Adipositas- und geschlechtsspezifische Einflüsse auf phasische kardiale Reaktionen bei verstärkendem Lernen

Die Adipositas stellt eine der größten medizinischen und soziökonomischen Herausforderungen für unsere modernen Gesundheitssysteme dar. Als wichtige der Adipositas zugrundeliegende Faktoren wurden in früheren Studien typische Verhaltensunterschiede, abweichende hirnmorphologische und -funktionelle Befunde sowie unterschiedliche Aktivitäten in den Anteilen des autonomen Nervensystems im Vergleich adipöser und schlanker Männer und Frauen festgestellt. Diese Unterschiede könnten nach weiterer differenzierter Untersuchung wichtige Ansatzpunkte neuer Therapieformen liefern. In der vorliegenden Studie untersuchten wir Lernperformanz und kardiale Reaktionsmuster während verstärkenden Lernens unter dem Einfluss von Feedback-Valenz, Geschlecht und Adipositas auf Lernleistung und autonome Reaktionen anhand einer probabilistischen Lernaufgabe. Um exakt zwischen dem Lernverhalten bei positivem gegenüber negativem Feedback differenzieren zu können verwendeten wir ein spezielles Aufgaben-Design eines probabilistischen Lernexperiments zur operanten Konditionierung mittels monetären Feedbacks. Neben der Lernleistung untersuchten wir die Unterschiede in der kardialen Reaktivität bei der Verarbeitung der beiden Feedback-Valenzen sowie die Einflüsse von Geschlecht und Adipositas auf diese Prozesse. In der Analyse der Stärke der phasischen kardialen Reaktionen auf die Präsentation von Feedback zeigte sich ein direkter Zusammenhang zur Stärke des Vorhersagefehlers. Dieser kodiert als neuronales Signal für die Neubewertung von kortikalen Werte-Repräsentationen, falls das tatsächliche Ergebnis einer Entscheidung von dem erwarteten Ergebnis abweicht. Folglich bestehen direkte Wechselwirkungen zwischen phasischen Herzraten-Dezelerationen und höheren Prozessen des Feedback-Monitorings, was in der vorliegenden Studie nach unserem besten Wissen erstmalig als direkter Zusammenhang aufgezeigt werden konnte. Die beobachteten geschlechtsabhängigen Defizite bei verstärkendem Lernen waren nicht durch Differenzen in der Aneignung von Wissen, sondern in einer unzureichenden Anwendung des Erlernten begründet. Dabei zeigten besonders weibliche Probanden in der Belohnungsbedingung ein stärker inkonsistentes Verhalten im Vergleich zu männlichen Probanden, was in dieser Aufgabe zu einer geringeren Anzahl an vorteilhaften Entscheidungen führte und damit einer geringeren Lernperformanz. Darüber hinaus liefern unsere Ergebnisse weitere wichtige Hinweise für adipositasspezifische Unterschiede im Lernverhalten. In der initialen Lernphase war der Lernprozess im Vermeiden von Bestrafung bei adipösen Probanden verlangsamt, was im Einklang mit Ergebnissen aus der Literatur zu Einschränkungen in der Vermeidung negativer Langzeit-Folgen steht. Dieser Fund sollte in folgenden Studien differenzierter untersucht werden, um so die Entwicklung geeigneter Therapieformen weiter voran zu treiben.:1. Einführung in die Thematik 1.1 Adipositas 1.2 Lernen 1.3 Adipositasspezifische Lerndefizite 1.4 Geschlechtsunterschiede im Lernverhalten 1.5 Lernen und das autonome Nervensystem 1.6 Adipositasspezifische Veränderungen des autonomen Nervensystems 1.7 Phasische Herzreaktionen – Internet Intervals 1.8 Rationale der Studie 2. Paper 3. Zusammenfassung der Arbeit 3.1 Behaviorale Ergebnisse 3.2 Einfluss der Adipositas auf den Lernvorgang 3.3. Einfluss des Geschlechts auf den Lernvorgang 3.4 Zusammenhänge zwischen physischen Herzreaktionen und dem Lernvorgang 3.5 Schlussfolgerungen 4. Literaturverzeichnis 5. Appendix 5.1 Zusatzmaterial 5.1.1 Herzratenvariabilität (HRV) 5.1.2 Interbeat Intervals (IBIs) 5.3 Selbstständigkeitserklärung 5.4 Lebenslauf 5.5 Danksagun

