Still-Leben Ruhrschnellweg - eine floristisch-faunistische Kartierung der A40 in Bochum

Am 18. Juli 2010 fand im Ruhrgebiet das Projekt "Still-Leben Ruhrschnellweg" im Rahmen der Veranstaltung zur Kulturhauptstadt 2010 statt. Für einen Tag war die A40 zwischen Dortmund "Märkische Straße" und Duisburg-Häfen für den Kraftfahrzeugverkehr gesperrt und wurde zu einer Veranstaltungsmeile (www.ruhr2010.still-leben-ruhrschnellweg.de), die im Nachhinein als einer der erfolgreichsten Veranstaltung des Kulturhauptstadt-Jahres betrachtet wurde. Neben dem außergewöhnlichen Event an sich stellte dieser Tag für Botaniker zusätzlich eine einmalige Gelegenheit dar, einen Lebensraum zu untersuchen, der ansonsten nicht zugänglich ist und bisher nur völlig unzulänglich aus dem fahrenden Auto bzw. im Stau stehend untersucht worden war. Daher beschlossen der Bochumer Botanische Verein und die Biologische Station Westliches Ruhrgebiet (www.bswr.de), eine systematische Kartierung der Autobahnstrecke zu organisieren. Unter der Federführung von Dipl.-Biol. CORINNE BUCH (Vorsitzende des Bochumer Botanischen Vereins und Mitarbeiterin an der Biostation Westliches Ruhrgebiet) konnten außerdem insbesondere aus dem Umfeld der anrainenden Universitäten, des BUND, des NABU und der Biologischen Station Östliches Ruhrgebiet über 70 Fachleute, Studierende und interessierte Laien für das Projekt gewonnen werden. Als Triebkraft für ein solch außergewöhnlich großes Interesse war zu allererst eine gespannte Neugierde festzustellen. Wissenschaftliches Ziel war neben einer möglichst vollständigen Erfassung aller Arten, besonders charakteristische Autobahnarten herauszustellen, wobei ein besonderes Augenmerk auf den Salzpflanzen (Halophyten) lag.On 18 July 2010 the project "Still-Life A40" took place as part of the event "Essen European Culture Capital 2010". For one day, the motorway A40 was closed for motor vehicle traffic between Dortmund Märkische Straße and Duisburg-Häfen and was turned into an event mile (www.ruhr2010.still-leben-ruhrschnellweg.de). Botanists of the region saw this as a unique opportunity to examine a habitat that is otherwise inaccessible to study as German motorways are strictly prohibited to access on foot. Up until then, information about this unique habitat and its biota (particularily on halophytes) was gathered from a moving car or in traffic jams. Therefore, the Botanical Society of Bochum (www.botanik-bochum.de) and the Biological Station Western Ruhr-Area (www.bswr.de), organized a systematic mapping of species residing along the ditch and the centre line of the expressway. With the cooperation of the neighboring universities and various conservation groups, over 70 professionals, students and interested laymen joined the project. All plant and animal species which were found in Bochum on that day are listed here

New to Westphalia: a local naturalization of the Blue Star Creeper (Pratia pedunculata [R. BR.] BENTH.) in Bochum (Ruhr area, Germany)

Der Blaue Bubikopf (Pratia pedunculata, Lobeliaceae), eine Zierpflanze aus Australien, hat sich in zwei Zierrasen in Bochum-Querenburg eingebürgert, wie dies vom echten Bubikopf (Soleirolia soleirolii) im Stadtgebiet schon länger bekannt ist. Über die Fundumstände und die Geschichte der Einbürgerung der für Westfalen neuen Art wird berichtet.The Blue Star Creeper (Pratia pedunculata, Lobeliaceae) an Australian native plant that is used ornamentally in Central Europe has been found naturalized in two lawns in Bochum-Querenburg (Ruhr Area, Germany). The species is considered new to the flora of Westphalia

Najas marina subsp. intermedia (WOLFG. ex GORSKI) CASPER (Hydrocharitaceae) in the lower Rhine region: the first record for North Rhine-Westphalia

Zwei Funde des Mittleren Nixkrauts (Najas marina subsp. intermedia) in Gewässern der Rheinaue in Duisburg geben Anlass, auf die in Nordrhein-Westfalen noch weitgehend unbekannte Art Najas marina mit ihrenbeiden Unterarten aufmerksam zu machen, zumal es Hinweise darauf gibt, dass die Sippen bundesweit in Ausbreitung begriffen sind. Während in jüngerer Zeit die subsp. marina in Nord- und Ostwestfalen erstmals für Nordrhein-Westfalen nachgewiesen wurde, liegt mit dem Fund der subsp. intermedia in Duisburg nun der Erstnachweis dieser Unterart für Nordrhein-Westfalen vor.Recent records of the Spiny Naiad (Najas marina subsp. intermedia) in shallow gravel pits in the flood plain of River Rhine at Duisburg suggesting that this species and its too subspecies, which are fairly uncommon for North Rhine-Westphalia, are about to expand their range. This assumption is supported by similar observations, which have been made across the country. While in recent years the subsp. marina has been recorded in northern and eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, the subsp. intermedia found by Duisburg represents the first record for North Rhine-Westphalia

Using computational criteria to extract large Swadesh lists for lexicostatistics

We propose a new method for empirically determining lists of basic concepts for the purpose of compiling extensive lexicostatistical databases. The idea is to approximate a notion of “swadeshness” formally and reproducibly without expert knowledge or bias, and being able to rank any number of concepts given enough data. Unlike previous approaches, our procedure indirectly measures both stability of concepts against lexical replacement, and their proneness to phenomena such as onomatopoesia and extensive borrowing. The method provides a fully automated way to generate customized Swadesh lists of any desired length, possibly adapted to a given geographical region. We apply the method to a large lexical database of Northern Eurasia, deriving a swadeshness ranking for more than 5,000 concepts expressed by German lemmas. We evaluate this ranking against existing shorter lists of basic concepts to validate the method, and give an English version of the 300 top concepts according to this ranking

Eragrostis curvula (SCHRAD.) NEES, the African lovegrass, in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)

Das aus Südafrika stammende Gebogene Liebesgras (Eragrostis curvula) wurde bisher in Nordrhein-Westfalen nur vereinzelt gefunden. Die charakteristischen Merkmale der Art werden hier vorgestellt und drei ihrer nordrhein-westfälischen Wuchsorte (Rhein-Herne-Kanal in Bottrop, NSG "Brachter Wald" im Kreis Viersen, Quarzsandgrube in Frechen, Rhein-Erft-Kreis), an denen sie eingebürgert ist, ausführlich beschrieben. Eragrostis curvula gelangte z. T. offensichtlich aus Ansaaten ins Gelände, an anderen Stellen bleibt die Herkunft unklar. Wie langjährige Beobachtungen zeigen, ist die Art in der Lage, sich an offenen Standorten massiv auszubreiten. Durch Mahd und Brand wird die Art offensichtlich gefärdert. Im NSG "Brachter Wald" wird sie zum Erhalt der ursprünglich vorhandenen Arten und der ursprünglichen Vegetation bereits seit einigen Jahren durch verschiedene Maßnahmen erfolgreich zurückgedrängt.The African lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula), a native of South Africa, has so far only been found sporadically in North Rhine-Westphalia. The following article presents characteristic traits of E. curvula and describes three of its North Rhine-Westphalian habitats in which it is considered to be established (the Rhine-Herne Canal in Bottrop, the nature reserve "Brachter Wald" in the district of Viersen, and a sand pit in Frechen in the Rhein-Erft distict). In a few cases E. curvula became established by seeds from nearby cultivations, in other cases its origin unknown. Long-term observations showed that E. curvula is capable to spread vigorously on open areas, which may also be amplified by fires and swath. In the nature reserve "Brachter Wald" measures of suppressing E. curvula to benefit the local species and vegetation were successful

The cultural evolution of complexity in linguistic structure

In this work we compare, on the well explored domain of Indo-European languages, the phylogenetic outputs of three different sets of linguistic characters: traditional etymological judgments, a system for phonetic alignment of lists of cognates, and a set of values for generative syntactic parameters. The correlation and relative informativeness of distances and phylogenies generated by the three types of char- acters can thus be for the first time accurately evaluated, and the degree of success of the last two, innovative, alternatives to the classical comparative method can be so assessed

Bayesian and frequentist analysis of an Austrian genome-wide association study of colorectal cancer and advanced adenomas

Most genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were analyzed using single marker tests in combination with stringent correction procedures for multiple testing. Thus, a substantial proportion of associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) remained undetected and may account for missing heritability in complex traits. Model selection procedures present a powerful alternative to identify associated SNPs in high-dimensional settings. In this GWAS including 1060 colorectal cancer cases, 689 cases of advanced colorectal adenomas and 4367 controls we pursued a dual approach to investigate genome-wide associations with disease risk applying both, single marker analysis and model selection based on the modified Bayesian information criterion, mBIC2, implemented in the software package MOSGWA. For different case-control comparisons, we report models including between 1-14 candidate SNPs. A genome-wide significant association of rs17659990 (P=5.43x10(-9), DOCK3, chromosome 3p21.2) with colorectal cancer risk was observed. Furthermore, 56 SNPs known to influence susceptibility to colorectal cancer and advanced adenoma were tested in a hypothesis-driven approach and several of them were found to be relevant in our Austrian cohort. After correction for multiple testing (alpha=8.9x10(-4)), the most significant associations were observed for SNPs rs10505477 (P=6.08x10(-4)) and rs6983267 (P=7.35x10(-4)) of CASC8, rs3802842 (P=8.98x10(-5), COLCA1,2), and rs12953717 (P=4.64x10(-4), SMAD7). All previously unreported SNPs demand replication in additional samples. Reanalysis of existing GWAS datasets using model selection as tool to detect SNPs associated with a complex trait may present a promising resource to identify further genetic risk variants not only for colorectal cancer

