Publications by authors named "Jens Weber"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study explores how vehicle occupants' postures change during evasive actions and identifies differences in responses when tested in a vehicle cabin versus a sled setup with varying surrounding structures.
  • - An experiment with five volunteers examined how the addition of a lateral structure affects body movement and muscle response during lateral accelerations, showing significant differences in upper body movement when the structure was present.
  • - Results indicated that the proximity of the structure influences head rotation during relaxation, with a notable decrease in maximum head rotation, while muscle activation remained consistent across setups, highlighting the role of environmental factors on human response in dynamic scenarios.
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During durst storms, also biological material is transported from arid areas such as the Sahara Desert. In the present work, rain samples containing significant amounts of mineral dust have been collected in Granada during different red rain episodes. Biological features (bacteria, biofilm, pollen grain and fungal spore) as well as size-particle distribution and mineralogical composition were studied by SEM.

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Vehicle occupants expect greater postural flexibility with the introduction of highly automated vehicles, such as reclined postures. Experiments have been conducted with post mortem human subjects to study the risk of injury under impact conditions in reclined postures. However, the influence of the pre-crash phase on the kinematics in reclined postures has not yet been thoroughly studied.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how seated humans respond to lateral accelerations, which are less understood compared to frontal accelerations, by examining their kinematics in various conditions.
  • Five volunteers were tested on a sled with 21 lateral pulses across different configurations, assessing how muscle state (relaxed vs. braced) and spinal posture affected their head movements.
  • Results reveal that pulse type significantly affects head bending, with braced conditions reducing lateral movement, while spinal posture (straight vs. sagging) did not have a notable impact.
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Biocrusts covering drylands account for major fractions of terrestrial biological nitrogen fixation and release large amounts of gaseous reactive nitrogen (N) as nitrous acid (HONO) and nitric oxide (NO). Recent investigations suggested that aerobic and anaerobic microbial nitrogen transformations occur simultaneously upon desiccation of biocrusts, but the spatio-temporal distribution of seemingly contradictory processes remained unclear. Here, we explore small-scale gradients in chemical concentrations related to structural characteristics and organism distribution.

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Nitrous acid (HONO) is an important component of the global nitrogen cycle and can regulate the atmospheric oxidative capacity. Soil is an important source of HONO. [HONO]*, the equilibrium gas-phase concentration over the aqueous solution of nitrous acid in the soil, has been suggested as a key parameter for quantifying soil fluxes of HONO.

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Objective: The goal of this study is to evaluate the potential effect of muscle pre-activation under a lateral impact scenario, in this case focusing on a far-side impact, using an Active Human Body Model.

Methods: In total fourteen simulations were run, out of these, twelve were computed with an Active Human Body Model and two with a passive one. The models were subjected to a far-side impact scenario reaching up to 14 g's.

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Interoperability between heterogenous (health) IT systems relies on standards, which are communicated to system vendors in the form of so-called conformance profiles. Clinical information systems are often subjected to mandatory conformance testing and certification prior to being admitted into the health information exchange (HIE). The requirements specified in conformance profiles are therefore instrumental for ensuring the correctness and safety of the emerging HIE network.

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Coordinated long-term plasticity of nearby excitatory synaptic inputs has been proposed to shape experience-related neuronal information processing. To elucidate the induction rules leading to spatially structured forms of synaptic potentiation in dendrites, we explored plasticity of glutamate uncaging-evoked excitatory input patterns with various spatial distributions in perisomatic dendrites of CA1 pyramidal neurons in slices from adult male rats. We show that (1) the cooperativity rules governing the induction of synaptic LTP depend on dendritic location; (2) LTP of input patterns that are subthreshold or suprathreshold to evoke local dendritic spikes (d-spikes) requires different spatial organization; and (3) input patterns evoking d-spikes can strengthen nearby, nonsynchronous synapses by local heterosynaptic plasticity crosstalk mediated by NMDAR-dependent MEK/ERK signaling.

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Interoperability between heterogeneous health information systems has remained an elusive goal despite decades of exchange standards development and implementation initiatives. Empirical studies have shown that in many cases, implemented interoperability interfaces fail to function correctly. Unfortunately, the health informatics literature provides little guidance on how to best design and assure interoperability interfaces.

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Clinical decision support systems are evolving with growing analytics capabilities towards pervasive use of artificial intelligence. Maturity models can guide the adoption of these new technologies in clinical practice to improve patient outcomes in primary care settings. Our literature survey identified the "Health Analytics Adoption Maturity Model" by Canada Health Infoway as a suitable basis for developing an adoption maturity framework with primary care focus.

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Technological interventions aimed at addressing medication non-adherence have shown some promise but do not deliver the full potential of an Internet of Things based Adherence Decision Support (ADS) system due, in part, to a lack high-resolution definition and measure of adherence. This paper presents a novel methodology and pilot study aimed at collecting data to support an AI-based measure of adherence. The pilot study results demonstrate the viability of the methodology and that a full-scale study could provide meaningful data to support to an AI-based ADS system.

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A new micro/mesoporous hybrid clay nanocomposite prepared from kaolinite clay, seeds, and ZnCl via calcination in an inert atmosphere is presented. Regardless of the synthesis temperature, the specific surface area of the nanocomposite material is between ≈150 and 300 m/g. The material contains both micro- and mesopores in roughly equal amounts.

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Background: Potentially Inappropriate Prescriptions (PIPs) are a common cause of morbidity, particularly in the elderly.

Objective: We sought to understand how the Screening Tool of Older People's Prescriptions (STOPP) prescribing criteria, implemented in a routinely used primary care Electronic Medical Record (EMR), could impact PIP rates in community (non-academic) primary care practices.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-method, pragmatic, cluster, randomized control trial in research naïve primary care practices.

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Mesoporous poly(melamine-formaldehyde) (MF) particles with surface areas of up to 200mg were synthesized by an inverse emulsion polymerization using dodecane and Span80® as continuous phase. The finer details of the shape control (using emulsion techniques) and the porosity control (using silica nanoparticles as hard-template) are discussed. The impact of phase-separation processes on the observable porosity of the 20-200µm sized spherical particles is analysed by gas sorption methods and electron microscopy.

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Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) systems have been shown to introduce new problems into clinical environments. Given the communication intensive nature of these systems considering the language(s) of communication can provide insight into their function and subsequent problems. The current (as November 2015) CPOE literature was reviewed using the language concepts of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics as a lens.

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Medication non-adherence is a global problem that has been studied over the past 40 years. Despite the large number of studies there is not an agreed upon definition of "adherence" in the literature. The lack of a consistent definition has resulted in issues in adherence research, clinical implementation, and HIT system development.

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Nonlinear interactions between coactive synapses enable neurons to discriminate between spatiotemporal patterns of inputs. Using patterned postsynaptic stimulation by two-photon glutamate uncaging, here we investigate the sensitivity of synaptic Ca(2+) signalling and long-term plasticity in individual spines to coincident activity of nearby synapses. We find a proximodistally increasing gradient of nonlinear NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-mediated amplification of spine Ca(2+) signals by a few neighbouring coactive synapses along individual perisomatic dendrites.

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Background: A major goal of much aging-related research and geriatric medicine is to identify early changes in health and functioning before serious limitations develop. To this end, regular collection of patient-reported outcome measure (PROMs) in a clinical setting may be useful to identify and monitor these changes. However, existing PROMs were not designed for repeated administration and are more commonly used as one-time screening tools; as such, their ability to detect variation and measurement properties when administered repeatedly remain unknown.

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In this work, we report three isostructural 3D frameworks, named IFP-11 (R = Cl), IFP-12 (R = Br), and IFP-13 (R = Et) (IFP = Imidazolate Framework Potsdam) based on a cobalt(II) center and the chelating linker 2-substituted imidazolate-4-amide-5-imidate. These chelating ligands were generated in situ by partial hydrolysis of 2-substituted 4,5-dicyanoimidazoles under microwave (MW)-assisted conditions in DMF. Structure determination of these IFPs was investigated by IR spectroscopy and a combination of powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) with structure modeling.

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A lack of data quality (DQ) is often a significant inhibitor impeding the realization of cost and quality benefits expected from Clinical Information Systems (CIS). Attaining and sustaining DQ in CIS has been a multi-faceted and elusive goal. The current literature on DQ in health informatics mainly consists of empirical studies and practitioners' reports, but often lack a holistic approach to addressing DQ 'by design'.

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Improvements in medication management may lead to a reduction of preventable errors. Usability and user experience issues are common and related to achieving benefits of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). This paper reports on a novel study that combines the lead user method with a safety engineering review to discover an innovative design for the medication management module in EMRs in primary care.

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The acid-catalyzed polycondensation of oligo(melamine-formaldehyde) in aqueous phase and in the presence of silica nanoparticles leads to a stable dispersion of coexisting silica and polymer nanoparticles. The dispersion can be processed into mesoporous xerogels (SBET ≈ 200 m(2) g(-1)), whose porosity can be enhanced by etching of silica up to specific surface areas of >400 m(2) g(-1). The formation mechanism and the characteristics of the hybrid dispersion are crucial to the materials derived from it and analyzed in detail using a variety of experimental techniques (electron and force microscopy, light and X-ray scattering, ultracentrifugation, and spectroscopy).

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Background: Personal Health Records (PHRs) are electronic health records controlled, shared or maintained by patients to support patient centered care. The potential for PHRs to transform health care is significant; however, PHRs do not always achieve their potential. One reason for this may be that not all health conditions are sensitive to the PHR as an intervention.

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Many health information and communication technologies (ICT) are safety-critical; moreover, reports of technology-induced adverse events related to them are plentiful in the literature. Despite repeated criticism and calls to action, recent data collected by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and other organization do not indicate significant improvements with respect to the safety of health ICT systems. A large part of the industry still operates on a reactive "break & patch" model; the application of pro-active, systematic hazard analysis methods for engineering ICT that produce "safe by design" products is sparse.

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