Active educational cooperation between universities and adult education centres. A progress report on the project “U niversity Meets Public” and the Adult Education Centre science programme

Aktiven Bildungskooperationen zwischen Universitäten und Volkshochschulen scheint heute nichts mehr im Wege zu stehen. Und doch ist diese Annäherung nicht nur Anlass für Überschneidungen, sondern teilweise auch für Konkurrenz. Der vorliegende Beitrag versucht entlang einer Beschreibung des Schnittstellenprojektes „University Meets Public“ die Perspektiven der Kooperationspartnerinnen zusammenzuführen. „University Meets Public“ ist heute Teil des Wissenschaftsprogrammes der Wiener Volkshochschulen (kurz „VHS Science“) und ermöglicht vier Wiener Universitäten mit Vortragsreihen und einem World Café die Öffnung für die lokale Bevölkerung. VHS Science bietet seit 2012 neben den University Meets Public-Angeboten auch Vorträge, Kurse, Workshops und Podiumsdiskussionen von und mit nationalen und internationalen WissenschafterInnen und schließt damit an das Verständnis von Popular Education im Sinne eines Empowermentprojektes an. (DIPF/Orig.)Nothing hinders the process of active educational cooperation between universities and adult education centres anymore. However, this narrowing of the gaps between universities and adult education is an occasion not only for the overlapping of ideas but also in some cases for competition. This article attempts to unite perspectives of cooperation by describing the project “University Meets Public”. This project is part of the outreach programme of the Viennese Adult Education Centres (abbr.: “VHS Science”) and allows four Viennese universities to reach the local population through lecture series and a World Café. Since 2012, VHS Science has offered “University Meets Public” in the form of lectures, courses, workshops and panel discussions by and with national and international researchers, thereby supporting the concept of popular education as empowerment projects. (DIPF/Orig.

Facilitating Employee Recovery From Work: The Role of Leader‑Member‑Exchange

Building on Affective Events Theory (AET), this study examined within-person relationships between employee perceptions of day-level leader-member exchange (LMX) and day-level positive affect as well as between positive affect and recovery from work in the evening (i.e., relaxation, mastery, control, and psychological detachment from work). In addition, LMX variability was examined as a moderator of these within-person relationships. Employees (N = 160) completed surveys at the end of the workday and in the evening across five consecutive workdays. Results indicate direct relationships between perceptions of LMX and employee positive affect at work. In addition, positive affect was positively associated with two of the four recovery experiences (mastery and relaxation). Furthermore, LMX variability across the workweek moderated these positive indirect effects such that the indirect associations between the perceptions of LMX and employees’ recovery experiences during the evening via positive affect was only positive when LMX variability was low. The indirect effects, however, were nonsignificant when LMX variability was moderate or high. The present study expands LMX research by adopting a dynamic within-person perspective and by connecting the literature on workplace leadership with the literature on recovery from work, indicating that perceptions of LMX can potentially impact employees’ nonwork time

An der Schnittstelle von Konsum und Sexualität

Gegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit ist eine konsum- und sexualitätsgeschichtliche Annäherung an die Phase der Wiedervereinigung der beiden deutschen Staaten. Untersucht wurden Briefquellen, die in der ersten Jahreshälfte 1990 an die Firma und Person Beate Uhse/Rotermund geschickt wurden. Den Kontext bildet dabei die ostdeutsche Sexualitätsgeschichte sowie konsumhistorische Aspekten. Der Fokus der Arbeit richtete sich darauf, Thematisierungsstrategien und Darstellungsweisen von Sexualität in den Briefen aufzuzeigen. Auf Basis theoretischer und methodologischer Grundlagen der kritischen Diskursanalyse nach Siegfried Jäger wurden formale, sprachliche und inhaltliche Aussagestrukturen, Darstellungslogiken und Kommunikationsstrategien erfasst. Die Analyseergebnisse wurden sodann im Kontext der empirischen Sexualforschung der 1980er und 1990er interpretiert. Erweitert wurde die historische Rahmung durch konsumhistorische Zusammenhänge, insbesondere durch DDR-spezifische Konsumstrategien und Produktkonnotationen, die sich in den Briefe abbildeten. Zur Durchführung der quantitativ orientierten Makroanalyse kam eine Datenmaske zum Einsatz, mittels derer die Grundstruktur der Briefquellen erfasst wurde. Dieses Analyseinstrument, bestehend aus einer Bündelung formaler, inhaltlicher und sprachlichen Fragenstellungen zur Darstellung und Thematisierung von Sexualität, wurde für die Mikroanalyse entsprechend erweitert. Als Ergebnis der diskursanalytischen Arbeit kann festgehalten werden, dass die VerfasserInnen ihre Schreiben an Beate Uhse als befreiende Handlung über gefühlte Grenzen und nachhallende Restriktionen hinweg ansahen. Die Kontaktaufnahme zur Firmeninhaberin und der Aufbau einer kontinuierlichen Beziehung erwiesen sich dabei als zentrale Strategien. Beate Uhse/Rotermund erschien als eine Person, an die man sich vertraulich wenden konnte, die aufregende Erfahrungen versprach und Zugang zu einer neuen, westlichen Konsum-Welt bot. Sexuelle Fragen und Themen wurden mittels impliziter und expliziter Thematisierungsstrategien artikuliert. Die Darstellungsweisen ließen auf einen aufgeschlossenen und generell befürwortenden Umgang mit Sexualität und deren konsumierbaren Formen schließen. Den konsumtiven Möglichkeiten, denen die AutorInnen gegenüber standen, wurde ebenso viel Bedeutung beigemessen wie den sexuellen Neuheiten, die sich ihnen nun boten. Beate Uhse/Rotermund stand für beides

