Diskontinuierliche Erwerbskarrieren und Berufswechsel in den 1990ern : Strukturmuster und biografische Umgangsweisen betrieblich ausgebildeter Fachkräfte (Interrupted employment histories and change of occupation in the 1990s : structural pattern and biographical behaviour of qualified employees trained in companies)

"A widespread thesis assumes that as a consequence of the socio-economic change in industrial societies firstly the 'normal life' centred around gainful employment is disappearing and secondly the occupation is losing its institutional stability and thus its significance for employment and as an orientational quantity in the shaping of biographies. Even if there is agreement that employment is changing its shape, there has not yet been sufficient empirical clarification as to how far these processes of change have progressed or how strongly they are reflected in biographies. The paper deals with these consequences of the change for biographies as well as subjects and organisation methods related to occupational biography. On the basis of a quantitative longitudinal study with a cohort of young skilled employees whose occupational development was followed from completion of training in 1989/90 until approx. eight years later, and taking as an example six of the most common training occupations with different labour market prospects, it is shown that neither interrupted occupational histories nor changes of occupation are exceptional phenomena but that they have become normality. However, discontinuity is not to be equated per se with instability or precariousness, and to a certain extent occupational histories and changes of occupation continue to be influenced by the occupation itself. On the basis of qualitative longitudinal data obtained with a sub-sample of the quantitative panel, discontinuous employment histories and changes of occupation are examined from a subject- related viewpoint. Here it becomes clear firstly that also the different forms of interpretation and structure of discontinuity are related in some cases to the occupation and that for young adults with discontinuous employment histories employment retains a high level of subjective relevance. Secondly it emerges that a change of occupation is in most cases preceded by the creation of a new occupational orientation with the result that a high subjective connective force is attached to the occupation. According to the conclusion, the occupational concept continues to play an important role as an explanatory potential for employment histories, and for young adults in its orientation function." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Fachkräfte, Berufsverlauf, Berufswechsel, Erwerbsunterbrechung, Ausbildungsabsolventen, junge Erwachsene, Berufskonzept, Erwerbsarbeit, adäquate Beschäftigung

Berufsbiographische Gestaltungsmodi: eine Typologie der Orientierungen und Handlungen beim Übergang in das Erwerbsleben

"Das Teilprojekt A1 'Statuspassagen in die Erwerbstätigkeit' beschäftigt sich mit typischen Verlaufsformen und der Biographiegestaltung des Übergangs junger Erwachsener aus der Ausbildung in die Erwerbstätigkeit. Dies wird im Rahmen einer quantitativen und qualitativen Panelstudie mit Befragten verschiedener Ausbildungsberufe untersucht, deren Auswahl unter Berücksichtigung von Arbeitsmarktchancen und Geschlechtsspezifik erfolgte. Wie Akteure größere Lebenslaufzusammenhänge strukturieren und wie die Wahrnehmung von Chancen und Risiken sowie die berufsbiographischen Erfahrungen ihren Eigenanteil an der Biographiegestaltung bestimmen, wird im Kontext von Sozialisationstheorie und der Strukturierung sozialer Ungleichheit im Übergang in das Erwerbssystem untersucht. Die hier vorgestellte Typologie 'berufsbiographischer Gestaltungsmodi' basiert auf der Auswertung von drei Interviewwellen mit dem Focus auf den Orientierungen und Handlungsstrategien von Akteuren, die sie aufgrund ihrer bildungs- und berufsbiographischen Erfahrungen und Handlungsfolgen über einen Beobachtungszeitraum von acht Jahren hinweg entwickeln. Die vorgestellten Typen übergreifen die Statuspassage in den Beruf, sind aber als kontextspezifisch aktivierte Orientierungs- und Handlungsmuster konzipiert. Sie geben eine Antwort auf die Frage, mit welchen Orientierungs- und Handlungsmustern junge Erwachsene ihre beruflichen Statuspassagen und Karriereschritte gestalten und für deren Verlauf Verantwortung übernehmen. Die Besonderheit des methodischen Vorgehens liegt in der Anwendung des Panelansatzes für die Typenkonstruktion, der es ermöglicht, Konstanz und Wandel berufsbiographischer Orientierungen und Handlungen beim Berufseintritt und im weiteren Verlauf bis fünf Jahre nach Beendigung der Ausbildung zu analysieren. Eine konzeptuelle Grundlage für die Rekonstruktion der individuellen Berufsbiographien und darauf basierend für die vorliegende Typologie bildet das heuristische Handlungsmodell von Andreas Witzel, das als Arbeitspapier Nr. 60 in dieser Reihe veröffentlicht worden ist." (Textauszug

