Abstract: A device and a method for detecting deposits in a membrane module which produces a permeate and which comprises at least one permeable or semipermeable membrane layer. At least one polymer optical fiber for detecting deposits on the membrane layer is integrated in the membrane module such that the polymer optical fiber is in contact with at least one membrane layer. A method of detecting deposits in a membrane module producing a permeate and to a membrane module for producing a permeate from a feed stream of a fluid, in particular an aqueous solution, with the membrane module comprising a plurality of adjacently disposed or stacked sheets of a permeable or semipermeable membrane layer and with at least one polymer optical fiber being embedded or integrated in the membrane module, which polymer optical fiber is in contact with at least one sheet of the membrane layer.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a biosynthetic random coil polypeptide or a biosynthetic random coil polypeptide segment or biosynthetic conjugate, in which the biosynthetic random coil polypeptide, the biosynthetic random coil polypeptide segment, or the biosynthetic conjugate comprises an amino acid sequence consisting solely of proline and alanine amino acid residues, wherein the amino acid sequence consists of at least about 50 proline (Pro) and alanine (Ala) amino acid residues. The at least about 50 proline (Pro) and alanine (Ala) amino acid residues may be (a) fconstituent(s) of a heterologous polypeptide or an heterologous polypeptide construct. Also uses and methods of use of these biosynthetic random coil polypeptides or polypeptide segments or conjugates are described.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for preparing oligosaccharides which can be used among others as food additives to reduce calorie content, to sweeten food products, to increase the fiber content of food products, to improve the texture of food products and to stimulate the gut microbiome bacteria. Furthermore they can be applied in the fields of animal feed, or other applications. More particularly, this invention is directed to a high temperature hydrolysis of xyloglucan polysaccharide to defined xyloglucan oligosaccharides. The invention further relates to oligosaccharide hydrolysates produced with the method of the invention and to the use of said oligosaccharide hydrolysates in human and/or animal nutrition, as prebiotic or other uses. Further provided are novel endoglucanases for use in the method of the invention as well as in other applications.

Abstract: The present invention relates to immunogenic compositions and their use in the prevention or treatment of diseases or disorders caused by or associated with Helicobacter pylori, in particular H. pylori infection and gastroduodenal disorders caused by H. pylori. The present invention further relates to methods of detecting H. pylori infection in a subject.

Abstract: The invention relates to fusion polypeptides, nucleic acid molecules encoding said fusion polypeptides and genetically modified cells including said nucleic acid molecules. Moreover, the invention relates to a method for preparing target polypeptides using the fusion polypeptides.

Abstract: A method (C) for converting a data signal (U). The method comprises processes of (i) providing an input bit stream (IB) of input bits (IBj), the input bit stream (IB) being representative for the underlying data signal (U) to be converted, and (ii) applying to consecutive disjunct partial input bit sequences (IBk) of a number of k consecutive input bits (IBj) covering said input bit stream (IB) a distribution matching process (DM) to generate and output a final output bit stream (OB) or a preform thereof. The distribution matching process (DM) is formed by a quadrant constellation shaping process (QS) and configured to map a respective partial input bit sequence (IBk) to a constellation point of a four-dimensional 24·m-QAM constellation—in particular conveying two distinct polarizations for each of an in-phase and a quadrature component—with I and m being fixed natural numbers and with k and m fulfilling the relation 4·m?k.

Abstract: Methods (C) for converting a data signal (U), comprising processes of (i) providing an input symbol stream (IB) of input symbols (IBj), the input symbol stream (IB) being representative for the underlying data signal (U) to be converted, and (ii) applying a distribution matching process to consecutive partial input symbol sequences (IBk) of a number of k consecutive input symbols (IBj) covering said input symbol stream (IB). The distribution matching process (DM) generates and outputs a final output symbol stream (OB) of consecutive output symbols (OBj) or a preform thereof, wherein the distribution matching process (DM) is based on and/or comprises a family ((ƒi)i?{0, 1, . . . , n-1}) of a number (n) of distribution matching functions (ƒi), the action of the distribution matching process (DM) is achieved by acting with one of said distribution matching functions (ƒi) selected from said family ((ƒi)i?{0, 1, . . .

