31325 research outputs found
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Changes in grazing patterns explain post-Soviet fire trends on the Eurasian steppe better than climate
No full textIn grassland ecosystems, fire plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity and ecological functioning but also causes substantial greenhouse gas emissions. Both climate and herbivory are key determinants of fire regimes, yet the relative importance of these factors remains debated. We focused on the steppes of Kazakhstan—one of the world’s largest grasslands and a global fire hotspot—to assess the relative importance of climate and grazing patterns on fire regimes. Specifically, we made use of the natural experiment that the post-Soviet collapse of the Kazakh livestock sector provided. We used the MODIS Burned Area Product and calculated annual livestock grazing demand (required forage intake) from 2001 to 2019. We estimated a binomial mixed-effects model to extricate the impact of grazing demand and climate factors on fire occurrence. Our results show that fire regimes changed markedly on the Kazakh steppes, with exceptionally high fire frequencies and extent in the 2000s. We found a clearly negative association between grazing demand and burned area; in other words, more heavily grazed areas burned less frequently. Moreover, annual grazing demand appeared in more of the best-performing models than precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, or growing degree days. Given that livestock herding is declining in many grassland regions, and native grazers have been lost or greatly reduced in the past, our study highlights the increasing risk of fire with less grazing, but also the potential for grazing restoration to mitigate such risks in the world’s grassland regions.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.Volkswagen Foundationhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001663Leibniz-Institut für Agrarentwicklung in Transformationsökonomien (IAMO) (3460)Peer Reviewe
Exploring the drivers of inter- and intraspecific differences in prosociality in four parrot species
No full textProsocial behaviours - behaviours that benefit others at low or no cost to the actor - have been associated with cooperative breeding, nesting ecology, and overall levels of dependency and social tolerance. To confirm whether these factors drive the evolution of prosociality, we need to generate more robust data using a comparative approach with a standardised procedure. Parrots present a compelling model group to test this further due to their large brains, and advanced cognitive abilities. Using the group service paradigm, in which individuals can provide food to group memebers, we tested four distantly related parrot species with different socio-ecological backgrounds. All species provided food to group members at moderate to high levels and some individuals of all species were able to discriminate between situations in which food could be provided to others or not. All parrots demonstrated dyadic preferences by providing more food to both affiliated and non-related partners, with sex-specific effects varying between species. Furthermore, males from species that engage in cooperative breeding and territorial nesting provided the most food to members of their group. This implies that cooperative breeding and a reliance on other group members may be driving factors in the evolution of prosocial behaviour in parrots.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence (2)Peer Reviewe
The Need for a System of Cross-organisational Responsibility for the Researcher’s Data Domain
No full textThe article processing charge was funded by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.The integration of research data management into academic workflows presents significant challenges for researchers, resulting in fragmented responsibility and accountability. This essay delves into the complexities surrounding the research data life cycle, revealing gaps in the existing governance systems. Researchers often encounter obstacles such as missing ethical approvals, inadequate data hosting solutions, and inconsistent data transfer regulations, all of which hinder their progress. These issues stem from a disconnection between the institutional governance structures and the practical needs of individual researchers. Current data policies in academic institutions place an overwhelming responsibility on researchers to manage the entire data life cycle, while leaving support frameworks ambiguous. This lack of coordinated responsibility structures hinders effective data management and governance. To address these challenges, the article proposes the development of a research-centric data governance system. This system aims to bridge the gap between institutional policies and discipline-specific requirements. By implementing a research data governance system, researchers can gain control over data ownership and align it with their research objectives.Peer Reviewe
Eine kompakte bildungswissenschaftliche Einordnung
No full textKey Points: (1) Die Kernfrage der Debatte nach einer „Obergrenze für Kinder mit Migrationshintergrund“ lautet: Wäre es günstiger, wenn sich Kinder mit familiärer Einwanderungs¬geschichte weniger stark in einigen Schulen konzentrieren würden als bislang? (2) Der Forschungsstand legt nahe, dass nicht der Anteil von Schüler:innen mit Einwanderungsgeschichte per se entscheidend ist für Lernfortschritte, sondern die soziale Herkunft und das mittlere Vorwissen der Klasse. (3) Inwieweit sich Lehrkräfte durch heterogene Schulklassen belastet fühlen, hängt mit ihren Einstellungen und Kompetenzen im Umgang mit Heterogenität zusammen. (4) Um gezielt fördern zu können und Stigmatisierung zu vermeiden, sollten sich pädagogische Entscheidungen nicht auf familiäre Merkmale von Schüler:innen stützen, sondern auf deren Lernstand und Förderbedarf. (5) Zielführender als Debatten über „Obergrenzen“ sind die Identifikation und Umsetzung von Ansätzen, die geeignet sind, den Bildungserfolg von Schüler:innen aus eingewanderten Familien wirksam zu verbessern.Peer Reviewe
Ökonomisierung und Rassismus im deutschen Gesundheitssystem
