This paper aims to make two contributions to the sustainability transitions literature, in particular the Geels and Schot (2007. Res. Policy 36(3), 399) transition pathways typology. First, it reformulates and differentiates the typology through the lens of endogenous enactment, identifying the main patterns for actors, formal institutions, and technologies. Second, it suggests that transitions may shift between pathways, depending on struggles over technology deployment and institutions. Both contributions are demonstrated with a comparative analysis of unfolding low-carbon electricity transitions in Germany and the UK between 1990–2014. The analysis shows that Germany is on a substitution pathway, enacted by new entrants deploying small-scale renewable electricity technologies (RETs), while the UK is on a transformation pathway, enacted by incumbent actors deploying large-scale RETs. Further analysis shows that the German transition has recently shifted from a ‘stretch-and-transform’ substitution pathway to a ‘fit-and-conform’ pathway, because of a fightback from utilities and altered institutions. It also shows that the UK transition moved from moderate to substantial incumbent reorientation, as government policies became stronger. Recent policy changes, however, substantially downscaled UK renewables support, which is likely to shift the transition back to weaker reorientation.
Abstract Scholars and practitioners have considered Industry 4.0 a comprehensive set of emerging technologies that establish a new industrial perspective based on the “Internet of Things”. As smart manufacturing is at the core of the Industry 4.0 concept, production planning and control (PPC) should play a key role in Industry 4.0 activities. Prior research has mainly focused on technological issues of Industry 4.0, while little is known about how PPC is influenced by digital capabilities and how it operates in this new context. We conduct a systematic literature review to develop an analytical framework that explains how PPC in the Industry 4.0 context is influenced by smart capabilities from five base technologies (Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems, Big Data and Analytics/Artificial Intelligence, and Additive Manufacturing), and how this is related to manufacturing system performance indicators, and environmental factors. The review includes studies from 2011 (when the Industry 4.0 concept was coined) to October 2019. Our findings provide a complete list of 18 smart capabilities (e.g., real-time capabilities, adaptability and dynamicity, visibility and traceability, autonomy, smart scheduling, PPC-as-a-service); 13 performance indicators (e.g., manufacturing flexibility, agility, reliability); and environmental factor conditions (e.g., product, demand, and manufacturing process). We also propose a future agenda with 10 research directions for PPC's study in the Industry 4.0 context.
Thorsten Meyer-Feil, Nicole Strutz, René Schwesig
et al.
Introduction Mobilisation and mobility in clinical settings are essential to the recovery process after surgery and trauma-related hospital admission. In addition to personal support from physiotherapists and nursing staff, aids such as walkers are applied. Walkers equipped with smart features have the potential to benefit geriatric patients by facilitating routine clinical workflows and, where appropriate, by providing health professionals with information on gait patterns and vital parameters.The overarching goal of this project is to develop an innovative smart walker for clinical use, guided by three objectives: (a) Identify the feature requirements of the smart walker from the perspectives of patients and health professionals, (b) Co-design the smart walker using a user-centred approach involving older patients, health professionals and clinical engineers and (c) Pilot-test the smart walker in real time with older patients admitted to German clinics.Methods and analysis We will employ a three-phased exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach in this project. Phase I explores potentially useful characteristics of a smart walker via a scoping literature review (part 1 of phase I) and a qualitative interview and observational study, including questionnaires on sociodemographic data and technology readiness, involving four to six patients and four to eight nurses and physiotherapists (part 2 of phase I). Phase II focuses on developing and validating a smart walker through a user experience design, with at least three iterative test cycles involving a minimum of three asymptomatic participants and three to seven potential users in each cycle. Phase III comprises a pilot study conducted at a University Hospital in Germany involving at least twelve patients. Data integration takes a data-building approach, combining qualitative and quantitative results in the final analysis to generate a comprehensive understanding and to create and refine insights into the feature needs and use of a smart walker by patients.Ethics and dissemination The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of University Medicine Halle, Germany (Approval No. 2025-032; date of approval: 03/04/2025). Study results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and conferences.PROSPERO registration number The study protocol was registered at the Open Science Framework Platform (OSF, register number: 10.17605/OSF.IO/CTPF4).
