172 research outputs found
Notes for a Manifesto on Care
No full textThe article explores the notion of "care" in its application to urban design and landscape design processes in EU. The article describes the role that research by design processes such as EUROPAN can play in terms of sustainibility and just transitions, and delivers a multi-criteria exploration of the notion and methods for Care based on the professional and reseach experience of the author
Key note presentation, "Methods and Processes for Innovative Urban Planning", Europan Austria & Slovenia - HdA Graz - Haus der Architektur - AU
No full textThe key note intervention, taylor made for a public of planners, city representatives and experts, illustrated some key methods and experiences for planning processes in the age of Transition based on research and design experiences led by the author in EU in the last 5 years. The lecture was held at the prestigious HdA in Graz, one of Austria's major centers for the valorization of contemporary architecture and urban culture
UV surface environment of Earth-like planets orbiting FGKM stars through geological evolution
No full textThe authors would also like to acknowledge support from DFG funding ENP KA 3142/1-1 and the Simons Foundation (290357, Kaltenegger and 290360, Sasselov).The UV environment of a host star affects the photochemistry in the atmosphere, and ultimately the surface UV environment for terrestrial planets and therefore the conditions for the origin and evolution of life. We model the surface UV radiation environment for Earth-sized planets orbiting FGKM stars in the circumstellar Habitable Zone for Earth through its geological evolution. We explore four different types of atmospheres corresponding to an early-Earth atmosphere at 3.9 Gyr ago and three atmospheres covering the rise of oxygen to present-day levels at 2.0 Gyr ago, 0.8 Gyr ago, and modern Earth. In addition to calculating the UV flux on the surface of the planet, we model the biologically effective irradiance, using DNA damage as a proxy for biological damage. We find that a pre-biotic Earth (3.9 Gyr ago) orbiting an F0V star receives 6 times the biologically effective radiation as around the early Sun and 3520 times the modern Earth-Sun levels. A pre-biotic Earth orbiting GJ 581 (M3.5 V) receives 300 times less biologically effective radiation, about 2 times modern Earth-Sun levels. The UV fluxes calculated here provide a grid of model UV environments during the evolution of an Earth-like planet orbiting a range of stars. These models can be used as inputs into photo-biological experiments and for pre-biotic chemistry and early life evolution experiments.Peer reviewe
Improved initiatives at discharge are needed to increase parents’ understanding of medications for children with medical complexity
No full textCommentary on: Selzer A, Eibensteiner F, Kaltenegger L, et al. Parents\u27 understanding of medication at discharge and potential harm in children with medical complexity. Arch Dis Child. 2024 Feb 19;1093 :215–221. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2022–3 25 119
Effect of UV radiation on the spectral fingerprints of Earth-like planets orbiting M stars
No full textThe authors acknowledge support from DFG funding ENP KA 3142/1-1 and the Simons Foundation (290357, Kaltenegger).We model the atmospheres and spectra of Earth-like planets orbiting the entire grid of M dwarfs for active and inactive stellar models with Teff = 2300 K to Teff = 3800 K and for six observed MUSCLES M dwarfs with UV radiation data. We set the Earth-like planets at the 1 AU equivalent distance and show spectra from the visible to IR (0.4-20 μm) to compare detectability of features in different wavelength ranges with the James Webb Space Telescope and other future ground- and spaced-based missions to characterize exo-Earths. We focus on the effect of UV activity levels on detectable atmospheric features that indicate habitability on Earth, namely, H2O, O3, CH4, N2O, and CH3Cl. To observe signatures of life - O2/O3 in combination with reducing species like CH4 - we find that early and active M dwarfs are the best targets of the M star grid for future telescopes. The O2 spectral feature at 0.76 μm is increasingly difficult to detect in reflected light of later M dwarfs owing to low stellar flux in that wavelength region. N2O, another biosignature detectable in the IR, builds up to observable concentrations in our planetary models around M dwarfs with low UV flux. CH3Cl could become detectable, depending on the depth of the overlapping N2O feature. We present a spectral database of Earth-like planets around cool stars for directly imaged planets as a framework for interpreting future light curves, direct imaging, and secondary eclipse measurements of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone to design and assess future telescope capabilities.Peer reviewe
Spectra of Earth-like planets through geological evolution around FGKM stars
No full textThis work was supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation (SCOL awards 339489 to SR and 290357 to LK).Future observations of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres will occur for planets at different stages of geological evolution. We expect to observe a wide variety of atmospheres and planets with alternative evolutionary paths, with some planets resembling Earth at different epochs. For an Earth-like atmospheric time trajectory, we simulate planets from prebiotic to current atmosphere based on geological data. We use a stellar grid F0V to M8V (Teff = 7000 K to 2400 K) to model four geological epochs of Earth's history corresponding to a prebiotic world (3.9 Ga), the rise of oxygen at 2.0 Ga and at 0.8 Ga, and the modern Earth. We show the VIS - IR spectral features, with a focus on biosignatures through geological time for this grid of Sun-like host stars and the effect of clouds on their spectra. We find that the observability of biosignature gases reduces with increasing cloud cover and increases with planetary age. The observability of the visible O2 feature for lower concentrations will partly depend on clouds, which while slightly reducing the feature increase the overall reflectivity thus the detectable flux of a planet. The depth of the IR ozone feature contributes substantially to the opacity at lower oxygen concentrations especially for the high near-UV stellar environments around F stars. Our results are a grid of model spectra for atmospheres representative of Earth's geological history to inform future observations and instrument design and are publicly available online at http://carlsaganinstitute.org/data/.Peer reviewe
