Geweißte Grabmäler. Motivkritische Anmerkungen zu Mt 23.27-28

In Matthean research, the quest for a suitable key to the understanding of the sixth woe (Mt 23.27-28) has not yet provided results that are fully convincing. Against the backdrop of Jewish everyday life, the image of positively connoted white tombs seems to have no relevant point of reference. Rather, white is understood as a warning colour in the context of tombs as it is intended to mark and warn against the tombs' impurity. In contrast to these findings, the article confirms the existence of prominent white graves which were considered beautiful in first-century Judaism: the tombs of the patriarchs at Hebron and the tomb of King David at Jerusalem, both artfully embellished by Herod the Great. In the light of these parallels, the logic of the comparison, which serves as an argument for the woe of Mt 23.27-28, falls into place and perhaps provides an additional insight into Matthew's view of Herod the Grea

Using Design Science Research to Develop a Framework for Effective Business Model Design

The ever-changing and increasingly complex business world makes new successful business models a key challenge for entrepreneurs. Accordingly, business model design is an essential task for startups to explore, define and communicate new business opportunities. Simultaneously, there has been insufficient knowledge, either in theory or in practice, on how to realize an effective business model design process. Therefore, this dissertation\u27s approach was to develop a framework with the support of which startups can effectively design their business model. For this purpose, the thesis identified content and process steps necessary for an effective business model design. Furthermore, based on a literature review, the business model concept, as well as the basic steps of an effective process for designing a business model, were defined. Furthermore, through the analysis of existing frameworks and the examination of entrepreneurial practice in the context of a quantitative survey, insights were gained into how startups currently design their business models, and for which reasons the existing frameworks have so far been assessed as not effective enough. Methodologically, the work was guided by a design science research approach. In all steps of this work, the Design Science research framework and guidelines found on the principle that new knowledge and understanding are derived from the design, application, and evaluation of an artifact, were strictly followed. Based on the theoretical findings of the literature and the study\u27s practical insights, the requirements for the design of the framework were derived. Its initial design was developed with the help of a group of experts. It was then tested in two iterative evaluation cycles with 42 startups in seven multi-day workshops in different accelerator programs. After each application, the framework was evaluated through interviews and questionnaires and adapted based on the lessons learned. This iteration was conducted until the previously defined requirements for the artifact were fully met. Within the work scope, it was thus possible to develop an artifact that contains significant structural and content-related enhancements com-pared to existing approaches to business model design. The developed framework can sup-port startups, regardless of their development stage and economic background, in effectively designing their business model

Response of bacterioplankton community structure to an artificial gradient of pCO2 in the Arctic Ocean

In order to test the influences of ocean acidification on the ocean pelagic ecosystem, so far the largest CO2 manipulation mesocosm study (European Project on Ocean Acidification, EPOCA) was performed in Kings Bay (Kongsfjorden), Spitsbergen. During a 30 day incubation, bacterial diversity was investigated using DNA fingerprinting and clone library analysis of bacterioplankton samples. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of the PCR amplicons of the 16S rRNA genes revealed that general bacterial diversity, taxonomic richness and community structure were influenced by the variation of productivity during the time of incubation, but not the degree of ocean acidification. A BIOENV analysis suggested a complex control of bacterial community structure by various biological and chemical environmental parameters. The maximum apparent diversity of bacterioplankton (i.e., the number of T-RFs) in high and low pCO2 treatments differed significantly. A negative relationship between the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and pCO2 levels was observed for samples at the end of the experiment by the combination of T-RFLP and clone library analysis. Our study suggests that ocean acidification affects the development of bacterial assemblages and potentially impacts the ecological function of the bacterioplankton in the marine ecosystem

Priming for self-esteem influences the monitoring of one’s own performance

Social cues have subtle effects on a person, often without them being aware. One explanation for this influence involves implicit priming of trait associations. To study this effect, we activated implicit associations in participants of ‘being Clever’ or ‘being Stupid’ that were task relevant, and studied its behavioural impact on an independent cognitive task (the n-back task). Activating a representation of ‘Clever’ caused participants to slow their reaction times after errors on the working memory task, while the reverse pattern was seen for associations to ‘Stupid’. Critically, these behavioural effects were absent in control conditions. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that the neural basis of this effect involves the anterior paracingulate cortex (area 32) where activity tracked the observed behavioural pattern, increasing its activity during error monitoring in the ‘Clever’ condition and decreasing in the ‘Stupid’ condition. The data provide a quantitative demonstration of how implicit cues, which specifically target a person’s self-concept, influences the way we react to our own behaviour and point to the anterior paracingulate cortex as a critical cortical locus for mediating these self-concept related behavioural regulations