The content of the review is a discussion of the anthology „Zagadnienia lingwistyczne w dydaktyce szkolnej i uniwersyteckiej” edited by Tomasz Kurdyła and Beata Ziajka. It begins with a general description of the objectives, theoretical foundations and methodological solutions of Polish paedolinguistics, using selected publications as examples. This field of research, established on the borderline between linguistics and didactics, already has a tradition in the scientific literature and its scientific output includes not only empirical analyses but also theoretical publications describing the tasks and methodological foundations. The anthology is made up of eleven academic essays whose problems can be located in the fields of paedolinguistics, educational linguistics and language didactics. Although the contributions are characterized by different research interests and methodological diversity, the focus on linguistic problems in a didactic context gives all of them a common thematic framework. The contributions address the acquisition of linguistic competences both in school education (in the areas of word formation, onomastics, grammatical terminology and pupils with language disorders) and at university level (word formation, text type analysis). Four essays are dedicated to selected aspects of communication: the categories of sender and receiver, non-verbal communication, barriers and obstacles in communication and successful communication. One article analyses the text-linguistic competence of teachers. Finally, the thesis formulated in the article topic is substantiated and analysed in more detail. The analysis of linguistic components in curricula at all levels of education is necessary due to changing social and civilisational circumstances and can be useful for two target groups. Learners find consistent terminology and desired progress in textbooks, students are provided with the latest theories that can be applied in their theses. Teachers benefit from the results of the research by fulfilling the postulates and thus optimizing the teaching and learning process through innovations.
Der Beitrag stützt sich auf ein neues interdisziplinares und mehrsprachiges Projekt, das Interviews an junge Leute mit internationaler Geschichte in Deutschland analysiert, in denen sie nach ihren Erfahrungen gefragt werden (wie sie die Arbeits-/und Ausbildungssituation, den Wohnungsmarkt, den Umgang der Behörden mit ihnen und die Möglichkeit neue Leute kennen zu lernen empfinden). Das Projekt beabsichtigt, in den Interviews mit den Jugendlichen sprachliche Phänomene zu identifizieren und zu analysieren, die wir unter der Überschrift „Sprache oder Grammatik der Zugehörigkeit“ (Meinhof/Galasiński 2005) zusammenfassen wollen, wobei wir uns auf die Art und Weise konzentrieren, in der die verwendete Sprache an der Konstruktion und Bestätigung multipler Identitäten beteiligt ist, die sich überschneiden, herausfordern oder ergänzen. Tatsächlich werden Vielfalt und Bewegung, und außerdem die Überwindung der Grenze zwischen Ländern, Sprachen und Kulturen in den Interviews mit jungen Menschen, die die Erfahrung der Migration leben und sich in einer anderen Sprache als ihrer Muttersprache ausdrücken, besonders berücksichtigt. Durch den Bezug auf interkulturelle Erfahrungen und die Konzepte der interkulturellen Germanistik stellen diese Texte daher interessantes Material für interdisziplinäre Studien dar, die vor allem die Sprache untersuchen. Erste theoretische Bezüge finden sich bei Wodak et al. (1999). In ihren Studien richten sie ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf Lexik und Syntax, um die Konstruktion von „Einheit, Differenz, Einzigartigkeit, Ursprung, Kontinuität, Veränderung, Autonomie, Heteronomie“ zu extrapolieren. Danach hat sich De Fina (2003) auf die narrativen Aspekte konzentriert, die zur Identitätskonstruktion verwendet werden. Allerdings mangelt es sowohl der Studie von Wodak et al. als auch der von De Fina an Systematik und Vollständigkeit für die Untersuchung des Identitätsdiskurses. Tatsächlich bedient sich die verwendete Sprache des gesamten Spektrums sprachlicher Mittel, so dass Zeit, Ort und Person die Positionierung des Sprechers als Zugehöriger zu einer bestimmten Gruppe ermöglichen, mit der er sich diskursiv identifiziert. Daher sollten zeitliche, räumliche und persönliche Bezüge nicht von dem Kontext getrennt werden, in dem sie auftreten. Die Diskursanalyse orientiert sich am Text, der selbst multifunktional und intertextuell ist. In Anlehnung an Faircloughs Modell (1989, 1992) erfolgt die Annäherung an den Text über Wortschatz, Grammatik und Textstruktur.
