Hydrogen infrastructure build-up for automotive applications

Some lessons for the introduction of hydrogen fueled vehicles can be learned from experience gained by the introduction of natural gas fueled vehicles, either in Europe or in Argentina. While the European efforts have failed, at least until today, Argentina has achieved a remarkable market share of about 20% natural gas vehicles since the early 80ies. Beyond a short review on the constituents of a hydrogen refueling infrastructure, the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-example is analyzed to formulate some ‘must be’s’ for the successful introduction of hydrogen refueling infrastructure: Clear concerted signals have to be sent by all important players, the politicians as well as the involved industry from car producers to fuel suppliers. Bi-fueled hybrid vehicles are not seen as a proper tool, as they are forcing neither the user to look for hydrogen nor the supplier to provide hydrogen. After general considerations, various strategies and policies of different countries and manufacturers are reviewed. For instance, the electric hybrid cars as already today introduced by some Japanese manufacturers offer the chance of settling a maintenance infrastructure for electric drive systems already today which can be easily extended to cover full fuel cell drive systems, once they are available.     

Isoelectric focusing pattern of human amniotic fluid α-fetoprotein

Isoelectric focusing (IEF) of amniotic fluid α-fetoprotein (AFP) in thin-layer polyacrylamide gels containing 8 M urea followed by immunoblotting reveals at least nine bands, band I lying next to the cathode. Compared with 298 amniotic fluid samples from normal pregnancies, we found that the density of band V was increased in seven cases of fetal death. In 16 amniotic fluid samples from pregnancies with open neural tube defects (ONTO), band V disappeared or was markedly decreased. In seven cases with elevated AFP and positive acetylcholines-terase (AChE) due to contamination with fetal blood, no difference in pattern was observed compared with samples from normal pregnancies. It is suggested that IEF of AFP and subsequent immunoblotting are an apparently diagnostic test for ONTD and intrauterine fetal death (IUFD).     

Die Kristallstruktur von FeSO4·4H2O

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