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Dies ist der 17. Artikel in unserer Blogreihe Trouble on the Far-Right.
Um eines gleich deutlich zu machen: Über rechtsradikale Tendenzen in der Ukraine zu schreiben ist ein Drahtseilakt. Schließlich ist die Debatte in einen größeren Kontext eingebettet: Seit den Ereignissen auf dem Maidan 2014 und dem anschließenden Regime-Change erheben pro-russische Medien die sachlich schwer begründbare Beschuldigung, dass der Westen den Charakter der „faschistischen Junta in Kiew“ verkenne. Auf der anderen Seite bagatellisieren einige Publikationen die real existierenden rechten Umtriebe in der Ukraine beträchtlich. So handelt man sich schnell den Vorwurf ein, wahlweise „die faschistischen Ukrainer“ zu protegieren oder sich „den imperialistischen Russen“ anzubiedern. An dieser Stelle bleibt die notwendige Aufgabe Meinungen von Fakten zu trennen.
Die bedeutendste Kraft der parlamentarischen Rechten in der Ukraine ist die „Freiheitspartei“ Swoboda. Ihre Beteiligung an der Übergangsregierung nach den Maidan-Protesten galt einigen Beobachtern als Beweis für einen Rechtsruck in der Ukraine. Mittlerweile verfügt diese Partei nicht einmal mehr über eine parlamentarische Fraktion. Wie ist es dazu gekommen? Welche Dynamiken stehen dahinter? Ist letztendlich alles in trockenen Tüchern und die Gefahr von rechts gebannt?
Dies ist der 16. Artikel in unserer Blogreihe Trouble on the Far-Right.
„Wir sind zwar hinter Gittern, aber unsere Ideen sind an der Macht“, erklärte der Führer der Grauen Wölfe, Alparslan Türkeş nach dem Militärputsch vom 12. September 1980 in der Türkei. Damals hatten die Generäle als Zeichen ihrer angeblichen Neutralität neben Zehntausenden inhaftierten Linken auch einige hundert Anhänger der faschistischen Grauen Wölfe anklagen lassen. Entsprechend könnten sich heute seine Nachfolger rühmen: „Wir sind zwar nicht an der Regierung, aber unsere Ideen sind an der Macht.“ Denn die Herrschaft der seit 2002 alleine regierenden und gemeinhin als islamisch-konservativ charakterisierten Partei für Gerechtigkeit und Aufschwung (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – AKP) von Staatspräsident Recep Tayyip Erdoğan und Ministerpräsident Ahmet Davutoğlu stützt sich zunehmend auf die Ideologie, die Methoden und selbst das Personal der Grauen Wölfe. Umgekehrt ist die offiziell in der Opposition stehende parlamentarische Vertretung der Grauen Wölfe, die Partei der Nationalistischen Bewegung (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi – MHP) eine Kriegsallianz mit der AKP-Regierung gegen die kurdische Befreiungsbewegung eingegangen...
This is the 15. article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
Germany’s political culture currently faces a shift to the right as anti-immigrant violence and attacks on refugee camps are on the brink of becoming a daily routine. The populist party Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) did achieve successes in every recent federal state election. Through their success politics gained a new political quality. Anti-immigrant groups such as PEGIDA in Dresden regularly mobilize hundreds and sometimes thousands of people. The increased number of refugees that came to Germany in 2015 is instrumentalized to fuel racism and to spread nationalist sentiments...
This is the 14. article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
country’s domestically weak far right has managed to send its representatives to the European Parliament (EP). Prior to 2014, these MEPs remained largely isolated, retaining a non-affiliated status. Initially, Volen Siderov’s far right party Attack, the first of its kind in post-communist Bulgaria, won three seats in the legislative body in 2007. Formed in 2005, Attack quickly gained electoral support, conveying a strong xenophobic and anti-minority rhetoric combined with emphasis on Orthodox Christian values and opposition to globalization. No other Bulgarian party has previously sought to attract voters using such a strategy. Attack participated in the short-lived Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty group in the EP. Further efforts for constructing a lasting political grouping on the far right with the participation of Bulgarian parties remained futile, making their influence on debate-shaping and decision-making hardly possible. Winning a seat less in 2009, Attack remained outside of any recognized EP political group...
This is the 13. article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
The environment for populist radical right (PRR) parties in Europe is favourable. Both the refugee crisis as well as the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels have ostensibly fuelled further xenophobic and anti-Islam sentiments among European publics, on the basis of which PRR parties have been shown to build their support. Recent elections in Europe have indeed seen good results for parties with an outspoken xenophobic message, the victories in March 2016 for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the German regional elections and two far right parties (SNS and L’SNS) in the Slovak national elections being cases in point. Opinion polls in countries such as France and the Netherlands look equally promising for PRR parties. Even though not all European countries have witnessed the successful mobilisation of the PRR, it is fair to conclude that this party family is going strong. It would be too quick to conclude, however, that PRR parties only thrive on the recent salience of the immigration issue.
This is the twelth article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
In 2008 and 2009, a group of Hungarian right-wing extremists committed a series of attacks on random members of the Roma community. Six people were killed, including a five-year-old, and another five were injured. The trial of the four suspects lasted two-and-a-half years, and the verdict was passed in August 2013. Director Eszter Hajdú filmed the trial and condensed it to create an oppressive Kammerspielfilm starring the cold-blooded suspects, an irritable judge and the victims’ families. Without any commentary, Hajdú recorded the drawn-out and sometimes chaotic trial from the cramped courtroom’s public gallery. A small static camera shows the judge’s point of view, while close-ups highlight the emotions of the people touched by the crime. Sometimes we see the protagonists outside the courtroom, for example during the reconstruction at the crime scene. At the start of the trial, the victims and next of kin assume there will be justice, and they have faith that the Hungarian authorities will protect them. But will the extremists be found guilty? The widespread anti-Roma sentiment in Hungarian society, and the bungling (intentional or otherwise) on the part of the police give them reason to fear they will not...
From an early understanding of organisational theorist (Bartlett & Ghosal, 1989; 1990), the function of global teams in transnational organisations has been conceptualised as the transformation of different embedded cultural practices for the development of a global strategy, products and services. Simultaneously, in the field, from the beginning of the 1990ies to the edge of the new millennium neo-liberal political developments enforced a free flow of capital on a global level (cf. Turner, 2006). In line with the development of respective connectivity via the internet the form of globally distributed team work was spread (Maznevski & Chudoba, 2000). In a study by Biggs (2000), published just after the millennial change, it was shown that 60% of tasks in multinational companies are accomplished by virtual teams. More recent data (Society for Human Resource Management, 2012) showed that the prevalence of such teams stayed more or less constant in the last 10 years. According to the survey 66% of companies are working with distributed global teams.
Globally distributed teams were already described by Bartlett and Ghosal (1989) in their functions of articulation and translation of differing market practices for the integration of requirements and needs on a global level. From a European perspective the importance to further develop innovation capabilities in order to compete in the global market is stressed today (Imp3rove, 2012). In a globalised economy not only the big multinational companies are involved in globally distributed research and development activities (R&D). On the level SMEs, for example, in Switzerland the involvement in global development processes is increasing (Gassmann, 2009). From my own experiences in working with Swiss SMEs, the macro-economic processes in regard to the strong Swiss Franc may accelerate such processes. Thus, the form of globally distributed teams, and their functional task in global development processes, can be viewed as highly relevant, in a globalised economy.
The crucial question for companies at the moment is, if teams can be enabled for innovative project work, which enables the integration of diverging perspectives in a globally distributed setting? Or, if such teams have to be collocated for more innovative, interdependent task work? Requirements for integrating embedded knowledge from different regionally defined clusters into global innovations at least, seems to indicate for the relevance of interdependent globally distributed team work (cf. Li, Eden, Hitt, Ireland, & Garrett, 2012). Bilateral practices of partnering, for example in the Swiss pharmaceutical sector, lead to the integration of selected subsidiaries in the R&D process of the company (Festel et al., 2010). Thus, the form of dispersion for project teams becomes more critical for effective global R&D practices (Boyer O’Leary & Cummings, 2007). So called partially distributed teams integrating balanced subgroups between two sites, hence, become an important subject of inquiry with practical relevance.
The context of partially distributed team work represents by virtue a context involving multiple perspectives influenced by the involvement of actors stemming from different cultural contexts (Dekker, Rutte, & Van den Berg, 2008). It thereby provides the synergetic potential for integrating different perspectives in the resolution of complex problems on a global level (Janssens & Brett, 2006). Simultaneously, cultural diversity engenders challenges for collaboration. Challenges, like different understandings and interpretations regarding tasks, the structuring of communication (Maznevski & Chudoba, 2000) and unexpected events occurring in the collaboration between the actors (Dekker et al., 2008; Oertel & Antoni, 2014) were identified in respective empirical studies.
Opportunities and challenges of partially distributed global teams can be compared with the problematic of face-to-face (f2f) teams with a moderate amount of diversity. Studies have shown (see Thatcher & Patel, 2011 for a meta-analysis) that when the distribution of diversity characteristics is aligned to potentially form culture specific subgroups, so-called diversity faultlines (Lau & Murnighan, 1998), negative subgroup dynamics are reinforced.
To achieve the above mentioned synergetic potentials it seems important to effectively cope with such negative dynamics and allow for a balanced participation in partially distributed teams (Janssens & Brett, 2006). In the research on faultline teams, especially the structuring of task-related interdependences across respective subgroups has been identified as an important impediment for the mentioned subgroup dynamics. Task interdependences, which cross functional roles across respective group faultlines (Bettencourt, Molix, Talley, & Eubanks, 2007; Marcus-Newhall, Miller, Holtz, & Brewer, 1993), are able to unlock the inherent potentials of globally distributed teams on more complex tasks that require the integration of different perspectives. From a work group diversity perspective (van Knippenberg & Schippers, 2007), partially distributed global teams represent a research object for studying the interaction between social categorisation processes involved in the above mentioned subgroup dynamics, and processes of task-related information processing required for innovative team outputs. The exploration of effects of task structures on the interaction between categorisation processes and task-related information processing (van Knippenberg et al., 2004), will be in the main explorative research focus of this thesis. The research thesis represents a heuristic explorative inquiry (Kleining & Witt, 2001) of respective dynamics and structural as well as process-related enablers.
The thesis starts with the theoretical part, in which the historical development of the understanding of teams as open, complex and temporally dynamic systems (Arrow et al., 2005, 2000), will be outlined. A sound definition of partially distributed global teams, including the respective contextual characteristics will be delineated. In a sensitizing framework (Blumer, 1954) which guided the explorative research process, the central boundary condition of task interdependence (Wageman, 2001) and respective episodic theories for explaining global task-related dynamics in teams (Marks et al., 2001), the dynamics of social categorisation (Gaertner, Dovidio, Anastasio, Bachman, & Rust, 1993; Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000), as well as the interaction between social categorisation processes and task-related information processing will be integrated (van Knippenberg et al., 2004). According to the framework, empirical studies on effects of task interdependence on interactions between task-related information processing and social categorisation processes will be addressed (van Knippenberg et al., 2004).
The empirical part of the contribution will be split in two parts. In the first heuristic exploratory study eleven partially distributed global teams are followed up during the time of relevant innovation projects. The approach allowed the study of task interdependence, productive interactions with social categorisation processes and there effects on team innovation. In the second empirical step, the developed hypotheses, were tested in an experimental simulation (Arrow et al., 2005, 2000) in undergraduate courses.
As a conclusion of the two exploratory studies, an episodic team process model will be outlined. The model specifies interdependence dynamics, which allows for team innovation. Furthermore, on a process level, the episodic categorisation-elaboration model (van Knippenberg et al., 2004) proposes three critical team performance episodes. Dynamics in the interplay between task-related information processing and social categorisation processes allow for the development of hypothesis for further research projects. Finally the implications for theory and the practical relevance of the heuristic model will be discussed.
SAFE Newsletter : 2016, Q1
(2016)
In Belize, which is well known for the Belize Barrier Reef and its offshore atolls, coastal lagoons are frequent morphological features along the coast. They represent transitional environments between siliciclastic and carbonate settings. In order to shed light into the Holocene evolution of coastal lagoon environments, five localities along the central coast of Belize were selected as coring sites. These include four coastal lagoons and one marsh area, namely Mantatee Lagoon, Mullins River Beach, Colson Point Lagoon, Commerce Bight Lagoon and Sapodilla Lagoon. A total of 26 sediment cores with core lengths ranging from 109 cm to 500 cm, were drilled using a Lanesky-vibracorer. Overall, 73 m of Holocene sediments and Pleistocene soil were recovered. Together with 58 radiocarbon dates the sediments reveal details on the sediment architecture and depositional features of the localities.
Marine inundation of the mainland and coastal lagoon formation started around 6 kyrs cal BP.
As a response to sea-level rise during the Holocene transgression, facies retrograded towards the coast, as seen in marginal marine overlying brackish mollusk faunas. Evidence for late Holocene progradation of facies due to sea-level stagnation is largely lacking. The occurrence of landward thinning sand beds, hiatuses and marine fauna in lagoonal successions are indications of event (overwash) sedimentation. Sediments recovered are largely of Holocene age (<7980 cal BP), overlying Pleistocene sections. Analyses of sediment composition and texture, radiocarbon dating and mollusk shell identification were used to describe and correlate sedimentary facies.
