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This paper presents a physical input-output table (PIOT) that shows the complete wood and paper flow through the economic system of Germany. The PIOT illustrates the wood and paper flow between different sectors and to different types of final use. It can be used both as a monitoring instrument and for scenario analysis. The hypothetical extraction method is applied in order to assess inter-industry linkages and single out key industries. Despite the wide variety of wood-based products and the versatile use of wood, it turns out that there is a surprisingly linear organization of the production system when it comes to the flow of wood and paper through Germany (“throughput economy”). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper and board recycling is now a central issue in papermaking. Understanding of material flows, as a part of the total production chain, as well as, fibrous and non-fibrous component flows needs further clarification. These flows are studied at a European level, with special focus on Germany and Sweden. Non-fibrous components are discussed in terms of a material which hampers the processing of paper and board. Resource-efficiency improvements, in conjunction with economic benefits, are sought and recycling has been able to fulfil both of these. The main drivers to maximize the use of recovered paper in paper and board manufacturing, have been improved over the last decades. These drivers are cost, environmental image and good technical properties to be used as raw material. The increased recycling rate has reduced the quality of the collected paper, produced recycled paper, and replaced virgin pulp. Also, recycling as a process, like deinking, produces large amounts of waste material that has challenges to find proper utilization. These problem areas are addressed in this paper, too. One focus area in the analysis of statistical information is an estimation of the share of non-fibrous components and fibre volumes of paper in Europe (EU) for the year 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wood has always been an indispensable material in human society throughout history. Its efficient utilization is even more crucial today in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, its production, trade, use, and recycling are seldom systematically assessed, with Germany being an exception due to the extensive work conducted by the University of Hamburg and the Thünen Institute over the years. To provide a more precise account of wood use, this study employs oven-dry metric tonne as the reference unit to construct a static wood flow based on the material flow analysis and wood resource balance in Germany in 2020. The Sankey diagrams comprehensively visualize the flow and stock of wood in various sectors, including forests, sawmills, pulp mills, buildings, energy, and waste. Results showed that forest felling volume exceeded growth due to significant wood demand and export, while forest carbon sinks increased because more hardwood was retained in German forests. The building and construction sector was the largest consumer of primary wood products, accounting for 52.1 % of the total, followed by furniture (29.5 %) and packaging (14.0 %). All waste paper was used to produce recycled fiber pulp, whereas only 14 % of waste wood was employed in particle board production. The woody biomass energy, amounting to 142.4 TWh, provided approximately 4.4 % of Germany's primary energy consumption, with around half of it used in private households. In addition to apparent data, this study also uses resource allocation, carbon storage, and cascade potential as examples to demonstrate that wood flow is applicable for further in-depth analysis, supporting wood efficient utilization. It can even be applied to any country and period with sufficient data and conversion factors, but here, they also prevented this study from comprehensively describing past and future wood flows. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case of the highly restricted writings of the philosopher Martin Heidegger raises interesting issues of archival access and publication as they are affected by questions of privacy and publicity, history and responsibility, collective memory, the author's intentions, the demands of scholars, and general archival policies. After Heidegger bequeathed his considerable legacy of unpublished papers, lecture notes, and correspondence to the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach, Germany, his son, Hermann Heidegger, became his literary executor. With only rare and seemingly arbitrary exceptions, Hermann has not allowed any scholar to view unpublished materials within the archives. Restrictions on the collection stipulate that no scholar can view any of Heidegger's texts until they are published, and the publication schedule is incomplete, exceedingly protracted, and prone to long delays. Meanwhile, scholars of Heidegger bemoan the fact that thousands of pages of his philosophy remain "still unpublished, and not even planned for publication, but just gathering dust at the Marbach Archives." These facts of the case show the complexity of the issues surrounding archival policy for public intellectuals such as Heidegger. Even if an archival institution has developed a firm set of basic principles by which to permit access in a reasonable and equitable manner, the restrictions imposed by donors can supersede an institution's own best practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Syria crisis has forced more than 4 million people to leave their homeland. As a result, in 2016, an overwhelming number of refugees reached Germany. In response to this, it was of utmost importance to set up refugee camps and to provide humanitarian aid, but a health surveillance system was also implemented in order to obtain rapid information about emerging diseases. Objective: The present study describes the effects of using digital paper and pen (DPP) technology on the speed, sequence, and behavior of epidemiological documentation in a refugee camp. Methods: DPP technology was used to examine documentation speed, sequence, and behavior. The data log of the digital pens used to fill in the documentation was analyzed, and each pen stroke in a field was recorded using a timestamp. Documentation time was the difference between first and last stroke on the paper, which includes clinical examination and translation. Results: For three months, 495 data sets were recorded. After corrections had been made, 421 data sets were considered valid and subjected to further analysis. The median documentation time was 41:41 min (interquartile range 29:54 min; mean 45:02 min; SD 22:28 min). The documentation of vital signs ended up having the strongest effect on the overall time of documentation. Furthermore, filling in the free-text field clinical findings or therapy or measures required the most time (mean 16:49 min; SD 20:32 min). Analysis of the documentation sequence revealed that the final step of coding the diagnosis was a time-consuming step that took place once the form had been completed. Conclusions: We concluded that medical documentation using DPP technology leads to both an increase in documentation speed and data quality through the compliance of the data recorders who regard the tool to be convenient in everyday routine. Further analysis of more data sets will allow optimization of the documentation form used. Thus, DPP technology is an effective tool for the medical documentation process in refugee camps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on Dorpen, Germany-based Nordland Papier's enlisting of Voith Paper to deliver machines and services for its paper machine 2 approach flow screening project. Nordland Papier has also selected C-bar screen baskets and MultiFoil rotors from Voith. The existing screening equipment will be replaced by a two-state screening system.

