Migration und Utopie im deutschen Gegenwartskino am Beispiel von Achim von Borries’ "England!" und Hans-Christian Schmids "Lichter"

Achim von Borries’ England! and Hans-Christian Schmid’s Distant Lights [Lichter] are two key examples of how the current issue of (economic) migration from eastern to western Europe is explored in contemporary German cinema. Set in two locations that act as places of transit for migrants from the east - the capital Berlin and the economically depressed border region along the river Oder - the films show their characters’ utopian strive for a better future. Even though they deal with it in very different ways, both films emphasise the heightened role of the imagination in a globalised world and highlight its problematic consequences.

Designing intrinsically photostable low band gap polymers:a smart tool combining EPR spectroscopy and DFT calculations

A rapid and efficient method to identify the weak points of the complex chemical structure of low band gap (LBG) polymers, designed for efficient solar cells, when submitted to light exposure is reported. This tool combines Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) using the 'spin trapping method' coupled with density functional theory modelling (DFT). First, the nature of the short life-time radicals formed during the early-stages of photo-degradation processes are determined by a spin-trapping technique. Two kinds of short life-time radical (R and R′O) are formed after 'short-duration' illumination in an inert atmosphere and in ambient air, respectively. Second, simulation allows the identification of the chemical structures of these radicals revealing the most probable photochemical process, namely homolytical scission between the Si atom of the conjugated skeleton and its pendent side-chains. Finally, DFT calculations confirm the homolytical cleavage observed by EPR, as well as the presence of a group that is highly susceptible to photooxidative attack. Therefore, the synergetic coupling of a spin trapping method with DFT calculations is shown to be a rapid and efficient method for providing unprecedented information on photochemical mechanisms. This approach will allow the design of LBG polymers without the need to trial the material within actual solar cell devices, an often long and costly screening procedure.