Increasing User Motivation of a Mobile Health Application based on applying Operant Conditioning

In times of demographic change, especially in western countries, it’s getting more and more important to come up with cheap and efficient solutions to care for older people and their medical conditions. Now that smart phones are widely spread, they should be used to make life easier for their users. This characteristic can be achieved e.g. by developing mobile health applications for daily usage. In this bachelor thesis an approach is presented how the motivation of diabetes diseased people can be increased, to check for their own health, by applying concepts of operant conditioning. These concepts will be presented and how they result in a psychological impact on the user. Furthermore, an implementation of the designed concepts will be shown

ANNIS: a linguistic database for exploring information structure

In this paper, we discuss the design and implementation of our first version of the database "ANNIS" (ANNotation of Information Structure). For research based on empirical data, ANNIS provides a uniform environment for storing this data together with its linguistic annotations. A central database promotes standardized annotation, which facilitates interpretation and comparison of the data. ANNIS is used through a standard web browser and offers tier-based visualization of data and annotations, as well as search facilities that allow for cross-level and cross-sentential queries. The paper motivates the design of the system, characterizes its user interface, and provides an initial technical evaluation of ANNIS with respect to data size and query processing

RNxQuest: An Extension to the xQuest Pipeline Enabling Analysis of Protein–RNA Cross-Linking/Mass Spectrometry Data

Cross-linking and mass spectrometry (XL-MS) workflows are increasingly popular techniques for generating low-resolution structural information about interacting biomolecules. xQuest is an established software package for analysis of protein–protein XL-MS data, supporting stable isotope-labeled cross-linking reagents. Resultant paired peaks in mass spectra aid sensitivity and specificity of data analysis. The recently developed cross-linking of isotope-labeled RNA and mass spectrometry (CLIR-MS) approach extends the XL-MS concept to protein–RNA interactions, also employing isotope-labeled cross-link (XL) species to facilitate data analysis. Data from CLIR-MS experiments are broadly compatible with core xQuest functionality, but the required analysis approach for this novel data type presents several technical challenges not optimally served by the original xQuest package. Here we introduce RNxQuest, a Python package extension for xQuest, which automates the analysis approach required for CLIR-MS data, providing bespoke, state-of-the-art processing and visualization functionality for this novel data type. Using functions included with RNxQuest, we evaluate three false discovery rate control approaches for CLIR-MS data. We demonstrate the versatility of the RNxQuest-enabled data analysis pipeline by also reanalyzing published protein–RNA XL-MS data sets that lack isotope-labeled RNA. This study demonstrates that RNxQuest provides a sensitive and specific data analysis pipeline for detection of isotope-labeled XLs in protein–RNA XL-MS experiments

Information structure

The guidelines for Information Structure include instructions for the annotation of Information Status (or ‘givenness’), Topic, and Focus, building upon a basic syntactic annotation of nominal phrases and sentences. A procedure for the annotation of these features is proposed

A 3D-Printed Offline Nano-ESI Source for Bruker MS Instruments

Nanoelectrospray ionization (nano-ESI) is a highly efficient and a widely used technique for the ionization of minute amounts of analyte. Offline nano-ESI sources are convenient for the direct infusion of complex mixtures that suffer from high matrix content and are crucial for the native mass spectrometric analysis of proteins. For Bruker instruments, no such source is readily available. Here we close this gap and present a 3D-printable nano-ESI source for Bruker instruments, which can be assembled by anyone with access to 3D printers. The source can be fitted to any Bruker mass spectrometer with an ionBooster ESI source and only requires minor, reversible changes to the original Bruker hardware. The general utility was demonstrated by recording high-resolution MS spectra of small molecules, intact proteins, as well as complex biological samples in negative and positive ion mode on two different Bruker instruments

Microscopic theory of glassy dynamics and glass transition for molecular crystals

We derive a microscopic equation of motion for the dynamical orientational correlators of molecular crystals. Our approach is based upon mode coupling theory. Compared to liquids we find four main differences: (i) the memory kernel contains Umklapp processes, (ii) besides the static two-molecule orientational correlators one also needs the static one-molecule orientational density as an input, where the latter is nontrivial, (iii) the static orientational current density correlator does contribute an anisotropic, inertia-independent part to the memory kernel, (iv) if the molecules are assumed to be fixed on a rigid lattice, the tensorial orientational correlators and the memory kernel have vanishing l,l'=0 components. The resulting mode coupling equations are solved for hard ellipsoids of revolution on a rigid sc-lattice. Using the static orientational correlators from Percus-Yevick theory we find an ideal glass transition generated due to precursors of orientational order which depend on X and p, the aspect ratio and packing fraction of the ellipsoids. The glass formation of oblate ellipsoids is enhanced compared to that for prolate ones. For oblate ellipsoids with X <~ 0.7 and prolate ellipsoids with X >~ 4, the critical diagonal nonergodicity parameters in reciprocal space exhibit more or less sharp maxima at the zone center with very small values elsewhere, while for prolate ellipsoids with 2 <~ X <~ 2.5 we have maxima at the zone edge. The off-diagonal nonergodicity parameters are not restricted to positive values and show similar behavior. For 0.7 <~ X <~ 2, no glass transition is found. In the glass phase, the nonergodicity parameters show a pronounced q-dependence.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted at Phys. Rev. E. v4 is almost identical to the final paper version. It includes, compared to former versions v2/v3, no new physical content, but only some corrected formulas in the appendices and corrected typos in text. In comparison to version v1, in v2-v4 some new results have been included and text has been change

