The role of geographic mobility in reducing education-job mismatches in the Netherlands.

In this paper we investigate the relationship between geographic mobility and education-job mismatch in the Netherlands. We focus on the role of geographic mobility in reducing the probability of graduates working (i) jobs below their education level; (ii) jobs outside their study field; (iii) part-time jobs; (iv) flexible jobs; or (v) jobs paid below the wage expected at the beginning of the career. For this purpose we use data on secondary and higher vocational education graduates in the period 1996–2001. We show that graduates who are mobile have higher probability of finding jobs at the acquired education level than those who are not. Moreover, mobile graduates have higher probability of finding full-time or permanent jobs. This suggests that mobility is sought to prevent not only having to take a job below the acquired education level, but also other education-job mismatches; graduates are spatially flexible particularly to ensure full-time jobs.Geographic labour mobility;job mismatch;occupational choice;

Mobile Devices and Apps as Accelerators for OER

At first sight, open educational resources (OER) and mobile devices would not seem to have much to do with one another. Mobile devices are rapidly replacing normal computers where creating and studying educational resources are concerned. That offers opportunities, but there are also downsides. These are explored in the present article

Narrow absorption features in the co-added XMM-Newton RGS spectra of isolated Neutron Stars

We co-added the available XMM-Newton RGS spectra for each of the isolated X-ray pulsars RX\,J0720.4$-$3125, RX\,J1308.6+2127 (RBS\,1223), RX\,J1605.3+3249 and RX\,J1856.4$-$3754 (four members of the "Magnificent Seven") and the "Three Musketeers" Geminga, PSR\,B0656+14 and PSR\,B1055-52. We confirm the detection of a narrow absorption feature at 0.57 keV in the co-added RGS spectra of RX\,J0720.4$-$3125 and RX\,J1605.3+3249 (including most recent observations). In addition we found similar absorption features in the spectra of RX\,J1308.6+2127 (at 0.53 keV) and maybe PSR\,B1055-52 (at 0.56 keV). The absorption feature in the spectra of RX\,J1308.6+2127 is broader than the feature e.g. in RX\,J0720.4$-$3125. The narrow absorption features are detected with 2$\sigma$ to 5.6$\sigma$ significance. Although very bright and frequently observed, there are no absorption features visible in the spectra of RX\,J1856.4$-$3754 and PSR\,B0656+14, while the co-added XMM-Newton RGS spectrum of Geminga has not enough counts to detect such a feature. We discuss a possible origin of these absorption features as lines caused by the presence of highly ionised oxygen (in particular OVII and/or OVI at 0.57 keV) in the interstellar medium and absorption in the neutron star atmosphere, namely the absorption features at 0.57 keV as gravitational redshifted ($g_{r}$=1.17) OVIII.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures and 10 tables. Accepted for publication by MNRAS (Sep 12th, 2011

Active damping based on decoupled collocated control

High-precision machines typically suffer from small but persistent vibrations. As it is difficult to damp these vibrations by passive means, research at the Drebbel Institute at the University of Twente is aimed at the development of an active structural element that can be used for vibration control. The active structural element, popularly referred to as ‘Smart Disc’, is based on a piezoelectric position actuator and a piezoelectric force sensor

Differentiated integration in the European Union: Institutional effects, public opinion, and alternative flexibility arrangements

Research on differentiated integration (DI) in the European Union (EU) has focused on the causes, conditions, and patterns of differentiation in European integration. By contrast, we know less about its effects on institutional outcomes and public support; moreover, alternatives to de jure DI in providing flexibility are still rarely accounted for. This introduction to the special issue takes stock of, and discusses omissions, in the current literature on DI. We propose an analytical framework, centering on efficiency and legitimacy, to study the effects of different types of DI. We use this framework to motivate the choice and assess the contributions of the articles selected for this special issue