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"Ökosystemare Aspekte von Wildtiernutzungsstrategien auf der Südhalbkugel" Die stark anwachsende Bevölkerung und z. T. nicht nachhaltig organisierte bzw. falsche Landnutzungsstrategien sind unter Armutsbedingungen die stärkste Bedrohung für endemitenreiche Ökosysteme. Fehlende Ökosystem- und Artenkenntnisse, unterentwickeltes Verständnis für utilitaristische Ansätze, die sich das Motiv der Existenzsicherung der Menschen in den ländlichen Regionen zu Nutze machen oder fehlende Einsichten in unterschiedliche Kulturen erschweren jedoch bisher die Umsetzung von "wise use" Kooperationsmodellen zwischen "Natur" und "Mensch" zum beiderseitigen Nutzen. Vorliegende Arbeit zeigt, dass nicht nur einzelne Arten, sondern ebenso die ökosystemare Diversität ein Differenzierungspotential für Nutzungs- und Vermarktungsstrategien besitzen. Aufbauend auf einer interdisziplinären Analyse werden in einem zweiten Arbeitsschritt die ökologischen, ökonomischen und soziokulturellen Auswirkungen unterschiedlicher Wildtiernutzungsstrategien aufgezeigt und belegt, dass durch sie Chancen zur Sicherung der Wildtierbestände bei gleichzeitiger Senkung der ländlichen Armutsbedingungen gegeben sein können. Dabei spielt eine naturnahe Bewirtschaftung von Lebensräumen durch den sog. Jagdtourismus eine besondere Rolle. Bei entsprechenden Kontrollmechanismen besitzt gerade er auf marginalen Standorten ein bisher noch nicht genügend genutztes Entwicklungs- und Schutzpotential. Insbesondere in den Pufferzonen um bzw. zwischen den Nationalparks ist dadurch eine Neubewertung der Wildtiere als Ressource zu beobachten, die durch wirtschaftliche Interessen der lokalen Bevölkerung das Verständnis für eine Koexistenz mit den Wildtieren fördert. Die sorgfältigen Analysen belegen dabei, dass ökosystemgerechter Jagdtourismus bei einer ganzheitlichen Betrachtung die Kriterien einer nachhaltigen Bewirtschaftung von Naturressourcen und die Ansprüche einer Low Impact & High Profit-Strategie erfüllt. Jagdtourismus kann somit als Element des Ökotourismus verstanden werden.
Das 19. Jahrhundert ist besonders im Rheinland durch eine außergewöhnliche Produktivität im Bereich des Kirchenbaues gekennzeichnet. Der starke wirtschaftliche Aufschwung und ein damit einhergehendes Bevölkerungswachstum veranlasste viele Gemeinden, ihre Kirchen zu erweitern oder aber die zum Teil baufälligen mittelalterlichen Pfarrkirchen durch Neubauten zu ersetzen. Diese umfangreichen Baumaßnahmen im Bereich der Sakralarchitektur stellte die wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung und die Denkmalpflege aufgrund der Anzahl der zu bearbeitenden Objekte vor eine schwierige Aufgabe. Da viele Kirchenbauten des 19. Jahrhunderts das Aussehen der wachsenden Ortschaften mitbestimmt haben, ist ihre baugeschichtliche Dokumentation eine wichtige Voraussetzung für das Verständnis und die Erhaltung dieser, die Pfarrgemeinden prägenden Zeitdokumente. Durch die Erstellung eines Werkkatalogs der Kirchenbauten der Architekten Carl Rüdell und Richard Odenthal, wird ein Baustein zur Inventarisierung und Aufarbeitung in diesem Bereich geliefert. Zum ersten Mal liegt ein solcher nun sowohl für die Erweiterungsbauten als auch für die Neubauten im Bereich der Sakralarchitektur des bislang vor allem als Kölner Maler bekannten Carl Rüdell (1855 " 1939) in der Architektengemeinschaft mit dem weithin unbekannten Richard Odenthal (1855 " 1919?) vor. Das Duo arbeitet im letzten Drittel des 19. bis in das erste Jahrzehnt des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert die stilistischen Merkmale im Oeuvre der beiden Architekten, beleuchtet im werkimmanente Vergleich die Zusammenhänge zwischen den einzelnen Kirchenbauprojekten, klärt Fragen zur Baukonstruktion und Materialästhetik und bewertet die historische Bedeutung von Rüdell und Odenthal für den Kirchenbau ihrer Zeit. Dass Hinzuziehen von architektonischen Vorbildern bereichert die Analyse der Kirchbauten. Der Werkkatalog und die genau kunsthistorische Betrachtung wird ergänzt um Kapitel zur Wirtschafts- und Firmengeschichte des Büros Rüdell&Odenthal. Die Dissertation schließt somit an die intensive Forschungsdiskussion zur sakralen architektonischen Hinterlassenschaft des 19. Jahrhunderts an.
Generationenübergreifende Interessenrelationen im Spiegel einer Theorie der Person-Umwelt-Passung
(2004)
Interesse stellt eine grundlegende Kategorie menschlichen Erlebens und Verhaltens dar. Vor dem Hintergrund der Theorie der Person-Umwelt-Passung läßt sich Interesse als emotional, kognitiv und konativ in besonderer Weise ausgestaltete Relation zwischen einer interessierten Person und einem Interessengegenstand definieren. Die Interessenentwicklung wird entsprechend auf die handelnde Auseinandersetzung mit spezifischen Gegenständen zurückgeführt. Da solche Handlungen gehäuft innerhalb der familiären Umwelt stattfinden, sind generationenübergreifende Interessenrelationen als lohnendes Untersuchungsfeld zu betrachten. Die traditionell undifferenzierte Anwendung der Theorie der Person-Umwelt-Passung auf aktuelle Person-Umwelt-Konstellationen greift jedoch - bezogen auf generationenübergreifende Interessenrelationen - in mehrfacher Hinsicht zu kurz. Der theoretische Hintergrund wurde daher vor allem um die Unterscheidung zwischen objektiven und subjektiven Umwelteinheiten sowie um Überlegungen zur Variabilität generationenübergreifender Interessenrelationen ergänzt. In einer empirischen Studie wurden die Interessen von 197 Studierenden sowie die Interessen beider Elternteile erhoben. Darüber hinaus wurden die Interessen der Eltern im Urteil der Studierenden, das von den Studierenden erlebte Familienklima und einige relevante Rahmenvariablen ermittelt. Zwischen den Studierenden und ihren Eltern ließen sich signifikante Zusammenhänge sowie überzufällige Ähnlichkeiten der Interessen eruieren. Die Wahrnehmung der elterlichen Interessen durch die Studierenden war dabei in das Zustandekommen generationenübergreifender Interessenrelationen komplex verwoben. Zugleich konnten moderierende Wirkungen struktureller Merkmale auf die Stärke generationenübergreifender Interessenrelationen aufgezeigt werden, während ein entsprechender Nachweis für das Familienklima ausblieb. Schließlich ließ sich die Gesamtstichprobe zuverlässig in Untergruppen mit einer jeweils eigenen generationenübergreifenden Ähnlichkeitsstruktur der individuellen Interessenlagen aufspalten. Die Studie trägt aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln zu einem vertieften Verständnis generationenübergreifender Interessenrelationen bei und erschließt damit maßgebliche Aspekte der Interessengenese. Da sich generationenübergreifende Interessenrelationen als interfamiliär variables, mit Wahrnehmungsprozessen komplex verwobenes Phänomen erweisen, dürfte eine vertiefte theoretische Durchdringung, die empirisch begründete Erforschung und der Versuch praktischer Nutzbarmachung auch in Zukunft ein lohnendes Unterfangen darstellen.
To determine stress-related influences on obesity, the eating behaviour of 100 overweight and normal weight children was investigated in the laboratory and in everyday life. A controlled repeated measures design was used for the laboratory study with stress vs. non-stress as one repeated factor. The eating style was measured by recording cumulative eating curves with a universal eating monitor. Stress eating during everyday life was measured by questionnaire. In everyday life, the amount of protein, carbohydrate, and fat as well the total amount of energy in each meal were analysed. The eating style after stress-induction in the laboratory did not differ between weight groups. However, in everyday life, overweight children more often pretended to eat when feeling stressed, than did normal weight children. The "stress eating" was more pronounced for children, who have high restraint scores. Overweight children didn`t ingest neither more calories nor fat, carbohydrate or protein. Stress-related eating behaviour in everyday life may be part of the development and maintenance of overweight in children. However, if the availability of food is limited and the environment is structured, stress-protective ressources of overweight children may help them to control their eating behaviour.
