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The two fundamental features of Humboldt's prescription for the new University of Berlin in 1810--research-like learning as a collaboration of teachers and students, and academic freedom of research and teaching (based essentially on an intuitive, but deep understanding of complexity theory)--are as valid now as they were 200 years ago in spite of all the changes over the nearly 200 years, including the substantial loss of societal status of the academic profession. It proposes means of adapting them to 21st century conditions, in strong contrast with the increasing present practices of school-like learning, micromanagement by top-down administrations and constant interference by governments. Man, it seems, is a delicate machine, which gets out of order easily. N. Kazantzakis, "Christ Recrucified"

A central question in online human sentence comprehension is, "How are linguistic relations established between different parts of a sentence?" Previous work has shown that this dependency resolution process can be computationally expensive, but the underlying reasons for this are still unclear. This article argues that dependency resolution is mediated by cue-based retrieval, constrained by independently motivated working memory principles defined in a cognitive architecture. To demonstrate this, this article investigates an unusual instance of dependency resolution, the processing of negative and positive polarity items, and confirms a surprising prediction of the cue-based retrieval model: Partial-cue matches--which constitute a kind of similarity-based interference--can give rise to the intrusion of ungrammatical retrieval candidates, leading to both processing slow-downs and even errors of judgment that take the form of illusions of grammaticality in patently ungrammatical structures. A notable achievement is that good quantitative fits are achieved without adjusting the key model parameters. (Contains 5 tables, 4 figures, and 3 notes.)

Culture impedes educational transactions between developed countries, and is often an area of tension when developing countries try to borrow models, or have models imposed upon them. This article uses the German Dual System as a case for examining issues surrounding the adaptation of borrowed models. Since attempts at borrowing models can fail for cultural as well as non-cultural reasons, a contention here is that culture needs to be unpacked and laid bare, to avoid it becoming the too easy answer for failure. Borrowed models have a greater chance of taking hold, if the conditions that forged them are understood, and if conditions of the receiving country are likewise internalized. Limits imposed by culture have to be recognized. Four approaches to cultural borrowing that conceivably can reduce the tensions are proposed namely, partial borrowing, pilot borrowing, customization and conceptual borrowing.

Studied the ways young people cope with their concerns in samples of Australian (n=200), Colombian (n=100), German (n=128), and Palestinian (n=144) students who completed the Adolescent Coping Scale. Findings demonstrate the importance of identifying coping strategies that are reflective of the community under investigation. (SLD)

Competing Interests: Mrs B. Timmermann was supported by the Köln Fortune Program/Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne, grant number KF 481/2020.

Objective: Well-established mortality ratio methodology can contribute to a fuller picture of the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 burden of disease by revealing trends and informing mitigation strategies. This work examines respective data from Germany by way of example., Methods: Using monthly and weekly all-cause mortality data from January 2016 to June 2020 (published by the German Federal Statistical Institute) for all ages,<65 years and≥65 years, and specified for Germany's federal states, we explored mortality as sequela of COVID-19. We analysed standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) comparing 2020 with 2016-2019 as reference years with a focus on trend detection., Results: In Germany as a whole, elevated mortality in April (most pronounced for Bavaria) declined in May. The states of Hamburg and Bremen had increased SMRs in all months under study. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, decreased SMRs in January turned monotonically to increased SMRs by June. Irrespective of age group, this trend was pronounced and significant., Conclusions: Increased SMRs in Hamburg and Bremen must be interpreted with caution because of potential upward distortions due to a "catchment bias". A pronounced excess mortality in April across Germany was confirmed and a hitherto undetected trend of increasing SMRs for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was revealed. To meet the pandemic challenge and to benefit from research based on data collected in standardized ways, national authorities should regularly conduct SMR analyses. For independent analyses, national authorities should also expedite publishing raw mortality and population data, including detailed information on age, sex, and cause of death, in the public domain., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Total mortality and "burden of disease" in Germany and Italy and their states and regions were explored during the first COVID-19 wave by using publicly available data for 16 German states and 20 Italian regions from January 2016 to June 2020. Based on expectations from 2016 to 2019, simplified Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMRs) for deaths occurring in the first half of 2020 and the effect of changed excess mortality in terms of "burden of disease" were assessed. Moreover, whether two German states and 19 Italian cities appropriately represent the countries within the European monitoring of excess mortality for public health action (EuroMOMO) network was explored. Significantly elevated SMRs were observed (Germany: week 14-18, Italy: week 11-18) with SMR peaks in week 15 in Germany (1.15, 95%-CI: 1.09-1.21) and in week 13 in Italy (1.79, 95%-CI: 1.75-1.83). Overall, SMRs were 1.00 (95%-CI: 0.97-1.04) in Germany and 1.06 (95%-CI: 1.03-1.10) in Italy. Significant SMR heterogeneity was found within both countries. Age and sex were strong modifiers. Loss of life expectancy was 0.34 days (1.66 days in men) for Germany and 5.3 days (6.3 days in men) for Italy [with upper limits of 3 and 6 weeks among elderly populations (≥65 years) after maximum potential bias adjustments]. Restricted data used within EuroMOMO neither represents mortality in the countries as a whole nor in their states and regions adequately. Mortality analyses with high spatial and temporal resolution are needed to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic's course., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Morfeld, Timmermann, Groß, Lewis, Cocco and Erren.)

Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Competing Interests: Die Autorinnen/Autoren geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Background: In oncology, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data are often collected using disease-specific patient questionnaires while generic, patient-level utility data required for health economic modeling are often not collected., Methods: We developed a mapping algorithm for multiple myeloma that relates HRQoL scores from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) questionnaires QLQ-C30 and QLQ-MY20 to a utility value from the European QoL-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire. Data were obtained from 154 multiple myeloma patients who had participated in a multicenter cohort study in the UK or Germany. All three questionnaires were administered at a single time point. Scores from all 19 domains of the QLQ-C30 and QLQ-MY20 instruments were univariately tested against EQ-5D values and retained in a multivariate regression model if statistically significant. A 10-fold cross-validation model selection method was also used as an alternative testing means. Two models were developed: one based on QLQ-C30 plus QLQ-MY20 scores and one based on QLQ-C30 scores alone. Adjusted R-squared, correlation coefficients, and plots of observed versus predicted EQ-5D values were presented for both models., Results: Mapping revealed that Global Health Status/QoL, Physical Functioning, Pain, and Insomnia were significant predictors of EQ-5D utility values. Similar results were observed when QLQ-MY20 scores were excluded from the model, except that Emotional Functioning and became a significant predictor and Insomnia was no longer a significant predictor. Adjusted R-squared values were of similar magnitude with or without inclusion of QLQ-MY20 scores (0.70 and 0.69, respectively), suggesting that the EORTC QLQ-MY20 adds little in terms of predicting utility values in multiple myeloma., Conclusions: This algorithm successfully mapped EORTC HRQoL data onto EQ-5D utility in patients with multiple myeloma. Current mapping will aid in the analysis of cost-effectiveness of novel therapies for this indication.