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The objective of this note is to present the results of the recently completed employer skills survey, and to discuss their policy implications. The analysis finds that there is a skills shortage in Georgia despite high unemployment. It is difficult for employers, especially in the modern sector, to find workers with the required skills. Employers demand not only 'hard' technical skills, but also 'soft' social and behavioural skills (such as openness to experience) as well as higher-order cognitive skills (such as problem solving and creative thinking). And these are the skills that young Georgians often lack. Box one summarizes the main results of the analysis and shows the core employability skills that young workers lack most often. The note is organized as follows. Section one looks at the supply of and demand for skills, and shows that, despite high unemployment, there is a skills shortage. Section two examines the demand for skills more closely. It identifies skills that determine the employers hiring decisions, and skills that young job applicant most frequently lack. Section three focuses on firm organized training as a way of coping with a skills shortage. Section four concludes and discusses policy implications of the analysis.

This paper reviews the evidence about the effects of urbanization and cities on productivity and economic growth in developing countries using a consistent theoretical framework. Just like in developed economies, there is strong evidence that cities in developing countries bolster productive efficiency. Regarding whether cities promote self-sustained growth, the evidence is suggestive but ultimately inconclusive. These findings imply that the traditional agenda of aiming to raise within-city efficiency should be continued. Furthermore, reducing the obstacles to the reallocation of factors across cities is also desirable.

Apart from evoking accent-based stereotypes, non-native speech has been found to pose threat to intelligibility and overburden listeners with additional cognitive load which may evoke their irritation (Johansson 1975; Kelly 2000; Munro 2003; Lippi-Green 2012; Moyer 2013). The paper discusses the notion of communicative responsibility defined as speaker's effort to overcome the undesirable consequences of foreign accent for the sake of efficient conveyance of relevant message. Five religious lectures (amounting to 5hrs of audio-visual material) delivered in Polish-accented English are discussed with respect to the speaker's non-native pronunciation and his morally motivated effort to convey the message precisely despite phonetically deviant speech. The shortcomings of non-native pronunciation are anticipated and targeted by preventive strategies, such as disambiguation, frequent repetition and use of emphatic stress to highlight the most relevant information, eliciting direct feedback from the listeners, monitoring their non-verbal responses, as well as the employment of enhancing devices, such as gestures. ; agabryla@gmail.com ; Agnieszka Bryła-Cruz is an Adjunct Professor at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland. Her main research interests concern the role of linguistic and socio-linguistic factors in Second Language Acquisition, particularly pronunciation, and the perception of non-native accents by English native speakers. More recently, she has studied the role of phonetics in listening comprehension in a series of empirical studies. ; Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland ; Asher, J. & García, R. 1969. The optimal age to learn a foreign language. Modern Language Teacher 53: 334-341. ; Auhagen, A.E. & Bierhoff, H. (eds.). 2001. Responsibility: The Many Faces of a Social Phenomenon. London: Routledge. ; Bansal, R. K. 1969. The Intelligibility of Indian English: Measurements of the Intelligibility of Connected Speech, and Sentence and Word Material, presented to Listeners of Different Nationalities. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English. ; Baugh, J. 2003. Linguistic profiling. In: S. Makoni, G. Smitherman, A. Ball & A. Spears (eds.), Black Linguistics: Language, Society and Politics in Africa and the Americas, 155-168. London: Routledge. ; Brown, A. 1991. Pronunciation Models. Singapore: Singapore University Press. ; Bryła-Cruz, A. 2016. Foreign Accent Perception: Polish English in the British Ears. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ; Campbell, H. A. (ed.). 2013. Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds. London / New York: Routledge. ; Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M. & Goodwin, J. M. 1994. Teaching Pronunciation: a Reference for Teachers of English of Speakers of other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; Church, R. Breckinridge, Alibali, M.W. & Kelly, S. D. 2017. Understanding gesture: Description, mechanism and function. In: R. B. Church, M. W. Alibali & S. D. Kelly (eds.), Why Gesture? How the Hands Function in Speaking, Thinking and Communicating (Gesture Studies 7), 3-10. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. ; Clark, H. H. 1994. Managing problems in speaking. Speech Communication 15: 243‐250. ; Dawson, L. L. 2005. The mediation of religious experience in cyberspace. In: M. T. H2jsgaard & M. Warburg (eds.), Religion and Cyberspace, 15-37. New York / London: Routledge. ; De Ruiter, J. P. 2017. Asymmetric redundancy of gesture and speech. In: R. B. Church, M. W. Alibali & S. D. Kelly (eds.), Why Gesture? How the Hands Function in Speaking, Thinking and Communicating (Gesture Studies 7), 59-75. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. ; Derwing, T., Fraser, H., Kang, O., Thomson, R. 2014. L2 Accents and ethics. Issues that merit Attention. In: A. Mahboob & L. Barratt (eds.), Englishes in Multilingual Contexts: Language Variation and Education, 63-80. New York / London: Springer. ; Dragojevic, M. & H. Giles. 2016. I don't like you because you're hard to understand. Human Communication Research 42 (3): 396-420. ; Erwin, S. I. 2005. Language Barriers Hinder Multinational Operations. National Defense (90). http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2005/7/1/2005july-language-barriers-hinder-multinational-operations, retrieved March, 2017. ; Field, J. 2005. Intelligibility and the listener: The role of lexical stress. TESOL Quarterly 39 (3): 399-423. ; Flege, J. E. 1988. The production and perception of foreign language speech sounds. In: H. Winitz (ed.). Human Communication and its Disorders. A Review, 224-401. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. ; Flege, J. E. & Southwood, H. 1999. Scaling foreign accent: direct magnitude estimation versus internal scaling. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 13 (5): 335-349. ; Gilbert, J. B. 2010. Pronunciation as orphan: What can be done? Speak Out! 43: 3-7. ; Gullberg, M. 1998. Gesture as a Communication Strategy in Second Language Discourse. A Study of Learners of French and Swedish. Lund: Lund University Press. ; Gullberg, Marianne. 2008. A helping hand? Gestures, L2 learners, and grammar. In: S. G. McCafferty & G. Stam (eds.), 185-210. Gesture: Second Language Acquisition and Classroom Research. New York / London: Routledge. ; Johansson, S. 1978. Studies of Error Gravity: Native Reactions to Errors Produced by Swedish Learners of English. Göteborg, Sweden: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. ; Johnson, T. D. 2014. The Preacher as Liturgical Artist. Metaphor, Identity and the Vicarious Humanity of Christ. Cascade Books: Oregon. ; Johnson, P. W. T. 2015. The Mission of Preaching: Equipping the Community for Faithful Witness. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. ; Kelly, G. 2000. How to Teach Pronunciation. Harlow: Longman. ; Kendon, A. 2004. Gesture: Visible Action as Utterance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; Lambert, W. E., Hodgson, R. C., Gardner R. C. & Fillenbaum, S. 1960. Evaluational reactions to spoken English. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 60: 44-51. ; Lenneberg, E. 1967. Biological Foundations of Language. New York: John Wiley. ; Lippi-Green, R. 1997. English with an Accent. Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States. Devon: Biddles Ltd. ; Lippi-Green, R. 2004. Language ideology and language prejudice. In: E. Finegan & J. R. Rickford (eds.), Language in the USA: Themes for Twenty-first Century, 289-304. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; Lischner, R. 2002. The Company of Preachers: Wisdom on Preaching, Augustine to the Present. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ; Luce, P. A. & Pisoni, D. B. 1998. Recognizing spoken words: the neighbourhood activation model. Ear Hear 19 (1): 1-36. ; McRoy, S. W. & Hirst, G. 1995. The repair of speech act misunderstandings by abductive inference. Computational Linguistics 21 (4): 435‐478. ; McNeill, D. 1992. Hand and Mind: What Gestures Reveal about Thought. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ; Moyer, E. 2013. Foreign Accent: The Phenomenon of Non-Native Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; Munro, M. J. 2003. A primer on accent discrimination in the Canadian context. TESL Canada Journal 20 (2): 38-51. ; Oyama, S. 1976. A sensitive period in the acquisition of a non-native phonological system. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 5: 261-285. ; Penfield, W. & Roberts, L. 1966. Speech and Brain Mechanisms. New York: Atheneum. ; Resner, A. 1999. Preacher and Cross: Person and Message in Theology and Rhetoric. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdman. ; Roembke, L. 2000. Building Credible Multicultural Teams. Pasadena (CA): William Carey Library. ; Sapon, S. 1952. An application of psychological theory to pronunciation problems in second language learning. Modern Language Journal 36: 111-114. ; Scovel, T. 1969. Foreign accents, language acquisition and cerebral dominance. Language Learning 19: 245-263. ; Sobkowiak, W. 1996. English Phonetics for Poles. Poznań: Bene Nati. ; Stott, J. 2017. Between Two Worlds: the Challenge of Preaching Today. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company. ; Strother, J. B. 1999. Communication failures lead to airline disasters. IPCC 99: Communication jazz: Improvising the new international communication culture: Proceedings. Paper presented at the 1999 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, New Orleans, LA, September 7-10, 29-34. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE. ; Szpyra-Kozłowska, J. 2013. On the irrelevance of sounds and prosody in foreign-accented speech. In: E. Waniek-Klimczak & L. 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New York: Polgrave Macmillan. ; Wright, R. 2004. Factors of lexical competition in vowel articulation. In: J. Local, R. Ogden & R. Temple (eds.), Phonetic Interpretation: Papers in Laboratory Phonology VI, 75-87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ; "The Strategy of the Devil in our lives" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Z4CNERkfw ; "Spiritual warfare" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI4CqFAymDw&t=1619s ; "Opening doorways to the demonic activity" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n61ZfLE_XyQ&t=774s ; "The evil spirits in action" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVIIbVawzXM ; "The distraction power of the Jezebel spirit" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxaEn7X1-Ec&t=2132s ; Dalai Lama https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbC-TXNGK1M ; 26 (3/2019) ; 4 ; 20

Backgrounds and Objective: Growth of the plastics industry in recent decades has been dramatic. Poly Vinyl Chloride is one of the most widely used plastics in the world that granules in the thermal process decompose to Vinyl Chloride Monomer and is released in work air environment. This study aimed to evaluate occupational exposure and estimate workers' exposure to vinyl chloride monomer risk. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study of 100 workers at two Plastic factories in Tehran (A, B) was performed. Personal monitoring of workers to Vinyl Chloride Monomer was conducted by Optimized Method No.1007 from NIOSH. Atmospheric conditions, such as temperature, pressure, air velocity, and relative humidity were measured simultaneously along with personal monitoring. Quantitative risk assessment of workers was computed in the form of Standard Mortality Rate and incident rate cancer. Statistical analysis of data was conducted by SPSS version 19. Results: Climatic parameters in the plant A and B for a relative humidity were 43.77± 16.71 and 37.16±14.45 % and temperature 20.95± 3.34 and 21.05± 2.20 ºC, air pressure 87.48 ± 0.54 and 87.41 ± 0.64 kPa and air velocity 0.13± 0.08 and 0.10 ± 0.06 meters per second were measured respectively. Occupational exposure to Vinyl Chloride Monomer plants A and B were 1.01 ± 0.51 and 0.72 ± 0.30 as ppm respectively. Quantitative risk of exposed workers based on Standard Mortality Rate was estimated 1.06 ± 0.03 times of the population without exposure. Incident rate cancer based on accounting measures of Integrated Risk Information System was calculated per 1000 person exposure population. The correlation of Standard Mortality Rate and the risk of cancer incidence was statistically significant (R2 =0.88). Conclusion: Thirty one percent of workers had higher exposure to Vinyl Chloride Monomer than the occupational exposure limits (1 ppm). In the present workers' exposure in this study is lower than international workforces reported in decades ago, but higher than studies recently published. The results clearly describe occupational hazard of workers in the current Iranian recession situation. Therefore, risk management of workers' health in these industries is imperative, especially in the coming years with projected economic growth. REFERENCES 1. Andrady AL, Neal MA. Applications and societal benefits of plastics. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2009;364(1526):1977-84.2. Thompson RC, Moore CJ, vom Saal FS, Swan SH. Plastics, the environment and human health: current consensus and future trends. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2009;364(1526):2153-66.3. Thompson RC, Swan SH, Moore CJ, vom Saal FS. Our plastic age. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2009;364(1526):1973-6.4. 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Cancer mortality of a group of Canadian workers exposed to vinyl chloride monomer. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 1981;23(10):671-6.24. American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). TLVs and BEIs Based on the Dcumentation of the Thershold Limit Values for chemical Substances and Physical Agent & Biological Exposure Indices. 2013. [Available from: http://www.acgih.org/store/ProductDetail.cfm?id=2233].25. Hagmar L, Kesson B, Nielsen J, Andersson C, Lindan K, Attewell R, et al. Mortality and cancer morbidity in workers exposed to low levels of vinyl chloride monomer at a polyvinyl chloride processing plant. American journal of industrial medicine. 1990;17(5):553-65.26. Starnes Jr W. Structural and mechanistic aspects of the thermal degradation of poly (vinyl chloride). Progress in Polymer Science. 2002;27(10):2133-70. ; سابقه و هدف: رشد صنعت پلاستیک در چند دهه اخیر بسیار چشمگیر بوده است. پلیمر وینیل کلراید یکی از پرکاربردترین پلاستیک‌ها در جهان می­باشد که در طی فرایندهای حرارتی، مونومر وینیل کلراید آزاد می­گردد. این مطالعه با هدف ارزشیابی مواجهه شغلی و تخمین میزان ریسک مواجهه کارگران با مونومر وینیل کلراید انجام گردید.روش‌بررسی: این مطالعه از نوع توصیفی و مقطعی می­باشد که بر روی 100 نفر از کارگران دو کارخانه پلاستیک سازی شهر تهران (A,B) انجام پذیرفت. برای تعیین غلظت مونومر وینیل کلراید در هوای تنفسی، نمونه­های هوا توسط روش بهینه شده موسسه ملی بهداشت و امنیت شغلی آمریکا به شماره 1007 انجام گردید. پارامترهای شرایط جوي هوا شامل دما، فشار، سرعت جریان و رطوبت نسبی همزمان با نمونه­برداری اندازه گیری شد. ارزیابی ریسک کمی کارگران بر اساس دو معیار مرگ و میر استاندارد شده و ریسک بروز سرطان انجام شد. تجزیه و تحلیل یافته­ها با نرم­افزار آماری SPSS نسخه 19 انجام گرفت.یافته­ ها: پارامترهای جوی در کارخانه­ های A و B به ترتیب برای رطوبت نسبی 71/16±77/43 و 45/14±16/37 درصد، دمای هوا 34/3±95/20 و 20/2±05/21 سانتی‌گراد، فشار هوا 54/0±48/87 و 64/0±41/87 کیلو پاسکال و سرعت جریان هوا 08/0±13/0 و 06/0±10/0 متر بر ثانیه اندازه­گیری شد. میزان مونومر وینیل کلراید در هوای استنشاقی کارگران کارخانه­ های A و B به ترتیب 51/0±01/1 و 20/0±36/0 بر حسب ppm اندازه­ گیری شد. میزان ریسک کمی بر اساس مرگ و میر استاندارد شده در افراد مواجهه یافته 03/0±06/1 برابر جمعیت بدون مواجهه با برآورد شد. میزان ریسک بروز سرطان بر اساس معیار های محاسباتی سازمان سیستم اطلاعات جامع ریسک به ازای هر 1000 نفر جمعیت مواجهه یافته محاسبه گردید که همبستگی آماری بین دو میزان ریسک برابر 88/0=2R بدست آمد.نتیجه ­گیری: مواجهه فردی 31 درصد کارگران بیشتر از حد آستانه تماس شغلی (ppm1) بوده است. در تحقیق حاضر، میانگین مواجهه فردی با مونومر وینیل کلراید در مقایسه با مطالعات سال­های گذشته انجام شده کمتر و قابل قیاس با مطالعات اخیر می­باشد. نتایج این مطالعه به وضوح مخاطرات شغلی کارگران را در شرایط رکود تولید فعلی خاطر نشان می­ سازد و از این رو به‌کارگیری سیستم­های کنترلی فنی مهندسی به ویژه با رونق اقتصادی پیش بینی شده در سال­های آتی، برای تأمین سلامت و تندرستی کارگران الزامی می­ باشد.

This policy paper summarizes four corridor studies on bilateral social security agreements (BSSAs) between four European Union (EU) member and two non-member states, draws conclusions on their results, and offers recommendations. BSSAs between migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries are seen as the most important instrument to establish portability of social security benefits for internationally mobile workers. Yet, only about 23 percent of international migrants profit from BSSAs and their functioning has been little analyzed and even less assessed. The four corridors studied (Austria-Turkey, Germany-Turkey, Belgium-Morocco, and France-Morocco) were selected to allow for comparison of both similarities and differences in experiences. The evaluation of these corridors' BSSAs was undertaken against a methodological framework and three selected criteria: fairness for individuals, fiscal fairness for countries, and bureaucratic effectiveness for countries and migrant workers. The results suggest that the investigated BSSAs work and overall deliver reasonably well on individual fairness. The results on fiscal fairness are clouded by conceptual and empirical gaps. Bureaucratic effectiveness would profit from information and communication technology-based exchanges on both corridors once available.

Nigeria is a country of immense natural resources and potential, but the government's capacity to deliver public goods has generally been weak. It was against this backdrop that Nigeria faced the arrival within its borders of the deadly Ebola virus disease in July 2014. Despite assurances that the Nigerian government was prepared to respond to an outbreak of Ebola, the country was caught unaware and forced to mount an emergency response. Yet despite these serious concerns, the spread of Ebola was successfully contained in Nigeria. This case study seeks to understand why Nigeria's Ebola response was so successful despite the challenging context. The case study will focus on institutional architecture and political will, taking an exploratory qualitative approach to examine the institutional dynamics and motivations among various stakeholders involved in the country's response. The aim is to distill lessons that may be applied to other emergency response initiatives, as well as elsewhere in the health sector and in other areas of service delivery. A proactive communication strategy is required to build a broader coalition of support, and demand-side actors such as nongovernmental organizations play a helpful role.

The Better Work Program has its roots in the Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program, established in 2001 as a follow-on from the 1999 U.S.-Cambodia Bilateral Trade Agreement. The free trade agreement (FTA) was the first to link improved labor conditions with greater market access. The BFC program benefitted all the key stakeholders by improving work conditions, supporting the growth of the apparel sector in Cambodia (benefitting all local stakeholders), and boosting developed world buyers' reputation by sourcing from ethical workplaces. BFC has also helped to cushion the negative effects of external changes to the trading environment in the apparel sector (the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement quota system in 2005 and the global financial crisis in 2008–09). The program has grown substantially; as of December 2014, BW has reached over a million workers in more than 1,000 factories across eight countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Haiti, Indonesia, Jordan, Lesotho, Nicaragua, and Vietnam).

