Urbane Lebenswelten. Lebensformen, -stile und welten im multikulturellen städtischen Raum

Diese Dissertation fokussiert die lebensweltliche Dimension des städtischen Lebens. Anknüpfend an eine theoretische Reflexion gesellschaftlicher Transformationsprozesse innerhalb der Postmoderne, die zugleich den Interpretationsrahmen des empirischen Materials absteckt, wird am Beispiel Köln-Ehrenfelds das Zusammenleben im Quartier unter den Bedingungen hoher Diversität herausgearbeitet. Entlang des des Materials wird rekonstruiert, wie sich das Alltagsleben der Menschen gestaltet, wie sie sich mit ihren differenten Lebensstilen und -formen positionieren, wie sie mit der lebensweltlichen Diversität umgehen und in welches Verhältnis sie zueinander treten. Ein besonderes Augenmerk liegt dabei auf dem Stellenwert der Multikulturalität für das Zusammenleben im Quartier. Sichtbar wird, wie sich die Individuen auf ihre je spezifische Weise im Quartier verorten, sich das Viertel im Alltagsleben aneignen, ihre lebensweltlichen Nischen und Wir-Gruppen innerhalb und außerhalb des Stadtteils suchen und finden. Aus dieser Perspektive präsentiert sich der Stadtteil als ein unzusammenhängendes, aber oftmals selbstverständliches Nebeneinander zahlreicher Lebensstile, Lebensstilgruppen und Milieus, ja sogar ganz unterschiedlicher individueller 'Soziosphären', wie Martin Albrow es bezeichnet. Die Multikulturalität des Quartiers manifestiert sich auf eine Weise, die es notwendig macht, den engen ethnisch zugespitzten Begriff zu erweitern. Kulturelle Differenz in ihrer 'ethnischen' Bedeutung relativiert sich somit zu einer Differenzlinie unter zahlreichen anderen. Darüber hinaus wird deutlich, dass der städtische Alltag weitaus reibungsloser funktioniert, als die 'Verfallssemantik' suggeriert, die den stadtsoziologischen und besonders auch öffentlichen Diskurs zunehmend bestimmt und nicht selten die EinwanderInnen und ein durch sie importiertes Zuviel an Fremdheit als Problem markiert. Denn die lebensweltlichen Orientierungen sind nicht zuletzt auf der Basis der funktionalen Ausdifferenzierung weitgehend zur Privatsache geronnen. Der alltägliche Umgang miteinander ist dabei weitgehend durch das geprägt, was sich in Anknüpfung an Georg Simmel als 'Reserviertheit' des Städters kennzeichnen lässt. Die allgemeine Fremdheit, die das urbane Leben kennzeichnet, wird von den Menschen häufig in großer Selbstverständlichkeit gehandhabt und es manifestiert sich eine Form urbaner Kompetenz, die in ihrer Bedeutung herausgearbeitet wird

School as a safe place. Flight as a challenge for social work at school

Der Schulbesuch geflüchteter Kinder und Jugendlicher ist ein nach der UN-Kinderrechtskonvention verbrieft es Recht. Zudem kann die Schule für die Kinder zum Ort der Bewältigung ihrer schwierigen Lebenslage werden. Daher ist sie in ihrer Bedeutung als "sicherer Ort" aufgerufen. Auf der Basis empirischen Materials aus einem Lehrforschungsprojekt werden die besondere Rolle und die Möglichkeiten der Schulsozialarbeit im Fluchtkontext herausgearbeitet und die Perspektiven der verschiedenen Beteiligten auf Schule und Bildung rekonstruiert. (DIPF/Orig.)School attendance of refugee children and juveniles is a chartered right according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Moreover, the school itself can be a place for the children to cope with their difficult circumstances. Therefore it is addressed in its role as a "safe place". On the basis of empirical findings of a teaching research project we will elaborate the particular role as well as the possibilities of school social work in the context of flight. Furthermore, we will reconstruct the perspectives of the different participants on school and education. (DIPF/Orig.

Hybridization in an isolated population of blesbok and red hartebeest

Hybridization in antelope species has been widely reported in South African national parks and provincial reserves as well as on private land due to anthropogenic effects. In a closed management setting, hybridization may occur due to the crossbreeding of closely related species with unequal sex ratios, resulting in either sterile or fertile offspring. In this study, we used molecular techniques to evaluate the risk of anthropogenic hybridization between blesbok (Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi) and red hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus caama) in an isolated group that purposely included the two species with unequal sex ratios (one red hartebeest male and 19 male and female blesbok). Genetic analysis based on microsatellites confirmed the presence of seven hybrid individuals. Mitochondrial analysis verified that hybridization occurred between blesbok females and the red hartebeest male. STRUCTURE and NEWHYBRIDS classified the hybrids as F1. It is suspected that the hybrid individuals were sterile as the males had undeveloped testes and only F1 hybrids were detected. Thus, the risk of hybridization between these two species may be limited in the wild. In captive settings, genetic monitoring should be included in management plans for blesbok and red hartebeest to ensure that the long-term consequences of wasted reproductive effort are limited

Farmers' risk preferences in 11 European farming systems: A multi-country replication of Bocquého et al. (2014)

We replicate Bocquého et al. (2014), who used multiple price lists to investigate the risk preferences of 107 French farmers. We collected new data from 1430 participants in 11 European farming systems. In agreement with the original study, farmers' risk preferences are best described by Cumulative Prospect Theory. Structural model estimates show that farmers in the new samples are, on average, less loss averse and more susceptible to probability distortion than in the original study. Explorative analyses indicate differences between estimation approaches, as well as heterogeneity between and within samples. We discuss challenges in replications of economic experiments with farmers across farming contexts

Farmers' risk preferences in 11 European farming systems: A multi-country replication of Bocqueho et al. (2014)

We replicate Bocqueho et al. (2014), who used multiple price lists to investigate the risk preferences of 107 French farmers. We collected new data from 1430 participants in 11 European farming systems. In agreement with the original study, farmers' risk preferences are best described by Cumulative Prospect Theory. Structural model estimates show that farmers in the new samples are, on average, less loss averse and more susceptible to probability distortion than in the original study. Explorative analyses indicate differences between estimation approaches, as well as heterogeneity between and within samples. We discuss challenges in replications of economic experiments with farmers across farming contexts

Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis

Deletion of the thrombin cleavage domain of osteopontin mediates breast cancer cell adhesion, proteolytic activity, tumorgenicity, and metastasis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted phosphoprotein often overexpressed at high levels in the blood and primary tumors of breast cancer patients. OPN contains two integrin-binding sites and a thrombin cleavage domain located in close proximity to each other.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To study the role of the thrombin cleavage site of OPN, MDA-MB-468 human breast cancer cells were stably transfected with either wildtype OPN (468-OPN), mutant OPN lacking the thrombin cleavage domain (468-ΔTC) or an empty vector (468-CON) and assessed for <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>functional differences in malignant/metastatic behavior.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All three cell lines were found to equivalently express thrombin, tissue factor, CD44, αvβ5 integrin and β1 integrin. Relative to 468-OPN and 468-CON cells, 468-ΔTC cells expressing OPN with a deleted thrombin cleavage domain demonstrated decreased cell adhesion (p < 0.001), decreased mRNA expression of MCAM, maspin and TRAIL (p < 0.01), and increased uPA expression and activity (p < 0.01) <it>in vitro</it>. Furthermore, injection of 468-ΔTC cells into the mammary fat pad of nude mice resulted in decreased primary tumor latency time (p < 0.01) and increased primary tumor growth and lymph node metastatic burden (p < 0.001) compared to 468-OPN and 468-CON cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results presented here suggest that expression of thrombin-uncleavable OPN imparts an early tumor formation advantage as well as a metastatic advantage for breast cancer cells, possibly due to increased proteolytic activity and decreased adhesion and apoptosis. Clarification of the mechanisms responsible for these observations and the translation of this knowledge into the clinic could ultimately provide new therapeutic opportunities for combating breast cancer.</p

In Vivo Evaluation of Retinal Neurodegeneration in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

To evaluate macular morphology in the eyes of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) with or without optic neuritis (ON) in previous history.Optical coherence tomography (OCT) examination was performed in thirty-nine patients with MS and in thirty-three healthy subjects. The raw macular OCT data were processed using OCTRIMA software. The circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and the weighted mean thickness of the total retina and 6 intraretinal layers were obtained for each eye. The eyes of MS patients were divided into a group of 39 ON-affected eyes, and into a group of 34 eyes with no history of ON for the statistical analyses. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to determine which parameter can discriminate best between the non-affected group and controls.The circumpapillary RNFL thickness was significantly decreased in the non-affected eyes compared to controls group only in the temporal quadrant (p = 0.001) while it was decreased in the affected eyes of the MS patients in all quadrants compared to the non-affected eyes (p<0.05 in each comparison). The thickness of the total retina, RNFL, ganglion cell layer and inner plexiform layer complex (GCL+IPL) and ganglion cell complex (GCC, comprising the RNFL and GCL+IPL) in the macula was significantly decreased in the non-affected eyes compared to controls (p<0.05 for each comparison) and in the ON-affected eyes compared to the non-affected eyes (p<0.001 for each comparison). The largest area under the ROC curve (0.892) was obtained for the weighted mean thickness of the GCC. The EDSS score showed the strongest correlation with the GCL+IPL and GCC thickness (p = 0.007, r = 0.43 for both variables).Thinning of the inner retinal layers is present in eyes of MS patients regardless of previous ON. Macular OCT image segmentation might provide a better insight into the pathology of neuronal loss and could therefore play an important role in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with MS

The contribution of insects to global forest deadwood decomposition

The amount of carbon stored in deadwood is equivalent to about 8 per cent of the global forest carbon stocks. The decomposition of deadwood is largely governed by climate with decomposer groups—such as microorganisms and insects—contributing to variations in the decomposition rates. At the global scale, the contribution of insects to the decomposition of deadwood and carbon release remains poorly understood. Here we present a field experiment of wood decomposition across 55 forest sites and 6 continents. We find that the deadwood decomposition rates increase with temperature, and the strongest temperature effect is found at high precipitation levels. Precipitation affects the decomposition rates negatively at low temperatures and positively at high temperatures. As a net effect—including the direct consumption by insects and indirect effects through interactions with microorganisms—insects accelerate the decomposition in tropical forests (3.9% median mass loss per year). In temperate and boreal forests, we find weak positive and negative effects with a median mass loss of 0.9 per cent and −0.1 per cent per year, respectively. Furthermore, we apply the experimentally derived decomposition function to a global map of deadwood carbon synthesized from empirical and remote-sensing data, obtaining an estimate of 10.9 ± 3.2 petagram of carbon per year released from deadwood globally, with 93 per cent originating from tropical forests. Globally, the net effect of insects may account for 29 per cent of the carbon flux from deadwood, which suggests a functional importance of insects in the decomposition of deadwood and the carbon cycle