Contactless and absolute linear displacement detection based upon 3D printed magnets combined with passive radio-frequency identification

Within this work a passive and wireless magnetic sensor, to monitor linear displacements is proposed. We exploit recent advances in 3D printing and fabricate a polymer bonded magnet with a spatially linear magnetic field component corresponding to the length of the magnet. Regulating the magnetic compound fraction during printing allows specific shaping of the magnetic field distribution. A giant magnetoresistance magnetic field sensor is combined with a radio-frequency identification tag in order to passively monitor the exerted magnetic field of the printed magnet. Due to the tailored magnetic field, a displacement of the magnet with respect to the sensor can be detected within the sub-mm regime. The sensor design provides good flexibility by controlling the 3D printing process according to application needs. Absolute displacement detection using low cost components and providing passive operation, long term stability and longevity renders the proposed sensor system ideal for structural health monitoring applications.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Nutrient Concentration on Skid Trails under Brush-Mats – Is a Redistribution of Nutrients Possible?

In mechanized timber harvesting, it is common practice to build brush mats from logging residues on skid trails. Protective effects of brush mats against soil compaction are documented by several studies. On the other hand, a large quantity of nutrients is concentrated on the skid trail. Fully mechanized harvesting has been criticized frequently for this reallocation of nutrients. Is there really a risk of nutrient leaching below skid trails or imbalances? Are the nutrients redistributed through nutrient uptake by roots of adjacent trees? Effects of fully mechanized thinning on soil, water and nutrient balance were examined in a seventy years old spruce stand on a nutrient poor site in Bavaria. Sections of the trails were covered with brush mats, while other sections remained uncovered. For five replications, soil physical properties, soil chemistry, matter and water balances and the density of fine roots were measured in the middle of the trail, under the tire tracks, at the transition of trail and stand and inside the stand over a period of two years. Logging operation caused soil compaction. The macropore volume decreased and both hydraulic conductivity and air permeability were severely reduced. The nutrients were largely kept in the forest ecosystem. Results of the soil moisture monitoring indicate that, within the sections covered by a brush mat, tree roots extracted water from the soil between the tracks. Without cover, the trees scarcely extracted water from this area. Hence, building a brush mat can facilitate water availability and thus enable redistribution of nutrients

Visible light emission due to resonant CO_{2} excitation of dental hard tissue

Visible light emission of dental hard substances excited by high-power infrared pulses of a tunable TEA CO2 laser has been investigated. A clear correlation between observed visible light emission, plasma formation as well as ablation of dental hard tissue has been demonstrated. Both, the highly nonlinear infrared to visible upconversion process and the ablation efficiency show a sharp spectral resonance close to a vibrational mode of PO4 at 1090 cm-1 in dental enamel and dentin. The influence of strong infrared light impulses on dental hard tissue is examined by performing upconversion studies of visible light emission of human dental enamel and dentin. Our experimental setup allows one to determine the plasma formation threshold being important in dental surgery

A new possible binding site for bacteriochlorophyll b in a light-harvesting polypeptide of the bacterium Ectothiorhodospira halochloris

AbstractWhole cells from Ectothiorhodospira halochloris were extracted with an organic solvent mixture. At least five small hydrophobic polypeptides representing most probably the light harvesting polypeptides were purified by gel filtration and consecutive FPLC-RP chromatography. The complete amino acid sequence of a 7.4 kDa polypeptide was determined. The polypeptide shows a three domain structure, indicative of an integral membrane protein, similar to the structure of the light-harvesting polypeptides from purple non-sulfur bacteria. Sequence homologies to the β-LHPs of purple bacteria range from 23. 1° to 36.4°. The conserved intramembrane located histidine residue of the antenna polypeptides of purple non-sulfur bacteria, assigned as the possible binding site for bacteriochlorophyll, was found to be replaced by asparagine

A human macrophage – hepatocyte co-culture model for comparative studies of infection and replication of Francisella tularensis LVS strain and subspecies holarctica and mediasiatica

Detection of intracellular LPS in macrophage / hepatocyte co-cultures infected with LVS (open bars), spp. holarctica (grey filled bars) or spp. mediasiatica (black filled bars) and untreated control (hatched bars). A) Different amounts of macrophages in the co-culture were tested (6, 12 and 22 % of macrophages on total cell count). Flow cytometric detection of intracellular LPS in macrophages (MFI mean fluorescence intensity); B-D) percentage of remaining detectable macrophages after infection of the co-cultures with B) 6 % macrophages/94 % hepatocytes, C) 12 % macrophages/ 88 % hepatocytes and D) 22 % macrophages/ 88 % hepatocytes 72 h post infection. (TIF 32735 kb

Crystal structure of Pseudomonas aeruginosa apo-azurin at 1.85 Å resolution

AbstractThe 3D structure of apo-azurin from Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been determined at 1.85 Å resolution. The crystal structure is composed of two different molecular forms of apo-azurin arranged as hetero-dimers in the tetramer of the asymmetric unit. Form 1 closely resembles the holo-protein lacking copper. Form 2 shows differences in the metal binding site region induced by the incorporation of a solvent molecule into this site. The positions of the copper ligands His46 and His117 are shifted by 0.6 Å and 1.6 Å. The His117 side chain adopts a position at the surface of the protein, thereby facilitating access to the copper site. The presence of two different molecular forms of apo-azurin in the crystal lattice may reflect an equilibrium between the two forms in solution. 1H-NMR spectra or apo-azurin recorded as a function or pH show that at high pH the line broadening of His35, His46 and His117 resonances is consistent with an interconversion between forms 1 and 2. At low pH, no broadening is observed. This may indicate that here the interconversion is fast on the NMR timescale

Entwicklung und Erprobung eines Agroforstsystems im ökologischen Landbau zur Energieholzgewinnung

Das Projekt „Entwicklung und Erprobung eines Agroforstsystems im ökologischen Landbau zur Energieholzgewinnung“ ist eine Kooperation der beiden bayerischen Landesanstalten für Landwirtschaft (LfL) und für Wald und Forstwirtschaft (LWF). Die Versuchsstandorte liegen in der nördlichen Münchener Ebene bei Freising und im südlichen Frankenjura in der Nähe von Kaisheim. Die zentrale Frage des Projektes ist, welche Erträge und Qualitäten die landwirtschaftlichen Feldfrüchte in einem Agroforstsystem im Vergleich zur herkömmlichen Bewirtschaftung ohne Bäume auf dem Acker liefern. Es wird eine positive Wirkung von Baumstreifen im Kurzumtrieb auf den Ertrag der dazwischen liegenden landwirtschaftlichen Kulturen erwartet. Außerdem wird untersucht, ob in einem Agroforstsystem die gesamte Biomasseerzeugung im Vergleich zur reinen landwirtschaftlichen Nutzung nachhaltig höher ist. Die möglichst effiziente Etablierung von schnellwachsenden Baumarten auf Flächen des Ökolandbaus ist eine weitere Fragestellung des Projekts. Erste Beobachtungen unterschiedlicher Begründungsverfahren und zum Leistungsvergleich verschiedener Hybrid-Pappelklone mit heimischen Baumarten werden vorgestellt

Glycosylation Patterns of Proteins Studied by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and Bioinformatic Tools

Due to their extensive structural heterogeneity, the elucidation of glycosylation patterns in glycoproteins such as the subunits of chorionic gonadotropin (CG), CG-alpha and CG-beta remains one of the most challenging problems in the proteomic analysis of posttranslational modifications. In consequence, glycosylation is usually studied after decomposition of the intact proteins to the proteolytic peptide level. However, by this approach all information about the combination of the different glycopeptides in the intact protein is lost. In this study we have, therefore, attempted to combine the results of glycan identification after tryptic digestion with molecular mass measurements on the intact glycoproteins. Despite the extremely high number of possible combinations of the glycans identified in the tryptic peptides by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (> 1000 for CG-alpha and > 10.000 for CG-beta), the mass spectra of intact CG-alpha and CG-beta revealed only a limited number of glycoforms present in CG preparations from pools of pregnancy urines. Peak annotations for CG-alpha were performed with the help of an algorithm that generates a database containing all possible modifications of the proteins (inclusive possible artificial modifications such as oxidation or truncation) and subsequent searches for combinations fitting the mass difference between the polypeptide backbone and the measured molecular masses. Fourteen different glycoforms of CG-alpha, including methionine-oxidized and N-terminally truncated forms, were readily identified. For CG-beta, however, the relatively high mass accuracy of ± 2 Da was still insufficient to unambiguously assign the possible combinations of posttranslational modifications. Finally, the mass spectrometric fingerprints of the intact molecules were shown to be very useful for the characterization of glycosylation patterns in different CG preparations

Religiosity in various religious cultures: comparisons based on the Centrality of Religiosity Scale

