Search

Twin and multiple births have negative effects on the performance and health of cows and calves. To decipher the genetic architecture of this trait in the two Swiss Brown Swiss cattle populations, we performed various association analyses based on de-regressed breeding values. Genome-wide association analyses were executed using ~600 K imputed SNPs for the maternal multiple birth trait in ~3500 Original Braunvieh and ~7800 Brown Swiss animals. Significantly associated QTL were observed on different chromosomes for both breeds. We have identified on chromosome 11 a QTL that explains ~6% of the total genetic variance of the maternal multiple birth trait in Original Braunvieh. For the Brown Swiss breed, we have discovered a QTL on chromosome 15 that accounts for ~4% of the total genetic variance. For Original Braunvieh, subsequent haplotype analysis revealed a 90-kb window on chromosome 11 at 88 Mb, where a likely regulatory region is located close to the ID2 gene. In Brown Swiss, a 130-kb window at 75 Mb on chromosome 15 was identified. Analysis of whole-genome sequence data using linkage-disequilibrium estimation revealed possible causal variants for the identified QTL. A presumably regulatory variant in the non-coding 5' region of the ID2 gene was strongly associated with the haplotype for Original Braunvieh. In Brown Swiss, an intron variant in PRDM11, one 3' UTR variant in SYT13 and three intergenic variants 5' upstream of SYT13 were identified as candidate variants for the trait multiple birth maternal. In this study, we report for the first time QTL for the trait of multiple births in Original Braunvieh and Brown Swiss cattle. Moreover, our findings are another step towards a better understanding of the complex genetic architecture of this polygenic trait.

We report on the synthesis of the II‐IV‐N2 semiconductors ZnSiN2, MnSiN2, and the Zn1–xMnxSiN2 solid solutions by a one‐step solid‐state metathesis reaction. The successful syntheses were carried out by reacting the corresponding metal halides with stoichiometric amounts of silicon nitride and lithium azide in sealed tantalum ampoules. After washing out the reaction byproduct LiCl, powder X‐ray diffraction patterns were indexed with orthorhombic space group Pna21. Single phase products were obtained without applying external pressure and at a moderate reaction temperature of 700 °C. The resulting ZnSiN2 was found to consist of nano‐sized grains and needle‐shaped nano‐crystals. With increasing manganese content in the Zn1–xMnxSiN2 solid solution, we found the reaction product to be increasingly crystalline. Both the cell parameters and the bandgap values across the different compositions of the solid solutions change linearly. The sample Zn0.95Mn0.05SiN2 synthesized by means of solid‐state metathesis reaction is an intense red emitter with a broad emission maximum at λmax ≈ 619 nm when excited with ultraviolet light after annealing the sample at a pressure of 6 GPa and a temperature of 1200 °C.

INTRODUCTION The use of normothermic liver machine perfusion to repair injured grafts ex situ is an emerging topic of clinical importance. However, a major concern is the possibility of microbial contamination in the absence of a fully functional immune system. Here, we report a standardized approach to maintain sterility during normothermic liver machine perfusion of porcine livers for one week. METHODS Porcine livers (n = 42) were procured and perfused with blood at 34°C following aseptic technique and standard operating procedures. The antimicrobial prophylaxis was adapted and improved in a step-wise manner taking into account the pathogens that were detected during the development phase. Piperacillin-Tazobactam was applied as a single dose initially and modified to continuous application in the final protocol. In addition, the perfusion machine was improved to recapitulate partially the host's defense system. The final protocol was tested for infection prevention during one week of perfusion. RESULTS During the development phase, microbial contamination occurred in 27 out of 39 (69%) livers with a mean occurrence of growth on 4 ± 1.6 perfusion days. The recovered microorganisms suggested an exogenous source of microbial contamination. The antimicrobial agents (piperacillin/tazobactam) could be maintained above the targeted minimal inhibitory concentration (8-16 mg/L) only with continuous application. In addition to continuous application of piperacillin/tazobactam, partial recapitulation of the host immune system ex situ accompanied by strict preventive measures for contact and air contamination maintained sterility during one week of perfusion. CONCLUSION The work demonstrates feasibility of sterility maintenance for one week during ex situ normothermic liver perfusion.

We describe the previously unreported oxygen excess hexagonal antimony tungsten bronze with composition Sb0.5W3O10, in the following denoted as h‐SbxWO3+2x with x=0.167, to demonstrate its analogy to classical AxWO3 tungsten bronzes. This compound forms in a relatively narrow temperature range between 580 °C

The axial dispersion in tubular reactors is frequently modeled by the dispersion model, which is an analytical solution under the assumption that the vessel dispersion number is sufficiently small. In this study, limits until which the analytical solution is valid are investigated by comparison with the numerical method. The results show that it is applied only if the vessel dispersion number is small enough and the entrance effect of the tracer is avoided. Therefore, an algorithm based on the numerical solution of the control equation of dispersion is proposed, which allows for higher vessel dispersion numbers.

The utilization of abandoned lignocellulosic residues for chemical production has a strong potential to partially substitute chemicals, which are traditionally produced from non-renewable resources. Softwood especially, with its high availability, presents a sustainable resource for the conversion to higher value-added products such as biofuels and bioplastics. In this study, we investigate mature and innovative technologies for the conversion of softwood to the platform chemical sugar from an economic and environmental perspective. We show that the conventional enzymatic hydrolysis has high economic as well as environmental burdens and that the increase of enzyme availability via a carbocation scavenger process is the key solution to overcome them. Furthermore, we present a process design based on concentrated acid hydrolysis, which is both environmentally and economically competitive compared to conventional production from sugarbeet. The low energy and raw material requirements combined with heat integration and moderate capital costs makes this technology attractive for utilization of softwood residues. This proves that lignocellulosic residues have the potential to become an important raw material in the future bioeconomy.

The flowability of micropowders can be improved by depositing a non-continuous coating on the micropowder surface, which reduces the interparticle van der Waals forces causing cohesion of the native powder. Such a coating can be achieved via a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition in a tubular, inductively-coupled RF glow-discharge-plasma reactor fed by plasma-polymerizable gases. Here we systematically study the influence of user-set plasma parameters of feed gas flow rate and plasma power on the resulting powder flowability. We find a quasi-Arrhenius relation between flowability factor and energy delivered per mass of monomer W/FM. These findings demonstrate that flowability measurements can be used to study the plasma polymerization processes and as a metric to assess surface coatings of powders that are otherwise difficult to characterize by standard metrologies.

a Supercritical water jets are of interest for the hydrothermal spallation drilling technology to thermally fragment rock. The important thermal field of such jets was investigated via axial temperature measurements inside a high-pressure vessel simulating the harsh pressure and temperature conditions found downhole. Deionized water was electrically preheated to supercritical temperatures and afterwards discharged into a slowly co-flowing cooling water ring. Furthermore, a numerical model was developed and applied. Difficulties in simulating the thermal field due to the strongly varying fluid properties around the pseudo-critical point of water were highlighted and critically discussed. An approach of a locally varying turbulent Prandtl number is introduced to improve the predictions compared to the experiment. Finally, all numerical results were validated with experimental data.

Among the different separation processes, liquid-liquid extraction especially benefits from microfluidics as the short molecular diffusion distance and large specific interfacial area in microchannels are advantageous for effective liquid/liquid contacting. An overview is given on different examples of continuous micro liquid-liquid extraction. As contacting of the two phases as well as phase separation strongly depend on the flow pattern, one chapter is devoted to each parallel flow, segmented flow, and emulsions. Advantages and disadvantages of the three flow patterns are compared to each other. Additionally, possibilities for scaling up microfluidic concepts for higher-throughput systems are presented.

Ca1–xB2C4 (x ~ 0.08) and Ca1–xB2C6 (x ~ 0.04) are two compounds containing heterographene-B,C nets which were prepared by solid state synthesis and structurally characterized by X-ray powder diffraction data. Both compounds crystallize in the space group P6/ mmm (No. 191). The lattice constants are a = 4.55971(5) A and c = 4.4020(1) A for CaB2C4 and a = 2.58390(5) A, c = 4.43597(8) A for CaB2C6. The calcium atoms are intercalated between the heterographene (B,C) nets. The calcium atom distribution in Ca1–xB2C6 is disordered, leading to diffuse scattering. A model for this disorder was developed that matches well the observed diffuse scattering observed in the electron diffraction pattern. For Ca1–xB2C6 and its decomposition products magnetic and electric properties are being reported.

