Innovative material technology removes dioxins from flue gases

Adiox™ is an innovative material for removing toxic dioxins from combustion gases, making it an ideal absorbing material for tower packings and demisters in wet scrubbers. Adiox can also be used as a police filter to reduce the memory effect, as well as the primary dioxin removal technology. Sven Andersson, Siegfried Kreisz and Hans Hunsinger discuss this novel technology for the cleaning of flue gases.     

Posterior regeneration following fission in the holothurian Cladolabes schmeltzii (Dendrochirotida: Holothuroidea)

The regeneration of the posterior portion of the body after fission was studied in the holothurian Cladolabes schmeltzii using electron microscopy methods. Following fission, the aquapharyngeal complex, gonad and anterior portion of the first descending part of the intestine remain in the anterior fragment of the body. The entire regeneration process is divided into five stages. In the first three stages, the digestive system and damaged ends of the longitudinal muscle bands regenerate. The intestine is formed through the rearrangement and growth of the remaining portion of the first descending part of the intestine. The gut anlage grows down the mesentery and joins the regenerating cloaca. The cloaca is formed from two sources: its posterior portion appears as a result of immersion of the epidermis, while the anterior portion develops from the terminal segment of the growing intestine. Regeneration of muscles progresses in the typical manner for echinoderms: through immersion and myogenic transformation of the coelomic epithelium. Respiratory trees appear in animals when the growth of the external part of the body has begun (fourth stage). They are formed as an outgrowth of the dorsal wall of the anterior portion of the cloaca. It was concluded that regeneration of the posterior portion of the body in the holothurian C. schmeltzii following fission is realized through morphallactic rearrangements of the remaining parts of organs. The main mechanism through which the digestive, respiratory, and contractile systems are formed is epithelial morphogenesis. Microsc. Res. Tech. 78:540–552, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Exploiting intrinsic fluctuations to identify model parameters

Parameterisation of kinetic models plays a central role in computational systems biology. Besides the lack of experimental data of high enough quality, some of the biggest challenges here are identification issues. Model parameters can be structurally non‐identifiable because of functional relationships. Noise in measured data is usually considered to be a nuisance for parameter estimation. However, it turns out that intrinsic fluctuations in particle numbers can make parameters identifiable that were previously non‐identifiable. The authors present a method to identify model parameters that are structurally non‐identifiable in a deterministic framework. The method takes time course recordings of biochemical systems in steady state or transient state as input. Often a functional relationship between parameters presents itself by a one‐dimensional manifold in parameter space containing parameter sets of optimal goodness. Although the system''s behaviour cannot be distinguished on this manifold in a deterministic framework it might be distinguishable in a stochastic modelling framework. Their method exploits this by using an objective function that includes a measure for fluctuations in particle numbers. They show on three example models, immigration‐death, gene expression and Epo‐EpoReceptor interaction, that this resolves the non‐identifiability even in the case of measurement noise with known amplitude. The method is applied to partially observed recordings of biochemical systems with measurement noise. It is simple to implement and it is usually very fast to compute. This optimisation can be realised in a classical or Bayesian fashion.Inspec keywords: biochemistry, physiological models, stochastic processes, measurement errors, fluctuations, parameter estimationOther keywords: model parameter identification, deterministic framework, biochemical system, steady state, transient state, stochastic modelling framework, objective function, immigration‐death model, gene expression, Epo–EpoReceptor interaction, stochastic fluctuations, measurement noise     

Mechanical and barrier properties of thermoplastic whey protein isolate/ethylene vinyl acetate blends

Crude oil is becoming scarcer and more expensive, resulting in alternative biobased or partially biobased materials gaining importance in the field of plastic packaging and encouraging the development of naturally derived, protein‐based plastics (Endres, 2009; Jones and McClements, Compreh. Rev. Food Sci. Food Safety 2010, 9, 374; Khwaldia et al., Compreh. Rev. Food Sci. Food Safety 2010, 9, 374). A strategy to improve extrusion processing behavior of proteins is the blending with other polymers. In this study ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) was used for such purpose. The aim of this study was to determine the properties of blends of thermoplastic whey protein (TPP) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). Mechanical and barrier properties were tested. Blends of differing TPP/EVA ratio were produced and extruded into flat films. Morphological analysis of the blends shows immiscibility of the TPP and EVA, greatly influencing the mechanical properties. Young's modulus measurements shows the values approached that of pure EVA with increasing EVA ratios. At values of about 21 MPa, corresponding to EVA ratios of 30% (w/w) and above, continuous extrusion including material take‐off was possible. At higher whey protein ratios in the blends the water vapor transmission rate increased, i.e., the higher water vapor transmission rate of whey protein compared with EVA dominated this property. This study showed that whey proteins can be utilized for extrusion by blending with EVA. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 41172.     

In‐Situ Switching from Barrier‐Limited to Ohmic Anodes for Efficient Organic Optoelectronics

Injection and extraction of charges through ohmic contacts are required for efficient operation of semiconductor devices. Treatment using polar non‐solvents switches polar anode surfaces, including PEDOT:PSS and ITO, from barrier‐limited hole injection and extraction to ohmic behaviour. This is caused by an in‐situ modification of the anode surface that is buried under a layer of organic semiconductor. The exposure to methanol removes polar hydroxyl groups from the buried anode interface, and permanently increases the work function by 0.2–0.3 eV. In the case of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PBDTTT‐CT:PC71BM/Al photovoltaic devices, the higher work function promotes charge transfer, leading to p‐doping of the organic semiconductor at the interface. This results in a two‐fold increase in hole extraction rates which raises both the fill factor and the open‐circuit voltage, leading to high power conversion efficiency of 7.4%. In ITO/PEDOT:PSS/F8BT/Al polymer light‐emitting diodes, where the organic semiconductor's HOMO level lies deeper than the anode Fermi level, the increased work function enhances hole injection efficiency and luminance intensity by 3 orders of magnitude. In particular, hole injection rates from PEDOT:PSS anodes are equivalent to those achievable using MoO₃. These findings exemplify the importance of work function control as a tool for improved electrode design, and open new routes to device interfacial optimization using facile solvent processing techniques. Such simple, persistent, treatments pave the way towards low cost manufacturing of efficient organic optoelectronic devices.     

GIS Applications for Building 3D Campus,Utilities and Implementation Mapping Aspects for University Planning Purposes

In city planning managing, the third dimension is becoming a necessity. Using 3D GIS modeling offers a flexible interactive system while providing one of the best visual interpretation of data which supports planning and decision processes for city planners. As a result, 3D GIS model expresses terrain features in an intuitive way which enhances the management and analysis of a proposed project through 3D visualization. This paper discusses the concept of 3D GIS modeling techniques using a simple procedure to generate a university campus model （real 3D GIS model） which will show the effectiveness of this approach. The 3D GIS model provides access to mapping data to support planning, design and data management. Intelligent GIS models and GIS tools help community planning and apply regional and discipline-specific standards. Integration of GIS spatial data with campus organization helps to improve quality, productivity and asset management. The following study built 3D GIS map and all utility information for AI al-Bayt University campus as an example. The primary objective is to improve data management （e.g., maps, plans, usage of facilities and services） and to develop methods using 3D spatial analysis for specific applications at the university.