Medienwissenschaft und Kapitalismuskritik

Nachdem ›Kritik‹ während der vergangenen Jahrzehnte in vielen geistes- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Kreisen eher verschmäht wurde, erlebt sie gegenwärtig auch in der Medienwissenschaft wieder einen Aufschwung. Gerade das in Verruf geratene Projekt einer Gesellschaftskritik scheint seit der Finanzkrise von 2007 wieder an akademischer Attraktivität zu gewinnen. Dabei liegt die gedankliche Verbindung von Medienwissenschaft und Kapitalismuskritik nahe, schließt man damit doch an zwei dominante Selbstbeschreibungen der westlichen Gesellschaften an: die der Medien- oder Informationsgesellschaft einerseits und die einer kapitalistischen oder marktwirtschaftlichen Gesellschaft andererseits. Insofern scheint ein Dialog zwischen der Erforschung von Medien und der Erforschung des Kapitalismus geradezu zwingend. Das vorliegende Heft versammelt eine Reihe von Texten, die weniger konkrete Fallstudien zu einzelnen Medien und Medienpraktiken, sondern vornehmlich theoriebezogene Diskussionsbeiträge sind, welche das diskursive Feld der Medienwissenschaft und Medienforschung ausloten und auf die virulenten Fragen der Kapitalismuskritik hin befragen

Managing spatial sustainability trade-offs: The case of wind power

The deployment of onshore wind power involves spatial sustainability trade-offs, e.g., between the minimization of energy system costs, the mitigation of impacts on humans and biodiversity, and equity concerns. We analyze challenges arising for decision-making if wind power generation capacity has to be allocated spatially in the presence of such trade-offs. The analysis is based on a game developed for and played by stakeholders in Germany. The results of the game illustrate that there is no unanimously agreed ranking of sustainability criteria among the participating stakeholders. They disagreed not only on the weights of different criteria but also their definition and measurement. Group discussions further revealed that equity concerns mattered for spatial allocation. Yet, stakeholders used quite different concepts of equity. The results support the importance of transparent, multi-level and participatory approaches to take decisions on the spatial allocation of wind power generation capacity

Classification of death causes after transplantation (CLASS):Evaluation of methodology and initial results

Correct classification of death causes is an important component of transplant trials.We aimed to develop and validate a system to classify causes of death in hematopoietic stem cell (HSCT) and solid organ (SOT) transplant recipients.Case record forms (CRF) of fatal cases were completed, including investigator-designated cause of death. Deaths occurring in 2010 to 2013 were used for derivation; and were validated by deaths occurring in 2013 to 2015. Underlying cause of death (referred to as recorded underlying cause) was determined through a central adjudication process involving 2 external reviewers, and subsequently compared with the Danish National Death Cause Registry.Three hundred eighty-eight recipients died 2010 to 2015 (196 [51%] SOT and 192 [49%] HSCT). The main recorded underlying causes of death among SOT and HSCT were classified as cancer (20%, 48%), graft rejection/failure/graft-versus-host-disease (35%, 28%), and infections (20%, 11%). Kappa between the investigator-designated and the recorded underlying cause of death was 0.74 (95% CI 0.69-0.80) in derivation and comparable in the validation cohort. Death causes were concordant with the Danish National Death Cause Registry in 37.2% (95% CI 31.5-42.9) and 38.4% (95% CI 28.8-48.0) in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively.We developed and validated a method to systematically and reliably classify the underlying cause of death among transplant recipients. There was a high degree of discordance between this classification and that in the Danish National Death Cause Registry

