Leinöl in Farben und Lacken – Produkte mit hoher Human- und Umweltverträglichkeit

Linseed Oil – The Basis for Environmental Friendly Products Linseed oil has been used as binding material for manufacturing paints and varnishes since centuries. This old technique combined with modern know-how of industrial production will produce paints and varnishes for interior and exterior use corresponding the highest technical standards. Paints based on linseed oil are distinguished by a high compatibility for the human health and for the environment. Reducing indoor pollution linseed oil products will be of benefit for the human immune system and thus lessen the indoor stress known as “sick building syndrom”. An increased cultivation and use of linseed will give advantage for the consumer, the environment and the farming.     

On the kinetics of the autoxidation of fats: influence of pro‐oxidants,antioxidants and synergists

The influence of minor amounts of pro‐ and anti‐oxidants on the kinetics of the autoxidation of fat has been evaluated. The reaction rates of oxygen with the substrates were found to follow the same basic equation, hitherto established for pure substrates. There is evidence that the surface of the reaction vessel also acts as a reaction catalyst and its effect is proportional to the area of glass in contact with lipids. Oxidation is enhanced by trace metal ions as well as by surface‐active compounds (e.g. hydroperoxides and sterols). Antioxidants such as α‐tocopherol and butylated hydroxyanisole inhibit the oxidation by delaying the start of oxygen consumption (the induction period) while retarders like amino acids only decrease the rate of oxidation. Thus pro‐ and anti‐ oxidants affect either the start or the rate of oxygen consumption. The empirical formula dx/dt = k [O₂] (1‐x/n) f′(t) was found applicable to the different stages of oxidation.     

De-oiling contaminated bleaching clay by high-pressure extraction

The disposal and re-use of spent bleaching clay from the vegetable oil processing industry is a problem of growing importance. Although today the only practical way of removal of the spent material is disposal, extraction with organic solvents is a well-known method of de-oiling contaminated bleaching clay. In our investigations we compare the extractibility of two different types of bleaching clays with CO₂ as a solvent. All experiments were carried out with a high-pressure extraction plant. The extraction and separation conditions, temperature and pressure, as well as the CO₂ mass flow, were varied during experiments. The aim of our investigations was a complete separation of the oil from the adsorbent. The latter should then be re-used as bleaching clay. The oil and the bleaching clay were analyzed and tested, respectively. The results show that oil of good quality can be recovered and the bleaching clay still has an activity approximately 50% of fresh clay.     

Solvatochromic betaine dyes as optochemical sensor materials: detection of polar and non-polar vapors

Solvatochromic effects in the UV/VIS spectra of dyes can be applied to the monitoring of solvents in the gaseous phase. Within the class of solvatochromic dyes Reichhardt's betaine reveals an outstanding hypsochromic effect on protic solvents with a band shift of up to 350 nm. For vapor detection, the sensor behavior was optimized according to the linearity of the response signal, the sensitivity and a minimum influence of humidity by hydrophobizing siloxanes as additives. Furthermore, the dyes were immobilized under mild conditions by a sol–gel process which generates a high porosity for easy analyte access. The detection principle could be further extended to aprotic, polar solvents by embedding the dyes in protic matrices that form hydrogen bonds to the betaine oxygen. Then, the analyte disturbs the hydrogen bonds resulting in a bathochromic band shift resembling a back titration. Finally, the betaine phenol blue even allows the detection of halogenated hydrocarbons that lack a pronounced functionality but nonetheless a hyperchromic effect occurs during analyte exposition. Mechanistic aspects of these solvent absorption processes were traced by mass-sensitive measurements.     

Attentional sensitization of unconscious cognition: Task sets modulate subsequent masked semantic priming.

According to classical theories, automatic processes are autonomous and independent of higher level cognitive influence. In contrast, the authors propose that automatic processing depends on attentional sensitization of task-congruent processing pathways. In 3 experiments, the authors tested this hypothesis with a modified masked semantic priming paradigm during a lexical decision task by measuring event-related potentials (ERPs): Before masked prime presentation, participants attended an induction task either to semantic or perceptual stimulus features designed to activate a semantic or perceptual task set, respectively. Semantic priming effects on the N400 ERP component, an electrophysiological index of semantic processing, were obtained when a semantic task set was induced immediately before subliminal prime presentation, whereas a previously induced perceptual task set attenuated N400 priming. Across experiments, comparable results were obtained regardless of the difficulty level and the verbal or nonverbal nature of the induction tasks. In line with the proposed attentional sensitization model, unconscious semantic processing is enhanced by a semantic and attenuated by a perceptual task set. Hence, automatic processing of unconscious stimuli is susceptible to top-down control for optimizing goal-related information processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical Characterization of Anhydrous and Hydrous Forms of the Hydrochloride Salt of BVT.5182 A Novel 5-HT6 Receptor Antagonist