Substantial efforts have contributed to overcome the scarcity of research on hidden champions. Nevertheless, literature has yet missed to compile a comprehensive review. Drawing on the insights of 112 publications, four strands of literature could be distinguished to unravel the essence of hidden champions. Research on hidden champions studies their (1) internationalization strategies, (2) R&D and innovation strategies, the (3) worldwide and regional geographic distribution of hidden champions and finally (4) other research that could not be assigned to one of the first three strands. A hand-collected sample of 1372 German hidden champions exemplifies the key insights from the reviewed research articles. Discussing the findings of the different literature strands aims at drawing a conclusion on their main results and analytical pitfalls to eventually unfold and motivate future research avenues.
ABSTRACT Conceptually contributing to the literature on culture/identity, ontological security, and narrative, this article explores Germany's articulation of historical memory in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. We argue that this is done through (re)interpretation and contestation, combining biographical continuity and narrative adjustment. Based on an analysis of 107 speeches in the German parliament, we claim that German foreign policy discourse is marked by a tension between different principles which are rooted in a normative dispute among Germans seeking to draw the ‘right lessons’ from the country's history. This dispute is exemplified by ongoing German attempts to contextualise and situate their own past within the present through political narratives.
In the last decade, game-based learning has received growing attention in educational contexts in general and science education in particular. A recent game trend, which has also found its way into STEM classrooms, is escape rooms. In this type of game, players have to work through several puzzles to achieve a specific goal (mostly to escape from an actual room). We conducted a systematic literature review to find out whether the “market” for such games is already saturated or if there is still potential for further development. After searching the common databases (ERIC, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, as well as the German database FIS Bildung), we analyzed 93 journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers in English and German from the following domains: chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, computer science, general science (interdisciplinary), environmental science, and medicine. We selected the ones that targeted a specific educational level (primary, secondary or tertiary education) and were designed for formal educational settings. It transpired that there is a need for more easily adaptable escape rooms as well as for more empirical evidence on their actual effects.
Thomas Brasch (1945-2001), who left the GDR for the FRG in December 1976 after the Biermann affair, is often regarded as an emblematic figure of the exiled East German writer. However, if we take into account Brasch’s statements on this subject, his migration is not so much to be considered as a decisive break in his career or his artistic work as an indication of the transnational character of the latter. Highlighting Brasch’s experience of exile reactivates other exiles experiences, such as that linked to his Jewishness, which is evoked in his works, or the aesthetic and political ruptures (such as his interest in American rock music) that marked his years in the GDR and persisted after he settled in West Germany : indeed, he never ceased to occupy positions of in-betweenness and to refuse all assignments. The example of Brasch thus leads us to contextualise works by GDR writers who have moved to FRG differently than before and to view them more in a transnational perspective - instead of classifying them as “GDR literature”.
Stefanie Reim, Juliane Schiffler, Annette Braun-Lüllemann
et al.
Genebank collections preserve many old cultivars with ancient breeding history. However, often, cultivars with synonymous or incorrect names are maintained in multiple collections. Therefore, pomological and genetic characterization is an essential prerequisite for confirming trueness-to-type of cultivars in gene bank collections. In our study, 1442 single sweet cherry (<i>Prunus avium</i> L.) trees of the German Fruit Genebank were evaluated according to their trueness-to-type. For this purpose, pomological analysis was performed, in which the accessions were assigned totheir historical cultivar names. The pomological identifications were based on several historical reference sources, such as fruit references from historical cherry cultivar and fruit-stone collections, as well as historical pomological literature sources. In addition, the cherry trees were genetically analyzed for cultivar identity using 16 SSR markers. Based on pomological characterization and genetic analysis for the majority of the trees (86%), cultivar authenticity could be confirmed. Most markers were highly discriminating and powerful for cultivar identification. The cherry collection showed a high degree of genetic diversity, with an expected heterozygosity <i>He</i> = 0.67. Generally, high genetic admixture between cultivars of different geographic origin and year of origin was obtained after STRUCTURE analysis, demonstrating the extensive exchange of genetic information between cherry cultivars in the collection over time. However, the phylogenetic tree calculated by DARwin reflected the geographic origin of selected cherry cultivars. After parentage analysis with CERVUS, paternity could not be confirmed for three cultivars, indicating the necessity of further pedigree analysis for these cultivars. The results of our study underlined the general importance of evaluating the authenticity of cultivars in genebank collections based on genetic and pomological characterization.
