What explains changes in full-time and part-time employment in Western Germany? : a new method on an old question

"From 1992 to 2005, part-time employment in Western Germany has grown by 82 percent, whereas full-time employment has shrunk by 14 percent. Behind these general figures there is substantial variation of employment schemes across industries. Beside this, the share of the service industries in gross value added has grown, whereas the importance of manufacturing and construction has decreased considerably. We analyse the extent to which the changes in part-time and full-time employment can be explained by changes in the sectoral composition of the economy or by other factors. Using West German yearly data from 1992-2005, we estimate a regression analogue shiftshare model. It allows us to divide the overall development of employment into the business cycle effect, the sector effect and the employment status effect. Moreover, we control for sectoral gross value added, unit labour costs and working time. As a methodological contribution we extend the shift-share approach into a dynamic panel model. We use a bias-corrected least squares dummy variable (LSDVc) estimator which is appropriate for our data structure. As a second step, we decompose the fixed effects of the LSDVc estimation into parameters for part-time, full-time, and self-employment as well as six sectors. Our results confirm previous deterministic shift-share analyses: Characteristics inherent in full-time or part-time employment dominantly explain changes in employment patterns in Western Germany. The sectoral composition of the economy plays a significant but minor role. The model extensions reveal that much of the status and sector effects in the simple shiftshare analysis can be captured by determinants of labour demand." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Vollzeitarbeit - Determinanten, Teilzeitarbeit - Determinanten, Wirtschaftsstrukturwandel, Shift-Analyse, Arbeitskräftenachfrage, Westdeutschland, Bundesrepublik Deutschland

What explains changes in full-time and part-time employment in Western Germany? A new method on an old question

"From 1992 to 2005, part-time employment in Western Germany has grown by 82 percent, whereas full-time employment has shrunk by 14 percent. Behind these general figures there is substantial variation of employment schemes across industries. Beside this, the share of the service industries in gross value added has grown, whereas the importance of manufacturing and construction has decreased considerably. We analyse the extent to which the changes in part-time and full-time employment can be explained by changes in the sectoral composition of the economy or by other factors. Using West German yearly data from 1992-2005, we estimate a regression analogue shiftshare model. It allows us to divide the overall development of employment into the business cycle effect, the sector effect and the employment status effect. Moreover, we control for sectoral gross value added, unit labour costs and working time. As a methodological contribution we extend the shift-share approach into a dynamic panel model. We use a bias-corrected least squares dummy variable (LSDVc) estimator which is appropriate for our data structure. As a second step, we decompose the fixed effects of the LSDVc estimation into parameters for part-time, full-time, and self-employment as well as six sectors. Our results confirm previous deterministic shift-share analyses: Characteristics inherent in full-time or part-time employment dominantly explain changes in employment patterns in Western Germany. The sectoral composition of the economy plays a significant but minor role. The model extensions reveal that much of the status and sector effects in the simple shiftshare analysis can be captured by determinants of labour demand." (author's abstract

A quartz crystal biosensor for measurement in liquids

The detection of anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies by means of synthetic HIV peptide immobilized on a piezoelectric quartz sensor is demonstrated. The measurement set-up consists of an oscillator circuit, a suitably modified AT-cut thickness-shear-mode quartz crystal with gold electrodes, which is housed in a special reaction vessel, and a computer-controlled frequency counter for the registration of the measured frequency values. The quartz crystal is adapted for a steady operation in liquids at a frequency of 20 MHz. In phosphate-buffered saline solution the oscillator reaches a stability of about 0.5 Hz within a few seconds, of about 2 Hz within 10 min and about 30 Hz within 1 h. The frequency shift due to the adsorption of various proteins to the uncoated sensor surface has been investigated. It can be shown that a stable adsorptive binding of proteins to an oscillating gold surface is feasible and can be used for the immobilization of a receptor layer (e.g. HIV peptide). Specific binding of the anti-HIV monoclonal antibody to the HIV peptide immobilized on the quartz sensor is demonstrated. Control experiments show, however, additional unspecific binding. According to the experiments, the Sauerbrey formula gives a sufficiently accurate value for the decrease of the resonant frequency due to adsorption or binding of macromolecular proteins on the quartz crystal surface

Usage of complementary medicine across Switzerland. Results of the Swiss Health Survey 2007

QUESTIONS UNDER STUDY: This study investigated the use among the Swiss adult population and regional dissemination of various methods of complementary medicine (CM) provided by physicians or therapists in Switzerland. METHODS: Data of the Swiss Health Survey 2007 were used, which comprised a telephone interview followed by a written questionnaire (18,760 and 14,432 respondents, respectively) and included questions about people's state of health, health insurance and usage of health services. Users and non-users of CM were compared using logistic regression models. RESULTS: The most popular CM methods were homeopathy, osteopathy, acupuncture and shiatsu/foot reflexology. 30.5% of women and 15.2% of men used at least one CM method in the 12 months preceding the survey. Lake Geneva region and central Switzerland had more CM users than the other regions. Women, people between 25 and 64 years of age and people with higher levels of education were more likely to use CM. 53.5% of the adult population had a supplemental health insurance for CM treatments. 32.9% of people with such an insurance used CM during the 12 months preceding the survey, and so did 12.0% of people without additional insurance. CONCLUSIONS: Almost one fourth of the Swiss adult population had used CM within the past 12 months. User profiles were comparable to those in other countries. Despite a generally lower self-perceived health status, elderly people were less likely to use CM

El estado de derecho en España y Alemania : descripción del proyecto

Das Dokument besteht aus einem "Geleitwort zur Reihe" der HerausgeberInnen und einer nicht namentlich gezeichneten Projektbeschreibung. Dt. Zusammenfassung der Projektbeschreibung: Das Projekt ist ein Beitrag zur insb. seit den 1980er Jahren geführten Debatte über die Verrechtlichung (span. juridificación) des Sozialen. Daß dieser Begriff im Deutschen und Spanischen, nicht aber bspw. im Englischen existiert, verweist auf den breiteren rechtshistorischen und rechtstheoretischen Rahmen, in den dieses Projekt eingebettet ist: Auf die dem deutschen und spanischen Begriff des Rechtsstaats / Estado de Derecho eigene Entgegensetzung von (metaphysischem) Recht und (parlamentarischem) Gesetz, die weder das britische Konzept der rule of law noch das französische Konzept des État légal kennen. Die Verrechtlichung wurde bisher vor allem anhand der Praxis der staatlichen Verwaltungen sowie der Arbeits- und Wirtschaftsbeziehungen untersucht. Weitergehend ist aber zu fragen, ob eine solche Verrechtlichungsstrategie auch erfolgreich sein kann, wenn ein höheres Konfliktniveau vorliegt. Deshalb soll hier die Verrechtlichung im internationalen Vergleich anhand eines Extrembeispiels analysiert werden: der scharfen politischen und bewaffneten Konfrontation zwischen dem bundesdeutschen Staat und der Roten Armee Fraktion (RAF) sowie dem spanischen Staat und den Grupos de Resistencia Antifascista Primero de Octubre (Antifaschistische Widerstandsgruppen 1. Oktober - GRAPO). Dabei sollte auch die Debatte über den Rechtsstaat eine neue Wendung erfahren: Während diese bisher auf den Gegensatz zwischen Nord- und Westeuropa einerseits sowie Süd- und Mitteleuropa andererseits fixiert war, sollen hier interne Differenzierungen des Rechtsstaats-Konzeptes analysiert werden: So soll nach dem Einfluß gefragt werden, den die unterschiedlichen politischen Situationen in Spanien und der BRD zum Zeitpunkt des Beginns jener Kämpfe und die unterschiedlichen ideologischen Vorstellungen von RAF und GRAPO/PCE(r) auf die Reaktionen der jeweiligen Staatsapparate hatten (und im Falle Spaniens: weiterhin haben). Was sind die Unterschiede und Ähnlichkeiten der Transformation politischer „Feinde” (Carl Schmitt) in die juristische Kategorie von ‚Angeklagten‘?El documento consiste de un "prefacio para la colleción" de l@s editor@s y una descripción anonimo del proyecto. Resumen de la descripción del proyecto: El proyecto es una contribución al debate sobre la juridificación [Verrechtlichung] de lo social que se ha dado en especial desde los años ochenta. El hecho de que este concepto exista en alemán y en español, pero no exista por ejemplo en inglés, indica ya el amplio marco de la historia y de la teoría del Derecho en el que se mueve este proyecto. En este sentido, la contraposición del derecho (metafísico) y de la ley (parlamentaria) es característica del concepto, alemán y español, de Estado de Derecho, pero no lo es del inglés rule of law [imperio de la ley] ni del francés État légal. La juridificación se ha investigado sobre todo por medio de la práctica de la administración estatal así como de las relaciones laborales y económicas. Si vamos más allá cabe preguntarse, si tal estrategia de juridificación también puede tener éxito cuando existe un nivel más intenso de conflicto. Por ello, se debe analizar aquí la juridificación mediante el contraste de dos ejemplos extremos de ambos países: la encarnizada confrontación política y armada entre el Estado federal alemán y la Rote Armee Fraktion (Fracción del Ejército Rojo – RAF) así como entre el Estado español y los Grupos de Resistencia Antifascista Primero de Octubre (GRAPO). Con ello, debería tomar un nuevo rumbo el debate sobre el Estado de Derecho: mientras que hasta ahora estaba anclado, de una parte, en la oposición Europa del Norte y Europa Occidental, y de la otra, en la de Europa del Sur y Europa Central, se van a analizar aquí las diferencias internas del concepto de Estado de Derecho que se dan en este último caso. Así, se va a plantear qué influencia han tenido en la reacción de los respectivos aparatos del Estado las diferentes situaciones políticas en España y en la RFA en el momento en que comenzaron esas luchas, así como las diferentes concepciones ideológicas de la RAF y del GRAPO/PCE(r). ¿Cuáles son las diferencias y las semejanzas en la transformación de los “enemigos” políticos (Carl Schmitt) en la categoría jurídica de ‘acusados’?Elektron. Version der gedr. Ausg. 200

Züchterische Weiterentwicklung samenfester Brokkolisorten für den Ökologischen Landbau im Hinblick auf agronomische Merkmale, sekundäre, bioaktive Inhaltsstoffe und sensorische Eigenschaften

Ziel des Projektes war, Zuchtpopulationen bzw. traditionelle, offen blühende Brokkoli-Sorten (keine Hybriden bzw. CMS-Hybriden) speziell für den Ökologischen Landbau zu prüfen. Wichtige Eigenschaften waren dabei Ertragssicherheit, Einheitlichkeit, enges Erntefenster, Festigkeit der Blume sowie hohe Gehalte an sekundären, bioaktiven Inhaltsstoffen, insbesondere von Glucosinolaten. Um eine schnelle und kostengünstige Möglichkeit zum Screening von bioaktiven Inhaltsstoffen zu entwickeln, die für den On-Farm-Einsatz geeignet ist, wurde zudem ein zerstörungsfrei arbeitendes Sensortool getestet. Während der dreijährigen Projektlaufzeit erfolgten On-Farm-Selektionen geeigneter Brokkolilinien/-sorten auf Kultursaat-Zuchtstandorten sowie auf der Versuchsstation für Ökologischen Landbau Kleinhohenheim, Universität Hohenheim. Die Ergebnisse des Projektes zeigten, dass bei großer Variabilität unter den Genotypen einige bereits vielversprechende agronomische Eigenschaften (Blumengewicht, Aberntegrad, Ertrag, Blumendurchmesser) aufwiesen, die nur leicht unter denen der untersuchten Hybriden lagen. Die Glucosinolatgehalte waren signifikant abhängig von Genotyp und Anbauzeitraum, wobei die samenfesten Genotypen und Sorten tendenziell höhere Glucosinolatgehalte zeigten als die Hybridsorten. Im Projektverlauf konnte beim Vergleich der Mutterlinien mit den züchterisch bearbeiteten Genotypen ein Zuchtfortschritt zu höheren Glucosinolatgehalten festgestellt werden. Für Einzelglucosinolate konnte eine Kalibierung des Sensortools erfolgreich durchgeführt werden, wobei der Beginn der Blumenentwicklung sich als Zeitpunkt für erste Messungen als günstig erwies. Der Einsatz des Sensortools im Blattstadium war jedoch nicht möglich. Bei den Verkostungen durch hedonische und analytische Panels wurden zwei samenfeste Genotypen und eine Hybride als besonders schmackhaft bewertet. Schlussendlich konnten zwei samenfeste Genotypen identifiziert werden, die in allen Eigenschaften (agronomisch, Glucosinolatgehalte, Geschmack) gut bis sehr gut bewertet wurden und daher für die weitere Sortenentwicklung geeignet sind

