Der neue Armutsseismograf – die "Tafeln" : wer engagiert sich in dieser sozialen Bewegung? ; Studie zu Helfern und bedürftigen Menschen

Rezension zu: Stefan Selke: Fast ganz unten. Wie man in Deutschland durch die Hilfe von Lebensmitteltafeln satt wird. Verlag Westfälisches Dampfboot, Münster 2008. ISBN 978-3-89691-754-6 231 Seiten, 19,90 Euro

Stochastic Resonance in Chaotic Spin-Wave Dynamics

We report the first experimental observation of noise-free stochastic resonance by utilizing the intrinsic chaotic dynamics of the system. To this end we have investigated the effect of an external periodic modulation on intermittent signals observed by high power ferromagnetic resonance in yttrium iron garnet spheres. Both the signal-to-noise ratio and the residence time distributions show the characteristic features of stochastic resonance. The phenomena can be explained by means of a one-dimensional intermittent map. We present analytical results as well as computer simulations.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 5 eps figures included, also available "via www http://athene.fkp.physik.th-darmstadt.de/public/wolfram.html" or "via ftp ftp://athene.fkp.physik.th-darmstadt.de/pub/publications/wolfram/", Phys. Rev. Lett. in pres

Energy Model of Networks-on-Chip and a Bus

A Network-on-Chip (NoC) is an energy-efficient onchip communication architecture for Multi-Processor Systemon-Chip (MPSoC) architectures. In earlier papers we proposed two Network-on-Chip architectures based on packet-switching and circuit-switching. In this paper we derive an energy model for both NoC architectures to predict their energy consumption per transported bit. Both architectures are also compared with a traditional bus architecture. The energy model is primarily needed to find a near optimal run-time mapping (from an energy point of view) of inter-process communication to NoC link

Energy-Efficient NoC for Best-Effort Communication

A Network-on-Chip (NoC) is an energy-efficient on-chip communication architecture forMulti-Processor System-on-Chip (MPSoC) architectures. In an earlier paper we proposed a energy-efficient reconfigurable circuit-switched NoC to reduce the energy consumption compared to a packetswitched NoC. In this paper we investigate a chordal slotted ring and a bus architecture that can be used to handle the best-effort traffic in the system and configure the circuitswitched network. Both architectures are compared on their latency behavior and power consumption. At the same clock frequency, the chordal ring has the major benefit of a lower latency and higher throughput. But the bus has a lower overall power consumption at the same frequency. However, if we tune the frequency of the network to meet the throughput requirements of control network, we see that the ring consumes less energy per transported bit

In vivo evaluation of recombinant Vaccinia virus MVA delivering ancestral H9 hemagglutinin antigen of Avian Influenza virus

Avian Influenza (AI) viruses pose a threat to human and animal health and are responsible for potential economic losses. From the waterfowl reservoir, these RNA viruses can be transmitted to domestic poultry and humans, causing illness and death among people as well as mass culling of farm birds worldwide. This study contributes to increasing the knowledge by evaluating a promising poxvirus-based vector vaccine that carries and expresses an artificial, computationally derived hemagglutinin sequence in order to induce immunity against low pathogenic avian influenza H9N2. Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) based vaccines have been tested in multiple human and animal trials and proved to be a safe and reliable vector system. The ancestral strategy uses a hemagglutinin sequence located at the node of a phylogenetic tree which arranges virus strains according to their evolutionary relationship. Inactivated whole virus vaccines engineered this way have conferred cross-clade protection in the ferret model of influenza A virus infections. In the present study, we aimed at testing the ancestral H9N2 MVA vaccine in the chicken model. Hereby, we tried to find answers to the following questions: What levels of H9 specific antibody responses are induced in chicken? Do the antibodies elicited by the ancestral H9 antigen cross-react with H9 antigens from other virus strains? Do the induced antibodies confer protection

"... dann wird die Rente nicht mehr das sein, was sie vielleicht für meine Eltern noch ist" : Alterssicherung und Alterssicherungspolitik aus Sicht der Bevölkerung

Das deutsche Rentensystem und der Generationenvertrag sind unter Druck geraten. Demografische Verschiebungen, anhaltende Massenarbeitslosigkeit sowie die Übertragung des westdeutschen Systems der Altersvorsorge auf die neuen Bundesländer führten zu einem Paradigmenwechsel in der Alterssicherungspolitik. Durch die mit der Riester-Förderung eingeführte private Altersvorsorge, das Alterseinkünftegesetz und die 2006 beschlossene sukzessive Erhöhung des Renteneintrittsalters auf 67 Jahre im Jahre 2029 sind die rentenpolitischen Konsolidierungsmaßnahmen vorerst zu einem Abschluss gekommen. Der Generationenvertrag, nach dem »der Anspruch der Rentner auf Sicherung ihres Lebensstandards und der Anspruch der Beitragszahler auf Berücksichtigung ihrer Leistungsfähigkeit gleichermaßen beachtet werden müssen«/1/, wurde somit durch die Stärkung der privaten und betrieblichen Vorsorge und eine Verlängerung der Lebensarbeitszeit ergänzt. ..

Quantum State Tomography via Compressed Sensing

We establish methods for quantum state tomography based on compressed sensing. These methods are specialized for quantum states that are fairly pure, and they offer a significant performance improvement on large quantum systems. In particular, they are able to reconstruct an unknown density matrix of dimension d and rank r using O(rdlog^2d) measurement settings, compared to standard methods that require d^2 settings. Our methods have several features that make them amenable to experimental implementation: they require only simple Pauli measurements, use fast convex optimization, are stable against noise, and can be applied to states that are only approximately low rank. The acquired data can be used to certify that the state is indeed close to pure, so no a priori assumptions are needed

Subjektive und objektive Lebenslagen von Arbeitslosen

Das Diskussionspapier thematisiert die objektive und subjektive Lebenslage von Arbeitslosen in Deutschland im Vergleich zur Gesamtbevölkerung. Die Ergebnisse indizieren eine deutlich schlechtere materielle, d. h. objektive Lebenslage der Arbeitslosen. Dies reflektiert sich in den auf Wohlstandskategorien bezogenen subjektivenIndikatoren, weniger aber in den Bewertungen immaterieller Wohlfahrtskategorien. Hier scheint vor allem der Familienzusammenhang als sozialer Rückhalt von Relevanz zu sein. Gegenüber den aktuellen arbeitsmarktpolitischen Instrumenten - insbesondere gegenüber "Hartz IV" - scheinen in der bundesdeutschen Bevölkerung teilweise deutliche Vorbehalte zu existieren.Life-satisfaction, satisfaction in domains of life, unemployment

Wohlstandspolarisierung, Verteilungskonflikte und Ungleichheitswahrnehmungen in Deutschland

The connections between the polarization of living conditions, social conflicts concerning the distribution of resources and the perception of social inequality in Germany will be picked out as a central theme. By means of empirical findings it becomes clear that the degree of inequality and polarization with respect to the living conditions - both measured by the wellbeing indicator income - has increased in the Federal Republic of Germany during the recent past. This is accompanied by the fact that the perceived intensity of the socially especially important conflict between the poor and the rich has grown not only slightly. In this connection particularly for the disadvantaged groups - and beneath this in a pronounced manner for the (permanently) unemployed persons - there is a relatively high potential of dissatisfaction. Thisincludes some dangers for the democracy and the social stability in Germany although in an EU-27 perspective - at least in Western Germany - these dangers are rather ranked to a middle level which means that in this international relativity only a middle level of danger is indicated for (Western) Germany.Life-satisfaction, satisfaction with democracy