Die EG-Umwelt-Audit-Verordnung - Anreiz zu Innovationen oder zu potemkinschen Dialogen?

Since 13 July 1993 the EC eco-audit regulation has regulated voluntary participation of enterprises in eco-auditing. As. yet it is a vague plan for environmental management systems and eco-auditing of enterprises, which in practice, when it comes to implementing it, may be interpreted in many different ways. The European Council's aim of promoting a steady improvement of environmental standards in enterprises with the help of this regulation can only be achieved in part. It is to be feared that instead of the desired problem-oriented analysis of weaknesses, an objective-oriented approach to secure a document certifying participation will prevail on the part of the enterprises. The inadequate description of the nature of the auditing may result in a watering down of the requirements. Such a development in terms of the implementation could tarnish the public image of this tool designed for environmental protection and lead people to consider it a swiz. To prevent this from happening the further elaboration of the regulation should continue to be a dynamic Iearning process, taking into account future practical experience. Moreover, eco-audits must not be regarded as substitutes for necessary tools of a market economy in the sphere of environmental policy. --

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file

Zur Krafteinleitung bei externer Vorspannung

The thesis "Transmission of Prestressing Forces of External Tendons" covers the anchorage and deviation of external prestressing tendons in hollow-box-girder bridges. At first, the behaviour of different anchorage constructions was derived from the analysis of three full-scale tests. Numerical simulations verified the results. The behaviour can be described with regular strut-and-tie-models. The derived design procedure is based on simple equations and diagrams. Further research into deviators involved geometrical aspects as well as the determination of the load-carrying behaviour. The outcome of this is a new design procedure. The third emphasis of the thesis is the analysis of the corrosion protection of external tendons at deviators. In this regard 79 tests were conducted. The basic load-bearing behaviour of anchorage and deviation constructions of external tendons results from these investigations. The derived provisions simplify previous design procedures. The tests on the corrosion protection help to understand the stress condition of external tendons at deviators. Thus, improved external tendons can be developed