Object Localization in Fluids based on a Bioinspired Electroreceptor System

Wolf-Homeyer S. Object Localization in Fluids based on a Bioinspired Electroreceptor System. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2019.Weakly electric fish use self-generated electric fields for communication, active electrolocation and navigation. Additionally to visual sense, this ability enables them to detect objects and food even in dark or turbid waters. Specialized muscle cells in the tail region actively generate an electric field in the surrounding fluid, shaped like a dipole between tail and head. This dipole field may be distorted depending on environmental parameters such as the presence of objects of different geometry or material properties in the animal's vicinity. Electroreceptors, distributed all over the fish' skin allow to perceive distortions of the field, caused by objects. Furthermore, fish execute stereotyped scanning behaviors to obtain additional sensory information of detected objects. The development of innovative sensor systems for short-range exploration in fluids is still in its infancy. Also, the use of electric fields in bio-inspired technologies is still at an early stage. Based on the biological model of weakly electric fish, the question has already been examined if an array of electrodes can be used for a contactless object detection and localization and finally for navigation in fluids (Solberg et al. 2008). This examination is performed by analyses of electric field modulations, based on so-called EEVs. An EEV (Ensemble of Electrosensory Viewpoints) is a scalar field representation of the influence of an object on the electric field in the form of potential differences measured between two electrodes for every possible object location. The first part of this thesis explores the characteristics of the electric dipole field and the resulting EEV by means of numerical simulations to determine the influence of an object placed in the emitted field. It will also be investigated how many receptors are required and which arrangement is to be preferred to uniquely identify the positions of spherical objects in the vicinity of the sensor system. For this, a receptor system composed of a simple biomimetic abstraction of an emitter dipole and an orthogonally arranged pair of sensor electrodes is used. Inspired by the scanning movements of the fish, a fixed, minimal scanning strategy, composed of active receptor system movements is developed. The active electrolocation strategy introduced here is based on the superposition of extracted EEV contour-rings in order to find intersections of these contours. The second part of this work focuses on the development of an *application* for active electrolocation which is based on a minimal set of scanning movements as a precursor for the partitioning of the later search area in which sensor-emitter movements take place. In this application, EEVs are also used as major components of two localization algorithms. In order to find points within the search space which are part of several contour-rings, intersection points have to found. Due to numerical inaccuracies intersection points may degrade to contour-segments which lie very close to each other but do not touch. For this case, a nearness metric is used to identify such points. However, in this part of the work the EEVs are based on a simplified analytical representation, which renders the corresponding algorithms suitable for embedded computer systems. In the third part of this thesis, a fitted histogram representation of EEVs is used to compare a large number of different movement sequences to select the optimal composition from this variety. For this, the general shape of an EEV has to be considered, which plays a major role in estimating the best sequence