Extern
Refine
Has Fulltext
- yes (100) (remove)
Year of publication
- 2007 (100) (remove)
Document Type
- Conference Proceeding (60)
- Postprint (16)
- Doctoral Thesis (10)
- Monograph/Edited Volume (6)
- Article (4)
- Lecture (2)
- Habilitation Thesis (1)
- Master's Thesis (1)
Keywords
- Focus (2)
- G8 (2)
- Human Rights (2)
- Menschenrechte (2)
- (implicit) prosody (1)
- AMNET (1)
- Albanien (1)
- Alternative Bildung (1)
- Alternative Semantics (1)
- Alzheimer's Disease (1)
Institute
- Extern (100)
- Institut für Physik und Astronomie (6)
- Institut für Biochemie und Biologie (4)
- Department Linguistik (3)
- Institut für Chemie (3)
- Department Psychologie (2)
- Institut für Mathematik (2)
- Institut für Informatik und Computational Science (1)
- Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie (1)
- Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien e. V. (1)
The H.E.S.S. collaboration recently reported the discovery of VHE γ-ray emission coincident with the young stellar cluster Westerlund 2. This system is known to host a population of hot, massive stars, and, most particularly, the WR binary WR 20a. Particle acceleration to TeV energies in Westerlund 2 can be accomplished in several alternative scenarios, therefore we only discuss energetic constraints based on the total available kinetic energy in the system, the actual mass loss rates of respective cluster members, and implied gamma-ray production from processes such as inverse Compton scattering or neutral pion decay. From the inferred gammaray luminosity of the order of 1035erg/s, implications for the efficiency of converting available kinetic energy into non-thermal radiation associated with stellar winds in the Westerlund 2 cluster are discussed under consideration of either the presence or absence of wind clumping.
Mass loss is a very important aspect of the life of massive stars. After briefly reviewing its importance, we discuss the impact of the recently proposed downward revision of mass loss rates due to clumping (difficulty to form Wolf-Rayet stars and production of critically rotating stars). Although a small reduction might be allowed, large reduction factors around ten are disfavoured. We then discuss the possibility of significant mass loss at very low metallicity due to stars reaching break-up velocities and especially due to the metal enrichment of the surface of the star via rotational and convective mixing. This significant mass loss may help the first very massive stars avoid the fate of pair-creation supernova, the chemical signature of which is not observed in extremely metal poor stars. The chemical composition of the very low metallicity winds is very similar to that of the most metal poor star known to date, HE1327-2326 and offer an interesting explanation for the origin of the metals in this star. We also discuss the importance of mass loss in the context of long and soft gamma-ray bursts and pair-creation supernovae. Finally, we would like to stress that mass loss in cooler parts of the HR-diagram (luminous blue variable and yellow and red supergiant stages) are much more uncertain than in the hot part. More work needs to be done in these areas to better constrain the evolution of the most massive stars.
The P v λλ1118, 1128 resonance doublet is an extraordinarily useful diagnostic of O-star winds, because it bypasses the traditional problems associated with determining mass-loss rates from UV resonance lines. We discuss critically the assumptions and uncertainties involved with using P v to diagnose mass-loss rates, and conclude that the large discrepancies between massloss rates determined from P v and the rates determined from “density squared” emission processes pose a significant challenge to the “standard model” of hot-star winds. The disparate measurements can be reconciled if the winds of O-type stars are strongly clumped on small spatial scales, which in turn implies that mass-loss rates based on Hα or radio emission are too large by up to an order of magnitude.
We have analyzed the spectra of seven Galactic O4 supergiants, with the NLTE wind code CMFGEN. For all stars, we have found that clumped wind models match well lines from different species spanning a wavelength range from FUV to optical, and remain consistent with Hα data. We have achieved an excellent match of the P V λλ1118, 1128 resonance doublet and N IV λ1718, as well as He II λ4686 suggesting that our physical description of clumping is adequate. We find very small volume filling factors and that clumping starts deep in the wind, near the sonic point. The most crucial consequence of our analysis is that the mass loss rates of O stars need to be revised downward significantly, by a factor of 3 and more compared to those obtained from smooth-wind models.
The spatially-resolved winds of the massive binary, Eta Carinae, extend an arcsecond on the sky, well beyond the 10 to 20 milliarcsecond binary orbital dimension. Stellar wind line profiles, observed at very different angular resolutions of VLTI/AMBER, HST/STIS and VLT/UVES, provide spatial information on the extended wind interaction structure as it changes with orbital phase. These same wind lines, observable in the starlight scattered off the foreground lobe of the dusty Homunculus, provide time-variant line profiles viewed from significantly different angles. Comparisons of direct and scattered wind profiles observed in the same epoch and at different orbital phases provide insight on the extended wind structure and promise the potential for three-dimensional imaging of the outer wind structures. Massive, long-lasting clumps, including the nebularWeigelt blobs, originated during the two historical ejection events. Wind interactions with these clumps are quite noticeable in spatially-resolved spectroscopy. As the 2009.0 minimum approaches, analysis of existing spectra and 3-D modeling are providing bases for key observations to gain further understanding of this complex massive binary.
Observational evidence exists that winds of massive stars are clumped. Many massive star systems are known as non-thermal particle production sites, as indicated by their synchrotron emission in the radio band. As a consequence they are also considered as candidate sites for non-thermal high-energy photon production up to gamma-ray energies. The present work considers the effects of wind clumpiness expected on the emitting relativistic particle spectrum in colliding wind systems, built up from the pool of thermal wind particles through diffusive particle acceleration, and taking into account inverse Compton and synchrotron losses. In comparison to a homogeneous wind, a clumpy wind causes flux variations of the emitting particle spectrum when the clump enters the wind collision region. It is found that the spectral features associated with this variability moves temporally from low to high energy bands with the time shift between any two spectral bands being dependent on clump size, filling factor, and the energy-dependence of particle energy gains and losses.
We present preliminary results of a tailored atmosphere analysis of six Galactic WC stars using UV, optical, and mid-infrared Spitzer IRS data. With these data, we are able to sample regions from 10 to 10³ stellar radii, thus to determine wind clumping in different parts of the wind. Ultimately, derived wind parameters will be used to accuratelymeasure neon abundances, and to so test predicted nuclear-reaction rates.