The Bridge to Inclusion: An Appreciative Strategic Planning Process for the Cultural Awareness Coalition of Midland, Michigan

Inclusive communities are places where all citizens feel a sense of acceptance and belonging. In Midland, MI, a dedicated group of citizens has made a community-wide culture of inclusion their priority. These are the members of the Midland Cultural Awareness Coalition (CAC), a community-based initiative which has attracted a diverse group of stakeholders from a broad cross-section of Midland County. This spring, CAC leaders have collaborated with a team of graduate students (Team Black) enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology program (MAPP). As part of their semester-long course in Applying Positive Interventions in Institutions, Team Black identified CAC’s organizational strengths, identified opportunities, and drew upon their knowledge of positive psychology to create an application that would best support the CAC in pursuit of their vision. The team conducted a situation analysis and researched the academic literature in the fields of coalition effectiveness, goal-setting, inclusion and diversity, bonding and bridging social capital, psychological safety and psychological capital. Team Black recommends the CAC embark upon an Appreciative Inquiry-informed strategic planning process. This process will empower the coalition, engage the community, and provide a bridge from where the CAC is today, to where they hope to be tomorrow. The desired outcomes of this process include: engaging a broader network of stakeholders, creating a common language around inclusion, clarifying the organization’s goal hierarchy, and establishing clear priorities for investing the coalition’s limited human and financial resources

Optical and infrared properties of V1647 Orionis during the 2003-2006 outburst. I The reflection nebula

Aims: The recent outburst of the young eruptive star V1647 Orionis has produced a spectacular appearance of a new reflection nebula in Orion (McNeil's nebula). We present an optical/near infrared investigation of McNeil's nebula. This analysis is aimed at determining the morphology, temporal evolution and nature of the nebula and its connection to the outburst. Method: We performed multi epoch B, V, R, I, z, and K imaging of McNeil's nebula and V1647 Ori as well as K_S imaging polarimetry. The multiband imaging allows us to reconstruct the extinction map inside the nebula. Through polarimetric observations we attempt to disentangle the emission from the nebula from that of the accretion disk around V1647 Ori. We also attempt to resolve the small spatial scale structure of the illuminating source. Results: The energy distribution and temporal evolution of McNeil's nebula mimic that of the illuminating source. The extinction map reveals a region of higher extinction in the direction of V1647 Ori. Excluding foreground extionction, the optical extinction due to McNeil's nebula in the direction of V1647 Ori is A_V ~ 6.5 mag. The polarimetric measurement shows a compact high polarization emission around V1647 Ori. The percentage of K_S band linear polarization goes from 10 -- 20 %. The vectors are all well aligned with a position angle of 90 +/- 9 degree East of North. This may correspond to the orientation of a possible accretion disk around V1647 Ori. These findings suggest that the appearance of McNeil's nebula is due to reflection of light by pre-existing material in the surroundings of V1647 Ori. We also report on the discovery of a new candidate brown dwarf or protostar in the vicinity of V1647 Ori as well as the presence of clumpy structure within HH 22A.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, in pres

Near-infrared integral-field spectra of the planet/brown dwarf companion AB Pic b

Chauvin et al. 2005 imaged a co-moving companion at ~260 AU from the young star AB Pic A. Evolutionary models predictions based on J H K photometry of AB Pic b suggested a mass of ~13 - 14 MJup, placing the object at the deuterium-burning boundary. We used the adaptive-optics-fed integral field spectrograph SINFONI to obtain high quality medium-resolution spectra of AB Pic b (R = 1500-2000) over the 1.1 - 2.5 microns range. Our analysis relies on the comparison of our spectra to young standard templates and to the latest libraries of synthetic spectra developed by the Lyon's Group. AB Pic b is confirmed to be a young early-L dwarf companion. We derive a spectral type L0-L1 and find several features indicative of intermediate gravity atmosphere. A comparison to synthetic spectra yields Teff = 2000+100-300 K and log(g) = 4 +- 0.5 dex. The determination of the derived atmospheric parameters of AB Pic b is limited by a non-perfect match of current atmosphere spectra with our near-infrared observations of AB Pic b. The current treatment of dust settling and missing molecular opacity lines in the atmosphere models could be responsible. By combining the observed photometry, the surface fluxes from atmosphere models and the known distance of the system, we derive new mass, luminosity and radius estimates of AB Pic b. They confirm independently the evolutionary model predictions. We finally review the current methods used to characterize planetary mass companions and discuss them in the perspective of future planet deep imaging surveys.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

