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Agil ist im Trend und immer mehr Unternehmen, die ihre Projekte bisher nach klassischen Prinzipien durchführten, denken über den Einsatz agiler Methoden nach. Doch selbst wenn die Organisation bereits beide Philosophien unterstützt, gilt für ein Projekt meist die klare Vorgabe: agil oder klassisch. Es gibt aber noch einen anderen Ansatz, mit diesen "unterschiedlichen Welten" umzugehen: Und zwar die beiden Philosophien innerhalb eines Projekts zu kombinieren. Wie dies in der Praxis aussehen und gelingen kann, zeigen Dr. Michael Kirchhof und Prof. Dr. Bodo Kraft in diesem Beitrag.
The radio-based wireless data communication has made the realization of new technical solutions possible in many fields of the automation technology (AT). For about ten years, a constant disproportionate growth of wireless technologies can be observed in the automation technology.
However, it shows that especially for the AT, conventional technologies of office automation are unsuitable and/or not manageable. The employment of mobile services in the industrial automation technology has the potential of significant cost and time savings. This leads to an increased productivity in various fields of the AT, for example in the factory and process automation or in production logistics. In this paper technologies and solutions for an automation-suited supply of mobile wireless services will be introduced under the criteria of real time suitability, IT-security and service orientation.
Emphasis will be put on the investigation and development of wireless convergence layers for different radio technologies, on the central provision of support services for an easy-to-use, central, backup enabled management of combined wired / wireless networks and on the study on integrability in a Profinet real-time Ethernet network.
Energietransparenz und optimierter Energieverbrauch durch ganzheitliche Automatisierungskonzepte
(2012)
We present an effective finite difference formulation for implementing and modeling multiple borehole heat exchangers (BHE) in the general 3-D coupled heat and flow transport code SHEMAT. The BHE with arbitrary length can be either coaxial or double U-shaped. It is particularly suitable for modeling deep BHEs which contain varying pipe diameters and materials.
Usually, in numerical simulations, a fine discretization of the BHE assemblage is required, due to the large geometric aspect ratios involved. This yields large models and long simulation times. The approach avoids this problem by considering heat transport between fluid and the soil through pipes and grout via thermal resistances. Therefore, the simulation time can be significantly reduced.
The coupling with SHEMAT is realized by introducing an effective heat generation. Due to this connection, it is possible to consider heterogeneous geological models, as well as the influence of groundwater flow. This is particularly interesting when studying the long term behavior of a single BHE or a BHE field. Heating and cooling loads can enter the model with an arbitrary interval, e.g. from hourly to monthly values. When dealing with large BHE fields, computing times can be further significantly reduced by focusing on the temperature field around the BHEs, without explicitly modeling inlet and outlet temperatures. This allows to determine the possible migration of cold and warm plumes due to groundwater flow, which is of particular importance in urban areas with a high BHE installation density.
The model is validated against the existing BHE modeling codes EWS and EED. A comparison with monitoring data from a deep BHE in Switzerland shows a good agreement. Synthetic examples demonstrate the field of application of this model.
Die Aufrechnung des Insolvenzverwalters gegen eine Insolvenzforderung nach ihrer Feststellung
(2012)
Vollzug der Schenkung einer Unterbeteiligung : BGH, Urteil vom 29.11.2011 - II ZR 306/09 : Anmerkung
(2012)
Dynamik bei Eisenbahnbrücken
(2012)
Die Detektion von Schadstoffen repräsentiert in der Umweltanalytik eine wichtige Aufgabenstellung. Gerade die Abwasser- bzw. Brauchwasseranalytik sowie die Prozesskontrolle haben einen hohen Stellenwert. Siliziumbasierte Dünnschichtsensoren bieten eine kostengünstige Möglichkeit, „online“-Messungen bzw. Vor-Ort-Messungen zeitnah durchzuführen. In dieser Arbeit wird ein potentiometrisches Sensorarray auf der Basis von Chalkogenidgläsern zur Detektion von Schwermetallen in wässrigen Medien vorgestellt.
