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Satisfaction and frustration of the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as assessed with the 24-item Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS), have been found to be crucial indicators of individuals’ psychological health. To increase the usability of this scale within a clinical and health services research context, we aimed to validate a German short version (12 items) of this scale in individuals with depression including the examination of the relations from need frustration and need satisfaction to ill-being and quality of life (QOL). This cross-sectional study involved 344 adults diagnosed with depression (Mage (SD) = 47.5 years (11.1); 71.8% females). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the short version of the BPNSFS was not only reliable, but also fitted a six-factor structure (i.e., satisfaction/frustration X type of need). Subsequent structural equation modeling showed that need frustration related positively to indicators of ill-being and negatively to QOL. Surprisingly, need satisfaction did not predict differences in ill-being or QOL. The short form of the BPNSFS represents a practical instrument to measure need satisfaction and frustration in people with depression. Further, the results support recent evidence on the importance of especially need frustration in the prediction of psychopathology.
Depressive disorders are associated with reduced life satisfaction and ability to work. The waiting time for psychotherapy in Germany is currently between three and six months. Accordingly, there is a need for alternative, evidence-based treatment options that are made accessible to patients at a low threshold. A large number of empirical studies prove the effectiveness of exercise in mild and moderate depression. For further conceptualization and quality assurance of exercise as a treatment option, it is necessary to understand the concrete mechanisms of action. In addition to physiological factors, psychological factors also play a role in the effect. As a meta-theory of human experience and behavior, Self-Determination Theory (SDT) provides a useful frame for understanding psychological mechanisms of action with concrete implications for treatment practice. The conceptual extension of SDT to include the frustration of basic psychological needs in addition to need satisfaction is proving useful in the study of mental illness. The first part of this dissertation consists of two publications that validate relevant measurement instruments in this context. The first questionnaire measures the extent of generally experienced satisfaction and frustration of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The second questionnaire measures the experienced satisfaction of needs by the instructor (here: exercise therapist). The second part of the dissertation includes two publications that examine and classify the satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs in depressive symptoms. Differences in the extent of need satisfaction and need frustration between a sample with depression and a sample without depressive symptoms are examined. Further, the relationship between need frustration and depressive symptoms is placed in the context of established pathological processes (emotional dysregulation, rumination). The main findings of this work show that by adding the dimension of need frustration to Basic Psychological Needs Theory, SDT now covers a broader spectrum on the health-disease continuum. In doing so, SDT focuses on the psychological impact of social environments. In addition to the nonfulfillment of basic psychological needs, it is primarily experienced need frustration that is a general vulnerability factor for the occurrence of psychological illness. Moreover, the unbalanced satisfaction of basic psychological needs possibly indicates a conflicting experience between the needs. For the treatment practice it can be deduced that an autonomy-supporting atmosphere, which enables the balanced satisfaction of all three needs, is central for the treatment success.
Background Anxiety and depressive disorders share common features of mood dysfunctions. This has stimulated interest in transdiagnostic dimensional research as proposed by the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) approach by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) aiming to improve the understanding of underlying disease mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the processing of RDoC domains in relation to disease severity in order to identify latent disorder-specific as well as transdiagnostic indicators of disease severity in patients with anxiety and depressive disorders.
Methods Within the German research network for mental disorders, 895 participants (n = 476 female, n = 602 anxiety disorder, n = 257 depressive disorder) were recruited for the Phenotypic, Diagnostic and Clinical Domain Assessment Network Germany (PD-CAN) and included in this cross-sectional study. We performed incremental regression models to investigate the association of four RDoC domains on disease severity in patients with affective disorders: Positive (PVS) and Negative Valance System (NVS), Cognitive Systems (CS) and Social Processes (SP).
Results The results confirmed a transdiagnostic relationship for all four domains, as we found significant main effects on disease severity within domain-specific models (PVS: & beta; = -0.35; NVS: & beta; = 0.39; CS: & beta; = -0.12; SP: & beta; = -0.32). We also found three significant interaction effects with main diagnosis showing a disease-specific association.
Limitations The cross-sectional study design prevents causal conclusions. Further limitations include possible outliers and heteroskedasticity in all regression models which we appropriately controlled for.
Conclusion Our key results show that symptom burden in anxiety and depressive disorders is associated with latent RDoC indicators in transdiagnostic and disease-specific ways.
Pavlovian cues can influence ongoing instrumental behaviour via Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) processes. While appetitive Pavlovian cues tend to promote instrumental approach, they are detrimental when avoidance behaviour is required, and vice versa for aversive cues. We recently reported that susceptibility to interference between Pavlovian and instrumental control assessed via a PIT task was associated with risky alcohol use at age 18. We now investigated whether such susceptibility also predicts drinking trajectories until age 24, based on AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) consumption and binge drinking (gramme alcohol/drinking occasion) scores. The interference PIT effect, assessed at ages 18 and 21 during fMRI, was characterized by increased error rates (ER) and enhanced neural responses in the ventral striatum (VS), the lateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices (dmPFC) during conflict, that is, when an instrumental approach was required in the presence of an aversive Pavlovian cue or vice versa. We found that a stronger VS response during conflict at age 18 was associated with a higher starting point of both drinking trajectories but predicted a decrease in binge drinking. At age 21, high ER and enhanced neural responses in the dmPFC were associated with increasing AUDIT-C scores over the next 3 years until age 24. Overall, susceptibility to interference between Pavlovian and instrumental control might be viewed as a predisposing mechanism towards hazardous alcohol use during young adulthood, and the identified high-risk group may profit from targeted interventions.
Research within the framework of Basic Psychological Need Theory (BPNT) finds strong associations between basic need frustration and depressive symptoms. This study examined the role of rumination as an underlying mechanism in the association between basic psychological need frustration and depressive symptoms. A cross-sectional sample of N = 221 adults (55.2% female, mean age = 27.95, range = 18–62, SD = 10.51) completed measures assessing their level of basic psychological need frustration, rumination, and depressive symptoms. Correlational analyses and multiple mediation models were conducted. Brooding partially mediated the relation between need frustration and depressive symptoms. BPNT and Response Styles Theory are compatible and can further advance knowledge about depression vulnerabilities.
BackgroundIn spring of 2020, the Sars-CoV-2 incidence rate increased rapidly in Germany and around the world. Throughout the next 2 years, schools were temporarily closed and social distancing measures were put in place to slow the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Did these social restrictions and temporary school lockdowns affect children's physical fitness? The EMOTIKON project annually tests the physical fitness of all third-graders in the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany. The tests assess cardiorespiratory endurance (6-min-run test), coordination (star-run test), speed (20-m sprint test), lower (powerLOW, standing long jump test), and upper (powerUP, ball-push test) limbs muscle power, and static balance (one-legged stance test with eyes closed). A total of 125,893 children were tested in the falls from 2016 to 2022. Primary analyses focused on 98,510 keyage third-graders (i.e., school enrollment according to the legal key date, aged 8 to 9 years) from 515 schools. Secondary analyses included 27,383 older-than-keyage third-graders (i.e., OTK, delayed school enrollment or repetition of a grade, aged 9 to 10 years), who have been shown to exhibit lower physical fitness than expected for their age. Linear mixed models fitted pre-pandemic quadratic secular trends, and took into account differences between children and schools.ResultsThird-graders exhibited lower cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed and powerUP in the Covid pandemic cohorts (2020-2022) compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts (2016-2019). Children's powerLOW and static balance were higher in the pandemic cohorts compared to the pre-pandemic cohorts. From 2020 to 2021, coordination, powerLOW and powerUP further declined. Evidence for some post-pandemic physical fitness catch-up was restricted to powerUP. Cohen's |ds| for comparisons of the pandemic cohorts 2020-2022 with pre-pandemic cohorts 2016-2019 ranged from 0.02 for powerLOW to 0.15 for coordination. Within the pandemic cohorts, keyage children exhibited developmental losses ranging from approximately 1 month for speed to 5 months for cardiorespiratory endurance. For powerLOW and static balance, the positive pandemic effects translate to developmental gains of 1 and 7 months, respectively. Pre-pandemic secular trends may account for some of the observed differences between pandemic and pre-pandemic cohorts, especially in powerLOW, powerUP and static balance. The pandemic further increased developmental delays of OTK children in cardiorespiratory endurance, powerUP and balance.ConclusionsThe Covid-19 pandemic was associated with declines in several physical fitness components in German third-graders. Pandemic effects are still visible in 2022. Health-related interventions should specifically target those physical fitness components that were negatively affected by the pandemic (cardiorespiratory endurance, coordination, speed).
