A Sub-λ3\rm \lambda^{3}-Volume Cantilever-based Fabry-P\'erot Cavity

We report on the realization of an open plane-concave Fabry-P\'erot resonator with a mode volume below $\lambda^3$ at optical frequencies. We discuss some of the less common features of this new microcavity regime and show that the ultrasmall mode volume allows us to detect cavity resonance shifts induced by single nanoparticles even at quality factors as low as $100$. Being based on low-reflectivity micromirrors fabricated on a silicon cantilever, our experimental arrangement provides broadband operation, tunability of the cavity resonance, lateral scanning and promise for optomechanical studies

Die Tagespresse und der Rundfunk im Nationalsozialismus und im italienischen Faschismus im Vergleich

Wie konnte der Nationalsozialismus die Zustimmung der Massen zu seiner Politik gewinnen und langfristig sichern, welche Mittel und Maßnahmen musste er nach seiner "Machtergreifung" einsetzen, um seine ideologischen Vorstellungen und Paradigmen gegenüber der Gesellschaft durchzusetzen? Inwieweit war er auf systematische Manipulationen der öffentlichen Meinung angewiesen? Oder auf welche Selbstanpassungsmechanismen und Selbstzensurmaßnahmen der Bevölkerung konnte er bauen, um seine politische Linie durchzusetzen? Die vorliegende Magisterarbeit versucht diese Frage anhand eines historischen Vergleiches zu beantworten, indem sie die institutionellen, ökonomischen und inhaltlichen Lenkungsversuche des deutschen Nationalsozialismus und des italienischen Faschismus gegenüber der Tagespresse und gegenüber dem Radio vergleicht und entsprechend historisch einordnet. Dem methodischen Ansatz des Vergleiches folgend, der darüber hinaus auch theoretisch eingehend beleuchtet wird, geht die Arbeit dabei über einen rein parallel beschreibenden Ansatz hinaus, indem sie wechselseitige Impulse, ideologische Transformationen und technisch-materielle Transferleistungen der beiden diktatorischen Systeme aufzeigt. Die Arbeit gelangt dabei zu dem Ergebnis, dass die tiefgreifenden inhaltlichen und institutionellen Zensurmaßnahmen des italienischen Faschismus gegenüber der Tagespresse die Politik des deutschen Nationalsozialismus im Prinzip vorwegnahmen und in weiten Teilen in seiner Entstehung sogar beeinflussten, aber selbst erst durch die zeitlich spätere "Machtergreifung" des Nationalsozialismus erheblich radikalisiert wurden. Der Versuch, einen möglichst effizienten staatlichen Zensur- und Überwachungsapparat aufzubauen, geriet schließlich sogar zu einem innerfaschistischen Wettlauf, aus dem der Nationalsozialismus freilich als zweifelhafter Sieger hervorging. Am Ende der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft hatte das Regime die traditionell liberale Zeitungslandschaft in Deutschland so grundlegend zerschlagen, dass die Auswirkungen bis heute zu erkennen sind. Auch in den Maßnahmen zur Rundfunkpolitik ist dieses grundlegende Strukturmuster gegenseitiger Beeinflussung und Radikalisierung zwischen italienischem Faschismus und deutschem Nationalsozialismus zu erkennen, auch wenn der italienische Faschismus die Bedeutung des Radios als hoch emotionalisierendes Propagandamittel zunächst unterschätzte. Erst nach den erfolgreichen radiopolitischen Maßnahmen des unter Goebbels in Deutschland neu geschaffenen Reichsministeriums für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda setzte der italienische Faschismus zu einer ähnlich gearteten Radiopolitik an, die es sich zum erklärten Ziel gesetzt hatte, das ganze Volk in einen ideologischen "Klangkörper" zu verwandeln. Die Arbeit wurde als Forschungsüberblick angelegt und trägt alle einschlägigen Forschungsergebnisse der italienischen und deutschen historischen Forschung aus 50 Jahren zusammen, wobei sie insbesondere auch die Ergebnisse aus den einschlägigen Nachbardisziplinen wie der Publizistik und der Kulturwissenschaften miteinbezieht.How could the German National Socialism and the Italian Fascism win the consent of the masses to their politics, how did they carry their ideological ideas and paradigms into the society? How far were the systematically manipulations of the public opinion? Or where could we draw the line between conformity and censorship to understand this part of history? This work tries to answer this questions with a historical comparison of two dictatorial systems - Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy - and their propaganda politics in the field of daily press and early radio. The work comes to the conclusion, that the far-reaching institutional and economic censorship in Italy was a direct model for the German National Socialism. But after establishing the dictatorship in Germany the radicalization of the politics against the daily press and the radio increased, not only in Germany but also in Italy as a direct result of the "seizure of power" of Adolf Hitler. So that the model "Italian Fascism" turned into an imitation of Nazi Germany. In the end there was a fully controlled daily press and radio in both countries, radicalized by the war and with little spaces for opposing opinions. We can see some of this structural results even today

Novel Mutants of the Human β1-Adrenergic Receptor Reveal Amino Acids Relevant for Receptor Activation

