Assessment of the effectiveness of the Swiss constitutional popular initiative : a few remarks regarding the legal framework based on the analysis of the practical application

Ludowa inicjatywa konstytucyjna występująca w Szwajcarii na poziomie federalnym często uznawana jest za współczesny wzorzec tej instytucji. Jest to inicjatywa bezpośrednia, występująca w formie inicjatywy sformułowanej oraz niesformułowanej, nie jest ograniczona tematycznie, a warunki jej zgłoszenia nie są przesadnie rygorystyczne. Dla jej pełnej oceny konieczne jest także poddanie analizie jej praktycznego zastosowania. Skoro nowelizacji za jej pomocą może podlegać jedynie Konstytucja Federalna, znowelizowane przepisy najczęściej muszą zostać skonkretyzowane w ustawach, co może pozwalać Zgromadzeniu Federalnemu na neutralizowanie zamierzeń komitetów. W celu oceny skuteczności ludowej inicjatywy konstytucyjnej przeanalizowane zostały inicjatywy poddane głosowaniu w latach 2001–2014, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem inicjatyw przyjętych w głosowaniu i dalszego postępowania legislacyjnego mającego na celu przyjęcie aktów niższego rzędu, konkretyzujących normy konstytucyjne.The Swiss constitutional popular initiative is often perceived as a prime example of such institution. It is characterized by its direct type (it is directly submitted to the vote of the people), it can be presented in a form of either a draft proposal or an idea for a future amendment, it is not thematically limited and finally, the conditions for its approval are not too rigorous. For its assessment to be complete, its practical application also needs to be analyzed. Since it is only the Federal Constitution that can be amended in a way of the popular initiative, usually the amended provisions need to be subsequently concretized by lower-rang legal acts which can allow the Federal Assembly to neutralize the goals of the initiative committee. In order to assess the effectiveness of this institution, the initiatives submitted to the vote of the people and the cantons between 2001 and 2014 were analyzed, with a particular attention being paid to the accepted initiatives and the subsequent legislative process commenced to enact legal acts aiming at concretizing the constitutional provisions

The application of popular initiative in the Swiss Confederation

Instytucje demokracji bezpośredniej są stosowane w Konfederacji Szwajcarskiej na skalę nieporównywalną z jakimkolwiek innym państwem. Sama inicjatywa ludowa wykorzystywana jest co najmniej kilka razy do roku przez różnorodne grupy interesu i przez partie polityczne. Celem opracowania jest kompleksowe przedstawienie aspektów prawnych i praktycznych zastosowania inicjatywy ludowej w Konfederacji Szwajcarskiej. Pierwsza część pracy obejmuje prezentację genezy i rozwoju instytucji demokracji bezpośredniej na przestrzeni lat. W kolejnej części zaprezentowano regulacje prawne dotyczące inicjatywy ludowej i postępowania z nią związanego (począwszy od jej zgłoszenia aż po publikację wyników i możliwości ich weryfikacji). Następna część pracy poświęcona została zobrazowaniu podmiotów zgłaszających inicjatywy i treści samych inicjatyw. Wskazano również na aspekt skuteczności tej instytucji oraz na cele, którym, oprócz możliwości nowelizacji Konstytucji Federalnej, może ona służyć.The institutions of direct democracy are being applied in the Swiss Confederation on a scale that is incomparable with any other country. The popular initiative itself is being used by various interest groups, as well as by political parties, at least a few times each year. This article aims at presenting in a complex manner both legal and practical aspects of the popular initiative’s application in the Swiss Confederation. The first part of the article deals with the origin and the development of the direct democracy institutions throughout the years. In the next part the legal regulations concerning the popular initiative and the proceedings relating to it (from its submission to results’ publication and possibilities of their verification) are being presented. The following fragment of the article describes the interest groups and political parties submitting the initiatives and also initiatives’ objects. The article is concluded by the presentation of the various purposes, which popular initiative can serve, apart from its aim to amend the Federal Constitution

Metabolite profiling of somatic embryos of Cyclamen persicum in comparison to zygotic embryos, endosperm, and testa

Winkelmann T, Ratjens S, Bartsch M, Rode C, Niehaus K, Bednarz H. Metabolite profiling of somatic embryos of Cyclamen persicum in comparison to zygotic embryos, endosperm, and testa. Frontiers in Plant Science. 2015;6: 597.Somatic embryogenesis has been shown to be an efficient in vitro plant regeneration system for many crops such as the important ornamental plant Cyclamen persicum, for which this regeneration pathway of somatic embryogenesis is of interest for the vegetative propagation of parental lines as well as elite plants. However, somatic embryogenesis is not commercially used in many crops due to several unsolved problems, such as malformations, asynchronous development, deficiencies in maturation and germination of somatic embryos. In contrast, zygotic embryos in seeds develop and germinate without abnormalities in most cases. Instead of time-consuming and labor-intensive experiments involving tests of different in vitro culture conditions and plant growth regulator supplements, we follow a more directed approach. Zygotic embryos served as a reference and were compared to somatic embryos in metabolomic analyses allowing the future optimization of the in vitro system. The aims of this study were to detect differences in the metabolite profiles of torpedo stage somatic and zygotic embryos of C. persicum. Moreover, major metabolites in endosperm and testa were identified and quantified. Two sets of extracts of two to four biological replicates each were analyzed. In total 52 metabolites were identified and quantified in the different tissues. One of the most significant differences between somatic and zygotic embryos was that the proline concentration in the zygotic embryos was about 40 times higher than that found in somatic embryos. Epicatechin, a scavenger for reactive oxygen species, was found in highest abundance in the testa. Sucrose, the most abundant metabolite was detected in significantly higher concentrations in zygotic embryos. Also, a yet unknown trisaccharide, was significantly enriched in zygotic embryos

