Sprache und Kontext

Recently, the Max Planck Society founded a new Project group for Psycholinguistics. This article reviews some of the kernel issues of the group's research program. The central concern is with the context dependency of the speaker's linguistic behavior. The process of linguistically formulating depends not only on what the speaker wants to express, but also on what has been said previously (linguistic context), and on the physical and social situation (nonlinguistic context). Special attention is paid to two context-dependent phenomena.     

CCall--healthy and successful work in call centres.

Call centre workplaces are in many ways a challenge to occupational health and safety. The occupation itself can be described as an IT information technology-supported, communication-intensive form of work with often unusual working hours and a high rate of part-time employment. Data on the employee turnover as well as absenteeism related to occupational disability is quite contradictory. Occupational safety and its proponents still have to find new ways into the corporate structures and cultures of this relatively new and rapidly growing branch of industry. In a 2-year research and development project, using a holistic approach and under consideration of all the relevant disciplines, call centre workplaces were studied, and organisational measures were developed and field tested by putting them into practice. Practical help was developed for a sustainable strategy for successful and healthy work in call centres.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils of the Moscow Region--concentrations, temporal trends, and small-scale distribution

The knowledge of the environmental fate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is restricted to few climatic regions of the world almost excluding the Taiga. Our objectives were to (i) separate anthropogenic from background contributions to PAH concentrations and (ii) determine temporal trends in PAH concentrations during the last century including the change in distribution of PAHs in interior and exterior portions of aggregates in soils of the Moscow region. Along a southeast-bound transect from Moscow (windward in winter) and at a background location northeast of Moscow (leeward in winter), seven topsoil samples were collected in 1910-1954 and 35 in 1998-2003. We fractionated the soils in interior and exterior portions of aggregates > 10 mm and remaining soil without aggregates. The sum of 21 PAHs (sigma21PAHs) concentrations in recent bulk soil ranged from 59 to 1350 ng g(-1). The concentrations of all PAHs were lower outside than in Moscow. The range of the concentrations of the sigma21PAHs in archived soil samples (159-1280 ng g(-1)) was similar as in recent soils. In most recent and archived samples, naphthalene and phenanthrene, were most abundant. The concentrations of low-molecular-weight PAHs decreased during the last century at most sites; those of high-molecular-weight compounds increased. The sigma21PAHs concentrations were accumulated in the exterior of aggregates (109%) and depleted in the interior (95%) relative to the concentration in bulk soil (defined as 100%), which was similar to that in the soil without aggregates (99%). The differences between aggregate interior and exterior did not change during the last century. The dominance of naphthalene and phenanthrene is typical of remote regions. The urban influence on PAH concentrations in the last century was small.     

Time study on the uptake of four different beta-blockers in garden cress (Lepidium sativum) as a model plant

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The aim of this study was to investigate the uptake of four beta-blockers by the model plant Lepidium sativum (garden cress) and their possible...     

Phenomenological compensation of thermally caused position and orientation errors of rotary axes

Thermal errors of machine tools are one of the major sources of inaccuracy. Therefore, the reduction of temperature induced deviations or the compensation of the resulting tool center point (TCP) errors have been of strong interest to the manufacturing industry for a couple of years. Up to now, the observation of the environment, the main spindle, the linear axes and the machine bed were in the focus of research, but with the rising demand for 5-axis machine tools and the increasing requirements regarding their accuracy, the analysis of the thermal behavior of rotary axes becomes more and more important. This paper gives an overview of corresponding thermal measurements of machine tools. The thermal behavior of rotary and swiveling axes is analyzed in detail. A simulation model and an approach for a phenomenological compensation of the TCP error are introduced and verified by measurements.     

Recent advances in mercury speciation analysis with focus on spectrometric methods and enriched stable isotope applications

This paper discusses some recent advances in spectrometric methods and approaches for mercury speciation analysis of environmental samples with focus on isotope dilution techniques for determination of mercury species' concentrations in gaseous samples and reaction rates in soils and sediments. Such analytical data is important inter alia in fundamental research on mercury biogeochemistry and for risk assessments of mercury-contaminated soils and sediments and for designing effective remedial actions. The paper describes how the use of enriched stable isotope tracers in mercury speciation analysis can improve the traceability and accuracy of results, facilitate rational method developments, and be useful for studying biogeochemical processes, i.e. rate of reactions and fluxes, of mercury species. In particular the possibilities to study and correct for unwanted species transformation reactions during sample treatment and to study "natural" transformations of species in environmental samples, or micro- and mesocosm ecosystems, during incubations are highlighted. Important considerations to generate relevant data in isotope tracer experiments as well as reliability and quality assurance of mercury speciation analysis in general are also discussed.     

Persistent organic pollutants in atmospheric deposition and biomonitoring with Tillandsia usneoides (L.) in an industrialized area in Rio de Janeiro state, southeast Brazil--Part II: PCB and PAH

Monitoring of immission of persistent organic pollutants in the industrialized area of Volta Redonda (V.R.) and in the National Park of Itatiaia (PNI) in southeast Brazil was performed using an endemic bromeliad species as biomonitor and measuring bulk deposition rates of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). For the sum of PCB, overall deposition rates were between 17 and 314 ng/(m2 day) in winter and between 43 and 81 ng/(m2 day) in summer, respectively. Deposition rates of dioxin-like PCBs ranged from 0.14 to 2.8 pg WHO-TEQ/(m2 day) in winter and from 0.90 to 4.3 pg WHO-TEQ/(m2 day) in summer. PCB deposition rates (total PCB and WHO-TEQ) were in the same range in winter in V.R. and PNI. In summer, contamination levels in V.R. were 6-10-folds higher than in PNI. PCB concentrations in biomonitor samples from V.R. and PNI were in the same range in summer and in winter. Concentrations of total PCB ranged from 14 to 95 microg/kg dry matter (d.m.) in winter and from 18 to 27 microg/kg d.m. in summer, respectively. The TEQ values were between 1.7 and 4.1 ng WHO-TEQ/kg d.m. in winter and between 1.9 and 2.9 ng WHO-TEQ/kg d.m. in summer. PCB concentrations of di-ortho PCB but not of non-ortho PCB were a factor of 2-4 lower in summer in both areas. PCB congener profiles resembled those from technical formulations. The profiles shifted to the higher chlorinated congeners in summer, probable due to revolatilisation of the lighter components at higher temperatures. PCB profiles in biomonitor resembled those from deposition samples and the shift to the heavier congeners in summer was even more pronounced. PAH deposition rates were in a similar range in both areas (131-2415 ng/(m2 day)). PAH levels in biomonitor samples from V.R. were about one order of magnitude higher than in samples from PNI indicating the impact of local sources. PAH profiles revealed stationary thermal processes as main source of contamination in V.R. whereas in PNI, biomass burning seems to be the main contamination source.