University of Applied Sciences Emden Leer

Quasi-2D halide perovskites are chemically synthesized realizations of quantum well stacks with giant exciton oscillator strengths, tunable emission spectra, and very large exciton binding energies. While these features render quasi-2D halide perovskites a promising platform for room-temperature polaritonics, bosonic condensation and polariton lasing in quasi-2D perovskites have so far remained elusive at ambient conditions. Here, we demonstrate room-temperature cavity exciton-polariton condensation in mechanically exfoliated crystals of the quasi-2D Ruddlesden-Popper iodide perovskite (BA)2(MA)2Pb3I10 in an open optical microcavity. We observe a polariton condensation threshold of 0.41 µJ cm−2 per pulse and detect a strong non-linear response. Interferometric measurements confirm the spontaneous emergence of spatial coherence across the condensate with an associated first-order autocorrelation reaching 0.6 with 1 ps coherence time and an effective de Broglie wavelength of 13 µm. Our results lay the foundation for a new class of room-temperature polariton lasers based on quasi-2D halide perovskites with great potential for hetero-integration with other van-der-Waals materials and combination with photonic crystals or waveguides.

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> This study explores the aeroelastic behavior of the IEA 15 MW wind turbine rotor during dynamic yaw maneuvers under storm conditions through high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The focus is on blade vibration responses to a variety of yaw misalignments while maintaining constant pitch and azimuth settings. Utilizing the Geometrically Exact Beam Theory (GEBT) and the OpenFOAM framework, the study reveals that certain yaw angles lead to significant edgewise blade vibrations, with distinct responses observed among the rotor's three blades. Detailed analysis of one blade at varying fixed yaw angles, employing Hilbert-Huang transformation, uncovers a lock-in effect where flow structures synchronize with the blade's eigenfrequencies, resulting in pronounced blade tip vibrations. Key findings indicate that the most substantial vibrations occur during specific yaw angles, suggesting that the rotor's structural integrity could be compromised under certain dynamic conditions. This work enhances the understanding of aeroelastic instabilities during off-design yaw maneuvers and highlights the need for operational strategies in managing rotor performance during extreme conditions.

BackgroundHealth care availability in rural areas is restricted by various challenges, such as limited facilities, long travel distances, and economic barriers. Evaluation of the subjective perception of health care availability is of utmost importance, as it can differ from objectively assessed availability and hint at specific needs of rural populations. This study examines the perceived availability of health care services and its associations with sociodemographic characteristics and health factors in a rural population in Northern Germany.MethodsWe used data from the first wave of a longitudinal study with three survey waves between December 2022 and August 2025 as the study sample. We assessed the perceived availability of various health care services with a newly developed 21-item instrument. We assessed diagnosed chronic illness using a single-item question and depression using PHQ-9. We conducted multivariate stepwise regression analysis.ResultsThe sample consisted of 493 participants. 68.3% (n = 338) were female, 78.3% (n = 386) were living in a rural area. The perceived availability of hospitals (OR = 0.19, 95% CI [0.08, 0.44, p>.001), general practitioners (OR = 0.30, 95% CI [0.14, 0.62], p>.001) and medical specialists (OR = 0.22, 95% CI [0.10, 0.49], p>.001) was associated with living in a rural area. Perceived availability of psychologists (OR = 9.41, 95% CI [1.80, 49.10], p = 0.008) and general practitioners (OR = 2.79, 95% CI [1.10, 7.08], p = 0.032) was associated with depression. The perceived availability of hospitals (OR = 2.11, 95% CI [1.07, 4.16], p = 0.028) and medical specialists (OR = 2.46, 95% CI [1.10, 5.48], p = 0.028) was associated with chronic illness.ConclusionsOur findings show that considering perceived availability of health care services is crucial for tailoring health care systems to users’ needs. This approach maximizes efficiency while preventing the overprovision of services that are less accepted or fail to reach those most in need.

