Freistaat oder Landkreis? : die schaumburg-lippische Ambivalenz im Umgang mit der eigenen Souveränität

Nachdem 1918 die Monarchie im Deutschen Reich endete, gab es keine Rechtfertigung mehr für die Fortexistenz der deutschen Kleinstaaten. Diese Länder waren mit den Anforderungen an einem modernen Staat sowohl finanziell wie auch administrativ überfordert und ohne die Unterstützung Preußens nicht überlebensfähig. Ziel der Arbeit ist es zu zeigen, wie die deutschen Klein- und Kleinststaaten, die oft-mals nur auf dynastischen Traditionen beruhten, es in der Zeit der Weimarer Republik den-noch schafften, ihre Selbstständigkeit zu bewahren. Anhand des Beispiels des Freistaates Schaumburg-Lippe werden die finanziellen und administrativen Probleme der Klein- und Kleinststaaten herausgearbeitet, die sich aus dem Wegfall der Fürstenhäuser sowie der steigenden Anforderungen an die Verwaltung ergaben sowie die politischen Reaktionen auf die ständigen Krisen der Zeit. Hierzu wurden insbesondere Akten staatlicher Provenienz ausgewertet. Bei der Gliederung der Arbeit findet eine Orientierung an den Legislaturperioden des schaumburg-lippischen Landtages statt. Ein Anschluss der Kleinstaaten hätte zwangsläufig aus territorialen Gründen an Preußen erfolgen müssen. Doch trotz langwieriger Verhandlungen und teils großer Not war hierzu kein Land bereit. Lediglich Waldeck schloss sich Preußen an; allerdings nur auf massiven Druck aus Berlin hin. Auch Schaumburg-Lippe verhandelte jahrelang mit Preußen über ei-nen Anschluss, doch waren letztlich die Beharrungskräfte im Land zu stark. Erst wurde die Anbindung an Preußen 1926 in einer Volksabstimmung abgelehnt, ein zweiter Versuch scheiterte 1930 im Bückeburger Landtag. So blieb Schaumburg-Lippe bis zu seinem Aufgehen im Land Niedersachsen 1946 zumindest offiziell ein souveräner Freistaat. Auch Schaumburg-Lippe war ohne preußische Hilfe nicht überlebensfähig – ganze Verwaltungszweige wurden an Preußen übertragen – und hätte sich bei einem Wegfall dieser Unterstützung bedingungslos Preußen anschließen müssen. Berlin verlor aber zusehends das Interesse an den Kleinstaaten und war auch nicht bereit, die Unannehmlichkeiten und den Imageverlust auf sich zu nehmen, die eine Kündigung der Verwaltungshilfen nach sich gezogen hätten. Für eine immer wieder diskutierte Reichsreform in Bezug auf die territoriale Gliederung fehlte der Zentralregierung in Berlin die Kraft. Die Kleinstaaten zeigen, dass es einen ausgesprochenen Lokalpatriotismus gab, Veränderungen in der wechselhaften Zeit der Weimarer Republik abgelehnt wurden und Orte existierten, an denen die Republik weitgehend funktionierte. Auch lassen sich am Beispiel Schaumburg-Lippes anschaulich die Krisen und Probleme, das Leben und die Veränderungen der Zeit in den ländlichen Regionen des Reiches, fernab der Metropolen, betrachten. Trotz aller Probleme und Defizite manifestierten sich die die Krisen der Weimarer Republik in den Kleinstaaten oft weniger dramatisch als auf der gesamtstaatlichen Ebene. Schaumburg-Lippe überstand durch die preußische Unterstützung, die kleingewerbliche Ausrichtung der Wirtschaft sowie politische und gesellschaftliche Stabilität die Jahre der Weimarer Republik im Verhältnis so gut, dass die NSDAP hier die Macht nicht auf legalem Weg erringen konnte.Following the end of the monarchy in the German Empire in 1918, there was no longer any justification for the continued existence of the small German states. These were both finan-cially and administratively overburdened by the demands of a modern state and could not survive without the support of Prussia. The aim of this work is to show how the German small and very small states, which were often based only on dynastic traditions, nevertheless managed to maintain their inde-pendence during the Weimar Republic. Using the example of the Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe, the financial and administrative problems of the small and very small states, which resulted from the disappearance of the royal houses and the increasing demands on the ad-ministration, as well as the political reactions to the constant crises of the time, are resolved. For this purpose, files of state provenance are evaluated in particular. The structure of the work is based on the legislative periods of the Schaumburg-Lippe state parliament. A connection of the small states would inevitably have had to be made to Prussia for territorial reasons. However, despite lengthy negotiations and sometimes great hardship, no country was prepared to do so. Only Waldeck joined Prussia, but only after massive pressure from Berlin. Schaumburg-Lippe also negotiated with Prussia about a connection for years, but in the end the persistent forces in the country were too strong. First the connection to Prussia was rejected in a referendum in 1926, a second attempt failed in the Bückeburg state parliament in 1930. Thus Schaumburg-Lippe remained, at least officially, a sovereign free state until it was absorbed into the state of Lower Saxony in 1946. Schaumburg-Lippe was also not able to survive without Prussian aid - entire branches of administration were trans-ferred to Prussia - and would have had to join Prussia unconditionally if this support had ceased. Berlin, however, was visibly losing interest in the small states and was not prepared to accept the inconvenience and loss of image that would have resulted in the termination of administrative assistance. The central government in Berlin lacked the strength for a repeat-edly discussed imperial reform with regard to territorial division. The small states show that a real local patriotism existed, that changes were rejected during the transitional period of the Weimar Republic and that there were places where the republic continued to function. The example of Schaumburg-Lippe also provides a vivid il-lustration of the crises and problems, life and changes of the times in the rural regions of the empire, far from the metropolises. Despite all the problems and deficits, the crises of the Weimar Republic often manifested themselves less dramatically in the small states than at the general state level. Schaumburg-Lippe survived the years of the Weimar Republic so well due to the Prussian support, the small business orientation of the economy as well as political and social stability, that the NSDAP was not able to gain power legally

