Should Uniform Pricing Constraints be Imposed on Entrants?

We analyse the effects of universal service obligations, such as uniform pricing, price caps and unbundling, on allocations in markets newly opened to competition, e.g. telecommunications. If uniform pricing is imposed not only on incumbents but also on entrants, entry may not result in competition if installed capacity is low, or may neglect high-cost areas if installed capacity or mandated coverage is high. These results hold no matter whether a price cap is in place or not, and do not depend on whether entry is capacity-based or facilitated through unbundling.Universal Service Obligations, Uniform Pricing, Price caps, Unbundling, Entry

Investigations on dairy welfare and performance on German organic farms

An investigation was carried out on 74 organic dairy farms in Germany. Results were an average milk production of 5.960 kg, 223.000 somatic cell counts (SCC), 387 days calving interval, 23.5 % culling rate, 46 Euro annual veterinary costs per cow. Farmers were asked for disease incidences. Cows were scored for injuries and body condition. The results were combined with possible influencing factors (herd size, breed, region, farming association, housing system, housing factors, amounts of concentrates). The most frequent health problems were udder, fertility, and claw disorders. These subjective estimations of disease incidences by the farmers could be validated with herd recording data (SCC, calving interval, culling reasons). Overall rate of injuries was low. Body condition scoring revealed only few problems. Holstein-Friesians showed the highest milk production, but also more health problems and a higher culling rate. The straw yard systems seem to have advantages with regard to lameness, fertility, and injuries, but a higher risk for mastitis

Comparing Actors and Scales: Methodological Perspectives From a Political Sociology of the Refiguration of Spaces

In this article, I translate the analysis of the production of space as a social process into a processual methodology sensitive to its political aspects. This requires taking actors as well as the different socio-spatial logics into account. One of the main transformations since the 1970s - the historical period under scrutiny in the analysis of the refiguration of spaces - is that of re-scaling. This means that the relationship between socially meaningful geographic arenas (global/worldwide, national, regional, metropolitan, urban, local, bodily), and thus the (hierarchical) order of spatial scales as a whole, has been changing. In order to investigate the diachronic process of refiguration, I have therefore developed a multi-actor and multi-scalar approach. My methodological contribution starts from the inquiry into the socio-theoretical dimension of scale. I do so by asking what sociological analysis can learn from the (mostly geographical) scale debate, and, conversely, what a sociological contribution to this debate might look like. The empirical context from which this intervention stems is research on non-profit and non-governmental organizations in housing and asylum politics. Methodologically, two distinct approaches of social theory are discussed here respectively: that of Norbert ELIAS's figurational sociology, and that of Henri LEFEBVRE's theory of space.Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird die Analyse des sozialen Prozesses der Produktion von Raum in eine prozessuale Methodologie übersetzt, die dessen politische Aspekte zu fassen vermag. Hierfür ist es wichtig, sowohl Akteur*innen als auch verschiedene sozialräumliche Logiken zu berücksichtigen. Eine der wichtigsten Transformationen seit den 1970er Jahren - dem historischen Zeitraum, der in der Analyse der Refiguration von Räumen untersucht wird - ist die der Re-Skalierung. Das bedeutet, dass sich das Verhältnis zwischen gesellschaftlich bedeutsamen geografischen Arenen (global/weltweit, national, regional, metropolitan, städtisch, lokal, körperlich) und damit die (hierarchische) Ordnung der räumlichen Maßstabsebenen insgesamt verändert hat. Um den diachronen Prozess der Refiguration zu untersuchen, wurde ein Multi-Akteur*innen- und Multi-Skalen-Ansatz entwickelt. Ausgangspunkt sind die gesellschaftstheoretischen Dimensionen von Skalen. Hierfür kläre ich zunächst, was für eine soziologische Analyse von der (zumeist geografischen) Skalendebatte gelernt werden kann und umgekehrt, wie ein soziologischer Beitrag zu dieser Debatte aussehen könnte. Empirisch basiert dieser Beitrag auf meiner Forschung zu Non-Profit- und Nichtregierungsorganisationen in der Wohnungs- und Asylpolitik. Methodologisch werden hier zwei unterschiedliche gesellschaftstheoretische Ansätze miteinander diskutiert: der der figurativen Soziologie von Norbert ELIAS und der der Raumtheorie von Henri LEFEBVRE

1968 und die Kritik der Kritik der Stadt: Anschlüsse und Verwerfungen.

Wie kann heute an die rund um 1968 geäußerte Kritik der Stadt angeschlossen werden? Gibt es gute Gründe, die für solche Anschlüsse sprechen bzw. was muss verworfen werden? Die in dieser s u b \ u r b a n-Debatte vereinten Beiträge, die sowohl in Bezug auf konkrete Architektur und Städtebau als auch auf theoretische Perspektiven auf Stadt die historische Kritik der 1960er und 1970er Jahre aufgreifen, suggerieren zu diesen Fragen durchaus unterschiedliche Antworten. Sie zeigen, dass die historische Aufarbeitung der 1960er und 1970er Jahre in Bezug auf die Kritik der Stadt noch Lücken hat, aber weisen auch auf Parallelen in konflikthaften Dynamiken hin, die für heute hinweisgebend sein können. Und die Beiträge belegen, in welch fundamentaler Weise unser Denken über Städte heute geprägt ist von den kritischen sozialpsychologischen und architekturtheoretischen, feministischen und marxistischen Auseinandersetzungen dieser Zeit

Propriedades termofísicas de soluções aquosas de líquidos iônicos : elevação do ponto de ebulição, viscosidade e densidade

Orientador : Prof. Dr. Fernando Augusto Pedersen VollCoorientador : Prof. Dr. Marcos Lúcio CorazzaDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Tecnologia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Química. Defesa: Curitiba, 13/03/2015Inclui referências : f.82-85Área de concentração: Termodinâmica aplicadaResumo: O despertar nos últimos anos da preocupação ambiental provocou a busca por uma nova classe de solventes, menos tóxicos e de baixo impacto ambiental. Dentre os inúmeros solventes alternativos explorados, os líquidos iônicos apresentam um futuro promissor para a indústria química, por possuírem propriedades bastante atrativas, tais como baixa pressão de vapor, estabilidade térmica e química, baixa ou nenhuma inflamabilidade e a possibilidade de serem reciclados e reutilizados. O objetivo deste trabalho é a determinação experimental da viscosidade, densidade e elevação do ponto de ebulição (EPE) de soluções aquosas de LI derivados da base catiônica Dietanolamina (DEA), nas bases aniônicas os ácidos acético, propanóico, butanóico e pentanóico. Os dados da EPE aliado a outras propriedades termofísicas é fundamental para projeto de evaporadores visando a reciclagem dos LI. Para avaliação do comportamento reológico dos líquidos iônicos puros e suas soluções aquosas foi utilizado um viscosímetro de cilindros concêntricos, na faixa de temperatura de 293,15-323,15 K e frações mássicas de LI de 0,25-1. Para validação do procedimento foi utilizado o glicerol. As análises de densidade foram realizadas em um densímetro digital adequado para medidas de densidade de líquidos, na faixa de temperatura de 293,15-323,15 K e frações mássicas de LI de 0,25-1. O procedimento de medição da densidade foi validado com água pura em diferentes temperaturas e com uma mistura de etanol + glicerol em diferentes concentrações. Os ensaios para estimativa das temperaturas de ebulição foram realizadas em uma unidade experimental composta de um recipiente esférico de vidro, para a alimentação da solução, uma manta de aquecimento e um condensador. O sistema foi conectado a uma bomba de vácuo e operado com pressões inferiores a pressão atmosférica. A metodologia de levantamento dos dados experimentais foi validada através de ensaios de determinação da temperatura de ebulição da água pura em diferentes pressões e de uma solução de etanol e glicerol com diferentes concentrações. Os ensaios de determinação da elevação do ponto de ebulição foram realizados nas pressões de 80-900 mBar e frações mássicas de LI no intervalo de 0,40-0,95. Observou-se um aumento da temperatura de ebulição da solução para maiores frações mássicas do soluto. Os resultados obtidos foram utilizados para ajustar parâmetros de modelos matemáticos para o comportamento da viscosidade, densidade e ponto de ebulição. Palavras-chave: Líquido iônico, água, viscosidade, densidade e elevação do ponto de ebulição.Abstract: The recent years environmental concerns led to the search for a new class of solvents, less toxic and with low environmental impact. Among the various alternatives solvents explored, ionic liquids (IL) have a promising future for the chemical industry, because they have very attractive properties such as low vapor pressure, thermal and chemical stability, low or no flammability and possibility of being recycled and reused. The objective of this work is the experimental and theoretical determination of the viscosity, density and boiling point elevation (BPE) of mixtures of water and ILs derived from diethanolamine (base) and acetic, propanoic, butanoic and pentanoic acids. The BPE data combined with other thermo-physical properties are essential for processes involving evaporators targeting the recycling of IL. To evaluate the rheological behavior of pure ionic liquids and their aqueous solutions was used concentric cylinder viscometer, in the temperature range of 293.15-323.15 K and mass fractions 0.25-1. To validate the procedure was used glycerol. Density analyzes were carried out in an appropriate digital hydrometer for liquid density measurements in the temperature range of 293.15-323.15 K and mass fractions of IL 0.25-1. The density measurement procedure has been validated with pure water at different temperatures and with a mixture of ethanol and glycerol in different concentrations. Boiling points determination were performed on an experimental unit consisted of a spherical glass container for feeding the solution, a heating mantle and a condenser. The system was connected to a vacuum pump for obtaining data below the atmospheric pressure. The survey data methodology was validated by means of experimental tests to determine the boiling point of pure water at different pressures and a solution of ethanol and glycerol with different concentrations. Assays for determining the aqueous solutions boiling point elevation will be performed in 80 - 900 mBar and 0,40-0,95 (w/w) mass fraction of IL in water. There was an increase in the boiling temperature of the solution to larger mass fraction of the solute. The results were used to adjust parameters of mathematical models for the behavior of viscosity, density and boiling point. Keywords: Ionic liquid, water, viscosity, density, boiling point elevation

Stadt als Labor und Baustelle: Rezension zu "Kultursoziologische Stadtforschung: Grundlagen, Analysen, Perspektiven" von Ignacio Farías, Martina Löw, Thomas Schmidt-Lux und Silke Steets

Ignacio Farías, Martina Löw, Thomas Schmidt-Lux, Silke Steets: Kultursoziologische Stadtforschung: Grundlagen, Analysen, Perspektiven. Frankfurt am Main u.a.: Campus Verlag 2023. 978-3-593-51586-