Higher Education: Does Public Expenditure Increase Enrollment?

This paper evaluates the effects of public education expenditure on student enrollment in tertiary education. We use a cross-section of 132 countries to demonstrate that public expenditure on primary and secondary education positively affects tertiary enrollment rates, while the generosity of tertiary education subsidies themselves do not appear to have any signifcant impact on tertiary enrollment. The results presented are robust to various specifcations, and raise serious concerns regarding the within country allocation of public resources on education, which seems to be biased towards higher education, especially for less developed countries.Higher (Tertiary) Education; Enrollment

Immigrants’ Attitudes towards Redistribution: Implications for the Welfare State

Using data from the World Value Survey we examine first and second generation immigrants’ attitudes towards income inequality and redistribution. We find that first generation immigrants are on average less favorable to redistribution compared to non-immigrants. This effect is particularly pronounced in the Nordic welfare states, while in residual welfare states immigrants have stronger preferences for more government involvement, but not necessarily towards more redistribution. We find only marginal differences for second generation immigrants, suggesting a rather rapid adaptation of local norms and political preferences.Immigration; redistribution; welfare state; attitudes

Die Dynamik von Assemblierungsprozessen des photosynthetischen Apparates der Grünalge Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

The photosynthetic machinery of the thylakoid membranes comprises about 100 protein complexes. Among them the light harvesting complex protein family forms a large subgroup, their large number bearing from a large number of nuclear-encoded genes, as well as posttranslational modifications. In this study 2-DE separation of thylakoid membranes from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been established as a tool for proteome mapping and functional analysis of light harvesting proteins, and dissection of mutant phenotypes affected in the expression and modification of thylakoid proteins. A mutant screen has been applied to study the assembly of light harvesting proteins. In this screen a Chl b-deficient mutant was obtained that was characterised biochemically and physiologically. PAGE analyses and oxygen uptake assays implied that LHC proteins are reduced and detached from the photosystem. In the Chl b-deficient mutant cbs3 similar findings were obtained. Whereas effects on LHC proteins could be caused by Chl b-deficiency in cbs3, Chl b-deficiency in S2 is implied to be a consequence of LHC destabilisation, although the impact of regulation mechanisms in the context of pigment biosynthesis cannot be ruled out so far. Further pigment analysis looking at different growth conditions and measurement of npq could be valuable tools, especially if cbs3 is included in the analysis. Unfortunately although highly elaborate state of the art skills were applied it was not possible to perform genetic crosses with the mutant S2 in order to correlate the introduction of the ble-gene with the phenotype of the mutant. After the mutant has been characterised biochemically in this study it would now be worthwhile to identify the affected DNA-segment by plasmid rescue

Processes determining heat waves across different European climates

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of processes determining heat waves across different climates in Europe for the period 1979–2016. Heat waves are defined using a percentile‐based index and the main processes quantified along trajectories are adiabatic compression by subsidence and local and remote diabatic processes in the upper and lower troposphere. This Lagrangian analysis is complemented by an Eulerian calculation of horizontal temperature advection. During typical summers in Europe, one or two heat waves occur, with an average duration of five days. Whereas high near‐surface temperatures over Scandinavia are accompanied by omega‐like blocking structures at 500 hPa, heat waves over the Mediterranean are connected to comparably flat ridges. Tracing air masses backwards from the heat waves, we identify three trajectory clusters with coherent thermodynamic characteristics, vertical motions, and geographic origins. In all regions, horizontal temperature advection is almost negligible. In two of the three clusters, subsidence in the free atmosphere is very important in establishing high temperatures near the surface, while the air masses in the third cluster are warmed primarily due to diabatic heating near the surface. Large interregional differences occur between the British Isles and western Russia. Over the latter region, near‐surface transport and diabatic heating appear to be very important in determining the intensity of the heat waves, whereas subsidence and adiabatic warming are of first‐order importance for the British Isles. Although the large‐scale pattern is quasistationary during heat wave days, new air masses are entrained steadily into the lower troposphere during the life cycle of a heat wave. Overall, the results of the present study provide a guideline as to which processes and diagnostics weather and climate studies should focus on to understand the severity of heat waves

Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy: A versatile tool for the investigations of plasmonic excitations

The inelastic scattering of electrons is one route to study the vibrational and electronic properties of materials. Such experiments, also called electron energy-loss spectroscopy, are particularly useful for the investigation of the collective excitations in metals, the charge carrier plasmons. These plasmons are characterized by a specific dispersion (energy-momentum relationship), which contains information on the sometimes complex nature of the conduction electrons in topical materials. In this review we highlight the improvements of the electron energy-loss spectrometer in the last years, summarize current possibilities with this technique, and give examples where the investigation of the plasmon dispersion allows insight into the interplay of the conduction electrons with other degrees of freedom

