Changes in economic deprivation and parental self-efficacy: Unemployment, poverty, and the mediating effect of psychological distress

Objective: The article investigates the influence of three aspects of economic deprivation on parental self-efficacy, and whether, or to what extent, these effects are mediated by psychological distress. Background: Scholarship shows that psychological resources such as parental self-efficacy can attenuate the negative repercussions of poverty for families. The article builds on the family stress model that higlights the role of economic deprivation for family functioning by Conger and colleagues. It focuses on the consequences of transitioning into unemployment, objective poverty, and subjective poverty for parental self-efficacy, and the potential mediating effect of psychological distress. Method: Using data from the German Family Panel (pairfam) Waves 4 to 12 (2011–2020), Baron and Kenny mediation analyses are conducted based on fixed effects regressions with standard errors based on clustered bootstrap procedure. Results: The results show that transitioning into subjective poverty significantly decreases parental self-efficacy, and that only a marginal part of this effect is mediated by psychological distress. A transition into objective poverty, by contrast, has no effect on parental self-efficacy. Likewise, unemployment has no direct effect on parental self-efficacy. However, transitioning into short-term unemployment reduces psychological distress and thereby buffers parent’s self-efficacy. This does by contrast not apply for long-term unemployment. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate the importance of differentiating between specific aspects of economic deprivation when investigating its consequences for parental self-efficacy and considering psychological distress as a potential mediator. Moreover, the findings provide longitudinal evidence for the consequences of a transition into economic deprivation for parental self-efficacy and point to the presence of gender effects with regard to unemployment. - Appendix: https://ubp.uni-bamberg.de/jfr/index.php/jfr/article/view/997/809Fragestellung: Die Studie behandelt den Einfluss ökonomischer Deprivation auf die elterliche Selbstwirksamkeit und untersucht, inwieweit die resultierenden Effekte durch psychische Belastung mediiert werden. Hintergrund: Die bisherige Forschung legt nahe, dass psychologische Ressourcen wie elterliche Selbstwirksamkeit die negativen Auswirkungen von Armut für Familien abmildern können. Aufbauend auf dem Familienstressmodell von Conger et al., welches die Konsequenzen ökonomischer Deprivation für Familienfunktionen abbildet, untersucht die Studie die Folgen des Übergangs in Arbeitslosigkeit, objektive Armut und subjektive Armut für elterliche Selbstwirksamkeit sowie einen potentiell mediierenden Effekt psychischer Belastung. Methode: Unter Verwendung der Wellen 4 bis 12 (2011-2020) des Deutschen Familienpanels (pairfam) werden Baron- und Kenny-Mediationsanalysen auf Basis von Paneldatenmodellen mit fixen Effekten durchgeführt. Hierbei werden die Standardfehlern durch ein geclustertes Bootstrap-Verfahren ermittelt. Ergebnisse: Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Übergang in subjektive Armut die elterliche Selbstwirksamkeit signifikant reduziert. Nur ein geringer Teil dieses negativen Effekts wird hierbei durch psychische Belastung mediiert. Ein Übergang in objektive Armut hingegen hat keinen signifikanten Einfluss auf die elterliche Selbstwirksamkeit. Ebenso hat Arbeitslosigkeit keinen direkten Einfluss auf die elterliche Selbstwirksamkeit. Der Übergang in Kurzzeitarbeitslosigkeit verringert hingegen die psychische Belastung der Eltern und erhält somit ihre Selbstwirksamkeit kurzfristig. Dies trifft jedoch nicht auf von Langzeitarbeitslosigkeit betroffenen Eltern zu. Schlussfolgerung: Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen die Wichtigkeit, zwischen verschiedenen Aspekten von ökonomischer Deprivation und ihren Auswirkungen auf elterliche Selbstwirksamkeit zu differenzieren und psychische Belastung als potentiellen Mediator zu berücksichtigen. Durch die Verwendung längsschnittlicher Daten liefert die Studie Erkenntnisse zum Übergang in ökonomische Deprivation für die elterliche Selbstwirksamkeit. Zudem werden geschlechterspezifische Unterschiede insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit Arbeitslosigkeit aufgezeigt

Withanolides: Elucidating steroidal lactone biosynthesis in Nightshades

Withania somnifera (Solanaceae) is well known in ayurvedic medicine as a strengthening tonic for various medical purposes. Its effects are mainly due to withanolides, a class of steroidal lactones with diverse oxidation patterns present in various nightshade plants. Pharmacological studies attributed anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory properties to withanolides. However, obtaining medicinally active withanolides can be complicated, as complex mixtures are present in producing plants and total synthesis of withanolides is costly and time consuming. Therefore, investigation of their biosynthesis is important to enable biotechnological enhancement and to provide novel insights into plant steroid biochemistry. This work aimed to investigate withanolide biosynthesis in Physalis peruviana and Withania somnifera. Both plants were investigated for their main withanolides, as producers can accumulate a diverse array of withanolides, depending on the cultivation conditions. Here, besides several known withanolides, two yet unknown, truncated withanolides (irinan A (1) and B (2)) were isolated from P. peruviana and their structures were elucidated. As intermediates of withanolide biosynthesis were needed for enzyme assays but are neither known, nor commercially available, metabolic engineering in yeast was attempted to divert yeast ergosterol biosynthesis towards production of 24-methyldesmosterol (3), the last known precursor in withanolide biosynthesis. However, while production of the precursor 24-methylenecholesterol (4) was temporarily observed, 3 did not accumulate. Furthermore, based on the biosynthetic hypothesis, 21 cytochrome P450 (P450) and 14 dehydratase (DH) gene candidates were selected after analysis of three withanolide-producing species. Of those, 17 P450 and 6 DH candidates could be cloned and evaluated by gene silencing in W. somnifera, identifying 5 P450 and 2 DH gene candidates where silencing evoked significant decrease of the main withanolide (withaferin A, 5). Those candidates were further examined by heterologous expression experiments in the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana. Here activity on the substrate 24-methyldesmosterol was detected for one candidate (P450-7), while another exhibited activity on native cycloartenol (6) from the host plant (P450-17). Further investigation of P450-17 revealed that orthologs were present in tomato and potato, both non-producers of withanolides. In both plants P450-17 homologous genes are arranged in gene clusters, with neither the genes nor the cluster being reported before. In conclusion, this work provides insights into oxidations involved in withanolide biosynthesis and yet unknown phytosterol pathways in Solanaceae plants

Isolation and characterisation of irinans, androstane-type withanolides from Physalis peruviana L.

Withanolides are steroidal lactones widespread in Nightshade plants with often potent antiproliferative activities. Additionally, the structural diversity of this compound class holds much potential for the discovery of novel biological activity. Here, we report two newly characterised withanolides, named irinans, from Physalis peruviana with highly unusual truncated backbones that resemble mammalian androstane sex hormones. Based on biomimetic chemical reactions, we propose a model that links these compounds to withanolide biosynthesis. Irinans have potent antiproliferative activities, that are however lower than those of 4ß-hydroxywithanolide E. Our work establishes androwithanolides as a new subclass of withanolides

Improving Robustness of Jet Tagging Algorithms with Adversarial Training

Deep learning is a standard tool in the field of high-energy physics, facilitating considerable sensitivity enhancements for numerous analysis strategies. In particular, in identification of physics objects, such as jet flavor tagging, complex neural network architectures play a major role. However, these methods are reliant on accurate simulations. Mismodeling can lead to non-negligible differences in performance in data that need to be measured and calibrated against. We investigate the classifier response to input data with injected mismodelings and probe the vulnerability of flavor tagging algorithms via application of adversarial attacks. Subsequently, we present an adversarial training strategy that mitigates the impact of such simulated attacks and improves the classifier robustness. We examine the relationship between performance and vulnerability and show that this method constitutes a promising approach to reduce the vulnerability to poor modeling.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables. Replaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. Code accessible under https://github.com/AnnikaStein/Adversarial-Training-for-Jet-Taggin

Life Satisfaction during the Second Lockdown of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: The Effects of Local Restrictions and Respondents' Perceptions about the Pandemic

This study examines the consequences of the pandemic on subjective well-being. First, we investigate to what extent regional and temporal differences in COVID-19 restrictions can explain individuals' life satisfaction in Germany. Second, we examine to what extent "subjective" evaluations of the pandemic are related to life satisfaction. Third, we examine whether these relationships vary with gender, parenthood, and partnership status, or whether relationships changed regarding specific sub-populations (i.e., mothers, fathers, childless women/ men). Merging representative survey data from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA) and contextual data on COVID-19 restrictions (i.e., the stringency index), we analyze a sample of 32,258 individuals living in Germany in their regional settings on the NUTS-3 level during the "second lockdown" in spring 2021. Furthermore, we use the FReDA field period between April and June 2021 to assess temporal variations in COVID-19 restrictions and their association with life satisfaction. To answer our research questions, we compare aggregated means and use variance decomposition and multivariate regression models. Our results show strong regional and temporal differences in COVID-19 restrictions, but neither temporal nor regional differences in "subjective" perceived pandemic burden or in life satisfaction at the aggregated level. At the individual level, we find substantive negative associations between perceived pandemic burden and life satisfaction, which are particularly strong among mothers. Our study shows that individuals' negative perceptions of the pandemic are an important correlate to life satisfaction, whereas regional differences or temporal changes in COVID-19 restrictions appear to be irrelevant for the period under investigation

Auswertung der zeitlichen Lichtmodulation unter Verwendung von bildauflösenden Messgeräten

Reale Lichtszenen weisen oft eine Kombination aus verschiedenen Lichtquellen und auch Tageslicht auf. Die herkömmliche Messmethode erfordert für eine solche Szene mehrere Einzelmessungen mit einem Leuchtdichtephotometer (als Spot-TLMMessgerät) oder einem nah an der Lichtquelle platzierten Beleuchtungsstärke-Photometer. Diese Szenen können aber auch mit Hochgeschwindigkeitskameras oder bildgebende Leuchtdichtemessgeräten (engl. Imaging luminance measurement devices, ILMD) in einer Messung aufgenommen und ausgewertet werden. Ein derartiges Messverfahren beschreibt damit eine Alternative zur gängigen Methode und wird in diesem Beitrag anhand von gängigen Lampentypen demonstriert. Aus den Aufnahmen werden die Metriken zur zeitlichen Lichtmodulation (engl. temporal light modulation, TLM) berechnet, dabei werden die Parameter der einzelnen und der überlagerten Lichtquellen extrahiert und bewertet. Ein wesentlicher Vorteil der Aufnahme einer gesamten Szene ist es, dass auch die räumliche Verteilung der TLM betrachtet und in der Bewertung berücksichtig werden kann. In dieser Arbeit werden die Möglichkeiten und die Grenzen der bildgebenden TLM-Messung anhand von unter Laborbedingungen erstellten Beispiele aufgezeigt

Circulating vitamin D in relation to cancer incidence and survival of the head and neck and oesophagus in the EPIC cohort

Experimental and epidemiological data suggest that vitamin D play a role in pathogenesis and progression of cancer, but prospective data on head and neck cancer (HNC) and oesophagus cancer are limited. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study recruited 385,747 participants with blood samples between 1992 and 2000. This analysis includes 497 case-control pairs of the head and neck and oesophagus, as well as 443 additional controls. Circulating 25(OH)D3 were measured in pre-diagnostic samples and evaluated in relation to HNC and oesophagus cancer risk and post-diagnosis all-cause mortality. After controlling for risk factors, a doubling of 25(OH)D3 was associated with 30% lower odds of HNC (OR 0.70, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.56–0.88, Ptrend = 0.001). Subsequent analyses by anatomical sub-site indicated clear inverse associations with risk of larynx and hypopharynx cancer combined (OR 0.55, 95CI% 0.39–0.78) and oral cavity cancer (OR 0.60, 95CI% 0.42–0.87). Low 25(OH)D3 concentrations were also associated with higher risk of death from any cause among HNC cases. No clear association was seen with risk or survival for oesophageal cancer. Study participants with elevated circulating concentrations of 25(OH)D3 had decreased risk of HNC, as well as improved survival following diagnosis

First Steps Toward an Autonomous Accelerator, a Common Project Between DESY and KIT

Reinforcement Learning algorithms have risen in popularity in recent years in the accelerator physics community, showing potential in beam control and in the optimization and automation of tasks in accelerator operation. The Helmholtz AI project "Machine Learning toward Autonomous Accelerators" is a collaboration between DESY and KIT that works on investigating and developing RL applications for the automatic start-up of electron linear accelerators. The work is carried out in parallel at two similar research accelerators: ARES at DESY and FLUTE at KIT, giving the unique opportunity of transfer learning between facilities. One of the first steps of this project is the establishment of a common interface between the simulations and the machine, in order to test and apply various optimization approaches interchangeably between the two accelerators. In this paper we present the first results on the common interface and its application to beam focusing in ARES, and the idea of laser shaping with spatial light modulators at FLUTE