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In a virtual reality environment, users are immersed in a scene with objects which might produce sound. The responsibility of a VR environment is to present these objects, but a practical system has only limited resources, including spatialization channels (mixels), MIDI/audio channels, and processing power. A sound spatialization resource manager, introduced in this thesis, controls sound resources and optimizes fidelity (presence) under given conditions, using a priority scheme based on psychoacoustics. Objects which are spatially close together can be coalesced by a novel clustering algorithm, which considers listener localization errors. Application programmers and VR scene designers are freed from the burden of assigning mixels and predicting sound source locations. The framework includes an abstract interface for sound spatialization backends, an API for the VR environments, and multimedia authoring tools.
The methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha has been established as a highly efficient expression system. Strong promoters derived from the methanol metabolism pathway and mitotically stable high-copy integration have made this organism very effective for heterologous protein expression.
To improve the processing of secretory proteins targeted by the MFα prepro sequence, variations in the amino acid composition near the processing site of Kex2p were investigated (Manuscript I). The insertion of Ala-Pro between MFα prepro sequence and protein of interest leads to an improved processing of the signal sequence in case of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interferon-α 2a (IFNα-2a). Modeling of the transition sequences confirmed a better exposition of the Kex2p-cleavage site in dependency of Ala-Pro insertions. Analysis of the secreted proteins revealed activity of an Ala-Pro specific endoprotease. Partial removal of the N-terminal Ala-Pro dipeptide was also detected during IFNα-2a processing. The putative protease responsible for the processing of Ala-Pro dipeptides was identified by gene deletion. Significant similarities with Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ste13p were identified.
To generally improve productivity in the H. polymorpha system new fusion protein strategies were investigated (Manuscript II). The recombinantly strongly expressed cytosolic ferritin heavy chain (FTH1) was analyzed with regard to its potential as fusion partner for difficult-to-express target proteins. A fragment of the parathyroid hormone (PTH) was chosen to explore whether fusion to FTH1 enhances PTH stability. We could show that the expression level of this fusion protein was at least of the magnitude of that of FTH1 without fusion partner. The solubility of the fusion protein was increased in comparison to FTH1 alone and no degradation of PTH occurred when fused C-terminally to FTH1.
Ectoine and 5-hydroxyectoine belong to the family of compatible solutes which are known to contribute to the adaptation of the cell to osmotic stress by mediation of a constant turgor. H. polymorpha was engineered to express the enzymes of the H. elongata 5-hydroxyectoine biosynthesis pathway (Manuscript III). Expression of the enzymes EctB, EctA, EctC and EctD in H. polymorpha resulted in production of 5-hydroxyectoine in gram per liter scale with almost full conversion of ectoine to 5-hydroxyectoine. We showed that 5-hydroxyectoine synthesis was influenced by feeding of methanol during cultivation. Furthermore, 5-hydroxyectoine synthesis was downregulated by the addition of methionine, lysine or threonine indicating the existence of a feedback regulated aspartate kinase in H. polymorpha.
Leading edge serrations are well-known for their aeroacoustic potential in reducing aerofoil-turbulence interaction noise and are also associated with certain aerodynamic advantages. To prepare leading edge serrations for industrial application, two obstacles remain to be addressed. First is a combined analysis of the aeroacoustic and the aerodynamic performance of leading edge serrations to develop optimum designs. Second is the need to examine the transferability of the known effects of leading edge serrations from a single aerofoil to full rotors, which are considered to be the final area of application.
This thesis aims to assist in the transfer of a well-investigated aerofoil with serrated leading edges from the rigid to the rotating domain. With this purpose, a single aerofoil type is selected and thoroughly analysed, experimentally and numerically, to generate a reliable data basis for aerodynamic performance and noise reduction capability. Aside from gathering information on the overall performance, the spatial distribution of the noise sources is localised, and the spectral composition of the noise reduction is found to follow a clearly defined scaling law. Aerodynamically, generated vortices are found to be responsible for a complex three-dimensional separation mechanism of the leading edge serrations, causing a delay of stall.
The generated data basis is then used to design low-pressure axial fans of minimum complexity by keeping the initially chosen aerofoil type. The experimentally identified noise reduction mechanisms for the serrated axial fans are found to be more diverse than the single aerofoil and highly dependent on the inflow conditions and the operation point of the fan. A highly similar pattern for the spectral scaling of the noise reduction supports the finding that at optimum operation conditions, the previously identified noise reduction mechanisms for the single aerofoils are transferable to the rotating domain. On the other hand, additional aerodynamic mechanisms are found to dominate the noise reduction for the instability region of the fan, also contributing to reduced blade-to-blade interaction effects. Moreover, the blade-tip leakage flow is altered by delaying the development of coherent structures.
The next step towards a more general description of the aeroacoustic and aerodynamic dependencies is developing a comprehensive model based on artificial neural networks. This model allows a combined analysis of the aerodynamic and acoustic performance of rotors with serrated leading edges and shows an accurate prediction of the overall performance and the spectral composition of the radiated noise. It also enables the development of multi-objective optima for serration designs and motivates further studies into the generalisability of the observed trends. Furthermore, the developed model represents a feasible tool to create tailored serration designs for maximum efficiency in both aeroacoustics and aerodynamics, contributing to the development of future low-noise fans and rotating machinery.