Technologie- und Erkenntnistransfer aus der Wissenschaft in die Industrie : eine explorative Untersuchung in der deutschen Material- und Werkstoffforschung

Wie können Erkenntnisse aus der Grundlagenforschung für die industrielle Praxis frühzeitig genutzt werden? Welche Wege für den Erkenntnistransfer gibt es? Und vor allem: Wie kann dieser Prozess beschleunigt werden? Das sind die zentralen Fragen, auf die der vorliegende Band am Beispiel der Materialwissenschaften eine Antwort sucht. In den zurückliegenden drei Jahrzehnten haben sich die Materialwissenschaften als eigenständige Disziplin etabliert, die Technologien für alle industriellen Branchen bereitstellt. Die Werkstoffe spielen in vielen Technologiesektoren sogar eine Schlüsselrolle im Innovationsprozess. Allerdings zeigt sich immer deutlicher, dass der Technologietransfer an Dynamik verliert. Vor diesem Hintergrund hat die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft eine Studie unterstützt, deren Ergebnisse hiermit vorliegen

Biliverdin modulates the expression of C5aR in response to endotoxin in part via mTOR signaling

Macrophages play a crucial role in the maintenance and resolution of inflammation and express a number of pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules in response to stressors. Among them, the complement receptor 5a (C5aR) plays an integral role in the development of inflammatory disorders. Biliverdin and bilirubin, products of heme catabolism, exert anti-inflammatory effects and inhibit complement activation. Here, we define the effects of biliverdin on C5aR expression in macrophages and the roles of Akt and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in these responses. Biliverdin administration inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced C5aR expression (without altering basal expression), an effect partially blocked by rapamycin, an inhibitor of mTOR signaling. Biliverdin also reduced LPS-dependent expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-6. Collectively, these data indicate that biliverdin regulates LPS-mediated expression of C5aR via the mTOR pathway, revealing an additional mechanism underlying biliverdin's anti-inflammatory effects

Improving the social protection of the urban poor and near-poor in Jordan The potential of micro-insurance

Auf dem Hintergrund zunehmender Armut in Jordanien und einer zunehmenden urbanen Population ohne soziale Absicherung bei Arbeitslosigkeit, Krankheit und Berufsunfaehigkeit untersucht das Projekt die Moeglichkeit der Mikro-Versicherung als einen neuen vielversprechenden Ansatz der Armutsbekaempfung, wo konventionelle Sozialversicherungssysteme nicht mehr greifen. Die Studie verdeutlicht, dass ein Grossteil der extrem armen urbanen Haushalte in der Lage waere, einen geringen Versicherungsbeitrag zu leisten, wenn es solche Versicherungsangebote gaebe. Im folgenden wird ein Konzept fuer einen solchen Versicherungsplan skizziert, der mit Kooperation von kommerziellen Versicherungstraegern und Wohlfahrtsverbaenden zustande kommen koennte. Daneben werden auch die Defizite einer Mikro-Versicherung diskutiert und Moeglichkeiten eines differenzierten, fuer verschiedenste Bevoelkerungsgruppen zutreffenden Versicherungsschutzes sowie die Erweiterung und Verbesserung des existierenden Sozialversicherungssystems in Jordanien diskutiert. (ICH)'The present study proposes that non-governmental and commercial institutions in Jordan should seek partnership in micro-insurance projects and recommends that donors support such initiatives. It argues that micro-insurance is a new promising approach to reducing the vulnerability of urban population groups that are difficult for conventional social protection strategies to cover. Nevertheless, social assistance and social insurance still have their role to play. The vulnerability of households to risks (such as the death, work disability or unemployment of their provider, illness or old age) is a major factor contributing to widespread poverty in Jordan. Almost half the population lacks access to social protection instruments, and hence the occurrence of risks leads to serious declines in well-being - often below the poverty line. The present gap in social protection provision is of special concern for low-income groups. Most of them are informal sector employees and are thus not covered by social insurance. Private insurance is too expensive for them and their ability to save is limited. Traditional mutual support among relatives, friends and neighbours is limited in scope and not sufficiently reliable to constitute effective protection. Social assistance, finally, reaches less than 4 per cent of the population. Micro-insurance is a feasible approach to closing part of this gap. The study shows that a high number of urban households would be willing to provide for the future and are able to pay small insurance primes but lack adequate provisioning offers. The study presents the design of a suitable product and outlines the potential organisational shape of cooperation between non-governmental organisations and commercial insurance companies. These partners would, with the backing of the state, be able to offer a term life and work disability micro-insurance product at an affordable price. The insurance company would design the product, invest reserves and re-insure the scheme, while the non-governmental organisation (a welfare organisation or a microfinance institution) would assume responsibility for product marketing, underwriting and claim management. The idea behind such partnership is to combine the strengths of the actors involved, in this way reducing risk potentials and lowering transaction and information costs. However, the study also stresses that microinsurance cannot provide for comprehensive social protection: for the time being, it would be possible to offer only life and work-disability insurance. Moreover, the micro-insurance approach is not an appropriate approach to covering the entire urban population. While it can reduce the vulnerability of the non-poor, it does not present a solution for the desperately poor, who have no extra-income for insurance. Accordingly, what is required is a threefold strategy. The study recommends the following measures: (1) launch of micro-insurance for the vulnerable non-poor, (2) widening of the outreach of social assistance to all of the desperately poor and (3) reform of the operating social insurance schemes with an eye to restoring their financial sustainability and making them fit for a future step-by-step extension of their coverage to additional groups of the employed.' (author's abstract)German title: Die Verbesserung der sozialen Sicherheit der armen Stadtbevoelkerung in Jordanien: die Moeglichkeiten einer Mikro-VersicherungSIGLEAvailable from UuStB Koeln(38)-20020106654 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Filaggrin deficiency results in a dose-dependent impairment of the epidermal barrier in ichthyosis vulgaris

