The European Perspective on Women\u27s Leadership

The perspective of women in leadership positions is of particular impor- tance in Europe. It is a main subject in the areas of research and science. For example: At the University of Augsburg we conducted several studies of women\u27s leadership and the female academic career in view of gender is- sues such as gender within the family and in socialization. Furthermore we accomplished two gender mainstreaming studies with the focus on equity in several universities in Germany (Gender mainstreaming is a European law of 1997 and a political strategy of diversity management). In this article we want to show the perspective on women\u27s leadership in Europe. Therefore we want to present the European data on the educational status of girls and women at schools and universities and in academic ca- reers. Data for Germany is presented as an example to provide evidence of some details. First, we want to point out four contradictions for women in the education system and concerning leadership positions. Second, data is discussed and some results of research explaining the data are given. Fi- nally, we present a European Program for the educational system to give women more chances: The so called Gender Mainstreaming Program

Selective Postsynaptic Co-localization of MCT2 with AMPA Receptor GluR2/3 Subunits at Excitatory Synapses Exhibiting AMPA Receptor Trafficking

MCT2 is the main neuronal monocarboxylate transporter needed by neurons if they are to use lactate as an additional energy substrate. Previous evidence suggested that some MCT2 could be located in postsynaptic elements of glutamatergic synapses. Using post-embedding electron microscopic immunocytochemistry, it is demonstrated that MCT2 is present at postsynaptic density of asymmetric synapses, in the stratum radiatum of both rat hippocampal CA1 and CA3 regions, as well as at parallel fibre-Purkinje cell synapses in mouse cerebellum. MCT2 levels were significantly lower at mossy fibre synapses on CA3 neurons, and MCT2 was almost absent from symmetric synapses on CA1 pyramidal cells. It could also be demonstrated using quantitative double-labeling immunogold cytochemistry that MCT2 and AMPA receptor GluR2/3 subunits have a similar postsynaptic distribution at asymmetric synapses with high levels expressed within the postsynaptic density. In addition, as for AMPA receptors, a significant proportion of MCT2 is located on vesicular membranes within the postsynaptic spine, forming an intracellular pool available for a putative postsynaptic endo/exocytotic trafficking at these excitatory synapses. Altogether, the data presented provide evidence for MCT2 expression in the postsynaptic density area at specific subsets of glutamatergic synapses, and also suggest that MCT2, like AMPA receptors, could undergo membrane traffickin

The Outcome of Patients with Melanoma Is Not Associated with the Time Point of Lymphatic Mapping with Respect to Excisional Biopsy of the Primary Tumor

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has become the standard care for melanoma and is an important diagnostic procedure. It has been doubted whether lymphoscintigraphy detects the correct sentinel lymph node (SLN) when excision of the tumor and SLNB are not performed at the same time. This would imply that this sequential approach may have an increased risk of undetected micrometastases resulting in a worse outcome. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to compare the outcome of melanoma patients having received excision of the tumor and SLNB either at the same time or consecutively. Methods: A total of 854 patients with cutaneous melanoma were enrolled in this retrospective study between September 1996 and November 2007. Disease-free (DFS) and overall survivals (OS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier product limit method and were analyzed by the log rank test. Results: No statistically significant difference was found regarding DFS, progression rates and OS in patients with primary tumor excision and SLNB at the same time compared with patients with excisional biopsy of primary tumor and SLNB at different times. Conclusion: These data suggest that excisional biopsy of the primary tumor does not prevent the correct SLN mapping in melanoma patients. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Base

The OECD Review and Higher Education

Professor Sheffield tells how the OECD review of educational policies in Canada proceeded, who were involved, and what the examiners stressed in their report. He reports also on a tentative assessment of its impact, most of which is potential or not provable. Professor Noah describes the history and procedures of OECD's reviews of the national education policies of its member states - exercises in the comparative study of education, with practical benefits. Dr. Hamm-Briicher reflects in a highly personal way on her experience as a member of the examining team and her disappointment with the meagre response to the final report on the part of Canadian governments and academics. Nevertheless, she believes strongly in the kind of international co-operation represented by the OECD reviews.Le professeur Sheffield explique a) comment l'OCED a passé en revue les politiques canadiennes de l'enseignement, b) qui a été engagé comme enquêteurs et c) où ces personnes ont mis l'accent dans leur rapport. Il donne également une évaluation provisoire d l'impact du rapport - impact potentiel pour lequel il n'existe aucune preuve. Le professeur Noah donne l'historique et les procédures des revues de l'OCED des politiques nationales d'enseignement de ses états-membres — une étude comparée de l'enseignment avec des avantages pratiques. Le docteur Hamm-Briicher donne de façon personnelle des réflexions sur ses expériences en tant que membre de l'équipe des enquêteurs. Elle indique aussi sa déception à l'égard du concours peu encourageant en vue du rapport final de la part des gouvernments au Canada et des pédagogues canadiens. Elle croit fortement, néanmoins, au genre de coopération internationale qu 'impliquent les revues de l'OCED

Mass condensation on networks

We construct classical stochastic mass transport processes for stationary states which are chosen to factorize over pairs of sites of an undirected, connected, but otherwise arbitrary graph. For the special topology of a ring we derive static properties such as the critical point of the transition between the liquid and the condensed phase, the shape of the condensate and its scaling with the system size. It turns out that the shape is not universal, but determined by the interplay of local and ultralocal interactions. In two dimensions the effect of anisotropic interactions of hopping rates can be treated analytically, since the partition function allows a dimensional reduction to an effective one-dimensional zero-range process. Here we predict the onset, shape and scaling of the condensate on a square lattice. We indicate further extensions in the outlook

Dynamics of Phase Transitions: The 3D 3-state Potts model

In studies of the QCD deconfining phase transition or cross-over by means of heavy ion experiments, one ought to be concerned about non-equilibrium effects due to heating and cooling of the system. In this paper we extend our previous study of Glauber dynamics of 2D Potts models to the 3D 3-state Potts model, which serves as an effective model for some QCD properties. We investigate the linear theory of spinodal decomposition in some detail. It describes the early time evolution of the 3D model under a quench from the disordered into the ordered phase well, but fails in 2D. Further, the quench leads to competing vacuum domains, which are difficult to equilibrate, even in the presence of a small external magnetic field. From our hysteresis study we find, as before, a dynamics dominated by spinodal decomposition. There is evidence that some effects survive in the case of a cross-over. But the infinite volume extrapolation is difficult to control, even with lattices as large as $120^3$.Comment: 12 pages; added references, corrected typo

Women leading in education across the continents

"WissenschaftlerInnen aus der ganzen Welt gründeten 2007 auf einer Konferenz in Rom das Netzwerk Women Leading Education Across the Continents (WLE). Ziel war es, einen qualitativen und quantitativen Überblick über Frauen in Führungspositionen im Bildungssystem (Schul- und Hochschulwesen) zu erhalten. Das Netzwerk verfolgt mehrere Ziele: eine Datensammlung zu Frauen in Führungspositionen im Bildungswesen weltweit; die Untersuchung von Gründen, die das Erreichen einer Führungsposition erleichtern oder erschweren; eine Unterfütterung dieser Daten anhand einer Analyse der Biografien der WLE-Mitglieder; die Einflussnahme auf Forschung, Politik und Praxis mithilfe von Publikationen und einem Online-Gender-Audit." (Autorenreferat)"Scholars across the globe created the Women Leading in Education Across the Continents (WLE) group at a conference held in Rome in 2007. The goal was to fill a knowledge vacuum; an understanding of the status of women in educational leadership, in both basic and higher education, from both a qualitative and quantitative view. The group emerged with the following goals: to gather data from an increasing number of countries across all continents regarding the number of women represented in positions of leadership in education; to describe issues that are either barriers or facilitators regarding the ability of women to attain the highest levels of educational leadership; to bring those issues to life through an analysis of the lives and stories of women within the group; to impact research, policy making and practice through publications and an online gender audit." (author's abstract

Critical Phenomena with Linked Cluster Expansions in a Finite Volume

Linked cluster expansions are generalized from an infinite to a finite volume. They are performed to 20th order in the expansion parameter to approach the critical region from the symmetric phase. A new criterion is proposed to distinguish 1st from 2nd order transitions within a finite size scaling analysis. The criterion applies also to other methods for investigating the phase structure such as Monte Carlo simulations. Our computational tools are illustrated at the example of scalar O(N) models with four and six-point couplings for $N=1$ and $N=4$ in three dimensions. It is shown how to localize the tricritical line in these models. We indicate some further applications of our methods to the electroweak transition as well as to models for superconductivity.Comment: 36 pages, latex2e, 7 eps figures included, uuencoded, gzipped and tarred tex file hdth9607.te

Enzymatic depolymerization of alginate by two novel thermostable alginate lyases from Rhodothermus marinus

Alginate (alginic acid) is a linear polysaccharide, wherein (1→4)-linked β-D-mannuronic acid and its C5 epimer, α-L-guluronic acid, are arranged in varying sequences. Alginate lyases catalyze the depolymerization of alginate, thereby cleaving the (1→4) glycosidic linkages between the monomers by a β-elimination mechanism, to yield unsaturated 4-deoxy-L-erythro-hex-4-enopyranosyluronic acid (Δ) at the non-reducing end of resulting oligosaccharides (α-L-erythro configuration) or, depending on the enzyme, the unsaturated monosaccharide itself. In solution, the released free unsaturated monomer product is further hydrated in a spontaneous (keto-enol tautomerization) process to form two cyclic stereoisomers. In this study, two alginate lyase genes, designated alyRm3 and alyRm4, from the marine thermophilic bacterium Rhodothermus marinus (strain MAT378), were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant enzymes were characterized, and their substrate specificity and product structures determined. AlyRm3 (PL39) and AlyRm4 (PL17) are among the most thermophilic and thermostable alginate lyases described to date with temperature optimum of activity at ∼75 and 81°C, respectively. The pH optimum of activity of AlyRm3 is ∼5.5 and AlyRm4 at pH 6.5. Detailed NMR analysis of the incubation products demonstrated that AlyRm3 is an endolytic lyase, while AlyRm4 is an exolytic lyase, cleaving monomers from the non-reducing end of oligo/poly-alginates