TY - JOUR A1 - Sentance, Sue A1 - Hodges, Steve T1 - .NET Gadgeteer Workshop JF - Commentarii informaticae didacticae : (CID) Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-64654 SN - 1868-0844 SN - 2191-1940 IS - 6 SP - 159 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Reyes-Iturbide, J. A1 - Velázquez, P. A1 - Rosado, M. T1 - 3D numerical model for an asymmetrical superbubble N2 - Massive stars usually form groups such as OB associations. Their fast stellar winds sweep up collectively the surrounding insterstellar medium (ISM) to generate superbubbles. Observations suggest that superbubble evolution on the surrounding ISM can be very irregular. Numerical simulations considering these conditions could help to understand the evolution of these superbubbles and to clarify the dynamics of these objects as well as the difference between observed X-ray luminosities and the predicted ones by the standard model (Weaver et al. 1977). Y1 - 2007 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-17724 ER - TY - THES A1 - Swierczynski, Tina T1 - A 7000 yr runoff chronology from varved sediments of Lake Mondsee (Upper Austria) T1 - Eine 7000-jährige Abflusschronologie anhand von warvierten Sedimenten des Mondsees (Oberösterreich) N2 - The potential increase in frequency and magnitude of extreme floods is currently discussed in terms of global warming and the intensification of the hydrological cycle. The profound knowledge of past natural variability of floods is of utmost importance in order to assess flood risk for the future. Since instrumental flood series cover only the last ~150 years, other approaches to reconstruct historical and pre-historical flood events are needed. Annually laminated (varved) lake sediments are meaningful natural geoarchives because they provide continuous records of environmental changes > 10000 years down to a seasonal resolution. Since lake basins additionally act as natural sediment traps, the riverine sediment supply, which is preserved as detrital event layers in the lake sediments, can be used as a proxy for extreme discharge events. Within my thesis I examined a ~ 8.50 m long sedimentary record from the pre-Alpine Lake Mondsee (Northeast European Alps), which covered the last 7000 years. This sediment record consists of calcite varves and intercalated detrital layers, which range in thickness from 0.05 to 32 mm. Detrital layer deposition was analysed by a combined method of microfacies analysis via thin sections, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), μX-ray fluorescence (μXRF) scanning and magnetic susceptibility. This approach allows characterizing individual detrital event layers and assigning a corresponding input mechanism and catchment. Based on varve counting and controlled by 14C age dates, the main goals of this thesis are (i) to identify seasonal runoff processes, which lead to significant sediment supply from the catchment into the lake basin and (ii) to investigate flood frequency under changing climate boundary conditions. This thesis follows a line of different time slices, presenting an integrative approach linking instrumental and historical flood data from Lake Mondsee in order to evaluate the flood record inferred from Lake Mondsee sediments. The investigation of eleven short cores covering the last 100 years reveals the abundance of 12 detrital layers. Therein, two types of detrital layers are distinguished by grain size, geochemical composition and distribution pattern within the lake basin. Detrital layers, which are enriched in siliciclastic and dolomitic material, reveal sediment supply from the Flysch sediments and Northern Calcareous Alps into the lake basin. These layers are thicker in the northern lake basin (0.1-3.9 mm) and thinner in the southern lake basin (0.05-1.6 mm). Detrital layers, which are enriched in dolomitic components forming graded detrital layers (turbidites), indicate the provenance from the Northern Calcareous Alps. These layers are generally thicker (0.65-32 mm) and are solely recorded within the southern lake basin. In comparison with instrumental data, thicker graded layers result from local debris flow events in summer, whereas thin layers are deposited during regional flood events in spring/summer. Extreme summer floods as reported from flood layer deposition are principally caused by cyclonic activity from the Mediterranean Sea, e.g. July 1954, July 1997 and August 2002. During the last two millennia, Lake Mondsee sediments reveal two significant flood intervals with decadal-scale flood episodes, during the Dark Ages Cold Period (DACP) and