From disciplinary approaches toward transdisciplinary perspectives: Conceptual and political frameworks of Community Psychology in Europe

Community Psychology in this paper is analyzed as a system´s view towards global and local challenges. Based on the rich body of disciplinary knowledge and skills, transdisciplinary potentials and perspectives of community psychology will be outlined. The paper follows a line of arguments that community psychology has the option to play an important role to help to design a civil society based on trust, mutual support and individual and collective empowerment. Community psychology beyond disciplinary approaches has the potential for a new transdisciplinary science desperately needed to build the civil society of the future

Community Psychology as a Linking Science Potentials and Challenges for Transdisciplinary Competences

In a globalized world, traditional values of Community Psychology, like community building, social change and empowerment, require more than working in a local community and/or improving the social situation of specific groups. While this work will remain an important core part of Community Psychology, the field of Community Psychology also should empower itself: by using its competencies to develop social innovations, focusing at emerging futures by developing shared goals (and take shared risks), and by collaborating with other disciplines, societal institutions, business companies or other actors in society in order to make a difference in the world. Community Psychology as a global academic field and a practical challenges has a rich history based on different disciplines, on various political and value backgrounds coming from traditional and industrialized regions and countries from all parts of the world. To use this richness, we have to start to learn from each other and to value different approaches. Therefore, in the future, Community Psychology should focus both on macro- and micro-issues of community analysis and community building, and it should develop its identity as a “linking science” fertilizing different approaches into a both overall and culture-specific approach of community-based research and practice. To achieve these goals, it will be important to elaborate and re-identify the “DSA of community psychology”: Design Skills to develop both strategicinnovative and creative abilities in order to nurture mutual knowing, awareness and playfulness, Social Skills to enhance the art of community building as a collaborative and empowering process, leading to social responsiveness and inclusion. Action Skills to learn how to co-create, implement and evaluate new concepts and social innovations to build communities in different settings

Community Psychology as a Linking Science Potentials and Challenges for Transdisciplinary Competences

In a globalized world, traditional values of Community Psychology, like community building, social change and empowerment, require more than working in a local community and/or improving the social situation of specific groups. While this work will remain an important core part of Community Psychology, the field of Community Psychology also should empower itself: by using its competencies to develop social innovations, focusing at emerging futures by developing shared goals (and take shared risks), and by collaborating with other disciplines, societal institutions, business companies or other actors in society in order to make a difference in the world. Community Psychology as a global academic field and a practical challenges has a rich history based on different disciplines, on various political and value backgrounds coming from traditional and industrialized regions and countries from all parts of the world. To use this richness, we have to start to learn from each other and to value different approaches. Therefore, in the future, Community Psychology should focus both on macro- and micro-issues of community analysis and community building, and it should develop its identity as a “linking science” fertilizing different approaches into a both overall and culture-specific approach of community-based research and practice. To achieve these goals, it will be important to elaborate and re-identify the “DSA of community psychology”: Design Skills to develop both strategicinnovative and creative abilities in order to nurture mutual knowing, awareness and playfulness, Social Skills to enhance the art of community building as a collaborative and empowering process, leading to social responsiveness and inclusion. Action Skills to learn how to co-create, implement and evaluate new concepts and social innovations to build communities in different settings

Blauer Brief und seine Folgen: Ist eine Politik des Nulldefizits realisierbar?

Im vergangenen Jahr wies Deutschland mit 2,7% die mit Abstand größte Defizitquote in der EU auf. Vor diesem Hintergrund empfahl die EU-Kommission, dass der Ecofin-Rat im Rahmen des Haushaltsüberwachungsverfahrens eine Frühwarnung aussprechen sollte. Da sich die Bundesregierung daraufhin verpflichtete, sicherzustellen, dass die 3%-Grenze nicht überschritten und ein annähernd ausgeglichener Haushalt im Jahr 2004 erreicht wird, sah der Ecofin-Rat hiervon ab. Für Wolfgang Gerhards, Finanzminister von Sachsen-Anhalt, ist dieses Ziel »nicht nur möglich, sondern auch nötig«. Dazu bedarf es allerdings, »dass Bund und Länder auf gleicher Augenhöhe agieren. Dies muss notwendigerweise eine starke Rückkoppelung der Bundesebene mit der Länderebene bedeuten, insbesondere wenn es um internationale Absprachen und Verpflichtungen geht.« Auch für Dr. Jürgen Stark, Vizepräsident der Deutschen Bundesbank, »kann dieses Ziel erreicht werden. Im Hinblick auf die Bedeutung der Glaubwürdigkeit der für die Währungsunion beschlossenen Haushaltsregeln, aber auch unter Berücksichtigung der voraussichtlichen gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung und der finanzpolitischen Herausforderungen der Zukunft ist eine solche Politik nicht nur realisierbar, sondern sie ist im nationalen Eigeninteresse auch sachgerecht und notwendig.« Prof. Dr. Helmut Frisch, TU Wien und Präsident des Staatsschuldenausschusses, beschreibt in seinem Beitrag den Weg Österreichs zu einem »Nulldefizit«.Haushaltsdefizit, Öffentliche Finanzkontrolle, Wirtschaftslage, Finanzpolitik, Deutschland, Europäische Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion

Veränderungsfähigkeit lernen: Initiative für eine Schule zur Kunst des Wandels [The Art of Change-Ability: Towards a New School of Responsible Change]

Ressourcenleicht, immissionsneutral und gerecht – das sind die Ziele der anstehenden großen Veränderungen, wenn wir die Belastungsgrenzen des Systems Erde, das Wohlergehen aller Menschen und die Idee einer globalen und generationenübergreifen den Gerechtigkeit ernst nehmen. Wir wissen viel darüber, was sich ändern soll. Allein, die Veränderungen in Richtung Nachhaltigkeit kommen nicht schnell genug voran. Deswegen müssen wir uns intensiver mit den Wegen für einen erfolgreichen Wandel beschäftigen

Nanostructure and mechanics of mummified type I collagen from the 5300-year-old Tyrolean Iceman

Skin protects the body from pathogens and degradation. Mummified skin in particular is extremely resistant to decomposition. External influences or the action of micro-organisms, however, can degrade the connective tissue and lay the subjacent tissue open. To determine the degree of tissue preservation in mummified human skin and, in particular, the reason for its durability, we investigated the structural integrity of its main protein, type I collagen. We extracted samples from the Neolithic glacier mummy known as ‘the Iceman’. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed collagen fibrils that had characteristic banding patterns of 69 ± 5 nm periodicity. Both the microstructure and the ultrastructure of dermal collagen bundles and fibrils were largely unaltered and extremely well preserved by the natural conservation process. Raman spectra of the ancient collagen indicated that there were no significant modifications in the molecular structure. However, AFM nanoindentation measurements showed slight changes in the mechanical behaviour of the fibrils. Young's modulus of single mummified fibrils was 4.1 ± 1.1 GPa, whereas the elasticity of recent collagen averages 3.2 ± 1.0 GPa. The excellent preservation of the collagen indicates that dehydration owing to freeze-drying of the collagen is the main process in mummification and that the influence of the degradation processes can be addressed, even after 5300 years