The university as an open platform? : a critique of agility

The agile organisation is a concept in a whole series of supposedly new organisational concepts of recent decades. The demand for agility in the organisational context is based on the assumption that the environment develops increasingly disruptively and that organisations must adapt agilely to these disruptive developments. However, the theory of disruptive development is fraught with problems, and, thus, the theoretical and empirical basis of justification for agile organisation is rather weak. The article discusses the dilemmas of agile universities in the form of nine theses. Agility does not solve the main problem of the lack of innovation. Agility, as defined by the majority, is a form of passivity towards the environment, yet it is not only about adaptation, but also about active transformation. We do not need more agility, but rather more innovation. The concluding remarks set out in four points what remains of agility for the university

Aufklärung und Wissenschaft in der Krise : Wiederbelebung der Religionen?

Der Glaube an die Wissenschaft scheint derzeit zu erodieren und die Kulturpessimisten sehen das Ende der Aufklärung, der Wissenschaft und der westlichen Gesellschaft nahen. Die Prognose der kulturpessimistischen Philosophen und Autoren wie beispielsweise des französischen Philosophen Michel Houellebecq, des slowenischen Kulturkritikers Slavoj Žižek oder des deutsch-koreanischen Philosophen Byung-Chul Han sind düster. Sie prophezeien die Rückkehr der Religionen und damit das nahe Ende Europas. Die Aufklärung, die Wissenschaften hätten falsche Versprechen gemacht und keinen Werteersatz für die Religionen geboten. Sie hätten komplett versagt. «Der Laizismus, der Rationalismus und die Aufklärung, deren Grundprinzip die Abkehr vom Glauben ist, haben keine Zukunft.» (Houellebecq 2015). Die Kulturpessimisten sehen ein neues Mittelalter aufziehen, in dem religiöse und patriarchale Werte die Gesellschaften prägen werden. Das moderne Europa verschwinde, die Wissenschaften würden irrelevant. Torkelt die Moderne, das Abendland tatsächlich seinem Ende entgegen? Steht Europa kurz vor dem Kollaps

A note on couette flow of nematic crystals according to the Ericksen–Leslie theory

In order to model the flow of nematic crystals, the theoretical framework according to Ericksen and Leslie is applied. The essentials of the theory are compiled and then specialized to Couette flow. The profiles for linear velocity and orientation angle will be computed and, in particular, we shall also study the rise in temperature due to viscous dissipation, which is frequently ignored by mechanicians. Analytical and numerical solutions for the fields are derived for different boundary conditions and will subsequently be discussed.TU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel - 201

Distribution of VOCs between air and snow at the Jungfraujoch high alpine research station, Switzerland, during CLACE 5 (winter 2006)

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were analyzed in air and snow samples at the Jungfraujoch high alpine research station in Switzerland as part of CLACE 5 (CLoud and Aerosol Characterization Experiment) during February/March 2006. The fluxes of individual compounds in ambient air were calculated from gas phase concentrations and wind speed. The highest concentrations and flux values were observed for the aromatic hydrocarbons benzene (14.3 μg.m−2 s−1), 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (5.27 μg.m−2 s−1), toluene (4.40 μg.m−2 −1), and the aliphatic hydrocarbons i-butane (7.87 μg.m−2 s−1), i-pentane (3.61 μg.m−2 s−1) and n-butane (3.23 μg.m−2 s−1). The measured concentrations and fluxes were used to calculate the efficiency of removal of VOCs by snow, which is defined as difference between the initial and final concentration/flux values of compounds before and after wet deposition. The removal efficiency was calculated at −24°C (−13.7°C) and ranged from 37% (35%) for o-xylene to 93% (63%) for i-pentane. The distribution coefficients of VOCs between the air and snow phases were derived from published poly-parameter linear free energy relationship (pp-LFER) data, and compared with distribution coefficients obtained from the simultaneous measurements of VOC concentrations in air and snow at Jungfraujoch. The coefficients calculated from pp-LFER exceeded those values measured in the present study, which indicates more efficient snow scavenging of the VOCs investigated than suggested by theoretical predictions

n-Aldehydes ( C 6 - C 10 ) in snow samples collected at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch during CLACE 5

Samples of freshly fallen snow were collected at the high alpine research station Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, during the Cloud and Aerosol Characterization Experiments (CLACE) 5 in February and March 2006. Sampling was carried out on the Sphinx platform. Headspace-solid-phase-dynamic extraction (HS-SPDE) combined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was used to quantify C6–C10 n-aldehydes in the snow samples. The most abundant n-aldehyde was n-hexanal (median concentration 1.324 micro g L -1) followed by n-nonanal, n-decanal, n-octanal and n-heptanal (median concentrations 1.239, 0.863, 0.460, and 0.304 micro g L -1, respectively). A wide range of concentrations was found among individual snow samples, even for samples taken at the same time. Higher median concentrations of all n-aldehydes were observed when air masses reached Jungfraujoch from the north-northwest in comparison to air masses arriving from the southeast-southwest. Results suggest that the n-aldehydes detected most likely are of direct and indirect biogenic origin, and that they entered the snow through the particle phase

A quantitative screen for metabolic enzyme structures reveals patterns of assembly across the yeast metabolic network.

Despite the proliferation of proteins that can form filaments or phase-separated condensates, it remains unclear how this behavior is distributed over biological networks. We have found that 60 of the 440 yeast metabolic enzymes robustly form structures, including 10 that assemble within mitochondria. Additionally, the ability to assemble is enriched at branch points on several metabolic pathways. The assembly of enzymes at the first branch point in de novo purine biosynthesis is coordinated, hierarchical, and based on their position within the pathway, while the enzymes at the second branch point are recruited to RNA stress granules. Consistent with distinct classes of structures being deployed at different control points in a pathway, we find that the first enzyme in the pathway, PRPP synthetase, forms evolutionarily conserved filaments that are sequestered in the nucleus in higher eukaryotes. These findings provide a roadmap for identifying additional conserved features of metabolic regulation by condensates/filaments

Wissenschaft in der Vertrauenskrise? : Plädoyer für eine gemeinwohlorientierte Wissenschaft

Fake news, Faktenignoranz und politische Unterdrückung der Zirkulation von Wissen – die Wissenschaft muss angesichts dieser Herausforderungen ihre Rolle neu definieren. Soll sie sich in die Politik einmischen und mehr Verantwortung für die Lösung gesellschaftlicher Probleme übernehmen? Wird sie glaubwürdiger, indem sie ihre Werte transparent macht? Oder sind solche Massnahmen sogar kontraproduktiv, um einem Vertrauensverlust in die Wissenschaft entgegenzuwirken? In jedem Fall sollte Wissenschaft sich dem Gemeinwohl verpflichten, öffentliche Diskurse anstoßen und zu gesellschaftlicher Orientierung beitragen

Technical note: formation of airborne ice crystals in a wall independent reactor (WIR) under atmospheric conditions

Both, gas and particle scavenging contribute to the transport of organic compounds by ice crystals in the troposphere. To simulate these processes an experimental setup was developed to form airborne ice crystals under atmospheric conditions. Experiments were performed in a wall independent reactor (WIR) installed in a walk-in cold chamber maintained constantly at -20°C. Aerosol particles were added to the carrier gas of ambient air by an aerosol generator to allow heterogeneous ice formation. Temperature variations and hydrodynamic conditions of the WIR were investigated to determine the conditions for ice crystal formation and crystal growth by vapour deposition. In detail, the dependence of temperature variations from flow rate and temperature of the physical wall as well as temperature variations with an increasing reactor depth were studied. The conditions to provide a stable aerosol concentration in the carrier gas flow were also studied. The temperature distribution inside the reactor was strongly dependent on flow rate and physical wall temperature. At an inlet temperature of -20°C, a flow rate of 30 L•min exp -1 and a physical wall temperature of +5°C turned out to provide ideal conditions for ice formation. At these conditions a sharp and stable laminar down draft "jet stream" of cold air in the centre of the reactor was produced. Temperatures measured at the chamber outlet were kept well below the freezing point in the whole reactor depth of 1.0 m. Thus, melting did not affect ice formation and crystal growth. The maximum residence time for airborne ice crystals was calculated to at 40 s. Ice crystal growth rates increased also with increasing reactor depth. The maximum ice crystal growth rate was calculated at 2.82 mg• exp -1. Further, the removal efficiency of the cleaning device for aerosol particles was 99.8% after 10 min. A reliable particle supply was attained after a preliminary lead time of 15 min. Thus, the minimum lead time was determined at 25 min. Several test runs revealed that the WIR is suitable to perform experiments with airborne ice crystals

Zehn Thesen zur Entwicklung der Pädagogischen Hochschulen der Schweiz

Since teachers have been trained in public educational institutions, various questions of their education have been the subject of repeated critical discussions. In talk shows and the mass media, the impression is sometimes given that teacher education consists mainly of deficits. But not only teacher education is under scrutiny. Rather, it is about different ideas of what the task of a teachers and university lecturers could still be in today's world. The article sheds light on a fundamental critique and a utopia of elementary schools and schools of education. They are pointed out in the criticism "teaching without learning" and in the utopia "learning without teaching". Based on this, ten theses for the future development of teacher training institutions are developed