Ethnic Discrimination in Germany's Labour Market: A Field Experiment

This paper studies ethnic discrimination in Germany's labour market with a correspondence test. To each of 528 advertisements for student internships we send two similar applications, one with a Turkish-sounding and one with a German-sounding name. A German name raises the average probability of a callback by about 14 percent. Differential treatment is particularly strong and significant at smaller firms at which the applicant with the German name receives 24 percent more callbacks. Discrimination disappears when we restrict our sample to applications including reference letters which contain favourable information about the candidate’s personality. We interpret this finding as evidence for statistical discrimination.correspondence test, hiring discrimination, ethnic discrimination

Open Set Logo Detection and Retrieval

Current logo retrieval research focuses on closed set scenarios. We argue that the logo domain is too large for this strategy and requires an open set approach. To foster research in this direction, a large-scale logo dataset, called Logos in the Wild, is collected and released to the public. A typical open set logo retrieval application is, for example, assessing the effectiveness of advertisement in sports event broadcasts. Given a query sample in shape of a logo image, the task is to find all further occurrences of this logo in a set of images or videos. Currently, common logo retrieval approaches are unsuitable for this task because of their closed world assumption. Thus, an open set logo retrieval method is proposed in this work which allows searching for previously unseen logos by a single query sample. A two stage concept with separate logo detection and comparison is proposed where both modules are based on task specific CNNs. If trained with the Logos in the Wild data, significant performance improvements are observed, especially compared with state-of-the-art closed set approaches.Comment: accepted at VISAPP 201

Microfluidics: Continuous‐Flow Synthesis of Nanoparticle Dispersions for the Fabrication of Organic Solar Cells

State-of-the-art solvents for the fabrication of organic solar cells are mostly toxic or hazardous. First attempts to deposit light-harvesting layers from aqueous or alcoholic nanoparticle dispersions instead have been successful on laboratory scale, enabling future eco-friendly production of organic solar cells. In this work, a scalable high-throughput continuous-flow microfluidic system is employed to synthesize surfactant-free organic semiconductor dispersions by nanoprecipitation. By adjusting the differential speed of the syringe pumps, the concentration of the initial solute and the irradiation of the microfluidic chip, the synthesis can be controlled for tailored dispersion concentrations and nanoparticle sizes. The resulting dispersions are highly reproducible, and the semiconductor inks are stable for at least one year. The synthesis of the dispersions is exemplified on a polymer/fullerene combination with large-scale availability

Organic Solar Cells: Electrostatic Stabilization of Organic Semiconductor Nanoparticle Dispersions by Electrical Doping

Organic semiconductor nanoparticle dispersions are electrostatically stabilized with the p-doping agent 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F$_4$TCNQ), omitting the need for surfactants. Smallest amounts of F$_4$TCNQ stabilize poly(3-hexylthiophene) dispersions and reduce the size of the nanoparticles significantly. The concept is then readily transferred to synthesize dispersions from a choice of light-harvesting benzodithiophene-based copolymers. Dispersions from the corresponding polymer:fullerene blends are used to fabricate organic solar cells (OSCs). In contrast to the widely used stabilizing surfactants, small amounts of F$_4$TCNQ show no detrimental effect on the device performance. This concept paves the way for the eco-friendly fabrication of OSCs from nanoparticle dispersions of high-efficiency light-harvesting semiconductors by eliminating environmentally hazardous solvents from the deposition process

Iodine‐Stabilized Organic Nanoparticle Dispersions for the Fabrication of 10% Efficient Non‐Fullerene Solar Cells

High-performance organic solar cells are deposited from eco-friendly semiconductor dispersions by applying reversible electrostatic stabilization while omitting the need for stabilizing surfactants. The addition of iodine fosters the oxidation (p-doping) of the light-harvesting polymer, effectively promoting the electrostatic repulsion of the nanoparticles and hence the colloidal stability of the respective dispersions. The oxidation of polymers with iodine is reversible: after thin-film deposition and after thermal evaporation of the iodine, the corresponding polymer:non-fullerene solar cells yield power conversion efficiencies of up to 10.6%

Migrant African women: tales of agency and belonging

This paper explores issues of belonging and agency among asylum seekers and refugee women of African origin in the UK. It discusses the ways these women engendered resistance in their everyday life to destitution, lack of cultural recognition, and gender inequality through the foundation of their own non-governmental organization, African Women’s Empowerment Forum, AWEF, a collective ‘home’ space. The focus of this account is on migrant women’s agency and self-determination for the exercise of choice to be active actors in society. It points to what might be an important phenomenon on how local grassroots movements are challenging the invisibility of asylum seekers’ and refugees’ lives and expanding the notion of politics to embrace a wider notion of community politics with solidarity. AWEF is the embodiment of a social space that resonates the ‘in-between’ experience of migrant life providing stability to the women members regarding political and community identification

Polymorphisms in the Hsp70 gene locus are genetically associated with systemic lupus erythematosus

Background Heat shock proteins (Hsps) play a role in the delivery and presentation of antigenic peptides and are thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of multifactorial diseases. Objective To investigate genes encoding cytosolic Hsp70 proteins for associations of allelic variants with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods Case-control studies of two independent Caucasian SLE cohorts were performed. In a haplotype-tagging single-nucleotide polymorphism approach, common variants of HspA1L, HspA1A and HspA1B were genotyped and principal component analyses were performed for the cohort from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF). Relative quantification of mRNA was carried out for each Hsp70 gene in healthy controls. Conditional regression analysis was performed to determine if allelic variants in Hsp70 act independently of HLA-DR3. Results On analysis of common genetic variants of HspA1L, HspA1A and HspA1B, a haplotype significantly associated with SLE in the Erlangen-SLE cohort was identified, which was confirmed in the OMRF cohort. Depending on the cohorts, OR ranging from 1.43 to 1.88 and 2.64 to 3.16 was observed for individuals heterozygous and homozygous for the associated haplotype, respectively. Patients carrying the risk haplotype or the risk allele more often displayed autoantibodies to Ro and La in both cohorts. In healthy controls bearing this haplotype, the amount of HspA1A mRNA was significantly increased, whereas total Hsp70 protein concentration was not altered. Conclusions Allelic variants of the Hsp70 genes are significantly associated with SLE in Caucasians, independently of HLA-DR3, and correlate with the presence of autoantibodies to Ro and La. Hence, the Hsp70 gene locus appears to be involved in SLE pathogenesis

The politics of reciprocity:Urban councils and intercity conflict management in Reval (Tallinn) and Lübeck, c. 1470–1570

Ties of trade, credit and family provided the basis for trading networks between Hanseatic towns. They also, however, contained the seed for conflicts over fraud, debt and inheritance. Such disputes between burghers of different Hanseatic cities presented municipal governments with the particular challenge to balance their role as Hanseatic partners with an obligation of externally representing their own burghers. Focusing on relations between the cities of Lübeck and Reval, this article explores the variety of diplomatic strategies and tactics which city councils employed to preserve the political and economic benefits of intercity co-operation.</p