Zwischen Sozialstaats-Status quo und Beschäftigungswachstum. Das Dilemma des Bündnisses für Arbeit und Trilemma der Dienstleistungsgesellschaft

Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland weist – aus historisch wie aus international vergleichender Perspektive – in den 90er Jahren eine suboptimale wirtschaftliche Performanz auf und laboriert gegenwärtig vor allem an einer anhaltenden Wachstums- und Innovationsschwäche mit einhergehender strukturell verfestigter Massenarbeitslosigkeit. In diesem Beitrag gehen wir der Frage nach, inwiefern die Sozialstaatsfinanzierung die Beschäftigungsdynamik beeinflusst und welche Implikationen sich daraus für die von der rot-grünen Regierungskoalition (neuerlich) initiierten Konzertierungsbemühungen im Rahmen eines Bündnisses für Arbeit ergeben. Unsere Hauptthese ist, dass ein ausgebauter Sozialversicherungsstaat die Beschäftigungsdynamik insbesondere im niedrigproduktiven Dienstleistungssektor bremst, also in einem Beschäftigungssegment, dem in Zukunft große Wachstumspotenziale zugeschrieben werden können. Just an der Schnittstelle von Arbeitsmarkt und Sozialstaat setzen auch die Bündnisgespräche an. Jedoch erschien das Bündnis für Arbeit aufgrund prozeduraler und institutioneller Rahmenbedingungen bis zum Sommer 1999 als eine wenig erfolgversprechende Konzertierungsaktion, um das Dilemma zwischen ausgebautem Sozialversicherungsstaat und Beschäftigungsdynamik im Dienstleistungszeitalter abzuschwächen

Increased plasma concentration of vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with atopic dermatitis and its relation to disease severity and platelet activation

BACKGROUND: Overproduction of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in atopic dermatitis (AD) lesions has previously been observed. It is also known that platelet is an important source of VEGF and platelet factor 4 (PF-4), a potential marker of AD severity. AIM: To evaluate concentrations of VEGF and its soluble receptors (sVEGF-R1 and sVEGF-R2) in the plasma of AD patients and to examine its possible correlation with disease severity and plasma concentrations of PF-4, a platelet activation marker. METHODS: Plasma concentrations of VEGF and its receptors and levels of PF-4 were measured by an immunoenzymatic assay in 51 AD patients and in 35 healthy non-atopic controls. The severity of the disease was evaluated using the eczema area and severity index. RESULTS: AD patients showed significantly increased VEGF and PF-4 plasma concentrations as compared with the controls. Plasma concentrations of sVEGF-R1 and sVEGF-R2 did not differ between the groups. There were no remarkable correlations between plasma VEGF concentration and disease severity or between VEGF and PF-4 concentration. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that plasma concentration of VEGF may be increased in patients suffering from AD. It seems that plasma VEGF concentration is not a useful marker of disease severity and, apart from platelets, other cells might also release the cytokine

Does response to vagus nerve stimulation for drug-resistant epilepsy differ in patients with and without Lennox–Gastaut syndrome?

Introduction: Literature on outcomes of patients with Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (LGS) receiving adjunctive vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) lacks information on seizure types and the time course of therapeutic effects. We have therefore performed what is to our knowledge the largest and most in-depth analysis of the effectiveness of VNS in LGS patients paying special attention to the impact of VNS Therapy on individual seizure types. Methods: The VNS Therapy Outcomes Registry includes over 7000 patients. A propensity score matching method was employed to match patients with LGS to non-LGS patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). Overall seizure frequencies were assessed prior to implantation and at 3-, 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-month follow-ups to derive the main study outcomes: response rates and time to first response.Results: A total of 564 LGS patients with sufficient data were identified in the registry and matched 2:1 to 1128 non-LGS patients. Responder rates at 24 months were 57.5% in the LGS group and 61.5% in the non-LGS group. Median seizure frequency reduction at 24 months was 64.3% versus 66.7% in the LGS versus non-LGS group, respectively. In both groups, VNS was most effective at reducing focal aware seizures, “other” seizures, generalized-onset non-motor seizures, and drop attacks with relative reduction rates for these seizure types at 24 months exceeding 90% in both groups. Time-to-first response did not differ between the groups; however, there was a significantly higher proportion of patients who regressed from bilateral tonic–clonic (BTC) seizure response in the LGS group versus the non-LGS group at 24 months: 22.4% versus 6.7%; p =.015. Conclusions: Although limited by its retrospective design, the study shows that the effectiveness of VNS is comparable in DRE patients with and without LGS; however, LGS patients may be more prone to fluctuating control of BTCs.</p

Electric Vehicle Procurement Decisions in Fleets : Results of a Case Study in South-Western Germany

In order to increase the market share of electric vehicles (EV) in Germany, further insights on actors and structures of EV specific procurement decisions for fleets are necessary. Our analysis focuses on vehicles registered by companies/organizations as they dominate new vehicle registrations in Germany. The following question is examined empirically: Which departments influence EV procurement decisions in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), in large-scale enterprises (LSE) and in public organizations (PO) and what are the differences compared to these departments' influences on internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEV) procurement decisions? Our results show that EV procurement decisions of organizations in South-West Germany are decisively influenced by upper management levels and partly by organizations' fleet management departments. In small and medium-sized enterprises sales- and public relations departments have a major influence on EV procurement decisions. These findings are important for stakeholders interested in selling EVs or in designing policies that are more effective in influencing organizations' decision making concerning future EV procurement decisions

Surface wave control for large arrays of microwave kinetic inductance detectors

Large ultra-sensitive detector arrays are needed for present and future observatories for far infra-red, submillimeter wave (THz), and millimeter wave astronomy. With increasing array size, it is increasingly important to control stray radiation inside the detector chips themselves, the surface wave. We demonstrate this effect with focal plane arrays of 880 lens-antenna coupled Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs). Presented here are near field measurements of the MKID optical response versus the position on the array of a reimaged optical source. We demonstrate that the optical response of a detector in these arrays saturates off-pixel at the $\sim-30$ dB level compared to the peak pixel response. The result is that the power detected from a point source at the pixel position is almost identical to the stray response integrated over the chip area. With such a contribution, it would be impossible to measure extended sources, while the point source sensitivity is degraded due to an increase of the stray loading. However, we show that by incorporating an on-chip stray light absorber, the surface wave contribution is reduced by a factor $>$10. With the on-chip stray light absorber the point source response is close to simulations down to the $\sim-35$ dB level, the simulation based on an ideal Gaussian illumination of the optics. In addition, as a crosscheck we show that the extended source response of a single pixel in the array with the absorbing grid is in agreement with the integral of the point source measurements.Comment: accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technolog

Semantic enrichment of models in DynaLearn learning enviroment

In this work we present our contribution to the DynaLearn learning environment. DynaLearn is an interactive modeling tool for education based on the "learning by modeling" approach. DynaLearn allows students to build Qualitative Reasoning (QR) models to formally represent a domain of their interest. This process helps the students to get a better understanding of the domain and to predict the behavior of the modeled system in view of the possible changes