This is the report from the "ECVAM-EFPIA workshop on 3T3 NRU Phototoxicity Test: Practical Experience and Implications for Phototoxicity Testing", jointly organized by ECVAM and EFPIA and held on the 25-27 October 2010 in Somma Lombardo, Italy. The European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) was established in 1991 within the European Commission Joint Research, based on a Communication from the European Commission (1991). The main objective of ECVAM is to promote the scientific and regulatory acceptance of alternative methods which are of importance to the biosciences and which reduce, refine and replace the use of laboratory animals. The European Federation of Pharmaceuticals Industries and Association (EFPIA) represent the pharmaceutical industry operating in Europe. Through its direct membership of 31 national associations and 40 leading pharmaceutical companies, EFPIA is the voice on the EU scene of 2200 companies committed to researching, developing and bringing to patients new medicines that improve health and the quality of life around the world. The workshop, co-chaired by Joachim Kreysa (ECVAM) and Phil Wilcox (GSK, EFPIA) involved thirty-five experts from academia, regulatory authorities and industry, invited to contribute with their experiences in the field of phototoxicology. The main objectives of the workshop were: - to present 'in use' experience of the pharmaceutical industry with the 3T3 Neutral Red Uptake Phototoxicity Test (3T3 NRU-PT), - to discuss why it differs from the results in the original validation exercise, - to discuss technical issues and consider ways to improve the usability of the 3T3 NRU-PT for (non-topical) pharmaceuticals, e.g., by modifying the threshold of chemical light absorption to trigger photo-toxicological testing, and by modifying technical aspects of the assay, or adjusting the criteria used to classify a positive response. During the workshop, the assay methodology was reviewed by comparing the OECD Test Guideline (TG 432) with the protocols used in testing laboratories, data from EFPIA and JPMA 'surveys' were presented and possible reasons for the outcomes were discussed. Experts from cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries reported on their experience with the 3T3 NRU-PT and evidence was presented for phototoxic clinical symptoms that could be linked to certain relevant molecules. Brainstorming sessions discussed if the 3T3 NRU-PT needed to be improved and whether alternatives to the 3T3 NRU-PT exist. Finally, the viewpoint from EU and US regulators was presented. In the final session, the conclusions of the meeting were summarized, with action points. It was concluded that the 3T3 NRU-PT identifies phototoxicological hazards with a 100% sensitivity, and thus is accepted as the tier one test that correctly identifies the absence of phototoxic potential. Consequently, positive results in the 3T3 NRU-PT often do not translate into a clinical phototoxicity risk. Possible ways to improve the practical use of this assay include: (i) adaptation of changed UV/vis-absorption criteria as a means to reduce the number of materials tested, (ii) reduction of the highest concentration to be tested, and (iii) consideration of modifying the threshold criteria for the prediction of a positive call in the test.

This paper investigates the take-up rate or claim-waiting period rate of the unemployed under the South African Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) system. The goal is to identify disincentive effects that income replacement rates (IRR) and accumulated credits may have on the claimant's behavior in terms of their claim waiting period rate (or how quickly they apply for UIF benefits). Utilizing nonparametric and semi-parametric estimation techniques, we find that there is little evidence, if any, for job disincentives or moral hazard problems. More specifically, the majority of claimants that are quickest to claim the UIF benefits are those who have worked continuously for at least four years and accumulated the maximum allowable amount of credits. The authors also note that claimants' waiting periods are indifferent with regard to levels of income replacements yet extremely sensitive to the amount of credits accumulated. Ultimately, the recipients of the UIF benefits do not rely heavily on the replacement incomes and prefer waiting longer for employment opportunities as opposed to exhausting their accumulated credits. The semi-parametric Cox's Proportional Hazard (PH) model confirms that there is a positive relationship between the claimant's accumulation of credits and the associated take-up rate of the UIF.

 "They would not agree with one another any more than do the dog that is a heavenly constellation and the dog that is a barking animal." Spinoza"The concept dog doesn't bark." Louis Althusser Ever since reading Margherita Pascucci's Potentia of Poverty I have been thinking about the relation between Marx's thought and Spinoza's common notions. The question I am asking is not did Marx write Capital in and through common notions, as an application of Spinoza's thought. Although I am not entirely discounting such influence. Rather, what would be at stake in reading Marx through the common notions?  In case we are unclear on what Spinoza means by common notions, they appear most specifically in a few passages in Part II of the Ethics, the passages dedicated to what could be considered Spinoza's epistemology. Common notions are defined through a series of propositions. As Spinoza writes: EIIP37: "What is common to all things (on this see L2, above) and is equally in the part and in the whole, does not constitute the essence of any singular thing.  And in EIIP38: "Those things which are common to all, and which are equally in the part
and in the whole, can only be conceived adequately."What is at stake in this odd formulation, equally "in the part and in the whole" can be seen in the contrast Spinoza draws between common notions, transcendentals and universals in the long scholium to Proposition 40. As Spinoza argues transcendentals and universals stem from a confusions of parts and wholes, a confusion brought about by the confusion of images in the body. The first, transcendentals, stem from an overwhelming number of images, while the second, universals retain one image, one part, that then is used to define the universal. As Spinoza writes, "But when the
images in the body are completely confused, the mind also will imagine
all the bodies confusedly, without any distinction, and comprehend
them as if under one attribute, namely, under the attribute of Being,
Thing, and so forth. This can also be deduced from the fact that images
are not always equally vigorous and from other causes like these, which
it is not necessary to explain here. For our purpose it is sufficient to
consider only one. For they all reduce to this: these terms signify ideas
that are confused in the highest degree. Those notions they call Universal, like Man, Horse, Dog, and the
like, have arisen from similar causes, namely, because so many images
(e.g., of men) are formed at one time in the human body that they surpass
the power of imagining-not entirely, of course, but still to the
point where the mind can imagine neither slight differences of the singular
[men] (such as the color and size of each one, etc.) nor their determinate
number, and imagines distinctly only what they all agree in, insofar
as they affect the body. For the body has been affected most [NS:
forcefully] by [what is common], since each singular has affected it [by
this property]. And [NS: the mind] expresses this by the word man, and
predicates it of infinitely many singulars. For as we have said, it cannot
imagine a determinate number of singulars. "A transcendental would then be a whole without parts and a universal would be a part without whole, or a part that takes itself for the whole, as an aspect of humanity, featherless biped, rational, or speech is taken for the entirety. A common notion then is neither the whole nor the part, neither a singular thing nor a totality, but what is common for each. What then would be at stake in reading Marx through such a concept of a concept? As I said I have been wondering about this question. It turns out that I did not have to wonder because Nick Nesbitt has answered this question in his recently published book, Reading Capital's Materialist Dialectic: Marx, Spinoza, and the Althusserians. Nesbitt's book joins several recent books in trying to return to what could be considered peak Althusser, or peak Althusserians, the interventions of 1965 (I am thinking here of Estop's and Matthys' books). It is also, much to my delight, a recent book reconsidering Macherey's contribution, reading Macherey's contribution through his later works on Spinoza. I am not going to do justice to the book here (and will be writing a longer review as well as discussing it at Red May tomorrow), but I want to jump in where it considers this question of common notions. As Nesbitt writes, "What then is the nature of such common notions? For Spinoza, the crucial distinction between the inadequate, imaginary ideas we necessarily form from sense impressions, and common notions, is that the latter are ideas not about any given, actually existing singular thing (such as coats and linen or bakers and cotton spinners, among Marx's examples), but about certain qualities common to all things in general. In the wake of Galileo, who died in 1642, Spinoza's privileged example in these propositions is that of physical bodies as such, universally existing in space and following the general laws that govern their relations. If it is the case that 'all bodies agree in certain things' –i.e., that aside from their particular existences, they possess common characteristics,
which is to say their extension – then they therefore have in common
that 'they are determinations of extension, and are universally and identically
subject to the same laws of movement and rest'.  For Spinoza, this common nature is what allows for the development of a
general science of bodies, one that is founded on purely mathematical principles.
The essential characteristic of this scientific understanding of the physical,
material world, Macherey observes, is that it does not 'take into consideration
the existence of any specific body in particular, and is thus completely
abstract'. This immediately recalls Marx's famous defence of the powers of
abstraction for the analysis and critique of political economy: 'In the analysis
of economic forms neither microscopes nor chemical reagents are of assistance.
