Increasing Value for Money in Higher Education Development Cooperation A German Perspective Based on Project Coordinators’ Experiences

The concept value for money, usually defined as the three E’s (economy, efficiency and effectiveness), does not fully apply to projects in development cooperation. The paper on hand argues that the concept should not be perceived as economic benefit in monetary terms only. It encourages a qualitative approach defining value for money as a long-term effect of a project that can be reached by only a little more input of resources than usually available for development cooperation projects. Thus, the concept of value for money is closely connected to that of sustainability of a project. Recent studies show that German-African development cooperation in the field of higher education not always can live up to the expectations concerning sustainability (DAAD 2013 / Hansert et al. 2012). Based on the authors’ experiences with development projects aiming at higher education quality, this article critically reflects on development cooperation in higher education and identifies prerequisites which could foster a beneficial use of (monetary and non-monetary) input in development cooperation projects. As will be shown, critical evaluative thinking, joint project planning, realistic expectations and the acknowledgement of intercultural differences can be key to successful project work in development cooperation and thus can help to increase the value for money and sustainability alike. Keywords: higher education management, quality assurance, project management, international cooperation, development cooperatio

The ‘affect tagging and consolidation’ (ATaC) model of depression vulnerability

Since the 1960’s polysomnographic sleep research has demonstrated that depressive episodes are associated with REM sleep alterations. Some of these alterations, such as increased REM sleep density, have also been observed in first-degree relatives of patients and remitted patients, suggesting that they may be vulnerability markers of major depressive disorder (MDD), rather than mere epiphenomena of the disorder. Neuroimaging studies have revealed that depression is also associated with heightened amygdala reactivity to negative emotional stimuli, which may also be a vulnerability marker for MDD. Several models have been developed to explain the respective roles of REM sleep alterations and negatively-biased amygdala activity in the pathology of MDD, however the possible interaction between these two potential risk-factors remains uncharted. This paper reviews the roles of the amygdala and REM sleep in the encoding and consolidation of negative emotional memories, respectively. We present our ‘affect tagging and consolidation’ (ATaC) model, which argues that increased REM sleep density and negatively-biased amygdala activity are two separate, genetically influenced risk-factors for depression which interact to promote the development of negative memory bias – a well-known cognitive vulnerability marker for depression. Predictions of the ATaC model may motivate research aimed at improving our understanding of sleep dependent memory consolidation in depression aetiology

Sodium plating and stripping from Na-β"-alumina ceramics beyond 1000 mA/cm2

Dendrite formation limits the cycle life of lithium and sodium metal anodes and remainsa major challenge for their integration into next-generation batteries, even whenreplacing the liquid electrolyte by a solid electrolyte. Voids forming in solid metal anodes at the interface to a solid electrolyte upon stripping cause current constrictions upon plating and promote dendrite formation. Recent studies showed that alkali metal creep is the primary mechanism for replenishing the voids at room temperature. Here we investigate plating and stripping of liquid sodium metal from a carbon-coated ceramic Na-β"-alumina electrolyte at 250 °C, thereby eliminating creep-related mass transport limitations. We demonstrate extremely high current densities of up to 2600 mA/cm 2 and cumulative plating capacities of >10 Ah/cm 2 at 1000 mA/cm2 without dendrite formation. Our results demonstrate that liquid metal anodes can be paired with solid electrolytes, providing a practical solution to suppress dendrite formation at high current densities

Cloning and functional characterization of three terpene synthases from lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

The essential oil of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is mainly composed of mono- and sesquiterpenes. Using a homology-based PCR strategy, two monoterpene synthases (LaLIMS and LaLINS) and one sesquiterpene synthase (LaBERS) were cloned from lavender leaves and flowers. LaLIMS catalyzed the formation of (R)-(+)-limonene, terpinolene, (1R,5S)-(+)-camphene, (1R,5R)-(+)-alpha-pinene, beta-myrcene and traces of alpha-phellandrene. The proportions of these products changed significantly when Mn(2+) was supplied as the cofactor instead of Mg(2+). The second enzyme LaLINS produced exclusively (R)-(-)-linalool, the main component of lavender essential oil. LaBERS transformed farnesyl diphosphate and represents the first reported trans-alpha-bergamotene synthase. It accepted geranyl diphosphate with higher affinity than farnesyl diphosphate and also produced monoterpenes, albeit at low rates. LaBERS is probably derived from a parental monoterpene synthase by the loss of the plastidial signal peptide and by broadening its substrate acceptance spectrum. The identification and description of the first terpene synthases from L. angustifolia forms the basis for the biotechnological modification of essential oil composition in lavender