How to not induce SNAs
(2023)
People respond faster to smaller numbers in their left space and to larger numbers in their right space. Here we argue that movements in space contribute to the formation of spatial-numerical associations (SNAs). We studied the impact of continuous isometric forces along the horizontal or vertical cardinal axes on SNAs while participants performed random number production and arithmetic verification tasks. Our results suggest that such isometric directional force do not suffice to induce SNAs.
Progressive habitat fragmentation threatens plant species with narrow habitat requirements. While local environmental conditions define population growth rates and recruitment success at the patch level, dispersal is critical for population viability at the landscape scale. Identifying the dynamics of plant meta-populations is often confounded by the uncertainty about soil-stored population compartments. We combined a landscape-scale assessment of an amphibious plant's population structure with measurements of dispersal complexity in time to track dispersal and putative shifts in functional connectivity. Using 13 microsatellite markers, we analyzed the genetic structure of extant Oenanthe aquatica populations and their soil seed banks in a kettle hole system to uncover hidden connectivity among populations in time and space. Considerable spatial genetic structure and isolation-by-distance suggest limited gene flow between sites. Spatial isolation and patch size showed minor effects on genetic diversity. Genetic similarity found among extant populations and their seed banks suggests increased local recruitment, despite some evidence of migration and recent colonization. Results indicate stepping-stone dispersal across adjacent populations. Among permanent and ephemeral demes the resulting meta-population demography could be determined by source-sink dynamics. Overall, these spatiotemporal connectivity patterns support mainland-island dynamics in our system, highlighting the importance of persistent seed banks as enduring sources of genetic diversity.
Metabolic engineering of microalgae offers a promising solution for sustainable biofuel production, and rational design of engineering strategies can be improved by employing metabolic models that integrate enzyme turnover numbers. However, the coverage of turnover numbers for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a model eukaryotic microalga accessible to metabolic engineering, is 17-fold smaller compared to the heterotrophic cell factory Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here we generate quantitative protein abundance data of Chlamydomonas covering 2337 to 3708 proteins in various growth conditions to estimate in vivo maximum apparent turnover numbers. Using constrained-based modeling we provide proxies for in vivo turnover numbers of 568 reactions, representing a 10-fold increase over the in vitro data for Chlamydomonas. Integration of the in vivo estimates instead of in vitro values in a metabolic model of Chlamydomonas improved the accuracy of enzyme usage predictions. Our results help in extending the knowledge on uncharacterized enzymes and improve biotechnological applications of Chlamydomonas.
This paper deals with the long-term behavior of positive operator semigroups on spaces of bounded functions and of signed measures, which have applications to parabolic equations with unbounded coefficients and to stochas-tic analysis. The main results are a Tauberian type theorem characterizing the convergence to equilibrium of strongly Feller semigroups and a generalization of a classical convergence theorem of Doob. None of these results requires any kind of time regularity of the semigroup.
Purpose
This study investigates the communication behavior of public health organizations on Twitter during the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Brazil. It contributes to the understanding of the organizational framing of health communication by showcasing several instances of framing devices that borrow from (Brazilian) internet culture. The investigation of this case extends the knowledge by providing a rich description of the organizational framing of health communication to combat misinformation in a politically charged environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected a Twitter dataset of 77,527 tweets and analyzed a purposeful subsample of 536 tweets that contained information provided by Brazilian public health organizations about COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. The data analysis was carried out quantitatively and qualitatively by combining social media analytics techniques and frame analysis.
Findings
The analysis showed that Brazilian health organizations used several framing devices that have been identified by previous literature such as hashtags, links, emojis or images. However, the analysis also unearthed hitherto unknown visual framing devices for misinformation prevention and debunking that borrow from internet culture such as “infographics,” “pop culture references” and “internet-native symbolism.”
Research limitations/implications
First, the identification of framing devices relating to internet culture add to our understanding of the so far little addressed framing of misinformation combat messages. The case of Brazilian health organizations provides a novel perspective to knowledge by offering a notion of internet-native symbols (e.g. humor, memes) and popular culture references for misinformation combat, including misinformation prevention. Second, this study introduces a frontier of political contextualization to misinformation research that does not relate to the partisanship of the spreaders but that relates to the political dilemmas of public organizations with a commitment to provide accurate information to citizens.
Practical implications
The findings inform decision-makers and public health organizations about framing devices that are tailored to internet-native audiences and can guide strategies to carry out information campaigns in misinformation-laden social media environments.
Social implications
The findings of this case study expose the often-overlooked cultural peculiarities of framing information campaigns on social media. The report of this study from a country in the Global South helps to contrast several assumptions and strategies that are prevalent in (health) discourses in Western societies and scholarship.
Originality/value
This study uncovers unconventional and barely addressed framing devices of health organizations operating in Brazil, which provides a novel perspective to the body of research on misinformation. It contributes to existing knowledge about frame analysis and broadens the understanding of frame devices borrowing from internet culture. It is a call for a frontier in misinformation research that deals with internet culture as part of organizational strategies for successful misinformation combat.
Providing students with efficient instruction tailored to their individual characteristics in the cognitive and affective domains is an important goal in research on computer-based learning. This is especially important when seeking to enhance students' learning experience, such as by counteracting boredom, a detrimental emotion for learning. However, studies comparing instructional strategies triggered by either cognitive or emotional characteristics are surprisingly scarce. In addition, little research has examined the impact of these types of instructional strategies on performance and boredom trajectories within a lesson. In the present study, we compared the effectiveness of an intelligent tutoring system that adapted variable levels of hint details to a combination of students' dynamic, self-reported emotions and task performance (i.e., the experimental condition) to a traditional hint delivery approach consisting of a progressive, incremental supply of details following students' failures (i.e., the control condition). Linear mixed models of time-related changes in task performance and the intensity of boredom over two 1-h sessions showed that students (N = 104) in the two conditions exhibited equivalent progression in task performance and similar trajectories in boredom intensity. However, a consideration of students' achievement levels in the analyses (i.e., their final performance on the task) revealed that higher achievers in the experimental condition showed a reduction in boredom during the first session, suggesting possible benefits of using emotional information to increase the contingency of the hint delivery strategy and improve students’ learning experience.
The study addresses the question, if observed changes in terms of Arctic-midlatitude linkages during winter are driven by Arctic Sea ice decline alone or if the increase of global sea surface temperatures plays an additional role. We compare atmosphere-only model experiments with ECHAM6 to ERA-Interim Reanalysis data. The model sensitivity experiment is implemented as a set of four combinations of sea ice and sea surface temperature boundary conditions. Atmospheric circulation regimes are determined and evaluated in terms of their cyclone and blocking characteristics and changes in frequency during winter. As a prerequisite, ECHAM6 reproduces general features of circulation regimes very well. Tropospheric changes induced by the change of boundary conditions are revealed and further impacts on the large-scale circulation up into the stratosphere are investigated. In early winter, the observed increase of atmospheric blocking in the region between Scandinavia and the Urals are primarily related to the changes in sea surface temperatures. During late winter, we f nd a weakened polar stratospheric vortex in the reanalysis that further impacts the troposphere. In the model sensitivity study a climatologically weakened polar vortex occurs only if sea ice is reduced and sea surface temperatures are increased together. This response is delayed compared to the reanalysis. The tropospheric response during late winter is inconclusive in the model, which is potentially related to the weak and delayed response in the stratosphere. The model experiments do not reproduce the connection between early and late winter as interpreted from the reanalysis. Potentially explaining this mismatch, we identify a discrepancy of ECHAM6 to reproduce the weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex through blocking induced upward propagation of planetary waves.
The physiological dependence of animals on dietary intake of vitamins, amino acids, and fatty acids is ubiquitous. Sharp differences in the availability of these vital dietary biomolecules among different resources mean that consumers must adopt a range of strategies to meet their physiological needs. We review the emerging work on omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, focusing predominantly on predator-prey interactions, to illustrate that trade-off between capacities to consume resources rich in vital biomolecules and internal synthesis capacity drives differences in phenotype and fitness of consumers. This can then feedback to impact ecosystem functioning. We outline how focus on vital dietary biomolecules in eco-eco-devo dynamics can improve our understanding of anthropogenic changes across multiple levels of biological organization.
Hawaiki according to Tupaia
(2023)
This essay looks into the concept of an ancestral homeland in Remote Oceania, commonly referred to as Hawaiki (‘Avaiki; Havai‘i; Hawai‘i).
