Search

Das Ziel des Forschungsprojekts „ProSize“ war es, die Einflüsse der Hybridgarneigenschaften wie die Schneidbarkeit und die elektrostatische Aufladung auf die Verarbeitbarkeit im Faserspritzprozess zu identifizieren und zu quantifizieren, um basierend auf diesen Erkenntnissen simultan gesponnene Glasfaser / Polyamid-6.6(GF / PA 6.6)-Hybridgarne mit angepassten Schlichterezepturen zu entwickeln. Durch die Zusammenarbeit des IPF und des IKV konnten Hybridgarne entwickelt werden, die speziell für die Verarbeitung im Faserspritzprozess ausgelegt sind, um Inhomo­genitäten des lokalen Flächengewichts und der Faserorientierung im Preform auf ein zulässiges Maß zu reduzieren.

Resin injection pultrusion gains increasing attention as it enables the use of highly reactive resins and resins sensitive to environmental conditions, while also decreasing the emission of harmful volatile organic compounds. Nevertheless, a comprehensive understanding of the flow field based on the geometric characteristics within open injection boxes is lacking due to a multitude of interdependent parameters. In this research, a novel setup for an experimental evaluation of the flow field in injection pultrusion practically is proposed. The setup consists of a full size, two-dimensionally tapered, transparent injection box that is installed within a pultrusion line and is operated with non-reactive fluids. Investigations are conducted with two different guide plate setups. Pulling forces and filling degree are evaluated for four pulling speeds, four fiber volume fractions and for four fluids. The non-reactive fluids are three grades of sucrose solution and Mesamoll with viscosities ranging from 13 to 246 mPa.s.Obtained pulling forces correlate linearly with the product of viscosity and pulling speed. Better fiber wettability properties and additional fiber guiding plates result in lower pulling forces. Backflow fill length displays an asymptotic correlation to pulling forces, indicating different governing mechanisms for these two phenomena. Backflow fill length corresponds directly with resin residence time, which ranges from about 10 to 3 min. The results indicate the possibility of manipulating pressure build-up and resin residence time separately, which would enable tailoring injection box cavity geometries systematically to a specific profile.

At the Aachen Centre for Integrative Lightweight Production (AZL) of RWTH Aachen University a new double belt press with inductive heating and elastomer-coated pressure rollers has been developed and optimised within industrial AZL joint partner research projects. This machine system is patented by the AZL and available for industrial trials and also as commercial product in license. This new machine concept enables an efficient, continuous pressing process in a small installation space. The induction allows for a rapid heating of the steel belt material up to 300 °C and the elastomer pressure rollers enable surface contact during pressure application. The double belt press differs from conventional systems as it uses closed-loop controlled inductive heat input and high-temperature resistant elastomer-coated rollers for applying specific pressures up to 23 bar at maximum process temperatures up to 300 °C (current development for up to 400 °C). In extensive trials with several partners from the AZL partner network and external companies, the machine has proven to be efficient for consolidating thermoplastic composite laminates as well as for impregnating both thermoset and thermoplastic composite laminates.

Polymer composites (2022). doi:10.1002/pc.26479, Published by Society of Plastic Engineers, Brookfield, Conn.

To explore options for simple, safe, and compact chemical reactors that preserve wanted metastable initial products from sequential unwanted reactions, academic and industrial researchers have tried to repurpose reciprocating piston equipment or an “engine-like” design to be used as a chemical reactor. Piston reactors offer the benefit of achieving very high temperature and pressure conditions at very short and defined residence times. Such conditions offer promise for enhanced performance for several chemical conversions. This paper provides a review of the published literature and patents in the field of piston reactors to provide an overview of the current state-of-the-art. The review covers multiple aspects of piston reactors and their applications, reactor design options and their operation, catalyst and ignition placement, tested reactions, experimental setups as well as modeling and simulation. Several research gaps are highlighted as a motivation for future research in the field. To help interested readers into the topic, basic concepts and fundamentals of piston reactors are provided.

This paper examines the relation between crowd support and home advantage in men’s professional football in making use of a unique “natural experiment” induced by restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic: the so-called ghost games in the top three German football divisions at the end of the 2019/2020 season. We find that there is a reduced home advantage in the first division, whereas no change is observed in the second and third divisions. Our regression analysis indicates that the decrease in the home advantage and the heterogeneity across divisions are not sensitive to a variety of performance, location, and team covariates and are best explained through the lower occupancy rate in the stadia. Hence, the decrease in occupancy to zero at the ghost games has been less dramatic for teams that have been used to low occupancy rates. We cannot find strong evidence for a change in referee behavior or teams’ tactics as main impact channels of occupancy rates on the home advantage. Hence, we argue that psychological reasons are of higher importance.

Auch wenn Fundraising heute in vielen Einrichtungen der Sozialwirtschaft eine eher untergeordnete Rolle spielt, wird die Bedeutung größer werden – das zeigen die aktuellen Entwicklungen in der Gesundheitswirtschaft. Immerhin verspricht Fundraising nicht nur die Möglichkeit der Ausdifferenzierung gegenüber anderen Anbietern, sondern auch die Aufrechterhaltung von Leistungen bei erwartungsgemäß zurückgehendem öffentlichem Engagement. Damit stellt sich die Frage, mit welchen Kennzahlen der Erfolg im Fundraising sinnvollerweise gemessen wird.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) are a well-known risk-factor for depression. Additionally, (high-sensitive) C-reactive Protein (hsCRP) is elevated in subgroups of depressed patients and high following ACE. In this context the literature considers hsCRP and ACE to be associated with treatment resistant depression. With the data being heterogenous, this study aimed to explore the associations of ACE, hsCRP levels and response to antidepressant treatment in uni- and bipolar depression. N = 76 patients diagnosed with uni- or bipolar depression and N = 53 healthy controls were included. Treatment was over 6 weeks in an inpatient psychiatric setting within an observatory study design. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), ACE were assessed by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ); the body-mass-index (BMI) and hsCRP were measured. HsCRP levels did not differ between the study population and the healthy controls. While the depressive symptoms decreased, the hsCRP levels increased. Sexual abuse was associated with significant higher and emotional abuse with lower levels of hsCRP after 6 weeks. The baseline hsCRP levels and the ACE subgroups did not show significant associations with the treatment response in unipolar depressed patients. The long-lasting effects of specific forms of ACE may have relevant impact on inflammation, supporting hsCRP to be a suitable biomarker. With ACE and hsCRP not showing any significant associations with treatment response in the unipolar depressed subgroup, a more differentiate research concerning biomarkers and treatment regimens is needed when talking about treatment response.

Steadily increasing production cost in the paper industry require more efficient resource allocation and utilization of recycled materials and the use of renewable materials and additives to become more environmentally friendly. With this project, 100 g/m² TAPPI handsheets from industrial processed OCC fiber material were produced, without starch and starch in cooked and uncooked form, air-dried at 23°C and contact-dried at 120°C. Starch addition levels were 6.0, 18.0 and 24.0 kg/mt (12.0, 36.0, and 48.0 lbs./st) for pearl and cationic starch, and 2.0, 6.0 and 8.0 kg/mt (4.0, 12.0, and 16.0 lbs./st) for tapioca starch. Fines were measured with a Britt Jar devise having a 75 μm (200 mesh) screen. The highest tensile index improvement of 35.71% for uncooked tapioca starch at an addition rate of 16 lbs./st. The highest tear index improvement of 1.86% was for pearl starch at an addition rate of 12 lbs./st for the cooked & contact dried application. The highest burst index improvement of the produced handsheets was for uncooked & contact dried cationic starch at an addition rate of 12 lbs./st with an improvement of 21.49%. Application of pearl starch showed the largest difference in fines content at the 12 lbs./st and 48 lbs./st of fiber concentrations, reducing the fines content by 22.2% and 24.7% based on solids content respectively. Pearl starch outperformed cationic and tapioca starch products and showed the highest potential for fiber savings and net profit value.

Level of personality functioning and attachment style as predictors of the successful referral to outpatient psychotherapyObjectives: Outpatient psychotherapy is a key element in the effective treatment of mental health problems. First results suggest that interpersonal problems lead to difficulties in receiving outpatient psychotherapeutic treatment. The relationship between these difficulties, attachment style, and the level of personality functioning is still unclear. Methods: We invited 1011 patients of a psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic university outpatient clinic to participate in the study. The clinical diagnoses according to ICD-10, as well as symptoms of depression (PHQ-D), and quality of life (SF-36) were recorded. Hypothesized predictors for the successful referral to outpatient therapy were patient age, availability of local outpatient treatment, number of ICD-10 diagnoses, the motivation for psychotherapy (FPTM), fear of stigmatization (Stig-9), level of personality functioning (OPD-SQ), and attachment style (ECR-RD). Results: We were able to catamnestically reassess n = 300 patients (67.3 % of patients initially referred to outpatient therapy). A smaller number of clinical diagnoses, greater availability of psychotherapeutic care and higher therapy motivation, as well as a lower level of personality functioning predicted the successful referral to outpatient psychotherapy, while the combination of impaired personality functioning and avoidant attachment style was a negative predictor. Conclusions: Contrary to expectations, patients with a lower level of personality functioning are more successful in receiving outpatient psychotherapy. However, patients with a combination of impaired personality functioning and a high degree of attachment avoidance run the risk of not asserting their need for treatment.

