TY - JOUR A1 - Schoenrock, Britt A1 - Muckelt, Paul E. A1 - Hastermann, Maria A1 - Albracht, Kirsten A1 - MacGregor, Robert A1 - Martin, David A1 - Gunga, Hans-Christian A1 - Salanova, Michele A1 - Stokes, Maria J. A1 - Warner, Martin B. A1 - Blottner, Dieter T1 - Muscle stiffness indicating mission crew health in space JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Muscle function is compromised by gravitational unloading in space affecting overall musculoskeletal health. Astronauts perform daily exercise programmes to mitigate these effects but knowing which muscles to target would optimise effectiveness. Accurate inflight assessment to inform exercise programmes is critical due to lack of technologies suitable for spaceflight. Changes in mechanical properties indicate muscle health status and can be measured rapidly and non-invasively using novel technology. A hand-held MyotonPRO device enabled monitoring of muscle health for the first time in spaceflight (> 180 days). Greater/maintained stiffness indicated countermeasures were effective. Tissue stiffness was preserved in the majority of muscles (neck, shoulder, back, thigh) but Tibialis Anterior (foot lever muscle) stiffness decreased inflight vs. preflight (p < 0.0001; mean difference 149 N/m) in all 12 crewmembers. The calf muscles showed opposing effects, Gastrocnemius increasing in stiffness Soleus decreasing. Selective stiffness decrements indicate lack of preservation despite daily inflight countermeasures. This calls for more targeted exercises for lower leg muscles with vital roles as ankle joint stabilizers and in gait. Muscle stiffness is a digital biomarker for risk monitoring during future planetary explorations (Moon, Mars), for healthcare management in challenging environments or clinical disorders in people on Earth, to enable effective tailored exercise programmes. KW - Ageing KW - Anatomy KW - Muscle KW - Musculoskeletal system KW - Physiology Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54759-6 SN - 2045-2322 N1 - Corresponding author: Dieter Blottner VL - 14 IS - Article number: 4196 PB - Springer Nature CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Engelmann, Ulrich M. A1 - Simsek, Beril A1 - Shalaby, Ahmed A1 - Krause, Hans-Joachim T1 - Key contributors to signal generation in frequency mixing magnetic detection (FMMD): an in silico study JF - Sensors N2 - Frequency mixing magnetic detection (FMMD) is a sensitive and selective technique to detect magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) serving as probes for binding biological targets. Its principle relies on the nonlinear magnetic relaxation dynamics of a particle ensemble interacting with a dual frequency external magnetic field. In order to increase its sensitivity, lower its limit of detection and overall improve its applicability in biosensing, matching combinations of external field parameters and internal particle properties are being sought to advance FMMD. In this study, we systematically probe the aforementioned interaction with coupled Néel–Brownian dynamic relaxation simulations to examine how key MNP properties as well as applied field parameters affect the frequency mixing signal generation. It is found that the core size of MNPs dominates their nonlinear magnetic response, with the strongest contributions from the largest particles. The drive field amplitude dominates the shape of the field-dependent response, whereas effective anisotropy and hydrodynamic size of the particles only weakly influence the signal generation in FMMD. For tailoring the MNP properties and parameters of the setup towards optimal FMMD signal generation, our findings suggest choosing large particles of core sizes dc > 25 nm nm with narrow size distributions (σ < 0.1) to minimize the required drive field amplitude. This allows potential improvements of FMMD as a stand-alone application, as well as advances in magnetic particle imaging, hyperthermia and magnetic immunoassays. KW - key performance indicators KW - magnetic biosensing KW - coupled Néel–Brownian relaxation dynamics KW - frequency mixing magnetic detection KW - magnetic relaxation KW - micromagnetic simulation KW - magnetic nanoparticles Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/s24061945 SN - 1424-8220 N1 - This article belongs to the Special Issue "Advances in Magnetic Sensors and Their Applications" VL - 24 IS - 6 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhen, Manghao A1 - Liang, Yunpei A1 - Staat, Manfred A1 - Li, Quanqui A1 - Li, Jianbo T1 - Discontinuous fracture behaviors and constitutive model of sandstone specimens containing non-parallel prefabricated fissures under uniaxial compression JF - Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics N2 - The deformation and damage laws of non-homogeneous irregular structural planes in rocks are the basis for studying the stability of rock engineering. To investigate the damage characteristics of rock containing non-parallel fissures, uniaxial compression tests and numerical simulations were conducted on sandstone specimens containing three non-parallel fissures inclined at 0°, 45° and 90° in this study. The characteristics of crack initiation and crack evolution of fissures with different inclinations were analyzed. A constitutive model for the discontinuous fractures of fissured sandstone was proposed. The results show that the fracture behaviors of fissured sandstone specimens are discontinuous. The stress–strain curves are non-smooth and can be divided into nonlinear crack closure stage, linear elastic stage, plastic stage and brittle failure stage, of which the plastic stage contains discontinuous stress drops. During the uniaxial compression test, the middle or ends of 0° fissures were the first to crack compared to 45° and 