Ein fester Händedruck hat bei Frauen und Männern eine völlig unterschiedliche Bedeutung. Während er beim weiblichen Geschlecht eine liberale, offene Persönlichkeit ausdrückt, zeige er bei Männern einen eher introvertierten, scheuen Charakter. Das berichtet die "Ärzte-Zeitung" unter Berufung auf eine Studie US-amerikanischer Wissenschaftler an der Universität von Alabama. Für die Untersuchung mussten 112 Studenten vier speziell trainierten Assistenten die Hände schütteln. Anschließend füllten sie Fragebögen zu ihrer Persönlichkeitsstruktur aus. Der Vergleich zwischen Hände schütteln und Testbögen zeigte nach Angaben der Wissenschaftler, dass ein fester Händedruck nur bei Frauen ein Zeichen für Extrovertiertheit und Zuverlässigkeit sei. Extrovertierte, weniger scheue Männer dagegen hätten keinen kräftigen, sondern einen eher laschen Händedruck. (Rheinische Post)

Decline in Number of University Graduates in Germany

Fewer and fewer students complete their university studies by successfully passing their finals. A study by Essen University discovered a disturbing decline. Today 27.5% of an age-group may complete high school, which is twice as many as thirty years ago, but the percentage of 11.5% finishing at university has remained constant. Educationalists Klaus Klemm and Michael Weegen see mounting lack of interest in studying and a drastic increase in the number of students who break off their courses as the main reasons for this situation. Today around 20% of high school leavers do not want to go on to higher education, compared with only 10% previously. By now almost 40% of those who do go to university break off in mid-course. The researchers thus predict a considerable lack of graduates in the years ahead. The Green Card debate (on remedying a lack of computer specialists) is thus an initial sign of what is to come. 40% of students taking teacher-training, mechanical engineering, and law end their course prematurely without any final qualification. In electro-technology and physics the figure is 50%; in economics and cybernetics 60%; and in mathematics even 70%. The educationalists advocate greater back-up facilities for students. They say that current numbers of graduates will not be sufficient to replace retirement among the university-trained during the years ahead. (Kulturchronik 5/2000)

Lamps for extreme ultraviolet

The term "lithography" dates back to the end of the 18th century, when Alois Sennefelder invented the technique of printing with stone plates. Nowadays, lithographic methods are used to "print" micro-electronic circuits on semiconductors using light, but the aim is the same as it was 200 years ago : to transfer even finer structures, faster and cheaper. But the wavelength of the lamps used severely limits how far this development can go - the structures cannot be much finer as the light used to "draw" them. Present-day industrial manufacturing processes for integrated circuits use lasers that emit beams in the near-ultraviolet range (wavelength 248 nanometers). But developments are in progress to introduce lamps operating at shorter wavelengths. Future high power lamps will emit in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV, 10-15 nanometers) near soft x-ray range. For the next generation of chips they are expected to be in use by the year 2006. This is how it works: A gas is heated in a discharge tube by means of a very high electrical current of about 10,000 amperes. Depending on the application , the gas may be xenon, oxygen or even air. The gas becomes plasma, which is far denser than that inside conventional strip lighting, and ten times hotter, namely 250,000 ºC. The tube has patented discharge geometry which results in the creation of a zone measuring half a millimeter in diameter and a few millimeters in length, out of which the plasma emits extreme ultra-violet radiation, at a rate of up to one hundred pulses per second. The device in which the actual lamp is integrated presents a number of advan-tages compared to other radiation sources. It can be quickly assembled at the site where it is to be used, it is simple to operate, has a long and stable lifespan and is relatively inexpensive to buy and operate. (Fraunhofer Press)

EXHIBITION: ANGELS IN THE SILENT CITY

The last exhibition in Malta of Milena Kunz-Bijno, wife of the German Ambassador, will be at the Cathedral Museum in Mdina between the 8th and the 28th February. The Exhibition will be opened by H.E.Prof Guido De Marco, President of Malta on Thursday, 8th February at 6.30p.m. Members of the Circle are welcome to attend.
 

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