"Very nice, the enemies are gone!": coming terms with GDR sports since 1989/90

'Als die SED-Diktatur zusammenbrach, übte der Glanz der ostdeutschen Medaillen nach wie vor eine große Anziehungskraft aus, vor allem auf westdeutsche Sportpolitiker. Der Sport war ein Spezialfall der deutschen Vereinigung, da hier der Westen vom Osten zu lernen hoffte. Bald jedoch wurden die dunklen Seiten des DDR-Sports offensichtlich: die Verstrickung mit dem Ministerium für Staatsicherheit ebenso wie das staatlich forcierte Zwangsdoping. Bis heute gehen die Meinungen über den DDR-Sport weit auseinander: während die Einen ihn als repressiv und unmenschlich verurteilen, wird er von den Anderen gleichzeitig als Organisationsvorbild für die Zukunft gehandelt.' (Autorenreferat)'When the SED regime collapsed, the lustre of East Germany's gold medals still impressed the world and especially West German sports politicians. The road to the merger of the two sport systems represented a special case of German reunification, as in sports the West pined for learning from the East. But soon the dark sides of GDR sport became visible. The Ministry of State Security spied on the sportsmen and women, invaded their privacy and even recruited them as 'unofficial collaborators'. The athletes had little or no chance to escape the doping programme forced on them by the state. Many sportsmen and women are still suffering from the long-term damage caused by this pharmacological abuse. Until today, attitudes towards GDR sport are ambiguous: while on the one hand regarded as repressive and unethical, it is on the other hand praised as a highly suitable institutional model for the future.' (author's abstract

Football history: a German perspective on current research fields

In the last 25 years, German football has experienced several turning points. First, the collapse of communism in 1989 rendered necessary a complete reorganisation of the sport and football landscape in eastern Germany. Second, in parallel with the award in the year 2000 of the right to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup in the Federal Republic of Germany, a significant upturn took place in academic research on football. The reappraisal of the National Socialist era, in particular, has experienced a noticeable upswing since the year 2000. The present article focuses on several key thematic areas that shape current research and will shape research in the future. They include, first, the question of the character of the Vereine (here: football clubs) under the conditions of a communist dictatorship, and second, an increased interest in the biographical component of the history of the development of football. At the same time, it is clear that by now the question of a memory culture in football is no longer limited to national perspectives such as the reappraisal of the "Miracle of Bern". Rather, the dynamic development of European football renders possible the emergence of European realms of shared memory. At the same time, a boom in public engagement with football history can be observed in Germany and elsewhere. This holds true for both the social commemoration of footballers who were victims of war and tyranny and for popular cultural publications. In recent years, therefore, there has not only been an increase in the “museumisation” but also in the media marketing of football history. Thus, football history itself has become a market that is served by various stakeholders, such as clubs, companies, and the media

Zeitgeschichte des Sports: der Arbeitsbereich Zeitgeschichte des Sports der Universität Potsdam

Die Verfasserin schildert die Disziplin 'Sportgeschichte' als ein Produkt des Kalten Krieges und analysiert die institutionelle Entwicklung der Disziplin seit der deutschen Wiedervereinigung. Im Mittelpunkt der Darstellung stehen die Aktivitäten des Sportwissenschaftlichen Instituts der Universität Potsdam, dessen Schwerpunkt die Forschung und Lehre über den Sport in beiden deutschen Diktaturen ist. Die Verfasserin argumentiert, dass auch im Sport die 'Zeitgeschichte' eine 'Streitgeschichte' ist, wodurch die Fortführung der akademischen Forschung auf diesem Gebiet begründet wird. Abschließend werden Publikationen zum Thema zusammengestellt. (ICG