Oncogene-induced senescence acts as a barrier against tumor formation and has been implicated as the mechanism preventing the transformation of benign melanocytic lesions that frequently harbour oncogenic B-RAF or N-RAS mutations. In the present study we systematically assessed the relative importance of the tumor suppressor proteins p53, p21Waf1, pRb and p16INK4a in mediating oncogene-induced senescence in human melanocytes. We now show that oncogenic N-RAS induced senescence in melanocytes is associated with DNA damage, a potent DNA damage response and the activation of both the p16INK4a/pRb andp53/p21Waf1 tumor suppressor pathways. Surprisingly neither the pharmacological inhibition of the DNA damage response pathway nor silencing of p53 expression had any detectable impact on oncogene-induced senescence in human melanocytes. Our data indicate that the pRb pathway is the dominant effector of senescence in these cells, as its specific inactivation delays the onset of senescence and weakens oncogene-induced proliferative arrest.1 page(s

Toward a Catalog of Human Genes and Proteins: Sequencing and Analysis of 500 Novel Complete Protein Coding Human cDNAs

With the complete human genomic sequence being unraveled, the focus will shift to gene identification and to the functional analysis of gene products. The generation of a set of cDNAs, both sequences and physical clones, which contains the complete and noninterrupted protein coding regions of all human genes will provide the indispensable tools for the systematic and comprehensive analysis of protein function to eventually understand the molecular basis of man. Here we report the sequencing and analysis of 500 novel human cDNAs containing the complete protein coding frame. Assignment to functional categories was possible for 52% (259) of the encoded proteins, the remaining fraction having no similarities with known proteins. By aligning the cDNA sequences with the sequences of the finished chromosomes 21 and 22 we identified a number of genes that either had been completely missed in the analysis of the genomic sequences or had been wrongly predicted. Three of these genes appear to be present in several copies. We conclude that full-length cDNA sequencing continues to be crucial also for the accurate identification of genes. The set of 500 novel cDNAs, and another 1000 full-coding cDNAs of known transcripts we have identified, adds up to cDNA representations covering 2%–5 % of all human genes. We thus substantially contribute to the generation of a gene catalog, consisting of both full-coding cDNA sequences and clones, which should be made freely available and will become an invaluable tool for detailed functional studies. [The sequence data described in this paper have been submitted to the EMBL database under the accession nos. given in Table 2.

Improving environmental practices in agricultural supply chains: The role of company-led standards

Food retailers and manufacturers are increasingly committing to address agricultural sustainability issues in their supply chains. In place of using established eco-certifications, many companies define their own supply chain sustainability standards. Scholars remain divided on whether we should expect such company-led programs to affect change. We use a major food retailer as a critical case to evaluate the effectiveness of a companyled supply chain standard in improving environmental farm management practices. We find that the companyled standard increases the adoption of most environmental best management practices among the company's fruit, vegetable and flower growers in South Africa. This result is robust across two identification strategies: a panel analysis of over 950 farm audits and a cross-sectional matching analysis using original survey data. Indepth interviews suggest that the program's unique focus on capacity building through audit visits by highly trained staff, coupled with a close business relationship between the retailer and their growers help to explain the increased effectiveness of the program as compared to other private environmental standards. Contrary to the argument that company-led initiatives are mere window dressing, this study provides a critical example of the positive role private governance mechanisms can play in improving environmental farm management practices globally