Die Geschichte der DDR in österreichischen Geschichtslehrwerken

Dix-huit collections de manuels scolaires autorisées au niveau national pour l’année scolaire 2018/19 pour l’enseignement de l’histoire et des sciences sociales/formation politique dans les écoles autrichiennes du niveau secondaire I et II sont analysées ici. L’étude des textes d’introduction aussi bien que des sources, des représentations de l’histoire et des exercices montre que les manuels scolaires se concentrent fortement sur l’histoire événementielle, tandis que les thématiques liées au quotidien, à l’histoire sociale et à l’histoire économique ne sont pas vraiment prises en considération. Les élèves ne sont que rarement formés à une analyse critique et diversifiée de l’histoire de la RDA.Gegenstand der Analyse sind 18 Lehrwerkreihen, die im Schuljahr 2018/19 für den Unterricht in Geschichte und Sozialkunde/Politische Bildung an österreichischen Schulen der Sekundarstufe I und II staatlich zugelassen sind. Sowohl die Untersuchung der Inputtexte als auch der Quellen bzw. Geschichtsdarstellungen und der Arbeitsaufträge zeigt, dass sich die Schulbücher stark auf die politische Ereignisgeschichte konzentrieren, während alltags-, sozial und wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Themen kaum Berücksichtigung finden. Zu einer kritischen und multiperspektiven Auseinandersetzung mit der Geschichte der DDR werden die Schülerinnen und Schüler nur selten angeleitet.The subject of matter of the analysis are 18 series of textbooks which are state-approved in the school year 2018/19 for the history and social studies/political education lessons in the Austrian secondary school I and II. The investigation of the input texts, the sources, the presentation of history and the work assignments shows that textbooks strongly concentrate on the political history of events whereas daily and social topics and the economic history are hardly mentioned. The pupils are rarely guided to a critical and multi-perspective analysis of the history of the GDR

Kinemetry of SINS High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies: Distinguishing Rotating Disks from Major Mergers

We present a simple set of kinematic criteria that can distinguish between galaxies dominated by ordered rotational motion and those involved in major merger events. Our criteria are based on the dynamics of the warm ionized gas (as traced by H-alpha) within galaxies, making this analysis accessible to high-redshift systems, whose kinematics are primarily traceable through emission features. Using the method of kinemetry (developed by Krajnovic and co-workers), we quantify asymmetries in both the velocity and velocity dispersion maps of the warm gas, and the resulting criteria enable us to empirically differentiate between non-merging and merging systems at high redshift. We apply these criteria to 11 of our best-studied rest-frame UV/optical-selected z~2 galaxies for which we have near infrared integral field spectroscopic data from SINFONI on the VLT. Of these 11 systems, we find that >50% have kinematics consistent with a single rotating disk interpretation, while the remaining systems are more likely undergoing major mergers. This result, combined with the short formation timescales of these systems, provides evidence that rapid, smooth accretion of gas plays a significant role in galaxy formation at high redshift.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 24 pages, 14 figure

Post-Operative Functional Outcomes in Early Age Onset Rectal Cancer

Background: Impairment of bowel, urogenital and fertility-related function in patients treated for rectal cancer is common. While the rate of rectal cancer in the young (<50 years) is rising, there is little data on functional outcomes in this group. Methods: The REACCT international collaborative database was reviewed and data on eligible patients analysed. Inclusion criteria comprised patients with a histologically confirmed rectal cancer, <50 years of age at time of diagnosis and with documented follow-up including functional outcomes. Results: A total of 1428 (n=1428) patients met the eligibility criteria and were included in the final analysis. Metastatic disease was present at diagnosis in 13%. Of these, 40% received neoadjuvant therapy and 50% adjuvant chemotherapy. The incidence of post-operative major morbidity was 10%. A defunctioning stoma was placed for 621 patients (43%); 534 of these proceeded to elective restoration of bowel continuity. The median follow-up time was 42 months. Of this cohort, a total of 415 (29%) reported persistent impairment of functional outcomes, the most frequent of which was bowel dysfunction (16%), followed by bladder dysfunction (7%), sexual dysfunction (4.5%) and infertility (1%). Conclusion: A substantial proportion of patients with early-onset rectal cancer who undergo surgery report persistent impairment of functional status. Patients should be involved in the discussion regarding their treatment options and potential impact on quality of life. Functional outcomes should be routinely recorded as part of follow up alongside oncological parameters

Identification of regulatory variants associated with genetic susceptibility to meningococcal disease.