Hawaiki intriguingly challenges Eurocentric notions of ‘home.’ Following the rapid settlement of the so-called Polynesian triangle from Samoa/Tonga at around 1000 AD, Hawaiki has emerged as a concept that is both mythological and real; genealogical and geographic; singular and yet portable, existing in plural regional manifestations.
I argue that predominantly Pakeha/Popa‘ā research trying to identify Hawaiki as a singular and geographically fixed homeland is misleading.
I tap into the archive surrounding the Ra‘iātean tahu‘a and master navigator Tupaia who joined Captain Cook’s crew during his first voyage to the Pacific to offer glimpses of an alternative ontology of home and epistemology of Oceanic ‘homing.’
Aquatic ecosystems are frequently overlooked as fungal habitats, although there is increasing evidence that their diversity and ecological importance are greater than previously considered. Aquatic fungi are critical and abundant components of nutrient cycling and food web dynamics, e.g., exerting top-down control on phytoplankton communities and forming symbioses with many marine microorganisms. However, their relevance for microphytobenthic communities is almost unexplored. In the light of global warming, polar regions face extreme changes in abiotic factors with a severe impact on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Therefore, this study aimed to describe, for the first time, fungal diversity in Antarctic benthic habitats along the salinity gradient and to determine the co-occurrence of fungal parasites with their algal hosts, which were dominated by benthic diatoms. Our results reveal that Ascomycota and Chytridiomycota are the most abundant fungal taxa in these habitats. We show that also in Antarctic waters, salinity has a major impact on shaping not just fungal but rather the whole eukaryotic community composition, with a diversity of aquatic fungi increasing as salinity decreases. Moreover, we determined correlations between putative fungal parasites and potential benthic diatom hosts, highlighting the need for further systematic analysis of fungal diversity along with studies on taxonomy and ecological roles of Chytridiomycota.
Linguistic structure modulates attention in reading: evidence from negative concord in Italian
(2023)
We report the reading performance of an Italian speaker with egocentric Neglect Dyslexia on sentences with Negative Concord structures, which contain a linguistic cue to the presence of a preceding negative marker and compare it to sentences with no such cue. As predicted, the frequency of reading the whole sentence, including the initial negative marker non, was higher in Negative Concord structures than in sentences which also started with non, but crucially, lacked the medially positioned linguistic cue to the presence of non.
These data support the claim that the presence of linguistic cues to sentence structure modulates attention during reading in Neglect Dyslexia.
How do social changes, new technologies or new management trends affect communication work? A team of researchers at Leipzig University and the University of Potsdam (Germany) observed new developments in related disciplines. As a result, the five most important trends for corporate communications are identified annually and published in the Communications Trend Radar. Thus, Communications managers can identify challenges and opportunities at an early stage, take a position, address issues and make decisions. For 2023, the Communications Trend Radar identifies five key trends for corporate communications: State Revival, Scarcity Management, Unimagination, Parallel Worlds, Augemented Workflows.
Any system at play in a data-driven project has a fundamental requirement: the ability to load data. The de-facto standard format to distribute and consume raw data is CSV. Yet, the plain text and flexible nature of this format make such files often difficult to parse and correctly load their content, requiring cumbersome data preparation steps. We propose a benchmark to assess the robustness of systems in loading data from non-standard CSV formats and with structural inconsistencies. First, we formalize a model to describe the issues that affect real-world files and use it to derive a systematic lpollutionz process to generate dialects for any given grammar. Our benchmark leverages the pollution framework for the csv format. To guide pollution, we have surveyed thousands of real-world, publicly available csv files, recording the problems we encountered. We demonstrate the applicability of our benchmark by testing and scoring 16 different systems: popular csv parsing frameworks, relational database tools, spreadsheet systems, and a data visualization tool.
Between reality & fantasy
(2023)
Synthetische Medien ermöglichen die zunehmend automatisierte Erstellung virtueller Influencer, von denen bereits einige Millionen Follower in sozialen Medien gewonnen haben. Unter der Leitung von Professor Stefan Stieglitz und Sünje Clausen (Universität Potsdam) und in Kooperation mit Sanofi hat ein Forschungsprojekt untersucht, wie computergenerierten Charaktere für die Influencer-Kommunikation im Unternehmensumfeld genutzt werden können. Nähere Informationen zu den Forschungsergebnissen können in der Communication Insights nachgelesen werden: eine kurze Einführung in die Influencer-Kommunikation, potenziellen Vorteile als auch Herausforderungen von virtuellen Influencern, Tipps für den Prozess der Gestaltung und Nutzung eines virtuellen Influencers.
Core-collapse supernova remnants are structures of the interstellar medium (ISM) left behind the explosive death of most massive stars ( ?40 M-?). Since they result in the expansion of the supernova shock wave into the gaseous environment shaped by the star's wind history, their morphology constitutes an insight into the past evolution of their progenitor star. Particularly, fast-mo ving massiv e stars can produce asymmetric core-collapse superno va remnants. We inv estigate the mixing of materials in core-collapse supernova remnants generated by a moving massive 35 M-? star, in a magnetized ISM. Stellar rotation and the wind magnetic field are time-dependently included into the models which follow the entire evolution of the stellar surroundings from the zero-age main-sequence to 80 kyr after the supernova explosion. It is found that very little main-sequence material is present in remnants from moving stars, that the Wolf-Rayet wind mixes very efficiently within the 10 kyr after the explosion, while the red supergiant material is still unmixed by 30 per cent within 50 kyr after the supernova. Our results indicate that the faster the stellar motion, the more complex the internal organization of the supernova remnant and the more ef fecti ve the mixing of ejecta therein. In contrast, the mixing of stellar wind material is only weakly affected by progenitor motion, if at all.
Many geophysical inverse problems are known to be ill-posed and, thus, requiring some kind of regularization in order to provide a unique and stable solution. A possible approach to overcome the inversion ill-posedness consists in constraining the position of the model interfaces. For a grid-based parameterization, such a structurally constrained inversion can be implemented by adopting the usual smooth regularization scheme in which the local weight of the regularization is reduced where an interface is expected. By doing so, sharp contrasts are promoted at interface locations while standard smoothness constraints keep affecting the other regions of the model. In this work, we present a structurally constrained approach and test it on the inversion of frequency-domain electromagnetic induction (FD-EMI) data using a regularization approach based on the Minimum Gradient Support stabilizer, which is capable to promote sharp transitions everywhere in the model, i.e., also in areas where no structural a prioriinformation is available. Using 1D and 2D synthetic data examples, we compare the proposed approach to a structurally constrained smooth inversion as well as to more standard (i.e., not structurally constrained) smooth and sharp inversions. Our results demonstrate that the proposed approach helps in finding a better and more reliable reconstruction of the subsurface electrical conductivity distribution, including its structural characteristics. Furthermore, we demonstrate that it allows to promote sharp parameter variations in areas where no structural information are available. Lastly, we apply our structurally constrained scheme to FD-EMI field data collected at a field site in Eastern Germany to image the thickness of peat deposits along two selected profiles. In this field example, we use collocated constant offset ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data to derive structural a priori information to constrain the inversion of the FD-EMI data. The results of this case study demonstrate the effectiveness and flexibility of the proposed approach.
Disinformation campaigns spread rapidly through social media and can cause serious harm, especially in crisis situations, ranging from confusion about how to act to a loss of trust in government institutions. Therefore, the prevention of digital disinformation campaigns represents an important research topic. However, previous research in the field of information systems focused on the technical possibilities to detect and combat disinformation, while ethical and legal perspectives have been neglected so far. In this article, we synthesize previous information systems literature on disinformation prevention measures and discuss these measures from an ethical and legal perspective. We conclude by proposing questions for future research on the prevention of disinformation campaigns from an IS, ethical, and legal perspective. In doing so, we contribute to a balanced discussion on the prevention of digital disinformation campaigns that equally considers technical, ethical, and legal issues, and encourage increased interdisciplinary collaboration in future research.
This book brings together a variety of innovative perspectives on the inclusion of gender in the governance of (counter-)terrorism and violent extremism.
Several global governance initiatives launched in recent years have explicitly sought to integrate concern for gender equality and gendered harms into efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism (CT/CVE). As a result, commitments to gender-sensitivity and gender equality in international and regional CT/CVE initiatives, in national action plans and at the level of civil society programming, ´have become a common aspect of the multilevel governance of terrorism and violent extremism. In light of these developments, there is a need for more systematic analysis of how concerns about gender are being incorporated in the governance of (counter-)terrorism and violent extremism and how it has affected (gendered) practices and power relations in counterterrorism policy-making and implementation.
