Fair oder Foul?: Punktevergabe und Platzierung beim Eurovision Song Contest

Spätestens seit dem letztjährigen Auftritt von Conchita Wurst mit ihrem provokanten Mix aus männlichen und weiblichen Zügen hat der Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in ganz Europa Aufmerksamkeit erregt. Neben der großen öffentlichen Teilnahme existieren aber auch eine ganze Reihe wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen zu möglichen Einflussfaktoren der Punktevergabe beim ESC. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, auf Grundlage einer eigenen empirischen Datenerhebung verschiedene Faktoren hinsichtlich ihres Einflusses auf die Bewertung der Auftritte beim ESC zu untersuchen. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Frage, ob es systematische Einflüsse gibt, die die Chancen eines Songs Punkte zu erhalten, beeinflussen. Dazu werden alle Teilnehmerländer für den relevanten Zeitraum der Jahre 1999 bis 2014 betrachtet. Im Mittelpunkt stehen drei Hypothesen zum Einfluss (1) des Startplatzes, (2) der Songsprache und (3) eines möglichen Blockvoting. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Untersuchung zeigen, dass der Startplatz den deutlichsten Einfluss auf die Bewertung hat. Das heißt, je später der ESC-Auftritt stattfindet, desto besser wird er bewertet. Sogenanntes Blockvoting oder politisches Voting innerhalb gemeinsamer Kultur- und Sozialräume, bspw. aus Solidarität, Ethnizität oder wegen gemeinsamer politischer Präferenzen, konnte nicht (zweifelsfrei) identifiziert werden. Zusammenfassend spricht dies für dynamische Entwicklungen bei der Punktevergabe, die zum Teil exogen (kulturell, sozial und politisch) determiniert aber auch endogen durch Antizipation der Punktevergabe anderer Länder hervorgerufen werden. Beides verhindert die Ermittlung stabiler Wirkungszusammenhänge und damit auch die Prognose von Punkteresultaten. Insoweit sind Qualität oder zumindest Popularität und zufällige Einflüsse ausschlaggebend für das Abschneiden eines Beitrags. Dies ist im Hinblick auf den Anspruch des ESC ein fairer Wettbewerb zu sein aber ein eher hoffnungsvolles Ergebnis.The performance of Conchita Wurst at the European Song Contest (ESC) in 2014 has attracted a lot of public interest and awareness. Her performance intentionally is a statement of tolerance and individual freedom and triggered a debate on the factors influencing the success or failure of a particular song, i.e. the points a performance receives. To what extent the sex of the artist, the language of the song or political preferences and geographical proximity impact aggregate voting behavior and thus the odds of winning the contest? This paper bases on the voting-data from 1999 to 2014 and investigates three hypotheses, i.e. the impacts of (1) the serial position of a performance, (2) the language of the song and (3) the existence of voting blocs. By analyzing a sample of the aggregate points of 394 songs this study shows that ordering effects when judging the songs are at hand: Participants that perform later receive more points on average. There is no - or at least only very weak - evidence for voting bias on the basis of geography and political voting blocs or linguistic preferences. This outcome strikingly contradicts a lot of other empirical studies as to voting patterns in the ESC. Two explanations are put forward: First, the voting behavior is an endogenous variable. If it is well known that a country receives votes due to political preferences and not because of the quality of its song the other countries anticipate this and tend to give less points. Thus at the aggregate level 'logrolling' of points inside voting blocs are cancelled out. Second, a closer look at the literature reveals that a lot of empirical studies identify voting blocs, but these voting blocs are almost always different groups of various countries. Summing up, it emerges that there are very few stable patterns of voting behavior, probably due to dynamic changes of political, cultural and social preferences. Therefore the evidence backs the idea that the quality of a song or at least the popularity of a performance dominate the success. This is certainly a favourable outcome given the goal of a fair and impartial song contest

Microbial carbon use efficiency along an altitudinal gradient

Soil microbial carbon-use efficiency (CUE), described as the ratio of growth over total carbon (C) uptake, i.e. the sum of growth and respiration, is a key variable in all soil organic matter (SOM) models and critical to ecosystem C cycling. However, there is still a lack of consensus on microbial CUE when estimated using different methods. Furthermore, the significance of many fundamental drivers of CUE remains largely unknown and inconclusive, especially for tropical ecosystems. For these reasons, we determined CUE and microbial indicators of soil nutrient availability in seven tropical forest soils along an altitudinal gradient (circa 900-2200 m a.s.l) occurring at Taita Hills, Kenya. We used this gradient to study the soil nutrient (N and P) availability and its relation to microbial CUE estimates. For assessing the soil nutrient availability, we determined both the soil bulk stoichiometric nutrient ratios (soil C:N, C:P and N:P), as well as SOM degradation related enzyme activities. We estimated soil microbial CUE using two methods: substrate independent O-18-water tracing and C-13-glucose tracing method. Based on these two approaches, we estimated the microbial uptake efficiency of added glucose versus native SOM, with the latter defined by 18O-water tracing method. Based on the bulk soil C:N stoichiometry, the studied soils did not reveal N limitation. However, soil bulk P limitation increased slightly with elevation. Additionally, based on extracellular enzyme activities, the SOM nutrient availability decreased with elevation. The C-13-CUE did not change with altitude indicating that glucose was efficiently taken up and used by the microbes. On the other hand, 18O-CUE, which reflects the growth efficiency of microbes growing on native SOM, clearly declined with increasing altitude and was associated with SOM nutrient availability indicators. Based on our results, microbes at higher elevations invested more energy to scavenge for nutrients and energy from complex SOM whereas at lower elevations the soil nutrients may have been more readily available.Peer reviewe

