Political Behavior in the EU Multi-Level System

Together with its further widening and deepening, the character of the EU has changed fundamentally during the last two decades. Acknowledging this development, the politics-dimension has become visibly more relevant in research on the EU. This “politics turn” is accompanied by an increased interest in research on political behavior of individual and collective actors—voters, parties, interest groups, executive agencies, mass and social media—in the EU multi-level system. The objectives of this thematic issue are to conceptually, empirically, and methodologically capture the different facets of this newly emerged interest in actors’ political behavior in the EU multi-level system. To this end, the thematic issue strives to highlight the connections between political processes and behavior at the European level and other political layers in the EU Member States’ multi-level systems. In particular, we aim to broaden the scope of research on political behavior in the EU and its strong focus on electoral politics across multiple levels of government. To this end, the thematic issue links research on voting behavior with work on party competition, electoral campaigns, public opinion, protest politics, responsiveness, (interest group) representation, government and opposition dynamics, and parliamentary behavior more broadly to the multi-layered systems within EU Member States

Short-Term Tinnitus Suppression With Electric-Field Guided rTMS for Individualizing rTMS Treatment: A Technical Feasibility Report

Background: Past research highlighted the benefits of personalized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for the treatment of chronic subjective tinnitus. Objective/Hypothesis: The objective was to investigate the feasibility of rTMS personalization by identifying individually optimal stimulation parameters in test sessions. Particularly, effectiveness and retest-reliability of different stimulation parameters were examined. Methods: Via electric-field guided rTMS, five patients were stimulated with different frequencies on three positions of the left and right superior temporal gyrus on 2 separate days. After each stimulation, the patients had to evaluate tinnitus loudness and discomfort of the used protocol. Results: Individualization of rTMS was possible in all five patients. Significant lower tinnitus loudness was found for 1 Hz stimulation. Positive correlations between 2 days were observed for hemisphere (left, right), position (mSTG, pSTG), and frequency (1, 10, 20 Hz). High-frequency stimulation produced high discomfort. Conclusion: Personalization of rTMS is considered as feasible. Consistency of parameter-specific tinnitus suppression is demonstrated

Introduction of Potentially Allergenic Foods in the Infant's Diet during the First Year of Life in Five European Countries

Background: Little information is available on infants' age at first introduction of potentially allergenic foods as part of complementary feeding. We aimed to analyze age at the introduction of potentially allergenic foods in healthy term infants relative to recommendations in 5 European countries. Method: Recruitment was conducted from October 2002 to June 2004. A total of 1,678 infants {[}588 breastfed (BF) and 1,090 formula-fed (FF) infants] were studied. In 1,368 infants, at least one 3-day weighed food diary at the age of 1-9 and 12 completed months was available. Results: Six percent of BF infants and 13% of FF infants consumed some potentially allergenic food already prior to the recommended minimum age of 4 months, and 4% of BF infants and 11% of FF infants had already received gluten. There were significant differences in the timing of the introduction of potentially allergenic foods between the countries at the age of 4-6 months (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The time of first introduction of potentially allergenic foods in infants differed significantly between countries, and they were introduced much earlier than recommended in some countries. FF infants received potentially allergenic foods earlier than BF infants. Better information and counseling of parents is desirable. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

