Terrorism and Africa: on the danger of further attacks in Sub-Saharan Africa

"The attacks in Mombasa of November 2002 have drawn attention to a region of the world that had been considered a minor stage in the fight against terrorism following September 11, namely sub-Saharan Africa. The alliance against terrorism previously limited its efforts in this area to preventing al-Qaida fighters from finding refuge in the Horn of Africa. What seemed to have been forgotten was that the first monstrous attacks by al-Qaida took place in East Africa. In 1998, the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were bombed, killing 291 and 10 people respectively. The recent actions of al-Qaida in the region raise two questions: Does Africa threaten to become a hotspot of international terrorism? And, how can terrorist attacks in Africa be prevented in the future?" (author's abstract

Succession in Horticultural Family Businesses: Determining Factors

Succession is a pervasive topic in recent family business research and receives attention from a wide range of research directions. Strategic and principal-agent approaches discuss the subject from an organizational point of view; gender research takes a sociological viewpoint. The study assesses the perspectives of those involved in the succession process through a qualitative research approach. Based on in-depth interviews, a comparative analysis leads to the development of a substantial grounded theory of succession in horticultural family businesses. Results show a range of determining factors, including socialization of the potential successor, affecting the generation spanning succession process

Succession in Horticultural Family Businesses

Succession is a persistent topic in recent family business research and garners attention from a wide range of research areas. Strategic and principal‐agent approaches discuss the subject from an organizational point of view; gender research takes a sociological viewpoint. The present study assesses the perspectives of those involved in the succession process through a qualitative research approach. Based on in‐depth interviews conducted in German horticultural businesses, a comparative analysis serves as the starting point for an inquiry of internal succession processes. With transferability limited to similar cases, results show a range of important factors, affecting the generation‐spanning succession process

Classification and regression of stenosis using an in-vitro pulse wave data set: Dependence on heart rate, waveform and location

Background: Data-based approaches promise to use the information in cardiovascular signals to diagnose cardiovascular diseases. Considerable effort has been undertaken in the field of pulse-wave analysis to harness this information. However, the inverse problem, inferring arterial properties from waveform measurements, is not well understood today. Consequently, uncertainties within the estimation hinder the diagnostic application of such methods. Method: This work contributes a publicly available data set measured at an in-vitro cardiovascular simulator, focusing on a set of input conditions (heart rate, waveform) and stenosis locations. Furthermore, a first attempt is undertaken to perform classification and regression on this data set using standard machine learning methods on features extracted from four peripheral pressure signals. Results: The locations of six different stenoses could be distinguished at high accuracy of 93%, where transfer function-based features outperformed features based solely on signal shape in almost all cases. Furthermore, regression on the stenosis position could be performed with a root mean square error of 2.4 cm along a 20 cm section of the arterial system using a shallow neural network. However, the performance difference between shape and transfer function features was not clear for this task. Conclusion: The data set contains 800 measurements and allows investigating the influence of different heart boundary conditions, such as heart rate and waveform shape, on classification and regression tasks. Extracting features that minimise this influence is a promising way of improving the performance of these tasks

Mindsets in Intra-familial Farm Transfer: Successful Successor and Predecessor Prototypes

This paper investigates mindsets in the context of family farm succession. Using a grounded theory approach, interviews and group discussions were analyzed. Results based on both data sets present prototypical mindsets of successful predecessors and successors. The mindset construct, which has been developed for this study, was expanded with stakeholders, information flows, and time, according to the results of this study. The findings provide insights into information processing in intra-familial farm succession and the mindsets of successful predecessors and successors. The mindset approach offers a supplementary and valuable perspective on the succession process. It can contribute to early action taking of farming families or consultants

The transfer of IgA from mucus to plasma and the implications for diagnosis and control of nematode infections

Immunoglobulin A (IgA) activity has been associated with reduced growth and fecundity of Teladorsagia circumcincta. IgA is active at the site of infection in the abomasal mucus. However, while IgA activity in abomasal mucus is not easily measured in live animals without invasive methods, IgA activity can be readily detected in the plasma, making it a potentially valuable tool in diagnosis and control. We used a Bayesian statistical analysis to quantify the relationship between mucosal and plasma IgA in sheep deliberately infected with T. circumcincta. The transfer of IgA depends on mucosal IgA activity as well as its interaction with worm number and size; together these account for over 80% of the variation in plasma IgA activity. By quantifying the impact of mucosal IgA and worm number and size on plasma IgA, we provide a tool that can allow more meaningful interpretation of plasma IgA measurements and aid the development of efficient control programmes

Auslandseinsätze der Bundeswehr : Leitfragen, Entscheidungsspielräume und Lehren

Auslandseinsätze der Bundeswehr sind zurzeit wohl das Thema, das Außen- und Sicherheitspolitiker, aber auch die politisch interessierte Öffentlichkeit, am meisten bewegt. Dies ist nicht nur an zahlreichen Äußerungen von Politikern, an Bundestagsdebatten und Meinungsumfragen abzulesen, sondern hat sich auch in der politikwissenschaftlichen und politikberatenden Literatur niedergeschlagen. In diesem Umfeld konzentriert sich die vorliegende Zusammenstellung von Aufsätzen insbesondere auf drei Fragestellungen: * Welche Leitfragen können Bundestag und Bundesregierung bei der Entscheidung helfen, ob sie sich an internationalen Militäreinsätzen beteiligen bzw. die Beteiligung daran beenden wollen? * Welche Entscheidungsspielräume bestehen für Bundestag und Bundesregierung? * Welche politischen Lehren können aus bisherigen Einsätzen (westlicher Balkan, Afghanistan, Libanon, DR Kongo) gezogen werden? So unterschiedlich die Beiträge des Bandes auch sind, es lassen sich dennoch vier Punkte identifizieren, in denen sie weitgehend übereinstimmen und denen sie bei der weiteren Beteiligung Deutschlands an internationalen Militäreinsätzen große Bedeutung beimessen: * der frühzeitigen und eindeutigen Positionsbestimmung des Bundestages und der Bundesregierung hinsichtlich eines Einsatzes der Bundeswehr im Ausland; * dem Einstehen für diese Position im multilateralen Entscheidungsprozess - insbesondere in der UN, der Nato und der EU; * der Vermittlung der Position und der letztlich getroffenen Entscheidung gegenüber der Öffentlichkeit; * der Übersetzung der politischen Entscheidung in realistische Ziele für den Militäreinsatz und einen klaren Auftrag für die daran beteiligten deutschen Streitkräfte