448 research outputs found
Deutsch-russische Zusammenarbeit in der Arktis
Seit 1993 wird im Rahmen zweier vom
BMBF geförderter Projekte die Laptevsee in
der russischen Arktis (nicht nur) biologisch
untersucht. Von 1993 - 1997 wurde das am
Institut für Polarökologie angesiedelte Projekt. Deutsch - Russische Untersuchungen zur
Ökologie der Randmeere der Eurasischen
Arktis" mit insgesamt 1,5 Mio. DM gefördert.
In einer zweiten Phase, die 199 8 begann,
wurde die biologische Forschung in der Laptevsee
mit veränderten Forschungsschwerpunkten
als Teilprojekt in das Verbundvorhaben
"System Laptevsee 2000" eingebettet. Im
folgenden soll ein kurzer Uberblick über die
biologischen Forschungsaktivitäten im Rahmen
dieser Projekte gegeben werden
SModelS v1.0: a short user guide
SModelS is a tool for the automatic interpretation of simplified-model
results from the LHC. Version 1.0 of the code is now publicly available. This
document provides a quick user guide for installing and running SModelS v1.0.Comment: The code is available for download at http://smodels.hephy.at
A platform to support object database research
Databases play a key role in an increasingly diverse range of applications and settings. New requirements are continually emerging and may differ substantially from one domain to another, sometimes even to the point of conflict. To address these challenges, database systems are evolving to cater for new application domains. Yet little attention has been given to the process of researching and developing database concepts in response to new requirements. We present a platform designed to support database research in terms of experimentation with different aspects of database systems ranging from the data model to the distribution architecture. Our platform is based on the notion of metamodel extension modules, inspired by proposals for adaptive and configurable database management systems. However, rather than building a tailored system from existing components, we focus on the process of designing new components. To qualitatively evaluate our platform, we present a series of case studies where our approach was used successfully to experiment with concepts designed to support a variety of novel application domains
Non-verbal behavior of children who disclose or do not disclose child abuse in investigative interviews
Objective: The study focused on children’s nonverbal behavior in investigative interviews
exploring suspicions of child abuse. The key aims were to determine whether non-verbal
behavior in the pre-substantive phases of the interview predicted whether or not children
would disclose the alleged abuse later in the interview and to identify differences in the
nonverbal behaviors of disclosing and non-disclosing children.
Method: We studied DVD-recorded interviews of 40 alleged victims of child abuse. In all
cases, there was external evidence strongly suggesting that abuse had occurred. However,
half of the children disclosed abuse when interviewed using the NICHD Investigative Interview
Protocol, whereas the other half did not. Two raters, unaware whether or not the
children disclosed, independently coded the videotapes for nonverbal indices of positive
and negative emotions, stress, and physical disengagement in each 15-second unit of the
introductory, rapport building, and substantive interview phases.
Results: Indicators of stress and physical disengagement increased as the interviews
progressed while indices of positive emotions decreased. Non-disclosers showed proportionately
more physical disengagement than disclosers in both the introductory and
substantive phases.
Conclusions: Awareness of non-verbal behavior may help investigators identify reluctant
children early in forensic interviews.
Practice implications: There is substantial evidence that, when questioned by investigators,
many children do not disclose that they have been abused. The early detection of
reluctance to disclose may allow interviewers to alter their behavior, helping the children
overcome their reluctance by providing non-suggestive support before the possibility
of abuse is discussed. Of course, nonverbal behavior alone should not be used to assess
children in investigative interviews. However, nonverbal cues may nonetheless provide
additional information to interviewers and assist them in identifying reluctant children
Content warehouses
Nowadays, content management systems are an established technology. Based on the experiences from several application scenarios we discuss the points of contact between content management systems and other disciplines of information systems engineering like data warehouses, data mining, and data integration. We derive a system architecture called "content warehouse" that integrates these technologies and defines a more general and more sophisticated view on content management. As an example, a system for the collection, maintenance, and evaluation of biological content like survey data or multimedia resources is shown as a case study
An Investigation into Creep Cavity Development in 316H Stainless Steel
Creep-induced cavitation is an important failure mechanism in steel components operating at high temperature. Robust techniques are required to observe and quantify creep cavitation. In this paper, the use of two complementary analysis techniques: small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), and quantitative metallography, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), is reported. The development of creep cavities that is accumulated under uniaxial load has been studied as a function of creep strain and life fraction, by carrying out interrupted tests on two sets of creep test specimens that are prepared from a Type-316H austenitic stainless steel reactor component. In order to examine the effects of pre-strain on creep damage formation, one set of specimens was subjected to a plastic pre-strain of 8%, and the other set had no pre-strain. Each set of specimens was subjected to different loading and temperature conditions, representative of those of current and future power plant operation. Cavities of up to 300 nm in size are quantified by using SANS, and their size distribution, as a function of determined creep strain. Cavitation increases significantly as creep strain increases throughout creep life. These results are confirmed by quantitative metallography analysis
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Oxidation as Key Mechanism for Efficient Interface Passivation in Cu (In,Ga)Se2 Thin-Film Solar Cells
Copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells suffer from high recombination losses at the back contact and parasitic absorption in the front-contact layers. Dielectric passivation layers overcome these limitations and enable an efficient control over interface recombination, which becomes increasingly relevant as thin-film solar cells increase in efficiency and become thinner to reduce the consumption of precious resources. We present the optoelectronic and chemical interface properties of oxide-based passivation layers deposited by atomic layer deposition on CIGS. A suitable postdeposition annealing removes detrimental interface defects and leads to restructuring and oxidation of the CIGS surface. The optoelectronic interface properties are very similar for different passivation approaches, demonstrating that an efficient suppression of interface states is possible independent of the metal used in the passivating oxide. If aluminum oxide (Al2O3) is used as the passivation layer we confirm an additional field-effect passivation due to interface charges, resulting in an efficient interface passivation superior to that of a state-of-the-art cadmium-sulfide (CdS) buffer layer. Based on this chemical interface model we present a full-area rear-interface passivation layer without any contact patterning, resulting in a 1% absolute efficiency gain compared to a standard molybdenum back contact. © 2020 authors. Published by the American Physical Society
Role of Src and Cortactin in Pemphigus Skin Blistering
Autoantibodies against desmoglein (Dsg) 1 and Dsg3 primarily cause blister formation in the autoimmune disease pemphigus vulgaris (PV). Src was proposed to contribute to loss of keratinocyte cohesion. However, the role and underlying mechanisms are unclear and were studied here. In keratinocytes, cell cohesion in response to autoantibodies was reduced in Src-dependent manner by two patient-derived PV-IgG fractions as well as by AK23 but not by a third PV-IgG fraction, although Src was activated by all autoantibodies. Loss of cell cohesion was progredient in a timeframe of 24 h and AK23, similar to PV-IgG, interfered with reconstitution of cell cohesion after Ca2+-switch, indicating that the autoantibodies also interfered with desmosome assembly. Dsg3 co-localized along cell contacts and interacted with the Src substrate cortactin. In keratinocytes isolated from cortactin-deficient mice, cell adhesion was impaired and Src-mediated inhibition of AK23-induced loss of cell cohesion for 24 h was significantly reduced compared to wild-type (wt) cells. Similarly, AK23 impaired reconstitution of cell adhesion was Src-dependent only in the presence of cortactin. Likewise, Src inhibition significantly reduced AK23-induced skin blistering in wt but not cortactin-deficient mice. These data suggest that the Src-mediated long-term effects of AK23 on loss of cell cohesion and skin blistering are dependent on cortactin-mediated desmosome assembly. However, in human epidermis PV-IgG-induced skin blistering and ultrastructural alterations of desmosomes were not affected by Src inhibition, indicating that Src may not be critical for skin blistering in intact human skin, at least when high levels of autoantibodies targeting Dsg1 are present
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