Depression, hypomania, and dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions as mediators between stress and insomnia: The best advice is not always found on the pillow!

A cognitive mediation model was examined to find out how stress, depression, and hypomania precipitate the occurrence of dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions, which in turn lead to insomnia. A total of 862 participants (639 women, 223 men; M age: 24.67 years, SD = 5.91) completed a series of self-report questionnaires assessing perceived stress, depression, hypomania, dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions, and insomnia. Compared to men, women reported higher levels of stress, depression, and insomnia. Women also suffered from more dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions. All variables were intercorrelated. Structural equation analyses showed that the relationship between stress and insomnia was largely mediated by dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions. Links between depression and insomnia were found to be weak when controlled for stress and dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions. The findings support a cognitive model of insomnia. Stress must be seen as a precipitating factor in the onset and maintenance of insomnia. Consequently, competencies to deal with dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions should be fostered in stress management programs. In turn, stress management should be a primary focus in the treatment of insomnia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the Flight Hardware for the Experiment XENOPUS on the Kubik BIO4-Mission

The needs of developing aquatic animals depend on their age. For example, amphibian tadpole stages require regular food supply while embryos use their yolk as food source. Thus, life support systems have to be adapted to the different ages; an efficient control for water cleanness and steady food supply is mandatory for a safe flight in microgravity. A list of biological and technical requirements prompted the concept of the Dornier-Mini-System and the design for the Astrium SUPPLY Unit. These life support systems are connected with the Astrium miniaquarium that was used several times for the transport of small aquatic animals in space. Scientific experience from this concept was considered by Kayser Italia to design and develop a space suitable hardware. Its functionality was successfully demonstrated by the experiment XENOPUS that flew on the Soyuz TMA13/TMA12 mission in 2008. From 36 launched tadpoles, 35 returned back to Earth after the 12 days lasting space flight in physiologically stable conditions.     

Application of semi-analytical finite element method to evaluate asphalt pavement bearing capacity

Bearing capacity is a key index in pavement management systems in many countries, which reflects the essential material properties of asphalt pavements. Many stationary measuring methods have been undertaken in the past; current assessment of the bearing capacity tends towards fast and continuous measurements at traffic speed for a network analysis. The conventional evaluation using stationary loads do not represent real traffic loading condition; therefore the results will inevitably lead to discrepancies from reality. A specific computational program SAFEM based on semi-analytical finite element method is proposed to overcome the difficulty. The reliability and efficiency of the SAFEM is proved by verification with commercial FE software ABAQUS and field measurements. The variation tendency of the back-calculated bearing capacity has a quite good negative linear relation with the number of loading cycles in the experiment. The investigation shows this proposed assessment system is a feasible option for the fast and reliable analysis of the pavement bearing capacity at a network level for road administrations.     

Fully Automated Production and Characterization of 64Cu and Proof‐of‐Principle Small‐Animal PET Imaging Using 64Cu‐Labelled CA XII Targeting 6A10 Fab

⁶⁴Cu is a cyclotron‐produced radionuclide which offers, thanks to its characteristic decay scheme, the possibility of combining positron emission tomography (PET) investigations with radiotherapy. We evaluated the Alceo system from Comecer SpA to automatically produce ⁶⁴Cu for radiolabelling purposes. We established a ⁶⁴Cu production routine with high yields and radionuclide purity in combination with excellent operator radiation protection. The carbonic anhydrase XII targeting 6A10 antibody Fab fragment was successfully radiolabelled with the produced ⁶⁴Cu, and proof‐of‐principle small‐animal PET experiments on mice bearing glioma xenografts were performed. We obtained a high tumor‐to‐contralateral muscle ratio, which encourages further in vivo investigations of the radioconjugate regarding a possible application in diagnostic tumor imaging.     

Mesophilic and Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Model Kitchen Waste with Variation of Fat Content

Anaerobic digestion of model kitchen waste (MKW) produced on basis of real kitchen waste (KW) is studied in batch tests. The impact of fat content of three MKWs (14.7 %, 23 %, and 27.2 % rapeseed oil content) on the biogas production at mesophilic and thermophilic conditions and two loadings is examined. The loading of 5 g_VSL⁻¹ leads to fast degradation under both temperature modes and the volume of biogas produced is only weakly correlated to the oil content. For the loading of 25 g_VSL⁻¹ a strong retardation of biogas production, high concentration of volatile fatty acids and no correlation of oil content is observed.     

A grid operation model: Resource demand for an adequate incident management in high-, medium-, and low-voltage grids

Based on the regulation of grid fees and the regulatory requirements on the quality of supply, grid operators attempt to find an optimal balance between costs and quality of supply. One main aspect of the quality of supply is the non-availability of supply, which strongly depends on the duration of the restoration process after incidents and therefore on the availability of resources. Focusing on the operational processes after incidents in low-, medium-, and high-voltage grids, this paper presents a detailed grid operation model which allows to quantify the relation between the configuration of resources and the corresponding costs and quality of supply. To assess the “risk” of incidents with no interruption of supply, the power-at-risk is introduced. Depending on legal, regulatory, or strategic requirements, the model allows to evaluate and compare different configurations of resources and the resulting quality of supply.     

Dominant factors for device-to-device occurrence probabilities in cellular networks

Wireless Networks - Device-to-device (D2D) communication is expected to be part of future cellular networks. It is commonly assumed that D2D links will exist and need to be managed. However, the...     

Degenerate Quantum Gases in Microgravity

Clouds of ultra-cold atoms and especially Bose–Einstein condensates (BEC) provide a source for coherent matter-waves in numerous earth bound experiments. Analogous to optical interferometry, matter-wave interferometers can be used for precision measurements allowing for a sensitivity orders of magnitude above their optical counterparts. However, in some respects the presence of gravitational forces in the lab limits experimental possibilities. In this article, we report about a compact and robust experiment generating Bose–Einstein condensates in the drop tower facility in Bremen, Germany. We also present the progress of building the succeeding experiment in which a two species atom interferometer will be implemented to test the weak equivalence principle with quantum matter.