"... durch List und den ganzen Inbegriff jener Künste, die die Nowehr dem Schwachen an die Händ gibt" : zur Denkfigur der Notwehr bei Kleist

Der Aufsatz widmet sich einem 1810 in Heinrich von Kleists Berliner Abendblättern erschienenen Distichon mit dem programmatischen Titel „Nothwehr“ und unternimmt es, die in den beiden Versen geschilderte Technik der Täuschung und Verstellung vor dem Hintergrund der französischen Besetzung Preußens zu deuten. Dabei zeigt sich, daß das Notwehr-Distichon nicht nur als Lektüreanweisung zur Entschlüsselung der in den Abendblättern abgedruckten, vermeintlich pro-französischen Nachrichten zu verstehen ist, sondern darüber hinaus eine Denkfigur formuliert, der für Kleists Werke eine gewisse Schlüsselfunktion zukommt

May 2, 1985

Minutes from the May 2, 1985, meeting of the University Senate. 29 page

Pluralism of competition policy paradigms and the call for regulatory diversity

Contrary to some contemporary arguing, competition economics are characterized by a considerable pluralism of theories and policy paradigms. This includes deviating views on core concepts like the nature of competition, the meaning of efficiency, or the goal of antitrust. The paper demonstrates the incompatibilities of different economic competition theories and policy programs. It argues that this pluralism of concepts is both empirically sustainable and theoretically beneficial for future scientific progress. Therefore, no ultimate competition theory can ever be expected. This has to be considered when competition policy systems are designed, especially on the international level. A minimum of decentralization is necessary to maintain regulatory diversity which keeps the system open for theory innovation and changes in business environment

Impact of hydropeaking on fish and their habitat

High-head storage hydropower plants are an important renewable source of energy in alpine areas. Kinetic energy released from water, which is stored in reservoir and diverted through turbines, produces electricity. During daily peaks of energy demand, the powerhouse outflow is released in the downstream river, creating artificial flow fluctuation, so-called hydropeaking. This alters the natural flow regime of rivers and has a negative effect on ecosystems and biodiversity. As a result, water discharge, temperature, fine particle load and other abiotic factors are changed. Consequently, river organisms and their habitat are impacted. Resulting from an increased pressure for atmospheric carbon mitigation, hydropower production is expected to increase in the future (e.g. from storage powerplants). In Switzerland this trend is further enhanced by the recent governmental decision to phase out nuclear power production. Thought, the revision of the Swiss water protection act shows the growing awareness to protect natural ecosystems downstream of hydropower facilities. However, there is a strong need for research in this field due to the lack of knowledge on the adverse impacts stemming from hydropower production. This study is part of the interdisciplinary research project “Sustainable use of hydropower – innovative measures to reduce hydropeaking problematic” and it focuses on the impact of hydropeaking on fish and their habitat. Brown trout is used as a target species and important steps in their life cycle are studied. Three target stages of brown trout development were selected: adults, spawning and young-of-the-year. Each different life stage has specific habitat requirements. The latter can be used for identifying potential landscape filters constraining fish population renewal. Landscape filters are determined by the joint influence of river morphology and discharge regimes, such as hydropeaking. In this work, two rivers, with different morphological characteristics, are studied, namely the Vorderrhein and the Hasliaare Rivers. Both rivers show a hydropeaking regime, are situated in alpine areas and have a comparable hydrological regime. The hydrology of the two rivers is characterized by low discharge in winter and high discharge in summer due to snowmelting. Fish species composition is similar and strongly dominated by brown trout. The Vorderrhein River is one of the few natural and morphologically intact rivers found in Switzerland, which allows to isolate the effect of hydropeaking from other potential human-induced stressors. In contrast, the Hasliaare River has been strongly channelized in the past century. Thus, the Hasliaare River system was chosen to investigate the joint effect of hydropeaking and river channelization. In the Vorderrhein River, the seasonal impact of hydropeaking on adult brown trout habitat was modeled using the CASiMiR fish module. Therefore, different critical seasons are defined. Furthermore, the natural reproduction success was assessed and brown trout reproduction and rearing habitat were modeled. Habitat preference of spawning and young-of-the-year are established with specific Habitat Suitability Curves. The habitat model was adapted to the hydropeaking problem and indices measuring habitat dynamics were developed. Moreover, the transferability of Habitat Suitability Curves in habitat models was discussed. In addition, young-of-the-year density as well as egg to hatch survival were monitored. The results show that hydropower operations have an effect on brown trout habitat, whereat spawning and young-of-the-year life stages are more impacted than adults. The impact is seasonal and aggravated in winter. The natural river morphology provides suitable habitat areas at both peak and off-peak discharges. Although these suitable habitat areas are dewatered almost entirely or displaced on a daily basis. In the Hasliaare River system, the joint effect of hydropeaking and channelization on young-of-the-year, lake and stream resident spawning brown trout were studied. Steady and dynamic habitat conditions were evaluated and the habitat was modeled for three different degraded morphologies. Specific preference curves for each investigated life stage were developed. Moreover, the reproduction success was monitored by egg to hatching survival experiments and young-of-the-year density surveys. The results show that channelization aggravates the impact of hydropeaking as no young-of-the-year or spawning habitat is present at peak flow. In addition, egg development was found to be impaired. Therefore, the density of young-of-the-year individuals was negligible in the hydropeaking section. The habitat model shows that in a channelized river such as the Hasliaare River, suitable habitat conditions for fish are restrained at peak flow by the riverbed width. Finally, a tool for evaluating scenarios for mitigating the impact of hydropeaking on the downstream ecosystem was developed. The novel economic-ecological diagnostic and intervention method takes into account financial as well as environmental outcomes of hydropeaking mitigation measures for fish habitat improvement. The approach comprises (1) a hydropower operation model of flow regime generation and cost estimates for different mitigation measures, (2) a 2D hydrodynamic model to simulate the flow conditions in representative river reaches, and (3) a dynamic fish habitat simulation tool to assess the sub-daily changes in fish habitat conditions. This modeling approach gives the possibility to estimate true benefits of rehabilitation measures. The intervention diagnostic method was tested on the Hasliaare River. The developed tools and knowledge will help implement scientifically-based solutions for a sustainable hydropower management. The study may help in supporting the application of river restoration projects at existing and newly developed hydropower facilities in alpine areas

Impact of Hydropeaking on Fish and their Habitat

High-head storage hydropower plants are an important renewable source of energy in alpine areas. Kinetic energy released from water, which is stored in reservoir and diverted through turbines, produces electricity. During daily peaks of energy demand, the powerhouse outflow is released in the downstream river, creating artificial flow fluctuation, so-called hydropeaking. This alters the natural flow regime of rivers and has a negative effect on ecosystems and biodiversity. As a result, water discharge, temperature, fine particle load and other abiotic factors are changed. Consequently, river organisms and their habitat are impacted. Resulting from an increased pressure for atmospheric carbon mitigation, hydropower production is expected to increase in the future (e.g. from storage powerplants). In Switzerland this trend is further enhanced by the recent governmental decision to phase out nuclear power production. Thought, the revision of the Swiss water protection act shows the growing awareness to protect natural ecosystems downstream of hydropower facilities. However, there is a strong need for research in this field due to the lack of knowledge on the adverse impacts stemming from hydropower production. This study is part of the interdisciplinary research project “Sustainable use of hydropower – innovative measures to reduce hydropeaking problematic” and it focuses on the impact of hydropeaking on fish and their habitat. Brown trout is used as a target species and important steps in their life cycle are studied. Three target stages of brown trout development were selected: adults, spawning and young-of-the-year. Each different life stage has specific habitat requirements. The latter can be used for identifying potential landscape filters constraining fish population renewal. Landscape filters are determined by the joint influence of river morphology and discharge regimes, such as hydropeaking. In this work, two rivers, with different morphological characteristics, are studied, namely the Vorderrhein and the Hasliaare Rivers. Both rivers show a hydropeaking regime, are situated in alpine areas and have a comparable hydrological regime. The hydrology of the two rivers is characterized by low discharge in winter and high discharge in summer due to snowmelting. Fish species composition is similar and strongly dominated by brown trout. The Vorderrhein River is one of the few natural and morphologically intact rivers found in Switzerland, which allows to isolate the effect of hydropeaking from other potential human-induced stressors. In contrast, the Hasliaare River has been strongly channelized in the past century. Thus, the Hasliaare River system was chosen to investigate the joint effect of hydropeaking and river channelization. In the Vorderrhein River, the seasonal impact of hydropeaking on adult brown trout habitat was modeled using the CASiMiR fish module. Therefore, different critical seasons are defined. Furthermore, the natural reproduction success was assessed and brown trout reproduction and rearing habitat were modeled. Habitat preference of spawning and young-of-the-year are established with specific Habitat Suitability Curves. The habitat model was adapted to the hydropeaking problem and indices measuring habitat dynamics were developed. Moreover, the transferability of Habitat Suitability Curves in habitat models was discussed. In addition, young-of-the-year density as well as egg to hatch survival were monitored. The results show that hydropower operations have an effect on brown trout habitat, whereat spawning and young-of-the-year life stages are more impacted than adults. The impact is seasonal and aggravated in winter. The natural river morphology provides suitable habitat areas at both peak and off-peak discharges. Although these suitable habitat areas are dewatered almost entirely or displaced on a daily basis. In the Hasliaare River system, the joint effect of hydropeaking and channelization on young-of-the-year, lake and stream resident spawning brown trout were studied. Steady and dynamic habitat conditions were evaluated and the habitat was modeled for three different degraded morphologies. Specific preference curves for each investigated life stage were developed. Moreover, the reproduction success was monitored by egg to hatching survival experiments and young-of-the-year density surveys. The results show that channelization aggravates the impact of hydropeaking as no young-of-the-year or spawning habitat is present at peak flow. In addition, egg development was found to be impaired. Therefore, the density of young-of-the-year individuals was negligible in the hydropeaking section. The habitat model shows that in a channelized river such as the Hasliaare River, suitable habitat conditions for fish are restrained at peak flow by the riverbed width. Finally, a tool for evaluating scenarios for mitigating the impact of hydropeaking on the downstream ecosystem was developed. The novel economic-ecological diagnostic and intervention method takes into account financial as well as environmental outcomes of hydropeaking mitigation measures for fish habitat improvement. The approach comprises (1) a hydropower operation model of flow regime generation and cost estimates for different mitigation measures, (2) a 2D hydrodynamic model to simulate the flow conditions in representative river reaches, and (3) a dynamic fish habitat simulation tool to assess the sub-daily changes in fish habitat conditions. This modeling approach gives the possibility to estimate true benefits of rehabilitation measures. The intervention diagnostic method was tested on the Hasliaare River. The developed tools and knowledge will help implement scientifically-based solutions for a sustainable hydropower management. The study may help in supporting the application of river restoration projects at existing and newly developed hydropower facilities in alpine areas

Vitamin D associated inflammation and atherosclerosis

Vitamin D is known to play a crucial role in mineral homeostasis and bone metabolism. Recent discoveries showed that the vitamin also regulate the inflammatory mediators. A number of studies have reported on the association of low vitamin D levels with increased level of inflammatory parameters; which predisposes to atherosclerosis and development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Since inflammation is implicated in the pathogenesis of CVD, measurement of inflammatory marker levels has been proposed as a method to improve the prediction of these events. In this review, the mechanism of inflammation and role of vitamin D in combating inflammation are discusse

Collusion through joint R&D: An empirical assessment

This paper tests whether upstream R&D cooperation leads to downstream collusion. We consider an oligopolistic setting where firms enter in research joint ventures (RJVs) to lower production costs or coordinate on collusion in the product market. We show that a sufficient condition for identifying collusive behavior is a decline in the market share of RJV-participating firms, which is also necessary and sufficient for a decrease in consumer welfare. Using information from the U.S. National Cooperation Research Act, we estimate a market share equation correcting for the endogeneity of RJV participation and R&D expenditures. We find robust evidence that large networks between direct competitors - created through firms being members in several RJVs at the same time - are conducive to collusive outcomes in the product market which reduce consumer welfare. By contrast, RJVs among non-competitors are efficiency enhancing

Entwicklungsplan der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen : verabschiedet vom Senat der Justus-Liebig-Universität am 21. Juli 2004

Der Entwicklungsplan der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen bestimmt die Ziele der Universität und bildet für die nächsten Jahre die Grundlage von Strukturentscheidungen. Über diesen Plan hat der Senat der Justus-Liebig-Universität am 21. Juli 2004 nach ausführlichen Beratungen gemäß § 39, Absatz 2, Punkt 3, Hessisches Hochschulgesetz, entschieden

Biodiversity of 52 chicken populations assessed by microsatellite typing of DNA pools

In a project on the biodiversity of chickens funded by the European Commission (EC), eight laboratories collaborated to assess the genetic variation within and between 52 populations from a wide range of chicken types. Twenty-two di-nucleotide microsatellite markers were used to genotype DNA pools of 50 birds from each population. The polymorphism measures for the average, the least polymorphic population (inbred C line) and the most polymorphic population (Gallus gallus spadiceus) were, respectively, as follows: number of alleles per locus, per population: 3.5, 1.3 and 5.2; average gene diversity across markers: 0.47, 0.05 and 0.64; and proportion of polymorphic markers: 0.91, 0.25 and 1.0. These were in good agreement with the breeding history of the populations. For instance, unselected populations were found to be more polymorphic than selected breeds such as layers. Thus DNA pools are effective in the preliminary assessment of genetic variation of populations and markers. Mean genetic distance indicates the extent to which a given population shares its genetic diversity with that of the whole tested gene pool and is a useful criterion for conservation of diversity. The distribution of population-specific (private) alleles and the amount of genetic variation shared among populations supports the hypothesis that the red jungle fowl is the main progenitor of the domesticated chicken

Spring Commencement: May 12, 1985

UND Spring Commencement program from May 12, 1985