Journal articles on the topic 'Munich. Residenz'

James E. Young, At Memory’s Edge: After Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000)Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, Munich and Memory: Architecture, Monuments, and the Legacy of the Third Reich (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000)

ABSTRACTChange of residence from a private household to a residential care facility, implying the relinquishing of household activities, is as critical a life event for older women as retirement from employment outside the home is for older men. This transition terminates many of the activities that had structured the older women's lives for decades, and implies modification of patterns of lifestyle. Based on interviews with female residents of residential care facilities in the Munich area, a close relative who had observed the transition and an employee at the facility, the impacts of the move on dimensions/aspects of lifestyle were analysed, as well as the success with which adaptation to the new setting was made. The positive relationship posited by the continuity hypothesis between continuity in lifestyle and contentment with life situation were generally upheld, although the compensation for a dimension of lifestyle disrupted by the transition by another dimension often occurred.

At the height of World War II, General Wfadyslaw Sikorski visited Dr. Edvard Beneš at his London residence. The Polish prime minister warned the Czechoslovak president that if the Red Army were to occupy central Europe it would impose communist governments there. Beneš conceded that this was so but he added that there was nothing they could do about it. Sikorski continued pressing Beneš: "Why are you so friendly with the Soviets?" he demanded. He then invited the president to harmonize his foreign policy with that of the democracies. Beneš replied that he was unable to share Sikorski's confidence in the west for the simple reason that he had experienced the horror of Munich. "What partitions of Poland mean for the Poles, that is what Munich is for us," said Beneš forcefully.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the actual walking distance to public transport (PuT) stations and to report passenger perceptions on route choice. Design/methodology/approach A systematic case study has been conducted after administrating a tailor-made paper-based intercept survey in a German city (Munich). It can determine the interrelation between the accessibility of the transit service and evaluation on walking distance acceptance. Statistical analysis and geo-spatial approach were completed for obtaining major findings. Findings Statistical and geo-spatial analysis shows that respondents living in low-density areas walk longer than residents living in nearby inner city areas. In terms of PuT modes, residents walk longer for suburban train and subway/metro (U-Bahn) than for bus/tram services. Transit users accept a longer walking distance to reach a train station than other PuT modes and they choose the most direct and quickest route to reach PuT stations. Research limitations/implications Findings of this study would help to formulate future strategies and standards for the sustainable planning of public transportation systems in the context of Munich and many other cities around the globe with similar conditions. However, future research should be conducted using a large-scale survey for evaluating the comprehensive picture of walking patterns to PuT stations. Accessibility to PuT stations can also be modeled and evaluated by adopting open data and voluntary social media information. Unfortunately, this study only presents a partial evaluation of walking focused on accessibility at selected PuT stations in different settings of the urban fabric. Social implications This empirical study can be considered as an initial finding in the favor of the city transport authority to provide a design scale for improved accessibility of transit users; however, further investigation should be conducted using a large-scale survey for evaluating the comprehensive walking patterns. Originality/value A systematic case study has been conducted after administrating a tailor-made paper-based intercept survey in a German city (Munich). Findings of this study would help to formulate future strategies and standard for the sustainable planning of the public transportation system in the context of Munich and many other cities in the globe with similar conditions.

Air pollution while exercising is a health threat to urban residents. The study’s purpose is to conduct a health benefit assessment for running against the background of the Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 concentration, taking the Munich Olympic Park as a case. The health benefit assessment was done under the assumption that people exercise at different PM2.5 concentrations and with varying duration and intensity. PM2.5 concentrations in and around the Olympic Park area were measured on 25 rain-free days from July until November 2019, using DC1700 (Dylos). The results show that, for the example of a 60-min run at a moderate intensity (60% VO2max), the PM2.5 concentration at which running no longer leads to additional health benefits amounts to 55 μg/m3 (tipping point). Harms outweigh health benefits at 95 μg/m3 (break-even point). The average PM2.5 concentration during the runs to and inside the Olympic Park was above the tipping point on one day, but did not reach the break-even point on any of the days. The average concentration across all days did not reach the tipping or break-even points for any running duration. The Munich Olympic Park provides a potentially health-enhancing space to residents from the perspective of PM2.5-related air pollution.

Whereas in some cities ropeways already belong to the transit system, in Germany they are better known from skiing in the alps or as tourist attractions that were implemented in relation to expositions as in Koblenz or Berlin. Nonetheless, a ropeway system has several advantages, which make it an interesting alternative in urban public transportation. In this paper, we investigate the varying attitude of residents and commuters towards a ropeway system and its potential on a route in the north of Munich. To get an impression of their opinion, we conducted an online survey focusing on route choice depending on transit mode and travel times. In general, the respondents had a positive attitude towards this novel option and rate it with similar attractiveness to subway. To investigate the demand for the ropeway, the results of the survey were used to add a new transportation mode in the VISUM model for transit in Munich.

The rat model for a vascularized laryngeal allograft is duplicated with significant technical modifications. We report the addition of unilateral host-to-allograft recurrent laryngeal nerve anastomosis to this model. Long-term survival experiments determine the feasibility of reinnervation studies of the allograft larynx with this new model. A total of 59 transplants have been performed on histocompatible Munich Wistar rats, 36 with attempted unilateral allograft reinnervation. Because of the initially high operative mortality rates, additions and modifications of the original technique resulting in reproducibly enhanced survival are detailed. Factors critical to the functional study of this model with regard to reinnervation are elucidated. Preliminary data on allograft reinnervation are reported as confirmed by videodocumentation of vocal fold mobility, evoked and spontaneous electromyography, and glycogen-depletion Studies.

Neste estudo procurou-se levantar os perfis sociodemográficos registrados nas ocorrências e tentativas de suic�dio ocorridas nos munic�pios de Anastácio e Aquidauana, Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul no per�odo de 2007 a 2016. Nesse sentido foram utilizadas as fontes do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estat�stica (IBGE), para coleta dos dados censitários sobre a população residente; Departamento de Informática do SUS (DATASUS), para coleta de dados de suic�dio nacional e estadual; Unidade Regional de Per�cia e Identificação – URPI / Pol�cia Civil, para o levantamento das ocorrências de suic�dios de Aquidauana e Anastácio; Vigilâncias Epidemiológicas do Munic�pio de Aquidauana e do Munic�pio de Anastácio, para coleta de dados sobre as tentativas de suic�dio; 1º Subgrupamento de Bombeiro Militar de Aquidauana, para coleta de dados sobre as tentativas de suic�dio de Aquidauana e Anastácio. Constatou-se a existência de subnotificação e a falta de padronização nos registros de tentativas de suic�dio. Em relação às ocorrências conclui-se que as crianças e adolescentes utilizam-se do enforcamento como principal método de tirar a própria vida. Palavras-chave: Perfil Sociodemográfico - Suic�dio – Prevenção.

