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Unlocking the full potential of pathology data by gaining computational access to histological pixel data and metadata (digital pathology) is one of the key promises of computational pathology. Despite scientific progress and several regulatory approvals for primary diagnosis using whole-slide imaging, true clinical adoption at scale is slower than anticipated. In the U.S., advances in digital pathology are often siloed pursuits by individual stakeholders, and to our knowledge, there has not been a systematic approach to advance the field through a regulatory science initiative. The Alliance for Digital Pathology ( the Alliance) is a recently established, volunteer, collaborative, regulatory science initiative to standardize digital pathology processes to speed up innovation to patients. The purpose is: (1) to account for the patient perspective by including patient advocacy; (2) to investigate and develop methods and tools for the evaluation of effectiveness, safety, and quality to specify risks and benefits in the precompetitive phase; (3) to help strategize the sequence of clinically meaningful deliverables; (4) to encourage and streamline the development of ground-truth data sets for machine learning model development and validation; and (5) to clarify regulatory pathways by investigating relevant regulatory science questions. The Alliance accepts participation from all stakeholders, and we solicit clinically relevant proposals that will benefit the field at large. The initiative will dissolve once a clinical, interoperable, modularized, integrated solution (from tissue acquisition to diagnostic algorithm) has been implemented. In times of rapidly evolving discoveries, scientific input from subject-matter experts is one essential element to inform regulatory guidance and decision-making. The Alliance aims to establish and promote synergistic regulatory science efforts that will leverage diverse inputs to move digital pathology forward and ultimately improve patient care.

We investigated an explanation for the length dependence of apparent wall slip in capillary and slit die experiments that had been implied in earlier studies. Firstly, we used a very long slit die fitted with six equidistant pressure transducers and an adjustable outlet. It was found that, all other parameters being equal, the impact of pressure on the flow behavior of suspensions was not different from the impact on the unfilled matrix fluid. Particle-related properties, such as apparent wall slip, were therefore not influenced by pressure as assumed by other authors. Secondly, we determined wall slip velocities by both the Mooney method and numerical simulation, based on an implementation of Phillips constitutive equation for particle migration. This led to a similar length dependence of wall slip as had been reported in an earlier work. We concluded that this was due to the transient nature of particle migration and its interrelationship with apparent wall slip, rather than an influence of pressure.

The reduced cross-section method (RCSM) is included in Eurocode 5 (EN-1995-1-2) for the design of timber members in fire conditions. The method considers the strength and stiffness reduction beneath the charred layer by adding an additional depth (known as the ‘zero-strength’ layer) to the charring depth. The zero-strength layer is one of the key parameters for the fire design of timber members. Recently, some concerns have been raised that the zero-strength layer might be non-conservative in some applications. This paper presents the background to the RCSM, followed by a short discussion on the mechanical assumptions, simplifications and possible limitations of the method itself. Further, it discusses determination of the zero-strength layer thickness for members in bending, tension and compression, and provides guidelines on the use of standard experimental tests to determine this quantity. For demonstration of the determination procedure, the results of fire tests in bending, tension and compression were analysed following the described procedure. Results show that the zero-strength layer exceeds the value used in practice, indicate that the method of Eurocode 5 may be non-conservative and should be revised.

Capillary forces are very important as they exceed in general other adhesion forces. But at the same time the exact calculation of these forces is very complex, so often assumptions and approximations are used. Previous research was done with regard to micrometer sized particles, but the behavior of nanoscale particles is different. Hence, the results for micrometer sized particles cannot be directly transferred when considering nanoscale particles. Therefore, a simulation method was developed to calculate numerically the shape of a rotationally symmetrical capillary bridge between two spherical particles or a particle and a plate. The capillary bridge in the gap between the particles is formed due to capillary condensation and is in thermodynamic equilibrium with the gas phase. Hence the Kelvin equation and the Young-Laplace equation can be used to calculate the profile of the capillary bridge, depending on the relative humidity of the surrounding air. The bridge profile consists of several elements that are determined consecutively and interpolated linearly. After the shape is determined, the volume and force, divided into capillary pressure force and surface tension force, can be calculated. The validation of this numerical model will be shown by comparison with several different analytical calculations for micrometer-sized particles. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that two often used approximations, (1) the toroidal approximation and (2) the use of an effective radius, cannot be used for nanoscale particles without remarkable mistake. It will be discussed how the capillary force and its components depend on different parameters, like particle size, relative humidity, contact angle, and distance, respectively. The rupture of a capillary bridge due to particle separation will also be presented.

