Insect oral secretions suppress wound-induced responses in Arabidopsis

The induction of plant defences and their subsequent suppression by insects is thought to be an important factor in the evolutionary arms race between plants and herbivores. Although insect oral secretions (OS) contain elicitors that trigger plant immunity, little is known about the suppressors of plant defences. The Arabidopsis thaliana transcriptome was analysed in response to wounding and OS treatment. The expression of several wound-inducible genes was suppressed after the application of OS from two lepidopteran herbivores, Pieris brassicae and Spodoptera littoralis. This inhibition was correlated with enhanced S. littoralis larval growth, pointing to an effective role of insect OS in suppressing plant defences. Two genes, an ERF/AP2 transcription factor and a proteinase inhibitor, were then studied in more detail. OS-induced suppression lasted for at least 48 h, was independent of the jasmonate or salicylate pathways, and was not due to known elicitors. Interestingly, insect OS attenuated leaf water loss, suggesting that insects have evolved mechanisms to interfere with the induction of water-stress-related defences

Digitalisierung beruflicher Lern- und Arbeitsprozesse. Impulse aus der Bauwirtschaft und anderen gewerblich-technischen Sektoren

Der Sammelband stellt aktuelle Ansätze zum digital unterstützten beruflichen Lernen dar. Die Beiträge geben Einblicke in die dynamische Entwicklung der Schnittstellen von Erwerbsarbeit und beruflicher Aus-, Fort- und Weiterbildung im Kontext der Digitalisierung Arbeits- und Lernmitteln. Der Band schließt damit an die 2019 ebenfalls im Universitätsverlag der Technischen Universität Berlin erschienene Publikation „Berufsbildung am Bau digital“ (hrsg. von Bernd Mahrin und Johannes Meyser) an. Das erste Kapitel erörtert grundsätzliche didaktische Fragen zu digital unterstütztem Lernen und Arbeiten einschließlich der Rahmenbedingungen. Im zweiten Kapitel schließen sich Beiträge zur Kapazitätsentwicklung, zu Standards und zu digitalen Werkzeugen an. Das dritte Kapitel widmet sich konkreten Einzellösungen mit starkem Praxisbezug und hohem Transferpotenzial zum digitalisierten Arbeiten und Lernen im Bausektor und im Metallbereich. Das abschließende vierte Kapitel präsentiert übergreifend nutzbare und frei zugängliche Online-Angebote wie einen Medienpool für Bildungszwecke, eine Lernmedien-Datenbank und ein hybrides Lernsystem mit virtuellem 3D-Gebäudemodell. Das Buch ist entstanden im Rahmen des durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung und den Europäischen Sozialfonds geförderten Projektes DigiBAU – Digitales Bauberufliches Lernen und Arbeiten. (DIPF/Orig.)The anthology presents current approaches to digitally supported professional learning. The articles provide insights into the dynamic development of the interfaces between gainful employment and vocational training and further education in the context of digitization of work and learning aids. The volume is thus connected to the publication “Berufsbildung am Bau digital” (edited by Bernd Mahrin and Johannes Meyser), which was published in 2019 by the University Press of the Technische Universität Berlin. The first chapter discusses fundamental didactic questions about digitally supported learning and working, including the framework conditions. The second chapter picks contributions on capacity development, standards, and digital tools out as central themes. The third chapter is dedicated to concrete specific solutions with strong practical relevance and high transfer potential for digitized work and learning in the construction sector and in the metal sector. The final fourth chapter presents comprehensive and freely accessible online offers such as a media pool for educational purposes, a learning media database and a hybrid learning system with a virtual 3D building model. The book was created as part of the DigiBAU project - digital vocational learning and working in the field of construction - funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the European Social Fund. (DIPF/Orig.

Since 2015 the SinoGerman research project SIGN supports water quality improvement in the Taihu region, China

The Taihu (Tai lake) region is one of the most economically prospering areas of China. Due to its location within this district of high anthropogenic activities, Taihu represents a drastic example of water pollution with nutrients (nitrogen, phosphate), organic contaminants and heavy metals. High nutrient levels combined with very shallow water create large eutrophication problems, threatening the drinking water supply of the surrounding cities. Within the international research project SIGN (SinoGerman Water Supply Network, www.water-sign.de), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), a powerful consortium of fifteen German partners is working on the overall aim of assuring good water quality from the source to the tap by taking the whole water cycle into account: The diverse research topics range from future proof strategies for urban catchment, innovative monitoring and early warning approaches for lake and drinking water, control and use of biological degradation processes, efficient water treatment technologies, adapted water distribution up to promoting sector policy by good governance. The implementation in China is warranted, since the leading Chinese research institutes as well as the most important local stakeholders, e.g. water suppliers, are involved

