Perceiving animacy from shape

Superordinate visual classification—for example, identifying an image as “animal,” “plant,” or “mineral”—is computationally challenging because radically different items (e.g., “octopus,” “dog”) must be grouped into a common class (“animal”). It is plausible that learning superordinate categories teaches us not only the membership of particular (familiar) items, but also general features that are shared across class members, aiding us in classifying novel (unfamiliar) items. Here, we investigated visual shape features associated with animate and inanimate classes. One group of participants viewed images of 75 unfamiliar and atypical items and provided separate ratings of how much each image looked like an animal, plant, and mineral. Results show systematic tradeoffs between the ratings, indicating a class-like organization of items. A second group rated each image in terms of 22 midlevel shape features (e.g., “symmetrical,” “curved”). The results confirm that superordinate classes are associated with particular shape features (e.g., “animals” generally have high “symmetry” ratings). Moreover, linear discriminant analysis based on the 22-D feature vectors predicts the perceived classes approximately as well as the ground truth classification. This suggests that a generic set of midlevel visual shape features forms the basis for superordinate classification of novel objects along the animacy continuum

Wie wirken die biologisch-dynamischen Präparate im Grünland?

Der Bericht zeigt die Ergebnisse eines zweijährigen Grünlandversuches zu der Wirkung biologisch-dynamischer Präparate auf. Neben der stoffbasierten Analyse aus der Qualitätsforschung, welche keine gesicherten Unterschiede der Varianten lieferte, konnte durch die Anwendung der bildschaffenden Methoden eine höhere Vitalität der mit Präparaten versehenen Varianten dargestellt werden

The Impact of Demographic Change on Human Capital Accumulation

This paper investigates whether and to what extent demographic change has an impact on human capital accumulation. The effect of the relative cohort size on educational attainment of young adults in Germany is analyzed utilizing data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for West-German individuals of the birth cohorts 1966 to 1986. These are the cohorts which entered the labor market since the 1980's. Particular attention is paid to the effect of changes in labor market conditions, which constitute an important channel through which demographic change may affect human capital accumulation. Our findings suggest that the variables measuring demographic change exert a considerable though heterogeneous impact on the human capital accumulation of young Germans. Changing labor market conditions during the 1980's and 1990's exhibit a sizeable impact on both the highest schooling and the highest professional degree obtained by younger cohorts.schooling, vocational training, demographic change

The Impact of Demographic Change on Human Capital Accumulation

This paper investigates whether and to what extent demographic change has an impact on human capital accumulation. The effect of the relative cohort size on educational attainment of young adults in Germany is analyzed utilizing data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for West-German individuals of the birth cohorts 1966 to 1986. These are the cohorts which entered the labor market since the 1980's. Particular attention is paid to the effect of changes in labor market conditions, which constitute an important channel through which demographic change may affect human capital accumulation. Our findings suggest that the variables measuring demographic change exert a considerable though heterogeneous impact on the human capital accumulation of young Germans. Changing labor market conditions during the 1980's and 1990's exhibit a sizeable impact on both the highest schooling and the highest professional degree obtained by younger cohorts.Demographic Change, Schooling, Vocational Training

The Impact of Demographic Change on Human Capital Accumulation

This paper investigates whether and to what extent demographic change has an impact on human capital accumulation. The effect of the relative cohort size on educational attainment of young adults in Germany is analyzed utilizing data from the German Socio-Economic Panel forWest-German individuals of the birth cohorts 1966 to 1986. These are the cohorts which entered the labor market since the 1980’s. Particular attention is paid to the effect of changes in labor market conditions, which constitute an important channel through which demographic change may affect human capital accumulation. Our findings suggest that the variables measuring demographic change exert a considerable though heterogeneous impact on the human capital accumulation of young Germans. Changing labor market conditions during the 1980’s and 1990’s exhibit a sizeable impact on both the highest schooling and the highest professional degree obtained by younger cohorts.Demographic change, schooling, vocational training

Ökologische Putenmast: Abstimmung von Genotyp, Haltung und Fütterung

In der Studie sollte überprüft werden, ob in der ökologischen Putenmast für das Verlustgeschehen sowie relevante Merkmale der Mastleistung und des Schlachtkörperwertes zwischen Genotyp (schnell (BIG 6) vs. langsam wachsende Herkunft (Kelly BBB)), Haltung (Auslauf vs. kein Auslauf) und Fütterung (Variante (M = mittlere Fütterungsintensität) vs. Variante (L = niedrige Fütterungsintensität) Interaktionen bestehen. Es wurde in zwei zeitlich aufeinander folgenden Durchgängen mit jeweils 192 Tieren (männliche Eintagsküken) eine vierphasige Mast durchgeführt (Aufzuchtphase, drei Mastphasen, Schlachtung in der 21. Lebenswoche). Die Haltung erfolgte in der Aufzuchtphase in einem klimatisierten Feststall. Die eigentlichen Mastphasen wurden in Mobilställen (mit oder ohne Auslaufmöglichkeit) absolviert. Für die Fütterungsgruppen wurden abgestufte ME- und Aminosäuren-Gehalte in den Alleinfuttermischungen eingestellt (Gruppe M: ca. 12 MJ ME/kg; Gruppe L ca. 11,0 MJ ME/kg). Es ergaben sich durchschnittliche Verluste in Höhe von 21%. Die Verluste traten gehäuft in der Aufzucht sowie am Ende der Mast auf. Hierbei waren bei den nahezu schlachtreifen Tieren Herz-/Kreislaufversagen häufige Abgangsursachen. Hiervon betroffen waren vornehmlich die Tiere der Haltungsgruppe ohne Auslauf. Die Herkunft BIG 6 zeigt sich in der Mehrzahl der Mastleistungsmerkmale der Herkunft Kelly BBB signifikant überlegen. Lediglich beim Futteraufwand pro kg Zuwachs unterscheiden sich die beiden Herkünfte nicht. Auch im Schlachtkörperwert weisen die BIG 6-Hähne signifikant höhere Gewichte auf (Schlachtkörpergewicht + 3,5 kg; Brustmenge + 1,5 kg). Die Mastputen mit Auslauf verzeichnen am Ende der Mast signifikant erhöhte Endgewichte und daraus folgend erhöhte Schlachtkörpergewichte sowie einen verbesserten Schlachtwert (Brustmenge + 0,7 kg). Puten, die mit ME-reduzierten Futtermischungen versorgt werden, zeigen auch unter Auslaufbedingungen eine Kompensation, indem sie erhöhte Futtermengen aufnehmen und nahezu gleiche Endgewichte erreichen. Eine ökologische Putenmast auf der Basis von Futtermischungen mit abgesenkten ME- und Aminosäuren-Gehalten, in Verbindung mit einem Auslaufangebot führt zu geringeren Tierverlusten und hohen Mast- und Schlachtleistungen. Für die untersuchten Merkmale können keine Genotyp-Umwelt-Interaktionen festgestellt werden

Workforce Rostering for Tomorrow's Industry: The Workforce Scheduling Dilemma in Decentrally Controlled Production Systems

The workforce rostering for tomorrow’s industry needs to be reconsidered. The development of new types of production control mechanisms, like decentralized production control, impacts the effectivity and efficiency of workforce rostering methods, too. Simultaneously, social trends, like the growing demand of flexible working time models and labor shortages, take their influence on the rostering process. We are facing these requirements by developing a new rostering method which is appropriate for decentrally controlled production systems, the consideration of individual preferred working times independent of rigid shift systems and the simultaneous targeting of production-related performance variables. Therefore, we apply a simulation-based optimization approach which is based on a genetic algorithm