We present the results of Monte Carlo mass-loss predictions for massive stars covering a wide range of stellar parameters. We critically test our predictions against a range of observed massloss rates – in light of the recent discussions on wind clumping. We also present a model to compute the clumping-induced polarimetric variability of hot stars and we compare this with observations of Luminous Blue Variables, for which polarimetric variability is larger than for O and Wolf-Rayet stars. Luminous Blue Variables comprise an ideal testbed for studies of wind clumping and wind geometry, as well as for wind strength calculations, and we propose they may be direct supernova progenitors.
General Discussion
(2007)
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope scheduled for launch in 2013. JWST will find the first stars and galaxies that formed in the early universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the MilkyWay to our own Solar System. JWST’s instruments are designed to work primarily in the infrared range of 1 - 28 μm, with some capability in the visible range. JWST will have a large mirror, 6.5 m in diameter, and will be diffraction-limited at 2 μm (0.1 arcsec resolution). JWST will be placed in an L2 orbit about 1.5 million km from the Earth. The instruments will provide imaging, coronography, and multi-object and integral-field spectroscopy across the 1 - 28 μm wavelength range. The breakthrough capabilities of JWST will enable new studies of massive star winds from the Milky Way to the early universe.
Dynamical simulation of the “velocity-porosity” reduction in observed strength of stellar wind lines
(2007)
I use dynamical simulations of the line-driven instability to examine the potential role of the resulting flow structure in reducing the observed strength of wind absorption lines. Instead of the porosity length formalism used to model effects on continuum absorption, I suggest reductions in line strength can be better characterized in terms of a velocity clumping factor that is insensitive to spatial scales. Examples of dynamic spectra computed directly from instability simulations do exhibit a net reduction in absorption, but only at a modest 10-20% level that is well short of the ca. factor 10 required by recent analyses of PV lines.
Recent studies of massive O-type stars present clear evidences of inhomogeneous and clumped winds. O-type (H-rich) central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNs) are in some ways the low mass–low luminosity analogous of those massive stars. In this contribution, we present preliminary results of our on-going multi-wavelength (FUV, UV and optical) study of the winds of Galactic CSPNs. Particular emphasis will be given to the clumping factors derived by means of optical lines (Hα and Heii 4686) and “classic” FUV (and UV) lines.
We present the latest results on the observational dependence of the mass-loss rate in stellar winds of O and early-B stars on the metal content of their atmospheres, and compare these with predictions. Absolute empirical rates for the mass loss of stars brighter than 10$^{5.2} L_{\odot}$, based on H$\alpha$ and ultraviolet (UV) wind lines, are found to be about a factor of two higher than predictions. If this difference is attributed to inhomogeneities in the wind this would imply that luminous O and early-B stars have clumping factors in their H$\alpha$ and UV line forming regime of about a factor of 3--5. The investigated stars cover a metallicity range $Z$ from 0.2 to 1 $Z_{\odot}$. We find a hint towards smaller clumping factors for lower $Z$. The derived clumping factors, however, presuppose that clumping does not impact the predictions of the mass-loss rate. We discuss this assumption and explain how we intend to investigate its validity in more detail.
Massive stars usually form groups such as OB associations. Their fast stellar winds sweep up collectively the surrounding insterstellar medium (ISM) to generate superbubbles. Observations suggest that superbubble evolution on the surrounding ISM can be very irregular. Numerical simulations considering these conditions could help to understand the evolution of these superbubbles and to clarify the dynamics of these objects as well as the difference between observed X-ray luminosities and the predicted ones by the standard model (Weaver et al. 1977).
This paper outlines a newly-developed method to include the effects of time variability in the radiative transfer code CMFGEN. It is shown that the flow timescale is often large compared to the variability timescale of LBVs. Thus, time-dependent effects significantly change the velocity law and density structure of the wind, affecting the derivation of the mass-loss rate, volume filling factor, wind terminal velocity, and luminosity. The results of this work are directly applicable to all active LBVs in the Galaxy and in the LMC, such as AG Car, HR Car, S Dor and R 127, and could result in a revision of stellar and wind parameters. The massloss rate evolution of AG Car during the last 20 years is presented, highlighting the need for time-dependent models to correctly interpret the evolution of LBVs.
When we pay close attention to the prosody of Wh-questions in Japanese, we discover many novel and interesting empirical puzzles that would require us to devise a much finer syntactic component of grammar. This paper addresses the issues that pose some problems to such an elaborated grammar, and offers solutions, making an appeal to the information structure and sentence processing involved in the interpretation of interrogative and focus constructions.
Being living systems unable to adjust their location to changing environmental conditions, plants display homeostatic networks that have evolved to maintain transition metal levels in a very narrow concentration range in order to avoid either deficiency or toxicity. Hence, plants possess a broad repertoire of mechanisms for the cellular uptake, compartmentation and efflux, as well as for the chelation of transition metal ions. A small number of plants are hypertolerant to one or a few specific transition metals. Some metal tolerant plants are also able to hyperaccumulate metal ions. The Brassicaceae family member Arabidopis halleri ssp. halleri (L.) O´KANE and AL´SHEHBAZ is a hyperaccumulator of zinc (Zn), and it is closely related to the non-hypertolerant and non-hyperaccumulating model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) HEYNHOLD. The close relationship renders A. halleri a promising emerging model plant for the comparative investigation of the molecular mechanisms behind hypertolerance and hyperaccumulation. Among several potential candidate genes that are probably involved in mediating the zinc-hypertolerant and zinc-hyperaccumulating trait is AhHMA3. The AhHMA3 gene is highly similar to AtHMA3 (AGI number: At4g30120) in A. thaliana, and its encoded protein belongs to the P-type IB ATPase family of integral membrane transporter proteins that transport transition metals. In contrast to the low AtHMA3 transcript levels in A. thaliana, the gene was found to be constitutively highly expressed across different Zn treatments in A. halleri, especially in shoots. In this study, the cloning and characterisation of the HMA3 gene and its promoter from Arabidopsis halleri (L.) O´KANE and AL´SHEHBAZ and Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) HEYNHOLD is described. Heterologously expressed AhHMA3 mediated enhanced tolerance to Zn and to a much lesser degree to cadmium (Cd) but not to cobalt (Co) in metal-sensitive mutant strains of budding yeast. It is demonstrated that the genome of A. halleri contains at least four copies of AhHMA3, AhHMA3-1 to AhHMA3-4. A copy-specific real-time RT-PCR indicated that an AhHMA3-1 related gene copy is the source of the constitutively high transcript level in A. halleri and not a gene copy similar to AhHMA3-2 or AhHMA3-4. In accordance with the enhanced AtHMA3mRNA transcript level in A. thaliana roots, an AtHMA3 promoter-GUS gene construct mediated GUS activity predominantly in the vascular tissues of roots and not in shoots. However, the observed AhHMA3-1 and AhHMA3-2 promoter-mediated GUS activity in A. thaliana or A. halleri plants did not reflect the constitutively high expression of AhHMA3 in shoots of A. halleri. It is suggested that other factors e. g. characteristic sequence inserts within the first intron of AhHMA3-1 might enable a constitutively high expression. Moreover, the unknown promoter of the AhHMA3-3 gene copy could be the source of the constitutively high AhHMA3 transcript levels in A. halleri. In that case, the AhHMA3-3 sequence is predicted to be highly homologous to AhHMA3-1. The lack of solid localisation data for the AhHMA3 protein prevents a clear functional assignment. The provided data suggest several possible functions of the AhHMA3 protein: Like AtHMA2 and AtHMA4 it might be localised to the plasma membrane and could contribute to the efficient translocation of Zn from root to shoot and/or to the cell-to-cell distribution of Zn in the shoot. If localised to the vacuolar membrane, then a role in maintaining a low cytoplasmic zinc concentration by vacuolar zinc sequestration is possible. In addition, AhHMA3 might be involved in the delivery of zinc ions to trichomes and mesophyll leaf cells that are major zinc storage sites in A. halleri.
Today about 24 Million people worldwide suffer from dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease accounts for approximately 50-60% of all dementia cases. As the prevalence of dementia grows with increasing age Alzheimer’s Disease becomes more and more of an issue for society as the proportion of elderly people increases from year to year. It is well established, that the amino acid glutamate - quantitatively being the most important neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS) - may reach toxic concentrations if not cleared from the synaptic cleft into which it is released during transmittance of action potentials. In Alzheimer’s Disease there is strong evidence for a generally impaired glutamate uptake system which in turn is thought to result in toxic levels of the amino acid with the potential to kill off neurons. The excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1) belongs to the family of Na+-dependent glutamate transporter and accounts together with EAAT2 for most of the glutamate uptake in the CNS. In this project a new splice variant of EAAT1, skipping exon 3 was detected in human brain samples and subsequently called EAAT1Δ3, this being the second splice variant found after the recent detection of EAAT1Δ9. A method was developed to quantify the transcript of EAAT1 wt, EAAT1Δ3 and EAAT1Δ9 by means of real-time PCR. Samples were taken from different brain areas of a set of control and AD cases. The areas chosen for examination are affected differently in Alzheimer’s Disease, this was used an internal control for the experiments done in this project as to determine whether any effect observed is specific for AD, i.e. AD affected areas or is generally seen in all areas examined. The results of this project show that EAAT1Δ3 is transcribed in very low copy numbers making up a proportion of 0.15% of EAAT1 wt whereas EAAT1Δ9 is transcribed in a considerably large proportion of EAAT1 wt of 26.6%. It was moreover found that all EAAT1 variants are transcribed at significantly lower rates (P<0.0001) in AD cases, supporting the theory that EAAT1 protein expression is reduced to a point where glutamate uptake normally mediated by this transporter is impaired. This in turn is thought to result in toxic levels glutamate accounting for neuronal loss in the disease. No area-dependent effects were found, suggesting that the reduction of EAAT1 transcription is rather a result of an underlying general mechanism present in AD. Further research will have to be done to assess the degree of EAAT1 expression in AD and whether those future findings match with the result of this project.
Was haben Menschenrechte und Mediation miteinander zu tun? Was bezwecken sie, und welche Rolle spielt das Wissen der Natur- und Verhaltenswissenschaften über zwischenmenschliche Kommunikation? Der Beitrag versucht, ausgehend von den Begriffen Menschenrechte und Mediation deren Beziehungsgefüge aus interdisziplinärer Sicht aufzudecken.
Vor einhundert Jahren eröffnete die Wissenschaftlerin und Sozialreformerin Dr. med. Maria Montessori in Rom ihre erste Kindertagesstätte, das „Casa dei Bambini”. Inzwischen gibt es allein in Deutschland ca. eintausend Kindergärten und auch Schulen, die nach ihrem Konzept arbeiten. Der Beitrag will auf die Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Menschenrecht auf Bildung, dem pädagogischen Konzept der Maria Montessori und ihrem natur- und verhaltenswissenschaftlich begründeten Ansatz der Lernforschung hinweisen.
During the last few years there was a tremendous growth of scientific activities in the fields related to both Physics and Control theory: nonlinear dynamics, micro- and nanotechnologies, self-organization and complexity, etc. New horizons were opened and new exciting applications emerged. Experts with different backgrounds starting to work together need more opportunities for information exchange to improve mutual understanding and cooperation. The Conference "Physics and Control 2007" is the third international conference focusing on the borderland between Physics and Control with emphasis on both theory and applications. With its 2007 address at Potsdam, Germany, the conference is located for the first time outside of Russia. The major goal of the Conference is to bring together researchers from different scientific communities and to gain some general and unified perspectives in the studies of controlled systems in physics, engineering, chemistry, biology and other natural sciences. We hope that the Conference helps experts in control theory to get acquainted with new interesting problems, and helps experts in physics and related fields to know more about ideas and tools from the modern control theory.