IntroductionDepression is common in nursing home residents, but is still underrecognized. Screening for depression could be a first step to increase recognition rates within this high-risk group.ObjectivesTherefore, we investigated the validity of the WHO (Five) Well-Being Index (WHO-5) for early detection of depression in nursing home residents.MethodsThe Structural Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) was used as the gold standard for the validation of the WHO-5. The diagnoses covered in this assessment were both current major depression (MD) as well as minor depression (MinD) according to DSM-IV research criteria.ResultsIn our sample of 92 nursing home residents in Munich aged 65–97 years, (73.9% female, 26.1% male) 14.1% fulfilled the criteria of MinD, and again 14.1% fulfilled the criteria of MD in the SCID. Overall diagnostic validity (area under the ROC curve) of the WHO-5 was 90.1% (95% confidence interval: 83.5%–96.7%). The World Health Organization's recommended cut-off-point of 13 yielded a sensitivity of 92.3% for the category of ‘MinD or MD’, and a specificity of 74.2%. Corresponding values for an adapted cut-off point of 12 are 92.3% and 78.7%, respectively.ConclusionsThe diagnostic accuracy of the WHO-5 in our study is promising. The WHO-5 might be an efficient screening tool for nursing home residents, especially with the adapted cut-off point, but results have to be replicated in a larger sample.

The constructivist turn in the study of world politics provides new impetus to studies of the political deliberations of human agents. The co-constitution of agents and structures implies the non-acceptability of accounts that fail to consider the interpretations human agents provide to structural conditions. But neither can we accept the reverse. Studies of the interpretations of political agents should adequately account for the structural constraints on those interpretations. This paper illustrates how easily agency studies can underestimate structural constraints by reference to a most serious and scholarly account of agency in the Vietnam War commitment decisions, Yuen Foong Khong's Analogies at War: Korea, Munich Dien Bien Phu and the Vietnam Decisions of 1965. The argumentative burden resides with those who offer accounts that hold or imply that agents acted from non-structural motives.

Travelers strolling through Stuttgart's Old Town who pause before Württemberg's royal residence can hardly fail to notice the Victory Column. Thirty meters high, it towers over the square and proclaims Crown Prince Wilhelm's victories against the armies of Napoleon in 1814. Erected in 1841, the Victory Column marked the Silver Jubilee of Wilhelm's reign, by that time a much-loved regent. Eight years earlier, at the twentieth anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig, the Bavarian king Ludwig I dedicated a memorial to the dead of the Russian Campaign. Evidently cast from the metal of French cannons, the massive obelisk dominates a crossroads in Munich—roads named after victorious battles fought during the Wars of Liberation. With their military campaigns engraved in stone, the two monarchies, Württemberg and Bavaria, demonstrated their zealous opposition to the French Emperor.

AbstractThe Grottenhof is a small garden surrounded by painted loggias in the Munich Residence, a palace that served as the seat of the Wittelsbach Dukes of Bavaria beginning in the sixteenth century. Completed between 1582 and 1589, the garden contains an elaborate grottoed fountain, sculpture, and paintings based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The pictorial program of the painted loggias combines images of mythological ardor with illusionistic interlopers from everyday court life who make punning references to the pursuit of love. The sources for the garden can be found in Italian and French prototypes, yet the program of decorations creates a variety of associations that were unique to the patron, Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria. The material and subject matter also reflect contemporary theories about art, nature, and the ordering of knowledge that informed the earliest cabinets of curiosities, where collections of art and natural objects were brought together in the so-called Kunstkammer. The garden was meant to engage all of the senses in a sanctuary that stimulated sensual thoughts while provoking broader contemplation about creativity and art.

Abstract Background: The human genome is very heterogeneous on the individual level which challenges interpretation of whole genome sequencing (WGS) data. In order to reduce complexity in tumor genetics WGS of a tumor is performed together with WGS of "normal" tissue from the respective patient (i.e. fingernails, skin biopsy, hair, buccal swaps) which is used as the germline sequence (tumor/matched normal approach, TMNA). This approach allows the extraction of somatic mutations acquired in the tumor through sophisticated algorithms. In routine diagnostics, especially in hematological neoplasms, "normal" tissue representing the germline sequence is usually not available, which prohibits the standard use of somatic tumor/normal variant calling tools. Aims: On the road to implement WGS into routine diagnostics we tested a TMNA in comparison to a tumor/unmatched normal approach (TUNA), where pooled genomic DNA (Promega, Fitchburg, WI) was used instead of a matched normal. Cohorts and Methods: 9 samples from patients with hematological neoplasms (7 AML, 2 ALL) were sequenced at diagnosis on Illumina HiSeqX machines (Illumina, San Diego, CA), along with complete remission samples to serve as matched normals for the TMNA. For comparison, a mixture of genomic DNA from multiple anonymous donors was used as "normal" for the TUNA. Read mapping and somatic variant calling was performed using the tools Isaac3 and Strelka2, respectively. Statistical differences between groups were assessed by two-sided Mann-Whitney tests. Results: The TMNA produced a median of 17,700 somatic variant calls, while the TUNA produced 419,000. This 24-fold disparity is mainly due to residual germline variants missed by the TUNA. A large fraction of TMNA variants (57%) was located in regions of known low confidence variant calling (as defined by the Genome in a Bottle Consortium) and likely contain mostly artifacts. After removing these regions from analysis a median of 7,700 and 331,000 variants remained in the TMNA and TUNA datasets, respectively. In order to eliminate germline variants, the gnomAD population database was queried and any present variants were discarded. As expected, this removed over 95% of all variants from the TUNA dataset, but also 41% from the TMNA dataset. The latter might be attributed to common germline variants falsely being called as somatic by the TMNA and/or somatic mutations occurring at polymorphic sites. After this filtering step a median of 3,770 and 15,500 variants remained in the TMNA and TUNA datasets, respectively. This 4-fold disparity in variant number is most likely caused by rare germline variation remaining in the TUNA dataset. Of the remaining TMNA variants only 65% could be found within the larger TUNA dataset. A major factor governing this observation was variant allele frequency (VAF). Variants that overlapped between both datasets had on average higher VAFs than those unique to the TMNA (p < 2.2x10-16). Further inspection of the VAF distribution among samples revealed a bimodal or nearly bimodal distribution for all samples. All distributions shared a sharp peak centered on a VAF of 10%, which was unexpected given the estimated tumor fractions of the samples predict VAFs of 25% and higher. Variants in this lower part of the distribution (arbitrarily defined as VAFs < 20%) constitute on average 50% of all variants in a TMNA sample, with extremes reaching 95% in 2 samples. These low frequency variants show distinctly lower mapping qualities than variants with VAFs ≥ 20% (p < 2.2x10-16), i.e. they reside in regions of elevated mapping ambiguity which potentially leads to the creation of artefacts. Analyzing the overlap of only the higher VAF variants we find that 97.4% of all TMNA variants can also be found in the TUNA dataset. Conclusions: Comparing tumor samples to matched normal material from the respective patient is the preferred approach for somatic variant calling in WGS data, however even with modern algorithms false positives due to technical artifacts seem to be highly abundant. A deeper understanding of the nature of these artifacts is crucial for developing appropriate filtering schemes and improving variant calling algorithms. In the absence of a matched normal using a TUNA can uncover the vast majority (97.4%) of high-quality variants found in a TMNA, however distinguishing true somatic variants from residual rare germline variation in a TUNA remains a major challenge. Disclosures Hutter: MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Employment. Nadarajah:MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Employment. Meggendorfer:MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Employment. Kern:MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Employment, Equity Ownership. Haferlach:MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Employment, Equity Ownership. Haferlach:MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Employment, Equity Ownership.

