@techreport{Buser2016, type = {Working Paper}, author = {Buser, Andreas}, title = {Colonial Injustices and the Law of State Responsibility}, series = {KFG Working Paper Series}, journal = {KFG Working Paper Series}, number = {4}, issn = {2509-3770}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42054}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-420541}, pages = {30}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Caribbean States organised in CARICOM recently brought forward reparation claims against several European States to compensate slavery and (native) genocides in the Caribbean and even threatened to approach the International Court of Justice. The paper provides for an analysis of the facts behind the CARICOM claim and asks whether the law of state responsibility is able to provide for the demanded compensation. As the intertemporal principle generally prohibits retroactive application of today's international rules, the paper argues that the complete claim must be based on the law of state responsibility governing in the time of the respective conduct. An inquiry into the history of primary (prohibition of slavery and genocide) as well as secondary rules of State responsibility reveals that both sets of rules were underdeveloped or non-existent at the times of slavery and alleged (native) genocides. Therefore, the author concludes that the CARICOM claim is legally flawed but nevertheless worth the attention as it once again exposes imperial and colonial injustices of the past and their legitimization by historical international law and international/natural lawyers.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{VasilievTarkhanov2016, author = {Vasiliev, Serguei and Tarkhanov, Nikolai Nikolaevich}, title = {Construction of series of perfect lattices by layer superposition}, volume = {5}, number = {11}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2193-6943}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-100591}, pages = {11}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We construct a new series of perfect lattices in n dimensions by the layer superposition method of Delaunay-Barnes.}, language = {en} } @article{Merkur2016, author = {Merkur, Lianne}, title = {Contentious and Communal Cultural Heritage}, series = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association of Jewish Studies [22 (2016)] = Muslim-Jewish Dialogue}, volume = {22}, journal = {PaRDeS : Journal of the Association of Jewish Studies [22 (2016)] = Muslim-Jewish Dialogue}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, isbn = {978-3-86956-370-1}, issn = {1614-6492}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-99665}, pages = {151 -- 164}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Arch{\"a}ologie kann als ein in den Prozess der Identit{\"a}tsbildung involviertes Werkzeug verstanden werden. Als solches tr{\"a}gt sie zur Schaffung von Zugeh{\"o}rigkeit und Einheit innerhalb einer vielf{\"a}ltigen Reihe von Gemeinden bei. Die Forschung wurde aufgrund des breiten Wahrnehmungsspektrums und Analysepotentials mit Absicht in der gemischten Stadt Lod in Israel durchgef{\"u}hrt. Die Autorin untersuchte die Auswirkungen des st{\"a}dtischen Kulturerbes auf die identit{\"a}re Entwicklung der j{\"u}dischen und arabischen Kinder vor Ort. Als j{\"u}ngste aktive Mitglieder der Gesellschaft in der Stadt wurden sie ausgew{\"a}hlt, um an den Grabungen der Saison 2013 im Khan al-Hilu teilzunehmen. Israel ist f{\"u}r solche Forschungen aufgrund seiner Natur, dem gleichzeitig umfangreichen Schwerpunkt der Ausgrabungen und dem anhaltenden, scheinbar unl{\"o}sbaren Nahostkonflikt der ideale Ort. Die generationenalte Bindung an das Land dient als Grundlage f{\"u}r die kollektive Identit{\"a}t von Arabern und Juden. Doch jede Gemeinschaft und jedes Individuum bezieht sich auf unterschiedliche arch{\"a}ologische St{\"a}tten, die durch ihre Bedeutung als kulturelles Erbe und ihren Wert f{\"u}r die jeweilige Gruppe gepr{\"a}gt sind.}, language = {en} } @misc{Clahsen2016, author = {Clahsen, Harald}, title = {Contributions of linguistic typology to psycholinguistics}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-397757}, pages = {16}, year = {2016}, abstract = {This article first outlines different ways of how psycholinguists have dealt with linguistic diversity and illustrates these approaches with three familiar cases from research on language processing, language acquisition, and language disorders. The second part focuses on the role of morphology and morphological variability across languages for psycholinguistic research. The specific phenomena to be examined are to do with stem-formation morphology and inflectional classes; they illustrate how experimental research that is informed by linguistic typology can lead to new insights.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Schmidt2016, author = {Schmidt, Peter}, title = {Contributions to EU regional policy}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-90837}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {xii, 137}, year = {2016}, abstract = {This cumulative dissertation contains four self-contained articles which are related to EU regional policy and its structural funds as the overall research topic. In particular, the thesis addresses the question if EU regional policy interventions can at all be scientifically justified and legitimated on theoretical and empirical grounds from an economics point of view. The first two articles of the thesis ("The EU structural funds as a means to hamper migration" and "Internal migration and EU regional policy transfer payments: a panel data analysis for 28 EU member countries") enter into one particular aspect of the debate regarding the justification and legitimisation of EU regional policy. They theoretically and empirically analyse as to whether regional policy or the market force of the free flow of labour (migration) in the internal European market is the better instrument to improve and harmonise the living and working conditions of EU citizens. Based on neoclassical market failure theory, the first paper argues that the structural funds of the EU are inhibiting internal migration, which is one of the key measures in achieving convergence among the nations in the single European market. It becomes clear