Die neue Hauptverwaltung der THS in Gelsenkirchen – Umnutzung einer Zeche zu einem modernen Verwaltungsgebäude

The new main office of the THS in Gelsenkirchen – conversation (revitalization) of an old mine into an office building. Many industrial buildings of the heavy industry are no longer in use. Many are dismantled and the sites are used in a different way. Some of them are worth preserving for the future such as the filter building of the mine “Nordstern” in Gelsenkirchen, which was designed by the architects Schupp and Kremmer This article describes the conversion of the multi-storied building of the mine into an office building. Special emphasis is placed on the connection between the distinctive technical features of the existing building and the chosen solutions for the conversion.     

Blower Door‐Messungen: trotz Normen noch vieles unklar

Blower Door measurement: in spite of standardization a lot of uncertainties Meanwhile it is common knowledge that air tightness of a building envelope is a quality factor providing several advantages. Measurement, assessment and comparison of air permeability characteristics of buildings is far from being simple: on the one hand a variety of nationally defined non‐compatible air permeability indices exist, on the other hand detailed regulations or instructions on the preparation of a building before measurement are missing in actual standards. For instance, the measuring zone is often not clearly defined, and the various options of tightening a mechanical ventilation system also yield large deviations in the results. Also the date of measurement has a substantial influence: a measurement with leakage detection in the construction phase is useful and desired for improvement. But it is not valid for approval since the building will be changed until completion. For those reasons questions arise about the value of the air permeability determination. In addition, regarding recent low energy labelling schemes demanding very low permeability rates for heat saving reasons, it is known nowadays that only a poor relation exists between the air exchange rate n₅₀ and the actual ventilation heat loss of an occupied low energy building. Proposals for standardised procedures with regard to building preparation and data evaluation are being discussed these days. Objectives are to find simple, pragmatic solutions for the main problems and to make known more clearly the chances and limitations of the complex assessment method.     

Hyaluronic Acid as a Carrier Supports the Effects of Glucocorticoids and Diminishes the Cytotoxic Effects of Local Anesthetics in Human Articular Chondrocytes In Vitro

The current study aimed to investigate the cytotoxicity of co-administrating local anesthetics (LA) with glucocorticoids (GC) and hyaluronic acid (HA) in vitro. Human articular cartilage was obtained from five patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Chondrocytes were isolated, expanded, and seeded in 24-well plates for experimental testing. LA (lidocaine, bupivacaine, ropivacaine) were administered separately and co-administered with the following substances: GC, HA, and GC/HA. Viability was confirmed by microscopic images, flow cytometry, metabolic activity, and live/dead assay. The addition of HA and GC/HA resulted in enhanced attachment and branched appearance of the chondrocytes compared to LA and LA/GC. Metabolic activity was better in all LA co-administered with HA and GC/HA than with GC and only LA. Flow cytometry revealed the lowest cell viability in lidocaine and the highest cell viability in ropivacaine. This finding was also confirmed by live/dead assay. In conclusion, HA supports the effect of GC and reduces chondrotoxic effects of LA in vitro. Thereby, the co-administration of HA to LA and GC offers an alternative less chondrotoxic approach for treating patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee.     

Development of Highly Effective CaO‐based,MgO‐stabilized CO2 Sorbents via a Scalable “One‐Pot” Recrystallization Technique

Here, we report the development of novel, highly effective CaO‐based CO₂ sorbents via a well‐scalable and economic synthesis technique, viz. the re‐crystallization of calcium and magnesium acetates in organic solvents. We successfully synthesized a material that possessed an excellent cyclic CO₂ uptake (10.71 mmol(CO₂) g(sorbent)^?1 after 10 cycles), even under harsh, but practically relevant, regeneration conditions. To obtain such a high cyclic CO₂ uptake, it was found to be crucial to mix the active component, CaO, and the high Tammann temperature support, MgO, on the nanometer scale. The synthesis technique developed only requires 8 wt% of MgO to effectively stabilize the cyclic CO₂ uptake of the material. Furthermore, we established the influence of various synthesis parameters such as the molar ratio of Ca²⁺ to Mg²⁺ and the re‐crystallization media on the sorbent's morphology and, in turn, cyclic CO₂ uptake. Our best material exceeded the CO₂ uptake (10^th cycle) of limestone by 200%.