TY - THES A1 - Eberhardt, Dag Norman T1 - "I Was Here!" N2 - Die Menschheit erlebt aktuell Zeiten drastischen Wandels. Deswegen könnte es wohltun, einen Blick in die Vergangenheit zu werfen und sich darauf zu besinnen, wo die Menschen herkommen, wer sie waren und was seitdem bereits erreicht wurde. In dieser Grafiknovelle wird ein kleiner Steinzeitjunge namens Muami begleitet, der vor 35.000 Jahren die Vergänglichkeit des Lebens kennenlernt. Im Verlauf des folgenden Jahres erfindet er die Selbstverewigung in der Höhlenmalerei. Mit seiner Figur soll aufgezeigt werden, dass die frühen Europäer eben keine primitiven Halbaffen, sondern intelligente und außerdem zutiefst kreative Menschen waren. Trotz ihrer rauen Umwelt waren ihre Sorgen und Freuden den unseren gar nicht so unähnlich. „I Was Here!“ ist ein Versuch, ein authentisches Porträt jener Menschen zu schaffen und dabei ihrer Welt, ihrem Leben und ihrer Kunst gerecht zu werden. KW - Grafiknovelle KW - Comic KW - Steinzeit KW - Jungpaläolithikum KW - Höhlenmalerei Y1 - 2022 N1 - Für diese Arbeit steht kein Volltext zur Verfügung. PB - FH Aachen CY - Aachen ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Chavez Bermudez, Victor Francisco A1 - Wollert, Jörg T1 - 10BASE-T1L industry 4.0 smart switch for field devices based on IO-Link T2 - 2022 IEEE 18th International Conference on Factory Communication Systems (WFCS) N2 - The recent amendment to the Ethernet physical layer known as the IEEE 802.3cg specification, allows to connect devices up to a distance of one kilometer and delivers a maximum of 60 watts of power over a twisted pair of wires. This new standard, also known as 10BASE-TIL, promises to overcome the limits of current physical layers used for field devices and bring them a step closer to Ethernet-based applications. The main advantage of 10BASE- TIL is that it can deliver power and data over the same line over a long distance, where traditional solutions (e.g., CAN, IO-Link, HART) fall short and cannot match its 10 Mbps bandwidth. Due to its recentness, IOBASE- TIL is still not integrated into field devices and it has been less than two years since silicon manufacturers released the first Ethernet-PHY chips. In this paper, we present a design proposal on how field devices could be integrated into a IOBASE-TIL smart switch that allows plug-and-play connectivity for sensors and actuators and is compliant with the Industry 4.0 vision. Instead of presenting a new field-level protocol for this work, we have decided to adopt the IO-Link specification which already includes a plug-and-play approach with features such as diagnosis and device configuration. The main objective of this work is to explore how field devices could be integrated into 10BASE-TIL Ethernet, its adaption with a well-known protocol, and its integration with Industry 4.0 technologies. KW - 10BASE-T1L KW - Ethernet KW - Field device KW - Sensors KW - IO-Link Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-1-6654-1086-1 SN - 978-1-6654-1087-8 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/WFCS53837.2022.9779176 N1 - 2022 IEEE 18th International Conference on Factory Communication Systems (WFCS), 27-29 April 2022, Pavia, Italy- PB - IEEE ER - TY - THES A1 - Dereli, Aziz T1 - [NON]HUMAN N2 - "[NON]HUMAN“ ist ein 3D-animierter Kurzfilm, der in einer Zombieapokalypse spielt und sich mit dem Thema der Menschlichkeit befasst. Welche Taten können gerechtfertigt werden und welche nicht? Die Handlungsmöglichkeiten der Menschen im Zuge des Ausbruchs eines neuen Virus werfen viele moralische Fragen auf, mit denen zwischen den Zeilen gerungen wird. Denn in diesem Film bestimmen sie Leben und Tod. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, eine simple Geschichte spannend zu erzählen, indem das Publikum durch eindrucksstarke Bilder gefesselt wird. Dabei eröffnen 3D-Animationen neue Möglichkeiten, die insbesondere in den Aufnahmen der zerstörten Stadt zur Geltung kommen. Diese Arbeit zeigt spielerisch, wie sich mit etwas technischem Know-How auch ohne großem Budget hochwertige Filme drehen lässt, indem man das Potential smart ausschöpft. KW - Kurzfilm KW - Animation KW - 3D KW - Modellieren KW - Blender Y1 - 2022 N1 - Für diese Arbeit steht kein Volltext zur Verfügung. PB - FH Aachen CY - Aachen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Haeger, Gerrit A1 - Bongaerts, Johannes A1 - Siegert, Petra T1 - A convenient ninhydrin assay in 96-well format for amino acid-releasing enzymes using an air-stable reagent JF - Analytical Biochemistry N2 - An improved and convenient ninhydrin assay for aminoacylase activity measurements was developed using the commercial EZ Nin™ reagent. Alternative reagents from literature were also evaluated and compared. The addition of DMSO to the reagent enhanced the solubility of Ruhemann's purple (RP). Furthermore, we found that the use of a basic, aqueous buffer enhances stability of RP. An acidic protocol for the quantification of lysine was developed by addition of glacial acetic acid. The assay allows for parallel processing in a 96-well format with measurements microtiter plates. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ab.2022.114819 SN - 1096-0309 IS - 624 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Topçu, Murat A1 - Madabhushi, Gopal S.P. A1 - Staat, Manfred T1 - A generalized shear-lag theory for elastic stress transfer between matrix and fibres having a variable radius JF - International Journal of Solids and Structures N2 - A generalized shear-lag theory for fibres with variable radius is developed to analyse elastic fibre/matrix stress transfer. The theory accounts for the reinforcement of biological composites, such as soft tissue and bone tissue, as well as for the reinforcement of technical composite materials, such as fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP). The original shear-lag theory proposed by Cox in 1952 is generalized for fibres with variable radius and with symmetric and asymmetric ends. Analytical solutions are derived for the distribution of axial and interfacial shear stress in cylindrical and elliptical fibres, as well as conical and paraboloidal fibres with asymmetric ends. Additionally, the distribution of axial and interfacial shear stress for conical and paraboloidal fibres with symmetric ends are numerically predicted. The results are compared with solutions from axisymmetric finite element models. A parameter study is performed, to investigate the suitability of alternative fibre geometries for use in FRP. KW - Natural fibres KW - Polymer-matrix composites KW - Biocomposites KW - Stress concentrations KW - Finite element analysis Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2022.111464 SN - 0020-7683 VL - 239–240 IS - Art. No. 111464 PB - Elsevier CY - New York, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Baringhaus, Ludwig A1 - Gaigall, Daniel T1 - A goodness-of-fit test for the compound Poisson exponential model JF - Journal of Multivariate Analysis N2 - On the basis of bivariate data, assumed to be observations of independent copies of a random vector (S,N), we consider testing the hypothesis that the distribution of (S,N) belongs to the parametric class of distributions that arise with the compound Poisson exponential model. Typically, this model is used in stochastic hydrology, with N as the number of raindays, and S as total rainfall amount during a certain time period, or in actuarial science, with N as the number of losses, and S as total loss expenditure during a certain time period. The compound Poisson exponential model is characterized in the way that a specific transform associated with the distribution of (S,N) satisfies a certain differential equation. Mimicking the function part of this equation by substituting the empirical counterparts of the transform we obtain an expression the weighted integral of the square of which is used as test statistic. We deal with two variants of the latter, one of which being invariant under scale transformations of the S-part by fixed positive constants. Critical values are obtained by using a parametric bootstrap procedure. The asymptotic behavior of the tests is discussed. A simulation study demonstrates the performance of the tests in the finite sample case. The procedure is applied to rainfall data and to an actuarial dataset. A multivariate extension is also discussed. KW - Bootstrapping KW - Collective risk model Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmva.2022.105154 SN - 0047-259X