Demographischer Wandel in dünn besiedelten, strukturschwachen Räumen - was ist zu tun? Impulsstatement

Deutschlands Bevölkerung nimmt ab, wird älter und internationaler. Was perspektivisch auf die Bundesrepublik insgesamt zukommt, findet in den ländlichen, peripheren Regionen Ostdeutschlands bereits statt: Einbruch der Geburtenrate und anhaltende Wanderungsverluste haben bereits zu starken Bevölkerungsrückgängen bei gleichzeitiger Alterung der Bevölkerung geführt. Der demographische Wandel zeigt hier siedlungsstrukturelle Relevanz. Im Modellvorhaben der Raumordnung (MORO) „Anpassungsstrategien für ländliche/periphere Regionen mit starkem Bevölkerungsrückgang in den neuen Bundesländern“ haben sich drei Modellregionen mit Ansätzen zur Neuausrichtung der Infrastrukturausstattung auseinander gesetzt. Der Beitrag präsentiert die wesentlichen Ansätze der Modellregionen und leitet sechs zentrale Schlussfolgerungen für die Bewältigung der demographischen Herausforderungen in ländlichen, peripheren Regionen ab.Germany’s population is declining, getting older and becoming more international. What can be seen as the prospect for the Federal Republic of Germany in its entirety is already a reality for the rural and peripheral regions of eastern Germany: falling birth rates and the continuing net loss of population from outward migration have already resulted in a sharp decline in overall population levels, with the remaining population steadily getting older. Demographic change of this kind is highly relevant with regard to settlement structure. Within the framework of the Model Project for Spatial Planning (MORO) dedicated to exploring “Adjustment strategies for rural/peripheral regions in eastern Germany currently undergoing severe population depletion”, three model regions have been investigating strategies for realigning infrastructure provision. This article describes the main strategies being pursued in the model regions, and from these derives six key conclusions for overcoming the demographic challenges facing rural and peripheral regions

Infrastruktur als Aspekt von Lebensqualität und ihr Einfluss auf die Lebenszufriedenheit von Bewohnern in Kleinstädten des Regionstyps zentrale Lage in Deutschland

Die Lebenszufriedenheit ist nach den Befunden der meisten (inter)nationalen Studien in Kleinstädten höher als in den einwohnerstärkeren Stadttypen. Um einen detaillierten Eindruck von der Situation in Deutschland zu bekommen, wird in diesem Beitrag mittels einer Bevölkerungsbefragung in acht deutschen Kleinstädten untersucht, wie stark die Bedeutung der Infrastrukturausstattung als Aspekt von Lebensqualität sowie der Erreichbarkeit von Infrastruktur für die Lebenszufriedenheit vor Ort ist und ob nicht der Faktor des sozialen Zusammenhalts stärker auf die Zufriedenheit wirkt. Es lässt sich festhalten, dass das Infrastrukturangebot als Aspekt objektiv messbarer Lebensqualität nicht am stärksten auf die Lebenszufriedenheit wirkt. Die Bevölkerung der Kleinstädte in zentralen Lagen nimmt offenbar die Infrastrukturangebote der benachbarten Großstädte und anderer Orte wahr und ist sehr zufrieden mit dem Leben vor Ort, trotz eines geringen Zufriedenheitswerts bezüglich der Infrastrukturausstattung. Damit bestätigt die Untersuchung tendenziell das Borrowing-Size-Konzept, wonach kleine Städte im Umland von den Funktionen der Kernstadt profitieren. Dagegen sind es die beiden Faktoren des sozialen Zusammenhalts und die Zufriedenheit mit den Leistungen der örtlichen Verwaltung, die stark mit der individuellen Lebenszufriedenheit vor Ort zusammenhängen. Es stellt sich für die weitere Forschung die Frage, welche Faktoren lokalen Gemeinsinn erklären und wie dieser durch politische Maßnahmen verbessert werden kann.According to most (inter)national studies, life satisfaction in small towns is higher than in other types of towns with more inhabitants. With a population survey in eight German cities, we examine the importance of the infrastructure as an aspect of quality of life and the accessibility of infrastructure for local life satisfaction and whether or not the factor of social cohesion has a stronger impact on life satisfaction. The results show a differentiated picture: First, the infrastructure offer, as an aspect of objectively measurable quality of life does not have the greatest impact on life satisfaction. The population of the small towns in central locations apparently takes advantage of the infrastructure offers of their neighbouring towns and other places. Somehow, they are very satisfied with life on site, despite a low level of satisfaction with the infrastructure. The study thus tends to confirm the borrowing size concept, according to which small towns in the surrounding area benefit from the functions of the core city. On the other hand, the two factors of social cohesion and satisfaction with the performance of the local administration are closely related to the individual life satisfaction on site. For further research, the question arises, as which factors can explain local common sense best and how this can be improved through political measures

Ground deformation analysis at Campi Flegrei (Southern Italy) by CGPS and tide-gauge network

