Transcutaneous stimulation of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (tVNS) may accelerate fear extinction in healthy humans. Here, we aimed to investigate this hypothesis in healthy young ...participants in a prepared learning paradigm, using spider pictures as conditioned stimuli. After a fear conditioning phase, participants were randomly allocated to receive tVNS (final N = 42) or sham stimulation (final N = 43) during an extinction phase. Conditioned fear was assessed using US expectancy ratings, skin conductance and fear potentiated startle responses. After successful fear acquisition, participants in both groups showed a reduction of fear over the course of the extinction phase. There were no between-group differences in extinction rates for physiological indices of fear. Contrary to previous findings, participants in the tVNS condition also did not show accelerated declarative extinction learning. Participants in the tVNS condition did have lower initial US expectancy ratings for the CS- trials than those who received sham stimulation, which may indicate an enhanced processing of safety cues due to tVNS. In conclusion, the expected accelerated extinction due to tVNS was not observed. The results from this study call for more research on the optimal tVNS stimulation intensity settings.
One of the presumed pathways linking negative emotions to adverse somatic health is an overactive HPA-axis, usually indicated by elevated cortisol levels. Traditionally, research has focused on ...consciously reported negative emotions. Yet, given that the majority of information processing occurs without conscious awareness, stress physiology might also be influenced by affective processes that people are not aware of. In a 24-h ambulatory study we examined whether cortisol levels were associated with two implicit measures. Implicit affect was assessed using the Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test, and implicit negative memory bias was assessed with the word fragment completion tasks. In 55 healthy participants, we measured subjective stress levels, worries, implicit, and explicit affect each hour during waking hours. Also, saliva samples were collected at three fixed times during the day, as well as upon waking and 30 min thereafter (cortisol awakening response). Multilevel analyses of the daytime cortisol levels revealed that the presence of an implicit negative memory bias was associated with increased cortisol levels. Additionally, implicit PA and, unexpectedly, implicit NA were negatively associated with cortisol levels. Finally, participants demonstrating higher levels of implicit sadness during the first measurement day, had a stronger cortisol rise upon awakening at the next day. Contrary to previous research, no associations between explicit affect and cortisol were apparent. The current study was the first to examine the concurrent relation between implicit measures and stress physiology in daily life. The results suggest that the traditional focus on consciously reported feelings and emotions is limited, and that implicit measures can add to our understanding of how stress and emotions contribute to daily physiological activity and, in the long term, health problems.
Few studies have focused on the actual extent and spatial patterns of browsing in relation to forest restoration, especially when browsing is done by deer with conservation status. Here, we present ...data from three forest restoration experiments located in priority forests for restoration in Chiloé Island in Chile. The aim of this study is to report evidence of browsing of the southern pudu (Pudu puda), a native and Near Threatened deer species. We visually assessed browsing for all individual seedlings and calculated the average browsing extent per plot and treatment. Since pudus as well as other deer species are known to preferably feed in open spaces, we hypothesized that Pilgerodendron uviferum planted seedlings will present higher browsing rates in places with lower shrub cover (bogs) and canopy cover (upland areas) (H1). In the case of degraded North-Patagonian forests we hypothesized that Nothofagus nitida planted seedlings will present higher browsing rates in places with higher %PPFD (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density) and/or lower residual basal area (H2). Our results indicate that browsing ranged from 9.3% up to 84.0% depending on tree species and site condition. In burned forests, browsing was significantly higher (p < 0.01) when shrubs were removed (84.0% ± 9.9) than by retaining them (68.9% ± 11.6). In degraded old-growth forests, we found significantly higher browsing in places with higher degradation (p < 0.05). Furthermore, %PPFD was significantly correlated with browsing (rho: 0.535; p < 0.01). Based on our results, forest restoration efforts in Chiloé Island will face a great challenge in balancing the protection of Near Threatened wildlife and the restoration of tree species with conservation problems, especially in open/disturbed areas, where higher browsing was found.
Many industrial processes (e.g., steel, fertilizer, paper production) utilize programmable logic controllers or distributed control systems, which cyclically execute control applications. Dynamic ...updates of such applications at runtime are desirable for optimizing the production while avoiding production stops. However, such updates are challenging since they require fast switching to an updated instance and executing an internal state transfer within the control cycle times. Existing dynamic update approaches for industrial applications can for example not update controller runtimes or operating systems, since they do not utilize modern container virtualization technologies. Furthermore, existing state transfer methods for container orchestration systems do not support fast cyclic applications. We propose a novel state transfer method for industrial control applications deployed as containerized Kubernetes microservices on server hosts or resource-rich industrial personal computers. The method enables dynamic updates and live migration of applications to others hosts without interrupting the underlying production facilities, which avoids costly downtimes. We have implemented our method as a Kubernetes extension and found that it can transfer large application states (i.e. 100.000 variables) via OPC UA in less than 42 ms across different hosts, which can fit into the available cycle slack time, therefore enabling a wide range of bumpless updates at runtime.