A systematic comparison of tropical waves over northern Africa. Part II: Dynamics and thermodynamics

This study presents the first systematic comparison of the (thermo-)dynamics associated with all major tropical wave types causing rainfall modulation over northern tropical Africa: Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO), Equatorial Rossby waves (ERs), mixed Rossby-gravity waves (MRGs), Kelvin waves, tropical disturbances (TDs, including African Easterly Waves), and eastward inertio-gravity waves (EIGs). Reanalysis and radiosonde data were analyzed for the period 1981--2013 based on space-time filtering of outgoing longwave radiation. The identified circulation patterns are largely consistent with theory. The slow modes, MJO and ER, mainly impact precipitable water, whereas the faster Kelvin waves, MRGs, and TDs primarily modulate moisture convergence. Monsoonal inflow intensifies during wet phases of the MJO, ERs, and MRGs, associated with a northward shift of the intertropical discontinuity for MJO and ERs. During passages of vertically tilted imbalanced wave modes, such as MJO, Kelvin waves, and TDs, and partly MRGs, increased vertical wind shear and improved conditions for up- and downdrafts facilitate the organization of convection. The balanced ERs are not tilted and rainfall is triggered by large-scale moistening and stratiform lifting. The MJO and ERs interact with intraseasonal variations of the Indian monsoon and extratropical Rossby wave trains. The latter causes a trough over the Atlas Mountains associated with a tropical plume and rainfall over the Sahara. Positive North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillation signals precede tropical plumes in case of the MJO. The results unveil which dynamical processes need to be modeled realistically to represent the coupling between tropical waves and rainfall in northern tropical Africa.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures, supplementary material; submitted to Journal of Climat

A Systematic Comparison of Tropical Waves over Northern Africa. Part II: Dynamics and Thermodynamics

This study presents the first systematic comparison of the dynamics and thermodynamics associated with all major tropical wave types causing rainfall modulation over northern tropical Africa: the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), equatorial Rossby waves (ERs), tropical disturbances (TDs, including African easterly waves), Kelvin waves, mixed Rossby–gravity waves (MRGs), and eastward inertio-gravity waves (EIGs). Reanalysis and radiosonde data were analyzed for the period 1981–2013 based on space–time filtering of outgoing longwave radiation. The identified circulation patterns are largely consistent with theory. The slow modes, MJO and ER, mainly impact precipitable water, whereas the faster TDs, Kelvin waves, and MRGs primarily modulate moisture convergence. Monsoonal inflow intensifies during wet phases of the MJO, ERs, and MRGs, associated with a northward shift of the intertropical discontinuity for MJO and ERs. This study reveals that MRGs over Africa have a distinct dynamical structure that differs significantly from AEWs. During passages of vertically tilted imbalanced wave modes, such as the MJO, TDs, Kelvin waves, and partly MRG waves, increased vertical wind shear and improved conditions for up- and downdrafts facilitate the organization of mesoscale convective systems. The balanced ERs are not tilted, and rainfall is triggered by large-scale moistening and stratiform lifting. The MJO and ERs interact with intraseasonal variations of the Indian monsoon and extratropical Rossby wave trains. The latter causes a trough over the Atlas Mountains associated with a tropical plume and rainfall over the Sahara. The presented results unveil which dynamical processes need to be modeled realistically to represent the coupling between tropical waves and rainfall in northern tropical Afric

A systematic comparison of tropical waves over northern Africa. Part I: Influence on rainfall

Low-latitude rainfall variability on the daily to intraseasonal timescale is often related to tropical waves, including convectively coupled equatorial waves, the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), and tropical disturbances. Despite the importance of rainfall variability for vulnerable societies in tropical Africa, the relative influence of tropical waves for this region is largely unknown. This article presents the first systematic comparison of the impact of six wave types on precipitation over northern tropical Africa during the transition and full monsoon seasons, using two satellite products and a dense rain gauge network. Composites of rainfall anomalies in the different datasets show} comparable modulation intensities in the West Sahel and at the Guinea Coast, varying from less than 2 to above 7 mm/d depending on the wave type. African Easterly Waves (AEWs) and Kelvin waves dominate the 3-hourly to daily timescale and explain 10-30% locally. On longer timescales (7-20d), only the MJO and equatorial Rossby (ER) waves remain as modulating factors and explain about up to one third of rainfall variability. Eastward inertio-gravity waves and mixed Rossby-gravity (MRG) waves are comparatively unimportant. An analysis of wave superposition shows that low-frequency waves (MJO, ER) in their wet phase amplify the activity of high-frequency waves (TD, MRG) and suppress them in the dry phase. The results stress that more attention should be paid to tropical waves when forecasting rainfall over northern tropical Africa.Comment: 34 pages, 12 figures, supplementary material; submitted to Journal of Climat