Because of the large surface area of colloids interface effects are dominant in contrast to volume effects. The study presents experimental results of the direct transfer of magnetite nanoparticles from an aqueous to a non-miscible organic phase. The starting point is a water-based colloid that is synthesized through a precipitation reaction. The transfer is based on the adsorption of surfactants onto the particle surface at the liquid–liquid interface. While penetrating the liquid–liquid interface, the particles are covered with surfactants and a partial de-agglomeration is initiated. The intention is to produce a stable organic colloid, which has important applications in industry. The optimized process parameters for the successful phase transfer process, the adsorption reactions at the liquid–liquid interface and the stabilization of primary particles in the organic phase are demonstrated.

A two-phase biotransformation process for selective hydroxylation of n-octane to 1-octanol via Pseudomonas putida KT2440 harboring heterologously expressed P450 monooxygenase from Mycobacterium marinum is presented. Maximum cell-specific conversion rates of 12.7 mgoctanol gCDWh–1 were observed not only in shaking flasks but also in 3.7-L-bioreactor studies. The bioreactor experiments were performed avoiding explosive gas mixtures by lowering volumetric power input, aeration rates and substrate concentrations. Based on a stoichiometric network of P. putida KT2440 topological studies were carried out. As a conclusion, potential limitations of NAD(P)H and/or ATP supply at production conditions can be excluded. Hence, the great potential of the host for further increasing conversion is outlined.

Die Verwendung von Gitterstrukturen in additiv gefertigten Bauteilen ist eine Moglichkeit, Gewichtsreduzierung bei gleichbleibender Bauteilfestigkeit zu erreichen. Es wurden Sandwichstrukturen mit unterschiedlichen Zelltypen, Zellgrosen und Stegbreiten hergestellt und ausgewertet. Diese Sandwichstrukturen wurden einerseits bezuglich ihrer Herstellbarkeit untersucht, z. B. ob anhaftendes Pulver zwischen den Gitterstrukturen entfernt werden kann. Weiterhin wurden die mechanische Steifigkeit und Festigkeit der herstellbaren Strukturen durch Druck- und Vier-Punkt-Biegeversuche miteinander verglichen und daraus ein jeweiliges Leichtbaupotenzial abgeleitet. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit zeigen auf, welche Dimensionierung von Gitterstrukturen beim Lasersintern sinnvoll ist und welcher Einfluss durch veranderte Geometrieparameter zu erwarten ist.

Wall slip is a long-known phenomenon in the field of rheology. Nevertheless, the origin and the evolution are not completely clear yet. Regarding suspensions, the effect becomes even more complicated, because different mechanisms like pure slip or slip due to particle migration have to be taken into account. Furthermore, suspensions themselves show many flow anomalies and the isolation of slip is complicated. In order to develop working physical models, further insight is necessary. In this work, we measured experimentally the wall slip velocities of different highly filled suspensions in a rectangular slit die directly with respect to the particle concentration and the particle size. The slip velocities were obtained using a particle image velocimetry (PIV) system. The suspensions consisting of a castor oil–cinnamon oil blend and PMMA particles were matched in terms of refractive indexes to appear transparent. Hereby, possible optical path lengths larger than 15 mm were achieved. The slip velocities were found to be in a quadratic relation to the wall shear stress. Furthermore, the overall flow rate as well as the particle concentration has a direct influence on the slip. Concerning the shear stress, there seem to be two regions of slip with different physical characteristics. Furthermore, we estimated the slip layer thickness directly from the velocity profiles and propose a new interpretation. The PIV technique is used to investigate the viscosity and implicit the concentration profile in the slit die. It is shown that the particle migration process is quite fast.

The load resistance of timber members exposed to fire is determined from the uncharred residual cross section. Owing to elevated temperatures in parts of the residual cross section, the strength an...

Wood-Plastic-Composite (WPC) zeigen im Vergleich zu reinen Kunststoffen ein sehr unterschiedliches und uberaus komplexes Material- und Fliesverhalten. Letzteres ist fur die Verarbeitung der Composite von entscheidender Bedeutung. Im Folgenden werden die Ergebnisse rheologischer Charakterisierungen sowie einiger Untersuchungen zum Fullverhalten im Spritzgiesprozess dargestellt. Dabei werden auch auftretende Herausforderungen und mogliche Losungsansatze diskutiert. Wood-plastic composites (WPC) show a complex and completely different material and flow behavior in comparison to pure polymers. Especially the flow behavior is very important for the processing of these composites. In the following article results of rheological characterization and investigations of the filling behavior during the injection molding process are presented. Furthermore, appearing challenges and possible methods of resolution are discussed.

The sintering of vitreous nanoparticle doublets is investigated numerically by a volume of fluid method coupled to Hamaker summation and experimentally by a high-temperature sintering flow reactor as well as by doublet shape analysis in the transmission electron microscope. In particular, the characteristic differences between nanoparticulate and bulk sintering are studied. The sintering mechanism of vitreous nanoparticles is determined to be viscous flow with interparticle van der Waals interactions acting as additional driving force. The early stages of the nanoparticle sintering kinetics are inversely proportional to the square of the particle size, instead of an indirect proportionality to the first order of the particle size for the entire bulk process. The transition between nanoparticulate and bulk sintering is localised to primary particle diameters of approx. 200–300 nm.

