The regional structure of employment in Germany, 1895-1970

Der Artikel behandelt Veränderungen in den regionalen Beschäftigungsgleichheiten im Deutschen Reich bzw. der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zwischen 1895 und 1970. Dabei werden als regionale Einheiten 'Regierungsbezirke' verwendet und die Erwerbstätigen (Männer und Frauen) in 18 Branchen verfolgt. Es wird gezeigt, daß langfristig zwei auffallende Tendenzen zu verzeichnen sind: steigende regionale Disparitäten während der Industrialisierung bis nach dem I. Weltkrieg sowie deren Reduzierung zwischen 1930 und 1970. Deutschland ist diesbezüglich kein Einzelfall. Ähnliche, wenn auch nicht identische Entwicklungen sind für Großbritannien, Italien, Frankreich (nach 1950), Belgien und Österreich nachweisbar. Als Hauptursachen werden dafür genannt: die sich wandelnde regionale Beschaffenheit der Wachstumsindustrie, der Rückgang der regionalen Spezialisierung, Veränderungen im Transportsystem und in der Energiebasis, Veränderungen im Kaufverhalten, das Ende regionaler Isolation und fehlender Industrialisierung. (IAB)'The article covers the long-term change of the regional disparities of employment in Germany between 1895 and 1970 using Regierungsbezirke as regional units and following up 18 branches of economic activity for women as well as for men. It is shown that an arch-like development can be found in the long-term perspective: rising regional disparities during industrialisation until the period after World War I and diminishing regional disparities between the 1930s and 1970. It is also argued that Germany is not a special case in this respect. Similar though not fully identical changes can be shown also for Britain. Italy, France (after 1950). Belgium, and Austria. Five reasons are seen as the most important ones for the former increase and recent decrease of regional disparities in employment: the changing regional nature of growth industries: the decline of regional specialisation: the alteration of the transport systems and the basic energies: changes in regional purchasing power: the end of regional isolation and non-industrialisation.' (author's abstract

Global strategic alliances in scheduled air transport - implications for competition policy

In international aviation, global strategic alliances (GSAs) have in recent years become an important form of cooperation between airlines. This cooperation has hit the antitrust nerve of the European Commission. Initially, the Commission had attempted to constrain both the market share of the major alliances in transatlantic air transport and their access to major European hubs (London and Frankfurt). The airlines maintain that they need alliances as an inevitable means to adapt to the changing environment in increasingly liberalized and globalized air transport markets in order to remain competitive and to fully realize their growth potential. The final verdict by the Commission will be published soon. Though the existing airline alliances are not stable enough to threaten competition and the openness of airline markets on a global scale, certain hubs or even city pairs might be in danger of being dominated by an individual alliance. This is all the more so as alliances in aviation — contrary to, e.g., strategic R&D alliances in manufacturing — are based on cooperating in a core area of the participants' commercial activities, which might end in collusion. On the other hand, alliances may indeed be regarded as an appropriate tool for internationally active firms to remain competitive. For analyzing alliances' impact on competition, networks seem to be more appropriate than city pairs. On the networks level, complementary alliances usually improve overall welfare via lower fares in all submarkets, whereas parallel alliances tend to result in higher prices in the former parallel markets and lower in other markets due to network spillover effects. Since GSAs in aviation are both of a complementary and a parallel nature, no clear-cut a priori position for or against alliances can be maintained based on conventional antitrust reasoning. From the new institutional economics perspective, alliances are ambiguous as well, because this perspective highlights the efficiency objectives of the participating carriers as well as the potential for collusion and opportunistic behavior. Empirical evidence on the market shares and pricing behavior of alliances and their members does not as yet reflect an increasing threat to competition by these forms of cooperation. But it should be noted that alliances appear to be gaining greater stability over time and that the number of independent competitors is shrinking. These independent competitors contribute much to the dynamics of the competitive process. If their vital role for competition were to be restricted, GSAs in airtransport might prove to be detrimental in the long run. The European Commission is right to be on the alert about GSAs having potentially detrimental effects on competition. However, the Commission should avoid overreacting in its zeal to keep markets open (contestable). It should be borne in mind that market access on transatlantic as well as on most other international air transport routes is still governed by the administrative provisions of intergovernmental bilateral agreements and not by market forces. Therefore, the rrtore relevant question for aviation.policy would be whether competition on the North Atlantic routes could be best maintained by scrapping the bilateral agreements and embarking on a truly liberal open skies aviation agreement between the EU, the United States, and other countries. --

