Alfred Beit. The Hamburg Diamond King

Alfred Beit (1853-1906) has been called a financial genius. When he went to South Africa in 1875, no one could imagine that the son of converted Hamburg Jews would soon become one of the richest men of his time - thanks to the diamonds of Kimberley and the gold of the Witwatersrand.As a co-founder of De Beers Ltd. and close friend of Cecil Rhodes, the charismatic promoter of British imperialism in southern Africa, Alfred Beit became one of the colonial fathers of Rhodesia. A British subject from 1898, he tried to mediate politically in the conflicts that developed between Germany and Britain with their respective empires, but failed to achieve a reconciliation between the two powers.Alfred Beit was himself a very prominent art collector and throughout his career he generously supported countless nonprofit-making institutions. TheHamburg Scientific Foundation itself owes its founding to one of his major donations. Beit's will passed on his wealth to a trust, which has financed development aid projects since 1906.This is the first comprehensive biography of this outstanding businessman, art collector and internationally active philanthropist

Adolph Lewisohn (English edition)

"New Yorks most valuable citizen" – this honorary title was given to Adolph Lewisohn. When he was born in Hamburg in 1849 as the son of Orthodox Jews and successful merchants, a career as a merchant was put in his cradle. In search of personal freedom he persuaded his strict father in 1867 to let him go to New York. The fact that Lewisohn, as an industrialist in the USA, will generate millions of euros in only twenty years time would have seemed like a fairy tale to the young migrant. With dedication, foresight and flexibility he builds a copper empire. For four decades he then supports countless charitable projects with millions of euros. The Hamburgische Wissenschaftliche Stiftung (Hamburg Scientific Society) also owes him one of the biggest donations it received when it was founded. This is the first biography of this exceptionally successful businessman, art collector and international philanthropist

Adolph Lewisohn. Kupfermagnat im "Goldenen Zeitalter"

"New York's most valuable vitizen" - this honorary title was given to Adolph Lewisohn. When he was born in Hamburg in 1849 as the son of Orthodox Jews and successful merchants, a career as a merchant was put in his cradle. In search of personal freedom he persuaded his strict father in 1867 to let him go to New York. The fact that Lewisohn, as an industrialist in the USA, will generate millions of euros in only twenty years' time would have seemed like a fairy tale to the young migrant. With dedication, foresight and flexibility he builds a copper empire. For four decades he then supports countless charitable projects with millions of euros. The Hamburgische Wissenschaftliche Stiftung (Hamburg Scientific Society) also owes him one of the biggest donations it received when it was founded. This is the first biography of this exceptionally successful businessman, art collector and international philanthropist