The power of abstraction must replace both'.Like Marx's scientific
critique of political economy ('The ultimate aim of this work [i.e., Capital, is]
to reveal the economic law of motion of modern society'), Spinoza's 'science', as
Macherey reads him, 'determines figures of regularity that, despite the perpetual
variations impressed on [actually existing, singular] bodies due to the fact
that they exist en acte, constitute the manifestation of a permanence regarding
which laws can be formulated independently of the existence of any particular
body'."Macherey's five volume on Spinoza remain a crucial sourceOne of the thing that Nesbitt stresses, as the paragraphs above indicate, is that the source of illusion, of inadequate ideas is the image, the impression on the body, an image of a specific thing. Inadequate ideas are representations and as such they are confused mixtures of the thing that affects a body and the body being affected. In contrast to this common notions are common to all things in general. There is no singular experience of motion and rest, no experience of motion or rest as such, even as motion and rest are part of all experience, of all our relations with things in the world.What would this mean for a reading of Marx? As Nesbitt argues, Marx often stressed the abstract nature of his own concepts, replacing wealth, an empirical concept with value (and surplus value) and thinking labor as both concrete and abstract labor. Following Nesbitt, we could then read all of the concepts of Capital, especially the first part, use value, exchange value, concrete labor, and abstract labor as common notions, as common to all existence under capitalism and in the part and in the whole. Such a reading is faithful to Marx's critique of political economy, in which the critique demonstrated how much of political economy remained tied to its own universals of labor, exchange, and self-interest, universals determined by a particular empirical content. I would argue that such a reading helps us deal with a tendency, one tied to our own particular finitude, a version of "seeing the better and doing the worse" to fill these concepts in with their own empirical or even phenomenological content.There is an entire history of readings, or misreadings of Marx, that are basically attempts to tie the concept of use value to some real use, or concrete labor to some real specific and singular labor. Is there a question more persistent or more annoying than that of who or is not a real worker? Or what real usefulness or real utility is in the face of exchange. What is funny about the latter is that Marx addresses it in the second paragraph of Capital when he writes "The nature of such wants, whether, for instance, they spring from the stomach or from fancy, makes no difference. Neither are we here concerned to know how the object satisfies these wants, whether directly as means of subsistence, or indirectly as means of production." Yet, readers, even sophisticated readers such as Baudrillard and Derrida have insisted that Marx means use value as tied to some anthropological coordinates of utility. A similar thing could be said about work. Many readers of work have imbued the concept, or concepts of labor, concrete, abstract, etc., with some kind of specific and particular meaning, some idea of what work looks like or feels like. (and I should mention that Nesbitt stresses that the concepts of concrete and abstract labor only work in and through their relations that constitute a positive dialectic). Such attempts are always going to be refracted through one's own particular experience of work. As I have noted elsewhere, they are not too different from trying to make sense of hoof prints in the mud. They are an attempt to make sense of what only exists in relation, in common, through a singular experience. These universals, universals tainted by a particular empirical image of making things, or of phenomenological experiences of being exhausted, can only lead to an endless debate and discussions, debate and discussions that miss the common, which is to say structural condition, of exploitation. The inevitable discussion of real work: Or, never read the commentsThere is more, much more, that can be said about Nesbitt's book and I am looking forward to our conversation, which I will link to here (assuming that you are reading this after it takes place on May 9th). To close, I will just cite a few more passages from Nesbitt what is at stake in thinking through common notions: "This political epistemology of common notions is grounded in what
Macherey terms 'a dynamic of rational knowledge', via the perfecting and
emendation of the capacity to grasp the real by means of ideas, in which the
intellect is led 'from the activity of [sensuous] perception, in which it is at its
most passive, to that of conception, in which it is the most active … passing
from the particular to the general through a progressive process of abstraction'.  The common notion as such thus possesses an inherent ethical and political
dimension: ideas that express properties common to all things are as such necessarily
'common to all humans', Macherey comments, 'which is to say that they
compose a common knowledge that can be universally shared'. This common
knowledge, accessible to all humans and necessarily identically conceived by
all who follow this democratic path, thus constitutes 'the condition for a mental
community among all people …. In so far as people form common notions
that are necessarily adequate, they are actually united, and constitute as such
a single intellect and a single body'. Macherey insists above all on the real
actuality of this intellectual commons of theoretical practice: 'In the intellect
of man, whoever he or she may be, there always exist common notions [such
as, I suggested above, a minimal idea of the nature of capitalism such as Marx
expresses in the first sentence of Capital] through which can be established
the forms of their union with other people, which is to say, with the maximum
possible others, and tendentially, with all"The video of the entire panel can be seen here: 

This dissertation examines how smallholder farming livelihoods may be more effectively leveraged to address food security. It is based on empirical research in three woredas (districts) in the Jimma Zone of southwestern Ethiopia. Findings in the chapters that follow draw on quantitative and qualitative data. In this research, I focus on local actors to investigate how they can be better supported in their roles as agents who have the ability to improve their livelihoods and achieve food security. This general aim is operationalized through three research questions that are addressed in separate chapters. The research questions are: (i) How do livelihood strategies influence food security?; (ii) What livelihood challenges are common and how do households cope with these?; and (iii) How do social institutions, in which livelihoods are embedded, influence people's abilities to undertake livelihoods and be food secure? Using quantitative data from a survey of randomly selected households, I applied a number of multivariate statistical analysis to determine types of livelihood strategies and to establish how these strategies are associated with capital assets and food security. Here I view livelihood strategies as a portfolio of livelihood activities that households undertake to make a living. The predominant livelihood in the study area was diversified smallholder farming involving mainly the production of crops. Food crops such as maize, teff, sorghum, and in smaller quantities – barley and wheat, were primarily produced for subsistence. Cash crops namely coffee and khat were primarily produced for the market. Based on our analyses, we found five types of livelihood strategies to be present along a gradient of crop diversity. Food security generally decreased with less crops being part of the livelihood strategy. The livelihood strategies were associated with households' capital assets. For example, the livelihood strategy with the most number of crops had more access to a wider range of capital assets. They had larger aggregate farm field size, and were more involved in learning with other farmers through informal exchange of information and knowledge. The status of food (in)security of each household during the lean season was measured using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). A generalized linear model established that the type of livelihood strategy a household undertook significantly influenced their food security. Other significant variables were educational attainment and gender of household head. The findings contribute evidence to the benefits of diversified livelihoods for food security, in this case, the combination of diverse food crops and cash crops. Smallholder farming in southwest Ethiopia is beset with process-related and outcome-related challenges. Here, a process-related challenge pertains to the lack of different types of capital assets that people need to be able to undertake their livelihoods, while an outcome-related challenge pertains to lack of food. The most frequently mentioned process-related challenges were associated with the natural capital either as lack in necessary ecosystem services or high levels of ecosystem disservices. Farming households typically faced the combined challenges of decreasing soil fertility, land scarcity, die-off of oxen due to diseases, and wild animal pests that raided their crops and attacked their livestock. Lack of cash was also common and this was associated with an inability to access goods and services that households needed to address other problems. For example, lack of cash prevented households from buying fertilizers or replacing the oxen they lost to diseases. Confronted with multiple and simultaneous challenges, households coped by drawing on more readily accessible capital assets in order to address a lack. This process is here referred to as capital asset substitution. The findings indicate that when households liquidate a physical asset in order to gain cash which they then use to address other challenges, the common outcome is an erosion of their capital asset base. Many households reported having to sell their livestock to buy fertilizers, as required by the government, without seeing an increase in their harvest. The same process of liquidating capital asset to purchase food particularly during the lean season, also led to erosion of capital assets. On the other hand, when households drew on their social capital to address the challenges, they tended to maintain their capital asset base. The local didaro system is one such example in which farming households with adjacent farm fields synchronize their cropping timing and pool their labor together to address the problem of wild animal pests. Human capital, for example, in the form of available labor was also important for coping. Protecting and enhancing natural capital is needed to strengthen the basis of livelihoods in the study area, and maintaining social and human capitals is important to enable farming households to cope with challenges without eroding their capital asset base. Smallholder farming in southwest Ethiopia is embedded in a social context that creates differentiated challenges and opportunities amongst people. Gender is an axis of social differentiation on which many of the differences are based. Since the coming into power of the currently ruling Ethiopian political coalition, important policy reforms have been put in place to empower women. This includes the formal requirement that wives' names are included in land certificates. Local residents reported notable changes related to gender in the last ten years. To make sense of the changes, we adapted the leverage points concept which identifies places to intervene in a system with different depths and effectiveness for changing the trajectory of a system. Using this concept, we classified the reported changes as belonging to the domains of visible gaps, social structures, and attitudes. Importantly, changes within these domains interacted, suggesting that changes facilitate further changes. The most prominent driver of the changes observed was the government's emphasis on empowering women and government-organized interventions including gender sensitization trainings. The changes toward more egalitarian relationships at the household level were perceived by local residents to lead to better implementation of livelihoods, and better ability to be food secure. The study offers the insight that while changing deep, underlying drivers (e. g. attitudes) of systemic inequalities is critical, other