Selbstständige in der Grundsicherung

--

Measuring CRM Aptitude: Is NOTECHS a Suitable Tool for Pilot Selection?

Airline pilot’s primary job requirements have shifted from stick-and-rudder to CRM skills. At the same time, eliminating airline pilots from the job due to a lack of CRM skills is highly inefficient. Hence, an efficient and usable selection tool that helps to evaluate airline pilot candidates’ CRM skills prior their advanced training is needed. This paper examines the usability of the NOTECHS CRM assessment tool for already trained airline pilots for the purpose of pilot selection. CRM skills were evaluated during a scripted simple flying scenario in a Flight Navigation Procedure Trainer 2 (FNPT 2). Results indicate that the standard JAR TEL NOTECHS score form, which is subdivided into two social (cooperation; leadership & managerial skills) and two cognitive (situation awareness; decision making) categories, is efficiently usable by examiners who do not have to be psychologists, such as Human Resource personnel and airline pilots. Based on the experiment, some modifications to the NOTECHS score form were suggested

A multiscale study of hot-extruded CoNiGa ferromagnetic shape-memory alloys

Ferromagnetic shape-memory CoNiGa alloys have attracted much scientific interest due to their potential alternative use as high-temperature shape-memory alloys, bearing a high prospect for actuation and damping applications at elevated temperatures. Yet, polycrystalline CoNiGa, due to strong orientation dependence of transformation strains, suffers from intergranular fracture. Here, two multi-grain CoNiGa samples were prepared by a novel hot extrusion process that can promote favourable grain-boundary orientation distribution and improve the material's mechanical behaviour. The samples were investigated by multiple methods and their microstructural, magnetic, and mechanical properties are reported. It is found that a post-extrusion solutionising heat treatment leads to the formation of a two-phase oligocrystalline homogeneous microstructure consisting of an austenitic parent B2 phase and γ-CoNiGa precipitates. Reconstruction of the full 3D grain morphology revealed large, nearly spherical grains with no low-angle grain boundaries throughout the entire sample volume. The presence of γ precipitation affects the transformation behaviour of the samples, by lowering the martensitic transformation temperature, while, in conjunction with the oligocrystalline microstructure, it improves the ductility. Controlling the composition of the B2 matrix, as well as the phase fraction of the γ phase, is thus crucial for the optimal behaviour of the alloys

Injured adult motor and sensory axons regenerate into appropriate organotypic domains of neural progenitor grafts.

Neural progenitor cell (NPC) transplantation has high therapeutic potential in neurological disorders. Functional restoration may depend on the formation of reciprocal connections between host and graft. While it has been reported that axons extending out of neural grafts in the brain form contacts onto phenotypically appropriate host target regions, it is not known whether adult, injured host axons regenerating into NPC grafts also form appropriate connections. We report that spinal cord NPCs grafted into the injured adult rat spinal cord self-assemble organotypic, dorsal horn-like domains. These clusters are extensively innervated by regenerating adult host sensory axons and are avoided by corticospinal axons. Moreover, host axon regeneration into grafts increases significantly after enrichment with appropriate neuronal targets. Together, these findings demonstrate that injured adult axons retain the ability to recognize appropriate targets and avoid inappropriate targets within neural progenitor grafts, suggesting that restoration of complex circuitry after SCI may be achievable

Der Weismannstadel in Hemau

Bei dem im Jahre 1824 erbauten Weismannstadel in der Dietfurter Straße 16 in Hemau handelt es sich um einen Jurastadel, also um eine Scheune mit Kalkplattendach. Bis in die Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts haben Gebäude mit einer solchen Dachdeckung das Altmühlgebiet und damit auch die südwestliche Oberpfalz geprägt. Heute gibt es jedoch nur noch wenige Beispiele dieser einzigartigen ländlichen Baukultur. Auch der Weismannstadel sollte nach langem Leerstand abgerissen und durch eine Wohnanlage oder Parkplätze ersetzt werden. Die Familie Semmler aus Hemau hat ihn buchstäblich in letzter Minute vor diesem Schicksal bewahrt und zwischen 2011 und 2013 vorbildlich saniert. Der Band informiert über die Geschichte und Bedeutung des Stadels und dokumentiert seine denkmalgerechte Instandsetzung. Gedruckte Exemplare (Hardcover, 72 S., 21 x 27 cm) können für 11,80 € (zzgl. Porto) direkt beim Verlag Th. Feuerer bezogen werden

