Le feedback à l’école ? Il s’agit souvent d’un simple retour d’informations des enseignant(e)s sur le travail des élèves en classe. Cependant, une culture du feedback solide en classe o!re de nombreuses possibilités pour pratiquer l’action démocratique et améliorer la qualité de l’enseignement, tout en faisant participer enseignant(e)s et apprenant(e)s.

Partizipation im Unterricht von klein auf – geht das? Braucht man für Diskussionen, Aushandlungs- und Entscheidungsprozesse nicht eine bestimmte Reife, über die Dreijährige noch gar nicht verfügen? Das mateneen-Team hat sich auf Limpertsberg ein Bild von der Arbeit mit Vorschulkindern gemacht und festgestellt: das geht sehr wohl!

L’enseignement participatif, qui ne se résume pas à une participation vécue ponctuellement, comme l’écrit Charlotte Keuler dans l’article principal de ce carnet, est devenu indispensable à plusieurs égards en raison des défis auxquels nous confronte notre monde globalisé. La capacité à communiquer, les compétences interculturelles, la gestion des connaissances et d’autres « soft skills » sont les compétences clés du 21e siècle.

L‘école est un lieu de socialisation des enfants et des jeunes. Les heures de cours de l‘enseignement des différentes matières sont un espace d‘expérimentation de cette socialisation. Elles marquent par leur durée dans la journée aussi bien le rôle fondamental de l‘école que l‘action et la perception à la fois des enseignant(e)s et des apprenant(e)s. Il apparaît donc d’autant plus important d’intégrer ces cours dans l’organisation d’une culture scolaire démocratique.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The role of evolutionary and ecological processes with regard to the bauplan of anuran larvae remains little understood. We studied tadpoles of 144 lentic or lotic taxa in 22 families from seven zoogeographic regions. Using stacked high-resolution images, standardized examination of 30 morphological characters of preserved tadpoles (of body, tail, oral disc) were scored and compared to the impact of phylogenetic signal (multiple nuclear and mitochondrial markers) and macro-climate. Additionally, larvae were characterized as living in a lentic versus lotic environment and if nutrition specialist or not. Categorical Principal Component Analysis, distance matrices and pairwise correlation analyses were performed. Our results suggest that phylogeny has a higher impact on the morphology than habitat (i.e. lentic, lotic), while no effect of macro-climate or food specialization was found. We emphasize the value of highly standardized morphological data when investigating the influence of different factors of phenotypic variation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Les carnets paraissent deux fois par an et offrent aux dirigeant(e)s des écoles ainsi qu’au personnel des fondements théoriques et du matériel pratique pour la mise en oeuvre d’un développement scolaire démocratique. Chaque publication traite d’une méthode de l’éducation à la démocratie ou d’une question stratégique du développement scolaire. Les carnets en langue allemande sont mis à la disposition des écoles luxembourgeoises en version imprimée. L’ensemble du matériel ainsi que la version en langue française sont disponibles en ligne.

Les carnets paraissent deux fois par an et offrent aux dirigeant(e)s des écoles ainsi qu’au personnel des fondements théoriques et du matériel pratique pour la mise en oeuvre d’un développement scolaire démocratique. Chaque publication traite d’une méthode de l’éducation à la démocratie ou d’une question stratégique du développement scolaire. Les carnets en langue allemande sont mis à la disposition des écoles luxembourgeoises en version imprimée. L’ensemble du matériel ainsi que la version en langue française sont disponibles en ligne.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht das Motiv der Freiheit als zentrales Thema in Werken des DDR-Autors Ulrich Plenzdorf. Ziel ist es, Plenzdorfs literarische Auseinandersetzung mit individuellen Freiheitsbestrebungen unter den Bedingungen der SED-Diktatur eingehend zu erschließen. Die Analyse erfolgt diachron und umfasst Texte aus den 1960er Jahren bis zum Ende der 1980er Jahre, wodurch Entwicklungslinien, thematische Verschiebungen und ästhetische Veränderungen im Werk sichtbar werden. Neben kanonisierten Werken werden auch bislang wenig beachtete Texte einbezogen, um ein vollständigeres Bild von Plenzdorfs literarischer Produktion zu gewinnen und Forschungslücken zu schließen. Methodisch orientiert sich die Studie an einem kulturwissenschaftlichen Ansatz im Sinne des New Historicism, der literarische Texte als Teil kultureller Praktiken und sozialer Machtverhältnisse versteht. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird gezeigt, wie Plenzdorf Freiheitsvorstellungen in unterschiedlichen historischen Phasen der DDR artikuliert und mit Alltagskultur, Subkulturen sowie gesellschaftlichen Konfliktfeldern verknüpft. Diese Dissertation leistet damit einerseits einen Beitrag zur Neubewertung Plenzdorfs und andererseits zur kulturhistorischen Kontextualisierung der DDR-Literatur.

