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This article reports on a workshop held to explore the potential uses of operational earthquake forecasting (OEF). We discuss the current status of OEF in the United States and elsewhere, the types of products that could be generated, the various potential users and uses of OEF, and the need for carefully crafted communication protocols. Although operationalization challenges remain, there was clear consensus among the stakeholders at the workshop that OEF could be useful. © 2016, Seismological Society of America. All rights reserved.

Einleitung: Dreidimensionale Darstellungen nehmen einen immer größeren Stellenwert in der medizinischen Bildgebung ein. Um den Vorteil verschiedener 3D-Darstellungen im Vergleich zu 2D Bildern verifizieren zu können, wurden Medizinstudenten im 4.oder 5. Jahr in Gruppen randomisiert, die[for full text, please go to the a.m. URL], 131. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Chirurgie

28th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 3275-3279, Cracks in crystalline solar cells in photovoltaic modules can be caused by applied mechanical loads. They can lead to efficiency losses and lifetime reduction of the modules. In order to investigate the development of cracks in encapsulated solar cells, a novel experimental setup was developed that applies loads under well-known boundary conditions on special test specimens. Those specimens have the same layout of the laminate like corresponding PV modules. The cells are analyzed by using electroluminescence imaging. Cell cracks are statistically evaluated and the fracture stresses can be compared directly for different crack orientations or different cell types. It has been found that the experimental approach can detect very small changes in fracture stresses, which can be caused by varying processing parameters or by subsequent weathering. So the fracture stress of encapsulated solar cells can be used as an indicator to investigate changes in the mechanical properties of a PV laminate and its components, which can be caused by different manufacturing conditions or subsequent weathering. For example an encapsulant with an increased stiffness leads to a higher probability of failure for the cells in the laminate at a specific load. The results after weathering showed that thermal cycling and damp heat exposure according to IEC 61215 have an influence on the fracture stresses for subsequent mechanical loading. Contrary after 4 months of outdoor exposure under moderate climate conditions in central Germany no significant effect could be measured. This gives some insight into the occurring effects during weathering, but has to be investigated in future tests with adapted thermal cycling and outdoor exposure in regions with more extreme temperatures, but it is a hint that the defined accelerated weathering procedures should be reviewed briefly with correlations to real outdoor behavior.

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