Ontology Summit 2008 Communiqué: Towards an open ontology repository

Each annual Ontology Summit initiative makes a statement appropriate to each Summits theme as part of our general advocacy designed to bring ontology science and engineering into the mainstream. The theme this year is "Towards an Open Ontology Repository". This communiqué represents the joint position of those who were engaged in the year's summit discourse on an Open Ontology Repository (OOR) and of those who endorse below. In this discussion, we have agreed that an "ontology repository is a facility where ontologies and related information artifacts can be stored, retrieved and managed." We believe in the promise of semantic technologies based on logic, databases and the Semantic Web, a Web of exposed data and of interpretations of that data (i.e., of semantics), using common standards. Such technologies enable distinguishable, computable, reusable, and sharable meaning of Web and other artifacts, including data, documents, and services. We also believe that making that vision a reality requires additional supporting resources and these resources should be open, extensible, and provide common services over the ontologies

The Search For Photon-Induced Metal Hydride Formation and Modeling of Multi-Step Multi-Electron Electrocatalytic Reactions at the Rotating Disc Electrode

This thesis contains three separate chapters regarding three different research projects. The first two projects encompass the study of transition metal hydrides: synthesizing them and generating them from visible light. The third chapter focuses on the modeling of multi-electron multi-step electrocatalytic reactions at the rotating disk electrode. Potential applications concerning this work are within the area of energy storage.Bachelor of Scienc

The neuromolecular mechanisms that coordinate food availability with C. elegans male sexual behavior

