Die Persistenz von Institutionen - Hindernisse auf dem Weg zu einer nachhaltigen Flächennutzungspolitik in Deutschland

Sollen in Zukunft ambitionierte Ziele der nachhaltigen Flächennutzung erreicht werden, wie zum Beispiel das 30-Hektar-Ziel aus der Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie der rot-grünen Bundesregierung aus dem Jahre 2002, dann müssen politische Strategien gefunden werden, die es erlauben, weitgehende institutionelle Reformen zu verwirklichen. Die Voraussetzung dazu ist, vorhandene institutionelle Persistenzen und damit Reformblockaden zu identifizieren. Aufbauend auf theoretische Überlegungen widmet sich der Aufsatz einer Erörterung der Persistenz von Institutionen der Flächennutzung, um daraus politische Handlungsbeschränkungen und -spielräume ableiten zu können

Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteriuria as a Predictor of In-Hospital Mortality in Patients with Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteremia. Results of a Retrospective Cohort Study

Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (SA-BSI) is an infection with increasing morbidity and mortality. Concomitant Staphylococcus aureus bacteriuria (SABU) frequently occurs in patients with SA-BSI. It is considered as either a sign of exacerbation of SA-BSI or a primary source in terms of urosepsis. The clinical implications are still under investigation. In this study, we investigated the role of SABU in patients with SA-BSI and its effect on the patients' mortality. We performed a retrospective cohort study that included all patients in our university hospital (Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin) between 1 January 2014 and 31 March 2017. We included all patients with positive blood cultures for Staphylococcus aureus who had a urine culture 48 h before or after the first positive blood culture. We identified cases while using the microbiology database and collected additional demographic and clinical parameters, retrospectively, from patient files and charts. We conducted univariate analyses and multivariable Cox regression analysis to evaluate the risk factors for in-hospital mortality. 202 patients met the eligibility criteria. Overall, 55 patients (27.5%) died during their hospital stay. Cox regression showed SABU (OR 2.3), Pitt Bacteremia Score (OR 1.2), as well as moderate to severe liver disease (OR 2.1) to be independent risk factors for in-hospital mortality. Our data indicates that SABU in patients with concurrent SA-BSI is a prognostic marker for in-hospital death. Further studies are needed for evaluating implications for therapeutic optimization

Identification of low-frequency TRAF3IP2 coding variants in psoriatic arthritis patients and functional characterization

Introduction: In recent genome-wide association studies for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and psoriasis vulgaris, common coding variants in the TRAF3IP2 gene were identified to contribute to susceptibility to both disease entities. The risk allele of p.Asp10Asn (rs33980500) proved to be most significantly associated and to encode a mutant protein with an almost completely disrupted binding property to TRAF6, supporting its impact as a main disease-causing variant and modulator of IL-17 signaling. Methods: To identify further variants, exons 2-4 encoding both known TNF-receptor-associated factor (TRAF) binding domains were sequenced in 871 PsA patients. Seven missense variants and one three-base-pair insertion were identified in 0.06% to 1.02% of alleles. Five of these variants were also present in 931 control individuals at comparable frequency. Constructs containing full-length wild-type or mutant TRAF3IP2 were generated and used to analyze functionally all variants for TRAF6-binding in a mammalian two-hybrid assay. Results: None of the newly found alleles, though, encoded proteins with different binding properties to TRAF6, or to the cytoplasmic tail of the IL-17-receptor α-chain, suggesting that they do not contribute to susceptibility. Conclusions: Thus, the TRAF3IP2-variant p.Asp10Asn is the only susceptibility allele with functional impact on TRAF6 binding, at least in the German population

Uma Abordagem para o gerenciamento ambiental da bacia hidrografica do Rio Itajai com enfase no problema das enchentes

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro TecnologicoEste trabalho desenvolve uma abordagem para o gerenciamento da bacia do Itajaí, baseando-se no modelo que considera uma bacia hidrográfica como um sistema composto por dois sub-sistemas (natural e sócio-econômico), cujas interações se dão através do modo em que o solo é utilizado. Na aplicação parte-se de um problema-chave, buscando entender este problema à luz dos efeitos mútuos mais relevantes entre os sub-sistemas. Ao invés de diagnósticos, são realizadas análises de questões específicas relativas ao problema em foco. Considera-se que na bacia do Itajaí o problema-chave são as enchentes, procurando-se estabelecer, então, a qualidade e a intensidade dos efeitos que contribuem para o agravamento do problema. Particularmente são estudados: a) as alterações ocorridas no regime hídrico e as mudanças no uso do solo no mesmo período, sugerindo forte dependência entre as duas variáveis; b) o padrão de uso de solo, tendo em vista a degradação dos recursos, com a conseqüente definição de 9 regiões ambientais, em função dos problemas predominantes: c) a diferenciação sócio-econômica existente no âmbito da bacia em favor dos centros urbanos, fato que vem favorecendo não só a emigração como também a progressiva expansão das áreas exploradas, incrementando o nível de degradação; d) a matriz institucional, evidenciando a inexistência de uma entidade voltada ao gerenciamento de ações de controle de cheias e de planejamento ambiental.Enfim, o encadeamento dos resultados leva à proposição de uma alternativa de solução para os problemas da bacia, consubstanciada num conjunto de quinze estratégias, fortemente calcadas em consciência regional, participação, autodeterminação e internalização