Risiken des Handels
(2012)
Aufbau von Handelseinheiten
(2012)
Stahlbetonbau
(2012)
Geotechnik
(2012)
Siedlungswasserwirtschaft
(2012)
Abfallwirtschaft
(2012)
Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (hrHPV) can result in the formation of anogenital cancers. As hrHPV proteins E6 and E7 are required for cancer initiation and maintenance, they are ideal targets for immunotherapeutic interventions. Previously, we have described the development of DNA vaccines for the induction of HPV16 E6 and E7 specific T cell immunity. These vaccines consist of ‘gene-shuffled’ (SH) versions of HPV16 E6 and E7 that were fused to Tetanus Toxin Fragment C domain 1 (TTFC) and were named TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH. Gene-shuffling was performed to avoid the risk of inducing malignant transformation at the vaccination site. Here, we describe the preclinical safety evaluation of these candidate vaccines by analysis of their transforming capacity in vitro using established murine fibroblasts (NIH 3T3 cells) and primary human foreskin keratinocytes (HFKs). We demonstrate that neither ectopic expression of TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH alone or in combination enabled NIH 3T3 cells to form colonies in soft agar. In contrast, expression of HPV16 E6WT and E7WT alone or in combination resulted in effective transformation. Similarly, retroviral transduction of HFKs from three independent donors with both TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH alone or in combination did not show any signs of immortalization. In contrast, the combined expression of E6WT and E7WT induced immortalization in HFKs from all donors. Based on these results we consider it justified to proceed to clinical evaluation of DNA vaccines encoding TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH in patients with HPV16 associated (pre)malignancies.
Chelate stabilization of a titanium(IV)–salan alkoxide by ligand exchange with 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid (dipic) resulted in heptacoordinate complex 3 which is not redox-active, stable on silica gel and has increased aqueous stability. 3 is highly toxic in HeLa S3 and Hep G2 and has enhanced antitumor efficacy in a mouse cervical-cancer model.
Wendehorst Beispiele aus der Baupraxis / Ulrich Vismann (Hrsg.). - 4., durchges. und aktualis. Aufl.
(2012)
Sensitivity of phase detection techniques in aerated chute flows to hydraulic design parameters
(2012)
Many tasks for autonomous agents or robots are best described by a specification of the environment and a specification of the available actions the agent or robot can perform. Combining such a specification with the possibility to imperatively program a robot or agent is what we call the actionbased imperative programming. One of the most successful such approaches is Golog. In this paper, we draft a proposal for a new robot programming language YAGI, which is based on the action-based imperative programming paradigm. Our goal is to design a small, portable stand-alone YAGI interpreter. We combine the benefits of a principled domain specification with a clean, small and simple programming language, which does not exploit any side-effects from the implementation language. We discuss general requirements of action-based programming languages and outline YAGI, our action-based language approach which particularly aims at embeddability.
Solar thermal concentrated power is an emerging technology that provides clean electricity for the growing energy market. To the solar thermal concentrated power plant systems belong the parabolic trough, the Fresnel collector, the solar dish, and the central receiver system.
For high-concentration solar collector systems, optical and thermal analysis is essential. There exist a number of measurement techniques and systems for the optical and thermal characterization of the efficiency of solar thermal concentrated systems.
For each system, structure, components, and specific characteristics types are described. The chapter presents additionally an outline for the calculation of system performance and operation and maintenance topics. One main focus is set to the models of components and their construction details as well as different types on the market. In the later part of this chapter, different criteria for the choice of technology are analyzed in detail.
All cells generate contractile tension. This strain is crucial for mechanically controlling the cell shape, function and survival. In this study, the CellDrum technology quantifying cell's (the cellular) mechanical tension on a pico-scale was used to investigate the effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on human aortic endothelial cell (HAoEC) tension. The LPS effect during gram-negative sepsis on endothelial cells is cell contraction causing endothelium permeability increase. The aim was to finding out whether recombinant activated protein C (rhAPC) would reverse the endothelial cell response in an in-vitro sepsis model. In this study, the established in-vitro sepsis model was confirmed by interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels at the proteomic and genomic levels by ELISA, real time-PCR and reactive oxygen species (ROS) activation by florescence staining. The thrombin cellular contraction effect on endothelial cells was used as a positive control when the CellDrum technology was applied. Additionally, the Ras homolog gene family, member A (RhoA) mRNA expression level was checked by real time-PCR to support contractile tension results. According to contractile tension results, the mechanical predominance of actin stress fibers was a reason of the increased endothelial contractile tension leading to enhanced endothelium contractility and thus permeability enhancement. The originality of this data supports firstly the basic measurement principles of the CellDrum technology and secondly that rhAPC has a beneficial effect on sepsis influenced cellular tension. The technology presented here is promising for future high-throughput cellular tension analysis that will help identify pathological contractile tension responses of cells and prove further cell in-vitro models.
