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    Properties of vacuum arcs generated by switching RMF contacts at different ignition positions
    (Basel : MDPI, 2020) Gortschakow, Sergey; Franke, Steffen; Methling, Ralf; Gonzalez, Diego; Lawall, Andreas; Taylor, Erik D.; Graskowski, Frank
    The influence of initiation behavior of the drawn arc on the arc motion, on arc characteristics during the active phase, as well as on the post-arc parameters, was studied. The study was focused on arc dynamics, determination of the anode surface temperature after current interruption, and diagnostics of metal vapor density after current zero crossing. Different optical diagnostics, namely high-speed camera video enhanced by narrow-band optical filters, near infrared spectroscopy, and optical absorption spectroscopy was applied. The initiation behavior of the drawn arc had a clear influence on arc parameters. Higher local electrode temperature occurs in case of the electrodes with ignition point near the outer electrode boundary. This further causes an enhanced density of chromium vapor, even in cases with lower arc duration. The results of this study are important for design development of switching RMF contacts for future green energy applications. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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    Out of the dark: Establishing a large-scale field experiment to assess the effects of artificial light at night on species and food webs
    (Basel : MDPI, 2015) Holzhauer, Stephanie I.J.; Franke, Steffen; Kyba, Christopher C.M.; Manfrin, Alessandro; Klenke, Reinhard; Voigt, Christian C.; Lewanzik, Daniel; Oehlert, Martin; Monaghan, Michael T.; Schneider, Sebastian; Heller, Stefan; Kuechly, Helga; Brüning, Anika; Honnen, Ann-Christin; Hölker, Franz
    Artificial light at night (ALAN) is one of the most obvious hallmarks of human presence in an ecosystem. The rapidly increasing use of artificial light has fundamentally transformed nightscapes throughout most of the globe, although little is known about how ALAN impacts the biodiversity and food webs of illuminated ecosystems. We developed a large-scale experimental infrastructure to study the effects of ALAN on a light-naïve, natural riparian (i.e., terrestrial-aquatic) ecosystem. Twelve street lights (20 m apart) arranged in three rows parallel to an agricultural drainage ditch were installed on each of two sites located in a grassland ecosystem in northern Germany. A range of biotic, abiotic, and photometric data are collected regularly to study the short- and long-term effects of ALAN on behavior, species interactions, physiology, and species composition of communities. Here we describe the infrastructure setup and data collection methods, and characterize the study area including photometric measurements. None of the measured parameters differed significantly between sites in the period before illumination. Results of one short-term experiment, carried out with one site illuminated and the other acting as a control, demonstrate the attraction of ALAN by the immense and immediate increase of insect catches at the lit street lights. The experimental setup provides a unique platform for carrying out interdisciplinary research on sustainable lighting.