Road Movies - Geschichten übers Unterwegssein

Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich dem Filmgenre Road Movie und exemplarisch dessen Produktionen in den ersten Jahren des 21. Jahrhunderts. In einem historischen Überblick werden zunächst die Wurzeln und die Herkunft dieser Filme sowie die Etablierung als eigenständiges Genre beleuchtet. Weiterführend werden eine Genrebestimmung sowie eine Kategorisierung in Subgenres vorgenommen. Der Hauptteil der Arbeit ist der Untersuchung von drei Road Movies (Broken Flowers – 2005, Little Miss Sunshine – 2006, Transamerica – 2006), die im ersten Jahrzehnt des 21. Jahrhunderts erschienen sind, gewidmet. Diese Untersuchung bedient sich einerseits der Kategorien der klassischen Filmanalyse sowie auch der eines eigenständig entwickelten Analysesystems. Dieses weist folgende sechs Kategorien auf: Reise, Transportmittel, Reisende, Sinnsuche, wichtige dramaturgische Elemente und Musik. Mit diesem Profil kann jedes Road Movie untersucht und mit jeder anderen Produktion dieses Genres verglichen werden. Abschließend gibt eine Interpretation der Einzelergebnisse sowie eine vergleichende Interpretation aller drei Filme Aufschluss über Entwicklungen und Trends der letzten Jahre innerhalb des Genres. Dabei stellt sich heraus, dass der für das Genre so kennzeichnende rebellische Auf- und Ausbruch aus der Gesellschaft nicht mehr zu finden ist. Die Reisenden wollen Teil des großen Ganzen sein und sich nicht davon abgrenzen. Das Streben nach Zugehörigkeit und Mitgliedschaft in der Gesellschaft ist die neue Antriebskraft. Die Figuren begeben sich jedoch nicht gerne auf eine Reise, im Gegenteil, sie machen sich nur sehr widerwillig oder unter Zwang auf den Weg. Dieser Weg ist in zwei von drei Fällen (Little Miss Sunshine, Transamerica) einer, der vom Osten Amerikas nach Westen führt und somit auf die Wurzeln des Genres im Western verweist. In den neuen Road Movies tritt die Musik deutlich in den Hintergrund. Die Rock-Musik war ein essentielles Element des Genres, heute ist sie aber kaum noch zu finden. Da sie aber in enger Verbindung mit der ebenfalls fehlenden Rebellion stand, ist diese Entwicklung nachzuvollziehen. Die Figurenzeichnung hat, im Gegensatz zu früher, an Tiefe gewonnen. Die Charakterisierung der Figuren erfolgt auf vielen verschiedenen Ebenen, besonders pointiert jedoch in der Namensgebung und der Bekleidung, die meist konträr zum gewünschten Image stehen. Die Enden der erzählten Geschichten bleiben tendenziell offen, es werden gewisse Zielerreichungen gezeigt, dennoch bleibt viel Spielraum für die Gedanken der Zuseher, die die Geschichte für sich selbst zu einem Ende bringen müssen.This thesis is dedicated to the road movie film genre and to three of its most exemplary productions of the 21st century. The paper starts with a historical overview including the roots and origin of the genre as well as its establishment as an independent genre. Furthermore an identification of the genre and a categorization of subgenres is made. The main part of this work is concerned with the analysis of three road movies (Broken Flowers – 2005, Little Miss Sunshine – 2006, Transamerica – 2006) which were released within the last decade. The investigation contains both some features of classical film analysis as well as categories of a self-designed scheme of analysis. This scheme contains six categories: journey, means of transport, travellers, searching for the meaning of life, important elements of dramaturgy and music. This system allows the analysis of any road movie as well as a comparison of different movies of this genre. The results obtained by the analysis are interpreted seperately as well as comparing them with each other. The paper closes with the presentation of the innovations and trends that can be found in the road movie genre within those last years. Most strikingly, the rebellious spirit – which was significant for the road movie genre – has vanished. The characters want to be part of the society and try to avoid distinguishing themselves from the ordinary members of the community. The quest of belonging to any sort of community is what is pushing them. The characters tend to refuse journeys without purpose. They only start travelling if there is some kind of need or some circumstance forcing them to do so. In two films (Little Miss Sunshine, Transamerica) the journey starts from the east of the USA and leads to the western part of the country; this links these new productions to the genre’s roots in the western. New road movies do not use music that much any longer. Rock music was an essential element of the genre and strongly related to rebellion. It cannot be found much these days. This is an understandable development because of the likewise missing rebellion in the more recent road movies. The characterization of the figures has improved in contrast to early road movie characters. The characters have gained depth and complexity and this is especially revealed in their names and clothing. Most of the time these are contrasting the character’s desired image. Road movie endings have also changed a lot. Films of this genre recently tend not to close with the entire story but to leave it open to some extent. They show some kind of goal that the characters have reached, but in general they leave the audience with plenty of room for leading the characters to their own personal ending