that European regional policy aiming at economic growth and cohesion among the member states cannot be justified and legitimated if the structural funds hamper instead of promote migration. The second paper, however, shows that the empirical evidence on the migration and regional policy nexus is not unambiguous, i.e. different empirical investigations show that EU structural funds hamper and promote EU internal migration. Hence, the question of the scientific justification and legitimisation of EU regional policy cannot be readily and unambiguously answered on empirical grounds. This finding is unsatisfying but is in line with previous theoretical and empirical literature. That is why, I take a step back and reconsider the theoretical beginnings of the thesis, which took for granted neoclassical market failure theory as the starting point for the positive explanation as well as the normative justification and legitimisation of EU regional policy. The third article of the thesis ("EU regional policy: theoretical foundations and policy conclusions revisited") deals with the theoretical explanation and legitimisation of EU regional policy as well as the policy recommendations given to EU regional policymakers deduced from neoclassical market failure theory. The article elucidates that neoclassical market failure is a normative concept, which justifies and legitimates EU regional policy based on a political and thus subjective goal or value-judgement. It can neither be used, therefore, to give a scientifically positive explanation of the structural funds nor to obtain objective and practically applicable policy instruments. Given this critique of neoclassical market failure theory, the third paper consequently calls into question the widely prevalent explanation and justification of EU regional policy given in static neoclassical equilibrium economics. It argues that an evolutionary non-equilibrium economics perspective on EU regional policy is much more appropriate to provide a realistic understanding of one of the largest policies conducted by the EU. However, this does neither mean that evolutionary economic theory can be unreservedly seen as the panacea to positively explain EU regional policy nor to derive objective policy instruments for EU regional policymakers. This issue is discussed in the fourth article of the thesis ("Market failure vs. system failure as a rationale for economic policy? A critique from an evolutionary perspective"). This article reconsiders the explanation of economic policy from an evolutionary economics perspective. It contrasts the neoclassical equilibrium notions of market and government failure with the dominant evolutionary neo-Schumpeterian and Austrian-Hayekian perceptions. Based on this comparison, the paper criticises the fact that neoclassical failure reasoning still prevails in non-equilibrium evolutionary economics when economic policy issues are examined. This is surprising, since proponents of evolutionary economics usually view their approach as incompatible with its neoclassical counterpart. The paper therefore argues that in order to prevent the otherwise fruitful and more realistic evolutionary approach from undermining its own criticism of neoclassical economics and to create a consistent as well as objective evolutionary policy framework, it is necessary to eliminate the equilibrium spirit. Taken together, the main finding of this thesis is that European regional policy and its structural funds can neither theoretically nor empirically be justified and legitimated from an economics point of view. Moreover, the thesis finds that the prevalent positive and instrumental explanation of EU regional policy given in the literature needs to be reconsidered, because these theories can neither scientifically explain the emergence and development of this policy nor are they appropriate to derive objective and scientific policy instruments for EU regional policymakers.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{BlanchardKraemer2016, author = {Blanchard, Gilles and Kr{\"a}mer, Nicole}, title = {Convergence rates of kernel conjugate gradient for random design regression}, volume = {5}, number = {8}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2193-6943}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-94195}, pages = {31}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We prove statistical rates of convergence for kernel-based least squares regression from i.i.d. data using a conjugate gradient algorithm, where regularization against overfitting is obtained by early stopping. This method is related to Kernel Partial Least Squares, a regression method that combines supervised dimensionality reduction with least squares projection. Following the setting introduced in earlier related literature, we study so-called "fast convergence rates" depending on the regularity of the target regression function (measured by a source condition in terms of the kernel integral operator) and on the effective dimensionality of the data mapped into the kernel space. We obtain upper bounds, essentially matching known minimax lower bounds, for the L^2 (prediction) norm as well as for the stronger Hilbert norm, if the true regression function belongs to the reproducing kernel Hilbert space. If the latter assumption is not fulfilled, we obtain similar convergence rates for appropriate norms, provided additional unlabeled data are available.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{RoellyVallois2016, author = {Roelly, Sylvie and Vallois, Pierre}, title = {Convoluted Brownian motion}, volume = {5}, number = {9}, publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam}, address = {Potsdam}, issn = {2193-6943}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-96339}, pages = {37}, year = {2016}, abstract = {In this paper we analyse semimartingale properties of a class of Gaussian periodic processes, called convoluted Brownian motions, obtained by convolution between a deterministic function and a Brownian motion. A classical example in this class is the periodic Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. We compute their characteristics and show that in general, they are neither Markovian nor satisfy a time-Markov field property. Nevertheless, by enlargement of filtration and/or addition of a one-dimensional component, one can in some case recover the Markovianity. We treat exhaustively the case of the bidimensional trigonometric convoluted Brownian motion and the higher-dimensional monomial convoluted Brownian motion.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Schroen2016, author = {Schr{\"o}n, Martin}, title = {Cosmic-ray neutron sensing and its applications to soil and land surface hydrology}, publisher = {Verlag Dr. Hut GmbH}, address = {M{\"u}nchen}, isbn = {978-3-8439-3139-7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-395433}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {223}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Water scarcity, adaption on climate change, and risk assessment of droughts and floods are critical topics for science and society these days. Monitoring and modeling of the hydrological cycle are a prerequisite to understand and predict the consequences for weather and agriculture. As soil water storage plays a key role for partitioning of water fluxes between the atmosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere, measurement techniques are required to estimate soil moisture states from small to large scales. The method of cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) promises to close the gap between point-scale and remote-sensing observations, as its footprint was reported to be 30 ha. However, the methodology is rather young and requires highly interdisciplinary research to understand and interpret the response of neutrons to soil moisture. In this work, the signal of nine detectors has been systematically compared, and correction approaches have been revised to account for meteorological and geomagnetic variations. Neutron transport simulations have been consulted to precisely characterize the sensitive footprint area, which turned out to be 6--18 ha, highly local, and temporally dynamic. These results have been experimentally confirmed by the significant influence of water bodies and dry roads. Furthermore, mobile measurements on agricultural fields and across different land use types were able to accurately capture the various soil moisture states. It has been further demonstrated that the corresponding spatial and temporal neutron data can be beneficial for mesoscale hydrological modeling. Finally, first tests with a gyrocopter have proven the concept of airborne neutron sensing, where increased footprints are able to overcome local effects. This dissertation not only bridges the gap between scales of soil moisture measurements. It also establishes a close connection between the two worlds of observers and modelers, and further aims to combine the disciplines of particle physics, geophysics, and soil hydrology to thoroughly explore the potential and limits of the CRNS method.}, language = {en} } @misc{CajarSchneeweissEngelbertetal.2016, author = {Cajar, Anke and Schneeweiß, Paul and Engelbert, Ralf and Laubrock, Jochen}, title = {Coupling of attention and saccades when viewing scenes with central and peripheral degradation}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-394918}, pages = {19}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Degrading real-world scenes in the central or the peripheral visual field yields a characteristic pattern: Mean saccade amplitudes increase with central and decrease with peripheral degradation. Does this pattern reflect corresponding modulations of selective attention? If so, the observed saccade amplitude pattern should reflect more focused attention in the central region with peripheral degradation and an attentional bias toward the periphery with central degradation. To investigate this hypothesis, we measured the detectability of peripheral (Experiment 1) or central targets (Experiment 2) during scene viewing when low or high spatial frequencies were gaze-contingently filtered in the central or the peripheral visual field. Relative to an unfiltered control condition, peripheral filtering induced a decrease of the detection probability for peripheral but not for central targets (tunnel vision). Central filtering decreased the detectability of central but not of peripheral targets. Additional post hoc analyses are compatible with the interpretation that saccade amplitudes and direction are computed in partial independence. Our experimental results indicate that task-induced modulations of saccade amplitudes reflect attentional modulations.}, language = {en} } @misc{deCarvalhoMetzlerCherstvy2016, author = {de Carvalho, Sidney J. and Metzler, Ralf and Cherstvy, Andrey G.}, title = {Critical adsorption of polyelectrolytes onto planar and convex highly charged surfaces}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-100295}, pages = {17}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We study the adsorption-desorption transition of polyelectrolyte chains onto planar, cylindrical and spherical surfaces with arbitrarily high surface charge densities by massive Monte Carlo computer simulations. We examine in detail how the well known scaling relations for the threshold transition—demarcating the adsorbed and desorbed domains of a polyelectrolyte near weakly charged surfaces—are altered for highly charged interfaces. In virtue of high surface potentials and large surface charge densities, the Debye-H{\"u}ckel approximation is often not feasible and the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann approach should be implemented. At low salt conditions, for instance, the electrostatic potential from the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation is smaller than the Debye-H{\"u}ckel result, such that the required critical surface charge density for polyelectrolyte adsorption σc increases. The nonlinear relation between the surface charge density and electrostatic potential leads to a sharply increasing critical surface charge density with growing ionic strength, imposing an additional limit to the critical salt concentration above which no polyelectrolyte adsorption occurs at all. We contrast our simulations findings with the known scaling results for weak critical polyelectrolyte adsorption onto oppositely charged surfaces for the three standard geometries. Finally, we discuss some applications of our results for some physical-chemical and biophysical systems.}, language = {en} }