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The Feldbach district is situated near the town of Feldbach in the southeastern province of Styria, Austria. Since 2007, a climate observation network of 151 climate stations within an area of approximately 20 x 15 km (grid cell 1.4 × 1.4 km) has provided a unique collection of spatial and temporal meteorological data. Examining short-lived ruderal and arable weed communities, we search for correlations and spatial patterns between the community composition and climate data. Do such plant communities respond to temperature differences within an agricultural landscape and on a regional scale? Data of 277 relevés from short-lived weed communities were collected across the investigated area during the summer of 2011. Relevés were assigned to the corresponding climate stations and classified. Average Ellenberg indicator values for temperature were calculated for each relevé and community cluster. Measured temperature data were assigned and correlated with community data by applying linear regression and redundancy analyses (RDA). The classification resulted in six associations; the two most frequently observed associations were divided into subtypes resulting in 13 vegetation clusters that could be analyzed further. A significant relationship could be found only between the clusters of arable weed communities and the average winter temperatures. Site variables explain twice as much variance as measured climate variables; this ratio changes to 50 : 50 when we analyzed only arable field community data. No clear spatial patterns concerning mean annual temperature were visible. However, the Setaria faberi subtype of the Echinochloo-Setarietum and the Sorghum halepense subtype of the Convolvulo-Agropyretum show a tendency toward a temperature-induced spatial pattern, such that both were sensitive to winter temperature. On a regional scale, the occurrence and composition of short-lived ruderal plant communities correlated weakly with climate variables. However, the studied arable weed communities showed a certain tendency to follow small-scale temperature differences, especially those of average winter temperature. We conclude that short-lived weed communities have the potential to be indicators for global warming, but the spatial temperature gradients are not clear enough in our approach to allow the production of better regression models and elucidation of distinct spatial patterns.
Reduction and deletion processes occur regularly in conversational speech. A segment that is affected by such reduction and deletion processes in many Germanic languages (e.g., Dutch, English, German) is /t/. There are similarities concerning the factors that influence the likelihood of final /t/ to get deleted, such as segmental context. However, speakers of different languages differ with respect to the acoustic cues they leave in the speech signal when they delete final /t/. German speakers usually lengthen a preceding /s/ when they delete final /t/. This article investigates to what extent German listeners are able to reconstruct /t/ when they are presented with fragments of words where final /t/ has been deleted. It aims also at investigating whether the strategies that are used by German depend on the length of /s/, and therefore whether listeners are using language-specific cues. Results of a forced-choice segment detection task suggest that listeners are able to reconstruct deleted final /t/ in about 45% of the times. The length of /s/ plays some role in the reconstruction, however, it does not explain the behavior of German listeners completely.
We show how repulsive interactions of deconfined quarks as well as confined hadrons have an influence on the baryon number susceptibilities and the curvature of the chiral pseudo-critical line in effective models of QCD. We discuss implications and constraints for the vector interaction strength from comparisons to lattice QCD and comment on earlier constraints, extracted from the curvature of the transition line of QCD and compact star observables. Our results clearly point to a strong vector repulsion in the hadronic phase and near-zero repulsion in the deconfined phase.
Most simulated micro-founded macro models use solely consumer-demand aggregates in order to estimate deep economy-wide preference parameters, which are useful for policy evaluation. The underlying demand-aggregation properties that this approach requires, should be easy to empirically disprove: since household-consumption choices differ for households with more members, aggregation can be rejected if appropriate data violate an affine equation regarding how much individuals benefit from within-household sharing of goods. We develop a survey method that tests the validity of this equation, without utility-estimation restrictions via models. Surprisingly, in six countries, this equation is not rejected, lending support to using consumer-demand aggregates.
DNA methylation reader MECP2 : cell type- and differentiation stage-specific protein distribution
(2014)
Background: Methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MECP2) is a protein that specifically binds methylated DNA, thus regulating transcription and chromatin organization. Mutations in the gene have been identified as the principal cause of Rett syndrome, a severe neurological disorder. Although the role of MECP2 has been extensively studied in nervous tissues, still very little is known about its function and cell type specific distribution in other tissues.
Results: Using immunostaining on tissue cryosections, we characterized the distribution of MECP2 in 60 cell types of 16 mouse neuronal and non-neuronal tissues. We show that MECP2 is expressed at a very high level in all retinal neurons except rod photoreceptors. The onset of its expression during retina development coincides with massive synapse formation. In contrast to astroglia, retinal microglial cells lack MECP2, similar to microglia in the brain, cerebellum, and spinal cord. MECP2 is also present in almost all non-neural cell types, with the exception of intestinal epithelial cells, erythropoietic cells, and hair matrix keratinocytes. Our study demonstrates the role of MECP2 as a marker of the differentiated state in all studied cells other than oocytes and spermatogenic cells. MECP2-deficient male (Mecp2−/y) mice show no apparent defects in the morphology and development of the retina. The nuclear architecture of retinal neurons is also unaffected as the degree of chromocenter fusion and the distribution of major histone modifications do not differ between Mecp2−/y and Mecp2wt mice. Surprisingly, the absence of MECP2 is not compensated by other methyl-CpG binding proteins. On the contrary, their mRNA levels were downregulated in Mecp2−/y mice.
Conclusions: MECP2 is almost universally expressed in all studied cell types with few exceptions, including microglia. MECP2 deficiency does not change the nuclear architecture and epigenetic landscape of retinal cells despite the missing compensatory expression of other methyl-CpG binding proteins. Furthermore, retinal development and morphology are also preserved in Mecp2-null mice. Our study reveals the significance of MECP2 function in cell differentiation and sets the basis for future investigations in this direction.
Haloferax volcanii uses extracellular DNA as a source for carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous. However, it can also grow to a limited extend in the absence of added phosphorous, indicating that it contains an intracellular phosphate storage molecule. As Hfx. volcanii is polyploid, it was investigated whether DNA might be used as storage polymer, in addition to its role as genetic material. It could be verified that during phosphate starvation cells multiply by distributing as well as by degrading their chromosomes. In contrast, the number of ribosomes stayed constant, revealing that ribosomes are distributed to descendant cells, but not degraded. These results suggest that the phosphate of phosphate-containing biomolecules (other than DNA and RNA) originates from that stored in DNA, not in rRNA. Adding phosphate to chromosome depleted cells rapidly restores polyploidy. Quantification of desiccation survival of cells with different ploidy levels showed that under phosphate starvation Hfx. volcanii diminishes genetic advantages of polyploidy in favor of cell multiplication. The consequences of the usage of genomic DNA as phosphate storage polymer are discussed as well as the hypothesis that DNA might have initially evolved in evolution as a storage polymer, and the various genetic benefits evolved later.
Divining the Future of Africa : Healing the Wounds, Restoring Dignity and Fostering Development
(2014)
This book explores the relationship between Africa, the West and China. It notes that while Africa is a continent of diverse cultures, raw materials, human resource, indigenous knowledges, and above all the biggest recipient of foreign aid globally, it continues to lag behind all regions of the world in terms of socio-economic development. The book grapples with the important question on why this has been the case. It provides crucial critical insights on how Africa's situation could be reversed and the tapestry of its socio-economic problems eased. The book draws a link between culture, globalisation and socio-economic development, breaking new grounds in the discourse on development in post-colonial Africa. This is an incisive clarion call to bypass the outlandish claims and sterile discussions on the parodying of Africa by Euro-centric scholars. It is a contribution on the imperative to re-think the future of development in Africa. It makes a compelling argument by self-reliant development processes in which Africans reclaim their voice, independence and autonomy unapologetically. The book provides some grist for the mills of policy makers, institutional planners, practitioners and students of anthropology, political studies, sociology, economic history, local governance, cultural economics, and gender, development, African, heritage and international studies.
Panama is a megadiverse country that together with Costa Rica constitutes Lower Central America (LCA). Western Panama's Cordillera Central accounts for the eastern part of the LCA highlands shared between these countries. The aim of the present study is to compile the most complete and updated picture possible of the taxonomy, diversity, and distribution of reptiles that occur from 500 m asl upwards along the Talamanca and Tabasará ranges. These two continuous mountain ridges account for the western two-thirds of the Cordillera Central between the Costa Rican border and 81°W Including specimens collected four own research travels, I morphologically examined more than 1800 specimens, analyzed 16S and/or COI barcodes of 300 specimens, and performed a thorough search in literature and databases to obtain locality records for specimens and species occurrences. My complete occurrence dataset comprises 14620 georeferenced occurrence records in three quality categories. Conceivable occurrences of species not yet documented from a given area are evaluated on the basis of existing data either as "plausible" or "possible". I provide all datasets which I generated for this study in Appendices. The previously published descriptions of Dactyloa ginaelisae Lotzkat, Hertz, Bienentreu & Köhler 2013, Norops benedikti (Lotzkat, Bienentreu, Hertz & Köhler 2011), Sibon perissostichon Köhler, Lotzkat & Hertz 2010, and Sibon noalamina Lotzkat, Hertz & Köhler 2012 are included in the present work. In the course of integrative taxonomic analyses, I classify 15 genealogical lineages revealed by DNA barcoding within 7 anole species as Deep Conspecific Lineages (DCLs) because they lack consistent morphological differences to their nominal conspecifics. I provisionally classify 18 mitochondrial lineages found within six other anole species as Unconfirmed Genealogical Lineages (UGLs) pending adequate analyses of their morphological variation. I regard the two additional UGLs Celestus sp. and Geophis sp. and the two Confirmed Genealogical Lineages (CGLs) Lepidoblepharis sp. 1 and 2 to represent undescribed species. My taxonomic analyses yield the hitherto most comprehensive survey of the variability exhibited by dozens of reptile species in western Panama. The 16S and/or COI barcodes I provide represent 65 species recognized herein and constitute the first DNA barcode reference library for LCA reptiles. The reptile fauna of Panama comprises 265 species, including the four UGLs and CGLs mentioned above and characterized for the first time in this study, as well as Dendrophidion crybelum Cadle 2012 whose presence in the country I consider plausible. My occurrence dataset reveals that 160 of these species have been documented to occur in my study area. Adding the 20 species whose occurrence therein I consider plausible, I report the total species richness of the Talamanca and Tabasará ranges as comprising 180 species representing 81 genera in 25 families. With 178.8 species per 10 000 km2, the relative species richness of the area is extremely high even in a tropical context. In view of their overall documented distribution, I regard the presence of 27 additional species in my study area as possible. For the 180 species occurring in my study area I provide standardized species accounts that, together with the taxonomic results, for the first time permit the doubtless identification of all 180 species, and illustrate 168 of these with color photographs. Concerning biogeography, my georeferenced dataset yields noteworthy distribution extensions for many species. Moreover, I present the hitherto most comprehensive, detailed, and reproducible assessments of the distribution patterns, historical origins, and conservation as well as of the occurrence among physiographic regions, climatic and altitudinal belts, political subdivisions, and protected areas, for my study area's reptile fauna. With 65 species, more than a third of the fauna is endemic to LCA. Among these, 42 Talamancan highland endemics are restricted to the LCA highlands, in the case of 16 small-scale highland endemics with documented ranges spanning less than 100 km. I assess many of these endemics as endangered. The fact that several of these species do not occur in any protected area renders the establishment of additional conservation areas necessary, especially in the central Serranía de Tabasará. Distributional range boundaries shared among different clades of highland anoles indicate physiographic and climatic barriers that may have effected in situ speciation within these lineages. As the largest study on Panamanian reptile diversity assembled to date, the present dissertation considerably increases our knowledge on the reptiles along the Cordillera Central and beyond, and thus constitutes a solid basis for future studies.
Although it is a generally acknowledged fact that Neo-Latin consists of a set of linguistic varieties, there is a short supply of research into its linguistic diversification, especially in non-literary texts. One of the characteristical text classes within Neo-Latin tradition are canonical visitations, a special type of ecclesiastical administrative texts, produced extensively after the Council of Trent in all parts of Europe that had Roman Catholic hierarchical structures. The present paper analyses the language of three canonical visitations written in 18th century Diocese of Senj and Modruš (Krbava) and tries to recognise linguistic peculiarities that could prove to be distinguishing properties for canonical visitations and similar texts.
Cryophytic steppes in the Minusinskaya intermountain basin containing plant species that are predominantly distributed in the alpine zone such as Androsace dasyphylla, Dryas oxyodonta, Festuca sphagnicola, Kobresia myosuroides, K. filifolia, Minuartia verna, Oxytropis bracteata, Sagina saginoides, Papaver nudicaule, Patrinia sibirica, Pedicularis lasiostachys, Pulsatilla ambigua, Saussurea schanginiana, which are considered remnants of the Pleistocene vegetation. Based on 89 relevés, we classified cryophytic steppes using the Braun-Blanquet method within two phytosociological classes: Central Asian steppes of the Cleistogenetea squarrosae and West Palearctic steppes of the Festuco-Brometea. Three associations (Androsaco dasyphyllae-Caricetum pediformis, Pulsatillo patentis-Caricetum pediformis and Bupleuro multinervi-Helictotrichetum desertori) with three subassociations and three variants were described with respect to their phytosociological affinities and ecology. DCA ordination showed floristic differences between syntaxa, while correlations of DCA axes and floristic and environmental variables detected substrate type and temperature regime as presumably main drivers for vegetation differentiation. Another driver for vegetation differentiation seems to be continentality of the climate. Small scale distribution of cryophytic steppes were mapped using satellite images with resolution of 1.8 m. Cryophytic steppes always occupy only small areas in landscapes, on convex parts of undulated microrelief of mountain slopes and summits characterised by drought in summer and deep soil freezing in winter. These special micro-ecological conditions play an essential role for the existence of alpine flora in the Minusinskaya intermountain basin.
The small libellulid genus Rhodothemis is restricted to Asia and Australia. Two of the four included species were described relatively recently by Lohmann (1984) but much previously documented material was never re-identified and the distribution of species in the Indospecies in the Indo-Australian Archipelago remained poorly known. All material available in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center (RMNH) from the eastern part of the Indo-Australian Archipelago was studied and is here brought on record. Key characters are illustrated and SEM images of the genital ligula are presented.
Observation and tracking of fluorescently labeled molecules and particles in living cells reveals detailed information about intracellular processes on the molecular level. Whereas light microscopic particle observation is usually limited to two-dimensional projections of short trajectory segments, we report here image-based real-time three-dimensional single particle tracking in an active feedback loop with single molecule sensitivity. We tracked particles carrying only 1-3 fluorophores deep inside living tissue with high spatio-temporal resolution. Using this approach, we succeeded to acquire trajectories containing several hundred localizations. We present statistical methods to find significant deviations from random Brownian motion in such trajectories. The analysis allowed us to directly observe transitions in the mobility of ribosomal (r)RNA and Balbiani ring (BR) messenger (m)RNA particles in living Chironomus tentans salivary gland cell nuclei. We found that BR mRNA particles displayed phases of reduced mobility, while rRNA particles showed distinct binding events in and near nucleoli.
Dinteria : Nr. 34, 2014
(2014)
Background: Nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) usually presents in middle aged men and shows an indolent clinical behavior. However, up to 30% of the patients present a secondary transformation into aggressive diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The aim of the present study was to characterize morphology and immunophenotype of this kind of DLBCL in detail and compare it with conventional DLBCL.
Methods: Morphology and immunophenotype of 33 cases of NLPHL with simultaneous or sequential transformation into DLBCL were investigated. These cases were compared with 41 de novo DLBCL in Finnish men.
Results: The majority of cases exhibited different immunophenotypes in the NLPHL and the DLBCL components. The immunophenotype of the DLBCL secondary to NLPHL was heterogeneous. However, BCL6, EMA, CD75 and J-chain were usually expressed in both components (≥73% positive). Overall, the NLPHL component was more frequently positive for EMA, CD75 and J-chain than the DLBCL component. In contrast, B cell markers, CD10 and BCL2, were more frequently expressed and were expressed at higher levels in the DLBCL component than in the NLPHL component. In the independent series of de novo DLBCL 4 cases could be identified with a growth pattern and immunophenotype that suggested that they had arisen secondarily from NLPHL.
Conclusions: The morphology and immunophenotype of DLBCL arisen from NLPHL is heterogeneous. Further characterization of the particular molecular features of this subgroup is warranted to be able to better identify these cases among conventional DLBCL.
We document and study international differences in both ownership and holdings of stocks, private businesses, homes, and mortgages among households aged fifty or more in thirteen countries, using new and comparable survey data. We employ counterfactual techniques to decompose observed differences across the Atlantic, within the US, and within Europe into those arising from differences in population characteristics and differences in economic environments. We then correlate the latter differences to country-level indicators. Ownership across the range of the assets considered tends to be more widespread among US households. We document that shortly prior to the current crisis, US households tended to invest larger amounts in stocks and smaller ones in homes, and to have larger mortgages in older age, even controlling for characteristics. This is consistent with the high prevalence of negative equity associated with the current crisis. More generally, we find that differences in household characteristics often play a small role, while differences in economic environments tend to explain most of the observed differences in ownership rates and in amounts held. The latter differences are much more pronounced among European countries than among US regions, suggesting further potential for harmonization of policies and institutions.
The measurement of dielectrons (electron-positron pairs) allows to investigate the properties of strongly interacting matter, in particular the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), which is created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. The evolution of the collision can be probed via dielectrons since electrons do not interact strongly and are created during all stages of the collision. One of the interests in dielectron measurements is motivated by possible modifications of the electromagnetic emission spectrum in the QGP, where pp collisions are used as a medium-free reference. The dielectron spectrum consists of contributions from various processes. In order to estimate contributions of known dielectron sources, simulations of the so-called dielectron cocktail are performed. In this thesis, dielectron cocktails in minimum bias pp collisions at p s = 7 TeV, p–Pb collisions at p sNN = 5.02 TeV and in central (0-10%) and semi-central (20-50%) Pb–Pb collisions at p sNN = 2.76 TeV at the LHC are presented.
We explore the sources of household balance sheet adjustment following the collapse of the housing market in 2006. First, we use microdata from the Federal Reserve Board’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey to document that banks cumulatively tightened consumer lending standards more in counties that experienced a house price boom in the mid-2000s than in non-boom counties. We then use the idea that renters, unlike homeowners, did not experience an adverse wealth shock when the housing market collapsed to examine the relative importance of two explanations for the observed deleveraging and the sluggish pickup in consumption after 2008. First, households may have optimally adjusted to lower wealth by reducing their demand for debt and implicitly, their demand for consumption. Alternatively, banks may have been more reluctant to lend in areas with pronounced real estate declines. Our evidence is consistent with the second explanation. Renters with low risk scores, compared to homeowners in the same markets, reduced their levels of nonmortgage debt and credit card debt more in counties where house prices fell more. The contrast suggests that the observed reductions in aggregate borrowing were more driven by cutbacks in the provision of credit than by a demand-based response to lower housing wealth.
Background: Although childhood sexual and/or physical abuse (CSA/CPA) is known to have severe psychopathological consequences, there is little evidence on psychotherapeutic interventions for adolescents and young adults suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Equally sparse are data on moderators of treatment response on PTSD-related epigenetic changes, health care costs and loss of productivity, alterations in cognitive processing, and on how successful interventions affect all of these factors. Early treatment may prevent later (co)morbidity. In this paper, we present a study protocol for the evaluation of a newly developed psychotherapeutic manual for PTSD after CSA/CPA in adolescents and young adults – the Developmentally Adapted Cognitive Processing Therapy (D-CPT).
Methods/design: In a multicenter randomized controlled trial (RCT) D-CPT is compared to treatment as usual (TAU). A sample of 90 adolescent outpatients aged 14 to 21 years will be randomized to one of these conditions. Four assessments will be carried out at baseline, at end of treatment, and 3 and 6 months after end of therapy. Each time, patients will be assessed via clinical interviews and a wide range of questionnaires. In addition to PTSD symptoms and comorbidities, we will evaluate moderators of treatment response, epigenetic profiles, direct and indirect costs of this disorder, and neurophysiological processing of threat cues in PTSD and their respective changes in the course of these two treatments (D-CPT and TAU).
Discussion: The study will provide new insights in the understudied field of PTSD in adolescents and young adults. A newly developed intervention will be evaluated in this therapeutically underserved population. Results will provide data on treatment efficacy, direct and indirect treatment costs, as well as on associations of treatment outcome and PTSD intensity both to epigenetic profiles and to the neurobiological processing of threat cues. Besides, they will help to learn more about the psychopathology and possible new objective correlates of PTSD.
Trial registration: Germanctr.de identifier: DRKS00004787.
The use of reporter gene fusions to assess cellular processes such as protein targeting and regulation of transcription or translation is established technology in archaeal, bacterial, and eukaryal genetics. Fluorescent proteins or enzymes resulting in chromogenic substrate turnover, like β -galactosidase, have been particularly useful for microscopic and screening purposes. However, application of such methodology is of limited use for strictly anaerobic organisms due to the requirement of molecular oxygen for chromophore formation or color development. We have developed β -lactamase from Escherichia coli (encoded by bla) in conjunction with the chromogenic substrate nitrocefin into a reporter system usable under anaerobic conditions for the methanogenic archaeon Methanosarcina acetivorans. By using a signal peptide of a putative flagellin from M. acetivorans and different catabolic promoters, we could demonstrate growth substrate-dependent secretion of β -lactamase, facilitating its use in colony screening on agar plates. Furthermore, a series of fusions comprised of a constitutive promoter and sequences encoding variants of the synthetic tetracycline-responsive riboswitch (tc-RS) was created to characterize its influence on translation initiation in M. acetivorans. One tc-RS variant resulted in more than 11-fold tetracycline-dependent regulation of bla expression, which is in the range of regulation by naturally occurring riboswitches. Thus, tc-RS fusions represent the first solely cis-active, that is, factor-independent system for controlled gene expression in Archaea.
The laser-driven acceleration of protons from thin foils irradiated by hollow high-intensity laser beams in the regime of target normal sheath acceleration is reported for the first time. The use of hollow beams aims at reducing the initial emission solid angle of the TNSA source, due to a flattening of the electron sheath at the target rear side. The experiments were conducted at the PHELIX laser facility at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH with laser intensities in the range from 10^18 to 10^20 W/cm^2. We observed an average reduction of the half opening angle by (3.07±0.42)° or (13.2±2)% when the targets have a thickness between 12 to 14 μm. In addition, the highest proton energies were achieved with the hollow laser beam in comparison to the typical Gaussian focal spot.
The PANDA experiment at FAIR will perform world class physics studies using high-intensity cooled antiproton beams with momenta between 1.5 and 15 GeV/c. A rich physics program requires very good particle identification (PID). Charged hadron PID for the barrel section of the target spectrometer has to cover the angular range of 22-140° and separate pions from kaons for momenta up to 3.5 GeV/c with a separation power of at least 3 standard deviations. The system that will provide it has to be thin and operate in a strong magnetic field. A ring imaging Cherenkov detector using the DIRC principle meets those requirements. The design of the PANDA Barrel DIRC is based on the successful BABAR DIRC counter with several important changes to improve the performance and optimize the costs. The design options are being studied in detailed Monte Carlo simulation, and implemented in increasingly complex system prototypes and tested in particle beams. Before building the full system prototypes the radiator bars and lenses are measured on the test benches. The performance of the DIRC prototype was quantified in terms of the single photon Cherenkov angle resolution and the photon yield. Results for two full system prototypes will be presented. The prototype in 2011 aimed at investigating the full size expansion volume. It was found that the resolution for this configuration is at the level of in good agreement with ray tracing simulation results. A more complex prototype, tested in 2012, provided the first experience with a compact fused silica prism expansion volume, a wide radiator plate, and several advanced lens options for the focusing system. The performance of the baseline configuration of the prototype with a standard lens and an air gap met the requirements for the PANDA PID for most of the polar angle range but failed at polar angles around 90° due to photon loss at the air gap. Measurements with a prototype high-refractive index compound lens without an air gap at a polar angle of 128° beam angle showed a good resolution of σΘC = 11.8 ± 0.7 mrad and a high photon yield of Nph = 26.1 ± 0.4. Even at polar angles close to 90° the photon yield with this lens exceeded 15 detected photons per particle, meeting the PANDA Barrel DIRC PID requirements for the entire phase space and demonstrating that the compact focusing DIRC is a very promising option for PANDA.
Background: It is well accepted that medical faculty teaching staff require an understanding of educational theory and pedagogical methods for effective medical teaching. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a 5-day teaching education program.
Methods: An open prospective interventional study using quantitative and qualitative instruments was performed, covering all four levels of the Kirkpatrick model: Evaluation of 1) "Reaction" on a professional and emotional level using standardized questionnaires; 2) "Learning" applying a multiple choice test; 3) "Behavior" by self-, peer-, and expert assessment of teaching sessions with semistructured interviews; and 4) "Results" from student evaluations.
Results: Our data indicate the success of the educational intervention at all observed levels. 1) Reaction: The participants showed a high acceptance of the instructional content. 2) Learning: There was a significant increase in knowledge (P<0.001) as deduced from a pre-post multiple-choice questionnaire, which was retained at 6 months (P<0.001). 3) Behavior: Peer-, self-, and expert-assessment indicated a transfer of learning into teaching performance. Semistructured interviews reflected a higher level of professionalism in medical teaching by the participants. 4) Results: Teaching performance ratings improved in students' evaluations.
Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the success of a 5-day education program in embedding knowledge and skills to improve performance of medical educators. This multimethodological approach, using both qualitative and quantitative measures, may serve as a model to evaluate effectiveness of comparable interventions in other settings.
This work deals with the determination of the scale parameter ΛM̄S̄ from lattice QCD and perturbation theory results of the static quark-antiquark potential for nf = 2. The investigation is done in momentum space. Lattice methods as well as perturbation theory calculations are introduced. Another part of this work concerns the calculation of the quark-antiquark potential from gauge link configurations for nf = 2 + 1 + 1.
Der Radiofrequenzquadrupol (RFQ) wird typischerweise als erstes beschleunigendes Element in Beschleunigeranlagen eingesetzt. Das elektrische Quadrupolfeld ermöglicht die gleichzeitige Fokussierung und Beschleunigung des Ionenstrahls. Zudem ist der RFQ in der Lage den Gleichstromstrahl von der Ionenquelle zu Teilchenpaketen (Bunche) zu formen, die von den nachfolgenden Driftröhrenbeschleunigern benötigt werden. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Untersuchung zur Realisierbarkeit eines 325 MHz 4-rod RFQ Beschleunigers. Die Frequenz von 325 MHz stellt eine ungewöhnlich hohe Betriebsfrequenz für die 4-rod Struktur dar und wird z.B. für den Protonenlinac des FAIR Projektes benötigt. Ein Problem hierbei war, dass durch die bauartbedingten unsymmetrischen Elektrodenaufhängung und der hohen Frequenz ein, das Quadrupolfeld überlagerndes, Dipolfeld erzeugt wird. Dieses störende Feld kann z.B. zu einem Versatz der Strahlachse führen. Hierzu wurde die 4-rod Struktur in Simulationen grundlegend auf Einflüsse von verschiedenen Parametern auf die Resonanzfrequenz und das Dipolfeld untersucht. Es wurden Lösungsstrategien erarbeitet das Diopolfeld zu kompensieren und auf einen Prototypen angewendet. Zudem wurde das Verhalten höherer Schwingungsmoden dieser Struktur simuliert. In diesem Rahmen wurden auch Simulationen zu Randfeldern zwischen den 4-rod Elektroden und der Tankwand untersucht, um nachteilige Effekte für die Strahlqualität auszuschließen. Basierend auf den Simulationsergebnissen wurde ein Prototyp angefertigt. Dieser Prototyp wurde zur Demonstration der Betriebseigenschaften mit Leistungen bis 40 kW getestet. Hierbei wurde die Elektrodenspannung mittels Gammaspektroskopie bestimmt und daraus die Shuntimpedanz berechnet. Diese Werte wurden mit anderen Methoden der Shuntimpedanzbes- timmung verglichen. Außerdem wurden alternative RFQ Resonatorkonzepte ebenfalls auf ihre Realisierbarkeit für den Protonenlinac untersucht. Die Einflüsse verschiedener Parameter auf die Betriebsfrequenz, die Möglichkeiten des Frequenztunings und der Einstellung der longitudinalen Spannungsverteilung gefertigter Modelle wurden in einer Diskussion gegenübergestellt.
Populations of Stegelleta are described from California, New Zealand and Senegal. An amphimictic population from California is identified as belonging to S. incisa and compared with type specimens from Utah and an amphimictic population from Italy. One population from New Zealand is close to S. incisa but considered to represent a new species, Stegelleta laterocornuta sp. nov. It is particularly characterised by a 379–512 μm long body in females and 365–476 μm in males; cuticle divided into 16 rows of blocks at midbody (excluding lateral field); lateral field with four incisures; three pairs of asymmetrical lips, U-shaped primary axils without guarding processes, each lip asymmetrically rectangular with a smooth margin, only lateral lips have slender acute tines; three labial probolae, bifurcated at half of their length; vulva without flap; spermatheca 17–31 μm long; postuterine sac 7–24 μm long; spicules 21.5–23.5 μm long. Other specimens from New Zealand are identified as belonging to S. tuarua. A parthenogenetic population from Senegal is identified as belonging to S. ophioglossa and compared with type specimens from Mongolia and records of several other populations of S. ophioglossa. The generic diagnosis is emended and a key to the species of Stegelleta is provided.
The female of Phileurus bucculentus Ohaus, 1911 is described for the first time. It is compared with the male and also with the females of Phileurus carinatus Prell, 1914, with which it can be confused. Additional data for Phileurus carinatus are provided with four new country records for Guyana, Colombia, Peru and Argentina, and its taxonomic status is reviewed.
A new species of coffee stem and root borer from Colombia is described: Plagiohammus colombiensis, sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae). The new species differs from other species of the genus Plagiohammus Dillon and Dillon by the yellow pattern of spots on the elytra, the morphology of the antenna and pronotum as well as characters of the male genitalia. A key to species of Plagiohammus is provided. This study examines the current situation of the new species of coffee stem and root borer in Colombia. Information on its biology and damage to the coffee plantations is presented.
During the SHIVA (Stratospheric Ozone: Halogen Impacts in a Varying Atmosphere) project an extensive dataset of all halogen species relevant for the atmospheric budget of total organic bromine has been collected in the West Pacific region using the FALCON aircraft operated by the German Aerospace agency DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) covering a vertical range from the planetary boundary layer up to the ceiling altitude of the aircraft of 13 km. In total, more than 700 measurements were performed with the newly developed fully-automated in-situ instrument GHOST-MS (Gas cHromatograph for the Observation of Tracers – coupled with a Mass Spectrometer) by the Goethe University of Frankfurt (GUF) and with the onboard whole-air sampler WASP with subsequent ground based state-of-the-art GC/MS analysis by the University of East Anglia (UEA). Both instruments yield good agreement for all major (CHBr3 and CH2Br2) and minor (CHBrCl, CHBrCl2 and CHBr2Cl) VSLS (very short-lived substances), at least at the level of their 2 σ measurement uncertainties. In contrast to the suggestion that the Western Pacific could be a major source region for VSLS (Pyle et al., 2011), we found only slightly enhanced mixing ratios of brominated halogen source gases relative to the levels reported in Montzka et al. (2011) for other tropical regions. A budget for total organic bromine, including all four halons,CH3Br and the VSLS, is derived for the upper troposphere, the input region for the TTL and thus also for the stratosphere, compiled from the SHIVA dataset. With exception of the two minor VSLS CHBrCl2 and CHBr2Cl, excellent agreement with the values reported in Montzka et al. (2011) is found, while being slightly higher than previous studies from our group based on balloon-borne measurements.
Background: It is not well established how psychosocial factors like social support and depression affect health-related quality of life in multimorbid and elderly patients. We investigated whether depressive mood mediates the influence of social support on health-related quality of life.
Methods: Cross-sectional data of 3,189 multimorbid patients from the baseline assessment of the German MultiCare cohort study were used. Mediation was tested using the approach described by Baron and Kenny based on multiple linear regression, and controlling for socioeconomic variables and burden of multimorbidity.
Results: Mediation analyses confirmed that depressive mood mediates the influence of social support on health-related quality of life (Sobel's p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression showed that the influence of depressive mood (beta = -0.341, p < 0.01) on health-related quality of life is greater than the influence of multimorbidity (beta = -0.234, p < 0.01).
Conclusion: Social support influences health-related quality of life, but this association is strongly mediated by depressive mood. Depression should be taken into consideration in research on multimorbidity, and clinicians should be aware of its importance when caring for multimorbid patients.
Background and Purpose. Leukocyte migration into alveolar space plays a critical role in pulmonary inflammation resulting in lung injury. Acute ethanol (EtOH) exposure exerts anti-inflammatory effects. The clinical use of EtOH is critical due to its side effects. Here, we compared effects of EtOH and ethyl pyruvate (EtP) on neutrophil adhesion and activation of cultured alveolar epithelial cells (A549). Experimental Approach. Time course and dose-dependent release of interleukin- (IL-) 6 and IL-8 from A549 were measured after pretreatment of A549 with EtP (2.5–10 mM), sodium pyruvate (NaP, 10 mM), or EtOH (85–170 mM), and subsequent lipopolysaccharide or IL-1beta stimulation. Neutrophil adhesion to pretreated and stimulated A549 monolayers and CD54 surface expression were determined. Key Results. Treating A549 with EtOH or EtP reduced substantially the cytokine-induced release of IL-8 and IL-6. EtOH and EtP (but not NaP) reduced the adhesion of neutrophils to monolayers in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. CD54 expression on A549 decreased after EtOH or EtP treatment before IL-1beta stimulation. Conclusions and Implications. EtP reduces secretory and adhesive potential of lung epithelial cells under inflammatory conditions. These findings suggest EtP as a potential treatment alternative that mimics the anti-inflammatory effects of EtOH in early inflammatory response in lungs.
The highly conserved eukaryotic process of macroautophagy (autophagy) is a non-specific bulk-degradation program critical for maintaining proper cellular homeostasis, and for clearing aged and damaged organelles. This decision is inextricably dependent upon prevailing metabolic demands and energy requirements of the cell. Soluble monomeric decorin functions as a natural tumor repressor that antagonizes a variety of receptor tyrosine kinases. Recently, we discovered that decorin induces endothelial cell autophagy, downstream of VEGFR2. This process was wholly dependent upon Peg3, a decorin-inducible genomically imprinted tumor suppressor gene. However, the signaling cascades responsible have remained elusive. In this report we discovered that Vps34, a class III phosphoinositide kinase, is an upstream kinase required for Peg3 induction. Moreover, decorin triggered differential formation of Vps34/Beclin 1 complexes with concomitant dissolution of inhibitive Bcl-2/Beclin 1 complexes. Further, decorin inhibited anti-autophagic signaling via suppression of Akt/mTOR/p70S6K activity with the concurrent activation of pro-autophagic AMPK-mediated signaling cascades. Mechanistically, AMPK is downstream of VEGFR2 and inhibition of AMPK signaling abrogated decorin-evoked autophagy. Collectively, these findings hint at the complexity of the underlying molecular relays necessary for decorin-evoked endothelial cell autophagy and reveal important therapeutic targets for augmenting autophagy and combatting tumor angiogenesis.
Sparse sensor networks for Lamb wave-based structural health monitoring (SHM) can detect defects in plate-like structures. However, the limited number of sensor positions provides little information to characterize the unknown scatterer. This can be achieved by full wavefield analysis e.g. using Laser Doppler vibrometry measurements.
This paper proposes deconvolution processing that enhances the acoustic wavefield interpretation by increasing the temporal resolution of the underlying ultrasound signals. Applying this preprocessor to the whole wavefield allows improved non-destructive assessment of the defect. This approach is verified experimentally through a case study on an isotropic aluminum plate with four cracks.
Decomposing coordination
(2014)
Natural languages display a surprising diversity of expression of elementary logical operations. The study of this variation is emerging as an important topic of cross-linguistic semantics. In this paper, we address the expression of coordination from this perspective, especially coordination of individual denoting expressions such as "John and Mary". We argue that there is an underlying universal structure for individual coordination, and that the cross-linguistic variation can be explained by assuming that languages pronounce different morphemes of this universal structure. In particular, we argue that there two main types of system for the expression of individual coordination: the J-type and the μ-type. In μ-type languages the morpheme used for individual coordination also has uses a quantificational or focus particle, while in the J-type languages it doesn't. Instead at least in many J-type languages the same morpheme is used for individual and propositional coordination. The evidence we present for our model comes from two sources: new data from specific data of the J-type and μ-type languages, and from a study of the historical development of the expression of individual coordination in Indo-European which switched from a μ-type to a J-type system.
We enlarge the so-called extended linear Sigma model (eLSM) by including the charm quark according to the global U(4)r × U(4)l chiral symmetry. In the eLSM, besides scalar and pseudoscalar mesons, also vector and axial-vector mesons are present. Almost all the parameters of the model were fixed in a previous study of mesons below 2 GeV. In the extension to the four-flavor case, only three additional parameters (all of them related to the bare mass of the charm quark) appear.We compute the (OZI dominant) strong decays of open charmed mesons. The results are compatible with the experimental data, although the theoretical uncertainties are still large.
The electric dipole strength distribution in 130Te has been investigated using the method of Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence. The experiments were performed at the Darmstadt High Intensity Photon Setup using bremsstrahlung as photon source and at the High Intensity -Ray Source, where quasi-monochromatic and polarized photon beams are provided. Average decay properties of 130Te below the neutron separation energy are determined. Comparing the experimental data to the predictions of the statistical model indicate, that nuclear structure effects play an important role even at sufficiently high excitation energies. Preliminary results will be presented.
Death and the King's Grey Hair and Other Plays is a collection of three plays, 'Death and the King's Grey Hair, ' 'Truce with the Devil, ' and 'Fringe Benefits, ' which are all experimental plays from the early period of the writing career of Denja Abdullahi, who is presently renowned as a poet of populist expressions. 'Death and the King's Grey Hair' examines the use and misuse of absolute power based on an ancient Jukun myth of young kings and short reigns. 'Truce with the Devil' is a satire on the later abandonment of the creed of Marxism by its adherents, a kind of mockery of turncoat revolutionaries in the grip of practical social realities. 'Fringe Benefits', a radio play, is an expose of the happening in Nigeria's ivory towers, seen from the eyes of a participant-observer.
Has economic research been helpful in dealing with the financial crises of the early 2000s? On the whole, the answer is negative, although there are bright spots. Economists have largely failed to predict both crises, largely because most of them were not analytically equipped to understand them, in spite of their recurrence in the last 25 years. In the pre-crisis period, however, there have been important exceptions – theoretical and empirical strands of research that largely laid out the basis for our current thinking about financial crises. Since 2008, a flurry of new studies offered several different interpretations of the US crisis: to some extent, they point to potentially complementary factors, but disagree on their relative importance, and therefore on policy recommendations. Research on the euro debt crisis has so far been much more limited: even Europe-based researchers – including CEPR ones – have often directed their attention more to the US crisis than to that occurring on their doorstep. In terms of impact on policy and regulatory reform, the record is uneven. On the one hand, the swift and massive liquidity provision by central banks in the wake of both crises is, at least partly, to be credited to previous research on the role of central banks as lenders of last resort in crises and on the real effects of bank lending and monetary policy. On the other hand, economists have had limited impact on the reform of prudential and security market regulation. In part, this is due to their neglect of important regulatory choices, which policy-makers are therefore left to take without the guidance of academic research-based analysis.
Day and Night in Limbo
(2014)
With humour, insight and irony, Lonkog recounts the joys and contradictions of daily life in a Northern Cameroon village. Living in Carrefour Poli in Northern Cameroon was never easy. How far will one have to go for drinking water during the dry season? Will there be money for kerosene to fill the lamp tank? For batteries for the torch? For a bowl of corn to make 'fufu' for the family? Will there be a night encounter with the poison of a snake or scorpion? The man of Carrefour Poli imagines when he last had a bottle of beer and when he will next have another. Children sit in class staring at the teacher, while their work suffers. People sit under trees for shade only to cut them down for firewood. Ministers run up and down, working very hard and sweating, but little changes. Day and night people turn around on the same spot. It takes a long time to build a nation. Everything is in limbo.
Data structures and advanced models of computation on big data : report from Dagstuhl seminar 14091
(2014)
This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 14091 "Data Structures and Advanced Models of Computation on Big Data". In today's computing environment vast amounts of data are processed, exchanged and analyzed. The manner in which information is stored profoundly influences the efficiency of these operations over the data. In spite of the maturity of the field many data structuring problems are still open, while new ones arise due to technological advances.
The seminar covered both recent advances in the "classical" data structuring topics as well as new models of computation adapted to modern architectures, scientific studies that reveal the need for such models, applications where large data sets play a central role, modern computing platforms for very large data, and new data structures for large data in modern architectures.
The extended abstracts included in this report contain both recent state of the art advances and lay the foundation for new directions within data structures research.
Cytokine-regulated GADD45G induces differentiation and lineage selection in hematopoietic stem cells
(2014)
The balance of self-renewal and differentiation in long-term repopulating hematopoietic stem cells (LT-HSC) must be strictly controlled to maintain blood homeostasis and to prevent leukemogenesis. Hematopoietic cytokines can induce differentiation in LT-HSCs; however, the molecular mechanism orchestrating this delicate balance requires further elucidation. We identified the tumor suppressor GADD45G as an instructor of LT-HSC differentiation under the control of differentiation-promoting cytokine receptor signaling. GADD45G immediately induces and accelerates differentiation in LT-HSCs and overrides the self-renewal program by specifically activating MAP3K4-mediated MAPK p38. Conversely, the absence of GADD45G enhances the self-renewal potential of LT-HSCs. Videomicroscopy-based tracking of single LT-HSCs revealed that, once GADD45G is expressed, the development of LT-HSCs into lineage-committed progeny occurred within 36 hr and uncovered a selective lineage choice with a severe reduction in megakaryocytic-erythroid cells. Here, we report an unrecognized role of GADD45G as a central molecular linker of extrinsic cytokine differentiation and lineage choice control in hematopoiesis.
Over the past decade, Scandinavian and German scholars have been active in the redefinition of the terms “Vitalism” and “Vitalist” as descriptive categories for analytical purposes in the fields of literary and cultural history. In this context,“Vitalism”has primarily been used to describe an enthusiastic worshipping of life, one that holds youth, health, strength and beauty as its primary attributes, which was prevalent in all aspects of cultural life around 1900. But even the post war founders of the Vitalist re-conceptualisation of this era, Wolfdietrich Rasch and Gunter Martens, warned of taking such a unilateral view ofwhat constituted a Vitalist concept of life. It could lead to a misunderstanding of Vitalist way of thinking, Rasch said, if the focus wasonly set upon the enthusiastic surplus, the worshipping of youth and health. To Vitalists, life is more than that. It is a totality that also encompasses notions of destruction, decay and death. “All life symbols in literature around 1900 are at the same time symbols of death” (Rasch, 1967:24).Through the analyses of three poems, this article aims to show concrete examples of how cyclic Vitalist thinking is embedded in poetry of the era. The analyses include a further sub-categorisation to capture the different types of Life Force dealt with in the texts. By way of an introduction, Vitalism is discussed within the context of the scientific and social developments of the 19th Century.
Customer equity reporting
(2014)
WHARTON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT UNIVERSITY OF PHILADELPHIA HAS JUSTLAUNCHED AN 8-WEEK ONLINE PROGRAM “STRATEGIC VALUE OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS – ONLINE” TAUGHT BY MARKETING PROFESSOR AND AUTHOR PETER FADER. HE INVITED PROFESSOR SKIERA, DIRECTOR OF THE E-FINANCE LAB, TO PHILADELPHIA TO LEARN ABOUT HIS THOUGHTS ON “CUSTOMER EQUITY REPORTING”. THIS ARTICLE SUMMARIZES SOME OF PROFESSOR FADER’S QUESTIONS AND PROFESSOR SKIERA’S REPLIES.
Customary Law Ascertained Volume 2 is the second of a three volume series in which traditional authorities in Namibia present the customary laws of their communities. It contains the laws of the Bakgalagari, the Batswana ba Namibia and the Damara communities. The recognised traditional authorities in Namibia are expected to ascertain the customary law applicable in their respective communities and to note the most important aspects of the laws in written form. The Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, and the Council of Traditional Leaders therefore initiated the ascertainment of customary law. The ascertainment project is housed in the Human Rights and Documentation Centre of the University of Namibia. The former Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Namibia, Professor Manfred O. Hinz, has directed the project since its inception.
One of the motivations for establishing a European banking union was the desire to break the ties with between national regulators and domestic financial institutions in order to prevent regulatory capture. However, supervisory authority over the financial sector at the national level can also have valuable public benefits. The aim of this policy letter is to detail these public benefits in order to counter discussions that focus only on conflicts of interest. It is informed by an analysis of how financial institutions interacted with policy-makers in the design of national bank rescue schemes in response to the banking crisis of 2008. Using this information, it discusses the possible benefits of close cooperation between financial institutions and regulators and analyzes these in the wake of a European banking union.
This collection of essays on archaeology and heritage studies is authored by local and expatriate scholars who are either past or current practitioners in archaeological work in Ghana. They are from Ghana, UK, US and Canada. The subject matter covered includes the history and evolution of the discipline in Ghana; the method and theory or 'how to do it' in archaeology, field research reports, and syntheses on findings from past and recent investigations. The eclectic or multidisciplinary strategy has been the research vogue in Ghanaian archaeology recently, and this is reflected in the various chapters. The essays engage with current theoretical trends in global archaeology and also focus on the role and status of archaeology as a discipline in Ghanaian society today. Archaeology is a relatively 'novel' subject to many in Ghana. This Reader will, therefore, be a huge asset to local students and experts alike. Foreign scholars will also find it very useful.
Neoadjuvant systemic chemotherapy is a possible therapeutic approach for the treatment of locally advanced operable, primarily non-operable or inflammatory breast cancer. Neoadjuvant systemic chemotherapy is an option for breast cancer patients who would require adjuvant chemotherapy otherwise based on clinical and histological examination and imaging. The use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy in operable breast cancer is currently increasing because of its advantages that include higher rates of breast conserving surgery and the possibility of measuring early in-vivo response to systemic treatment. The timing of axillary sentinel lymph node diagnosis (i.e. before or after neoadjuvant chemotherapy) is critical in that it may influence the likelihood of axillary preservation. It is not yet clear if neoadjuvant therapy might improve outcomes in certain subgroups of breast cancer patients. Neoadjuvant treatment modalities require a close collaboration between oncology professionals, including surgeons, gynecologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists and pathologists. The most important parameter for treatment success and improved overall survival is the achievement of a pathologic complete response (pCR), although the role of pCR in patients with luminal A like tumours might be less informative. Identification of patient subgroups with high pCR rates may allow less invasive surgical or radiological interventions. Patients not achieving a pCR may be candidates for postoperative clinical trials exploring novel systemic treatments.
Introduction: Curare is one of the best-examined neurotoxins of the world, which has empirically been used for centuries by American Indigenes. Research on curare has been performed much later, a global scientometric analysis on curare research or its derivates does not yet exist. This bibliometric analysis is part of the global NewQis-project and should illuminate both toxic and historic issues of research on curare.
Methods: The ISI Web of Science was searched for data covering 1900 to 2013 using a term which included as many original articles on curare as possible. 3,867 articles were found and analyzed for common bibliometric items such as the number of citations, language of the articles or the (modified) Hirsch-Index (h-index). Results are illustrated utilizing modern density equalizing map projections (DEMP) or beam diagrams.
Results: Most publications were located in North America and Europe. The USA has the highest number of publications as well as the highest h-index. The number of publications overall rose until the late 1990s and later decreased. Furthermore, sudden increases of research activity are ascribable to historic events, like the first use of curare as muscle relaxant during surgery.
Discussion: This scientometric analysis of curare research reflects several tendencies as previously seen in other bibliometric investigations, i.e. the scientific quality standard of North America and Europe. Research on curare decreased however, due to the declining attention towards this muscle relaxant. This work exemplifies also how scientometric methods can be used to illuminate historic circumstances immediately stimulating scientific research.
Cultural heritage reconstructed - Compact Memory and the Frankfurt Digital Judaica Collection
(2014)
Compact Memory, the internet archive of German Jewish periodicals, provides free global internet access to the vast majority of German-Jewish newspapers and periodicals of the 19th and 20th century.
Jewish historical newspapers are the invaluable sources that supply direct and detailed information of the transformation process of Jewry and offer new insights into European Jewish history. The use of these historical sources however is extremely difficult, as complete sets of periodicals are very rarely to be found and they are scattered all over the world in different libraries and archives and in different physical formats (paper, microfilm).
Compact Memory contains the 110 most important Jewish German newspapers and periodicals in Central Europe in the period from 1806-1938, covering the complete range of religious, political, social, cultural and academic aspects of Jewish life. The texts are available partly as full-texts, processed by OCR, partly as graphic documents with corresponding index options. The database offers advanced search options, downloading and printing of articles. Thousands of essays of more than 10.000 individual contributors have been bibliographically indexed.
Compact Memory was established by the Judaica Division of the University Library Frankfurt am Main and in charge today in cooperation with the Aachen Chair of German-Jewish Literary History and the Cologne library Germania Judaica.
