What have they been up to in Lübeck recently

This talk will give an overview over three related research prototypes for ambient interactive systems. We start by introducing NEMO, the Network Environment for Multimedia Objects. NEMO is a smart media environment for semantically rich, personalised, and device-specific access to and interaction with multimedia objects. Next, a shared electronic whiteboard called ShareBoard is decribed. The goal of ShareBoard is to deliver a natural user interface to working with electronic whiteboards. Integrated within ShareBoard are input devices to recognise the movement of users in the surrounding space and for sensing 3D-gesture. ShareBoard can make use of media objects in NEMO. Last, we introduce the Modular Awareness Construction Kit. MACK is a framework for developing context aware, ambient intelligent systems that blend seamlessly with the users’ everyday route, enabling unobtrusive in-situ interaction and facilitating enhanced cooperation and communication. In the future, MACK is to deliver contextual information to both NEMO and ShareBoard

Advances in the analysis of event-related potential data with factor analytic methods

Researchers are often interested in comparing brain activity between experimental contexts. Event-related potentials (ERPs) are a common electrophysiological measure of brain activity that is time-locked to an event (e.g., a stimulus presented to the participant). A variety of decomposition methods has been used for ERP data among them temporal exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Essentially, temporal EFA decomposes the ERP waveform into a set of latent factors where the factor loadings reflect the time courses of the latent factors, and the amplitudes are represented by the factor scores. An important methodological concern is to ensure the estimates of the condition effects are unbiased and the term variance misallocation has been introduced in reference to the case of biased estimates. The aim of the present thesis was to explore how exploratory factor analytic methods can be made less prone to variance misallocation. These efforts resulted in a series of three publications in which variance misallocation in EFA was described as a consequence of the properties of ERP data, ESEM was proposed as an extension of EFA that acknowledges the structure of ERP data sets, and regularized estimation was suggested as an alternative to simple structure rotation with desirable properties. The presence of multiple sources of (co-)variance, the factor scoring step, and high temporal overlap of the factors were identified as major causes of variance misallocation in EFA for ERP data. It was shown that ESEM is capable of separating the (co-)variance sources and that it avoids biases due to factor scoring. Further, regularized estimation was shown to be a suitable alternative for factor rotation that is able to recover factor loading patterns in which only a subset of the variables follow a simple structure. Based on these results, regSEMs and ESEMs with ERP-specific rotation have been proposed as promising extensions of the EFA approach that might be less prone to variance misallocation. Future research should provide a direct comparison of regSEM and ESEM, and conduct simulation studies with more physiologically motivated data generation algorithms

NBS Impact Evaluation with GREENPASS Methodology Shown by the Case Study ‘Fischbeker Höfe’ in Hamburg/Germany

The implementation of nature-based solutions (NBS) in urban regeneration aims to improve citizens’ health and well-being. Therefore, tools need to be applied to identify the most suitable and efficient location and type of NBS. Within the CLEVER-cities H2020 project, the Greenpass method has been chosen to evaluate different design solutions regarding thermal comfort and physiological equivalent temperature (PET), energy, water and air fluxes. The Greenpass system comprises of standardized tools, reports and a unique set of Key Performance Score (KPS) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI). This paper deals with the impact assessment of NBS by the use of the innovative Greenpass system for the CLEVER-cities project ‘Fischbeker Höfe’ in Hamburg, Germany to ensure human health and well-being improvements for the citizens. To that end and considering the climate change context, thermal comfort is a KPI with high relevance in terms of the NBS co-benefits. Based on the PET within a project area Greenpass calculates the Thermal Comfort Score (TCS). The share of the different PET classes within the project area is multiplied with a weighting factor and summarized to the TCS. The results of the climate resilience analysis of the urban development area ‘Fischbeker Höfe’ in Hamburg are presented and discussed in comparison to a conventional architecture that disregards NBS, showing improvement with regards to four out of five KPS. Based on the evaluation results, advice is given to the co-creative design team on how to further improve the design towards climate resilience. The Greenpass system has proven to be a powerful and tailored tool to support climate resilient urban design and architecture. It provides a standardized and comprehensible but still scientific basis for decisions in a highly efficient and understandable way.This project has been applied in the frame of EU H2020 Project CLEVER-cities funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 innovation action program under grant agreement No 776604

