The HERA-B database services: for detector configuration, calibration, alignment, slow control and data classification

Abstract The database services for the distributed application environment of the HERA-B experiment are presented. Achieving the required 10 6 trigger reduction implies that all reconstruction, including calibration and alignment procedures, must run online, making extensive usage of the database systems. The associations from the events to the database objects are carefully introduced considering efficiency and flexibility. The challenges of managing the slow control information were addressed by introducing data and update objects used in special processing on dedicated servers. The system integrates the DAQ client/server protocols with customized active database servers and relies on a high-performance database support toolkit. For applications that required complex selection mechanisms, as in the data-quality databases, the relevant data is replicated using a relational database management system

Improved EEG source localization with Bayesian uncertainty modelling of unknown skull conductivity

Electroencephalography (EEG) source imaging is an ill-posed inverse problem that requires accurate conductivity modelling of the head tissues, especially the skull. Unfortunately, the conductivity values are difficult to determine in vivo. In this paper, we show that the exact knowledge of the skull conductivity is not always necessary when the Bayesian approximation error (BAE) approach is exploited. In BAE, we first postulate a probability

Elektronisch gesteuerte endogastrale Magensafttitration mit dem Intestinalsender

Peer Reviewe

Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between energy intake and BMI z-score in European children

Background: Evidence for the effect of dietary energy on BMI z-scores in young children is limited. We aim to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of daily energy intake (EI) on BMI z-scores of European boys and girls considering growth-related height dependencies of EI using residual EI. Methods: To investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of daily energy intake (EI) on BMI z-scores of European boys and girls considering growth-related height dependencies of EI using residual EI. Methods: Subjects were children aged 2-<10 y old (N=2753, 48.2% girls) participating in the IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS) baseline and follow-up examination. Usual EI (kcal/day) was calculated based on the National Cancer Institute-method excluding subjects with implausible reported EI. Effect of age, height and sex-adjusted residuals of EI on BMI z-score was investigated stratified by baseline age -group (2-<4 y, 4-<6 y, 6-<8 y and 8-<10 y) cross-sectionally using linear regression models adjusted for relevant confounders (crude model: age, sex, country; fully adjusted model: plus parental ISCED level, parental BMI, screen time; subgroup analysis: plus objectively measured physical activity). Longitudinal associations were estimated between changes in (¿) residual EI per year and ¿BMI z-score per year with adjustments analogously to the cross-sectional models but with additional adjustment for residual EI at baseline. Results: Cross-sectionally, positive associations were observed between residual EI and BMI z-score for the full study sample, for boys and in older (=6years) but not in younger children in the crude and fully adjusted model. Longitudinally, small positive associations were observed between ¿residual EI per y on ¿BMI z-score per y for the full study sample and in 4-<6 y olds in the crude and fully adjusted model. Conclusion: In conclusion, EI above the average intakes for a certain sex, age and height are weakly associated with BMI z-scores in European children. Residual EI may be considered as a useful exposure measure in children as it accounts for growth-related changes in usual EI during childhood

Bayesian Modelling of Skull Conductivity Uncertainties in EEG Source Imaging

Knowing the correct skull conductivity is crucial for the accuracy of EEG source imaging, but unfortunately, its true value, which is inter- and intra-individually varying, is difficult to determine. In this paper, we propose a statistical method based on the Bayesian approximation error approach to compensate for source imaging errors related to erronous skull conductivity. We demonstrate the potential of the approach by simulating EEG data of focal source activity and using the dipole scan algorithm and a sparsity promoting prior to reconstruct the underlying sources. The results suggest that the greatest improvements with the proposed method can be achieved when the focal sources are close to the skull

Does Providing Assistance to Children and Adolescents Increase Repeatability and Plausibility of Self-Reporting Using a Web-Based Dietary Recall Instrument?

Background: It is important to find ways to minimize errors when children self-report food consumption. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate whether assistance given to children completing a self-administered 24-hour dietary recall instrument called SACANA (Self-Administered Child, Adolescent and Adult Nutrition Assessment) increased the repeatability and plausibility of energy intake (EI) estimates. Participants/setting: The study was conducted between October 2013 and March 2016 in a convenience sample of 395 children, aged 8 to 17 years, from eight European countries participating in the I.Family study. Design: SACANA was used to recall the previous day's food intake, twice in a day, once with and once without assistance. Main outcome measures: The difference in EI between the first and second recalls was the main repeatability measure; the ratio of EI to basal metabolic rate was the plausibility measure. Statistical methods: Generalized linear mixed models, adjusted for sex, age, and body mass index z-score, were used to assess whether assistance during the first vs second recall influenced repeatability and plausibility. Results: The difference in estimated EI (EI from second recall minus EI from first recall) was significantly lower (P<0.001) in those assisted at first (median=-76 kcal) than those assisted at second recall (median=282 kcal). Modeling showed that EI at assisted first recall was 19% higher (95% CI 1.13 to 1.24) than in assisted second recall. Overall, 60% of recalls had a plausible EI. Modeling to estimate the simultaneous effects of second vs first recall and assistance vs no assistance on plausibility showed that those assisted at first recall had significantly higher odds of a plausible recall than those unassisted (odds ratio 3.64, 95% CI 2.20 to 6.01), with no significant difference in plausibility of second recall compared to the first (odds ratio 1.48, 95% CI 0.92 to 2.35). Conclusions: When children are assisted at first recall, the plausibility and repeatability of the later unassisted recall improve. This improvement was evident for all ages. A future, adequately powered study is required to investigate the age range for which assistance is advisable

