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Purpose
Globally, a detrimental shift in cardiovascular disease risk factors and a higher mortality level are reported in some black populations. The retinal microvasculature provides early insight into the pathogenesis of systemic vascular diseases, but it is unclear whether retinal vessel calibers and acute retinal vessel functional responses differ between young healthy black and white adults.
Methods
We included 112 black and 143 white healthy normotensive adults (20–30 years). Retinal vessel calibers (central retinal artery and vein equivalent (CRAE and CRVE)) were calculated from retinal images and vessel caliber responses to flicker light induced provocation (FLIP) were determined. Additionally, ambulatory blood pressure (BP), anthropometry and blood samples were collected.
Results
The groups displayed similar 24 h BP profiles and anthropometry (all p > .24). Black participants demonstrated a smaller CRAE (158 ± 11 vs. 164 ± 11 MU, p < .001) compared to the white group, whereas CRVE was similar (p = .57). In response to FLIP, artery maximal dilation was greater in the black vs. white group (5.6 ± 2.1 vs. 3.3 ± 1.8%; p < .001).
Conclusions
Already at a young age, healthy black adults showed narrower retinal arteries relative to the white population. Follow-up studies are underway to show if this will be related to increased risk for hypertension development. The reason for the larger vessel dilation responses to FLIP in the black population is unclear and warrants further investigation.
The recovery of waste heat requires heat exchangers to extract it from a liquid or gaseous medium into another working medium, a refrigerant. In Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC) on Combustion Engines there are two major heat sources, the exhaust gas and the water/glycol fluid from the engine’s cooling circuit. A heat exchanger design must be adapted to the different requirements and conditions resulting from the heat sources, fluids, system configurations, geometric restrictions, and etcetera. The Stacked Shell Cooler (SSC) is a new and very specific design of a plate heat exchanger, created by AKG, which allows with a maximum degree of freedom the optimization of heat exchange rate and the reduction of the related pressure drop. This optimization in heat exchanger design for ORC systems is even more important, because it reduces the energy consumption of the system and therefore maximizes the increase in overall efficiency of the engine.
Producing fresh water from saline water has become one of the most difficult challenges to overcome especially with the high demand and shortage of fresh water. In this context, as part of a collaboration with Germany, the authors propose a design and implementation of a pilot multi-stage solar desalination system (MSD), remotely controlled, at Douar Al Hamri in the rural town of Boughriba in the province of Berkane, Morocco. More specifically, they present their contribution on the remote control and supervision system, which makes the functioning of the MSD system reliable and guarantees the production of drinking water for the population of Douar. The results obtained show that the electronic cards and computer communication software implemented allow the acquisition of all electrical (currents, voltages, powers, yields), thermal (temperatures of each stage), and meteorological (irradiance and ambient temperature), remote control and maintenance (switching on, off, data transfer). By comparing with the literature carried out in the field of solar energy, the authors conclude that the MSD and electronic desalination systems realized during this work represent a contribution in terms of the reliability and durability of providing drinking water in rural and urban areas.
The paper presents an aerodynamic investigation of 70 different streamlined bodies with fineness ratios ranging from 2 to 10. The bodies are chosen to idealize both unmanned and small manned aircraft fuselages and feature cross-sectional shapes that vary from circular to quadratic. The study focuses on friction and pressure drag in dependency of the individual body’s fineness ratio and cross section. The drag forces are normalized with the respective body’s wetted area to comply with an empirical drag estimation procedure. Although the friction drag coefficient then stays rather constant for all bodies, their pressure drag coefficients decrease with an increase in fineness ratio. Referring the pressure drag coefficient to the bodies’ cross-sectional areas shows a distinct pressure drag minimum at a fineness ratio of about three. The pressure drag of bodies with a quadratic cross section is generally higher than for bodies of revolution. The results are used to derive an improved form factor that can be employed in a classic empirical drag estimation method. The improved formulation takes both the fineness ratio and cross-sectional shape into account. It shows superior accuracy in estimating streamlined body drag when compared with experimental data and other form factor formulations of the literature.
Die Versorgung von Neubauten soll möglichst weitgehend unabhängig von fossilen Energieträgern erfolgen. Erneuerbare Energien spielen dafür eine gewichtige Rolle. Eine gute Möglichkeit, erneuerbare Energien ohne viel zusätzlichen Aufwand nutzbar zu machen, ist, bereits vorhandenen Komponenten im Gebäude zusätzliche Funktionen zu geben. Hier kann bspw. die Fassade oder das Dach solarthermisch aktiviert oder durch Fotovoltaikmodule ergänzt werden. Auch Tiefgründungen können neben der statischen Funktion noch eine geothermische Funktion zur Aufnahme oder Abgabe von Wärme erhalten. Neben der Erzeugung bietet sich auch für die Verteilung der Wärme oder Kälte im Gebäude die Integration in Bauteile an. Hier kann bspw. der Boden durch eine Fußbodenheizung oder die Decke durch Deckenstrahlplatten aktiviert werden.
Im Rahmen der Veröffentlichung wird auf die thermische Aktivierung von Stahlkomponenten eingegangen. Es wird eine Lösung vorgestellt, die vorgehängte hinterlüftete Stahlfassade (VHF) solarthermisch zu aktivieren. Außerdem werden zwei Möglichkeiten zur geothermischen Aktivierung von Tiefgründungen mittels Stahlpfählen gezeigt. Zuletzt wird ein System zur thermischen Aktivierung von Stahltrapezprofilen an der Decke erläutert, welches Wärme zuführen oder bei Bedarf abführen kann.
Thermal Characterization of additive manufactured Integral Structures for Phase Change Applications
(2020)
“Infused Thermal Solutions” (ITS) introduces a method for passive thermal control to stabilize structural components thermally without active heating and cooling systems, by using phase change material (PCM) in combination with lattice – both embedded into an additive manufactured integral structure. The technology is currently under development. This paper presents the results of the thermal property measurements performed on additive manufactured ITS breadboards. Within the breadboard campaigns key characteristics of the additive manufactured specimens were derived: Mechanical parameters: specimen impermeability, minimum wall thickness, lattice structure, subsequent heat treatment. Thermal properties: thermo-optical surface properties of the additive manufactured raw material, thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity measurements. As a conclusion the paper introduces an overview of potential ITS hardware applications, expected to increase the thermal performance.
As researchers continue to seek the expansion of the material base for additive manufacturing, there is a need to focus attention on the Ni–Cu group of alloys which conventionally has wide industrial applications. In this work, the G-NiCu30Nb casting alloy, a variant of the Monel family of alloys with Nb and high Si content is, for the first time, processed via the laser powder bed fusion process (LPBF). Being novel to the LPBF processes, optimum LPBF parameters were determined, and hardness and tensile tests were performed in as-built conditions and after heat treatment at 1000 °C. Microstructures of the as-cast and the as-built condition were compared. Highly dense samples (99.8% density) were achieved after varying hatch distance (80 µm and 140 µm) with scanning speed (550 mm/s–1500 mm/s). There was no significant difference in microhardness between varied hatch distance print sets. Microhardness of the as-built condition (247 HV0.2) exceeded the as-cast microhardness (179 HV0.2.). Tensile specimens built in vertical (V) and horizontal (H) orientations revealed degrees of anisotropy and were superior to conventionally reported figures. Post heat treatment increased ductility from 20% to 31% (V), as well as from 16% to 25% (H), while ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS) were considerably reduced.
Mechano-pharmacological testing of L-Type Ca²⁺ channel modulators via human vascular celldrum model
(2020)
Background/Aims: This study aimed to establish a precise and well-defined working model, assessing pharmaceutical effects on vascular smooth muscle cell monolayer in-vitro. It describes various analysis techniques to determine the most suitable to measure the biomechanical impact of vasoactive agents by using CellDrum technology. Methods: The so-called CellDrum technology was applied to analyse the biomechanical properties of confluent human aorta muscle cells (haSMC) in monolayer. The cell generated tensions deviations in the range of a few N/m² are evaluated by the CellDrum technology. This study focuses on the dilative and contractive effects of L-type Ca²⁺ channel agonists and antagonists, respectively. We analyzed the effects of Bay K8644, nifedipine and verapamil. Three different measurement modes were developed and applied to determine the most appropriate analysis technique for the study purpose. These three operation modes are called, particular time mode" (PTM), "long term mode" (LTM) and "real-time mode" (RTM). Results: It was possible to quantify the biomechanical response of haSMCs to the addition of vasoactive agents using CellDrum technology. Due to the supplementation of 100nM Bay K8644, the tension increased approximately 10.6% from initial tension maximum, whereas, the treatment with nifedipine and verapamil caused a significant decrease in cellular tension: 10nM nifedipine decreased the biomechanical stress around 6,5% and 50nM verapamil by 2,8%, compared to the initial tension maximum. Additionally, all tested measurement modes provide similar results while focusing on different analysis parameters. Conclusion: The CellDrum technology allows highly sensitive biomechanical stress measurements of cultured haSMC monolayers. The mechanical stress responses evoked by the application of vasoactive calcium channel modulators were quantified functionally (N/m²). All tested operation modes resulted in equal findings, whereas each mode features operation-related data analysis.
With the variety of toothbrushes on the market, the question arises, which toothbrush is best suited to maintain oral health? This thematic review focuses first on plaque formation mechanisms and then on the plaque removal effectiveness of ultrasonic toothbrushes and their potential in preventing oral diseases like periodontitis, gingivitis, and caries. We overviewed the physical effects that occurred during brushing and tried to address the question of whether ultrasonic toothbrushes effectively reduced the microbial burden by increasing the hydrodynamic forces. The results of published studies show that electric toothbrushes, which combine ultrasonic and sonic (or acoustic and mechanic) actions, may have the most promising effect on good oral health. Existing ultrasonic/sonic toothbrush models do not significantly differ regarding the removal of dental biofilm and the reduction of gingival inflammation compared with other electrically powered toothbrushes, whereas the manual toothbrushes show a lower effectiveness.
The treatment of septic wounds with curative dressings based on biocomposites containing sage and marigold phytoextracts was effective in in vitro and in vivo experiments. These dressings caused the purification of the wound surface from purulent-necrotic masses three days earlier than in the other experimental groups. The consequence of an increase in incidents of severe course of the wound and the observed tendency to increase the number of adverse effects is the development of long-term recurrent wound processes. To treat purulent wounds, the following tactics were used: The purulent wounds of animals were covered with the examined wound dressing, and then the next day samples were taken, the procedure was performed once in 2 days. To obtain the active nanostructured sorbents such as carbonized rice husks, they are functionalized with biologically active components possessing antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antitoxic, immunomodulating, antiallergic and other types of properties.
Activated carbons are known as excellent adsorbents. Their applications include the adsorptive removal of color, odor, taste, undesirable organic and inorganic pollutants from drinking and waste water; air purification in inhabited spaces; purification of many chemicals, pharmaceutical products and many others. This chapter elucidates the role of normal microflora in the maintenance of human health and presents materials on possible clinical displays of microecological infringements and ways of their correction. It presents new developments concerning new probiotics with immobilized Lactobacillus and Bacillus. The chapter considers the mechanisms of the intestine disbacteriosis correction by sorbed probiotics. It demonstrates the advantages and creation prospects of immobilized probiotics developed on the basis of carbonized rice husk. There are great prospects for the development of medical biotechnology due to use of carbon sorbents with a nanostructured surface. Microbial communities form a biocenosis of the biotope and together with the host organism create permanent or temporary ecosystems.
This chapter shows that nanomaterials obtained by high-temperature carbonization of inexpensive plant raw material such as rice husk, grape seeds, and walnut shells can serve as a basis for the production of highly efficient microbial drugs, biodestructors, biosorbents, and biocatalysts, which are promising for the remediation of the ecosystem contaminated with heavy and radioactive metals, oil and oil products. A strong interest in engineering zymology is dictated by the necessity to address the issues of monitoring enzymatic processes, treatment, and diagnosis of a number of common human diseases, environmental pollution, quality control of pharmaceuticals and food. Nanomaterials obtained by high-temperature carbonization of cheap plant raw material such as-rice husks, grape seeds and walnut shells, can serve as a basis for creating of highly effective microbial preparations-biodestructors, biosorbents and biocatalysts, which are promising for the use of contaminated ecosystems, and for restoration of human intestine microecology.
Integrated voice assistants (IVA) receive more and more attention and are widespread for entertainment use cases, such as radio hearing or web searches. At the same time, the health care segment suffers in process inefficiency and missing staff, whereas the usage of IVA has the potential to improve caring processes and patient satisfaction. By applying a design science approach and based on a qualitative study, we identify IVA requirements, barriers and design guidelines for the health care sector. The results reveal three important IVA functions: the ability to set appointments with care service staff, the documentation of health history and the communication with service staff. Integration, system stability and volume control are the most important nonfunctional requirements. Based on the interview results and project experiences, six design and implementation guidelines are derived.
This paper analyzes the drag characteristics of several landing gear and turret configurations that are representative of unmanned aircraft tricycle landing gears and sensor turrets. A variety of these components were constructed via 3D-printing and analyzed in a wind-tunnel measurement campaign. Both turrets and landing gears were attached to a modular fuselage that supported both isolated components and multiple components at a time. Selected cases were numerically investigated with a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes approach that showed good accuracy when compared to wind-tunnel data. The drag of main gear struts could be significantly reduced via streamlining their cross-sectional shape and keeping load carrying capabilities similar. The attachment of wheels introduced interference effects that increased strut drag moderately but significantly increased wheel drag compared to isolated cases. Very similar behavior was identified for front landing gears. The drag of an electro-optical and infrared sensor turret was found to be much higher than compared to available data of a clean hemisphere-cylinder combination. This turret drag was merely influenced by geometrical features like sensor surfaces and the rotational mechanism. The new data of this study is used to develop simple drag estimation recommendations for main and front landing gear struts and wheels as well as sensor turrets. These recommendations take geometrical considerations and interference effects into account.
Reinforced concrete (RC) structures with masonry infills are widely used for several types of buildings all over the world. However, it is well known that traditional masonry infills constructed with rigid contact to the surrounding RC frame performed rather poor in past earthquakes. Masonry infills showed severe in-plane damages and failed in many cases under out-of-plane seismic loading. As the undesired interactions between frames and infills changes the load transfer on building level, complete collapses of buildings were observed. A possible solution is uncoupling of masonry infills to the frame to reduce the infill contribution activated by the frame deformation under horizontal loading. The paper presents numerical simulations on RC frames equipped with the innovative decoupling system INODIS. The system was developed within the European project INSYSME and allows an effective uncoupling of frame and infill. The simulations are carried out with a micro-modelling approach, which is able to predict the complex nonlinear behaviour resulting from the different materials and their interaction. Each brick is modelled individually and connected taking into account nonlinearity of a brick mortar interface. The calibration of the model is based on small specimen tests and experimental results for one bay one storey frame are used for the validation. The validated model is further used for parametric studies on two storey and two bay infilled frames. The response and change of the structural stiffness are analysed and compared to the traditionally infilled frame. The results confirm the effectiveness of the INODIS system with less damage and relatively low contribution of the infill at high drift levels. In contrast to the uncoupled system configurations, traditionally infilled frames experienced brittle failure at rather low drift levels.
A further development of the Added-Mass-Method allows the combined representation of the effects of both soil-structure-interaction and fluid-structure interaction on a liquid-filled-tank in one model. This results in a practical method for describing the dynamic fluid pressure on the tank shell during joint movement. The fluid pressure is calculated on the basis of the tank's eigenform and the earthquake acceleration and represented by additional masses on the shell. The bearing on compliant ground is represented by replacement springs, which are calculated dependent on the local soil composition. The influence of the shear modulus of the compliant soil is clearly visible in the pressure curves and the stress distribution in the shell. The acceleration spectra are also dependent on soil stiffness. According to Eurocode-8 the acceleration spectra are determined for fixed soil-classes, instead of calculating the accelerations for each site in direct dependence on the soil composition. This leads to unrealistic sudden changes in the system's response. Therefore, earthquake spectra are calculated for different soil models in direct dependence of the shear modulus. Thus, both the acceleration spectra and the replacement springs match the soil composition. This enables a reasonable and consistent calculation of the system response for the actual conditions at each site.
There is a growing body of evidence for the effects of vitamin D on intestinal host-microbiome interactions related to gut dysbiosis and bowel inflammation. This brief review highlights the potential links between vitamin D and gut health, emphasizing the role of vitamin D in microbiological and immunological mechanisms of inflammatory bowel diseases. A comprehensive literature search was carried out in PubMed and Google Scholar using combinations of keywords “vitamin D,” “intestines,” “gut microflora,” “bowel inflammation”. Only articles published in English and related to the study topic are included in the review. We discuss how vitamin D (a) modulates intestinal microbiome function, (b) controls antimicrobial peptide expression, and (c) has a protective effect on epithelial barriers in the gut mucosa. Vitamin D and its nuclear receptor (VDR) regulate intestinal barrier integrity, and control innate and adaptive immunity in the gut. Metabolites from the gut microbiota may also regulate expression of VDR, while vitamin D may influence the gut microbiota and exert anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects. The underlying mechanism of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of bowel diseases is not fully understood, but maintaining an optimal vitamin D status appears to be beneficial for gut health. Future studies will shed light on the molecular mechanisms through which vitamin D and VDR interactions affect intestinal mucosal immunity, pathogen invasion, symbiont colonization, and antimicrobial peptide expression.
Die NATO definiert den Cyberspace als die "Umgebung, die durch physische und nicht-physische Bestandteile zum Speichern, Ändern, und Austauschen von Daten mit Hilfe von Computer-Netzwerken" [NATO CCDCOE]. Darüber hinaus ist es ein Medium menschlicher Interaktion. IT Angriffe sind feindselige, nichtkooperative Interaktionen, die mittels Konflikttheorie beschrieben werden können. Durch die Anwendung dieses Gedankengebäudes auf IT Sicherheit von Organisationen können eine Reihe von Verbesserungen in Unternehmen identifiziert werden.
In many historical centres in Europe, stone masonry buildings are part of building aggregates, which developed when the layout of the city or village was densified. In these aggregates, adjacent buildings share structural walls to support floors and roofs. Meanwhile, the masonry walls of the façades of adjacent buildings are often connected by dry joints since adjacent buildings were constructed at different times. Observations after for example the recent Central Italy earthquakes showed that the dry joints between the building units were often the first elements to be damaged. As a result, the joints opened up leading to pounding between the building units and a complicated interaction at floor and roof beam supports. The analysis of such building aggregates is very challenging and modelling guidelines do not exist. Advances in the development of analysis methods have been impeded by the lack of experimental data on the seismic response of such aggregates. The objective of the project AIMS (Seismic Testing of Adjacent Interacting Masonry Structures), included in the H2020 project SERA, is to provide such experimental data by testing an aggregate of two buildings under two horizontal components of dynamic
excitation. The test unit is built at half-scale, with a two-storey building and a one-storey building. The buildings share one common wall while the façade walls are connected by dry joints. The floors are at different heights leading to a complex dynamic response of this smallest possible building aggregate. The shake table test is conducted at the LNEC seismic testing facility. The testing sequence comprises four levels of shaking: 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of nominal shaking table capacity. Extensive instrumentation, including accelerometers, displacement transducers and optical measurement systems, provides detailed information on the building aggregate response. Special attention is paid to the interface opening, the globa
Biocomposite Materials Based on Carbonized Rice Husk in Biomedicine and Environmental Applications
(2020)
This chapter describes the prospects for biomedical and environmental engineering applications of heterogeneous materials based on nanostructured carbonized rice husk. Efforts in engineering enzymology are focused on the following directions: development and optimization of immobilization methods leading to novel biotechnological and biomedical applications; construction of biocomposite materials based on individual enzymes, multi-enzyme complexes and whole cells, targeted on realization of specific industrial processes. Molecular biological and biochemical studies on cell adhesion focus predominantly on identification, isolation and structural analysis of attachment-responsible biological molecules and their genetic determinants. The chapter provides a short overview of applications of the biocomposite materials based of nanostructured carbonized adsorbents. It emphasizes that further studies and better understanding of the interactions between CNS and microbial cells are necessary. The future use of living cells as biocatalysts, especially in the environmental field, needs more systematic investigations of the microbial adsorption phenomenon.
The adoption of the Digital Health Transformation is a tremendous paradigm change in health organizations, which is not a trivial process in reality. For that reason, in this chapter, it is proposed a methodology with the objective to generate a changing culture in healthcare organisations. Such a change culture is essential for the successful implementation of any supporting methods like Interactive Process Mining. It needs to incorporate (mostly) new ways of team-based and evidence-based approaches for solving structural problems in a digital healthcare environment.
