How is your mind-set? Proof of concept for the measurement of the level of emotional development

Background In persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, not only cognitive brain functions, but also socio-emotional processing networks may be impaired. This study aims to validate the Scale of Emotional Development—Short (SED-S) to provide an instrument for the assessment of socio-emotional brain functions. Method The SED-S was applied in 160 children aged 0–12 years. Criterion validity was investigated at item and scale level in terms of the agreement between the scale classification and the child’s chronological age. Additionally, interrater reliability and internal consistency were assessed. Results For the majority of items, the expected response pattern emerged, showing the highest response probabilities in the respective target age groups. Agreement between the classification of the different SED-S domains and chronological age was high (κw = 0.95; exact agreement = 80.6%). Interrater reliability at domain level ranged from κw = .98 to 1.00 and internal consistency was high (α = .99). Conclusion The study normed the SED-S in a sample of typically developing children and provides evidence for criterion validity on item, domain and scale level

Wear Measurement on Chain Joint Components Using a Roundness Instrument

Driving and timing chains are widely used machine elements which are continuously improved regarding wear and energy efficiency. Especially for timing chains, reducing wear is of high importance as it is critical for the function of the combustion engine. To achieve this goal, the wear in the chain joint has to be measured precisely which is usually done by measuring the length of the entire chain. With this method, no information about the distribution of wear between the contacting bodies, pin and bush, is available. An additional measuring and analyzing technique using a standard roundness instrument is developed with which more detailed information about the wear in the chain joint is obtained. With this method, unworn chain joint components are characterized and the wear on worn components is measured and compared for pins with different surface treatments. Furthermore, approaches to use the measured data in simulation and calculation are presented

Einsatz von Raufuttermitteln (Silage, Weidelgras, Topinambur und Stoppelrüben) im Vegetationsverlauf in der ganzjährigen Freilandhaltung von Mastschweinen

Im Forschungsvorhaben sollte die Aufnahme verschiedener Feldfrüchte durch Mastschweine im Freiland mittels Titandioxid als Marker und anhand von in vitro Verdaulichkeitsbestimmungen quantifiziert werden. In vier Mastdurchgängen hatten die Tiere der Versuchsvarianten freien Zugang zu den Feldfrüchten, während die Kraftfutterzuteilung um 15% (Anfangsmast) bzw. 30% (Endmast) gegenüber den Kontrollvarianten reduziert war. Die Tageszunahmen variierten erheblich zwischen und innerhalb der Fütterungsvarianten. Mit Topinambur als Feldfrucht konnten gegenüber den Kontrollvarianten deutlich höhere Tageszunahmen erzielt werden, während diese bei den übrigen Raufutterkomponenten zum Teil deutlich abfielen. Die Schlachtkörper wiesen im Mittel hohe Muskelfleischanteile auf. Untersuchungen zur Verdaulichkeit der Futtermittel führten zwischen den drei in vitro Verfahren (enzymatische Inkubation, Fermentation und enzymatische Vorbehandlung vor der Fermentation) zu vergleichbaren Resultaten und lassen alle Verfahren als geeignet erscheinen. Mit im Mittel 41,2% ± 5,1% wiesen die Kotproben sehr hohe Gehalte an Rohasche auf. Die Übereinstimmung der Elementmuster der Seltenen Erden zwischen den Kot- und Bodenproben legt den Schluss nahe, dass die Gehalte im Kot nahezu ausschließlich aus der aufgenommenen Erde herrührten. Die Analyse von Titandioxid im Kot nach Kjeldahl-Aufschluss führte nicht zu validen Ergebnissen. Diese wurden erst nach wiederholtem Druckaufschluss und Messung mittels ICP-OES erzielt. Aufgrund der hohen Aufnahmemengen von Erdmineralien sowie deren Interferenz mit Titandioxid wird geschlussfolgert, dass die Titandioxidgehalte im Kot keine belastbaren Rückschlüsse auf die Raufutteraufnahme zulassen und Titandioxid als Marker unter Freilandbedingungen nicht geeignet ist. Mögliche Risiken hinsichtlich des Verbraucherschutzes bei der Haltung von Schweinen auf potentiell rückstandsbelasteten Böden bedürfen weiterer Untersuchungen

In vitro fermentation capacity of hindgut microbiota in pigs in relation to dietary fibre