The publications to date have characterized Henryk Bekker (1886-1942) as a political and self-government activist and President of the Council of the Jewish Religious Community. None of them has yet discussed his activities in the field of construction and architecture. He was born in Białystok as Chaim Beker, presumably in a family of assimilated Jews who often “Polonized” their first and last names. It is probably for that reason that in the later years of his life he was known as Henryk Bekker. From 1906 he studied in Munich at the Königlich Bayerische Technische Hochschule, where he received a degree of Construction Engineer in 1911. Little is known about his life during the next dozen or so years except that he married a Lublin resident Helena Zynger and stayed with her in eastern Ukraine, where their daughter Irena was born in 1918. Somewhere at the beginning of 1922 the Bekker family came to Lublin and took up their residence at Bernardyńska St. no. 24/3. In Lublin H. Bekker worked as a freelance construction engineer. The current state of research makes it possible to connect his architectural and construction work with 27 construction designs, mostly commissioned by Jewish investors. They comprise buildings of different status, size and architectural value. He executed the projects in Lublin and the Lublin region: these included large tenement houses and tenement annexes, schools, ritual bathhouses, shops, craftsmen’s workshops, small industrial plants and waterworks/sewage installations. Among the buildings distinguished by both the size scale and the architectural level, we should mention the constructions in Lublin, including two buildings built for the Jewish Cooperative Housing Association “Spółdom” (at Probostwo St. no. 19 and Wieniawska St. no. 6), tenement houses at Okopowa St. no. 10, Krótka St. no. 4 and Ogrodowa St. no. 19 and the Perec House. Those buildings were associated with the trend of modernism. Their architecture was characterized by simplified building bodies, functional interior solutions, and reduction of decorative detail. Although none of them displayed any special avant-garde forms or avant-garde technical solutions, they all contributed to the modernization of the architecture of interwar Lublin.

The ‘Venetian’ composer Agostino Steffani and the Modenese diplomat Giuseppe Riva became acquainted at Hanover in 1719. Steffani had first resided there between 1688 and 1703, when he served the Hanoverian Duke Ernst August and his son Georg Ludwig as a musician and special envoy (he went to Vienna, for example, to negotiate the elevation of Hanover to an electorate, a distinction approved by the emperor in 1692). He had been ordained a Catholic priest at Munich in 1680, received a sinecure appointment as an abbot in 1683 and been made an apostolic prothonotary by 1695. His diplomatic and evangelical achievements on behalf of the church were recognized in 1706, when he was named Bishop of Spiga, and 1709, when he was appointed Apostolic Vicar of North Germany. His home in 1703–9 was in Düsseldorf, where he served as chief councillor to Johann Wilhelm, the Catholic Elector Palatine, but in November 1709 he returned to Hanover, a Lutheran city in Lower Saxony nearer the centre of his extensive vicariate.

AbstractThe present study aimed at testing psychometric properties of the Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM) and validating it with mid sleep on free days (MSF) derived from the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) in Poland, along with analyzing age and sex differences in the CSM and MSF. A sample of 952 Polish residents (62.6% females) aged between 13 and 46 was tested. Additionally, a sample of 33 university students were given MCTQ and filled in a sleep diary for 8 days. MSF derived from MCTQ was related to the one from sleep diary (r = .44). The study revealed good reliability of the CSM (α = .84) and its validity: greater morningness preference was associated with earlier MSF from MCTQ (r = –.52). CSM scores were distributed over its full range, with a mean of 34, and did not differ between sexes, although females were earlier than males by 23 minutes in MSF. Regarding age, eveningness estimated with both CSM and MSF was greatest in subjects aged 16–18 years, and a shift toward eveningness during puberty and a shift back toward morningness in older age was observed. The Polish version of the CSM consisted of two components of morningness. Cutoff scores were: for evening types (lower 10%) 24 or less, for morning types (upper 10%) 43 or more. The Polish CSM presents good psychometric properties, which are similar to those reported in other language versions, and also presents sex/age patterns similar to those found previously.

Increasing evidence suggests adults living in greener areas tend to have more favourable sleep-related outcomes, but children and adolescents are under-researched. We hypothesised that children and adolescents living in greener areas would have better quality and more sufficient levels of sleep on average, especially within the context of high traffic noise exposure. These hypotheses were tested using multilevel logistic regressions fitted on samples from the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (10–11 years old, n = 3469, and 14–15 years old, n = 2814) and the GINIplus and LISA cohorts (10 years old, n = 1461, and 15 years old, n = 4172) from the Munich, Wesel, and Leipzig areas of Germany. Questionnaire-based binary indicators of sleep sufficiency and sleep quality in each cohort were assessed with respect to objectively measured green space exposures adjusting for age, sex, and maternal education. Models were augmented with proxy measures of traffic noise and two-way interaction terms to test for effect modification. Cross-tabulations illustrated little convincing evidence of association between green space and insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality in either sample, except for insufficient sleep among 10 year old participants in Germany. These null findings were replicated in adjusted models. The proxy for traffic noise was associated with poor quality sleep in 15 year old participants in Germany, but no convincing evidence of modified association with green space was observed.

Radio-frequency electromagnetic radiations (RF-EMRs) are ubiquitous at present. Therefore, it is essential to assess the impact of RF-EMRs on human health. In this study, we examined the non-thermal effects of RF-EMR expo-sure on behavioral sleep patterns in humans. A total of 1072 randomly se-lected individuals living in the proximity of base transceiver stations (BTS) participated in the study. The sample consisted of 122 subjects from zone A (Inter-tower region), 310 from zone B (0-150 m), 316 from zone C (150-300 m), 197 from zone D (300-500 m), and 127 from the control zone (without BTS installations). We classified the zones as a function of distance from the BTS. We measured electric-field strength at each participant’s house using Narda Broadband Field Meter-550 equipped with EF0-391 probe. We used Munich-Chronotype Questionnaire to determine each subject’s behavioral sleep patterns. ANOVA results revealed the highest E-field strength in zone-A than the other zones and control. Results from ANCOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney U tests showed that the participants from zone A had shorter sleep duration, and longer sleep latency and inertia than those living in other zones. Further, a significant effect of co-factors ‘gender’ and ‘year of resi-dence’ was validated on mid-sleep (work and free days). Compared to wom-en and > 5-year residents, men and 1-5-year residents had delayed mid-sleep. We concluded that RF-EMR might alter the behavioral sleep patterns of subjects living in the vicinity of BTS. However, further confirmatory and extensive studies are necessary, involving a large sample living near many more BTS installations.

To analyze the association between prostate cancer (PCa) risk and night shift work, chronotype, and sleep duration in the context of a population-based case-control study of incident prostate cancer in Spain, a total of 465 PCa cases and 410 controls were analyzed. Selection criteria were: (i) age 40–80 years, and (ii) residence in the coverage area of the reference hospitals for ≥6 months before recruitment. Exposure variables were: (i) night shift work (permanent or rotating); (ii) chronotype: morning, neither, or evening (Munich ChronoType Questionnaire) and (iii) sleep duration according to the recommendations of the American National Sleep Foundation. PCa aggressiveness was determined according to the International Society of Urology Pathology classification. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated using logistic regression models. Night shift work was associated with PCa, aOR = 1.47 (95% CI 1.02–2.11), especially for rotating night shifts, aOR = 1.73 (95% CI 1.09–2.75). The magnitude of the association between ever night work and PCa was higher in evening subjects with aOR = 3.14 (95% CI 0.91–10.76) than in morning chronotypes with an aOR = 1.25 (95% CI 0.78–2.00). Working night shifts, especially rotating night shifts, could increase PCa risk. This risk may be higher in people with an evening chronotype.