Leveraging Social Network Data for Analytical CRM Strategies - The Introduction of Social BI.
(2012)
Enceladus explorer - A maneuverable subsurface probe for autonomous navigation through deep ice
(2012)
Technisches Zeichnen : Lösungsvorschläge für das Selbststudium. (Berichte aus dem Maschinenbau)
(2012)
Since several decades, dam-break waves have been of main research interest. Mathematical approaches have been developed by analytical, physical and numerical models within the past 120 years. During the past 10 years, the number of research investigations has increased due to improved measurement techniques as well as significantly increased computer memories and performances. In this context, the present research deals with the initial stage of two-dimensional dam-break waves by comparing physical and numerical model results as well as analytical approaches. High-speed images and resulting particle image velocimetry calculations are thereby compared with the numerical volume-of-fluid (VOF) method, included in the commercial code FLOW-3D. Wave profiles and drag forces on placed obstacles are analysed in detail. Generally, a good agreement between the laboratory and VOF results is found.
Influence of a freeze–thaw cycle on the stress–stretch curves of tissues of porcine abdominal organs
(2012)
The paper investigates both fresh porcine spleen and liver and the possible decomposition of these organs under a freeze–thaw cycle. The effect of tissue preservation condition is an important factor which should be taken into account for protracted biomechanical tests. In this work, tension tests were conducted for a large number of tissue specimens from twenty pigs divided into two groups of 10. Concretely, the first group was tested in fresh state; the other one was tested after a freeze-thaw cycle which simulates the conservation conditions before biomechanical experiments. A modified Fung model for isotropic behavior was adopted for the curve fitting of each kind of tissues. Experimental results show strong effects of the realistic freeze–thaw cycle on the capsule of elastin-rich spleen but negligible effects on the liver which virtually contains no elastin. This different behavior could be explained by the autolysis of elastin by elastolytic enzymes during the warmer period after thawing. Realistic biomechanical properties of elastin-rich organs can only be expected if really fresh tissue is tested. The observations are supported by tests of intestines.
Suburethral slings as well as different meshes are widely used treating stress urinary incontinence and prolaps in women. With the development of MiniSlings and special meshes using less alloplastic material anchorage systems become more important to keep devices in place and to put some tension especially on the MiniSlings. To date, there are many different systems of MiniSlings of different companies on the market which differ in the structure of the used meshes and anchors. A new objective measurement method to compare different properties of MiniSling systems (mesh and anchor) is presented in this article. Ballistic gelatine acts as soft tissue surrogate. Significant differences in parameters like pull-out strength of anchors or shrinkage of meshes under loading conditions have been determined. The form and size of the anchors as well as the structural stability of the meshes are decisive for a proper integration. The tested anchorings sytems showed markedly different mechanical function at their respective load bearing capacity. As the stable fixation of the device in tissue is a prerequisite for a permanet reinforcement, the proposed test system permits further optimisation of anchor and mesh devices to improve the success of the surgical treatment
The impact of surgical staplers on tissues has been studied mostly in an empirical manner. In this paper, finite element method was used to clarify the mechanics of tissue stapling and associated phenomena. Various stapling modalities and several designs of circular staplers were investigated to evaluate the impact of the device on tissues and mechanical performance of the end-to-end colorectal anastomosis. Numerical simulations demonstrated that a single row of staples is not adequate to resist leakage due to non-linear buckling and opening of the tissue layers between two adjacent staples. Compared to the single staple row configuration, significant increase in stress experienced by the tissue at the inner staple rows was observed in two and three rows designs. On the other hand, adding second and/or third staple row had no effect on strain in the tissue inside the staples. Variable height design with higher staples in outer rows significantly reduced the stresses and strains in outer rows when compared to the same configuration with flat cartridge.
