Vision and Automation Solutions for Engineers and Integrators Worldwide Exaktera LLC (Boston, MA, USA) has acquired autoVimation GmbH (Rheinstetten a manufacturer of enclosures and mounting solutions for machine vision components Terms of the transaction were not disclosed The transaction follows Exaktera’s acquisition last year of iiM GmbH (Suhl a developer of LEDs for machine vision applications Related: Machine Vision Company Exaktera Acquires iiM Exaktera, a holding company formed in 2021 by Union Park Capital (Boston, MA, USA), also owns Z-Laser (Freiburg, Germany), ProPhotonix (Salem, MA, USA), Advanced Illumination (Rochester Explaining the decision to acquire autoVimation "Their industry-leading expertise in protective camera housings and integrated accessories fills a critical need in our customers’ vision systems. The acquisition reinforces our strategy to offer complete high-end vision solutions for the industrial imaging and photonics market.”Founded in 2008 autoVimation is known for its rugged enclosures that are suitable for a range of outdoor and indoor environments They are used in industries such electronics The company also develops a variety of mounting systems autoVimation launched several new product lines: Related: Zebra Technologies Integrates Acquisitions into Machine Vision Product Line autoVimation Founder and Managing Director Peter Neuhaus who will continue to lead the business under Exaktera’s ownership says the acquisition will position the company to “scale our solutions and innovate faster.” Linda Wilson joined the team at Vision Systems Design in 2022 She has more than 25 years of experience in B2B publishing and has written for numerous publications she was the senior editor at Medical Laboratory Observer Today's print edition Home Delivery Freshwater environments cover about 1% of Earth's surface while accounting for more than 10% of known species Like many marine and terrestrial ecosystems A new study looking at some of the denizens of freshwater habitats offers a stark illustration of this biodiversity predicament Researchers assessed the status of 23,496 species of freshwater animals in groups including fishes and insects such as dragonflies and damselflies finding 24% of them at a high risk of extinction.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); with overharvesting also driving extinctions," said conservationist Catherine Sayer lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Sayer heads the freshwater biodiversity unit at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) the organization that tracks the status of species globally Some of the freshwater species deemed at high risk bear exotic names such as the mini blue bee shrimp of Sulawesi the Atlantic helicopter damselfly of Brazil the daisy burrowing crayfish of Arkansas and fishes such as the shortnose sucker of Oregon and California The study filled a gap in data on freshwater biodiversity The studied species were selected because their diverse positions within food webs present a holistic view of the health of freshwater ecosystems globally These species inhabit inland wetlands such as lakes marshes and peatlands — areas that the researchers said have been reduced by more than a third since 1970 Other research has documented the status of mammals reptiles and amphibians that share these freshwater ecosystems and often face their own unique threats Of the animal groups investigated in the new study the highest threat levels were documented in the crustaceans (30% threatened) followed by the fishes (26%) "Freshwater ecosystems are ecologically important because of the diversity of species they support Some of them may have high numbers of species that are restricted just to those systems — a single lake or pool or river," said Northern Arizona University freshwater conservationist Ian Harrison a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and a study co-author "They are also important in terms of the ecosystem services they supply: carbon sequestration in terms of peat bogs; food in terms of fisheries; medicines from plants; as well as cultural and aesthetic values Freshwater reeds are used for building houses in some areas Freshwater ecosystems contribute $50 trillion in value annually by their provision of natural processes supporting human well-being," Harrison said The researchers identified four places globally with the largest number of threatened freshwater species: Lake Victoria in Africa and regions in western India and Sri Lanka the world's second-largest freshwater lake by surface area The key threats identified to species were pollution particularly the Nile perch and water hyacinth Lake Titicaca is situated on the border between Peru and Bolivia in the Andes It was found to face a similar cadre of threats as Lake Victoria Both lakes boast a rich diversity of fishes "There is an urgent need to focus on freshwater conservation to halt the decline in species and this can be achieved through a more integrated management of water resources that can include the maintenance of ecosystem functions within the process of addressing the obviously important human needs for water," Harrison said "The particular value of this study is that it shows us which river basins are the ones where the conservation challenges are most urgent and serious," Harrison added "And we can compare this to what we know about existing protections and identify where there are gaps and where there are conservation needs And it acts as a baseline of information from which we can track progress to see if our actions are reducing threats." In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division. Volume 6 - 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2018.00432 This article is part of the Research TopicMultisensor Systems for Analysis of Liquids and Gases: Trends and DevelopmentsView all 15 articles The potentials to use the working temperature to tune both the sensitivity and the selectivity of a chemical sensor based on a nanostructured and nanocomposite polymer layer have been investigated and described a peculiar chemical layer was grown up onto IDE (Interdigitated Electrode) microtransducers by electrospinning deposition and using a single-needle strategy obtained from a mixture of polystyrene and polyhydroxibutyrate (insulating thermoplastics) and a known concentration of mesoporous graphitized carbon nanopowder appeared highly rough on the surface and decorated with jagged islands but homogeneous in shape and diameter with the nanofillers aggregated into clusters more or less densely packed through the fibers The resulting sensor was conductive at room temperature and could work between 40 and 80°C without any apparent degradation the current increased and the sensitivity to some classes of VOCs such as an oxidizing gas drastically changed depending on the working temperature the sensor resulted highly sensitive and selective to acetic acid at 40°C but the sensitivity fell down although an increase in temperature caused a general decrease in sensitivity to the tested VOCs (with a maximum of 14 respectively) and water vapors (with a maximum of 55%) higher temperature affected only slightly the amine permeation thus modifying the partial selectivity of the sensor to these chemicals reporting a ~2 ppb limit of detection (LOD) thus confirming that the temperature was able to drive the selectivity of nanocomposite polymeric sensors Conductive polymer nanofibers can be obtained by several strategies as for example blending more polymers where at least one is conductive or including conductive nanofillers along fibers adopted for being included within the planned sensor were provided also of a mesoporous membrane that conferred a larger available surface area (50–100 m2/g) to the nanopowder as well as the potential to get high selectivity through effects of molecular size exclusion (137 Å average pore diameter)2 The resulting MGC arrangement within the electrospun polymer nanofibers was expected to depend both on graphene/polymers mass ratio and its affinity to the hosting polymers as well as on all the parameters of the electrospinning process Electrical parameters are related to the quality of the MGC distribution within fibers a rearrangement inside the polymer nanofibers due to temperature changes is expected to tune electrical parameters such as the sensing properties of the fibrous layer thus suggesting an easy and novel strategy of tuning of selectivity and sensitivity of the polymer based sensors PHB (natural origin) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Ethanol (≥99.8%) was obtained from Honeywell-Fluka All chemical were used without further purification Standardized pure air (5.0) and NO2 (5.00 ppm in N2) were fabricated on glass substrate (IDE sizes: 10 x 6 x 0.75 mm 10 μm wide × 5 mm long × 150 nm thick with 10 μm gap) and rinsed with soap and a “base piranha” mixture at 60°C for ~15 min ammonia water and hydrogen peroxide water solution) and finally with Milli-Q water (~18 MΩ cm) before any use The electrospun dispersion was prepared by mixing two different solutions: one containing the matrix of the fibers (PS and PHB) called Sol1 and the other one containing the carbon nanopowder dispersion stabilized by a small amount of PVP solubilizing 450 mg of PS pellets into 9 mL of chloroform under magnetic stirring 60 mg of PHB were added into the solution and mixed at 45°C for 2 h Then CTAB 150 mg and 1 mL of ethanol were poured into the system and mixed overnight at 45°C under magnetic stirring 1.8 mL of chloroform and 0.2 mL of ethanol were mixed and then sonicated for ~2 h respectively) were mixed under magnetic stirring for 1 h (1:0.1:0.3:0.003:0.001 = PS:PHB:CTAB: MGC:PVP The resulting dispersion was loaded into a glass syringe (1 cm long stainless steel tip) and connected to a syringe pump The fibers deposition was carried out in a home-made ventilated clean box equipped at ambient condition The electrospinning apparatus consisted of a high power AC-DC converter a high voltage oscillator (100 V) driving a high voltage (ranging from 1 to 50 kV) KD Scientific) and a rotating conductive pipe with a 45 mm diameter grounded collector The fibrous layers were fabricated by applying 2.9 kV of electrostatic DC voltage between the syringe tip and the collector at a pump feeding rate of 900 μl/h the polymeric dispersion jet coated the IDEs placed on the grounded rotating collector (800 rpm) Deposition time was fixed at 2 min in order to obtain a thin coverage of the electrodes and at 20 min for EPR (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance) analysis and water contact angle measurement UV-vis spectrophotometer (UV-2600 Shimadzu) was used to collect UV spectra of MGC Samples were prepared from dilution of the electrospun dispersion (10 μL in 1 mL CHCL3) or Sol2 (1 μL in 1 mL of chloroform) Optical micrographs were captured by Leitz-Wetzlar (Metallux 708082) microscope for the evaluation of the quality coverage of the fibers deposited onto the IDE Fibers morphological analyses were carried out by means of micrographs from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) The electrospun nanofibrous fabrics deposited on thin SiO2 wafers and sputter-coated with gold in a Balzers MED 010 unit were analyzed for SEM by a JEOL JSM 6010LA electron microscope For Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) samples were attached onto carbon-copper grids and observed with a JEOL 1200 EX II electron microscope Micrographs were captured by the Olympus SIS VELETA CCD camera equipped the iTEM software Chemoresistors were housed in a measurement glass chamber (~100 mL volume) and connected to an electrometer (Keithley 6517) capable of measuring their electrical parameters and sending data to a PC (LabVIEW Software) The current was recorded by applying potential values from −7.0 to 7.0 V in ten steps of 0.7 V at different temperatures (20 applied voltage were used to calculate the resistance of the fibrous coated IDE and its correlation to the temperature All the batches of the chemoresistors fabricated in different dates but keeping the identical deposition parameters reported the same electrical features confirming the reproducibility of the deposition technique (data not shown) Dynamic sensor measurements were carried out at different temperature (40 80°C) using: (i) 4-channel MKS 247 managing up to four MKS mass flow controllers (MFC) set in the range 0–200 sccm (standard cubic centimeter per minutes); (ii) Environics S4000 (Environics containing three MFCs supplying different flow rates (up to 500 Pure air was mixed and used as gas carrier Different fluxes of NO2 withdrawn from a cylinder at fixed concentration were mixed to pure air in order to test the dependence of IDE responses on different NO2 concentrations For evaluating the effect of water and VOCs vapors (acetone and n-butylamine) on the sensor conductivity different compounds concentrations in air were generated by a bubbler filled with liquid water or VOCs and mixed with the gas carrier (air) The polymer mixture loaded in the syringe (Left) was electrospun by applying a voltage between the tip and the cylindrical collector where an interdigitated electrode is fixed and coated with the fibers The coated IDE was used as transducer (Right) and connected to a PC for sensing current changes upon interaction with gases molecules EPR spectra of MGC powder (A) and electrospun mats (B) ΔB corresponded to the distance between the maximum and the minimum within the spectra On the right (C) the UV-vis adsorption spectra of diluted polymer mixture of MGC/PHB-PS (light green) and diluted Sol2 in chloroform (dark green) are reported Several parameters are expected to be the main responsible of the resulting fibers structure: SEM (A,B) and TEM (C–E) micrographs of electrospun fibers at different magnifications The inset in Figure B represents the diameter distribution of the fibers collected from the SEM micrographs SEM micrographs showed cavities and roughness on the surface while TEM highlighted protrusions (E) and the MGC particles finely dispersed within the matrix (D) The use of an organic solvent combination (CHCl3: EtOH) whereas each component has a different rate of evaporation (Tb: 61 < 78°C, respectively), viscosity (η: 0.57 < 1.20 cP, respectively) and relative polarity (0.259 < 0.654, respectively)2 The introduction of a quaternary ammonium surfactant capable of increasing polymer surface roughness. In fact, CTAB salt, increasing the charge density of the polymeric solution, can affect the average fiber diameter such as the presence of crystalline particles, can increase the surface roughness (Sarac, 2016) thus improving the connectivity of the conductive networks and then enhance the electrical conductivity Current-Voltage curves at different temperatures (20 100°C) for the fibers coated IDE (inset) are plotted an optical micrograph shows a homogeneous coverage of the transparent fibers onto the interdigitated platinum bars The optical image highlighted the presence of sub-micrometric MGC clusters Resistance-Temperature data and corresponding interpolating curve are reported The inset showed the resistance values at 40 Sensor electrical features at 60°C (S60°C) in dependence on %RH: the Normalized current curves (I/I0 black) and Relative Humidity percentage (green) VS time are depicted (A) Sensor Response Curves VS Relative Humidity percentage at 40 respectively) with an inset showing the Sensitivity values at 40 Pictures of a water droplet of 5 μL before (A) and after (B) touching the electrospun mat Transient response curves (Normalized current VS time) for Acetic Acid (A) and n-Butylamine (B) Response curves VS relative partial pressure at 40 80°C for Acetic Acid (A) and n-Butylamine (C) are depicted Sensitivity of Acetic Acid (B) and n-Butylamine (D) were estimated 80°C for Toluene (A) and Acetone (B) and corresponding sensitivity values (C) Diagram plotting sensitivity values (ppm−1) of Toluene Transient response curve (Normalized current VS time) at 80°C (A) and Response curves VS concentration at 40 The inset in A showed an increase in current at lower concentration of NO2 (150 The present study reported the development of a conductive nanofibrous and nanocomposite polymer sensor designed so that its sensitivity and selectivity could be regulated by temperature the fabrication of rough fibers comprising two thermoplastic polymers and nanopowder of mesoporous graphitized carbon exploiting the peculiarity of the deposition technique through the usage of two incompatible polymers (PS and PHB) a proper mix of organic solvents and a surfactant salt the resulting fibrous layer comprised a wide adsorption surface and a lot of interfaces that are likely features for chemical sensors The selected amount of MGC (0.93% mass ratio) subjected to electrospun deposition together with the two polymers appeared both finely spread inside fibers and more densely packed in some dots Such a MGC concentration was the minimum concentration allowing the generation of stable and reproducible electrical signals at room temperature Since the electrical conduction of nanocomposites is related also to their state of dispersion and their orientation inside the polymer by improving the connectivity of the conductive networks caused a non-linear increase in current of the sensor The sensor was able to work in a stable and reproducible way between 40 and 80°C without any significant degradation Among the various chemical classes of the tested VOCs (aliphatic amine and organic acid) the sensor resulted highly sensitive and selective to acetic acid decreasing by 96% at 80°C if compared to that of the sensor at 40°C although an increase in temperature caused a general decrease in sensitivity thus modifying the partial selectivity of the sensor probably due to the porous and extremely wrinkled structure of the film the number of interfaces of the heterogeneous fibers An increase in temperature (from 40 to 80°C) caused a reduction in sensitivity by more than half A completely different effect was reported when the sensor was exposed to traces of NO2 and then heated The high polymer porosity favored the gas diffusion such as the high available surface area of MGC increased the chance to bind the analyte The further increase in sensitivity due to the heating could be presumably caused by the redistribution and orientation of graphene within polymer fibers that in turn could occupy a larger number of binding sites The general decrease in sensitivity to all the VOCs and the relative humidity at higher temperature values despite the increasing sensitivity to NO2 means that the sensor can be tuned in order to be more selective to the gas and that the role of the potential interferents in complex environments can be significantly lowered Further studies are needed to understand the whole mechanism of ad-absorption occurring between MGC and the VOCs/gas as well as the role of each polymer inside fibers when the working temperature changed this preliminary study suggests that temperature can be a useful parameter for modulating the selectivity of defined nanocomposite polymeric sensors the same sensor could be designed to work successfully in an array The raw data supporting the conclusions of this manuscript will be made available by the authors AM contributed to the conception and design of the study EZ contributed to the definition of electrospun parameters JA carried out electrospinning deposition and laboratory measurements EZ provided the