Leseförderung durch das Internet? : Möglichkeiten und Grenzen aktueller medienpädagogischer Projekte

Gegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die Fragestellung, ob man mit dem neuen Medium Internet Leseförderung für Kinder und Jugendliche betreiben kann. Der Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf Webseiten und den damit verknüpften Möglichkeiten. Zunächst wird ein Überblick über die gegenwärtige Lesesituation und Internetnutzung von Kindern und Jugendlichen gegeben und Begriffe, wie Leseförderung und Medienkompetenz, in diesem Zusammenhang, erläutert. Anhand von Kriterien werden ausgewählte Internetangebote vorgestellt und daraufhin untersucht, ob sie für Maßnahmen der Leseförderung eingesetzt werden können. Im Mittelpunkt sollen Angebote des literarischen Lesens stehen, die mit der Buchkultur verbunden sind

Young children’s protest: what it can (not) tell us about early normative understanding

In this paper we address the question how children come to understand normativity through simple forms of social interaction. A recent line of research suggests that even very young children can understand social norms quite independently of any moral context. We focus on a methodological procedure developed by Rakoczy et al., Developmental Psychology, 44, 875-881, that measures children's protest behaviour when a pre-established constitutive rule has been violated. Children seem to protest when they realize that rule violations are not allowed or should not have happened. We point out that there is more than one possible explanation for children's reactions in these studies. They could be due to disobeying an authority, an inability to follow a rule, or the violation of an empirical expectation due to the mismatch between statement and action. We thus question whether it would still count as an indicator for normative understanding if children responded to aspects of the game other than the violation of a constitutive rule and conclude that the protesting behavior, when taken in isolation, does not suffice as evidence for normative understanding

Availability Analysis of Redundant and Replicated Cloud Services with Bayesian Networks

Due to the growing complexity of modern data centers, failures are not uncommon any more. Therefore, fault tolerance mechanisms play a vital role in fulfilling the availability requirements. Multiple availability models have been proposed to assess compute systems, among which Bayesian network models have gained popularity in industry and research due to its powerful modeling formalism. In particular, this work focuses on assessing the availability of redundant and replicated cloud computing services with Bayesian networks. So far, research on availability has only focused on modeling either infrastructure or communication failures in Bayesian networks, but have not considered both simultaneously. This work addresses practical modeling challenges of assessing the availability of large-scale redundant and replicated services with Bayesian networks, including cascading and common-cause failures from the surrounding infrastructure and communication network. In order to ease the modeling task, this paper introduces a high-level modeling formalism to build such a Bayesian network automatically. Performance evaluations demonstrate the feasibility of the presented Bayesian network approach to assess the availability of large-scale redundant and replicated services. This model is not only applicable in the domain of cloud computing it can also be applied for general cases of local and geo-distributed systems.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, journa

ESTUDO DA COMPLEMENTARIEDADE DE SISTEMAS DE GESTÃO AMBIENTAL E SISTEMAS DE GESTÃO DA ANÁLISE DE PERIGOS E PONTOS CRÍTICOS DE CONTROLE

In the past few years, food companies have been showing a growing interest in implementing Environment Management Systems (EMS), based on the recommendations of ISO 14001. However, many of these companies have already implanted a food safety system based on HACCP that is regulated in Brazil by the standard NBR 14900. The choice for using similar elements of management systems from NBR 14900 and ISO 14001 may reduce the efforts for implanting an EMS in companies that already have a HACCP-MS, the opposite being also true. The present text will explore the possibilities of these supposed complementarities. In conclusion, 17 elements of ISO 14001 and 24 elements of NBR 14900 are complementary, and only one element of each system cannot be considered equivalent.Empresas do segmento alimentício se interessam cada vez mais em implantar sistemas de gestão ambiental baseados na norma ISO 14001. Contudo, muitas destas empresas já possuem implantado um sistema de segurança de alimentos baseado no APPCC, cuja norma brasileira é a NBR 14900. A utilização dos elementos da norma NBR 14900 e dos conceitos do sistema APPCC, que possam apresentar equivalência com a norma ISO 14001, poderá reduzir os esforços no processo de implantação de um SGA, para empresas que já possuem um SGAPPCC implementado, e vice versa. O presente artigo explora estas possibilidades de complementariedade e conclui que 17 requisitos da ISO 14001 são equivalentes a 24 requisitos da NBR 14900, e apenas um requisito de cada uma destas Normas não pode ser considerado equivalente