From politics to passion: recent developments in German-language literature

Die deutsche Literatur der neunziger Jahre stand im Zeichen der Politik. Der Grund dafür war die deutsche Wiedervereinigung, die nicht nur einen Rückblick auf die verschwundene Deutsche Demokratische Republik   nahelegte, sondern auch eine neuerliche Auseinandersetzung mit der gesamtdeutschen Vergangenheit, insbesondere dem Nationalsozialismus. Das Wiedererstehen eines mächtigen deutschen Staates im Herzen Europas führte überdies in einigen Nachbarländern, vor allem in Österreich und der Schweiz, zu einer heftigen Debatte über die eigene Position, die diese Staaten gegenüber Nazi-Deutschland eingenommen hatten, und diese   Debatte schlug sich   natürlich auch in der Literatur nieder. Doch mit dem Beginn des neuen Millenniums ist eine Wende zu beobachten: Die meisten Autoren scheinen das Interesse an Politik und Geschichte verloren zu haben und kehren zu einem der ältesten Themen in der Literatur überhaupt zurück: zur Liebe

Breaking Public Keys - How to Determine an Unknown RSA Public Modulus

Not surprisingly, the common use of any public key crypto system involves publishing the public key and keeping the private key secret. There are however a few applications where both the private and public key are kept secret, thereby effectively converting a public key crypto algorithm to a symmetric algorithm. We show that if the RSA cryptosystem is used in such a symmetric application, it is possible to determine the public RSA modulus if the public exponent is known and short, such as 3 or F4=65537, and two or more plaintext/ciphertext (or, if RSA is used for signing, signed value/signature) pairs are known

From politics to passion: recent developments in German-language literature

Die deutsche Literatur der neunziger Jahre stand im Zeichen der Politik. Der Grund dafür war die deutsche Wiedervereinigung, die nicht nur einen Rückblick auf die verschwundene Deutsche Demokratische Republik   nahelegte, sondern auch eine neuerliche Auseinandersetzung mit der gesamtdeutschen Vergangenheit, insbesondere dem Nationalsozialismus. Das Wiedererstehen eines mächtigen deutschen Staates im Herzen Europas führte überdies in einigen Nachbarländern, vor allem in Österreich und der Schweiz, zu einer heftigen Debatte über die eigene Position, die diese Staaten gegenüber Nazi-Deutschland eingenommen hatten, und diese   Debatte schlug sich   natürlich auch in der Literatur nieder. Doch mit dem Beginn des neuen Millenniums ist eine Wende zu beobachten: Die meisten Autoren scheinen das Interesse an Politik und Geschichte verloren zu haben und kehren zu einem der ältesten Themen in der Literatur überhaupt zurück: zur Liebe

Motive der Podcast-Nutzung : Ergebnisse aus zehn leitfadengestützten Interviews mit jungen Erwachsenen

Der vorliegende Bericht beleuchtet die Podcast-Nutzung von jungen Menschen in der Deutschschweiz und deren Motive. Das Ziel ist es, ein Gespür für Podcast-Hörende, ihre unterschiedlichen Beweggründe für das Anhören und die Nutzungsweisen von Podcasts zu bekommen. Die Hauptfragestellung lautet: Was sind Motive für die Podcast-Nutzung bei jungen Erwachsenen? Daraus ableitend soll auch die Frage geklärt werden, ob sich die extrahierten Motive je nach Nutzergruppe (z.B. Geschlechter) unterscheiden. Hierfür wurden 10 leitfadengestützte Einzelinterviews mit Studierenden in der Schweiz im Alter von 21 bis 29 Jahren durchgeführt. Die Einzelinterviews wurden anschliessend mithilfe qualitativer Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet. Zu den identifizierten Motiven der Podcast-Nutzung zählen Lernen von Neuem, Unterhaltung, Beschäftigung / Zeitvertreib / Ablenkung, Sozialer Austausch / Eingebunden-Sein, Entspannung, Inspiration / neue Perspektiven, Gewohnheit, Alternative zum TV schauen / Musik hören und Praktikabilität. Die vorliegende Pilotstudie wurde von der Fachgruppe Medienpsychologie der ZHAW in Zusammenarbeit mit der Fachrichtung Cast / Audiovisual der ZHdK durchgeführt

Experimental Investigations of Flexible Wall Effects in Helmholtz Resonators for Aircraft Engine Acoustic Liners