ABSTRACT

The physicochemical properties of 1-benzenesulfonyl-4-(piperazin-1-yl)-indole hydrochloride, a novel 5-HT₆ receptor antagonist for the treatment of obesity were characterized. Two solid state forms were identified at ambient conditions (23°C): an anhydrate form (1) and a hydrate form (2), with 1.5 moles of H₂O. The latter easily dehydrates and rehydrates without affecting the crystal morphology. Investigations of the propensity for interconversion between the two forms reveal that a) conversion of 2→1 takes place above 145°C and that b) conversion of 1→2 only occurs after crystallization from supersaturated aqueous solutions at a water activity ≥0.94 or in the presence of comparable amounts of crystals of 2 in water at ambient conditions. However, in an equimolar suspension of 1 and 2 at 37°C no phase transformation was observed. Thus, the difference in chemical potential between the two forms is small. Form 1 was shown to have overall favorable solid state properties and, hence, considered the preferred form for continued pharmaceutical development. The characterization was performed by means of light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, FTIR/NIR-spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, hot stage microscopy, thermogravimetry, dynamic vapor sorption, Karl Fischer water content determination, phase stability studies of suspensions, solubility, and intrinsic dissolution rate measurements.     

Setup and calibration of a distributed camera system for surveillance of laboratory space

This paper describes the setup and realization of a distributed camera system designed to survey a laboratory area where humans and mobile manipulator robots collaborate jointly. The system consists of 40 industrial grade cameras surveying a 10 m by 10 m area from a top-down perspective, connected via Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) to a cluster of 40 computers for distributed image processing. The cameras were fully calibrated, achieving an average reprojection error of 0.13 pixels for the complete system, which exceeds state-of-the art accuracy. Current long-term testing has the system running with at least 99.994% availability for up to two weeks. Successful application tests of the system were conducted, where it was used to track the movements of robots and humans across the surveyed area.     

Optimization of the metakaolin geopolymer preparation for maximized ammonium adsorption capacity

Geopolymers are functional materials that can be used in various environmental applications such as adsorbents in pollutant removal from wastewaters. Metakaolin geopolymer (MK-GP) has been proven to be especially suitable for ammonium (NH₄ ⁺) removal. In this research, the optimal reagent and raw material ratios in the preparation of MK-GP in terms of NH₄ ⁺ adsorption capacity were investigated. The response surface methodology based on the face-centered central composite design was used to optimize the levels of three factors: the amounts of hydroxide, silicate, and metakaolin. In addition, the effect of Na or K as the charge-balancing cation was studied. Empirical models were fitted to the experimental data using multiple linear regression. The significance of the models was confirmed by means of analysis of variance. Optimal NH₄ ⁺ removal efficiency was achieved when the amounts of hydroxide and silicate were maximized, the amount of metakaolin was minimized, and Na-based reagents were used. These trends are most likely a result of optimized conversion of metakaolin into MK-GP.     

Time-resolved GISAXS and cryo-microscopy characterization of block copolymer membrane formation

Time-resolved grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) and cryo-microscopy were used for the first time to understand the pore evolution by copolymer assembly, leading to the formation of isoporous membranes with exceptional porosity and regularity. The formation of copolymer micelle strings in solution (in DMF/DOX/THF and DMF/DOX) was confirmed by cryo field emission scanning electron microscopy (cryo-FESEM) with a distance of 72 nm between centers of micelles placed in different strings. SAXS measurement of block copolymer solutions in DMF/DOX indicated hexagonal assembly with micelle-to-micelle distance of 84–87 nm for 14–20 wt% copolymer solutions. GISAXS in-plane peaks were detected, revealing order close to hexagonal. The d-spacing corresponding to the first peak in this case was 100–130 nm (lattice constant 115–150 nm) for 17 wt% copolymer solutions evaporating up to 100 s. Time-resolved cryo-FESEM showed the formation of incipient pores on the film surface after 4 s copolymer solution casting with distances between void centers of 125 nm.