Selbstverletzende Verhaltensweisen und Autoaggressionen im Kontext Geistiger Behinderung sowie deren Fernwirkungen auf die Betreuungspersonen in Wohnheimen und Werkstätten gilt das Hauptinteresse vorliegender Arbeit. Ausgehend von der Darstellung der Spezifizität Geistiger Behinderung unterschiedlicher Schweregrade als Hintergrundvariablen der Genese und Aufrechterhaltung selbstverletzenden Verhaltens werden wesentliche theoretische Konzepte autoaggressiven Handelns diskutiert: medizinisch-physiologischen Befunde, psychodynamische Deutungsmuster, entwicklungspsychologische Annahmen, behaviorale Theorien, kognitive und systemische Ansätze. Im empirischen Teil der Arbeit, der sich auf eine Befragung von 136 Betreuungspersonen in Einrichtungen für Menschen mit Geistiger Behinderung stützt, lässt sich als wesentliche kognitive Deutung der Probanden die Provokationsannahme und das Vermeidungsmotiv bestätigen. Emotional stehen Ärger, Angst und Hilflosigkeit bei den Befragten im Vordergrund. Bestrafende Interventionen als entsprechende Handlungstendenz treten jedoch generell nicht vermehrt hervor, vielmehr scheint ein Interventionspluralismus auf, sich der weitgehend unabhängig von den angenommenen theoretischen Ursachen des selbstverletzenden Verhaltens entwickelt. Im Bezug auf Ausbrennen im Beruf und psychosomatische Belastungen ergeben sich keine direkten linearen Zusammenhänge zur Häufigkeit und zum Ausmaß der beobachteten Autoaggression. Auf der Grundlage einer pfadanalytischen Betrachtung, können lediglich ausgehend von der Vermeidungs- und Provokationsannahme über Ärgerreaktion und Bestrafungstendenz höhere Burnout-Werte und größere psychosomatische Belastung aufgezeigt werden. Im Schlussteil der Arbeit werden Ableitungen für die Praxis im Umgang mit selbstverletzendem Verhalten und Autoaggressionen dargestellt.
Die Studie thematisiert die Bewältigungsbemühungen von Frauen, die von ihren Partnern misshandelt wurden. Die Gewalt des Mannes gegen seine Frau wird als ein kritisches Lebensereignis betrachtet, dessen Bewältigung die Gesundheit der Betroffenen beeinflußt. Dabei sollten Vulnerabilitäts- und Resilienzfaktoren festgestellt werden, die auf die Bewältigung der erlebten Gewalt ungünstig bzw. günstig wirken können. Eine schriftliche Befragung mit einem umfangreichen Fragebogenpaket wurde in Südkorea durchgeführt. Die Gesamtstichprobe umfasst 89 Frauen, die sich in Opferhilfseinrichtungen in südkoreanischen Großstädten aufhielten. Aus den multiplen Regressions- bzw. Pfadanalysen ergibt sich u.a., dass assertive bzw. depressive Verhaltensweisen misshandelter Frauen jeweils sowohl mit den ausgewählten Dispositionen (Persönlichkeitsmerkmale, gerechtigkeitsbezogene Disposition, traditionelle Geschlechtsrollen-Orientierung) und der Selbstwirksamkeit als auch mit situationsbezogenen Variablen, zu denen z.B. Ungerechtigkeitserlebnis, Verantwortlichkeitsattributionen und Emotionen zählen, vorhergesagt werden können. Weiterhin läßt sich festhalten, dass ein stark ausgeprägter Gerechte-Welt-Glaube und starke Extraversion mit weniger psychosomatischen Beschwerden einhergehen, hingegen eine positive Effektivitätseinschätzung depressiver Strategien mit mehr solchen Beschwerden.