SN - 1095-7243 VL - 195 IS - Article 105154 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Uysal, Karya A1 - Firat, Ipek Serat A1 - Creutz, Till A1 - Aydin, Inci Cansu A1 - Artmann, Gerhard A1 - Teusch, Nicole A1 - Temiz Artmann, Aysegül T1 - A novel in vitro wound healing assay using free-standing, ultra-thin PDMS membranes JF - membranes N2 - Advances in polymer science have significantly increased polymer applications in life sciences. We report the use of free-standing, ultra-thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes, called CellDrum, as cell culture substrates for an in vitro wound model. Dermal fibroblast monolayers from 28- and 88-year-old donors were cultured on CellDrums. By using stainless steel balls, circular cell-free areas were created in the cell layer (wounding). Sinusoidal strain of 1 Hz, 5% strain, was applied to membranes for 30 min in 4 sessions. The gap circumference and closure rate of un-stretched samples (controls) and stretched samples were monitored over 4 days to investigate the effects of donor age and mechanical strain on wound closure. A significant decrease in gap circumference and an increase in gap closure rate were observed in trained samples from younger donors and control samples from older donors. In contrast, a significant decrease in gap closure rate and an increase in wound circumference were observed in the trained samples from older donors. Through these results, we propose the model of a cell monolayer on stretchable CellDrums as a practical tool for wound healing research. The combination of biomechanical cell loading in conjunction with analyses such as gene/protein expression seems promising beyond the scope published here. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/membranes13010022 N1 - This article belongs to the Special Issue "Latest Scientific Discoveries in Polymer Membranes" VL - 2023 IS - 13(1) PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pfaff, Raphael A1 - Enning, Manfred A1 - Sutter, Stefan T1 - A risk‑based approach to automatic brake tests for rail freight service: incident analysis and realisation concept JF - SN Applied Sciences N2 - This study reviews the practice of brake tests in freight railways, which is time consuming and not suitable to detect certain failure types. Public incident reports are analysed to derive a reasonable brake test hardware and communication architecture, which aims to provide automatic brake tests at lower cost than current solutions. The proposed solutions relies exclusively on brake pipe and brake cylinder pressure sensors, a brake release position switch as well as radio communication via standard protocols. The approach is embedded in the Wagon 4.0 concept, which is a holistic approach to a smart freight wagon. The reduction of manual processes yields a strong incentive due to high savings in manual labour and increased productivity. KW - Freight rail KW - Brake test KW - Incident analysis KW - Train composition KW - Brake set-up Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s42452-022-05007-x SN - 2523-3971 N1 - Corresponding author: Raphael Pfaff VL - 4 IS - 4 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Blöcker, Lene Christin A1 - Esser, Julia A1 - Hengstebeck, Pauline A1 - Venrath, Carolin A1 - Scholtes, Eva ED - Kroll-Ludwigs, Kathrin ED - Bernecker, Andreas ED - Bassen-Metz, Yasmine ED - Eggert, Mathias ED - Fritz, Thomas ED - Golland, Alexander ED - Höhne, Tim ED - Tran, Duc Hung ED - Vogt, Jürgen T1 - Aachener Online-Schriften Wirtschaft und Recht. Band 4. 01/2022 N2 - Inhaltsverzeichnis - Bachelorarbeiten 1. The impact of the EU non-financial reporting directive on sustainability reporting practices of DAX 30 companies - Lene Christin Blöcker 4 - 29 2. Kurzarbeit als Krisenbewältigungsinstrument – Die arbeitsrechtlichen Voraussetzungen für die wirksame Einführung von Kurzarbeit - Julia Esser 30 - 87 3. Die virtuelle Hauptversammlung der Aktiengesellschaft – Notlösung während der Corona-Pandemie oder dauerhafte Alternative? - Pauline Hengstebeck 88 - 152 4. Die psychische Gesundheit am Arbeitsplatz – Aktuelle Problematik, Ursachenforschung, Folgen, rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen und geeignete Präventionsmaßnahmen aus