Research & Teaching

OFFIS – a success story

The OFFIS Institute of Computer Science at the University of Oldenburg is, in the view of Science Minister Thomas Oppermann, one of the most successful in Lower Saxony. In fact, the researchers have secured 60 per cent of this year’s budget of 10 million DM themselves. Clients include, amongst others, the automotive groups BMW and Daimler-Chrysler. The number of staff has now risen to over 130.

To strengthen the north-western region economically, OFFIS is committed to enabling as many people as possible to become self-employed. Under the Institute’s leadership, an Information and Communication Centre (IuK) Oldenburg is being established; a private investor in the neighbourhood of OFFIS has commenced construction of two buildings (cost: 10.5 million DM), which were ready for occupation in January and March 2000 respectively and have already been taken up by young software firms. A third building is in the planning stage.

Hannah Arendt Centre now open

The Hannah Arendt Research Centre at the University of Oldenburg was officially opened on 1 July 1999 with keynote speeches by Prof. Dr Jerome Kohn (New School University, New York) and the Centre’s director, Prof. Dr Antonia Grunenberg.

At the heart of the centre is the ‘Hannah Arendt Archive’, comprising the archived papers of the German-American political thinker Hannah Arendt. Complete copies of the “Hannah Arendt Papers” from the Library of Congress in Washington are available, supplemented by numerous microfilms of parts of the estate from the University of Memphis (Tennessee). Further holdings, such as those from the German Literature Archive in Marbach, will complete the collection in the foreseeable future. Among the centre’s upcoming projects will be the production, in co-operation with The New School (New York), of a critical complete edition of Arendt’s works.

Oldenburg zoologist advances marine biodiversity research

On the initiative of Prof. Dr Horst-Kurt Schminke, a zoologist at the University of Oldenburg and President of the Society for Biological Systematics, the ‘German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research’ (DZMB) has been established as a department of the Senckenberg Museum.

Biodiversity can be studied at various levels: the genetic, the organismic and the ecosystemic. Whichever of these levels one chooses, knowledge of species is essential. The known animal species on Earth are distributed in a ratio of 85:15 between terrestrial and marine species. Based on the lowest estimates, there are two million species living in the sea, of which, however, only ten per cent are known.

As ecological biodiversity research comes to nothing if the functional elements (species) involved in ecological processes are not known, the centre has a taxonomic focus.

Flotation: a product of the foreshore

The flotsam on the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony consists of 90 to 99 per cent plant material. Only the remainder is buoyant ‘civilisation waste’ (plastic, bottles and polystyrene). The plant material originates predominantly from the salt marshes and reed beds situated in front of the dykes. These are the key findings of a study conducted by researchers from the Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences. The authors are Dr Albrecht Gerlach (project leader) and the qualified biologists Karin and Thomas Brüning and Ulrich Persicke. Every year, winter storm surges leave large quantities of flotsam on the coasts, which not only spoils the beaches but also jeopardises dyke safety. The flotsam accumulates in the foreshore areas or directly on the dykes. Here, the removal of the flotsam is absolutely essential for dyke safety, as the turf dies off beneath the decaying plant debris. The researchers have found that, on average, over 70 per cent of the flotsam can be attributed to specific plant species. Of the total of 71 plant species identified, only eight account for the bulk of the flotsam. Five of these species are halophytes (salt-tolerant plants) originating from the salt marshes of the foreland; one group of species (couch grasses) most likely originates from the salt marshes; and one species comes from brackish water. Only in the case of common reed is the origin not immediately apparent, as it grows in both the brackish and limnic zones of the reed beds.

Laboratory for Thermophysical Properties at the Department of Chemistry

The “Laboratory for Thermophysical Properties” (LTP) is the university’s first affiliated institute in the field of chemistry; it is run as a limited liability company (GmbH) by Prof. Dr Jürgen Gmehling (photo) and Dr Kai Fischer (both from the Department of Chemical Engineering). The institute carries out experimental investigations to determine material properties and acts as a point of contact for technical consultancy. Its clients include companies, associations and public institutions. The aim is to optimise industrial processes and develop new methods and processes that contribute to solving technical problems in the fields of chemical engineering and process engineering.

New affiliated institute INTOX investigates pollutants

The aim of the newly founded affiliated institute INTOX (Institute for Applied Toxicology and Environmental Hygiene GmbH) is to effectively link research and application in the field of toxicology. The participating researchers from Faculty 7 (Biology and Environmental Sciences) are building on the successful work of the University’s former ‘Pesticide Advisory Centre’ through this Institute. Its range of services includes, amongst other things, carrying out research projects on current issues relating to pollutants, as well as investigations and assessments of the toxic effects of chemicals. Finally, INTOX is involved in the development and evaluation of approaches for investigating the effects of pollutants on humans and the environment. Whilst the Pesticide Advisory Centre was aimed primarily at private individuals, INTOX’s services are also explicitly available to businesses and public authorities.

Internet access for blind people

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing DM 1.5 million in funding for the project ‘Internet Access for the Blind’ (ZIB), which is based at the OFFIS Institute of Computing Science. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr Peter Gorny (Department 10: Computing Science), the aim is to further develop virtual reality techniques so that the graphical interfaces of the World Wide Web are translated into a stereophonic interactive space for blind people, thereby enabling them to access the internet.

The project forms part of INVITE (Intuitive Human-Technology Interaction for the Networked Information World of the Future), a programme run by the BMBF. Twenty-one companies and university institutes are participating in the programme. They are tasked with developing technologies that promote creativity, the exchange of knowledge and continuous learning, and that support the information-based business world of the future. The aim of INVITE is to make the use of growing volumes of information and the complex functionality of future information and communication systems manageable and effective.

Debt is not a matter of honour

Even when money is tight, young people are reluctant to curb their consumption desires. Instead, they prefer to spend on credit. Saving, or even doing without, is not very popular. Whilst most young people do want to repay borrowed money, they are not particularly strict about when and in what amounts. These are the main findings of a pilot study led by Prof. Dr Armin Lewald, a household and nutrition scientist (Faculty 3: Social Sciences), on the topic of ‘Children, Young People and Debt’.

When making purchases that exceed their own budget, between 55 and 65 per cent of those surveyed borrow the money. Only a minority choose to forgo the purchase. Borrowing money takes place almost exclusively within the private sphere (parents, friends). On the subject of ‘debt repayment’, only a minority find it embarrassing for themselves to repay a debt late. By contrast, a clear majority regard late debt repayment by adults as embarrassing. According to Lewald, there has clearly been a shift in values when it comes to debt and indebtedness. It seems that reliability in repaying debts is no longer a matter of honour. Nor do barriers of shame appear to offer the same protection against debt and late payments as they did one or two generations ago. The researchers therefore advocate for the topic of ‘debt and credit’ to be incorporated more fully into the school curriculum. Young people need to be made aware of the dangers of taking out loans without careful consideration or proper calculation.

20 years of research into the family

Although the sociology of the family is as old as sociology itself, its significance was first publicly emphasised at the University of Oldenburg through the establishment of a chair in ‘Sociology with a focus on the sociology of the family’. For Prof. Dr Rosemarie Nave-Herz, this designation was one of the reasons for her move from the University of Cologne to Oldenburg; she wanted to be able to devote more time to this specific branch of sociology.

Over the past 20 years, the research group has carried out twenty research projects, three of which were international joint projects. In addition to theoretical treatises, the programme included empirical studies, particularly on family change, as well as on specific family and lifestyle forms, and cross-cultural family sociology research projects. A new, additional empirical focus deals with the topic of ‘family and health’. This has resulted in numerous Diplom theses and doctoral dissertations.

In total, almost three million DM in third-party funding has been secured from the DFG, the Volkswagen Foundation, the Hans Lilje Foundation, the Oldenburg/Bremen State Insurance Institution, a wide range of federal and state ministries, and private foundations.

HWK: Successful launch of the “think tank”

The Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) has a unique structure and is well on the way to strengthening the research potential of the universities of Oldenburg and Bremen. With its focus on marine research, neuroscience and cognitive science, as well as the social sciences, the College has the opportunity to attract internationally and nationally recognised leading researchers as fellows and to integrate them into the research areas of the Universities of Oldenburg and Bremen. Another distinctive feature is that, whilst other research colleges in Germany and the USA work predominantly in the humanities, the HWK promotes interdisciplinary research that includes the natural sciences.

Since the centre opened in October 1997, 40 researchers from Germany and abroad have lived at the HWK and brought fresh impetus from their research activities to the universities. Their experiences were the focus of a workshop held on 11 June 1999 in Oldenburg. They spoke of the excellent conditions afforded to them at the research centre and at the universities.

High praise, then, for the ‘think tank’ under the leadership of its founding rector, Prof. Dr Dr Gerhard Roth. For him, there are currently two key issues to be resolved. Firstly, how to attract younger researchers to the HWK, and secondly, how to ensure continuity in the appointments of fellows across all research areas. “Because,” says Roth, “it often takes a long time to recruit particularly talented academics, as they are tied up with too many other commitments.”

