Stadtwerke Straubing (Germany)

In 2023 atotal of 57,776 people were imprisoned in German correctional facilities (JVA). According to international studies 50-75% of prison inmates suffer from mental disorders; however, so far there are no well-founded data on the psychiatric psychotherapeutic care situation in German prisons. The survey of the German Society of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology (DGPPN) is intended to provide an initial insight into the specific service provision. The online survey was designed as aunique cross-sectional survey. Atask force (TF) of the DGPPN developed aquestionnaire with 12topics and 85items. To reflect the situation in the institutions, the questionnaire was sent to the Criminological Service in advance. Targeted suggestions for improvement were implemented. The survey was conducted with the support of the Prison Committee, acommittee of the federal states that, among other things, monitors conditions in prisons, in the period from 1March-30April 2024. The questionnaire was sent online and as aprintout to the prisons in the federal states via the Prison Committee. The feedback was sent to the DGPPN. Participation in the survey was voluntary and anonymous. The data were evaluated descriptively. According to the information provided by the 137 (77.8%) institutions participating in the study, 41,173 persons were imprisoned as of 1 March 2024, including prisoners in pretrial detention, sentenced prisoners and preventive detention. Of the participating institutions 86.7% reported problems caring for prisoners with mental disorders. The capacities of full and partial inpatient psychiatric treatment were assessed by most of the institutions as not covering the actual needs. Athird of the specialist positions were not filled. In the last 12months 128 institutions recorded 5812 placements in specially secured detention rooms (15.9% of prisoners). The study confirmed the assumption of experts working in the field of psychiatric-psychotherapeutic care: the resources for the care of prisoners with mental disorders in German prisons are perceived as insufficient. Above all, there is alack of specialist staff and psychiatric treatment capacities. Sufficient funding to improve the service provision is indispensable. Treatment standards that conform to guidelines should be developed and introduced.

ABSTRACT The present work focuses on investigating the effect of increasing Inconel 625 Fe content on the oxide film composition and corrosion behaviour through XPS and cyclic potentiodynamic polarisation (CPP) studies. Different proportions of ASTM A182 F22 steel and Inconel 625 were arc‐melted to achieve a range of Fe contents (2–15 wt.%) in the samples. XPS analysis showed a progressive increase in the proportion of protective oxides, namely, NiO, Cr 2 O 3 and Nb 2 O 5 , in the native oxide film, as the Fe content of the alloy increased, whereas MoO 2 did not change across the studied compositions. The oxide thickness was also observed to increase from 1.8 nm for Inconel 625 to 3.5 nm for the sample with 15 wt.% Fe. CPP tests in artificial seawater revealed that the pitting potential progressively increases with Fe content, reaching a value of 1.12 V/SCE for the alloy with 15 wt.% Fe. These results show that increased concentrations of Fe (up to 15 wt.%) in Inconel 625 do not reduce the protective nature of the oxide and actually improve the pitting corrosion resistance, which may pave the way towards using more Fe in this alloy.

Integration of electrochemical CO2 reduction with microbial fermentation enables conversion of CO2 into valuable chemicals but poses challenges at the electrolysis-fermentation interface. The electrolyte must ensure efficient CO2 reduction while remaining compatible with microbial growth. We investigated various electrolytes for coupling CO2 electroreduction to formate with formate fermentation by Methylorubrumextorquens TK0001. Electrolyte performance was evaluated by formate production and microbial growth. A phosphate-based buffer demonstrated the best overall compatibility. Optimal microbial growth occurred at 0.1mol L-1 KPi, with tolerance of up to 111mmol L-1 formate. Continuous CO2 electrolysis in 1.0mol L-1 KPi produced 2.0mol L-1 formate in 48 h. Formate fermentation with M.extorquens showed biomass yield of 107mg CDW gformate -1 and a growth rate of 0.10 h-1. These results highlight the crucial role of buffer composition and concentration in balancing efficient CO2 electroreduction with stable fermentation. Optimizing this electrochemical-biological interface enables direct utilization of CO2-derived formate as a substrate for sustainable microbial production, offering a promising scalable route for industrial biotechnology.

Performing cell-free expression (CFE) in tailored microfluidic environments is a powerful tool to investigate the organisation of biosystems from molecular to multicellular scales. While cell-free transcription-translation systems simplify and open up cellular biochemistry for manipulation, microfluidics enables miniaturisation and precise control over geometries and reaction conditions. In this review, we highlight the benefits of combining microfluidics with CFE reactions for the study and engineering of molecular functions and the construction of life-like systems from nonliving components. By defining spatial organisation at different scales and sustaining nonequilibrium conditions, microfluidic environments play a key role in the quest to 'boot up' the biochemistry of life.

Sphaerochara canadensis, an aquatic macrophyte belonging to the Characeae, is described as a species with a circumpolar distribution and occurs in the polar (to boreal) zonobiomes, suggesting that it is cold‐stenothermic. A recent report of an occurrence in Lake Wolfgangsee, Austria, contradicted this assumption, prompting this study to investigate the species' physiological adaptation capabilities and, consequently, ability to survive in non‐polar environments. Field measurements at Lake Torneträsk, Sweden, indicated that S. canadensis is more adapted to low light compared to the co‐occurring charophytes, with water temperatures in the lake ranging from 10 to 12°C during the experiment. Cultivation experiments also revealed clear temperature effects on growth, photosynthetic performance, and pigment composition at 5, 10, 15, and 20°C, with higher temperatures having a positive impact. Furthermore, it was shown that the species can adapt to different light intensities. A published occurrence of the species in Austria is probably erroneous. The photographic material of the original report was misidentified, and eDNA analyses of water samples taken from Lake Wolfgangsee and surrounding water bodies failed to confirm the presence of the species. Consequently, a factor other than temperature limits its distribution. Identifying the factor is crucial for conservation under climate change.

