This thesis investigates the background, activities, and motivations of German women who provided administrative support for Nazi institutions and agencies of the Third Reich. It compares women who specifically chose to serve the Nazi cause in voluntary roles with those who took on such work as a progression of established careers. Using a variety of sources, including post-war testimony in criminal cases, it shows how much they knew about the repressive and genocidal aspects of the regime and evaluates the role that ideology, as against other factors, played in their loyalty to their employers. Secretaries, SS-Helferinnen (SS female auxiliaries) and Nachrichtenhelferinnen des Heeres (female communication auxiliaries of the army) held similar jobs: taking dictation, answering telephones, and sending telegrams. Yet their backgrounds differed markedly. While secretaries were habitually recruited on the basis of their prior experience and competencies, the Helferinnen predominantly volunteered, sometimes motivated by ideology and the opportunity to serve their country, sometimes enticed by the prospect of foreign travel or the lure of the uniform. The thesis sheds light on these women's backgrounds: their social status, education, career patterns. It seeks to explain the situations and motives that propelled them into their positions and explores what they knew about the true nature of their work. These women often had access to information about the administration of genocide and are a relatively untapped resource. Their recollections shed light on the lives and work of their superiors, the mundane tasks that contributed to the displacement, deportation and death of millions of people across Europe, and the extent to which information about these atrocities was communicated and comprehended. Attention is paid to the specific role played by gender amongst perpetrators of the Holocaust. The question of how gender intersected with National Socialism, repression, atrocity and genocide forms the conceptual thread linking the separate chapters on these three groups of women who had varied backgrounds and degrees of initial commitment to Nazi ideology.

With the development of online shopping, the number of third-party online payment systems increases. Alipay is a commonly used third-party online payment system among Chinese consumers. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that affect the users’ acceptance of Alipay among Chinese B2C customers. This study adopts a deductive, theory testing approach. Based on the model of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), a research model and hypotheses were proposed. A survey study was performed with a quota sample of 300 Chinese online shopping consumers. Based on the responses, the hypotheses were tested through statistical analysis. Through testing the hypotheses, it was concluded that: “Social Influence”, “Effort expectancy” were the factors that most prominently could affect B2C user’s acceptance of Alipay. Hence, third-party online systems suppliers should focus on social marketing and increasing the ease of use of the systems to increase user acceptance. Other similar third-party online payment company could take those identified factors as reference in further user acceptance study, and the proposed research model in this study could also help in improving understanding of user acceptance in similar third-part online payment system.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study was to determine if distinct subgroups of high achieving children could be identified using a recently redeveloped intelligence measure—The Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability, 3rd edition (WJ-III). Students were referred for further testing based on their scores on the Indiana State Test of Educational Progress (the ISTEP+). Students were included in the study if they scored at or above the 90th percentile on the ISTEP+ Cognitive Skills Index, or the reading and/or math portions. Using these criteria, 202 students were referred for further testing. These students were clustered with Ward's method of cluster analysis using their scores on the seven CHC factors of the WJ-III. Their individual scores on two other intelligence measures (the Stanford-Binet IV and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test), as well as other scores from the WJ-III were used to further describe the clusters that emerged. The following three subgroups were identified: (a) decidedly gifted, (b) problem solvers, and (c) slow-paced achievers. Not all subgroups obtained the gifted score ranges expected on the three measures employed. The clusters were better described as displaying a slight levels effect, in that the groups were most different from one another in terms of the overall intelligence quotient and mean CHC factor scores, with one group scoring in the superior to high average ranges, one in the high average to average ranges, and one in the average range overall. This study provided evidence for the use of intelligence measures in describing gifted individuals' specific strengths and weaknesses. It also has significant implications for the use of intelligence measures in assessing giftedness within an applied setting. This study is useful as a validation study for the three intelligence measures employed. / Department of Educational Psychology

This paper examines the process of employing four kinds of information systems in fourth-party logistics. The paper mainly tries to answer research questions: what is fourth-party logistics and information systems; what are benefits and barriers for using four kinds of information systems (RFID, WMS, EDI, Electronic marketplace) with the help of fourth-party logistics; what are unique benefits and barriers for fourth-party logistics to employ the four kinds of information systems and how to overcome the difficulties. To answer the research question, qualitative case study approach was employed and two case companies were chosen. Information in literature review was collected from secondary data for example scientific paper. Information in findings was collected from interviews of people in charge of the project and internal reports.   Definitions of fourth-party logistics and information system were reviewed in literature review. The differences between fourth-party logistics and third-party logistics were presented as well. In addition, categorization of various kinds of advanced information systems was also listed.   Benefits and barriers organized from literature and case studies were gathered and compared in discussion. Two significant benefits were identified: opportunities to do businesses with leading companies and improved efficiency. Two main barriers are confusion of the concept of fourth-party logistics and terminology of information system and financial justification. There are different opinions between the two case companies, literature review and empirical data, and between different literature. The paper concluded that there are many benefits and barriers for employing the four kinds of information systems in fourth-party logistics, and the future development of it is promising.

This study focuses on one source of sex tourism diaries: posts on the World Sex Guide written about tourists who had sex while in Latin America. My interest is in exploring how posters on the World Sex Guide make sense of their involvement in sex tourism. Starting from the premise that the diaries constitute a forum in which a hegemonic masculinity is created and perpetuated I ask: what types of relations are valued and reproduced by the posters? How do the tourists construct the women whose services they seek? What do their narratives reveal about their own sense of selfhood in the process? I situate the diaries as pornographic representations or rhetorical strategies that are constituted by their context, interpretations, and inscriptions. I then undertake a discursive analysis to reveal their purpose and implications. In particular, I argue that the performances posted on the World Sex Guide reinforce lines of gender, race, economics, status, nationality, and ethnicity in a way that bolsters Western hegemonic masculinities, the implications of which have import not only in online settings but offline as well.

The oxidation behavior of model binary and ternary alloys in supercritical water (SCW) was examined. Binary alloys contained 9 or 14 at% Cr. Ternary alloys had 1.5 at% of one of the following elements: Si, Al, V, Mn or Ti. Samples with different surface finishes were exposed to SCW for up to 500 hours. The oxidized samples were characterized using gravimetry, SEM, HRTEM and EDX. After exposure, a uniform double layer oxide with outwardly grown magnetite inwardly grown Fe-Cr mixed oxide was detected on most of samples. Alloys contains 14 at% Cr or/and 1.5 at% Si showed a mixed oxidation mode, where relatively thick double layer oxides coexisted with thin protective oxide. The coverage with the thin oxide increased with the increase of deformation and/or Cr and/or Si content. A 20 nm thick Si-enriched layer was detected at such alloy/oxide interfaces. This behavior is very similar to “third element effect”.

The oxidation behavior of model binary and ternary alloys in supercritical water (SCW) was examined. Binary alloys contained 9 or 14 at% Cr. Ternary alloys had 1.5 at% of one of the following elements: Si, Al, V, Mn or Ti. Samples with different surface finishes were exposed to SCW for up to 500 hours. The oxidized samples were characterized using gravimetry, SEM, HRTEM and EDX. After exposure, a uniform double layer oxide with outwardly grown magnetite inwardly grown Fe-Cr mixed oxide was detected on most of samples. Alloys contains 14 at% Cr or/and 1.5 at% Si showed a mixed oxidation mode, where relatively thick double layer oxides coexisted with thin protective oxide. The coverage with the thin oxide increased with the increase of deformation and/or Cr and/or Si content. A 20 nm thick Si-enriched layer was detected at such alloy/oxide interfaces. This behavior is very similar to “third element effect”.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

Zugl.: Hannover, Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.