SUMMARY In lightweight walls and floors, the load-bearing timber members are protected by cladding on the sides to form a divider between two fire compartments or to provide appropriate fire protection to the load-bearing members. The spaces between the timber members can be void or filled with insulation materials. Although a huge number of different insulation materials exist, the most commonly used material is mineral wool insulation. The existing design model for glass wool-insulated timber-frame constructions, given in European standard 1995-1-2, assumes collapse of the glass wool after failure of the cladding. However, a new form of glass wool insulation, suitable for use at high maximum service temperatures, is now available in the market. The charring phase after the cladding's failure is known as the post-protection phase. The behaviour of the new heat-resistant glass wool in the post-protection phase is similar to that of stone wool and considerably better than that of traditional glass wool. The protective properties of stone wool have changed over the last decades. Charring is one of the main parameters needed to calculate the resistance of a structure to fire. Based on experimental investigations, this paper describes the analysis of the effect of the insulation with regard to its ability to protect timber members against charring during the post-protection phase. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This work investigates the mechanisms which lead to the formation of silicon nanoparticles with narrow size distributions by means of population balance modeling. The model accounts for the full aerosol process, including chemical reaction, nucleation from supersaturated vapor, growth and agglomeration. The results are in good agreement with experimental data. The effects of the process parameters temperature, silane concentration and reactor total pressure are systematically investigated. The simulation allows an in-depth insight into the particle formation mechanism and reveals the key requirements which are necessary for the generation of narrow particle size distributions. In this mechanism, only a short nucleation burst occurs, while surface growth plays the dominant role in silane precursor consumption. A key role is attributed to condensation, because the numerical calculations can only reflect the experimental observations, if the condensation mechanism is included in the model.

A study on the feasibility of aerosol processing of nearly monodisperse silicon nanoparticles via pyrolysis of monosilane in a hot wall reactor is presented. For optimal conditions silicon nanoparticles with a geometric standard deviation of 1.06 were synthesized at a production rate of 0.7 g/h. The size of the particles could be precisely controlled in the range of 20–40 nm, whilst maintaining a geometric standard deviation in the range of 1.06–1.08, by proper choice of the governing parameters temperature, residence time and precursor concentration. The results show that narrow particle size distributions can only be obtained in the temperature range between 900 and 1100 °C, as long as both the initial silane concentration (1 mbar silane partial pressure) and the reactor total pressure are low (25 mbar). This regime for the production of narrow particle size distributions has not been identified in prior work on the thermal decomposition of silane. Narrowly distributed particles can be obtained under conditions where nucleation and particle growth are separated and the agglomeration rates are negligible.

In this paper, we consider a model for precipitation experiments based on the population balance equation. The study revealed a high sensitivity of the system with respect to the modeling of intrinsic parameters, motivating a comprehensive validation of the estimates. In the forward simulation the impact of the influencing parameters including surface energy, nucleus size and distribution is investigated. Subsequently we construct a simplified model of the precipitation process in such a way that it is orbitally flat in terms of control theory, which enables the inverse calculation of the parameters. The numerical results of the inverse simulation for the interfacial energy have been compared to a physical model. The possibility of solving the inverse problem provides a promising way of estimating hardly measurable quantities for more complex molecules.

In this work, a new model for the simulation of nanostructured aggregates by simultaneous coagulation, sintering and surface growth is presented. Coagulation is treated as cluster–cluster agglomeration along the line connecting the center of mass of both agglomerates and is implemented using a Monte Carlo algorithm. Sintering is modeled as successive overlapping of spheres which cause reduction in the surface area based on a rate law for surface reduction. Surface growth is modeled as an increase in primary particle diameter, e.g. as a result of surface reactions. The evolved aggregates are analyzed by calculating their fractal dimension, radius of gyration, mobility diameter and mobility shape factor. It is found that the aggregates structure tends to be more compact when introducing the surface growth in shorter time comparing to the coagulation-sintering step only. Fractal dimension and the mobility shape factor of the resulting aggregates are correlated to an effective dimensionless time that combines the characteristic times of these three fundamental mechanisms. It is shown that the mobility diameter in the free molecular regime is not proportional to the radius of gyration. A power law relation that correlates the aggregates projected area and the equivalent number of primary particles is found to be in a very good agreement with estimates published in literature.

To improve the understanding of the poor dispersability of fumed silica nanoparticle agglomerates, the stability of highly defined agglomerated model particles was investigated. The high temperature synthesis conditions for fumed silica were simulated by tempering. Along with electron-microscopical analysis of the sintering necks, the interparticle forces were investigated by energy resolved fragmentation analysis based on low pressure impaction. At temperatures above 1,000 °C the fragmentability of the agglomerates rapidly decreased while the energy necessary for fragmentation increased. The development of sintering necks was observed for temperatures exceeding 1,300 °C. Comparison of the experimental data with the fragmentation behaviour of a commercially produced fumed silica indicated solid state contacts (sintering necks) as being most numerous in the agglomerates resulting in limited fragmentability.

The study presents first experimental results of the transfer of magnetite nanoparticles from an aqueous to a second non-miscible non-aqueous liquid phase. The transfer is based on the adsorption of macromolecular surfactants onto the particle surface at the liquid–liquid interface. For a successful direct phase transfer, it is essential to have cations, like ammonium ions, present in the aqueous phase as well as a threshold concentration of surfactant in the organic liquid phase. While penetrating the liquid–liquid interface, the particles are covered with the surfactant and therefore a partial de-agglomeration is initiated. Based on literature and experimental data a mechanism of surfactant adsorption is proposed. The competing adsorption of the surfactant molecules at the liquid–liquid interface leads to the formation of emulsions and therefore to a hindrance for particles passing the interface. Nevertheless a high efficiency of 100% yield can be reached using optimized process parameters for the phase transfer process.

Modeling of particle deposition on adjacent walls is a key issue in various applications like separation or transport processes. The present paper focuses on the modeling of turbophoretic deposition of particles in the micron size range. The first step is to evaluate the important range where turbophoresis plays an important role in comparison to other mechanisms e.g. gravity or electrostatic separation. The disadvantages of commonly used models will be analyzed and overcome by implementing a more sophisticated approach considering damping of turbulent fluctuations in the wall-boundary layer. In contrast to previous work, commonly used turbulence models are applied to solve the mean flow field of the examples under consideration. The results will show a good prediction of particle deposition in comparison to experimental values [B.Y.H. Liu, J.K. Agarwal, Experimental observation of aerosol deposition in turbulent flow, Aerosol. Sci. 5 (1974) 145–155.] by using the advanced model.

WCTE 2016 e-book, ISBN:978-3-903024-35-9

The drag force on aggregates and partially sintered agglomerates is assessed using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and accelerated Stokesian dynamics (ASD). Both methods have been compared in terms of accuracy and computational effort. It is shown that they give comparable results if all numerical parameters are controlled carefully. LBM requires a much higher computational effort, however, in contrast to ASD it is able to simulate partially sintered agglomerates as well. The results show that even a very small amount of sintering leads to a significant reduction in the drag force. The analysis of the drag force on agglomerates as well as on aggregates shows that there is no simple geometric quantity which is uniquely related to the drag force. Moreover, there is a significant variation in drag force for single aggregates at different orientations or for the orientation averaged drag force of different aggregates of the same size. This is explained by the structural effects which may lead to a variation in the drag force up to +/-20%.

In the present work, an Euler–Lagrange approach has been applied to characterize the behavior of a heterogeneous cell population in a stirred-tank bioreactor with non-ideal mixing. It allows one to describe population behavior as the outcome of the interaction between the intracellular state of its individual cell and the turbulent flow field in the reactor. The modeling approach and the numerical method employed are based on an Euler–Lagrange formulation of the system combined with a fractional-step method to allow for a stable, accurate, and numerically efficient solution of the underlying equations. This strategy permits one to account for the heterogeneity present in real reactors in both the abiotic and biotic phases. The example of sugar uptake (phosphotransferase system, PTS) of E. coli cells growing in a fed-batch culture is used to illustrate the application of the approach. The activity of the uptake system depends on the local concentration of glucose as well as the ratio of the intracellular concentrations of phosphoenolpyruvate and pyruvate, which in turn is a function of the history of the individual cell. The simulation results point to distinct differences in the viability of the cells at different scale of operation.

Die Modellierung der wandnahen Bereiche bei der Simulation von Zweiphasenstromungen spielt in der Praxis eine entscheidende Rolle, wenn erwunschter oder unerwunschter Transport der dispersen Phase zu einer Oberflache bedeutend ist. Zweiphasenstromungen mit einer dispersen Phase werden heutzutage haufig mit dem Euler-Lagrange-Verfahren in modernen CFD-Codes simuliert. Im Folgenden wird darauf eingegangen werden, wie solche Berechnungen in kommerziellen CFD-Codes durchgefuhrt werden.

Nanoparticle precipitation is an interesting process to generate particles with tailored properties. In this study we investigate the impact of various process steps such as solid formation, mixing and agglomeration on the resulting particle size distribution (PSD) as representative property using barium sulfate as exemplary material. Besides the experimental investigation, process simulations were carried out by solving the full 1D population balance equation coupled to a model describing the micromixing kinetics based on a finite-element Galerkin h-p-method. This combination of population balance and micromixing model was applied successfully to predict the influence of mixing on mean sizes (good quantitative agreement between experimental data and simulation results are obtained) and gain insights into nanoparticle precipitation: The interfacial energy was identified to be a critical parameter in predicting the particle size, poor mixing results in larger particles and the impact of agglomeration was found to increase with supersaturation due to larger particle numbers. Shear-induced agglomeration was found to be controllable through the residence time in turbulent regions and the intensity of turbulence, necessary for intense mixing but undesired due to agglomeration. By this approach, however, the distribution width is underestimated which is attributed to the large spectrum of mixing histories of fluid elements on their way through the mixer. Therefore, an improved computational fluid dynamics-based approach using direct numerical simulationwith a Lagrangian particle trackingstrategy is applied in combination with the coupled population balance–micromixing approach. We found that the full DNS-approach, coupled to the population balance and micromixing model is capable of predicting not only the mean sizes but the full PSD in nanoparticle precipitation. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Simulation results on the evolution of aggregate structure in aerosol processes with coagulation and sintering as the dominant mechanisms are presented. A model for simulation of the three-dimensional morphology of nano-structured aggregates formed by concurrent coagulation and sintering is applied. The model is based on a stochastic diffusion controlled cluster–cluster aggregation algorithm and sintering is modeled as a successive overlapping of spherical primary particles, which are allowed to grow in order to maintain mass conservation. This leads to computer simulated structured aggregates which are then subject to evaluation. Two different methods to determine the fractal dimension are presented which give comparable results. It is shown that even very small particles show the same fractal behavior. Furthermore, equilibrium structures assuming a constant ratio of the characteristic collision time to the characteristic fusion time are considered as well as the kinetics of structural changes due to a change in the ambient conditions.

Human body odor is to a large part determined by secretions of glands in the axillary regions. Two key odoriferous principles, 3-methylhex-2-enoic acid (3MH2; 4/5) and 3-hydroxy-3-methylhexanoic acid (HMHA; 6) have been shown to be released from glutamine conjugates secreted in the axilla by a specific N(alpha)-acyl-glutamine aminoacylase (N-AGA) obtained from axilla isolates of Corynebacteria sp. However, the low number of different odorants reported in humans stands in contrast to the observed high inter-individual variability in body odors. Axilla secretions of individual donors were, therefore, analyzed in detail. The secretions were treated with N-AGA, analyzed by GC/MS, and compared to undigested controls. Over 28 different carboxylic acids were released by this enzyme from odorless axilla secretions (Table 1). Many of these body odorants have not been reported before from a natural source, and they include several aliphatic 3-hydroxy acids with 4-Me branches, 3,4-unsaturated, 4-Et-branched aliphatic acids, and a variety of degradation products of amino acids. The odor threshold of some of the acids was found to be in the range of 1 ng. Most of these compounds were present in all donors tested, but in highly variable relative amounts, and they are, thus, candidate molecules as key components of a 'compound odor' determining the individual types of human body odor.

This work investigates the effects of reduced accessible surface area of aggregate particles and of surface energy on relevant particle formation and growth mechanisms during titania formation from the vapour phase at industrial process conditions. Growth due to surface reaction and due to condensation is related to the fraction of the surface area that is exposed to the collision with single molecules. Surface shielding is found to hamper surface reaction and condensation once fractal aggregates start to form. It leads to significantly retarded precursor consumption and produces aggregate particles, which consist of more, but smaller primary particles. Surface energy data are varied within a range as proposed by available literature data. Moderate and high surface energy values result in a thermodynamic barrier to the formation of new particles and are shown to reduce the formation of seed particles by several orders of magnitude. This leads to the formation of aggregate particles which consist of a rather small number of primary particles and mainly grow by surface reaction. The primary contribution of condensation to growth of individual primary particles is shown to be very little. However, condensation should not be neglected as it has a strong impact on particle formation rates and hence on product characteristics such as the number of primary particles and primary particle size.

Axillary odor is known since 50 years to be formed upon the action of Corynebacteria on odorless axilla secretions, but the nature of the bacterial enzymes involved in this process remained a mystery. We identified the known axilla odor determinant 3-methyl-2-hexenoic acid in hydrolyzed axilla secretions along with a new, chemically related compound, 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-hexanoic acid. The natural, odorless precursors of both these acids were purified from non-hydrolyzed fresh axilla secretions. The malodorous acids were shown to be covalently linked to a glutamine residue in fresh axilla secretions. Corynebacteria, but not Staphylococci, isolated from the axilla were found to release the acids from these precursors in vitro. A Zn(2+) -dependent aminoacylase mediating this cleavage was then purified from Corynebacterium striatum Ax20 and the corresponding gene agaA was cloned and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. Based on these biochemical findings, novel approaches in research on axilla malodor control are presented: (a) With a new test method using the isolated Corynebacteria and their enzymatic activity, the direct malodor-controlling activity of existing cosmetic ingredients was evaluated. (b) The structure of the natural malodor precursor was modified by replacing the malodor acid with fragrance molecules. These new fragrance precursors were shown to be cleaved by the same aminoacylase.