Forebrain CRF₁ modulates early-life stress-programmed cognitive deficits

Childhood traumatic events hamper the development of the hippocampus and impair declarative memory in susceptible individuals. Persistent elevations of hippocampal corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), acting through CRF receptor 1 (CRF1), in experimental models of early-life stress have suggested a role for this endogenous stress hormone in the resulting structural modifications and cognitive dysfunction. However, direct testing of this possibility has been difficult. In the current study, we subjected conditional forebrain CRF1 knock-out (CRF1-CKO) mice to an impoverished postnatal environment and examined the role of forebrain CRF1 in the long-lasting effects of early-life stress on learning and memory. Early-life stress impaired spatial learning and memory in wild-type mice, and postnatal forebrain CRF overexpression reproduced these deleterious effects. Cognitive deficits in stressed wild-type mice were associated with disrupted long-term potentiation (LTP) and a reduced number of dendritic spines in area CA3 but not in CA1. Forebrain CRF1 deficiency restored cognitive function, LTP and spine density in area CA3, and augmented CA1 LTP and spine density in stressed mice. In addition, early-life stress differentially regulated the amount of hippocampal excitatory and inhibitory synapses in wild-type and CRF1-CKO mice, accompanied by alterations in the neurexin-neuroligin complex. These data suggest that the functional, structural and molecular changes evoked by early-life stress are at least partly dependent on persistent forebrain CRF1 signaling, providing a molecular target for the prevention of cognitive deficits in adults with a history of early-life adversity

Severe COVID-19 pneumonia: Perfusion analysis in correlation with pulmonary embolism and vessel enlargement using dual-energy CT data

Background Gas exchange in COVID-19 pneumonia is impaired and vessel obstruction has been suspected to cause ventilation-perfusion mismatch. Dual-energy CT (DECT) can depict pulmonary perfusion by regional assessment of iodine uptake. Objective The purpose of this study was the analysis of pulmonary perfusion using dual-energy CT in a cohort of 27 consecutive patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Method We retrospectively analyzed pulmonary perfusion with DECT in 27 consecutive patients (mean age 57 years, range 21–73; 19 men and 8 women) with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Iodine uptake (IU) in regions-of-interest placed into normally aerated lung, ground-glass opacifications (GGO) and consolidations was measured using a dedicated postprocessing software. Vessel enlargement (VE) within opacifications and presence of pulmonary embolism (PE) was assessed by subjective analysis. Linear mixed models were used for statistical analyses. Results Compared to normally aerated lung 106/151 (70.2%) opacifications without upstream PE demonstrated an increased IU, 9/151 (6.0%) an equal IU and 36/151 (23.8%) a decreased IU. The estimated mean iodine uptake (EMIU) in opacifications without upstream PE (GGO 1.77 mg/mL; 95%-CI: 1.52–2.02; p = 0.011, consolidations 1.82 mg/mL; 95%-CI: 1.56–2.08, p = 0.006) was significantly higher compared to normal lung (1.22 mg/mL; 95%-CI: 0.95–1.49). In case of upstream PE, EMIU of opacifications (combined GGO and consolidations) was significantly decreased compared to normal lung (0.52 mg/mL; 95%-CI: -0.07–1.12; p = 0.043). The presence of VE in opacifications correlated significantly with iodine uptake (p<0.001). Conclusions DECT revealed the opacifications in a subset of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia to be perfused non-uniformly with some being hypo- and others being hyperperfused. Mean iodine uptake in opacifications (both ground-glass and consolidation) was higher compared to normally aerated lung except for areas with upstream pulmonary embolism. Vessel enlargement correlated with iodine uptake: In summary, in a cohort of 27 consecutive patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, dual-energy CT demonstrated a wide range of iodine uptake in pulmonary ground-glass opacifications and consolidations as a surrogate marker for hypo- and hyperperfusion compared to normally aerated lung. Applying DECT to determine which pathophysiology is predominant might help to tailor therapy to the individual patient´s needs

Forebrain CRF₁ modulates early-life stress-programmed cognitive deficits.

Childhood traumatic events hamper the development of the hippocampus and impair declarative memory in susceptible individuals. Persistent elevations of hippocampal corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), acting through CRF receptor 1 (CRF₁), in experimental models of early-life stress have suggested a role for this endogenous stress hormone in the resulting structural modifications and cognitive dysfunction. However, direct testing of this possibility has been difficult. In the current study, we subjected conditional forebrain CRF₁ knock-out (CRF₁-CKO) mice to an impoverished postnatal environment and examined the role of forebrain CRF₁ in the long-lasting effects of early-life stress on learning and memory. Early-life stress impaired spatial learning and memory in wild-type mice, and postnatal forebrain CRF overexpression reproduced these deleterious effects. Cognitive deficits in stressed wild-type mice were associated with disrupted long-term potentiation (LTP) and a reduced number of dendritic spines in area CA3 but not in CA1. Forebrain CRF₁ deficiency restored cognitive function, LTP and spine density in area CA3, and augmented CA1 LTP and spine density in stressed mice. In addition, early-life stress differentially regulated the amount of hippocampal excitatory and inhibitory synapses in wild-type and CRF₁-CKO mice, accompanied by alterations in the neurexin-neuroligin complex. These data suggest that the functional, structural and molecular changes evoked by early-life stress are at least partly dependent on persistent forebrain CRF₁ signaling, providing a molecular target for the prevention of cognitive deficits in adults with a history of early-life adversity

