German Perspective Research Articles

Estate planning for art collections—a German perspective

Abstract Under German law, artworks are highly attractive assets when it comes to estate planning for various reasons: First, the valuation method to be used is favourable, secondly, if applicable, payment of taxes with artworks instead of cash can ease liquidity issues, and thirdly, donations to public-benefit organizations can significantly reduce tax liabilities. Last but not least, artworks in private collections may be eligible for tax exemptions of either 60% or 100%. In the course of such estate planning in relation to artworks, it is important to consider certain provisions of inheritance law to avoid disputes among the future heirs and, if the testator wishes so, to protect the integrity of the art collection.

A German perspective on the impact of socioeconomic status in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

The prognostic influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on the survival of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients remains controversial. This observational study examines the potential impact of regional SES inequalities on overall survival (OS) among DLBCL patients in Germany. We analyzed data from the German nationwide population-based dataset spanning 2004-2019 sourced from the German Center for Cancer Registry Data (n = 49,465). The primary objective was to assess the 5-year OS among patients with low SES compared to those living in middle and high SES areas. SES was grouped according to quintiles of the German Index of Socioeconomic Deprivation, which summarized nine indicators covering aspects of regional education, employment, and income. DLBCL patients in low SES areas had significantly impaired 5-year OS compared to those in middle and high SES regions (59.2% vs. 61.8% vs. 64.1%, p < 0.0001). Yet, additionally accounting for regional premature mortality removed the impact of SES on survival (Hazard Ratio 0.94, 95% CI 0.87–1.01). Our findings indicate that the prognostic impact of socioeconomic deprivation on long-term survival is not due to variations in diagnosis and treatment of DLBCL itself but rather a higher comorbidity burden.

Ethnic and racial inequality in the UK: a comment from a German perspective

Abstract I discuss findings from the article by Mirza and Warwick from a German perspective and focus on gender differences in labour market inequality, ethnic and racial inequality in tertiary education and the role of discrimination in explaining inequality. With respect to the labour market, what is most puzzling is that members of minority groups experience more upward mobility than comparable natives but are unable to translate this advantage into similar labour market success. In Germany, success in the educational system and on the labour market are closely linked. Findings on tertiary education are more in line with what we see in Germany, namely that members of minority groups are more likely than natives to move on to university but have higher dropout rates. The article’s findings on discrimination reveal that comparatively larger ‘unexplained gaps’ remain in analyses on ethnic and racial inequality, especially for ‘visible’ minority groups, than we see in Germany.

Evolving Roles in Systems Engineering —‐ Insights from Germany's Mechanical and Plant Engineering Sector

AbstractSystems Engineering is developing differently in each sector and region. In German industry, especially in mechanical and plant engineering, Systems Engineering is of major importance. The introduction of Systems Engineering raises the question of which roles and competencies are required. This article examines the evolution of roles in Systems Engineering from a German perspective. Based on a literature review, the evolution of the identified Systems Engineering roles over time is shown, starting with the seminal publication by Sheard in 1996. It points out that only minimal adjustments and occasional role renaming have occurred. However, the review shows a common understanding of essential areas of responsibility within the SE and changes over time. The next step is to examine the current understanding of Systems Engineering roles in the industry. A quantitative analysis of job postings in Germany reveals a diverse interpretation of the term 'Systems Engineer; more than half of the positions cannot be categorized according to the INCOSE definitions. The job postings are used to determine which tasks are associated with the job, how often they occur, and in what combination. The primary responsibilities of systems engineers include creating and managing requirements, architecture processes, validation, and verification processes, and coordinating with customers and stakeholders. Finally, three representative companies from the mechanical and plant engineering sector were selected to analyze existing roles and tasks. From this, a common understanding of tasks and responsibilities is combined and organized into clusters. These are used by the companies to locate and thus derive their roles. The result is in an integrative approach that enables companies, especially in the midsize and medium sectors, to design the introduction in line with stakeholder demands. In summary, the industry's ongoing adaptation necessitates the evolution of Systems Engineering roles and competencies for successful and sustainable development and implementation of systems.

Religious Education and Ecumenical Formation in Post-confessional Settings – Essentials for the Theological Education of Pastors and Teachers of Religion

Abstract The article discusses the significance of international discourse on ecumenical formation for debates about the future of religious education in diverse environments, both from a German and global perspective. It emphasizes the historical importance of education in the ecumenical movement, tracing back to the early pioneers with a background in the World Student Christian Fellowship. The author draws from his longstanding involvement in international ecumenical work on education to advocate for ecumenical formation for students of theology, including those training to be religious education teachers. The article surveys key policy documents from German and international church bodies and concludes with six essential learnings for theological education in post-confessional environments.

Proof in Administrative Law: the German Perspective

German administrative law is characterized by the idea that the authorities and, in the case of a lawsuit, the administrative judges have sovereignty over the investigation of the facts ‐ the so-called principle of ex officio inquiry (Section 1). In the relationship between the official and judicial investigation of the facts, it is striking that the judicial duty to investigate is not limited by the official duty to clarify the facts. This shift in the direction of a judicial right of final decision, also with regard to the factual basis of administrative decisions, derived from the German Constitution (Article 19(4) Grundgesetz) can probably only be explained by the historical background of National Socialist despotism. The article reveals that the instruments of evidence collection (Section 2), the consideration of evidence (Section 3), the evidential standard (Section 4) and the burden of proof (Section 5) are based on the principle of ex officio inquiry. This principle is based on the assumption that only a perceivable set of facts can be established. Therefore, practice and sectoral administrative laws show that in areas where obtaining knowledge is particularly difficult, the principle of ex officio investigation and the law of evidence based on it must be modified and, in particular, strong participation of the parties in obtaining the facts must be made possible. At the same time, the German law of evidence is based on theories and instruments of civil procedural law, which is characterized by the principle of production of evidence. Against this background, the article aims to illustrate that, contrary to the first impression, German administrative law does not implement the principle of official investigation in its pure form, but it is understood in a refined open and area-specific manner.

Benchmarking palliative care practices in neurooncology: a german perspective

PurposeTo benchmark palliative care practices in neurooncology centers across Germany, evaluating the variability in palliative care integration, timing, and involvement in tumor board discussions. This study aims to identify gaps in care and contribute to the discourse on optimal palliative care strategies.MethodsA survey targeting both German Cancer Society-certified and non-certified university neurooncology centers was conducted to explore palliative care frameworks and practices for neurooncological patients. The survey included questions on palliative care department availability, involvement in tumor boards, timing of palliative care integration, and use of standardized screening tools for assessing palliative burden and psycho-oncological distress.ResultsOf 57 centers contacted, 46 responded (81% response rate). Results indicate a dedicated palliative care department in 76.1% of centers, with palliative specialists participating in tumor board discussions at 34.8% of centers. Variability was noted in the initiation of palliative care, with early integration at the diagnosis stage in only 30.4% of centers. The survey highlighted a significant lack of standardized spiritual care assessments and minimal use of advanced care planning. Discrepancies were observed in the documentation and treatment of palliative care symptoms and social complaints, underscoring the need for comprehensive care approaches.ConclusionThe study highlights a diverse landscape of palliative care provision within German neurooncology centers, underscoring the need for more standardized practices and early integration of palliative care. It suggests the necessity for standardized protocols and guidelines to enhance palliative care's quality and uniformity, ultimately improving patient-centered care in neurooncology.

22 Players Run After the Ball for 90 Minutes, and in the End England Wins. German Views of the 1935 and 1938 Germany–England Football Matches

This article studies the politico-diplomatic dimension of the 1935 and 1938 Germany-England football matches played during the National Socialist era. Despite being represented in both countries as international friendlies, these games proved highly politicized affairs because of the centrality of the British-German relationship in international affairs and the politization and diplomatization of international sport during the 1930s. The 1935 game, played in London, became the focus for a high-profile public campaign, led by trade union, Jewish, and other lobbying groups hostile to Nazi Germany, to ban the match. In turn, the 1938 fixture is famed for the Nazi salute, the ‘infamous gesture’ that British diplomats and Football Association officials instructed the England team to give before the beginning of the match. Using the archives of the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Ministry) and Bundesarchiv (Federal Archives) as well as a selection of German newspapers, this article provides an informed German perspective on both matches, which hitherto have been studied principally from a British perspective. Focused upon German aims, perceptions, political influences, and propaganda goals, this case study highlights the ‘soft power’ methods of totalitarianism in terms of both the adaptation of totalitarianism to football and the adaptation of football to totalitarianism.

What Can Laboratory Animal Facility Managers Do to Improve the Welfare of Laboratory Animals and Laboratory Animal Facility Staff? A German Perspective.

Laboratory animal facility managers must ensure that animal experiments can be carried out under optimal scientific conditions, that all legal requirements are met, and that animal welfare is maximized. Animal experimentation is stressful not only for the animals involved but also for the people who maintain these animals or carry out the experiments. Many of those involved find themselves in a constant conflict between scientific necessity, care, and harm. Under the term Culture of Care, procedures have been developed to reduce the burden of animal experimentation on the animals and the staff involved. The focus here is on what laboratory animal facility managers can do to improve the welfare of laboratory animals and the people working with them. Exemplary measures are the improvement of the housing conditions of laboratory animals, the introduction of uniform handling measures, clear and transparent structures via a quality management system, implementation of a no-blame culture of error (e.g., via Critical Incident Reporting System in Laboratory Animal Science [CIRS-LAS]), and open and respectful communication with all parties involved in animal experimentation, including the public and representatives of the authorities (public webpage, open house policy). The 6 Rs must be considered at all times: replacement, reduction, refinement, respect, responsibility, and reproducibility. We are writing this article from the perspective of laboratory animal facility managers in Germany.

Robot-assisted kidney transplantation-what is new?

The first robot-assisted kidney transplantation (RAKT) was conducted in 2010, and the first time in Germany in 2016. As more than 5years have passed, current evidence, technological developments and the latest (German) experience are presented. The current evidence and experience of RAKT was investigated from an international and German perspective. In asystemic search, relevant publications were analyzed and compared with the experiences at aGerman urological transplant department. From an international perspective, RAKT can now be considered astandard procedure at experienced departments, as more than 680 RAKT have been documented in Europe. The functional results are excellent with low complication rates and good mid- to long-term functional outcomes. Although RAKT was initially only performed with living organ donations, it has also been successfully conducted with cadaveric grafts. The surgical technique can be applied in challenging and complex situations, such as for arteriosclerotic recipient vessels or for kidney transplantations in children. Although RAKT is still not widely performed in Germany, the university hospital in Marburg, the third urological department in Germany, has successfully initiated arobotic transplant program. Compared to open kidney transplantation, robot-assisted kidney transplantation enables at least noninferior results. It further appears to translate the well-documented advantages of minimally invasive surgery to kidney transplantation. However, its spread throughout Germany is only slowly increasing, possibly because only ahandful of urological departments still perform kidney transplantations.

Implementing new Approaches of Digitization in Conventional Metal Forming Processes: A German perspective

The Institute for Metal Forming Technology (IFU) at the University of Stuttgart / Germany since more than six years strongly strives to future oriented research work focusing on far-reaching concepts for digitization of metal forming processes. Main activities of engaged research groups are integrating sensors and actuators into metal forming machines or dies to analyse process data gained that way. Also, development of advanced methods for production data mining are related to those fields of activities. The paper therefore highlights strategies and practical applications of such digitization concepts. Also, important issues in terms of metal forming production processes will be addressed such as avoidance of scrap during ramp up phases and batch processing. Finally, the practical use of machine learning algorithms will be demonstrated in real trimming and metal forming processes.

Rapid review on the incentives of digital health apps for physicians and psychotherapists: A German perspective.

