Ursachen des Rechtsextremismus. Eine Programmatik für die sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung in der Schweiz

This essay wants to indicate elements of a possible approach in forthcoming Swiss social research that could be useful to analyze xenophobic right wing violence and may well be of assistance in the further civilizing and democratization process of modern societies. Working with a limited concept of right wing extremism, different current research approaches in social sciences are taken into attention. Especially those research questions have to be underscored which gave a relevant contribution to the understanding and possibly to the solution of right wing extremism as a social phenomenon.     

The problems of Eastern Europe

The outlook for conflict settlement in the Middle East is gloomy, and the chances for a new round of peace talks being initiated by the parties in the region are next to zero. US President Barack Obama has announced that he wants to engage “aggressively” in favour of Middle East peace making and has taken first encouraging steps in that direction. It would be wrong, however, to assume that the US President can achieve conflict settlement largely on his own. Europeans should therefore rethink their policy approaches -- above all, how to deal with Hamas, the Gaza Strip and how to push the peace process forward -- and seek a more effective division of labour and coordination with the Obama administration.     

Closing the distance between academia and market: experimentation and user entrepreneurial processes

We inductively examine how exceptional Principal Investigators (PIs), who are active in biotechnology, medical devices, and nanotechnology, affect new technology trajectories and shape market boundaries by leveraging synergies stemming from their being simultaneously a scientist and a (lead) user. Our central contribution is the scientist-user template that explores how these types of PIs perform successfully their technology transfer task and, consequently, address increasing expectations about PIs as agents of economic and societal development. Building upon five illustrative case histories, we propose that scientist-user PIs exhibit superior capabilities in turning generic technology into several selected market applications, with no negative effects on their academic role. Overall, we develop a holistic view of synergies stemming from the scientist and user sides and offer insights into academic entrepreneurship and research project management.     

DNA Preparation from Sexual Assault Cases by Selective Degradation of Contaminating DNA from the Victim

Abstract:  The standard method to purify sperm DNA from vaginal swabs taken from rape victims is to selectively digest the victim's epithelial cells to solubilize the victim's DNA, and then separate the soluble DNA from the intact sperm by centrifugation. A different approach to removing the soluble victim's DNA is to selectively degrade it using a nuclease, DNase I. DNase I reduces the amount of soluble DNA by over 1000-fold, while having virtually no effect on the sperm DNA remaining in the sperm head and inaccessible to the enzyme. Nuclease inactivation and sperm lysis then yield a soluble, pure male DNA fraction. An aliquot of soluble DNA is removed prior to nuclease addition to provide the victim's fraction. Vaginal swabs taken at defined time points following consensual sex and taken from rape victims were processed using the nuclease method or the standard method and the nuclease method gave superior short tandem repeat profiles.     

Weathering the storm: why was there no Arab uprising in Algeria?

This article re-opens the discussion of why there was “no Arab Uprising in Algeria.” After critically reviewing previous findings, the paper suggests that the stability of the Algerian regime was mainly a result of the non-formation of a cross-class and cross-ideological coalition. Splitting this hypothesis into its two main parts, it will be shown, first, that the working class was the missing element. Two factors explain this: (a) the numerical and strategic marginalization of productive workers – in turn, an effect of the process of de-industrialization that hit the country from the late 1980s onwards; and (b) the presence of an aristocracy of labour in the hydrocarbon sector, from which a tiny minority of workers produced an overwhelming amount of wealth. Secondly, the enduring distrust among opposition groups – a direct legacy of the still-too-recent civil war, as well as an effect of the specific institutional environment that developed from the mid 1990s onwards – prevented the establishment of a “negative coalition” through which all opposition forces could jointly mobilize against the regime.