Wheat bran-based biorefinery 2: Valorization of products

Wheat bran is multi-layered and consists of different cell types with different chemical compositions. The relatively high content of protein as well as the small amount of lignin is the key differentiator to other lignocellulose containing biomasses. Following the classical route of a biorefinery, bran may be disintegrated to a high extent and separated into fractions of high purity in order to build up new chemicals which serve as precursors for higher polymerized compounds. Secondly, bran contains substances that are per se valuables, but need to be further separated and purified.     

New methods for calculating the force distribution within belt grinding processes

In order to simulate belt grinding processes (e.g. for process planning or path planning) one usually needs information about the contact zone and contact forces. Typically, an unacceptable computational effort is required for good simulation results, since these contact problems are usually of a nonlinear nature. In this paper, the application of support vector machines (SVM) is presented. The SVM is a learning machine that aims at finding a function that optimally fits given observations. The main advantage of SVM is its fast evaluation during simulation. However, a single training phase with an extensive amount of observation data has to be done once before the simulation can take place. From a practical point of view, it is very often not feasible to sample these observation data by experiments. At this point special Finite element methods for contact problems can be applied very efficiently. In order to obtain as accurate as possible training data, an adaptive finite element method for contact problems has been developed.     

Trans unsaturated fatty acids in bacteria

The occurrence oftrans unsaturated fatty acids as by-products of fatty acid transformations carried out by the obligate anaerobic ruminal microflora has been well known for a long time. In recent years, fatty acids withtrans configurations also have been detected in the membrane lipids of various aerobic bacteria. Besides several psychrophilic organisms, bacteria-degrading pollutants, such asPseudomonas putida, are able to synthesize these compoundsde novo. In contrast to thetrans fatty acids formed by rumen bacteria, the membrane constituents of aerobic bacteria are synthesized by a direct isomerization of the complementarycis configuration of the double bond without a shift of the position. This system of isomerization is located in the cytoplasmic membrane. The conversion ofcis unsaturated fatty acids totrans changes the membrane fluidity in response to environmental stimuli, particularly where growth is inhibited due to the presence of high concentrations of toxic substances. Under these conditions, lipid synthesis also stops so that the cells are not able to modify their membrane fluidity by any other mechanism.     

Hydrogeologische Untersuchungen bei der Anwendung von Monitored Natural Attenuation (MNA) an einem BTEX-kontaminierten Grundwasserleiter

Bei “Monitored Natural Attenuation” (MNA)-Ma?nahmen werden anhand von Felddaten Prognosen zur Schadensentwicklung erstellt. Zur überprüfung der Aussagef?higkeit von Felddaten hinsichtlich MNA wurden an einer Grundwasserkontamination durch BTEX hydrogeologische Untersuchungen durchgeführt. Hierzu wurden Pumpversuchsdaten, geologische Bohrdaten und Niederschlagsdaten berücksichtigt, daneben die zeitliche Entwicklung der Grundwasserst?nde, der Schadstoffgehalte sowie der hydraulischen Gradienten des Grundwassers. Es zeigte sich eine signifikante Abh?ngigkeit der Schadstoffgehalte für BTEX maximal |r|=0,89 von einem bis zu ±1,4m schwankenden Grundwasserstand, der sich unterschiedlich auswirkt: bei hohem Grundwasserstand sind die Schadstoffgehalte in Herdn?he verringert, gleichzeitig erfolgt eine Ausdehnung der Fahne in Abstromrichtung. Die hydraulischen Gradienten schwanken zwischen 1,5‰ und 15,1‰. Im herdnahen Bereich ist bei hohem Grundwasserstand eine Gradientenverflachung, im Abstrom eine Gradientenversteilung festzustellen. Die Richtungen der horizontalen hydraulischen Gradienten variieren von 12° bis 67°. Unter Berücksichtigung dieser Abh?ngigkeiten ist eine differenzierte Betrachtung der Felddaten für eine nachfolgende Auswertung hinsichtlich MNA erforderlich. Die hydrogeologische und die hydraulische Erkundung ist eine wichtige Voraussetzung zum Verst?ndnis der hydrochemischen Prozesse bei NA in kontaminierten Grundwasserleitern. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass hydraulische und hydrogeologische Aspekte bei den in den USA gebr?uchlichen Protokollen zur Anwendung von NA eine zu geringe Beachtung finden.     

Catalytic Asymmetric Epoxidation of 2‐Cyclopentenones

The first highly efficient asymmetric epoxidation of 2‐cyclopentenones has been developed. Using a newly designed and readily available Cinchona amine catalyst, 2‐cyclopentenones are reacted with hydrogen peroxide to give the corresponding epoxycyclopentanones in high yields and excellent enantioselectivities.     

