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Modern industry and multi-discipline projects require highly trained individuals with resilient science and engineering back-grounds. Graduates must be able to agilely apply excellent theoretical knowledge in their subject matter as well as essential practical “hands-on” knowledge of diverse working processes to solve complex problems. To meet these demands, university education follows the concept of Constructive Alignment and thus increasingly adopts the teaching of necessary practical skills to the actual industry requirements and assessment routines. However, a systematic approach to coherently align these three central teaching demands is strangely absent from current university curricula. We demonstrate the feasibility of implementing practical assessments in a regular theory-based examination, thus defining the term “blended assessment”. We assessed a course for natural science and engineering students pursuing a career in biomedical engineering, and evaluated the benefit of blended assessment exams for students and lecturers. Our controlled study assessed the physiological background of electrocardiograms (ECGs), the practical measurement of ECG curves, and their interpretation of basic pathologic alterations. To study on long time effects, students have been assessed on the topic twice with a time lag of 6 months. Our findings suggest a significant improvement in student gain with respect to practical skills and theoretical knowledge. The results of the reassessments support these outcomes. From the lecturers ́ point of view, blended assessment complements practical training courses while keeping organizational effort manageable. We consider blended assessment a viable tool for providing an improved student gain, industry-ready education format that should be evaluated and established further to prepare university graduates optimally for their future careers.
A new functionalization method to modify capacitive electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor (EIS) structures with nanofilms is presented. Layers of polyallylamine hydrochloride (PAH) and graphene oxide (GO) with the compound polyaniline:poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid) (PANI:PAAMPSA) are deposited onto a p-Si/SiO2 chip using the layer-by-layer technique (LbL). Two different enzymes (urease and penicillinase) are separately immobilized on top of a five-bilayer stack of the PAH:GO/PANI:PAAMPSA-modified EIS chip, forming a biosensor for detection of urea and penicillin, respectively. Electrochemical characterization is performed by constant capacitance (ConCap) measurements, and the film morphology is characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). An increase in the average sensitivity of the modified biosensors (EIS–nanofilm–enzyme) of around 15% is found in relation to sensors, only carrying the enzyme but without the nanofilm (EIS–enzyme). In this sense, the nanofilm acts as a stable bioreceptor onto the EIS chip improving the output signal in terms of sensitivity and stability.
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) biosensors are a rather novel type of biosensors thatutilizelighttoprovideinformationaboutthecompositionofananalyte,enablinglight-controlled multi-analyte measurements. For enzymatic PEC biosensors,amperometric detection principles are already known in the literature. In con-trast, there is only a little information on H+-ion sensitive PEC biosensors. Inthis work, we demonstrate the detection of H+ions emerged by H+-generatingenzymes, exemplarily demonstrated with penicillinase as a model enzyme on atitanium dioxide photoanode. First, we describe the pH sensitivity of the sensorand study possible photoelectrocatalytic reactions with penicillin. Second, weshow the enzymatic PEC detection of penicillin.
Contractile behavior of the gastrocnemius medialis muscle during running in simulated hypogravity
(2021)
Vigorous exercise countermeasures in microgravity can largely attenuate muscular degeneration, albeit the extent of applied loading is key for the extent of muscle wasting. Running on the International Space Station is usually performed with maximum loads of 70% body weight (0.7 g). However, it has not been investigated how the reduced musculoskeletal loading affects muscle and series elastic element dynamics, and thereby force and power generation. Therefore, this study examined the effects of running on the vertical treadmill facility, a ground-based analog, at simulated 0.7 g on gastrocnemius medialis contractile behavior. The results reveal that fascicle−series elastic element behavior differs between simulated hypogravity and 1 g running. Whilst shorter peak series elastic element lengths at simulated 0.7 g appear to be the result of lower muscular and gravitational forces acting on it, increased fascicle lengths and decreased velocities could not be anticipated, but may inform the development of optimized running training in hypogravity. However, whether the alterations in contractile behavior precipitate musculoskeletal degeneration warrants further study.
