A decision theoretical analysis of decisions of the Dutch government in exile during World War II

Das Papier beschreibt eine entscheidungstheoretische Analyse von Entscheidungen der niederländischen Exilregierung in London in den Jahren 1940 und 1941 in bezug auf die Verlegung des Regierungssitzes nach Holländisch-Ostindien. Zusammen mit einem von den Autoren entwickelten textanalytischen Verfahren, führt der entscheidungstheoretische Ansatz zu sehr nützlichen Einsichten in die entsprechenden Dokumente: Der Entscheidungsprozeß und das Muster der Einflußnahme verschiedener Regierungsberater konnten entdeckt werden. Die Entscheidungsgrundlagen, die die Wahl der verschiedenen Alternativen begründeten, konnten vollständig vorausgesagt werden, wobei dies auf der Qualität der Wert- und Wahrscheinlichkeitsaussagen basierte. (KW)'This paper describes a decision theoretical analysis of decisions of the Dutch government in exile in London in 1940/41 with respect to the transference of the seat of the government to the Dutch East-Indies. Combined with a text-analysis procedure developed by the authors, the decision theoretical approach to the related documents produced very useful insights: the decision process and the influence-pattern of the different governmental advisers could be detected and the decision rules which explain the choices could be perfectly predicted, based on the quality of the value- and probability statements.' (author's abstract

Strategy Choices of Foreign Policy Decision Makers THE NETHERLANDS, 1914

The assessment of the selection of strategy is studied using documents of a specific case of Dutch foreign policy from the beginning of World War I. First, a content analysis procedure was developed in order to search for the relevant concepts in the documents and to represent the argumentations in decision trees. Thereafter, the applicability of several decision critena to the data is discussed. In order to describe the data, an alternative decision rule had to be developed, one which can be considered an adaptation of Simon's satisficing principle

Formulierung und Klassifikation von Fragen

"Häufig untersucht man, welchen Einfluss die Formulierung von Fragen auf Antworten hat, während das Problem der Übersetzung von Begriffen in Fragen kaum erörtert wird. In dieser Studie wollen wir uns mit der Übertragung von Konstrukten in Fragen befassen. Durch die Operationalisierung von Konstrukten kann angegeben werden, auf welche intuitiven Begriffe sie sich beziehen. Danach kann anhand der intuitiven Begriffe festgestellt werden, welche Fragen in Betracht kommen. Intuitive Begriffe beziehen sich auf kognitive Überzeugungen, Evaluationen, evaluative Überzeugungen, affektive Bewertungen, Präferenzen, Werte, Normen, Verhalten, Handhungstendenzen und dergleichen. Um den Zusammenhang zwischen den intuitiven Konzepten und ihrer sprachlichen Formulierung in den Items zu verdeutlichen, werden die Strukturen von Behauptungen analysiert. Wenn man die Begriffe mit der Frageform verknüpft, erhält man ein Verfahren zur systematischen Klassifizierung von Fragen, das sich auch eignet, um Fehler in Fragen zu entdecken, wodurch man eine erhebliche Verbesserung der Qualität der Fragen erzielen kann." (Autorenreferat)"A great deal has been written about the effects of the wording of survey questions on the responses. On the other hand, relatively little attention has been given to the content of the questions or the translation of theoretical concepts into corresponding questions for survey research. In this paper we concentrate on the links between a set of basic concepts for social science research and questions which can be formulated in order to measure these concepts. The basic concepts we will discuss are: cognitions, evaluations, evaluative beliefs, feelings, preferences, rights, norms, policies, behavior, action tendencies, expectations and a number of demographic characteristics. In order to clarify the link between the concepts and their verbal expression (assertions), we analyze the structures of sentences expressing the different concepts. We also look at the specific types of questions which can be asked about such concepts and discusses their meaning. The combination of the classifications of concepts and questions provides a procedure that allows us to formulate and classify questions in a systematic fashion." (author's abstract

Energy backtransfer and infrared photoresponse in erbium-doped silicon p-n diodes

Temperature-dependent measurements of the photoluminescence (PL) intensity, PL lifetime, and infrared photocurrent, were performed on an erbium-implanted silicon p - n junction in order to investigate the energy transfer processes between the silicon electronic system and the Er 4 f energy levels. The device features excellent light trapping properties due to a textured front surface and a highly reflective rear surface. The PL intensity and PL lifetime measurements show weak temperature quenching of the erbium intra-4 f transition at 1.535 mm for temperatures up to 150 K, attributed to Auger energy transfer to free carriers. For higher temperatures, much stronger quenching is observed, which is attributed to an energy backtransfer process, in which Er deexcites by generation of a bound exciton at an Er-related trap. Dissociation of this exciton leads to the generation of electron-hole pairs that can be collected as a photocurrent. In addition, nonradiative recombination takes place at the trap. It is shown for the first time that all temperature-dependent data for PL intensity, PL lifetime, and photocurrent can be described using a single model. By fitting all temperature-dependent data simultaneously, we are able to extract the numerical values of the parameters that determine the ~temperature-dependent! energy transfer rates in erbium-doped silicon. While the external quantum efficiency of the photocurrent generation process is small (1.831026) due to the small erbium absorption cross section and the low erbium concentration, the conversion of Er excitations into free e - h pairs occurs with an efficiency of 70% at room temperature

Flat-gain and Wideband EDFA by using Dual Stage Amplifier Technique

In this paper, the flat-gain and wideband amplification of erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) was demonstrated by using a dual stage amplifier technique. The performance of dual stage amplifiers was investigated at high (- 10 dBm) and low (-30 dBm) input signal powers and then compared with that of single stage amplifier performance in terms of varying length of the gain medium, pump power and input signal power. Both stages of amplifiers showed better amplification performance at low input signal power of -30 dBm, as compared to high input signal power of -10 dBm. The dual stage amplifier showed better amplification for all experiments in comparison with the single stage amplifier. The dual stage amplifier gave the highest gain from the gain medium the of 2 m and 20 m for EDF1 and EDF2, respectively, with the highest pump power of 700 mW. Succinctly, through the dual stage amplifier technique, flat-gain and wideband EDFA were significantly achieved

The Short-Term Opening of Cyclosporin A-Independent Palmitate/Sr2+-Induced Pore Can Underlie Ion Efflux in the Oscillatory Mode of Functioning of Rat Liver Mitochondria

Mitochondria are capable of synchronized oscillations in many variables, but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that rat liver mitochondria, when exposed to a pulse of Sr2+ ions in the presence of valinomycin (a potassium ionophore) and cyclosporin A (a specific inhibitor of the permeability transition pore complex) under hypotonia, showed prolonged oscillations in K+ and Sr2+ fluxes, membrane potential, pH, matrix volume, rates of oxygen consumption and H2O2 formation. The dynamic changes in the rate of H2O2 production were in a reciprocal relationship with the respiration rate and in a direct relationship with the mitochondrial membrane potential and other indicators studied. The pre-incubation of mitochondria with Ca2+(Sr2+)-dependent phospholipase A(2) inhibitors considerably suppressed the accumulation of free fatty acids, including palmitic and stearic acids, and all spontaneous Sr2+-induced cyclic changes. These data suggest that the mechanism of ion efflux from mitochondria is related to the opening of short-living pores, which can be caused by the formation of complexes between Sr2+(Ca2+) and endogenous long-chain saturated fatty acids (mainly, palmitic acid) that accumulate due to the activation of phospholipase A(2) by the ions. A possible role for transient palmitate/Ca2+(Sr2+)-induced pores in the maintenance of ion homeostasis and the prevention of calcium overload in mitochondria under pathophysiological conditions is discussed.Peer reviewe

The Short-Term Opening of Cyclosporin A-Independent Palmitate/Sr2+-Induced Pore Can Underlie Ion Efflux in the Oscillatory Mode of Functioning of Rat Liver Mitochondria

Mitochondria are capable of synchronized oscillations in many variables, but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that rat liver mitochondria, when exposed to a pulse of Sr2+ ions in the presence of valinomycin (a potassium ionophore) and cyclosporin A (a specific inhibitor of the permeability transition pore complex) under hypotonia, showed prolonged oscillations in K+ and Sr2+ fluxes, membrane potential, pH, matrix volume, rates of oxygen consumption and H2O2 formation. The dynamic changes in the rate of H2O2 production were in a reciprocal relationship with the respiration rate and in a direct relationship with the mitochondrial membrane potential and other indicators studied. The pre-incubation of mitochondria with Ca2+(Sr2+)-dependent phospholipase A2 inhibitors considerably suppressed the accumulation of free fatty acids, including palmitic and stearic acids, and all spontaneous Sr2+-induced cyclic changes. These data suggest that the mechanism of ion efflux from mitochondria is related to the opening of short-living pores, which can be caused by the formation of complexes between Sr2+(Ca2+) and endogenous long-chain saturated fatty acids (mainly, palmitic acid) that accumulate due to the activation of phospholipase A2 by the ions. A possible role for transient palmitate/Ca2+(Sr2+)-induced pores in the maintenance of ion homeostasis and the prevention of calcium overload in mitochondria under pathophysiological conditions is discussed