Skills Obsolescence: Causes and Cures

Until now there has been surprisingly little research on the causes of and the remedies for skills obsolescence. This study tries to fill that gap to some extent by analysing the relation between risk factors and skills obsolescence. Moreover, the role remedies play to counter skills obsolescence is analysed. Four empirical analyses that relate skills obsolescence to risk factors and remedies are presented. We find that most risk factors identified in the literature can be validated empirically. The remedies for skills obsolescence are not effective in all situations: the results show that there is considerable variation in the effectiveness of the remedies across different types of skills obsolescence. Although current available data does not allow a comprehensive analysis, which also takes account of relations between the various types of skills obsolescence, the results obtained are plausible and offer a starting point for further research.education, training and the labour market;

Ecologisch profiel van het Nonnetje (<i>Macoma balthica</i>)

(See below for English summary) Het Nonnetje (Macoma balthica) is een voor de ondiepe kustwateren van Nederland karakteristiel tweekleppig schelpdier dat ondiep ingegraven in de bodem leeft. Vooral op de bij laag water droog vallende platen in het Waddenzeegebied en in Ooster- en Westerschelde is het een belangrijke soort. Het Nonnetje is in het project Watersysteemverkenningen (WSV) gekozen als doelvariabele om de milieukwaliteit van de Nederlandse zoute wateren te toetsen. In het Ecoprofiel komt naar voren dat dichtheid en biomassa van het Nonnetje beïnvloedbaar zijn door de mate van eutrofiëring van onze kustwateren. Zo wordt de in de laatste decennia toegenomen dichtheid en biomassa in de westelijke Waddenzee in verband gebracht met eutrofiëring door afvoer van voedingsstoffen (o.a. vanuit het IJsselmeer). In het oostelijk deel van de Westerschelde heeft verontreiniging een nadelige invloed gehad op de ontwikkeling van populaties van het Nonnetje. Oudere dieren ontbreken hier nagenoeg. Storten van baggerspecie heeft pas dan negatief effect op lokaal aanwezige Nonnetjes als meer dan 10 cm slib wordt afgezet. Ze raken dan definitief begraven en overleven niet. -English- The Baltic Tellin (Macoma balthica) is a characteristic and common bivalve mollusc in Dutch coastal waters. It lives shallowly buried in the sediment, and is especially abundant at intertidal flats in Wadden Sea, Oosterschelde and Westerschelde. In the 'Aquatic Outlook' project the species was chosen as a sentinel organism for measuring environmental quality of coastal waters. The data compiled in this document suggest that abundance and biomass of Macoma balthica may be dependent of the degree of eutrophication of our coastal waters. In fact, the increase in abundance and biomass during the last t w o decades observed in the western Dutch Wadden Sea has been related to the discharge of nutrients f r om lake IJsselmeer. In the eastern part of the Westerschelde pollution had a negative effect on the development of populations of Macoma balthica. Older specimens are hardly present here. Dumping of dredged material will affect local populations of Macoma balthica only if more than ca. 10 cm of fine sediment is deposited. The animals then get buried and do not survive.Watersysteemverkenningen (WSV) 199

When a New Platform Enters a Market, What Is the Impact on Incumbents?

Digital platforms enable new forms of business models with the potential to disrupt and transform many industries. However, the impact of a platform’s market entry on incumbents has not been taken into account. In this article, our objective is to provide evidence of the impact that a platform’s market entry could have on incumbents. We proposed several hypotheses based on a literature review and then evaluated them using a large dataset from the taxi industry in New York City. Our analysis showed several changes after a platform’s market entry. In contrast to previous understanding, the results indicate that the winner-takes-it-all-effect does not generally apply to the competition between new platforms and incumbents. Regarding the date of changes following a platform’s market entry, we observed a chicken-or-egg problem in the competition between a platform and incumbents. Consequently, our results indicate that incumbents have at least one year to react to the market entry and to make adjustments

Recent changes in the freshwater composition east of Greenland

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 42 (2015): 2326–2332, doi:10.1002/2014GL062759.Results from three hydrographic surveys across the East Greenland Current between 2011 and 2013 are presented with focus on the freshwater sources. End-member analysis using salinity, δ18O, and nutrient data shows that while meteoric water dominated the freshwater content, a significant amount of Pacific freshwater was present near Denmark Strait with a maximum in August 2013. While in 2011 and 2012 the net sea ice melt was dominated by brine, in 2013 it became close to zero. The amount of Pacific freshwater observed near Denmark Strait in 2013 is as large as the previous maximum in 1998. This, together with the decrease in meteoric water and brine, suggests a larger contribution from the Canadian Basin. We hypothesize that the increase of Pacific freshwater is the result of enhanced flux through Bering Strait and a shorter pathway of Pacific water through the interior Arctic to Fram Strait.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 2007–2013) under grant agreement 308299, NACLIM Project, and from the U.S. National Science Foundation under grant OCE-085041.2015-10-0

Absolute isotope ratios of carbon dioxide a feasibility study

One way of obtaining isotope ratios, traceable to the International System of Units, is the gravimetric isotope mixtures method. Adapting this method to carbon dioxide is challenging since measuring all twelve isotopologues at once with a gas mass spectrometer is currently not possible. The calculation of the mass bias correction factors is no straightforward task due to the fact that the isotopic equilibrium has to be considered. This publication demonstrates a potential way of adapting this method to carbon dioxide while considering isotope equilibrium. We also show how we prepared binary blends from enriched/depleted carbon dioxide parent gases and how equilibrating the different gases by heating affects the measurements. Furthermore, we reveal mathematical limitations of our approach when the gases are not in isotope equilibrium and which issues occur due to measurement limitations. In a simulation, using authentic data, we asses our approach in terms of achievable uncertainties and discuss further improvements, like using atomic spectroscopy methods

Indeling van Nederlandse gronden : hoe vroeger?

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