Social Embeddedness in Stakeholder Networks and Legislators’ Policy Preferences: The Case of German Livestock Policy

In a world of increasing complexity, politicians have only limited information about the relationship of policies and the outcomes. They often make use of simplified heuristics, i.e. policy beliefs. Hence, an influence opportunity for in- terest groups occurs: informational lobbying. It complements classic lobbying strategies, e.g. vote buying or campaign spending. Providing expert knowledge allows interest groups to influence legislators towards the preferred policy posi- tion. Aside from so-called "approved votes", German parliamentarians generally follow parliamentary group’s discipline. Thus, experts’ role within parliamentary groups is crucial. They deal with key issues and represent the parliamentary group in the committees. Furthermore, they work out the group’s positions on these specific issues. They are the starting point for interest groups to dissemi- nate their information and hence influence the legislators’ positions. An exemplary field of complexity is the agricultural sector. In particular, live- stock production is challenged by questions of sustainability, i.e. public expec- tations towards animal welfare, producers and consumers’ welfare as well as ecological consequences. Importance of animal welfare is demonstrated by the ongoing debate about piglet castration or husbandry system standards. This raises two questions: First, to what extend are stakeholders able to gain direct access to politicians? Second, how can they use this structure to influence policy decisions? Using a social network approach, we first investigate the structure of three networks: exchange of expert knowledge, political support and informal social ties. In particular, we put emphasis on the connection between parliamen- tary actors and other stakeholders from society, i.e. interest groups. This refers to the first question. Second, we apply a model of political exchange using infor- mation and lobbying networks. Following Henning et al. (2019), this model not only includes political exchange, but also belief updating. Moreover, it considers direct as well as indirect ties. This analysis step serves to answer the second question

molecular recognition of naphthalene diimide ligands by telomeric quadruplex dna the importance of the protonation state and mediated hydrogen bonds

How important are mediated hydrogen bonds in terms of molecular recognition? Compliance Constants (relaxed force constants) give the answer

Communicational and Lobbying Power in German Farm Animal Welfare Politics

Farm animal welfare is the main driver of nowadays criticism on German livestock sector. At the same time, non market actors more and more are key actors within animal welfare politics. Hence, we investigate political power of stakeholder organizations in German livestock policy. Our network based framework consists of two components: First, actors influence policy decisions through informational lobbying. Informational lobbying refers to providing expert knowledge in order to influence decision makers' policy beliefs. Second, the exchange of influence resources and power allows interest groups to influence the policy positions of political agents. We combine both measurements with the Banzhaf power index in order to quantify the power of both, political agents as well as interest groups. How this power affects animal welfare policy is illustrated in the field of piglet castration. Results imply that the agricultural sector as well as animal protection groups have the highest influence on beliefs and that state actors distribute most of the power to the agribusiness sector. This structures leads to a positive evaluation of surgical castration under anaesthesia. On the other hand, immunocastration is evaluated as rather useless. This implies that participatory processes decrease the procedures acceptance

Novel atrazine-binding biomimetics inspired to the D1 protein from the photosystem II of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Biomimetic design represents an emerging field for improving knowledge of natural molecules, as well as to project novel artificial tools with specific functions for biosensing. Effective strategies have been exploited to design artificial bioreceptors, taking inspiration from complex supramolecular assemblies. Among them, size-minimization strategy sounds promising to provide bioreceptors with tuned sensitivity, stability, and selectivity, through the ad hoc manipulation of chemical species at the molecular scale. Herein, a novel biomimetic peptide enabling herbicide binding was designed bioinspired to the D1 protein of the Photosystem II of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The D1 protein portion corresponding to the QB plastoquinone binding niche is capable of interacting with photosynthetic herbicides. A 50-mer peptide in the region of D1 protein from the residue 211 to 280 was designed in silico, and molecular dynamic simulations were performed alone and in complex with atrazine. An equilibrated structure was obtained with a stable pocked for atrazine binding by three H-bonds with SER222, ASN247, and HIS272 residues. Computational data were confirmed by fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism on the peptide obtained by automated synthesis. Atrazine binding at nanomolar concentrations was followed by fluorescence spectroscopy, highlighting peptide suitability for optical sensing of herbicides at safety limits

Sustained Solar H2 Evolution from a Thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole-Bridged Covalent Organic Framework and Nickel-Thiolate Cluster in Wate

Solar hydrogen (H2) evolution from water utilizing covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as heterogeneous photosensitizers has gathered significant momentum by virtue of the COFs’ predictive structural design, long-range ordering, tunable porosity, and excellent light-harvesting ability. However, most photocatalytic systems involve rare and expensive platinum as the co-catalyst for water reduction, which appears to be the bottleneck in the development of economical and environmentally benign solar H2 production systems. Herein, we report a simple, efficient, and low-cost all-in-one photocatalytic H2 evolution system composed of a thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole-linked COF (TpDTz) as the photoabsorber and an earth-abundant, noble-metal-free nickel-thiolate hexameric cluster co-catalyst assembled in situ in water, together with triethanolamine (TEoA) as the sacrificial electron donor. The high crystallinity, porosity, photochemical stability, and light absorption ability of the TpDTz COF enables excellent long-term H2 production over 70 h with a maximum rate of 941 μmol h–1 g–1, turnover number TONNi > 103, and total projected TONNi > 443 until complete catalyst depletion. The high H2 evolution rate and TON, coupled with long-term photocatalytic operation of this hybrid system in water, surpass those of many previously known organic dyes, carbon nitride, and COF-sensitized photocatalytic H2O reduction systems. Furthermore, we gather unique insights into the reaction mechanism, enabled by a specifically designed continuous-flow system for non-invasive, direct H2 production rate monitoring, providing higher accuracy in quantification compared to the existing batch measurement methods. Overall, the results presented here open the door toward the rational design of robust and efficient earth-abundant COF–molecular co-catalyst hybrid systems for sustainable solar H2 production in water

