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DPP4 inhibition prevents AKI
(2017)
To investigate and compare the occurrence of inflammatory processes in the sites of disc degeneration in the lumbar and cervical spine by a gene array and subsequent qPCR and to investigate the mechanistic involvement of transient receptor potential channels TRPC6 and TRPV4. The gene expression of inflammatory cytokines and TRP channels was measured in human disc samples obtained from patients undergoing discectomy at the cervical (n = 24) or lumbar (n = 27) spine for degenerative disc disease (DDD) and disc herniation (DH) and analyzed for differences with regard to spinal level, IVD degeneration grade, Modic grade, age, sex, disc region and surgical extent. Aside from genes with known implication in DDD and DH, four previously unreported genes from the interferon and TRP families (IFNA1, IFNA8, IFNB1, TRPC6) could be detected. A correlation between gene expression and age (IL-15) and IVD degeneration grade (IFNA1, IL-6, IL-15, TRPC6), but not Modic grade, was identified. Significant differences were detected between cervical and lumbar discs (IL-15), nucleus and annulus (IL-6, TNF-alpha, TRPC6), single-level and multi-level surgery (IL-6, IL-8) as well as DDD and DH (IL-8), while sex had no effect. Multiple gene-gene pair correlations, either between different cytokines or between cytokines and TRP channels, exist in the disc. This study supports the relevance of IL-6 and IL-8 in disc diseases, but furthermore points toward a possible pathological role of IL-15 and type I interferons, as well as a mechanistic role of TRPC6. With limited differences in the inflammatory profile of cervical and lumbar discs, novel anti-inflammatory or TRP-modulatory strategies for the treatment of disc pathologies may be applicable independent of the spinal region.
Galaxies are surrounded by sizeable gas reservoirs which host a significant amount of metals: the circum-galactic medium (CGM). The CGM acts as a mediator between the galaxy and the extragalactic medium. However, our understanding of how galaxy mergers, a major evolutionary transformation, impact the CGM remains deficient. We present a theoretical study of the effect of galaxy mergers on the CGM. We use hydrodynamical cosmological zoom-in simulations of a major merger selected from the Illustris project such that the z = 0 descendant has a halo mass and stellar mass comparable to the Milky Way. To study the CGM we then re-simulated this system at a 40 times better mass resolution, and included detailed post-processing ionization modelling. Our work demonstrates the effect the merger has on the characteristic size of the CGM, its metallicity, and the predicted covering fraction of various commonly observed gas-phase species, such as H I, C IV, and O VI. We show that merger-induced outflows can increase the CGM metallicity by 0.2-0.3 dex within 0.5 Gyr post-merger. These effects last up to 6 Gyr post-merger. While the merger increases the total metal covering fractions by factors of 2-3, the covering fractions of commonly observed UV ions decrease due to the hard ionizing radiation from the active galactic nucleus, which we model explicitly. Our study of the single simulated major merger presented in this work demonstrates the significant impact that a galaxy interaction can have on the size, metallicity, and observed column densities of the CGM.
This study examines the variations of climate variables and rice yield and quantifies the relationships among them using multiple linear regression, principal component analysis, and support vector machine (SVM) analysis in southwest Nigeria. The climate and yield data used was for a period of 36 years between 1980 and 2015. Similar to the observed decrease (P < 0.001) in rice yield, pan evaporation, solar radiation, and wind speed declined significantly. Eight principal components exhibited an eigenvalue > 1 and explained 83.1% of the total variance of predictor variables. The SVM regression function using the scores of the first principal component explained about 75% of the variance in rice yield data and linear regression about 64%. SVM regression between annual solar radiation values and yield explained 67% of the variance. Only the first component of the principal component analysis (PCA) exhibited a clear long-term trend and sometimes short-term variance similar to that of rice yield. Short-term fluctuations of the scores of the PC1 are closely coupled to those of rice yield during the 1986-1993 and the 2006-2013 periods thereby revealing the inter-annual sensitivity of rice production to climate variability. Solar radiation stands out as the climate variable of highest influence on rice yield, and the influence was especially strong during monsoon and post-monsoon periods, which correspond to the vegetative, booting, flowering, and grain filling stages in the study area. The outcome is expected to provide more in-depth regional-specific climate-rice linkage for screening of better cultivars that can positively respond to future climate fluctuations as well as providing information that may help optimized planting dates for improved radiation use efficiency in the study area.
In assessing adolescent behavior difficulties, parents, teachers, and the adolescents themselves are key informants. However, substantial disagreement has been found between informants. Specifically, children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tend to overestimate their competencies, also known as "positive (illusionary) bias." This study compared parent, teacher, and adolescent ratings of ADHD and other behavioral symptoms in a sample of 114 adolescents with ADHD. Further, the effect of cross-informant disagreement (CID) on treatment outcomes was investigated in a subsample of 54 adolescents who had undergone a training and coaching intervention. Overall, there was moderate agreement among informants. Parent and adolescent ratings were more strongly correlated with each other than with teacher ratings. The strongest discrepancy was found between teacher and adolescent ratings on prosocial behavior. This discrepancy explained 12% of the variance in parent-rated ADHD symptom severity after the intervention. The treatment was less effective in participants with high teacher-adolescent disagreement on prosocial behavior (d = 0.41) than with low disagreement (d = 0.98). These findings suggest that professionals working with adolescents with ADHD should consider multiple sources of information before initiating treatment and pay attention to cross-informant disagreements because these may indicate a risk of diminished treatment effects.
