Partners In Germany Research Articles

We need a broader debate on the sustainability of blockchain

Alexander Rieger is a postdoctoral researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg. His research interests include innovative digital technologies such as blockchain, decentralized digital identities, and artificial intelligence. Alex leads the scientific advisory team for the FLORA blockchain project of Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees and acts as advisor to the European Blockchain Partnership and various public and private sector partners in Germany and Luxembourg. Tamara Roth is a postdoctoral researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg. Her research interests include the interplay of innovative technologies such as blockchain and decentralized digital identities with sociocultural and socioethical constructs in public administration and healthcare. Moreover, she investigates technology adoption and implications of technologies for sustainable development from a psychological and neurobiological perspective. Johannes Sedlmeir is a researcher on information systems at the FIM Research Center, University of Bayreuth. In his research, he focuses on the energy consumption and performance benchmarking of different blockchains, the application of cryptographic methods such as zero-knowledge proofs for scalable and privacy-oriented blockchain solutions in different sectors, and decentralized digital identities. He received his M.Sc. in theoretical and mathematical physics. Gilbert Fridgen is professor and PayPal-FNR PEARL chair in digital financial services at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg. In his research, he analyzes the transformative effects of digital technologies on individual organizations and on the relationship between organizations. He addresses potentially disruptive technologies like blockchain, decentralized digital identities, artificial intelligence, or the Internet of Things. His research involves information systems engineering and IT strategy and (risk) management, as well as regulatory compliance. In his projects and partnerships, he collaborates with partners in financial services, energy, mobility, manufacturing, and consulting, as well as with public bodies and governments.

How do nurses support chronically ill clients\u2019 participation and self-management in primary care? A cross-country qualitative study

BackgroundIn the context of the advancement of person-centered care models, the promotion of the participation of patients with chronic illness and complex care needs in the management of their care (self-management) is increasingly seen as a responsibility of primary care nurses. It is emphasized that nurses should consider the psychosocial dimensions of chronic illness and the client’s lifeworld. Little is known about how nurses shape this task in practice.MethodsThe aim of this analysis is to examine how primary care nurses understand and shape the participation of patients with chronic illness and complex care needs regarding the promotion of self-management. Guided interviews were conducted with nurses practicing in primary care and key informants in Germany, Spain, and Brazil with a subsequent cross-case evaluation. Interpretive and practice patterns were identified based on Grounded Theory.ResultsTwo interpretive and practice patterns were identified: (1) Giving clients orientation in dealing with chronic diseases and (2) supporting the integration of illness in clients’ everyday lives. Nurses in the first pattern consider it their most important task to provide guidance toward health-promoting behavior and disease-related decision-making by giving patients comprehensive information. Interview partners emphasize client autonomy, but rarely consider the limitations chronic disease imposes on patients’ everyday lives. Alternatively, nurses in the second pattern regard clients as cooperation partners. They seek to familiarize themselves with their clients’ social environments and habits to give recommendations for dealing with the disease that are as close to the client’s lifeworld as possible. Nurses’ recommendations seek to enable patients and their families to lead a largely ‘normal life’ despite chronic illness. While interview partners in Brazil or Spain point predominantly to clients’ socio-economic disadvantages as a challenge to promoting client participation in primary health care, interview partners in Germany maintain that clients’ high disease burden represents the chief barrier to self-management.ConclusionsNurses in practice should be sensitive to client’s lifeworlds, as well as to challenges that arise as they attempt to strengthen clients’ participation in care and self-management. Regular communication between clients, nurses, and further professionals should constitute a fundamental feature of person-centered primary care models.

Mothering in accounting: Feminism, motherhood, and making partnership in accountancy in Germany and the UK

Women remain significantly underrepresented at partnership level in accounting firms. The past three decades witnessed a steady increase in investment and research in gender equality in the profession, but there is a scholarly reluctance to focus specifically on motherhood despite the fact that four in five women will have children in their lifetime and experience inequality and discrimination as a result of their status as mothers. This article shares original empirical data of interviews with 60 female partners in Germany and the UK, focusing specifically on their experiences of motherhood and mothering. Theoretically, this article is framed by O’Reilly’s (2016a) matricentric feminism and Gatrell, Cooper and Kossek’s (2017) Douglasian thesis of the maternal body as a social pollutant at work. In Germany, the accounts frequently juxtaposed the maternal body with professionalism, with mothers expected to work part-time, but part-time working patterns deemed irreconcilable with partnership. Becoming a mother was often experienced as representing a burden to others at work. In the UK, the respondents were concerned with accessing maternity leave and returning to work, with some finding it challenging to make claims on the basis of their status as mothers. Half of the mothers were married to ‘househusbands’, often working like normative fathers, with some noting a lack of ‘choice’ in the matter despite their status and financial independence. In both countries, the unencumbered norm was mostly left unchallenged and the task of managing and hiding one’s care responsibilities left for individual women to work out in private, with the primary beneficiary of this concealment being the firm and its clients. The article demonstrates that we must make space for the study of mothering in accountancy if we want to be serious about tackling gender inequality within the profession.

The Effect of Auditor Style on Reporting Quality: Evidence from Germany

This paper examines whether the ‘style’ of individual auditors influences financial reporting quality in Germany. Audit quality in Germany should be uniformly high, because of strong reputational needs, strict controls on operating procedures, and quality enforcement mechanisms. An audit partner's style should not affect this quality level. However, our results do not support this expectation. Exploiting a unique dataset comprising the names of the audit engagement and review partners of listed German companies, we find that audit engagement partners in Germany have a significant influence on audit quality, beyond firm‐ and office‐level factors. In contrast, audit review partners do not have a consistent significant influence on audit quality. We measure audit quality by the level of a firm's abnormal accruals and its propensity to meet or beat an earnings target. We also find that the 2005 adoption of a new audit quality enforcement system that includes ‘naming and shaming’ does not reduce the influence of audit partner style on financial reporting quality.

Without Crossing a Border: Exploring the Impact of Shifting Study Abroad Online on Students’ Learning and Intercultural Competence Development during the COVID-19 Pandemic

While all higher education was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, study abroad programs were uniquely challenged by the associated restrictions and limitations. This case study integrates a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) pedagogy approach and virtual reality (VR) technologies into the curriculum redesign process to transform a business study abroad course into an online format. Using VR technology, U.S. students and their international partners in Germany, Brazil, and India created and shared cultural exchange virtual tours. The redesigned online study abroad course engaged students in active learning activities and cultivated students’ intercultural competence development.

The Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on Solar Orbiter

Aims.This paper describes the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager on the Solar Orbiter mission (SO/PHI), the first magnetograph and helioseismology instrument to observe the Sun from outside the Sun-Earth line. It is the key instrument meant to address the top-level science question: How does the solar dynamo work and drive connections between the Sun and the heliosphere? SO/PHI will also play an important role in answering the other top-level science questions of Solar Orbiter, while hosting the potential of a rich return in further science.Methods.SO/PHI measures the Zeeman effect and the Doppler shift in the Fe I617.3 nm spectral line. To this end, the instrument carries out narrow-band imaging spectro-polarimetry using a tunable LiNbO3Fabry-Perot etalon, while the polarisation modulation is done with liquid crystal variable retarders. The line and the nearby continuum are sampled at six wavelength points and the data are recorded by a 2k × 2k CMOS detector. To save valuable telemetry, the raw data are reduced on board, including being inverted under the assumption of a Milne-Eddington atmosphere, although simpler reduction methods are also available on board. SO/PHI is composed of two telescopes; one, the Full Disc Telescope, covers the full solar disc at all phases of the orbit, while the other, the High Resolution Telescope, can resolve structures as small as 200 km on the Sun at closest perihelion. The high heat load generated through proximity to the Sun is greatly reduced by the multilayer-coated entrance windows to the two telescopes that allow less than 4% of the total sunlight to enter the instrument, most of it in a narrow wavelength band around the chosen spectral line.Results.SO/PHI was designed and built by a consortium having partners in Germany, Spain, and France. The flight model was delivered to Airbus Defence and Space, Stevenage, and successfully integrated into the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. A number of innovations were introduced compared with earlier space-based spectropolarimeters, thus allowing SO/PHI to fit into the tight mass, volume, power and telemetry budgets provided by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft and to meet the (e.g. thermal) challenges posed by the mission’s highly elliptical orbit.

