838 research outputs found
Zwischen Sozialstaats-Status quo und BeschĂ€ftigungswachstum. Das Dilemma des BĂŒndnisses fĂŒr Arbeit und Trilemma der Dienstleistungsgesellschaft
Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland weist â aus historisch wie aus international vergleichender Perspektive â in den 90er Jahren eine suboptimale wirtschaftliche Performanz auf und laboriert gegenwĂ€rtig vor allem an einer anhaltenden Wachstums- und InnovationsschwĂ€che mit einhergehender strukturell verfestigter Massenarbeitslosigkeit. In diesem Beitrag gehen wir der Frage nach, inwiefern die Sozialstaatsfinanzierung die BeschĂ€ftigungsdynamik beeinflusst und welche Implikationen sich daraus fĂŒr die von der rot-grĂŒnen Regierungskoalition (neuerlich) initiierten KonzertierungsbemĂŒhungen im Rahmen eines BĂŒndnisses fĂŒr Arbeit ergeben. Unsere Hauptthese ist, dass ein ausgebauter Sozialversicherungsstaat die BeschĂ€ftigungsdynamik insbesondere im niedrigproduktiven Dienstleistungssektor bremst, also in einem BeschĂ€ftigungssegment, dem in Zukunft groĂe Wachstumspotenziale zugeschrieben werden können. Just an der Schnittstelle von Arbeitsmarkt und Sozialstaat setzen auch die BĂŒndnisgesprĂ€che an. Jedoch erschien das BĂŒndnis fĂŒr Arbeit aufgrund prozeduraler und institutioneller Rahmenbedingungen bis zum Sommer 1999 als eine wenig erfolgversprechende Konzertierungsaktion, um das Dilemma zwischen ausgebautem Sozialversicherungsstaat und BeschĂ€ftigungsdynamik im Dienstleistungszeitalter abzuschwĂ€chen
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
Load-shifting potentials in households including electric mobility : A comparison of user behaviour with modelling results
Does response to vagus nerve stimulation for drug-resistant epilepsy differ in patients with and without LennoxâGastaut syndrome?
Introduction: Literature on outcomes of patients with LennoxâGastaut 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, âotherâ 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 tonicâclonic (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 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 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
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