Translating Franz Kafka into English and Several Romance Languages: Reflections on the Theory of Translation Between Linguistics and Literary Studies

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Text Linguistics and Translation. With Special Consideration of the Performance of Machine Translation Systems in the Field of Text Organisation

Eugenio Coseriu’s introductory lecture on text linguistics, edited and revised by the author of these lines, presents two forms of text linguistics: text linguistics in the narrower sense, i.e. “transphrastic grammar” tied to a specific language, and text linguistics in the broader sense, the “linguistics of meaning”. This latter form of text linguistics examines how the signs of the text of any language give meaning to the text not only through what they denote but also through what they evoke. This article attempts to bring Coseriu’s remarks on text linguistics into a systematic context with the problem of translation. In doing so, it also examines – for the time being only in a rudimentary way – what corpus-based machine translation systems can achieve in this area and where they reach their limits

Sprechen durch Musik im Komponieren der Gegenwart: Podiumsdiskussion mit Clemens Gadenstätter, Susanne Kogler, Albrecht Wellmer, Diskussionsleitung: Jörn Peter Hiekel

Commenting on a performance of two musical works that were played as the starting point for this discussion – Anton Webern’s Drei kleine Stücke (1914) for violoncello and piano op. 11 and Helmut Lachenmann’s Ein Kinderspiel (1980) for piano – Jörn Peter Hiekel observes that speaking about music and speaking through music particularly condition one another in new music. Both Webern and Lachenmann, by different compositional means, condense familiar musical gestures until they turn into a »language of their own«. In Lachenmann’s work, which refers to well-known children songs, this process is closely connected to what Albrecht Wellmer has called »wordliness« (Welthaltigkeit). More generally, the serialist »rebellion against music’s resemblance to language« (Adorno) shows a paradoxical twist towards sedimentation in the form of a new emerging language, as Clemens Gadenstätter explains with reference to Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Gruppen (1955–56). In new music musical idioms have been thoroughly destabilized yet always re-contextualized within established formulae. The panellists agree on a notion of both language and music that is not conceived as a closed system, but rather a network of relations transformed in time. Hence no distinct boundary can be drawn between syntax and semantics in music, nor is there any musical language that communicates a universal meaning (despite Joseph Haydn’s claim to the contrary). In addition – as anecdotes from Luigi Nono and Helmut Lachenmann document – the ambiguity of musical meaning is also relevant for composers who might be (favourably) surprised by unorthodox performances of their works that seemingly contradict the composers’ intentions, but in fact contribute to unfolding the multiplicity of meanings in a work

New methods for local vulnerability scenarios to heat stress to inform urban planning : case study City of Ludwigsburg/Germany

Adaptation strategies to climate change need information about present and future climatic conditions. However, next to scenarios about the future climate, scenarios about future vulnerability are essential, since also changing societal conditions fundamentally determine adaptation needs. At the international and national level, first initiatives for developing vulnerability scenarios and so-called shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) have been undertaken. Most of these scenarios, however, do not provide sufficient information for local scenarios and local climate risk management. There is an urgent need to develop scenarios for vulnerability at the local scale in order to complement climate change scenarios. Heat stress is seen as a key challenge in cities in the context of climate change and further urban growth. Based on the research project ZURES (ZURES 2020 website), the paper presents a new method for human vulnerability scenarios to heat stress at the very local scale for growing medium-sized cities. In contrast to global models that outline future scenarios mostly with a country-level resolution, we show a new method on how to develop spatially specific scenario information for different districts within cities, starting from the planned urban development and expansion. The method provides a new opportunity to explore how different urban development strategies and housing policies influence future human exposure and vulnerability. Opportunities and constraints of the approach are revealed. Finally, we discuss how these scenarios can inform future urban development and risk management strategies and how these could complement more global or national approaches.Projekt DEA

The FERM protein EPB41L5 regulates actomyosin contractility and focal adhesion formation to maintain the kidney filtration barrier

