Abstract: A system and methods for determining a mechanical tissue characteristic (?) are provided. The system comprises a providing unit for providing a set of images of a tissue region of interest, wherein the provided set of images comprises image features indicative of one or more structural properties (?, a0, CO, PG) of the tissue region of interest and has been acquired using an imaging modality suitable for in-vivo imaging of the tissue region of interest. The system further comprises a determining unit for determining, based on the provided set of images, a mechanical tissue characteristic (?) indicative of a mechanical responsiveness of the tissue region of interest. The determining unit comprises a machine learning architecture adapted to receive the provided set of images as an input and to provide the mechanical tissue characteristic as an output.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a novel method for measuring contraction characteristics of engineered heart tissue constructs (16) which is based on the mechanical coupling of the construct (16) to a support element (8) which comprises or is mechanically coupled to a piezoelectric element (10). An apparatus (1) for carrying out the method of the invention is also provided.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a lidar measurement system for the detection of the presence and/or motion of particles and/or objects in a space region remote from the lidar measurement system and comprising an interferometer arrangement, as well as to a corresponding method using such a measurement system. The interferometer arrangement comprises a continuous wave laser source (2), a photodetector arrangement (7), and optical components which are adapted to split light (23) emitted by the continuous wave laser source (2), to guide it along a first optical path constituting a measurement branch (4) and along a second optical path, which is separate from the first optical path and constitutes a reference branch (5), and to eventually have it incident in a spatially coherently superimposed manner onto the photodetector arrangement (7).

Abstract: The process according to the invention for the microbial production of a specific product and methane comprises the following steps: a) the production in a bioreactor (2, 10) of a specific product from a specific substrate using a specific organism, the producer, wherein during the production of this product metabolites such as e.g. low-molecular alcohols, aldehydes and acids, hydrogen and CO2, which may inhibit the production of the product, are obtained; and b) the production of methane by means of a methanogen, wherein in the production of the methane at least one metabolite is decomposed and by this means removed from the bioreactor (2, 10) and its energy is made usable.

Abstract: The invention relates to a driving agent vacuum pump used in microsystems technology, comprising an evaporator chamber and a pump chamber that are separated by a jet arrangement. The design of the driving agent vacuum pump is improved by: a planar arrangement of at least one jet, which extends vertically in depth and which is situated between two, in particular, parallel plates, these plates closing the evaporator chamber and the pump chamber; an opening in the pump chamber, preferably above the jet arrangement, for drawing in a medium to be pumped, and; an opening for expelling a preferably compressed gas underneath the jet arrangement.

Abstract: In a method for the separation of supercritical gas from substances dissolved in the gas with a membrane through which the gas passes while the substances dissolved in the gas is retained, a pore-free membrane of a polymer perfluoro-2,2-diemthyl-1,3-dioxole is used as a membrane in the separation process.