REAPOR® - Sintered open-pore glass foam as a high-strength sound absorber

The market for sound insulation products and Services, accounting for some 6000 mill. DM per annum in Germany alone, is covered to the extent of more than 90% by developments which are over 40 years old. Experts at the Fraunhofer Insdtute for Building Physics (IBP) (Director: Prof Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Dr. E. h. mult. K. Gertis) have, together with an increasing number of small to medium-sized licensees, concentrated on the development of alternative, fibre-free absorbers (ALFA). The aim is to thus reduce noise pollution with more efficient sound-proofing technologies even in cases where traditional sound insulation materials are at a disadvantage as regards fitting and durabihty

Improving Support Ticket Systems Using Machine Learning: A Literature Review

Processing customer support requests via a support ticket system is a key-element for companies to provide support to their customers in an organized and professional way. However, distributing and processing such tickets is much work, increasing the cost for the support providing company and stretching the resolution time. The advancing potential of Machine Learning has led to the goal of automating those support ticket systems. Against this background, we conducted a Literature Review aiming at determining the present state-of-the-art technology in the field of automated support ticket systems. We provide an overview about present trends and topics discussed in this field. During the Literature Review, we found creating an automated incident management tool being the majority topic in the field followed by request escalation and customer sentiment prediction and identified Random Forrest and Support Vector Machine as best performing algorithms for classification in the field

Modulation von Oberflächenrezeptoren durch 6- und 8-Prenylnaringenin zur Steigerung der antitumoralen Aktivität humaner NK-Zellen

Neue Therapieansätze wie beispielsweise die Stärkung des Immunsystems, die Steigerung der Immunogenität von Tumorzellen oder der Einsatz rekombinanter humaner natürlicher Killerzellen (NK-Zellen), gewinnen in der Krebstherapie zunehmend an Bedeutung. Vielversprechende Vordaten der Arbeitsgruppe Venturelli für die Prenylflavonoide 6-Prenylnaringenin (6-PN) und 8-Prenylnaringenin (8-PN) zeigen ausgeprägte antiproliferative Effekte gegenüber malignen Zelllinien sowie eine Hemmung von Histondeacetylasen. In weiteren Experimenten der Arbeitsgruppe konnte außerdem gezeigt werden, dass 6-PN und 8-PN die intrazelluläre Expression zytotoxischer Proteine in NK-Zellen erhöhen. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war daher zu untersuchen, ob und in welcher Weise die beiden Prenylflavonoide das NK-Zell-vermittelte Killing von Tumorzellen beeinflussen. Mit Viabilitäts-Assays konnte gezeigt werden, dass vor allem eine Vorbehandlung der Tumorzellen (12,5 und 25 µM 6-PN bzw. 8-PN) einen positiven Effekt auf das Killing hat. Als mögliche Ursache konnte durchflusszytometrisch eine konzentrationsabhängige Steigerung der Expression der NK-Zell-aktivierenden „Stressliganden“ MICA/B (MHC class I chain-related protein A und B) auf der Oberfläche von Hep3B- und HepG2-Zellen durch 6-PN bzw. 8-PN (12,5, 25 und 50 µM) nachgewiesen werden. 6-PN zeigte dabei bezüglich der MICA/B-Expression und dem NK-Zell-vermittelten Killing der Tumorzellen deutlichere Effekte als 8-PN. Bei beiden Substanzen kam es zeit- und konzentrationsabhängig auch zu einer direkten Toxizität gegenüber den Tumorzellen. Eine Vorbehandlung der NK-Zellen zusätzlich zur Vorbehandlung der Tumorzellen (12,5 und 25 µM 6-PN bzw. 8-PN) zeigte heterogene Ergebnisse, bei denen 6-PN tendenziell einen günstigeren Effekt auf das NK-Zell-vermittelte Killing der Tumorzellen ausübte als 8-PN. Dieser Trend bestätigte sich jedoch nicht für alle Einsatzkonzentrationen. Die alleinige Vorbehandlung der NK-Zellen (12,5 und 25 µM 6-PN bzw. 8-PN) hatte auf das Killing unbehandelter Tumorzellen mehrheitlich sogar einen negativen Effekt. Dieser war bei 8-PN stärker ausgeprägt als bei 6-PN. Trotz des scheinbaren Widerspruchs, decken sich diese Ergebnisse mit Beobachtungen bei anderen Histondeacteylase-Inhibitoren und unterstreichen, dass die beiden Prenylflavonoide in den evaluierten Konzentrationen über bisher unbekannte Signalwege eine hemmende Wirkung gegenüber NK-Zellen auszuüben scheinen. Insgesamt konnte im Rahmen dieser Arbeit gezeigt werden, dass 6-PN und 8-PN zusätzlich zu ihren direkten zytotoxischen Effekten gegenüber Tumorzellen auch das NK-Zell-vermittelte Killing verbessern, indem sie die MICA/B-Expression auf der Oberfläche der Tumorzellen erhöhen und damit deren Erkennbarkeit als Zielzellen steigern. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen der vorliegenden Arbeit stellen die beiden Prenylflavonoide somit vielversprechende Wirkstoffkandidaten zur weiteren Charakterisierung für einen therapeutischen Einsatz beim hepatozellulären Karzinom dar, auch wenn, mit Blick auf die hemmenden Effekte einer alleinigen NK-Zell-Behandlung, weitere Untersuchungen notwendig sind, um optimale Einsatzkonzentrationen und -zeitpunkte für einen potenziellen klinischen Einsatz zu erhalten