UWISH2 -- The UKIRT Widefield Infrared Survey for H2

We present the goals and preliminary results of an unbiased, near-infrared, narrow-band imaging survey of the First Galactic Quadrant (10deg<l<65deg ; -1.3deg<b<+1.3deg). This area includes most of the Giant Molecular Clouds and massive star forming regions in the northern hemisphere. The survey is centred on the 1-0S(1) ro-vibrational line of H2, a proven tracer of hot, dense molecular gas in star-forming regions, around evolved stars, and in supernova remnants. The observations complement existing and upcoming photometric surveys (Spitzer-GLIMPSE, UKIDSS-GPS, JCMT-JPS, AKARI, Herschel Hi-GAL, etc.), though we probe a dynamically active component of star formation not covered by these broad-band surveys. Our narrow-band survey is currently more than 60% complete. The median seeing in our images is 0.73arcsec. The images have a 5sigma detection limit of point sources of K=18mag and the surface brightness limit is 10^-19Wm^-2arcsec^-2 when averaged over our typical seeing. Jets and outflows from both low and high mass Young Stellar Objects are revealed, as are new Planetary Nebulae and - via a comparison with earlier K-band observations acquired as part of the UKIDSS GPS - numerous variable stars. With their superior spatial resolution, the UWISH2 data also have the potential to reveal the true nature of many of the Extended Green Objects found in the GLIMPSE survey.Comment: 14pages, 8figures, 2tables, accepted for publication by MNRAS, a version with higher resolution figures can be found at http://astro.kent.ac.uk/~df

Planets Around Low-Mass Stars (PALMS). I. A Substellar Companion to the Young M Dwarf 1RXS J235133.3+312720

We report the discovery of a brown dwarf companion to the young M dwarf 1RXS J235133.3+312720 as part of a high contrast imaging search for planets around nearby young low-mass stars with Keck-II/NIRC2 and Subaru/HiCIAO. The 2.4" (~120 AU) pair is confirmed to be comoving from two epochs of high resolution imaging. Follow-up low- and moderate-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy of 1RXS J2351+3127 B with IRTF/SpeX and Keck-II/OSIRIS reveals a spectral type of L0$^{+2}_{-1}$. The M2 primary star 1RXS J2351+3127 A exhibits X-ray and UV activity levels comparable to young moving group members with ages of ~10-100 Myr. UVW kinematics based the measured radial velocity of the primary and the system's photometric distance (50 +/- 10 pc) indicate it is likely a member of the ~50-150 Myr AB Dor moving group. The near-infrared spectrum of 1RXS J2351+3127 B does not exhibit obvious signs of youth, but its H-band morphology shows subtle hints of intermediate surface gravity. The spectrum is also an excellent match to the ~200 Myr M9 brown dwarf LP 944-20. Assuming an age of 50-150 Myr, evolutionary models imply a mass of 32 +/- 6 Mjup for the companion, making 1RXS J2351+3127 B the second lowest-mass member of the AB Dor moving group after the L4 companion CD-35 2722 B and one of the few benchmark brown dwarfs known at young ages.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 24 pages, 12 figures, 4 table

The young, tight and low mass binary TWA22AB: a new calibrator for evolutionary models ? Orbit, spectral types and temperatures determination

Tight binaries discovered in young, nearby associations, with known distances, are ideal targets to provide dynamical mass measurements to test the physics of evolutionary models at young ages and very low masses. We report for the first time the binarity of TWA22, possible new dynamical calibrator for evolutionary models at young ages. Based on an accurate trigonometric distance (17.53 +- 0.21 pc) determination, we infer a total dynamical mass of 220 +- 21 MJup for the system. From the resolved near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy, we find an effective temperature Teff=2900+200-200 K for TWA22 A and Teff=2900+200-100 K for TWA22 B and surface gravities between 4.0 and 5.5 dex. From our photometry and a M6 +- 1 spectral type for both components, we find luminosities of log(L/Lsun)=-2.11 +- 0.13 dex and log(L/Lsun)=-2.30 +- 0.16 dex for TWA22 A and B respectively. By comparing these parameters with evolutionary models, we question the age and the multiplicity of this system. We also discuss a possible underestimation of the mass predicted by evolutionary models for young stars close to the substellar boundary

