The “true” homosexual refugee: an archaeology of the becoming and governing of refugees through scientific-legal categories of sexuality in german legal decision-making

Advancements in the application of international refugee laws, European Union and national asylum legislations has increased the protection for refugees and asylum seekers from sexual minorities. With point of departure in the German administrative court's credibility assessment dealing with asylum/refugee appeal cases relating to sexual orientation, the aim of this study is to explore the epistemological relation between the sexual psychology and legal decision-making. The overall objective of this study is posed through the problem of ‘how does knowledge derived from the sexual psychological science become constituent in the German credibility assessment dealing with asylum/refugee appeal cases relating to sexual orientation and what mechanisms are present when governing refugees from sexual minorities?’. By using a discourse analysis as methods for the empirical court verdicts and Michel Foucault’s archaeology as analytical grip, this study seeks to investigate what kind of knowledge counts as relevant criteria and preconditions for the interpretation of the law ‘membership of a particular social group’. In addition, it will be explored by what kinds of techniques and mechanisms law and legal decision-making become modes to objectify that categorise individuals and thereby achieve its ‘truth effects’. Finally, this study seeks to examine how this knowledge is constituted in the governing of refugees from sexual minorities. This study shows that the sexual psychological science constitutes itself as a natural and necessary epistemological dimension in the German credibility assessment, determining and affecting the categories, criteria and sexual stereotypes that occur in connection to the law ‘membership of a particular social group’. The proposed liberal rights for asylum seekers and refugees denote hence a regulated freedom

A solar power system for an early Mars expedition

As NASA looks at missions that will expand human presence in the solar system, the power requirements for such missions need to be defined, developed and analyzed. One mission under consideration consists of a 40 day manned Mars surface expedition to perform science experiments. The mission time was centered around an aerocentric longitude (Ls) of 90 deg to lessen the probability of an occurrence of a local or planetary dust storm. The mission site was arbitrarily located at the Martian equator. The power requirements were assumed to be 40 kWe for life support and experiment power during the Martian day and 20 kWe for life support during the Martian night. A solar energy system consisting of roll-out amorphous silicon arrays and a hydrogen-oxygen regenerative fuel cell energy storage system was chosen for the study. The power available from a roll-out array, when plotted against time, approaches a cosine-like curve and depends on both array area and the amount of solar irradiance impinging on its horizontal surface. The array is sized to provide at least 20 KWe when the sun is 12.5 deg above the horizon and ramp up to 140 kWe peak power at Martian noon. In this configuration, the array is capable of supplying 40 KWe continuously to the user for the majority of the Martian day while supplying the excess energy to the electrolyzer portion of the energy storage system. A roll-out, pumped loop radiator system is used to dissipate the waste heat produced by the fuel cell. The power management and distribution system inverts the power from the individual solar array sub-modules and the fuel cell stacks and connects them to a 440 VAC single phase 20 kHz main bus. The total power system is comprised of 80 individual solar array modules with an integral bus and three energy storage modules consisting of fuel cell and electrolyzer stacks, reactant storage tanks, and a roll-out radiator. Power system mass, stowed volume, and deployed area were determined. Day/night power splits of 40/10 kWe, 40/30 kWe, and 40/40 kWe were also considered to determine the impact of a range of nighttime power requirements on the baseline system

An Analysis of Fuel Cell Options for an All-electric Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

A study was conducted to assess the performance characteristics of both PEM and SOFC-based fuel cell systems for an all-electric high altitude, long endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Primary and hybrid systems were considered. Fuel options include methane, hydrogen, and jet fuel. Excel-based models were used to calculate component mass as a function of power level and mission duration. Total system mass and stored volume as a function of mission duration for an aircraft operating at 65 kft altitude were determined and compared

Corporate Influencers in Business-to-Business Sales: A Grounded Theory Study

The importance of professional social media usage by business-to-business (B2B) sales employees has been well acknowledged, but the understanding of corporate influencers in B2B marketing a more thorough investigation. Literature has primarily focused on salespeople’s social media behavior, performance outcomes and effects on customer relations. However, little is known about salespeople’s motivation to act as corporate influencers, their actual activities on social media when they enact this role, as well as opportunities and challenges of salespeople who purposefully take on a corporate influencer role. We use a grounded theory approach to investigate this phenomenon. Based on in-depth interviews with experts from various B2B industries, we identify intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors that drive LinkedIn usage as well as opportunities and challenges of corporate influencer activities. These findings extend previous corporate influencer research. Moreover, we offer actionable practical implications

Assessing Idaho Rural Family Physician Scope of Practice Over Time

Context: An important consideration determining health outcomes is to have an adequate supply of physicians to address the health needs of the community. Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to assess scope of practice factors for Idaho rural family physicians in 2012 and to compare these results to findings from a 2007 study. Methods: The target population in this study was rural family physicians in Idaho counties with populations of fewer than 50,000. Identical surveys and methods were utilized in both 2007 and 2012. Results: The physician survey was mailed to 252 rural physicians and was returned by 89 for a response rate of 35.3%. Parametric and non-parametric statistical analyses were conducted to analyze the 2012 results and to assess changes in scope of practice across the time periods. Discussion: The percentage of rural family physicians in Idaho in 2012 who provided prenatal care, vaginal deliveries and nursing home care was significantly lower than the results from the 2007 survey. Female physicians were more likely to provide prenatal care and vaginal deliveries than males in 2012. Male physicians were more likely to provide emergency room coverage and esophagogastroduodenoscopy or colonoscopy services than females in 2012. Younger physicians were found to be more likely to provide inpatient admissions and mental health services in 2012 than older physicians. Employed physicians were more likely to provide Cesarean sections, other operating room services and emergency room coverage in 2012 than non-employed physicians. Further research is needed to assess the root causes of these changes

Potenziale epigenetischer Forschung für das Konzept 'sex vs. gender'

"Ausgehend von der These, dass die bipolaren Gegenüberstellungen von weiblich/ männlich, sex/gender und Natur/Kultur konstruiert und normativ aufgeladen sind und zur Aufrechterhaltung eines hierarchischen Zweigeschlechtersystems beitragen, werden Möglichkeiten nach Überschreitungen jener Dichotomien in der Geschlechterforschung begrüßt. Der Beitrag setzt daran an und beleuchtet diese Annahme anhand der Epigenetik, einem biomedizinischen Feld, in dem Grenzüberschreitungen zwischen Natur und Kultur debattiert und erforscht werden. Mit einer Analyse epigenetischer Forschung zu Genomic Imprinting wollen wir uns damit auseinandersetzen, inwiefern im Forschungsfeld der Epigenetik tatsächlich Grenzüberschreitungen stattfinden oder eben nicht, um schließlich einzuschätzen, wie sex und gender in der Epigenetik verhandelt werden und welche Einflüsse diese Konzeptionen auf gesellschaftliche Geschlechterverhältnisse haben können." (Autorenreferat)"According to the assumption that the dichotomies of female/male, sex/gender and nature/ nurture are constructed and normative, and support a hierarchical model of a two-sex-system, the opportunities of crossing the line between these dichotomies is discussed in the field of Gender Studies and Feminist Science Studies. The following article takes this starting point and focuses on epigenetics, a biomedical research area in which the crossing between nature and nurture is discussed and investigated. With an analysis of the epigenetic field of genomic imprinting we want to tackle the question in how far the overcoming of the dichotomies really happens so that we can show how sex and gender are discussed in epigenetics and which influence these concepts have on social gender relations." (author's abstract

Investigation of vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 hydroxylation by Kutzneria albida

The active vitamin D metabolites 25-OH−D and 1α,25-(OH)2−D play an essential role in controlling several cellular processes in the human body and are potentially effective in the treatment of several diseases, such as autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The microbial synthesis of vitamin D2 (VD2) and vitamin D3 (VD3) metabolites has emerged as a suitable alternative to established complex chemical syntheses. In this study, a novel strain, Kutzneria albida, with the ability to form 25-OH−D2 and 25-OH−D3 was identified. To further improve the conversion of the poorly soluble substrates, several solubilizers were tested. 100-fold higher product concentrations of 25-OH−D3 and tenfold higher concentrations of 25-OH−D2 after addition of 5 % (w/v) 2-hydroxypropyl β-cyclodextrin (2-HPβCD) were reached. Besides the single-hydroxylation products, the human double-hydroxylation products 1,25-(OH)2−D2 and 1,25-(OH)2−D3 and various other potential single- and double-hydroxylation products were detected. Thus, K. albida represents a promising strain for the biotechnological production of VD2 and VD3 metabolites

Editorial 03/2023: Medialität in der Transition zwischen Elementarbereich und Primarstufe

Der Übergang zwischen Kindergarten und Volksschule stellt nicht nur für Kinder, sondern auch für ihr soziales Netzwerk aus Erziehungsberechtigten, Angehörigen und Fachkräften aus Bildungsinstitutionen eine besondere Herausforderung dar. Medienerfahrungen sind Alltagserfahrungen von Kindern, die (digitale) Medien als lebensweltbezogenes Thema in die Institutionen einbringen (Lepold/Ullmann 2021). Die Tatsache, dass der medienpädagogischen Arbeit in der Begleitung dieser Transitionsprozesse eine immer bedeutendere Rolle zukommt, bildet daher den Ausgangspunkt für die Ausgabe 03/2023 der MEDIENIMPULSE

Towards a Digital Sleep Diary Standard

A sleep diary is an important tool to gather subjective sleep data, which provides key information for the diagnosis of a variety of sleep disorders. In 2012, an expert panel created a standardized sleep diary in pen-and-paper format. However, pen-and-paper has certain limitations, in particular, it is difficult to monitor participant compliance and memory bias. We improve upon these limitations with a digital design and identify benefits and drawbacks of the pen-and-paper format in comparison to a digital sleep diary in an empirical study based on an action design research project. The main contribution consists of five design guidelines: i) use the native environment, ii) utilize established input methods, iii) embed customization to minimize participant workload, iv) evaluate the application continuously using analytics, and v) integrate digital elements to increase compliance. Furthermore, we propose a mobile application design for a digital sleep diary that is in accordance with these guidelines