Environmental factors affecting soil metals near outlet roads in Poznan, Poland: impact of grain size, soil depth, and wind dispersal

We determined the Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations in soil samples collected along the eight main outlet roads of Poznan. Samples were collected at distances of 1, 5, and 10 m from the roadway edges at depth intervals of 0-20 and 40-60 cm. The metal content was determined in seven grain size fractions. The highest metal concentrations were observed in the smallest fraction (<0.063 mm), which were up to four times higher than those in sand fractions. Soil Pb, Cu, and Zn (and to a lesser extent Ni, Cr, and Cd) all increased in relation to the geochemical background. At most sampling sites, metal concentrations decreased with increasing distance from roadway edges and increasing depth. In some locations, the accumulation of metals in soils appears to be strongly influenced by wind direction. Our survey findings should contribute in predicting the behavior of metals along outlet road, which is important by assessing sources for further migration of heavy metals into the groundwater, plants, and humans.

High temperature and vapor pressure deficit aggravate architectural effects but ameliorate non-architectural effects of salinity on dry mass production of tomato

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important vegetable crop and often cultivated in regions exposed to salinity and high temperatures (HT) which change plant architecture, decrease canopy light interception and disturb physiological functions. However, the long-term effects of salinity and HT combination (S+HT) on plant growth are still unclear. A dynamic functional-structural plant model (FSPM) of tomato was parameterized and evaluated for different levels of S+HT combinations. The evaluated model was used to quantify the contributions of morphological changes (architectural effects) and physiological disturbances (non-architectural effects) on the reduction of shoot dry mass under S+HT. The model predicted architectural variables with high accuracy (>85%), which ensured the reliability of the model analyses. HT enhanced architectural effects but reduced non-architectural effects of salinity on dry mass production. The stronger architectural effects of salinity under HT could not be counterbalanced by the smaller non-architectural effects. Therefore, long-term influences of HT on shoot dry mass under salinity were negative at the whole plant level. Our model analysis highlights the importance of plant architecture at canopy level in studying the plant responses to the environments and shows the merits of dynamic FSPMs as heuristic tools.

Wirtschaftswissen neu verhandeln. Economic Literacy mittels Psychodrama

Economic Literacy ist ein politischer und demokratischer Ansatz. Er entstand in den 1980er Jahren im Kontext der Internationalen Frauenbewegung. Angelehnt an die Pädagogik der Befreiung von Paulo Freire, soll dabei Wirtschaftswissen in gemeinschaftlicher Auseinandersetzung gestaltet und veränderbar gemacht werden. Die beiden Autorinnen stellen in diesem Beitrag ihre Bildungsarbeit vor. Sie plädieren in der Tradition eines feministisch inspirierten Hinterfragens neoliberaler Konzepte für ein Wirtschaftswissen, das die Lebensdienlichkeit der Ökonomie ins Zentrum stellt. Mittels der Methode des Psychodramas suchen sie Antwort auf Fragen wie: Wem wird die Kompetenz (nicht) zugeschrieben, über Wirtschaft zu sprechen? Welche AkteurInnen mit welchen Interessen bekommen den Raum, ihre wirtschaftlichen Positionen kundzutun? Wer hält die Deutungsmacht über das "richtige" Wirtschaftswissen, wer die Macht zu entscheiden? Wirtschaftswissen soll so neu verhandelt werden, die Wirtschaftsexpertise von Frauen sichtbar gemacht und letztlich die Frage virulent werden: Wie wollen wir, als Gesellschaft, die Bereitstellung von lebensnotwendigen Gütern und Dienstleistungen gestalten? (DIPF/Orig.)

(SP,SP)-(–)-(E)-1,2-Bis(methyl­phenyl­phosphino­yl)ethene

The title compound, C(16)H(18)O(2)P(2), possesses two stereogenic P atoms and shows a distorted s-cis conformation of each O=P-C=C moiety. This has been suggested on the basis of the stereochemical result of 1,3-dipolar cyclo-additions with nitro-nes and is now confirmed by the present crystal structure analysis. There are two crystallographically independent molecules in the asymmetric unit.

