The Auslander-Bridger formula and the Gorenstein property for coherent rings

The concept of Gorenstein dimension, defined by Auslander and Bridger for finitely generated modules over a Noetherian ring, is studied in the context of finitely presented modules over a coherent ring. A generalization of the Auslander-Bridger formula is established and is used as a cornerstone in the development of a theory of coherent Gorenstein rings.Comment: 28 page

Social-ecological analysis of climate induced changes in biodiversity – outline of a research concept

The interactions of changes in climate and biodiversity with societal actions, structures and processes are a priority topic within the international scientific debate – and thus, a relevant subject matter for BiKF’s work. This paper outlines a concept for transdisciplinary research within BiKF. It focuses on the analysis of social-ecological systems supporting society with biodiversity driven ecosystem services. Such research is considering different issues: defining sustainable societal adaptations to climate induced biodiversity changes; permitting adequate understanding of the social-ecological reproduction of ecosystem functions, including their conservation and restoration; analysing the societal values and socio-economic utilisation of ecosystem services. Gaining knowledge in these areas provides an improved basis for decision-making in biodiversity and resource management

Multidisciplinary Expert-aided Analysis and Design (MEAD)

The MEAD Computer Program (MCP) is being developed under the Multidisciplinary Expert-Aided Analysis and Design (MEAD) Project as a CAD environment in which integrated flight, propulsion, and structural control systems can be designed and analyzed. The MCP has several embedded computer-aided control engineering (CACE) packages, a user interface (UI), a supervisor, a data-base manager (DBM), and an expert system (ES). The supervisor monitors and coordinates the operation of the CACE packages, the DBM; the ES, and the UI. The DBM tracks the control design process. Models created or installed by the MCP are tracked by date and version, and results are associated with the specific model version with which they were generated. The ES is used to relieve the control engineer from tedious and cumbersome tasks in the iterative design process. The UI provides the capability for a novice as well as an expert to utilize the MCP easily and effectively. The MCP version 2(MCP-2.0) is fully developed for flight control system design and analysis. Propulsion system modeling, analysis, and simulation is also supported; the same is true for structural models represented in state-space form. The ultimate goal is to cover the integration of flight, propulsion, and structural control engineering, including all discipline-specific functionality and interfaces. The current MCP-2.0 components and functionality are discussed

Handling Live Sensor Data on the Semantic Web

The increased linking of objects in the Internet of Things and the ubiquitous flood of data and information require new technologies in data processing and data storage in particular in the Internet and the Semantic Web. Because of human limitations in data collection and analysis, more and more automatic methods are used. Above all, these sensors or similar data producers are very accurate, fast and versatile and can also provide continuous monitoring even places that are hard to reach by people. The traditional information processing, however, has focused on the processing of documents or document-related information, but they have different requirements compared to sensor data. The main focus is static information of a certain scope in contrast to large quantities of live data that is only meaningful when combined with other data and background information. The paper evaluates the current status quo in the processing of sensor and sensor-related data with the help of the promising approaches of the Semantic Web and Linked Data movement. This includes the use of the existing sensor standards such as the Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) as well as the utilization of various ontologies. Based on a proposed abstract approach for the development of a semantic application, covering the process from data collection to presentation, important points, such as modeling, deploying and evaluating semantic sensor data, are discussed. Besides the related work on current and future developments on known diffculties of RDF/OWL, such as the handling of time, space and physical units, a sample application demonstrates the key points. In addition, techniques for the spread of information, such as polling, notifying or streaming are handled to provide examples of data stream management systems (DSMS) for processing real-time data. Finally, the overview points out remaining weaknesses and therefore enables the improvement of existing solutions in order to easily develop semantic sensor applications in the future

Optimization of Enzymatic Gas-Phase Reactions by Increasing the Long-Term Stability of the Catalyst

Enzymatic gas-phase reactions are usually performed in continuous reactors, and thus very stable and active catalysts are required to perform such transformations on cost-effective levels. The present work is concerned with the reduction of gaseous acetophenone to enantiomerically pure (R)-1-phenylethanol catalyzed by solid alcohol dehydrogenase from Lactobacillus brevis (LBADH), immobilized onto glass beads. Initially, the catalyst preparation displayed a half-life of 1 day under reaction conditions at 40 °C and at a water activity of 0.5. It was shown that the observed decrease in activity is due to a degradation of the enzyme itself (LBADH) and not of the co-immobilized cofactor NADP. By the addition of sucrose to the cell extract before immobilization of the enzyme, the half-life of the catalyst preparation (at 40 °C) was increased 40 times. The stabilized catalyst preparation was employed in a continuous gas-phase reactor at different temperatures (25-60 °C). At 50 °C, a space-time yield of 107 g/L/d was achieved within the first 80 h of continuous reaction.

Linkage between increased nociception and olfaction via a SCN9A haplotype

Background and Aims: Mutations reducing the function of Nav1.7 sodium channels entail diminished pain perception and olfactory acuity, suggesting a link between nociception and olfaction at ion channel level. We hypothesized that if such link exists, it should work in both directions and gain-of-function Nav1.7 mutations known to be associated with increased pain perception should also increase olfactory acuity. Methods: SCN9A variants were assessed known to enhance pain perception and found more frequently in the average population. Specifically, carriers of SCN9A variants rs41268673C>A (P610T; n = 14) or rs6746030C>T (R1150W; n = 21) were compared with non-carriers (n = 40). Olfactory function was quantified by assessing odor threshold, odor discrimination and odor identification using an established olfactory test. Nociception was assessed by measuring pain thresholds to experimental nociceptive stimuli (punctate and blunt mechanical pressure, heat and electrical stimuli). Results: The number of carried alleles of the non-mutated SCN9A haplotype rs41268673C/rs6746030C was significantly associated with the comparatively highest olfactory threshold (0 alleles: threshold at phenylethylethanol dilution step 12 of 16 (n = 1), 1 allele: 10.6±2.6 (n = 34), 2 alleles: 9.5±2.1 (n = 40)). The same SCN9A haplotype determined the pain threshold to blunt pressure stimuli (0 alleles: 21.1 N/m2, 1 allele: 29.8±10.4 N/m2, 2 alleles: 33.5±10.2 N/m2). Conclusions: The findings established a working link between nociception and olfaction via Nav1.7 in the gain-of-function direction. Hence, together with the known reduced olfaction and pain in loss-of-function mutations, a bidirectional genetic functional association between nociception and olfaction exists at Nav1.7 level

Soul: The Power of Giving Back

The idea for Soul started really small with connecting two businesses in Orange City, The Genesis House and the Hair Clinic. We came up with the idea to support The Genesis House by providing them with free hair cuts for a certain amount of time. The owner told us that she had been looking for something to do to give back to the community, but she was not sure what it could be. We realized that there are plenty of local businesses in Orange City, Alton, and Sioux Center that want to give back to their communities too, yet they are too busy running their business to look into those details. So, we came up with Soul where we can take the stress off of the owners and connect them with different needs in the community. We will provide funding, marketing, and advertising skills. Eventually, we hope that these connections will build long lasting friendships in the community. Supporting each other is one of the best ways to love our neighbors as God calls us to do. We want to be the start of a change in our towns

No genetic evidence for involvement of Deltaretroviruses in adult patients with precursor and mature T-cell neoplasms

Background The Deltaretrovirus genus comprises viruses that infect humans (HTLV), various simian species (STLV) and cattle (BLV). HTLV-I is the main causative agent in adult T-cell leukemia in endemic areas and some of the simian T-cell lymphotropic viruses have been implicated in the induction of malignant lymphomas in their hosts. BLV causes enzootic bovine leukosis in infected cattle or sheep. During the past few years several new Deltaretrovirus isolates have been described in various primate species. Two new HTLV-like viruses in humans have recently been identified and provisionally termed HTLV-III and HTLV-IV. In order to identify a broad spectrum of Deltaretroviruses by a single PCR approach we have established a novel consensus PCR based on nucleotide sequence data obtained from 42 complete virus isolates (HTLV-I/-II, STLV-I/-II/-III, BLV). The primer sequences were based on highly interspecies-conserved virus genome regions. We used this PCR to detect Deltaretroviruses in samples from adult patients with a variety of rare T-cell neoplasms in Germany. Results: The sensitivity of the consensus PCR was at least between 10-2 and 10-3 with 100% specificity as demonstrated by serial dilutions of cell lines infected with either HTLV-I, HTLV-II or BLV. Fifty acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) samples and 33 samples from patients with various rare mature T-cell neoplasms (T-PLL, Sezary syndrome and other T-NHL) were subsequently investigated. There were no cases with HTLV-I, HTLV-II or any other Deltaretroviruses. Conclusions: The results rule out a significant involvement of HTLV-I or HTLV-II in these disease entities and show that other related Deltaretroviruses are not likely to be involved. The newly established Deltaretrovirus PCR may be a useful tool for identifying new Deltaretroviruses

Transitions : individuelle Handhabung und Verarbeitungsformen institutionellen Wandels

Unter Transitionen werden hier allgemein unstete, diskontinuierliche Übergangsprozesse verstanden. In der Selbstbeobachtung erscheinen sie z.B. als Brüche, überraschende Ereignisse, ungeahnte Chancen oder nie für möglich gehaltene Schocks. Retrospektiv jedenfalls – positiv wie negativ bewertet – als entscheidende Weichenstellungen, die später nachfolgende Entscheidungen in einschneidendem Umfang wenn schon nicht determinieren, so jedenfalls aber nachhaltig oder dauerhaft prägen. Als unstet werden sie deswegen eingeschätzt, weil Akteure heute davon zunehmend „unvorhergesehen“ und nicht planbar betroffen sind

Recovery of olfactory function after nine years of post-traumatic anosmia: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Olfactory loss due to head trauma is a common condition. Depending on the severity of the head trauma, anosmia might occur in up to 30% of patients. The period of time until recovery has been reported to be a couple of months in most cases. However, recovery from post-traumatic olfactory loss might occur much later. We present a rare case of recovery from anosmia nine years after the initial trauma.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 54-year-old Caucasian man who suffered complete anosmia from a severe car accident. Smell function as well as flavor perception during eating and drinking were also completely lost. After nine years, the patient had his first olfactory impressions, with his sense of smell gradually improving over a period of three years. We confirmed recovery of olfactory function using psychophysical and electrophysiological techniques.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In most cases, recovery of smell function occurs relatively soon after the head trauma and seems to rarely occur more than two years after the incident. However, patients should be informed that there is a small chance of recovery a long time after the trauma.</p