Schechita und Kaschrut
(2007)
Our dynamic Sun manifests its activity by different phenomena: from the 11-year cyclic sunspot pattern to the unpredictable and violent explosions in the case of solar flares. During flares, a huge amount of the stored magnetic energy is suddenly released and a substantial part of this energy is carried by the energetic electrons, considered to be the source of the nonthermal radio and X-ray radiation. One of the most important and still open question in solar physics is how the electrons are accelerated up to high energies within (the observed in the radio emission) short time scales. Because the acceleration site is extremely small in spatial extent as well (compared to the solar radius), the electron acceleration is regarded as a local process. The search for localized wave structures in the solar corona that are able to accelerate electrons together with the theoretical and numerical description of the conditions and requirements for this process, is the aim of the dissertation. Two models of electron acceleration in the solar corona are proposed in the dissertation: I. Electron acceleration due to the solar jet interaction with the background coronal plasma (the jet--plasma interaction) A jet is formed when the newly reconnected and highly curved magnetic field lines are relaxed by shooting plasma away from the reconnection site. Such jets, as observed in soft X-rays with the Yohkoh satellite, are spatially and temporally associated with beams of nonthermal electrons (in terms of the so-called type III metric radio bursts) propagating through the corona. A model that attempts to give an explanation for such observational facts is developed here. Initially, the interaction of such jets with the background plasma leads to an (ion-acoustic) instability associated with growing of electrostatic fluctuations in time for certain range of the jet initial velocity. During this process, any test electron that happen to feel this electrostatic wave field is drawn to co-move with the wave, gaining energy from it. When the jet speed has a value greater or lower than the one, required by the instability range, such wave excitation cannot be sustained and the process of electron energization (acceleration and/or heating) ceases. Hence, the electrons can propagate further in the corona and be detected as type III radio burst, for example. II. Electron acceleration due to attached whistler waves in the upstream region of coronal shocks (the electron--whistler--shock interaction) Coronal shocks are also able to accelerate electrons, as observed by the so-called type II metric radio bursts (the radio signature of a shock wave in the corona). From in-situ observations in space, e.g., at shocks related to co-rotating interaction regions, it is known that nonthermal electrons are produced preferably at shocks with attached whistler wave packets in their upstream regions. Motivated by these observations and assuming that the physical processes at shocks are the same in the corona as in the interplanetary medium, a new model of electron acceleration at coronal shocks is presented in the dissertation, where the electrons are accelerated by their interaction with such whistlers. The protons inflowing toward the shock are reflected there by nearly conserving their magnetic moment, so that they get a substantial velocity gain in the case of a quasi-perpendicular shock geometry, i.e, the angle between the shock normal and the upstream magnetic field is in the range 50--80 degrees. The so-accelerated protons are able to excite whistler waves in a certain frequency range in the upstream region. When these whistlers (comprising the localized wave structure in this case) are formed, only the incoming electrons are now able to interact resonantly with them. But only a part of these electrons fulfill the the electron--whistler wave resonance condition. Due to such resonant interaction (i.e., of these electrons with the whistlers), the electrons are accelerated in the electric and magnetic wave field within just several whistler periods. While gaining energy from the whistler wave field, the electrons reach the shock front and, subsequently, a major part of them are reflected back into the upstream region, since the shock accompanied with a jump of the magnetic field acts as a magnetic mirror. Co-moving with the whistlers now, the reflected electrons are out of resonance and hence can propagate undisturbed into the far upstream region, where they are detected in terms of type II metric radio bursts. In summary, the kinetic energy of protons is transfered into electrons by the action of localized wave structures in both cases, i.e., at jets outflowing from the magnetic reconnection site and at shock waves in the corona.
Die durch Phosphatidylserin Decarboxylase (PSD) katalysierte Decarboxylierung von Phosphatidylserin (PS) zu Phosphatidylethanolamin (PE) ist für Mitochondrien in Hefe und Mäusen von essentieller Bedeutung. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Dissertation wurde erstmals die Rolle dieses PE-Syntheseweges in Pflanzen untersucht. Die drei in Arabidopsis identifizierten PSD Gene atPSD1, atPSD2, atPSD3 codieren für Enzyme, die in Membranen der Mitochondrien (atPSD1), der Tonoplasten (atPSD2) und des Endoplasmatischen Retikulums (atPSD3) lokalisiert sind. Der Beitrag der einzelnen PSDs zur PE-Synthese wurde anhand von psd Null-Mutanten untersucht. Dabei stellte sich atPSD3 als das Enzym mit der höchsten Aktivität heraus. Alternativ zum PSD-Weg wird in Arabidopsis PE auch mittels Aminoalkohol-phosphotransferase synthetisiert. Der Verlust der gesamten PSD-Aktivität, wie es in der erzeugten psd Dreifachmutante der Fall ist, wirkt sich ausschließlich auf die Lipidzusammensetzung in der Mitochondrienmembran aus. Demzufolge wird extramitochondriales PE hauptsächlich über die Aminoalkoholphosphotransferase synthetisiert. Die veränderte Lipidzusammensetzung der Mitochondrienmembran hatte jedoch keinen Einfluss auf die Anzahl, Größe und Ultrastruktur der Mitochondrien sowie auf das ADP/ATP-Verhältnis und die Respiration. Neben der Bereitstellung von Reduktionsäquivalenten beeinflusst die Funktionalität der Mitochondrien auch die Bildung von Blüten- und Staubblättern. Diese Blütenorgane waren in der psd Dreifachmutante stark verändert, und der Blütenphänotyp ähnelte der APETALA3-Mutante. Dieses homöotische Gen ist für die Ausbildung von Blüten- und Staubblättern verantwortlich. Für die Erzeugung der Mutanten psd2-1 und psd3-1 wurde ein T-DNA Vektor verwendet, der den Promotor des APETALA3 Gens enthielt, welcher in den Mutanten psd2-1, psd3-1 sowie psd2-1psd3-1 und der psd1psd2-1psd3-1 Dreifachmutante eine vergleichbare Co-Suppression des APETALA3 Gens hervorruft. Der Blütenphänotyp trat jedoch nur in der psd Dreifachmutante auf, da nur in ihr die Kombination von geringen Funktionstörungen der Mitochondrien, hervorgerufen durch veränderte Lipidzusammensetzung, mit der Co-Suppression von APETALA3 auftritt.
