Experimental investigation on the exploitation of an active mechanism to restore the operability of malfunctioning RF-MEMS switches

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Macromodel-based simulation and measurement of the dynamic pull-in of viscously damped RF-MEMS switches

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Influence of socioeconomic variables on physical activity and screen time of children and adolescents during the COVID‑19 lockdown in Germany: the MoMo study [Einfluss sozioökonomischer Variablen auf die körperlich-sportliche Aktivität und Bildschirmmediennutzung von Kindern und Jugendlichen während des COVID‑19-Lockdowns in Deutschland: die MoMo-Studie]

The COVID‑19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic created a multitude of natural experiments about the change of human behavior in a widely unfamiliar situation. Besides physical and mental health, physical activity (PA) and people’s movement behaviors were of particular interest to researchers all over the world. In a recent study, we found that among youth in Germany, sports activity declined, whereas recreational screen time and habitual activity increased during the first COVID‑19 lockdown. In the present study, we analyze the influence of the socioeconomic status and the housing situation on the changes in PA behavior and recreational screen-time before and during the first COVID‑19 lockdown among children and adolescents living in Germany. We found an alignment of PA behavior among youth from families with different socioeconomic backgrounds during the first lockdown and identified the housing situation to be a meaningful predictor of the increase in habitual activity. We conclude that restriction policies, communities, and in the last instance parents need to enable access to nonorganized PA to all children and adolescents every day and especially during potential future lockdowns

Indicators to assess physical health of children and adolescents in activity research—A scoping review

Sufficient physical activity can help promote and maintain health, while its lack can jeopardize it. Since health and physical activity lay their foundation for later life in childhood and adolescence, it is important to examine this relationship from the beginning. Therefore, this scoping review aims to provide an overview of physical health indicators in children and adolescents in research on the effects of physical activity and sedentary behavior. We identified the indicators used to quantify or assess physical health and summarized the methods used to measure these indicators. We systematically searched Scopus, Pubmed, and Web of Science databases for systematic reviews. The search yielded 4595 records from which 32 records were included in the review. The measurements for physical health reported in the reviews contained measures of body composition, cardiometabolic biomarkers, physical fitness, harm/injury, or bone health. Body composition was the most used indicator to assess and evaluate physical health in children, whereas information on harm and injury was barely available. In future research longitudinal studies are mandatory to focus on the prospective relationships between physical activity or sedentary behavior, and physical health

A new model for magnetoreception

Certain migratory birds can sense the earth's magnetic field. The nature of this process is not yet properly understood. Here we offer a simple explanation according to which birds literally `see' the local magnetic field: Our model relates the well-established radical pair hypothesis to the phenomenon of Haidinger's brush, a capacity to see the polarisation of light. This new picture explains recent surprising experimental data indicating long lifetimes for the radical pair. Moreover there is a clear evolutionary path toward this field sensing mechanism: it is an enhancement of a weak effect that may be present in many species.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, version of final published pape

NEAT-FT: the European fiber link collaboration

The development of clocks based on optical transitions during the past three decades culminates in the availability of optical clocks with unprecedented stability and uncertainty . Simultaneously, increasing requirements for accurate time and frequency signals, e.g. for tests of fundamental physics or novel applications in relativistic geodesy, put forward new challenges. Typically, such applications rely on the comparison of two remote clocks. Thus, major challenges are how to synchronize these clocks over long distances or how to get the time or frequency signal of a clock to the location where it is required. It is generally agreed that optical fiber links are an excellent alternative to established satellite based distant clock comparison and synchronization techniques. A European joint research project called Network for European Accurate Time and Frequency Transfer (NEAT-FT) has been initiated in 2011 to lay the foundations for a novel approach to disseminate high-precision timing and ultrastable frequency signals by using existing fiber infrastructure. Since Europe has a large number of modern ultra-precise clocks, special emphasis is put on the development of new techniques for time transfer and phase-coherent comparison of remotely located optical clocks and the feasibility of a European fibre network connecting optical clocks in Europe. This talk highlights recent achievements and discusses some applications and prospects

Detecting Nonvolatile Life- and Nonlife-Derived Organics in a Carbonaceous Chondrite Analogue with a New Multiplex Immunoassay and Its Relevance for Planetary Exploration

[EN] Potential martian molecular targets include those supplied by meteoritic carbonaceous chondrites such as amino acids and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and true biomarkers stemming from any hypothetical martian biota (organic architectures that can be directly related to once living organisms). Heat extraction and pyrolysis-based methods currently used in planetary exploration are highly aggressive and very often modify the target molecules making their identification a cumbersome task. We have developed and validated a mild, nondestructive, multiplex inhibitory microarray immunoassay and demonstrated its implementation in the SOLID (Signs of Life Detector) instrument for simultaneous detection of several nonvolatile life- and nonlife-derived organic molecules relevant in planetary exploration and environmental monitoring. By utilizing a set of highly specific antibodies that recognize D- or L- aromatic amino acids (Phe, Tyr, Trp), benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), pentachlorophenol, and sulfone-containing aromatic compounds, respectively, the assay was validated in the SOLID instrument for the analysis of carbon-rich samples used as analogues of the organic material in carbonaceous chondrites or even Mars samples. Most of the antibodies enabled sensitivities at the 1-10ppb level and some even at the ppt level. The multiplex immunoassay allowed the detection of B[a]P as well as aromatic sulfones in a water/methanol extract of an Early Cretaceous lignite sample (c.a., 140 Ma) representing type IV kerogen. No L- or D-aromatic amino acids were detected, reflecting the advanced diagenetic stage and the fossil nature of the sample. The results demonstrate the ability of the liquid extraction by ultrasonication and the versatility of the multiplex inhibitory immunoassays in the SOLID instrument to discriminate between organic matter derived from life and nonlife processes, an essential step toward life detection outside Earth.This work was supported by granted projects AYA2011-24803, ESP2014-51989-P, and ESP2015-69540-R, from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) of Spain, and by Grant No. ST/N000803/1 (United Kingdom). A. G-C was a fellow of Plan de Formación from INTA.Moreno-Paz, M.; Gómez-Cifuentes, A.; Ruiz-Bermejo, M.; Hofstetter, O.; Maquieira Catala, A.; Manchado, JM.; Morais, S.... (2018). Detecting Nonvolatile Life- and Nonlife-Derived Organics in a Carbonaceous Chondrite Analogue with a New Multiplex Immunoassay and Its Relevance for Planetary Exploration. Astrobiology. 18(8):1041-1056. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2017.1747S1041105618