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Four Metamorphosis States in a Distributed Virtual (TV) Studio: Human, Cyborg, Avatar, and Bot
(2013)
The major challenge in virtual studio technology is the interaction between the actor and virtual objects. Within a distributed live production, two locally separated markerless tracking systems where used simultaneously alongside a virtual studio. The production was based on a fully tracked actor, cyborg (half actor, half graphics), avatar, and a bot. All participants could interact and throw a virtual disc. This setup is compared and mapped to Milgram’s continuum and technical challenges are described.
Externalizing problem behaviour is one of the most common childhood disorders. Parent training is an effective treatment for these children and there is growing interest in the effects of parent-administered interventions with minimal therapist contact. This randomized controlled study examined the efficacy of a telephone-assisted parent-administered behavioural intervention (bibliotherapy) in families with preschool children with externalizing problem behaviour. Families were randomly assigned to a treatment group (n = 26) and an untreated waitlist control group (n = 22). The intervention comprised the reading of an 11 chapter self-help book and 11 weekly telephone consultations. Compared to the control group, the treatment group demonstrated significant decreases in parent-reported externalizing and internalizing child problem behaviour and dysfunctional parenting practices. Moreover, treated parents reported less parenting-related strains and decreases in parental depression, anxiety, and stress. The results suggest that telephone-assisted self-administered parent training is an effective alternative to more intensive forms of behavioural family intervention for preschool children with externalizing problem behaviour.
Test environments in sound quality research often significantly differ from human’s everyday world. Hence the claim for ecological validity of such experiments is reasonable, but too vague in its bare formulation. The estimation of ecological validity requires theoretical knowledge about the meaning and the totality of factors influencing everyday listening and their interaction. Therefore the influence of “reality factors” on the sound evaluation of household appliances was investigated within the framework of nine experiments. These tests were performed in four different settings with varied reality degrees. The psychological realism and the perceived face validity of the tests were examined by means of interviews. The results reveal, on the one hand, that stimuli are perceived as more pleasant in everyday-like environments. The analysis of the relative judgments shows, on the other hand, that the influence of the experimental realism is moderated by a number of factors. These are the saliency and meaning of the sounds, differences between the assessed devices, and personality traits. The correlation and regression analysis confirms that the perceived sound character is widely independent from experimental realism. However, there is great empirical evidence, that valid assessments of sound quality require the reconstruction of everyday attention and action processes.
The conductor's philosophy
(2013)
Mobile virtual archery
(2013)
Despite their overwhelming complexity, living cells display a high degree of internal mechanical and functional organization which can largely be attributed to the intracellular biopolymer scaffold, the cytoskeleton. Being a very complex system far from thermodynamic equilibrium, the cytoskeleton's ability to organize is at the same time challenging and fascinating. The extensive amounts of frequently interacting cellular building blocks and their inherent multifunctionality permits highly adaptive behavior and obstructs a purely reductionist approach. Nevertheless (and despite the field's relative novelty), the physics approach has already proved to be extremely successful in revealing very fundamental concepts of cytoskeleton organization and behavior. This review aims at introducing the physics of the cytoskeleton ranging from single biopolymer filaments to multicellular organisms. Throughout this wide range of phenomena, the focus is set on the intertwined nature of the different physical scales (levels of complexity) that give rise to numerous emergent properties by means of self-organization or self-assembly.
Cost optimal meter placement in low and medium voltagte grids considering stochastic dependencies
(2013)
Virtual (tv) studios gain much more acceptance through improvements in computer graphics and camera tracking. Still commercial studios cannot have full interaction between actors and virtual scene because actors data are not completely digital available as well as the feedback for actors is still not sufficient. Markerless full body tracking might revolutionize virtual studio technology as it allows better interaction between real and virtual world. This article reports about using a markerless actor tracking in a virtual studio with a tracking volume of nearly 40 cubic meter enabling up to three actors within the green box. The tracking is used for resolving the occlusion between virtual objects and actors so that the Tenderer can output automatically a mask for virtual objects in the foreground in case the actor is behind. It is also used for triggering functions scripted within the Tenderer engine, which are attached to virtual objects, starting any kind of action (e.g., animation). Last but not least the system is used for controlling avatars within the virtual set. All tracking and rendering is done within a studio frame rate of 50 Hz with about 3 frames delay. The markerless actor tracking within virtual studios is evaluated by experts using an interview approach. The statistical evaluation is based on a questionnaire.
The methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha has been established as a highly efficient expression system. Strong promoters derived from the methanol metabolism pathway and mitotically stable high-copy integration have made this organism very effective for heterologous protein expression.
To improve the processing of secretory proteins targeted by the MFα prepro sequence, variations in the amino acid composition near the processing site of Kex2p were investigated (Manuscript I). The insertion of Ala-Pro between MFα prepro sequence and protein of interest leads to an improved processing of the signal sequence in case of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interferon-α 2a (IFNα-2a). Modeling of the transition sequences confirmed a better exposition of the Kex2p-cleavage site in dependency of Ala-Pro insertions. Analysis of the secreted proteins revealed activity of an Ala-Pro specific endoprotease. Partial removal of the N-terminal Ala-Pro dipeptide was also detected during IFNα-2a processing. The putative protease responsible for the processing of Ala-Pro dipeptides was identified by gene deletion. Significant similarities with Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ste13p were identified.
