Credit Crunch in Germany?

This paper evaluates whether the Germany economy is currently affected by a credit crunch, i.e. a supply-side restriction of loans that is not in line with market interest rates and profitability of investment projects.With help of a disequilibrium- model, we calculate a credit supply and a demand-function. We compare estimated demand with estimated supply, finding a considerable excess- demand particularly in the second half of 2002. The main reason for this restriction is the drop in earnings in the banking sector. Applying the model to Großbanken (big banks) and other credit institutions separately, shows that the situation in the former is more severe than in the latter.

Diversificar e brincar com espaços e tempos na educação infantil

Trabalho de Conclusão do Curso de Especialização em Educação Infantil - 1ª Edição – Polo Joinville - SC, para a obtenção do Grau de Especialista em Educação InfantilO presente artigo aborda a reorganização dos espaços e tempos na educação infantil, tendo como foco a atividade principal da criança – o brincar. O tema é relevante na medida em que reflete na teoria e na prática de como a reorganização dos espaços e tempos na rotina da educação infantil contribui para o desenvolvimento infantil e melhora o desenvolvimento do processo ensino aprendizagem. Tem como objetivo central, analisar a prática docente e as manifestações das crianças face às mudanças propostas nos espaços e tempos no próprio cotidiano, sempre destacando a brincadeira. Os principais pensadores que norteiam o tema em pauta são Ariès (1981), Fantin (2000), Kishimoto (1999), Pedroza (2005), Pinto (2007), Silva e Schneider (2007), Vigotsky (1987, 1988, 1996), e Wasjkop (1995), assim como os Referenciais Curriculares para a Educação Infantil – RCNEI´s (1998). A metodologia utilizada é de cunho bibliográfico, com abordagem qualitativa, sendo que o estudo e resultados obtidos foram descritos de forma a refletir e articular teoria e prática, após a elaboração e aplicação de um projeto de intervenção. Assim, observou-se que as concepções de infância e como os espaços e tempos estão estruturados nas instituições educativas, dependem da filiação a um discurso e da função destas para a sociedade. Revelam também que quando o espaço está organizado de forma pensada na, para e com a criança, respeita-se ela como sujeito de direitos e capaz de participar de seu processo formativo, favorecendo sua autonomia, otimizando o tempo e tornando o processo ensino aprendizagem mais proveitoso

Capabilities of the Environmental Effects Branch at Marshall Space Flight Cente

The Environmental Effects Branch at the Marshall Space Flight Center supports a myriad array of programs for NASA, DoD, and commercial space including human exploration, advanced space propulsion, improving life on Earth, and the study of the Sun, the Earth, and the solar system. The branch provides testing, evaluation, and qualification of materials for use on external spacecraft surfaces and in contamination-sensitive systems. Space environment capabilities include charged particle radiation, ultraviolet radiation, atomic oxygen, impact, plasma, and thermal vacuum, anchored by flight experiments and analysis of returned space hardware. These environmental components can be combined for solar wind or planetary surface environment studies or to evaluate synergistic effects. The Impact Testing Facility allows simulation of impacts ranging from sand and rain to micrometeoroids and orbital debris in order to evaluate materials and components for flight and ground-based systems. The Contamination Control Team is involved in the evaluation of environmentally-friendly replacements for HCFC-225 for use in propulsion oxygen systems, developing cleaning methods for additively manufactured hardware, and reducing risk for the Space Launch System

Trying to make sense of the chaos: Clinical psychologists' experiences and perceptions of clients with borderline personality disorder'

Background Evidence of negative perceptions of clients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) in mental health professionals has been well documented. However, few researchers have focused upon perspectives of clinical psychologists on this client group. The aim of the present research was to explore clinical psychologists' experiences and perceptions of clients with BPD. Method Sixteen female clinical psychologists (including trainees and qualified staff) participated in focus groups, 12 of whom had direct clinical experience with this client group. All four groups' audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith, 1996). Results The following eight superordinate themes emerged from the analysis: negative perceptions of the client, undesirable feelings in the psychologist, positive perceptions of the client, desirable feelings in the psychologist, awareness of negativity, trying to make sense of the chaos, working in contrast to the system and improving our role. Discussion Implications include concerns regarding negativity, yet also the suggestion of hope and optimism in working with this client group. Copyright (C) 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.</p

Recent advances in exploring physiology and biodiversity of ectomycorrhizas highlight the functioning of these symbioses in ecosystems

Ectomycorrhizas, the dominating mycorrhizal symbiosis in boreal, temperate and some tropical forests, are formed by 5000-6000 species of the asco- and basidiomycetes. This high diversity of fungal partners allows optimal foraging and mobilisation of various nitrogen and phosphorus forms from organic soil layers. In this review, two approaches to study the functioning of this multitude of symbiotic associations are presented. On selected culture models, physiological and molecular investigations have shown that the supply of hexoses has a key function in controlling the plant^fungus interaction via partner-specific regulation of gene expression. Environmental factors which affect fungal carbon supply, such as increased nitrogen availability, also affect mycorrhiza formation. Based on such laboratory results, the adaptative capability of ectomycorrhizas to changing field conditions is discussed. The second approach consists of analysing the distribution of mycorrhizas in ecosystem compartments and to relate distribution patterns to variations of ecological factors. Recent advances in identification of fungal partners in ectomycorrhizas by analysing the internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA are presented, which can help to resolve sampling problems in field studies. The limits of the laboratory and the field approaches are discussed. Despite some problems, this combined approach is the most promising. Direct investigation of gene expression, which has been introduced for soil bacteria, will be difficult in the case of mycorrhizal fungi which constitute organisms with functionally varying structure

Absolute calibration of the LOPES antenna system

Radio emission in extensive air showers arises from an interaction with the geomagnetic field and is subject of theoretical studies. This radio emission has advantages for the detection of high energy cosmic rays compared to secondary particle or fluorescence measurement methods. Radio antennas like the LOPES30 antenna system are suited to investigate this emission process by detecting the radio pulses. The characteristic observable parameters like electric field strength and pulse length require a calibration which was done with a reference radio source resulting in an amplification factor representing the system behavior in the environment of the KASCADE-Grande experiment. Knowing the amplification factor and the gain of the LOPES antennas LOPES30 is calibrated absolutely for systematic analyses of the radio emission.Comment: 5 pages, Proceedings of International Workshop on Acoustic and Radio EeV Neutrino detection Activities: ARENA, May 17-19, 2005, DESY Zeuthe

Filter properties of seam material from paved urban soils

International audienceDepositions of all kinds of urban dirt and dust including anthropogenic organic substances like soot change the filter properties of the seam filling material of pervious pavements and lead to the formation of a new soil substrate called seam material. In this study, the impact of the particular urban form of organic matter (OM) on the seam materials CECpot, the specific surface area (As), the surface charge density (SCD), the adsorption energies (Ea) and the adsorption of Cd and Pb were assessed. The Cd and Pb displacement through the pavement system has been simulated in order to assess the risk of soil and groundwater contamination from infiltration of rainwater in paved urban soils. As, Ea and SCD derived from water vapor adsorption isotherms, CECpot, Pb and Cd adsorption isotherms where analyzed from adsorption experiments. The seam material is characterized by a darker munsell-color and a higher Corg (12 to 48g kg-1) compared to the original seam filling. Although, the increased Corg leads to higher As (16m2g-1) and higher CECpot (0.7 to 4.8cmolckg-1), with 78cmolckg-1C its specific CECpot is low compared to OM of non-urban soils. This can be explained by a low SCD of 1.2×10-6molc m-2 and a low fraction of high adsorption energy sites which is likely caused by the non-polar character of the accumulated urban OM in the seam material. The seam material shows stronger sorption of Pb and Cd compared to the original construction sand. The retardation capacity of seam material for Pb is similar, for Cd it is much smaller compared to natural sandy soils with similar Corg concentrations. The simulated long term displacement scenarios for a street in Berlin do not indicate an acute contamination risk for Pb . For Cd the infiltration from puddles can lead to a breakthrough of Cd through the pavement system during only one decade. Although they contain contaminations itself, the accumulated forms of urban OM lead to improved filter properties of the seam material and may retard contaminations more effectively than the originally used construction sand