"Coaching soccer is a man’s job!" – The influence of gender stereotypes on structures for recruiting female coaches in soccer clubs

Statistics published by the German Football Association indicate that women are significantly under-represented amongst soccer coaches, especially in the amateur leagues. In this paper we analyse how gender stereotypes influence the structural conditions surrounding the recruitment of coaches to soccer clubs that contribute to the exclusion of women from coaching positions. A qualitative study of five selected soccer clubs which are members of a German regional soccer association reveals that informal and personal decision-making practices still play a fundamental role in the recruitment of coaches. These practices undermine formal guidelines and give disproportionate weight to stereotyped preferences in the recruitment of soccer coaches. In this context, decision-makers' (functionaries') professed support of women largely serves a symbolic purpose and creates an illusion of equality concerning decisions that have already been taken at an informal level.

Der Zusammenhang zwischen Belästigung des Ex-Partners, Trennungskontext, Bindungsstil und Commitment gegenüber der Beziehung

Die vorliegende Studie untersuchte via online-Befragung den Zusammenhang zwischen Ex-Partner-Belästigung und Trennungskontext, Bindungsstil sowie Commitment. Es wurde erwartet, dass jene Männer, die von ihrer Ex-Partnerin verlassen worden sind, eher zu Belästigungsverhalten gegenüber dieser tendieren als jene, die die Beziehung selber beendet haben. Des Weiteren wurde ein positiver Zusammenhang zwischen Belästigungsverhalten und ängstlicher Bindung erwartet. Schliesslich wurde erstmalig eine positive Beziehung zwischen Belästigungsverhalten und Commitment gegenüber der Beziehung postuliert. Für die Analysen wurden die Daten einer für die Universität Bern repräsentativen Stichprobe von männlichen Studenten und Doktoranden (N = 140) untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass insbesondere Commitment ein guter Prädiktor für Ex-Partner-Belästigung ist und dass der verlassene Partner zu mehr solchen stalkingähnlichen Verhaltensweisen neigt als der, der den Partner verlassen hat. Ebenfalls konnte eine Beziehung zwischen ängstlicher Bindung und Ex-Partner-Belästigung gefunden werden.

Comparison of inorganic nitrogen uptake dynamics following snowmelt and at peak biomass in subalpine grasslands

Subalpine grasslands are highly seasonal environments and likely subject to strong variability in nitrogen (N) dynamics. Plants and microbes typically compete for N acquisition during the growing season and particularly at plant peak biomass. During snowmelt, plants could potentially benefit from a decrease in competition by microbes, leading to greater plant N uptake associated with active growth and freeze-thaw cycles restricting microbial growth. In managed subalpine grasslands, we expect these interactions to be influenced by recent changes in agricultural land use, and associated modifications in plant and microbial communities. At several subalpine grasslands in the French Alps, we added pulses of 15N to the soil at the end of snowmelt, allowing us to compare the dynamics of inorganic N uptake in plants and microbes during this period with that previously reported at the peak biomass in July. In all grasslands, while specific shoot N translocation (per g of biomass) of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) was two to five times greater at snowmelt than at peak biomass, specific microbial DIN uptakes were similar between the two sampling dates. On an area basis, plant communities took more DIN than microbial communities at the end of snowmelt when aboveground plant biomasses were at least two times lower than at peak biomass. Consequently, inorganic N partitioning after snowmelt switches in favor of plant communities, allowing them to support their growing capacities at this period of the year. Seasonal differences in microbial and plant inorganic N-related dynamics were also affected by past (terraced vs. unterraced) rather than current (mown vs. unmown) land use. In terraced grasslands, microbial biomass N remained similar across seasons, whereas in unterraced grasslands, microbial biomass N was higher and microbial C : N lower at the end of snowmelt as compared to peak biomass. Further investigations on microbial community composition and their organic N uptake dynamics are required to better understand the decrease in microbial DIN uptake.

Terrorists Among Us: Effects of a Suspect's Group Membership, Terrorist Past, and Knowledge on Lay Persons' Interrogation Severity Recommendations

Support among US citizens for severe interrogation has been recognized as drawing upon utilitarian as well as on retributive motivation (Carlsmith & Sood, 2009). Two studies were conducted to expand on these findings in a Swiss sample. In Study 1, participants rated the severity of different interrogation techniques, which were scaled to provide an alternative measure of interrogation severity. In Study 2, retributive motivation was manipulated by varying the terrorist past of a male suspect, and utilitarian motivation was manipulated by varying the probability that the suspect could provide valuable information. Additionally, we manipulated the suspect’s group membership. The results of the vignette study suggest that the number and severity of recommended interrogation techniques is mainly influenced by whether the suspect might provide valuable information. Whether the suspect had a terrorist past was an additional influence that, however, was primarily attributable to the suspect’s group membership: If the suspect belonged to the ingroup, participants’ harsher interrogation recommendations were affected by that person’s past, whereas recommendations were not significantly influenced by a terrorist past if the suspect was an outgroup member.

