptual design was done for a 6-U cubesat for a technology demonstration to demonstrate use of electric propulsion systems on a small satellite platform. The candidate objective was a mission to be launched on the SLS test launch EM-1 to visit a Near-Earth asteroid. Both asteroid fly-by and asteroid rendezvous missions were analyzed. Propulsion systems analyzed included cold-gas thruster systems, Hall and ion thrusters, incorporating either Xenon or Iodine propellant, and an electrospray thruster. The mission takes advantage of the ability of the SLS launch to place it into an initial trajectory of C3=0. Targeting asteroids that fly close to earth minimizes the propulsion required for fly-by/rendezvous. Due to mass constraints, high specific impulse is required, and volume constraints mean the propellant density was also of great importance to the ability to achieve the required deltaV. This improves the relative usefulness of the electrospray salt, with higher propellant density. In order to minimize high pressure tanks and volatiles, the salt electrospray and iodine ion propulsion systems were the optimum designs for the fly-by and rendezvous missions respectively combined with a thruster gimbal and wheel system For the candidate fly-by mission, with a mission deltaV of about 400 m/s, the mission objectives could be accomplished with a 800s electrospray propulsion system, incorporating a propellant-less cathode and a bellows salt tank. This propulsion system is planned for demonstration on 2015 LEO and 2016 GEO DARPA flights. For the rendezvous mission, at a V of 2000 m/s, the mission could be accomplished with a 50W miniature ion propulsion system running iodine propellant. This propulsion system is not yet demonstrated in space. The conceptual design shows that an asteroid mission is possible using a cubesat platform with high-efficiency electric propulsion
SOCNET 2018 - Proceedings of the âSecond International Workshop on Modeling, Analysis, and Management of Social Networks and Their Applicationsâ
Modeling, analysis, control, and management of complex social networks represent an important area of interdisciplinary research in an advanced digitalized world. In the last decade social networks have produced significant online applications which are running on top of a modern Internet infrastructure and have been identified as major driver of the fast growing Internet traffic. The "Second International Workshop on Modeling, Analysis and Management of Social Networks and Their Applications" (SOCNET 2018) held at Friedrich-Alexander-UniversitĂ€t Erlangen-NĂŒrnberg, Germany, on February 28, 2018, has covered related research issues of social networks in modern information society. The Proceedings of SOCNET 2018 highlight the topics of a tutorial on "Network Analysis in Python" complementing the workshop program, present an invited talk "From the Age of Emperors to the Age of Empathy", and summarize the contributions of eight reviewed papers. The covered topics ranged from theoretical oriented studies focusing on the structural inference of topic networks, the modeling of group dynamics, and the analysis of emergency response networks to the application areas of social networks such as social media used in organizations or social network applications and their impact on modern information society. The Proceedings of SOCNET 2018 may stimulate the readers' future research on monitoring, modeling, and analysis of social networks and encourage their development efforts regarding social network applications of the next generation.Die Modellierung, Analyse, Steuerung und das Management komplexer sozialer Netzwerke reprĂ€sentiert einen bedeutsamen Bereich interdisziplinĂ€rer Forschung in einer modernen digitalisierten Welt. Im letzten Jahrzehnt haben soziale Netzwerke wichtige Online Anwendungen hervorgebracht, die auf einer modernen Internet-Infrastruktur ablaufen und als eine Hauptquelle des rasant anwachsenden Internetverkehrs identifiziert wurden. Der zweite internationale Workshop "Modeling, Analysis and Management of Social Networks and Their Applications" (SOCNET 2018) wurde am 28. Februar 2018 an der Friedrich-Alexander-UniversitĂ€t Erlangen-NĂŒrnberg abgehalten und stellte Forschungsergebnisse zu sozialen Netzwerken in einer modernen Informationsgesellschaft vor. Die SOCNET 2018 Proceedings stellen die Themen eines Tutoriums "Network Analysis in Python" heraus, prĂ€sentieren einen eingeladenen Beitrag "From the Age of Emperors to the Age of Empathy" und fassen die Ergebnisse von acht begutachteten wissenschaftlichen BeitrĂ€gen zusammen. Die abgedeckten Themen reichen von theoretisch ausgerichteten Studien zur Strukturanalyse thematischer Netzwerke, der Modellierung von Gruppendynamik sowie der Netzwerkanalyse von RettungseinsĂ€tzen bis zu den Anwendungsbereichen sozialer Netzwerke, z.B. der Nutzung sozialer Medien in Organisationen sowie der Wirkungsanalyse sozialer Netzwerkanwendungen in modernen Informationsgesellschaften. Die SOCNET 2018 Proceedings sollen die Leser zu neuen Forschungen im Bereich der Messung, Modellierung und Analyse sozialer Netzwerke anregen und sie zur Entwicklung neuer sozialer Netzwerkapplikationen der nĂ€chsten Generation auffordern
Digitalisierung und Demokratie
Die Digitalisierung spielt bei den Prozessen und Entwicklungen in einer Demokratie eine immer gröĂere Rolle. Denn Digitalisierung erweitert die Möglichkeiten der Information, Kommunikation und Partizipation. Gleichzeitig können digitale Technologien zu einer schnellen Verbreitung von Falschinformationen beitragen und bergen ein Potenzial fĂŒr Meinungsmanipulation, zum Beispiel vor Wahlen. Dieses Spannungsfeld ist Thema der Stellungnahme "Digitalisierung und Demokratie". Darin analysieren die Autorinnen und Autoren Aspekte des Zusammenspiels von Digitalisierung und Demokratie. Darauf aufbauend formulieren sie Handlungsempfehlungen zur Gestaltung kĂŒnftiger Entwicklungen durch Politik, Recht und Zivilgesellschaft
Observing Virtual Arms that You Imagine Are Yours Increases the Galvanic Skin Response to an Unexpected Threat
Multi-modal visuo-tactile stimulation of the type performed in the rubber hand illusion can induce the brain to temporarily incorporate external objects into the body image. In this study we show that audio-visual stimulation combined with mental imagery more rapidly elicits an elevated physiological response (skin conductance) after an unexpected threat to a virtual limb, compared to audio-visual stimulation alone. Two groups of subjects seated in front of a monitor watched a first-person perspective view of slow movements of two virtual arms intercepting virtual balls rolling towards the viewer. One group was instructed to simply observe the movements of the two virtual arms, while the other group was instructed to observe the virtual arms and imagine that the arms were their own. After 84 seconds the right virtual arm was unexpectedly âstabbedâ by a knife and began âbleedingâ. This aversive stimulus caused both groups to show a significant increase in skin conductance. In addition, the observation-with-imagery group showed a significantly higher skin conductance (p<0.05) than the observation-only group over a 2-second period shortly after the aversive stimulus onset. No corresponding change was found in subjects' heart rates. Our results suggest that simple visual input combined with mental imagery may induce the brain to measurably temporarily incorporate external objects into its body image
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