Erdbebennachweis von Mauerwerksbauten mit realistischen Modellen und erhöhten Verhaltensbeiwerten
(2020)
Die Anwendung des linearen Nachweiskonzepts auf Mauerwerksbauten führt dazu, dass bereits heute Standsicherheitsnachweise für Gebäude mit üblichen Grundrissen in Gebieten mit moderaten Erdbebeneinwirkungen nicht mehr geführt werden können. Diese Problematik wird sich in Deutschland mit der Einführung kontinuierlicher probabilistischer Erdbebenkarten weiter verschärfen. Aufgrund der Erhöhung der seismischen Einwirkungen, die sich vielerorts ergibt, ist es erforderlich, die vorhandenen, bislang nicht berücksichtigten Tragfähigkeitsreserven in nachvollziehbaren Nachweiskonzepten in der Baupraxis verfügbar zu machen. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt ein Konzept für die gebäudespezifische Ermittlung von erhöhten Verhaltensbeiwerten vor. Die Verhaltensbeiwerte setzen sich aus drei Anteilen zusammen, mit denen die Lastumverteilung im Grundriss, die Verformungsfähigkeit und Energiedissipation sowie die Überfestigkeiten berücksichtigt werden. Für die rechnerische Ermittlung dieser drei Anteile wird ein nichtlineares Nachweiskonzept auf Grundlage von Pushover-Analysen vorgeschlagen, in denen die Interaktionen von Wänden und Geschossdecken durch einen Einspanngrad beschrieben werden. Für die Bestimmung der Einspanngrade wird ein nichtlinearer Modellierungsansatz eingeführt, mit dem die Interaktion von Wänden und Decken abgebildet werden kann. Die Anwendung des Konzepts mit erhöhten gebäudespezifischen Verhaltensbeiwerten wird am Beispiel eines Mehrfamilienhauses aus Kalksandsteinen demonstriert. Die Ergebnisse der linearen Nachweise mit erhöhten Verhaltensbeiwerten für dieses Gebäude liegen deutlich näher an den Ergebnissen nichtlinearer Nachweise und somit bleiben übliche Grundrisse in Erdbebengebieten mit den traditionellen linearen Rechenansätzen nachweisbar.
Stahlbetonrahmentragwerke mit Ausfachungen aus Mauerwerk weisen nach Erdbeben häufig schwere Schäden auf. Gründe hierfür sind die Beanspruchungen der Ausfachungswände durch die aufgezwungenen Rahmenverformungen in Wandebene und die gleichzeitig auftretenden Trägheitskräfte senkrecht zur Wandebene in Kombination mit der konstruktiven Ausführung des Ausfachungsmauerwerks. Die Ausfachung wird in der Regel knirsch gegen die Rahmenstützen gemauert, wobei der Verschluss der oberen Fuge mit Mörtel oder Montageschaum erfolgt. Dadurch kommt es im Erdbebenfall zu lokalen Interaktionen zwischen Ausfachung und Rahmen, die in der Folge zu einem Versagen einzelner Ausfachungswände oder zu einem sukzessiven Versagen des Gesamtgebäudes führen können. Die beobachteten Schäden waren die Motivation dafür, in dem europäischen Forschungsprojekt INSYSME für Stahlbetonrahmentragwerke mit Ausfachungen aus hochwärmedämmenden Ziegelmauerwerk innovative Lösungen zur Verbesserung des seismischen Verhaltens zu entwickeln. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt die im Rahmen des Projekts von den deutschen Projektpartnern (Universität Kassel, SDA-engineering GmbH) entwickelten Lösungen vor und vergleicht deren seismisches Verhalten mit der traditionellen Ausführung der Ausfachungswände. Grundlage für den Vergleich sind statisch-zyklische Wandversuche und Simulationen auf Wandebene. Aus den Ergebnissen werden Empfehlungen für die erdbebensichere Auslegung von Stahlbetonrahmentragwerken mit Ausfachungen aus Ziegelmauerwerk abgeleitet.
Mit finanzieller Unterstützung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Mauerwerks- und Wohnungsbau e.V. (DGfM) und des Deutschen Instituts für Bautechnik in Berlin (DIBt) wurden zwei aufeinander aufbauende Forschungsvorhaben zur Verbesserung der seismischen Nachweise von Mauerwerksbauten in deutschen Erdbebengebieten durchgeführt. Zunächst wurde das seismische Verhalten von drei modernen unbewehrten Mauerwerksgebäuden in der Region Emilia Romagna in Italien während der Erdbebenserie im Jahr 2012 in Kooperation mit der Universität Pavia eingehend untersucht. Aufbauend auf den Erkenntnissen dieser Untersuchungen wurde ein verbessertes seismisches Bemessungskonzept für unbewehrte Mauerwerksbauten erarbeitet. Der Beitrag stellt die wesentlichen Ergebnisse dieser Forschungsarbeiten und deren Eingang in die Normung vor.
Researching the field of business intelligence and analytics (BI & A) has a long tradition within information systems research. Thereby, in each decade the rapid development of technologies opened new room for investigation. Since the early 1950s, the collection and analysis of structured data were the focus of interest, followed by unstructured data since the early 1990s. The third wave of BI & A comprises unstructured and sensor data of mobile devices. The article at hand aims at drawing a comprehensive overview of the status quo in relevant BI & A research of the current decade, focusing on the third wave of BI & A. By this means, the paper’s contribution is fourfold. First, a systematically developed taxonomy for BI & A 3.0 research, containing seven dimensions and 40 characteristics, is presented. Second, the results of a structured literature review containing 75 full research papers are analyzed by applying the developed taxonomy. The analysis provides an overview on the status quo of BI & A 3.0. Third, the results foster discussions on the predicted and observed developments in BI & A research of the past decade. Fourth, research gaps of the third wave of BI & A research are disclosed and concluded in a research agenda.
Armiranobetonske (AB) zgrade sa zidanom ispunom
se izvode u mnogim zemljama širom sveta. Iako se
zidana ispuna posmatra kao nekonstruktivni element, ona
značajno utiče na promenu dinamičkih karakteristika AB
ramovskih konstrukcija u toku zemljotresnog dejstva.
Odskora, značajan napor je utrošen na istraživanje
izolovanih ispuna, koje su odvojene od okolnog rama
obično ostavljanjem prostora između rama i ispune. U
ovom slučaju deformacija rama ne aktivira ispunu i na taj
način ispuna ne utiče na ponašanje rama. Ovaj rad
predstavlja rezultate istraživanja ponašanja AB
ramovskih zgrada sa INODIS sistemom koji izoluje ispunu
u odnosu na okolni ram. Uticaj izolovane ispune je prvo
ispitan na jednospratnim i jednobrodnim ramovima. Ovo
je iskorišćeno kao osnova za parametarsku analizu na
višespratnim i višebrodnim ramovima, kao i na primeru
zgrade. Promena krutosti i dinamičkih karakteristika je
analizirano kao i odgovor pri zemljotresnom dejstvu.
Izvršeno je poređenje sa praznom ramovskom
konstrukcijom kao i ramovima ispunjenim ispunom na
tradicionalni način. Rezultati pokazuju da je ponašanje
ramova sa izolovanom ispunom slično ponašanju praznih
ramova, dok je ponašanje ramova sa tradicionalnom
ispunom daleko drugačije i zahteva kompleksne
numeričke modele. Ovo znači da ukoliko se primeni
adekvatna konstruktivna mera izolacije ispune, proračun
ramovskim zgrada sa zidanom ispunom se može
značajno pojednostaviti.
Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a promising material for biomedical applications due to its unique properties such as high mechanical strength and biocompatibility. This article describes the microbiological synthesis, modification, and characterization of the obtained BC-nanocomposites originating from symbiotic consortium Medusomyces gisevii. Two BC-modifications have been obtained: BC-Ag and BC-calcium phosphate (BC-Ca3(PO4)2). Structure and physicochemical properties of the BC and its modifications were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and infrared Fourier spectroscopy as well as by measurements of mechanical and water holding/absorbing capacities. Topographic analysis of the surface revealed multicomponent thick fibrils (150–160 nm in diameter and about 15 µm in length) constituted by 50–60 nm nanofibrils weaved into a left-hand helix. Distinctive features of Ca-phosphate-modified BC samples were (a) the presence of 500–700 nm entanglements and (b) inclusions of Ca3(PO4)2 crystals. The samples impregnated with Ag nanoparticles exhibited numerous roundish inclusions, about 110 nm in diameter. The boundaries between the organic and inorganic phases were very distinct in both cases. The Ag-modified samples also showed a prominent waving pattern in the packing of nanofibrils. The obtained BC gel films possessed water-holding capacity of about 62.35 g/g. However, the dried (to a constant mass) BC-films later exhibited a low water absorption capacity (3.82 g/g). It was found that decellularized BC samples had 2.4 times larger Young’s modulus and 2.2 times greater tensile strength as compared to dehydrated native BC films. We presume that this was caused by molecular compaction of the BC structure.
Three-dimensional (3D) full-field measurements provide a comprehensive and accurate validation of finite element (FE) models. For the validation, the result of the model and measurements are compared based on two respective point-sets and this requires the point-sets to be registered in one coordinate system. Point-set registration is a non-convex optimization problem that has widely been solved by the ordinary iterative closest point algorithm. However, this approach necessitates a good initialization without which it easily returns a local optimum, i.e. an erroneous registration. The globally optimal iterative closest point (Go-ICP) algorithm has overcome this drawback and forms the basis for the presented open-source tool that can be used for the validation of FE models using 3D full-field measurements. The capability of the tool is demonstrated using an application example from the field of biomechanics. Methodological problems that arise in real-world data and the respective implemented solution approaches are discussed.
The steel industry in the European Union (EU), important for the economy as a whole, faces various challenges. These are inter alia volatile prices for relevant input factors, uncertainties concerning the regulation of CO₂-emissions and market shocks caused by the recently introduced additional import duties in the US, which is an important sales market. We examine primary and secondary effects of these challenges on the steel industry in the EU and their impacts on European and global level. Developing and using a suitable meta-model, we analyze the competitiveness of key steel producing countries with respect to floor prices depending on selected cost factors and draw conclusions on the impacts in the trade of steel on emissions, energy demand, on the involvement of developing countries in the value chain as well on the need for innovations to avoid relocations of production. Hence, our study contributes to the assessment of sustainable industrial development, which is aimed by the Sustainability Development Goal “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation countries”. By applying information on country-specific Human Development Indexes (reflecting aspects of life expectancy, education, and per capita income), we show that relocating energy-intensive industries from the EU may not only increase global energy demand and CO₂-emissions, but may also be to the disadvantage of developing countries.
Robust estimators for free surface turbulence characterization: A stepped spillway application
(2020)
Robust estimators are parameters insensitive to the presence of outliers. However, they presume the shape of the variables’ probability density function. This study exemplifies the sensitivity of turbulent quantities to the use of classic and robust estimators and the presence of outliers in turbulent flow depth time series. A wide range of turbulence quantities was analysed based upon a stepped spillway case study, using flow depths sampled with Acoustic Displacement Meters as the flow variable of interest. The studied parameters include: the expected free surface level, the expected fluctuation intensity, the depth skewness, the autocorrelation timescales, the vertical velocity fluctuation intensity, the perturbations celerity and the one-dimensional free surface turbulence spectrum. Three levels of filtering were utilised prior to applying classic and robust estimators, showing that comparable robustness can be obtained either using classic estimators together with an intermediate filtering technique or using robust estimators instead, without any filtering technique.
Humic substances originating from various organic matters can ameliorate soil properties, stimulate plant growth, and improve nutrient uptake. Due to the low calorific heating value, leonardite is rather unsuitable as fuel. However, it may serve as a potential source of humic substances. This study was aimed at characterizing the leonardite-based soil amendments and examining the effect of their application on the soil microbial community, as well as on potato growth and tuber yield. A high yield (71.1%) of humic acid (LHA) from leonardite has been demonstrated. Parental leonardite (PL) and LHA were applied to soil prior to potato cultivation. The 16S rRNA sequencing of soil samples revealed distinct relationships between microbial community composition and the application of leonardite-based soil amendments. Potato tubers were planted in pots in greenhouse conditions. The tubers were harvested at the mature stage for the determination of growth and yield parameters. The results demonstrated that the LHA treatments had a significant effect on increasing potato growth (54.9%) and tuber yield (66.4%) when compared to the control. The findings highlight the importance of amending leonardite-based humic products for maintaining the biogeochemical stability of soils, for keeping their healthy microbial community structure, and for increasing the agronomic productivity of potato plants.
In the study, the process chain of additive manufacturing by means of powder bed fusion will be presented based on the material glass. In order to reliably process components additively, new concepts with different solutions were developed and investigated.
Compared to established metallic materials, the properties of glass materials differ significantly. Therefore, the process control was adapted to the material glass in the investigations. With extensive parameter studies based on various glass powders such as borosilicate glass and quartz glass, scientifically proven results on powder bed fusion of glass are presented. Based on the determination of the particle properties with different methods, extensive investigations are made regarding the melting behavior of glass by means of laser beams. Furthermore, the experimental setup was steadily expanded. In addition to the integration of coaxial temperature measurement and regulation, preheating of the building platform is of major importance. This offers the possibility to perform 3D printing at the transformation temperatures of the glass materials. To improve the component’s properties, the influence of a subsequent heat treatment was also investigated.
The experience gained was incorporated into a new experimental system, which allows a much better exploration of the 3D printing of glass. Currently, studies are being conducted to improve surface texture, building accuracy, and geometrical capabilities using three-dimensional specimen.
The contribution shows the development of research in the field of 3D printing of glass, gives an insight into the machine and process engineering as well as an outlook on the possibilities and applications.
Design and Development of a Hot S-Parameter Measurement System for Plasma and Magnetron Applications
(2020)
This paper presents the design, development and calibration procedures of a novel hot S-parameter measurement system for plasma and magnetron applications with power level up to 6 kW. Based on a vector network analyzer, a power amplifier and two directional couplers, the input matching hotS 11 and transmission hotS 21 of the device under test are measured at 2.45 GHz center frequency and 300MHz bandwidth, while the device is driven by the magnetron. This measurement system opens a new horizon to develop many new industrial applications such as microwave plasma jets, dryer systems, dryers and so forth. Furthermore, the developing, controlling and monitoring a 2kW 2.45GHz plasma jet and a dryer system using the measurement system are presented and explained.
Implementation of gender and diversity perspectives in transport development plans in germany
(2020)
As mobility should ensure the accessibility to and participation in society, transport planning has to deal with a variety of gender and diversity categories affecting users’ mobility needs and patterns. Exemplified by an analysis of an instrument of transport development processes – German Transport Development Plans (TDPs) – we investigated to what extent diverse target groups and their mobility requirements are implemented in transport strategy papers. Research results illustrate a still-prevalent neglect of several relevant gender and diversity categories while prioritizing and focusing on eco-friendly topics. But how sustainable can transport be without facing the diversification of life circumstances?
The number of case studies focusing on hybrid-electric aircraft is steadily increasing, since these configurations are thought to lead to lower operating costs and environmental impact than traditional aircraft. However, due to the lack of reference data of actual hybrid-electric aircraft, in most cases, the design tools and results are difficult to validate. In this paper, two independently developed approaches for hybrid-electric conceptual aircraft design are compared. An existing 19-seat commuter aircraft is selected as the conventional baseline, and both design tools are used to size that aircraft. The aircraft is then re-sized under consideration of hybrid-electric propulsion technology. This is performed for parallel, serial, and fully-electric powertrain architectures. Finally, sensitivity studies are conducted to assess the validity of the basic assumptions and approaches regarding the design of hybrid-electric aircraft. Both methods are found to predict the maximum take-off mass (MTOM) of the reference aircraft with less than 4% error. The MTOM and payload-range energy efficiency of various (hybrid-) electric configurations are predicted with a maximum difference of approximately 2% and 5%, respectively. The results of this study confirm a correct formulation and implementation of the two design methods, and the data obtained can be used by researchers to benchmark and validate their design tools.
Verantwortlichkeit, Data Breach, das Ende von Fax & E-Mail: Aufsichtsbehörden mit streitbaren Thesen
(2020)
In many cities, diesel buses are being replaced by electric buses with the aim of reducing local emissions and thus improving air quality. The protection of the environment and the health of the population is the highest priority of our society. For the transport companies that operate these buses, not only ecological issues but also economic issues are of great importance. Due to the high purchase costs of electric buses compared to conventional buses, operators are forced to use electric vehicles in a targeted manner in order to ensure amortization over the service life of the vehicles. A compromise between ecology and economy must be found in order to both protect the environment and ensure economical operation of the buses.
In this study, we present a new methodology for optimizing the vehicles’ charging time as a function of the parameters CO₂eq emissions and electricity costs. Based on recorded driving profiles in daily bus operation, the energy demands of conventional and electric buses are calculated for the passenger transportation in the city of Aachen in 2017. Different charging scenarios are defined to analyze the influence of the temporal variability of CO₂eq intensity and electricity price on the environmental impact and economy of the bus. For every individual day of a year, charging periods with the lowest and highest costs and emissions are identified and recommendations for daily bus operation are made. To enable both the ecological and economical operation of the bus, the parameters of electricity price and CO₂ are weighted differently, and several charging periods are proposed, taking into account the priorities previously set. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to evaluate the influence of selected parameters and to derive recommendations for improving the ecological and economic balance of the battery-powered electric vehicle.
In all scenarios, the optimization of the charging period results in energy cost savings of a maximum of 13.6% compared to charging at a fixed electricity price. The savings potential of CO₂eq emissions is similar, at 14.9%. From an economic point of view, charging between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. results in the lowest energy costs on average. The CO₂eq intensity is also low in this period, but midday charging leads to the largest savings in CO₂eq emissions. From a life cycle perspective, the electric bus is not economically competitive with the conventional bus. However, from an ecological point of view, the electric bus saves on average 37.5% CO₂eq emissions over its service life compared to the diesel bus. The reduction potential is maximized if the electric vehicle exclusively consumes electricity from solar and wind power.
In this paper we report on an architecture for a self-driving car that is based on ROS2. Self-driving cars have to take decisions based on their sensory input in real-time, providing high reliability with a strong demand in functional safety. In principle, self-driving cars are robots. However, typical robot software, in general, and the previous version of the Robot Operating System (ROS), in particular, does not always meet these requirements. With the successor ROS2 the situation has changed and it might be considered as a solution for automated and autonomous driving. Existing robotic software based on ROS was not ready for safety critical applications like self-driving cars. We propose an architecture for using ROS2 for a self-driving car that enables safe and reliable real-time behaviour, but keeping the advantages of ROS such as a distributed architecture and standardised message types. First experiments with an automated real passenger car at lower and higher speed-levels show that our approach seems feasible for autonomous driving under the necessary real-time conditions.
Im Projekt Coolplan‐ AIR geht es um die Fortentwicklung und Feld‐ Validierung eines Berechnungs‐ und Auslegungstools zur energieeffizienten Kühlung von Gebäuden mit luftgestützten Systemen. Neben dem Aufbau und der Weiterentwicklung von Simulationsmodellen erfolgen Vermessungen der Gesamtsysteme anhand von Praxisanlagen im Feld. Eine der betrachteten Anlagen arbeitet mit indirekter Verdunstung. Diese Veröffentlichung zeigt den Entwicklungsprozess und den Aufbau des Simulationsmodells zur Verdunstungskühlung in der Simulationsumgebung Matlab‐ Simulink mit der CARNOT‐ Toolbox. Das besondere Augenmerk liegt dabei auf dem physikalischen Modell des Wärmeübertragers, in dem die Verdunstung implementiert ist. Dem neuen Modellansatz liegt die Annahme einer aus der Enthalpie‐ Betrachtung hergeleiteten effektiven Wärmekapazität zugrunde. Des Weiteren wird der Befeuchtungsgrad als konstant angesehen und eine standardisierte Zunahme der Wärmeübertragung des feuchten gegenüber dem trockenen Wärmeübertrager angenommen. Die Validierung des Modells erfolgte anhand von Literaturdaten. Für den trockenen Wärmetauscher ist der maximale absolute Fehler der berechneten Austrittstemperatur (Zuluft) kleiner als ±0.1 K und für den nassen Wärmetauscher (Kühlfall) unter der Annahme eines konstanten Verdunstungsgrades kleiner als ±0.4 K.