This work investigates effects of reduced accessible surface area of aggregate particles and surface energy on titania particle formation and growth. It is taken into consideration that surface-related growth mechanisms, i.e. surface reaction and condensation, are limited to the fraction of the surface area of primary particles which is exposed to the collision with single molecules. Surface energy data determine the critical particle size with respect to evaporation and values are varied within the published range. This implies to develop a model which considers “surface shielding” and accounts for the formation of stable clusters from a supersaturated vapour due to nucleation and condensation besides considering the generation of monomers due to chemical reaction, growth due to surface reaction, agglomeration and sintering. Taking the accessible surface area into account is found out to be especially important if agglomerates contain a large number of primary particles or if agglomerate structure is rather compact. In this case, precursor consumption and primary particle growth turn out to be significantly retarded. Surface energy data are shown to be decisive with respect to the thermodynamic barrier to the formation of particles, thus to active particle formation and growth mechanisms, besides affecting sintering kinetics. Elevated surface energy data typically retard precursor consumption and favour primary particle growth.

A high-temperature short residence time flow reactor system has been realized for the investigation of the gas phase sintering kinetics of nanoparticles separated from all other synthesis mechanisms, e.g., chemical reaction, nucleation, coagulation and condensation. Major components are a hot-wall tubular reactor for the production of unsintered aggregates consisting of spherical primary particles in the size range 10–80 nm and a sintering reactor for the investigation of the sintering kinetics at well-defined temperature and residence time history. Therefore, rapid heating and quenching of the particles at the beginning and at the end of the reaction zone, respectively, is maintained. Main parameters in the sintering reactor are: temperatures up to 1873 K and residence times in the range 8–1000 ms. The reactor conditions are characterized by temperature profile measurements with a newly constructed suction thermocouple probe and by computational fluid dynamics simulations of the residence time distributi...

This paper examines the validity of the linlog approach, which was recently developed in our laboratory, by comparison of two different kinetic models for the metabolic network of Escherichia coli. The first model is a complete mechanistic model; the second is an approximative model in which linlog kinetics are applied. The parameters of the linlog model (elasticities) are derived from the mechanistic model. Three different optimization cases are examined. In all cases, the objective is to calculate the enzyme levels that maximize a certain flux while keeping the total amount of enzyme constant and preventing large changes of metabolite concentrations. For an average variation of metabolite levels of 10% and individual changes of a factor 2, the predicted enzyme levels, metabolite concentrations and fluxes of both models are highly similar. This similarity holds for changes in enzyme level of a factor 4-6 and for changes in fluxes up to a factor 6. In all three cases, the predicted optimal enzyme levels could neither have been found by intuition-based approaches, nor on basis of flux control coefficients. This demonstrates that kinetic models are essential tools in Metabolic Engineering. In this respect, the linlog approach is a valuable extension of MCA, since it allows construction of kinetic models, based on MCA parameters, that can be used for constrained optimization problems and are valid for large changes of metabolite and enzyme levels.

Human axillary odor is known to be formed upon the action of Corynebacteria sp. on per se odorless axilla secretions. Besides the known odoriferous acids, we report the occurrence in human axilla secretions of four odoriferous sulfanylalkanols, namely 3-sulfanylhexan-1-ol (3), 2-methyl-3-sulfanylbutan-1-ol (4), 3-sulfanylpentan-1-ol (5), and 3-methyl-3-sulfanylhexan-1-ol (6). These compounds have a pungent sweat/kitchen odor, also reminiscent of onions with some fruity connotations, and perception thresholds in the pg/l range. It was postulated that the odorless precursors for these compounds are cysteine conjugates. Bacterial isolates obtained from the human axilla and belonging to the Corynebacteria were, indeed, found to have the enzymatic capacity to release various thiols from cysteine conjugates. The metC gene, which is known to code for a cystathione-beta-lyase, was cloned from the axilla isolate Corynebacterium striatum Ax20 and heterologously expressed in E. coli. The pure recombinant enzyme cleaves various cysteine conjugates and has a similar substrate specificity as the cell homogenates of the wild-type. The recombinant enzyme was finally incubated with odorless axilla secretions and shown to release odoriferous thiols.

