Mitotic Diversity in Homeostatic Human Interfollicular Epidermis

Despite decades of skin research, regulation of proliferation and homeostasis in human epidermis is still insufficiently understood. To address the role of mitoses in tissue regulation, we utilized human long-term skin equivalents and systematically assessed mitoses during early epidermal development and long-term epidermal regeneration. We now demonstrate four different orientations: (1) horizontal, i.e., parallel to the basement membrane (BM) and suggestive of symmetric divisions; (2) oblique with an angle of 45°–70°; or (3) perpendicular, suggestive of asymmetric division. In addition, we demonstrate a fourth substantial fraction of suprabasal mitoses, many of which are committed to differentiation (Keratin K10-positive). As verified also for normal human skin, this spatial mitotic organization is part of the regulatory program of human epidermal tissue homeostasis. As a potential marker for asymmetric division, we investigated for Numb and found that it was evenly spread in almost all undifferentiated keratinocytes, but indeed asymmetrically distributed in some mitoses and particularly frequent under differentiation-repressing low-calcium conditions. Numb deletion (stable knockdown by CRISPR/Cas9), however, did not affect proliferation, neither in a three-day follow up study by life cell imaging nor during a 14-day culture period, suggesting that Numb is not essential for the general control of keratinocyte division.     

Study of Lewis acid catalyzed chemical bromination and bromoalkylation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Chemical functionalization of carbon nanotubes (CNT) with nucleophiles requires introduction of electrophilic reactive sites on the CNTs. This can, for instance, be accomplished by the chemical bromination procedure with elemental bromine and a set of Lewis acids (BBr₃, BF₃ × Et₂O, AlBr₃, FeBr₃, ZnBr₂, TiBr₄, SiBr₄, SnBr₄, VBr₃) or a radical starter like dibenzoylperoxide (DBPO) in appropriate solvents at varied temperature. The present approach to electrophilic sites relies on the well-known electrophilic aromatic substitution or addition of bromine with aromatic structural units. In addition to the use of bromine, the introduction of haloalkyl groups was also investigated here using bis-electrophiles or haloalcohols and Brønsted acids. The advantages and drawbacks of the studied reaction conditions, the obtained degree of bromination as analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and the amount of introduced bromine that can be substituted by a nucleophile are presented and discussed.     

GMOfinder—A GMO Screening Database

The development and cultivation of genetically modified crops is still increasing globally. Food and feed imports from outside the European Union (EU) will subsequently require more effort from the responsible authorities in monitoring the compliance with effective labelling regulations. The aim of this study was the development of the GMOfinder, a database for collection and interpretation of information related to the screening for genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Different genetic elements (e.g. promoters, terminators, structural genes) are artificially introduced into plants to establish new genetic modifications. The introduced elements may vary between GMO events, depending on the intended trait(s). Screening for such inserted elements with (real-time) polymerase chain reaction is a common first step to analyse samples for the presence of any genetical modification. From the pattern of detectable and nondetectable elements, valuable conclusions about the identity of putative present GMO event(s) can be drawn with the GMOfinder. Information about selected genetic elements from the literature, applications for authorisation and other (web) sources were systematically integrated in a tabular matrix format. Special care was taken to additionally record the sources of the information, thus facilitating evaluation of screening results, and tracing of possible errors in the matrix. The GMOfinder accesses data from the element matrix with implemented algorithms and facilitates to interpret the outcome of screenings. Such a preselection helps to systematically narrow down the candidates for subsequent identification reactions. Optional display of events with potentially masked elements completes the included features.     

Through Process Modelling of Surface Densified PM Gears

Through process modelling of surface densified gears produced by powder metallurgy (PM) was established by coupling the modelling of the manufacturing processes surface densification, carburization, and heat treatment. The complete model allows the prediction of the local microstructure and hardness in the gear as well as the appearance and direction of residual stresses in the final part. The structural integrity of the part is governed, on the one hand, by the local material properties and residual stresses and, on the other hand, by the load stresses calculated for typical operating conditions. A simplified hardness dependent Haigh diagram was used to calculate the maximum allowable cyclic stresses for the gear tooth and to derive a local utilization ratio as target entity for optimization of the individual steps of the production chain.     

Information quality,user satisfaction,and the manifestation of workarounds: a qualitative and quantitative study of enterprise content management system users

In this paper, we focus on a critical aspect of work in organizations: using information in work tasks which is provided by information systems (IS) such as enterprise content management (ECM) systems. Our study based on the IS success model, 34 interviews, and an empirical study of 247 ECM system users at a financial service provider indicates that it is appropriate to differentiate between contextual and representational information quality as two information quality dimensions. Furthermore, we reveal that in addition to system quality, the two information quality dimensions are important in determining end-user satisfaction, which in turn influences the manifestation of workarounds. Our study also finds that employees using workarounds to avoid an ECM system implemented several years is negatively related to individual net benefits of the ECM system. Hence, we conclude that when investigating large-scale IS such as ECM systems, it is important to differentiate among information quality dimensions to more deeply understand end-user satisfaction and the resulting manifestation of workarounds. Moreover, this research guides organizations in implementing the most appropriate countermeasures based on the importance of either contextual or representational information quality.     

Climate Change and Future Long-Term Trends of Rainfall at North-East of Iraq

Iraq is facing water shortage problem despite the presence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. In this research, long rainfall trends up to the year 2099 were studied in Sulaimani city northeast Iraq to give an idea about future prospects. The medium high （A2） and medium low B2 scenarios have been used for purpose of this study as they are more likely than others scenarios, that beside the fact that no climate modeling canter has performed GCM （global climate model） simulations for more than a few emissions scenarios （HadCM3 has only these two scenarios） otherwise pattern scaling can be used for generating different scenarios which entail a huge uncertainty. The results indicate that the average annual rainfall shows a significant downward trend for both A2 and B2 scenarios. In addition, winter projects increase/decrease in the daily rainfall statistics of wet days, the spring season show very slight drop and no change for both scenarios. However, both summer and autumn shows a significant reduction in maximum rainfall value especially in 2080s while the other statistics remain nearly the same. The extremes events are to decrease slightly in 2080s with highest decrease associated with A2 scenario. This is due to the fact that rainfall under scenario A2 is more significant than under scenario B2. The return period of a certain rainfall will increase in the future when a present storm of 20 year could occur once every 43 year in the 2080s. An increase in the frequency of extreme rainfall depends on several factors such as the return period, season of the year, the period considered as well as the emission scenario used.     

Ultrasound‐based,in‐line monitoring of anaerobe yeast fermentation: model,sensor design and process application

In order to implement process analytical technology in beer manufacturing, an ultrasound‐based in‐line sensor was developed which is capable to determine sound velocity and density via the multiple reflection method. Based on a systematic study of the ternary system water–maltose–ethanol, two models were established to estimate the critical process parameters: sugar and ethanol mass fraction. The sound velocity‐based model showed unreasonable high errors although temperature variations and deviations due to dissolved CO₂ were corrected. In contrast, the sound velocity–density–temperature model provided an average root mean square error of 0.53%g/g sugar and 0.26%g/g ethanol content for the main fermentation. Method, sensor and model showed the capability to capture the process signature which may be related to product and process quality.