Soft Skills and Job Opportunities of Migrants: Systemic Relationships in the Labor Market

The skills of migrants, the skills of existing workers, and the characteristics of the host economy are critical factors that impact the labor market in any country. Studying these effects is a critical area of research with much of the research being specific to time and place. There are studies on the UK which look into the wage effects of immigration and the impact on unemployment A study on Denmark found that an increase in the supply of refugee-country immigrants pushed less educated native workers (especially the young and low-tenured ones) to pursue less manual-intensive occupations. So, immigration had positive effects on unskilled wages, employment and occupational mobility. This has led to critical assessments of the skills brought in by migrants who have a higher level of education. This is occurring to quite an extent in present-day immigration to Europe. This paper draws on a study performed by the authors on African nationals with an academic background and who study, live and work in Germany. They were asked to complete an online questionnaire on management soft skills. The results revealed that the African migrants appear to be quite aware of the specific soft skills they owe to their cultural background, which ultimately might make them well equipped for better job opportunities when they actively apply them in their work environment. In continuance, this paper contrasts those findings with the results of a large European survey of migrants’ soft skills conducted with companies’ heads, personnel managers and business associations. Mirroring the results of both studies provides an insight into the extent in which the opinions on migrants’ soft skills align and where they differ. This leads to infer that while migrants’ skills enhance their ability to enter into the labor market, the skills also shape the market by creating niches for employment and this in turn changes how migrants deploy their skills. There are various conclusions to be drawn: One is that integrating migrants into the labor market requires creative leadership and ethically founded decision-making: Both employers and employer associations must seek to fully utilize all the skills provided by the new entrants to the labor market. From a theoretical perspective, the two sets (of data but of interviewees as well) represent two distinct agglomerations of elements that are interrelated within each set, and they are also relating the sets to each other. This embeds a variety of systems-thinking constructs. Co-creation is one, and it regards to building a new set of information from not only the observations on skills offered and required but also from the developments that are triggered when offer and demand meet. One other is coalescing of equi-finality and multi-finality to arrive at a balance between needs of job-seekers and the job offers that can be satisfied short-term or for which long-term solutions are required. A third one is conjoining self-organization and relationality where skills development and labor market conditions enter into a systemic relation. For applying this concept, a parallel can be drawn to the innovation deployment projects that are run within the European Commission’s Framework Programs (Kapsali, 2011). With regard to generating new opportunities in the job market, a systems-thinking interpretation would be that of an auto-poietic system (the development of skills) that interacts with the environment (the job market) and processes self-reference and other-reference. The paper evaluates the applicability of these concepts to the phenomenon of migrants in the labor market

Quantum Enhancement of the Zero-Area Sagnac Interferometer Topology for Gravitational Wave Detection

Only a few years ago, it was realized that the zero-area Sagnac interferometer topology is able to perform quantum nondemolition measurements of position changes of a mechanical oscillator. Here, we experimentally show that such an interferometer can also be efficiently enhanced by squeezed light. We achieved a nonclassical sensitivity improvement of up to 8.2 dB, limited by optical loss inside our interferometer. Measurements performed directly on our squeezed-light laser output revealed squeezing of 12.7 dB. We show that the sensitivity of a squeezed-light enhanced Sagnac interferometer can surpass the standard quantum limit for a broad spectrum of signal frequencies without the need for filter cavities as required for Michelson interferometers. The Sagnac topology is therefore a powerful option for future gravitational-wave detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope, whose design is currently being studied.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Wind on the boundary for the Abelian sandpile model

We continue our investigation of the two-dimensional Abelian sandpile model in terms of a logarithmic conformal field theory with central charge c=-2, by introducing two new boundary conditions. These have two unusual features: they carry an intrinsic orientation, and, more strangely, they cannot be imposed uniformly on a whole boundary (like the edge of a cylinder). They lead to seven new boundary condition changing fields, some of them being in highest weight representations (weights -1/8, 0 and 3/8), some others belonging to indecomposable representations with rank 2 Jordan cells (lowest weights 0 and 1). Their fusion algebra appears to be in full agreement with the fusion rules conjectured by Gaberdiel and Kausch.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figure

Using Rheo-Small-Angle Neutron Scattering to Understand How Functionalised Dipeptides Form Gels

We explore the use of rheo-small-angle neutron scattering as a method to collect structural information from neutron scattering simultaneously with rheology to understand how low-molecular-weight hydrogels form and behave under shear. We examine three different gelling hydrogel systems to assess what structures are formed and how these influence the rheology. Furthermore, we probe what is happening to the network during syneresis and why the gels do not recover after an applied strain. All this information is vital when considering gels for applications such as 3D-printing and injection

