ESPON - From spatial observation to policy oriented output?

This articles analyses the development of the ESPON programme in relation to the development of spatial planning in Europe

Analysis of connexin 43, connexin 45 and N-cadherin in the human sertoli cell line FS1 and the human seminoma-like cell line TCam-2 in comparison with human testicular biopsies

Background: Germ cell tumors are relatively common in young men. They derive from a non-invasive precursor, called germ cell neoplasia in situ, but the exact pathogenesis is still unknown. Thus, further understanding provides the basis for diagnostics, prognostics and therapy and is therefore paramount. A recently developed cell culture model consisting of human FS1 Sertoli cells and human TCam-2 seminoma-like cells offers new opportunities for research on seminoma. Since junctional proteins within the seminiferous epithelium are involved in cell organization, differentiation and proliferation, they represent interesting candidates for investigations on intercellular adhesion and communication in context with neoplastic progression. Methods: FS1 and TCam-2 cells were characterized regarding gap-junction-related connexin 43 (Cx43) and connexin 45 (Cx45), and adherens-junction-related N-cadherin using microarray, PCR, Western blot, immunocytochemistry and immunofluorescence. Results were compared to human testicular biopsies at different stages of seminoma development via immunohistochemistry to confirm the cell lines’ representativeness. Furthermore, dye-transfer measurements were performed to investigate functional cell coupling. Results: Cx43, Cx45 and N-cadherin mRNA and protein were generally detectable in both cell lines via qualitative RT-PCR and Western blot. Immunocytochemistry and immunofluorescence revealed a mainly membrane-associated expression of N-cadherin in both cell lines, but gene expression values were higher in FS1 cells. Cx43 expression was also membrane-associated in FS1 cells but barely detectable in TCam-2 cells. Accordingly, a high gene expression value of Cx43 was measured for FS1 and a low value for TCam-2 cells. Cx45 was primary located in the cytoplasm of FS1 and TCam-2 cells and revealed similar low to medium gene expression values in both cell lines. Overall, results were comparable with corresponding biopsies. Additionally, both FS1 and TCam-2 cells showed dye diffusion into neighboring cells. Conclusion: The junctional proteins Cx43, Cx45 and N-cadherin are expressed in FS1 and TCam-2 cells at mRNA and/or protein level in different amounts and localizations, and cells of both lines are functionally coupled among each other. Concerning the expression of these junctional proteins, FS1 and TCam-2 cells are largely representative for Sertoli and seminoma cells, respectively. Thus, these results provide the basis for further coculture experiments evaluating the role of junctional proteins in context with seminoma progression

How to address smart homes with a social robot? A multi-modal corpus of user interactions with an intelligent environment

Holthaus P, Leichsenring C, Bernotat J, et al. How to address smart homes with a social robot? A multi-modal corpus of user interactions with an intelligent environment. In: Calzolari N, ed. LREC 2016, Tenth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation. [Proceedings]. Paris: European Language Resources Association (ELRA); 2016: 3440-3446.In order to explore intuitive verbal and non-verbal interfaces in smart environments we recorded user interactions with an intelligent apartment. Besides offering various interactive capabilities itself, the apartment is also inhabited by a social robot that is available as a humanoid interface. This paper presents a multi-modal corpus that contains goal-directed actions of naive users in attempts to solve a number of predefined tasks. Alongside audio and video recordings, our data-set consists of large amount of temporally aligned sensory data and system behavior provided by the environment and its interactive components. Non-verbal system responses such as changes in light or display contents, as well as robot and apartment utterances and gestures serve as a rich basis for later in-depth analysis. Manual annotations provide further information about meta data like the current course of study and user behavior including the incorporated modality, all literal utterances, language features, emotional expressions, foci of attention, and addressees

Replication of the association of chromosomal region 9p21.3 with generalized aggressive periodontitis (gAgP) using an independent case-control cohort

Background: The human chromosomal region 9p21.3 has been shown to be strongly associated with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) in several Genome-wide Association Studies (GWAS). Recently, this region has also been shown to be associated with Aggressive Periodontitis (AgP), strengthening the hypothesis that the established epidemiological association between periodontitis and CHD is caused by a shared genetic background, in addition to common environmental and behavioural risk factors. However, the size of the analyzed cohorts in this primary analysis was small compared to other association studies on complex diseases. Using our own AgP cohort, we attempted to confirm the described associations for the chromosomal region 9p21.3. Methods: We analyzed our cohort consisting of patients suffering from the most severe form of AgP, generalized AgP (gAgP) (n = 130) and appropriate periodontally healthy control individuals (n = 339) by genotyping four tagging SNPs (rs2891168, rs1333042, rs1333048 and rs496892), located in the chromosomal region 9p21.3, that have been associated with AgP. Results: The results confirmed significant associations between three of the four SNPs and gAgP. The combination of our results with those from the study which described this association for the first time in a meta-analysis of the four tagging SNPs produced clearly lower p-values compared with the results of each individual study. According to these results, the most plausible genetic model for the association of all four tested SNPs with gAgP seems to be the multiplicative one. Conclusion: We positively replicated the finding of an association between the chromosomal region 9p21.3 and gAgP. This result strengthens support for the hypothesis that shared susceptibility genes within this chromosomal locus might be involved in the pathogenesis of both CHD and gAgP

Welcome to the future – How naïve users intuitively address an intelligent robotics apartment.

Bernotat J, Schiffhauer B, Eyssel FA, et al. Welcome to the future – How naïve users intuitively address an intelligent robotics apartment. In: Agah A, Cabibihan JJ, Howard AM, Salichs MA, He H, eds. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI). Vol 9979. Heidelberg/ Berlin: Springer; 2016: 982-992

Overcoming boundaries? questions of identity inthe experience of German-speaking exiles in Ireland 1933–45

Between 1933 and 1945 a relatively small number of people fled Nazi Germany and made their homes in Ireland. The oral and written testimonies collected and analysed here trace the physical and psychological journey of eight exiles who lost their homes, their jobs, their cultural and linguistic communities and sometimes even family members. The analysis of these sources focuses on how, as a consequence of this fundamentally felt loss, the exiles had to develop strategies to cope with these changed circumstances and rethink categories such as home, nationality and personal identity. The first chapter deals with Ireland in the context of exile studies. It explains why Ireland has only recently become part of international exile studies and gives a brief history of the discipline with special emphasis on the relevance of oral history. It also outlines the methodology used. The second chapter outlines how the category of identity is one of the most widely discussed in the human and social sciences and highlights core issues which are particularly relevant to the experience of exile, such as the precarious nature of personal identity, the subsequent need to build up a stable idea of the self and the traumatic effects a challenge to familiar strategies of identification can have on the individual. After exploring the experience of exile as a concrete manifestation of these issues, it also gives a more detailed account of the theologian Paul Tillich’s concept of the boundary and how his ideas may prove a useful tool in the analysis of the collected testimonies. The next three chapters are dedicated to the stories of the refugees. They follow a largely chronological order and trace the painful journey of the exiles who lost their homes, their jobs, their friends and family, and their cultural and linguistic communities and had to establish themselves in new surroundings in Ireland. With special emphasis on the testimonies by Monica Schefold, John Hennig, Peter Schwarz, Hans Reiss, Marianne Neuman, Herbert Karrach, George Clare, and Ernst von Glasersfeld, the chapters explore how identity is negotiated by each of the participants on their way from the familiar into the unknown. The third chapter deals with the lives the exiles led at home, their family backgrounds and their relationships with their respective home countries. In keeping with the overall argument that the experience of exile poses a fundamental challenge to individual identities, this chapter explores how the participants remember their lives before they were forced to emigrate and leave those lives behind. The narrative focuses on the categories of home life, school and work, and religion as they play an important part in how we see ourselves. The fourth chapter shows how the lives described in the previous chapter came under threat and follows the exiles’ journey to Ireland, focusing on their preparations, expectations and the administrative hurdles they had to overcome to be granted a visa and travel to Ireland. It also outlines the first impressions people had of Ireland and how they settled in their new unfamiliar surroundings. The fifth chapter concentrates on the lives of the exiles in Ireland and beyond. In looking at the attitudes the refugees were met with, issues surrounding language, culture and religion, and the contributions the exiles made to Irish society as well as any links to their host countries, its aim is to paint a vivid image of the complex nature of living in exile. In order to facilitate a comparison with the lives the exiles led in their home countries, the same categories of home life, school and work life, and religion have been chosen for special attention. The final chapter gives a summary of the findings and reflects on their implications for exile studies and identity studies

Acculturative stress and the development of a bicultural identity in Hugo Hamilton’s "Nazi Christmas" and "The Irish Worker"

Utifrån kortberättelserna "Nazi Christmas" och "The Irish Worker" av den irländsktyske författaren Hugo Hamilton lyfter Thorsten Päplow och Birte Schulz fram frågor som hänger samman med formandet av den kulturella identiteten hos barn med bakgrund i två kulturer. Deras bidrag ger en kort introduktion till forskningen kring ”biculturalism” och använder sig avpsykologiska och sociologiska insikter från detta område vid den litteräraanalysen. Fokus ligger här på huruvida kortberättelsernas huvudfigur, som växer upp med en tysk mor och en irländsk far, genomgår en identitetskrispå grund av sitt dubbla kulturella arv