Defensive Behavior of the Hognose Snake (Heterodon platyrhinos)

Fourteen out of sixteen Heterodon platyrhinos eggs were hatched in late August, 1973. The immature snakes were manually stimulated and the resultant bluffing and death-feigning behaviors were observed. All of the experimental snakes bluffed, but only three out of ten feigned death. The major components of the bluffing behavior are spreading the neck, hissing, and striking. Death-feigning is preceded by contortions and shows variations in the positions of the mouth and tongue. The newly-hatched snakes exhibited both bluffing and death-feigning, indicating that the behaviors are innate

Purification, characterization and molecular cloning of muscle paranemin

Paranemin is an incompletely characterized ~280 kilodalton protein previously identified and immunolocalized in embryonic chick skeletal muscle. Paranemin has been purified from the same tissue source, has the same molecular weight by SDS-PAGE, and has the same antibody localization at the Z-lines of adult avian cardiac muscle. The method developed for preparation of purified paranemin from embryonic (chick) skeletal muscle includes homogenization, centrifugation and gel filtration, hydroxyapatite, and DEAE-cellulose chromatography. By using this method, ~2 mg of purified paranemin was routinely obtained. Amino acid analysis revealed that paranemin has a high acidic to basic amino acid ratio, which agrees with the measured pI range of 4.1-4.5. When the purified protein was stained with a cationic carbocyanine dye, Stains-all, paranemin stained an intense blue, indicating it is a phosphoprotein and/or a glycoprotein. Further testing determined that paranemin is a glycoprotein. A monoclonal antibody (4D3) was made to use in one-and two-dimensional Western blots, which were used to identify paranemin throughout the purification procedure, and for immunofluorescence studies. Double-label confocal immunofluorescence showed colocalization of paranemin with desmin at the Z-lines of adult cardiac and skeletal muscle cells and at cardiac muscle intercalated disks;I determined the full-length cDNA sequence of paranemin by immunoscreening a [lambda]gt22 cDNA library from embryonic chick skeletal muscle with a monoclonal antibody specific for paranemin (4D3) and by hybridization screening. Northern blot analysis reveals a single transcript of 5.3 kb, which is much smaller than predicted from the size of paranemin (~280 kDa) by SDS-PAGE. The pI and molecular weight, predicted from the deduced amino acid sequence of paranemin, are 4.17 and 178,161 Daltons, respectively. I found that paranemin is a novel intermediate filament (IF) protein, which may be classified as a type VI IF protein. Paranemin contains the conserved IF rod domain (308 amino acids), which is 63.3% identical in amino acid sequence to the rod domain of tanabin and 45.5% identical to the rod domain of nestin. The partial cDNA sequences of two proteins, namely EAP-300 and IFAPa-400, which overlap each other by 402 nucleotides, are almost identical to parts of the cDNA sequence of paranemin

The development and use of bib overalls in the United States, 1856-1945

In the past, costume historians have expended much effort researching fashionable dress. Now scholars are gaining in awareness of the need to also study common, everyday dress. Much of the research done to date has focused on women\u27s clothing, but that, too is changing, with the realization of the need to consider men\u27s clothing. Not only are costume historians beginning to look at everyday clothing, but clothing manufacturers are also interested in learning about the history of their products, because this information can be applied to advertising campaigns and company promotional literature. Perhaps the findings will also shed light on the larger issue of the development of workwear and its diversification to serve different purposes. Bib overalls were, and still are, the everyday apparel for some people. They are perceived as a uniform for the working masses, especially those in agriculture. Historic photographs and mail order catalogs provide evidence that males were the primary wearers through the early 1900\u27s, but these sources also illustrate that the age of the wearers ranged widely. Previously unanswered questions about this functional garment included when it was first made, how the garment design evolved, who the intended wearers were, and whether it was first home sewn or commercially manufactured. The Geo. N. Davis and Bro\u27s Catalogue, dated 1856, advertised overalls, vulcanized and solarized, for provision packers, butchers, fisherman, &c (sic]. By the early 1900\u27s there were many companies producing bib overalls, from Vermont to Kansas to Canada

Treibhaus, Kunststall oder Hospital? Die Kunstakademie und ihr Verhältnis zur zeitgenössischen Kunst

Kai-Uwe Hemken befasst sich mit der Institutionsgeschichte der Kunstakademie und ihrem spannungsgeladenen Verhältnis zu Künstlern und (autonomer) Kunst. In der Entwicklung der Akademie bis in die Gegenwart wird insbesondere die Relevanz der Entstehung eines öffentlichen Diskurses über Kunst im 18. Jahrhundert thematisiert

