Austrian Corporatism and Gradual Institutional Change in the Relationship between Apprenticeship Training and School-based VET

in Busemeyer, Marius R.; Trampusch, Christine (Eds.) The Political Economy of Collective Skill Systems (2012)

Within the context of collective skill formation systems, Austria presents a case in which a well-developed vocational education and training (VET) system provides a differentiated set of pathways for ... [more ▼]

Within the context of collective skill formation systems, Austria presents a case in which a well-developed vocational education and training (VET) system provides a differentiated set of pathways for youth as they prepare their transitions from school to work. If we wish to draw lessons from a comparison of collective skill systems, the dynamic relationship between a strong dual apprenticeship training system and a robust school-based training system is one of the key factors differentiating VET in Austria from the VET systems in Germany and Switzerland. Indeed, we argue that the Austrian collective skill system as well as contemporary changes within it cannot be understood without understanding full-time vocational schooling in Austria. [less ▲]

Geocenter motion and its geodetic and geophysical implications

in Journal of Geodynamics (2012), 58

The horizontal transport of water in Earth’s surface layer, including sea level change, deglaciation, and surface runoff, is a manifestation of many geophysical processes. These processes entail ocean and ... [more ▼]

The horizontal transport of water in Earth’s surface layer, including sea level change, deglaciation, and surface runoff, is a manifestation of many geophysical processes. These processes entail ocean and atmosphere circulation and tidal attraction, global climate change, and the hydrological cycle, all having a broad range of spatiotemporal scales. The largest atmospheric mass variations occur mostly at synoptic wavelengths and at seasonal time scales. The longest wavelength component of surface mass transport, the spherical harmonic degree-1, involves the exchange of mass between the northern and southern hemispheres. These degree-1 mass loads deform the solid Earth, including its surface, and induce geocenter motion between the center-of-mass of the total Earth system (CM) and the center-of-figure (CF) of the solid Earth surface. Because geocenter motion also depends on the mechanical properties of the solid Earth, monitoring geocenter motion thus provides an additional opportunity to probe deep into Earth’s interior. Most modern geodetic measurement systems rely on tracking data between ground stations and satellites that orbit around CM. Consequently, geocenter motion is intimately related to the realization of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) origin, and, in various ways, affects many of our measurement objectives for global change monitoring. In the last 15 years, there have been vast improvements in geophysical fluid modeling and in the global coverage, densification, and accuracy of geodetic observations. As a result of these developments, tremendous progress has been made in the study of geocenter motion over the same period. This paper reviews both the theoretical and measurement aspects of geocenter motion and its implications. [less ▲]

Invariant Preservation in Interative Modelling (Extended Version)

Report (2012)

Guy Fawkes, 2011 : Ein Beitrag zur politischen Ikonografie des Aufstands

in kultuRRevolution (2012), (61/62), 19-26

Induced pluripotent stem cells generated from adult bone marrow-derived cells of the nonhuman primate (Callithrix jacchus) using a novel quad-cistronic and excisable lentiviral vector.

in Cellular reprogramming (2012), 14(6), 485-96

Regenerative medicine is in need of solid, large animal models as a link between rodents and humans to evaluate the functionality, immunogenicity, and clinical safety of stem cell-derived cell types. The ... [more ▼]

Regenerative medicine is in need of solid, large animal models as a link between rodents and humans to evaluate the functionality, immunogenicity, and clinical safety of stem cell-derived cell types. The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is an excellent large animal model, genetically close to humans and readily used worldwide in clinical research. Until now, only two groups showed the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from the common marmoset using integrating retroviral vectors. Therefore, we reprogrammed bone marrow-derived mesenchymal cells (MSCs) of adult marmosets in the presence of TAV, SB431542, PD0325901, and ascorbic acid via a novel, excisable lentiviral spleen focus-forming virus (SFFV)-driven quad-cistronic vector system (OCT3/4, KLF4, SOX2, C-MYC). Endogenous pluripotency markers like OCT3/4, KLF4, SOX2, C-MYC, LIN28, NANOG, and strong alkaline phosphatase signals were detected. Exogenous genes were silenced and additionally the cassette was removed with a retroviral Gag precursor system. The cell line could be cultured in absence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and could be successfully differentiated into embryoid bodies and teratomas with presence of all three germ layers. Directed differentiation generated neural progenitors, megakaryocytes, adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteogenic cells. Thus, all criteria for fully reprogrammed bone marrow-MSCs of a nonhuman primate with a genetically sophisticated construct could be demonstrated. These cells will be a promising tool for future autologous transplantations. [less ▲]