the transition from the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) into the Little Ice Age (LIA) suggesting a linkage of transition to climate cooling and summer flood recurrences in the Northeastern Alps. In contrast, intermediate or decreased flood episodes appeared during the MWP and the LIA. This indicates a non-straightforward relationship between temperature and flood recurrence, suggesting higher cyclonic activity during climate transition in the Northeast Alps. The 7000-year flood chronology reveals 47 debris flows and 269 floods, with increased flood activity shifting around 3500 and 1500 varve yr BP (varve yr BP = varve years before present, before present = AD 1950). This significant increase in flood activity shows a coincidence with millennial-scale climate cooling that is reported from main Alpine glacier advances and lower tree lines in the European Alps since about 3300 cal. yr BP (calibrated years before present). Despite relatively low flood occurrence prior to 1500 varve yr BP, floods at Lake Mondsee could have also influenced human life in early Neolithic lake dwellings (5750-4750 cal. yr BP). While the first lake dwellings were constructed on wetlands, the later lake dwellings were built on piles in the water suggesting an early flood risk adaptation of humans and/or a general change of the Late Neolithic Culture of lake-dwellers because of socio-economic reasons. However, a direct relationship between the final abandonment of the lake dwellings and higher flood frequencies is not evidenced. N2 - Ein verstärktes Auftreten von Hochwassern, sowohl in ihrer Häufigkeit als auch in ihrer Frequenz, wird im Zuge der Klimaerwärmung und einer möglichen Intensivierung des hydrologischen Kreislaufs diskutiert. Die Kenntnis über die natürliche Variabilität von Hochwasserereignissen ist dabei eine grundlegende Voraussetzung, um die Hochwassergefahr für die Zukunft abschätzen zu können. Da instrumentelle Hochwasserzeitreihen meist nur die letzten 150 Jahre abbilden sind andere Methoden erforderlich, um das Auftreten von historischen und prä-historischen Hochwassern festzustellen. Jährlich laminierte (warvierte) Seesedimente sind bedeutende natürliche Archive, denn sie liefern kontinuierliche Zeitreihen > 10000 Jahre mit einer bis zur saisonalen Auflösung. Seebecken stellen natürliche Sedimentfallen dar, wobei eingetragenes Flusssediment in den Seesedimenten als eine distinkte detritische Lage aufgezeichnet wird, und daher zur Rekonstruktion von extremen Abflussereignissen genutzt werden. Im Rahmen meiner Doktorarbeit habe ich einen 8.50 m langen Sedimentkern aus dem Mondsee (Nordostalpen) untersucht, welcher die letzten 7000 Jahre abdeckt. Dieser Sedimentkern besteht aus Kalzitwarven und eingeschalteten detritischen Lagen mit einer Mächtigkeit von 0.05-32 mm. Detritische Lagen wurden mit Hilfe einer kombinierten Methode untersucht: Mikrofaziesanalyse, Rasterelektronenmikroskopie, Röntgenfluoreszenzanalyse (µXRF) und magnetische Suszeptibilität. Dieser Ansatz ermöglicht die Charakterisierung der einzelnen detritischen Lagen bezüglich der Eintragsprozesse und die Lokalisierung des Einzugsgebietes. Auf Grundlage der Warvenzählung und 14C Datierungen sind die wichtigsten Ziele dieser Arbeit: (i) die Identifizierung der Eintragsprozesse, welche zu einem Sedimenteintrag vom Einzugsgebiet bis in den See führen und (ii) die Rekonstruktion der Hochwasserfrequenz unter veränderten Klimabedingungen. Diese Arbeit zeigt eine Untersuchung auf verschiedenen Zeitscheiben, wobei instrumentelle und historische Daten genutzt werden, um die Aufzeichnung von pre-historischen Hochwasser in den Mondseesedimenten besser zu verstehen. Innerhalb der letzten 100 Jahre wurden zwölf Abflussereignisse aufgezeichnet. Zwei Typen von detritschen Lagen können anhand von Korngröße, geochemischer Zusammensetzung und des Verteilungsmusters unterschieden werden. Detritische Lagen, welche aus siliziklastischen und dolomitischen Material bestehen, zeigen eine Sedimentherkunft vom Teileinzugsgebiet des Flysch (nördliches Einzugsgebiet) und der Nördlichen Kalkalpen (südliches Teileinzugsgebiet) auf. Diese Lagen sind im Nördlichen Becken mächtiger (0.1-3.9 mm) als im südlichen Seebecken (0.05-1.6 mm). Detritische Lagen, welche nur aus dolomitischem Material bestehen und Turbititlagen aufzeigen (0.65-32 mm), weisen auf eine Herkunft aus den Nördlichen Kalkalpen hin. Im Vergleich mit instrumentellen Zeitreihen, stammen die mächtigeren Lagen von lokalen Murereignissen im Sommer und feinere Eintragslagen von regionalen Frühjahrs- und Sommerhochwassern. Extreme Sommerhochwasser