1948 - Startschuss mit Folgen

Der 21. Juni 1948 steht für die Währungsreform im westlichen Teil Nachkriegsdeutschlands. Damals gab es noch keine Bundesrepublik, und die Sowjetisch besetzte Zone wurde nicht einbezogen. Es war auch keine Reform deutscher Politiker oder Behörden, sondern eine Aktion, die maßgeblich auf Entscheidung und unter Federführung der amerikanischen Besatzungsmacht erfolgte. Warum also an diesem Ereignis anknüpfen bei einer Tagung zum Thema „70 Jahre Soziale Marktwirtschaft“? Nun, es soll gezeigt werden, dass dies eine Reform von erheblicher wirtschaftspolitischer Bedeutung für die Etablierung einer marktwirtschaftlichen Ordnung war. Es war aber mehr als das! Es war für viele Zeitgenossen ein Tag mit großer symbolischer Wirkung und hoher psychologischer Wirkmächtigkeit. Der 21.Juni 1948 wurde von der Bevölkerung als entscheidender Tag des Neubeginns wahrgenommen, nicht – wie man meinen könnte – der Tag der Verkündigung des Grundgesetzes am 23. Mai 1949 und auch nicht die Konstituierung des Bundestags am 7. September 1949. Die Währungsreform war schließlich auch aus Sicht der Siegermächte des 2. Weltkrieges ein wichtiger Schritt. Die UdSSR antwortete mit der Blockade Westberlins, wo die neue DM ebenfalls eingeführt worden war. Die Währungsreform griff also über das Geschehen in Deutschland hinaus, denn sie vertiefte die Spaltung zwischen Ost und West, war damit zugleich ein wichtiger Baustein für die sich etablierende westliche Nachkriegsordnung. Worauf basiert diese Einschätzung? Bevor dies näher ausgeführt wird, soll angesichts der Seminare füllenden Weite des Themas einige Eingrenzungen gemacht werden. Im Vordergrund der Ausführungen werden v.a. die realgeschichtlichen, nicht die ideengeschichtlichen Entwicklungen stehen. Es soll hier auch keine überquellende Ereignisgeschichte geliefert werden, sondern die grundlegenden Strukturen sollen verdeutlicht werden. Es wird also versucht, das historische Bild der Nachkriegszeit zu konturieren, in dem die Prinzipien der „Sozialen Marktwirtschaft“ Relevanz erlangten. Zudem soll der Zeitraum begrenzt werden. Das Hauptaugenmerk wird auf den Zeitraum von 1948 bis 1973 gelenkt; man hat diesen Zeitraum auch als die „Goldenen Jahre“ bezeichnet. Es ist eine Phase starken und stetigen Wirtschaftswachstums, wenn man von einer kurzen und leichten Rezession im Jahre 1967 einmal absieht. Anfang der 70er Jahre änderten sich dann aber nicht nur die realwirtschaftlichen Bedingungen der Bundesrepublik, man wird auch die Frage stellen müssen, ob die Wirtschaftspolitik damals noch dem Leitbild der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft folgte. Schließlich wird sich die Darstellung auf die Situation und Entwicklung in den drei westlichen Besatzungszonen und der alten Bundesrepublik beschränken. Die Entwicklung in der Sowjetisch besetzten Zone und der DDR nahm einen völlig anderen Verlauf und folgte konträren Imperativen. Die Metapher vom „Startschuss“ soll beibehalten werden und 4 Leitfragen untersucht werden: - Warum bedurfte es überhaupt eines Startschusses? Hier geht es um die Ausgangsbedingungen Deutschlands in der zweiten Hälfte der 40er Jahre. - Wie gestaltete sich der Startschuss? Welche Weichen wurden gestellt, um eine tragfähige Nachkriegsordnung zu etablieren? - Welche Folgen hatte der Startschuss? Woran lässt sich der Erfolg des Neustarts ablesen? Dazu werde 4 wichtige Indikatoren angeboten. - Schließlich: Wie ist der Startschuss heute einzuordnen? Wie beurteilen wir die ordnungspolitischen Reformen heute, mit dem distanzierteren Auge des historischen Betrachters

Zehn Thesen zur Corporate Governance

Gegenstand dieses Artikels ist die ungelöste Öffentliche-Guts-Problematik bei der Unternehmenskontrolle von Publikumsaktiengesellschaften

Ethik in der Unternehmensberatung - ein vermintes Gelände?

Die sich häufenden Bilanzskandale, Korruptionsaffären und hohen Abfindungszahlungen für ausscheidende Top-Manager in den vergangenen Jahren haben auch die jeweils involvierten Beratungsgesellschaften mit ins Zwielicht gezogen. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht der folgende Beitrag, welche ethischen Konfliktpotentiale sich auf dem Beratungsmarkt ergeben und welche Möglichkeiten es gibt, ethische Anliegen im Beratungsgeschäft zu verankern, um das Vertrauen in die Beraterbranche wie in einzelne Beratungsunternehmen zu fördern.In recent years, the increasing number of balance sheet falsification scandals, corruption affairs and high golden handshake payments for top manager cast clouds on the involved consultancy companies. Against this background, the following paper explores which potential for ethical conflicts results from these developments for the consultancy market and what kind of possibilities exist to anchor ethical concerns in the consultancy business in order to promote confidence in the consulting branch as a whole as well as in the individual consulting firm

Understanding Work Practices of Autonomous Agile Teams: A Social-psychological Review

The purpose of this paper is to suggest additional aspects of social psychology that could help when making sense of autonomous agile teams. To make use of well-tested theories in social psychology and instead see how they replicated and differ in the autonomous agile team context would avoid reinventing the wheel. This was done, as an initial step, through looking at some very common agile practices and relate them to existing findings in social-psychological research. The two theories found that I argue could be more applied to the software engineering context are social identity theory and group socialization theory. The results show that literature provides social-psychological reasons for the popularity of some agile practices, but that scientific studies are needed to gather empirical evidence on these under-researched topics. Understanding deeper psychological theories could provide a better understanding of the psychological processes when building autonomous agile team, which could then lead to better predictability and intervention in relation to human factors

The biopsychosocial model and chiropractic: a commentary with recommendations for the chiropractic profession

There is an increasing awareness, interest and acceptance of the biopsychosocial (BPS) model by all health care professionals involved with patient care. The areas of spine care and pain medicine are no exception, and in fact, these areas of health care are a major centerpiece of the movement from the traditional biomedical model to a BPS model of patient assessment and delivery of care. The chiropractic approach to health care has a history that is grounded in key aspects of the BPS model. The profession has inherently implemented certain features of the BPS model throughout its history, perhaps without a full understanding or realization. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the BPS model, its relationship with spine care and pain management, and to discuss the BPS model, particularly psychosocial aspects, in the context of its historical relationship with chiropractic. We will also provide recommendations for the chiropractic profession as it relates to successful adoption of a full integration of the BPS model

Islet Endothelial Activation and Oxidative Stress Gene Expression Is Reduced by IL-1Ra Treatment in the Type 2 Diabetic GK Rat

Inflammation followed by fibrosis is a component of islet dysfunction in both rodent and human type 2 diabetes. Because islet inflammation may originate from endothelial cells, we assessed the expression of selected genes involved in endothelial cell activation in islets from a spontaneous model of type 2 diabetes, the Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rat. We also examined islet endotheliuml/oxidative stress (OS)/inflammation-related gene expression, islet vascularization and fibrosis after treatment with the interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra)

Bacterial Communities Involved in Soil Formation and PlantEstablishment Triggered by Pyrite Bioweathering on ArcticMoraines

Abstract In arctic glacier moraines, bioweathering primed by microbial iron oxidizers creates fertility gradients that accelerate soil development and plant establishment. With the aim of investigating the change of bacterial diversity in a pyrite-weathered gradient, we analyzed the composition of the bacterial communities involved in the process by sequencing 16S rRNA gene libraries from different biological soil crusts (BSC). Bacterial communities in three BSC of different morphology, located within 1 m distance downstream a pyritic conglomerate rock, were significantly diverse. The glacier moraine surrounding the weathered site showed wide phylogenetic diversity and high evenness with 15 represented bacterial classes, dominated by Alphaproteobacteria and pioneer Cyanobacteria colonizers. The bioweathered area showed the lowest diversity indexes and only nine bacterial families, largely dominated by Acidobacteriaceae and Acetobacteraceae typical of acidic environments, in accordance with the low pH of the BSC. In the weathered BSC, iron-oxidizing bacteria were cultivated, with counts decreasing along with the increase of distance from the rock, and nutrient release from the rock was revealed by environmental scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray analyses. The vegetated area showed the presence of Actinomycetales, Verrucomicrobiales, Gemmatimonadales, Burkholderiales, and Rhizobiales, denoting a bacterial community typical of developed soils and indicating that the lithoid substrate of the bare moraine was here subjected to an accelerated colonization, driven by iron-oxidizing activity

Effectiveness of manual therapies: the UK evidence report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this report is to provide a succinct but comprehensive summary of the scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of manual treatment for the management of a variety of musculoskeletal and non-musculoskeletal conditions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The conclusions are based on the results of systematic reviews of randomized clinical trials (RCTs), widely accepted and primarily UK and United States evidence-based clinical guidelines, plus the results of all RCTs not yet included in the first three categories. The strength/quality of the evidence regarding effectiveness was based on an adapted version of the grading system developed by the US Preventive Services Task Force and a study risk of bias assessment tool for the recent RCTs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By September 2009, 26 categories of conditions were located containing RCT evidence for the use of manual therapy: 13 musculoskeletal conditions, four types of chronic headache and nine non-musculoskeletal conditions. We identified 49 recent relevant systematic reviews and 16 evidence-based clinical guidelines plus an additional 46 RCTs not yet included in systematic reviews and guidelines.</p> <p>Additionally, brief references are made to other effective non-pharmacological, non-invasive physical treatments.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Spinal manipulation/mobilization is effective in adults for: acute, subacute, and chronic low back pain; migraine and cervicogenic headache; cervicogenic dizziness; manipulation/mobilization is effective for several extremity joint conditions; and thoracic manipulation/mobilization is effective for acute/subacute neck pain. The evidence is inconclusive for cervical manipulation/mobilization alone for neck pain of any duration, and for manipulation/mobilization for mid back pain, sciatica, tension-type headache, coccydynia, temporomandibular joint disorders, fibromyalgia, premenstrual syndrome, and pneumonia in older adults. Spinal manipulation is not effective for asthma and dysmenorrhea when compared to sham manipulation, or for Stage 1 hypertension when added to an antihypertensive diet. In children, the evidence is inconclusive regarding the effectiveness for otitis media and enuresis, and it is not effective for infantile colic and asthma when compared to sham manipulation.</p> <p>Massage is effective in adults for chronic low back pain and chronic neck pain. The evidence is inconclusive for knee osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome, migraine headache, and premenstrual syndrome. In children, the evidence is inconclusive for asthma and infantile colic.</p

Search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

A search for dark matter produced in association with a Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks is performed in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The analyzed data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The signal is characterized by a large missing transverse momentum recoiling against a bottom quark-antiquark system that has a large Lorentz boost. The number of events observed in the data is consistent with the standard model background prediction. Results are interpreted in terms of limits both on parameters of the type-2 two-Higgs doublet model extended by an additional light pseudoscalar boson a (2HDM+a) and on parameters of a baryonic Z simplified model. The 2HDM+a model is tested experimentally for the first time. For the baryonic Z model, the presented results constitute the most stringent constraints to date.Peer reviewe

A Deep Neural Network for Simultaneous Estimation of b Jet Energy and Resolution

We describe a method to obtain point and dispersion estimates for the energies of jets arising from b quarks produced in proton-proton collisions at an energy of s = 13 TeV at the CERN LHC. The algorithm is trained on a large sample of simulated b jets and validated on data recorded by the CMS detector in 2017 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 41 fb - 1 . A multivariate regression algorithm based on a deep feed-forward neural network employs jet composition and shape information, and the properties of reconstructed secondary vertices associated with the jet. The results of the algorithm are used to improve the sensitivity of analyses that make use of b jets in the final state, such as the observation of Higgs boson decay to b b ¯