Bedarfsanalyse und Konzeptentwicklung eines „Research Services“ der Bibliothek der WHU für Unternehmensgründer unter den Alumni der Hochschule

Startup-Gründer stehen beim Aufbau ihres Unternehmens vor vielen Herausforderungen, die unterschiedlichste Themengebiete betreffen. Neben der Faszination und Motivation für ihre Idee besteht in vielen Themenbereichen ein hoher Informationsbedarf, welchen sie oftmals nicht decken können, sodass ihnen wichtige Entscheidungsgrundlagen fehlen. Vor diesem Dilemma stehen auch die Unternehmensgründer unter den Alumni der WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, die sich mit ihrem Informationsbedarf auch an die Bibliothek der Hochschule wenden. Auf Basis einer Online-Befragung zum Informationsbedarf der Unternehmensgründer unter den Alumni der WHU wird ein Abgleich mit dem Informationsangebot der Bibliothek der WHU erstellt. Die Ergebnisse dieser Analyse bilden die Grundlage für einen mehrstufigen Konzeptvorschlag, der von allgemeinen, passiven Maßnahmen über Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe bei der Informationssuche bis zu einem persönlichen Rechercheservice auf die spezifischen Bedürfnisse von Unternehmensgründern ausgerichtet ist. Der praxisorientierte Konzeptvorschlag dieser Arbeit soll die Bibliothek der WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in die Lage versetzen, ihre Informationskompetenz besser vermitteln und den Informationsbedarf der Unternehmensgründer spezifisch und zielgerichtet erfüllen zu können.Founders of start-up companies face multiple challenges while setting up their organization. They have an information demand in a multitude of topics besides their fascination and motivation for new ideas. This demand cannot be fulfilled in many cases which may have a negative influence on their decision process. Company founders amongst the alumni of WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management face the same dilemma which they try to overcome by addressing their demand to the library of WHU. The demand of company founders will be analyzed based on an online survey and the findings will be matched with the library’s portfolio of information sources. These results will be the basis for a concept proposal in different levels. It will start with general measures going to capacity building activities regarding the information research and finally leading to an individual research service explicitly focusing on the demand of founders of start-up companies. The practical attitude of the concept proposal shall enable the library of WHU to impart its information literacy more efficiently and to address the founders’ information need more intrinsic and purposefully

Bedarfsanalyse und Konzeptentwicklung eines „Research Services“ der Bibliothek der WHU für Unternehmensgründer unter den Alumni der Hochschule

Startup-Gründer stehen beim Aufbau ihres Unternehmens vor vielen Herausforderungen, die unterschiedlichste Themengebiete betreffen. Neben der Faszination und Motivation für ihre Idee besteht in vielen Themenbereichen ein hoher Informationsbedarf, welchen sie oftmals nicht decken können, sodass ihnen wichtige Entscheidungsgrundlagen fehlen. Vor diesem Dilemma stehen auch die Unternehmensgründer unter den Alumni der WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, die sich mit ihrem Informationsbedarf auch an die Bibliothek der Hochschule wenden. Auf Basis einer Online-Befragung zum Informationsbedarf der Unternehmensgründer unter den Alumni der WHU wird ein Abgleich mit dem Informationsangebot der Bibliothek der WHU erstellt. Die Ergebnisse dieser Analyse bilden die Grundlage für einen mehrstufigen Konzeptvorschlag, der von allgemeinen, passiven Maßnahmen über Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe bei der Informationssuche bis zu einem persönlichen Rechercheservice auf die spezifischen Bedürfnisse von Unternehmensgründern ausgerichtet ist. Der praxisorientierte Konzeptvorschlag dieser Arbeit soll die Bibliothek der WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in die Lage versetzen, ihre Informationskompetenz besser vermitteln und den Informationsbedarf der Unternehmensgründer spezifisch und zielgerichtet erfüllen zu können.Founders of start-up companies face multiple challenges while setting up their organization. They have an information demand in a multitude of topics besides their fascination and motivation for new ideas. This demand cannot be fulfilled in many cases which may have a negative influence on their decision process. Company founders amongst the alumni of WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management face the same dilemma which they try to overcome by addressing their demand to the library of WHU. The demand of company founders will be analyzed based on an online survey and the findings will be matched with the library’s portfolio of information sources. These results will be the basis for a concept proposal in different levels. It will start with general measures going to capacity building activities regarding the information research and finally leading to an individual research service explicitly focusing on the demand of founders of start-up companies. The practical attitude of the concept proposal shall enable the library of WHU to impart its information literacy more efficiently and to address the founders’ information need more intrinsic and purposefully

Interregional compensatory mechanisms of motor functioning in progressing preclinical neurodegeneration.

