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Introduction:
Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) are produced as a response to exercise and play a part in guiding the adaptive response to physical training.
Exercise in the heat has been shown to further increase accumulation of RONS in systemic circulation; however, a high antioxidative response or heat acclimatization mechanisms could attenuate this response.
In a previous study, we found reduced RONS concentrations in trained athletes following strenuous cycling in the heat. Therefore, this secondary analysis assessed whether these reduced RONS serum concentrations are induced by an increased serum antioxidant capacity.
Methods:
Twelve male cyclists (V?O2peak: 60 +/- 4 ml center dot kg-1 center dot min-1) completed a 60-minute constant workload trial (55% peak power output, ambient temperature 30.4 +/- 0.6 degrees C) with and without ice vest in a randomized order.
The core body temperature (Tcore) was measured by an ingestible capsule. Blood samples were collected before and after each trial to determine superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and RONS.
Due to the absence of between-group differences, data of both conditions were pooled. Results: Tcore statistically increased (p < 0.001) over the experimental trials (+6.0 +/- 1.6%, effect size (ES) = 5.6). Concentrations of RONS (-17.2 +/- 15.5%, p < 0.001, ES = 1.0) and TAC (-8.9 +/- 22.9%, p = 0.04, ES = 0.7) statistically decreased, while the activity of CAT (+15.5 +/- 84.0%, p = 0.90, ES = 0.04) and SOD (+9.2 +/- 58.7%, p = 0.98, ES = 0.01) remained unchanged.
Conclusions:
Reduced serum RONS concentrations after strenuous cycling in the heat were not associated with upregulation of serum antioxidant capacity in trained athletes.
The prooxidant-antioxidant balance may rather be regulated at a myocellular level and should be further assessed in future studies.
Azobenzene is a prototypical molecular photoswitch, widely used to trigger a variety of transformations at different length scales.
In systems like self-assembled monolayers or micelles, azobenzene chromophores may interact with each other, which gives rise to the emergence of exciton states.
Here, using first-principles calculations, we investigate how conformational disorder (induced, e.g., by thermal fluctuations) affects localization of these states, on an example of an H-type azobenzene tetramer.
We find that conformational disorder leads to (partial) exciton localization on a single-geometry level, whereas ensemble-averaging results in a delocalized picture. The pi pi* and n pi* excitons at high and low temperatures are discussed.
The regioselectivity of two mechanistically distinct alkenylation reactions catalyzed by in situ-formed cationic transition metal complexes was studied using
N-allyl-N-phenylethenesulfonamide as a model compound.
Orthogonal selectivity was observed for the Ru-catalyzed C-H-activating alkenylation with acetanilides, which occurs preferentially at the electron deficient double bond, and for a Pd-catalyzed Heck-type coupling with arene diazonium salts, which occurs preferentially at the more electron rich double bond of the N-allyl substituent.
Fast style transfer methods have recently gained popularity in art-related applications as they make a generalized real-time stylization of images practicable.
However, they are mostly limited to one-shot stylizations concerning the interactive adjustment of style elements.
In particular, the expressive control over stroke sizes or stroke orientations remains an open challenge.
To this end, we propose a novel stroke-adjustable fast style transfer network that enables simultaneous control over the stroke size and intensity, and allows a wider range of expressive editing than current approaches by utilizing the scale-variance of convolutional neural networks.
Furthermore, we introduce a network-agnostic approach for style-element editing by applying reversible input transformations that can adjust strokes in the stylized output. At this, stroke orientations can be adjusted, and warping-based effects can be applied to stylistic elements, such as swirls or waves.
To demonstrate the real-world applicability of our approach, we present StyleTune, a mobile app for interactive editing of neural style transfers at multiple levels of control. Our app allows stroke adjustments on a global and local level.
It furthermore implements an on-device patch-based upsampling step that enables users to achieve results with high output fidelity and resolutions of more than 20 megapixels.
Our approach allows users to art-direct their creations and achieve results that are not possible with current style transfer applications.
Despite the high hopes associated with public sector digitalization, especially in times of crisis, it does not yet hold up to its potential. Both the negotiation and implementation of digitalization policy presents a challenge for all levels of government, requiring extensive coordination efforts. In general, there are conflicting views if more centralized or decentralized policy processes are more effective for coordination—a tension further exacerbated in the context of digitalization policy within multilevel systems, where the imperative of standardization collides with decentralization forces inherent in federalism.
Based on the analysis of expert interviews (n = 29), this chapter examines how digitalization policy in the context of the German federal intergovernmental relations context is located and negotiated, and how this relates to local policy implementation. Focusing on the decentralized German tax administration as a case study, the analysis reveals a shift from a conflicted to a multi-layered policy process, underpinned by a mechanism of “concentration without centralization.” Strategic and operational competencies are bundled in an institutionalized and legally regulated network for digitalization to achieve necessary standardization of digital infrastructure. Furthermore, the research emphasizes the influence of intergovernmental relations on local implementation and the associated challenges and opportunities.
Urban climate strategies have become central tools for steering climate policy in cities. Local policymakers must coordinate a wide range of actors, among them sub-municipal administrative units and neighbouring administrations, in order to ensure legitimate, socially accepted and effective policy. The study examines, from a comparative perspective, how intergovernmental relations (IGR) play out in the formulation and implementation of climate strategies in the metropolitan areas of Berlin and Paris. Embedded in different institutional contexts, both cities followed a trajectory initiated by relatively centralized strategy formulation with an ongoing shift towards more decentralized and coordinated intergovernmental approaches with their respective district administrations. In terms of horizontal IGR, Berlin took a decoupled approach with limited coordination with the state of Brandenburg, whereas Paris was much more closely integrated with its surrounding areas through the inter-municipal metropolis of Greater Paris. Institutional capacity, multilevel coordination and participation demands are identified as three challenges for the existing IGR structures. Addressing these challenges places significant strains on local administrative capacity. The findings highlight the limitations of centralized approaches to IGR at the local level and the importance of aligning the distribution of functional responsibilities with the rights of consultation and participation in climate policy formulation processes.
Migrant integration is a prime example of intergovernmental coordination and multilevel governance; first because no level of government can carry out this task alone, and second because its cross-cutting nature often leads to fragmented institutional structures that must be overcome. Within the research strand of intergovernmental relations (IGR), the focus has been on executive actors and governmental decision-makers, resulting in an underexposure of the role of public administration, known as inter-administrative relations (IAR). Against this backdrop, we aim to remedy some of the deficits in IGR research by (1) adopting an explicit IAR perspective which systematically addresses the role of local governments; (2) including a comparative dimension in IAR research that accounts for different administrative ‘starting conditions’ in European countries; and (3) using the policy area of migrant integration as a case in point to empirically investigate developments of institutional convergence and divergence in IAR patterns. It is argued that the coordination of migrant integration in the three countries examined has moved towards more intergovernmental coordination, on the one hand, and that the role of municipalities in this context has been enhanced—varying degrees of (de-)centralization notwithstanding. While certain convergent patterns of inter-governmental coordination have become apparent during the migration crisis, historical path dependencies and administrative cultures still appear to be factors that influence institutional development.
This open access book assesses the consequences of contemporary economic and political crises for intergovernmental relations in Europe. Focusing on the crises arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, surges in migration, and the resurgence of regional nationalist movements, it explores the shifting power balances within intergovernmental relations’ systems. The book takes a comparative analytical perspective on how intergovernmental relations are changing across Europe, and how central governments have responded to coordination challenges as recent crises have disrupted established service delivery chains and their underpinning political and bureaucratic arrangements. It also examines the relationship between recent crises and the sub-national resurgence of territorial politics in many European countries. The book will appeal to those with interests in public administration, sub-national governance and European politics.
Background: Demographic changes are leading to growing care needs of older people and creating a challenge for healthcare systems worldwide. Nursing homes (NHs) need to provide care for growing numbers of residents while ensuring a high-quality care. We aimed to examine an innovative NH in Germany and apply a theory of change (ToC) approach to develop a best practice model (BPM) for therapeutic care in NHs.
Methods: A multimethod qualitative study conducted from February to July 2021 in Germany involved interviews with 14 staff members of an innovative NH and 10 directors and care managers of other NHs. The interview guidelines included questions on nursing practices, infrastructure, resources, interprofessional collaboration, and working culture. Additional material on the participating NH (website, promotion videos, newsletters, care documentation) were collected. Contextual literature on NH culture and therapeutic care in Germany, ToC methodology, and NH culture change were reviewed. Following a question-focused analysis of all material, we generated a ToC model towards a BPM of therapeutic care and meaningful living in NHs.
Results: were verified in interdisciplinary team meetings, with study participants and other stakeholders to establish consensus. Results The participating NH's care concept aims to improve residents' functional abilities and wellbeing as well as staff members' job satisfaction. Central components of their approach include therapeutic elements such as music and movement in all nursing activities, multidisciplinary collaboration, a broad therapy and social activity offer, the continuation of therapy in everyday activities, a focus on individual life history, values, needs, and skills, social integration into the regional community, and the creation of a meaningful living environment for residents and staff.
Conclusion: The BPM we developed shows how a meaningful living environment can be created through therapeutic care and integrative activities. The ToC sheds light onto the contextual factors and cultural values which should be considered in the development of NH interventions. Research on not only biomedical aspects, but also psychosocial dynamics and narrative co-constructions in nursing practice should inform NH innovations. The ToC also highlights the importance of developing adequate political frameworks and infrastructures for implementing such innovative practices on a larger scale.
It is seen that the Alevi-Sunni relations are mostly shaped by the stereotyped perceptions of the two groups about each other.
In particular, the fact that Alevism is a closed society due to the pressure they have experienced throughout history has prevented them from being perceived correctly.
As such, it is seen that there are many misconceptions about Alevis and their rituals that do not match the reality but are accepted as correct by the society.
Due to the lack of communication that could not be developed through this "unknown" in the historical process, Alevi-Sunni relations have always been open to manipulations. As a matter of fact, it is seen that Alevis' relations with Islam, the Djem ceremonies that form the basis of Alevism, and the content of Djem ceremonies have always remained a mystery to Sunnis.
Unfortunately, this misperception also reflected negatively on the communication between the two groups.
As it is known, if stereotypes arise when there is incorrect information about the target group, the best way to correct them is to create common contact environments that will bring individuals to the right information. Here in this article, the unknown Djem ritual and especially the Qur'anic verses that they refer to during the Djem ceremonies are discussed.
The quantification and identification of aerosols in industry plays a key role in process monitoring and control and lays the foundation for process automation aspired by the industry 4.0 initiative.
However, measuring particulate matter's mass and number concentrations in harsh environments poses great analytical constraints.
The presented approach comprises a comprehensive set of light-and imaging-based techniques, all contactless, in-line, and real-time. It includes, but is not limited to, stroboscopic imaging, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and laser-induced incandescence (LII). Stroboscopic imaging confirmed the particles sphericity and was used to measure the particle number density. A phase-selective LIBS setup with low fluence and 500 Hz repetition rate was used to classify each particle with a single-pulse and in real time. Simultaneously, the created plasma was captured by CCD imaging to determine the detection volume and hit rate of the LIBS setup.
Both data sets combined were converted to a particle number density, which was consistent with the particle number density of the stroboscopic measurements. Furthermore, using a photodiode and microphone in parallel to the LIBS setup allowed for the photoacoustic normalization of the spectral line intensity at the laser repetition rate of 500 Hz.
This was done as a partial photoacoustic normalization method with the cut-off based on the coefficient of variation (CV), reducing it by 25%. Aside from that photodiode and microphone were proven to be valuable event counting with the advantage of the less spatially constricted. A second laser setup was used for laser -induced incandescence (LII) making it possible to classify the particles based on their incandescence tendency. Given its larger probing volume, LII could be employed at very low particle number densities.
With respect to the current literature, this is the first approach of using LII as an in-line, real-time analytical technique for the compositional classification of metal-bearing aerosols.
We report on the triplet sensitization of the intramolecular Photo-Dehydro-Diels-Alder (PDDA) reaction of two diaryl suberates bearing methyl propiolate chromophors. Compared with the non-sensitized irradiation, considerably increased yields could be observed.
Moreover, it is possible to use the more efficient UVA lamps instead of UVB lamps.
Among three investigated sensitizers (xanthone, benzophenone, thioxanthone) xanthone gave the best results.
Consumer behaviour changes and strategic management decisions are driving adaptations in manufacturing routines. Based on the theory of situational strength, we investigated how contextual and person-related factors influence workers’ adaptation in a two-worker position routine. Contextual factors, like retrieval cues (Study 1), time pressure (Study 2), and convenience (Study 3), were varied. Person-related factors included retentivity, general and routine-specific self-efficacy, and perceived adaptation costs. Dependent variables included various error types and production time before and after adaptation. In each study, 148 participants were trained in a production routine at t1 and executed an adapted routine at t2, one week later. Repeated measures ANOVA for performance at t1 and t2, and MANOVA for performance at t2, revealed that time increased for all groups at t2. For participants in Studies 1 & 2, error rates remained consistent. Retentivity significantly impacted errors at both t1 and t2, emphasising that routine changes in a ‘running business’ take time, regardless of contextual factors. Workers with lower retentivity may require additional support.
Detecting anomalous subsequences in time series is an important task in time series analytics because it serves the identification of special events, such as production faults, delivery bottlenecks, system defects, or heart flicker.
Consequently, many algorithms have been developed for the automatic detection of such anomalous patterns. The enormous number of approaches (i.e., more than 158 as of today), the lack of properly labeled test data, and the complexity of time series anomaly benchmarking have, though, led to a situation where choosing the best detection technique for a given anomaly detection task is a difficult challenge.
In this demonstration, we present TIMEEVAL, an extensible, scalable and automatic benchmarking toolkit for time series anomaly detection algorithms. TIMEEVAL includes an extensive data generator and supports both interactive and batch evaluation scenarios. With our novel toolkit, we aim to ease the evaluation effort and help the community to provide more meaningful evaluations.
Entity resolution on-demand
(2022)
Entity Resolution (ER) aims to identify and merge records that refer to the same real-world entity.
ER is typically employed as an expensive cleaning step on the entire data before consuming it. Yet, determining which entities are useful once cleaned depends solely on the user's application, which may need only a fraction of them.
For instance, when dealing with Web data, we would like to be able to filter the entities of interest gathered from multiple sources without cleaning the entire, continuously-growing data.
Similarly, when querying data lakes, we want to transform data on-demand and return the results in a timely manner-a fundamental requirement of ELT (Extract-Load-Transform) pipelines.
We propose BrewER, a framework to evaluate SQL SP queries on dirty data while progressively returning results as if they were issued on cleaned data. BrewER tries to focus the cleaning effort on one entity at a time, following an ORDER BY predicate. Thus, it inherently supports top-k and stop-and-resume execution.
For a wide range of applications, a significant amount of resources can be saved. We exhaustively evaluate and show the efficacy of BrewER on four real-world datasets.
Many proteins are anchored to the cell surface of eukaryotes using a unique family of glycolipids called glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors.
These glycolipids also exist without a covalently bound protein, in particular on the cell surfaces of protozoan parasites where they are densely populated.
GPIs and GPI-anchored proteins participate in multiple cellular processes such as signal transduction, cell adhesion, protein trafficking and pathogenesis of Malaria, Toxoplasmosis, Trypanosomiasis and prion diseases, among others.
All GPIs share a common conserved glycan core modified in a cell-dependent manner with additional side glycans or phosphoethanolamine residues. Here, we use atomistic molecular dynamic simulations and perform a systematic study to evaluate the structural properties of GPIs with different side chains inserted in lipid bilayers.
Our results show a flop-down orientation of GPIs with respect to the membrane surface and the presentation of the side chain residues to the solvent.
This finding agrees well with experiments showing the role of the side residues as active epitopes for recognition of GPIs by macrophages and induction of GPI-glycan-specific immune responses.
Protein-GPI interactions were investigated by attaching parasitic GPIs to Green Fluorescent Protein. GPIs are observed to recline on the membrane surface and pull down the attached protein close to the membrane facilitating mutual contacts between protein, GPI and the lipid bilayer.
This model is efficient in evaluating the interaction of GPIs and GPI-anchored proteins with membranes and can be extended to study other parasitic GPIs and proteins and develop GPI-based immunoprophylaxis to treat infectious diseases.
The BAMline at the BESSY II synchrotron X-ray source has enabled research for more than 20 years in widely spread research fields such as materials science, biology, cultural heritage and medicine.
As a nondestructive characterization method, synchrotron X-ray imaging, especially tomography, plays a particularly important role in structural characterization.
A recent upgrade of key equipment of the BAMline widens its imaging capabilities: shorter scan acquisition times are now possible, in situ and op erando studies can now be routinely performed, and different energy spectra can easily be set up.
In fact, the upgraded double-multilayer monochromator brings full flexibility by yielding different energy spectra to optimize flux and energy resolution as desired.
The upgraded detector (based on an sCMOS camera) also allows exploiting the higher flux with reduced readout times.
Furthermore, an installed slip ring allows the sample stage to continuously rotate.
The latter feature enables tomographic observation of processes occurring in the time scale of a few seconds.
The debate whether single large or several small (SLOSS) patches benefit biodiversity has existed for decades, but recent literature provides increasing evidence for the importance of small habitats.
Possible beneficial mechanisms include reduced presence of preda-tors and competitors in small habitat areas or specific functions such as stepping stones for dispersal.
Given the increasing amount of studies highlighting individual behavioral differences that may influence these functions, we hypothesize that the advantage of small versus large habitat patches not only depends on patch functionality but also on the presence of animal personalities (i.e., risk-tolerant vs. risk-averse). Using an individual-based, spatially-explicit community model, we analyzed the diversity of mammal communities in landscapes consisting of a few large habitat islands interspersed with different amounts and sizes of small habitat patches.
Within these heterogeneous environments, individuals compete for resources and form home-ranges, with only risk-tolerant individuals using habitat edges. Results show that when risk-tolerant individuals exist, small patches increase species diversity. A strong peak occurs at approximately 20% habitat cover in small patches when those small habitats are only used for foraging but not for breeding and home-range core position. Additional usage as stepping stones for juvenile dispersal further increases species persistence. Over-all, our results reveal that a combination of a few large and several small habitat patches promotes biodiversity by enhancing land-scape heterogeneity.
Here, heterogeneity is created by pronounced differences in habitat functionality, increasing edge density, and variability in habitat use by different behavioral types. The finding that a combination of single large AND several small (SLASS) patches is needed for effective biodiversity preservation has implications for advancing landscape conservation.
Particularly in struc-turally poor agricultural areas, modern technology enables precise management with the opportunity to create small foraging habitats by excluding less profitable agricultural land from cultivation.
The Circular Economy (CE) - based on five principles (reduce, reuse, refurbish, repair, and recycle) - has received increased attention in both academia and practice in recent years. The transition to CE by public and private organizations can be seen as an entrepreneurial act encompassing their strategic policies, business models, structures, and processes. Little is known about the involvement of employees of organizations making this transition. Therefore, this study investigates the influence of organizations’ commitment to the five CE principles on their employees’ perceptions of the usefulness, ease of implementation, and acceptability of the principles. The method used is exploratory, a mixed-method approach combining PLS-SEM and fsQCA. This research contributes to the field by developing a unified theoretical perspective on the entrepreneurial context. It also highlights the impact of CE principles on organizations that are transitioning to more sustainable development.
Investigating of locomotor disturbances are relevant in human injury and performance. Therefore, lower extremity kinematics were analysed in response to decelerative perturbations during running using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). 13 asymptomatic individuals (8 females & 5 males, 28 +/- 3 years, 171 +/- 9 cm, 68 +/- 10 kg) completed an 8-minute running protocol with 30 one-sided perturbations (15 each side) to generate decelerative disturbances.
A 3D-motion capture system was employed to record kinematic data. Joint angles of the ankle, knee, and hip in addition to stride duration, stride length and step width were calculated for leading and trailing strides.
Results were analysed descriptively, followed by SPM of paired t-tests (P < 0.025). Reactively (after perturbation), perturbations caused decreased hip adduction and stride duration of the leading leg. The trailing leg reacted with ankle inversion, knee and hip flexion, hip abduction, as well as an increase in stride duration and step width (P < 0.025). In preparation for perturbation, the trailing leg reduced ankle dorsiflexion, knee flexion, hip flexion, and adduction. In summary, applied perturbations produced substantial reactive (feedback) and predictive (feedforward) responses of the lower limbs, most apparent in the trailing leg.
Back to bureaucracy?
(2024)
In this contribution, the emergence of the neo-Weberian state (NWS) is analyzed with regard to German public administration. Drawing on the concept of a governance space, which consists of a hierarchy, markets, and networks, we distinguish between four empirical manifestations of the NWS, namely, the NWS as (1) come back of the public/ re-municipalization; (2) re-hierarchization; (3) de-agencification; (4) de-escalation in performance management. These movements can, on the one hand, be interpreted as a (partial) reversal of New Public Management (NPM) approaches and a “swinging back of the pendulum” (see Kuhlmann & Wollmann, 2019) toward public and classical Weberian principles (e.g., hierarchy, regulation, institutional re-aggregation). This reversal re-strengthened the hierarchy within the overall governance space to the detriment of, but without completely replacing, market mechanisms and networks. NPM’s failure to deliver what it promised and its inappropriateness as a response to more recent challenges connected to crises and wicked problems have engendered a partial return of the public and a move away from the economization logic of NPM. On the other hand, post-NPM reversals and managerial de-escalation gave rise to hybrid models that merge NPM and classic Weberian administration. While some well-functioning combinations of NPM and Weberianism exist, the hybridization of “old” and “neo” elements has also provoked ambivalent and negative assessments regarding the actual functioning of the NWS in Germany. Our analysis suggests that the NWS is only partially suitable as a model for reform and future administrative modernization, largely depending on the context surrounding reform and implementation practices.
Digital media are being used more and more frequently by children and for a wide variety of functions.
However, there are no studies to date that examine the effect of such use on peer interactions and the occurrence of prosocial behavior in peers.
For parents, it has been found that when using digital media only few parents respond responsively to their children's attempts at interaction and also very rarely, they communicate with them verbally and nonverbally.
In the present study, we investigated how playing a game in a digital versus analog form influences in-teractions (especially prosocial behavior) of peers.
We used an experimental situation, where 24 dyads of 4-10-year-old children were examined. Each of the dyads was randomly assigned to a condition where they played either a digital or analog game together. Various interaction parameters and prosocial behavior during and after the game were analyzed.
Results show that children in the analog condition communicated verbally with each other more often, responded more often to interaction attempts of their partners and showed less often negative forms of inter-action and more often positive forms of interaction than children in the digital condition.
However, the type of medium had no influence on prosocial behavior after the game situation.
These results suggest that the format of a game (digital vs. analog) has a decisive influence on peer interactions concerning their communication during but not their prosocial behavior after the game situation.
Knowledge and participation in exercise and physical activity among pregnant women in Ho, Ghana
(2022)
Background
Physical activity (PA) and exercise have been identified to improve the general fitness and health.
Although, the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ) has been validated for use in assessing PA in pregnant women. However, understanding the knowledge and participation levels of PA in pregnant women in the underdeveloped regions of Ghana is of clinical relevance to foster education and promotion of PA. In Ghana, pregnant women believe the "myth" (mostly in rural areas and underdeveloped regions) that exercising in the first trimester might lead to miscarriage.
Thus, the main objective of this study was to investigate the extent of knowledge and participation levels in PA among pregnant women in Ho, Ghana using a self-developed questionnaire which consisted of some questions adapted from the PPAQ. MethodsSeventy-seven (n = 77) pregnant women between the ages of 18-50 years were recruited from three hospitals across the Ho municipality of Ghana.
A self-developed questionnaire which consisted of some questions taken from the PPAQ was administered to participants under the researchers' supervision. Spearman's correlation analysis was used to find the association between the level of participation in PA, knowledge of PA and gestational age among pregnant women.
Results
From the total participants (n = 77) recruited, 57 (74%) of the participants scored high in PA knowledge.
Most of the participants 48 (62.3%) answered that PA promotes healthy pregnancy. Participants who reported barriers to PA during pregnancy were no exercise habits 51 (66.2%), having no time 17 (22.1%) and fear of miscarriage 9 (11.7%).
There was a significant (p < 0.05) association between the level of participation and gestational age. No significant (p > 0.05) association between the level of participation and knowledge of PA was observed.
Conclusion
There is a high level of knowledge of PA among pregnant women in Ho, Ghana. However, most pregnant women rather engage in PA as their gestational age increases. Thus, to foster sustainable exercise participation during pregnancy, all healthcare providers saddled with the responsibility of providing maternal healthcare must strengthen the education and promotion of exercise and PA among pregnant women in Ho, Ghana.
Background: The loss of a sibling can have a long-term impact on the mental and physical health of the surviving sibling throughout adolescence and later adulthood. Even though bereaved siblings can be identified as a high-risk group, evidence-based interventions for this bereavement group are still missing.
Aim: To evaluate the treatment effects of an internet-based writing intervention for bereaved siblings aged 16-65 years.
Design: A two-armed randomized controlled trial (DRKS00011514) compared the intervention to a waiting list control group. The 6-week intervention consisted of six structured writing assignments that were based on cognitive behavioral therapy, focusing on the specific situation of bereaved siblings.
Setting/participants: Eighty-six bereaved siblings (loss >1 month ago, no severe psychiatric symptoms) were randomly allocated to the intervention group (n = 47) or the waiting list control group (n = 39). Primary outcomes were symptoms of prolonged grief disorder and depression; secondary outcomes were posttraumatic stress symptoms and survivor guilt.
Results: Symptoms of depression and prolonged grief disorder improved significantly in the intention-to-treat analyses from pre-to post-measurement compared with the control group (g(Depression) = -0.62, g(Grief) = 0.33). In the intervention group, all primary and secondary outcomes decreased significantly from baseline to 12-month follow-up (gs = -0.38 to -1.04). A significant clinical change could be found for depression (34%) compared to the waitlist control group (10%).
Conclusions: Bereaved siblings profited from this brief internet-based writing intervention in the short- and long-term. However, future research, such as dismantling studies, may help to further optimize the benefits of an intervention aimed at bereaved siblings.
The global drylands cover nearly half of the terrestrial surface and are home to more than two billion people. In many drylands, ongoing land-use change transforms near-natural savanna vegetation to agricultural land to increase food production. In Southern Africa, these heterogenous savanna ecosystems are also recognized as habitats of many protected animal species, such as elephant, lion and large herds of diverse herbivores, which are of great value for the tourism industry. Here, subsistence farmers and livestock herder communities often live in close proximity to nature conservation areas. Although these land-use transformations are different regarding the future they aspire to, both processes, nature conservation with large herbivores and agricultural intensification, have in common, that they change the vegetation structure of savanna ecosystems, usually leading to destruction of trees, shrubs and the woody biomass they consist of.
Such changes in woody vegetation cover and biomass are often regarded as forms of land degradation and forest loss. Global forest conservation approaches and international programs aim to stop degradation processes, also to conserve the carbon bound within wood from volatilization into earth’s atmosphere. In search for mitigation options against global climate change savannas are increasingly discussed as potential carbon sinks. Savannas, however, are not forests, in that they are naturally shaped by and adapted to disturbances, such as wildfires and herbivory. Unlike in forests, disturbances are necessary for stable, functioning savanna ecosystems and prevent these ecosystems from forming closed forest stands. Their consequently lower levels of carbon storage in woody vegetation have long been the reason for savannas to be overlooked as a potential carbon sink but recently the question was raised if carbon sequestration programs (such as REDD+) could also be applied to savanna ecosystems. However, heterogenous vegetation structure and chronic disturbances hamper the quantification of carbon stocks in savannas, and current procedures of carbon storage estimation entail high uncertainties due to methodological obstacles. It is therefore challenging to assess how future land-use changes such as agricultural intensification or increasing wildlife densities will impact the carbon storage balance of African drylands.
In this thesis, I address the research gap of accurately quantifying carbon storage in vegetation and soils of disturbance-prone savanna ecosystems. I further analyse relevant drivers for both ecosystem compartments and their implications for future carbon storage under land-use change. Moreover, I show that in savannas different carbon storage pools vary in their persistence to disturbance, causing carbon bound in shrub vegetation to be most likely to experience severe losses under land-use change while soil organic carbon stored in subsoils is least likely to be impacted by land-use change in the future.
I start with summarizing conventional approaches to carbon storage assessment and where and for which reasons they fail to accurately estimated savanna ecosystem carbon storage. Furthermore, I outline which future-making processes drive land-use change in Southern Africa along two pathways of land-use transformation and how these are likely to influence carbon storage. In the following chapters, I propose a new method of carbon storage estimation which is adapted to the specific conditions of disturbance-prone ecosystems and demonstrate the advantages of this approach in relation to existing forestry methods. Specifically, I highlight sources for previous over- and underestimation of savanna carbon stocks which the proposed methodology resolves. In the following chapters, I apply the new method to analyse impacts of land-use change on carbon storage in woody vegetation in conjunction with the soil compartment. With this interdisciplinary approach, I can demonstrate that indeed both, agricultural intensification and nature conservation with large herbivores, reduce woody carbon storage above- and belowground, but partly sequesters this carbon into the soil organic carbon stock. I then quantify whole-ecosystem carbon storage in different ecosystem compartments (above- and belowground woody carbon in shrubs and trees, respectively, as well as topsoil and subsoil organic carbon) of two savanna vegetation types (scrub savanna and savanna woodland). Moreover, in a space-for-time substitution I analyse how land-use changes impact carbon storage in each compartment and in the whole ecosystem. Carbon storage compartments are found to differ in their persistence to land-use change with carbon bound in shrub biomass being least persistent to future changes and subsoil organic carbon being most stable under changing land-use. I then explore which individual land-use change effects act as drivers of carbon storage through Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) and uncover non-linear effects, especially of elephant browsing, with implications for future carbon storage. In the last chapter, I discuss my findings in the larger context of this thesis and discuss relevant implications for land-use change and future-making decisions in rural Africa.
This study investigates alternatively certified (AC) teachers' motives for teaching, their well-being, and their intention to stay in the profession.
We conducted multivariate covariance analyses using a largescale dataset of 446 traditionally certified (TC) teachers and 143 AC teachers at secondary schools in Germany. Findings show that AC teachers reported more frequently than TC teachers that they chose teaching due to social influences and because of more time for their family. Furthermore, AC teachers report significantly higher enthusiasm for teaching.
