Refine
Has Fulltext
- no (39) (remove)
Year of publication
Document Type
- Part of Periodical (39) (remove)
Language
- English (19)
- German (11)
- Hebrew (6)
- Multiple languages (3)
Keywords
- Erzählforschung (2)
- Mediävistik (2)
- Afghanistan (1)
- Anfänge der systematischen lateinische Epigraphik (1)
- Archiv (1)
- Authoritarianism (1)
- Autoritarismus (1)
- Bangladesh (1)
- Bengal Delta (1)
- Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (1)
Institute
- Historisches Institut (9)
- WeltTrends e.V. Potsdam (8)
- Institut für Biochemie und Biologie (7)
- Institut für Jüdische Theologie (6)
- Institut für Germanistik (4)
- Institut für Romanistik (2)
- Dezernat 2: Studienangelegenheiten (1)
- Institut für Jüdische Studien und Religionswissenschaft (1)
- Philosophische Fakultät (1)
Spring Issue
(2024)
Spring Issue
(2023)
Spring Issue
(2022)
Twenty-three scientists met at Krobielowice, Poland to discuss the role of growth, nutrition and economy on body size. Contrasting prevailing concepts, re-analyses of studies in Indonesian and Guatemalan school children with high prevalence of stunting failed to provide evidence for an association between nutritional status and body height. Direct effects of parental education on growth that were not transmitted via nutrition were shown in Indian datasets using network analysis and novel statistical methods (St. Nicolas House Analysis) that translate correlation matrices into network graphs. Data on Polish children suggest significant impact of socioeconomic sensitivity on child growth, with no effect of maternal money satisfaction. Height and maturation tempo affect the position of a child among its peers. Correlations also exist between mood disorders and height. Secular changes in height and weight varied across decades independent of population size. Historic and recent Russian data showed that height of persons whose fathers performed manual work were on average four cm shorter than persons whose fathers were high-degree specialists. Body height, menarcheal age, and body proportions are sensitive to socioeconomic variables. Additional topics included delayed motherhood and its associations with newborn size; geographic and socioeconomic indicators related to low birth weight, prematurity and stillbirth rate; data on anthropometric history of Brazil, 1850-1950; the impact of central nervous system stimulants on the growth of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; and pituitary development and growth hormone secretion. Final discussions debated on reverse causality interfering between social position, and adolescent growth and developmental tempo.
Groundwater arsenic contamination in the Bengal Delta Plain is an important public health issue
(2021)
There is a close association between human biology, epidemiology and public health. Exposure to toxic elements is one area of such associations and global concerns. The Bengal Delta Plain (BDP) is a region where contamination of ground water by arsenic has assumed epidemic proportions. Apart from dermatological manifestations, chronic exposure to arsenic causes a heavy toll through several carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic disorders. This article provides a global overview of groundwater arsenic contamination in the BDP region, especially the sources, speciation, and mobility of arsenic, and critically reviews the effects of arsenic on human health. The present review also provides a summary of comprehensive knowledge on various measures required for mitigation and social consequences of the problem of arsenic contaminated groundwater in the BDP region.
Background
Subjective Social Status is used as an important predictor for psychological and physiological findings, most commonly measured with the MacArthur Scale (Ladder Test). Previous studies have shown that this test fits better in Western cultures. The idea of a social ladder itself and ranking oneself “higher” or “lower” is a concept that accords to the Western thinking.
Objectives
We hypothesize that in a culture where only the elites have adapted to a Western lifestyle, the test results reflect a higher level of accuracy for this stratum. We also expect that self-perception differs per sex.
Sample and Methods
We implemented the Ladder Test in a study of Indonesian schoolchildren aged between 5 and 13 years (boys N = 369, girls N= 364) from non-private and private schools in Kupang in 2020.
Results
Our analysis showed that the Ladder Test results were according to the Western expectations only for the private school, as the Ladder Scores significantly decreased with age (LM: p = 0.04). The Ladder Test results are best explained by “Education Father” for the non-private school pupils (p = 0.01) and all boys (p = 0.04), by “School Grades” for the private school cohort (p = 0.06) and by “Household Score” for girls (p =0.09).