Compact Memory is one database within the Digital Collection Judaica which being part of Europeana and other digital portals offers resources for the reconstruction and representation of Jewish cultural heritage.
The title solvated salt, C29H41N2+·Br-·2CH2Cl2 was obtained from the reaction of the Arduengo-type carbene 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-1,3-dihydro-4,5-dimethyl-2H-imidazol-2-ylidene with Si2Br6 in dichloromethane. The complete cation is generated by a crystallographic mirror plane and the dihedral angle between the five-membered ring and the benzene ring is 89.8 (6)°; the dihedral angle between the benzene rings is 40.7 (2)°. The anion also lies on the mirror plane and both dichloromethane molecules are disordered across the mirror plane over two equally occupied orientations. In the crystal, the cations are linked to the anions via C-H...Br hydrogen bonds.
Colors and odors are associated; for instance, people typically match the smell of strawberries to the color pink or red. These associations are forms of crossmodal correspondences. Recently, there has been discussion about the extent to which these correspondences arise for structural reasons (i.e., an inherent mapping between color and odor), statistical reasons (i.e., covariance in experience), and/or semantically-mediated reasons (i.e., stemming from language). The present study probed this question by testing color-odor correspondences in 6 different cultural groups (Dutch, Netherlands-residing-Chinese, German, Malay, Malaysian-Chinese, and US residents), using the same set of 14 odors and asking participants to make congruent and incongruent color choices for each odor. We found consistent patterns in color choices for each odor within each culture, showing that participants were making non-random color-odor matches. We used representational dissimilarity analysis to probe for variations in the patterns of color-odor associations across cultures; we found that US and German participants had the most similar patterns of associations, followed by German and Malay participants. The largest group differences were between Malay and Netherlands-resident Chinese participants and between Dutch and Malaysian-Chinese participants. We conclude that culture plays a role in color-odor crossmodal associations, which likely arise, at least in part, through experience.
Molecular tumour targeting has significantly improved anti-cancer protocols. Still, the addition of molecular targeting to the treatment regime has not led to a curative breakthrough. Combined mammalian target of Rapamycin (mTOR) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition has been shown not only to enhance anti-tumour potential, but also to prevent resistance development seen under mono-drug therapy. This investigation was designed to evaluate whether cross-communication exists between mTOR signalling and epigenetic events regulated by HDAC. DU-145 prostate cancer cells were treated with insulin-like growth factor (IGF) to activate the Akt-mTOR cascade or with the HDAC-inhibitor valproic acid (VPA) to induce histone H3 and H4 acetylation (aH3, aH4). Subsequently, mTOR, Rictor, Raptor, p70s6k, Akt (all: total and phosphorylated), H3 and H4 (total and acetylated) were analysed by western blotting. Both techniques revealed a link between mTOR and the epigenetic machinery. IGF activated mTOR, Rictor, Raptor, p70s6k and Akt, but also enhanced aH3 and aH4. Inversely, IGFr blockade and knock-down blocked the Akt-mTOR axis, but simultaneously diminished aH3 and aH4. VPA treatment up-regulated histone acetylation, but also activated mTOR-Akt signalling. HDAC1 and 2 knock-down revealed that the interaction with the mTOR system is initiated by histone H3 acetylation. HDAC-mTOR communication, therefore, is apparent whereby tumour-promoting (Akt/mTORhigh, aH3/aH4low) and tumour-suppressing signals (Akt/mTORlow, aH3/aH4high) are activated in parallel. Combined use of an HDAC- and mTOR inhibitor might then diminish pro-tumour effects triggered by the HDAC- (Akt/mTORhigh) or mTOR inhibitor (aH3/aH4low) alone.
I analyze a critical illness insurance in a consumption-investment model over the life cycle. I solve a model with stochastic mortality risk and health shock risk numerically. These shocks are interpreted as critical illness and can negatively affect the expected remaining lifetime, the health expenses, and the income. In order to hedge the health expense effect of a shock, the agent has the possibility to contract a critical illness insurance. My results highlight that the critical illness insurance is strongly desired by the agents. With an insurance profit of 20%, nearly all agents contract the insurance in the working stage of the life cycle and more than 50% of the agents contract the insurance during retirement. With an insurance profit of 200%, still nearly all working agents contract the insurance, whereas there is little demand in the retirement stage.
This study presents a comprehensive and critical assessment of the meteorological conditions and atmospheric flow during the Lagrangian-type "Hill Cap Cloud Thuringia 2010" experiment (HCCT-2010). HCCT-2010 was performed in September and October 2010 at Mt. Schmücke in the Thuringian forest, Germany, applying three measurements sites (upwind, in-cloud, downwind) to study physical and chemical aerosol-cloud-interactions. A Lagrangian-type hill cap cloud experiment requires suitable cloud and particularly connected airflow conditions, i.e. representative air masses at the different measurement sites. Therefore, the present study aimed at the identification of time periods during the 6-weeks duration of the campaign, where such conditions were fulfilled and which can be used in further data examinations.
The following topics were studied in detail: (i) the general synoptic weather situations including the mesoscale flow conditions by means of a classification of advected air masses and calculation of non-dimensional flow parameters (e.g. Froude number), (ii) local meteorological conditions, including synoptic front passages, the presence of orographic or frontal cloudiness, cloud base heights and vertical stratification, and (iii) local flow conditions by means of statistical analyses using the quasi-inert trace gas ozone and selected size bins of particle number size distributions as well as SF6 tracer experiments in the campaign area. A comprehensive analyses using statistical measures such as the COD (Coefficient Of Divergence) and cross-correlation have been carried out for the first time in the context of a Lagrangian-type hill cap cloud experiment. Suitable criteria for the aimed statistical analyses were thus developed and applied in the present study to characterise the local flow connectivity in detail.
The comprehensive examination resulted in a total of 14 so-called "Full Cloud Events" (FCE), which are shown to conform to the Lagrange-type experimental philosophy of HCCT-2010. In addition, 15 so-called "Non-Cloud Events" (NCEs) could be established, which can be used as reference cases as they provide similarly suitable flow conditions but no cloud at the summit site. Orographic cloudiness was identified for approx. one third of the FCE periods, while about two thirds were associated to synoptic fronts. The statistical flow analyses indicate the existence of a strong link between the sites during the events, particularly under constant south-westerly flow conditions, high wind speeds and slightly stable stratification. The COD analyses using continuously measured concentrations of ozone and the 49 nm diameter particle bin revealed particularly for COD values below 0.1 very consistent time series, i.e. closely linked air masses between the different sites. The cross-correlation analysis revealed under connected flow conditions typical overflow times of about 15 to 30 min between the two valley sites. Additionally, the performed SF6 tracer experiments during the campaign clearly demonstrate that under appropriate meteorological conditions a Lagrangian-type approach is valid and that the connected flow validation procedure developed in this work is suitable for identifying such conditions. Finally, an overall evaluation of the identified FCEs is presented, which provides the basis for subsequent investigations of the measured chemical and physical data during HCCT-2010.
Expressivist theories of punishment, according to which a penal sanction articulates or expresses a certain meaning to the offender, to the victim and to society, become more and more prominent among the traditional theories of punishment as retribution or deterrence. What these theories have in common is the idea that the conveyance of the meaning is in need of a communicative action, and that the penal sanction is such a communicative act. This article argues that pure communicative theories of punishment face great difficulties in generating any justification for hard treatment. One challenge is that certain types of sanctions – in particularly, hard treatment – restrict the communicative opportunities of the incarcerated individual; which generates a paradox, in that it turns punishment into a communicative action of non-communication. Beyond that, moreover, all practices of hard treatment potentially become unnecessary, if expressing the moral message of censure constitutes a kind of action in itself, and as such, itself a treatment of the offender, embedded in a communicative relationship between offender, victim and society; such that we may be able to think of the history of punishment as a development where hard treatment becomes more and more unnecessary for the conveyance of the message.
The recent financial crisis highlighted the limits of the "originate to distribute" model of banking, but its nexus with the macroeconomy remains unexplored. I build a business cycle model with banks engaging in credit risk transfer (CRT) under informational externalities. Markets for CRT provide liquidity insurance to banks, but the emergence of a pooling equilibrium can also impair the banks’ monitoring incentives. In normal times and in face of standard macro shocks the insurance benefits of CRT prevail and the business cycle is stabilized. In face of financial/liquidity shocks the extent of informational asymmetries is larger and the business cycle is amplified. The macro model with CRT can also reproduce well a number of macro and banking statistics over the period of rapid growth of this banks’ business model.
We examine the effects of credit default swaps (CDS), a major type of over-the-counter derivative, on the corporate liquidity management of the reference firms. CDS help firms to access the credit market since the lenders can hedge their credit risk more easily using these contracts. However, CDS-protected creditors can be tougher in debt renegotiations and less willing to support distressed borrowers, causing some firms to become more cautious. Consequently, we find that firms hold significantly more cash after the inception of CDS trading on their debt. The increase in cash holdings by CDS firms is more pronounced for financially constrained firms and firms facing higher refinancing risk. Moreover, bank relationships and outstanding credit facilities intensify the CDS effect on cash holding. Finally, firms with greater financial expertise hold more cash when their debt is referenced by CDS. These findings suggest that CDS, which are primarily a risk management tool for lenders, induce firms to adopt more conservative liquidity policies.
Seven years after the launch of the European Paediatric Medicine Regulation, limited progress in paediatric oncology drug development remains a major concern amongst stakeholders – academics, industry, regulatory authorities, parents, patients and caregivers. Restricted increases in early phase paediatric oncology trials, legal requirements and regulatory pressure to propose early Paediatric Investigation Plans (PIPs), missed opportunities to explore new drugs potentially relevant for paediatric malignancies, lack of innovative trial designs and no new incentives to develop drugs against specific paediatric targets are some unmet needs. Better access to new anti-cancer drugs for paediatric clinical studies and improved collaboration between stakeholders are essential. The Cancer Drug Development Forum (CDDF), previously Biotherapy Development Association (BDA), with Innovative Therapy for Children with Cancer Consortium (ITCC), European Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOPE) and European Network for Cancer Research in Children and Adolescents (ENCCA) has created a unique Paediatric Oncology Platform, involving multiple stakeholders and the European Union (EU) Commission, with an urgent remit to improve paediatric oncology drug development. The Paediatric Oncology Platform proposes to recommend immediate changes in the implementation of the Regulation and set the framework for its 2017 revision; initiatives to incentivise drug development against specific paediatric oncology targets, and repositioning of drugs not developed in adults. Underpinning these changes is a strategy for mechanism of action and biology driven selection and prioritisation of potential paediatric indications rather than the current process based on adult cancer indications. Pre-competitive research and drug prioritisation, early portfolio evaluation, cross-industry cooperation and multi-compound/sponsor trials are being explored, from which guidance for innovative trial designs will be provided.
Jirds (genus Meriones) are a diverse group of rodents, with a wide distribution range in Iran. Sundevall’s jird (Meriones crassus Sundevall, 1842) is one such species that shows a disjunct distribution, found on the Iranian Plateau and Western Zagros Mountains. Morphological differences observed between these two populations, however, lack quantitative support. Morphological differences between geographical populations of Meriones crassus were analysed and compared with those of the sympatric M. libycus. Similarities in the cranial morphology of these species were found, e.g. in a relatively large and inflated bulla. A two-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis was done on the skull of 275 M. crassus and 220 M. libycus from more than 70 different localities in their distribution range. Results confirm cranial differences between specimens of M. crassus from the Western Zagros and those from Africa and Arabia, mainly at the level of the relative size of the tympanic bulla, that were significantly correlated with the annual rainfall and elevation. Moreover, the study supports the hypothesis that the Western Zagros specimens are both a geographically and phenotypically distinct group compared to the other Iranian M. crassus specimens, suggesting that the former might be a distinct species.
Irene Heim in unpublished work proposed a new syntax-semantics interface for propositional attitude reports based on an ontology without transworld individuals, but counterpart functions instead. We show that the approach can capture the 'de re'/'de dicto' distinction, but makes different predictions from accounts with transworld individuals. Specifically, the account uses a non-invertible counterpart functions: a single individual in an alternative world can be the counterpart of many individuals of the real world. The directionality of counterpart functions predicts that a 'de dicto' interpreted DP cannot be an argument of a 'de re' interpreted predicate. We show that the predicted restriction is corroborated by existing work on restrictions on 'de re' interpretation. The derivation of constraints on 'de re' interpretation argues empirically for the counterpart ontology and Heim’s implementation thereof.
This volume charts the widening frontiers of black literary aesthetics using the prose and dramatic fictions of writers from Africa and the African diaspora. The chapters come in two interactive phases of current critical discourses involving rejoinders from past-present concerns and issues of cultural and contemporary modernity. These studies stress the argument that African literature is hardly discussed outside contemporary history and that the reason for the apparent disconnection among groups in Africa and the diaspora can be traced to the disparate elements within the continent and diaspora.
Coscinodon humilis was described by Milde from mica schist in the Passeiertal NE Merano (formerly southern Tyrolia in Austria, hence cited as Austria by Greven 1995. now Alto Adige in Italy). Limpricht (1890) regarded it as “verkümmerte Form von C. cribrosus”, and although Mönkemeyer (1927) still cited it, the species got forgotten by the time. Thus the species was no more mentioned by Corley et al (1981) in the European checklist and therefore no more included by Frey et al. (1995) in the German edition of the “Moos- und Farnpflanzen Europas”. Greven (1995) re-established the species in his treatment of Grimmia (and related genera) in Europe. Therefore Frey et al. (2006) included the species, which was, however, not keyed out. Finally Hill et al. (2006) listed it again in the new European checklist as a good species.
Correlative microscopy incorporates the specificity of fluorescent protein labeling into high-resolution electron micrographs. Several approaches exist for correlative microscopy, most of which have used the green fluorescent protein (GFP) as the label for light microscopy. Here we use chemical tagging and synthetic fluorophores instead, in order to achieve protein-specific labeling, and to perform multicolor imaging. We show that synthetic fluorophores preserve their post-embedding fluorescence in the presence of uranyl acetate. Post-embedding fluorescence is of such quality that the specimen can be prepared with identical protocols for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM); this is particularly valuable when singular or otherwise difficult samples are examined. We show that synthetic fluorophores give bright, well-resolved signals in super-resolution light microscopy, enabling us to superimpose light microscopic images with a precision of up to 25 nm in the x-y plane on electron micrographs. To exemplify the preservation quality of our new method we visualize the molecular arrangement of cadherins in adherens junctions of mouse epithelial cells.
Multiple sources of confusion surround the identity of Ochodaeus grandiceps Fairmaire, 1897, from Sichuan, China (Coleoptera: Ochodaeidae). Herein the type specimen is illustrated to solve these taxonomic issues. Examination of the holotype indicates that the species must be transferred to the genus Nothochodaeus Nikolajev, 2005, resulting in a new combination. The genus Mimochodaeus Nikolajev, 2009, based on a misidentifi cation of O. grandiceps as its purported type species, is discussed. Finally, Cuban specimens had been treated erroneously as belonging to O. grandiceps, and so the species had remained undescribed. A new species, Parochodaeus perdidus, is described to accommodate them.
This paper contrasts the recent European initiatives on regulating corporate groups with alternative approaches to the phenomenon. In doing so it pays particular regard to the German codified law on corporate groups as the polar opposite to the piecemeal approach favored by E.U. legislation.
It finds that the European Commission’s proposal to submit (significant) related party transactions to enhanced transparency, outside fairness review, and ex ante shareholder approval is both flawed in its design and based on contestable assumptions on informed voting of institutional investors. In particular, the contemplated exemption for transactions with wholly owned subsidiaries allows controlling shareholders to circumvent the rule extensively. Moreover, vesting voting rights with (institutional) investors will not lead to the informed assessment that is hoped for, because these investors will rationally abstain from active monitoring and rely on proxy advisory firms instead whose competency to analyze non-routine significant related party transactions is questionable.
The paper further delineates that the proposed recognition of an overriding interest of the group requires strong counterbalances to adequately protect minority shareholders and creditors. Hence, if the Commission choses to go down this route it might end up with a comprehensive regulation that is akin to the unpopular Ninth Company Law Directive in spirit, though not in content. The latter prediction is corroborated by the pertinent parts of the proposal for a European Model Company Act.
It has become increasingly apparent over the last decades that cooking pottery played a considerable role as a trade commodity in ancient times, yet relatively little research has yet been done on this topic for its own sake. By taking a closer look at the cooking pottery found in Priene, a small city in southern Ionia re-founded in the middle of the 4th century BCE, we want to trace some of the broader developments within the cooking wares that were used over a period of roughly 300 years. The aim is not only to outline the general shapes that were in use over this period of time, but also to register if and how these shapes correlate with the different fabrics observed in Priene so far.
Conviviality in Bellville: An Ethnography of Space, Place, Mobility and Being in Urban South Africa
(2014)
This book provides insight into the experiences of mobility and migration in contemporary South Africa, contributing to a field of literature about multiculturalism and urban public space in globalizing cities. It takes into consideration the greater international political and local socio-economic factors that drive migration, relationships and conviviality, and how they are intertwined in the everyday narrative of 'insiders' and 'outsiders'. The Bellville central business district demonstrates the realities of interconnected local and global hierarchies of citizenship and belonging and how they emerge in a world of accelerated mobility. The book further demonstrates how the emergence of conviviality in everyday public life represents a critical field for contemplating contemporary notions of human rights, citizenship and belonging.
Rare copy-number variation (CNV) is an important source of risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). We analyzed 2,446 ASD-affected families and confirmed an excess of genic deletions and duplications in affected versus control groups (1.41-fold, p = 1.0 × 10(-5)) and an increase in affected subjects carrying exonic pathogenic CNVs overlapping known loci associated with dominant or X-linked ASD and intellectual disability (odds ratio = 12.62, p = 2.7 × 10(-15), ∼3% of ASD subjects). Pathogenic CNVs, often showing variable expressivity, included rare de novo and inherited events at 36 loci, implicating ASD-associated genes (CHD2, HDAC4, and GDI1) previously linked to other neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as other genes such as SETD5, MIR137, and HDAC9. Consistent with hypothesized gender-specific modulators, females with ASD were more likely to have highly penetrant CNVs (p = 0.017) and were also overrepresented among subjects with fragile X syndrome protein targets (p = 0.02). Genes affected by de novo CNVs and/or loss-of-function single-nucleotide variants converged on networks related to neuronal signaling and development, synapse function, and chromatin regulation.
Myocardial infarction (MI) induces a complex inflammatory immune response, followed by the remodelling of the heart muscle and scar formation. The rapid regeneration of the blood vessel network system by the attraction of hematopoietic stem cells is beneficial for heart function. Despite the important role of chemokines in these processes, their use in clinical practice has so far been limited by their limited availability over a long time-span in vivo. Here, a method is presented to increase physiological availability of chemokines at the site of injury over a defined time-span and simultaneously control their release using biodegradable hydrogels. Two different biodegradable hydrogels were implemented, a fast degradable hydrogel (FDH) for delivering Met-CCL5 over 24 hrs and a slow degradable hydrogel (SDH) for a gradual release of protease-resistant CXCL12 (S4V) over 4 weeks. We demonstrate that the time-controlled release using Met-CCL5-FDH and CXCL12 (S4V)-SDH suppressed initial neutrophil infiltration, promoted neovascularization and reduced apoptosis in the infarcted myocardium. Thus, we were able to significantly preserve the cardiac function after MI. This study demonstrates that time-controlled, biopolymer-mediated delivery of chemokines represents a novel and feasible strategy to support the endogenous reparatory mechanisms after MI and may compliment cell-based therapies.
We examine the relationship between household wealth and self-control. Although self-control has been linked to consumption and financial behavior, its measurement remains an open issue. We employ a definition of self-control failure that follows literature in psychology, suggesting that three factors can render self-control defective: lack of planning, lack of monitoring, and lack of commitment to pre-set plans. Our measure combines those three ingredients and can be computed using a standard representative survey. We find that self-control failure is strongly associated with different household net wealth measures and with self-assessed financial distress.
Heterogenous subtypes of breast cancer need to be analyzed separately. Pooling of datasets can provide reasonable sample sizes but dataset bias is an important concern. We assembled a combined dataset of 579 Affymetrix microarrays from triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) series GSE31519. We developed a method for selecting comparable datasets and to control for the amount of dataset bias of individual probesets.
Mechanics has an important role during morphogenesis, both in the generation of forces driving cell shape changes and in determining the effective material properties of cells and tissues. Drosophila dorsal closure has emerged as a reference model system for investigating the interplay between tissue mechanics and cellular activity. During dorsal closure, the amnioserosa generates one of the major forces that drive closure through the apical contraction of its constituent cells. We combined quantitation of live data, genetic and mechanical perturbation and cell biology, to investigate how mechanical properties and contraction rate emerge from cytoskeletal activity. We found that a decrease in Myosin phosphorylation induces a fluidization of amnioserosa cells which become more compliant. Conversely, an increase in Myosin phosphorylation and an increase in actin linear polymerization induce a solidification of cells. Contrary to expectation, these two perturbations have an opposite effect on the strain rate of cells during DC. While an increase in actin polymerization increases the contraction rate of amnioserosa cells, an increase in Myosin phosphorylation gives rise to cells that contract very slowly. The quantification of how the perturbation induced by laser ablation decays throughout the tissue revealed that the tissue in these two mutant backgrounds reacts very differently. We suggest that the differences in the strain rate of cells in situations where Myosin activity or actin polymerization is increased arise from changes in how the contractile forces are transmitted and coordinated across the tissue through ECadherin-mediated adhesion. Altogether, our results show that there is an optimal level of Myosin activity to generate efficient contraction and suggest that the architecture of the actin cytoskeleton and the dynamics of adhesion complexes are important parameters for the emergence of coordinated activity throughout the tissue.
9.01 This chapter outlines the development of Contingent Convertible Securities (CoCos) for financial institutions from their theoretical origins to their current form under the European Union’s Fourth Capital Requirements Directive framework and its Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and examines the effect the framework and the directive have had on their design and ability to fulfill the ends for which they were initially conceived. It examines this from two viewpoints: the policy goals CoCos are meant to achieve and the corporate law issues raised by the requirements of CRD IV. On the policy side we conclude that CRD IV and the RRD have significantly limited the amount of CoCos a financial institution is likely to issue, but expanded their possible forms by including write-down as well as convertible structures and narrowed the differences between them and pure regulatory bail-in structures, thus calling into question whether they are truly ‘going concern’ rather than ‘gone concern’ capital. On the company law side we conclude that a number of issues, in particular the limits on an authorization of management to issue CoCos and shares, the scope of the shareholders’ right of pre-emption, the concept of dilution and the distinction between contributions in cash and in kind merit closer attention than they appear to have received in the current discussion on CoCos.
Der diesjährige 9. Trockenrasen-Sonderteil von Tuexenia beginnt mit einem Bericht über die aktuellen Aktivitäten der European Dry Grassland Group (EDGG). Zunächst geben wir einen Überblick über die Entwicklung der Mitgliederzahl. Dann berichten wir vom letzten European Dry Grassland Meeting in Zamość (Polen, 2013) und vom letzten European Dry Grassland Field Workshop in Chakassien (Russland, 2013) und informieren über künftige Veranstaltungen der EDGG. Anschließend erläutern wir die Publikationsaktivitäten der EDGG. Im zweiten Teil des Editorials geben wir eine Einführung zu den fünf Artikeln des diesjährigen Trockenrasen-Sonderteils: Zwei davon beschäftigen sich mit der Syntaxonomie von Trockenrasen in Osteuropa: Der eine Artikel präsentiert erstmalig eine nach internationalen Nomenklaturregeln gültige Liste der Trockenrasengesellschaften Serbiens während der andere die Ergebnisse des zweiten EDGG-Field Workshop 2010 nach Podolien (Ukraine) vorstellt. Im dritten Artikel werden kryophytische Steppen in Südsibirien (Russland) analysiert. Der vierte Artikel analysiert in Böhmen (Tschechien) die bestimmenden Kräfte für Artenreichtum und Artenzusammensetzung der Trockenrasen. Der fünfte Artikel befasst sich mit der Auswahl von Wiederansiedlungsarten am Beispiel der Steppenrasen in Thüringen (Deutschland).
The pi-calculus is a well-analyzed model for mobile processes and mobile computations.
While a lot of other process and lambda calculi that are core languages of higher-order concurrent and/or functional programming languages use a contextual semantics observing the termination behavior of programs in all program contexts, traditional program equivalences in the pi-calculus are bisimulations and barbed testing equivalences, which observe the communication capabilities of processes under reduction and in contexts.
There is a distance between these two approaches to program equivalence which makes it hard to compare the pi-calculus with other languages. In this paper we contribute to bridging this gap by investigating a contextual semantics of the synchronous pi-calculus with replication and without sums.
