Germany’s agri-biotechnology policy

In Germany, the precautionary principle (PP) is a well-established legal principle in environmental law, especially for regulating agribiotechnology. This article uses the analytical concept of issue-framing to identify different views of the PP and how they have informed changes in the German regulatory arena. In the 1990s Germany’s genetically modified (GM) crop policy was dominated by a discourse of innovation and international competitiveness, combined with narrow accounts of precaution. In the early 2000s, agro-biotechnology became subject to changes in the risk regulatory system, new agricultural policies and a broader precautionary scope. After the BSE crisis, German policy promoted sustainable agriculture and organic food, combined with the demand for a precautionary consumer policy and ‘consumer choice’. Precaution now encompasses comprehensive mandatory labelling and liability rules to protect non-GM food production from GM ‘contamination’ in fields and across the food chain

The Curlew (Numenius arquata [Linnaeus 1758]) at the Upper Rhine Valley of Baden : contributions to a detailed, comprehensive science-based conservation programme

Bei sämtlichen Themenbereichen dieser Arbeit stand der Einfluß auf das Überleben der Oberrheinpopulation des Großen Brachvogels im Vordergrund, weshalb bei den Kapiteln jeweils ein abschließender Abschnitt mit Fazit und Konsequenzen für den Naturschutz aufgenommen wurde. Diese münden in ein separates Schutzkonzept. In diesem Kapitel werden die Konsequenzen aus sämtlichen Untersuchungsergebnissen mit weiteren Aspekten zusammengefaßt und die Eckpunkte für ein detailliertes und umfassendes Konzept zum nachhaltigen, d.h. dauerhaften Schutz des Großen Brachvogels am Oberrhein vorgelegt. Weitere Kapitel: - Verbreitung und Bestandsentwicklung des Großen Brachvogels - Beiträge zur Brutbiologie und Ökologie des Großen Brachvogels - Gefährdungs- und Einwirkungsfaktoren sowie Rückgangsursachen beim Großen Brachvogel - Schutzkonzept - Ausblic

Digital twins: Understanding the added value of integrated models for through-life engineering services

Digital twins are digital representations of physical products or systems that consist of multiple models from various domains describing them on multiple scales. By means of communication, digital twins change and evolve together with their physical counterparts throughout their lifecycle. Domain-specific partial models that make up the digital twin, such as the CAD model or the degradation model, are usually well known and provide accurate descriptions of certain parts of the physical asset. However, in complex systems, the value of integrating the partial models increases because it facilitates the study of their complex behaviours which only emerge from the interactions between various parts of the system. The paper proposes that the partial models of the digital twin share a common model space that integrates them through a definition of their interrelations and acts as a bridge between the digital twin and the physical asset. The approach is illustrated in a case of a mechatronic product - a differential drive mobile robot developed as a testbed for digital twin research. It is demonstrated how the integrated models add value to different stages of the lifecycle, allowing for evaluation of performance in the design stage and real-time reflection with the physical asset during its operation

B-Spline Based Methods: From Monotone Multigrid Schemes for American Options to Uncertain Volatility Models

