Economic Integration and Labor Market Institutions: Worker Mobility, Earnings Risk, and Contract Structure

This paper investigates the effects of labor market integration, in the form of worker mobility, in a model with long-term labor contracts that lead to wage rigidities and unemployment. Increased mobility leads to more flexible labor market institutions in which firms can more easily vary the level of employment in response to fluctuations in demand. Economic integration is potentially Pareto-improving but, in the absence of a system of compensation, workers are harmed by greater labor mobility while the owners of firms benefit from higher profits.labor mobility economic integration unemployment implicit contracts

Bürgerarbeit - die neue Wunderwaffe?

Mit der Bürgerarbeit hat die Bundesagentur für Arbeit scheinbar die Erfolgsformel gegen die Arbeitslosigkeit entdeckt: Langzeitarbeitslose finden wieder geregelte Arbeit, der Fiskus wird nicht belastet und Firmen müssen keine Konkurrenz befürchten, da nur marktferne Tätigkeiten in der Bürgerarbeit erledigt werden so die Versprechungen. Und tatsächlich, in Bad Schmiedeberg (Sachsen-Anhalt) ist es gelungen, die Arbeitslosenquote mehr als zu halbieren. Bei all diesen Erfolgsnachrichten ist es kein Wunder, dass das Pilotprojekt auf andere Kommunen ausgeweitet wird und mittlerweile sogar ernsthaft die bundesweite Einführung der Bürgerarbeit diskutiert wird. Was steckt hinter diesem Konzept? Und wie erfolgreich ist es wirklich?Arbeitsverwaltung; rbeitslosigkeit; Langzeitarbeitslosigkeit; Erwerbstätigkeit; Deutschland; Bürgerarbeit

Using Outdoor Learning as an Instructional Strategy

Spending time in nature or an outdoor environment is a healthy practice that can provide many mental and physical benefits. Thus, outdoor learning is an instructional strategy that can capitalize on these benefits and that is engaging for students. Outdoor learning can encourage student engagement in the content, while offering authentic learning opportunities. Outdoor learning can positively impact students’ learning and intrinsic motivation, their social and behavioral needs, as well as improve their problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Teachers may face a variety of potential barriers when attempting to facilitate outdoor learning. These obstacles are described and addressed by providing strategies for teachers to promote and integrate outdoor learning into their instructional practice. Developing and nurturing a school culture that encourages outdoor learning experiences is discussed

The selective hydrogenation of crotonaldehyde over bimetallic catalysts

The selective hydrogenation of crotonaldehyde has been investigated over a monometallic Pt/SiO2 catalyst and platinum bimetallic catalysts where the second metal was either silver, copper, or tin. The effects of addition of a second metal to the Pt/SiO2 system on the selectivity to crotyl alcohol were investigated;The Pt-Sn bimetallic catalysts were characterized by hydrogen chemisorption, 1H NMR and microcalorimetry. Pt-Ag/SiO2 and Pt-Cu/SiO2 catalysts were characterized by hydrogen chemisorption. Pt-Sn/SiO2 catalysts selectively hydrogenated crotonaldehyde to crotyl alcohol and the method of preparation of the these catalysts affected the selectivity. The most selective Pt-Sn/SiO2 catalysts for the hydrogenation of crotonaldehyde to crotyl alcohol were those in which the Sn precursor was dissolved in a HCl solution. Sn increased both the rate of formation of butyraldehyde and the rate of formation of crotyl alcohol. The Pt/SiO2, Pt-Ag/SiO2 and Pt-Cu/SiO2 catalysts produced only butyraldehyde;Initial heats of adsorption (~90 kJ/mol) measured using microcalorimetry were not affected by the presence of Sn on Pt. We can conclude that there is no through metal electronic interaction between Pt and Sn at least with respect to hydrogen surface bonds since the Pt and Pt-Sn had similar initial heats of adsorption coupled with the invariance of the 1H NMR Knight shift;Selective site blocking of the low coordination edge and corner sites by Cu or Ag as well as reduction in the Pt ensemble size did not lead to the formation of crotyl alcohol as has been postulated in previous work. Also, these low coordination edge and corner sites cannot be responsible for the olefin hydrogenation activity since the TOF for Pt-Ag/SiO2 and Pt/SiO2 were identical. Sn addition increased the H/Surface Pt ratio. That is, Sn promotes additional hydrogen adsorption per surface Pt atom. This additional hydrogen is more weakly bound. The presence of additional adsorbed hydrogen on both Pt-Sn and Pt-Cu is correlated with the increased activity obtained for these catalyst systems relative to pure Pt and Pt-Ag. Unlike Ag and Cu, Sn is not easily reduced and this partially reduced state may be necessary for activation of the carbonyl group

Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency in gene-targeted mice

Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency is the most common inherited disorder of mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation in humans. To better understand the pathogenesis of this disease, we developed a mouse model for MCAD deficiency (MCAD-/-) by gene targeting in embryonic stem (ES) cells. The MCAD-/- mice developed an organic aciduria and fatty liver, and showed profound cold intolerance at 4 °C with prior fasting. The sporadic cardiac lesions seen in MCAD-/- mice have not been reported in human MCAD patients. There was significant neonatal mortality of MCAD -/- pups demonstrating similarities to patterns of clinical episodes and mortality in MCAD-deficient patients. The MCAD-deficient mouse reproduced important aspects of human MCAD deficiency and is a valuable model for further analysis of the roles of fatty acid oxidation and pathogenesis of human diseases involving fatty acid oxidation. © 2005 Tolwani et al