Conclusion
This finding indicates that the concept of ranking oneself “high” or “low” on a social ladder is strongly implicated with Western ideas. A ladder implies social movement by “climbing” up or down. According to that, reflection of self-perception is influenced by culture.
Background
Over the last 20 years, a decreasing trend in external skeletal robusticity and an increasing trend in overweight and obesity was observed worldwide in adults and children as modern lifestyles in nutritional and activity behavior have changed. However, body mass index (BMI) as a measure for overweight is not an ideal predictor of % body fat (%BF) either in children and adolescents or in adults. On the contrary, it disguises a phenomenon called “hidden obesity”.
Objectives
We aim to approximate %BF by combining skeletal robusticity and BMI and develop an estimation-based tool to identify normal weight obese children and adolescents.
Sample and Methods
We analyzed cross-sectional data on height, weight, elbow breadth, and skinfold thickness (triceps and subscapular) of German children aged 6 to 18 years (N=15,034). We used modified Hattori charts and multiple linear regression to develop a tool, the “%BF estimator”, to estimate %BF by using BMI and skeletal robusticity measured as Frame Index.
Results
Independent of sex and age an increase in BMI is associated with an increase in %BF, an increase in Frame Index is associated with a decrease in %BF. The developed tool “%BF estimator” allows the estimation of %BF per sex and age group after calculation of BMI and Frame Index.
Conclusion
The “%BF estimator” is an easily applicable tool for the estimation of %BF in respect of body composition for clinical practice, screening, and public health research. It is non-invasive and has high accuracy. Further, it allows the identification of normal weight obese children and adolescents.
Background
Nicotine consumption during pregnancy and advanced maternal age are well known independent risk factors for poor pregnancy outcome and therefore serious public health problems.
Objectives
Considering the ongoing trend of delaying childbirth in our society, this study investigates potential additive effects of nicotine consumption during pregnancy and advanced maternal age on foetal growth.
Sample and Methods
In a medical record-based study, we analysed the impact of maternal age and smoking behaviour before and during pregnancy on newborn size among 4142 singleton births that took place in Vienna, Austria between 1990 and 1995.
Results
Birth weight (H=82.176, p<0.001), birth length (H=91.525, p<0.001) and head circumference (H=42.097, p<0.001) differed significantly according to maternal smoking behaviour. For birth weight, the adjusted mean differences between smokers and non-smokers increased from 101.8g for the < 18-year-old mothers to 254.8g for >35 year olds, with the respective values for birth length being 0.6 cm to 0.7cm, for head circumference from 0.3 cm to 0.6 cm.
Conclusion
Increasing maternal age amplified the negative effects of smoking during pregnancy on newborn parameters. Our findings identify older smoking mothers as a high-risk group which should be of special interest for public health systems.
Background
There is a recurring and seamless interaction between the biology of human development and the social-economic-political-emotional (SEPE) environment. The SEPE environment influences the quality of the material conditions for human biology and, simultaneously, human growth in height and other dimensions provide social and moral signals that provide information to community networks.
Objectives
This article reviews the role of SEPE factors in human growth, especially skeletal growth.
Sample and Methods
The meaning of SEPE is defined and shown to be related to individual and group prestige, to social identity, and to ego and task motivation. These influence dominance or subordination of communities and the material and moral conditions of societies. Historical and contemporary examples of SEPE effects on skeletal size are presented.
Results
Membership in a SEPE community impacts skeletal size in height and breadth. Higher SEPE classes are taller, lower SEPE classes are broader. In elite level sport the winners have more growth stimulation via the hormone IGF-1 even before the contest. These findings are explained in terms of dominance versus subordination and the Community Effect in Height hypothesis.
Conclusions
SEPE factor regulation of human growth is shown to be a more comprehensive explanation for plasticity in height than traditional concepts such as socioeconomic status and simple-minded genetic determinism. People belonging to upper SEPE class communities, the elites, know that they are superior and are treated as such by the non-elites. The material and moral condition for life operating through these community social networks provide positive stimulation for the elites and negative stimulation for the lower SEPE classes. These differences maintain the gradients in height between SEPE communities in human societies.