Acoustic liners working like Helmholtz resonators offer an effective way to dampen tonal noise in aircraft engines. In order to broaden the bandwidth of a Helmholtz resonator, we added flexible walls that result in an additional low frequency dissipation. We investigated different parameters of the concept with a modular setup. In this paper, the results of measurements for a resonator with a flexible wall - representing the basic element of an advanced liner concept - and its potential to dampen lower frequencies are shown. The measurements are conducted at an aero-acoustic wind tunnel for multiple combinations of up to two resonators and up to four flexible walls with different parameters such as material, thickness, distance, position, orientation and shape. In this paper we show which parameter has an influence on the dissipation caused by the flexible wall. An additional dissipation occurs at specific material parameter whereas the geometric parameters alter the frequency of the additional dissipation

Anthracycline-Induced Cardiotoxicity: Cardiac Monitoring by Continuous Wave-Doppler Ultrasound Cardiac Output Monitoring and Correlation to Echocardiography

Background: Anthracyclines are agents with a well-known cardiotoxicity. The study sought to evaluate the hemodynamic response to an anthracycline using real-time continuous-wave (CW)-Doppler ultrasound cardiac output monitoring (USCOM) and echocardiography in combination with serum biomarkers. Methods: 50 patients (26 male, 24 female, median age 59 years) suffering from various types of cancer received an anthracycline-based regimen. Patients' responses were measured at different time points (T0 prior to infusion, T1 6 h post infusion, T2 after 1 day, T3 after 7 days, and T4 after 3 months) with CW-Doppler ultrasound (T0-T4) and echocardiography (T1, T4) for hemodynamic parameters such as stroke volume (SV; SVUSCOM ml) and ejection fraction (EF; EFechocardiography%) and with NT-pro-BNP and hs-Troponin T (T0-T4). Results: During the 3-month observation period, the relative decrease in the EF determined by echocardiography was -2.1% (Delta T0-T4, T0 71 +/- 7.8%, T4 69.5 +/- 7%, p = 0.04), whereas the decrease in SV observed using CW-Doppler was -6.5% (Delta T0-T4, T0 54 +/- 19.2 ml, T4 50.5 +/- 20.6 ml, p = 0.14). The kinetics for serum biomarkers were inversely correlated. Conclusions: Combining real-time CW-Doppler USCOM and serum biomarkers is feasible for monitoring the immediate and chronic hemodynamic changes during an anthracycline-based regimen; the results obtained were comparable to those from echocardiography

Modeling of Advanced Helmholtz Resonator Liners with a Flexible Wall

Acoustic liners are an effective way to dampen aircraft noise. Conventional single-degree-of-freedom liners consist of a perforated facesheet backed with a honeycomb structure and a rigid end plate. Their damping excels near their resonance frequency, which is antiproportional to the cavity depth (quarter-wave-resonator) or the cavity volume (Helmholtz resonator). However, this is a challenge for low-frequency noise with long wavelengths due to the limited installation space. We therefore propose a resonator in which the back cavity is divided into two cavities by a flexible plate. The aim is to combine the damping mechanisms of the Helmholtz resonator with the material damping of the flexible plate. With carefully chosen parameters, this flexible plate resonates well below the Helmholtz frequency. We derived an analytic model based on waveguide theory to predict the impedance of the resonator concept. The Helmholtz equation was solved to (numerically) determine the scattering coefficients of a channel section in which one wall is lined with the predicted resonator impedance. The predicted dissipation agreed well with experimental data from measurements at the aeroacoustic wind tunnel DUCT-R

Enzymatic synthesis and formation kinetics of mono- and di-hydroxylated chlorinated paraffins with the bacterial dehalogenase LinB from Sphingobium indicum

