Application of a functional model for the modernization of devices designed to eliminate emergency oil spills

The article describes the stages of creation and composition of the functional model, which can be used for the design of oil spill response devices. The principle of operation of the functional model given in the article and it's graphical scheme are show

Theoretical evaluation of falling film evaporation for organic rankine cycle processes

The exploitation of heat sources at low and medium temperature levels by means of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) power plants offers a significant potential for resource saving energy conversion. However, economical and technical constraints reduce the feasibility of this technology. In particular, evaporators are critical key components and driving cost factors. To achieve an increased exploitation of the unused ORC potential, a general improvement of the evaporator properties and performance is compulsory. In this respect, the application of a horizontal falling film evaporator could result in both technical and economical benefits compared to actual evaporator technologies. As main advantages, horizontal falling film evaporators would allow for a minimisation of the installation size, increased heat transfer efficiencies and a significant reduction of the required working fluid charge. Although falling film evaporators are successfully used in different fields of industrial application, there is no implementation at operating conditions of an ORC yet. In this dissertation, detailed numerical studies were conducted to demonstrate the potential of the falling film evaporator in the context of an optimisation of multi-Megawatt ORC plants. For this purpose, detailed models of heat exchangers and power plant components were used for both analysis of the heat transfer process within a falling film evaporator and the overall performance of a representative model power plant equipped with different evaporator technologies. First, respective influences of the tube bundle configuration as well as the recirculation ratio of a falling film evaporator were assessed. Based on the findings, a reference specification for the ORC falling film evaporator was developed. Performance analyses of power plant operation subsequently revealed a comparable stationary operation regardless of the applied evaporator technology. However, the application of the falling film evaporator allows for a significant reduction of the working fluid charge in the evaporator. Finally, the transient power plant operation was analysed with regard to the impact of the evaporator technology, revealing that the falling film evaporator allows for a reduction of local fluctuations of the working fluid charge in the heat exchangers

Tumor classification of six common cancer types based on proteomic profiling by MALDI imaging

In clinical diagnostics, it is of outmost importance to correctly identify the source of a metastatic tumor, especially if no apparent primary tumor is present. Tissue-based proteomics might allow correct tumor classification. As a result, we performed MALDI imaging to generate proteomic signatures for different tumors. These signatures were used to classify common cancer types. At first, a cohort comprised of tissue samples from six adenocarcinoma entities located at different organ sites (esophagus, breast, colon, liver, stomach, thyroid gland, n = 171) was classified using two algorithms for a training and test set. For the test set, Support Vector Machine and Random Forest yielded overall accuracies of 82.74 and 81.18%, respectively. Then, colon cancer liver metastasis samples (n = 19) were introduced into the classification. The liver metastasis samples could be discriminated with high accuracy from primary tumors of colon cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. Additionally, colon cancer liver metastasis samples could be successfully classified by using colon cancer primary tumor samples for the training of the classifier. These findings demonstrate that MALDI imaging-derived proteomic classifiers can discriminate between different tumor types at different organ sites and in the same site

Temperierte Straße – Untersuchungen zur Realisierung eines Demonstrators auf dem duraBASt

Während der Winterzeit sind die Verkehrssicherheit und der Verkehrsfluss auf Straßen und Gehwegen aufgrund auftretender Glätte erheblich beeinträchtigt. Herkömmliche Methoden, wie der Einsatz von Tausalzen, sind nicht zuletzt wegen ihrer Schäden an der Umwelt, den Fahrzeugen und dem Straßenkörper nur bedingt zukunftsträchtig. Die Erfahrungen aus früheren Projekten, sowie die Kenntnisse der beteiligten Projektpartner halfen bei der Modellierung, der Definition und dem Test unter-schiedlicher Konstruktionsparameter von fünf verschiedenen Varianten in einer Teststrecke. Diese verfolgt das Ziel, im Sommer Wärmeenergie aus einer wasserdurchströmten Zwischenschicht des Straßenkörpers zu gewinnen, welche in geothermalen Wärmespeichern aufbewahrt und im Winter zur Temperierung der Straße genutzt wird. Im Zuge dessen wurden für den Aufbau des Straßenkörpers zwei Varianten unter Verwendung von Rohrleitungssystemen, sowie drei Varianten mit einem Einbau einer Polyurethan-gebundenen, durchströmten Zwischenschicht entwickelt, durch welche jeweils Wasser floss. Dabei wurde sowohl die Korngröße als auch die Schichtdicke der Zwischenschicht variiert, um die Menge und die Fließgeschwindigkeit des Wassers zu kontrollieren. Die anschließende Untersuchung widmete sich der Definition von Eigenschaften, welche den maximalen, thermischen Gewinn jeder Variante versprachen. Dazu standen Informationen einer nahegelegenen Wetterstation, sowie die vorher definierten Schichtparameter zur Verfügung. Hierauf folgte die Analyse und Bestimmung verschiedener Eigen-schaften der Wärmespeicher. Daraus resultierend erfolgte die Darlegung eines Gesamtsystems, in dem jeder Teil (Wärmepumpen, Ventile etc.) detailliert konstruiert und dimensioniert wurde. Schließlich wurde ein Überwachungsmodell zur genauen Beobachtung der Teststrecke beschrieben um diese nach deren Erbauung zu beaufsichtigen. Dieses Forschungsprojekt legt die Informationen dar, welche zum Bau einer maßstabsgetreuen Demonstrationsstrecke einer temperierten Straße auf dem Testgelände der Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (BASt) erforderlich sind.During the winter, traffic safety and traffic flow on roads and sidewalks are often affected due to harsh weather conditions like ice and snow. Common solutions, like deicing salts, are not sustainable since they have a negative impact on the environment, vehicles and roads. Experience gained from former projects combined with the experience from the project partners were used to test, model and define the parameters for the construction of five different test track variants which goal is to harvest energy in the summer in the form of warm water, and storage it in geothermal probes to temper the roads in the winter. Two variants using pipe registers with different laying pattern and three variants using a polyurethane bounded porous interlayer were defined. The grain size and thickness from the interlayer were varied to control the amount and velocity of water flowing through it. A model was created to study and define the characteristics to maximize the thermal yield of each variant with the use of information of a nearby weather station and the previously defined layer characteristics. Afterwards, an analysis of the surroundings was performed to define the necessary characteristics of the geothermal probes. The overall system was defined where every part (Buffer, heat pumps, valves etc.) of it was modelled, designed and dimensioned. Finally, a monitoring system was described to monitor the operation of the test track once it is built. This research project summarizes the required information to build a real size tempered road demonstrator on the Federal Highway Research Institute’s (BASt) test track

Sodium valproate is associated with cortical thinning of disease-specific areas in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.

BACKGROUND Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is associated with cortical thinning of the motor areas. The relative contribution of antiseizure medication to cortical thickness is unknown. We aimed to investigate how valproate influences the cortical morphology of JME. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, individuals with JME with and without valproate, with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with valproate and controls were selected through propensity score matching. Participants underwent T1-weighted brain imaging and vertex-wise calculation of cortical thickness. RESULTS We matched 36 individuals with JME on valproate with 36 individuals with JME without valproate, 36 controls and 19 individuals with TLE on valproate. JME on valproate showed thinning of the precentral gyri (left and right, p<0.001) compared with controls and thinning of the left precentral gyrus when compared with JME not on valproate (p<0.01) or to TLE on valproate (p<0.001). Valproate dose correlated negatively with the thickness of the precentral gyri, postcentral gyri and superior frontal gyrus in JME (left and right p<0.0001), but not in TLE. CONCLUSIONS Valproate was associated with JME-specific and dose-dependent thinning of the cortical motor regions. This suggests that valproate is a key modulator of cortical morphology in JME, an effect that may underlie its high efficacy in this syndrome