As pigs compete with humans for high quality feed ingredients such as grains, alternative feed sources need to be found. These alternative feed ingredients are usually high in indigestible carbohydrates, consisting mainly of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and are less suitable for human consumption. In order to find the most suitable feed ingredients for pig nutrition, they need to be well characterized regarding their nutritional value. This is possible with in vitro methods which mimic the hindgut degradation of these mainly indigestible feed ingredients. These in vitro methods either use enzymes or faecal inocula to incubate the feed ingredient to be tested. However, there is a lack of information on some general aspects of in vitro methods with pigs, such as the number of animals to use for inocula preparation, influence of enzymatic pre-digestion of feed ingredients, repeatability of fermentation results, adaptation time of donor animals etc. The studies described in this thesis describe a number of experiments which were designed to test some of these above mentioned aspects in order to improve the in vitro procedure and therefore the predictability of feeding values of new feed ingredients (in the following called substrates). The first study compared two in vitro methods; one using enzymes and using inocula for fermentation and a combination of the two. The results showed a similar ranking order. Nonetheless, a combination of enzymatic pre-digestion with subsequent fermentation seems most suitable to best predict the nutrient availability of the tested substrate. The second study determined if 19 days of adaptation of donor animals is adequate to adapt them to a new diet, either high or low in NSP. The adaptation to the new diet was not completed and had the biggest influence on the slow fermentable substrate cellulose. The third study revealed that the results of a single fermentation run can be representative for the fermentation capacity of the donor animals. However, the optimal number of donor animals remains to be determined in order to receive results with a low variation coefficient. The last study compared the fermentation capacity of pigs raised on different organic farms. The results showed that animals across organic farms had a relatively similar and high fermentation capacity despite the different rations fed on single farms and varying farm management. This might be caused by the animals’ lifelong exposure to a high variety of fibre. The results of this thesis show that in vitro fermentation methods can be further improved and need further attention regarding the optimal number of donor animals and their nutrition. It would be of special interest to compare the differences of fermentation capacity and energy yield between animals that are fed diets either high or low in NSP. Pig diets based on an improved in vitro methodology have the potential to increase economic profit for feed industry and farmers, but also to increase animal health and welfare. </p

Wann wird eine Kommaposition als solche wahrgenommen? Eine Untersuchung in Jgst. 6 mit einem zu kommatierenden Freitext

Der vorliegende Beitrag befasst sich mit der Frage, wann ein Komma \u27leicht\u27 und wann ein Komma \u27schwer\u27 ist bzw. was den Schwierigkeitsgrad einer zu kommatierenden Position ausmacht. Hierzu wird ein Modell in der Tradition der psycholinguistischen Sprachproduktionsforschung vorgestellt sowie ein Schritt zu dessen empirischer Evaluation. Dies geschieht über eine Untersuchung in Jahrgangsstufe 6, Gymnasium (n = 167), bei der die SuS einen Fremdtext (12 Sätze) zu kommatieren hatten. Die Analyse gibt Aufschluss darüber, welche Faktoren relevant sind, wenn eine obligatorische Kommaposition als solche wahrgenommen, also \u27bedient\u27 wird oder nicht. Innovativ ist dabei die Einbeziehung quantitativer Faktoren. Ein solcher Faktor ist z. B. die Länge der ungegliederten Sequenz vor der aktuellen Kommaposition. Dass Quantität bei naiver Kommasetzung eine bedeutende Rolle spielt, ist eine der Prädiktionen des genannten Modells. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass quantitative Faktoren die Fehleranfälligkeit von Kommapositionen stark beeinflussen. Dieser Befund wird in Hinblick auf didaktische Konsequenzen diskutiert. (DIPF/Orig.)The present article adresses the question: What makes a comma ‘easy’ and what makes a comma ‘difficult’ to set? In this connection, a model in the tradition of psycholinguistic research in speech production is presented and in part evaluated empirically. The study involves sixth-graders, Gymnasium (n = 167), who had to set commas in a stimulus-text (12 sentences). The analyses give evidence as to which factors are relevant, if an obligatory comma-position is being recognized or not. One innovative aspect is the consideration of quantitative factors, e.g. the length of the sequence to the left of the position in question. The importance of such factors is one of the predictions of the model introduced. The results show that quantitative factors have a strong influence on how prone to errors a position is. This finding is discussed with respect to didactic consequences

