University of Mannheim

About: University of Mannheim is a education organization based out in Mannheim, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Politics. The organization has 4448 authors who have published 12918 publications receiving 446557 citations. The organization is also known as: Uni Mannheim & UMA.

Values and Support for Immigration : A Cross-Country Comparison

Abstract: In this article, we estimate and compare the effects of two value dimensions taken from the theory of basic human values-namely, self-transcendence and conservation-on attitudes toward immigration in 19 countries. Data from the first wave (2002-03) of the European Social Survey (ESS) is utilized for the analyses. This cross-national survey measures basic human values with a new 21-item instrument. Attitudes toward immigration are operationalized using two dimensions: willingness to allow immigrants into the country and rejection of conditions to allow them. Effects of the value dimensions on immigration attitudes are compared across 19 nations using multiple-group multiple-indicators structural equation modelling (MGSEM). We hypothesize that these effects are equal across countries. The critical statistical legitimacy for comparing these effects across countries is discussed in detail, and partial measurement invariance is evidenced. The MGSEM provides strong support for our hypotheses in 17 countries: self-transcendence displays a positive effect on support for immigration, and conservation a negative effect. This result is robust also after accounting for several individual and contextual variables. Effects are found to differ a little across countries. It is shown that clusters of countries with equal effect sizes can be distinguished, and possible explanations for effect size differences are discussed.

Experience Sampling Methods: A Discussion of Critical Trends and Considerations for Scholarly Advancement:

Abstract: In the organizational sciences, scholars are increasingly using experience sampling methods (ESM) to answer questions tied to intraindividual, dynamic phenomenon. However, employing this method to ...

A public choice approach to international organization

Abstract: The purpose of this paper has been to develop a positive theory of international organization which can supplement the conventional normative theory used as a positive theory. The conventional approach draws much of its plausibility from the fact that it relies on the reasons given by the decision-makers and reported in the media, and on the lofty objections stated in the charters of international agencies. The public-choice approach, by its very nature, is precluded from accepting such evidence. In some respects, it must appear dismal and perhaps cynical. It is a positive theory which tries to explain. But just as the conventional normative theory tends also to be used as a positive theory, our positive theory is likely to have normative implications as well. It does not imply that international organization is generally undesirable. But it can be used to emphasize the advantages of decentralized policy making and to warn against a naive internationalism which welcomes international agreements for their own sake — regardless of what is being agreed upon. International organization can be and is abused, and the cause is not an occasional lack of virtue among politicians but a systematic built-in tendency toward collusion at the expense of the citizens. Such collusion is not only undesirable in itself. There is also the danger that it discredits and crowds out unambiguously desirable forms of international cooperation: agreements to remove non-market obstacles to market interdependence in the field of international trade and capital movements.

Return-oriented rootkits: bypassing kernel code integrity protection mechanisms

Abstract: Protecting the kernel of an operating system against attacks, especially injection of malicious code, is an important factor for implementing secure operating systems. Several kernel integrity protection mechanism were proposed recently that all have a particular shortcoming: They cannot protect against attacks in which the attacker re-uses existing code within the kernel to perform malicious computations. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a system that fully automates the process of constructing instruction sequences that can be used by an attacker for malicious computations. We evaluate the system on different commodity operating systems and show the portability and universality of our approach. Finally, we describe the implementation of a practical attack that can bypass existing kernel integrity protection mechanisms.