Background
Minor changes in protein structure induced by small organic and inorganic molecules can result in significant metabolic effects. The effects can be even more profound if the molecular players are chemically active and present in the cell in considerable amounts. The aim of our study was to investigate effects of a nitric oxide donor (spermine NONOate), ATP and sodium/potassium environment on the dynamics of thermal unfolding of human hemoglobin (Hb). The effect of these molecules was examined by means of circular dichroism spectrometry (CD) in the temperature range between 25°C and 70°C. The alpha-helical content of buffered hemoglobin samples (0.1 mg/ml) was estimated via ellipticity change measurements at a heating rate of 1°C/min.
Results
Major results were:
1) spermine NONOate persistently decreased the hemoglobin unfolding temperature T u irrespectively of the Na + /K + environment,
2) ATP instead increased the unfolding temperature by 3°C in both sodium-based and potassium-based buffers and
3) mutual effects of ATP and NO were strongly influenced by particular buffer ionic compositions. Moreover, the presence of potassium facilitated a partial unfolding of alpha-helical structures even at room temperature.
Conclusion
The obtained data might shed more light on molecular mechanisms and biophysics involved in the regulation of protein activity by small solutes in the cell.
The highly polymorphic human cytochrome P450 2D6 enzyme is involved in the metabolism of up to 25% of all marketed drugs and accounts for significant individual differences in response to CYP2D6 substrates. Because of the differences in the multiplicity and substrate specificity of CYP2D family members among species, it is difficult to predict pathways of human CYP2D6-dependent drug metabolism on the basis of animal studies. To create animal models that reflect the human situation more closely and that allow an in vivo assessment of the consequences of differential CYP2D6 drug metabolism, we have developed a novel straightforward approach to delete the entire murine Cyp2d gene cluster and replace it with allelic variants of human CYP2D6. By using this approach, we have generated mouse lines expressing the two frequent human protein isoforms CYP2D6.1 and CYP2D6.2 and an as yet undescribed variant of this enzyme, as well as a Cyp2d cluster knockout mouse. We demonstrate that the various transgenic mouse lines cover a wide spectrum of different human CYP2D6 metabolizer phenotypes. The novel humanization strategy described here provides a robust approach for the expression of different CYP2D6 allelic variants in transgenic mice and thus can help to evaluate potential CYP2D6-dependent interindividual differences in drug response in the context of personalized medicine.
Assessment of RF Safety of Transmit Coils at 7 Tesla by Experimental and Numerical Procedures (490.)
(2012)
Air- and water-stable phenyl complexes with nitridotechnetium(V) cores can be prepared by straightforward procedures. [TcNPh2(PPh3)2] is formed by the reaction of [TcNCl2(PPh3)2] with PhLi. The analogous N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) compound [TcNPh2(HLPh)2], where HLPh is 1,3,4-triphenyl-1,2,4-triazol-5-ylidene, is available from (NBu4)[TcNCl4] and HLPh or its methoxo-protected form. The latter compound allows the comparison of different Tc–C bonds within one compound. Surprisingly, the Tc chemistry with such NHCs does not resemble that of corresponding Re complexes, where CH activation and orthometalation dominate.
N,N-Dialkylamino(thiocarbonyl)-N′-picolylbenzamidines react with (NEt4)2[M(CO)3X3] (M = Re, X = Br; M = Tc, X = Cl) under formation of neutral [M(CO)3L] complexes in high yields. The monoanionic NNS ligands bind in a facial coordination mode and can readily be modified at the (CS)NR1R2 moiety. The complexes [99Tc(CO)3(LPyMor)] and [Re(CO)3(L)] (L = LPyMor, LPyEt) were characterized by X-ray diffraction. Reactions of [99mTc(CO)3(H2O)3]+ with the N′-thiocarbamoylpicolylbenzamidines give the corresponding 99mTc complexes. The ester group in HLPyCOOEt allows linkage between biomolecules and the metal core.