The aim of this dissertation was to examine the influence of land cultivation on the genetic variability and genetic population structure of the Neozoen Arion lusitanicus. Arion lusitanicus is a slug, which is spreading quickly in its range. This species has been chosen as it is possible to classify them easily to single plots due to their low mobility and as they are especially exposed to environmental and cultivation influences. Another well known factor in Herl is the age of this quite young population, thus enabling to classify genetic changes to recent working environmental and cultivation influences. To examine small spatial effects on various cultivation systems, ten plots - mostly used for agriculture - have been chosen in the Hunsrück-municipality Herl. Among them were four ecologically and four conventionally cultivated areas with partly varying land development dynamics. Furthermore a waste land of many years and a meadow have been included in the test. Wahlen in Northern Saarland and Belm in South Lower Saxony have been chosen as reference areas. Two fundamentally different PCR-based molecular genetic methods came into operation. The RAPD-analysis (randomly-amplified-polymorphic DNA) and the microsatellite analysis. As microsatellite primer have not been known for A. lusitanicus so far, primer of other mollusc species have been successfully tested. Two microsatellite Loci showed results which were easy to analyse. Thus it was possible to analyse five alleles on 360 individuals. In the RAPD-analysis 94 polymorph marker have been analysed. In a comparison of the conventionally and the biologically cultivated plots no significant differences with regard to the analysed parameter (genetic diversity, genetic distances and population structuring) could be found with either of the two molecular genetic methods. The RAPD-analysis in particular showed a population division in the test area that could come into being due to reduced gene flow and gene drift through environmental-stochastic influences. A part of this population structuring can be explained through "isolation by distance". With "isolation by distance" the similarity between populations decreases with increasing distance. Although a regression analysis could proof a statistically significant connection between the ground height and the genetic diversity of the single samples (p= 0,029), is it difficult to establish functional connections. Nevertheless is it probable that abiotic factors such as temperature, humidity and soil moisture have an influence on mortality and vitality and thus on the genetic structure of slug populations. With regard to the cultivation three slug populations in Herl showed especially low genetic diversities. These were a waste land, a meadow and a plot, which had been uncultivated until the year 2001 ("conv1"). The difference between these three plots and the rest of the agriculturally used areas was significant on the basis of data of both microsatellite sites (Arin1: U-Test, p=0,033; HA-7: p=0,017). In the RAPD-analysis the areas "conv1" and "meadow" showed higher diversities, the area "waste land" lay also on a higher scale with regard to diversity. As 94 Loci have been analysed in the RAPD-analysis, while there were only two sites in the microsatellite analysis, the RAPD-results are more trustworthy. Possibly these results can be interpreted as indication that land cultivation - unaffected by biological or conventional cultivation - is able to have an influence on the genetic diversity of Arion lusitanicus.
Since the end of the British Empire, which had provided white Australians with points of view, attitudes and stereotypes of the world - including perceptions of their own role in it -, rediscovering an international identity has been an Australian quest. Many turned to European roots; others to the Aboriginal landscape; Blanche d"Alpuget and Christopher J. Koch are two who have ventured into Asia for the culturally and spiritually regenerative materials necessary to redefine Australia in the post-colonial world. They have taken Eastern concepts of "self", and "soul" and forged them with the Australian obsession of fear and desire of contact with the "other" in a looking-glass of hybrid, Austral-Asian myth to reveal the true soul of Australian identity. Along with a brief historical and literary background to the triangular relationship between white Australia, Asia, and the West, this study- goal is to identify some of the Southeast Asian symbols, myths and literary structures which Koch and d"Alpuget integrate into the Western tradition. Central elements include: dichotomies as of personality, righteousness, and virtue; the "Otherworld", where one may approach enlightenment, but at the risk of falling into self-delusion; archetypes of the Hindu divine feminine; Eastern roots of Koch- themes of the "double man"; concepts of the forces of "light" and "dark"; the semiotics of time and meaning; and the central Eastern metaphor of the mirror by which Australia creates interdependent images of itself and of Asia.
Art, seen under the perspective of literature as an independent mode of human articulation, provides decisive motives for Cassirer's Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. The concept of art as a symbolic form opens up two fields of inquiry. On the one hand Cassirer did not actually carry out his intended systematic presentation of art as a symbolic form. On the other hand Cassirer develops his concept of art's autonomy as an indepedent form of grasping the world by conceptually linking (poetic) art with philosophy. The concepts of transformation, reflexion and heterogeneity denote characteristics of the method - not made explicit by Cassirer himself - through the cultural process becomes evident and can be interpreted as a process of becoming as movement toward Being. With the help of Cassirer's line-example it can be shown how this perspective, which manifests itself in the sense-generating force of regarding the world, is already materially given in the mere process of human perception. Language, myth and science, but also art, are different symbolic forms, which in regard to the essential function of perception turn out to be unfaling elements of the whole cultural process. Owing to the ability of the style-function of art to make transparent the performance of the symbol and with that the dynamics of culture, Cassirer in citing Rückert and Kleist can delimit the critical claim from sceptical and dogmatical positions.