Organisms must coordinate behavioral and physiological responses to changingenvironmental conditions. In the nematode C. elegans, the presence or absence of foodin the environment affects many metabolic and behavioral responses, including fathomeostasis, lifespan, and male mating. Specifically, male mating behavior normallyoccurs when a well-nourished male encounters a hermaphrodite, and is repressed if themale is under-nourished. To understand how environmental changes influence the driveto carry out specific behavioral tasks, I used C. elegans male mating as a model.Previously, mutants were isolated that display male mating behavior at inappropriatetimes, i.e. in the absence of mating cues. Loss of function mutations in the ERG K+channel, UNC-103, results in spontaneous seizures of the male sex muscles.Interestingly, I found that food deprivation can suppress unc-103(lf)-induced seizures,suggesting that pathways activated under this environmental condition can suppress theexcitability of the mating circuit.Using molecular, genetic, and behavioral assays, I identified sensory andmolecular mechanisms that reduce sex-muscle excitability under food-deprived conditions. I found that mutations that affect the muscular feeding organ, the pharynx,phenocopy the effects of food deprivation, and reduce sex-muscle excitability. Idemonstrated that mutations in the pharyngeal muscle protein, tropomyosin, cause thepharyngeal neurosecretory motor neurons (NSMs) to increase pharyngeal excitabilityand reduce sex-muscle excitability. Additionally, I found that olfactory neurons (AWCs)with sensory cilia exposed to the environment are up-regulated in the absence of foodstimuli, and also send inhibitory signals to the sex muscles. To determine howchemosensory and pharyngeal neurons in the head can signal to the genitalia, Ihypothesized that one mechanism could be via secretion of metabolic hormones. To testthis, I examined loss-of-function mutations in the insulin-like receptor, DAF-2, which isknown to regulate many behavioral and physiological responses to food. I demonstratedthat DAF-2 activity in the sex muscles is required for food-deprivation suppression ofunc-103(0)-induced seizures. I then identified components of a novel-insulin-like/DAF-2signaling pathway that reduces excitability. Specifically, I propose that ligand binding toDAF-2 activates PLC- and leads to increased cystolic Ca2+. This Ca2+ influx activatesCaMKII, which can phosphorylate/activate EAG-like K+ channels, thereby reducing cellexcitability

Las ONGs durante la Transición Chilena: Un análisis de su respuesta ideológica frente a su incorporación en políticas sociales de índole neoliberal

Con el retiro de la cooperación internacional como principal fuente de financiamiento, las ONGDs se han convertido paulatinamente en ejecutores de políticas sociales de índole neoliberal, accediendo a fondos gubernamentales destinados a la inversión social, los cuales se asignan por medios de concursos. Frente a este cambio de rol, las ONGDs han desarrollado una ideología centrada en la sobrevivencia a corto plazo y a todo costo. Como demuestra esta investigación, dentro de esta ideología las ONGDs usan en su discurso simbolismos del naufragio (relacionados a la desorientación y el agotamiento) para referirse a su situación actual, visualizando a los fondos concursables dentro de un lenguaje de negocios (relacionado a ganar utilidades) como única alternativa para asegurar la sobrevivencia.  Dentro de un lenguaje simbólico de juegos, los fondos se asocian con un juego de azar, donde la suerte y los "pitutos" prevalecen y donde se requiere aplicar "triquiñuelas". En este contexto, la relación con el Estado es de oposición y desconfianza - pero inevitable, para acceder a los fondos. Por otra parte, se observa dentro de la ideología de las ONGDs una idealización de su misión, su rol y sus valores y el aporta que podrían entregar a la sociedad a largo plazo.La contradicción entre este ideal de ong y el rol que asumen de hecho en función de su sobrevivencia, se encuentra neutralizada por la función principal de la ideología que justamente aparentar para sus miembros una realidad completa y armónica. La superación de este sesgo ideológico parece indispensable, para que las ongds puedan contribuir a la discusión actual acerca de su crisis con elementos reales y pertinentes, y a partir de este contexto definir su rol dentro de la sociedad y las estrategias correspondientes. Al contrario, continuará el proceso paulatino de modificación de la esencia de las ongds en función de políticas públicas

Food Deprivation Attenuates Seizures through CaMKII and EAG K+ Channels

Accumulated research has demonstrated the beneficial effects of dietary restriction on extending lifespan and increasing cellular stress resistance. However, reducing nutrient intake has also been shown to direct animal behaviors toward food acquisition. Under food-limiting conditions, behavioral changes suggest that neuronal and muscle activities in circuits that are not involved in nutrient acquisition are down-regulated. These dietary-regulated mechanisms, if understood better, might provide an approach to compensate for defects in molecules that regulate cell excitability. We previously reported that a neuromuscular circuit used in Caenorhabditis elegans male mating behavior is attenuated under food-limiting conditions. During periods between matings, sex-specific muscles that control movements of the male's copulatory spicules are kept inactive by UNC-103 ether-a-go-go–related gene (ERG)–like K+ channels. Deletion of unc-103 causes ∼30%–40% of virgin males to display sex-muscle seizures; however, when food is deprived from males, the incidence of spontaneous muscle contractions drops to 9%–11%. In this work, we used genetics and pharmacology to address the mechanisms that act parallel with UNC-103 to suppress muscle seizures in males that lack ERG-like K+ channel function. We identify calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II as a regulator that uses different mechanisms in food and nonfood conditions to compensate for reduced ERG-like K+ channel activity. We found that in food-deprived conditions, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II acts cell-autonomously with ether-a-go-go K+ channels to inhibit spontaneous muscle contractions. Our work suggests that upregulating mechanisms used by food deprivation can suppress muscle seizures

Band Selection for Hyperspectral Images Using Non-Negativity Constraints

This paper presents a new factorization technique for hyperspectral signal processing based on a constrained singular value decomposition (SVD) approach. Hyperpectral images typically have a large number of contiguous bands that are highly correlated. Likewise the field of view typically contains a limited number of materials and the spectra are also correlated. Only a selected number of bands, the extreme bands that include the dominant materials spectral signatures, are needed to express the data. Factorization can provide a means for interpretation and compression of the spectral data. Hyperspectral images are represented as non-negative matrices by graphic concatenation, with the pixels arranged into columns and each row corresponding to a spectral band. SVD and principal component analysis enjoy a broad range of applications, including, rank estimation, noise reduction, classification and compression, with the resulting singular vectors forming orthogonal basis sets for subspace projection techniques. A key property of non-negative matrices is that their columns/rows form non-negative cones, with any non-negative linear combination of the columns/rows belonging to the cone. Data sets of spectral images and time series reside in non-negative orthants and while subspaces spanned by SVD include all orthants, SVD projections can be constrained to the non-negative orthants. In this paper we utilize constraint sets that confine projections of SVD singular vectors to lie within the cones formed by the spectral data. The extreme vectors of the cone are found and these vectors form a basis for the factorization of the data. The approach is illustrated in an application to hyperspectral data of a mining area collected by an airborne sensor

Proof Support for Common Logic

We present an extension of the Heterogeneous Tool Set HETS that enables proof support for Common Logic. This is achieved via logic translations that relate Common Logic and some of its sublogics to already supported logics and automated theorem proving systems. We thus provide the first full theorem proving support for Common Logic, including the possibility of verifying meta-theoretical relationships between Common Logic theories

Benchmarking the Immersed Boundary Method for Viscoelastic Flows

We present and analyze a series of benchmark tests regarding the application of the immersed boundary (IB) method to viscoelastic flows through and around non-trivial, stationary geometries. The IB method is widely used for the simulation of biological fluid dynamics and other modeling scenarios where a structure is immersed in a fluid. Although the IB method has been most commonly used to model systems with viscous incompressible fluids, it also can be applied to visoelastic fluids, and has enabled the study of a wide variety of dynamical problems including the settling of vesicles and the swimming of elastic filaments in fluids modeled by the Oldroyd-B constuitive equation. However, to date, relatively little work has explored the accuracy or convergence properties of the numerical scheme. Herein, we present benchmarking results for an IB solver applied to viscoelastic flows in and around non-trivial geometries using the idealized Oldroyd-B and more realistic, polymer-entanglement-based Rolie-Poly constitutive equations. We use two-dimensional numerical test cases along with results from rheology experiments to benchmark the IB method and compare it to more complex finite element and finite volume viscoelastic flow solvers. Additionally, we analyze different choices of regularized delta function and relative Lagrangian grid spacings which allow us to identify and recommend the key choices of these numerical parameters depending on the present flow regime.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figure