Rural Bavaria Research Articles

From Niche Narrative to Audio Blockbusters

From Niche Narrative to Audio Blockbusters

A roadmap to becoming a smart village: Experiences from living labs in rural Bavaria

This paper illustrates the measures and digital integrations being made in the course of digitalization, using the example of existing rural pilot communities in Bavaria, Germany. The participating communities were selected as part of the government-funded project "Digitales Dorf" (Engl. digital village). Since 2016, digital solutions as well as complementary actions have been identified and implemented to make everyday life in the community equal to that in the city: the main intention is to push digitalization to create equivalent living conditions to urban areas. This paper is intended to provide an overview of the requirements and steps that need to be taken in digital transformation, in order to develop a generalized blueprint for other communities. Furthermore, it introduces the pilot projects, provides an insight into best practices to promote digitalization in traditional rural areas, and focuses on the transformation process rather than on digital solutions.

The influence of Standard German on the vowels and diphthongs of West Central Bavarian

The spoken accent of children is strongly influenced by those of their peers but how rapidly do they adapt to sound changes in progress? We addressed this issue in an acoustic analysis of child and adult vowels of West Central Bavarian (WCB) that may be subject to an increasing influence by the Standard German (SG) variety. The study was a combination of longitudinal and apparent-time analyses: re-recordings from 20 WCB children in their first, second and third years of primary school at two schools in rural Bavaria were compared with those of 21 WCB adult speakers from the same area. The question was whether the children’s pronunciation diverged from the adults’ pronunciation and increasingly so in their second and third years. Participants produced stressed vowels in isolated mostly trochaic words in which WCB vs. SG differences were expected. Both adult/child and longitudinal changes in the direction of the standard were found in the children’s tendency towards a merger of two open vowels and a collapse of a long/short consonant contrast, neither of which exists in SG. There was some evidence that, unlike the adults, the children were beginning to develop tensity (= tenseness) and rounding contrasts, which occur in SG but not WCB. There were no observed changes to the pattern of opening and closing diphthongs, which differ markedly between the two varieties. The general conclusion is that WCB change is most likely to occur as a consequence of exaggerating phonetic variation that already happens to be in the direction of the standard.

Benjamin Ziemann. Violence and the German Soldier in the Great War: Killing, Dying, Surviving.

Historians have only placed violence at the heart of the history of World War I in the last thirty years, especially as they have focused on ordinary soldiers. Benjamin Ziemann is a distinguished contributor to this field, with earlier books on soldiers from rural Bavaria and veterans who supported the Weimar Republic. He develops both these strands in Violence and the German Soldier in the Great War: Killing, Dying, Surviving, a study of what violence meant to German soldiers. Eschewing grand theory and single explanations, he discusses in depth particular diaries, letters, and fiction written by soldiers while engaging with key academic debates. In three parts, he looks first at how soldiers both talked about and engaged in the physical force inflicted on the enemy’s body, which, he rightly observes, constitutes the heart of violence in war. He then considers how soldiers escaped or refused such violence in ways ranging from surrender to desertion, and how this contributed to the collapse of the German Army in 1918. Finally, he looks at several texts by pacifist veterans in the 1920s in order to challenge received ideas that the war “brutalized” Weimar Germany, or that most veterans were nationalists.

Ein Haus für Pettenkofer. Wissenschaftliche Traditionspflege in München 1902–1962

AbstractA House for Pettenkofer. Cultivation of a Scientific Tradition in Munich, 1902–1962. The article deals with three attempts to preserve the memory as well as the scientific heritage of Max von Pettenkofer, made by his successors at the University of Munich's Institute of Hygiene, Max von Gruber, Karl Kisskalt, and Hermann Eyer. All of those scientific memorials were supposed to take the form of a building: an interdisciplinary center of science and education in the city of Munich, an outpost of the Institute of Hygiene in Pettenkofer's birthplace in rural Bavaria, and a new building for the institute itself. The effort to establish such a place of memory and emulation were driven, on the one hand, by Pettenkofer's downright mythical reputation as the man who not only had established a new scientific field but saved Munich from dirt and pestilence; on the other hand, it was motivated by his successors’ respective understanding of which aspects of Pettenkofer's legacy were worth preserving as well as helpful in order to advance their own scientific and institutional standing – a calculation which turned out to be still valid and compelling more than half a decennium after Pettenkofer's death.

