Navigieren

Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter, Christoph Borbach, Max Kanderske und Prof. Dr. Benjamin Beil sind Herausgeber der Reihe. Die Herausgeber*innen der einzelnen Hefte sind renommierte Wissenschaftler*innen aus dem In- und Ausland.Navigieren ist längst kein Unikum professionalisierter Seefahrer:innen mehr, sondern als Smartphone- und Browser-Praktik fester Bestandteil des vernetzten digitalen Alltags. Da Wegfindungen durch On- und Offline-Räume navigationsspezifische Formen von Medienkompetenz voraussetzen und hervorbringen, fordern sie die Intensivierung der medienkulturwissenschaftlichen Beschäftigung mit den situierten und technisierten Medienpraktiken der Navigation geradezu heraus. Die Ausgabe nimmt diesen Befund zum Anlass, polyperspektivische Zugänge zum »Navigieren« vorzustellen. Die körper-, kultur- und medientechnischen Facetten des Navigierens stehen dabei ebenso im Fokus wie ihre historischen Ausgestaltungen, die Arbeit am und im Datenmaterial von Navigationsmedien und die Theoretisierung postdigitaler Sensor-Medien-Kulturen, die dem Umstand Rechnung trägt, dass es nicht allein Daten, Dinge und Körper sind, die es zu navigieren gilt, sondern zunehmend nicht-menschliche Akteure selbst zielgerichtete Raumdurchquerungen praktizieren. Fehlte es in der (deutschsprachigen) Medienkulturwissenschaft bislang an einer Bündelung heterogener navigationsspezifischer Forschungsarbeiten, gibt diese Ausgabe einen Überblick über das Feld, seine Forscher:innen und Fragestellungen. Denn trotz des Spatial Turns in den Humanities und der gegenwärtigen Konjunktur geomedialer Arbeiten, scheint die synthetisierende Fokussierung auf Medien und Praktiken des Navigierens in historischer, ethnografischer, technischer und theoretischer Perspektive bislang ein Desiderat darzustellen.Navigation is no longer unique to the context of professional seafaring, but has become an integral part of networked digital everyday life enabled through smartphones and web browsers. Indeed, finding one’s way through online and offline spaces increasingly presupposes and produces specific forms of media competence one could call »navigational«. In this, a ›media cultural studies‹ perspective on the situated and ›technologized‹ media practices of navigation becomes imperative to understanding the contemporary media landscape. Issue 1/22 of Navigationen answers this call by presenting polyperspectival approaches to »navigating«. The contributions discuss the bodily, cultural, and media-technical facets of navigation, as well as its historical forms, the work on and in the data produced by and with navigational media, and the theorization of post-digital ›sensor media cultures‹. In doing so, the issue acknowledges that not only do data, things, and bodies need to be ›navigated‹ in the context of logistics, but that the increasingly autonomous wayfinding processes of non-human actors change the notion of navigation itself. As (German language) media cultural studies has so far lacked a convincing compilation of heterogeneous approaches to studying navigation, this issue provides an overview of the field, its researchers and questions. Despite the spatial turn in the humanities and a recent surge in geomedia studies, an approach towards the media and practices of navigation that combines historical, ethnographic, technical and theoretical perspectives, has remained a desideratum until now. The issue fills this gap

Transketolase catalysed upgrading of l-arabinose: the one-step stereoselective synthesis of l-gluco-heptulose

Conversion of biomass using biocatalysis is likely to become a technology that contributes significantly to the future production of chemical building blocks, materials and transport fuels. Here the synthesis of a value-added chemical from L-arabinose, a major component of the carbohydrates in sugar beet pulp (SBP), in a concise and sustainable manner has been investigated. Biocatalytic conversions using transketolase variants have been developed for the efficient, scalable synthesis of a rare naturally occurring ketoheptose, L-gluco-heptulose, from L-arabinose. New active E. coli TK mutants that readily accept L-arabinose were identified using a versatile colorimetric screening assay and the reaction was performed on a preparative scale

Contrasting perspectives of strategy making: applications in 'Hyper' environments

We revisit the original meaning of turbulence in the socioecological tradition of organization studies and outline a perspective on strategy making grounded in that tradition. This entails a contrast of the socioecological perspective with the more well-known neoclassical perspective on strategy, based on their core decision premises and their different understandings of environmental turbulence. We argue that while some mainstream strategy approaches have taken important strides toward addressing advanced turbulence, many others remain tethered to the neoclassical origins of the strategy discipline and are insufficiently responsive to the new landscape of strategy that now characterizes many industries. This new landscape is construed as the ‘hyper environment’, in which positive feedback processes and emergent field effects produce high volatility. We use two case illustrations from the US healthcare sector to examine how neoclassical and socioecological perspectives contribute to strategizing in hyper environments. Implications for strategic management theory and practice flow from this analysis

The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Identification of genetic variants associated with Huntington's disease progression: a genome-wide association study

Background Huntington's disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the huntingtin gene, HTT. Age at onset has been used as a quantitative phenotype in genetic analysis looking for Huntington's disease modifiers, but is hard to define and not always available. Therefore, we aimed to generate a novel measure of disease progression and to identify genetic markers associated with this progression measure. Methods We generated a progression score on the basis of principal component analysis of prospectively acquired longitudinal changes in motor, cognitive, and imaging measures in the 218 indivduals in the TRACK-HD cohort of Huntington's disease gene mutation carriers (data collected 2008–11). We generated a parallel progression score using data from 1773 previously genotyped participants from the European Huntington's Disease Network REGISTRY study of Huntington's disease mutation carriers (data collected 2003–13). We did a genome-wide association analyses in terms of progression for 216 TRACK-HD participants and 1773 REGISTRY participants, then a meta-analysis of these results was undertaken. Findings Longitudinal motor, cognitive, and imaging scores were correlated with each other in TRACK-HD participants, justifying use of a single, cross-domain measure of disease progression in both studies. The TRACK-HD and REGISTRY progression measures were correlated with each other (r=0·674), and with age at onset (TRACK-HD, r=0·315; REGISTRY, r=0·234). The meta-analysis of progression in TRACK-HD and REGISTRY gave a genome-wide significant signal (p=1·12 × 10−10) on chromosome 5 spanning three genes: MSH3, DHFR, and MTRNR2L2. The genes in this locus were associated with progression in TRACK-HD (MSH3 p=2·94 × 10−8 DHFR p=8·37 × 10−7 MTRNR2L2 p=2·15 × 10−9) and to a lesser extent in REGISTRY (MSH3 p=9·36 × 10−4 DHFR p=8·45 × 10−4 MTRNR2L2 p=1·20 × 10−3). The lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in TRACK-HD (rs557874766) was genome-wide significant in the meta-analysis (p=1·58 × 10−8), and encodes an aminoacid change (Pro67Ala) in MSH3. In TRACK-HD, each copy of the minor allele at this SNP was associated with a 0·4 units per year (95% CI 0·16–0·66) reduction in the rate of change of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS) Total Motor Score, and a reduction of 0·12 units per year (95% CI 0·06–0·18) in the rate of change of UHDRS Total Functional Capacity score. These associations remained significant after adjusting for age of onset. Interpretation The multidomain progression measure in TRACK-HD was associated with a functional variant that was genome-wide significant in our meta-analysis. The association in only 216 participants implies that the progression measure is a sensitive reflection of disease burden, that the effect size at this locus is large, or both. Knockout of Msh3 reduces somatic expansion in Huntington's disease mouse models, suggesting this mechanism as an area for future therapeutic investigation

bio-psycho-soziale Gesundheit der Studierenden der TU Kaiserslautern

Die Dissertation mit dem Titel „bio-psycho-soziale Gesundheit der Studierenden der TU Kaiserslautern“ ist auf dem Hintergrund der Frage entstanden, wie die Gesundheit von Studierenden erhalten und gefördert werden kann. Die Gesundheitsprävention hat auch im Bereich der Hochschulen in den letzten Jahren erheblich an Bedeutung gewonnen, einerseits durch die steigende Anzahl psychischer Erkrankungen bei Studierenden, andererseits durch die Umsetzung des Präventionsgesetzes, das am 01.01.2016 in Kraft getreten ist. Die Arbeit gibt zentrale Hinweise auf Belastungen und Beanspruchungen von Studierenden der TUK und zeigt einen möglichen Weg zum Aufbau eines systematischen Gesundheitsmanagements an einer Universität. Unterfüttert anhand konkreter Beispiele aus der Praxis wird dargestellt, wie Präventionsmaßnahmen im Setting Universität durchgeführt werden können. Ein Beitrag zur Gesundheitsberichterstattung von Studierenden wird durch unterschiedliche Darstellungen zentraler Ergebnisse die Gesundheit der Studierenden betreffend geleistet. Im empirischen Teil der Arbeit werden sechs Hypothesen überprüft die anhand eines definierten Merkmalskanons Zusammenhänge und Unterschiede unterschiedlicher gesundheitsrelevanter Facetten herausarbeiten. Im Konkreten sind dies die Konstrukte Depressives Syndrom, Stress, Erschöpfung, Burnout, Engagement, soziale Unterstützung, allgemeine Lebenszufriedenheit in Kombination mit der Studienphase (Bachelor vs. Master), dem Hochschulsemester, Genderaspekten, körperlicher Aktivität sowie dem Leistungsumfang im Studium