am Mondsee werden hauptsächlich durch Zyklonen vom Mittelmeer ausgelöst, z.B. Juli 1954, Juli 1997 und August 2002. Die Untersuchung des langen Sedimentkerns vom Mondsee zeigt während der letzten 2000 Jahre signifikante Hochwasserintervalle mit dekadischen Hochwasserepisoden während der Völkerwanderungszeit und im Übergang vom Mittelalter in die Kleine Eiszeit. Dies weist auf eine Verknüpfung von Abkühlungsphasen und Sommerhochwassern im Nordostalpenraum hin. Während der Mittelalterlichen Wärmephase und in der Kleinen Eiszeit kam es jedoch zu einer geringeren Hochwasseraktivität. Dies zeigt einen komplexen Zusammenhang von Temperaturentwicklung und Hochwasseraktivität in den Nordostalpen, mit einer erhöhten Zyklonenaktivät in den Übergängen von wärmeren zu kälteren Phasen. Während der letzten 7000 Jahre wurden 47 Muren und 269 Hochwasser aufgezeichnet, wobei es eine signifikante Änderung mit erhöhter Häufigkeit um 3500 und 1500 Warvenjahre v. h. gab (v.h. = vor heute = AD 1950). Diese signifikante Änderung stimmt mit einem langfristigem Abkühlungstrend überein, welcher durch alpine Gletschervorstöße und das Absinken von Baumgrenzen seit etwa 3300 Warvenjahre v.h. berichtet wird. Trotz relativ geringer Hochwasseraktivität um 1500 Warvenjahre v.h., könnte das Auftreten von Hochwasser auch das Leben Menschen in Neolithischen Pfahlbausiedlungen (5750-4750 cal. yr BP) beeinflusst haben. Während die ersten Pfahlbauten noch als Feuchtbodensiedlungen am Land entstanden, wurden spätere Siedlungen eventuell als Anpassung an stark schwankenden Seewasserspiegeln auf Pfählen im Wasser gebaut und/oder zeigen eine allgemeine Veränderung der Siedlungsaktivitäten der Neolithischen Pfahlbaukultur an, aufgrund sozio-ökonomischer Veränderungen. Ein direkter Zusammenhang zwischen dem Verlassen der Pfahlbausiedlungen und einer erhöhten Hochwasseraktivität konnte jedoch nicht festgestellt werden. KW - Mondsee KW - Paläohochwasser KW - Seesedimente KW - Warven KW - Klimarekonstruktion KW - Mondsee KW - Paleofloods KW - Lake sediments KW - Warves KW - Climate reconstruction Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-66702 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dagiene, Valentina A1 - Jevsikova, Tatjana A1 - Schule, Carsten A1 - Sentance, Sue A1 - Thota, Neena T1 - A comparison of current trends within computer science teaching in school in Germany and the UK JF - Commentarii informaticae didacticae : (CID) N2 - In the last two years, CS as a school subject has gained a lot of attention worldwide, although different countries have differing approaches to and experiences of introducing CS in schools. This paper reports on a study comparing current trends in CS at school, with a major focus on two countries, Germany and UK. A survey was carried out of a number of teaching professionals and experts from the UK and Germany with regard to the content and delivery of CS in school. An analysis of the quantitative data reveals a difference in foci in the two countries; putting this into the context of curricular developments we are able to offer interpretations of these trends and suggest ways in which curricula in CS at school should be moving forward. KW - CS Ed Research KW - ICT KW - CS at school KW - CS curriculum KW - topics KW - international comparison KW - international study Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-64504 SN - 1868-0844 SN - 2191-1940 IS - 6 SP - 63 EP - 75 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Baganz, Melissa A1 - de Teresa, Aurelia Gómez A1 - Lingg, Rosana T. A1 - Montijo, Yuriditzi Pascacio T1 - A critical assessment on National Action Plans BT - Challenges and benefits for the promotion and protection of Human Rights T2 - Staat, Recht und Politik – Forschungs- und Diskussionspapiere T2 - State, Law, and Politics - Research and Discussion Papers N2 - National Action Plans (NAPs) have been increas-ingly adopted world-wide after the Vienna Dec-laration in 1993, where it was urged to consider the improvement and promotion of Human Rights. In this paper, we discuss their usefulness and success by analysing the challenges present-ed during NAP processes as well as the benefits this set of actions entails: The challenges for their implementation outweigh its actual benefits. Nevertheless, NAPs have great potential. Based on new research, we elaborate a set of recom-mendations for improving the design and imple-mentation of national action planning. In order to effectively bring NAP into practice, we consider it crucial to plan and analyse every state local circumstances in detail. The latter is