Entwicklung eines Prototypen zur Prognose von Frühgeburten : ein biomedizintechnischer Ansatz
(2012)
Netzsektoren und deren adäquate Regulierung sind ein sehr relevantes und aktuelles Thema. Dies gilt sowohl für die ökonomische Theorie, die sich sehr intensiv damit auseinandersetzt und in den letzten Jahrzehnten zahlreiche neue Erkenntnisse gewonnen hat. Es gilt ebenso für die Politik, in der Regulierungsfragen kontrovers diskutiert werden und dies nicht nur unter ökonomischen Gesichtspunkten. Es gilt selbstverständlich für die regulierten Unternehmen selbst, deren Tätigkeit durch die staatlichen Regulierungsvorgaben markant beeinflusst wird. Nicht nur die konkreten Inhalte der Regulierungsregime sowie die verbleibenden Freiheitsgrade in der Ausgestaltung sind von Bedeutung, sondern ebenso die Umsetzung durch die Regulierungsbehörden. All dies gilt für den Strommarkt und seinen regulatorischen Hintergrund in besonderer Weise. Die Entflechtung der Stromübertragungsnetze von der Stromproduktion und damit die Vorgaben für die Organisation der Wertschöpfungsketten in den Elektrizitätsunternehmen sind seit dem Beginn des europäischen Liberalisierungsprozesses der Strommärkte ein wichtiges und kontrovers diskutiertes Regulierungselement. Den Fokus bildet das vertikale Unbundling, das letztlich die Diskriminierung von Wettbewerbern durch Anbieter mit aggregierten Wertschöpfungsketten verhindern soll, indem diese gezwungen werden, ihren "Netzteil" anders zu organisieren oder zu verkaufen. Den Mitgliedsstaaten blieben Freiräume in der Ausgestaltung, die in Deutschland erst vor kurzem konkretisiert wurden, und die für die regulierten Unternehmen die Nutzung eines Wahlrechts beinhalten. Der wirtschaftspolitischen folgt nun eine unternehmerische Abwägungsentscheidung.
As the potential of a next generation network (NGN) is recognised, telecommunication companies consider switching to it. Although the implementation of an NGN seems to be merely a modification of the network infrastructure, it may trigger or require changes in the whole company, because it builds upon the separation between service and transport, a flexible bundling of services to products and the streamlining of the IT infrastructure. We propose a holistic framework, structured into the layers ‘strategy’, ‘processes’ and ‘information systems’ and incorporate into each layer all concepts necessary for the implementation of an NGN, as well as the alignment of these concepts. As a first proof-of-concept for our framework we have performed a case study on the introduction of NGN in a large telecommunication company; we show that our framework captures all topics that are affected by an NGN implementation.
Die Veränderungen des Telekommunikationsmarktes haben in der Praxis zu einer Vielzahl von Transformationsprojekten geführt. Was gehört aber zu einem “Transformationsprojekt”, welche Prozesse und Systeme werden verändert? Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage haben wir 184 Berichte zu Projekten analysiert, die als "Transformationsprojekte" bezeichnet waren. Für die Analyse haben wir einen Kodierungsrahmen konzipiert und anhand dessen die Berichte mit einem hierarchischen Clustering-Verfahren in Themen gruppiert. Die Ergebnisse liefern Hinweise über die in der Praxis gesetzten Schwerpunkte und Prioritäten. Sie können
somit als Unterstützung für Unternehmen dienen, die ein Transformationsprojekt planen. Sie weisen zudem darauf hin, in welchen Bereichen eines Unternehmens Unterstützung durch wissenschaftlich erprobte Werkzeuge und Modelle nötig ist.
Wieder einmal hat eine Entscheidung des Europäischen Gerichtshofs (EuGH) das bisherige nationale Verständnis zu einer Frage des Rechts des Betriebsübergangs erheblich ins Wanken gebracht. Bisher entsprach es allgemeiner Auffassung, dass die Arbeitsverhältnisse von Zeit- bzw. Leiharbeitnehmern bei einem Betriebs(teil)übergang des die Leiharbeitnehmer entleihenden Betriebs nicht auf den Betriebserwerber übergehen. Der EuGH hat in der Rechtssache Albron Catering mit Urteil vom 21.10.2010 jedoch entschieden, dass auch Leiharbeitnehmer von einem Betriebs(teil)übergang erfasst sein können. Folglich kann der Erwerber eines Betriebs oder Betriebsteils gem. § 613a BGB zukünftig verpflichtet sein, auch die an den Betriebsveräußerer verliehenen Leiharbeitnehmer zu übernehmen. Die Entscheidung des EuGH hat somit zur Konsequenz, dass der Übergang von Leiharbeitsverhältnissen auf den Erwerber eines Betriebs jedenfalls nicht mehr pauschal ausgeschlossen werden kann. Dies gilt es bei künftigen Betriebs(teil)übertragungen zu berücksichtigen, um unliebsame Überraschungen zu vermeiden.