This article explores the various futures of relations between the European Union (EU) and Ukraine. After distilling two major drivers we construct a future compass in order to conceive of four futures of relations between the EU and Ukraine. Our scenarios aim to challenge deep-rooted assumptions on the EU’s neighbourhood with Ukraine: How will the politico-economic challenges in the European countries influence the EU’s approach towards the East? Will more EU engagement in Ukraine contribute to enduring peace? Does peace always come with stability? Which prospects does the idea of Intermarium have? Are the pivotal transformation players in Ukraine indeed oligarchs or rather small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs? After presenting our scenarios, we propose indicators to know in the years to come, along which path future relations do develop. By unearthing surprising developments we hope to provoke innovative thoughts on Eastern Europe in times of post truth societies, confrontation between states and hybrid warfare.
microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified as high-value drug targets. A widely applied strategy in miRNA inhibition is the use of antisense agents. However, it has been shown that oligonucleotides are poorly cell permeable because of their complex chemical structure and due to their negatively charged backbone. Consequently, the general application of oligonucleotides in therapy is limited. Since miRNAs’ functions are executed exclusively by the Argonaute 2 protein, we therefore describe a protocol for the design of a novel miRNA inhibitor class: antagonists of the miRNA-Argonaute 2 protein complex, so-called anti-miR-AGOs, that not only block the crucial binding site of the target miRNA but also bind to the protein’s active site. Due to their lower molecular weight and, thus, more drug-like chemical structure, the novel inhibitor class may show better pharmacokinetic properties than reported oligonucleotide inhibitors, enabling them for potential therapeutic use.
miRNA Targeting Drugs
(2017)
Only 20 years after the discovery of small non-coding, single-stranded ribonucleic acids, so-called microRNAs (miRNAs), as post-transcriptional gene regulators, the first miRNA-targeting drug Miravirsen for the treatment of hepatitis C has been successfully tested in clinical Phase II trials. Addressing miRNAs as drug targets may enable the cure, or at least the treatment of diseases, which presently seems impossible. However, due to miRNAs’ chemical structure, generation of potential drug molecules with necessary pharmacokinetic properties is still challenging and requires a re-thinking of the drug discovery process. Therefore, this chapter highlights the potential of miRNAs as drug targets, discusses the challenges, and tries to give a complete overview of recent strategies in miRNA drug discovery.
Drug target miRNA
(2017)
This volume provides a concise and technical discussion of recently developed approaches to overcome challenges in miRNA drug discovery. Drug Target miRNA: Methods and Protocols explores strategies to overcome pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics challenges. These strategies cover anti-sense agents targeting miRNA that are applied in advanced formulations or are chemically optimized to increase delivery; small molecule miRNA modulators to overcome anti-sense agents’ limitations; general enhancers of miRNA maturation; and Argonaute 2 protein and its pharmacokinetic parameters. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.Cutting-edge and thorough, Drug Target miRNA: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the ever-evolving field of miRNA drug discovery.
Preface
(2017)
Coping, taming or solving
(2017)
One of the truisms of policy analysis is that policy problems are rarely solved. As an ever-increasing number of policy issues are identified as an inherently ill-structured and intractable type of wicked problem, the question of what policy analysis sets out to accomplish has emerged as more central than ever. If solving wicked problems is beyond reach, research on wicked problems needs to provide a clearer understanding of the alternatives. The article identifies and explicates three distinguishable strategies of problem governance: coping, taming and solving. It shows that their intellectual premises and practical implications clearly contrast in core respects. The article argues that none of the identified strategies of problem governance is invariably more suitable for dealing with wicked problems. Rather than advocate for some universally applicable approach to the governance of wicked problems, the article asks under what conditions different ways of governing wicked problems are analytically reasonable and normatively justified. It concludes that a more systematic assessment of alternative approaches of problem governance requires a reorientation of the debate away from the conception of wicked problems as a singular type toward the more focused analysis of different dimensions of problem wickedness.
This study investigates the comprehension of wh-questions in individuals with aphasia (IWA) speaking Turkish, a non-wh-movement language, and German, a wh-movement language. We examined six German-speaking and 11 Turkish-speaking IWA using picture-pointing tasks. Findings from our experiments show that the Turkish IWA responded more accurately to both object who and object which questions than to subject questions, while the German IWA performed better for subject which questions than in all other conditions. Using random forest models, a machine learning technique used in tree-structured classification, on the individual data revealed that both the Turkish and German IWA’s response accuracy is largely predicted by the presence of overt and unambiguous case marking. We discuss our results with regard to different theoretical approaches to the comprehension of wh-questions in aphasia.
Innovationen sind wie ein Motor, der unser ökonomisches, soziales und ge-sellschaftliches Leben antreibt und laufend verändert. Ob in der Medizin-technik, Luft- und Raumfahrt, Energiegewinnung, im Netz oder in der Schule: In allen Bereichen sorgen Innovationen für die stetige Weiterent-wicklung unser Gesellschaft. Bernd Meier hat die Bedeutung von Innova-tionen und innovativem Denken für die technische Bildung und Schule früh erkannt. Mit einer kurzen Rückschau auf sein Wirken hinsichtlich der Be-deutung von Innovationen für die technische und ökonomische Bildung soll ein wichtiger Bereich seiner Arbeit gewürdigt werden. Zu Beginn wird der Innovationsbegriff allgemein umrissen und dann mit Blick auf Schule präzi-siert. Danach wird dargestellt, welchen Stellenwert die Thematik Innovation und Technologie nicht nur in den Publikationen von Bernd Meier, sondern auch in seinen Lehrkonzeptionen eingenommen hat. Im Anschluss daran wird diskutiert, warum es gerade im Bildungsbereich so schwer ist, innova-tiv zu sein oder dauerhaft Innovationen durchzusetzen.1 Der Beitrag endet mit einem Ausblick, inwiefern Innovationen auch in Zukunft für Schule und das Fach Wirtschaft-Arbeit-Technik (kurz: WAT) eine wichtige Thematik darstellen sollten.
The Bajgan Complex, one of the basement constituents of the arc massif in Iranian Makran forms a rugged, deeply incised terrain. The complex consists of pelitic schists with minor psammitic and basic schists, calc silicate rocks, amphibolites, marbles, metavolcanosediments, mafic and felsic intrusives as well as ultramafic rocks. Metapelitic rocks show an amphibolite facies regional metamorphism and contain garnet, biotite, white mica, quartz, albite ± rutile ± apatite. Thermobarometry of garnet schist yields pressure of more than 9 kbar and temperatures between 560 and 675 °C. The geothermal gradient obtained for the peak of regional metamorphism is 19 °C/km, corresponding to a depth of ca. 31 km. Replacement of garnet by chlorite and epidote suggest greenschist facies metamorphism due to a decrease in temperature and pressure through exhumation and retrograde metamorphism (370–450 °C and 3–6 kbar). The metapelitic rocks followed a ‘clockwise’ P–T path during metamorphism, consistent with thermal decline following tectonic thickening. The formation of medium-pressure metamorphic rocks is related to presence of active subduction of the Neotethys Oceanic lithosphere beneath Eurasia in the Makran.
Anthropologists all over the world are discussing influences on individual height including quantity and quality of nutrition. To examine whether a relationship between nutritional components and height can be found this pilot study has been developed. The research samples consisted of 44 children (age 3–6 years) attending two different kindergartens in Germany. Height measurements were taken for each child. Furthermore the parents had to fill out a 24-hour questionnaire to document their children’s eating habits during the weekend. In order to standardize the measured height values z-scores were calculated with reference to the average height of the overall cohort. The results of correlation analysis indicate that height is not significantly related to any of the main nutritional components as protein (r = –0.148), carbohydrates (r = 0.126), fat (r = 0.107), fibre (r = –0.289), vitamin (r = 0.050), calcium (r = 0.110), potassium (r = 0.189) and overall calorie intake (r = 0.302). In conclusion, it can be stated that the quality of nutrition may not have a strong influence on individual height. However, due to the small sample size further research should be provided with a larger cohort of children to verify the present results.
A Gateway to the World
(2017)
In the second half of the 19th century, the French École centrale des arts et manufactures became one of the engineering schools that enjoyed a worldwide reputation. There were many foreigners among its students. This article focuses on the graduates born in the Ottoman Empire, particularly on Jews and Armenians. It analyses their backgrounds, their common features and their professional careers, tracing their links with other centraliens. The patterns in the Ottoman centraliens’ professional trajectories help us picture a world full of opportunities where highly qualified men could cross borders and build careers with ease, but where, at the same time, origins, allegiances, contacts and credentials mattered greatly.
Purpose - This study aims to investigate whether a team of females negotiates differently than a team of males, and whether (workplace) friendship moderates the relationship between single-gender team composition and negotiation outcomes. Design/methodology/approach - The authors used two laboratory studies and paired 216 MBA students into single-gender teams of friends and non-friends, and then engaged them in several dyadic multi-issue negotiations. Findings - The results show that on average, male teams of non-friends reached significantly better outcomes than female teams of non-friends. However, and interestingly, female teams of friends perform equally to male teams of friends. Research limitations/implications - The authors contribute both to the negotiations and the workplace friendship literature because very little research has examined negotiation among friends at work and in particular team negotiations. In addition, the authors also contribute to the literature on gender differences in negotiations because existing research has rarely examined the differences between all-male and all-female teams and especially the relationship between same-sex teams and their effects on negotiation outcomes. Practical implications - This research has clear implications to managers with regard to team composition. Specifically, a winning all-female team should not be changed! Originality/value - This is the first study to examine the relationship between workplace friendship, gender and negotiation outcomes.
Effects of aging on lexical processing are well attested, but the picture is less clear for grammatical processing. Where age differences emerge, these are usually ascribed to working-memory (WM) decline. Previous studies on the influence of WM on agreement computation have yielded inconclusive results, and work on aging and subject-verb agreement processing is lacking. In two experiments (Experiment 1: timed grammaticality judgment, Experiment 2: self-paced reading + WM test), we investigated older (OA) and younger (YA) adults’ susceptibility to agreement attraction errors. We found longer reading latencies and judgment reaction times (RTs) for OAs. Further, OAs, particularly those with low WM scores, were more accepting of sentences with attraction errors than YAs. OAs showed longer reading latencies for ungrammatical sentences, again modulated by WM, than YAs. Our results indicate that OAs have greater difficulty blocking intervening nouns from interfering with the computation of agreement dependencies. WM can modulate this effect.
Changes in body height throughout extended historic periods are very complex and dynamic processes. Thispilot study aimed to investigate the pattern of longitudinal height z-scores changes in children before and after entering kindergarten. In summer 2016, we measured height and weight of 32 children from 4 groups of two kindergartens aged 3–6 years. All ages were centered according to the age of entry into the kindergarten. For each child we determined mean z-scores for height before and after entering the kindergarten, and assessed the variances for each kindergarten group. Twenty-two children targeted in height z-scores towards average height of their respective kindergarten group, 10 children did not. Due to the small numbers, the convergence in height variance however, remained insignificant (chi-squared independence test, p = 0.127). Additional studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm this pilot study.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are some of the Universe’s most enigmatic and exotic events. However, at energies above 10 GeV their behaviour remains largely unknown. Although space based telescopes such as the Fermi-LAT have been able to detect GRBs in this energy range, their photon statistics are limited by the small detector size. Such limitations are not present in ground based gamma-ray telescopes such as the H.E.S.S. experiment, which has now entered its second phase with the addition of a large 600 m2 telescope to the centre of the array. Such a large telescope allows H.E.S.S. to access the sub 100-GeV energy range while still maintaining a large effective collection area, helping to potentially probe the short timescale emission of these events.
We present a description of the H.E.S.S. GRB observation programme, summarising the performance of the rapid GRB repointing system and the conditions under which GRB observations are initiated. Additionally we will report on the GRB follow-ups made during the 2014-15 observation campaigns.
HESS J1826-130
(2017)
HESS J1826-130 is an unidentified hard spectrum source discovered by H.E.S.S. along the Galactic plane, the spectral index being Gamma = 1.6 with an exponential cut-off at about 12 TeV. While the source does not have a clear counterpart at longer wavelengths, the very hard spectrum emission at TeV energies implies that electrons or protons accelerated up to several hundreds of TeV are responsible for the emission. In the hadronic case, the VHE emission can be produced by runaway cosmic-rays colliding with the dense molecular clouds spatially coincident with the H.E.S.S. source.
Background: We sought to develop a standardized protocol for ultrasound (US) measurements of plantar fascia (PF) width and cross-sectional area (CSA), which may serve as additional outcome variables during US examinations of both healthy asymptomatic PF and in plantar fasciopathy and determine its interrater and intrarater reliability. Methods: Ten healthy individuals (20 feet) were enrolled. Participants were assessed twice by two raters each to determine intrarater and interrater reliability. For each foot, three transverse scans of the central bundle of the PF were taken at its insertion at the medial calcaneal tubercle, identified in real time on the plantar surface of the foot, using a fine wire technique. Reliability was determined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), standard errors of measurement (SEM), and limits of agreement (LOA) expressed as percentages of the mean. Reliability of PF width and CSA measurements was determined using PF width and CSA measurements from one sonogram measured once and the mean of three measurements from three sonograms each measured once. Results: Ultrasound measurements of PF width and CSA showed a mean of 18.6 +/- 2.0 mm and 69.20 +/- 13.6 mm(2) respectively. Intra-reliability within both raters showed an ICC. 0.84 for width and ICC. 0.92 for CSA as well as a SEM% and LOA%, 10% for both width and CSA. Inter-rater reliability showed an ICC of 0.82 for width and 0.87 for CSA as well as a SEM% and LOA%, 10% for width and a SEM%, 10% and LOA%, 20% for CSA. Relative and absolute reliability within and between raters were higher when using the mean of three sonographs compared to one sonograph. Conclusions: Using this novel technique, PF CSA and width may be determined reliably using measurements from one sonogram or the mean of three sonograms. Measurement of PF CSA and width in addition to already established thickness and echogenicity measurements provides additional information on structural properties of the PF for clinicians and researchers in healthy and pathologic PF.
The present study explores the perceptual span, that is, the physical extent of the area from which useful visual information is obtained during a single fixation, during oral reading of Chinese sentences. Characters outside a window of legible text were replaced by visually similar characters. Results show that the influence of window size on the perceptual span was consistent across different fixation and oculomotor measures. To maintain normal reading behavior when reading aloud, it was necessary to have information provided from three characters to the right of the fixation. Together with findings from previous research, our findings suggest that the physical size of the perceptual span is smaller when reading aloud than in silent reading. This is in agreement with previous studies in English, suggesting that the mechanisms causing the reduced span in oral reading have a common base that generalizes across languages and writing systems.
Intraplate seismicity is often characterized by episodic, clustered and migrating earthquakes and extended after-shock sequences. Can these observations - primarily from North America, China and Australia - usefully be applied to seismic hazard assessment for intraplate Europe? Existing assessments are based on instrumental and historical seismicity of the past c. 1000 years, as well as some data for active faults. This time span probably fails to capture typical large-event recurrence intervals of the order of tens of thousands of years. Palaeoseismology helps to lengthen the observation window, but preferentially produces data in regions suspected to be seismically active. Thus the expected maximum magnitudes of future earthquakes are fairly uncertain, possibly underestimated, and earthquakes are likely to occur in unexpected locations. These issues particularly arise in considering the hazards posed by low-probability events to both heavily populated areas and critical facilities. For example, are the variations in seismicity (and thus assumed seismic hazard) along the Rhine Graben a result of short sampling or are they real? In addition to a better assessment of hazards with new data and models, it is important to recognize and communicate uncertainties in hazard estimates. The more users know about how much confidence to place in hazard maps, the more effectively the maps can be used.
Modeling a secular trend by Monte Carlo simulation of height biased migration in a spatial network
(2017)
Background: In a recent Monte Carlo simulation, the clustering of body height of Swiss military conscripts within a spatial network with characteristic features of the natural Swiss geography was investigated. In this study I examined the effect of migration of tall individuals into network hubs on the dynamics of body height within the whole spatial network. The aim of this study was to simulate height trends. Material and methods: Three networks were used for modeling, a regular rectangular fishing net like network, a real world example based on the geographic map of Switzerland, and a random network. All networks contained between 144 and 148 districts and between 265-307 road connections. Around 100,000 agents were initially released with average height of 170 cm, and height standard deviation of 6.5 cm. The simulation was started with the a priori assumption that height variation within a district is limited and also depends on height of neighboring districts (community effect on height). In addition to a neighborhood influence factor, which simulates a community effect, body height dependent migration of conscripts between adjacent districts in each Monte Carlo simulation was used to re-calculate next generation body heights. In order to determine the direction of migration for taller individuals, various centrality measures for the evaluation of district importance within the spatial network were applied. Taller individuals were favored to migrate more into network hubs, backward migration using the same number of individuals was random, not biased towards body height. Network hubs were defined by the importance of a district within the spatial network. The importance of a district was evaluated by various centrality measures. In the null model there were no road connections, height information could not be delivered between the districts. Results: Due to the favored migration of tall individuals into network hubs, average body height of the hubs, and later, of the whole network increased by up to 0.1 cm per iteration depending on the network model. The general increase in height within the network depended on connectedness and on the amount of height information that was exchanged between neighboring districts. If higher amounts of neighborhood height information were exchanged, the general increase in height within the network was large (strong secular trend). The trend in the homogeneous fishnet like network was lowest, the trend in the random network was highest. Yet, some network properties, such as the heteroscedasticity and autocorrelations of the migration simulation models differed greatly from the natural features observed in Swiss military conscript networks. Autocorrelations of district heights for instance, were much higher in the migration models. Conclusion: This study confirmed that secular height trends can be modeled by preferred migration of tall individuals into network hubs. However, basic network properties of the migration simulation models differed greatly from the natural features observed in Swiss military conscripts. Similar network-based data from other countries should be explored to better investigate height trends with Monte Carlo migration approach.
Background: We investigated height of Norwegian conscripts in view of the hypothesis of a "community effect on height" using autocorrelation analysis of district heights within a time-span of 20 years at the end of the 19th century and correlations between neighboring districts at this time. Material and methods: After digitalizing available body height data of Norwegian draftees in 1877-1878, 1880 (averaged as 1878), and 1895-1897 (averaged as 1896) we calculated the magnitude of autocorrelation of body height within the same municipality at different time points. Furthermore, we generated three different neighborhood networks, (1) based on Euclidean distances, (2) a minimum spanning tree build on those distances, (3) a network founded on real world road connections. The networks were used to determine the correlation between body height of neighboring districts depending on the number of edges required to connect two municipalities. Results: The autocorrelation value for body heights was around r = 0.5 (for all p < 0.001) in the years 1878 and 1896. The correlation between neighboring districts varied in the Euclidean distance based network between 0.47 and 0.27 approximately for both years in a sorted order, descending from nearest (0-50 km) to farthest (150-200 km, for all p < 0.001). First order neighbors in the minimum spanning tree network correlation was 0.36 in 1878 and 0.42 in 1896 (for all p < 0.001). The values of neighbor correlation in the road connection based network ranged in 1878 from 0.42 (first order neighbors) to 0.17 (forth order neighbors, for all p < 0.01) and in 1896 from 0.46 (first order neighbors) to 0.12 (forth order neighbors, for all p < 0.05). Conclusion: This initial study of Norwegian conscript height data from the 19th century showed significant medium sized effects for the within district autocorrelation between 1878 and 1896 as well as medium neighborhood correlation, slightly lower in comparison to a recent study regarding Swiss conscripts. Digitalizing more data from other years in this and later time spans as well as using older road and ship connections instead of the actual road data might stabilize and improve those findings.
The 1911 Chon-Kemin (Kebin) earthquake culminated c. 30 years of remarkable earthquakes in the northern Tien Shan (Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan). Building on prior mapping of the event, we traced its rupture in the field and measured more than 50 offset landforms. Cumulative fault rupture length is >155-195 km along 13 fault patches comprising six sections. The patches are separated by changes of dip magnitude or dip direction, or by 4-10 km-wide stepovers. One <40 km section overlaps and is parallel to the main north-dipping rupture but is 7 km north and dips opposite (south). Both ends of the rupture are along mountain front thrust faults demonstrating late Quaternary activity. We computed the moment from each fault patch using the surface fault traces, dip inferred from the traces, 20 km seismogenic thickness, rigidity of 3.3 x 10(10) N m(-2) and dip slip converted from our observations of the largely reverse sense of motion vertical offsets. The discontinuous patches with c. 3-4 m average slip and peak slip of <14 m yield a seismic moment of 4.6 x 10(20) Nm (M-w 7.78) to 7.4 x 10(20) Nm (M-w 7.91). The majority of moment was released along the inner eastern rupture segments. This geological moment is lower by a factor of 1.5 from that determined from teleseismic data.
