Area Deprivation and COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality in Bavaria, Germany: A Bayesian Geographical Analysis

Background: Area deprivation has been shown to be associated with various adverse health outcomes including communicable as well as non-communicable diseases. Our objective was to assess potential associations between area deprivation and COVID-19 standardized incidence and mortality ratios in Bavaria over a period of nearly 2 years. Bavaria is the federal state with the highest infection dynamics in Germany and demographically comparable to several other European countries. Methods: In this retrospective, observational ecological study, we estimated the strength of associations between area deprivation and standardized COVID-19 incidence and mortality ratios (SIR and SMR) in Bavaria, Germany. We used official SARS-CoV-2 reporting data aggregated in monthly periods between March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021. Area deprivation was assessed using the quintiles of the 2015 version of the Bavarian Index of Multiple Deprivation (BIMD 2015) at district level, analyzing the overall index as well as its single domains. Results: Deprived districts showed higher SIR and SMR than less deprived districts. Aggregated over the whole period, the SIR increased by 1.04 (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.01 to 1.07, p = 0.002), and the SMR by 1.11 (95% CI: 1.07 to 1.16, p < 0.001) per BIMD quintile. This represents a maximum difference of 41% between districts in the most and least deprived quintiles in the SIR and 110% in the SMR. Looking at individual months revealed clear linear association between the BIMD quintiles and the SIR and SMR in the first, second and last quarter of 2021. In the summers of 2020 and 2021, infection activity was low. Conclusions: In more deprived areas in Bavaria, Germany, higher incidence and mortality ratios were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic with particularly strong associations during infection waves 3 and 4 in 2020/2021. Only high infection levels reveal the effect of risk factors and socioeconomic inequalities. There may be confounding between the highly deprived areas and border regions in the north and east of Bavaria, making the relationship between area deprivation and infection burden more complex. Vaccination appeared to balance incidence and mortality rates between the most and least deprived districts. Vaccination makes an important contribution to health equality

Nutrient mass balance of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica: the importance of nutrient retranslocation

The seasonal nutrient mass balance of the dominant seagrass of the Mediterranean, Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delde, was evaluated in NE Spain in order to test the hypothesis that the effect of seasonal nutrient imbalance can be reduced by the reutilization of internal nutrient pools. To this end we investigated the seasonal and age-dependent variability of nitrogen and phosphorus concentration of the leaves, inferring from these data values of seasonal nitrogen and phosphorus incorporation, uptake, losses and retranslocation. Incorporation of nitrogen and phosphorus in leaves peaked in June and was lowest in September, thus following the seasonal growth pattern of the plant. Retranslocation of nitrogen and phosphorus was high from May to September and close to zero during the rest of the year. Losses of nitrogen and phosphorus were highest at the end of summer, associated with the major biomass losses. Nitrogen uptake by leaves reached maximum values in winter and was lowest during August-September, while phosphorus uptake was highest in spring and lowest in August-September. On an annual basis nitrogen and phosphorus uptake accounted for 60 and 41 % of the total nutrient incorporation, respectively, while retranslocation of nutrients from old tissues accounted for the remaining 40 and 59%. Although roots and rhizomes function as sources of nutrients at the beginning of the summer, their contribution to the seasonal nutrient budget seemed to be minor.This work was supported by grant STEP-0063-C of the ECC.Peer reviewe

Dynamic pathway of the photoinduced phase transition of TbMnO3_3

We investigate the demagnetization dynamics of the cycloidal and sinusoidal phases of multiferroic TbMnO$_3$ by means of time-resolved resonant soft x-ray diffraction following excitation by an optical pump. Using orthogonal linear x-ray polarizations, we suceeded in disentangling the response of the multiferroic cycloidal spin order from the sinusoidal antiferromagnetic order in the time domain. This enables us to identify the transient magnetic phase created by intense photoexcitation of the electrons and subsequent heating of the spin system on a picosecond timescale. The transient phase is shown to be a spin density wave, as in the adiabatic case, which nevertheless retains the wave vector of the cycloidal long range order. Two different pump photon energies, 1.55 eV and 3.1 eV, lead to population of the conduction band predominantly via intersite $d$-$d$ transitions or intrasite $p$-$d$ transitions, respectively. We find that the nature of the optical excitation does not play an important role in determining the dynamics of magnetic order melting. Further, we observe that the orbital reconstruction, which is induced by the spin ordering, disappears on a timescale comparable to that of the cycloidal order, attesting to a direct coupling between magnetic and orbital orders. Our observations are discussed in the context of recent theoretical models of demagnetization dynamics in strongly correlated systems, revealing the potential of this type of measurement as a benchmark for such complex theoretical studies

Исследование актуальных проблем социальной политики России и меры повышения ее эффективности

Рассмотрена сущность социальной политики России и направления ее деятельности. Указаны основные общественные проблемы, стоящие перед государством, а также недостатки механизма функционирования социальной политики. На основании анализа полученной информации были разработаны меры, позволяющие значительно снизить уровень той или иной проблемы социальной политики. Кроме того, разработаны рекомендации по улучшению эффективности проведения социальных программ в России, путем устранения внутренних проблем самого механизма регулирования

Rezensionen

Rezension zu: 1) Bender Walter/Zech, Rainer (Hrsg.): ... denn sie wissen, was sie tun! Auf dem Weg zur selbstreflexiven Organisation. Fallstudien zur Qualitätsentwicklung. Schriftenreihe für kritische Sozialforschung und Bildungsarbeit, Bd. 12. Hannover: Espressum Verl. 2007. ISBN 978-3-89069-014-8. 2) Göhlich, Michael; Wulf, Christoph; Zirfas, Jörg (Hrsg.): Pädagogische Theorien des Lernens. Weinheim: Beltz 2007. ISBN 978-3-407-32072-8. 3) Göhlich, Michael; König, Eckard; Schwarzer, Christine (Hrsg.): Beratung, Macht und organisationales Lernen. Wiesbaden: VS Verl. f. Sozialwiss. 2007. ISBN 978-3-531-15360-5. 4) Heimbach-Steins, Marianne; Kruip, Gerhard; Kunze, Axel Bernd: Das Menschenrecht auf Bildung und seine Umsetzung in Deutschland. Diagnose – Reflexionen – Perspektiven. Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann 2007. ISBN 978-3-7639-3542-0. 5) Pallasch, Waldemar; Hameyer, Uwe: Lerncoaching - theoretische Grundlage und Praxisbeispiele zu einer didaktischen Herausforderung. Weinheim: Juventa 2008. ISBN 978-3-7799-2136-3. 6) Tippelt, Rudolf; Reich, Jutta; Hippel, Aiga v.; Barz, Heiner; Baum, Dajana: Weiterbildung und soziale Milieus in Deutschland. Bd. 3, Milieumarketing implementieren. Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann 2008. ISBN 978-3-7639-1943-7. 7) Tödt, Katia: Lernerorientierte Qualitätstestierung für Bildungsveranstaltungen (LQB). Bielefeld: W. Bertelsmann 2008. ISBN 978-3-7639-3625-0. 8) Walber, Markus: Selbststeuerung im Lernprozess und Erkenntniskonstruktion: eine empirische Studie in der Weiterbildung. Münster: Waxmann 2007. ISBN 978-3-8309-1888-2. 9) Weil, Markus: Weiterbildungskooperation in KMU: eine Perspektive für berufs- und wirtschaftspädagogische Konzepte. Bern: h.e.p. Verl. 2006. ISBN 3-03905-234-9

Геохимические особенности антропогенных карбонатных отложений на территории Республики Башкортостан

Геохимические особенности антропогенных карбонатных отложений на территории Республики Башкортостан.Geochemical features of anthropogenic carbonate deposits on the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan