Designing Personalized Garments with Body Movement

The standardized sizes used in the garment industry do not cover the range of individual differences in body shape for most people, leading to ill-fitting clothes, high return rates and overproduction. Recent research efforts in both industry and academia, therefore, focus on virtual try-on and on-demand fabrication of individually fitting garments. We propose an interactive design tool for creating custom-fit garments based on 3D body scans of the intended wearer. Our method explicitly incorporates transitions between various body poses to ensure a better fit and freedom of movement. The core of our method focuses on tools to create a 3D garment shape directly on an avatar without an underlying sewing pattern, and on the adjustment of that garment's rest shape while interpolating and moving through the different input poses. We alternate between cloth simulation and rest shape adjustment based on stretch to achieve the final shape of the garment. At any step in the real-time process, we allow for interactive changes to the garment. Once the garment shape is finalized for production, established techniques can be used to parameterize it into a 2D sewing pattern or transform it into a knitting pattern.     

Molar mass-dependent profiles of functional groups and carbohydrates in kraft lignin

Technical lignins are complex, irregular, polyphenolic compounds obtained in large quantities as by-products of the pulp and paper industries or according to current biorefinery setups. The availability of kraft lignin is increasing due to larger scale retrieval from process liquors, which opens new possibilities for further refining or new applications of such lignins. In the present study, sequential ultrafiltration of kraft lignin was performed to fractionate the lignin and to elucidate molar mass-dependent changes in lignin structure. Two industrial black liquors and three precipitated lignins were fractionated, and their functional groups were determined, providing molar mass-dependent profiles. Interrelations between structural parameters and functional groups, the molecular weight ranges, and the different lignin sources are discussed. This will help to establish structure-property-application relationships (SPARs) for technical lignins which are required for any future large-scale application.     

Orthogonal Peptide-Templated Labeling Elucidates Lateral ETAR/ETBR Proximity and Reveals Altered Downstream Signaling

Fine-tuning of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling is important to maintain cellular homeostasis. Recent studies demonstrated that lateral GPCR interactions in the cell membrane can impact signaling profiles. Here, we report on a one-step labeling method of multiple membrane-embedded GPCRs. Based on short peptide tags, complementary probes transfer the cargo (e. g. a fluorescent dye) by an acyl transfer reaction with high spatial and temporal resolution within 5 min. We applied this approach to four receptors of the cardiovascular system: the endothelin receptor A and B (ET_AR and ET_BR), angiotensin II receptor type 1, and apelin. Wild type-like G protein activation after N-terminal modification was demonstrated for all receptor species. Using FRET-competent dyes, a constitutive proximity between hetero-receptors was limited to ET_AR/ET_BR. Further, we demonstrate, that ET_AR expression regulates the signaling of co-expressed ET_BR. Our orthogonal peptide-templated labeling of different GPCRs provides novel insight into the regulation of GPCR signaling.     

Synthesis of Aminopyridazines from Aminocyclopropenylium Salts and Diazomethyl Compounds [1]

Amino-substituted cyclopropenylium salts ( 11a,b ) react with diazomethyl compounds ( 12a-i ) in dichloromethane or acetonitrile in the presence of a base (ethyldiisopropylamine, 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0] non-5-ene) to form 4-aminopyridazines ( 13a-i ) specifically. The reaction is interpreted in terms of an initial electrophilic diazoalkane substitution to give diazomethylcyclopropenes ( 11 + 12 → 14 ) which undergo a [1.5]-cyclisation to form the betaines 16 which, in turn, isomerise with opening of the bridging bond to give the aminopyridazines 13 . In a similar manner, the tris[amino] cyclopropenylium salts 8a,b and 10a-c are converted to the 3,4,5-tris[amino]-pyridazines ( 21a-k ) by treatment with diazomethyl compounds ( 12a, c-f ).     