Weltweit wird die Wildjagd unserer Zeit selten noch aus rein praktischen Motiven (z. B. Nahrungsjagd),sondern um eines starken emotionalen Erfolges Willen (der Kick beim Töten des Tieres, Freude, Glück,Zerstreuung, Entspannung, Abenteuer) oft mit großer Leidenschaft und Hingabe betrieben. Die Außenperspektive registriert Jagdhandeln dieser Art meistens als Lust am Töten. Mit dieser spekulativen Annahme eines urmenschlichen Bedürfnisses (Anlage) stimmen die meisten Jäger überein: Sie glaubenan einen atavistisch auftretenden naturalen Beutetrieb, der sich an der Kulturevolution "vorbeigeschlichen" hat. Für die modernen Jäger unserer Zeit bedeutet das Töten des Wildes notwendige Bedingung zum Erreichen des oft leidenschaftlich intendierten emotionalen Ereignisses (der Kick). Gleichzeitig behaupten sie, das Töten des Wildes sei nicht erlebenskonstitutiv: Für den angestrebtenemotionalen Erfolg ist das Töten notwendige Bedingung, er (das Erleben) besteht aber nicht darin. Diesen Widerspruch bezeichnet eine umfangreiche wissenschaftliche Untersuchung an der Universität Trier als das Emotionale Jagdparadox. Mit einer ersten wissenschaftstauglichen Jagdtheorie brachte sie Licht in das Dunkel des Jagdmotivs und dessen vorbewußte elementare Bedürfnisebene. In einer komplexen empirischen multidisziplinären Untersuchung wurde mit relevanten Ansätzen der aktuellen Hirnforschung, Genetik, Evolutionsforschung und der Humanwissenschaften (Fundamentalontologie im Sinne von Martin Heidegger) ein jagdthematisches kulturanthropologisches Erklärungsmodell geleistet,mit dem das Emotionale Jagdparadox aufgelöst werden konnte. Seine Entstehung fällt offenbar mit der Evolution des Selbstbewußtseins und damit des Todesbewußtseins des Menschen zusammen. Es handelt sich um einen kulturellen Elementartrieb, der im Bewußtsein des Subjekts nicht repräsentiert ist. Er wird von einem Beherrschungsstreben (Machtmotiv) fundiert und hat das Leben als naturgesetzliche Entität zum Objekt. Der erlebte Kick beim Töten des Wildes ist demgemäß nicht Lust am Töten, sondern die Erfahrung einer extremalen Befriedigung vermittels (virtueller) Macht über die dem Menschen mit dem Bewußtsein der Endlichkeit (Todesangst) unbeherrschbar und unabwendbar bedrohlich erscheinende Natur. Das Tier bzw. das individualtierische Leben ist nur Vermittlungsgestalt. Das erlebte Glück, die Freude und Zufriedenheit, die Zerstreuung usf. beruhen auf der virtuellen, nie bewußt vom Individuum erfahrenen Überwindung der Todesangst. Die emotionalen und kortikalen Prozesse sind fast ausnahmslos limbisch strukturiert. Daher die Ahnungslosigkeit des Jägers im Hinsehen auf die Entstehung seines Jagdbedürfnisses. Unberührt von diesen, die Motivation des Jagens bedingenden Faktoren ergibt sich eine funktionale zukunftsorientierte Begründung für ein modernes Wildlife Management durch die "Ökosystemgerechte Jagd".
