Zwischen Zucht und Zärtlichkeit – Die Vaterfiguren in Theodor Storms Erzählwerk/Between Discipline and Tenderness – The Father Figures in Theodor Storm's Novellas

This paper analyzes and compares the various constructions of fatherhood in Theodor Storm’s later novellas Carsten Curator (1878), Hans und Heinz Kirch (1882) and Bötjer Basch (1887). More specifically, I focus on examining the fathers’ relationships with their sons and their entirely different approaches in bringing up their children, as well as their inner conflicts that may influence their chosen educational measures. As a basis for this analysis, the paper first provides an overview of discourses in the 19th century and addresses contemporary standards and ideals with respect to parental roles and education patterns. The analysis aims to illustrate that despite their varied disciplinary measures two of the three examined father figures fail miserably in preparing their sons for a responsible and independent adulthood and actively bring about the downfall of their children instead, whereby both Carsten Curator and Hans Kirch comply with the motif of the tragic father figure which often occurs in Storm’s later works. As will be shown, the father’s tragic role partly stems from an acutely strict incorporation of bourgeois norms, as well as a strong desire to maintain or increase social recognition, which lead to ambivalent feelings towards the son (both fathers alternate between love and hatred) that constantly burden the relationship between the two. Partly, the tragic fate of father and son at the end of the novella is caused by the ‘extreme’ child-rising methods chosen by the fathers who are not capable of seeing their destructiveness for the children’s development. Finally, I show an opposite example to the previous two by analyzing the depiction of a successful father figure in Bötjer Basch who is able to strike a balance in his approach of upbringing his son because his paternal love is not overshadowed by ambivalent feelings or by the dominant desire to fulfil social interests

Breath‐by‐breath oxygen uptake during running: Effects of different calculation algorithms

New Findings What is the central question of this study? Breath‐by‐breath gas exchange analysis during treadmill exercise can be disturbed by different breathing patterns depending on cadence, and the flow sensor might be subjected to variable mechanical stress. It is still unclear whether the outcomes of the gas exchange algorithms can be affected by running at different speeds. What is the main finding and its importance? Practically, the three investigated breath‐by‐breath algorithms ('Wessel', 'expiration‐only' and 'independent breath') provided similar average gas exchange values for steady‐state conditions. The 'independent breath' algorithm showed the lowest breath‐by‐breath fluctuations in the gas exchange data compared with the other investigated algorithms, both at steady state and during incremental exercise. AbstractRecently, a new breath‐by‐breath gas exchange calculation algorithm (called 'independent breath') was proposed. In the present work, we aimed to compare the breath‐by‐breath O2 uptake () values assessed in healthy subjects undergoing a running protocol, as calculated applying the 'independent breath' algorithm or two other commonly used algorithms. The traces of respiratory flow, O2 and CO2 fractions, used by the calculation algorithms, were acquired at the mouth on 17 volunteers at rest, during running on a treadmill at 6.5 and 9.5 km h−1, and thereafter up to volitional fatigue. Within‐subject averages and standard deviations of breath‐by‐breath were calculated for steady‐state conditions; the data of the incremental phase were analysed by means of linear regression, and their root mean square was assumed to be an index of the breath‐by‐breath fluctuations. The average values obtained with the different algorithms were significantly different (P < 0.001); nevertheless, from a practical point of view the difference could be considered 'small' in all the investigated conditions (effect size <0.3). The standard deviations were significantly lower for the 'independent breath' algorithm (post hoc contrasts, P < 0.001), and the slopes of the relationships with the corresponding data yielded by the other algorithms were <0.70. The root mean squares of the linear regressions calculated for the incremental phase were also significantly lower for the 'independent breath' algorithm, and the slopes of the regression lines with the corresponding values obtained with the other algorithms were <0.84. In conclusion, the 'independent breath' algorithm yielded the least breath‐by‐breath O2 uptake fluctuation, both during steady‐state exercise and during incremental running

Background Simulations of the Wide Field Imager of the ATHENA X-Ray Observatory

The ATHENA X-ray Observatory-IXO is a planned multinational orbiting X-ray observatory with a focal length of 11.5m. ATHENA aims to perform pointed observations in an energy range from 0.1 keV to 15 keV with high sensitivity. For high spatial and timing resolution imaging and spectroscopic observations the 640x640 pixel^2 large DePFET-technology based Wide field Imager (WFI) focal plane detector, providing a field of view of 18 arcsec will be the main detector. Based on the actual mechanics, thermal and shielding design we present estimates for the WFI cosmic ray induced background obtained by the use of Monte-Carlo simulations and possible background reduction measures.Comment: IEEE NSS MIC Conference 2011, Valencia, Spai

Alopecia Areata Susceptibility in Rodent Models

With our current view of alopecia areata as an autoimmune disease, it is probable that disease development in an individual is dependent on multiple genetic and environmental factors interacting in a complex system. Rodent models afford the opportunity to investigate alopecia areata development and to define the significance of the different factors involved. Recently, rodent model characterization has been conducted using flow cytometry, microarray analysis, and functional studies. From these a pattern of events in alopecia areata development has emerged. Although the preliminary activation events for the onset of alopecia areata remain unknown, the response of the immune system is characterized by antigen presentation and costimulation of lymphocytes in the lymph nodes and skin, a deficiency of CD4+/CD25+ regulatory cells, and an action of activated lymphocytes on hair follicles via Fas/FasL signaling and cytokines. Thus, onset of disease may require appropriate (or inappropriate) expression of stimulatory antigens within the hair follicle, the breakdown of the putative hair follicle immune privilege, the presentation of antigens to the immune system, a failure of immune system regulation, and the ability of the activated immune system to disrupt anagen-stage hair follicles. Once the sequence of events is initiated, it may become a self-perpetuating cycle, with epitope spreading leading to a wider range of targets in chronic alopecia areata. Rodent model studies have provided significant insight into alopecia areata, but much more remains to be explained about the mechanisms of disease development

Alopecia Areata: Treatment of Today and Tomorrow

It is the aim of this article to review and appraise available data on treatments for alopecia areata (AA) according to the demands of evidence based medicine. Studies evaluating the efficacy of a treatment for AA should include appropriate controls, use cosmetically acceptable hair regrowth as a parameter for treatment success, include patients with AA totalis, universalis or extensive patchy AA, and exclude patients suffering from AA for less than 3 months. Moreover, the treatment must be safe over a prolonged period of time. Among the various therapeutic approaches presently available for AA, only treatment with contact sensitizers such as diphenylcyclopropenone or squaric acid dibutylester has been shown to be effective in studies that fulfill these criteria.Improved future treatments may be immunosup-pressive or immunomodulatory targeting of the autoimmune pathogenesis of AA, or they may otherwise protect hair follicles from the injurious effects of inflammation. Such possible future therapeutic approaches include the incorporation of immunomodulatory agents into liposomes as an improved vehicle; inhibition of apoptosis mediated by the Fas-FasL system; inhibition of the lymphocyte homing receptor CD44v10; induction of tolerance

Validation of Geant4-based Radioactive Decay Simulation

Radioactive decays are of concern in a wide variety of applications using Monte-Carlo simulations. In order to properly estimate the quality of such simulations, knowledge of the accuracy of the decay simulation is required. We present a validation of the original Geant4 Radioactive Decay Module, which uses a per-decay sampling approach, and of an extended package for Geant4-based simulation of radioactive decays, which, in addition to being able to use a refactored per-decay sampling, is capable of using a statistical sampling approach. The validation is based on measurements of calibration isotope sources using a high purity Germanium (HPGe) detector; no calibration of the simulation is performed. For the considered validation experiment equivalent simulation accuracy can be achieved with per-decay and statistical sampling

Radioactive Decays in Geant4

The simulation of radioactive decays is a common task in Monte-Carlo systems such as Geant4. Usually, a system either uses an approach focusing on the simulations of every individual decay or an approach which simulates a large number of decays with a focus on correct overall statistics. The radioactive decay package presented in this work permits, for the first time, the use of both methods within the same simulation framework - Geant4. The accuracy of the statistical approach in our new package, RDM-extended, and that of the existing Geant4 per-decay implementation (original RDM), which has also been refactored, are verified against the ENSDF database. The new verified package is beneficial for a wide range of experimental scenarios, as it enables researchers to choose the most appropriate approach for their Geant4-based application