Ranging from the processes of global and regional integration of gender into the governance of terrorism, via the impact of the shift on government responses to the return of foreign fighters, to state and civil society-led CVE programming and academic discussions, the essays engage with the origins and dynamics behind recent shifts which bring gender to the forefront of the governance of terrorism. This book will be of great value to researchers and scholars interested in gender, governance and terrorism.
The chapters in this book were originally published in Critical Studies on Terrorism.
This year’s edition of the Yearbook of the Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg (ZJS) highlights innovative approaches to the study of Sephardic history in colonial and postcolonial contexts beyond Europe. The authors intertwine the particularities of their case studies with reflections on patterns of belonging, memorial cultures, and a transnational network of connections spanning from early modern times to the twentieth century.
In the context of the early modern Atlantic world, two essays explore the notion of a Sephardic empire among Portuguese Jewish communities as well as transatlantic entanglements in and beyond the Danish Caribbean. In the frameworks of Spain as well as (post-)colonial Egypt and Morocco, three articles reflect on Jewish citizenship, modes of belonging, and present-day commemorative events of Jewish history across the Mediterranean and beyond.
These collected contributions are the outcome of activities at the ZJS dedicated to Sephardic Studies during the academic year 2020—21.
Background:
Like most countries, Germany is currently recruiting international nurses due to staff shortages. While these are mostly academic, the academisation of nursing in Germany has only just begun. This allows for a broader look at the participation of migrant nurses: How do care teams deal with the fact that immigrant colleagues are theoretically more highly qualified than long-established colleagues?
Methods:
Case studies were conducted in four inpatient care teams of two hospitals in 2022. Qualitative data include 26 observation protocols, 4 group discussions and 17 guided interviews. These were analysed using the documentary method and validated intersubjectively.
Results:
Due to current academisation efforts in Germany and the immigration of academised nursing staff from abroad, the areas of activity and responsibility of nursing in Germany are under negotiating pressure. This concerns basic care for example, which in Germany is provided by skilled workers, but in other countries is mostly provided by assistants or relatives. The question of who should provide basic care, whether all nurses or only nursing assistants, documents the struggle between an established and a new understanding of care. In this context, the knowledge and skills of migrant and academicised care workers become a crucial aspect in the struggle for a new professional identity for care in Germany.
Conclusions:
The specific situation in Germany makes it possible to show the potential for change that international care migration can constitute for destination countries. The far-reaching process of change of German nursing is given a further dimension not only by its academization, but by the immigration of international and academically trained nursing staff, where inclusive or exclusive effects can already be observed.
Key messages: The increasing proportion of migrant nurses accelerates the current discussion on nursing in Germany. Conflict areas show up in everyday work of care teams and must be addressed there.
This chapter reviews the interplay of agglomeration and pollution as well as the effect of energy policies on pollution in an urban context. It starts by describing the effect of agglomeration on pollution. While this effect is theoretically ambiguous, empirical research tends to find that larger cities are more polluted, but per capita emissions fall with city size. The chapter discusses the implications for optimal city size. Conversely, urban pollution tends to discourage agglomeration if larger cities are more exposed to pollution. The chapter then considers various energy policies and their effect on urban pollution. Specifically, it looks at the effects of energy and transport policies as well as urban policies such as zoning.
Arctic climate change is marked by intensified warming compared to global trends and a significant reduction in Arctic sea ice which can intricately influence mid-latitude atmospheric circulation through tropo- and stratospheric pathways. Achieving accurate simulations of current and future climate demands a realistic representation of Arctic climate processes in numerical climate models, which remains challenging.
Model deficiencies in replicating observed Arctic climate processes often arise due to inadequacies in representing turbulent boundary layer interactions that determine the interactions between the atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean. Many current climate models rely on parameterizations developed for mid-latitude conditions to handle Arctic turbulent boundary layer processes.
This thesis focuses on modified representation of the Arctic atmospheric processes and understanding their resulting impact on large-scale mid-latitude atmospheric circulation within climate models. The improved turbulence parameterizations, recently developed based on Arctic measurements, were implemented in the global atmospheric circulation model ECHAM6. This involved modifying the stability functions over sea ice and ocean for stable stratification and changing the roughness length over sea ice for all stratification conditions. Comprehensive analyses are conducted to assess the impacts of these modifications on ECHAM6's simulations of the Arctic boundary layer, overall atmospheric circulation, and the dynamical pathways between the Arctic and mid-latitudes.
Through a step-wise implementation of the mentioned parameterizations into ECHAM6, a series of sensitivity experiments revealed that the combined impacts of the reduced roughness length and the modified stability functions are non-linear. Nevertheless, it is evident that both modifications consistently lead to a general decrease in the heat transfer coefficient, being in close agreement with the observations.
Additionally, compared to the reference observations, the ECHAM6 model falls short in accurately representing unstable and strongly stable conditions.
The less frequent occurrence of strong stability restricts the influence of the modified stability functions by reducing the affected sample size. However, when focusing solely on the specific instances of a strongly stable atmosphere, the sensible heat flux approaches near-zero values, which is in line with the observations. Models employing commonly used surface turbulence parameterizations were shown to have difficulties replicating the near-zero sensible heat flux in strongly stable stratification.
I also found that these limited changes in surface layer turbulence parameterizations have a statistically significant impact on the temperature and wind patterns across multiple pressure levels, including the stratosphere, in both the Arctic and mid-latitudes. These significant signals vary in strength, extent, and direction depending on the specific month or year, indicating a strong reliance on the background state.
Furthermore, this research investigates how the modified surface turbulence parameterizations may influence the response of both stratospheric and tropospheric circulation to Arctic sea ice loss.
The most suitable parameterizations for accurately representing Arctic boundary layer turbulence were identified from the sensitivity experiments. Subsequently, the model's response to sea ice loss is evaluated through extended ECHAM6 simulations with different prescribed sea ice conditions.
The simulation with adjusted surface turbulence parameterizations better reproduced the observed Arctic tropospheric warming in vertical extent, demonstrating improved alignment with the reanalysis data. Additionally, unlike the control experiments, this simulation successfully reproduced specific circulation patterns linked to the stratospheric pathway for Arctic-mid-latitude linkages. Specifically, an increased occurrence of the Scandinavian-Ural blocking regime (negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation) in early (late) winter is observed. Overall, it can be inferred that improving turbulence parameterizations at the surface layer can improve the ECHAM6's response to sea ice loss.
The European Union is highly dependent on soybean imports from overseas to meet its protein demands. Individual Member States have been quick to declare self-sufficiency targets for plant-based proteins, but detailed strategies are still lacking. Rising global temperatures have painted an image of a bright future for soybean production in Europe, but emerging climatic risks such as drought have so far not been included in any of those outlooks.
Here, we present simulations of future soybean production and the most prominent risk factors across Europe using an ensemble of climate and soybean growth models. Projections suggest a substantial increase in potential soybean production area and productivity in Central Europe, while southern European production would become increasingly dependent on supplementary irrigation. Average productivity would rise by 8.3% (RCP 4.5) to 8.7% (RCP 8.5) as a result of improved growing conditions (plant physiology benefiting from rising temperature and CO2 levels) and farmers adapting to them by using cultivars with longer phenological cycles. Suitable production area would rise by 31.4% (RCP 4.5) to 37.7% (RCP 8.5) by the mid-century, contributing considerably more than productivity increase to the production potential for closing the protein gap in Europe.
While wet conditions at harvest and incidental cold spells are the current key challenges for extending soybean production, the models and climate data analysis anticipate that drought and heat will become the dominant limitations in the future. Breeding for heat-tolerant and water-efficient genotypes is needed to further improve soybean adaptation to changing climatic conditions.
This study explored the effects of an 8-week repeated backward running training (RBRT) programme on measures of physical fitness in youth male soccer players. Youth male soccer players were randomly allocated into a RBRT group (n = 20; 13.95 +/- 0.22y) or a control group (CG; n = 16; 14.86 +/- 0.29y). The CG continued normal soccer training, while the RBRT group replaced some soccer drills with RBRT twice per week. Within-group analysis revealed that RBRT improved all performance variables ( increment -9.99% to 14.50%; effect size [ES] = -1.79 to 1.29; p <= 0.001). Meanwhile, trivial-to-moderate detrimental effects on sprinting and change of direction (CoD) speed ( increment 1.55% to 10.40%; p <= 0.05) were noted in the CG. The number of individuals improving performance above the smallest worthwhile change ranged from 65-100% across all performance variables in the RBRT group, whereas<50% in the CG reached that threshold. The between-group analysis indicated that the RBRT group improved performance on all performance tasks more than the CG (ES = -2.23 to 1.10; p <= 0.05). These findings demonstrate that substituting part of a standard soccer training regimen with RBRT can enhance youth soccer players' sprinting, CoD, jumping, and RSA performance.
The digitization process has triggered a profound transformation of modern societies. It encompasses a broad spectrum of technical, social, political, cultural and economic developments related to the mass use of computer- and internet-based technologies. It is now becoming increasingly clear that digitization is also changing existing structures of social inequality and that new structures of digital inequality are emerging. This is shown by a growing number of recent individual studies. In this paper, we set ourselves the task of systematizing this new research within the framework of an empirically supported literature review. To do so, we use the PRISMA model for literature reviews and focus on three central dimensions of inequality - ethnicity, gender, and age - and their relevance within the discourse on digitization and inequality. The empirical basis consists of journal articles published between 2000 and 2020 and listed on the Web of Science, as well as an additional Google Scholar search, through which we attempt to include important monographs and contributions to edited volumes in our analyses. Our text corpus thus comprises a total of 281 articles. Empirically, our literature review shows that unequal access to digital resources largely reproduces existing structures of inequality; in some cases, studies report a reduction in social inequalities as a result of the digitization process.
This study focuses on three key aspects: (a) crude throat swab samples in a viral transport medium (VTM) as templates for RT-LAMP reactions; (b) a biotinylated DNA probe with enhanced specificity for LFA readouts; and (c) a digital semi-quantification of LFA readouts. Throat swab samples from SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative patients were used in their crude (no cleaning or pre-treatment) forms for the RT-LAMP reaction. The samples were heat-inactivated but not treated for any kind of nucleic acid extraction or purification. The RT-LAMP (20 min processing time) product was read out by an LFA approach using two labels: FITC and biotin. FITC was enzymatically incorporated into the RT-LAMP amplicon with the LF-LAMP primer, and biotin was introduced using biotinylated DNA probes, specifically for the amplicon region after RT-LAMP amplification. This assay setup with biotinylated DNA probe-based LFA readouts of the RT-LAMP amplicon was 98.11% sensitive and 96.15% specific. The LFA result was further analysed by a smartphone-based IVD device, wherein the T-line intensity was recorded. The LFA T-line intensity was then correlated with the qRT-PCR Ct value of the positive swab samples. A digital semi-quantification of RT-LAMP-LFA was reported with a correlation coefficient of R2 = 0.702. The overall RT-LAMP-LFA assay time was recorded to be 35 min with a LoD of three RNA copies/µL (Ct-33). With these three advancements, the nucleic acid testing-point of care technique (NAT-POCT) is exemplified as a versatile biosensor platform with great potential and applicability for the detection of pathogens without the need for sample storage, transportation, or pre-processing.
The Gutenberg-Richter (GR) and the Omori-Utsu (OU) law describe the earthquakes' energy release and temporal clustering and are thus of great importance for seismic hazard assessment. Motivated by experimental results, which indicate stress-dependent parameters, we consider a combined global data set of 127 main shock-aftershock sequences and perform a systematic study of the relationship between main shock-induced stress changes and associated seismicity patterns. For this purpose, we calculate space-dependent Coulomb Stress (& UDelta;CFS) and alternative receiver-independent stress metrics in the surrounding of the main shocks. Our results indicate a clear positive correlation between the GR b-value and the induced stress, contrasting expectations from laboratory experiments and suggesting a crucial role of structural heterogeneity and strength variations. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the aftershock productivity increases nonlinearly with stress, while the OU parameters c and p systematically decrease for increasing stress changes. Our partly unexpected findings can have an important impact on future estimations of the aftershock hazard.
Never again?
(2023)
The Holocaust was the most terrible atrocity of the 20th century. In many ways, it was also unprecedented in the history of atrocities: for its comprehensiveness and systematic nature; for the fanaticism with which its perpetrators scoured an entire continent in their pursuit of Jews; for the awful potency of the Nazis’ insinuation that the victims represented a pernicious and existential threat. Collectively, we have spent decades—and published millions of words—trying to understand what happened and why.
Interfaith controversies and disputes regarding the role of reason in interpreting the Scriptures characterised scholarly discussion in the Low Countries between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Jewish author Abraham Gómez Silveira contributed to this discussion with an eclectic body of literature. This article focuses on his Libro Mudo (Mute Book), which embodies his efforts to present the Jewish religion as the only rational one and the Christian dogma as irrational. In order to corroborate his reading, Silveira mostly bases his argumentation on non-Jewish texts. By selecting passages from the New Testaments, Christian religious commentaries as well as Qur'anic excerpts, Silveira aims to demonstrate that even non-Jewish sources prove the rationality of the Jewish theological system. The novelty of Silveira's approach consists in confuting Christian dogma by accepting the Gospels as reliable historical sources. In this argumentative structure, the Qur'an has a similar although not identical function.
Introduction
Attempts to improve cognitive abilities via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have led to ambiguous results, likely due to the method's susceptibility to methodological and inter-individual factors. Conventional tDCS, i.e., using an active electrode over brain areas associated with the targeted cognitive function and a supposedly passive reference, neglects stimulation effects on entire neural networks.
Methods
We investigated the advantage of frontoparietal network stimulation (right prefrontal anode, left posterior parietal cathode) against conventional and sham tDCS in modulating working memory (WM) capacity dependent transfer effects of a single-session distractor inhibition (DIIN) training. Since previous results did not clarify whether electrode montage drives this individual transfer, we here compared conventional to frontoparietal and sham tDCS and reanalyzed data of 124 young, healthy participants in a more robust way using linear mixed effect modeling.
Results
The interaction of electrode montage and WM capacity resulted in systematic differences in transfer effects. While higher performance gains were observed with increasing WM capacity in the frontoparietal stimulation group, low WM capacity individuals benefited more in the sham condition. The conventional stimulation group showed subtle performance gains independent of WM capacity.
Discussion
Our results confirm our previous findings of WM capacity dependent transfer effects on WM by a single-session DIIN training combined with tDCS and additionally highlight the pivotal role of the specific electrode montage. WM capacity dependent differences in frontoparietal network recruitment, especially regarding the parietal involvement, are assumed to underlie this observation.
Background: Physical fitness is a key aspect of children’s ability to perform activities of daily living, engage in leisure activities, and is associated with important health characteristics. As such, it shows multi-directional associations with weight status as well as executive functions, and varies according to a variety of moderating factors, such as the child’s gender, age, geographical location, and socioeconomic conditions and context. The assessment and monitoring of children’s physical fitness has gained attention in recent decades, as has the question of how to promote physical fitness through the implementation of a variety of programs and interventions. However, these programs and interventions rarely focus on children with deficits in their physical fitness. Due to their deficits, these children are at the highest risk of suffering health impairments compared to their more average fit peers. In efforts to promote physical fitness, schools could offer promising and viable approaches to interventions, as they provide access to large youth populations while providing useful infrastructure. Evidence suggests that school-based physical fitness interventions, particularly those that include supplementary physical education, are useful for promoting and improving physical fitness in children with normal fitness. However, there is little evidence on whether these interventions have similar or even greater effects on children with deficits in their physical fitness. Furthermore, the question arises whether these measures help to sustainably improve the development/trajectories of physical fitness in these children.
The present thesis aims to elucidate the following four objectives: (1) to evaluate the effects of a 14 week intervention with 2 x 45 minutes per week additional remedial physical education on physical fitness and executive function in children with deficits in their physical fitness; (2) to assess moderating effects of body height and body mass on physical fitness components in children with physical fitness deficits; (3) to assess moderating effects of age and skeletal growth on physical fitness in children with physical fitness deficits; and (4) to analyse moderating effects of different physical fitness components on executive function in children with physical fitness deficits.
