Magnetisch abgeschirmte Kabine zur Aufnahme kleinster magnetischer und elektrischer Biosignale

An extraordinary magnetically shielded room was designed and constructed for the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Institut Berlin to measure extremely weak magnetic fields of the human body with SQUID-magnetometers. The inner and the outer dimensions of the cube-shaped room are 2.25 m and about 5 m. The shield has 6 magnetic shells of a high-permeability alloy and an inner shell welded of massive copper plates. The total weight of the magnetic alloy is about 10 t and about 5 t for the inner copper shell. The required shielding factor of 1000 for the very low frequencies was greatly surpassed by the real measured value of 10000 (measured without any compensating or idealizing method). With rising frequencies the shielding factor reaches higher values, at 50 Hz more than 100000 and a million for 1000 Hz. First measurements in the shielded room with high-resolution magnetocardiograms (HR MCG) and high-resolution electrocardiograms (HR ECG) showed new methods for non-invasive electrophysiological investigations in man.     

Nest platforms increase aggressive behavior in common loons

Artificial manipulations of habitat, such as those that incorporate adding nesting boxes or platforms for birds, often enhance the breeding success of threatened animals. However, such alterations are likely to have unintended behavioral and ecological effects that might negatively impact the target species or others in its community. We conducted a controlled study to investigate the effect of artificial nesting platforms on aggressive behavior and reproductive success of male common loons (Gavia immer). Males residing on territories to which platforms were added produced longer territorial "yodels" (reflecting willingness to escalate a contest), experienced increased levels of confrontation and aggression with territorial intruders, and experienced increased rates of territorial displacement by intruders. Surprisingly, males of treatment territories also experienced lower productivity. Therefore, in addition to providing novel empirical support of sequential assessment models of animal contests that predict contest escalation with increasing resource quality, this study is one of a few to show that tools used to mitigate habitat loss can negatively impact reproductive fitness in a threatened species.     

The Relationship Between Shift Work Schedules and Spillover in a Sample of Nurses

The aim of the present study was to estimate spillover effects between the work and the family sphere in a sample of nurses (N = 2058). Hierarchical regression analyses investigated whether shift work schedules were associated with negative or positive spillover, both from family to work and vice versa, controlling for demographic factors, job demands and decision latitude. With daytime work as a reference group, all types of shift work (day and evening shift, night shift only and rotating 3 shift) were associated with higher negative work-to-family spillover. Night work was associated with significantly less negative family-to-work spillover. None of the different shift work schedules were related to any type of positive spillover. The results indicate that working outside of daytime hours is less compatible with workers’ family lives, compared to working ordinary day shifts. On the other hand, working night shifts only was associated with reduced negative family-to-work spillover.