To transfer contextual equivalence to the pi-calculus we add a process Stop as constant which indicates success and is used as the base to define and analyze the contextual equivalence which observes may- and should-convergence of processes.
We show as a main result that contextual equivalence in the pi-calculus with Stop conservatively extends barbed testing equivalence in the (Stop-free) pi-calculus. This implies that results on contextual equivalence can be directly transferred to the (Stop-free) pi-calculus with barbed testing equivalence.
We analyze the contextual ordering, prove some nontrivial process equivalences, and provide proof tools for showing contextual equivalences. Among them are a context lemma, and new notions of sound applicative similarities for may- and should-convergence.
I numerically solve realistically calibrated life cycle consumption-investment problems in continuous time featuring stochastic mortality risk driven by jumps, unspanned labor income as well as short-sale and liquidity constraints and a simple insurance. I compare models with deterministic and stochastic hazard rate of death to a model without mortality risk. Mortality risk has only minor effects on the optimal controls early in the life cycle but it becomes crucial in later years. A diffusive component in the hazard rate of death has no significant impact, whereas a jump component is desired by the agent and influences optimal controls and wealth evolution. The insurance is used to ensure optimal bequest such that there is no accidental bequest. In the absence of the insurance, the biggest part of bequest is accidental.
Consumption-based asset pricing with rare disaster risk : a simulated method of moments approach
(2014)
The rare disaster hypothesis suggests that the extraordinarily high postwar U.S. equity premium resulted because investors ex ante demanded compensation for unlikely but calamitous risks that they happened not to incur. Although convincing in theory, empirical tests of the rare disaster explanation are scarce. We estimate a disaster-including consumption-based asset pricing model (CBM) using a combination of the simulated method of moments and bootstrapping. We consider several methodological alternatives that differ in the moment matches and the way to account for disasters in the simulated consumption growth and return series. Whichever specification is used, the estimated preference parameters are of an economically plausible size, and the estimation precision is much higher than in previous studies that use the canonical CBM. Our results thus provide empirical support for the rare disaster hypothesis, and help reconcile the nexus between real economy and financial markets implied by the consumption-based asset pricing paradigm.
he observed hump-shaped life-cycle pattern in individuals' consumption cannot be explained by the classical consumption-savings model. We explicitly solve a model with utility of both consumption and leisure and with educational decisions affecting future wages. We show optimal consumption is hump shaped and determine the peak age. The hump results from consumption and leisure being substitutes and from the implicit price of leisure being decreasing over time; more leisure means less education, which lowers future wages, and the present value of foregone wages decreases with age. Consumption is hump shaped whether the wage is hump shaped or increasing over life.
Construction and commissioning of a setup to study ageing phenomena in high rate gas detectors
(2014)
In high-rate heavy-ion experiments, gaseous detectors encounter big challenges in terms of degradation of their performance due to a phenomenon dubbed ageing. In this thesis, a setup for high precision ageing studies has been constructed and commissioned at the GSI detector laboratory. The main objective is the study of ageing phenomena evoked by materials used to build gaseous detectors for the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR).
The precision of the measurement, e.g., of the gain of a gaseous detector, is a key element in ageing studies: it allows to perform the measurement at realistic rates in an acceptable time span. It is well known the accelerating ageing employing high intensity sources might produce misleading results. The primary objective is to build an apparatus which allows very accurate measurements and is thus sensitive to minute degradations in detector performance. The construction and commissioning of the
setup has been carried out in two steps. During the first step of this work, a simpler setup which already existed in the detector laboratory of GSI had been utilised to define all conditions related to ageing studies. The outcome of these studies defined the properties and characteristics that must be met to build and operate a new, sophisticated and precise setup. The already existing setup consisted of two identical Multi Wire Proportional Chambers (MWPCs), a gas mixing station, an 55Fe source, an x-ray generator, an outgassing box and stainless steel tubing. In a first step, the gain and electric field configuration of the MWPCs were simulated by a combination of a gas simulation (Magboltz) and electric field simulation program (Garfield). The performance and operating conditions of the chambers have been thoroughly characterised before utilising them in first preparatory ageing test. The main diagnostic parameter in ageing studies is the detector gain, thus it is mandatory for precise ageing studies to minimise the systematic and statistical variation of the pressure and temperature corrected gain. To achieve the required accuracy, several improvements of the chamber design and the gas system have been implemented. In addition, the temperature measurement has been optimised. During the preparatory tests, several ageing studies have been carried out. The ageing effect of seven materials and gases have been carried out during these tests: RTV-3145, Ar/CO2 gas, Durostone flushed with Ar/Isobutane gas, Vetronit G11, Vetronit G11 contaminated with Micro 3000 and Gerband 705. The results of these studies went into the design of the new sophisticated ageing setup. For example some tests revealed that there was, even after cleaning, a certain level of contamination with "ageing agents" in the existing setup, which made it imperative to ensure a very high level cleanness of all components during the construction of the setup. The curing period of some testing samples like glues or the gas flow rate were found to be very important factors that must be taken into account to obtain comparable results. Very important changes in the chamber design have been made, i.e., the aluminium-Kapton cathodes used in MWPCs have been replaced with multi-wire planes and the fibreglass housing of the chamber has been changed to metal. The second step started with building the new setup which was designed based on the findings from the first step. The new ageing setup consists of three MWPCs, two moving platforms, an 55Fe source, a copper-anode x-ray generator, two outgassing boxes, both flexible and rigid stainless steel tubes. Before fabrication of the chambers, simulations of their electric field and the gain have been done using Magboltz and Garfield programs. After that, the chambers were installed and tested. A 0.3% peak-to-peak residual variation of the corrected gain has been achieved. Finally, the complete setup has been operated with full functionality in no-ageing conditions during one week. This test revealed very stable gain in all three chambers. After that two materials (Gerban 705 and RTV-3145) have been inserted in the two outgassing boxes and tested. They revealed an ageing rate of about 0.3%/mC/cm and 3%/mC/cm respectively. The final test proves the stability and accuracy of the ageing measurements carried out with the ageing setup at the detector laboratory at GSI which is ready to conduct the envisaged systematic ageing studies.
We present a simultaneous calculation of heavy single-Λ hypernuclei and compact stars containing hypernuclear core within a relativistic density functional theory based on a Lagrangian which includes the hyperon octet and lightest isoscalar-isovector mesons which couple to baryons with density-dependent couplings. The corresponding density functional allows for SU(6) symmetry breaking and mixing in the isoscalar sector, whereby the departures in the σ–Λ and σ–Σ couplings away from their values implied by the SU(3) symmetric model are used to adjust the theory to the laboratory and astronomical data. We fix σ–Λ coupling using the data on the single-Λ hypernuclei and derive an upper bound on the σ–Σ from the requirement that the lower bound on the maximum mass of a compact star is 2M⊙.
In this work the baryon number and strange susceptibility of second and fourth order are presented. The results at zero baryon-chemical potential are obtained using a well tested chiral effective model including all known hadron degrees of freedom and additionally implementing quarks and gluons in a PNJL-like approach. Quark and baryon number susceptibilities are sensitive to the fundamental degrees of freedom in the model and signal the shift from massive hadrons to light quarks at the deconfinement transition by a sharp rise at the critical temperature. Furthermore, all susceptibilities are found to be largely suppressed by repulsive vector field interactions of the particles. In the hadronic sector vector repulsion of baryon resonances restrains fluctuations to a large amount and in the quark sector above Tc even small vector field interactions of quarks quench all fluctuations unreasonably strong. For this reason, vector field interactions for quarks have to vanish in the deconfinement limit.
Consequences of a human TRPA1 genetic variant on the perception of nociceptive and olfactory stimuli
(2014)
Background: TRPA1 ion channels are involved in nociception and are also excited by pungent odorous substances. Based on reported associations of TRPA1 genetics with increased sensitivity to thermal pain stimuli, we therefore hypothesized that this association also exists for increased olfactory sensitivity.
Methods: Olfactory function and nociception was compared between carriers (n = 38) and non-carriers (n = 43) of TRPA1 variant rs11988795 G.A, a variant known to enhance cold pain perception. Olfactory function was quantified by assessing the odor threshold, odor discrimination and odor identification, and by applying 200-ms pulses of H2S intranasal. Nociception was assessed by measuring pain thresholds to experimental nociceptive stimuli (blunt pressure, electrical stimuli, cold and heat stimuli, and 200-ms intranasal pulses of CO2).
Results: Among the 11 subjects with moderate hyposmia, carriers of the minor A allele (n = 2) were underrepresented (34 carriers among the 70 normosmic subjects; p = 0.049). Moreover, carriers of the A allele discriminated odors significantly better than non-carriers (13.161.5 versus 12.361.6 correct discriminations) and indicated a higher intensity of the H2S stimuli (29.2613.2 versus 21612.8 mm VAS, p = 0.006), which, however, could not be excluded to have involved a trigeminal component during stimulation. Finally, the increased sensitivity to thermal pain could be reproduced.
Conclusions: The findings are in line with a previous association of a human TRPA1 variant with nociceptive parameters and extend the association to the perception of odorants. However, this addresses mainly those stimulants that involve a trigeminal component whereas a pure olfactory effect may remain disputable. Nevertheless, findings suggest that future TRPA1 modulating drugs may modify the perception of odorants.
Aims: We have provided evidence in former studies that cytokines (IL-8, TNF alpha, LBP, TGFß) measured in blood correlate negatively with lung function in deltaF508 homozygous patients. GAP junction proteins might be of importance for the influx of blood cells into the lung. Our aim was to assess the relationship between connexin genotypes and cytokines (IL-8, TNF-alpha, LBP, TGFß) in induced sputum and serum, and lung disease.
Methods: 36 patients homozygous for deltaF508 (median age 18 y, m/f 16/20, FEV1(%) 77) were examined. Sequence analysis was performed for genes encoding GAP junction protein alpha 1 (GJA1/connexin 43) and gap junction protein alpha 4 (GJA4/connexin 37). Cytokines were assessed in serum and induced sputum (IS) by chemiluminescence (DPC Biermann, Bad Homburg, Germany) as well as leukocyte counts.
Results: DNA analysis was performed in 35 patients. Whereas GJA1 showed only one rare heterozygous synonymous SNP (rs138386744) in one patient, four common SNPs were detected in GJA4. Two were synonymous changes, but the third variant (rs41266431) predicts an amino acid substitution (GTA → valine, ATA → isoleucine) as well as the fourth SNP (rs1764391: CCC→proline, TCC→serine). For rs41266431 patients with homozygosity for the G variant had higher IL-8 levels (median: 13.3/8.0 pg/ml, p=0.07) in serum as well as leukocytes in sputum (median: 2050/421 /µl p=0.041) than those showing heterozygosity (G/A). In individuals > 30 years lung function (FEV1 41.3/84.83 % predicted, p=0.07) was worse.
Conclusion: SNP rs41266431 seems a promising candidate for further investigations, suggesting GJA4 a potential disease modifying gene.
Connecting narrative worlds
(2014)
In this paper we discuss to what extent one can infer details of the interior structure of a black hole based on its horizon. Recalling that black hole thermal properties are connected to the non-classical nature of gravity, we circumvent the restrictions of the no-hair theorem by postulating that the black hole interior is singularity free due to violations of the usual energy conditions. Further these conditions allow one to establish a one-to-one, holographic projection between Planckian areal “bits” on the horizon and “voxels”, representing the gravitational degrees of freedom in the black hole interior. We illustrate the repercussions of this idea by discussing an example of the black hole interior consisting of a de Sitter core postulated to arise from the local graviton quantum vacuum energy. It is shown that the black hole entropy can emerge as the statistical entropy of a gas of voxels.
The paper considers the interdependence between word order, congruence and formal cases – the means which, together with lexical meaning and formal class markers, explicate the concrete syntactic relations in a sentence. There are languages (including the Slavic ones) in whose structure congruence is very important. They may or may not possess formal cases. Even if they have no formal cases their word order is relatively free due to the compensatory role of congruence, which is often, but not always, able to eliminate potential ambiguity in the sentence, assisted to a certain extent by animacy, definiteness, pronoun duplicates of the objects and extra-linguistic knowledge (and Modern Bulgarian is good enough to illustrate this). At the same time, even in congruence languages with formal cases there are strict word order rules. In both kinds of congruence languages the violation of these rules can make a sentence utterly unintelligible (the last is exemplified by a couple of lines from Spanish and Ukrainian poetry).
