Extern
Refine
Has Fulltext
- yes (185)
Year of publication
Document Type
- Postprint (185) (remove)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (185) (remove)
Keywords
- Germany (7)
- Demokratie (4)
- China (3)
- Realpolitik (3)
- democracy (3)
- transatlantic relations (3)
- EU (2)
- European foreign policy (2)
- Fluoreszenz-Resonanz-Energie-Transfer (2)
- G8 (2)
Institute
- Extern (185) (remove)
There has been a substantial increase in the percentage for publications with co-authors located in departments from different countries in 12 major journals of psychology. The results are evidence for a remarkable internationalization of psychological research, starting in the mid 1970s and increasing in rate at the beginning of the 1990s. This growth occurs against a constant number of articles with authors from the same country; it is not due to a concomitant increase in the number of co-authors per article. Thus, international collaboration in psychology is obviously on the rise.
Eye fixation durations during normal reading correlate with processing difficulty but the specific cognitive mechanisms reflected in these measures are not well understood. This study finds support in German readers’ eyefixations for two distinct difficulty metrics: surprisal, which reflects the change in probabilities across syntactic analyses as new words are integrated, and retrieval, which quantifies comprehension difficulty in terms of working memory constraints. We examine the predictions of both metrics using a family of dependency parsers indexed by an upper limit on the number of candidate syntactic analyses they retain at successive words. Surprisal models all fixation measures and regression probability. By contrast, retrieval does not model any measure in serial processing. As more candidate analyses are considered in parallel at each word, retrieval can account for the same measures as surprisal. This pattern suggests an important role for ranked parallelism in theories of sentence comprehension.
The use of nano zerovalent iron (nZVI) for environmental remediation is a promising new technique for in situ remediation. Due to its high surface area and high reactivity, nZVI is able to dechlorinate organic contaminants and render them harmless. Limited mobility, due to fast aggregation and sedimentation of nZVI, limits the capability for source and plume remediation. Carbo-Iron is a newly developed material consisting of activated carbon particles (d50 = 0,8 µm) that are plated with nZVI particles. These particles combine the mobility of activated carbon and the reactivity of nZVI. This paper presents the first results of the transport experiments.
Parafoveal Load of Word N+1 Modulates Preprocessing Effectivenessof Word N+2 in Chinese Reading
(2010)
Preview benefits (PBs) from two words to the right of the fixated one (i.e., word N+2)and associated parafoveal-on-foveal effects are critical for proposals of distributed lexical processing during reading. This experiment examined parafoveal processing during reading of Chinese sentences, using a boundary manipulation of N+2-word preview with low- and high-frequency words N+1. The main findings were (a) an identity PB for word N+2 that was (b) primarily observed when word N+1 was of high frequency (i.e., an interaction between frequency of word N+1 and PB for word N+2), and (c) a parafoveal-on-foveal frequency effect of word N+1 for fixation durations on word N. We discuss implications for theories of serial attention shifts and parallel distributed processing of words during reading.
Am 8. August 2008 richtete sich alle mediale Aufmerksamkeit schlagartig von Beijing und den Olympischen Spielen auf den Kaukasus – genauer: auf Georgien. Unvorbereitet traf die Meldung über den Krieg im Kaukasus aber nur diejenigen, die glaubten, die „eingefrorenen Konflikte“ im Süden des Gebirgszuges seien beigelegt. Seit den Kriegen um die „abtrünnigen Teilrepubliken“ Georgiens, Südossetien und Abchasien, in den frühen 1990er Jahren sind diese jedoch nie zur Ruhe gekommen.
We examined individual differences in masked repetition priming by re-analyzing item-level response-time (RT) data from three experiments. Using a linear mixed model (LMM) with subjects and items specified as crossed random factors, the originally reported priming and word-frequency effects were recovered. In the same LMM, we estimated parameters describing the distributions of these effects across subjects. Subjects’ frequency and priming effects correlated positively with each other and negatively with mean RT. These correlation estimates, however, emerged only with a reciprocal transformation of RT (i.e., -1/RT), justified on the basis of distributional analyses. Different correlations, some with opposite sign, were obtained (1) for untransformed or logarithmic RTs or (2) when correlations were computed using within-subject analyses. We discuss the relevance of the new results for accounts of masked priming, implications of applying RT transformations, and the use of LMMs as a tool for the joint analysis of experimental effects and associated individual differences.
Microsaccades are very small, involuntary flicks in eye position that occur on average once or twice per second during attempted visual fixation. Microsaccades give rise to EMG eye muscle spikes that can distort the spectrum of the scalp EEG and mimic increases in gamma band power. Here we demonstrate that microsaccades are also accompanied by genuine and sizeable cortical activity, manifested in the EEG. In three experiments, high-resolution eye movements were corecorded with the EEG: during sustained fixation of checkerboard and face stimuli and in a standard visual oddball task that required the counting of target stimuli. Results show that microsaccades as small as 0.15° generate a field potential over occipital cortex and midcentral scalp sites 100 –140 ms after movement onset, which resembles the visual lambda response evoked by larger voluntary saccades. This challenges the standard assumption of human brain imaging studies that saccade-related brain activity is precluded by fixation, even when fully complied with. Instead, additional cortical potentials from microsaccades were present in 86% of the oddball task trials and of similar amplitude as the visual response to stimulus onset. Furthermore, microsaccade probability varied systematically according to the proportion of target stimuli in the oddball task, causing modulations of late stimulus-locked event-related potential (ERP) components. Microsaccades present an unrecognized source of visual brain signal that is of interest for vision research and may have influenced the data of many ERP and neuroimaging studies.
Wie beständig ist der Mythos „Barack Obama“? Klar ist: Der neue Präsident tritt ein schweres Erbe an. Herausforderungen wie die Wirtschaftskrise, schwierige außen- und sicherheitspolitische Gegebenheiten und die Beziehungen zu Russland warten auf ihn. Der Autor, ein exzellenter Kenner der USA und ehemaliger Diplomat, beleuchtet die Situation der Vereinigten Staaten nach der Wahl.
It has recently been demonstrated that the presentation of a rare target in a visual oddball paradigm induces a prolonged inhibition of microsaccades. In the field of electrophysiology, the amplitude of the P300 component in event-related potentials (ERP) has been shown to be sensitive to the stimulus category (target vs. non target) of the eliciting stimulus, its overall probability, and the preceding stimulus sequence. In the present study we further specify the functional underpinnings of the prolonged microsaccadic inhibition in the visual oddball task, showing that the stimulus category, the frequency of a stimulus and the preceding stimulus sequence influence microsaccade rate. Furthermore, by co-recording ERPs and eye-movements, we were able to demonstrate that, despite being largely sensitive to the same experimental manipulation, the amplitude of P300 and the microsaccadic inhibition predict each other very weakly, and thus constitute two independent measures of the brain’s response to rare targets in the visual oddball paradigm.
The effect of moderate rates of nitrogen deposition on ground floor vegetation is poorly predicted by uncontrolled surveys or fertilization experiments using high rates of nitrogen (N) addition. We compared the temporal trends of ground floor vegetation in permanent plots with moderate (7–13 kg ha−1 year−1) and lower bulk N deposition (4–6 kg ha−1 year−1) in southern Sweden during 1982–1998. We examined whether trends differed between growth forms (vascular plants and bryophytes) and vegetation types (three types of coniferous forest, deciduous forest, and bog). Trends of site-standardized cover and richness varied among growth forms, vegetation types, and deposition regions. Cover in spruce forests decreased at the same rate with both moderate and low deposition. In pine forests cover decreased faster with moderate deposition and in bogs cover decreased faster with low deposition. Cover of bryophytes in spruce forests increased at the same rate with both moderate and low deposition. In pine forests cover decreased faster with moderate deposition and in bogs and deciduous forests there was a strong non-linear increase with moderate deposition. The trend of number of vascular plants was constant with moderate and decreased with low deposition. We found no trend in the number of bryophyte species. We propose that the decrease of cover and number with low deposition was related to normal ecosystem development (increased shading), suggesting that N deposition maintained or increased the competitiveness of some species in the moderate-deposition region. Deposition had no consistent negative effect on vegetation suggesting that it is less important than normal successional processes.
Krise in Pakistan
(2008)
Atomare, biologische und chemische Waffen bedrohen das Überleben der Menschheit. Friedens- und Konfliktforscher Wolfgang Kötter aus Potsdam untersucht die differenzierten Ergebnisse bei der Beseitigung dieser Gefahr. Während die chemische Abrüstung, wenn auch mit Verzögerungen, voran kommt, fehlt dem Verbot der B-Waffen ein wirksames Kontrollinstrument. Atomare Waffen erleben sogar eine Renaissance und das nukleare Nichtverbreitungsregime droht zu zerbrechen.
Die Zukunft Osteuropas entscheidet sich im Spannungsfeld zwischen Russland und der EU. Die dortigen Staaten lösen sich aus der einseitigen Abhängigkeit eines erstarkten und seine Interessen im postsowjetischen Raum verteidigenden Russland. Ob die EU diese Chance in Osteuropa nutzen kann, hängt davon ab, ob sich die Mitgliedstaaten bereitfinden, ihre wirtschaftlichen und geopolitischen Interessen in der Region gemeinsam zu verfolgen.
Kaukasische Verwicklungen
(2008)
Blattgold : Pole Position
(2008)
A multitype Dawson-Watanabe process is conditioned, in subcritical and critical cases, on non-extinction in the remote future. On every finite time interval, its distribution is absolutely continuous with respect to the law of the unconditioned process. A martingale problem characterization is also given. Several results on the long time behavior of the conditioned mass process - the conditioned multitype Feller branching diffusion - are then proved. The general case is first considered, where the mutation matrix which models the interaction between the types, is irreducible. Several two-type models with decomposable mutation matrices are analyzed too .
Irans zunehmender Einfluss als Regionalmacht wird wegen seines Atomprogramms und seiner antiwestlichen Politik als Störfaktor bewertet. Die offensive Rhetorik Teherans zielt primär darauf ab, möglichen Gefahren entgegenzutreten. Westliche Politik sollte das allseitig bestehende Interesse an regionaler Stabilität nutzen, um seine ausschließlich auf Eindämmung bedachte Politik zu überwinden.
Demokratie, nicht Laizismus um jeden Preis : zu den inneren Auseinandersetzungen in der Türkei
(2008)
Die innergesellschaftlichen Auseinandersetzungen in der Türkei drehen sich nicht darum, ob der Laizismus fortbestehen oder beseitigt werden soll. Stattdessen findet im Land ein politischer Machtkampf statt. Dabei geht es für die alten kemalistischen Eliten ums politische Überleben. Für die Vertreter der neuen bürgerlichen, religiös-konservativen Mittelschicht hingegen geht es um ihre Zukunft in einer globalisierten Welt.
Seit den 1980er Jahren nehmen die neuen sozialen Bewegungen in Lateinamerika an Bedeutung rapide zu. Nachhaltige Transformationsprozesse auszulösen steht dabei seit den 1990er Jahren – in Zeiten neoliberaler Globalisierung und steigender Armut – im Zentrum gesellschaftlichen Handelns. Doch, angesichts der bestehenden globalen Strukturen, wie groß ist das Potenzial der neuen Welle sozialer Kräfte wirklich?
Türkei : Daten und Fakten
(2008)
The boundary paradigm (Rayner, 1975) with a novel preview manipulation was used to examine the extent of parafoveal processing of words to the right of fixation. Words n+1 and n+2 had either correct or incorrect previews prior to fixation (prior to crossing the boundary location). In addition, the manipulation utilized either a high or low frequency word in word n+1 location on the assumption that it would be more likely that n+2 preview effects could be obtained when word n+1 was high frequency. The primary findings were that there was no evidence for a preview benefit for word n+2 and no evidence for parafoveal-on-foveal effects when word n+1 is at least four letters long. We discuss implications for models of eye-movement control in reading.
Small livestock is an important resource for rural human populations in dry climates. How strongly will climate change affect the capacity of the rangeland? We used hierarchical modelling to scale quantitatively the growth of shrubs and annual plants, the main food of sheep and goats, to the landscape extent in the eastern Mediterranean region. Without grazing, productivity increased in a sigmoid way with mean annual precipitation. Grazing reduced productivity more strongly the drier the landscape. At a point just under the stocking capacity of the vegetation, productivity declined precipitously with more intense grazing due to a lack of seed production of annuals. We repeated simulations with precipitation patterns projected by two contrasting IPCC scenarios. Compared to results based on historic patterns, productivity and stocking capacity did not differ in most cases. Thus, grazing intensity remains the stronger impact on landscape productivity in this dry region even in the future.
Mit dem Vertrag von Lissabon verbinden sich hohe Erwartungen hinsichtlich der Effektivität zukünftiger Regelungen zum auswärtigen Handeln der Union. In der Gestaltung dieser Bestimmungen unterliegen die Mitgliedstaaten konstitutionellen Dilemmata, die eine Lösung erschweren. Obwohl im Detail durchaus Verbesserungen erkennbar sind, werden insgesamt zunehmende Konflikte und mangelnde Kohärenz erwartet.
Im Gespräch werden folgende Themen behandelt: WT: Welche politische Bilanz der Präsidentschaft Putins würden Sie ziehen? WT: Wie haben sich die soziale und wirtschafliche Lage sowie das geistige Klima in Russland während dieser Zeit verändert? WT: Wie beurteilen Sie die Persönlichkeit und das politische Konzept des neuen Präsidenten Dimitri Medwedjew? WT: Wie schätzen Sie die sich ankündigende „Tandem“-Variante der Machtausübung im künftigen Russland ein? Wird es einen starken Ministerpräsidenten Putin und einen zu diesem loyalen, sich gewissermaßen selbstbeschränkenden Präsidenten Medwedjew geben? Oder widerspricht das dem Charakter des Institutionensystems in Russland?
Geografie der Ungleichheit
(2008)
Parsing costs as predictors of reading difficulty: An evaluation using the Potsdam Sentence Corpus
(2008)
The surprisal of a word on a probabilistic grammar constitutes a promising complexity metric for human sentence comprehension difficulty. Using two different grammar types, surprisal is shown to have an effect on fixation durations and regression probabilities in a sample of German readers’ eye movements, the Potsdam Sentence Corpus. A linear mixed-effects model was used to quantify the effect of surprisal while taking into account unigram and bigram frequency, word length, and empirically-derived word predictability; the so-called “early” and “late” measures of processing difficulty both showed an effect of surprisal. Surprisal is also shown to have a small but statistically non-significant effect on empirically-derived predictability itself. This work thus demonstrates the importance of including parsing costs as a predictor of comprehension difficulty in models of reading, and suggests that a simple identification of syntactic parsing costs with early measures and late measures with durations of post-syntactic events may be difficult to uphold.
Einerseits führt in Entwicklungsländern die Privatisierung von Wasserbetrieben zu Kostensenkungen. Andererseits verändert sie bisherige Möglichkeiten der Teilnahme. Diese wiederspruchsvollen Entwicklungen diskutiert die Autorin an Beispielen aus Südamerika und Südafrika. Künftige Privatisierungen im Bereich Wasser sollten dauerhafte Formen der Mitwirkung ermöglichen.
Militärmacht Deutschland?
(2007)
Die G8 und Chinas Interessen
(2007)
Die G8 besitzt aus chinesischer Sicht große Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten. Verglichen mit anderen zwischenstaatlichen Organisationen hat die G8 einzigartige Vorteile angesichts ihrer Macht und Flexibilität. Um ihren Einfluss und ihre Kontrolle über die Weltangelegenheiten zu verstärken, sollte die Gruppe reformiert und erweitert werden. China ist gegenwärtig nicht an einem Beitritt zur G8 interessiert, wohl aber an einer engen Zusammenarbeit. Langfristig ist es allerdings nur eine Frage der Zeit, bis China der G8 beitreten wird.
Wider den „euro-atlantischen Internationalismus“ : Berliner Republik und Entgrenzung der Bundeswehr
(2007)
Inhalt: Frieden mit aller Gewalt schaffen? Tatbestand: Staatsterrorismus Das Weißbuch 2006 Bundesverfassungsgericht versus Bundesverwaltungsgericht Weltweites Interventionsrecht Lizenz zum Völkerrechtsbruch „Re-Transformation“ der Bundeswehr Prinzipien für einen sicherheitspolitischen Grundkonsens Breite öffentliche Debatte notwendig
Indien und die G8
(2007)
Seit 2005 ist Indien als eines der fünf Outreach-Länder in die Diskussionen der G8 eingebunden. Dies geschah wegen seiner Rolle als eine der Kraftquellen der Weltwirtschaft sowie als viertgrößter globaler Markt. Indien betrachtet ein offenes Welthandelregime und einen größeren Kapitalfluss in die Entwicklungsländer als notwendig, um diesen zu helfen, deren Exporte zu steigern, neue Jobs zu schaffen und den Wohlstand ihrer Produzenten zu erhöhen.
"Considerons une particule mobile se mouvant aleatoirement sur la droite (ou sur un segment de droite). Supposons qu'il existe une probabilite F(x,y;s,t) bien definie pour que la particule se trouvant a l'instant s dans la position x se trouve a l'instant t (> s) a gauche de y, probabilite independante du mouvement anterieur de la particule...." Mit diesen Worten beginnt eines der berühmtesten mathematischen Manuskripte des letzten Jahrhunderts. Es stammt vom Soldaten Wolfgang Döblin, Sohn des deutschen Schriftstellers Alfred Döblin, und trägt den Titel "Sur l'equation de Kolmogoroff". Seine Veröffentlichung verbindet sich mit einer unglaublichen Geschichte. Wolfgang Döblin, stationiert mit seiner Einheit in den Ardennen im Winter 1939/1940, arbeitete an diesem Manuskript. Er entschloss sich, es als versiegeltes Manuskript an die Academie des Sciences in Paris zu schicken. Aber er kehrte nie aus diesem Krieg zurück. Sein Manuskript blieb 60 Jahre unter Verschluss im Archiv, und wurde erst im Jahre 2000 geöffnet. Wie weit Döblin damit seiner Zeit voraus war, wurde erkannt, nachdem es von Bernard Bru und Marc Yor ausgewertet worden war. Im ersten Satz umschreibt W. Döblin gleichzeitig das Programm des Manuskripts: "Wir betrachten ein bewegliches Teilchen, das sich zufällig auf der Geraden (oder einem Teil davon) bewegt." Er widmet sich damit der Aufgabe, die Fundamente eines Gebiets zu legen, das wir heute als stochastische Analysis bezeichnen.
The authors used the frameworks of reciprocal determinism and occupational socialization to study the effects of work characteristics (consisting of control and complexity of work) on personal initiative (PI)--mediated by control orientation (a 2nd-order factor consisting of control aspiration, perceived opportunity for control, and self-efficacy) and the reciprocal effects of PI on changes in work characteristics. They applied structural equation modeling to a longitudinal study with 4 measurement waves (N = 268) in a transitional economy: East Germany. Results confirm the model plus 1 additional, nonhypothesized effect. Work characteristics had a synchronous effect on PI via control orientation (full mediation). There were also effects of control orientation and of PI on later changes in work characteristics: As predicted, PI functioned as partial mediator, changing work characteristics in the long term (reciprocal effect); unexpectedly, there was a 2nd reciprocal effect of an additional lagged partial mediation of control orientation on later work characteristics.
Team diversity
(2007)
Team diversity refers to the differences between team members on any attribute that may lead each single member of the group to perceive any other member of the group as being different from the self of this particular member. These attributes and perceptions refer to all dimensions people can differ on, such as age, gender, ethnicity, religious and functional background, personality, skills, abilities, beliefs, and attitudes.
The requirements of modern e-learning techniques change. Aspects such as community interaction, flexibility, pervasive learning and increasing mobility in communication habits become more important. To meet these challenges e-learning platforms must provide support on mobile learning. Most approaches try to adopt centralised and static e-learning mechanisms to mobile devices. However, often technically it is not possible for all kinds of devices to be connected to a central server. Therefore we introduce an application of a mobile e-learning network which operates totally decentralised with the help of an underlying ad hoc network architecture. Furthermore the concept of ad hoc messaging network (AMNET) is used as basis system architecture for our approach to implement a platform for pervasive mobile e-learning.
Werden im 21. Jahrhundert die Kriege um Wasser geführt? Von dieser Frage ausgehend diskutiert der Artikel das Konflikt- und Kooperationspotenzial an grenzüberschreitenden Flüssen. Welche Anreize gibt es für Kooperation und was führt zu Konflikten? Den theoretischen Überlegungen werden Erfahrungen an der Elbe sowie am Jordan gegenübergestellt.
Recent work has shown that English-learning 18-month-olds can detect the relationship between discontinuous morphemes such as is and -ing in Grandma is always running (Gomez, 2002; Santelmann & Jusczyk, 1998) but only at a maximum of 3 intervening syllables. In this article we examine the tracking of discontinuous dependencies in children acquiring German. Due to freer word order, German allows for greater distances between dependent elements and a greater syntactic variety of the intervening elements than English does. The aim of this study was to investigate whether factors other than distance may influence the child’s capacity to recognize discontinuous elements. Our findings provide evidence that children’s recognition capacities are affected not only by distance but also by their ability to linguistically analyze the material intervening between the dependent elements. We speculate that this result supports the existence of processing mechanisms that reduce a discontinuous relation to a local one based on subcategorization relations.
Recent research has shown that the early lexical representations children establish in their second year of life already seem to be phonologically detailed enough to allow differentiation from very similar forms. In contrast to these findings children with specific language impairment show problems in discriminating phonologically similar word forms up to school age. In our study we investigated the question whether there would be differences in the processing of phonological details in normally developing and in children with low language performance in the second year of life. This was done by a retrospective study in which in the processing of phonological details was tested by a preferential looking experiment when the children were 19 months old. At the age of 30 months children were tested with a standardized German test of language comprehension and production (SETK2). The preferential looking data at 19 months revealed an opposite reaction pattern for the two groups: while the children scoring normally in the SETK2 increase their fixations of a pictured object only when it was named with the correct word, children with later low language performance did so only when presented with a phonologically slightly deviant mispronunciation. We suggest that this pattern does not point to a specific deficit in processing phonological information in these children but might be related to an instability of early phonological representations, and/or a generalized problem of information processing as compared to typically developing children.
Chinas Wandel und die Welt
(2006)
Wie stellt sich das Verhältnis zwischen China und der Welt im 21. Jahrhundert dar? Die Autorin, Politikwissenschaftlerin aus Peking, verweist auf die aktuelle Debatte in China, in der das Primat der Innenpolitik, regionaler Multilateralismus und harmonische Weltordnung intensiv diskutiert werden. China habe nicht vor, das internationale System herauszufordern oder zu zerstören. Vielmehr sei es um stärkere Einbindung bemüht.
China ist auf dem Weg zu einer offeneren Gesellschaft mit zunehmender Partizipation, größerer rechtlicher Sicherheit und individueller Autonomie. Der Staat zog sich aus vielen Bereichen zurück, ökonomische Ziele bestimmen seine Prioritäten. Die Entwicklungserfolge brachten jedoch eine Legitimationskrise des Staates mit sich. Vier Dilemmata, die China heute konfrontieren, werden aufgezeigt und Hypothesen zur Charakterisierung des chinesischen party state diskutiert.
Geheimdienste in Demokratien
(2006)
Geheimdienste sind für den modernen Staat zur Gewährleistung seiner inneren und äußeren Sicherheit wesentlich und stehen ständig vor neuen Herausforderungen. Die Dienste der Bundesrepublik sind aus der Frontstaatlage im Kalten Krieg gewachsen, und ihr Wert als geheimes Regierungsinstrument ist durch eine Vielzahl systemischer Probleme erheblich eingeschränkt. Zudem gibt es weder eine klare Standortbestimmung der Dienste im politischen System, noch eine moralische Grenzziehung ihrer Aktivitäten.
In den theoretischen Grundlagen moderner Verfassungsstaaten wird Angst als zentrale politische Größe ausgewiesen. In der Hobbesschen Ursprungsmythologie moderner Staatlichkeit spielt sie eine entscheidende Rolle für die Staatskonstituierung. Aufgrund ihrer Staatszentriertheit bietet die Vertragstheorie allerdings kein hinreichendes Erklärungspotential für die transnationale terroristische Strategie der Angst. Der Angstpolitik des Terrorismus steht aber auch eine Nutzbarmachung der Angst durch Regierungen bedrohter Staaten gegenüber.
Two examples of our biophotonic research utilizing nanoparticles are presented, namely laser-based fluoroimmuno analysis and in-vivo optical oxygen monitoring. Results of the work include significantly enhanced sensitivity of a homogeneous fluorescence immunoassay and markedly improved spatial resolution of oxygen gradients in root nodules of a legume species.
Improvement of a fluorescence immunoassay with a compact diode-pumped solid state laser at 315 nm
(2006)
We demonstrate the improvement of fluorescence immunoassay (FIA) diagnostics in deploying a newly developed compact diode-pumped solid state (DPSS) laser with emission at 315 nm. The laser is based on the quasi-three-level transition in Nd:YAG at 946 nm. The pulsed operation is either realized by an active Q-switch using an electro-optical device or by introduction of a Cr<SUP>4+</SUP>:YAG saturable absorber as passive Q-switch element. By extra-cavity second harmonic generation in different nonlinear crystal media we obtained blue light at 473 nm. Subsequent mixing of the fundamental and the second harmonic in a β-barium-borate crystal provided pulsed emission at 315 nm with up to 20 μJ maximum pulse energy and 17 ns pulse duration. Substitution of a nitrogen laser in a FIA diagnostics system by the DPSS laser succeeded in considerable improvement of the detection limit. Despite significantly lower pulse energies (7 μJ DPSS laser versus 150 μJ nitrogen laser), in preliminary investigations the limit of detection was reduced by a factor of three for a typical FIA.
Mit diesem Heft wird die Diskussion über eine neue deutsche Ostpolitik fortgesetzt und abgeschlossen. Diese hatte im Heft Nr. 49 mit Thesen von Jochen Franzke begonnen, im nächsten Heft wurden erste Beiträge publiziert. Insgesamt haben sich Wissenschaftler und Politiker aus Deutschland, Österreich, Polen, Finnland und Tschechien beteiligt. Die Debatte schließt mit Schlussbemerkungen des Initiators. Ulrich Best, Katrin Böttger, Vladimir Handl, Heinz Timmermann, Christian Wipperfürth, Sabina Wölkner, Gesine Schwan, Dieter Segert, Beata Wilga, Markus Löning und Ole Diehl, Angelica Schwall-Düren, Wolfgang Gehrcke und Jochen Franzke
Bezogen auf das Bruttoinlandsprodukt ist China eine wichtige regionale Wirtschaftsmacht, aber keine Supermacht. Doch das Wachstumspotential zehrt sich auf, auch weil die Investitionsdynamik der Unternehmen und der Bankensektor härteren Kreditrestriktionen unterworfen werden. Chinas bislang geschütztes Finanzsystem, das von der Globalisierung untergraben wird, ist die Achillesferse für das hohe Wachstum.
Neue Akzente statt Neubeginn
(2006)
Aus Warschauer Perspektive
(2006)
Politische Loyalität und Sprachwahl : eine Fallstudie aus dem Flandern des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts
(2005)
Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird an Hand dreier Beispiele der Einsatz von optischer Sensorik zur Produktcharakterisierung dargestellt, nämlich Untersuchungen zum O2-Gehalt in Fruchtsäften, zur Isotopiesignatur von CO2 in Mineralwässern und zu Lichtstreueigenschaften eines Sonnenschutzmittels. Inhalt: Bestimmung von O2 mit Lumineszenzsonden Isotopenselektive Bestimmung von CO2 mit TDLAS Optische Charakterisierung stark streuender Materialien mit Photonendichtewellen
In order to investigate the temporal characteristics of cognitive processing, we apply multivariate phase synchronization analysis to event-related potentials. The experimental design combines a semantic incongruity in a sentence context with a physical mismatch (color change). In the ERP average, these result in an N400 component and a P300-like positivity, respectively. The synchronization analysis shows an effect of global desynchronization in the theta band around 288ms after stimulus presentation for the semantic incongruity, while the physical mismatch elicits an increase of global synchronization in the alpha band around 204ms. Both of these effects clearly precede those in the ERP average. Moreover, the delay between synchronization effect and ERP component correlates with the complexity of the cognitive processes.
German foreign policy is in the midst of a far-reaching transformation. Contrary to disciplinary expectations, this process is neither properly captured by descriptions in the liberal tradition („Europeanisation“, „Civilian Power“) nor by Realist expectations that Germany is doomed to „remilitarise“ and/or „renationalise“. However, the key term of foreign policy discourse, „normalisation“, is an unmistakable code, signalling a rediscovery of traditional Realpolitik practices which fit Germany’s current environment. The paper argues that rather than merely playing the role of an obedient disciple of Realpolitik socialisers, Germany ought to rehabilitate the foreign policy tradition of the Bonn Republic in support of an active Idealpolitik transformation of its environment. The article serves as a starting point for a debate on German foreign policy in the upcoming issues of WeltTrends.
How do children determine the syntactic category of novel words? In this article we present the results of 2 experiments that investigated whether German children between 12 and 16 months of age can use distributional knowledge that determiners precede nouns and subject pronouns precede verbs to syntactically categorize adjacent novel words. Evidence from the head-turn preference paradigm shows that, although 12- to 13-month-olds cannot do this, 14- to 16-month-olds are able to use a determiner to categorize a following novel word as a noun. In contrast, no categorization effect was found for a novel word following a subject pronoun. To understand this difference we analyzed adult child-directed speech. This analysis showed that there are in fact stronger co-occurrence relations between determiners and nouns than between subject pronouns and verbs. Thus, in German determiners may be more reliable cues to the syntactic category of an adjacent novel word than are subject pronouns. We propose that the capacity to syntactically categorize novel words, demonstrated here for the first time in children this young, mediates between the recognition of the specific morphosyntactic frame in which a novel word appears and the word-to-world mapping that is needed to build up a semantic representation for the novel word.
Die Individualbeschwerde nach dem Fakultativprotokoll zum Zivilpakt : ein Handbuch für die Praxis
(2004)
Das vorliegende Handbuch bietet vertiefende Informationen zur Individualbeschwerde nach dem Fakultativprotokoll zum Internationalen Pakt über bürgerliche und politische Rechte. Das Handbuch richtet sich in erster Linie an Praktiker/innen, die in ihrer Arbeit mit Menschenrechtsverletzungen konfrontiert sind, insbesondere Rechtsanwälte und Rechtsanwältinnen sowie Menschenrechtsorganisationen. In umfassender, aber komprimierter Form gibt es zuverlässige Hilfestellung bei der Einlegung einer Beschwerde. Darüber hinaus ist das Handbuch auch für Mitarbeitende in Ministerien, Universitäten und sonstigen Einrichtungen geeignet, die sich mit der Materie vertraut machen wollen. (Autorenreferat)
Indonesia’s arduous path to democracy is threatened by several domestic conflicts. Although the civil war in Aceh – a region in the north of Sumatra – has claimed thousands of victims, the incidents have not yet been adequately dealt with – neither in the public domain nor within the scientific community. In May 2003, the Indonesian president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, imposed material law on the Aceh region in order to crack down on the separatist movement Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM). This step does not seem to be in line with serious concepts of democracy and is threatening the consolidation of the transformation process. The author seeks to shed light on the roots of the conflict, the motivation of leading politicians in Jakarta to deploy military means instead of continuing negotiations, and its consequences for the Indonesian process of democratisation.
In the spring issue of WeltTrends, Gunther Hellmann (Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe- Universität Frankfurt a. M.) sparked a debate on Germany’s foreign policy. He argued that Germany’s international behaviour is dominated by a Realpolitik policy generally referred to as "normalization". For Hellmann this transformation indicates "the deepest crisis of German foreign policy" ever. Hellmann proposes a rehabilitation of the tradition of the Bonner Republik and an active Idealpolitik. This summer issue of WeltTrends features eleven articles written in response to Hellmann by International Relations scholars. The debate focuses on analytical as well as normative aspects of current German foreign policy. The authors discuss the context of the European Common Foreign and Security Policy, the international system and the United Nations, historical aspects of German foreign policy and the German foreign policy discourse. While some contributors share Hellmann's idealist position, most challenge his plea from a more realist perspective. In the upcoming fall issue, this debate will be continued with contributions by German foreign policy makers. A final reply by Hellmann will complete the debate in the winter issue of WeltTrends. Contributions by: Franz Ansprenger, Stephan Böckenförde, Wilfried von Bredow, Sabine Busse, Edwina S. Campbell, Hartmut Elsenhans, Hans J. Gießmann, Werner Link, Carlo Masala, Hanns W. Maull, and Siegfried Schwarz.
In the spring issue of WeltTrends, Gunther Hellmann (Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe- Universität Frankfurt a. M.) sparked a debate on Germany's foreign policy. He argued that Germany’s international behaviour is dominated by a Realpolitik policy generally referred to as "normalization". For Hellmann this transformation indicates "the deepest crisis of German foreign policy" ever. Hellmann proposes a rehabilitation of the tradition of the Bonner Republik and an active Idealpolitik. This summer issue of WeltTrends features eleven articles written in response to Hellmann by International Relations scholars. The debate focuses on analytical as well as normative aspects of current German foreign policy. The authors discuss the context of the European Common Foreign and Security Policy, the international system and the United Nations, historical aspects of German foreign policy and the German foreign policy discourse. While some contributors share Hellmann's idealist position, most challenge his plea from a more realist perspective. In the upcoming fall issue, this debate will be continued with contributions by German foreign policy makers. A final reply by Hellmann will complete the debate in the winter issue of WeltTrends. Contributions by: Franz Ansprenger, Stephan Böckenförde, Wilfried von Bredow, Sabine Busse, Edwina S. Campbell, Hartmut Elsenhans, Hans J. Gießmann, Werner Link, Carlo Masala, Hanns W. Maull, and Siegfried Schwarz.
Predictability of hydrologic response at the plot and catchment scales: Role of initial conditions
(2004)
This paper examines the effect of uncertain initial soil moisture on hydrologic response at the plot scale (1 m2) and the catchment scale (3.6 km2) in the presence of threshold transitions between matrix and preferential flow. We adopt the concepts of microstates and macrostates from statistical mechanics. The microstates are the detailed patterns of initial soil moisture that are inherently unknown, while the macrostates are specified by the statistical distributions of initial soil moisture that can be derived from the measurements typically available in field experiments. We use a physically based model and ensure that it closely represents the processes in the Weiherbach catchment, Germany. We then use the model to generate hydrologic response to hypothetical irrigation events and rainfall events for multiple realizations of initial soil moisture microstates that are all consistent with the same macrostate. As the measures of uncertainty at the plot scale we use the coefficient of variation and the scaled range of simulated vertical bromide transport distances between realizations. At the catchment scale we use similar statistics derived from simulated flood peak discharges. The simulations indicate that at both scales the predictability depends on the average initial soil moisture state and is at a minimum around the soil moisture value where the transition from matrix to macropore flow occurs. The predictability increases with rainfall intensity. The predictability increases with scale with maximum absolute errors of 90 and 32% at the plot scale and the catchment scale, respectively. It is argued that even if we assume perfect knowledge on the processes, the level of detail with which one can measure the initial conditions along with the nonlinearity of the system will set limits to the repeatability of experiments and limits to the predictability of models at the plot and catchment scales.
A fine-grained slope that exhibits slow movement rates was investigated to understand how geohydrological processes contribute to a consecutive development of mass movements in the Vorarlberg Alps, Austria. For that purpose intensive hydrometeorological, hydrogeological and geotechnical observations as well as surveying of surface movement rates were conducted during 1998–2001. Subsurface water dynamics at the creeping slope turned out to be dominated by a three-dimensional pressure system. The pressure reaction is triggered by fast infiltration of surface water and subsequent lateral water flow in the south-western part of the hillslope. The related pressure signal was shown to propagate further downhill, causing fast reactions of the piezometric head at 5Ð5 m depth on a daily time scale. The observed pressure reactions might belong to a temporary hillslope water body that extends further downhill. The related buoyancy forces could be one of the driving forces for the mass movement. A physically based hydrological model was adopted to model simultaneously surface and subsurface water dynamics including evapotranspiration and runoff production. It was possible to reproduce surface runoff and observed pressure reactions in principle. However, as soil hydraulic functions were only estimated on pedotransfer functions, a quantitative comparison between observed and simulated subsurface dynamics is not feasible. Nevertheless, the results suggest that it is possible to reconstruct important spatial structures based on sparse observations in the field which allow reasonable simulations with a physically based hydrological model. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY WORDS rainfall-induced landslides; soil creep; hydrological modelling; Vorarlberg; Austria; pressure propagation
This article investigates the fictional narratives written by „Sub-commandante Marcos“ of the Zapatista movement EZLN. It is shown that Marcos uses three distinct frames of reference in his fictional account of the Zapatista guerrilla: an ethnic, a national and a post-national one. Contrary to other studies that emphasize the harmony between the three levels, it can be argued that there exists a fundamental tension between them. There is a tension between the ethnic discourse and the Mexican nationalist discourse which envisions a nation rather than a nation dominated by a single ethno-cultural group. Finally, it can be deduced from these tensions that the EZLN guerrilla is subject to divergent pressures.
The central focus of this essay is the "politicisation" of ethnicity in contemporary German immigration policy and its underlying ethnic ideology. Emphasis is put on the relevance of ethnicity and how it is viewed within the framework of German immigration policy. The author discusses German citizenship policy and its ideology, which creates ethnic boundaries in order to serve as a mechanism to defend limited access to German citizenship. The effects of the elevation of so-called ethnic groups through privileged immigration are explained with the example of ethnic German emigrants living in the former Soviet Union – the "Auslandsdeutschen" – and the process of their ethnic formation.
Völkerrecht und Ethnizität
(2003)
Both universal and regional international instruments seek to maintain and to strengthen peace and security through the development of friendly and co-operative relations between equally sovereign states respecting human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. History shows that failure to respect minority rights can undermine stability within states and negatively affect relations between states, thus endangering international peace. While minority situations vary greatly and the ordinary democratic process may be adequate to respond to the needs and aspirations of minorities, experience also shows that special measures are often required to facilitate the effective participation of minorities in public life. The article analyzes the contribution of international law to this field.
At the beginning of the 21st century the welfare state is under pressure from two sides. On the one hand, there is "globalisation", on the other hand seems to be some sort of normative crisis of the welfare state’s moral foundations. The welfare state is said to curtail individual freedom and autonomy. This article rejects this assumption by exploring the philosophical and moral foundations of the welfare state, thereby demonstrating that it is essentially necessary for individual freedom and autonomy. Furthermore, it is shown that individual freedom is also the core principle of liberal democracy and that the welfare state is therefore an indispensable prerequisite for democracy itself.
Do the transatlantic relations have a future after the Iraq crisis and what will they look like? This question will be discussed in this and the next issue of WeltTrends. For this debate, Thomas Risse, Chair of International Relation at the Freie Universität Berlin, provides the initial input. Risse focuses on controversial issues inside of Europe, the outcome of which will be decisive for the future of the transatlantic relationship. Will the European consensus once constituted by the commitment to international law and multilateralism persist? What is the European position regarding democracy and human rights in the Middle East? Will Europe develop a strategy to cope with the new kind of threats posed by weapons of mass destruction in the hands of dictators or terrorists? Risse´s article has provoked a debate inside the German academic community, whose contributions will be published in the next issue of WeltTrends.
This issue of WeltTrends features the debate about the future of the transatlantic relationship and world order after the Iraq war. It was started by Thomas Risse with his article in the previous edition. Thomas Risse elaborated on three main points of contention between the United States and Europe: the role of international law and multilateralism, democracy and human rights, and the strategy towards new security threats. Most of the scholars, contributing to the debate in this issue agree with Risse in that there is no alternative to the transatlantic partnership and offer possible paths towards its renewal. The debate will be continued with additional comments and a rebuttal by Thomas Risse in the next Winter issue.
In this article, Immanuel Wallerstein tries to anticipate the evolution of world conflicts and structures over the next decades. In his analysis, he identifies three main cleavages which structure future global conflicts: the triadic cleavage between the United States, Europe and Japan, who compete economically; the North-South cleavage between core zones and the periphery of the world economy; and, finally, the cleavage between what he calls the "Spirit of Davos" and the "Spirit of Porto Alegre" as a conflict between alternative images of the future world order. The structure and the dynamics of each cleavage are analysed and their evolution over the next decades is anticipated.
In this issue, we continue and complete the debate on the future of the transatlantic relationship and of world order after the Iraq war. The debate was initiated by an article by Thomas Risse (Freie Universität Berlin) in WeltTrends 39, which has provoked a remarkable reaction within the German academic community, as documented in WeltTrends 40. This issue features additional comments and the rebuttal by Thomas Risse. Most authors believe that the transatlantic partnership is in a serious crisis, but claim that it remains without an alternative for both sides of the Atlantic.
In this issue, we continue and complete the debate on the future of the transatlantic relationship and of world order after the Iraq war. The debate was initiated by an article by Thomas Risse (Freie Universität Berlin) in WeltTrends 39, which has provoked a remarkable reaction within the German academic community, as documented in WeltTrends 40. This issue features additional comments and the rebuttal by Thomas Risse. Most authors believe that the transatlantic partnership is in a serious crisis, but claim that it remains without an alternative for both sides of the Atlantic.
Investigations with frequency domain photon density waves allow elucidation of absorption and scattering properties of turbid media. The temporal and spatial propagation of intensity modulated light with frequencies up to more than 1 GHz can be described by the P1 approximation to the Boltzmann transport equation. In this study, we establish requirements for the appropriate choice of turbid model media and characterize mixtures of isosulfan blue as absorber and polystyrene beads as scatterer. For these model media, the independent determination of absorption and reduced scattering coefficients over large absorber and scatterer concentration ranges is demonstrated with a frequency domain photon density wave spectrometer employing intensity and phase measurements at various modulation frequencies.
An approach to the development of fluorescent probes to follow polymerizations in situ using fluorinated cross-conjugated enediynes (Y-enynes) is reported. Different substitution patterns in the Y-enynes result in distinct solvatochromic behavior. β,β-Bis(phenylethynyl)pentafluorostyrene 7, which bears no donor substituents and only fluorine at the styrene moiety, shows no solvatochromism. Donor substituted β,β-bis(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylethynyl) pentafluorostyrene 8 and β,β-bis(4-butyl-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenylethynyl)-3,4,5-trimethoxystyrene 9 exhibit solvatochromism upon change of solvent polarity. Y-enyne 8 showed the largest solvatochromic shift (94 nm bathochromic shift) upon changing solvent from cyclohexane to acetonitrile. A smaller solvatochromic response (44 nm bathochromic shift) was observed for 9. Lippert–Mataga treatment of 8 and 9 yields slopes of -10,800 and -6,400 cm -1, respectively. This corresponds to a change in dipole moment of 9.6 and 6.9 D, respectively. The solvatochromic behavior in 8 and 9 supports the formation of an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) state. The low fluorescence quantum yields are caused by competitive double bond rotation. The fluorescence decay time of 9 decreases in methyltetrahydrofuran from 2.1 ns at 77 K to 0.11 ns at 200 K. Efficient single bond rotation in 9 was frozen at -50 °C in a configuration in which the trimethoxyphenyl ring is perpendicular to the fluorinated rings. 7–9 are photostable compounds. The X-ray structure of 7 shows it is not planar and that its conjugation is distorted. Y-enyne 7 stacks in the solid state showing coulombic, actetylene–arene, and fluorine–π interactions.
This introduction provides an overview of feminist approaches to International Relations. The authors compare the Anglo-American debate with the Germanspeaking discussion in order to reveal similarities and differences. They identify three particular areas of research that characterize the German-speaking feminist debate in International Relations: (1) works evolving out of peace studies; (2) research on globalization and international economic institutions; (3) studies focusing on women’s movements together with most current works centering around international norms. They argue that feminist approaches to norms constitute a particularly promising research area which provides new "tools" to account for international, regional or domestic policy-change. Gender-sensitive research on norms also allows to address ethical questions that are vital for feminist understandings of science. Moreover, this new focus on norms enables bridge-building between feminism and the mainstream.
On the occasion of his farewell lecture, Manfred Mols looks back to his academic work of the last four decades, and discusses the essential meaning of area studies. He tries to clarify the important denotation of institutes for regional researchers. Area studies should help us to understand changing processes in international policies and they do. He underlines his critical point of view with the position and treatment of area studies among certain universities in Germany.
This article is a reply to a statement by Elke Schwinger in WeltTrends 31. The author tries to strike the balance between "coming to terms with the past" and the role of criminal law in this process in Germany. The principle of prohibition of retroactive laws, fixed in the 1990 German Unification Treaty and in the Constitution, had been broken in the trials against the "Mauerschützen" (border guards) in German criminal courts since 1990. There is an artificially constructed past which does not correspond to the reality of the border regime before 1989. The author underlines that today the criminal law is misused for political aims within the German unification process.
"Small wars" will play an increasing role in the conflict scenarios of the 21st century, at the expense of inter-state wars. One of the key features of future war is the difficult differentiation between civilian and military targets, between combatants and noncombatants. It is argued that the parallel (and competing) structures of both states and non-state actors using force openly and equally will be a permanent feature of international security policy in the 21st century. This development is tantamount to the dissolution of the monopoly on the legitimate use of force by the states. The state-centered system of international relations has been a distinctive hallmark of the modern period. It is bound to give way, however, to the parallel and competing structures of state actors and non-state actors which was a central attribute of the Middle Ages. Jahresabo: 40,00 € (ermäßigt: 25,00 €)
Significant seasonal variation in size at settlement has been observed in newly settled larvae of Dreissena polymorpha in Lake Constance. Diet quality, which varies temporally and spatially in freshwater habitats, has been suggested as a significant factor influencing life history and development of freshwater invertebrates. Accordingly, experiments were conducted with field-collected larvae to test the hypothesis that diet quality can determine planktonic larval growth rates, size at settlement and subsequent post-metamorphic growth rates. Larvae were fed one of two diets or starved. One diet was composed of cyanobacterial cells which are deficient in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and the other was a mixed diet rich in PUFAs. Freshly metamorphosed animals from the starvation treatment had a carbon content per individual 70% lower than that of larvae fed the mixed diet. This apparent exhaustion of larval internal reserves resulted in a 50% reduction of the postmetamorphic growth rates. Growth was also reduced in animals previously fed the cyanobacterial diet. Hence, low food quantity or low food quality during the larval stage of D. polymorpha lead to irreversible effects for postmetamorphic animals, and is related to inferior competitive abilities.
Two years after the end of the "hot war" in Kosovo, the situation on the Balkans remains extremely tense. The West embraced the illusion to provide the Kosovo-Albanians with conditions for a substantial autonomy under the umbrella of an international protectorate. The Kosovo-Albanians considered the substantial autonomy as a milestone on their way to independence, while a new Yugoslav-Serbian administration counted on regaining sovereign rights in Kosovo. The escalation of the crisis provided a fresh impetus for new expectations regarding the national question. The claim to separate Kosovo from Yugoslavia had been strengthened. The Albanian role in this process remained ambiguous. Albania has to be considered as an actor and an object, and it perceives its national geopolitical and security interests as affected by the process in Kosovo. Tirana's political orientation is strongly moving towards the Euro-Atlantic community, yet hegemonic interests vis-à-vis Kosovo might play an important role besides Tirana's own limited political influence over the developments in Kosovo.
With the new government, coming to power in 1998, a new emphasis on development cooperation as part of a global strategy for structural change was launched. Since then the federal minister for development cooperation – Heidemarie Wieczorek- Zeul – presented some interesting strategic papers under the label "aid as a global policy to overcome structural blockades to social progress and development". Special emphasis was put on the Program of Action for Poverty Reduction and on the strategy paper of a new Africa policy, but neither are concrete results yet in sight nor is an answer to the burning question of what to do with half of all African countries not having a long-term perspective for development at all (the "failing states" etc.). The article shows the great discrepancy between the impressive political rhetoric and the meager budget to cope with the many challenges of the poor developing countries in Africa. The new concept of the enlarged security intends to stabilize the structural conditions for social and economic development. In order to realize this aim, the article proposes a link between public expenditures on military measures for security and such on civil measures for structural security. Finally the article asks how development cooperation can influence the political attitudes of state and society in Africa in the direction of good governance and structural reforms.
The aftermath of September 11th is again subject of discussion in the forum of this Winter edition of WeltTrends. Besides scholars from Poland and Germany, wellknown politicians from all parties represented in the Bundestag deal with questions that arise from the brutal attacks of Islamic terrorism in the Western world. There is a wide consensus that conflicts in regions of crises such as the Middle East have to be solved first before peace can be established. More or less constructive suggestions were made concerning the role of Euro-Atlantic institutions. International efforts under the jurisdiction of the UN will have to be strengthened in order to install democratic structures in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Most of the opinions, ideas and impressions represented here have in common that they give an outlook of what will keep the daily political life busy for the next few years.