Comparison of the Electrochemical Properties of Ethanol in Perchloric Acid and Ionic Liquids

1-Ethyl-3-Methylimidazolium Tetrafluroborate (EMImBF4) and 1-Ethyl-3-Methylimidazlium Bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (EMImTFSI) ionic liquids were synthesized and characterized in order to study the electrochemical oxidation of ethanol in these ionic liquids on a platinum surface electrode. It was found that pure EMImBF4 exhibits an electrochemical window of 4.4 V,while EMImTFSI exhibits an electrochemical window of 5.0 V. Electrochemical study of ethanol in perchloric acid showed that the oxidation of ethanol strongly depends on the concentration of ethanol and on the temperature of the solution. The poisoning of the platinum electrode only depends on the concentration of ethanol. At a low concentration of ethanol (0.1 M), electro-oxidation of ethanol on a platinum electrode showed one oxidation peak (peak 2) at a temperature of 22.6 °C and two oxidation peaks (peak 2 and 3) at 70.1 °C. It was found that, with increasing temperature from 22.6 to 70.1 °C, the cyclic voltammograms showed an increase in oxidation. Electrochemical studies of ethanol at higher concentration of ethanol (\u3e 0.2 M), showed three oxidation peaks. The poisoning of the electrode occurred at 1 M ethanol solution via formation of PtO. The electrochemical studies of ethanol in EMImTFSI and EMImBF4 ionic liquids showed that poisoning of the electrode does not occur even at higher concentration of ethanol. It was proved that oxidation of ethanol in ionic liquids produces acetaldehyde and acetic acid

Altered microRNA and target gene expression related to Tetralogy of Fallot

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in guiding development and maintaining function of the human heart. Dysregulation of miRNAs has been linked to various congenital heart diseases including Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), which represents the most common cyanotic heart malformation in humans. Several studies have identified dysregulated miRNAs in right ventricular (RV) tissues of TOF patients. In this study, we profiled genome-wide the whole transcriptome and analyzed the relationship of miRNAs and mRNAs of RV tissues of a homogeneous group of 22 non-syndromic TOF patients. Observed profiles were compared to profiles obtained from right and left ventricular tissue of normal hearts. To reduce the commonly observed large list of predicted target genes of dysregulated miRNAs, we applied a stringent target prediction pipeline integrating probabilities for miRNA-mRNA interaction. The final list of disease-related miRNA-mRNA pairs comprises novel as well as known miRNAs including miR-1 and miR-133, which are essential to cardiac development and function by regulating KCNJ2, FBN2, SLC38A3 and TNNI1. Overall, our study provides additional insights into post-transcriptional gene regulation of malformed hearts of TOF patients

Timescale-invariant representation of acoustic communication signals by a bursting neuron

Acoustic communication often involves complex sound motifs in which the relative durations of individual elements, but not their absolute durations, convey meaning. Decoding such signals requires an explicit or implicit calculation of the ratios between time intervals. Using grasshopper communication as a model, we demonstrate how this seemingly difficult computation can be solved in real time by a small set of auditory neurons. One of these cells, an ascending interneuron, generates bursts of action potentials in response to the rhythmic syllable-pause structure of grasshopper calls. Our data show that these bursts are preferentially triggered at syllable onset; the number of spikes within the burst is linearly correlated with the duration of the preceding pause. Integrating the number of spikes over a fixed time window therefore leads to a total spike count that reflects the characteristic syllable-to-pause ratio of the species while being invariant to playing back the call faster or slower. Such a timescale-invariant recognition is essential under natural conditions, because grasshoppers do not thermoregulate; the call of a sender sitting in the shade will be slower than that of a grasshopper in the sun. Our results show that timescale-invariant stimulus recognition can be implemented at the single-cell level without directly calculating the ratio between pulse and interpulse durations

Folding and unfolding of a triple-branch DNA molecule with four conformational states

Single-molecule experiments provide new insights into biological processes hitherto not accessible by measurements performed on bulk systems. We report on a study of the kinetics of a triple-branch DNA molecule with four conformational states by pulling experiments with optical tweezers and theoretical modelling. Three distinct force rips associated with different transitions between the conformational states are observed in the folding and unfolding trajectories. By applying transition rate theory to a free energy model of the molecule, probability distributions for the first rupture forces of the different transitions are calculated. Good agreement of the theoretical predictions with the experimental findings is achieved. Furthermore, due to our specific design of the molecule, we found a useful method to identify permanently frayed molecules by estimating the number of opened basepairs from the measured force jump values.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

Exploring the effects of perceived service provider sincerity on consumers\u27 emotional state and satisfaction during service consumption

A holistic approach to satisfaction and its effects seems to be particularly important in high-affect, high-involvement, and extended duration services such as those offered by many travel and tourism providers. This means understanding the complexities of service provision and its processes. Consumers value service interaction that appears sincere. For this reason, organizations expect service providers to manage their service "performance" to reflect a genuine display of positive emotions towards the customer, which has a direct impact on customer satisfaction and possibly overall life satisfaction. This study explores consumers\u27 perception of sincerity and tests its effects on positive emotions and satisfaction in an extended duration service. The findings indicate that perceived service sincerity positively influences consumers\u27 emotions during a service and has important direct and indirect effects on life satisfaction, service satisfaction, and intention to repurchase. Implications for managers and opportunities for further research are discussed

Psychosocial Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic in Elderly Psychiatric Patients: a Longitudinal Study

