Deficits Of Innovation Management In The Application To The Disruptive Battery Industry

With the electrification of the automotive industry and the resulting demand for batteries, Gigafactories are increasingly established by battery cell manufacturers or new players, especially in Europe, and North America. When planning Gigafactories, there are various planning challenges due to the high and long-term investments. In particular, the variety of innovations and short innovation cycles creates uncertainty in the planning process. Reviewing the background provided, the application of existing approaches from innovation management to the current battery industry was assessed in this paper. For this, the environment of battery production was first examined in more detail, resulting in the identification of the relevant requirements for an innovation management method. Based on this, standard methods of innovation management were examined and evaluated based on the derived requirements. The evaluation showed that standard methods of innovation management only partially fulfil some of the requirements, highlighting the necessity of a dedicated method for the battery industry. In conclusion, the deficits and potential levers for successful innovation management are discussed

Digital Twin in the Battery Production Context for the Realization of Industry 4.0 Applications

Due to the worsening climate change drastic changes in the transportation sector are necessary. Crucial factors for sustainable energy supply are reliable and economical energy storage systems. Associated with that is the development of gigafactories with a capacity of up to 1000 GWh in 2030 in Europe (currently 25 GWh) for the production of battery cells especially for the automotive sector, which is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in Europe. In addition to the required investments, high scrap rates due to unknown interdependencies within the process chain represent a central challenge within battery cell production. Another key challenge in series production is the product tracking along the value chain, which consists of continuous, batch and discrete processes. Because of it complexity the battery cell production industry is predestined for Industry 4.0 applications in order to meet the current challenges and to make battery cell production more efficient and sustainable. Digital twins and the use of AI algorithms enable the identification of previously unknown cause-effect relationships and thus a product improvement and increased efficiency. In this paper, the digital twin of a battery cell production will be developed. For this purpose, general requirements for the field of battery cell production are first determined and relevant parameters from the literature as well as from a production pilot line are defined. Based on the requirements and the selected parameters a corresponding structure for the digital twin in battery cell production is built and explained in this contribution. This provides the basis for measures to optimize production, such as predictive quality

Welche Rolle spielen Kinder in Schulen und Kindertagesstätten bei der Übertragung von SARS-CoV-2? – Eine evidenzbasierte Perspektive

Are children and adolescents relevant disease vectors when it comes to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2? Moreover, do they play a role as relevant disease vectors in a~school or kindergarten setting? These questions could not be sufficiently answered at the beginning of the pandemic. Consequently, schools and childcare facilities were closed to stop the spread of SARS-CoV\hbox-2. Over the past few months, researchers have gained a~more detailed understanding of the overall pandemic situation. The SARS-CoV\hbox-2 infection rate in children below 10~years of age in 2020 has been substantially lower than in adults. In addition, it showed that children had a~milder course of disease.Although a~majority of the analyses performed in schools and childcare facilities revealed that the virus is transmitted in these facilities, these transmissions did not, however, have a~considerable influence on the overall rate of new infections. Despite these findings, German politicians continue to advocate for the closure of childcare facilities, including schools, to fight the pandemic, whereas many specialist societies such as the German Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (DGPI) have emphasized that such closures should be the measure of last resort in combating the pandemic. The same message is also conveyed by a~German evidence-based S3~guideline established by an interdisciplinary expert group that had already put forward clear recommendations for high incidences in the general population at the beginning of February 2021, indicating that school closures were only required in exceptional cases.In this article, we would like to outline the situation based on the currently available data, try to predict the future, and discuss the circumstances necessary to realize normal classroom teaching without accepting the risk of an uncontrolled spread of SARS-CoV\hbox-2. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Sind Kinder und Jugendliche relevante Vektoren für die Übertragung von SARS-CoV-2? Und welche Rolle spielt es, wenn sie eine Schule oder Kindertagesstätte besuchen? Diese Fragen konnten zu Beginn der Pandemie nur unzureichend beantwortet werden. So wurden weltweit Schulen und Kinderbetreuungseinrichtungen geschlossen, um die Verbreitung von SARS-CoV\hbox-2 einzudämmen. Inzwischen ist die Rolle von Kindern im Gesamtgeschehen der Pandemie jedoch klarer. Die Rate von SARS-CoV-2-Infektionen bei Kindern unter 10~Jahren war im Jahr 2020 deutlich niedriger als die bei Erwachsenen. Zudem zeigte sich bei Kindern ein deutlich milderer Verlauf der Erkrankung.Analysen zu Ausbrüchen an Schulen und Kinderbetreuungseinrichtungen kamen mehrheitlich zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Weitergabe des Virus in den Einrichtungen zwar stattfindet, jedoch das Infektionsgeschehen insgesamt nicht maßgeblich beeinflusst. Trotz dieser Erkenntnisse hält die deutsche Politik Schulschließungen weiterhin für einen integralen Baustein der Pandemiebekämpfung, wohingegen viele Fachgesellschaften, wie die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pädiatrische Infektiologie e. V. (DGPI), betonen, dass es sich um das letzte Mittel in der Bekämpfung der Pandemie handeln sollte. Diese Botschaft hat auch eine evidenzbasierte und auf interdisziplinärem Expertenkonsens aufgebaute S3-Leitlinie, die bereits Anfang Februar 2021 klare Empfehlungen für Zeiten hoher Inzidenzen in der Gesamtbevölkerung ausgesprochen hat, die Schulschließungen nur noch in Ausnahmefällen für notwendig erachten.In diesem Artikel möchten wir die Datenlage mit Stand Juni 2021 zu diesem Thema darlegen, einen Blick in die Zukunft wagen und diskutieren, unter welchen Umständen ein regulärer Präsenzunterricht gelingen kann, ohne das Risiko einer unkontrollierten Ausbreitung von SARS-CoV\hbox-2 in Kauf nehmen zu müssen

Framework for the Application of Industry 4.0 in Lithium-Ion Battery Cell Production

The application of Industry 4.0 in lithium-ion battery cell production enables companies to achieve increased product quality and global competitiveness, since the majority of value creation takes place in this process. Studies have shown, that improving production performance is the most effective way for battery cell manufacturers to become competitive in the increasingly globalized market. To achieve operational excellence, battery manufacturers must adopt the concepts of networked and digitized production. However, holistically introducing digitalization, data systems and Industry 4.0 methods in all sectors of lithium-ion battery cell production currently poses a major challenge as comprehensive approaches are not available. Therefore, a tailored methodology for the evaluation of suitability and introduction of digitalization and Industry 4.0 is presented. The approach addresses all production-related sectors from logistics to plant engineering to quality management via so called application areas. Multiple development stages divide these into the maturity levels in terms of Industry 4.0. To design each application area and stage, Industry 4.0 use cases from battery cell producers, plant manufacturers, and battery-related research projects are clustered and abstracted for general accessibility. It is shown, that abstracted application areas may be assigned either to all production sectors such as communication or to specific fields such as quality methods. Based on the application areas, corresponding toolboxes are established forming the core of a digitalization guide. To increase the level of maturity with regard to Industry 4.0, the presented paper aims at enabling companies to apply appropriate tools from the toolbox to their production. The systematic and efficient development and implementation of digitalization as well as the holistic assessment of a company's maturity are enabled and provide an essential tool towards increased competitiveness

Efficient and Stable Low Iridium Loaded Anodes for PEM Water Electrolysis Made Possible by Nanofiber Interlayers

Significant reduction of the precious metal catalyst loading is one of the key challenges for the commercialization of proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzers. In this work we combine IrOx nanofibers with a conventional nanoparticle-based IrOx anode catalyst layer. With this hybrid design we can reduce the iridium loading by more than 80% while maintaining performance. In spite of an ultralow overall catalyst loading of 0.2 mg(Ir)/cm(2), a cell with a hybrid layer shows similar performance compared to a state-of-the-art cell with a catalyst loading of 1.2 mg(Ir)/cm(2) and clearly outperforms identically loaded reference cells with pure IrOx nanoparticle and pure nanofiber anodes. The improved performance is attributed to a combination of good electric contact and high porosity of the IrOx nanofibers with high surface area of the IrOx nanoparticles. Besides the improved performance, the hybrid layer also shows better stability in a potential cycling and a 150 h constant current test compared to an identically loaded nanoparticle reference.BMBF, 05KI9VFA, Ultrahochauflösende Untersuchung des Wassertransports in alkalischen Brennstoff- und Elektrolysezellen mittels Neutronenradiographie und –Tomographie (NeutroSense

Community-curated and standardised metadata of published ancient metagenomic samples with AncientMetagenomeDir

Ancient DNA and RNA are valuable data sources for a wide range of disciplines. Within the field of ancient metagenomics, the number of published genetic datasets has risen dramatically in recent years, and tracking this data for reuse is particularly important for large-scale ecological and evolutionary studies of individual taxa and communities of both microbes and eukaryotes. AncientMetagenomeDir (archived at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3980833) is a collection of annotated metagenomic sample lists derived from published studies that provide basic, standardised metadata and accession numbers to allow rapid data retrieval from online repositories. These tables are community-curated and span multiple sub-disciplines to ensure adequate breadth and consensus in metadata definitions, as well as longevity of the database. Internal guidelines and automated checks facilitate compatibility with established sequence-read archives and term-ontologies, and ensure consistency and interoperability for future meta-analyses. This collection will also assist in standardising metadata reporting for future ancient metagenomic studies

Red-Emitting Dibenzodiazepinone Derivatives as Fluorescent Dualsteric Probes for the Muscarinic Acetylcholine M2 Receptor

Fluorescently labeled dibenzodiazepinone-type muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (MR) antagonists, including dimeric ligands, were prepared using red-emitting cyanine dyes. Probes containing a fluorophore with negative charge showed high M2R affinities (pKi (radioligand competition binding): 9.10-9.59). Binding studies at M1 and M3-M5 receptors indicated a M2R preference. Flow cytometric and high-content imaging saturation and competition binding (M1R, M2R, and M4R) confirmed occupation of the orthosteric site. Confocal microscopy revealed that fluorescence was located mainly at the cell membrane (CHO-hM2R cells). Results from dissociation and saturation binding experiments (M2R) in the presence of allosteric M2R modulators (dissociation: W84, LY2119620, and alcuronium; saturation binding: W84) were consistent with a competitive mode of action between the fluorescent probes and the allosteric ligands. Taken together, these lines of evidence indicate that these ligands are useful fluorescent molecular tools to label the M2R in imaging and binding studies and suggest that they have a dualsteric mode of action

An arrhythmogenic metabolite in atrial fibrillation

Abstract Background Long-chain acyl-carnitines (ACs) are potential arrhythmogenic metabolites. Their role in atrial fibrillation (AF) remains incompletely understood. Using a systems medicine approach, we assessed the contribution of C18:1AC to AF by analysing its in vitro effects on cardiac electrophysiology and metabolism, and translated our findings into the human setting. Methods and results Human iPSC-derived engineered heart tissue was exposed to C18:1AC. A biphasic effect on contractile force was observed: short exposure enhanced contractile force, but elicited spontaneous contractions and impaired Ca2+ handling. Continuous exposure provoked an impairment of contractile force. In human atrial mitochondria from AF individuals, C18:1AC inhibited respiration. In a population-based cohort as well as a cohort of patients, high C18:1AC serum concentrations were associated with the incidence and prevalence of AF. Conclusion Our data provide evidence for an arrhythmogenic potential of the metabolite C18:1AC. The metabolite interferes with mitochondrial metabolism, thereby contributing to contractile dysfunction and shows predictive potential as novel circulating biomarker for risk of AF

Warmth and competence perceptions of key protagonists are associated with containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 35 countries

It is crucial to understand why people comply with measures to contain viruses and their effects during pandemics. We provide evidence from 35 countries (Ntotal = 12,553) from 6 continents during the COVID-19 pandemic (between 2021 and 2022) obtained via cross-sectional surveys that the social perception of key protagonists on two basic dimensions—warmth and competence—plays a crucial role in shaping pandemic-related behaviors. Firstly, when asked in an open question format, heads of state, physicians, and protest movements were universally identified as key protagonists across countries. Secondly, multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses revealed that warmth and competence perceptions of these and other protagonists differed significantly within and between countries. Thirdly, internal meta-analyses showed that warmth and competence perceptions of heads of state, physicians, and protest movements were associated with support and opposition intentions, containment and prevention behaviors, as well as vaccination uptake. Our results have important implications for designing effective interventions to motivate desirable health outcomes and coping with future health crises and other global challenges.publishedVersio