Niobium and tantalum oxides are highly stable materialsunder harshoxidizing conditions with diverse applications in catalysis, energystorage, and optoelectronics. Niobium oxides exhibit a rich varietyof polymorphs and crystal structures (e.g., T-, M-, H-Nb2O5, NbO2, and NbO), whose electronic propertiesdepend strongly on their crystalline structure. Realizing these crystalstructures typically requires thermal syntheses at high temperaturesand different gas atmospheres, which causes particle sintering andgrowth, compromising nanoscale features and limiting functionality.Here, we present a synthesis route for niobium and tantalum oxidenanoparticles below 10 nm, showing unprecedented control over sizeand stoichiometry at temperatures up to 1100 °C. The synthesisutilizes a reverse microemulsion for the controlled synthesis of thenanoparticles, followed by silica shell encapsulation, which successfullypreserves particle size while enabling access to different polymorphs.Structural characterization by HAADF-STEM and XRD confirms particlesize preservation and the formation of various crystal structuresthrough different heat treatments. For Nb2O5 polymorphs, the optical bandgap can be tuned by the crystal structureexcluding size effects due to the uniform particle size. This approachyields highly crystalline nanoparticles with defined structures, providingmodel materials for a range of applications and potentially extendableto other material systems.

ABSTRACT High demand and volume fluctuations, constrained transportation capacity, and weak network effects compel retailers to rely on external logistic service providers (LSPs) instead of operating their own transportation fleet. This outsourcing process requires retailers to propose tours to LSPs that then carry out the store deliveries. LSPs typically bill their service using a tariff with a zone structure representing geographical positions. The transportation costs depend on the zones visited and the delivery volume, which is subject to volume discounts. Further, LSPs apply detour limits to prevent excessive travel distances. Zone tariffs are a standard pricing scheme to ease transportation planning in the industry. Despite its high practical relevance, the literature in this field is limited, and a general model and solution approach are lacking. Our work closes this gap by providing the first comprehensive model for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with a Zone Tariff (C‐VRP‐ZT) and by developing a generally applicable exact solution method. The developed Branch‐and‐Check (BAC) framework includes valid inequalities and multiple acceleration techniques. We prove the computational efficiency of our approach using benchmark instances and derive managerial insights. We analyze different tariff structures concerning central characteristics such as the zone layout and order consolidation. Our results show how the tariff characteristics impact the cost of retailers and the margins of LSPs. We further solve a real‐world application in retailing and analyze the cost/revenue split between a retailer and an LSP. These results provide insights into the threshold when a retailer should outsource its transportation process.

Building integration of Silicon‐photovoltaic (Si‐PV) panels into urban infrastructure faces efficiency and aesthetic concerns. An effective alternative is the luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs), in which the emitters embedded in polymer blocks capture, converts, and guide the sun irradiation to the edges where Si‐PV panels are placed. The best LSCs are based on rare‐earth and/or toxic emitters, which undermines the sustainability of this technology. In this context, a few groups have implemented biogenic emitters like fluorescent proteins (FPs) and protein systems in liquid‐state LSCs, reaching the maximum optical efficiency (ηopt) of 6.88%. However, liquid‐state LSCs face low photostability and easy leakage issues. Herein, it is demonstrated that the concept of FP solid‐state LSCs, integrating an archetypal FP (T‐Sapphire) in light‐guiding epoxy materials of arbitrary shapes. They are optimized with respect to the water content and the type/amount of stabilizers, fairly keeping the photoluminescence features over 250 days under storage conditions. This allows the fabrication of FP solid‐state LSCs that achieve a 32‐fold enhanced stability compared to liquid‐state LSCs (8 days vs 6 h) and the best ηopt of 7.41%. Overall, this work provides a key advancement toward truly sustainable LSCs, marking a major step toward biologized photovoltaics.

Proteins are at the forefront of materials science, withimplementationsin optical, electrical, and structural materials for transformativeand sustainable technologies. Within the biohybrid light-emittingdiode (BioHLED) concept, replacing toxic and/or rare photon filterswith classical β-barrel fluorescent proteins (FPs) that mustwithstand irradiation, temperature, oxidation, and dehydration stress,the question if FPs from extremophiles and/or living fossils mightbe better for lighting applications arises. We addressed this by introducinga thermostable prokaryotic FP, whose inherent promiscuity enablesthe design of tunable emitting proteins. Three milestones were reached:(i) a comprehensive phylogeny of phycobiliproteinsfrom a large data set (182 proteins from 29 thermophiles) to identifythe most versatile zombie-like phycobiliprotein (highly ancestralcharacter), (ii) heterologous expression of thisphycobiliprotein (SPritZ) in Escherichia coli andfurther enhancement via rational mutagenesis into a brighter and morethermal-resilient variant (eSPritZ), and (iii) 2.5-foldstable BioHLEDs comparing SPritZ vs eSPritZ in hydroxypropyl cellulosecoatings.