Educational Expansion and Persistent Inequalities of Education: Utilizing the Subjective Expected Utility Theory to Explain the Increasing Participation Rates in Upper Secondary School in the Federal Republic Of Germany

This investigation attempts to answer the question why more and more parents have chosen the Gymnasium for their children's secondary school education in post‐war West Germany. Based on the theory of subjective expected utility, the crucial mechanisms of parental educational decisions have been emphasized. From this perspective it is assumed that increasing educational motivation coupled with changes in the subjective evaluation of the cost–benefit of education were important conditions for an increasing participation in upper secondary schools. These were, however, in turn, the result of educational expansion. The empirical analyses for three time‐periods in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s confirm these assumptions to a large degree. Additionally, empirical evidence was found to suggest that in addition to the intentions of parents and the educational career of their children, structural moments of educational expansion and their own inertia played an important role in the pupils' transition from one educational level to the next. Finally, evidence was found that persistent class‐specific educational inequality stems from a constant balance in the relative cost–benefit advantages between social classes as well as from an increasing difference of primary origin effect between social classes in the realization of their educational choice.

Voter Participation in the 1998 Bundestag Elections: A Theoretical Modification and Empirical Application of Downs’ Theory of Voter Participation

This article seeks to contribute to the illumination of the so-called 'paradox of voting' using the German Bundestag elections of 1998 as an empirical case. Downs' model of voter participation will be extended to include elements of the theory of subjective expected utility (SEU). This will allow a theoretical and empirical exploration of the crucial mechanisms of individual voters' decisions to participate, or abstain from voting, in the German general election of 1998. It will be argued that the infinitely low probability of an individual citizen's vote to decide the election outcome will not necessarily reduce the probability of electoral participation. The empirical analysis is largely based on data from the ALLBUS 1998. It confirms the predictions derived from SEU theory. The voters' expected benefits and their subjective expectation to be able to influence government policy by voting are the crucial mechanisms to explain participation. By contrast, the explanatory contribution of perceived information and opportunity costs is low.

Bildungsexpansion und Bildungsbeteiligung. Oder: warum immer mehr Schulpflichtige das Gymnasium besuchen

Die vorliegende Untersuchung ist ein Beitrag, die Frage zu klären, warum in der westdeutschen Nachkriegszeit immer mehr Schulpflichtige nach Abschluss der Grundschule das Gymnasium besuchen. Ausgehend von einem entscheidungstheoretischen Modell der subjektiven Werterwartung werden Mechanismen der elterlichen Bildungsentscheidung aufgezeigt. Dabei wird davon ausgegangen, dass sowohl zunehmende Bildungsmotivationen als auch Veränderungen in der subjektiven Bewertung von Kosten und Nutzen für eine höhere Bildung wichtige Voraussetzungen für die zunehmende Bildungsbeteiligung, aber auch Folgen der Bildungsexpansion waren. Die empirischen Analysen für drei Zeitpunkte in den 60er, 70er und 80er Jahren bestätigen diese Annahmen weitgehend. Ebenso wurde empirisch belegt, welch wichtige Rolle neben den Bildungsintentionen von Eltern und dem vorhergehenden Bildungsverlauf ihrer Kinder auch strukturelle Momente der Bildungsexpansion und ihre Eigendynamik beim tatsächlichen Bildungsübergang spielen. Schließlich gibt es Hinweise dafür, dass die Persistenz klassenspezifischer Bildungsungleichheiten auf einer konstanten Balance von Nutzen und Kosten zwischen den sozialen Klassen basiert.

