Bio-Based Succinate Production from Arundo donax Hydrolysate with the New Natural Succinic Acid-Producing Strain Basfia succiniciproducens BPP7

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Distinct triterpene synthases in the laticifers of Euphorbia lathyris

Abstract Euphorbia lathyris was proposed about fifty years ago as a potential agroenergetic crop. The tremendous amounts of triterpenes present in its latex has driven investigations for transforming this particular biological fluid into an industrial hydrocarbon source. The huge accumulation of terpenes in the latex of many plant species represent a challenging question regarding cellular homeostasis. In fact, the enzymes, the mechanisms and the controllers that tune the amount of products accumulated in specialized compartments (to fulfill ecological roles) or deposited at important sites (as essential factors) are not known. Here, we have isolated oxidosqualene cyclases highly expressed in the latex of Euphorbia lathyris. This triterpene biosynthetic machinery is made of distinct paralogous enzymes responsible for the massive accumulation of steroidal and non-steroidal tetracyclic triterpenes. More than eighty years after the isolation of butyrospermol from shea butter (Heilbronn IM, Moffet GL, and Spring FS J. Chem. Soc. 1934, 1583), a butyrospermol synthase is characterized in this work using yeast and in folia heterologous expression assays

The risks of acute exposure to black carbon in Southern Europe: Results from the med-particles project

Objectives: While several studies have reported associations of daily exposures to PM2.5 (particles less than 2.5 μm) with mortality, few studies have examined the impact of its constituents such as black carbon (BC), which is also a significant contributor to global climate change. Methods: We assessed the association between daily concentrations of BC and total, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality in two southern Mediterranean cities. Daily averages of BC were collected for 2 years in Barcelona, Spain and Athens, Greece. We used case-crossover analysis and examined single and cumulative lags up to 3 days. Results: We observed associations between BC and all mortality measures. For a 3-day moving average, cardiovascular mortality increased by 4.5% (95% CI 0.7 to 8.5) and 2.0% (95% CI 0 to 4.0) for an interquartile change in BC in Athens and Barcelona, respectively. Considerably higher effects for respiratory mortality and for those above age 65 were observed. In addition, BC exhibited much greater toxicity per microgram than generic PM2.5. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that BC, derived in western industrialised nations primarily from diesel engines and biomass burning, poses a significant burden to public health, particularly in European cities with high-traffic density.Peer reviewe

Eye Learn- An interactive WEB based e-Learning Environment in Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

This paper presents the e-Learning project Eye Learn. The main aim of this project is to integrate in the Bachelor courses Fundamentals of Photogrammetry (FoP) und Remote Sensing (RS) given by the Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (PRS) Group, a WEB-based interactive e-Learning environment. These courses are compulsory and introductory, forming the base for many more courses at the Master level. The e-Learning framework and tools that will be developed based on the content of each course will allow the lecturers to communicate information in a more engaging and effective way to the students. Rich media and efficient didactic methods will be employed. Interactive processes, dynamic objects and virtual experiments will stimulate understanding through a number of learning objects. The learning objects will include in addition to text, images, videos, WEB-links with an associated Assistant, interactive quizzes, simple on-line programs and possibility to use own data, acronyms and glossaries of used terminology, cross-links between the different learning objects, related literature and case studies. Emphasis will be given to the understanding of theory through own problem-solving oriented work. Evaluation and self-evaluation procedures will allow better control of what is learnt and how well and will allow a refinement of the e-Learning environment. This project will be exploited as a base for using similar techniques in the other courses of our Group and to introduce e-Learning technologies to all teaching personnel

Surface discontinuity modelling by LSM through patch adaptation and use of edges

This paper handles the aspect of least squares matching (LSM) for DSM generation and focuses mainly on the exploitation of edge information in the least squares approach. The mathematical model of LSM employs an affine transformation to model geometrical distortions between the template and the search images. However, the model, when used for single points that lie close or on edges does not suffice to model discontinuities, especially when patch size is large. To alleviate the above-mentioned problem, LSM is firstly extended to edgels using an approximation of the rotation between search image and template, computed from a signal analysis. The signal analysis is performed by computing the signal ellipses from the template and patch grey levels. Furthermore, the template patch can be pre-rotated and its dimensions can be adjusted, so that the patch becomes a thin ribbon along the edge. Secondly, the model is extended to edge features with topological attributes (edges and vertices with link information). The patch size is adapted to include a whole edge and a non-uniform weighting scheme is utilised in the normal equations of LSM, giving a very low weight to all pixels outside the given edge. After matching the edge middle points, the edge is divided in two segments and the procedure is repeated until the edge segments fall below a certain length threshold. The final stage is the matching of the edge end points, where other edges having the same end point are also taken into account. The proposed techniques are compared to each other and to standard LSM. An evaluation of the methods is done with ADS40 imagery. As it is shown, they lead to less discontinuity smoothing and increase of the success rate and accuracy. * Corresponding author. 1