Von der Heiligkeit gefallener Kriegerkönige

Von der Heiligkeit gefallener Kriegerkönige. Die Inkulturation des Christlichen in Kriegergesellschaften am Beispiel der Königsheiligen der Angelsachsen und Skandinavier Unter Inkulturation wird in der Theologie jener Prozess verstanden, durch den das Christentum Teil der Kultur eines Volkes wird. Die Bewahrung des „essentiell Christlichen“ und die gleichzeitig notwendige Anpassung an divergierende gesellschaftliche Rahmenbedingungen und Werte stellte die Kirche im Lauf ihrer Geschichte vor enorme Herausforderungen. In der hier vorliegenden Arbeit wird dieser Prozess am Beispiel der Christianisierung germanischer Stammesgesellschaften im Norden Europas untersucht. Im Zuge dieser Christianisierung kann die Entstehung einer für das Christentum bis dahin fremden Vorstellung von Heiligkeit beobachtet werden: Die Verehrung von heiligen, kämpfenden Königen, die in der Schlacht fielen. Als Beispiele werden die Heiligen Oswald von Northumbrien, Olav II Haraldsson von Norwegen, Knut IV von Dänemark und Erik IX von Schweden behandelt. Nach einem allgemeinen Überblick über die Christianisierung in England und den skandinavischen Ländern wird kurz auf die in der Kirche verehrten Typen von Heiligen eingegangen. Von besonderem Interesse ist in diesem Zusammenhang die Frage der Gewalt. Ein Kapitel der Arbeit widmet sich deshalb dem Phänomen der Gewalt im relevanten Zeitraum und gesellschaftlichem Kontext und dem Zugang des Christentums dazu. Die zur selben Zeit beginnenden Kreuzzüge können wie die Verehrung der Königsheiligen als Symptom eines veränderten Zuganges der Kirche zur Gewalt interpretiert werden. Diese „Militarisierung“ steht in engem Zusammenhang mit der Inkulturation des Christlichen in kriegerische germanische Stammesgesellschaften. Die Frage, ob die heiligen Könige als eigener Heiligentypus anzusehen sind, wird in dieser Arbeit verneint. Zwar lassen sich bei diesen Heiligen über die in der Literatur beschriebenen Charakteristiken der Typen des Adelsheiligen und des Märtyrers hinaus Gemeinsamkeiten finden. Aus dieser kleinen Gruppe von Heiligen jedoch einen selbstständigen Heiligentypus schaffen zu wollen, geht zu weit. Aufgrund der Betonung ihrer Herkunft und dem breiten Raum, den ihr adeliges Leben in den Viten einnimmt, können sie dem in der Literatur beschriebenen Typus des Adelsheiligen zugeordnet werden.Holy kings, killed in action. Inculturation of Christianity in martial societies using the holy kings of the Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavians as examples. In the terms of theology “inculturation” means the process that integrates Christianity in the culture of people. The perpetuation of the main substance of Christian belief and the necessary adjustments to new social conditions cause a huge challenge for the church during her history. In this thesis the process of inculturation is analysed using the Christianisation of Germanic clan people in the north of Europe as an example. In the course of that Christianisation the development of a new idea of sainthood can be found: The cult of holy, fighting kings, who died in battle. Oswald of Northumbria, Olav II Haraldson, Knut IV of Denmark and Eric IX of Sweden are presented as examples. A chapter of this thesis gives a short summary of the Christianisation in England and the Scandinavian countries. Another chapter tries to define Christian sainthood and presents different types of saints worshipped by the Catholic Church. The question of violence is of special interest for this work. Violence and the reaction of the church are only understandable considering the historical and social context. As the crusades also the adoration of the holy kings can be interpreted as a modified access of the church to violence. This change is closely connected to the inculturation of Christianity in martial Germanic clan nations. Additionally the question whether the holy kings can be considered as an independent type of saints or not has been studied in this thesis. This question is negated in this work. There are some discrete similarities above the characteristics of martyrs or noble saints described in the literature. Because of the small number of individuals that can be identified as holy kings, who died in battle and because of the emphasis that is given on the gentility it seems reasonable to add them to the type of noble saints

Towards investigation of external oil flow from a journal bearing in an epicyclic gearbox

High loads and bearing life requirements make journal bearings the preferred choice for use in high power, planetary gearboxes in jet engines. With the planet gears rotating about their own axis and orbiting around the sun gear, centrifugal forces generated by both motions interact with each and generate complex kinematic conditions. This paper presents a literature and state-of-the-art knowledge review to identify existing work performed on cases similar to external journal bearing oil flow. In order to numerically investigate external journal bearing oil flow, an approach to decompose an actual journal bearing into simplified models is proposed. Preliminary modeling considerations are discussed. The findings and conclusions are used to create a three dimensional (3D), two-component computational fluid dynamic (CFD) sector model with rotationally periodic boundaries of the most simplistic approximation of an actual journal bearing: a non-orbiting representation, rotating about its own axis, with a circumferentially constant, i.e. concentric, lubricating gap. In order to track the phase interface between the oil and the air, the Volume of Fluid (VoF) method is used. External journal bearing oil flow is simulated with a number of different mesh densities. Two different operating temperatures, representing low and high viscosity oil, are used to assess the effect on the external flow field behaviour. In order to achieve the future objective of creating a design tool for routine use, key areas are identified in which further progress is required

Differential impact of posterior lesions in the left and right hemisphere on visual category learning and generalization to contrast reversal