This study investigates individual preferences for work arrangements in a discrete choice experiment. Based on sociological and economic literature, we identified six essential job attributes-earnings, job security, training opportunities, scheduling flexibility, prestige of the company, and gender composition of the work team-and mapped these into hypothetical job offers. Out of three job offers, with different specifications in the respective job attributes, respondents had to choose the offer they considered as most attractive. In 2017, we implemented our choice experiment in two large-scale surveys conducted in two countries: Germany (N = 2,659) and the Netherlands (N = 2,678). Our analyses revealed that respondents considered all six job attributes in their decision process but had different priorities for each. Moreover, we found gendered preferences. Women preferred scheduling flexibility and a company with a good reputation, whereas men preferred jobs with high earnings and a permanent contract. Despite different national labor market regulations, different target populations, and different sampling strategies for the two surveys, job preferences for German and Dutch respondents were largely parallel.
Forgiveness is an important theme in end-of-life care in all spiritual and religious traditions, although it is framed differently. Looking at research on forgiveness in palliative care literature from the last two decades, it is clear that forgiveness is predominantly carried out from a psychological perspective. According to this approach, forgiveness is seen as something that can be managed and taught in order to reduce stress and promote health. There is no doubt that this approach has its merits and is useful for dealing with guilt from the individual perspective of one’s own psychological health. From a moral perspective, however, forgiveness is more than dealing with personal feelings of guilt. In order to show the differences and gaps between the psychological and moral perspectives on forgiveness, I discuss the work of the German philosopher Svenja Flaßpöhler. I show that, from a moral perspective, forgiveness can neither be managed or taught, nor seen as a form of understanding, loving, or forgetting. As a conclusion, I formulate some recommendations for future research on forgiveness, distinguishing between the psychological and moral perspectives on forgiveness.
Laura K. Busert, Margot Mütsch, Christina Kien
et al.
Abstract Background Systematic reviews are an important source of evidence for public health decision-making, but length and technical jargon tend to hinder their use. In non-English speaking countries, inaccessibility of information in the native language often represents an additional barrier. In line with our vision to strengthen evidence-based public health in the German-speaking world, we developed a German language summary format for systematic reviews of public health interventions and undertook user-testing with public health decision-makers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Methods We used several guiding principles and core elements identified from the literature to produce a prototype summary format and applied it to a Cochrane review on the impacts of changing portion and package sizes on selection and consumption of food, alcohol and tobacco. Following a pre-test in each of the three countries, we carried out 18 user tests with public health decision-makers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland using the ‘think-aloud’ method. We analysed participants’ comments according to the facets credibility, usability, understandability, usefulness, desirability, findability, identification and accessibility. We also identified elements that hindered the facile and satisfying use of the summary format, and revised it based on participants’ feedback. Results The summary format was well-received; participants particularly appreciated receiving information in their own language. They generally found the summary format useful and a credible source of information, but also signalled several barriers to a positive user experience such as an information-dense structure and difficulties with understanding statistical terms. Many of the identified challenges were addressed through modifications of the summary format, in particular by allowing for flexible length, placing more emphasis on key messages and relevance for public health practice, expanding the interpretation aid for statistical findings, providing a glossary of technical terms, and only including graphical GRADE ratings. Some barriers to uptake, notably the participants’ wish for actionable recommendations and contextual information, could not be addressed. Conclusions Participants welcomed the initiative, but user tests also revealed their problems with understanding and interpreting the findings summarised in our prototype format. The revised summary format will be used to communicate the results of Cochrane reviews of public health interventions.
Resumo: Este é um estudo de caso antecedido por uma explanação sistemática de seus pressupostos teóricos. O caso é fictício, mas fortemente inspirado em uma decisão de Câmara do Tribunal Constitucional Federal alemão. Nela, tratava-se de avaliar a constitucionalidade de uma medida policial e sua confirmação judicial no contexto de uma contramanifestação a uma reunião que ocorria em local público. Para a sua solução, desenvolveu-se um parecer jurídico-constitucional cujo objeto é a situação jurídica presente no caso, com vistas a avaliar as chances de êxito de uma eventual ação judicial contra as medidas estatais (policiais e decisão judicial), considerando a hipótese da violação do direito fundamental à liberdade de reunião a ser testada. No que se refere aos pressupostos teóricos do caso e à conjuntura política e jurídica brasileira, tem-se o seguinte. Como ocorre em qualquer Estado democrático, também no Brasil sob a égide da Constituição Federal (CF) o entorno político-ideológico do direito fundamental à liberdade de reunião é tão notório quanto contraproducente, pelo menos quando se pensa na imprescindibilidade de uma abordagem especificamente técnico-jurídica constitucional. Há um déficit na discussão pátria que o presente ensaio visa a sanar à luz do direito comparado alemão. Conjugar, assistematicamente, o princípio democrático com a liberdade de reunião e seu suposto caráter instrumental em relação àquele não faz jus aos desafios hermenêuticos implícitos no complexo teor do art. 5º, XVI CF em que se positivou o direito fundamental à liberdade de reunião. Partindo de uma análise sistemática do texto constitucional, o presente ensaio apresenta definições jurídico-dogmáticas, metodologicamente disciplinadas, e analisa o teor do dispositivo, classificando suas locuções entre condições subjetivas para o exercício da liberdade de reunião e previsão implícita de seus limites constitucionais que, por sua vez, podem ser, atendido certo ônus argumentativo, concretamente traçados pelo legislador ordinário. Assim, uma legislação ordinária regulamentadora não poderia ser, de plano, descartada como inconstitucional. Também a interpretação e a aplicação dessa eventual lei regulamentadora, assim como no caso da interpretação de quaisquer outros dispositivos normativos pertinentes ao direito administrativo e penal em geral, devem ser interpretadas e aplicadas à luz do direito fundamental à liberdade de reunião, de tal sorte a serem observados os vínculos específicos de todos os órgãos estatais pertinentes às três funções estatais clássicas.
Palavras-chave: Autoaplicabilidade de direitos fundamentais. Regulamentação da liberdade de reunião. Limites constitucionais da liberdade de reunião. Interpretação judicial à luz da liberdade de reunião.
Abstract: This is a case study preceded by a systematic explanation of its theoretical framework. The case is fictitious but strongly inspired by a judgement of the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany, in which the court assessed the constitutionality of a police measure and its judicial confirmation in the context of a counter-protest to a meeting that had occurred in a public space. For the case study’s resolution, it was developed a juridical-constitutional opinion centred on the juridical situation exposed on the case, with the aim to evaluate the chances of a positive outcome of an eventual judicial action against the state measures (police measure and its juridical confirmation), considering the hypothesis of violation of the fundamental right to assembly. As in any other democracy, in Brazil under the Federal Constitution (FC) of 1988, the political-ideological contours of the right to freedom of assembly are as notorious as they are counterproductive - at least when one thinks of the indispensability of a specific constitutional legal technique. There is a deficit in the Brazilian literature that the present essay seeks to remedy in the light of comparative law considering the German case. To reconcile the democratic principle with the freedom of assembly, without a systematic approach, one assumes its instrumental character in relation to the former and does not meet the hermeneutical challenges implicit in the complex content of article 5, XVI, of the Brazilian Federal Constitution, in which freedom of assembly was enshrined. From a systematic analysis of the constitutional text, this study presents legal-dogmatic definitions that are methodologically disciplined, and analyzes the content of the aforementioned constitutional article, classifying its parts as either subjective conditions for the exercise of freedom of assembly or as implicit constitutional limits, which can be concretely drawn by the ordinary legislator, provided that they observe certain argumentative burdens. Thus, such a regulatory legislation could not, prima facie, be considered unconstitutional. Also, its eventual interpretation and application -as the interpretation of any other normative provision of administrative or criminal law in general - must be done in the light of freedom of assembly in such a way that the specific bounds between all three state functions are respected.
Keywords: Self-enforceability of fundamental rights. Regulation of the freedom of assembly. Constitutional limits of the freedom of assembly. Judicial interpretation in the light of the freedom of assembly.