Transformations of the state?

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Report of the user requirements and web based access for eResearch workshops

The User Requirements and Web Based Access for eResearch Workshop, organized jointly by NeSC and NCeSS, was held on 19 May 2006. The aim was to identify lessons learned from e-Science projects that would contribute to our capacity to make Grid infrastructures and tools usable and accessible for diverse user communities. Its focus was on providing an opportunity for a pragmatic discussion between e-Science end users and tool builders in order to understand usability challenges, technological options, community-specific content and needs, and methodologies for design and development. We invited members of six UK e-Science projects and one US project, trying as far as possible to pair a user and developer from each project in order to discuss their contrasting perspectives and experiences. Three breakout group sessions covered the topics of user-developer relations, commodification, and functionality. There was also extensive post-meeting discussion, summarized here. Additional information on the workshop, including the agenda, participant list, and talk slides, can be found online at http://www.nesc.ac.uk/esi/events/685/ Reference: NeSC report UKeS-2006-07 available from http://www.nesc.ac.uk/technical_papers/UKeS-2006-07.pd

Deutsche Arbeitskosten steigen im europäischen Vergleich nur gering: Auswertung der aktuellen Eurostat-Statistik

Im vergangenen Jahr sind die Arbeitskosten in Deutschland erneut geringer gestiegen als in den übrigeneuropäischen Ländern. Diese Entwicklung dürfte sich 2008 fortgesetzt haben. Erneut erweist sich,dass Deutschland hinsichtlich der Arbeitskosten im Verarbeitenden Gewerbe im europäischen Vergleichzwar zur großen Gruppe der Hochlohnländer gehört, im Dienstleistungssektor entsprechen die Arbeitskosten dagegen nur etwa dem Durchschnitt. Innerhalb des Dienstleistungssektors fällt besonders auf, dass der Finanzsektor mit 38,50 Euro pro Stunde 2007 fast die höchsten Arbeitskosten im Vergleich zu den anderen Branchen in Deutschland aufweist, damit jedoch noch nicht einmal den Durchschnitt dieser Branche in der Eurozone erreicht.Unterdurchschnittliche Arbeitskostenzuwächse haben sich in den vergangenen Jahren vorteilhaftauf die deutschen Exporte ausgewirkt. Gesamtwirtschaftlich haben sie das Wachstum aber eher gebremst: Länder mit vergleichbaren Arbeitskostenniveaus, aber höheren Zuwachsraten, sind in den vergangenen zehn Jahren deutlich stärker gewachsen als Deutschland. Angesichts der globalen Rezession im Zuge der Finanzkrise dürfte noch deutlicher werden, dass die starke Konzentration auf ein Export getriebenes Wachstum riskant ist: Die niedrigen Lohnsteigerungen der vergangenen Jahre erweisen sich jetzt als Belastung, da sie Deutschland besonders abhängig von der weltwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung gemacht haben. Eine kräftigere Binnennachfrage, auf die es jetzt um so mehr ankäme, wurde dadurch verhindert.Only small increase in German labour costs In 2007, the increase in German labour costs was smaller than in other European countries and it is likely that this trend will last in 2008, too. Regarding the manufacturing sector Germany belongs to a large group of countries with high labour costs, regarding the services sector, however, German labour costs are only slightly above average. During past years, German exports benefited from increases in labour costs below average. On the macroeconomic level, however, this strategy has hampered economic growth: Countries with similar labour cost levels, but higher increases, have grown faster than Germany due to a higher domestic demand. Regarding the global recession following from the financial crises it is likely that Germany will be hit more heavily than other countries, because Germany depends heavily on exports and lacks a solid domestic demand

Supersonic air flow due to solid-liquid impact

A solid object impacting on liquid creates a liquid jet due to the collapse of the impact cavity. Using visualization experiments with smoke particles and multiscale simulations, we show that in addition, a high-speed air jet is pushed out of the cavity. Despite an impact velocity of only 1??m/s, this air jet attains supersonic speeds already when the cavity is slightly larger than 1 mm in diameter. The structure of the air flow closely resembles that of compressible flow through a nozzle—with the key difference that here the “nozzle” is a liquid cavity shrinking rapidly in time

OPTIS - a satellite-based test of Special and General Relativity

A new satellite based test of Special and General Relativity is proposed. For the Michelson-Morley experiment we expect an improvement of at least three orders of magnitude, and for the Kennedy-Thorndike experiment an improvement of more than one order of magnitude. Furthermore, an improvement by two orders of the test of the universality of the gravitational red shift by comparison of an atomic clock with an optical clock is projected. The tests are based on ultrastable optical cavities, an atomic clock and a comb generator.Comment: To appear in Class. Quantum Gra