Privacy-enhanced architecture for smart metering

The recent deployment of smart grids promises to bring numerous advantages in terms of energy consumption reduction in both homes and businesses. A more transparent and instantaneous measurement of electricity consumption through smart meters utilization leads to an enhancement in the ability of monitoring, controlling and predicting energy usage. Nevertheless, it also has associated drawbacks related to the privacy of customers, since such management might reveal their personal habits, which electrical appliances they are using at each moment, whether they are at home or not, etc. In this work, we present a privacy-enhanced architecture for smart metering aimed at tackling this threat by means of encrypting individual measurements while allowing the electricity supplier to access the aggregation of the corresponding decrypted values.     

Comparative investigations into microstructural and mechanical properties of as-cast and laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) fabricated duplex steel (1.4517)

A methodology is presented that compares the microstructural and mechanical properties of as-cast and additive-made ferritic-austenitic duplex steel 1.4517. Microstructure of approximately equal amounts of ferrite and austenite measured in as-cast material could not be replicated in post heat-treated laser powder bed fusion samples after 30 min and 60 min of post heat treatment. This is attributed to nitrogen loss during powder atomization which left fewer austenite formers. Post-heat treated laser powder bed fusion samples of duplex structure had its austenite content repeatedly adjusted between 38 % and 40 %. As-built laser powder bed fusion tensile specimens which had a ferritic microstructure recorded high tensile and yield strength but had very poor elongation. Post heat-treated duplex laser powder bed fusion tensile specimen built in both horizontal and vertical orientations had good tensile and yield strength comparable to conventional casting processes; Tensile strength – 739 MPa (horizontal), 759 MPa (vertical); Yield strength (R_p0.2) – 489 MPa (horizontal), 525 MPa (vertical). The horizontally built duplex specimen had a very high elongation of 32 % than the vertical (11 %) or conventionally reported (22 %). This work establishes the 1.4517 duplex steel as a good candidate with good mechanical properties when processed by additive manufacturing.     

Killing Me Softly—Future Challenges in Apoptosis Research

The induction of apoptosis, a highly regulated and clearly defined mode of cell dying, is a vital tenet of modern cancer therapy. In this review we focus on three aspects of apoptosis research which we believe are the most crucial and most exciting areas currently investigated and that will need to be better understood in order to enhance the efficacy of therapeutic measures. First, we discuss which target to select for cancer therapy and argue that not the cancer cell as such, but its interaction with the microenvironment is a more promising and genetically stable site of attack. Second, the complexity of combination therapy is elucidated using the PI3-K-mediated signaling network as a specific example. Here we show that the current clinical approach to sensitize malignancies to apoptosis by maximal, prolonged inhibition of so-called survival pathways can actually be counter productive. Third, we propose that under certain conditions which will need to be clearly defined in future, chronification of a tumor might be preferable to the attempt at a cure. Finally, we discuss further problems with utilizing apoptosis induction in cancer therapy and propose a novel potential therapeutic approach that combines the previously discussed features.     

The production and application of cuprous oxide and cupric hydroxide

Copper compounds are crucial for major areas of application, basically due to the biological impact of small amounts of copper. Thus, on the one hand, copper is used in the form of cuprous oxide as a coating for the hulls of ships to prevent algae growth or as cupric hydroxide as a fungicide in wine or coffe plantations; on the other hand, it is indispensable as a trace element in animal foodstuffs. Other applications (e.g., the manufacture of catalysts or pigments) are presently quantitatively small. Adalbert Lossin earned his Ph.D. in incorganic chemistry at the University of Hannover in 1993. He is currently the head of research and development at Norddeutsche Affinerie. Franz-Josef Westhoff earned his Dr. Ing. in nonferrous metallurgy at Tu Clansthal-Zellerfeld in 1990. He is currently a general superinterdent at the Metais and Chemicals Division of Norddeutsche Affinerie.     

An academic paradox: high school students'' perceptions of their class standing and self-reported risk-taking

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the effects of angiotensin I (AngI) in humans can be explained entirely by its plasmatic conversion to angiotensin II (AngII). METHODS: Ten healthy male volunteers on a sodium-restricted diet were studied on two separate occasions. during which, in random order, AngI or AngII was infused in increasing doses of 0.3, 1 and 3 pmol x kg-1 x min-1. Mean arterial pressure (MAP), effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), glomerular filtration rate (GER), active plasma renin concentration (APRC), AngII, aldosterone (Aldo) and catecholamines were assessed at baseline, after each dose of AngI or AngII and 30 and 60 min after discontinuation of the AngI/AngII infusion. RESULTS: The rise in plasma AngII was significantly less during AngI infusion as compared to AngII infusion (P < 0.05). Changes in MAP, Aldo and GFR, however, were compatible during both infusions. In the kidney, on the other hand, the decrements in APRC and ERPF during AngII infusion exceeded those during AngI (P < 0.05). After cessation of either infusion. AngII concentrations, MAP, ERPF and Aldo returned to baseline levels within 1 h. Renin, however, was still significantly inhibited at that time (P < 0.05). Catecholamines remained virtually unchanged during all experiments. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that AngI and AngII have similar effects on blood pressure and Aldo, but they differ in their renal effects. The latter may be due to a low renal capacity to convert AngI. The prolonged inhibition of renin release after cessation of the infusions may be caused by reduced renin mRNA expression or by accumulation of AngII in the kidney.     

Subunit III (Psa-F) of photosystem I reaction center of the C4 dicotyledon Flaveria trinervia

An immunological survey of C3, C4 and C3-C4-intermediate Flaveria species showed that subunit III (PsaF) of the photosystem I reaction center (PSI-RC) is present in all these species. This was confirmed by the isolation of the gene encoding the PSI-RC subunit III (PsaF) from Flaveria trinervia, the first psaF gene to be isolated from a C4 plant. The deduced amino acid sequence showed a high degree of similarity to the corresponding protein of spinach which is a C3 species. A region of 17 hydrophobic amino acids in the C-terminal part of the F. trinervia protein was found to be especially conserved in all PsaF proteins studied so far (cyanobacteria and Chlamydomonas).     

An Experimental Workflow for Studying Barrier Integrity,Permeability, and Tight Junction Composition and Localization in a Single Endothelial Cell Monolayer: Proof of Concept

Endothelial and epithelial barrier function is crucial for the maintenance of physiological processes. The barrier paracellular permeability depends on the composition and spatial distribution of the cell-to-cell tight junctions (TJ). Here, we provide an experimental workflow that yields several layers of physiological data in the setting of a single endothelial cell monolayer. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells were grown on Transwell filters. Transendothelial electrical resistance (TER) and 10 kDa FITC dextran flux were measured using Alanyl-Glutamine (AlaGln) as a paracellular barrier modulator. Single monolayers were immunolabelled for Zonula Occludens-1 (ZO-1) and Claudin-5 (CLDN5) and used for automated immunofluorescence imaging. Finally, the same monolayers were used for single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) of ZO-1 and CLDN5 at the nanoscale for spatial clustering analysis. The TER increased and the paracellular dextran flux decreased after the application of AlaGln and these functional changes of the monolayer were mediated by an increase in the ZO-1 and CLDN5 abundance in the cell–cell interface. At the nanoscale level, the functional and protein abundance data were accompanied by non-random increased clustering of CLDN5. Our experimental workflow provides multiple data from a single monolayer and has wide applicability in the setting of paracellular studies in endothelia and epithelia.     

Development and testing of protein mixtures based on blood and collagen

Using the results of the chemical amino acid analyses of the unconventional proteins blood, collagen and wool and the conventional proteins soya, maize and casein, protein mixtures were developed. The quality of the protein mixtures was estimated in feeding experiments with growing male Sprague-Dawley rats and expressed as protein efficiency ratio (PER). Different blood parameters and the weight of some organs were also recorded. Blood, collagen and wool protein are very poor in different essential amino acids, therefore their quality is very low, it can however be significantly improved when they are fed in mixtures with other animal or plant proteins of higher quality. In mixtures of three components only containing blood (10--40%), collagen (10--25%) and casein (50 to 70%) the deficit in the content of essential amino acids cannot be compensated. Rats fed with such diets showed, however, decreased food intake and depressed growth. The relative PER values of those mixtures were 44--69% of that of casein. The best supplementing effect on the imbalanced amino acid patterns was achieved when the protein mixture was developed from 4 or 5 different proteins. The quality of these five-component-mixtures amounted to 94--100% of that of casein. In these mixtures the percentage of casein in the protein mixture amounted to only 35% and soya or maize to 15%. Exactly 50% of the protein supply could be derived from hydrolysates of the unconventional proteins blood, collagen and wool.     

On the dynamics between gonadotrophin surge-inhibiting factor and gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH): role of self-priming and desensitization in the luteinizing hormone response to GnRH after follicle stimulating hormone treatment

The effects were studied of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH)-induced production of gonadotrophin surge-inhibiting factor (GnSIF) on three phases of the pituitary responsiveness to gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH): the unprimed, primed and desensitized phases. Rats were injected with FSH on two occasions during the oestrous cycle. Spontaneous luteinizing hormone (LH) surges were measured as well as GnRH-induced LH surges on the day of pro-oestrus during infusions with 100-4000 pmol GnRH/rat/10 h, in phenobarbital blocked rats. The spontaneous LH surges were attenuated or completely inhibited by the FSH treatment. FSH suppresses and prolongs the unprimed LH response and delays GnRH self-priming, especially during infusions with low concentrations of GnRH. This treatment does not affect the total LH response (area under curve) to the highest concentrations of GnRH and after ovariectomy. On the other hand, this response is suppressed during infusions with the lower concentrations of GnRH. Hence, FSH, via GnSIF, delays maximal priming of the LH response to GnRH, whereas the suppression of LH release is a consequence of the GnRH-induced progressed state of desensitization. The inconsistent effects of FSH on the mid-cycle LH surges are explained as a result of the interaction between the relative strengths of GnRH and GnSIF.