Comparing growth trajectories of risk behaviors from late adolescence through young adulthood: An accelerated design

Risk behaviors such as substance use or deviance are often limited to the early stages of the life course. Whereas the onset of risk behavior is well studied, less is currently known about the decline and timing of cessation of risk behaviors of different domains during young adulthood. Prevalence and longitudinal developmental patterning of alcohol use, drinking to the point of drunkenness, smoking, cannabis use, deviance, and HIV-related sexual risk behavior were compared in a Swiss community sample (N = 2,843). Using a longitudinal cohort-sequential approach to link multiple assessments with 3 waves of data for each individual, the studied period spanned the ages of 16 to 29 years. Although smoking had a higher prevalence, both smoking and drinking up to the point of drunkenness followed an inverted U-shaped curve. Alcohol consumption was also best described by a quadratic model, though largely stable at a high level through the late 20s. Sexual risk behavior increased slowly from age 16 to age 22 and then remained largely stable. In contrast, cannabis use and deviance linearly declined from age 16 to age 29. Young men were at higher risk for all behaviors than were young women, but apart from deviance, patterning over time was similar for both sexes. Results about the timing of increase and decline as well as differences between risk behaviors may inform tailored prevention programs during the transition from late adolescence to adulthood.

Inhibition of Deubiquitinase Activity and Ubiquitination of Jak2 Blocks Cytokine Signaling and Induces Tumor Cell Apoptosis

The Jak-stat pathway is critical for cellular proliferation and is commonly found to be deregulated in many solid tumors as well as hematological malignancies. Such findings have spurred the development of novel therapeutic agents that specifically inhibit Jak2 kinase, thereby suppressing tumor cell growth. Tyrphostin AG490, the first described Jak2 inhibitor, displays poor pharmacology and requires high concentrations for anti-tumor activities. Our research group screened a small library of AG490 structural analogues and identified WP1130 as a potent inhibitor of Jak2 signaling. However, unlike AG490, WP1130 did not directly inhibit Jak2 kinase activity. Our results show that WP1130 induces rapid ubiquitination and subsequent re-localization of Jak2 into signaling incompetent aggresomes. In addition to Jak2, WP1130 also induces accumulation of other ubiquitinated proteins without inhibiting 20S proteasome activity. Further analysis of the mechanism of action of WP1130 revealed that WP1130 acts as a partly selective DUB inhibitor. It specifically inhibits the deubiquitinase activity of USP9x, USP5, USP14 and UCH37. WP1130 mediated inhibition of tumor-associated DUBs resulted in down-regulation of anti-apoptotic and up-regulation of pro-apoptotic proteins, such as MCL-1 and p53 respectively. Our results demonstrate that chemical modification of a previously described Jak2 inhibitor results in the unexpected discovery of a novel compound which acts as a DUB inhibitor, suppressing Jak-Stat signaling by a novel mechanism.

The history of subaquatic volcanism recorded in the sediments of Lake Kivu

Subaquatic volcanic activity has been ongoing in Lake Kivu since the early Holocene and has a dynamic effect on the biological productivity in the surface water, and the preservation of carbonate in the deep anoxic water. Groundwater discharge into the lake’s deepwater propels the upward advection of the water column that ultimately supplies nutrients to the surface water for biological production. The amount of nutrients supplied from the deepwater can be increased suddenly by (1) a cold meteorological event that drives deep seasonal mixing resulting in increased nutrients from below and oxygen from above, or (2) subaquatic volcanic activity that induces a buoyant hydrothermal plume, which entrains nutrients from the deepwater and results in anoxia or suboxic conditions in the surface water. Previous sedimentological studies in Lake Kivu have hypothesized that regional climatic changes are responsible for sudden changes in the preservation of carbonates in the Main Basin. Here we reveal that sublacustrine volcanic events most likely induce the abrupt changes to the geochemistry in the sediment in Lake Kivu. An unprecedented look into the sediment stratigraphy and geochemistry from high-resolution seismic-reflection, and 15N-isotope analyses was conducted in the Main Basin. The results reveal that buoyant hydrothermal plumes caused by subaquatic volcanic activity are a possible trigger for increased biological productivity and organic matter preservation, and that ongoing hydrothermal activity increases the alkalinity in the deepwater, leading to carbonate preservation. The onset of carbonate preservation since the 1970s that is currently observed in the sediment could indicate that hydrothermal discharge has recently increased in the lake.

Are ectomycorrhizal fungi alleviating or aggravating nitrogen limitation of tree growth in boreal forests?

