The formation of non-condensable gases in ammonia/ water absorption heat pumps made of stainless steel - literature review and experimental investigation

Part of: Thermally driven heat pumps for heating and cooling. – Ed.: Annett Kühn – Berlin: Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin, 2013 ISBN 978-3-7983-2686-6 (print) ISBN 978-3-7983-2596-8 (online) urn:nbn:de:kobv:83-opus4-39458 [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:83-opus4-39458]Highly efficient ammonia/water absorption heat pumping (AHP) processes (e.g. the GAX-process) require a high desorption temperature level of e.g. 200°C and above. At these conditions the formation of non-condensable gases can take place, which can be dedicated to two chemical processes: corrosion of steel and thermal decomposition of ammonia. Within a research project the possible use of stainless steel components at high temperature level has been investigated. Tests with an absorption/desorption test rig operating at temperatures up to 290°C as well as corrosion tests using autoclaves at temperatures up to 220°C have been performed. The produced non-condensable gas has been analysed using gas-phase chromatography in order to identify the responsible chemical process. The results show a large initial corrosion rate which decreases with time. This may be explained by a passivation process of the steel surface. At all tests the carbon steel (ST37) autoclaves has shown significant lower corrosion rates compared to the stainless steel components. Regarding the thermal decomposition no dissociation products has been detected up to a temperature level of 290°C

Ionic liquids as new absorbents for absorption chillers and heat pumps

Part of: Thermally driven heat pumps for heating and cooling. – Ed.: Annett Kühn – Berlin: Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin, 2013 ISBN 978-3-7983-2686-6 (print) ISBN 978-3-7983-2596-8 (online) urn:nbn:de:kobv:83-opus4-39458 [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:83-opus4-39458]In this paper, ionic liquids are proposed as new absorbents for absorption chillers and heat pumps. The theoretical and experimental based research of Technische Universität Berlin, Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research (ZAE Bayern) and Graz University of Technology is presented and test and simulation results are discussed. The results show the suitability and promising potential of ionic liquids as absorbents but the research organizations agree in the need of further effort in R&D

Designing Digital Self-Assessment and Feedback Tools as Mentoring Interventions in Higher Education

Higher education in Germany traditionally follows a one-size-fits-all paradigm. The ignorance of diverse students’ needs jeopardizes high-quality and equal educational opportunities for all. Digital technologies can provide economical solutions to individualize teaching and learning, even in large university classes. However, their design has to incorporate pedagogical theories, specific contextual requirements, and users’ needs (Laurillard, 2008). In this project contribution, we want to demonstrate our approach to this challenge. We briefly describe how we connected the pedagogical concept of mentoring to theories of self-regulated learning and used this as a framework for developing formative assessment and automated feedback tools as digital mentoring interventions. The mentoring nterventions aim at facilitating self-regulated learning, especially self-monitoring and strategy-adaption. We present three different implementations in structured and illstructured domains and the key results of a qualitative evaluation survey. [Aus: Introduction

Gene expression profile of bladder tissue of patients with ulcerative interstitial cystitis

BACKGROUND: Interstitial cystitis (IC), a chronic bladder disease with an increasing incidence, is diagnosed using subjective symptoms in combination with cystoscopic and histological evidence. By cystoscopic examination, IC can be classified into an ulcerative and a non-ulcerative subtype. To better understand this debilitating disease on a molecular level, a comparative gene expression profile of bladder biopsies from patients with ulcerative IC and control patients has been performed. RESULTS: Gene expression profiles from bladder biopsies of five patients with ulcerative IC and six control patients were generated using Affymetrix GeneChip expression arrays (Affymetrix--GeneChip Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0). More than 31,000 of > 54,000 tested probe sets were present (detection p-value < 0.05). The difference between the two groups was significant for over 3,500 signals (t-test p-value < 0.01), and approximately 2,000 of the signals (corresponding to approximately 1,000 genes) showed an IC-to-healthy expression ratio greater than two. The IC pattern had similarities to patterns from immune system, lymphatic, and autoimmune diseases. The dominant biological processes were the immune and inflammatory responses. Many of the up-regulated genes were expressed in leukocytes, suggesting that leukocyte invasion into the bladder wall is a dominant feature of ulcerative IC. Histopathological data supported these findings. CONCLUSION: GeneChip expression arrays present a global picture of ulcerative IC and provide us with a series of marker genes characteristic for this subtype of the disease. Evaluation of biopsies from other bladder patients with similar symptoms (e.g. patients with non-ulcerative IC) will further indicate whether the data presented here will be valuable for the diagnosis of IC

Soziale Milieus und Weiterbildung: Beiträge zur Fachtagung "Zur Relativitätstheorie des Bildungsverhaltens - Soziale Milieus, Bedürfnisse und Weiterbildungsmotivation" vom 5. Juni 2013 in Wien

Die Tagung "Zur Relativitätstheorie des Bildungsverhaltens - Soziale Milieus, Bedürfnisse und Weiterbildungsmotivation", die am 5. Juni 2013 im Kardinal König Haus in Wien stattfand, hatte zum Ziel, die Abhängigkeit von Weiterbildungsmotivation und Weiterbildungsverhalten von der Lebenswelt der Menschen her zu verdeutlichen und zu diskutieren. Gleichzeitig wurde der Fokus auf benachteiligte Zielgruppen gelegt, und ebenso wurden Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, wie Weiterbildungsangebote entwickelt werden können, um den Bedürfnissen der jeweiligen Zielgruppe gerecht zu werden Der vorliegende AMS report enthält die erweiterten Versionen ausgewählter Vorträge, die anlässlich dieser Tagung gehalten wurden. Die Veranstalter der Tagung, die Caritas Österreich, die Abt. Arbeitsmarktforschung und Berufsinformation des AMS Österreich sowie das sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungsinstitut abif - Analyse, Beratung und interdisziplinäre Forschung, hoffen, Ihnen mit diesem AMS report eine interessante und anregende Lektüre vorlegen zu können

Replication protein A safeguards genome integrity by controlling NER incision events

Continued association of RPA with sites of incomplete nucleotide excision repair averts further incision events until repair is completed

Virtual reality stimulation to reduce the incidence of delirium in critically ill patients: study protocol for a randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND Delirium has been long considered as a major contributor to cognitive impairments and increased mortality following a critical illness. Pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic strategies are used against delirium in the intensive care unit (ICU), despite these strategies remaining controversial. Previous studies have shown the feasibility of using virtual reality within the ICU setting, and we propose to use this technology to investigate the effect of immersive virtual reality stimulation on the incidence of delirium in the ICU. Moreover, we propose to use motion sensors to determine if patient movement patterns can lead to early prediction of delirium onset. METHODS This study is conducted as a randomized clinical trial. A total of 920 critically ill patients in the ICU will participate. The control group will receive standard ICU care, whereas the intervention group will, in addition to the standard ICU care, receive relaxing 360-degree immersive virtual reality content played inside a head-mounted display with noise-cancelling headphones, three times a day. The first 100 patients, regardless of their group, will additionally have their movement patterns recorded using wearable and ambient sensors. Follow-up measurements will take place 6 months after discharge from the ICU. DISCUSSION Delirium is widely present within the ICU setting but lacks validated prevention and treatment strategies. By providing patients with virtual reality stimulation presented inside a head-mounted display and noise-cancelling headphones, participants may be isolated from disturbances on an ICU. It is believed that by doing so, the incidence of delirium will be decrease among these patients. Moreover, identifying movement patterns associated with delirium would allow for early detection and intervention, which may further improve long-term negative outcomes associated with delirium during critical care. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04498585 . Registered on August 3, 2020

cAMP-dependent regulation of HCN4 controls the tonic entrainment process in sinoatrial node pacemaker cells

It is highly debated how cyclic adenosine monophosphate-dependent regulation (CDR) of the major pacemaker channel HCN4 in the sinoatrial node (SAN) is involved in heart rate regulation by the autonomic nervous system. We addressed this question using a knockin mouse line expressing cyclic adenosine monophosphate-insensitive HCN4 channels. This mouse line displayed a complex cardiac phenotype characterized by sinus dysrhythmia, severe sinus bradycardia, sinus pauses and chronotropic incompetence. Furthermore, the absence of CDR leads to inappropriately enhanced heart rate responses of the SAN to vagal nerve activity in vivo. The mechanism underlying these symptoms can be explained by the presence of nonfiring pacemaker cells. We provide evidence that a tonic and mutual interaction process (tonic entrainment) between firing and nonfiring cells slows down the overall rhythm of the SAN. Most importantly, we show that the proportion of firing cells can be increased by CDR of HCN4 to efficiently oppose enhanced responses to vagal activity. In conclusion, we provide evidence for a novel role of CDR of HCN4 for the central pacemaker process in the sinoatrial node