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•Industrial control systems need dynamic updates without interrupting production.•Containerized control applications execute cyclically and carry an internal state.•A Kubernetes operator transfers internal state of control applications using OPC UA.•Experiments show fast state transfer is possible for large control applications.•Bump-less updates and live migrations make control system more flexible and secure.
Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) is a non‐invasive neurostimulation technique that is currently being tested as a potential treatment for a myriad of neurological and psychiatric ...disorders. However, the working mechanisms underlying tVNS are poorly understood and it remains unclear whether stimulation activates the vagus nerve for every participant. Finding a biological marker of tVNS is imperative, as it can help guide research on clinical applications and can inform researchers on optimal stimulation sites and parameters to further optimize treatment efficacy. In this narrative review, we discuss five potential biomarkers for tVNS and review currently available evidence for these markers for both invasive and tVNS. While some of these biomarkers hold promise from a theoretical perspective, none of the potential biomarkers provide clear and definitive indications that tVNS increases the vagal activity or augments activity in the locus coeruleus‐noradrenaline network. We conclude the review by providing several recommendations for how to tackle the challenges and opportunities when researching potential biomarkers for the effects of tVNS.
This narrative review offers a comprehensive overview of research findings related to the potential biomarkers of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS). None of the biomarkers provide clear indications that tVNS increases vagal activation or affects central areas believed to mediate its effects. The mixed findings in tVNS research may reflect suboptimal experimental assessment standards. Recommendations for future research on potential biomarkers are provided.
Einführung der relativen Marktmacht in der Schweiz Stäuber, Richard; Burger, Andreas
Zeitschrift für Wettbewerbsrecht : ZWeR = Journal of competition law,
06/2021, Letnik:
19, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Am 19. 3. 2021 hat das schweizerische Parlament eine Änderung des Kartellgesetzes beschlossen, mit der das Konzept der relativen Marktmacht eingeführt wird. Nach dem neuen Recht sind relativ ...marktmächtige Unternehmen den marktbeherrschenden gleichgestellt. Der Wortlaut dieser Regelung geht wesentlich über das erklärte Ziel des Gesetzgebers hinaus, diskriminierungsfreie Beschaffungen im Ausland zu ermöglichen. Angesichts dieses Widerspruchs zwischen Wortlaut und erklärtem Ziel des Gesetzgebers sind teleologische und systematische Elemente bei der Auslegung des neuen Rechts von besonderer Bedeutung. Gestützt auf diese Gesichtspunkte wird hier vorgeschlagen, die relative Marktmacht schweizerischer Prägung als Instrument gegen preisbezogene Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen im Vertikalverhältnis zu konzipieren und konkretisieren.
Einführung der relativen Marktmacht in der Schweiz Stäuber, Richard; Burger, Andreas
Zeitschrift für Wettbewerbsrecht : ZWeR = Journal of competition law,
06/2021, Letnik:
19, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Zusammenfassung
Am 19. 3. 2021 hat das schweizerische Parlament eine Änderung des Kartellgesetzes beschlossen, mit der das Konzept der relativen Marktmacht eingeführt wird. Nach dem neuen Recht sind ...relativ marktmächtige Unternehmen den marktbeherrschenden gleichgestellt. Der Wortlaut dieser Regelung geht wesentlich über das erklärte Ziel des Gesetzgebers hinaus, diskriminierungsfreie Beschaffungen im Ausland zu ermöglichen. Angesichts dieses Widerspruchs zwischen Wortlaut und erklärtem Ziel des Gesetzgebers sind teleologische und systematische Elemente bei der Auslegung des neuen Rechts von besonderer Bedeutung. Gestützt auf diese Gesichtspunkte wird hier vorgeschlagen, die relative Marktmacht schweizerischer Prägung als Instrument gegen preisbezogene Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen im Vertikalverhältnis zu konzipieren und konkretisieren.
•13 code generation methods for control logic in industrial automation since 2004.•Each method considers different inputs, transformations, and outputs.•Survey providing categorization in rule-based ...and higher-level programming.•Generating IEC 61131-3 control logic was demonstrated only on small examples so far.•Merging generated and hand-written code and backpropagation open research topics.
Software development for the automation of industrial facilities (e.g., oil platforms, chemical plants, power plants, etc.) involves implementing control logic, often in IEC 61131-3 programming languages. Developing safe and efficient program code is expensive and today still requires substantial manual effort. Researchers have thus proposed numerous approaches for automatic control logic generation in the last two decades, but a systematic, in-depth analysis of their capabilities and assumptions is missing. This paper proposes a novel classification framework for control logic generation approaches defining criteria derived from industry best practices. The framework is applied to compare and analyze 13 different control logic generation approaches. Prominent findings include different categories of control logic generation approaches, the challenge of dealing with iterative engineering processes, and the need for more experimental validations in larger case studies.
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