Stud.IP and ILIAS in an EU-Funded Project for the Middle East

In autumn 2005 InWEnt (Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung/Capacity Building International gGmbH) on behalf of the EU invited to tender for three web based trainings (WBT). The precondition: either the open-source-platform Stud.IP or ILIAS should be used. The company data-quest decided not to offer the use of either Stud.IP or ILIAS, but both in combination - and won the contract. Several month later, the new learning environment with the combined powers of Stud.IP and ILIAS was ready to serve WBT-participants from all over the world. The following text describes the EU-Project "Efficient Management of Wastewater, its Treatment and Reuse in the Mediterranean Countries" (EMWater), the WBT concept and the experiences with the new Stud.IP-ILIAS-interface.

Who has really paid for the Reconstruction of East Germany? Expected and Realized Returns on Real Estate Investments in East and West Germany in the 1990s

We evaluate the profitability of investments in residential property in Germany after unification with a focus on the comparison of East and West Germany. Calculations are carried out for (1) the after-tax return an investor might have expected at the beginning of the 1990s, and (2) the after-tax return that has been realized ten years after. We compare a set of statistical data for investments in fifty major cities by using complete financial budgeting. The results show that tax subsidies could not always protect investors from losing money, but they have boosted realized returns after tax considerably. Therefore, it was indeed the taxpayers, not the investors, who have borne the cost of reconstructing East Germany.

Political Efficacy and Voter Turnouts in East and West Germany

This article asks if voters' participation in federal elections is lower in the new Länder (East Germany) than in the old Länder (West Germany). It is assumed that voters in the new Länder are less convinced they can influence politics by voting. Using the perspective of cognitive psychology the article stresses differences in individual interpretations of the election context among citizens of both the new and old Länder. Furthermore, it is argued that the strength of the expected influence by voting depends on the structure and direction of individuals' beliefs in their competence and control as well as their belief in causality and self-efficacy. These beliefs may differ among voters in the new and old Länder. For empirical analysis, the article uses data from the German General Social Survey 1998.