Integration von Telelearning- und Teleworking-Applikationen

Aus der Kurzfassung: 'Ca. 5 % der deutschen Arbeitnehmer gehören zu einer der weltweit am rasantesten wachsenden Berufsgruppen: den Telearbeitern. Rund elf Millionen Amerikaner arbeiten bereits regelmäßig daheim - Tendenz steigend. Europa ist vergleichsweise rückständig, doch soll es in Deutschland bis zur Jahrtausendwende schon 800.000 Teleworker geben. [9] Damit diese Arbeitsform ihr Produktivitätspotential ganz entfaltet, gilt es jedoch, Teleworker ausreichend auf ihr neues Arbeitsumfeld und die neue Technik vorzubereiten

Integration von Telelearning- und Teleworking-Applikationen

Aus der Kurzfassung: 'Ca. 5 % der deutschen Arbeitnehmer gehören zu einer der weltweit am rasantesten wachsenden Berufsgruppen: den Telearbeitern. Rund elf Millionen Amerikaner arbeiten bereits regelmäßig daheim - Tendenz steigend. Europa ist vergleichsweise rückständig, doch soll es in Deutschland bis zur Jahrtausendwende schon 800.000 Teleworker geben. [9] Damit diese Arbeitsform ihr Produktivitätspotential ganz entfaltet, gilt es jedoch, Teleworker ausreichend auf ihr neues Arbeitsumfeld und die neue Technik vorzubereiten

Thermal Particle and Photon Production in Pb+Pb Collisions with Transverse Flow

Particle and photon production is analyzed in the presence of transverse flow using two approximations to describe the properties of the hadronic medium, one containing only $\pi, \rho, \omega$, and $\eta$ mesons (simplified equation of state) and the other containing hadrons and resonances from the particle data table. Both are considered with and without initial quark gluon plasma formation. In each case the initial temperature is fixed by requiring $dN_{ch}/dy \sim$ 550 in the final state. It is shown that most observables are very sensitive to the equation of state. This is particularly evident when comparing the results of the simplified equation of state in the scenarios with and without phase transition. The hadronic gas scenario leads to a substantially higher rate for the $p_T$-distribution of all particles. In the complete equation of state with several hundreds of hadronic resonances, the difference between the scenarios with and without phase transition is rather modest. Both photon and particle spectra, in a wide $p_T$ range, show very similar behavior. It is therefore concluded that from the $p_T$ spectra it will be hard to disentangle quark gluon plasma formation in the initial state. It is to be stressed however, that there are conceptual difficulties in applying a pure hadronic gas equation of state at SPS-energies. The phase transition scenario with a quark gluon plasma present in the initial state seems to be the more natural one.Comment: 9 pages RevTeX figures in postscript forma

Radiation of single photons from Pb+PbPb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS and quark hadron phase transition

The production of single photons in $Pb+Pb$ collisions at the CERN SPS as measured by the WA98 experiment is analysed. A quark gluon plasma is assumed to be formed initially, which expands, cools, hadronizes, and undergoes freeze-out. A rich hadronic equation of state is used and the transverse expansion of the interacting system is taken into account. The recent estimates of photon production in quark-matter (at two loop level) along with the dominant reactions in the hadronic matter leading to photons are used. About 50% of the single photons are seen to have a thermal origin. An addition of the thermal and prompt photons is seen to provide a very good description of the data. Most of the thermal photons having large transverse momenta arise from the quark-matter, which contributes dominantly through the mechanism of annihilation of quarks with scattering, and which in turn is possible only in a hot and dense plasma of quarks and gluons. The results thus confirm the formation of quark gluon plasma and the existence of this mechanism of the production of single photons.Comment: 6 pages including 3 figures. Corrected 2-loop rates for photons are use

Relationships of peripheral IGF-1, VEGF and BDNF levels to exercise-related changes in memory, hippocampal perfusion and volumes in older adults

