La descripció de personatges en l'audiodescripció de sèries de televisió. El cas de "Polseres Vermelles" i "Velvet"

Treball Final de Grau en Traducció i Interpretació. Codi: TI0983. Curs acadèmic: 2015-2016Estudi descriptiu sobre la descripció de personatges en les audiodescripcions del primer capítol de la sèrie en llengua catalana Polseres Vermelles i la sèrie en llengua castellana Velvet. Aquest treball es centra en els trets que empren per a la descripció dels personatges així com en la forma d'identificar els personatges, mitjançant el seu nom o mitjançant altres formes en les audiodescripcions. Sense l'objectiu d'avaluar o explicar per què s'audiodescriu d'una manera o d'una altra es mostren les diferències existents tant entre les series per separat com de forma interna a l'hora de descriure i identificar als personatges

Experienced involvement in social psychiatric care in Germany – pioneering work.

Abstract: There is still little experience in Germany in employing peers in social psychiatric institutions and services. Based on the European Leonardo da Vinci project „Experienced Involvement" from 2005-2007 pioneering work took long to broaden ist influence. The presented work focused on the employment situation of ExIn recovery accompaniments in Germany and used a mixed methods design for this. On one hand a complete survey with a questonaire was used. This focused on the type and scope of Experienced Involvement as well as fields of application of ExIn recovery support and asked for reasons for non-employment and potential perspectives for future engagement. To find out about the subjective perspectives qualitative research methodes were used. This started with the implementation of focus groups to bring in the perspective of prospective ExIn recovery accompaniments. Further on guideline-based interviews were conducted with ExIn recovery accompaniments and their teammates on the experience of professional action, the conditions for this and the effects on the services and themselves

PHID-Coleo - a database identification tool for wood-boring beetles in plant health interceptions: Poster

Recent examples for the introduction of wood-breeding beetles in Europe include the asian longhorn beetles Anoplophora spp. and Aromia bungii (red-necked longhorn beetle). These and other woodboring beetle species pose a high risk of economic damage to trees and wood products. Smaller beetles like the powderpost beetles from the families Bostrichidae and Lyctidae also have the potential for causing considerable damage. These are often not identified adequately during inspections of wood packaging materials, making it impossible to assess their risk for becoming invasive. This project will aim at closing that gap. Our project PHID-Coleo (= Plant Health Identification of Coleoptera) has the objective to develop new diagnostic tools for the identification of potentially invasive and economically important beetles that can be found in wood packaging materials. The identification methods include classical identification keys based on morphological characters as well as molecular methods based on DNA analysis by PCR (barcoding). The methods for species identification will be supplemented by molecular analyses of introduced populations to clarify within species variations. Such methods will make it possible to determine the taxonomic relationship of samples from different areas and to draw conclusions about the introduction pathways, resulting in more efficient monitoring of the invasive species and preventing their spread. PHID-Coleo will build a freely accessible database of relevant species which are potentially invasive.Recent examples for the introduction of wood-breeding beetles in Europe include the asian longhorn beetles Anoplophora spp. and Aromia bungii (red-necked longhorn beetle). These and other woodboring beetle species pose a high risk of economic damage to trees and wood products. Smaller beetles like the powderpost beetles from the families Bostrichidae and Lyctidae also have the potential for causing considerable damage. These are often not identified adequately during inspections of wood packaging materials, making it impossible to assess their risk for becoming invasive. This project will aim at closing that gap. Our project PHID-Coleo (= Plant Health Identification of Coleoptera) has the objective to develop new diagnostic tools for the identification of potentially invasive and economically important beetles that can be found in wood packaging materials. The identification methods include classical identification keys based on morphological characters as well as molecular methods based on DNA analysis by PCR (barcoding). The methods for species identification will be supplemented by molecular analyses of introduced populations to clarify within species variations. Such methods will make it possible to determine the taxonomic relationship of samples from different areas and to draw conclusions about the introduction pathways, resulting in more efficient monitoring of the invasive species and preventing their spread. PHID-Coleo will build a freely accessible database of relevant species which are potentially invasive

Environmental hot spot analysis in agricultural lifecycle assessments – three case studies

Present-day agricultural technology is facing the challenge of limiting the environmental impacts of agricultural production – such as greenhouse gas emissions and demand for additional land – while meeting growing demands for agricultural products. Using the well-established method of life-cycle assessment (LCA), potential environmental impacts of agricultural production chains can be quantified and analyzed. This study presents three case studies of how the method can pinpoint environmental hot spots at different levels of agricultural production systems. The first case study centers on the tractor as the key source of transportation and traction in modern agriculture. A common Austrian tractor model was investigated over its life-cycle, using primary data from a manufacturer and measured load profiles for field work. In all but one of the impact categories studied, potential impacts were dominated by the operation phase of the tractor’s life-cycle (mainly due to diesel fuel consumption), with 84.4-99.6% of total impacts. The production phase (raw materials and final assembly) caused between 0.4% and 12.1% of impacts, while disposal of the tractor was below 1.9% in all impact categories. The second case study shifts the focus to an entire production chain for a common biogas feedstock, maize silage. System boundaries incorporate the effect of auxiliary materials such as fertilizer and pesticides manufacturing and application. The operation of machinery in the silage production chain was found to be critical to its environmental impact. For the climate change indicator GWP100 (global warming potential, 100-year reference period), emissions from tractor operation accounted for 15 g CO2-eq per kg silage (64% of total GWP100), followed by field emissions during fertilizer (biogas digestate) application with 6 g CO2-eq per kg silage (24% of total GWP100). At a larger system scale that includes a silage-fed biogas plant with electricity generated by a biogas engine, silage cultivation operations are no longer the largest contributor; the most important contributor (49.8%) is methane slip from the exhaust of the biogas engine. In the third case study, the biogas plant model is energy system in an Alpine municipality of Western Austria is expanded to include a hypothetical system that uses mainly hay from currently unused alpine grassland in a local biogas plant. Here, the relative environmental impacts depend strongly on the fossil fuels that are assumed to be displaced by the local biogas plant; methane slip emissions from the exhaust dominate the impact of the hypothetical local biogas scenario. Taken together, the case studies demonstrate the potential and limitations of LCA as a technique to support decisions of agricultural stakeholders at a variety of scales. Choosing the proper system scale is key to a successful application of this method

Operational river discharge forecasting in poorly gauged basins: the Kavango River Basin case study

Operational probabilistic forecasts of river discharge are essential for effective water resources management. Many studies have addressed this topic using different approaches ranging from purely statistical black-box approaches to physically based and distributed modeling schemes employing data assimilation techniques. However, few studies have attempted to develop operational probabilistic forecasting approaches for large and poorly gauged river basins. The objective of this study is to develop open-source software tools to support hydrologic forecasting and integrated water resources management in Africa. We present an operational probabilistic forecasting approach which uses public-domain climate forcing data and a hydrologic–hydrodynamic model which is entirely based on open-source software. Data assimilation techniques are used to inform the forecasts with the latest available observations. Forecasts are produced in real time for lead times of 0–7 days. The operational probabilistic forecasts are evaluated using a selection of performance statistics and indicators and the performance is compared to persistence and climatology benchmarks. The forecasting system delivers useful forecasts for the Kavango River, which are reliable and sharp. Results indicate that the value of the forecasts is greatest for intermediate lead times between 4 and 7 days

Systematic analysis of the binding behaviour of UHRF1 towards different methyl- and carboxylcytosine modification patterns at CpG dyads

