Influence of modern plastic furniture on the fire development in fires in homes: large‐scale fire tests in living rooms

About 80% of all fire fatalities in Germany occur because of fires in homes. It has been known for some time that modern materials (synonym for materials consisting mostly of synthetic polymers) tend to burn differently from older materials (synonym for materials consisting mostly of fibrous cellulosic substances) and it has been acknowledged that the amount of combustible plastics in homes has increased significantly over the last decades. To investigate the influence of modern furniture and ventilation conditions of fires in homes, a series of four large‐scale tests in two living rooms (LRs) with adjacent rooms (ARs) was performed by BAM and the Frankfurt fire service. Two LRs, one with older furniture and one with modern furniture, were tested twice each. Each test started with the ignition of a paper cushion on an upholstered chair. The influence of modern materials on the fire development was investigated, as well as the influence of the ventilation on the fire development. In all settings, an upholstered chair was the first burning item. Results of the test series show that fires in rooms with modern furniture develop faster than fires in rooms with older furniture. This is true for temperature development in the rooms as well as for smoke production.     

Deionization shocks in crossflow

Shock electrodialysis is a recently developed electrochemical water treatment method that shows promise for water deionization and ionic separations. Although simple models and scaling laws have been proposed, a predictive theory has not yet emerged to fit experimental data and enable system design. Here, we extend and analyze existing “leaky membrane” models for the canonical case of a steady shock in crossflow, as in recent experimental prototypes. Two-dimensional numerical solutions are compared with analytical boundary-layer approximations and experimental data. The boundary-layer theory accurately reproduces the simulation results for desalination, and both models predict the data collapse of the desalination factor with dimensionless current, scaled to the incoming convective flux of cations. The numerical simulation also predicts the water recovery increase with current. Nevertheless, neither approach can quantitatively fit the transition from normal to over-limiting current, which suggests gaps in our understanding of extreme electrokinetic phenomena in porous media.     

User-centered design of power tools: a generic process for evaluation of usability aspects

Forschung im Ingenieurwesen - User-centered design focuses on the individual needs of the product users. The aim is to adjust the design of the product according to the requirements of the user and...     

Design,Synthesis, and Characterization of Macrocyclic Inhibitors of the Proprotein Convertase Furin

The activation of viral glycoproteins by the host protease furin is an essential step in the replication of numerous pathogenic viruses. Thus, effective inhibitors of furin could serve as broad-spectrum antiviral drugs. A crystal structure of an inhibitory hexapeptide derivative in complex with furin served as template for the rational design of various types of new cyclic inhibitors. Most of the prepared derivatives are relatively potent furin inhibitors with inhibition constants in the low nanomolar or even sub-nanomolar range. For seven derivatives the crystal structures in complex with furin could be determined. In three complexes, electron density was found for the entire inhibitor. In the other cases the structures could be determined only for the P6/P5-P1 segments, which directly interact with furin. The cyclic derivatives together with two non-cyclic reference compounds were tested as inhibitors of the proteolytic activation and replication of respiratory syncytial virus in cells. Significant antiviral activity was found for both linear reference inhibitors, whereas a negligible efficacy was determined for the cyclic derivatives.     

A logic-based incremental approach to graph repair featuring delta preservation

We introduce a logic-based incremental approach to graph repair, generating a sound and complete (upon termination) overview of least-changing graph repairs from which a user may select a graph repair based on non-formalized further requirements. This incremental approach features delta preservation as it allows to restrict the generation of graph repairs to delta-preserving graph repairs, which do not revert the additions and deletions of the most recent consistency-violating graph update. We specify consistency of graphs using the logic of nested graph conditions, which is equivalent to first-order logic on graphs. Technically, the incremental approach encodes if and how the graph under repair satisfies a graph condition using the novel data structure of satisfaction trees, which are adapted incrementally according to the graph updates applied. In addition to the incremental approach, we also present two state-based graph repair algorithms, which restore consistency of a graph independent of the most recent graph update and which generate additional graph repairs using a global perspective on the graph under repair. We evaluate the developed algorithms using our prototypical implementation in the tool AutoGraph and illustrate our incremental approach using a case study from the graph database domain.

     

Mass spectrometry and the cellular surfaceome

The collection of exposed plasma membrane proteins, collectively termed the surfaceome, is involved in multiple vital cellular processes, such as the communication of cells with their surroundings and the regulation of transport across the lipid bilayer. The surfaceome also plays key roles in the immune system by recognizing and presenting antigens, with its possible malfunctioning linked to disease. Surface proteins have long been explored as potential cell markers, disease biomarkers, and therapeutic drug targets. Despite its importance, a detailed study of the surfaceome continues to pose major challenges for mass spectrometry-driven proteomics due to the inherent biophysical characteristics of surface proteins. Their inefficient extraction from hydrophobic membranes to an aqueous medium and their lower abundance compared to intracellular proteins hamper the analysis of surface proteins, which are therefore usually underrepresented in proteomic datasets. To tackle such problems, several innovative analytical methodologies have been developed. This review aims at providing an extensive overview of the different methods for surfaceome analysis, with respective considerations for downstream mass spectrometry-based proteomics.     

Adaptive retrieval practice with multiple-choice questions in the university classroom

Retrieval practice promotes retention more than restudying (i.e., the testing effect) and is applied to many educational settings. However, little research has investigated means to enhance this effect in educational settings. Theoretical accounts assume retrieval practice to be the most effective whenever retrieval is difficult but successful. Therefore, we developed a novel retrieval practice procedure, which adapts to learners' abilities and can be applied irrespective of learning content. This adaptive procedure aims to make retrieval gradually easier whenever students provide an incorrect answer. In a field experiment, students read book chapters as part of a weekly university course. In three consecutive weeks, they then practiced reading assignments by (a) adaptive testing, (b) non-adaptive testing and (c) restudy. In Week 4, a surprise criterial test took place. Restudy outperformed both testing conditions, whereas adaptive testing performed equally well as non-adaptive testing. However, exploratory analyses revealed that with increasing retention intervals, the superiority of restudy disappeared. Furthermore, whenever participants fully read the assignments and retention intervals increased, adaptive testing outperformed non-adaptive testing. In sum, adaptive retrieval practice did not prove to be generally superior, but retention interval and students' preparation for class might be conditions rendering adaptive retrieval useful in educational settings.     

Unique identification of elements in evolving software models

Evolving models are often managed in file-based software configuration management systems. This causes the identification problem: if the model elements are not assigned with globally unique identifiers, we cannot identify them over time. However, if such identifiers would be given, they can be misleading because the elements to which they are assigned might change completely. As a consequence, evolution becomes incomprehensible, partial transformation is hampered, and sufficient management of inter-model relationships (e.g. traceability links) is impeded. This article presents an approach to identify model elements or even complete model fragments over time. It establishes a fine-grained history representation to describe model evolution. The representation contains identification links between the elements of different model revisions allowing us to identify elements of a given revision in other revisions or variants of the model. Due to the explicit expression of model evolution, it further enables the capturing of changes that have been applied to the fine-grained elements inside a model.     

X-ray Radioscopic Visualization of Bubbly Flows Injected Through a Top Submerged Lance into a Liquid Metal

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B - We present an experimental study on the formation and behavior of a liquid metal bubbly flow arising from a downward gas injection through a top...