Settings Perspective
(2021)
Spring Issue
(2021)
Focus on English Linguistics
(2021)
המשחק כדבר רציני עד מאוד
(2020)
מדרש של יום: לא יש מאין
(2020)
This special birthday issue for Christine Walde, co-founder and co-editor of thersites, features contributions from colleagues and friends. The articles, essays, and book reviews, centering around the honoranda’s research interests as well as focusing on core topics of thersites, form a thematically varied mosaic (tessellae): innovative constructions of literary genres and poetics (especially bucolic, elegy, epic, and epigram), images of the city of Rome and its counterparts, sleep and dreams, history of classical scholarship, gender studies, and classical reception studies.
Portal alumni
(2004)
Liebe Leserin,lieber Leser,das sind doch gute Nachrichten: Ein Studienabschluss schafft nach einer aktuellen Studie des Hochschul-Informations-Systems (HIS) in Hannover nach wie vor die besten Chancen auf einen Arbeitsplatz. Die Arbeitslosenquote von Akademikern pendelt sich ein halbes Jahr nach dem Examen bei fünf Prozent ein. Bei Absolventen einer Lehre liegt sie dagegen doppelt so hoch. Doch auch für Akademiker ist der Einstieg ins Berufsleben kein Selbstläufer mehr. Mit nichts als eingleisigem Fachwissen als Kapital haben es auch Akademiker inzwischen schwer, denn der Arbeitsmarkt hat sich in den letzten Jahren stark verändert. Welche Veränderungen das sind und wie man am besten darauf reagiert, beleuchtet die Rubrik "wissenstransfer". Das man an der Universität Potsdarn mehr als reines Fachwissen erwerben kann, zeigen die Berichte der Alumni über ihren Berufsweg in der Rubrik "umbrüche". Von geradlinigen Entwicklungen ist da zu lesen, von enttäuschten Erwartungen und ergriffenen Chancen. Sie dokumentieren, wie Brüche im beruflichen Werdegang zwar manchen vom geplanten Weg abkommen ließen, doch auf den persönlich richtigen Pfad fuhrten. Wer sich gerade in der Phase der beruflichen Neuorientierung befindet, oder gerade erst ins Arbeitsleben startet, findet Tipps und Adressen im "wegweiser". Die Redaktion wünscht Ihnen viel Vergnügen beim Lesen von Portal alumni. Mit den besten Grüßen, Ihr Alumni-Team.
Présentation
(2020)
Studies on the “uses of the past” have steadily and consistently advanced over the past twenty years. Following the seminal studies by Hobsbawm and Ranger and Benedict Anderson on the role of narratives of the past in constructing (national) identities, and thanks the always more widespread practice of reception studies, the attention for cultural memory and lieux de mémoire, and following, many publications have investigated the role of nearer and further time layers in defining and determining structures of identity and senses of belonging across the world. Didactics of history has also contributed a great deal to this field of studies, also thanks to the always more refined methodologies of school book analysis. Classical Antiquity has obviously not been neglected, and multiple studies have been dedicated to its role in the development and reinforcement of modern identities. Yet, not only some areas of the world have remained less considered than others, but most attention has been dedicated to national identities, nationalistic discourses, and their activation through historical narratives. This special issues of thersites wants to contribute further to research on the role of Classical Antiquity within modern identities, asking scholars to focus especially on areas that have been less strongly represented in scholarship until now.
According to Haider (2010), we have to distinguish three types of infinitival complements in Present-Day German: (i) CP complements, (ii) VP complements and (iii) verbal clusters. While CP complements give rise to biclausal structures, VP complements and verbal clusters indicate a monoclausal structure. Non-finite verbs in verbal clusters build a syntactic unit with the governing verb. It is only the last infinitival pattern that we address as a so-called coherent infinitival pattern, a notion introduced in the influential work of Bech (1955/57). Verbal clusters are bound to languages with an OV grammar, hence the well-known differences regarding infinitival syntax in German and English (Haider 2003, Bobaljik 2004). On the widespread assumption that German has been an OV language throughout its history (Axel 2007), we expect all three types of infinitival complements to be present from the earliest attestions of German.
Polens Platz in der EU
(2018)
In der deutschen Öffentlichkeit wird Polen oft als nationalistisch, uneuropäisch und letztlich undankbar dargestellt. Es ist deshalb für die Debatte hilfreich, wenn polnische Sichten zur Kenntnis genommen und nicht alte Klischees im neuen EU-Gewand weitergepflegt werden. In WeltTrends 143 kommen polnische Autorinnen und Autoren zu Wort. Sie sprechen offen die Probleme im bilateralen und europäischen Verhältnis an und bieten so manch neue Sicht. Zugleich bringen sie zutage, dass es bei allen Differenzen, die sich in den letzten Jahren aufgetan haben, weiterhin viele Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen Polen und Deutschland in den strategischen Fragen zur EU gibt.
Polen in Europa
(2015)
Bei unseren östlichen Nachbarn werden derzeit mehrere Jubiläen zelebriert: 25 Jahre politischer Umbruch, 15 Jahre Mitgliedschaft in der NATO und 10 Jahre in der EU. WeltTrends nimmt diese geballte Zahlenmagie zum Anlass, Polen zum Thema zu machen. Heft 100 gewährt einen Einblick in die aktuellen außenpolitischen Diskurse in Polen: Sei es zum Verhältnis zur EU, zu den USA oder zu Russland. Natürlich geht es dabei stets auch um das Verhältnis zu Deutschland und ob die Anfang der 1990er Jahre proklamierte „strategische Interessengemeinschaft“ zu einer tatsächlichen Partnerschaft geworden ist.
Der kurdische Knoten
(2015)
Piketty kontrovers
(2014)
"Berliner Debatte Initial" hat die Veröffentlichung von Thomas Pikettys Bestseller "Das Kapital im 21. Jahrhundert“ zum Anlass genommen, einen breiteren Einblick in die gegenwärtigen wissenschaftlichen Debatten um ökonomische Ungleichheit zu vermitteln. Der Themenschwerpunkt dieses Heftes versammelt Beiträge, die den Anstieg der Ungleichheit aus der Perspektive verschiedener Disziplinen und Denkrichtungen beleuchten. Dabei wird auch die Bedeutung der Bezieher von Spitzeneinkommen (top 1 percent) für die gegenwärtige Gesellschaft diskutiert. Die Auswahl der Texte verdeutlicht die Vielfalt der Aspekte, die die Ungleichheitsproblematik in sich birgt. Dabei wird auch deutlich, dass die Bewertung des Verhältnisses von Staat und Markt sowie die Akzeptanz von ökonomischer Ungleichheit nicht allein aus wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Theorien und Modellen im engeren Sinne herzuleiten sind, sondern letztlich immer weltanschauliche Axiome sowie Wertorientierungen zur Voraussetzung haben.
Die Waffen nieder 2.0!
(2015)
Abgrund Afghanistan
(2014)
Afghanistan ist seit über 30 Jahren ein von Kriegen geschütteltes Land. Ende 2014 soll der Einsatz der ISAF-Truppen dort beendet werden, doch erscheint dieses „Manöver“ eher wie ein Abbruch denn wie ein geordneter Abzug nach erfolgreicher Mission. Die Sicherheitslage vor Ort ist weiterhin instabil. Das bedeutet auch Instabilität für die Region. Deutsche und internationale Experten ziehen die ernüchternde Bilanz eines militärischen Abenteuers, die bei zukünftigen Auslandseinsätzen - auch der Bundeswehr - bedacht werden sollte.
Autoritarismus Global
(2012)
Autoritarismus global: Entgegen vieler Erwartungen der Politikwissenschaft und des gehobenen Feuilletons aus den frühen 1990er Jahren scheint sich der autoritäre Regimetyp durchzusetzen. Antworten, die politische Regime auf alte und neue Herausforderungen geben, sind immer weniger demokratischer und immer mehr autoritärer Natur. Wir analysieren diesen WeltTrend: von Lateinamerika und Ostasien über Russland und den Nahen Osten bis in die Mitte Europas.