Activation of G protein-coupled receptors like the beta(1)-adrenergic receptor results in conformational changes that ultimately lead to signal propagation through a G protein to an effector like adenylyl cyclase. In this study we identified amino acids that seem to be critical for activation of the human beta(1)-adrenergic receptor. Activation patterns of mutant receptors were analyzed using two structurally different ligands for beta-adrenergic receptors that both are mixed agonist/antagonists. Broxaterol and terbutaline are agonists at beta(2)- and beta(3)-receptors; however, they act as antagonists at the beta(1)-subtype. We reasoned that this functional selectivity may be reflected by a corresponding sequence pattern in the receptor subtypes. Therefore, we exchanged single amino acids of the beta(1)-adrenergic receptor for residues that were identical in the beta(2)- and beta(3)-subtypes but different in the beta(1)-receptor. Pharmacological characterization of such receptor mutants revealed that binding of a panel of agonists and antagonists including broxaterol and terbutaline was unaltered. However, two of the mutants (I185V and D212N) were activated by broxaterol and terbutaline, which acted as antagonists at the wild-type receptor. Two additional mutants (V120L and K253R) could be activated by terbutaline alone, which is structurally more closely related to endogenous catecholamines like epinephrine than to broxaterol. A model of the human beta(1)-adrenergic receptor showed that the four gain-of-function mutations are outside of the putative ligand-binding domain substantiating the lack of an effect of the mutations on binding characteristics. These results support the notion that Val-120, Ile-185, Asp-212, and Lys-253 are critically involved in conformational changes occurring during receptor activation

Accurate tuning of ordered nanotubular platinum electrodes by galvanic plating

Platinum nanotubes are created by galvanic deposition inside porous templates. The effects of the electrolyte's ion concentration and pH, of the applied potential and of the deposition duration on the morphology of the tubes are investigated systematically. The system provides a model electrode platform with accurately tunable geometry for the fundamental investigation of electrochemical transformations. For slow electrochemical reactions, we observe a linear increase of the galvanic current with the length of the nanotubes, and therefore with the specific surface area of the electrode. In contrast to this, inherently fast electrochemical transformations are diffusion-limited and give rise to the same current density independently of the geometry. These results delineate a strategy for optimizing the performance of electrochemical energy conversion devices systematically via nanostructuring the electrode surfaces

Achieving Efficient and Realistic Full-Radar Simulations and Automatic Data Annotation by exploiting Ray Meta Data of a Radar Ray Tracing Simulator

In this work a novel radar simulation concept is introduced that allows to simulate realistic radar data for Range, Doppler, and for arbitrary antenna positions in an efficient way. Further, it makes it possible to automatically annotate the simulated radar signal by allowing to decompose it into different parts. This approach allows not only almost perfect annotations possible, but also allows the annotation of exotic effects, such as multi-path effects or to label signal parts originating from different parts of an object. This is possible by adapting the computation process of a Monte Carlo shooting and bouncing rays (SBR) simulator. By considering the hits of each simulated ray, various meta data can be stored such as hit position, mesh pointer, object IDs, and many more. This collected meta data can then be utilized to predict the change of path lengths introduced by object motion to obtain Doppler information or to apply specific ray filter rules in order obtain radar signals that only fulfil specific conditions, such as multiple bounces or containing specific object IDs. Using this approach, perfect and otherwise almost impossible annotations schemes can be realized.Comment: Accepted for IEEE RadarConf 202

The Ovine Cerebral Venous System: Comparative Anatomy, Visualization, and Implications for Translational Research

Cerebrovascular diseases are significant causes of death and disability in humans. Improvements in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches strongly rely on adequate gyrencephalic, large animal models being demanded for translational research. Ovine stroke models may represent a promising approach but are currently limited by insufficient knowledge regarding the venous system of the cerebral angioarchitecture. The present study was intended to provide a comprehensive anatomical analysis of the intracranial venous system in sheep as a reliable basis for the interpretation of experimental results in such ovine models. We used corrosion casts as well as contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance venography to scrutinize blood drainage from the brain. This combined approach yielded detailed and, to some extent, novel findings. In particular, we provide evidence for chordae Willisii and lateral venous lacunae, and report on connections between the dorsal and ventral sinuses in this species. For the first time, we also describe venous confluences in the deep cerebral venous system and an ‘anterior condylar confluent’ as seen in humans. This report provides a detailed reference for the interpretation of venous diagnostic imaging findings in sheep, including an assessment of structure detectability by in vivo (imaging) versus ex vivo (corrosion cast) visualization methods. Moreover, it features a comprehensive interspecies-comparison of the venous cerebral angioarchitecture in man, rodents, canines and sheep as a relevant large animal model species, and describes possible implications for translational cerebrovascular research

Smoking and obesity associated BDNF gene variance predicts total and cardiovascular mortality in smokers.

OBJECTIVE: The brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) locus has been implicated in psychiatric and substance related disorders. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have shown strong associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms in BDNF, smoking behaviour and high body mass index (BMI). Our aim was to test whether genetic BDNF variation alters the risk of smoking related morbidity and mortality. DESIGN: Cox proportional hazards models were used to relate the BDNF rs4923461(A/G) polymorphisms to all-cause, cancer and cardiovascular mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and smoking quantity. SETTING: The Malmö Diet and Cancer Study (MDCS), a population based prospective cohort study (n=30 447). PATIENTS: We obtained complete data on 25 071 subjects, of whom 6507 were current smokers and 18 564 were non-smokers who underwent a baseline examination from 1991-1996. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: During a mean follow-up time of 12 years, 1049 deaths (346 cardiovascular deaths and 492 cancer deaths) and 802 incident CVD events occurred among current smokers. RESULTS: The major allele (A) of rs4923461 was significantly associated with ever having smoked (p=0.03) and high BMI (p=0.001). The A-allele was associated with risk of all-cause (HR=1.12, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.25; p<0.05) and CVD (HR=1.23, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.49; p=0.04) mortality. There was no significant association between the rs4923461 and cancer mortality or CVD incidence. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that smoking- and obesity-associated variation of the BDNF gene affects the risk of death, especially due to cardiovascular causes, in smokers. Determination of the BDNF genotype in smokers may guide the need for smoking cessation interventions