The Sociology of the Life Course and Life Span Psychology: Integrated Paradigm or Complementing Pathways?

The psychology of the life span and the sociology of the life course share the same object of scientific inquiry - the lives of women and men from birth to death. Both are part of an interdisciplinary field focused on individual development and life course patterns which also includes social demography and human capital economics. However, a closer look shows that life span psychology and life course sociology now to stand further apart than in the seventies. In this paper we reassess how this divergence can be understood in terms of necessary and legitimate strengths of both approaches, as well as avoidable weaknesses which could be overcome in the future by more re-combination and integration.

Private Sector Participation in Water and Sanitation for Developing Countries

Wasserversorgung, Privatisierung, Regulierung, Entwicklungsländer, Water supply, Privatization, Regulation, Developing countries

The NAIRU - Concept: A Few Remarks

This note gives a brief survey of main theoretical and empirical issues with respect to the NAIRU concept. According to modern labour market literature NAIRU is defined as the rate of unemployment at which inflation stabilizes in the absence of any wage-price surprises. Conventional thinking about the equilibrium unemployment rate assumes that in the long run NAIRU is determined solely by supply side factors of the labour market. We show that quite complex adjustment dynamics may arise even in simple log-linear wage-price models. Furthermore we provide a survey on a number of "hysteresis-mechanisms" which could lead to permanent shifts of equilibrium unemployment over time, implying that an unique long run NAIRU may not even exist. In addition to theoretical issues we refer to two serious problems which might arise with empirical applications of the NAIRU concept. First various empirical studies suggest that results highly depend on model specifications. Second a considerable amount of statistical imprecision is inherent in the results obtained from empirical estimates. For these reasons, we argue, that policy conclusions drawn from the NAIRU concept must be judged with utmost care, particularly since in many countries a number of labour market measures as well as monetary policy are based on this concept.NAIRU, Hysteresis Mechanisms

Response to Frequency Shifted Artificial Echoes in the Bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum

In 5 roosting bats the resting frequency, that is the mean frequency of the cf-portion of consecutive sounds, is kept constant with a standard deviation which varies between 30 120 Hz in different bats and at different days. In 15 bats the emitted sounds were electronically shifted in frequency and played back as artificial echoes. Upward frequency shifts were responded by a decrease of the emission frequency. This frequency compensation occurred at frequency shifts of up to 4400 Hz in all bats and up to 6000 ttz in a few bats. The frequency decrease in different bats over the whole compensation range was 50-300 tIz smaller than the frequency shifts in the echoes. The echoes, therefore, returned at a frequency, called the reference frequency, which was by this compensation offset higher than the resting frequency. The standard deviations of the emission frequency in compensating bats were only slightly larger than in roosting bats and the same in the whole compensation range. All bats started to compensate frequency shifts when they were slightly larger than the compensation offset. Downward frequency shifts were not responded by a change of the emission frequency, but the accuracy with which the emission frequency was kept decreased somewhat. From these results it is concluded that the Doppler shift compensation system of the Horseshoe bats compares the echo frequency with the reference frequency and compensates deviations of upward frequency shifts

Origin of anomalous Xe-H in presolar diamonds: Indications of a "cold" r-process

We report on a concerted effort aimed at understanding the nucleosynthesis origin of Xe-H in presolar nanodiamonds. Previously explored possible explanations have included a secondary neutron-burst process occurring in the He-shell of a type II supernova (SN), as well as a rapid separation, between unstable precursor isobars of a primary r-process, and stable Xe isotopes. Here we present results from the investigation of a rapid neutron-capture scenario in core-collapse SNe with different non-standard r-process variants. Our calculations are performed in the framework of the high-entropy-wind (HEW) scenario using updated nuclear-physics input. We explore the consequences of varying the wind expansion velocity (Vexp) for selected electron fractions (Ye) with their correlated entropy ranges (S), and neutron-freezeout temperatures (T9(freeze)) and timescales (tau-r(freeze). We draw several conclusions: For Xe-H a "cold" r-process with a fast freezeout seems to be the favored scenario. Furthermore, eliminating the low-S range (i.e. the "weak" r-process component) and maintaining a pure "main" or even "strong" r-process leads to an optimum overall agreement with the measured iXe/136Xe abundance ratios. Our results can provide valuable additional insight into overall astrophysical conditions of producing the r-process part of the total SS heavy elements in explosive nucleosynthesis scenarios.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures XII International Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos, August 5-12, 2012, Cairns, Australi

Theory of invariants-based formulation of k⋅p{\bf k}\cdot{\bf p} Hamiltonians with application to strained zinc-blende crystals

Group theoretical methods and ${\bf k}\cdot{\bf p}$ theory are combined to determine spin-dependent contributions to the effective conduction band Hamiltonian. To obtain the constants in the effective Hamiltonian, in general all invariants of the Hamiltonian have to be determined. Hence, we present a systematic approach to keep track of all possible invariants and apply it to the ${\bf k}\cdot{\bf p}$ Hamiltonian of crystals with zinc-blende symmetry, in order to obtain all possible contributions to effective quantities such as effective mass, g-factor and Dresselhaus constant. Further spin-dependent contributions to the effective Hamiltonian arise in the presence of strain. In particular, with regard to the constants $C_3$ and $D$ which describe spin-splitting linear in the components of ${\bf k}$ and ${\boldsymbol\varepsilon}$, considering all possible terms allowed by symmetry is crucial.Comment: 17 pages (preprint style

Anomalous transport resolved in space and time by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

A ubiquitous observation in crowded cell membranes is that molecular transport does not follow Fickian diffusion but exhibits subdiffusion. The microscopic origin of such a behaviour is not understood and highly debated. Here we discuss the spatio-temporal dynamics for two models of subdiffusion: fractional Brownian motion and hindered motion due to immobile obstacles. We show that the different microscopic mechanisms can be distinguished using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) by systematic variation of the confocal detection area. We provide a theoretical framework for space-resolved FCS by generalising FCS theory beyond the common assumption of spatially Gaussian transport. We derive a master formula for the FCS autocorrelation function, from which it is evident that the beam waist of an FCS experiment is a similarly important parameter as the wavenumber of scattering experiments. These results lead to scaling properties of the FCS correlation for both models, which are tested by in silico experiments. Further, our scaling prediction is compatible with the FCS half-value times reported by Wawrezinieck et al. [Biophys. J. 89, 4029 (2005)] for in vivo experiments on a transmembrane protein.Comment: accepted for publication in Soft Matte

Design is Everything?

This essay attempts to demarcate the industrial practice of product design and situate it in the context of academic research. The term product design presents definitional challenges, as it is used in practice in different ways, and even varies in usage regionally. For this article, product design is “conceiving and giving form to goods and services that address needs.” The activity of product design can be thought of as comprising several key decisions. Because the decisions of product design do not map cleanly to any one academic discipline, the subject has not garnered enough attention in any one field to develop fully its own academic identity. Scholarly research in product design has often been cultivated by the emergence of a methodological paradigm. While several such paradigms are in use, several others offer substantial promise

The impact of unemployment on the transition to parenthood

This paper seeks to advance our understanding about the impact of unemployment on fertility. From a theoretical perspective, both negative and positive effects might be expected. Existing empirical studies have produced contradictory results, partly because of varying institutional contexts, the use of different measures, and left-censoring problems. We address these theoretical and methodological problems in the extant literature. Our data comes from the German Life History Study (GLHS) and, in particular, the data on the 1971 cohort, which was collected in two representative and retrospective surveys conducted in East and West Germany in 1996-1998 and 2005. Using monthly information, we perform event history analysis to identify the timing of fertility for both men and women conditional on a number of covariates. We present our results as a comparison between East and West Germany, as the institutional contexts, the labour markets, and the value systems differ considerably between the two parts of the German state.parenthood, transition, unemployment

Development of a Nonlinear Estimator-Based Model of Pilot Performance During Brownout Conditions

During conditions of visual occlusion, pilots are forced to rapidly adapt their scan to accommodate the new observable states via instruments rather than the visual environment. During this transition, the provision of aircraft state information via other than visual modalities improves pilot performance presumably through the increase in situational awareness provided immediately following the visual occlusion event. The Tactile Situational Awareness System (TSAS) was developed to provide continuous position information to the pilot via tactile rather than visual means. However, as a low-resolution display, significant preprocessing of information is required to maximize utility of this new technology. Development of a nonlinear time varying estimator based multivariable model enables more accurate reproduction of pilot performance than previous models and provides explanations of many observed phenomena. The use of LQR feedback and an optimal estimator is heuristically consistent with reported strategies and was able to match pilot incorporation of multi-modal displays. Development of a nonlinear stochastic map of pilot move-and-hold control performance was able to accurately match increased pilot control noise at higher frequencies, a phenomenon formerly attributed to closed loop neuromuscular effects. The continued improvement of this model could eventually result in the early stage mathematical prediction of the effectiveness of emerging cockpit technology and preprocessing algorithms, prior to costly hardware development and flight evaluation