The perception and recognition of Wagnerian leitmotifs in multimodal conditions

Introduction. The leitmotifs in Richard Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” fulfil several musical, dramatic and semiotic functions. While many music-analytic and hermeneutic studies have investigated Richard Wagner’s use of leitmotifs as a compositional technique, the question as to the extent to which the recognition of leitmotifs is possible in the context of the overall net of leitmotifs, seems to be, as yet, largely unexplored.Aims. The present study investigates the influence of several factors on the recognition and understanding of leitmotifs: First, the effect of inherent musical features of the leitmotifs themselves; second, the influence of listeners’ musical background such as music theoretical knowledge, musical skills and specific Wagner-expertise; and third, the impact of presentation context, i.e., audio vs. audio-visual.Methods. Forty-five subjects (musicians and non-musicians) were required to recognize four distinct leitmotifs (“Ring-Motiv”, “Vertrags-Motiv”, “Grübel-Motiv”, “Nibelungen-Motiv”) in a ten minute excerpt from “Siegfried“, the so called “Wissenswette” in the second scene of the first act. According to the semiotic typologies of signs of the American philosopher Charles S. Peirce it was possible to differentiate between iconic (i.e. “Grübel-Motiv”) and symbolic (i.e. “Vertags-Motiv”) motifs.After providing socio-demographic and musical background information as well as reporting their knowledge of Wagner’s musical works and his compositional techniques, subjects had to memorize the four leitmotifs. The subjects could listen to the leitmotifs as many times as they wished.In order to analyse the influence of the leitmotifs’ characteristics on the listener, subjects were also asked to note down spontaneous associations while listening to the leitmotifs. Thus the semantic content of the leitmotifs and the correlation of the leitmotifs’ structure and their meaning could be assessed. Afterwards, a short memorisation test preceded the main recognition task. For this purpose 20 other leitmotifs, among them the four relevant leitmotifs, were randomly presented to the participants. The subjects had to give an agreed sign if they recognized the four leitmotifs.For the leitmotif recognition test, the subjects were divided into two groups: The first group listened to an audio excerpt of the Siegfried scene, whereas the second group was presented with the full audio- visual sequence.During the recognition task a MIDI-keyboard was installed in front of the participants; four of its keys were assigned to the four leitmotifs. With an additional (correction) key the subjects were able to correct possibly wrong identifications. The subjects were asked to press the respective key as long as they could hear the specific leitmotif and release the key not before the leitmotif had faded away.The MIDI-signal of the keyboard was recorded with “Cubase”. The audio sequence of the excerpt from “Siegfried” was as well imported in “Cubase”, so that the two tracks could be easily synchronized and recognitions matched. Due to Wagner’s elaborate system of leitmotifs, the motifs in the chosen sequence were not necessarily identic to the ones presented for memorization. They could differ in length, shape, tempo, instrumentation and timbre. Moreover they could appear as short fragments of the whole motifs.Results. On average, 47. 2 % of all possible occurrences of Leitmotifs could be recognized. While the “Vertrags-Motiv” (72.2 %) and the “Grübel-Motiv” (62.7 %) were recognized by the majority of subjects, the “Nibelungen-Motiv” (34.3 %) and the “Ring-Motiv” (22.6 %) were less frequently identified. Expertise in Wagner’s music was a significant predictor for the overall as well as for specific leitmotif recognition rates, while musical skills were had only a small influence. No significant differences in leitmotif recognition rates between presentation modes (audio vs. audio-visual) across all motifs could be observed. There was only a small influence on the “Nibelungen-Motiv” recognition, probably due to the evident connection between the musical motif and the corresponding visual presented protagonist. Significantly higher recognition rates were found for the most salient (concise) motif (“Vertrags-Motiv”), and for the most clearly iconic motif (“Grübel-Motiv”). With regard to semantic content, the “Grübel-Motiv” and the “Vertrags-Motiv” were more likely to be associated with their standard meaning than the “Ring-Motiv” and the “Nibelungen-Motiv”. At least in our sample, the semiotic nature and salience of leitmotifs seem to be independent dimensions. Consequences for the communication process will be discussed.Keywords: leitmotiv; recognition; semiotic; Richard Wagne

3.5 kW coherently combined ultrafast fiber laser

An ultrafast laser based on the coherent beam combination of four ytterbium-doped step-index fiber amplifiers is presented. The system delivers an average power of 3.5 kW and a pulse duration of 430 fs at an 80 MHz repetition rate. The beam quality is excellent (M2<1.24·1.10), and the relative intensity noise is as low as 1% in the frequency span from 1 Hz to 1 MHz. The system is turn-key operable, as it features an automated spatial and temporal alignment of the interferometric amplification channels

Oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate analgesia in prehospital trauma care: an observational cohort study.

