An Analysis of National Economic Stimulus Programs in Response to the Economic and Financial Crisis

This research traces the sources of differences in national economic stimulus programs designed and set up in response to the economic crisis 2008/09. Based on a comparative case study of the stimulus programs of Germany and France, I argue that differences in the national configuration of the economies and not solely economic preconditions explain the diverging outcomes. Using Vivien Schmidt’s “Varieties of Capitalism”-framework from 2002, I show that corporatist traditions still have a significant impact on policy outcomes in Germany whereas in France various interest groups have to cope with differing conditions for influence exertion. In fact, the balance between social- and business-supporting measures of the German stimulus program is a prime example of the German state as an “enabling facilitator”. The French stimulus program, that is significantly smaller in contrast to its German counterpart, exhibits a strong support of the industry reflecting the weak position of trade-unions vis-à-vis businesses and the state. Overall, the paper provides a comprehensive approach to comparativist policy-research by taking into account economic, institutional and political factors. It shall serve as the starting point for further research in the field of governmental interventions during the crises of the recent years

Loads of Work for Communication Scholars: Gender, Parenthood and Burden during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Die Studie nimmt die Arbeitsbedingungen von Kommunikationswissenschaftler:innen in den Blick und untersucht, inwieweit Ungleichheiten hinsichtlich Geschlecht und Elternschaft während der COVID-19-Pandemie zugenommen haben. Dabei wird im Besonderen die Verbindung zwischen der beruflichen Tätigkeit von sich als weiblich identifizierenden Kommunikationswissenschaftlerinnen, der Verteilung häuslicher Betreuungsaufgaben und dem Belastungsempfinden in beruflichen und privaten Bezügen fokussiert. Im Zentrum steht die Frage, welche Belastungen Kommunikationswissenschaftler:innen während der ersten anderthalb Jahre der Pandemie wahrgenommen haben und wie diese sich aus beruflichen Zusammenhängen und den Lebensverhältnissen erklären lassen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Eltern, insbesondere von jüngeren Kindern, eine erhöhte berufliche Stressbelastung verspürten. Überraschenderweise sind die geschlechtsgebundenen Unterschiede nicht so ausgeprägt wie erwartet: Kommunikationswissenschaftlerinnen, die sich als Frauen identifizieren, fühlen sich nicht stärker belastet als ihre sich als Männer identifizierenden Kollegen.The paper focuses on academic work in communication studies. It discusses whether inequalities related to gender and parenthood have widened during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially concerning the interrelation of women's paid work and the division of caring responsibilities. It discusses how communication scholars perceived the burden during the first year and a half of the pandemic. The results show that parents, especially those of younger children, report feeling the highest level of stress concerning their working life. Surprisingly, gender differences are not as distinct as expected: Communication scholars identifying as female do not perceive themselves as more burdened than their colleagues who identify as male

Gender-related traits as predictors of alcohol use in male German and Spanish university students

This study examined instrumental (masculine stereotyped) and expressive (feminine stereotyped) personality traits and alcohol use among men from Germany and Spain. Participants were 161 male university students (76 German, M-age=23 years; 77 Spanish, M-age=22 years), who completed either a daytime or a nighttime drinking questionnaire, each including a Short Form of the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Poisson regression analyses with latent predictors were conducted. The trait factors and their interactions with nationality predicted daytime and nighttime alcohol use. The results add support to the assumption that alcohol use is associated with the construction of masculinity and that internalization of traditionally female attributes protects against health-risk behaviors such as alcohol consumption

Career, Covid-19, and Care: (Gendered) Impacts of the Pandemic on the Work of Communication Scholars

