Creative Class as a Determinant of Economic Development - Empirical Considerations for Northrhine-Westphalian Regions based on Time-Series Analysis

Since some years Richard Florida’s ideas on the creative class have attracted a great deal of theoretical and empirical attention. One part of his theory says that the “creative class†– people with highly creative and innovative abilities – are the driving force of regional economic development. The proposed paper empirically deals with this relationship; it describes some empirical research done for the regions (NUTS 3) of Northrhine-Westphalia which is a federal state of Germany. The regional distribution of creative people in Northrhine-Westphalia is described in the first chapter. The second chapter analyzes the relationship between the creative class and regional economic development. But unlike most other empirical research on that topic time series data for the period between 1999 and 2008 is used as a starting point. The time series analysis is completed by some additional cross-section regressions. The often mentioned criticism on Florida’s theory is accounted for by considering educational (i.e. human capital) versus occupational (i.e. the creative class) data for these regressions. The empirical results suggest that Florida’s thesis only holds true for a part of the Northrhine-Westphalian regions but not for the other part. Therefore cluster analysis is used to find out whether there are other conditions to be fulfilled by a region that a “creative-class-effect†on regional economic development arises. The main results of this cluster analysis will be presented in the third chapter. The paper ends with a summary and some concluding remarks.

Tayler instability of toroidal magnetic fields in MHD Taylor-Couette flows

The nonaxisymmetric 'kink-type' Tayler instability (TI) of toroidal magnetic fields is studied for conducting incompressible fluids of uniform density between two infinitely long cylinders rotating around the same axis. It is shown that for resting cylinders the critical Hartmann number for the unstable modes does not depend on Pm. By rigid rotation the instability is suppressed where the critical ratio of the rotation velocity and the Alfven velocity of the field (only) slightly depends on the magnetic Prandtl number Pm. For Pm=1 the rotational quenching of TI takes its maximum. Rotation laws with negative shear (i.e. d\Omega/dR<0) strongly destabilize the toroidal field if the rotation is not too fast. For sufficiently high Reynolds numbers of rotation the suppression of the nonaxisymmetric magnetic instability always dominates. The angular momentum transport of the instability is anticorrelated with the shear so that an eddy viscosity can be defined which proves to be positive. For negative shear the Maxwell stress of the perturbations remarkably contributes to the angular momentum transport. We have also shown the possibility of laboratory TI experiments with a wide-gap container filled with fluid metals like sodium or gallium. Even the effect of the rotational stabilization can be reproduced in the laboratory with electric currents of only a few kAmp.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, sub

Globalization and urban change

Intisari Kota-kota besar memiliki peranan yang cukup penting di dalam proses perubahan, terutama yang berhubungan dengan globalisasi sekarang ini. Namun demikian, tidak berarti bahwa setiap orang memiliki kebudayaan yang sama di dalam proses ini, dan perbedaan-perbedaan yang muncul justru merupakan sisi yang lain dan globalisasi. Kenyataan ini disebabkan oleh proses nasionalisasi yang terjadi mengiringi globalisasi. Kalaulah globalisasi dianggap sebagai integrasi ke dalam suatu sistem dunia, maka di masa-masa kolonial pun banyak negara berkembang terintegrasi ke claim suatu sistem administratif dan eksploitatif. Tulisan ini juga menolak penjelasan tentang era posmodernisme sekarang ini, dengan berpendapat bahwa modernitas dan rasionalitas belum sampai ke titik akhir dan pola hidup yang ada sekarang masih lebih bersifat modern. Keywords: era posmodernism

Managerial ownership dynamics and firm value

From 1988 to 2003, the average change in managerial ownership is significantly negative every year for American firms. We find that managers are more likely to significantly decrease their ownership when their firms are performing well, but not more likely to increase their ownership when their firms have poor performance. Because investors learn about the total change in managerial ownership with a lag, changes in Tobin's q in a period can be affected by changes in managerial ownership in the previous period. In an efficient market, it is unlikely that changes in managerial ownership in one period are caused by future changes in q. When controlling for past stock returns, we find that large increases in managerial ownership increase q. This result is driven by increases in shares held by officers, while increases in shares held by directors appear unrelated to changes in firm value. There is no evidence that large decreases in ownership have an adverse impact on firm value. We argue that our evidence cannot be wholly explained by existing theories and propose a managerial discretion theory of ownership consistent with our evidence.Firm valuation, director and officer ownership, ownership dynamics

Large-scale magnetic flux concentrations from turbulent stresses

In this study we provide the first numerical demonstration of the effects of turbulence on the mean Lorentz force and the resulting formation of large-scale magnetic structures. Using three-dimensional direct numerical simulations (DNS) of forced turbulence we show that an imposed mean magnetic field leads to a decrease of the turbulent hydromagnetic pressure and tension. This phenomenon is quantified by determining the relevant functions that relate the sum of the turbulent Reynolds and Maxwell stresses with the Maxwell stress of the mean magnetic field. Using such a parameterization, we show by means of two-dimensional and three-dimensional mean-field numerical modelling that an isentropic density stratified layer becomes unstable in the presence of a uniform imposed magnetic field. This large-scale instability results in the formation of loop-like magnetic structures which are concentrated at the top of the stratified layer. In three dimensions these structures resemble the appearance of bipolar magnetic regions in the Sun. The results of DNS and mean-field numerical modelling are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. We discuss our model in the context of a distributed solar dynamo where active regions and sunspots might be rather shallow phenomena.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, Astron. Nachr. (submitted

Socionic Multi-Agent Systems Based on Reflexive Petri Nets and Theories of Social Self-Organisation

This contribution summarises the core results of the transdisciplinary ASKO project, part of the German DFG's programme Sozionik, which combines sociologists' and computer scientists' skills in order to create improved theories and models of artificial societies. Our research group has (a) formulated a social theory, which is able to explain fundamental mechanisms of self-organisation in both natural and artificial societies, (b) modelled this in a mathematical way using a visual formalism, and (c) developed a novel multi-agent system architecture which is conceptually coherent, recursively structured (hence non-eclectic) and based on our social theory. The article presents an outline of both a sociological middle-range theory of social self-organisation in educational institutions, its formal, Petri net based model, including a simulation of one of its main mechanisms, and the multi-agent system architecture SONAR. It describes how the theory was created by a re-analysis of some grand social theories, by grounding it empirically, and finally how the theory was evaluated by modelling its concepts and statements.Multi-Agents Systems, Petri Nets, Self-Organisation, Social Theories

Shoulder flexibility and strength in elite girl tennis players with and without history of shoulder pain

This study aimed at comparing the glenohumeral (GH) range of motion, and shoulder and scapular muscle strength in elite girl tennis players with (group HoSP; n=15) and without (group H; n=16) history of shoulder pain. The GH joint range of motion in internal (IROM) and external rotation (EROM), as well as the maximal isometric strength of eight shoulder and scapular muscles were bilaterally assessed in 31 girl players. The results showed an increased IROM in HoSP, suggesting a laxity, which may contribute to humeral translation motions in the glenoid cavity at critical tennis positions. The HoSP group also presented a weakness in serratus anterior muscle strength, which may create improper motions of the scapula during the tennis strokes. These findings suggested that stretching and strengthening rehabilitative programs may be specifically developed for the young girl athletes involved in an intensive overhead activity practice

Evaluation and improvement of an iterative scattering correction scheme for in situ absorption and attenuation measurements

The performance of several scattering correction schemes for reflecting-tube absorption and beam attenuation measurements is evaluated with data collected in European shelf seas. Standard scattering correction procedures for absorption measurements perform poorly because of nonzero absorption in the near infrared and wavelength-dependent scattering phase functions. A previously described iterative correction procedure based on Monte Carlo simulations of the Western Environmental Technologies Laboratories (WET Labs) ac-9 and independent estimates of particle backscattering initially performs poorly, but is greatly improved when realistic losses at flow-tube walls are incorporated into the model. The updated Monte Carlo scattering correction provides excellent agreement with independent absorption and attenuation measurements made with a point-source integrating-cavity absorption meter (PSICAM) and a Laser In Situ Scattering and Transmissometer (LISST, Sequoia Scientific), respectively. Implications for historic datasets and requirements for application to future datasets are discussed

Paciente seguro: criando estratégias para reduzir erros decorrentes de administração de medicamentos

TCC(especialização) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro de Ciências da Saúde. Programa de Pós-graduação em Enfermagem. Linhas de Cuidado em Urgência e EmergênciaO estudo objetivou construir e aplicar um checklist como estratégia na redução de erros decorrentes da administração de medicamentos antimicrobianos em uma unidade de internação hospitalar, promovendo assim a segurança do paciente. Trata-se de um projeto de intervenção em que o produto é uma tecnologia de cuidado e de administração. O local de desenvolvimento foi uma unidade de clínica médica de um hospital geral do município de Salvador/BA. A fim de verificar a eficácia do checklist foi realizado um quadro comparativo antes e após a aplicação do instrumento entre os meses de outubro e novembro de 2012. Identificou-se um decréscimo de 52% na devolução de antimicrobianos à farmácia após a implantação do checklist sugerindo sua efetividade e contribuição ainda que indireta na redução de erros decorrentes de administração desses medicamentos. Estratégias simples, de baixo custo e fácil aplicabilidade como ações de educação permanente, treinamento em serviço, utilização de checklist permitem uma reflexão sobre a temática abordada, conscientização da equipe e transformação das práticas de trabalho. A relevância deste estudo consiste em apresentar novas práticas como medidas de enfrentamento relacionadas a erros na administração de medicamentos, bem como incentivar a aplicação destas medidas no cotidiano do serviço