Conventional EEG devices cannot be used in everyday life and hence, past decade research has been focused on Ear-EEG for mobile, at-home monitoring for various applications ranging from emotion detection to sleep monitoring. As the area available for electrode contact in the ear is limited, the electrode size and location play a vital role for an Ear-EEG system. In this investigation, we present a quantitative study of ear-electrodes with two electrode sizes at different locations in a wet and dry configuration. Electrode impedance scales inversely with size and ranges from 450 kΩ to 1.29 MΩ for dry and from 22 kΩ to 42 kΩ for wet contact at 10 Hz. For any size, the location in the ear canal with the lowest impedance is ELE (Left Ear Superior), presumably due to increased contact pressure caused by the outer-ear anatomy. The results can be used to optimize signal pickup and SNR for specific applications. We demonstrate this by recording sleep spindles during sleep onset with high quality (5.27 μVrms).
Test-retest reliability of the internal shoulder rotator muscles' stretch reflex in healthy men
(2021)
Until now the reproducibility of the short latency stretch reflex of the internal rotator muscles of the glenohumeral joint has not been identified. Twenty-three healthy male participants performed three sets of external shoulder rotation stretches with various pre-activation levels on two different dates of measurement to assess test-retest reliability. All stretches were applied with a dynamometer acceleration of 104°/s2 and a velocity of 150°/s. Electromyographical response was measured via surface EMG. Reflex latencies showed a pre-activation effect (ƞ2 = 0,355). ICC ranged from 0,735 to 0,909 indicating an overall “good” relative reliability. SRD 95% lay between ±7,0 to ±12,3 ms.. The reflex gain showed overall poor test-retest reproducibility. The chosen methodological approach presented a suitable test protocol for shoulder muscles stretch reflex latency evaluation. A proof-of-concept study to validate the presented methodical approach in shoulder involvement including subjects with clinically relevant conditions is recommended.
This book provides a compact introduction to the bootstrap method. In addition to classical results on point estimation and test theory, multivariate linear regression models and generalized linear models are covered in detail. Special attention is given to the use of bootstrap procedures to perform goodness-of-fit tests to validate model or distributional assumptions. In some cases, new methods are presented here for the first time.
The text is motivated by practical examples and the implementations of the corresponding algorithms are always given directly in R in a comprehensible form. Overall, R is given great importance throughout. Each chapter includes a section of exercises and, for the more mathematically inclined readers, concludes with rigorous proofs. The intended audience is graduate students who already have a prior knowledge of probability theory and mathematical statistics.
We consider a binary multivariate regression model where the conditional expectation of a binary variable given a higher-dimensional input variable belongs to a parametric family. Based on this, we introduce a model-based bootstrap (MBB) for higher-dimensional input variables. This test can be used to check whether a sequence of independent and identically distributed observations belongs to such a parametric family. The approach is based on the empirical residual process introduced by Stute (Ann Statist 25:613–641, 1997). In contrast to Stute and Zhu’s approach (2002) Stute & Zhu (Scandinavian J Statist 29:535–545, 2002), a transformation is not required. Thus, any problems associated with non-parametric regression estimation are avoided. As a result, the MBB method is much easier for users to implement. To illustrate the power of the MBB based tests, a small simulation study is performed. Compared to the approach of Stute & Zhu (Scandinavian J Statist 29:535–545, 2002), the simulations indicate a slightly improved power of the MBB based method. Finally, both methods are applied to a real data set.
Multi-attribute relation extraction (MARE): simplifying the application of relation extraction
(2021)
Natural language understanding’s relation extraction makes innovative and encouraging novel business concepts possible and facilitates new digitilized decision-making processes. Current approaches allow the extraction of relations with a fixed number of entities as attributes. Extracting relations with an arbitrary amount of attributes requires complex systems and costly relation-trigger annotations to assist these systems. We introduce multi-attribute relation extraction (MARE) as an assumption-less problem formulation with two approaches, facilitating an explicit mapping from business use cases to the data annotations. Avoiding elaborated annotation constraints simplifies the application of relation extraction approaches. The evaluation compares our models to current state-of-the-art event extraction and binary relation extraction methods. Our approaches show improvement compared to these on the extraction of general multi-attribute relations.
The progress in natural language processing (NLP) research over the last years, offers novel business opportunities for companies, as automated user interaction or improved data analysis. Building sophisticated NLP applications requires dealing with modern machine learning (ML) technologies, which impedes enterprises from establishing successful NLP projects. Our experience in applied NLP research projects shows that the continuous integration of research prototypes in production-like environments with quality assurance builds trust in the software and shows convenience and usefulness regarding the business goal. We introduce STAMP 4 NLP as an iterative and incremental process model for developing NLP applications. With STAMP 4 NLP, we merge software engineering principles with best practices from data science. Instantiating our process model allows efficiently creating prototypes by utilizing templates, conventions, and implementations, enabling developers and data scientists to focus on the business goals. Due to our iterative-incremental approach, businesses can deploy an enhanced version of the prototype to their software environment after every iteration, maximizing potential business value and trust early and avoiding the cost of successful yet never deployed experiments.
The integration of frequently changing, volatile product data from different manufacturers into a single catalog is a significant challenge for small and medium-sized e-commerce companies. They rely on timely integrating product data to present them aggregated in an online shop without knowing format specifications, concept understanding of manufacturers, and data quality. Furthermore, format, concepts, and data quality may change at any time. Consequently, integrating product catalogs into a single standardized catalog is often a laborious manual task. Current strategies to streamline or automate catalog integration use techniques based on machine learning, word vectorization, or semantic similarity. However, most approaches struggle with low-quality or real-world data. We propose Attribute Label Ranking (ALR) as a recommendation engine to simplify the integration process of previously unknown, proprietary tabular format into a standardized catalog for practitioners. We evaluate ALR by focusing on the impact of different neural network architectures, language features, and semantic similarity. Additionally, we consider metrics for industrial application and present the impact of ALR in production and its limitations.
The treatment method to deactivate viable microorganisms from objects or products is termed sterilization. There are multiple forms of sterilization, each intended to be applied for a specific target, which depends on—but not limited to—the thermal, physical, and chemical stability of that target. Herein, an overview on the currently used sterilization processes in the global market is provided. Different sterilization techniques are grouped under a category that describes the method of treatment: radiation (gamma, electron beam, X-ray, and ultraviolet), thermal (dry and moist heat), and chemical (ethylene oxide, ozone, chlorine dioxide, and hydrogen peroxide). For each sterilization process, the typical process parameters as defined by regulations and the mode of antimicrobial activity are summarized. Finally, the recommended microorganisms that are used as biological indicators to validate sterilization processes in accordance with the rules that are established by various regulatory agencies are summarized.
Glucose oxidase (GOx) is an enzyme frequently used in glucose biosensors. As increased temperatures can enhance the performance of electrochemical sensors, we investigated the impact of temperature pulses on GOx that was drop-coated on flattened Pt microwires. The wires were heated by an alternating current. The sensitivity towards glucose and the temperature stability of GOx was investigated by amperometry. An up to 22-fold increase of sensitivity was observed. Spatially resolved enzyme activity changes were investigated via scanning electrochemical microscopy. The application of short (<100 ms) heat pulses was associated with less thermal inactivation of the immobilized GOx than long-term heating.
Stretch-shortening type actions are characterized by lengthening of the pre-activated muscle-tendon unit (MTU) in the eccentric phase immediately followed by muscle shortening. Under 1 g, pre-activity before and muscle activity after ground contact, scale muscle stiffness, which is crucial for the recoil properties of the MTU in the subsequent push-off. This study aimed to examine the neuro-mechanical coupling of the stretch-shortening cycle in response to gravity levels ranging from 0.1 to 2 g. During parabolic flights, 17 subjects performed drop jumps while electromyography (EMG) of the lower limb muscles was combined with ultrasound images of the gastrocnemius medialis, 2D kinematics and kinetics to depict changes in energy management and performance. Neuro-mechanical coupling in 1 g was characterized by high magnitudes of pre-activity and eccentric muscle activity allowing an isometric muscle behavior during ground contact. EMG during pre-activity and the concentric phase systematically increased from 0.1 to 1 g. Below 1 g the EMG in the eccentric phase was diminished, leading to muscle lengthening and reduced MTU stretches. Kinetic energy at take-off and performance were decreased compared to 1 g. Above 1 g, reduced EMG in the eccentric phase was accompanied by large MTU and muscle stretch, increased joint flexion amplitudes, energy loss and reduced performance. The energy outcome function established by linear mixed model reveals that the central nervous system regulates the extensor muscles phase- and load-specifically. In conclusion, neuro-mechanical coupling appears to be optimized in 1 g. Below 1 g, the energy outcome is compromised by reduced muscle stiffness. Above 1 g, loading progressively induces muscle lengthening, thus facilitating energy dissipation.
The international partnership of space agencies has agreed to proceed forward to the Moon sustainably. Activities on the Lunar surface (0.16 g) will allow crewmembers to advance the exploration skills needed when expanding human presence to Mars (0.38 g). Whilst data from actual hypogravity activities are limited to the Apollo missions, simulation studies have indicated that ground reaction forces, mechanical work, muscle activation, and joint angles decrease with declining gravity level. However, these alterations in locomotion biomechanics do not necessarily scale to the gravity level, the reduction in gastrocnemius medialis activation even appears to level off around 0.2 g, while muscle activation pattern remains similar. Thus, it is difficult to predict whether gastrocnemius medialis contractile behavior during running on Moon will basically be the same as on Mars. Therefore, this study investigated lower limb joint kinematics and gastrocnemius medialis behavior during running at 1 g, simulated Martian gravity, and simulated Lunar gravity on the vertical treadmill facility. The results indicate that hypogravity-induced alterations in joint kinematics and contractile behavior still persist between simulated running on the Moon and Mars. This contrasts with the concept of a ceiling effect and should be carefully considered when evaluating exercise prescriptions and the transferability of locomotion practiced in Lunar gravity to Martian gravity.
The compliant nature of distal limb muscle-tendon units is traditionally considered suboptimal in explosive movements when positive joint work is required. However, during accelerative running, ankle joint net mechanical work is positive. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how plantar flexor muscle-tendon behavior is modulated during fast accelerations. Eleven female sprinters performed maximum sprint accelerations from starting blocks, while gastrocnemius muscle fascicle lengths were estimated using ultrasonography. We combined motion analysis and ground reaction force measurements to assess lower limb joint kinematics and kinetics, and to estimate gastrocnemius muscle-tendon unit length during the first two acceleration steps. Outcome variables were resampled to the stance phase and averaged across three to five trials. Relevant scalars were extracted and analyzed using one-sample and two-sample t-tests, and vector trajectories were compared using statistical parametric mapping. We found that an uncoupling of muscle fascicle behavior from muscle-tendon unit behavior is effectively used to produce net positive mechanical work at the joint during maximum sprint acceleration. Muscle fascicles shortened throughout the first and second steps, while shortening occurred earlier during the first step, where negative joint work was lower compared with the second step. Elastic strain energy may be stored during dorsiflexion after touchdown since fascicles did not lengthen at the same time to dissipate energy. Thus, net positive work generation is accommodated by the reuse of elastic strain energy along with positive gastrocnemius fascicle work. Our results show a mechanism of how muscles with high in-series compliance can contribute to net positive joint work.
Performing tasks, such as running and jumping, requires activation of the agonist and antagonist muscles before (motor unit pre-activation) and during movement performance (Santello and Mcdonagh, 1998). A well-timed and regulated muscle activation elicits a stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) response, naturally occurring in bouncing movements (Ishikawa and Komi, 2004; Taube et al., 2012). By definition, the SSC describes the stretching of a pre-activated muscle-tendon complex immediately followed by a muscle shortening in the concentric push-off phase (Komi, 1984).
Given the importance of SSC actions for human movement, it is not surprising that many studies investigated the biomechanics of this phenomenon; in particular, drop jumps (DJs) represent a good paradigm to study muscle fascicle and tendon behavior in ballistic movements involving the SSC.
Within a DJ, three main phases [pre-activation, braking, and push-off (PO; Komi, 2000)] have been recognized and extensively studied in common and challenging conditions, such as changes in load, falling height, or simulated hypo-gravity (Avela et al., 1994; Arampatzis et al., 2001; Fukashiro et al., 2005; Ishikawa et al., 2005; Sousa et al., 2007; Ritzmann et al., 2016; Helm et al., 2020).
These studies show that the timing and amount of triceps-surae muscle-tendon unit pre-activation in DJs are differentially regulated based on the load applied to the muscle, being optimal in normal “Earth” gravity conditions (Avela et al., 1994), but decreased in simulated hypo-gravity, hyper-gravity (Avela et al., 1994; Ritzmann et al., 2016), or unknown conditions (i.e., unknown falling heights; Helm et al., 2020). Some authors indicated that, when falling from heights different from the optimal one [defined as the drop height giving a maximum DJ performance indicated as peak ground reaction force (GRF) or jump high], electromyographic (EMG) activity of the plantar flexors increases from lower than optimal to higher than optimal heights (Ishikawa and Komi, 2004; Sousa et al., 2007).
These findings highlight the ability of the central nervous system to regulate the timing and amount of pre-activation according to different jumping conditions, thus regulating muscle fascicle length, tendon and joint stiffness as well as position, in order to safely land on the ground and quickly re-bounce.