Converting Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) into a Triple-Responsive Polymer

Multiresponsive polymers that can respond to several external stimuli are promising materials for a manifold of applications. Herein, a facile method for the synthesis of triple-responsive (pH, temperature, CO2) poly(N,N-diethylaminoethyl methacrylamide) by a post-polymerization amidation of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is presented. Combined with trivalent counterions ([Fe(CN)6]3−) both an upper and lower critical solution temperature (UCST/LCST)-type phase behavior can be realized at pH 8 and 9. PMMA and PMMA-based block copolymers are readily accessible by living anionic and controlled radical polymerization techniques, which opens access to various responsive polymer architectures based on the developed functionalization method. This method can also be applied on melt-processed bulk PMMA samples to introduce functional, responsive moieties at the PMMA surface

MausDB: An open source application for phenotype data and mouse colony management in large-scale mouse phenotyping projects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Large-scale, comprehensive and standardized high-throughput mouse phenotyping has been established as a tool of functional genome research by the German Mouse Clinic and others. In all these projects, vast amounts of data are continuously generated and need to be stored, prepared for data-mining procedures and eventually be made publicly available. Thus, central storage and integrated management of mouse phenotype data, genotype data, metadata and linked external data are highly important. Requirements most probably depend on the individual mouse housing unit or project and the demand for either very specific individual database solutions or very flexible solutions that can be easily adapted to local demands. Not every group has the resources and/or the know-how to develop software for this purpose. A database application has been developed for the German Mouse Clinic in order to meet all requirements mentioned above.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present MausDB, the German Mouse Clinic web-based database application that integrates standard mouse colony management, phenotyping workflow scheduling features and mouse phenotyping result data management. It links mouse phenotype data with genotype data, metadata and external data such as public web databases, which is a prerequisite for comprehensive data analysis and mining. We describe how this can be achieved with a lean and user-friendly system built on open standards.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>MausDB is suited for large-scale, high-throughput phenotyping facilities but can also be used exclusively for mouse colony management within smaller units or projects. The system is successfully used as the primary mouse and data management tool of the German Mouse Clinic and other mouse facilities. We offer MausDB to the scientific community as open source software to provide a system for storage of data from functional genomics projects in a well-structured, easily accessible form.</p

Complex joint probabilities as expressions of determinism in quantum mechanics

The density operator of a quantum state can be represented as a complex joint probability of any two observables whose eigenstates have non-zero mutual overlap. Transformations to a new basis set are then expressed in terms of complex conditional probabilities that describe the fundamental relation between precise statements about the three different observables. Since such transformations merely change the representation of the quantum state, these conditional probabilities provide a state-independent definition of the deterministic relation between the outcomes of different quantum measurements. In this paper, it is shown how classical reality emerges as an approximation to the fundamental laws of quantum determinism expressed by complex conditional probabilities. The quantum mechanical origin of phase spaces and trajectories is identified and implications for the interpretation of quantum measurements are considered. It is argued that the transformation laws of quantum determinism provide a fundamental description of the measurement dependence of empirical reality.Comment: 12 pages, including 1 figure, updated introduction includes references to the historical background of complex joint probabilities and to related work by Lars M. Johanse