No full textKey Points: (1) Die Ergebnisse unserer Befragung von Fachärzt*innen deuten darauf hin, dass unter Ärzt*innen eine Tendenz besteht, das Verhalten von Patient*innen durch eine kulturelle Perspektive zu erklären. (2) Fast die Hälfte der befragten Ärzt*innen ist der Ansicht, dass es an Gesundheitsgerechtigkeit mangelt und dass Ressourcen im Gesundheitssektor ungleich verteilt werden. (3) Beim Zugang zur Gesundheitsversorgung und der Qualität der medizinischen Versorgung sind insbesondere Personen ohne Papiere, Asylsuchende sowie generell Migrant*innen und Angehörige ethnischer Minderheiten aus Sicht der Ärzt*innen benachteiligt. (4) Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass eine rassismuskritische Haltung als zentrale Kernkompetenz für Gesundheitspersonal etabliert und systematisch in die Lehrpläne für Aus-, Fort- und Weiterbildungen integriert werden muss. (5) Es bedarf einer nachhaltigen Verbesserung der Arbeitsbedingungen, gezielter Investitionen in Ressourcen sowie der Schaffung diversitäts- und zukunftsgerechter Strukturen, die Abläufe und Routinen erleichtern, Stresssituationen minimieren und eine gerechtere Gesundheitsversorgung fördern. (6) Notwendig sind auch aufenthalts- und asylrechtliche Anpassungen, um allen Menschen, unabhängig vom Aufenthaltsstatus, den gleichen Zugang zur Gesundheitsversorgung zu ermöglichen.Peer Reviewe
Boronic acid-modified cell-penetrating peptide exhibits superior performance over natural TAT peptide
No full textThis study explores an enhancement to a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP), specifically cyclic deca arginine (cR10), by modifying it with boronic acid to improve the delivery efficiency of ubiquitin (Ub), an essential protein that plays various roles in cellular functions. The hypothesis is that adding boronic acid could boost cellular uptake through glycan-boronic acid interactions. This research assesses how the boronic acid-modified cR10 compares to TAT, a natural CPP derived from the HIV-1 transactivator of transcription, in delivering Ub into cells. Experiments with U2OS cells indicated that the boronic acid-linked cR10Ub cargo achieved a fourfold increase in cellular uptake compared to the TAT-Ub conjugate. The findings from this study could contribute to developing new approaches for enhancing protein delivery methods relevant to biomedical research and therapeutic applications.Peer Reviewe
Polygenic Associations With Educational Attainment in East Versus West Germany: Differences Emerge After Reunification
No full textUsing a DNA-based polygenic index, we explored geographical and historical differences in polygenic associations with educational attainment in East and West Germany around the time of reunification. This index was derived from a prior genome-wide association study on educational attainment in democratic countries. In 1,930 individuals aged 25 to 85 years from the SOEP-G[ene] cohort, the magnitude of polygenic associations with educational attainment did not differ between East and West Germany before reunification but increased in East Germany thereafter. This gene–environment interaction remained robust when we probed for variance dispersion. A control analysis using a polygenic index of height suggests that this interaction is unlikely to reflect a general trend toward greater genetic associations in East Germany after reunification. The observed amplification of education-genetic associations aligns with theories suggesting heightened genetic influences on educational attainment during periods of greater social and educational opportunity. We emphasize the need for replication in larger German genetic data sets.European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programMax Planck Societynational institutes of health https://doi.org/10.13039/100000002national institutes of health https://doi.org/10.13039/100000002national institutes of health https://doi.org/10.13039/100000002national institutes of health https://doi.org/10.13039/100000002national institutes of health https://doi.org/10.13039/100000002national institutes of health https://doi.org/10.13039/100000002universiteit van amsterdam https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001827jacobs foundation https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003986European UnionPeer Reviewe
Epidemiology of injuries in racket sports: a cross-sectional study of specific injuries within one olympic cycle
No full textObjective: Despite the growing interest in racket sports, injury prevalence, circumstances and severity as a function of gender, performance level and return to play have not been investigated to date. The aim was therefore to evaluate the occurrence of sport-specific injuries from a quantitative and qualitative perspective in the Olympic disciplines Tennis, Badminton and Table Tennis. Methods: Injury characteristics were recorded using a three-part questionnaire with 139 items, which was distributed through an online link. Racket sport-specific injuries and frequencies were assessed according to gender and performance level in one Olympic cycle (from the Olympic Games in London in 2012 until Rio de Janeiro in 2016). The Injury severity was recorded by time loss and performance reduction. Results: A total of 390 (55%) athletes have suffered a serious injury. There were more injuries during training than competition. 78% of the three most common injuries in the various racket sports involved the lower extremities. The longest injury time loss was seen in Tennis for an unspecified injury of the shoulder (16±12 weeks), in Badminton for the foot-ligament injury (13±14 weeks) and the meniscus injury of the knee in table tennis (13±10 weeks). The injuries to the knee accounted for the highest number of athletes with a reduced level of performance (Badminton: Knee - unspecified injury: reduced level=64%; Table tennis: Knee - meniscus injury: reduced level=54%) Conclusion: Although recognized as one entity of racket sports with some similar trends in terms of injuries, there are some relevant differences in injury type, circumstances and consequences, which should be considered in future sport-specific injury prevention strategies.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.Private Universität Witten/Herdecke gGmbH (3128)Peer Reviewe