A brief version of the Scale of Emotional Development – Short

Background The Scale of Emotional Development – Short (SED-S) captures the level of emotional development in persons with a disorder of intellectual development (DID) with 200 items on five developmental levels. The study aims to develop a brief version of the SED-S. Methods Based on item analysis (proportions, χ2-test, Spearman's ρ and corrected item–total correlation), a brief version of the SED-S was developed in a sample of 224 adults with a DID (n1) and validated in a second independent matched sample (n2 = 223). Results Item reliability ranged per item set from Cronbach's α = 0.835 to 0.924. Weighted kappa resulted in κω = 0.743 (P < 0.001, 95% confidence interval = 0.690–0.802). Overall agreement of the brief version with the original SED-S was PO = 0.7. The brief version of the SED-S showed weaknesses in distinguishing level 2 from the adjacent levels. Conclusions The brief version of the SED-S showed good reliability and moderate to good validity results. Items of phase 2 and, to some degree, of phase 5 should be revised to further improve the psychometric properties of the scale.Peer Reviewe

Variation von Fermentationsparametern in der Schweineernährung

Das Vermögen von Mastschweinen, faserreiche Futtermittel zu verdauen, kann stark variieren. Es existieren nur wenige Daten zu Unterschieden in den Verdaulichkeitsraten bei Schweinen ökologischer und konventioneller Betriebe und ob sich die Verdaulichkeitsraten im Zeitverlauf ändern. Bisher basiert die Methode zur Messung der Vardaulichkeitsraten faserreicher Futtermittel auf Inokula, welche von konventionell gefütterten Schweinen gewonnen werden. Deshalb wurde eine Studie mit Inokula von ökologischen und konventionellen Kontrolltieren zur Messung der Verdaulichkeitsraten diverser Substrate über 6 Wochen durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen hohe Variationen in den kalkulierten Kinetiken. Daher sind die Kinetiken wahrscheinlich geeigneter zur Charakterisierung der Verdaulichkeit als die Endpunktmessung der Gasproduktion

Entwicklung der Darmflora von Sauen bei wechselnden Fasergehalten in der Ration

In vitro gas production studies can be used in pig nutrition to assess the metabolic capacity of intestinal microbiota to ferment fibre. The intestinal microbiota are obtained from faeces of animals adapted to a certain diet. However, the necessary adaptation time of faecal donor animals to attain a stable microbial population whose fermentation capacity is representative for a different fibre content in the diet is largely unknown. Therefore a study was carried out where two groups of sows where either changed from a diet high in fibre to a diet low in fibre or vice versa. After the diet was changed, the large intestinal microbiota was characterized every three days during a period of 19 days with a phylogenetic microarray. The diet change led to significant changes in relative abundance of specific bacteria. Bacteroidetes increased and Bacilli decreased after the diet was changed from low to high fibre while the opposite occurred when the diet was changed from high to low fibre

The nature of lubricant-derived ash-related emissions and their impact on diesel aftertreatment system performance

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-292).Diesel particulate filters (DPF) have seen widespread use in on- and off-road applications as an effective means for meeting increasingly stringent particle emissions regulations. Over time, incombustible material or ash, primarily derived from metallic additives in the engine lubricant, accumulates in the DPF. Ash accumulation leads to increased flow restriction and an associated increase in pressure drop across the particulate filter, negatively impacting engine performance and fuel economy, and eventually requiring filter removal for ash cleaning. While the adverse effects of ash accumulation on DPF performance are well known, the fundamental underlying mechanisms controlling these effects are not. This work explores the parameters influencing key ash properties such as porosity and permeability, and factors controlling the soot deposition - ash formation/accumulation process, which ultimately determines the magnitude of the ash effect on DPF pressure drop. In addition to the ash properties, the location of ash deposit accumulation inside the DPF channels, whether in a cake layer along the filter walls or packed in a plug at the rear of the channels, also plays a major role in influencing DPF pressure drop. Through a combined approach employing targeted experiments and theoretical models, explanations for the key factors and processes controlling ash properties and their effects on DPF pressure drop were developed.(cont.) These results, among few fundamental data of this kind, correlate changes in diesel particulate filter performance with lubricant chemistry, exhaust conditions, and ash morphological characteristics. Results are useful in optimizing the design of the combined engine-aftertreatment-lubricant system for future diesel engines, balancing the requirements of additives for adequate engine protection with the requirements for robust aftertreatment systems.by Alexander Sappok.Ph.D