Merkmale, Einstellungen & Perspektiven deutscher Politikjournalisten angesichts aktueller Entwicklungen im Berufsfeld

Politikjournalismus befindet sich, wie der gesamte Journalismus, in einem technologisch und ökonomisch bedingten Wandlungsprozess. Das Berufsfeld verändert sich: Ressortstrukturen lösen sich auf, digitale Produktions- und Kommunikationstechniken beschleunigen und verändern die alltägliche journalistische Arbeit. Hieraus ergeben sich neue Möglichkeiten, aber auch neue Herausforderungen für Journalisten. Vor diesem Hintergrund führte die Arbeitsstelle Journalistik der Freien Universität Berlin, gefördert durch den DFJV, eine Onlinebefragung unter deutschen Politikjournalistinnen und -journalisten durch. Dabei galt es, ein Bild des „typischen Politikjournalisten“ zu zeichnen sowie Veränderungen von Berufsfeld und Arbeitsalltag offenzulegen

Netzwerte - Emergente transnationale Normen im Internetregulierungsdiskurs: eine vergleichende Analyse netzbasierter Aushandlungsprozesse zu SOPA (USA, 2011-2012) und dem Zugangserschwerungsgesetz (D, 2008-2011)

Diese Studie untersucht den Netzdiskurs und die beteiligten Akteure zu zwei gescheiterten Internet-Regulierungsinitiativen in Deutschland („Zugangserschwerungsgesetz“) und den USA („Stop Online Piracy Act“). Beide Gesetzesvorlagen hätten starke Eingriffe in die Infrastruktur des Internets zur Folge gehabt und ihre politischen Karrieren wurden von massiven (netz-)öffentlichen Protesten begleitet. Trotz der sachlichen Differenz der beiden Gesetzesentwürfe (Urheberrechtsverletzung / Kinderpornografie) sind ähnliche Argumentationsmuster vor allem innerhalb der oppositionellen Diskursstränge erkennbar. Wir deuten dies als Anzeichen einer Herausbildung transnationaler politischer Werte innerhalb der Netzgemeinschaft.Our study analyses the online discourse on two failed internet regulation attempts in the USA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and Germany (Access Impediment Act). Both policy proposals would have caused a massive intervention in the internet infrastructure and were accompanied by online and offline protests. Even though there were substantial differences within the proposals (one focusing on copyright enforcement, the other on the persecution of child pornography), we identify similar argumentation patterns among their opponents. These argumentation patterns are interrelated with a set of evolving transnational policy values among netizen

Gauge Symmetries, Symmetry Breaking, and Gauge-Invariant Approaches

Gauge symmetries play a central role, both in the mathematical foundations as well as the conceptual construction of modern (particle) physics theories. However, it is yet unclear whether they form a necessary component of theories, or whether they can be eliminated. It is also unclear whether they are merely an auxiliary tool to simplify (and possibly localize) calculations or whether they contain independent information. Therefore their status, both in physics and philosophy of physics, remains to be fully clarified. In this overview we review the current state of affairs on both the philosophy and the physics side. In particular, we focus on the circumstances in which the restriction of gauge theories to gauge invariant information on an observable level is warranted, using the Brout-Englert-Higgs theory as an example of particular current importance. Finally, we determine a set of yet to be answered questions to clarify the status of gauge symmetries

O VI Observations of the Onset of Convection Zones in Main-Sequence A Stars

If magnetic activity in outer stellar atmospheres is due to an interplay between rotation and subsurface convection, as is generally presumed, then one would not expect to observe indicators of activity in stars with T_eff > 8300 K. Any X-ray or ultraviolet line emission from hotter stars must be due either to a different mechanism or to an unresolved, active, binary companion. Due to their poor spatial resolution, X-ray instruments have been especially susceptible to source confusion. At wavelengths longward of 1216 Angstroms, the near ultraviolet spectra of stars hotter than this putative dividing line are dominated by photospheric continuum. We have used FUSE to obtain spectra of the subcoronal O VI emission lines, which lie at a wavelength where the photospheric continuum of the mid- and early-A stars is relatively weak. We observed 14 stars spanning a range in T_eff from 7720 to 10,000 K. Eleven of the 14 stars showed O VI emission lines, including 6 of the 8 targets with T_eff > 8300 K. At face value, this suggests that activity does not fall off with increasing temperature. However, the emission lines are narrower than expected from the projected rotational velocities of these rapidly-rotating stars, suggesting that the emission could come from unresolved late-type companions. Furthermore, the strength of the O VI emission is consistent with that expected from an unseen active K or M dwarf binary companinon, and the high x-ray to far uv luminosity ratios observed indicate that this must be the case. Our results are therefore consistent with earlier studies that have shown a rapid drop-off in activity at the radiative/convective boundary expected at T_eff about 8300 K, in agreement with conventional stellar structure models

The VAST Survey - I. Companions and the unexpected X-ray detection of B6-A7 stars

With an adaptive optics imaging survey of 148 B6-A7 stars, we have tested the hypothesis that unresolved lower-mass companions are the source of the unexpected X-ray detections of stars in this spectral type range. The sample is composed of 63 stars detected in X-rays within the ROSAT All-Sky Survey and 85 stars that form a control sample; both subsets have the same restricted distribution of spectral type, age, X-ray sensitivity and separation coverage. A total of 68 companion candidates are resolved with separations ranging from 0.3" to 26.2", with 23 new detections. The multiple star frequency of the X-ray sample based on companions resolved within the ROSAT error ellipse is found to be 43 (+6,-6)%. The corresponding control sample multiple star frequency is three times lower at 12 (+4,-3)% -- a difference of 31\pm7%. These results are presented in the first of a series of papers based on our Volume-limited A-Star (VAST) survey -- a comprehensive study of the multiplicity of A-type stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Towards the clinical implementation of pharmacogenetics in bipolar disorder.

BackgroundBipolar disorder (BD) is a psychiatric illness defined by pathological alterations between the mood states of mania and depression, causing disability, imposing healthcare costs and elevating the risk of suicide. Although effective treatments for BD exist, variability in outcomes leads to a large number of treatment failures, typically followed by a trial and error process of medication switches that can take years. Pharmacogenetic testing (PGT), by tailoring drug choice to an individual, may personalize and expedite treatment so as to identify more rapidly medications well suited to individual BD patients.DiscussionA number of associations have been made in BD between medication response phenotypes and specific genetic markers. However, to date clinical adoption of PGT has been limited, often citing questions that must be answered before it can be widely utilized. These include: What are the requirements of supporting evidence? How large is a clinically relevant effect? What degree of specificity and sensitivity are required? Does a given marker influence decision making and have clinical utility? In many cases, the answers to these questions remain unknown, and ultimately, the question of whether PGT is valid and useful must be determined empirically. Towards this aim, we have reviewed the literature and selected drug-genotype associations with the strongest evidence for utility in BD.SummaryBased upon these findings, we propose a preliminary panel for use in PGT, and a method by which the results of a PGT panel can be integrated for clinical interpretation. Finally, we argue that based on the sufficiency of accumulated evidence, PGT implementation studies are now warranted. We propose and discuss the design for a randomized clinical trial to test the use of PGT in the treatment of BD