Methods: Using physical fitness data from the EMOTIKON study, 76 third graders with physical fitness deficits were identified in 11 schools in Brandenburg state that met the requirements for implementing a remedial physical education intervention (i.e., employing specially trained physical education teachers). The fitness intervention was implemented in a cross-over design and schools were randomly assigned to either an intervention-control or control-intervention group. The remedial physical education intervention consisted of a 14 week, 2 x 45 minutes per week remedial physical education curriculum supplemented by a physical exercise homework program. Assessments were conducted at the beginning and end of each intervention and control period, and further assessments were conducted at the beginning and end of each school year until the end of sixth grade. Physical fitness as the primary outcome was assessed using fitness tests implemented in the EMOTIKON study (i.e., lower body muscular strength (standing long jump), speed (20 m sprint), cardiorespiratory fitness (6 min run), agility (star run), upper body muscular strength (ball push test), and balance (one leg balance)). Executive functions as a secondary outcome were assessed using attention and psychomotor processing speed (digit symbol substitution test), mental flexibility and fine motor skills (trail making test), and inhibitory control (Simon task). Anthropometric measures such as body height, body mass, maturity offset, and body composition parameters, as well as socioeconomic information were recorded as potential moderators.
Results: (1) The evaluation of possible effects of the remedial physical education intervention on physical fitness and executive functions of children with deficits in their physical fitness did not reveal any detectable intervention-related improvements in physical fitness or executive functions. The implemented analysis strategies also showed moderating effects of body mass index (BMI) on performance in 6 min run, star run, and standing long jump, with children with a lower BMI performing better, moderating effects of proximity to Berlin on performance in the 6 min run and standing long jump, better performances being found in children living closer to Berlin, and overall gendered differences in executive function test performance, with boys performing better compared to girls. (2) Analysing moderating effects of body height and body mass on physical fitness performance, better overall physical fitness performance was found for taller children. For body mass, a negative effect was found on performance in the 6 min run (linear), standing long jump (linear), and 20 m sprint (quadratic), with better performance associated with lighter children, and a positive effect of body mass on performance in the ball push test, with heavier children performing better. In addition, the analysis revealed significant interactions between body height and body mass on performance in 6 min run and 20 m sprint, with higher body mass being associated with performance improvements in larger children, while higher body mass was associated with performance declines in smaller children. In addition, the analysis revealed overall age-related improvements in physical fitness and was able to show that children with better overall physical fitness also elicit greater age-related improvements. (3) In the analysis of moderating effects of age and maturity offset on physical fitness performances, two unrotated principal components of z-transformed age and maturity offset values were calculated (i.e., relative growth = (age + maturity offset)/2; growth delay = (age - maturity offset)) to avoid colinearity. Analysing these constructs revealed positive effects of relative growth on performances in star run, 20 m sprint, and standing long jump, with children of higher relative growth performing better. For growth delay, positive effects were found on performances in 6 min run and 20 m sprint, with children having larger growth delays showing better performances. Further, the model revealed gendered differences in 6 min run and 20 m sprint performances with girls performing better than boys. (4) Analysing the effects of physical fitness tests on executive function revealed a positive effect of star run and one leg balance performance and a negative effect of 6 min run performance on reaction speed in the Simon task. However, these effects were not detectable when individual differences were accounted for. Then these effects showed overall positive effects, with better performances being associated with faster reaction speeds. In addition, the analysis revealed a positive correlation between overall reaction speed and effects of the 6 min run, suggesting that children with greater effects of 6 min run had faster overall reaction speeds. Negative correlations were found between star run effects and age effects on Simon task reaction speed, meaning that children with larger star run effects had smaller age effects, and between 6 min run effects and star run effects on Simon task reaction speed, meaning that children with larger 6 min run effects tended to have smaller star run effects on Simon task reaction speed and vice versa.
Conclusions: (1) The lack of detectable intervention-related effects could have been caused by an insufficient intervention period, by the implementation of comprehensive and thus non- specific exercises, or by both. Accordingly, longer intervention periods and/or more specific exercises may have been more beneficial and could have led to detectable improvements in physical fitness and/or executive function. However, it remains unclear whether these interventions can benefit children with deficits in physical fitness, as it is possible that their deficits are not caused by a mere lack of exercise, but rather depend on the socioeconomic conditions of the children and their families and areas. Therefore, further research is needed to assess the moderation of physical fitness in children with physical fitness deficits and, in particular, the links between children’s environment and their physical fitness trajectories. (2) Findings from this work suggest that using BMI as a composite of body height and body mass may not be able to capture the variation associated with these parameters and their interactions. In particular, because of their multidirectional associations, further research would help elucidate how BMI and its subcomponents influence physical fitness and how they vary between children with and without physical fitness deficits. (3) The assessment of growth- related changes indicated negative effects associated with the growth spurt approaching age of peak height velocity, and furthermore showed significant differences in these effects between children. Thus, these effects and possible interindividual differences should be considered in the assessment of the development of physical fitness in children. (4) Furthermore, this work has shown that the associations between physical fitness and executive functions vary between children and may be moderated by children’s socioeconomic conditions and the structure of their daily activities. Further research is needed to explore these associations using approaches that account for individual variance.
The relevance of physical fitness for children’s and adolescents’ health is indisputable and it is crucial to regularly assess and evaluate children’s and adolescents’ individual physical fitness development to detect potential negative health consequences in time. Physical fitness tests are easy-to-administer, reliable, and valid which is why they should be widely used to provide information on performance development and health status of children and adolescents. When talking about development of physical fitness, two perspectives can be distinguished. One perspective is how the physical fitness status of children and adolescents changed / developed over the past decades (i.e., secular trends). The other perspective covers the analyses how physical fitness develops with increasing age due to growth and maturation processes. Although, the development of children’s and adolescents’ physical fitness has been extensively described and analyzed in the literature, still some questions remain to be uncovered that will be addressed in the present doctoral thesis.
Previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses have examined secular trends in children’s and adolescents’ physical fitness. However, considering that those analyses are by now 15 years old and that updates are available only to limited components of physical fitness, it is time to re-analyze the literature and examine secular trends for selected components of physical fitness (i.e., cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle strength, proxies of muscle power, and speed). Fur-thermore, the available studies on children’s development of physical fitness as well as the ef-fects of moderating variables such as age and sex have been investigated within a long-term ontogenetic perspective. However, the effects of age and sex in the transition from pre-puberty to puberty in the ninth year of life using a short-term ontogenetic perspective and the effect of timing of school enrollment on children’s development of physical fitness have not been clearly identified. Therefore, the present doctoral thesis seeks to complement the knowledge of children’s and adolescents’ physical fitness development by updating secular trend analysis in selected components of physical fitness, by examining short-term ontogenetic cross-sectional developmental differences in children`s physical fitness, and by comparing physical fitness of older- and younger-than-keyage children versus keyage-children. These findings provide valuable information about children’s and adolescents’ physical fitness development to help prevent potential deficits in physical fitness as early as possible and consequently ensure a holistic development and a lifelong healthy life.
Initially, a systematic review to provide an ‘update’ on secular trends in selected components of physical fitness (i.e., cardiorespiratory endurance, relative muscle strength, proxies of muscle power, speed) in children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis statement guidelines. To examine short-term ontogenetic cross-sectional developmental differences and to compare physical fitness of older- and younger-than-keyage children versus keyage-children physical fitness data of 108,295 keyage-children (i.e., aged 8.00 to 8.99 years), 2,586 younger-than-keyage children (i.e., aged 7.00 to 7.99 years), and 26,540 older-than-keyage children (i.e., aged 9.00 to 9.99 years) from the third grade were analyzed. Physical fitness was assessed through the EMOTIKON test battery measuring cardiorespiratory endurance (i.e., 6-min-run test), coordina-tion (i.e., star-run test), speed (i.e., 20-m linear sprint test), and proxies of lower (i.e., standing long jump test) and upper limbs (i.e., ball-push test) muscle power. Statistical inference was based on Linear Mixed Models.
Findings from the systematic review revealed a large initial improvement and an equally large subsequent decline between 1986 and 2010 as well as a stabilization between 2010 and 2015 in cardiorespiratory endurance, a general trend towards a small improvement in relative muscle strength from 1972 to 2015, an overall small negative quadratic trend for proxies of muscle power from 1972 to 2015, and a small-to-medium improvement in speed from 2002 to 2015. Findings from the cross-sectional studies showed that even in a single prepubertal year of life (i.e., ninth year) physical fitness performance develops linearly with increasing chronological age, boys showed better performances than girls in all physical fitness components, and the components varied in the size of sex and age effects. Furthermore, findings revealed that older-than-keyage children showed poorer performance in physical fitness compared to keyage-children, older-than-keyage girls showed better performances than older-than-keyage boys, and younger-than-keyage children outperformed keyage-children.