Zwischen Bekenntnis und Umsetzung: Gelebte gesellschaftliche Verantwortung von Universitäten am Beispiel von University Meets Industry und University Meets Public

Der gesamtgesellschaftliche Bildungsauftrag von Universitätenbesagt, dass offene Universitäten einen Beitrag zu eineroffenen Gesellschaft leisten sollen, wenn sie nicht in Isolationlehren und forschen wollen. Grundsätzlich bekennen sichUniversitäten in ihren strategischen Dokumenten zu ihrerVerantwortung der Stadt, der regionalen Wirtschaft und denEinrichtungen der Zivilgesellschaft gegenüber. Allerdingssehen wir Aufholbedarf. Projekte in zwei Handlungsfeldern– zur Öffnung der Hochschulen und zur Wahrnehmung gesellschaftlicherVerantwortung – veranschaulichen, wie dieBrücke zwischen Bekenntnis und Umsetzung geschlagenwerden kann

Sector coupling technologies in gas, electricity, and heat networks: Competition or synergy?

Current investment in distribution networks for electricity, gas, and heat is high, and the distribution networks play a prominent role in the necessary transformation of the energy system. This paper provides insights into the relationship between residential end-user decisions on heat supply and their effect on infrastructure planning. Therefore, the gas, electricity, and heat networks are analyzed together. After a review of the characteristics of the networks, the most common sector coupling technologies are compared economically and environmentally. The results show that, under the assumptions made, heat pumps are the cheapest option for residential end-users in the long run. This raises the question of whether a parallel development of three different infrastructures for the heat supply of buildings is the best path to a successful energy transition.Die derzeitigen Investitionen in die Verteilnetze für Strom, Gas und Wärme sind hoch und die Verteilnetze spielen eine bedeutende Rolle bei der notwendigen Transformation des Energiesystems. Diese Arbeit gibt Einblicke in den Zusammenhang zwischen Entscheidungen privater Endnutzer zur Wärmeversorgung und deren Auswirkungen auf die Infrastrukturplanung. Dafür werden die Gas-, Strom- und Wärmenetze gemeinsam analysiert. Nach einem Überblick über die Charakteristika der Netze werden die gängigsten Sektorkopplungstechnologien ökonomisch und ökologisch verglichen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass unter den getroffenen Annahmen Wärmepumpen langfristig die kostengünstigste Option für private Endnutzer sind. Dies wirft die Frage auf, ob eine parallele Entwicklung von drei verschiedenen Infrastrukturen zur Wärmeversorgung von Gebäuden der beste Weg hin zu einer erfolgreichen Energiewende ist

A common approach for absolute quantification of short chain CoA thioesters in prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes

Background Thioesters of coenzyme A participate in 5% of all enzymatic reactions. In microbial cell factories, they function as building blocks for products of recognized commercial value, including natural products such as polyketides, polyunsaturated fatty acids, biofuels, and biopolymers. A core spectrum of approximately 5–10 short chain thioesters is present in many microbes, as inferred from their genomic repertoire. The relevance of these metabolites explains the high interest to trace and quantify them in microbial cells. Results Here, we describe a common workflow for extraction and absolute quantification of short chain CoA thioesters in different gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and eukaryotic yeast, i.e. Corynebacterium glutamicum, Streptomyces albus, Pseudomonas putida, and Yarrowia lipolytica. The approach assessed intracellular CoA thioesters down to the picomolar level and exhibited high precision and reproducibility for all microbes, as shown by principal component analysis. Furthermore, it provided interesting insights into microbial CoA metabolism. A succinyl-CoA synthase defective mutant of C. glutamicum exhibited an unaffected level of succinyl-CoA that indicated a complete compensation by the L-lysine pathway to bypass the disrupted TCA cycle. Methylmalonyl-CoA, an important building block of high-value polyketides, was identified as dominant CoA thioester in the actinomycete S. albus. The microbe revealed a more than 10,000-fold difference in the abundance of intracellular CoA thioesters. A recombinant strain of S. albus, which produced different derivatives of the antituberculosis polyketide pamamycin, revealed a significant depletion of CoA thioesters of the ethylmalonyl CoA pathway, influencing product level and spectrum. Conclusions The high relevance of short chain CoA thioesters to synthetize industrial products and the interesting insights gained from the examples shown in this work, suggest analyzing these metabolites in microbial cell factories more routinely than done so far. Due to its broad application range, the developed approach appears useful to be applied this purpose. Hereby, the possibility to use one single protocol promises to facilitate automatized efforts, which rely on standardized workflows

