ESCAPE

This project is the final composition of my year in the Master’s program “Scoring for Film/TV and Videogames” at the Berklee College of Music, Valencia Campus. I rescored a science-fiction animation short movie about a female character who is stranded on a foreign planet and is looking for a way to get back home. I faced a lot of challenges scoring this intense little short movie because it has a lot of different moods and I needed to be very precise on the cuts and the action in the picture. Besides that, I had to program a very convincing mockup because at the moment we are not able to record in London as this is usually the case for the culminating experience. Because of the unexpected happening of Covid-19 and the consequences of public life shutting down in almost every European country, we still don’t know when this session is going to happen. Having the possibility to record a three-minute piece in one of the best recording studios of the world is a big honor and I am really looking forward to this experience. Due to the Lockdown Berklee continued with a lot of interesting and additional online workshops which definitely helped us to overcome this unusual situation. At this point I really would like to thank the whole faculty (Lucio, Sergio, Alfons, Vincente and Pablo for their big effort and those extremely useful and inspiring workshops. I tried to use the time at home studying different scores from various animation movies to prepare myself for this final project. I especially tried to include all the things I learned during this past year at Berklee. I hope that this piece of music is the ideal representation of my abilities of scoring to picture and I hope that my personal voice as a composer is recognizable as well.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-scoring/1147/thumbnail.jp

Psychologische, soziale und ökonomische Korrelate des Psychologie-Studierens : eine Erhebung an den Studierenden der Universität Heidelberg unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Studierdauer

Nach der Einführung von Studiengebühren für Langzeitstudierende werden vor dem Hintergrund motivationspsychologischer Konzepte Einflussgrößen für die Studiendauer im Studiengang Diplompsychologie an der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg untersucht. Um Planungsdaten zur Verbesserung der Studienbedingungen für die Studierenden und zur Verkürzung von Studienzeiten zu gewinnen, soll außerdem eine Bestandsaufnahme für die Studierenden gemacht werden und Interventionsmöglichkeiten zur Studienzeitverkürzung aufgezeigt werden. Als bedeutsame Konzepte wurden die Handlungs- und Lageorientierung (nach Kuhls „Theorie der Handlungskontrolle“), die Generalisierte Kompetenz-erwartung (nach Schwarzers Konstrukt der „Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung“), Schlüsselkompetenzen aktiven und eigenverantwortlichen Studierens (nach dem Modell von Chur) und persönliche, familiäre und finanzielle Schwierigkeiten und Belastungen als mögliche Einflussgrößen auf die Studiendauer ausgewählt. Für die Befragung wurde ein Fragebogen konzipiert, der neben den Fragen zur Erhebung der Daten für die Bestandsaufnahme die Skala Leistungsorientierung aus dem FPI-R von Fahrenberg, Hampel und Selg (1989), den HAKEMP Studium-Fragebogen zur Erfassung von Handlungs- und Lageorientierung in studentischen Stichproben von Geyer und Lilli (1993) und die 10-Item Skala zur Erfassung des Konstrukts Generalisierte Kompetenzerwartung von Schwarzer (1994) enthielt. Dieser Fragebogen wurde zum Stichtag allen im Studiengang Diplompsychologie deutschen und ausländischen immatrikulierten Studierenden (Grundgesamtheit N = 680) per Post übersandt. Zur Untersuchung der Einflussgrößen auf die Studiendauer wurden aus der angefallenen Stichprobe (Nettorücklaufquote 58.9 %,) zwei Teilstichproben (1. „Vordiplomprüfung“ abgelegt, n = 268 und 2. zur „Hauptdiplomprüfung“ angemeldet, n = 66) gebildet. Für die Teilstichprobe „Vordiplomprüfung“ erlangten, entgegen der Annahme, dass psychologische Einflussgrößen Auswirkungen hätten, lediglich persönliche, familiäre und finanzielle Schwierigkeiten und Belastungen eine statistisch hochsignifikante Bedeutsamkeit. Hierbei hatten insbesondere das Pausieren wegen Schwangerschaft und/oder Kindererziehung, das Pausieren aus anderen persönlichen Gründen, die Probleme die Diplomarbeit fertig zu schreiben und die Zeitknappheit für das Studium wegen Erwerbsbelastung einen studienzeit-verlängernden Effekt. Das Vorhandensein von Schlüsselkompetenzen aktiven und eigenverantwortlichen Studierens (insbesondere die aktive Beteiligung an Lehrveranstaltungen und die effektive Organisation des Prüfungsablaufs) zeigte einen studienzeitverkürzenden Effekt auf die Studiendauer bis zur Ablegung der Vordiplomprüfung. Für die Teilstichprobe „Hauptdiplomprüfung“ konnte das Merkmal persönliche, familiäre und finanzielle Schwierigkeiten und Belastungen, das Merkmal Schlüsselkompetenzen aktiven und eigenverantwortlichen Studierens und die psychologische Variable prospektive Handlungsorientierung eine statistisch signifikante Bedeutsamkeit erlangen. Als bedeutsame, studienzeitverlängernde Effekte auf die Studiendauer bis zur Anmeldung zur Hauptdiplomprüfung erwiesen sich insbesondere eine schwierige wirtschaftliche Situation und der Stellenwert von Studium und Hochschule. Studienzeitverkürzend als Effekt zeigten sich das Vorhandensein von Perspektiven für den Übergang in den Beruf und die Kenntnis über Bedingungen und Anforderungen des Studiums. Insgesamt zeigten also psychologische Merkmale, entgegen der Annahme, für beide Teilstichproben kaum Effekte. Im Rahmen der Bestandsaufnahme wurde festgestellt, dass an der Universität Heidelberg mehr als zwei Fünftel (45.4%) der Studierenden im Diplomstudiengang Psychologie ein faktisches Teilzeitstudium (mit geringer bzw. hoher Erwerbsbelastung) absolvieren (Bundesdurchschnitt: 24%). Das sollte die künftige Studienorganisation, im Sinne einer Passung zwischen Studierendem und Hochschule, nach Möglichkeit berücksichtigen. Die Förderung und Entwicklung von Schlüsselkompetenzen aktiven und eigenverantwortlichen Studierens bei den Studierenden wird, besonders in der Studienendphase, als Möglichkeit angesehen, die Studiendauer zu verkürzen

