Grundrechtsschutz im Europa des Lissaboner Vertrags

Nachdem als letzter Mitgliedstaat der Europ?ischen Union auch Tschechien im November 2009 den Lissaboner Vertrag ratifiziert hatte, konnte das Vertragswerk¹ zum 01. Dezember 2009 in Kraft treten. Seither sind allerdings die mit der neuen Rechtsgrundlage der Europ?ischen Union verbundenen vielf?ltigen Wirkungen kaum ins Bewusstsein der europ?ischen ?ffentlichkeit gelangt. Sie werden von den globalen Banken- und Wirtschaftsproblemen sowie von der aktuellen Krise der europ?ischen W?hrungsunion überlagert, die die nationalen Politiken der EU-Mitgliedstaaten und die gemeinschaftliche europ:aische Politik vor gro?e Herausforderungen stellen und deren Aufmerksamkeit in hohem Ma?e in Anspruch nehmen. Es mag also noch dauern, bis Europa in absehbarer Zeit und hoffentlich ohne an seinen politischkonstitutiven Fundamenten Schaden zu nehmen die aktuellen Krisen überwunden haben wird. Erst dann dürfte den Bürgerinnen und Bürgern Europas deutlicher werden, dass mit dem Inkrafttreten des Vertrages von Lissabon eine unter mehreren Gesichtspunkten neue Epoche des Europ?ischen Integrationsprozesses begonnen hat. Das gilt nicht nur, aber vor allem für die Innen- und Rechtspolitik — für jene Bereiche europ?ischer Politik also, die die Herstellung des seit 1999 im Amsterdamer Vertrag avisierten „Raumes der Freiheit, der Sicherheit und des Rechts“ zum Ziel haben. Innerhalb dieser im hohen Ma?e grundrechtssensiblen Politikfelder wird die neue Epoche vor allem von erheblichen Ver?nderungen sowohl im materiellen, rechtlichen als auch im institutionellen, gerichtlichen Schutz der Grund- und Freiheitsrechte der europ?ischen Bürgerinnen und Bürger gepr?gt sein.     

Don't underestimate the problems of user centredness in software development projectsthere are many!

. On the basis of a longitudinal field study of 29 commercial software development projects, the pros and cons of user centredness in software development were analysed. We looked at two concepts: user participation-an organizational device-involving a user representative in the team, and user orientation-a cognitive-emotional concept-which pertains to positive attitudes towards users. Both were found to be associated with project difficulties relating to process and product quality as well as overall project success. We suggest that the issue is no longer whether or not to involve users, but instead to develop a realistic understanding of the difficulties associated with user centredness.     

The Swedish approach to research and development in fire protection

Current Research Activities

The Swedish approach to research and development in fire protection     

Job stressors and the pursuit of sport activities: A day-level perspective.

This article addresses the relation between day-specific experiences of job stressors and the pursuit of off-job activities. Following the limited-resources model of self-regulation, the authors proposed that job stressors and long working hours are negatively related to pursuit of sport activities after work because, after stressful days, employees have no resources left for initiating and persisting in effortful behaviors such as sport. Routines for off-job activities were hypothesized to be positively related to the pursuit of sport activities after work. Seventy-eight police employees completed a daily survey over 5 working days and indicated that they perceive sport to be highly useful for recovery. Random coefficient modeling showed that job stressors (particularly situational constraints) encountered on a specific day were negatively related to self-regulatory resources and to the amount of time spent on sport activities after work, whereas the relation with low-effort activities was positive. Thus, after a stressful day when an effective recovery activity such as sport is highly needed, persons tend to engage less in such an activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Veteran interest in family involvement in PTSD treatment.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 7(3) of Psychological Services (see record 2010-17074-004). The copyright for the article was listed incorrectly. This article is in the Public Domain. The online version has been corrected.] The present study examined interest in family involvement in treatment and preferences concerning the focus of family oriented treatment for veterans (N = 114) participating in an outpatient Veterans Affairs outpatient posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) program. Most veterans viewed PTSD as a source of family stress (86%) and expressed interest in greater family involvement in their treatment (79%). These results suggest the need to consider increasing family participation in the clinical care of individuals with PTSD and to develop specialized family educational and support services for this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New-onset psychogenic seizures after surgery for epilepsy

BACKGROUND: The emergence of psychogenic seizures after surgery for epilepsy is not well recognized. OBJECTIVES: To identify the frequency of psychogenic seizures in an 11-year surgical experience and to characterize the patients with this complication. METHODS: Ninety-six patients underwent surgery for epilepsy between 1985 and 1996. The surgical database was reviewed and all patients who experienced postoperative psychogenic seizures were identified. Patients were characterized by sex, age, psychopathologic conditions, full-scale IQ, duration of epilepsy, surgical procedure, and operative complications. Patients were compared with the surgical group as a whole for these variables. SETTING: A comprehensive epilepsy center. RESULTS: Five patients were identified: 3 men and 2 women. Mean full-scale IQ was 73 (range, 66-82). Mean age was 29.8 years (range, 22-36 years). Three patients were diagnosed as having psychosis, 1 with borderline personality disorder and 1 with generalized anxiety. Operations included 4 anterior temporal lobectomies and 1 occipital lobectomy. Two patients experienced operative complications. Compared with the surgical cohort, patients had a higher frequency of preoperative psychopathologic conditions, lower mean full-scale IQ, and a greater occurrence of operative complications. CONCLUSIONS: (1) Patients can develop new-onset psychogenic seizures after surgery for epilepsy. (2) Low full-scale IQ, serious preoperative psychopathologic conditions, and major surgical complications may be risk factors. (3) Atypical postoperative seizures should be evaluated with video electroencephalographic monitoring before concluding that they are epileptic.     

Review of Schreber: Father and son.

Reviews the book, Schreber: Father and son by Han Isra?ls (see record 1989-98605-000). In 1911, Sigmund Freud published a long paper about a German judge, Daniel Paul Schreber (1842-1911), who had been an inpatient in three psychiatric clinics from 1893 to 1902. Beginning in the 1940s and 1950s, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts began to give intensive attention to the life and illness of Schreber, an interest that has continued to the present day. Now Han Isra?ls, has written a compelling and most unusual book about Schreber and his father, Moritz Schreber. From one point of view it is a historical tour de force, bound to evoke admiration from any professional historian for its research and scholarship. From another vantage point, it is an example of historical overkill. The dominant theme of Isra?ls's book is an exposé of the corrupt scholarship that has grown up around Moritz Schreber and hence Isra?ls's argument that after his death Moritz achieved fame and notoriety far out of proportion to his actual contributions. A second, minor theme is Isra?ls's agreement with the discovery made by the psychoanalyst Niederland that Moritz Schreber's writings provide information about the way he reared his children: "It has become apparent that the method of upbringing has left traces in the psychotic illness [of Paul Schreber]." When all is said and done, we are left with a book which, in spite of its compelling scholarship, yields almost no new information about Judge Schreber that would help us to understand him better. Furthermore, Isra?ls's book is likely to have little impact on the modern and incorrect views about Schreber's father. In the end, Isra?ls's book stands as a cautionary tale to lazy researchers and sloppy scholars. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Stuttgart positron beam, its performance and recent experiments

A monoenergetic MeV positron (e⁺) beam, with a flux at present of 6 × 10⁴ e⁺/s in the energy range of 0.5 to 6.5 MeV, has been installed at the Stuttgart Pelletron accelerator. The stabilization and the absolute calibration of the energy E is monitored by a Ge detector with real-time feedback; a relative energy stability of ΔE/E 10⁻⁴ is obtained. So far, e⁺e⁻ scattering and annihilation-in-flight experiments for investigating the low-energy e⁺e⁻ interaction as well as β⁺ γ positron lifetime measurements in condensed matter have been performed. The advantages of the β⁺ γ method compared to the conventional γγ coincidence technique have been demonstrated. Recently, triple-coincidence positron “age-momentum correlation” measurements have been carried out on fused quartz. A brief account is given on the development of a “positron clock” aiming at a substantial improvement of the time resolution of the β⁺ γ positron lifetime measurements.     

Psychometric properties of the Questionnaire on Stress in patients with Diabetes—Revised (QSD-R).

This study reports the psychometric properties of a 45-item diabetes-specific questionnaire, the Questionnaire on Stress in Patients with Diabetes—Revised (QSD-R), a modified and shortened version of the QSD (G. Duran et al; see record 1996-18805-001). The QSD-R was filled out by 1,930 individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Eight consistent scales were identified (values of Cronbach's α: .69–.81). The test-retest reliability for the total score after a 5-week interval was rtt?=?.63. The results provide evidence for the reliability and validity of this instrument. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)