Preliminary investigation on auto-thermal extrusion of ground tire rubber

Ground tire rubber (GTR) was processed using an auto-thermal extrusion as prerequisite to green reclaiming of GTR. The reclaimed GTR underwent a series of tests: thermogravimetric analysis combined with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (TGA-FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and static headspace and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SHS-GC-MS) in order to evaluate the impact of barrel heating solution (with/without external barrel heating) on reclaiming process of GTR. Moreover, samples were cured to assess the impact of reclaiming heating solution on curing characteristics and physico-mechanical properties. Detailed analysis of the results indicated that the heat supplied by the machinery was replaced by energy generated due to the high shearing phenomenon, what significantly influenced energy consumption and hereby lowered processing costPostprint (published version

(I) Dendritic cells take up viral antigens but do not support the early steps of Hepatitis B Virus infection (II) Generation and characterization of Hepatitis B virus surface proteins fused to GFP and RFP

(I)Dendritic cells (DC), being key players in antigen presentation and initiation of virus-specific T-cell responses, have been reported to exhibit functional impairment in HBV carriers. Possible explanations for this phenomenon are infection of DCs with HBV or alteration of DC function by HBV. Therefore it was analysed whether DCs support the different steps of HBV infection: uptake, delivery of the HBV genome to the nucleus, antigen expression, and progeny virus release. When HBV genomes were artificially introduced into monocyte-derived DCs (moDC) by adenoviral vectors, low-level expression of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) but no HBV replication was detected. When subjecting moDCs to recombinant HBV expressing Renilla luciferase either under a non�liver-specific promoter or under a HBV promoter, no luciferase activity was detected. After incubation with wild-type HBV, intracellular HBV rcDNA was detected in a low percentage of cells, but nuclear cccDNA was not formed. This indicates that either uncoating or nucleocytoplasmic transport were blocked. To verify the observation in the in vivo situation, myeloid (mDC) and plasmacytoid DCs (pDC) were isolated from blood of high viremic HBV carriers, and analysed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and electron microscopy. Although circulating DCs had in vivo been exposed to more than 104 HBV virions per cell, HBV genomic DNA was hardly detected, and no nuclear cccDNA was detected at all. By using electron microscopy, subviral particles were found in endocytic vesicles, but virions were undetectable, as were viral capsids in the cytoplasm. Quantitative PCR analysis of B cells, monocytes and an enriched T-cell fraction of chronic HBV carriers showed uptake of HBV particles in low amounts, but no establishment of an infection. In conclusion, circulating DCs may take up HBV antigens, but neither support nucleocytoplasmic transport nor replication of HBV. It can be excluded that HBV infects DCs with a frequency sufficient to explain the functional impairment of the virus-specific T-cell response in chronic HBV carriers. One can hypothesise that the contact of DCs with HBV antigens, which are present in sera of infected persons in high amounts, influences DC and T-cell function. (II)Fluorescent labelling of viral proteins and viruses, or virus-like particles, has been shown to provide a powerful tool for investigating unexplored aspects in viral life cycles. A commonly used technique is the genetic incorporation of fluorophores into virus proteins. The insertion of GFP into the Gag protein of HIV for instance allowed studying the trafficking of this protein, as well as production of infectious virions (Müller et al., 2004). In case of adeno-associated virus, Lux et al. (2005) were able to directly monitor the cytosolic and nuclear trafficking with GFP-tagged virus particles. Since many aspects of the HBV life cycle still remain unclear, the visualisation of viral (VP) and subviral (SVP) HBV particles is a promising approach to elucidate different steps of virus entry and egress. GFP or RFP fused HBV S, M and L surface proteins were constructed and analysed for their fluorescence and stability properties. To ensure that the fusion did not alter the characteristic properties of the HBV surface proteins, they were compared to the parental proteins with regard to their localisation in cellular compartments and the ability to form subviral and viral particles. The GFP fused proteins did not co-localise with the parental proteins within the cell, suggesting that they were unstable. The RFP fusion proteins clearly co-localised with the parental proteins. But although they behaved similar to the parental proteins with regard to their distribution in the ER and golgi compartment, neither of them contributed to the formation of SVP or VP. Thus, GFP and RFP fusion to HBV surface proteins is not suitable to generate fluorescent HBV particles. The main impediment is most probably misfolding of the fusion proteins. The bulky GFP and RFP domains seem to have topological and sterical effects, affecting stability, correct integration into the ER membrane or assembly and secretion of properly formed particles. Labelling with small fluorescent molecules can minimise or overcome these problems and therefore perhaps provides a better strategy

EVALUATING PERFORMANCE MEASURES FOR THE BOBSLEIGH PUSH START

Quantification of performance is essential to understand performance determinants. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate different performance measures applied to the bobsleigh push start and to discuss the choice of an appropriate measure for research and coaching. Measures based on the change in kinetic energy and based on the change in momentum were calculated for the early acceleration phase during the push start and compared by means of correlation analyses. Both energy-based and momentum-based methods lead to similar results while it is important to consider the athlete and the bob as a system. Further clarification is required on whether the flight phase should be taken into account when calculating performance measures

Ferromagnetism in one-dimensional metals: breakdown of the Hartree-Fock approximation and possible first order phase transition

We calculate the Gibbs potential Gamma (M) of a one-dimensional metal at constant magnetization M to second order in the screened electron-electron interaction U. At zero temperature we find that Gamma (M) contains non-analytic corrections proportional to M^2 \ln | M| and | M |^3, implying that a possible paramagnetic-ferromagnetic quantum phase transition in one-dimensional metals must be first order.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures; we have changed our choice of the ultraviolet cutoff, as suggested by a referee. Phase transition occurs now for Stoner factor smaller than unity. Fig 5 and Fig.7 are have been redraw

Investigating the impact of curing system on structure-property relationship of natural rubber modified with brewery by-product and ground tire rubber

The application of wastes as a filler/reinforcement phase in polymers is a new strategy to modify the performance properties and reduce the price of biocomposites. The use of these fillers, coming from agricultural waste (cellulose/lignocellulose-based fillers) and waste rubbers, constitutes a method for the management of post-consumer waste. In this paper, highly-filled biocomposites based on natural rubber (NR) and ground tire rubber (GTR)/brewers’ spent grain (BSG) hybrid reinforcements, were prepared using two different curing systems: (i) sulfur-based and (ii) dicumyl peroxide (DCP). The influence of the amount of fillers (in 100/0, 50/50, and 0/100 ratios in parts per hundred of rubber) and type of curing system on the final properties of biocomposites was evaluated by the oscillating disc rheometer, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, swelling behavior, tensile testing, and impedance tube measurements. The results show, that the scorch time and the optimum curing time values of sulfur cured biocomposites are affected by the change of the hybrid filler ratio while using the DCP curing system, and the obtained values do not show significant variations. The results conclude that the biocomposites cured with sulfur have better physico-mechanical and acoustic absorption, and that the type of curing system does not influence their thermal stability. The overall analysis indicates that the difference in final properties of highly filled biocomposites cured with two different systems is mainly affected by the: (i) cross-linking efficiency, (ii) partial absorption and reactions between fillers and used additives, and (iii) affinity of additives to applied fillersPostprint (published version

Emotion in the German Lutheran Baroque and the development of subjective time consciousness

This study examines some of the ways in which it was possible to understand emotion in Lutheran church music of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It suggests that emotion related to music more through association and contextual factors than through a fixed relationship, thus explaining the ways in which musical passages and techniques could be taken from a secular context to serve a sacred purpose. With these factors in mind, it is possible to suggest ways in which a listener's likely emotional association with music can be harnessed through particular compositional procedures. Schütz's setting of part of the Song of Songs may well engage with the listener's consciousness over time, stretching it and reinforcing the ‘useful’ emotional associations that the sacred context might bring. The opening aria of Bach's cantata ‘Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen’ achieves something similar over a longer span and with greater emotional intensity. Here there is the added sense of the believer finding, losing and then rediscovering the object of spiritual adoration. The music thus implies the potential alienation of the listener, something both supported and overcome through the very structuring of the music. Its repetitive ritornello process is sometimes hidden but always latent, thus playing on the potential for subconscious recognition. Together, these two examples suggest that music can be used as a powerful demonstration of the historical development of modern forms of consciousness as related to emotional states over time

Plant Assemblage Composition Explains and Predicts How Biodiversity Affects Salt Marsh Functioning

Knowing that diverse plantings enhanced biomass and nitrogen (N) accumulation in a restored California salt marsh, we asked if the “biodiversity effect” was due to species selection or complementarity. In a two-year greenhouse experiment, we found positive biodiversity effects on total, root, and shoot biomass, total and root N crop, and on biomass and N allocation; negative effects on root and shoot N concentration; and no effect on shoot N crop. Overyielding among trios and sextets was supported by significant deviations in observed yield from that expected relative to solo yields (DT). However, both trios and sextets strongly underyielded relative to the highest yielding solo in the assemblage (Dmax) in all attributes, and to the dominant species in the assemblage (Ddom) in most attributes. When we decomposed biodiversity effects on shoot characteristics, selection effects primarily drove over- and underyielding. The only complementarity effect was underyielding of sextet shoot biomass. These analyses were possible because we replicated assemblages and evaluated 11 response variables. One species (Salicornia virginica) dominated functioning when present; when absent, another dominated (e.g., Frankenia salina). Effects varied with the response tested, however. For both shoot biomass and N crop, S. virginica was the dominant overyielding species (based on Dij and comparisons of trios ± target species). For shoot N concentration, however, the dominant was Triglochin concinna, a species that had low biomass but was capable of reducing assemblage performance, presumably by concentrating N. Evidence for strong species selection effects led us to predict that three species would eventually dominate our parallel field experiment that tested the same assemblages. Exactly that happened in nine years, but (we predict) without losing function, because the site retained the three highest-performing species. Biodiversity loss was nonrandom in the field, and because trios with two top performers sustained critical functions in the greenhouse, we predict that many functions will not decline, even if the salt marsh becomes dominated by a single species, e.g., S. virginica. Unmeasured functions (e.g., resilience) might not persist, however. Knowing how assemblages perform made biodiversity–ecosystem function theory both explanatory and predictive