Diffusion with restrictions

A non--linear diffusion equation is derived by taking into account hopping rates depending on the occupation of next neighbouring sites. There appears additonal repulsive and attractive forces leading to a changed local mobiltiy. The stationary and the time dependent behaviour of the system are studied based upon the master equation approach. Different to conventional diffusion it results a time dependent bump the position of which increases with time described by an anomalous diffusion exponent. The fractal dimension of this random walk is exclusively determined by the space dimension. The applicabilty of the model to descibe glasses is discussed.Comment: 1 figure, can be send on reques

PopWiss - Datenbank der Populärwissenschaft. Lessons learned - Herausforderungen der Informationsintegration in einem interdisziplinären Forschungsprojekt

Das Projekt PopWiss hat das Ziel, ein Informationssystem für populäre Wissenschaftskommunikation aufzubauen. Populäre Wissenschaft wird zunehmend von der Wissenschaftskommunikation durch Forschende selbst geprägt. Neben traditionelle Formate wie dem populärwissenschaftlichen Vortrag, dem populären Sachbuch, dem Gastbeitrag in Zeitschriften oder Zeitungen treten im Internetumfeld neue Formate, die es Forschenden gestatten, ihre Wissenschaft in Eigenregie zu vermitteln und direkt mit Zielgruppen außerhalb ihrer jeweiligen Scientific Community in Dialoge zu treten. Hierzu zählen Blogs, dazu Videos, Themenportale, Newsletter, MOOCs usw. Zudem entstanden vielfältige neue Offline-Formate wie Kinderuni, Science Slam oder Lange Nacht der Wissenschaft. Die PopWiss-Datenbank soll eine Übersicht ermöglichen, welche Forschenden wie häufig welche Formate der Wissenschaftskommunikation bedienen. Bei der Entwicklung sind folgende Zielgruppen im Fokus: Berufungskommissionen (welche perspektivisch auch die Leistungen von Bewerbern in externer Wissenschaftskommunikation erheben und miteinander vergleichen) sowie die Organisatoren populärwissenschaftlicher Veranstaltungen, die geeignete Personen suchen, z. B. Journalisten. PopWiss soll eine Basis für Qualitätskriterien für entsprechendes Engagement bilden, um langfristig Exzellenz in Wissenschaftskommunikation für eine Karriere in der Wissenschaft anrechenbar zu machen. Neben den komplexen inhaltlichen Fragestellungen sind es Aspekte der Datenqualität, Erschließung, Metadatenstrukturierung und Fragen der Authentifizierung und Autorisierung, die im Projekt vorrangig von der KIT-Bibliothek bearbeitet werden. Das Projekt wird von der Tschira-Stiftung gefördert und vom Nationalen Institut für Wissenschaftskommunikation (NaWiK), der KIT-Bibliothek und dem Institut für Angewandte Informatik am KIT durchgeführt

Activated complement C3: A potentially novel predictor of progressive IgA nephropathy

Activated complement C3: A potentially novel predictor of progressive IgA nephropathy. In the search for a serologic marker of disease activity, we measured concentrations of activated C3 (actC3, that is, neoantigens developing after C3 activation on breakdown products), C4-C3 complexes and soluble C5b-9 (sC5b-9) in one or two plasma samples from adult patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN, N = 50) or Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP, N = 4). As controls, 20 patients with non-immune renal disease, but comparable age, degree of proteinuria, renal dysfunction and prevalence of hypertension were studied. Compared to controls, actC3 levels were elevated in 30% of the patients with IgAN and one of the HSP patients. C4-C3 complexes were elevated in only 8% of the IgAN patients, and sC5b-9 levels were within the control range in all IgAN and HSP patients. In IgAN patients with elevated actC3 levels, proteinuria and hematuria were more pronounced than in those with normal levels. Elevated plasma concentrations of actC3 at the first presentation correlated with subsequent deterioration of renal function both in patients with initially normal and already impaired renal function (r = -0.56, N = 44, P = 0.003). The five IgAN patients with elevated actC3 on both occasions of obtaining plasma showed the most rapid loss of renal function. We conclude that mainly alternative pathway complement activation can be demonstrated in patients with IgAN and HSP. In IgAN patients the presence of complement activation is associated with more severe renal disease. Further studies are warranted to examine the clinical usefulness of actC3 as a predictor of the subsequent course of IgAN

Theory of nonlinear rheology and yielding of dense colloidal suspensions

A first principles approach to the nonlinear flow of dense suspensions is presented which captures shear thinning of colloidal fluids and dynamical yielding of colloidal glasses. The advection of density fluctuations plays a central role, suppressing the caging of particles and speeding up structural relaxation. A mode coupling approach is developed to explore these effects.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; slightly corrected version; Phys. Rev. Lett., to be published (2002