Did the Bologna Process Challenge the German Apprenticeship System? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Starting in 1999, the Bologna Process reformed the German five-year study system for a first degree into the three-year bachelor’s (BA) system to harmonize study lengths in Europe and improve competitiveness. This reform unintentionally challenged the German apprenticeship system that offers three-year professional training for the majority of school leavers. Approximately 29% of new apprentices are university-eligible graduates from academic-track schools. We evaluate the effects of the Bologna reform on new highly educated apprentices using a generalized difference-in-differences design based on detailed administrative student and labor market data. Our estimates show that the average regional expansion in first-year BA students decreased the number of new highly educated apprentices by 3%–5%; average treatment effects on those indecisive at school graduation range between –18% and –29%. We reveal substantial gender and occupational heterogeneity: males in STEM apprenticeships experienced the strongest negative effects. The reform aggravated the skills shortage in the economy

A Second Host Species of the Inquiline Ant Leptothorax wilsoni

The workerless parasitic ant, Leptothorax wilsoni, as yet known only from colonies of Leptothorax cf. canadensis, was found in five colonies of a second host species, Leptothorax sp. A (sensu Heinze and Buschinger, 1989) near Escoumins, Québec. This is the first finding of an inquiline with more than one host species in the ant tribe Formicoxenni. In contrast to a previous statemem, the palp formula of L. wilsoni is 4. 3

Ökonomische Analyse der Bologna-Reform : Methodische Überlegungen

Die Bologna-Reform hat vor 22 Jahren die Hochschullandschaft in Europa verändert und die bisherigen Studienstrukturen vielfach abgelöst. Untersuchungen, die die kausalen Wirkungen der Reform auf Studienentscheidungen, Studienerfolg, Studierendenmobilität und Arbeitsmarkterträge analysieren, sind jedoch rar. Prof. Dr. Stephan Thomsen und Johannes Trunzer vom Institut für Wirtschaftspolitik formulieren methodische Überlegungen, wie offene Fragen aus dem Bologna-Prozess untersucht werden könnten

Zur Relevanz von Ausstattungsunterschieden für Forschungsleistungsvergleiche: Ein Diskussionsbeitrag für die Wirtschaftswissenschaften in Deutschland

Forschungsleistungen sind nicht unabhängig von den gegebenen institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen. Auf Basis der personellen und finanziellen Ausstattung sowie der Lehrbelastung identifizieren wir sechs Gruppen der universitären Wirtschaftswissenschaften in Deutschland. Für diese vergleichen wir Promotionen, Drittmittel, Publikationen und die Platzierung im RePEc-Ranking als gängige Indikatoren zur Forschungsleistung. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen erwartungsgemäß Zusammenhänge zwischen Input- und Outputgrößen. Besonders bedeutsam ist die Ausstattung der Professuren mit wissenschaftlichem Personal. Zugleich lassen sich gemeinsame Forschungsprofile in den verschiedenen Gruppen erkennen: z.B. sind einige wenige (tendenziell große und junge) Standorte auf Top-Publikationen spezialisiert; andere sind darauf weniger ausgerichtet, leisten aber vielzitierte und drittmittelstarke Forschung. Die Analyse unterstreicht die notwendige Differenzierung bei Leistungsvergleichen und soll als Diskussionsanstoß für Weiterentwicklungen dienen

System architectures for Industrie 4.0 applications

Industrie 4.0 principles demand increasing flexibility and modularity for automated production systems. Current system architectures provide an isolated view of specific applications and use cases, but lack a global, more generic approach. Based on the specific architectures of two EU projects and one German Industrie 4.0 project, a generic system architecture is proposed. This system architecture features the strengths of the three isolated proposals, such as cross-enterprise data sharing, service orchestration, and real-time capabilities, and can be applied to a wide field of applications. Future research should be directed towards considering the applicability of the architecture to other equal applications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Model based process optimisation of an industrial chromatographic process for separation of lactoferrin from bovine milk

Journal articleModel based process development using predictive mechanistic models is a powerful tool for in-silico downstream process development. It allows to obtain a thorough understanding of the process reducing experimental effort. While in pharma industry, mechanistic modeling becomes more common in the last years, it is rarely applied in food industry. This case study investigates risk ranking and possible optimization of the industrial process of purifying lactoferrin from bovine milk using SP Sepharose Big Beads with a resin particle diameter of 200 µm, based on a minimal number of lab-scale experiments combining traditional scale-down experiments with mechanistic modeling. Depending on the location and season, process water pH and the composition of raw milk can vary, posing a challenge for highly efficient process development. A predictive model based on the general rate model with steric mass action binding, extended for pH dependence, was calibrated to describe the elution behavior of lactoferrin and main impurities. The gained model was evaluated against changes in flow rate, step elution conditions, and higher loading and showed excellent agreement with the observed experimental data. The model was then used to investigate the critical process parameters, such as water pH, conductivity of elution steps, and flow rate, on process performance and purity. It was found that the elution behavior of lactoferrin is relatively consistent over the pH range of 5.5 to 7.6, while the elution behavior of the main impurities varies greatly with elution pH. As a result, a significant loss in lactoferrin is unavoidable to achieve desired purities at pH levels below pH 6.0. Optimal process parameters were identified to reduce water and salt consumption and increase purity, depending on water pH and raw milk composition. The optimal conductivity for impurity removal in a low conductivity elution step was found to be 43 mS/cm, while a conductivity of 95 mS/cm leads to the lowest overall salt usage during lactoferrin elution. Further increasing the conductivity during lactoferrin elution can only slightly lower the elution volume thus can also lead to higher total salt usage. Low flow rates during elution of 0.2 column volume per minute are beneficial compared to higher flow rates of 1 column volume per minute. The, on lab-scale, calibrated model allows predicting elution volume and impurity removal for large-scale experiments in a commercial plant processing over 106 liters of milk per day. The successful model extrapolation was possible without recalibration or detailed knowledge of the manufacturing plant. This study therefore provides a possible pathway for rapid process development of chromatographic purification in the food industries combining traditional scale-down experiments with mechanistic modeling.Lukas Gerstweiler, Paulina Schad, Tatjana Trunzer, Lena Enghauser, Max Mayr, Jagan Billakant

Emerging targeted therapies for melanoma treatment (Review)

Cutaneous melanoma is an aggressive cancer with a poor prognosis for patients with advanced disease. The identification of several key molecular pathways implicated in the pathogenesis of melanoma has led to the development of novel therapies for this devastating disease. In melanoma, both the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK (MAPK) and the PI3K/AKT (AKT) signalling pathways are constitutively activated through multiple mechanisms. Targeting various effectors of these pathways with pharmacologic inhibitors may inhibit melanoma cell growth and angiogenesis. Ongoing clinical trials provide hope to improve progression-free survival of patients with advanced melanoma. This review summarizes the most relevant studies focused on the specific action of these new molecular targeted agents. Mechanisms of resistance to therapy are also discussed

HLA class I downregulation is associated with enhanced NK-cell killing of melanoma cells with acquired drug resistance to BRAF inhibitors.

The frequent development of drug resistance to targeted therapies in cancer patients has stimulated interest in strategies counteracting resistance. Combining immunotherapies with targeted therapies is one such strategy. In this context, we asked whether human NK cells can target melanoma cells that have acquired resistance to selective inhibitors targeting activating mutants of the B-Raf kinase (BRAF inhibitors, BRAFi). We generated drug-resistant cell variants in vitro from human BRAF-mutant melanoma cell lines MEL-HO, COLO-38, SK-MEL-37, 1520 and from primary melanoma cells freshly isolated from two patients. All drug-resistant cell variants remained susceptible to lysis by IL-2-activated NK cells; and two BRAFi-resistant lines (BRAFi-R) became significantly more susceptible to NK-cell lysis than their parental lines. This was associated with significant HLA class I antigen downregulation and PD-L1 upregulation on the drug-resistant lines. Although blocking HLA class I enhanced the extent of lysis of both BRAFi-R and parental cells to NK-cell-mediated lysis, antibody-mediated inhibition of PD1-PD-L1 interactions had no detectable effect. HLA class I antigen expression on BRAFi-R melanoma variants thus appears to play a major role in their susceptibility to NK-cell cytotoxicity. These findings suggest that NK-cell-based immunotherapy may be a viable approach to treat melanoma patients with acquired resistance to BRAF inhibitors.This work was sup-ported by the National Institute for Health Research CambridgeBiomedical Research Center Cell Phenotyping Hub and by projectgrants from the Association for International Cancer Research 10–0238 and the Medical Research Council G0900101/1 to FrancescoColucci’s lab and by Associazione Italiana Ricerca Cancro AIRC-IG15521, UICC International Cancer Technology Transfer Fellow-ship and Italian Ministry of Health grant CO-2011-02348049 toEnnio Carbone. Soldano Ferrone was supported P50CA121973awarded by the National Cancer Institute and Klas K¨arre wassupported by The Swedish Cancer Society. Francesco Sabbatinowas supported by a Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the FondazioneUmberto Verones