THE AUGER ENGINEERING RADIO ARRAY

The Auger Engineering Radio Array currently measures MHz radio emission from extensive air showers induced by high energy cosmic rays with 24 self-triggered radio detector stations. Its unique site, embedded into the baseline detectors and extensions of the Pierre Auger Observatory, allows to study air showers in great detail and to calibrate the radio emission. In its final stage AERA will expand to an area of approximately 20km2 to explore the feasibility of the radio-detection technique for future cosmic-ray detectors. The concept and hardware design of AERA as well as strategies to enable self-triggered radio detection are presented. Radio emission mechanisms are discussed based on polarization analysis of the first AERA data

Integrated Product Design in Chemical Industry. A Plea for Adequate Life-Cycle Screening Indicators

The ever expanding growth of energy and material fluxes and the associated environmental impact challenge the chemical industry to integrate ecological issues into the design of new chemical substances and products (integrated product design). To achieve this goal, product developers as well as marketing and application specialists need appropriate tools for incorporating ecological issues at every stage of product development. Life-Cycle Design, an approach based on the screening indicators of the streamlined Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, is an appropriate concept that can be used even at early development stages. Still today, however, many product designers regard screening indicators, e.g. energy and/or material intensity, summary emission indicators (DOC, TOC, VOC, etc.) as rather subjective judgements, even if they are based on experts' knowledge, panel discussions, etc. Thus, there is a strong need for defining an appropriate set of objective screening indicators based on a natural science approach. These enable an accurate description of environmental effects of a chemical substance in all environmental compartments (air, soil, water, and biota). In this work, we present a conceptual framework for screening indicators that take into account both process inputs and outputs at every single life-cycle stage. Finally, first results based on several case studies (solvents, dyestuffs, …) are shown

Environmental Risk Assessment of Chemical Substances

According to the OECD, it is estimated that some 70000 synthetic chemicals are in daily use. This number is still growing. Some of these products (e.g. polychlorinated biphenyls or chlorofluorocarbons) have gained great public attention due to their unexpected undesirable long-term impact on the ecosystem. The industrialized nations have therefore implemented and enforced stringent laws, in order to control the use of potentially harmful substances.It is an almost impossible task to have the EU Base Set available for all existing substances. The EU and other organizations like OECD have therefore put together priority lists of potentially harmful high-volume chemicals which are assessed by experts. The last couple of years, a tremendous amount of work has been done to develop computer-based modeling systems to predict the environmental behavior and distribution of chemical substances.There are models around (e.g. Mackay, USES, TGD EU, and others) to describe environmental distribution (Predicted Environmental Concentration (PEC)) of nonionic and nonpolar substances. For a first assessment, only a few physical properties (MP, BP, SOL, and possibly pKa) are needed. For ionic and/or polar substances, expert know-how is required.For environmental toxicity (Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC)), however, the situation is far more complex. There are different modes of action for each trophic level (algae, crustacea, fish). Computer models with Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) offer a scientifically attractive tool to predict aquatic toxicity and biodegradation. There are no models that are applicable to heterogeneous chemical classes without expert know-how. Further progress can therefore be expected.The result of an ERA for perchloroethylene with USES is presented, and the problems of the adequacy of the model parameters explained. Here too, a further improvement is addressed.QSARs are attractive tools to design products with improved environmental compatibility at the research stage even before the first synthesis. In order to achieve such an ambitious aim, QSAR models that also include expert rules and evaluated results and their dependence on molecular structures will have to be further developed

Practical guide to characterize biomolecule adsorption on solid surfaces (Review)

International audienc

Microscale adhesion patterns for the precise localization of amoeba

In order to get a better understanding of amoeba-substrate interactions in the processes of cellular adhesion and directional movement, we engineered glass surfaces with defined local adhesion characteristics at a micrometric scale. Amoeba (Dictyostelium dicoideum) is capable to adhere to various surfaces independently of the presence of extracellular matrix proteins. This paper describes the strategy used to create selective adhesion motifs using an appropriate surface chemistry and shows the first results of locally confined amoeba adhesion. The approach is based on the natural ability of Dictyostelium to adhere to various types of surfaces (hydrophilic and hydrophobic) and on its inability to spread on inert surfaces, such as the block copolymer of polyethylene glycol and polypropylene oxide, named Pluronic. We screened diverse alkylsilanes, such as methoxy, chloro and fluoro silanes for their capacity to anchor Pluronic efficiently on a glass surface. Our results demonstrate that hexylmethyldichlorosilane (HMDCS) was the most appropriate silane for the deposition of Pluronic. A complex dependence between the physicochemistry of the silanes and the polyethylene glycol block copolymer deposition was observed. Using this method, we succeed in scaling down the micro-fabrication of pluronic-based adhesion motifs to the amoebaComment: Microelectronic Engineering (2008) in pres

Matchout deuterium labelling of proteins for small-angle neutron scattering studies using prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression systems and high cell-density cultures.

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) is a powerful technique for the characterisation of macromolecular structures and interactions. Its main advantage over other solution state approaches is the ability to use D2O/H2O solvent contrast variation to selectively match out specific parts of a multi-component system. While proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids are readily distinguished in this way, it is not possible to locate different parts of a protein-protein system without the introduction of additional contrast by selective deuteration. Here, we describe new methods by which 'matchout labelled' proteins can be produced using Escherichia coli and Pichia pastoris expression systems in high cell-density cultures. The method is designed to produce protein that has a scattering length density that is very close to that of 100% D2O, providing clear contrast when used with hydrogenated partner proteins in a complex. This allows the production of a single sample system for which SANS measurements at different solvent contrasts can be used to distinguish and model the hydrogenated component, the deuterated component, and the whole complex. The approach, which has significant cost advantages, has been extensively tested for both types of expression system

Экономическая оценка энергосберегающих проектов

В пособии рассмотрены понятия инвестиций проектов и проектного анализа, анализа финансовой деятельности предприятия. Представлены методы оценки экономической эффективности внедрения энергосберегающих проектов, сравнительного анализа их с альтернативными вариантами. Рассмотрены различные схемы финансирования энергосберегающих проектов, включая варианты использования патентов, лицензий. Предназначено для студентов энергетических и экономических специальностей

Involvement of etfA gene during CaCO3 precipitation in Bacillus subtilis biofilm

The eftA gene in Bacillus subtilis has been suggested to be involved in the oxidation/reduction reactions during fatty acid metabolism. Interestingly etfA deletion in B. subtilis results in impairment in CaCO3 precipitation on the biofilm. Comparisons between the wild type B. subtilis 168 and its etfA mutant during in vitro CaCO3 crystal precipitation (calcite) revealed changes in phospholipids membrane composition with accumulation of up to 10% of anteiso-C17:0 and 11% iso-C17:0 long fatty acids. Ca2+ nucleation sites such as dipicolinic acid and teichoic acids seem to contribute to the CaCO3 precipitation. etfA mutant strain showed up to 40% less dipicolinic acid accumulation compared with B. subtilis 168, while a B. subtilis mutant impaired in teichoic acids synthesis was unable to precipitate CaCO3. In addition, B. subtilis etfA mutant exhibited acidity production leading to atypical flagella formation and inducing extensive lateral growth on the biofilm when grown on 1.4% agar. From the ecological point of view, this study shows a number of physiological aspects that are involved in CaCO3 organomineralization on biofilms

A field study of data analysis exercises in a bachelor physics course using the internet platform VISPA

Bachelor physics lectures on particle physics and astrophysics were complemented by exercises related to data analysis and data interpretation at the RWTH Aachen University recently. The students performed these exercises using the internet platform VISPA, which provides a development environment for physics data analyses. We describe the platform and its application within the physics course, and present the results of a student survey. The students acceptance of the learning project was positive. The level of acceptance was related to their individual preference for learning with a computer. Furthermore, students with good programming skills favor working individually, while students who attribute themselves having low programming abilities favor working in teams. The students appreciated approaching actual research through the data analysis tasks.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, for the internet platform VISPA see http://vispa.physik.rwth-aachen.d