Evidence of high-n hollow ion emission from Si ions pumped by ultraintense x-rays from relativistic laser plasma

We report on the first observation of high-n hollow ions (ions having no electrons in the K or L shells) produced in Si targets via pumping by ultra-intense x-ray radiation produced in intense laser-plasma interactions reaching the radiation dominant kinetics regime. The existence of these new types of hollow ions in high energy density plasma has been found via observation of highly-resolved x-ray emission spectra of silicon plasma, and confirmed by plasma kinetics calculations, underscoring the ability of powerful radiation sources to fully strip electrons from the inner-most shells of light atoms. Hollow ions spectral diagnostics provide a unique opportunity to characterize powerful x-ray radiation of laboratory and astrophysical plasmas

An Abundance of Escherichia coli Is Harbored by the Mucosa- Associated Bacterial Flora of Interleukin-2-Deficient Mice

Mice deficient in interleukin-2 are well suited for use as an animal model for inflammatory bowel disease. Raised under specific-pathogen-free conditions, interleukin-2-deficient mice develop an inflammatory bowel disease resembling ulcerative colitis in humans. The finding that colitis was attenuated when the mice were kept under germfree conditions implies that the resident intestinal flora is involved in the pathogenesis of colitis. The present study addresses the composition of the mucosa-associated bacterial flora in colon samples from interleukin-2-deficient mice that developed colitis. This was investigated by comparative 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization using rRNA-targeted fluorescent probes to quantify the bacterial populations of the mucosa-associated flora. The investigations revealed distinct differences in the bacterial composition of the mucosa-associated flora between interleukin-2-deficient mice and healthy controls. Fluorescence in situ hybridization identified up to 10% of the mucosa-associated flora in interleukin-2-deficient mice as Escherichia coli, whereas no E. coli was detected in the mucosa from healthy wild-type mice. This finding was consistent with the results from comparative 16S rDNA analysis. About one-third of the clones analyzed from 16S rDNA libraries of interleukin-2-deficient mice represented Enterobacteriaceae, whereas none of the clones analyzed from the healthy controls harbored 16S rDNA from Enterobacteriaceae. The abundance of E. coli in the colonic mucosa of interleukin-2-deficient mice strongly suggests a participation in the pathogenesis of colitis in the interleukin-2-deficient mouse model for inflammatory bowel disease

GermanTeam 2001

The GermanTeam is the successor of the Humboldt Heroes who already participated in the Sony Legged Robot League competitions in 1999 and 2000. Because of the strong interest of other German universities, in March 2001, the GermanTeam was founded. It consists of students and researchers of five universities: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Universität Bremen, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Universität Dortmund, and Freie Universität Berlin. However, for the system presented in this document, the Humbold Heroes only had reinforcements from Bremen and Darmstadt. The two other universities will actively participate with the beginning of the winter semester

Towards tuneable thin film filters with the use of liquid crystals

For many years, liquid crystals have been used in display devices. In the present study, the usability of liquid crystal thin films for tunable optical filters has been investigated. In contrast to display devices, where the effect of polarization is utilized, the change of the refractive index by an applied electrical field was used to modify the spectral properties. A single-cavity Fabry-Perot filter is presented, which is based on a liquid crystal film located between two ITO-substrates each coated with dielectric mirrors stacks. A fast switching in the msec range could be demonstrated with the thickness of the liquid crystallayer being less than 1 μm. Tunable color filters for the colors red, green and blue are presented. A tuning range of some 10 nm has been obtained

GermanTeam 2003

The GermanTeam is a joint project of several German universities in the Sony Legged Robot League. This report describes the software developed for the RoboCup 2003 in Padova. It presents the software architecture of the system as well as the methods that were developed to tackle the problems of motion, image processing, object recognition, self-localization, and robot behavior. The approaches for both playing robot soccer and mastering the challenges are presented. In addition to the software actually running on the robots, this document will also give an overview of the tools the GermanTeam used to support the development process. In an extensive appendix, several topics are described in detail, namely the installation of the software, how it is used, the implementation of inter-process communication, streams, and debugging mechanisms, and the approach of the GermanTeam to model the behavior of the robots