@article{DreymannWuenscheSabrowskietal.2022, author = {Dreymann, Nico and Wuensche, Julia and Sabrowski, Wiebke and Moeller, Anja and Czepluch, Denise and Vu Van, Dana and F{\"u}ssel, Susanne and Menger, Marcus M.}, title = {Inhibition of Human Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator (uPA) Enzyme Activity and Receptor Binding by DNA Aptamers as Potential Therapeutics through Binding to the Different Forms of uPA}, series = {International journal of molecular sciences}, volume = {23}, journal = {International journal of molecular sciences}, number = {9}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1661-6596}, doi = {10.3390/ijms23094890}, pages = {22}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Urokinase-type plasminogen activator is widely discussed as a marker for cancer prognosis and diagnosis and as a target for cancer therapies. Together with its receptor, uPA plays an important role in tumorigenesis, tumor progression and metastasis. In the present study, systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) was used to select single-stranded DNA aptamers targeting different forms of human uPA. Selected aptamers allowed the distinction between HMW-uPA and LMW-uPA, and therefore, presumably, have different binding regions. Here, uPAapt-02-FR showed highly affine binding with a K-D of 0.7 nM for HMW-uPA and 21 nM for LMW-uPA and was also able to bind to pro-uPA with a K-D of 14 nM. Furthermore, no cross-reactivity to mouse uPA or tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) was measured, demonstrating high specificity. Suppression of the catalytic activity of uPA and inhibition of uPAR-binding could be demonstrated through binding with different aptamers and several of their truncated variants. Since RNA aptamers are already known to inhibit uPA-uPAR binding and other pathological functions of the uPA system, these aptamers represent a novel, promising tool not only for detection of uPA but also for interfering with the pathological functions of the uPA system by additionally inhibiting uPA activity.}, language = {en} } @article{JuangSchachnerAraletal.2023, author = {Juang, Linda P. and Schachner, Maja and Aral, Tuğ{\c{c}}e and Schwarzenthal, Miriam and Kunyu, David Khisoni and L{\"o}hmannsr{\"o}ben, Hanna}, title = {Effects of a brief self-affirmation writing intervention among 7(th) graders in Germany}, series = {Social psychology of education : an international journal}, journal = {Social psychology of education : an international journal}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Dordrecht}, issn = {1381-2890}, doi = {10.1007/s11218-023-09789-9}, pages = {35}, year = {2023}, abstract = {We tested whether a brief self-affirmation writing intervention protected against identity-threats (i.e., stereotyping and discrimination) for adolescents' school-related adjustment. The longitudinal study followed 639 adolescents in Germany (65\% of immigrant descent, 50\% female, M-age = 12.35 years, SDage = .69) from 7(th) grade (pre-intervention at T1, five to six months post-intervention at T2) to the end of 8(th) grade (one-year follow-up at T3). We tested for direct and moderated (by heritage group, discrimination, classroom cultural diversity climate) effects using regression and latent change models. The self-affirmation intervention did not promote grades or math competence. However, in the short-term and for adolescents of immigrant descent, the intervention prevented a downward trajectory in mastery reactions to academic challenges for those experiencing greater discrimination. Further, it protected against a decline in behavioral school engagement for those in positive classroom cultural diversity climates. In the long-term and for all adolescents, the intervention lessened an upward trajectory in disruptive behavior. Overall, the self-affirmation intervention benefited some aspects of school-related adjustment for adolescents of immigrant and non-immigrant descent. The intervention context is important, with classroom cultural diversity climate acting as a psychological affordance enhancing affirmation effects. Our study supports the ongoing call for theorizing and empirically testing student and context heterogeneity to better understand for whom and under which conditions this intervention may work.