A simulation method is applied to calculate particle dynamics in electrostatic precipitators as characterised by particle flux density and concentration profiles in arbitrary channel cross-sections and flux density profiles of dust precipitated at the collecting electrodes (CEs). A simple statistical model allows the determination of confidence intervals for flux profiles. First, a ‘standard case’ considering full coupling of all physical phenomena occurring in this problem, i.e., electric field, flow field and particle dynamics is simulated. Subsequently, this standard case is compared to simulations with one quantity (e.g., electric field strength, turbulence intensity) substituted by a mean value which is homogeneously distributed in the precipitation zone. This reveals the relevance of the various physical phenomena: It turned out that the secondary flows had only a minor influence on the overall particle precipitation although they cause some ‘patterning’ of local precipitation. Turbulence inhomogeneity shows a stronger effect on particle dynamics. However, the electric field appears to be by far the most important quantity in simulating particle dynamics. Consequently, in order to achieve most reasonable simulation results for a given numerical effort most attention has to be devoted to field calculations, including correct boundary conditions.

A population balance model is presented, which tracks particle growth in the gas phase and accounts for simultaneous agglomeration and sintering: Simulations reveal the evolution of the full distribution of a volume equivalent diameter and, amongst others, the evolution of the agglomerate collision diameter, a mean primary particle size and the number of primary particles per agglomerate. Furthermore, assuming fractal behaviour of the growing agglomerate particles—for the 7rst time—a model for the evolution of a mean value of the fractal dimension based on physical and process parameters is proposed and incorporated into the simulation model. PARSIVAL, a commercial solver for integro-di;erential equations is employed to solve the equations involved. It is based on a generalised 7nite-element scheme with self-adaptive grid- and order construction. Calculations are performed to validate the model against monodisperse and sectional models published in literature for the exemplary case of Si production. The results are in good agreement if the same simplifying assumptions are made. However, results obtained from the new model for both—isothermal and non-isothermal process conditions—clearly show that it is important to consider the changing fractal dimension in many cases. ? 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rasche technologische Entwicklungen haben fur Chemieingenieure bzw. Verfahrenstechniker neue Beschaftigungsmoglichkeiten eroffnet, wodurch sich zusatzliche Anforderungen an die Ausbildung ergeben. Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt die Losungsansatze im Fachgebiet der Partikeltechnik: Es findet eine noch starkere Betonung der Grundlagen statt, wobei Beispiele aus klassischen und neuen Anwendungen exemplarisch vertieft werden. Kernpunkt des Curriculums sind die Produkteigenschaften. Besonderes Gewicht wird auserdem auf die Betrachtung ganzer Prozesse gelegt. Die Vorlesungen sind in drei Ebenen strukturiert: Grundlagen, Grundoperationen und Prozesse/Anwendungen. Methodisch wird ein zweifacher Ansatz verfolgt: Die Lehre der grundlegenden Fakten wird erganzt durch eine aktive Teilnahme der Studenten, insbesondere bei der Erarbeitung von Beispielen und in Labor- bzw. Rechnerpraktika. Durch eine ganzheitliche Sicht der Universitatsausbildung sollen auch „soft skills“ gefordert werden. Mechanical Process Engineering as an Example for Educational Challenges Due to rapid technological developments new opportunities for chemical engineers evolved leading to additional demands in education. The present article describes how this challenge is faced in the subject particle technology: Fundamentals are emphasised even more, with exemplary treatment of classical as well as new applications. Key item of the curriculum is the product property approach. Furthermore, the view of complete processes is emphasised. The courses are structured in three levels: Fundamentals, Unit Operations and Processes/Applications. From the methodological point of view a twofold approach is used: Teaching the fundamentals is complemented by an active participation of the students in working on examples and application problems as well as lab and virtual experiments. By following an integrated view of university education also soft skills of students are promoted.

Human axillary odor is known to be formed upon the action of Corynebacteria sp. on odorless axilla secretions. The known axilla odor determinant 3-methyl-2-hexenoic acid was identified in hydrolyzed axilla secretions along with a chemically related compound, 3-hydroxy-3-methylhexanoic acid. The natural precursors of both these acids were purified from non-hydrolyzed axilla secretions. From liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis, it appeared that the acids are covalently linked to a glutamine residue in fresh axilla secretions, and the corresponding conjugates were synthesized for confirmation. Bacterial isolates obtained from the human axilla and belonging to the Corynebacteria were found to release the acids from these odorless precursors in vitro. A Zn(2+)-dependent aminoacylase mediating this cleavage was purified from Corynebacterium striatum Ax20, and the corresponding gene agaA was cloned and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. The enzyme is highly specific for the glutamine residue but has a low specificity for the acyl part of the substrate. agaA is closely related to many genes coding for enzymes involved in the cleavage of N-terminal acyl and aryl substituents from amino acids. This is the first report of the structure elucidation of precursors for human body odorants and the isolation of the bacterial enzyme involved in their cleavage.