The study was designed to investigate the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on mental health and perceived psychosocial support for elderly psychiatric patients in a longitudinal design. n = 32 patients with affective or anxiety disorders aged >= 60 years were included. Telephone interviews were conducted in April/May 2020 (T1) and August 2020 (T2). The psychosocial impact (PSI) of the pandemic and psychopathology were measured. Changes between T1 and T2 were examined. Patients' psychosocial support system six months before the pandemic and at T1/T2 was assessed. We found a significant positive correlation between general PSI and depression as well as severity of illness. General PSI differed significantly depending on social contact. Neither general PSI nor psychopathology changed significantly between T1 and T2. At T1, patients' psychosocial support systems were reduced as compared to six months before. Patients reported an increase in psychosocial support between T1 and T2 and high demand for additional support (sports, arts/occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychotherapy). Elderly psychiatric patients show a negative PSI of the pandemic. They are likely to suffer from an impaired psychosocial situation, emphasizing the importance of developing concepts for sufficient psychosocial support during a pandemic

RADAR: Building a FAIR and Community Tailored Research Data Repository

The research data repository RADAR is designed to support the secure management, archiving, publication and dissemination of digital research data from completed scientific studies and projects. Developed as a collaborative project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) (2013-2016), the system is operated by FIZ Karlsruhe - Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure - and currently serves as a generic cloud service for about 20 universities and non-university research institutions. Since its launch, RADAR has witnessed significant changes in the landscape of research data repositories and the evolving needs of researchers, research communities and institutions. In our presentation within the “Enabling RDM” Track, we will show how RADAR is responding to these dynamic changes. In order to create a sufficiently large user base for the sustainable operation of the system, we have moved RADAR away from its previous single focus on a discipline-agnostic cloud service and towards a demand-driven functional optimisation. In 2021, we introduced an additional operating model for institutions (RADAR Local), where we operate a separate RADAR instance locally at the institution site exclusively using the institutional IT-infrastructure. In 2022 we opened up RADAR to new target groups with community-specific service offerings, in particular in the context of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). Beside the expansion of the functional scope, our ongoing development work focuses also on strengthening the system's support for the FAIR principles [1] and the concepts of FAIR Digital Objects (FDO) [2] and Schema.org. Our presentation will outline recent RADAR developments and achievements as well as future plans thus providing solutions and synergy potential for the scientific community and for other service providers

Product Digital-Platform-Business Co-Design: A Systematic Sprint Approach

In today\u27s connected age, numerous companies that develop mechatronic systems in generations pursue a digital platform business model. Previous research created the SPDS – Smart Platform Design Sprint to provide product development processes with the necessary tool to build digital platform business models. The SPDS is a five-day method to discover and design digital platform business models. This research validates and further develops the SPDS to provide insights into the first practical application and evaluates the methodology\u27s functionality by solving a real-world problem. More applications of the SPDS are needed to verify its robustness for improved generalization

Ökonomische Analyse europäischer Bankenregulierung: Verbriefung und Interbankenmarkt im Fokus

Die Bankenneuregulierung der Europäische Kommission sieht eine Beschränkung der Kreditvergabe im Interbankenmarkt auf 25 % des Eigenkapitals sowie einen Selbsteinbehalt des Originators in Höhe von 5 % am gesamten zu verbriefenden Forderungsportfolio vor. Eine starre Regulierung führt aber nicht zwingend zu einer dauerhaften Krisenprävention, wie die vorliegende Arbeit modelltheoretisch belegt. Eine starre Kreditvergabebeschränkung erreicht zwar eine Mindestdiversifikation und Eigenkapitalaufstockung im Bankensektor, wodurch das systemische Risiko gesenkt wird. Allerdings geht dies mit steigenden Transaktionskosten einher. Anhand eines Modells von Fender und Mitchell werden die Auswirkungen auf die Screening-Anstrengungen bei Verbriefungen mit komplettem Portfolioselbsteinbehalt, Einbehalt der Equity Tranche und Einbehalt eines vertikalen Anteils durch den Originator untersucht. Aus dem Modell wird ersichtlich, dass ein vertikaler Einbehalt kleiner 100 % des Forderungspools, wie er von der Europäischen Kommission vorgesehen ist, in keiner Situation zu einem optimalen Screening-Einsatz führt, sondern sogar teilweise eine Verschlechterung im Vergleich zum Einbehalt der Equity Tranche darstellt. Eine pauschale Regulierung ist deshalb abzulehnen und eine qualitative, dynamische Regulierung, die mehr Transparenz schafft, zu befürworten. -- The new regulation for banks by the European Commission contains a restriction to 25 % of the equity for credit allocation on the interbank market and an enduring participation of the originator in the whole receivables portfolio of 5 %. But an inflexible regulation does not permanently prevent the market from further financial crisis, which is theoretically analysed in the presented paper. Indeed an inflexible restriction of the equity for credit allocation achieves a minimum diversification and an equity increase on the banking sector, which reduces the systemic risk. Admittedly, this can only occur by acceptance of increasing transaction costs. By applying a model from Fender and Mitchell the impact of the screening efforts for securitizations with complete retention of the portfolio, the retention of the equity tranche and the retention of the vertical fraction by the originator is analysed. The model shows that a vertical retention smaller than 100 % of the pool of receivables, as proposed by the European Commission, does not lead to an optimal level of screening in any situation and might even cause a worsening in comparison to the retention of the equity tranche. Considering the complexity of the financial system, a sweeping regulation must be rejected and a qualitative, dynamic regulation that establishes a higher level of transparency is recommended.Bankenregulierung,Verbriefung,Selbstbehalt,Interbankenmarkt