Filter(n) – Geschichte Ästhetik Praktiken

Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter, Dr. Pablo Abend und Prof. Dr. Benjamin Beil sind Herausgeber der Reihe. Die Herausgeber der einzelnen Hefte sind renommierte WissenschaftlerInnen aus dem In- und Ausland.Bei genauer Betrachtung scheint es, als sei der Filter allgegenwärtig: Von alltäglichen Gebrauchsgegenständen wie z.B. Kaffee-, Aktivkohle- und Pollenfiltern über den Moog Ladder Filter beim Moog Synthesizer, automatisierte Software-Filter im Zuge von Bewerbungsverfahren, bis hin zur 2016 im amerikanischen Präsidentschafts-Wahlkampf viel beschworenen Filter-Bubble oder eben fotografischen Filter-verfahren, wie sie derzeit prominent in einer Reihe von Apps Anwendung finden. Trotz dieser Präsenzen des Filters wurden in der Medien- und Kulturwissenschaft Operationen und Technologien des Filterns bislang weder systematisch noch in ihrer ganzen Bandbreite thematisiert. Ziel des Heftes ist es, hierzu einen Anstoß zu geben und sich mit dem Filter, aber auch mit den Praktiken des Filterns, seiner Geschichte und seinen Ästhetiken zu beschäftigen. Die Beiträge verhandeln dabei ganz unterschiedliche Beispiele: von Wahrnehmungsfiltern über Photoshop und Filtern in der Musik hin zu einer Ökonomie des Filter(n)s und dem Prozess der Verdauung

Genome-wide association study of borderline personality disorder reveals genetic overlap with the bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and major depression

Borderline personality disorder (BOR) is determined by environmental and genetic factors, and characterized by affective instability and impulsivity, diagnostic symptoms also observed in manic phases of Bipolar Disorder (BIP). Up to 20% of BIP patients show comorbidity with BOR. This report describes the first case-control genome-wide association study (GWAS) of BOR, performed in one of the largest BOR patient samples worldwide. The focus of our analysis was: (i) to detect genes and gene-sets involved in BOR; and (ii) to investigate the genetic overlap with BIP. As there is considerable genetic overlap between BIP, Major Depression (MDD) and Schizophrenia (SCZ) and a high comorbidity of BOR and MDD, we also analyzed the genetic overlap of BOR with SCZ and MDD. GWAS, gene-based tests,and gene-set-analyses were performed in 998 BOR patients and 1,545 controls. LD score regression was used to detect genetic overlap between BOR and these disorders. Single marker analysis revealed no significant association after correction for multiple testing. Genebased analysis yielded two significant genes: DPYD (p=4.42x10-7) and PKP4 (p=8.67x10-7); and gene-set-analysis yielded a significant finding for exocytosis (GO:0006887, pFDR=0.019). Prior studies have implicated DPYD, PKP4 and exocytosis in BIP and SCZ. The most notable finding of the present study was the genetic overlap of BOR with BIP (rg=0.28 [p=2.99x10-3]), SCZ (rg=0.34 [p=4.37x10-5]), and MDD (rg=0.57 [p=1.04x10-3]). Our study is the first to demonstrate that BOR overlaps with BIP, MDD and SCZ on the genetic level. Whether this is confined to transdiagnostic clinical symptoms should be examined in future studies

A Novel Assay to Trace Proliferation History In Vivo Reveals that Enhanced Divisional Kinetics Accompany Loss of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Self-Renewal

BACKGROUND: The maintenance of lifelong blood cell production ultimately rests on rare hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that reside in the bone marrow microenvironment. HSCs are traditionally viewed as mitotically quiescent relative to their committed progeny. However, traditional techniques for assessing proliferation activity in vivo, such as measurement of BrdU uptake, are incompatible with preservation of cellular viability. Previous studies of HSC proliferation kinetics in vivo have therefore precluded direct functional evaluation of multi-potency and self-renewal, the hallmark properties of HSCs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We developed a non-invasive labeling technique that allowed us to identify and isolate candidate HSCs and early hematopoietic progenitor cells based on their differential in vivo proliferation kinetics. Such cells were functionally evaluated for their abilities to multi-lineage reconstitute myeloablated hosts. CONCLUSIONS: Although at least a few HSC divisions per se did not influence HSC function, enhanced kinetics of divisional activity in steady state preceded the phenotypic changes that accompanied loss of HSC self-renewal. Therefore, mitotic quiescence of HSCs, relative to their committed progeny, is key to maintain the unique functional and molecular properties of HSCs