DDR-Fußball und gesamtdeutsche Identität im Kalten Krieg

'Der Bereich Sport repräsentiert einen bemerkenswerten Fall in der zeitgenössischen deutschen Geschichte. In allen entscheidenden Sektoren der Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft erwies sich die Bundesrepublik als überlegen, seit 1968 allerdings gelang es der DDR Westdeutschland in den Olympischen Spielen zu schlagen. Nichtsdestotrotz konnte die DDR im Bereich Fußball nicht konkurrieren; der berühmte Sieg im Jahre 1974 gegen das Team der BRD bleib der einzige. Im Bewusstsein der Unterlegenheit vermied die DDR in Zukunft jegliches Match gegen die westdeutsche Nationalmannschaft. Gegenüberstellungen zwischen individuellen Vereinen waren einer strikten Kontrolle unterzogen, um jede Art von menschlicher Annäherung zwischen des Athleten von Ost und West zu unterbinden. Der anhaltende Enthusiasmus der DDR-Fußball-Fans für westdeutsche Teams blieb jedoch ein gesamtdeutsches Bekenntnis in der Zeit der geteilten Nation und konnte auch durch repressive Maßnahmen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes nicht verhindert werden.' (Autorenreferat)'The field of sport represents a remarkable special case in contemporary German history: In all crucial sectors of economics and society, the Federal Republic turned out to be the superior one, but since 1968 the GDR succeeded to beat West-Germany in the Olympic games. Nevertheless, the GDR couldn't compete on the football fields; the famous victory in the year 1974 against the FRG team remained the one and only one. Being aware of their inferiority, the GDR constantly avoided any matches against the West German national team in the future. Comparisons between individual clubs were subject to a strict monitoring, in order to prevent any human approximation between the athletes from east and west. The continuous enthusiasm of the GDR football fans for West German teams remained nevertheless a national clip in the epoch of the divided nation and could not be prohibited by repressive measures of the security service.' (author's abstract

Strain engineering of ferroelectric domains in KxNa1−xNbO3 epitaxial layers

The application of lattice strain through epitaxial growth of oxide films on lattice mismatched perovskite-like substrates strongly influences the structural properties of ferroelectric domains and their corresponding piezoelectric behavior. The formation of different ferroelectric phases can be understood by a strain-phase diagram, which is calculated within the framework of the Landau–Ginzburg–Devonshire theory. In this paper, we illustrate the opportunity of ferroelectric domain engineering in the KxNa1−xNbO3 lead-free material system. In particular, the following examples are discussed in detail: (i) Different substrates (NdGaO3, SrTiO3, DyScO3, TbScO3, and GdScO3) are used to systematically tune the incorporated epitaxial strain from compressive to tensile. This can be exploited to adjust the NaNbO3 thin film surface orientation and, concomitantly, the vector of electrical polarization, which rotates from mainly vertical to exclusive in-plane orientation. (ii) In ferroelectric NaNbO3, thin films grown on rare-earth scandate substrates, highly regular stripe domain patterns are observed. By using different film thicknesses, these can be tailored with regard to domain periodicity and vertical polarization component. (iii) A featured potassium concentration of x = 0.9 of KxNa1−xNbO3 thin films grown on (110) NdScO3 substrates favors the coexistence of two equivalent, monoclinic, but differently oriented ferroelectric phases. A complicated herringbone domain pattern is experimentally observed which consists of alternating MC and a1a2 domains. The coexistence of different types of ferroelectric domains leads to polarization discontinuities at the domain walls, potentially enabling high piezoelectric responses. In each of these examples, the experimental results are in excellent agreement with predictions based on the linear elasticity theory

Accurate conductivity cell for molten glasses and salts

Α cell for measuring absolute conductances of glass and salt melts is described. It is a further development of a conductivity cell reported earlier and is based on the principle that the actual cell volume within the bulk of the melt, which is contained in a platinum crucible, is enclosed by a partly immersed and open-ended alumina cell tube and is thus subjected to a defined, homogeneous electric field between two parallel platinum electrodes arranged perpendicular to the cell tube. The upper electrode positioned in the tube is cross-shaped for the removal of gas bubbles, the lower electrode is formed by a protrusion of the crucible base, which fits into the lower end of the tube. The arrangement is positioned within a specially designed resistance furnace guaranteeing temperature homogeneity of ± 1 Κ within the cell volume. The experimental reproducibility of the conductances is Δϰ ± 1.0 % and is demonstrated by three examples

Scanning X-ray nanodiffraction from ferroelectric domains in strained K0.75Na0.25NbO3 epitaxial films grown on (110) TbScO3

