From e-learning to integrated learning architectures. A novel approach to learning management in corporate and higher education contexts

E-learning has taken an important role in the work of human resources departments, thus increasing both the importance of, and the demands placed upon, learning management processes and technologies. High-performance learning platforms enable a wide range of functionalities and process choice. In addition, they need interfaces for integration into other corporate IT systems. And finally, corporate learning solutions also need to reach all relevant partners who might participate in learning and information exchange processes. Providing examples from the architecture of the leading European learning management system CLIX�, the article outlines the conceptual, technical, process-related and organizational framework for a successful implementation of viable and sustainable learning solutions in companies, higher education and public organizations.corporate learning, E-learning, learning management, management education, performance management.

The NSDAP vote in the Weimarer Republic: an assessment of the state-of-the-Art in view of modern electoral research (1)

In den letzten Jahren ist in einigen Studien die These bestritten worden, daß der Aufstieg des Nationalsozialismus in der Weimarer Republik im wesentlichen durch die unteren Mittelschichten ermöglicht worden ist. Sie vermuten dagegen eine wesentliche breitere Basis der NSDAP. Anhand verfeinerter statistischer Analysen kann von der NSDAP als der ersten 'Volkspartei' gesprochen werden. Der vorliegende Beitrag resümiert diese Studien und diskutiert sie hinsichtlich ihrer methodischen Validität. Diese kritische Sichtung legt keine grundlegende Revision der ursprünglichen These nahe. Der Trend, die Wahlforschung der Weimarer Republik auf lokale und regionale Unterschiede in der statistischen Analyse hin zu verfeinern, wird als Gewinn für die historische Sozialforschung verbucht.'Over the last decade, several authors have questioned the conventional wisdom about the rise of Nazism in the Weimar Republic: that Hitler's main support came from the lower middle-classes. They suggest a much broader support base for the Nazis. Most pointedly, they describe the NSDAP as a first Volksparei - in part using a much improved data base and employing complex statistical techniques. This paper examines the true extent of substantive differences, assesses the methodological soundness of various studies, and offers a synthesis of insights based on solid empirical evidence. Rhetoric aside, the more recent studies provide refinement and corroboration rather than grounds for a fundamental revision. As a guide for further research, a shift from global statistical analysis to local and regional studies using a multitude of data sources is recommended.' (author's abstract

Rethinking Objectification: From Substitution to Sequence

Anthropology has always struggled with accommodating objects into ethnographic analysis in ways that go beyond mirroring what people do and say. The work that made a lasting impact on how anthropology conventionally understands objectification and the difference it makes to society was Marcel Mauss's theory of the gift. This chapter retraces attempts at challenging the standard definition of objectification and sets out the theoretical ideas that inform an alternative. The search for an alternative definition of objectification met with resonance among anthropologists familiar with ecologies in which societies invest in prospective strategies and operatives that are predictable across time and space and that sustain political economies in which distribution reigns paramount. Written by the American anthropologist Anthony Wallace, known for his work on religion, Rockdale recounts the practices and attentions to distribution, honed over centuries, that initially informed academic concern with the workings of machines

Thermodynamic evidence for valley-dependent density of states in bulk bismuth

Electron-like carriers in bismuth are described by the Dirac Hamiltonian, with a band mass becoming a thousandth of the bare electron mass along one crystalline axis. The existence of three anisotropic valleys offers electrons an additional degree of freedom, a subject of recent attention. Here, we map the Landau spectrum by angle-resolved magnetostriction, and quantify the carrier number in each valley: while the electron valleys keep identical spectra, they substantially differ in their density of states at the Fermi level. Thus, the electron fluid does not keep the rotational symmetry of the lattice at low temperature and high magnetic field, even in the absence of internal strain. This effect, reminiscent of the Coulomb pseudo-gap in localized electronic states, affects only electrons in the immediate vicinity of the Fermi level. It presents the most striking departure from the non-interacting picture of electrons in bulk bismuth.Comment: 6 pages, 3 Figure

The properties of the fire clays used for the manufacture of zinc retorts

The ultimate object of this refractories investigation is to develop a body for zinc retorts, or changes in the method of their manufacture, that will result in better retorts than the ones now in use. In doing this, the question of permissible cost must, at all times, be kept in mind. The immediate object of the present phase of this investigation, of which this thesis covers only a part, is to determine the physical and chemical properties of the refractories (fire clays, grogs, bodies, etc.) now used for the manufacture of zinc retorts. This will be a basis for later investigations of raw materials or body mixtures that offer promise of being better than the ones now in use --Object of the Investigation, page 3

Uniaxial stress tuning of geometrical frustration in a Kondo lattice

Hexagonal CeRhSn with paramagnetic $4f$ moments on a distorted Kagome lattice displays zero-field quantum critical behavior related to geometrical frustration. We report high-resolution thermal expansion and magnetostriction measurements under multiextreme conditions such as uniaxial stress up to 200 MPa, temperatures down to 0.1 K and magnetic fields up to 10 T. Under uniaxial stress along the $a$-direction, quantum criticality disappears and a complex magnetic phase diagram arises with a sequence of phases below 1.2 K and fields between 0 and 3 T ($\parallel a$). Since the Kondo coupling increases with stress, which alone would stabilize paramagnetic behavior in CeRhSn, the observed order arises from the release of geometrical frustration by in-plane stress.Comment: Accepted in PRB Rapid Com

A Framework for Theory Development in Design Science Research: Multiple Perspectives

One point of convergence in the many recent discussions on design science research in information systems (DSRIS) has been the desirability of a directive design theory (ISDT) as one of the outputs from a DSRIS project. However, the literature on theory development in DSRIS is very sparse. In this paper, we develop a framework to support theory development in DSRIS and explore its potential from multiple perspectives. The framework positions ISDT in a hierarchy of theories in IS design that includes a type of theory for describing how and why the design functions: Design-relevant explanatory/predictive theory (DREPT). DREPT formally captures the translation of general theory constructs from outside IS to the design realm. We introduce the framework from a knowledge representation perspective and then provide typological and epistemological perspectives. We begin by motivating the desirability of both directive-prescriptive theory (ISDT) and explanatory-predictive theory (DREPT) for IS design science research and practice. Since ISDT and DREPT are both, by definition, mid-range theories, we examine the notion of mid-range theory in other fields and then in the specific context of DSRIS. We position both types of theory in Gregor’s (2006) taxonomy of IS theory in our typological view of the framework. We then discuss design theory semantics from an epistemological view of the framework, relating it to an idealized design science research cycle. To demonstrate the potential of the framework for DSRIS, we use it to derive ISDT and DREPT from two published examples of DSRIS

Markovian short rates in multidimensional term structure Levy models

We study a bond market model and the related term structure of interest rates in which the prices of zero coupon bonds are driven by a multidimensional L ́evy process. We show that the short rate forms a Markov process if and only if the deterministic forward rate volatility coefficients are decomposed into products of two factors where the factor depending on the maturity time is the same for all components. The proof is based on the analysis of sample path properties of the underlying multidimensional process