Palaeoseismic records and seismological data from continental interiors increasingly show that these areas of slow strain accumulation are more subject to seismic and associated natural hazards than previously thought. Moreover, some of our instincts developed for assessing hazards at plate boundaries might not apply here. Hence assessing hazards and drawing implications for the future is challenging, and how well it can be done heavily depends on the ability to assess the spatiotemporal distribution of past large earthquakes. This book explores some key issues in understanding hazards in slowly deforming areas. Examples include classic intraplate regions, such as Central and Northern Europe, Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Australia, and North and South America, and regions of widely distributed strain, such as the Tien Shan Mountains in Central Asia. The papers in this volume are grouped into two sections. The first section deals with instrumental and historical earthquake data and associated hazard assessments. The second section covers methods from structural geology, palaeoseismology and tectonic geomorphology, and incorporates field evidence
In present-day German we find new word order options, particularly well-known from Turkish-German bilingual speakers in the contexts of new urban dialects, which allow violations of the canonical verb-second position in independent declarative clauses. In these cases, two positions are occupied in the forefield in front of the finite verb, usually by an adverbial and a subject, which identify, at the level of information structure, frame-setter and topic, respectively. Our study investigates the influence of verbal versus language -independent information-structural preferences for this linearisation, comparing Turkish-German multilingual speakers who have grown up in Germany with monolingual German and Turkish speakers. For tasks, in which grammatical restrictions were largely minimised, the results indicate a general tendency to place verbs in a position after the frame-setter and the topic; in addition, we found language-specific influences that distinguish Turkish-German and monolingual German speakers from monolingual Turkish ones. We interpret this as evidence for an information-structural motivation for verb-third, and for a clear dominance of German for Turkish-German speakers in Germany.
This study examines the characteristics of drought in the Volta River Basin (VRB), investigates the influence of drought on the streamflow, and projects the impacts of future climate change on the drought. A combination of observation data and regional climate simulations of past and future climates (1970-2013, 2046-2065, and 2081-2100) were analyzed for the study. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation and Evapotranspiration (SPEI) were used to characterize drought while the Standardized Runoff Index (SRI) were used to quantify runoff. Results of the study show that the historical pattern of drought is generally consistent with previous studies over the Basin and most part of West Africa. RCA ensemble medians (RMED) give realistic simulations of drought characteristics and area extent over the Basin and the sub-catchments in the past climate. Generally, an increase in drought intensity and spatial extent are projected over VRB for SPEI and SPI, but the magnitude of increase is higher with SPEI than with SPI. Drought frequency (events per decade) may be magnified by a factor of 1.2, (2046-2065) to 1.6 (2081-2100) compared to the present day episodes in the basin. The coupling between streamflow and drought episodes was very strong (P < 0.05) for the 1-16-year band before the 1970 but showed strong correlation all through the time series period for the 4-8 -years band. Runoff was highly sensitive to precipitation in the VRB and a 2-3 month time lag was found between drought indices and streamflow in the Volta River Basin. Results of this study may guide policymakers in planning how to minimize the negative impacts of future climate change that could have consequences on agriculture, water resources and energy supply.
Dynamic processes in living cells are highly organized in space and time. Unraveling the underlying molecular mechanisms of spatiotemporal pattern formation remains one of the outstanding challenges at the interface between physics and biology. A fundamental recurrent pattern found in many different cell types is that of self-sustained oscillations. They are involved in a wide range of cellular functions, including second messenger signaling, gene expression, and cytoskeletal dynamics. Here, we review recent developments in the field of cellular oscillations and focus on cases where concepts from physics have been instrumental for understanding the underlying mechanisms. We consider biochemical and genetic oscillators as well as oscillations that arise from chemo-mechanical coupling. Finally, we highlight recent studies of intracellular waves that have increasingly moved into the focus of this research field.
This paper concerns integral varifolds of arbitrary dimension in an open subset of Euclidean space satisfying integrability conditions on their first variation. Firstly, the study of pointwise power decay rates almost everywhere of the quadratic tilt-excess is completed by establishing the precise decay rate for two-dimensional integral varifolds of locally bounded first variation. In order to obtain the exact decay rate, a coercive estimate involving a height-excess quantity measured in Orlicz spaces is established. Moreover, counter-examples to pointwise power decay rates almost everywhere of the super-quadratic tilt-excess are obtained. These examples are optimal in terms of the dimension of the varifold and the exponent of the integrability condition in most cases, for example if the varifold is not two-dimensional. These examples also demonstrate that within the scale of Lebesgue spaces no local higher integrability of the second fundamental form, of an at least two-dimensional curvature varifold, may be deduced from boundedness of its generalised mean curvature vector. Amongst the tools are Cartesian products of curvature varifolds.
In many European countries, labor markets are characterized by high regional disparities in terms of unemployment rates on the one hand and low geographical mobility among the unemployed on the other hand. In order to counteract the geographical mismatch of workers, the German active labor market policy offers a subsidy covering moving costs to incentivize unemployed job seekers to search/accept jobs in distant regions. Based on administrative data, this study provides the first empirical evidence on the impact of this subsidy on participants' prospective labor market outcomes. We use an instrumental variable approach to take endogenous selection based on observed and unobserved characteristics into account when estimating causal treatment effects. We find that unemployed job seekers who participate in the subsidy program and move to a distant region receive higher wages and find more stable jobs compared to non-participants. We show that the positive effects are (to a large extent) the consequence of a better job match due to the increased search radius of participants.
Mantle Flow as a Trigger for Subduction Initiation: A Missing Element of the Wilson Cycle Concept
(2017)
The classical Wilson Cycle concept, describing repeated opening and closing of ocean basins, hypothesizes spontaneous conversion of passive continental margins into subduction zones. This process, however, is impeded by the high strength of passive margins, and it has never occurred in Cenozoic times. Here using thermomechanical models, we show that additional forcing, provided by mantle flow, which is induced by neighboring subduction zones and midmantle slab remnants, can convert a passive margin into a subduction zone. Models suggest that this is a long-term process, thus explaining the lack of Cenozoic examples. We speculate that new subduction zones may form in the next few tens of millions of years along the Argentine passive margin and the U.S. East Coast. Mantle suction force can similarly trigger subduction initiation along large oceanic fracture zones. We propose that new subduction zones will preferentially originate where subduction zones were active in the past, thus explaining the remarkable colocation of subduction zones during at least the last 400 Myr.