No differences were found regarding emotional exhaustion or the intention to stay in the profession.
Laser induced switching offers an attractive possibility to manipulate small magnetic domains for prospective memory and logic devices on ultrashort time scales. Moreover, optical control of magnetization without high applied magnetic fields allows manipulation of magnetic domains individually and locally, without expensive heat dissipation. One of the major challenges for developing novel optically controlled magnetic memory and logic devices is reliable formation and annihilation of non-volatile magnetic domains that can serve as memory bits in ambient conditions. Magnetic skyrmions, topologically nontrivial spin textures, have been studied intensively since their discovery due to their stability and scalability in potential spintronic devices. However, skyrmion formation and, especially, annihilation processes are still not completely understood and further investigation on such mechanisms are needed. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to better understanding of the physical processes behind the optical control of magnetism in thin films, with the goal of optimizing material parameters and methods for their potential use in next generation memory and logic devices.
First part of the thesis is dedicated to investigation of all-optical helicity-dependent switching (AO-HDS) as a method for magnetization manipulation. AO-HDS in Co/Pt multilayer and CoFeB alloys with and without the presence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), which is a type of exchange interaction, have been investigated by magnetic imaging using photo-emission electron microscopy (PEEM) in combination with X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The results show that in a narrow range of the laser fluence, circularly polarized laser light induces a drag on domain walls. This enables a local deterministic transformation of the magnetic domain pattern from stripes to bubbles in out-of-plane magnetized Co/Pt multilayers, only controlled by the helicity of ultrashort laser pulses. The temperature and characteristic fields at which the stripe-bubble transformation occurs has been calculated using theory for isolated magnetic bubbles, using as parameters experimentally determined average size of stripe domains and the magnetic layer thickness.
The second part of the work aims at purely optical formation and annihilation of magnetic skyrmions by a single laser pulse. The presence of a skyrmion phase in the investigated CoFeB alloys was first confirmed using a Kerr microscope. Then the helicity-dependent skyrmion manipulation was studied using AO-HDS at different laser fluences. It was found that formation or annihilation individual skyrmions using AO-HDS is possible, but not always reliable, as fluctuations in the laser fluence or position can easily overwrite the helicity-dependent effect of AO-HDS. However, the experimental results and magnetic simulations showed that the threshold values for the laser fluence for the formation and annihilation of skyrmions are different. A higher fluence is required for skyrmion formation, and existing skyrmions can be annihilated by pulses with a slightly lower fluence. This provides a further option for controlling formation and annihilation of skyrmions using the laser fluence. Micromagnetic simulations provide additional insights into the formation and annihilation mechanism.
The ability to manipulate the magnetic state of individual skyrmions is of fundamental importance for magnetic data storage technologies. Our results show for the first time that the optical formation and annihilation of skyrmions is possible without changing the external field. These results enable further investigations to optimise the magnetic layer to maximise the energy gap between the formation and annihilation barrier. As a result, unwanted switching due to small laser fluctuations can be avoided and fully deterministic optical switching can be achieved.
As school learning should enable people to self-determine their own lives, its long-lasting relevance for participation in further education is an essential outcome. Contemporary adult education research shows that beliefs and memories from one's school years have an impact on the motivation to pursue further education in working life.
However, almost no longitudinal research exists that investigates the long-term forces behind adults' motivation to educate themselves. Hence, the present study examined whether students' learning-related behaviour, cognitions and emotions that developed in their school years are related to the subjective value they place on further education, their expectations of success in solving further learning tasks, and thus the likelihood of participating in further education. Corresponding structural equation analyses on data from the German panel study LifE (n = 1,110) revealed that the learning behaviour, ability self-concept and test anxiety at the age of 12, along with their individual change between the ages of 12 and 16, are associated in different ways with the attainment value and subjective costs placed on further education and expectations of success at the age of 35.
In contrast, no influence of youth characteristics on the likelihood of participating in further education could be found. The findings indicate that especially the development of learning-related cognitions and emotions in secondary school is sustainably related to the individual's success expectancy and achievement value of further education. Long-term dependencies should be further investigated with regard to academic domains and socio-economic pathways.
Wars and the world
(2024)
This book offers a descriptive analysis of the Soviet/Russian wars in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Georgia, as well as an in-depth exploration of the ways in which these wars are framed in the collective consciousness created by global popular culture. Russian and Western modalities of remembrance have been, and remain, engaged in a world war that takes place (not exclusively, but intensively) on the level of popular culture. The action/reaction dynamic, confrontational narratives and othering between the two "camps" never ceased. The Cold War, in many ways and contrary to the views of many others who hoped for the end of history, never really ended.
Persistent memory's (PMem) byte-addressability and persistence at DRAM-like speed with SSD-like capacity have the potential to cause a major performance shift in database storage systems. With the availability of Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory, initial benchmarks evaluate the performance of real PMem hardware.
However, these results apply to only a single server and it is not yet clear how workloads compare across different PMem servers. In this paper, we propose PerMA-Bench, a con.gurable benchmark framework that allows users to evaluate the bandwidth, latency, and operations per second for customizable database-related PMem access.
Based on PerMA-Bench, we perform an extensive evaluation of PMem performance across four di.erent server configurations, containing both first- and second-generation Optane, with additional parameters such as DIMM power budget and number of DIMMs per server.
We validate our results with existing systems and show the impact of low-level design choices. We conduct a price-performance comparison that shows while there are large differences across Optane DIMMs, PMem is generally competitive with DRAM. We discuss our findings and identify eight general and implementation-specific aspects that influence PMem performance and should be considered in future work to improve PMem-aware designs.