}, language = {en} } @article{ValenzuelaMalebranCescaLopezCominoetal.2022, author = {Valenzuela-Malebran, Carla and Cesca, Simone and Lopez-Comino, Jos{\´e} {\´A}ngel and Zeckra, Martin and Kr{\"u}ger, F. and Dahm, Torsten}, title = {Source mechanisms and rupture processes of the Jujuy seismic nest, Chile-Argentina border}, series = {Journal of South American earth sciences}, volume = {117}, journal = {Journal of South American earth sciences}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0895-9811}, doi = {10.1016/j.jsames.2022.103887}, pages = {13}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The Altiplano-Puna plateau, in Central Andes, is the second-largest continental plateau on Earth, extending between 22 degrees and 27 degrees S at an average altitude of 4400 m. The Puna plateau has been formed in consequence of the subduction of the oceanic Nazca Plate beneath the continental South American plate, which has an average crustal thickness of 50 km at this location. A large seismicity cluster, the Jujuy cluster, is observed at depth of 150-250 km beneath the central region of the Puna plateau. The cluster is seismically very active, with hundreds of earthquakes reported and a peak magnitude MW 6.6 on 25th August 2006. The cluster is situated in one of three band of intermediate-depth focus seismicity, which extend parallel to the trench roughly North to South. It has been hypothesized that the Jujuy cluster could be a seismic nest, a compact seismogenic region characterized by a high stationary activity relative to its surroundings. In this study, we collected more than 40 years of data from different catalogs and proof that the cluster meets the three conditions of a seismic nest. Compared to other known intermediate depth nests at Hindu Kush (Afganisthan) or Bucaramanga (Colombia), the Jujuy nest presents an outstanding seismicity rate, with more than 100 M4+ earthquakes per year. We additionally performed a detailed analysis of the rupture process of some of the largest earthquakes in the nest, by means of moment tensor inversion and directivity analysis. We focused on the time period 2017-2018, where the seismic monitoring was the most extended. Our results show that earthquakes in the nest take place within the eastward subducting oceanic plate, but rupture along sub-horizontal planes dipping westward. We suggest that seismicity at Jujuy nest is controlled by dehydration processes, which are also responsible for the generation of fluids ascending to the crust beneath the Puna volcanic region. We use the rupture plane and nest geometry to provide a constraint to maximal expected magnitude, which we estimate as MW -6.7.}, language = {en} } @article{CarvalhoBrosinskyFoersteretal.2022, author = {Carvalho, Thayslan and Brosinsky, Arlena and Foerster, Saskia and Teixeira, Adunias and Medeiros, Pedro Henrique Augusto}, title = {Reservoir sediment characterisation by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in a semiarid region to support sediment reuse for soil fertilization}, series = {Journal of soils and sediments : protection, risk assessment and remediation}, volume = {22}, journal = {Journal of soils and sediments : protection, risk assessment and remediation}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Heidelberg}, issn = {1439-0108}, doi = {10.1007/s11368-022-03281-1}, pages = {2557 -- 2577}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Purpose: Soil erosion by water yields sediment to surface reservoirs, reducing their storage capacities, changing their geometry, and degrading water quality. Sediment reuse, i.e., fertilization of agricultural soils with the nutrient-enriched sediment from reservoirs, has been proposed as a recovery strategy. However, the sediment needs to meet certain criteria. In this study, we characterize sediments from the densely dammed semiarid Northeast Brazil by VNIR-SWIR spectroscopy and assess the effect of spectral resolution and spatial scale on the accuracy of N, P, K, C, electrical conductivity, and clay prediction models. Methods Sediment was collected in 10 empty reservoirs, and physical and chemical laboratory analyses as well as spectral measurements were performed. The spectra, initially measured at 1 nm spectral resolution, were resampled to 5 and 10 nm, and samples were analysed for both high and low spectral resolution at three spatial scales, namely (1) reservoir, (2) catchment, and (3) regional scale. Results Partial least square regressions performed from good to very good in the prediction of clay and electrical conductivity from reservoir (<40 km(2)) to regional (82,500 km(2)) scales. Models for C and N performed satisfactorily at the reservoir scale, but degraded to unsatisfactory at the other scales. Models for P and K were more unstable and performed from unsatisfactorily to satisfactorily at all scales. Coarsening spectral resolution by up to 10 nm only slightly degrades the models' performance, indicating the potential of characterizing sediment from spectral data captured at lower resolutions, such as by hyperspectral satellite sensors. Conclusion: By reducing the costly and time-consuming laboratory analyses, the method helps to promote the sediment reuse as a practice of soil and water conservation.}, language = {en} } @article{Franzke2020, author = {Franzke, Jochen}, title = {Deutschlands Krisenmanagement in der CORONA-Pandemie.}, series = {Rocznik Integracji Europejskiej}, volume = {14}, journal = {Rocznik Integracji Europejskiej}, publisher = {Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu}, address = {Poznań}, issn = {1899-6256}, doi = {10.14746/rie.2020.14.21}, pages = {325 -- 342}, year = {2020}, language = {de} } @article{PuriVardeMelo2023, author = {Puri, Manish and Varde, Aparna S. and Melo, Gerard de}, title = {Commonsense based text mining on urban policy}, series = {Language resources and evaluation}, volume = {57}, journal = {Language resources and evaluation}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Dordrecht [u.a.]}, issn = {1574-020X}, doi = {10.1007/s10579-022-09584-6}, pages = {733 -- 763}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Local laws on urban policy, i.e., ordinances directly affect our daily life in various ways (health, business etc.), yet in practice, for many citizens they remain impervious and complex. This article focuses on an approach to make urban policy more accessible and comprehensible to the general public and to government officials, while also addressing pertinent social media postings. Due to the intricacies of the natural language, ranging from complex legalese in ordinances to informal lingo in tweets, it is practical to harness human judgment here. To this end, we mine ordinances and tweets via reasoning based on commonsense knowledge so as to better account for pragmatics and semantics in the text. Ours is pioneering work in ordinance mining, and thus there is no prior labeled training data available for learning. This gap is filled by commonsense knowledge, a prudent choice in situations involving a lack of adequate training data. The ordinance mining can be beneficial to the public in fathoming policies and to officials in assessing policy effectiveness based on public reactions. This work contributes to smart governance, leveraging transparency in governing processes via public involvement. We focus significantly on ordinances contributing to smart cities, hence an important goal is to assess how well an urban region heads towards a smart city as per its policies mapping with smart city characteristics, and the corresponding public satisfaction.}, language = {en} } @incollection{Franzke2021, author = {Franzke, Jochen}, title = {Land Brandenburg}, series = {Handw{\"o}rterbuch des politischen Systems der Bundesrepublik Deutschland}, booktitle = {Handw{\"o}rterbuch des politischen Systems der Bundesrepublik Deutschland}, editor = {Andersen, Uwe and Bogumil, J{\"o}rg and Marschall, Stefan and Woyke, Wichard}, publisher = {Springer VS}, address = {Wiesbaden}, isbn = {978-3-658-23665-6}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-658-23666-3_72}, pages = {518 -- 525}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Das {\"u}ber 860 Jahre alte deutsche Land BB liegt im Nordosten Ds zwischen Elbe und Oder. Es umschließt die Bundeshauptstadt BE, die als Einheitsgemeinde zugleich ein eigenes Land bildet. Potsdam als Landeshauptstadt ist mit 176.000 E. die gr{\"o}ßte Stadt in BB. Mit 29.482 qkm (8,3 \% von D) z{\"a}hlt die Mark zu den fl{\"a}chenreichsten Bundesl{\"a}ndern.}, language = {de} } @article{BorghiShakiFischer2022, author = {Borghi, Anna M. and Shaki, Samuel and Fischer, Martin H.}, title = {Concrete constraints on abstract concepts-editorial}, series = {Psychological research : an international journal of perception, attention, memory, and action}, volume = {86}, journal = {Psychological research : an international journal of perception, attention, memory, and action}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Heidelberg}, issn = {0340-0727}, doi = {10.1007/s00426-022-01685-9}, pages = {2366 -- 2369}, year = {2022}, abstract = {This special issue, "Concrete constraints of abstract concepts", addresses the role of concrete determinants, both external and internal to the human body, in acquisition, processing and use of abstract concepts while at the same time presenting to the readers an overview of methods used to assess their representation.}, language = {en} } @article{BryantDaviesSoletal.2022, author = {Bryant, Seth and Davies, Evan and Sol, David and Davis, Sandy}, title = {The progression of flood risk in southern Alberta since the 2013 flood}, series = {Journal of flood risk management}, volume = {15}, journal = {Journal of flood risk management}, number = {3}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1753-318X}, doi = {10.1111/jfr3.12811}, pages = {18}, year = {2022}, abstract = {After a century of semi-restricted floodplain development, Southern Alberta, Canada, was struck by the devastating 2013 Flood. Aging infrastructure and limited property-level floodproofing likely contributed to the \$4-6 billion (CAD) losses. Following this catastrophe, Alberta has seen a revival in flood management, largely focused on structural protections. However, concurrent with the recent structural work was a 100,000+ increase in Calgary's population in the 5 years following the flood, leading to further densification of high-hazard areas. This study implements the novel Stochastic Object-based Flood damage Dynamic Assessment (SOFDA) model framework to quantify the progression of the direct-damage flood risk in a mature urban neighborhood after the 2013 Flood. Five years of remote-sensing data, property assessment records, and inundation simulations following the flood are used to construct the model. Results show that in these 5 years, vulnerability trends (like densification) have increased flood risk by 4\%; however, recent structural mitigation projects have reduced overall flood risk by 47\% for this case study. These results demonstrate that the flood management revival in Southern Alberta has largely been successful at reducing flood risk; however, the gains are under threat from continued development and densification absent additional floodproofing regulations.}, language = {en} } @article{DelperoArendsSprechertetal.2022, author = {Delpero, Manuel and Arends, Danny and Sprechert, Maximilian and Krause, Florian and Kluth, Oliver and Sch{\"u}rmann, Annette and Brockmann, Gudrun A. and Hesse, Deike}, title = {Identification of four novel QTL linked to the metabolic syndrome in the Berlin Fat Mouse}, series = {International journal of obesity / North American Association for the Study of Obesity}, volume = {46}, journal = {International journal of obesity / North American Association for the Study of Obesity}, number = {2}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {Avenel, NJ}, issn = {0307-0565}, doi = {10.1038/s41366-021-00991-3}, pages = {307 -- 315}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Background The Berlin Fat Mouse Inbred line (BFMI) is a model for obesity and the metabolic syndrome. This study aimed to identify genetic variants associated with impaired glucose metabolism using the obese lines BFMI861-S1 and BFMI861-S2, which are genetically closely related, but differ in several traits. BFMI861-S1 is insulin resistant and stores ectopic fat in the liver, whereas BFMI861-S2 is insulin sensitive. Methods In generation 10, 397 males of an advanced intercross line (AIL) BFMI861-S1 x BFMI861-S2 were challenged with a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet and phenotyped over 25 weeks. QTL-analysis was performed after selective genotyping of 200 mice using the GigaMUGA Genotyping Array. Additional 197 males were genotyped for 7 top SNPs in QTL regions. For the prioritization of positional candidate genes whole genome sequencing and gene expression data of the parental lines were used. Results Overlapping QTL for gonadal adipose tissue weight and blood glucose concentration were detected on chromosome (Chr) 3 (95.8-100.1 Mb), and for gonadal adipose tissue weight, liver weight, and blood glucose concentration on Chr 17 (9.5-26.1 Mb). Causal modeling suggested for Chr 3-QTL direct effects on adipose tissue weight, but indirect effects on blood glucose concentration. Direct effects on adipose tissue weight, liver weight, and blood glucose concentration were suggested for Chr 17-QTL. Prioritized positional candidate genes for the identified QTL were Notch2 and Fmo5 (Chr 3) and Plg and Acat2 (Chr 17). Two additional QTL were detected for gonadal adipose tissue weight on Chr 15 (67.9-74.6 Mb) and for body weight on Chr 16 (3.9-21.4 Mb). Conclusions QTL mapping together with a detailed prioritization approach allowed us to identify candidate genes associated with traits of the metabolic syndrome. In addition, we provided evidence for direct and indirect genetic effects on blood glucose concentration in the insulin-resistant mouse line BFMI861-S1.}, language = {en} }