Under the influence of orientation towards European integration, Georgia has introduced a variety of new laws with the apparent aim to decentralize legislative and executive powers. This paper shows that the Georgian efforts of decentralization remain superficial, mainly because they are not backed by additional fiscal competences at the municipality level. Following an initial description of the pre-reform situation as of 2006 and based upon a detailed account of the structural changes since 2007, the author gives insight into the conflicts which arise from the lack of institutional congruency. Neither the extraordinary status of the capital Tbilisi nor the seeming autonomy of the Rebublic of Adjara are likely to sway the renegade territories of Abchasia and Ossetia towards a reintegration under Georgian centralized rule as it continues to exist today. Likewise, the success of the proposed and discussed fiscal equalization scheme depends on whether the President and his ruling party are willing to delegate powers to the subodinate jurisdictions.
Einerseits führt in Entwicklungsländern die Privatisierung von Wasserbetrieben zu Kostensenkungen. Andererseits verändert sie bisherige Möglichkeiten der Teilnahme. Diese wiederspruchsvollen Entwicklungen diskutiert die Autorin an Beispielen aus Südamerika und Südafrika. Künftige Privatisierungen im Bereich Wasser sollten dauerhafte Formen der Mitwirkung ermöglichen.
Militärmacht Deutschland?
(2007)
Die G8 und Chinas Interessen
(2007)
Die G8 besitzt aus chinesischer Sicht große Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten. Verglichen mit anderen zwischenstaatlichen Organisationen hat die G8 einzigartige Vorteile angesichts ihrer Macht und Flexibilität. Um ihren Einfluss und ihre Kontrolle über die Weltangelegenheiten zu verstärken, sollte die Gruppe reformiert und erweitert werden. China ist gegenwärtig nicht an einem Beitritt zur G8 interessiert, wohl aber an einer engen Zusammenarbeit. Langfristig ist es allerdings nur eine Frage der Zeit, bis China der G8 beitreten wird.
Wider den „euro-atlantischen Internationalismus“ : Berliner Republik und Entgrenzung der Bundeswehr
(2007)
Inhalt: Frieden mit aller Gewalt schaffen? Tatbestand: Staatsterrorismus Das Weißbuch 2006 Bundesverfassungsgericht versus Bundesverwaltungsgericht Weltweites Interventionsrecht Lizenz zum Völkerrechtsbruch „Re-Transformation“ der Bundeswehr Prinzipien für einen sicherheitspolitischen Grundkonsens Breite öffentliche Debatte notwendig
Denkmalentdeckungen
(2007)
»Wenn du reisen willst, mußt du die Geschichte dieses Landes kennen und lieben. Das ist ganz unerläßlich. [...] Wag’ es getrost und du wirst es nicht bereuen. Eigentümliche Freuden und Genüsse werden dich begleiten. Du wirst Entdeckungen machen, denn überall wohin du kommst, wirst du, vom Touristenstandpunkt aus, eintreten wie in ›jungfräuliches Land‹. Du wirst Klosterruinen begegnen, von deren Existenz höchstens die nächste Stadt eine leise Kenntnis hatte; du wirst inmitten alter Dorfkirchen, deren zerbröckelter Schindelturm nur auf Elend deutete, große Wandbilder oder in den treppenlosen Grüften reiche Kupfersärge mit Kruzifix und vergoldeten Wappenschildern finden; du wirst Schlachtfelder überschreiten, Wendenkirchhöfe, Heidengräber, von denen die Menschen nichts mehr wissen.«
Die in diesem Bildband gesammelten »Denkmalentdeckungen« verstehen sich als Einladung zu einer Reise durch das Land Brandenburg. Theodor Fontane hatte für ein solches Unternehmen genau den richtigen Blick, als er in seinen »Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg« 1864 diese Sätze schrieb. Auch heute noch sollten wir seiner Anregung zu Begegnungen mit der Geschichte und der Kunstgeschichte des Landes folgen, die uns im Dialog der Kulturen und der Zeiten eine Standortbestimmung in der Gegenwart und eine Orientierung für die Zukunft zugleich bietet.
Die Zuwanderung nach Tirana führte im Verlauf der 1990er Jahre zu einem enormen Flächenverbrauch auf Kosten landwirtschaftlicher Flächen im Umland der albanischen Hauptstadt. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Entwicklung des rasanten Flächenverbrauchs mit computergestützten Methoden dokumentiert. Grundlage der Untersuchung bilden zwei zu unterschiedlichen Zeitpunkten (1988 und 2000) aufgenommene Satellitenszenen, mit Hilfe derer eine Änderungsanalyse durchgeführt wird. Ziel der Änderungsanalyse ist es, den Flächennutzungswandel zu analysieren, Daten zu generieren und die Ergebnisse in geeigneter Weise zu visualisieren. Zu den protagonistischen Verfahren der Änderungsanalyse zählen sowohl die Maximum-Likelihood Klassifikation sowie ein wissensbasierter Klassifizierungsansatz. Die Ergebnisse der Änderungsanalyse werden in Änderungskarten dargestellt und mittels einer GIS-Software statistisch ausgewertet.
