Development of Whole and Ground Seed Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Calibrations for Oil,Protein, Moisture,and Fatty Acids in Salvia hispanica

Chia (Salvia hispanica) is an ancient crop that has experienced an agricultural resurgence in recent decades owing to the high omega 3 fatty acid (ω-3) content of the seeds and good production potential. Analysis of 563 lots of chia grown in Kentucky and 10 lots from Arizona, Australia, Mexico, and Peru was performed. All of these lots were assessed for fatty acid, oil, and protein content, while a subset of 120 samples were assessed for amino acids, fiber, minerals, and trace elements. The mean oil content was 31.3%, ranging from 21.4% to 35.3%. The protein content averaged 22.8%, ranging from 18.2% to 28.2%, and the ω-3 FA α-linolenic acid (ALA) averaged 61.3%, ranging from 33.9% to 69.9%. Using these seed lots, nondestructive near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) calibrations were developed for whole and ground seed oil, protein, moisture, and the six major fatty acids. The R² and SE of cross-validation (SECV) values for oil were 0.78 and 0.95, respectively, while those for protein were 0.75 and 1.05, respectively. The NIRS calibrations for fatty acid had R² and SECV greater than 0.6 and less than 10% of actual values for all major fatty acids, respectively. An R² of 0.99 was established for moisture content of whole seeds within the range of 3–10% moisture content. The precision and accuracy of these calibrations is adequate for use by breeders, growers, and food quality experts to quantitatively assess these major constituents without the need for costly and time-consuming chemical analysis.     

ALLSTEPS: Curriculum-driven Learning of Stepping Stone Skills

Humans are highly adept at walking in environments with foot placement constraints, including stepping-stone scenarios where footstep locations are fully constrained. Finding good solutions to stepping-stone locomotion is a longstanding and fundamental challenge for animation and robotics. We present fully learned solutions to this difficult problem using reinforcement learning. We demonstrate the importance of a curriculum for efficient learning and evaluate four possible curriculum choices compared to a non-curriculum baseline. Results are presented for a simulated humanoid, a realistic bipedal robot simulation and a monster character, in each case producing robust, plausible motions for challenging stepping stone sequences and terrains.     

Covid-19 pandemic and the unprecedented mobilisation of scholarly efforts prompted by a health crisis: Scientometric comparisons across SARS,MERS and 2019-nCoV literature

Scientometrics - During the current century, each major coronavirus outbreak has triggered a quick and immediate surge of academic publications on its respective topic. The spike in research...     

Grafting kinetics of poly(methyl methacrylate) on microparticulate silica

Grafting of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) on microparticulate silica was achieved by initiating the polymerization of MMA by 4,4′-azobis(4-cyanopentanoic acid) that was covalently bound to the silica surface. The initiator seems to be destabilized upon binding it to the silica surface. The kinetics of the graft polymerization are described and are largely affected by the Trommsdorff effect, which makes it possible to graft a high amount of PMMA on silica.     

Free and esterified cholesterol in developing feline white matter

The content of free and esterified cholesterol was examined in the cervical spinal cord lateral funiculus and in the corpus callosum of the cat during postnatal development. The concentration of free cholesterol increased with development from 8 to 56 μg/mg in the lateral funiculus and from 4 to 37 μg/mg in the corpus callosum. The total content per specimen increased 130 and 70 times, respectively. The major part of the postnatal increase in the free cholesterol occurred late postnatally. The concentration of esterified cholesterol decreased with development from 0.96 to 0.07% and from 9.50 to 0.30% of total sterol in the lateral funiculus and corpus callosum, respectively. In both regions, the total content per specimen increased with maturation. Throughout development, the content of cholesteryl ester was higher in the corpus callosum than in the lateral funiculus. A transient increase in esterified cholesterol concentration was seen during the first postnatal days in the lateral funiculus and 3 weeks postnatally in the corpus callosum. The results suggest that most of the postnatal increase of free cholesterol in the white matter is related to a continued growth of established myelin sheaths and not to de novo myelination. The transient increase in concentration of esterified cholesterol in the early postnatal lateral funiculus coincides in time with a spontaneous myelin sheath disintegration. This supports the view that the ester peak may be primarily related to myelin breakdown rather than to myelin production. The significance of the high ester concentration in the neonatal corpus callosum and the ester peak seen during initial myelination remains obscure and calls for further developmental morphological studies.     

Living in highly dynamic polluted river floodplains, do contaminants contribute to population and community effects?

The aim of this paper was to collect evidence for the effects of contaminants on biota in a highly dynamic river Rhine floodplain. To this purpose we reviewed the results of circa 10 studies performed in this floodplain. The floodplain was contaminated with elevated levels of cadmium, copper, PAHs, and PCBs and high levels of zinc which were at some sites above legislative values. The results showed that the present contaminants were accumulated by the floodplain inhabiting organisms, but meanwhile population and community effects were ambiguous. Only for the mayfly Ephoron virgo clear effects were detected at the level of the single floodplain. The absence of clear population and community effects is puzzling since at lower contaminant concentrations adverse effects were detected in other environments. Factors that may mask toxic effects include flooding and food quality and quantity. We conclude that given the site specific conditions, being an open, eutrophic system with a highly dynamic flooding pattern, assessment of the contribution of toxicants to observed population density or biomass and community composition requires 1] an increase in number of replicates; 2] a larger scale of investigation and 3] comparison to stable systems with comparable contamination levels.     

Higher Tool Productivity due to New Generation of PVD Coatings

PVD coating technology has seen many new developments in the past few years. HIPIMS⁺ is an example of these developments with excellent results on tool productivity and lifespan. The technology combines the advantages of arc evaporation with those of magnetron sputtering and results in a dense and defect‐free coating with tuneable residual stress. The coatings have been tested successfully by international tool manufacturers. Additional developments can be seen in DLC coatings and the hydrogen‐free variety ta‐C. These coatings are suitable for low temperature deposition and machining of special materials.     

Numerische Analyse geschweißter Verbindungen von Duplexstahl und Quarzglas

Numerical analysis of welded joints between duplex steel and quartz glass. Welded joints are a vital element in structural engineering. Originating from conventional carbon steel welding in construction, recent advancements in welding technology now allow the joint of modern high‐strength steel and glass materials. With today's methods, an analysis of the welded joints' structural behaviour can be conducted by experiment, as well as by numerical analysis. Particularly for the numeric analysis, capturing the non‐linear thermal and mechanical properties of the materials is important, in order to allow a realistic determination of temperature, microstructure and residual stresses for different types of joints. Simulations of multi‐layered weld joint on duplex steel show, that a targeted heat treatment during MAG‐welding by variation of the welding parameters achieves a beneficial ratio between ferrite and austenite which, for example, ensures a high resistance of the weld to corrosion. The material quartz glass can generally be welded as butt‐weld with a CO₂‐laser. The simulations of a welded joint of a plate and a pipe show, that an optimization of the welding technology of preheat laser beam and welding laser beam is necessary, in order to reduce the thermal impact during the welding process, as well as residual stress in the joint. At the Department of Steel Structures at the Bauhaus‐Universität Weimar, numerical simulations of welded joints between steel and glass materials are a current and topical research focus.     

In situ synchrotron tomography estimation of toughening effect by semi-ductile fibre reinforcement in a tungsten-fibre-reinforced tungsten composite system

Tungsten-fibre-reinforced tungsten composites (W_f/W) are supposed to enable enhanced toughness owing to extrinsic energy dissipation mechanisms such as interface debonding and plastic deformation of fibre. In particular, the latter is an effective source of toughening, since ductile tungsten fibres can absorb a considerable amount of plastic work. For a precise evaluation of the toughening capability, the energy dissipation mechanisms need to be analysed in detail. To this end, single-fibre tungsten composite specimens are fabricated and the stress–strain behaviour of the tungsten fibre bridging a matrix crack is measured by means of in situ high-energy synchrotron microtomography during a uniaxial tensile test. Despite the high X-ray attenuation in tungsten, a sufficiently high resolution is achieved and clear images of crack extension and deformation are obtained. The amount of absorbed energy due to plastic deformation of the tungsten fibre is determined and compared with values obtained conventionally from single-fibre tensile tests.