Leaf-Miners Co-opt Microorganisms to Enhance their Nutritional Environment

Organisms make the best of their mother’s oviposition choices and utilize specific feeding options that meet energetic requirements and cope with environmental constraints. This is particularly true for leaf-miner insects that develop enclosed in the two epidermis layers of a single leaf for their entire larval life. Cytokinins (CKs) play a central role in plant physiology – including regulation of senescence and nutrient translocation – and, as such, can be the specific target of plant exploiters that manipulate plant primary metabolism. ‘Green-islands’ are striking examples of a CK-induced phenotype where green areas are induced by plant pathogens/insects in otherwise yellow senescent leaves. Here, we document how the leaf-miner caterpillar Phyllonorycter blancardella, working through an endosymbiotic bacteria, modifies phytohormonal profiles, not only on senescing (photosynthetically inactive) but also on normal (photosynthetically active) leaf tissues of its host plant (Malus domestica). This leaf physiological manipulation allows the insect to maintain sugar-rich green tissues and to create an enhanced nutritional microenvironment in an otherwise degenerating context. It also allows them to maintain a nutritional homeostasis even under distinct leaf environments. Our study also highlights that only larvae harboring bacterial symbionts contain significant amounts of CKs that are most likely not plant-derived. This suggests that insects are able to provide CKs to the plant through their symbiotic association, thus extending further the role of insect bacterial symbionts in plant-insect interactions.     

Upconversion in solar cells

The possibility to tune chemical and physical properties in nanosized materials has a strong impact on a variety of technologies, including photovoltaics. One of the prominent research areas of nanomaterials for photovoltaics involves spectral conversion. Modification of the spectrum requires down- and/or upconversion or downshifting of the spectrum, meaning that the energy of photons is modified to either lower (down) or higher (up) energy. Nanostructures such as quantum dots, luminescent dye molecules, and lanthanide-doped glasses are capable of absorbing photons at a certain wavelength and emitting photons at a different (shorter or longer) wavelength. We will discuss upconversion by lanthanide compounds in various host materials and will further demonstrate upconversion to work for thin-film silicon solar cells.     

采用扩展温度振荡法测量超临界CO2扁管内对流换热特性

引　言近年来ＣＯ2 跨临界制冷系统已引起了学术界和工业界的极大关注 .在空调、热泵及系统组件方面已进行了大量研究工作[1～ 4 ] .对车辆空调和一些一体化机组而言 ,紧凑、质量轻的热交换器十分必要 ,小直径换热管或微通道换热管有可能扮演重要角色[5] ,并且也有利于解决系统的高压设计问题 .在实际应用中一个需要深入研究的问题是ＣＯ2 跨临界制冷系统气体冷却器内的超临界换热过程 .文献 [6]对一般应用条件下的超临界换热做了详尽评述 .文献 [7]则针对ＣＯ2 制冷的应用条件对超临界换热做了介绍 .总体而言 ,现有的可用实验数据范围有限 …     

产品自身防腐研究（英）

阐述了多功能添加剂,特别是甘油单酯,作为化妆品非传统防腐方法的许多优点。阐述了化妆品中产品自身防腐与无防腐剂的概念。     

Ermittlung eines kompetitiven Marktpreises für neue Produkte über die Herstellkosten

The predicted market opportunities determine the implementation of an innovative product into production. The prospects are improving at attractive manufacturing costs. The calculated market price results from the manufacturing and the direct and indirect costs of the company by adding a profit margin. A complementary method for determining the market price represents the target cost management. This method is based on supply and demand and uses the price meter of market research. The final market price also takes into account the novelty and product quality, brand strength and competition.     

Electrokinetic phosphorus recovery from packed beds of sewage sludge ash: yield and energy demand

The static lifetime of primary phosphate stocks is estimated as one century. Thus, the exploitation of secondary phosphorus sources becomes increasingly important. This study focussed on the feasibility of an electrokinetic phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge ash (P-content ~5 wt%). Packed bed experiments were conducted under varied electric conditions with and without acid pre-treatment and employing porous and ion exchange materials as electrode wells. Maximum values of phosphate concentration obtained in all experiments were around 2.5 g L⁻¹. Galvanostatic conditions were superior to potentiostatic conditions and acid pre-treatment is preferable over packed bed saturation with water. Ion-exchange membranes improved the product quality but increased the energy demand. Phosphorus recovery below 1% of the initial contents shows that the recovery setup must be improved in view of a marketable application.     

Praktische Hinweise zur Wahl des Werkstoffs von Maschinen und Apparaten

Materials for production plants must be corrosion resistant and mechanically stable. Additionally, the plant hygiene and product hygiene may represent key aspects, depending on the product. Typical materials for the equipment in the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries are high‐quality stainless steels as well as special metals, super alloys, non‐metals and plastics. To avoid contaminations, the stainless steel equipment is polished on the product contact surfaces. Chemical resistant special materials are used as massive material or often applied on a steel base.     

The concept of flow in collaborative game-based learning

Generally, high-school students have been characterized as bored and disengaged from the learning process. However, certain educational designs promote excitement and engagement. Game-based learning is assumed to be such a design. In this study, the concept of flow is used as a framework to investigate student engagement in the process of gaming and to explain effects on game performance and student learning outcome. Frequency 1550, a game about medieval Amsterdam merging digital and urban play spaces, has been examined as an exemplar of game-based learning. This 1-day game was played in teams by 216 students of three schools for secondary education in Amsterdam. Generally, these students show flow with their game activities, although they were distracted by solving problems in technology and navigation. Flow was shown to have an effect on their game performance, but not on their learning outcome. Distractive activities and being occupied with competition between teams did show an effect on the learning outcome of students: the fewer students were distracted from the game and the more they were engaged in group competition, the more students learned about the medieval history of Amsterdam. Consequences for the design of game-based learning in secondary education are discussed.     

A multidimensional analysis of data quality for credit risk management: New insights and challenges

Recent studies have indicated that companies are increasingly experiencing Data Quality (DQ) related problems as more complex data are being collected. To address such problems, the literature suggests the implementation of a Total Data Quality Management Program (TDQM) that should consist of the following phases: DQ definition, measurement, analysis and improvement. As such, this paper performs an empirical study using a questionnaire that was distributed to financial institutions worldwide to identify the most important DQ dimensions, to assess the DQ level of credit risk databases using the identified DQ dimensions, to analyze DQ issues and to suggest improvement actions in a credit risk assessment context. This questionnaire is structured according to the framework of Wang and Strong and incorporates three additional DQ dimensions that were found to be important to the current context (i.e., actionable, alignment and traceable). Additionally, this paper contributes to the literature by developing a scorecard index to assess the DQ level of credit risk databases using the DQ dimensions that were identified as most important. Finally, this study explores the key DQ challenges and causes of DQ problems and suggests improvement actions. The findings from the statistical analysis of the empirical study delineate the nine most important DQ dimensions, which include accuracy and security for assessing the DQ level.