Arbeitgebersicht - Carolin Venrath 153 - 224 Inhaltsverzeichnis – Masterarbeiten The influence of religion on the representation of women in politics - Eva Scholtes 225 - 345 T3 - Aachener Online-Schriften Wirtschaft und Recht - 4 Y1 - 2022 PB - FH Aachen / Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften CY - Aachen ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Bundrock, Ronja A1 - Kremers, Nico A1 - Pankok, Lennard A1 - Weisheit, Theresa Maria A1 - Spoede, Jasper ED - Kroll-Ludwigs, Kathrin ED - Bernecker, Andreas ED - Bassen-Metz, Yasmine ED - Eggert, Mathias ED - Fritz, Thomas ED - Golland, Alexander ED - Höhne, Tim ED - Tran, Duc Hung ED - Vogt, Jürgen T1 - Aachener Online-Schriften Wirtschaft und Recht. Band 5. 02/2022 N2 - Inhaltsverzeichnis - Bachelorarbeiten 1. Testamentsgestaltung bei Patchworkfamilien – Lösungsansätze für typische Praxisprobleme unter Berücksichtigung der Interessenlagen der Parteien - Ronja Bundrock 4 - 58 2. Die Haftung des AG-Vorstands gegenüber der Gesellschaft in unterneh- mensinternen und -externen Krisen - Nico Kremers 59 - 122 3. The Relationship of the Ex-Ante Uncertainty about the Value of a Stock and its IPO Underpricing – An Analysis of the German Market - Lennard Pankok 123 - 179 4. Attractiveness Bias in Venture Capital – An Analysis of Investor Decision Making in “Die Höhle der Löwen” - Theresa Maria Weisheit 180 - 242 Inhaltsverzeichnis – Masterarbeiten Erhöhung der Energieautarkie in der Backbranche – Anwendung von bidi- rektionalem Laden und dessen Auswirkungen auf die Geschäftsprozesse und Informationssysteme - Jasper Spoede 243 - 355 T3 - Aachener Online-Schriften Wirtschaft und Recht - 5 Y1 - 2022 PB - FH Aachen / Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften CY - Aachen ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Evans, Benjamin A1 - Braun, Sebastian A1 - Ulmer, Jessica A1 - Wollert, Jörg T1 - AAS implementations - current problems and solutions T2 - 20th International Conference on Mechatronics - Mechatronika (ME) N2 - The fourth industrial revolution presents a multitude of challenges for industries, one of which being the increased flexibility required of manufacturing lines as a result of increased consumer demand for individualised products. One solution to tackle this challenge is the digital twin, more specifically the standardised model of a digital twin also known as the asset administration shell. The standardisation of an industry wide communications tool is a critical step in enabling inter-company operations. This paper discusses the current state of asset administration shells, the frameworks used to host them and their problems that need to be addressed. To tackle these issues, we propose an event-based server capable of drastically reducing response times between assets and asset administration shells and a multi-agent system used for the orchestration and deployment of the shells in the field. KW - Industry 4.0 KW - Multi-agent Systems KW - Digital Twin KW - Asset Administration Shell Y1 - 2022 SN - 978-1-6654-1040-3 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ME54704.2022.9982933 PB - IEEE ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Siegert, Petra A1 - Bongaerts, Johannes A1 - Wagner, Torsten A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef A1 - Selmer, Thorsten T1 - Abschlussbericht zum Projekt zur Überwachung biotechnologischer Prozesse mittels Diacetyl-/Acetoin-Biosensor und Evaluierung von Acetoin-Reduktasen zur Verwendung in Biotransformationen Y1 - 2022 N1 - Laufzeit: 01.01.2016 – 31.12.2019 (verlängert bis 31.12.2020) Förderkennzeichen: 322-8.03.04.02-FH-Struktur 2016/02 Gefördert durch: Ministerium für Innovation, Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen CY - Aachen ER - TY - THES A1 - Guth, Katharina T1 - aco : eine digitale Anwendung zur Verbesserung der Lebensqualität von Neurodermitis-Patient:innen N2 - Neurodermitis hat in den letzten Jahrzehnten deutlich zugenommen. Etwa 10 bis 15 Prozent der Kinder und 2,5 bis 3,5 Prozent der Erwachsenen sind davon betroffen. Für sie stellen Auswirkungen der Hautkrankheit auf Körper und Psyche eine enorme Einschränkung der Lebensqualität dar. Die App „aco“ möchte Neurodermitis-Patient:Innen dabei unterstützen, ihre