North German Research Articles

Understanding honor and dignity in North Indian and German cultural contexts

This study explores culturally shared connotations of honor and dignity in North India and Germany. Both, honor and dignity refer to the worth of a person but have distinct psychological implications. Honor as both an independent and interdependent phenomenon varies greatly across cultural groups. Yet, a relatively large volume of research is focused on Middle Eastern, Muslim cultures. Moreover, though a rich body of literature shows that dignity can have different meanings across cultural contexts, its nuanced understanding, particularly in relation to honor, remains underexplored in cross-cultural settings. Given this, the current study expands both these concepts to India with its unique religious and structural characteristics and studies it along with the responses of participants in Germany, examining their cultural differences. Eleven focus group discussions were conducted in North India and Germany where participants discussed their personal associations of both honor and dignity. These discussions were transcribed and later thematically analyzed. The findings indicated unique themes for honor (duty, morality, status, sociability, and stoicism) and dignity (individuality, self-governance, resistance, and enrichment) with some dimensional similarities for both cultural groups, despite dissimilar language usage. Furthermore, the five themes for honor were seen to affect differently depending on its enhancement or loss and its eventual impact on the target of honor, self, or group. As for dignity, participants in both groups had difficulties distinguishing it from honor but had a clear understanding of its intrinsic nature, especially when seen in contradiction with honor. These findings have theoretical and practical implications, particularly while studying different cultural groups together. Moreover, they contribute to the literature on self-worth by refining the idea of dignity, while also expanding our multidimensional understanding of honor.

Repurposing idle wells in the North German Basin as deep borehole heat exchangers

This study investigates the feasibility to repurpose wells from gas production for geothermal closed-loop application in the North German Basin (NGB). The objective for this research topic is to extend the value-added chain of idle wells by re-completion as coaxial deep borehole heat exchangers as an efficient way to produce green energy without drilling new wells by saving the carbon emission and costs of building a new geothermal well. With numerical models of two typical geological settings of the NGB and two different completion schemes, it is possible to simulate the thermal performance over a lifetime of 30 years. The calculated heat extraction rates range from 200 to 400 kW, with maximum values of up to 600 kW. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that re-completion depth and injection temperature are the most sensitive parameters of thermal output determination. The heat demand around the boreholes is mapped, and heat generation costs are calculated with heating network simulations. The initial production costs for heat are comparable to other renewable energy resources like biomass and competitive against gas prices in 2022. This study highlights available geothermal resources’ environmental and economic potential in already installed wells. The application has almost no geological and no drilling risks and may be installed at any idle well location.

Strong Finals: A prosodic feature projecting ‘more to come’ in a Danish urban dialect

Abstract This article presents structural and interactional aspects of Strong Finals, a prosodic feature characterised by lengthening, increased volume, and non-falling intonation on word-final syllables. Interactionally, Strong Finals support five types of action: listing, projecting a description, stating conditions, asking questions, and announcing reported speech. In general, Strong Finals project that there is more to come, and this ‘more’ may in some cases be provided by either participant. Strong Finals are often found in multi-speaker settings, where they assist speakers in taking the floor or changing the topic. The article’s descriptions are based on recordings of natural spoken interaction in linguistically diverse areas in Aarhus, Denmark. Here, a new urban dialect has developed like other urban dialects that have been described in Copenhagen and other North Germanic cities. Strong Finals are a local phenomenon, however, and are not found in the Copenhagen studies.

