Internationale Nachwuchswissenschaftler in Deutschland: Motivation - Integration - Förderung; Ergebnisse einer bundesweiten Studie

What motivates international scientists to research and teach at German Universities? How successful is their professional and social integration? What are their long-term career objectives? The MIND study at GATE-Germany (a consortium for international university marketing funded by DAAD and HRK) comprehensively surveyed international post-doctoral academics for the first time on their decision motivation, organisational challenges and their professional and social integration across all participating universities. The resulting quantitative data delivers empirical information about needs and decision criteria of young, post-doctoral academics and therefore expands the experience knowledge of the universities.Was motiviert internationale Wissenschaftler an deutschen Hochschulen zu forschen und zu lehren? Wie gut gelingt ihre berufliche und soziale Integration? Welche langfristigen Karriereziele verfolgen sie? In der MIND-Studie von GATE-Germany (Konsortium für internationales Hochschulmarketing von DAAD und HRK) wurden erstmals umfassend und hochschulübergreifend promovierte internationale Wissenschaftler zu ihren Entscheidungsmotiven, organisatorischen Herausforderungen und zu ihrer beruflichen und sozialen Integration befragt. Die quantitativen Daten liefern empirisch fundierte Informationen über Bedarfe und Entscheidungskriterien promovierter Nachwuchswissenschaftler und erweitern so das Erfahrungswissen der Hochschulen

Domestic water supply in rural Viet Nam - Between self-supply and piped schemes

This thesis analyses the dissemination of strategies for improving domestic water supply in rural Viet Nam based on statistical micro-data. Whereas practices of household water treatment are analysed on household level, the question of piped scheme coverage is decomposed into two sub-questions. While the first one refers to the availability of piped schemes on communal level (supply-side), the second one refers to the accessibility of safe water sources by rural households (demand-side)

Internationale Nachwuchswissenschaftler in Deutschland

"What motivates international scientists to research and teach at German Universities? How successful is their professional and social integration? What are their long-term career objectives? The MIND study at GATE-Germany (a consortium for international university marketing funded by DAAD and HRK) comprehensively surveyed international post-doctoral academics for the first time on their decision motivation, organisational challenges and their professional and social integration across all participating universities. The resulting quantitative data delivers empirical information about needs and decision criteria of young, post-doctoral academics and therefore expands the experience knowledge of the universities.

Amplification of Emerging Viruses in a Bat Colony

Concentration and prevalence of coronaviruses and astroviruses increase when bats form maternity roosts and bear young

Eroding permafrost coasts release low amounts of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from ground ice into the nearshore zone of the Arctic Ocean

Ice-rich permafrost coasts in the Arctic are highly sensitive to climate warming and erode at a pace that exceeds the global average. Permafrost coasts deliver vast amounts of organic carbon into the nearshore zone of the Arctic Ocean. Numbers on flux exist for particulate organic carbon (POC) and total or soil organic carbon (TOC, SOC). However, they do not exist for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), which is known to be highly bioavailable. This study aims to estimate DOC stocks in coastal permafrost as well as the annual flux into the ocean. DOC concentrations in ground ice were analyzed along the ice-rich Yukon coast (YC) in the western Canadian Arctic. The annual DOC flux was estimated using available numbers for coast length, cliff height, annual erosion rate, and volumetric ice content in different stratigraphic horizons. Our results showed that DOC concentrations in ground ice range between 0.3 and 347.0 mg L^-1 with an estimated stock of 13.6 ± 3.0 g m^-3 along the YC. An annual DOC flux of 54.9 ± 0.9 Mg yr^-1 was computed. These DOC fluxes are low compared to POC and SOC fluxes from coastal erosion or POC and DOC fluxes from Arctic rivers. We conclude that DOC fluxes from permafrost coasts play a secondary role in the Arctic carbon budget. However, this DOC is assumed to be highly bioavailable. We hypothesize that DOC from coastal erosion is important for ecosystems in the Arctic nearshore zones, particularly in summer when river discharge is low, and in areas where rivers are absent

Internationale Nachwuchswissenschaftler in Deutschland

"What motivates international scientists to research and teach at German Universities? How successful is their professional and social integration? What are their long-term career objectives? The MIND study at GATE-Germany (a consortium for international university marketing funded by DAAD and HRK) comprehensively surveyed international post-doctoral academics for the first time on their decision motivation, organisational challenges and their professional and social integration across all participating universities. The resulting quantitative data delivers empirical information about needs and decision criteria of young, post-doctoral academics and therefore expands the experience knowledge of the universities.