Computerised mirror therapy with Augmented Reflection Technology for early stroke rehabilitation
(2017)
Purpose: New rehabilitation strategies for post-stroke upper limb rehabilitation employing visual stimulation show promising results, however, cost-efficient and clinically feasible ways to provide these interventions are still lacking. An integral step is to translate recent technological advances, such as in virtual and augmented reality, into therapeutic practice to improve outcomes for patients. This requires research on the adaptation of the technology for clinical use as well as on the appropriate guidelines and protocols for sustainable integration into therapeutic routines. Here, we present and evaluate a novel and affordable augmented reality system (Augmented Reflection Technology, ART) in combination with a validated mirror therapy protocol for upper limb rehabilitation after stroke. Results: The results showed that the combination and application of the Berlin Protocol for Mirror Therapy together with ART was feasible for clinical use. This combination was integrated into the therapeutic plan of subacute stroke patients at the two clinical locations where the second part of this research was conducted. Conclusions: Our findings pave the way for using technology to provide mirror therapy in clinical settings and show potential for the more effective use of inpatient time and enhanced recoveries for patients. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Computerised Mirror Therapy is feasible for clinical use Augmented Reflection Technology can be integrated as an adjunctive therapeutic intervention for subacute stroke patients in an inpatient setting Virtual Rehabilitation devices such as Augmented Reflection Technology have considerable potential to enhance stroke rehabilitation
A frequently mentioned if somewhat peripheral figure in the historiography of late nineteenth-century linguistics is the German sinologist and general linguist Georg von der Gabelentz (1840–1893). Today Gabelentz is chiefly remembered for several insights that proved to be productive in the development of subsequent schools and subdisciplines. In this paper, we examine two of these insights, his analytic and synthetic systems of grammar and his foundational work on typology. We show how they were intimately connected within his conception of linguistic research, and how this was in turn embedded in the tradition established by Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835), especially as it was further developed by H. Steinthal (1823–1899). This paper goes beyond several previous works with a similar focus by drawing on a wider range of Gabelentz’ writings, including manuscript sources that have only recently been published, and by examining specific textual connections between Gabelentz and his predecessors.
Lying is an everyday moral phenomenon about which philosophers have written a lot. Not only the moral status of lying has been intensively discussed but also what it means to lie in the first place. Perhaps the most important criterion for an adequate definition of lying is that it fits with people’s understanding and use of this concept. In this light, it comes as a surprise that researchers only recently started to empirically investigate the folk concept of lying. In this paper, we describe three experimental studies which address the following questions: Does a statement need to be objectively false in order to constitute lying? Does lying necessarily include the intention to deceive? Can one lie by omitting relevant facts?
E-commerce marketplaces are highly dynamic with constant competition. While this competition is challenging for many merchants, it also provides plenty of opportunities, e.g., by allowing them to automatically adjust prices in order to react to changing market situations. For practitioners however, testing automated pricing strategies is time-consuming and potentially hazardously when done in production. Researchers, on the other side, struggle to study how pricing strategies interact under heavy competition. As a consequence, we built an open continuous time framework to simulate dynamic pricing competition called Price Wars. The microservice-based architecture provides a scalable platform for large competitions with dozens of merchants and a large random stream of consumers. Our platform stores each event in a distributed log. This allows to provide different performance measures enabling users to compare profit and revenue of various repricing strategies in real-time. For researchers, price trajectories are shown which ease evaluating mutual price reactions of competing strategies. Furthermore, merchants can access historical marketplace data and apply machine learning. By providing a set of customizable, artificial merchants, users can easily simulate both simple rule-based strategies as well as sophisticated data-driven strategies using demand learning to optimize their pricing strategies.
Currently available wearables are usually based on a single sensor node with integrated capabilities for classifying different activities. The next generation of cooperative wearables could be able to identify not only activities, but also to evaluate them qualitatively using the data of several sensor nodes attached to the body, to provide detailed feedback for the improvement of the execution. Especially within the application domains of sports and health-care, such immediate feedback to the execution of body movements is crucial for (re-) learning and improving motor skills. To enable such systems for a broad range of activities, generalized approaches for human motion assessment within sensor networks are required. In this paper, we present a generalized trainable activity assessment chain (AAC) for the online assessment of periodic human activity within a wireless body area network. AAC evaluates the execution of separate movements of a prior trained activity on a fine-grained quality scale. We connect qualitative assessment with human knowledge by projecting the AAC on the hierarchical decomposition of motion performed by the human body as well as establishing the assessment on a kinematic evaluation of biomechanically distinct motion fragments. We evaluate AAC in a real-world setting and show that AAC successfully delimits the movements of correctly performed activity from faulty executions and provides detailed reasons for the activity assessment.
In this article, I deal with the concept of truth and lie in Jewish traditional literature, examining its development in the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature. An essential aspect in understanding this concept is the dualism of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ impulses and the free will of human beings, who were created in the image of God and have the choice to decide between right and wrong.
William S. Campbell’s research on the apostle Paul has been at the forefront of overcoming anti-Jewish interpretations. His career has been characterised by academic rigour and social and interfaith engagement. His interpretive approach is committed to formulating Christian identity in positive relation to others and thus contributes to provide a vital basis for Jewish-Christian and Interfaith relations in general for the future.
