Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland als Beschäftigungsland für ausländische Arbeitnehmer : Ökonomische Attraktivität, rechtliche Situation und politische Mitwirkung

"Es wird untersucht, welche Lebensbedingungen ausländische Arbeitnehmer in dem Beschäftigungsland Bundesrepublik Deutschland vorfinden, und zwar in ökonomischer und rechtlichpolitischer Hinsicht. Die in der Bundesrepublik arbeitenden Ausländer kommen zumeist aus Ländern, in denen das wirtschaftliche Entwicklungsniveau wesentlich niedriger ist als bei uns, so daß anzunehmen ist, daß ökonomische Gründe für die Auswanderung ausschlaggebend sind. Bei einem Vergleich der Bundesrepublik mit einigen anderen westeuropäischen Ländern, in denen ebenfalls eine große Zahl von Ausländern beschäftigt ist (Belgien, Frankreich, Niederlande, Schweiz), ergibt sich ganz eindeutig, daß die Bundesrepublik neben der Schweiz in ökonomischer Hinsicht für die Ausländer objektiv besonders attraktiv sein muß. Über diesem Aspekt darf aber nicht vergessen werden, daß es noch andere Faktoren gibt, die für die Lebensumstände und für die Lebensgestaltung der ausländischen Arbeitnehmer von Belang sind. Zu nennen sind hier vor allem die für Ausländer relevanten rechtlichen Bestimmungen, die Möglichkeiten zur Teilnahme am politischen Leben sowie die Versorgung mit Infrastruktur-Einrichtungen. Auffälliges Merkmal des deutschen Ausländerrechts ist der große Ermessensspielraum der Ausländerbehörden und die damit verbundene Rechtsunsicherheit für die ausländischen Arbeitnehmer. Von den gegebenen Möglichkeiten, nach einer gewissen Zeit und unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen den rechtlichen Status der ausländischen Arbeitnehmer zu verbessern (durch Erteilung einer Daueraufenthaltsberechtigung) oder ganz dem der Inländer anzupassen (durch die Einbürgerung), wurde bisher nur wenig Gebrauch gemacht. Die Spielräume für eine politische Betätigung sind bisher gering. Die ausländischen Arbeitnehmer sind in dieser Hinsicht ihren deutschen Kollegen nur in bezug auf die Arbeit in den Betriebsräten gleichgestellt. In den Parteien können sie sich, sofern ihre Mitgliedschaft überhaupt möglich ist, nur mit bestimmten Einschränkungen betätigen. Die neuerdings von einigen Gemeinden eingerichteten besonderen politischen Gremien für Ausländer (Ausländerparlamente, Ausländerbeiräte) haben stets nur beratende Funktion und dürfen sich nur der Probleme annehmen, die speziell die Ausländer betreffen."Beschäftigungsland, ökonomische Faktoren, ausländische Arbeitnehmer, Wanderung - Determinanten, Lebenssituation, politische Partizipation, Ausländerrecht, Arbeitserlaubnis - Recht, Arbeitsmarktrisiko - internationaler Vergleich, Frankreich, Belgien, Niederlande, Schweiz, Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Pharmacogenomic insights into treatment and management of statin-induced myopathy

Although statins are generally well tolerated, the most common adverse drug reaction from statin therapy is myopathy. This article reviews the current pharmacogenomic knowledge of statin-induced myopathy. Furthermore, we will discuss the importance of recent pharmacogenetic advances for the treatment and management of statin-induced myopathy. Variation in the SLCO1B1 gene is associated with increased incidence of statin-induced myopathy, particularly with simvastatin and less so with other statins. If different pharmacokinetic enzymes and transporters are responsible for susceptibility to myopathy, this may explain differences in the occurrence of statin-induced myopathy in individual patients. Genotyping in patients suffering from statin-induced myopathy may help to personalize the choice of statin for the lowest chance of developing myopathy

Entwickeln von Anreizen für Paludikultur zur Umsetzung der Klimaschutzziele 2030 und 2050

ENTWICKELN VON ANREIZEN FÜR PALUDIKULTUR ZUR UMSETZUNG DER KLIMASCHUTZZIELE 2030 UND 2050 Entwickeln von Anreizen für Paludikultur zur Umsetzung der Klimaschutzziele 2030 und 2050 / Schäfer, Achim (Rights reserved) ( -

Quantifying methane emissions from coal mining ventilation shafts using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based active AirCore system