Detecting storm surge loading deformations around the southern North Sea using subdaily GPS

in Geophysical Journal International (2012), 191(2), 569-578

A large storm surge event occurred on 2007 November 2009 in the southern North Sea where strong winds caused the sea level to rise drastically by up to 3 m within several hours. Based on the Proudman ... [more ▼]

A large storm surge event occurred on 2007 November 2009 in the southern North Sea where strong winds caused the sea level to rise drastically by up to 3 m within several hours. Based on the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory storm surge model, the predicted loading displacements at coastal stations can reach a few centimetres in the vertical and several millimetres in the horizontal directions. In this study, we used two-hourly global positioning system (GPS) positions at 26 stations around the southern North Sea to identify the loading displacements caused by this storm surge event. We find that the mean rms of the differences between the estimated and predicted displacements are 4.9, 1.3 and 1.4 mm, which are insignificant compared to the one-sigma GPS positioning errors of 5.1, 2.0 and 2.4 mm for the Up, East and North components, respectively. More interestingly, in both vertical and horizontal directions, the estimated displacements successfully tracked the temporal evolution of the storm surge loading effects. In addition, within the whole of 2007 November, we used the predicted displacements to correct the two-hourly GPS positions, and consequently reduced the rms of the estimated displacements on average from 9.3, 3.0 and 2.9 mm to 7.8, 2.8 and 2.8 mm for Up, East and North components, respectively. Therefore, subdaily loading effects due to storm surges should be paid attention to in the GPS positioning that contributes to crustal-motion studies around shallow seas such as the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. [less ▲]

From land use scenarios to sustainable mobility: Luxembourg case study in the MOEBIUS Project

Scientific Conference (2012)

Das Fake als Intervention

in Hartmann, Doreen; Lemke, Inga; Nitsche, Jessica (Eds.) Interventionen : Grenzüberschreitungen in Ästhetik, Politik und Ökonomie (2012)

Spaßguerilla : Über die humoristische Dimension des politischen Aktivismus

in Kaul, Susanne; Kohns, Oliver (Eds.) Politik und Ethik der Komik (2012)

Quasi-Lovász extensions and their symmetric counterparts

in Greco, S.; Bouchon-Meunier, B.; Coletti, G. (Eds.) et al Advances on Computational Intelligence, Part IV, 14th Int. Conf. on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, IPMU 2012, Catania, Italy, July 9-13, 2012, Proceedings, Part IV (2012)

We introduce the concept of quasi-Lov\'asz extension as being a mapping $f\colon I^n\to\R$ defined over a nonempty real interval $I$ containing the origin, and which can be factorized as $f(x_1,\ldots,x_n ... [more ▼]

We introduce the concept of quasi-Lov\'asz extension as being a mapping $f\colon I^n\to\R$ defined over a nonempty real interval $I$ containing the origin, and which can be factorized as $f(x_1,\ldots,x_n)=L(\varphi(x_1),\ldots,\varphi(x_n))$, where $L$ is the Lov\'asz extension of a pseudo-Boolean function $\psi\colon\{0,1\}^n\to\R$ (i.e., the function $L\colon\R^n\to\R$ whose restriction to each simplex of the standard triangulation of $[0,1]^n$ is the unique affine function which agrees with $\psi$ at the vertices of this simplex) and $\varphi\colon I\to\R$ is a nondecreasing function vanishing at the origin. These functions appear naturally within the scope of decision making under uncertainty since they subsume overall preference functionals associated with discrete Choquet integrals whose variables are transformed by a given utility function. To axiomatize the class of quasi-Lov\'asz extensions, we propose generalizations of properties used to characterize the Lov\'asz extensions, including a comonotonic version of modularity and a natural relaxation of homogeneity. A variant of the latter property enables us to axiomatize also the class of symmetric quasi-Lov\'asz extensions, which are compositions of symmetric Lov\'asz extensions with $1$-place nondecreasing odd functions. [less ▲]