Impact of Recreational Fishery on the Formal Danish Economy

This paper presents estimates of the economic impact of recreational fisheries on the formal economy of Denmark. It utilises primary data from a CVM (con-tingent valuation method)-mail survey conducted in 1999 in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland. The sample used in this paper covers 546 Danish respondents (recreational fishermen only). The questions on expenditure were asked in order to jog the memory of the respondents prior to the CVM questions in the form of willingness to pay questions. The annual mean amount spent on recreational fishery was estimated to be 1.170 DKK in national currency and the aggregate Danish expenditure was estimated to be 517 million DKK. The expenditure estimates from the original survey distributed on expenditure cate-gories were used as the starting point of this study. The estimation of the economic impact was done from the demand side using the Danish input-output tables. In the model each known expenditure category from the survey was allocated to a similar commodity group posting in the in-put output model nomenclature. As a result, the impact of expenditure on rec-reational fisheries activities on employment, import, indirect taxes and income was calculated.

Fostering a concept of function with combined experiments in distance and in-class learning

Hands-on experiments and simulations foster functional thinking (FT) in different ways. Both benefits can be combined effectively, when a focus is set on the difficult aspect of covariation through a qualitative approach. Self-directed learning in such settings produces significantly higher gains in FT that rather numeric consideration of experiments (Digel and Roth, 2021). Both settings were implemented as in-classroom (N=219) and distance learning environments (N=113) respectively, within the given constraints due to COVID-19. The results for distance learning Hammerstein et al. (2021) report in their meta-study are inconsistent, but with clear negative tendency. In the study reported here both learning modes show comparable results and the overall differences between covariational and numeric setting persist in both modes as well

Derivation of population distribution for vulnerability assessment in flood-prone German cities using multisensoral remote sensing data

Against the background of massive urban development, area-wide and up-to-date spatial information is in demand. However, for many reasons this detailed information on the entire urban area is often not available or just not valid anymore. In the event of a natural hazard – e.g. a river flood – it is a crucial piece of information for relief units to have knowledge about the quantity and the distribution of the affected population. In this paper we demonstrate the abilities of remotely sensed data towards vulnerability assessment or disaster management in case of such an event. By means of very high resolution optical satellite imagery and surface information derived by airborne laser scanning, we generate a precise, three-dimensional representation of the landcover and the urban morphology. An automatic, object-oriented approach detects single buildings and derives morphological information – e.g. building size, height and shape – for a further classification of each building into various building types. Subsequently, a top-down approach is applied to distribute the total population of the city or the district on each individual building. In combination with information of potentially affected areas, the methodology is applied on two German cities to estimate potentially affected population with a high level of accurac

Population dynamics of two antilisterial cheese surface consortia revealed by temporal temperature gradient gel electrophoresis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Surface contamination of smear cheese by <it>Listeria </it>spp. is of major concern for the industry. Complex smear ecosystems have been shown to harbor antilisterial potential but the microorganisms and mechanisms involved in the inhibition mostly remain unclear, and are likely related to complex interactions than to production of single antimicrobial compounds. Bacterial biodiversity and population dynamics of complex smear ecosystems exhibiting antilisterial properties <it>in situ </it>were investigated by Temporal temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TTGE), a culture independent technique, for two microbial consortia isolated from commercial Raclette type cheeses inoculated with defined commercial ripening cultures (F) or produced with an old-young smearing process (M).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>TTGE revealed nine bacterial species common to both F and M consortia, but consortium F exhibited a higher diversity than consortium M, with thirteen and ten species, respectively. Population dynamics were studied after application of the consortia on fresh-produced Raclette cheeses. TTGE analyses revealed a similar sequential development of the nine species common to both consortia. Beside common cheese surface bacteria (<it>Staphylococcus equorum, Corynebacterium </it>spp., <it>Brevibacterium linens, Microbacterium gubbeenense</it>, <it>Agrococcus casei</it>), the two consortia contained marine lactic acid bacteria (<it>Alkalibacterium kapii</it>, <it>Marinilactibacillus psychrotolerans</it>) that developed early in ripening (day 14 to 20), shortly after the growth of staphylococci (day 7). A decrease of <it>Listeria </it>counts was observed on cheese surface inoculated at day 7 with 0.1-1 × 10²CFU cm^-2, when cheeses were smeared with consortium F or M. <it>Listeria </it>counts went below the detection limit of the method between day 14 and 28 and no subsequent regrowth was detected over 60 to 80 ripening days. In contrast, <it>Listeria </it>grew to high counts (10⁵CFU cm^-2) on cheeses smeared with a defined surface culture.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This work reports the first population dynamics study of complex smear ecosystems exhibiting <it>in situ </it>antilisterial activity. TTGE revealed the presence of marine lactic acid bacteria that are likely related to the strong <it>Listeria </it>inhibition, as their early development in the smear occurred simultaneously with a decrease in <it>Listeria </it>cell count.</p

Retinoic acid pathway activity in wilms tumors and characterization of biological responses in vitro

Background: Wilms tumor (WT) is one of the most common malignancies in childhood. With current therapy protocols up to 90% of patients can be cured, but there is still a need to improve therapy for patients with aggressive WT and to reduce treatment intensity where possible. Prior data suggested a deregulation of the retinoic acid (RA) signaling pathway in high-risk WT, but its mode of action remained unclear. Results: The association of retinoid signaling and clinical parameters could be validated in a large independent tumor set, but its relevance in primary nephrectomy tumors from very young children may be different. Reduced RA pathway activity and MYCN overexpression were found in high risk tumors as opposed to tumors with low/ intermediate risk, suggesting a beneficial impact of RA especially on advanced WT. To search for possible modes of action of retinoids as novel therapeutic options, primary tumor cell cultures were treated in vitro with all-trans-RA (ATRA), 9cis-RA, fenretinide and combinations of retinoids and a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor. Genes deregulated in high risk tumors showed opposite changes upon treatment suggesting a positive effect of retinoids. 6/7 primary cultures tested reduced proliferation, irrespective of prior RA signaling levels. The only variant culture was derived from mesoblastic nephroma, a distinct childhood kidney neoplasm. Retinoid/HDAC inhibitor combinations provided no synergistic effect. ATRA and 9cis-RA induced morphological changes suggestive of differentiation, while fenretinide induced apoptosis in several cultures tested. Microarray analysis of ATRA treated WT cells revealed differential expression of many genes involved in extracellular matrix formation and osteogenic, neuronal or muscle differentiation. The effects documented appear to be reversible upon drug withdrawal, however. Conclusions: Altered retinoic acid signaling has been validated especially in high risk Wilms tumors. In vitro testing of primary tumor cultures provided clear evidence of a potential utility of retinoids in Wilms tumor treatment based on the analysis of gene expression, proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis

Immobilization of natural lipid biomembranes and their interactions with choline carboxylates : A Nanoplasmonic sensing study

The cell membrane is mainly composed of lipid bilayers with inserted proteins and carbohydrates. Lipid bilayers made of purified or synthetic lipids are widely used for estimating the effect of target compounds on cell membranes. However, the composition of such biomimetic membranes is much simpler than the composition of biological membranes. Interactions between compounds and simple composition biomimetic membranes might not demonstrate the effect of target compounds as precisely as membranes with compositions close to real organisms. Therefore, the aim of our study is to construct biomimetic membrane closely mimicking the state of natural membranes. Liposomes were prepared from lipids extracted from L-alpha-phosphatidylcholine, Escherichia coli, yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and bovine liver cells through agitation and sonication. They were immobilized onto silicon dioxide (SiO2) sensor surfaces using N-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid buffer with calcium chloride. The biomimetic membranes were successfully immobilized onto the SiO2 sensor surface and detected by nanoplasmonic sensing. The immobilized membranes were exposed to choline carboxylates. The membrane disruption effect was, as expected, more pronounced with increasing carbohydrate chain length of the carboxylates. The results correlated with the toxicity values determined using Vibrio fischeri bacteria. The yeast extracted lipid membranes had the strongest response to introduction of choline laurate while the bovine liver lipid extracted liposomes were the most sensitive towards the shorter choline carboxylates. This implies that the composition of the cell membrane plays a crucial role upon interaction with choline carboxylates, and underlines the necessity of testing membrane systems of different origin to obtain an overall image of such interactions.Peer reviewe

Konzept eines hybriden Lehr-Lern-Praktikums mit Schülerförderkursen

Im den Projekten MatheLift sowie dem damit verknüpften Projekt MatheLead („Mathematik Lehren eigenverantwortlich authentisch digital“) begegnen wir zwei drängenden Problemen in der Pandemie: fehlende Möglichkeiten für Unterrichtspraxis im Studium und individuelle Lernrückstände bei Schülerinnen und Schülern. Im Rahmen wöchentlicher Förderkurse schlüpfen die Studierenden in die Rolle der Lehrkraft und bilden Handlungsoptionen vor allem in Bezug auf Individualisierung, der Förderung individueller Motivationslagen und Lernmanagementsystemen aus. Die Schülerinnen und Schüler erforschen gegenständliche sowie digitale Materialien und erarbeiten sich so Grundvorstellungen zu zentralen mathematischen Konzepten. Komplettiert wird das Lehr-Lern-Praktikum durch die angeleiteten Reflexionsrunden nach jedem Kurstermin und einem Begleitseminar, welches das notwendige fachdidaktische und bildungswissenschaftliche Hintergrundwissen vermittelt. Durch einen Mixed-Methods-Ansatz soll der Einfluss des Praktikums auf die motivationsfördernden Facetten der professionellen Handlungskompetenz untersucht werden

Relation between Crystal Structure and Transition Temperature of Superconducting Metals and Alloys

Using the Roeser–Huber equation, which was originally developed for high temperature superconductors (HTSc) (H. Roeser et al., Acta Astronautica 62 (2008) 733), we present a calculation of the superconducting transition temperatures, Tc, of some elements with fcc unit cells (Pb, Al), some elements with bcc unit cells (Nb, V), Sn with a tetragonal unit cell and several simple metallic alloys (NbN, NbTi, the A15 compounds and MgB2). All calculations used only the crystallographic information and available data of the electronic configuration of the constituents. The model itself is based on viewing superconductivity as a resonance effect, and the superconducting charge carriers moving through the crystal interact with a typical crystal distance, x. It is found that all calculated Tc-data fall within a narrow error margin on a straight line when plotting (2x) 2 vs. 1/Tc like in the case for HTSc. Furthermore, we discuss the problems when obtaining data for Tc from the literature or from experiments, which are needed for comparison with the calculated data. The Tc-data presented here agree reasonably well with the literature data