Looking Beyond the Plan and Understanding the Process : Lessons from Rea Vaya

African cities have to manage rapid urbanization and mobilization to decrease road congestion and air pollution that hinder economic development and social cohesion. This paper presents public policy research that applied the concepts and language of Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis Development (IAD) framework to systematically describe the implementation of sustainable public transport policies in the Greater Johannesburg Area/South Africa. This mixed-method study focuses, in particular, on the process of developing a single trunk route of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit system (Phase 1A).publishe

Adaptive Gene Regulation in the Striatum of RGS9-Deficient Mice

Background: RGS9-deficient mice show drug-induced dyskinesia but normal locomotor activity under unchallenged conditions. Results: Genes related to Ca2+ signaling and their functions were regulated in RGS9-deficient mice. Conclusion: Changes in Ca2+ signaling that compensate for RGS9 loss-of-function can explain the normal locomotor activity in RGS9-deficient mice under unchallenged conditions. Significance: Identified signaling components may represent novel targets in antidyskinetic therapy. The long splice variant of the regulator of G-protein signaling 9 (RGS9-2) is enriched in striatal medium spiny neurons and dampens dopamine D2 receptor signaling. Lack of RGS9-2 can promote while its overexpression prevents drug-induced dyskinesia. Other animal models of drug-induced dyskinesia rather pointed towards overactivity of dopamine receptor-mediated signaling. To evaluate changes in signaling pathways mRNA expression levels were determined and compared in wild-type and RGS9-deficient mice. Unexpectedly, expression levels of dopamine receptors were unchanged in RGS9-deficient mice, while several genes related to Ca2+ signaling and long-term depression were differentially expressed when compared to wild type animals. Detailed investigations at the protein level revealed hyperphosphorylation of DARPP32 at Thr34 and of ERK1/2 in striata of RGS9-deficient mice. Whole cell patch clamp recordings showed that spontaneous synaptic events are increased (frequency and size) in RGS9-deficient mice while long-term depression is reduced in acute brain slices. These changes are compatible with a Ca2+-induced potentiation of dopamine receptor signaling which may contribute to the drug-induced dyskinesia in RGS9-deficient mice

Merci (Monitoring European Research Council’s Implementation of Excellence): Evaluation Report on the Impact of the ERC Starting Grant Programme

Im Februar 2009 hat der Europäische Forschungsrat (EFR) das MERCI-Projekt (“Monitoring European Research Council’s Implementation of Excellence”) zum Monitoring des “Starting Grants” (StG) Förderschemas gestartet. Das StG-Programm unterstützt „exzellente“ Postdocs mit bis zu 1,5 Mio. Euro während eines Zeitraums von bis zu fünf Jahren, um ihre eigene Forschungsgruppe aufzustellen oder zu konsolidieren und um unabhängige, forschungsgetriebene „Pionierforschung“ zu verfolgen. Da das StG-Programm erst 2007 erstellt wurde, legt das MERCI-Projekt einen Fokus auf die Programmimplementation und die Funktionsweise in der Praxis. Auf diese Weise betont die individuelle Perspektive und zielt darauf ab ein umfassendes Bild der direkten und indirekten Effekte des StG wiederzugeben. MERCI misst nicht nur die Erreichung der Programmziele, sondern hinterfragt auch die Ziele selbst, indem beurteilt wird, ob das StG-Förderschema auf die spezifischen Bedürfnisse der Postdocs zugeschnitten ist. MERCI wurde als EFR-Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) -Projekt mit einer Dauer von 2009 bis 2014 eingeführt (grant agreement number 228473). Das Projekt von einem Konsortium von vier Partnerinstituten: das Institut für Forschungsinformation und Qualitätssicherung (iFQ), die Technische Universität Dortmund, die Universität Bielefeld und die Humboldt Universität in Berlin