Intracarotid administration of human bone marrow mononuclear cells in rat photothrombotic ischemia

Background: Increasing evidence suggests that cell therapy improves functional recovery in experimental models of stroke and myocardial infarction. So far only small pilot trials tested the effects of cell therapy in stroke patients, whereas large clinical trials were conducted in patients with ischemic heart disease. To investigate the therapeutic benefit of cell therapy to improve the recovery after stroke, we determined the efficacy of bone marrow derived mononuclear cells, which were shown to improve the recovery in experimental and clinical acute myocardial infarction studies, in a rat stroke model. Methods: Adult male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to receive either five million human bone marrow mononuclear cells (hBMC) or placebo intraarterially 3 days after photothrombotic ischemia. For immunosuppression the animals received daily injections of cyclosporine throughout the experiment, commencing 24 hours before the cell transplantation. A battery of behavioural tests was performed before and up to 4 weeks after ischemia. Results: Body temperature and body weight revealed no difference between groups. Neurological deficits measured by the Rotarod test, the adhesive-removal test and the cylinder test were not improved by hBMC transplantation compared to placebo. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that hBMC do not improve functional recovery when transplanted intraaterially 3 days after the onset of focal cerebral ischemia. A possible reason for the failed neurological improvement after cell therapy might be the delayed treatment initiation compared to other experimental stroke studies that showed efficacy of bone marrow mononuclear cells

Neue Wege der Kooperation: Schleswig-Holstein und Hamburg in einer gemeinsamen Wirtschaftsregion.

Wirtschaftsraum; Regionalpolitik; Regionale Konzentration; Kooperation; Wirtschaftsstruktur; Hamburg (Region); Schleswig-Holstein;

Podosome-Driven Defect Development in Lamellar Bone under the Conditions of Senile Osteoporosis Observed at the Nanometer Scale

The degradation mechanism of human trabecular bone harvested from the central part of the femoral head of a patient with a fragility fracture of the femoral neck under conditions of senile osteoporosis was investigated by high-resolution electron microscopy. As evidenced by light microscopy, there is a disturbance of bone metabolism leading to severe and irreparable damages to the bone structure. These defects are evoked by osteoclasts and thus podosome activity. Podosomes create typical pit marks and holes of about 300-400 nm in diameter on the bone surface. Detailed analysis of the stress field caused by the podosomes in the extracellular bone matrix was performed. The calculations yielded maximum stress in the range of few megapascals resulting in formation of microcracks around the podosomes. Disintegration of hydroxyapatite and free lying collagen fibrils were observed at the edges of the plywood structure of the bone lamella. At the ultimate state, the disintegration of the mineralized collagen fibrils to a gelatinous matrix comes along with a delamination of the apatite nanoplatelets resulting in a brittle, porous bone structure. The nanoplatelets aggregate to big hydroxyapatite plates with a size of up to 10 x 20 μm2. The enhanced plate growth can be explained by the interaction of two mechanisms in the ruffled border zone: the accumulation of delaminated hydroxyapatite nanoplatelets near clusters of podosomes and the accelerated nucleation and random growth of HAP nanoplatelets due to a nonsufficient concentration of process-directing carboxylated osteocalcin cOC. © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society

Coworking in NRW: Potenziale und Risiken von Coworking-Modellen für Berufspendlerinnen und -pendler, diskontinuierlich Beschäftigte und Personen mit familiärer Verantwortung

Im Forschungsvorhaben 'Coworking.NRW' wurde eine Bestandsaufnahme der Coworking-Büros in NRW und ihrer Arbeitsbedingungen erarbeitet. Dazu wurden eine Expertenbefragung (n=10), eine Online-Beschäftigtenbefragung (n=73), eine schriftliche Befragung von acht Coworking-Einrichtungen in NRW (von insgesamt 33 bekannten Einrichtungen zum Zeitpunkt der Erhebung) sowie vier vertiefende Fallstudien in Coworking-Büros durchgeführt. Untersucht wurden die Potenziale und Risiken des neuen Arbeitsmodells für die Zielgruppen der Berufspendler_innen, der Personen mit familiärer Verantwortung und der diskontinuierlich Beschäftigten. Auf dieser Grundlage wurden Handlungsempfehlungen für die weitere Entwicklung des Arbeitsmodells Coworking abgeleitet, um es auf diese Weise für die genannten Zielgruppen attraktiver zu machen.The research project 'Coworking.NRW' has prepared an overview of the state of the art of Northrhine-Westfalia's (NRW) coworking-offices and their working conditions. To gather relevant data, expert interviews (n=10), an online-survey (n=73) and a written survey of eight coworking spaces in NRW (out of 33 registered coworking spaces at the time of assessment) have been conducted. Furthermore, four coworking spaces have been analyzed in-depth as case-studies. Points of investigation have been potentials and risks of this new model of work for the target groups of commuters, workers with family responsibilities and discontinuously employed workers. On this basis, recommendations for a further development of the coworking-model have been formulated to attract the mentioned target-groups

Coworking in NRW: Potenziale und Risiken von Coworking-Modellen für abhängig Beschäftigte

Trotz des Potenzials für offene Kollaborationsund Innovationsprozesse wird Coworking derzeit überwiegend von innovationsintensiven, kreativen Branchen und Selbstständigen genutzt. Die bislang begrenzte (Markt-)Ausrichtung führt zu einem Lockin-Effekt und erschwert die Einbeziehung weiterer Zielgruppen. Eine Öffnung der Coworking-Spaces für weitere Zielgruppen erfordert die Weiterentwicklung des bisherigen Coworking-Modells. Durch zusätzliche Dienstleistungsangebote kann Coworking aus Sicht der Betreiber_innen und Nutzer_innen insbesondere für Berufspendler_innen, Erwerbstätige mit familiärer Verantwortung und im Homeoffice Beschäftigte eine attraktive Alternative werden. Handlungsempfehlung für NRW ist, speziell für Berufspendler_innen mit und ohne familiäre Verpflichtungen ein wohnortnahes Coworking-Modell zu fördern, das anspruchsvolle, motivierende und gesundheitsförderliche Arbeitsbedingungen bereitstellt

Plasma-based VAD process for multiply doped glass powders and high-performance fiber preforms with outstanding homogeneity

An innovative approach using the vapor axial deposition (VAD), for the preparation of silica-based high-power fiber laser preforms, is described in this study. The VAD uses a plasma deposition system operating at atmospheric pressure, fed by a single, chemically adapted solution containing precursors of laser-active dopants (e.g., Yb2O3), glass-modifier species (e.g., Al2O3), and the silica matrix. The approach enables simultaneous doping with multiple optically active species and overcomes some of the current technological limitations encountered with well-established fiber preform technologies in terms of dopant distribution, doping levels, and achievable active core diameter. The deposition of co-doped silica with outstanding homogeneity is proven by Raman spectroscopy and electron probe microanalysis. Yb2O3 concentrations are realized up to 0.3 mol% in SiO2, with simultaneous doping of 3 mol% of Al2O3

Background paper to the recommendation for routine rotavirus vaccination of infants in Germany

Two rotavirus (RV) vaccines were introduced to the European market in 2006. To support the decision-making process of the German Standing Committee on Vaccination ("Ständige Impfkommission", STIKO) regarding adoption of routine RV vaccination into the national vaccination schedule in Germany relevant scientific background was reviewed. According to STIKO’s Standard Operating Procedures for the development of evidence-based vaccination recommendations, a set of key questions was addressed and systematic reviews were performed with a focus on the efficacy, effectiveness, impact and safety of RV vaccines. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology was applied to assess the quality of available evidence. Data from 5 randomized controlled trials demonstrated a high efficacy of RV vaccines in preventing severe RV-associated gastroenteritis (91%) and hospitalization (92%) in settings comparable to Germany. Post-marketing observational studies confirmed these findings. In several countries, impact studies suggest that age groups not eligible for vaccination might also benefit from herd effects and demonstrated a decrease in the number of nosocomial RV infections after RV vaccine introduction. The vaccines were considered safe, except for a slightly increased risk of intussusception shortly after the first dose, corresponding to 1-2 additional cases per 100,000 infants vaccinated (relative risk =1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68-2.14). RV case-fatality is extremely low in Germany. However, RV incidence among children age