Histone demethylase KDM4B regulates otic vesicle invagination via epigenetic control of Dlx3 expression

In vertebrates, the inner ear arises from the otic placode, a thickened swathe of ectoderm that invaginates to form the otic vesicle. We report that histone demethylase KDM4B is dynamically expressed during early stages of chick inner ear formation. A loss of KDM4B results in defective invagination and striking morphological changes in the otic epithelium, characterized by abnormal localization of adhesion and cytoskeletal molecules and reduced expression of several inner ear markers, including Dlx3. In vivo chromatin immunoprecipitation reveals direct and dynamic occupancy of KDM4B and its target, H3K9me3, at regulatory regions of the Dlx3 locus. Accordingly, coelectroporations of DLX3 or KDM4B encoding constructs, but not a catalytically dead mutant of KDM4B, rescue the ear invagination phenotype caused by KDM4B knockdown. Moreover, a loss of DLX3 phenocopies a loss of KDM4B. Collectively, our findings suggest that KDM4B play a critical role during inner ear invagination via modulating histone methylation of the direct target Dlx3

Sentinel-2 web platform for REDD+ monitoring. Online web platform for browsing and processing Sentinel-2 data for forest cover monitoring over the Tropics

The recent availability of time series of Sentinel-2 imagery represents a significant technological step in the use of Earth Observation (EO) data for forest cover monitoring. The 5 days revisiting time (S-2 A and S-2B satellites) and the 10m spatial resolution imply the need for much larger storage and processing resources than ever. To facilitate the use of Sentinel-2 imagery by national forestry services in the tropics (in particular in relation to REDD+ activities), the JRC has developed the Sentinel-2 web platform, an online Web system which is aimed at browsing, exploring and processing the full dataset of Sentinel-2 imagery available over theTropical belt.JRC.D.1-Bio-econom

Oral High-Dose Atorvastatin Treatment in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

BACKGROUND:Recent data from animal models of multiple sclerosis (MS) and from a pilot study indicated a possible beneficial impact of statins on MS. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Safety, tolerability and effects on disease activity of atorvastatin given alone or in combination with interferon-beta (IFN-beta) were assessed in a phase II open-label baseline-to-treatment trial in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). Patients with at least one gadolinium-enhancing lesion (CEL) at screening by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were eligible for the study. After a baseline period of 3 monthly MRI scans (months -2 to 0), patients followed a 9-month treatment period on 80 mg atorvastatin daily. The number of CEL in treatment months 6 to 9 compared to baseline served as the primary endpoint. Other MRI-based parameters as well as changes in clinical scores and immune responses served as secondary endpoints. Of 80 RRMS patients screened, 41 were included, among them 16 with IFN-beta comedication. The high dose of 80 mg atorvastatin was well tolerated in the majority of patients, regardless of IFN-beta comedication. Atorvastatin treatment led to a substantial reduction in the number and volume of CEL in two-sided multivariate analysis (p = 0.003 and p = 0.008). A trend towards a significant decrease in number and volume of CEL was also detected in patients with IFN-beta comedication (p = 0.060 and p = 0.062), in contrast to patients without IFN-beta comedication (p = 0.170 and p = 0.140). Immunological investigations showed no suppression in T cell response but a significant increase in IL-10 production. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Our data suggest that high-dose atorvastatin treatment in RRMS is safe and well tolerated. Moreover, MRI analysis indicates a possible beneficial effect of atorvastatin, alone or in combination with IFN-beta, on the development of new CEL. Thus, our findings provide a rationale for phase II/III trials, including combination of atorvastatin with already approved immunomodulatory therapy regimens. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00616187