Animal models point towards a key role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in mediating exercise-induced structural and functional changes in the hippocampus. Recently, also platelet derived growth factor-C (PDGF-C) has been shown to promote blood vessel growth and neuronal survival. Moreover, reductions of these neurotrophic and angiogenic factors in old age have been related to hippocampal atrophy, decreased vascularization and cognitive decline. In a 3-month aerobic exercise study, forty healthy older humans (60 to 77years) were pseudo-randomly assigned to either an aerobic exercise group (indoor treadmill, n=21) or to a control group (indoor progressive-muscle relaxation/stretching, n=19). As reported recently, we found evidence for fitness-related perfusion changes of the aged human hippocampus that were closely linked to changes in episodic memory function. Here, we test whether peripheral levels of BDNF, IGF-I, VEGF or PDGF-C are related to changes in hippocampal blood flow, volume and memory performance. Growth factor levels were not significantly affected by exercise, and their changes were not related to changes in fitness or perfusion. However, changes in IGF-I levels were positively correlated with hippocampal volume changes (derived by manual volumetry and voxel-based morphometry) and late verbal recall performance, a relationship that seemed to be independent of fitness, perfusion or their changes over time. These preliminary findings link IGF-I levels to hippocampal volume changes and putatively hippocampus-dependent memory changes that seem to occur over time independently of exercise. We discuss methodological shortcomings of our study and potential differences in the temporal dynamics of how IGF-1, VEGF and BDNF may be affected by exercise and to what extent these differences may have led to the negative findings reported here

QGP Theory: Status and Perspectives

The current status of Quark-Gluon-Plasma Theory is reviewed. Special emphasis is placed on QGP signatures, the interpretation of current data and what to expect from RHIC in the near future.Comment: 20 pages, invited overview talk at the 4th International Conference on the Physcis and Astrophysics of the Quark-Gluon-Plasma, November 2001, Jaipur, India, to appear in Praman

The New Physics at RHIC. From Transparency to High pt_t Suppression

Heavy ion collisions at RHIC energies (Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV) exhibit significant new features as compared to earlier experiments at lower energies. The reaction is characterized by a high degree of transparency of the collisions partners leading to the formation of a baryon-poor central region. In this zone, particle production occurs mainly from the stretching of the color field. The initial energy density is well above the one considered necessary for the formation of the Quark Gluon Plasma, QGP. The production of charged particles of various masses is consistent with chemical and thermal equilibrium. Recently, a suppression of the high transverse momentum component of hadron spectra has been observed in central Au+Au collisions. This can be explained by the energy loss experienced by leading partons in a medium with a high density of unscreened color charges. In contrast, such high $p_t$ jets are not suppressed in d+Au collisions suggesting that the high $p_t$ suppression is not due to initial state effects in the ultrarelativistic colliding nuclei.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. to appear in Nucl. Physics A. Invited talk at 'Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions 2003' conference, Mosco

Quantitative Treatment of Decoherence

We outline different approaches to define and quantify decoherence. We argue that a measure based on a properly defined norm of deviation of the density matrix is appropriate for quantifying decoherence in quantum registers. For a semiconductor double quantum dot qubit, evaluation of this measure is reviewed. For a general class of decoherence processes, including those occurring in semiconductor qubits, we argue that this measure is additive: It scales linearly with the number of qubits.Comment: Revised version, 26 pages, in LaTeX, 3 EPS figure

TDP-43 stabilises the processing intermediates of mitochondrial transcripts

The 43-kDa trans-activating response region DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is a product of a causative gene for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Despite of accumulating evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction underlies the pathogenesis of TDP-43–related ALS, the roles of wild-type TDP-43 in mitochondria are unknown. Here, we show that the small TDP-43 population present in mitochondria binds directly to a subset of mitochondrial tRNAs and precursor RNA encoded in L-strand mtDNA. Upregulated expression of TDP-43 stabilised the processing intermediates of mitochondrial polycistronic transcripts and their products including the components of electron transport and 16S mt-rRNA, similar to the phenotype observed in cells deficient for mitochondrial RNase P. Conversely, TDP-43 deficiency reduced the population of processing intermediates and impaired mitochondrial function. We propose that TDP-43 has a novel role in maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis by regulating the processing of mitochondrial transcripts