Dismissal Protection and Worker Flows in Small Establishments

The paper examines real and nominal wage rigidities.We estimate a switching regime model, in which the observed distribution of individual wage changes, computed from West German register data for 1976-1997, is generated by simultaneous processes of real, nominal or no wage rigidity, and measurement error. The fraction of workers facing wage increases that are due to nominal, but mostly real wage rigidity is substantial.The extent of real rigidity rises with inflation, whereas the opposite holds for nominal rigidity. Overall, the incidence of wage rigidity, which accelerates unemployment growth, is most likely minimized in an environment with moderate inflation.downward wage rigidity, real effects of inflation, collective bargaining, switching regime model,West Germany

Dismissal protection and worker flows in small establishments

"Based on a large employer-employee matched data set, the paper investigates the effects of variable enforcement of German dismissal protection legislation on the employment dynamics in small establishments. Specifically, using a difference-in-differences approach, we study the effect of changes in the threshold scale exempting small establishments from dismissal protection provisions on worker flows. In contrast to the predictions of the theory, our results indicate that there are no statistically significant effects of the dismissal protection legislation on worker turnover." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Kleinbetrieb, Kündigungsschutz, IAB-Linked-Employer-Employee-Datensatz, zwischenbetriebliche Mobilität

Dismissal protection and worker flows in small establishments

"Based on a large employer-employee matched data set, the paper investigates the effects of variable enforcement of German dismissal protection legislation on the employment dynamics in small establishments. Specifically, using a difference-in-differences approach, we study the effect of changes in the threshold scale exempting small establishments from dismissal protection provisions on worker flows. In contrast to the predictions of the theory, our results indicate that there are no statistically significant effects of the dismissal protection legislation on worker turnover." (authors abstract

The scientific impotence excuse in education – Disentangling potency and pertinence assessments of educational research

When facing belief-contradictory scientific evidence, preservice teachers tend to doubt the potency of science and consult scientific sources less frequently. Thus, individuals run the risk not only to maintain questionable assumptions but also to develop dysfunctional stances toward research as a reliable source of knowledge. In two studies, we (a) replicated findings on the so-called scientific impotence excuse (SIE) in education and (b) differentiated the effects on the potency and pertinence of science to investigate educational topics to better understand the nature of SIE-related science devaluation. Both studies followed a 2 × 2 mixed experimental design: Preservice teachers assessed their prior belief about an educational topic (i.e., effectiveness of grade retention) before and after reading either confirming or disconfirming scientific evidence concerning the topic. Study 1 ( N = 147 preservice teachers; direct replication) confirmed the central prior findings of science devaluation when belief-evidence conflicts occur. In contrast, the results of Study 2 ( N = 152; follow-up study) revealed no systematic devaluations of science when disentangling the facets of potency and pertinence. Despite partial devaluation tendencies, both studies revealed that preservice teachers adapted their prior beliefs to the evidence presented. These findings extend previous research by providing insights into the conditions of science devaluation

The utility of pollination for autonomic computing

From the biology’s point of view, pollination is an important step in the reproduction of seed plants. From our point of view, pollination is a promising and novel, biological paradigm for future dependable and self-managing computing systems. This estimation is based on the characteristics the pollination process between plants and insects implies inherently. To utilize pollination as a paradigm for self-managing and thus autonomic computing systems, this paper identifies the useful properties that emerge by the collaborative behavior of insects and plants during the pollination process. Based on this process the paper presents an artificial pollination system that implements these properties by adapting the natural architecture and behavior. Furthermore, the paper illustrates the practical value of this system by an application in aviation. Finally open issues and an outlook on future work are presented.1st IFIP International Conference on Biologically Inspired Cooperative Computing - Biological Inspiration 1Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Glutathione reductase-catalyzed cascade of redox reactions to bioactivate potent antimalarial 1,4-naphthoquinones--a new strategy to combat malarial parasites.

Our work on targeting redox equilibria of malarial parasites propagating in red blood cells has led to the selection of six 1,4-naphthoquinones, which are active at nanomolar concentrations against the human pathogen Plasmodium falciparum in culture and against Plasmodium berghei in infected mice. With respect to safety, the compounds do not trigger hemolysis or other signs of toxicity in mice. Concerning the antimalarial mode of action, we propose that the lead benzyl naphthoquinones are initially oxidized at the benzylic chain to benzoyl naphthoquinones in a heme-catalyzed reaction within the digestive acidic vesicles of the parasite. The major putative benzoyl metabolites were then found to function as redox cyclers: (i) in their oxidized form, the benzoyl metabolites are reduced by NADPH in glutathione reductase-catalyzed reactions within the cytosols of infected red blood cells; (ii) in their reduced forms, these benzoyl metabolites can convert methemoglobin, the major nutrient of the parasite, to indigestible hemoglobin. Studies on a fluorinated suicide-substrate indicate as well that the glutathione reductase-catalyzed bioactivation of naphthoquinones is essential for the observed antimalarial activity. In conclusion, the antimalarial naphthoquinones are suggested to perturb the major redox equilibria of the targeted infected red blood cells, which might be removed by macrophages. This results in development arrest and death of the malaria parasite at the trophozoite stage

Notes on Generalised Nullvectors in logarithmic CFT

In these notes we discuss the procedure how to calculate nullvectors in general indecomposable representations which are encountered in logarithmic conformal field theories. In particular, we do not make use of any of the restrictions which have been imposed in logarithmic nullvector calculations up to now, especially the quasi-primarity of all Jordan cell fields. For the quite well-studied c_{p,1} models we calculate examples of logarithmic nullvectors which have not been accessible to the older methods and recover the known representation structure. Furthermore, we calculate logarithmic nullvectors in the up to now almost unexplored general augmented c_{p,q} models and use these to find bounds on their possible representation structures.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures; v2: Corrected two typos, added one reference to the conclusio

A RISC-V MCU with adaptive reverse body bias and ultra-low-power retention mode in 22 nm FD-SOI

We present a low-power, energy efficient 32-bit RISC-V microprocessor unit (MCU) in 22 nm FD-SOI. It achieves ultra-low leakage,even at high temperatures, by using an adaptive reverse body biasing aware sign-off approach, a low-power optimized physical implementation, and custom SRAM macros with retention mode. We demonstrate the robustness of the chip with measurements over the full industrial temperature range, from -40 {\deg}C to 125 {\deg}C. Our results match the state of the art (SOTA) with 4.8 uW / MHz at 50 MHz in active mode and surpass the SOTA in ultra-low-power retention mode.Comment: accepted at ISOCC 202

A lithium–sulfur full cell with ultralong cycle life: influence of cathode structure and polysulfide additive

Lithium–sulfur batteries are highly attractive energy storage systems, but suffer from structural anode and cathode degradation, capacity fade and fast cell failure (dry out). To address these issues, a carbide-derived carbon (DUT-107) featuring a high surface area (2088 m² g⁻¹), high total pore volume (3.17 cm³ g⁻¹) and hierarchical micro-, meso- and macropore structure is applied as a rigid scaffold for sulfur infiltration. The DUT-107/S cathodes combine excellent mechanical stability and high initial capacities (1098–1208 mA h gs ⁻¹) with high sulfur content (69.7 wt% per total electrode) and loading (2.3–2.9 mgs cm⁻²). Derived from the effect of the electrolyte-to-sulfur ratio on capacity retention and cyclability, conducting salt is substituted by polysulfide additive for reduced polysulfide leakage and capacity stabilization. Moreover, in a full cell model system using a prelithiated hard carbon anode, the performance of DUT-107/S cathodes is demonstrated over 4100 cycles (final capacity of 422 mA h gs ⁻¹), with a very low capacity decay of 0.0118% per cycle. Application of PS additive further boosts the performance (final capacity of 554 mA h gs ⁻¹), although a slightly higher decay of 0.0125% per cycle is observed