683 research outputs found
'Border consciousness' and the re-imagination of nation in the films of Akin, Dresen and Petzold
No full textIn my dissertation I explore the role that borders play in the construction of German identity through the films of Fatih Akin, Andreas Dresen and Christian Petzold. Despite the insistence of conservatives that Germany is not an “immigration country,” I argue that the historical fluctuation of borders and the movement of populations into and out of Germany have resulted in a heightened awareness of borders and their significance that contributes to a sense of ambivalence about national identity. This heightened awareness can be seen as a type of “border consciousness,” a term that originated in Chicano/a studies and has been used to analyze exilic and diasporic cinema but which I reconsider in the context of German film. By examining tropes of borders and border crossings, as well as representations of liminality in the work of German filmmakers from various backgrounds, I argue that in these works, border consciousness can be seen as a function of a relationship to national boundaries rooted in histories of displacement, but not necessarily limited to the experiences of migrants and minorities. Drawing upon the work of literary scholars Leslie Adelson and Andreas Huyssen and film scholar Hamid Naficy, I contend that the films I discuss provide evidence for the emergence of new national narratives that could potentially link Germans from minority groups to a broader national imaginary and offer an alternative to the language of divisiveness currently dominating public discourse. In addition, I question how this development can be seen in the context of changes in the European film industry that have begun to redefine ‘national’ cinema, encouraging the embrace of filmmakers who figuratively extend the boundaries of the nationPh.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Kathleen J. Sclafan
Engineering controllable alteration of malonyl-CoA levels to enhance polyketide production
No full textHeterologous expression of polyketide synthase (PKS) genes in Escherichia coli has enabled the production of various valuable natural and synthetic products. However, the limited availability of malonyl-CoA (M-CoA) in E. coli remains a substantial impediment to high-titer polyketide production. Here we address this limitation by disrupting the native M-CoA biosynthetic pathway and introducing an orthogonal pathway comprising a malonate transporter and M-CoA ligase, enabling efficient M-CoA biosynthesis under malonate supplementation. This approach substantially increases M-CoA levels, enhancing fatty acid and polyketide titers while reducing the promiscuous activity of PKSs toward undesired acyl-CoA substrates. Subsequent adaptive laboratory evolution of these strains provides insights into M-CoA regulation and identifies mutations that further boost M-CoA and polyketide production. This strategy improves E. coli as a host for polyketide biosynthesis and advances understanding of M-CoA metabolism in microbial systems
Agogic Education in the Integrative Approach – educational perspectives (2007/2019)
No full textIn dichter Form stellt die Autorin die Konzeption der „Integrativen Agogik“ vor, wie sie von ihr und Hilarion Petzold als eine Agogik (Pädagogik, Andragogik, Geragogik) „in der Lebensspanne“ entwickelt wurde als „Life Long Learning/Lebenslanges Lernen“ und „Éducation Permanente/Lebenslange Bildungsarbeit“. Der Ansatz bezieht kognitives, emotionales, volitionales, sensumotorisches, ökologisches und soziales Lernen für alle Lebensalter und alle Bildungssettings ein mit einem Modell „komplexen Lernens (siehe Sieper/Petzold, diese Zeitschrift 4/2011; 6/2011). Er ist damit in besonderer Weise nützlich für die Kombination mit pädagogischen Aufgaben im Rahmen von Psychotherapien und zur Fundierung von erwachsenenbildnerischen Weiterbildungsprojekten oder für die agogischen Dimensionen klinischer und psychosozialer Supervision, die auf Förderung von kognitiven praktische Fähigkeiten/Wissen/Kompetenz und Fertigkeiten/Können/Performanz abzielen. Supervision hat ja auch eine Weiterbildungsfunktion für die bislang theoretische Konzepte nur aus dem Bereich der niederländischen Supervision vorliegen (vgl. van Wijnen/Petzold, diese Zeitschrift Jg. 2019). Das macht eine Darstellung der Integrativen Agogik von Günther Holzapfel (diese Zeitschrift Jg. 2019) deutlich, zu der dieser Text als Einführung geschrieben wurde.In condensed form, the author presents the concept of „Integrative Agogy“, as developed by her and Hilarion Petzold as agogics (pedagogy, andragogy, geragogy) „in the life span“ as „Life Long Learning“ and “ Éducation Permanente / Lifelong Education Work „. It incorporates cognitive, emotional, volitional, sensorimotor, ecological and social learning for all ages and educational settings with a model of „complex learning“ (see Sieper / Petzold, this journal 4/2011; 6/2011). It is thus particularly useful for combination with pedagogical tasks within the framework of psychotherapies and for the foundation of adult education continuing education projects or agogic dimensions of clinical and psychosocial supervision aimed at promoting cognitive skills/knowledge/competence and practical skills/ability/performance. Supervision has among other tasks a training function. For this task theoretical concepts so far only from the field of Dutch supervision are present (see van Wijnen / Petzold, this Journal Jg., 2019). This is made clear by a presentation of Integrative Agogics by Günther Holzapfel (this journal Jg. 2019), to which this text was written as an introduction.https://www.fpi-publikation.de/supervision/09-2019-sieper-j-2007-2019-agogische-bildungsarbeit-im-integrativen-ansatz-paedagogische/peerReviewedpublishedVersio
