Deconstructing Utopia: Nature, Colonialism and Satire in Christian Kracht’s Imperium (2012)

While there is a conspicuous link between utopian conjectures and natural space, the accelerated environmental degradation in the Anthropocene has significantly blunted the utopian appeal of ‘untainted’ nature. A similar crisis afflicts notions of utopia as ‘undiscovered’ space following Reinhart Koselleck’s ‘temporalization’ of utopian speculation. These developments complicate or make impossible literary representations of utopia as unknown or unaltered nature. Drawing on Timothy Morton’s ideas of ‘space’ and ‘place’ as well as on Eva Horn’s reflections on an ‘aesthetics of the Anthropocene’, the paper examines how narratives of nature as utopia are critiqued and satirised in Christian Kracht’s Imperium (2012). The island landscape of the South Pacific remains outside the protagonist’s narrative control, resisting attempts to abstract it by staging a ‘revenge of place.’ Representations of nature as non-descript, homogeneous and empty (or ‘space’) are confronted with the uncanny and dangerous aspects of a specific ‘place.

Banking consolidation and small businessfinance: empirical evidence for Germany

Since the early 1990s an unprecedented process of consolidation has taken place in the banking sector in most industrialised countries raising concern of policymakers that it may reduce access to credit for the small business sector. While most of the existing empirical studies have focused on the U.S., this paper is the first one empirically investigating the effects of banking consolidation in Germany. As small and medium sized German companies traditionally almost exclusively rely on bank credit and as they represent the vast majority of the corporate sector reduced credit availability for those companies could particularly endanger economic growth. Based on an exceptional panel dataset comprising merged data of the German credit register and balance sheet data of German firms and banks we find - contrary to public fear - that the ongoing banking consolidation in Germany does not have a significant negative impact on the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). We measure the financing opportunities of SMEs based on the bank debt/assets ratio and the logarithmized credit size and control both explicitly for bank mergers and for the increase in the average bank size in the course of the consolidation process. In addition, we observe that the concentration in the banking market is insignificant for SME financing and that there is no significant difference between commercial banks, savings banks and private banks. --Banking consolidation,bank mergers,SME financing

Bildung im kontext von kolonialismus und migration: Dekonstruktionen des Bildungsromans in der interkulturellen gegenwartsliteratur

In recent decades there has been an interest in adaptations of the Bildungsroman in feminist, postcolonial and diasporic writing, challenging the genre’s traditional constructions as a quintessentially ‘German’ genre or socially conservative canonical literature. Continuing these trends in research, this thesis examines how the Bildungsroman is used and reworked in German-language migration, diasporic and postcolonial novels which feature intercultural contexts. It also explores the new stories of personal development and cultural identity told in those texts which choose not to engage with genre traditions or even actively subvert them. The five novels analysed differ in terms of time and setting, ranging from modern-day migration and diasporic experiences to historical colonial settings. They also vary in their use of genre patterns, offering affirmative adaptations of canonical Bildungsromane (Alev Tekinay’s neoromantic novel Der weinende Granatapfel, 1990) as well as critical revisions of the genre’s idealist foundations (Sherko Fatah’s post-colonial novel Ein weißes Land, 2011). Other novels eschew the genre traditions of the Bildungsroman in favor of formal and thematic innovations. While Emine Sevgi Özdamar’s Die Brücke vom Goldenen Horn (1998) ironically subverts genre patterns, despite being termed an ‘intercultural’ Bildungsroman in literary criticism (Gutjahr, 2008), Yadé Kara’s novel Selam Berlin (2003) can be productively compared to post-colonial ‘novels of transformation’ (Stein, 2004) in British literature, which highlight social transformations alongside personal ones. Ilija Trojanow’s novel Der Weltensammler (2006) does not provide a coherent, unambiguous narrative of development, but employs a range of narrative strategies to engage the readers’ ability to confront and question their cultural biases, involving them in a process of intercultural education. Finally, the conclusion provides an overview of the novels’ innovative aspects, i.e. their tendency to frame personal development as a specifically cross-cultural process as well as their thematic focus on cultural change

Parenting and caregiving duties as career challenges among clinical microbiologists: a cross-sectional survey

Aim: To estimate the burden of parenting and caregiving duties among clinical microbiologists in Germany and to identify workplace-related support systems and barriers to engaging in career-relevant activities. Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted. Participants were asked to answer 37 questions, of which 24 specifically addressed parenting and caregiving duties. Results: Only few workplace-related support systems are currently available, and experiences of job-related disadvantages were frequently reported (27 of 47; 57.4%). Main barriers were a lack of flexible working hours and reliable childcare. Sociocultural norms and a lack of role models were perceived as detrimental. Conclusion: More support systems and a credible culture of family friendliness are needed to prevent jeopardizing the academic potential of young parents

Ion Mobility in Crystalline Battery Materials

Ion mobility in electrolytes and electrodes is an important performance parameter in electrochemical devices, particularly in batteries. In this review, the authors concentrate on the charge carrier mobility in crystalline battery materials where the diffusion basically corresponds to hopping processes between lattice sites. However, in spite of the seeming simplicity of the migration process in crystalline materials, the factors governing mobility in these materials are still debated. There are well-accepted factors contributing to the ion mobility such as the size and the charge of the ions, but they are not sufficient to yield a complete picture of ion mobility. In this review, possible factors influencing ion mobility in crystalline battery materials are critically discussed. To gain insights into these factors, chemical trends in batteries, both as far as the charge carriers as well as the host materials are concerned, are discussed. Furthermore, fundamental questions, for example, about the nature of the migrating charge carriers, are also addressed

Efficiency of Helminth eggs removal in dewatered faecal sludge by co-composting

This study aimed at investigating helminth eggs removal efficiency in dewatered faecal sludge (FS) co-composted with organic solid waste as related to the turning frequency. A mixture of fresh public toilet sludge and septage mixed in a ratio of 1:2 was dewatered on a drying bed. Biosolids with initial load of 25-83 helminth eggs/g TS was mixed with solid waste as bulking material in a volume ratio of 1:2 for co-composting. Two replicate sets of compost heaps were mounted in parallel and turned at different frequencies: i) once each 3 days, ii) once each 10 days, during the active composting period, to study the influence of the operational conditions on the compost hygienic quality. The helminth egg removal efficiency was not different for the two turning frequencies. In both setups helminth eggs were reduced from 25-83 /g TS to a, < 1-3 viable eggs/g TS level, allowing a safety reuse in agriculture

A novel satellite mission concept for upper air water vapour, aerosol and cloud observations using integrated path differential absorption LiDAR limb sounding

We propose a new satellite mission to deliver high quality measurements of upper air water vapour. The concept centres around a LiDAR in limb sounding by occultation geometry, designed to operate as a very long path system for differential absorption measurements. We present a preliminary performance analysis with a system sized to send 75 mJ pulses at 25 Hz at four wavelengths close to 935 nm, to up to 5 microsatellites in a counter-rotating orbit, carrying retroreflectors characterized by a reflected beam divergence of roughly twice the emitted laser beam divergence of 15 µrad. This provides water vapour profiles with a vertical sampling of 110 m; preliminary calculations suggest that the system could detect concentrations of less than 5 ppm. A secondary payload of a fairly conventional medium resolution multispectral radiometer allows wide-swath cloud and aerosol imaging. The total weight and power of the system are estimated at 3 tons and 2,700 W respectively. This novel concept presents significant challenges, including the performance of the lasers in space, the tracking between the main spacecraft and the retroreflectors, the refractive effects of turbulence, and the design of the telescopes to achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio for the high precision measurements. The mission concept was conceived at the Alpbach Summer School 2010

Improving the development, monitoring and reporting of stroke rehabilitation research: consensus-based core recommendations from the Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable (SRRR)

Recent reviews have demonstrated that the quality of stroke rehabilitation research has continued to improve over the last four decades but despite this progress there are still many barriers in moving the field forward. Rigorous development, monitoring and complete reporting of interventions in stroke trials are essential in providing rehabilitation evidence that is robust, meaningful and implementable. An international partnership of stroke rehabilitation experts committed to develop consensus-based core recommendations with a remit of addressing the issues identified as limiting stroke rehabilitation research in the areas of developing, monitoring and reporting stroke rehabilitation interventions. Work exploring each of the three areas took place via multiple teleconferences and a two-day meeting in Philadelphia in May 2016. A total of 15 recommendations were made. To validate the need for the recommendations the group reviewed all stroke rehabilitation trials published in 2015 (n=182 papers). Our review highlighted that the majority of publications did not clearly describe how interventions were developed or monitored during the trial. In particular, under-reporting of the theoretical rationale for the intervention and the components of the intervention calls into question many interventions that have been evaluated for efficacy. More trials were found to have addressed the reporting of interventions recommendations than those related to development or monitoring. Nonetheless the majority of reporting recommendations were still not adequately described. To progress the field of stroke rehabilitation research and to ensure stroke patients receive optimal evidence based clinical care we urge the research community to endorse and adopt our recommendations