Erasmus 2.0

Diese Arbeit setzt sich mit dem Kommunikationsverhalten von Studierenden im Ausland auseinander. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf den Möglichkeiten der webbasierten Kommunikation und wie diese von Studierenden des Erasmus-Austauschprogramms zum Aufbau neuer Kontakte im Gastland sowie zur Pflege bestehender Kontakte im Heimatland genützt werden. Besonders berücksichtigt werden dabei die verschiedenen Netzwerke des Studierenden sowie dessen Fremdsprachen-kompetenz. Den theoretischen Rahmen bildet einerseits die Theorie der Mediatisierung in Anlehnung an Friedrich Krotz, die von einer engen Verzahnung von Kulturwandel und medial vermittelter Kommunikation ausgeht. Dabei findet die Deterritorialisierung der Medien, und somit die Nutzung von mediatisierter Kommunikation in immer mehr Lebensbereichen (geografisch sowie sozial), als Ausdruck des Kulturwandels auf räumlicher Ebene Berücksichtigung. Der zweite theoretische Zugang erfolgt über die Theorie der Sozialen Netzwerke, wobei die verschiedenen Ebenen eines persönlichen Netzwerks sowie die verschiedenen Qualitäten von Beziehungen (starke/schwache Bindung) beleuchtet werden. Anschließend werden das Konzept des Sozialen Kapitals sowie der Sozialen Homophilie näher erläutert. Zentrale Fragestellung der Arbeit ist, was die webbasierte Kommunikation für den Studierenden im Ausland leisten kann und ob die Kenntnisse der Sprache des Gastlandes Einfluss auf die Wahl des Kommunikationskanals haben. Als Methode dient die quantitative Datenerhebung mittels Online-Fragebogen von ehemaligen Erasmus-Studierenden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die webbasierte Kommunikation durch Produkte des Web 2.0, insbesondere des Social Web, primär zur Pflege der Kontakte mit Freunden und Familie im Heimatland genutzt wird. Die Kontaktaufnahme zu Personen aus dem Gastland und zu anderen Austauschstudierenden erfolgt bevorzugt durch Face-to-Face-Kommunikation. Diese Angaben bestätigen frühere Ergebnisse, die zeigten, dass das Social Web sich zur Pflege bereits bestehender Beziehungen eher eignet, als zum Aufbau neuer Kontakte. Gleichzeitig ist es jedoch sowohl für die Pflege von starken als auch von schwachen Beziehungen von Bedeutung. Bezüglich der Wahl der Kommunikationsmittel hinsichtlich der Sprachkenntnisse der Studierenden konnten nur wenige signifikante Unterschiede, die sich auf wenig bis gar nicht genutzte Kommunikationsmittel bezogen, festgestellt werden.This thesis is concerned with the communication behaviour of students while studying abroad. The main focus is placed on the possibilities of web-based ways of communication and how they are used by Erasmus-exchange students to socialize in the host country as well as maintain their relationships with friends and family in the home country. Both the variety of the students’ social networks and their foreign language skills will be considered. The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on two theories, first of all the theory of mediatization according to Friedrich Krotz, who declares a close connection of mediatization and cultural modifications. His theory reflects, amongst others, the aspect of de-territorialization of media, and thus the use of mediated communication in many areas of life, (geographically as well as socially), as an expression of cultural modification on a spatial level. The second theory serving as a basis for this thesis is the social network theory, in which different levels of personal networks as well as various qualities of personal relationships such as strong and weak ties are dealt with. Furthermore the concepts of social homophily and social capital are discussed. The main concerns of this paper are to explore the benefits of web-based communication for students studying abroad and if different language skills have an effect on their choice of the means of communication. The required data was collected by means of an online-survey of former Erasmus-exchange students. The results obtained from the analysis show that web-based communication via Web 2.0 products, especially those belonging to the group of Social Web, are primarily used in order to maintain contacts with friends and family in the home country. To socialize with people from the host country and get to know fellow exchange students face-to-face communication is preferred. This outcome confirms the results of previous studies, showing that Social Web is better suited for maintaining already existing relationships than for contacting strangers. However, it qualifies for managing strong tie as well as weak tie relationships. Regarding the choice of the means of communication and the student’s language skills, some significant differences can be observed. However only for means of communication which are hardly ever used

The BRAF pseudogene functions as a competitive endogenous RNA and induces lymphoma in vivo