Verdifullt om verbkongruens

In his excellent thesis from 2022, Adam Horn af Åminne discusses the reduction and loss of agreement for person and number in North Germanic in general, and in South-West Swedish dialects in particular. In this paper, I adhere to the tradition of doctoral thesis defences in Scandinavia, which is both to summarise the work and to question some of the conclusions. The thesis presentsa valuable survey of the process of gradual reduction and ultimate loss. It incorporates insights from typological linguistics and it tracks the final stages in South-West Swedish dialects of the 19th and 20th centuries in detail. The fact that this kind of agreement remained for so long has received too little attention up until now, so the thesis is a welcome contribution. The reduction process is also studied in particular individuals; the author uses the old dialectological data in a new way. He shows differences between dialect areas, and that the newer patterns tend to turn up first in areas that are more ‘central’. Where we have traditionally seen a dialect levelling in Sweden, the author sees a language shift. Arguments are presented for seeing the process as simplification. On this point, however, I am somewhat sceptical. While the final outcome may look like simplification, many intermediate stages do not, making it difficult to believe that simplification is the motivation for the process.

Hydrogeochemical and microbial characterization of a Middle Triassic carbonate aquifer (Muschelkalk) in Berlin and geochemical simulation of its use as a high-temperature aquifer thermal energy storage

The geological formation of the Muschelkalk is widespread in the center of the North German Basin (NGB) and is increasingly attracting interest for application of geothermal energy extraction or high-temperature aquifer thermal energy storage (HT-ATES). This study investigates the Middle Triassic “Rüdersdorfer Schaumkalk”, which was the former injection horizon of the natural gas storage facility in Berlin, Germany. For the first time, detailed chemical and microbiological analyses of formation water of this Lower Muschelkalk limestone formation were conducted and hydrogeochemically characterized. In addition, a hydrogeochemical model was developed to quantify the potential reactions during HT-ATES focusing on calcite dissolution and precipitation. The main objectives of this study are: (1) to determine the origin of the water from the three wells targeting the Muschelkalk aquifer, (2) to understand changes in hydrochemistry after system operation, and (3) to evaluate the long-term sustainability of a potential HT-ATES system with increasing temperature. The target formation is encountered by several wells at about 525 m below the surface with an average thickness of 30 m. Two hydraulic lifting tests including physical, chemical, and microbial groundwater as well as gas monitoring were carried out. In addition, several downhole samples of formation fluid were collected from the aquifer at in situ pressure and temperature conditions. Fluid analysis of the saline formation water indicate a seawater origin within the Muschelkalk with subsequent evaporation and various water–rock interactions with anhydrite/gypsum, dolomite, and calcite. With a salinity of 130 g/L, dominated by Na–Cl, a slightly acidic pH between 6 and 7, and a low gas content of 3%, the formation water fits to other saline deep formation waters of the NGB. Gas concentrations and microbial communities like sulfate-reducing bacteria and methanogenic archaea in the produced water indicate several geochemical alterations and microbial processes like corrosion and the forming of biogenic methane. Geochemical simulations of calcite equilibrium over 10 HT-ATES cycles indicated a pronounced propensity for calcite precipitation up to 31 mg/kgw, within the heat exchanger. At the same time, these models predicted a significant potential for calcite dissolution, with rates up to 21 mg/kgw, in both the cold and hot reservoirs. The results from the carbonate aquifer characterized in this study can be transferred to other sites in the NGB affected by salt tectonics and have provided information on the microbiological-chemical processes to be expected during the initial use of old wells.

Helgoländisch mut: von finitem Modalverb zu epistemischer Partikel

In the Frisian dialect of Heligoland sentences are found which apparently contain two finite verbs, the modal verb mut ‘must’ in the verb second position and a full verb in the verb final position. It will be argued that the original 3rd person present form mut developed into an epistemic particle, so that the inflection shifted to the former infinitive. The grammaticalization of this particle, its spread from deliberative questions to declarative clauses and its epistemic status are discussed in some detail. The epistemic particle mut in Heligolandic is compared to similar particles occupying the verb second position in West and North Germanic languages.

Frisian and Norse Sidelights on the Form and Meaning of Proto-Germanic *hlaþanan

Abstract The Germanic verb hlaþanan, usually glossed ‘to load’, has been wrongly evaluated because of a failure to examine the material in sufficient depth as regards both phonology and semantics. The Old High German evidence indicating a regular Verner’s Law alternation in the paradigm is supplemented not only by the Gothic past participle -hlaþans* with analogical voiceless spirant but also by modern East and North Frisian data. This points to a pre-Germanic proto-form with root-final *-t (Part 1). As emerges from a study of the situation in North Germanic, a core meaning for the Germanic verb appears to have been ‘to lay something down (flat)’, from which development to ‘to stack’ and ‘to load’ is straightforward (Part 2). Potential cognates exist in Balto-Slavic, but the exact formal relationships are unclear (Part 3).

A synthetic chronostratigraphy for the upper Campanian–Maastrichtian of the Boreal Realm based on the Danish and German basins

Abstract New carbon isotope results obtained from cores from the Fehmarn Belt (German Basin), along with hitherto unpublished detailed results obtained from brachiopods collected in the 1970s from the Hemmoor section, NW Germany, present the opportunity to revise the holostratigraphy of the Danish Basin and erect a complete chronostratigraphical scheme for the upper Campanian–Maastrichtian of the Boreal Realm based on records from the Danish and North German basins. The correlation of all studied sections is ensured by previously erected high-resolution bulk carbonate carbon isotope records. A number of issues arising from the standard Upper Cretaceous (UC) calcareous nannofossil biozonation scheme for the Boreal Realm are discussed and lead us to propose a new subzonation for the Danish Basin. Carbon isotope records allow correlation to Gubbio, Italy, the Tethyan bio-magnetostratigraphic reference, and to the astronomically calibrated ODP site 762C, Indian Ocean. Revised correlations ensure the application of magnetostratigraphy, a numeric timescale and stacking of 405 kyr cycles to the new scheme, thus erecting a detailed chronostratigraphy for the upper Campanian–Maaatrichtian of the Boreal Realm.

Late Triassic to Early Jurassic carbon isotope chemostratigraphy and organo-facies evolution in a distal to proximal transect of the North German Basin

AbstractThroughout the Latest Triassic and the Early Jurassic, major changes in paleogeography, climate and eustatic sea-level impacted on the development of shelf depositional environments. Secular trends in environmental conditions were punctuated by transient perturbations that occurred in relation to large-scale volcanic events, such as the emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary and the Karoo–Ferrar Large Igneous Province in the early Toarcian. We here present bulk organic (HAWK programmed pyrolysis) and organic carbon isotope (δ13Corg) data for three drill cores recovering Latest Triassic and Early Jurassic strata (Rhaetian to Toarcian). Study sites are located in the northeastern part of the Central European Epicontinental Sea and were positioned along a distal–proximal transect of the North German Basin. This allows discussing the differential response of depositional settings and organo-facies toward secular and transient environmental change. Biostratigraphically anchored trends in δ13Corg values allow the precise correlation along the transect, as well as with distant sites. At all North German locations, diagnostic secular trends in δ13Corg are punctuated by transient negative carbon isotope excursions, reflecting perturbations of the global carbon cycle at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary and in the early Toarcian. Stratigraphic gaps occurred during sea-level lowstands and are most pronounced at shallow proximal sites. Programmed pyrolysis data indicate spatiotemporal organo-facies trends that on a temporal scale occurred in response to sea-level and climate trends, while spatial patterns were governed by basin morphology and paleobathymetry. Substantial marine organic matter accumulations occurred at high sea level during the Toarcian only, and were most continuous at distal sites. Graphical Abstract

Influence of Transport Distance, Animal Weight, and Muscle Position on the Quality Factors of Meat of Young Bulls during the Summer Months

This study investigated the potential effects of transport distance, animal weight, and muscle position on meat quality in young bulls under commercial conditions across four slaughtering weeks during the summer months (May to September). Data on transport distance, lairage time, and ambient temperature during slaughtering days were collected from 80 young bulls from North German farms. Meat quality parameters, including pH, temperature, and meat color were also recorded at several post-mortem times from two different carcass locations (shoulder clod and silverside). Meat texture was evaluated both by sensory and instrumental analysis, and their values were compared to find possible correlations between them. All of the aforementioned main factors (transport distance, animal weight, and muscle position), as well as the interaction between animal weight and transport distance, significantly influenced (p < 0.01) meat quality traits. The results of the assessment of the meat texture from the cooked meat patties suggested that silverside cuts were consistently harder than shoulder clod cuts, despite having lower pH48 values.