XRD analyses have identified quartz as the dominant mineral, with the Maya Mountains as main source of coastal lagoon sediments. The most common sedimentary facies include peat and peaty sediment, mud, sand, and poorly sorted sediments. Pleistocene soil forms the basement of Holocene sediments. Holocene mud represents lagoon background permanent sedimentation.
Peats and peat-rich sequences were deposited in mangrove swamp environments, whereas sandy facies mainly occur in the shoreface, beach, barriers, bars, barrier spits and overwash deposits. Facies successions could be identified for each locality, but it has proven difficult to correlate the stratigraphic sequences, especially among localities. These differences among the five locations studied suggest that apart from regional influence such as sea-level rise, local environmental factors such as small-scale variation in geomorphology and resulting facies heterogeneity, connectivity of the lagoon with the sea, antecedent topography and river discharge, were responsible for coastal sedimentation and lagoon development in the Holocene of Belize.
Faunal composition and distribution patterns of mollusk assemblages from 20 shell concentrations in cores collected in coastal lagoons, a mangrove-fringed tidal inlet and the marginal marine area (shallow subtidal) show considerable variation due to environmental heterogeneity and the interplay of several environmental factors in the course of the mid-late Holocene (ca. 6000 cal BP to modern). The investigated fauna ≥2 mm comprises 2246 bivalve, gastropod and 11 scaphopod specimens. Fifty-three mollusk species, belonging to 42 families, were identified. The bivalve Anomalocardia cuneimeris and cerithid gastropods are the dominant species and account for 78% of the total fauna. Diversity indices are low in concentrations from lagoons and relatively high in the marginal marine and tidal inlet areas.
Based on cluster analysis and nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), seven lagoonal assemblages and three marginal marine/tidal inlet assemblages were defined. A separation between lagoonal and marginal marine/tidal inlet assemblages seen in ordination indicates a lagoon-onshore gradient. The statistical separation among lagoonal assemblages demonstrates environmental changes during the Holocene evolution of the coastal lagoons, which is probably related to the formation of barriers and spits. The controlling factors of species distribution patterns are difficult to figure out, probably due to the heterogeneity of the barrier-lagoon systems and the interaction of paleoecological and paleoenvironmental factors. In addition to the taxonomic analysis, a taphonomic analysis of 1827 valves of A. cuneimeris from coastal lagoons was carried out. There is no relationship between depth and age of shells and their taphonomic condition. Size-frequency distributions and right-left valve ratios of A. cuneimeris suggest that valves were not transported over long distances but were deposited parautochthonously in their original habitat. Shells from tidal inlet and marginal marine environments were also predominantly deposited in their original habitats.
Since the Belize coast was repeatedly affected by hurricanes and the paleohurricane record for this region is poor, the sediment cores have been examined in order to identify storm deposits.
The paleohurricane record presented in this study spans the past 8000 years and exhibits three periods with increased evidences of hurricane strikes occurring at 6000-4900 cal yr BP, 4200-3600 cal yr BP and 2200-1500 cal yr BP. Two earlier events around 7100 and 7900 cal yr BP and more recent events around 180 cal yr BP and during modern times have been detected. Sand layers, redeposited corals and lagoon shell concentrations have been used as proxies for storm deposition. Additionally, hiatuses and reversed ages may indicate storm influence. While sand layers and corals represent overwash deposits, the lagoon shell concentrations, which mainly comprise the bivalve Anomalocardia cuneimeris and cerithid gastropods, have been deposited due to changes in lagoon salinity during and after storm landfalls. Comparison with other studies reveals similarities with one record from Belize, but hardly any matches with other published records. The potential for paleotempestology reconstructions of the barrier-lagoon complexes along the central Belize coast differs depending on geomorphology, and deposition of washovers in the lagoon basins is limited, probably due to the interplay of biological, geological and geomorphological processes.
Water is scarce in semi-arid and arid regions. Using alternative water sources (i.e. non-conventional water sources), such as municipal reuse water and harvested rain, contributes to using existing water resources more efficiently and productively. The aim of this study is to evaluate the two alternative water sources reuse water and harvested rain for the irrigation of small-holder agriculture from a system perspective. This helps decision and policy makers to have proper information about which system and technology to adopt under local conditions. For this, the evaluation included ecologic, societal, economic, institutional and political as well as technical aspects. For the evaluation, the study area in central-northern Namibia was chosen in the frame of the research and development project CuveWaters. The main methods used include a mathematical material flow analysis, the computation and modelling of crop requirements, a multi-criteria decision analysis using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and a financial cost-benefit analysis. From a systemic perspective, the proposed novel systems were compared to the exciting conventional infrastructure. The results showed that both water reuse and rainwater harvesting systems for the irrigation of small-holder horticulture offer numerous technological, ecologic, economic, societal, institutional and political benefits. Rainwater harvesting based gardens have a positive benefit-cost ratio under favorable conditions. Government programs could fund the infrastructure investment costs, while the micro-entrepreneur can assume a micro-credit to finance operation and maintenance costs. Installing sanitation in informal settlements and reusing municipal water for irrigation reduces the overall water demand of households and agriculture by 39%, compared to improving sanitation facilities in informal settlements without reusing the water for agriculture. Given that water is the limiting factor for crop fertigation, the generated nutrient-rich reuse water is sufficient to annually irrigate about 10 m2 to 13 m2 per sanitation user. Compared to crop nutrient requirements, there are too many nutrients in the reuse water. Thus when using nutrient-rich reuse water, no use of fertilizers and a careful salt management is necessary. When comparing this novel system with improved sanitation, advanced wastewater treatment and nutrient-rich water reuse to the conventional and to two adapted systems, results showed that the novel CuveWaters system is the best option for the given context in a semi-arid developing country. Therefore, the results of this study suggest a further roll-out of the novel CuveWaters system. The methodology developed and the results of this study demonstrated that taking sanitation users into consideration plays a major role for the planning of an integrated water reuse infrastructure because they are the determinant factor for the amount of available nutrient-rich reuse water. In addition, it could be shown that water reuse and rainwater harvesting systems for the irrigation of small-scale gardens provide a wide range of benefits and can be key to using scarce water resources more efficiently and to contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.
kurz und kn@pp news : Nr. 36
(2016)
his paper analyses the consumption-investment problem of a loss averse investor equipped with s-shaped utility over consumption relative to a time-varying reference level. Optimal consumption exceeds the reference level in good times and descend to the subsistence level in bad times. Accordingly, the optimal portfolio is dominated by a mean-variance component in good times and rebalanced more aggressively toward stocks in bad times. This consumption-investment strategy contrasts with customary portfolio theory and is consistent with several recent stylized facts about investors' behaviour. I also analyse the joint effect of loss aversion and persistence of the reference level on optimal choices. Finally, the strategy of the loss averse investor outperforms the conventional Merton-style strategies in bad times, but tend to be dominated by the conventional strategies in good times.
We introduce long-run investment productivity risk in a two-sector production economy to explain the joint behavior of macroeconomic quantities and asset prices. Long-run productivity risk in both sectors, for which we provide economic and empirical justification, acts as a substitute for shocks to the marginal efficiency of investments in explaining the equity premium and the stock return volatility differential between the consumption and the investment sector. Moreover, adding moderate wage rigidities allows the model to reproduce the empirically observed positive co-movement between consumption and investment growth.
This paper introduces endogenous preference evolution into a Lucas-type economy and explores its consequences for investors' trading strategy and the dynamics of asset prices. In equilibrium, investors herd and hold the same portfolio of risky assets which is biased toward stocks of sectors that produce a socially preferred good. Price-dividend ratios, expected returns and return volatility are all time varying. In this way, preference evolution helps rationalize the observed under-performance and local biases of investors' portfolios and many empirical regularities of stock returns such a time variation, the value-growth effect and stochastic volatility.
Keywords: Asset pricing, general equilibrium, heterogeneous investors, interdependent preferences, portfolio choice
JEL Classification: D51, D91, E20, G12
We investigate the role of competition on the outcome of Austrian Treasury auctions. Austria's EU accession led to an increase in the number of banks participating in treasury auctions. We use structural estimates of bidders' private values to examine the effect of increased competition on auction performance: We find that increased competition reduced bidder surplus substantially, but less than reduced form estimates would suggest. A significant component of the surplus reduction is due to more aggressive bidding. Counterfactuals establish that as competition increases, concerns regarding auction format play a smaller role.
Private equity fund managers are typically required to invest their own money alongside the fund. We examine how this coinvestment affects the acquisition strategy of leveraged buyout funds. In a simple model, where the investment and capital structure decisions are made simultaneously, we show that a higher coinvestment induces managers to chose less risky firms and use more leverage. We test these predictions in a unique sample of private equity investments in Norway, where the fund manager's taxable wealth is publicly available. Consistent with the model, portfolio company risk decreases and leverage ratios increase with the coinvestment fraction of the manager's wealth. Moreover, funds requiring a relatively high coinvestment tend to spread its capital over a larger number of portfolio firms, consistent with a more conservative investment policy.
This is the eleventh article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
Far right and anti-Muslim politics in Britain have become increasingly fragmented. The British National Party (BNP), once the leading far right party, has largely collapsed. During the 2010 general election the BNP polled only 1.9% of the vote and was overshadowed by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), a right-wing, anti-immigration populist party unencumbered by the BNP’s debilitating historical baggage. Thereafter, the BNP leadership descended into demoralization, bitter recrimination and factional rivalry, hastening the departure of its activist base, the collapse of its membership and leading, ultimately, to the expulsion of its chairman, Nick Griffin, as the party continued its further descent to political irrelevance. The BNP appears ‘finished’ as a political force, its ‘quest for legitimacy’ at an end.
This is the tenth article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
How can a racist party that was getting less than 0.2% of the vote for years, enter parliament with 18 MPs? How can a party that promotes violence, hate, sexism and murders amplify its reach after each pogrom? How can Golden Dawn remain the third political power in Greece for four years? And what’s in the mind of a Golden Dawner?...
This is the sixth article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
As everywhere else in Eastern Europe, ever since the fall of the communist regime, Romania’s political system has experienced dramatic changes from one electoral cycle to another, starting off with what was considered to be an inflation of political parties at the beginning of the 1990’s and arriving today at what seems to approximate a two-party system, with the Social-Democratic Party (PSD) on the left and the National Liberal Party (PNL) on the right side of the political spectrum. However, the fog surrounding the ideological identities of virtually all Romanian political parties has only intensified in time, leaving the party system in flux and creating the idea that there are no significant differences between the major political players. As was the case of many other countries, this situation has generated the (at least partial) success of a radical anti-establishment discourse. However, unlike other European countries, the far right in Romania did not benefit by the financial crisis...
Here we go again. Recent terrorist attacks against another European capital city in less than a year continue to shake the core of world politics. It is worth to note that terrorist attacks are not only happening against European states, but also against other countries, most notably Turkey and Indonesia. Is it a clash of cultures, religions, or it is merely politics? How do we keep serving Daesh (Islamic State)?
This is the ninth article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
Since around 1990, the state of the Austrian far right1 has been characterized by the strength of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ – Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, more precisely translated as Freedomite Party of Austria2) and the relative weakness of extra-parliamentarian far right activism. Far from a mere coincidence, these two features are to be understood as closely linked: the FPÖ’s electoral successes have brought far right causes and talking points unto the political center stage on a national level, given them ample media coverage and made street militancy increasingly pointless. Insofar, the Austrian far right spectrum could – at least until recently – be described as a photographic negative of the situation in Germany: successful party politics, weak bottom-up mobilizations and a comparatively low incidence of street violence. Currently, however, the long held hopes of German right-wingers for a party both in the mold, and strength, of the FPÖ are apparently being fulfilled by the emergence of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Conversely, both legal and illegal street activism have been on the rise in Austria in recent years, particularly since the start of the asylum crisis in Europe. Numerous violent incidents were reported in 2015, including a minimum of 25 attacks on housing facilities for asylum seekers.
This is the fifth article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
The threat that the far right poses to civil society changes across time and space. In Britain this threat has generally been in the form of hate-crimes and public disorder, yet in the past two decades there has been a shift towards solo-actor terrorism. By examining far right groups in the UK in the post-war period this paper explores the drivers of this change; namely, how membership in extremist groups combined with the proliferation of far right networks created by the internet can create a pathway to radicalisation which ends in acts of terror.
This is the fourth article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
Terror from the extreme right has again gained a wider public attention in 2011 with the devastating attacks carried out by Anders Behring Breivik in Norway and the detection of the right-wing terrorist cell called “National Socialist Underground” (NSU), which had committed ten murders, three bombings and a dozen bank robberies during more than a decade of time in Germany. In many Western countries violence motivated by racism, anti-government hate, anti-Semitism or other aspects of right-wing extremism, appears to be a regular part of criminal activities. Hate crime legislation and statistics vary strongly but show that next to high intense terrorist attacks such as 9/11, the attacks in London, Madrid or Paris, right-wing violence and terrorism is the most dangerous politically motivated threat. In the United States for example Perliger (2012) counted 4,420 right-wing terrorist incidents between 1990 and 2012 causing 670 fatalities and 3,053 injuries. In Germany official statistics counted 69 right-wing attacks between 1990 and 2015 causing 75 casualties, while civil society watchdogs count up to 184 deaths. In Russia some experts speak of approximately 450 right-wing motivated killings between 2004 and 2010. Nevertheless, this specific form of political violence remains largely under-researched and misunderstood as non-terroristic. In consequence the threat from the far right is continuously downplayed with severe consequences for victims and the internal security.
This is the eighth article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
Trouble’s brewing for the European Union – also in Finland, where the next country-wide elections will see several new, EU-hostile nationalist groups attempt to establish themselves on the political map. At the same time, Finnish Fascism is seeking to entrench and normalize itself into a respectable part of the political framework.
With disaffection growing, the time appears to be ripe. As Heikki Hiilamo, professor of social policy in Helsinki University notes, Finland has been particularly hard hit by the most recent economic downturn. The middle and lower classes are seeing their expectations fade into uncertainty, as globalization is bringing new and intangible threats in the form of vanishing jobs. Finland is heading towards increasing social inequality, with the reality of the educated and the employed drifting further apart from “globalization’s losers”. With no self-evident owner in sight, the accumulating political capital is attracting radical nationalist utilizers...
This is the third article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
I am the author of two books about the French nouvelle droite (ND – New Right): Where Have All The Fascists Gone? and Rethinking the French New Right: Alternatives to modernity. In 2014, I published a piece entitled „The French New Right Neither Right, nor Left?“. Surprisingly, the French ND leader Alain de Benoist responded with a polemical and largely ad hominem article in the same journal.1 I must stress that I neither identify with a political party, nor a political movement. I do not support any ideological current. De Benoist does. He is self-described as a man of the right. Hence, he cannot even claim intellectual objectivity.
In this piece, I want to offer some comments on my debate with de Benoist. I argue that while we should strive towards intellectual objectivity, we cannot be silent in the face of falsehoods. In this respect, the ND plays a dishonest game. Its leader and other ND intellectuals feign intellectual objectivity and the platitudes of transcending right and left, but they want cultural hegemony and the triumph of their decidedly radical right-wing ideals...
This is the seventh article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
While one cannot say that the far right movements and ideologies in Latvia are in a state of flux, the current situation in Europe has prompted some developments that could turn into significant trends in the medium to longer term. In turn, these could have an effect on broader European politics, if left unchecked...
This is the second article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
Since 2011 signs have been multiplying in Europe of a far right grassroots insurgency in the making. And there were signals, too, of a racist insurrection: arson attacks, petrol bombs, paramilitary and vigilante activities, and the stockpiling of weapons. The first major indication of the far right’s capacity for mass murder came from Norway on 22 July 2011. Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people, mainly teenagers, whom he shot dead at the Labour Party youth summer camp on Oslo’s Utøya Island. At his trial, Breivik described the youngsters he so cruelly murdered as ‚traitors‘ who had embraced immigration in order to promote an ‘Islamic colonization of Norway‘..
This is the first article in our series Trouble on the Far-Right.
Europe is in trouble. Far right politics is spreading all over the place and its actors and discourses become increasingly influential at various levels: Parties from the far right achieved successes in French, Austrian and Slovakian elections. Far right movement organizations in Germany and Italy mobilized thousands of people to the streets. In Sweden and Great Britain, vigilante and terrorist groups wage armed struggle. And last but not least, ‚illiberal models of democracy‘ in Poland and Hungary demonstrate the far right’s capacity to transform politics on the European level...
This paper describes cash equity markets in Germany and their evolution against the background of technological and regulatory transformation. The development of these secondary markets in the largest economy in Europe is first briefly outlined from a historical perspective. This serves as the basis for the description of the most important trading system for German equities, the Xetra trading system of Deutsche Börse AG. Then, the most important regulatory change for European and German equity markets in the last ten years is illustrated: the introduction of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) in 2007. Its implications on equity trading in Germany are analyzed against the background of the current status of competition in Europe. Recent developments in European equity markets like the emergence of dark pools and algorithmic / high frequency trading are portrayed, before an outlook on new regulations (MiFID II, MiFIR) that will likely come into force in early 2018 will close the paper.
In the wake of the recent financial crisis, significant regulatory actions have been taken aimed at limiting risks emanating from trading in bank business models. Prominent reform proposals are the Volcker Rule in the U.S., the Vickers Report in the UK, and, based on the Liikanen proposal, the Barnier proposal in the EU. A major element of these reforms is to separate “classical” commercial banking activities from securities trading activities, notably from proprietary trading. While the reforms are at different stages of implementation, there is a strong ongoing discussion on what possible economic consequences are to be expected. The goal of this paper is to look at the alternative approaches of these reform proposals and to assess their likely consequences for bank business models, risk-taking and financial stability. Our conclusions can be summarized as follows: First, the focus on a prohibition of only proprietary trading, as envisaged in the current EU proposal, is inadequate. It does not necessarily reduce risk-taking and it likely crowds out desired trading activities, thereby negatively affecting financial stability. Second, there is potentially a better solution to limit excessive trading risk at banks in terms of potential welfare consequences: Trading separation into legally distinct or ring-fenced entities within the existing banking organizations. This kind of separation limits cross-subsidies between banking and proprietary trading and diminishes contagion risk, while still allowing for synergies across banking, non-proprietary trading and proprietary trading.
An important prerequisite for the efficiency of bail-in as a regulatory tool is that debt holders are able to bear the cost of a bail-in. Examining European banks’ subordinated debt we caution that households may be investors in bail-in able bonds. Since households do not fulfil the aforementioned prerequisite, we argue that European bank supervisors need to ensure that banks’ bail-in bonds are held by sophisticated investors. Existing EU market regulation insufficiently addresses mis-selling of bail-in instruments.
A number of contributions to research on monetary policy have suggested that policy should be asymmetric near the lower bound on nominal interest rates. As inflation and economic activity decline, policy should ease more aggressively than it would in the absence of the lower bound. As activity recovers and inflation picks up, the central bank should act to keep interest rates lower for longer than without the bound. In this note, we investigate to what extent the policy easing implemented by the ECB since summer 2013 mirrors the rate recommendations of a simple policy rule or deviates from it in a way that indicates a “lower for longer” approach to policy near zero interest rates.
We assess the degree of market fragmentation in the euro-area corporate bond market by disentangling the determinants of the risk premium paid on bonds at origination. By looking at over 2,400 bonds we are able to isolate the country-specific effects which are a suitable indicator of the market fragmentation. We find that, after peaking during the sovereign debt crisis, fragmentation shrank in 2013 and receded to pre-crisis levels only in 2014. However, the low level of estimated market fragmentation is coupled with a still high heterogeneity in actual bond yields, challenging the consistency of the new equilibrium.
Who gains from inter-corporate credit? To answer this question we measure the impact of the announcements of inter-corporate loans in China on the stock prices of the firms involved. We find that the average abnormal return for the issuers of inter-corporate loans is significantly negative, whereas it is positive for the receivers. Issuing firms may be perceived by investors to have run out of worthwhile projects to finance, while receiving firms are being certified as creditworthy. Subsequent firm performance and investment confirms these valuations as overall accurate.
Die dynamische Entwicklung im Bereich neuer Mobilitätsdienstleistungen hat dazu geführt, dass der städtische Mobilitätsmarkt von einer hohen Dynamik und einer Vielzahl neuer Akteure gekennzeichnet ist. Smartphones und mobiles Internet unterstützen die neuen Angebote wie flexibles, stationäres oder Peer-to-Peer-Carsharing sowie Mitnahme- und Fahrradverleihsysteme. Die neuen Angebote reagieren auf eine veränderte Nachfrage, generieren aber wiederum auch neue Nutzungsmuster. Kommunale und regionale Akteure stehen vor der Aufgabe, auf die neuen Herausforderungen, die sich in räumlichen und politischen Konflikten niederschlagen können, zu reagieren. Die vorliegende Studie zeigt auf Basis einer Bestandsaufnahme von Sharing-Systemen in der Region FrankfurtRheinMain Handlungsoptionen für Vertreter aus Politik und Verwaltung auf, um die neuen Angebote im Sinne einer nachhaltigen Verkehrs- und Stadtentwicklung zu integrieren. Dabei zeigt sie zunächst die Chancen und Herausforderungen auf, die sich aus den jüngsten Entwicklungen ergeben. Anschließend folgt eine ausführliche Bestandsaufnahme, die sich in sechs Handlungsfelder gliedert: Fahrradverleihsysteme, Carsharing, Mitnahmeangebote und Mitfahrparkplätze, Verknüpfung des öffentlichen Verkehrs mit multimodalen Angeboten, multimodale Mobilitätsapps und -plattformen sowie Parken. Dabei werden Aussagen zu Angebotsformen, verkehrlichen und ökologischen Wirkungen sowie zu regionalen Entwicklungen getroffen. Anschließend werden auf Basis vorhandener Untersuchungen und im Rahmen des Projekts durchgeführter Fokusgruppen Nutzungsmuster, Bekanntheit und Attraktivität von Sharing-Systemen dargestellt. Die Handlungsempfehlungen wurden in mehreren Workshops mit regionalen Praxisakteuren aus den Bereichen Stadtverwaltung, Carsharing, Verkehrsverbund, Fahrradverleihsysteme, Mitfahrangebote etc. und vertiefenden Expertengesprächen entwickelt.
Advancement in science and technology that has been achieved by human beings does not necessarily imply they are freed from environmental problems. Buddhism since the very be-ginning has been in harmony with nature; the Buddha was fond of nature; however, it is very little its sources speak about the interconnection between human and environment. The ques-tion of the significance of cultural ecology comes into prominent in these days as there has been increasing environmental problems happen. Borobudur Buddhist temple in Central Java contains some ideas or elements that can be used to cope with the problems mentioned. Inter-estingly, the whole body of the monument was inspired by the teachings of the Buddha and Buddhism in which the Causal Law having impetus in the theory dependent-origination (Pratyasamutpada) is reflected clearly in the reliefs of Mahakarmavibangga in Kamadhatu base level. For a better understanding of this law, the connection with cosmology in Maha-yana Buddhism is discussed in brief. It is found that there are various natural elements were depicted and crafted by the artists in a high standard of art as the manifestations of the Bud-dha’s teachings. Amongst the natural elements depicted here, tree, plant, or forest are domi-nant elements, which appear almost in all reliefs either in the main walls or balustrade. The relatedness amongst the elements is shown beautifully in complex relationship amongst them, and this has moral, aesthetical, spiritual, and ecological messages that need to be known for spiritual ascendance. When the interaction amongst them should be accomplished it is re-quired an ethical principle as how to maintain harmony with those natural elements, animals and human beings for a better world order and happy life.
Plus Puls : 2016, 1
(2016)
Im Fokus der vorliegenden Arbeit standen die Landschaftsrekonstruktion und die Abschätzung der Mensch-Umwelt Wechselwirkungen im Umfeld der kupferzeitlichen (ca. 5. Jts. v. Chr.) Siedlung Magura Gorgana im heutigen Süd-Rumänien. Im Zuge der sedimentologischen Untersuchungen wurde deutlich, dass zur Zeit der kupferzeitlichen Besiedlung in der Donauaue ein Paläosee existierte, welcher sich nahezu über den gesamten Auenbereich im Untersuchungsgebiet erstreckte. Mit der Entdeckung des Paläosees ‚Lacul Gorgana‘ ergaben sich, durch die exzellenten Eigenschaften von Seesedimenten als Geoarchiv, neue Möglichkeiten zur Paläomilieurekonstruktion und zur Abschätzung von Mensch-Umwelt-Interaktionen. Bis etwa in das 8. Jt. v. Chr. war die Donau in diesem Gebiet durch ein fluviales System charakterisiert, welches vermutlich aus einer Vielzahl von Gerinnen bestand und einem ‚braided river‘ ähnelte. Während des 8. Jt. v. Chr. begann die Bildung des Paläosees ‚Lacul Gorgana‘. Die Gründe hierfür sind unbekannt, wenngleich ein Zusammenhang zum Anstieg des Schwarzmeerspiegels in diesem Zeitraum naheliegt. Spätestens ab dem 13. Jh. n. Chr. kommt es zur Aggradation- bzw. Verlandung des Paläosees ‚Lacul Gorgana‘. Infolge progradierender Zuflüsse wurde die einstige Seefläche in kleinere Seen fragmentiert. Dies dauerte bis zu den Trockenlegungsmaßnahmen in den 1960er Jahren an. Somit ist die Verlandung zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt, zumindest theoretisch, noch nicht abgeschlossen. Die Ausprägung des rezenten Flussbettes der Donau begann spätestens mit der Verlandung des Paläosees, genaue chronologische Angaben sind jedoch anhand der aktuellen Datenlage nicht möglich. Auf der Grundlage geochemischer Untersuchungen geben die Sedimente des Paläosees ‚Lacul Gorgana‘ Hinweise auf alternierende Bedingungen bezüglich aerober und anaerober Akkumulationsmilieus. Dabei sind die aeroben Abschnitte durch einen höheren Anteil klastischen Materials, einem niedrigeren Anteil organischen Materials und allgemein helleren Sedimenten gegenüber den anaeroben, allgemein dunkleren Abschnitten gekennzeichnet. Die Gesamtheit der sedimentologischen Befunde, und der Vergleich mit Untersuchungen anderer Autoren in benachbarten Einzugsgebieten legen nahe, dass das alternierende Seemilieu in erster Linie durch Variationen der klimatischen Bedingungen im Einzugsgebiet der Donau verursacht wurde. Diese Variationen führten zur Veränderung der Stärke von Erosion und dem Charakter des erodierten Materials. Der hohe, zeitlich begrenzte Eintrag organisch gebundenen Phosphates in Bereichen der unteren Dunklen Lage, welcher weitestgehend zeitgleich zur neolithischen und kupferzeitlichen Besiedlung akkumuliert wurde und mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit zu einer Eutrophierung des ‚Lacul Gorganas‘ führte, lässt sich vermutlich durch die menschliche Besiedlung der Uferzone des Sees in diesem Zeitraum erklären. Im Verlauf der Untersuchungen im Einzugsgebiet erwies sich der ‚Regionalisierungsansatz‘ als effektives und unabdingbares Werkzeug bei der Differenzierung der Seegenese. Diese Methode dient der Relativierung bzw. Abschätzung der raumzeitlichen Heterogenität des Akkumulationsmilieus anhand des Vergleiches von Sedimentstratigraphien bzw. Sedimentbohrkernen von unterschiedlichen Standorten innerhalb des Paläosees. So konnten die alternierenden Milieubedingungen innerhalb der Seesedimente deutlich als allgemeine und nicht nur als lokale Eigenschaft einzelner Bereiche des Paläosees Lacul Gorgana identifiziert werden. Daneben zeigte die Regionalisierung, dass die aeroben Bereiche nicht nur durch einen erhöhten klastischen Eintrag gekennzeichnet sind, sondern dass dieser auch in Richtung des nördlichen Litorals zunimmt. Dies spricht für eine Herkunft des Materials aus dieser Richtung und erlaubt eine räumlich differenzierte Betrachtung der Seegenese. Darüber hinaus ermöglicht der ‚Regionalisierungsansatz‘, die räumliche Variabilität bestimmter Parameter, beispielsweise des TOC/TN Anstiegs in Richtung Litoral, zu relativieren. Diese Relativierung trägt zum besseren Verständnis spezifischer Prozessabläufe bei. Während der Untersuchung wurde ebenfalls deutlich, dass das Geoarchiv Seesediment eine Vielzahl verschiedenster Signale unterschiedlichster Genese aus dem Einzugsgebiet und dem Gewässermilieu selbst als Proxy-Information speichert. Die Überlagerung dieser Signale innerhalb der Sedimentstratigraphie erschwert mitunter die Identifikation einzelner Prozesse oder Prozesskaskaden. In diesem Zusammenhang erweist sich der ‚Regionalisierungsansatz‘ erneut als sinnvolles Hilfsmittel, da über diesen eine Signaldifferenzierung erfolgen kann, unter der Annahme, dass es eher unwahrscheinlich ist, dass alle Signale in allen Bereichen des Milieus in gleicher Intensität vorliegen. Gerade für die Untersuchung sowohl allochthoner als auch autochthoner Ereignissedimentation ist jedoch die Differenzierung zur ‚Hintergrundsedimentation‘ unabdingbar für ein umfassendes Prozessverständnis.
Fünf Jahre nach dem “Arabischen Frühling” ist von Aufbruchstimmung im Vorderen Orient und Nordafrika nicht mehr viel geblieben. Woran liegt das? Welchen Anteil haben die Europäer daran? Und was sollte die Europäische Union nun tun? Darüber sprachen wir mit Niklas Bremberg, Experte des Schwedischen Instituts für Internationale Beziehungen für die EU-Politik im Mittelmeerraum.
Tertium datur, heißt hier „es gibt einen dritten Weg.“ Damit meinen die Politikwissenschaftlerin Ulrike Guérot und der östereichische Schriftsteller Robert Menasse in ihrem kürzlich in Le Monde diplomatique erschienenen Artikel den Weg Europas aus der Flüchtlingskrise. Der vorgeschlagene Ansatz könnte heftige Debatten auslösen, wenn weder Repression noch laissez-faire mehr funktionieren, Wohlstand und Sattheit endgültig der Panik weichen. Und warum sollten wir den Rechtspopulisten die Initiative bei der Entwicklung neuer gesellschaftlicher Konzepte überlassen?? In ihrem Artikel fordern Guérot und Menasse: Nicht Grenzen zu, nicht Grenzen auf, sondern Grenzen weg und her mit den Menschen! Flüchtlinge sollen im Sinne Immanuel Kants als Weltgäste willkommen geheißen werden, und sie sollen bei uns, in den Gastländern ihre eigenen Städte nachbauen. Soziologisch gesehen führten viele sich frei entwickelnde Parallelgesellschaften zu einem produktiveren Miteinander als Stigmatisierung, Integrationskurse und nach drei Jahren mögliche Abschiebung, so die Autoren...
Vielerorts machen sich Sorgen breit: Was bedeutet die Flüchtlingskrise für Europa? Wie geht es weiter im syrischen Bürgerkrieg? Wie lässt sich der Hunger in Afrika - derzeit verstärkt durch El Niño - bekämpfen? Und welche Rolle kann Deutschland spielen? Antworten gibt der erfahrene schwedische Spitzendiplomat und frühere Vizepräsident der Weltbank, Mats Karlsson, im Bretterblog-Interview.
Background: The impact of climate change on public health may occur through a number of main pathways including increased temperature, ground-level ozone levels and ultra-violet radiation, which have a range of consequences for human health. One strategy for adaptation to the predicted effects of climate change on health that has been proposed, is to ‘green’ urban areas, essentially by increasing the abundance and cover of vegetation. This protocol is for an update of a systematic review which aimed to address the question: How effective is ‘greening’ of urban areas in reducing human exposure to ground-level ozone concentrations, UV exposure and the ‘urban heat island effect’?
Methods: A sensitive search of multiple databases and relevant journals for relevant published articles will be conducted. A search for relevant unpublished articles will be undertaken through an internet search and of websites of relevant organisations. Inclusion criteria will be applied at title, abstract and full-text. Repeatability checks of this screening process will be undertaken. Articles included at full-text will be critically appraised using a standardised checklist. A repeatability check will be made of this process. Pre-defined data items will be extracted from included articles. If appropriate, quantitative synthesis will be undertaken through meta-analysis and/or a narrative synthesis will be undertaken.
Das dritte E-Book des Sicherheitspolitik-Blogs ist nun erhältlich. Es basiert auf dem Blogfokus „Salafismus in Deutschland – Herausforderungen für Politik und Gesellschaft“ und wurde von Janusz Biene und Julian Junk herausgegeben. Es ist als Druckversion zu kaufen oder kann kostenlos als PDF heruntergeladen werden.
A short while ago, an interested reader inquired about one of my articles on the topic of jihad and terrorism. I am thankful for the inspiring question. The reader asked me to clarify why there seems to be no difference between terrorism and jihad nowadays, and why this boundary has disappeared in debates by many people in the social media and in other places...
Dies ist der 22. Artikel unseres Blogfokus „Salafismus in Deutschland“. Die Beiträge der Blogserie „Salafismus in Deutschland – Herausforderungen für Politik und Gesellschaft“ beschäftigten sich pointiert mit den gesellschaftlich, politisch, wissenschaftlich und medial wichtigsten Aspekten der salafistischen Glaubenslehre, Ideologie und Bewegung. Sie betonten die vielen Schattierungen dieser sich beständig im Wandel befindlichen Phänomene, wagten den Blick über den deutschen Tellerrand hinaus und formulierten Handlungsempfehlungen für Politik, Medien, Wissenschaft und Zivilgesellschaft. Obwohl es einige blinde Flecken vor allem in der empirischen Forschung zu Salafismus und Dschihadismus gibt (siehe unter anderem den Beitrag von Riem Spielhaus), ist es offensichtlich, dass nicht nur ein Erkenntnisproblem, sondern ein Umsetzungsproblem besteht: es gibt sehr viel grundlegendes Wissen, welches aber nicht in konkrete Handlungen übersetzt wird und oft in „Inseln des Wissens“ verharrt. Dies bezieht sich auf zweierlei: erstens auf die Gestaltung eines nur in seiner Gegenseitigkeit produktiven Wissenstransfers zwischen Wissenschaft und Praxis und zweitens auf eine sinnvolle Priorisierung politischer Steuerungsmaßnahmen....
Within the framework of the Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP), initiated by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), we contributed to a comprehensive baseline assessment of transboundary aquifers (TBAs) by quantifying different groundwater indicators using the global water resources and water use model WaterGAP 2.2. All indicators were computed under current (2010) and projected conditions in 2030 and 2050 for 91 selected TBAs larger than 20,000 km2 and for each nation’s share of the TBAs (TBA-CU: country unit). TBA outlines were provided by the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC). The set of indicators comprises groundwater recharge, groundwater depletion, per-capita groundwater recharge, dependency on groundwater, population density, and groundwater development stress (groundwater withdrawals to groundwater recharge). Only the latter four indicators were projected to 2030 and 2050. Current-state indicators were quantified using the Watch Forcing Data climate dataset, while projections were based on five climate scenarios that were computed by five global climate models for the high-emissions scenario RCP 8.5. Water use projections were based on the Shared Socio-economic Pathway SSP2 developed within ISI-MIP. Furthermore, two scenarios of future irrigated areas were explored. For individual water use sectors, the fraction of groundwater abstraction was assumed to remain at the current level.
According to our assessment, aquifers with the highest current groundwater depletion rates worldwide are not transboundary. Exceptions are the Neogene Aquifer System (Syria) with 53 mm/yr between 2000 and 2009 and the Indus River Plain aquifer (India) with 28 mm/yr. For current conditions, we identified 20 out of 258 TBA-CUs suffering from medium to very high groundwater development stress, which are located in the Middle East and North Africa region, in South Asia, China, and the USA. Considering projections, ensemble means of per-cent changes or percent point changes to current conditions were determined. Per-capita groundwater recharge is projected to decrease in 80-90% of all TBA-CUs until 2030/2050. Due to the strongly varying projections of the global climate models, we applied a worst-case scenario approach to define future hotspots of groundwater development stress, taking into account the strongest computed increase until either 2030 or 2050 among all scenarios and individual GCMs. Based on this approach, the number of TBA-CUs under at least medium groundwater development stress increases from 20 to 58, comprising all hotspots under current conditions. New hotspots are projected to develop mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa, China, and Mexico.
Abstract: Understanding the structure and dynamics of cortical connectivity is vital to understanding cortical function. Experimental data strongly suggest that local recurrent connectivity in the cortex is significantly non-random, exhibiting, for example, above-chance bidirectionality and an overrepresentation of certain triangular motifs. Additional evidence suggests a significant distance dependency to connectivity over a local scale of a few hundred microns, and particular patterns of synaptic turnover dynamics, including a heavy-tailed distribution of synaptic efficacies, a power law distribution of synaptic lifetimes, and a tendency for stronger synapses to be more stable over time. Understanding how many of these non-random features simultaneously arise would provide valuable insights into the development and function of the cortex. While previous work has modeled some of the individual features of local cortical wiring, there is no model that begins to comprehensively account for all of them. We present a spiking network model of a rodent Layer 5 cortical slice which, via the interactions of a few simple biologically motivated intrinsic, synaptic, and structural plasticity mechanisms, qualitatively reproduces these non-random effects when combined with simple topological constraints. Our model suggests that mechanisms of self-organization arising from a small number of plasticity rules provide a parsimonious explanation for numerous experimentally observed non-random features of recurrent cortical wiring. Interestingly, similar mechanisms have been shown to endow recurrent networks with powerful learning abilities, suggesting that these mechanism are central to understanding both structure and function of cortical synaptic wiring.
Author Summary: The problem of how the brain wires itself up has important implications for the understanding of both brain development and cognition. The microscopic structure of the circuits of the adult neocortex, often considered the seat of our highest cognitive abilities, is still poorly understood. Recent experiments have provided a first set of findings on the structural features of these circuits, but it is unknown how these features come about and how they are maintained. Here we present a neural network model that shows how these features might come about. It gives rise to numerous connectivity features, which have been observed in experiments, but never before simultaneously produced by a single model. Our model explains the development of these structural features as the result of a process of self-organization. The results imply that only a few simple mechanisms and constraints are required to produce, at least to the first approximation, various characteristic features of a typical fragment of brain microcircuitry. In the absence of any of these mechanisms, simultaneous production of all desired features fails, suggesting a minimal set of necessary mechanisms for their production.
Islamic State (IS), previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has shown nothing but destruction, chaos and sectarianism. Through terror strategies, they rapidly spread over great parts of eastern Syria and north and central Iraq. Their new recruits came from all over the world, but mainly from Islamic countries. Arab countries had the biggest share of recruits. While IS was assembling supporters and sympathisers, Sunni Clergymen constantly called for ‘material and moral’ support to the Syrian rebels, and accordingly, thousands of foreign fighters flooded into Syria for Jihad. According to a Soufan Group research in 2014 on the foreign fighters in Syria, it is estimated that the highest number of foreign fighters came from Tunisia (about 3,000), Saudi Arabia (about 2,500), Morocco (about 1,500), Russia (about 800), France (700), Turkey and the United Kingdom (about 400 each). These numbers exclude the Syrians and Iraqis who are already in IS...
This thesis contributes to the field of machine learning with a specific focus on the methods for learning relations between the inputs. Learning relationships between images is the most common primitive in vision. There are many vision tasks in which relationships across images play an important role. Some of them are motion estimation, activity recognition, stereo vision, multi-view geometry and visual odometry. Many of such tasks mainly depend on motion and disparity cues, which are inferred based on the relations across multiple image pairs. The approaches presented in this thesis mainly deal with, but are not limited to, learning of the representations for motion and depth. This thesis by articles consists of five articles which present relational feature learning models along with their applications in computer vision. In the first article, we present an approach for encoding motion in videos. To this end, we show that the detection of spatial transformations can be viewed as detection of coincidence or synchrony between the given sequence of frames and a sequence of features which are related by the transformation we wish to detect. Learning to detect synchrony is possible by introducing "multiplicative interactions'' into the hidden units of single layered sparse coding models.
We show that the learned motion representations employed for the task of activity recognition achieve competitive performance on multiple benchmarks. Stereo vision is an important challenge in computer vision and useful for many applications in that field. In the second article, we extend the energy based learning models, which were previously used for motion encoding, to the context of depth perception. Given the common architecture of the models for encoding motion and depth, we show that it is possible to define a single model for learning a unified representation for both the cues. Our experimental results show that learning a combined representation for depth and motion makes it possible to achieve state-of-the-art performance at the task of 3-D activity analysis, and to perform better than the existing hand-engineered 3-D motion features. Autoencoder is a popular unsupervised learning method for learning efficient encoding for a given set of data samples. Typically, regularized autoencoders which are used to learn over-complete and sparse representations for the input data, were shown to fail on intrinsically high dimensional data like videos. In the third article, we investigate the reason for such a behavior. It can be observed that the regularized autoencoders typically learn negative hidden unit biases. We show that the learning of negative biases is the result of hidden units being responsible for both the sparsity and the representation of the input data. It is shown that, as a result, the behavior of the model resembles clustering methods which would require exponentially large number of features to model intrinsically high dimensional data. Based on this understanding, we propose a new activation function which decouples the roles of hidden layer and uses linear encoding. This allows to learn representations on data with very high intrinsic dimensionality. We also show that gating connections in the bi-linear models and the single layer models from articles one and two of this thesis can be thought of as a way to attain a linear encoding scheme which allows them to learn good representations on videos. Visual odometry is the task of inferring egomotion of a moving object from visual information such as images and videos. It can primarily be used for the task of localization and has many applications in the fields of robotics and navigation. The work in article four was motivated by the idea of using deep learning techniques, which are successful methods for many vision tasks, for visual odometry. The visual odometry task mainly requires inference of motion and depth information from visual input which can then be mapped to velocity and change in direction. We use relational feature models presented in the articles one and two for inferring a combined motion and depth representation from stereo video sequences. The combined representation is then mapped to discrete velocity and change in direction labels using convolutional neural networks. Our approach is an end-to-end deep learning-based architecture which uses a single type of computational model and learning rule. Preliminary results show that the architecture is capable of learning the mapping from input video to egomotion. Activity recognition is a challenging computer vision task with many real world applications. It is well know that it is a hard task to use computer vision research for real-time applications. In the fifth article of this thesis, we present a real-time activity recognition system based on deep learning based methods. Our approach uses energy based relational feature learning models for the computation of local motion features directly from videos. A bag-of-words over the local motion features is used for the analysis of activity in a given video sequence. We implement this system on a distributed computational platform and demonstrate its performance on the iCub robot. Using GPUs we demonstrate real time performance which makes the deployment of activity recognition systems in real world scenarios possible.
Background: Prions and amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers trigger neurodegeneration by hijacking a poorly understood cellular signal mediated by the prion protein (PrP) at the plasma membrane. In early zebrafish embryos, PrP-1-dependent signals control cell-cell adhesion via a tyrosine phosphorylation-dependent mechanism.
Results: Here we report that the Src family kinases (SFKs) Fyn and Yes act downstream of PrP-1 to prevent the endocytosis and degradation of E-cadherin/β-catenin adhesion complexes in vivo. Accordingly, knockdown of PrP-1 or Fyn/Yes cause similar zebrafish gastrulation phenotypes, whereas Fyn/Yes expression rescues the PrP-1 knockdown phenotype. We also show that zebrafish and mouse PrPs positively regulate the activity of Src kinases and that these have an unexpected positive effect on E-cadherin-mediated cell adhesion. Interestingly, while PrP knockdown impairs β-catenin adhesive function, PrP overexpression enhances it, thereby antagonizing its nuclear, wnt-related signaling activity and disturbing embryonic dorsoventral specification. The ability of mouse PrP to influence these events in zebrafish embryos requires its neuroprotective, polybasic N-terminus but not its neurotoxicity-associated central region. Remarkably, human Aβ oligomers up-regulate the PrP-1/SFK/E-cadherin/β-catenin pathway in zebrafish embryonic cells, mimicking a PrP gain-of-function scenario.
Conclusions: Our gain- and loss-of-function experiments in zebrafish suggest that PrP and SFKs enhance the cell surface stability of embryonic adherens junctions via the same complex mechanism through which they over-activate neuroreceptors that trigger synaptic damage. The profound impact of this pathway on early zebrafish development makes these embryos an ideal model to study the cellular and molecular events affected by neurotoxic PrP mutations and ligands in vivo. In particular, our finding that human Aβ oligomers activate the zebrafish PrP/SFK/E-cadherin pathway opens the possibility of using fish embryos to rapidly screen for novel therapeutic targets and compounds against prion- and Alzheimer's-related neurodegeneration. Altogether, our data illustrate PrP-dependent signals relevant to embryonic development, neuronal physiology and neurological disease.
Five books I liked in 2015
(2016)
Here are five books I read in 2015 that I particularly liked. Expect an eclectic mix of fiction and non-fiction, and not necessarily social-sciency. Although I tend to pick those books that end up having some social science-stuff / politics in them without explicitly looking for it. That, and books about spaceships...
Constitutionalization beyond the nation state can be observed as an evolutionary process that leads in two quite different directions: (1) constitutions evolve in transnational political processes outside the nation state; (2) simulta-neously, constitutions evolve outside international politics in global society’s ‘private’ sectors. What, however, is the specifically societal element in societal constitutionalism? This is currently the object of a controversy regarding the subjects of non-state constitutions, their origin, their legitimization, their scope, and their internal structures. This article interprets the controversy as a theme with a number of variations. What is the distinctive ‘compositional principle’ in each particular variation? Which problems become evident in its ‘development’? What are its most valuable ‘motifs’? The article starts with David Sciulli’s theme of societal constitutionalism. Then it presents six variations on Sciulli. In a first group, constitutionalization is perceived as the expansion of a single rationality into all spheres of society. In a second group, the motif of the unity of the consti-tution can still be heard, despite the essential pluralism of societal constitution-alism. In the final movement, three further variations will then reprise and devel-op further the most important motifs, in a resumption of the original theme.
„Wir sind im Krieg mit Russland.“ Diese gleichermaßen lakonische wie wuchtige Bewertung des Journalisten Jan-Philipp Hein lässt den Leser unwillkürlich zusammenzucken, klingt sie doch wie ein aus der Zeit gefallenes Zitat einer längst überwundenen Ost-West-Konfrontation. Zudem erscheint sie verstörend irreal, da die sich in den Vordergrund drängenden aktuellen sicherheitspolitischen Herausforderungen wie islamistischer Terrorismus, anhaltend große (und vielfach unkontrollierte) Flüchtlingsströme und eng damit verknüpft ein Erstarken rechtsextremistischer Kräfte in den vergangenen Monaten die gesamte Aufmerksamkeit zu absorbieren schienen...
Schätzwerte mittelfristiger Gleichgewichtszinsen mit der Methode nach Laubach und Williams (2003) werden inzwischen vielfach in der Diskussion um die Geld- und Fiskalpolitik zitiert. Unter anderem wurden sie von Summers (2014a) als Evidenz für eine säkulare Stagnation angeführt und von Yellen (2015) zur Rechtfertigung der Nullzinspolitik verwendet. In diesem Papier nehmen wir eine umfangreiche Untersuchung und Sensitivitätsanalyse dieser Schätzwerte für die Vereinigten Staaten, Deutschland und den Euro-Raum vor. Aufgrund der hohen Unsicherheit und Sensitivität, die mit den Schätzwerten mittelfristiger Gleichgewichtszinsen mit der Laubach-Williams-Methode und ähnlichen Ansätzen verbunden ist, sollten diese Schätzungen nicht den Ausschlag für entscheidende Weichenstellungen in der Geld- und Fiskalpolitik geben.
Epigenetic marks critically control gene expression and thus the cellular activity state. The functions of many epigenetic modifiers in the vascular system have not yet been studied. We screened for histone modifiers in endothelial cells and observed a fairly high expression of the histone plant homeodomain finger protein 8 (PHF8). Given its high expression, we hypothesize that this histone demethylase is important for endothelial cell function. Overexpression of PHF8 catalyzed the removal of methyl-groups from histone 3 lysine 9 (H3K9) and H4K20, whereas knockdown of the enzyme increased H3K9 methylation. Knockdown of PHF8 by RNAi also attenuated endothelial proliferation and survival. As a functional readout endothelial migration and tube formation was studied. PHF8 siRNA attenuated the capacity for migration and developing of capillary-like structures. Given the impact of PHF8 on cell cycle genes, endothelial E2F transcription factors were screened, which led to the identification of the gene repressor E2F4 to be controlled by PHF8. Importantly, PHF8 maintains E2F4 but not E2F1 expression in endothelial cells. Consistently, chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed that PHF8 reduces the H3K9me2 level at the E2F4 transcriptional start site, demonstrating a direct function of PHF8 in endothelial E2F4 gene regulation. Conclusion: PHF8 by controlling E2F4 expression maintains endothelial function.
Introduction: Interferon alpha (IFNα) is routinely used in the clinical practice for adjuvant systemic melanoma therapy. Understanding the molecular mechanism of IFNα effects and prediction of response in the IFNα therapy regime allows initiation and continuation of IFNα treatment for responder and exclusion of non-responder to avoid therapy inefficacy and side-effects. The transporter protein associated with antigen processing-1 (TAP1) is part of the MHC class I peptide-loading complex, and important for antigen presentation in tumor and antigen presenting cells. In the context of personalized medicine, we address this potential biomarker TAP1 as a target of IFNα signalling.
Results: We could show that IFNα upregulates TAP1 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with malignant melanoma receiving adjuvant high-dose immunotherapy. IFNα also induced expression of TAP1 in mouse blood and tumor tissue and suppressed the formation of melanoma metastasis in an in vivo B16 tumor model. Besides its expression, TAP binding affinity and transport activity is induced by IFNα in human monocytic THP1 cells. Furthermore, our data revealed that IFNα clearly activates phosphorylation of STAT1 and STAT3 in THP1 and A375 melanoma cells. Inhibition of Janus kinases abrogates the IFNα-induced TAP1 expression. These results suggest that the JAK/STAT pathway is a crucial mediator for TAP1 expression elicited by IFNα treatment.
Conclusion: We suppose that silencing of TAP1 expression provides tumor cells with a mechanism to escape cytotoxic T-lymphocyte recognition. The observed benefit of IFNα treatment could be mediated by the shown dual effect of TAP1 upregulation in antigen presenting cells on the one hand, and of TAP1 upregulation in ‘silent’ metastatic melanoma cells on the other hand. In conclusion, this work contributes to a better understanding of the mode of action of IFNα which is essential to identify markers to predict, assess and monitor therapeutic response of IFNα treatment in the future.
The swine plasma metabolome chronicles "many days" biological timing and functions linked to growth
(2016)
The paradigm of chronobiology is based almost wholly upon the daily biological clock, or circadian rhythm, which has been the focus of intense molecular, cellular, pharmacological, and behavioral, research. However, the circadian rhythm does not explain biological timings related to fundamental aspects of life history such as rates of tissue/organ/body size development and control of the timing of life stages such as gestation length, age at maturity, and lifespan. This suggests that another biological timing mechanism is at work. Here we focus on a "many days" (multidien) chronobiological period first observed as enigmatic recurring growth lines in developing mammalian tooth enamel that is strongly associate with all adult tissue, organ, and body masses as well as life history attributes such as gestation length, age at maturity, weaning, and lifespan, particularly among the well studied primates. Yet, knowledge of the biological factors regulating the patterning of mammalian life, such as the development of body size and life history structure, does not exist. To identify underlying molecular mechanisms we performed metabolome and genome analyses from blood plasma in domestic pigs. We show that blood plasma metabolites and small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) drawn from 33 domestic pigs over a two-week period strongly oscillate on a 5-day multidien rhythm, as does the pig enamel rhythm. Metabolomics and genomics pathway analyses actually reveal two 5-day rhythms, one related to growth in which biological functions include cell proliferation, apoptosis, and transcription regulation/protein synthesis, and another 5-day rhythm related to degradative pathways that follows three days later. Our results provide experimental confirmation of a 5-day multidien rhythm in the domestic pig linking the periodic growth of enamel with oscillations of the metabolome and genome. This association reveals a new class of chronobiological rhythm and a snapshot of the biological bases that regulate mammalian growth, body size, and life history.
In the last decades, natural products from lichens have gained more interest for pharmaceutical application due to the broad range of their biological activity. However, isolation of the compounds of interest directly from the lichen is neither feasible nor sustainable due to slow growth of many lichens. In order to develop a pipeline for heterologous expression of lichen biosynthesis gene clusters and thus the sustainable production of their bioactive compounds we have identified and characterized the phosphopantheteinyl transferase (PPTase) EppA from the lichen Evernia prunastri. The Sfp-type PPTase EppA was functionally characterized through heterologous expression in E. coli using the production of the blue pigment indigoidine as readout and by complementation of a lys5 deletion in S. cerevisiae.
Background: In vertebrates, several anatomical regions located within the nasal cavity mediate olfaction. Among these, the main olfactory epithelium detects most conventional odorants. Olfactory sensory neurons, provided with cilia exposed to the air, detect volatile chemicals via an extremely large family of seven-transmembrane chemoreceptors named odorant receptors. Their genes are expressed in a monogenic and monoallelic fashion: a single allele of a single odorant receptor gene is transcribed in a given mature neuron, through a still uncharacterized molecular mechanism known as odorant receptor gene choice.
Aim: Odorant receptor genes are typically arranged in genomic clusters, but a few are isolated (we call them solitary) from the others within a region broader than 1 Mb upstream and downstream with respect to their transcript's coordinates. The study of clustered genes is problematic, because of redundancy and ambiguities in their regulatory elements: we propose to use the solitary genes as simplified models to understand odorant receptor gene choice.
Procedures: Here we define number and identity of the solitary genes in the mouse genome (C57BL/6J), and assess the conservation of the solitary status in some mammalian orthologs. Furthermore, we locate their putative promoters, predict their homeodomain binding sites (commonly present in the promoters of odorant receptor genes) and compare candidate promoter sequences with those of wild-caught mice. We also provide expression data from histological sections.
Results: In the mouse genome there are eight intact solitary genes: Olfr19 (M12), Olfr49, Olfr266, Olfr267, Olfr370, Olfr371, Olfr466, Olfr1402; five are conserved as solitary in rat. These genes are all expressed in the main olfactory epithelium of three-day-old mice. The C57BL/6J candidate promoter of Olfr370 has considerably varied compared to its wild-type counterpart. Within the putative promoter for Olfr266 a homeodomain binding site is predicted. As a whole, our findings favor Olfr266 as a model gene to investigate odorant receptor gene choice.
Introduction: The Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) was established for the prehospital trauma care of patients. Improved rescue times and increased coverage areas are discussed as specific advantages of HEMS. We recently found evidence that HEMS exerts beneficial effects on outcomes for severely injured patients. However, it still remains unknown which group of trauma patients might benefit most from HEMS rescue. Consequently, the unique aim of this study was to reveal which patients might benefit most from HEMS rescue.
Methods: Trauma patients (ISS ≥9) primarily treated by HEMS or ground emergency medical services (GEMS) between 2002 and 2012 were analysed using the TraumaRegister DGU. A multivariate regression analysis was used to reveal the survival benefit between different trauma populations.
Results: The study included 52 281 trauma patients. Of these, 68.8% (35 974) were rescued by GEMS and 31.2% (16 307) by HEMS. HEMS patients were more severely injured compared to GEMS patients (ISS: HEMS 24.8±13.5 vs. GEMS 21.7±18.0) and more frequently suffered traumatic shock (SBP sys <90mmHg: HEMS 18.3% vs. GEMS 14.8%). However, logistic regression analysis revealed that HEMS rescues resulted in an overall survival benefit compared to GEMS (OR 0.81, 95% CI [0.75–0.87], p<0.001, Nagelkerke's R squared 0.526, area under the ROC curve 0.922, 95% CI [0.919–0.925]). Analysis of specific subgroups demonstrated that patients aged older than 55 years (OR 0.62, 95% CI [0.50–0.77]) had the highest survival benefit after HEMS treatment. Furthermore, HEMS rescue had the most significant impact after ‘low falls’ (OR 0.68, 95% CI [0.55–0.84]) and in the case of minor severity injuries (ISS 9–15) (OR 0.66, 95% CI [0.49–0.88]).
Conclusions: In general, trauma patients benefit from HEMS rescue with in-hospital survival as the main outcome parameter. Focusing on special subgroups, middle aged and older patients, low-energy trauma, and minor severity injuries had the highest survival benefit when rescued by HEMS. Further studies are required to determine the potential reasons of this benefit.
This paper investigates the potential implications of say on pay on management remuneration in Germany. We try to shed light on some key aspects by presenting quantitative data that allows us to gauge the pertinent effects of the German natural experiment that originates with the 2009 amendments to the Stock Corporation Act of 1965. In order to do this, we deploy a hand-collected data set for Germany's major firms (i.e. DAX 30), for the years 2006-2012. Rather than focusing exclusively on CEO remuneration we collected data for all members of the management board for the whole period under investigation. We observe that the compensation packages of management board members of Germany's DAX30-firms are quite closely linked to key performance measures. In addition, we find that salaries increase with the size of the company and that ownership concentration has no significant effect on compensation. Also, our findings suggest that the two-tier system seems to matter a lot when it comes to compensation. However, it would be misleading to state that we see no significant impact of the introduction of the German say on pay-regime. Our findings suggest that supervisory boards anticipate shareholder-behavior.
In a production economy with trade in financial markets motivated by the desire to share labor-income risk and to speculate, we show that speculation increases volatility of asset returns and investment growth, increases the equity risk premium, and reduces welfare. Regulatory measures, such as constraints on stock positions, borrowing constraints, and the Tobin tax have similar effects on financial and macroeconomic variables. Borrowing limits and a financial transaction tax improve welfare because they substantially reduce speculative trading without impairing excessively risk-sharing trades.
The old boy network: the impact of professional networks on remuneration in top executive jobs
(2016)
We investigate the impact of social networks on earnings using a dataset of over 20,000 senior executives of European and US firms. The size of an individual's network of influential former colleagues has a large positive association with current remuneration. An individual at the 75th percentile in the distribution of connections could expect to have a salary nearly 20 per cent higher than an otherwise identical individual at the median. We use a placebo technique to show that our estimates reflect the causal impact of connections and not merely unobserved individual characteristics. Networks are more weakly associated with women's remuneration than with men's. This mainly reflects an interaction between unobserved individual characteristics and firm recruitment policies. The kinds of firm that best identify and advance talented women are less likely to give them access to influential networks than are firms that do the same for the most talented men.
The dynamics of entrepreneurial careers in high-tech ventures: experience, education, and exit
(2016)
We investigate the career dynamics of high-tech entrepreneurs by analyzing the exit choice of entrepreneurs: to found another firm, to become dependently employed, or to act as a business angel. Our detailed data resting on the CrunchBase online database indicate that founders stick with entrepreneurship as a serial entrepreneur or as an angel investor only in cases where the founder (1) had experience either in founding other startups or working for a startup, (2) had a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ education, or (3) achieved substantial financial success upon a venture capital exit transaction.
This study examines the role of actual and perceived financial sophistication (i.e., financial literacy and confidence) for individuals' wealth accumulation. Using survey data from the German SAVE initiative, we find strong gender- and education-related differences in the distribution of the two variables and their effects on wealth: As financial literacy rises in formal education, whereas confidence increases in education for men but decreases for women, we observe that women become strongly underconfident with higher education, while men remain overconfident.Regarding wealth accumulation, we show that financial literacy has a positive effect that is stronger for women than for men and that is increasing (decreasing) in education for women (men). Confidence, however, supports only highly-educated men's wealth. When considering different channels for wealth accumulation, we observe that financial literacy is more important for current financial market participation, whereas confidence is more strongly associated with future-oriented financial planning. Overall, we demonstrate that highly-educated men's wealth levels benefit from their overconfidence via all financial decisions considered, but highly-educated women's financial planning suffers from their underconfidence. This may impair their wealth levels in old age.
As the financial crisis gathered momentum in 2007, the United States Federal Reserve brought its policy interest rate aggressively down from 5¼ percent in September 2007 to virtually zero by December 2008. In contrast, although facing the same economic and financial stress, the European Central Bank’s first action was to raise its policy rate in July 2008. The ECB began lowering rates only in October 2008 once near global financial meltdown left it with no choice. Thereafter, the ECB lowered rates slowly, interrupted by more hikes in April and July 2011. We use the “abnormal” increase in stock prices — the rise in the stock price index that was not predicted by the trend in the previous 20 days — to measure the market’s reaction to the announcement of the interest rate cuts. Stock markets responded favorably to the Fed interest rate cuts but, on average, they reacted negatively when the ECB cut its policy rate. The Fed’s early and aggressive rate cuts established its intention to provide significant monetary stimulus. That helped renew market optimism, consistent with the earlier economic recovery. In contrast, the ECB started building its shelter only after the storm had started. Markets interpreted even the simulative ECB actions either as “too little, too late” or as signs of bad news. We conclude that by recognizing the extraordinary nature of the circumstances, the Fed’s response not only achieved better economic outcomes but also enhanced its credibility. The ECB could have acted similarly and stayed true to its mandate. The poorer economic outcomes will damage the ECB’s long-term credibility.
Chen and Zadrozny (1998) developed the linear extended Yule-Walker (XYW) method for determining the parameters of a vector autoregressive (VAR) model with available covariances of mixed-frequency observations on the variables of the model. If the parameters are determined uniquely for available population covariances, then, the VAR model is identified. The present paper extends the original XYW method to an extended XYW method for determining all ARMA parameters of a vector autoregressive moving-average (VARMA) model with available covariances of single- or mixed-frequency observations on the variables of the model. The paper proves that under conditions of stationarity, regularity, miniphaseness, controllability, observability, and diagonalizability on the parameters of the model, the parameters are determined uniquely with available population covariances of single- or mixed-frequency observations on the variables of the model, so that the VARMA model is identified with the single- or mixed-frequency covariances.
It has been forty years since the oil crisis of 1973/74. This crisis has been one of the defining economic events of the 1970s and has shaped how many economists think about oil price shocks. In recent years, a large literature on the economic determinants of oil price fluctuations has emerged. Drawing on this literature, we first provide an overview of the causes of all major oil price fluctuations between 1973 and 2014. We then discuss why oil price fluctuations remain difficult to predict, despite economists’ improved understanding of oil markets. Unexpected oil price fluctuations are commonly referred to as oil price shocks. We document that, in practice, consumers, policymakers, financial market participants and economists may have different oil price expectations, and that, what may be surprising to some, need not be equally surprising to others.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran have been increasing recently. Although the narrative developed to describe the execution of a Saudi Shiite cleric, Nimr Al-Nimr, as a sectarian dimension of the Kingdom’s policies towards Iran, Saudi Arabia’s goals are not principally fuelling the Shiite-Sunni divide. The Saudi executions were partially an attempt by Saudi Arabia to severe ties with Iran and push the tensions forward. Lifting sanctions against Iran, coupled with oil prices plummeting to around $32 per barrel remains a frightening nightmare for the Saudis...
Pathogenicity of many microbes relies on their capacity to resist innate immunity, and to survive and persist in an immunocompetent human host microbes have developed highly efficient and sophisticated complement evasion strategies. Here we show that different human pathogens including Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, as well as the fungal pathogen Candida albicans, acquire the human terminal complement regulator vitronectin to their surface. By using truncated vitronectin fragments we found that all analyzed microbial pathogens (n = 13) bound human vitronectin via the same C-terminal heparin-binding domain (amino acids 352–374). This specific interaction leaves the terminal complement complex (TCC) regulatory region of vitronectin accessible, allowing inhibition of C5b-7 membrane insertion and C9 polymerization. Vitronectin complexed with the various microbes and corresponding proteins was thus functionally active and inhibited complement-mediated C5b-9 deposition. Taken together, diverse microbial pathogens expressing different structurally unrelated vitronectin-binding molecules interact with host vitronectin via the same conserved region to allow versatile control of the host innate immune response.
Der Aufsatz untersucht das Verhältnis von Antidiskriminierungsrecht und Diversität in der Rechtswissenschaft. Das Verhältnis der beiden Begriffe zueinander ist nicht spannungsfrei. Der Aufsatz befasst sich näher mit der Frage, wie Gleichheit zu verstehen ist und stellt zwei Modelle zum Verständnis von Gleichheit vor: Differenzierungsverbot und Dominierungsverbot. Im Vergleich erweist sich ein Verständnis als Dominierungsverbot wesentlich leistungsfähiger als eine Deutung als Differenzierungsverbot, jedenfalls wenn es um komplexere Formen von Benachteiligung geht.
Im Anschluss wird erörtert, welche Faktoren die Leistungsfähigkeit des Antidiskriminierungsrechts im Hochschulbereich, in dem Frauen auf höheren Positionen immer noch unterrepräsentiert sind, beeinflussen. Hierbei werden verschiedene Erklärungsansätze dargestellt und strukturelle Hürden des Antidiskriminierungsrechts aufgezeigt. Denn die Frage der Durchsetzbarkeit rechtlicher Normen ist ein zentrales Thema für die praktische Wirksamkeit von Antidiskriminierungsrecht. Insoweit ist freilich auch ein Rückgriff auf die Herstellung von Diversität wenig erfolgversprechend.
Der Islam stellt in Deutschland derzeit die größte religiöse Minderheit dar. Für ein friedliches Zusammenleben und einen Ausgleich zwischen verschiedenen Interessen, stellt das Recht wegen der Möglichkeit der Durchsetzbarkeit einen besonders wichtigen Faktor dar. Gegenstand des Aufsatzes ist die Frage, wie die deutsche Rechtsordnung mit religiösen Konflikten umgeht, inwieweit also die Interessen von Muslimen rechtlich geschützt werden. Dazu werden zunächst die verfassungsrechtlichen Maßstäbe zur Religionsfreiheit darge-stellt und die zentralen Kritikpunkte an der bisher ausgesprochen religionsfreundlichen Rechtsprechung analysiert. Sodann wird die Bedeutung dieser Maßstäbe für drei Einzelfragen näher betrachtet. Behandelt werden zum einen Konfliktfelder durch Religionsausübung in der Schule: das freiwillige Gebet von Schülern in Unterrichtspausen, die Befreiung vom Schwimmunterricht sowie die Kopftuchdebatte. Zum anderen werden die Fragestellungen erörtert, ob und inwieweit Scharia vor deutschen Gerichten Anwendung findet und ob und inwieweit sich innerhalb Deutschlands eine Paralleljustiz entwickelt. Abschließend befasst sich der Aufsatz mit der Beschneidung minderjähriger Jungen aus religiösen Gründen. Dieses Thema hat durch ein Urteil des LG Köln aus dem Jahre 2012 politische Aufmerksamkeit erlangt und schnelle Reaktionen des Gesetzgebers ausgelöst.
Rechtsvergleichend wird betrachtet, wem in Deutschland und den USA das Recht zu wählen zusteht. Es wird dargestellt, dass die gleichheitsrechtlich begründete Ausdehnung des Wahlrechts auf früher exkludierte Personengruppen keine lineare Fortschrittsgeschichte ist.
Der Kampf um das Wahlrecht in den USA war weitgehend Teil des Kampfes gegen Rassendiskriminierung. Änderungen des Wahlrechts in bestimmten Einzelstaaten der USA stellen einen erheblichen Rückschritt im Hinblick auf die Allgemeinheit der Wahl dar, da sie Verschärfungen mit sich bringen, die ohnehin schon benachteiligte Bevölkerungsgruppen faktisch vom Wahlrecht ausschließen.
Auch in Deutschland war es ein langwieriger Prozess, bis sich die Allgemeinheit der Wahl durchsetzte. Aber auch in Deutschland ist die Allgemeinheit der Wahl noch in mehrfacher Hin-sicht beschränkt. Insbesondere die Einschränkungen des Wahlrechts für Strafgefangene wie auch das Wahlrecht für Auslandsdeutsche sind verfassungsrechtliche sehr problematisch. Auch Reformvorschläge, wie etwa die Einführung eines Kinderwahlrechts, treuhänderisch durch die Eltern ausgeübt, sind verfassungsrechtlich äußerst bedenklich.
Essayistisch setzt sich diese Kolumne mit der Bevölkerungspolitik auseinander. Die Geburtenrate und die Angst vor dem Bevölkerungsschwund sind zu einem wesentlichen Thema im medialen und politischen Tagesgeschehen geworden. Die Sorge um den ausbleibenden Nachwuchs führt zu Forderungen, dass der Staat zur Erhöhung der Geburtenrate tätig werden müsse im Sinne einer obligatorischen Staatsaufgabe, z.B. um die Sozialsysteme zu sichern. Doch die Steigerung der Geburtenrate ist kein legitimes staatliches Ziel. Die grundrechtliche Freiheit der Eltern verlangt, dass der Staat sich eines Einflusses enthält und keine Anreize zum Kinderbekommen setzt. Familienförderung hat lediglich dafür zu sorgen, dass die Bedingungen für die bereits bestehenden Familien adäquat sind und muss sich als „Ausgleich“ für (finanzielle) Lasten deuten lassen. Einige Förderungsmittel sind kritisch zu be-trachten, da sie überproportional relativ wohlhabenden Familien zugutekommen sowie Anreize setzen, viele Kinder zu bekommen - durch die Anrechnung auf Sozialleistungen jedoch nicht bei armen Familien. Die Veränderung in der Bevölkerungsentwicklung wird Folgen haben, die sich nicht durch eine rückwärtsgewandte, allein an der Steigerung der Geburtenrate orientierte Politik verhindern lassen. Stattdessen ist es an der Zeit, die notwendigen Anpassungsprozesse anzugehen und zu gestalten.
100 Jahre Fachbereich Rechtswissenschaft ist auch ein Grund, derer zu gedenken, die über eine lange Strecke dieser Zeitspanne das Bild des Fachbereichs entscheidend mitgeprägt haben, aber nicht mehr mitfeiern können. Darunter verdient ein Strafrechtsprofessor und Rechtsphilosoph besondere Hervorhebung und Würdigung. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Winfried Hassemer. Das Verständnis von der gegenseitigen Befruchtung in Theorie-Praxis-Projekten brachte Hassemer aus der akademischen Welt mit in seine hohen Staatsämter: Hessischer Datenschutzbeauftragter, Richter und Vizepräsident des Bundesverfassungsgerichts. Schließlich konnte er in der Rolle des Anwalts gleichsam als „Gegenprobe“ auch noch seine schon lange gezeigte Zuneigung zum Beruf des Strafverteidigers erleben. Der fruchtbare Dialog zwischen Theorie und Praxis setzte sich 12 Jahre lang im „Frankfurter Arbeits-Kreis Strafrecht“ („FAKS“) fort, zu dessen Gründern Hassemer gehörte. Dabei haben Strafverteidiger, Richter, Staatsanwälte, Ministerialbürokratie, Strafvollzugs und Polizeibeamte mit auch Rechtswissenschaftlern im konstruktiven Diskurs die Abstände zwischen unseren „Berufswelten“ verringert. Im Zentrum stand sein Bekenntnis, dass das staatliche Strafen ein „blutiges Geschäft“ ist, das nur als ultima ratio und auch nur dann zu rechtfertigen ist, wenn „schützende Formen“ des Verfahrensrechts strafbegrenzend wirken. Der Fachbereich Rechtswissenschaft wird auch in dem jetzt beginnenden zweiten Jahrhundert seines Bestehens das Andenken an Winfried Hassemer hoch halten.
Rechtswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen und Veranstaltungen zu internationalen Gerichten stehen häufig unter dem Titel „Internationale Streitbeilegung“. Es wäre aber viel besser, so die Leitthese dieses Beitrags, solche Texte und Veranstaltungen als „internationale Gerichtsbarkeit“ zu betiteln. Dies ist keineswegs ein bloßer Streit um Worte, da hinter diesen Alternativen unterschiedliche rechtswissenschaftliche Auffassungen stehen. Im Folgenden sei gezeigt, dass anders als die Be-zeichnung „Internationale Streitbeilegung“ suggeriert, nicht nur eine, sondern vier Funktionen die Rechtsprechung heutiger internationaler Gerichte kennzeichnen. Es handelt sich dabei um: Streitbeilegung im Einzelfall, Stabilisierung normativer Erwartungen, Rechtschöpfung sowie Kontrolle und Legitimation öffentlicher Gewalt. Die Ana-lyse dieser Funktionen zeigt, dass die Bezeichnung „Internationale Streitbeilegung“ überkommen ist. Entsprechend sollte die Bezeichnung des Fachs geändert und es als Teil des Fachs internationale Institutionen verortet werden.
Prozesse der Konstitutionalisierung jenseits des Nationalstaates ver-laufen in zwei unterschiedlichen Richtungen: in transnationalen Politikprozessen jenseits der Nationalstaatsverfassungen, gleichzeitig außerhalb der internationalen Politik in den “privaten” Sektoren der Weltgesellschaft. Die Verfassungssoziologie, die solche Prozesse analysiert, distanziert sich damit von den Verengungen des traditionellen Konstitutionalismus auf den Nationalstaat und fokussiert gesellschaftliche Verfassungen im nationalen und transnationalen Raum. Doch was ist das Gesellschaftliche im gesellschaftlichen Konstitutionalismus? Dies ist aktuell Gegenstand einer vielstimmigen Kontroverse über die Subjekte nichtstaatlicher Verfassungen, ihren Ursprung, ihre Legitimation, ihre Reichweite und ihre inneren Strukturen. Der Beitrag versteht die Kontroverse als „Thema mit Variationen“ und stellt folgende Leitfragen an die zahlreichen Variationen: Was ist in der einzelnen Variation das jeweilige „Kompositionsprinzip“? Welche Schwierigkeiten zeigen sich in dessen Durchführung? Welches sind seine aufhebenswerten Motive? In diesem Sinn wird zunächst das von David Sciulli vorgegebene Thema des gesellschaftlichen Konstitutionalismus kurz vorgestellt. Dann werden sechs Variationen in zwei unterschiedlichen Variationsreihen vorgeführt, einer ersten, die Konstitutionalisierung als Expansion einer einzigen Rationalität in alle gesellschaftlichen Bereiche versteht, einer zweiten, welche trotz der Pluralität des gesellschaftlichen Konstitutionalismus auf der Einheit der Verfassung besteht. Im Schlussteil nehmen drei weitere Variationen schließlich die Motive, die sich als aufhebenswert herausgestellt haben – Meta-Verfassung, Nomos und Narrativ, mediale Reflexivität - wieder auf und entwickeln sie weiter.
Die Globalisierung hat nicht, wie es sowohl ordoliberale als auch kritische Theorien einer globalen „economic constitution“ erwarten, eine einheitliche Weltwirtschaftsverfassung hervorgebracht, sondern eine fragmentierte Kollisionsverfassung, d.h. eine Metaverfassung von Verfassungskonflikten. Als deren kollidierende Einheiten fungieren nicht mehr die Nationalstaaten, sondern transnationale Produktionsregimes. Die von Böhm und Sinzheimer für den Nationalstaat formulierte Alternative von ordoliberaler Wirtschaftsverfassung und sozialdemokratischer Wirtschaftsdemokratie ist in der transnationalen Wirtschaftsverfassung vom Gegensatz zwischen den neokorporatistisch organisierten Produktionsregimes Kontinentaleuropas und den finanzkapitalistisch geprägten Produktionsregimes anglo-amerikanischer Prägung, abgelöst worden. Entgegen allen Voraussagen haben die neo-korporatistischen Wirtschaftsverfassungen Kontinentaleuropas trotz Globalisierung und Wirtschaftskrise eine erstaunliche Resilienz bewiesen. Einer wirtschaftsdemokratischen Konstitutionalisierung eröffnen sich hier neue Chancen dadurch, dass, wie am Beispiel der Corporate Codes gezeigt wird, unternehmensexterne gesellschaftliche Kräfte, also neben staatlichen Interventionen rechtliche Normierungen und „zivilgesellschaftliche“ Gegenmacht aus anderen Kontexten so massiven Druck auf die Unternehmen ausüben, dass sie gezwungen sind, gemeinwohlbezogene Selbstbeschränkungen aufzubauen.
The article, which summarizes key findings of my German book ‘Die Gemeinfreiheit. Begriff, Funktion, Dogmatik’ (‘The Public Domain: Theory, Func-tion, Doctrine’), asks whether there are any provisions or principles under Ger-man and EU law that protect the public domain from interference by the legisla-ture, courts and private parties. In order to answer this question, it is necessary to step out of the intellectual property (IP) system and to analyze this body of law from the outside, and – even more important – to develop a positive legal conception of the public domain as such. By giving the public domain a proper doctrinal place in the legal system, the structural asymmetry between heavily theorized and protected IP rights on the one hand and a neglected public do-main on the other is countered. The overarching normative purpose is to devel-op a framework for a balanced IP system, which can only be achieved if the public domain forms an integral part of the overall regulation of information.
Dies ist der 20. Artikel unseres Blogfokus „Salafismus in Deutschland“. Bislang haben sich über 700 junge Menschen aus Deutschland den gewaltbereiten Salafisten des IS angeschlossen. Sie haben die Bundesrepublik verlassen und sind in den Jihad gezogen. Die mediale Diskussion beschränkt sich bei der Diskussion darüber, wie dies zu verhindern sei, zumeist auf sicherheitspolitische Maßnahmen. Das sind Maßnahmen, die auf Bundes- oder Länderebene durchgeführt werden. In der Prävention von Radikalisierung spielen allerdings die Kommunen eine entscheidende Rolle. Dieser Beitrag beleuchtet die Maßnahmen, die auf kommunaler Ebene getroffen werden (sollten) – von verschiedenen Präventionsangeboten bis hin zu Chancen kommunaler Vernetzung...
Dies ist der 21. Artikel unseres Blogfokus „Salafismus in Deutschland“. Im vergangenen Jahr verloren in den westlichen Ländern so viele Menschen durch Terroranschläge islamistischer Extremisten ihr Leben wie seit dem Jahr 2001 mit dem schicksalsschweren 11. September nicht mehr. Und die Anschläge sind erneut nah an Deutschland herangerückt: Gleich zweimal wurden tödliche Anschläge in Paris verübt, Brüssel ist zu einem Hotspot des islamistischen Extremismus geworden und der vereitelte mutmaßliche Anschlag auf ein Radrennen im Raum Frankfurt hat einmal mehr die Terrorgefahr auch hierzulande verdeutlicht. Nach dieser Lesart ist der islamistische Extremismus also eine reale Bedrohung und stellt das friedliche Zusammenleben in einer offenen Gesellschaft in Frage – aber nicht nur aufgrund von Anschlagsgefahren, sondern vor allem weil sich islamistischer Extremismus und Islamfeindlichkeit gegenseitig zu gefährlichen, illiberalen Dynamiken hochschaukeln. Dieser Beitrag führt kurz in dieses Wechselspiel ein, das die offene Gesellschaft in die Zange nimmt und benennt Handlungsempfehlungen für verschiedene Akteursgruppen in Deutschland mit dem Ziel, das Fundament unserer offenen, pluralen Gesellschaftsordnung zu bewahren und zu stärken...
Introduction: For resectable soft tissue sarcoma (STS), radical surgery, usually combined with radiotherapy, is the mainstay of treatment and the only potentially curative modality. Since surgery is often complicated by large tumour size and extensive tumour vasculature, preoperative treatment strategies with the aim of devitalising the tumour are being explored. One option is treatment with antiangiogenic drugs. The multikinase inhibitor pazopanib, which possesses pronounced antiangiogenic effects, has shown activity in metastatic and unresectable STS, but has so far not been tested in the preoperative setting.
Methods and analysis: This open-label, multicentre phase II window-of-opportunity trial assesses pazopanib as preoperative treatment of resectable STS. Participants receive a 21-day course of pazopanib 800 mg daily during wait time for surgery. Major eligibility criteria are resectable, high-risk adult STS of any location, or metachronous solitary STS metastasis for which resection is planned, and adequate organ function and performance status. The trial uses an exact single-stage design. The primary end point is metabolic response rate (MRR), that is, the proportion of patients with >50% reduction of the mean standardised uptake value (SUVmean) in post-treatment compared to pre-treatment fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography CT. The MRR below which the treatment is considered ineffective is 0.2. The MRR above which the treatment warrants further exploration is 0.4. With a type I error of 5% and a power of 80%, the sample size is 35 evaluable patients, with 12 or more responders as threshold. Main secondary end points are histopathological and MRI response, resectability, toxicity, recurrence-free and overall survival. In a translational substudy, endothelial progenitor cells and vascular epithelial growth factor receptor are analysed as potential prognostic and predictive markers.
Ethics and dissemination: Approval by the ethics committee II, University of Heidelberg, Germany (2012-019F-MA), German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (61-3910-4038155) and German Federal Institute for Radiation Protection (Z5-22463/2-2012-007).
Trial registration number: NCT01543802, EudraCT: 2011-003745-18; Pre-results.
Dies ist der 19. Artikel unseres Blogfokus „Salafismus in Deutschland“. Medien sind Erfüllungsgehilfen der Salafisten. Jedes Mal wenn über eine Aktion von Salafisten berichtet wird, wird die Gruppe bekannter. Berichterstattungen machen neugierig und animieren dazu, ins Internet zu gehen. Zugleich diskreditieren Medien die Muslime. Berichte über Salafismus werfen immer auch ein schlechtes Licht auf die Religion des Islam. Nur was ist die Schlussfolgerung daraus? Sollten Medien das Phänomen besser verschweigen? Wie sollte eine verantwortliche Abwägung von Medienschaffenden aussehen? Der Beitrag geht diesen Fragen nach...
Dies ist der 18. Artikel unseres Blogfokus „Salafismus in Deutschland“. In aktuellen politischen Debatten genauso wie in wissenschaftlichen Veröffentlichungen wird häufig festgestellt, dass wir zu wenig über das Phänomen des Salafismus wissen. In der Tat: Auf empirischen Daten basierende Veröffentlichungen sind immer noch selten, während konzeptuelle und ideengeschichtliche Auseinandersetzungen mit dem salafistischen Feld in den vorhandenen Publikationen ebenso überwiegen wie die Zahlen aus Sicherheitsbehörden. Was sind die Ursachen dafür, welches Wissen benötigen wir und welche Forschungsansätze sind vielversprechend? Dieser Beitrag widmet sich diesen Fragen. Er stellt fest, dass der Salafismus fast ausschließlich als politisches Phänomen und Sicherheitsproblem und kaum in seinen religiösen und lebensweltlichen Dimensionen erforscht wird und nicht zuletzt eine methodische und konzeptuelle Standortbestimmung für die Forschung zu salafistischen Milieus geboten ist. mehr......
Effect of M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor deficiency on collagen antibody-induced arthritis
(2016)
Background: There is increasing evidence that the non-neuronal cholinergic system might be of importance for the pathology of rheumatoid arthritis. The role of M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (M3R) in this regard has, however, not been investigated to date. Thus, in the present study we analyzed if M3R deficiency might have a protective effect on experimentally induced arthritis.
Methods: Collagen antibody-induced arthritis (CAIA) was evoked in M3R-deficient (M3R −/− ) mice and wild-type (WT) littermates. Severity of arthritis was assessed by scoring of paw swelling. The joints of arthritic and nonarthritic animals were analyzed for histopathological changes regarding synovial tissue, cartilage degradation and bone destruction. Further, gene expression analysis of respective markers was performed. Systemic and local inflammatory response was determined by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry for leukocytes as well as mRNA and protein measurements for pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines.
Results: In arthritic M3R −/− mice the number of leukocytes, specifically neutrophils, was enhanced even though clinical arthritis score was not significantly different between WT and M3R −/− mice with CAIA. In M3R −/− mice, levels of neutrophil chemoattractant chemokine C-X-C-motif ligand 2 (CXCL2) as well as the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 were already strongly increased in mice with low arthritis score, whereas WT mice only showed prominent expression of these markers when reaching high arthritis scores. Furthermore, arthritic M3R −/− mice displayed a stronger degradation of collagen II in the articular cartilage and, most strikingly, histopathological evaluation revealed more severe bone destruction in arthritic mice with M3R deficiency compared to WT littermates. Moreover, in M3R −/− mice, gene expression of markers for bone degradation (matrix metalloproteinase 13, cathepsin K and receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand) was already increased in mice with low arthritis score.
Conclusions: Taken together, the present study shows that while M3R −/− mice were not protected from CAIA, they had a tendency toward a higher inflammatory response after arthritis induction than WT mice. Further, arthritis-induced joint destruction was significantly stronger in mice with M3R deficiency, indicating that stimulation of M3R might have protective effects on arthritis.
Lebenswelten anerkennen! Religion im Unterricht und die Prävention salafistischer Einstellungen
(2016)
Dies ist der 16. Artikel unseres Blogfokus „Salafismus in Deutschland“. „Darf ich als Muslim wählen?“, „Ist Augenbrauenzupfen halal?“, „Dürfen Musliminnen Halloween feiern?“ Antworten auf diese Fragen suchen junge Musliminnen und Muslime immer seltener bei ihren Eltern und Koranlehrern. Einfacher – und lebensweltnäher – ist die Suche bei „Sheikh Google“. Gerade hier dominieren allerdings oft salafistische Stimmen die Debatten und prägen somit das Religionsverständnis vieler Jugendlicher. Umso wichtiger ist es, religiöse Fragen auch im Unterricht aufzugreifen und damit alternative Foren für eine Auseinandersetzung mit Werten, Normen und Traditionen anzubieten. Dabei geht es nicht um „Religionsunterricht“, sondern um Gespräche über Themen, die Jugendliche im Alltag beschäftigen – und die für alle Jugendlichen unabhängig von Herkunft und Religionszugehörigkeit relevant sind. In der Präventionsarbeit haben sich verschiedene Ansätze bewährt, religiöse Themen in den Unterricht zu integrieren. Sie unterscheiden sich zum Teil deutlich in der Herangehensweise und Kontextualisierung. Außer in interreligiösen Zugängen werden religiöse Fragen auch in politisch-bildnerischen Ansätzen aufgegriffen....
Zwischen Banalisierung und Dramatisierung: Zum medialen Diskurs über Salafismus in Frankreich
(2016)
Dies ist der 15. Artikel unseres Blogfokus „Salafismus in Deutschland“. Seit einigen Jahren ist Salafismus in Deutschland in aller Munde. Ganz anders im Nachbarland Frankreich, wo sich der Begriff selbst nach mehreren Attentaten mit „salafistischen Hintergrund“ nicht recht durchgesetzt hat. Um diesem Paradox auf den Grund zu gehen, habe ich den Diskurs über Salafismus in der französischen Presse dahingehend untersucht, wie das Thema über die letzten zehn Jahre immer wieder eingeführt und diskutiert wurde. Zu diesem Zweck habe ich eine systematische, kontextuelle Suche der Stichworte „Salafismus“, „Salafist“ und „salafistisch“ in den Archiven der fünf (zahlungspflichtigen) französischen Zeitungen mit nationaler Ausbreitung im Zeitraum von 2005 bis 2015 durchgeführt.1 Auf diese Weise kann ein etwaiger Wandel des Begriffs nachvollzogen werden...
What’s that again? Blasphemy law? An Egyptian court sentenced the Islamic scholar and theologian Islam Al-Buhairi to one year in prison for blasphemy. Al-Buhairi was accused of insulting Islam in his TV show “With Islam Al-Buhairi” on “Al-Qahira wa Al-Nas” channel. Al-Buhairi questioned the “Islamic heritage”, which angered the Al-Azhar scholarship...
Dies ist der 17. Artikel unseres Blogfokus „Salafismus in Deutschland“. In einer Zeit, in der islamistische Gewalttaten mit einer grausamen Häufigkeit vorkommen, wird mit großer Energie und Dringlichkeit nach Lösungen gesucht, wie mit Radikalisierten umzugehen ist und wie man Radikalisierungsprozesse verhindern oder umkehren kann. Dabei tauchen schnell Begriffe wie Prävention und Deradikalisierung auf. Es ist gut und wichtig, dass konstruktive Ansätze gegen Salafismus (eine konservative Strömung des Islam) und islamische Radikalisierung an Aufmerksamkeit gewinnen. Es ist aber auch wichtig, Prävention und Deradikalisierung als untschiedliche Handlungsfelder zu betrachten, die ihre eigenen Ziele verfolgen, und mit je eigenen Herausforderungen verbunden sind. Nichtsdestotrotz, sollten ihre Überschneidungen nicht vergessen werden. In diesem Beitrag beschäftige ich mich anhand der folgenden Fragen mit dem Thema Deradikalisierung: Was ist Deradikalisierungsarbeit? Was ist (nicht) ihr Ziel? Und wer übt sie aus? Wie unterscheidet sie sich von Prävention? Was sind Bedingungen erfolgreicher Deradikalisierungsarbeit? In den Versuch, diese Fragen zu beantworten, möchte ich mit der Beschreibung zweier Situationen einsteigen...
The phenomenon of magnetism has been known to humankind for at least over 2500 years and many useful applications of magnetism have been developed since then, starting from the compass to modern information storage and processing devices. While technological applications are an important part of the continuing interest in magnetic materials, their fundamental properties are still being studied, leading to new physical insights at the forefront of physics. The magnetism of magnetic materials is a pure quantum effect due to the electrons that carry an intrinsic spin of 1/2. The physics of interacting quantum spins in magnetic insulators is the main subject of this thesis.We focus here on a theoretical description of the antiferromagnetic insulator Cs2CuCl4. This material is highly interesting because it is a nearly ideal realization of the two-dimensional antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on an anisotropic triangular lattice, where the Cu(2+) ions carry a spin of 1/2 and the spins interact via exchange couplings. Due to the geometric frustration of the triangular lattice, there exists a spin-liquid phase with fractional excitations (spinons) at finite temperatures in Cs2CuCl4. This spin-liquid phase is characterized by strong short-range spin correlations without long-range order. From an experimental point of view, Cs2CuCl4 is also very interesting because the exchange couplings are relatively weak leading to a saturation field of only B_c=8.5 T. All relevant parts of the phase diagram are therefore experimentally accessible. A recurring theme in this thesis will be the use of bosonic or fermionic representations of the spin operators which each offer in different situations suitable starting points for an approximate treatment of the spin interactions. The methods which we develop in this thesis are not restricted to Cs2CuCl4 but can also be applied to other materials that can be described by the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on a triangular lattice; one important example is the material class Cs2Cu(Cl{4-x}Br{x}) where chlorine is partially substituted by bromine which changes the strength of the exchange couplings and the degree of frustration.
Our first topic is the finite-temperature spin-liquid phase in Cs2CuCl4. We study this regime by using a Majorana fermion representation of the spin-1/2 operators motivated by theoretical and experimental evidence for fermionic excitations in this spin-liquid phase. Within a mean-field theory for the Majorana fermions, we determine the magnetic field dependence of the critical temperature for the crossover from spin-liquid to paramagnetic behavior and we calculate the specific heat and magnetic susceptibility in zero magnetic field. We find that the Majorana fermions can only propagate in one dimension along the direction of the strongest exchange coupling; this reduction of the effective dimensionality of excitations is known as dimensional reduction.
The second topic is the behavior of ultrasound propagation and attenuation in the spin-liquid phase of Cs2CuCl4, where we consider longitudinal sound waves along the direction of the strongest exchange coupling. Due to the dimensional reduction of the excitations in the spin-liquid phase, we expect that we can describe the ultrasound physics by a one-dimensional Heisenberg model coupled to the lattice degrees of freedom via the exchange-striction mechanism. For this one-dimensional problem we use the Jordan-Wigner transformation to map the spin-1/2 operators to spinless fermions. We treat the fermions within the self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation and we calculate the change of the sound velocity and attenuation as a function of magnetic field using a perturbative expansion in the spin-phonon couplings. We compare our theoretical results with experimental data from ultrasound experiments, where we find good agreement between theory and experiment.
Our final topic is the behavior of Cs2CuCl4 in high magnetic fields larger than the saturation field B_c=8.5 T. At zero temperature, Cs2CuCl4 is then fully magnetized and the ground state is therefore a ferromagnet where the excitations have an energy gap. The elementary excitations of this ferromagnetic state are spin-flips (magnons) which behave as hard-core bosons. At finite temperatures there will be thermally excited magnons that interact via the hard-core interaction and via additional exchange interactions. We describe the thermodynamic properties of Cs2CuCl4 at finite temperatures and calculate experimentally observable quantities, e.g., magnetic susceptibility and specific heat. Our approach is based on a mapping of the spin-1/2 operators to hard-core bosons, where we treat the hard-core interaction by the self-consistent ladder approximation and the exchange interactions by the self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation. We find that our theoretical results for the specific heat are in good agreement with the available experimental data.