Cohort profile:rationale and methods of UK Biobank repeat imaging study eye measures to study dementia
No full textPURPOSE: The retina provides biomarkers of neuronal and vascular health that offer promising insights into cognitive ageing, mild cognitive impairment and dementia. This article described the rationale and methodology of eye and vision assessments with the aim of supporting the study of dementia in the UK Biobank Repeat Imaging study.PARTICIPANTS: UK Biobank is a large-scale, multicentre, prospective cohort containing in-depth genetic, lifestyle, environmental and health information from half a million participants aged 40-69 enrolled in 2006-2010 across the UK. A subset (up to 60 000 participants) of the cohort will be invited to the UK Biobank Repeat Imaging Study to collect repeated brain, cardiac and abdominal MRI scans, whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, carotid ultrasound, as well as retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) and colour fundus photographs.FINDINGS TO DATE: UK Biobank has helped make significant advances in understanding risk factors for many common diseases, including for dementia and cognitive decline. Ophthalmic genetic and epidemiology studies have also benefited from the unparalleled combination of very large numbers of participants, deep phenotyping and longitudinal follow-up of the cohort, with comprehensive health data linkage to disease outcomes. In addition, we have used UK Biobank data to describe the relationship between retinal structures, cognitive function and brain MRI-derived phenotypes.FUTURE PLANS: The collection of eye-related data (eg, OCT), as part of the UK Biobank Repeat Imaging study, will take place in 2022-2028. The depth and breadth and longitudinal nature of this dataset, coupled with its open-access policy, will create a major new resource for dementia diagnostic discovery and to better understand its association with comorbid diseases. In addition, the broad and diverse data available in this study will support research into ophthalmic diseases and various other health outcomes beyond dementia.</p
"Coordinating Regional Policy in the EU"
No full text[From the Introduction]. EU regional policy is an instrument to promote development in economically weaker areas of Europe as well as to facilitate integration and ensure the success of the single market (European Commission, 2003). The territorial nature of EU regional policy demands complex coordination among various levels of government as well as across several policy sectors. Coordination, however, is often unsuccessful. Vertical coordination, inherently necessary for regional policy, is often precluded due to power struggles among supranational, national and regional governments. Likewise, conflicting policy goals and competing interests across policy sectors curtails the achievement of cross-sectoral coordination. Challenges to cross-sectoral coordination often arise since regional policy, based upon redistribution and Keynesian economics, has found itself at odds with underlying principles of the EU, namely neo-liberalism and free market competition
Gas-phase ion -molecule reaction studies and development of laser -induced acoustic desorption of neutral organic molecules for FT -ICR mass spectrometry
No full textChemical ionization (CI) is a useful soft ionization technique that can provide structural, molecular weight, and reactivity information for many types of compounds. Yet, the applicability of CI is limited to only those compounds that can be evaporated as neutral molecules into a mass spectrometer. We have examined laser-induced acoustic desorption (LIAD) as an evaporation method for analysis of neutral nonvolatile organic and biological molecules via chemical ionization in a Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. In particular, this work focuses on the development, characterization and application of laser-induced acoustic desorption desorption/chemical ionization in FT-ICR to further chemical analysis of interesting and important nonvolatile molecules. The work discussed here was accomplished with a transmission-mode LD probe and a specially designed LIAD probe. Desorption via LIAD and subsequent chemical ionization of a wide variety of molecules, such as small peptides, organic salts, steroids, sugars, components of nucleic acids and synthetic polymers is shown to be reproducible and relatively routine. Characterization of the energetics of molecules desorbed via LIAD was carried out by velocity distribution measurements and bracketing experiments. The results indicate that the LIAD process does not deposit much internal or kinetic energy into the molecules. LIAD coupled with ion-molecule reactions has been used to investigate the thermochemical properties of the nucleobase radical cations, probe the radical reactivity of small biomolecules, and analyze saturated hydrocarbon polymers with polar end groups. Combined with post-desorption chemical ionization, LIAD shows promise as a useful method for the analysis of thermally labile, non-volatile molecules
A multiplexed nanostructure-initiator mass spectrometry (NIMS) assay for simultaneously detecting glycosyl hydrolase and lignin modifying enzyme activities
No full textLignocellulosic biomass is composed of three major biopolymers: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Analytical tools capable of quickly detecting both glycan and lignin deconstruction are needed to support the development and characterization of efficient enzymes/enzyme cocktails. Previously we have described nanostructure-initiator mass spectrometry-based assays for the analysis of glycosyl hydrolase and most recently an assay for lignin modifying enzymes. Here we integrate these two assays into a single multiplexed assay against both classes of enzymes and use it to characterize crude commercial enzyme mixtures. Application of our multiplexed platform based on nanostructure-initiator mass spectrometry enabled us to characterize crude mixtures of laccase enzymes from fungi Agaricus bisporus (Ab) and Myceliopthora thermophila (Mt) revealing activity on both carbohydrate and aromatic substrates. Using time-series analysis we determined that crude laccase from Ab has the higher GH activity and that laccase from Mt has the higher activity against our lignin model compound. Inhibitor studies showed a significant reduction in Mt GH activity under low oxygen conditions and increased activities in the presence of vanillin (common GH inhibitor). Ultimately, this assay can help to discover mixtures of enzymes that could be incorporated into biomass pretreatments to deconstruct diverse components of lignocellulosic biomass
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From bench to biofactory: high-throughput technologies and automated workflows to accelerate biomanufacturing
No full textMicrobial production of target molecules has advanced significantly in recent years driven by innovations in enzyme engineering, DNA synthesis, and genomic editing. However, to access the massive potential of microbial production, a vast parametric space remains to be investigated to optimize these biobased processes for a robust bioeconomy. Here, we review the current state of the art, some key challenges and possible solutions. We see a critical role of automation, high-throughput technologies, self-driving and cloud labs, and data management to enable Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and mechanistic models to overcome the design space challenges and accelerate the development of novel bio-based solutions. Accurate models will expedite the development and scale-up of engineered microbes for a range of final products from many starting materials
Processes influencing ozone levels in Alaskan forest fire plumes during long-range transport over the North Atlantic
No full textA case of long-range transport of a biomass burning plume from Alaska to Europe is analyzed using a Lagrangian approach. This plume was sampled several times in the free troposphere over North America, the North Atlantic and Europe by three different aircraft during the IGAC Lagrangian 2K4 experiment which was part of the ICARTT/ITOP measurement intensive in summer 2004. Measurements in the plume showed enhanced values of CO, VOCs and NOy, mainly in form of PAN. Observed O3 levels increased by 17 ppbv over 5 days. A photochemical trajectory model, CiTTyCAT, was used to examine processes responsible for the chemical evolution of the plume. The model was initialized with upwind data and compared with downwind measurements. The influence of high aerosol loading on photolysis rates in the plume was investigated using in situ aerosol measurements in the plume and lidar retrievals of optical depth as input into a photolysis code (Fast-J), run in the model. Significant impacts on photochemistry are found with a decrease of 18% in O3 production and 24% in O3 destruction over 5 days when including aerosols. The plume is found to be chemically active with large O3 increases attributed primarily to PAN decomposition during descent of the plume toward Europe. The predicted O3 changes are very dependent on temperature changes during transport and also on water vapor levels in the lower troposphere which can lead to O3 destruction. Simulation of mixing/dilution was necessary to reproduce observed pollutant levels in the plume. Mixing was simulated using background concentrations from measurements in air masses in close proximity to the plume, and mixing timescales (averaging 6.25 days) were derived from CO changes. Observed and simulated O3/CO correlations in the plume were also compared in order to evaluate the photochemistry in the model. Observed slopes change from negative to positive over 5 days. This change, which can be attributed largely to photochemistry, is well reproduced by multiple model runs even if slope values are slightly underestimated suggesting a small underestimation in modeled photochemical O3 production. The possible impact of this biomass burning plume on O3 levels in the European boundary layer was also examined by running the model for a further 5 days and comparing with data collected at surface sites, such as Jungfraujoch, which showed small O3 increases and elevated CO levels. The model predicts significant changes in O3 over the entire 10 day period due to photochemistry but the signal is largely lost because of the effects of dilution. However, measurements in several other BB plumes over Europe show that O3 impact of Alaskan fires can be potentially significant over Europe
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