Infant mortality decline in rural and urban Bavaria: fertility, economic transformation, infant care, and inequality in Bavaria and Munich, 1825–1910†

AbstractDuring most of the nineteenth century, Bavaria was notorious for infant mortality rates that were among the highest in Europe. After 1870, infant mortality in Bavaria began a sustained decline. This decline, which was impressive in urban areas, was even more dramatic in Bavaria's capital, Munich. From a peak of 40 deaths per 100 births in the 1860s, infant mortality had fallen two‐thirds by 1914. This article examines the causes of infant mortality in rural and urban districts of Bavaria from 1880 to 1910 and in Munich from 1825 up to shortly before the First World War. In rural Bavaria, structural change in agriculture lowered infant mortality, even as stark differences in infant survival driven by income gaps and deficient infant care remained. In urban areas, high fertility was strongly associated with high infant mortality. Individual‐level data from Munich reveal that infant care, fertility, and incomes mattered. Even prior to industrialization, occupational status influenced infant survival. Munich's growth into a leading industrial centre after 1875 apparently widened the gap between rich and poor. Families at the top of the occupational distribution and couples able to acquire real property saw the steepest declines in infant mortality. The poorest one‐third without property saw little improvement.

Course of health care costs before and after psychiatric inpatient treatment: patient-reported vs. administrative records.

There is limited evidence on the course of health service costs before and after psychiatric inpatient treatment, which might also be affected by source of cost data. Thus, this study examines: i) differences in health care costs before and after psychiatric inpatient treatment, ii) whether these differences vary by source of cost-data (self-report vs. administrative), and iii) predictors of cost differences over time. Sixty-one psychiatric inpatients gave informed consent to their statutory health insurance company to provide insurance records and completed assessments at admission and 6-month follow-up. These were compared to the self-reported treatment costs derived from the "Client Socio-demographic and Service Use Inventory" (CSSRI-EU) for two 6-month observation periods before and after admission to inpatient treatment to a large psychiatric hospital in rural Bavaria. Costs were divided into subtypes including costs for inpatient and outpatient treatment as well as for medication. Sixty-one participants completed both assessments. Over one year, the average patient-reported total monthly treatment costs increased from € 276.91 to € 517.88 (paired Wilcoxon Z = -2.27; P = 0.023). Also all subtypes of treatment costs increased according to both data sources. Predictors of changes in costs were duration of the index admission and marital status. Self-reported costs of people with severe mental illness adequately reflect actual service use as recorded in administrative data. The increase in health service use after inpatient treatment can be seen as positive, while the pre-inpatient level of care is a potential problem, raising the question whether more or better outpatient care might have prevented hospital admission. Findings may serve as a basis for future studies aiming at furthering the understanding of what to expect regarding appropriate levels of post-hospital care, and what factors may help or inhibit post-discharge treatment engagement. Future research is also needed to examine long-term effects of inpatient psychiatric treatment on outcome and costs.

Network Kids: a Project for Children of Cancer Patients. Analyses of Impact on Quality of Life and Coping for Families Affected

ABSTRACT Aim: The well being of the whole family is fundamental for a patients quality of life. In particular, children with parents suffering from cancer need our intensive attention. Our “Network Kinds” is located in rural Bavaria, Germany. It is attached to an oncologic practice, giving aid at different levels: it offers psychological help, includes school psychologists and teachers when schooling problems arise, finances private tutoring or gives assistance in finding an apprenticeship. We place special emphasis on joint leisure activities and excursions that are accompanied by trained personnel. This undertaking is unique in Bavaria and has found great acceptance with our patients and their kin. The “Network Kinds” is privately funded and managed by two employees of the oncologic practice and has been active since 2012, including well over 50 children. Methods: To assess the project's impact on quality of life, school performance, family situation and social factors, standardized questionnaires for children and parents taking part since for at least six months were analyzed. A total of 23 children and 17 parents were evaluable. Results: The median age of the children was 10,3 years (range 4.5 to 17). 79% of the children stated that their parents illness was very hard on them, and 100% stated that their overall situation and their coping improved considerably through the Network Kinds. 81% found new friends, 100% enjoy the activities offered and 100% recommend this project. Interestingly, 78% stated that they do not talk to the other children about their parents illness at all. The impact on parents was also very positive: 88% reported a significant relief of family strain since participating. 100% stated that their children have a great benefit, and again 100% that the families coping is strongly improved. 50% report that their child has significantly worsened in school performance. 100% think that all families confronted with cancer should have the possibility to participate in a project like the “Network kids”. Conclusions: Our project the “Network Kinds” is an affordable but rather time intensive undertaking, improving QOL, stress coping and children's development in cancer ridden families. We conclude that a financial support and broader implementation by the health system is justified for all families interested. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

A skeptic looks at alternative energy

In June 2004 the editor of an energy journal called to ask me to comment on a just-announced plan to build the world's largest photovoltaic electric generating plant. Where would it be, I asked-Arizona? Spain? North Africa? No, it was to be spread among three locations in rural Bavaria, southeast of Nuremberg. I said there must be some mistake. I grew up not far from that place, just across the border with the Czech Republic, and I will never forget those seemingly endless days of summer spent inside while it rained incessantly. Bavaria is like Seattle in the United States or Sichuan province in China. You don't want to put a solar plant in Bavaria, but that is exactly where the Germans put it. The plant, with a peak output of 10 megawatts, went into operation in June 2005.

Airborne cultivable microflora and microbial transfer in farm buildings and rural dwellings

ObjectivesExposure to environments rich in microorganisms such as farms has been shown to protect against the development of childhood asthma and allergies. However, it remains unclear where, and how, farm...

Outcome management in in‐patient psychiatric care

To delineate methods and to describe patient appraisal as well as effect of outcome management in in-patient psychiatric care. Two hundred and ninety-four adults with mental illness receiving in-patient treatment at a psychiatric hospital in rural Bavaria gave informed consent to participate in this cluster-randomised trial. Participants were asked to provide information on treatment outcome via weekly computerised standardised assessments. Patients and clinicians in the intervention group received continuous feedback of outcome. Patients were willing and able to regularly provide outcome data and valued feedback. However, use of feedback in conversations between patient and clinician was rare. Outcome management failed to impact on patient-rated outcome during in-patient treatment. Outcome management is feasible in people receiving in-patient psychiatric care, but failed to show an overall short-term effect. Strategies need to be developed to improve active use of routinely collected treatment outcome data in mental health care.

Todesfälle durch Insektengiftallergie

Insect venom allergy belongs to the classical IgE-mediated diseases and is in Germany mostly mediated by compounds of the venoms of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) and wasp species (Vespula germanica / Vespula vulgaris). Potentially, insect venom allergy manifests in severe and lethal reactions. The prevalence of insect venom allergy depends on the exposure. More than half of the general population receives at least one hymenoptera sting in their life. Corresponding estimates reach from 57% for Italy to 95% for Turkey. There are few population-based studies, which measured the prevalence of sensitisation mostly by the detection of allergen-specific IgE antibodies. According to international investigations 9% - 18% of the adult population are sensitized. In a study of 258 subjects in rural Bavaria 27% exhibited IgE antibodies and similar the prevalence in 821 inhabitants of the City of Hamburg was 25%. The reports on systemic reactions after insect stings range between 0.3% and 3.3%. The latter resulted from the Bavarian study and in Hamburg the corresponding figure was 1.8%. The international comparison reveals a North-South gradient and males and elderly are affected more frequently. Lately an underlying mastocytosis (including occult forms) i.e. elevated tryptase levels were identified as relevant risk factors for severe reactions. Patients with elevated tryptase levels showed more often severe reactions than those without elevated levels (75% vs. 28%). Internationally the mortality is estimated in a range between 0.03 (Italy) and 0.48 (France) per 1.000.000 inhabitants and year. Age (> 40 years), sex (male), comorbidities, sting location (head, neck), and type of insect (bee?) were identified as relevant risk factors. The German statistical board documents fatalities after stings from bees, wasps or hornets under the ICD (10) code X23. Between 1990 and 2006 a total of 335 or 20 cases per year were reported. The corresponding average mortality rate was 0.24/1.000.000/year, whereby men were affected more frequently (68.4%). Within the German federal states the mortality rate increases substantially from West to East. The real population-based prevalence of insect venom allergy and the corresponding mortality rate are not know precisely; a large underestimation can be assumed. Adequate (prospective) studies must be conducted in order to achieve reliable data.

ドイツバイエルン州における農村の再編とその持続性

This study analyzes rural restructuring and its sustainability in rural Bavaria, Germany, using the example of Unterjoch, which is located in a mountain region. In Unterjoch, the sustainable rural system has been characterized by more extensive and differentiated land use since the 1990s. In general, the intensive use of rural land has led to pluriactivity in rural Europe. A recent trend is the attraction of rural tourism.Until the 1980s farmers achieved pluriactivity by combining intensive farming in arable land accompanied by price support, guest house management and service sector employment in urban areas. But intensive farming degraded arable land that played an important role, not only for production, but also for attracting rural tourism. At the same time, the number of overnight guests decreased, and the number of day-trip guests increased in Unterjoch. In addition, since the 1990s the EU has worked out a policy to reduce price supports for farmers and restrict the overuse of arable land by reforming CAP (Common Agricultural Policy).In response to these socio-economic changes, farmers in Unterjoch diversified pluriactivity by adding organic farming and direct marketing for the purpose of sustaining arable land as the space for production and attraction to rural tourists. Farmers started to use arable land extensively for organic farming. Furthermore, they re-used and diversified mountainous land in the Alp, abandoned during the productivist era, according to the standards of the organic certification group. In addition, farmers restructured the system in which they produce and sell agricultural product that utilize local resources. Moreover, farmers are now able to receive subsidies from agro-environmental policies in spite of the reduction of price supports owing to the reform of CAP.From the view point of community-based development, the vertical differentiation of spatial use makes it possible for farm and tourism-oriented management to co-exist with a common purpose of sustaining rural space for tourism. The area for farm-oriented management is made up of arable land and mountainous land in the Alp, whereas the area for tourism-oriented management consists of arable land and housing. As a result, a community-based development model named 'Oko-modell Hindelang' is promoted, which is designed to promote the extensive use of arable land for sustaining the attraction of rural tourists and direct the marketing of agricultural products to rural tourists.

Risk factors for undervaccination against measles in a large sample of preschool children from rural Bavaria.

Due to insufficient vaccination rates, measles outbreaks still pose a threat to public health in Germany. The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for undervaccination against measles. Datasets from two cross-sectional surveys were analyzed by logistic regression models. The surveys had been done prior to and after an intervention aiming to raise measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rates among children entering primary school in five Bavarian counties. Subjects were 9,582 children aged 6 to 7 years and their parents. Main independent predictors of non-immunization were doctors advising against vaccination (OR 84.8; 95% CI 19.9-360.4), doctors abstaining from advice (OR 6.3; 95% CI 4.8-8.4), and parental reservations due to alternative health beliefs (OR 27.9; 95% CI 17.6-44.1). Doctors advising against measles vaccination and doctors not giving any advice proved to be important risk factors for childhood undervaccination against measles. Future strategies to increase measles vaccination rates in Germany should focus more on family doctors.

Kontinuitat und Bruch. Georg Schrimpf zwischen Raterepublik und NS-Herrschaft

A profile of the German painter Georg Schrimpf. Schrimpf was an anarchist and member of the German Communist Party who later became a professor in Berlin and sold works to Nazi leaders. He opposed the Nazis, but they admired his rather conventional depictions of rural Bavaria. The Nazi ideologists saw them as ideal images of rural Germany, which they regarded as the real Germany.

IgE antibodies to Hymenoptera venoms in the serum are common in the general population and are related to indications of atopy

Determination of Hymenoptera venom (HV)-specific serum IgE antibodies is a useful diagnostic method in patients with systemic anaphylactic reaction (SAR) to Hymenoptera stings. In a general population cohort, we determined the prevalence of SAR and HV-specific IgE antibodies and assessed parameters associated with the latter. A total of 277 voluntarily participating inhabitants of rural Bavaria (Germany) (232 adults, mean age 38.0 years; 45 children, mean age 8.4 years) were investigated for a history of atopic disease or SAR to insect stings; in 258 of these, total IgE and specific IgE antibodies to HV (Apis mellifera, Vespula vulgaris/germanica) and four common aeroallergens (birch pollen, grass pollen, house-dust mite, and cat dander) in the serum were determined. Nine (3.3%) subjects reported SAR to insect stings. In 27.1% of the sera, specific IgE antibodies to HV were found, to bee venom in 24.8%, and to wasp venom in 8.5% (P < 0.0001). Of those exhibiting HV-specific IgE, 7.1% reported SAR to insect stings. A personal history of atopic disease (hay fever, asthma, or atopic eczema) was present in 16.7%, specific IgE to common aeroallergens was found in 32.6%, and total IgE > 100 kU/l was found in 22.5%. Specific serum IgE to HV was significantly associated with male sex (female vs. male, OR = 0.47; CI 0.25-0.86), young age (children vs. adults, OR = 2.80; CI 1.25-6.28), a history of SAR to insect stings (OR = 4.16; CI 1.15-15.03), total sIgE > 100 kU/l (OR = 3.88; CI 1.98-7.60), and specific IgE antibodies to three of the four aeroallergens (grass pollen, OR = 7.24 CI 3.66-14.38; birch pollen, OR = 3.67 CI 1.54-8.81; and house-dust mite, OR = 4.61 CI 2.08-10.32). It is concluded that immunologic sensitization to HV is common in the general population and is associated with atopy-related humoral IgE hyperresponsiveness.

Ethics, emotion and self-interest: Rural Bavaria in the later middle ages

The subject of this paper is the ways medieval peasants and their lords ordered and maintained their respective interests within a social order and agrarian regime frought with conflict. It is based on a rare manuscript source, partly published and never used except by local historians, the minutes of the manor court belonging to the 15th century Bavarian abbey of Indersdorf. Staging, ritual, and verbal games were found to be the day-to-day tools used by both sides in a social context which only in theory favoured the stronger party of lords. The findings point to much more complicated and delicate relationships between peasants and lords than suggested by current scholarschip. The concept of “symbolic capital” was found to be a most useful tool to explain the particularities of the case.