90° fissures. The end with small distance between 0° and 45° fissures cracked first, and the end with large distance cracked later. After the final failure, 0° fissures in all specimens were fractured, while 45° and 90° fissures were not necessarily fractured. Numerical simulation results show that the concentration of compressive stress at the tips of 0°, 45° and 90° fissures, as well as the concentration of tensile stress on both sides, decreased with the increase of the inclination angle. A constitutive model for the discontinuous fractures of fissured sandstone specimens was derived by combining the logistic model and damage mechanic theory. This model can well describe the discontinuous drops of stress and agrees well with the whole processes of the stress–strain curves of the fissured sandstone specimens. KW - Constitutive model KW - Damage mechanics theory KW - Discontinuous fractures KW - Uniaxial compression test KW - Non-parallel fissures Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tafmec.2024.104373 SN - 0167-8442 VL - 131 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - INPR A1 - Grieger, Niklas A1 - Mehrkanoon, Siamak A1 - Bialonski, Stephan T1 - Preprint: Data-efficient sleep staging with synthetic time series pretraining T2 - arXiv N2 - Analyzing electroencephalographic (EEG) time series can be challenging, especially with deep neural networks, due to the large variability among human subjects and often small datasets. To address these challenges, various strategies, such as self-supervised learning, have been suggested, but they typically rely on extensive empirical datasets. Inspired by recent advances in computer vision, we propose a pretraining task termed "frequency pretraining" to pretrain a neural network for sleep staging by predicting the frequency content of randomly generated synthetic time series. Our experiments demonstrate that our method surpasses fully supervised learning in scenarios with limited data and few subjects, and matches its performance in regimes with many subjects. Furthermore, our results underline the relevance of frequency information for sleep stage scoring, while also demonstrating that deep neural networks utilize information beyond frequencies to enhance sleep staging performance, which is consistent with previous research. We anticipate that our approach will be advantageous across a broad spectrum of applications where EEG data is limited or derived from a small number of subjects, including the domain of brain-computer interfaces. Y1 - 2024 ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Elsaesser, Evelyn A1 - Klebinggat, Michael A1 - Kuhn, Wilfried A1 - Michielsens, Constant A1 - Pauels, Willibert A1 - Popkes, Enno E. A1 - Schneider, Elke A1 - Laack, Walter van A1 - Warven, Rinus van ED - Laack, Walter van T1 - Schnittstelle Tod - Ist die Menschheit zu retten ohne Vertrauen auf ein Danach Y1 - 2024 SN - 978-3-936624-58-8 N1 - 8. Tagungsband zum NTE-Seminar in Aachen am, 11.11.2023 PB - van Laack Buchverlag CY - Aachen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pieronek, Lukas A1 - Kleefeld, Andreas T1 - On trajectories of complex-valued interior transmission eigenvalues JF - Inverse problems and imaging : IPI N2 - This paper investigates the interior transmission problem for homogeneous media via eigenvalue trajectories parameterized by the magnitude of the refractive index. In the case that the scatterer is the unit disk, we prove that there is a one-to-one correspondence between complex-valued interior transmission eigenvalue trajectories and Dirichlet eigenvalues of the Laplacian which turn out to be exactly the trajectorial limit points as the refractive index tends to infinity. For general simply-connected scatterers in two or three dimensions, a corresponding relation is still open, but further theoretical results and numerical studies indicate a similar connection. KW - Interior transmission problem KW - Eigenvalue trajectories KW - Complex-valued eigenvalues Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3934/ipi.2023041 SN - 1930-8337 (Print) SN - 1930-8345 (Online) VL - 18 IS - 2 SP - 480 EP - 516 PB - AIMS CY - Springfield, Mo ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Barnat, Miriam A1 - Arntz, Kristian A1 - Bernecker, Andreas A1 - Fissabre, Anke A1 - Franken, Norbert A1 - Goldbach, Daniel A1 - Hüning, Felix A1 - Jörissen, Jörg A1 - Kirsch, Ansgar A1 - Pettrak, Jürgen A1 - Rexforth, Matthias A1 - Josef, Rosenkranz A1 - Terstegge, Andreas T1 - Strategische Gestaltung von Studiengängen für die Zukunft: Ein kollaborativ entwickeltes Self-Assessment BT - Diskussionspapier Nr. 33 T2 - Hochschulforum Digitalisierung - Diskussionspapier N2 - Das Diskussionspapier beschreibt einen Prozess an der FH Aachen zur Entwicklung und Implementierung eines Self-Assessment-Tools für Studiengänge. Dieser Prozess zielte darauf ab, die Relevanz der Themen Digitalisierung, Internationalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit in Studiengängen zu stärken. Durch Workshops und kollaborative Entwicklung mit Studiendekan:innen entstand ein Fragebogen, der zur Reflexion und strategischen Weiterentwicklung der Studiengänge dient. Y1 - 2024 SN - 2365-7081 PB - Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aliazizi, Fereshteh A1 - Özsoylu, Dua A1 - Bakhshi Sichani, Soroush A1 - Khorshid, Mehran A1 - Glorieux, Christ A1 - Robbens, Johan A1 - Schöning, Michael J. A1 - Wagner, Patrick T1 - Development and Calibration of a Microfluidic, Chip-Based Sensor System for Monitoring the Physical Properties of Water Samples in Aquacultures JF - Micromachines N2 - In this work, we present a compact, bifunctional chip-based sensor setup that measures the temperature and electrical conductivity of water samples, including specimens from rivers and channels, aquaculture, and the Atlantic Ocean. For conductivity measurements, we utilize the impedance amplitude recorded via interdigitated electrode structures at a single triggering frequency. The results are well in line with data obtained using a calibrated reference instrument. The new setup holds for conductivity values spanning almost two orders of magnitude (river versus ocean water) without the need for equivalent circuit modelling. Temperature measurements were performed in four-point geometry with an on-chip platinum RTD (resistance temperature detector) in the temperature range between 2 °C and 40 °C, showing no hysteresis effects between warming and cooling cycles. Although the meander was not shielded against the liquid, the temperature calibration provided equivalent results to low conductive Milli-Q and highly conductive ocean water. The sensor is therefore suitable for inline and online monitoring purposes in recirculating aquaculture systems. KW - chip-based sensor setup KW - aquaculture KW - microfluidics KW - impedance spectroscopy KW - thermometry KW - electrical conductivity of liquids Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/mi15060755 SN - 2072-666X N1 - This article belongs to the Special Issue "Multisensor Arrays" N1 - Corresponding author: Michael J. Schöning VL - 15 IS - 6 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Clausnitzer, Julian A1 - Kleefeld, Andreas T1 - A spectral Galerkin exponential Euler time-stepping scheme for parabolic SPDEs on two-dimensional domains with a C² boundary JF - Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems - Series B N2 - We consider the numerical approximation of second-order semi-linear parabolic stochastic partial differential equations interpreted in the mild sense which we solve on general two-dimensional domains with a C² boundary with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. The equations are driven by Gaussian additive noise, and several Lipschitz-like conditions are imposed on the nonlinear function. We discretize in space with a spectral Galerkin method and in time using an explicit Euler-like scheme. For irregular shapes, the necessary Dirichlet eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are obtained from a boundary integral equation method. This yields a nonlinear eigenvalue problem, which is discretized using a boundary element collocation method and is solved with the Beyn contour integral algorithm. We present an error analysis as well as numerical results on an exemplary asymmetric shape, and point out limitations of the approach. KW - Nonlinear eigenvalue problems KW - Boundary integral equations, KW - Exponential Euler scheme, KW - Parabolic SPDEs Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3934/dcdsb.2023148 SN - 1531-3492 SN - 1553-524X (eISSN) VL - 29 IS - 4 SP - 1624 EP - 1651 PB - AIMS CY - Springfield ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ayala, Rafael Ceja A1 - Harris, Isaac A1 - Kleefeld, Andreas T1 - Direct sampling method via Landweber iteration for an absorbing scatterer with a conductive boundary JF - Inverse Problems and Imaging N2 - In this paper, we consider the inverse shape problem of recovering isotropic scatterers with a conductive boundary condition. Here, we assume that the measured far-field data is known at a fixed wave number. Motivated by recent work, we study a new direct sampling indicator based on the Landweber iteration and the factorization method. Therefore, we prove the connection between these reconstruction methods. The method studied here falls under the category of qualitative reconstruction methods where an imaging function is used to recover the absorbing scatterer. We prove stability of our new imaging function as well as derive a discrepancy principle for recovering the regularization parameter. The theoretical results are verified with numerical examples to show how the reconstruction performs by the new Landweber direct sampling method. Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3934/ipi.2023051 SN - 1930-8337 SN - 1930-8345 (eISSN) VL - 18 IS - 3 SP - 708 EP - 729 PB - AIMS CY - Springfield ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kahra, Marvin A1 - Breuß, Michael A1 - Kleefeld, Andreas A1 - Welk, Martin ED - Brunetti, Sara ED - Frosini, Andrea ED - Rinaldi, Simone T1 - An Approach to Colour Morphological Supremum Formation Using the LogSumExp Approximation T2 - Discrete Geometry and Mathematical Morphology N2 - Mathematical morphology is a part of image processing that has proven to be fruitful for numerous applications. Two main operations in mathematical morphology are dilation and erosion. These are based on the construction of a supremum or infimum with respect to an order over the tonal range in a certain section of the image. The tonal ordering can easily be realised in grey-scale morphology, and some morphological methods have been proposed for colour morphology. However, all of these have certain limitations. In this paper we present a novel approach to colour morphology extending upon previous work in the field based on the Loewner order. We propose to consider an approximation of the supremum by means of a log-sum exponentiation introduced by Maslov. We apply this to the embedding of an RGB image in a field of symmetric 2x2 matrices. In this way we obtain nearly isotropic matrices representing colours and the structural advantage of transitivity. In numerical experiments we highlight some remarkable properties of the proposed approach. Y1 - 2024 SN - 978-3-031-57793-2 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57793-2_25 N1 - Third International Joint Conference, DGMM 2024, Florence, Italy, April 15–18, 2024 SP - 325 EP - 337 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER -