Global value chains and regional systems of innovation: Towards a critical juncture?

Over recent years, the world has witnessed unexpected challenges - including the COVID-19 pandemic and significant geopolitical tensions. These events have had substantial impacts on both Global Value Chains and Regional Innovation Systems – two complementary analytical scopes that compose the complex geography of innovation. This has led governments to take drastic measures on different fronts and scholars to argue about the surging of a phase of de-globalization in which Global Value Chains are being transformed and restructured, potentially altering the geography of economic activity that has been forged over the last decades. It is uncertain how countries, regions, firms and individuals will respond to multifaceted crises and productive rearrangements, which ones will be more resilient and better capable of doing so than others. In this introduction to the Special Issue “Global Value Chains and Regional Systems of Innovation: Towards a Critical Juncture?” we discuss the local-global dynamics of innovation and propose a critical appraisal on how key contextual parameters have changed, on the one hand, and the potential outcomes of these shifts, on the other. We outline pressing issues for debate among scholars, policymakers and practitioners as well as offer elements to begin a discussion on the critical junctures that lay ahead. We also present the insightful articles that compose this Special Issue

Raster zur Evaluation von Software für das Sprachenlernen

Die informelle Arbeitsgruppe "Medial gestütztes, selbstorganisiertes Lernen" im Bereich Fremdsprachenunterricht trifft sich seit rund drei Jahren regelmässig (unter dem Namen "Nachtclub") und beschäftigt sich mit medial unterstütztem Sprachenlernen. Die Arbeitsgruppe ist breit zusammengesetzt: länderübergreifend (Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz), zielgruppenübergreifend (Erwachsenenbildung und Universität) und sprachenübergreifend (Software für Deutsch, Englisch, Französisch usw.). Das gemeinsame Ziel des "Nachtclub" ist es, Kriterien für die Beurteilung von mediengestützten Angeboten (Lernsoftware, Webseiten) für das Lernen von Fremdsprachen zu entwickeln und auf dieser Grundlage unabhängige Rezensionen zu erstellen. Die Beurteilungen werden in der Form einer Online-Datenbank der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich gemacht und sollen als Nachschlagewerk und Entscheidungshilfe für Lehrpersonen, LernberaterInnen, MediathekarInnen usw. dienen. Vorgesehen ist die Publikation der Rezensionen unter der Internetadresse www.nachtclub.org. Dort findet man auch das leere Raster in elektronischer Form auf Deutsch, Französisch und Englisch (Winword-Datei / PDF-Datei) sowie Beispiele von Rezensionen, die mit dem Raster erstellt worden sind. (Diese Dateien sind auch von hier abzurufen

Prolonged Visual Experience in Adulthood Modulates Holistic Face Perception

Background: Using the well-known composite illusion as a marker of the holistic perception of faces, we tested how prolonged visual experience with a specific population of faces (4- to 6-year-old children) modulates the face perception system in adulthood. Methodology/Principal Findings: We report a face composite effect that is larger for adult than children faces in a group of adults without experience with children faces (‘‘children-face novices’’), while it is of equal magnitude for adults and children faces in a population of preschool teachers (‘‘children-face experts’’). When considering preschool teachers only, we observed a significant correlation between the number of years of experience with children faces and the differential face composite effect between children and adults faces. Participants with at least 10 years of qualitative experience with children faces had a larger composite face effect for children than adult faces. Conclusions/Significance: Overall, these observations indicate that even in adulthood face processes can be reshaped qualitatively, presumably to facilitate efficient processing of the differential morphological features of the frequently encountered population of faces

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file

Genome-Wide Discovery of Somatic Regulatory Variants in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive cancer originating from mature B-cells. Prognosis is strongly associated with molecular subgroup, although the driver mutations that distinguish the two main subgroups remain poorly defined. Through an integrative analysis of whole genomes, exomes, and transcriptomes, we have uncovered genes and non-coding loci that are commonly mutated in DLBCL. Our analysis has identified novel cis-regulatory sites, and implicates recurrent mutations in the 3′ UTR of NFKBIZ as a novel mechanism of oncogene deregulation and NF-κB pathway activation in the activated B-cell (ABC) subgroup. Small amplifications associated with over-expression of FCGR2B (the Fcγ receptor protein IIB), primarily in the germinal centre B-cell (GCB) subgroup, correlate with poor patient outcomes suggestive of a novel oncogene. These results expand the list of subgroup driver mutations that may facilitate implementation of improved diagnostic assays and could offer new avenues for the development of targeted therapeutics.&nbsp