To generally improve productivity in the H. polymorpha system new fusion protein strategies were investigated (Manuscript II). The recombinantly strongly expressed cytosolic ferritin heavy chain (FTH1) was analyzed with regard to its potential as fusion partner for difficult-to-express target proteins. A fragment of the parathyroid hormone (PTH) was chosen to explore whether fusion to FTH1 enhances PTH stability. We could show that the expression level of this fusion protein was at least of the magnitude of that of FTH1 without fusion partner. The solubility of the fusion protein was increased in comparison to FTH1 alone and no degradation of PTH occurred when fused C-terminally to FTH1.
Ectoine and 5-hydroxyectoine belong to the family of compatible solutes which are known to contribute to the adaptation of the cell to osmotic stress by mediation of a constant turgor. H. polymorpha was engineered to express the enzymes of the H. elongata 5-hydroxyectoine biosynthesis pathway (Manuscript III). Expression of the enzymes EctB, EctA, EctC and EctD in H. polymorpha resulted in production of 5-hydroxyectoine in gram per liter scale with almost full conversion of ectoine to 5-hydroxyectoine. We showed that 5-hydroxyectoine synthesis was influenced by feeding of methanol during cultivation. Furthermore, 5-hydroxyectoine synthesis was downregulated by the addition of methionine, lysine or threonine indicating the existence of a feedback regulated aspartate kinase in H. polymorpha.
Female employment, reconciliation policies, and childbearing intentions in East and West Germany.
(2013)
The article argues that European innovators can profit from some of the concepts of philosophical Daoism, namely "wu-wei" (non-interference) and "ziran" ("go with the flow"). Whereas most Western approaches to innovation emphasize the different stages of the creative process as well as tools to enhance creativity, the Daoist world view allows for the mind to just wander and thus spontaneously discover the solution to a problem in a rather detached state of mind. Creative minds need space for personal development and the permission to wander around without being exposed to control and instant judgement on the results. Training individuals in the tools and techniques of problem solving and creativity as the common approach in innovation management is certainly necessary, but in the end it is the intellectual accomplishment of a creative mind that produces innovation. Managers can allow this to happen when they get the balance of control and non-interference right.
The literature as well as databases are ambiguous about the exact start of human interleukin-6 (IL-6)--three possibilities for the initiation of the mature protein are described. These three variants of IL-6, different in the exact initiation of the mature protein (A28, P29, or V30), were expressed in Hansenula polymorpha using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae MFα prepro sequence instead of the homologous pre sequence. All three IL-6 variants were secreted but the processing by the Kex2 protease showed significant differences. V30-IL-6 showed correctly processed material but also a molecule species of higher molecular weight indicating incomplete processing of the MFα pro peptide. P29-IL-6 did not yield any correctly processed IL-6, instead only the unprocessed pro form was found in the culture supernatant. Only A28-IL-6 led to 100% correctly processed material. N-terminal sequencing of this material revealed a start at V30--obviously the first two amino acids (Ala28-Pro29) have been removed by a so far unknown protease. Thus expression of both A28-IL-6 and V30-IL-6 as MFα prepro fusion proteins resulted in the very same mature V30-IL-6, however, the ratio of correctly processed molecules was significantly higher in the case of A28-IL-6. The expression of an MFα prepro-interferon α-2a (IFNα-2a) fusion protein in H. polymorpha leads to about 50% correctly processed molecules and 50% misprocessed forms which contain part of the pro peptide at the N-termini. The insertion of A28 and P29 of IL-6 between the pro peptide and the start of the mature IFNα-2a led to correct processing and elimination of all high molecular weight isoforms observed in earlier experiments.
Synthesis and release of the bacterial compatible solute 5-hydroxyectoine in Hansenula polymorpha
(2013)
Ectoine and 5-hydroxyectoine belong to the family of compatible solutes which are known to mainly contribute to the adaptation of the cell to osmotic stress by mediation of a constant turgor. In addition the cell's essential functions are maintained under stress conditions like high salinity, heat or aridity stress. Hansenula polymorpha was engineered to catalyze the transformation of monomeric substrates to 5-hydroxyectoine. For this purpose four genes encoding the enzymes of the 5-hydroxyectoine biosynthesis pathway of Halomonas elongata, EctA, EctB, EctC, and EctD, were inserted into the genome of H. polymorpha. Subsequently the syntheses of ectoine and 5-hydroxyectoine were analyzed and optimized. We showed that H. polymorpha is a suitable system for recombinant 5-hydroxyectoine synthesis in gram per liter scale (2.8 g L⁻¹ culture supernatant, 365 μmol/g dcw) in which almost 100% conversion of ectoine to 5-hydroxyectoine without necessity of high salinity were achieved.
Stability and cost optimality of power generation and supply systems must not be considered independently from one another. Simple examples show that optimizing cost without considering stability may result in modes of operation that, while economically optimal, are unstable. We demonstrate that stability, robustness, and optimality can be considered systematically and simultaneously by combining bifurcation theory and nonlinear optimization. Essentially, the proposed method enforces a backoff distance between the optimal point of operation and operational or stability boundaries in the space of the optimization variables, where bifurcation theory is used to describe nonlinear stability boundaries.