Extent, perception and mitigation of damage due to high groundwater levels in the city of Dresden, Germany

Flood risk analysis and management plans mostly neglect groundwater flooding, i.e. high groundwater levels. However, rising groundwater may cause considerable damage to buildings and infrastructure. To improve the knowledge about groundwater flooding and support risk management, a survey was undertaken in the city of Dresden (Saxony, Germany), resulting in 605 completed interviews with private households endangered by high groundwater levels. The reported relatively low flood impact and damage of groundwater floods in comparison with mixed floods was reflected by its scarce perception: Hardly anybody thinks about the risk of groundwater flooding. The interviewees thought that public authorities and not themselves, should be mainly responsible for preparedness and emergency response. Up to now, people do not include groundwater risk in their decision processes on self protection. The implementation of precautionary measures does not differ between households with groundwater or with mixed flood experience. However, less households undertake emergency measures when expecting a groundwater flood only. The state of preparedness should be further improved via an intensified risk communication about groundwater flooding by the authorities. Conditions to reach the endangered population are good, since 70% of the interviewed people are willing to inform themselves about groundwater floods. Recommendations for an improved risk communication are given

Simulation of Vehicle-Pedestrian Interaction

The literature on vehicle crash reconstruction provides a number of empirical or classical theoretical models for the distance pedestrians are thrown in impacts with various types of vehicles and impact speeds. The aim of this research was to compare the predictions offered by computer simulation to those obtained using the empirical and classical theoretical models traditionally utilised in vehicle-pedestrian accident reconstruction. Particular attention was paid to the pedestrian throw distance versus vehicle impact speed relationship and the determination of pedestrian injury patterns and associated severity. It was discovered that computer simulation offered improved pedestrian kinematic prediction in comparison to traditional vehicle-pedestrian accident reconstruction techniques. The superior kinematic prediction was found to result in a more reliable pedestrian throw distance versus vehicle impact speed relationship, particularly in regard to varying vehicle and pedestrian parameters such as shape, size and orientation. The pedestrian injury prediction capability of computer simulation was found to be very good for head and lower extremity injury determination. Such injury prediction capabilities were noted to be useful in providing additional correlation of vehicle impact speed predictions, whether these predictions were made using computer simulation, traditional vehicle-pedestrian accident reconstruction methods or a combination of both. A generalised approach to the use of computer simulation for the reconstruction of vehicle-pedestrian accidents was also offered. It is hoped that this approach is developed and improved by other researchers so that over time guidelines for a standardised approach to the simulation of vehicle-pedestrian accidents might evolve. Thoracic injury prediction, particularly for frontal impacts, was found to be less than ideal. It is suspected that the relatively poor thoracic biofidelity stems from the development of pedestrian mathematical models from occupant mathematical models, which were in turn developed from cadaver and dummy tests. It is hoped that future research will result in improved thoracic biofidelity in human mathematical models

Affection, virtue, pleasure, and profit: Developing an understanding of friendship closeness and intimacy in western and Asian societies

The development of friendship understanding has rarely been explored from a cross-cultural perspective. In this study, children and adolescents from Iceland, China, Russia, and the former East Germany were investigated in one longitudinal and three cross-sectional samples. Children from three different Chinese ecologies were interviewed to account for within-culture variation. Participants were interviewed about friendship closeness and intimacy at ages 7, 9, 12, and 15 years. Their statements were scored according to (a) structural-developmental stages and (b) content aspects of friendship reasoning. Results reveal that the development of friendship reasoning of participants from all societies could be captured by the cognitive-structural stages and content categories developed in western cultures. At the same time, distinct cultural differences emerged, especially between the Russian and Chinese participants, on the one hand, and the Icelandic and East German participants, on the other hand. The within-China analyses reveal little differences for the content aspects of friendship understanding between the three ecologies, but differences in the cognitive-structural aspects of friendship reasoning were found. © 2008 The International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development

The Exhibition as an Experiment: An Analogy and its Implications

The analogy of the exhibition as an experiment suggests innovative curatorial approaches that challenge institutional practices. This analogy has however a historical precedence in modernism when itbecame paradigmatic of the exhibitions at the Museum of ModernArt in New York in the 1940s, defining the curatorial approach of its founding director Alfred J Barr. This article considers this early useof the analogy of the exhibition as an experiment and further reflects on its redefinition at the turn of the 20th century by examining how both the notions of the exhibition and of the experiment havechanged over time. In particular, the article examines the different meanings and practices inferred by the concepts of the exhibition and the experiment in the first decades of the 20th century and in the present. It outlines how correspondences between cultural and scientific paradigms can be deployed to tease unacknowledged synergies between two modes of knowledge production (i.e. the art exhibition and the experiment) and address questions of presentness, authority and legitimacy that they imply