Teaching self-control: road safety and traffic education in postwar Germany

In the 1950s, the Federal Republic of Germany had to cope with a situation referred to at the time as "Verkehrskrise" (traffic crisis). In a relatively short time span, the number of cars on German roads had increased rapidly, as well as the number of accidents and fatalities. Correspondingly, efforts in traffic education were heavily intensified. By examining public campaigns and expert discourse, the article explores how the notion of self-control gained more and more acceptance among road safety experts, and eventually helped to establish a paradigm change in Western German traffic education. In the course of the three decades from the 1950s to the 1970s, the focus shifted from enforcement by appealing to reason and disciplinary endeavors to the internalization of adequate behavior on the road and competence behind the wheel. Traffic education aimed to motivate road users to regulate themselves and to improve their ability to adapt to traffic situations. It tried to establish a specialized "seventh sense" as the core element of vernacular risk practices on the road. The notion of self-control, as implemented in public campaigns and other road safety activities, relied on societal models and certain notions of social and political order. These included, in particular, traditional family and gender roles, Christian religious values, and democratic freedom. Therefore, road traffic can be regarded as a cultural concept with road safety as a discursive arena. In that sense, road safety does not appear as a static state but was in a state of flux just as traffic itself was. Thus it required self-control and routinized yet flexible practices to improve the resilience of each individual road user to the risk of accidents as well as the resilience of the traffic system itself. (author's abstract

Mediale Molotow-Cocktails

Mit einem Theoriemix aus Konstruktivismus, Systemtheorie, Diskursanalyse und Wissenssoziologie untersucht der Autor das Phänomen des Medienskandals und verfolgt sein theoretisches Erkenntnisinteresse im Dialog mit dem Fallbeispiel des Friedman-Skandals aus dem Jahr 2003. Medienskandale, verstanden als ein von den Massenmedien konstruiertes Narrationsschema, werden als "Brandsätze" mit hoher publizistischer Sprengkraft begriffen, die symbolische, politische und ökonomische Macht aktualisieren. Die konsequent funktionale Perspektive fragt nach der Bedeutung von Medienskandalen für Akteure, soziale Systeme und die symbolische Ordnung der Gesellschaft

Tortillas on the roaster: Central America’s maize–bean systems and the changing climate

Maize and beans are a vital component of human diets and culture in Central America. More than a million smallholder families grow these crops for subsistence, producing 70% of the maize and 100% of the beans consumed locally. Average yields are low, however – 1.5 t/ha for maize and 0.7 t/ha for beans – on the approximately 2.5 million hectares of land sown to these crops (40% of the total area harvested) in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In the years to come, a harsher climate together with soil degradation1, widespread poverty, and rural people’s limited access to services and infrastructure will pose challenging obstacles to production. By 2025, these pressures could result in total annual losses of maize and bean production in the four countries of around 350,000 t – with a gross production value of around US$120 million. To ward off this threat to the food security of some 100,000 households, effective adaptation strategies must be developed in collaboration with stakeholders in the maize and bean value chains. These strategies require strong public support and must draw on both scientific and community knowledge

Tortillas en el comal: los sistemas de maíz y fríjol de América Central y el cambio climático

El maíz y el fríjol son un componente vital de las dietas alimenticias de los humanos y la cultura en América Central. Más de un millón de familias de pequeños agricultores siembran estos cultivos para su subsistencia y producen el 70% del maíz y 100% del fríjol que se consume localmente. Sin embargo, los rendimientos promedio son bajos —1.5 t/ha para maíz y 0.7 t/ha para fríjol — en las cerca de 2.5 millones de hectáreas de tierra sembradas con estos cultivos (40% del área total cosechada) en El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua. En los próximos años, el cambio climático junto con la degradación del suelo, la pobreza generalizada y el acceso limitado de la población rural a servicios e infraestructura plantearán obstáculos desafiantes para la producción. Para el 2025, estas presiones podrían producir pérdidas anuales totales de la producción de maíz y fríjol en los cuatro países de alrededor de 350.000 t — con un valor bruto de producción cercano a US$120 millones. Para detener esta amenaza para la seguridad alimentaria de alrededor de 100.000 hogares, se deben desarrollar unas estrategias de adaptación efectivas en colaboración con los interesados directos de las cadenas de valor del maíz y el fríjol. Estas estrategias requieren un apoyo público firme y deben aprovechar tanto el conocimiento científico como el saber de las comunidades

Monitoring of lung edema by microwave reflectometry during lung ischemia-reperfusion injury in vivo

It is still unclear whether lung edema can be monitored by microwave reflectometry and whether the measured changes in lung dry matter content (DMC) are accompanied by changes in PaO(2) and in pro-to anti-inflammatory cytokine expression (IFN-gamma and IL-10). Right rat lung hili were cross-clamped at 37 degrees C for 0, 60, 90 or 120 min ischemia followed by 120 min reperfusion. After 90 min (DMC: 15.9 +/- 1.4%; PaO(2): 76.7 +/- 18 mm Hg) and 120 min ischemia (DMC: 12.8 +/- 0.6%; PaO(2): 43 +/- 7 mm Hg), a significant decrease in DMC and PaO(2) throughout reperfusion compared to 0 min ischemia (DMC: 19.5 +/- 1.11%; PaO(2): 247 +/- 33 mm Hg; p < 0.05) was observed. DMC and PaO(2) decreased after 60 min ischemia but recovered during reperfusion (DMC: 18.5 +/- 2.4%; PaO(2) : 173 +/- 30 mm Hg). DMC values reflected changes on the physiological and molecular level. In conclusion, lung edema monitoring by microwave reflectometry might become a tool for the thoracic surgeon. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel