Use of induced acceleration to quantify the (de)stabilization effect of external and internal forces on postural responses

Due to the mechanical coupling between the body segments, it is impossible to see with the naked eye the causes of body movements and understand the interaction between movements of different body parts. The goal of this paper is to investigate the use of induced acceleration analysis to reveal the causes of body movements. We derive the analytical equations to calculate induced accelerations and evaluate its potential to study human postural responses to support-surface translations. We measured the kinematic and kinetic responses of a subject to sudden forward and backward translations of a moving platform. The kinematic and kinetics served as input to the induced acceleration analyses. The induced accelerations showed explicitly that the platform acceleration and deceleration contributed to the destabilization and restabilization of standing balance, respectively. Furthermore, the joint torques, coriolis and centrifugal forces caused by swinging of the arms, contributed positively to stabilization of the center of mass. It is concluded that induced acceleration analyses is a valuable tool in understanding balance responses to different kinds of perturbations and may help to identify the causes of movement in different pathologies

Simulations of the tidal interaction and mass transfer of a star in an eccentric orbit around an intermediate-mass black hole: the case of HLX-1

The X-ray source HLX-1 near the spiral galaxy ESO 243-49 is currently the best intermediate-mass black hole candidate. It has a peak bolometric luminosity of $10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$, which implies a mass inflow rate of $\sim10^{-4}$ MSun yr$^{-1}$, but the origin of this mass is unknown. It has been proposed that there is a star on an eccentric orbit around the black hole which transfers mass at pericentre. To investigate the orbital evolution of this system, we perform stellar evolution simulations using mesa and SPH simulations of a stellar orbit around an intermediate-mass black hole using fi. We run and couple these simulations using the amuse framework. We find that mass is lost through both the first and second Lagrange points and that there is a delay of up to 10 days between the pericentre passage and the peak mass loss event. The orbital evolution timescales we find in our simulations are larger than what is predicted by analytical models, but these models fall within the errors of our results. Despite the fast orbital evolution, we are unable to reproduce the observed change in outburst period. We conclude that the change in the stellar orbit with the system parameters investigated here is unable to account for all observed features of HLX-1.Comment: accepted for publication in mnra

First do no Harm: Living group climate in secure juvenile correctional institutions

Laan, P.H. van der [Promotor]Stams, G.J.J.M. [Promotor

Cognitive architecture of perceptual organization: from neurons to gnosons

What, if anything, is cognitive architecture and how is it implemented in neural architecture? Focusing on perceptual organization, this question is addressed by way of a pluralist approach which, supported by metatheoretical considerations, combines complementary insights from representational, connectionist, and dynamic systems approaches to cognition. This pluralist approach starts from a representationally inspired model which implements the intertwined but functionally distinguishable subprocesses of feedforward feature encoding, horizontal feature binding, and recurrent feature selection. As sustained by a review of neuroscientific evidence, these are the subprocesses that are believed to take place in the visual hierarchy in the brain. Furthermore, the model employs a special form of processing, called transparallel processing, whose neural signature is proposed to be gamma-band synchronization in transient horizontal neural assemblies. In neuroscience, such assemblies are believed to mediate binding of similar features. Their formal counterparts in the model are special input-dependent distributed representations, called hyperstrings, which allow many similar features to be processed in a transparallel fashion, that is, simultaneously as if only one feature were concerned. This form of processing does justice to both the high combinatorial capacity and the high speed of the perceptual organization process. A naturally following proposal is that those temporarily synchronized neural assemblies are “gnosons”, that is, constituents of flexible self-organizing cognitive architecture in between the relatively rigid level of neurons and the still elusive level of consciousness

Electrical and microfluidic technologies for organs-on-chips:Mimicking blood-brain barrier and gut tissues

The goal of the research presented in this thesis is to develop new technologies for organs-on-chips to enable direct measurements of cell layer functions and to move towards high-throughput. In this introduction, a brief description is included of the tissues that were mimicked in the organs-on-chips described in this thesis. Next, conventional in vitro setups for mimicking these tissues are discussed as well as the advantages of organs-on-chips over these conventional in vitro models. Then, the most important tests of tissue function are described. Subsequently, the larger framework for the research described in this thesis is sketched and lastly an outline of the thesis is given

Demonstratieproeven alternatieven voor bloedmeel in de boomkwekerij

Enkele afnemers van biologische producten stellen als eis dat tijdens het productieproces geen bloed- en beendermeel gebruikt is. Om hieraan tegemoet te kunnen komen zijn in het teeltseizoen 2007 en 2008 proeven gedaan met alternatieven voor bloedmeel. Het niet-gebruiken van beendermeel lijkt gezien de samenstelling van de meeste organische meststoffen geen probleem. De proeven zijn uitgevoerd met de meststoffen Monterra malt 5-1-5 en Monterra ricinus 4,5-1,5-8 en compost in vruchtbomen op klei en Phlox op duinzandgrond