The Digital Healthcare Act introduced the prescription of digital health applications under specific circumstances in 2019 in Germany. They are funded through the social security system. In market access of prescribed digital health applications, Germany is pioneering the market. There remains a gap in understanding the views of medical professionals on the incentives of using these applications. As prescription of digital health applications starts emerging in other European countries, we sought to generate an overview of incentives and barriers that affect the caregivers in their decision of promoting and prescribing them in Germany. A Rapid Review of the Web of Science database for the years 2017-2023 was performed using sensitive search strings. Two reviewers conducted a three-phase selection via title, abstract and full-text independently from each other. The quality of studies was assessed systematically by both reviewers. Both quantitative and qualitative studies with primary data were included, and study quality was assessed using a standardised form. Out of 1643 initial results, 12 studies with information from 9302 physicians and psychotherapists were identified. Eight quantitative and four qualitative studies were included in the analysis. Key findings suggest that while between 40% and 60% of caregivers see relevant incentives mainly based on patients' benefits, 20-40% see relevant barriers. For the physicians' daily work, there were slightly more barriers than incentives identified in the quantitative synthesis. The qualitative studies revealed no relevant incentives that were not attributed to patients. While digital health solutions offer promising avenues for enhancing patient care, their acceptance among healthcare professionals hinges on addressing prevailing concerns. Continuous research and dialogues with the medical community are pivotal to harness the full potential of digital health applications in healthcare.

Determining the societal value of a prospective drug for ME/CFS in Germany.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) imposes a substantial societal and economic burden. The aim of this study is to ascertain the optimal level of public research and development (R&D) investment in Germany for a prospective drug, given the pressing need for effective treatments. This study calculates the societal value from a German perspective by integrating health and economic outcomes in the context of public R&D investment for ME/CFS. It considers factors such as direct medical costs, productivity loss, and the effectiveness of a prospective drug. The anticipated introduction of a prospective drug is estimated to yield a quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gain of approximately 29,000 and a societal value of about €2.6 billion. The optimal R&D investment in Germany is estimated at €676 million, which represents about a quarter of the total investment required to bring a significant drug to market, considering diminishing returns and market constraints. Results were confirmed in the sensitivity analysis. The study concludes that a coordinated international approach is imperative to address the funding and market size limitations effectively in developing treatments for ME/CFS and to realize the substantial societal and economic benefits.

Propagandayı Yıkmak: ‘Duvar Hakkında Bilmeniz Gerekenler’ Broşürü Üzerine Bir Vaka Çalışması

Contemporary history is full of remarkable Cold War brochures which were not given considerable attention at their times due to the perception of them as the ridiculous words of enemy. Although they were not classified documents in the depths of national archives, they were not seen significant or worth to be taken seriously to be studied along with more popular materials. This study supports the re-discovery of such propaganda materials with a general belief that the historical significance of some materials may only be realized in the study of international propaganda when the ideas that once labelled them as the products of the enemy have disappeared. With this aim, this study presents a qualitative case study on the What You Should Know About the Wall brochure, which was an early example of the official East German brochures about the Berlin Wall in English. It was published to inform the international community about the situation in Berlin after the construction of the wall from the official East German perspective. Nevertheless, it was not possible for this brochure to create a popular understanding among the English-speaking target groups who live in the Western countries. Even though the brochure had potential of persuading its target groups in favour of the East German causes through its well-prepared turn of expression or responses to common critiques, there were certain disadvantages for its achieving this purpose. In this context, this article questions why this brochure was not able to justify the construction of the Berlin Wall among the English-speaking target groups in the West. In this way, it focuses on this remarkable but understudied propaganda material and addresses the gap in the literature on the Berlin Wall which tends to study the building and collapse of the wall, rather than its weakening or strengthening through propaganda.

