Lebensräume, Flora und Fauna im Gebiet der Pöplitzer Teiche/Dübener Heide

Mit dem Begriff "Dübener Heide" assoziiert man zunächst positiv belegte Vorstellungen zu Naturpark, ausgedehntes Waldgebiet, Erholungslandschaft, Ruhe und Unversehrtheit. Hinlänglich bekannt ist die Dübener Heide aber auch als ehemaliges Rauchschadensgebiet. Gerade zu immissionsökologischen Themen der Umweltforschung liegen jahrzehntelang durchgeführte Untersuchungen vor (vgl. BLiSS 1992). Dagegen stehen im Vergleich zur Elbe- und Muldeaue für diesen Raum erst wenige naturschutzfachliche Daten zur Verfügung

Correlated Photon-Pair Emission from a Charged Single Quantum Dot

The optical creation and recombination of charged biexciton and trion complexes in an (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dot is investigated by micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy. Photon cross-correlation measurements demonstrate the temporally correlated decay of charged biexciton and trion states. Our calculations provide strong evidence for radiative decay from the excited trion state which allows for a deeper insight into the spin configurations and their dynamics in these systems.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted for publicatio

Laser structuring of electrodes in roll-to-roll environment using multi-beam processing: process upscaling and its perspective

The development of next-generation lithium-ion batteries with volumetric energy densities > 750 Wh/L and gravimetric energy densities > 400 Wh/kg is a key objective of the European Union’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan to be achieved by 2030. Both new materials and production strategies play an important role in the development of those batteries. Thick-film electrodes are advantageous to increase the volumetric and gravimetric energy densities alike since the amount of inactive material can be reduced. To facilitate higher C-rates during (dis-)charging in thick-film electrodes, laser generated structured are introduced, thus creating new lithium-ion diffusion pathways leading to a reduced cell polarization. Additionally, electrode wetting with liquid electrolyte is significantly improved, reducing the risk of dry spots in the electrode stack. Industry interest in implementing laser patterning of electrodes into existing or planned manufacturing lines has increased significantly in recent times. The strip speeds of electrode production are decisive for the required speeds to be realized in laser structuring. Various technical approaches can be applied to upscale the laser patterning process such as multibeam processing which can be realized by splitting a laser beam into several beamlets with a DOE. In this work, a large field scanner and a related optical lens system are combined with an ultrashort pulsed, high repetition rate, high power laser source. The ablation behavior of commercial graphite composite electrode material was investigated for upscaling using different laser patterning scenarios

IFMIF-DONES HFTM neutronics modeling and nuclear response analyses

IFMIF-DONES (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility- DEMO Oriented NEutron Source) is a neutron irradiation facility aiming at providing material irradiation data for the construction of DEMOnstration fusion power plants. This work presents nuclear analyses and associated neutronics modeling conducted on an updated design of the High Flux Test Module (HFTM) of IFMIF-DONES. Neutron fluxes, damage dose rates and gradients, gas production and nuclear heating have been calculated for the standard profile in 20 × 5 cm$^{2}$ and a reduced size in 10 × 5 cm$^{2}$ of the deuteron beam with 40 MeV energy and 125 mA current. The results indicate that the reduced beam can provide higher damage dose rates fulfilling the DONES requirement. On the other hand, the reduced beam size results in less irradiation uniformity, higher gas production to damage dose ratios, as well as stronger peak nuclear heating

Human Sterol Regulatory Element-Binding Protein 1a Contributes Significantly to Hepatic Lipogenic Gene Expression

Background/Aims:Sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP) 1, the master regulator of lipogenesis, was shown to be associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which is attributed to its major isoform SREBP1c. Based on studies in mice, the minor isoform SREBP1a is regarded as negligible for hepatic lipogenesis. This study aims to elucidate the expression and functional role of SREBP1a in human liver. Methods: mRNA expression of both isoforms was quantified in cohorts of human livers and primary human hepatocytes. Hepatocytes were treated with PF-429242 to inhibit the proteolytic activation of SREBP precursor protein. SREBP1a-specific and pan-SREBP1 knock-down were performed by transfection of respective siRNAs. Lipogenic SREBP-target gene expression was analyzed by real-time RT-PCR. Results: In human liver, SREBP1a accounts for up to half of the total SREBP1 pool. Treatment with PF-429242 indicated SREBP-dependent auto-regulation of SREBP1a, which however was much weaker than of SREBP1c. SREBP1a-specific knock-down also reduced significantly the expression of SREBP1c and of SREBP-target genes. Regarding most SREBP-target genes, simultaneous knock-down of both isoforms resulted in effects of only similar extent as SREBP1a-specific knock-down. Conclusion: We here showed that SREBP1a is significantly contributing to the human hepatic SREBP1 pool and has a share in human hepatic lipogenic gene expression. Copyright (C) 2015 S. Karger AG, Base

A New Panel-Based Next-Generation Sequencing Method for ADME Genes Reveals Novel Associations of Common and Rare Variants With Expression in a Human Liver Cohort

We developed a panel-based NGS pipeline for comprehensive analysis of 340 genes involved in absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) of drugs, other xenobiotics, and endogenous substances. The 340 genes comprised phase I and II enzymes, drug transporters and regulator/modifier genes within their entire coding regions, adjacent intron regions and 5′ and 3′UTR regions, resulting in a total panel size of 1,382 kbp. We applied the ADME NGS panel to sequence genomic DNA from 150 Caucasian liver donors with available comprehensive gene expression data. This revealed an average read-depth of 343 (range 27–811), while 99% of the 340 genes were covered on average at least 100-fold. Direct comparison of variant annotation with 363 available genotypes determined independently by other methods revealed an overall accuracy of >99%. Of 15,727 SNV and small INDEL variants, 12,022 had a minor allele frequency (MAF) below 2%, including 8,937 singletons. In total we found 7,273 novel variants. Functional predictions were computed for coding variants (n = 4,017) by three algorithms (Polyphen 2, Provean, and SIFT), resulting in 1,466 variants (36.5%) concordantly predicted to be damaging, while 1,019 variants (25.4%) were predicted to be tolerable. In agreement with other studies we found that less common variants were enriched for deleterious variants. Cis-eQTL analysis of variants with (MAF ≥ 2%) revealed significant associations for 90 variants in 31 genes after Bonferroni correction, most of which were located in non-coding regions. For less common variants (MAF < 2%), we applied the SKAT-O test and identified significant associations to gene expression for ADH1C and GSTO1. Moreover, our data allow comparison of functional predictions with additional phenotypic data to prioritize variants for further analysis