During an attempt to prove that the Java-to-JVM compiler generates code that is accepted by the bytecode verifier, we found examples of legal Java programs that are rejected by the verifier. We propose therefore to restrict the rules of definite assignment for the try-finally statement as well as for the labeled statement so that the example programs are no longer allowed. Then we can prove, using the framework of Abstract State Machines, that each program from the slightly restricted Java language is accepted by the Bytecode Verifier. In the proof we use a new notion of bytecode type assignment without subroutine call stacks.

Powder ageing effects due to thermal load usually lead to a limited recyclability of unmolten polyamide 12 powders in the laser sintering process. In this work, the recycling optimized material PA 2221 is analyzed regarding its ageing behavior along a series of more than ten build/refresh cycles using a refresh ratio of about 30%. Thereby, the melt viscosity is measured before and after every cycle and the “steady-state” condition is determined accordingly. In addition, the material properties of parts manufactured with PA 2221 are discussed dependent on different process parameters and compared to parts made of standard PA 2200 material with a refresh rate of about 50%. These parameters include the mechanical properties as well as for example the impact strength and geometrical properties as function of layer thickness and testing temperature. As a result, the optimal process conditions and achievable material properties for PA 2221 can be derived from this work.

15 páginas, 2 tablas, 6 figuras.-- Alejandro F. Villaverde ... et al.-- This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated., [Background] Dynamic modelling is one of the cornerstones of systems biology. Many research efforts are currently being invested in the development and exploitation of large-scale kinetic models. The associated problems of parameter estimation (model calibration) and optimal experimental design are particularly challenging. The community has already developed many methods and software packages which aim to facilitate these tasks. However, there is a lack of suitable benchmark problems which allow a fair and systematic evaluation and comparison of these contributions., [Results] Here we present BioPreDyn-bench, a set of challenging parameter estimation problems which aspire to serve as reference test cases in this area. This set comprises six problems including medium and large-scale kinetic models of the bacterium E. coli, baker’s yeast S. cerevisiae, the vinegar fly D. melanogaster, Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, and a generic signal transduction network. The level of description includes metabolism, transcription, signal transduction, and development. For each problem we provide (i) a basic description and formulation, (ii) implementations ready-to-run in several formats, (iii) computational results obtained with specific solvers, (iv) a basic analysis and interpretation., [Conclusions] This suite of benchmark problems can be readily used to evaluate and compare parameter estimation methods. Further, it can also be used to build test problems for sensitivity and identifiability analysis, model reduction and optimal experimental design methods. The suite, including codes and documentation, can be freely downloaded from the BioPreDyn-bench website, https://​sites.​google.​com/​site/​biopredynbenchma​rks/​., This work was supported by the EU project “BioPreDyn” (EC FP7-KBBE-2011-5, grant number 289434). We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

The emphasis of the study presented is on a new process of particle extraction to transfer magnetite nanoparticles from an aqueous into an immiscible organic phase directly through the liquid-liquid interface. For the production of high-quality organosols, stabilized colloidal and functionalized particles are required in a liquid organic phase. The mechanism of phase transfer is initiated by adsorption and chemical binding of surfactants (fatty acids) at the particle surface. The resulting physico-chemical dispersion of the hydrophobically modified particles leads to the formation of the stabilized organic colloid, or organosol. The aim here is to demonstrate the entire chain of the transfer process in a continuous miniplant, which comprises particle synthesis, conditioning, and transfer, and which uses a drop column for extraction and as a transfer device. Based on the investigation of the governing principles and the material parameters, the results obtained for the transfer kinetics in the individual contact devices (centrifuge, single-drop column, and drop column for different operations) are used for the dimensioning of the entire process chain.

In Unternehmen liegen viele Daten heutzutage immer seltener vollstandig an einem einzigen physikalischen Ort vor, sondern sind weltweit verteilt. Dies liegt zum einen an der immer besser gewordenen Infrastruktur, die eine solche Verteilung auf einfache Art und Weise ermoglicht, und zum anderen an der Tatsache, dass viele Unternehmen weltweit tatig sind. So fallen Daten weltweit an, werden aber jeweils lokal - vor Ort - gespeichert. Daher mussen oft mehrere Datenquellen genutzt werden, um einen aktuellen, vollstandigen und genauen Uberblick uber die vorhandenen Daten zu gewinnen. Datenintegration hilft, indem sie Daten aus mehreren Quellen zusammenfuhrt und einheitlich darstellt. Diese integrierten Daten konnen genutzt werden, um sich einen Uberblick uber das Unternehmen zu verschaffen, z.B. wenn Unternehmen fusionieren und nur noch eine Kundendatenbank bestehen bleiben soll, oder wenn zu einem Kunden die Daten aus den verschiedenen Fachabteilungen zusammengefuhrt werden sollen. Anhand eines solchen Beispiels, der Integration von Kundendaten zu Kfz- und Lebensversicherungen erlautern wir im Folgenden einzelne Techniken.