Creative Class as a Determinant of Economic Development - Empirical Considerations for Northrhine-Westphalian Regions based on Time-Series Analysis

Since some years Richard Florida’s ideas on the creative class have attracted a great deal of theoretical and empirical attention. One part of his theory says that the “creative class†– people with highly creative and innovative abilities – are the driving force of regional economic development. The proposed paper empirically deals with this relationship; it describes some empirical research done for the regions (NUTS 3) of Northrhine-Westphalia which is a federal state of Germany. The regional distribution of creative people in Northrhine-Westphalia is described in the first chapter. The second chapter analyzes the relationship between the creative class and regional economic development. But unlike most other empirical research on that topic time series data for the period between 1999 and 2008 is used as a starting point. The time series analysis is completed by some additional cross-section regressions. The often mentioned criticism on Florida’s theory is accounted for by considering educational (i.e. human capital) versus occupational (i.e. the creative class) data for these regressions. The empirical results suggest that Florida’s thesis only holds true for a part of the Northrhine-Westphalian regions but not for the other part. Therefore cluster analysis is used to find out whether there are other conditions to be fulfilled by a region that a “creative-class-effect†on regional economic development arises. The main results of this cluster analysis will be presented in the third chapter. The paper ends with a summary and some concluding remarks.

Tayler instability of toroidal magnetic fields in MHD Taylor-Couette flows

The nonaxisymmetric 'kink-type' Tayler instability (TI) of toroidal magnetic fields is studied for conducting incompressible fluids of uniform density between two infinitely long cylinders rotating around the same axis. It is shown that for resting cylinders the critical Hartmann number for the unstable modes does not depend on Pm. By rigid rotation the instability is suppressed where the critical ratio of the rotation velocity and the Alfven velocity of the field (only) slightly depends on the magnetic Prandtl number Pm. For Pm=1 the rotational quenching of TI takes its maximum. Rotation laws with negative shear (i.e. d\Omega/dR<0) strongly destabilize the toroidal field if the rotation is not too fast. For sufficiently high Reynolds numbers of rotation the suppression of the nonaxisymmetric magnetic instability always dominates. The angular momentum transport of the instability is anticorrelated with the shear so that an eddy viscosity can be defined which proves to be positive. For negative shear the Maxwell stress of the perturbations remarkably contributes to the angular momentum transport. We have also shown the possibility of laboratory TI experiments with a wide-gap container filled with fluid metals like sodium or gallium. Even the effect of the rotational stabilization can be reproduced in the laboratory with electric currents of only a few kAmp.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, sub

Large-scale magnetic flux concentrations from turbulent stresses

In this study we provide the first numerical demonstration of the effects of turbulence on the mean Lorentz force and the resulting formation of large-scale magnetic structures. Using three-dimensional direct numerical simulations (DNS) of forced turbulence we show that an imposed mean magnetic field leads to a decrease of the turbulent hydromagnetic pressure and tension. This phenomenon is quantified by determining the relevant functions that relate the sum of the turbulent Reynolds and Maxwell stresses with the Maxwell stress of the mean magnetic field. Using such a parameterization, we show by means of two-dimensional and three-dimensional mean-field numerical modelling that an isentropic density stratified layer becomes unstable in the presence of a uniform imposed magnetic field. This large-scale instability results in the formation of loop-like magnetic structures which are concentrated at the top of the stratified layer. In three dimensions these structures resemble the appearance of bipolar magnetic regions in the Sun. The results of DNS and mean-field numerical modelling are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. We discuss our model in the context of a distributed solar dynamo where active regions and sunspots might be rather shallow phenomena.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, Astron. Nachr. (submitted

Patterns of mandibular fractures related to interaction with horses

Background: The risks of facial injuries with horse-related activities are much higher than in other sports. There are just a few studies about horse-related maxillofacial injuries, and there are even less data in particular about mandibular fractures. However, the aim of this study was to determine the patterns for mandibular fractures caused by horse contact or horseback riding. Materials and Methods: Data from patient records were collected over 15 years from January 2000 to March 2015. All patients who suffer a mandibular fracture caused by horse contact or horseback riding were included in this study. The analysis contained demographical data, trauma mechanism, type of mandible fracture, and type of protective clothing. Results: Overall, 23 patients within 37 fractures were included in the study. Of those, 87 were females and 13 males. More than the half (52.2) were aged between 16 and 30 years. The most common trauma mechanism was a horse kick (78.3). The most common site of fractures was the parasymphysis (32.4) and the condylar region (32.4), followed by the angle (21.7). In addition, 52.2 of the patients had a single and 47.8 a combined fracture of the mandible. Nearly all patients (95.7) underwent surgery. Open reduction and internal fixation was the treatment of choice. Only 17.4 of the patients wore a helmet. Conclusion: Mandibular fractures are not the leading trauma in horse relating accidents; however, they are often associated with functional loss. The most frequent cause is a kick from the horse while unmounted. Hence, there is a need for protective equipment usage at all times around horses especially wearing a helmet with a face guard

Socionic Multi-Agent Systems Based on Reflexive Petri Nets and Theories of Social Self-Organisation

This contribution summarises the core results of the transdisciplinary ASKO project, part of the German DFG's programme Sozionik, which combines sociologists' and computer scientists' skills in order to create improved theories and models of artificial societies. Our research group has (a) formulated a social theory, which is able to explain fundamental mechanisms of self-organisation in both natural and artificial societies, (b) modelled this in a mathematical way using a visual formalism, and (c) developed a novel multi-agent system architecture which is conceptually coherent, recursively structured (hence non-eclectic) and based on our social theory. The article presents an outline of both a sociological middle-range theory of social self-organisation in educational institutions, its formal, Petri net based model, including a simulation of one of its main mechanisms, and the multi-agent system architecture SONAR. It describes how the theory was created by a re-analysis of some grand social theories, by grounding it empirically, and finally how the theory was evaluated by modelling its concepts and statements.Multi-Agents Systems, Petri Nets, Self-Organisation, Social Theories

EFFECTS OF 3 TOPICAL PLANT EXTRACTS ON WOUND HEALING IN BEEF CATTLE

Eleven heifers of the Purunã cattle breed were used to evaluate wound healing by second intention. An experimental wound excision model in bovines was created by means of a skin punch of diameter 2cm. The animals were topically treated for 17 days with a saline control or decoctions of Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Aroeira mansa), Tabebuia avellanedae Lorentz ex Griseb (Ipê Roxo), and Casearia sylvestris Sw.(Guaçatonga) mixed with carboxymethyl cellulose. Centripetal retraction, clinical, and histological aspects of the wounds were observed until complete healing. Decoctions of T. avellanedae and S. terebinthifolius, but not C. sylvestris, had a beneficial effect on wound healing by second intention

Feasibility of visual instrumented movement feedback therapy in individuals with motor incomplete spinal cord injury walking on a treadmill

Background: Incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) leads to motor and sensory deficits. Even in ambulatory persons with good motor function an impaired proprioception may result in an insecure gait. Limited internal afferent feedback (FB) can be compensated by provision of external FB by therapists or technical systems. Progress in computational power of motion analysis systems allows for implementation of instrumented real-time FB. The aim of this study was to test if individuals with iSCI can normalize their gait kinematics during FB and more importantly maintain an improvement after therapy. Methods: Individuals with chronic iSCI had to complete 6 days (one day per week) of treadmill-based FB training with a 2 weeks pause after 3 days of training. Each day consists of an initial gait analysis followed by 2 blocks with FB/no-FB. During FB the deviation of the mean knee angle during swing from a speed matched reference (norm distance, ND) is visualized as a number. The task consists of lowering the ND, which was updated after every stride. Prior to the tests in patients the in-house developed FB implementation was tested in healthy subjects with an artificial movement task. Results: 4 of 5 study participants benefited from FB in the short and medium term. Decrease of mean ND was highest during the first 3 sessions (from 3.93±1.54 to 2.18±1.04). After the pause mean ND stayed in the same range than before. In the last 3 sessions the mean ND decreased slower (2.40±1.18 to 2.20±0.90). Direct influences of FB ranged from 60% to 15% of reduction in mean ND compared to initial gait analysis and from 20% to 1% compared to no-FB sessions. Conclusions: Instrumented kinematic real-time FB may serve as an effective adjunct to established gait therapies in normalizing the gait pattern after incomplete spinal cord injury. Further studies with larger patient groups need to prove long term learning and the successful transfer of newly acquired skills to activities of daily living

READING and FEELING: the effects of a literature-based intervention designed to increase emotional competence in second and third graders

Emotional competence has an important influence on development in school. We hypothesized that reading and discussing children’s books with emotional content increases children’s emotional competence. To examine this assumption, we developed a literature-based intervention, named READING and FEELING, and tested it on 104 second and third graders in their after-school care center. Children who attended the same care center but did not participate in the emotion-centered literary program formed the control group (N = 104). Our goal was to promote emotional competence and to evaluate the effectiveness of the READING and FEELING program. Emotional competence variables were measured prior to the intervention and nine weeks later, at the end of the program. Results revealed significant improvements in the emotional vocabulary, explicit emotional knowledge, and recognition of masked feelings. Regarding the treatment effect for detecting masked feelings, we found that boys benefited significantly more than girls. These findings underscore the assumption that children’s literature is an appropriate vehicle to support the development of emotional competence in middle childhood

Convective dynamos in spherical wedge geometry

Self-consistent convective dynamo simulations in wedge-shaped spherical shells are presented. Differential rotation is generated by the interaction of convection with rotation. Equatorward acceleration and dynamo action are obtained only for sufficiently rapid rotation. The angular velocity tends to be constant along cylinders. Oscillatory large-scale fields are found to migrate in the poleward direction. Comparison with earlier simulations in full spherical shells and Cartesian domains is made.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, Astron. Nachr. in press. Version with higher resolution figures is available at http://www.helsinki.fi/~kapyla/publ.htm

Encyclopedia of Laser Physics and Technology

This online encyclopedia explains the terms and principles of laser physics and technology. It also includes content from other topics such as general optics and optoelectronics, nonlinear optics, quantum optics, fiber optics, ultrashort pulses, and optical communications