electronics of the measuring system AB designed the water vapor measurements set-up and EZ contributed to the graphics and data treatment All authors contributed to manuscript revision The present work has been funded by a 2-Year National Project National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) titled: Design and development of a sensory system for the measurement of volatile compounds and the identification of job-related microorganisms The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest The handling editor and reviewer DK declared their involvement as co-editors in the Research Topic and confirm the absence of any other collaboration Tranfo of National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work for her crucial support in the BRIC ID.12 2016 Project and Dr Capocecera for his technical support in developing customized software for laboratory measurements standard cubic centimeter per minutes; SEM 1. ^https://www.electrochem.org/dl/interface/wtr/wtr10/wtr10_p035-040.pdf 2. ^https://sites.google.com/site/miller00828/in/solvent-polarity-table Bacterial polyhydroxybutyrate for electrospun fiber production Local organization of graphene network inside graphene/polymer composites Anomalous temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity of carbon–poly (methyl methacrylate) composites Google Scholar Andrzej, S., and Maciejewsk, M. (2012). “Gas sensor array with broad applicability,”in Sensor Array, ed Wuqiang Yang InTech. Available online at: http://www.intechopen.com/books/sensor-array/gas-sensor-array-with-broad-applicability Google Scholar Characterisation of defects in amorphous carbon by electron paramagnetic resonance (vol 10 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Chemical chiral pollution: impact on the society and science and need of the regulations in the 21st century Some aspects of the surface chemistry of carbon blacks and other carbons CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar doi: 10.1002/1521-4095(200101)13:1<70::AID-ADMA70>3.0.CO;2-H Ultrahigh electron mobility in suspended graphene CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Thermal-induced percolation in high-density polyethylene/carbon black composites CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Çiplak Investigation of Graphene/Ag nanocomposites synthesis parameters for two different synthesis methods Towards electron spin resonance of mechanically exfoliated graphene Electrospun nanomaterials for ultrasensitive sensors CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Cutting edge methods for non-invasive disease diagnosis using E-tongue and E-nose devices Non-contact percolation of unstable graphene networks in poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) nanocomposites: electrical and rheological properties Chemical sensing using electrospun polymer/carbon nanotube composite nanofibers with printed-on electrodes CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar “Polyhydroxybutyrate: plastic made and degraded by microorganisms,” in Rev Env Contam Toxicol Google Scholar Effect of gas velocity and temperature on rate of absorption CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar “Surface functionalization of polymer nanofibers in functional nanofibers and their applications,” in Functional Nanofibers and Their Applications UK: Woodhead Publishing Series in Textiles) Google Scholar Kalantar-zadeh CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Room-temperature ammonia gas sensor based on reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites decorated by Ag Electron paramagnetic resonance study of nanostructured graphite UV absorbance studies of dilute polystyrene solutions in different solvents Graphene based chemiresisitive vapor sensors CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Graphene hybrid materials in gas sensing applications Humidity effects on a novel eco-friendly chemosensor based on electrospun PANi/PHB nanofibers Electrospinning for High Performance Sensors CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Nanofibrous PANI-based conductive polymers for trace gas analysis Pollutant recognition based on supervised machine learning for indoor air quality monitoring systems Micro- and nanostructured surface morphology on electrospun polymer fibers CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Stable p- and n-type doping of few-layer graphene/graphite CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Percolation behavior of electrically conductive graphene nanoplatelets/polymer nanocomposites: theory and experiment CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Graphene based sensor for environmental monitoring of NO2 Morphology of porous and wrinkled fibers of polystyrene electrospun from dimethylformamide CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Selective detection of carbon monoxide (CO) gas by reduced graphene oxide (rGO) at room temperature Selective gas permeation in graphene oxide–polymer self-assembled multilayers Highly porous fibers prepared by electrospinning a ternary system of nonsolvent/solvent/poly(l-lactic acid) CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar End-user perspective of low-cost sensors for outdoor air pollution monitoring Diffusion in polymers below the glass transition temperature: comparison of two approaches based on free volume concepts CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar The use of graphene oxide-embedded superporous poly(2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate) cryogels for p(aniline) conductive polymer synthesis and their use in sensor applications Google Scholar Chemical sensors for environmental monitoring and homeland security CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Fluctuation-induced tunneling conduction in disordered materials CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Sołoducho “Conducting polymers in Sensor Design,” in Conducting Polymers Google Scholar Nanosensors and nanobiosensors in food and agriculture CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Electrospinning: a facile technique for fabricating polymeric nanofibers doped with carbon nanotubes and metallic nanoparticles for sensor applications CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Non-linear conductivity dependence on temperature in graphene-based polymer nanocomposite Currently commercially available chemical sensors employed for detection of volatile organic compounds in outdoor and indoor air CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A comparative electron paramagnetic resonance study of expanded graphites and graphene CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Study of ultraviolet-visible light absorbance of exfoliated graphite forms CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Electrospinning of uniform polystyrene fibers: the effect of solvent conductivity CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Antimicrobialactivity of eumelanin-based hybrids: the role of TiO2 in modulating the structure and biological performance A review on graphene-based gas/vapor sensors with unique properties and potential applications Review of electronic-nose technologies and algorithms to detect hazardous chemicals in the environment CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Wünsch Studies on some materials suitable for use as internal standards in high energy EPR dosimetry CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Improving sensitivity and selectivity of SnO2 gas sensors by temperature variation CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Effects of temperature and humidity on electrospun conductive nanofibers based on polyaniline blends A high sensitive NO2 gas sensor based on PEDOT–PSS/TiO2 nanofibres Strain-controlled switching of hierarchically wrinkled surfaces between superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity Nanodroplet formation and exclusive homogenously nucleated crystallization in confined electrospun immiscible polymer blend fibers of polystyrene and poly(ethylene oxide) hybrid and nanocomposite polymer nanofibers Zussman E and Macagnano A (2018) Thermally Driven Selective Nanocomposite PS-PHB/MGC Nanofibrous Conductive Sensor for Air Pollutant Detection Received: 30 March 2018; Accepted: 31 August 2018; Published: 25 September 2018 Copyright © 2018 Avossa, Zampetti, De Cesare, Bearzotti, Scarascia-Mugnozza, Vitiello, Zussman and Macagnano. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Antonella Macagnano, YW50b25lbGxhLm1hY2FnbmFub0BjbnIuaXQ=; YS5tYWNhZ25hbm9AaWlhLmNuci5pdA== Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish. BERLIN - The co-leaders of Germany's Greens party, Omid Nouripour and Ricarda Lang, said on Wednesday they would quit after a series of election blows that saw their party ejected from two regional parliaments. The move comes at a time of deep turbulence for the governing coalition of Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz, buffeted by voter worries over the scale of the economic challenges facing Germany and by fierce debates over migration. "The result in Brandenburg on Sunday is a sign our party is in its deepest crisis for a decade," Nouripour told a news conference. "It is time to lay our beloved party's fate in others' hands." A new leadership will be elected at the party's upcoming congress in mid-November, Nouripour added. The Greens failed to clear the 5% hurdle needed to enter parliament in Brandenburg on Sunday and in Thuringia earlier in September. Along with their SPD and Free Democrat coalition partners, they also suffered big losses in their vote share in elections in Saxony and for the European Parliament this year. The party needs to prepare for a dramatically changed political climate, Lang told the same news conference. A new left-wing populist party and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) have outperformed all three coalition parties this year, while the main opposition conservatives are leading in national polls. "Next year's election is not just any election," Lang said, referring to a scheduled national vote. "(It will be a choice between) a country focussed on achieving prosperity by sticking to climate neutrality or a country run by people who want to back away from all that." The position of Robert Habeck, a senior Greens party member who is Scholz's deputy and Germany's economy minister, is not directly affected by the co-leaders' decision. The parliamentary leader of Scholz's centre-left SPD, Katja Mast, said she believed the Greens would want to stay in the governing coalition. "I assume this is a reorganisation within the Green Party and not within the government and the Greens benches in parliament," she said. management relied heavily on two key OEM partners for a tightly integrated solution Germany’s Edeka Sudwestfleisch Rheinstetten is considered one of the most modern meat processing operations in all of Europe Some 900 employees process and package up to 600 tons of fresh and processed meat every day The end products—approximately 2,500 items are continuously in stock in Rheinstetten—are transported to 1,250 retail stores in the five states that belong to the Edeka region in southwest Germany The best-selling product in the case-ready segment is ground meat But it’s also the most sensitive in terms of shelf life because the meat tissues are far more exposed to ambient air than whole muscle meat cuts that don’t go through the meat grinder In order to guarantee reliable deliveries to the Edeka supermarkets in the southwest of Germany a state-of-the-art high-output ground meat packaging line was installed thanks to the involvement of some highly committed partners “Handling and packaging such large volumes of minced meat meant that only a high-output line for grinding and tray sealing would do,” says Edwin Mantel including being able to output three tons per hour This translates to around 120 trays per minute we wanted a particular texture and appearance of the end product as well as an efficient production process in the end deciding to move forward with Handtmann and Sealpac as our partners “Although the individual machine requirements in terms of capacity and product quality seemed to be relatively uncomplicated the main focus was on coordinating and tightly integrating the individual components in the line Our experience had shown that a close and trusting cooperation between all partners involved would be essential and by June of the following year the first equipment had been installed.” the grain size and bite of the ground meat are expertly controlled ground meat has a grain size of 2.2 to 4 mm When changing from one ground meat to another the only thing that has to be changed is an end hole plate The optimum machine settings for each product are stored in the machine memory This allows for short set-up times and rules out faulty operation After portioning and checkweighing by a system from Bizerba, a Sealpac tray denester picks polypropylene trays from a magazine and feeds them to a Sealpac ground meat loader It’s complemented by a lane divider that ensures double-lane transport of trays into the Sealpac A10 tray sealer which operates at 120 trays/minute under modified atmosphere the trays go through metal detection and labeling and then are placed manually into corrugated secondary packaging “At Edeka we almost exclusively use transparent monolayer PP trays as customers are very critical and want to see exactly what they are buying,” says Mantel “The tray configuration has been optimized over time to the point where we are currently using ultralight 10-g trays resulting in more sustainability and cost savings.” Lighter trays also make the sealing process more challenging as one will encounter a physical limit when transporting these trays at higher speeds rectangular trays are transported narrow side leading as it provides more stability in transport it also means that the capacity of the tooling is not fully used meaning that faster cycle times are required which negatively affects the smoothness of the line’s operation as well as its maintenance costs thanks to patented snap grippers on its high-output traysealers provides reliable long-side-leading transportation of the trays that means more efficiency and improved cost of ownership Minced meat may be the top seller in the case-ready segment but Edeka also sees a trend towards fresh burgers and meat balls Increase of shelf life will remain an important item especially considering all the attention being paid to worldwide food loss these days This is where Sealpac offers its unique MAP+ system which requires less vacuum resulting in reduced product exposure and reduced gas consumption when packaging fresh meat it supports color stability during the entire shelf life of the product our production process will become more open,” says Mantel “Product safety and traceability are playing an ever greater role for consumers We will have to be highly productive and flexible at the same time manual processes will always have a certain share but in other areas we will be forced to further automate we rely on our established partnerships to achieve equally good solutions This high-performance minced meat line is a perfect example.” Germany - Chinese to sprinter Su Bingtian refreshed the Asian record of men's 60m in 6.47 seconds while winning the final of the 2018 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Indoor Tour in Karlsruhe Su sliced off the previous Asian record by 0.03 seconds which was held by himself together with Qatar's Tosin Ogunode Su shared his happiness on social media: "The 6.47-second record belongs to the national team I'm enjoying the competition and running in a happy mood." The silver and bronze medals went to Yunier Perez from Cuba in 6.56 seconds and the United States' Michael Rodgers in 6.60 seconds Su claimed the men's 60m title in 6.55 seconds at the ISTAF Indoor in Berlin on January 26 The IAAF World Indoor Tour is comprised of six indoor meetings with athletes competing for points in designated tour disciplines The 2018 tour will be staged over the course of 22 days the individual overall winner of each discipline takes home 20 thousand U.S dollars in prize money and a wild card entry to the World Indoor Championships Sign up for our daily Newsletter and stay up to date with all the latest news You are receiving this pop-up because this is the first time you are visiting our site You are using software which is blocking our advertisements (adblocker) we are relying on revenues from our banners So please disable your adblocker and reload the page to continue using this site.Thanks With the completely unknown in Europe Philippine Pili nuts German company Die Frischebox Ltd won second place at the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award (FLIA) in 2017 a recall and a mandatory Novel Food procedure by the European Commission put a spanner in the works This led managing director André Wielink to the idea of importing and marketing the nut on his own And with success: Just about a year after the relaunch the nut is not only listed with Edeka Südwest and Edeka Foodservice but also receives numerous inquiries from different countries Pili nuts are rich in proteins and fats and an excellent source of energy Their energy content surpasses that of macadamia nuts Pili nuts thrive exclusively in the Philippine region of Bicol and are - apart from small export quantities for the British and US market - mainly found in the local market Wielink: "It is essentially a product that is collected in the wild which means that there is no commercial or industrialized cultivation the Philippine government has now recognized that exporting the nut to Europe is not only an interesting source of income but also a way to keep young people in rural areas." The Pili nut can be harvested every three months (a total of four times per year) with the harvest between July and September usually yielding the highest returns we have shipped quantities that we are now gradually marketing," Wielink explains André Wielink presented the Pili nuts at this year's Fruit Logistica in Berlin The nut is generating keen interest both within and outside the DACH region In the course of the presentation at Fruit Logistica in February 2024 "We have inquiries from around 30 countries but also Eastern Europe and the Netherlands we work with a No-Plastic concept: In regular retail the nuts are offered in 300 and 500-gram bags including a special nutcracker especially the 1kg units are well received as it is a completely unknown product in Europe with a corresponding need for explanation This involves not only background information about the country of origin but also about the nutrient density which is significantly higher compared to other nuts." Pili nuts are sold with a small notch on the outside that makes opening them - with the included nut cracker - easier was founded in 2011 and has over the years developed into a recognized import and trading company for a complete range of nuts and dried fruits Almost the entire nut assortment (including Pili nuts) is marketed under the own brand Red Rhino we have not only created a unique premium nut concept but also a good addition to our existing range," Wielink concludes For more information:André Wielink Die Frischebox GmbHGewerbering 38 76287 RheinstettenTel. +49 7242 9699022Fax +49 7242 9699049[email protected] www.diefrischebox.de FreshPublishers © 2005-2025 FreshPlaza.com