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

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.

　

　

　

　

　

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit einem historischen Zeitraum des Wandels in China: der Qing-Dynastie (1644–1912). Dabei werden Prosawerke (xiaoshuo 小说) aus einer Zeit relativer Isolation mit denen aus einer Zeit des Semi-Kolonialismus in China verglichen, zeitlich getrennt durch das Trauma des 19. Jahrhunderts. Wie genau wurden Frauen in solchen Prosawerken repräsentiert und inwiefern spiegelten die Autoren dabei, bewusst oder unbewusst, die gesellschaftlichen Werte ihrer Zeit wider? Ist der Wandel von Tradition zu Moderne anhand der Figur der Frau zu spüren, noch vor dem radikalen Einschnitt der 4.-Mai-Bewegung? Um diese Fragen zu beantworten, werden in dieser Arbeit diverse Frauenfiguren und ihre Liebesbeziehungen aus vier ausgewählten populären Werken der frühen und späten Qing untersucht. Konkret handelt es sich dabei um die Charaktere Lianxiang 莲香 in Liaozhai zhiyi 聊斋志异, Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 in Honglou meng 红楼梦, Dihua 棣华 in Hen hai 恨海, sowie Fu Caiyun 傅彩云 in Niehai hua 孽海花. Einige dieser Figuren werden als vorbildliche Frauen präsentiert, andere hingegen als moralisch verwerfliche Widersacher, dabei rückt jedoch der zeitliche Kontext der Werke diese Charaktereigenschaften in ein neues Licht.

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.

This article interprets Novalis' expression of spirit (Geist) across his oeuvre, ranging from his early work "On Inspiration" to his major novels "The Novices of Sais" and "Heinrich von Ofterdingen". His view of the world is based on the Christian dichotomy between "the spirit and the letter" (,,Geist und Buchstabe") and in his works he considers how we might once again achieve the spirit of nature through human written language. However, even the act of inspiration is for him not a total exchange with the spirit of nature, because it is also a moment of producing artwork, and therefore a moment of division between the human and nature. He therefore attempts to reproduce the ideal unity between nature and the human through the representation of atmosphere, which is composed of harmony between several voices in the world as well as various dimensions of times and spaces. This article interprets the above representation as a poetic experiment that seeks to express the spirit through an internally diverse written language, in other words, as an attempt to describe unity as a plurality.

Johannes Kepler's thinking represents a central turning point in the development of the modern understanding of atmosphere. Kepler takes up the ancient conception of the cosmos as a whole divided into living and animated spheres, but reshapes it using specifically modern scientific and epistemological approaches. This gives rise to a view of the Earth as an animated organism, which prefigures modern concepts of atmosphere against the background of a comprehensive vitality of nature. Furthermore, Kepler's embedding of his reflections in the context of astrological prognostics enriches the modern aesthetic discussion with a remarkable perspective: prognostic, i.e. temporal, perception of atmosphere.

The carbuncle as a Christological symbol of atmosphere in Nicholas of Cusa - with reference to the late antique and medieval gemstone allegory. In his De non aliud, Nicholas of Cusa applies the carbuncle as a Christological aenigma, which can be understood as an exemplary object of atmosphere due to its dual nature of light substance and mineral substance. The article will show that the meaning of the carbuncle image as the epistemological method is so closely linked to the character and form of thought in De non alud that an examination of the meaning of the carbuncle in its historical allegory contributes to the question of image theory in Cusanus. By that the question is answered to which extent this far-reaching meaning of the carbuncle can shed light on the anagogic dimension of the perception of atmosphere.

Der deutsch-japanische Band widmet sich dem in der neuen Phänomenologie, vor allem bei Schmitz und Böhme, diskutierten Begriff der Atmosphäre. Anders als die meisten eher systematisch orientierten Ansätze wählt der Band einen historischen Zugang. Dass historische Wurzeln bei Goethe liegen, mit dem Schmitz wie Böhme sich intensiv beschäftigt haben, ist bekannt. Bislang ist aber der Frage nach der Geschichte des Atmosphären-Begriffs und seiner Vorläufer wenig Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt worden. Der Band unternimmt es deswegen, eine Linie zu verfolgen, die von Goethe (Hisayama) und Novalis (Kariya) zu Kepler (Schwaetzer), der für beide eine wichtige Referenz war, und von da aus zu Nikolaus von Kues (Yamaki) und dessen Situierung in Mittelalter und Antike (Bücker) zurückgeht. Er will mit diesem exemplarischen historischen Zugang die systematische Fruchtbarkeit einer geistesgeschichtlichen Perspektive für die Entwicklung einer Philosophie der Atmosphäre zeigen.

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.

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.

The paper focuses on two blogger-poets, Maja Solar and Jelena Savić, who create poetry and conceptualize the relationship between philosophy and politics. Maja Solar is a refugee from Croatia, now living in Serbia, who sometimes mixes Serbian and Croatian language standards. In her poems, she combines the lyrical with the experimental, while in her essays, she critically reflects on neo-liberalism. The authors discuss her dual position(s), as a poet and philosopher active in the Gerusija philosophy collective from Novi Sad. Jelena Savić is a poet of Romani descent, whose poetry takes identity politics as both its point of departure and object of critique. The authors examine how her experimental writing embodies this dual position. More specifically, the paper investigates how Solar and Savić construct themselves online as engaged intellectuals, poets and writers. In the case of Maja Solar, the authors focus on “Ispod crte”, a blog created by the collective “Za kulturne politike: politika kulture”, and the Gerusija collective’s magazine “Stvar”. By using these examples, the authors review her place in the micro-social map of younger critical intellectuals. In her blog “Usernamekaspoetry: Biti žena, Romkinja, pesnikinja”, Jelena Savić discusses her paradoxical position as an almost invisible poet in the national context, and questions the place of minorities within the nationally homogenous Serbian society. In 2017, Savić started writing about problems of education in the regional e-magazine “Proлetter” and her work became more visible in the post-Yugoslav context.

In this digitized age, we witness a transnational interest in the ‘aesthetics of imperfection’ – aesthetic gestures that foreground shortcomings, mistakes, and flaws. Blockbusters shot with cheap cameras, trash fashion, consciously blurry photos, glitch music: for the cultural producers and consumers of these and other aesthetic practices, the unpolished object is not a taboo but rather an asset or a hallmark of sincerity, authenticity, and other positive values. With the help of existing scholarship, in this article, I will study and compare the writings of three Russian poets/artists: Vera Khlebnikova, Vera Pavlova, and Linor Goralik. Each uses conceptual as well as formal, grammatical, and/or stylistic imperfections as an aesthetic device. The aim of my analysis is to juxtapose and historically contextualize the social anxieties that inform these and other present-day creative practices that foreground the imperfect.

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.

Metaphorical shifts from one subject area to another are a central structural strategy in Inger Christensen’s work. This principle will be demonstrated and discussed in this paper by referring to the poem “Gopler” [“Jellyfish”] from “lys” [“light”], 1962. The Danish contemporary poet Pia Tafdrup, whose work is influenced by Christensen, also makes use of a distinctive, associative imagery in her pentalogy “De fem sanser” [“The Five Senses”] (2014–2022). This paper contrastively explores the ways in which metaphorical shifts function in Christensen’s and Tafdrup’s poetry. Christensen realizes the metaphors’ potential in a radical way through the semantic superimposition of different subject areas. Thus, the regularities of the designed world are solely valid within linguistic structures, opening up new spaces of cognitive experience. In Tafdrup’s work, the texts’ different levels of meaning tend to remain separable. Here, the focus is on an associative technique of erratic and surprising transmissions, often applied to the external and the internal in a way that the cutting conciseness of the poems touch the reader almost sensually.

Inger Christensen’s alfabet is one of the most formative contributions in Danish eco-poetry that also initiates a broad reception of Christensen’s œuvre in German literature. Besides the ecocritical tendencies the text establishes a self-referential dimension that deals with the relation between a human speaker, its speaking about ‘world’ and its reference. In this regard the text implicitly debates the verbal material and its (connotative) semantics that one has to use. This dimension of alfabet is one of the main linking points for a productive reception by Herta Müller. Especially her collages published in Schreibheft expose the materiality of linguistic signs and speech. In addition to this, the specific constitution of the collages which are made of newspapers and magazines shows that linguistic signs not only refer to a real reference but also (and mainly) to discourses and other prior communicative contexts.

This article investigates selected texts and oral performances by two contemporary authors, Nico Bleutge and Mette Moestrup, who adapt or rewrite Christensen’s poems. In the works focused on (Moestrups poems “My Language” and “Hvad betyder det for sommerfuglen”, Bleutge’s speech “Den Wiederholungen folgen” and the poem “fischhaare finden”), translation plays a central role, and animals (especially winged ones) become a motor for transformational movements between languages and authors. Unsettling the semantic and structural level of language, the named birds and butterflies set loose acoustic dynamics that lead us back to Christensen’s reflections on mortality, contingency, and poetics in her essays.

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.

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.

Inger Christensen muss vielleicht als die bedeutendste dänische Dichterin der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts gelten, die auch im deutschsprachigen Raum große Beachtung fand. Ihr Einfluss auf die gegenwärtige deutschsprachige und skandinavische Lyrik wird in diesem Band erstmalig untersucht. Die hier versammelten Beiträge folgen den Spuren Inger Christensens in den lyrischen und essayistischen Arbeiten von Thomas Kling, Nico Bleutge, Herta Müller, Oswald Egger, Pia Tafdrup, Mette Moestrup, Silke Scheuermann, Jan Wagner, Uljana Wolf, Amalie Smith, Birgitta Trotzig und anderen. Dabei widmen sich die Studien sowohl Christensens sprachtheoretischen Reflexionen und den formalen Einflüssen ihres Werks und deren Transformationen in der Gegenwartslyrik als auch den thematischen Gegenständen ihrer Dichtung, insbesondere ihrem Naturkonzept und dessen Adaption in neueren ökokritischen Ansätzen.

This article defines the ‘zero text’ as a text that is completely absent(ed) and is replaced by its own paratext. Such a text is a pure statement, the content of which is constituted by its context, presentation, and authorship (or performance), as well as the form of the ‘zero text’ itself. The political potential of the ‘zero text’ under an authoritarian regime becomes apparent, for instance, in the famous joke about Rabinovich handing out blank pamphlets in Red Square, but it can also be seen in the literalization of folkloric motifs in a number of protest demonstrations in post-Soviet Russia. The origin of these demonstrations can be traced to ‘zero texts’ used in the poetic avant-garde (“Poem of the End” by Vasilisk Gnedov, for example) and in neo- or post-avant-garde practices from the second half of the 20th century – in particular, those associated with names like Alexander Kondratov and Dmitriy A. Prigov, whose work actualized the political semantics of the ‘missing text.’

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.

Using the texts of the poet and literary scholar Przemysław Dakowicz as an example, this article analyzes how the traditional martyrological discourse of the ‘romantic paradigm’ (Maria Janion) is revived in contemporary Polish poetry. The aesthetic and political instrumentalization of the symbolic link between the mass execution of Katyń in 1940 and the air crash of Smolensk in 2010 is of particular importance in this context, and, in approaching these subjects, I will suggest reading Dakowicz’s obsessive interest in the physical remains of the dead as a poetic implementation of the forensic turn that has critically manifested itself in recent years in the research of mass violence and crimes of genocide. In my discussion of the historical-political and poetic implications of this turn, I argue that Dakowicz performs a shift from the perspective of the witness to an event to that of the witness to the exhumation of physical remains and that this is how his professional background as a literary scholar comes into play. In dealing with the remnants of dead bodies, Dakowicz engages competing strategies of archiving (sighting, sifting, and safekeeping) on the one hand and hermeneutics (interpretation, revitalization) on the other. The works of the Polish historian Ewa Domańska serve as further theoretical background to this discussion (“Nekros: Introduction to the Ontology of the Dead Body,“ 2017, in Polish).

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).

This article considers the theme of Karl Marx in the poetry and artwork of Dmitrii Prigov. It conceives of his poetic communication as a political activity, which is stressed by its performative qualities and is presented by the example of the poem “Moscow and Muscovites”. Further on, the article distinguishes four speech attitudes in relation to the term “Karl Max” in the culture of Soviet Russia: belief, condemnation, quotation, and Prigov’s technique of reading Marx’s texts literally. Thus, he interprets Marx’s sentence “The answer to a question is contained in the critique of the question itself” verbatim and, by generalization (a common device of Soviet Marxism), leads it to absurdity. Prigov does the same with the slogan “Proletarians of the World Unite” from the “Communist Manifesto”, which he transforms into a parodic epistolary poem modeled on Lermontov’s “Demon”. The article also considers the use of the name of Marx and the stereotypically connected family names of Engels, Lenin, and Stalin in Prigov’s work and argues, using the motif of the policemen (“militsaner”), that, contrary to Marx’s expectations of real Socialism, the function of power was not dying but growing. Finally, attention is drawn to the role of so-called historical and socio-economical “Marxist laws” (such as ‘dialectical’ and ‘historical materialism’), which in Prigov’s work are dethroned and become possible concepts beside others. Thus, Prigov installs freedom in place of the Marxist necessity of interpretation, which was also the basis of Mikhail Lifshitz’s anti-modernist aesthetics, the most important contribution of Soviet philosophy to aesthetic theory.

Despite the compulsory exegeses of Marx conducted at universities in the GDR, which most poets completed, the work of the young Marx exerted a genuine creative fascination upon many of them, varying by gravity and intensity depending on the historical period. Bertolt Brecht, Hans Mayer, and Robert Havemann acted as mediators of Marx for the poets who emerged to dominate the lyric poetry of the GDR since the mid-1960s (Sarah Kirsch, Karl Mickel, Volker Braun, among others). Ernst Bloch’s most important work, „Das Prinzip Hoffnung“ (“The Principle of Hope”), which revolves around the utopian core idea of “the reconciliation of man and nature,” harkens back to the writings of the young Marx and can be regarded as central to the latter’s reception at the time. This is particularly evident in poems by Volker Braun and Karl Mickel, which will be considered here in more detail. Since the 1970s, however, socialist critique in poetry has increasingly been overlaid by a critique of civilization. This refocusing on the ‘globalist Marx,’ which had already been prepared by Karl Mickel’s poem „Der See“ (“The Lake”) (1963), has resulted in both the intensified resumption of Marxian / Blochian emblematics (Volker Braun) and a decided departure from any “principle of hope” (Günter Kunert). With postmodernism and the Wendezeit, lyrical insistence upon Marx seemed to have become obsolete. Yet along with the renaissance of nature poetry since the turn of the 21st century, Marx’s thinking – and particularly, the tradition of ‘Young Marx’ – has reemerged with new relevance to the “poetry of now” generation (Daniel Falb and others), who react critically to anthropogenic influence upon the climate and biosphere. In this context, the concept of the ‘Anthropocene’ occupies a key position in contemporary poetological reflection as well as in the practice of writing.