Restricted Successive Minima

We give bounds on the successive minima of an $o$-symmetric convex body under the restriction that the lattice points realizing the successive minima are not contained in a collection of forbidden sublattices. Our investigations extend former results to forbidden full-dimensional lattices, to all successive minima and complement former results in the lower dimensional case.Comment: 11 pages, Abstract and Introduction revised in view of new added reference

Adelic convex geometry of numbers

Magdeburg, Univ., Fak. für Mathematik, Diss., 2014von Carsten Thie

Support of Forest Inventory Data Collection by Citizen Scientists

Precise forest inventory data are requested by a wide range of users such as scientists, politicians, administrators, forest owners, or the forest industry. One forest inventory parameter of great importance is the forest stem volume (or growing stock volume, GSV). On the one hand, GSV is related to the monetary value of a forest. On the other hand, the amount of bound carbon can be estimated based on GSV. For the determination of the GSV the stem diameter (usually diameter at breast height, DBH), the tree height, the number of trees per unit area, and a species and forest stand specific form factor are required. In forestry, sample based approaches are used to gather these parameters. For minimizing effort and expense, the number and dimensions of these samples are small compared to the total forest area. Also, the repeat time between two inventories is rather large (in the order of ten years). Accordingly, relative GSV errors of approximately 20% have to be accepted. There exists a great interest to minimize both, effort and inventory errors. Precise inventory data are of particular interest in the research domain. For instance, satellite based methods aiming at GSV estimation suffer from inaccurate reference measurements, as the inventory errors propagate to the final satellite based estimates. Airborne light detection and ranging data (LiDAR) can be utilized to detect single trees and to measure the corresponding tree heights with sufficient accuracy for forestry applications. In some Scandinavian countries forest inventories are supported by LiDAR campaigns by default. Moreover, most European countries execute regular and country-wide LiDAR acquisitions, thus LiDAR based tree height measurements could be achieved. For instance, the LiDAR campaign repetition rate in Germany is five years. However, the stem diameter cannot be measured using airborne LiDAR data. Although some technical ground- and low altitude airborne solutions have been proposed, currently the most efficient approach is manual DBH measurement. The simplicity of DBH measurements makes this task an excellent citizen science exercise. To assess the achievable DBH measurement precision, an experiment involving students of a secondary school was carried out in late 2017. The test site “Roda Forest” is located 20 km in the Southeast of Jena. The selected stand is dominated by pine with an age of 60 years. The reference data for the experiment was generated by means of a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS). Based on the TLS data the precise location and the GSV of approximately 200 trees were delineated. The students were equipped with a smartphone application to localize the single trees. During the campaign the circumference of approximately 100 trees was determined using simple measuring tape. These measurements were converted to DBH after the field campaign. The measured DBH varied between 7 cm and 38 cm. In overall, TLS-based and student campaign based measurements were in great agreement (R² = 0.98). Nevertheless, the identification of the correct trees by the students during the campaign was challenging, which was related to general orientation difficulties and a weak GPS signal underneath the forest canopy. This resulted in a remarkable offset between GPS-based and real coordinates. Forthcoming campaigns have to deal with this issue. One option we will explore in the future is the absolute calibration of the GPS signal using checkpoints with precise coordinates

The Contribution of Cognitive Factors to Individual Differences in Understanding Noise-Vocoded Speech in Young and Older Adults

Noise-vocoded speech is commonly used to simulate the sensation after cochlear implantation as it consists of spectrally degraded speech. High individual variability exists in learning to understand both noise-vocoded speech and speech perceived through a cochlear implant (CI). This variability is partly ascribed to differing cognitive abilities like working memory, verbal skills or attention. Although clinically highly relevant, up to now, no consensus has been achieved about which cognitive factors exactly predict the intelligibility of speech in noise-vocoded situations in healthy subjects or in patients after cochlear implantation. We aimed to establish a test battery that can be used to predict speech understanding in patients prior to receiving a CI. Young and old healthy listeners completed a noise-vocoded speech test in addition to cognitive tests tapping on verbal memory, working memory, lexicon and retrieval skills as well as cognitive flexibility and attention. Partial-least-squares analysis revealed that six variables were important to significantly predict vocoded-speech performance. These were the ability to perceive visually degraded speech tested by the Text Reception Threshold, vocabulary size assessed with the Multiple Choice Word Test, working memory gauged with the Operation Span Test, verbal learning and recall of the Verbal Learning and Retention Test and task switching abilities tested by the Comprehensive Trail-Making Test. Thus, these cognitive abilities explain individual differences in noise-vocoded speech understanding and should be considered when aiming to predict hearing-aid outcome