Due to the varying secular trends in physical fitness, it is recommended to promote initiatives for physical activity and physical fitness for children and adolescents to prevent adverse effects on health and well-being. More precisely, public health initiatives should specifically consider exercising cardiorespiratory endurance and muscle strength because both components showed strong positive associations with markers of health. Furthermore, the findings implied that physical education teachers, coaches, or researchers can utilize a proportional adjustment to individually interpret physical fitness of prepubertal school-aged children. Special attention should be given to the promotion of physical fitness of older-than-keyage children because they showed poorer performance in physical fitness than keyage-children. Therefore, it is necessary to specifically consider this group and provide additional health and fitness programs to reduce their deficits in physical fitness experienced during prior years to guarantee a holistic development.
Introduction General and particularly sport-specific testing is an integral aspect of performance optimization in artistic gymnastics. In artistic gymnastics, however, only non-specific field tests have been used to assess endurance performance (e.g., Multistage Shuttle Run Test; Cooper's Test).
Methods This study aimed to examine the validity of a new sport-specific endurance test in artistic gymnastics. Fourteen elite-level gymnasts (i.e., eight males and six females) participated in this study. The newly developed artistic gymnastics-specific endurance test (AGSET) was conducted on two different occasions seven days apart to determine its reliability. To assess the concurrent validity of AGSET, participants performed the multistage shuttle run test (MSRT). Maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) were directly assessed using a portable gas analyzer system during both protocols. Additionally, the total time maintained (TTM) during the AGSET, maximum heart rate (HRmax), maximal aerobic speed (MAS), and blood lactate concentration (BLa) during the two protocols were collected.
Results The main findings indicated that all variables derived from the AGSET (i.e., VO2max, MAS, HRmax, BLa, and RER) displayed very good relative (all intraclass correlation coefficients [ICC] > 0.90) and absolute (all typical errors of measurement [TEM] < 5%) reliability. Further, results showed that the ability of the AGSET to detect small changes in VO2max, MAS, BLa, and RER was good (smallest worthwhile change [SWC0.2] > TEM), except HRmax (SWC0.2 < TEM). Additionally, results showed a nearly perfect association between the VO2max values derived from the AGSET and MSRT (r = 0.985; coefficient of determination [R-2] = 97%) with no statistically significant differences (p>0.05). The mean (bias) +/- 95% limits of agreement between the two protocols were 0.28 +/- 0.55 mlminkg-1.
Discussion AGSET seems to present very good reliability and concurrent validity for assessing endurance performance in elite artistic gymnastics. In addition, the newly developed protocol presents a good ability to detect small changes in performance.
In the first book-length study of Takkanot Kandiyah, Martin Borýsek analyses this fascinating corpus of Hebrew texts written between 1228 –1583 by the leaders of the Jewish community in Candia, the capital of Venetian Crete. Collected in the 16th century by the Cretan Jewish historian Elijah Capsali, the communal byelaws offer a unique perspective on the history of a vibrant, culturally diverse Jewish community during three centuries of Venetian rule. As well as confronting practical problems such as deciding whether Christian wine can be made kosher by adding honey, or stopping irresponsible Jewish youths disturbing religious services by setting off fireworks in the synagogue, Takkanot Kandiyah presents valuable material for the study of communal autonomy and institutional memory in pre-modern Jewish society.
The electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) method is widely used to investigate geological, geotechnical, and hydrogeological problems in inland and aquatic environments (i.e., lakes, rivers, and seas). The objective of the ERT method is to obtain reliable resistivity models of the subsurface that can be interpreted in terms of the subsurface structure and petrophysical properties. The reliability of the resulting resistivity models depends not only on the quality of the acquired data, but also on the employed inversion strategy. Inversion of ERT data results in multiple solutions that explain the measured data equally well. Typical inversion approaches rely on different deterministic (local) strategies that consider different smoothing and damping strategies to stabilize the inversion. However, such strategies suffer from the trade-off of smearing possible sharp subsurface interfaces separating layers with resistivity contrasts of up to several orders of magnitude. When prior information (e.g., from outcrops, boreholes, or other geophysical surveys) suggests sharp resistivity variations, it might be advantageous to adapt the parameterization and inversion strategies to obtain more stable and geologically reliable model solutions. Adaptations to traditional local inversions, for example, by using different structural and/or geostatistical constraints, may help to retrieve sharper model solutions. In addition, layer-based model parameterization in combination with local or global inversion approaches can be used to obtain models with sharp boundaries.
In this thesis, I study three typical layered near-surface environments in which prior information is used to adapt 2D inversion strategies to favor layered model solutions. In cooperation with the coauthors of Chapters 2-4, I consider two general strategies. Our first approach uses a layer-based model parameterization and a well-established global inversion strategy to generate ensembles of model solutions and assess uncertainties related to the non-uniqueness of the inverse problem. We apply this method to invert ERT data sets collected in an inland coastal area of northern France (Chapter~2) and offshore of two Arctic regions (Chapter~3). Our second approach consists of using geostatistical regularizations with different correlation lengths. We apply this strategy to a more complex subsurface scenario on a local intermountain alluvial fan in southwestern Germany (Chapter~4). Overall, our inversion approaches allow us to obtain resistivity models that agree with the general geological understanding of the studied field sites. These strategies are rather general and can be applied to various geological environments where a layered subsurface structure is expected. The flexibility of our strategies allows adaptations to invert other kinds of geophysical data sets such as seismic refraction or electromagnetic induction methods, and could be considered for joint inversion approaches.
Objective:
Following a life course perspective, this study examines the link between partnership trajectories and three dimensions of psychological well-being: psychological health, overall sense of self-worth and quality of life.
Background:
Assuming that life outcomes are the result of prior decisions, experiences and events, partnership histories can be seen as a resource for psychological well-being. Furthermore, advantages or disadvantages from living with or without a partner should accumulate over time. While previous cross-sectional research has mainly focused on the influence of partnership status or a status change on well-being, prior longitudinal studies could not control for reverse causality of well-being and partnership trajectories. This research addresses the question of how different patterns of partnership biographies are related to a person's well-being in middle adulthood. Selection effects of pre-trajectory well-being as well as current life conditions are also taken into account.
Method:
Using data from the German LifE Study, the partnership trajectories between ages of 16 and 45 are classified by sequence and cluster analysis. OLS regression is then used to examine the link between types of partnership trajectories and depression, self-esteem and overall life satisfaction at age 45.
Results:
For women, well-being declined when experiencing unstable non-cohabitational union trajectories or divorce followed by unpartnered post-marital trajectories. Men suffered most from being long-term single. The results could not be explained by selection effects of pre-trajectory well-being.
Conclusion:
While women seem to 'recover' from most of the negative effects of unstable partnership trajectories through a new partnership, for men it was shown that being mainly unpartnered has long-lasting effects on their psychological well-being.
Paid parental leave schemes have been shown to increase women’s employment rates but to decrease their wages in case of extended leave duration. In view of these potential trade-offs, many countries are discussing the optimal design of parental leave policies. We analyze the impact of a major parental leave reform on mothers’ long-term earnings. The 2007 German parental leave reform replaced a means-tested benefit with a more generous earnings-related benefit that is granted for a shorter period of time. Additionally, a ”daddy quota” of two months was introduced. To identify the causal effect of this policy mix on long-run earnings of mothers, we use a difference-in-differences approach that compares labor market outcomes of mothers who gave birth just before and right after the reform and nets out seasonal effects by including the year before. Using administrative social security data, we confirm previous findings and show that the average duration of employment interruptions increased for mothers with high pre-birth earnings. Nevertheless, we find a positive long-run effect on earnings for mothers in this group. This effect cannot be explained by changes in the selection of working mothers, working hours or changes in employer stability. Descriptive evidence suggests that the stronger involvement of fathers, incentivized by the ”daddy months”, could have facilitated mothers’ re-entry into the labor market and thereby increased earnings. For mothers with low pre-birth earnings, however, we do not find beneficial long-run effects of this parental leave reform.
Background
There is consistent evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with an increased psychosocial burden on children and adolescents and their parents. Relatively little is known about its particular impact on high-risk groups with chronic physical health conditions (CCs). Therefore, the primary aim of the study is to analyze the multiple impacts on health care and psychosocial well-being on these children and adolescents and their parents.
Methods
We will implement a two-stage approach. In the first step, parents and their underage children from three German patient registries for diabetes, obesity, and rheumatic diseases, are invited to fill out short questionnaires including questions about corona-specific stressors, the health care situation, and psychosocial well-being. In the next step, a more comprehensive, in-depth online survey is carried out in a smaller subsample.
