National Climate Change Policy: Are the New German Energy Policy Initiatives in Conflict with WTO Law?

This paper addresses German energy policy instruments and their compatibility with WTO rules. Germany and the EU are forerunners in international climate change policy and driving forces behind the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. German energy policy includes approaches to foster electricity generation from renewable resources. Our major question is whether both the policy tools currently applied (standards, taxes and subsidies) and those under consideration (labels, green certificates and border tax adjustment) are compatible with WTO rules. Our findings are that currently neither the design nor the application of the policy instruments are in conflict with WTO rules. However, the setting of production standards for electricity supply is the crucial issue in this debate and if trade in electricity increases, so will the potential for conflict. Rejecting imports because of the way electricity was produced could lead to disputes and to a need for settlements by the WTO legal system. Moreover, when introducing tools like green certificates or border tax adjustments, it is important to find the balance between effectively fostering the reduction of global emissions and eligibility under WTO law.Energy policy; World Trade Organization; global environmental policy; processes and production methods; labels; green certificates; taxes; border tax adjustment; subsidies.

Enhancing Learning Through Understanding Your Medical Learner.

Objectives: 1. Identify Barriers to Learning. 2. Differentiate Between Fixed and Growth Mindsets. 3. Evaluate Learner Profiles to Address How Differences in Demographic and Cognitive Factors Affect Developmental Learning

Polycentric Order in Organizations

De afgelopen tien jaar is er in bedrijfskunde een grote interesse onstaan voor het belang van kennis voor organisaties. Deze benadering was vaak nogal eenzijdig. Er werd gevraagd naar hoe organisaties kennis konden ontwikkelen, maar re werd niet de omgekeerd vraag gesteld: “Hoe kan kennis de organisatie ontwikkelen?” Als we begrijpen dat het toegenomen belang van kennis ingrijpende gevolgen heeft voor organiseren, is het dan niet consistent om ook de aard van kennis intensieve organisaties opnieuw te bekijken? Dit proefschrift probeert door de wederzijdse afhankelijkheid tussen kennis en organisatie voorop te stellen, een alternatief te conceptualiseren voortbouwend op de filosofie van Michael Polanyi. Polanyi is bekend binnen bedrijfskunde voor zijn onderscheid tussen impliciete en expliciete kennis. Helaas wordt de wederzijdse afhankelijkheid tussen kennis en organisatie die Polanyi aangeeft met behulp van het concept polycentrische orde, zelden onderkent. Polycentrische orde gaat over het organiseren in een context waarin meerdere perspectieven relevant zijn, en een omvattend kader niet gegeven is. Dit proefschrift diept het concept polycentrische orde uit door Polanyi’s filosofie in “dialoog” te brengen met dat van ethnografisch onderzoek onder een groep van IT-professionals. Aan de ene kant wordt vanuit een Polanyi perspectief de ontwikkelingen binnen deze groep beschreven. Aan de andere kant wordt Polanyi’s filosofie aan een onderzoek onderworpen door te reflecteren op de ervaringen, conversaties, en praktijken van deze professionals. Hierdoor wordt een beschrijving gegeven over het ontstaan, belang en kwaliteiten van polycentrische orde op het niveau van kleine groepen professionals binnen organisaties. In één zin: it proefschrift gaat over het creëren van een vrijplaats voor ontwikkeling voor en door professionals.René Brohm was born in 1971 in Amsterdam. After completing secondary school in 1989 he studied computer science at the University of Amsterdam. From his first year on, he pursued a wide variety of classes in philosophy, comparitive religion, psychology, linguistics, maths, and of course computer science. He specialized in the application of mathematical concepts for modeling techniques. His Masters thesis was on the modeling of a translation system using category theory, which he completed in 1995. He graduated cum laude. René went to India to work in a refugee camp for the Tibetans that had fled the border between India and Tibet. There he taught English to a group of Tibetans that ranged in age from 17 to 28 years old. In 1995, René took a job as a software designer, applying his mathematical design techniques. The problems he encountered in this projects, and the problems that he saw at other projects taught him that modeling techniques and software methodologies were not enough to develop information technology. The crucial factor seemed to lie in how people collaborated and and the fact that hierarchical relations frustrated collaboration. At the end of the year 1997, René started a Ph.D. in knowledge management, assuming that such a study could clarify the problems he had encountered in his job as software designer. His original approach was that of a typical engineer, but soon he found that phenomenological and hermeneutical approaches more promising. Unaware of any lurking postmodern crises and the complexity of the involved literature he dived in. In 2000, he stopped his Ph.D. to work as a software manager in an IT-startup. In 2001, René obtained a position at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam as a lecturer teaching on methodology and on the relation between information technology and organizations.The last decade there has been a tremendous interest in organization studies and management practice for the role of knowledge in organizations. The predominant approach has been fairly one-sided. The question usually was “How can organizations develop knowledge?” without posing the reverse: “How can knowledge develop organizations?” When we realize that the increased importance of knowledge has in some cases altered the fundaments of the firm, it is time to reconsider the nature of knowledge intensive organizations. Through increasing specialization and a reliance on professionals the knowledge can no longer be centralized in a managerial hierarchy. Thereby the legitimacy of the manager’s ability to decide, and the rationality of the organization is in question. This thesis is to envision an alternative that goes under the name polycentric order, a concept forwarded by the Hungarian philosopher Michael Polanyi, well-known for his concept tacit knowledge. Polycentric order entails the idea that decisions develop from open conversations, and organization emerges from participation. This thesis describes how professionals can create a safe haven (Dutch: “vrijplaats”) for their professional development in an organization. In contrast to a community of practice it is a means for professionals to negotiate on dedicated resources for a longer period of time. In this way professionals have responsibility for their own development, and do not yield this responsibility to their organization

Personal development in schools. Mediation between individual competency and organizational demands

Der... Beitrag skizziert ein neues Modell zur Personalentwicklung in Schulen, das seinen Fokus auf die Vermittlung zwischen Individualkompetenzen und Organisationsanforderungen legt. Die Klärung der Kompetenzprofile und persönlichen Ziele der Mitarbeiter/innen steht im Mittelpunkt, um diese im nächsten Schritt mit den Visionen, Leitbildern und Zielen der Organisation zu verbinden. Intensive Kooperations- und Partizipationsformen unterstützen die Entfaltung des Einzelnen im System. Der Beitrag kommt zu dem Schluss, dass so verstandene Personalentwicklung bedeutet, Unterschiede sichtbar zu machen, persönliche Profile anzuerkennen, Mannigfaltigkeit wahrzunehmen, zu akzeptieren und zu besprechen. Letztlich also, kollegiale Individualität zu wertschätzen. (DIPF/Orig.)The most expensive and most important resource in the school is the staff. The competency profiles and personal goals of colleagues play a central role and they should be based on the goals and vision of the organization. Cooperation and participation support the development of the individual teacher. Thereby regard for helpful individuality will further the development of the school. (DIPF/Orig.

Asymmetrische Festphasensynthese von Derivaten des Protein-Phosphatase-Inhibitors Dysidiolid

Die Protein-Phosphatasen der Familie Cdc25 haben essenzielle Funktionen bei der Regulation des Zellzyklus und stehen unter Verdacht bei der Entstehung verschiedener Krebserkrankungen beteiligt zu sein. Hochselektive und hochaktive Inhibitoren dieser Phosphatasen stellen daher potenzielle Wirkstoffe zur Entwicklung neuer Krebstherapien dar. In dieser Arbeit wird über die Festphasensynthese einer kleinen Bibliothek neuer Analoga des Cdc25-Inhibitors Dysidiolid berichtet. Die Naturstoff-Analoga wurden unter Verwendung eines neu entwickelten spurlosen Olefin-Metathese-Linkers in 8-11 anspruchsvollen Stufen am polymeren Träger aufgebaut. Die Umsetzungen umfassen eine breite Palette von grundlegenden Reaktionen der organischen Synthese, wie z. B. eine asymmetrische Diels-Alder-Reaktion unter Verwendung einer chiralen Hilfsgruppe, verschiedene metallorganische Reaktionen, Olefinierungsreaktionen, verschiedene Oxidationsreaktionen, die saure Hydroylse von Acetalen und Enolethern sowie eine nukleophile Substitution. Durch biologische Untersuchungen konnten zahlreiche neue Phosphatase-Inhibitoren identifiziert und erste Struktur-Wirkungs-Beziehungen erstellt werden. Einige der Verbindungen zeigten dabei eine höhere Aktivität als der Naturstoff Dysidiolid selbst

The method of change management and the current school reform. On the difficult relation between chances and reality

Der vorliegende Beitrag skizziert zwei Modelle sowie ein Instrument des Change Managements und nutzt sie dann als Benchmarks für aktuelle Entwicklungen in der Bildungspolitik. Die Autoren betrachten eine grundlegende Reform des Schulsystems als ein "kolossales Projekt". Institutionelle Veränderungen, so legen es Konzepte und Erfahrungen der Betriebswirtschaftslehre nahe, erfordern deshalb eine gute Vorbereitung der erforderlichen Schritte. Die Hektik, mit der z.B. Bildungsstandards eingeführt und durchgesetzt werden sollen, lässt befürchten, dass die erhofften Effekte gar nicht eintreten können, weil die erforderlichen Vo- raussetzungen materieller und ideeller Art gar nicht vorhanden und nicht einmal bewusst sind. (DIPF/Orig./Ba.)Institutional changes - as suggested by the concepts and experiences in business administration - require a good preparation of the necessary steps to be taken. The haste with wich e.g. educational standards shall be introduced and implemented gives rise to concern that the necessary conditions in both: material and ideal dimensions are not present and their lack is not even recognized. (DIPF/Orig.