It is desirable to reduce the potential threats that result from the variability of nature, such as droughts or heat waves that lead to food shortage, or the other extreme, floods that lead to severe damage. To prevent such catastrophic events, it is necessary to understand, and to be capable of characterising, nature's variability. Typically one aims to describe the underlying dynamics of geophysical records with differential equations. There are, however, situations where this does not support the objectives, or is not feasible, e.g., when little is known about the system, or it is too complex for the model parameters to be identified. In such situations it is beneficial to regard certain influences as random, and describe them with stochastic processes. In this thesis I focus on such a description with linear stochastic processes of the FARIMA type and concentrate on the detection of long-range dependence. Long-range dependent processes show an algebraic (i.e. slow) decay of the autocorrelation function. Detection of the latter is important with respect to, e.g. trend tests and uncertainty analysis. Aiming to provide a reliable and powerful strategy for the detection of long-range dependence, I suggest a way of addressing the problem which is somewhat different from standard approaches. Commonly used methods are based either on investigating the asymptotic behaviour (e.g., log-periodogram regression), or on finding a suitable potentially long-range dependent model (e.g., FARIMA[p,d,q]) and test the fractional difference parameter d for compatibility with zero. Here, I suggest to rephrase the problem as a model selection task, i.e.comparing the most suitable long-range dependent and the most suitable short-range dependent model. Approaching the task this way requires a) a suitable class of long-range and short-range dependent models along with suitable means for parameter estimation and b) a reliable model selection strategy, capable of discriminating also non-nested models. With the flexible FARIMA model class together with the Whittle estimator the first requirement is fulfilled. Standard model selection strategies, e.g., the likelihood-ratio test, is for a comparison of non-nested models frequently not powerful enough. Thus, I suggest to extend this strategy with a simulation based model selection approach suitable for such a direct comparison. The approach follows the procedure of a statistical test, with the likelihood-ratio as the test statistic. Its distribution is obtained via simulations using the two models under consideration. For two simple models and different parameter values, I investigate the reliability of p-value and power estimates obtained from the simulated distributions. The result turned out to be dependent on the model parameters. However, in many cases the estimates allow an adequate model selection to be established. An important feature of this approach is that it immediately reveals the ability or inability to discriminate between the two models under consideration. Two applications, a trend detection problem in temperature records and an uncertainty analysis for flood return level estimation, accentuate the importance of having reliable methods at hand for the detection of long-range dependence. In the case of trend detection, falsely concluding long-range dependence implies an underestimation of a trend and possibly leads to a delay of measures needed to take in order to counteract the trend. Ignoring long-range dependence, although present, leads to an underestimation of confidence intervals and thus to an unjustified belief in safety, as it is the case for the return level uncertainty analysis. A reliable detection of long-range dependence is thus highly relevant in practical applications. Examples related to extreme value analysis are not limited to hydrological applications. The increased uncertainty of return level estimates is a potentially problem for all records from autocorrelated processes, an interesting examples in this respect is the assessment of the maximum strength of wind gusts, which is important for designing wind turbines. The detection of long-range dependence is also a relevant problem in the exploration of financial market volatility. With rephrasing the detection problem as a model selection task and suggesting refined methods for model comparison, this thesis contributes to the discussion on and development of methods for the detection of long-range dependence.
First studies of electron transfer in [N]phenylenes were performed in bimolecular quenching reactions of angular [3]- and triangular [4]phenylene with various electron acceptors. The relation between the quenching rate constants kq and the free energy change of the electron transfer (ΔG0CS ) could be described by the Rehm-Weller equation. From the experimental results, a reorganization energy λ of 0.7 eV was derived. Intramolecular electron transfer reactions were studied in an [N]phenylene bichomophore and a corresponding reference compound. Fluorescence lifetime and quantum yield of the bichromophor display a characteristic dependence on the solvent polarity, whereas the corresponding values of the reference compound remain constant. From the results, a nearly isoenergonic ΔG0CS can be determined. As the triplet quantum yield is nearly independent of the polarity, charge recombination leads to the population of the triplet state.
In this thesis we mainly generalize two theorems from Mackaay-Picken and Picken (2002, 2004). In the first paper, Mackaay and Picken show that there is a bijective correspondence between Deligne 2-classes $\xi \in \check{H}^2(M,\mathcal{D}^2)$ and holonomy maps from the second thin-homotopy group $\pi_2^2(M)$ to $U(1)$. In the second one, a generalization of this theorem to manifolds with boundaries is given: Picken shows that there is a bijection between Deligne 2-cocycles and a certain variant of 2-dimensional topological quantum field theories. In this thesis we show that these two theorems hold in every dimension. We consider first the holonomy case, and by using simplicial methods we can prove that the group of smooth Deligne $d$-classes is isomorphic to the group of smooth holonomy maps from the $d^{th}$ thin-homotopy group $\pi_d^d(M)$ to $U(1)$, if $M$ is $(d-1)$-connected. We contrast this with a result of Gajer (1999). Gajer showed that Deligne $d$-classes can be reconstructed by a different class of holonomy maps, which not only include holonomies along spheres, but also along general $d$-manifolds in $M$. This approach does not require the manifold $M$ to be $(d-1)$-connected. We show that in the case of flat Deligne $d$-classes, our result differs from Gajers, if $M$ is not $(d-1)$-connected, but only $(d-2)$-connected. Stiefel manifolds do have this property, and if one applies our theorem to these and compare the result with that of Gajers theorem, it is revealed that our theorem reconstructs too many Deligne classes. This means, that our reconstruction theorem cannot live without the extra assumption on the manifold $M$, that is our reconstruction needs less informations about the holonomy of $d$-manifolds in $M$ at the price of assuming $M$ to be $(d-1)$-connected. We continue to show, that also the second theorem can be generalized: By introducing the concept of Picken-type topological quantum field theory in arbitrary dimensions, we can show that every Deligne $d$-cocycle induces such a $d$-dimensional field theory with two special properties, namely thin-invariance and smoothness. We show that any $d$-dimensional topological quantum field theory with these two properties gives rise to a Deligne $d$-cocycle and verify that this construction is surjective and injective, that is both groups are isomorphic.
Dem Schriftsteller Jorge Semprún wurde am 25. Mai 2007 die Ehrendoktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Potsdam verliehen. Damit ehrt die Philosophische Fakultät seine Lebensleistung als Schriftsteller, Denker und engagierter Intellektueller unserer Zeit. Der Geehrte sprach zum Thema "Philosophie als Überlebenswissenschaft". Jorge Semprún, 1923 in Madrid/Spanien geboren, muss mit 14 Jahren zu Beginn des spanischen Bürgerkrieges mit seiner Familie nach Paris fliehen. Dort studiert er Philosophie an der Sorbonne. Im Jahre 1941 tritt er der kommunistischen Résistance-Bewegung "Francs- Tireurs et Partisans" bei. Zwei Jahre später wird er von der deutschen Gestapo verhaftet und in das Konzentrationslager Buchenwald deportiert. 1945 kehrt er nach Paris zurück. Zwischen 1957 und 1962 arbeitet er im Untergrund der Kommunistischen Partei im faschistischen Spanien. Seit 1964, dem Jahr, in dem er wegen der Abweichung von der Parteilinie aus der Kommunistischen Partei ausgeschlossen wurde, ist er schriftstellerisch tätig. Von 1988 bis 1991 war er Kultusminister Spaniens. Zu den bekanntesten Werken des Schriftstellers gehören "Die große Reise", "Der zweite Tod des Ramón Mercader", "Was für ein schöner Sonntag" sowie "Der weiße Berg".