Discussion
The study will provide insights into the multiple longer-term stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic in families with a child with a CC. The simultaneous consideration of medical and psycho-social endpoints will help to gain a deeper understanding of the complex interactions affecting family functioning, psychological well-being, and health care delivery.
Background
Teleost fishes comprise more than half of the vertebrate species. Within teleosts, most phylogenies consider the split between Osteoglossomorpha and Euteleosteomorpha/Otomorpha as basal, preceded only by the derivation of the most primitive group of teleosts, the Elopomorpha. While Osteoglossomorpha are generally species poor, the taxon contains the African weakly electric fish (Mormyroidei), which have radiated into numerous species. Within the mormyrids, the genus Campylomormyrus is mostly endemic to the Congo Basin. Campylomormyrus serves as a model to understand mechanisms of adaptive radiation and ecological speciation, especially with regard to its highly diverse species-specific electric organ discharges (EOD). Currently, there are few well-annotated genomes available for electric fish in general and mormyrids in particular. Our study aims at producing a high-quality genome assembly and to use this to examine genome evolution in relation to other teleosts. This will facilitate further understanding of the evolution of the osteoglossomorpha fish in general and of electric fish in particular.
Results
A high-quality weakly electric fish (C. compressirostris) genome was produced from a single individual with a genome size of 862 Mb, consisting of 1,497 contigs with an N50 of 1,399 kb and a GC-content of 43.69%. Gene predictions identified 34,492 protein-coding genes, which is a higher number than in the two other available Osteoglossomorpha genomes of Paramormyrops kingsleyae and Scleropages formosus. A Computational Analysis of gene Family Evolution (CAFE5) comparing 33 teleost fish genomes suggests an overall faster gene family turnover rate in Osteoglossomorpha than in Otomorpha and Euteleosteomorpha. Moreover, the ratios of expanded/contracted gene family numbers in Osteoglossomorpha are significantly higher than in the other two taxa, except for species that had undergone an additional genome duplication (Cyprinus carpio and Oncorhynchus mykiss). As potassium channel proteins are hypothesized to play a key role in EOD diversity among species, we put a special focus on them, and manually curated 16 Kv1 genes. We identified a tandem duplication in the KCNA7a gene in the genome of C. compressirostris.
Conclusions
We present the fourth genome of an electric fish and the third well-annotated genome for Osteoglossomorpha, enabling us to compare gene family evolution among major teleost lineages. Osteoglossomorpha appear to exhibit rapid gene family evolution, with more gene family expansions than contractions. The curated Kv1 gene family showed seven gene clusters, which is more than in other analyzed fish genomes outside Osteoglossomorpha. The KCNA7a, encoding for a potassium channel central for EOD production and modulation, is tandemly duplicated which may related to the diverse EOD observed among Campylomormyrus species.
Background
Machine learning models promise to support diagnostic predictions, but may not perform well in new settings. Selecting the best model for a new setting without available data is challenging. We aimed to investigate the transportability by calibration and discrimination of prediction models for cognitive impairment in simulated external settings with different distributions of demographic and clinical characteristics.
Methods
We mapped and quantified relationships between variables associated with cognitive impairment using causal graphs, structural equation models, and data from the ADNI study. These estimates were then used to generate datasets and evaluate prediction models with different sets of predictors. We measured transportability to external settings under guided interventions on age, APOE & epsilon;4, and tau-protein, using performance differences between internal and external settings measured by calibration metrics and area under the receiver operating curve (AUC).
Results
Calibration differences indicated that models predicting with causes of the outcome were more transportable than those predicting with consequences. AUC differences indicated inconsistent trends of transportability between the different external settings. Models predicting with consequences tended to show higher AUC in the external settings compared to internal settings, while models predicting with parents or all variables showed similar AUC.
Conclusions
We demonstrated with a practical prediction task example that predicting with causes of the outcome results in better transportability compared to anti-causal predictions when considering calibration differences. We conclude that calibration performance is crucial when assessing model transportability to external settings.
Background: The worldwide prevalence of diabetes has been increasing in recent years, with a projected prevalence of 700 million patients by 2045, leading to economic burdens on societies. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), representing more than 95% of all diabetes cases, is a multifactorial metabolic disorder characterized by insulin resistance leading to an imbalance between insulin requirements and supply. Overweight and obesity are the main risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. The lifestyle modification of following a healthy diet and physical activity are the primary successful treatment and prevention methods for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Problems may exist with patients not achieving recommended levels of physical activity. Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) is an increasingly popular training method and has become in the focus of research in recent years. It involves the external application of an electric field to muscles, which can lead to muscle contraction. Positive effects of EMS training have been found in healthy individuals as well as in various patient groups. New EMS devices offer a wide range of mobile applications for whole-body electrical muscle stimulation (WB-EMS) training, e.g., the intensification of dynamic low-intensity endurance exercises through WB-EMS. This dissertation project aims to investigate whether WB-EMS is suitable for intensifying low-intensive dynamic exercises such as walking and Nordic walking.
Methods: Two independent studies were conducted. The first study aimed to investigate the reliability of exercise parameters during the 10-meter Incremental Shuttle Walk Test (10MISWT) using superimposed WB-EMS (research question 1, sub-question a) and the difference in exercise intensity compared to conventional walking (CON-W, research question 1, sub-question b). The second study aimed to compare differences in exercise parameters between superimposed WB-EMS (WB-EMS-W) and conventional walking (CON-W), as well as between superimposed WB-EMS (WB-EMS-NW) and conventional Nordic walking (CON-NW) on a treadmill (research question 2). Both studies took place in participant groups of healthy, moderately active men aged 35-70 years. During all measurements, the Easy Motion Skin® WB-EMS low frequency stimulation device with adjustable intensities for eight muscle groups was used. The current intensity was individually adjusted for each participant at each trial to ensure safety, avoiding pain and muscle cramps. In study 1, thirteen individuals were included for each sub question. A randomized cross-over design with three measurement appointments used was to avoid confounding factors such as delayed onset muscle soreness. The 10MISWT was performed until the participants no longer met the criteria of the test and recording five outcome measures: peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak), relative VO2peak (rel.VO2peak), maximum walk distance (MWD), blood lactate concentration, and the rate of perceived exertion (RPE).
Eleven participants were included in study 2. A randomized cross-over design in a study with four measurement appointments was used to avoid confounding factors. A treadmill test protocol at constant velocity (6.5 m/s) was developed to compare exercise intensities. Oxygen uptake (VO2), relative VO2 (rel.VO2) blood lactate, and the RPE were used as outcome variables. Test-retest reliability between measurements was determined using a compilation of absolute and relative measures of reliability. Outcome measures in study 2 were studied using multifactorial analyses of variances.
Results: Reliability analysis showed good reliability for VO2peak, rel.VO2peak, MWD and RPE with no statistically significant difference for WB-EMS-W during 10WISWT. However, differences compared to conventional walking in outcome variables were not found. The analysis of the treadmill tests showed significant effects for the factors CON/WB-EMS and W/NW for the outcome variables VO2, rel.VO2 and lactate, with both factors leading to higher results. However, the difference in VO2 and relative VO2 is within the range of biological variability of ± 12%. The factor combination EMS∗W/NW is statistically non-significant for all three variables. WB-EMS resulted in the higher RPE values, RPE differences for W/NW and EMS∗W/NW were not significant.
Discussion: The present project found good reliability for measuring VO2peak, rel. VO2peak, MWD and RPE during 10MISWT during WB-EMS-W, confirming prior research of the test. The test appears technically limited rather than physiologically in healthy, moderately active men. However, it is unsuitable for investigating differences in exercise intensities using WB-EMS-W compared to CON-W due to different perceptions of current intensity between exercise and rest. A treadmill test with constant walking speed was conducted to adjust individual maximum tolerable current intensity for the second part of the project. The treadmill test showed a significant increase in metabolic demands during WB-EMS-W and WB-EMS-NW by an increased VO2 and blood lactate concentration. However, the clinical relevance of these findings remains debatable. The study also found that WB-EMS superimposed exercises are perceived as more strenuous than conventional exercise. While in parts comparable studies lead to higher results for VO2, our results are in line with those of other studies using the same frequency. Due to the minor clinical relevance the use of WB-EMS as exercise intensification tool during walking and Nordic walking is limited. High device cost should be considered. Habituation to WB-EMS could increase current intensity tolerance and VO2 and make it a meaningful method in the treatment of T2DM. Recent figures show that WB-EMS is used in obese people to achieve health and weight goals. The supposed benefit should be further investigated scientifically.