Halogen substitution patterns among disinfection byproducts in the information collection rule database

Disinfection byproduct halogen substitution patterns were examined using Information Collection Rule data. A new metric was developed to quantify and compare extents of specific halogen substitution in different byproduct classes. Bromine substitution in four byproduct classes ranged widely across 6565 samples but strong interdependencies existed between classes on an individual sample basis. Bromine substitution in dihaloacetic acids and trihalomethanes was comparable whereas bromine substitution in trihaloacetic acids and dihaloacetonitriles tended to be 10% lower and 60% higher than in trihalomethanes, respectively. However, these bromine substitution measurements were significantly impacted by censored data handling because reporting limit left-censoring increased with the number of bromine substituents in each class and minimum reporting levels varied between and within classes. Correlation among extents of bromine substitution in the four byproduct classes examined motivated their treatment as a multivariate response with application of a test for multivariate outliers. The test was effective at exposing inconsistencies indicative of data entry or analytical error. This work shows that disinfection byproduct data with full homologue series for multiple compound classes contain redundant information in the form of expected interdependencies among species. Application to quality assurance is demonstrated in this paper. Further applications to modeling and monitoring design are anticipated.     

Light‐Driven Shape Morphing,Assembly, and Motion of Nanocomposite Gel Surfers

Patterning of nanoparticles (NPs) via photochemical reduction within thermally responsive hydrogel films is demonstrated as a versatile platform for programming light‐driven shape morphing and materials assembly. Responsive hydrogel disks, containing patterned metal NPs, form characteristic wrinkled structures when illuminated at an air/water interface. The resulting distortion of the three‐phase (air/water/hydrogel) contact lines induces capillary interactions between two or more disks, which are either attractive or repulsive depending on the selected pattern of light. By programming the shapes of the NP‐rich regions, as well as of the hydrogel objects themselves, the number and location of attractive interactions are specified, and the assembly geometry is controlled. Remarkably, appropriately patterned illumination enables sustained rotation and motion of the hydrogel disks. Overall, these results offer insight into a wide variety of shape‐programmable materials and capillary assemblies, simply by controlling the NP patterns and illumination of these soft materials.     

Multi‐Scale Geometry Interpolation

Interpolating vertex positions among triangle meshes with identical vertex‐edge graphs is a fundamental part of many geometric modelling systems. Linear vertex interpolation is robust but fails to preserve local shape. Most recent approaches identify local affine transformations for parts of the mesh, model desired interpolations of the affine transformations, and then optimize vertex positions to conform with the desired transformations. However, the local interpolation of the rotational part is non‐trivial for more than two input configurations and ambiguous if the meshes are deformed significantly. We propose a solution to the vertex interpolation problem that starts from interpolating the local metric (edge lengths) and mean curvature (dihedral angles) and makes consistent choices of local affine transformations using shape matching applied to successively larger parts of the mesh. The local interpolation can be applied to any number of input vertex configurations and due to the hierarchical scheme for generating consolidated vertex positions, the approach is fast and can be applied to very large meshes.     

The fluctuation-imposed limit for temperature measurement

In experimental sciences, random processes often place a fundamental limit on the achievable measurement resolution. A well known example is the Johnson noise voltage across a resistor. In this paper, we describe observations of the spontaneous transfer of heat in two equilibrium systems: one consisting of a thermometer linked to a reservoir, the other consisting of two thermometers connected to each other and linked to a reservoir for the purpose of temperature stabilization. In the second system, we find anti-correlations between the temperature fluctuations of the two thermometers at intermediate frequencies. We also find that the low frequency temperature noise density of the thermometers, in units of , is given by , whereR is the thermal resistance of the link between the thermometer and the reservoir. This implies that for noise reduction purposes,R is the only available engineering parameter to adjust. In a recent thermometer design, we have reduced R to achieve a low frequency temperature noise density of 5×10⁻¹¹ at 2.18 K.     

Ermittlung der Gleichgewichtskonstante der Kieselsäurereduktion in Eisen-Kohlenstoff-Silicium-Sauerstoff-Schmelzen durch Sauerstoffpartialdruckmessungen

Reaktionsbereiche von Kohlenstoff und Silicium im System Eisen–Kohlenstoff–Silicium–Sauerstoff. Definition der ?Übergangstemperatur? bei der Kieselsäurereduktion. Temperaturabhängigkeit des Sauerstoffpartialdrucks, gemessen mit Sauerstoffkonzentrationsketten mit Mullit als Festelektrolyt. Ermittlung der Gleichgewichtskonstante für die Kieselsäurereduktion und für die Auflösungsreaktion von Sauerstoff in kohlenstoff- und siliciumreichen Eisenschmelzen.     