BACKGROUND Pain is one of the major prehospital symptoms in trauma patients and requires prompt management. Recent studies have reported insufficient analgesia after prehospital treatment in up to 43% of trauma patients, leaving significant room for improvement. Good evidence exists for prehospital use of oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate (OTFC) in the military setting. We hypothesized that the use of OTFC for trauma patients in remote and challenging environment is feasible, efficient, safe, and might be an alternative to nasal and intravenous applications. METHODS This observational cohort study examined 177 patients who were treated with oral transmucosal fentanyl citrate by EMS providers in three ski and bike resorts in Switzerland. All EMS providers had previously been trained in administration of the drug and handling of potential adverse events. RESULTS OTFC caused a statistically significant and clinically relevant decrease in the level of pain by a median of 3 (IQR 2 to 4) in NRS units (P < 0.0001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed a significant absolute reduction in pain, with no differences in all age groups and between genders. No major adverse events were observed. CONCLUSIONS Prehospital administration of OTFC is safe, easy, and efficient for extrication and transport across all age groups, gender, and types of injuries in alpine environments. Side effects were few and mild. This could provide a valuable alternative in trauma patients with severe pain, without the delay of inserting an intravenous line, especially in remote areas, where fast action and easy administration are important

Pit picking vs. Limberg flap vs. primary open method to treat pilonidal sinus disease - A cohort of 327 consecutive patients.

Background Minimally invasive methods in pilonidal sinus disease (PSD) surgery are becoming standard. Although long-term results are available for some techniques, long-term outcome data of patients after pit picking is lacking. We aimed at investigating perioperative and long-term outcomes of patients undergoing pit picking, Limberg flap or primary open surgery to treat PSD. Methods In a single-centre observational study, we evaluated the outcomes of 327 consecutive patients undergoing PSD surgery between 2011 and 2020. Results PSD had recurred in 22% of Limberg flap patients and 62% of pit picking patients at 5 years (p=0.0078; log rank test). Previous pilonidal surgeries, smoking, body mass index, immunodeficiency, and diabetes did not significantly influence the long-term recurrence rate. Primary open treatment was performed for 72% of female patients presenting with primary disease. Conclusions Due to its especially dismal long-term results, pit picking should be abandoned, and Limberg flap should be promoted instead, even for primary disease and in females

The Transmembrane Adaptor Protein Trim Regulates T Cell Receptor (Tcr) Expression and Tcr-Mediated Signaling via an Association with the Tcr ζ Chain

T cell receptor (TCR)-interacting molecule (TRIM) is a recently identified transmembrane adaptor protein, which is exclusively expressed in T cells. Here we demonstrate that in mature T cells, TRIM preferentially interacts with the TCR via the TCR-ζ chains and to a lesser extent via the CD3-ε/γ heterodimer. Transient or stable overexpression of TRIM in Jurkat T cells results in enhancement of TCR expression on the cell surface and elevated induction of Ca2+ mobilization after T cell activation. TRIM-mediated upregulation of TCR expression results from inhibition of spontaneous TCR internalization and stabilization of TCR complexes on the cell surface. Collectively, our data identify TRIM as a novel integral component of the TCR complex and suggest that one function of TRIM might be to modulate the strength of signals transduced through the TCR through regulation of TCR expression on the cell surface

1318 New Variable Stars in a 0.25 Square Degree Region of the Galactic Plane

We have conducted a deep photometric survey of a 0.5 deg x 0.5 deg area of the Galactic Plane using the WFI instrument on the 2.2-m ESO telescope on La Silla, Chile. The dataset comprises a total of 267 R-band images, 204 from a 16 day observation run in 2005, supplemented by 63 images from a six week period in 2002. Our reduction employed the new numerical kernel difference image analysis method as implemented in the PYSIS3 code and resulted in more than 500,000 lightcurves of stars down to a magnitude limit of R ~ 24.5. A search for variable stars resulted in the detection of 1318 variables of different types. 1011 of these are eclipsing or contact binary stars. A number of the contact binaries have low mass-ratios and several of the detached binaries appear to have low-mass components. Three candidate contact binaries have periods at the known cut off including two with periods lower than any previously published. Also identified are 3 possible pre-main sequence detached eclipsing binaries.Comment: 54 pages, 17 figures, 11 tables, accepted by A&A. Photometry will be available through CD