Agri-Environmental Schemes and Grassland Biodiversity: Another Side of the Coin

In this paper part of the existing Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) of the European Union are evaluated by using data on county level instead of applying field studies. The attempt is made to disentangle the effects of AES on land management practice as well as land use on biodiversity. It is argued that subsidies as AES should promote environmental-friendly land use which, in turn, should lead to biodiversity conservation. First results show that AES promotes ecological land use rather than extensive agricultural practice. Furthermore, AES is predominantly allocated in biodiversity rich counties and not in counties with low biodiversity which should be enhanced. Furthermore, no clear evidence is so far found, that land use practice is improving the biodiversity status.AES effectiveness, biodiversity, policy evaluation

The interdependence between biodiversity and socioeconomic variables on a local level: evidence for german counties

This paper explores possible interdependence of biodiversity and several socioeconomic and political factors at the county level. It is aimed at the empirical identification of direct and indirect effects between biodiversity (loss) and their theoretical major impact factors. To date, research shows that in addition to geography, agriculture is one major determinant of biodiversity status. However, the impact of regional socioeconomic structures on biodiversity should not be underestimated. Specifically, in regard to biodiversity loss, the socioeconomic structure counteracts political measures instituted to protect biodiversity and change agricultural practice.biodiversity, socioeconomic interdependence, Bavaria, Thuringia

On some fundamental misunderstandings in the indeterminate couple stress model. A comment on recent papers of A.R. Hadjesfandiari and G.F. Dargush

In a series of papers which are either published [A.R. Hadjesfandiari and G.F. Dargush, Couple stress theory for solids, Int. J. Solids Struct. 48, 2496-2510, 2011; A.R. Hadjesfandiari and G.F. Dargush, Fundamental solutions for isotropic size-dependent couple stress elasticity, Int. J. Solids Struct. 50, 1253-1265, 2013] or available as preprints Hadjesfandiari and Dargush have reconsidered the linear indeterminate couple stress model. They are postulating a certain physically plausible split in the virtual work principle. Based on this postulate they claim that the second-order couple stress tensor must always be skew-symmetric. Since they use an incomplete set of boundary conditions in their virtual work principle their statement contains unrecoverable errors. This is shown by specifying their development to the isotropic case. However, their choice of constitutive parameters is mathematically possible and still yields a well-posed boundary value problem.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1504.0086

Patterns of Force: System Strength, Terrorism and Civil War

We jointly analyze the genesis of terrorism and civil war, providing a simple conceptual framework to explain why violent opposition groups choose distinct forms of violence (i.e., terrorism and open rebellion). We argue that the distinct modes of violent opposition are chosen by violent opposition groups in response to the strengths and weaknesses of the system they challenge. An empirical test of this hypothesis for 103 countries for the period of 1992 to 2004 indeed shows that the socio-economic strength and stability of a system is positively related to the likelihood of terrorism but negatively to incidences of more violent forms of violent opposition. We also show that poor conflict management (as a system weakness) positively impacts the likelihood incidences of more violent modes of violent opposition more likely. Furthermore, we find that system size is positively associated with all analyzed modes of violent opposition.terrorism, civil conflict, system strength

Patterns of Force: System Strength, Terrorism and Civil War

We jointly analyze the genesis of terrorism and civil war, providing a simple conceptual framework to explain why violent opposition groups choose distinct forms of violence (i.e., terrorism and open rebellion). We argue that the distinct modes of violent opposition are chosen by violent opposition groups in response to the strengths and weaknesses of the system they challenge. An empirical test of this hypothesis for 103 countries for the period of 1992 to 2004 indeed shows that the socio-economic strength and stability of a system is positively related to the likelihood of terrorism but negatively to incidences of more violent forms of violent opposition. We also show that poor conflict management (as a system weakness) positively impacts the likelihood incidences of more violent modes of violent opposition more likely. Furthermore, we find that system size is positively associated with all analyzed modes of violent opposition.

Der Norden holt auf: Gründung und Anfänge der Universität Rostock im Spiegel ihrer Quellen

Aus Anlass des 600. Jubiläums der Entstehung der Alma Mater Rostochiensis wurde in deren "Schatzkammer" als Teil des Universitätsarchivs mit einer Ausstellung gezeigt, wie der Norden zu Beginn des 15. Jahrhunderts im Bildungsbereich aufholte. ... Die vorliegende Publikation erscheint begleitend zu den Ausstellungen im Jubiläumsjahr 2019 und verbindet allgemeine und spezifische Texte zur frühen Universitätsgeschichte mit Abbildungen, die ungewöhnliche Ein- und Ausblicke auf und in deren Quellen ermöglichen