The objective of this clinical control trial was to examine the effectiveness of the classical homeopathic treatment strategy in cases of mild and moderate bovine clinical mastitis in comparison with antibiotic and placebo treatments. Owing to characteristics of the selected herds, only cases of clinical mastitis caused by environmental pathogens and clinical cases with negative bacteriological result in the pre-treatment milk sample were included in the trial. A total of 136 lactating dairy cows with 147 affected quarters from four herds in Germany were randomly allocated to three treatment groups. The cows were examined on days 0, 1, 2 and on days 7, 14, 28 and 56 post initial infection to assess clinical signs. Simultaneously, with the exception of days 1 and 2, quarter milk samples for laboratory examinations (bacteriology, somatic cell count) were collected to assess bacteriological and cytological cure rates. On days 28 and 56, treatment strategies did not differ significantly with respect to the clinical outcomes and the total cure rate in cases of bacteriological negative mastitis (n=56). In cases of pathogen-positive mastitis (n=91), the cure rate after 4 and 8 weeks was similar between the two treatment strategies, homeopathy and antibiotic treatment, but the difference between the homeopathic and the placebo treatment at day 56 was significant (P<0·05). The results indicate a therapeutic effect of homeopathic treatment in cases of mild and moderate clinical mastitis. However, independent of treatment strategy and bacteriological status, the total cure rate was on a low level, revealing limitations in the effectiveness of both antibiotic and homeopathic treatment strategies.

Gopnik's argument that instead of having privileged access we must develop a theory about our minds is criticized. First, the theory metaphor is too vague, and scientific concepts of what a theory is are left unexploited. Second, the studies Gopnik interprets as showing that children must develop a theory about their mental states are also compatible with the view that children have to develop these states.

The carrier-phonon interaction in self-organized In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots is investigated under resonant excitation of the ground-state transition. Different phonon-coupled processes are observed. The distinction between Raman scattering and hot-luminescence process has been resolved by time-dependent photoluminescence measurements. The quantum dot LO (33.8 meV) as well as an interface (36.5 meV) phonon mode is observed by resonant Raman scattering. For the QD LO phonon mode, a very short radiative lifetime of 10 ps was found.

In the context of ferromagnetic spin-coupling in dilute magnetic semiconductors, we present optical investigations on Mg co-doped GaMnN and Fe doped GaN. A complex luminescence feature occurring in Mg co-doped GaMnN around 1 eV was previously attributed to the internal 4T2(F)—4T1(F) transition of Mn4+ involved in different complexes. Selective excitation studies indicate the presence of at least three different complexes. Photoluminescence excitation spectra suggest that the internal Mn3+ transition may represent an excitation mechanism. Magneto photoluminescence spectra indicate equal g values for the ground and excited state. Low temperature infrared absorption spectra of Fe doped GaN allow to unambiguously establish the electronic structure of the Fe2+ center in GaN. Our results suggest that the Fe2+(5T2) state is stabilized against Jahn-Teller coupling by the reduced site-symmetry of the hexagonal lattice.

Moral behavior and legal institutions coevolve. While evolutionary game theory has often analyzed the evolution of moral behavior within given institutional rules, it has not examined the coevolution of moral preferences and different institutional aspects of the decision environment. By an ‘indirect’ evolutionary approach, we analyze the coevolution of moral preferences (in the sense of trustworthiness) and legal institutions like court rulings and legal insurance. We find that preference detection capabilities crowd in morality and can thus render useless the role of courts and legal insurance as public institutions. Legal institutions become crucial for the emergence of morality, however, when information about preference types is not available. This holds true even when courts do not have superior detection capabilities than other agents.

For laboratory scale devices the transfer of the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) thin film technology from a rigid float glass substrate to flexible titanium foil is achieved. Here we will highlight the effect of the rough, flexible substrate on the electrical and optical characteristics of the transparent window layers of such devices. The roughness of the substrate may give rise to changes in sheet resistance of the transparent front contact and in the reflectivity of the completed device. However, the devices deposited onto the kind of titanium foil substrate used in this work are smooth enough not to affect the sheet resistance; nevertheless optical effects are enough to affect the process window for an antireflective coating. With the use of an antireflective coating, a maximum efficiency of 17.4% could be reached for 0.5 cm2 area devices on glass.

The CuInS2 thin film formation from a Cu/In precursor stack in the presence of elemental sulfur using a rapid thermal process under Cu-poor conditions has been studied. The process has been aborted at appropriate stages and the corresponding samples were investigated by XRD, Raman spectroscopy and SEM. The sulfurisation starts from elemental Cu and CuIn2. Elemental In and the binary phases Cu11In9 and Cu7In3 appear as intermediate phases. At the end of the sulfurisation the sample contains the ternary phases CuInS2 and CuIn5S8. CuS and β-In2S3 are detected by Raman spectroscopy at the sample surface and at distinct stages of the sulfurisation only. A difference in CuInS2 crystal quality is observed between the surface and the bottom of the samples.

According to our model for the current transport in CuInS2/CdS/ZnO solar cells presented previously, the dominant recombination under illumination occurs at the CuInS2/CdS interface. In this contribution we expand this model for cells where the absorber has been prepared in different sequential processes by using results from jV curve measurements performed at varied temperature and illumination. We find that in contrast to CuInSe2 and CuGaSe2 solar cells from the Ångström Solar Center the CuInS2 cells exhibit a qualitative change in the dominant recombination mechanism between the dark and under illumination. The dominant recombination mechanism under illumination appears to be affected by absorber preparation parameters.