Income dynamics in three societies: an investigation of social dynamics using "old" and "new" types of social indicators

"This paper sets out to offer new insight into social change, especially social transformation. The authors have drawn up new types of social indicators to encapsulate the nature of social change, with the Intention of widening its meaning. The investigation draws an longitudinal panel studies: the German Socio-Economic Panel Study 1990-96 (GSOEP) and the Hungarian Household Panel 1992-96 (HHP). The single, albeit crucial social dimension examined is the income position of families, including the mobility of families within the income structure. The analysis takes a comparative and a longitudinal approach. Hungary and East Germany, as societies in transition, are compared with West Germany, as a case of 'usual' social change, while the income mobility of individuals is traced over time. Both these aspects are examined in relation to modernization theories. White classical measures such as the Gini Coefficient show a remarkable stability of income inequality, the indicators elaborated here reveal a high degree of individual movement behind the macro stability." (author's abstract)Dieser Beitrag bietet neue Einsichten über Prozesse des sozialen Wandels, insbesondere in Transformationsgesellschaften. Die Autoren benutzen dazu "neue" Sozialindikatoren, mit denen Prozesse des sozialen Wandels besser als bisher abgebildet werden können. Die empirische Untersuchung basiert dabei auf vergleichenden Längsschnitt-Panel-Studien: dem deutschen sozio-oekonomischen Panel 1990-96 (SOEP) und dem ungarischen Haushalts-Panel 1992-96 (HHP). Die Einkommenspositionen von Familien unter Berücksichtigung ihrer Mobilität innerhalb der sich verändernden Einkommensstruktur stehen als entscheidende, soziale Dimension im Mittelpunkt. Die Analysen der Einkommensmobilität erfolgen vergleichend und im Längsschnitt. Ungarn und Ostdeutschland, als Transformationsgesellschaften, werden mit Westdeutschland verglichen, wobei Westdeutschland als Beispiel für "normalen" sozialen Wandel steht. Beobachtbare individuelle und strukturelle Mobilitätsprozesse werden in Beziehung zu Modernisierungstheorien untersucht. Im Gegensatz zur Untersuchung anhand klassischer Meßinstrumente wie dem Gini-Koeffizienten, die eine hohe Stabilität der Einkommensgleichheit dokumentieren, zeigen die hier verwendeten Indikatoren ein hohes Maß an individueller Bewegung hinter der Makro-Stabilität auf. (HH

Combined exome and whole-genome sequencing identifies mutations in ARMC4 as a cause of primary ciliary dyskinesia with defects in the outer dynein arm

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare, genetically heterogeneous ciliopathy disorder affecting cilia and sperm motility. A range of ultrastructural defects of the axoneme underlie the disease, which is characterised by chronic respiratory symptoms and obstructive lung disease, infertility and body axis laterality defects. We applied a next-generation sequencing approach to identify the gene responsible for this phenotype in two consanguineous families

Nematode distribution and damage to yam in central and eastern Uganda

Yams (Dioscorea spp.) are food crops of growing significance in sub Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, nematodes are major pests to their production. A study was undertaken in major yam growing areas of Uganda to investigate the association of plant parasitic nematodes with damage symptoms. Nematodes were assessed from tubers, roots and surrounding soil for seven cultivars belonging to Dioscorea alata, D. bulbisiana, D. burkilliana and D. cayenensis at harvest. Pratylenchus sudanensis was found in the greatest density and was followed byMeloidogyne spp. Higher densities of both nematodes were observed in the tubers rather than roots. Although symptoms of cracking and galling were relatively low, P. sudanensis incidence was strongly associated with cracking and Meloidogyne spp. with galling. Pratylenchus sudanensis and Meloidogyne spp. incidence their associated damage were, however, negatively correlated, suggesting inter-species competition. Principal components analysis of data suggested that differences in susceptibility to P. sudanensis occur between yam cultivars and species

Analyticité des conditions de Whitney strictes

Nachdem Evelyn Brockhoff bereits seit Herbst 2003 das Amt kommissarisch geführt hatte, ist sie nunmehr zur neuen Direktorin des Frankfurter Instituts für Stadtgeschichte gewählt worden. Die promovierte Kunsthistorikerin ist die erste Frau an der Spitze des 1436 eingerichteten Archivs, dessen stellvertretende Leiterin sie seit 1996 war. Mehr in Archiv.net Zu Frankfurter Schweinereien: Dazu gibt es einen Artikel im Newsletter http://www.stadtgeschichte-ffm.de/aktuelles/newsletter/newsletter_02...

Gold nanoparticles assembled with dithiocarbamate-anchored molecular wires

A protocol for the bottom-up self-assembly of nanogaps is developed through molecular linking of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Two €-conjugated oligo(phenylene ethynylene) molecules (OPE) with dithiocarbamate anchoring groups are used as ligands for the AuNPs. OPE-4S with a dithiocarbamate in each end of the molecule and a reference molecule OPE-2S with only a single dithiocarbamate end group. The linking mechanism of OPE-4S is investigated by using a combination of TEM, UV-Vis absorption and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) as well as studying the effect of varying the OPE-4S to AuNP concentration ratio. UV-Vis absorption confirms the formation of AuNP aggregates by the appearance of an extended plasmon band (EPB) for which the red shift and intensity depend on the OPE-4S:AuNP ratio. SERS confirms the presence of OPE-4S and shows a gradual increase of the signal intensity with increasing OPE-4S:AuNP ratios up to a ratio of about 4000, after which the SERS intensity does not increase significantly. For OPE-2S, no linking is observed below full coverage of the AuNPs indicating that the observed aggregate formation at high OPE-2S:AuNP ratios, above full AuNP coverage, is most likely of a physical nature (van der Waals forces or €-€ interactions)

Roles for Drosophila melanogaster myosin IB in maintenance of enterocyte brush-border structure and resistance to the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas entomophila

Author Posting. © American Society for Cell Biology, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Society for Cell Biology for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Molecular Biology of the Cell 18 (2007): 4625-4636, doi:10.1091/mbc.E07-02-0191.Drosophila myosin IB (Myo1B) is one of two class I myosins in the Drosophila genome. In the larval and adult midgut enterocyte, Myo1B is present within the microvillus (MV) of the apical brush border (BB) where it forms lateral tethers between the MV membrane and underlying actin filament core. Expression of green fluorescent protein-Myo1B tail domain in the larval gut showed that the tail domain is sufficient for localization of Myo1B to the BB. A Myo1B deletion mutation exhibited normal larval gut physiology with respect to food uptake, clearance, and pH regulation. However, there is a threefold increase in terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling-positive enterocyte nuclei in the Myo1B mutant. Ultrastructural analysis of mutant midgut revealed many perturbations in the BB, including membrane tethering defects, MV vesiculation, and membrane shedding. The apical localization of both singed (fascin) and Dmoesin is impaired. BBs isolated from mutant and control midgut revealed that the loss of Myo1B causes the BB membrane and underlying cytoskeleton to become destabilized. Myo1B mutant larvae also exhibit enhanced sensitivity to oral infection by the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas entomophila, and severe cytoskeletal defects are observed in the BB of proximal midgut epithelial cells soon after infection. Resistance to P. entomophila infection is restored in Myo1B mutant larvae expressing a Myo1B transgene. These results indicate that Myo1B may play a role in the local midgut response pathway of the Imd innate immune response to Gram-negative bacterial infection.This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants DK-25387 (to M.S.M.), DK-55389 (to Jon Morrow, Yale School of Medicine), and GM-52857 (to L.G.T.) and a research grant from the Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America (to M.S.M.)