Microbial carbon use efficiency along an altitudinal gradient

Soil microbial carbon-use efficiency (CUE), described as the ratio of growth over total carbon (C) uptake, i.e. the sum of growth and respiration, is a key variable in all soil organic matter (SOM) models and critical to ecosystem C cycling. However, there is still a lack of consensus on microbial CUE when estimated using different methods. Furthermore, the significance of many fundamental drivers of CUE remains largely unknown and inconclusive, especially for tropical ecosystems. For these reasons, we determined CUE and microbial indicators of soil nutrient availability in seven tropical forest soils along an altitudinal gradient (circa 900–2200 m a.s.l) occurring at Taita Hills, Kenya. We used this gradient to study the soil nutrient (N and P) availability and its relation to microbial CUE estimates. For assessing the soil nutrient availability, we determined both the soil bulk stoichiometric nutrient ratios (soil C:N, C:P and N:P), as well as SOM degradation related enzyme activities. We estimated soil microbial CUE using two methods: substrate independent 18O-water tracing and 13C-glucose tracing method. Based on these two approaches, we estimated the microbial uptake efficiency of added glucose versus native SOM, with the latter defined by 18O-water tracing method. Based on the bulk soil C:N stoichiometry, the studied soils did not reveal N limitation. However, soil bulk P limitation increased slightly with elevation. Additionally, based on extracellular enzyme activities, the SOM nutrient availability decreased with elevation. The 13C-CUE did not change with altitude indicating that glucose was efficiently taken up and used by the microbes. On the other hand, 18O-CUE, which reflects the growth efficiency of microbes growing on native SOM, clearly declined with increasing altitude and was associated with SOM nutrient availability indicators. Based on our results, microbes at higher elevations invested more energy to scavenge for nutrients and energy from complex SOM whereas at lower elevations the soil nutrients may have been more readily available

Histone chaperone Chz1p regulates H2B ubiquitination and subtelomeric anti-silencing

Chz1p is a histone chaperone that interacts physically and functionally with the histone variant Htz1p, which has been implicated in establishing and maintaining boundaries between transcriptionally inactive heterochromatin and active euchromatin. To investigate the role of Chz1p in chromatin organization, we performed genome-wide expression arrays and chromatin immunoprecipitations of SIR complex components and modified histones in a CHZ1 deletion strain. Deletion of CHZ1 led to reduced ubiquitination of subtelomere-associated H2B, reduced subtelomeric H3K79 di-methylation, and increased binding of Sir3p, and Sir4p at telomere-distal euchromatin regions, correlating with decreased gene expression in subtelomeric regions. This anti-silencing defect appears to be mediated by enhanced association of de-ubiquitinase Ubp10p with subtelomeric DNA, as detected by chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis. In support of this, we show that deletion of UBP10 can antagonize the subtelomeric silencing phenotype of Δchz1. Taken together, the results demonstrate a novel role for Chz1p in epigenetic regulation, through H2B de-ubiquitination by Ubp10p

Replicative Age Induces Mitotic Recombination in the Ribosomal RNA Gene Cluster of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Somatic mutations contribute to the development of age-associated disease. In earlier work, we found that, at high frequency, aging Saccharomyces cerevisiae diploid cells produce daughters without mitochondrial DNA, leading to loss of respiration competence and increased loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in the nuclear genome. Here we used the recently developed Mother Enrichment Program to ask whether aging cells that maintain the ability to produce respiration-competent daughters also experience increased genomic instability. We discovered that this population exhibits a distinct genomic instability phenotype that primarily affects the repeated ribosomal RNA gene array (rDNA array). As diploid cells passed their median replicative life span, recombination rates between rDNA arrays on homologous chromosomes progressively increased, resulting in mutational events that generated LOH at >300 contiguous open reading frames on the right arm of chromosome XII. We show that, while these recombination events were dependent on the replication fork block protein Fob1, the aging process that underlies this phenotype is Fob1-independent. Furthermore, we provide evidence that this aging process is not driven by mechanisms that modulate rDNA recombination in young cells, including loss of cohesion within the rDNA array or loss of Sir2 function. Instead, we suggest that the age-associated increase in rDNA recombination is a response to increasing DNA replication stress generated in aging cells

Distinct anaerobic bacterial consumers of cellobiose-derived carbon in boreal fens with different CO2/CH4 production ratios

201

Priming effect increases with depth in a boreal forest soil

201

Priming effect in boreal soils

201