Perceptions of regular and special education teachers of their own and their co-teacher’s instructional responsibilities in inclusive education: A case study

Co-teaching is fundamental to inclusive education. However, the way co-teaching is implemented, varies considerably, and establishing and allocating instructional responsibilities does not follow a standardized pattern. This study is based on four cases – two located at traditional secondary schools and two at newly created community schools – and includes semi-structured in-depth interviews with four regular teachers and four special education teachers. It aims at providing insight into how co-teaching partners in Germany perceive their own and their partner’s instructional responsibilities. Data are analyzed with a structuring technique of qualitative content analysis. It becomes evident that the partners in each case do not always follow identical instructional intents. Nonetheless, different types of teacher knowledge seem to complement each other effectively in co-teaching relationships. Although, of course provided primarily for pupils with special needs, special education expertise also seems to support pupils without such needs. The results indicate a need to secure and integrate co-teaching relationships structurally into a school’s development process. The article concludes with some options for development in practice.

Preferences for everyday living inventory (PELI): study protocol for piloting a culture-sensitive and setting-specific translated instrument in German care settings (PELI-D)

IntroductionRegardless of the healthcare setting, person-centred care and its implementation in caring for older people are a central issue for those who are responsible as professional caregivers and for those...

Intra-household allocation of non-mandatory retirement savings

Abstract Traditionally, households have been regarded as single units when it comes to savings. Although this might be correct for some kinds of household savings, we question the accuracy of this unitary model with respect to non-mandatory retirement savings. To do so, we analyze the intra-household allocation of retirement savings between partners in Germany through an individualistic approach. First, the decision to save at all is analyzed using a seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model, showing that the possession of retirement saving accounts among spouses is positively correlated, hinting at a “crowding-in” of saving accounts. However, this could only be due to certain tax-related reasons. Thus, we further analyze the interaction of savings between spouses using three-stage least squares, allowing for endogeneity between the spouses’ savings. These results additionally show a crowding-in of the total amount of retirement savings between spouses, probably due to some “peer effect”. We therefore conclude that the unitary model of household decision-making is not applicable with respect to retirement savings.

The making of the German minimum wage: a case study of institutional change

AbstractIn the more recent dualistic theories, Germany is cited as an example of a less solidaristic equilibrium, in which ‘producer coalitions’ between core workforces supposedly unaffected by deregulation and their employers prevented the introduction of a minimum wage. The present article shows that such an equilibrium never existed. Core workforces are being threatened by the outsourcing of jobs to the low‐wage sector. This threat created the breeding ground for a joint campaign by manufacturing and service unions for a minimum wage, which made it possible to amalgamate the unions' considerable resources at company level, their strength being derived from the German system of codetermination. Under pressure from the manufacturing unions in particular, the arrangements for the minimum wage follow, as far as possible, the traditions of free collective bargaining. As a result, the social partners in Germany have a considerably stronger influence on the minimum wage than those in the UK.

Familienmigration bei Hochqualifizierten: wie intergenerationale Beziehungen das Einleben prägen

Abstract. This paper addresses family migration amongst highly-skilled professionals. Drawing on the concept of linked lives, it analyses how the linked lives of parents and children affect integration processes after international migration. The article is based on qualitative interviews with highly-skilled migrants and their accompanying partners in Germany and Great Britain. The analysis illustrates how parents try to reestablish stability and security in their children's lives after migration. It reveals common concerns. However, some of the parents' strategies are location-specific. The results indicate that the parents' efforts for their children's integration also have an effect on their own integration. Given the importance of children in the integration process, the paper suggests paying more attention to the children's perspective in future migration research.

Individual Auditor Style and Audit Quality in a High Reputation Risk Setting

This paper examines whether the ‘style’ of individual auditors influences financial reporting quality in Germany. Audit quality in Germany should be uniformly high, because of strong reputational needs, strict controls on operating procedures, and quality enforcement mechanisms. An audit partner’s style should not affect this quality level. However, our results do not support this expectation. Exploiting a unique dataset comprising the names of the audit engagement and review partners of listed German companies, we find that audit engagement partners in Germany have a significant influence on audit quality, beyond firm- and office-level factors. In contrast, audit review partners do not have a consistent significant influence on audit quality. We measure audit quality by the level of a firm’s abnormal accruals and its propensity to meet or beat an earnings target. We also find that the 2005 adoption of a new audit quality enforcement system that includes ‘naming and shaming’ does not reduce the influence of audit partner style on financial reporting quality.