Brain Responses to Violet, Blue, and Green Monochromatic Light Exposures in Humans: Prominent Role of Blue Light and the Brainstem

BACKGROUND: Relatively long duration retinal light exposure elicits nonvisual responses in humans, including modulation of alertness and cognition. These responses are thought to be mediated in part by melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells which are more sensitive to blue light than violet or green light. The contribution of the melanopsin system and the brain mechanisms involved in the establishment of such responses to light remain to be established. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We exposed 15 participants to short duration (50 s) monochromatic violet (430 nm), blue (473 nm), and green (527 nm) light exposures of equal photon flux (10(13)ph/cm(2)/s) while they were performing a working memory task in fMRI. At light onset, blue light, as compared to green light, increased activity in the left hippocampus, left thalamus, and right amygdala. During the task, blue light, as compared to violet light, increased activity in the left middle frontal gyrus, left thalamus and a bilateral area of the brainstem consistent with activation of the locus coeruleus. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These results support a prominent contribution of melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells to brain responses to light within the very first seconds of an exposure. The results also demonstrate the implication of the brainstem in mediating these responses in humans and speak for a broad involvement of light in the regulation of brain function

Facility management information taxonomy framework for queries in healthcare buildings

Healthcare facilities need to ensure providing safer services to patients without interruptions since disease diagnosis and treatments highly depend on medical equipment and spaces. Therefore, facility management (FM) of healthcare facilities requires a clear and rapid information flow for decision making processes to impede possible interruptions. Non-availability of information, accuracy problems and incomplete information induce more severe problems such as cost overruns, reduced productivity and decrease in customer satisfaction. Thus, this paper aims to develop a strategic information taxonomy framework for FM inquiries in healthcare facilities to address the research problem. Design Science Research methodology cycles such as relevance, rigor and design are adopted during the flow of the research. In the relevance cycle, research requirements and the importance of FMITs were firstly observed with two scenarios, then in the rigor cycle, 64 FM information types (FMITs) were determined, classified and refined under three categories such as; managerial, technical, and financial as a result of literature review and pilot study. Determined FMITs were analyzed with newly developed MonteCarlo Simulation and TOPSIS Techniques on healthcare facilities. As a result of analysis, 62 FMITs were found important for healthcare facilities. The most important FM Informations Types were found as “identification of hazardous or other risks to people or property” (0,985), “real-time operation parameters/post occupancy data integration” (0,939), and “predicted lifetime of assets” (0,818) in managerial, technical and financial information types respectively. Finally, in design cycle, facility management information taxonomy, which was created from determined FMITs, and importance levels of determined FMITs were evaluated with two case studies. Results showed that while maintenance contracts have a positive impact to prevent negative impact of costs, they can cause interruption in information management in facility management. Additionally, there are some view difference in professions. For example, construction management literature focuses wastes that are incurred at the end of building lifecycle or construction process. However, there aren't much attention to manage wastes that occurred during operation and maintenance stage. Beside this, regulations and standards have importance to store, use and manage FMITs. The analysis results acknowledged that the use of information taxonomy framework can increase the effectiveness of the healthcare FM

Planetary Nebulae in the UWISH2 survey

Near-infrared imaging in the 1 ? 0 S(1) emission line of molecular hydrogen is able to detect planetary nebulae (PNe) that are hidden from optical emission line surveys. We present images of 307 objects from the UWISH2 survey of the northern Galactic Plane, and with the aid of mid-infrared colour diagnostics draw up a list of 291 PN candidates. The majority, 183, are new detections and 85 per cent of these are not present in H ? surveys of the region. We find that more than half (54 per cent) of objects have a bipolar morphology and that some objects previously considered as elliptical or point-source in H ? imaging, appear bipolar in UWISH2 images. By considering a small subset of objects for which physical radii are available from the H ? surface brightness-radius relation, we find evidence that the H2 surface brightness remains roughly constant over a factor 20 range of radii from 0.03 to 0.6 pc, encompassing most of the visible lifetime of a PN. This leads to the H ? surface brightness becoming comparable to that of H2 at large radius (>0.5 pc). By combining the number of UWISH2 PNe without H ? detection with an estimate of the PN detection efficiency in H2 emission, we estimate that PN numbers from H ? surveys may underestimate the true PN number by a factor between 1.5 and 2.5 within the UWISH2 survey area