Security and Intelligent Information Systems

Book published by Springer (2012)

Euro at Risk: The Impact of Member Countries' Credit Risk on the Stability of the Common Currency

Scientific Conference (2012)

A Multithreading Local Search For Multiobjective Energy-Aware Scheduling In Heterogeneous Computing Systems

in European Conference on Modelling and Simulation (ECMS) (2012)

This article introduces an efficient multithreading local search algorithm for solving the multiobjective scheduling problem in heterogeneous computing systems considering the makespan and energy ... [more ▼]

This article introduces an efficient multithreading local search algorithm for solving the multiobjective scheduling problem in heterogeneous computing systems considering the makespan and energy consumption objectives. The proposed method follows a fully multiobjective approach using a Pareto-based dominance search executed in parallel. The experimental analysis demonstrates that the new multithreading algorithm outperforms a set of deterministic heuristics based on Min-Min. The new method is able to achieve significant improvements in both objectives in reduced execution times for a broad set of testbed instances. [less ▲]

Praktiken der (Nicht)-Sanktionierung

in Den Fall bearbeitbar halten. Gespräche in Jobcentern mit jungen Menschen (2012)

Phosphorylation of HtrA2 by cyclin-dependent kinase-5 is important for mitochondrial function.

in Cell death and differentiation (2012), 19(2), 257-66

The role of the serine protease HtrA2 in neuroprotection was initially identified by the demonstration of neurodegeneration in mice lacking HtrA2 expression or function, and the interesting finding that ... [more ▼]

The role of the serine protease HtrA2 in neuroprotection was initially identified by the demonstration of neurodegeneration in mice lacking HtrA2 expression or function, and the interesting finding that mutations adjacent to two putative phosphorylation sites (S142 and S400) have been found in Parkinson's disease patients. However, the mechanism of this neuroprotection and the signalling pathways associated with it remain mostly unknown. Here we report that cyclin-dependent kinase-5 (Cdk5), a kinase implicated in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases, is responsible for phosphorylating HtrA2 at S400. HtrA2 and Cdk5 interact in human and mouse cell lines and brain, and Cdk5 phosphorylates S400 on HtrA2 in a p38-dependent manner. Phosphorylation of HtrA2 at S400 is involved in maintaining mitochondrial membrane potential under stress conditions and is important for mitochondrial function, conferring cells protection against cellular stress. [less ▲]

Suitability of visual modelling languages for modelling tangible user interface applications

in Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC) (2012)

This paper compares the suitability of visual modelling languages for describing tangible user interface (TUI) applications. After gathering different approaches, we have selected three languages for our ... [more ▼]

This paper compares the suitability of visual modelling languages for describing tangible user interface (TUI) applications. After gathering different approaches, we have selected three languages for our comparative study: the visual object constraint language (VOCL), augmented constraint diagrams (ACD), and the visual contract language (VCL). A weighted evaluation based on multiple quality criteria led to the conclusion that VCL is best suited to model TUI applications [less ▲]

Do Fund Investors Know that Risk is Sometimes Not Priced

Scientific Conference (2012)

Ethnicity and Early Childhood: An Ethnographic Approach to Children's Ethnifying Practices in Peer Interactions at Preschool

in International Journal of Early Childhood (2012), 44(3), 307-325

Dominant discourses in Germany portray children with a so-called "migration background" implicitly or explicitly as "the Other" in relation to a normative image of "German children". Family origins ... [more ▼]

Dominant discourses in Germany portray children with a so-called "migration background" implicitly or explicitly as "the Other" in relation to a normative image of "German children". Family origins, language, and physical appearance act as important criteria in this process of ethnifying children. Embedded within this discursive framework, my research focus, however, is on the perspectives of the children themselves and how they participate in the social construction of ethnic identities. The paper is based on an ethnographic research in a day care center in Berlin with children from four to six years of age. Participant observation and symbolic group interviews were employed to explore the children's practical enactment and use of ethnifying identity ascriptions in the context of the peer culture. I argue that ethnicity is not a pregiven fact, but practically accomplished and negotiated in children's social interactions. Thus, the research contributes to our understanding of children's agency and competence as well as of the relationality, provisionality, and context-dependence of children's identity constructions. [less ▲]