Understanding brain reserve in preclinical stages of neurodegenerative disorders allows determination of which brain regions contribute to normal functioning despite accelerated neuronal loss. Besides the recruitment of additional regions, a reorganisation and shift of relevance between normally engaged regions are a suggested key mechanism. Thus, network analysis methods seem critical for investigation of changes in directed causal interactions between such candidate brain regions. To identify core compensatory regions, fifteen preclinical patients carrying the genetic mutation leading to Huntington's disease and twelve controls underwent fMRI scanning. They accomplished an auditory paced finger sequence tapping task, which challenged cognitive as well as executive aspects of motor functioning by varying speed and complexity of movements. To investigate causal interactions among brain regions a single Dynamic Causal Model (DCM) was constructed and fitted to the data from each subject. The DCM parameters were analysed using statistical methods to assess group differences in connectivity, and the relationship between connectivity patterns and predicted years to clinical onset was assessed in gene carriers. In preclinical patients, we found indications for neural reserve mechanisms predominantly driven by bilateral dorsal premotor cortex, which increasingly activated superior parietal cortices the closer individuals were to estimated clinical onset. This compensatory mechanism was restricted to complex movements characterised by high cognitive demand. Additionally, we identified task-induced connectivity changes in both groups of subjects towards pre- and caudal supplementary motor areas, which were linked to either faster or more complex task conditions. Interestingly, coupling of dorsal premotor cortex and supplementary motor area was more negative in controls compared to gene mutation carriers. Furthermore, changes in the connectivity pattern of gene carriers allowed prediction of the years to estimated disease onset in individuals. Our study characterises the connectivity pattern of core cortical regions maintaining motor function in relation to varying task demand. We identified connections of bilateral dorsal premotor cortex as critical for compensation as well as task-dependent recruitment of pre- and caudal supplementary motor area. The latter finding nicely mirrors a previously published general linear model-based analysis of the same data. Such knowledge about disease specific inter-regional effective connectivity may help identify foci for interventions based on transcranial magnetic stimulation designed to stimulate functioning and also to predict their impact on other regions in motor-associated networks

Modulation of I-wave generating pathways by TBS: a model of plasticity induction

KEY POINTS: • Mechanisms underlying plasticity induction by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation protocols such as intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) remain poorly understood. • Individual response to iTBS is associated with recruitment of late indirect wave (I-wave) generating pathways that can be probed by the onset latency of TMS applied to primary motor cortex (M1) at different coil orientations. • We found an association between late I-wave recruitment (reflected by AP-LM latency, i.e. the excess latency of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) generated by TMS with an anterior-posterior (AP) orientation over the latency of MEPs evoked by direct activation of corticospinal axons using latero-medial (LM) stimulation) and changes in cortical excitability following iTBS, confirming previous studies. •AP-LM latency significantly decreased following iTBS, and this decrease correlated with the iTBS-induced increase in cortical excitability across subjects. •Plasticity in the motor network may in part derive from a modulation of excitability and recruitment of late I-wave generating cortical pathways. ABSTRACT: Plasticity-induction following theta burst transcranial stimulation (TBS) varies considerably across subjects, and underlying neurophysiological mechanisms remain poorly understood, representing a challenge for scientific and clinical applications. In human motor cortex (M1), recruitment of indirect waves (I-waves) can be probed by the excess latency of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) elicited by TMS with an anterior-posterior (AP) orientation over the latency of MEPs evoked by direct activation of corticospinal axons using latero-medial (LM) stimulation, referred to as "AP-LM latency" difference. Importantly, AP-LM latency has been shown to predict individual responses to TBS across subjects. We, therefore, hypothesized that the plastic changes in corticospinal excitability induced by TBS are the result, at least in part, of changes in excitability of these same I-wave generating pathways. We investigated in 20 healthy subjects whether intermittent TBS (iTBS) modulates I-wave recruitment as reflected by changes in the AP-LM latency. As expected, we found that AP-LM latencies before iTBS were associated with iTBS-induced excitability changes. A novel finding was that iTBS reduced the AP-LM latency, and that this correlated significantly with changes in cortical excitability observed following iTBS: subjects with the largest reductions in AP-LM latencies had the largest increases in cortical excitability following iTBS. Our findings suggest that plasticity-induction by iTBS may derive from the modulation of I-wave generating pathways projecting onto M1, accounting for the predictive potential of I-wave recruitment. The excitability of I-wave generating may serve a critical role in modulating motor cortical excitability and hence represent a promising target for novel rTMS protocols