Alle Organismen sind für ihr Überleben auf Metalle angewiesen. Hierbei gibt es für jedes Metall einen Konzentrationsbereich, der das Optimum zwischen Metallmangel, -bedarf und -toxizität darstellt. Es gilt mittlerweile als erwiesen, dass alle Organismen zur Aufrechterhaltung des Metallgleichgewichts ein komplexes Netzwerk von Proteinen und niedermolekularen Verbindungen entwickelt haben. Die molekularen Komponenten dieses Netzwerks sind nur zu einem Teil bekannt und charakterisiert: In den letzten Jahren wurden einige Proteinfamilien identifiziert, deren Mitglieder Metalle durch Lipidmembranen transportieren. Eine dieser Metalltransporterfamilien ist die Cation Diffusion Facilitator (CDF)-Familie: Alle charakterisierten Mitglieder exportieren Metalle aus dem Zytoplasma – entweder in zelluläre Kompartimente oder aus der Zelle heraus. Von den zwölf Mitgliedern dieser Familie in Arabidopsis thaliana (A. thaliana) – Metall Toleranz Protein (MTP)-1 bis -12 – wurden bisher AtMTP1 und AtMTP3 charakterisiert. In dieser Arbeit wird die Charakterisierung von AtMTP2 beschrieben. Wie die homologen Proteine AtMTP1 und AtMTP3 führt AtMTP2 zu Zn-Toleranz, wenn es heterolog in Zn-sensitiven Hefemutanten exprimiert wird. Mit AtMTP2 transformierte Hefemutanten zeigten darüber hinaus erhöhte Co-Toleranz. Expression von chimären AtMTP2/GFP Fusionsproteinen in Hefe, A.thaliana protoplasten und in stabil transformierten A.thalinana Planzenlinien deutet auf Lokalisation of AtMTP2 in Membranen des Endoplasmatischen Retikulums (ER) hin, wenn GFP an den C-Terminus von MTP2 fusioniert wird. Fusion of GFP an den N-Terminus von AtMTP2 führte zu Lokalisation in der vakuolären Membran, was wahrscheinlichsten auf Fehllokalisierung durch Maskierung eines ER-Retentionsmotivs (XXRR) am N-Terminus von AtMTP2 zurückgeht. Dies legt nahe, dass AtMTP2 die erwähnten Metalle in das Endomembransystem der Zelle transportieren kann. Eine gewebespezifische Lokalisierung wurde mit Pflanzen durchgeführt, die das β-Glucuronidase (GUS)-Reporterprotein bzw. chimäre Fusionsproteine aus EGFP und AtMTP2 unter Kontrolle des nativen pMTP2-Promotors exprimierten. Diese Experimente bestätigten zum einen, dass der pMTP2-Promotor nur unter Zn-Defizienz aktiv ist. GUS-Aktivität wurde unter diesen Bedingungen in zwei Zonen der Wurzelspitze beobachtet: in den isodiametrischen Zellen der meristematischen Zone und in der beginnenden Wurzelhaarzone. Darüber hinaus konnte gezeigt werden, dass die EGFP-Fusionsproteine unter Kontrolle des nativen pMTP2-Promotors nur in epidermalen Zellen exprimiert werden. Für eine homozygote Knockout- Linie, mtp2-S3, konnte bisher kein eindeutiger Phänotyp identifiziert werden. Auf Grundlage der bisher durchgeführten Charakterisierung von AtMTP2 erscheinen zwei Modelle der Funktion von AtMTP2 in der Pflanze möglich: AtMTP2 könnte essentiell für die Versorgung des ER mit Zn unter Zn-Mangelbedingungen sein. Hierfür spricht, dass AtMTP2 in jungen, teilungsaktiven und damit Zn-benötigenden Wurzelzonen exprimiert wird. Die auf die Epidermis beschränkte Lokalisation könnte bei diesem Modell auf die Möglichkeit der zwischenzellulären Zn-Verteilung innerhalb des ER über Desmotubules hindeuten. Alternativ könnte AtMTP2 eine Funktion bei der Detoxifizierung von Zn unter Zn-Schock Bedingungen haben: Es ist bekannt, dass unter Zn- Mangelbedingungen die Expression der zellulären Zn-Aufnahmesysteme hochreguliert wird. Wenn nun die Zn-Verfügbarkeit im Boden z. B durch eine pH-Änderung innerhalb kurzer Zeit stark ansteigt, besteht die Notwendigkeit der Entgiftung von Zn innerhalb der Zelle, bis der starke Einstrom von Zn ins Zytoplasma durch die Deaktivierung der Zn-Aufnahmesysteme und einer geringeren Expression in der Pflanze gedrosselt ist. Ein ähnlicher Mechanismus wurde in der Bäckerhefe S. cerevisae beschrieben, in der darüber hinaus ein Zn-Transporter verstärkt exprimiert wird, der Zn durch Transport in die Vakuole entgiften kann. Es ist durchaus möglich, dass in Arabidopsis AtMTP2 die Zn-Detoxifizierung unter diesen speziellen Bedingungen durch Zn-Transport in das ER oder die Vakuole vermittelt. Zur Identifikation weiterer Komponenten des Metallhomöostasenetzwerks sind verschiedene Ansätze denkbar. In dieser Arbeit wurde in Hefe ein heterologer Screen durchgeführt, um Interaktoren für vier Mitglieder der Arabidopsis-CDF-Familie zu identifizieren. Unter den 11 im Hefesystem bestätigten Kandidaten befindet sich mit AtSPL1 ein AtMTP1-Interaktionskandidat, der möglicherweise eine Rolle bei der Cu-,Zn-Homöostase spielt. Als wahrscheinliche AtMTP3-Interaktionskandidaten wurde die c”-Untereinheit der vakuolären H+-ATPase AtVHA identifiziert sowie mit AtNPSN13 ein Protein, das vermutlich eine Rolle bei Fusionen von Vesikeln mit Zielmembranen spielt. Ein anderer Ansatz zur Identifikation neuer Metallhomöostasegene ist die vergleichende Elementanalyse von natürlichen oder mutagenisierten Pflanzenpopulationen. Voraussetzung für diesen Ansatz ist die schnelle und genaue Analyse des Elementgehalts von Pflanzen. Eine etablierte Methode zur simultanen Bestimmung von bis zu 65 Elementen in einer Probe ist die Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP OES). Der limitierende Faktor für einen hohen Probendurchsatz ist die Notwendigkeit, Proben für die Analyse zu verflüssigen. Eine alternative Methode der Probenzuführung zum Analysegerät ist die elektrothermale Verdampfung (ETV) der Probe. Zur weitgehend automatisierten Analyse von Pflanzenmaterial mit minimiertem Arbeitsaufwand wurde eine Methode entwickelt, die auf der Kopplung der ETV mit der ICP OES basiert.