Molecular Disorder in Crystalline Thin Films of an Asymmetric BTBT Derivative
No full textThe molecule 2-decyl-7-phenyl-[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (Ph-BTBT-10) is an organic semiconductor with outstanding performance in thin-film transistors. The asymmetric shape of the molecule causes an unusual phase behavior, which is a result of a distinct difference in the molecular arrangement between the head-to-head stacking of the molecules versus head-to-tail stacking. Thin films are prepared at elevated temperatures by crystallization from melt under controlled cooling rates, thermal-gradient crystallization, and bar coating at elevated temperatures. The films are investigated using X-ray diffraction techniques. Unusual peak-broadening effects are found, which cannot be explained using standard models. The modeling of the diffraction patterns with a statistic variation of the molecules reveal that a specific type of molecular disorder is responsible for the observed peak-broadening phenomena: the known head-to-head stacking within the crystalline phase is disturbed by the statistic integration of reversed (or flipped) molecules. It is found that 7-15% of the molecules are integrated in a reversed way, and these fractions are correlated with cooling rates during the sample preparation procedure. Temperature-dependent in situ experiments reveal that the defects can be healed by approaching the transition from the crystalline state to the smectic E state at a temperature of 145 °C. This work identifies and quantifies a specific crystalline defect type within thin films of an asymmetric rodlike conjugated molecule, which is caused by the crystallization kinetics
Self-Directed Learning and Product Innovation
No full textDie Autorin greift die in der Praxis wahrgenommene Wirkungslosigkeit der betrieblichen Weiterbildung zur Förderung der Kompetenzentwicklung von Innovationsmitarbeitern auf. Vor diesem Hintergrund verfolgt sie das erkenntnisleitende Interesse, die Effektivität betrieblicher Weiterbildung im Innovationsbereich kritisch zu hinterfragen, die Relevanz von Selbstgesteuertem Lernen herauszuarbeiten und relevante Umgebungsbedingungen für erfolgreiches Selbstlernen im Innovationsbereich zu explorieren. Johanna Kalteneggers zentraler Anspruch ist es, zu einem besseren Verständnis des Lernverhaltens von Innovationsmitarbeitern beizutragen, um damit wissenschaftlich fundierte und praxisrelevante Anregungen zur Förderung der Kompetenzentwicklung von Mitarbeitern im industriellen Innovationsprozess zu geben. Als Ergebnis einer vor diesem Hintergrund durchgeführten Einzelfallstudie werden neun Umgebungsbedingungen als Faktoren des betrieblichen Arbeitsumfeldes vorgestellt, die aus Sicht der befragten Innovationsmitarbeiter den Erfolg des Selbstgesteuerten Lernens beeinflussen. Im Rahmen einer ausführlichen Ergebnisinterpretation werden sowohl konkrete Mitarbeiteraussagen als auch bereits vorliegende Theorien in den Bereichen „Betriebliche Weiterbildung“, „Selbstgesteuertes Lernen“ sowie „Innovation“ berücksichtigt, um zu einem möglichst umfassenden Bild der sozialen Wirklichkeit im industriellen Innovationsbereich zu gelangen. Die Arbeit folgt erziehungswissenschaftlichen Denk- und Verfahrensweisen und bedient sich im empirischen Teil Methoden der qualitativen Sozialforschung.The author deals with the experience of the ineffectiveness of formal advanced education to support any actual competence development of innovators. The paper thus critically questions the effectiveness of formal advanced education, pointing out the relevance of self-directed learning, and explores external factors affecting the self-directed learning efforts of innovators. The paper claims to contribute to a better understanding of the learning behavior of innovators and should provide a stimulus for the scientific community as well as for the economy to encourage competence building of employees engaged in industrial innovation processes. As a result of a case study, the author discusses nine external factors influencing any success in self-directed learning, considering the points of view of the innovators interviewed. The thesis follows mindsets and methods of educational science. The empirical part of the study was conducted by applying the methods of qualitative social research
Biomarkers of habitable worlds - super-earths and earths
No full textA decade of exoplanet search has led to surprising discoveries, from giant planets close to their star, to planets orbiting two stars, all the way to the first extremely hot, rocky worlds with potentially permanent lava on their surfaces due to the star's proximity. Observation techniques have reached the sensitivity to explore the chemical composition of the atmospheres as well as physical structure of some detected planets. Recent advances in detection techniques find planets of less than 10 MEarth (so called Super-Earths), among them some that may potentially be habitable. Two confirmed non-transiting planets and several transiting Kepler planetary candidates orbit in the Habitable Zone of their host star. The detection and characterization of rocky and potentially Earth-like planets is approaching rapidly with future ground- and space-missions, that can explore the planetary environments by analyzing their atmosphere remotely. The results of a first generation space mission will most likely be an amazing scope of diverse planets that will set planet formation, evolution as well as our planet in an overall context
Exploring the habitable zone for Kepler planetary candidates
No full textThis Letter outlines a simple approach to evaluate habitability of terrestrial planets by assuming different types of planetary atmospheres and using corresponding model calculations. Our approach can be applied for current and future candidates provided by the Kepler mission and other searches. The resulting uncertainties and changes in the number of planetary candidates in the HZ for the Kepler 2011 February data release are discussed. To first order, the HZ depends on the effective stellar flux distribution in wavelength and time, the planet albedo, and greenhouse gas effects. We provide a simple set of parameters which can be used for evaluating future planet candidates from transit searches
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