The painter Marianne Werefkin (born 1860; died 1938), from the circle of artists known as the Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) in Munich and lifelong companion of Alexej Jawlenskys, lived in Russia and Latvia the first 36 years of her life. She received her artistic education in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Nevertheless the influence of Russian art on her Munich creative phase has been until now been omitted from research literature. Hence it lacks an important basis for the understanding of her creative output. In many respects Marianne Werefkin led the way in bringing the goals of so-called Russian Realism (russischen Realismus) onto another level, one in which the transmission of emotions was seen as a central aspect. The way the pictures of her teacher Ilja Repin had nothing to do with superficial emotion through simple moralistic categorization, but rather the painter demonstrated life's interconnectedness. After a new artistic beginning in Munich Werefkin took out the historical-daily context from her motifs, since, in the spirit of her time, she had recognized that everything visible was illusion. However she made use of actual reality as a repertoire of symbols for her own feelings, representing universal situations and allowing the total picture space to be the bearer of emotions. In that respect she is different from Wassily Kandinsky, who employed abstraction until reference to reality dissolved. Art for Werefkin involved no self-purpose, but should have a positive influence upon the observer. Narrative instruction is pushed to the background through the way it interacts, which depends upon knowledge of psychology and spiritual groups.
Since the end of the eighties a modern and high-quality medicine is not possible without use of data processing technology and communication technology. The physician manage the enormously big volume of medical data only with the help of computer-assisted information systems. In this regard the work deals with the concept and the construction of an intranet/internet-based radiology information system. The work examine the evaluation of the radiological systems already available on market. After the analysis of relevant qualities of these systems they are measured in demands and criteria, posed before. From discovered disadvantages as for example lacking internet ability, insufficient platform independence, the major tasks of this work will be described. In the first chapter a new concept is suggested for the construction of an intranet/internet-oriented, radiological information system for the transmission and archiving of data in clinics and local physicians implemented in modular structure, producer-independent DICOM-standardization, modern, independent of platform JAVA-technology and Intranet/Internet-technology. The second chapter treats the problems of the medical image compression. After an introducing description of the known compression procedures the difficulties of the compression of the medical images is described.In accordance with these requirements the known lossy and loss-less compression-algorithms are measured. The results of the comparative examinations will get in a representative random check of more than 500 DICOM-images. Two new adaptive compression algorithms are developed by methods suggested in the work of the classification and appreciation of the quality of medical images. The third chapter is dedicated to the implementation of the components of the developed intranet/internet-oriented radiology information system. First the different net communication scenarios for the data exchange between the components of the system on the basis of Java-technology are analyzed and than an own scenario is developed. The software is developed for the visualization and processing of DICOM-image projects. The last section considers the new internet/intranet-oriented radiology information system with whose draft the scientific and practical results of this doctoral thesis were applied.
In modern society poverty is understood not as a state of absolute economic deprivation but as an extreme case of social inequality, as "poverty in affluence", and the concept of poverty is multidimensional, containing subjective and objective dimensions as well as multiple deprivations. As poverty is often associated with stigmatisation and social exclusion one may therefore assume that the poor are socially isolated. Arguments supporting a relation between social isolation and poverty come from poverty and segregation research and from theories of social exclusion and social closure. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) the author shows that poverty leads to loneliness and that the poor are restricted in the realisation of certain social contacts. Among the poor subgroups can be identified whose social integration is precarious and the transition to social isolation fluent. People who cannot cope with economic hardship as well as those in persistent poverty are more likely to be affected by the consequences of poverty on social relationships than others and this is especially true for the poorest among the poor. Although the findings do not suggest that poverty directly leads to social isolation, they demonstrate that the poor face a high risk of being isolated and that certain aspects associated with poverty (i.e. persistence of poverty) may lead to complete and ongoing isolation.
Until today the effects of many chlorinated hydrocarbons (e.g. DDT, PCBs) against the specific organisms are still a subject of controversial discussions. It was also the case for potential endocrine effects to influence the spermatogenesis correlated with possible changes of the population's vitality. To clear this situation, three questions could be at the centre of attention: 1) Do the chemicals cause a special harmful effect on the male reproductive tract? 2) Could some particular chemical mixtures act to bind and activate the human estrogen receptor (hER)? 3) Are the life stages of an organism specially sensitive to the effects of chemicals and therefore be established as Screening-Test-System? the connected effects of DDT and Arochlor 1254 as single substance and in 1:1 mixture according to their estrogenic effectiveness on zebrafish (Brachydanio rerio) were therefore investigated. the concentrations of the pesticides and their mixture ranged between 0.05-µg/l and 500-µg/l and separated by a factor of 10. It was turned out that the test concentrations of 500-µg/l were too toxic to zebrafish in all the cases. The experiment was followed up with four concentrations of DDT, A54 as well as their 1:1 mixture anew each separated by a factor of 10 and ranging between 0.05-µg/l and 50-µg/l. The bioaccumulation test within 8 days showed that the zebrafish accumulated the chemicals, but no equilibrum was reached and the concentration 0.05-µg/l was established as No Observed Effect Concentration (NOEC). Putting up on these analyses, the investigation of the life cycle (LC) starting with fertilized eggs demonstrated a reduction in the rate of hatchability, reproduction and length of fish emerged. These reductions involved the duration of the life cycle stages (LCS) which consequently lasted longer than expected. Exposure time and level of the tested chemicals accelerated the occurrence of these effects which were more significant when the chemical mixtures were used too. To establish whether the parameter assessed were correlated to the male reproductive tract, the quality, quantity and life span of sperm were assessed using the methods of Leong (1988) and Shapiro et al (1994). The sperm degeneration observed, led us to investigate the spermatogenesis and the ultrastructure of the testes. This last experiment showed a significant reduction of the late stage of spermatogenesis and the heterophagic vacuoles which play an important role in the spermatid maturation. It could therefore be concluded that, DDT and A54 could act synergically and cause disorders of the male reproductive tract of male zebrafish and influence also their growth.
In light of the severe air pollution in Trier, restrictions of motorized traffic and the associated personal willingness to do so are absolutely essential. Yet before an effective model of intervention can be developed, the following questions must be addressed from an analytical and conditional perspective: Which motives underlie the willingness of the citizens of Trier to reduce their personal automobile use or to participate actively in a political way with respect to traffic? Do they do this because of their own responsibility-related and justice-related beliefs or from purely rational and self-interest oriented calculations? The results of a questionnaire study (N = 369) could show that the postulate of the rational choice theory is not tenable with the dominance of the self-interest motive. Instead, there is a pluralism of motives based on responsibility, justice, and self-interest related cognitions and emotions that form the basis of the willingness to act with respect to traffic. The interviewees in Trier are, above all, willing to actively speak up in favor of local political measures for reducing traffic when they regard these measures as fair; are outraged about the low commitment of other citizens, but also expect personal benefits from such measures. In the first place, specific internal and external control beliefs are relevant for the reduction of personal automobile use. Other important influential factors here also include outrage over the low commitment of others and the expectation of personal benefits. The results of this study allow specific starting points to be derived for developing interventions aimed at the reduction of the amount of traffic in Trier. Moreover, important from the practical point of view of intervention, general lifestyle analyses identified seven lifestyle clusters which make it possible to design intervention programs specifically for the target groups, thus allowing intervention programs to be organized more effectively.
In the past twenty years considerable research has focused on the distinction between implicit and explicit measures of retention. In implicit memory tests, subjects are asked to perform a task that is apparently not related to a previous study phase, e.g. to produce category exemplars or to complete word stems. Implicit memory is revealed when the previous exposure to stimuli facilitates later performance in the implicit memory task relative to a nonstudied baseline performance. Implicit memory tests are contrasted with explicit memory tests, such as recall or recognition that require an intentional recollection of previous experiences. So far, only few studies on the development of implicit memory have been published. Despite the relative paucity of research with children, findings have been quite consistent: While explicit memory improves with age, no age differences were found in implicit memory tests. In these studies, however, mainly perceptual implicit memory tests have been employed. In recent studies with adults, dissociations have been observed between different implicit tests, especially between perceptual and conceptual ones. To draw conclusions about the developmental invariance of priming from findings using only one single type of test thus seems premature. In the present study, six experiments have been conducted that compared the memory performances of preschoolers and school-aged children using conceptual implicit tests (category production and word association). Conceptual priming effects rely on conceptual knowledge and conceptual processes (e.g., organization, semantic elaboration). Age-related improvements were found in both conceptual tests. This finding is interpreted in the context of a more elaborated knowledge base and enhanced processing abilities of older children. In contrast to the hypothesis that implicit memory is in general age-invariant, the results of this study suggest that at least conceptual implicit memory is influenced by developmental changes.
ASEAN and ASEAN Plus Three: Manifestations of Collective Identities in Southeast and East Asia?
(2003)
East Asia is a region undergoing vast structural changes. As the region moved closer together economically and politically following the breakdown of the bipolar world order and the ensuing expansion of intra-regional interdependencies, the states of the region faced the challenge of having to actively recast their mutual relations. At the same time, throughout the 1990s, the West became increasingly interested in trans- and inter-regional dialogue and cooperation with the emerging economies of East Asia. These developments gave rise to a "new regionalism", which eventually also triggered debates on Asian identities and the region's potential to integrate. Before this backdrop, this thesis analyzes in how far both the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has been operative since 1967 and thus embodies the "old regionalism" of Southeast Asia, and the ASEAN Plus Three forum (APT: the ASEAN states plus China, Japan and South Korea), which has come into existence in the aftermath of the Asian economic crisis of 1997, can be said to represent intergovernmental manifestations of specific collective identities in Southeast and East Asia, respectively. Based on profiles of the respective discursive, behavioral and motivational patterns as well as the integrative potential of ASEAN and APT, this study establishes in how far the member states adhere to sustainable collective patterns of interaction, expectations and objectives, and assesses in how far they can be said to form specific 'ingroups'. Four studies on collective norms, readiness to pool sovereignty, solidarity and attitudes vis-Ã -vis relevant third states show that ASEAN has evolved a certain degree of collective identity, though the Association's political relevance and coherence is frequently thwarted by changes in its external environment. A study on the cooperative and integrative potential of APT yields no manifest evidence of an ongoing or incipient pan-East Asian identity formation process.
The vision of a future information and communication society has prompted leading politicians in the United States, the European Union and Japan to influence or even lead the economic and social transition in the context of an active technology policy. The technological development of society, however, is a product of a complex interplay of technological, economic and socio-political constraints. These constraints limit the political decision-making and implementation abilities. Moreover, facts and information are continuously changing during a paradigmatic technological, economic and social shift, which limits political decision-making abilities. This study compares political decision-making to promote computer-mediated communications in the Triad since the beginning of the 1980s, on four levels: the development of a political vision, the long-term aims and strategies, technology policy (e.g. the promotion of technological development and competition policy) and regulatory policy (e.g. universal access, protection of privacy and intellectual property). While technology policy tends to be uncontroversial, during a paradigmatic shift regulatory policy is difficult and lengthy. Nevertheless, the inclusion of interest groups, which rise during this paradigmatic shift and which are close to the technologies and their societal consequences, help to aid decision-making processes. In this context, politics in the United States has been more successful that in the European Union and especially Japan. Although this study predates the rise of eCommerce over the Internet, it addresses many of the themes underlying it. Of these themes, many remain politically unsettled, both on national, supranational and especially international levels. For example, for encryption and secure payments, which are necessary for eCommerce, no international standards do yet exist. The issue of taxation has hardly been opened for discussions. In sum, this study does not only offer a historical overview of the development of the Internet, but it also discusses issues of continuing present concern.
The main purpose of this dissertation is to solve the following question: How will the emergence of the Euro influence the currency composition of the NICs?monetary reserves? Taiwan and Thailand are chosen as our investigation subjects. There are two sorts of motives for central banks' reserve holdings, i.e., intervention-related motives and portfolio-related motives. The need for reserve holdings resulting from intervention-related motives are justified because of the costs resulting from exchange rate instability. On the other hand, we use the Tobin-Markowitz model to justify the need for monetary reserves held for portfolio-related motives. The operational implication of this distinction is the separation of monetary reserves into two tranches corresponding to different objectives. An analysis of a central bank's transaction balance is a money quality analysis. Such an analysis has to do with transaction costs and non-pecuniary rates of return. The facts point out, that the Euro's emergence will not change the fact that the USD will continue to be the major currency of transaction balances of the central banks in Taiwan and Thailand. In order to answer the question about diversification of monetary reserves as idle balance in the two NICs, we carry out an analysis of the portfolio approach, which is based on the basic ideas of the Tobin-Markowitz model. This analysis shows that Taiwan and/or Thailand respectively cannot reduce risk at a given rate of return or increase the rate of return at a given risk by diversifying their monetary reserves as idle balance from the USD to the Euro.