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Exact methods for discrete Γ-robust interdiction problems with an application to the bilevel knapsack problem (2023)

Beck, Yasmine ; Ljubić, Ivana ; Schmidt, Martin

Developing solution methods for discrete bilevel problems is known to be a challenging task—even if all parameters of the problem are exactly known. Many real-world applications of bilevel optimization, however, involve data uncertainty. We study discrete min-max problems with a follower who faces uncertainties regarding the parameters of the lower-level problem. Adopting a Γ-robust approach, we present an extended formulation and a multi-follower formulation to model this type of problem. For both settings, we provide a generic branch-and-cut framework. Specifically, we investigate interdiction problems with a monotone Γ-robust follower and we derive problem-tailored cuts, which extend existing techniques that have been proposed for the deterministic case. For the Γ-robust knapsack interdiction problem, we computationally evaluate and compare the performance of the proposed algorithms for both modeling approaches.

On a Computationally Ill-Behaved Bilevel Problem with a Continuous and Nonconvex Lower Level (2023)

Beck, Yasmine ; Bienstock, Daniel ; Schmidt, Martin ; Thürauf, Johannes

It is well known that bilevel optimization problems are hard to solve both in theory and practice. In this paper, we highlight a further computational difficulty when it comes to solving bilevel problems with continuous but nonconvex lower levels. Even if the lower-level problem is solved to -feasibility regarding its nonlinear constraints for an arbitrarily small but positive , the obtained bilevel solution as well as its objective value may be arbitrarily far away from the actual bilevel solution and its actual objective value. This result even holds for bilevel problems for which the nonconvex lower level is uniquely solvable, for which the strict complementarity condition holds, for which the feasible set is convex, and for which Slater’s constraint qualification is satisfied for all feasible upper-level decisions. Since the consideration of -feasibility cannot be avoided when solving nonconvex problems to global optimality, our result shows that computational bilevel optimization with continuous and nonconvex lower levels needs to be done with great care. Finally, we illustrate that the nonlinearities in the lower level are the key reason for the observed bad behavior by showing that linear bilevel problems behave much better at least on the level of feasible solutions.

Imperfect collusion in monitored markets with free entry (2023)

von Auer, Ludwig ; Pham, Tu Anh

Surveys of antitrust cases reveal that colluding firms usually (1) attempt to minimise the risk of prosecution, (2) achieve merely imperfect levels of collusion, (3) compete against some independently acting firms, and (4) adjust to market entries and exits. In contrast, existing oligopoly models neglect some of the four listed stylised facts and, thus, overlook important interdependencies between them. Therefore, the present paper develops a general quantity leadership model that simultaneously accommodates all four stylised facts. The model is a three-stage game in which each firm must make three consecutive decisions: market entry or not, collusion or not, and output quantity. The framework is augmented by an antitrust authority that ensures free market access. In addition, the antitrust authority may directly obstruct collusion and it may threaten prosecution. The results of this study indicate that the latter two instruments are rather ineffective.

Group singing through the lens of polyvagal theory: A pilot study in patients with Parkinson's disease (2025)

Wünnenberg, Elke ; Baumann, Nicola

There is a need to counteract the chronic progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD). This complex challenge requires new theoretical frameworks and practical strategies. In this study, we implemented group singing in line with the Singing Hospitals format and examined it through the lens of Polyvagal Theory to evaluate its potential benefits for people with PD. According to Polyvagal Theory, facilitating a shift in autonomic states from defense to safety and social engagement may enhance physiological regulation and thereby promote well-being across physical, mental, emotional, and social dimensions. In a pilot study, we recruited patients with PD and examined their responses to two group singing formats (weekly sessions: N1 = 13, one-day-workshop: N2 = 14) and a non-singing control group (N3 = 22). We designed scales of physical, mental, emotional, and social states that PD patients rated before and after eight one-hour singing sessions (N1) or an eight-hour singing workshop (N2). Findings show that PD patients benefited from group singing across both settings (large effect size: d = 2.43). Furthermore, self-reported interoceptive sensibility, used as a proxy for polyvagal autonomic reactivity, showed a substantial reduction in discomfort after weekly singing, while remaining constant in the control group (large effect size: d = 0.94). We observed the predicted singing-dependent effects and interpreted them as a shift in autonomic regulation consistent with Polyvagal Theory. Singing may represent a feasible, low-threshold resource for coping. Furthermore, Polyvagal Theory may provide an innovative framework for PD and help to bridge motor and non-motor symptoms.

I am Once Again Asking for Your Attention: A Replication of Feature-Based Attention Modulations of Binding Effects with Picture Stimuli (2025)

Singh, Tarini ; Schöpper, Lars-Michael ; Frings, Christian

Action control theories assume that stimulus and response features are integrated or bound into short term episodic traces. A repetition of any of these features results in a retrieval of the entire episodic trace, and can thus facilitate or interfere with future actions. Along with stimuli features, features of the response and any other irrelevant stimuli that are present, are also integrated into such traces and can influence future actions. Using word stimuli, Singh et al. (2018) observed that such so-called binding effects are larger for attended features relative to unattended features. This was the case even for features generally believed to be automatically processed, like valence. Since previous research has shown differences in the processing of word and picture stimuli, it is questionable whether the attentional modulations in the above study would extend to picture stimuli. In order to examine this question, Experiment 1 replicated the design of Singh et al. (2018) but used picture instead of word stimuli. In order to directly compare word and picture stimuli, the data of Singh et al (2018) were re-analysed together with the data of the present study. In Experiment 2, the alternative hypothesis, that the effects were driven by the encoding of stimulus contingencies, was tested. Taken together, the findings of the present study replicate those of Singh et al. (2018), indicating that even with picture stimuli, valence related binding effects are modulated by attention allocation.

Effects of Proctoring on Online Intelligence Measurement: A Literature Overview and an Empirical Study (2025)

Scherrer, Vsevolod ; Petry, Nicolai ; Breit, Moritz ; Urban, Julian ; Preuß, Julian ; Preckel, Franzis

Remote intelligence testing has multiple advantages, but cheating is possible without proper supervision. Proctoring aims to address this shortcoming, yet prior research on its effects has primarily investigated reasoning tasks, in which cheating is generally difficult. This study provides an overview of recent research on the effects of proctoring and on studies in intelligence test settings. Moreover, we conducted an empirical study testing the effects of webcam-based proctoring with a multidimensional intelligence test measuring reasoning, short-term memory, processing speed, and divergent thinking. The study was conducted in a low-stakes context, with participants receiving a fixed payment regardless of performance. Participants completed the test under proctored (n = 74, webcam consent), unproctored random (n = 75, webcam consent), or unproctored chosen (n = 77, no webcam consent) conditions. Scalar measurement invariance was observed for reasoning, processing speed, and divergent thinking, but not for memory. Proctoring had no significant main effect on test performance but showed a significant interaction with test type. Proctored participants outperformed the unproctored chosen group significantly in divergent thinking and scored descriptively higher in reasoning and processing speed, but slightly lower in memory. Observable cheating under proctored conditions was rare (4%), mostly involving note-taking or photographing the screen. We conclude that proctoring is crucial for easily cheatable tasks, such as memory tasks, but currently less critical for complex cognitive tasks.

Using Cognitive Diagnostic Models to Evaluate the Two-Process Theory of Matrix Reasoning (2025)

Preuß, Julian ; Preckel, Franzis

Figural matrices are widely used to measure reasoning ability. According to the two-process model of figural matrix reasoning, task performance relies on correspondence finding (linked to induction ability) and goal management (linked to working memory). Cognitive theory suggests that item characteristics (i.e., change rules and design principles of figural elements) are related to the two solution processes and impact item difficulties in a multiplicative, interactive manner. This study tested the multiplicative effect hypothesis by comparing two cognitive diagnostic models using additive and multiplicative effect estimations. A 26-item figural matrix test was administered to 633 high-ability individuals across paper-and-pencil and computer formats. The linear logistic test model (LLTM) and least square distance method (LSDM) were applied to Rasch and 2PL item parameters. Contrary to the multiplicative effect hypothesis, the additive LLTM model showed better item parameter reconstruction than the LSDM that includes multiplicative effects. These results suggest that change rules and design principles may independently contribute to the difficulty of figural matrices. Correspondence-finding demands may primarily arise from design principles, while change rules may primarily contribute to difficulty through goal management demands based on their number and complexity. The findings highlight the need to consider item components related to the phenomenological representation of figural elements when explaining solution processes of figural matrices. Implications for cognitive theory and item construction are discussed.

Psychosocial Risk and Recurrent Hospitalizations (2025)

Maukel, Lisa-Marie ; Schmeller, Sandra ; Weidner, Gerdi ; Beyersmann, Jan ; Spaderna, Heike

Background: Women experience higher rates of adverse events and first rehospitalization after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation compared with men. This study investigated the role of sex and preimplant psychosocial risk in recurrent hospitalizations. Methods: Data from 20,123 INTERMACS patients (21.3% women) were analyzed. Cumulative transition rates (e.g., home to hospitalization) were estimated and Andersen–Gill models, adjusted for covariates, examined the association between sex, preimplant psychosocial risk, and cumulative transition hazards for rehospitalization. State occupation probabilities, the mean number of hospitalizations, and the cumulative average length of hospital stay were calculated and stratified by sex and psychosocial risk. Results: Psychosocial risk preimplant was more prevalent in men than in women (21.4% vs. 17.5%, p < 0.001). The interaction of female sex and psychosocial risk increased rehospitalization hazards, independently of covariates [HRadj 1.11, 95% CI (1.01–1.22), p = 0.036]. One-year postimplant, women with vs. without psychosocial risk had 2.2 vs. 1.8 hospitalizations, while men experienced 1.8 vs. 1.7 hospitalizations, respectively. Women with vs. without psychosocial risk spent 20 vs.16 days hospitalized, and men 15 vs. 14 days (all p < 0.001). Conclusions: Preimplant psychosocial risk independently contributed to recurrent hospitalizations post-LVAD, particularly affecting women. The early identification and management of these factors may reduce rehospitalizations and improve clinical outcomes.

An intricate relationship: stress markers and associative memory in a laboratory experiment in older adults (2025)

Knopf, Luisa ; Domes, Gregor ; Kamp, Siri-Maria

Introduction: Researchers working in the field of cognitive aging frequently encounter highly motivated yet nervous older participants during data collection in the laboratory. Such anecdotal experiences raise the question of whether the affective or physiological response of older participants to psychological laboratory experiments differs to that of young adults, who might be less motivated but also less nervous, as they may be more used to the environment and to learning and memory tests. Methods: In the present study, we collected saliva samples and subjective affective ratings during an EEG experiment on memory, and at home, in young and older adults, while also taking into account sex effects. Results: There was no significant interaction involving time point (laboratory vs. at home) and age group. However, across both time points older males showed significantly higher cortisol-levels than older females, while there was no difference for younger males and females. The trajectories in cortisol levels throughout the session, especially around the memory task, differed by age: While there was a decrease in cortisol levels for younger adults from before to after the memory task, we did not observe such a decrease in older participants. There were few age differences in alpha-amylase or negative affect. However, older adults showed higher ratings of positive affect than younger participants. Importantly, lower cortisol levels before the memory task were associated with higher associative memory performance for older adults. Discussion: Affective reactions to psychological laboratory tasks may hence be an important factor to consider in psychological experiments in the field of cognitive aging.

Finding process-behavioural parameterisations of a hydrological model using a multi-step process-based calibration and evaluation scheme (2025)

Heuer, Moritz M. ; Mohajerani, Hadysa ; Casper, Markus C.

Process-behavioural hydrological modelling aims not only at predicting the discharge of an area within a model, but also at understanding and correctly depicting the underlying hydrological processes. Here, we present a new approach for the calibration and evaluation of water balance models, exemplarily applied to the Riverisbach catchment in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. For our approach, we used the behavioural model WaSiM. The first calibration step is the adjustment of the evapotranspiration (ETa) parameters based on MODIS evapotranspiration data. This aims at providing correct evapotranspiration behaviour of the model and at closing the water balance at the gauging station. In the second step, geometry and transmissivity of the aquifer are determined using the characteristic delay curve (CDC). The portion of groundwater recharge was calibrated using the delayed flow index (DFI). In the third step, inappropriate pedotransfer functions (PTFs) could be filtered out by comparing dominant runoff process patterns under a synthetic precipitation event with a soil hydrological reference map. Then, the discharge peaks were adjusted based on so-called signature indices. This ensured a correct depiction of high-flow volume in the model. Finally, the overall model performance was determined using signature indices and efficiency measures. The results show a very good model fit with values of 0.87 for the NSE (Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient) and 0.89 for the KGE (Kling–Gupta efficiency) in the calibration period, as well as an NSE of 0.78 and a KGE of 0.87 for the validation period. Simultaneously, our calibration approach ensured a correct depiction of the underlying processes (groundwater behaviour, runoff patterns). We were also able to detect the model parameterisations based on the PTFs that showed satisfactory results across all calibration steps. This enables a targeted selection of the most suitable PTFs for determining the soil properties. This means that our calibration approach allows selecting a process-behaviourally faithful one from many possible parameterisation variants.

The use of a shuffled complex evolution algorithm for calibration of a dynamic leaf emergence model leads to better spatial ETa predictions (2025)

Heuer, Moritz M. ; Hutengs, Christopher ; Casper, Markus C.

Dynamic phenology has so far been a modelling aspect that has received little attention. However, it has been shown that leaf emergence takes place earlier due to the shift in vegetation phase caused by climate change and is strongly dependent on temperature. Here, we demonstrate the calibration of a model for dynamic phenology within the water balance model WaSiM. Temperature sums and dormancy are used as controlling variables. The calibration of the respective parameters was realised using a shuffled complex evolution algorithm. ETa relevant parameters were calibrated based on MODIS data as a reference. Evaluation was done by comparing the ETa curves to MODIS ETa curves as well as a comparison of spatial ETa patterns based on Landsat ETa data. The evaluation shows that the dynamic phenology model used is capable of predicting the start of leaf emergence while also leading to better fitting evapotranspiration curves for the deciduous forest compared with the initial static parameterisation approach.

Emotion management in organizations: the transformation of unreachable feelings to modifiable communication in organizations (2025)

Freis, Tamara

A fundamental challenge confronting modern organizations is to rationalize the affectivity of their members. In contrast to the 19th century, when communication in private settings was largely devoid of emotional content, the current era is characterized by a notable shift toward the incorporation of emotional elements in public discourse. This transformation is unfolding against the background of the ongoing evolution of modern organizations, with the processes of digitization and structural-automation contributing to this shift. The renewed emphasis on emotional semantics is facilitated by these developments—made possible by the fact that they facilitate the experience of the potential future obsolescence of humans as a source of crises. The concept of emotional semantics is currently being discussed in economic discourse, political debate, and in the context of management and leadership. Modern organizations mandate that their members manage their emotions through an organizational culture that fosters reflective communication through empathy. However, an understanding of this process can only be achieved through an examination of historical evidence. The article posits that organizations serve as pivotal actors in the domain of emotion management. Situated at the nexus of historical educational considerations, this perspective offers a nuanced interpretation of the historical evolution of organizational control ambitions. These ambitions have been catalyzed by contemporary trends, such as digitization and the integration of artificial intelligence and have undergone a progressive transformation over time. By sensitizing to the interplay of personal-psychic, institutional and organizational orders, the conceptual instruments for describing a history of emotions become more nuanced. This is demonstrated in the article through the analysis of specific organizational forms, which exemplify a parallel evolution within modern organizational society. Perspectives and discourses in organizational research provide novel approaches to the history of education by considering the organized nature of emotional phenomena. In this regard, the objective of the article is to provide impetus for the field of emotion-sensitive organization and management research which addresses questions pertaining to the transformation of organizations and their historical lines of continuity.

After a Hand Was Lent: Sporadically Experiencing Multisensory Interference During the Rubber Hand Illusion Does Not Shield Against Disembodiment (2025)

Eck, Julia ; Dignath, David ; Kalckert, Andreas ; Pfister, Roland

Observations from multisensory body illusions indicate that the body representation can be adapted to changing task demands, e.g., it can be expanded to integrate external objects based on current sensorimotor experience (embodiment). While the mechanisms that promote embodiment have been studied extensively in earlier work, the opposite phenomenon of, removing an embodied entity from the body representation (i.e., disembodiment) has received little attention yet. The current study addressed this phenomenon and drew inspiration from the partial reinforcement extinction effect in instrumental learning which suggests that behavior is more resistant to extinction when reinforcement is delivered irregularly. In analogy to this, we investigated whether experiencing occasional visuo-motor mismatches during the induction phase of the moving rubber hand illusion (intermittent condition) would result in slower disembodiment as compared to a regular induction phase where motor and visual signals always match (continuous condition). However, we did not find an effect of reinforcement schedule on disembodiment. Keeping a recently embodied entity in the body schema, therefore, requires constant updating through correlated perceptual and motor signals.

Feasibility and user experience of augmented reality psychoeducation and mindfulness body scan for chronic low back pain (2025)

Conen, Robin ; Hepke, Nikolai ; Lohscheller, Jörg ; Mueller, Steffen ; Tibubos, Ana N.

Background: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is prevalent and a multimodal therapy is indicated, including psychological treatment. Effective conventional treatments involve psychoeducation and mindfulness-based body scans, while virtual reality offers superior but temporary pain relief. Augmented Reality (AR), which combines conventional and virtual methods, is a novel therapeutic strategy. Methods: We investigated the viability and acceptability of an AR intervention for CLBP by incorporating psychoeducation and mindfulness-based body scan techniques. 40 participants in two studies with a one-arm design underwent an educational AR intervention (Study I, n1 = 18) and an enhanced version with an additional body scan (Study II, n2 = 22). The studies focused on evaluating technical feasibility and multiple facets of user experience. Results: The results demonstrated high feasibility with low dropout rates (Study I: 10%, Study II: 0%). User experience ratings ranged from “Above Average” to “Excellent,” with the advanced intervention receiving higher ratings. While Study I showed no significant changes in affect pre- vs. post-intervention, Study II exhibited a significant reduction in negative affect and improved valence. Qualitative analysis provided insights into technical requirements and user perceptions. Discussion: The AR prototype emerges as a promising psychoeducational tool for CLBP, aligning with current treatment guidelines and providing a basis for future controlled clinical trials. Limitations include the absence of a high-pain intervention group, as Study I reported a pain intensity of M = 1.05 and Study II reported M = 1.77 (Range: 0–10). Further research such as clinical trials with control groups is required to validate the efficacy of the piloted approach. The AR-based psychoeducation and mindfulness body scan intervention for CLBP demonstrated technical feasibility and a good user experience.

Development and validation of the Self-Awareness of Ego-Threatening Biases Questionnaire (SAETBQ) (2025)

Brycz, Hanna ; Chybicka, Aneta ; Smoliński, Paweł ; Piotrowski, Andrzej ; Hohmann, Sofia ; Baumann, Nicola

Awareness of social biases is crucial as they impact both individual behavior and societal outcomes. Whereas previous research indicates that self-awareness of ego-nonthreatening biases enhances self-regulation, the effects of self-awareness of ego-threatening biases remain underexplored. Preliminary findings suggest that awareness of ego-threatening biases related to rumination may lead to maladaptive states. However, these findings await replication with standardized instruments. To address this gap, we conducted two studies. In Study 1 (N = 1609), we developed and validated the 12-item Self-Awareness of Ego-Threatening Biases Questionnaire (SAETBQ). Consistent with our hypotheses, self-awareness of ego-threatening biases (as measured by the SAETBQ) correlated with higher moral disengagement, lower self-diagnostic motive, and lower integrative self-knowledge, indicating a tendency towards ego deterioration, whereas self-awareness of ego-nonthreatening biases (as measured by the Metacognitive Self questionnaire) showed the opposite pattern of correlations, indicating a tendency towards beneficial self-regulation. In Study 2 (N = 681), Dark Triad traits correlated positively and Light Triad traits negatively with self-awareness of ego-threatening biases. These results underscore the complex role of self-awareness in managing cognitive biases.

Improving the Understanding of Hydrological Processes in Hydrological Models: From Micro to Macro and Meta Scale (2026)

Heuer, Moritz Maximilian

Hydrological models can be categorised into three groups: empirical models that are based on simple mathematical functions or being data-driven, conceptual models that rely on abstract combinations of storages and fluxes to depict catchment processes, or physically-based models that are structurally complex and incorporate physical interactions at different scales to simulate processes and system states. To calibrate and evaluate especially physically-based models, the use of multi-criteria evaluation schemes has proven to be effective to find model parameterisations that can reproduce multiple catchment processes and states instead of only the discharge. However, uncertainty in models, originating from different sources, often limits the robust interpretability of simulation results, making it necessary to assess how modelling applications can be improved to reduce uncertainty. In this thesis, the relevance of structural adequacy for the depiction of processes in models was demonstrated for the micro level for the example of dynamic phenology, where spatiotemporal model performance was improved by implementing a dynamic approach to modelling leaf emergence instead of a static one. For model evaluation at macro level, it was shown how a multi-criteria approach combining groundwater dynamics, surface runoff patterns and discharge can identify process-behavioural parameterisations and thus improve process depiction in hydrological models. At the meta level, it was demonstrated how the quasi-coupling of a hydrological and a hydraulic model can combine the different strengths of both models to simulate surface runoff processes taking infiltration into account, whereby the relevance of multi-criteria evaluated hydrological models for the derivation of hydrological variables was shown. In addition, uncertainty was explicitly incorporated into model evaluation at the meta level, where a virtual reality model approach was applied to assess the contribution that different variables can make to model evaluation when the associated measurement uncertainty is taken into account. Based on the individual results, it was possible to conclude that uncertainty and its different sources are a relevant factor in model evaluation at different levels and could be reduced by improving structural model adequacy, adapting model application approaches, and explicitly incorporating uncertainty into model evaluations.

Submodular Maximization in Combinatorial Problems (2026)

Münch, Sabine Franziska

The maximization of submodular functions under various kinds of constraints is a central component of many combinatorial optimization problems, since submodular functions naturally cover the property of diminishing returns. This dissertation comprises four scientific articles in which we consider three different combinatorial optimization problems involving the maximization of submodular functions under knapsack or cardinality constraints. The first article considers the maximization of a submodular function defined on a weighted set of items under a knapsack constraint with unknown capacity. Assume that items are packed sequentially into the knapsack, and that an oracle reveals whether an item being attempted for packing fits into the currently packed knapsack. If an item fits, it is packed irrevocably; otherwise, either packing stops immediately (packing without discarding), or the item is removed, and packing continues (packing with discarding). Our main result concerns non-adaptive packing without discarding, under the assumption that the unknown knapsack capacity is greater than or equal to the weight of the heaviest item. Specifically, we present the first polynomial-time algorithm for computing a universal policy that, for any unknown capacity, performs at least as well as the classical greedy algorithm, studied by Wolsey (1982), for the same known capacity. In the second article, we study a game-theoretic variant of maximizing a submodular function under a cardinality constraint. In this variant, an initial solution to the classical problem is determined first. Subsequently, a predetermined number of elements of the ground set, possibly containing elements of the initial solution, are deleted. If any deleted elements were part of the initial solution, they are replaced by a set of at most equal cardinality. The objective is to maximize the value of the ultimate solution, with the deletion being maximally disadvantageous to it. We analyze several special cases of this problem and present polynomial-time algorithms for computing optimal or approximately optimal ultimate solutions. For the general case, we present a polynomial-time algorithm whose approximation guarantee depends on the curvature of the submodular objective function. The last two articles of this dissertation address the classic problem of maximizing a submodular function under a knapsack constraint. The first of these articles focuses on exact solvers: We present a branch-and-bound algorithm along with several acceleration techniques. We compare it against two solvers by Sakaue and Ishihata (2018), which currently achieve the strongest performance reported in the literature, as well as a branch-and-cut algorithm implemented using Gurobi that solves a binary linear reformulation of the submodular knapsack problem, demonstrating that our methods are highly successful. The last article considers variants of the classical greedy algorithm for submodular maximization under a knapsack constraint studied by Wolsey (1982). While the classical algorithm assumes access to an exact incremental oracle in every iteration, we generalize the known approximation results for this algorithm to the presence of only an $\alpha$-approximate oracle that returns in every iteration an item whose relative marginal gain approximates the maximum relative marginal gain by at least $\frac{1}{\alpha}$, with $\alpha \geq 1$ fixed. We also present an approximation result for a variant of the classical greedy algorithm that uses an approximate oracle only in the first iteration and an exact oracle thereafter.

Southern Ocean sea-ice leads: first insights into regional lead patterns, seasonality, and trends, 2003–2023 (2025)

Willmes, Sascha ; Dubey, Umesh ; Heinemann, Günther

Sea-ice leads play a key role in the climate system by facilitating heat and moisture exchanges between the ocean and atmosphere, as well as by providing essential habitats for marine life. This study presents new insights from a gap-filled monthly dataset on sea-ice leads in the Southern Ocean and a first comprehensive analysis of spatial patterns, seasonal variability, and long-term trends of wintertime (April to September) sea-ice leads over a 21-year period (2003–2023). Our findings reveal that leads are ubiquitous in the Southern Ocean and show distinct spatial patterns with maximum lead frequencies close to the coastline, over the shelf break, and close to seafloor ridges and peaks. We see a strong seasonal variability in lead occurrence, with lead frequencies peaking in mid-winter. Weak but significant trends in lead frequencies are shown for the presented period for individual regions and months. Rather small changes in lead occurrence over the 21 years suggest stable wintertime sea-ice compactness despite the observed strong fluctuations and recent anomalies in sea-ice extent. Expanding upon previous work of lead detection in Antarctic sea ice, this study provides first results on the long-term regional, seasonal, and inter-annual variability of sea-ice leads in the Southern Ocean and can thereby contribute to an improved understanding of air–sea-ice–ocean interactions in the climate system. It also underscores the need for further investigation into the individual contributions of atmospheric and oceanic drivers to sea-ice lead formation in the Antarctic.

Continuous Norming of Psychological Tests (2026)

Urban, Julian

Norming of psychological tests is crucial for the accurate interpretation of test scores. Conventional norming, which relies on subgroups, may introduce bias and requires large samples (uneconomic) to achieve high precision (i.e., low standard errors) of the estimated norm scores. Continuous norming has been proposed as a solution to reduce bias and resolve the dilemma between economy and precision. Continuous norming estimates norm scores based on the entire normative samples – rather than subgroups – using (non-linear) regression. The aim of this dissertation is to examine continuous norming methods to improve both test development and psychological diagnostics. To this end, this dissertation comprises four research studies. This first study includes both a systematic review of continuous norming and an empirical study. The systematic review introduces different continuous norming methods and highlights their respective advantages and limitations. The empirical study compares the precision of conventional and continuous norms and investigates the presentation of continuous norms in classical norm tables. The second study provides a systematic overview of German-language tests, showing that continuous norming methods are rarely applied and that descriptions of the norming process in test manuals are often scarce. Such a scarce reporting hinders a critical evaluation of the estimated norm scores. To address this issue, the third study introduces guidelines for reporting on norm-referenced scores. The guidelines cover relevant aspects along the entire norming process and provide detailed information on each aspect. One aspect, where the guidance is limited, is determining the required sample size. The fourth study addresses this gap by providing empirical based guidance to determine the required sample size for continuous norming. For a comprehensive evaluation of continuous norming, I combined the findings of these studies with (1) an illustration of the effects of bias and precision on individual diagnostics and the financial costs of normative studies, (2) an updated systematic literature search, and (3) an examination of applied norming practices in recently published tests. This integration allowed the extraction of seven best practices for continuous norming. The first best practice is to favor continuous over conventional norming, as it effectively resolves the economy-precision dilemma: continuous norming produces less biased norms than conventional norming and requires smaller sample sizes to achieve high precision. Despite these advantages, continuous norming is still rarely applied in German-language tests. The guidelines and sample-size recommendations provided in this dissertation may facilitate a wider adoption of continuous norming methods, thereby improving both test development and psychological diagnostics.

The role of environment and evolution on the tadpole bauplan (2026)

Laudor, Jörn ; dos Santos Dias ; Vera Candioti ; Hermes ; Köhler ; Schulze ; Viertel ; Veith ; Lötters ; Plewnia ; Hönig ; Jung ; Ziegler ; Elle ; Böning

This thesis seeks to improve the understanding of evolution and habitat as key factors forming tadpole morphology (i.e. of larvae of the order Anura), uncovers existing gaps in current research and recommends strategies and directions for future research. The present study improves the knowledge about the influences of evolution and habitat on the bauplan of tadpoles in a global scale ensuring maximum standardization and comparability of the data. In relation to the total number of tadpoles assumed to exist, only a small proportion has been described and only a few of them have been identified genetically. The lack of a global standard for their description makes it difficult to compare data. Using the tadpole of a harlequin frog (Atelopus) from Guiana region, it is shown that only an integrative approach with morphological and genetic data can solve taxonomic problems. In the study area of Madagascar, it becomes evident that in this region the common genetic history only has little influence on morphology, in contrast to the aquatic way of life. Tadpoles from flowing waters develop larger eyes, more robust tail muscles and smaller fins to cope better with current conditions and move more efficiently. In an additional study, the examination is extended to an almost global level. To achieve the intended standardization, over 1000 individuals (tadpoles) from 144 species have been examined. It can be shown that the common evolutionary history on a global scale influences morphology as strongly as the habitat. In addition, the influence of specialized nutrition and the climate is investigated.

Economic Forecast Disagreement and Equity Pricing (2026)

Akbari, Mehran

Expectations play a central role in financial markets, yet investors often disagree about the economy’s future. Such disagreement has long been regarded as a potential driver of asset prices, but it remains uncertain whether it reflects mispricing or a priced source of risk. This study addresses the issue by constructing monthly disagreement indices from Consensus Economics forecasts across 24 OECD markets. Firm-level exposure to economic disagreement is estimated using return regressions. The results reveal pronounced cross-country heterogeneity. In developed markets, particularly the United States, greater exposure to disagreement consistently predicts lower future returns, supporting the mispricing hypothesis. In smaller markets, the evidence is mixed, with some cases indicating positive risk premia and others showing no significant effect. Overall, the findings provide new international evidence that the pricing of forecast disagreement is context-dependent, shaped by market structure and institutional depth.

Trade and Investment Connectivity in Europe and the Chinese Influence (2026)

Dorakh, Alena

This thesis examines how Europe sustains its leadership and competitiveness as a global center for foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade between 1991 and 2023. While EU membership historically functioned as the dominant determinant of inward FDI and trade integration, its relative influence has declined as new structural factors, based on trade dynamics and export-platform strategies, have emerged, together with the growing presence of Asian, especially Chinese, investors establishing production hubs in Central and Eastern Europe to serve the wider EU market. Lower trade costs within Europe have reinforced this shift, leading EU investors to focus on vertical FDI, while non-EU investors to adopt export-platform FDI patterns. Chinese investment has moved from infrastructure-focused projects to strategic-sector FDI, highlighting Europe’s exposure to evolving global industrial and geopolitical dynamics. Chapter 2 examines how traditional determinants of FDI, including EU membership, interact with emerging drivers, such as trade interdependence, export-platform strategies, and Asian influence, to shape investment patterns in Europe. It employs a gravity-based empirical framework augmented with newly developed indicators, comprising the Bilateral Trade Interdependence Index, the Export-Platform Indicator, and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) participation, together with a functional integration approach, covering over 95% of European countries and their global partners from 2010 to 2023. The findings indicate that trade dependency with non-EU partners grew most rapidly, increasing by 55% between 2011 and 2023. Stronger bilateral trade interdependence is found to significantly predict higher FDI inflows. The BRI analysis and functional classification indicate a shift from infrastructure-focused Chinese investment to strategic sectors, including electric vehicles and semiconductors. Since 2018, export-platform strategies have expanded from Europe’s core economies into Central and Eastern Europe, forming emerging production hubs, and have subsequently moved toward the Western Balkans and Turkey, likely reflecting evolving EU regulations and broader supply-chain realignments. Chapter 3 expands the FDI analysis to cover a longer timeframe, from 1991 to 2017, focusing on the period when EU membership exerted a strong influence on FDI in Europe, transforming member countries from primarily cost-attractive destinations into global investment centers. Using an augmented gravity model covering 39 host and origin countries, the analysis finds that EU membership increased FDI inflows by 23%, with investments from core EU members expanding into new EU member states, while FDI from non-EU countries decreased. At the same time, EU membership may also be driven by trade, and EEA participation reflects non-FDI motivations. The chapter also highlights that EU accession strengthens both market-seeking (horizontal) and efficiency-seeking (vertical) FDI motives and applies methods to address negative and zero FDI values issues, ensuring robust estimation. The inclusion of lagged and lead variables shows that the EU integration process is phased over time, affecting FDI inflows with lags of up to 10–15 years after accession. Chapter 4 expands the range of FDI determinants by deriving trade cost indices as a proxy for connectivity and extending the geographic scope of the analysis. In addition to EU members, the sample includes the Western Balkans, Turkey, and new EU candidates and applicants (Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia) over the period 2000 to 2020, covering approximately 80% of European FDI flows. Trade costs are calculated for each country in the sample with its trade partners, not only within and between European subregions but also with non-EU partners such as China, and are combined with measures of FDI restrictiveness. The results show that China remains among the EU’s top three trading partners in goods and that trade costs significantly influence FDI inflows in Europe. The analysis also highlights that declining trade costs between European countries have reduced market-seeking (horizontal) FDI, while non-European investors, especially China, increasingly pursue export-platform FDI to serve third-country markets. A sharp reduction in trade costs between the Western Balkans and the EU (-45%) and a smaller decline with China (-35%) illustrates how regional integration reduces the need for local horizontal FDI while reinforcing Europe’s role as a hub for global production. Chapter 5 shows that despite concerns about increasing outside influence, developed European countries remain the dominant source of FDI in the region. The chapter focuses on China’s role, examining FDI patterns across advanced EU members, new member states, and Western Balkan economies between 2000 and 2019, while distinguishing the effects of EU integration and BRI participation on FDI. Chinese influence has expanded primarily through the Belt and Road Initiative, particularly in accession and neighboring countries. Although BRI participation does not significantly increase FDI on its own, reflecting the dominant part of loan-financed infrastructure rather than private investment, it has strengthened physical and digital connectivity, laying the groundwork for future, longer-term FDI. The analysis also shows that intra-EU trade costs declined significantly after the 2004 and 2007 enlargements, while trade costs between the Western Balkans and China have fallen steadily since the launch of the BRI in 2013. As a result, Chinese influence is more pronounced in new EU member states and Western Balkan economies than in Western Europe. Over time, enhanced connectivity and supply-chain integration may support more diversified FDI inflows.

Towards Seamless Integration: Exploring Cross-Reality for Extending Physical Office Workspaces (2026)

Feld, Nico

Immersive systems, like Augmented and Virtual Reality, offer new paradigms fordigital interaction, but confining users to a single reality often presents drawbacksfor complex tasks. Cross-Reality systems, which integrate multiple realities into asingle experience, have significant potential to enhance existing professional workflows by combining the unique strengths of physical and virtual environments. Thisdissertation investigates how Cross-Reality can enhance professional workflows byusing the traditional office as a primary use case, focusing on the central question:How can CR enhance existing workflows in physical settings by extendingthe physical environment with virtual content and environments?To address this, the dissertation presents a body of empirical work structuredaround isolating and investigating one core design challenge for each of the threeprimary types of Cross-Reality systems. The work first addresses transitionalCross-Reality systems, which allow users to switch between different realities, byexamining how to design effective transitions. It demonstrates that in task-drivenscenarios, users prioritize efficient transitions that minimize cognitive disruptionover more elaborate or interactive ones. Next, the dissertation tackles the fundamental problem of unwanted occlusion in Augmented Virtuality, a form of substitutional Cross-Reality systems, which integrate objects from one reality intoanother. It introduces and evaluates technical strategies to ensure physical toolsremain accessible within virtual spaces, revealing a critical trade-off between theefficacy of these solutions and user experience factors like cybersickness. Finally,the research explores multi-user Cross-Reality systems that enable collaborationbetween multiple users who may be experiencing different degrees of virtualitysimultaneously, and the complexities of enabling collaboration across multiplestages, underscoring the unique challenges of supporting shared awareness andmanaging asymmetric roles.These findings are grounded by a detailed analysis of the underlying hardware, which highlights how technical and perceptual issues inherent to VideoSee-Through and Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Displays directly impactthe feasibility and design of Cross-Reality systems. The overarching contributionof this dissertation is to provide a set of empirically-grounded design principlesfor applying Cross-Reality in productivity-focused environments. By shifting thedesign focus from entertainment to pragmatic qualities, this work offers valuableinsights into creating Cross-Reality systems that genuinely enhance workflows, prioritizing efficiency, usability, and seamless interaction while navigating technical

From Gene to Ecosystem – Retrospective molecular biodiversity monitoring of plant-associated arthropod communities and abiotic stress on plants (2026)

Stothut, Manuel

From Gene to Ecosystem – Retrospective molecular biodiversity monitoring of plant-associated arthropod communities and abiotic stress on plants

Hybrid and Quality Aware Federations of Linked Data Fragment Interfaces and Traditional RESTfulWeb APIs (2026)

Zeimetz, Tobias

This thesis presents four contributions in the domains of schema/ontology alignment and query processing. First, we present a novel alignment approach, denoted as FiLiPo (Finding Linkage Points), to align the schema of RDF knowledge bases with the response schema of RESTful Web APIs. FiLiPo only requires knowledge about a knowledge base (e.g., class names) but no prior knowledge about the Web APIs’ data structure. It uses fifteen different string similarity metrics to find an alignment between the schema of a knowledge base and that of aWeb API. Next, a benchmark system named ETARA (Evaluation Toolkit for API and RDF Alignment) is introduced that was created with the goal to simulate RESTful Web APIs and is able to cover all important characteristics of Web APIs, i.e., latency, timeouts, rate limits and, furthermore, provides configurable response structures (e.g., JSON or XML). Additionally, it was designed to support researchers during the development of alignment systems. Afterward, the alignments determined by FiLiPo are used to create a hybrid and federated query processor named TunA (Tunable Query Optimizer forWeb APIs and User Preferences), which allows SPARQL queries combining knowledge bases and RESTful Web APIs and is tunable towards user preferences, i.e., coverage, reliability and execution time. The primary goal of TunA is to return a query result that satisfies the user’s preferences in terms of data quality, even when using unreliable data sources by performing a majority vote over multiple sources. Lastly, we present a federated query processor, denoted as ORAQL (Overlap and Reliability Aware Query Processing Layer), which uses overlap information to reduce the number of selected sources that are available in a federation. The goal is to reduce redundant data and, hence, improve the query execution speed. Therefore, ORAQL uses a profile feature that provides information about the overlap between all data sources of a federation. Furthermore, we extend the quality estimation of TunA to cover Triple Pattern Fragment interfaces to ensure a user-provided reliability goal.

Tensile Strength Simulation-based Nonwoven Material Design by Surrogate Model Optimization (2023)

Harmening, Marc

This thesis serves as proof of concept for the tensile strength simulation-based nonwoven material design. Objective is the adjustment of the parameters of an underlying production process with regard to a desired tensile strength behavior (optimization). As an example, we focus on the nonwoven airlay production and consider a thermobonding procedure for the consolidation of the nonwoven fabrics. To be able to map production parameters to the associated tensile strength behavior, we present a model-simulation framework composed of a model for the nonwoven fiber structure generation and a model for the nonwovens’ mechanical behavior under vertical load. The model for the fiber structure generation replicates the stochastic fiber lay-down of the airlay production and results in a random three-dimensional fiber web. This web is consolidated using a virtual bonding procedure that mimics the thermobonding of the nonwoven material. The topology of the resulting adhered fiber structure can be described by a graph, which serves as basis for the subsequent tensile strength simulation. The model used for this purpose describes the mechanical behavior of the material at fiber network level. Therefore, the considered fiber structure sample is interpreted as truss and the fiber connections are equipped with a nonlinear material law, which allows to describe the elastic phase of the nonwovens’ tensile strength behavior. The existence and uniqueness of a solution to the model as well as its numerical treatment are discussed. Moreover, we present data reduction strategies that enable more efficient simulations by removing fiber structure parts that do not contribute to the tensile strength behavior. As it becomes evident from the numerical experiments, a single tensile strength simulation for a production-like virtual sample is already computational demanding. Costs accumulate further, since Monte-Carlo simulations are required to account for the randomness in the fiber structure generation. Thus, direct simulations provide an infeasible basis for the nonwoven material design. This motivates the use of a predictive surrogate for optimization. Therefore, we consider regression-based approaches at different levels of information within the simulation framework. It turns out that the coupling of a polynomial model, for the fiber structure feature inference, with a linear one, for the stress-strain curve inference, yields accurate predictions. Once trained, the regression models allow for efficient evaluations and thus represent a suitable surrogate for the nonwoven material design. In this context, we discuss two exemplary problems of interest for the application: First, a tracking-type problem that aims to find the production parameters that result in a desired tensile strength behavior, expressed in terms of stress-strain curves. Second, an in-corridor maximization problem, which aims to identify the production parameters that maximize the probability of ending up in a specified stress-strain corridor.

Essays in Price Measurement with Statistical and Machine Learning Methods (2025)

Radjabov, Botir

Price indices play a vital role in economic measurement as they reflect price levels and measure price fluctuations. Price level measures are used with macroeconomic indicators to express them in real terms. These measures are also used to index wages, rents, and pensions. Furthermore, they are used as a reference for monetary policy conducted by central banks. Therefore, the provision of accurate price indices is one of the most important goals of National Statistical Institutes (NSIs), and numerous studies have been devoted to this goal. This cumulative dissertation also contributes to this goal. It contains four chapters, each of which represents a separate research. The first two studies are devoted to the treatment of seasonal products by using different price index methods. The first research is co-authored with Ken van Loon. The third research is dedicated to finding the most accurate method to make price predictions for missing products. The fourth research is focused on the treatment of products by using different price index methods when products’ quality characteristics are available.

CYBERPUNK – GAME – POETRY: Rostislav Amelin’s “SimStab” (2024)

Leiderman, Daniil ; Lipovetsky, Mark

The article discusses “SimStab” [Simulator of Stability], a poetic performance by a young Russian poet, Rostislav Amelin, as an effective hybrid of the innovative poetry, video game, and the cyberpunk genre models. The interaction of these components produces strong, yet not necessarily obvious political over-tones, testing the limits of the audience’s (or readers’, or players’) agency. Like many other cyberpunk texts, “SimStab” explores the conflict between the desire to resist colonization by the pervasive powers dominating contemporary society, and the absolute necessity of willingly colonizing your own body and subjectivity with the products of these powers. Both the poem, game and their shared text embody spaces of utopia reliant on repressed sites of formless abjection, which paradoxically become a source of anarchic freedom. Thus, in “SimStab” the ludic algorithmic with its procedural rhetoric (Ian Bogost) creates spaces of formlessness which repeats the liberatory promise of cyberpunk literature.

Performative Translation: Latvia’s Orbita Group as a Post-Monolingual Heterotopia (2024)

Platt, Kevin M. F.

The Orbita multimedia and poetry collective, based in Riga, Latvia, has succeeded in making poetry written in Russian an integral part of the Latvian cultural and literary scene, despite the burden borne by Russian language and culture in this society as a result of still unsettled and contested histories of Russian and Soviet imperial domination and cultural imperialism. The article explains this achievement as resulting from the Orbita collective’s practices of “performative translation,” which make translation a highly visible and central element of various forms of artistic activity, including multimedia installations, book publishing, video poetry, public performance, proper, and more. In traditional cultural configurations, translation is thought to transfer the essential features or the spirit of a text from one literary language to another in a manner that makes possible the translation’s readers’ sense of unmediated contact with the original. Such a conception of translation supports the monolingual paradigm – the cultural ideology of separate and distinct national languages – and the political actualities to which it corresponds. Orbita’s practices of performative translation, in contrast, create a multilingual heterotopia in which the actuality of translation as mediation is rendered visible, the boundedness and distinctiveness of national literary languages is undermined, and the social necessity and ubiquity of acts of translation is brought to the fore.

Breaking up the Canon of Literary Modernity: Classicism in the Ecopoetics of David Hinton and the Materialism of Zeng Shaoli. A Preliminary Outline of Epistemological Changes in Contemporary American and Chinese Lyricism (2024)

Kraushaar, Frank

The target of this essay is to open possible pathways to approach the phenomenon of a self-remodeling of classicist poetry in the 20th and early 21st century by focusing on the process from two different angles rarely perceived as related to each other: first, the remodeling of Chinese lyrical classicism through a strand of modern American poetry harking back to Ezra Pound and currently crystallized in the translations of David Hinton and, second, the transition that modern Chinese poetry written in classical language and conforming to prosodic rules of classical style poetry, sometimes referred to as “old style poetry” jiu ti shi, underwent after its rebirth as “unofficial” poetry online since the beginning of this century. Although there are obviously no direct links between the aforementioned tradition of modern American poetry and neoclassicist cyberpoets like Zeng Shaoli I argue that in both cases the classicist inspiration and poetic drive is motivated by concern with the increasing imbalance between natural, social, and individual resources, on the one hand, and an indomitable desire to accumulate economic and political power on the other. A permanent devaluation of language in the human realm, matched by a permanent devaluation of currencies in the economic sphere, provokes poetic responses in the very interest of humanity. The neoclassicist lyricisms that I draw into comparison display both subtle distinctions and common traits in this response to the starkly different environments of their respective contemporary literary scenes.

From Incoherence to Sustainability: Performance, Activism, and Social Media in the Most Recent Russian Poetry (2024)

Korchagin, Kirill

This article considers the evolution of poetic performance on the basis of several Russian poets of the 2010s. The type of performance in question, which originally implied active absorption in the poetic text, occupied an important place in Russian art of the twentieth century – from the first experiments of the historical avant-garde to Moscow Conceptualism (above all, in the their “Collective Actions”). As such, it has always maintained a closeness to the poetic work and was most often practiced by poets who sought to extend their texts beyond the space of the page and into the “external” world. In the 2010s, however, with the development of social media, the opposite trend is noticeable – poets, while declaring their connection to the performative traditions of Moscow Conceptualism, transfer their performative activity into a textual space organized by social media platforms. The central hypothesis of this article is that all of these poets react differently to the methods of discursive organization provided (and enforced) by social networks and strive in different ways to liberate themselves from the censorship of the algorithm: some emphasize the discursive incoherence of the platform, while others, on the contrary, seek to develop a sustainable manner of uniting private discourses into a new totality.

Preliminary Note (2024)

Stahl, Henrieke

This volume brings together contributions addressing the intersections of political poetry, performativity, and the internet. The essays are based on presentations given at workshops and conferences organized by the DFG Centre for Advanced Studies “Russian-Language Poetry in Transition: Poetic Forms of Dealing with Boundaries of Genre, Language, Culture and Society between Europe, Asia and America” (2017-2023). The conferences took place in 2018-2019, at a time when neither the coronavirus pandemic nor Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine were foreseeable, and the contributions have not been updated in light of these catastrophes. The articles presented here deal with recent poetry and focus on the connection between politics, performativity, and the internet in multiple literatures and intercultural relations. Although the majority of these texts belong to the Russophone world, poetry from Serbia, Latvia, and China is also considered. The contributors demonstrate, on the one hand, how newer poetry softens genre distinctions and formally tends towards multimedia hybridization and, on the other, how it transcends or dissolves linguistic, cultural, and social boundaries. Dr. Ekaterina Friedrichs and Ms. Lena Rosalin Schwarz were involved in preparing this publication for printing. We would like to thank them both for their careful review and wonderful cooperation.

Comparing Inger Christensen and Birgitta Trotzig (2024)

Ringgaard, Dan

The essay compares Inger Christensen’s (1935-2009) poetry and poetics with the work of the Swedish writer Birgitta Trotzig (1929-2011). It tests the potential of comparison by asking what happens if we compare what might be the two most prominent women writers of Nordic post-war modernism, two writers whose paths have crossed over the years. The first half of the paper traces a shared constellation of motifs (eye/butterfly/death) within two books of poetry, Trotzig’s “Anima” (1982) and Christensen’s “Sommerfugledalen” (1991). The initial comparison of motifs leads to a shared poetics. It offers a trotzig’ian version of Inger Christensen’s version of the condition of secrecy and fundamental parallels in their philosophy of language and the subject. But it also points to a major difference between the real as a mystic category in Trotzig and Inger Christensen’s more seamless, lucid, and dreamlike style. Advancing further into a stylistic comparison the linguistic and visionary abundancy of Trotzig’s “Anima”-poems reveals an overlooked quality in Christensen’s: That Christensen’s poems are also luxurious, albeit, typically, with moderation. The balancing of sense and sensibility appears by comparison to be a key trait in her poetry, highlighting its classical inclination. The paper demonstrates how comparison makes its subject visible by way of the other, and how comparison points out new nuances or flavors in the texts as it opens a conversation between two major women writers of Nordic modernism.

Textile Textuality in Inger Christensen: “Letter in April” and Amalie Smith: “Thread Ripper” (2024)

Rösing, Lilian Munk

Departing from Roland Barthes’ association of text and textile, and feminist theory on weaving as text production, this article analyzes the textile qualities of Inger Christensen’s “Letter in April” (1979) and Amalie Smith’s “Thread Ripper” (2020). In “Letter in April”, Christensen establishes a connection between writing and spinning or weaving through their shared temporality of varied repetition. In “Thread Ripper” Smith alludes to Christensen and makes of the continuity between text and textile not only the main theme of the book, but also its structuring principle. Through a materialist conception of the text, regarding it as a woven fabric, the article focuses on the textual patterns of the two works (stylistic figures in Christensen, graphic composition in Smith). The connection from Christensen to Smith leads to a further connection to ecocritical conceptions of weaving as no less than a cosmological principle. On a concluding note, the article argues that weaving is not only connecting, but also disconnecting, cutting.

Heliocentric Utopianism: Ecological Imagination and Utopian Longing in Inger Christensen and in Contemporary Danish Literature (2024)

Nexø, Tue Andersen

This essay discusses the relationship between Inger Christensen’s work and contemporary Danish eco-literature. Christensen can seem like a towering predecessor. Yet, the relationship is more complex than a question of anxiety of influence. This essay argues that Christensen and contemporary Danish literature exhibit differing ecological imaginaries, and that this becomes clear when one examines Christensen’s utopian writing, her heliocentric utopianism, of the late seventies and early eighties, and when one examines how ecological threats are depicted in her work. For Christensen, the paradigmatic threat to the world is the nuclear bomb and its excessive use of energy, for today’s literature it is the feedback loops of pollution, exemplified in the threat of climate change.

Inger Christensen in Edenkoben (2024)

Bergmann, Franziska

This article discusses the high regard for Danish poet Inger Christensen in Germany and her connection to the Künstlerhaus [Artists’ Residence] in Edenkoben, located in Rhineland-Palatinate. The Künstlerhaus serves as a cultural institution where international artists from various fields can reside and collaborate. Inger Christensen had strong connections with the Künstlerhaus Edenkoben and participated in its German-Danish poetry project. During her visits to Edenkoben, she wrote several poems. In an essay, the poet described Edenkoben’s landscape as paradise-like. This article, on the one hand, examines these texts in the context of Inger Christensen’s stay in Edenkoben. On the other, it sheds light on “Weg der Gedichte”, a project that stages Inger Christensen’s poem “Erinnerung an Edenkoben” in a public space around the Künstlerhaus, showcasing the role of poetry in rural settings and its ability to enhance the experience of nature and hiking.

What Makes a Poem Aggressive? A Comparison of Joseph Brodsky’s and Aleksandr Byvshev’s Versions of «На независимость Украины» [On the Independence of Ukraine] (2023)

Schlund, Katrin

Shortly after Ukraine had declared its independence in December 1991, Joseph Brodsky, Nobel Prize Winner in Literature 1987, wrote the poem «На независимость Украины» [On the Independence of Ukraine], which sarcastically mourns the separation of Russia and Ukraine. In 2015, responding to the armed conflict in Ukraine, teacher and poet Aleksandr Byvshev issued a reply to this poem under the same title, taking the side of Ukraine. Both poems have been perceived as aggressive, insulting, and anti-Ukrainian or anti-Russian, respectively. This paper asks the question of whether – and in what sense – the two poems are aggressive by drawing on the linguistic features of the two texts. The investigation of the linguistic characteristics of the poems is supplemented by an analysis inspired by argumentation theory, since, as will be shown, both texts are essentially argumentative.

Relocating “China” in Contemporary American Poetry: The Case of Timothy Yu (2023)

Kunze, Rui

This article examines “China” in contemporary American poetry using the example of Timothy Yu’s poems, titled “Chinese Silence,” which rewrite and / or parody texts from the American literary canon as well as public communication. It proposes a hall-of-mirrors reading of these poems in order to show how Yu’s poems refer to, reflect on, and relocate other authors’ writing of “China.” It argues that Yu’s poems, instead of making claims for an authentic “China,” attempt to bring Chinese Americans’ lived experience into the American literary tradition.

Contemporary Japanese Poetry and Politics: An Overview (2023)

Morton, Leith

This study will examine two different types of poetry that can be broadly classified as “political” in an attempt to reach an understanding of the interaction between politics and poetry in modern Japan. The first sampling of poetry will be taken from the Internet and will be amateur verse belonging to such traditional genres of poetry as haiku / senryū and tanka that can be classified as agitprop poetry. The second more substantive sampling will be taken from “professional” poets and will mainly fall into the shi (free verse) category. I will also discuss various literary critics and also thinkers on aesthetics from both Japan and the West to further elucidate the relationship between poetry and politics, to elaborate a broad definition of the political domain appropriate to Japanese verse, and also to investigate the issue of how to read and evaluate poetry as literary art. The study will be divided into five parts: first, the introduction outlining and probing the issues under discussion, next, an examination of Japanese agitprop poetry drawn from the Internet, then a brief interregnum on (literary) theory focusing on two theoreticians, Yoshimoto Takaaki (1924–2012) from Japan and Jonathan Culler (b. 1944) from the West, followed by an investigation of contemporary free verse political poetry, specifically the verse of Minashita Kiryū (b. 1970), Misumi Mizuki (b. 1981), Yotsumoto Yasuhiro (b. 1959), and Arai Takako (b. 1996).

Tactile Communism: Keti Chukhrov’s Post-Soviet Dramatic Works and the Legacy of Soviet Defectology (2023)

Osipova, Anastasiya

In this article, I analyze the character of hyper-naturalism and exaggerated tactility in dramatic poems by contemporary Russian-Georgian philosopher and writer Keti Chukhrov. I argue that, while descriptions of violence, physiological functions, and abject poverty are common for post-Soviet art, in Chukhrov’s work these elements perform radically different task than in the pessimistic and de-ideologized chernukha, or the style of grim realism. Her approach to matter is also distinct from the historic Russian avant-garde tradition, which relished intensified sensations but did not offer constructive ways of inscribing their immediacy into coherent cultural continuity. Instead, her dramatic poems bear pedagogical, even rehabilitative stakes for recuperating the individual sensations of alienated people into meaningful and shared cultural experiences. In this article, I discuss her approach to drama as mobilizing the tradition of Soviet Marxist defectology, a special educational method of socializing disabled, cognitively impaired, or otherwise disadvantaged people. Pioneered in the Soviet Union in the 1920s by Lev Vygotsky and suppressed in the 1930s, defectology found further application in the 1960s and 1970s in the work of the Zagorsk boarding school for the deafblind, led by Vygotsky’s student Alexander Mescheriakov and Evald Ilyenkov, a Marxist-Hegelian philosopher who is a central figure for Chukhrov’s philosophical research. One of the key tasks of Meshcheriakov and Ilyenkov was to help their deafblind students to overcome isolation through learning to translate their purely tactile sensations into deliberate communicative acts. While Zagorsk offered Ilyenkov an opportunity to test and apply his theory of the collectivist formation of personality, for Chukhrov it is theater that has become the sphere for experimental, practical extension of her scholarly research into Soviet Marxist thought and socialist culture of the 1960s and 1970s. Her dramatic texts offer models of alternative subjectivization for post-Soviet people to allow themselves once again to recognize the presence of universal values and greater cultural commons behind individual, alienated sensations and experiences.

Case Study: Galina Rymbu, “Moia vagina,” June 2020 (2022)

von Zitzewitz, Josephine

On 27 June 2020, the prominent feminist poet Galina Rymbu published the poem «Моя вагина» (“My Vagina”) on her Facebook feed. «Моя вагина» is a solidarity poem, written in support of artist and LGBTQ activist Iuliia Tsvetkova, who is facing a charge of distributing pornography for her abstract paintings of vaginas in a group on the social media platform VKontakte. Rymbu’s poem created huge resonance: it was shared, translated and republished on various platforms on the web and in print, examined by researchers, and debated as both a work of literature and a political statement. The present article charts the story of this remarkable poem, from its origins to its formal properties, its place within contemporary feminist poetry and its close links to feminist activism, and the reactions it has triggered. It also analyses the follow-up poem Rymbu wrote in reply to her detractors, «Великая русская литература» (“Great Russian Literature”), with a focus on Rymbu’s ingenious play on personal pronouns. Finally, it will briefly look at the role of social media for the literary process in Russia, specifically the field of poetry.

The Body Returns: Recent Poems by Russian Women (2022)

Sandler, Stephanie

Russian feminist poetry has flourished in the post-Soviet period, especially the last decade. It has provided inspiring modes of resistance to all forms of indifference to bodily harms, particularly the harms to women. That poetry is studied here through the lens of feminist theory. The essay argues that a wide range of such theories finds resonance in these poems, and it introduces several key poets: Galina Rymbu, Oksana Vasiakina, Lida Yusupova, Elena Fanailova, and Mariia Stepanova, with a coda on Konstantin Shavlovskii.

The breathless discourse. Narrating death in Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s “Death on Credit,” Samuel Beckett’s “The Unnamable” and Paul Auster’s “4321” (2022)

Veisland, Jørgen

The article analyzes three modernist novels, Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s “Death on Credit,” Samuel Beckett’s “The Unnamable,” and Paul Auster’s “4321”. The texts examined manifest radical discursive changes that are connected with epistemological and ontological conceptions of mind and being. Modern conceptions of being are seen as being based on the non-concepts of exaiphnes, the timeless instant, as developed by Parmenides, sunyata as defined in Buddhist thought, and the indeterminacy of particles as discovered by quantum physics. The idea of being as a state of infinite potentiality impacts the discourse and the form of the modern novel as it moves in the direction of formlessness, thus mirroring the non-substantiality of the human subject. The narrators of the three novels speak at a breathless pace that punctuates and disrupts the narrative and that inserts death as the agent of the negation of meaning.

On the “Flowing Movement” and the “Lofty and Ancient” in Gary Snyder’s Poetry (2022)

Jun-ping, Zhang ; Wei-hang, Chen

On the “Flowing Movement” and the “Lofty and Ancient” in Gary Snyder’s Poetry Gary Snyder, a renowned 20th century American poet, has been strongly influenced by Eastern cultures, especially Chinese. The philosophical spirit of Eastern culture and its intuitive way of thinking have taken root in Snyder’s mind and directly shaped his perception of nature. Hence, in view of the inadequacy of Western literary criticism in interpreting the Eastern dimensions of Snyder’s poetry, this article takes the classical Chinese literary theory “Twenty-Four Styles of Poetry” as its theoretical perspective and uses its categories of “Flowing Movement” and “Lofty and Ancient” to explore how the dissolved or solitary poetic self achieves the mental state of “emptiness” (kong in Chinese Taoism and sunyata in the Buddhist sense) and creates the poetic worlds of the “flowing movement” and the “lofty and ancient” (transcendence) in Snyder’s poems.

The Presocratics in Russian Modernism and the Avant-Garde: Parmenides – Herakleitos – Zeno (2022)

Hansen-Löve, Aage

There are astonishingly numerous and profound influences of the Pre-Socratics – especially Herakleitos and Zenon – on Russian literature between realism and the avant-garde of the 1920s. The focus here is on the concepts of Herakleitos’ “panta rhei” and his pre-dialectical thinking in polarities. From there, a bridge can be built to Leo Tolstoy’s narrative technique of the “stream of consciousness” and his speculations on time and history in the context of his novel “War and Peace.” The Russian novelist was particularly fascinated by Zenon’s time paradox (Achilles and the Tortoise). Furthermore, this contribution is concerned with Herakleitos’ model of circulations and dualities in the mytho-poetics of Russian Symbolism around 1900 (Viacheslav Ivanov, Andrey Bely, Konstantin Balmont) and, above all, with Russian poetry of the absurd (Daniil Kharms, Aleksander Vvedenskii) and the concepts of nothingness, of infinity in the context on this side of the categories of space and time (“cisfinite poetry”), and with the spirit of the time paradox of Zenon.

The Third Renaissance and the Pre-Socratic Parmenides in Russian Modernism and Avant-Garde (2022)

Grübel, Rainer

This article aims to reconstruct the reception of pre-Socratic philosophy, especially that of Parmenides, in Russian modernism and avant-garde literature. In doing so, it places this reception into two contexts: the contemporary discussion of pre-Socratic ideas in Russian, European and American philosophy, on the one hand, and the proclamation of a third, a Russian and/or Slavic Renaissance, on the other. This Renaissance has been conceived as the intense discussion and reconsideration of ideas, notions, and expressions of ancient Greek thinking. It aimed also to avoid the reduction of Greek philosophy to Plato, as had been practiced by the Russian Orthodox Church and largely pushed through in Russian culture. One of the main points of this reconsideration concerned the quest of the relation between the word, the process of thinking, and human life, while another one connected with it involved the (re-)establishment of a close bond between the poetic word, its meaning, and its sense. The integration of this productive discussion with pre-Socratic Greek philosophy enriches and improves our knowledge of Russian modernism and avant- garde literature.

The Poet as Fate: Schopenhauer’s Literary Vision (2022)

Dowthwaite, James

The claim that a thinker concerned with the development of a totalizing metaphysical system can be a literary philosopher may seem hard to justify. For Arthur Schopenhauer, the entire world is the representation or appearance of the will to life, the metaphysical essence of all being. And yet, because this will must always appear and always take form, it is only formally that we can grasp it, only in concrete instances. For this reason, the poet “shows us how the will behaves under the influence of motives and reflection. He presents us this for the most part in the most perfect of its appearances” (WWRII, 310). In this paper, I will argue that Schopenhauer founds a philosophical approach which comes to rest on literary foundations and which alights at key moments on the strength of his literary as well as his philosophical forebears. I will do this by means of looking at how Schopenhauer treats the concept of fate. It is my contention that the fatalism inherent in Schopenhauer’s ethics is a direct result of a fundamentally literary approach to the concept. This enables us to conceive of fate from a literary and not solely from a metaphysical standpoint. I will begin by outlining the place of the literary in Schopenhauer’s philosophy, including a brief account of those writers whose work he incorporates into his analysis, and then I will demonstrate its relation to his fatalism.

Affecting Pastoral Dialogues: An Ecocritical Reading of Seamus Heaney’s Eclogues in “Electric Light” (2001) (2021)

Rozzoni, Stefano

Pastoral serves as a keyword when understanding Seamus Heaney’s literary production, both in terms of stylistic features and imagery. Although critical attention has focused on the connection between his pastoral works and contemporary Irish politics, the growth of ecocritical scholarship in the last few decades has made evident the importance of broadening such an analytical scope to relationships between humans and the environment while studying this genre. In this alignment, the present essay offers an ecocritical reading of some selected pastoral poems by Heaney, with a specific focus on his revival of the eclogue through the collection “Electric Light” (2001). Precisely, the poems “Virgil: Eclogue IX,” “Bann Valley Eclogue,” and “Glanmore Eclogue” will be read through the innovative perspective offered by the recent engagement of affect theory with ecocriticism: by doing so, I argue that Heaney’s poems can be understood as valuable nature narratives that stress the connectedness between the human and the nonhuman, while resonating with the urgencies posed by the current environmental crisis to re-think more ethical forms of relationships between them. Furthermore, through the lens of econarratology, attention will be paid to the ecological potentials expressed by the formal features of the eclogue: this observation considers, on the one hand, the notion of ‘relationality’ within the practice of the shepherds’ dialogue/singing and, on the other hand, how this literary form stresses the attachment between the human and the environment, both in the real world and in the storyworld. Hence, when exceeding a strictly politically oriented critical analysis of his work, Heaney’s eclogues become visible as compelling ecocritical accounts that favor investigating the role of (pastoral) literature in fostering critical discussions about human/nonhuman ethics as a way to respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene.

The Relationship between the Art of the Word and the Illiterate Manual Arts in Nicholas of Cusa’s Conception of the Arts (2021)

González Ríos, José

The concept of art is a lens through which one can explore the thought of Nicho las of Cusa. He uses this notion throughout his work in order to address the pro ductive dynamism of the divine mind as well as the human mind. With a focus on the human arts as likenesses of the divine art, this paper studies the relationship between the art of the word and the illiterate manual arts. Firstly, we examine the ars coniecturalis as a human art form that Cusanus presents for the first time in extenso in “De coniecturis”. Secondly, we address the power of the art of the word through the production of its most precious form, the spoken word. Thirdly, and finally, we inquire into the power of the manual arts through the example of the idiota’s making of wooden spoons in the “De mente” in order to show the relationship between this art and the art of the word.

The Conjectural Art as Self-Knowledge and Knowledge of Others: Tradition and Innovation (2021)

D'Amico, Claudia

In the last chapter of “De coniecturis”, Cusanus exhorts his friend, Cardinal Giuli ano Cesarini, to get to know himself. This classical philosophical topic is revisited by Cusanus here in an original manner. On the one hand, Cusanus’ perspective reveals the strong influence of Proclus, which deserves to be highlighted. On the other, unlike Proclus, Cusanus asserts that self-knowledge is explicitly linked to the topic of the human being as created ad imaginem and that of the world as the sphere of contraction. Cusanus bases both subjective matters on the triune princi ple. According to him, the Divine Trinity is the exemplar that cannot be reached by an image, and the effort to reach the Trinity constitutes the basic requirement for the conjectural construction of the self. Furthermore, the fact that this under standing of the Trinity implies a distinction in itself makes the Trinity the princi ple of all difference or otherness in plurality. Cusanus concludes that the image can only be constructed relationally, that it is not possible to attain God without a fundamental knowledge of the self as an image, and that no one knows his own self without knowing others at the same time.

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