Gene Doping: Scientific Basis - Gateways - Monitoring

Like a phantom, "gene doping" has been haunting the debates on the future of competitive sport for years. Such fantasies and visions often culminate in the image of super athletes whose genetic make-up has been permanently manipulated. But the expected application scenarios will be much more unspectacular, but at the same time more probable and closer. We will soon have to reckon with the use of new substances as well as gene and cell therapeutic methods for the targeted manipulation of gene activity. Their use promises highly efficient performance enhancement and will be difficult, if not impossible, to detect. This volume provides comprehensive answers to the key questions of further development: What scientific results could be used for possible gene doping, where will the gateways be in elite and popular sport, and how can we react to this with the help of prohibition and control structures? It is also asked which individual behavioural patterns of athletes and which social contexts will play a role in the expected career of gene doping

Gene doping. Summary

Like a phantom, "gene doping" has been haunting the debates on the future of competitive sport for years. Such fantasies and visions often culminate in the image of super athletes whose genetic make-up has been permanently manipulated. But the expected application scenarios will be much more unspectacular, but at the same time more probable and closer. We will soon have to reckon with the use of new substances as well as gene and cell therapeutic methods for the targeted manipulation of gene activity. Their use promises highly efficient performance enhancement and will be difficult, if not impossible, to detect. This volume provides comprehensive answers to the key questions of further development: What scientific results could be used for possible gene doping, where will the gateways be in elite and popular sport, and how can we react to this with the help of prohibition and control structures? It is also asked which individual behavioural patterns of athletes and which social contexts will play a role in the expected career of gene doping

Growth, micro-structuring, spectroscopy, and optical gain in as-deposited Al2O3:ErAl_2O_3:Er waveguides

Deposition and micro-structuring of $Al_2O_3:Er$ layers with low background losses (0.11 dB/cm) and lifetimes up to 7 ms have been optimized for active devices. Net gain of 0.7 dB/cm at 1533 nm has been measured.\ud \u

R-process nucleosynthesis calculations with complete nuclear physics input

The r-process constitutes one of the major challenges in nuclear astrophysics. Its astrophysical site has not yet been identified but there is observational evidence suggesting that at least two possible sites should contribute to the solar system abundance of r-process elements and that the r-process responsible for the production of elements heavier than Z=56 operates quite robustly producing always the same relative abundances. From the nuclear-physics point of view the r-process requires the knowledge of a large number of reaction rates involving exotic nuclei. These include neutron capture rates, beta-decays and fission rates, the latter for the heavier nuclei produced in the r-process. We have developed for the first time a complete database of reaction rates that in addition to neutron-capture rates and beta-decay half-lives includes all possible reactions that can induce fission (neutron-capture, beta-decay and spontaneous fission) and the corresponding fission yields. In addition, we have implemented these reaction rates in a fully implicit reaction network. We have performed r-process calculations for the neutrino-driven wind scenario to explore whether or not fission can contribute to provide a robust r-process pattern

Has the Covid-19 pandemic undermined public support for a diverse society? Evidence from a natural experiment in Germany

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to widespread worries that the health crisis is resulting in generalized hostility towards minorities and reduced support for a diverse society. Relying on a large survey of diversity attitudes in Germany fielded before and during the pandemic, we employ a quasi-experimental design to evaluate whether such a trend has occurred among the general public. Past work suggests two competing expectations – one anticipating a rise in hostility grounded in threat theories, and one anticipating stability grounded in public opinion research and theories of longer-term value change. Empirical results reveal generally high assent to socio-demographic diversity and minority accommodation, and remarkable stability during the pandemic period. Additionally, survey vignettes show strong and equally stable anti-discrimination norms that are inclusive of Asian-origin populations. Overall, results suggest that surges in racist incidents during the pandemic do not reflect analogous surges in hostility within the population at large

The “Diversity Assent” (DivA) survey: Technical report

How do people living in contemporary Germany react to diversification in their every- day life? What undergirds pro-diversity perspectives among those who live in rapidly diversifying cities? Conversely, what are their limits, and what groups are excluded? The Diversity Assent (DivA) project was designed to understand the foundations and mecha- nisms underlying the acceptance of socio-demographic heterogeneity on multiple dimen- sions in cities located both in West and East Germany. Two core motivations underlie the project. So far, we insufficiently understand what motivates those who oppose right- wing positions – usually a majority among inhabitants of cities in Germany and other Western European countries. Second, this project builds on a previous large-scale project of the Socio-Cultural Diversity department at MPI-MMG, “Diversity and Contact”. In particular, it explores to what extent attitudes and patterns of interaction have changed, or remained constant, in the decade from 2010 to 2020, which was a time of major ruptures and political polarization. We designed a large telephone survey of 2,917 respondents asking a set of interrelated questions on dispositions towards diversity, everyday experi- ences and diversification dynamics. This includes a set of survey experiments designed to tap and measure social norms of tolerance. This report presents technical aspects of the survey relevant to interested users of the DivA Dataset

KHT cold stabilization: A scanning electron microscopy study of the formation of surface deposits on stainless steel in model wines

The incidence of yeast cells and wine polysaccharides and polyphenols in the formation of adherent KHT crystals on stainless steel surfaces during cold stabilization was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Additives were responsible for differences in the deposit configuration, the crystal shape and size as well as in the KHT crystallization kinetics. Yeast cells act as heterogeneous primary nucleation germs for KHT crystal formation. Colloids from wines interacted with KHT crystal faces and affected growth. It was confirmed that polyphenols strongly inhibit the crystallization and result in small crystals with a unidimensional growth. In contrast, with polyphenols, cubic crystals were obtained when wine polysaccharides were associated with yeast cells