1989 and consequences: the representations of absence in the post-Mauer German films

Parece estranho à primeira vista tratarmos do tema da ausência, tão caro à antropologia, à semiótica e às artes. Para tanto, procederemos inicialmente a uma breve conceituação do termo, para depois passarmos a um curto panorama da produção cinematográfica dos últimos 20 anos na Alemanha, que geralmente acompanha tendências semelhantes na literatura. Verificaremos em que medida podem ser detectados elementos de ausência no cinema pós-muro na Alemanha. Em seguida, procederemos a uma análise de planos fílmicos de três filmes nos quais se evidencia a questão da ausência. Para este trabalho, utilizaremos como base teórica considerações de Lehmann/Weibel, Bernhard Waldenfels, Gilles Deleuze e Michel Chion.It might sound odd to work with the theme of absence, a theme which has occupied the minds of anthropologists, artists, and semioticians for a long time. So we present a brief conceptualization of absence and a short panorama of German movie after 1989, to show how film and literature have developed similarly in the same period. The main goal of this analysis is to detect structures of absence in German films after the German reunification. To illustrate the representation of absence, we propose an analysis of film stills. We rely mainly on the theories and concepts of Lehmann/Weibel, of the German philosopher Bernhard Waldenfels, as well as those of Gilles Deleuze and Michel Chion.Es erscheint auf den ersten Blick kurios, das Thema der Abwesenheit zu behandeln, ein Thema, das der Semiotik, der Anthropologie und der Kunst schon lange vertraut ist. Hierzu gehen wir eingangs kurz auf eine Begriffseingrenzung ein, um dann ein zusammenfassendes Panorama der Filmproduktion der letzten 20 Jahre in Deutschland zu kommentieren, die größtenteils die Entwicklungen in der literarischen Produktion desselben Zeitraums begleitet. Im folgenden wird untersucht, inwiefern Strukturen der Abwesenheit im Postwendefilm in Deutschland festzustellen sind. Anschließend werden Filmeinstellungen von drei Filmen untersucht, in denen sich die Repräsentation von Abwesenheit verdeutlicht. Als theoretische Grundlage dienen uns Ausführungen von Lehmann/Weibel, Bernhard Waldenfels, Gilles Deleuze und Michel Chion

Chalk cliff retreat in East Sussex and Kent 1870s to 2001

The retreat of chalk cliffs fringing the eastern English Channel contributes shingle to the beaches which helps to protect the cliffs and slow down erosion. Conversely, cliff retreat endangers settlements and infrastructure on the clifftop. Rates of retreat have been calculated by a variety of methods over the past century, but no attempt has been made to provide a complete coverage that allows for a true comparison of retreat rates over the entire coastline. Using historic maps and recent orthophotos, cliff retreat rates have been calculated for consecutive 50 m sections of chalk cliff along the English side of the entire eastern English Channel for a period of 125 years. The chalk cliffs of East Sussex erode at an average rate of 0.25 - 0.3 m y−1 while those in Kent at a rate of 0.1 m y−1

Recent acceleration in coastal cliff retreat rates on the south coast of Great Britain

Rising sea levels and increased storminess are expected to accelerate the erosion of soft-cliff coastlines, threatening coastal infrastructure and livelihoods. To develop predictive models of future coastal change we need fundamentally to know how rapidly coasts have been eroding in the past, and to understand the driving mechanisms of coastal change. Direct observations of cliff retreat rarely extend beyond 150 y, during which humans have significantly modified the coastal system. Cliff retreat rates are unknown in prior centuries and millennia. In this study, we derived retreat rates of chalk cliffs on the south coast of Great Britain over millennial time scales by coupling high-precision cosmogenic radionuclide geochronology and rigorous numerical modeling. Measured 10Be concentrations on rocky coastal platforms were compared with simulations of coastal evolution using a Monte Carlo approach to determine the most likely history of cliff retreat. The 10Be concentrations are consistent with retreat rates of chalk cliffs that were relatively slow (2–6 cm⋅y−1) until a few hundred years ago. Historical observations reveal that retreat rates have subsequently accelerated by an order of magnitude (22–32 cm⋅y−1). We suggest that acceleration is the result of thinning of cliff-front beaches, exacerbated by regional storminess and anthropogenic modification of the coast

AntArr – Etna Low Frequency Antenna Array

AbstractA project called AntArr as a new application of the DBBC3 (Digital Base Band Converter, 3rd generation) is under development. A group of antennas operating at low frequency, in the range from 10 MHz up to 1500 MHz, are phased up for VLBI, pulsar and more recently for FRB observations. Part of the scientific programme is also dedicated to SETI activities in piggy-back mode. Dedicated elements can even be added to reach still lower frequencies to observe the range down to kHz frequencies. The DBBC3 manages the array operations in a selected portion of the band and the main characteristic is to synthesize a beam with an innovative approach. The final product of the array is a single station standard VLBI data stream for correlation with other antennas, or a synthesized beam for single dish observations. A number of antennas and array prototypes are under test at a location on the Etna volcano slope, with the aim to form a complete radio telescope of up to 1024 elements in 2020 and beyond. This project completes the lower part of the frequency spectrum covered in VLBI by the BRAND EVN project. The project AntArr is hosted and financed by HAT-Lab Ltd., which is the manufacturer of the DBBC family backends

Economic liberalization and the antecedents of top management teams: evidence from Turkish 'big' business

There has been an increased interest in the last two decades in top management teams (TMTs) of business firms. Much of the research, however, has been US-based and concerned primarily with TMT effects on organizational outcomes. The present study aims to expand this literature by examining the antecedents of top team composition in the context of macro-level economic change in a late-industrializing country. The post-1980 trade and market reforms in Turkey provided the empirical setting. Drawing upon the literatures on TMT and chief executive characteristics together with punctuated equilibrium models of change and institutional theory, the article develops the argument that which firm-level factors affect which attributes of TMT formations varies across the early and late stages of economic liberalization. Results of the empirical investigation of 71 of the largest industrial firms in Turkey broadly supported the hypotheses derived from this premise. In the early stages of economic liberalization the average age and average organizational tenure of TMTs were related to the export orientation of firms, whereas in later stages, firm performance became a major predictor of these team attributes. Educational background characteristics of teams appeared to be under stronger institutional pressures, altering in different ways in the face of macro-level change

PRIVATE SAVINGS IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES: ARE THERE TERMS OF TRADE SHOCKS?

The paper examines the impact of terms of trade shocks on private savings in the transition economies after accounting for the effect of other determinants. Economic agents in the transition economies are subject to tight credit constraints which are more pronounced during bad state of nature. Thus, adverse shocks to commodity prices in the world market can force them to reduce savings by a larger amount than they would otherwise have. Empirical analysis using a dynamic panel model and data from twenty one transition economies confirm that most of the determinants of savings identified in the literature also apply to the transition economies. Favorable movements in both the permanent and transitory components of the terms of trade have a significant positive impact on private savings with transitory movements having a larger impact than the permanent component. This reflects the lack of access to foreign borrowing that many of the transition economies have faced during the last decade. Although the impact of terms of trade shocks are found to be asymmetric, the magnitude of the impact appears to be small. The results are robust for alternative estimators, determinants, and country groupings.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39958/3/wp572.pd