The new UItra-Fast Consolidator Machine development offers both high flexibility and mass production of tailored thermoplastic laminates with reduced scrap. The machine system can be configurated to achieve fully consolidated multi-layer laminates with different fiber directions and minimized scrap (thermoplastic tailored blanks) produced in cycle times below 5 seconds. This individualized mass production is accomplished by a combination of laser-assisted tape placement with in-situ consolidation and a piece-flow principle, which is state of the art in the printing industry but has not been used in such a way within composite production. The achievable productivity is enhanced to more than 500 kg/hour by this piece-flow principle with carriers moved through multiple application stations which are equipped with multiple tape placement applicators. The new machine is scalable: multiple application stations can be added, e.g. for each layer one station for mass production or for each fiber direction one station with a carrier-conveyor carousel: here the carriers are moved multiple times through the application stations. This innovative machine system is a result of an 18-months AZL Joint Partner Project, conducted in 2017-2018 by the research partners AZL Aachen and Fraunhofer IPT Aachen, in cooperation with 12 industrial partner companies including Conbility, Covestro, Engel, Evonik, Fagor Arrasate, Faurecia SE, Laserline, Mitsui Chemicals, Mubea Carbo Tech, Philips Photonics, SSDT and Toyota (in alphabetical order). The system won the international JEC Innovation AWARD 2019 in the category “Industry & Equipment”.

The resilience of indoor localization systems is a main concern of their industrial application. A combination of different techniques can enhance the overall robustness of such systems. In this work, we present fusion possibilities of coarse Bluetooth Low Energy localization based on the received signal strength indicator and the finer ultrasound time difference of arrival (TDOA) technique. This approach offers the advantage to robustify the high-accuracy ultrasonic localization in areas with non-optimal coverage. Moreover, the data fusion enables to enhance the overall localization area in a cost effective manner. This contribution proposes and evaluates (i) novel methods of how the ultrasonic system can be extended to a constrained area and (ii) a novel possibility to incorporate available Bluetooth signal strength information in the TDOA algorithm to improve accuracy.

Blast loading scenarios and the corresponding hazards have to be evaluated for infrastructure elements and buildings especially at industrial sites for safety and security issues. Point fixed corrugated metal sheets are often applied as façade elements and can become a hazard for humans if they are pulled off. This paper investigates the dynamic bearing capacity of such structural members in terms of their general bending behavior in the middle of the span and pull-out behaviors at the fixing points. The elements are fixed at two sides and the load transfer is uniaxial. An experimental series with static and dynamic tests forms the basis to identify the predominant failure modes and to quantify the maximum stress values that can be absorbed until the investigated structural members fail. The experimental findings are applied to create and to optimize an engineering model for the fast and effective assessment of the structural response. The aim is the derivation of a validated model which is capable to predict the blast loading behavior of metal sheets including arbitrary dimensions, material properties, and screw connections. Results of this study can be integrated into a systematic risk and resilience management process to assess expected damage effects and the evaluation of robustness.

Die Corona-Pandemie hat vieles geändert. Auch beim Fundraising müssen Konzepte überarbeitet und neue Antworten gefunden werden, meint Dr. Kai Fischer von Mission-Based Consulting und er hält dafür vier Erkenntnisse bereit: Solidarität funktioniert; Beziehungen sind entscheidend; auf die »richtigen« Spender kommt es an; Kommunikation auch im Fundraising digitalisieren.

Allen Sondereffekten wie bei Katastrophen zum Trotze, zeigen sich beunruhigende Effekte beim Spenden. Insbesondere das Weben langfristiger Bindungen braucht neue Konzepte. Sofortige oder möglichst schnelle Reaktionen sowie einfache und intuitive Zugänglichkeit aller Informationen werden heute erwartet.

During the production of unidirectional fibre-reinforced thermoplastic semi-finished products (UD-tapes) in melt-impregnation processes, parameters such as melt viscosity, production speed and impregnation die setup have a significant influence on the quality of the produced UD-tapes. These influences are investigated in this article by producing UD-tapes in an extrusion-based melt-impregnation process with varying impregnation parameters. To quantify the homogeneity of the fibre distribution, a method is presented and applied, in which microscopic cross-sectional images of the UD-tapes are analysed and a homogeneity coefficient is calculated. The porosity is also determined by analysing microscopic cross-sectional images of the UD-tapes. The results show that a decreased melt viscosity and a high number of redirection elements in the die have a positive influence on the homogeneity of the fibre distribution. Furthermore, a significant influence of the melt viscosity, the production speed and the die setup on the porosity was proved.

We discuss two methods to detect the presence and location of a person in an acoustically small-scale room and compare the performances for a simulated person in distances between 1 and 2 m. The first method is Direct Intersection, which determines a coordinate point based on the intersection of spheroids defined by observed distances of high-intensity reverberations. The second method, Sonogram analysis, overlays all channels’ room impulse responses to generate an intensity map for the observed environment. We demonstrate that the former method has lower computational complexity that almost halves the execution time in the best observed case, but about 7 times slower in the worst case compared to the Sonogram method while using 2.4 times less memory. Both approaches yield similar mean absolute localization errors between 0.3 and 0.9 m. The Direct Intersection method performs more precise in the best case, while the Sonogram method performs more robustly.

Polymer engineering & science (2021). doi:10.1002/pen.25649, Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ

Organizational and technical approaches have proven successful in increasing the performance and preventing risks at socio-technical systems at all scales. Nevertheless, damaging events are often unavoidable due to a wide and dynamic threat landscape and enabled by the increasing complexity of modern systems. For overall performance and risk control at the system level, resilience can be a versatile option, in particular for reducing resources needed for system development, maintenance, reuse, or disposal. This paper presents a framework for a resilience assessment and management process that builds on existing risk management practice before, during, and after potential and real events. It leverages tabular and matrix correlation methods similar as standardized in the field of risk analysis to fulfill the step-wise resilience assessment and management for critical functions of complex systems. We present data needs for the method implementation and output generation, in particular regarding the assessment of threats and the effects of counter measures. Also included is a discussion of how the results contribute to the advancement of functional risk control and resilience enhancement at system level as well as related practical implications for its efficient implementation. The approach is applied in the domains telecommunication, gas networks, and indoor localization systems. Results and implications are further discussed.

Introduction: The Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) was developed for the treatment of persistent depressive disorder (PDD), where comorbid personality disorders (PD) are common. In contrast to other PD, comorbid borderline personality disorder (BPD) is often regarded as an exclusion criterion for CBASP. In clinical settings, however, subthreshold BPD symptoms are prevalent in PDD and may not be obvious at an initial assessment prior to therapy. As data on their impact on CBASP outcome are very limited, this naturalistic study investigates BPD features in PDD and their relevance for the therapeutic outcome of a multimodal CBASP inpatient program. Method: Sixty patients (37 female, mean age 38.3, SD 11.9 years) meeting DSM-5 criteria for PDD underwent a 10 weeks CBASP inpatient program. BPD features (i.e., number of fulfilled DSM-5 criteria) together with childhood maltreatment and rejection sensitivity were assessed on admission. Before and after treatment, severity of depressive symptoms was measured using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). BPD symptoms were assessed using the Borderline Personality Disorder Severity Index (BPDSI-IV) and the Borderline Symptom List (BSL-23). Intercorrelations of baseline characteristics and symptom change during treatment were analyzed. Results: Patients with PDD met a mean of 1.5 (SD 1.6) BPD criteria with 4 patients fulfilling ≥5 criteria. BPD symptoms and depressive symptoms showed a strong correlation, and BPD symptoms were additionally correlated with emotional abuse and rejection sensitivity. There was no association between BPD features at baseline and improvement on the MADRS, however, BPD features tended to be associated with a lower response according to the BDI-II score after 10 weeks of treatment. Furthermore, BPD symptoms (i.e., abandonment, impulsivity and affective instability) were reduced after 10 weeks of CBASP treatment. Discussion: BPD symptoms are prevalent in patients with PDD and highly intertwined with the experience of depressive symptoms. In this naturalistic study in PDD, BPD features at baseline did not limit the clinical response to CBASP. Future studies may extend the spectrum of PDD to comorbid subsyndromal or even syndromal BPD in order to develop tailored psychotherapeutic treatment for these complex affective disorders.

Zusammenfassung

Eine professionelle Projektentwicklung ist das Fundament für jeden langfristig erfolgreichen Hotelbetrieb. Viele unterschiedliche Akteure – ob Berater, Architekten, Hotelgesellschaften, Bauherren oder Investoren – sind darin involviert: Mangelnde Kommunikation und fehlendes Wissen vom Tun der jeweils anderen können zum Scheitern des gesamten Hotelprojektes führen. Mit fundierten Expertenbeiträgen im Spannungsfeld des Hotel-, Immobilien- und Projektmanagements macht dieses Buch die Zusammenhänge transparent. Die 3. Auflage des Standardwerks wurde umfassend aktualisiert und z.B. zur Rolle von Rechtsanwälten und (Interieur-)Designern erweitert. Interviews mit Branchenpersönlichkeiten geben exklusive Einblicke in die Perspektiven beteiligter Stakeholder.