Enhancing the smoothness of joint motion induced by functional electrical stimulation using co-activation strategies

The motor precision of today’s neuroprosthetic devices that use artificial generation of limb motion using Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) is generally low. We investigate the adoption of natural co-activation strategies as present in antagonistic muscle pairs aiming to improve motor precision produced by FES. In a test in which artificial knee-joint movements were generated, we could improve the smoothness of FES-induced motion by 513% when applying co-activation during the phases in which torque production is switched between muscles – compared to no co-activation. We further demonstrated how the co-activation level influences the joint stiffness in a pendulum test.BMBF, 16SV7069K, Bewegungsfähigkeit und Mobilität wiedererlangen - BeMobi

Private is Public?! Der Umgang von 14- bis 18-Jährigen mit Sozialen Medien. Eine explorativ-empirische Untersuchung im gymnasialen Kontext

Die explorative Studie „Private is Public?!“ fokussiert sich auf das Mediennutzungsverhalten von 14- bis 18-jährigen Schülerinnen und Schülern mit Schwerpunkt soziale Medien. Das Forscherteam führte seine empirische Untersuchung am Mons-Tabor-Gymnasium im ländlich gelegenen Montabaur, Rheinland-Pfalz (Deutschland) durch. Gestützt auf Forschungshypothesen erhoben Christian Filk, Hanno Schauer und Amina Ovcina Cajacob mit Hilfe des Instruments der schriftlichen Befragung aktuelle Trends zu Frequenz und Intensität der Nutzung sozialer Medien, zur zweckbezogenen Nutzung sozialer Medien, zu Informationsverhaltensschemata in sozialen Medien sowie zu Erfahrungen mit Cyber-Mobbing. Die gewonnenen Daten werden mittels deskriptiv-statistischer Analysen ausgewertet. Schliesslich diskutieren Verfasser und Verfasserin den innovativen Einsatz privater sozialer Medien für den Unterricht in öffentlichen Schulen

Reakcija 133Cs(d, 3He)132Xe

The 133Cs(d, 3He)132Xe reaction was measured at the Munich Q3D magnetic spectrograph with high resolution. The spectra were obtained at beam energies of Ed = 27 MeV and Ed = 28 MeV. The corresponding angles of the spectrograph were 30◦ and 50◦ , respectively. The achieved FWHM was between 7 keV and 10 keV and the energies of the levels could be determined with a precision between 0.5 keV and 1 keV.Pomoću Q3D magnetskog spektrografa istraživali smo reakciju 133Cs(d, 3He)132Xe pri visokom razlučivanju. Izmjereni su spektri za energiju upadnih deuterona od 27 i 28 MeV, na kutovima raspršenja 30◦ odnosno 50◦ . Postignuto je razlučivanje između 7 i 10 keV, a energije stanja u 132Xe su određene na točnost između 0.5 i 1 keV

Exhaled breath condensate acidification in acute lung injury

AbstractLung injury in ventilated lungs may occur due to local or systemic disease and is usually caused by or accompanied by inflammatory processes. Recently, acidification of exhaled breath condensate pH (EBC-pH) has been suggested as marker of inflammation in airway disease. We investigated pH, ammonia, lactate, pCO2, HCO3−, IL-6 and IL-8 in EBC of 35 ventilated patients (AECC-classification: ARDS: 15, ALI: 12, no lung injury: 8).EBC-pH was decreased in ventilated patients compared to volunteers (5.85±0.32 vs. 7.46±0.48; P<0.0001). NH4+, lactate, HCO3−, pCO2, IL-6 and IL-8 were analyzed in EBC and correlated with EBC-pH. We observed correlations of EBC-pH with markers of local (EBC IL-6: r=−0.71, P<0.0001, EBC IL-8: r=−0.68, P<0.0001) but not of systemic inflammation (serum IL-6, serum IL-8) and with indices of severity of lung injury (Murray's Lung Injury Severity Score; r=−0.73, P<0.0001, paO2/FiO2; r=0.54, P<0.001). Among factors potentially contributing to pH of EBC, EBC-lactate and EBC-NH4+ were found to correlate with EBC-pH.Inflammation-induced disturbances of regulatory mechanisms, such as glutaminase systems may result in EBC acidification. EBC-pH is suggested to represent a marker of acute lung injury caused by or accompanied by pulmonary inflammation

Vorzeitiger Berufseinstieg ins Lehramt. Risiken für die Profession

Aufgrund des aktuellen Lehrer*innenmangels arbeiten Lehramtsstudierende zunehmend als Lehrpersonen. Fraglich ist, ob dies zu einer eingeschränkten individuellen Professionalisierung sowie kollektiven Deprofessionalisierung des Lehrer*innenberufs führt und wie es infolge zu einer Reprofessionalisierung kommen kann. Bereits unterrichtende Lehramtsstudierende wurden leitfadengestützt zur eigenen Professionalisierung interviewt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Studierende den vorzeitigen Berufseinstieg als bereichernd wahrnehmen, jedoch eine Reflexion des eigenen Professionalisierungsprozesses fehlt. (DIPF/Orig.

Feedback control of arm movements using Neuro-Muscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) combined with a lockable, passive exoskeleton for gravity compensation

Within the European project MUNDUS, an assistive framework was developed for the support of arm and hand functions during daily life activities in severely impaired people. This contribution aims at designing a feedback control system for Neuro-Muscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) to enable reaching functions in people with no residual voluntary control of the arm and shoulder due to high level spinal cord injury. NMES is applied to the deltoids and the biceps muscles and integrated with a three degrees of freedom (DoFs) passive exoskeleton, which partially compensates gravitational forces and allows to lock each DOF. The user is able to choose the target hand position and to trigger actions using an eyetracker system. The target position is selected by using the eyetracker and determined by a marker-based tracking system using Microsoft Kinect. A central controller, i.e., a finite state machine, issues a sequence of basic movement commands to the real-time arm controller. The NMES control algorithm sequentially controls each joint angle while locking the other DoFs. Daily activities, such as drinking, brushing hair, pushing an alarm button, etc., can be supported by the system. The robust and easily tunable control approach was evaluated with five healthy subjects during a drinking task. Subjects were asked to remain passive and to allow NMES to induce the movements. In all of them, the controller was able to perform the task, and a mean hand positioning error of less than five centimeters was achieved. The average total time duration for moving the hand from a rest position to a drinking cup, for moving the cup to the mouth and back, and for finally returning the arm to the rest position was 71 s.EC/FP7/248326/EU/MUltimodal Neuroprostesis for Daily Upper limb Support/MUNDU

Spectroscopija 125Te (n,γ), (d,p) i (3He,α) reakcijama

Single γ-ray spectra and γγ-coincidences, following thermal neutron capture in 124Te, were measured with semiconductor detectors at the light-water reactor LWR - 15 at Řež. Intensities of g transitions in 125Te were normalized using the absolute intensity of 7.8% of the 6620 keV line in 36Cl. The high resolution (d,p) measurements were performed with 17 MeV deuterons, using the Q3D spectrograph at two scattering angles of 15° and 30°. Spectra were recorded in the range up to 3.3 MeV and calibrated using the proton peaks with l =1, and the corresponding level energies were determined in the thermal neutron capture reaction. The (3He,α) experiment was carried out with a 32 MeV He beam at the angle of 10°. The spectrum was recorded in one run by means of a large detector in a range up to approximately 4.7 MeV. The absolute intensities were determined by measuring the total beam current.Mjerili su se izravni γ- i sudesni γ-γ-spektri nakon uhvata termičkih neutrona u 124Te. Mjerenja (d,p) reakcija visokog razlučivanja na toj jezgri izvela su se s deuteronima 17 MeV na kutovima od 15° i 30° , pomoću Q3D spektrografa. Također se mjerio spektar u reakciji (3He,α) na 10° . Na osnovi tih mjerenja utvrđena su mnoga nova stanja 125Te na energijama uzbude do oko 4.5 MeV. Razlika grananja 403/443 keV iz izravnih i sudesnih γ-spektara ukazuje na jaku primjesu E2 u primarnom prijelazu od 6125 keV