Introduction: Currently there are several advanced guiding techniques for pathoanatomical diagnosis of incidental solitary pulmonary nodules (iSPN): Electromagnetic navigation (EMN) with or without endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) with miniprobe, transthoracic ultrasound (TTUS) for needle approach to the pleural wall and adjacent lung and computed tomography (CT) -guidance for (seldom if ever used) endobronchial or (common) transthoracical approach. In several situations one technique is not enough for efficient diagnosis, therefore we investigated a new diagnostic technique of endobronchial guided biopsies by a Cone Beam Computertomography (CBCT) called DynaCT (SIEMENS AG Forchheim, Germany). Method and Material: In our study 33 incidental solitary pulmonary nodules (iSPNs) (28 malignant, 5 benign; mean diameter 25 +/-12mm, shortest distance to pleura 25+/-18mm) were eligible according to in- and exclusion criteria. Realtime and onsite navigation were performed according to our standard protocol.22 All iSPN were controlled with a second technique when necessary and clinical feasible in case of unspecific or unexpected histological result. In all cases common guidelines of treatment of different iSPNs were followed in a routine manner. Results: Overall navigational yield (ny) was 91% and diagnostic yield (dy) 70%, dy for all accomplished malignant cases (n=28) was 82%. In the subgroup analysis of the invisible iSPN (n=12, 11 malignant, 1 benign; mean diameter 15+/-3mm) we found an overall dy of 75%. For the first time we describe a significant difference in specifity of biopsy results in regards to the position of the forceps in the 3-dimensional volume (3DV) of the iSPN in the whole sample group. Comparing the specifity of biopsies of a 3D-uncentered but inside the outer one third of an iSPN-3DV with the specifity of biopsies of centered forceps position (meaning the inner two third of an iSPN-3DV) reveals a significant (p=0,0375 McNemar) difference for the size group (>1cm) of 0,9 for centered biopsies vs. 0,3 for uncentered biopsies. Therefore only 3D-centered biopsies should be relied on especially in case of a benign result. Conclusion:The diagnostic yield of DynaCT navigation guided transbronchial biopsies (TBB) only with forceps is at least up to twofold higher than conventional TBB for iSPNs <2cm. The diagnostic yield of DynaCT navigation guided forceps TBB in invisible SPNs is at least in the range of other navigation studies which were performed partly with multiple navigation tools and multiple instruments. For future diagnostic and therapeutic approaches it is so far the only onsite and realtime extrathoracic navigation approach (except for computed tomography (CT)-fluoroscopy) in the bronchoscopy suite which keeps the working channel open. The system purchase represents an important investment for hospitals but it is a multidisciplinary and multinavigational tool with possible access via bronchial airways, transthoracical or vascular approach at the same time and on the same table without the need for an expensive disposable instrument use.
A hybrid form of tilapia was introduced into Port Sulphur, Louisiana and was subsequently managed by treatment with rotenone and stocking of native predatory fishes. Measurements of tilapia from before this management event were compared to measurements of tilapia in the two years after the treatment. Post-management tilapia were consistently deeper in body and had greater weight per unit length (condition) when compared to pre-management fish. Procrustes generalized least squares data supported this by consistently finding post-management tilapia to be consistently deeper in body and head shape than pre-management fish. Although this could indicate the effectiveness of stocking native predators, several other factors, including two cold winters, seasonal effects, and less competition, may have contributed to this result.
The availability of organelle genome sequences of bryophytes provides opportunity to mine this data. Therefore in this study microsatellites in chloroplast genome sequence of Pellia endiviifolia (Accession number: NC_019628), downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in fasta format, were identified. The sequence was mined with the help of MISA, a Perl script, to detect microsatellites. In total, 16 perfect microsatellites were identified in 120.546 kb sequence mined. An average length of 14.94 bp was calculated for mined microsatellites with a density of 1 SSR/7.09 kb. Depending on the repeat units, the length of microsatellites ranged from 12 to 18 bp. Tetranucleotides (7, 43.75%) were the most frequent repeat type, followed by mononucleotide (3, 18.75%) repeats. Dinucleotide, trinucleotide and pentanucleotide repeats were found with equal frequency (2, 12.5%). Interestingly, hexanucleotide repeats were completely absent in chloroplast genome of Pellia endiviifolia.
Research in the field of Digital Humanities, also known as Humanities Computing, has seen a steady increase over the past years. Situated at the intersection of computing science and the humanities, present efforts focus on making resources such as texts, images, musical pieces and other semiotic artifacts digitally available, searchable and analysable. To this end, computational tools enabling textual search, visual analytics, data mining, statistics and natural language processing are harnessed to support the humanities researcher. The processing of large data sets with appropriate software opens up novel and fruitful approaches to questions in the traditional humanities. This report summarizes the Dagstuhl seminar 14301 on “Computational Humanities - bridging the gap between Computer Science and Digital Humanities”.
1998 ACM Subject Classification I.2.7 Natural Language Processing, J.5 Arts and Humanities
In reply to internal or external danger stimuli, the body orchestrates an inflammatory response. The endogenous triggers of this process are the damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). DAMPs represent a heterogeneous group of molecules that draw their origin either from inside the various compartments of the cell or from the extracellular space. Following interaction with pattern recognition receptors in cross-talk with various non-immune receptors, DAMPs determine the downstream signaling outcome of septic and aseptic inflammatory responses. In this review, the diverse nature, structural characteristics, and signaling pathways elicited by DAMPs will be critically evaluated.
Complexin-1 and foxp1 expression changes are novel brain effects of
alpha-synuclein pathology
(2014)
As the second most frequent neurodegenerative disorder of the aging population, Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by progressive deficits in spontaneous movement, atrophy of dopaminergic midbrain neurons and aggregation of the protein alpha-synuclein (SNCA). To elucidate molecular events before irreversible cell death, we studied synucleinopathy-induced expression changes in mouse brain and identified 49 midbrain/brainstem-specific transcriptional dysregulations. In particular complexin-1 (Cplx1), Rabl2a and 14-3-3epsilon (Ywhae) downregulation, as well as upregulation of the midbrain-specific factor forkhead box P1 (Foxp1) and of Rabgef1, were interesting as early mRNA level effects of alpha-synuclein triggered pathology. The protein levels of complexin-1 were elevated in midbrain/brainstem tissue of mice with A53T-SNCA overexpression and of mice with SNCA-knockout. The response of CPLX1 and Foxp1 levels to SNCA deficiency supports the notion that these factors are regulated by altered physiological function of alpha-synuclein. Thus, their analysis might be useful in PD stages before the advent of Lewy pathology. Because both alpha-synuclein and complexin-1 modulate vesicle release, our findings support presynaptic dysfunction as an early event in PD pathology.
We study the effects of the recent economic crisis on firms׳ bidding behavior and markups in sealed bid auctions. Using data from Austrian construction procurements, we estimate bidders׳ construction costs within a private value auction model. We find that markups of all bids submitted decrease by 1.5 percentage points in the recent economic crisis, markups of winning bids decrease by 3.3 percentage points. We also find that without the government stimulus package this decrease would have been larger. These two pieces of evidence point to pro-cyclical markups.
Objective: Videolaryngoscopy has mainly been developed to facilitate difficult airway intubation. However, there is a lack of studies demonstrating this method's efficacy in pediatric patients. The aim of the present study was to compare the TruView infant EVO2 and the C-MAC videolaryngoscope with conventional direct Macintosh laryngoscopy in children with a bodyweight ≤10 kg in terms of intubation conditions and the time to intubation.
Methods: In total, 65 children with a bodyweight ≤10 kg (0-22 months) who had undergone elective surgery requiring endotracheal intubation were retrospectively analyzed. Our database was screened for intubations with the TruView infant EVO2, the C-MAC videolaryngoscope, and conventional direct Macintosh laryngoscopy. The intubation conditions, the time to intubation, and the oxygen saturation before and after intubation were monitored, and demographic data were recorded. Only children with a bodyweight ≤10 kg were included in the analysis.
Results: A total of 23 children were intubated using the C-MAC videolaryngoscope, and 22 children were intubated using the TruView EVO2. Additionally, 20 children were intubated using a standard Macintosh blade. The time required for tracheal intubation was significantly longer using the TruView EVO2 (52 sec vs. 28 sec for C-MAC vs. 26 sec for direct LG). However, no significant difference in oxygen saturation was found after intubation.
Conclusion: All devices allowed excellent visualization of the vocal cords, but the time to intubation was prolonged when the TruView EVO2 was used. The absence of a decline in oxygen saturation may be due to apneic oxygenation via the TruView scope and may provide a margin of safety. In sum, the use of the TruView by a well-trained anesthetist may be an alternative for difficult airway management in pediatric patients.
Comparing two methods of determining infiltration rates of permeable interlocking concrete pavers
(2014)
Adequate infiltration through Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavements (PICPs) is critical to their hydraulic performance. Detected by monitoring infiltration performance, reduced infiltration rates can indicate that maintenance is required. Measurement of infiltration rates has previously been problematic on PICPs because of a lack of accepted standard methodologies and the practical difficulties in modifying existing testing methodologies. On large sites, standard methodologies necessitate multiple measurements to achieve accuracy. Standard methods also contend with practical issues such as sealing the rings to the surface to prevent lateral water flow. This study examined the performance of two PICP surface infiltration rate measurement methods: a modified double-ring infiltrometer (DRIT), and a specially designed rainfall simulation infiltrometer (RSIT). A positive correlation (R2 = 0.85) of results was found between the two, demonstrating that the RSIT was comparable to the DRIT. The modified DRIT produced surface infiltration results approximately 60% higher than the RSIT results. The RSIT provided lower variation between tests, requiring fewer measurements in large sites whilst still maintaining accuracy, thereby improving testing efficiency. The new RSIT method also eliminates some of the practical difficulties with existing methodologies such as unrealistic pressure heads artificially increasing infiltration rates, and the use of sealant under test measurement infiltration rings.
The common aim of transcranial stimulation methods is the induction or alterations of cortical excitability in a controlled way. Significant effects of each individual stimulation method have been published; however, conclusive direct comparisons of many of these methods are rare. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of three widely applied stimulation methods inducing excitability enhancement in the motor cortex: 1 mA anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS), intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS), and 1 mA transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) within one subject group. The effect of each stimulation condition was quantified by evaluating motor-evoked-potential amplitudes (MEPs) in a fixed time sequence after stimulation. The analyses confirmed a significant enhancement of the M1 excitability caused by all three types of active stimulations compared to sham stimulation. There was no significant difference between the types of active stimulations, although the time course of the excitatory effects slightly differed. Among the stimulation methods, tRNS resulted in the strongest and atDCS significantly longest MEP increase compared to sham. Different time courses of the applied stimulation methods suggest different underlying mechanisms of action. Better understanding may be useful for better targeting of different transcranial stimulation techniques.
We compared Chatham Island endemic species Xanthocnemis tuanuii to its congenerics from the New Zealand South Island: X. zealandica (newly collected specimens)and X. sinclairi (type specimens plus newly collected material). Two independent tests were performed –geometric morphometrics and molecular. Both analyses were consistent in supporting the status of X. tuanuiias a good species. Species differed statistically in the following morphological traits: head (dorsal view), male appendages (dorsal, lateral, posterior and ventral views), thorax (dorsal view), and penis (dorsal and lateral view). In addition to the original diagnostic features (mainly shape of the male superior appendages), a new morphological character is suggested here which reliably distinguishes the species based on the shape of the inferior appendages. There was no statistical support for the species status of X. sinclairi. The only feature re-ported as diagnostic (lower lobe of male superior appendages) was found to be variable and insufficient to warrant the previously proposed taxonomic rank for X. sinclairi. Molecular analysis of specimens showing identical appendages to the X. sinclairi holotype grouped them with X. zealandica specimens. Therefore X. sinclairi is synonymised with X. zealandica.
The endophallic structure of the genus Laius is studied and discussed based on the examination of 19 species from Asia to the Indian Ocean. The structure contains two primary sclerites (named gonoporal piece and ligula), a secondary sclerite on the basal part of the gonoporal piece (named additional sclerite) in some species, and a membranous basal area closely covered with many spines (named spinous area). Five species groups are recognized based on the morphology of the endophallic sclerites. The sympatric species have different body sizes and quite distinguishable endophallic sclerites (= different species group), while the allopatric species have overlapping body sizes and similar endophallic sclerites (= same species group). Three new species are described and six previously known species are redescribed with endophallic sclerites, and the descriptions of endophallic sclerites of the remaining ten species are added. The larva of Laius rodriguesensis sp. nov. is also described. The genus
Nossibeus Evers, 1994 is synonymised with Laius Guérin-Méneville, 1830.