Linking social capacities and risk communication in Europe: a gap between theory and practice?

Although both improved risk communication and the building of social capacities have been advocated as vital ways to increase societies' resilience towards natural hazards across the world, the literature has rarely examined the ways in which these two concepts may integrate in theory and practice. This paper is an attempt to address this gap in a European context. It begins with a conceptual discussion that unites the literature on risk communication with the literature on social capacity building. We then use the insights from this discussion as a basis to conduct a review of 60 risk communication practices from across Europe. This review indicates a gap between theory and practice because, whilst the literature highlights the importance of integrated and coordinated communication campaigns featuring both a one-way transfer and a two-way dialogue between the public, stakeholders and decision-makers, the majority of the communication practices reviewed here appear to be relatively disparate initiatives that rely on one-way forms of communication. On the basis of these findings, we conclude by making some recommendations for the way in which such practices could be improved in order to be more supportive of social capacities across Europ

Photodynamic therapy of prostate cancer by means of 5-aminolevulinic acid-induced protoporphyrin IX - In vivo experiments on the dunning rat tumor model

Objective: In order to expand the use of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in the treatment of prostate carcinoma (PCA), the aim of this study was to evaluate PDT by means of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)-induced protoporphyrin IX ( PPIX) in an in vivo tumor model. Methods: The model used was the Dunning R3327 tumor. First of all, the pharmacokinetics and the localization of PPIX were obtained using fluorescence measurement techniques. Thereafter, PDT using 150 mg 5-ALA/kg b.w.i.v. was performed by homogenous irradiation of the photosensitized tumor (diode laser lambda = 633 nm). The tumors necrosis was determined histopathologically. Results: The kinetics of PPIX fluorescence revealed a maximum intensity in the tumor tissue within 3 and 4.5 h post-application of 5-ALA. At this time, specific PPIX fluorescence could be localized selectively in the tumor cells. The PDT-induced necrosis (n = 18) was determined to be 94 B 12% (range 60-100%), while the necrosis of the controls ( n = 12) differs significantly (p < 0.01), being less than 10%. Conclusion: These first in vivo results demonstrate the effective potential of 5-ALA-mediated PDT on PCA in an animal model. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

Assessment of the biogas production potential of renewable resources with near infrared spectroscopy

Die zunehmende Nutzung von Biomasse zur Biogas­gewinnung erfordert die Entwicklung entsprechender Analyseverfahren, mit denen die potentielle Gasausbeute des eingesetzten Pflanzenmaterials bewertet werden kann. Insbesondere in der Energiepflanzenzüchtung werden Schnellmethoden benötigt, die möglichst erntezeitnah und kostengünstig genotypische Unterschiede im Gasbildungspotential an großen Probenserien feststellen können. Die Eignung der Nahinfrarot-Spektroskopie (NIRS) für diese Aufgabe wird an Silomais, Gras und Gras-Leguminosengemischen untersucht. Die Kalibrier-/Validierexperimente werden an frischen und entsprechenden trockenen, vermahlenen Proben durchgeführt. Dabei wird zum Einen die Methanausbeute, die aus Batch-Tests ermittelt wurde, als Referenz genutzt, zum Anderen die berechnete potentielle Methanausbeute, auf der Grundlage der fermentierbaren organischen Trockenmasse. Es wird nachgewiesen, dass sich die gemessene Methanausbeute nicht mit ausreichender Bestimmtheit kalibrieren/validieren lässt. Ursache ist eine zu geringe Wiederholgenauigkeit der Batch-Tests im Verhältnis zur fruchtartenspezifischen Varianz des Methanbildungs­potentials. Dagegen ist mit den Referenzdaten der berechneten potentiellen Methanausbeute die NIR-Kali­brierung/Validierung mit ausreichender Bestimmtheit möglich. Die Vorhersageleistung, die bei frischem Pflanzenmaterial erreicht wird, ist für das Screening geeignet, die die bei trockenem Material erreicht wird, liegt im Bereich üblicher NIR-Laboranalysen.The increasing use of biomass for biogas production requires the development of appropriate analytical processes with which the potential gas yields of the plants used can be evaluated. Particularly in energy plant breeding, quick methods to determine genotypical differences in gas development potential are needed that can be applied on large sample series as close to harvest time as possible and at as low a cost as possible. The suitability of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for this task was studied on silage maize, grass and grass-legume mixtures. The calibration-validation experiments were carried out on fresh and accordingly dried, ground samples, as well as on the basis of two reference data bases on methane yield, one calculated from batch tests and the other calculating potential methane yield on the basis of the fermentable organic dry matter. It is shown that the measured methane yield cannot be calibrated or vali­dated with adequate certainty. The reason for this is the inexactness in the repetitions of the batch tests in relation to the crop type specific variance of the methane production potential. With the reference data on the calculated potential methane yield, in contrast, the NIR calibration/validation can be made with adequate exactness. Here the prediction ability lies within the screening area for fresh plant material and an acceptable level of laboratory analysis for dry material is possible

Sich gesund fühlen: psychoanalytisches Verständnis und typologische Ordnung von Lebensläufen subjektiv Gesunder

'Die innere Repräsentation lebensgeschichtlicher Erfahrungen von Menschen, die sich subjektiv gesund fühlen, war Forschungsgegenstand des dargestellten Projekts. Die Probanden (N=21) wurden im Rahmen eines psychoanalytischen Interviews untersucht. Die Auswertung erfolgte mit Hilfe eines an der Methode der Verstehenden Typenbildung orientierten Verfahrens. Die Arbeit beschreibt das methodische Vorgehen, prototypische Einzelfälle und ihre klinischen Charakteristika und die sich daran anschließende Konstruktion von sogenannten Idealtypen, die als Grundfiguren einer typologischen Ordnung dienen. Sie veranschaulichen eine große Heterogenität der in der Stichprobe vorgefundenen Lebensentwürfe und Regulationsweisen. Abschließend werden zusammenfassende Überlegungen angestellt zu differenten Modalitäten psychischer Regulationsprinzipien, die mit einem subjektiven Gesundheitsgefühl einhergehen.' (Autorenreferat)'The research was concerned with the internal representation of the life experience of individuals who show a subjective feeling of good health. Subjects (N=21) were assessed within the framework of a psychoanalytic interview, and evaluation proceeded along the lines of the method of type formation by comprehension ('Verstehende Typologie'). The paper describes methods, prototypical cases and their clinical characteristics as well as the subsequent construction of so called ideal types that serve as the basic elements of a typological system. Results show a vast heterogeneity of life scripts and modes of emotional regulation. Concluding remarks reflect on the different modes of the principles of psychological regulation that are bound up with the subjective feeling of good health.' (author's abstract)

Visualizing Ultrafast Kinetic Instabilities in Laser-Driven Solids using X-ray Scattering

Ultra-intense lasers that ionize and accelerate electrons in solids to near the speed of light can lead to kinetic instabilities that alter the laser absorption and subsequent electron transport, isochoric heating, and ion acceleration. These instabilities can be difficult to characterize, but a novel approach using X-ray scattering at keV energies allows for their visualization with femtosecond temporal resolution on the few nanometer mesoscale. Our experiments on laser-driven flat silicon membranes show the development of structure with a dominant scale of ~60\unit{nm} in the plane of the laser axis and laser polarization, and ~95\unit{nm} in the vertical direction with a growth rate faster than $0.1/\mathrm{fs}$. Combining the XFEL experiments with simulations provides a complete picture of the structural evolution of ultra-fast laser-induced instability development, indicating the excitation of surface plasmons and the growth of a new type of filamentation instability. These findings provide new insight into the ultra-fast instability processes in solids under extreme conditions at the nanometer level with important implications for inertial confinement fusion and laboratory astrophysics

Alignment, orientation, and Coulomb explosion of difluoroiodobenzene studied with the pixel imaging mass spectrometry (PImMS) camera

Citation: Amini, K., Boll, R., Lauer, A., Burt, M., Lee, J. W. L., Christensen, L., . . . Rolles, D. (2017). Alignment, orientation, and Coulomb explosion of difluoroiodobenzene studied with the pixel imaging mass spectrometry (PImMS) camera. Journal of Chemical Physics, 147(1). doi:10.1063/1.4982220Laser-induced adiabatic alignment and mixed-field orientation of 2,6-difluoroiodobenzene (C6H3F2I) molecules are probed by Coulomb explosion imaging following either near-infrared strong-field ionization or extreme-ultraviolet multi-photon inner-shell ionization using free-electron laser pulses. The resulting photoelectrons and fragment ions are captured by a double-sided velocity map imaging spectrometer and projected onto two position-sensitive detectors. The ion side of the spectrometer is equipped with a pixel imaging mass spectrometry camera, a time-stamping pixelated detector that can record the hit positions and arrival times of up to four ions per pixel per acquisition cycle. Thus, the time-of-flight trace and ion momentum distributions for all fragments can be recorded simultaneously. We show that we can obtain a high degree of one-and three-dimensional alignment and mixed-field orientation and compare the Coulomb explosion process induced at both wavelengths. © 2017 Author(s)

Jitter-correction for IR/UV-XUV pump-probe experiments at the FLASH free-electron laser

In pump-probe experiments employing a free-electron laser (FEL) in combination with a synchronized optical femtosecond laser, the arrival-time jitter between the FEL pulse and the optical laser pulse often severely limits the temporal resolution that can be achieved. Here, we present a pump-probe experiment on the UV-induced dissociation of 2,6-difluoroiodobenzene (C6H3F2I) molecules performed at the FLASH FEL that takes advantage of recent upgrades of the FLASH timing and synchronization system to obtain high-quality data that are not limited by the FEL arrival-time jitter. We discuss in detail the necessary data analysis steps and describe the origin of the time-dependent effects in the yields and kinetic energies of the fragment ions that we observe in the experiment

Collins and Sivers asymmetries in muonproduction of pions and kaons off transversely polarised protons

Measurements of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries for charged pions and charged and neutral kaons produced in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering of high energy muons off transversely polarised protons are presented. The results were obtained using all the available COMPASS proton data, which were taken in the years 2007 and 2010. The Collins asymmetries exhibit in the valence region a non-zero signal for pions and there are hints of non-zero signal also for kaons. The Sivers asymmetries are found to be positive for positive pions and kaons and compatible with zero otherwise. © 2015