SurgeryCuts: Embedding Additional Information in Maps without Occluding Features

Visualizing contextual information to a map often comes at the expense of overplotting issues. Especially for use cases with relevant map features in the immediate vicinity of an information to add, occlusion of the relevant map context should be avoided. We present SurgeryCuts, a map manipulation technique for the creation of additional canvas area for contextual visualizations on maps. SurgeryCuts is occlusion‐free and does not shift, zoom or alter the map viewport. Instead, relevant parts of the map can be cut apart. The affected area is controlledly distorted using a parameterizable warping function fading out the map distortion depending on the distance to the cut. We define extended metrics for our approach and compare to related approaches. As well, we demonstrate the applicability of our approach at the example of tangible use cases and a comparative user study.     

Harnessing the strengths of anytime algorithms for constant data streams

Anytime algorithms have been proposed for many different applications, e.g., in data mining. Their strengths are the ability to first provide a result after a very short initialization and second to improve their result with additional time. Therefore, anytime algorithms have so far been used when the available processing time varies, e.g., on varying data streams. In this paper we propose to employ anytime algorithms on constant data streams, i.e., for tasks with constant time allowance. We introduce two approaches that harness the strengths of anytime algorithms on constant data streams and thereby improve the over all quality of the result with respect to the corresponding budget algorithm. We derive formulas for the expected performance gain and demonstrate the effectiveness of our novel approaches using existing anytime algorithms on benchmark data sets.     

New insight into the interaction of sulfur with diesel NOx storage catalysts

A commercial NO_x-storage catalyst (NSC) has been subjected to different aging procedures on the engine bench simulating 100,000 km mileage. The aging consisted of cyclical sulfur exposure, subsequent sulfur removal and testing of the catalytic activity. More aggressive desulfation procedures result in more efficient sulfur removal and consequently good high temperature NO_x-conversion. However, low temperature NO_x-performance is lower than for agings employing more moderate desulfation conditions.

Sulfur post mortem analyses reveal a slight decrease of residual sulfur concentration over the length of all catalysts after completion of the aging. BET and CO-chemisorption data are in line with the increase of temperature from catalyst inlet to outlet during the desulfation. The conversion of BaCO₃ to BaSO₄ during the sulfur poisoning was followed by IR, TPD and TPR. A quantitative analysis of the data shows that at the end of the agings all residual sulfur is mainly located at barium sites as opposed to other oxide components like e.g. alumina or ceria. TPR data suggest that prolonged rich purges of the sulfated catalyst lead to an efficient decomposition of sulfates however some sulfur is being trapped in the form of BaS which seems difficult to remove under constant rich conditions.

XPS data suggest that the bulk sulfur amounts in the catalyst may be decoupled from the actual concentration at the catalyst surface. In that sense, the residual sulfur concentration might be limited in some cases as a criterion to assess the performance of a NSC. More reducing desulfation conditions cause the residual sulfur to be present in the form of more reduced sulfur species (sulfites, sulfides) on the catalyst.     

欧洲和德国的钢铁工业的环保现状和发展(二)

(上接2004年第3期) 3环境保护的组织 在环境保护的领域中,已经达到了完成给定的一个很复杂的任务的水平,只有通过综合的技术和复杂手段来取得进一步的成功.Rio and约翰内斯堡会议的觉醒,特别是可持续发展的要求,及组织的工具的快速发展.环境保护领域中的技术可以通过以下手段日益完善:     

Reverse ray-tracing model for the performance evaluation of stationary solar concentrators

The yearly energy collection efficiency of stationary solar concentrators can be evaluated using reverse ray-tracing, and a solar radiation model. In reverse ray-tracing, rays originating at the receiver of the concentrator are traced towards the surrounding hemisphere. The method allows for the evaluation of the absolute energy collection: new concentrators may be optimized for location and tilt, requiring one-time ray-tracing. The tilt of existing concentrators is optimized. Only possible solar incidence is considered by our model. The method is fast and realistic; it can be modified for concentrators in tilt operation.     

Silk for Drug Delivery Applications: Opportunities and Challenges

Silk fibers have been used in textiles for more than 5,000 years and as a suturing material for many centuries. The recent development of new applications for silks include drug delivery. An overview of this new field is provided, summarizing the development of emerging drug delivery applications which include silk-based nanomedicines and transdermal delivery systems We also highlight some of the challenges in developing silk-based drug delivery systems.