A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS APPROACH TO EXPLAIN THE PATH DEPENDENCY OF SEASONAL FARM LABOUR REGULATIONS IN GERMANY

This article introduces discourse analysis as a theoretical concept and an empirical methodology that may enable the endogenization of path creation and path breaking changes in conventional models of political path dependencies. Economic criteria such as rents created by a policy do not always provide a comprehensive explanation for path dependent political decisions. Discourse theory implies that specific interpretative schemata and narratives, such as storylines in the mass media, heavily influence the political discourse. Discourses themselves exercise a constitutive power that constrains decision-making processes and, thus, influence the ensuing policy creation path. Hence, discourses must be taken into account when political path creation is analysed. In this paper we trace over time individual storylines that represent important elements of the discourse underlying the restriction of seasonal farm workers from central and eastern European countries in Germany. We illustrate how dominant speakers and their storylines have been and currently are interacting to shape this policy.Agricultural Policy, Path Dependencies, Discourse Analysis, Seasonal Farm Labour, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

What do they tell us about drinking cultures in European countries?

Aim: A drinking pattern is not only a major drinking variable, but is also one indicator of a country’s drinking culture. In the present study, we examine drinking patterns within and across the neighbouring countries of Denmark and Germany. The aim of the research is to determine to what extent drinking patterns differ or are shared at the sub-national level in the two countries. Method: Data came from the German 2012 Epidemiological Survey of Substance Use (n = 9084) 18–64 years (response rate 54%), and the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research’s 2011 Danish national survey (n = 5133) 15–79 years (response rate 64%), which was reduced to a common age range, producing a final n = 4016. The drinking pattern variable included abstention, moderate drinking, heavy drinking, risky single occasion drinking (RSOD), and was investigated with bivariate statistics and gender-specific hierarchical cluster analysis. Results: For men three clusters emerged: one highlighting abstention and RSOD, moderate/heavy drinking, RSOD and RSOD + heavy drinking. For women, two clusters appeared: one highlighting abstention and moderate/heavy drinking and the other highlighting RSOD and RSDO + heavy drinking. The clusters revealed different geographical patterning: for men, a west vs. east divide; for women, a north–south gradient. Conclusions: The analysis could identify for each gender clusters representing both separate and shared drinking patterns as well as distinctive geographical placements. This new knowledge can contribute to a new understanding of the dynamics of drinking cultures and could indicate new approaches to prevention efforts and policy initiatives

Taxonomic and geographic catalogue of the Coleoptera belonging to the family Meloidae of Mexico

