Kleists Die heilige Cacilie, oder, Die Gewalt de Musik (eine Legende) : Interpretationsversuch : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in German at Massey University

Text in GermanDie endgtültige Fassung dieser Erzählung entstand auf der Höhe von Kleists schöpferischer Tätigkeit, im Jahre 1811, kurz vor seinem Tod. Es handelt sich bei dieser Geschichte daher um eine besonders kunstvoll gestaltete Erzählung, deren sprachliche und thematische Komplexität Kleist unverkennbar als den Dichter "dieser Legende" enthül1t. "Die heilige Cäcilie oder die Gewalt der Musik"ist Kleists einzige Erzählung rait dem Untertitel "Eine Legende". Auf diese Klassifizierung sowie auf den ersten Teil der Überschrift berufen sich diejenigen Kritiker, die diese Erzählung religiös gedeutet wissen wollen und ihren metaphysischen Anspruch hervorheben. Andere Interpreten bestreiten diesen jedoch. Sie schreiben das Wunder des Fronleichnamsfestes nicht übernatürlichen Kräften zu, sondern erklären es als natürlichen Vorgang. Daher stützen sie sich auf den mittleren Teil der Überschrift "die Gewalt der Musik", welche für sie dem Naturbereich angehört. Das wunderbare Geschehen, die Verwandlung der vier Bilderstürmer in asketische Geistliche und die Verschonung des durch sie bedrohten Klosters, wird also grundsätzlich von den Kritikern der irrational transzendentalen oder der rational realen Ebene zugeordnet.[FROM INTRODUCTION

Planninginnovaties in het Rijn-Ruhrgebied?

Bij beleidsmakers staat de metropool al een tijd in de belangstelling. Maar of het nu gaat om de Randstad of de Metropoolregio Amsterdam, verder dan bestuurlijke afstemming lijkt het niet te komen. Voor de verdere institutionalisering in dagelijkse praktijken is weinig aandacht. Bij de oosterburen is de Rijn-Ruhr het equivalent van de Randstad. Twee voorbeelden uit deze regio laten zien hoe wel en hoe niet om te gaan met metropoolvorming, instituties en de institutionele context

Quality assessment of expert answers to lay questions about cystic fibrosis from various language zones in Europe: the ECORN-CF project

Background: The European Centres of Reference Network for Cystic Fibrosis (ECORN-CF) established an Internet forum which provides the opportunity for CF patients and other interested people to ask experts questions about CF in their mother language. The objectives of this study were to: 1. develop a detailed quality assessment tool to analyze quality of expert answers, 2. evaluate the intra- and inter-rater agreement of this tool, and 3. explore changes in the quality of expert answers over the time frame of the project. Methods: The quality assessment tool was developed by an expert panel. Five experts within the ECORN-CF project used the quality assessment tool to analyze the quality of 108 expert answers published on ECORN-CF from six language zones. 25 expert answers were scored at two time points, one year apart. Quality of answers was also assessed at an early and later period of the project. Individual rater scores and group mean scores were analyzed for each expert answer. Results: A scoring system and training manual were developed analyzing two quality categories of answers: content and formal quality. For content quality, the grades based on group mean scores for all raters showed substantial agreement between two time points, however this was not the case for the grades based on individual rater scores. For formal quality the grades based on group mean scores showed only slight agreement between two time points and there was also poor agreement between time points for the individual grades. The inter-rater agreement for content quality was fair (mean kappa value 0.232+/-0.036, p<0.001) while only slight agreement was observed for the grades of the formal quality (mean kappa value 0.105+/-0.024, p<0.001). The quality of expert answers was rated high (four language zones) or satisfactory (two language zones) and did not change over time. Conclusions: The quality assessment tool described in this study was feasible and reliable when content quality was assessed by a group of raters. Within ECORN-CF, the tool will help ensure that CF patients all over Europe have equal possibility of access to high quality expert advice on their illness

Public debates driven by incomplete scientific data: the cases of evolution theory, global warming and H1N1 pandemic influenza

Public debates driven by incomplete scientific data where nobody can claim absolute certainty, due to current state of scientific knowledge, are studied. The cases of evolution theory, global warming and H1N1 pandemic influenza are investigated. The first two are of controversial impact while the third is more neutral and resolved. To adopt a cautious balanced attitude based on clear but inconclusive data appears to be a lose-out strategy. In contrast overstating arguments with wrong claims which cannot be scientifically refuted appear to be necessary but not sufficient to eventually win a public debate. The underlying key mechanism of these puzzling and unfortunate conclusions are identified using the Galam sequential probabilistic model of opinion dynamics. It reveals that the existence of inflexible agents and their respective proportions are the instrumental parameters to determine the faith of incomplete scientific data public debates. Acting on one's own inflexible proportion modifies the topology of the flow diagram, which in turn can make irrelevant initial supports. On the contrary focusing on open-minded agents may be useless given some topologies. When the evidence is not as strong as claimed, the inflexibles rather than the data are found to drive the opinion of the population. The results shed a new but disturbing light on designing adequate strategies to win a public debate.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure