The EU “live” in Civic Education: To Experience and Understand the European Union in-situ. A model for and experiences from political excursions and thematic seminars to and in Brussels

Political Excursions to Brussels on EU matters can be a very effective and important methods and format of civic education. Based on experience from practice, this can be the case in particular if they are conceived of, organised and implemented as in-situ seminars, which has been practised in over 40 seminars since 2004. The format we advocate and demonstrate here, with an early qualitative evaluation based on the literature and contrast to other practices and models, is one of an exemplary (by policy field), multi-perspective (different key institutions, players, actors and preferable nationalities on inputting participants or at least experts) approach which is conducted in-situ. This is, however, resource and planning intensive, and requires quite a high degree of experience and expertise, and is not a model which can be taken to a mass-produced regular repeat delivery. The learning and engagement of voluntary participants in non-formal education, in addition to (though at times in partnership with) formal education institutions - such as secondary schools or universities – is very significant and has been shown and evaluated to be of a high level of quality with significant nation-wide appeal in Germany and of staying power in the market for civic education. We also reflect on how this approach may be a basis for genuinely trans-national non-formal civic education in Europe on EU matters

CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS AND PROGRAM CODING: AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION

Information Systems Working Papers Serie

The EU “live” in Civic Education: To Experience and Understand the European Union in-situ. A model for and experiences from political excursions and thematic seminars to and in Brussels

Political Excursions to Brussels on EU matters can be a very effective and important methods and format of civic education. Based on experience from practice, this can be the case in particular if they are conceived of, organised and implemented as in-situ seminars, which has been practised in over 40 seminars since 2004. The format we advocate and demonstrate here, with an early qualitative evaluation based on the literature and contrast to other practices and models, is one of an exemplary (by policy field), multi-perspective (different key institutions, players, actors and preferable nationalities on inputting participants or at least experts) approach which is conducted in-situ. This is, however, resource and planning intensive, and requires quite a high degree of experience and expertise, and is not a model which can be taken to a mass-produced regular repeat delivery. The learning and engagement of voluntary participants in non-formal education, in addition to (though at times in partnership with) formal education institutions - such as secondary schools or universities – is very significant and has been shown and evaluated to be of a high level of quality with significant nation-wide appeal in Germany and of staying power in the market for civic education. We also reflect on how this approach may be a basis for genuinely trans-national non-formal civic education in Europe on EU matters

Structured Tools and Condiitonal Logic: an Empirical Investigation

An important outcome of recent work on the psychology of programming has been the recognition that we have a poor understanding of how various programming practices-indenting, commenting, naming, etc.-facilitate or inhibit the programming process. After a fairly extensive series of studies, many results obtained are contradictory and counterintuitive. The major probem seems to be that we have poor theoretical bases to drive the empirical research. In particular, we have little knowledge of the psychological constructs that programmers bring to bear when they perform various programming tasks, and we have little knowledge of what is natural for programmers. This research tested the propositon that the effectiveness of a programming practice is a function of the extent to which it provides a close cognitive fit with a programmers\u27 problem solving strategy when he or she performs a programming task. The proposition was tested in the context of two psychological processes that appear to be used by programmers when they design and code conditional logic: (a) taxonomizing-identifying the conditions that evoke particular actions; and (b) sequencing-converting the taxa to a linear sequence of program code. Three structured tools-structured English, decision tables, and decision trees-were investigated in a laboratory setting to determine how they facilitated these two processes. It was hypothesized that decision tables and decision trees would facilitate the taxonomising process because they allow conditions and actions to be easily identified, and that structurd English would facilitate the sequencing process because it provides a linear representation of logic that can be mapped easily into programming code. To test the hypotheses, 124 volunteer information systems and computer science students undertook three experiments. In the first experiment they were given a narrative description of some conditional logic and asked to represent the logic using one of the three types of structured tools. In the second experiment they were given conditional logic already represented via one of the tools and asked to convert it into COBOL code. In the third experiment they were given a narrative description of some conditional logic and asked to convert it into COBOL code after having first represented the logic using one of the three types of structured tools. Their perfomance was assessed in terms of the number of syntactic errors they made, the number of semantic errors they made, and the time taken to perform the experimental tasks. In general, the results confirmed the propostions investigated. When the taxonomizing task had to be undertaken, decision trees outperformed strutured English, although surprisingly structured English outperformed decision tables. When the sequencing task had to be undertaken, structured English outperformed decision tables, but decision trees evoked the same level of performance as structured English. Across all tasks, decision tables evoked relatively poor levels of perfomance. On the other hand, decision trees evoked high levels of performance across all tasks. It appears that the graphical tree structure allows taxon information to be represented poignantly. At the same time it appears relatively easy to trace a branch to its leaf node to perform the sequencing task. The superiority of decision trees seems to confirm the desirablity of graphically revealing the structure inherent in processes rather than using symbolic languages. Moreover, the results suggest that the syntax of current programming languages may be unnecessarily restrictive. Perhaps programming languages should provide decision trees as part of their syntax instead of providing only unidimensional, linear syntax to represent conditional logic

Recombinant haplotypes narrow the ARMS2/HTRA1 association signal for age-related macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in ageing societies, triggered by both environmental and genetic factors. The strongest genetic signal for AMD with odds ratios of up to 2.8 per adverse allele was found previously over a chromosomal region in 10q26 harboring two genes, ARMS2 and HTRA1, although with little knowledge as to which gene or genetic variation is functionally relevant to AMD pathology. In this study, we analyzed rare recombinant haplotypes in 16,144 AMD cases and 17,832 controls from the International AMD Genomics Consortium and identified variants in ARMS2 but not HTRA1 to exclusively carry the AMD risk with P-values between 10 × 10-773 and 6.7 × 10-5. This now allows prioritization of the gene of interest for subsequent functional studies.</p

Die gemeinnützige Aktiengesellschaft

Die Aktiengesellschaft als Rechtsform des Kapitalmarktes vermag wegen dessen grundsätzlicher Ausrichtung auf Gewinnerzielung dem Gedanken der Selbstlosigkeit und der Gemeinwohlorientierung zu widersprechen. Aktiengesellschaft und Gemeinnützigkeit scheinen sich diametral gegenüberzustehen. Dennoch findet die gemeinnützige Aktiengesellschaft in jüngerer Vergangenheit zunehmend Verbreitung. Die Verwendung dieser Rechtsform wirft die Frage nach ihrer Eignung für den Gemeinnützigkeitssektor auf. Die Arbeit beschränkt sich dabei auf die Eignung der individuellen, nicht-börsennotierten Aktiengesellschaft für den Gemeinnützigkeitssektor. Eingeleitet wird die Untersuchung der Eignung durch die Fragestellung, ob die in der Anwendbarkeit der steuerlichen Privilegierungen zum Ausdruck kommende Wertung, dass Aktiengesellschaften dem (ausschließlichen) Gemeinwohl dienen können (§ 51 Abs. 1 Sätze 1 und 2 AO iVm. § 1 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 KStG), Stütze in der Historie findet oder ob der Gesetzgeber willkürlich zwei sich eigentlich widersprechende Konzepte zusammengefügt hat. Hieran anschließend wird untersucht, ob und inwiefern die steuerrechtlichen Anforderungen an eine gemeinnützige Körperschaft mit dem Aktiengesetz, insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund der im Jahre 1965 eingeführten Satzungsstrenge (§ 23 Abs. 5 AktG), vereinbar sind. Abschließend wird die Frage begutachtet, welche Gründe und Motive für die Wahl der Aktiengesellschaft für den Gemeinnützigkeitssektor bestehen können. Hierzu wird untersucht, ob und inwiefern sich die Rechtsform der Aktiengesellschaft insbesondere unter Fundraising-, Partizipations-, Steuerungs- sowie Marketinggesichtspunkten im Allgemeinen, aber auch im Besonderen, namentlich im direkten Vergleich zur GmbH, zum eingetragenen Verein und zur rechtsfähigen Stiftung für den Gemeinnützigkeitssektor eignet. Hierbei werden auch Gründungsaufwand und Kapitalausstattung, Buchführungs-, Rechnungslegungs-, Prüfungs- sowie Offenlegungspflichten, Satzungs- bzw. gesellschaftsvertragliche Regelungen und ihre Änderbarkeit im Allgemeinen sowie in Bezug auf den Zweck und den Vereins-, Stiftungs- und Unternehmensgegenstand im Besonderen, die Lebensdauer und Auflösungsmöglichkeiten sowie die Haftung der Kapitalgeber bei der jeweiligen Rechtsform berücksichtigt

CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS AND PROGRAM CODING: AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION

Information Systems Working Papers Serie

PREDICTING PARTICIPATION IN AND SUCCESS OF A CONCURRENT SMOKING CESSATION PROGRAM DURING INPATIENT TREATMENT FOR ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE

Background: Predicting participation in and success of smoking cessation programs in alcohol dependent patients has yielded heterogeneous results. Moreover, these findings have rarely been based on prospective studies from clinical routine settings. Identifying predictors in prospective studies could help to tailor interventions that increase participation and success rates of smoking cessation therapies for these patients at a high risk for alcohol- and smoking-related morbidities and mortalities. Subjects and methods: During inpatient alcohol dependence treatment, 99 nicotine dependent patients were recruited. 73 patients chose to participate in a voluntary smoking cessation program. Interviews and questionnaires were used at baseline and at discharge to assess a large set of variables covering smoking and alcohol related factors, general psychopathology, quality of life and personality traits. Multiple logistic regression models were calculated to predict participation in the smoking cessation program and smoking abstinence at follow-up three months after discharge. Results: Participation in the smoking cessation program was predicted by higher stage of change, higher confidence in abstaining from smoking and lower perceived stress. Successful smoking cessation at follow-up was predicted by higher expectations of negative physical feelings due to smoking and lower expectations of temptations to smoke at baseline, and by lower number of daily smoked cigarettes at discharge. Conclusion: Despite the small sample size, this prospective study gives a first indication of clinically relevant predictors of participation in and success of a smoking cessation program by exploring many previously reported predictors simultaneously. The findings and their implications for treatment allocation and optimization are discussed. Key words