Sewer Discharge Estimation by Stereoscopic Imaging and Synchronized Frame Processing

A system for fully automatic contact‐less image‐based measurement of volumetric flow rate in urban drainage structures is presented. The hardware includes two original equipment manufacturer cameras and a single‐board computer on which our custom image processing software is running. The value of water discharge depends on the surface velocity, water level and channel's geometry. The level of the flow is estimated as the difference between distances from the camera to the water surface and from the camera to the channel's bottom. Camera‐to‐water distance is recovered automatically using large‐scale stereo‐matching, whereas the distance to the channel's bottom is measured upon installation. Surface velocity is calculated using cross‐correlation template matching: individual natural particles in the flow are detected and tracked throughout the sequence of images recorded over a fixed time interval. The relative discharge computation error is lower than 1.34% of the theoretical maximal discharge for a given location, which makes our system competitive to commercial components such as ultrasonic flow meters, while using cheaper technologies.     

Preparation of fatty acid methyl esters from lipoprotein and macrophage lipid subclasses on thin-layer plates

A simple, accurate, and fast procedure for quantitative analysis of fatty acids (FA) in simple lipid subclasses from different biological specimens is presented. Lipid extracts of isolated plasma lipoproteins (very low, low, and high density lipoproteins; VLDL, LDL, and HDL, respectively) and permanent J774 mouse macrophages were fractionated into lipid subclasses by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) on silica gel 60 plates. Bands comigrating with authentic lipid standards were scraped off under argon and subjected to direct,in situ transesterification with BF₃/MeOH in the presence of the TLC adsorbent. Fatty acid methyl esters were subsequently quantitated by capillary gas chromatography. A comparison of the FA content present in total lipid extracts and in lipid subclasses separated by TLC revealed recoveries ranging from 93 (J774 cell extracts) to 99.7% (LDL). The method described is applicable for the measurement of FA in individual lipid subclasses and was successfully applied to quantitatively analyze the FA composition of the phospholipid, triacylglycerol, and cholesteryl ester fraction derived from VLDL, LDL, and HDL. In J774 lipid extracts, the FA composition of the phospholipid-, monoacylglycerol-, diacylglycerol-, free fatty acid-, triacylglycerol-, and cholesteryl ester fraction was quantitated. In addition we have analyzed the time-dependent loss of the major HDL polyunsaturated fatty acids (18:2, 20:4) in the phospholipid and cholesteryl ester fraction during copper-dependent peroxidation of HDL. We have not encountered analytical problems concerning low FA recoveries from CE-rich lipid extracts as indicated by almost quantitative recoveries of FA in LDL, HDL, and J774 extracts.     

Xe NMR studies on carbon replicas of Y zeolite

¹²⁹Xe NMR spectroscopy of xenon gas adsorbed on carbon replicas of Y zeolite was carried out at room temperature. Corresponding carbon replicas have been prepared by using ethylene and HY zeolite in a pressure reactor. Xenon gas was adsorbed on the resulting carbon samples in the pressure range from 40 to 150 kPa. The plot of the chemical shift against xenon pressure was found to be a linear function in the investigated pressure range from 40 to 150 kPa. Intense and narrow peaks have been observed for the synthesized carbon samples indicating chemically pure samples. By comparison of the estimated chemical shift parameter δ_N→0 and the slope δ₁ of the shift versus density plots the existence of different pore sizes could be revealed. These observed differences can be attributed to different types of micropores generated by shrinkage effects during carbon liberation from the parent zeolite host. The obtained carbon replicas of Y zeolite were further characterized by elemental analysis, XPS, ¹³C MAS NMR and ESR spectroscopy.     

Investigating the Role of Image Retrieval for Visual Localization

International Journal of Computer Vision - Visual localization, i.e., camera pose estimation in a known scene, is a core component of technologies such as autonomous driving and augmented reality....     

The Charged Linker Modulates the Conformations and Molecular Interactions of Hsp90

The molecular chaperone Hsp90 supports the functional activity of specific substrate proteins (clients). For client processing, the Hsp90 dimer undergoes a series of ATP-driven conformational rearrangements. Flexible linkers connecting the three domains of Hsp90 are crucial to enable dynamic arrangements. The long charged linker connecting the N-terminal (NTD) and middle (MD) domains exhibits additional functions in vitro and in vivo. The structural basis for these functions remains unclear. Here, we characterize the conformation and dynamics of the linker and NTD−MD domain interactions by NMR spectroscopy. Our results reveal two regions in the linker that are dynamic and exhibit secondary structure conformation. We show that these regions mediate transient interactions with strand β8 of the NTD. As a consequence, this strand detaches and exposes a hydrophobic surface patch, which enables binding to the p53 client. We propose that the charged linker plays an important regulatory role by coupling the Hsp90 NTD−MD arrangement with the accessibility of a client binding site on the NTD.     

Impfung oder Kastration zur Vermeidung von Ebergeruch – Ergebnisse einer repr?sentativen Verbraucherumfrage in Deutschland

Surgical castration of male piglets is performed routinely in most European countries to prevent the risk of boar taint in pork meat. Vaccination of male pigs against gonadotropin-releasing hormone with Improvac^? is a proven animal friendly alternative. However, consumer??s acceptance of any alternatives to current piglet castration is important, too. The aim of this study was to evaluate the awareness of boar taint, castration and vaccination against boar taint as well as consumers?? acceptance and preference of both methods. The study was performed in Germany in cooperation with the Institute for Public Opinion Research Allensbach. In October 2010, 1,786 face-to-face interviews by 420 interviewers were done. The majority of consumers (63?%) had never heard about boar taint. The level of knowledge of the existing practice of surgical castration to avoid boar taint is low in Germany (24?%). Vaccination of fattening boars to control boar taint is even less known (6?%). Participants were informed about the method of surgical castration and the vaccine method. Thereafter 41?% preferred the vaccine method over surgical castration (19?%). Interestingly, 40?% of the participants were not able to form an opinion which method to prefer. Overall, it can be concluded that the vaccination approach appears to be acceptable to consumers, if they are informed correctly.     

Development and test of a solar reactor for decomposition of sulphuric acid in thermochemical hydrogen production

Decomposition of sulphuric acid is a key step of sulphur based thermochemical cycles for hydrogen production by thermal splitting of water. The Hybrid Sulphur Cycle (HyS) consisting of two reaction steps is considered as one of the most promising cycles: firstly, sulphuric acid is decomposed by high temperature heat of 800–1200 °C forming sulphur dioxide, which in a second step is used to electrochemically split water. Compared to conventional water electrolysis only about a tenth of the theoretical voltage is required making the HyS one of the most efficient processes to produce hydrogen by concentrated solar radiation. As a result, this thermochemical cycle has the potential to significantly reduce the amount of energy required for water splitting and to efficiently generate hydrogen free of carbon dioxide emissions. The European research project HycycleS aims at a technical realisation of the HyS. One objective of the project is to develop and qualify a solar interface, meaning a device to couple concentrated solar radiation into the endothermal steps of the chemical process. Therefore, a test reactor for decomposition of sulphuric acid by concentrated solar radiation was developed and tested in the solar furnace of DLR in Cologne. Tests in concentrated solar radiation were carried out for temperatures of the honeycomb up to 950 °C decomposing sulphuric acid of 50 and 96 weight-percent. Mass and energy flow of the process were calculated in order to determine energy efficiency and chemical conversion. The influence of process parameters like temperature, flow rates and space velocity on chemical conversion and reactor efficiency was analysed in detail. If catalysts like iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) and mixed oxides (i.e. CuFe₂O₄) were used a conversion of SO₃ to SO₂ of more than 80% at a thermal efficiency of over 25% could be reached.