•Symbioses between plant roots and mycorrhizal fungi are thought to enhance plant uptake of nutrients through a favourable exchange for photosynthates. Ectomycorrhizal fungi are considered to play this vital role for trees in nitrogen (N)-limited boreal forests. •We followed symbiotic carbon (C)–N exchange in a large-scale boreal pine forest experiment by tracing 13CO2 absorbed through tree photosynthesis and 15N injected into a soil layer in which ectomycorrhizal fungi dominate the microbial community. •We detected little 15N in tree canopies, but high levels in soil microbes and in mycorrhizal root tips, illustrating effective soil N immobilization, especially in late summer, when tree belowground C allocation was high. Additions of N fertilizer to the soil before labelling shifted the incorporation of 15N from soil microbes and root tips to tree foliage. •These results were tested in a model for C–N exchange between trees and mycorrhizal fungi, suggesting that ectomycorrhizal fungi transfer small fractions of absorbed N to trees under N-limited conditions, but larger fractions if more N is available. We suggest that greater allocation of C from trees to ectomycorrhizal fungi increases N retention in soil mycelium, driving boreal forests towards more severe N limitation at low N supply.

A 2600-year record of past polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) deposition at Holzmaar (Eifel, Germany)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a proxy for climate- and human-related historical fire activity which has rarely been used beyond 1800 AD. We explored the concentration and composition patterns of PAHs together with other proxies (charcoal, C, N, S, δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S) in a sediment core of Holzmaar as indicators of variations in climate and anthropogenic activity over the past 2600 years. The concentrations of pyrogenic PAHs remained low (< 500 ng g− 1) from the pre-Roman Iron Age (600 BC) until the first significant increases to ca. 1000–1800 ng g− 1 between 1700 and 1750 AD related to regional iron production. The highest increases in pyrogenic PAH concentrations occurred with industrialization peaking in the 1960s. PAH concentrations in most recent sediments decreased to pre-industrial levels because of emission control measures and the switch from coal to oil and gas as major fuel sources. Fluxes of PAHs (mg km− 2 yr− 1) increased in the order Migration Period and Early Middle Ages < pre-Roman Iron Ages < Roman era < High Middle Ages and Renaissance < pre-industrial modern period < industrial modern period. The changes of PAHs fluxes in pre-industrial times parallel known changes in local, regional and continental anthropogenic activity and climatic variations or their interactions across these historical periods. Perylene, a mainly biologically produced compound, was the dominant PAH in pre-industrial times. The Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages witnessed the most profound and simultaneous changes to the sedimentary organic matter properties in the past 2600 years including the lowest PAH fluxes because of reduced human activity and more negative δ13C and δ15N values probably in response to colder and wetter conditions.

NGRIP CH4 concentration from 120 to 10 kyr before present and its relation to a δ15N temperature reconstruction from the same ice core

During the last glacial cycle, Greenland temperature showed many rapid temperature variations, the so-called Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) events. The past atmospheric methane concentration closely followed these temperature variations, which implies that the warmings recorded in Greenland were probably hemispheric in extent. Here we substantially extend and complete the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP) methane record from the Preboreal Holocene (PB) back to the end of the last interglacial period with a mean time resolution of 54 yr. We relate the amplitudes of the methane increases associated with DO events to the amplitudes of the local Greenland NGRIP temperature increases derived from stable nitrogen isotope (δ15N) measurements, which have been performed along the same ice core (Kindler et al., 2014). We find the ratio to oscillate between 5 parts per billion (ppb) per °C and 18 ppb °C−1 with the approximate frequency of the precessional cycle. A remarkably high ratio of 25.5 ppb °C−1 is reached during the transition from the Younger Dryas (YD) to the PB. Analysis of the timing of the fast methane and temperature increases reveals significant lags of the methane increases relative to NGRIP temperature for DO events 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 19, and 20. These events generally have small methane increase rates and we hypothesize that the lag is caused by pronounced northward displacement of the source regions from stadial to interstadial. We further show that the relative interpolar concentration difference (rIPD) of methane is about 4.5% for the stadials between DO events 18 and 20, which is in the same order as in the stadials before and after DO event 2 around the Last Glacial Maximum. The rIPD of methane remains relatively stable throughout the full last glacial, with a tendency for elevated values during interstadial compared to stadial periods.

Preeclampsia enhances neuroglial marker expression in umbilical cord Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the neuroglial phenotype of Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSC) from pregnancies complicated with preeclampsia and gestational age (GA)-matched controls. Methods: WJ-MSC were isolated from umbilical cords from both groups and analyzed for the cell surface expression of MSC markers and the gene and protein expression of neuroglial markers. Results: All WJ cells were highly positive for the MSC markers CD105, CD90 and CD73, but negative for markers specific for hematopoietic (CD34) and immunological cells (CD45, CD14, CD19 and HLA-DR). WJ-MSC from both groups expressed neuroglial markers (MAP-2, GFAP, MBP, Musashi-1 and Nestin) at the mRNA and protein level. The protein expressions of neuronal (MAP-2) and oligodendrocytic (MBP) markers were significantly increased in WJ-MSC from preeclampsia versus GA-matched controls. Conclusions: WJ-MSC from preeclamptic patients are possibly more committed to neuroglial differentiation through the activation of pathways involved both in the pathophysiology of the disease and in neurogenesis.