Drivers’ misjudgement of vigilance state during prolonged monotonous daytime driving

To investigate the effects of monotonous daytime driving on vigilance state and particularly the ability to judge this state, a real road driving study was conducted. To objectively assess vigilance state, performance (auditory reaction time) and physiological measures (EEG: alpha spindle rate, P3 amplitude; ECG: heart rate) were recorded continuously. Drivers judged sleepiness, attention to the driving task and monotony retrospectively every 20 min. Results showed that prolonged daytime driving under monotonous conditions leads to a continuous reduction in vigilance. Towards the end of the drive, drivers reported a subjectively improved vigilance state, which was contrary to the continued decrease in vigilance as indicated by all performance and physiological measures. These findings indicate a lack of self-assessment abilities after approximately 3 h of continuous monotonous daytime driving.     

Practical TEMPO‐Mediated Oxidation of Alcohols using Different Polymer‐Bound Co‐Oxidants

Hypochlorite and chlorite exchange resins are evaluated as co‐oxidants or oxidants, respectively, for the oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes, ketones or carboxylic acids. Polymer‐bound hypochlorite can act as a co‐oxidant in TEMPO‐mediated oxidations of alcohols. The formation of aldehydes only works under weakly acidic conditions. However, the cheap hypochlorite exchange resin is less efficient as co‐oxidant compared to the use of ionically immobilised bisacetoxybromate(I) anions. In contrast, the chlorite exchange resin is a highly potent co‐oxidant for the preparation of carboxylic acids from the corresponding primary alcohols in the presence of TEMPO. It is demonstrated that in this case also the resin acts as a polymer‐bound co‐oxidant for both oxidation steps. Yields are commonly excellent as is also demonstrated for examples taken from natural product synthesis which include acid labile glycosides. In most cases, work‐up of this heavy metal‐free oxidation is kept to a minimum. It often includes filtration followed by removal of the solvent.     

Development of a 3D‐Finite Element Module for the Prediction of the Fibre Orientation in Injection Moulded Parts

This article presents a 3D‐finite element simulation package for the prediction of the fibre orientation in injection moulding. The fibre orientation is calculated by using a mathematical model based on orientation tensors, which not only takes into account the 3D‐flow field, but also the shape of the fibres and the fibre‐fibre interaction. The tensor model has been verified in many scientific investigations and has proven to yield satisfying results. Therefore we decided to use this model for implementation into a 3D‐finite element simulation package, which is currently being developed at the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. The implementation of this model using both the finite element method and the finite volume method is described and the different parameters used in this model are analysed and discussed separately, as are the parameters used for the injection moulding process. The results obtained are compared to similar results from literature.

Model of the flow channel (10 mm × 10 mm × 100 mm) used for the simulations.     

Compositional generation of home states in free choice nets

Free choice nets are a class of Petri nets which allow the modelling of concurrency and nondeterministic choice, but with the restriction that choices cannot be influenced externally. Home states are initial states which lead to a strongly connected state graph, that is, a home state can be reached from any of its successor states. The main result of this paper characterises the home states of a well-formed free choice net compositionally by recourse to its decomposition into T-components.     

Should We Be Charlie? A Deliberative Take on Religion and Secularism in Mediated Public Spheres

The terror attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 serves to explore the role of religion and secularism in mediated public spheres. We argue that deliberative theory, including its recent criticisms and extensions, helps navigate normative dilemmas presented by the attacks. From a deliberative perspective, journalists should reprint Charlie cartoons that are perceived by Muslims as insulting and incendiary only if this fulfills a real need for public reflection and enlightenment. Media and the wider public should engage in differentiated solidarity with Charlie Hebdo, help transfer the hidden argumentative potential of its cartoons into the realm of truly argumentative discourse, and engage in metadeliberation that explicitly reflects the contexts and rules for public debate.     

Structural and free volume characterization of sol–gel organic–inorganic hybrids,obtained by co-condensation of two ureasilicate stoichiometric precursors

In this study two hybrid organic–inorganic ureasilicate monomers with different length of polymer segments were chosen for preparation of sol–gel material that includes two moieties blended on the molecular scale. The first monomer was obtained by crosslinking a double terminated polyoxyalkyleneamine with an isocyanate modified silicone ethoxide and the second one – by crosslinking between the isocyanate modified silicone ethoxide with an amino modified silicone ethoxide. Sol–gel route was applied for transformation of the liquid monomer blends in transparent materials with varying degree of rigidity. The prepared samples were characterized by small-angle X-ray scattering, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, and swelling experiments. The results demonstrate that the structure of the obtained materials could be tuned by a simple variation of molar fraction ratio between these two monomers. This makes it possible to obtain nanostructured materials with predictable properties.     

Combination of biological mechanisms for a concept study of a fracture-tolerant bio-inspired ceramic composite material

The biological materials nacre and wood are renowned for their impressive combination of toughness and strength. The key mechanisms of these highly complex structures are crack deflection at weak interfaces, crack bridging, functional gradients and reinforcing elements. These principles were applied to a more fracture-tolerant model material which combined porous stiff ceramic layers, manufactured by freeze casting, infiltrated and bonded by a polymer phase reinforced with fabric layers. In the hybrid composites, crack deflection occurred at the ceramic–fabric interface and the intact fabric layers served as crack-bridging elements. Fabric-reinforced epoxy layers stabilized the fracture behaviour and delayed catastrophic failure of the material. The influence of the different components was analysed by varying the ceramic, fabric and interface properties. More ductile fabrics lead to larger strain to failure and more crack bridging but reduced the composite strength and stiffness after initial cracking. Higher elastic mismatch between the components improved crack deflection and bridging but resulted in deterred load transfer and a lower strength. The stiffness and strength of the ceramic layers influenced the elastic properties of the laminar composite and the initial crack resistance. Flaw tolerance was increased with polymer infiltration. We show with our hybrid ceramic–fabric composite as a bio-inspired concept study how fracture toughness, work of fracture and tolerance for cracking can be tailored when the contributing factors, i.e. the ceramic, the fabric and their interface, are modified.     

Deliberative Performance of Television News in Three Types of Democracy: Insights from the United States,Germany, and Russia

We show that television news is considerably more deliberative in established (United States, Germany) than in defective democracies (Russia) and slightly more deliberative in a power‐sharing political system (Germany) than in a power‐concentrating system (United States). We further demonstrate that public‐service channels, nonpartisan programs, and in‐depth news shows make stronger overall contributions toward deliberativeness than their respective counterparts. While national news cultures produce distinct national styles of mediated deliberation, individual channels in the United States (Fox, CNN) and Russia (REN) cut across these national patterns. The significance of deliberative media content for citizens and political elites is discussed.