A transgenic model for conditional induction and rescue of portal hypertension reveals a role of VEGF-mediated regulation of sinusoidal fenestrations

Portal hypertension (PH) is a common complication and a leading cause of death in patients with chronic liver diseases. PH is underlined by structural and functional derangement of liver sinusoid vessels and its fenestrated endothelium. Because in most clinical settings PH is accompanied by parenchymal injury, it has been difficult to determine the precise role of microvascular perturbations in causing PH. Reasoning that Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is required to maintain functional integrity of the hepatic microcirculation, we developed a transgenic mouse system for a liver-specific-, reversible VEGF inhibition. The system is based on conditional induction and de-induction of a VEGF decoy receptor that sequesters VEGF and preclude signaling. VEGF blockade results in sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs) fenestrations closure and in accumulation and transformation of the normally quiescent hepatic stellate cells, i.e. provoking the two processes underlying sinusoidal capillarization. Importantly, sinusoidal capillarization was sufficient to cause PH and its typical sequela, ascites, splenomegaly and venous collateralization without inflicting parenchymal damage or fibrosis. Remarkably, these dramatic phenotypes were fully reversed within few days from lifting-off VEGF blockade and resultant re-opening of SECs' fenestrations. This study not only uncovered an indispensible role for VEGF in maintaining structure and function of mature SECs, but also highlights the vasculo-centric nature of PH pathogenesis. Unprecedented ability to rescue PH and its secondary manifestations via manipulating a single vascular factor may also be harnessed for examining the potential utility of de-capillarization treatment modalities.

Dephosphorylation of p-ERK1/2 in relation to tumor remission after HER-2 and Raf1 blocking therapy in a conditional mouse tumor model

Several studies have shown that HER-2/neu (erbB-2) blocking therapy strategies can cause tumor remission. However, the responsible molecular mechanisms are not yet known. Both ERK1/2 and Akt/PKB are critical for HER-2-mediated signal transduction. Therefore, we used a mouse tumor model that allows downregulation of HER-2 in tumor tissue by administration of anhydrotetracycline (ATc). Switching-off HER-2 caused a rapid tumor remission by more than 95% within 7 d of ATc administration compared to the volume before switching-off HER-2. Interestingly, HER-2 downregulation caused a dephosphorylation of p-ERK1/2 by more than 80% already before tumor remission occurred. Levels of total ERK protein were not influenced. In contrast, dephosphorylation of p-Akt occurred later, when the tumor was already in remission. These data suggest that in our HER-2 tumor model dephosphorylation of p-ERK1/2 may be more critical for tumor remission than dephosphorylation of p-Akt. To test this hypothesis we used a second mouse tumor model that allows ATc controlled expression of BXB-Raf1 because the latter constitutively signals to ERK1/2, but cannot activate Akt/PKB. As expected, downregulation of BXB-Raf1 in tumor tissue caused a strong dephosphorylation of p-ERK1/2, but did not decrease levels of p-Akt. Interestingly, tumor remission after switching-off BXB-Raf1 was similarly efficient as the effect of HER-2 downregulation, despite the lack of p-Akt dephosphorylation. In conclusion, two lines of evidence strongly suggest that dephosphorylation of p-ERK1/2 and not that of p-Akt is critical for the rapid tumor remission after downregulation of HER-2 or BXB-Raf1 in our tumor model: (i) dephosphorylation of p-ERK1/2 but not that of p-Akt precedes tumor remission after switching-off HER-2 and (ii) downregulation of BXB-Raf1 leads to a similarly efficient tumor remission as downregulation of HER-2, although no p-Akt dephosphorylation was observed after switching-off BXB-Raf1.

Establishment of murine cell lines by constitutive and conditional immortalization