Thomas Mann and James Joyce make music central to The Magic Mountain and Ulysses, and each devotes an episode to music, Mann in “Fullness of Harmony” and Joyce in “Sirens.” Both novelists portray music as a medium of healing from isolation, yet music may also lull the listener into listlessness and induce an unhealthy withdrawal from relationships and community. Though Richard Wagner’s music is absent from the scenes, both authors write in the shadow of Wagner, making their stories epic and mythical, and the Wagnerian theme of redemption through art stands behind their portrayal of music. Joyce and Mann mistrust Wagnerian grandeur, however, Joyce from distaste and Mann from his association of Wagner with decadence and immorality. Yet neither author allows Wagner’s sin of excess to destroy the restorative power of music, and song stimulates recovery from detachment for Hans Castorp and Leopold Bloom. Written just after the First World War in cognizance of the danger of nationalist movements, both novels mark a path between isolation and immoderate group identification, showing that music may instill desire for an appropriate sense of relationship, the basis for the characters’ love of life and redemption.

A low pressure radio frequency (RF) discharge (200 W) was operated in argon/oxygen with small admixtures of titanium(IV)isopropoxide (TTIP). By regulating the cooling temperature of the RF driven electrode, the influence of the substrate temperature and of the ion bombardment caused by the negative DC self-bias of the RF electrode was investigated comparatively. Thin titania-like films were obtained and characterized with respect to their cut-off wavelength and their spectral absorption coefficient in the UV range. Accordingly, the cut-off wavelength was found to be higher for films obtained on the DC-self-biased electrode. Here, its value appears independent of the substrate temperature and attained successively its maximum at 340 nm with deposition time. Furthermore, the absorption coefficients of films deposited on the DC self-biased electrode are well superior to those obtained on the grounded substrate holder.

The improvement of temperature durability for autoclaving of silicon oxide (SiOx) diffusion barrier coatings on poly(propylene) (PP) by deposition of thin amorphous hydrogenated carbon-nitrogen (a-C:N:H) intermediate layers was investigated. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy revealed terminating amino and nitrile groups responsible for low compressive stress in a-C:N:H. Uniaxial tensile tests showed a higher crack onset strain (COS) for a-C:N:H of 2.7% compared to 0.7% for SiOx. Best temperature durability was achieved by a three-layer coating from a-C:N:H, an intermediate layer deposited by a mixture of N2, C2H2, hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO), and a SiOx layer. The oxygen transmission rate (OTR) was only increased from 6 to 22 cm3·m−2·d−1·bar−1 after exposure to 140 °C for 30 min, whereas for single SiOx barrier coatings, severe loss of barrier properties of 1 040 cm3·m−2·d−1·bar−1 was evidenced due to the formation of cracks.

Here, a novel atmospheric plasma device is presented, which applies the (remote) afterglow of micro-barrier discharges. The study evaluates its applicability to surface modification of temperature-sensitive particulates. As such, cylindrical samples have been placed in the remote treatment zone of the device, and the effects of treatment time and variable gas mixtures on the surface wettability are investigated. Furthermore, the influence of the excess voltage in He discharge with admixtures of O2, CO2 and N2 and the effect thereof on the water contact angle is described.

A plasma downstream reactor for the continuous treatment of dry, cohesive, and temperature sensitive powders is investigated by means of fiber optic temperature measurements. A method to determine the different heat flux terms (plasma heating, radiation, and convection) is introduced and applied to calculate the inner wall and neutral gas temperature at several positions within the reactor. By this means undesirable discharge regions downstream the plasma zone are found. Consequently, the thermal characterization of the reactor allows optimization of the reactor design to confine the plasma to the downer tube and to avoid undesirable temperature hot spots.

The surface of fine lactose powder particulates was modified by direct-plasma exposure in a radio frequency (RF) discharge, in a mixture of oxygen and hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) diluted in argon. Besides, the RF power (100–500 W) and the HMDSO flow rate (0–68 sccm) at constant oxygen-to-HMDSO flow rate ratio of 10 was varied in this study. Apart from the relatively high pressure of 2 mbar, the plasma process adopted is very much alike the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of silica-like material descending from the plasma-chemical reaction of oxygen and HMDSO. With respect to the processability of powders in production lines to be solely gravity-driven, as for instance in the event of dye-filling, compression ratios (based on the powder bulk and mass density) were measured for solely gravity-driven filling of a graduated glass. A jolting volumeter was used to provide the compressibility of the compacted powder bulk. Higher compressibility of about 20% (improvement rate) was found for both experimental series: variation of HMDSO flow rate and variation of the discharge power. In both cases, an enhancement of the flowability of the powder was found to cause the compressibility improvement.

The plasma-assisted improvement of wettability and flowability of fine powders is described. The plasma down-stream reactor designed for an adequate treatment of particulates allows efficient surface modification and functionalization of particulates. It is discussed that the resulting rapidity of the processes is due to the homogeneous dispersion of particulates in the reactor. This enables intense particle/plasma interaction presumably due to the formation of floating potential sheaths around each single particle immersed in the plasma. Thus, although the overall energy influx applied is in the range of 10 to 100 J·m -2 of the particulate surfaces, the treatment time in the order of a tenth of a second instead of hours compared to conventional processes.

The surface of microscopic lactose particles was modified by gas phase reactions occurring during a PECVD process to improve the flow behavior of the powder. The particulates were exposed to a capacitively coupled O 2 /Ar/HMDSO RF discharge in a down stream reactor by varying the gas composition and the RF power. The flowability and the surface free energy of the powders were determined by a ring shear tester and by a tensiometer, respectively. Based thereon, the change in surface free energy was determined not to be the dominating factor for the significantly enhanced flowability of the plasma-treated powder. Rather, the flowability improvement is supposed to be affected principally by the plasma-induced change in particle surface roughness.

In this paper, the extraction of vanillin dissolved in water with a suitable organic phase using microstructured devices made of PDMS is discussed. Two flow patterns, segmented and stratified flow, were compared. LIF and μ-PIV measurements showed a laminar profile for stratified flow; whereas for segmented flow, vortices in the slug end were detected. Additionally, for the stratified flow regime, the influence of the channel width and therefore the surface-to-volume ratio was investigated. A decrease of the channel cross-sectional area results in a significant enhancement of mass transfer for the stratified flow regime. A further increase in mass transfer was obtained using segmented flow instead of stratified flow. However, stratified flow may be favored due to the ease of implementation of phase separation on the chip.

Circulating fluidized beds (CFB) are widely used for gas-solid reactions. This presentation summarizes specific design and operational features for a CFB system with a non-thermal plasma. The results of coating a glass-like material using salt particles as a model substrate are shown. The potential of the new technology is broad, due to the fact that plasma-enhanced (PE)CVD can be used to combine and treat virtually any two different materials at low temperatures.

The surface of 5.5 µm lactose particles was modified by gas phase reactions in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process to increase the flowability of the bulk solid. The particles were treated in the radio frequency plasma zone (RF) of a downer reactor, using a process gas mixture of oxygen, argon, and hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO). By increasing the flow rate of HMDSO (17–103 sccm) and the RF-power (50–200 W), respectively, the flowability can be increased up to a factor of 2 compared to the untreated substrate material. No significant change in flowability was observed by varying the oxygen-to-HMDSO ratio from 5 to 30.

A low pressure radio frequency discharge (200 W for 5 min) was operated in oxygen, nitrogen/oxygen and argon/oxygen with small admixtures of titanium(IV)isopropoxide (TTIP). By means of the O2-flow, the O2-to-TTIP ratio q was varied in all the gas mixtures. Besides the growth rate, the absorptance of films deposited was determined in the range of 200–500 nm. Accordingly, their cut-off wavelength increased with q for mixtures containing N2 or Ar, while it was unaffected for O2/TTIP mixtures. At 310 nm, the absorption coefficient was a310 = 13 µm−1 for q ≈ 44 in Ar/O2/TTIP and marginally lower in N2/O2/TTIP as well as O2/TTIP. But, for decreasing q, a drastic decrease in a310 ≈ 8 µm−1 was witnessed for O2/TTIP mixtures. In contrast, a310 increased by 2 µm−1 for gas mixtures with Ar or N2.

The influence of different gas phase species and the positive ion density on the water vapor barrier performance of SiO x thin films is investigated in this study. A reactor equipped with a remote 2.45 GHz slot antenna plasma source and a 13.56 MHz-biased substrate holder was used to deposit films from gas mixtures of oxygen and HMDSO. Besides determining the WVTR of films, different excited gas phase species were monitored by means of OES and the positive ion density in pure oxygen was measured by LP. The dependencies of the positive ion density and of the actinometric trends of species on the oxygen flow rate as well as on the power input by RF and MW source were investigated. Both gas-phase diagnosis techniques reveal a higher excitation of the gas-phase in dual mode than in pure RF plasma. Production of atomic species seems to be enhanced under such conditions, which however leads to enhanced oxidation of HMDSO and its fragments by atomic oxygen. Hence, at oxygen flow rates above 200 sccm, enough atomic oxygen seems to be obtained so that the film growth mechanism is dominated by homogeneous combustion reactions, overriding the beneficial effect of the substrate self bias. Thus, a complete loss of the water vapor diffusion barrier is observed. Apart from these defective deposits, typical films revealed low WTVR for the entire variation range in RF mode and below 200 sccm of oxygen flow also in dual mode. Here, a decrease of the WVTR with RF power (i.e. DC self bias) and the oxygen flow rate was obtained, while WVTR could be reduced to 0.1 g · m -2 · d -1 corresponding to a barrier improvement by a factor of 150 if compared to uncoated substrate polymers.