A connectivity ­based parcellation of the left dorsal premotor cortex

peer reviewe

Strange fire: John Howe (1630-1705) and the alienation and fragmentation of later Stuart Dissent

Any attempt to understand fully the roots and decline of English Dissent must address theological issues. Crucial to the enterprise will be an approach which describes a spectrum of theological emphases. This thesis will propose a detailed theological model which employs an ecclesiological spectrum mapping relative stress on the visible or invisible church. When this model is applied to the later Stuart period the importance of John Howe (1630-1705) becomes evident. Howe's life spanned a time of considerable disruption. His family was affected by Laud's policies, he became a minister during the Interregnum and his career lasted into Anne's reign. His significance has been masked by a hagiographical tradition and the fascination of historians with Richard Baxter. Howe's Platonist philosophical roots led him to emphasise the transcendence of God and, accordingly, the invisible Church. He was active in Nonconformist affairs during the 1680s. He entered controversies sparked by "latitudinarians" Tillotson and Stillingfleet and maintained important contacts among dissident groups. He built a sophisticated theological case for unity which hinged on Christian charity. Howe was the crucial figure in Dissent following the Toleration Act of 1689. An analysis of Howe's career and writings establishes the theological model proposed in this thesis. By this, in turn, the continuity of Dissent with "Puritanism" can be validly identified. Howe's influence on later Dissent was considerable, arguably greater than that of either John Locke or Baxter. His emphasis on the invisible Church relegated uniformity and structure. An increasing "bias to the invisible" was a factor in the alienation and fragmentation of later Stuart Dissent

Network based statistical analysis detects changes induced by continuous theta-burst stimulation on brain activity at rest

We combined continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) and resting state (RS)-fMRI approaches to investigate changes in functional connectivity (FC) induced by right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)-cTBS at rest in a group of healthy subjects. Seed-based fMRI analysis revealed a specific pattern of correlation between the right prefrontal cortex and several brain regions: based on these results, we defined a 29-node network to assess changes in each network connection before and after, respectively, DLPFC-cTBS and sham sessions. A decrease of correlation between the right prefrontal cortex and right parietal cortex (Brodmann areas 46 and 40, respectively) was detected after cTBS, while no significant result was found when analyzing sham-session data. To our knowledge, this is the first study that demonstrates within-subject changes in FC induced by cTBS applied on prefrontal area. The possibility to induce selective changes in a specific region without interfering with functionally correlated area could have several implications for the study of functional properties of the brain, and for the emerging therapeutic strategies based on transcranial stimulation

Augmentation of Leptin and Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 alpha mRNAs in Preeclamptic Placenta

Schizophrenia is characterized by marked deficits in executive and psychomotor functions, as demonstrated for goal-directed actions in the antisaccade task. Recent studies, however, suggest that this deficit represents only one manifestation of a general deficit in stimulus-response integration and volitional initiation of motor responses. We here used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate brain activation patterns during a manual stimulus-response compatibility task in 18 schizophrenic patients and 18 controls. We found that across groups incongruent vs. congruent responses recruited a bilateral network consisting of dorsal fronto-parietal circuits as well as bilateral anterior insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the presupplementary motor area (preSMA). When testing for the main-effect across all conditions, patients showed significantly lower activation of the right DLPFC and, in turn, increased activation in a left hemispheric network including parietal and premotor areas as well as the preSMA. For incongruent responses patients showed significantly increased activation in a similar left hemispheric network, as well as additional activation in parietal and premotor regions in the right hemisphere. The present study reveals that hypoactivity in the right DLPFC in schizophrenic patients is accompanied by hyperactivity in several fronto-parietal regions associated with task execution. Impaired top-down control due to a dysfunctional DLPFC might thus be partly compensated by an up-regulation of task-relevant regions in schizophrenic patients