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Recent research on consumption has indicated a growing differentiation of consumption styles and habits, which in turn make the shoppers' decisions increasingly hard to grasp and more complex in general. In particular, it is found that the classic modelling techniques fail to sufficiently represent these decision processes. This paper examines the potentials of an agent-based approach for the locational choices of consumers for their shopping activities on a regional level. The model is applied to two product sectors, groceries and clothing, in two distinct research areas in northern Sweden and southern Germany. While the empirical findings generated for the two case studies resulted in quite different model designs, both are found to be equally applicable for representing the different choice mechanisms and result in forecasts of buying power flows and thus turnovers of individual shops. It is concluded that agent-based approaches provide an elaborate instrument to model consumer locational choices and to forecast consequences of planning decisions, although expanding the empirical basis on qualitative grounds of research may lead to still further advancements. Zusammenfassung: Die Forschungen der letzten Jahre zeigte, dass Konsumstile und-gewohnheiten sich immer weiter ausdifferenzieren. Dies hat zur Konsequenz, dass Entscheidungen der Verbraucher immer schwerer für die Forschung und Modellierung fassbar werden. Insbesondere ist festzustellen, dass die klassischen Modellierungstechniken bei der Darstellung dieser Entscheidungsprozesse an ihre Grenzen stoßen. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Potenziale eines agentenbasierten Ansatzes zur Modellierung der Einkaufsstättenwahl auf einer regionalen Ebene. Das Modell wird in zwei verschiedenen Untersuchungsräumen (in Nordschweden und im südlichen Deutschland) auf zwei Produktbereiche, Lebensmittel und Kleidung, angewendet. Obwohl die empirischen Befunde zu den beiden Fallstudien zu verschiedenen Modell-Designs führten, können beide Modelle gleichermaßen eingesetzt werden, um nicht nur die Einkaufsstättenwahl von Individuen darzustellen, sondern auch Abschätzungen von Kaufkraftströmen und Umsatzschätzungen einzelner Geschäfte vorzunehmen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen auch, dass agentenbasierte Ansätze ein sehr gut geeignetes Instrumentarium bieten, um nicht nur das Handeln und Verhalten von Akteuren zu modellieren, sondern auch um Folgen von Planungsentscheidungen zu simulieren. Potenziale bestehen jedoch noch in der Einbindung qualitativer empirischer Ergebnisse in die Modelle.

Foamy viruses (FVs) are complex retroviruses which require for their replication the activity of a transcriptional trans-activator (Tas) as well as Tas-responsive elements in the viral promoters. A mutant of the chimpanzee FV strain, CFV/hu (previously called human FV), genome in which most of the U3 promoter of the CFV long terminal repeat was substituted by the constitutively active human cytomegalovirus immediate early gene enhancer/promoter was constructed. This plasmid (pTS12) and a derivative (pTS13), which has a deletion in the tas gene, gave rise to replicationcompetent virus. Compared with parental CFV, both mutants replicated only very poorly, with retarded growth kinetics and maximal cell-free virus titres reduced by approximately three orders of magnitude. Mutation of the DD35E motif of the CFV integrase to DA35E rendered the recombinant TS virus replication-deficient. This indicated that provirus integration is probably still required for this FV derivative, which had been converted from a complex regulated retrovirus into a simple one by incorporation of a constitutively active promoter from another virus which regularly does not integrate into the host cell genome.

Based on the reasoning that contextual variations are important for understanding differences in forest cognitions, this study examined forest values and management attitudes in the general public in Germany (n D 1135) and Sweden (n D 1311) by means of a questionnaire. Results indicated that the public in both countries emphasised similar forest values, and the overall pattern was comparable for different types of forest, although certain differences based on forest type and country were evident. For example, the German public was more ecologically oriented, whereas the Swedish public was more production oriented in its forest values and management attitudes. Furthermore, ecological and various anthropocentric forest values were perceived to be quite compatible, with the Swedish respondents perceiving this to a greater extent than the German. The overall cognitive structure of forest values and management attitudes was similar in both countries, although differences were revealed, particularly regarding attitudes.

Gottfried Feder (1883-1941) joined the newly founded Nazi movement in 1919 and became a leading writer and spokesman on economics, architecture, and urban development. He condemned usury, finance capital, large corporations, metropolitan growth, and modernist architecture, and he advocated family-owned businesses, state enterprises, small cities, and “traditional” styles. After Hitler came to power, Feder worked in government, but he was marginalized in 1934 and appointed professor of planning at the Berlin Institute of Technology. There, he wrote Die neue Stadt ( The New City), a major book published in 1939 but largely ignored in Germany—in wartime because it criticized big business and afterward because Feder was a leading Nazi. The book blends fascist, modernist, antiurban, and geopolitical visions to propose the construction of many new traditional cities of twenty thousand in supposedly sparsely populated eastern lands. It shows how innocuous planning ideas may be appropriated for sinister purposes of conquest and social engineering.