65 research outputs found
The Effect of Preschool Attendance on Secondary School Track Choice in Germany - Evidence from Siblings
We study the effect of preschool attendance on secondary school track choice in Germany which is a crucial outcome that largely predicts educational pathways of children. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, multivariate models show a significant positive association between years of preschool attendance and a childâs probability of attending the highest school track, that is, German Gymnasium. Including family fixed effects in a sibling model, our estimates become considerablysmaller and are no longer significant, indicating an upward bias in multivariate models. Accounting for several sibling-specific covariates, such as measures of innate abilityand social skills, does not change this result. The low intensity of Germanyâs centerbased preschool system might be a reason for the zero effects.Preschool education, sibling models, GSOEP
Regional Origins of Employment Volatility: Evidence from German States
Openness for trade can have positive welfare effects in terms of higher growth. But increased openness may also increase uncertainty through a higher volatility of employment. We use regional data from Germany to test whether openness for trade has an impact on volatility. We find a downward trend in the unconditional volatility of employment, which has been interrupted by the re-unification period. Patterns are similar to those for output volatility. The conditional volatility of employment, measuring idiosyncratic developments across states, in contrast, has remained fairly unchanged. In contrast to evidence for the US, we do not find evidence for a significant link between employment volatility and trade openness.employment volatility, trade openness, regional labour markets
Econometric Methods for Causal Evaluation of Education Policies and Practices: A Non-Technical Guide
Education policy-makers and practitioners want to know which policies and practices can best achieve their goals. But research that can inform evidence-based policy often requires complex methods to distinguish causation from accidental association. Avoiding econometric jargon and technical detail, this paper explains the main idea and intuition of leading empirical strategies devised to identify causal impacts and illustrates their use with real-world examples. It covers six evaluation methods: controlled experiments, lotteries of oversubscribed programs, instrumental variables, regression discontinuities, differences-indifferences, and panel-data techniques. Illustrating applications include evaluations of early-childhood interventions, voucher lotteries, funding programs for disadvantaged, and compulsory-school and tracking reforms.causal effects, education, policy evaluation, non-technical guide
Econometric Methods for Causal Evaluation of Education Policies and Practices: A Non-Technical Guide
Education policy-makers and practitioners want to know which policies and practices can best achieve their goals. But research that can inform evidence-based policy often requires complex methods to distinguish causation from accidental association. Avoiding econometric jargon and technical detail, this paper explains the main idea and intuition of leading empirical strategies devised to identify causal impacts and illustrates their use with real-world examples. It covers six evaluation methods: controlled experiments, lotteries of oversubscribed programs, instrumental variables, regression discontinuities, differences-in-differences, and panel-data techniques. Illustrating applications include evaluations of early-childhood interventions, voucher lotteries, funding programs for disadvantaged, and compulsory-school and tracking reforms.policy evaluation, education, causal effects, non-technical guide
Age at Preschool Entrance and Noncognitive Skills before School - An Instrumental Variable Approach
We estimate the effect of age at preschool entrance on crucial noncognitive skills in theyear before school starts. Using an instrumental variable approach and exploiting cut-offdates for the time at preschool entrance we find that children entering preschool earlierin life have better noncognitive skills in terms of being more assertive and being moreable to form friendships. Hence, our results offer general empirical evidence for thenon-linearity in the skill formation process. Moreover they show that entering preschoolat an early age is an important prerequisite for the development of social schoolreadiness.Preschool; noncognitive skills; instrumental variables; entrance effects
Identifying the Incidence of "Grading on a Curve":A Within-Student Across-Subject Approach
Theoretical work shows that grading on a curve, i.e., teachers assessing students relativeto their classmates, can negatively affect studentsâ learning effort. However, little isknown about its empirical incidence. To overcome bias from non-random sorting andomitted variables like teachersâ grading standards, we exploit within-student acrosssubjectvariation observing both teacher-assigned grades and test scores of German4th-graders in reading and math. We find that having classmates with one standarddeviation higher test scores lowers a studentâs grade by about 10 percent of a standarddeviation. Importantly, only female teachers grade on a curve and there is no associationbetween studentsâ learning effort and relative grading.Teacher grading, grading on a curve, learning incentives
Probing the interplay between lattice dynamics and short-range magnetic correlations in CuGeO3 with femtosecond RIXS
Investigations of magnetically ordered phases on the femtosecond timescale
have provided significant insights into the influence of charge and lattice
degrees of freedom on the magnetic sub-system. However, short-range magnetic
correlations occurring in the absence of long-range order, for example in
spin-frustrated systems, are inaccessible to many ultrafast techniques. Here,
we show how time-resolved resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (trRIXS) is
capable of probing such short-ranged magnetic dynamics in a charge-transfer
insulator through the detection of a Zhang-Rice singlet exciton. Utilizing
trRIXS measurements at the O K-edge, and in combination with model
calculations, we probe the short-range spin-correlations in the frustrated spin
chain material CuGeO3 following photo-excitation, revealing a strong coupling
between the local lattice and spin sub-systems
Photon shot-noise limited transient absorption soft X-ray spectroscopy at the European XFEL
Femtosecond transient soft X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) is a very
promising technique that can be employed at X-ray Free Electron Lasers (FELs)
to investigate out-of-equilibrium dynamics for material and energy research.