Non-coding genetic variants play an important role in driving susceptibility to complex diseases but their characterization remains challenging. Here, we employed a novel approach to interrogate the genetic risk of such polymorphisms in a more systematic way by targeting specific regulatory regions relevant for the phenotype studied. We applied this method to meningococcal disease susceptibility, using the DNA binding pattern of RELA - a NF-kB subunit, master regulator of the response to infection - under bacterial stimuli in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. We designed a custom panel to cover these RELA binding sites and used it for targeted sequencing in cases and controls. Variant calling and association analysis were performed followed by validation of candidate polymorphisms by genotyping in three independent cohorts. We identified two new polymorphisms, rs4823231 and rs11913168, showing signs of association with meningococcal disease susceptibility. In addition, using our genomic data as well as publicly available resources, we found evidences for these SNPs to have potential regulatory effects on ATXN10 and LIF genes respectively. The variants and related candidate genes are relevant for infectious diseases and may have important contribution for meningococcal disease pathology. Finally, we described a novel genetic association approach that could be applied to other phenotypes

Intersectionality: Reception in France and Findings from a study of the transition from childhood to adolescence

International audienc

The Beam Quality Assurance of the MedAustron Particle Therapy Accelerator

The delivery of clinical beams for patient treatment at the MedAustron Ion Therapy Center requires extensive accelerator performance verifications, which are performed in several steps. In first instance, the key parameters of the beam delivered to the irradiation rooms (beam position, spot size, energy and intensity) are verified via measurements performed with beam diagnostic devices distributed along the accelerator. The second verification step consists in testing the full functionality of the therapy accelerator, including the medical frontend: scanning magnets performance, intensity monitoring and safety features. The final verification step is the quality assurance (QA) done by the medical department. An extended set of reference measurements assures the fast identification of the faulty components in case of a performance deviation, and the totality of the accumulated data allows in-depth analysis of the accelerator performance. We present here the trends and correlations observed during the first verification step for the most important parameters, as well as the lessons learned through all the implementation stages of the beam quality assurance

Overview and Status of the MedAustron Ion Therapy Center Accelerator

The synchrotron-based MedAustron accelerator in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, has seen the first clinical beam and has been certified as a medical accelerator in December 2016. This represented a major milestone for the facility whose original design originated more than a decade ago and construction started four years ago. The accelerator is designed to deliver clinical proton beams 60-253 MeV and carbon ions 120-400 MeV/u to three ion therapy irradiation rooms (IRs), including a room with a proton Gantry. Beams up to 800 MeV will be provided to a fourth room dedicated to non-clinical research. Presently, proton beams are delivered to the horizontal beam lines of three irradiation rooms. In parallel, commissioning of the accelerator with Carbon ions and the installation of the Gantry beam line are ongoing. At MedAustron, a third-order resonance extraction method is used to extract particles from the synchrotron in a slow controlled process over a spill time of 0.1-10 seconds to facilitate the measurement and control of the delivered radiation dose during clinical treatments. The main characteristics of the accelerator and the results obtained during the commissioning are presented

Beam Measurements in the MedAustron Synchrotron With Slow Extraction and Off-Momentum Operation

The MedAustron Ion Therapy Center is a medical accelerator facility for hadron therapy cancer treatment using protons and carbon ions. The facility features 4 irradiation rooms, three of which are dedicated to clinical operation and a fourth one dedicated to non-clinical research. The latter was handed over to researchers in autumn 2016. A 7 MeV/n injector feeds a 77 m circumference synchrotron which provides beams for treatment and research. Routine verification measurements in the synchrotron involve beam emittance, dispersion as well as tunes and chromaticity. The horizontal and vertical emittance are measured using scraping plates and a direct current transformer. The dispersion function in the ring is determined by sweeping the synchrotron RF frequency while measuring the beam position in the shoe-box pick-ups. The horizontal and vertical betatron tune and chromaticity are measured with Direct Diode Detection electronics, developed at CERN, while changing the beam position with the RF radial loop. The beam is kept off-momentum, thus in dispersive regions the closed orbit is largely offset from the central orbit. Methods for beam measurements in the synchrotron are presented