Functional network topology of the right insula affects emotion dysregulation in hyperactive-impulsive attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Contains fulltext : 236832.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access

Emotion dysregulation and integration of emotion-related brain networks affect intraindividual change in ADHD severity throughout late adolescence

Contains fulltext : 244227.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access

The Influence of Chronic Pain and Cognitive Function on Spatial-Numerical Processing

Chronic pain (CP) is linked to changes in cognitive function. However, little is known about its influence on number sense, despite the fact that intact numerical-spatial processing is a prerequisite for valid scale-based pain assessments. This study aimed to elucidate whether number sense is changed in CP, to determine if changes have an impact on pain assessments using pain rating scales and what patient factors might contribute. N = 42 CP patients and n = 42 matched controls were analyzed (age range: 33–68 years). Numerical-spatial abilities were investigated by using number line tasks, where participants either estimated the position of a given number (position marking) or the value of a predefined mark (number naming). Pain intensity was assessed using numerical rating (NRS), verbal rating (VRS), and visual analog (VAS) scales. Additional measures included attention and working memory, verbal intelligence, medication and depression. Results revealed that in number naming, patients deviated more from expected (correct) responses than controls, and that VAS scores were significantly higher than both NRS and VRS and correlated with deviations in position making. Changes in number naming were predicted by pain intensity, sex and IQ but not by attention, memory or opioid medication. This article presents new insight on which cognitive mechanisms are influenced by CP with the focus on numerical spatial abilities. It could therefore provide useful knowledge in developing new pain assessment tools specifically for patients suffering from CP

Tissue-specific regulatory network extractor (TS-REX): a database and software resource for the tissue and cell type-specific investigation of transcription factor-gene networks

The prediction of transcription factor binding sites in genomic sequences is in principle very useful to identify upstream regulatory factors. However, when applying this concept to genomes of multicellular organisms such as mammals, one has to deal with a large number of false positive predictions since many transcription factor genes are only expressed in specific tissues or cell types. We developed TS-REX, a database/software system that supports the analysis of tissue and cell type-specific transcription factor-gene networks based on expressed sequence tag abundance of transcription factor-encoding genes in UniGene EST libraries. The use of expression levels of transcription factor-encoding genes according to hierarchical anatomical classifications covering different tissues and cell types makes it possible to filter out irrelevant binding site predictions and to identify candidates of potential functional importance for further experimental testing. TS-REX covers ESTs from H. sapiens and M. musculus, and allows the characterization of both presence and specificity of transcription factors in user-specified tissues or cell types. The software allows users to interactively visualize transcription factor-gene networks, as well as to export data for further processing. TS-REX was applied to predict regulators of Polycomb group genes in six human tumor tissues and in human embryonic stem cells

Citizen science’s transformative impact on science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes

Citizen science (CS) can foster transformative impact for science, citizen empowerment and socio-political processes. To unleash this impact, a clearer understanding of its current status and challenges for its development is needed. Using quantitative indicators developed in a collaborative stakeholder process, our study provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of CS in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Our online survey with 340 responses focused on CS impact through (1) scientific practices, (2) participant learning and empowerment, and (3) socio-political processes. With regard to scientific impact, we found that data quality control is an established component of CS practice, while publication of CS data and results has not yet been achieved by all project coordinators (55%). Key benefits for citizen scientists were the experience of collective impact (“making a difference together with others”) as well as gaining new knowledge. For the citizen scientists’ learning outcomes, different forms of social learning, such as systematic feedback or personal mentoring, were essential. While the majority of respondents attributed an important value to CS for decision-making, only few were confident that CS data were indeed utilized as evidence by decision-makers. Based on these results, we recommend (1) that project coordinators and researchers strengthen scientific impact by fostering data management and publications, (2) that project coordinators and citizen scientists enhance participant impact by promoting social learning opportunities and (3) that project initiators and CS networks foster socio-political impact through early engagement with decision-makers and alignment with ongoing policy processes. In this way, CS can evolve its transformative impact