Der Beitrag diskutiert die interreligiöse Anwendbarkeit der Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS). Ein wesentlicher Teil besteht in der soziologischen Begründung von sechs Kerndimensionen der Religiosität (Ideologie, Intellekt, Erfahrung, private Praxis, öffentliche Praxis, Konsequenzen im Alltag), wobei die CRS auf den ersten fünf Dimensionen basiert. Bei der theoretischen Begründung der Kerndimensionen spielen ihre relative Autonomie sowie soziale Erwartungen an religiöse Personen eine entscheidende Rolle. Für die interreligiöse Anwendbarkeit der CRS spricht, dass die thematisierten sozialen Erwartungen bei allen größeren Religionskulturen gegeben sind. Darauf aufbauend werden die Operationalisierung der Kerndimensionen sowie einzelne Modifikationen der Indikatoren in bestimmten Religionskulturen dargestellt. Dabei sind die Formspezifik und inhaltliche Allgemeinheit der Indikatoren zentral, um die CRS vergleichend in unterschiedlichen Religionskulturen anwenden zu können. In empirischer Hinsicht wird die Reliabilität (Cronbachs Alpha) der aus zehn Indikatoren bestehenden CRS-10 bei jüdischen, christlichen, islamischen, hinduistischen und buddhistischen Respondenten in den Daten des internationalen Religionsmonitors 2007, der in 21 Ländern unter Berücksichtigung der genannten fünf großen Religionskulturen durchgeführt wurde, diskutiert. Dabei wurde deutlich, dass sich nach der Berücksichtigung des Modernisierungsgrads einer Gesellschaft und der Anteil von Säkularen die Reliabilitätskoeffizienten in allen Religionskulturen in einem akzeptablen Bereich befinden.The article discusses the interreligious applicability of the Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS). A substantial part consists in the sociological justification of six core dimensions of religiosity (ideology, intellect, experience, private practice, public practice, consequences in everyday life), whereby the CRS is based on the first five dimensions. In the theoretical justification of the core dimensions, their relative autonomy and social expectations of religious persons play a determining role. The interreligious applicability of the CRS is supported by the fact that the social expectations addressed are present in all major religious cultures. Based on this, the operationalization of the core dimensions and individual modifications of the indicators in certain religious cultures are presented. The form specificity and the general nature of the indicators in terms of content are central to being able to apply the CRS in different religious cultures in a comparative way. From an empirical point of view, the reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha) of the CRS-10, consisting of ten indicators in Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist respondents, is discussed in the data of the International Religion Monitor 2007, which was conducted in 21 countries, taking into account the five major religious cultures mentioned above. It became clear that after taking into consideration the degree of modernization of a society and the proportion of secular people, the reliability coefficients in all religious cultures are within an acceptable range.L’article traite de l’applicabilité interreligieuse de la «Centrality of Religiosity Scale» (CRS). Une partie essentielle consiste en la justification sociologique de six dimensions fondamentales de la religiosité (idéologie, intellect, expérience, pratique privée, pratique publique, conséquences dans la vie quotidienne), sorte que le CRS se fonde sur les cinq premières dimensions. Dans la justification théorique des dimensions fondamentales, leur autonomie relative et les attentes sociales des personnes religieuses jouent un rôle décisif. L’applicabilité interreligieuse de la CRS est soutenue par le fait que les attentes sociales visées sont présentes dans toutes les grandes cultures religieuses. Sur cette base, l’opérationnalisation des dimensions fondamentales et les modifications individuelles des indicateurs dans certaines cultures religieuses sont présentées. La spécificité de la forme et la généralité des indicateurs en termes de contenu sont essentielles pour l’application comparative du CRS dans différentes cultures religieuses. D’un point de vue empirique, la fiabilité (Alpha de Cronbach) du CRS-10, composé de dix indicateurs parmi les répondants juifs, chrétiens, islamiques, hindous et bouddhistes, est examinée dans les données de l’International Religion Monitor 2007, qui a été réalisé dans 21 pays, en tenant compte des cinq grandes cultures religieuses mentionnées ci-avant. Il est apparu clairement qu’après avoir pris en compte le degré de modernisation d’une société et la proportion de laïcs, les coefficients de fiabilité dans toutes les cultures religieuses se situent dans une marge acceptable

HIV-1 Superinfection in an HIV-2-Infected Woman with Subsequent Control of HIV-1 Plasma Viremia

A human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2)-infected woman experienced asymptomatic superinfection with HIV-1 subtype AG. She did not have cross-neutralizing autologous HIV-1 antibodies before and shortly after HIV-1 superinfection. This evidence supports a mechanism other than cross-neutralizing antibodies for the mild course of HIV-1 infection in this woma