94 páginas.[ES] Se presenta un catálogo taxonómico de los representantes mexicanos de la familia Meloidae que incluye un listado revisado de sinonimias, localidades típicas y registros geográficos publicados de cada una de las especies. La fauna mexicana incluye en la actualidad 255 especies vivientes y una fósil, distribuidas en 21 géneros de las subfamilias Meloinae, Nemognathinae y Tetraonycinae. En el último catálogo general, Blackwelder (1945) recogió la presencia en México de 160 especies de esta familia, casi 100 especies menos de las que se conocen en la actualidad y sin embargo, la cifra actual parece encontrarse aún lejos de la real, ya que existen muchas especies ampliamente distribuidas al norte de la frontera con los Estados Unidos cuya presencia es muy probable en territorio mexicano. En cuanto a la taxonomía y nomenclatura de las especies, en este catálogo se propone el uso de los nombres Epicauta dugesi Werner, 1957 y Tegrodera erosa extincta Beauregard, 1890; se incluyen tres sinonimias nuevas de Nemognatha chrysomeloides (Linnaeus, 1763) (N. atra Beauregard, 1890; N. pallidicollis Beauregard, 1890 y N. violacea Beauregard, 1890) y otra de E. dugesi (Epicauta tamara Adams & Selander, 1979); se designa lectotipo para Lytta koltzei var. minor Haag-Rutenberg, 1880 con el propósito de solucionar el problema taxonómico generado tras la designación inválida de lectotipo de L. k. var. cyanescens; y finalmente se consideran como especies posiblemente a excluir del listado de Meloidae de México a Cissites maculata (Swederus, 1787) y Tetraonyx (Tetraonyx) bimaculatus (Klug, 1825).[EN] A comprehensive taxonomic catalogue of the Mexican representatives of the family Meloidae is presented. The catalogue includes a revised synonymical list including type localities and published geographical records for all known species. The Mexican Fauna of Meloidae currently includes 255 extant species, plus one only known from the fossil conrecord, arranged in 21 genera within the subfamilies Meloinae, Nemognathinae and Tetraonycinae. The last comprehensive catalogue published (Blackwelder, 1945) recorded the presence of 160 species of Meloidae in México, almost 100 species less than the current known number. However the current number of species seems to be far below the actual number, since many species widely distributed along the northern border, within the United States, are likely to be found also in Mexico. Regarding taxonomic and nomenclatural changes, in this catalogue we propose the use of the names Epicauta dugesi Werner, 1957 and Tegrodera erosa extincta Beauregard, 1890; we propose three new synonymies for Nemognatha chrysomeloides (Linnaeus, 1763) (N. atra Beauregard, 1890; N. pallidicollis Beauregard, 1890 and N. violacea Beauregard, 1890) and one for E. dugesi (Epicauta tamara Adams & Selander, 1979); we designate lectotype for Lytta koltzei var. minor Haag-Rutenberg, 1880 with the goal of resolving the taxonomic problem generated by the previous invalid designation of lectotype for L. k. var. cyanescens; and finally we consider Cissites maculata (Swederus, 1787) and Tetraonyx (Tetraonyx) bimaculatus (Klug, 1825) as species to be possibly excluded from the Mexican checklist.Este trabajo ha contado para su realización con los proyectos CGL2004-04680-C10-10/BOS y CGL2007-64621 del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, lo que nos ha facilitado el apoyo logístico necesario. La visita a la colección del Magyar Természettudomány Múzeum (HNHM) en Budapest ha sido financiada por el proyecto Synthesys «European Commission´s Research Infrastructure Action».Peer reviewe

A simple guiding principle for the temperature dependence of the solubility of light gases in imidazolium-based ionic liquids derived from molecular simulations

We have determined the temperature dependence of the solvation behavior of a large collection of important light gases in imidazolium-based ionic liquids with the help of extensive molecular dynamics simulations. The motivation of our study is to unravel common features of the temperature dependent solvation under well controlled conditions, and to provide a guidance for cases, where experimental data from different sources disagree significantly. The solubility of molecular hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, methane, krypton, argon, neon and carbon dioxide in the imidazolium based ionic liquids of type 1-n-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([Cnmim][NTf2]) with varying alkyl side chain lengths n = 2, 4, 6, 8 is computed for a temperature range between 300 K and 500 K at 1 bar. By applying Widom's particle insertion technique and Bennet's overlapping distribution method, we are able to determine the temperature dependent solvation free energies of those selected light gases in simulated imidazolium based ionic liquids with high statistical accuracy. Our simulations demonstrate that the magnitude of the solvation free energy of a gas molecule at a chosen reference temperature and that of its temperature-derivatives are intimately related to one another. We conclude that this "universal" behavior is rooted in a solvation entropy-enthalpy compensation effect, which seems to be a defining feature of the solvation of small molecules in ionic liquids. The observations lead to simple analytical relations, determining the temperature dependence of the solubility data based on the absolute solubility at a certain reference temperature. By comparing our results with available experimental data from many sources, we can show that our approach is particularly helpful for providing reliable estimates for the solvation behavior of very light gases, such as hydrogen, where conflicting experimental data exist

