Emancipation or child benefits? What Germany’s new family policy has learned from other European countries

"The present analysis compares the social conditions for different fertility rates in the nations of western Europe based on an array of socioeconomic indicators. It shows clearly that the traditionally negative correlation between wealth and social development on the one hand and fertility on the other no longer holds once a society has reached a certain level of development. Today more children are born in the countries with the most advanced social systems in regard to gender equality. Based on this result, we propose to discuss the problem of low-fertility countries from a different point of view. Neither child benefits nor other sources of financial aid appear to motivate people in modern industrial societies to have more children. What is far more crucial is equality of men and women in society." (author's abstract

A Contribution to Resource-Aware Architectures for Humanoid Robots

The goal of this work is to provide building blocks for resource-aware robot architectures. The topic of these blocks are data-driven generation of context-sensitive resource models, prediction of future resource utilizations, and resource-aware computer vision and motion planning algorithms. The implementation of these algorithms is based on resource-aware concepts and methodologies originating from the Transregional Collaborative Research Center "Invasive Computing" (SFB/TR 89)

Fission Rates Measured Using High-Energy Gamma-Rays from Short Half-Life Fission Products in Fresh and Spent Nuclear Fuel

In recent years, higher discharge burn-ups and initial fuel enrichments have led to more and more heterogeneous core configurations in light water reactors (LWRs), especially at the beginning of cycle when fresh fuel assemblies are loaded next to highly burnt ones. As this trend is expected to continue in the future, the Paul Scherrer Institute has, in collaboration with the Swiss Association of Nuclear Utilities, swissnuclear, launched the experimental programme LIFE@PROTEUS. The LIFE@PROTEUS programme aims to better characterise interfaces between burnt and fresh UO2 fuel assemblies in modern LWRs. Thereby, a novel experimental database is to be made available for enabling the validation of neutronics calculations of strongly heterogeneous LWR core configurations. During the programme, mixed fresh and highly burnt UO2 fuel lattices will be investigated in the zero-power research reactor PROTEUS. One of the main types of investigations will be to irradiate the fuel in PROTEUS and measure the resulting fission rate distributions across the interface between fresh and burnt fuel zones. The measurement of fission rates in burnt fuel re-irradiated in a zero-power reactor requires, however, the development of new experimental techniques which are able to discriminate against the high intrinsic activity of the fuel. The principal goal of the present research work has been to develop such a new measurement technique. The selected approach is based on the detection of high-energy gamma-ray lines above the intrinsic background (i.e. above 2200 keV), which are emitted by short-lived fission products freshly created in the fuel. The fission products 88Kr, 142La, 138Cs, 84Br, 89Rb, 95Y, 90mRb and 90Rb, with half-lives between 2.6 min and 2.8 h, have been identified as potential candidates. During the present research work, the gamma-ray activity of short-lived fission products has, for the first time, been measured and quantitatively evaluated for re-irradiated burnt UO2 fuel samples with burn-ups of about 36 and 46GWd/t. Based on experiments carried out with these fuel samples in a reference test lattice of the PROTEUS reactor, fresh-to-burnt-fuel fission rate ratios could be determined. The 1σ uncertainties on the derived fission rate ratios are 1.7 to 3.4% and are mainly due to the statistical uncertainties. Calculated values of the fission rate ratios, as obtained using the Monte Carlo code MCNPX, have been shown to agree with the experimental results within these uncertainties. In deriving fresh-to-burnt-fuel fission rate ratios,142La and 138Cs have emerged as the preferred fission products. Their fission yields for the main fissile isotope (235U, 239Pu and 241Pu) are similar, which makes them relatively insensitive to the exact composition of the burnt fuel. Finally, a measurement station for the future LIFE@PROTEUS experiments has been proposed and evaluated, along with a detailed formulation of recommendations for optimised irradiation and measurement strategies. The estimated accuracy for the foreseen measurements of fission rate ratios between fresh and highly burnt fuel pins is 1 to 2%. The contribution of nuclear-data related uncertainties have been pointed out as possibly representing the main constraint on the achievable accuracy in future experiments. In brief, the present research work has established a novel experimental technique for measuring and comparing fission rates in fresh and highly burnt fuels in a zero-power research reactor such as PROTEUS. Moreover, possibilities have been presented for the further optimisation needed for a future, routine application of the technique

Warum entstehen Kriege? Welchen Einfluss haben demografische Veränderungen auf die Entstehung von Konflikten?

"In den vergangenen Jahren gelangte eine These in die internationale wissenschaftliche Diskussion, nach der so genannte Youth bulges - hohe Anteile Jugendlicher an einer Bevölkerung - Schlüsselfaktoren für den Ausbruch von Kriegen und bewaffneten Konflikten seien. Das Berlin-Institut hat jetzt weltweit für den Zeitraum von 1950 bis 2000 den Zusammenhang zwischen Jungendanteil, Säuglingssterberate (als Indikator des Entwicklungsstandes) und der Wahrscheinlichkeit von gewaltsamen Konflikten untersucht. Demnach zeichnet sich zwischen 1975 und 2000 ein direkter Zusammenhang zwischen hohen Jugendanteilen und Konfliktgefahr ab, der sich allerdings in Ländern mit extrem hohen Jugendanteilen wieder umkehrt. Auf Basis dieser Analyse wird auch eine Projektion künftiger Konfliktrisiken möglich. Sie zeigt, dass die Zahl der Länder mit hoher Konfliktwahrscheinlichkeit bis 2010 auf dem gegenwärtigen Niveau verharrt und danach sinken wird. Der Anteil von islamisch geprägten Ländern mit hohem Konfliktrisiko steigt jedoch an. Im Jahr 2010 würden demnach Staaten mit islamischer Bevölkerungsmehrheit fast die Hälfte aller Hochrisikoländer stellen." (Autorenreferat

Jugend und Kriegsgefahr: welchen Einfluss haben demografische Veränderungen auf die Entstehung von Konflikten?

"Das große Bevölkerungswachstum vieler Entwicklungsländer im letzten Viertel des vergangenen Jahrhunderts zeigt heute eine Spätfolge: Einen 'youth bulge', einen hohen Anteil junger Erwachsener an der Gesamtbevölkerung. Derzeit steht eine Rekordzahl von 1,2 Milliarden Jugendlicher zwischen zehn und 19 Jahren vor dem Eintritt ins Erwachsenenalter. Nach Zahlen der Vereinten Nationen lebt rund ein Viertel davon in extremer Armut. Manche Kriegsursachen-Forscher sehen in diesem Jugend-Überschuss ein erhebliches Konfliktpotential. Denn in vielen Ländern findet sich für die große Zahl junger Menschen kein angemessener Platz in der Gesellschaft. Die vorliegende Untersuchung überprüft diese These anhand demografischer Daten aus 159 Ländern und aller registrierten Kriege zwischen 1950 und 2000. 'Youth bulges' stellen demnach lediglich einen demografischen Stressfaktor unter vielen anderen dar. 'Youth bulges' liefern keine monokausale Erklärung für das Entstehen von Konflikten." (Autorenreferat

The uncoordinated-5 homolog B receptor affects hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury

Recent evidence has demonstrated additional roles for the neuronal guidance protein receptor UNC5B outside the nervous system. Given the fact that ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) of the liver is a common source of liver dysfunction and the role of UNC5B during an acute inflammatory response we investigated the role of UNC5B on acute hepatic IRI. We report here that UNC5B+/− mice display reduced hepatic IRI and neutrophil (PMN) infiltration compared to WT controls. This correlated with serum levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate- (AST) and alanine- (ALT) aminotransferase, the presence of PMN within ischemic hepatic tissue, and serum levels of inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, injection of an anti-UNC5B antibody resulted in a significant reduction of hepatic IR injury. This was associated with reduced parameters of liver injury (LDH, ALT, AST) and accumulation of PMN within the injured hepatic tissue. In conclusion our studies demonstrate a significant role for UNC5B in the development of hepatic IRI and identified UNC5B as a potential drug target to prevent liver dysfunction in the future

Emanzipation oder Kindergeld? Was die neue Familienpolitik Deutschlands von anderen europäischen Ländern gelernt hat

"Diese Untersuchung vergleicht die gesellschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen für die unterschiedlichen Kinderzahlen in westeuropäischen Nationen anhand einer Reihe sozioökonomischer Indikatoren. Es wird deutlich, dass ab einem bestimmten Niveau gesellschaftlicher Entwicklung der historisch zu beobachtende negative Zusammenhang zwischen Wohlstand und Fortschritt einerseits und Geburtenraten andererseits nicht mehr gilt. Heute werden in jenen Ländern mehr Kinder geboren, die in Bezug auf die Gleichbehandlung der Geschlechter die modernsten Gesellschaftssysteme aufweisen. Auf Basis dieser Ergebnisse schlagen die Autoren vor, das Problem nachwuchsarmer Länder aus einem neuen Blickwinkel zu diskutieren. Um Menschen in modernen Industriegesellschaften zu höheren Kinderzahlen zu motivieren, ist weniger die Höhe von Kindergeld und sonstigen Transferleistungen entscheidend. Ausschlaggebend scheint vielmehr die Gleichstellung von Frauen und Männern in der Gesellschaft." (Autorenreferat)"The present analysis compares the social conditions for different fertility rates in the nations of western Europe based on an array of socioeconomic indicators. It shows clearly that the traditionally negative correlation between wealth and social development on the one hand and fertility on the other no longer holds once a society has reached a certain level of development. Today more children are born in the countries with the most advanced social systems in regard to gender equality. Based on this result, we propose to discuss the problem of low-fertility countries from a different point of view. Neither child benefits nor other sources of financial aid appear to motivate people in modern industrial societies to have more children. What is far more crucial is equality of men and women in society." (author's abstract

Enhancing of catalytic properties of vanadia via surface doping with phosphorus using atomic layer deposition

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 34, 01A135 (2016) and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4936390.Atomic layer deposition is mainly used to deposit thin films on flat substrates. Here, the authors deposit a submonolayer of phosphorus on V2O5 in the form of catalyst powder. The goal is to prepare a model catalyst related to the vanadyl pyrophosphate catalyst (VO)2P2O7 industrially used for the oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride. The oxidation state of vanadium in vanadyl pyrophosphate is 4+. In literature, it was shown that the surface of vanadyl pyrophosphate contains V5+ and is enriched in phosphorus under reaction conditions. On account of this, V2O5 with the oxidation state of 5+ for vanadium partially covered with phosphorus can be regarded as a suitable model catalyst. The catalytic performance of the model catalyst prepared via atomic layer deposition was measured and compared to the performance of catalysts prepared via incipient wetness impregnation and the original V2O5 substrate. It could be clearly shown that the dedicated deposition of phosphorus by atomic layer deposition enhances the catalytic performance of V2O5 by suppression of total oxidation reactions, thereby increasing the selectivity to maleic anhydride.DFG, 53182490, EXC 314: Unifying Concepts in Catalysi