The world is full of signs (symbols, signifiers). They guide us in supermarkets, on highways and in airports. They even guide us to the right bathroom. Signs have a huge impact if they are used as logos or in advertisements. Signs also help us when we read manuals or when we use a remote control. Signs are used everywhere. Signs render service as they are 'applications of skills and knowledge for the benefit of another party' (Vargo and Lusch 2004, 2008). Like all offerings signs only render service if they are used in some way. This article will argue that the usage of signs depends on the practices they are embedded in. It is argued that signs do not gain their full meaning and do not serve or create any value unless they are embedded in practices. Since signs are explicit and practices mainly implicit they are both necessary to serve and more importantly to (co-)create value. Signs and practices are two sides of the same coin so both they (and their interrelation) have to be understood in order to offer a better service.

It has already been established that animals have various constitutional effects on humans and influence quality of life and well-being in various ways (see Nestmann 2005). For a lot of people in all stages of their life, pets are important sources of support. They are able to contribute to our health as well as to buffer stress and illness. Especially elderly and frail people take profit from the human animal bond. Pets may be seen as important agents in support and therapy of people with dementia. Besides offering emotional support in times of struggle and loneliness, pets can even have a healing influence in situations of physical or mental illness. Since the 1960s animals have been used in professional and therapeutic settings. Even retirement and nursing homes experience the psychosocial benefits of animal assisted activities and integrate animals successfully in the daily routine of the residents. The longitudinal field study “Animals at the Johanniter-Stift Nursing Home” is the first to investigate the effects of animal assisted activities on the quality of life and well-being of elderly nursing home patients with dementia. In order to systematically establish the extent to which various forms of regular contact with animals can benefit such patients, psychological and social changes in patients with and without contact to animals were examined at three intervals over a three-year period, using research instruments such as non-participant observation (MTU), questionnaires completed by nursing staff (FSAK; NPI) as well as interviews with the nursing staff to examine the human-animal-contacts between the residents and the animals in the daily routine. The study demonstrates that elderly dementia sufferers with regular contact to animals tend to show greater agility, independence, strength of social network and communication abilities compared to those without contact to animals. The study shows the psychosocial effects and the options of animal assisted activities with and care of elderly people suffering from dementia as an alternative to pharmacological treatment.

In the reasoning about actions community, causal relationships have been proposed as a possible approach for solving the ramification problem, i. e., the problem of how to deal with indirect effects of actions. In this paper, we show that causal relationships can be added to action formalisms based on Description Logics without destroying the decidability of the consistency and the projection problem.

Background The present study examines the psychometric properties of the German adaptation of the Client Attachment to Therapist Scale (CATS). The validity of the scale as originally proposed has recently been brought into question, as patients were identified as “pseudosecure”. Methods We examined the measure’s factorial structure, as well as reliability and validity towards related measures using a clinical sample of N = 354 participants. Results We found the original model, consisting of 36 items to be lacking in terms of model fit and construct validity. A shortened 12-item version exhibited markedly improved model fit and reliability. Correlations to related constructs demonstrated that none of the scale’s validity was lost by shortening it. Furthermore, we showed scalar invariance across groups of age and sex. Conclusions The shortened CATS-S can be recommended for future use in clinical research in German-speaking populations as a valid, reliable, and economical alternative to the longer version.