Effects of residue management on decomposition in irrigated rice fields are not related to changes in the decomposer community

Copyright: © 2015 Schmidt et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Decomposers provide an essential ecosystem service that contributes to sustainable production in rice ecosystems by driving the release of nutrients from organic crop residues. During a single rice crop cycle we examined the effects of four different crop residue management practices (rice straw or ash of burned straw scattered on the soil surface or incorporated into the soil) on rice straw decomposition and on the abundance of aquatic and soildwelling invertebrates. Mass loss of rice straw in litterbags of two different mesh sizes that either prevented or allowed access of meso- and macro-invertebrates was used as a proxy for decomposition rates. Invertebrates significantly increased total loss of litter mass by up to 30%. Initially, the contribution of invertebrates to decomposition was significantly smaller in plots with rice straw scattered on the soil surface; however, this effect disappeared later in the season. We found no significant responses in microbial decomposition rates to management practices. The abundance of aquatic fauna was higher in fields with rice straw amendment, whereas the abundance of soil fauna fluctuated considerably. There was a clear separation between the overall invertebrate community structure in response to the ash and straw treatments. However, we found no correlation between litter mass loss and abundances of various lineages of invertebrates. Our results indicate that invertebrates can contribute to soil fertility in irrigated paddy fields by decomposing rice straw, and that their abundance as well as efficiency in decomposition may be promoted by crop residue management practices

Dietary calcium intake and adiposity in children and adolescents: Cross-sectional and longitudinal results from IDEFICS/I.Family cohort

Background and aims: Studies in children and adolescents suggest that higher dairy consumption may exert a protective effect on adiposity. However, only few studies examined the association between dietary calcium intake and body mass measures with conflicting results. We evaluated the association between total dietary calcium, calcium from dairy and non-dairy sources and anthropometric indices in a large European cohort of children and adolescents. Methods and Results: As many as 6, 696 children belonging to the IDEFICS study were eligible for the cross-sectional analysis (Boys = 51%; age 6.0 ± 1.8 years; mean ± SD). Of these, 2, 744 were re-examined six years later (Boys = 49.6%; age = 11.7 ± 1.8 years) in the framework of the I.Family study. The exposures were the baseline energy-adjusted total, dairy and non-dairy calcium intakes measured by a validated 24-h dietary recall. Multivariable linear regression was used to determine the association between calcium intake and z-scores of anthropometric indices (body mass index, BMI; waist circumference, WC; sum of skinfolds, SS; fat mass index, FMI) at baseline, and their variation over the 6 years follow-up. The association of dietary calcium with the incidence of overweight/obesity was also assessed. At baseline, an inverse association between total calcium intake and all the adiposity indices was consistently observed in boys, while only SS and FMI were significant in girls. The prevalence of overweight/obesity decreased significantly (P < 0.0001) across tertiles of calcium intake, in both sexes. Over the follow-up, boys with higher baseline calcium intake value showed significantly lower increase in BMI, WC and FMI z-scores, while in girls only a lower increase in WC z-score was observed. Only in boys, the risk to become overweight/obese decreased significantly across tertiles of calcium intake. Similar results were observed by analyzing only dietary calcium from dairy, while no association was observed between non-dairy calcium and adiposity indices. Conclusions: We showed in a large cohort of European children and adolescents that dietary calcium intake may play a role in the modulation of body fat in developmental age. The association between dietary calcium and adiposity indices was driven by dairy calcium, while no effect was observed for non-dairy calcium intake. The existence of a sex-related difference in the association deserves further investigations

MARTA: A high-energy cosmic-ray detector concept with high-accuracy muon measurement

A new concept for the direct measurement of muons in air showers is presented. The concept is based on resistive plate chambers (RPCs), which can directly measure muons with very good space and time resolution. The muon detector is shielded by placing it under another detector able to absorb and measure the electromagnetic component of the showers such as a water-Cherenkov detector, commonly used in air shower arrays. The combination of the two detectors in a single, compact detector unit provides a unique measurement that opens rich possibilities in the study of air showers.Comment: 11 page