Similarly, to pre-activation, also in the braking phase, the plantar flexors are differentially regulated. In optimal height (i.e., load) jumping conditions, gastrocnemius medialis (GM) fascicles shorten at early ground contact (possibly due to the intervention of the stretch reflex; Gollhofer et al., 1992) and behave quasi-isometrically in the late braking phase, enabling tendon elongation, and storage of elastic energy (Gollhofer et al., 1992; Fukashiro et al., 2005; Sousa et al., 2007). When increasing the falling height (augmenting the impact GRF), the quasi-isometric behavior of fascicles disappears, and fast fascicle lengthening occurs (Ishikawa et al., 2005; Sousa et al., 2007).
In the third and last PO phase, fascicles shorten and the tendon releases the elastic energy previously stored. Bobbert et al. (1987) reported no influence of jumping height on the work done and on the net vertical impulse assessed during PO; this observation suggests that, despite an optimal DJ performance might be achieved only in specific conditions (falling heights, loads), the central nervous system seems to be able to regulate muscle behavior in order to effectively perform the required task also in challenging situations.
Although the regulation of triceps-surae muscle-tendon unit in DJs has been extensively investigated, very few studies focused on sarcomeres behavior during the performance of this SSC movement (Kurokawa et al., 2003; Fukashiro et al., 2005, 2006). Sarcomeres represent muscle contractile units and are known to express different amounts of force depending on their length (Gordon et al., 1966; Walker and Schrodt, 1974); thus, understanding the time course of their responses during DJs is fundamental to gain further insights into muscle force-generating capacity. In vivo measurement of sarcomere length in humans has been so far been performed only in static positions and under highly controlled experimental conditions (Llewellyn et al., 2008; Sanchez et al., 2015). Instead, human sarcomere length estimation (achieved by dividing GM measured fascicle length for a fixed sarcomere number) in dynamic contractions provided an indirect measure of sarcomere operating range during squat jump, countermovement jump, and DJ (Fukashiro et al., 2005, 2006; Kurokawa et al., 2003). The results of these studies showed that sarcomeres operate in the ascending limb of their length-tension (L-T) relationship in all types of jumps, and particularly so in DJ.
However, most of the available observations on sarcomere and muscle fascicle behavior were made in condition of constant gravity. Thus, in order to understand how sarcomere and muscle fascicle length are regulated in variable gravity conditions, we performed experiments in a parabolic flight, involving variable gravity levels, ranging from about zero-g to about double the Earth’s gravity (1 g; Waldvogel et al., 2021).
Specifically, the aims of the present study were as follows:
1. To investigate the ability of the neuromuscular system in regulating fascicle length in response to conditions of variable gravity.
2. To estimate sarcomere operative length in the different DJ phases, in order to calculate its theoretical force production and its possible modulation in conditions of variable gravity.
We hypothesized that muscle fascicles would be differentially regulated in different gravity conditions compared to 1 g, particularly in anticipation of landing and re-bouncing in unknown gravity levels. In addition, we hypothesized that sarcomeres would operate in the upper part of the ascending limb of their L-T relationship, possibly lengthening during the braking phase (especially in hyper-gravity) while operating quasi-isometrically in 1 g.
Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) patients have persistent functional deficits in the triceps surae muscle–tendon unit (MTU). The complex remodeling of the MTU accompanying these deficits remains poorly understood. The purpose of the present study was to associate in vivo and in silico data to investigate the relations between changes inMTU properties and strength deficits inATR patients. Methods: Elevenmale subjects who had undergone surgical repair of complete unilateral ATR were examined 4.6 ± 2.0 (mean ± SD) yr after rupture. Gastrocnemius medialis (GM) tendon stiffness, morphology, and muscle architecture were determined using ultrasonography. The force–length relation of the plantar flexor muscles was assessed at five ankle joint angles. In addition, simulations (OpenSim) of the GM MTU force–length properties were performed with various iterations of MTU properties found between the unaffected and the affected side. Results: The affected side of the patients displayed a longer, larger, and stiffer GM tendon (13% ± 10%, 105% ± 28%, and 54% ± 24%, respectively) compared with the unaffected side. The GM muscle fascicles of the affected side were shorter (32% ± 12%) and with greater pennation angles (31% ± 26%). A mean deficit in plantarflexion moment of 31% ± 10% was measured. Simulations indicate that pairing an intact muscle with a longer tendon shifts the optimal angular range of peak force outside physiological angular ranges, whereas the shorter muscle fascicles and tendon stiffening seen in the affected side decrease this shift, albeit incompletely. Conclusions: These results suggest that the substantial changes in MTU properties found in ATR patients may partly result from compensatory remodeling, although this process appears insufficient to fully restore muscle function.
Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is associated with early and delayed brain injury due to several underlying and interrelated processes, which include inflammation, oxidative stress, endothelial, and neuronal apoptosis. Treatment with melatonin, a cytoprotective neurohormone with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-apoptotic effects, has been shown to attenuate early brain injury (EBI) and to prevent delayed cerebral vasospasm in experimental aSAH models. Less is known about the role of endogenous melatonin for aSAH outcome and how its production is altered by the pathophysiological cascades initiated during EBI. In the present observational study, we analyzed changes in melatonin levels during the first three weeks after aSAH.
Purpose Vascular risk factors and ocular perfusion are heatedly discussed in the pathogenesis of glaucoma. The retinal vessel analyzer (RVA, IMEDOS Systems, Germany) allows noninvasive measurement of retinal vessel regulation. Significant differences especially in the veins between healthy subjects and patients suffering from glaucoma were previously reported. In this pilot-study we investigated if localized vascular regulation is altered in glaucoma patients with altitudinal visual field defect asymmetry. Methods 15 eyes of 12 glaucoma patients with advanced altitudinal visual field defect asymmetry were included. The mean defect was calculated for each hemisphere separately (-20.99 ± 10.49 pro- found hemispheric visual field defect vs -7.36 ± 3.97 dB less profound hemisphere). After pupil dilation, RVA measurements of retinal arteries and veins were conducted using the standard protocol. The superior and inferior retinal vessel reactivity were measured consecutively in each eye. Results Significant differences were recorded in venous vessel constriction after flicker light stimulation and overall amplitude of the reaction (p \ 0.04 and p \ 0.02 respectively) in-between the hemispheres spheres. Vessel reaction was higher in the hemisphere corresponding to the more advanced visual field defect. Arterial diameters reacted similarly, failing to reach statistical significance. Conclusion Localized retinal vessel regulation is significantly altered in glaucoma patients with asymmetri altitudinal visual field defects. Veins supplying the hemisphere concordant to a less profound visual field defect show diminished diameter changes. Vascular dysregulation might be particularly important in early glaucoma stages prior to a significant visual field defect.
Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) is a common complication after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) and can lead to infarction and poor clinical outcome. The underlying mechanisms are still incompletely understood, but animal models indicate that vasoactive metabolites and inflammatory cytokines produced within the subarachnoid space may progressively impair and partially invert neurovascular coupling (NVC) in the brain. Because cerebral and retinal microvasculature are governed by comparable regulatory mechanisms and may be connected by perivascular pathways, retinal vascular changes are increasingly recognized as a potential surrogate for altered NVC in the brain. Here, we used non-invasive retinal vessel analysis (RVA) to assess microvascular function in aSAH patients at different times after the ictus.
The term ocular rigidity is widely used in clinical ophthalmology. Generally it is assumed as a resistance of the whole eyeball to mechanical deformation and relates to biomechanical properties of the eye and its tissues. Basic principles and formulas for clinical tonometry, tonography and pulsatile ocular blood flow measurements are based on the concept of ocular rigidity. There is evidence for altered ocular rigidity in aging, in several eye diseases and after eye surgery. Unfortunately, there is no consensual view on ocular rigidity: it used to make a quite different sense for different people but still the same name. Foremost there is no clear consent between biomechanical engineers and ophthalmologists on the concept. Moreover ocular rigidity is occasionally characterized using various parameters with their different physical dimensions. In contrast to engineering approach, clinical approach to ocular rigidity claims to characterize the total mechanical response of the eyeball to its deformation without any detailed considerations on eye morphology or material properties of its tissues. Further to the previous chapter this section aims to describe clinical approach to ocular rigidity from the perspective of an engineer in an attempt to straighten out this concept, to show its advantages, disadvantages and various applications.
