A technomorphic conceptualisation of biological ‘constructions’ and their evolution

Here, we build on earlier work concerning notions of engineering design and investigate their conceptual connection to evolutionary biology. The basis for this work is an engineering design schema covering the central concepts of function, working principle and construction. Its relevance for evolutionary biology is explored by connecting these concepts to the so-called design space that is used in engineering optimisation. This tool makes it possible to distinguish various optima of performance and to visualise their robustness with respect to disturbances or changes in parameters. The robustness of morphological ‘constructions’ with regard to changes of shape is shown by means of examples from engineering and biology. The characteristics of various ‘landscapes’ in the design space is then related to the concept of evolvability, whereby we explore analogies between systems biology and morphology. A general property of phenotypes from the molecular to the organismal level seems to be that their ‘construction’ facilitates both their robustness and their exploration of the design space while maintaining the performance of the relevant functions at a high level

Silicon micro venturi nozzles for cost-efficient spray coating of thin organic P3HT/PCBM layers

Improvements on spray coating are of particular interest to different fields of technology as it is a scalable deposition method and processing from solutions offer various application possibilities outside of typical facilities. When it comes to the deposition of expensive and film-forming media such as organic semiconductors, consumption and nozzle cleaning issues are of particular importance. We demonstrate the simple steps to design and fabricate micro venturi nozzles for economical spray coating with a consumption as low as 30-50 µl centerdot min$^{-1}$. For spray coating an active area of 25 cm$^{2}$ a 2.45-4.01 fold coating efficiency is observed compared to a conventional airbrush nozzle set. The electrical characterization of first diodes sprayed with an active layer thickness of ~750 nm using a single micronozzle at a coating speed of 1.7 cm2 centerdot min−1 reveals a good external quantum efficiency of 72.9% at 532 nm and a dark current of ~7.4 centerdot 10$^{-5}$ mA centerdot cm$^{-2}$, both measured at  −2 V. Furthermore, the high resistance of the micronozzles against solvents and most acids is provided through realization in a silicon wafer with silicon dioxide encapsulation, therefore allowing easy and effective cleaning

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

Identification of the human CYS1 gene and candidate gene analysis in Boichis disease

Recessive mutations cause cystic kidney disease and a variable degree of biliary liver fibrosis in cpk mice. Recently, the responsible murine gene ( Cys1 ) was identified and expression in renal cilia demonstrated. Here we describe the cDNA cloning of the full-length coding region of the orthologous human CYS1 gene. CYS1 is located on Chromosome 2p25. The CYS1 genomic region comprises three coding exons, which span 22 kb. The transcript harbors an open reading frame of 477 nucleotides encoding a protein with 158 amino acid residues, which is called cystin. Northern analysis identified an expression pattern resembling that of murine Cys1 . We studied affected individuals of eight families with nephronophthisis and liver fibrosis for evidence of CYS1 mutations. All three coding exons were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and directly sequenced. Despite the failure to detect a mutation, the human cystin gene remains an interesting candidate for recessive cystic kidney disease.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42310/1/s00467-003-1141-1.pd

Wirklichkeit und Wirkung von Geschichte für die Idee einer deutschen Nationalsprache in den Sprachgesellschaften des 17. Jahrhunderts /

Mikrofiche-Ausg.: 1994. 3 Mikrofiches : 48x.Heidelberg, Universität, Diss., 1995