Untersuchung der Nieder- und Hochtemperaturkinetik von Biokraftstoffen mittels Molekularstrahlmassenspektrometrie

Hemken C. Untersuchung der Nieder- und Hochtemperaturkinetik von Biokraftstoffen mittels Molekularstrahlmassenspektrometrie. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2017.The global energy consumption and the related emission of climate gases is one of the most important challenges for society. In the transportation sector, a transition from the combustion of fossil fuels to that of second-generation biofuels is discussed in order to reduce the net carbon emissions. While the first-generation of biofuels competed with the production of food, second-generation biofuels will avoid this competition and are regarded as potential alternatives to petroleum-based fuels. The combustion of typical biofuels, including alcohols, esters and (cyclic) ethers shows a reduction in the emission of unburnt hydrocarbons, NOx and soot, while the formation of oxygenated compounds is typically increased. In particular small methyl ketones like 2-butanone (methyl ethyl ketone, MEK) are receiving increasing attention because of their availability from cellulosic biomass and their favorable properties for use in spark-ignition engines. However, these biofuels contain at least one oxygen atom in their molecular structure, which leads to a different oxidation behavior from that of conventional petroleum-based fuels. While the oxidation reactions of hydrocarbon has been well studied in the past decades, information on the combustion kinetics of oxygenated biofuels is still relatively scarce. With the aim to reduce the emissions of volatile compounds, like NOx and soot, current work focusses on engines with a reduced combustion temperature as well as more homogenous mixing of fuel and air. Such homogeneous charge compression ignition engine concepts combine the strengths of both, spark-ignition and diesel engines. However, combustion at lower temperatures reduces the stability of the process, and thus the current knowledge needs to be extended to avoid possible misfire in engines. Similarly, detailed kinetic information and validated mechanisms to simulate the combustion under relevant conditions of pressure, temperature, and fuel-oxidizer mixtures are required to understand conditions that would lead to a sudden stall of the engine. In this work, the oxidation kinetics of biofuels in defined areas of the phase space (pressure, stoichiometry and temperature) were studied. For this purpose a laminar flow reactor and a jet-stirred reactor were used to measure species concentrations in the low- to intermediate temperature regime (T = 500 - 1100 K) at atmospheric pressures. In addition, the high-temperature oxidation behavior was investigated in a laminar, premixed, low-pressure (40 mbar) flame. Species concentrations were obtained by molecular-beam mass-spectrometry (MBMS), and two different ionization techniques, i. e. electron impact (EI) and photo-ionization (PI), were used. 2-Butanone, a methyl ketone, has recently been identified and discussed as a promising alternative to conventional gasoline. Since available data are lacking for the entire class of small methyl ketone fuels in the literature, regarding the kinetics of ketones, 2-pentanone (methyl propyl ketone, MPK) has also been chosen as an interesting investigation target to study the influence of the carbonyl group. The oxidation of these ketones was investigated from 700 -1100 K in a laminar flow reactor, and for the first time low-temperature-related oxygenated species have been identified. The high-temperature kinetics was investigated in laminar, premixed, low-pressure flames in Bielefeld with EI-MBMS and at the Advanced Light Source (Berkeley, CA, USA) with PI-MBMS enabling the identification of isomers. With the high mass resolution and, relying on two different ionization techniques, a cross-validation helped to minimize the experimental uncertainties for these experiments. These experimental data led to the development and validation of a detailed reaction mechanism emphasizing the importance of low-temperature reaction classes. An older version of the recently published 2-butanone mechanism was used as a base for the 2-pentanone mechanism, which is used and discussed together with the new experimental data for the first time in this work. The primary reference fuel (PFR) iso-octane was investigated at low temperatures (T = 500 – 700 K) and atmospheric pressure in a jet-stirred reactor coupled to a PI-MBMS experiment at the ALS. Because iso-octane is in general unreactive at these conditions, dimethyl ether (DME) with defined and well-known low-temperature oxidation reactions was added to enhance the reactivity. Two mixing ratios were studied (30:70 and 70:30), and several highly oxygenated compounds up to species related to a third O2-addition were detected. These results are compared to a so-called “horizontally-lumped” kinetic model and are further used to understand the effects of mixtures

Evaluation of Different Approaches for Controlling Phosphorus Pollution in the Maumee River Watershed

There is a growing consensus among scientists and natural resource managers that conservation efforts addressing nonpoint source pollution are most effective when coordinated at a watershed scale. In light of this understanding, the question is how to mobilize effective conservation strategies at the watershed scale in order to ensure desired water quality. With public resources limited, much of this question can be understood as a tension between seeking to put in place those actions that will assure the largest improvements in water quality while striving for the lowest costs to land owners, citizens, and agencies. The Maumee River watershed, whose 8,316 square mile area is over 70% in agricultural land cover, presents an interesting and timely setting for tackling this challenge.1 The Maumee’s tri-state river watershed, spanning OH, IN, and MI, drains into the Western Lake Erie Basin and carries with it an excess load of dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP), a nutrient that contributes significantly to the occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs). While HABs have been an increasing concern over the last decade, they came to the forefront of national news when in August 2014 the City of Toledo was forced to shut off its drinking water supply sourced from Western Lake Erie to approximately 500,000 metropolitan area residents due to microcystin contamination, a toxin produced by a HAB in Western Lake Erie.2 This report identifies a wide spectrum of conservation practices and policy approaches for reducing DRP at the watershed scale, including both voluntary and regulatory approaches. These are combined with model analysis of the physical watershed’s landscape and an independently designed cost effectiveness analysis in order to create marginal cost of abatement curves that define a suite of possible watershed scale management scenarios structured to achieve optimum improvements to water quality.Master of ScienceNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111006/1/Evaluation_Different_Approaches_Controlling_Phosphorus_in_Maumee_Watershed_2015.pd

How to Raise a Robot - A Case for Neuro-Symbolic AI in Constrained Task Planning for Humanoid Assistive Robots

Humanoid robots will be able to assist humans in their daily life, in particular due to their versatile action capabilities. However, while these robots need a certain degree of autonomy to learn and explore, they also should respect various constraints, for access control and beyond. We explore the novel field of incorporating privacy, security, and access control constraints with robot task planning approaches. We report preliminary results on the classical symbolic approach, deep-learned neural networks, and modern ideas using large language models as knowledge base. From analyzing their trade-offs, we conclude that a hybrid approach is necessary, and thereby present a new use case for the emerging field of neuro-symbolic artificial intelligence

Automation concepts and gripping solutions for bonding with reactive multilayer systems

Reactive multilayer systems (RMS) represent an innovative heat source for the establishment of solder joints. They offer fast bonding processes that introduce very little thermal input and internal stress on the bonded parts. The current application process of RMS is predominantly manual labor. There are a couple of challenges to be overcome to automate this process, a requirement for its introduction into industrial production. In this paper we evaluate the requirements for an automated joining process with RMS and devise a concept of a modular assembly system for different product structures. Furthermore we show our results in gently and reliably gripping and handling of RMS.Federal Ministry of Economic and Technology (BMWi)InnoJoin GmbH & Co. KG, Breme

Poster: How to Raise a Robot - Beyond Access Control Constraints in Assistive Humanoid Robots

Humanoid robots will be able to assist humans in their daily life, in particular due to their versatile action capabilities. However, while these robots need a certain degree of autonomy to learn and explore, they also should respect various constraints, for access control and beyond. We explore incorporating privacy and security constraints (Activity-Centric Access Control and Deep Learning Based Access Control) with robot task planning approaches (classical symbolic planning and end-to-end learning-based planning). We report preliminary results on their respective trade-offs and conclude that a hybrid approach will most likely be the method of choice

Experimental and theoretical investigations of methyl formate oxidation including hot beta-scission

Recently the possibility of hot beta-scission pathways gained attention. These reactions give a shortcut during the important fuel consumption phase in combustion processes leading from H-atom abstraction directly to the beta-scission products without fuel radical thermalization. Methyl formate (MF) was shown to be prone to hot beta-scission due to a low beta-scission barrier height. Furthermore, MF as smallest methyl ester can be considered as biodiesel surrogate and it is an important intermediate product during combustion of various ethers. In this work a predominantly ab-initio derived detailed kinetic model of MF combustion is developed including hot beta-scission pathways and compared to a sophisticated literature model based on classical estimation methods. For this, new stoichiometric MF in air ignition delay time measurements in a shock tube and a rapid compression machine over a wide temperature range (790 K-1250 K) and pressures of 10, 20 and 40 bar served as validation targets. The experimental ignition delay times (IDT) show Arrhenius type behavior in both facilities at all conditions. The newly developed quantum-based model catches the pressure dependency and low-temperature reactivity well although overpredicting the IDT at higher temperatures. It was found that hot beta-scission is the major depletion pathway of formate group-centered MF radicals. This, however, does not change the overall reactivity of MF combustion due to the low stability of the alkyl peroxide (RO2) at the formate group. For species with competing thermal beta-scission and RO2 formation, however, hot beta-scission may have a significant impact. (C) 2018 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe