Scenarios for an Energy Policy Concept of the German Government

In this working paper we demonstrate how challenging greenhouse gas reduction targets of up to 95% until 2050 can be achieved in the German electricity sector. In the analysis, we focus on the main requirements to reach such challenging targets. To account for interdependencies between the electricity market and the rest of the economy, different models were used to account for feedback loops with all other sectors. We include scenarios with different runtimes and retrofit costs for existing nuclear plants to determine the effects of a prolongation of nuclear power plants in Germany. Key findings for the electricity sector include the importance of a European-wide coordinated electricity grid extension and the exploitation of regional comparative cost effects for renewable sites. Due to political restrictions, nuclear energy will not be available in Germany in 2050. However, the nuclear life time extension has a positive impact on end consumer electricity prices as well as economic growth in the medium term, if retrofit costs do not exceed certain limits.Roadmap 2050; GHG reduction; renewable energies; carbon capture and storage; power plant fleet optimization

Rats with physically disconnected hypothalamo-pituitary tracts no longer contain vasopressin-oxytocin gene transcripts in the posterior pituitary lobe

AbstractIn rats, vasopressin- and oxytocin-encoding mRNAs are present in the posterior but absent in the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. RNase protection experiments indicate that in the posterior pituitary and hypothalamus identical transcriptional start points are used. Furthermore, the two transcripts from posterior pituitary and hypothalamus show identical nucleotide sequences. Animals operated by paired electrical lesions in such a way that connections between the supraoptic nucleus (SON) and paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus and the posterior pituitary lobeare destroyed continue to express the vasopressin and oxytocin gene in the hypothalamus but not in the posterior pituitary. Operated animals subjected to chronic intermittent salt loading for 6 days similarly contain vasopressin and oxytocin encoding transcripts in the hypothalamus but not in the posterior pituitary

Farn- und Samenpflanzen: Bestandssituation und Schutz ausgewählter Arten in Sachsen

Die Farn- und Samenpflanzen bilden den sichtbarsten Bestandteil der Naturausstattung. Die Gesamtzahl der Arten steigt leicht an, aber der Anteil der anfänglich heimischen Arten geht erheblich zurück. Bereits 10 % sind verschwunden, weitere 17 % akut vom Aussterben bedroht. Die reich bebilderte Broschüre informiert über die Bestandsentwicklung und Schutzmaßnahmen von Arten, für deren Erhaltung Sachsen eine besondere Verantwortung trägt

Hintergrundinformationen zum Eurocode 2 Teil 1-2: Tragwerksbemessung für den Brandfall: Abschlussbericht ; FV-Nr.: DBV 173 / Univ.-Prof. Dr.-lng. Dietmar Hosser, Dr.-lng. Ekkehard Richter

Book review of The Judge as Politician: Review of In Defense of a Political Court by Terri Jennings Peretti and published by Princeton University Press (Princeton), 1999

Novel Application of Polymer Networks Carrying Tertiary Amines as a Catalyst Inside Microflow Reactors Used for Knoevenagel Reactions

A novel application is described for utilizing hydrogel dots as organocatalyst carriers inside microfluidic reactors. Tertiary amines were covalently immobilized in the hydrogel dots. Due to the diffusion of reactants within the swollen hydrogel dots, the accessible amount of catalysts inside a microfluidic reactor chamber can be increased compared to the accessible amount of surface-bound catalysts. To perform fast Knoevenagel reactions, important flow parameters had to be validated to optimize the reactor performance while keeping the dimensions of the reactor chamber constant; e.g. the height of the hydrogel dots had to be adjusted to the invariable dimensions of the reactor chamber, or an adjustment of organocatalysts in the hydrogel dots had to be validated to achieve the highest conversion rate during a certain residence time. To characterize the conversion, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and UV/Vis-spectroscopy were utilized as an offline and online method, respectively. With suitable hydrogel dots, the influence of different flow parameters (e.g., operating flow rate and reactant concentration) on the selected model reactions in the microfluidic reactor was investigated. Finally, a variety of reactants were screened with the optimized flow parameters. With these results, the turnover frequency was determined for the Knoevenagel reactions in a microfluidic reactor, and the results were compared with published data that were determined by other synthetic approaches. © 2020 The Authors published by Wiley-VCH Gmb