T Cell Immunity and Aging

The effect of age on the immune system is generally detrimental and results in "immunosenescence," a poorly-defined state inadequately reflected in clinical data and for which few reliable "biomarkers of aging" are available. The multinational consortium "T-Cell Immunity in Ageing," T-CIA, was set up to examine these issues specifically as applied to T lymphocytes. This Perspective discusses some of the outcomes of a recent conference that considered progress toward resolving these questions in humans.     

Soziologie und neurowissenschaften: über die komplementarität zweier beschreibungsebenen

In recent years, neuroscience has revealed a lot of interesting findings. These insights lead to many discussions in philosophy and also in public. Hitherto sociology hasn’t reached a consensus of specifying the relationship between biology and social science. Based on moderate naturalism in this article a meta-theoretical concept is introduced that allows a proper handling of the findings in neuroscience. Furthermore some examples are presented, which show that to deal with facts and theories of neuroscience can be of advantage for sociology.     

Koordination durch heuristische Budgetierungsverfahren

If in companies decisions are decentralised coordination problems arise. Controlling offers different instruments for coordination. Among these, budgeting is very popular. In a centralized model it is shown how capacity allocation as well as transfer pricing coordinate under the constraints of budgeting. These two principles are combined with the process of budgeting in form of a top down, bottom up or counter current planning. From the resulting nine possible combinations only five are of practical relevance. These five cases are heuristics to the coordination problem, they are analysed by extensive example calculations. It is shown that transfer pricing coordinates better than capacity allocation and counter current planning is the dominant process of budgeting. The best results are obtained with transfer pricing closing with capacity allocation.     

On the application of new tests for structural changes on global minimum-variance portfolios

We investigate if portfolios can be improved if the classical Markowitz mean–variance portfolio theory is combined with recently proposed change point tests for dependence measures. Taking into account that the dependence structure of financial assets typically cannot be assumed to be constant over longer periods of time, we estimate the covariance matrix of the assets, which is used to construct global minimum-variance portfolios, by respecting potential change points. It is seen that a recently proposed test for changes in the whole covariance matrix is indeed partially useful whereas pairwise tests for variances and correlations are not suitable for these applications without further adjustments.     

Recurrence relations for single and product moments of k-th record values from pareto,generalized pareto and burr distributions

In this note we give recurrence relations satisfied by single and product momenrs of k-th upper-record values from the Pareto, generalized Pareto and Burr distributions. From these relations one can obtain all the single and product moments of all k-th record values and at the same time all record values ( k=1). Moreover, we see that the single and product moment of all k-th record values from these distributions can be exprrssed in terms of the moments of the minimal statistic of a k-sample from the exponential distribution may be deduced by letting the shape parameter deptend to 0. At the end we give characterizations of the three distributions considered. These results generalize, among other things, those given by Balakrishnan and Abuamllah (1994).     

Experience,Subjectivity, Selfhood: Beyond a Meadian Sociology of the Self

Sociologists tend to see G. H. Mead's conceptualization of self as fundamentally correct. In this paper, we develop a critique of Mead's notion of the self as constituted through social interactions. Our focus will be on Mead's categorial distinction between the socially constructed self and subjective experience, as well as on the tendency of post-Meadian sociologists to push Mead's position in ever more radical directions. Drawing inspiration from a multifaceted understanding of selfhood that can be found in Husserlian phenomenology, we then propose that the most basic level of selfhood is anchored in irreducible subjective experience.     

Notwendigkeit,Ziele und Inhalte einer Ethik-Ausbildung in der Betriebswirtschaftslehre

Although business administration scholars in German-speaking countries increasingly engage in business ethics research, their business schools have so far not systematically included ethics related contents into their standard curricula. Based on an understanding of business administration as an applied discipline that should not shun the scientific discussion of normative statements, this article argues that our field needs to address ethical questions not only in research but also in teaching. The subsequent analysis addresses aims, contents, and methods of teaching business ethics in higher education. Rather than teaching students ‘moral truths’, the main aim of business ethics education is seen in providing students with a variety of theories, concepts, and tools that are able to support them in ethical decision processes, which they are likely to encounter in their management careers.     

Health

Social Indicators Research -     

Strategies and Traditions in Swedish Social Reporting: A 30-Year Experience

Social Indicators Research -