Quantum-sl(2) action on a divided-power quantum plane at even roots of unity

We describe a nonstandard version of the quantum plane, the one in the basis of divided powers at an even root of unity $q=e^{i\pi/p}$. It can be regarded as an extension of the "nearly commutative" algebra $C[X,Y]$ with $X Y =(-1)^p Y X$ by nilpotents. For this quantum plane, we construct a Wess--Zumino-type de Rham complex and find its decomposition into representations of the $2p^3$-dimensional quantum group $U_q sl(2)$ and its Lusztig extension; the quantum group action is also defined on the algebra of quantum differential operators on the quantum plane.Comment: 18 pages, amsart++, xy, times. V2: a reference and related comments adde

Fusion algebra of critical percolation

We present an explicit conjecture for the chiral fusion algebra of critical percolation considering Virasoro representations with no enlarged or extended symmetry algebra. The representations we take to generate fusion are countably infinite in number. The ensuing fusion rules are quasi-rational in the sense that the fusion of a finite number of these representations decomposes into a finite direct sum of these representations. The fusion rules are commutative, associative and exhibit an sl(2) structure. They involve representations which we call Kac representations of which some are reducible yet indecomposable representations of rank 1. In particular, the identity of the fusion algebra is a reducible yet indecomposable Kac representation of rank 1. We make detailed comparisons of our fusion rules with the recent results of Eberle-Flohr and Read-Saleur. Notably, in agreement with Eberle-Flohr, we find the appearance of indecomposable representations of rank 3. Our fusion rules are supported by extensive numerical studies of an integrable lattice model of critical percolation. Details of our lattice findings and numerical results will be presented elsewhere.Comment: 12 pages, v2: comments and references adde

W-Extended Fusion Algebra of Critical Percolation

Two-dimensional critical percolation is the member LM(2,3) of the infinite series of Yang-Baxter integrable logarithmic minimal models LM(p,p'). We consider the continuum scaling limit of this lattice model as a `rational' logarithmic conformal field theory with extended W=W_{2,3} symmetry and use a lattice approach on a strip to study the fundamental fusion rules in this extended picture. We find that the representation content of the ensuing closed fusion algebra contains 26 W-indecomposable representations with 8 rank-1 representations, 14 rank-2 representations and 4 rank-3 representations. We identify these representations with suitable limits of Yang-Baxter integrable boundary conditions on the lattice and obtain their associated W-extended characters. The latter decompose as finite non-negative sums of W-irreducible characters of which 13 are required. Implementation of fusion on the lattice allows us to read off the fusion rules governing the fusion algebra of the 26 representations and to construct an explicit Cayley table. The closure of these representations among themselves under fusion is remarkable confirmation of the proposed extended symmetry.Comment: 30 page

Development and operation of a pixel segmented liquid-filled linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance

A liquid isooctane (C$_{8}$H$_{18}$) filled ionization linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance has been designed, built and tested. The detector consists of 128 pixels, each of them with an area of 1.7 mm $\times$ 1.7 mm and a gap of 0.5 mm. The small pixel size makes the detector ideal for high gradient beam profiles like those present in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) and radiosurgery. As read-out electronics we use the X-Ray Data Acquisition System (XDAS) with the Xchip developed by the CCLRC. Studies concerning the collection efficiency dependence on the polarization voltage and on the dose rate have been made in order to optimize the device operation. In the first tests we have studied dose rate and energy dependences, and signal reproducibility. Dose rate dependence was found lower than 2.5 % up to 5 Gy min$^{-1}$, and energy dependence lower than 2.1 % up to 20 cm depth in solid water. Output factors and penumbras for several rectangular fields have been measured with the linear array and were compared with the results obtained with a 0.125 cm$^{3}$ air ionization chamber and radiographic film, respectively. Finally, we have acquired profiles for an IMRT field and for a virtual wedge. These profiles have also been compared with radiographic film measurements. All the comparisons show a good correspondence. Signal reproducibility was within a 2% during the test period (around three months). The device has proved its capability to verify on-line therapy beams with good spatial resolution and signal to noise ratio.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures Submitted to Phys. Med. Bio

Paragraph: A graph-based structural variant genotyper for short-read sequence data

Accurate detection and genotyping of structural variations (SVs) from short-read data is a long-standing area of development in genomics research and clinical sequencing pipelines. We introduce Paragraph, an accurate genotyper that models SVs using sequence graphs and SV annotations. We demonstrate the accuracy of Paragraph on whole-genome sequence data from three samples using long-read SV calls as the truth set, and then apply Paragraph at scale to a cohort of 100 short-read sequenced samples of diverse ancestry. Our analysis shows that Paragraph has better accuracy than other existing genotypers and can be applied to population-scale studies. © 2019 The Author(s)

Proposal for a CFT interpretation of Watts' differential equation for percolation

G. M. T. Watts derived that in two dimensional critical percolation the crossing probability Pi_hv satisfies a fifth order differential equation which includes another one of third order whose independent solutions describe the physically relevant quantities 1, Pi_h, Pi_hv. We will show that this differential equation can be derived from a level three null vector condition of a rational c=-24 CFT and motivate how this solution may be fitted into known properties of percolation.Comment: LaTeX, 20p, added references, corrected typos and additional content