Quantum gauge models without classical Higgs mechanism

We examine the status of massive gauge theories, such as those usually obtained by spontaneous symmetry breakdown, from the viewpoint of causal (Epstein-Glaser) renormalization. The BRS formulation of gauge invariance in this framework, starting from canonical quantization of massive (as well as massless) vector bosons as fundamental entities, and proceeding perturbatively, allows one to rederive the reductive group symmetry of interactions, the need for scalar fields in gauge theory, and the covariant derivative. Thus the presence of higgs particles is explained without recourse to a Higgs(-Englert-Brout-Guralnik-Hagen-Kibble) mechanism. Along the way, we dispel doubts about the compatibility of causal gauge invariance with grand unified theories.Comment: 20 pages in two-column EPJC format, shortened version accepted for publication. For more details, consult version

A New Glycan-Dependent CD4-Binding Site Neutralizing Antibody Exerts Pressure on HIV-1 In Vivo

The CD4 binding site (CD4bs) on the envelope glycoprotein is a major site of vulnerability that is conserved among different HIV-1 isolates. Many broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) to the CD4bs belong to the VRC01 class, sharing highly restricted origins, recognition mechanisms and viral escape pathways. We sought to isolate new anti-CD4bs bNAbs with different origins and mechanisms of action. Using a gp120 2CC core as bait, we isolated antibodies encoded by IGVH3-21 and IGVL3-1 genes with long CDRH3s that depend on the presence of the N-linked glycan at position-276 for activity. This binding mode is similar to the previously identified antibody HJ16, however the new antibodies identified herein are more potent and broad. The most potent variant, 179NC75, had a geometric mean IC_(80) value of 0.42 μg/ml against 120 Tier-2 HIV-1 pseudoviruses in the TZM.bl assay. Although this group of CD4bs glycan-dependent antibodies can be broadly and potently neutralizing in vitro, their in vivo activity has not been tested to date. Here, we report that 179NC75 is highly active when administered to HIV-1-infected humanized mice, where it selects for escape variants that lack a glycan site at position-276. The same glycan was absent from the virus isolated from the 179NC75 donor, implying that the antibody also exerts selection pressure in humans

LINT, a Novel dL(3)mbt-Containing Complex, Represses Malignant Brain Tumour Signature Genes

Mutations in the l(3)mbt tumour suppressor result in overproliferation of Drosophila larval brains. Recently, the derepression of different gene classes in l(3)mbt mutants was shown to be causal for transformation. However, the molecular mechanisms of dL(3)mbt-mediated gene repression are not understood. Here, we identify LINT, the major dL(3)mbt complex of Drosophila. LINT has three core subunits—dL(3)mbt, dCoREST, and dLint-1—and is expressed in cell lines, embryos, and larval brain. Using genome-wide ChIP–Seq analysis, we show that dLint-1 binds close to the TSS of tumour-relevant target genes. Depletion of the LINT core subunits results in derepression of these genes. By contrast, histone deacetylase, histone methylase, and histone demethylase activities are not required to maintain repression. Our results support a direct role of LINT in the repression of brain tumour-relevant target genes by restricting promoter access

Cross-Device Taxonomy:Survey, Opportunities and Challenges of Interactions Spanning Across Multiple Devices

Designing interfaces or applications that move beyond the bounds of a single device screen enables new ways to engage with digital content. Research addressing the opportunities and challenges of interactions with multiple devices in concert is of continued focus in HCI research. To inform the future research agenda of this field, we contribute an analysis and taxonomy of a corpus of 510 papers in the cross- device computing domain. For both new and experienced researchers in the field we provide: an overview, historic trends and unified terminology of cross-device research; discussion of major and under-explored application areas; mapping of enabling technologies; synthesis of key interaction techniques spanning across multiple devices; and review of common evaluation strategies. We close with a discussion of open issues. Our taxonomy aims to create a unified terminology and common understanding for researchers in order to facilitate and stimulate future cross-device research