Civil society participation in development and budget processes in Uganda

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit der Rolle der Zivilgesellschaft in Entwicklung, vor allem im Kontext der Debatte um die Effektivität der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, welche den Fokus auf Programmmodalitäten legt. Der Staat wird damit einerseits wieder wichtiger, wobei andererseits die Unterstützung der Zivilgesellschaft und ihrer Aktionen gefordert ist - für Ownership und der Verbesserung von Entwicklung. Das Verständnis von Entwicklung hat sich verändert. Es wurde anerkannt, dass alle nationalen Akteure für Entwicklung notwendig sind. Budgethilfe macht einen großen Teil der Finanzflüsse nach Uganda aus, und zwar die Hälfte der gesamten Entwicklungshilfe. Zusätzlich besteht für Uganda eine große Geberabhängigkeit, da das nationale Budget fast zur Hälfte von Gebern finanziert wird. Aufgrund dieser Tatsache ist das Budget des Landes von großer Wichtigkeit und die Zivilgesellschaft aufgefordert sich an Entscheidungsprozessen zu beteiligen. Partizipationsprozesse der Zivilgesellschaft und Budgetarbeit von verschiedenen zivilgesellschaftlichen Organisationen in Uganda werden genauer analysiert, um herauszufinden, wie die Zivilgesellschaft und Nichtregierungsorganisationen in den Budgetprozess involviert sind. Durch Literatur- und Internetrecherche sowie Experten- und Expertinneninterviews zu dem Thema kam die Arbeit zu der Schlussfolgerung, dass zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen mit vielen Herausforderungen konfrontiert sind. Sie operieren in einem widersprüchlichen System der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit und in einem Land mit restriktiven gesetzlichen Rahmenbedingungen sowie einer fragwürdigen politischen Situation. Bezüglich der Budgetaktivitäten der verschiedenen Organisationen und Netzwerke konnten allerdings viele Beiträge festgestellt werden.This thesis deals with the role of civil society in development, more precisely, in the context of the aid effectiveness debate which focuses on program modalities. This shows the importance of the state on one hand, whereas on the other side, support and action of civil society is demanded – all in the sense of ownership and the improvement of aid. The understanding of development has therefore changed. It has been recognized that all national stakeholders are necessary for development. Budget support makes up a big part of financial aid flows to Uganda, in fact half of all aid received has been through budget support. In addition, Uganda’s budget is marked by a high donor dependency because almost half of it is financed through donors. Civil society is needed to engage in budget issues for democratic budgeting, meaning that civil society organizations are involved in the decision making processes. For that reason, participation processes of civil society in Uganda and the budget work of several civil society organizations in Uganda have been analyzed in order to find out the ways civil society and non-governmental organizations are involved in the budget process. Through literature and internet research as well as expert interviews on the topic, the thesis has come to the conclusion that civil society organizations are faced with many challenges concerning their work in an aid system of controversies in a country with restrictive legal framework and a questionable political situation. Nevertheless, concerning budget work, many contributions could have been made

Lack of kinase-independent activity of PI3Kγ in locus coeruleus induces ADHD symptoms through increased CREB signaling.

Although PI3Kγ has been extensively investigated in inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases, the exploration of its functions in the brain is just at dawning. It is known that PI3Kγ is present in neurons and that the lack of PI3Kγ in mice leads to impaired synaptic plasticity, suggestive of a role in behavioral flexibility. Several neuropsychiatric disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), involve an impairment of behavioral flexibility. Here, we found a previously unreported expression of PI3Kγ throughout the noradrenergic neurons of the locus coeruleus (LC) in the brainstem, serving as a mechanism that regulates its activity of control on attention, locomotion and sociality. In particular, we show an unprecedented phenotype of PI3Kγ KO mice resembling ADHD symptoms. PI3Kγ KO mice exhibit deficits in the attentive and mnemonic domains, typical hyperactivity, as well as social dysfunctions. Moreover, we demonstrate that the ADHD phenotype depends on a dysregulation of CREB signaling exerted by a kinase-independent PI3Kγ-PDE4D interaction in the noradrenergic neurons of the locus coeruleus, thus uncovering new tools for mechanistic and therapeutic research in ADHD

Sulfanilic acid-modified chitosan mini-spheres and their application for lysozyme purification from egg white

A cation exchange matrix with zwitterionic and multimodal properties was synthesized by a simple reaction sequence coupling sulfanilic acid to a chitosan based support. The novel chromatographic matrix was physico-chemically characterized by ss-NMR and ζ potential, and its chromatographic performance was evaluated for lysozyme purification from diluted egg white. The maximum adsorption capacity, calculated according to Langmuir adsorption isotherm, was 50.07 ± 1.47 mg g-1 while the dissociation constant was 0.074 ± 0.012 mg mL-1 . The process for lysozyme purification from egg white was optimized, with 81.9% yield and a purity degree of 86.5%, according to RP-HPLC analysis. This work shows novel possible applications of chitosan based materials. The simple synthesis reactions combined with the simple mode of use of the chitosan matrix represents a novel method to purify proteins from raw starting materials.Fil: Hirsch, Daniela Belén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Baieli, María Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Urtasun, Nicolás. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Lazaro Martinez, Juan Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Físico-Química Biológicas ; ArgentinaFil: Glisoni, Romina Julieta. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Miranda, Maria Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Cascone, Osvaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Wolman, Federico Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Nanobiotecnología; Argentin