Determinants of earnings forecast error, earnings forecast revision and earnings forecast accuracy
(2012)
Earnings forecasts are ubiquitous in today’s financial markets. They are essential indicators of future firm performance and a starting point for firm valuation. Extremely inaccurate and overoptimistic forecasts during the most recent financial crisis have raised serious doubts regarding the reliability of such forecasts. This thesis therefore investigates new determinants of forecast errors and accuracy. In addition, new determinants of forecast revisions are examined. More specifically, the thesis answers the following questions: 1) How do analyst incentives lead to forecast errors? 2) How do changes in analyst incentives lead to forecast revisions?, and 3) What factors drive differences in forecast accuracy?
s the magnetic field strength and therefore the operational frequency in MRI are increased, the radiofrequency wavelength approaches the size of the human head/body, resulting in wave effects which cause signal decreases and dropouts. Especially, whole-body imaging at 7 T and higher is therefore challenging. Recently, an acquisition scheme called time-interleaved acquisition of modes has been proposed to tackle the inhomogeneity problems in high-field MRI. The basic premise is to excite two (or more) different Burn:x-wiley:07403194:media:MRM23081:tex2gif-stack-1 modes using static radiofrequency shimming in an interleaved acquisition, where the complementary radiofrequency patterns of the two modes can be exploited to improve overall signal homogeneity. In this work, the impact of time-interleaved acquisition of mode on image contrast as well as on time-averaged specific absorption rate is addressed in detail. Time-interleaved acquisition of mode is superior in Burn:x-wiley:07403194:media:MRM23081:tex2gif-stack-2 homogeneity compared with conventional radiofrequency shimming while being highly specific absorption rate efficient. Time-interleaved acquisition of modes can enable almost homogeneous high-field imaging throughout the entire field of view in PD, T2, and T2*-weighted imaging and, if a specified homogeneity criterion is met, in T1-weighted imaging as well.
31P MR spectroscopic imaging of the human prostate provides information about phosphorylated metabolites that could be used for prostate cancer characterization. The sensitivity of a magnetic field strength of 7 T might enable 3D 31P MR spectroscopic imaging with relevant spatial resolution in a clinically acceptable measurement time. To this end, a 31P endorectal coil was developed and combined with an eight-channel 1H body-array coil to relate metabolic information to anatomical location. An extensive safety validation was performed to evaluate the specific absorption rate, the radiofrequency field distribution, and the temperature distribution of both coils. This validation consisted of detailed Finite Integration Technique simulations, confirmed by MR thermometry and Burn:x-wiley:07403194:media:MRM24175:tex2gif-stack-1 measurements in a phantom and in vivo temperature measurements. The safety studies demonstrated that the presence of the 31P endorectal coil had no influence on the specific absorption rate levels and temperature distribution of the external eight-channel 1H array coil. To stay within a 10 g averaged local specific absorption rate of 10 W/kg, a maximum time-averaged input power of 33 W for the 1H array coil was allowed. For transmitting with the 31P endorectal coil, our safety limit of less than 1°C temperature increase in vivo during a 15-min MR spectroscopic imaging experiment was reached at a time-averaged input power of 1.9 W. With this power setting, a second in vivo measurement was performed on a healthy volunteer. Using adiabatic excitation, 3D 31P MR spectroscopic imaging produced spectra from the entire prostate in 18 min with a spatial resolution of 4 cm3. The spectral resolution enabled the separate detection of phosphocholine, phosphoethanolamine, inorganic phosphate, and other metabolites that could play an important role in the characterization of prostate cancer.
This contribution discusses the utilization of RF power in an MRI system with RF mode shimming which enables the superposition of circularly polarized modes of a transmit RF coil array driven by a Butler matrix. Since the required power for the individual modes can vary widely, mode-shimming can result in a significant underutilization of the total available RF power. A variable power combiner (VPC) is proposed to improve the power utilization: it can be realized as a reconfiguration of the MRI transmit system by the inclusion of one additional matrix network which receives the power from all transmit amplifiers at its input ports and provides any desired (combined) power distribution at its output ports by controlling the phase and amplitude of the amplifiers’ input signals. The power distribution at the output ports of the VPC is then fed into the “mode” ports of the coil array Butler matrix in order to superimpose the spatial modes at the highest achievable power utilization. The VPC configuration is compared to the standard configuration of the transmit chain of our MRI system with 8 transmit channels and 16 coils. In realistic scenarios, improved power utilization was achieved from 17% to 60% and from 14% to 55% for an elliptical phantom and a region of interest in the abdomen, respectively, and an increase of the power utilization of 1 dB for a region of interest in the upper leg. In general, it is found that the VPC allows significant improvement in power utilization when the shimming solution demands only a few modes to be energized, while the technique can yield loss in power utilization in cases with many modes required at high power level.
Prioritization is an essential task within requirements engineering to cope with complexity and to establish focus properly. The 3rd Workshop on Requirements Prioritization for customer oriented Software Development (RePriCo’12) focused on requirements prioritization and adjacent themes in the context of customer oriented development of bespoke and standard software. Five submissions have been accepted for the proceedings and for presentation. The report summarizes and points out key findings.
Two of the main environmental problems of today’s society are the continuously increasing production of organic wastes as well as the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the related green house effect. A way to solve these problems is the production of biogas. Biogas is a combustible gas consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and small amounts of other gases and trace elements. Production of biogas through anaerobic digestion of animal manure and slurries as well as of a wide range of digestible organic wastes and agricultural residues, converts these substrates into electricity and heat and offers a natural fertiliser for agriculture. The microbiological process of decomposition of organic matter, in the absence of oxygen takes place in reactors, called digesters. Biogas can be used as a fuel in a gas turbine or burner and can be used in a hybrid solar tower system offering a solution for waste treatment of agricultural and animal residues. A solar tower system consists of a heliostat field, which concentrates direct solar irradiation on an open volumetric central receiver. The receiver heats up ambient air to temperatures of around 700°C. The hot air’s heat energy is transferred to a steam Rankine cycle in a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The steam drives a steam turbine, which in turn drives a generator for producing electricity. In order to increase the operational hours of a solar tower power plant, a heat storage system and/ or hybridization may be considered. The advantage of solar-fossil hybrid power plants, compared to solar-only systems, lies in low additional investment costs due to an adaptable solar share and reduced technical and economical risks. On sunny days the hybrid system operates in a solar-only mode with the central receiver and on cloudy days and at night with the gas turbine only. As an alternative to methane gas, environmentally neutral biogas can be used for operating the gas turbine. Hence, the hybrid system is operated to 100% from renewable energy sources
Thermodynamic stability, configurational motions and internal forces of haemoglobin (Hb) of three endotherms (platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus; domestic chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus and human, Homo sapiens) and an ectotherm (salt water crocodile, Crocodylus porosus) were investigated using circular dichroism, incoherent elastic neutron scattering and coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations. The experimental results from Hb solutions revealed a direct correlation between protein resilience, melting temperature and average body temperature of the different species on the 0.1 ns time scale. Molecular forces appeared to be adapted to permit conformational fluctuations with a root mean square displacement close to 1.2 Å at the corresponding average body temperature of the endotherms. Strong forces within crocodile Hb maintain the amplitudes of motion within a narrow limit over the entire temperature range in which the animal lives. In fully hydrated powder samples of human and chicken, Hb mean square displacements and effective force constants on the 1 ns time scale showed no differences over the whole temperature range from 10 to 300 K, in contrast to the solution case. A complementary result of the study, therefore, is that one hydration layer is not sufficient to activate all conformational fluctuations of Hb in the pico- to nanosecond time scale which might be relevant for biological function. Coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations permitted to explore residue-specific effects. They indicated that temperature sensing of human and chicken Hb occurs mainly at residues lining internal cavities in the β-subunits.
