Interkulturelle Kommunikation: ein Business-Knigge-Kurs zum Selbststudium

La communication interculturelle devient de plus en plus importante dans le monde des affaires. Par la mondialisation, les rencontres entre personnes de différentes cultures se multiplient et les entreprises internationales augmentent. Il est donc important de connaître les règles et les origines de sa propre culture, mais aussi de savoir comment se comporter face aux cultures étrangères. C’est le seul moyen de conclure des affaires internationales avec succès. Au début de ce travail, les notions de « culture » et de « communication » sont expliquées par différentes théories. Ensuite, divers exemples mettent en évidence les caractères distincts de différentes cultures. Et finalement, les résultats obtenus par une approche théorique aboutissent un cours, disponible en ligne sur Internet, d’étique des comportements dans les relations d’affaires internationales. Ce cours donne des informations à l’utilisateur de manière simple en expliquant les principales règles de conduite à adopter pour les pays suivants : l’Inde, la Chine, le Japon, la Russie et les États-Unis. Le cours a été créé comme un cours e-learning sur une plateforme d'apprentissage basée sur moodle. Ainsi, il est facile d'accès, dans un cadre protégé, et il est bien adapté pour l'autoformation individuelle.Die interkulturelle Kommunikation erlangt in der Geschäftswelt immer mehr Bedeutung. Durch die Globalisierung der Welt kommt es vermehrt zu Zusammentreffen von Personen aus verschiedenen Kulturen und immer mehr Unternehmen sind international tätig. So wird es immer wichtiger, nicht nur die Verhaltens- und Benimmregeln der eigenen Kultur zu kennen, sondern sich auch in fremden Kulturen mit einer gewissen Sicherheit frei bewegen zu können. Nur so können Geschäfte auf internationaler Ebene erfolgreich abgeschlossen werden. Diese Arbeit erklärt zu Beginn, anhand von verschieden Modellen die Begriffe Kultur und Kommunikation. Im Anschluss werden mit Hilfe von Beispielen Unterscheidungsmerkmale von verschiedener Kulturen aufgezeigt. Die Erkenntnisse der theoretischen und beispielhaften Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema führen schlussendlich zu einem Business-Knigge Kurs, der auf einfache Art und Weise das Thema dem Nutzer näher bringt und ihm die wichtigsten Verhaltensregeln für folgende Länder erklärt: Indien, China, Japan, Russland und USA. Der Kurs wurde als E-Learning-Kurs auf einer moodle-basierten Lernplattform erstellt. Somit ist er in einem geschützten Rahmen einfach zugänglich und eignet sich daher für das individuelle Selbststudium

ritzy* connaisseur : Aufbau eines Virtual-Campus

Der Kanton Wallis ist Produzent von verschiedenen landwirtschaftlichen Produkten, allen voran Wein und Käse. Leider sind diese Produkte vielen im Gastgewerbe arbeitenden Personen nicht vertraut. Im Zuge des Ausbaus der Weiterbildungsmöglichkeiten wurde mit Hilfe der Software Moodle unter dem Titel „ritzy* connaisseur“ ein virtueller E-Learning Campus auf dem Internet aufgebaut. Der ritzy* connaisseur richtet sich an Betriebsinhaber von Walliser Restaurations und Beherbergungsbetrieben und deren Angestellte und ist kostenlos. Der ritzy* connaisseur setzt sich mit diesen landwirtschaftlichen Produkten auseinander. Der Kurs erklärt u. a. den Herstellungsprozess von Wein und verschiedenen Wein- und Rebsorten. Durch den ritzy* connaisseur bekommt der Teilnehmer aber auch Informationen über Käse im Wallis, in der Schweiz und im europäischen Ausland. Der Teilnehmer erweitert so sein Wissen auf eine einfache und spielerische Art und Weise. Im Weiteren erklärt der ritzy* connaisseur auch den Herkunftsschutz und die speziellen Vor- und Nachteile von AOC und IGP Zertifikaten

The role of rare events in the pinning problem

Type II superconductors exhibit a fascinating phenomenology that is determined by the dynamical properties of the vortex matter hosted by the material. A crucial element in this phenomenology is vortex pinning by material defects, e.g., immobilizing vortices at small drives and thereby guaranteeing dissipation-free current flow. Pinning models for vortices and other topological defects, such as domain walls in magnets or dislocations in crystals, come in two standard variants: i) weak collective pinning, where individual weak defects are unable to pin, while the random accumulation of many force centers within a collective pinning volume combines into an effective pin, and ii) strong pinning, where strong defects produce large vortex displacements and bistabilities that lead to pinning on the level of individual defects. The transition between strong and weak pinning is quantified by the Labusch criterion $\kappa \approx f_p/\bar{C}\xi = 1$, where $f_p$ and $\bar{C}$ are the force of one defect and the effective elasticity of the vortex lattice, respectively ($\xi$ is the coherence length). Here, we show that a third generic type of pinning becomes dominant when the pinning force $f_p$ enters the weak regime, the pinning by rare events. We find that within an intermediate regime $1/2 < \kappa < 1$, compact pairs of weak defects define strong pinning clusters that extend the mechanism of strong pinning into the weak regime. We present a detailed analysis of this cluster-pinning mechanism and show that its pinning-force density parametrically dominates over the weak pinning result. The present work is a first attempt to include correlations between defects into the discussion of strong pinning

Dynamics and stability of vortex-antivortex fronts in type II superconductors

The dynamics of vortices in type II superconductors exhibit a variety of patterns whose origin is poorly understood. This is partly due to the nonlinearity of the vortex mobility which gives rise to singular behavior in the vortex densities. Such singular behavior complicates the application of standard linear stability analysis. In this paper, as a first step towards dealing with these dynamical phenomena, we analyze the dynamical stability of a front between vortices and antivortices. In particular we focus on the question of whether an instability of the vortex front can occur in the absence of a coupling to the temperature. Borrowing ideas developed for singular bacterial growth fronts, we perform an explicit linear stability analysis which shows that, for sufficiently large front velocities and in the absence of coupling to the temperature, such vortex fronts are stable even in the presence of in-plane anisotropy. This result differs from previous conclusions drawn on the basis of approximate calculations for stationary fronts. As our method extends to more complicated models, which could include coupling to the temperature or to other fields, it provides the basis for a more systematic stability analysis of nonlinear vortex front dynamics.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

An experimental determination of the scale length of N2O in the soil of a grassland

Concentration profiles of N2O in a grassland soil and dynamic response curves to disturbance of the soil concentration (relaxation curves) were measured with a new membrane tube technique. Diffusive properties of the soil were derived from 222Rn measurements. The mathematical analysis of the relaxation curves yielded N2O uptake rates U soil diffusivities Ds, scale lengths z*, and production rates P at different levels under the surface. The following ranges were found during 2 days of measurements: Ds = (0.4–5) × 10−7 m2 s−1, U = (1–20) × 10−4 s−1, z* = 0.7–2.8 cm, and P = 0.02–4.4 ppb s−1. These values were used to reproduce the measured N2O concentration profiles with a one-dimensional diffusive transport model of N2O in the soil air-filled pore space and to deduce flux profiles. Bidirectional fluxes occurred with small deposition fluxes up to a few ppt ms−1 during intensive growing phases of the grass. Uptake rates were high enough that N2O produced at greater depth did not reach the atmosphere

Estimating the ice thickness of mountain glaciers with a shape optimization algorithm using surface topography and mass-balance

We present a shape optimization algorithm to estimate the ice thickness distribution within a two-dimensional, non-sliding mountain glacier, given a transient surface geometry and a mass-balance distribution. The approach is based on the minimization of the surface topography misfit at the end of the glacier's evolution in the shallow ice approximation of ice flow. Neither filtering of the surface topography where its gradient vanishes nor interpolation of the basal shear stress is involved. Novelty of the presented shape optimization algorithm is the use of surface topography and mass-balance only within a time-dependent Lagrangian approach for moving-boundary glaciers. On real-world inspired geometries, it is shown to produce estimations of even better quality in smaller time than the recently proposed steady and transient inverse methods. A sensitivity analysis completes the study and evinces the method's higher susceptibility to perturbations in the surface topography than in surface mass-balance or rate facto

Andreev quantum dot with several conducting channels

We study an Andreev quantum dot, that is a quantum dot inserted in a superconducting ring, with several levels or conducting channels. We analyze the degeneracy of the ground state as a function of the phase difference and of the gate voltage and find its dependence on the Coulomb interaction within and between channels. We compute a (non integer) charge of the dot region and Josephson current. The charge-to-phase and current-to-gate voltage sensitivities are studied. We find that, even in the presence of Coulomb interaction between the channels, the sensitivity increases with the number of channels, although it does not scale linearly as in the case with no interactions. The Andreev quantum dot may therefore be used as a sensitive detector of magnetic flux or as a Josephson transistor.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, minor correction

Flux flow resistivity and vortex viscosity of high-Tc films

The flux flow regime of high-T$_{\rm c}$ samples of different normal state resistivities is studied in the temperature range where the sign of the Hall effect is reversed. The scaling of the vortex viscosity with normal state resistivity is consistent with the Bardeen-Stephen theory. Estimates of the influence of possible mechanisms suggested for the sign reversal of the Hall effect are also given.Comment: 3 pages. 4 figures upon reques