Microbial diversity studies regarding the aquatic communities that experienced or are experiencing environmental problems are essential for the comprehension of the remediation dynamics. In this pilot study, we present data on the phylogenetic and ecological structure of microorganisms from epipelagic water samples collected in the Small Aral Sea (SAS). The raw data were generated by massive parallel sequencing using the shotgun approach. As expected, most of the identified DNA sequences belonged to Terrabacteria and Actinobacteria (40% and 37% of the total reads, respectively). The occurrence of Deinococcus-Thermus, Armatimonadetes, Chloroflexi in the epipelagic SAS waters was less anticipated. Surprising was also the detection of sequences, which are characteristic for strict anaerobes—Ignavibacteria, hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria, and archaeal methanogenic species. We suppose that the observed very broad range of phylogenetic and ecological features displayed by the SAS reads demonstrates a more intensive mixing of water masses originating from diverse ecological niches of the Aral-Syr Darya River basin than presumed before.
Plant viruses are major contributors to crop losses and induce high economic costs worldwide. For reliable, on-site and early detection of plant viral diseases, portable biosensors are of great interest. In this study, a field-effect SiO2-gate electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor (EIS) sensor was utilized for the label-free electrostatic detection of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) particles as a model plant pathogen. The capacitive EIS sensor has been characterized regarding its TMV sensitivity by means of constant-capacitance method. The EIS sensor was able to detect biotinylated TMV particles from a solution with a TMV concentration as low as 0.025 nM. A good correlation between the registered EIS sensor signal and the density of adsorbed TMV particles assessed from scanning electron microscopy images of the SiO2-gate chip surface was observed. Additionally, the isoelectric point of the biotinylated TMV particles was determined via zeta potential measurements and the influence of ionic strength of the measurement solution on the TMV-modified EIS sensor signal has been studied.
Biologically sensitive field-effect devices (BioFEDs) advantageously combine the electronic field-effect functionality with the (bio)chemical receptor’s recognition ability for (bio)chemical sensing. In this review, basic and widely applied device concepts of silicon-based BioFEDs (ion-sensitive field-effect transistor, silicon nanowire transistor, electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor capacitor, light-addressable potentiometric sensor) are presented and recent progress (from 2019 to early 2021) is discussed. One of the main advantages of BioFEDs is the label-free sensing principle enabling to detect a large variety of biomolecules and bioparticles by their intrinsic charge. The review encompasses applications of BioFEDs for the label-free electrical detection of clinically relevant protein biomarkers, deoxyribonucleic acid molecules and viruses, enzyme-substrate reactions as well as recording of the cell acidification rate (as an indicator of cellular metabolism) and the extracellular potential.
Reliable automation of the labor-intensive manual task of scoring animal sleep can facilitate the analysis of long-term sleep studies. In recent years, deep-learning-based systems, which learn optimal features from the data, increased scoring accuracies for the classical sleep stages of Wake, REM, and Non-REM. Meanwhile, it has been recognized that the statistics of transitional stages such as pre-REM, found between Non-REM and REM, may hold additional insight into the physiology of sleep and are now under vivid investigation. We propose a classification system based on a simple neural network architecture that scores the classical stages as well as pre-REM sleep in mice. When restricted to the classical stages, the optimized network showed state-of-the-art classification performance with an out-of-sample F1 score of 0.95 in male C57BL/6J mice. When unrestricted, the network showed lower F1 scores on pre-REM (0.5) compared to the classical stages. The result is comparable to previous attempts to score transitional stages in other species such as transition sleep in rats or N1 sleep in humans. Nevertheless, we observed that the sequence of predictions including pre-REM typically transitioned from Non-REM to REM reflecting sleep dynamics observed by human scorers. Our findings provide further evidence for the difficulty of scoring transitional sleep stages, likely because such stages of sleep are under-represented in typical data sets or show large inter-scorer variability. We further provide our source code and an online platform to run predictions with our trained network.
Plant virus-like particles, and in particular, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) particles, are increasingly being used in nano- and biotechnology as well as for biochemical sensing purposes as nanoscaffolds for the high-density immobilization of receptor molecules. The sensitive parameters of TMV-assisted biosensors depend, among others, on the density of adsorbed TMV particles on the sensor surface, which is affected by both the adsorption conditions and surface properties of the sensor. In this work, Ta₂O₅-gate field-effect capacitive sensors have been applied for the label-free electrical detection of TMV adsorption. The impact of the TMV concentration on both the sensor signal and the density of TMV particles adsorbed onto the Ta₂O₅-gate surface has been studied systematically by means of field-effect and scanning electron microscopy methods. In addition, the surface density of TMV particles loaded under different incubation times has been investigated. Finally, the field-effect sensor also demonstrates the label-free detection of penicillinase immobilization as model bioreceptor on TMV particles.