Alternative strategies to by-pass the plant-based Azadirachtin-A production

All parts of Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) show a broad spectrum efficacy against insect pests including insecticidal, anti-feedant or insect repellent activities. Several studies have shown that plant cell cultures can produce azadirachtins. We induced more than 40 novel Neem cell lines in modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) media containing different concentrations of auxins and cytokinins. To enhance the Azadirachtin production from 1 mg/l, it was necessary to optimize the media composition separately for biomass and secondary metabolite production. In light of this complex challenge we used our novel fully automated high-throughput microbioreactor system that allows us a fast and controlled batch and fedbatch screening in 48-well microtiter plates. There is increasing evidence that plants like Azadirachta indica contain endophytes which are able to colonize internal plant tissue without causing visible disease symptoms. The estimated high species diversity of endophytes suggests a rich and almost untapped source of new secondary metabolites. We isolated more than 340 endophytes from various plant tissues and tested if they were able to produce Azadirachtin-A. Here, we present data on isolation of endophytes and induction of callus as well as first results of our microbioreactor system

Genome sequence of the squalene-degrading bacterium Corynebacterium terpenotabidum type strain Y-11T (= DSM 44721T)

Rückert C, Albersmeier A, Al-Dilaimi A, et al. Genome sequence of the squalene-degrading bacterium Corynebacterium terpenotabidum type strain Y-11T (= DSM 44721T). Standards in Genomic Sciences. 2013;9(3):505-513.Corynebacterium terpenotabidum Takeuchi et. al 1999 is a member of the genus Corynebacterium, which contains Gram-positive and non-spore forming bacteria with a high G+C content. C. terpenotabidum was isolated from soil based on its ability to degrade squalene and belongs to the aerobic and non-hemolytic Corynebacteria. It displays tolerance to salts (up to 8%) and is related to Corynebacterium variabile involved in cheese ripening. As this is a type strain of Corynebacterium, this project describing the 2.75 Mbp long chromosome with its 2,369 protein-coding and 72 RNA genes will aid the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea project

Genome sequence of the soil bacterium Corynebacterium callunae type strain DSM 20147T

Persicke M, Albersmeier A, Bednarz H, Niehaus K, Kalinowski J, Rückert C. Genome sequence of the soil bacterium Corynebacterium callunae type strain DSM 20147T. Standards in Genomic Sciences. 2015;10(1): 5.Abstract Corynebacterium callunae DSM 20147T is a member of the genus Corynebacterium which contains Gram-positive and non-spore forming bacteria with a high G + C content. C. callunae was isolated during a screening for L-glutamic acid producing bacteria and belongs to the aerobic and non-haemolytic corynebacteria. As this is a type strain in a subgroup of industrial relevant bacteria for many of which there are also complete genome sequence available, knowledge of the complete genome sequence might enable genome comparisons to identify production relevant genetic loci. This project, describing the 2.84 Mbp long chromosome and the two plasmids, pCC1 (4.11 kbp) and pCC2 (85.02 kbp), with their 2,647 protein-coding and 82 RNA genes, will aid the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea project

Detection and visualization of communities in mass spectrometry imaging data.

Wüllems K, Kölling J, Bednarz H, Niehaus K, Hans VH, Nattkemper TW. Detection and visualization of communities in mass spectrometry imaging data. BMC Bioinformatics. 2019;20(1): 303.BACKGROUND: The spatial distribution and colocalization of functionally related metabolites is analysed in order to investigate the spatial (and functional) aspects of molecular networks. We propose to consider community detection for the analysis of m/z-images to group molecules with correlative spatial distribution into communities so they hint at functional networks or pathway activity. To detect communities, we investigate a spectral approach by optimizing the modularity measure. We present an analysis pipeline and an online interactive visualization tool to facilitate explorative analysis of the results. The approach is illustrated with synthetical benchmark data and two real world data sets (barley seed and glioblastoma section).; RESULTS: For the barley sample data set, our approach is able to reproduce the findings of a previous work that identified groups of molecules with distributions that correlate with anatomical structures of the barley seed. The analysis of glioblastoma section data revealed that some molecular compositions are locally focused, indicating the existence of a meaningful separation in at least two areas. This result is in line with the prior histological knowledge. In addition to confirming prior findings, the resulting graph structures revealed new subcommunities of m/z-images (i.e. metabolites) with more detailed distribution patterns. Another result of our work is the development of an interactive webtool called GRINE (Analysis of GRaph mapped Image Data NEtworks).; CONCLUSIONS: The proposed method was successfully applied to identify molecular communities of laterally co-localized molecules. For both application examples, the detected communities showed inherent substructures that could easily be investigated with the proposed visualization tool. This shows the potential of this approach as a complementary addition to pixel clustering methods