The Robo-AO-2 facility for rapid visible/near-infrared AO imaging and the demonstration of hybrid techniques

We are building a next-generation laser adaptive optics system, Robo-AO-2, for the UH 2.2-m telescope that will deliver robotic, diffraction-limited observations at visible and near-infrared wavelengths in unprecedented numbers. The superior Maunakea observing site, expanded spectral range and rapid response to high-priority events represent a significant advance over the prototype. Robo-AO-2 will include a new reconfigurable natural guide star sensor for exquisite wavefront correction on bright targets and the demonstration of potentially transformative hybrid AO techniques that promise to extend the faintness limit on current and future exoplanet adaptive optics systems.Comment: 15 page

Enhancing Inhibition-Induced Plasticity in Tinnitus – Spectral Energy Contrasts in Tailor-Made Notched Music Matter

Chronic tinnitus seems to be caused by reduced inhibition among frequency selective neurons in the auditory cortex. One possibility to reduce tinnitus perception is to induce inhibition onto over-activated neurons representing the tinnitus frequency via tailor-made notched music (TMNM). Since lateral inhibition is modifiable by spectral energy contrasts, the question arises if the effects of inhibition-induced plasticity can be enhanced by introducing increased spectral energy contrasts (ISEC) in TMNM. Eighteen participants suffering from chronic tonal tinnitus, pseudo randomly assigned to either a classical TMNM or an ISEC-TMNM group, listened to notched music for three hours on three consecutive days. The music was filtered for both groups by introducing a notch filter centered at the individual tinnitus frequency. For the ISEC-TMNM group a frequency bandwidth of 3/8 octaves on each side of the notch was amplified, additionally, by about 20 dB. Before and after each music exposure, participants rated their subjectively perceived tinnitus loudness on a visual analog scale. During the magnetoencephalographic recordings, participants were stimulated with either a reference tone of 500 Hz or a test tone with a carrier frequency representing the individual tinnitus pitch. Perceived tinnitus loudness was significantly reduced after TMNM exposure, though TMNM type did not influence the loudness ratings. Tinnitus related neural activity in the N1m time window and in the so called tinnitus network comprising temporal, parietal and frontal regions was reduced after TMNM exposure. The ISEC-TMNM group revealed even enhanced inhibition-induced plasticity in a temporal and a frontal cortical area. Overall, inhibition of tinnitus related neural activity could be strengthened in people affected with tinnitus by increasing spectral energy contrast in TMNM, confirming the concepts of inhibition-induced plasticity via TMNM and spectral energy contrasts

An X-ray spectroscopy study of structural stability of superhydrogenated pyrene derivatives

The stability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) upon soft X-ray absorption is of crucial relevance for PAH survival in X-ray dominated regions (XDRs). PAH stability depends on molecular size but also on the degree of hydrogenation that is related to H2 formation in the interstellar medium (ISM). In this project, we intend to reveal the changes of electronic structure caused by hydrogenation and the impact of hydrogenation on the stability of the carbon backbone for cationic pyrene and its hydrogenated derivatives by analysis of near C K-edge soft X-ray photoions. In our experiments, the PAH cations were trapped in a cryogenic radiofrequency (RF) linear ion trap and exposed to monochromatic X-rays with energies from 279 eV to 300 eV. The photo-products were mass-analyzed by means of time-of-flight (TOF) spectroscopy. Partial ion yields (PIYs) were then studied as a function of photon energy. X-ray absorption spectra computed by time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) aided the interpretation of the experimental results. A very good agreement between experimental data and TDDFT with short-range corrected (SRC) functionals for all PAH ions was reached. The near-edge X-ray absorption mass spectra (NEXAMS) exhibit clear peaks due to C 1s transitions to singly occupied molecular orbitals SOMO and to low-lying unoccupied molecular orbitals. In contrast to coronene cations, where hydrogen attachment drastically increases photostability of coronene, the influence of hydrogenation on photostability is substantially weaker for pyrene cations. Here, hydrogen attachment even destabilizes the molecular structure. An astrophysical model describes the half-life of PAH ions in interstellar environments