The multi-domain protein UHRF1 is essential for DNA methylation maintenance and binds DNA via a base-flipping mechanism with a preference for hemi-methylated CpG sites. We investigated its binding to hemi- and symmetrically modified DNA containing either 5-methylcytosine (mC), 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (hmC), 5-formylcytosine (fC), or 5-carboxylcytosine (caC). Our experimental results indicate that UHRF1 binds symmetrically carboxylated and hybrid methylated/carboxylated CpG dyads in addition to its previously reported substrates. Complementary molecular dynamics simulations provide a possible mechanistic explanation of how the protein could differentiate between modification patterns. First, we observe different local binding modes in the nucleotide binding pocket as well as the protein's NKR finger. Second, both DNA modification sites are coupled through key residues within the NKR finger, suggesting a communication pathway affecting protein-DNA binding for carboxylcytosine modifications. Our results suggest a possible additional function of the hemi-methylation reader UHRF1 through binding of carboxylated CpG sites. This opens the possibility of new biological roles of UHRF1 beyond DNA methylation maintenance and of oxidised methylcytosine derivates in epigenetic regulation

Functional Correction of Type VII Collagen Expression in Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa

Functional defects in type VII collagen, caused by premature termination codons on both alleles of the COL7A1 gene, are responsible for the severe autosomal recessive types of the skin blistering disease, recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB). The full-length COL7A1 complementary DNA (cDNA) is about 9kb, a size that is hardly accommodated by therapeutically used retroviral vectors. Although there have been successful attempts to produce functional type VII collagen protein in model systems of RDEB, the risk of genetic rearrangements of the large repetitive cDNA sequence may hamper the clinical application of full-length COL7A1 cDNA in the human system. Therefore, we used trans-splicing to reduce the size of the COL7A1 transcript. Retroviral transduction of RDEB keratinocytes with a 3′ pre-trans-splicing molecule resulted in correction of full-length type VII collagen expression. Unlike parental RDEB keratinocytes, transduced cells displayed normal morphology and reduced invasive capacity. Moreover, transduced cells showed normal localization of type VII collagen at the basement membrane zone in skin equivalents, where it assembled into anchoring fibril-like structures. Thus, using trans-splicing we achieved correction of an RDEB phenotype in vitro, which marks an important step toward its application in gene therapy in vivo.JID JOURNAL CLUB ARTICLE: For questions, answers, and open discussion about this article, please go to http://www.nature.com/jid/journalclu

Structural Basis for Inhibition Promiscuity of Dual Specific Thrombin and Factor Xa Blood Coagulation Inhibitors

AbstractBackground: A major current focus of pharmaceutical research is the development of selective inhibitors of the blood coagulation enzymes thrombin or factor Xa to be used as orally bioavailable anticoagulant drugs in thromboembolic disorders and in the prevention of venous and arterial thrombosis. Simultaneous direct inhibition of thrombin and factor Xa by synthetic proteinase inhibitors as a novel approach to antithrombotic therapy could result in potent anticoagulants with improved pharmacological properties.Results: The binding mode of such dual specific inhibitors of thrombin and factor Xa was determined for the first time by comparative crystallography using human α-thrombin, human des-Gla (1–44) factor Xa and bovine trypsin as the ligand receptors. The benzamidine-based inhibitors utilize two different conformations for the interaction with thrombin and factor Xa/trypsin, which are evoked by the steric requirements of the topologically different S2 subsites of the enzymes. Compared to the unliganded forms of the proteinases, ligand binding induces conformational adjustments of thrombin and factor Xa active site residues indicative of a pronounced induced fit mechanism.Conclusion: The structural data reveal the molecular basis for a desired unselective inhibition of the two key components of the blood coagulation cascade. The 4-(1-methyl-benzimidazole-2-yl)-methylamino-benzamidine moieties of the inhibitors are able to fill both the small solvent accessible as well as the larger hydrophobic S2 pockets of factor Xa and thrombin, respectively. Distal fragments of the inhibitors are identified which fit into both the cation hole/aromatic box of factor Xa and the hydrophobic aryl binding site of thrombin. Thus, binding constants in the medium-to-low nanomolar range are obtained against both enzymes