InGaAs/GaAs/alkanethiolate radial superlattices: Experimental

A radial InGaAs/GaAs/1-hexadecanethiol superlattice is fabricated by the roll-up of a strained InGaAs/GaAs bilayer passivated with a molecular self-assembled monolayer. Our technique allows the formation of multi-period inorganic/organic hybrid heterostructures. This paper contains the detailed experimental description of how to fabricate these structures.Comment: 2 pages, no figures, Version 2; minor changes (fixed typos and update references

Die Erforschung sorbischer Flurnamen in der Niederlausitz: Forschungsstand und Perspektiven

Over the last several years, a large and highly varied database containing elements of the Lower Sorbian language has been compiled at the Sorbian Institute as a documentation of the Sorbian cultural heritage. It includes several dictionaries, corpora and similar textual specimens. Work on incorporating the many proper names of Sorbian origin has already begun, and it appears possible to add minor place names in the near future. The state of research is characterized by a high number of different regional and local collections. Many of these have been published: some cover large parts of Lusatia while others are confined to individual settlements; some of them are onomastic studies containing extensive analysis, others are merely uncommented lists of names. Additionally, there are several handwritten collections in the archives comprising thousands of names. Substantial parts of the study areas overlap. Although one might expect the same names to be found in these different collections, there is in fact a remarkable degree of divergence, as demonstrated here by two examples. The amalgamation of these collections into a comprehensive database needs to consider their heterogeneous character, as outlined in the article

… ac iuxta unam paludem: Wasser, Siedlung und Grenzen in der deutsch-slavischen Kontaktzone: Ein Beispiel aus der östlichen Niederlausitz

Ist es zu weit her geholt zu behaupten, dass Wasser der vielleicht wichtigste Faktor für die Standortwahl menschlicher Siedlungen ist? Seine elementare Bedeutung zeigt sich als Nahrungsmittel und Rohstoff, als Energielieferant, Element von Befestigungen, Verkehrsweg und in vielem anderen. Bei dieser Vielfalt ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass die Nutzung der Gewässer auch in der Namengebung vielfältige Spuren hinterließ. Einerseits stellt die Lage an Gewässern oder sumpfigen, also wasserreichen Geländeabschnitten eine der häufigsten Motivationen slavischer Siedlungsnamen dar, wobei die diesen Benennungen zugrunde liegende Lexik äußerst vielfältig und differenziert ist. Andererseits gelten Gewässer als Hauptschlagadern der Siedlungsentwicklung und als Achsen, entlang derer sich Siedlungsareale ausbildeten und vergrößerten

Die Neißeprovinz als Kleingau?: eine Erwiderung zum Beitrag von Walter Wenzelüber „Die provincia Nice“

A Small Slavonic Region called Nice? A reply to Walter Wenzel´s paper about “The provincia Nice”. – The present essay on the early-medieval settlement areas at the River Neiße/Nysa Łużycka in Lower Lusatia, deals with the issue of the provincia Nice, a name which appears among the toponyms of the region and has been the subject of a joined study together with Ernst Eichler. The only written evidence documenting Nice is the chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg. Its localization is unknown, and all attempts to localize it remained as yet unconvincing. The proposition of the aforementioned study is, that this name may be referring to the only known settlement area at the lower Neiße river which went by the name Selpuli, thus assuming that Nice was effectively a quasi- synonym for Selpuli. Walter Wenzel contradicted this and localized Nice in a smaller area around the present-day town of Forst. For his reconstruction he used place names, archaeological findings and personal names. In this article all of his arguments are revisited (parts 2–4) and, as a result it is found, that not all of them can be accounted for as indicative of an early medieval settlement. Therefore Wenzel’s theory yields no evidence which would invalidate the proposition that Nice geographically coincides with Selpuli. Finally (parts 5 and 6) this assumption is discussed in the context of settlement geography, including a short analysis about the use of the terms pagus and provincia in Thietmars chronicle

Die Mark Schmelz in der Dübener Heide: Ein Exempel in Sachen Flurnamenforschung

Minor names or microtoponyms are typically collected and analysed in etymological dictionaries. However, this may not be the most productive method in every case. More importantly, names should be analysed within the context of the communication community whose members created and used them. In rural settlements, these were primarily landowners. With the threefield crop rotation system (Dreifelderwirtschaft), which dominated agriculture in Central Europe from the Middle Ages until the 19th century, farmers had to be in constant discourse about the areas under cultivation, and this was not possible without using microtoponyms. For this reason, land users in each and every village established a special system of nomination within their local subdistrict. A detailed investigation of these names, taking account of this local perspective and considering the geographical, linguistic, sociolinguistic, ecological and historical context, identifies the specific reasons behind each individual nomination, which is very helpful in determining the meaning of more or less frequent name elements in general. Thus, only detailed studies of this kind provide a sound basis for various analyses – etymological, cognitive and others – of microtoponyms in general. This is demonstrated with the example of one local subdistrict, namely, a deserted village in a hilly and forested part of the countryside between Berlin and Leipzig. The minor names there have to be extracted from artificial nominations for land parcels, created for the purposes of land reallocation in the 19th century. The names were analysed and subsequently set in relation to the context suggested by different archival sources

Nearly diffraction limited FTIR mapping using an ultrastable broadband femtosecond laser tunable from 1.33 to 8 µm

Micro-Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a widespread technique that enables broadband measurements of infrared active molecular vibrations at high sensitivity. SiC globars are often applied as light sources in tabletop systems, typically covering a spectral range from about 1 to 20 µm (10 000 - 500 cm−1) in FTIR spectrometers. However, measuring sample areas below 40x40 µm2 requires very long integration times due to their inherently low brilliance. This hampers the detection of ultrasmall samples, such as minute amounts of molecules or single nanoparticles. In this publication we extend the current limits of FTIR spectroscopy in terms of measurable sample areas, detection limit and speed by utilizing a broadband, tabletop laser system with MHz repetition rate and femtosecond pulse duration that covers the spectral region between 1250 - 7520 cm−1 (1.33 - 8 µm). We demonstrate mapping of a 150x150 µm2 sample of 100 nm thick molecule layers at 1430 cm−1 (7 µm) with 10x10 µm2 spatial resolution and a scan speed of 3.5 µm/sec. Compared to a similar globar measurement an order of magnitude lower noise is achieved, due to an excellent long-term wavelength and power stability, as well as an orders of magnitude higher brilliance

Frequent induction of chromosomal aberrations in in vivo skin fibroblasts after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: hints to chromosomal instability after irradiation

BACKGROUND: Total body irradiation (TBI) has been part of standard conditioning regimens before allogeneic stem cell transplantation for many years. Its effect on normal tissue in these patients has not been studied extensively. METHOD: We studied the in vivo cytogenetic effects of TBI and high-dose chemotherapy on skin fibroblasts from 35 allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) patients. Biopsies were obtained prospectively (n = 18 patients) before, 3 and 12 months after allogeneic SCT and retrospectively (n = 17 patients) 23-65 months after SCT for G-banded chromosome analysis. RESULTS: Chromosomal aberrations were detected in 2/18 patients (11 %) before allogeneic SCT, in 12/13 patients (92 %) after 3 months, in all patients after 12 months and in all patients in the retrospective group after allogeneic SCT. The percentage of aberrant cells was significantly higher at all times after allogeneic SCT compared to baseline analysis. Reciprocal translocations were the most common aberrations, but all other types of stable, structural chromosomal aberrations were also observed. Clonal aberrations were observed, but only in three cases they were detected in independently cultured flasks. A tendency to non-random clustering throughout the genome was observed. The percentage of aberrant cells was not different between patients with and without secondary malignancies in this study group. CONCLUSION: High-dose chemotherapy and TBI leads to severe chromosomal damage in skin fibroblasts of patients after SCT. Our long-term data suggest that this damage increases with time, possibly due to in vivo radiation-induced chromosomal instability

Low-voltage organic thin-film transistors based on [n]phenacenes

Low-voltage p-channel organic thin-film transistors based on [n]phenacene (n = 5, 6 or 7) were fabricated on glass and on flexible poly(ethylene 2,6-naphthalate) (PEN) substrates. For the first time, these phenacenes were combined with two ultrathin gate dielectrics based on aluminium oxide and a monolayer of octadecyl-phosphonic acid in three different transistor structures. Regardless of the substrate and the transistor structure, the field-effect mobility is found to increase with increasing length of the conjugated [n]phenacene core, leading to the best performance for [7]phenacene. The largest average field-effect mobility we have obtained is 0.27 cm2/V·s for transistors on glass and 0.092 cm2/V·s for transistors on flexible PEN

hints to chromosomal instability after irradiation

Background Total body irradiation (TBI) has been part of standard conditioning regimens before allogeneic stem cell transplantation for many years. Its effect on normal tissue in these patients has not been studied extensively. Method We studied the in vivo cytogenetic effects of TBI and high-dose chemotherapy on skin fibroblasts from 35 allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) patients. Biopsies were obtained prospectively (n = 18 patients) before, 3 and 12 months after allogeneic SCT and retrospectively (n = 17 patients) 23–65 months after SCT for G-banded chromosome analysis. Results Chromosomal aberrations were detected in 2/18 patients (11 %) before allogeneic SCT, in 12/13 patients (92 %) after 3 months, in all patients after 12 months and in all patients in the retrospective group after allogeneic SCT. The percentage of aberrant cells was significantly higher at all times after allogeneic SCT compared to baseline analysis. Reciprocal translocations were the most common aberrations, but all other types of stable, structural chromosomal aberrations were also observed. Clonal aberrations were observed, but only in three cases they were detected in independently cultured flasks. A tendency to non-random clustering throughout the genome was observed. The percentage of aberrant cells was not different between patients with and without secondary malignancies in this study group. Conclusion High-dose chemotherapy and TBI leads to severe chromosomal damage in skin fibroblasts of patients after SCT. Our long-term data suggest that this damage increases with time, possibly due to in vivo radiation-induced chromosomal instability