Cannon-Thurston Maps for Kleinian Groups

We show that Cannon-Thurston maps exist for degenerate free groups without parabolics, i.e. for handlebody groups. Combining these techniques with earlier work proving the existence of Cannon-Thurston maps for surface groups, we show that Cannon-Thurston maps exist for arbitrary finitely generated Kleinian groups without parabolics, proving conjectures of Thurston and McMullen. We also show that point pre-images under Cannon-Thurston maps for degenerate free groups without parabolics correspond to end-points of leaves of an ending lamination in the Masur domain, whenever a point has more than one pre-image. This proves a conjecture of Otal. We also prove a similar result for point pre-images under Cannon-Thurston maps for arbitrary finitely generated Kleinian groups without parabolics.Comment: 39 pgs 1 fig. Final version incorporating referee comments. To appear in Forum of Mathematics, P

Modelling and control of product life-cycles

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Intercultural crisis communication: cultural background and the formation of perception

Crisis communication is a fairly new research discipline that originated in the Unites States in the late 1980s. Most of the research in the field has been focused on a senderfocused strategy with the organisation in mind and neglected the audience perspective. In particular, little is known about how cultural background influences crisis message perception and how then perception influences organisational reputation. The importance of the crisis communicator, his/her capabilities and his/her unique deliverance of the crisis message to a multicultural audience has not received much attention in spite of such a significant role in informing the public and therefore in shaping the public image of the organisation. This research aimed to study crisis communication from an intercultural perspective and thus expand the field and fill gaps by investigating how cultural background truly influences perception of crisis messages and subsequently organisational reputation. Further, the study looked at how the proven benefits of multimodality in other fields can be used in crisis communication to better understand the perception creation process. The study utilised an exploratory mixed method approach, following on from an earlier pilot study. Participants were shown two short excerpts from the crisis press conferences of Germanwings U9525 and Malaysia Airlines MH370. The research included in-depth surveys with an open-ended section and was taken by 181 participants from 6 home country groups in the summer of 2016. The data was analysed utilising descriptive statistics as well as a thematic content analysis. The study concluded that cultural background is the decisive component when evaluating crisis messages and determining organisational reputation. Evidence were found to show significant impact in regard to the following three integral parts of crisis communication: Language Used for Crisis Communication, Crisis Information Content (Names & Nationalities of Victims), Attribution of Responsibility. The use of multiple modes and the introduction of multimodality into this study has also raised awareness for the inherent cultural features of crisis communicators. This analysis has provided indicators that significantly shape audiences’ perception. Those were: standing vs. sitting, speed of speaking, eye contact with audience, physical appearance, and facial expression. Finally, the study argued for a departure from the current generic approach in crisis communication to a situation-based crisis handling approach which is underpinned by social constructionism and appropriate and responsive to audiences and crisis context

Intercultural crisis communication: cultural background and the formation of perception

Crisis communication is a fairly new research discipline that originated in the Unites States in the late 1980s. Most of the research in the field has been focused on a senderfocused strategy with the organisation in mind and neglected the audience perspective. In particular, little is known about how cultural background influences crisis message perception and how then perception influences organisational reputation. The importance of the crisis communicator, his/her capabilities and his/her unique deliverance of the crisis message to a multicultural audience has not received much attention in spite of such a significant role in informing the public and therefore in shaping the public image of the organisation. This research aimed to study crisis communication from an intercultural perspective and thus expand the field and fill gaps by investigating how cultural background truly influences perception of crisis messages and subsequently organisational reputation. Further, the study looked at how the proven benefits of multimodality in other fields can be used in crisis communication to better understand the perception creation process. The study utilised an exploratory mixed method approach, following on from an earlier pilot study. Participants were shown two short excerpts from the crisis press conferences of Germanwings U9525 and Malaysia Airlines MH370. The research included in-depth surveys with an open-ended section and was taken by 181 participants from 6 home country groups in the summer of 2016. The data was analysed utilising descriptive statistics as well as a thematic content analysis. The study concluded that cultural background is the decisive component when evaluating crisis messages and determining organisational reputation. Evidence were found to show significant impact in regard to the following three integral parts of crisis communication: Language Used for Crisis Communication, Crisis Information Content (Names & Nationalities of Victims), Attribution of Responsibility. The use of multiple modes and the introduction of multimodality into this study has also raised awareness for the inherent cultural features of crisis communicators. This analysis has provided indicators that significantly shape audiences’ perception. Those were: standing vs. sitting, speed of speaking, eye contact with audience, physical appearance, and facial expression. Finally, the study argued for a departure from the current generic approach in crisis communication to a situation-based crisis handling approach which is underpinned by social constructionism and appropriate and responsive to audiences and crisis context

