Die Erweiterung der Mensch-Prothesen-Konstellation: eine technografische Analyse zur 'intelligenten' Beinprothese

In Zeiten der so genannten Technowissenschaften, ist es vielfach möglich, den menschlichen Körper durch Technik und technische Artefakte zu ergänzen und zu verändern, in bestimmten Fällen vielleicht sogar zu optimieren oder zu perfektionieren. Vor diesem Hintergrund befasst sich die Studie aus soziologischer Sicht mit den Mensch-Technik-Verbindungen. Der Untersuchungsgegenstand ist eine als 'intelligent' bezeichnete Beinprothese: das C-Leg, eine computerisierte Prothese. Die Ergebnisse basieren auf drei leitfadenorientierten Interviews mit Personen im Umkreis des C-Legs. Befragt wird ein Mitglied des Entwicklungsteams der Prothese, ein Prothesenträger, der diese Prothese vorwiegend nutzt und Proband für unterschiedliche Prothesen ist und eine Person, die in einer Prüfstelle für orthopädische Hilfsmittel arbeitet und die Prothese getestet hat. In einem ersten Schritt wird auf Netzwerke im Sinne B. Latours eingegangen, die in der Beinprothetik erkennbar sind. Dazu wird zunächst die Geschichte der Amputationen und des Prothesenbaus skizziert, um diese dann mit Latours Akteur-Netzwerk-Theorie zu verbinden. Dann werden die Besonderheiten und Funktionsweise des C-Leg vorgestellt. Die Funktionsweise des C-Leg wird anschließend mit dem Ansatz der Embodyment-Relation von D. Ihde verknüpft. In einem zweiten Schritt werden die verschiedenen Beziehungen zwischen den Netzwerkmitgliedern dargestellt. Exemplarisch wird auf die Beziehungen zwischen Prothese und Orthopädietechnikern, Prothese und Hersteller, Prothese und Chirurgen und Prothese und Patient eingegangen. Danach folgt im dritten Schritt eine Analyse der Sprechweise über die Verbindung von Mensch und Prothese, indem einige Interviewzitate beteiligter Netzwerkmitglieder zum Verhältnis von Mensch und Prothese wiedergeben werden. (ICG2

Understanding the dependence of mean precipitation on convective treatment and horizontal resolution in tropical aquachannel experiments

The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is a key circulation and precipitation feature in the tropics. There has been a large spread in the representation of the ITCZ in global weather and climate models for a long time, the reasons for which remain unclear. This paper presents a novel approach with which we disentangle different physical processes responsible for the changeable behavior of the ITCZ in numerical models. The diagnostic tool is based on a conceptual framework developed by Emanuel (2019) and allows for physically consistent estimates of convective mass flux and precipitation efficiency for simulations with explicit and parameterized convection. We apply our diagnostic tool to a set of tropical aquachannel experiments using the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic (ICON) model with horizontal grid spacings of 13 and 5 km and with various representations of deep and shallow convection. The channel length corresponds to the Earth\u27s circumference and has rigid walls at 30∘ N/S. Zonally symmetric sea surface temperatures are prescribed. All experiments simulate an ITCZ at the Equator coinciding with the ascending branch of the Hadley circulation and descending branches at 15∘ N/S with subtropical jets and easterly trade wind belts straddling the ITCZ. With explicit deep convection, however, rainfall in the ITCZ increases and the Hadley circulation becomes stronger. Increasing horizontal resolution substantially reduces the rainfall maximum in the ITCZ, while the strength of the Hadley circulation changes only marginally. Our diagnostic framework reveals that boundary-layer quasi-equilibrium (BLQE) is a key to physically understanding those differences. At 13 km, enhanced surface enthalpy fluxes with explicit deep convection are balanced by increased convective downdrafts. As precipitation efficiency is hardly affected, convective updrafts and rainfall increase. The surface enthalpy fluxes are mainly controlled by mean surface winds, closely linked to the Hadley circulation. These links also help understand rainfall differences between different resolutions. At 5 km, the wind–surface-fluxes–convection relation holds, but additionally explicit convection dries the mid-troposphere, which increases the import of air with lower moist static energy into the boundary layer, thereby enhancing surface fluxes. Overall, the different model configurations create little variations in precipitation efficiency and radiative cooling, the effects of which are compensated for by changes in dry stability. The results highlight the utility of our diagnostic tool to pinpoint processes important for rainfall differences between models, suggesting applicability for climate model intercomparison projects

Quinone-dependent D-lactate dehydrogenase Dld (Cg1027) is essential for growth of Corynebacterium glutamicum on D-lactate

Kato O, Youn J-W, Stansen KC, Matsui D, Oikawa T, Wendisch VF. Quinone-dependent D-lactate dehydrogenase Dld (Cg1027) is essential for growth of Corynebacterium glutamicum on D-lactate. BMC Microbiology. 2010;10(1): 321.Background: Corynebacterium glutamicum is able to grow with lactate as sole or combined carbon and energy source. Quinone-dependent L-lactate dehydrogenase LldD is known to be essential for utilization of L-lactate by C. glutamicum. D-lactate also serves as sole carbon source for C. glutamicum ATCC 13032. Results: Here, the gene cg1027 was shown to encode the quinone-dependent D-lactate dehydrogenase (Dld) by enzymatic analysis of the protein purified from recombinant E. coli. The absorption spectrum of purified Dld indicated the presence of FAD as bound cofactor. Inactivation of dld resulted in the loss of the ability to grow with D-lactate, which could be restored by plasmid-borne expression of dld. Heterologous expression of dld from C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 in C. efficiens enabled this species to grow with D-lactate as sole carbon source. Homologs of dld of C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 are not encoded in the sequenced genomes of other corynebacteria and mycobacteria. However, the dld locus of C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 shares 2367 bp of 2372 bp identical nucleotides with the dld locus of Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii, a bacterium used in Swiss-type cheese making. Both loci are flanked by insertion sequences of the same family suggesting a possible event of horizontal gene transfer. Conclusions: Cg1067 encodes quinone-dependent D-lactate dehydrogenase Dld of Corynebacterium glutamicum. Dld is essential for growth with D-lactate as sole carbon source. The genomic region of dld likely has been acquired by horizontal gene transfer

Study protocol: young carers and young adult carers in Switzerland

Background: In Switzerland, the issue of young carers and young adult carers - young people under the age of 18 and 24 respectively, who take on significant or substantial caring tasks and levels of responsibility that would usually be associated with an adult - has not been researched before. The number of these younger carers is unknown, as is the extent and kind of their caring activities and the outcomes for their health, well-being, psycho-social development, education, transitions to adulthood, future employability and economic participation. Methods: The project is comprised of three stages: 1. A national Swiss-wide online survey to examine awareness of the issue of younger carers amongst professional populations in the education, health and social services sectors; 2. An online survey of 4800 Swiss pupils in schools using standardised instruments to identify the proportion and characteristics of pupils who are carers; and 3. Semi-structured interviews with 20 families comprising family members with care needs and younger carers, to consolidate and validate the other stages of the study; and to hear directly from care-dependent family members and younger carers about their experiences of the issues identified in the surveys and in previous published research. Discussion: The needs of younger carers and their ill and disabled family members in Switzerland have not been systematically investigated. This will be the first study in the country to investigate these issues and to develop evidence-based recommendations for policy and practice, drawing also on international research. The present study therefore fills an important national and international research gap. It will collect important data on the awareness, extent, kind and impact of caring amongst children and young people in Switzerland, and cross-link these findings with robust evidence from other countries. The study will reveal (a) the extent of awareness of the issue of young carers amongst medical, social, health, educational, and other groups in Switzerland; (b) the proportion and number of young carers amongst a normative child population, and what these young carers ‘do’ in terms of their caring roles; and (c) direct accounts by families of their care-giving and receiving experiences

In wenigen Schritten zur Zweitveröffentlichung : Workflows für Publikationsservices

Zweitveröffentlichungen von bereits veröffentlichten Publikationen haben eine freie Nutzbarmachung zum Ziel und nutzen den "Grünen Weg" im Open Access. Der Zweitveröffentlichungsworkflow umfasst mehrere Schritte, deren Reihenfolge zum Teil flexibel ist. Für die genaue Umsetzung der einzelnen Schritte gibt es stets verschiedene Optionen, die je nach den Rahmenbedingungen der jeweiligen Einrichtung (z. B. technische Infrastruktur, Personalressourcen) festgelegt werden. Dabei sollten bei der Planung bzw. Weiterentwicklung des Workflows möglichst die Automatisierungspotenziale einzelner Prozesse genutzt werden. Basierend auf einem Workflow-Vergleich der Zweitveröffentlichungsservices der beteiligten Einrichtungen empfiehlt die Unterarbeitsgruppe Workflows (Fokusgruppe Zweitveröffentlichungen) des open-access.network folgende neun Schritte: (1) Auswahl von Informationsquellen zur Identifikation potentieller Zweitveröffentlichungen (2) Rechtliche Prüfung, ob eine Zweitveröffentlichung zulässig ist; (3) Einholen der Publikationsgenehmigung von den Autor*innen; (4) Prüfung, welche Manuskriptversion veröffentlicht werden darf; (5) Bearbeitung der Publikationsdatei; (6) Dublettenprüfung, Eingabe der Metadaten und Ablage der Datei; (7) Dokumentation der Rechtsgrundlage für die Veröffentlichung; (8) Öffentlichkeitsarbeit für die Zweitveröffentlichung; (9) Monitoring und Dokumentation sowie Werbung für den eigenen Service