Machbarkeitsstudie für eine empirische Analyse von Hemmnissen für die Verbreitung der betrieblichen Altersversorgung in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (Machbarkeitsstudie BAV in KMU) : Endbericht

Infolge der Rentenreformmaßnahmen in der Vergangenheit kann der Lebensstandard im Alter nicht mehr allein mit den Leistungen der gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung aufrechterhalten werden. Noch mehr als in der Vergangenheit sollte die Altersvorsorge im Rahmen der gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung durch zusätzliche Altersvorsorge im Rahmen der betrieblichen Altersversorgung und/oder der privaten Altersvorsorge ergänzt werden. Vor diesem Hintergrund besteht ein großes Interesse, mehr über die Ursachen der geringeren Verbreitung von BAV-Lösungen in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen, insbesondere in Kleinstunternehmen, zu erfahren und möglichst konkrete Ansatzpunkte zur Steigerung des Verbreitungsgrades der BAV bei den Unternehmen und deren Arbeitnehmern zu finden

Contribution of ecosystem services to air quality and climate change mitigation policies : the case of urban forests in Barcelona, Spain

Mounting research highlights the contribution of ecosystem services provided by urban forests to quality of life in cities, yet these services are rarely explicitly considered in environmental policy targets. We quantify regulating services provided by urban forests and evaluate their contribution to comply with policy targets of air quality and climate change mitigation in the municipality of Barcelona, Spain. We apply the i-Tree Eco model to quantify in biophysical and monetary terms the ecosystem services "air purification," "global climate regulation," and the ecosystem disservice "air pollution" associated with biogenic emissions. Our results show that the contribution of urban forests regulating services to abate pollution is substantial in absolute terms, yet modest when compared to overall city levels of air pollution and GHG emissions. We conclude that in order to be effective, green infrastructure-based efforts to offset urban pollution at the municipal level have to be coordinated with territorial policies at broader spatial scales

Mindfulness in cooperation and the psychodynamics in high-reliability-organizations

High reliability can be seen as a quality of collective and collaborative work activities which ensure that damages and disasters are avoided. Especially dealing with advanced technologies – like infrastructures of energy or medical supply or information processing – require high reliability since damage can be extensive. According to research conducted by Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe, this particular quality of ‘high reliability’ at work emerges from collaborative activities and dynamics in teams. It is called ‘mindfulness’ which indicates that workers are prepared to notice relevant changes in complex processes and to anticipate risk that will need intervention. However, explanations of mindfulness often refer to the individual mind only. The teams’ capacity to collaborate intellectually remains the question. The theoretical problem consists in determining the relationship between the organizational and the individual plane of development. Therefore, a model to understand the psychodynamics of mindfulness in cooperation is presented and explained in view of the scientification of work. Against this background, societal problems of collaboration within competitive occupational systems or alienated forms of work are revisited

Beyond the concept of “Gestalten” – Kurt Lewin and Lev Semënovic Vygotsky as methodologically related

The relationship between Kurt Lewin and Lev S. Vygotsky is important for many methodological questions raised by the two psychologists such as distinguishing a genetic and an accidental event type. The concept of „Gestalt“ is another important issue. The present article analyzes and contextualizes the significance of this concept in their discussions since they met in Berlin in 1925. It can be shown that a difference between Lewin’s and Vygotsky’s approach becomes salient in the ways they refer to Gestalt theory as a holistic approach. While Lewin understands the here-and-now of situation in which an event occurs as depending on the present field forces as a whole, Vygotsky agrees largely with Lewin’s postulate to consider all field forces, but then moves on from the field as an originally spatial model to introduce a semantic model. According to Vygotsky this is necessary to theorize fluidity and flexibility in behavior and thus to understand the necessary psychologically preconditions for free will and independency

Models for Investigating and Developing Research-Driven Learning in Science Education

In the beginning of the 21st century, models have emerged to describe and develop undergraduate research and inquiry-based learning. This article discusses four examples of modelling didactical issues around this topic. The aim of the first part is to scrutinize the epistemological and didactical purposes of these four models. As essential dimensions of undergraduate research and inquiry- based learning are neglected, two alternative models are developed in the second part. The first of these puts the coordination of theory and evidence at the centre and determines three different horizons of significance in the field of science. In relation to these horizons, the second new model highlights the broader societal context of scientific practices. The role of research and science in society is recognized here, on the one hand as an affirmative process of institutionalization of approved knowledge, and on the other, as practices of criticizing and breaking away from established forms of knowing, testing, evaluating, and approving. Concomitantly, the education (‘Bildung’) of students through and within scientific practices of research and inquiry-based learning (Humboldt’s ‘Bildung durch Wissenschaft’) is interpreted against the backdrop of two opposing trajectories, which influence students’ ambitions to engage with problems of science. In relation to this, higher education didactics need to distinguish between long-term and short-term goals. It is argued that the latter concretizes the former. This understanding of teaching is corroborated against the backdrop of the concept of learning as ‘enculturation’ in science. The argumentation refers back to insights by Lev S. Vygotsky, Ludwik Fleck and Michael Polanyi

Insights into academic feasibility at the KIT: a mixed-methods exploration of the department of mechanical engineering

[EN] As part of their accreditation procedure, universities have to ensure academic feasibility of their study courses. Against that backdrop, student’s workload and study conditions are focused as indicators of quality. However, this prioritization of formal criteria is defined by the module handbooks rather than by the students themselves. Therefore, a mixed-methods-analysis at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) was conducted to shed light on these issues: How can individual expectations and requirements of students towards the academic learning settings be incorporated into quality assessment? Which opportunities of individual development for students exist in the academic setting and do they differ with regard to different departments at the KIT? The data of surveys completed by 324 students of the department of mechanical engineering and 242 students of the department of economics and management at the KIT are the basis of our analysis. The empirical analysis via chi-square-test and Mann-Whitney-U-Test indicates significant distinctions between students of both departments at the KIT concerning their experiences with research and inquiry and their motives for enrolling to university courses. Further analyses via interviews are planned to reveal the complex chains of reasons for this research results such as considerations of course characteristics and cultural condition.Langemeyer, I.; Schlindwein, N. (2021). Insights into academic feasibility at the KIT: a mixed-methods exploration of the department of mechanical engineering. En 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 519-526. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd21.2021.13065OCS51952

Insights into academic feasibility at the KIT: a mixed-methods exploration of the department of mechanical engineering

As part of their accreditation procedure, universities have to ensure academic feasibility of their study courses. Against that backdrop, student’s workload and study conditions are focused as indicators of quality. However, this prioritization of formal criteria is defined by the module handbooks rather than by the students themselves. Therefore, a mixed-methods-analysis at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) was conducted to shed light on these issues: How can individual expectations and requirements of students towards the academic learning settings be incorporated into quality assessment? Which opportunities of individual development for students exist in the academic setting and do they differ with regard to different departments at the KIT? The data of surveys completed by 324 students of the department of mechanical engineering and 242 students of the department of economics and management at the KIT are the basis of our analysis. The empirical analysis via chi-square-test and Mann-Whitney-U-Test indicates significant distinctions between students of both departments at the KIT concerning their experiences with research and inquiry and their motives for enrolling to university courses. Further analyses via interviews are planned to reveal the complex chains of reasons for this research results such as considerations of course characteristics and cultural condition

The Symphonie System And Its Utilizations

After the successful completion of the SYMPHONIE project development phase, which resulted in the injection into geostationary orbit of two flight models (December 1974 and August 1975), the French- German programme is carrying on in the aim of setting up and performing a great number of different experiments demonstrating the capability of this 4/6 GHz satellite system to comply with all kinds of utilizations