Mouse cell lines were immortalized by introduction of specific immortalizing genes. Embryonic and adult animals and an embryonal stem cell line were used as a source of primary cells. The immortalizing genes were either introduced by DNA transfection or by ecotropic retrovirus transduction. Fibroblasts were obtained by expression of SV40 virus large T antigen (TAg). The properties of the resulting fibroblast cell lines were reproducible, independent of the donor mouse strains employed and the cells showed no transformed properties in vitro and did not form tumors in vivo. Endothelial cell lines were generated by Polyoma virus middle T antigen expression in primary embryonal cells. These cell lines consistently expressed relevant endothelial cell surface markers. Since the expression of the immortalizing genes was expected to strongly influence the cellular characteristics fibroblastoid cells were reversibly immortalized by using a vector that allows conditional expression of the TAg. Under inducing conditions, these cells exhibited properties that were highly similar to the properties of constitutively immortalized cells. In the absence of TAg expression, cell proliferation stops. Cell growth is resumed when TAg expression is restored. Gene expression profiling indicates that TAg influences the expression levels of more than 1000 genes that are involved in diverse cellular processes. The data show that conditionally immortalized cell lines have several advantageous properties over constitutively immortalized cells.

Transgenic system for conditional induction and rescue of chronic myocardial hibernation provides insights into genomic programs of hibernation

A key energy-saving adaptation to chronic hypoxia that enables cardiomyocytes to withstand severe ischemic insults is hibernation, i.e., a reversible arrest of contractile function. Whereas hibernating cardiomyocytes represent the critical reserve of dysfunctional cells that can be potentially rescued, a lack of a suitable animal model has hampered insights on this medically important condition. We developed a transgenic mouse system for conditional induction of long-term hibernation and a system to rescue hibernating cardiomyocytes at will. Via myocardium-specific induction (and, in turn, deinduction) of a VEGF-sequestering soluble receptor, we show that VEGF is indispensable for adjusting the coronary vasculature to match increased oxygen consumption and exploit this finding to generate a hypoperfused heart. Importantly, ensuing ischemia is tunable to a level at which large cohorts of cardiomyocytes are driven to enter a hibernation mode, without cardiac cell death. Relieving the VEGF blockade even months later resulted in rapid revascularization and full recovery of contractile function. Furthermore, we show that left ventricular remodeling associated with hibernation is also fully reversible. The unique opportunity to uncouple hibernation from other ischemic heart phenotypes (e.g., infarction) was used to determine the genetic program of hibernation; uncovering hypoxia-inducible factor target genes associated with metabolic adjustments and induced expression of several cardioprotective genes. Autophagy, specifically self-digestion of mitochondria, was identified as a key prosurvival mechanism in hibernating cardiomyocytes. This system may lend itself for examining the potential utility of treatments to rescue dysfunctional cardiomyocytes and reverse maladaptive remodeling.

Quantifying uncertainty on Pareto fronts with Gaussian process conditional simulations

Multi-objective optimization algorithms aim at finding Pareto-optimal solutions. Recovering Pareto fronts or Pareto sets from a limited number of function evaluations are challenging problems. A popular approach in the case of expensive-to-evaluate functions is to appeal to metamodels. Kriging has been shown efficient as a base for sequential multi-objective optimization, notably through infill sampling criteria balancing exploitation and exploration such as the Expected Hypervolume Improvement. Here we consider Kriging metamodels not only for selecting new points, but as a tool for estimating the whole Pareto front and quantifying how much uncertainty remains on it at any stage of Kriging-based multi-objective optimization algorithms. Our approach relies on the Gaussian process interpretation of Kriging, and bases upon conditional simulations. Using concepts from random set theory, we propose to adapt the Vorob’ev expectation and deviation to capture the variability of the set of non-dominated points. Numerical experiments illustrate the potential of the proposed workflow, and it is shown on examples how Gaussian process simulations and the estimated Vorob’ev deviation can be used to monitor the ability of Kriging-based multi-objective optimization algorithms to accurately learn the Pareto front.

Binary recombinase systems for high-resolution conditional mutagenesis.

Conditional mutagenesis using Cre recombinase expressed from tissue specific promoters facilitates analyses of gene function and cell lineage tracing. Here, we describe two novel dual-promoter-driven conditional mutagenesis systems designed for greater accuracy and optimal efficiency of recombination. Co-Driver employs a recombinase cascade of Dre and Dre-respondent Cre, which processes loxP-flanked alleles only when both recombinases are expressed in a predetermined temporal sequence. This unique property makes Co-Driver ideal for sequential lineage tracing studies aimed at unraveling the relationships between cellular precursors and mature cell types. Co-InCre was designed for highly efficient intersectional conditional transgenesis. It relies on highly active trans-splicing inteins and promoters with simultaneous transcriptional activity to reconstitute Cre recombinase from two inactive precursor fragments. By generating native Cre, Co-InCre attains recombination rates that exceed all other binary SSR systems evaluated in this study. Both Co-Driver and Co-InCre significantly extend the utility of existing Cre-responsive alleles.

A picture is worth a thousand words--the utility of 3D visualization illustrated by a case of survived pancreatic transection

It is one of the most important tasks of the forensic pathologist to explain the forensically relevant medical findings to medical non-professionals. However, it is often difficult to comment on the nature and potential consequences of organ injuries in a comprehensive way to individuals with limited knowledge of anatomy and physiology. This rare case of survived pancreatic transaction after kicks to the abdomen illustrates how the application of dedicated software programs for three-dimensional reconstruction can overcome these difficulties, allowing for clear and concise visualization of complex findings.

Fully Automatic Segmentation of Brain Tumor Images using Support Vector Machine Classiffication in Combination with Hierarchical Conditional Random Field Regularization

Delineating brain tumor boundaries from magnetic resonance images is an essential task for the analysis of brain cancer. We propose a fully automatic method for brain tissue segmentation, which combines Support Vector Machine classification using multispectral intensities and textures with subsequent hierarchical regularization based on Conditional Random Fields. The CRF regularization introduces spatial constraints to the powerful SVM classification, which assumes voxels to be independent from their neighbors. The approach first separates healthy and tumor tissue before both regions are subclassified into cerebrospinal fluid, white matter, gray matter and necrotic, active, edema region respectively in a novel hierarchical way. The hierarchical approach adds robustness and speed by allowing to apply different levels of regularization at different stages. The method is fast and tailored to standard clinical acquisition protocols. It was assessed on 10 multispectral patient datasets with results outperforming previous methods in terms of segmentation detail and computation times.

The prognostic utility of the SYNTAX score on 1-year outcomes after revascularization with zotarolimus- and everolimus-eluting stents: a substudy of the RESOLUTE All Comers Trial

This study assessed the ability of the SYNTAX score (SXscore) to stratify risk in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using zotarolimus-eluting or everolimus-eluting stents.

Electroencephalographic topography measures of experienced utility

Economic theory distinguishes two concepts of utility: decision utility, objectively quantifiable by choices, and experienced utility, referring to the satisfaction by an obtainment. To date, experienced utility is typically measured with subjective ratings. This study intended to quantify experienced utility by global levels of neuronal activity. Neuronal activity was measured by means of electroencephalographic (EEG) responses to gain and omission of graded monetary rewards at the level of the EEG topography in human subjects. A novel analysis approach allowed approximating psychophysiological value functions for the experienced utility of monetary rewards. In addition, we identified the time windows of the event-related potentials (ERP) and the respective intracortical sources, in which variations in neuronal activity were significantly related to the value or valence of outcomes. Results indicate that value functions of experienced utility and regret disproportionally increase with monetary value, and thus contradict the compressing value functions of decision utility. The temporal pattern of outcome evaluation suggests an initial (∼250 ms) coarse evaluation regarding the valence, concurrent with a finer-grained evaluation of the value of gained rewards, whereas the evaluation of the value of omitted rewards emerges later. We hypothesize that this temporal double dissociation is explained by reward prediction errors. Finally, a late, yet unreported, reward-sensitive ERP topography (∼500 ms) was identified. The sources of these topographical covariations are estimated in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the medial frontal gyrus, the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus/amygdala. The results provide important new evidence regarding “how,” “when,” and “where” the brain evaluates outcomes with different hedonic impact.