A large quantity of CH4 is emitted to the atmosphere via ventilation shafts of underground coal mines. According to the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR), hard coal mines in the Upper Silesia Coal Basin (USCB) are a strong contributor (447 kt CH4 in 2017) to the annual European CH4 emissions. However, atmospheric emissions of CH4 from coal mines are poorly characterized, as they are dispersed over large areas. As part of the Carbon Dioxide and CH4 Mission (CoMet) pre-campaign, a study of the USCB's regional CH4 emissions took place in August 2017. We flew a recently developed active AirCore system aboard an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to obtain CH4 mole fractions downwind of a single coal mining ventilation shaft. Besides CH4, we also measured CO2, CO, atmospheric temperature, pressure, and relative humidity. Wind-speed and wind-direction measurements were made using a lightweight balloon-borne radiosonde. Fifteen UAV flights were performed flying perpendicular to the wind direction at several altitude levels, to effectively build a ‘curtain’ of CH4 mole fractions in a two-dimensional plane at a distance between 150 and 350 m downwind of a single ventilation shaft. Furthermore, we have developed an inverse Gaussian approach for quantifying CH4 emissions from a point source using the UAV-based observations, and have applied it as well as the mass balance approach to both simulated data and actual flight data to quantify CH4 emissions. The simulated data experiments revealed the importance of having multiple transects at different altitudes, appropriate vertical spacing between the individual transects, and proper distance between the center height of the plume and the center flight transect. They also showed that the inverse Gaussian approach performed better than the mass balance approach. Our estimate of the CH4 emission rates from the sampled shaft ranges from 0.5 to 14.5 kt/year using a mass balance approach, and between 1.1 and 9.0 kt/year using an inverse Gaussian method. The average difference between the mass balance and the inverse Gaussian approach was 2.3 kt/year. Based on the observed correlation between CO2 and CH4 (R-squared > 0.69), the CO2 emissions from the shaft were estimated to be between 0.3 and 9.8 kt/year. This study demonstrates that the UAV-based active AirCore system provides an effective way of quantifying coal mining shaft emissions of CH4 and CO2

Perspectives on gender and product design

International audienceInteractive technologies have a profound mediating effect on the way we obtain and contribute to knowledge, relate to each other and contribute to society. Often, "gender" is not a factor that is explicitly considered in the design of these technologies. When gender is considered, products are often designed with idealised models of gendered "users" -- designed for men, designed for women, designed for boys, designed for girls, or designed for the "average user" who could be male or female. However, the ways in which gender-bias or gender-neutrality are constructed in the design process and the resulting effect on the interactive artifacts that are produced is not well understood. This workshop will address what HCI is currently bringing, and can bring, to the table in addressing this issue

Comprehensive study on Escherichia coli genomic expression : does position really matter?

As a biorefinery platform host, Escherichia coli has been used extensively to produce metabolites of commercial interest. Integration of foreign DNA onto the bacterial genome allows for stable expression overcoming the need for plasmid expression and its associated instability. Despite the development of numerous tools and genome editing technologies, the question of where to incorporate a synthetic pathway remains unanswered. To address this issue, we studied the genomic expression in E. coli and linked it not only to 26 rationally selected genomic locations, but also to the gene direction in relation to the DNA replication fork, to the carbon and nitrogen source, to DNA folding and supercoiling, and to metabolic burden. To enable these experiments, we have designed a fluorescent expression cassette to eliminate specific local effects on gene expression. Overall it can be concluded that although the expression range obtained by changing the genomic location of a pathway is small compared to the range typically seen in promoter-RBS libraries, the effect of culture medium, environmental stress and metabolic burden can be substantial. The characterization of multiple effects on genomic expression, and the associated libraries of well-characterized strains, will only stimulate and improve the creation of stable production hosts fit for industrial settings

Local-to-regional methane emissions from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) quantified using UAV-based atmospheric measurements

Coal mining accounts for ~12% of the total anthropogenic methane (CH4) emissions worldwide. The Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB), Poland, where large quantities of CH4 are emitted to the atmosphere via ventilation shafts of underground hard coal (anthracite) mines, is one of the hot spots of methane emissions in Europe. However, coal bed CH4 emissions into the atmosphere are poorly characterized. As part of the carbon dioxide and CH4 mission 1.0 (CoMet 1.0) that took place in May-June 2018, we flew a recently developed active AirCore system aboard an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to obtain CH4 and CO2 mole fractions 150-300m downwind of five individual ventilation shafts in the USCB. In addition, we also measured δ13C-CH4, δ2H-CH4, ambient temperature, pressure, relative humidity, surface wind speed, and surface wind direction. We used 34 UAV flights and two different approaches (inverse Gaussian approach and mass balance approach) to quantify the emissions from individual shafts. The quantified emissions were compared to both annual and hourly inventory data and were used to derive the estimates of CH4 emissions in the USCB. We found a high correlation (R2Combining double low line0.7-0.9) between the quantified and hourly inventory data-based shaft-averaged CH4 emissions, which in principle would allow regional estimates of CH4 emissions to be derived by upscaling individual hourly inventory data of all shafts. Currently, such inventory data is available only for the five shafts we quantified. As an alternative, we have developed three upscaling approaches, i.e., by scaling the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) annual inventory, the quantified shaft-averaged emission rate, and the shaft-averaged emission rate, which are derived from the hourly emission inventory. These estimates are in the range of 256-383ktCH4yr-1 for the inverse Gaussian (IG) approach and 228-339ktCH4yr-1 for the mass balance (MB) approach. We have also estimated the total CO2 emissions from coal mining ventilation shafts based on the observed ratio of CH4/CO2 and found that the estimated regional CO2 emissions are not a major source of CO2 in the USCB. This study shows that the UAV-based active AirCore system can be a useful tool to quantify local to regional point source methane emissions

Local-to-regional methane emissions from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) quantified using UAV-based atmospheric measurements

Coal mining accounts for ~12% of the total anthropogenic methane (CH4) emissions worldwide. The Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB), Poland, where large quantities of CH4 are emitted to the atmosphere via ventilation shafts of underground hard coal (anthracite) mines, is one of the hot spots of methane emissions in Europe. However, coal bed CH4 emissions into the atmosphere are poorly characterized. As part of the carbon dioxide and CH4 mission 1.0 (CoMet 1.0) that took place in May-June 2018, we flew a recently developed active AirCore system aboard an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to obtain CH4 and CO2 mole fractions 150-300m downwind of five individual ventilation shafts in the USCB. In addition, we also measured δ13C-CH4, δ2H-CH4, ambient temperature, pressure, relative humidity, surface wind speed, and surface wind direction. We used 34 UAV flights and two different approaches (inverse Gaussian approach and mass balance approach) to quantify the emissions from individual shafts. The quantified emissions were compared to both annual and hourly inventory data and were used to derive the estimates of CH4 emissions in the USCB. We found a high correlation (R2Combining double low line0.7-0.9) between the quantified and hourly inventory data-based shaft-averaged CH4 emissions, which in principle would allow regional estimates of CH4 emissions to be derived by upscaling individual hourly inventory data of all shafts. Currently, such inventory data is available only for the five shafts we quantified. As an alternative, we have developed three upscaling approaches, i.e., by scaling the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) annual inventory, the quantified shaft-averaged emission rate, and the shaft-averaged emission rate, which are derived from the hourly emission inventory. These estimates are in the range of 256-383ktCH4yr-1 for the inverse Gaussian (IG) approach and 228-339ktCH4yr-1 for the mass balance (MB) approach. We have also estimated the total CO2 emissions from coal mining ventilation shafts based on the observed ratio of CH4/CO2 and found that the estimated regional CO2 emissions are not a major source of CO2 in the USCB. This study shows that the UAV-based active AirCore system can be a useful tool to quantify local to regional point source methane emissions.</p

Human Immunoglobulin M Memory B Cells Controlling Streptococcus pneumoniae Infections Are Generated in the Spleen

Splenectomized and asplenic patients have a high incidence of infections by encapsulated bacteria and do not respond to polysaccharide vaccines. To understand whether the absence of the spleen is associated with a defined B cell defect, we analyzed B cell subsets in the peripheral blood. We found that a population of B cells known as immunoglobulin (Ig)M memory is lacking in patients without spleen. The absence of IgM memory B cells correlates with an impaired immune response to encapsulated bacteria not only in splenectomized patients, but also in individuals with an intact spleen. We show that the physiological and transient predisposition to pneumococcal infections of young children (0–2 yr) is associated with the lack of circulating IgM memory B cells and of serum antipolysaccharide IgM. We also demonstrate that IgM memory B cells are undetectable in a fraction of patients with common variable immunodeficiency, who have recurrent and invasive infections by encapsulated bacteria. IgM memory B cells, therefore, require the spleen for their generation and/or survival and are responsible for the protection against encapsulated bacteria

Gene set of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial regulators is enriched for common inherited variation in obesity

There are hints of an altered mitochondrial function in obesity. Nuclear-encoded genes are relevant for mitochondrial function (3 gene sets of known relevant pathways: (1) 16 nuclear regulators of mitochondrial genes, (2) 91 genes for oxidative phosphorylation and (3) 966 nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes). Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) showed no association with type 2 diabetes mellitus in these gene sets. Here we performed a GSEA for the same gene sets for obesity. Genome wide association study (GWAS) data from a case-control approach on 453 extremely obese children and adolescents and 435 lean adult controls were used for GSEA. For independent confirmation, we analyzed 705 obesity GWAS trios (extremely obese child and both biological parents) and a population-based GWAS sample (KORA F4, n = 1,743). A meta-analysis was performed on all three samples. In each sample, the distribution of significance levels between the respective gene set and those of all genes was compared using the leading-edge-fraction-comparison test (cut-offs between the 50(th) and 95(th) percentile of the set of all gene-wise corrected p-values) as implemented in the MAGENTA software. In the case-control sample, significant enrichment of associations with obesity was observed above the 50(th) percentile for the set of the 16 nuclear regulators of mitochondrial genes (p(GSEA,50) = 0.0103). This finding was not confirmed in the trios (p(GSEA,50) = 0.5991), but in KORA (p(GSEA,50) = 0.0398). The meta-analysis again indicated a trend for enrichment (p(MAGENTA,50) = 0.1052, p(MAGENTA,75) = 0.0251). The GSEA revealed that weak association signals for obesity might be enriched in the gene set of 16 nuclear regulators of mitochondrial genes