Peer effects in the workplace

Existing evidence on peer effects in the productivity of coworkers stems from either laboratory experiments or real- world studies referring to a specific firm or occupation. In this paper, we aim at providing more generalizable results by investigating a large local labor market, with a focus on peer effects in wages rather than productivity. Our estimation strategy-which links the average permanent productivity of workers' peers to their wages-circumvents the reflection problem and accounts for endogenous sorting of workers into peer groups and firms. On average over all occupations, and in the type of highskilled occupations investigated in studies on knowledge spillover, we find only small peer effects in wages. In the type of low-skilled occupations analyzed in extant studies on social pressure, in contrast, we find larger peer effects, about one-half the size of those identified in similar studies on productivity

Who benefits from universal child care? Estimating marginal returns to early child care attendance

We examine heterogeneous treatment effects of a universal child care program in Germany by exploiting variation in attendance caused by a reform that led to a large expansion staggered across municipalities. Drawing on novel administrative data from the full population of compulsory school entry examinations, we find that children with lower (observed and unobserved) gains are more likely to select into child care than children with higher gains. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to attend child care than children from advantaged backgrounds but have larger treatment effects because of their worse outcome when not enrolled in child care

Early School Exposure, Test Scores, and Noncognitive Outcomes

We estimate the effects of receiving additional schooling before age 5 on cognitive and noncognitive outcomes, exploiting unique school entry rules in England that cause variation in the age at school entry and the effective length of the first school year, and combining survey data with administrative school records up to 6 years after exposure. We find significant effects on both cognitive and noncognitive outcomes at ages 5 and 7, particularly so for boys with a disadvantaged parental background. At age 11, effects on cognitive outcomes have disappeared, while there is still evidence for effects on noncognitive outcomes

Viability of coaxial atomization for disintegration of cell solutions in cell spray applications

[EN] Treating Leukemia with intravenous stem cell transplantation represents a well-established therapy technique. For applications, that require high local cell concentrations, transplantation by conventional intravenous injection is less potent, due to cell distribution with blood circulation. Instead, spraying them directly onto the injured or diseased area shows promising results in various applications, e.g. superficial treatment of topographically challenging wounds, in situ seeding of cells on implants, deposition of cells in tubular organs for stem cell therapy. The present work aims for a basic knowledge about viability boundaries for coaxial cell-spray atomization and the reciprocal influence between cells in solution and primary breakup mechanics. A generic modular nozzle is developed, to ensures reproducible boundary conditions. Investigations are conducted regarding primary breakup and relations between resulting droplet size distribution and cell survival. Measurements are performed, utilizing microscopic high-speed visualization with suitable image post processing. Cell viability is analyzed using phase contrast microscopy prior and after atomization. A relation between Rayleigh-Taylor instability wavelength and droplet size distributions by means of Sauter mean diameter (SMD) and cell survival rate (CSR) is suggested. A power law is presented, exclusively dependent on dimensionless measures (λ⊥ ∼ Re−1/2We−1/3 ) which is found to be proportional to SMD and CSR.We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Excellence Initiative of the German federal state governments (Exploratory Research Space, RWTH Aachen University).Bieber, M.; Menzel, S.; Thiebes, A.; Cornelissen, C.; Jockenhoevel, S.; Kneer, R.; Reddemann, M. (2017). Viability of coaxial atomization for disintegration of cell solutions in cell spray applications. En Ilass Europe. 28th european conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 521-528. https://doi.org/10.4995/ILASS2017.2017.4609OCS52152

Templated Formation of Luminescent Virus-like Particles by Tailor-Made Pt(II) Amphiphiles

Virus-like particles (VLPs) have been created from luminescent Pt(II) complex amphiphiles, able to form supramolecular structures in water solutions, that can be encapsulated or act as templates of cowpea chlorotic mottle virus capsid proteins. By virtue of a bottom-up molecular design, icosahedral and nonicosahedral (rod-like) VLPs have been constructed through diverse pathways, and a relationship between the molecular structure of the complexes and the shape and size of the VLPs has been observed. A deep insight into the mechanism for the templated formation of the differently shaped VLPs was achieved, by electron microscopy measurements (TEM and STEM) and bulk analysis (FPLC, DLS, photophysical investigations). Interestingly, the obtained VLPs can be visualized by their intense emission at room temperature, generated by the self-assembly of the Pt(II) complexes. The encapsulation of the luminescent species is further verified by their higher emission quantum yields inside the VLPs, which is due to the confinement effect of the protein cage. These hybrid materials demonstrate the potential of tailor-made supramolecular systems able to control the assembly of biological building blocks.</p

A trade-off in activated biochar capping of complex sediment contamination: reduced PAH transport at the cost of potential As mobilisation

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The influence of annealings on structure and microhardness of Fe-Mo-V-Nb-C steel processed by high-pressure torsion

The influence of high-pressure torsion on microstructure, microhardness and thermal stability of lowcarbon steel Fe-0,1Mo-0,6Mn-0,8Cr-0,2Ni-0,3Si-0,2Cu-0,1V-0,06Nb-0,09C, (wt.%) was investigated. It was shown that ultrafine-grained structure formed by high-pressure torsion possesses a high microhardness (H[mu]=7,0 GPa) and high thermal stability up to the temperature of 400°С