Indien und die G8
(2007)
Seit 2005 ist Indien als eines der fünf Outreach-Länder in die Diskussionen der G8 eingebunden. Dies geschah wegen seiner Rolle als eine der Kraftquellen der Weltwirtschaft sowie als viertgrößter globaler Markt. Indien betrachtet ein offenes Welthandelregime und einen größeren Kapitalfluss in die Entwicklungsländer als notwendig, um diesen zu helfen, deren Exporte zu steigern, neue Jobs zu schaffen und den Wohlstand ihrer Produzenten zu erhöhen.
Discussion : X-rays
(2007)
Luminous Blue Variables show strong changes in their stellar wind on time scales of typically years to decades when they expand and contract radially at approximately constant luminosity. Micro-variability on shorter time scales and amplitudes can be observed superimposed to the larger scale radial changes. I will show long-term time series of high resolution spectra which we have collected in the past 20 years for many of the well known LBVs together with a few time series of weekly sampling (HR Car, R40, R71, R110, R127, S Dor) covering a time windows of up to a few months. Wind variability is seen on short and intermediate time scales with the line profiles changing from P Cygni to inverse P Cygni and double peeked profiles sometimes for the same star and spectral line. On longer time scales the ionisation levels for all chemical elements change drastically due to the strong change of the temperature on the stellar surface. While on the long term the characteristic radial changes may have impact on the over all mass loss rates, the variabilities and asymmetries on short and intermediate time scales may cause false estimates of the mass loss rates when confronting models with the observed line profiles
"Considerons une particule mobile se mouvant aleatoirement sur la droite (ou sur un segment de droite). Supposons qu'il existe une probabilite F(x,y;s,t) bien definie pour que la particule se trouvant a l'instant s dans la position x se trouve a l'instant t (> s) a gauche de y, probabilite independante du mouvement anterieur de la particule...." Mit diesen Worten beginnt eines der berühmtesten mathematischen Manuskripte des letzten Jahrhunderts. Es stammt vom Soldaten Wolfgang Döblin, Sohn des deutschen Schriftstellers Alfred Döblin, und trägt den Titel "Sur l'equation de Kolmogoroff". Seine Veröffentlichung verbindet sich mit einer unglaublichen Geschichte. Wolfgang Döblin, stationiert mit seiner Einheit in den Ardennen im Winter 1939/1940, arbeitete an diesem Manuskript. Er entschloss sich, es als versiegeltes Manuskript an die Academie des Sciences in Paris zu schicken. Aber er kehrte nie aus diesem Krieg zurück. Sein Manuskript blieb 60 Jahre unter Verschluss im Archiv, und wurde erst im Jahre 2000 geöffnet. Wie weit Döblin damit seiner Zeit voraus war, wurde erkannt, nachdem es von Bernard Bru und Marc Yor ausgewertet worden war. Im ersten Satz umschreibt W. Döblin gleichzeitig das Programm des Manuskripts: "Wir betrachten ein bewegliches Teilchen, das sich zufällig auf der Geraden (oder einem Teil davon) bewegt." Er widmet sich damit der Aufgabe, die Fundamente eines Gebiets zu legen, das wir heute als stochastische Analysis bezeichnen.
In the old days (pre ∼1990) hot stellar winds were assumed to be smooth, which made life fairly easy and bothered no one. Then after suspicious behaviour had been revealed, e.g. stochastic temporal variability in broadband polarimetry of single hot stars, it took the emerging CCD technology developed in the preceding decades (∼1970-80’s) to reveal that these winds were far from smooth. It was mainly high-S/N, time-dependent spectroscopy of strong optical recombination emission lines in WR, and also a few OB and other stars with strong hot winds, that indicated all hot stellar winds likely to be pervaded by thousands of multiscale (compressible supersonic turbulent?) structures, whose driver is probably some kind of radiative instability. Quantitative estimates of clumping-independent mass-loss rates came from various fronts, mainly dependent directly on density (e.g. electron-scattering wings of emission lines, UV spectroscopy of weak resonance lines, and binary-star properties including orbital-period changes, electron-scattering, and X-ray fluxes from colliding winds) rather than the more common, easier-to-obtain but clumping-dependent density-squared diagnostics (e.g. free-free emission in the IR/radio and recombination lines, of which the favourite has always been Hα). Many big questions still remain, such as: What do the clumps really look like? Do clumping properties change as one recedes from the mother star? Is clumping universal? Does the relative clumping correction depend on $\dot{M}$ itself?
Clumping in O-star winds
(2007)
We report on new mass-loss rate estimates for O stars in six massive binaries using the amplitude of orbital-phase dependent, linear-polarimetric variability caused by electron scattering off free electrons in the winds. Our estimated mass-loss rates for luminous O stars are independent of clumping. They suggest similar clumping corrections as for WR stars and do not support the recently proposed reduction in mass-loss rates of O stars by one or two orders of magnitude.
I discuss observational evidence – independent of the direct spectral diagnostics of stellar winds themselves – suggesting that mass-loss rates for O stars need to be revised downward by roughly a factor of three or more, in line with recent observed mass-loss rates for clumped winds. These independent constraints include the large observed mass-loss rates in LBV eruptions, the large masses of evolved massive stars like LBVs and WNH stars, WR stars in lower metallicity environments, observed rotation rates of massive stars at different metallicity, supernovae that seem to defy expectations of high mass-loss rates in stellar evolution, and other clues. I pay particular attention to the role of feedback that would result from higher mass-loss rates, driving the star to the Eddington limit too soon, and therefore making higher rates appear highly implausible. Some of these arguments by themselves may have more than one interpretation, but together they paint a consistent picture that steady line-driven winds of O-type stars have lower mass-loss rates and are significantly clumped.