Genotypic and phenotypic variation among Staphylococcus saprophyticus from human and animal isolates

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The main aim of this study was to examine the genotypic and phenotypic diversity of <it>Staphylococcus saprophyticus </it>isolates from human and animal origin.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>In total, 236 clinical isolates and 15 animal isolates of <it>S. saprophyticus </it>were characterized in respect of the occurrence of 9 potential virulence genes and four surface properties. All strains were PCR positive for the regulatory genes <it>agr</it>, <it>sar</it>>it>A and <it>rot </it>as well as for the surface proteins UafA and Aas. Nearly 90% of the clinical isolates were found to possess the gene for the surface-associated lipase Ssp and 10% for the collagen binding MSCRAMM SdrI. All animal isolates were negative for<it>sdrI</it>. Lipolytic activity could be detected in 66% of the clinical and 46% of the animal isolates. Adherence to collagen type I was shown of 20% of the clinical strains and 6% of the strains of animal origin. Most <it>S. saprophyticus </it>strains showed hydrophobic properties and only few could agglutinate sheep erythrocytes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We described a broad analysis of animal and human <it>S. saprophyticus </it>isolates regarding virulence genes and phenotypic properties such as lipase activity, hydrophobicity, and adherence. While <it>S. saprophyticus </it>strains from animal sources have prerequisites for colonization of the urinary tract like the D-serine-deaminase, out findings suggested that they need to acquire new genes e.g. MSCRAMMS for adherence like sdrI and to modulate their existing properties e.g. increasing the lipase activity or reducing hydrophobicity. These apparently important new genes or properties for virulence have to be further analyzed.</p