Form of salt rises as an indicator of interaction of geodynamic systems

The forms of salt uplifts are formed under the influence of stresses developing in the earth’s crust and, therefore, can be considered as sensitive indicators of the interaction of geodynamic systems. In the North German basin, in the Cis-Ural trough on the border with the Caspian depression and in the Pripyat trough, under the influ- ence of various sources of stress and deformation, forms of salt uplifts arose, reflecting the superposition of these systems. The mechanisms of such a superposition were both the formation of forms associated with the resulting addition of deformation vectors and the interference of forms associated with each geodynamic system separately.

Modeling the influence of climate on groundwater flow and heat regime in Brandenburg (Germany)

This study investigates the decades-long evolution of groundwater dynamics and thermal field in the North German Basin beneath Brandenburg (NE Germany) by coupling a distributed hydrologic model with a 3D groundwater model. We found that hydraulic gradients, acting as the main driver of the groundwater flow in the studied basin, are not exclusively influenced by present-day topographic gradients. Instead, structural dip and stratification of rock units and the presence of permeability contrasts and anisotropy are important co-players affecting the flow in deep seated saline aquifers at depths >500 m. In contrast, recharge variability and anthropogenic activities contribute to groundwater dynamics in the shallow (<500 m) freshwater Quaternary aquifers. Recharge fluxes, as derived from the hydrologic model and assigned to the parametrized regional groundwater model, reproduce magnitudes of recorded seasonal groundwater level changes. Nonetheless, observed instances of inter-annual fluctuations and a gradual decline of groundwater levels highlight the need to consider damping of the recharge signal and additional sinks, like pumping, in the model, in order to reconcile long-term groundwater level trends. Seasonal changes in near-surface groundwater temperature and the continuous warming due to conductive heat exchange with the atmosphere are locally enhanced by forced advection, especially in areas of high hydraulic gradients. The main factors controlling the depth of temperature disturbance include the magnitude of surface temperature variations, the subsurface permeability field, and the rate of recharge. Our results demonstrate the maximum depth extent and the response times of the groundwater system subjected to non-linear interactions between local geological variability and climate conditions.

Increasing Winter Temperatures Stimulate Scots Pine Growth in the North German Lowlands Despite Stationary Sensitivity to Summer Drought

More than half of the forest area of the North German Lowlands is stocked with Scots pine-dominated forests, mostly plantations. Climate change suggests a declining suitability of Europe’s temperate zone for conifer plantations, but only a few studies have examined the long-term growth trends of Scots pine in relation to environmental and site factors in this region. We studied the radial growth patterns of Scots pine over the last 60 years at ten sites along a precipitation gradient (830–530 mm mean annual precipitation) from an oceanic to a subcontinental climate, analyzing the spatial and temporal variability of the climate sensitivity of growth to identify the main climatic factors influencing pine growth across this gradient, which covers a large part of the species’ tolerated precipitation range. Annual radial increment was sensitive to late-winter temperatures (February, March) and summer drought and heat (June–August), with sensitivity increasing from the oceanic to the drier continental sites. Warmer late-winter periods apparently have stimulated growth during the last decades, while the sensitivity to summer-drought has remained fairly stable. Until recently, the negative impact of warming summers on growth has been compensated by the positive effect of late-winter warming, resulting in stable (or increasing) growth trends. However, our comparison of the climate sensitivity across sites suggests that the drought effect compensation through winter warming will in future be limited by increasing drought exposure. Thus, future productivity declines are likely in the northern German lowlands despite warming winters, discouraging large-scale pine plantations in the face of climate warming.