The study at hand analyzes the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and related restrictions on scholars in the area of media and communication studies. It aims to highlight inequalities in the negative effects of the pandemic on academic output by examining the working conditions of scholars, taking into account gender, parenthood, and the partnership-based division of professional and care work. The quantitative survey was directed at communication scholars in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The findings show that there are no significant gender differences in terms of changes in academic output during the first 15 months of the pandemic; instead, disadvantages were observed in terms of parenting, regardless of the gender of the parents. Gender-specific effects could be detected concerning family situations and partnerships. Here, male participants are more often found in relationships in which the partner only works half-time, than women who mostly live with a partner who works full-time. The data suggest that gender differences related to changes in the time allotted for professional and care work and academic output are leveled out by the characteristics of the academic career model in which German-speaking scholars work. Nevertheless, gendered structures in academia and partnerships shape how the impact of the pandemic on professional work is experienced

Adenocarcinoma of the cervix uteri : methods to improve diagnostics : biological markers and HPV testing

Cervical adenocarcinoma (ADC) represents about 20% of invasive cervical cancers. Implementation of screening programs that have led to a decrease in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has only had a limited preventive effect on adenocarcinoma as the incidence of ADC, especially among younger women, has steadily increased in recent decades. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is considered the most important single factor for development of SCC. Adenocarcinomas of the cervix are also related to HPV of high risk types (HR-HPV), but the correlation is less pronounced. HPV infection alone is insufficient and other factors are required for oncogenic transformation to ADC. The aim of this thesis is to investigate molecular markers such as tumor suppressor p16 [INK4a], proliferation marker Ki-67, possible tumor suppressor proteins in the LRIG family, the TP53 target WIG-1, and E6/E7 mRNA in cervical adenocarcinoma in order to provide a deeper understanding of the etiology of the disease and to develop more efficient screening strategies for adenocarcinoma of the cervix. Formalin-fixed/paraffin-embedded tumor tissue samples of cervical ADC were investigated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) for the occurrence of p16[INK4a] using the CINtec® kit, of Ki-67 with the MIB-1 antibody, and of LRIG1, LRIG2 and LRIG3 using polyclonal rabbit antibodies. In 38 samples of cervical cancer (ADC or SCC), Wig-1 was examined by IHC using a monoclonal antibody. In cervical cancer cell lines the WIG-1 gene locus was investigated by SKY, CGH, Southern and FISH; mRNA expression by Northern and RT-PCR; and protein expression by Western analysis. Testing for E6/E7 mRNA was carried out using the PreTect HPV Proofer; testing for HR-HPV DNA was done by consensus PCR and subsequent typing by SSCP, direct sequencing and Linear Array®. The examined markers were evaluated regarding prognostic impact and association with HPV infection. We found that poorly differentiated tumors stain with less intensity and in a lower fraction than do well differentiated tumors. All HPV-positive tumors showed p16[INK4a] staining, but 60% of HPV-negative tumors also stained for p16[INK4a]. We found a significant correlation between staining for Ki-67 and histological grade (p=0.031) as well as worse outcome (p=0.004). High staining intensity for LRIG1 and a high fraction of LRIG3-positive cells were significantly associated with improved patient survival (p=0.03 and p=0.04). LRIG1 and LRIG3 expression correlated with HPV infection, since higher staining intensity was observed in HR-HPV-positive cases. mRNA extraction from paraffin-embedded tissue samples was successful, as shown by positive results in the GAPDH mRNA integrity control in all cases. HR-HPV infection was detected by mRNA in 64% of the tumors, compared with detection by DNA in 62% of the tumors. There was an 87% agreement in results between the two methods regarding HPV positivity and 84% agreement regarding HPV type. WIG-1 is not the primary target for genomic alteration on chromosome 3, even though analysis revealed chromosome 3 gains in all lines. WIG-1 mRNA expression was higher in the two HPV-negative cervical cell lines (C33-A, HT-3) than in the HPV-positive lines. Wig-1 expression in tumor tissue, as assessed by IHC, showed significantly higher nuclear Wig-1 levels in ADC than in SCC (p<0.0001). We observed higher nuclear Wig-1 expression in the HPV-negative tumors than in HPV-positive tumors (p= 0.002). Patients with tumors that demonstrated moderate nuclear and positive cytoplasmic Wig-1 expression had a better prognosis (p = 0.042) than those with high nuclear and negative cytoplasmic Wig-1 expression. According to our findings the tested markers appear to be potential diagnostic supplements for cervical adenocarcinoma as expression of Wig-1 as well as LRIG1 and LRIG3 could serve as prognostic markers, p16[INK4a] and Ki-67 might be helpful markers for grading endocervical malignancies and mRNA testing has been shown to be as sensitive as DNA testing. The combination of improved detection of precursors through integration of molecular markers into screening programs with vaccination against HPV 16 and 18 will help cervical cancer including adenocarcinoma to become one of the most preventable cancers

Interfaces in partly compatible polymer mixtures: A Monte Carlo simulation approach

The structure of polymer coils near interfaces between coexisting phases of symmetrical polymer mixtures (AB) is discussed, as well as the structure of symmetric diblock copolymers of the same chain length N adsorbed at the interface. The problem is studied by Monte Carlo simulations of the bond fluctuation model on the simple cubic lattice, using massively parallel computers (CRAY T3D). While homopolymer coils in the strong segregation limit are oriented parallel to the interface, the diblocks form ``dumbbells'' oriented perpendicular to the interface. However, in the dilute case (``mushroom regime'' rather than ``brush regime''), the diblocks are only weakly stretched. Distribution functions for monomers at the chain ends and in the center of the polymer are obtained, and a comparison to the self consistent field theory is made.Comment: to appear in Physica

Leistungsprüfung verschiedener Hühnerherkünfte mit Blick auf mögliche Zweinutzung – b) weibliche Tiere

Ziel der Studie war es, verschiedene Herkünfte in Hinblick auf eine mögliche Zweinutzung zu testen. Auf einem Versuchs- und vier Biobetrieben (insgesamt 800 Hennen) wurden drei Rassehühner und eine Kreuzungsherkunft eines Bio-Zuchtbetriebes verglichen. Die Kreuzung Domäne Gold hatte die höchste Legeleistung, gefolgt von Bresse. Die Rassen wurden in verschiedenen Tierschutzindikatoren (z.B. Auslaufnutzung, Gefiederzustand) unterschiedlich eingestuft

Longitudinal Assessment of In Vivo Bone Dynamics in a Mouse Tail Model of Postmenopausal Osteoporosis

Recently, it has been shown that transient bone biology can be observed in vivo using time-lapse micro-computed tomography (μCT) in the mouse tail bone. Nevertheless, in order for the mouse tail bone to be a model for human disease, the hallmarks of any disease must be mimicked. The aim of this study was to investigate whether postmenopausal osteoporosis could be modeled in caudal vertebrae of C57Bl/6mice, considering static and dynamic bone morphometry as well as mechanical properties, and to describe temporal changes in bone remodeling rates. Twenty C57Bl/6mice were ovariectomized (OVX, n=11) or sham-operated (SHM, n=9) and monitored with in vivo μCT on the day of surgery and every 2weeks after, up to 12weeks. There was a significant decrease in bone volume fraction for OVX (−35%) compared to SHM (+16%) in trabecular bone (P<0.001). For OVX, high-turnover bone loss was observed, with the bone resorption rate exceeding the bone formation rate (P<0.001). Furthermore there was a significant decrease in whole-bone stiffness for OVX (−16%) compared to SHM (+11%, P<0.001). From these results we conclude that the mouse tail vertebra mimics postmenopausal bone loss with respect to these parameters and therefore might be a suitable model for postmenopausal osteoporosis. When evaluating temporal changes in remodeling rates, we found that OVX caused an immediate increase in bone resorption rate (P<0.001) and a delayed increase in bone formation rate (P<0.001). Monitoring transient bone biology is a promising method for future researc