@article{ArampatzisPeperBierbaumetal.2010, author = {Arampatzis, Adamantios and Peper, Andreas and Bierbaum, Stefanie and Albracht, Kirsten}, title = {Plasticity of human Achilles tendon mechanical and morphological properties in response to cyclic strain}, series = {Journal of Biomechanics}, volume = {43}, journal = {Journal of Biomechanics}, number = {16}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0021-9290}, doi = {10.1016/j.jbiomech.2010.08.014}, pages = {3073 -- 3079}, year = {2010}, abstract = {The purpose of the current study in combination with our previous published data (Arampatzis et al., 2007) was to examine the effects of a controlled modulation of strain magnitude and strain frequency applied to the Achilles tendon on the plasticity of tendon mechanical and morphological properties. Eleven male adults (23.9±2.2 yr) participated in the study. The participants exercised one leg at low magnitude tendon strain (2.97±0.47\%), and the other leg at high tendon strain magnitude (4.72±1.08\%) of similar frequency (0.5 Hz, 1 s loading, 1 s relaxation) and exercise volume (integral of the plantar flexion moment over time) for 14 weeks, 4 days per week, 5 sets per session. The exercise volume was similar to the intervention of our earlier study (0.17 Hz frequency; 3 s loading, 3 s relaxation) allowing a direct comparison of the results. Before and after the intervention ankle joint moment has been measured by a dynamometer, tendon-aponeurosis elongation by ultrasound and cross-sectional area of the Achilles tendon by magnet resonance images (MRI). We found a decrease in strain at a given tendon force, an increase in tendon-aponeurosis stiffness and tendon elastic modulus of the Achilles tendon only in the leg exercised at high strain magnitude. The cross-sectional area (CSA) of the Achilles tendon did not show any statistically significant (P>0.05) differences to the pre-exercise values in both legs. The results indicate a superior improvement in tendon properties (stiffness, elastic modulus and CSA) at the low frequency (0.17 Hz) compared to the high strain frequency (0.5 Hz) protocol. These findings provide evidence that the strain magnitude applied to the Achilles tendon should exceed the value, which occurs during habitual activities to trigger adaptational effects and that higher tendon strain duration per contraction leads to superior tendon adaptational responses.}, language = {en} } @article{AggeloussisGiannakouAlbrachtetal.2010, author = {Aggeloussis, Nickos and Giannakou, Erasmia and Albracht, Kirsten and Arampatzis, Adamantios}, title = {Reproducibility of fascicle length and pennation angle of gastrocnemius medialis in human gait in vivo}, series = {Gait and Posture}, volume = {31}, journal = {Gait and Posture}, number = {1}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0966-6362}, doi = {10.1016/j.gaitpost.2009.08.249}, pages = {73 -- 77}, year = {2010}, abstract = {The purpose of the current study was to examine the reproducibility of fascicle length and pennation angle of gastrocnemius medialis while human walking. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of the reproducibility of fascicle length and pennation angle of gastrocnemius medialis in vivo during human gait. Twelve males performed 10 gait trials on a treadmill, in 2 separate days. B-mode ultrasonography, with the ultrasound probe firmly adjusted in the transverse and frontal planes using a special cast, was used to measure the fascicle length and the pennation angle of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM). A Vicon 624 system with three cameras operating at 120 Hz was also used to record the ankle and knee joint angles. The results showed that measurements of fascicle length and pennation angle showed high reproducibility during the gait cycle, both within the same day and between different days. Moreover, the root mean square differences between the repeated waveforms of both variables were very small, compared with their ranges (fascicle length: RMS = ∼3 mm, range: 38-63 mm; pennation angle: RMS = ∼1.5°, range: 22-32°). However, their reproducibility was lower compared to the joint angles. It was found that representative data have to be derived by a wide number of gait trials (fascicle length ∼six trials, pennation angle more than 10 trials), to assure the reliability of the fascicle length and pennation angle in human gait.}, language = {en} } @article{FleischhakerEvers2011, author = {Fleischhaker, Robert and Evers, J{\"o}rg}, title = {A Maxwell-Schr{\"o}dinger solver for quantum optical few-level systems}, series = {Computer Physics Communications}, volume = {182}, journal = {Computer Physics Communications}, number = {3}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0010-4655}, doi = {10.1016/j.cpc.2010.10.018}, pages = {739 -- 747}, year = {2011}, abstract = {The msprop program presented in this work is capable of solving the Maxwell-Schr{\"o}dinger equations for one or several laser fields propagating through a medium of quantum optical few-level systems in one spatial dimension and in time. In particular, it allows to numerically treat systems in which a laser field interacts with the medium with both its electric and magnetic component at the same time. The internal dynamics of the few-level system is modeled by a quantum optical master equation which includes coherent processes due to optical transitions driven by the laser fields as well as incoherent processes due to decay and dephasing. The propagation dynamics of the laser fields is treated in slowly varying envelope approximation resulting in a first order wave equation for each laser field envelope function. The program employs an Adams predictor formula second order in time to integrate the quantum optical master equation and a Lax-Wendroff scheme second order in space and time to evolve the wave equations for the fields. The source function in the Lax-Wendroff scheme is specifically adapted to allow taking into account the simultaneous coupling of a laser field to the polarization and the magnetization of the medium. To reduce execution time, a customized data structure is implemented and explained. In three examples the features of the program are demonstrated and the treatment of a system with a phase-dependent cross coupling of the electric and magnetic field component of a laser field is shown.