Hemispheric differences in the learning and generalization of pattern categories were explored in two experiments involving sixteen patients with unilateral posterior, cerebral lesions in the left (LH) or right (RH) hemisphere. In each experiment participants were first trained to criterion in a supervised learning paradigm to categorize a set of patterns that either consisted of simple geometric forms (Experiment 1) or unfamiliar grey-level images (Experiment 2). They were then tested for their ability to generalize acquired categorical knowledge to contrast-reversed versions of the learning patterns. The results showed that RH lesions impeded category learning of unfamiliar grey-level images more severely than LH lesions, whereas this relationship appeared reversed for categories defined by simple geometric forms. With regard to generalization to contrast reversal, categorization performance of LH and RH patients was unaffected in the case of simple geometric forms. However, generalization to of contrast-reversed grey-level images distinctly deteriorated for patients with LH lesions relative to those with RH lesions, with the latter (but not the former) being consistently unable to identify the pattern manipulation. These findings suggest a differential use of contrast information in the representation of pattern categories in the two hemispheres. Such specialization appears in line with previous distinctions between a predominantly lefthemispheric, abstract-analytical and a righthemispheric, specific-holistic representation of object categories, and their prediction of a mandatory representation of contrast polarity in the RH. Some implications for the well-established dissociation of visual disorders for the recognition of faces and letters are discussed

Green-Emissive Zn2+ Complex Supported by a Macrocyclic Schiff-Base/Calix[4]arene-Ligand: Crystallographic and Spectroscopic Characterization

The macrocyclic calix[4]arene ligand H2L comprises two non-fluorescent 2,6-bis-(iminomethyl)phenolate chromophores, which show a chelation-enhanced fluorescence enhancement upon Zn2+ ion complexation. Macrocyclic [ZnL] complexes aggregate in the absence of external coligands via intermolecular Zn−N bonds to give dimeric [ZnL]2 structures comprising two five-coordinated Zn2+ ions. The absorption and emission wavelengths are bathochromically shifted upon going from the liquid (λmax,abs (CH2Cl2)=404 nm, λmax,em (CH2Cl2)=484 nm) to the solid state (λmax,abs=424 nm (4 wt%, BaSO4 pellet), λmax,em=524 nm (neat solid)). Insights into the electronic nature of the UV-vis transitions were obtained with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations for a truncated model complex

Corneae from body donors in anatomy department: valuable use for clinical transplantation and experimental research

Background: Explanted corneae are highly needed for the surgical management of patients with severe corneal diseases. The aim of this study was to determine whether the body donors from the Institute of Anatomy are a suitable source of donor corneae. Methods: At the Institute of Anatomy at Saarland University Medical Center in Homburg, corneae are prelevated from body donors who had consented to the removal of tissues for transplantation purposes during their lifetime. Following the report of death, the LIONS Eye Bank is informed and the contraindications of corneal explantation are clarified. Obtaining a blood sample within 24 h postmortem is mandatory. Results: The Institute of Anatomy had 150 body donors in the time period from January 2018 to June 2019. Out of these, 68 (45.3%) were reported to the Eye Bank. The age of the donors (median 82 years (range: 57–96)) is not critical since the quality of the corneae depends on the number of endothelial cells (mean: 2109 ± 67 cells/mm2 (range: 511–2944 cells/mm2)). Contraindications were present in 19 (12.6%) cases. The corneae were extracted from 49 (32.7%) body donors. Out of these 98 corneae, 46 (46.9%) were successfully transplanted. Of all non-transplanted corneae, 6 (6.1%) were microbiologically contaminated, 10 (10.2%) had a positive serology, 22 (22.5%) had an endothelial cell count < 2000 cells/mm2 and 6 (6.1%) are at time of this analysis still in culture medium. The non-transplanted tissues were used for research. Conclusions: Explanted corneae from the Institute of Anatomy are a valuable option in obtaining grafts for corneal transplantation, which is why we are working toward on expanding cooperation with this department

Rote Liste und kommentiertes Verzeichnis der Brutvogelarten Baden-Württembergs

In Baden-Württemberg sind in dem 30-jährigen Zeitraum einschließlich dervorliegenden insgesamt fünf Fassungen der Roten Liste der gefährdeten Vogelarten erschienen, die jeweils auf den neuesten Stand der Erforschung der Vogelwelt Baden-Württembergs gebracht wurden. Die einzelnen Fassungen der Roten Liste sind 1973 (1. Fassung, Berthold, Ertel & Hölzinger 1974, 1975), 1977 (2. Fassung, Berthold, Ertel, Hölzinger, Kalchreuter & Ruge 1977), 1981 (3. Fassung, Hölzinger, Berthold, Kroymann & Ruge 1981), 1996 (4. Fassung, Hölzinger, Berthold, König & Mahler 1996) und 2007 (5., vorliegende Fassung) herausgegeben worden. In diesem über 30-jährigen Zeitraum wurden die Kriterien für die Roten Listen entsprechend dem Fortschritt der ornithologischen Forschung zunehmend mehr auf quantitative Grundlagen gestellt. Die Roten Listen waren und sind das Ergebnis systematischer und programmatisch orientierter Bestandsaufnahmen der Vogelwelt abseits emotionaler und naturschutzpolitischer Beurteilung