Developing Microsoft Word 2007 Add-On Applications

In 2007, Microsoft released a new version of MS Office that changed the file platform to a universal data format called Extensible Markup Language or XML. XML is meant to be simple, meaningful, and understood by all computer programs. Since Microsoft has moved its file format to XML, tremendous extendibility can be built by software professionals to link MS Office 2007 documents to data not held within the saved documents. This project tested the levels of interactive data between MS Word 2007 and several other XML data sources

Investigation and Optimization of Bio-oil From Fast Pyrolysis of Brassica Carinata Meal

Fast pyrolysis is one method of creating bio-oil from biomass such as lignin, prairie cordgrass, and other organic commercial and industrial byproducts. In this thesis, fast pyrolysis of Brassica carinata meal, or simply carinata meal, was performed in an auger-type reactor. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the differences in yield, calorific, rheological, and stability property differences between the bio-oils created at five reactor temperatures and two condenser temperatures. The viscosity, water content, energy content, and acidity of the oils were measured using a rheometer, Karl- Fisher titration, a bomb calorimeter, and a titrator, respectively. The aging of the bio-oil was investigated by reevaluating these properties at 1 day, 7 days, 14 days, 28 days, and 84 days after the oil was created. Two oils were created, stratifying upon collection to produce a low-viscosity bio-oil and a high-viscosity bio-oil. The high-viscosity bio-oil was determined to be the better product. It was found that any reactor temperatures above 500°C produce bio-oils of similar composition, although with changes in yield, while high viscosity bio-oil created at 450°C had higher energy contents than the other temperatures, with an average of 29 MJ/kg versus an average of 27 MJ/kg. Condenser temperature had a significant impact on oil properties, with lower condenser temperatures showing higher energy contents and lower viscosities. In addition, the aging results of the bio-oils tested have shown insignificant changes in TAN, water content, and energy content, while viscosity increased considerably. The best return, as characterized by the energy content per kilogram of processed biomass, is at the 600-40 reactor/condenser temperature with a return of 5.54 MJ/kg biomass input

Liquid sorption properties and structural changes of metal-organic frameworks of cobalt nitrate and 4,4\u27-bipyridine

Metal-organic frameworks consist of metal ions connected by organic ligands. When the metal ions and organic ligands link together in the right geometry, polymeric and infinite 1D chains or 2D and 3D networks are formed. Porous metal-organic frameworks were synthesized from the organic ligand 4,4′-bipyridine (bpy) and cobalt(II) nitrate. The metal-organic frameworks synthesized in this study grew into both a previously known 2D bilayer structure, [Co2(bpy)3(NO3)4]n, and a new, orange 1D chain structure, [Co(bpy)NO3)2(H2O)2]n, within ethanol. It was found that the presence of water was the main factor of causing formation of the orange 1D chain crystals. Drying the orange 1D chain crystals in an oven removed the solvent from the pores and the aqua ligands, but the sample retained its crystallinity and the 1D chain structure. Both the red bilayer and purple 1D chain crystals lost their single crystallinity when resolvated with water vapor. However, when the bilayer was dried and re-exposed to ethanol vapor, it returned to its original, as synthesized structure. Sorption studies were conducted on the red bilayer crystals using gas chromatograph measurements. It was found that the pores were selective to the solvents n-hexane and ethanol, primarily due to liquid guest molecule size

Ground State of Quantum Jahn-Teller Model: Selftrapping vs Correlated Phonon-assisted Tunneling

Ground state of the quantum Jahn-Teller model with broken rotational symmetry was investigated by the variational approach in two cases: a lattice and a local ones. Both cases differ by the way of accounting for the nonlinearity hidden in the reflection-symmetric Hamiltonian. In spite of that the ground state energy in both cases shows the same features: there appear two regions of model parameters governing the ground state: the region of dominating selftrapping modified by the quantum effects and the region of dominating phonon-assisted tunneling (antiselftrapping). In the local case (i) the effect of quantum fluctuations and anharmonicity due to the two-mode correlations is up to two orders larger than contributions due to the reflection effects of two-center wave function; (ii) the variational results for the ground state energy were compared with exact numerical results. The coincidence is the better the more far away from the transition region at the E$\otimes$e symmetry where the variational approach fails.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, published in Adv.in Quantum Chemistr

Geocaching History Challenge: Using High-Tech Toys to Learn History

Do you love local history? Do you love a good treasure hunt? Do you love high-tech gadgets? Put them together to get your library patrons out and about in your local area. Learn how the Ramsey County Library teamed up with the White Bear Lake Area Historical Society to teach about local historic sites using geocaches in this Legacy-funded program. Learn to play the high-tech game yourself using handheld GPS receivers or smartphones! Participants will go outside for the last half of the session so be prepared for the weather

Ansätze des Personalmanagements in Unternehmensnetzwerken

Die Entstehung von Unternehmensnetzwerken ist nicht nur mit Auswirkungen für die beteiligten Unternehmen, sondern auch für deren Beschäftigte verbunden. So führt diese Organisationsform ökonomischer Aktivitäten durch die unternehmensübergreifende Zusammenarbeit der Beteiligten zu veränderten Anforderungen und Rollen. Diesen veränderten Rahmenbedingungen hat das Personalmanagement in Unternehmensnetzwerken Rechnung zu tragen

Hypotheses about geoglyphs at Nasca, Peru: new discoveries

The known hypotheses about the reasons why the geoglyphs in the Nasca and Palpa region of Peru were created are many: roads/paths, rituals/ceremonials, use of hallucinogens, astronomical meaning, influence of extraterrestrials, underground water… and so on. We present a new hypothesis, formulated by J. Sonnek (first published in 2011) in the context of all previous hypotheses.1 Sonnek explains the geoglyphs as tidied work areas for the production of rope and nets, although he goes much further than Stierlin. This eccentric hypothesis now has not only experimental but also archaeological and ethnographical support, which is presented here. Geoglyphs of a special shape were discovered in the pampas; they may represent technical objects – different types of ‘rope twisters’. Following this idea, Sonnek made technical devices (using today’s materials) and tested them in practice; they work perfectly, see his YouTube videos.2 In November 2012, wooden pieces, which may be the remnants of ropemaking, were collected from the pampa near the towns of Nasca and Palpa, in vicinity of these hypothetic ropemaking places. Radiocarbon testing by 14C standardized radio-carbon age according to Stuiver-Polach convention and Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy (AMS) of these wood pieces shows the age to be in a wide range from Early Nasca to the 17th century (and to our epoch with a fake geoglyph, too), thus supporting (but surely not proving) the new hypothesis. Moreover, in the Quechua language, the word huasca, waskha (read: uasca) means a rope or cord or place where these are produced. This word is very similar to ‘nasca’

Nitroxolin als Inhibitor von Carbapenemasen der Metallo-β-Laktamase-Klasse

Durch weltweit zunehmende Resistenzen sind einige bakterielle Krankheitserreger gegen nahezu sämtliche verfügbaren Antibiotika resistent, wodurch die Sterblichkeit betroffener Patienten auch bei Ausnutzung aller antibiotischen Therapiemöglichkeiten sehr hoch ist. Dabei ist die Resistenzentwicklung gegen Carbapeneme durch die Produktion von Carbapenemasen eine besondere Bedrohung. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Entwicklung einer alternativen Therapiemöglichkeit zur Behandlung von Infektionen durch Bakterien, welche Carbapenemasen der Metallo-β-Laktamase-Klasse produzieren. Dazu wurden Carbapenemasen in bakteriellen Isolaten durch den Modifizierten Hodge-Test nachgewiesen und der jeweilige Typ der Carbapenemase mittels PCR detektiert. Die von Zink abhängige Funktion der Metallo-β-Laktamasen kann durch Chelatoren wie EDTA oder Nitroxolin gehemmt werden. Im Agardiffusionstest konnte daher ein Synergismus zwischen Imipenem und Nitroxolin detektiert werden. Durch die Inhibition der hydrolytischen Aktivität der Metallo-β-Laktamasen durch Nitroxolin kann die bakterizide Wirkung von Imipenem wieder greifen. Dieser Synergismus wurde im Checkerboard-Assay für nahezu alle untersuchten Metallo-β-Laktamasen bestätigt. Mittels spektrophotometrischer Messung wurde eine von der Nitroxolin-Konzentration abhängige hydrolytische Spaltung von Imipenem durch Metallo-β-Laktamasen nachgewiesen. Bei der Untersuchung der Carbapenemase-Aktivität über 144 Stunden zeigte sich durch die synergistische Wirkung von Nitroxolin und Imipenem ein verlangsamtes und abgeschwächtes bakterielles Wachstum bei den untersuchten Metallo-β-Laktamase produzierenden Bakterienstämmen. Zusammenfassend gewährt die vorliegende Arbeit bei anhaltend problematischer Ausbreitung von Carbapenem-Resistenzen einen Einblick in die Entwicklung einer alternativen Therapieoption für Infektionen durch Metallo-β-Laktamase produzierende Bakterien

Prostaglandin E2 promotes intestinal repair through an adaptive cellular response of the epithelium

Adaptive cellular responses are often required during wound repair. Following disruption of the intestinal epithelium, wound‐associated epithelial (WAE) cells form the initial barrier over the wound. Our goal was to determine the critical factor that promotes WAE cell differentiation. Using an adaptation of our in vitro primary epithelial cell culture system, we found that prostaglandin E2 (PGE (2)) signaling through one of its receptors, Ptger4, was sufficient to drive a differentiation state morphologically and transcriptionally similar to in vivo WAE cells. WAE cell differentiation was a permanent state and dominant over enterocyte differentiation in plasticity experiments. WAE cell differentiation was triggered by nuclear β‐catenin signaling independent of canonical Wnt signaling. Creation of WAE cells via the PGE (2)‐Ptger4 pathway was required in vivo, as mice with loss of Ptger4 in the intestinal epithelium did not produce WAE cells and exhibited impaired wound repair. Our results demonstrate a mechanism by which WAE cells are formed by PGE (2) and suggest a process of adaptive cellular reprogramming of the intestinal epithelium that occurs to ensure proper repair to injury