The trace elements copper, iron, manganese, selenium and zinc are essential micronutrients involved in various cellular processes, all with different responsibilities. Based on that importance, their concentrations are tightly regulated in mammalian organisms. The maintenance of those levels is termed trace element homeostasis and mediated by a combination of processes regulating absorption, cellular and systemic transport mechanisms, storage and effector proteins as well as excretion. Due to their chemical properties, some functions of trace elements overlap, as seen in antioxidative defence, for example, comprising an expansive spectrum of antioxidative proteins and molecules. Simultaneously, the same is true for regulatory mechanisms, causing trace elements to influence each other’s homeostases. To mimic physiological conditions, trace elements should therefore not be evaluated separately but considered in parallel. While many of these homeostatic mechanisms are well-studied, for some elements new pathways are still discovered. Additionally, the connections between dietary trace element intake, trace element status and health are not fully unraveled, yet. With current demographic developments, also the influence of ageing as well as of certain pathological conditions is of increasing interest. Here, the TraceAge research unit was initiated, aiming to elucidate the homeostases of and interactions between essential trace elements in healthy and diseased elderly. While human cohort studies can offer insights into trace element profiles, also in vivo model organisms are used to identify underlying molecular mechanisms. This is achieved by a set of feeding studies including mice of various age groups receiving diets of reduced trace element content. To account for cognitive deterioration observed with ageing, neurodegenerative diseases, as well as genetic mutations triggering imbalances in cerebral trace element concentrations, one TraceAge work package focuses on trace elements in the murine brain, specifically the cerebellum. In that context, concentrations of the five essential trace elements of interest, copper, iron, manganese, selenium and zinc, were quantified via inductively coupled plasma-tandem mass spectrometry, revealing differences in priority of trace element homeostases between brain and liver. Upon moderate reduction of dietary trace element supply, cerebellar concentrations of copper and manganese deviated from those in adequately supplied animals. By further reduction of dietary trace element contents, also concentrations of cerebellar iron and selenium were affected, but not as strong as observed in liver tissue. In contrast, zinc concentrations remained stable. Investigation of aged mice revealed cerebellar accumulation of copper and iron, possibly contributing to oxidative stress on account of their redox properties. Oxidative stress affects a multitude of cellular components and processes, among them, next to proteins and lipids, also the DNA. Direct insults impairing its integrity are of relevance here, but also indirect effects, mediated by the machinery ensuring genomic stability and its functionality. The system includes the DNA damage response, comprising detection of endogenous and exogenous DNA lesions, decision on subsequent cell fate and enabling DNA repair, which presents another pillar of genomic stability maintenance. Also in proteins of this machinery, trace elements act as cofactors, shaping the hypothesis of impaired genomic stability maintenance under conditions of disturbed trace element homeostasis. To investigate this hypothesis, a variety of approaches was used, applying OECD guidelines Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, adapting existing protocols for use in cerebellum tissue and establishing new methods. In order to assess the impact of age and dietary trace element depletion on selected endpoints estimating genomic instability, DNA damage and DNA repair were investigated. DNA damage analysis, in particular of DNA strand breaks and oxidatively modified DNA bases, revealed stable physiological levels which were neither affected by age nor trace element supply. To examine whether this is a result of increased repair rates, two steps characteristic for base excision repair, namely DNA incision and ligation activity, were studied. DNA glycosylases and DNA ligases were not reduced in their activity by age or trace element depletion, either. Also on the level of gene expression, major proteins involved in genomic stability maintenance were analysed, mirroring results obtained from protein studies. To conclude, the present work describes homeostatic regulation of trace elements in the brain, which, in absence of genetic mutations, is able to retain physiological levels even under conditions of reduced trace element supply to a certain extent. This is reflected by functionality of genomic stability maintenance mechanisms, illuminating the prioritization of the brain as vital organ.
Video-based reflection in teacher education: comparing virtual reality and real classroom videos
(2022)
While previous studies have examined the use of real-world classroom videos to support the development of student teachers' reflective skills, there has been little research to date on the use of virtual reality (VR) videos in teacher education to provide opportunities for authentic reflec-tion.
This mixed-methods study investigated changes in reflection-related self-efficacy and dif-ferences in written reflection processes using a quasi-experimental design with two types of reflection stimuli.
One group of 46 student teachers used a VR-based video to reflect on in-struction while another group of 23 student teachers used a real classroom video.
We found an increase in reflection-related self-efficacy over time among participants in the VR group only. We also found that VR videos triggered similar reflection processes to real classroom videos.
This study shows, for the first time, that video-based reflection on VR classroom videos produced comparable results to reflection on real classroom videos. This indicates that VR can be used successfully in teacher education and that it offers a useful learning tool for teacher education programs.
When I started my PhD, I wanted to do something related to systems but I wasn't sure exactly what. I didn't consider data management systems initially, because I was unaware of the richness of the systems work that data management systems were build on. I thought the field was mainly about SQL. Luckily, that view changed quickly.
This book deconstructs Eurocentric narratives and showcases local voices to re-examine childhood in Eastern Africa.
Moving away from portrayals of eastern African childhood as characterised by want, the author argues for a differentiated and pluralist nature of the eastern African childhood. Taking a chronological approach, the author provides a multidisciplinary critical reading of Africanist research on childhood in eastern Africa, drawing from anthropological and cultural studies, while examining writings from the pre-imperial and colonial periods. Moving into the contemporary period, the book reveals the continuity, tensions and ruptures of these portrayals in humanitarian, legal, and journalistic discourses, before exploring postcolonial writings on childhood in works by Eastern African novelists.
Based on such a multidisciplinary perspective, this book will be of interest to scholars of African literature, eastern African history, critical childhood studies, museums and Africanist epistemologies.
The Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), academically structured as the independent Faculty of Digital Engineering at the University of Potsdam, unites computer science research and teaching with the advantages of a privately financed institute and a tuition-free study program. Founder and namesake of the institute is the SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner, who also heads the Enterprise Platform and Integration Concepts (EPIC) research center which focuses on the technical aspects of business software with a vision to provide the fastest way to get insights out of enterprise data. Founded in 2006, the EPIC combines three research groups comprising autonomous data management, enterprise software engineering, and data-driven decision support.
Shadow education has become part of mass schooling in many societies. Against the background of the continuing expansion of formal education and the persistence of educational and social inequalities, the growing influence of shadow education begs major implications for the postulated goal of equality in educational opportunities. This chapter addresses this issue both theoretically and empirically, focusing on the following question: What is the relationship between the continuous growth of SE across the world and the persistence of social inequality in educational attainment? First, existing findings on the topic are reviewed before I draw on and expand neo-institutionalist and social reproduction theories to incorporate SE, thereby identifying the universal causes for the inevitable expansion of SE and its relation to social inequality across the world. Finally, policy implications and future research directions are discussed. The results of this analysis indicate that even though there exist tremendous differences in the effects of family background on SE use in different regions and systems of education across the world, SE always feeds into the broader institutionalization of education and its role for social stratification. SE might occupy a key role in maintaining vertical and horizontal inequalities in educational attainment in schooled societies, which continue to struggle with inequity of educational opportunities and outcomes in spite of massive educational expansion at the higher education levels and more equity in educational opportunities.