Spatio-temporal dynamics and laterality effects of face inversion, feature presence and configuration, and face outline

Although a crucial role of the fusiform gyrus (FG) in face processing has been demonstrated with a variety of methods, converging evidence suggests that face processing involves an interactive and overlapping processing cascade in distributed brain areas. Here we examine the spatio-temporal stages and their functional tuning to face inversion, presence and configuration of inner features, and face contour in healthy subjects during passive viewing. Anatomically-constrained magnetoencephalography (aMEG) combines high-density whole-head MEG recordings and distributed source modeling with high-resolution structural MRI. Each person's reconstructed cortical surface served to constrain noise-normalized minimum norm inverse source estimates. The earliest activity was estimated to the occipital cortex at ~100 ms after stimulus onset and was sensitive to an initial coarse level visual analysis. Activity in the right-lateralized ventral temporal area (inclusive of the FG) peaked at ~160 ms and was largest to inverted faces. Images containing facial features in the veridical and rearranged configuration irrespective of the facial outline elicited intermediate level activity. The M160 stage may provide structural representations necessary for downstream distributed areas to process identity and emotional expression. However, inverted faces additionally engaged the left ventral temporal area at ~180 ms and were uniquely subserved by bilateral processing. This observation is consistent with the dual route model and spared processing of inverted faces in prosopagnosia. The subsequent deflection, peaking at ~240 ms in the anterior temporal areas bilaterally, was largest to normal, upright faces. It may reflect initial engagement of the distributed network subserving individuation and familiarity. These results support dynamic models suggesting that processing of unfamiliar faces in the absence of a cognitive task is subserved by a distributed and interactive neural circuit

Spatio-temporal dynamics and laterality effects of face inversion, feature presence and configuration, and face outline

Although a crucial role of the fusiform gyrus (FG) in face processing has been demonstrated with a variety of methods, converging evidence suggests that face processing involves an interactive and overlapping processing cascade in distributed brain areas. Here we examine the spatio-temporal stages and their functional tuning to face inversion, presence and configuration of inner features, and face contour in healthy subjects during passive viewing. Anatomically-constrained magnetoencephalography (aMEG) combines high-density whole-head MEG recordings and distributed source modeling with high-resolution structural MRI. Each person's reconstructed cortical surface served to constrain noise-normalized minimum norm inverse source estimates. The earliest activity was estimated to the occipital cortex at ~100 ms after stimulus onset and was sensitive to an initial coarse level visual analysis. Activity in the right-lateralized ventral temporal area (inclusive of the FG) peaked at ~160 ms and was largest to inverted faces. Images containing facial features in the veridical and rearranged configuration irrespective of the facial outline elicited intermediate level activity. The M160 stage may provide structural representations necessary for downstream distributed areas to process identity and emotional expression. However, inverted faces additionally engaged the left ventral temporal area at ~180 ms and were uniquely subserved by bilateral processing. This observation is consistent with the dual route model and spared processing of inverted faces in prosopagnosia. The subsequent deflection, peaking at ~240 ms in the anterior temporal areas bilaterally, was largest to normal, upright faces. It may reflect initial engagement of the distributed network subserving individuation and familiarity. These results support dynamic models suggesting that processing of unfamiliar faces in the absence of a cognitive task is subserved by a distributed and interactive neural circuit

Comparability of Survey Measures in Hard to Reach Populations: Methods and Recommendations

The goal of this paper is to discuss practical recommendations for collecting data with hard to reach populations and data comparability. We also discuss the importance of piloting and community involvement in the process using an example from the Tribal Prevention Initiative (TiPI), a culturally-based substance abuse prevention program for American Indian youth from six tribes in Montana and Wyoming. We piloted a survey based on standardized Youth Risk Factor Behavioral Surveillance Survey questions (YRBSS) in tribal communities to document substance use and norms. The revised TiPI survey resulted in a 16-question survey (N=711). We compared TiPI data with the YRBSS data from 2015 to 2019. Descriptive statistics (frequency (n) and percent (%) or mean (M) and standard deviation (SD)) were used to analyze data. Results indicate that substance use is generally lower among TiPI youth than YRBS youth in reservation and urban locations with the exception of middle school marijuana use and urban binge drinking. To improve public health and document progress toward healthy future generations, communities must be aware of the unique challenges of using national surveys like the YRBSS as comparison data, and the strengths of primary data collection driven by program needs