This paper aims to provide a first attempt towards analysis innovation ecosystems for cardiovascular pathologies in Germany through the use of a stakeholder model. We present essential stakeholders for the development and deployment of innovations in the field of cardiovascular research and medicine, and the primary functions they fulfill in the context of these innovation ecosystems. The adopted approach consists of the implementation of a multilevel system model for analyzing stakeholders in this particular field. Data acquisition transpired through systematic literature review of multiple articles and studies. Data analysis phases were executed until reaching a point at which the considerable amount of data was discovered, ensuring consistency across various sources. We demonstrate that innovation ecosystems in cardiovascular medicine involve interconnected networks of stakeholders across different fields. Moreover, through an investigation of innovation ecosystems of cardiovascular pathologies particularly in Germany, we present the functions undertaken by each stakeholder, which are essential for the participation in the innovation ecosystems. The findings presented in this paper hold the potential to bring better understanding of cardiovascular pathology innovation ecosystems in Germany. This assertion is substantiated through a comprehensive examination of relevant scientific literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports that an EcoChange CIT turn-up system in German paper manufacturer Voith Paper has been installed in a production line at Sappi's Ehingen mill. Production of woodfree coating base papers.

Reports that Mondi Fine Paper's division Merebank Paper Mill in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa has contracted German firm Voith Paper to perform a major rebuild and conversion of its PM 31 paper machine. Conversion of the machine for the production of woodfree paper grades; Speed of August Koehler AG's machine.

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Reports that the German firm Voith Paper signed an agreement to provide Austrian firm Papierfabrik Hamburger Spremberg GmbH & Co. KG with preventive maintenance and quality control services.

Invites producers, converters, suppliers and retailers of the European tissue sector to offer papers for presentation at the 4th Paper Technology Specialists Tissue Symposium in Munich, Germany. Deadline for abstract submission; Availability of additional information online.

The article reports on the contracts of Toscotec to complete the rebuilding of the PM 5 paper machine in Marsberg-Giershagen, Germany. The machine was substantially rebuilt by Toscotec into a Crescent Former.

This paper compares the recycling attitudes of consumers in Germany and Japan, based on our nationwide questionnaires. We analyzed consumption behavior as well as recycling behavior in narrow sense, becauseit is important to study the former to see how the supply of recycled materials is balanced with the demand, particularly in Japan which exports little recycled materials. Toilet paper was adopted as a specific good for study, because consumers have options of buying virgin products and recycled products. It was found that German households pay for waste collection specifically and have higher recycling rates than Japanese households. On the other hand, similar figures in German and Japanese consumers were observed with regard to consumption of recycled products. Their purchasing criteria and preference on virginand recycled products of toilet paper were examined by self-report and blind test with 2x 2 experimental design for toilet paper (German versus Japanese, virgin versus recycled). Blind test showed that people prefer domestic and virgin products in both countries. Half of respondents rating virgin products guessed that the products contained recycled material. For Japanese, the material of the sample toilet paper, made from virgin pulp, seems to be a more determining factor thanthe nationality of products, i.e. made in Japan. On the other hand, for Germans, the domestic nature seems to be a more dominant factor than the material, i.e. made from virgin material. Canonical discriminant analysis in conjunction with logistic regression based on self-reporting data detected the characters `multiplied', `appearance' and `brand' as major factors making the difference in preference between the two countries. The possible reasons causing the similarity and dissimilarity between the two countries are discussed with reference to the background history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation of Points of Interest including capacities for travel demand models is usually costly and laborious. Recently, several methods have been developed to automate this process based on Volunteered Geographic Information data as well as to validate the corresponding results. The methodology presented in this paper takes on the task of setting up such a workflow on a large scale, including capacities and all common activity types, by making use of OpenStreetMap data. As a result, a Points of Interest dataset could be created for the whole of Germany, which maps around 24 million destinations including capacities divided into seven activity types. An exemplary validation based on the generated workplace and shopping locations as well as capacities indicates a varying quality of results depending on the respective regional type. The discussion additionally concludes that assignment of several activities to one location presents challenges that should be addressed in future approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the attitudes of German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe toward the monetary policies of his times, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The author surveys in particular how Goethe's assessment of paper money changed over time, specifically against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and their economic and financial effects. In this context, he also discusses Goethe's understanding of the causes of inflation, his dissatisfaction with Austrian fiscal and monetary policies during this time, and Goethe's advocacy against the introduction of paper money in the Duchy of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach in Germany, where he served as privy councilor, following his reading of an essay on the subject by Swiss economist Jean-Charles-Léonard Simonde de Sismondi.

