TY - JOUR A1 - Schulze-Makuch, D. A1 - Lipus, D. A1 - Arens, F. L. A1 - Baque, M. A1 - Bornemann, T. L. V. A1 - de Vera, J. P. A1 - Flury, M. A1 - Froesler, J. A1 - Heinz, J. A1 - Hwang, Y. A1 - Kounaves, S. P. A1 - Mangelsdorf, K. A1 - Meckenstock, R. U. A1 - Pannekens, M. A1 - Probst, A. J. A1 - Saenz, J. S. A1 - Schirmack, J. A1 - Schloter, M. A1 - Schmitt-Kopplin, P. A1 - Schneider, Beate A1 - Uhl, J. A1 - Vestergaard, G. A1 - Valenzuela, B. A1 - Zamorano, P. A1 - Wagner, D. T1 - Microbial hotspots in lithic microhabitats inferred from DNA fractionation and metagenomics in the Atacama Desert N2 - The existence of microbial activity hotspots in temperate regions of Earth is driven by soil heterogeneities, especially the temporal and spatial availability of nutrients. Here we investigate whether microbial activity hotspots also exist in lithic microhabitats in one of the most arid regions of the world, the Atacama Desert in Chile. While previous studies evaluated the total DNA fraction to elucidate the microbial communities, we here for the first time use a DNA separation approach on lithic microhabitats, together with metagenomics and other analysis methods (i.e., ATP, PLFA, and metabolite analysis) to specifically gain insights on the living and potentially active microbial community. Our results show that hypolith colonized rocks are microbial hotspots in the desert environment. In contrast, our data do not support such a conclusion for gypsum crust and salt rock environments, because only limited microbial activity could be observed. The hypolith community is dominated by phototrophs, mostly Cyanobacteria and Chloroflexi, at both study sites. The gypsum crusts are dominated by methylotrophs and heterotrophic phototrophs, mostly Chloroflexi, and the salt rocks (halite nodules) by phototrophic and halotolerant endoliths, mostly Cyanobacteria and Archaea. The major environmental constraints in the organic-poor arid and hyperarid Atacama Desert are water availability and UV irradiation, allowing phototrophs and other extremophiles to play a key role in desert ecology. KW - Desert ecology KW - Extremophile KW - Hyperarid PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-527959 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9051038 SN - 2076-2607 VL - 9 IS - 5 SP - 1038 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-52795 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Manes, M. A1 - El Houssami, M. A1 - Campbell, R. A1 - Sauca, A. A1 - Rush, D. A1 - Hofmann-Böllinghaus, Anja A1 - Andersson, P. A1 - Wagner, P. A1 - Veeneklaas, J. A1 - van Hees, P. A1 - Guillaume, E. T1 - Closing Data Gaps and Paving the Way for Pan-European Fire Safety Efforts: Part I—Overview of Current Practices for Fire Statistics N2 - The analysis of the current state of fire statistics and data collection in Europe and other countries is needed to increase awareness of how fire incidents affect buildings and to support pan-European fire prevention and fire mitigation measures. The terminology and data collected regarding fire incidents in buildings in the EU Member States were mapped to obtain meaningful datasets to determine common terminology, collection methodology, and data interpretation system. An extensive literature review showed that fire data collection systems have been instrumental in informing firefighting strategies, evidence-based planning, prevention, and educational programmes. Differences and similarities between fire data collection systems were also investigated. The amount and quality of the information in fire statistical recording systems appear to be influenced by the complexity and structure with which the data are collected. The analysis also examined the existing fire statistics in the EU Member States and a few other countries. Finally, a detailed investigation of the number of fires, fire deaths, and injuries from 2009 to 2018 in several countries was examined based on data from a report by CTIF. The trends showed differences attributable to the existing fire statistical practices in terms of terminology and data collection, and interpretation. Part II proposes a common terminology for selected fire statistical variables. The results provide relevant information regarding fire safety at the European level and should be used to guide the development of more uniform fire statistics across Europe. KW - Fire statistics KW - European project PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-575711 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-023-01415-6 SN - 1572-8099 SP - 1 EP - 44 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg AN - OPUS4-57571 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bates, J. S. A1 - Martinez, J. J. A1 - Hall, M. N. A1 - Al-Omari, A. A. A1 - Murphy, E. A1 - Zeng, Y. A1 - Luo, F. A1 - Primbs, M. A1 - Menga, D. A1 - Bibent, N. A1 - Sougrati, M. T. A1 - Wagner, F. E. A1 - Atanassov, P. A1 - Wu, G. A1 - Strasser, P. A1 - Fellinger, Tim-Patrick A1 - Jaouen, F. A1 - Root, T. W. A1 - Stahl, S. S. T1 - Chemical Kinetic Method for Active-Site Quantification in Fe-N‑C Catalysts and Correlation with Molecular Probe and Spectroscopic Site-Counting Methods N2 - Mononuclear Fe ions ligated by nitrogen (FeNx) dispersed on nitrogen-doped carbon (Fe-N-C) serve as active centers for electrocatalytic O2 reduction and thermocatalytic aerobic oxidations. Despite their promise as replacements for precious metals in a variety of practical applications, such as fuel cells, the discovery of new Fe-N-C catalysts has relied primarily on empirical approaches. In this context, the development of quantitative structure−reactivity relationships and benchmarking of catalysts prepared by different synthetic routes and by different laboratories would be facilitated by the broader adoption of methods to quantify atomically dispersed FeNx active centers. In this study, we develop a kinetic probe reaction method that uses the aerobic oxidation of a model hydroquinone substrate to quantify the density of FeNx centers in Fe-N-C catalysts. The kinetic method is compared with low-temperature Mössbauer spectroscopy, CO pulse chemisorption, and electrochemical reductive stripping of NO derived from NO2 − on a suite of Fe-N-C catalysts prepared by diverse routes and featuring either the exclusive presence of Fe as FeNx sites or the coexistence of aggregated Fe species in addition to FeNx. The FeNx site densities derived from the kinetic method correlate well with those obtained from CO pulse chemisorption and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The broad survey of Fe-N-C materials also reveals the presence of outliers and challenges associated with each site quantification approach. The kinetic method developed here does not require pretreatments that may alter active-site distributions or specialized equipment beyond reaction vessels and standard analytical instrumentation. KW - Active-Site Quantification PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c08790 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-58889 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schulze-Makuch, D. A1 - Haque, S. A1 - Beckles, D. A1 - Schmitt-Kopplin, P. A1 - Harir, M. A1 - Schneider, Beate A1 - Stumpp, C. A1 - Wagner, D. T1 - A chemical and microbial characterization of selected mud volcanoes in Trinidad reveals pathogens introduced by surface water and rain water N2 - Terrestrial mud volcanoes are unique structures driven by tectonic pressure and fluids from the deep subsurface. These structures are mainly found in active tectonic zones, such as the area near the Los Bajos Fault in Trinidad. Here we report a chemical and microbiological characterization of three mud volcanoes, which included analyses of multiple liquid and solid samples from the mud volcanoes. Our study confirms previous suggestions that at least some of the mud volcano fluids are a mixture of deeper salt-rich water and surficial/precipitation water. No apparent water quality differences were found between sampling sites north and south of a major geological fault line. Microbiological analyses revealed diverse communities, both aerobic and anaerobic, including sulfate reducers, methanogens, carbon dioxide fixing and denitrifying bacteria. Several identified species were halophilic and likely derived from the deeper salt-rich subsurface water, while we also cultivated pathogenic species from the Vibrionaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Shewanellaceae, and Clostridiaceae. These microorganisms were likely introduced into the mud volcano fluids both from surface water or shallow ground-water, and perhaps to a more minor degree by rain water. The identified pathogens are a major health concern that needs to be addressed. KW - Water stable isotope analysis KW - Mud volcanoe fluids KW - Metabolomics PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136087 VL - 707 SP - 136087 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-50499 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klöckner, P. A1 - Seiwert, B. A1 - Eisentraut, Paul A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Reemtsma, T. A1 - Wagner, S. T1 - Characterization of tire and road wear particles from road runoffindicates highly dynamic particle properties N2 - Tire and road wear particles (TRWPs) are heteroagglomerates of tire rubber and other particles deposited on the road surface and one of the main contributors to non-exhaust emissions of automobile traffic. In this study, samples from road environments were analyzed for their TRWP