Globalisierung, Wettbewerb und Bildungspolitik

"Wettbewerb" und "Bildungspolitik" stehen in zweifacher Hinsicht im Zusammenhang: Erstens erfordert der internationale Wettbewerb den Erhalt und Ausbau des deutschen Humankapitalbestands. Damit dabei die Ressourcen effizient eingesetzt werden, ist es zweitens notwendig, mehr Wettbewerbselemente in das Bildungssystem einzuführen. Im Schulwesen spricht dies für eine Stärkung der Autonomie der Schulen und der Rolle der Eltern bzw. der erwachsenen Schüler als Nachfrager des Bildungsangebots bei staatlich zu gewährleistender Qualitätssicherung. Im Universitätsbereich ist das Missverhältnis von staatlichem Einfluss und seiner ökonomischen Legitimation besonders eklatant. Der zentrale Reformansatz ist hier die Einführung von Studiengebühren bei einer Stärkung von Handlungsspielraum und -verantwortung der Universitäten.Globalisierung, Bildung, Studiengebühren

Can EU Conditionality Remedy Soft Budget Constraints in Transition Countries?

Soft budget constraints (SBCs) are a persistent feature of transition economies and have been blamed for i.a. a lack of fiscal consolidation and sluggish growth. EU eastward enlargement has - among other things - been conditioned on tackling SBCs. This paper analyzes such outside conditionality theoretically and empirically. First, modelling the SBC problem as a war of attrition between the applicant countries' governments and firms we find that outside conditionality can foster SBC hardening. Yet, toughening the EU stance or reducing the number of enlargement rounds may have ambiguous effects. Second, estimating SBC hardening in a partial adjustment model by measuring the reaction of employment to output changes we find that EU conditionality did indeed help candidates to fight SBCs.soft budget constraint, EU enlargement, war of attrition

Doorkeepers and Gatecrashers: EU Enlargement and Negotiation Strategies

This paper discusses the eastward enlargement process of the EU in the framework of a simple war of attrition bargaining game. Both players - the existing EU members and the applicants - benefit from enlargement, yet for the applicants reform to the acquis is costly, while the EU prefers substantially reformed candidates. A waiting game unfolds. Within this framework the present enlargement round is analyzed and policy results are deduced. For example, it is shown that delegating the evaluation of applicants to a third party, compensating applicants for their reform efforts or increasing the benefits for new members are all effective negotiation strategies for the EU that have been applied in the process.EU enlargement, eastern enlargement, bargaining, reform, war of attrition.

Aerosol number to volume ratios in Southwest Portugal during ACE-2

Past studies have indicated that long-term averages of the aerosol number to volume ratios (defined as the number of particles larger than a certain diameter divided by the particle volume over some range less than 1 μm) show little variability over the Atlantic. This work presents number to volume ratios (R) measured during the ACE-2 experiment on the land-based Sagres field site located in Southwest Portugal. The values of R measured in Sagres compare reasonably well with previous measurements over the Atlantic. The main emphasis of this work is therefore to investigate more closely possible reasons for the observed stability of the number to volume ratio. Aerosol number size distributions measured in Sagres are parametrized by the sum of two log-normal distributions fitted to the accumulation and to the Aitken mode. The main factor that limits the variability of R is that the parameters of these log-normal distributions are not always independent but show some covariance. In polluted air mass types correlations between parameters of the Aitken and accumulation mode are mostly responsible for stabilizing R. In marine air mass types the variability of R is reduced by an inverse relationship between the accumulation-mode mean diameter and standard deviation, consistent with condensational processes and cloud processing working on the aerosol. However, despite this reduction, the variability of R in marine air mass types is still considerable and R is linearly dependent on the number concentration of particles larger than 90 nm. This partly due to a mil of Aitken-mode particles extending to sizes larger than 90 nm

Eurokrise, Energiewende, Konjunkturabkühlung: Ende des deutschen Jobwunders?

Welche Determinanten sind für das »deutsche Jobwunder« verantwortlich? Dieter Hundt, Bundesvereinigung der Deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände, sieht hinter dem Erfolg das verantwortliche Handeln der Tarifpartner, die Nutzung von Arbeitszeitkonten und richtige politische Entscheidungen etwa beim Kurzarbeitergeld. Dies zeige, dass die Tarifautonomie in Deutschland selbst unter extremen Bedingungen gut funktioniert. Frank-Jürgen Weise, Bundesagentur für Arbeit, Nürnberg, geht davon aus, dass es auch 2012 noch eine positive Entwicklung am Arbeitsmarkt geben wird und die Arbeitslosenzahl unter der Marke von 3 Millionen bleibt. Die gute Arbeitsmarktentwicklung lässt sich nach Ansicht von Hagen Lesch, Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln, auf drei Einflüsse zurückführen: auf das Horten von Arbeitskräften während der Krise, auf eine moderate Lohnpolitik und auf die Arbeitsmarktreformen der Jahre 2003 bis 2005. Wolfgang Lechthaler, Institut für Weltwirtschaft, und Christian Merkl, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, erwarten, unter der Bedingung einer glaubwürdigen Haushaltskonsolidierung in Südeuropa bei gleichzeitiger Reduktion der Leistungsbilanzdefizite, nur moderate rezessive Schocks für Deutschland. Der deutsche Arbeitsmarkt verfüge über die Voraussetzungen, um einen sanften Abschwung zu absorbieren.Arbeitsmarkt, Arbeitsmarktflexibilität, Deutschland

BMP2-induced chemotaxis requires PI3K p55γ/p110α-dependent phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-triphosphate production and LL5β recruitment at the cytocortex

Background: BMP-induced chemotaxis of mesenchymal progenitors is fundamental for vertebrate development, disease and tissue repair. BMP2 induces Smad and non-Smad signalling. Whereas signal transduction via Smads lead to transcriptional responses, non-Smad signalling induces both, transcriptional and immediate/early non-transcriptional responses. However, the molecular mechanisms by which BMP2 facilitates planar cell polarity, cortical actin rearrangements, lamellipodia formation and chemotaxis of mesenchymal progenitors are poorly understood. Our aim was to uncover the molecular mechanism by which BMP2 facilitates chemotaxis via the BMP2-dependent activation of PI3K and spatiotemporal control of PIP3 production important for actin rearrangements at the mesenchymal cell cytocortex. Results: We unveiled the molecular mechanism by which BMP2 induces non-Smad signalling by PI3K and the role of the second messenger PIP3 in BMP2-induced planar cell polarity, cortical actin reorganisation and lamellipodia formation. By using protein interaction studies, we identified the class Ia PI3K regulatory subunit p55γ to act as a specific and non-redundant binding partner for BMP receptor type II (BMPRII) in concert with the catalytic subunit p110α. We mapped the PI3K interaction to a region within the BMPRII kinase. Either BMP2 stimulation or increasing amounts of BMPRI facilitated p55γ association with BMPRII, but BMPRII kinase activity was not required for the interaction. We visualised BMP2-dependent PIP3 production via PI3K p55γ/p110α and were able to localise PIP3 to the leading edge of intact cells during the process of BMP2-induced planar cell polarity and actin dependent lamellipodia formation. Using mass spectrometry, we found the highly PIP3-sensitive PH-domain protein LL5β to act as a novel BMP2 effector in orchestrating cortical actin rearrangements. By use of live cell imaging we found that knock-down of p55γ or LL5β or pharmacological inhibition of PI3K impaired BMP2-induced migratory responses. Conclusions: Our results provide evidence for an important contribution of the BMP2-PI3K (p55γ/p110α)- PIP3-LL5β signalling axis in mesenchymal progenitor cell chemotaxis. We demonstrate molecular insights into BMP2-induced PI3K signalling on the level of actin reorganisation at the leading edge cytocortex. These findings are important to better understand BMP2–induced cytoskeletal reorganisation and chemotaxis of mesenchymal progenitors in different physiological or pathophysiological contexts

Sub-system mechanical design for an eLISA optical bench

We present the design and development status of the opto-mechanical sub-systems that will be used in an experimental demonstration of imaging systems for eLISA. An optical bench test bed design incorporates a Zerodur® baseplate with lenses, photodetectors, and other opto-mechanics that must be both adjustable - with an accuracy of a few micrometers - and stable over a 0 to 40°C temperature range. The alignment of a multi-lens imaging system and the characterisation of the system in multiple degrees of freedom is particularly challenging. We describe the mechanical design of the precision mechanisms, including thermally stable flexure-based optical mounts and complex multi-lens, multi-axis adjuster mechanisms, and update on the integration of the mechanisms on the optical bench

Intelligente Wechselbrückensteuerung für die Logistik von Morgen

Die Logistik ist einer der wichtigsten Zweige der Volkswirtschaft. Die effiziente Gestaltung der in sie involvierten Prozesse ist daher, gerade angesichts des zu erwartenden Rückgangs der Ölfördermenge sowie des bekanntermaßen schädlichen Einflusses von CO2 auf das Klima, von hoher Wichtigkeit. Dennoch gibt es auf diesem Bereich viele bisher nur unzureichend gelöste Probleme. In diesem Beitrag wird das INWEST-System vorgestellt, das sowohl eine praktische Transportplanung als auch ein Informationssystem, welche alle an der Transportkette beteiligte Nutzer und Komponenten verbindet, zur Verfügung stellt

Site-selective modification of proteins for the synthesis of structurally defined multivalent scaffolds

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.A combination of classical site-directed mutagenesis, genetic code engineering and bioorthogonal reactions delivered a chemically modified barstar protein with one or four carbohydrates installed at specific residues. These protein conjugates were employed in multivalent binding studies, which support the use of proteins as structurally defined scaffolds for the presentation of multivalent ligands.DFG, SFB 765, Multivalenz als chemisches Organisations- und Wirkprinzip: Neue Architekturen, Funktionen und Anwendunge