This paper analyses the impact of selected parameters on the electricity autarky of a simulated residential area with regard to the electrification of the mobility sector. A theoretical quarter is simulated with various combinations of parameter variations with the aim of increasing the electricity autarky and solar usage of the system. We tested the share of electric vehicles, their different charging strategies (naïve, intelligent, and Vehicle-to-Grid), the proportion between low- and high availability driving profiles, the amount of roof-mounted photovoltaic capacity, and home storage. Results show that increasing photovoltaic capacity has an immense impact on increasing the autarky and decreasing the solar usage of our simulated system, though both plateau quickly. In contrast, the ratio between driving profiles has almost no impact on either autarky or solar usage. Finally, increasing electric vehicle numbers is a net drain for the autarky with a naïve charging strategy, which can be mostly mitigated with intelligent charging, while small amounts of electric vehicles can even increase autarky with Vehicle-to-Grid. The core finding of the simulations is that vehicle-to-grid can make home storage systems obsolete, but the legal basis for this still needs to be created by the government. • Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) can enhance energy autarky in living quaters. • Increased photovoltaic (PV) capacity has the strongest impact on energy autarky. • V2Q (Vehicle-to-quarter) can replace home storage and makes it obsolete from a holistic perspective. • Smart charging and V2G mitigate the negative impact of electric vehicles on autarky.

Previous research has highlighted the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers’ (HCWs) mental health, yet protective factors remain underexplored. Emerging studies emphasize the importance of trust in government and interpersonal relationships in reducing infections and fostering positive vaccine attitudes. This study investigates the relationship between HCWs’ trust in the workplace and government and depressive symptoms during the pandemic. The COVID-19 HEalth caRe wOrkErS study surveyed 32,410 HCWs from 22 countries, including clinical and nonclinical staff. Participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and ad-hoc questions assessing trust in the workplace and government. Logistic regression and multilevel models examined associations between trust levels and depressive symptoms. High workplace trust (OR = 0.72 [0.68, 0.76]) and government trust (OR = 0.72 [0.69, 0.76]) were linked to lower odds of depressive symptoms, with significant between-country variation. Country-level analyses showed that workplace trust was more protective in more developed countries and under stricter COVID-19 restrictions. Despite cross-country variation, HCWs with higher trust in the workplace and government had ~28% lower odds of experiencing depressive symptoms compared to those with lower trust. Promoting trust may help mitigate the mental health impact of future crises on HCWs.

Various systematic reviews underscore the relevance of social support for resilience among refugees. This meta-analysis aims to determine the quantitative assessment of social support and resilience among refugees and the extent of the associations between social support and resilience among refugees. After a systematic literature search, we included twenty-three studies, and performed random-effects meta-regressions. Studies on resilience and social support among refugees very heterogeneously operationalize both constructs. While increases in social support among refugees accompany higher resilience in numerous studies, these associations are not significant. In contrast to previous reviews' conclusions, the current data cannot confirm a relationship between resilience and social support among refugees. Substantiated conclusions about the relationship between resilience and social support among refugees might be reached by a population-specific clear conceptualization and operationalization of the constructs, the content differentiation of the constructs, representative samples, and longitudinal and intervention studies.

Previous research has highlighted the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers’ (HCWs) mental health, yet protective factors remain underexplored. Emerging studies emphasize the importance of trust in government and interpersonal relationships in reducing infections and fostering positive vaccine attitudes. This study investigates the relationship between HCWs’ trust in the workplace and government and depressive symptoms during the pandemic. The COVID-19 HEalth caRe wOrkErS study surveyed 32,410 HCWs from 22 countries, including clinical and nonclinical staff. Participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and ad-hoc questions assessing trust in the workplace and government. Logistic regression and multilevel models examined associations between trust levels and depressive symptoms. High workplace trust (OR = 0.72 [0.68, 0.76]) and government trust (OR = 0.72 [0.69, 0.76]) were linked to lower odds of depressive symptoms, with significant between-country variation. Country-level analyses showed that workplace trust was more protective in more developed countries and under stricter COVID-19 restrictions. Despite cross-country variation, HCWs with higher trust in the workplace and government had ~28% lower odds of experiencing depressive symptoms compared to those with lower trust. Promoting trust may help mitigate the mental health impact of future crises on HCWs.

Heat stress (HS) poses a significant threat for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) cultivation, leading to reduced yield throughout the production cycle. In addition to breeding, a promising approach to enhance HS tolerance is through grafting. For this, rootstocks obtained from tolerant genotypes are joint with susceptible scions that possess superior fruit traits. This study aims to test whether a priori knowledge of tolerance levels can be used to facilitate the identification of suitable grafting combinations, while simultaneously exploring molecular and physiological changes caused by grafting that further our understanding of the transferability of HS tolerance by grafting. The HS tolerance of tomato plants was evaluated using information about biomass development and flowering traits obtained for a diversity panel of 56 tomato genotypes comprising Mediterranean landraces cultivated under control (22/18°C) and HS (35/25°C) conditions. As result genotype T12 was identified with superior HS tolerance. In addition to this, a genotype with inferior HS tolerance, T48, was selected to perform reciprocal grafting experiments. Here transcriptomics data obtained from leaf tissue of grafted plants after a seven-day treatment period indicated global changes in gene expression with a special impact on components of the photosystem. Alongside, transcription factors and regulators such as ARID (Solyc01g111280.3.1), DDT (Solyc11g006200.2.1), GNAT (Solyc02g064690.3.1), and Jumonji (Solyc01g006680.4.1) were identified as potentially important targets for tolerance breeding. Long-term cultivation of grafted plants including eleven weeks of treatment supported the tolerance classification of the genotypes by the means of biomass and yield. Eventually, yield data indicated that the HS susceptible genotype (T48) lowered the yield of the usually tolerant scion (T12). Observed influences on the photosystem of the grafted plants were associated with the treatment rather than the grafting. In summary, these experiments indicated that HS tolerance or susceptibility, respectively can be conferred by grafting. However, more sophisticated screening techniques might be needed to successfully predict stress alleviation by grafting pair selection. Eventually, HS adaptation responses of the tomato plants might offer a potential for targeted breeding or engineering of tolerant genotypes, with a special focus on genes involved in epigenetic remodelling.

Clostridioides difficile is a "One Health" pathogen and a cause of antibiotics-associated diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis. Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) have been documented in the genomes of clinical C. difficile strains; however, the presence of MGEs in environmental strains remains poorly characterized. Thus, the present study was conducted with the objective of identifying the prevalence of MGEs, including mobilizable transposons (MTns), conjugative transposons (CTns), plasmids, and insertion sequences, in whole genome sequences (WGSs) of environmental C. difficile isolates. The analysis of MGEs was conducted using 166 WGSs obtained from C. difficile strains isolated from various environmental sources contaminated with feces. The MGEs were identified using bioinformatic tools. A total of 48.2% (80/166) of the studied genomes were identified to harbor nine transposons, including Tn916, Tn6194-like, Tn5397, Tn6215, Tn4001, Tn6073, Tn6110, Tn6107, or Tn5801-like. The majority of MTns and CTns could be found within C. difficile sequence types ST11, ST3, and ST35. The results demonstrated close genetic relatedness among the studied genomes, the array of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes, such as tetM, ermB, and aac(6')-aph(2″), and the presence of CTns. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that 24.7% (41/166) of the genome sequences of isolates were associated with various predominant plasmid groups, including pCD6, pCD-ECE4-6, pCD-WTSI1-4, pCDBI1, and pCd1_3, which belonged to 16 different sequence types. Furthermore, several plasmids were identified as harboring the prophage phiCDHM19. The results of the current study suggest that the identified plasmids are abundant and may encode functions that are relevant to C. difficile physiology. The genomes of C. difficile strains examined contain closely related CTns, suggesting that horizontal transfer of AMR is important in this species or other bacterial species. Further research is required to ascertain the effect of these genetic elements and their transferability on the biology of C. difficile.