Die nie in Druck erschienene Hannover Apokalypse

Abstract Of the rhyming Apocalypse, which may have been written in Westphalia at the end of the thirteenth century, two abbreviated versions were made in North German monasteries in the fifteenth century, which were regularly used in the context of monastic reforms. A text edition of the second abridged version is presented here, as it appears in the manuscript Hannover Ms I 84a.

Swift Prosodic Modulation of Lexical Access: Brain Potentials From Three North Germanic Language Varieties.

According to most models of spoken word recognition, listeners probabilistically activate a set of lexical candidates, which is incrementally updated as the speech signal unfolds. Speech carries segmental (speech sound) as well as suprasegmental (prosodic) information. The role of the latter in spoken word recognition is less clear. We investigated how suprasegments (tone and voice quality) in three North Germanic language varieties affected lexical access by scrutinizing temporally fine-grained neurophysiological effects of lexical uncertainty and information gain. Three event-related potential (ERP) studies were reanalyzed. In all varieties investigated, suprasegments are associated with specific word endings. Swedish has two lexical "word accents" realized as pitch falls with different timings across dialects. In Danish, the distinction is in voice quality. We combined pronunciation lexica and frequency lists to calculate estimates of lexical uncertainty about an unfolding word and information gain upon hearing a suprasegmental cue and the segment upon which it manifests. We used single-trial mixed-effects regression models run every 4 ms. Only lexical uncertainty showed solid results: a frontal effect at 150-400 ms after suprasegmental cue onset and a later posterior effect after 200 ms. While a model including only segmental information mostly performed better, it was outperformed by the suprasegmental model at 200-330 ms at frontal sites. The study points to suprasegmental cues contributing to lexical access over and beyond segments after around 200 ms in the North Germanic varieties investigated. Furthermore, the findings indicate that a previously reported "pre-activation negativity" predominantly reflects forward-looking processing. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25016486.

Objects as Agents (Some Comments on O.L. Gubarev’s Response)

This article builds on the earlier discussion about the actor traits associated with North Germanic weapons. The historical theories and evidence used by O.L. Gubarev to support his approach are analyzed. It is argued that he seems to echo the historiographical tradition relying on oversimplified a priori assertions, rather than a comprehensive analysis of the concept of “living” things in certain cultures. In his polemical response, he misinterpreted some historical sources and the views of other researchers, while also presenting his own controversial ideas as undeniable facts. In conclusion, it is suggested that the beliefs in the ability of inanimate things to have person-like qualities and play an actual social role, the distinction between living and non-living nature, as well as the practice of attributing souls to non-living entities, should be regarded as separate problems that are not clearly related in all cultures.

АГРЕССИЯ ВЕДЬМ И КОЛДУНОВ В ПРЕДАНИЯХ СЕВЕРНОЙ ГЕРМАНИИ XIX В.

The article focuses on the malicious functions of male and female witches in the North German legends of the 19th century. The research is based on the “Die Volkssagen von Pommern und Rügen” compiled by J.D.H. Temme (1840), the first volume of the “Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg” by K. Bartsch (1879), “Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Pommern, der Mark, Sachsen, Thüringen, Braunschweig” by A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz (1848) and some other folklore collections. The author highlights possible perceived motivations, i.e. reasons for the aggression of male and female witches towards other people. It is noticed that some functions and motivations that are frequently attributed to the female witches – for example, bewitching a cow in the first case, the desire to enrich themselves and the desire for revenge in the second case – can be attributed to the male characters. Nevertheless, the behavior of female characters can often be described as less demonstrative than the behavior of male characters. It can be assumed, that this state of affairs is related to women’s desire to protect their reputation as good members of society

West Germanic diachronic constant: the case of negative constructions

This paper explores the common path of the sentence negation practice in the Early West Germanic languages. The prior idea is to find out the general set of markers, which implement the negation pattern. Our assumption is that West Germanic languages, as it has been shown in many papers, contrast with East Germanic and North Germanic languages by ways of negation marking. Our aim is to define the status of the grammatical phenomenon in question within the suggested period. Having assumed that all West Germanic languages may share a similar sentence negation pattern, we laid a special emphasis on their structural characteristics. We also hypothesize that gradual changes of this period were occurring due to the general rearrangement of these language system, which incurred the elimination of the redundant elements. According to Jespersen’s cycle, all the languages under consideration faced multiple negation, i.e., the phenomenon of negative concord (NEG-concord). The latter implies the that preverbal negative particles have been removed from the negation pattern both due to their weakening and the rise of the new supportive element, which originated from the independent structural unit wiht ‘thing’. The rise of the supportive element in the Early West Germanic languages is considered to be a part of the Common Germanic NEG-concord pattern. This lexical-grammatical element turned out to be the one that allowed further eliminating the multiple negation practice in West Germanic languages.

Гросс-Гессенское викариатство РПЦЗ при архиепископе Филофее (Нарко) 1946–1949 гг.

The article studies the creation and development of the Gross-Hessen Diocese of Vicar of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR) in the years of 1946-1949. It is noted that at the end of the 2nd World War on the territory of Western zones of occupation in Germany, thousands of Orthodox refugees were in need of pastoral and spiritual care and guidance. Synod of ROCOR decided to form a set of vicar’s dioceses, so that in the region of Gross-Hessen, the one was established and was headed by the bishop of the Belarusian Autonomous Orthodox Church by Archbishop Philofei (Narko). Contrary to financial and other social difficulties, the Vicar managed to organize regular liturgical life and largely unite different Orthodox parishes of the Displaced Persons. Some organizational decisions made by Archbishop Philofei are analyzed. In particular, the decision was made to hold regular meetings of the clergy, to form an advisory body under the Vicar Bishop (Vicarian Council in Wiesbaden). The Archbishop organized with success distribution of food assistance to parishes of his diocese in the economically difficult 1949.Based on original documents preserved in the Archives of the German Diocese of the ROCOR, the author provides statistics on the number of parishes, specific names of the clergy who developed parishes in Wiesbaden, where the residence and the Cathedral of Vicar was established, in Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Menhegoff, Furstenwald, Gudensberg and in other places were discovered. The problems that prevented a successful development of the liturgical and out-service life of the Vicar’s diocese are studied, namely: lack of clergy after mass departure of priests and parishioners from Germany to countries of the Western Hemisphere in 1947-1949; conflict over activities of the Orthodox Missionary Group of Hessen-Nassau; problem of the development of Belarusian parishes due to desire of part of the Belarusian political emigration to strengthen the autocephalous movement. Comparative analysis of the activities of the Vicar’s bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, activities of the North German Bishop Afanasy (Martos) and the Grossen-Hessen’s Archbishop Philofei (Narko) is carried out.

Underground Hydrogen Storage in the Bunter Sandstone Formation in the North German Basin: Capacity Assessment and Geochemical Modeling

With planned hydrogen import terminals and production sites along the North and Baltic Seas, the German coast is likely to become the center of the hydrogen economy. Underground hydrogen storage in the sedimentary reservoirs of the region, particularly in the Bunter Sandstone Formation, could provide the required storage capacity for the future hydrogen economy due to its widespread occurrence and proven sealing system. Herein, the storage capacity is assessed using a probabilistic volume approach and possible reactions between the Bunter Sandstone and hydrogen based on geochemical simulations with PHREEQC are determined. This assessment gives an effective storage capacity of 0.84–4.14 PWh in the saline aquifers of the Bunter Sandstone, of which 0.52–2.57 PWh could be stored onshore. If production from currently operating fields are to cease, additional capacities of between 89.43 and 285.53 TWh could be found in its hydrocarbon fields. Mineralogical reactions are shown to be restricted to redox reactions, which do not affect the formation integrity of siliciclastic reservoirs. As a result, pore storage facilities in the Bunter Sandstone could provide an important storage option for the hydrogen economy, but will require further investigations in the lab and in the field.