Podocytes form the outer part of the glomerular filter, where they have to withstand enormous transcapillary filtration forces driving glomerular filtration. Detachment of podocytes from the glomerular basement membrane precedes most glomerular diseases. However, little is known about the regulation of podocyte adhesion in vivo. Thus, we systematically screened for podocyte-specific focal adhesome (FA) components, using genetic reporter models in combination with iTRAQ-based mass spectrometry. This approach led to the identification of FERM domain protein EPB41L5 as a highly enriched podocyte-specific FA component in vivo. Genetic deletion of Epb41l5 resulted in severe proteinuria, detachment of podocytes, and development of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. Remarkably, by binding and recruiting the RhoGEF ARGHEF18 to the leading edge, EPB41L5 directly controls actomyosin contractility and subsequent maturation of focal adhesions, cell spreading, and migration. Furthermore, EPB41L5 controls matrix-dependent outside-in signaling by regulating the focal adhesome composition. Thus, by linking extracellular matrix sensing and signaling, focal adhesion maturation, and actomyosin activation EPB41L5 ensures the mechanical stability required for podocytes at the kidney filtration barrier. Finally, a diminution of EPB41L5-dependent signaling programs appears to be a common theme of podocyte disease, and therefore offers unexpected interventional therapeutic strategies to prevent podocyte loss and kidney disease progression

Kultur und kulturelle Bildung. Interdisziplinäre Verortungen – Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung – Perspektiven für die Schule

Kulturen bestimmen grundlegende Werte und Visionen von Individuen oder Gemeinschaften, deren Einstellungen zur Weltbegegnung und den Umgang miteinander. Angesichts kultureller Vielfalt bedarf es einer Befähigung der bzw. des Einzelnen, mit dem Kontext Kultur angemessen umgehen zu können. Insbesondere Kultur- und Bildungspolitik sowie schulische Bildungsgelegenheiten formen unweigerlich Vorstellungen von und Herangehensweisen an Kultur. Inwiefern aber prägen diverse Kulturauffassungen das (Professions-)Verständnis (angehender) Lehrerinnen und Lehrer? Welche Professionalisierungspotenziale halten Geistes- und Kulturwissenschaften durch die Vermittlung kulturtheoretischer und kultureller Wissensbestände für die Bildung von Lehramtsstudierenden sowie von Lehrkräften bereit? Warum sind entsprechendes Wissen und damit verknüpfte Kompetenzen in Bildungsprozessen unentbehrlich? In den Beiträgen des Sammelbandes „Kultur und kulturelle Bildung. Interdisziplinäre Verortungen – Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung – Perspektiven für die Schule“ wird Kultur in mannigfaltigen Auffassungen beleuchtet und im Zusammenhang kultureller Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung thematisiert. Im Horizont eines semiotischen Kulturbegriffs und anhand unterschiedlichster Themen und Kulturkonzepte fokussieren Autorinnen und Autoren aus verschiedenen Fachdisziplinen eine der wichtigsten Aufgaben kultureller Bildung: die Vermittlung und Aneignung von Kompetenzen, um das von Menschen Geschaffene und mit Bedeutung sowie Symbolen Versehene reflektieren, decodieren und sich selbst in der codierten Welt verorten sowie daran teilhaben zu können. Dabei werden auf Basis kulturtheoretischer Überlegungen fachwissenschaftliche, fachdidaktische und bildungswissenschaftliche Perspektiven vernetzt und Optionen einer produktiven Verzahnung geisteswissenschaftlicher Kulturkonzepte mit Kontexten schulischer kultureller Bildung vorgestellt – ein Beitrag, um die kulturbezogene Professionalisierung von Lehramtsstudierenden und Lehrkräften voranzubringen

Dietary spermidine for lowering high blood pressure

Loss of cardiac macroautophagy/autophagy impairs heart function, and evidence accumulates that an increased autophagic flux may protect against cardiovascular disease. We therefore tested the protective capacity of the natural autophagy inducer spermidine in animal models of aging and hypertension, which both represent major risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease. Dietary spermidine elicits cardioprotective effects in aged mice through enhancing cardiac autophagy and mitophagy. In salt-sensitive rats, spermidine supplementation also delays the development of hypertensive heart disease, coinciding with reduced arterial blood pressure. The high blood pressure-lowering effect likely results from improved global arginine bioavailability and protection from hypertension-associated renal damage. The polyamine spermidine is naturally present in human diets, though to a varying amount depending on food type and preparation. In humans, high dietary spermidine intake correlates with reduced blood pressure and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and related death. Altogether, spermidine represents a cardio- and vascular- protective autophagy inducer that can be readily integrated in common diets