Purpose
This paper provides a systematization of the existing body of literature on both employee participation goals and the intervention formats in the context of organizational change. Furthermore, degrees of employee involvement that the intervention formats address are identified and related to the goals of employee participation. On this basis, determinants of employee involvement and participation in the context of digital transformation are unveiled.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a systematic literature review the authors structure and relate employee participation goals and formats. Through a workshop with expert practitioners, the authors transfer and enhance these theoretical findings in the context of digital transformation. Experts rated the three most important goals and identified accompanying success factors, barriers and effects.
Findings
The results show that it is not necessarily the degree of involvement but a context-specific selection of measures, the quality of their implementation as well as the actual uptake of suggestions and activities developed by employees that contribute to employees accepting and participating in goal-directed transformations. Moreover, employees must have sufficient information and time for their participation in transformation processes.
Originality/value
This paper is based on a transformative approach, combining literature analysis to identify formats and goals of employee participation with experiential knowledge of digital transformation practitioners. In addition to relating intervention formats to goals pursued in organizational change processes, empirical and experiential perspectives are used to identify three very relevant goals and respective determinants in digital transformation processes.
A new challenger seeks to enter the German party system: Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW). With her new party, former Die Linke politician Sahra Wagenknecht combines a left-authoritarian profile (economically left-leaning, but culturally conservative) with anti-US, pro-Russia and anti-elitist stances. This article provides the first large-n academic study of the voter potential of this new party by using a quasi-representative sample (n = 6,000) drawn from a Voting Advice Application-like dataset that comes from a website designed to explore the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht’s positions. The results show that congruence with foreign policy positions and anti-elitism are strong predictors of the propensity to vote for the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht. In contrast, social/welfare and immigration policies are less predictive for assessing the party’s potential. Among the different socio-demographic groups, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht has a strong potential among baby boomers, the less educated and East Germans. Regarding party voters, the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht is favoured by supporters of some minor parties like dieBasis, Freie Wähler and Die PARTEI, but also non-voters. Among the established parties, the party’s potential is high among Die Linke voters and, to a lesser extent, voters of the Social democrats (SPD) and Alternative for Germany (AfD). A potential below the average is reported for the supporters of the Liberals (FDP) and Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and most clearly for Green and Volt voters.
Jews and Muslims have lived in the territory of modern-day Austria for centuries untold, yet often continue to be construed as the essential “other.” This essay explores a selection of sometimes divergent, sometimes convergent historical experiences amongst these two broad population groups, focusing specifically on demographic diversity, community-building, discrimination and persecution, and the post-war situation. The ultimate aim is to illuminate paradigmatically through the Austrian case study the complex multicultural mosaic of historical Central Europe, the understanding of which, so our contention, sheds a critical light on the often divisive present-day debates concerning immigration and diversity in Austria and Central Europe more broadly. It furthermore opens up a hitherto understudied field of historical research, namely the entangled history of Jews and Muslims in modern Europe.
The Jewish museums established in the fin-de-siècle Habsburg Empire postulated the unity of “the Jewish people,” with custodians constructing an “us” (Jews) in distinction to the “other” (non-Jews). In the difference-oriented frenzy of the time, Jewish identity was predominantly presented as Central European, enlightened, not overly religious, and middle-class. Then, when the Viennese Jewish Museum opened its doors in 1895, the painters Isidor Kaufmann and David Kohn created an installation called “Die Gute Stube” (The Parlor). This exhibit housed books, furniture, as well as decorative and ritual objects of the kind that were thought to be found in typical Eastern European Jewish households. However, as this article argues, this attempted visualization of the essence of Judaism and the range of Jewish life worlds promoted a paradigmatic stereotype with which Jewish museums would have to struggle for decades to come.
Even though Salonican Jews are not typically associated with the Habsburg Empire, some of them, nonetheless, lived there. This paper aims to examine the formation of these Salonican Jews’ (self-)identification by studying their social interactions with the local Viennese population such as the Viennese Sephardi or the Greek-Orthodox communities. The change of the milieu within which they found themselves subsequently impacted their self-perception. Thus, the issue of the surrounding environment and their relations with other groups became central to their self-understanding, as will be demonstrated. By examining different aspects, like migration patterns, financial decisions and family ties, one can understand how their intersection influenced Salonica Jews’ self-identification, which, at the same time, shaped and was shaped by the surrounding milieu. Within this framework, these people perceived themselves and were perceived as Salonican, Sephardi, Jewish, and as subjects of the Emperor.
“Domestic Foreigners”
(2024)
This paper examines the relationship between the Sephardic Jewish community of Vienna and the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires in the latter half of the 19th century. The community’s legal status was transformed following the emancipation of Austrian Jews, but very few first-hand accounts of these changes exist today. The primary sources analyzed in this paper are Judezmo-language newspapers published in Vienna at that time. The paper emphasizes the historical and political contexts surrounding these sources, particularly the community’s close ties to the Ottoman and Habsburg regimes.
Shared Spaces
(2024)
Galicia was home to the largest Jewish population of the Cisleithanian part of the Habsburg Empire. After the Josephinian “German-Jewish schools” had closed already in 1806, educational patterns differed from those in Moravia and Bohemia, where Jewish children received a secular education in a more consistent “Jewish” space. In Galicia in the constitutional era (post-1867), however, with mandatory education enforced, public schools became a shared space in which Jews and (Catholic) Christians functioned together. In Galicia, most Jewish children received public education but usually constituted a religious minority in the student body. The article analyzes how the school space, calendar, and routines were adjusted to accommodate the multi-religious character of the student body.
The article analyzes the interdependences between the history of the Habsburg Empire and the names of its Jewish inhabitants. Until today, these names tell stories about this close relationship and they are an everlasting symbol of this era. By focusing on names, this paper shows how state policies towards Jews shifted over time, and how the perspective on names and name regulations can be a tool to connect and investigate both Habsburg and Jewish studies.