The Priority position paper: protecting Europe's food chain from prions

International audienceBovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) created a global European crisis in the 1980s and 90s, with very serious health and economic implications. Classical BSE now appears to be under control, to a great extent as a result of a global research effort that identified the sources of prions in meat and bone meal (MBM) and developed new animal-testing tools that guided policy. Priority ( www.prionpriority.eu ) was a European Union (EU) Framework Program 7 (FP7)-funded project through which 21 European research institutions and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) joined efforts between 2009 and 2014, to conduct coordinated basic and applied research on prions and prion diseases. At the end of the project, the Priority consortium drafted a position paper ( www.prionpriority.eu/Priority position paper) with its main conclusions. In the present opinion paper, we summarize these conclusions. With respect to the issue of re-introducing ruminant protein into the feed-chain, our opinion is that sustaining an absolute ban on feeding ruminant protein to ruminants is essential. In particular, the spread and impact of non-classical forms of scrapie and BSE in ruminants is not fully understood and the risks cannot be estimated. Atypical prion agents will probably continue to represent the dominant form of prion diseases in the near future in Europe. Atypical L-type BSE has clear zoonotic potential, as demonstrated in experimental models. Similarly, there are now data indicating that the atypical scrapie agent can cross various species barriers. More epidemiological data from large cohorts are necessary to reach any conclusion on the impact of its transmissibility on public health. Re-evaluations of safety precautions may become necessary depending on the outcome of these studies. Intensified searching for molecular determinants of the species barrier is recommended, since this barrier is key for important policy areas and risk assessment. Understanding the structural basis for strains and the basis for adaptation of a strain to a new host will require continued fundamental research, also needed to understand mechanisms of prion transmission, replication and how they cause nervous system dysfunction and death. Early detection of prion infection, ideally at a preclinical stage, also remains crucial for development of effective treatment strategies

The Effect of Stimulus Size on Human Cortical Potentials Evoked by Chromatic Patterns

AbstractThe effect of stimulus size on the pattern onset-offset visual evoked potential elicited with stimuli of two different wavelengths is studied under intensive yellow adaptation: (1) The onset response obtained with a 460 nm pattern is of negative polarity (N1) and saturates in amplitude with a stimulus radius of 7 deg. The onset response obtained with a 550 nm pattern is of positive polarity and continues to increase up to the maximum size (32.2 deg). (2) The peak time of N1 (460 nm) decreases with increasing stimulus size, that of P1 (550 nm) remains constant. These results are discussed as reflecting either varying retinal and brain anatomy, or cone activity, color-opponent activity, or luminance contrast activity. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

RF Heat Load Compensation for the European XFEL

The European XFEL is a 3.4km long X-ray Free Elec-tron Laser. The accelerating structure consists of 96 cryo modules running at 1.3 GHz with 10 Hz repetition rate. The injector adds two modules running at 1.3 and 3.9 GHz respectively. The cryo modules are operated at 2 Kelvin. Cold compressors (CCs) pump down the Helium vapour to 30 mbar which corresponds to 2 Kelvin. Stable conditions in the cryogenic system are mandatory for successful accelerator operations. Pressure fluctuations at 2 K may cause detuning of cavities and could result in unstable CC operations. The RF losses in the cavities may be compensated by reducing the heater power in the liquid Helium baths of the nine cryogenic strings. This requires a stable readout of the current RF settings. The detailed signals are read out from several severs in the accelerator control system and then computed in the cryogenic control system for heater compensation. This paper will describe the commissioning on the cryogenic control system, the communication between the control systems involved and first results of machine operations with the heat loss compensation in place

Design of the Control System for the Cryogenic Distribution System of European XFEL Project

In order to produce pulsed electron beam with the energy of 17.5 GeV, the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) linear accelerator is under construction. The XFEL accelerator will contain the linear accelerator (linac) and the injector. The XFEL cryogenic distribution system supplies the linac and the injector with cooling helium. The cryogenic supply of the linac is separated in parallel cryogenic sections called ‘strings’.Operation of the XFEL cryogenic distribution system is under the process control system for Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS). A complementary component of EPICS is the Open Source software suit CSS (Control System Studio) providing an integrated engineering, maintenance and operating tools for EPICS as well as human machine interface. Cryogenic instrumentation used for operation and diagnostic is connected to PROFIBUS. More than 300 PROFIBUS nodes control the XFEL cryogenic system. DESY introduced the monitoring system based on Field Device Tool (FDT). FDT framework contains Data Tool Management (DTM) applications to examine the correct installation and configuration of all PROFIBUS nodes in real time.This paper describes the control system for the XFEL cryogenic distribution system including all steps from engineering to the pre-service tests