Community-centred yet little community health: The paradoxes of the German health system

Abstract Due to its history of development since the middle of the 19th century, the German health care system is almost exclusively dominated by pathogenesis and the resulting reactive treatment. Insiders dub it “repair medicine”. The situation of community health in Germany is very heterogeneous: On the one hand, the community is referred to as the ‘mother of all settings’. In health services research, it is also referred to as the third pillar of the health care system, alongside inpatient and outpatient care. On the other hand, it cannot and must not be ignored that public budget cuts hit public health structures very hard. Ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the deficits caused by thirty years of consistent austerity policies. National surveys shows that the already weak public image of the community health structures has once again suffered a massive loss of confidence among the population during this period. The OECD points out that the health behaviour of the population in Germany deteriorated significantly more during the pandemic than was the case in countries which have had strong health promotion structures for decades. The municipality as the ‘mother of all settings’ could and should have intervened here - but did not. In the context of the ‘Public Health Service Pact’ the German government is currently implementing nationwide so-called ‘health stores’ with a focus on socio-economic hotspots in large cities. Concerned here are low-threshold offerings across the entire spectrum of health promotion and prevention. In this regard, we are also currently involved in an Erasmus KA 203 project with the title ‘Family Health Advisor’. From the German perspective, the project sustainability will depend on the extent to which we manage to transfer the project contents into community health structures, which the ‘Public Health Service Pact’ will bring with it in the next few years.

What constitutes a democratic university: a German perspective

This article engages with the idea of a democratic university in the light of the current academic protest movement at German universities. It considers the unique situation of labour rights in the context of German laws and their imminent reform, as well as the birth of new kinds of academic protest in the wake of the recent Covid lockdowns. The article recalls Jacques Derrida's 1998 proposal for a democratic 'unconditional university' and critically reviews Derrida's arguments vis-á-vis the current situation

Impact Assessment for Pillar One and Pillar Two from a German Perspective

In this article the tax effects of Pillar One and Pillar Two in Germany are discussed. The study complements the few studies available so far. The presented estimate of the tax revenues to be expected from the introduction of Pillar One varies between EUR 2 billion and 2.5 billion for the introduction of a 25%-over-10% rule. With regard to Pillar Two, additional revenues of around EUR 1.3 billion to 1.8 billion can be assumed in Germany. Further research should be carried out to anticipate expected changes in governments' behaviour as a response to Pillar One and Two. Likewise, expected compliance costs for multinationals need to be further assessed.

From Physicians’ Professional Ethos towards Medical Ethics and Bioethics. A German Perspective on Historical Experiences and Lasting Commitments, edited by Delkeskamp-Hayes, C.

From Physicians’ Professional Ethos towards Medical Ethics and Bioethics. A German Perspective on Historical Experiences and Lasting Commitments, edited by Delkeskamp-Hayes, C.

Quality assurance within the context of genome diagnostics (a german perspective).

The rapid and dynamic implementation of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based assays has revolutionized genetic testing, and in the near future, nearly all molecular alterations of the human genome will be diagnosable via massive parallel sequencing. While this progress will further corroborate the central role of human genetics in the multidisciplinary management of patients with genetic disorders, it must be accompanied by quality assurance measures in order to allow the safe and optimal use of knowledge ascertained from genome diagnostics. To achieve this, several valuable tools and guidelines have been developed to support the quality of genome diagnostics. In this paper, authors with experience in diverse aspects of genomic analysis summarize the current status of quality assurance in genome diagnostics, with the aim of facilitating further standardization and quality improvement in one of the core competencies of the field.

Improving sewage sludge treatment and utilisation in China: a German perspective on barriers to and measures for the dissemination of innovative technologies

Abstract In China, there is enormous development potential for resource recovery from sewage sludge. Government plans indicate that there will be greater investment in sewage sludge treatment, recycling and associated new technologies. Expert interviews and an expert workshop with representatives of German firms and institutions were held in order to identify barriers to and possible measures for the dissemination of technologies geared towards the utilisation of sewage sludge, such as anaerobic digestion, thermal hydrolysis and hydrothermal carbonisation. The following measures were identified as crucial: influence and support for the development of suitable regulations for sewage sludge in China, improvement in the processes and practices within specialised authorities, improved knowledge transfer, the development of appropriate business or operator models and persuasion of decision-makers within public authorities. German companies cannot implement most of these measures easily.