Linking the proteins--elucidation of proteome-scale networks using mass spectrometry

Proteomes are intricate. Typically, thousands of proteins interact through physical association and post-translational modifications (PTMs) to give rise to the emergent functions of cells. Understanding these functions requires one to study proteomes as "systems" rather than collections of individual protein molecules. The abstraction of the interacting proteome to "protein networks" has recently gained much attention, as networks are effective representations, that lose specific molecular details, but provide the ability to see the proteome as a whole. Mostly two aspects of the proteome have been represented by network models: proteome-wide physical protein-protein-binding interactions organized into Protein Interaction Networks (PINs), and proteome-wide PTM relations organized into Protein Signaling Networks (PSNs). Mass spectrometry (MS) techniques have been shown to be essential to reveal both of these aspects on a proteome-wide scale. Techniques such as affinity purification followed by MS have been used to elucidate protein-protein interactions, and MS-based quantitative phosphoproteomics is critical to understand the structure and dynamics of signaling through the proteome. We here review the current state-of-the-art MS-based analytical pipelines for the purpose to characterize proteome-scale networks.     

ZF6速自动变速器的技术改进-高燃油经济性和快速动态换档

在2001年,ZF率先将6速自动变速器成功推向市场。同时,5速自动变速器已经开始被新一代6速自动变速器所取代[1,2,3,4,5]。从2001年到2003年期间,3款不同转矩的变速器开始批量生产;这些变速器可适应750Nm转矩的发动机,用于标准传动、带分动器的全轮驱动以及带一体化全轮驱动装置的前置纵向传动。到2005年末,ZF公司6速自动变速器的生产份额占总产量的90%以上。自动变速器需求不断上升导致这些变速器在技术方面的改进,明显增强了决定性的、与使用者相关的参数。其中包括:.提高功率质量比;.进一步降低油耗;.改善换档动态特性。     

Algorithmic formulation and numerical implementation of coupled electromagnetic‐inelastic continuum models for electromagnetic metal forming

The purpose of this work is the algorithmic formulation and implementation of a recent coupled electromagnetic‐inelastic continuum field model (Continuum Mech. Thermodyn. 2005; 17 :1–16) for a class of engineering materials, which can be dynamically formed using strong magnetic fields. Although in general relevant, temperature effects are for the applications of interest here minimal and are neglected for simplicity. In this case, the coupling is due, on the one hand, to the Lorentz force acting as an additional body force in the material. On the other hand, the spatio‐temporal development of the magnetic field is very sensitive to changes in the shape of the workpiece, resulting in additional coupling. The algorithmic formulation and numerical implementation of this coupled model is based on mixed‐element discretization of the deformation and electromagnetic fields combined with an implicit, staggered numerical solution scheme on two meshes. In particular, the mechanical degrees of freedom are solved on a Lagrangian mesh and the electromagnetic ones on an Eulerian one. The issues of the convergence behaviour of the staggered algorithm and the influence of data transfer between the meshes on the solution is discussed in detail. Finally, the numerical implementation of the model is applied to the modelling and simulation of electromagnetic sheet forming. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electrophysiologic abnormalities in AL (primary) amyloidosis with cardiac involvement

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine the spectrum of electrophysiologic abnormalities found in patients with cardiac involvement due to AL (primary) amyloidosis and to evaluate the prognostic implications, particularly in relation to subsequent sudden death. BACKGROUND: Only case reports, but no series of invasive electrophysiologic studies, exist in patients with cardiac AL. METHODS: Twenty-five patients with biopsy-proven AL and cardiac involvement underwent standard invasive electrophysiologic studies. RESULTS: The function of the sinus and the atrioventricular node was preserved in most patients, but the infra-His (HV) conduction times were usually abnormal. The mean (+/-SD) HV interval for the 25 patients was 79 +/- 18 ms (range 50 to 110), and 23 patients (92%) had an abnormally prolonged interval (> 55 ms). Marked HV prolongation (> or = 80 ms) occurred in 12 patients, 6 of whom had an interval > or = 100 ms. Among the 23 patients who died during follow-up, HV prolongation was the sole independent predictor of sudden death by multivariate analysis (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with cardiac AL are prone to disease in the His-Purkinje system. Prolongation of the HV interval is common and may not be suspected from the surface electrocardiogram in the presence of a narrow QRS complex. These patients have a high prevalence of sudden death, of which the HV interval is an independent predictor. The association of HV prolongation and sudden death is probably multifactorial, representing either a marker of severe myocardial infiltration with an increased propensity to lethal ventricular arrhythmias or electromechanical dissociation, or indicating severe conduction system disease eventually leading to complete atrioventricular block and bradycardic death.