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for the preparation of a food product comprising rye, which comprises the steps of preparing a primary food mixture; adding to said primary food mixture a composition comprising at least one glycoside hydrolase family 10 (GH10) enzyme; and processing said primary food mixture to produce said food product comprising rye. The invention further provides GH10 enzymes, compositions comprising said enzymes and the use of said enzymes and said composition in preparing food products.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a binding molecule comprising at least three binding specificities, wherein (a) the first specificity is for a Hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen selected from HBV small surface antigen, HBV medium surface antigen and HBV large surface antigen; (b) (i) the second and third specificity are for CD3 and CD28, respectively; or (ii) the second and third specificity are selected from specificities for CD16, CD56, NKp30, NKp46, 4-1BB and NKG2D; and (c) each binding specificity is provided by one or more binding sites, each binding site being independently provided by (i) a set of six complementarity determining regions (CDRs), wherein said set of six CDRs consists of a first set of three CDRs and a second set of three CDRs, wherein said first and said second set is each comprised in an immunoglobulin domain; or (ii) a set of three CDRs, wherein said set of three CDRs is comprised in an immunoglobulin domain.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an X-ray tensor tomography (XTT) system (34), comprising a source (12) for providing a beam with coherent X-rays, a first grating (16) with first grating lines and a second grating (18) with second grating lines, the second grating lines being parallel to the first grating lines and the XTT-system (34) being configured to relatively shift the first grating (16) and/or the second grating (18) in a shifting direction (32) being parallel to the planes of the gratings (16, 18), a stage (36) for rotating the specimen about a first axis of rotation and about not more than two axes of rotation (26), the first axis of rotation lying in a plane (38) being tilted by an angle ? with respect to the to the planes of the gratings (16, 18), wherein 0°<??90°, and by an angle ? with respect to a plane being orthogonal to the direction of the beam path at a location of the stage (36), wherein 0°<?<90°, a detector (22), a reconstruction unit configured to reconstruct scattering tensors

Abstract: A fuel cell system comprising at least one fuel cell arranged for a reformation of a hydrocarbon and a hydrocarbon generation unit connected to an anode outlet of the fuel cell for generating the hydrocarbon from carbon monoxide and hydrogen included in a partially unconverted exhaust stream of the anode outlet of the fuel cell, where the fuel cell is thermally decoupled from the hydrocarbon generation unit so that the exothermal hydrocarbon generation reaction and the endothermal reformation reaction proceed without one reaction thermally interfering the other.

Abstract: A processor comprises an execution unit and a detection unit which are functionally connected. The execution unit is configured to execute computer programs, and the detection unit is configured to detect infinite loops during the execution of a computer program in the execution unit during run-time. The computer program has a plurality of go-to instructions, and each go-to instruction is characterized by a corresponding branch address. The detection unit is configured to calculate a detection function of the branch addresses of a branch sequence, the branch sequence including a sequence of executed go-to instructions. The detection function is chosen such that an increased value of the detection function is characteristic of an infinite loop in the branch sequence in which at least one go-to instruction is repeated.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a hydrophobic cement-based material composition comprising a bacterial biofilm, or at least one hydrophobicity-conveying component of a bacterial biofilm, an additive for a cement-based material composition comprising a bacterial biofilm or at least one hydrophobicity-conveying component of a bacterial biofilm and the use of such biofilm or component therefore for decreasing the wettability of a cement-based material.

Abstract: The disclosure refers to a synthesis filter bank, comprising: a transform module which is configured to receive a plurality of input signals, transform the plurality of input signals, and output a plurality of transformed signals, a plurality of filter modules, which are coupled to the transform module, and wherein each filter module of the plurality of filter modules is configured to receive two transformed signals from the transform module, process the two received transformed signals and output two processed signals, and a parallel-to-serial module which is coupled to the plurality of filter modules and which is configured to receive the processed signals from the plurality of filter modules, combine the received processed signals and output a combined signal. Furthermore, an analysis filter bank, a filter bank and methods for operating a synthesis filter bank and for operating an analysis filter bank are disclosed.

Abstract: A method (C) for converting a data signal (U), comprising (i) providing an input symbol stream (B) representative of the data signal (U), (ii) demultiplexing (DMX) the input symbol stream (B) to consecutively decompose the input symbol stream (B) into a number m of decomposed partial symbol streams (B_1, . . . , B_m), (iii) applying on each of the decomposed partial symbol streams (B_1, . . . , B_m) an assigned distribution matching process (DM_1, . . . , DM_m), thereby generating and outputting for each decomposed partial symbol stream (B_1, . . . , B_m) a respective pre-sequence (bn_1, . . . , bn_m) or n_j symbols as an intermediate output symbol sequence, and (iv) supplying the pre-sequences (bn_1, . . . , bn_m) to at least one symbol mapping process (BM) to generate and output a signal representative for a final output symbol sequence (S) as a converted data signal. Each of the distribution matching processes (DM_1, . . .

Abstract: The present invention relates to a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-specific binding protein, wherein the PSMA-specific binding protein is a lipocalin 2 (Lcn2)-derived binding protein and binds to PSMA with a KD of 10 nM or lower. The present invention also relates to a nucleic acid molecule encoding the PSMA-specific binding protein of the invention, a vector comprising said nucleic acid molecule of the invention and a host cell transformed with the vector. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method of producing the PSMA-specific binding protein of the invention, the method comprising culturing the host cell of the invention under suitable conditions and isolating the PSMA-specific binding protein produced. The present invention further relates to a protein conjugate comprising the PSMA-specific binding protein of the invention, or the PSMA-specific binding protein produced by the method of the invention.

Abstract: A method which is implemented by an access point, and in which requests are received from a number of user devices, in which each of the requests specifies one or multiple requested file blocks of at least one file. A set of multicast groups is determined based on the received requests, and each multicast group contains a set of indices of one or multiple of the user devices and a set of indices of the file blocks which are to be transmitted to the user devices indicated in the multicast group. For each multicast group of the set the file blocks indicated in the multicast group are retrieved and encoded, and a forward error correction process is used. For each of the multicast groups of the set the encoded file blocks indicated in the multicast group are transmitted to the user devices indicated in the multicast group.

Abstract: The present invention relates to polypeptides for use in treating diseases or disorders of energy homeostasis such as obesity, dyslipidemia, diabetes, insulin resistance, hyperglycemia or the metabolic syndrome. The invention also relates to polynucleotides encoding said polypeptides for use in treating diseases or disorders of energy homeostasis. Also provided by the present invention are pharmaceutical compositions comprising said polypeptides and polynucleotides for use in treating diseases or disorders of energy homeostasis. Said polypeptides, polynucleotides and pharmaceutical compositions may be administered locally, in particular locally into the visceral adipose tissue. Another aspect of the invention relates to a cosmetic product and the use of said cosmetic product for reducing body weight, in particular for reducing abdominal adipose tissue.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of determining a distance or location of a remote device or reflector, the method comprising: receiving a signal from a remote signal transmitter associated with or contained in or attached to the remote device; estimating a first propagation delay associated with the received signal, wherein the first propagation delay represents a first candidate for a correct propagation delay; deriving a relationship between the first candidate and one or more other candidates for a correct propagation delay from the received signal; determining a plurality of other candidates for a correct propagation delay based on said relationship; generating a likelihood histogram based on said candidates for a correct propagation delay; selecting a propagation delay from said candidates based on the likelihood histogram; and determining a distance or location of the remote device or reflector using the selected propagation delay.

Abstract: The present invention provides means and methods for selectively detecting activated MALT1 in a sample. Moreover, the present invention provides a method for diagnosing diseases, which are characterized by an increased MALT1 activity. Finally, the present invention provides methods for identifying patients which are amenable to treatment with a therapeutic agent capable of inhibiting MALT1 activity.