Simulation of Reservoir Siltation with a Process-based Soil Loss and Deposition Model

Soil erosion on arable land is the key driver of reservoir siltation in the German loess belt. In this regard, the Baderitz Reservoir suffers from deleterious sediment inputs and resulting siltation processes. In order to estimate the reservoir lifespan, the event-based soil erosion and deposition model EROSION 3D was applied. Simulations of sediment input and sediment deposition processes within the reservoir were realized using a typical crop rotation and a normal heavy rainfall year of the region. Model parameterization was enabled by existing data based on a large number of artificial rainfall simulations. Yearly soil losses of approximately 12 t/ha correspond to sediment inputs of nearly 8800 t. The mean annual increase of the reservoir bottom of 9 cm causes a 13% loss of reservoir storage in only 10 years. The model results are plausible and could be used for planning and dimensioning of mitigation measures

Constanze Deutsch - Oberwasser: 28. März bis 30. Mai 2012

Ausstellung kuratiert von Johannes SchmidtDie Ausstellungsbroschüren des „Projektraum am Weißen Hirsch. Galerie Grafikladen“ dokumentieren die Ausstellungstätigkeit eines nicht institutionellen Ausstellungsraumes in Dresden zwischen 2010 und 2016. Die Galerie widmete sich dem Werk zeitgenössischer junger Künstler, vorwiegend Meisterschüler und Absolventen, die in der Regel einen biografischen Bezug zu Dresden haben. Das Ausstellungskonzept war offen für die verschiedensten künstlerischen Ausdrucksformen – von Malerei über Fotografie bis zu performativen Ansätzen. Jährlich fanden vier bis fünf, von wechselnden Kuratoren entwickelte Ausstellungen statt. Im August 2016 eröffnete die vorerst letzte Ausstellung.© bei den Rechteinhabern, Lizenz: Zugang frei – Rechte vorbehalten. Bitte beachten Sie unsere Hinweise zum Urheberrecht

Biogeochemical potential of biomass pyrolysis systems for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C

Negative emission (NE) technologies are recognized to play an increasingly relevant role in strategies limiting mean global warming to 1.5 °C as specified in the Paris Agreement. The potentially significant contribution of pyrogenic carbon capture and storage (PyCCS) is, however, highly underrepresented in the discussion. In this study, we conduct the first quantitative assessment of the global potential of PyCCS as a NE technology based on biomass plantations. Using a process-based biosphere model, we calculate the land use change required to reach specific climate mitigation goals while observing biodiversity protection guardrails. We consider NE targets of 100–300 GtC following socioeconomic pathways consistent with a mean global warming of 1.5 °C as well as the option of additional carbon balancing required in case of failure or delay of decarbonization measures. The technological opportunities of PyCCS are represented by three tracks accounting for the sequestration of different pyrolysis products: biochar (as soil amendment), bio-oil (pumped into geological storages) and permanent-pyrogas (capture and storage of CO2 from gas combustion). In addition, we analyse how the gain in land induced by biochar-mediated yield increases on tropical cropland may reduce the pressure on land. Our results show that meeting the 1.5 °C goal through mitigation strategies including large-scale NE with plantation-based PyCCS may require conversion of natural vegetation to biomass plantations in the order of 133–3280 Mha globally, depending on the applied technology and the NE demand. Advancing towards additional bio-oil sequestration reduces land demand considerably by potentially up to 60%, while the benefits from yield increases account for another 3%–38% reduction (equalling 82–362 Mha). However, when mitigation commitments are increased by high balancing claims, even the most advanced PyCCS technologies and biochar-mediated co-benefits cannot compensate for delayed action towards phasing-out fossil fuels.Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung 10.13039/501100002347Peer Reviewe

SARS-CoV-2 in Pediatric Inpatient Care: Management, Clinical Presentation and Utilization of Healthcare Capacity

This study scrutinizes management and clinical presentation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in pediatric inpatient care and evaluates the utilization of pediatric healthcare capacity during the pandemic. Within this retrospective cohort study, we systematically reviewed data of all 16,785 pediatric patients (<18 years admitted to our clinical center between January 2018 and June 2021). Data on SARS-CoV-2 test numbers, hospital admissions and clinical characteristics of infected patients were collected. Since January 2020, a total of 2513 SARS-CoV-2 tests were performed. In total, 36 patients had a positive test result. In total, 25 out of 36 SARS-CoV-2 positive children showed at least mild clinical symptoms while 11 were asymptomatic. Most common clinical symptoms were fever (60%), cough (60%) and rhinitis (20%). In parallel with the rising slope of SARS-CoV-2 in spring and fall 2020, we observed a slight decrease in the number of patients admitted to the pediatric department while the median duration of hospital treatment and intensive care occupancy remained unchanged. This study underlines that SARS-CoV-2 infected children most frequently exhibit an asymptomatic or mild clinical course. Noteworthy, the number of hospital admissions went down during the pandemic. The health and economic consequences need to be discussed within health care society and politics

Separating Fusion from Rivalry

Visual fusion is the process in which differing but compatible binocular information is transformed into a unified percept. Even though this is at the basis of binocular vision, the underlying neural processes are, as yet, poorly understood. In our study we therefore aimed to investigate neural correlates of visual fusion. To this end, we presented binocularly compatible, fusible (BF),and incompatible, rivaling (BR) stimuli, as well as an intermediate stimulus type containing both binocularly fusible and monocular, incompatible elements (BFR). Comparing BFR stimuli with BF and BR stimuli, respectively, we were able to disentangle brain responses associated with either visual fusion or rivalry. By means of functional magnetic resonance imaging, we measured brain responses to these stimulus classes in the visual cortex, and investigated them in detail at various retinal eccentricities. Compared with BF stimuli, the response to BFR stimuli was elevated in visual cortical areas V1 and V2, but not in V3 and V4 - implying that the response to monocular stimulus features decreased from V1 to V4. Compared to BR stimuli, the response to BFR stimuli decreased with increasing eccentricity, specifically within V3 and V4. Taken together, it seems that although the processing of exclusively monocular information decreases from V1 to V4, the processing of binocularly fused information increases from earlier to later visual areas. Our findings suggest the presence of an inhibitory neural mechanism which, depending on the presence of fusion, acts differently on the processing of monocular information

Pyrogenic carbon capture and storage

The growth of biomass is considered the most efficient method currently available to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, biomass carbon is easily degraded by microorganisms releasing it in the form of greenhouse gases back to the atmosphere. If biomass is pyrolyzed, the organic carbon is converted into solid (biochar), liquid (bio-oil), and gaseous (permanent pyrogas) carbonaceous products. During the last decade, biochar has been discussed as a promising option to improve soil fertility and sequester carbon, although the carbon efficiency of the thermal conversion of biomass into biochar is in the range of 30%–50% only. So far, the liquid and gaseous pyrolysis products were mainly considered for combustion, though they can equally be processed into recalcitrant forms suitable for carbon sequestration. In this review, we show that pyrolytic carbon capture and storage (PyCCS) can aspire for carbon sequestration efficiencies of >70%, which is shown to be an important threshold to allow PyCCS to become a relevant negative emission technology. Prolonged residence times of pyrogenic carbon can be generated (a) within the terrestrial biosphere including the agricultural use of biochar; (b) within advanced bio-based materials as long as they are not oxidized (biochar, bio-oil); and (c) within suitable geological deposits (bio-oil and CO 2 from permanent pyrogas oxidation). While pathway (c) would need major carbon taxes or similar governmental incentives to become a realistic option, pathways (a) and (b) create added economic value and could at least partly be implemented without other financial incentives. Pyrolysis technology is already well established, biochar sequestration and bio-oil sequestration in soils, respectively biomaterials, do not present ecological hazards, and global scale-up appears feasible within a time frame of 10–30 years. Thus, PyCCS could evolve into a decisive tool for global carbon governance, serving climate change mitigation and the sustainable development goals simultaneously. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Lt

ISSN-Matching of Gold OA Journals (ISSN-GOLD-OA) 3.0

Bruns A, Lenke C, Schmidt C, Taubert NC. ISSN-Matching of Gold OA Journals (ISSN-GOLD-OA) 3.0. Bielefeld University; 2019

Identification of amino acid determinants in CYP4B1 for optimal catalytic processing of 4-ipomeanol.

Mammalian CYP4B1 enzymes are cytochrome P450 mono-oxygenases that are responsible for the bioactivation of several exogenous pro-toxins including 4-ipomeanol (4-IPO). In contrast with the orthologous rabbit enzyme, we show here that native human CYP4B1 with a serine residue at position 427 is unable to bioactivate 4-IPO and does not cause cytotoxicity in HepG2 cells and primary human T-cells that overexpress these enzymes. We also demonstrate that a proline residue in the meander region at position 427 in human CYP4B1 and 422 in rabbit CYP4B1 is important for protein stability and rescues the 4-IPO bioactivation of the human enzyme, but is not essential for the catalytic activity of the rabbit CYP4B1 protein. Systematic substitution of native and p.S427P human CYP4B1 with peptide regions from the highly active rabbit enzyme reveals that 18 amino acids in the wild-type rabbit CYP4B1 protein are key for conferring high 4-IPO metabolizing activity. Introduction of 12 of the 18 amino acids that are also present at corresponding positions in other human CYP4 family members into the p.S427P human CYP4B1 protein results in a mutant human enzyme (P+12) that is as stable and as active as the rabbit wild-type CYP4B1 protein. These 12 mutations cluster in the predicted B-C loop through F-helix regions and reveal new amino acid regions important to P450 enzyme stability. Finally, by minimally re-engineering the human CYP4B1 enzyme for efficient activation of 4-IPO, we have developed a novel human suicide gene system that is a candidate for adoptive cellular therapies in humans

Neue Urbane Produktion : ein Wegweiser für das Bergische Städtedreieck

Regionale Produkte sind im Trend. Kreative Manufakturen, offene Werkstätten und moderne Fertigungsmethoden verhelfen dem Handwerk in der Stadt zu einer Renaissance. Was ist daran eigentlich das Neue? Und warum schlummert darin so ein großes Potenzial für einen nachhaltigen Wohlstand und für lebenswerte Quartiere? Knapp drei Jahre beforschte, förderte und vernetzte ein Projektteam aus Utopiastadt, dem Wuppertal Institut und dem transzent die Pioniere einer neuen Produktivität in der Region. Nun ist es an der Zeit, Bilanz zu ziehen - und nach vorne zu schauen, wo am Horizont die Visionen einer lebenswerten und produktiven Stadt von Morgen greifbar werden. Der vorliegende Wegweiser ist die Essenz aus drei Jahren Forschung, Praxis und Dialog. Er weist eine neue Richtung für die Region und ihre gestaltenden Akteure. Ob Wirtschaftsförderung, Stadtverwaltung, Zivilgesellschaft, Gründerszene, Unternehmen oder Wissenschaft: Wir laden dazu ein, den Weg gemeinsam zu beschreiten