Beratung zum Tode. Eine neuears moriendi?

Dieser Artikel präsentiert Ergebnisse einer qualitativen Untersuchung deutschsprachiger Ratgeberliteratur zu Sterben, Tod und Trauer. Vor dem Hintergrund eines allgemeinen Beratungsbooms widmet sich der Aufsatz der Frage, welche Funktion Beratung, speziell die Beratung zum Tode, in der modernen Gesellschaft haben kann. Beratung wird alsKommunikative Gattung definiert, die in erster Linie auf das Problem der ?fragilen Anschlussfähigkeit“ — insbesondere bei schriftlichen Ratgebern — verweist. Eine Auswertung der Ratgeberliteratur zum Thema Tod zeigt, dass man anhand der Textedrei typische Problemhorizonte unterscheiden kann, in denen der Tod platziert wird. Die Bedeutung des Todes lässt sich somit nur im Hinblick auf die Erwartungsstrukturen erschließen, die in den Texten typischerweise konstruiert werden. Tod kann dann verstanden werden erstens als Abschied vom Leben, zweitens als bedeutungsloser Zwischenfall oder drittens als gleiches Schicksal für alle. Dieser Typologie entsprechen drei unterschiedliche Kontexturen. Damit bestätigt sich die Vermutung, dass die moderne Gesellschaft keinears moriendi mehr kennt. Stattdessen finden sich kommunikative ?Räume“, innerhalb derer das Unsagbare sagbar gemacht werden kann.     

The Chancellor's forgotten blunder: Konrad Adenauer's foundation for refugees and expellees

Adenauer's major political mistakes towards the end of his political career are fairly well remembered but hardly anyone recalls his disastrous attempt to set up a foundation for refugees and expellees prior to the 1953 general elections. This article explains the reasons for the establishment and its failure but also the reasons why this blunder is hardly remembered anymore although it is a prime example of Adenauer's thinking and realpolitische acting.     

An unusual case of double death

The report presents the case of an alleged double homicide or a homicide followed by suicide of a couple, in which the court-ordered autopsy of both victims revealed that the homicide had been committed by the husband immediately before he died himself from cardiac failure. The article gives a short summary of the pathophysiological relations between emotional tension (stress) and physical strain and the effects on the cardiovascular system. The case report describes a homicide by strangulation immediately followed by the perpetuator's death from a natural cause.     

The Optimal Combination of Cartilage Source and Apparatus for Long‐Term In Vitro Chondrocyte Viability Analysis

Abstract: Most studies of long‐term chondrocytes survival were for tissue banks. They showed a gradual reduction in the viable chondrocytes percentage as a function of time and ambient temperature, but the samples were harvested under optimal conditions. The aim of our study was to determine the most reliable combination of cartilage source and assay for the in vitro postmortem chondrocyte viability analysis in the conditions that imitate a dead body. Osteochondral cylinders were procured from femoral condyles and talar trochleas of three male donors and stored in the cell culture media at 4 ± 2°C and 23 ± 2°C. The samples were analyzed by a cell viability analyzer and a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) initially 24–36 h after death and then in 4‐week intervals. The results reconfirmed the significant influence of time (p = 0.0002), but not of the temperature (p = 0.237). The largest reproducibility was presented for the knee joint and the CLSM.     

Controlling partners and proxies in pro-insurgency paramilitary operations: the case of Syria

Pro-insurgency paramilitary operations (PMOs) are a rare type of covert action that aim to destabilize or overthrow a hostile government or defeat nonstate groups with no cooperation from a host government. The article analyzes US covert operations in Syria since 2011 by applying Principal–Agent Theory (PAT) to explain the inherent difficulties involved in controlling partner states and proxies. The nature of pro-insurgency PMOs is such that main tasks have to be delegated to partners and proxies, which reduces the ability of the US government to achieve desirable outcomes, especially whenever the goals of the partners and proxies are not well-aligned with US objectives as is the case in Syria.     

Founding Principles of EU Law: A Theoretical and Doctrinal Sketch

The article discusses the roles of founding principles of the EU with the method of doctrinal constructivism, thereby explaining this specific approach to legal scholarship. At the same time it proves the usefulness of the constitutional approach to EU law. Core characteristics of the EU legal order should become more tangible.