The phylogenetic structure of communities (PSC) reveals how evolutionary history affects community assembly processes. However, there are important knowledge gaps on PSC patterns for annual communities and there is a need for studies along environmental gradients in dry ecosystems where several processes shape PSC. Here, we investigated the PSC of annual plants along an aridity gradient in Israel, including eight years, two spatial scales, the effects of shrubs on understory, and the phylogenetic signal of important traits. Increasing drought stress led to overdispersed PSC at the drier end of the gradient, indicating that species were less related than expected by chance. This was supported at a smaller spatial scale, where within the drier sites, communities in open- more arid- habitats were more overdispersed than those under nurse shrubs. Interestingly, some key traits related to drought resistance were not conserved in the phylogeny. Together, our findings suggested that while habitat filtering selected for drought resistance strategies, these strategies evolved independently along multiple contrasting evolutionary lineages. Our comprehensive PSC study provides strong evidence for the interacting effects of habitat filtering and plant- plant interactions, particularly highlighting that the conservative evolution of traits should not be assumed in future interpretations of PSC patterns.
This study tested systematically at two spatial scales for key traits shaping within-species ecotypic differentiation under increasing aridity. It assessed different plant strategy theories and considered potential implications for climate change. We studied the widespread Mediterranean grass Brachypodium hybridum. At large scale, we tested 14 populations along a steep natural aridity gradient (114-954 mm annual rainfall). At small scale, we tested the microclimatic contrast between plants originating from corresponding north (more mesic) and south (more arid) exposed hillslopes. Fifteen traits were measured in the greenhouse, including the popular traits of the LeafHeight- Seed scheme (SLA, plant height, seed mass), several traits on phenology, architecture, growth, fitness, and rarely measured root traits. Clear trait shifts indicated ecotypic differentiation along the large-scale gradient. Earlier phenology, higher reproductive allocation and reduced root investment characterized arid ecotypes. Surprisingly, no trait of the Leaf-Height-Seed scheme shifted with aridity and root responses were opposite to the theory of optimal resource partitioning. Trait differences between north and south exposures were small, often inconsistent between sites, and poorly matched the trends across the large-scale gradient. South exposures thus appeared unlikely to harbour distinct ecotypes better adapted to aridity. Our findings highlight ecotypes as a crucial way how species span environmental gradients, yet underpinning their restriction at small spatial scales. In combination, this possibly renders populations more vulnerable to climate change. We draw attention to specific, partly unexpected traits and pose the question whether the LeafHeight- Seed scheme has limited applicability for intraspecific investigations in drylands.
Clinal population divergence in an adaptive parental environmental effect that adjusts seed banking
(2017)
Bet-hedging via between-year seed dormancy is a costly strategy for plants in unpredictable environments. Theoretically, fitness costs can be reduced through a parental environmental effect when the environment is partly predictable. We tested whether populations from environments that differ in predictability diverged in parental effects on seed dormancy. Common garden-produced seeds of the two annual plant species Biscutella didyma and Bromus fasciculatus collected along an aridity gradient were grown under 12 irrigation treatments. Offspring germination was evaluated and related to environmental correlations between generations and their fitness consequences at the four study sites. One species exhibited strong seed dormancy that increased with unpredictability in seasonal precipitation. The parental effect on seed dormancy also increased proportionally with the environmental correlation between precipitation in the parental season and seedling density in the following season; this correlation increased from mesic to arid environments. Because fitness was negatively related to density, this parental effect may be adaptive. However, the lack of dormancy in the second species indicates that bet-hedging is not the only strategy for annual plants in arid environments. Our results provide the first evidence for clinal variation in the relative strength of parental effects along environmental gradients.
The ionospheric delay of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) signals typically is compensated by adding a single correction value to the pseudorange measurement of a GNSS receiver. Yet, this neglects the dispersive nature of the ionosphere. In this context we analyze the ionospheric signal distortion beyond a constant delay. These effects become increasingly significant with the signal bandwidth and hence more important for new broadband navigation signals. Using measurements of the Galileo E5 signal, captured with a high gain antenna, we verify that the expected influence can indeed be observed and compensated. A new method to estimate the total electron content (TEC) from a single frequency high gain antenna measurement of a broadband GNSS signal is proposed and described in detail. The received signal is de facto unaffected by multi-path and interference because of the narrow aperture angle of the used antenna which should reduce the error source of the result in general. We would like to point out that such measurements are independent of code correlation, like in standard receiver applications. It is therefore also usable without knowledge of the signal coding. Results of the TEC estimation process are shown and discussed comparing to common TEC products like TEC maps and dual frequency receiver estimates.
This survey provides an overview of topics related to the history of economics that have been discussed within the last two years in journal articles. The survey format has been started by History of Economic Ideas last year with the survey by Giulia Bianchi (2016) and is aimed to increase the visibility of research in the history of economics. The emphasis of our survey is on the big three journals in the history of economics: the European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, the Journal of the History of Economic Thought and History of Political Economy. We also included additional journals that frequently publish articles related to the history of economics. These include, in alphabetical order, the Cambridge Journal of Economics, Contributions to Political Economy, Economic Thought, the Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, History of Economic Thought and Policy, the History of Economics Review, the Journal of Economic Literature, the Journal of Economic Methodology, the Journal of Economic Perspectives, OE conomia, Oxford Economic Papers and Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology.