Structural properties and electrical behaviour of thin silicon oxynitride layers

Thin SiO₂ and SiO_xN_y layers were grown on silicon using Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) in either O₂ or N₂O ambient. Subsequent annealing or nitridation was performed in order to improve the electrical stability. The composition of the films, in particular the incorporation of nitrogen and hydrogen, has been studied. We obtained the distribution of states at the Si/insulator interface through the evaluation of CV measurements and investigated the charge trapping in the layers analysing the voltage–time behaviour during Fowler–Nordheim constant current injection. Furthermore, assuming a trap assisted tunneling mechanism, the influence of near interface trap states on the current voltage characteristic was used to derive an effective insulator state distribution.     

Automated processing for map generalization using web services

In map generalization various operators are applied to the features of a map in order to maintain and improve the legibility of the map after the scale has been changed. These operators must be applied in the proper sequence and the quality of the results must be continuously evaluated. Cartographic constraints can be used to define the conditions that have to be met in order to make a map legible and compliant to the user needs. The combinatorial optimization approaches shown in this paper use cartographic constraints to control and restrict the selection and application of a variety of different independent generalization operators into an optimal sequence. Different optimization techniques including hill climbing, simulated annealing and genetic deep search are presented and evaluated experimentally by the example of the generalization of buildings in blocks. All algorithms used in this paper have been implemented in a web services framework. This allows the use of distributed and parallel processing in order to speed up the search for optimized generalization operator sequences.

Das datenschutzrechtliche Vollzugsdefizit im Bereich der Telemedien — ein Schreckensbericht

Zusammenfassung  Die Autoren untersuchen das datenschutzrechtliche Vollzugsdefizit im Anwendungsbereich des Telemediengesetzes. Ihr Ergebnis ist, dass das Ausma? des datenschutzrechtlichen Vollzugsdefizits der von au?en zu überprüfenden datenschutzrechtlichen Pflichten der Anbieter „erschreckend“ ist. Nur einem ganz geringen Teil der Anbieter gelingt es, sich rechtskonform zu verhalten. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kühling Inhaber eines Lehrstuhls für ?ffentliches Recht an der Universit?t Regensburg. Anastasios Sivridis wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter und Doktorand am Lehrstuhl Prof. Kühling. Mathis Schwuchow studentische Hilfskraft am Lehrstuhl Prof. Kühling. Thorben Burghardt wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter und Doktorand am Lehrstuhl für Systeme der Informationsverwaltung (TH Karlsruhe).     

Snake Mating Systems, Behavior, and Evolution: The Revisionary Implications of Recent Findings.

Sexual selection and mating systems profoundly influence the behavior and psychology of animals. Using their own studies of green anacondas (Eunectes murinus) and reviewing other recent studies, the authors conclude that incomplete data derived from a few well-studied snake species have led to general acceptance of polygyny as the dominant mating system in snakes. New data on behavior, paternity, and life history in a diverse taxonomic array of snakes support the view that polyandry is not only common in snakes but may have been the ancestral mating system. This interpretation helps to explain many seemingly paradoxical behavioral differences between lizards and snakes, such as the lack of territorial systems in most snakes and their frequent female-biased sexual size dimorphism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-determined nudging: a system concept for human–machine interaction

Humans sometimes struggle when making decisions, because what they want to do in a specific moment can differ from what they feel they should do in general. This phenomenon can also be found in situations of human–machine interaction. In order to support humans in making decisions about their behavior, a new form of support is proposed, which is especially suitable for human–machine interaction: self-determined decision-making with nudging methods (or shortly: self-determined nudging). In this concept, firstly the aspirations of the human are assessed and then supporting mechanisms are offered to guide humans towards their self-set goals. With this procedure, machines can for example support humans in driving safely or economically, help them refraining from scheduling other appointments in their gym-timeslots or push them towards going to bed on time. While originally nudging is based on libertarian paternalism, the concept of self-determined nudging enables the person to decide which goals to get nudged towards. By different examples, it is shown that nudging ideas are already present in numerous technical applications. Then, it is demonstrated how the aspect of self-determination can enrich these approaches. Moreover, already existing as well as potential new implementations of self-determined nudging in the automotive domain are described. As an outlook, the set-up of a study on automated driving is presented.

     

Synthese und charakterisierung von butadien-divinylbenzol-copolymeren

The copolymerization of butadiene with a technical divinylbenzene fraction was investigated to study the modification of cis-1,4 polybutadiene. Beside the Ziegler-Natta-catalyst nickeloctanoate/bortrifluoride/aluminiumtriethyl, another catalytic system consisting of nickeloctanoate/titaniumtetrachloride/aluminiumtriethyl was used, which allows to polymerize more divinylbenzene because of its higher activity toward vinylaromates. With the help of spectroscopical, pyrolysis-gaschromatographical and thermoanalytical methods one can obtain relations between glass-, crystallization- and melting temperature and the microstructure of the polymer. It can be shown that not only the divinylbenzene but also the trans-1,4- and the 1,2-vinyl units are statistically distributed in the polymer. By this, beside the pyrolysis-gaschromatography, particularly the differential scanning calorimetry is a useful tool to characterize the structure of partially crosslinked polymers obtained from polymerization of technical fractions.     

Responses to escalating predatory threat in garter and ribbon snakes (Thamnophis).

Several models suggest that animals perform a stable sequence of responses during increasing threat from a potential predator. To test the comparative utility of such models, 45 garter and ribbon snakes from 4 species were given an antipredator behavior test in which the snakes were exposed to a series of 5 levels of escalating threat: (1) threat is out of view, (2) threat looms over arena, (3) threat is nonmoving human hand near snake's head, (4) threat is moving human hand, and (5) threat is experimenter's tapping the snake's body. Five different antipredator behaviors were measured. It was found that both qualitative and quantitative changes in behavior occurred between threat levels. However, species differences were also found in the occurrence and amount of every behavior recorded, which indicates that even closely related species may differ in behaviors exhibited in different phases of a predatory encounter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conformation of xanthene dyes in the sulfhydryl 1 binding site of myosin. 2

The fluorescent dyes 5'-(iodoacetamido)tetramethylrhodamine (5'IATR) and 5'-(iodoacetamido)-fluorescein (5'IAF) bind covalently to the reactive sulfhydryl (SH1) of myosin subfragment 1 (S1), the 5'IATR as a dimer and the 5'IAF as a monomer. The conformation of the dimer and the dye-protein complex was investigated by comparison of several spectroscopic signals of the molecules before and after their association into a complex and interpretation of any changes using a coupled dipole oscillator model adapted for this problem [Burghardt & Ajtai (1995) Biophys. Chem. (submitted for publication)]. Absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies were performed on 5'IAF, 5'IATR, and rhodamine 6G (R6G) and rhodamine B (RB) as models of dimer conformation. Absorption, fluorescence, and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopies were performed on 5'IATR-modified S1 (5'R-S1) and 5'IAF-modified S1 (5'F-S1). Combined spectroscopic and 2-D NMR data from rhodamines in solution determined the conformations of the dimers. Xanthene rings from dimers of identical dyes (homodimers) stacked in two structures having very different spectroscopic signatures. Xanthene rings from the heterodimer of R6G and RB stacked in one conformation. The two homodimer conformations of 5'IATR are equally likely to form in solution. The other rhodamine homodimers have one dominant, but not exclusive, structure. Both conformations of the 5'IATR dimer were coupled to a tryptophan as a model of the dye-protein interaction at SH1. The calculated CD from one dimer conformer (dimer A) coupled to tryptophan is negative for the lowest energy CD absorption band. The other dimer (dimer B) gives positive CD on the two lowest energy CD absorption bands. Both dimer structures of 5'IATR contributed to the early time-dependent CD signal from 5'IATR binding to SH1, but at equilibrium the CD signal indicated only dimer B, suggesting that the SH1 binding pocket converts dimer A into dimer B. The time-dependent CD signal from 5'IAF changes amplitude but not shape during the reaction with SH1. The model calculation accounting for the spectroscopic signals of 5'R-S1 and 5'F-S1 indicates several likely conformations of the 5'IATR dimer-tryptophan and 5'IAF-tryptophan complexes embedded in S1. These structures fit to the alpha-carbon structure of the SH1 binding pocket when the 5'IATR dimer and 5'IAF interact closely with Trp510 [Rayment et al. (1993) Science 261, 50-58].(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)