Bei der Ausarbeitung des nationalen Anwendungsdokumentes zur DIN EN 1998-1 waren die in der ENV-Fassung enthaltenen vereinfachten Regeln im Lichte aktueller Forschungsergebnisse zu überprüfen und zu überarbeiten. Die gleiche Aufgabe stellte sich auch für die Neufassung der DIN 4149. In beiden Fällen sind neben konstruktiven Regeln für die Art und Anordnung der zur Gebäudeaussteifung heranzuziehenden Wände im Grundriss Tabellen enthalten, die unter bestimmten Bedingungen den Entfall eines rechnerischen Nachweises der Tragwände im Erdbebenfall ermöglichen. Dies ist für Schwachbebengebiete, wie sie in Deutschland und anderen Ländern Mitteleuropas anzutreffen sind, sinnvoll, um unnötigen Rechenaufwand sowie Probleme mit der Führbarkeit von Nachweisen so weit wie möglich auszuschalten. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Hintergründe der vereinfachten Regeln diskutiert und die Ergebnisse der Anwendung mit verschiedenen Rechenverfahren verglichen und bewertet.
Moderne Mauerwerksbauten müssen nach heutigen Anforderungen architektonisch, statisch, energetisch sowie schall- und brandschutztechnisch optimal ausgelegt sein. Aufgrund der Komplexität und engen Verzahnung der einzelnen Anforderungen ist eine integrale Gebäudeplanung zur Erzielung einer qualitativ hochwertigen Bauwerkslösung unbedingt notwendig. Diese erfordert von den Fachplanern vertieftes Spezialwissen in den verschiedenen Bereichen, um insbesondere die Schnittstellen und Bauwerksdetails korrekt zu planen und auszuführen. Der Beitrag stellt die integrale Gebäudeplanung am Beispiel eines Geschossbaus in Ziegelbauweise mit Lösungen für wesentliche Detailpunkte vor
Baustatik in Beispielen
(2012)
Heterogeneous Composites on the Basis of Microbial Cells and Nanostructured Carbonized Sorbents
(2012)
The fact that microorganisms prefer to grow on liquid/solid phase surfaces rather than in the surrounding aqueous phase was noticed long time ago [1]. Virtually any surface – animal, mineral, or vegetable – is a subject for microbial colonization and subsequent biofilm formation. It would be adequate to name just a few notorious examples on microbial colonization of contact lenses, ship hulls, petroleum pipelines, rocks in streams and all kinds of biomedical implants. The propensity of microorganisms to become surface-bound is so profound and ubiquitous that it vindicates the advantages for attached forms over their free-ranging counterparts [2]. Indeed, from ecological and evolutionary standpoints, for many microorganisms the surface-bound state means dwelling in nutritionally favorable, non-hostile environments [3]. Therefore, in most of natural and artificial ecosystems surface-associated microorganisms vastly outnumber organisms in suspension and often organize into complex communities with features that differ dramatically from those of free cells [4].
We present a new approach to the problem of optimal control of solar sails for low-thrust trajectory optimization. The objective was to find the required control torque magnitudes in order to steer a solar sail in interplanetary space. A new steering strategy, controlling the solar sail with generic torques applied about the spacecraft body axes, is integrated into the existing low-thrust trajectory optimization software InTrance. This software combines artificial neural networks and evolutionary algorithms to find steering strategies close to the global optimum without an initial guess. Furthermore, we implement a three rotational degree-of-freedom rigid-body attitude dynamics model to represent the solar sail in space. Two interplanetary transfers to Mars and Neptune are chosen to represent typical future solar sail mission scenarios. The results found with the new steering strategy are compared to the existing reference trajectories without attitude dynamics. The resulting control torques required to accomplish the missions are investigated, as they pose the primary requirements to a real on-board attitude control system.
There is common agreement within the scientific community that in order to understand our local galactic environment it will be necessary to send a spacecraft into the region beyond the solar wind termination shock. Considering distances of 200 AU for a new mission, one needs a spacecraft traveling at a speed of close to 10 AU/yr in order to keep the mission duration in the range of less than 25 yrs, a transfer time postulated by European Space Agency (ESA). Two propulsion options for the mission have been proposed and discussed so far: the solar sail propulsion and the ballistic/radioisotope-electric propulsion (REP). As a further alternative, we here investigate a combination of solar-electric propulsion (SEP) and REP. The SEP stage consists of six 22-cms diameter RIT-22 ion thrusters working with a high specific impulse of 7377 s corresponding to a positive grid voltage of 5 kV. Solar power of 53 kW at begin of mission (BOM) is provided by a lightweight solar array.