Eastern Germany Research Articles

Taxonomy and Biostratigraphical Significance of the Toarcian Bivalves of the Genus Meleagrinella Whitfield, 1885

The morphology of the ligament block and outer parts of the shells of Toarcian bivalves of the genus Meleagrinella (family Oxytomidae Ichikawa, 1958) were studied. The phylogeny of Meleagrinella and Arctotis in the Toarcian was reconstructed on the basis of the conclusions on the evolution of the ontogeny of the ligament pit, made as a result of studying extensive material from Eastern Siberia and Germany, and taking into account the data on the microsculpture of the ostracum. A revision of the species “Monotis” substriata (Münster, 1831), which is widespread in the Toarcian deposits of Europe, Asia, and North America, was carried out. By comparing specimens from different stratigraphic levels of the Lower Toarcian of Eastern Siberia, North-East Russia, and Germany, three species were substantiated: Meleagrinella (Praemeleagrinella?) golberti sp. nov., M. (Clathrolima) substriata (Münster) and M. (Meleagrinella) prima sp. nov. Figures of the ammonite Tiltoniceras sp. ind., Upper Plinsbachian-Toarcian bivalves of the genus Meleagrinella and Upper Toarcian bivalves of the genus Arctotis are given. For the first time, a microsculpture of an ostracum of the Toarcian representatives of the genera Arctotis and Meleagrinella is depicted. In the Upper Pliensbachian–Lower Toarcian, a sequence of oxytomid taxa was established and, based on the Boreal ammonite scale, an assessment of their biostratigraphic significance was given. The sequence is represented by four species: (1) Meleagrinella (Praemeleagrinella) deleta (Upper Pliensbachian), (2) M. (Praemeleagrinella ?) golberti (Tiltoniceras antiquum, Harpoceras falcifer zones), (3) M. (Clathrolima) substriata (Dactylioceras commune Zone), (4) M. (Meleagrinella) prima (Zugodactylites braunianus, Pseudolioceras compactile zones).

Shaping the Future of Macromolecular Chemistry: A Successful Path from the Start

Shaping the Future of Macromolecular Chemistry: A Successful Path from the Start

Religious activism in Eastern Europe and beyond

ABSTRACT This collection of contributions addresses the theme of religiously motivated and religiously framed civic activism by bringing together anthropology and theology. The main goal is to put forward a concept of religious activism as local, non-elitist responses challenging dominant discourses and regulation of the religious in authoritarian and more democratic societies. Highlighting complex entanglements of religion, civic engagement, and political participation over the last decade, the authors explore the ways faith-based claims, acts, and initiatives from below are evolving in public spaces, mostly in post-Soviet societies. The contributors to this collection shed light on a variety of faith-based claims arising around religious materiality, governance questions, and unequal access to resources in Russia, Georgia, Eastern Germany, and in the USA. The contributions also identify the means of mediating acts of religious activism, those chosen forms of public expression that make the voices of religious activists more visible and mobilise individual and collective actions in public spaces.

The United States Army Air Force Bombing Campaign Against the Leuna Synthetic Fuel Plant in 1944-45 and the German Response

The Leuna chemical plant in Eastern Germany was initially developed during the First World War to produce artificial nitrogen for use in explosives. The world’s first production of synthetic fuel from brown coal commenced at Leuna in 1927. From 1933 the Nazi government began to prepare for war and heavily expanded the Leuna complex to ensure that Germany had sufficient resources of fuel, nitrogen and rubber to support short campaigns. The synthetic fuel production technology developed in Leuna was also transferred to thirteen other sites in Greater Germany. Commencing on 12 May 1944 the USAAF, and later the RAF, undertook a sustained bombing campaign against Leuna and the other synthetic fuel plants. However, due to the critical importance of Leuna to the war effort, the German state devoted significant resources to the defence of the plant, and to its repair and the maintenance of production. The USAAF and RAF attacked Leuna on 21 subsequent occasions until production finally ceased in March 1945. This sustained bombing ultimately overcame the Leuna workforce’s ability to repair the utilities but did not seriously damage the core production equipment. This paper uses German, American and British archival sources to explore in detail the nature and impact of the air campaign against Leuna and to examine and explain the ways in which the Germans sought, with some success, to keep the plant operational. In addressing the bombing campaign from an alternative perspective, primarily from the ground looking up, the paper offers new insight into a topic most commonly viewed from the perspective of the Allied forces.

