Der österreichische Bergbau im internationalen Spannungsfeld

The paper deals with the development of Austrian mining activities in 2009. Special attention is payed to the Raw Materials Initiative and the Austrian Minerals Plan, both important instruments of a sustainable minerals planning policy. Finally, the concentrations of producers and producer countries regarding market conditions are discussed in detail.     

Tensile strength of spruce glulam

Comparative tests on spruce glulam members subject to tension and bending, respectively, were numerically simulated to determine the tensile-to-bending-strength ratio. Nine different grading methods were applied to cover a wide strength range. They are based on visual inspection and mechanical determination of density and MOE. The simulated tensile and bending strength values result in an almost constant tensile-to-bending-strength ratio of 0.88. The ratio is valid for fifth percentile values and for standardized tests with prescribed member sizes. It is independent of the grading method used. In addition the size effect in glulam tension members was numerically studied. The results show a strong dependence of the glulam tensile strength upon the length subject to tension in case of short members. The dependence slowly wears off in case of long members. The tensile strength for members 150 mm in length is 140 percent of the reference value. The limit strength for a quasi-infinite length is about 80 percent.     

Information and communication theory in molecular biology

The DNA sequencing efforts of the past years together with rapid progress in sequencing technology have generated a huge amount of sequence data available in public molecular databases. This recent development makes it statistically feasible to apply universal concepts from Shannon’s information theory to problems in molecular biology, e.g to use mutual information for gene mapping and phylogenetic classification. Additionally, the genetic information in the cell is continuously subject to mutations. However, it has to be passed from generation to generation with high fidelity, raising the question of existence of error protection and correction mechanisms similar to those used in technical communication systems. Finally, better understanding of genetic information processing on the molecular level in the cell can be acquired by looking for parallels to well established models in communication theory, e.g. there exist analogies between gene expression and frame synchronization.     

Variational optic flow on the Sony PlayStation 3

While modern variational methods for optic flow computation offer dense flow fields and highly accurate results, their computational complexity has prevented their use in many real-time applications. With cheap modern parallel hardware such as the Cell Processor of the Sony PlayStation 3, new possibilities arise. For a linear and a nonlinear variant of the popular combined local-global method, we present specific algorithms on this architecture that are tailored towards real-time performance. They are based on bidirectional full multigrid methods with a full approximation scheme in the nonlinear setting. Their parallel design on the Cell hardware uses a temporal instead of a spatial decomposition, and processes operations in a vector-based manner. Memory latencies are reduced by a locality-preserving cache management and optimised access patterns. For images of size 316 × 252 pixels, we obtain dense flow fields for up to 210 frames per second.     

Bauxite washing for the removal of clay

Clay impurities associated with bauxite negatively affect the Bayer process for alumina production. These impurities should be removed as far as possible by a beneficiation technique before the ore is used as feed for the Bayer process. In this current investigation, bauxite washing was conducted in the laboratory. Bauxite washing is a physical process that causes the disintegration and deagglomeration of the clay matrix, and bauxite is liberated from the clay（mainly rich in silica）. Subsequently, separation occurs with the assistance of wet screening at a predetermined cut size. Three techniques were investigated in the laboratory： drum washing, water-jet washing, and ultrasonic washing. Various operating parameters were investigated for drum washing and water-jet washing, including materials retention time, drum rotation speed, solid concentration, water-jet spray duration, pressure, and height. We concluded that the retention time of bauxite inside the drum at a solid concentration of 55wt% and a drum rotation speed of 31 r/min is the dominant parameter for the removal of clay from the bauxite surface.     

Corona structure on demand: Tailor-made surface compartmentalization in worm-like micelles via random cocrystallization

We present a straightforward approach to well-defined 1D patchy particles utilizing crystallization-induced self-assembly. A polystyrene-block-polyethylene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PE-b-PMMA) triblock terpolymer is cocrystallized in a random fashion with a corresponding polystyrene-block-polyethylene-block-polystyrene (PS-b-PE-b-PS) triblock copolymer to yield worm-like crystalline-core micelles (wCCMs). Here, the corona composition (PMMA/PS fraction) can be easily adjusted via the amount of PS-b-PE-b-PMMA triblock terpolymer in the mixture and opens an easy access to wCCMs with tailor-made corona structures. Depending on the PMMA fraction, wCCMs with a mixed corona, spherical PMMA patches embedded in a continuous PS corona, as well as alternating PS and PMMA patches of almost equal size can be realized. Micelles prepared by cocrystallization show the same corona structure as those prepared from neat triblock terpolymers at identical corona composition. Thus, within a certain regime of desired corona compositions the laborious synthesis of new triblock terpolymers for every composition can be circumvented.     

Defining the Potential of Aglycone Modifications for Affinity/Selectivity Enhancement against Medically Relevant Lectins: Synthesis,Activity Screening,and HSQC‐Based NMR Analysis

The emerging significance of lectins for pathophysiological processes provides incentive for the design of potent inhibitors. To this end, systematic assessment of contributions to affinity and selectivity by distinct types of synthetic tailoring of glycosides is a salient step, here taken for the aglyconic modifications of two disaccharide core structures. Firstly we report the synthesis of seven N‐linked‐lactosides and of eight O‐linked N‐acetyllactosamines, each substituted with a 1,2,3‐triazole unit, prepared by copper‐catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). The totally regioselective β‐D ‐(1→4) galactosylation of a 6‐O‐TBDPSi‐protected N‐acetylglucosamine acceptor provided efficient access to the N‐acetyllactosamine precursor. The resulting compounds were then systematically tested for lectin reactivity in two binding assays of increasing biorelevance (inhibition of lectin binding to a surface‐presented glycoprotein and to cell surfaces). As well as a plant toxin, we also screened the relative inhibitory potential with adhesion/growth‐regulatory galectins (total of eight proteins). This type of modification yielded up to 2.5‐fold enhancement for prototype proteins, with further increases for galectins‐3 and ‐4. Moreover, the availability of ¹⁵N‐labeled proteins and full assignments enabled ¹H,¹⁵N HSQC‐based measurements for hu‐ man galectins‐1, ‐3, and ‐7 against p‐nitrophenyl lactopyranoside, a frequently tested standard inhibitor containing an aromatic aglycone. The measurements confirmed the highest affinity against galectin‐3 and detected chemical shift differences in its hydrophobic core upon ligand binding, besides common alterations around the canonical contact site for the lactoside residue. What can be accomplished in terms of affinity/selectivity by this type of core extension having been determined, the applied combined strategy should be instrumental for proceeding with defining structure–activity correlations at other bioinspired sites in glycans and beyond the tested lectin types.     

Silica Transfer in Ternary Rubber Blends: Calculation and Experimental Determination

A novel model is presented for predicting the phase selective filler localization in an equilibrium state for ternary rubber blends of SBR, NBR, and NR. It is based on surface tension data of the rubber components and the filler. Phase‐selective filler localization in ternary rubber blends is determined experimentally by means of FTIR spectroscopy on the basis of the wetting concept. It is found that by preparation of ternary blends with certain silica loadings, pre‐mixed in each blend phase using the masterbatch technology, silica transfer processes between blend phases take place until the equilibrium filler distribution is reached. The sequence of the silica transfer processes can be explained by taking into consideration the formation of a phase‐in‐phase morphology of the ternary blend.