Evaluation of genome-wide loci of iron metabolism in hereditary hemochromatosis identifies PCSK7 as a host risk factor of liver cirrhosis

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed genetic determinants of iron metabolism, but correlation of these with clinical phenotypes is pending. Homozygosity for HFE C282Y is the predominant genetic risk factor for hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) and may cause liver cirrhosis. However, this genotype has a low penetrance. Thus, detection of yet unknown genetic markers that identify patients at risk of developing severe liver disease is necessary for better prevention. Genetic loci associated with iron metabolism (TF, TMPRSS6, PCSK7, TFR2 and Chr2p14) in recent GWAS and liver fibrosis (PNPLA3) in recent meta-analysis were analyzed for association with either liver cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis in 148 German HFE C282Y homozygotes. Replication of associations was sought in additional 499 Austrian/Swiss and 112 HFE C282Y homozygotes from Sweden. Only variant rs236918 in the PCSK7 gene (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 7) was associated with cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis (P = 1.02 × 10−5) in the German cohort with genotypic odds ratios of 3.56 (95% CI 1.29-9.77) for CG heterozygotes and 5.38 (95% CI 2.39-12.10) for C allele carriers. Association between rs236918 and cirrhosis was confirmed in Austrian/Swiss HFE C282Y homozygotes (P = 0.014; ORallelic = 1.82 (95% CI 1.12-2.95) but not in Swedish patients. Post hoc combined analyses of German/Swiss/Austrian patients with available liver histology (N = 244, P = 0.00014, ORallelic = 2.84) and of males only (N = 431, P = 2.17 × 10−5, ORallelic = 2.54) were consistent with the premier finding. Association between rs236918 and cirrhosis was not confirmed in alcoholic cirrhotics, suggesting specificity of this genetic risk factor for HH. PCSK7 variant rs236918 is a risk factor for cirrhosis in HH patients homozygous for the HFE C282Y mutatio

Evaluation of genome-wide loci of iron metabolism in hereditary hemochromatosis identifies PCSK7 as a host risk factor of liver cirrhosis

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed genetic determinants of iron metabolism, but correlation of these with clinical phenotypes is pending. Homozygosity for HFE C282Y is the predominant genetic risk factor for hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) and may cause liver cirrhosis. However, this genotype has a low penetrance. Thus, detection of yet unknown genetic markers that identify patients at risk of developing severe liver disease is necessary for better prevention. Genetic loci associated with iron metabolism (TF, TMPRSS6, PCSK7, TFR2 and Chr2p14) in recent GWAS and liver fibrosis (PNPLA3) in recent meta-analysis were analyzed for association with either liver cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis in 148 German HFE C282Y homozygotes. Replication of associations was sought in additional 499 Austrian/Swiss and 112 HFE C282Y homozygotes from Sweden. Only variant rs236918 in the PCSK7 gene (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 7) was associated with cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis (P = 1.02 × 10(-5)) in the German cohort with genotypic odds ratios of 3.56 (95% CI 1.29-9.77) for CG heterozygotes and 5.38 (95% CI 2.39-12.10) for C allele carriers. Association between rs236918 and cirrhosis was confirmed in Austrian/Swiss HFE C282Y homozygotes (P = 0.014; ORallelic = 1.82 (95% CI 1.12-2.95) but not in Swedish patients. Post hoc combined analyses of German/Swiss/Austrian patients with available liver histology (N = 244, P = 0.00014, ORallelic = 2.84) and of males only (N = 431, P = 2.17 × 10(-5), ORallelic = 2.54) were consistent with the premier finding. Association between rs236918 and cirrhosis was not confirmed in alcoholic cirrhotics, suggesting specificity of this genetic risk factor for HH. PCSK7 variant rs236918 is a risk factor for cirrhosis in HH patients homozygous for the HFE C282Y mutation

Measuring Syntactic Priming in Dialog Corpora

Buch A, Pietsch C. Measuring Syntactic Priming in Dialog Corpora. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Linguistic Evidence. Empirical, theoretical and computational perspectives. Tübingen: Eberhard-Karls-Universität; 2010