Demokratische Bildung und Beteiligung nahe an den Lebenswelten. Möglichkeiten des Legislativen Theaters

Politische Teilhabe und Raum für Subjektivität gehen Hand in Hand. Menschen in schwierigen und benachteiligten Lebenslagen wird der Raum für unabhängiges, kritisches, politisches Denken und Handeln aufgrund der Prekarität ihres Lebensalltages jedoch zusehends entzogen. Theaterarbeit kann hier ein Ort sein, um (wieder) Zugang zum eigenen Erleben, zu den eigenen Sichtweisen und zur eigenen Sprache zu finden; Beteiligung wird erfahrbar gemacht und soziale Grenzen können überschritten werden. Im Zentrum des vorliegenden Beitrages steht das Legislative Theater nach Augusto Boal, das politische Öffentlichkeit unter Einschluss der "Ausgeschlossenen" ermöglicht und darüber hinaus demokratische Beteiligung eröffnet. Vorgestellt werden Geschichte, Ablauf, aber auch drei konkret von InterACT umgesetzte Beispiele in Österreich und deren nachhaltige politische Einflussnahme. Fazit des Autors: Politisches und demokratisches Lernen entwickeln sich vor allem nahe an den Lebenslagen und Lebenswelten des/der Einzelnen. (DIPF/Orig.)

Mapping tissue inhomogeneity in acute myocarditis: a novel analytical approach to quantitative myocardial edema imaging by T2-mapping

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the diagnostic value of T2-mapping in acute myocarditis (ACM) and to define cut-off values for edema detection. METHODS: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) data of 31 patients with ACM were retrospectively analyzed. 30 healthy volunteers (HV) served as a control. Additionally to the routine CMR protocol, T2-mapping data were acquired at 1.5 T using a breathhold Gradient-Spin-Echo T2-mapping sequence in six short axis slices. T2-maps were segmented according to the 16-segments AHA-model and segmental T2 values as well as the segmental pixel-standard deviation (SD) were analyzed. RESULTS: Mean differences of global myocardial T2 or pixel-SD between HV and ACM patients were only small, lying in the normal range of HV. In contrast, variation of segmental T2 values and pixel-SD was much larger in ACM patients compared to HV. In random forests and multiple logistic regression analyses, the combination of the highest segmental T2 value within each patient (maxT2) and the mean absolute deviation (MAD) of log-transformed pixel-SD (madSD) over all 16 segments within each patient proved to be the best discriminators between HV and ACM patients with an AUC of 0.85 in ROC-analysis. In classification trees, a combined cut-off of 0.22 for madSD and of 68 ms for maxT2 resulted in 83% specificity and 81% sensitivity for detection of ACM. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed cut-off values for maxT2 and madSD in the setting of ACM allow edema detection with high sensitivity and specificity and therefore have the potential to overcome the hurdles of T2-mapping for its integration into clinical routine.

Der Anti-Bias-Ansatz als Methode politischer Erwachsenenbildung

Vorurteile, Macht und Diskriminierung sind die zentralen Themen des Anti-Bias-Ansatzes, der Diskriminierung auf zwischenmenschlicher, struktureller und gesellschaftlich-kultureller Ebene berücksichtigt. Die eigene Verwobenheit in Machtverhältnisse und damit verbundene Erfahrungen von Diskriminierung und Privilegierung sind dabei der Ausgangspunkt des Lernens. Vision ist eine vorurteilsbewusste, diskriminierungskritische und machtsensible Gesellschaft. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt den Anti-Bias-Ansatz als Methode politischer Erwachsenenbildung vor. Hierfür werden die (Macht-)Mechanismen der Entstehung, Verinnerlichung und Reproduktion von Vorurteilen und Diskriminierung beleuchtet und wird die Intersektionalität (Überkreuzung) verschiedener Differenzlinien ausgemacht und aufgedeckt. Den Abschluss bildet ein Beispiel konkreter Umsetzung. (DIPF/Orig.)

Social/economic costs and health-related quality of life in patients with epidermolysis bullosa in Europe

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine the social/economic costs and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with epidermolysis bullosa (EB) in eight EU member states. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of patients with EB from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Data on demographic characteristics, health resource utilisation, informal care, labour productivity losses, and HRQOL were collected from the questionnaires completed by patients or their caregivers. HRQOL was measured with the EuroQol 5-domain (EQ-5D) questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 204 patients completed the questionnaire. Average annual costs varied from country to country, and ranged from euro9509 to euro49,233 (reference year 2012). Estimated direct healthcare costs ranged from euro419 to euro10,688; direct non-healthcare costs ranged from euro7449 to euro37,451 and labour productivity losses ranged from euro0 to euro7259. The average annual cost per patient across all countries was estimated at euro31,390, out of which euro5646 accounted for direct health costs (18.0 %), euro23,483 accounted for direct non-healthcare costs (74.8 %), and euro2261 accounted for indirect costs (7.2 %). Costs were shown to vary across patients with different disability but also between children and adults. The mean EQ-5D score for adult EB patients was estimated at between 0.49 and 0.71 and the mean EQ-5D visual analogue scale score was estimated at between 62 and 77. CONCLUSION: In addition to its negative impact on patient HRQOL, our study indicates the substantial social/economic burden of EB in Europe, attributable mostly to high direct non-healthcare costs.

„Extremismus – Was tun?“ Ein Bildungsangebot der AK Oberösterreich im Spannungsfeld aktueller demokratiepolitischer Entwicklungen

Auch im betrieblichen Umfeld kann die Ausbreitung radikalistischer, rassistischer und rechtsextremer Tendenzen beobachtet werden. Was kann die gewerkschaftliche Weiterbildung im Rahmen der politischen Erwachsenenbildung hiergegen unternehmen? In der Arbeiterkammer Oberösterreich wurde eine Seminarreihe mit dem Titel "Extremismus - Was tun?" konzipiert, die sich in erster Linie an Betriebsrätinnen und Betriebsräte richtet. In insgesamt acht Einzelveranstaltungen sollen die Problematik von Alltagsrassismus, eigenen Vorurteilen, neuen gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen und vor allem der Umgang mit diesen Herausforderungen im betrieblichen Umfeld erörtert werden. Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt die konzeptuellen Vorüberlegungen und Leitlinien der Bildungsarbeit der Arbeiterkammer und die Grundlagen, die Ausgestaltung und die Umsetzung dieses im Frühjahr 2016 gestarteten Erwachsenenbildungsprogramms. (DIPF/Orig.)

Areal rainfall estimation using moving cars - computer experiments including hydrological modeling

The need for high temporal and spatial resolution precipitation data for hydrological analyses has been discussed in several studies. Although rain gauges provide valuable information, a very dense rain gauge network is costly. As a result, several new ideas have been emerged to help estimating areal rainfall with higher temporal and spatial resolution. Rabiei et al. (2013) observed that moving cars, called RainCars (RCs), can potentially be a new source of data for measuring rainfall amounts. The optical sensors used in that study are designed for operating the windscreen wipers and showed promising results for rainfall measurement purposes. Their measurement accuracy has been quantified in laboratory experiments. Considering explicitly those errors, the main objective of this study is to investigate the benefit of using RCs for estimating areal rainfall. For that, computer experiments are carried out, where radar rainfall is considered as the reference and the other sources of data, i.e. RCs and rain gauges, are extracted from radar data. Comparing the quality of areal rainfall estimation by RCs with rain gauges and reference data helps to investigate the benefit of the RCs. The value of this additional source of data is not only assessed for areal rainfall estimation performance, but also for use in hydrological modeling. The results show that the RCs considering measurement errors derived from laboratory experiments provide useful additional information for areal rainfall estimation as well as for hydrological modeling. Even assuming higher uncertainties for RCs as obtained from the laboratory up to a certain level is observed practical.

Equilibration of quantum gases

Finding equilibration times is a major unsolved problem in physics with few analytical results. Here we look at equilibration times for quantum gases of bosons and fermions in the regime of negligibly weak interactions, a setting which not only includes paradigmatic systems such as gases confined to boxes, but also Luttinger liquids and the free superfluid Hubbard model. To do this, we focus on two classes of measurements: (i) coarse-grained observables, such as the number of particles in a region of space, and (ii) few-mode measurements, such as phase correlators.Weshow that, in this setting, equilibration occurs quite generally despite the fact that the particles are not interacting. Furthermore, for coarse-grained measurements the timescale is generally at most polynomial in the number of particles N, which is much faster than previous general upper bounds, which were exponential in N. For local measurements on lattice systems, the timescale is typically linear in the number of lattice sites. In fact, for one-dimensional lattices, the scaling is generally linear in the length of the lattice, which is optimal. Additionally, we look at a few specific examples, one of which consists ofNfermions initially confined on one side of a partition in a box. The partition is removed and the fermions equilibrate extremely quickly in time O(1 N).

Panoptikum Bildung – Impulse zur demokratiepolitischen Bildung. Radiosendungen als Beitrag zu zivilgesellschaftlichem Engagement

Die Radiosendung Panoptikum Bildung versteht sich als Medium kritischer Berichterstattung und versucht sozialpolitische Phänomene durch sachliche Informationen aufzubereiten. Die einzelnen Radiobeiträge beleuchten bildungsrelevante Themen aus einem kritischen Blickwinkel, bieten umfassende Hintergrundinformationen und binden FachexpertInnen mit ein. Credo ist: Information statt Infotainment, Gespräch statt Floskeln, Wissensvermittlung anstelle von Talkshowformaten und Dialog statt Konfrontation. In diesem Beitrag, der sich auf bisher unveröffentlichte Jahresberichte der Radiosendereihe stützt, werden das Entstehen und die Leitgedanken sowie die Inhalte und Anliegen einzelner Radiobeiträge vor dem Hintergrund von Oskar Negts theoretischen Überlegungen zu Demokratie und Bildung beschrieben und reflektiert. (DIPF/Orig.)

Transcription of TIR1-Controlled Genes Can be Regulated within 10 Min by an Auxin-Induced Process. Can TIR1 be the Receptor?

ABP1 and TIR1/AFBs are known as auxin receptors. ABP1 is linked to auxin responses several of which are faster than 10 min. TIR1 regulates auxin-induced transcription of early auxin genes also within minutes. We use transcription of such TIR1-dependent genes as indicator of TIR1 activity to show the rapid regulation of TIR1 by exogenous auxin. To this end, we used quantification of transcription of a set of fifteen early auxin-induced reporter genes at t = 10 and t = 30 min to measure this as a TIR1-dependent auxin response. We conducted this study in 22 mutants of auxin transporters (pin5, abcb1, abcb19, and aux1/lax3), protein kinases and phosphatases (ibr5, npr1, cpk3, CPK3-OX, d6pk1, d6pkl1-1, d6pkl3-2, d6pkl1-1/d6pkl2-2, and d6pkl1-1/d6pkl3-2), of fatty acid metabolism (fad2-1, fad6-1, ssi2, lacs4, lacs9, and lacs4/lacs9) and receptors (tir1, tir1/afb2, and tir1/afb3) and compared them to the wild type. After 10 min auxin application, in 18 out of 22 mutants mis-regulated expression of at least one reporter was found, and in 15 mutants transcription of two-to-three out of five selected auxin reporter genes was mis-regulated. After 30 min of auxin application to mutant plants, mis-regulation of reporter genes ranged from one to 13 out of 15 tested reporter genes. Those genes chosen as mutants were themselves not regulated in their expression by auxin for at least 1 h, excluding an influence of TIR1/AFBs on their transcription. The expression of TIR1/AFB genes was also not modulated by auxin for up to 3 h. Together, this excludes a feedback or feedforward of these mutant genes/proteins on TIR1/AFBs output of transcription in this auxin-induced response. However, an auxin-induced response needed an as yet unknown auxin receptor. We suggest that the auxin receptor necessary for the fast auxin-induced transcription modulation could be, instead, ABP1. The alternative hypothesis would be that auxin-induced expression of a protein, initiated by TIR1/AFBs receptors, could initiate these responses and that this unknown protein regulated TIR1/AFB activities within 10 min.

Offen werden für demokratiepolitische Themen. Politische Bewusstseinsbildung in verpflichtenden Gender-Trainings trotz persönlichen Widerstands

Wie kann in Seminaren zu Genderkompetenz Offenheit erzeugt werden, wenn die Teilnehmenden sich nicht freiwillig für den Besuch entschieden haben und daher mit Desinteresse oder Widerwillen reagieren? Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt ein didaktisches Vorgehen, das den persönlichen Widerstand von Teilnehmenden aufzulösen vermag und letztlich ein Problembewusstsein für soziale Ungleichheit initiiert. Zentral sind hierfür die Reflexion persönlicher Erfahrungen und ideologischer Diskussionen, die Ungleichheitsthemen meist mit sich bringen. Das vorgestellte didaktische Vorgehen im Gender Training, das u.a. Kompetenzerwartungen an Führungskräfte im Bildungsbereich entlang Geschlechterstereotypien aufdeckt, ist auch für andere Themen der politischen Bildung einsetzbar. Um also ein politisches Bewusstsein über Hierarchisierungs- und Diskriminierungsprozesse zu befördern, ist es wichtig, Ausschließungsprozesse im Alltag erlebbar zu machen und zu erkennen, wer vom Ausschluss anderer profitiert, wer die Ausschlusskriterien festlegt und dass unterschiedliche Kriterien dafür geeignet sind. (DIPF/Orig.)