Physical therapy and exercise interventions in Huntington's disease: a mixed methods systematic review protocol

Review question/objective: : The review seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of physical therapy and exercise interventions in Huntington's disease (HD). The review question is: What is the effectiveness of physiotherapy and therapeutic exercise interventions in people with HD, and what are patients’, families’ and caregivers’ perceptions of these interventions? Review question/objective: The specific objectives are: Review question/objective: This mixed methods review seeks to develop an aggregated synthesis of quantitative, qualitative and narrative systematic reviews on physiotherapy and exercise interventions in HD, in an attempt to derive conclusions and recommendations useful for clinical practice and policy decision-making

Single Cell Kinetics of Phenotypic Switching in the Arabinose Utilization System of E. coli

Inducible switching between phenotypes is a common strategy of bacteria to adapt to fluctuating environments. Here, we analyze the switching kinetics of a paradigmatic inducible system, the arabinose utilization system in E. coli. Using time-lapse fluorescence microscopy of microcolonies in a microfluidic chamber, which permits sudden up-and down-shifts in the inducer arabinose, we characterize the single-cell gene expression dynamics of the araBAD operon responsible for arabinose degradation. While there is significant, inducer-dependent cell-to-cell variation in the timing of the on-switching, the off-switching triggered by sudden removal of arabinose is homogeneous and rapid. We find that rapid off-switching does not depend on internal arabinose degradation. Because the system is regulated via the internal arabinose level sensed by AraC, internal arabinose must be rapidly depleted by leakage or export from the cell, or by degradation via a non-canonical pathway. We explored whether the poorly characterized membrane protein AraJ, which is part of the arabinose regulon and has been annotated as a possible arabinose efflux protein, is responsible for rapid depletion. However, we find that AraJ is not essential for rapid switching to the off-state. We develop a mathematical model for the arabinose system, which quantitatively describes both the heterogeneous on-switching and the homogeneous off-switching. The model also predicts that mutations which disrupt the positive feedback of internal arabinose on the production of arabinose uptake proteins change the heterogeneous on-switching behavior into a homogeneous, graded response. We construct such a mutant and confirm the graded response experimentally. Taken together, our results indicate that the physiological switching behavior of this sugar utilization system is asymmetric, such that off-switching is always rapid and homogeneous, while on-switching is slow and heterogeneously timed at sub-saturating inducer levels

Quantification of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid from microbiome reactor fluids

Rationale: Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides and it is suspected to affect the intestinal microbiota through inhibition of aromatic amino acid synthesis via the shikimate pathway.In vitromicrobiome bioreactors are increasingly used as model systems to investigate effects on intestinal microbiota and consequently methods for the quantitation of glyphosate and its degradation product aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in microbiome model systems are required. Methods: An optimized protocol enables the analysis of both glyphosate and AMPA by simple extraction with methanol:acetonitrile:water (2:3:1) without further enrichment steps. Glyphosate and AMPA are separated by liquid chromatography on an amide column and identified and quantified with a targeted tandem mass spectrometry method using a QTRAP 5500 system (AB Sciex). Results: Our method has a limit of detection (LOD) in extracted water samples of <2 ng/mL for both glyphosate and AMPA. In complex intestinal medium, the LOD is 2 and 5 ng/mL for glyphosate and AMPA, respectively. These LODs allow for measurement at exposure-relevant concentrations. Glyphosate levels in a bioreactor model of porcine colon were determined and consequently it was verified whether AMPA was produced by porcine gut microbiota. Conclusions: The method presented here allows quantitation of glyphosate and AMPA in complex bioreactor fluids and thus enables studies of the impact of glyphosate and its metabolism on intestinal microbiota. In addition, the extraction protocol is compatible with an untargeted metabolomics analysis, thus allowing one to look for other perturbations caused by glyphosate in the same sample