Synthesis and Degradation of Schiff Bases Containing Heterocyclic Pharmacophore

This paper reports on the synthesis and characterization of two Schiff bases bearing 1,2,4-triazolic moieties, namely 4H-4-(2-hydroxy-benzylidene-amino)-5-benzyl-3-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole and 4H-4-(4-nitro-benzylidene-amino)-5-benzyl-3-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole using thin layer chromatography, melting interval, elemental analysis, spectroscopy and thermal stability studies.     

The Footprint of Kynurenine Pathway in Neurodegeneration: Janus-Faced Role in Parkinson’s Disorder and Therapeutic Implications

Progressive degeneration of neurons and aggravation of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta results in the loss of dopamine in the brain of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. Numerous therapies, exhibiting transient efficacy have been developed; however, they are mostly accompanied by side effects and limited reliability, therefore instigating the need to develop novel optimistic treatment targets. Significant therapeutic targets have been identified, namely: chaperones, protein Abelson, glucocerebrosidase-1, calcium, neuromelanin, ubiquitin-proteasome system, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the kynurenine pathway (KP). The role of KP and its metabolites and enzymes in PD, namely quinolinic acid (QUIN), kynurenic acid (KYNA), 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK), 3-hydroxyanthranillic acid (3-HAA), kunurenine-3-monooxygenase (KMO), etc. has been reported. The neurotoxic QUIN, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor agonist, and neuroprotective KYNA—which antagonizes QUIN actions—primarily justify the Janus-faced role of KP in PD. Moreover, KP has been reported to play a biomarker role in PD detection. Therefore, the authors detail the neurotoxic, neuroprotective, and immunomodulatory neuroactive components, alongside the upstream and downstream metabolic pathways of KP, forming a basis for a therapeutic paradigm of the disease while recognizing KP as a potential biomarker in PD, thus facilitating the development of a suitable target in PD management.     

Life cycle assessment of the offshore wind farm alpha ventus

Due to better wind conditions at sea, offshore wind farms have the advantage of higher electricity production compared to onshore and inland wind farms. In contrast, a greater material input, leading to increased energy consumptions and emissions during the production phase, is required to build offshore wind farms. These contrary effects are investigated for the first German offshore wind farm alpha ventus in the North Sea. In a life cycle assessment its environmental influence is compared to that of Germany’s electricity mix.In comparison to the mix, alpha ventus had better indicators in nearly every investigated impact category. One kilowatt-hour electricity, generated by the wind farm, was burdened with 0.137 kWh Primary Energy-Equivalent and 32 g CO₂-Equivalent, which represented only a small proportion of the accordant values for the mix. Furthermore, the offshore foundations as well as the submarine cable were the main energy intensive components. The energetic and greenhouse gas payback period was less than one year.Therefore, offshore wind power, even in deep water, is compatible with the switch to sustainable electricity production relying on renewable energies. Additional research, taking backup power plants as well as increasingly required energy storage systems into account, will allow further calculation.     

Nuclear power,climate change and energy security: Exploring British public attitudes

Public attitudes towards nuclear power in the UK have historically been deeply divided, but as concern about climate change and energy security has exerted an increasing influence on British energy policy, nuclear power has been reframed as a low-carbon technology. Previous research has suggested that a significant proportion of people may ‘reluctantly accept’ nuclear power as a means of addressing the greater threat of climate change. Drawing on the results of a national British survey (n=1822), the current study found that attitudes towards nuclear remain divided, with only a minority expressing unconditional acceptance. In general, people who expressed greater concern about climate change and energy security and possessed higher environmental values were less likely to favour nuclear power. However, when nuclear power was given an explicit ‘reluctant acceptance’ framing – allowing people to express their dislike for nuclear power alongside their conditional support – concerns about climate change and energy security became positive predictors of support for nuclear power. These findings suggest that concern about climate change and energy security will only increase acceptance of nuclear power under limited circumstances—specifically once other (preferred) options have been exhausted.     

ARAP Revisited Discretizing the Elastic Energy using Intrinsic Voronoi Cells

As-rigid-as-possible (ARAP) surface modelling is widely used for interactive deformation of triangle meshes. We show that ARAP can be interpreted as minimizing a discretization of an elastic energy based on non-conforming elements defined over dual orthogonal cells of the mesh. Using the intrinsic Voronoi cells rather than an orthogonal dual of the extrinsic mesh guarantees that the energy is non-negative over each cell. We represent the intrinsic Delaunay edges extrinsically as polylines over the mesh, encoded in barycentric coordinates relative to the mesh vertices. This modification of the original ARAP energy, which we term iARAP, remedies problems stemming from non-Delaunay edges in the original approach. Unlike the spokes-and-rims version of the ARAP approach it is less susceptible to the triangulation of the surface. We provide examples of deformations generated with iARAP and contrast them with other versions of ARAP. We also discuss the properties of the Laplace-Beltrami operator implicitly introduced with the new discretization.