Interministerielle Netzwerke: Formale und informelle Koordinationsstrukturen bei der Vorbereitung der deutschen Verhandlungspositionen zur Regierungskonferenz 1996

How do German ministries manage the preparation of national negotiation positions for EU intergovernmental conference? After a survey of the debate on organizational deficits of the interministerial coordination in Germany, we are consulting decision- and organization-theoretic approaches in IR. Drawing on organizational economics we concretise and supplement these older frameworks. We conceive the management of a governmental organization as a specific aggregation of heterogeneous preferences and information. Applying social network analysis we take into account formal as well as informal aspects of coordination channels. The objective of this article is to make visible the complex structures and processes that constitute foreign policy making, and to provide a preliminary assessment of its efficiency.     

The Impact of Competition and Labor Remuneration on Profitability in China's Industrial State-owned Enterprises

China's industrial state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have seen a secular decline in profitability throughout the reform period. Barry Naughton argues that this decline was in large part due to a decline in monopoly rents as competition with enterprises in other ownership forms increased. Fan Gang and Woo Wing-Thye, on the other hand, contend that profitability declined across all sectors independent of the degree of competition, and that excessive labor remuneration accounts for the broad decline in SOE profitability. Testing the two hypotheses with aggregate sectoral and provincial data from the mid-1980s to the late-1990s, neither appears convincing. Yet at closer inspection these are not competing hypotheses. The two causes affect overall profitability through different channels. Competition and labor remuneration have a highly significant impact on intermediate profitability measures that take the two channels into account separately. Together they explain most of the variation in overall profitability.     

The incongruous achiever in adolescence

The authors wished to study some of the internal psychological dynamics of achievement in a nonpatient identified high school population. Questionnaires were administered to the Grade 13 students and their parents in a large high school. A number of students whose achievement and educational plans were not congruous with their general background were selected for interview. The findings suggest that a wide variety of ages and developmental stages can be discerned as critical points in the development of a student's attitude toward higher education. These students have many values in common, and their values appear related to a positive or negative identification with parental values. The students themselves show a wide range of personality integration. They relate in a special way to a wide variety of teachers' personalities.Received M.D. from University of Alberta, Edmonton, in 1969 and completed specialty training in psychiatry at University of Toronto in 1974. Main interests include psychoanalysis, community psychiatry, and currently antabuse implants.Received M.D. from University of Toronto in 1960, D. Psych. from University of Toronto in 1963, C.R.C.P.(c) in 1965, and F.R.C.P. in 1972. Main interests include adolescent psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychiatric residency training programs, and mental health delivery systems.     

Transborder data flow issues and technology transfer

Transborder data flow and technology transfer issues have a substantial overlap. Transborder data flows represent flows of information with economic and/or cultural value. Electronic access to “know-how”, information, data, etc. is becoming more and more important to technology transfer and sharing. National transborder data flow policies either affect or can themselves be technology transfer policies.     

Technology transfer at land-grant universities

Improvement in the ability of universities in the United States to transfer technology to the private sector is seen as a factor in strengthening American competitiveness. To better understand the university's role in this process, a survey of formal university programs in technology transfer was performed through personal interviews at four midwestern land-grant universities. There are six basic types of programs in place: technical assistance, affiliate, licensing, business development, incubators and research parks, and information networks. For purposes of classifying these programs, we used the model developed by Janis et al. (1) It was found that, of the six modes of technology transfer, two could be considered active, three semi-active and one passive.     

Prosthetic restorations, dental root fillings and periodontal bone resorptions as a forensic-odontologic aid for determining the age above 18 years: A radiographic study of orthopantomograms from a group of teenagers and yount adults

The human teeth are a valuable source of information concerning identification and age calculation in forensic sciences. Dental treatment often causes permanent alteration of the teeth, which is visible on radiographs. The correlation of prosthetic restorations, root canal fillings and periodontal bone loss with chronological age has not yet been used for determining the completed 18th year of life in teenagers and young adults, e. g. for legal and anthropological purposes. The aim of this study was to determine whether the evaluation of such findings on radiographs correlates with the chronological age in teenagers and young adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The dental X-rays (orthopantomogram, OPG) of 1053 outpatients (age: 14 to 24 years) were avaluated. The values "prosthetically restored", "filled dental root", or "periodontal bone loss" were recorded for each tooth present. The data were then evaluated using statistical tools. RESULTS: The correlation between the number of prosthetically restored teeth and the chronological age is high. The positive predictive value of determining an age of at least 18 years proved to be very high. However, these findings are rarely present in this age group. The number of endodontically treated teeth correlated less exactly with age. On the other hand, the determination of periodontal bone loss gave reasonable positive predictive values for the threshold value "chronological age of 18 years or more". DISCUSSION: This study provides for the first time predictive values for the estimation whether a person is 18 years of age, based on the evaluation of teeth with prosthetic restorations, root canal fillings or periodontal bone loss on OPGs only. Whereas the number of patients with such findings is generally low in this age group, some of the positive findings can be used for age estimation as an adjunct to other sources of age calculation. The sole application of these criteria is not recommended, as sanitary conditions of the teeth depend on both social and individual circumstances. Therefore, the calculated values also reflect the culture of the sample studied. Finally, they are time-dependent and have to be compared to data from other populations. These results have some bearing on the field of forensic odontology.     

Auswirkungen des Umweltrechts auf eine nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung*

Das Umweltrecht nimmt in vielfältigen Formen und Verfahren Einfluss auf die Regionalplanung als (Haupt-)Instrument nachhaltiger Regionalentwicklung. Der Beitrag beleuchtet dies unter rechtlichen Aspekten und bezieht hierzu Stellung. Die Kritik richtet sich u. a. auf die Heterogenität umweltrechtlicher Agenden und die eingeschränkte Sanktionierung von Verstößen gegen Vorgaben des Umweltrechts. * Schriftliche Fassung eines Vortrags auf dem Kongress Steuerungsimpulse für eine nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung am 24./25. 11. 2004 in Greifswald. Verf. ist Inhaber eines Lehrstuhls für öffentliches Recht und Geschäftsführender Direktor des Ostseeinstituts für Seerecht, Umweltrecht und Infrastrukturrecht, Universität Rostock.     

Potential role of the MNC as an agent of technology transfer for economic development

There is evidence that the multinational corporation (MNC) and a developing nation may have a set of mutually beneficial goals. This article investigates the goals of the multinational corporation and the goals of a developing nation. It then illustrates the mutual benefits in terms of resource identification, and technology selection and development. A planning mechanism is suggested. Finally, some guide lines are offered that should enhance the probability of cooperation.