Regenerative potential of human adipose-derived stromal cells of various origins

AbstractIn regenerative concepts, the potential of adult stem cells holds great promise concerning an individualized therapeutic approach. These cells provide renewable progenitor cells to replace aged tissue, and play a significant role in tissue repair and regeneration.In this investigation, the characteristics of different types of adipose tissue are analysed systematically with special attention to their proliferation and differentiation potential concerning the angiogenic and osteogenic lineage. Tissue samples from subcutaneous, visceral, and omental fat were processed according to standard procedures. The cells were characterized and cultivated under suitable conditions for osteogenic and angiogenic cell culture. The development of the different cell cultures as well as their differentiation were analysed morphologically and immunohistochemically from cell passages P1 to P12. Harvesting and isolation of multipotent cells from all three tissue types could be performed reproducibly. The cultivation of these cells under osteogenic conditions led to a morphological and immunohistochemical differentiation; mineralization could be detected. The most stable results were observed for the cells of subcutaneous origin. An osteogenic differentiation from adipose-derived cells from all analysed fatty tissues can be achieved easily and reproducibly. In therapeutic concepts including angiogenic regeneration, adipose-derived cells from subcutaneous tissue provide the optimal cellular base

Representation of Thermal Information in the Antennal Lobe of Leaf-Cutting Ants

Insects are equipped with various types of antennal sensilla, which house thermosensitive neurons adapted to receive different parameters of the thermal environment for a variety of temperature-guided behaviors. In the leaf-cutting ant Atta vollenweideri, the physiology and the morphology of the thermosensitive sensillum coeloconicum (Sc) has been thoroughly investigated. However, the central projections of its receptor neurons are unknown. Here we selectively stained the three neurons found in single Sc and tracked their axons into the brain of Atta vollenweideri workers. Each of the three axons terminates in a single glomerulus of the antennal lobe (Sc-glomeruli). Two of the innervated glomeruli are adjacent to each other and are located laterally, while the third one is clearly separated and located medially in the antennal lobe. Using two-photon Ca2+ imaging of antennal lobe projection neurons, we studied where in the antennal lobe thermal information is represented. In the 11 investigated antennal lobes, we found up to 10 different glomeruli in a single specimen responding to temperature stimulation. Both, warm- and cold-sensitive glomeruli could be identified. The thermosensitive glomeruli were mainly located in the medial part of the antennal lobe. Based on the general representation of thermal information in the antennal lobe and functional data on the Sc-glomeruli we conclude that temperature stimuli received by Sc are processed in the medial of the three target glomeruli. The present study reveals an important role of the antennal lobe in temperature processing and links a specific thermosensitive neuron to its central target glomerulus

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Learning Distinct Chemical Labels of Nestmates in Ants

Colony coherence is essential for eusocial insects because it supports the inclusive fitness of colony members. Ants quickly and reliably recognize who belongs to the colony (nestmates) and who is an outsider (non-nestmates) based on chemical recognition cues (cuticular hydrocarbons: CHCs) which as a whole constitute a chemical label. The process of nestmate recognition often is described as matching a neural template with the label. In this study, we tested the prevailing view that ants use commonalities in the colony odor that are present in the CHC profile of all individuals of a colony or whether different CHC profiles are learned independently. We created and manipulated sub-colonies by adding one or two different hydrocarbons that were not present in the original colony odor of our Camponotus floridanus colony and later tested workers of the sub-colonies in one-on-one encounters for aggressive responses. We found that workers adjust their nestmate recognition by learning novel, manipulated CHC profiles, but still accept workers with the previous CHC profile. Workers from a sub-colony with two additional components showed aggression against workers with only one of the two components added to their CHC profile. Thus, additional components as well as the lack of a component can alter a label as “non-nestmate.” Our results suggest that ants have multiple-templates to recognize nestmates carrying distinct labels. This finding is in contrast to what previously has been proposed, i.e., a widening of the acceptance range of one template. We conclude that nestmate recognition in ants is a partitioned (multiple-template) process of the olfactory system that allows discrimination and categorization of nestmates by differences in their CHC profiles. Our findings have strong implications for our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of colony coherence and task allocation because they illustrate the importance of individual experience and task associated differences in the CHC profiles that can be instructive for the organization of insect societies