The development of translation theories in Europe

Este artigo trata do desenvolvimento dos estudos da tradução na Europa, no siculo XX. O maior enfoque está na mudança da perspeciiva de pesquisa, da comparação entre línguas para a confrontação de textos e da focalização datradução como atividade pragmática para a investigação do pensamento do tradutor (perspectiva cognitiva). Paralelamente à discussão dos conceitos teóricos, comenta-se também o desenvolvimento institucional dos estudos da tradução.Der vorliegende Aufsatz behandelt die Entwicklung der europäischen Übersetzungswissenschaft im 20. Jahrhundert. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf dem Wandel der Forschungsperspektive vom Vergleich einzelner Sprachen hin zur Gegenüberstellung von Texten und von der Betonung des Handlungscharakters der Übersetzung hin zur Untersuchung des übersetzerischen Denkens (kognitive Perspektive). Parallel zur Diskussion theoretischer Konzepte, ist auch die institutionelle Entwicklung der Übersetzungswissenschaft Gegenstand der Untersuchung

Direct payments coupled to labour force – socio-economic consequences to organic farming –

Discussion Labour input on organic farms in Switzerland and Germany is on average 20% higher than on comparable conventional farms (Offermann and Nieberg 2000). Therefore, it is not surprising, that policy-makers expect positive impacts both on organic farming development and on rural employment by modifying the current direct payment approach. However, Dabbert et al. (2002) expect only minor effects to agricultural employment due to the small size of the sub-sector. The supporters of modified payment schemes argue, that coupling direct payments to labour force might lead to a fairer allocation of subsidies. ‘Fairer allocation’ in this context means reallocation of payments from large farms with low labour input per hectare to small family farms where labour input per hectare is higher. The opponents on the other side point out that structural change would slow down

Farmer Consumer Partnerships: WP 5 Report on the results of Consumer Choice Experiments

Within the European-funded research project CORE Organic Farmer Consumer Partnership, we tested selected OrganicPlus arguments displayed on organic egg packages in consumer choice experiments in the five study countries of Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The focus was on investigating consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay for the selected OrganicPlus arguments: “from the respective country”, “from the respective region”, “highest animal welfare standards” and “fair prices for our organic farmers: 20cents extra”. Furthermore, the objective was to determine causal relationships between the preferences observed and the relevant characteristics of the consumers by means of a questionnaire-based survey. The data was analysed with multinomial logit models. As hypothesised, organic egg packages displaying OrganicPlus arguments were more preferred by organic consumers than organic eggs without OrganicPlus arguments. However, consumer preferences varied between the arguments and between countries. The argument, “from the respective region” was the most preferred argument in all countries, except in Austria, where it was ranked after “highest animal welfare standards” and “from the respective country”. The argument “highest animal welfare standards” was the most preferred argument in Austria, while it was ranked after the argument “from the respective region” in Germany and Switzerland. The argument “fair prices for our organic farmers: 20 pence/20 cents/50 Rappen extra” was significantly preferred among German and Swiss consumers, although the argument was less relevant than “from the respective region” and “highest animal welfare standards”. The willingness to pay for OrganicPlus arguments varied considerably between the countries, however, it was highest for “from the respective region” in most study countries. Causal relationships were found between consumers’ attitudes and their preferences for some of the OrganicPlus arguments. Besides this, socio-demographic characteristics, purchase patterns related to organic food as well as consumers’ social commitment all had an impact on consumers’ preferences for OrganicPlus arguments

The emptiness formation probability correlation in homogeneous and dimerized XX chains

We review some known properties of the "emptiness formation probability" correlation which we have calculated numerically for spin-1/2 XX chains with constant (homogeneous) or alternating (dimerized) nearest-neighbor coupling and an external field (in $z$ direction) for arbitrary temperature. The long-distance asymptotic behavior of this correlation is known to be Gaussian at zero temperature and exponential at finite temperature for the homogeneous chain. By simple analytical arguments the exponential behavior at finite temperature extends to the dimerized system. Numerical results for the dimerized chain confirm the exponential decay at finite temperature and show Gaussian decay at zero temperature.Comment: Fixed some typos, added two references and remarks on finite-size effects. To be published in Cond. Mat. Phy

Governance Structures for the Multifunctionality of Agriculture in the EU - Bottom-up View of Local Stakeholders in Europe

The multifunctional character of agriculture has gained increasing attention in both policy and research over the last few years. The most relevant policy initiative for the programming period 2000-2006 in terms of multifunctionality is Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999, while LEADER+ is of particular interest due to its innovative approach to governance (Schader and Stolze, 2005a). In order to improve governance structures it is necessary to find out what the governance situation is at the regional level and what regional stakeholders think about the multi-level governance system. So far, there is little empirical evidence regarding the way local stakeholders perceive governance processes in the EU in terms of rural development. The aims of this study were: - to identify the governance structures relevant to the multifunctionality of agriculture, - to determine the strengths and weaknesses of regional implementation of the second pillar of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, - and to develop recommendations for good governance in rural development policy

Transport, trading and retailing. QLIF subproject 6: Development of strategies to improve quality and safety and reduce costs along the food supply chain

One of the aims of QLIF subproject 6 was to provide a better understanding of the supply chain performance and the collaboration system of organic supply chains. A notable finding was that supply chain actors with a high collaboration index outperformed respondents with a lower collaboration in terms of overall, non-financial and financial performance. Also, there is evidence that the higher the perceived risk for quality and safety is, the higher the probability that collaborative practices were in place. Nevertheless, overall, the level of collaboration is still too low. In a second part of QLIF subproject 6, HACCP case studies and training courses have been developed with special reference to organic agriculture. A HACCP approach to food safety management can be applied throughout the food chain, from farm to fork. Although a HACCP approach is not a legal requirement in primary production in the EU, it is recognised as an effective and logical means for food safety control that is equally applicable to agriculture including organic and low-input production systems

How can we make sense of smart technologies for sustainable agriculture? - A discussion paper

This paper discusses the challenges of assessing the benefits and risks of new digital technologies, so-called ‘smart technologies’ for sustainable agri-food systems. It builds on the results of a literature review that was embedded in a wider study on future options for (sustainable) farming systems in Germany. Following the concepts of Actor-Network-Theory, we can conceive of smart technologies in agriculture as networks that can only be understood in their entirety when considering the relationships with all actors involved: technology developers, users (farmers, consumers and others), data analysts, legal regulators, policy makers, and potential others. Furthermore, interaction of the technology and its implementers with nature, such as plants, entire landscapes, and animals, need to be taken into consideration. As a consequence, we have to deal with a highly complex system when assessing the technology – at a time where many of the relevant questions have not been sufficiently researched yet. Building on the FAO’s SAFA guidelines, the paper outlines criteria against which smart technologies could be assessed for their potential to contribute to a sustainable development of agri-food systems. These include aspects of governance, ecology, economy and social issues. We draw some tentative conclusions on the required framework conditions for implementation of digital technology, in particular from the perspective of sustainable agriculture. These are aimed at fuelling further discussion about the potentials and risks of the technology

The influence of policy networks on policy output. A comparison of organic farming policy in the Czech Republic and Poland

Although, at the time of accession to the EU, organic farming policies formally were equally developed in the Czech Republic and Poland, a closer investigation reveals some variation. This paper takes a policy network perspective to explore the policy differences between these two countries. Common network themes are used to link networks with policy output. It is argued that the capacity of the organic sector and its structural organization, its cohesion, and the relationship between organic interest groups and the government affect the political discourse, and, in consequence, how organic farming policy is elaborated