Digit ratio (2D:4D) and short-term mating orientation

Scientific Conference (2008, July)

Working memory, phonological awareness, and developing language skills

Poster (2008, July)

The relationship between working memory, verbal short-term memory, phonological awareness, and developing language skills was explored longitudinally in children growing up in a multilingual society. A ... [more ▼]

The relationship between working memory, verbal short-term memory, phonological awareness, and developing language skills was explored longitudinally in children growing up in a multilingual society. A sample of 121 children from Luxembourg were followed from the end of Kindergarten to 1st Grade, and completed multiple assessments of verbal short-term memory, complex working memory, phonological awareness, native and foreign vocabulary knowledge, language comprehension, and reading. Results indicate that relations between the measures were best characterized by a model consisting of two related but separable constructs – corresponding to verbal short-term memory and the central executive – that were distinct from phonological awareness. The data further showed that assessments of verbal short-term memory in Kindergarten significantly predicted vocabulary knowledge and comprehension in native and foreign languages one year later: Central executive and verbal short-term memory measures in Kindergarten were significantly associated with reading in 1st Grade and phonological awareness, indexed by rhyme detection, did not predict any of the language constructs one year later. The findings lend strong support to the position that verbal short-term memory is one of the main contributors to new word learning in both native and non-native languages by supporting the formation of stable phonological representations of new words in long-term memory. Verbal short-term memory also seems to play a significant role in the syntactic comprehension of sentences. The heard material might be kept active in verbal short-term memory while the child is listening to the sentence and processing it for comprehension. Finally working memory appears to make significant contributions to reading development. One explanation of these findings is that literacy classroom activities often impose heavy demands on working memory, the capacity of which therefore has a direct effect on the frequency of task failure or success in these classroom activities which consequently influences the rate of learning. [less ▲]

Selbstkontrolle und Bewegungslernen. Motorische, kognitive und motivationale Aspekte

Book published by Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt - Edition Universität (2008)

Wanting more is not always better: Associations of goal-orientation with age, outcome vs. process focus, and subjective indicators of well-being

Poster (2008, July)

Relation of circulating concentrations of chemokine receptor CCR5 ligands to C-peptide, proinsulin and HbA1c and disease progression in type 1 diabetes

in Clinical Immunology (2008), 128(1), 57-65

Th1 related chemokines CCL3 and CCL5 and Th2 related CCL4 as ligands of the receptor CCR5 contribute to disease development in animal models of type 1 diabetes. In humans, no data are available addressing ... [more ▼]

Th1 related chemokines CCL3 and CCL5 and Th2 related CCL4 as ligands of the receptor CCR5 contribute to disease development in animal models of type 1 diabetes. In humans, no data are available addressing the role of these chemokines regarding disease progression and remission. We investigated longitudinally circulating concentrations of CCR5 ligands of 256 newly diagnosed patients with type 1 diabetes. CCR5 ligands were differentially associated with beta-cell function and clinical remission. CCL5 was decreased in remitters and positively associated with HbA1c suggestive of a Th1 associated progression of the disease. Likewise, CCL3 was negatively related to C-peptide and positively associated with the beta-cell stress marker proinsulin but increased in remitters. CCL4 associated with decreased beta-cell stress shown by negative association with proinsulin. Blockage of chemokines or antagonism of CCR5 by therapeutic agents such as maraviroc may provide a new therapeutic target to ameliorate disease progression in type 1 diabetes. [less ▲]

Deffenbacher Driving Scale: Psychometric properties of a German Version

Scientific Conference (2008, July)

Gewalt in der Schule: Ursachen und Prävention

Presentation (2008, July)

Computational representation and hemodynamic characterization of in vivo acquired severe stenotic renal artery geometries using turbulence modeling

in Medical Engineering and Physics (2008), 30(5), 647-660

The present study reports on computational fluid dynamics in the case of severe renal artery stenosis (RAS). An anatomically realistic model of a renal artery was reconstructed from CT scans, and used to ... [more ▼]

The present study reports on computational fluid dynamics in the case of severe renal artery stenosis (RAS). An anatomically realistic model of a renal artery was reconstructed from CT scans, and used to conduct CFD simulations of blood flow across RAS. The recently developed Shear Stress Transport turbulence model was pivotally applied in the simulation of blood flow in the region of interest. Blood flow was studied in vivo under the presence of RAS and subsequently in simulated cases before the development of RAS, and after endovascular stent implantation. The pressure gradients in the RAS case were many orders of magnitude larger than in the healthy case. The presence of RAS increased flow resistance, which led to considerably lower blood flow rates. A simulated stent in place of the RAS decreased the flow resistance at levels proportional to, and even lower than, the simulated healthy case without the RAS. The wall shear stresses, differential pressure profiles, and net forces exerted on the surface of the atherosclerotic plaque at peak pulse were shown to be of relevant high distinctiveness, so as to be considered potential indicators of hemodynamically significant RAS. [less ▲]

Network security through artificial immunity with SANA

Doctoral thesis (2008)

Sensitivity enhancement of metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors on low-temperature-grown GaAs using alloyed contacts

in IEEE Photonics Technology Letters (2008), 20(12), 1054-1056

We have fabricated and characterized metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) photodetectors based on lowtemperature-grown GaAs with alloyed (i.e., ohmic-type) contacts. The annealed contacts optimize the electric ... [more ▼]

We have fabricated and characterized metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) photodetectors based on lowtemperature-grown GaAs with alloyed (i.e., ohmic-type) contacts. The annealed contacts optimize the electric field distribution inside the photodetector structure which results in an up-to-200% responsivity increase of the devices, compared to conventional MSM detectors with standard nonalloyed (Schottky-type) metallization fabricated on identical material. The improved MSM device with alloyed contacts shows more than three times larger output amplitude at illumination with a 100-fs Ti : sapphire laser, compared to the nonalloyed devices, without degradation of detector speed. [less ▲]