Here we present a dedicated setup for soft X-rays available at the Spectroscopy
& Coherent Scattering (SCS) instrument at the European X-ray Free Electron
Laser (EuXFEL). It consists of a beam-splitting off-axis zone plate (BOZ) used
in transmission to create three copies of the incoming beam, which are used to
measure the transmitted intensity through the excited and unexcited sample, as
well as to monitor the incoming intensity. Since these three intensity signals
are detected shot-by-shot and simultaneously, this setup allows normalized
shot-by-shot analysis of the transmission. For photon detection, the DSSC
imaging detector, which is capable of recording up to 800 images at 4.5 MHz
frame rate during the FEL burst, is employed and allows approaching the photon
shot-noise limit. We review the setup and its capabilities, as well as the
online and offline analysis tools provided to users.Comment: 11 figure
Diversity of Staphylococcus aureus Isolates in European Wildlife
Staphylococcus aureus is a well-known colonizer and cause of infection among
animals and it has been described from numerous domestic and wild animal
species. The aim of the present study was to investigate the molecular
epidemiology of S. aureus in a convenience sample of European wildlife and to
review what previously has been observed in the subject field. 124 S. aureus
isolates were collected from wildlife in Germany, Austria and Sweden; they
were characterized by DNA microarray hybridization and, for isolates with
novel hybridization patterns, by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). The
isolates were assigned to 29 clonal complexes and singleton sequence types
(CC1, CC5, CC6, CC7, CC8, CC9, CC12, CC15, CC22, CC25, CC30, CC49, CC59, CC88,
CC97, CC130, CC133, CC398, ST425, CC599, CC692, CC707, ST890, CC1956, ST2425,
CC2671, ST2691, CC2767 and ST2963), some of which (ST2425, ST2691, ST2963)
were not described previously. Resistance rates in wildlife strains were
rather low and mecA-MRSA isolates were rare (n = 6). mecC-MRSA (n = 8) were
identified from a fox, a fallow deer, hares and hedgehogs. The common cattle-
associated lineages CC479 and CC705 were not detected in wildlife in the
present study while, in contrast, a third common cattle lineage, CC97, was
found to be common among cervids. No Staphylococcus argenteus or
Staphylococcus schweitzeri-like isolates were found. Systematic studies are
required to monitor the possible transmission of human- and livestock-
associated S. aureus/MRSA to wildlife and vice versa as well as the possible
transmission, by unprotected contact to animals. The prevalence of S.
aureus/MRSA in wildlife as well as its population structures in different
wildlife host species warrants further investigation
Stimulated resonant inelastic X-ray scattering in a solid
When materials are exposed to X-ray pulses with sufficiently high intensity, various nonlinear effects can occur. The most fundamental one consists of stimulated electronic decays after resonant absorption of X-rays. Such stimulated decays enhance the number of emitted photons and the emission direction is confined to that of the stimulating incident photons which clone themselves in the process. Here we report the observation of stimulated resonant elastic (REXS) and inelastic (RIXS) X-ray scattering near the cobalt L3 edge in solid Co/Pd multilayer samples. We observe an enhancement of order 106 of the stimulated over the conventional spontaneous RIXS signal into the small acceptance angle of the RIXS spectrometer. We also find that in solids both stimulated REXS and RIXS spectra contain contributions from inelastic electron scattering processes, even for ultrashort 5 fs pulses. Our results reveal the potential and caveats of the development of stimulated RIXS in condensed matter
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