[en] The invention has been aimed at developing a method for supervising the control rod drives of a nuclear reactor, so that reactor safety can be increased by early detection of damages to the drives

[en] Two small-size plasmas used as detectors of halogenated hydrocarbons and suitable for miniaturized instrumentation are discussed. A reduced pressure dielectric barrier discharge was integrated in a diode laser atomic absorption spectrometer and the already reported chlorine detection limits of 5 ppm (v/v) can be improved with one order of magnitude by spatially resolved measurements. A microstructured electrode discharge at atmospheric pressure was coupled with a miniaturized Echelle spectrometer and detection limits were found to be 20 ppb for chlorine as well as for fluorine

[en] The induction of malignant bone tumors by radiotherapy is a rare but acceptable risk. In a 35 years old patient a radiation-induced osteosarcoma developed 25 years after radiation treatment of an undifferentiated sarcoma of the ilium. Exact data of the primary treatment revealed 30 Gy within 3 weeks to be sufficient for tumor induction. There is no contraindication for radiotherapy of malignant radiosensitive tumors, but operable benign tumors should not be treated by radiotherapy

[en] The capability of the small-sized dielectric barrier discharge as an element-selective diode laser atomic absorption detector for gas chromatography is investigated. Detection limits have been determined for halogenated and sulfured hydrocarbons in the low to the high pg/s-range dependent on the element measured. Furthermore, the effect of doping gas (oxygen) and make-up gas (argon, helium) on the chromatograms is studied

[en] For a complete description of a material's microstructure the morphology as well as the distributions of chemical elements and of crystal lattice orientations must be known. While morphogy is a standard issue of electron microscopy, and element distributions can be mapped readily using an EDX appliance, crystal lattice orientations in the bulk surface are accessible in routine work only recently. Backscatter Kikuchi patterns (BKP), also termed electron backscattering patterns (EBSP), are widely used for the determination of individual grain orientations in the surface of bulk polycrystals. 12 refs., 1 fig

[en] The Hellmann-Feynman theorem valid for the parameter dependence of bound states is generalized to the case of Gamow states using an appropriate definition of scalar products and expectation values with such states. The one-dimensional square well potential is considered as an illustrating example. (author)

[en] Intergranular cracking of aluminum alloys occurs by a variety of processes in a host of structural components. Cracks emanate from holes and corners of support structures and heterogeneously spread along grain boundaries. In the present study, cracked specimens were investigated using local orientation measurement techniques. True representation of grain boundaries in spaces of five or eight dimensions was emphasized in characterizing the microstructure. Orientation of the grain boundary plane with respect to the stress axis and with respect to the crystal lattice was found to play an important role in determining GB 'specialness' in addition to misorientation of the crystallite lattices. (author). 23 refs., 6 figs

[en] A new approach for automotive hydrogen storage systems is the so-called cryo-compressed hydrogen storage (CcH2). It has a potential for increased energy densities and thus bigger hydrogen amounts onboard, which is the main attractiveness for car manufacturers such as BMW. This system has further advantages in terms of safety, refueling and cooling potential.

The current filling level measurement by means of pressure and temperature measurement and subsequent density calculation faces challenges especially in terms of precision. A promising alternative is the capacitive gauge. This measuring principle can determine the filling level of the CcH2 tank with significantly smaller tolerances. The measuring principle is based on different dielectric constants of gaseous and liquid hydrogen. These differences are successfully leveraged in liquid hydrogen storage systems (LH₂).

The present theoretical analysis shows that the dielectric values of CcH2 in the relevant operating range are comparable to LH2, thus achieving similarly good accuracy. The present work discusses embodiments and implementations for such a sensor in the CcH2 tank. (paper)

[en] Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing technology used to directly produce metallic parts from thin powder layers. To evaluate the anisotropic mechanical properties, tensile test specimens of the Ni-base alloy Hastelloy X were built with the loading direction oriented either parallel (z-specimens) or perpendicular to the build-up direction (xy- specimens). Specimens were investigated in the “as-built” condition and after high temperature heat treatment. Tensile tests at room temperature and at 850°C of “as-built” material have shown different mechanical properties for z- and xy-specimens. The anisotropy is reflected in the Young's modulus, with lower values measured parallel to the build-up direction. It is shown that the anisotropy is significantly reduced by a subsequent recrystallization heat treatment. The characterization of microstructural and textural anisotropy was done by Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) analysis. Predictions of Young's modulus calculated from the measured textures compare well with the data from tensile tests. (paper)

[en] This spontaneous workshop (SW) brings together specialists on recent insights in particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. The aim is to stimulate debates on common topics in views of providing the scientific community with innovating ideas. The main topics are gravity, dark matter and cosmological models. This document is made of the slides of the presentations.