De-Constructing Legitimacy with a Special Reference to the Panchayati Raj System in India

Legitimacy is a central phenomenon in the realm of every organised society. Its existence is pivotal for the continued existence of structures of governance and political institutions like administrations and legal systems. The legitimation of a political system, or any other social system, is necessary to keep it alive without the use of force. A wide range of hypotheses exists which define legitimacy and try to explain how legitimation is produced by institutions, respectively lent by the subjects of institutions. The evaluation of hypotheses touches on different disciplines, ranging from economics, sociology and political science to psychology, and their various theoretical approaches, from rational choice via cultural theories and organisational studies to behavioural sciences. In this, essay I want to give an overview about the current academic discourse, concentrating on the most prominent and influential works. The paper presents several definitions of what legitimacy entails and how systems and institutions gain legitimacy. Following this review of the academic discourse this essay evaluates the working hypotheses against the backdrop of a particularly interesting empirical case: The case of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI), the local government system in India

The West Bengal Panchayat Model in Peril? A Survey-based Appraisal of West Bengal Panchayats

The Panchayati Raj System was aimed to be a tool for democratisation and development of the rural parts of India. The state of West Bengal was long time considered a model for a efficient and exemplary implementation of local self- government. Especially the early successes of the Communist government in land reforms and social justice during the late 1970s and the 1980s sparked academic interest in this model. This paper intends to examine this view on the base of a survey amongst the rural populace in the West Bengal district of Burdwan about the perception of the Panchayat institutions itself and their perceived performance. The aim is to prove or disprove West Bengals perceived model character by investigating the view of the ordinary citizen on the Panchayats and the impression he/she has about the institutions performance in various fields, e.g. infrastructure. The paper also looks into the roles of both leading political parties, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) and the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), in the West Bengal Panchayats and how these roles are perceived

On the exchange rate between the Deutsche Mark and the Swiss Franc: An empirical investigation

This is an empirical study on the exchange rate between the Swiss Franc and the Deutsche Mark. We are using a priori theoretical reasoning in order to determine a set of variables which appear capable of explaining real exchange rate changes. These variables may themselves be to some extent determined by changes in the exchange rate. A priori, the direction of causality is left open and brought to our knowledge by a search process for Granger-causality among this set of variables. This study tries to back up or refute, as the case may arrive, pieces of economic theory. We consider the theory of measurement, the methodology of measurement and the data as given for the time being. Any result that may be obtained in this way is thus limited in its stability as it is valid only relative to the above implicit assumptions.

Becoming "Language-Aware" in ICLHE : Creating a space of trust for collaborative partnerships between teachers, teacher trainers and language specialists

In this paper, we present a cross-disciplinary collaboration model inspired by collaborative action research (CAR) developed at a computer science department at a University of Applied Sciences in Austria. We outline the roles which language teachers at the institution and external collaborators (teacher educators and language specialists) play in creating a space of trust for the professional development of content specialists. Recent research (e.g. Zappa-Hollman, 2018) has called for such collaborative partnerships between language and content specialists to raise awareness among English Medium Instruction (EMI) practitioners and stakeholders that language is "the crucial semiotic resource to [...] facilitate conceptualization and problem solving in specific disciplines" (Yuan, 2021, p. 2). This demand for an integrative approach which takes the interplay of language and content into consideration has not yet received sufficient attention, neither at the institutional level nor at the level of individual teachers (Zappa-Hollman, 2018). Innovative approaches are clearly needed to improve the quality of ICLHE teaching (Kim et al., 2018). The generally positive reactions of the content teachers to the Trust Model of Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration suggest that it can contribute to improving their understanding of the epistemic function of language and their Integrating Content and language in Higher Education (ICLHE) teaching practice.En aquest article presentem un model de col·laboració interdisciplinària inspirat en la investigació-acció col·laborativa (IAC) desenvolupat en un departament d'informàtica d'una universitat de ciències aplicades d'Àustria. Exposem les funcions que desenvolupen els professors d'idiomes de la institució i els col·laboradors externs ( formadors de professorat i especialistes en idiomes) en la creació d'un espai de confiança per al desenvolupament professional dels especialistes en continguts. Estudis recents (p.ex. Zappa-Hollman, 2018) reclamen aquest tipus d'associacions de col·laboració entre els especialistes d'idiomes i els de continguts per a conscienciar els professionals de la Docència universitària en anglès (DUA) i els grups d'interès que la llengua és "el recurs semiòtic crucial per (...) facilitar la conceptualització i la resolució de problemes en disciplines específiques" (Yuan, 2021, p.2). Aquesta demanda d'un enfocament integrador que tingui en compte la interacció entre la llengua i el contingut no ha rebut encara suficient atenció, ni a nivell institucional ni a nivell individual dels professors (Zappa-Hollman, 2018). És evident que es necessiten enfocaments innovadors per tal de millorar la qualitat de la Integració de Continguts i Llengua en L'Educació Superior (ICLES) (Kim et al., 2018). Les reaccions generalment positives dels professors de contingut al Model de Confiança de Col·laboració Interdisciplinària suggereixen que aquest pot contribuir a la millora de la seva comprensió de la funció epistèmica de la llengua i de la pràctica docent ICLES.En este artículo presentamos un modelo de colaboración interdisciplinar inspirado en la Investigación-acción colaborativa (IAC) desarrollado en un departamento de informática de una Universidad de Ciencias aplicadas de Austria. Exponemos las funciones que desempeñan los profesores de idiomas de la institución y los formadores de profesores y especialistas en idiomas externos en la creación de un espacio de confianza para el desarrollo profesional de los especialistas en contenidos. Investigaciones recientes han reclamado este tipo de asociaciones de colaboración entre especialistas en idiomas y en contenidos para concienciar a los profesionales de la Docencia universitaria en inglés (DUA) y las partes interesadas en que la lengua sea un elemento central en la transferencia de conocimientos con la finalidad de apoyar las disciplinas específicas en sus procesos de conceptualización y resolución de problemas. Esta demanda de un enfoque integrador que tenga en cuenta la interacción entre la lengua y el contenido no ha recibido todavía suficiente atención, ni a nivel institucional ni a nivel de los profesores individuales. Es evidente que se necesitan enfoques innovadores para mejorar la calidad de la Integración de Contenidos y Lengua en la Educación Superior (ICLES). Las reacciones generalmente positivas de los profesores de contenido al modelo de colaboración interdisciplinar de Trust sugieren que éste puede contribuir a mejorar su comprensión de la función epistémica de la lengua y de la práctica docente ICLES

Letters in working memory: Are representations of script visual?

Verbale Information ist im Arbeitsgedächtnis primär in einem phonologischen Repräsentationsformat gespeichert, auch wenn sie visuell (d.h. schriftlich) präsentiert wird (z.B. Conrad & Hull, 1964). Repräsentationen der visuellen Merkmale von Schrift (bzw. Buchstaben) lassen sich dagegen in der Regel nicht nachweisen (z.B. Levy, 1971). Das Multikomponentenmodell des Arbeitsgedächtnisses (z.B. Baddeley, 1992) nimmt in Einklang mit diesem Befundmuster an, dass Sprache unabhängig von der Modalität in einem verbalen Subsystem, der phonologischen Schleife aufrechterhalten und manipuliert wird. Dieses Subsystem wird gegen ein zweites, das visuell-räumliche Arbeitsgedächtnis (z.B. Logie, 1995) abgegrenzt. Logie, Della Sala, Wynn und Baddeley (2000, Exp. 3 & 4) jedoch zeigten, dass die variantenspezifischen Buchstabengestalten (z.B. A a B b C c D d…) im Arbeitsgedächtnis verfügbar gehalten werden können, wenn dies instruiert ist. Da es sich dabei um visuell vermittelte Information handelt, interpretierten die Autoren dies als Hinweis auf eine Beteiligung des visuellen Arbeitsgedächtnisses am verbalen Behalten. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde diese Schlussfolgerung theoretisch hinterfragt, methodologisch kritisiert und empirisch weitergehend geprüft. Zunächst wurden methodisch begründete Zweifel daran ausgeräumt, dass Buchstabengestalten überhaupt im Arbeitsgedächtnis repräsentiert werden können. In enger Anlehnung an das Vorgehen von Logie et al. (2000, Exp. 3 & 4) wurden variantenspezifische Buchstabengestalten im Arbeitsgedächtnis mit einem seriellen Wiedergabe-Paradigma nachgewiesen. Der Nachweis gelang mit deutschsprachigen Probanden nur mit artikulatorischer Unterdrückung (Exp. I-1, I-2 und I-4), mit englischsprachigen Probanden tendenziell auch ohne artikulatorische Unterdrückung (Exp. I-3). Über alle Experimente hinweg kann gefolgert werden, dass Repräsentationen visuell vermittelter Eigenschaften von Buchstaben im Arbeitsgedächtnis wirksam sein können. Von diesem Befund ausgehend wurde untersucht, ob (bei artikulatorischer Unterdrückung) die Verfügbarkeit der Variantengestalten durch eine zusätzliche visuell-nonverbale Behaltensanforderung deutlicher als durch eine zusätzliche auditiv-nonverbale beeinträchtigt wird (Exp. II). Das Ergebnis sprach dagegen, was nahelegt, dass die Variantengestalten nicht wie visuell-nonverbale Stimuli repräsentiert sind. Da durchaus noch oberflächlichere visuelle Buchstabenmerkmale als die der Variantengestalten im Arbeitsgedächtnis repräsentiert sein könnten, wie etwa die Schriftart, schied die Möglichkeit bildhafter Buchstabenrepräsentationen im Arbeitsgedächtnis dadurch nicht aus. Im letzten empirischen Teil wurde das N-Back-Paradigma eingesetzt, um die Verfügbarkeit von Varianteninformation mit der Verfügbarkeit von Schriftartinformation im Arbeitsgedächtnis zu vergleichen. War nur das Behalten der Varianteninformation instruiert (Exp. III-1a und III-1b), hatte Schriftartinformation keinen zuverlässigen Einfluss auf die Leistungen. Unter der Instruktion, beide Informationsarten zu behalten (Exp. III-2a und III-2b), schienen Aspekte der Schriftart schneller aus dem Arbeitsgedächtnis verloren zu gehen als die Variantengestalten: Nur in der Schriftart voneinander abweichende Buchstaben wurden häufiger fälschlich für identisch gehalten als nur in der Variante voneinander abweichende Buchstaben, insbesondere wenn ein weiterer Buchstabe zwischen den zu vergleichenden Buchstaben lag, aber auch wenn sie durch ein Pixelbild getrennt waren. War weder das Behalten der Varianteninformation noch das der Schriftartinformation instruiert (Exp. III-3a und III-3b) konnten keine interpre-tierbaren Daten gewonnen werden. Zusammenfassend sprechen die Ergebnisse dafür, dass die visuell vermittelten Buchstabenmerkmale, die im Arbeitsgedächtnis aufrechterhalten werden können, mit Repräsentationen visuell-bildhafter Information wenig gemeinsam haben.Verbal material is stored and manipulated in a primarily phonological representation format, even if it is presented in written form (e.g., Conrad & Hull, 1964). The letters’ visual attributes, on the contrary, have rarely been demonstrated to influence working memory performance (e.g., Levy, 1971). In accordance with this, the multicomponent model of working memory (e.g., Baddeley, 1992) postulates a subsystem (the phonological loop) which deals with all verbal information irrespective of presentation modality. It is distinguished from another subsystem (the visuo-spatial working memory; e.g., Logie, 1995), which is responsible for visuo-spatial information. However, a study reported by Logie, Della Sala, Wynn, and Baddeley (2000, Exps. 3 & 4) shows that case-specific letter forms (e.g., A a B b C c D d…) are potentially available to support immediate recall of letter lists. As letter case is perceived visually, the authors concluded that visual working memory contributes to verbal working memory tasks. This conclusion is challenged with both theoretical and methodological concerns, and it is further tested empirically. The first empirical part contains four modified replications of the serial recall paradigm employed by Logie et al. (2000, Exps. 3 & 4). In three of these, with native speakers of German, case-specific representations of letters are detected under articulatory suppression only (Exps. I-1, I-2, & I-4). In the fourth experiment of this series (Exp. I-3), with native speakers of English, case-specific letter representations were available by trend even without articulatory suppression. These experiments taken together provide evidence that representations of visually coded letter features may impact on working memory performance. Based on this finding it was examined whether (under articulatory suppression) the availability of letter case representations decreased more with an additional visual nonverbal retention task than with an additional auditory nonverbal retention task (Exp. II). The results indicated that this was not the case, suggesting that in working memory, letter case representations are unlike nonverbal pictorial representations. Still it was possible that more superficial aspects of letters than their case-related features are represented in working memory, such as features related to font style. Consequently, the hypothesis that there are picture-like letter representations could not as yet be rejected. The third empirical part used an n-back-paradigm in order to contrast the availability of case information with that of font style information. When the participants were instructed to retain the letters’ cases only (Exps. III-1a & III-1b), font style information turned out not to impact on the performance measures reliably. When the retention of both case and font style information was instructed (Exps. III-2a & III 2b), the letters’ cases were far better maintained in working memory than their font styles: Letters that differed only in font style were more often falsely recognized as identical than letters that differed in case only, especially when the letter pair was separated by another letter, but also when a visual pattern mask was presented in the inter-stimulus interval. When neither the retention of letter case nor that of font style was instructed (Exps. III-3a & III-3b), the data collected could not be interpreted. Altogether, the results suggest that those letter features available in working memory which are conveyed visually have little in common with representations of visual-pictorial information

Plant defense against insect herbivores

Plants have been interacting with insects for several hundred million years, leading to complex defense approaches against various insect feeding strategies. Some defenses are constitutive while others are induced, although the insecticidal defense compound or protein classes are often similar. Insect herbivory induce several internal signals from the wounded tissues, including calcium ion fluxes, phosphorylation cascades and systemic- and jasmonate signaling. These are perceived in undamaged tissues, which thereafter reinforce their defense by producing different, mostly low molecular weight, defense compounds. These bioactive specialized plant defense compounds may repel or intoxicate insects, while defense proteins often interfere with their digestion. Volatiles are released upon herbivory to repel herbivores, attract predators or for communication between leaves or plants, and to induce defense responses. Plants also apply morphological features like waxes, trichomes and latices to make the feeding more difficult for the insects. Extrafloral nectar, food bodies and nesting or refuge sites are produced to accommodate and feed the predators of the herbivores. Meanwhile, herbivorous insects have adapted to resist plant defenses, and in some cases even sequester the compounds and reuse them in their own defense. Both plant defense and insect adaptation involve metabolic costs, so most plant-insect interactions reach a stand-off, where both host and herbivore survive although their development is suboptimal

Raum- und zeitsemantische Oppositionen als Analysekriterium: Beispiellektüren skandinavischer Gedichte (Staffeldt, Ibsen, Christensen, Tranströmer)

The analysis of space-semantic oppositions – as developed by Jurij Lotman and extended by Karl Renner and Hans Krah – plays a much greater role in analysing prose than poetry. However, the focus on spatial and temporal oppositions, the connection of topological and semantic features of subspaces, as well as possible borders and their potential crossing can make a significant contribution to the interpretation of lyrical texts and also guide the interpretation of non-spatial text structures – such as word choice, motifs, and perspective – in appropriate poems. This is illustrated in the analysis of the poems “Indvielsen” (A. W. Schack von Staffeldt, 1804); “Borte!” (Henrik Ibsen, 1871); “Hvis jeg står” (Inger Christensen, 1962) and “Resan” (Tomas Tranströmer, 1962). The paper further makes a general point about a specific space semantics for lyrical texts.Die Analyse räumlich-semantischer Oppositionen - wie sie von Jurij Lotman entwickelt und von Karl Renner und Hans Krah erweitert wurde - spielt bei der Analyse von Prosa eine weitaus größere Rolle als bei Lyrik. Die Fokussierung auf räumliche und zeitliche Oppositionen, die Verbindung topologischer und semantischer Merkmale von Teilräumen sowie mögliche Grenzen und deren potentielle Überschreitung können jedoch einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Interpretation lyrischer Texte leisten und auch die Interpretation nicht-räumlicher Textstrukturen - wie Wortwahl, Motive und Perspektive - in entsprechenden Gedichten anleiten. Dies wird anhand der Analyse der Gedichte "Indvielsen" (A. W. Schack von Staffeldt, 1804); "Borte!" (Henrik Ibsen, 1871); "Hvis jeg står" (Inger Christensen, 1962) und "Resan" (Tomas Tranströmer, 1962). Darüber hinaus werden allgemeine Überlegungen zu einer spezifischen Raumsemantik für lyrische Texte angestellt