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Glossary

Englischsprachiges Glossar

Environmental research plan (UFOPLAN) Show / Hide

The need for research resulting from the departmental tasks of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety is annually determined in an environmental research plan (Umweltforschungsplan, UFOPLAN).

Uniform Resource Name (URN)Show / Hide

In order to give the BfS's electronic publications a unique identifier and ensure that they can be cited on a lasting basis, each document published in the Digital Online Repository and Information System (DORIS, http://doris.bfs.de) is allocated what is known as a Uniform Resource Name (URN). URNs are similar to the ISBNs of books, for example, and are used to permanently and uniquely identify digital publications.

Example URN: urn:nbn:de:0221-201101134413

The practical benefits of a URN go beyond those of an ISBN, however, as URNs can be entered in a web browser and point directly to the electronic resource. To this end, the URN is given a prefix that refers to the “resolve server” of the German National Library: http://nbn-resolving.de/

In order to use the above URN like a typical web address (URL), the address must therefore be entered in the browser as follows: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0221-201101134413

The resulting link always leads to the associated electronic publication, regardless of where it is stored at that time. A document's real storage location can therefore change as often as necessary, and the document can always be relocated easily via the URN. This is especially important when citing electronic resources in academic papers: whereas URLs change due to the restructuring of websites, for example, and links to citations can therefore end up leading nowhere, URNs always lead unambiguously to the intended document. It is therefore also advisable to use URNs to link to documents on websites, as these URN-based links never become inactive and do not need to be updated.

UniversalMobile Telecommunication System (UMTS)Show / Hide

Mobile telecommunication system of the so-called "third generation" which, in addition to language transmissions, admits image and video transmission due to high transmission rates. From 2003 on, UMTS is supposed to use frequencies between 1920 and 1980 MHz and between 2110 and 2170 MHz.

Uranium Show / Hide

Natural radioactive element. The isotopes occurring in nature are uranium-238 (99.3%), uranium-235 (0.7%), which can be fissioned with thermal neutrons, and uranium-234, which occurs only in very small traces.

Uranium enrichment Show / Hide

Physical procedure with which the percentage of the fissile isotope Uranium-235 (U-235) can be increased beyond the content of 0.72 % of natural uranium. In the Federal Republic of Germany a uranium enrichment plant is operated for this purpose by URENCO Deutschland GmbH in Gronau where uranium - in the form of the volatile chemical compound uranium hexafluoride (UF6) - is enriched with the help of a gas centrifugal system on a large technical scale.

Uranium ore mining Show / Hide

Right after the end of World War II the Wismut company started to win uranium in Saxony and Thuringia. Uranium mining which had in particular in the initial years been carried out regardless of man and the environment has led to massive damage caused to the environment.

UV indexShow / Hide

The UV index describes the daily peak value of the sunburn effective UV radiation expected at the ground. The population has thus the possibility to ask for information relating to the danger of solar UV radiation at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection.

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