Between Allegory and Modern Montage: The Images in W.G. Sebald’s “Vertigo”

The paper focuses on the images in W.G. Sebald’s Vertigo, based on an iconographic interest. Absence in those images doesn’t come as abstraction, but by way of ostensive figuration. The deceased appear both allegorically and in person in their landscapes of death. The story of Vertigo follows Stendahl, Kafka and the narrator himself on their journeys through upper Italy. In Limone, the narrator tells his landlady that he is writing, as it appears to him more and more, a detective story. By coincidence, and against his will, he becomes involved: in Verona he meets a person named Carlo Cadavero, and on three occasions sees a scene with two men carrying a corpse on a stretcher, before the reader learns that it is Kafka’s Hunter Gracchus on his aimless and endless voyage through the deeper regions of death. After this disclosure the reader meets the restless hunter twice again in Wertach of all scenes, a tiny village in the Allgäu and—as part of the book's third chapter – the narrator’s place of birth. At first glance, the images function as devices of the stories, in which they appear. When looked at again, they can alter and seem to go through various transitions; they are both a riddle and a disguise, somewhere in a precarious state between objectness and rupture: a hidden reference to Leonardo Sciascia’s multi-layered detective stories hints at their strategy of montage. Intermediality here is more than a mix of genres; the images have their own critical impact, while the story meanders around them—seemingly untouched by their resistance—in long laconic sentences

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in herbal tea and honey: Report on the 2017 Proficiency testing scheme

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) and their N-oxides (PANOs) are plant toxins which can enter the food chain through different paths. Two affected foods are herbal infusions and honey. This proficiency testing scheme was executed to assess the capabilities of laboratories to determine PAs. 29 laboratories from nine EU Member States plus Singapore registered. On 04. and 06.09.2017 test items and documentation were dispatched to all of those laboratories. By the dead line of 24.10.2017 26 laboratories had reported back results and filled in a questionnaire. Test item HO (acacia honey) was fortified with six PAs/PANOs (Echimidine, Integerrimine, Intermedine, Senecionine, Seneciphylline-NO, and Senkirkine) and 23 laboratories reported results for this item. The same number of laboratories reported for test item HT (herbal infusion) which was naturally contaminated with four PAs after extraction under reductive conditions (Integerrimine, Retrorsine, Senecionine, and Senecivernine). Laboratories had to report the sums of PA and its respective PANO. Satisfying outcomes could only be registered for Senecionine in test item HT and for Echimidine, Intermedine, and Senkirkine in test item HO with 74 %, 85 %, 85 %, and 91 %, respectively, of reported results having a z'-score smaller or equal to |2|. Only four laboratories reported for Integerrimine in both test items. Contrary to test item HT, Senecionine analysis in test item HO showed very unsatisfactory results. Of the 22 z'-scores calculated for Senecionine nine (41 %) were larger than 3. Senecivernine measurements in test item HT showed a similarly unsatisfying outcome with 47 % of reported results having z'-scores larger than 3. Only three laboratories out of the 26 were able to test for all 10 measurands and only one reported all 10 values with z'-scores smaller or equal to |2|. Overall only five laboratories obtained satisfactory z'-scores (≤ |2|) for all their reported results. There are two groups of three isomeric PAs/PANOs each which apparently caused, for a number of laboratories, problems with quantification. This is an issue which deserves heightened attention. The questionnaire contained queries regarding accreditation and experience, preparation conditions for the two test items, chromatographic separation conditions, detection conditions, calibration approach, and a comments section. The answers were evaluated and for selected questions their correlation to the z'-score of Senecionine in test item HO or Senecivernine in test item HT was analysed. For none of the tested questions a significant influence could be shown.JRC.F.5-Food and Feed Complianc

Report on the 2011 Proficiency Test of the European Union Reference Laboratory for Mycotoxins, for the Network of National Reference Laboratories: Determination of aflatoxin B1 in baby food, maize powder, animal feed and test solution

This report presents the results of a proficiency test of the EU-RL for Mycotoxins which focused on the determination of aflatoxin B1 in food and feed samples. Sixty nine participants from 28 countries registered for the exercise. Sixty-one sets of results were reported for the solution, 58 for the baby food, 67 for the maize powder and 62 for the animal feed. One laboratory did not report any results. In total about 90% of the attributed z scores were below an absolute value of two, which indicated that most of the participants performed satisfactory or better.JRC.D.5-Food Safety and Qualit

Advancing ICT4D Research through Service-dominant Logic

The information systems (IS) discipline has not accorded the same attention to theory testing as it has to theory building. Further, crowdsourcing presents rich opportunities for the theory testing process that have not been fully explored. This paper builds on previous work, employing a design science research (DSR) paradigm in order to develop a decision support system artefact that will help early career researchers identify viable theory testing approaches, and how crowdsourcing can help facilitate the testing process. As part of the DSR build/evaluate cycle, this paper presents a conceptual framework and model of theory testing in IS, and the problem frame in which they are situated is evaluated using Scho_n’s theory of reflective practice and problem/solution framing. Data collected from PhD students revealed an incomplete level of knowledge of theory testing, and a lack of awareness of the possibilities provided by adopting a crowdsourcing strategy

A Service Science Perspective on the Role of ICT in Service Innovation

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is often considered the main enabler of service innovation. The unique role of ICT in service innovation, however, is not fully understood and advancing knowledge in this area emerged as the top research priority in the fields of service science and information systems research. To date, substantial insights regarding the role of ICT in service innovation are not available, and new theoretical lenses and perspectives are needed to develop these. In this conceptual paper, we define service innovation as service system reconfiguration, which allows us to classify the role of ICT in this process more succinctly and ultimately overcome the shortcomings in the existing body of literature. Specifically, we deconstruct and extend previous views of ICT as a “black box” in service innovation research, and focus on the actual innovation process and its mechanisms. We define and delineate these as resource shifting and resource access, explain the role of ICTs in each, and outline further research opportunities that result from these new insights

Report on the 2008 Proficiency Test of the Community Reference Laboratory for Mycotoxins, for the Network of National Reference Laboratories, regarding the Determination of Deoxynivalenol in a Cereal Product and a Test Solution

A proficiency test was conducted by the Community Reference Laboratory for Mycotoxins with 33 European National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) for Mycotoxins and 2 Laboratory from candidate countries, thus a total of 35 participants. Test materials were a deoxynivalenol (DON) solution in acetonitrile and three cereal test materials. Laboratories determined the DON content by either enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA), gas chromatography (GC) or reverse-phase high-performance liquid-chromatography (RP-HPLC). One NRL did not report any results. Applying the Horwitz equation as a basis for the target standard deviation (19% in the case of this proficiency test), 27 out of the remaining 34 laboratories reported values within the z-score limit of 2 after recovery correction of the result for the DON-positive sample. Twenty-five laboratories reported results within a z-score limit of 1. Thus, 79 % of the participating laboratories performed satisfactorily in the proficiency test. No z scores were calculated for the blank material.JRC.D.8-Food safety and qualit

Looking from within. On the concept of neuronal aesthetics

The essay discusses a new type of neuronal aesthetics in order to envisage a new phenomenology, which does not divide nature and culture into two fields, nor reduces one side to the other. On this ground it is possible to demonstrate that our concepts according to which we are interpreting mind functions are older than our ideas about brain tissue functionality. The main scientific objective is consequently to present a new ontogenesis of representation, imagination and perceptionThe essay discusses a new type of neuronal aesthetics in order to envisage a new phenomenology, which does not divide nature and culture into two fields, nor reduces one side to the other. On this ground it is possible to demonstrate that our concepts according to which we are interpreting mind functions are older than our ideas about brain tissue functionality. The main scientific objective is consequently to present a new ontogenesis of representation, imagination and perceptio

Die Verben mit der Bedeutung 'weggehen' im Althochdeutschen

Sieht man neuere Grammatiken des Deutschen daraufhin durch, wie die Masse der Verben bezüglich ihres semantischen Gehalts klassifiziert wird, stellt sich bald heraus, daß hier kein Konsens besteht. Die DUDEN-Grammatik beispielsweise unterscheidet Bedeutungsgruppen: Tätigkeitsverben (mit der Untergruppe Handlungsverben), Vorgangsverben und Zustandsverben, BRINKMANN fügt diesen drei Klassen die Geschehensverben und die Witterungsverben hinzu; RENICKE gliedert die Verben in 2 Klassen Punktuelle Verben und Ausdehnungsverben. FLÄMIG schlägt semantische Subklassifizierungen unter drei verschiedenen Gesichtspunkten vor: hinsichtlich des Anteils der Verben "an der komplexen Geschehens-/Seinsbezeichnung", hinsichtlich "der Verlaufsweise eines Geschehens" und hinsichtlich "der Charakteristik eines Geschehens/Seins in bezug auf entsprechende Sachverhalte", die letztere Klassifikation unterscheidet Handlungsverben, Tätigkeitsverben, Vorgangsverben, Ereignisverben und Zustandsverben. [...] Eine semantische Analyse der Fortbewegungsverben des Althochdeutschen liegt meines wissens nicht vor, stellt also eine reizvolle Aufgabe dar, zu deren Lösung hier erste Schritte unternommen werden sollen

REPORT OF THE FOLLOW-UP COLLABORATIVE STUDY Determination of the sum of Fumonisin B1 and B2 in Compound Animal Feed and Maize by Immunoaffinity Column Clean-up and High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorometric Detection

The accurate determination of mycotoxins in food and feed matrices for which EU legislative limits apply require robust and reliable analytical techniques. The robustness and reliability are best shown through validation by a collaborative study. Previous collaborative studies dealing with other mycotoxins have shown that it is possible to achieve performance characteristics which are fit-for-purpose provided suitable methodology is available. As with any interlaboratory comparison homogeneity between the test units is of utmost importance. Due to the complexity of food and feed matrices particular care has to be taken during test material preparation to achieve this. Methods for the determination of Fumonisin B1 (FB1) and Fumonisin B2 (FB2) have been subject to a collaborative study in the past and the methodology used involved immunoaffinity clean-up to purify the sample extracts. Detection was afforded by derivatisation of the Fumonisins to yield fluorescent derivatives before a chromatographic separation. The reagent used was o-phtaldialdehyde and mercaptoethanol. However, pre-column derivatisation does have disadvantages related to more demanding chromatography and the instability of the derivatives. Strict time control of all processes is required to obtain adequate repeatability which necessitates the use of programmable auto liquid samplers (ALS). This may be circumvented by using post column derivatisation instead. Here the native Fumonisins are separated and reagents are added constantly to the effluent of the chromatographic column. An additional pump, a mixing Tee, and additional tubing are needed for post column derivatisation replacing the need for a sophisticated ALS. During method development it could be shown that both methods can perform equally well with respect to the requirements by EU legislation for method performance and working range. A collaborative study to validate a method for the "Determination of Fumonisin B1 and B2 in Baby Food, Breakfast Cereals and Animal Feed by Immunoaffinity Column Clean-up with High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Fluorometric Detection" failed partially because of problems with the immunoaffinity columns (IAC) used for the study. After modifications to the method protocol regarding a check of proper performance of the IAC and the sample extract clean-up we describe below the results of a repeat of the study for compound animal feed and maize.JRC.D.8-Food safety and qualit