EMPATHY AND MUTUALITY IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

This article discusses the authors’ reflections on empathy in the context of fieldwork on feminist activism in small towns in Poland and Eastern Germany. Our methodological reflection is further enriched by our referencing of challenges faced in researching activists mobilising for protests against COVID-19 measures. While the role and impact of an empathic approach to data collection and interpretation have been controversial since the ‘erklären-verstehen controversy’, empathy can be understood in very different ways, ranging from sympathy or compassion to the ability to put oneself in someone else’s shoes. Against the backdrop of our case studies, we focus on the openness and curiosity we showed toward our interviewees’ emotions and experiences, despite ideological or socio-cultural differences between us. The key themes of our discussion include the relationship between the researcher and the research subjects, the impact of this relationship on the research process, the constantly changing conditions for interpretative social research, and the impact of such changes on the use of empathy.

Who benefits from an adult worker model? Gender inequality in couples’ daily time use in Germany across time and social classes

This article investigates how mothers’ and fathers’ daily time use changed across social classes from 1990 to 2013 in Germany. In the 2000s, Germany’s adherence to the male breadwinner model was eroded by labor and family policy reforms typical of the adult worker model, which assumes individual self-sufficiency. The implications for gender and class inequality have been heatedly discussed. Drawing on the German Time Use Survey, I find that gender equality in the division of labor is greatest among full-time dual-earner couples with standard schedules. The prevalence of this pattern increased among the middle- and upper-class in historically conservative western Germany, but declined across classes in formerly socialist eastern Germany. In parallel, nonstandard work patterns and dual-joblessness gained in importance among lower-class couples, particularly in eastern Germany. I conclude that the adult worker model benefited mothers with access to standard full-time jobs but at the cost of greater class polarization.

Out of balance? Understanding resident-municipality relations in rural peripheries through ascriptions of responsibility

Rural governance increasingly involves a broad range of political agents – but whom do rural dwellers consider responsible for creating and maintaining local opportunity structures? Focusing on the issue of places to socialise, our paper investigates resident-municipality relations in peripheralised rural regions of Czechia and eastern Germany. We draw from problem-centred resident interviews using an actor-centred, multimodal concept of responsibility. Analysing residents’ ideals of active citizenship, mutuality, and municipal care, we find that despite the considerable differences in the ways rural dwellers conceptualise the relationship between the municipality and its residents, the provision of local opportunities to socialise represents a realm in which they perceive the local state as both powerful and responsible for taking action. We conclude that a multimodal understanding of responsibility can provide insights into the normative conditions on which local attributions of responsibility are based. We further argue that research on rural facilities should take into account the symbolic and political meaning that third places have for rural residents.

Peripheralization Processes as a Contextual Source of Populist Vote Choices: Evidence from the Czech Republic and Eastern Germany

The existing research on contextual sources of support for populist parties has revolved around two factors: the unemployment rate and the size of immigrant groups. Conceived as residential characteristics, observation of these factors has been seen to increase support for radical parties in Western European countries. We identify different contextual (non-individual) drivers of support for populist parties in the post-communist Czech Republic (Czechia). Based on a large sample of voters ( n = 23,734), we identify the (contextual) effect of economic hardship and demographic decline on support for populist parties. We interpret these results as supporting the theory of regional peripheralization. This peripheralization has been identified to be particularly strong in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and has widened regional socio-economic disparities in this region. We show how these processes have affected voting behaviour and support for political parties. In a second step, we use a sample from eastern Germany ( n = 524) to test whether peripheralization affects support for populist parties in other post-communist regions. The results confirm the hypothesis also in the case of east Germany. Our study contributes to the debate by pointing out a novel mechanism that leads to increased support for radical and moderate populist parties.

A multimodal approach to reading language-image-text combinations

The project presented here is an experience report carried out in a university C1 German course and based on the reading of F.C. Delius' novel The Walk from Rostock to Syracuse. This article aims to provide suggestions for the practical application and the linking types of language-image texts. The students re-live the protagonist's escape on a sailing boat across the Baltic Sea from Eastern Germany during Germany’s separation from the West to fulfill his dream of a journey through Italy. This text lends itself to be explored in a multimodal way, as it presupposes implicit knowledge that includes certain historical and cultural contextual references. Therefore, information and extra-textual images are necessary to visualise and understand the narrative. Both the reading process and the results of the multimodal project are recorded in a reading blog. This offers a variety of possibilities for linguistic expression and acquisition as the multimodal approach provides varied resources for activity-based reading and communicative learning among peers.
 Keywords: Images, intertextuality, literacy, multimodality, reading comprehension;