}, language = {en} } @article{JungMuellerStaat2018, author = {Jung, Alexander and M{\"u}ller, Wolfram and Staat, Manfred}, title = {Wind and fairness in ski jumping: A computer modelling analysis}, series = {Journal of Biomechanics}, journal = {Journal of Biomechanics}, number = {75}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0021-9290}, doi = {10.1016/j.jbiomech.2018.05.001}, pages = {147 -- 153}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Wind is closely associated with the discussion of fairness in ski jumping. To counter-act its influence on the jump length, the International Ski Federation (FIS) has introduced a wind compensation approach. We applied three differently accurate computer models of the flight phase with wind (M1, M2, and M3) to study the jump length effects of various wind scenarios. The previously used model M1 is accurate for wind blowing in direction of the flight path, but inaccuracies are to be expected for wind directions deviating from the tangent to the flight path. M2 considers the change of airflow direction, but it does not consider the associated change in the angle of attack of the skis which additionally modifies drag and lift area time functions. M3 predicts the length effect for all wind directions within the plane of the flight trajectory without any mathematical simplification. Prediction errors of M3 are determined only by the quality of the input data: wind velocity, drag and lift area functions, take-off velocity, and weight. For comparing the three models, drag and lift area functions of an optimized reference jump were used. Results obtained with M2, which is much easier to handle than M3, did not deviate noticeably when compared to predictions of the reference model M3. Therefore, we suggest to use M2 in future applications. A comparison of M2 predictions with the FIS wind compensation system showed substantial discrepancies, for instance: in the first flight phase, tailwind can increase jump length, and headwind can decrease it; this is opposite of what had been anticipated before and is not considered in the current wind compensation system in ski jumping.}, language = {en} } @article{JungStaatMueller2018, author = {Jung, Alexander and Staat, Manfred and M{\"u}ller, Wolfram}, title = {Corrigendum to "Flight style optimization in ski jumping on normal, large, and ski flying hills" [J. Biomech 47 (2014) 716-722]}, series = {Journals of Biomechanics}, journal = {Journals of Biomechanics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0021-9290}, doi = {10.1016/j.jbiomech.2018.02.001}, pages = {313}, year = {2018}, language = {en} } @article{MolinnusHardtKaeveretal.2018, author = {Molinnus, Denise and Hardt, G. and K{\"a}ver, L. and Willenberg, H.S. and Kr{\"o}ger, J.-C. and Poghossian, Arshak and Keusgen, Michael and Sch{\"o}ning, Michael Josef}, title = {Chip-based biosensor for the detection of low adrenaline concentrations to support adrenal venous sampling}, series = {Sensor and Actuators B: Chemical}, volume = {272}, journal = {Sensor and Actuators B: Chemical}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0925-4005}, doi = {10.1016/j.snb.2018.05.136}, pages = {21 -- 27}, year = {2018}, abstract = {A chip-based amperometric biosensor referring on using the bioelectrocatalytical amplification principle for the detection of low adrenaline concentrations is presented. The adrenaline biosensor has been prepared by modification of a platinum thin-film electrode with an enzyme membrane containing the pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent glucose dehydrogenase and glutaraldehyde. Measuring conditions such as temperature, pH value, and glucose concentration have been optimized to achieve a high sensitivity and a low detection limit of about 1 nM adrenaline measured in phosphate buffer at neutral pH value. The response of the biosensor to different catecholamines has also been proven. Long-term stability of the adrenaline biosensor has been studied over 10 days. In addition, the biosensor has been successfully applied for adrenaline detection in human blood plasma for future biomedical applications. Furthermore, preliminary experiments have been carried to detect the adrenaline-concentration difference measured in peripheral blood and adrenal venous blood, representing the adrenal vein sampling procedure of a physician.}, language = {en} } @article{AboulnagaZouSelmeretal.2018, author = {Aboulnaga, E. A. and Zou, H. and Selmer, Thorsten and Xian, M.}, title = {Development of a plasmid-based, tunable, tolC-derived expression system for application in Cupriavidus necator H16}, series = {Journal of Biotechnology}, volume = {274}, journal = {Journal of Biotechnology}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0168-1656}, doi = {10.1016/j.jbiotec.2018.03.007}, pages = {15 -- 27}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Cupriavidus necator H16 gains increasing attention in microbial research and biotechnological application due to its diverse metabolic features. Here we present a tightly controlled gene expression system for C. necator including the pBBR1-vector that contains hybrid promoters originating from C. necator native tolC-promoter in combination with a synthetic tetO-operator. The expression of the reporter gene from these plasmids relies on the addition of the exogenous inducer doxycycline (dc). The novel expression system offers a combination of advantageous features as; (i) high and dose-dependent recombinant protein production, (ii) tight control with a high dynamic range (On/Off ratio), which makes it applicable for harmful pathways or for toxic protein production, (iii) comparable cheap inducer (doxycycline, dc), (iv) effective at low inducer concentration, that makes it useful for large scale application, (v) rapid, diffusion controlled induction, and (vi) the inducer does not interfere within the cell metabolism. As applications of the expression system in C. necator H16, the growth ability on glycerol was enhanced by constitutively expressing the E. coli glpk gene-encoding for glycerol kinase. Likewise, we used the system to overcome the expression toxicity of mevalonate pathway in C. necator H16. With this system, the mevalonate-genes were successfully introduced in the host and the recombinant strains could produce about 200 mg/l mevalonate.}, language = {en} } @article{ZhangValeroBungetal.2018, author = {Zhang, G. and Valero, Daniel and Bung, Daniel Bernhard and Chanson, H.}, title = {On the estimation of free-surface turbulence using ultrasonic sensors}, series = {Flow Measurement and Instrumentation}, volume = {60}, journal = {Flow Measurement and Instrumentation}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0955-5986}, doi = {10.1016/j.flowmeasinst.2018.02.009}, pages = {171 -- 184}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Accurate determination of free-surface dynamics has attracted much research attention during the past decade and has important applications in many environmental and water related areas. In this study, the free-surface dynamics in several turbulent flows commonly found in nature were investigated using a synchronised setup consisting of an ultrasonic sensor and a high-speed video camera. Basic sensor capabilities were examined in dry conditions to allow for a better characterisation of the present sensor model. The ultrasonic sensor was found to adequately reproduce free-surface dynamics up to the second order, especially in two-dimensional scenarios with the most energetic modes in the low frequency range. The sensor frequency response was satisfactory in the sub-20 Hz band, and its signal quality may be further improved by low-pass filtering prior to digitisation. The application of the USS to characterise entrapped air in high-velocity flows is also discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{DruckenmuellerGuentherElbers2018, author = {Druckenm{\"u}ller, Katharina and G{\"u}nther, Klaus and Elbers, Gereon}, title = {Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as a tool to monitor exhaust air from poultry operations}, series = {Science of the Total Environment}, volume = {630}, journal = {Science of the Total Environment}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0048-9697}, doi = {10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.072}, pages = {536 -- 543}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Intensive poultry operation systems emit a considerable volume of inorganic and organic matter in the surrounding environment. Monitoring cleaning properties of exhaust air cleaning systems and to detect small but significant changes in emission characteristics during a fattening cycle is important for both emission and fattening process control. In the present study, we evaluated the potential of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) combined with chemometric techniques as a monitoring tool of exhaust air from poultry operation systems. To generate a high-quality data set for evaluation, the exhaust air of two poultry houses was sampled by applying state-of-the-art filter sampling protocols. The two stables were identical except for one crucial difference, the presence or absence of an exhaust air cleaning system. In total, twenty-one exhaust air samples were collected at the two sites to monitor spectral differences caused by the cleaning device, and to follow changes in exhaust air characteristics during a fattening period. The total dust load was analyzed by gravimetric determination and included as a response variable in multivariate data analysis. The filter samples were directly measured with NIR spectroscopy. Principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and factor analysis (FA) were effective in classifying the NIR exhaust air spectra according to fattening day and origin. The results indicate that the dust load and the composition of exhaust air (inorganic or organic matter) substantially influence the NIR spectral patterns. In conclusion, NIR spectroscopy as a tool is a promising and very rapid way to detect differences between exhaust air samples based on still not clearly defined circumstances triggered during a fattening period and the availability of an exhaust air cleaning system.}, language = {en} } @article{MolinnusMuschallikGonzalezetal.2018, author = {Molinnus, Denise and Muschallik, Lukas and Gonzalez, Laura Osorio and Bongaerts, Johannes and Wagner, Torsten and Selmer, Thorsten and Siegert, Petra and Keusgen, Michael and Sch{\"o}ning, Michael Josef}, title = {Development and characterization of a field-effect biosensor for the detection of acetoin}, series = {Biosensors and Bioelectronics}, volume = {115}, journal = {Biosensors and Bioelectronics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, doi = {10.1016/j.bios.2018.05.023}, pages = {1 -- 6}, year = {2018}, abstract = {A capacitive electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor (EIS) field-effect biosensor for acetoin detection has been presented for the first time. The EIS sensor consists of a layer structure of Al/p-Si/SiO₂/Ta₂O₅/enzyme acetoin reductase. The enzyme, also referred to as butane-2,3-diol dehydrogenase from B. clausii DSM 8716T, has been recently characterized. The enzyme catalyzes the (R)-specific reduction of racemic acetoin to (R,R)- and meso-butane-2,3-diol, respectively. Two different enzyme immobilization strategies (cross-linking by using glutaraldehyde and adsorption) have been studied. Typical biosensor parameters such as optimal pH working range, sensitivity, hysteresis, linear concentration range and long-term stability have been examined by means of constant-capacitance (ConCap) mode measurements. Furthermore, preliminary experiments have been successfully carried out for the detection of acetoin in diluted white wine samples.}, language = {en} }