p21 as a Transcriptional Co-Repressor of S-Phase and Mitotic Control Genes

It has been previously described that p21 functions not only as a CDK inhibitor but also as a transcriptional co-repressor in some systems. To investigate the roles of p21 in transcriptional control, we studied the gene expression changes in two human cell systems. Using a human leukemia cell line (K562) with inducible p21 expression and human primary keratinocytes with adenoviral-mediated p21 expression, we carried out microarray-based gene expression profiling. We found that p21 rapidly and strongly repressed the mRNA levels of a number of genes involved in cell cycle and mitosis. One of the most strongly down-regulated genes was CCNE2 (cyclin E2 gene). Mutational analysis in K562 cells showed that the N-terminal region of p21 is required for repression of gene expression of CCNE2 and other genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays indicated that p21 was bound to human CCNE2 and other p21-repressed genes gene in the vicinity of the transcription start site. Moreover, p21 repressed human CCNE2 promoter-luciferase constructs in K562 cells. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that the CDE motif is present in most of the promoters of the p21-regulated genes. Altogether, the results suggest that p21 exerts a repressive effect on a relevant number of genes controlling S phase and mitosis. Thus, p21 activity as inhibitor of cell cycle progression would be mediated not only by the inhibition of CDKs but also by the transcriptional down-regulation of key genes

Biochemical and molecular characterization of the extracellular esterase from Streptomyces diastatochromogenes.

An esterase of Streptomyces diastatochromogenes was purified to homogeneity from culture filtrate. The purified enzyme had a molecular mass of 30,862 +/- 5.8 Da, as determined by electrospray mass spectrometry. The esterase-encoding gene was cloned on a 5.1-kb MboI fragment from S. diastatochromogenes genomic DNA into Streptomyces lividans TK23 by using plasmid vector pIJ702. Nucleotide sequence analysis predicted a 978-bp open reading frame, estA, encoding a protein of 326 amino acids, a potential ribosome binding site, and a putative 35- or 36-residue signal peptide for secretion in S. lividans or S. diastatochromogenes, respectively. The transcriptional initiation site was mapped 29 nucleotides upstream from the predicted translational start codon of estA in S. diastatochromogenes. The protein sequence deduced from the estA gene was similar to that of the esterase from the plant pathogen Streptomyces scabies. Both enzymes lacked the conserved motif GXSXG carrying the active-site serine of hydrolytic enzymes. A serine modified by [1,3-3H]diisopropyl fluorophosphate was located at position 11 of the mature enzyme in the sequence GDSYT. This finding and results obtained by site-directed mutagenesis studies indicate that serine 11 may be the active-site nucleophile

P/Re/Enact!:Performing in Between Times

For quite some time the concept of reenactment has enjoyed popularity as an artistic practice used to visualize and contemporize the past. More recently the term preenactment has started to receive a great deal of attention. Preenactment as a performative practice does not deal with the revision or replication of a historic event, instead it sets out to experiment with fictitious time(s) and space(s). How can one conceptualize the temporality of preenactment when its vectors, intensities, and affects go beyond an allegedly fleeting moment? Similar to the way in which reenactment always provides a prospective dimension, preenactment always includes a retrospective dimension which is why the conference conceives of it as (P)reenactment. It thereby encourages the establishment of a new perspective on the notion of reenactment, whereby reoccurrence, repetition, or duration do not stand at the forefront, but rather as a beginning, as a means of relief, reorientation, and a process of transition. The interdisciplinary conference aims at examining Pre-, Re-, as well as En-actments that are not just based on artistic practices, but include social, medial, political, and activist phenomena. To what extent can artistic (P)reenactments influence – especially in terms of anticipation – political relationships and vice versa? To what extent is the theory of (P)reenactment capable of redefining the relationship between art and politics? Which role do cultural-historic preconditions play in particular courses of action and habits of perception? Moreover, the conference aims at conceptualizing (P)reenactments beyond their definition as live performances by drawing on the discourses of media studies.  (P)reenactments are to be understood as phenomena not only within artistic frameworks but are encountered in other social contexts as well. Along with the temporal and spatial dynamics of (P)reenactments, their different affective potential has to be addressed also: In (P)reenactments, the capacity to move and be moved takes place between the poles of memory/history and vision(s) of the future. Comprehending (P)reenactments as affective events allows for a focus on aspects that have until now been overlooked by the research into reenactment, but which have acquired great significance within the field of affect studies. The goal of this conference is to promote an interdisciplinary exchange on the various dimensions of (P)reenactment outlined above. Speakers are invited from various fields, including theater studies, media studies, literary studies, political science, and social sciences. In addition to promoting an interdisciplinary dialogue among scholars, the conference will incorporate artistic interventions and contributions from practitioners of (P)reenactment from various fields. P/Re/Enact!: Performing in Between Times, conference, ICI Berlin, 27–28 October 2017 <https://doi.org/10.25620/e171027