University policy

Grieb and Meyenberg are the new vice-presidents

By a large majority, the political scientist Prof. Dr Rüdiger Meyenberg has been elected 1st Vice-President and the Head of the Centre for Advanced Scientific Training (ZWW), Ina Grieb, has been elected 2nd Vice-President of the University of Oldenburg by the University Council. Meyenberg, who has been teaching at the university since 1974 and has made a name for himself particularly in the field of drug and addiction prevention, was most recently Dean of Faculty 3 (Social Sciences). There, he rendered outstanding services, particularly in the introduction of the global budget. On the Presidential Board, he will take charge of the Budget and research portfolio.

Vice-President Ina Grieb is also a political scientist. She has successfully headed the ZWW since 1986. In 1995, she became the first ‘non-professor’ to be elected to the university’s executive board. Following her re-election two years ago, she is now entering her third term of office. On the Presidential Board, she is responsible for the areas of study and teaching, as well as international affairs. She has made significant progress in the latter area during her previous term of office.

Performance-based budget management

The basic allocation, which accounts for a good 53 per cent of the total, is based on the number of students as well as academic and non-academic posts. Just under 42 per cent of the total is allocated on the basis of performance in research and teaching over the previous three years. In teaching, the criteria are the number of graduates and doctoral degrees awarded; in research, they are the level of third-party funding, as well as the number of habilitations and publications. Publications are assessed differently in terms of their quantity and quality.

For the first time, the promotion of women has also been formally enshrined in the budget guidelines. Around five per cent of operational funding is allocated based on the proportion of women appointed to professorial posts over the last four years, as well as the proportion of women awarded doctorates.

The performance-based indicator model will intensify competition within the university and create ‘greater value’ from the available funds, said the director of the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE), which is supported by the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) and the Bertelsmann Foundation, Prof. Dr Detlef Müller-Böling, commenting on the decision taken by the University of Oldenburg. He is convinced that the university has created a very important tool to enable it to hold its own in the face of increasing competition amongst higher education institutions.

Following on from the faculties, work is now also underway on performance-based models for the central departments and the administration. These are due to be finalised before the end of this year, announced President Prof. Dr Siegfried Grubitzsch.

CHE ranking: A good result, but no reason to rest on one’s laurels

The University of Oldenburg has performed well in the study guide compiled by the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHE) and published by *Stern* and *Start*; in comparison with the other universities in Lower Saxony, it has even performed very well. The study guide covers the subjects of law, physics, mathematics, economics and chemistry. Oldenburg is not included only in the field of law.

In its ranking, the CHE – an institute supported by the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) and the Bertelsmann Foundation – refrained from assigning precise rankings, instead providing an overview of the situation at universities through a highly detailed questionnaire. The results were presented in tabular form across three categories: top group, middle group and bottom group. A total of 566 departments were examined.

In the students’ overall assessment (“Where students are most satisfied”), the University of Oldenburg featured twice in the top group (Physics and Chemistry) and three times in the middle group (Mathematics, Computing Science and Economics). The results in the area of research (“Where the most third-party funding is secured”) are also very good: once again, Physics and Computing Science occupy top positions, whilst Mathematics and Economics are in the middle group. Only Chemistry is an exception here and was placed in the bottom group – a problematic presentation, as only DFG funding was taken into account for Chemistry, rather than the total third-party funding as was the case for the other subjects. In fact, the total for the Chemistry department at Oldenburg was more than three times as high. In 1998, third-party funding amounted to DM 98,000 per researcher, not just DM 30,000. This would, in all likelihood, have secured a mid-table position.

The ranking also assessed where students complete their degrees most quickly, where the international focus is strongest, how students rate the range of courses on offer, where the supervision ratio (exams per professor) is best, and how the library’s facilities are regarded.

The CHE study is based on preparatory work carried out by the HRK. Between 1993 and 1996, the HRK developed a questionnaire designed to enable a comparison of the facilities and performance of higher education institutions. However, as the HRK Office was itself unable to extend the project to cover all subjects and higher education institutions, the CHE was established with the support of the Bertelsmann Foundation.

News

Co-operation with a Turkish university

Vice-President Ina Grieb has, at the suggestion of the Oldenburg economist Prof. Dr Carles Ossorio-Capella, signed a cooperation agreement with the Rector of Sakarya University (Turkey), Prof. Dr Ismael Calle. The co-operation is intended to enable students from both universities to obtain a double degree in economics. The co-operation will be of particular interest to students of Turkish origin living in Germany. The first Turkish students are set to commence their studies as early as this year.

Improved communication

The new LandesWissenschaftsnetz Nord (LWN) opens up a new dimension of communication for the academic community. The state has invested 45 million marks in the network, which connects Lower Saxony’s universities, non-university research institutes and the University of Bremen via a broadband data link with a transmission capacity of 155 megabits per second. This now enables multimedia data exchange with only a minimal time delay. At the same time, the LWN provides the universities in Lower Saxony and Bremen with a high-performance connection to the nationwide B-WiN research network. The Oldenburg-based OFFIS Institute of Computer Science was involved in setting up the LWN and also operates the dial-up node in the north-west.

Internet use has become widespread

As regards internet use by the business sector, there is no need for the Weser-Ems region to catch up. This is the conclusion reached by a study conducted by ‘DIALOG – the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Centre of the Universities in Oldenburg’, for which more than 300 companies in the Weser-Ems region were surveyed. Internet use has become widespread in more or less all sectors, although large companies use the internet significantly more and more intensively than small and medium-sized enterprises. For example, over 65 per cent of companies in the region have an email connection. However, only around 35 per cent of businesses currently make use of their own online presence. The survey also made it clear that there is considerable pressure to adapt, meaning that shortly around 85 per cent of companies will have email and around 75 per cent will have their own website.

Is the internet replacing libraries?

Books and libraries will not die out. The approximately 400 experts at the 4th InetBib conference, which took place at the university in early March 1999, were in agreement on this point. Under the theme ‘Books, Bytes and Libraries – Integrated Information on the Internet’, the experts discussed ways of improving the services they offer online.

Searching the catalogue, renewing borrowed books, ordering journal articles and many other services have been conveniently available via home PCs for years. Increasingly, electronic books and journals can also be found in virtual libraries worldwide and downloaded onto a PC. However, Deputy Library Director Hans-Joachim Wätjen said that, in future, access to information and the service itself must become even more user-friendly.

High honour for Dinescu

Prof. Violeta Dinescu, composer and musicologist in Department 2: Communication/Aesthetics, has been awarded the ‘1999 INMC Composition Award’ in New York. The International New Music Consortium (INMC) awarded her the prize in recognition of her “outstanding achievements as a composer and promoter of new music”. The INMC Composition Award is regarded internationally as a prestigious honour.

Dinescu, who was expatriated from Romania in 1982, was appointed to a professorship in Applied Composition at the University of Oldenburg in 1996. In recent years, she has provided significant impetus to new music through her chamber music, operas for children and adults, and ballet and film scores.

Hahn received an Order of Merit

For his “services to the development of mutual relations between the Republic of Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany”, the Oldenburg historian and expert on Eastern Europe, Prof. Dr Hans Henning Hahn, was awarded the “Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland”. Hahn teaches modern Eastern European history, with a focus on the history of Poland, at the Department of History at the University of Oldenburg.

Oldenburg filmmakers represented at the Berlin Film Festival

The two young filmmakers and Oldenburg students, Daniela Abke and Dorothee Brüwer, have achieved a major success: from among more than 2,000 entries, their short documentary “go to shanghai” was selected for several screenings at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival. The film’s selection took place on 10 February at the sold-out Filmpalast on Kurfürstendamm.

The 15-minute documentary uses images and sound to depict the construction of a ship for China by shipyard workers from Emden. An unusual film processing technique was developed for the film. The result is an exceptionally stark yet brilliant black-and-white image.

Start-up idea wins award

At the Federal Ministry of Economics’ “Multimedia Start-up Competition 1998”, the Oldenburg-based Computing Science researcher Dietrich Boles was awarded prize money of 10,000 marks for his idea “Development of virtual laboratories and internships on the Internet”. In his application, Boles was able to demonstrate how preliminary work carried out at the OFFIS Institute of Computing Science on the development of a genetic engineering laboratory and a physics practical course could be consistently continued. The idea is to set up computer-aided laboratories and internships for the fields of natural sciences and technology with as little effort as possible, which will not only complement and improve existing further education and training, but also extend beyond the university sector.

Flower of the Year 1998 critically endangered

The population of the ‘Flower of the Year 1998’, the water crowfoot – an aquatic plant native to slow-flowing waters – has declined dramatically, by over 70 per cent, within just a few years in the Wesermarsch and the Bornhorst Meadows. This is the finding of a study by the Plant Morphology Working Group at Department 7 (Biology and Environmental Sciences), led by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Eber. As agricultural use is severely restricted in these areas, agriculture cannot be the sole cause of the decline. More decisive and likely causes are changes in ditch maintenance, which were also implemented with a view to better protecting vertebrate fauna (particularly amphibians).

News from the University Society

1,000 members by the year 2000?

A three-member group comprising members of the University Society’s Advisory Board has presented a comprehensive catalogue of measures aimed at increasing membership numbers and enhancing the efficiency of the University Society’s work. The aim is to raise the profile of the University Society both within and outside the university, and to improve communication and maintain contacts with decision-makers in politics, business and society. Initial measures have already been implemented. These include, amongst other things, recruiting members with original incentives and specifically encouraging university staff and mature students to get involved in the University Society. In addition, all presidents of Lions and Rotary clubs in the region have been asked, via an information letter, to promote the idea of the University Society amongst their members.

The trend in membership numbers is extremely positive. At the University Ball on 3 July this year, the University Society welcomed its 600th member, Axel Hinrich from Oldenburg. The Chairman of the University Society, Peter Waskönig, invited the Hinrichs to a gourmet restaurant in Oldenburg as a token of thanks. Overall, it does not seem out of the question that the target membership figure of 1,000 for the year 2000 will be reached.

Tour of the Rügenwalder sausage factory

The University Society’s offer to visit companies known far beyond the region’s borders met with a very positive response. Not only were members of the University Society invited to visit Carl Müller Rügenwalder Wurstfabrik GmbH & Co. KG (Kayhausen, municipality of Bad Zwischenahn), but also numerous prominent figures from public life.

National meeting in Oldenburg

A meeting of university societies is planned for spring 2000 in Oldenburg. Of the 45 university societies contacted, 39 have replied positively. They have expressed an interest in a gathering at which experiences can be exchanged and common problems discussed.

Support for the University Library

The University Society intends to support the University Library. At the same time, the management of the University Library has agreed to assist in recruiting new members. Among other things, leaflets from the University Society will be sent to private users of the University Library.

Appointments, Summer Semester 99

Prof. Dr Katharina Al-Shamery has been appointed to a chair in Physical Chemistry in Department 9 (Chemistry). After studying chemistry at the Universities of Göttingen and Paris (Orsay), Al-Shamery obtained her PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. In 1992, the chemist was awarded a Lise Meitner postdoctoral research fellowship by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. She completed her habilitation in 1996 with a thesis entitled ‘Stereodynamic investigations into UV laser-induced desorption of small molecules from oxide surfaces’. Following research stays at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, Ruhr University Bochum and the University of Oxford, Al-Shamery was appointed to a post at the University of Ulm. Her research focus is on the application of laser technology in surface chemistry.

Prof. Dr Michael Kleyer has been appointed to a chair in Nature Conservation and Landscape Planning within Department 7: Biology, Geo- and Environmental Sciences. Kleyer studied agricultural biology at the University of Hohenheim, where he also obtained his doctorate and completed his habilitation in 1990. After working as a research associate in the field of landscape planning and ecology at the University of Stuttgart, Kleyer was appointed to the University of Rostock in 1996. His research focus is on nature conservation planning for agricultural landscapes. Among other things, between 1992 and 1995 he was involved in a landscape-ecological survey of land-use changes in the Mata Atlântica rainforest region of Bahia (Brazil).

Prof. Dr Jörg-Olaf Wolff has been appointed to a chair in Physical Oceanography at the ICBM. Wolff studied oceanography, meteorology and physics at the University of Hamburg, where he obtained his PhD in the subject of Physical Oceanography in 1990. Until 1992, he worked as a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. From 1993 until his appointment at the University of Oldenburg, he conducted research at the Co-operative Research Centre for the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Environment in Hobart, Australia.

Prof. Dr Astrid Kaiser, an educational scientist in Department 1 (Pedagogy) at the University of Oldenburg, has decided to turn down an appointment at the University of Münster in the field of educational science, specialising in primary-level pedagogy. According to her, the main reasons for this are the beautiful city of Oldenburg with its good housing options, the well-developed women’s and gender studies programme at the university, the excellent research opportunities and the university’s willingness to accommodate her needs.

Dr. habil. Mathilde Niehaus, who has been a research assistant specialising in special needs education at Department 1 of Education since 1992, has accepted the appointment to the Chair of Special and Remedial Education at the University of Vienna. At the same time, she has declined an appointment to a professorship in Educational Psychology at Fulda University of Applied Sciences.