Chemical Attraction of Gall Midge Pollinators (Cecidomyiidae: Cecidomyiinae) to Anthurium acutangulum (Araceae)

Flowering plants often use chemical signals to attract their pollinators, and compounds that elicit attraction are known for several groups of pollinators. For other pollinators such as gall midges, however, compounds responsible for their attraction to flowers are largely unknown. Here, we describe the pollination biology of Anthurium acutangulum, a Neotropical aroid species found to be attractive to gall midges. We collected and analyzed its floral scent by dynamic headspace collections and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, and identified compounds responsible for pollinator attraction. The inflorescences were almost exclusively visited by gall midges (females; Cecidomyiidae: Cecidomyiinae) and released a strong scent reminiscent of freshly cut cucumber, mainly (5S,7S)-trans-conophthorin, (E2,Z6)-2,6-nonadienal, and cis-conophthorin. Behavioral assays with the two most abundant compounds identified (E2,Z6)-2,6-nonadienal as being highly attractive to the female gall midge pollinators, whereas (5S,7S)-trans-conophthorin was not attractive. Overall, we introduce a new specialized gall midge pollination system and identify the chemical mediating communication between the pollinators and their host plants.

     

Multicriteria optimization as enabler for Sustainable Ceramic Matrix Composites

Over the past 40 years, development of Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMCs) has focused mainly on the improvement of material performance and optimization of cost-efficient production routes. Recently, more fields of application have opened up for CMCs, in which environmental impacts are relevant. These impacts have barely been investigated so far but receive growing interest due to increasing awareness of the environmental consequences. Our innovative approach frames material properties in relation to environmental impacts (e.g., global warming potential in CO₂ emission) by varying process parameters to balance optimum performance against environmental considerations. First, the process of wet filament winding has been investigated up to the Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) state by changing both the curing and tempering temperatures. During the production of CFRP plates, mass and energy flows were tracked in each step. Three point-bending and interlaminar shear tests have been performed on the resulting samples to identify basic mechanical properties. The environmental impacts are determined by a cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), using the software SimaPro. The resulting tradeoffs between mechanical properties and environmental impacts show nonlinear behavior, thus revealing optimum points above which improved mechanical properties are associated with significantly higher CO₂ emissions.     

Efficient Engineering and Production Concepts for Products in Regulated Environments – Dream or Nightmare?

Manufacturing of chemical‐pharmaceutical products is moving increasingly fast on a global scale. Therefore, developing and starting up production facilities fast, with high quality, and at reasonable costs has become extremely challenging. Engineering concepts like modularization, standardization and simultaneous/parallel engineering are discussed as methods for speeding up process design and filing for regulatory approval. Transfer from batch to continuous operation mode of production is pointed out as the key‐issue in such strategies.     

Characteristics of wet‐spun and thermally treated poly acrylonitrile fibers

The performance of carbon fibers depends on the quality of the precursor and the conditions of the thermal treatment. In detail, for a PAN precursor fiber the viscosity of a spinning dope and the draw ratio during the spinning process needs to be considered. Through wet spinning, different types of PAN precursor fibers with defined spinning parameters, including solid content, solvent content in a bath, and especially draw ratio resulting in defined cross section diameters, were fabricated and analyzed with tensile tests, density investigations, SEM, TGA‐MS, FTIR, and XRD. The results show that the mechanical properties of the fibers correlate to crystallinity. The cross section diameter is strongly related to the morphology of the fibers after thermal treatment. By extending the postdrawing of PAN fibers high tenacities were obtained at the cost of the cross section shape. In addition, TGA measurements reveal trapped residues of the wet spinning process as well as show several chemical reactions takes place at the same time at different temperatures. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43698.     

Supplementation with evening primrose oil in atopic dermatitis: Effect on fatty acids in neutrophils and epidermis

We investigated the effect of oral supplementation with evening primrose oil, containing 72% linoleic acid (18∶2n−6) and 10% γ-linolenic acid (18∶3n−6), on the epidermal and neutrophil phospholipid fatty acid composition in 15 patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). Three different dose levels, 4, 8 and 12 capsules per day containing 0.5 g oil, were given to three groups of patients. The only n−6 fatty acid showing a significant (p<0.05) dose-related increase was dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (20∶3n−6) in neutrophil phospholipids. The highest dose increased dihomo-γ-linolenic acid by 45% in neutrophil phospholipids, by 46% in lesion-free epidermal phosphatidylcholine, and by 15% in lesion-free epidermal phosphatidylethanolamine. In both lesional and lesion-free epidermis, supplementation resulted in a rise in the ratio between n−6 and monounsaturated fatty acids, reaching significance (p<0.05) in lesional epidermis. This study shows that moderate and favorable fatty acid changes can be obtained in the epidermis of AD patients, when given 6 g per day of oil rich in n−6 fatty acids. The abnormal lipid and fatty acid pattern of the atopic epidermis may be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease, and should therefore be the target for future therapeutic approaches with fatty acid supplements.     