The conservation of pollinators requires social understanding to catalyse restoration action. Citizen science (CS) is discussed as a way to promote interest and action for pollinating insects. Yet, the drivers behind pro-pollinator behaviour are largely unclear, especially in urban areas. To better understand public engagement in pollinator conservation, we studied urban community gardeners’ identity, nature-relatedness, emotions, and attitudes toward pollinators and their intentions to get involved in pro-pollinator behaviour in their gardening practice. We surveyed community gardeners in Berlin and Munich, Germany, some of which were participating in a citizen science project. In this scientific study, we created four different sets of generalized linear models to analyse how the gardeners’ pro-pollinator behaviour intentions and behaviour were explained by socio-psychological factors. The responses of 111 gardeners revealed that gardeners that were fascinated by pollinators, held positive attitudes and felt joy about seeing pollinators reported intentions to protect or support pollinators, suggesting that fascination and joy can be harnessed for research and conservation on pollinators. Similarly, joy about seeing pollinators predicted participation in the CS project. We believe that CS may represent a pathway through which urban residents may become key actors in conservation projects within their nearby greenspaces.

AbstractUrbanization is increasingly compromising residents’ connection to natural habitats and landscapes. With established relationships between human–nature connection (HNC) and pro-environmental behaviour and human well being, there are calls for effective interventions to strengthen HNC in urban settings. However, much of this research has operationalised HNC in narrow psychological terms. Based on an embodied framework of urban human–food connection (HFC) as a specific dimension of HNC, this article explores the role of active urban gardening in promoting different types of internal and external HFC and their link with pro-environmental food behaviour (PEFB). Based on a quantitative survey in Germany addressing vegetable gardeners in Munich (N = 254), a principal component analysis extracted four components of HFC comprising external body-related HFC (i.e. immediate urban garden-body activities: food harvesting and experiential food interaction) and internal mind-related HFC (i.e. immediate urban garden-mind activities including food discovery as well as food consciousness). These were found to be statistically related to one another. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed that food consciousness through concerns on food consumption and environmental impacts as well as food as part of life attitude as an internal HFC is the sole predictor of PEFB. The study suggests an embodied HFC model emphasizing the need for local body- and mind-based nature connections for fostering earth stewardship. Future research should explore the relationship between inner dimensions of nature connectedness and external behavioural change to enable transformations towards sustainability.

The article is based on the author’s processing of the archives of Ukrainian emigration during his research internship in Great Britain. His task was to find out and clarify the means and ways used by the Ukrainian diaspora in its struggle against Moscow’s information and propaganda offensive against the Western community’s positive resolution of the “Ukrainian question” after World War II.That was the time when the Russian governmental machine intensified its counter-propaganda work in the Western direction. Under those conditions, the world continued to perceive Ukrainians as part of the “great Soviet people” who unanimously built communism, and Ukraine itself as only a formal state declaratively writing its name in UN documents as a country with a significant contribution to the victory over fascism.Under the conditions of statelessness, Ukrainian public institutions abroad replaced state embassies and official representations and took on the responsible task to constantly plant the Ukrainian information field.The Ukrainian diaspora used the following means in its struggle against Moscow’s information and propaganda offensive against the Western community’s positive solution of the “Ukrainian question”.In particular, it was a matter of checking the presence of materials on Ukrainian studies in the main libraries of the countries where Ukrainian emigrants lived compactly. Foreign authors’ interpretation of mentions was said about Ukraine and Ukrainians in those few texts was analyzed.Representatives of Ukrainian public organizations established personal contacts with directors of libraries in cities with a compact residence of Ukrainians. The goal was to create Ukrainian book and press departments there. In 1948, a centralized network was established in Munich to provide major foreign libraries with Ukrainian publications.The successful breakthrough of the Moscow information blockade on the issue of the Holodomor of 1933 happened due to publication of a series of English-language brochures on this issue at the expense of the Ukrainian Youth Association abroad.

In the era of the Schengen Area (at least in the days before Covid-19), travel from Munich to Bozen/Bolzano or Ljubljana to Trst/Trieste is a decidedly unremarkable, albeit beautiful, adventure. Just as meaningful as the lack of border controls, travellers find all public signage in both Italian and German (and sometimes Ladin, too) upon arrival in Bozen/Bolzano. Signs in the streets of Trst/Trieste less reliably have Slovene alongside the Italian, but assistance with translation can be found with little difficulty. The Italian autonomous regions ‘with special statutes’ in which these cities reside – Trentino-Alto Adige (South Tyrol) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (the Julian March) – are multilingual territories that, at least on an official level, embrace a multiethnic heritage and reality. In fact, Trentino-Alto Adige's consociational democracy is widely regarded among political scientists as an international role model for how states can successfully protect and give voice to minority populations. Those unfamiliar with the more recent history of these regions might be surprised to learn of these avowedly multiethnic political and cultural structures. For much of the first half of the twentieth century, the regions’ two states – Austria-Hungary until 1919 and thereafter Italy – employed the ‘nationality principle’ to define policies and populations in these territories. As in most of Europe at the time, sovereignty was increasingly predicated on the contemporary ideal of the nation state, in which borders, ethnicity, language and citizenship were all bound together. Of course, as a multiethnic empire, Austria-Hungary was much more concerned about centralising state authority (and then fighting a world war) than national homogeneity, while Italy's nationalisation campaign in the interwar period became fundamental to its presence in the new provinces. Still, both states sought to classify and ultimately to control their border populations by privileging ethnolinguistic categories of citizenship.

Abstract Introduction Chemical compounds and other pollutants found in the environment have a well-documented, adverse effect on the life and health of individuals. Those who are most vulnerable to toxic effects include prospective parents, pregnant women, foetuses, and young children. In Poland, both the prevention and early detection of developmental abnormalities is insufficient. The objective of the study was to analyse how the pre- and postnatal development of a child is affected by toxicants the mother has been exposed to. Materials and methods The study was conducted in the form of a diagnostic survey. The degree of toxic exposure was assessed based on Wawrzynów’s questionnaire, the Mothers’ Toxic Exposure Assessment Questionnaire’ (Kwestionariusz Oceny Narażenia Matek Dzieci na Toksyny – KONT-15). The evaluation of child development was based on the following psychometric tools: the Munich Functional Developmental Diagnostics (MFDD), the Speech (MM-speech) and Reflex (MM-reflexes) Development Questionnaire, IRMIK (Inwentarz Rozwoju Mowy i Komunikacji) – the Polish adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventories (CDI), and the Child Development (RD-18) questionnaire, also designed by Wawrzynów. Results The study included 102 mothers of children up to 3 years of age. Most of the surveyed mothers indicated large urban agglomerations with more than 100,000 inhabitants as their current place of residence. The study demonstrated that a substantial majority of the mothers had come into contact with toxicants. A statistically significant relationship was demonstrated between developmental delays in children and high exposure to toxins in mothers. There was no statistically significant relationship between maternal exposure to toxins and delays in the development of speech and reflexes. Conclusions Environmental pollutants found primarily in air, food, medication, and everyday items, exert a negative influence on childhood development. A high maternal exposure to toxins contributes to developmental delays in speech and reflexes in children. Delays in speech and communication development were observed more frequently in children who were older. Developmental delays in children were more common among younger children.