Behandlung selbst in die Hand zu nehmen. Eine ganzheitliche Therapie umfasst eben nicht nur Fachpersonen, sondern auch Patient:Innen selbst. Durch eine regelmäßige Dokumentation ermöglicht die Anwendung eine aktive Auseinandersetzung mit der Krankheit. Triggerfaktoren werden ausgewertet und es wird Wissen über Behandlungsmöglichkeiten vermittelt. Zudem wird ein Austausch ermöglicht, der emotionale und praktische Unterstützung bieten soll. Damit möchte „aco“ Betroffenen eine Möglichkeit geben, das Ruder selbst in die Hand zu nehmen und leistet damit einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Therapie von Neurodermitis. KW - App KW - Gesundheit KW - Neurodermitis KW - Dokumentation KW - Behandlungsplan Y1 - 2022 PB - FH Aachen CY - Aachen ER - TY - THES A1 - Sehl, Kristina T1 - Adapt or die : Heimische Wälder im Wandel durch Mensch und Zeit N2 - Wo einst fast lückenlos Laubwälder wuchsen, steht heute nur noch ein Drittel der ursprünglichen Waldfläche. Echte Urwälder gibt es hier schon lange nicht mehr: Die Rede ist vom deutschen Wald. Unsere Welt ist im Wandel. Auch in unseren heimischen Wäldern lassen sich die Einflüsse von Mensch und Klimawandel auf die Biodiversität beobachten. Die illustrierte Publikation „Adapt or die“ lädt mit mehr als 80 großformatigen Artenportraits, Habitat-Kartierungen und gestalteten Themenklappenseiten zur Auseinandersetzung mit dem Wandel unserer heimischen Wälder ein. Dabei sensibilisiert sie für einen bewussteren Umgang mit Umwelt und Natur. Erweiterungen durch Augmented Reality bieten vereinzelt neben dem Printprodukt aktualisierbare Prognosen, digital und ressourcenschonend. Das komplexe Ökosystem des Waldes reagiert empfindlich auf Veränderungen: Wer sich nicht anpassen kann, wird verschwinden. KW - Wald KW - Lebensraum KW - Wandel KW - Artenvielfalt KW - Biodiversität Y1 - 2022 PB - FH Aachen CY - Aachen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kaulen, Lars A1 - Schwabedal, Justus T. C. A1 - Schneider, Jules A1 - Ritter, Philipp A1 - Bialonski, Stephan T1 - Advanced sleep spindle identification with neural networks JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Sleep spindles are neurophysiological phenomena that appear to be linked to memory formation and other functions of the central nervous system, and that can be observed in electroencephalographic recordings (EEG) during sleep. Manually identified spindle annotations in EEG recordings suffer from substantial intra- and inter-rater variability, even if raters have been highly trained, which reduces the reliability of spindle measures as a research and diagnostic tool. The Massive Online Data Annotation (MODA) project has recently addressed this problem by forming a consensus from multiple such rating experts, thus providing a corpus of spindle annotations of enhanced quality. Based on this dataset, we present a U-Net-type deep neural network model to automatically detect sleep spindles. Our model’s performance exceeds that of the state-of-the-art detector and of most experts in the MODA dataset. We observed improved detection accuracy in subjects of all ages, including older individuals whose spindles are particularly challenging to detect reliably. Our results underline the potential of automated methods to do repetitive cumbersome tasks with super-human performance. Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11210-y SN - 2045-2322 N1 - Corresponding author: Stephan Bialonski VL - 12 IS - Article number: 7686 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schwager, Christian A1 - Flesch, Robert A1 - Schwarzbözl, Peter A1 - Herrmann, Ulf A1 - Teixeira Boura, Cristiano José T1 - Advanced two phase flow model for transient molten salt receiver system simulation JF - Solar Energy N2 - In order to realistically predict and optimize the actual performance of a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant sophisticated simulation models and methods are required. This paper presents a detailed dynamic simulation model for a Molten Salt Solar Tower (MST) system, which is capable of simulating transient operation including detailed startup and shutdown procedures including drainage and refill. For appropriate representation of the transient behavior of the receiver as