Novelty Improves the Formation and Persistence of Memory in a Naturalistic School Scenario

One of the top challenges in education and neuroscience consists in translating laboratory results into strategies to improve learning and memory in teaching environments. In that sense, during the last two decades, researchers have discovered specific temporal windows around learning, during which the intervention with some experiences induces modulatory effects on the formation and/or persistence of memory. Based on these results, the aim of the present study was to design a specific strategy to improve the memory of students in a high-school scenario, by assessing the effect of a novel situation experienced close to learning. We found that the long-term memory about a geometrical figure was more precise in the group of students that faced a novel situation 1 h before or after learning the figure than the control group of students who did not face the novelty. This enhancement was probably triggered by processes acting on memory formation mechanisms that remained evident 45 days after learning, indicating that the improvement was sustained over time. In addition, our results showed that novelty no longer improved the memory if it was experienced 4 h before or after learning. However, far beyond this window of efficacy, when it was faced around 10 h after learning, the novel experience improved the memory persistence tested 7 days later. In summary, our findings characterized different temporal windows of the effectiveness of novelty acting on memory processing, providing a simple and inexpensive strategy that could be used to improve memory formation and persistence in high-school students.Fil: Ramírez Butavand, Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo de Robertis". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia; ArgentinaFil: Hirsch, Ian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo de Robertis". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia; ArgentinaFil: Tomaiuolo, Micol. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo de Robertis". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia; ArgentinaFil: Moncada, Diego. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo de Robertis". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia; ArgentinaFil: Viola, Haydée. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular; ArgentinaFil: Ballarini, Fabricio Matias. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo de Robertis". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia; Argentin

Htm1 protein generates the N-glycan signal for glycoprotein degradation in the endoplasmic reticulum

To maintain protein homeostasis in secretory compartments, eukaryotic cells harbor a quality control system that monitors protein folding and protein complex assembly in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Proteins that do not fold properly or integrate into cognate complexes are degraded by ER-associated degradation (ERAD) involving retrotranslocation to the cytoplasm and proteasomal peptide hydrolysis. N-linked glycans are essential in glycoprotein ERAD; the covalent oligosaccharide structure is used as a signal to display the folding status of the host protein. In this study, we define the function of the Htm1 protein as an α1,2-specific exomannosidase that generates the Man7GlcNAc2 oligosaccharide with a terminal α1,6-linked mannosyl residue on degradation substrates. This oligosaccharide signal is decoded by the ER-localized lectin Yos9p that in conjunction with Hrd3p triggers the ubiquitin-proteasome–dependent hydrolysis of these glycoproteins. The Htm1p exomannosidase activity requires processing of the N-glycan by glucosidase I, glucosidase II, and mannosidase I, resulting in a sequential order of specific N-glycan structures that reflect the folding status of the glycoprotein

Juventudes y ruralidades en Latinoamérica Hacia un nuevo estado de la cuestión

A pesar de los importantes avances y diversidad de clivajes en los estudios sobre juventud, sus características en los espacios rurales fueron invisibilizadas durante décadas, matizando recién en la década del 2000. Esto se debe a que tradicionalmente, por un lado los estudios agrarios preveían que la modernización destinaría a la mayoría de los jóvenes a la migración y urbanización plena; y por otro lado los estudios de juventud tenían un corte urbanocéntrico, identificando a la cultura juvenil como eminentemente urbana, suponiendo que en las zonas rurales y agrícolas no tenía lugar la moratoria social característica de la juventud. De esta manera, en términos etarios, les jóvenes quedaron circunscritos a las ciudades, convirtiendo a la juventud rural en una subjetividad impensable. ¿Existe juventud rural? ¿Qué la define? ¿Resulta una categoría eurísticamente fértil en la actualidad?.Fil: Barés, Aymará Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Hirsch, María Mercedes. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Roa, María Luz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Who\u27s Really Winning? An in-depth look at intercollegiate athletics and their impact on undergraduate education

College sports are a multi-billion dollar industry that have grown and will continue to grow with the founding and development of ESPN and other sports information technologies. Initially the author sought out to find relationships between winning on the field and academic advancement off the field, but quickly realized there was another story to be told. He examines the college sports scene with a broader outlook on its impact on its educational value. Not only are most college sports programs losing money for their institutions, but the culture that college sports creates is having a detrimental impact on our nation’s educational system. He proposes possible solutions on how to maintain the college sports scene that everyone loves, while maintaining separation from the threatened educational institution

Atomically resolved TEM imaging of covalently functionalised graphene

Covalent functionalisation can be a powerful lever to tune the properties and processability of graphene. After overcoming the low chemical reactivity of graphene, covalent functionalisation led to the generation of new hybrid materials, applicable in a broad variation of fields. Although the process of functionalising graphene is nowadays firmly established, fundamental aspects of the produced hybrid materials remain to be clarified. Especially the atomically resolved imaging is only scarcely explored. Here we show aberration corrected in situ high resolution TEM imaging of dodecyl functionalised monolayer graphene at atomic resolution after an effective mechanical filtering approach. The mechanical filtering allows to separate adsorbed contamination from the covalently bound functional molecules and thus opens the possibility for the observation of this hybrid material. The obtained data is validated by DFT calculations and by a novel image simulation approach based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at room temperature