The article is devoted to the scientific interests of Ukrainian literary critics by the work of the Ukrainian poet Roman Baboval, against the backdrop of wider studies of the New York Group. Therefore, features of ontological models of creativity of a well-known representative of Ukrainian diaspora poetry are highlighted. The aspect of the genre and style dynamics of the poet’s creative resources is considered. Characterized by the evolution of the work of Roman Baboval against the background of the New York group in different dimensions of the artistic systems that the poet found- ed. It is proposed to provide the creative phenomenon of Roman Baboval, a poet of the second half of the 20th century, an axiomatic aspect in Ukrainian diaspora literature, but against the backdrop of scientific literary rethinking. Roman Babowal – Ukrainian Belgian poet, a member of the New York Group and author of many books of poetry in Ukrainian and French, among them “The Deceit of Milk,” “Letters to Lovers,” and “Travelers of the Probable.” He also compiled and implemented on the Internet “A Virtual Anthology of the Poetry of the New York Group” Roman Babowal died on June 15 in Mintigny-le-Tilleul, Belgium. He is survived by his wife and daughter. The phenomenon of the New York Group com- prises two generations of Ukrainian émigré poets residing, despite the group’s name, on three continents (North America, South America and Europe). New York City, however, has always constituted a seminal point of reference and its name signified an innovative approach to Ukrainian poetry. Yet the significance of New York is not just symbolic. This is indeed the place where in the mid-1950s the group originated, imbuing the postwar Ukrainian literary émigré milieu with the avant-gardist spirit and fresh designs. The poets eagerly experimented with poetic forms, privileging vers libre and meta- phor as well as embraced such fashionable at the time artistic and philosophical trends as surrealism and existentialism. By the early 1960s all seven members of the New York Group (Bohdan Boychuk, Yuriy Tarnawsky, Zhenia Vasyl’kivs’ka, Bohdan Rubchak, Patricia Kylyna, Emma Andijewska and Vira Vovk) published at least one poetry collection; in fact, a majority had by then two or even three books to their credit. In addition, the author focuses on the group’s initial, and most active, period—from the mid-1950s to 1971. There were also latecomers: Yuriy Kolomyiets, Oleh Kowerko, Marco Carynnyk, and Roman Babowal, all of whom joined the NYG in the late 1960s, and Maria Rewakowicz herself, who be- came part of the group during the time of its revival in the mid-1980s; these poets are mentioned only briefly and in pass- ing. At that early stage the poetic output of the group’s members formed a genuine aesthetic alternative to socialist realism, still much prevalent in Ukraine of the 1950s under the communist regime. This informal association of Ukrainian– émigré modernist poets—loosely connected with New York, in spite of the fact that their actual places of residence were sometimes as far as Munich or Rio de Janeiro—was not widely influential at the time that it was active. Today, however, the work of these poets is generally accepted as an important stage in the evolution of Ukrainian modernist literature.

Abstract Bernd Engelmann Vascular Biology and Hemostasis, Inst. of Clinical Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany Following addition of fibrillar collagen to whole blood in order to mimick the starting process of hemostasis, we unexpectedly observed that tissue factor (TF), the central initiator of coagulation, was exposed within 3–5 min in association with CD15 and CD14 positive blood cells. A series of experiments revealed that the TF presentation was restricted to conjugates of neutrophils (and monocytes) with platelets. To verify the source of the TF, isolated neutrophils and platelets were evaluated for the presence of TF. Using a double sandwich Elisa, the washed platelets were found to contain TF. Conversely, TF was undetectable in the neutrophils. When searching for the intraplatelet location of TF by immunoelectron microscopy (IEM), TF was observed to reside in the alpha-granules and in the surface connected system. No TF was present in the cytoplasma and the dense granules. In response to activation, platelet TF was translocated to the cell surface by fusion of the alpha-granules with the plasma membrane. The externalized TF was found to cluster on platelet filopodia. Inspection of rapidly isolated buffy coat preparations confirmed the absence of TF from the neutrophils. Stimulation of TF-dependent factor Xa formation by the activated platelets was markedly amplified by the isolated neutrophils. This required neutrophil-platelet conjugate formation, as evident from inhibition by antibodies targeting PSGL-1 and CD18. To assess whether the TF triggered coagulation was connected to the platelet recruitment, we evaluated the participation of the ADP system. Disrupting the interaction of ADP with its platelet receptors P2Y12 and P2Y1 suppressed the TF activity in the neutrophil-platelet conjugates. Since the TF exposing filopodia represent preferential sites for the formation of microparticles (MP), we isolated the total pool of circulating MP from whole blood, known to be mainly derived from the platelets. Then, the MP were separated by cell sorting. In MP positive for the platelet specific CD42b, TF could be detected and quantified by western blotting and Elisa. Moderate increases in MP number excessively stimulated blood based TF activity in the presence of platelets and in whole blood. Since activated platelets are known to secrete tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), an anti-TFPI antibody targeting the Kunitz-2 domain of TFPI was included into the suspensions of the activated platelets. Thereby the TF activity of the isolated platelets was enforced, while the activity in the presence of the neutrophils remained unaffected, suggesting that TFPI partially masks the functional competence of the platelet TF. The potential contribution of platelet-collagen interactions for the activation of coagulation in vivo was analyzed by injecting collagen into the venous blood of mice. Local fibrin formation was documented in pulmonary vessels by EM, and systemic thrombin generation was revealed by increased thrombin-antithrombin complexes. In mice deficient for the P2Y1 ADP receptor, the thrombin generation was markedly reduced, indicating a basic role for the platelet-triggered coagulation during thrombus growth. In conclusion, the intravascular tissue factor enables the entire coagulation system to proceed on the plasma membrane of a single blood component, the surface of the activated platelets. Consequently the coagulation start can be regulated within the platelet aggregate, allowing fibrin formation to be flexibly adjusted to the size of the thrombus and the duration of its development.

The Debates in the Chamber of Deputies on the Treaties between Bavaria and the North German Confederation still continue without any immediate prospect of their termination.1The King of Bavaria arrived yesterday evening at Munich from His Castle at Hohenschwangau with the intention, I understand, of now permanently taking up His residence in the Capital.

El pintor holandés Eric Bach [Eríurt (Alemania) 1911] ha mostrado durante el año 1991 sus obras como ilustrador en sendas exposiciones celebradas en Córdoba y Madrid. El artista que reside indistintamente en Munich y Barcelona, expuso las ilustraciones que ha realizado para la edición en alemán de Los veinticuatro sonetos amorosos, heroicos y fúnebres de don Luis de Góngora, edición hecha por encargo del Sr. Rüdiger Kampmann de Munich.

SummaryWe investigate at the precinct-level the 2001 stadium referendum for the Allianz-Arena in Munich, where voters had to decide upon a projected site as well as on public subsidies for provision of transport infrastructure. This is the first analysis of a stadium referendum with respect to the spatial dimension outside the U.S. The new arena, which is the home venue of the professional soccer clubs FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München and also was a major venue during the FIFA World Cup 2006 clearly won the approval of a majority of voters in one of the referendums with the largest participation in the history of Munich. However, in proximity of the projected site, residents strongly opposed the project, which reflects in significantly reduced shares of yes-votes. Assuming rationality, we conclude that at city level residents expected an increase in utility from the new arena that justified public expenses. However, our results also point to considerable proximity cost, probably related to the presence of fan crowds and congestion. This finding contradicts the existing evidence on stadium impact from the U.S. There are also major differences in the socio-economic determinants of voting behavior, indicating that the expected net-benefit of proximity to professional sports facilities may vary across sports and countries.

O desenvolvimento urbano brasileiro estimulou um conflito entre sistemas ambientais e sociais, fato que favoreceu as pessoas a construírem suas moradias em áreas sujeitas a enxurradas e inundações bruscas. Este trabalho buscou, usando modelos de regressão logística, analisar os diferenciais na chance dos municípios mineiros serem atingidos por enxurradas ou inundações bruscas entre as seis regiões do Estado de Minas Gerais, definidas pela articulação operacional dos Comandos Operacionais de Bombeiros, do Corpo de Bombeiro Militar de Minas Gerais. Os dados utilizados neste trabalho são provenientes da MUNIC 2013. Observou-se que os municípios mineiros que apresentam maior chance de serem atingidos por enxurradas ou inundações bruscas são os que possuem mais de 20.000 habitantes e os que se encontram na região do 5º COB (Vale do Jequitinhonha/Mucuri e Rio Doce). Faz-se necessário estimular de forma organizada a cultura de prevenção e percepção de risco da população residente nas grandes cidades mineiras, devendo o governo investir principalmente nas fases de prevenção e mitigação, além de considerar a população como um agente ativo de todo esse processo.Palavras-chave: Enxurradas, Inundações Bruscas, Corpo de Bombeiros Militar, Defesa Civil e Modelo logístico.

The pop cultural moment that most typifies the social psychology of invasion for many of us is Orson Welles's 1938 coast to coast CBS radio broadcast of Invaders from Mars, a narration based on H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. News bulletins and scene broadcasts followed Welles's introduction, featuring, in contemporary journalistic style, reports of a "meteor" landing near Princeton, N.J., which "killed" 1500 people, and the discovery that it was in fact a "metal cylinder" containing strange creatures from Mars armed with "death rays" which would reduce all the inhabitants of the earth to space dust. Welles's broadcast caused thousands to believe that Martians were wreaking widespread havoc in New York and Jersey. New York streets were filled with families rushing to open spaces protecting their faces from the "gas raids", clutching sacred possessions and each other. Lines of communication were clogged, massive traffic jams ensued, and people evacuated their homes in a state of abject terror while armouries in neighbouring districts prepared to join in the "battle". Some felt it was a very cruel prank, especially after the recent war scare in Europe that featured constant interruption of regular radio programming. Many of the thousands of questions directed at police in the hours following the broadcast reflected the concerns of the residents of London and Paris during the tense days before the Munich agreement. The media had undergone that strange metamorphosis that occurs when people depend on it for information that affects themselves directly. But it was not a prank. Three separate announcements made during the broadcast stressed its fictional nature. The introduction to the program stated "the Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air in The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells", as did the newspaper listing of the program "Today: 8:00-9:00 -- Play: H.G. Wells's 'War of the Worlds' -- WABC". Welles, rather innocently, wanted to play with the conventions of broadcasting and grant his audience a bit of legitimately unsettling, though obviously fictitious, verisimilitude. There are not too many instances in modern history where we can look objectively at such incredible reactions to media soundbytes. That evening is a prototype for the impact media culture can have on an audience whose minds are prepped for impending disaster. The interruption of scheduled radio invoked in the audience a knee-jerk response that dramatically illustrated the susceptibility of people to the discourse of invasion, as well as the depth of the relationship between the audience and media during tense times. These days, the media itself are often regarded as the invaders. The endless procession of information that grows alongside technology's ability to present it is feared as much as it is loved. In the current climate of information and technological overload, invasion has swum from the depths of our unconscious paranoia and lurks impatiently in the shallows. There is so much invasion and so much to feel invaded about: the war in Kosovo (one of over sixty being fought today) is getting worse with the benevolence and force of the UN dwindling in a cloud of bureaucracy and failed talks, Ethiopia and Eritrea are going at it again, the ideology of the Olympic Games in Sydney has gone from a positive celebration of the millennium to a revenue-generating boys club of back scratchers, Internet smut is still everywhere, and most horrifically, Baywatch came dangerously close to being shot on location on the East Coast of Australia. In this issue of M/C we take a look at literal and allegorical invasions from a variety of cleverly examined aspects of our culture. Firstly, Axel Bruns takes a look a subtle invasion that is occurring on the Web in "Invading the Ivory Tower: Hypertext and the New Dilettante Scholars". He points to the way the Internet's function as a research tool is changing the nature of academic writing due to its interactivity and potential to be manipulated in a way that conventional written material cannot. Axel investigates the web browser's ability to invade the text and the elite world of academic publishing via the format of hypertext itself rather than merely through ideas. Felicity Meakins's article Shooting Baywatch: Resisting Cultural Invasion examines media and community reactions to the threat of having the television series Baywatch shot on Australian beaches. Felicity looks at the cultural cringe that has surrounded the relationship between Australia and America over the years and is manifested by our response to American accents in the media. American cultural imperialism has come to signify a great deal in the dwindling face of Aussie institutions like mateship and egalitarianism. In a similarly driven piece called "A Decolonising Doctor? British SF Invasion Narratives", Nick Caldwell investigates some of the implications of the "Britishness" of the cult television series Doctor Who, where insularity and cultural authority are taken to extremes during the ubiquitous intergalactic invasions. Paul Mc Cormack's article "Screen II: The Invasion of the Attention Snatchers" turns from technologically superior invaders to an invasion by technology itself -- he considers how the television has irreversibly invaded our lives and claimed a dominant place in the domestic sphere. Recently, the (Internet-connected) personal computer has begun a similar invasion: what space will it eventually claim? Sandra Brunet's "Is Sustainable Tourism Really Sustainable? Protecting the Icon in the Commodity at Sites of Invasion" explores the often forgotten Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia. She looks at ways in which the image of the island is constructed by the government and media for eco-tourism and how faithful this representation is to the farmers, fishermen and other inhabitants of the island. Paul Starr's article "Special Effects and the Invasive Camera: Enemy of the State and The Conversation" rounds off the issue with a look at the troubled relationship between cutting-edge special effects in Hollywood action movies and the surveillance technologies that recent movies such as Enemy of the State show as tools in government conspiracies. The depiction of high-tech gadgetry as 'cool' and 'evil' at the same time, he writes, leads to a collapse of meaning. This issue of M/C succeeds in pointing out sites of invasion in unusual places, continuing the journal's tradition of perception in the face of new media culture. I hope you enjoy this second issue of the second volume: 'invasion'. Ben King 'Invasion' Issue Editor Citation reference for this article MLA style: Ben King. "Editorial: 'Invasion'." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.2 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9903/edit.php>. Chicago style: Ben King, "Editorial: 'Invasion'," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 2 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9903/edit.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Ben King. (1999) Editorial: 'invasion'. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(2). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9903/edit.php> ([your date of access]).

The need to sustain and/or create a collective identity is regularly seen as one of the cultural priorities of diasporic peoples and this, in turn, depends upon the existence of a uniquely diasporic form of communication and connection with the country of origin. Today, digital media technologies provide easy information recording and retrieval, and mobile IT networks allow global accessibility and participation in the redefinition of identities. Vis-à-vis our understanding of the proximity and connectivity associated with globalisation, the role of ICTs cannot be underestimated and is clearly more than a simple instrument for the expression of a pre-existing diasporic identity. Indeed, the concept of “e-diaspora” is gaining popularity. Consequently, research into the role of ICTs in the lives of diasporic peoples contributes to a definition of the concept of diaspora, understood here as the result of the dispersal of all members of a nation in several countries. In this context, I will demonstrate how members of the Bulgarian diaspora negotiate not only their identities but also their identifications through one of the most popular community websites, Facebook. My methodology consists of the active observation of Bulgarian users belonging to the diaspora, the participation in groups and forums on Facebook, and the analysis of discourses produced online. This research was conducted for the first time between 1 August 2008 and 31 May 2009 through the largest 20 (of 195) Bulgarian groups on the French version of Facebook and 40 (of over 500) on the English one. It is important to note that the public considered to be predominantly involved in Facebook is a young audience in the age group of 18-35 years. Therefore, this article is focused on two generations of Bulgarian immigrants: mostly recent young and second-generation migrants. The observed users are therefore members of the Bulgarian diaspora who have little or no experience of communism, who don’t feel the weight of the past, and who have grown up as free and often cosmopolitan citizens. Communist hegemony in Bulgaria began on 9 September 1944, when the army and the communist militiamen deposed the country’s government and handed power over to an anti-fascist coalition. During the following decades, Bulgaria became the perfect Soviet satellite and the imposed Stalinist model led to sharp curtailing of the economic and social contacts with the free world beyond the Iron Curtain. In 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of the communist era and the political and economic structures that supported it. Identity, Internet, and Diaspora Through the work of Mead, Todorov, and boyd it is possible to conceptualise the subject in terms of both of internal and external social identity (Mead, Todorov, boyd). In this article, I will focus, in particular, on social and national identities as expressions of the process of sharing stories, experiences, and understanding between individuals. In this respect, the phenomenon of Facebook is especially well placed to mediate between identifications which, according to Freud, facilitate the plural subjectivities and the establishment of an emotional network of mutual bonds between the individual and the group (Freud). This research also draws on Goffman who, from a sociological point of view, demystifies the representation of the Self by developing a dramaturgical theory (Goffman), whereby identity is constructed through the "roles" that people play on the social scene. Social life is a vast stage where the actors are required to adhere to certain socially acceptable rituals and guidelines. It means that we can consider the presentation of Self, or Others, as a facade or a construction of socially accepted features. Among all the ICTs, the Internet is, by far, the medium most likely to facilitate free expression of identity through a multitude of possible actions and community interactions. Personal and national memories circulate in the transnational space of the Internet and are reshaped when framed from specific circumstances such as those raised by the migration process. In an age of globalisation marked by the proliferation of population movements, instant communication, and cultural exchanges across geographic boundaries, the phenomenon of the diaspora has caught the attention of a growing number of scholars. I shall be working with Robin Cohen’s definition of diaspora which highlights the following common features: (1) dispersal from an original homeland; (2) the expansion from a homeland in search of work; (3) a collective memory and myth about the homeland; (4) an idealisation of the supposed ancestral homeland; (5) a return movement; (6) a strong ethnic group consciousness sustained over a long time; (7) a troubled relationship with host societies; (8) a sense of solidarity with co-ethnic members in other countries; and (9) the possibility of a distinctive creative, enriching life in tolerant host countries (Cohen). Following on this earlier work on the ways in which diasporas give rise to new forms of subjectivity, the concept of “e-diaspora” is now rapidly gaining in popularity. The complex association between diasporic groups and ICTs has led to a concept of e-diasporas that actively utilise ICTs to achieve community-specific goals, and that have become critical for the formation and sustenance of an exilic community for migrant groups around the globe (Srinivasan and Pyati). Diaspora and the Digital Age Anderson points out two key features of the Internet: first, it is a heterogeneous electronic medium, with hardly perceptible contours, and is in a state of constant development; second, it is a repository of “imagined communities” without geographical or legal legitimacy, whose members will probably never meet (Anderson). Unlike “real” communities, where people have physical interactions, in the imagined communities, individuals do not have face-to-face communication and daily contact, but they nonetheless feel a strong emotional attachment to the nation. The Internet not only opens new opportunities to gain greater visibility and strengthen the sense of belonging to community, but it also contributes to the emergence of a transnational public sphere where the communities scattered in various locations freely exchange their views and ideas without fear of restrictions or censorship from traditional media (Appadurai, Bernal). As a result, the Web becomes a virtual diasporic space which opens up, to those who have left their country, a new means of confrontation and social participation. Within this new diasporic space, migrants are bound in their disparate geographical locations by a common vision or myth about the homeland (Karim). Thanks to the Internet, the computer has become a primary technological intermediary between virtual networks, bringing its members closer in a “global village” where everyone is immediately connected to others. Thus, today’s diasporas are not the diaspora of previous generations in that the migration is experienced and negotiated very differently: people in one country are now able to continue to participate actively in another country. In this context, the arrival of community sites has increased the capacity of users to create a network on the Internet, to rediscover lost links, and strengthen new ones. Unlike offline communities, which may weaken once their members have left the physical space, online communities that are no longer limited by the requirement of physical presence in the common space have the capacity to endure. Identity Strategies of New Generations of Bulgarian Migrants It is very difficult to quantify migration to or from Bulgaria. Existing data is not only partial and limited but, in some cases, give an inaccurate view of migration from Bulgaria (Soultanova). Informal data confirm that one million Bulgarians, around 15 per cent of Bulgaria’s entire population (7,620,238 inhabitants in 2007), are now scattered around the world (National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria). The Bulgarian migrant is caught in a system of redefinition of identity through the duration of his or her relocation. Emigrating from a country like Bulgaria implies a high number of contingencies. Bulgarians’ self-identification is relative to the inferiority complex of a poor country which has a great deal to do to catch up with its neighbours. Before the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union, the country was often associated with what have been called “Third World countries” and seen as a source of crime and social problems. Members of the Bulgarian diaspora faced daily prejudice due to the bad reputation of their country of origin, though the extent of the hostility depended upon the “host” nation (Marcheva). Geographically, Bulgaria is one of the most eastern countries in Europe, the last to enter the European Union, and its image abroad has not facilitated the integration of the Bulgarian diaspora. The differences between Bulgarian migrants and the “host society” perpetuate a sentiment of marginality that is now countered with an online appeal for national identity markers and shared experiences. Facebook: The Ultimate Social Network The Growing Popularity of Facebook With more than 500 million active members, Facebook is the most visited website in the world. In June 2007, Facebook experienced a record annual increase of 270 per cent of connections in one year (source: comScore World Metrix). More than 70 translations of the site are available to date, including the Bulgarian version. What makes it unique is that Facebook positively encourages identity games. Moreover, Facebook provides the symbolic building blocks with which to build a collective identity through shared forms of discourse and ways of thinking. People are desperate to make a good impression on the Internet: that is why they spend so much time managing their online identity. One of the most important aspects of Facebook is that it enables users to control and manage their image, leaving the choice of how their profile appears on the pages of others a matter of personal preference at any given time. Despite some limitations, we will see that Facebook offers the Bulgarian community abroad the possibility of an intense and ongoing interaction with fellow nationals, including the opportunity to assert and develop a complex new national/transnational identity. Facebook Experiences of the Bulgarian Diaspora Created in the United States in 2004 and extended to use in Europe two or three years later, Facebook was quickly adopted by members of the Bulgarian diaspora. Here, it is very important to note that, although the Internet per se has enabled Bulgarians across the globe to introduce Cyrillic script into the public arena, it is definitely Facebook that has made digital Cyrillic visible. Early in computer history, keyboards with the Cyrillic alphabet simply did not exist. Thus, Bulgarians were forced to translate their language into Latin script. Today, almost all members of the Bulgarian population who own a computer use a keyboard that combines the two alphabets, Latin and Cyrillic, and this allows alternation between the two. This is not the case for the majority of Bulgarians living abroad who are forced to use a keyboard specific to their country of residence. Thus, Bulgarians online have adopted a hybrid code to speak and communicate. Since foreign keyboards are not equipped with the same consonants and vowels that exist in the Bulgarian language, they use the Latin letters that best suit the Bulgarian phonetic. Several possible interpretations of these “encoded” texts exist which become another way for the Bulgarian migrants to distinguish and assert themselves. One of these encoded scripts is supplemented by figures. For example, the number “6” written in Bulgarian “шест” is applied to represent the Bulgarian letter “ш.” Bulgarian immigrants therefore employ very specific codes of communication that enhance the feeling of belonging to a community that shares the same language, which is often incomprehensible to others. As the ultimate social networking website, Facebook brings together Bulgarians from all over the world and offers them a space to preserve online memorials and digital archives. As a result, the Bulgarian diaspora privileges this website in order to manage the strong links between its members. Indeed, within months of coming into online existence, Facebook established itself as a powerful social phenomenon for the Bulgarian diaspora and, very soon, a virtual map of the Bulgarian diaspora was formed. It should be noted, however, that this mapping was focused on the new generation of Bulgarian migrants more familiar with the Internet and most likely to travel. By identifying the presence of online groups by country or city, I was able to locate the most active Bulgarian communities: “Bulgarians in UK” (524 members), “Bulgarians in Chicago” (436 members), “Bulgarians studying in the UK” (346 members), “Bulgarians in America” (333 members), “Bulgarians in the USA” (314 members), “Bulgarians in Montreal” (249 members), “Bulgarians in Munich” (241 members), and so on. These figures are based on the “Groups” Application of Facebook as updated in February 2010. Through those groups, a symbolic diasporic geography is imagined and communicated: the digital “border crossing,” as well as the real one, becomes a major identity resource. Thus, Bulgarian users of Facebook are connecting from the four corners of the globe in order to rebuild family links and to participate virtually in the marriages, births, and lives of their families. It sometimes seems that the whole country has an appointment on Facebook, and that all the photos and stories of Bulgarians are more or less accessible to the community in general. Among its virtual initiatives, Facebook has made available to its users an effective mobilising tool, the Causes, which is used as a virtual noticeboard for activities and ideas circulating in “real life.” The members of the Bulgarian diaspora choose to adhere to different “causes” that may be local, national, or global, and that are complementary to the civic and socially responsible side of the identity they have chosen to construct online. Acting as a virtual realm in which distinct and overlapping trajectories coexist, Facebook thus enables users to articulate different stories and meanings and to foster a democratic imaginary about both the past and the future. Facebook encourages diasporas to produce new initiatives to revive or create collective memories and common values. Through photos and videos, scenes of everyday life are celebrated and manipulated as tools to reconstruct, reconcile, and display a part of the history and the identity of the migrant. By combating the feelings of disorientation, the consciousness of sharing the same national background and culture facilitates dialogue and neutralises the anxiety and loneliness of Bulgarian migrants. When cultural differences become more acute, the sense of isolation increases and this encourages migrants to look for company and solidarity online. As the number of immigrants connected and visible on Facebook gets larger, so the use of the Internet heightens their sense of a substantial collective identity. This is especially important for migrants during the early years of relocation when their sense of identity is most fragile. It can therefore be argued that, through the Internet, some Bulgarian migrants are replacing alienating face-to-face contact with virtual friends and enjoying the feeling of reassurance and belonging to a transnational community of compatriots. In this sense, Facebook is a propitious ground for the establishment of the three identity strategies defined by Herzfeld: cultural intimacy (or self-stereotypes); structural nostalgia (the evocation of a time when everything was going better); and the social poetic (the strategies aiming to retrieve a particular advantage and turn it into a permanent condition). In this way, the willingness to remain continuously in virtual contact with other Bulgarians often reveals a desire to return to the place of birth. Nostalgia and outsourcing of such sentiments help migrants to cope with feelings of frustration and disappointment. I observed that it is just after their return from summer holidays spent in Bulgaria that members of the Bulgarian diaspora are most active on the Bulgarian forums and pages on Facebook. The “return tourism” (Fourcade) during the summer or for the winter holidays seems to be a central theme in the forums on Facebook and an important source of emotional refuelling. Tensions between identities can also lead to creative formulations through Facebook’s pages. Thus, the group “You know you’re a Bulgarian when...”, which enjoys very active participation from the Bulgarian diaspora, is a space where everyone is invited to share, through a single sentence, some fact of everyday life with which all Bulgarians can identify. With humour and self-irony, this Facebook page demonstrates what is distinctive about being Bulgarian but also highlights frustration with certain prejudices and stereotypes. Frequently these profiles are characterised by seemingly “glocal” features. The same Bulgarian user could define himself as a Parisian, adhering to the group “You know you’re from Paris when...”, but also a native of a Bulgarian town (“You know you’re from Varna when...”). At the same time, he is an architect (“All architects on Facebook”), supporting the candidacy of Barack Obama, a fan of Japanese manga (“maNga”), of a French actor, an American cinema director, or Indian food. He joins a cause to save a wild beach on the Black Sea coast (“We love camping: Gradina Smokinia and Arapia”) and protests virtually against the slaughter of dolphins in the Faroe Islands (“World shame”). One month, the individual could identify as Bulgarian, but next month he might choose to locate himself in the country in which he is now resident. Thus, Facebook creates a virtual territory without borders for the cosmopolitan subject (Negroponte) and this confirms the premise that the Internet does not lead to the convergence of cultures, but rather confirms the opportunities for diversification and pluralism through multiple social and national affiliations. Facebook must therefore be seen as an advantageous space for the representation and interpretation of identity and for performance and digital existence. Bulgarian migrants bring together elements of their offline lives in order to construct, online, entirely new composite identities. The Bulgarians we have studied as part of this research almost never use pseudonyms and do not seem to feel the need to hide their material identities. This suggests that they are mature people who value their status as migrants of Bulgarian origin and who feel confident in presenting their natal identities rather than hiding behind a false name. Starting from this material social/national identity, which is revealed through the display of surname with a Slavic consonance, members of the Bulgarian diaspora choose to manage their complex virtual identities online. Conclusion Far from their homeland, beset with feelings of insecurity and alienation as well as daily experiences of social and cultural exclusion (much of it stemming from an ongoing prejudice towards citizens from ex-communist countries), it is no wonder that migrants from Bulgaria find relief in meeting up with compatriots in front of their screens. Although some migrants assume their Bulgarian identity as a mixture of different cultures and are trying to rethink and continuously negotiate their cultural practices (often through the display of contradictory feelings and identifications), others identify with an imagined community and enjoy drawing boundaries between what is “Bulgarian” and what is not. The indispensable daily visit to Facebook is clearly a means of forging an ongoing sense of belonging to the Bulgarian community scattered across the globe. 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