Transformation studies of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) and the effects of CP transformation products on humans, biota and environment are rare. The focus here is on hydroxylation reactions. As for polyhalogenated persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in general, hydroxylation reactions convert lipophilic material to more polar compounds with increased mobility. We investigated the in-vitro transformation of single-chain CP-mixtures to hydroxylated products with the dehalogenase LinB from Sphingobium indicum. C11-, C12- and C13-single-chain CP-homologues were exposed to LinB and mono-hydroxylated (CP-ols) and di-hydroxylated (CP-diols) transformation products were formed. Liquid-chromatography coupled to mass-spectrometry (LC-MS) was used to detect hydroxylated products and to separate them from the starting material. The presented data can be used to identify these CP-ol and CP-diol homologues in other samples. Hydroxylated products had lower chlorination degrees (nCl) than respective CP-starting-materials. Reactive and persistent CP-material was found in each homologue group. Reactive material is converted within hours by LinB, while more persistent CPs are transformed within days. Homologue-specific kinetic models were established to simulate the stepwise hydroxylation of persistent CPs to mono- and di-hydroxylated products. First-order rate constants for the formation of CP-ols (k1) and CP-diols (k2) were deduced for different homologues. Lower-chlorinated CP-ols did not accumulate to large extent and were transformed quickly to CP-diols, while higher-chlorinated CP-ols and -diols both accumulated. By enzymatic transformation of single-chain CPs with LinB, we synthesized unique sets of mono- and di-hydroxylated materials, which can be used as analytical standards and as starting materials for metabolic, toxicity and environmental fate studies

Transformation of short-chain chlorinated paraffins and olefins with the bacterial dehalogenase LinB from Sphingobium Indicum : Kinetic models for the homologue-specific conversion of reactive and persistent material

Structure, reactivity and physico-chemical properties of polyhalogenated compounds determine their up-take, transport, bio-accumulation, transformation and toxicity and their environmental fate. In technical mixtures of chlorinated paraffins (CPs), these properties are distributed due to the presence of thousands of homologues. We hypothesized that roles of CP dehalogenation reactions, catalyzed by the haloalkane dehalogenase LinB, depend on structural properties of the substrates, e.g. chlorination degree and carbon-chain length. We exposed mixtures of chlorinated undecanes, dodecanes and tridecanes in-vitro to LinB from Sphingobium Indicum bacteria. These single-chain CP-materials also contain small amounts of chlorinated olefins (COs), which can be distinct by mathematical deconvolution of respective mass-spectra. With this procedure, we obtained homologue-specific transformation kinetics of substrates differing in saturation degree, chlorination degree and carbon chain-length. For all homologues, two-stage first-order kinetic models were established, which described the faster conversion of reactive material and the slower transformation of more persistent material. Half-lifes of 0.5-3.2 h and 56-162 h were determined for more reactive and more persistent CP-material. Proportions of persistent material increased steadily from 18 to 67% for lower (Cl6) to higher (Cl11) chlorinated paraffins and olefins. Conversion efficiencies decreased with increasing chlorination degree from 97 to 70%. Carbon-chain length had only minor effects on transformation rates. Hence, the conversion was faster and more efficient for lower-chlorinated material, and slower for higher-chlorinated and longer-chained CPs and COs. Current legislation has banned short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) and forced a transition to longer-chain CPs. This may be counterproductive with regard to enzymatic transformation with LinB

Transformation of short-chain chlorinated paraffins by the bacterial haloalkane dehalogenase LinB : Formation of mono- and di-hydroxylated metabolites

Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) are listed as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) under the Stockholm Convention. Such substances are toxic, bioaccumulating, transported over long distances and degrade slowly in the environment. Certain bacterial strains of the Sphingomonadacea family are able to degrade POPs, such as hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs). The haloalkane dehalogenase LinB, expressed in certain Sphingomonadacea, is able to catalyze the transformation of haloalkanes to hydroxylated compounds. Therefore, LinB is a promising candidate for conversion of SCCPs. Hence, a mixture of chlorinated tridecanes was exposed in vitro to LinB, which was obtained through heterologous expression in Escherichia coli. Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was used to analyze chlorinated tridecanes and their transformation products. A chloride-enhanced soft ionization method, which favors the formation of chloride adducts [M+Cl]- without fragmentation, was applied. Mathematical deconvolution was used to distinguish interfering mass spectra of paraffinic, mono-olefinic and di-olefinic compounds. Several mono- and di-hydroxylated products including paraffinic, mono-olefinic and di-olefinic compounds were found after LinB exposure. Mono- (rt = 5.9-6.9 min) and di-hydroxylated (rt = 3.2-4.5 min) compounds were separated from starting material (rt = 7.7-8.5 min) by reversed phase LC. Chlorination degrees of chlorinated tridecanes increased during LinB-exposure from nCl = 8.80 to 9.07, indicating a preferential transformation of lower chlorinated (Cl<9) tridecanes. Thus, LinB indeed catalyzed a dehalohydroxylation of chlorinated tridecanes, tridecenes and tridecadienes. The observed hydroxylated compounds are relevant CP transformation products whose environmental and toxicological effects should be further investigated