解释学纲要

施莱尔马赫的解释学思想主要体现在他身后出版的《解释学与校勘学》中,此书的总序和导论以纲要的方式表达了他在这个领域中的基本观点。他明确地界定了解释学与校勘学,区分了普遍解释学和特殊解释学、语法解释和心理解释、解释学的严格的实践和不严格的实践,突出了语言在解释学中的核心地位,对解释学循环作了明确的表述,并提出了浪漫主义解释学的著名口号——我们能像作者理解的一样并能做到比作者理解他自己理解得更好——等重要的思想。     

Criticism and outstanding leadership: An evaluation of leader reactions and critical outcomes

Outstanding political leaders are frequently called upon to make high-stakes decisions. Because of the controversial and highly visible nature of these issues, they often face intense criticism. Leaders' responses to criticisms not only affect follower reactions, but also the successful resolution of the contested issue. The present study examines leader and follower reactions to different types of criticisms. A historiometric approach was used to examine biographies containing criticisms of 120 world leaders and to explore leader behaviors in response to criticisms. Specifically, leader response strategies and their success in terms of follower reactions and resolution of the criticism were examined. The results indicated that collaborative or confrontational leader response strategies proved most effective in terms of the leader's ability to continue forward with a particular agenda item and to gather support of those around him or her. Conversely, avoidant, diverting attention, and persuasive response strategies proved less effective.     

Symmetry of functions and exchangeability of random variables

We present a new approach for measuring the degree of exchangeability of two continuous, identically distributed random variables or, equivalently, the degree of symmetry of their corresponding copula. While the opposite of exchangeability does not exist in probability theory, the contrary of symmetry is quite obvious from an analytical point of view. Therefore, leaving the framework of probability theory, we introduce a natural measure of symmetry for bivariate functions in an arbitrary normed function space. Restricted to the set of copulas this yields a general concept for measures of (non-)exchangeability of random variables. The fact that copulas are never antisymmetric leads to the notion of maximal degree of antisymmetry of copulas. We illustrate our approach by various norms on function spaces, most notably the Sobolev norm for copulas.     

Wie Organisationsmediation mit Macht in Konflikten umgehen kann

The author distinguishes different forms of influence from power and is describing analytical models to be used for diagnosis and for conflict resolution interventions in meso-social systems like corporate organizations, NGOs, public administration, hospitals, schools, associations etc. The given models are useful for external consultants or mediators who are aiming at changing power aspects. During a process of escalation various forms of influence and power are applied which require specific approaches for interventions.     

What makes foster carers think about quitting? Recommendations for improved retention of foster carers

Ideation, or the formulation of ideas pertaining to a particular topic, is the precursor to individuals making significant life decisions. Many individuals think about foster caring long before they actually become carers, and it stands to reason that in many cases, carer discontinuation also follows a period of ideation. This being the case, it is possible that by monitoring ideation, interventions could be introduced to prevent placement disruptions occurring, particularly if the sources of dissatisfaction are known. Using a sample of 205 foster carers, a posteriori segmentation analysis identifies groups of carers dissatisfied with the same aspects of their role. One group is particularly dissatisfied with factors that are within the control of foster care agencies and also reports high levels of discontinuation ideation. Recommendations include that the individual support needs of carers be identified such that customized support can be offered, including boosting initial and ongoing training to manage expectations and ensure carers feel prepared for the role. Results also highlight the important role of caseworkers in making carers feel appreciated and taken seriously.     

On linear regression designs which maximize information

Necessary and sufficient conditions are established when a continuous design contains maximal information for a prescribed s-dimensional parameter in a classical linear model. The development is based on a thorough study of a particular dual problem and its interplay with the optimal design problem, extending partial results and earlier approaches based on differential calculus, game theory, and other programming methods. The results apply in particular to a class of information functionals which covers c-, D-, A-, L-optimality, they include a complete account of the non-differentiable criterion of E-optimality, and provide a constructive treatment of those situations in which the information matrix is singular. Corollaries pertain to the case of s out of k parameters, simultaneous optimality with respect to several criteria, multiplicity of optimal designs, bounds on their weights, and optimality which is induced by admissibility.