leverage points such as formal institutional change and closing of certain visible gaps can facilitate deeper changes (e. g. attitudes) through interaction between different leverage points. This can inform gender transformative approaches. While positive gender-related changes have been observed, highly unequal gender norms still persist that lead to women as well as poor men being disadvantaged. Social norms which provide the basis for collective understanding of acceptable attitudes and behaviors are entrenched in people's ways of being and doing and can therefore significantly lag behind formal institutional changes. For instance, daughters in southwest Ethiopia continued to be excluded from land inheritance because of long-standing patrilineal inheritance practices. This impacted on women's abilities to engage in smallholder farming in equal footing as men. Norms influenced practices around access and control of capital assets, decision-making, and allocation of activities with important implications for who gets to participate, how, and who gets to benefit. Landless men also faced distinct disadvantages in sharecropping arrangements where people involved often have unequal socioeconomic status. Processes that facilitate critical local reflections are needed to begin to change unequal social norms and transform smallholder farming to becoming more inclusive and egalitarian spheres. To more effectively leverage smallholder farming for a food secure future, this dissertation closes with four key insights namely: (1) Diversified livelihoods combining food and cash crops result in better food security; (2) Enhancing natural and social capital is a requisite for viable smallholder farming; (3) Social and gender equality are strategically important in improving livelihoods and food security; and (4) Institutions particularly social norms are key to achieving gender and social equality. Because the livelihoods-food security nexus depend on people's agency in their livelihoods, this dissertation concludes that livelihoods should be recast as critical spheres for expanding human agency and that conceptual development as well as formulation of suitable tools of measurement be pursued. ; Diese Dissertation untersucht, wie der Lebensunterhalt kleinbäuerlicher Landwirte effektiv gestaltet werden kann, um Ernährungssicherheit zu unterstützen. Sie basiert auf empirischer Forschung in drei woredas (Bezirken) in der Jimma Zone im Südwesten Äthiopiens. Die Ergebnisse der folgenden Kapitel resultieren aus quantitativen und qualitativen Daten. In dieser Forschung fokussiere ich auf lokale Akteure und untersuche, wie sie besser darin unterstützt werden können, ihren Lebensunterhalt zu verbessern und Ernährungssicherheit zu erreichen. Das übergeordnete Ziel wird durch drei Forschungsfragen operationalisiert, die in den verschiedenen Kapiteln behandelt werden. Diese Forschungsfragen sind: (i) Wie beeinflussen Strategien des Lebensunterhaltes die Ernährungssicherheit? (ii) Welche Herausforderungen gibt es in der Sicherung des Lebensunterhaltes, und wie bewältigen Haushalte diese? Und (iii) Wie beeinflussen soziale Institutionen, in denen Lebensunterhalte verankert sind, die Fähigkeiten von Personen, ihren Lebensunterhalt zu bestreiten und Ernährungssicherheit zu erreichen? An quantitativen Umfragedaten von zufällig ausgewählten Haushalten führte ich eine Reihe von multivariater Statistik durch, um die Strategien des Lebensunterhaltes zu bestimmen und herauszufinden, wie diese Strategien mit Capital Assets und der Ernährungssicherheit assoziiert sind. In dieser Arbeit verstehe ich Strategien des Lebensunterhaltes als ein Portfolio von Aktivitäten die zum Lebensunterhalt des Haushaltes beitragen. Die meistverbreitete Aktivität zur Sicherung des Lebensunterhaltes in der Studienregion war diversifizierte kleinbäuerliche Landwirtschaft, hauptsächlich bezüglich der Ernteproduktion. Nahrungspflanzen wie Mais, Teff, Hirse und in kleineren Mengen Gerste und Weizen, wurden hauptsächlich zur Subsistenz angebaut. Marktkulturen, namentlich Kaffee und Khat, wurden hauptsächlich für den Markt produziert. Basierend auf unserer Analyse identifizierten wir fünf Typen von Lebensunterhaltstrategien, die entlang eines Gradienten gelegen sind, der durch Vielfalt der Anbaufrüchte charakterisiert ist. Generell gesehen verringerte sich die Ernährungssicherheit umso weniger Anbaufrüchte Teil der Lebensunterhaltstrategie waren. Die Lebensunterhaltstrategien sind assoziiert mit den Capital Assets des Haushaltes. Zum Beispiel hatte die Lebensunterhaltsstrategie mit der höchsten Nummer von Anbaufrüchten mehr Zugang zu einer größeren Zahl von Capital Assets. Sie hatten größere Felder und waren stärker involviert im gemeinsamen Lernen mit anderen Landwirte durch informellen Austausch von Informationen und Wissen. Der Status der Ernährungs(un)sicherheit jedes Haushaltes innerhalb der mageren Jahreszeit wurde durch die "Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS)" gemessen. Ein verallgemeinertes lineares Modell (GLM) etablierte, dass die Typen der Lebensunterhaltsstrategien, die ein Haushalt unternahm, signifikant ihre Ernährungssicherheit beeinflussten. Andere signifikante Variablen waren Bildungsstand und Gender des Haushaltoberhaupts. Die Ergebnisse unterstützen den Befund der Vorteile von diversifizierten Lebensunterhalten für Ernährungssicherheit, in diesem Falle, in Kombination mit unterschiedlichen Nahrungs- und Marktpflanzen. Kleinbäuerliche Landwirtschaft in Südwest-Äthiopien ist geplagt von Prozess- und Ergebnis-bezogenen Herausforderungen. Eine Prozess-bezogene Herausforderung bezieht sich auf den Mangel von unterschiedlichen Typen von Capital Assets, die Personen brauchen um ihren Lebensunterhalt zu bestreiten, während eine Ergebnis-bezogene Herausforderung sich auf den Mangel an Nahrung bezieht. Die am häufigsten genannten Prozess-bezogenen Herausforderungen waren assoziiert mit Naturkapital, entweder als Mangel an notwendigen Ökosystemleistungen oder als hohe Verluste durch Ökosysteme. Landwirtschaftliche Haushalte haben typischerweise die kombinierten Herausforderungen von sich verringernder Bodenqualität, Landknappheit, Wegsterben von Ochsen durch Krankheiten und Wildtieren, die Felder überfallen und Viehbestand angreifen. Geldmangel war ebenfalls geläufig, und dies war assoziiert mit der Unfähigkeit auf Waren und Leistungen zuzugreifen, die gebraucht werden, um andere Probleme anzugehen. Als Beispiel verhinderte Geldmangel Haushalte vom Düngemittelkauf oder davon, durch Krankheit verlorene Ochsen zu ersetzen. Konfrontiert mit multiplen und gleichzeitig auftretenden Herausforderungen, bewältigten Haushalte diese durch die Heranziehung leicht verfügbarer Capital Assets, um diesen Geldmangel zu adressieren. Dieser Prozess nennt sich Anlagenaustausch. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass wenn Haushalte ein physikalisches Vermögen liquidieren um Geld zu bekommen, um andere Herausforderungen zu bewältigen, sie häufig eine Erosion ihrer Anlagegrundlage erfahren. Viele Haushalte gaben an, Viehbestand verkaufen zu müssen um Düngemittel, wie von der Regierung gefordert, zu kaufen ohne dass sie eine Steigerung in ihrer Ernte wahrnahmen. Der gleiche Prozess der Liquidierung von Anlagegegenständen um Nahrung zu kaufen, vor allem in der mageren Jahreszeit, führte ebenfalls zur Erosion der Anlagegrundlagen. Wenn Haushalte jedoch ihr soziales Kapital , einsetzten, um die Herausforderungen zu bewältigen, blieb ihre Anlagegrundlage meist erhalten. Das lokale didaro-System ist ein Beispiel, in dem landwirtschaftliche Haushalte mit benachbarten Ländereien ihre Erntezeit synchronisieren und ihre Arbeitskraft zusammen tun, um das Problem von Ernteverlust durch Wildtiere zu adressieren. Humankapital, als Beispiel, in Form von vorhandener Arbeitskraft war ebenfalls wichtig zur Bewältigung der Herausforderungen. Schutz und Verstärkung des Naturkapitals ist notwendig, um die Grundlagen der Lebensunterhalte in der Studienregion zu verstärken, und der Erhalt von Sozial- und Humankapital ist wichtig, um landwirtschaftlichen Haushalten eine Bewältigung ihrer Herausforderungen zu ermöglichen, ohne ihre Anlagegrundlagen zu erodieren. Kleinbäuerliche Landwirtschaft in Südwest-Äthiopien ist verankert in einem sozialen Kontext, welcher differenzierte Herausforderungen und Möglichkeiten zwischen den Personen kreiert. Gender ist eine Achse der sozialen Differenzierung, auf der viele Unterschiede basieren. Seit der Machtübernahme der derzeit regierenden Äthiopischen Koalition wurden wichtige politische Reformen in Gang gesetzt, um Frauen zu stärken. Dies beinhaltet die formelle Verpflichtung, dass die Ehefrau namentlich in Landzertifizierungen genannt wird. Lokale Einwohner gaben sichtbare Veränderungen bezüglich Genderaspekten in den letzten 10 Jahren an. Um diese Veränderungen zu verstehen, benutzen wir das Konzept der Interventionspunkte – leverage points – um Bereiche zu identifizieren, in denen in einem System mit unterschiedlicher Tiefenwirkung und Effektivität interveniert werden kann, um die Richtung des Systems zu ändern. Anhand dieses Konzeptes klassifizierten wir die angegebenen Veränderungen als zugehörig zu den Domänen des sichtbaren Mangel, sozialen Strukturen, und Einstellungen. Wichtig war, dass Veränderungen innerhalb dieser Domänen interagierten, was darauf hinweist, dass zukünftige Veränderungen vereinfacht werden könnten. Der auffälligste Treiber der observierten Veränderungen war die Hervorhebung der Stärkung von Frauen der Regierung sowie von der Regierung organisierte Interventionen, einschließlich Gender-Sensibilisierungstraining. Die Veränderungen hin zu egalitäreren Beziehungen in den Haushalten wurde von lokalen Anwohnern wahrgenommen als das Herbeiführen von besserer Durchführung der Lebensunterhalte, und verbesserten Fähigkeiten Ernährungssicherung zu schaffen. Die Studie eröffnet Einsichten, dass während die Veränderungen von tiefen, unterliegenden Treibern von systemischer Ungleichheit (z.B. Einstellung) notwendig ist, können andere leverage points wie formale institutionelle Veränderungen und Lückenschluss sichtbarer Mangel tiefere Veränderungen (z.B. Einstellungen) durch Interaktion zwischen verschiedenen leverage points erleichtern. Dies kann transformative Ansätze zu Gender informieren. Während positive Gender-bezogene Veränderungen festgestellt wurden, existieren dennoch ungleiche Gendernormen, die Frauen wie auch ärmere Männer benachteiligen. Soziale Normen, welche die Basis für kollektives Verständnis akzeptierter Einstellungen und Verhalten bilden, sind tief verwurzelt in der Lebensart- und weise der Bevölkerung und können daher stark hinter formellen institutionellen Veränderungen hinter her hinken. Zum Beispiel werden Töchter in Südwest-Äthiopien immer noch, aufgrund von langbewährten patrilinearen Vererbungspraxen, von der Vererbung von Ländereien ausgeschlossen. Dies beeinflusst die Fähigkeit von Frauen sich gleichberechtigt in kleinbäuerlicher Landwirtschaft zu engagieren. Normen beeinflussen Praktiken bezüglich Zugang zu und Kontrolle über Anlagegegenstände, Entscheidungsfindung, und Verteilung von Aktivitäten mit wichtigen Implikationen bezüglich wer in was und wie partizipieren kann, und wer davon einen Vorteil zieht. Männer ohne Landbesitz sehen sich ebenfalls mit bestimmten Benachteiligungen gegenübergestellt, vor allem im Bezug zu Übereinkommen der Halbpacht, in welcher involvierte Personen oft ungleichen sozioökonomischen Status haben. Prozesse, die kritische lokale Reflektionen vereinfachen sind notwendig um Veränderungen ungleicher sozialer Normen anzustoßen und kleinbäuerliche Landwirtschaft in Richtung Inklusivität und Egalität zu transformieren. Um kleinbäuerlicher Landwirtschaft zu einer ernährungssicheren Zukunft zu verhelfen, schließt diese Dissertation mit vier Einsichten, namentlich: (1) Diversifizierte Lebensunterhalte, welche Nahrungs- und Marktfrüchte kombinieren, resultieren in erhöhter Ernährungssicherheit; (2) Steigerung des Natur- und sozialen Kapitals ist erforderlich für rentable kleinbäuerliche Landwirtschaft; (3) Soziale und Gendergleichheit sind von strategischer Bedeutung, um Lebensunterhalte und Ernährungssicherheit zu verbessern; und (4) Institutionen und insbesondere soziale Normen sind Schlüssel, um Gender und soziale Gleichheit zu erreichen. Da der Nexus von Lebensunterhalt – Ernährungssicherheit abhängig ist von der Handlungsfähigkeit der Personen bezüglich ihres Lebensunterhaltes, schließt diese Dissertation, dass Lebensunterhalte als kritisch wichtige Sphäre menschlicher Handlungsfähigkeit gesehen werden sollten, und das hiervon die konzeptionelle Entwicklung wie auch die Formation passender Messwerkzeuge angestrebt wird.

