ADEPT2 - Next Generation Process Management Technology

If current process management systems shall be applied to a broad spectrum of applications, they will have to be significantly improved with respect to their technological capabilities. In particular, in dynamic environments it must be possible to quickly implement and deploy new processes, to enable ad-hoc modifications of single process instances at runtime (e.g., to add, delete or shift process steps), and to support process schema evolution with instance migration, i.e., to propagate process schema changes to already running instances. These requirements must be met without affecting process consistency and by preserving the robustness of the process management system. In this paper we describe how these challenges have been addressed and solved in the ADEPT2 Process Management System. Our overall vision is to provide a next generation process management technology which can be used in a variety of application domains

Prolonged Graft Survival in Older Recipient Mice Is Determined by Impaired Effector T-Cell but Intact Regulatory T-Cell Responses

Elderly organ transplant recipients represent a fast growing segment of patients on the waiting list. We examined age-dependent CD4+ T-cell functions in a wild-type (WT) and a transgenic mouse transplant model and analyzed the suppressive function of old regulatory T-cells. We found that splenocytes of naïve old B6 mice contained significantly higher frequencies of T-cells with an effector/memory phenotype (CD4+CD44highCD62Llow). However, in-vitro proliferation (MLR) and IFNγ-production (ELISPOT) were markedly reduced with increasing age. Likewise, skin graft rejection was significantly delayed in older recipients and fewer graft infiltrating CD4+T-cells were observed. Old CD4+ T-cells demonstrated a significant impaired responsiveness as indicated by diminished proliferation and activation. In contrast, old alloantigen-specific CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ T-cells demonstrated a dose-dependent well-preserved suppressor function. Next, we examined characteristics of 18-month old alloreactive T-cells in a transgenic adoptive transfer model. Adoptively transferred old T-cells proliferated significantly less in response to antigen. Skin graft rejection was significantly delayed in older recipients, and graft infiltrating cells were reduced. In summary, advanced recipient age was associated with delayed acute rejection and impaired CD4+ T-cell function and proliferation while CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ T-cells (Tregs) showed a well-preserved function

Evaluierung der Perspektiven der Ölmühlenverfahrenstechnik mit den Schwerpunkten Energiebedarf und Emissionsvermeidung

The perspectives of oil milling technology have been evaluated with respect to the minimization of energy demand and emission rates (CO2-, hexane). Based on the computer modelling of the current oil milling process, steps like dehulling and extrusion are introduced in the process line. Characteristical data like energy consumption divided in electric and thermal energy, CO2-equivalent-emission, hexane-emission of various process lines have been computed. An optimization of heat flow has been performed with reference to the pinch technology. The energy demand of an oil mill, which process dehulled rape seeds could be generated by the thermal utilization of the hulls. In comparison to existing plants a reduction in process energy demand of 20 % can be predicted for the optimized oil milling process. Because of the energy generation using the hulls the CO2-emission is changed drastically. Existing plants emit 237 kg CO2-equivalent-emission per ton oil because of the consumption fossil ene rgy resources. Whereas the optimized plant could produce more electric and thermal energy as it needs. Therefore assuming new energy generation process negative value of 262 kg CO2-equivalent could be computed