The paper examines the integration of born-digital and digitized content into an outdated classification system within the Museum of European Cultures in Berlin. It underscores the predicament encountered by smaller to medium-sized cultural institutions as they navigate between adhering to established knowledge management systems and preserving an expanding array of contemporary cultural artifacts. The perspective of infrastructure studies is employed to scrutinize the representation of diverse viewpoints and voices within the museum's collections. The study delves into museum personnel's challenges in cataloging and classifying ethnographic objects utilizing a numerical-alphabetical categorization scheme from the 1930s. It presents an analysis of the limitations inherent in this method, along with its implications for the assimilation of emerging forms of born-digital and digitized objects. Through an exploration of the case of category 74, as observed at the Museum of European Cultures, the study illustrates the complexities of replacing pre-existing systems due to their intricate integration into the socio-technical components of the museum's information infrastructure. The paper reflects on how resource-constrained cultural institutions can take a proactive and ethical approach to knowledge management, re-evaluating their knowledge infrastructure to promote inclusion and ensure adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent debate on megaprojects (MPs), greater attention is devoted to the functioning of the interorganizational and multiactor networks that are one of the most innovative features in recent years. The complexity of these structures brings out governability issues for an MP's management. Mutual recognition and consent become elements capable of inaugurating more collaborative processes and practices to reduce organizational and management criticalities in MPs. This paper focuses on a neglected relational dimension, namely legitimacy. We argue that legitimacy is instead the central dimension that attributes effectiveness and capacity for action to the organizations involved. Legitimacy regulates the relationship between various organizations--and especially--between organizations and the public sphere. Institutionalist theory assigns a central role to legitimacy in the construction of social processes, defining it as a generalized form of social acceptance toward an actor, an idea, or a project. In this paper, we hypothesize that the legitimacy attributed and "held" by the stakeholders is a crucial element in countering three critical aspects of MPs, namely the uncertainty, complexity, and conflict acting on the construction of public consensus and the quality of relationships between the participating stakeholders. We verify our hypothesis by analyzing a cross-border MP, the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link between Germany and Denmark. The paper concentrates on the mechanisms with which stakeholders can acquire legitimacy using the Eriksen discursive legitimation scheme. These mechanisms are different (evidence-based, public participation, and legislators' command) and produce different outcomes in terms of increasing or containing these three criticalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses an art installation depicting the Stations of the Cross in the Mariä Sieben Schmerzen church in the Hasenbergl neighborhood of Munich, Germany, which was designed in the early 21st century by German artist Regina Viktoria Schmidt. The author describes the 14 stations represented by abstract, monochrome relief prints created through a paper embossing process and colored using sfumato-like techniques, including the arrest of Jesus, the three falls of Jesus, and the encounter of Jesus with Mary, his mother.

Discusses the management of rejects from recycled fiber plants in Europe. Cost of rejects disposal; Impact of earnings from paper production; Use of return on investment as criteria for capital investments in rejects handling systems; Recycled fiber consumption in Germany; Rejects handling in a newsprint production.

Discusses the impact of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) on European paper companies with huge energy charges. Features of the power market in Norway and Germany; Energy use by Stora Enso; Direct and marginal costs of ETS; Economic effects of greenhouses; Estimates from the Confederation of European Paper Industries.

Including disabled workers in value-creating work processes is a fundamental and guaranteed human right and is, therefore, an essential goal of society. In Germany, sheltered workshops create the conditions for this inclusion since they are essential to companies' value chains. A central challenge is the inclusion of disabled workers in the value-creation processes, such as in manufacturing or assembly areas. The skills of disabled workers vary since they have individual impairments. Therefore, this paper presents a digital human model, a Human Digital Twin (HDT), for disabled workers. The model maps their skills and supports the production planning and assembly processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines key debates within and regarding contemporary internationalist movements in Mexico and Germany. The starting point is the discussion on New Internationalism, originating in the practices and ideas of groups in solidarity with and anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements in the global South since the 1970s, which were subsequently discussed, expanded, and transformed within various social struggles. Employing a qualitative content analysis, we reconstruct common themes, similarities and divergences in texts authored by the EZLN and BUKO from 1996 to 2021. The findings reveal that common references to the contents of New Internationalism exist in the examined texts, yet are interpreted differently along situated struggles and experiences of oppression and marginalization. Connecting elements are forms of intersectional critique of domination, as well as the rejection of the idea of a revolutionary subject, an avant-garde, a principal contradiction, and the taking over of state power. Simultaneously, the analysed texts emphasize the necessity of transnational struggles and global networking against capitalism to counteract planetary destruction and exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant quarantine pests worldwide cause considerable economic damage due to direct plant losses, eradication costs, and contamination measures. Although these losses can threaten the survival of a farm, no country to date has a universal compensation solution that encompasses all agricultural sectors. This paper aims to assess various compensation options by, firstly, calculating potential monetary losses caused by selected quarantine pests, which have not been studied in this context before. Secondly, we calculate farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for different components of compensation options in plant production using a discrete choice experiment (DCE). We find that monetary losses caused by quarantine pests vary significantly across products and sectors and are highest for intensive vegetable production. The DCE reveals a strong preference for the state compensation and heterogeneity of preferences among farmers depending on their experience with risk management options and perception of pest occurrence. The WTP analysis indicates that requiring preventive plant protection measures as a prerequisite for receiving compensation significantly deters farmers from participating in such a system, as its WTP exhibits the most negative impact compared to all other factors. Due to sectoral differences and path-dependent nature of compensation programs, a universal solution is rather not feasible. Sector-specific solutions must be considered, which does not rule out similar compensation approaches among sectors. Our findings are useful for designing compensation programs for quarantine plant pest cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the transformation of information sharing and multi-tier supply chain management (MSCM) from the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the context of Industry 4.0. SMEs are typically sharing less information digitally, are less active in conducting MSCM, but must be integrated in digital supplier networks to achieve supply chain transparency or traceability. For this purpose, this paper empirically analyzes SMEs from the manufacturing industry in Austria and Germany are investigated regarding information sharing and MSCM. The responses are analyzed to test three hypotheses, using 81 replies from manufacturing SMEs in Austria and Germany. The three hypotheses investigate the upstream and downstream MSCM practices of SMEs as well as which kind of information is shared with and by SMEs. The results help to understand and reveal potential barriers for information sharing besides technical possibilities to SMEs in order to be actively involved in MSCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tens of thousands of Romanian migrants work in the German construction sector. Their work is often characterized by unpaid wages, long workdays and by the withholding of sick or holiday payments. The risky and exploitative nature of the conditions under which Romanian migrants work on German construction sites is reflected in their negative evaluation of their engagements as “slave labor” by Romanian workers. Starting from such a clearly negative evaluation, the paper asks how Romanian construction workers in Germany classify their work and what role such classifications have within the context of labor exploitation. Based on qualitative interviews with and participant observation among Romanian construction site workers in Germany and in Romania, the article reconstructs four work classifications. Work may be interpreted as the fulfillment of obligations or as necessary for economic revenue; hard work itself can be a symbolic contribution to one’s own sense of identity or it can have the meaning of being part of everyday normalcy. Each of the work classifications offers a different reason to make hard work plausible in the eyes of the workers and employers actively turn such interpretations into a mechanism of vulnerability. Without direct physical coercion, these ideas motivate workers to take on work that they themselves criticize as ‘slave labor.’ The paper concludes by arguing that the recognition of such classifications and their social effects are crucial for an understanding of labor exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Asia Pacifi c War (1937-1945), the Japanese Imperial Army forced women in Japanese East Asian colonies to work as so-called “comfort women” (sex workers). The justice movement for these women is an international intersectional alliance of feminists from Japanese ex-colonies in East Asia, the former colonial power Japan, and other societies, such as Australia, Germany, and the USA. This long-term feminist justice movement has campaigned for an apology and compensation from the Japanese government, as well as for recognition of “comfort women‘s” suff ering and of sexual violence in war in cultural memory. Through researching this justice movement from a processual intersectionality perspective, this paper shows that it gained power and legitimacy from refl ecting and working on its internal intersectional inequalities. This included refl ecting on the class hierarchies between many former “comfort women”, who had power of defi nition, and intellectual feminist activists, as well as on the postcolonial divide between former Japanese colonies and the former colonial power Japan, leading it to develop horizontal cooperation and practices. Following an overview, the paper outlines the movements in South Korea, Japan, and Germany, and highlights the different postcolonial constellation between East Asia and Germany, the main actors, and their aims. While the Japanese government rejected the justice movement‘s demands and the right wing mobilised against it, has been able to infl uence cultural memory to widely recognize sexual violence in war and the dignity of the “comfort women”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Organically bred vegetable varieties analyzed as a Technological Innovation System. • Empirical study on barriers for diffusion in conventional food retail. • Analysis of resource formation processes and overarching vicious cycles. • Sustainable agri-food innovations do not leave niche status due to deep value clashes. • Market formation perspective added to research on organic seeds and Seed Commons. While organic food increased its market share in conventional food retail, virtually all organic vegetables are still conventionally bred. For decades, organically bred vegetable varieties remained a market niche, despite their socio-ecological benefits. This paper conceptualizes actors and activities around organic breeding as a Technological Innovation System (TIS) and analyzes what prevents these varieties from widely diffusing into conventional supermarkets. Investigated systemic barriers relate to knowledge, market formation, investments, and legitimacy. The study is based on interviews with food retailers and (commons-based) breeding initiatives across Germany. Theoretically, the paper adds an innovation system perspective on the diffusion of organically bred varieties, a blind spot in the emerging seed commons debate. Furthermore, it contributes to sustainability transitions literature by introducing a novel empirical topic and reframing the TIS framework to analyze agri-food innovations. Identifying barriers and vicious cycles might support practitioners and policymakers seeking to diffuse this agri-food niche. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is increasingly recognised that the perceptions and lived experiences of climate change are grounded in places. This paper brings together work on place and climate imaginaries to develop a situated and emplaced understanding of climate change futures. Empirically, the paper examines local climate imaginaries on the North Frisian Wadden Sea coast of Germany. The low-lying islands are vulnerable to anthropogenic sea-level rise and face an uncertain future. Based on 21 semi-structured interviews conducted with coastal dwellers, the study examines all interviews from a grounded theory perspective. A refined in-depth analysis of the language helps to reveal climate imaginaries and systematise the ways through which local climate futures are articulated, structured and constructed. The aim of the paper is threefold: to synthesise research undertaken on place and climate imaginaries, to empirically analyse emplaced climate imaginaries and to explore – though tentatively – their role in developing regionally grounded climate change adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When collecting, storing and providing research information, it should be taken into account whether and how the research information will be published. It is important under what framework conditions the data will be used further, what rights the researchers involved have to the research information, whether the research group or the project will leave and finally also whether and when the research information will be deleted again. With this in mind, our paper will consider two important aspects: From a data protection point of view, however, the processing of large amounts of data is one of the greatest conceivable challenges. The legal aspects depend on the legislation of the country where the CRIS system operates, the level at which CRIS operates and the type of data collected. Our paper will map legal aspects of processing and protection of research information in Slovakia and Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of GWP: Gesellschaft Wirtschaft Politik is the property of Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Before politicians used refugees as a tool of interstate relations, refugees and asylum seekers were perceived only as a symbolic or realist threat in social perception. With the use of refugees as a tool of international politics, the phenomenon of threats felt in society has deepened with securitization and started to pose threats to human security. This dialectical relationship between society and the state also changes and transforms the direction and form of the threat. The study will investigate how symbolic or realistic threat perceptions in the public have evolved into securitization by governments, how these two phenomena strengthen each other, and what they mean in terms of human security. The quantitative data used in this study will be explained with integrated threat and securitization theories. This study aims to examine the variations in threat perceptions associated with refugees in Europe, employing an integrated threat theory framework. The focus will be on investigating questions such as "What types of threats are attributed to the presence of refugees and asylum seekers in European countries?" and "What factors contribute to the divergence in perceived threats?". Furthermore, the study will explore the implications of these divergent threat perceptions on national and regional migration governance within each country. This paper will focus on the refugee crisis and examine the cases of Turkey, Greece, and Germany, which are mainly on the refugee transit route and host the largest number of refugees in Europe. In order to describe which threat perception has a decisive impact on Europe, the 7th wave (2017-2020) datasets provided by the "World Values Survey (WVS)" from 2010-2022 will be examined in comparison with previous waves. The cases of Germany, Turkey, and Greece in these datasets will be the main focus of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of networks has been growing attention in recent decades in explaining political behaviour. Political nexus aspects also get on the agenda in studying various resources of status attainment. Despite the general realization of these relevant network implications, some conceptual and measurement issues are still debatable. In this paper, we introduce a new tool for measuring political acquaintanceship networks, the Party Nexus Position Generator (PNPG). We will show how one of the most widely used SNA-instruments, the technique of position generator, could be transformed to apply for the measurement of political networks. We tested the tool in two countries, Germany and Hungary, with surveys administered by different methods: online and face-to-face. The presentation of findings on German and Hungarian political networks may help us understand how the broader settings affect the composition of political networks and their influences on political behavior. Results from two different countries may also contribute to assess the validity of the PNPG tools introduced by our study. • We introduce a new tool for measuring political acquaintanceship networks, the Party Nexus Position Generator (PNPG). • The PNPG tool measures two aspects of ego-network political networks, political nexus diversity, and political homophily. • In this paper, we present some basic and more advanced indices extracted from PNPG. • Studying our indices in a joint framework present a research direction of interest with various comparative perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the big pollution problems worldwide is air pollution with CO2. This pollution contributes to the evening effect and can cause major health problems. A solution for reducing the level of CO2 is the creation of Passive Houses. The passive house concept was first introduced in Germany. Passive buildings are buildings with low energy consumption. By reducing energy consumption, the CO2 pollution produced when obtaining electricity is reduced. In this paper, we do not propose to study the possibility of realizing such a case in the Municipality of Vulcan, Hunedoara and to determine the level of CO2 pollution reduction through the use of such buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In German primary schools, natural sciences and social studies are learned and taught in an integrative manner within a subject called Sachunterricht. To teach Sachunterricht in a high-quality manner, it is reasonable to assume that primary school teachers themselves require— among other things, such as knowledge about pedagogy, teaching Sachunterricht, and the various content areas of Sachunterricht—a distinct interest, academic self-concept, and sense of belonging regarding natural and social sciences. Furthermore, they should possess a solid interdisciplinary competence that enables them to teach natural and social sciences in an integrative way. In the present study, we conducted a longitudinal survey of pre-service primary school teachers from a German university over a period of 2 years to investigate the changes in their (self-evaluated) interdisciplinary competence; the changes in their interest, academic self-concept, and sense of belonging regarding natural and social sciences; and the correlations between these constructs. Our data analysis revealed a decrease over time in participants’ sense of belonging to natural and social sciences, as well as their (self-evaluated) interdisciplinary competence, while their academic self-concept in natural and social sciences remained stable. Participants’ interest in social sciences decreased, while their interest in natural sciences increased. Moreover, we found varying degrees of correlation between these constructs. In summary, the results of the present study provide important insights into the professional development of pre-service primary school teachers within university-based teacher education for teaching natural and social sciences in primary school. The implications of these findings are discussed in detail at the end of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper deals with the topic exhaustion and motivation when working from home. It is the first study from Germany to apply the job demands-resources model of Demerouti and Bakker [1] in the context of home office. By so doing, a deductive approach is followed, and a conceptual model is formed based on a comprehensive literature review with the inclusion of relevant publications up to April 2022. Subsequently, the model is exploratively adapted according to the results and a recommendation for practical action as well as suggestions for future studies are presented. The study was able to provide significant evidence that the communication climate has a positive influence on motivation, the perceived support, the connectedness and the trust between employee and supervisor. Further, trust is influenced by the perceived connectedness with the company. Finally, work pressure in the home office and the lack of segmentation have a positive impact on exhaustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the notion of integration through formal education by focusing on immigrant families in Germany. The article focuses on the predominant discourse that persists in reiterating the binary code of the formal education system, which encompasses educational success or failure as a synonym for the migration policy code of integration or disintegration. This equation is made even stronger by a meritocratic philosophy that doesn't consider the othering processes and ignores all the restrictions that migrant youth face in education, the labour market, and the market for vocational training. The ambiguity between the actual possibilities and the attainable goals, embodied in the predominant imperative of “social mobility through education”, creates resistance within the group of immigrant parents and youth. The article argues that under these conditions, the family system may provide alternative ways of recognition for young people, which can be taken as a counter-concept with its own values that reject media-mediated narratives of integration and their symbolic representatives. By utilizing empirical data, the article provides insight into the past and present experiences of family members and the factors that contribute to the resistance of immigrant families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Communication is a very important part of a manager's job. Every manager communicates with their team, colleagues and his/her manager. Effective communication in the organization is the basis for achieving the goals of the organization, motivating people and creating trust environment. If a manager is able to motivate his/her team, people are willing to do more for the company and themselves. Also, a trust environment supports achieving the company goals, working environment in a team and the whole company culture as well. People communicate nonstop, they share their ideas, opinions, discuss basic daily issues, talk to friends and family members and similar. Even if they do not talk, they communicate because they send nonverbal signals to other people. The best way of communication is face-to-face in real-time. Nowadays, there are many ways how to communicate using modern technologies. These technologies can help if there are long distances between people, e.g., for conference calls with more countries, but this paper focuses on interpersonal face-to-face communication. Communication should enable smooth cooperation with others, e.g., by active listening, managers may get more information about their team members than just listening without paying attention. No less important is non-verbal communication in the interpersonal communication process between two or more people. Different signals may improve added value to the whole conversation, highlight the main information, keep people interested in listening, and tell more than just expressing by using words. Communication is a complex process. Many researchers spend their lives researching this field and looking for ways of effective communication. Everybody can learn how to communicate more effectively and lead the team towards the company goals. The main goal of this paper is the identification of the effectiveness of communication in an international retail organization and to cover the gap in the literature that does not focus on retail. The research took place in its branch in Germany. This research used a questionnaire consisting of questions where respondents indicated answers on a Likert scale Based on the research, it is possible to point out the strengths and weaknesses in the communication process between managers and subordinates. This paper shows how employees and managers communicate and their mutual satisfaction. 48 employees participated in the research of a total of 187 employees, which means the return rate of the questionnaire is 25.67%. The communication process in the selected organization is at a good level, however, with some deficiencies. Among the positive aspects, there is an openness in interpersonal communication and in the department as well, moreover a clear and unambiguous communication of the manager, active listening and understanding of messages that support the effective communication process in the organization. On the other hand, there are some deficiencies, for instance, employees lack more feedback, another issue occurs in the communication process between the manager and his/her team, which is about information flow, where only about a quarter of the information the employees receive from their manager. The benefit of this research is seen for HR professionals, managers and scholars who may get an overview of the pros and cons of interpersonal communication based on results from a questionnaire focused on the way of communication at the company and between supervisor and his/her team and team members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the American cartoonist George Evans stated that every student can learn, just not on the same day and in the same way, he probably did not imagine the despair of pupils trying to access an e-learning platform during a national lockdown period. With the COVID19 crisis, online learning became an everyday commodity almost overnight. However, not all schools were prepared to swiftly switch from in class to distance teaching. Concerns were raised with regard to data protection and cybersecurity, which in some cases led to the implementation of "home-made" solutions. Taking the example of the federalist state of Germany where education is within the sole competence of the Länder, this paper will explore the functioning and technical implementation of several e-learning platforms and address the data protection challenges. In terms of cybersecurity, this paper also analyses the applicability of the NIS Directive to the various platforms and outlines the consequences for platform providers. In light of the acceleration of the revision of the NIS Directive due to the COVID-19 crisis, we take the example of learning platforms to outline the flaws of the 2016 Directive before we critically evaluate selected aspects of the NIS 2.0 proposal of December 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In recent years, various revelations about government malfeasances have highlighted the vulnerability of civil society actors who work on surveillance by intelligence agencies. Simultaneously, new technologies and overburdened state oversight bodies clarify how relevant citizen scrutiny of intelligence is. Both of these factors have led to the emergence of scrutiny by civil society actors as a research subject. This paper contributes to such scholarship by presenting data collected through surveys addressed at journalists and professionals from civil society organisations (CSOs) in France, Germany, and the UK to comparatively characterize the forms, scope, and constraints of the scrutiny they perform. Indicated differences across countries highlight variances in the practices of civic intelligence oversight. These variances indicate that there is room to manoeuvre for civic forms of holding intelligence agencies to account, counteracting the primacy of security and the secrecy of intelligence. Yet, similarities of civic oversight practitioners’ perspectives across all three countries are also distinct and informative; in particular, across all three countries, journalists and CSO professionals who work on surveillance by intelligence agencies worry they are under surveillance themselves and express dissatisfaction with safeguards at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the topic of eugenics ("Erbgesundheitslehre" or "Rassenhygiene") among the Germans in Romania, which was mainly carried by Transylvanian Saxon actors. Based on Tudor Georgescu's monograph The Eugenic Fortress: The Transylvanian Saxon Experiment in Interwar Romania (2016), the topic is analyzed in depth for the 1920s. Using Heinrich Siegmund's Sächsisches Wehr- und Mehrbuch, which was published in 1914 and in a revised form in 1922, as well as other source examples, it is shown that the eugenic discourse was not only a transfer from the "West" to Transylvanian Saxony, but took on a specific form. The central actors of the biopolitical discourse among the Transylvanian Saxons, especially Heinrich Siegmund and later Alfred Csallner, acted in an interpersonal and intertextual network, especially one supported by institutions, that was primarily connected to Germany--the exchange on eugenics was thus a reciprocal process, not an exclusively one-sided "import" from the "West." However, it is further noted that there was relatively little demonstrable exchange with Romanian and Hungarian eugenicists. The implementation of the teachings of eugenics was intended to counter a demographically induced decrease in the population of the German minority. The main target was the younger generation, especially in rural areas--this milieu was seen as having the best chances of resisting the "decline" by means of biopolitical measures. On the one hand, the analyzed discourse reveals the intertwining of traditional and contemporary topoi; on the other hand, a radicalization of biopolitical concepts can be seen parallel to political developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering plays a pivotal role in tackling the grand societal challenges humanity is facing. It is essential that engineers understand these challenges and realize the impact their solutions have. This means that higher education's task in fostering future engineers as transformation agents is key. In this paper we introduce initial arguments about why engineering programs need to include both sustainability and entrepreneurship as core elements for students to obtain a holistic approach towards humanity's grand societal challenges, along with specific skills, including for example critical thinking and reflection, systemic thinking, building partnerships, and collaborations An overview of the literature shows that independent sustainability and entrepreneurship have been recognized as important for engineering programs, even though the integration of both has yet to be achieved. Furthermore, a first analysis of a sample of engineering programs in Germany confirms what we observed in the literature. It would appear that the time for a transformation of engineering programs has arrived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the search for solutions for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), decision-makers frequently face governance-related challenges such as the fragmentation of institutions, the interconnection with other essential services and overlapping competences. In many cases, solutions to these challenges involve strengthening coordination between different actors and sectors. Today different digital tools and resources are available to support related decision-making processes. These tools can (1) offer a context-specific assessment of the water governance system ("Diagnosis") and (2) provide, in some cases, context-specific recommendations to tackle identified deficits ("Therapy"). In this paper, we aim to advance the understanding of the potential of digital tools for water governance and management assessments. After reviewing relevant tools, we introduce the Diagnostic Water Governance Tool (DWGT) that builds on a clear diagnosis-therapy-logic. After presenting the empirical basis and functional logic of the DWGT, we test the DWGT in two case studies: the Guadalquivir river basin in Spain and the Emscher river basin in Germany. We find that the DWGT provides context-specific, evidence-based instrument recommendations that can enhance water governance and management, albeit accompanying suitability evaluations by governance experts remain critical. We conclude by discussing the limitations of digital tools for water governance and management assessments and sketch out fields of future research. • Most water governance online tools do not allow for case-specific assessments. • Diagnostic Water Governance Tool identifies context-specific coordination deficits. • The Tool gives case-sensitive recommendations for governance instruments. • Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis provides sound methodological framework. • The Tool's analysis can supplement but not replace expert evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental catastrophes, including the increased severity and frequency of climate extremes, can act as "windows of opportunities" that challenge citizens' mental models and motivate them to engage in reflective processes, challenging their pre-conceived ideas. Less well understood is whether experiencing changing weather conditions, common in mid-latitudes, can have a similar effect and increase the citizens' concerns about climate change and their willingness to accept more stringent climate policies. In this paper, we investigate the effects of changing seasonal temperature on the perceived seriousness of climate change and willingness to mitigate climate change. We use data from four yearly waves of a spatially explicit representative population survey in Germany and weather records from the postal code areas in which they live. To our knowledge, this study is the first analysis to link individual perceptions towards climate change and different mitigation options with seasonal temperature changes at specific locations in Europe. The analyzed perceptions were strongly influenced by socio-demographic characteristics and broader societal changes, as well as individual experiences of seasonal temperatures. The results show that experienced seasonal temperature change influences personal climate change concerns as well as the willingness to mitigate climate change, although with a weaker effect. The results indicate that it is the absolute temperature variation experienced that is important, rather than whether it is getting colder or warmer than usual. Considering the influences identified in this study can offer a window of opportunity for more stringent and targeted climate change policy. • Seasonal temperature changes influence climate change perception. • Effects can offer a window of opportunity for more stringent climate change policy. • Governmental mitigation policy solutions less supported than self-determined options. • Perceptions influenced by broader societal changes as well as individual experiences. • Need for targeted climate change communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports that Maintal, Germany-based papermaking machinery industry VIB Systems GmbH received an order through Metso Paper Inc. for its AirtTechplus 6 and GlossTech systems for both paper machine and calender.

This paper reflects on place attachment in times of digitalisation in rural regions. Our qualitative study explores the extent to which and with which characteristics place attachment 'translates' into the digital format. The paper analyses 193 digital projects presented in the internet. These cases cover several European countries with a particular focus on Germany. The analysis is based on a three-dimensional framework involving attachment concepts, space/place and digitalisation. From a systematic categorisation of the case studies, six result patterns emerge: Some of them confirm place attachment patterns, which are well known from the debate on 'non-digital' place attachment (e.g., the importance of emotions). Other findings show that digitalisation does make a difference, in particular concerning abstract, non-localised spatial references to the rural area. Finally, we deduce some implications from our findings for practical implementation in regional development. • Facets of place attachment to rural regions are examined in digital tools. • Digital formats enable references to generic and abstract spatial contexts. • To attract new residents the focus is on locational information. • In digital tools, place-related emotions are uttered differently across scales. • Web 3.0 applications potentially secure rural services of general interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]