The use of machine learning methods to predict sperm quality in Holstein bulls

The aim of this study was to develop prediction models for total sperm motility, morphological abnormalities and sperm output based on 1,551 ejaculate records of 58 Holstein bulls. The data was collected from September 2019 to November 2020 in a single artificial insemination (AI) center located in Eastern Germany. Factors considered for the prediction models include barn climate conditions, semen collector, number of false mounts, libido, semen collection frequency, breed and age (10–74 months). In this study, the prediction models Lasso, Group Lasso and Gradient Boosting were evaluated. The best model for each sperm quality parameter was chosen using cross validation. The models were estimated with five algorithms for sperm motility and sperm morphology and three algorithms for the number of total sperm per ejaculate (sperm output). For sperm motility and morphology a binary classification algorithm was applied, reaching an accuracy of over 80% for all models. For sperm output, no such classification was used and the only variable selected by all three algorithms was age. Furthermore, for sperm morphology, climate variables were frequently selected. Additionally, network diagrams from Group Lasso show the interdependencies between the major variable groups influencing sperm motility and morphology. In conclusion, the implementation of such prediction tools could help AI centers to optimize management factors and stabilize bull semen production in the future.

Pathology of African Swine Fever in Wild Boar Carcasses Naturally Infected with German Virus Variants.

In 2020, African swine fever (ASF) was first identified in German wild boar, reaching a case number of about 4400 to date. Upon experimental infection, pathology is well documented; however, data on field infections are scarce in domestic pigs and not available from wild boar, respectively. Although the ASF viral genome is considered exceptionally stable, a total of five lineages with 10 distinct virus variants of genotype II have emerged in Eastern Germany. To investigate the pathology in naturally infected wild boar and to evaluate virus variants II, III and IV for their virulence, wild boar carcasses were obtained from three different outbreak areas. The carcasses underwent virological and pathomorphological investigation. The animals revealed characteristic ASF lesions of the highest severity accompanied by bacterial infections in several cases. In particular, wild boar infected with variant IV from Spree-Neiße (SN) district showed lower viral genome loads and total viral antigen scores, but simultaneously tended to reveal more chronic lesions. Our findings indicate a protracted course of the disease at least after infection with variant IV, but need confirmation under standardized experimental conditions. There is a strong need to monitor differences in the virulence among variants to identify potential attenuation that might complicate diagnosis. In addition, veterinarians, hunters and farmers need to be made aware of less acute courses of ASF to consider this as an important differential to chronic classical swine fever.

Architecture and Settlement Dynamics in Central Germany from the Late Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age

The wealth of settlement evidence has supposed a decisive difference between prehistoric archaeology of the Mediterranean compared to that of Central Europe. This situation has changed substantially during recent years due to large scale rescue excavations carried out in central and eastern Germany. Individual houses as well as large settlement complexes have been systematically recorded and can now be dated to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The catalogue of all ground plans discovered up to 2019 in the federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia has recently been published as a supplementary volume of the proceedings of the conference ‘Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Settlement Archaeology’, held in Halle (Saale) in October 2018. Based on the geographical distribution, shape, size, orientation, and dating of the more than 240 building ground plans, the present study examines the architecture and settlement development of the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker communities, as well as of the Únětice complex, between the rivers Saale and Elbe. This analysis offers new insight into the way of life of the first full metalworking societies of central Germany from the 3rd and first half of the 2nd millennium bce, which so far have mainly been approached through their outstanding, but numerically limited, funerary remains and hoards.

Understanding Socio-metabolic Inequalities Using Consumption Data from Germany

ABSTRACT The Earth’s population of seven billion consume varying amounts of planetary resources with varying impacts on the environment. We combine the analytical tools offered by the socio-ecological metabolism and class theory and contribute to a novel social stratification theory to identify the differences in individual resource and energy use. This approach is applied to German society, we use per capita greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) as a proxy for resource and energy use and investigate socio-metabolic characteristics of individuals from an economic, social and cultural perspective. The results show large disparities and inequalities in emission patterns in the German society. For example, the GHG in the lowest and highest emission groups can differ by a magnitude of ten. Income, education, age, gender and regional differences (Eastern vs. Western Germany) result in distinct emission profiles. We question the focus on individual behavioral changes and consumption choices to reduce carbon emissions instead of structural changes through political decisions. We argue that emission differences are directly linked to the effects of inequalities and class differences in capitalist societies. Our research results show that natural resource and energy consumption are important for explaining social differentiation in modern societies.

Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on the Utilization of Cancer Rehabilitation: a Difference-in-Differences Analysis

Restricted access to rehabilitative care due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may affect the participation of cancer survivors and risks progression of the underlying disease. The aim of our analyses was to examined the extent to which cancer rehabilitations in Germany decreased due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Data were retrieved from the German Pension Insurance which is the main provider for medical rehabilitation in Germany. We used monthly cross-sectional data on the utilization of cancer rehabilitation (Ca-rehab-services according to section 15 for working-aged people or section 31 social security code VI for pensioners) in 2019 and 2020. We used a difference-in-differences model to determine the reduction in rehabilitation utilization attributable to the pandemic and reported incidence rate ratios (IRR). We included 146,924 cancer rehabilitations in 2019 and 113,117 cancer rehabilitations in 2020. Compared to the previous year, the nationwide decline in cancer rehabilitations was greatest in April 2020 (63.2%). Utilization of cancer rehabilitation was reduced by 11.5% for benefits according to section 15 social security code VI (IRR=0.885; 95% CI: 0.864 to 0.906) and by 26.5% for benefits according to section 31 (IRR=0.735; 95% CI: 0.717 to 0.754) due to the pandemic. For pensioners the decline in utilization was more pronounced in Western Germany than in Eastern Germany and greater for non-post-acute rehabilitations than for post-acute rehabilitations. The analyses show a pandemic-related decline in cancer rehabilitations, especially in cancer rehabilitation services for pensioners. Failure to seek medical rehabilitation, through which physical and psychological recovery and relief from disease and treatment side effects can be achieved, will have a lasting impact on the participation for many cancer survivors. Repeated monitoring of work ability and health of chronically ill people could generate necessary data to clarify why people in need of rehabilitation have avoided seeking medical rehabilitation and how they can be supported.

‘Everything has changed’: right-wing politics and experiences of transformation among German retail workers

ABSTRACT Harder’s article investigates how changes in working and living conditions are experienced by workers and how these changes create the conditions of acceptability for right-wing politics. Drawing on qualitative interviews, mappings, questionnaires and fieldwork with workers in two retail workplaces in southern and eastern Germany, it outlines processes of logistification that impact workers’ routines of labour and social reproduction: that is, their everyday lives. Respondents testify to an intensification and isolation of labour as well as a general scarcity of resources for social reproduction and powerlessness to influence the changes. Their work environments demand continuous adaptation to new technologies and management strategies. These experiences are shaped by a metanarrative of societal decline that appears to lie beyond the workers’ control. Nostalgia—a romanticized imagination of the past—and reclusivity—a preference for privacy and suspicion of the public—emerge as responses to the perceived decline of their surroundings. They can constitute elements that far-right parties articulate against migration and towards authoritarian politics.

Personal Resources of Adolescents in Eastern and Western Germany - Results of the KiGGS Study 15 and 25 years after the German Reunification

More than 15 years after the German reunification, were there differences in the personal resources among adolescents born around 1989 between East and West? How did the differences of this generation develop? Data from the study on the health of children, adolescents and young adults in Germany (KiGGS study) from the years 2003-2006 and 2014-2017 are used to determine the prevalence of low personal resources in 14-17-year-old adolescents in Eastern and Western Germany. Cross-sectional data at both time periods are compared between East and West, and longitudinal data are used to follow the cohort over the course of age RESULTS: Around 15 years after the German reunification, 14- to 17-year-olds from East Germany more frequently show fewer personal resources and have lower self-efficacy expectations than adolescents of the same age in West Germany. 10 years later, these differences are barely visible and have partially reversed. The east-west differences found cannot be explained by the different socio-economic situations of the families in East and West. The results show that in the 2000s, adolescents born around 1989 from families living in Eastern Germany, showed a higher risk of having fewer personal resources than adolescents from families living in Western Germany. 25 years after the German reunification this is no longer recognizable. While the differences between East and West decrease over time, the importance of the socio-economic situation of the family for the personal resources of adolescents as a whole increases, to the detriment of those with a lower socioeconomic status. The results indicate the need for targeted interventions to strengthen psychosocial resources especially for children and adolescents in phases of transformation and biographical breaks.

Shifting spatial patterns in German population trends: local-level hot and cold spots, 1990–2019

Abstract. The population development of German municipalities is characterized by pronounced regional disparities. We seek to shed new light on the shifting patterns of population development in Germany at the local level between 1990 and 2019 to understand better the drivers of population development at the local level and to initiate a debate on the (dis)advantages of longitudinal analyses of population change at the local level and the resulting methodological challenges. We address three interrelated questions: (1) how do patterns of local population trends shift over time and in space? (2) Where are the hot and cold spots of population development, and how stable are they? (3) Are there any persistent outliers defying the regional trends of population development? We use a unique database that includes annual data on the population development of all German municipalities to answer these questions. Using spatial autocorrelation and hot-spot–cold-spot analysis, we identify short- and long-term population trajectories that allow us to detect both the hot and the cold spots of population development and islands of growth in otherwise shrinking regions and islands of decline in growing regions. Stable hot spots of population growth exist around Germany's three largest cities – Berlin, Hamburg and Munich – and in the rural northwest. The cold spots of population development are concentrated in rural regions of eastern Germany but also structurally weak, old industrialized rural regions around Brunswick and Kassel and in Upper Franconia, Saarland and Western Palatinate.

Effect of Different Thawing Methods for Frozen Bull Semen and Additional Factors on the Conception Rate of Dairy Cows in Artificial Insemination.

Simple SummaryToday, recommendations for thawing methods for frozen bull semen vary, and clear data to assess their influence on fertility are contradictory. Under present practical conditions, no differences between the three different thawing methods could be detected, so no clear recommendation for semen thawing methods in dairy reproduction can be made based on our data. Study results provide evidence that inadequate reproductive performance of high-producing, lactating dairy cows is a multifactorial consequence of farm and fertility management; accordingly, the livestock industry should focus more on cow health to avoid reproductive disorders and further improve the reproductive performance of dairy cows in the future.Recommendations for thawing methods of frozen bovine semen vary and clear data evaluating their influence on fertility are contradictory. In this respect, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of different thawing methods of frozen bull semen in artificial insemination (AI) of dairy cows on conception rate (CR) under practical conditions and to determine further possible influencing factors on the success of AI in order to provide recommendations for practical use. From 2017 to 2019, 3393 AI were performed in a dairy farm in eastern Germany, distributed randomly into three groups of thawing methods: group A: n = 426 (11 s, 38 °C water bath); group B: n = 348 (35 s, 38 °C water bath); group C: n = 385 (30 s, “in the cow”). We observed no significant difference in CR from the general linear mixed model between the thawing methods (method A/B/C, 28.5%/26.6%/24.7%), but data analysis revealed effects of lactation number, month of insemination and AI method (natural heat vs. OvSynch) on CR. Based on our data, no clear recommendation for semen thawing method in dairy reproduction can be made. Our findings suggest that the main factors of influencing reproductive performance in the field are represented by the cow-side of fertility, e.g., insemination in natural heat, lactation number and season of insemination. Therefore, dairy farmers should focus more on cow conditions to further improve reproductive performance.

A New Measure of Wage Risk: Occupation-Specific Evidence for Germany

This study proposes a new measure of wage risk based on estimated probabilities to earn an hourly wage that is below some specific lower quantile of the wage distribution. Using the German SOEP as an information rich data base, we determine wage risks overall and for nine job categories during the period from 1992 until 2015. We find that the low-wage workers in Germany are worse off after the Hartz reforms. In Western Germany this evidence stems from both a reduction of low wages and an increase of wage risk. In Eastern Germany, it is largely due to increased wage risk. Moreover, overall evidence hides important developments at the occupational level.

(In)Stability of Gender Attitudes in Times of Family Policy Change—A Latent Class Analysis of Germany, Austria, and Sweden

Abstract Assuming a long-term feedback loop between attitudes about gender divisions of labor and family policy, we examine such attitudes in Germany, Austria, and Sweden, between 1994 and 2012. Using a longitudinal, case study approach, we argue that attitudes on the gender division of labor need to be put in relation to both recent family policy changes and a country’s gender regime. Employing latent class analysis, we examine the prevalence of different views on gender division of labor over time and test for measurement invariance to assess whether characteristics of attitudinal groups change across years. Results show increasing support for maternal employment within traditional groups in eastern and western Germany, potentially reflecting shifting policy within a changing gender regime. Simultaneously, intensive mothering and traditional attitudes remain more prevalent in Austria and western Germany than in eastern Germany and Sweden, indicating a persistent maternalist ideal among segments of these historically domestic gender regimes.