No More Foreigners? The Remaking of German Naturalization and Citizenship Law, 1990–2000

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Germany has been taking controversial policy measures that had been quite unimaginable, even in the 1980s. On the one hand, regulations for asylum seekers and ethnic Germans have gradually become restrictive in nature. On the other hand, changes to the Citizenship and Nationality Law of 1913 (Reichs und Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz) and the Alien Act of 1965 (Ausländergesetz) have dramatically altered the naturalization process. Before the passage of the new German citizenship law in 1999, the acquisition of citizenship in Germany was solely based on the principle of descent (jus sanguinis). This paper attempts to explain why German government altered its citizenship policy and introduced birthright citizenship. It reviews the post-war contextual factors that have shaped the debate on citizenship and asks whether it is external or internal factors, that is international-level norms and institutions or domestic politics, that led to the change. If domestic politics can fully explain the adoption of the new citizenship law, what domestic forces played an important role? Was state action taken in the name of protecting “the national interest” or was it party politics? What role did societal forces play in the making of new citizenship policy? Did the act seek to mitigate anti-foreigner sentiment growing in Germany since the 1990s? Using archival and documentary research and secondary data on socio-economic and demographic trends in Germany, this paper concludes that domestic politics explain the changes in the citizenship law. I argue that granting and withholding national citizenship, including birthright citizenship, is exclusively in the hands of a nation state. Considering a purely ethnocultural understanding of nation-hood now includes legal and territorial components, the new German citizenship law is a major reform at the both theoretical and conceptual level. However, the practical consequences of the new naturalization process remain to be seen. The main question for the future research agenda is whether the new naturalization and citizenship laws will bring full integration of foreigners living in German society.     

Observing the Temperature Dependent Transition of the GP2 Peptide Using Terahertz Spectroscopy

The GP2 peptide is derived from the Human Epidermal growth factor Receptor 2 (HER2/nue), a marker protein for breast cancer present in saliva. In this paper we study the temperature dependent behavior of hydrated GP2 at terahertz frequencies and find that the peptide undergoes a dynamic transition between 200 and 220 K. By fitting suitable molecular models to the frequency response we determine the molecular processes involved above and below the transition temperature (T _D). In particular, we show that below T _D the dynamic transition is dominated by a simple harmonic vibration with a slow and temperature dependent relaxation time constant and that above T _D, the dynamic behavior is governed by two oscillators, one of which has a fast and temperature independent relaxation time constant and the other of which is a heavily damped oscillator with a slow and temperature dependent time constant. Furthermore a red shifting of the characteristic frequency of the damped oscillator was observed, confirming the presence of a non-harmonic vibration potential. Our measurements and modeling of GP2 highlight the unique capabilities of THz spectroscopy for protein characterization.     

Design of liposome to improve encapsulation efficiency of gelonin and its effect on immunoreactivity and ribosome inactivating property

Gelonin, purified from the seeds of Gelonium multiflorum, using cation-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography was characterised for its purity, homogeneity and molecular weight by reverse-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC) and SDS-PAGE analysis. The HPLC purified gelonin was used for entrapment studies in the liposomes. Liposomes were prepared by reverse phase evaporation (REV) technique using three different types of lipid composition in the same molar ratio. The method resulted in 75–80% entrapment efficiency of gelonin in the liposomes. Entrapped and unentrapped gelonin was characterized for physico-chemical, immunochemical and biological properties. The immunoreactivity of entrapped gelonin was fully preserved but the ribosome-inactivating property was slightly inhibited. The method involved mild conditions, highly reproducible and the liposomes produced appeared to be stable for several months. It has important implications in the development of cell type specific cytotoxic agents where a chemical cross-linking is involved which significantly inhibits both immunoreactivity and ribosome-inactivating ability of the toxin.     

The appearance of an enzyme activity catalysing the conversion of norsolorinic acid to averantin in Aspergillus parasiticus cultures

The activity of the enzyme responsible for the conversion of norsolorinic acid to averantin was studied in two strains of Aspergillus parasiticus. Cell-free extracts of the enzyme were purified from different aged mycelia and little activity was found prior to 24 hours after inoculation but this quickly reached a maximum at 48 hours and declined thereafter. Both strains of A. parasiticus, one in aflatoxin producing strain, the other a versicolorin A accumulating mutant, showed this trend. It was concluded that the enzyme responsible for this conversion was a secondary metabolic enzyme and was distinct from alcohol and mannitol dehydrogenases.     

Senescence of attached leaves: Regulation by developing pods

Analysis of total nitrogen, chlorophyll content, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase activity and net photosynthesis rate was carried out on the leaves that support the developing pods in pigeon pea [ Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. cv. Prabhat] at several stages during pod filling. A continuous loss in all the above-mentioned parameters was observed during the course of pod development. When no pods were allowed to develop by continuous flower removal treatment, there was a considerable delay in loss of all these metabolic parameters. Excision of pods after their mid-development resulted not only in no further loss, but also in a significant recovery both of total nitrogen and of other investigated characteristics.     

Analysis of sister chromatid exchanges in lymphocytes cultured from 71 healthy men

Sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) were analyzed in peripheral blood lymphocytes from a select group of 71 healthy men, 56 nonsmokers and 15 cigarette smokers. In addition to estimating baseline SCE, data were examined to seek relationships of SCE frequencies to age and smoking. The baseline value of 7.53 SCE per cell from the 56 nonsmokers was within the range (5.60 to 9.10 SCE/cell) reported for other human populations. No relationship was found between the mean SCE frequency per cell and age. However, a significant increase in the SCE mean value was observed in smokers as compared to nonsmokers. The results of this study are compared with those of other reports on SCE effects of age and smoking.Abbreviations BUdR 5-bromo,2-deoxyuridine - SCE sister chromatid exchange     

Structural insights into thermostable direct hemolysin of Vibrio parahaemolyticus using single-particle cryo-EM

Thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH) is a ~19 kDa, hemolytic pore-forming toxin from the gram-negative marine bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus, one of the causative agents of seafood-borne acute gastroenteritis and septicemia. Previous studies have established that TDH exists as a tetrameric assembly in physiological state; however, there is limited knowledge regarding the molecular arrangement of its disordered N-terminal region (NTR)—the absence of which has been shown to compromise TDH's hemolytic and cytotoxic abilities. In our current study, we have employed single-particle cryo-electron microscopy to resolve the solution-state structures of wild-type TDH and a TDH construct with deletion of the NTR (NTD), in order to investigate structural aspects of NTR on the overall tetrameric architecture. We observed that both TDH and NTD electron density maps, resolved at global resolutions of 4.5 and 4.2 Å, respectively, showed good correlation in their respective oligomeric architecture. Additionally, we were able to locate extra densities near the pore opening of TDH which might correspond to the disordered NTR. Surprisingly, under cryogenic conditions, we were also able to observe novel supramolecular assemblies of TDH tetramers, which we were able to resolve to 4.3 Å. We further investigated the tetrameric and inter-tetrameric interaction interfaces to elaborate upon the key residues involved in both TDH tetramers and TDH super assemblies. Our current structural study will aid in understanding the mechanistic aspects of this pore-forming toxin and the role of its disordered NTR in membrane interaction.     

Cystinotic and normal fibroblasts: Differential susceptibility to cysteine toxicity in vitro

Summary Extracellular cysteine concentrations between 0.5 and 2.5 mM resulted in death of normal but not cystinotic cells grown in Eagle's minimal essential medium containing supplemental fetal bovine serum and antibiotics. Differential cell survival was determined by viable cell counting using Trypan Blue dye exclusion. In cocultivation experiments of [³H]thymidine-labelled cystinotic fibroblasts with nonradioactive normal fibroblasts, autoradiography confirmed the selective survival of cystinotic cells in medium containing 1 mM cysteine. At this concentration of 1 mM cysteine, intracellular cystine content increased slightly in surviving normal cells but not in cystinotic cells, which normally contain a high level of intracellular cystine. This comparative resistance of cystinotic fibroblasts to elevated extracellular cysteine concentrations forms the basis for an in vitro selective system for these mutant human cells. Further exploration of this resistance phenomenon may well expand the understanding of the molecular defect in cystinotic cells.