Dual frequency magnetic excitation of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) enables enhanced biosensing applications. This was studied from an experimental and theoretical perspective: nonlinear sum-frequency components of MNP exposed to dual-frequency magnetic excitation were measured as a function of static magnetic offset field. The Langevin model in thermodynamic equilibrium was fitted to the experimental data to derive parameters of the lognormal core size distribution. These parameters were subsequently used as inputs for micromagnetic Monte-Carlo (MC)-simulations. From the hysteresis loops obtained from MC-simulations, sum-frequency components were numerically demodulated and compared with both experiment and Langevin model predictions. From the latter, we derived that approximately 90% of the frequency mixing magnetic response signal is generated by the largest 10% of MNP. We therefore suggest that small particles do not contribute to the frequency mixing signal, which is supported by MC-simulation results. Both theoretical approaches describe the experimental signal shapes well, but with notable differences between experiment and micromagnetic simulations. These deviations could result from Brownian relaxations which are, albeit experimentally inhibited, included in MC-simulation, or (yet unconsidered) cluster-effects of MNP, or inaccurately derived input for MC-simulations, because the largest particles dominate the experimental signal but concurrently do not fulfill the precondition of thermodynamic equilibrium required by Langevin theory.
In the context of the Solvency II directive, the operation of an internal risk model is a possible way for risk assessment and for the determination of the solvency capital requirement of an insurance company in the European Union. A Monte Carlo procedure is customary to generate a model output. To be compliant with the directive, validation of the internal risk model is conducted on the basis of the model output. For this purpose, we suggest a new test for checking whether there is a significant change in the modeled solvency capital requirement. Asymptotic properties of the test statistic are investigated and a bootstrap approximation is justified. A simulation study investigates the performance of the test in the finite sample case and confirms the theoretical results. The internal risk model and the application of the test is illustrated in a simplified example. The method has more general usage for inference of a broad class of law-invariant and coherent risk measures on the basis of a paired sample.
Magnetic nanoparticle relaxation in biomedical application: focus on simulating nanoparticle heating
(2021)
Rehabilitative body weight supported gait training aims at restoring walking function as a key element in activities of daily living. Studies demonstrated reductions in muscle and joint forces, while kinematic gait patterns appear to be preserved with up to 30% weight support. However, the influence of body weight support on muscle architecture, with respect to fascicle and series elastic element behavior is unknown, despite this having potential clinical implications for gait retraining. Eight males (31.9 ± 4.7 years) walked at 75% of the speed at which they typically transition to running, with 0% and 30% body weight support on a lower-body positive pressure treadmill. Gastrocnemius medialis fascicle lengths and pennation angles were measured via ultrasonography. Additionally, joint kinematics were analyzed to determine gastrocnemius medialis muscle–tendon unit lengths, consisting of the muscle's contractile and series elastic elements. Series elastic element length was assessed using a muscle–tendon unit model. Depending on whether data were normally distributed, a paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed rank test was performed to determine if body weight supported walking had any effects on joint kinematics and fascicle–series elastic element behavior. Walking with 30% body weight support had no statistically significant effect on joint kinematics and peak series elastic element length. Furthermore, at the time when peak series elastic element length was achieved, and on average across the entire stance phase, muscle–tendon unit length, fascicle length, pennation angle, and fascicle velocity were unchanged with respect to body weight support. In accordance with unchanged gait kinematics, preservation of fascicle–series elastic element behavior was observed during walking with 30% body weight support, which suggests transferability of gait patterns to subsequent unsupported walking.
The hot spots conjecture is only known to be true for special geometries. This paper shows numerically that the hot spots conjecture can fail to be true for easy to construct bounded domains with one hole. The underlying eigenvalue problem for the Laplace equation with Neumann boundary condition is solved with boundary integral equations yielding a non-linear eigenvalue problem. Its discretization via the boundary element collocation method in combination with the algorithm by Beyn yields highly accurate results both for the first non-zero eigenvalue and its corresponding eigenfunction which is due to superconvergence. Additionally, it can be shown numerically that the ratio between the maximal/minimal value inside the domain and its maximal/minimal value on the boundary can be larger than 1 + 10− 3. Finally, numerical examples for easy to construct domains with up to five holes are provided which fail the hot spots conjecture as well.