To set granular media in motion inter particular-forces have to be overcome. A discrete particle-particle model was used to calculate the torque in a two blade solid stirrer. In the context of a qualitative parameter study the influence of damping coefficient c, Young's Modulus E, number of particles n and the iteration time t on the moment was studied. The experimental data with glass spheres agrees satisfactorily with the model values.

This paper introduces a plasma reactor for short-time plasma surface modification of polymer powders. This reactor type, the so-called plasma downer reactor (PDR), provides a high reaction rate, which is forced by the high gas velocity and high particle dispersion in the plasma. It combines the advantageous characteristics of the downer principle for the fluid dynamics of gas-solid phases with plasma surface modification. This work demonstrates that a very short plasma exposure time of 0.1 s effectively improves the wettability of HDPE and Co-PA powders. The water contact angles of HDPE and Co-PA powder can be reduced to 72° and 76°, respectively. The surface tensions of both polymer powders could be increased by a factor of 2 up to 43 mN/m. Water/polymer suspensions and pastes can be made without tensides.

The relationship between codon usage and protein/mRNA expression in S. cerevisiae has been extensively studied. Recently, protein expression data for the whole yeast genome was published. We investigate which properties of coding DNA sequences can be used to predict expression levels. The new algorithm by Carbone et al. for computing dominating codon bias in a genome is evaluated. It is concluded that it works at least as well as existing methods, and eliminates the need to arbitrarily choose a set of highly expressed genes. Also, the hypothesis that information on codon pair frequencies can be used to predict expression is investigated. Our conclusion is that codon pairs do not contribute more information than do single codon frequencies. Overall correlation between predicted and actual expression data using properties of coding DNA sequences is around 0.65. Hence, while being a useful source of information, the expression levels predicted by these methods should only be used as a rule of thumb.

Wet oxidation with molecular oxygen at mild conditions (temperature < 200 C, pressure {le} 2 MPa) is an economically attractive pretreatment step for non-biodegradable aqueous waste streams. In order to overcome the low reactivity of molecular oxygen towards organic molecules at these mild process conditions, an initiator was used in combination with ferrous ions in the acidic range. The promoted oxidation of phenol in aqueous solution was investigated in a 4 liters stirred autoclave. It was possible to degrade the phenol at temperatures as low as 100 C without observing an induction time. The remaining solution contained mainly acetic and formic acid and was well biodegradable. The oxidative behavior of the oxygen/phenol system could be explained using the well-known autoxidation mechanism for aliphatic molecules. 4-hydroperoxy-phenol is suggested as a key intermediate. Measured products are p-benzoquinone, hydroquinone, catechol, maleic, oxalic, pyruvic, formic, and acetic acid. Dimers could also be identified in sample extracts. A global pathway including all identified products is presented.

The Catalytic Wet Oxidation with pure oxygen is a suitable treatment process for the degradation of organic matter in wastewaters and sludges. The applied moderate reaction conditions lead only to a partial oxidation of the organics. Therefore the resulting process water has to be purified in a biological treatment plant. In this study, experimental data collected during the wet oxidation of phenol and sewage sludge in a laboratory batch reactor as well as in a pilot plant are presented. A generalized kinetic model combined with a residence time analysis allows to predict accurately the degradation of organic matter in the pilot plant. The wet oxidation of wastewaters and sewage sludge was realized in one single plant concept. Treating suspended or diluted organic wastes produces a highly biodegradable process water containing low molecular oxidation products. The investigated Catalytic Wet Oxidation of sewage sludge generates a residual solid complying with the European quality standards of disposal concerning leachability and organic content. Due to its low capital and operating costs, the Catalytic Wet Oxidation process constitutes an acceptable alternative to incineration for the disposal of sludges.