Differences in cortical response to acupressure and electroacupuncture stimuli

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>FMRI studies focus on sub-cortical effects of acupuncture stimuli. The purpose of this study was to assess changes in primary somatosensory (S1) activity over the course of different types of acupuncture stimulation. We used whole head magnetoencephalography (MEG) to map S1 brain response during 15 minutes of electroacupuncture (EA) and acupressure (AP). We further assessed how brain response changed during the course of stimulation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Evoked brain response to EA differed from AP in its temporal dynamics by showing clear contralateral M20/M30 peaks while the latter demonstrated temporal dispersion. Both EA and AP demonstrated significantly decreased response amplitudes following five minutes of stimulation. However, the latency of these decreases were earlier in EA (~30 ms post-stimulus) than AP (> 100 ms). Time-frequency responses demonstrated early onset, event related synchronization (ERS), within the gamma band at ~70-130 ms and the theta band at ~50-200 ms post-stimulus. A prolonged event related desynchronization (ERD) of alpha and beta power occurred at ~100-300 ms post-stimulus. There was decreased beta ERD at ~100-300 ms over the course of EA, but not AP.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Both EA and AP demonstrated conditioning of SI response. In conjunction with their subcortical effects on endogenous pain regulation, these therapies show potential for affecting S1 processing and possibly altering maladaptive neuroplasticity. Thus, further investigation in neuropathic populations is needed.</p

Methods for functional brain imaging

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references.Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has demonstrated the potential for non-invasive mapping of structure and function (fMRI) in the human brain. In this thesis, we propose a series of methodological developments towards improved fMRI of auditory processes. First, the inefficiency of standard fMRI that acquires brain volumes one slice at a time is addressed. The proposed single-shot method is capable, for the first time, of imaging the entire brain in a single-acquisition while still maintaining adequate spatial resolution for fMRI. This method dramatically increases the temporal resolution of fMRI (20 fold) and improves sampling efficiency as well as the ability to discriminate against detrimental physiological noise. To accomplish this it exploits highly accelerated parallel imaging techniques and MRI signal detection with a large number of coil elements. We then address a major problem in the application of fMVIRI to auditory studies. In standard fMRI, loud acoustic noise is generated by the rapid switching of the gradient magnetic fields required for image encoding, which interferes with auditory stimuli and enforces inefficient and slow sampling strategies. We demonstrate a fMRI method that uses parallel imaging and redesigned gradient waveforms to both minimize and slow down the gradient switching to substantially reduce acoustic noise while still enabling rapid acquisitions for fMRI. Conventional fMRI is based on a hemodynamic response that is secondary to the underlying neuronal activation. In the final contribution of this thesis, a novel image contrast is introduced that is aimed at the direct observation of neuronal magnetic fields associated with functional activation. Early feasibility studies indicate that the imaging is sensitive to oscillating magnetic fields at amplitudes similar to those observed by magnetoencephalography.by Thomas Witzel.Ph.D

Community analysis of betaproteobacterial ammonia-oxidizing bacteria using the amoCAB operon

The genes and intergenic regions of the amoCAB operon were analyzed to establish their potential as molecular markers for analyzing ammonia-oxidizing betaproteobacterial (beta-AOB) communities. Initially, sequence similarity for related taxa, evolutionary rates from linear regressions, and the presence of conserved and variable regions were analyzed for all available sequences of the complete amoCAB operon. The gene amoB showed the highest sequence variability of the three amo genes, suggesting that it might be a better molecular marker than the most frequently used amoA to resolve closely related AOB species. To test the suitability of using the amoCAB genes for community studies, a strategy involving nested PCR was employed. Primers to amplify the whole amoCAB operon and each individual gene were tested. The specificity of the products generated was analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, cloning, and sequencing. The fragments obtained showed different grades of sequence identity to amoCAB sequences in the GenBank database. The nested PCR approach provides a possibility to increase the sensitivity of detection of amo genes in samples with low abundance of AOB. It also allows the amplification of the almost complete amoA gene, with about 300 bp more sequence information than the previous approaches. The coupled study of all three amo genes and the intergenic spacer regions that are under different selection pressure might allow a more detailed analysis of the evolutionary processes, which are responsible for the differentiation of AOB communities in different habitats

Phylogenetic and functional marker genes to study ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms (AOM) in the environment

The oxidation of ammonia plays a significant role in the transformation of fixed nitrogen in the global nitrogen cycle. Autotrophic ammonia oxidation is known in three groups of microorganisms. Aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea convert ammonia into nitrite during nitrification. Anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (anammox) oxidize ammonia using nitrite as electron acceptor and producing atmospheric dinitrogen. The isolation and cultivation of all three groups in the laboratory are quite problematic due to their slow growth rates, poor growth yields, unpredictable lag phases, and sensitivity to certain organic compounds. Culture-independent approaches have contributed importantly to our understanding of the diversity and distribution of these microorganisms in the environment. In this review, we present an overview of approaches that have been used for the molecular study of ammonia oxidizers and discuss their application in different environment