The role of language skills in the settling-in process – experiences of highly skilled migrants’ accompanying partners in Germany and the UK

ABSTRACTThe role of the family in the international migration of highly skilled migrants has often been disregarded. Highly skilled labour migrants follow a concrete job offer abroad and are structurally integrated into the new environment through the work place. On the contrary, the migration of family members is subject to different conditions since most accompanying partners initially do not work. However, accompanying partners are described as managers of the settling-in process of the whole family [Yeoh, Brenda, and Katie Willis. 2004. “Constructing Masculinities in Transnational Space: Singapore Men on the ‘Regional Beat’.” In Transnational Spaces, edited by Peter Jackson, Philip Crang, and Claire Dwyer, 147–163. London: Routledge] and their experiences can be crucial for the duration of their stay. Our paper explores the experiences of mobility of highly skilled migrants’ accompanying partners in Germany and in the UK with regard to their strategies and practices during the settling-in process. The main focus is on the role of language, the establishment of new social networks and labour market participation. The paper draws on the concept of capital accumulation and conversion [Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. “The Forms of Capital.” In Education: Culture, Economy, and Society, edited by Albert Henry Halsey, 46–58. New York: Oxford University Press] and asks how partners make use of their cultural capital language after migration. Our paper is based on empirical studies in Germany and in the UK, which focus on the migration and settling-in processes of highly skilled professionals and their families.

Editorial: Language, Cognition, and Gender.

Gender inequality remains a contentious issue in many societies, despite legislative, and other less formal attempts to tackle it. It is perpetuated, in part, by gender stereotyping. Previous research indicates that language contributes to gender inequality in various ways: Gender-related information is transmitted through formal and semantic features of language, such as the grammatical category of gender, through gender-related connotations of role names (e.g., manager, secretary), and through customs of denoting social groups with derogatory as opposed to neutral names. Both as a formal system and as a means of communication, language passively reflects culture-specific social conditions. Furthermore, language can also be used to express actively, and can potentially perpetuate, those conditions. Tackling these issues successfully depends on a proper understanding of their cognitive and societal underpinnings, but also on understanding the effects of attempted interventions. With these points in mind, the editors of this Special Topic, in collaboration with other colleagues, proposed a Marie Curie Initial Training Network entitled Language, Cognition, and Gender (ITN LCG), to address a range of questions about language and gender inequality. This project received funding from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013). ITN LCG included 10 European universities in the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, together with 12 associate partners in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The research conducted within the ITN was organized into four work packages, addressing the questions of: how languages shape cognitive representations of gender how features of European languages correspond with gender equality in European societies how language contributes to social behavior toward the sexes how gender equality can be promoted through strategies for gender-fair language use. These questions also appeared in the call for papers for this Special Topic, as it was intended that the Special Topic should showcase findings from ITN LCG together with related research. Reflecting ITN LCG's focus on both cognitive and broader language-based and societal issues, the Special Topic has nine papers in Frontiers in Psychology, Cognition, and eight papers in Frontiers in Psychology, Language Sciences. However, it was originally thought that all papers would be referenced in both sections, so that the allocation of a paper to either Cognitive or Language Sciences is of no particular significance. Of the nine papers in the Cognition section, seven report work from ITN LCG and the other two (Garnham and Yakovlev; Garnham et al.) report related work by Garnham and colleagues, which arose out of discussions within ITN LCG, but which was carried out by students at the University of Sussex who were not funded from the ITN LCG grant. Of the eight papers in the Language Sciences section, six report work from ITN LCG. Of the other two, one (Wolter et al.) was carried out in collaboration with members of the ITN LCG, whereas the other (Gustafsson Senden et al.) was an independent study, closely related to the interests of ITN LCG. In keeping with ITN LCG's multidisciplinary approach, the contributors to this Special Topic include both cognitive and social psychologists, and linguists. For the most part the contributions report original research, with a wide range of methods, from surveys to electro-physiological studies. In addition, the Special Topic includes one Review paper (Sczesny et al.) and one Hypothesis and Theory paper (Esaulova and von Stockhausen). Most of the contributions address questions about either the cognitive representation of gender or the use and effects of gender-fair language. They present a range of complementary studies, which make a substantial contribution to the understanding of these important issues.

Intra-Household Allocation of Non-Mandatory Retirement Savings

Traditionally, households have been seen as acting as a single unit when it comes to savings. Although this might be correct for some parts of household savings, we question the correctness of the unitary model with respect to non-mandatory retirement savings. To answer this question we analyze the intra-household allocation of retirement savings between partners in Germany. First, the decision to save at all is analyzed using a seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model, showing that the possession of retirement saving accounts among spouses is positively correlated, hinting at a “crowding-in” of saving accounts. However, this could be only due to some tax reasons. Thus, we analyze additionally the interaction of savings between spouses using three-stage least squares, allowing for endogeneity between the spouse’s savings. These results additionally show a “crowding-in” of total retirement saving amounts between spouses, probably due to some “recognition effect”. The unitary model of household decision making can thus be rejected with respect to retirement savings.

Oral HPV prevalence in women positive for cervical HPV infection and their sexual partners: a German screening study.

The incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV) associated oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer (OSCC) is on the rise. With the HPV-positive uterine cervix as a reservoir, HPV-positive OSCC is discussed as a sexually transmitted disease. Mechanisms of HPV transmission to the oral cavity are poorly understood. To gain more insight into HPV-transmission routes, cervically HPV-positive women and their sexual partners are screened for oral HPV infection. Women with cervical dysplasia underwent HPV testing of the uterine cervix and tonsillar region via brush test. In addition, sexual partners received oral HPV testing. Tonsillar brush tests of patients admitted for routine surgery served as the control group. The HPV-PCR (Roche Linear Array Kit) was used to differentiate 37 HPV types. All participants completed a risk-factor questionnaire focusing on sexual habits. 101 women were tested HPV-positive at the cervix. Only 3/101 (3%) were tested HPV-positive in the oropharynx. In 60/101 (60%) women the sexual partner could be tested for oral HPV infection: testing was positive in 3/60 (5%). No oral HPV was detected in the control group. The risk-factor questionnaire revealed significant differences between the female study- and control group in terms of age at first sexual intercourse and smoking habits. The limited data suggest that among sexual partners in Germany, HPV transmission to the oropharynx by oral-genital sex or by autoinoculation is a rare and unlikely event with low HPV concordance. Another explanation for the low oral prevalence could be an independent clearance of HPV from the oropharyngeal site compared to cervix uteri or at different time intervals.

PIH69 - Assessment of Health States and Erectile Dysfunction-Associated Quality of Life Among Adult Males and Females With Male Partners in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States

This study assessed the quality of life associated with various states of erectile dysfunction (ED) among adults: both diagnosed ED sufferers and non-sufferers in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. A multi-national, cross-sectional online survey was conducted among a representative sample of 2,000 adults (n=500 Germany, n=500 UK, n=1,000 US) with an equal number of men and women in a heterosexual relationship. Respondents rated either their or their partner’s erectile function, and health state utilities were measured using standard gamble (SG) and visual analog scale (VAS) in counterbalanced order. Utilities were estimated for one level from the Erection Hardness Scale: penis gets hard but not hard enough for penetration. Differences were examined by measure, country and respondent demographics. The SG and VAS measures yield similar, but not identical mean estimates for the ED health state. Significant variation exists by measure as well as by country. In comparing the utility assessments between the countries using SG, German respondents have significantly higher average utility (0.49) for ED than do respondents from the UK (0.40), and US (0.41). When examining differences by gender, females have greater utility for the ED health state when compared to males. Men with ED report a lower utility for the ED health state when compared to men without ED. By contrast, females whose partners have ED report a higher utility for the ED health state when compared to females with partners without ED. Although utility is consistent across most ages, an increase in utility exists for adults aged 75 and over. Notable differences in ED utility emerged by country: Germans have higher utility for ED when compared to UK and US respondents. Significant differences in ED utility between males and females suggests there is an important relationship disconnect between men with ED and their female partners.

Integrated system for analyzing maintenance records in product improvement

This paper presents the development and realization of the “Integrated system for analyzing Maintenance records in Product improvement” (IMaPro). IMaPro has been designed based on research and need analysis through literature survey and consultation with industry partners in Germany. The primary goal is to analyze structured feedback data, such as condition monitoring, service, and customer data, especially to discover improvement potentials in maintenance management and ultimately product improvement. In this context, Bayesian network utilizes the knowledge-based analysis of feedback data. The Bayesian network is used in combination of a mathematical cost model. The model supports cost-based monitoring and controlling of maintenance activities, and consequently leads to the identification of the lack and applying the lessons learned for improving maintenance costing. The concept has been validated and pilot-tested through the use of a sample product, namely block heater system. Furthermore, IMaPro incorporates an in-house development of mobile application for acquisition of service data.

Structures and relationships: women partners' careers in Germany and the UK

Purpose– This paper aims to highlight differences in women's experiences of advancement to partnership in accountancy firms in Germany and the UK and consider the ways in which such differences may be constituted by the institutional context in which they occurred.Design/methodology/approach– This research is based on 60 semi-structured interviews with women partners in Germany and the UK. Techniques adopted from grounded theory were applied.Research limitations/implications– This qualitative research is context-specific and given its cross-national, interdisciplinary nature is limited to the extent that findings cannot be generalised beyond the studied scope.Practical implications– The study points to cross-national differences in women's career advancement in accountancy firms. The findings support extant research suggesting that structured performance evaluation and hiring systems – while not without flaws – are likely more gender-neutral. In addition, the study highlights the potential of headhunters and recruitment agents as an important tool for women to navigate their way out of career culs-de-sac.Originality/value– This research provides unique insights into women partners' experiences of career advancement and, through its interdisciplinary nature, demonstrates the usefulness of employing institutional frameworks in qualitative in-depth studies of this kind.

Abstracts of the 7th European Conference on Rare Diseases and Orphan Products (ERCD 2014), May 8-10, 2014, Berlin, Germany.

The Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) Center Freiburg is the coordination center of the German EB-Network and a national center of excellence for rare skin fragility disorders. It combines clinical activities with internationally competitive research and deals with molecular diagnostics, clinical management, elucidation of disease mechanisms, and development of evidence-based novel therapies (Figure ​(Figure1).1). EB is a group of severe and socially relevant genetic skin diseases characterized by mechanically induced blistering and life-long fragility of the skin. EB has a highly negative personal, medical and socio-economic impact on the life of the patients and their families, and the unmet medical need is high. - The activities of the EB-Network build upon the combination of clinical and scientific expertise of the partners in Germany and neighboring countries (cross-border care), and upon the synergies generated in the past years. Figure 1 Panels from left to right – Building of the EB Center Freiburg; skin blister in EB; immunofluorescence staining of the skin; mutation analysis The EB Center Freiburg performs molecular diagnostics, coordinates multidisciplinary care for patients and their families, advices general practitioners, medical specialists, nursing staff and therapists, and disseminates information to lay public and media. The office of the Center is available for enquiries for 24 hours and responds within 24 hours. The team includes a coordinator, physicians, nurses, a social worker, a documentary clerk, scientists and laboratory technicians with expertise in EB. The consultations are usually out-patient or day clinic appointments, but hospital admission is possible for severe cases requiring extensive medical treatments. Standardized clinical practice with a diagnostic algorithm and standardized patient documentation facilitates diagnostic processes, and a weekly EB-expert meeting evaluates all diagnoses as a quality assurance measure. Currently the EB-patient registry contains data of >1000 patients with molecular genetic diagnosis and has an associated biomaterial collection of skin biopsies, cells and blood samples. These serve as basis for research on epidemiology of EB and for clinical and laboratory investigations on novel causes, disease mechanisms, genotype-phenotype correlations and treatments for EB. - In addition to numerous international research collaborations, the EB Center is actively involved in larger structures for rare diseases. The Freiburg Center for Rare Diseases [http://www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/fzse.html] provides high-level scientific expertise, innovative diagnostics and interdisciplinary care for people with rare disorders of the skin, the musculoskeletal system, the kidney, the lung, the eye, the blood and the immune systems. Internationally, EB-CliNet [http://www.eb-clinet.org], a European network of EB Centers, and the Genodermatoses Network, an international network on rare skin diseases for professionals and patients [http://www.genodermatoses-network.org] aim at establishing a European Reference Network for genetic skin diseases.