AVALIAÇÃO DE DESEMPENHO EMPRESARIAL: ESTUDO DE CASO DE UMA AGROINDÚSTRIA NO RS

Este artigo procura discutir a relevância dos indicadores de desempenho no processo de gestão empresarial e a importância de estarem esses indicadores alinhados à estratégia organizacional da empresa. Em um ambiente cada vez mais competitivo, as empresas enfrentam dificuldades crescentes para manterem-se no mercado. Dessa forma, os indicadores financeiros tornam-se insuficientes para avaliar o desempenho da empresa, e a utilização de indicadores não-financeiros ganha maior importância na busca de uma mensuração equilibrada sob várias perspectivas além da financeira tradicional. Neste trabalho, foi realizado um estudo de caso que serviu como base para discussão dos indicadores de desempenho utilizados por uma agroindústria, enfocando particularmente as perspectivas do Balanced Scorecard.This article seeks to discuss the relevance of the performance indicators in the process of business management, and to indicate the importance of the alignment of these indicators with the business strategy. In a competitive environment, companies face increasing difficulties in order to keep their market competitiveness. In this sense, the financial indicators turn out to be insufficient to assess the business performance, and the utilization of non-financial indicators gets more importance in the pursuit of a balanced evaluation, under various perspectives beyond the traditionals. This study comprises a case study, which serves as a base for the discussion of the performance indicators for the agribusiness, focusing particularly the perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard

PCYT1A Missense Variant in Vizslas with Disproportionate Dwarfism

Disproportionate dwarfism phenotypes represent a heterogeneous subset of skeletal dysplasias and have been described in many species including humans and dogs. In this study, we investigated Vizsla dogs that were affected by disproportionate dwarfism that we propose to designate as skeletal dysplasia 3 (SD3). The most striking skeletal changes comprised a marked shortening and deformation of the humerus and femur. An extended pedigree with six affected dogs suggested autosomal recessive inheritance. Combined linkage and homozygosity mapping localized a potential genetic defect to a ~4 Mb interval on chromosome 33. We sequenced the genome of an affected dog, and comparison with 926 control genomes revealed a single, private protein-changing variant in the critical interval, PCYT1A:XM_038583131.1:c.673T>C, predicted to cause an exchange of a highly conserved amino acid, XP_038439059.1:p.(Y225H). We observed perfect co-segregation of the genotypes with the phenotype in the studied family. When genotyping additional Vizslas, we encountered a single dog with disproportionate dwarfism that did not carry the mutant PCYT1A allele, which we hypothesize was due to heterogeneity. In the remaining 130 dogs, we observed perfect genotype–phenotype association, and none of the unaffected dogs were homozygous for the mutant PCYT1A allele. PCYT1A loss-of-function variants cause spondylometaphyseal dysplasia with cone–rod dystrophy (SMD-CRD) in humans. The skeletal changes in Vizslas were comparable to human patients. So far, no ocular phenotype has been recognized in dwarf Vizslas. We propose the PCYT1A missense variant as a candidate causative variant for SD3. Our data facilitate genetic testing of Vizslas to prevent the unintentional breeding of further affected puppies

Between Worlds. The Enclosed Settlement of the Münchshöfen Culture at Riedling (Lower Bavaria)

Our study presents a late Neolithic enclosed settlement from Lower Bavaria. This site arouses interest not only regionally but also on a Central European level, as several phenomena emerged during this period along the Danube in Lower Bavaria that are strongly linked to the Carpathian Basin and other parts of Central Europe. In our present report, we focus on one phenomenon of the many at Riedling, the so-called structured deposits. These find assemblages are hypothetically results of intentional selection of the material culture deposited deliberately, perhaps related to singular ritual events

Temporal Changes in Alcohol-Related Morbidity and Mortality in Germany

Aims: Trends in morbidity and mortality, fully or partially attributable to alcohol, for adults aged 18–64 were assessed for Germany. Methods: The underestimation of population exposure was corrected by triangulating survey data with per capita consumption. Alcohol-attributable fractions by sex and two age groups were estimated for major disease categories causally linked to alcohol. Absolute numbers, population rates and proportions relative to all hospitalizations and deaths were calculated. Results: Trends of 100% alcohol-attributable morbidity and mortality over thirteen and eighteen years, respectively, show an increase in rates of hospitalizations and a decrease in mortality rates. Comparisons of alcohol-attributable morbidity including diseases partially caused by alcohol revealed an increase in hospitalization rates between 2006 and 2012. The proportion of alcohol-attributable hospitalizations remained constant. Rates of alcohol-attributable mortality and the proportion among all deaths decreased. Conclusions: The increasing trend in mortality due to alcohol until the mid-1990s has reversed. The constant proportion of all hospitalizations that were attributable to alcohol indicates that factors such as improved treatment and easier health care access may have influenced the general increase in all-cause morbidity. To further reduce alcohol-related mortality, efforts in reducing consumption and increasing treatment utilization are needed