In the first part of this thesis, we consider B-spline based methods for pricing American options in the Black-Scholes and Heston model. The difference between these two models is the assumption on the volatility of the underlying asset. While in the Black-Scholes model the volatility is assumed to be constant, the Heston model includes a stochastic volatility variable. The underlying problems are formulated as parabolic variational inequalities. Recall that, in finance, to determine optimal risk strategies, one is not only interested in the solution of the variational inequality, i.e., the option price, but also in its partial derivatives up to order two, the so-called Greeks. A special feature for these option price problems is that initial conditions are typically given as piecewise linear continuous functions. Consequently, we have derived a spatial discretization based on cubic B-splines with coinciding knots at the points where the initial condition is not differentiable. Together with an implicit time stepping scheme, this enables us to achieve an accurate pointwise approximation of the partial derivatives up to order two. For the efficient numerical solution of the discrete variational inequality, we propose a monotone multigrid method for (tensor product) B-splines with possible internal coinciding knots. Corresponding numerical results show that the monotone multigrid method is robust with respect to the refinement level and mesh size. In the second part of this thesis, we consider the pricing of a European option in the uncertain volatility model. In this model the volatility of the underlying asset is a priori unknown and is assumed to lie within a range of extreme values. Mathematically, this problem can be formulated as a one dimensional parabolic Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation and is also called Black-Scholes-Barenblatt equation. In the resulting non-linear equation, the diffusion coefficient is given by a volatility function which depends pointwise on the second derivative. This kind of non-linear partial differential equation does not admit a weak H^1-formulation. This is due to the fact that the non-linearity depends pointwise on the second derivative of the solution and, thus, no integration by parts is possible to pass the partial derivative onto a test function. But in the discrete setting this pointwise second derivative can be approximated in H^1 by L^1-normalized B-splines. It turns out that the approximation of the volatility function leads to discontinuities in the partial derivatives. In order to improve the approximation of the solution and its partial derivatives for cubic B-splines, we develop a Newton like algorithm within a knot insertion step. Corresponding numerical results show that the convergence of the solution and its partial derivatives are nearly optimal in the L^2-norm, when the location of volatility change is approximated with desired accuracy

Wieseneinerlei oder Heuschreckenbeinchen: Zur Nahrungsökologie von Küken und Jungvögeln des Großen Brachvogels (Numenius arquata)

Die Küken und Jungvögel des Großen Brachvogels zeigen im Vergleich zu den Altvögeln ein nahezu identisches Verhalten bei der Nahrungssuche. Die einzelnen Techniken des Nahrungserwerbs, wie das Stochern, entwickeln sich zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten im Verlauf der Aufzuchtzeit. Bei Küken und Jungvögeln wurde das Nahrungsspektrum durch Kotanalysen ermittelt und durch Direktbeobachtungen und Magenanalysen ergänzt. Insgesamt lässt sich bei Jungvögeln ein großes Nahrungsspektrum nachweisen. Die Hauptnahrung der Jungvögel bildeten Regenwürmer (Lumbricidae), Käfer (Coleoptera), Heuschrecken (Saltatoria), Zweiflügler (Diptera) und Raupen von Schmetterlingen (Lepidoptera) und Hautflüglern (Hymenoptera). Diese sechs Gruppen machen 91 % der Gesamtbeutetiere aus. Der Anteil der verschiedenen Beutetiere ist im Laufe der unterschiedlichen Entwicklungsphasen z.T. starken Veränderungen unterworfen. Die Küken und Jungvögel des Großen Brachvogels können als Nahrungsopportunisten bezeichnet werden, die ihre Nahrung entsprechend dem Angebot auswählen, gleichzeitig aber für einzelne Gruppen, z.B. Regenwürmer, verschiedene Käferfamilien und Heuschrecken, Präferenzen zeigen. Diese sind nicht ersetzbar z.B. durch einen höheren Spinnenanteil.Compared to adult birds young chicks and fledglings of the Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) possess almost the same foraging patters. However, single techniques, e.g. probing, develop in the course of ontogeny, so that the behavioural repertoire increases with time. In the present study the diet spectrum of Curlew chicks was determined by faecal analyses and observations of foraging birds. Additionally, an analysis of the stomach content of deadly found chicks was carried out. Curlew chicks possessed a wide spectrum of diet species which belonged to different macroinvertebrate groups. In particular, the main food items comprised earthworms (Lumbricidae), beetles (Coleoptera), grasshoppers (Saltatoria), flies (Diptera), and caterpillars of butterflies (Lepidoptera), ants and wasps (Hymenoptera). These six macroinvertebrate groups embraced 91 % of all food items of foraging chicks. The proportion of each group to the whole dietary spectrum, however, changed considerably in the course of ontogeny. In general, Curlew chicks can be classified as opportunistic feeders, which often forage on prey species according to their supplies. However, simultaneously they might develop preferences for specific prey items, e.g. earthworms, beetles, and grasshoppers which seem not be replaceable by other macroinvertebrates

'Agrarwende' : cognitive-normative approaches to policy change in German agro-biotechnology

In the year 2000, Germany's biggest post-war food crisis, BSE, changed the terms of the public debate on agro-biotech significantly. Before the BSE-crisis, Germany's policy had been predominantly driven by a neo-liberal framing of biotechnology as a central tool for innovation and international competitiveness. After BSE, biotechnology policy became caught up in a broader reform effort to change agricultural and food policies - the ''Agrarwende''. This thesis concerns the question of the policy shift in agricultural biotechnology as it developed in Germany between the years 2000 and 2004 as a result of the Agrarwende. It analyzes why the BSE crisis had an effect on the German agrobiotech subsystem, how it affected regulation and to what extent it led to the . institutionalization of new types of socio-political practices and relationships. To fulfill this purpose the thesis uses cognitive-normative frameworks, in particular Maarten Hajer's discourse analytical framework and Paul Sabatier's advocacy coalition framework. By looking at the German case of agro-biotech regulation the thesis asks, how can policy change be explained and illuminated by the use of these two theories? What are their relative or different contributions to the study of policy change? Are these approaches contradictory or complementary? It can be concluded that, over the years, a great deal has changed in German agricultural biotechnology policy with regard to legislation, the political institutions and the actors involved in the subsystem. The cognitive normative frameworks applied both contributed to a better understanding of the policy process and policy change. In the analysis, Hajer's concepts were found to have more strengths and fewer weaknesses than Sabatier's. Being rooted in different theory traditions, the two approaches showed contradictory as well as complementary features. There was, in any case, much to be gained from looking at the interaction between discourse and belief dynamics

The Epistemic Status of Moral Conceptual Truths

Evolutionary debunking arguments assume that morality could, conceptually speaking, be about anything. A response to this contention is that there are some moral conceptual truths which counter assertions that we could be in error about basic moral truths. According to proponents of moral conceptual truths, some things, by definition, cannot count as moral. Putative moral conceptual truths, such as “stealing is wrong,” are thought to enjoy a privileged epistemic status because anyone who denies them forfeits their ability to engage in competent moral reasoning. This paper explores whether moral conceptual truths can offer a satisfactory response to the debunkers’ premise that morality could conceptually be about anything. This paper clarifies epistemic safety and explains how safety should be understood as a basic consideration in any theory of knowledge. A plausible theory of the evolution of human morality and acquisition of moral concepts is outlined. Based on this evolutionary account, three scenarios are provided which demonstrate how our moral concepts could have easily differed from the ones we actually have. Based on this result, the author concludes that moral conceptual truths do not meet safety conditions and thus do not constitute a successful response to the debunker’s premise that morality could be about anything

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Coexistence or contradiction? GM crops versus alternative agricultures in Europe

Agricultural biotechnology (agbiotech) has intersected with a wider debate about 'sustainable agriculture', especially in Europe. Agbiotech was initially promoted as an alternative which would avoid or remedy past problems of intensive agriculture, but such claims were soon challenged. Agbiotech has extended the dominant agri-industrial paradigm, while critics have counterposed alternatives corresponding to an agrarian-based rural development paradigm. Amid controversy over environmental and health risks in the late 1990s, an extra issue emerged ? the prospect that genetically modified (GM) material would become inadvertently mixed with non-GM crops. In response the European Commission developed a policy framework for 'coexistence' between GM, conventional and organic crops. This policy has aimed to ensure that farmers can freely choose among different production systems, which would develop side by side, yet specific proposals for coexistence rules favour some choices over others. Such rules have been contested according to different policy agendas, each promoting their model of future agriculture. Moreover, a Europe-wide network of regional authorities has promoted 'GM-free zones' as a territorial brand for green, localised, high-quality agri-food production, whose diverse qualities depend upon symbolic, immaterial characteristics. This alternative has been counterposed to the agri-industrial production of global commodities – symbolised by the European Union, especially its product authorisation procedure for the internal market. 'Coexistence' policy was intended to mediate policy conflicts over GM crops, yet it has become another arena for contending agricultural systems, which may not so readily co-exist in practice. Wherever an agrarian-based rural development paradigm gains local support, its alternative agricultures are in contradiction rather than coexistence with GM crops