F19RS SGB No. 2 (Order for Senators as Parliamentarian in case of Vacancy)

To amend the Student Senate Rules of Order to allow Senators to Serve as Parliamentarian in the Case of a Vacancy in the Position

Legitimation, Repression and Co-optation in the German Democratic Republic

The communist party in the German Democratic Republic claimed governmental legitimacy for being the builder of an anti-fascist state on the way to communism. The simulation of parliamentarism also played a role and, for a short period of time in the 1960s, the co-optation of technocrats. In the 1970s and 1980s Erich Honecker's welfare policy was the pivotal strategy of legitimation. However, the political system always required a considerable amount of repression. In the Soviet Occupation Zone and the early GDR repression was characterized by Stalinist terror: internment camps, military courts, and harsh punishment. Rigorous repression in 1952/53 and 1960/61 complemented attempts to accelerate the socialist revolution (normative legitimacy ). From 1949 to 1989 a gradual mitigation of repression took place, but not steadily. Relaxation in watersheds such as in 1956, 1963, and 1971 came to a halt in 1960, 1965, and 1976 ff. Nevertheless, more lenient times of repression brought irreversible mitigations. Especially in the 1970s and 1980s open terror was replaced by less visible forms of repression. Co-optation of non - communists played a marginal role in the history of the GDR. In the early phase it was nothing but a phase-out model. Later on co-optation was by and large a recruitment process under the control of the SED, which generated a homogeneous elite selected by its fidelity to the socialist state

Political Taboos in the German Democratic Republic

The article outlines a new framework for the study of communicative taboos in repressive political regimes such as the GDR. The concept goes beyond the somewhat reductive position that understands political taboos as mere silencing. The approach developed here aims at refining our understanding of discursive regimes in dictatorial regimes, where one dominant ideology has become deeply ingrained in most aspects of society. It starts with the observation that the discursive sphere in the periphery of the taboo, characterized by corrupted speech, and the silence in its core are complementary elements of the taboo. I develop my concept with reference to three political taboos: the official discourse on betrayal of members of communist resistance groups during the Third Reich, expulsions after the Second World War, and the uprising of 17 June 1953. The discussion shows that a precise conception of the general appearance of communicative taboos—including distinguishing between core and periphery, comprehensive analysis of the gamut of linguistic and semantic distortions, study of privileged speakers able to transgress taboos, and paying attention to the perceived taboo—provides a promising starting point for the historical study of tabooing, including its modifications and transformations

Effects of anti-transpirants on transpiration and energy use in greenhouse cultivation

Greenhouse production in North-West Europe consumes a lot of energy. The energy is needed for heating the greenhouse and controlling air humidity. Transpiration of a crop increases the energy use. The aim of this study was to explore the possibilities for the application of anti-transpirants to save energy by reducing crop transpiration without reducing crop yield. Literature and model calculations were used to explore the effects of increased leaf resistances on transpiration, energy use and production in tomato, cucumber and sweet pepper. In literature a large number of compounds are described that act as anti-transpirant. A two to five fold increase in stomatal resistance can be expected from treatment with anti-transpirants. Model calculations for tomato showed that increasing the stomatal resistance (from 2 to 5 times) throughout the whole year leads to substantial yield reduction: crop growth was reduced by 6-19%, while transpiration by 15-42% and consequently energy use by 9-16%. However, in the winter period (beginning of October/end of March) the growth reduction was only 0.3-1.3%, as in this period light levels are low and CO2 concentrations in the greenhouse are relatively high. Raising the (maximum) set-point for CO2 concentration from 1000 ppm to 3000 ppm, increased the actual concentration during day-time from 892 to 1567 ppm (flue gases were the only source of CO2). When the application of anti-transpirants was combined with raising the set-point for CO2 concentration, the model showed no growth reduction due to the application of anti-transpirants, while the annual energy use was reduced by 5.5-10.4% in tomato. Similar results were obtained for sweet pepper (5-9% energy saving) and cucumber (2-5% energy saving). These model calculations show that increasing stomatal resistance by anti-transpirants during the winter period may potentially save a substantial amount of energy (2-10%), without affecting yield of vegetables such as tomato, cucumber and sweet pepper. It is concluded that increasing the stomatal resistance by anti-transpirants in wintertime may lead to substantial energy saving due to the reduced transpiration and need for humidity management, without yield reduction. Such model calculations are useful to analyse beforehand the chances of a good combination of energy saving and yield loss of a possible application. Experiments will be needed to verify the result