In der vorliegenden Dissertation wird die literarische Wechselbeziehung zwischen den deutschsprachigen Schriftstellern Max Frisch (1911-1991) und Uwe Johnson (1934-1984) untersucht. Zu diesem Zweck werden nicht nur die literarischen Texte besprochen, sondern auch ihre Produktion und Rezeption, und zwar anhand von veröffentlichtem und unveröffentlichtem Material. Durch die Untersuchung der verschiedenen Lektoratsarbeiten Johnsons an Frischs Werken, des Projekts "Stich-Worte" und der intertextuellen Bezüge zwischen dem Werk von Frisch und dem von Johnson wird ein literarischer Austausch zwischen den beiden Schriftstellern rekonstruiert, bei dem die Frage nach der Identität und deren literarischer Darstellung sowie die Problematik von Biographie und Autobiographie im Zentrum stehen. Es wird gezeigt, dass die beiden Schriftsteller einander bei diesem Austausch erheblich beeinflusst haben. ---------------------------------- L´objet de la présente thèse de doctorat est l´interaction littéraire qui sest développée entre les écrivains de langue allemande Max Frisch (1911-1991) et Uwe Johnson (1934-1984). Afin de mieux circonscrire le dialogue qu´ils ont mené tout au long de leur relation et l´influence qu´ils ont exercée l´un sur l´autre, l´analyse des textes littéraires proprement dits a été combinée à l´étude de leur production et de leur réception sur la base de documents publiés et de documents darchives. De l´étude des travaux de relecture réalisés par Johnson sur quatre manuscrits de Frisch, des "Stich-Worte" et des liens intertextuels tissés entre l´uvre de Frisch et celle de Johnson, il ressort que le dialogue entre ces écrivains a pour thème central la question de l´identité et de sa représentation littéraire, la problématique de la biographie et de l´autobiographie et que, par le biais de ce dialogue, ces deux auteurs se sont influencés de façon considérable. ---------------------------------- The subject of this thesis is the literary interaction between the German-speaking writers Max Frisch (1911-1991) and Uwe Johnson (1934-1984). In order to better circumscribe their lifelong dialogue and mutual influence, not only the literary texts were analysed, but also their production and reception, which was done on the basis of published and unpublished material. The analysis of Johnsons comprehensive editing on four manuscripts by Frisch, of the "Stich-Worte" and of the intertextual links between the works of Frisch and Johnson, reveals that the dialogue between these two writers centers on the issue of identity and its literary representation, as well as the problems posed by biography and autobiography; Ultimately, it appears that through this dialogue Frisch and Johnson influenced each other to a considerable extent.

Der Augsburger Soziologe Hans-Jürgen Frieß analysiert sowohl aus politologischer als auch soziologischer Sicht das politische Regime Kubas. Im Fokus steht die Frage der politischen Stabilität. Der Autor diskutiert die politischen, historischen und wirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen der Macht Fidel Castros. Der zeitliche Schwerpunkt der Analyse liegt in den Jahren von 1990 bis 2006, wobei auch vorherige Entwicklungen beleuchtet werden. Das Buch basiert auf einer Dissertation, die 2008 an der Universität Augsburg erfolgreich verteidigt wurde.

Das Tragverhalten von Textilbeton ist stark nicht-linear und der Verlauf der Spannungs-Dehnungs-Beziehung hängt von zahlreichen Parametern ab. Unter einaxialer Zugbelastung existieren bereits umfangreiche experimentelle Untersuchungen und theoretische Modelle zur Beschreibung des Tragverhaltens. In vielen Anwendungen, z. B. bei Querkraft- und Torsionsbeanspruchung, sind die Beanspruchungen jedoch nicht einaxial und/oder nicht axial zur Bewehrungsrichtung, und es kommt zu Interaktionen der beiden Bewehrungshauptrichtungen, primär infolge des Einflusses zweier Risssysteme in den beiden Hauptrichtungen. Das Tragverhalten textiler AR-Glas- und Carbonbewehrungen unter zweiaxialen Zugbeanspruchungen wurde experimentell untersucht, um diese Einflüsse qualitativ und quantitativ beschreiben zu können. In diesem Beitrag werden erste Ergebnisse vorgestellt.

Univ., Diss.--St. Gallen, 2007.

Universiẗat, Diss.--Mannheim, 2000.

Universiẗat, Diss. u.d.T.: Wertfein, Monika: Emotionale Entwicklung im Vor- und Grundschulalter im Spiegel der Eltern-Kind-Interaktion--München, 2006.