contents and concentra- tions of eight organic tire constituents. TRWP concentrations were determined by quantifying Zn in the density fraction < 1.9 g/cm ³and by thermal extraction desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS) and the concentrations ranged from 3.7 to 480 mg TRWP/g. Strong and statistically signif- icant correlations with TRWPs were found for 2-hydroxybenzothiazole and 2-aminobenzothiazole, indi- cating that these substances may be suitable markers of TRWPs. The mass distribution of TRWPs in road dust suggests that the main mass fraction formed on roads consists of coarse particles ( > 100 μm). Data for a sedimentation basin indicate that the fine fraction ( < 50 μm) is preferentially transported by road runoffinto receiving waters. The size distribution and density data of TRWP gathered by three different quantitation approaches also suggest that aging of TRWPs leads to changes in their particle density. An improved understanding of the dynamics of TRWP properties is essential to assess the distribution and dissipation of this contaminant of emerging concern in the environment. KW - Tire Wear KW - Density separation KW - Microplastic KW - Urban PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.116262 VL - 185 SP - 116262 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-51256 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sadowski, A. A1 - Seidel, M. A1 - Al-Lawati, H. A1 - Azizi, E. A1 - Balscheit, Hagen A1 - Böhm, M. A1 - Chen, Lei A1 - van Dijk, I. A1 - Doerich-Stavridis, C. A1 - Kunle Fajuyitan, O. A1 - Filippidis, A. A1 - Winther Fischer, A. A1 - Fischer, C. A1 - Gerasimidis, S. A1 - Karampour, H. A1 - Kathirkamanathan, L. A1 - Subramanian, S. A1 - Topkaya, Cem A1 - Wagner, H. N. R. A1 - Wang, J. A1 - Wang, J. A1 - Kumar Yadav, K. A1 - Yun, X. A1 - Zhang, P. T1 - 8-MW wind turbine tower computational shell buckling benchmark - Part 1: An international ‘round-robin’ exercise N2 - An assessment of the elastic-plastic buckling limit state for multi-strake wind turbine support towers poses a particular challenge for the modern finite element analyst, who must competently navigate numerous modelling choices related to the tug-of-war between meshing and computational cost, the use of solvers that are robust to highly nonlinear behaviour, the potential for multiple near-simultaneously critical failure locations, the complex issue of imperfection sensitivity and finally the interpretation of the data into a safe and economic design. This paper reports on an international ‘round-robin’ exercise conducted in 2022 aiming to take stock of the computational shell buckling expertise around the world which attracted 29 submissions. Participants were asked to perform analyses of increasing complexity on a standardised benchmark of an 8-MW multi-strake steel wind turbine support tower segment, from a linear elastic stress analysis to a linear bifurcation analysis to a geometrically and materially nonlinear buckling analysis with imperfections. The results are a showcase of the significant shell buckling expertise now available in both industry and academia. This paper is the first of a pair. The second paper presents a detailed reference solution to the benchmark, including an illustration of the Eurocode-compliant calibration of two important imperfection forms. KW - Wind turbine tower KW - Computational KW - Shell buckling KW - Benchmark PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2023.107124 SN - 1350-6307 VL - 148 SP - 1 EP - 23 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-57019 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schlichting, S. A1 - Hönig, Gerald A1 - Müßener, J. A1 - Hille, P. A1 - Grieb, T. A1 - Westerkamp, S. A1 - Teubert, J. A1 - Schörmann, J. A1 - Wagner, M.R. A1 - Rosenauer, A. A1 - Eickhoff, M. A1 - Hoffmann, A. A1 - Callsen, G. T1 - Suppression of the quantum-confined Stark effect in polar nitride heterostructures N2 - Recently, we suggested an unconventional approach (the so-called Internal-Field-Guarded-Active-Region Design “IFGARD”) for the elimination of the quantum-confined Stark effect in polar semiconductor heterostructures. The IFGARD-based suppression of the Stark redshift on the order of electronvolt and spatial charge carrier separation is independent of the specific polar semiconductor material or the related growth procedures. In this work, we demonstrate by means of micro-photoluminescence techniques the successful tuning as well as the elimination of the quantum-confined Stark effect in strongly polar [000-1] wurtzite GaN/AlN nanodiscs as evidenced by a reduction of the exciton lifetimes by up to four orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the tapered geometry of the utilized nanowires (which embed the investigated IFGARD nanodiscs) facilitates the experimental differentiation between quantum confinement and Stark emission energy shifts. Due to the IFGARD, both effects become independently adaptable. KW - Nanophotonics KW - Photonic devices KW - Single photon and quantum effects PY - 2018 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-457884 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-018-0044-1 SN - 2399-3650 VL - 1 SP - 1 EP - 8 PB - Springer Nature CY - London AN - OPUS4-45788 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klöckner, P. A1 - Reemtsma, T. A1 - Eisentraut, Paul A1 - Braun, Ulrike A1 - Ruhl, A. S. A1 - Wagner, S. T1 - Tire and road wear particles in road environment e Quantification and assessment of particle dynamics by Zn determination after density separation N2 - In this study, a method for the determination of tire and road wear particle (TRWP) contents in particulate samples from road Environment was developed. Zn was identified as the most suitable elemental marker for TRWP, due to its high concentration in tire tread and the possibility of separation from other Zn sources. The mean concentration of 21 tire samples was 8.7 ± 2.0 mg Zn/g. Before quantification in samples from road environment, TRWP were separated from the particulate matrix by density separation. Method development was conducted using shredded tread particles (TP) as a surrogate for TRWP. Recovery of TP from spiked sediment was 95 ± 17% in a concentration range of 2 - 200 mg TP/g. TP determination was not affected by other Zn containing solids or spiked Zn-salts. By adjusting the density of the separation solution to 1.9 g/cm3, more than 90% of total TRWP were separated from the sample matrix. TRWP concentrations in particulate matter collected in two road runoff treatment Systems ranged from 0.38 to 150 mg TRWP/g. Differences in quantified TRWP contents of the two Systems indicate changes in particle dynamics due to ageing and aggregation processes. The developed method allows TRWP determination in road runoff and in environments that are influenced by road traffic. The validated separation procedure can also be applied for TRWP characterization in future studies. KW - Zinc analysis KW - Microplastics KW - Tire particles PY - 2019 VL - 222 SP - 714 EP - 721 PB - Elsevier AN - OPUS4-47433 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wagner, Jan A1 - Häfner, P. A1 - Reimann, H.-A. A1 - Schartel, Bernhard T1 - Valorization of Natural Fibers in Flame Retarded Poly(lactic acid) N2 - Extensive research has explored natural fiber reinforced composites, typically focusing on a single fiber within a polymer matrix. Comprehensive comparisons across different natural fibers in the same polymer, which are critical for industrial material selection, remain limited. This work presents a systematic comparison of untreated hemp, flax, and sisal fibers incorporated at varying fiber lengths and loadings into flame retarded poly(lactic acid) (PLA). Fire behavior, thermal, and mechanical responses were investigated through thermogravimetry, UL 94, and cone calorimetry, alongside crystallinity, molecular weight (MW), and microstructural analysis. Fiber incorporation reduced the peak heat release rate (pHRR) by up to 30 % in 30 wt% hemp, attributed to protective layer formation, but increased flammability in UL 94. A phytic acid melamine salt combined with expandable graphite and 20 wt% hemp produced incomplete combustion at 50 kW/m², raising char residue from 4 to 24 wt% and halving pHRR. Petrella plots revealed that fiber addition alone lowered fire load and flashover propensity as effectively as phytic acid melamine; with hemp, phytic acid and expendable graphite, the flashover hazard and fire load were halved. MW was preserved while crystallinity and modulus increased with fiber content. Hemp delivered the most consistent reinforcement, while optimized processing enabled flax and sisal to improve stiffness. Performance gains were strongest when individual fibers were dispersed via optimized processing, preventing bundle fracture under load. Plasma modification of the fibers improved the maximum tensile strength in the composites. A practical guide is provided for valorizing natural fibers in PLA composites, demonstrating routes to bio-based, compostable materials with improved fire safety and mechanical performance suitable for industrial processing. KW - Poly(lactic acid) KW - Hemp KW - Sisal KW - Flax KW - Flame retardant KW - Phytic acid PY - 2026 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-653038 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2025.114575 SN - 2352-4928 VL - 50 SP - 1 EP - 41 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-65303 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -