Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Importing the American way of war? : network-centric warfare in the UK and Germany

This study takes a closer look at the adoption of the U.S. military concept of network-centric warfare (NCW) by the British and the German armed forces. The book uncovers the striking differences between NCW adoption in the UK and in Germany in terms of timing, pace, concept faithfulness and implementation. Relying on the process tracing technique and framed by an institutionalist argument the study establishes that a different composition of efficiency/effectiveness and legitimacy-related drivers in the two cases can account for the different adoption outcomes. In the case of NCW adoption, the British military was an efficiency maximiser whereas the German military was a legitimacy maximiser.-- Approaching the diffusion of network-centric warfare -- Network-centric warfare and U.S. military transformation -- Military concept adoption -- Network-enabled capabilities in the UK -- Vernetzte Operationsführung in Germany.Published version of EUI PhD thesis, 201

Vernetzte Sicherheit und Knowledge Development

This article describes 'knowledge development' (KD) - a new support tool for military operational planning that integrates military and non-military theatre information. KD has been developed mainly by the Transformation Centre of the German Armed Forces and will be introduced into NATO Headquarters in 2010. Yet despite this success at the alliance level KD in Germany is widely unrecognized or neglected by ministries and state agencies at the national level. The article goes on to explain the reasons for this neglect and offers pragmatic solutions to finally allow for KD to become a success within the German state as well

Importing the American way of war? : the adoption of network-centric warfare by the British and German armed forces

Defence date: 3 October 2011Examining Board: Pascal Vennesson (European University Institute/Supervisor) Adrienne Héritier (European University Institute) Theo Farrell (King’s College London) Gerhard Kümmel (Bundeswehr Institute for Social Sciences)The purpose of this thesis is to examine the adoption of network-centric warfare (NCW) by two military organisations – the British and the German Armed Forces – in the first decade of the 21st century. NCW stands for the belief that through the extended application of information technologies and the integration of intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, command and control systems and weapons into one single network, military organisations will be able to better collect crucial military information, thus reduce operational uncertainty and gain a decisive information advantage over their enemies, which thus would translate into superiority over the enemy on the battlefield. NCW was invented by U.S. senior military officers and Pentagon officials and was introduced into the U.S. Armed Forces as part of the U.S. military transformation during the tenure of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (2001-2006). Although NCW had been criticised from the beginning, initial military accomplishments in the Afghanistan war (2001) and the invasion in Iraq (2003) have been widely interpreted as success stories for NCW. Since 2001, a number of U.S. military allies and partners – among them the United Kingdom and Germany – have started to adopt this U.S. innovation. Yet, in a number of cases the adopted national versions of NCW diverged considerably from the original U.S. concept. This study seeks to uncover the reasons for the variation in concept adoption. Building upon an organisational institutionalist framework, I argue that, in the United Kingdom, NCW was adopted to increase the military effectiveness and efficiency of the armed forces, whereas the adoption in Germany was mainly driven by the aim to maintain the armed forces’ institutional legitimacy. Thus, in the case of NCW adoption, the British military was an efficiency maximiser whereas the German military was a legitimacy maximiser

A Sociology of the Drone

Current discourses in science and public about combat drones usually employ arguments from the spheres of technology, strategy, international law and ethics. So far, sociologists have remained silent on this topic. But sociological analyses about the influencing factors of development and employment of combat drones could enrich the debate as well as studies about the effects of combat drone missions on individuals, organisations and societies. This article offers a comprehensive discussion of the sociological aspects of combat drones. A sociological view is not only indicated against the background of the present practice of targeted killings but also because drones appear as an intermediate step towards autonomous offensive combat systems which will change the type of warfare in the future

KMU 2.0 – gestaltbare Technologien und Diversity im KMU-Kontext

Der vorliegende Artikel konzentriert sich auf die steigende Bedeutung von Diversity-Aspekten beim Einsatz von Web-2.0-Technologien im KMU-Kontext. Dabei wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie ein diversityorientiertes Personalmarketing auf der Basis von Web-2.0-Technologien aussehen kann. Um die Reichweite von Web-2.0-Technologien im KMU-Sektor einschätzen zu können, wird im ersten Abschnitt auf die Web-2.0-Entwicklung kurz eingegangen und die Idee des (diversity-orientierten) Personalmarketing im KMU-Bereich entfaltet. Der zweite Abschnitt fasst insbesondere die Befragung von Fachkräften zusammen. Die Ergebnisse dieser formativen Evaluation fl ießen direkt in die partizipative Portalentwicklung ein, die im dritten Abschnitt erläutert wird. In diesem Kontext sollen auch die Möglichkeiten aber auch Begrenzungen von Web-2.0-Technologien in partizipativ entwickelten Portalen im KMU-Sektor und die Bedeutung von Diversity-Strategien eruiert und entfaltet werden. (DIPF/Orig.

Sleep promotes consolidation of emotional memory in healthy children but not in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Fronto-limbic brain activity during sleep is believed to support the consolidation of emotional memories in healthy adults. Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is accompanied by emotional deficits coincidently caused by dysfunctional interplay of fronto-limbic circuits. This study aimed to examine the role of sleep in the consolidation of emotional memory in ADHD in the context of healthy development. 16 children with ADHD, 16 healthy children, and 20 healthy adults participated in this study. Participants completed an emotional picture recognition paradigm in sleep and wake control conditions. Each condition had an immediate (baseline) and delayed (target) retrieval session. The emotional memory bias was baseline-corrected, and groups were compared in terms of sleep-dependent memory consolidation (sleep vs. wake). We observed an increased sleep-dependent emotional memory bias in healthy children compared to children with ADHD and healthy adults. Frontal oscillatory EEG activity (slow oscillations, theta) during sleep correlated negatively with emotional memory performance in children with ADHD. When combining data of healthy children and adults, correlation coefficients were positive and differed from those in children with ADHD. Since children displayed a higher frontal EEG activity than adults these data indicate a decline in sleep-related consolidation of emotional memory in healthy development. In addition, it is suggested that deficits in sleep-related selection between emotional and non-emotional memories in ADHD exacerbate emotional problems during daytime as they are often reported in ADHD