SummaryResearch over the past decade has suggested important roles for pseudogenes in physiology and disease. In vitro experiments demonstrated that pseudogenes contribute to cell transformation through several mechanisms. However, in vivo evidence for a causal role of pseudogenes in cancer development is lacking. Here, we report that mice engineered to overexpress either the full-length murine B-Raf pseudogene Braf-rs1 or its pseudo “CDS” or “3′ UTR” develop an aggressive malignancy resembling human diffuse large B cell lymphoma. We show that Braf-rs1 and its human ortholog, BRAFP1, elicit their oncogenic activity, at least in part, as competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) that elevate BRAF expression and MAPK activation in vitro and in vivo. Notably, we find that transcriptional or genomic aberrations of BRAFP1 occur frequently in multiple human cancers, including B cell lymphomas. Our engineered mouse models demonstrate the oncogenic potential of pseudogenes and indicate that ceRNA-mediated microRNA sequestration may contribute to the development of cancer

Adjuvant therapy for children treated by enucleation at diagnosis of retinoblastoma

Introduction Advanced localized retinoblastoma can be cured by enucleation, but extraocular spread of retinoblastoma cells is associated with a high mortality. Risk-stratified adjuvant treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy has been shown to reduce the risk for extraocular relapse in children with histopathological risk factors. Methods Data of 184 patients with retinoblastoma and primary enucleation were collected in a prospective, multicenter, observational study between 2013 and 2020. The clinical characteristics were evaluated as risk factors and progression-free and overall survival rates were compared. Results Seventy-one percent of 184 children with retinoblastoma treated with primary enucleation were diagnosed with low risk histopathological factors (pT1/pT2a) and received no adjuvant therapy. Children with intermediate risk (pT2b,pT3; 48 children, 26.0%) and high risk for metastasis (pT4; 5 children, 2.7%) received risk-stratified adjuvant treatment. None of the children with low risk or intermediate risk (pT1-pT3) relapsed, but two of five children with high-risk retinoblastoma (pT4) developed extraocular relapses and one deceased. The 2-year progression-free survival rate and 2-year overall survival rate was 100% for children with pT1-3 retinoblastoma. However, the 2-year progression-free survival rate and 2-year overall survival rate for children with pT4 was statistically notably reduced with 2 of 5 children developing progression and 1 death among the 5 children within 2 years after diagnosis. Conclusion Primary enucleation alone and with additional risk-stratified adjuvant chemotherapy treatment provides high cure rates in patients with pT1-3 retinoblastoma, but children with pT4 retinoblastoma remain at high risk to develop extraocular retinoblastoma. International prospective clinical trials are required to evaluate reduction of intensity of adjuvant chemotherapy in some risk groups (pT2, pT3) and intensification for pT4 retinoblastoma

Non-invasive stimulation reveals ventromedial prefrontal cortex function in reward prediction and reward processing

IntroductionStudies suggest an involvement of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in reward prediction and processing, with reward-based learning relying on neural activity in response to unpredicted rewards or non-rewards (reward prediction error, RPE). Here, we investigated the causal role of the vmPFC in reward prediction, processing, and RPE signaling by transiently modulating vmPFC excitability using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS).MethodsParticipants received excitatory or inhibitory tDCS of the vmPFC before completing a gambling task, in which cues signaled varying reward probabilities and symbols provided feedback on monetary gain or loss. We collected self-reported and evaluative data on reward prediction and processing. In addition, cue-locked and feedback-locked neural activity via magnetoencephalography (MEG) and pupil diameter using eye-tracking were recorded.ResultsRegarding reward prediction (cue-locked analysis), vmPFC excitation (versus inhibition) resulted in increased prefrontal activation preceding loss predictions, increased pupil dilations, and tentatively more optimistic reward predictions. Regarding reward processing (feedback-locked analysis), vmPFC excitation (versus inhibition) resulted in increased pleasantness, increased vmPFC activation, especially for unpredicted gains (i.e., gain RPEs), decreased perseveration in choice behavior after negative feedback, and increased pupil dilations.DiscussionOur results support the pivotal role of the vmPFC in reward prediction and processing. Furthermore, they suggest that transient vmPFC excitation via tDCS induces a positive bias into the reward system that leads to enhanced anticipation and appraisal of positive outcomes and improves reward-based learning, as indicated by greater behavioral flexibility after losses and unpredicted outcomes, which can be seen as an improved reaction to the received feedback

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Big Data Technology for Resilient Failure Management in Production Systems

Part 3: Knowledge Based Production ManagementInternational audienceDue to a growing complexity within value chains the susceptibility to failures in production processes increases. The research project BigPro explores the applicability of Big Data to realize a pro-active failure management in production systems. The BigPro-platform complements structured production data and unstructured human data to improve failure management. In a novel approach, the aggregated data is analyzed for reoccurring patterns that indicate possible failures of the production system, known from historic failure events. These patterns are linked to failures and respective countermeasures and documented in a catalog. The project results are validated in three industrial use cases