Intuitive and versatile bionic legs: a perspective on volitional control

Active lower limb prostheses show large potential to offer energetic, balance, and versatility improvements to users when compared to passive and semi-active devices. Still, their control remains a major development challenge, with many different approaches existing. This perspective aims at illustrating a future leg prosthesis control approach to improve the everyday life of prosthesis users, while providing a research road map for getting there. Reviewing research on the needs and challenges faced by prosthesis users, we argue for the development of versatile control architectures for lower limb prosthetic devices that grant the wearer full volitional control at all times. To this end, existing control approaches for active lower limb prostheses are divided based on their consideration of volitional user input. The presented methods are discussed in regard to their suitability for universal everyday control involving user volition. Novel combinations of established methods are proposed. This involves the combination of feed-forward motor control signals with simulated feedback loops in prosthesis control, as well as online optimization techniques to individualize the system parameters. To provide more context, developments related to volitional control design are touched on

Qualitätskriterien transdisziplinärer Forschung : ein Leitfaden für die formative Evaluation von Forschungsprojekten

Transdisziplinäre Forschung befasst sich mit lebensweltlichen Problemstellungen. Bei der Forschungsarbeit müssen Experten/innen aus verschiedenen Fächern bzw. Disziplinen und aus der Praxis zusammenwirken, um die komplexe Problematik umfassend behandeln zu können. Diese Vielfalt, die besondere Formen der Kooperation, der Differenzierung und Integration, Methoden und Theorien impliziert, bringt es mit sich, dass gängige, bei der fachbezogenen Bewertung hinreichende Verfahren der Evaluation und der Qualitätssicherung nicht unmittelbar auf solche Forschungsvorhaben übertragen werden können. Diesem Mangel an Kriterien und Methoden der Evaluation begegnet Evalunet, das Evaluationsnetzwerk für transdisziplinäre Forschung, mit dem vorgelegten Leitfaden für die Forschungspraxis, der vor allem ausführlich beschriebene Qualitätskriterien enthält und ebenso Aussagen zu methodischen und Verfahrensfragen macht. Er ist aus der empirischen Auswertung konkreter transdisziplinärer Forschungsprojekte und unter Mithilfe zahlreicher Experten und Expertinnen aus verschiedenen Fachrichtungen entstanden. Der Leitfaden dient dem Zweck der Evaluation von transdisziplinären Forschungsprojekten, wobei dieses Instrument auf den Aspekt des Lernens aus dem Evaluationsvorgang (formative Evaluation) zugeschnitten ist und bei der Aus- und Bewertung auf einen Diskurs setzt (diskursive Evaluation). Neben einer Evaluierung mittels der ausführlich beschriebenen Detailkriterien ist auch eine weniger aufwändige Evaluation mit Hilfe einer Kriterienauswahl (Basiskriterien) möglich. Die Qualitätskriterien können auch für die Konzipierung neuer transdisziplinärer Forschungsvorhaben genutzt werden.Transdisciplinary research projects investigate problems from everyday life. Experts from various disciplines and practitioners from the practical field in question have to co-operate to cope with the problem appropriately. Multiple forms of co-operation, differentiation and integration, methods and theories are significant for such projects. So conventional methods of disciplinary evaluation cannot be transferred and applied directly. In this situation, Evalunet, the Network for Transdisciplinary Evaluation, offers this guide, which provides researchers with very detailed evaluation criteria and descriptions of evaluation methods and practices. The criteria and procedures were identified in an empirical process by evaluating a number of transdisciplinary research projects. In this process, the Evalunet team was supported by numerous experts from various research areas. The main purpose of the guide is to provide guidance for the evaluation of transdisciplinary research projects. The criteria mainly support discursive evaluation processes that initiate learning processes for researchers and evaluators (formative evaluation). A set with a reduced number of criteria (Basiskriterien) offers a basic procedure for the evaluation, while the larger set with more detailed criteria (Detailkriterien) provides explanations and assistance in making a judgement. Criteria can also be used for conceiving and constructing new research projects

Intuitive and versatile bionic legs: a perspective on volitional control

Active lower limb prostheses show large potential to offer energetic, balance, and versatility improvements to users when compared to passive and semi-active devices. Still, their control remains a major development challenge, with many different approaches existing. This perspective aims at illustrating a future leg prosthesis control approach to improve the everyday life of prosthesis users, while providing a research road map for getting there. Reviewing research on the needs and challenges faced by prosthesis users, we argue for the development of versatile control architectures for lower limb prosthetic devices that grant the wearer full volitional control at all times. To this end, existing control approaches for active lower limb prostheses are divided based on their consideration of volitional user input. The presented methods are discussed in regard to their suitability for universal everyday control involving user volition. Novel combinations of established methods are proposed. This involves the combination of feed-forward motor control signals with simulated feedback loops in prosthesis control, as well as online optimization techniques to individualize the system parameters. To provide more context, developments related to volitional control design are touched on

Novel quantum mechanics based engineering approach enables transaminase to convert bulky ketone substrates

Amine transaminases (ATAs) are being used in the production of chiral amines as an alternative to chemical synthesis to reduce cost and inadequate stereoselectivity. Yet, ATAs are enzymes, difficult to engineer because of the unique structural architecture of the active site that limits bulkier substrates, example Sitagliptin. However, in recent yearscombination of computational techniques and protein engineering has evolved enzymesto acceptbulkier substrates as shown for (R) 1 and more recently (S)-selective ATAs2. In this study, we have used the(S)-selective ATA from Chromobacterium violaceum to expand its substrate scope towards bulky ketones using a novel quantum mechanics (QM) based engineering framework. The framework predicts hotspots by analyzing the E-S molecular dynamics (MD) and QM simulations using novel methods developed in-house. To mention a few, path predictor, which predicts the path taken by the substrate to enter the active site, a grid based per residue energy profiling and atomistic motional correlations of the active site residues and QM based alanine scanning method. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Requirements of 4G-Based Mobile Broadband on Future Transport Networks, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2012, nr 2

Long term evolution technologies provide new standards in mobile communications regarding available bandwidth. It is expected that users of one radio cell will share more than 100 Mbit/s in future. To take advantage of the full feature set of next generation mobile networks, transport net- work design has to face new requirements, caused by the architectural changes of LTE technologies. Especially the newly defined X2 interface impacts on the transport network requirements. X2 enables direct communication between evolved base stations (eNBs) and thus, enforces local solutions. At the same time a tendency of locating network elements at fewer, central sites to reduce operational expenditure can be observed, in particular concerning the transport layer. This leads to the question of how the direct X2 connection of eNBs on the logical layer can be accommodated with a general centralization of transport networks. Our considerations show that for LTE, a centralized transport network is able to realize the local meshing between eNBs. However, for LTE Advanced, the standards currently discussed by the 3GPP initiative could lead to enhanced requirements on the X2 interface latency. Consequently, the implications for the network architecture have to be analyzed in more detail

Grundlagen zur Abschätzung und Bewertung der von Kohlekraftwerken ausgehenden Umweltbelastungen in Entwicklungsländern : Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit (Nr.: 201-E522-48/78)

Ziel dieses Forschungsberichtes ist es, systematische Bewertungshilfen bereitzustellen, um durch Kohlekraftwerke entstehende Umweltschäden in Entwicklungsländern abzuschätzen. Hierzu müssen von allen denkbaren von Kohlekraftwerken ausgehenden Umweltbelastungen jene ausgesucht werden, die ein hohes Gefährdungspotential besitzen und bei deren Betrieb häufig auftreten. Darüberhinaus sollten aber Ausnahmefälle, bei denen bestimmte Faktorenkombinationen zu für Kohlekraftwerke untypischen Belastungssituationen führen, ebenfalls Berücksichtigung finden. Es besteht also das Problem, Bewertungshilfen zu finden, die sich durch ihre Allgemeingültigkeit und Anwendbarkeit in allen Entwicklungsländern, also in unterschiedlichsten Regionen auszeichnen und die trotzdem im einzelnen Anwendungsfall spezielle Bedingungen beachten

Multiomic profiling of medulloblastoma reveals subtype-specific targetable alterations at the proteome and N-glycan level

Abstract Medulloblastomas (MBs) are malignant pediatric brain tumors that are molecularly and clinically heterogenous. The application of omics technologies—mainly studying nucleic acids—has significantly improved MB classification and stratification, but treatment options are still unsatisfactory. The proteome and their N-glycans hold the potential to discover clinically relevant phenotypes and targetable pathways. We compile a harmonized proteome dataset of 167 MBs and integrate findings with DNA methylome, transcriptome and N-glycome data. We show six proteome MB subtypes, that can be assigned to two main molecular programs: transcription/translation (pSHHt, pWNT and pG3myc), and synapses/immunological processes (pSHHs, pG3 and pG4). Multiomic analysis reveals different conservation levels of proteome features across MB subtypes at the DNA methylome level. Aggressive pGroup3myc MBs and favorable pWNT MBs are most similar in cluster hierarchies concerning overall proteome patterns but show different protein abundances of the vincristine resistance-associated multiprotein complex TriC/CCT and of N-glycan turnover-associated factors. The N-glycome reflects proteome subtypes and complex-bisecting N-glycans characterize pGroup3myc tumors. Our results shed light on targetable alterations in MB and set a foundation for potential immunotherapies targeting glycan structures