2-Amino-4-aryl-5-oxo-4,5-dihydropyrano[3,2-c]chromene-3-carbonitriles with Microtubule-Disruptive, Centrosome-Declustering, and Antiangiogenic Effects in vitro and in vivo

A series of fifteen 2‐amino‐4‐aryl‐5‐oxo‐4,5‐dihydropyrano[3,2‐c]chromene‐3‐carbonitriles (1 a–o) were synthesized via a three‐component reaction of 4‐hydroxycoumarin, malononitrile, and diversely substituted benzaldehydes or pyridine carbaldehydes. The compounds were tested for anticancer activities against a panel of eight human tumor cell lines. A few derivatives with high antiproliferative activities and different cancer cell specificity were identified and investigated for their modes of action. They led to microtubule disruption, centrosome de‐clustering and G2/M cell cycle arrest in 518 A2 melanoma cells. They also showed anti‐angiogenic effects in vitro and in vivo

Fluid flow and heat transfer in an axially rotating pipe. 2, Effect of rotation on laminar pipe flow

The effects of tube rotation on the velocity and temperature distribution, on the friction coefficient and on the heat transfer to a fluid flowing laminar inside a tube are examined by analysis. It is demonstrated that the rotation has a destabilizing effect on a laminar pipe flow, which changes to turbulent flow. Free convection vortices, that occur, if the pipe wall is heated, disappear with a growing rotation velocity of tbe tube. For that purpose a perturbation calculation is performed. By the results of this calculation the disappearance of the free convection vortices is demonstrated evidently.Der Einfluß der Rotation auf Geschwindigkeits- und Temperaturprofile, Reibungsbeiwert und Wärmeübergangszahl einer laminaren Rohrströmung wird theoretisch untersucht. Es wird gezeigt, daß die Rotation eine destabilisierende Wirkung auf die laminare Strömung ausübt, die aufgrund der Rotation umschlägt und turbulent wird. Die durch die Beheizung der Rohrwand aufiretenden natürlichen Konvektionzellen verschwinden jedoch mit einer zunehmenden Drehzahl des Rohres. Hierzu wird eine Störungsrechnung durchgeführt, mit deren Ergebnissen das Verschwinden der Konvektionszellen sehr anschaulich gezeigt werden kann

Upgrade of the ultracold neutron source at the pulsed reactor TRIGA Mainz

The performance of the upgraded solid deuterium ultracold neutron source at the pulsed reactor TRIGA Mainz is described. The current configuration stage comprises the installation of a He liquefier to run UCN experiments over long-term periods, the use of stainless steel neutron guides with improved transmission as well as sputter-coated non-magnetic $^{58}$NiMo alloy at the inside walls of the thermal bridge and the converter cup. The UCN yield was measured in a `standard' UCN storage bottle (stainless steel) with a volume of 32 litres outside the biological shield at the experimental area yielding UCN densities of 8.5 /cm$^3$; an increase by a factor of 3.5 compared to the former setup. The measured UCN storage curve is in good agreement with the predictions from a Monte Carlo simulation developed to model the source. The growth and formation of the solid deuterium converter during freeze-out are affected by the ortho/para ratio of the H$_2$ premoderator.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

High field superconducting properties of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 thin films

The film investigated grew phase-pure and highly textured with in-plane and out-of-plane full width at half maximum, FWHM, of = 0.74° and = 0.9°, Suppl. S1. The sample, however, does contain a large density of ab-planar defects, as revealed by transition electron microscope (TEM) images of focused ion beam (FIB) cuts near the microbridges, Fig. 1. These defects are presumably stacking faults (i.e. missing FeAs layers)20. The reason for this defect formation (also observed on technical substrates)21 is not fully understood. Possible reasons are a partial As loss during deposition22, and relaxation processes in combination with the Fe buffer layer23. Estimating the distance between these intergrowths leads to values varying between 5 and 10 nm. Between the planar defects, an orientation contrast is visible in TEM (inset Fig. 1b), i.e. the brighter crystallites are slightly rotated either around (010) (out-of-plane spread, ) or around (001) (in-plane spread, ) and enclosed by dislocation networks or small-angle GBs. Since the crystallites are sandwiched between planar defects, an in-plane misorientation is most likely. The out-of-plane misorientation, on the other hand, is visible as a slight tilt of the ab-planar defects with respect to each other, especially in the upper part of the sample. No globular or columnar precipitates were found

First implementation of a new cross-disciplinary observation strategy for heavy precipitation events from formation to flooding

Heavy Precipitation Events (HPE) are the result of enormous quantities of water vapor being transported to a limited area. HPE rainfall rates and volumes cannot be fully stored on and below the land surface, often leading to floods with short forecast lead times that may cause damage to humans, properties, and infrastructure. Toward an improved scientific understanding of the entire process chain from HPE formation to flooding at the catchment scale, we propose an elaborated event-triggered observation concept. It combines flexible mobile observing systems out of the fields of meteorology, hydrology and geophysics with stationary networks to capture atmospheric transport processes, heterogeneous precipitation patterns, land surface and subsurface storage processes, and runoff dynamics. As part of the Helmholtz Research Infrastructure MOSES (Modular Observation Solutions for Earth Systems), the effectiveness of our observation strategy is illustrated by its initial implementation in the Mueglitz river basin (210 km$^2$), a headwater catchment of the Elbe in the Eastern Ore Mountains with historical and recent extreme flood events. Punctual radiosonde observations combined with continuous microwave radiometer measurements and back trajectory calculations deliver information about the moisture sources, and initiation and development of HPE. X-band radar observations calibrated by ground-based disdrometers and rain gauges deliver precipitation information with high spatial resolution. Runoff measurements in small sub-catchments complement the discharge time series of the operational network of gauging stations. Closing the catchment water balance at the HPE scale, however, is still challenging. While evapotranspiration is of less importance when studying short-term convective HPE, information on the spatial distribution and on temporal variations of soil moisture and total water storage by stationary and roving cosmic ray measurements and by hybrid terrestrial gravimetry offer prospects for improved quantification of the storage term of the water balance equation. Overall, the cross-disciplinary observation strategy presented here opens up new ways toward an integrative and scale-bridging understanding of event dynamics

Biodiversity promotes ecosystem functioning despite environmental change

Three decades of research have demonstrated that biodiversity can promote the functioning of ecosystems. Yet, it is unclear whether the positive effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning will persist under various types of global environmental change drivers. We conducted a meta-analysis of 46 factorial experiments manipulating both species richness and the environment to test how global change drivers (i.e. warming, drought, nutrient addition or CO2 enrichment) modulated the effect of biodiversity on multiple ecosystem functions across three taxonomic groups (microbes, phytoplankton and plants). We found that biodiversity increased ecosystem functioning in both ambient and manipulated environments, but often not to the same degree. In particular, biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning were larger in stressful environments induced by global change drivers, indicating that high-diversity communities were more resistant to environmental change. Using a subset of studies, we also found that the positive effects of biodiversity were mainly driven by interspecific complementarity and that these effects increased over time in both ambient and manipulated environments. Our findings support biodiversity conservation as a key strategy for sustainable ecosystem management in the face of global environmental change