Scanning X-ray nanodiffraction on a highly periodic ferroelectric domain pattern of a strained K0.75Na0.25NbO3 epitaxial layer has been performed by using a focused X-ray beam of about 100 14;nm probe size. A 90°-rotated domain variant which is aligned along [1 2]TSO has been found in addition to the predominant domain variant where the domains are aligned along the [12]TSO direction of the underlying (110) TbScO3 (TSO) orthorhombic substrate. Owing to the larger elastic strain energy density, the 90°-rotated domains appear with significantly reduced probability. Furthermore, the 90°-rotated variant shows a larger vertical lattice spacing than the 0°-rotated domain variant. Calculations based on linear elasticity theory substantiate that this difference is caused by the elastic anisotropy of the K0.75Na0.25NbO3 epitaxial layer

Übergewicht und Adipositas : Thesen und Empfehlungen zur Eindämmung der Epidemie

Etwa 60 % der Bevölkerung in Deutschland ist übergewichtig (BMI ≥ 25), bereits ein Viertel ist adipös (BMI ≥ 30).1 Für die Betroffenen bedeutet dies ein deutlich höheres Risiko für ernsthafte chronische Erkrankungen und für das Gesundheitssystem deutlich stärkere Belastungen. Die Ursachen für Übergewicht und Adipositas sind in individuellen Faktoren, Verhaltensentscheidungen und gesellschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen zu suchen. In dem vorliegenden Diskussionspapier werden die vielfältigen Ursachen und Folgen von Übergewicht und Adipositas zusammenfassend erläutert. Der skizzierte Stand der Forschung lässt dabei zwei Schlussfolgerungen zu. Erstens: Genetische Prädispositionen, geänderte Lebensstile, ein Mangel an ausreichender Bewegung sowie das Überangebot und die ständige Verfügbarkeit von Nahrung sind objektiv bestehende Schwierigkeiten, um Übergewicht und Adipositas in unserer Gesellschaft zu vermeiden bzw. zu korrigieren. Zweitens: Hinsichtlich der Prävalenz von Übergewicht und Adipositas gibt es deutliche Unterschiede zwischen sozioökonomischen Gruppen, Bildungsschichten, Nationen und Kulturen. Diese Unterschiede können nicht allein genetisch oder epigenetisch erklärt werden und verdeutlichen die durchaus bestehende Möglichkeit, das Gewicht durch habituelles Verhalten, soziale Normen und kulturelle sowie ökonomische Rahmenbedingungen verändern zu können

Mapping gene associations in human mitochondria using clinical disease phenotypes

Nuclear genes encode most mitochondrial proteins, and their mutations cause diverse and debilitating clinical disorders. To date, 1,200 of these mitochondrial genes have been recorded, while no standardized catalog exists of the associated clinical phenotypes. Such a catalog would be useful to develop methods to analyze human phenotypic data, to determine genotype-phenotype relations among many genes and diseases, and to support the clinical diagnosis of mitochondrial disorders. Here we establish a clinical phenotype catalog of 174 mitochondrial disease genes and study associations of diseases and genes. Phenotypic features such as clinical signs and symptoms were manually annotated from full-text medical articles and classified based on the hierarchical MeSH ontology. This classification of phenotypic features of each gene allowed for the comparison of diseases between different genes. In turn, we were then able to measure the phenotypic associations of disease genes for which we calculated a quantitative value that is based on their shared phenotypic features. The results showed that genes sharing more similar phenotypes have a stronger tendency for functional interactions, proving the usefulness of phenotype similarity values in disease gene network analysis. We then constructed a functional network of mitochondrial genes and discovered a higher connectivity for non-disease than for disease genes, and a tendency of disease genes to interact with each other. Utilizing these differences, we propose 168 candidate genes that resemble the characteristic interaction patterns of mitochondrial disease genes. Through their network associations, the candidates are further prioritized for the study of specific disorders such as optic neuropathies and Parkinson disease. Most mitochondrial disease phenotypes involve several clinical categories including neurologic, metabolic, and gastrointestinal disorders, which might indicate the effects of gene defects within the mitochondrial system. The accompanying knowledgebase (http://www.mitophenome.org/) supports the study of clinical diseases and associated genes