Optimization of Enzymatic Gas-Phase Reactions by Increasing the Long-Term Stability of the Catalyst

Enzymatic gas-phase reactions are usually performed in continuous reactors, and thus very stable and active catalysts are required to perform such transformations on cost-effective levels. The present work is concerned with the reduction of gaseous acetophenone to enantiomerically pure (R)-1-phenylethanol catalyzed by solid alcohol dehydrogenase from Lactobacillus brevis (LBADH), immobilized onto glass beads. Initially, the catalyst preparation displayed a half-life of 1 day under reaction conditions at 40 °C and at a water activity of 0.5. It was shown that the observed decrease in activity is due to a degradation of the enzyme itself (LBADH) and not of the co-immobilized cofactor NADP. By the addition of sucrose to the cell extract before immobilization of the enzyme, the half-life of the catalyst preparation (at 40 °C) was increased 40 times. The stabilized catalyst preparation was employed in a continuous gas-phase reactor at different temperatures (25-60 °C). At 50 °C, a space-time yield of 107 g/L/d was achieved within the first 80 h of continuous reaction.

Einfluss von biologischen Aerosolpartikeln auf Wolken - Simulationen auf regionaler Skala

Einige primäre biologische Aerosolpartikel (PBAP) können als Eiskeim (IN) fungieren und so zur heterogenen Eisnukleation in Mischphasenwolken beitragen. Ausgehend von kooperativ erfolgten Laborstudien an der Wolkenkammer AIDA wird der Einfluss von PBAP auf Wolken mit dem Atmosphärenmodell COSMO-ART untersucht. Bakterien-IN dominieren die Eisnukleation in geringer Höhe und erreichen 0,01 1/L. Biologische IN können die Eiskristallkonzentration über unterschiedliche Effekte beeinflussen

Induced Gamma-band Activity Elicited by Visual Representation of Unattended Objects

Peer reviewedPostprin

A Method of Analysis of Biological Resource Use Systems Under the Convention on Biological Diversity

The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) establishes a new legal framework for the management of biological resource use, for example in fisheries. The signatory states to the CBD have agreed upon several major principles which become legally binding following ratification of the Convention by the national legislature. In terms of resource man-agement, two of these principles are especially remarkable: 1. a concept of sustainability which includes distributional consid-erations; 2. an ‘ecosystem approach’ that calls for the integration of aspects of community ecology into management schemes. Unfortunately, current approaches to the management of biological resource use fall somewhat short of satisfying these two principles. I try to rectify this, developing a method of analysis that integrates neoclassical resource economics, property rights theory and community ecology into one theoretical concept which can be applied to such distinctive problems as over-exploitation, negative impact on ecosystems by resource use, and conflicts among resource users. This method of analysis will make it possible to determine whether a specified biological resource use system and its accompanying management struc-tures meet the requirements set out by the CBD.Keywords: resource use system, Convention on Biological Diversity, sustainable use, ecosystem approac

Ecosystem services in European protected areas: Ambiguity in the views of scientists and managers?

Protected Areas are a key component of nature conservation. They can play an important role in counterbalancing the impacts of ecosystem degradation. For an optimal protection of a Protected Area it is essential to account for the variables underlying the major Ecosystem Services an area delivers, and the threats upon them. Here we show that the perception of these important variables differs markedly between scientists and managers of Protected Areas in mountains and transitional waters. Scientists emphasise variables of abiotic and biotic nature, whereas managers highlight socio-economic, cultural and anthropogenic variables. This indicates fundamental differences in perception. To be able to better protect an area it would be advisable to bring the perception of scientists and managers closer together. Intensified and harmonised communication across disciplinary and professional boundaries will be needed to implement and improve Ecosystem Service oriented management strategies in current and future Protected Areas.This study was done in the frame of the EcoPotential project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 641762

Regional-Scale Simulations of Fungal Spore Aerosols Using an Emission Parameterization Adapted to Local Measurements of Fluorescent Biological Aerosol Particles

Fungal spores as a prominent type of primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP) have been incorporated into the COSMO-ART (Consortium for Small-scale Modelling- Aerosols and Reactive Trace gases) regional atmospheric model. Two literature-based emission rates for fungal spores derived from fungal spore colony counts and chemical tracer measurements were used as a parameterization baseline for this study. A third, new emission parameterization for fluorescent biological aerosol particles (FBAP) was adapted to field measurements from four locations across Europe. FBAP concentrations can be regarded as a lower estimate of total PBAP concentrations. Size distributions of FBAP often show a distinct mode at approx. 3 μm, corresponding to a diameter range characteristic for many fungal spores. Previous studies for several locations have suggested that FBAP are in many cases dominated by fungal spores. Thus, we suggest that simulated FBAP and fungal spore concentrations obtained from the three different emission parameterizations can be compared to FBAP measurements. The comparison reveals that simulated fungal spore concentrations based on literature emission parameterizations are lower than measured FBAP concentrations. In agreement with the measurements, the model results show a diurnal cycle in simulated fungal spore concentrations, which may develop partially as a consequence of a varying boundary layer height between day and night. Temperature and specific humidity, together with leaf area index (LAI), were chosen to drive the new emission parameterization which is fitted to the FBAP observations. The new parameterization results in similar root mean square errors (RMSEs) and correlation coefficients compared to the FBAP observations as the previously existing fungal spore emission parameterizations, with some improvements in the bias. Using the new emission parameterization on a model domain covering western Europe, FBAP in the lowest model layer comprise a fraction of 15% of the total aerosol mass over land and reach average number concentrations of 26 L-1. The results confirm that fungal spores and biological particles may account for a major fraction of supermicron aerosol particle number and mass concentration over vegetated continental regions and should thus be explicitly considered in air quality and climate studies

ACEseq – allele specific copy number estimation from whole genome sequencing

ACEseq is a computational tool for allele-specific copy number estimation in tumor genomes based on whole genome sequencing. In contrast to other tools it features GC-bias correction, unique replication timing-bias correction and integration of structural variant (SV) breakpoints for improved genome segmentation. ACEseq clearly outperforms widely used state-of-the art methods, provides a fully automated estimation of tumor cell content and ploidy, and additionally computes homologous recombination deficiency scores.</jats:p