Aufsätze zur historischen politischen Ökonomie

This dissertation centralizes the concept that the significance of "empires" persists long after their collapse, exerting influence both overtly and subtly, a phenomenon referred to as persistent post-imperial syndrome. This syndrome fosters insular ideologies, xenophobia, and a yearning for past grandeur. However, delving into the origins of these ideologies requires an exploration of historical context and factors that led to the actual decline of empires. Consequently, my research centers on the region of Eastern Europe and Russia, which witnessed the downfall of two empires—the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. This region also stands out due to its involvement in significant social experiments with far-reaching effects on the populace. These experiments encompass the eradication of serfdom, partial liberalization efforts, the ascent of the Bolsheviks during the 1917 Revolution, the enforced industrialization that propelled the Soviet Union into global superpower status, albeit at a tremendous human cost, and the dramatic disintegration of the Soviet Empire (Zhuravskaya et al. 2021, p. 1). This dissertation is structured into three distinct chapters, consisting of two empirical sections and one theoretical portion. The initial two empirical chapters scrutinize the political economy's impact on the labor market within the domains of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. However, precise demarcations are challenging to establish due to fluid territorial boundaries. The theoretical chapter furnishes a more intricate grasp of the mechanisms facilitating transmission and persistence. This is achieved through a comprehensive theoretical exposition that centers on the shift in regimes from Nazi Germany to the German Democratic Republic—a state closely aligned with the Soviet Union. In essence, this research endeavors to assess the efficacy of state and strategic decision-making mechanisms in exerting control over specific populations via methods such as forced deportations, state surveillance, and targeted indoctrination. The ultimate objective is to furnish a holistic comprehension of the enduring consequences of empires and the contributing factors to their decline, employing Eastern Europe and Russia as illustrative examples. Throughout my analysis, the figure of Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, known as Stalin, recurs consistently, assuming a pivotal role in each chapter. He emerges as a left-wing extremist and possible informant within the archives of the tsarist secret police, a dictator for whom ethnically motivated violence constituted a rehearsed aspect of governance, and as the mastermind behind the division between East and West Germany

On the design of a flow line with intermediate buffers and mixed corrective maintenance

We considered a mixed corrective maintenance policy for machines in a two-machine one-buffer flow line. The machines had stochastic processing times and suffered from unexpected failures. In the case of a failure, the machines were either minimally repaired or their failing components were replaced by spare parts. While the replacement strategy is rapid and the system can be considered new thereafter, spare parts provisioning and storage costs are very high. Thus, we additionally considered minimal repairs, which are less expensive and restore the system to a working condition at a minimum. We modeled the system as a continuous-time Markov chain. This approach was used to measure the performance of the flow line and the mixed corrective maintenance policy employed. To facilitate design decisions for the flow line, we considered both the cost of an interstage buffer and the maintenance costs for machines in line. We formulated an optimization problem based on a profit function that enables the simultaneous optimization of the buffer size and maintenance strategy. Our numerical analyses reveal useful insights into the performance and optimal design of the flow line depending on the utilized maintenance strategy

Interview with Robert Zimmermann

In this interview with Julia Stringfellow, Robert Zimmermann, LU class of 1953, discusses his time as a student.https://lux.lawrence.edu/oralhistories/1020/thumbnail.jp

The endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein Sec62 as potential therapeutic target in SEC62 overexpressing tumors

The human SEC62 gene is located on chromosome 3q, was characterized as a tumor driver gene and is found to be overexpressed in an ever-growing number of tumors, particularly those with 3q26 amplification. Where analyzed, SEC62 overexpression was associated with poor prognosis. Sec62 protein is a membrane protein of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and has functions in endoplasmic reticulum protein import, endoplasmic reticulum-phagy and -in cooperation with the cytosolic protein calmodulin- the maintenance of cellular calcium homeostasis. Various human tumors show SEC62 overexpression in immunohistochemistry and corresponding cell lines confirm this phenomenon in western blots and immunofluorescence. Furthermore, these tumor cells are characterized by increased stress tolerance and migratory as well as invasive potential, three hallmarks of cancer cells. Strikingly, plasmid-driven overexpression of SEC62 in non-SEC62 overexpressing cells introduces the same three hallmarks of cancer into the transfected cells. Depletion of Sec62 from either type of SEC62 overexpressing tumor cells by treatment with SEC62-targeting siRNAs leads to reduced stress tolerance and reduced migratory as well as invasive potential. Where tested, treatment of SEC62 overexpressing tumor cells with the small molecule/calmodulin antagonist trifluoperazine (TFP) phenocopied the effect of SEC62-targeting siRNAs. Recently, first phase II clinical trials with the prodrug mipsagargin/G202, which targets cellular calcium homeostasis in prostate cells as well as neovascular tissue in various tumors were started. According to experiments with tumor cell lines, however, SEC62 overexpressing tumor cells may be less responsive or resistant against such treatment. Therefore, murine tumor models for tumor growth or metastasis were evaluated with respect to their responsiveness to treatment with a mipsagargin analog (thapsigargin), or trifluoperazine, which had previously been in clinical use for the treatment of schizophrenia, or with the combination of both drugs. So far, no additive effect of the two drugs was observed but trifluoperazine had an inhibitory effect on tumor growth and metastatic potential in the models. Here, we review the state of affairs

Do sojourn effects on personality trait changes last? A five-year longitudinal study

Richter J, Zimmermann J, Neyer FJ, Kandler C. Do sojourn effects on personality trait changes last? A five-year longitudinal study. European Journal of Personality. 2020;35(3):358-382.This study examined sojourners’ long-term personality trait changes over five years, extending previous research on immediate sojourn effects. A sample of German students (N = 1,095) was surveyed thrice (T1-T3) over the course of an academic year. Sojourners (n = 498) lived abroad shortly after T1 for one or two semesters, stayers (n = 597) remained in their home country. Five years after T1, we surveyed the same participants (n = 441, 40.3%) again (T4). Beyond substantial selection effects, latent neighbor-change models revealed that small differences between sojourners’ and stayers’ openness, agreeableness, and neuroticism changes occurred early after sojourn-induced contextual change. Model estimates suggested sustained sojourn effects on openness and neuroticism changes thereafter, and a reversed effect on agreeableness change after return. Due to reduced power and low accuracy at T4, these estimates were not statistically significant. Based on model comparison analyses, however, we could rule out reversed effects for openness and accentuated effects for agreeableness and neuroticism as least likely. Moreover, separating short-term and long-term sojourners revealed no substantial differences, but recurring sojourn experiences tended to play a role in sustaining differences. We discuss implications for future studies on patterns of sojourn effects on personality trait changes

A long-term unit commitment problem with hydrothermal coordination for economic and emission control in large-scale electricity systems

The paper describes a long-term scheduling problem for thermal power plants and energy storages. In addition, renewable energy sources are integrated by considering the residual demand. Besides the classical minimization of the production costs, emission-related costs are taken into account. Thereby, emission costs are determined by market prices for CO2 emission certificates (i.e., using the EU emissions trading system). For the proposed unit commitment problem with hydrothermal coordination for economic and emission control, an enhanced mixed-integer linear programming model is presented. Moreover, a new heuristic approach is developed, which consists of two solution stages. The heuristic first performs an isolated dispatching of thermal plants. Then, a re-optimization stage is included in order to embed activities of energy storages into the final solution schedule. The considered approach is able to find outstanding schedules for benchmark instances with a planning horizon of up to one year. Furthermore, promising results are also obtained for large-scale real-world electricity systems. For the German electricity market, the relationship of CO2 certificate prices and the optimal thermal dispatch is illustrated by a comprehensive sensitivity analysis

Sagenwissen und Erinnerung an Hagen. Erzählen vom Helden im ›Nibelungenlied‹

Die nachfolgenden Überlegungen wollen zeigen, wie die Strukturmuster der berühmten Ankunftsszene, durch die Siegfried im ersten Teil des ›Nibelungenliedes‹ überhaupt erst als Heros konstituiert wird, im zweiten Teil des Epos aufgegriffen und in variierender Wiederholung dazu genutzt werden, um nunmehr Hagen als besten Helden zu etablieren. Dies geschieht nicht ohne Widersprüche, die den narrativen Entwurf des ›besten‹ Helden zugleich destabilisieren und dabei, indem sie das narrative Verfahren epischen Erzählens als Simulation vorführen, gerade die Literarizität des Erzählten in besonderer Weise aufzeigen