The future of the Protestant Church: Estimates for Austria and for the Provinces of Burgenland, Carinthia and Vienna

Secularization and migration have substantially affected the place of the Protestant Church in the Austrian society in the last decades. The number of members has been shrinking markedly from 447 thousand members in 1971 to 278 thousand in 2018. The trend is visible across all provinces, although the magnitude is stronger in Vienna where both disaffiliation and international migration are stronger: In the capital city, the Protestant population diminished from 126 thousand to 47 thousand over the 1971-2018 period. Using population projections of membership to the Protestant Church, we look at the potential future of affiliation to the Protestant Church in Austria, and in three provinces: Burgenland, Carinthia, and Vienna from 2018 to 2048, considering different paths of fertility and disaffiliation. We also look at the impact of different scenarios regarding the composition of international migration flows on affiliation to the Protestant Church. Our findings suggest that in the absence of compensatory flows, the Protestant Church will keep shrinking unless it manages to stop disaffiliation. The projections also show that migrants, especially within mobile Europe, are a potential source of members that is at present not properly contributing to membership in Austria. According to the TREND EUROPE scenario, which is – seen from today – the most likely scenario with a continuation of declining entries and increased exits, the Protestant population in Austria would still decline from 283 thousand in 2018 to 144 thousand in 2048 (-49%). At the level of the three provinces, the decline would be faster in Vienna (-42%, from 47 to 27 thousand) than in Burgenland (-26%, from 32 to 24 thousand) and Carinthia (-37%, from 48 to 30 thousand). According to this scenario, by 2048 the Protestant population would correspond to 1.5% of the total population of Austria(1.3% in Vienna, 7.3% in Burgenland and 5.4% in Carinthia). Other scenarios reflect the potential impact of different religious composition of future migrant flows, as well as changing disaffiliation patterns. Only under the LIFT scenario, which assumes a reduction in exits by 50% and more migrants enrolling to the Protestant Church, we see an end of the haemorrhage and even an increase in the number of Protestants in Vienna

Solid State NMR Characterization of Complex Metal Hydrides systems for Hydrogen Storage Applications

Solid state NMR is widely applied in studies of solid state chemistries for hydrogen storage reactions. Use of ^(11)B MAS NMR in studies of metal borohydrides (BH_4) is mainly focused, revisiting the issue of dodecaborane formation and observation of ^(11)B{^1H} Nuclear Overhauser Effect

Improved Cardiorespiratory Fitness Is Associated with Increased Cortical Thickness in Mild Cognitive Impairment

Cortical atrophy is a biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that correlates with clinical symptoms. This study examined changes in cortical thickness from before to after an exercise intervention in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy elders. Thirty physically inactive older adults (14 MCI, 16 healthy controls) underwent MRI before and after participating in a 12-week moderate intensity walking intervention. Participants were between the ages of 61 and 88. Change in cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed using residualized scores of the peak rate of oxygen consumption (V̇O2peak) from pre- to post-intervention. Structural magnetic resonance images were processed using FreeSurfer v5.1.0. V̇O2peak increased an average of 8.49%, which was comparable between MCI and healthy elders. Overall, cortical thickness was stable except for a significant decrease in the right fusiform gyrus in both groups. However, improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness due to the intervention (V̇O2peak) was positively correlated with cortical thickness change in the bilateral insula, precentral gyri, precuneus, posterior cingulate, and inferior and superior frontal cortices. Moreover, MCI participants exhibited stronger positive correlations compared to healthy elders in the left insula and superior temporal gyrus. A 12-week moderate intensity walking intervention led to significantly improved fitness in both MCI and healthy elders. Improved V̇O2peak was associated with widespread increased cortical thickness, which was similar between MCI and healthy elders. Thus, regular exercise may be an especially beneficial intervention to counteract cortical atrophy in all risk groups, and may provide protection against future cognitive decline in both healthy elders and MCI

Dewetting of thin polymer films near the glass transition

Dewetting of ultra-thin polymer films near the glass transition exhibits unexpected front morphologies [G. Reiter, Phys. Rev. Lett., 87, 186101 (2001)]. We present here the first theoretical attempt to understand these features, focusing on the shear-thinning behaviour of these films. We analyse the profile of the dewetting film, and characterize the time evolution of the dry region radius, $R_{d}(t)$, and of the rim height, $h_{m}(t)$. After a transient time depending on the initial thickness, $h_{m}(t)$ grows like $\sqrt{t}$ while $R_{d}(t)$ increases like $\exp{(\sqrt{t})}$. Different regimes of growth are expected, depending on the initial film thickness and experimental time range.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures Revised version, published in Physical Review Letters: F. Saulnier, E. Raphael and P.-G. de Gennes, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 196101 (2002

Study of aluminoborane compound AlB_4H_(11) for hydrogen storage

Aluminoborane compounds AlB_4H_(11), AlB_5H_(12), and AlB_6H_(13) were reported by Himpsl and Bond in 1981, but they have eluded the attention of the worldwide hydrogen storage research community for more than a quarter of a century. These aluminoborane compounds have very attractive properties for hydrogen storage: high hydrogen capacity (i.e., 13.5, 12.9, and 12.4 wt % H, respectively) and attractive hydrogen desorption temperature (i.e., AlB_4H_(11) decomposes at ~125 °C). We have synthesized AlB_4H_(11) and studied its thermal desorption behavior using temperature-programmed desorption with mass spectrometry, gas volumetric (Sieverts) measurement, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Rehydrogenation of hydrogen-desorbed products was performed and encouraging evidence of at least partial reversibility for hydrogenation at relatively mild conditions is observed. Our chemical analysis indicates that the formula for the compound is closer to AlB_4H_(12) than AlB_4H_(11)

Hole motion in the Ising antiferromagnet: an application of the recursion method

We study hole motion in the Ising antiferromagnet using the recursion method. Using the retraceable path approximation we find the hole's Green's function as well as its wavefunction for arbitrary values of $t/J_z$. The effect of small transverse interaction also is taken into account. Our results provide some additional insight into the self-consistent Born approximation.Comment: 8 pages, RevTex, no figures. Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.