Structure‐Based Mechanism of Oleate Hydratase from Elizabethkingia meningoseptica

Hydratases provide access to secondary and tertiary alcohols by regio‐ and/or stereospecifically adding water to carbon‐carbon double bonds. Thereby, hydroxy groups are introduced without the need for costly cofactor recycling, and that makes this approach highly interesting on an industrial scale. Here we present the first crystal structure of a recombinant oleate hydratase originating from Elizabethkingia meningoseptica in the presence of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). A structure‐based mutagenesis study targeting active site residues identified E122 and Y241 as crucial for the activation of a water molecule and for protonation of the double bond, respectively. Moreover, we also observed that two‐electron reduction of FAD results in a sevenfold increase in the substrate hydration rate. We propose the first reaction mechanism for this enzyme class that explains the requirement for the flavin cofactor and the involvement of conserved amino acid residues in this regio‐ and stereoselective hydration.     

A method for increasing the accuracy of “on-workpiece” machining with small industrial robots for composite repair

Composites offer outstanding mechanical properties in combination with a low density. To profit from the full potential of these materials there are still some challenges to meet. Efficient, reproducible, and material appropriate repair is one of them. It requires accurate machining on damaged structures to generate an optimal surface for the following bonded repair. In case of large scale structures, machining has to be done on-workpiece because those structures are not removable. This application requires a flexible, low-weight and cost-efficient machine, but also a system that considers the elasticities of on-work-piece machining setups. Small industrial robots offer high availability and flexibility, low investment costs, and a low weight in combination with a suitable workspace. The general disadvantage of these machines is a low stiffness in addition to the existing elasticities. However, in this application only moderate process forces occur. Furthermore, high system elasticity is expected any way, due to the detachable fixation and the workpiece. Accordingly, in this paper an online, low frequency method for the compensation of tool deviations is proposed to enhance the performance of small robots as on-workpiece milling machines. For a high industrial acceptance, a simple robot model for compensation is chosen, thus the measurement effort is minimal and the method can be integrated into a state of the art robot controller without external hardware. Additionally, a concept for an extended method for deviation compensation is presented which also considers the changing elasticity of fixation and workpiece.     

Technical note: Effects of attachment of hind teats before cleaning and attachment of front teats on milking characteristics in automatic milking systems

Milking characteristics differ between the 4 quarters of a dairy cow udder. In particular, milking time is mostly prolonged in hind quarters compared with front quarters because of the usually higher amount of stored milk. The standard milking routine (STDMR) in both conventional and automatic milking systems (AMS) consists of teat preparation of all 4 quarters, followed by attachment of the 4 teat cups, regardless of the distribution of milk between quarters. In the current study, an alternative teat preparation and milking routine (ALTMR) in AMS was tested, which consisted of cleaning and starting the milking of hind teats before cleaning and attachment of front teats. The hypothesis was based on the fact that hind quarters have usually a longer milking time than front quarters. Starting the milking of hind quarters while the front teats are being cleaned may reduce the difference in the end of milking between front and hind quarters and thus reduce total milking time. Both routines were tested on 5 Swedish dairy farms equipped with AMS in a 4-wk experiment in which treatments were alternated weekly. Total milk yield did not differ between treatments. Machine-on time (MOT) was longer in ALTMR than in STDMR because the difference in milking time between hind and front quarters was less than the time needed to prepare the front teats. However, the longer MOT in ALTMR was compensated by a shorter total preparation time, including the attachment of the first teat cup, as only the hind teats (instead of all 4 teats) were cleaned before milking was started. This resulted in a similar total milking time from start of cleaning of the first quarter until the end of milking of the last quarter in both treatments. Because of the prolonged MOT, average milk flow rate was lower in ALTMR than STDMR. Peak flow rate was higher in ALTMR than STDMR, but only in teat cups 1 (first attached, hind quarter) and 3 (third attached, front quarter), whereas main milk flow was higher in ALTMR than STDMR in both front quarters. In conclusion, splitting teat cleaning and the start of milking between hind and front quarters does not prolong total milking time, including teat cleaning. The partially positive effect on peak and main milk flow indicates that the ALTMR is a suitable milking routine in AMS. In herds with a greater difference of milk stored in hind compared with front quarters, a reduced total milking time can be expected for ALTMR.