A Child's Dropout and a Nursery's Secondary Adjustment – Linking Longitudinal, Organisational, and Institutional Ethnography in ECEC

in Honig, Michael-Sebastian; Neumann, Sascha (Eds.) (Doing) Ethnography in Early Childhood Education and Care. Proceedings of an International Colloquium at the University of Luxembourg (2012)

Longitudinal ethnography in the context of ECEC has been promoted by Corsaro and Molinari (2000, p. 180) by arguing that “the whole time children are developing individually, the collective processes that ... [more ▼]

Longitudinal ethnography in the context of ECEC has been promoted by Corsaro and Molinari (2000, p. 180) by arguing that “the whole time children are developing individually, the collective processes that they are a part of are also changing.” Drawing on organizational theory and institutional ethnography, we would like to build on and extend this argument by saying that local cultures and participatory networks in Early Childhood Education and Care are embedded in organizational processes and routines that are also changing. Moreover, a central assumption of our accompanying research project in a recently established Luxembourgish Maison Relais pour Entfants (MRE) is that the institutional structure of the daycare center is not settled once and for all, but develops and changes in interaction with its environment, that is with the expectations and demands of relevant stakeholders. Accordingly, our concern in the present paper is with a basic question in current ethnographic research on ECEC, i.e. the question of the relationships, possibly the systematic linkage, between pedagogical institution and the everyday social experiences of children. Usually, this relation is conceptualized in one direction: The organized care for a high number of children in a context governed by adult rules and pedagogical interventions provides the ‘framework’ for the development of a distinctive peer culture. This, in turn, enables learning and socialization insofar as the cultural and organizational environment is “interpretively (re) produced” (Corsaro) within the context of the peer culture, which thus actively contributes to social reproduction and change. Our paper aims at contributing to this research field by following the reverse, complementary direction: It explores the processes through which the concrete social experiences of children, their embeddedness in specific social contexts, and their learning progresses are observed and interpreted, and finally lead to a (re)construction and change of institutional practices in the pedagogical organization. Although institutionalization in early childcare centers is a continuing and never completed process of enacting institutionalized values and principles in everyday practices (Honig 2003), there may be particular temporal conditions which favor the observability of institutionalization processes. These are presumably 1) during the foundation and start of work, 2) at times of intensive contact with the institutional environment or the stakeholders, respectively, and 3) times of crisis and conflict situations. All of these conditions have been met during the course of our research, as will be illustrated by an ethnographic case study of one child that has been taken out of the center by his parents after one year of his enrolment. His seemingly lacking adaptation to the institution’s practices and collective culture triggered a serious crisis and in turn led to some dramatic changes in the center’s daily routines. As will be shown, these measures primarily serve to increase the institution’s legitimacy by adjusting to the perceived expectations of its environment. [less ▲]

Small State, Large World, Global University: Comparing Ascendant National Universities in Luxemburg and Qatar

in Current Issues in Comparative Education (2012), 15(1), 100-113

Comparing the small states of Luxembourg and Qatar, I analyze their ascendant national universities to find out the extent to which these higher education institutions reflect global norms relating to ... [more ▼]

Comparing the small states of Luxembourg and Qatar, I analyze their ascendant national universities to find out the extent to which these higher education institutions reflect global norms relating to research universities – or the traditions of their host countries. Which characteristics of “world-class” universities exist in the Université du Luxembourg and Qatar University, embedded in two unusual small states that are hyper-diverse culturally and extremely wealthy? Despite significant cultural differences, both Luxembourg and Qatar have compensated perceived vulnerabilities of small states as they invest in national skill formation and the production of knowledge. Although tensions remain regarding the languages of instruction, the international recruitment of scholars and students, and sustainability, these universities are growing in prominence regionally and globally. [less ▲]