Program FFlexCom — High frequency flexible bendable electronics for wireless communication systems

Today, electronics are implemented on rigid substrates. However, many objects in daily-life are not rigid — they are bendable, stretchable and even foldable. Examples are paper, tapes, our body, our skin and textiles. Until today there is a big gap between electronics and bendable daily-life items. Concerning this matter, the DFG Priority Program FFlexCom aims at paving the way for a novel research area: Wireless communication systems fully integrated on an ultra-thin, bendable and flexible piece of plastic or paper. The Program encompasses 13 projects led by 25 professors. By flexibility we refer to mechanical flexibility, which can come in flavors of bendability, foldability and, stretchability. In the last years the speed of flexible devices has massively been improved. However, to enable functional flexible systems and operation frequencies up to the sub-GHz range, the speed of flexible devices must still be increased by several orders of magnitude requiring novel system and circuit architectures, component concepts, technologies and materials

Influence of composition and long term annealing on the formation of the 110K phase in the Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system

We report the preparation of polycrystalline samples with nominal composition (Bi1-xPbx)2Sr2Ca2Cu3+yO10-δ with 0 ≤ × ≤ 1 and y = 0 and 0.5 starting from the metal-oxides and carbonates. The prereacted material was pressed into pellets and sintered in air at 830°C in several steps up to 785 hours. Resistively measured critical temperatures Tc (midpoint) between 108K and 114K were achieved for 0.2 ≤ × ≤ 0.5. Tc,o and the onset of the transition observed by ac-susceptibility is usually 3K lower. X-ray diffraction studies show that long term annealing is essential for the formation of the 110K high-Tc-phase. DC-magnetization measurements exhibit after 143h annealing steps in the Meissner as well as in the shielding signal at 112K and 80K. The 80K features disappear after annealing for 785 hours. The extended levitation of the samples in inhomogeneous magnetic fields after cooling in liquid nitrogen shows that the volume fraction of the 110K phase is very large

Thin film preparation, transport properties and superconductivity of YBa2Cu3O7

The authors report the preparation of high-Tc YBa2Cu3O7 films on single crystalline SrTiO3, LaGaO3, NdAlCaO4, MgO, ZrO2, and Al2O3 substrates by sputtering and laser ablation. In all cases c-axis oriented films with Tc's near 90 K and narrow transitions were obtained. The films grow epitaxially on SrTiO3 and LaGaO3, highly oriented on MgO, ZrO2 and NdAlCaO4 and less oriented on Al2O3. On patterned films the authors obtained jc(77K)=4.106 A/cm2 for films on SrTiO3, 4.104 A/cm2 on NdAlCaO4 and 4.103 A/cm2 on Al2O3 revealing the importance of epitaxial growth. In magnetic fields of 12 Tesla with B//c-axis they find jc(12 T, 20 K)=2.106 A/cm2

Endotoxin-Induced Proteolytic Reduction in Hepatic Growth Hormone (GH) Receptor: A Novel Mechanism for GH Insensitivity

GH is an important anabolic hormone. We previously demonstrated in cell culture that the cell surface GH receptor (GHR) is susceptible to inducible metalloproteolytic cleavage that yields the shed receptor extracellular domain (called GH binding protein) and renders the cells desensitized to subsequent GH stimulation. Sepsis and inflammatory states are associated with hepatic desensitization to GH, although disparate mechanisms have been postulated in various animal models. Using C3H/HeJ mice, we now demonstrate that administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) causes marked hepatic desensitization to GH, assessed by monitoring signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 tyrosine phosphorylation and nuclear accumulation and with a novel noninvasive bioluminescence imaging system to track in vivo hepatic GH signaling serially in individual mice. This endotoxin-induced desensitization was accompanied by marked loss of hepatic GHR, which was not explained by changes in GHR mRNA abundance. Furthermore, we observe that LPS causes GH-binding protein shedding of a hepatically expressed wild-type GHR but not a GHR with a mutation in the metalloprotease cleavage site. These data suggest that in this model system, LPS-induced desensitization to GH is associated with proteolytic GHR cleavage. These data are the first to demonstrate inducible in vivo GHR proteolysis and suggest this is a mechanism to regulate GH sensitivity and its anabolic effects during sepsis or inflammation

Faustzahlen für den Ökologischen Landbau

Die Faustzahlen bieten einen kompakten Überblick über den Ökologischen Landbau. Ob pflanzliche oder tierische Erzeugung, Lagerung und Vermarktung, Betriebsfüh-rung oder Biodiversität – die Faustzahlen liefern auf fast alle Fragen der Praxis eine Antwort. Dieses Buch gewährt Einblick in die besonderen Bedingungen des Ökolandbaus, vor allem in seine Kosten- und Leistungsstrukturen, aber auch in seine Möglichkeiten mit Herausforderungen umzugehen, wie z. B. Nährstoffversorgung oder Unkrautdruck. Ob es um Überschlagsrechnungen oder Vorplanungen geht, dieses Nachschlage-werk schließt Lücken, wenn eigene Daten und Erfahrungen fehlen. Die Inhalte sind in Tabellen strukturiert, in Grafiken veranschaulicht und in kurzen Texten erläutert. Die „Faustzahlen für den Ökologischen Landbau“ sind unentbehrlich für alle, die es genau wissen wollen. Die 760-seitige Schrift ist als Printversion für 30 € und als digitale Version für 27 € beim Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft (KTBL) e.V. er-hältlich. In der digitalen Version lassen sich Zahlen und Fakten online recherchieren und Verlinkungen direkt aufrufen