well as replication of local bulk and surface temperatures a discretized receiver model based on a novel homogeneous two-phase (2P) flow modelling approach is implemented in Modelica Dymola®. This allows for reasonable representation of the very different hydraulic and thermal properties of molten salt versus air as well as the transition between both. This dynamic 2P receiver model is embedded in a comprehensive one-dimensional model of a commercial scale MST system and coupled with a transient receiver flux density distribution from raytracing based heliostat field simulation. This enables for detailed process prediction with reasonable computational effort, while providing data such as local salt film and wall temperatures, realistic control behavior as well as net performance of the overall system. Besides a model description, this paper presents some results of a validation as well as the simulation of a complete startup procedure. Finally, a study on numerical simulation performance and grid dependencies is presented and discussed. KW - Molten salt solar tower KW - Molten salt receiver system KW - Dynamic simulation KW - Two-phase modelling KW - Transient flux distribution Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2021.12.065 SN - 0038-092X (print) SN - 1471-1257 (online) VL - 232 SP - 362 EP - 375 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhantlessova, Sirina A1 - Savitskaya, Irina A1 - Kistaubayeva, Aida A1 - Ignatova, Ludmila A1 - Talipova, Aizhan A1 - Pogrebnjak, Alexander A1 - Digel, Ilya T1 - Advanced “Green” prebiotic composite of bacterial cellulose/pullulan based on synthetic biology-powered microbial coculture strategy JF - Polymers N2 - Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a biopolymer produced by different microorganisms, but in biotechnological practice, Komagataeibacter xylinus is used. The micro- and nanofibrillar structure of BC, which forms many different-sized pores, creates prerequisites for the introduction of other polymers into it, including those synthesized by other microorganisms. The study aims to develop a cocultivation system of BC and prebiotic producers to obtain BC-based composite material with prebiotic activity. In this study, pullulan (PUL) was found to stimulate the growth of the probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG better than the other microbial polysaccharides gellan and xanthan. BC/PUL biocomposite with prebiotic properties was obtained by cocultivation of Komagataeibacter xylinus and Aureobasidium pullulans, BC and PUL producers respectively, on molasses medium. The inclusion of PUL in BC is proved gravimetrically by scanning electron microscopy and by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. Cocultivation demonstrated a composite effect on the aggregation and binding of BC fibers, which led to a significant improvement in mechanical properties. The developed approach for “grafting” of prebiotic activity on BC allows preparation of environmentally friendly composites of better quality. KW - coculture KW - pullulan KW - exopolysaccharides KW - prebiotic KW - bacterial cellulose Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14153224 SN - 2073-4360 N1 - This article belongs to the Special Issue "Cellulose Based Composites" VL - 14 IS - 15 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mandekar, Swati A1 - Holland, Abigail A1 - Thielen, Moritz A1 - Behbahani, Mehdi A1 - Melnykowycz, Mark T1 - Advancing towards Ubiquitous EEG, Correlation of In-Ear EEG with Forehead EEG JF - Sensors N2 - Wearable EEG has gained popularity in recent years driven by promising uses outside of clinics and research. The ubiquitous application of continuous EEG requires unobtrusive form-factors that are easily acceptable by the end-users. In this progression, wearable EEG systems have been moving from full scalp to forehead and recently to the ear. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that emerging ear-EEG provides similar impedance and signal properties as established forehead EEG. EEG data using eyes-open and closed alpha paradigm were acquired from ten healthy subjects using generic earpieces fitted with three custom-made electrodes and a forehead electrode (at Fpx) after impedance analysis. Inter-subject variability in in-ear electrode impedance ranged from 20 kΩ to 25 kΩ at 10 Hz. Signal quality was comparable with an SNR of 6 for in-ear and 8 for forehead electrodes. Alpha attenuation was significant during the eyes-open condition in all in-ear electrodes, and it followed the structure of power spectral density plots of forehead electrodes, with the Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.92 between in-ear locations ELE (Left Ear Superior) and ERE (Right Ear Superior) and forehead locations, Fp1 and Fp2, respectively. The results indicate that in-ear EEG is an unobtrusive alternative in terms of impedance, signal properties and information content to established forehead EEG. KW - in-ear EEG KW - correlation KW - forehead EEG KW - impedance spectroscopy KW - biopotential electrodes Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22041568 SN - 1424-8220 VL - 22 IS - 4 SP - 1 EP - 19 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maurischat, Andreas T1 - Algebraic independence of the Carlitz period and its hyperderivatives JF - Journal of Number Theory KW - Drinfeld modules KW - Periods KW - t-modules KW - Transcendence KW - Higher derivations Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jnt.2022.01.006 SN - 0022-314X VL - 240 SP - 145 EP - 162 PB - Elsevier CY - Orlando, Fla. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stäudle, Benjamin A1 - Seynnes, Olivier A1 - Laps, Guido A1 - Brüggemann, Gert-Peter A1 - Albracht, Kirsten T1 - Altered gastrocnemius contractile behavior in former achilles tendon rupture patients during walking JF - Frontiers in Physiology N2 - Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) remains associated with functional limitations years after injury. Architectural remodeling of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle is typically observed in the affected leg and may compensate force deficits caused by a longer tendon. Yet patients seem to retain functional limitations during—low-force—walking gait. To explore the potential limits imposed by the remodeled GM muscle-tendon unit (MTU) on walking gait, we examined the contractile behavior of muscle fascicles during the stance phase. In a cross-sectional design, we studied nine former patients (males; age: 45 ± 9 years; height: 180 ± 7 cm; weight: 83 ± 6 kg) with a history of complete unilateral ATR, approximately 4 years post-surgery. Using ultrasonography, GM tendon morphology, muscle architecture at rest, and fascicular behavior were assessed during walking at 1.5 m⋅s–1 on a treadmill. Walking patterns were recorded with a motion capture system. The unaffected leg served as control. Lower limbs kinematics were largely similar between legs during walking. Typical features of ATR-related MTU remodeling were observed during the stance sub-phases corresponding to series elastic element (SEE) lengthening (energy storage) and SEE shortening (energy release), with shorter GM fascicles (36 and 36%, respectively) and greater pennation angles (8° and 12°, respectively). However, relative to the optimal fascicle length for force production, fascicles operated at comparable length in both legs. Similarly, when expressed relative to optimal fascicle length, fascicle contraction velocity was not different between sides, except at the time-point of peak series elastic element (SEE) length, where it was 39 ± 49% lower in the affected leg. Concomitantly, fascicles rotation during contraction was greater in the affected leg during the whole stance-phase, and architectural gear ratios (AGR) was larger during SEE lengthening. Under the present testing conditions, former ATR patients had recovered a relatively symmetrical walking gait pattern. Differences in seen AGR seem to accommodate the profound changes in MTU architecture, limiting the required fascicle shortening velocity. Overall, the contractile behavior of the GM fascicles does not restrict length- or velocity-dependent force potentials during this locomotor task. KW - tendon rupture KW - muscle fascicle behavior KW - walking gait KW - force generation KW - ultrasound imaging Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.792576 SN - 1664-042X VL - 13 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER -