Results from a representative survey

Welche Wirkung zeigt die Arbeit internationaler Sicherheits- und Entwicklungsakteure in Afghanistan? Wie bewertet die afghanische Bevölkerung die erzielten Resultate? Wie hoch ist die Legitimität, welche internationale Akteure bei der ländlichen Bevölkerung genießen? Wodurch sehen sich die Afghanen bedroht? Zur Klärung dieser und weiterer Fragen will diese Studie beitragen. Sie wurde von einem Forscherteam der Freien Universität Berlin, Sonderforschungsbereich 700, in Kooperation mit dem Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung, Referat Evaluierung, durchgeführt

Approaches and Methods

This report is a documentation of the methodological approach for an impact assessment of development intervention in conflict zones. We designed this approach for one specific region, Northeast Afghanistan, but we believe that it can easily be adapted to other regions and other contexts. This report is one result of an eight-year cooperative research project conducted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), evaluation division, and Freie Universität Berlin’s Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 700. The overall objectives of this project are, first, to develop a method for assessing the impact of development cooperation in conflict zones, and second, to apply this method in Northeast Afghanistan. The experiences from the first round of the emerging longitudinal impact assessment were taken into consideration in the present report. The basic question that we seek to address is whether development cooperation positively affects the stabilization of a conflict zone through a positive impact on general attitudes toward foreign intervention, on the legitimacy of the Afghan state, and on perceived security threats.Dieser Bericht dokumentiert das methodologische Vorgehen, das wir für die Wirkungsbeobachtung einer Entwicklungsintervention in einem Konfliktgebiet entworfen und implementiert haben. Das Vorgehen wurde auf eine bestimmte Region, nämlich Nordost-Afghanistan, zugeschnitten. Wir gehen aber davon aus, dass die Methode auch auf andere Regionen und Kontexte angepasst werden kann. Der vorliegende Methodenbericht ist eines der Ergebnisse, die aus einer Kooperation zwischen dem Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 700 der Freien Universität Berlin und dem Bundesministerium für Entwicklung und Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit (BMZ) über einen Zeitraum von acht Jahren hervorgegangen ist. Ziel der Kooperation ist es, eine Methode zu entwickeln, mit der man die Wirkung von Entwicklungsmaßnahmen in Konfliktgebieten erfassen kann. Diese Methode wurde dann in Nordost Afghanistan getestet. Die Erfahrungen aus der ersten Runde der so entstehenden Langzeitwirkungsbeobachtung gingen in den hier vorliegenden Methodenbericht ein. Die zentrale Frage, der wir mit der Forschungskooperation in Nordost- Afghanistan nachgehen, ist, ob Entwicklungsmaßnahmen eine positive Wirkung auf die Stabilisierung von Konfliktzonen haben, indem sie die Haltung der Bevölkerung gegenüber der externen Intervention, gegenüber dem afghanischen Staat und im Hinblick auf die eigene Sicherheit positiv beeinflussen

AI meets Digital: A Critical Review on Artificial Intelligence in Digital Entrepreneurship

Driven by a reduction in the cost of data generation and computing power and simultaneous advancement of mathematical methods, algorithms are becoming increasingly capable of mimicking human learning, profound judgment, and decision-making, even outperforming humans in doing so. This recent emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) seems to not only change the way how entrepreneurial endeavors operate but also the way how they emerge. In general, digital technologies are prone to render the processes and outcomes behind entrepreneurial endeavors less bounded and the locus of an entrepreneurial agency less predefined. Addressing the role of AI in this is only nascent so far. We thus suggest it is time to perform a critical review of the literature at the intersection of AI and digital entrepreneurship. Our investigation adopts a socio-technical lens to capture the state of the AI entrepreneurship literature and identify promising research avenues to trigger further discussions

Flying PIV measurements in a 4-valve IC engine water analogue to characterize the near-wall flow evolution

For a deeper understanding of the highly unsteady near-wall boundary layer flows in internal combustion (IC) engines, PIV-based flow field measurements close to the inner cylinder and piston walls within transparent engines are required. The herein described flying PIV method in combination with a scanning light-sheet provides time-resolved PIV measurements in a transparent IC engine water analogue in a radial plane 1.5 mm apart from the planar piston crown while the piston is moving. The light-sheet is parallel to the piston surface and moves with the piston thanks to the scanning technique that synchronizes the sheet motion with the non-linear piston motion. A compact high speed camera is positioned within the piston shaft below the transparent piston head and records the particle fields within the illuminated plane in time-resolved manner. The measurements are realized in a water-analogue of a 4-valve engine at 950 rpm engine speed in real situation. Instantaneous pictures are compared to phase-averaged velocity maps and allowed to localize regions of high cycle-to-cycle fluctuations

Differential Impact of Biological and Behavioral Traits on Postexercise Energy Intake in Men andWomen

The energy intake response to exercise is highly variable and energy (over-) compensation via increased post-exercise energy intake occurs in some individuals but not others. In explorative analyses, we aimed to identify biological and behavioral predictors of post-exercise ad libitum energy intake and whether these predictors differ from ad libitum energy intake after rest. Conclusions:Post-exercise energy intake is associatedwithdifferent factors than energy intake after rest and behavioral and biological traits differentially affect post-exercise energy intake in men and women. In women, habitual exercise behavior seems to predict postexercise energy intake, protecting against compensatory eating. Inmen, appetite-regulating hormones play a role in the energy intake response to acute exercise. Our findings may help identify individuals who are likely to show post-exercise energy compensation and help explain why it occurs in some individuals but not others

Translational and Rotational Energy Distributions of NO Photodesorbed from Au(100)

We report velocity and internal state distributions of nitric oxide photodesorbed from an Au(100) single crystal using 355 and 266 nm photons. The velocity distributions were measured in all three dimensions independently using our novel 3D-velocity map imaging setup. Combined with the internal energy distributions we reveal two distinct desorption mechanisms for the photodesorption of NO from gold dependent on the photon wavelength. The 355 nm desorption is dominated by a nonthermal mechanism due to excitation of an electron from the gold substrate to the adsorbed NO; this leads to a superthermal and noticeably narrow velocity distribution and a rotational state distribution that positively correlates with the velocity distribution and can be described by a rotational temperature appreciably above the surface temperature. Desorption with 266 nm photons leads to a slower average speed and wider angular distribution and rotational temperatures not too far off the surface temperature. We conclude that in the absence of occupied orbitals in the substrate and unoccupied orbitals on the adsorbed NO separated by 4.7 eV, corresponding to 266 nm; the shorter wavelength desorption is dominated by a thermally activated mechanism

Zurich Consensus: German Expert Opinion on the St. Gallen Votes on 15 March 2009 (11th International Conference at St. Gallen: Primary Therapy of Early Breast Cancer)

A German working group of 23 breast cancer experts discussed the results from the vote at this year's St. Gallen Consensus Conference on Primary Therapy for Early Breast Cancer ( March 11-14, 2009) and came up with some concrete recommendations for day-to-day therapeutic decisions in Germany. Due the fact that the concept of the St. Gallen Consensus Conference merely allows for a minimal consensus, the objective of the working group was to provide practice-related recommendations for day-to-day clinical decisions in Germany. One area of emphasis at St. Gallen was tumor biology as a starting point for reaching individual therapeutic decisions. Intensive discussion was necessary with respect to the clinical relevance of predictive and prognostic factors. A new addition to the area of systemic therapy was a first-ever discussion of the adjuvant administration of bisphosponates and the fact that therapy with trastuzumab in HER2 overexpressing breast cancer has been defined as the standard for neoadjuvant therapy. The value of taxanes as a component of (neo) adjuvant chemotherapy as well as the value of aromatase inhibitors for the endocrine adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal patients were affirmed

A Comparison of Atrial Fibrillation Monitoring Strategies After Cryptogenic Stroke (from the Cryptogenic Stroke and Underlying AF Trial)

Ischemic stroke cause remains undetermined in 30% of cases, leading to a diagnosis of cryptogenic stroke. Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major cause of ischemic stroke but may go undetected with short periods of ECG monitoring. The Cryptogenic Stroke and Underlying Atrial Fibrillation trial (CRYSTAL AF) demonstrated that long-term electrocardiographic monitoring with insertable cardiac monitors (ICM) is superior to conventional follow-up in detecting AF in the population with cryptogenic stroke. We evaluated the sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of various external monitoring techniques within a cryptogenic stroke cohort. Simulated intermittent monitoring strategies were compared to continuous rhythm monitoring in 168 ICM patients of the CRYSTAL AF trial. Short-term monitoring included a single 24-hour, 48-hour, and 7-day Holter and 21-day and 30-day event recorders. Periodic monitoring consisted of quarterly monitoring through 24-hour, 48-hour, and 7-day Holters and monthly 24-hour Holters. For a single monitoring period, the sensitivity for AF diagnosis was lowest with a 24-hour Holter (1.3%) and highest with a 30-day event recorder (22.8%). The NPV ranged from 82.3% to 85.6% for all single external monitoring strategies. Quarterly monitoring with 24-hour Holters had a sensitivity of 3.1%, whereas quarterly 7-day monitors increased the sensitivity to 20.8%. The NPVs for repetitive periodic monitoring strategies were similar at 82.6% to 85.3%. Long-term continuous monitoring was superior in detecting AF compared to all intermittent monitoring strategies evaluated (p <0.001). Long-term continuous electrocardiographic monitoring with ICMs is significantly more effective than any of the simulated intermittent monitoring strategies for identifying AF in patients with previous cryptogenic stroke

Advances in island plant biology since Sherwin Carlquist’s Island Biology

Sherwin Carlquist’s seminal publications—in particular his classic Island Biology, published in 1974—formulated hypotheses specific to island biology that remain valuable today. This special issue brings together some of the most interesting contributions presented at the First Island Biology Symposiumhosted in Honolulu on 7–11 July 2014.We compiled a total of 18 contributions that present data from multiple archipelagos across the world and from different disciplines within the plant sciences. In this introductory paper,we first provide a short overviewof Carlquist’s life andwork and then summarize themain findings of the collated papers. A first group of papers deals with issues to which Carlquist notably contributed: longdistance dispersal, adaptive radiation and plant reproductive biology. The findings of such studies demonstrate the extent to which the field has advanced thanks to (i) the increasing availability and richness of island data, covering many taxonomic groups and islands; (ii) new information from the geosciences, phylogenetics and palaeoecology, which allows us a more realistic understanding of the geological and biological development of islands and their biotas; and (iii) the new theoretical and methodological advances that allow us to assess patterns of abundance, diversity and distribution of island biota over large spatial scales. Most other papers in the issue cover a range of topics related to plant conservation on islands, such as causes and consequences ofmutualistic disruptions (due to pollinator or disperser losses, introduction of alien predators, etc.). Island biologists are increasingly considering reintroducing ecologically important species to suitable habitats within their historic range and to neighbouring islands with depauperate communities of vertebrate seed dispersers, and an instructive example is given here. Finally, contributions on ecological networks demonstrate the usefulness of this methodological tool to advancing conservationmanagement and better predicting the consequences of disturbances on species and interactions in the fragile insular ecosystems