Die Entwicklung eines Notabschaltsystems für Kugelhaufenreaktoren: Ein Statusbericht

Es wird die Entwicklung eines Notabschaltsystems für Kugelhaufenreaktoren im einzelnen beschrieben. Dieses Abschaltsystem beruht auf der Verwendung von kleinen Absorberkugeln, die im Abschaltfall in die Kugelschüttung einrieseln und relativ gleichmäßig verteilt in der Kugelschüttung festgehalten werden. Die technische Machbarkeit des Systems konnte nachgewiesen werden und in vielen Einzeluntersuchungen die Eigenschaften dieses Abschaltsystems aufgeklärt werden

Can Reflective Diary-Writing Increase Sufficiency-Oriented Consumption? A Longitudinal Intervention Addressing the Role of Basic Psychological Needs, Subjective Well-Being, and Time Affluence

Sufficiency is a sustainability strategy aiming for (1) a decrease in absolute resource consumption on individual and societal levels, and (2) for socio-ecological justice and the fair distribution of costs and benefits of resource use to meet every human's basic needs. This study examined a longitudinal intervention to foster individual sufficiency orientation (i.e., a multidimensional construct including both attitudes towards the sufficiency sustainability strategy and corresponding behavioral intentions). We recruited N = 252 participants who participated in a one-week reflective diary-intervention to increase sufficiency orientation in everyday life and assessed sufficiency orientation, basic psychological need satisfaction, self-reflection, subjective well-being, and time affluence before (T1), directly after (T2), and four weeks after the intervention (T3). Contrary to our predictions, there was no significant difference between the experimental and the control group. Sufficiency orientation increased across groups. Basic psychological need satisfaction was the strongest predictor of sufficiency orientation. There were positive relations with subjective well-being. Targeting basic psychological need satisfaction, as a potential underlying driver of sufficiency orientation, seems to be a promising avenue for designing interventions. Employing a need-based, humanistic approach to designing psychological interventions is in line with the aims of sufficiency to meet every human's basic needs, in a socio-ecologically just world

PHOEBUS - an autonomous supply system with renewable energy : six years of operational experience and advanced concepts

The PHOEBUS demonstration plant has been supplying the Central Library of Forschungszentrum Julich (FZJ) with solar-generated electric energy all year round and independent of the public grid since 1993. The central task was to rest the required storage using hydrogen as the energy carrier in conjunction with an electrolyser and a fuel cell under realistic irradiance and consumption conditions and to demonstrate the feasibility of such a zero-emission supply system. The general objective was to determine weak points from the operating experience and measured data obtained, to model the system in a component-oriented manner for simulation, to energetically optimize the plant, to achieve high operational reliability and, above all, to propose and implement cost-reducing and advanced system modifications. With the aid of validated simulation programs, it was possible to carry out optimization analyses for plant operation (annual scenarios) and plant configuration. Two advanced concepts were developed: PHOEBUS-2, a simplified system with reduced energy losses, and PHOEBUS-3, a wind-PV hybrid system supplying both electricity and heat. The advanced concepts PHOEBUS-2 and PHOEBUS-3 are the theoretical basis for applications such as a solar home system, a solar village, a scientific polar station or a storage module for grid-connected operation that can be realized in the near future. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Analysis of cDNA clones that code for the transmembrane forms of the mouse neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) and are generated by alternative RNA splicing.

The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) exists in at least three different isoforms. In the mouse, NCAM proteins with apparent Mr's of 180,000, 140,000 and 120,000 have been distinguished. These are encoded by 4 to 5 different transcripts. Here we report the full amino acid sequence of an isoform which most likely represents NCAM-140. The N-terminal extracellular portion of the 829-residue polypeptide appears to be identical to all three NCAM proteins. The Mr of 91,276 is considerably smaller than the estimate based on SDS-gel electrophoresis. The 147 C-terminal residues are distinct from NCAM-120 and contain the putative transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains. The transcript encoding NCAM-140 contains almost 3.2 kb non-coding sequence with a canonical polyadenylation signal. While the 5' sequences of NCAM-140 hybridize with all NCAM mRNAs, the 3' probes recognize only the two larger transcripts of 7.4 and 6.7 kb. From S1 nuclease protection analyses and hybridization studies of several NCAM cDNA clones with genomic NCAM sequences one can conclude that the different NCAM transcripts are generated by alternative splicing. In addition to the two alternative splice sites in the sequence encoding the extracellular domains, a third one can be predicted approximately 320 nt downstream of the start of the NCAM-140-specific sequence portion. This finding is in agreement with the existence of an extra exon in the chicken NCAM-180. Comparison between mouse and chicken NCAM amino acid sequences revealed the highest homology in the second and fifth Ig-like domains and in the cytoplasmic parts suggesting that these regions serve highly conserved functions