Streptococcus suis es una bacteria Gram positiva asociada con una amplia variedad de enfermedades en los cerdos, como meningitis, artritis, bronconeumonía, endocarditis, poliserositis y septicemia. Además, es un agente zoonótico emergente que causa infecciones graves en personas en contacto directo con porcinos infectados. Hoy en día, el control se basa fundamentalmente en el tratamiento con antimicrobianos e implementación de medidas sanitarias en la granja afectada. Se ha sugerido que S. suis puede ser responsable de la propagación de genes de resistencia a patógenos humanos importantes como Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae y Streptococcus agalactiae. El uso extensivo de antimicrobianos en medicina veterinaria se considera una de las principales causas de la aparición y propagación de microorganismos resistentes. De este modo, la Unión Europea prohibió el uso de antimicrobianos como promotores del crecimiento animal (Comisión Europea, 1831/2003). Una de las estrategias propuestas para la reducción es el uso de aceites esenciales (AE) solos o combinados con agentes antimicrobianos (AMB). Los aceites esenciales son extractos de plantas obtenidos por destilación al vapor y compuestos por una combinación de terpenos, aldehídos y alcoholes, muchos de los cuales son volátiles. La actividad de los AE depende de la concentración de los componentes principales, las partículas presentes en las trazas y la distribución del aceite en las bacterias, lo que determina el tipo de reacción y la respuesta biológica inducida. La acción antimicrobiana incluye la inhibición de una vía bioquímica común, la inactivación de las enzimas microbianas, la filtración de la membrana celular y el aumento de la permeabilidad de la membrana. La investigación de esta tesis doctoral consiste en evaluar el potencial de varios aceites esenciales y sus principales componentes activos como alternativas antimicrobianas contra Streptococcus suis. El primer objetivo fue el estudio cualitativo del potencial antimicrobiano de ocho aceites esenciales contra las cepas de campo de S. suis, mediante la determinación de la zona de inhibición por contacto directo y gaseoso (método de difusión en disco y método de la placa de Petri invertida) y su comparación con el test ANOVA de medias repetidas. Los aceites con una actividad inhibitoria significativamente mayor fueron el tomillo rojo y el tomillo vulgar (Ø media de la zona de inhibición 34,2 y 33,2 mm, respectivamente), seguido de orégano (Ø media de la zona de inhibición 29,4 mm). Canela, menta y clavo (Ø significa 16,5; 16,4 y 15,8 mm, respectivamente) mostraron un potencial antimicrobiano similar, aunque fue significativamente menor que los anteriores. Se obtuvo buena actividad de la fracción volátil de tomillo (rojo y común) y orégano (Ø medio 23,3–25,7 mm), mientras que se observó una débil o nula inhibición para menta, albahaca, romero, canela y clavo. Este es uno de los primeros estudios que selecciona AE con actividad antimicrobiana contra varias cepas de campo de S. suis. Los cuatro aceites con mayor potencial antimicrobiano en el ensayo de difusión en disco se seleccionaron para su estudio cuantitativo. El segundo objetivo de la tesis fue evaluar la actividad antimicrobiana de los aceites esenciales seleccionados y sus principales componentes activos (carvacrol, timol y cinamaldehído) contra 60 cepas de campo de S. suis, de origen humano y porcino. Mediante microdilución en caldo Infusión Cerebro Corazón (suplementado con un 0,15% de agar para facilitar la dilución de los aceites y la lectura de los resultados) se determinó la concentración mínima inhibitoria (CMI) y mínima bactericida (CMB). La relación del efecto concentración-tiempo fue determinada por la curva de muerte de los diferentes productos, para establecer la dinámica de su acción microcida. La susceptibilidad de todos los aislamientos de S. suis analizados en este estudio sugiere un comportamiento muy homogéneo de las cepas frente a los AEs y sus principios activos. Los resultados obtenidos demostraron el carácter bactericida de todos los productos ensayados (índice microcida = 1-2), confirmando el potencial antimicrobiano descrito para otras especies de Streptococcus. Los valores estimados para la CMI90 y la CMB90 destacaron especialmente la actividad del timol y carvacrol frente a los demás productos. Entre los aceites, los mejores resultados se observaron con el orégano y los tomillos. Todos los productos, excepto el cinamaldehido, mostraron una fuerte y rápida actividad, logrando la erradicación virtual (eficacia 99,99%) a dosis de 2 y 4 veces la CMI en sólo 1-5 minutos de exposición. En base a los resultados obtenidos, los productos ensayados en esta tesis tendrían carácter bactericida concentracióndependiente. Como tercer y último objetivo, se evaluó el efecto de la combinación de los aceites esenciales seleccionados y sus principales componentes activos con los antimicrobianos utilizados habitualmente en las granjas porcinas. La prueba de tablero de ajedrez (checkerboard) se usó como base para calcular el Índice de la Fracción de la Concentración Inhibitoria (FCIíndice), cuyos resultados se interpretaron en base a los criterios de la EUCAST (2000). No se detectó efecto antagonista entre los AEs y los antimicrobianos probados. La mayor potenciación positiva se obtuvo para la gentamicina, que mostró sinergismo (0,375-0,5) y aditividad (0,563-1,0) con los cuatro aceites esenciales. En el caso de la oxitetraciclina, los mejores resultados se obtuvieron al combinarla con canela: efecto sinérgico en 2/5 ensayos (0,313 y 0,5, respectivamente) y efecto aditivo en los demás AE. La combinación de penicilina o trimetoprimsulfametoxazol con los aceites esenciales mostró aditividad o indiferencia El estudio de la interacción entre antimicrobianos y principios activos tampoco mostró efecto antagónico, si bien sólo se observó sinérgismo entre la gentamicina y el timol (FCIíndice = 0,5), con una reducción de 4 veces en la CMI de ambos productos. En general, los AMB combinados con AE mostraron mejores resultados que los AMB combinados con los principios activos. Estas diferencias podrían explicarse por la variedad de mecanismos de acción atribuibles a la compleja composición de los aceites esenciales. La interacción positiva observada entre los antimicrobianos convencionales, como la gentamicina y la oxitetraciclina, y los aceites esenciales como la canela, el orégano o los tomillos (vulgar y rojo) respaldarían su uso combinado para el control de las enfermedades por S. suis en granjas porcinas con una importante reducción de la dosis efectiva de ambos productos. ; Streptococcus suis is a Gram-positive bacterium associated with a wide variety of pig diseases, such as meningitis, arthritis, bronchopneumonia, endocarditis, polyserositis and septicaemia. In addition, it is a zoonotic agent that causes severe infections in people related to infected pigs and is responsible for an increasing number of human infections. Nowadays, the control of this microorganism is based on antimicrobial treatment and sanitary measures implemented on the affected farms. It has also been suggested that S. suis may be responsible for the spread of resistance genes to important human pathogens as Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus agalactiae. The extensive use of antimicrobials in veterinary medicine is considered one of the main causes of the emergence and spread of resistant microorganisms. In order to reduce the use of antimicrobials in pig farming, the European Union banned their use as animal growth promoters (European Commission, 1831/2003). There is an important pressure to reduce the use of antimicrobials in pig farming worldwide, with the aim of avoiding the development of bacterial resistances. One of the strategies proposed for the control of these pathogens is the use of essential oils (EOs) alone or combined with antimicrobials agents (AMBs). Essential oils are extracts of plants obtained by steam distillation and composed by a combination of terpenes, aldehydes and alcohols, many of which are volatile. The activity of the EOs depends on the concentration of the main components, the particles present in the traces, and the distribution of the oil in the bacteria, which determines the type of reaction and the biological response induced. The antimicrobial action includes the inhibition of a common biochemical pathway, inactivation of microbial enzymes, leaking of cell membrane and increasing the membrane permeability. The main goal of present PhD thesis is to assess, among natural products, the potential of various essential oils and their main active components as antimicrobial alternatives against Streptococcus suis. The first objective was the qualitative study of antimicrobial potential of eight essential oils against 20 field strains of S. suis by means of determination of inhibition halo after direct and gaseous contact. Selection of oils with greatest antimicrobial potential for their subsequent quantitative study. The ntibacterial inhibition was determined by the disk diffusion method. Furthermore, the effect of the volatile fraction of every EO was studied with the inverted Petri dish method. The antibacterial activity was evaluated by measuring in millimetres the diameter of the inhibitory zone. The repeated- measures ANOVA test was used for the selection of the four essential oils with the highest antimicrobial potential in the disk diffusion assay. The oils with a significantly higher inhibitory activity were red thyme and common thyme (Ø mean of inhibition zone 34.2 and 33.2 mm, respectively), followed by oregano (Ø mean of inhibition zone 29.4 mm). Cinnamon, peppermint, and clove (Ø mean 16.5, 16.4, and 15.8 mm, respectively) showed a similar antimicrobial potential, although it was significantly lower than the previous ones. Good activity was obtained from the volatile fraction of thyme (red and common) and oregano (Ø mean 23.3–25.7 mm), whereas a limited or absent inhibition was observed for peppermint, basil, rosemary, cinnamon, and clove. This is one of the first studies that selects EOs with antimicrobial activity against several field S. suis strains. The second objective was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the selected essential oils (oregano, red thyme, common thyme and cinnamon) and their main active components (carvacrol, thymol and cinnamaldehyde) against 60 field strains of S. suis, of human and porcine origin. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were performing using the broth dilution method, and to facilitate the dilution of the oils and the reading of the results Brain- Heart Infusion broth supplemented with 0.15% agar was used. The concentration-timeeffect relationship was determined by the time-kill curve of different products, to establish the dynamics of their microcidal action. The susceptibility of all the S. suis isolates analysed in this study suggested a very homogeneous behaviour of the strains against the analysed products. The results obtained demonstrated the bactericidal character of all the products tested (microcidal index = 1-2), confirming the antimicrobial potential described by other researches. The estimated values for the MIC90 and MBC90 emphasized the activity of thymol and carvacrol compared with the other products. Among these oils, the best results were observed for oregano and both thymes. All products, except cinnamaldehyde, showed a strong and rapid antimicrobial activity, achieving virtual eradication (99.99% efficiency) at doses of 2 and 4 fold the MIC in 1-5 minutes of exposure. Basing on the results obtained in time-kill curve, the products tested in this thesis would have a concentration-dependent bactericidal character. As a third and final objective of this Doctoral Thesis, we assessed the effect of the combination of selected essential oils and their main active components with the conventional antimicrobials commonly used in the control of infections in pigs. The checkerboard test was used to calculate a Fractional Inhibitory Concentration Index (FICIndex) and the results were interpreted according to EUCAST (2000). No antagonist effect was detected. The best FIC values were obtained with gentamicin, since synergy (FICindex 0,375-0,5) and additive effect (FICindex 0.563-1.0) were detected with the four essential oils. For oxytetracycline, the best results were obtained in the interaction with cinnamon, with synergistic effect in 2/5 assays (FICindex 0.313 and 0.5, respectively) and additive effect in its interaction with the remaining EOs. The combination of penicillin or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole with the essential oils showed additive or indifferent effects. The study of the interaction of antimicrobials with active ingredients included 60 combinations. No antagonistic effect was detected, although only a synergistic effect was observed when combined gentamicin and thymol (FICindex = 0.5), with a 4-fold reduction in the MIC of both products. In general, the combination of AMBs with EOs showed better results than the combination of AMBs with the main components of EOs. These differences could be explained by the variety of mechanisms of action attributable to the Essential Oil compounds and the possible synergism between them. The positive interaction observed between conventional antimicrobials, as gentamicin and oxytetracycline, and essential oils as cinnamon, oregano or thyme (common and red) would support their combined use for the control of S. suis diseases in pig farms with an important reduction in effective dose of both products.

Das Image der Biogasanlagen als umweltfreundliche Energieerzeuger hat in der jüngsten Vergangenheit gelitten. Neben dem Biomasseanbau (Maismonokulturen), stehen der Transport und die Ausbringung der Gärreste unter öffentlicher Kritik. Gleichzeitig gilt Biogas gilt als umweltfreundlich, da fossile Ressourcen geschont und Kohlendioxidemissionen gemindert werden. Die ökologischen Aspekte der Biogaserzeugung wurden in einer Ökobilanz untersucht, deren Ergebnisse jetzt für die Öffentlichkeit als Informations- und Diskussionsgrundlage zur Verfügung stehen.Durch die Novellierung des Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetzes im Jahr 2004 wurde ein Investitionsboom bei Biogasanlagen, speziell im Bereich 500 kW und größer, ausgelöst. In Verbindung mit diesem Boom wurde der Anbau von Energiepflanzen für die Biogasproduktion stark erweitert. Im Rahmen der Untersuchung wurden alle Lebenswegabschnitte der Biogasproduktion untersucht und die bedeutendsten Einflussfaktoren ermittelt. Die Untersuchung wurde in Form einer Ökobilanz gemäß EN ISO 14040 ff. als internationaler Standard durchgeführt. Für die Datensammlung wurden Informationen bestehender Anlagen und Ergebnisse eigener Versuche verwendet, so dass in den wichtigsten Bereichen aktuelle Daten zur Verfügung standen. Die Ergebnisse der Datensammlung wurden auf ein Terrajoule elektrische Energie bezogen und nach der Eco indicator `99 Methode gewichtet und bewertet, so dass die Gesamtergebnisse der untersuchten Prozesse miteinander verglichen werden können. Bei Verwendung anderer Bewertungsschlüssel, können die Ergebnisse abweichen. Die vorliegenden Ergebnisse können sowohl für die Öffentlichkeitsarbeit einzelner Anlagen, als auch für die Weiterentwicklung der Biogastechnik verwendet werden.Untersucht wurden mehrere Varianten der Biogasproduktion. Bei den Inputstoffen wurden eine Mais-/Güllemischung und eine Bioabfall-/Güllemischung betrachtet. Bei der BHKW Technik wurde ein Gas-Otto-Motor mit einer Brennstoffzelle verglichen. Zusätzlich wurde die Nutzung der Abwärme betrachtet. Insgesamt wird der Flächenverbrauch für den Energiepflanzenanbau als bedeutendster Einfluss auf das Gesamtergebnis erkannt. Hierbei sind allerdings methodische Fragen zu berücksichtigen, die dieses Ergebnis einschränken (vgl. Hartmann2006). Insgesamt besitzen Energiepflanzen mit hohen Flächenerträgen (z.B. Mais) ökologische Vorteile vor Pflanzen, die weniger Biomasse bilden. Die aktuellen Züchtungsbemühungen gehen in diese Richtung. Da Abfälle als Input der Biogasproduktion ohne ökologischen Rucksack bilanziert werden, werden hierdurch die ökologischen Belastungen der Vorkette der Biogasproduktion vermieden und die Biogasbilanz deutlich verbessert. Durch die Nutzung der Brennstoffzellentechnik können höhere Wirkungsgrade und sehr niedrige Emissionen erreicht werden, so dass das Gesamtergebnis nachhaltig positiv beeinflusst wird. Entwicklungen in diesem Bereich sollten daher gefördert werden. Die Abwärmenutzung kann bedeutende ökologische Gutschriften erzielen, wenn hierdurch der Verbrauch fossiler Ressourcen eingeschränkt wird. Die Schaffung neuer Wärmeabnehmer, z.B. die Hackschnitzeltrocknung, führt zu keinem Einsparpotential und bedingt daher keine ökologischen Vorteile. Als Fazit kann festgehalten werden, dass die Stromerzeugung aus Biogas umweltfreundlich ist und in der Größenordnung den Effekten des gegenwärtigen Strommixes in Deutschland entspricht. Ökologisch wichtigster Punkt ist der Flächen- und Energiebedarf der Biomasseproduktion. Die BHKW- und der Gärrestemissionen haben einen spürbar negativen Einfluss auf das Gesamtergebnis. Das ökologische Ergebnis kann verbessert werden, wenn höhere Flächenerträge erzielt oder biogene Abfälle anstatt Energiepflanzen als Input genutzt werden. Die Nutzung der Abwärme des BHKW zur Einsparung fossiler Energieträger ermöglicht bedeutende Gutschriften auf das Gesamtergebnis. Werden alle Optimierungsmöglichkeiten genutzt, verursacht Strom aus Biogas weniger als ein Fünftel der ökologischen Auswirkungen des üblichen Strommixes. ; Sustainable energy supply is considered to be one of the most important worldwide chal-lenges of the future. When concerning energy supply, three aspects have to be taken into account regarding sustainability. The first aspect is the limitation of fossil and nuclear re-sources. It is generally accepted that these resources will run out within the next decades and centuries. As a secondary aspect, due to this limitation, there is a rise in energy prices. This is contrary to the concept that energy should be affordable to every human being. The third aspect involves the emissions of the state of the art energy conversion technology harming the environment. These must therefore be reduced in the future, especially green-house gas emissions.Renewable energy sources are considered an answer to these problems. They are in end-less supply and thought to be environmental friendly. Biomass, e.g. crops and biodegradable waste, is one kind of renewable energy sources. Biogas production is one possibility to pro-duce electricity and heat from this biomass. Within the biogas process bacteria in an anaer-obe atmosphere degrade carbon-hydrogen compounds. Methane, carbon dioxide, some trace gases, and a nutrient rich slurry result from this biogas process. The originated meth-ane can finally be used for heating, electricity generation or fuel production. Within the last years, the government has assisted the energy production from renewable energy sources, especially biogas. This has led to a particular increase in industrial-scale biogas plants using energy crops as input.The utilisation of renewable energies aims at the protection of human health, nature, and resources. However, like any other kind of energy conversion, the biogas process causes effects on the environment. Energy conversion plants using renewable energy sources such as biomass are considered to be environmentally friendly by a wide public. Considerations of the environmental friendliness of renewable resources consuming processes are based on the one hand, on the conservation of fossil resources on the input side of the system and on the other hand on the emission of carbon dioxide, which is not enhancing the green house effect due to its renewable sources offspring on the output side of the process. In this case environmental friendliness is solely seen as a question of sustainability in the fields of fossil resources and climate. Here, it is not considered that the production and transport of energy crops consumes mass and energy flows, uses land and produces emissions.All of these effects have to be taken into account, when assessing the environmental effects of electricity generation from biogas produced by an industrial scale biogas plant. Further-more, manure and organic waste must be transported, leading to fuel consumption and emissions. The production and consumption of biogas lead to gaseous emissions, which threatens human health and the environment. Mass and energy flows are caused for the construction and demolishing of the biogas plant itself. Ultimately, waste is generated by the biogas plant, which has to be disposed of. This is why, for the further development of energy technologies, it is important to know the kind and amount of ecological effects caused.The object under investigation is a hypothetical biogas plant with a capacity of 1.0 MW elec-tric power, fed by biomass from energy crops and manure. The ecological effects shall be determined from start to finish and are determined by mass and energy balances resulting in a life-cycle-assessment (LCA). This assessment is done according to the rules of ISO 14040-14043, which gives a universally valid plan for this method. Data for the mass and energy balances are taken from measured data of existing biogas plants, calculations from similar objects, and estimations where no adoptable data are available. The object under investiga-tion is the biogas plant itself as well as up- and downstream processes related to the power plant. The scope of the data collection will be determined and adjusted within the LCA; also all single unit processes will be defined in the life-cycle-assessment.The only purpose of this study is to give information on the composition of the ecological ef-fects from biogas production in industrial scaled biogas plants. Thereby ecological hot spots are determined and suggestions for ecological improvements are made. The results of this study should not be used for comparisons with results from LCA studies of different energy production systems e.g. electricity from lean coal, as the scope of this study is not designed for such a comparison.As the results of a LCA study are very complex and hard to interpret, due to the variety of impact categories, an additional interpretation step is included. At this stage, the Eco Indica-tor `99 approach of [GOEDKOPP&SPRIENSMA2001] will be used. This step is not part of the rules of ISO14040-43 and must be acknowledged as an additional interpretation tool. The use of such interpretation methods is hardly discussed among experts, due to its social sci-ence based background. The results gained from the LCA done according to the ISO rules are therefore clearly separated from the results of the further interpretation, so that the influ-ence of the interpretation method can be regarded separately. The results of the ecological assessment are given for each unit process, per module, and for the overall process. All re-sults are related to the generation of one Terra Joule of electric energy from the biogas plant.Beginning with the production of energy crops, it can be seen that energy plants with a high productivity per area unit e.g. maize and forage beets have a better ecological performance than crops like rye or grass. The ecological effects of the crop production are mainly caused by energy inputs e.g. fuels and artificial nitrogen fertiliser production. Relevant effects are also caused from heavy metals inserted into the system by phosphate fertilisers. A specific effect from crop production is the impact category land use. More than 80% of the ecological effects of the crop production and more than 60% of the overall effects are related to this category. As this category is a qualitative and not a quantitative indicator like the other mass and energy flows, its implementation into the overall assessment is quite complicated.For the production of energy crops, mainly crops with a high yield of organic dry matter mass per unit area should be used in order to reduce the ecological effects from this module. Whenever possible, biodegradable waste should be used instead of specially produced crops to reduce the ecological effects on the input side of the system, as this waste is taken into account without any ecological burden. Within the agricultural production system the influence of the impact category land use is very strong, in comparison to all other ecological effects in their influences on the overall re-sult. On the one hand, large areas are needed for the production of energy crops. This has a multiplying effect on the results per unit area. The intensive arable production leads to a de-crease in biodiversity, which is close to the decrease caused by a sealed surface. Therefore this form of production is calculated with heavy ecological burdens. On the other hand it must be recognised that there would also be arable production, even if no energy crops would be produced. Hence, stopping the production of energy crops would not lead to an overall re-duction of ecological effects from arable farming. Therefore this impact category should be taken into account, showing that improvements of the ecological effect from biogas produc-tion are mainly improvements of the biodiversity in the energy crop production. But they should not be accounted for, if the ecological effects of the biogas production are compared to other kinds of electricity generation.The transport caused by the input and output flows of the biogas plant have only a small in-fluence on the overall ecological effects. Most ecological effects are herein derived from the consumption of fossil fuels. From a theoretical analysis the result gained can show that larger biogas plants do not cause an equivalent increase of transport efforts as two smaller biogas plants would cause. When biogas plants and related areas for energy crop production in-crease, the transport efforts increase subproportionally due to the circular area/radius nature of the area around the biogas plant. Therefore, the crops in areas around a biogas plant al-ways grow faster, however transport distances have yet to be covered.The construction and demolition of installations in a biogas plant produce hardly any dam-ages to the environment. Only two ecological hot spots occur at the biogas plant: the emis-sions of the CHP plant and the consumption of electricity from the grid. Gas engines with oxidising converters are calculated as CHP plants, which emit the lowest emission rates out of all conventional CHP plants. Lower emissions rates can only be realised with a change of technology e.g. use of fuel cells. The share of ecological effects from electricity consumption is related to the fact that biogas plants, which use energy crops, need up to 10% of the en-ergy that they generate to run the process. Facilities using less energy can be helpful to re-duce this influence on the overall ecological effect from this hot spot. The biogas slurry is applied to fields, where it is used as an organic fertiliser. The application of biogas slurry has two different ecological effects. The nutrient content of the slurry leads to a reduced consumption of artificial fertiliser. The emissions from the biogas slurry the influ-ence of the change in input material can be seen contribute mainly to the impact categories acidification/eutrophication and greenhouse effect. These negative effects, especially the acidification from gaseous NH3 emissions, contribute to around 25% of the total ecological effects. This threat to the environment can be reduced through application and incorporation methods in keeping with good agricultural practice. Thereby, very low emission levels of the applied biogas slurry can be achieved. These emissions levels are below the emissions from manure, which is used as input to the plant, and would alternatively spread to the fields, where it would cause emissions.In brief, electricity generation from biogas produced in industrial scale biogas plants can be regarded as a durable way of generating electricity. On considering the biogas production from start to finish, it is shown that most ecological effects are related to the agricultural pro-duction system. Just some parts of these effects can be manipulated. Qualitative aspects, e.g. land use, cannot be influenced and will always occur, even if no energy crops were to be produced.

Long description: Das Buch ermöglicht es Führungskräften, in jeder Situation das richtige Führungsinstrument anzuwenden. Aktuelle Methoden wie die »Balanced Scorecard« und wichtige Stichworte der Personalführung (beispielsweise »Sexuelle Belästigung«) sind neu aufgenommen. Die Querverweise vernetzen die Themen untereinander; das neue Sachregister macht das Buch zu einem unverzichtbaren Nachschlagewerk. Auf der beiliegenden CD-ROM finden sich Tests zur Mitarbeiterführung sowie Checklisten zur Unternehmensleitung.

Führungskräfte haben es nicht leicht – in ihrer Position müssen sie nicht nur fachliche Verantwortung tragen, sondern auch Antworten auf brennende Führungsfragen finden, zum Beispiel: • Wie baue ich ein neues Team auf?• Wie gehe ich mit einem Mitarbeiter um, der mich anlügt?• Wie werde ich endlich einmal rechtzeitig mit meiner Arbeit fertig?Führungskräftetrainer Jürgen W. Goldfuß zeigt in übersichtlicher und anschaulicher Form, wie Manager typische Konfliktsituationen schnell und erfolgreich bewältigen – auch erfahrene Chefs können hier noch etwas lernen.