Campi Flegrei caldera is located 15 km west of the city of Naples, within the central-southern sector of a large graben called Campanian Plain. It is an active volcanic area marked by a quasi-circular caldera depression, formed by a huge ignimbritic eruption occurred about 37000 years ago. This caldera was generated by several collapses produced by strong explosive eruptions (the last eruption, occurred in 1538, built an about 130 m spatter cone called Mt. Nuovo). Campi Flegrei area periodically experiences significant deformation episodes, with uplift phenomena up to more than 3.5 m in 15 years (from 1970 to 1984), which caused during 1983-84 the temporary evacuation of about 40000 people from the ancient part of Pozzuoli town. The deformation field obtainable by CGPS and tidegauge stations plays an important role for the modelling and interpretation of volcanic phenomena, as well as for forecasting purposes. The structural complexity of the Campi Flegrei area, together with the evidence of a strong interaction between magmatic chamber and shallow geothermal system, calls for a detailed characterization of the substructure and of magma-water interaction processes. The incoming experiment of deep drilling, down to about 4 km, will give detailed structural and physical constraints able to resolve the intrinsic ambiguities of geophysical data and in particular geodetic ones. In this poster we describe the recent ground deformations at Campi Flegrei area by means of GPS technique and tide gauge stations, discussing the possible interpretations also in light of further constraints likely coming from the next CFDDP (Campi Flegrei Deep Drilling) deep drilling experiment

HuSKY: a healthy nutrition score based on food intake of children and adolescents in Germany

For many epidemiological questions an overall indicator of healthy nutrition can be useful. Based on the data from the FFQ of the German Health Interview and Examination Study for children and adolescents (KiGGS) we developed a healthy nutrition score based on a comparison with current recommendations for children and adolescents. We observed independent and statistically significant relationships between the nutrition score and age, sex, socio-economic status, immigration background, level of urbanisation and residence in former East v. former West Germany. Furthermore, the nutrition score was statistically significantly related to serum concentrations of homocysteine (inverse association) and folate (positive associations). The construction of a healthy nutrition score appears to be useful for several reasons. For instance, our score can be used to summarise an abundance of dietary information to a single measure, to get an overall impression of diets of individuals or groups, which can be useful to detect certain risk groups

Potential determinants of obesity among children and adolescents in Germany: results from the cross-sectional KiGGS study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Obesity among children and adolescents is a growing public health problem. The aim of the present paper is to identify potential determinants of obesity and risk groups among 3- to 17-year old children and adolescents to provide a basis for effective prevention strategies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were collected in the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS), a nationally representative and comprehensive data set on health behaviour and health status of German children and adolescents. Body height and weight were measured and body mass index (BMI) was classified according to IOTF cut-off points. Statistical analyses were conducted on 13,450 non-underweight children and adolescents aged 3 to 17 years. The association between overweight, obesity and several potential determinants was analysed for this group as well as for three socio-economic status (SES) groups. A multiple logistic regression model with obesity as the dependent variable was also calculated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The strongest association with obesity was observed for parental overweight and for low SES. Furthermore, a positive association with both overweight (including obesity) and obesity was seen for maternal smoking during pregnancy, high weight gain during pregnancy (only for mothers of normal weight), high birth weight, and high media consumption. In addition, high intakes of meat and sausages, total beverages, water and tea, total food and beverages, as well as energy-providing food and beverages were significantly associated with overweight as well as with obesity. Long sleep time was negatively associated with obesity among 3- to 10-year olds. Determinants of obesity occurred more often among children and adolescents with low SES.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Parental overweight and a low SES are major potential determinants of obesity. Families with these characteristics should be focused on in obesity prevention.</p

Polluted discourse: Communication and myths in a climate of denial

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. Human activities, principally the burning of fossil fuels, are changing the climate. Despite widespread scientific consensus on this fact, communicating the risks posed by climate change to the public remains challenging. We examine the role of contrarian narratives in climate communication, focusing on two terminological claims—(1) that scientists abandoned the term global warming in favor of climate change in response to a change in temperature evolution, and (2) that catastrophic anthropogenic global warming is the mainstream scientific position—and find them to be without merit. We discuss how scientists and communicators can neutralize these myths while informing the public. Finally, we summarize the existing literature on word choice in climate communications and suggest best practices based on target audiences

Spatially Correlated Gene Expression in Bacterial Groups: The Role of Lineage History, Spatial Gradients, and Cell-Cell Interactions

Gene expression levels in clonal bacterial groups have been found to be spatially correlated. These correlations can partly be explained by the shared lineage history of nearby cells, although they could also arise from local cell-cell interactions. Here, we present a quantitative framework that allows us to disentangle the contributions of lineage history, long-range spatial gradients, and local cell-cell interactions to spatial correlations in gene expression. We study pathways involved in toxin production, SOS stress response, and metabolism in Escherichia coli microcolonies and find for all pathways that shared lineage history is the main cause of spatial correlations in gene expression levels. However, long-range spatial gradients and local cell-cell interactions also contributed to spatial correlations in SOS response, amino acid biosynthesis, and overall metabolic activity. Together, our data show that the phenotype of a cell is influenced by its lineage history and population context, raising the question of whether bacteria can arrange their activities in space to perform functions they cannot achieve alone