important, since the implementation of a concrete set of actions is intended to directly transform and improve the local living conditions of the people. In a long-term perspective, we defend the benefit of NAP’s implementation for complying obliga-tions set up by HR treaties. N2 - Nationale Aktionspläne (NAP) werden seit der Wiener Erklärung von 1993, in der die Verbesse-rung und Förderung der Menschenrechte gefor-dert wird, weltweit zunehmend angenommen. In diesem Papier diskutieren wir ihren Nutzen und Erfolg, indem wir die Herausforderungen, die sich während der NAP-Prozesse ergeben, sowie die Vorteile, die dieses Maßnahmenpaket mit sich bringt, analysieren: Die Herausforderungen bei ihrer Umsetzung überwiegen die tatsächlichen Vorteile. Dennoch haben NAPs ein großes Poten-zial. Beruhend auf neueren Forschungen erarbei-ten wir eine Reihe von Empfehlungen zur Ver-besserung der Gestaltung und Umsetzung der nationalen Aktionsplanung. Um einen NAP effek-tiv in die Praxis umzusetzen, halten wir es für entscheidend, die lokalen Gegebenheiten jedes Staates im Detail zu planen und zu analysieren. Letzteres ist wichtig, da die Umsetzung eines konkreten Maßnahmenpakets die Lebensbedin-gungen der Menschen vor Ort direkt verändern und verbessern soll. Langfristig gesehen vertei-digen wir den Nutzen der Umsetzung des NAP für die Einhaltung der in den Menschenrechts-verträgen festgelegten Verpflichtungen. T3 - Staat, Recht und Politik – Forschungs- und Diskussionspapiere = State, Law, and Politics - Research and Discussion Papers - 13 Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-576797 SN - 2509-6974 IS - 13 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Hajos, Yael T1 - A Critical Overview of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern Mechanism BT - The Case of Covid-19 T2 - Staat, Recht und Politik – Forschungs- und Diskussionspapiere T2 - State, Law, and Politics — Research and Discussion Papers N2 - The last years have been affected by Covid-19 and the international emergency mecha-nism to deal with health-related threats. The effects of this period manifested differ-ently worldwide, depending on matters such as international relations, national policies, power dynamics etc. Additionally, the impact of this time will likely have long-term effects which are yet to be known. This paper gives a critical overview of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) mechanism in the context of Covid-19. It does so by explaining the legal framework for states of emergency, specifically in the context of a PHEIC, while considering its restrictions and limitations on human rights. It further outlines issues in the manifestation of global protections and limitations on human rights during Covid-19. Lastly, considering the likelihood of future PHEICs and the known systemic obstructions, this paper offers ways to im-prove this mechanism from a holistic, non-zero-sum perspective. N2 - Die letzten Jahre waren geprägt von Covid-19 und dem internationalen Notfallmecha-nismus zur Bewältigung gesundheitsbe-zogener Bedrohungen. Die Auswirkungen dieser Zeit zeigten sich weltweit unter-schiedlich, abhängig von den internatio-nalen Beziehungen, der nationalen Politik, der Machtdynamik usw. Außerdem werden die Auswirkungen dieser Zeit wahrschein-lich langfristige, heute noch unbekannte Folgen haben. Diese Studie gibt einen kriti-schen Überblick über den Mechanismus für internationale gesundheitliche Notfälle (Public Health Emergency of International Concern – PHEIC) im Kontext von Covid-19. Zu diesem Zweck wird der rechtliche Rahmen für Notfälle, insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit PHEIC, erläutert, und es werden die damit verbundenen Ein-schränkungen und Begrenzungen der Menschenrechte betrachtet. In Anbetracht der Wahrscheinlichkeit künftiger PHEICs und der bekannten systemischen Hin-dernisse bietet dieses Papier schließlich Möglichkeiten zur Verbesserung dieses Mechanismus aus einer ganzheitlichen Per-spektive. T3 - Staat, Recht und Politik – Forschungs- und Diskussionspapiere = State, Law, and Politics - Research and Discussion Papers - 15 Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-585238 SN - 2509-6974 IS - 15 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - GEN A1 - Elsenbeer, Helmut A1 - Cassel, Keith A1 - Tinner, W. T1 - A daily rainfall erosivity model for Western Amazonia N2 - Rainfall erosivities as defined by the R factor from the universal soil loss equation were determined for all events during a two-year period at the station La Cuenca in western Amazonia. Three methods based on a power relationship between rainfall amount and erosivity were then applied to estimate event and daily rainfall erosivities from the respective rainfall amounts. A test of the resulting regression equations against an independent data set proved all three methods equally adequate in predicting rainfall erosivity from daily rainfall amount. We recommend the Richardson model for testing in the Amazon Basin, and its use with the coefficient from La Cuenca in western Amazonia. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 050 KW - MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE COMPLEXES KW - KINETIC-ENERGY KW - UNITED-STATES KW - EROSION Y1 - 1993 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-16962 ER - TY - THES A1 - Tattarini, Giulia T1 - A job is good, but is a good job healthier? BT - Longitudinal analyses on the health consequences of unemployment and precarious employment in Europe N2 - What are the consequences of unemployment and precarious employment for individuals' health in Europe? What are the moderating factors that may offset (or increase) the health consequences of labor-market risks? How do the effects of these risks vary across different contexts, which differ in their institutional and cultural settings? Does gender, regarded as a social structure, play a role, and how? To answer these questions is the aim of my cumulative thesis. This study aims to advance our knowledge about the health consequences that unemployment and precariousness cause over the life course. In particular, I investigate how several moderating factors, such as gender, the family, and the broader cultural and institutional context, may offset or increase the impact of employment instability and insecurity on individual health. In my first paper, 'The buffering role of the family in the relationship between job loss and self-perceived health: Longitudinal results from Europe, 2004-2011', I and my co-authors measure the causal effect of job loss on health and the role of the family and welfare states (regimes) as moderating factors. Using EU-SILC longitudinal data (2004-2011), we estimate the probability of experiencing 'bad health' following a transition to unemployment by applying linear probability models and undertake separate analyses for men and women. Firstly, we measure whether changes in the independent variable 'job loss' lead to changes in the dependent variable 'self-rated health' for men and women separately. Then, by adding into the model different interaction terms, we measure the moderating effect of the family, both in terms of emotional and economic support, and how much it varies across different welfare regimes. As an identification strategy, we first implement static fixed-effect panel models, which control for time-varying observables and indirect health selection—i.e., constant unobserved heterogeneity. Secondly, to control for reverse causality and path dependency, we implement dynamic fixed-effect panel models, adding a lagged dependent variable to the model. We explore the role of the family by focusing on close ties within households: we consider the presence of a stable partner and his/her working status as a source of social and economic support. According to previous literature, having a partner should reduce the stress from adverse events, thanks to the symbolic and emotional dimensions that such a relationship entails, regardless of any economic benefits. Our results, however, suggest that benefits linked to the presence of a (female) partner also come from the financial stability that (s)he can provide in terms of a second income. Furthermore, we find partners' employment to be at least as important as the mere presence of the partner in reducing the negative effect of job loss on the individual's health by maintaining the household's standard of living and decreasing economic strain on the family. Our results are in line with previous research, which has highlighted that some people cope better than others with adverse life circumstances, and the support provided by the family is a crucial resource in that regard. We also reported an important interaction between the family and the welfare state in moderating the health consequences of unemployment, showing how the compensation effect of the family varies across welfare regimes. The family plays a decisive role in cushioning the adverse consequences of labor market risks in Southern and Eastern welfare states, characterized by less developed social protection systems and –especially the Southern – high level of familialism. The first paper also found important gender differences concerning job loss, family and welfare effects. Of particular interest is the evidence suggesting that health selection works differently for men and women, playing a more prominent role for women than for men in explaining the relationship between job loss and self-perceived health. The second paper, 'Gender roles and selection mechanisms across contexts: A comparative analysis of the relationship between unemployment, self-perceived health, and gender.' investigates more in-depth the gender differential in health driven by unemployment. Being a highly contested issue in literature, we aim to study whether men are more penalized than women or the other way around and the mechanisms that may explain the gender difference. To do that, we rely on two theoretical arguments: the availability of alternative roles and social selection. The first argument builds on the idea that men and women may compensate for the detrimental health consequences of unemployment through the commitment to 'alternative roles,' which can provide for the resources needed to fulfill people's socially constructed needs. Notably, the availability of alternative options depends on the different positions that men and women have in society. Further, we merge the availability of the 'alternative roles' argument with the health selection argument. We assume that health selection could be contingent on people's social position as defined by gender and, thus, explain the gender differential in the relationship between unemployment and health. Ill people might be less reluctant to fall or remain (i.e., self-select) in unemployment if they have alternative roles. In Western societies, women generally have more alternative roles than men and thus more discretion in their labor market attachment. Therefore, health selection should be stronger for them, explaining why unemployment is less menace for women than for their male counterparts. Finally, relying on the idea of different gender regimes, we extended these arguments to comparison across contexts. For example, in contexts where being a caregiver is assumed to be women's traditional and primary roles and the primary breadwinner role is reserved to men, unemployment is less stigmatized, and taking up alternative roles is more socially accepted for women than for men (Hp.1). Accordingly, social (self)selection should be stronger for women than for men in traditional contexts, where, in the case of ill-health, the separation from work is eased by the availability of alternative roles (Hp.2). By focusing on contexts that are representative of different gender regimes, we implement a multiple-step comparative approach. Firstly, by using EU-SILC longitudinal data (2004-2015), our analysis tests gender roles and selection mechanisms for Sweden and Italy, representing radically different gender regimes, thus providing institutional and cultural variation. Then, we limit institutional heterogeneity by focusing on Germany and comparing East- and West-Germany and older and younger cohorts—for West-Germany (SOEP data 1995-2017). Next, to assess the differential impact of unemployment for men and women, we compared (unemployed and employed) men with (unemployed and employed) women. To do so, we calculate predicted probabilities and average marginal effect from two distinct random-effects probit models. Our first step is estimating random-effects models that assess the association between unemployment and self-perceived health, controlling for observable characteristics. In the second step, our fully adjusted model controls for both direct and indirect selection. We do this using dynamic correlated random-effects (CRE) models. Further, based on the fully adjusted model, we test our hypotheses on alternative roles (Hp.1) by comparing several contexts – models are estimated separately for each context. For this hypothesis, we pool men and women and include an interaction term between unemployment and gender, which has the advantage to allow for directly testing whether gender differences in the effect of unemployment exist and are statistically significant. Finally, we test the role of selection mechanisms (Hp.2), using the KHB method to compare coefficients across nested nonlinear models. Specifically, we test the role of selection for the relationship between unemployment and health by comparing the partially-adjusted and fully-adjusted models. To allow selection mechanisms to operate differently between genders, we estimate separate models for men and women. We found support to our first hypotheses—the context where people are embedded structures the relationship between unemployment, health, and gender. We found no gendered effect of unemployment on health in the egalitarian context of Sweden. Conversely, in the traditional context of Italy, we observed substantive and statistically significant gender differences in the effect of unemployment on bad health, with women suffering less than men. We found the same pattern for comparing East and West Germany and younger and older cohorts in West Germany. On the contrary, our results did not support our theoretical argument on social selection. We found that in Sweden, women are more selected out of employment than men. In contrast, in Italy, health selection does not seem to be the primary mechanism behind the gender differential—Italian men and women seem to be selected out of employment to the same extent. Namely, we do not find any evidence that health selection is stronger for women in more traditional countries (Hp2), despite the fact that the institutional and the cultural context would offer them a more comprehensive range of 'alternative roles' relative to men. Moreover, our second hypothesis is also rejected in the second and third comparisons, where the cross-country heterogeneity is reduced to maximize cultural differences within the same institutional context. Further research that addresses selection into inactivity is needed to evaluate the interplay between selection and social roles across gender regimes. While the health consequences of unemployment have been on the research agenda for a pretty long time, the interest in precarious employment—defined as the linking of the vulnerable worker to work that is characterized by uncertainty and insecurity concerning pay, the stability of the work arrangement, limited access to social benefits, and statutory protections—has emerged only later. Since the 80s, scholars from different disciplines have raised concerns about the social consequences of de-standardization of employment relationships. However, while work has become undoubtedly more precarious, very little is known about its causal effect on individual health and the role of gender as a moderator. These questions are at the core of my third paper : 'Bad job, bad health? A longitudinal analysis of the interaction between precariousness, gender and self-perceived health in Germany'. Herein, I investigate the multidimensional nature of precarious employment and its causal effect on health, particularly focusing on gender differences. With this paper, I aim at overcoming three major shortcomings of earlier studies: The first one regards the cross-sectional nature of data that prevents the authors from ruling out unobserved heterogeneity as a mechanism for the association between precarious employment and health. Indeed, several unmeasured individual characteristics—such as cognitive abilities—may confound the relationship between precarious work and health, leading to biased results. Secondly, only a few studies have directly addressed the role of gender in shaping the relationship. Moreover, available results on the gender differential are mixed and inconsistent: some found precarious employment being more detrimental for women's health, while others found no gender differences or stronger negative association for men. Finally, previous attempts to an empirical translation of the employment precariousness (EP) concept have not always been coherent with their theoretical framework. EP is usually assumed to be a multidimensional and continuous phenomenon; it is characterized by different dimensions of insecurity that may overlap in the same job and lead to different "degrees of precariousness." However, researchers have predominantly focused on one-dimensional indicators—e.g., temporary employment, subjective job insecurity—to measure EP and study the association with health. Besides the fact that this approach partially grasps the phenomenon's complexity, the major problem is the inconsistency of evidence that it has produced. Indeed, this line of inquiry generally reveals an ambiguous picture, with some studies finding substantial adverse effects of temporary over permanent employment, while others report only minor differences. To measure the (causal) effect of precarious work on self-rated health and its variation by gender, I focus on Germany and use four waves from SOEP data (2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015). Germany is a suitable context for my study. Indeed, since the 1980s, the labor market and welfare system have been restructured in many ways to increase the German economy's competitiveness in the global market. As a result, the (standard) employment relationship has been de-standardized: non-standard and atypical employment arrangements—i.e., part-time work, fixed-term contracts, mini-jobs, and work agencies—have increased over time while wages have lowered, even among workers with standard work. In addition, the power of unions has also fallen over the last three decades, leaving a large share of workers without collective protection. Because of this process of de-standardization, the link between wage employment and strong social rights has eroded, making workers more powerless and more vulnerable to labor market risks than in the past. EP refers to this uneven distribution of power in the employment relationship, which can be detrimental to workers' health. Indeed, by affecting individuals' access to power and other resources, EP puts precarious workers at risk of experiencing health shocks and influences their ability to gain and accumulate health advantages (Hp.1). Further, the focus on Germany allows me to investigate my second research question on the gender differential. Germany is usually regarded as a traditionalist gender regime: a context characterized by a configuration of roles. Here, being a caregiver is assumed to be women's primary role, whereas the primary breadwinner role is reserved for men. Although many signs of progress have been made over the last decades towards a greater equalization of opportunities and more egalitarianism, the breadwinner model has barely changed towards a modified version. Thus, women usually take on the double role of workers (the so-called secondary earner) and caregivers, and men still devote most of their time to paid work activities. Moreover, the overall upward trend towards more egalitarian gender ideologies has leveled off over the last decades, moving notably towards more traditional gender ideologies. In this setting, two alternative hypotheses are possible. Firstly, I assume that the negative relationship between EP and health is stronger for women than for men. This is because women are systematically more disadvantaged than men in the public and private spheres of life, having less access to formal and informal sources of power. These gender-related power asymmetries may interact with EP-related power asymmetries resulting in a stronger effect of EP on women's health than on men's health (Hp.2). An alternative way of looking at the gender differential is to consider the interaction that precariousness might have with men's and women's gender identities. According to this view, the negative relationship between EP and health is weaker for women than for men (Hp.2a). In a society with a gendered division of labor and a strong link between masculine identities and stable and well-rewarded job—i.e., a job that confers the role of primary family provider—a male worker with precarious employment might violate the traditional male gender role. Men in precarious jobs may perceive themselves (and by others) as possessing a socially undesirable characteristic, which conflicts with the stereotypical idea of themselves as the male breadwinner. Engaging in behaviors that contradict stereotypical gender identity may decrease self-esteem and foster feelings of inferiority, helplessness, and jealousy, leading to poor health. I develop a new indicator of EP that empirically translates a definition of EP as a multidimensional and continuous phenomenon. I assume that EP is a latent construct composed of seven dimensions of insecurity chosen according to the theory and previous empirical research: Income insecurity, social insecurity, legal insecurity, employment insecurity, working-time insecurity, representation insecurity, worker's vulnerability. The seven dimensions are proxied by eight indicators available in the four waves of the SOEP dataset. The EP composite indicator is obtained by performing a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) on the eight indicators. This approach aims to construct a summary scale in which all dimensions contribute jointly to the measured experience of precariousness and its health impact. Further, the relationship between EP and 'general self-perceived health' is estimated by applying ordered probit random-effects estimators and calculating average marginal effect (further AME). Then, to control for unobserved heterogeneity, I implement correlated random-effects models that add to the model the within-individual means of the time-varying independent variables. To test the significance of the gender differential, I add an interaction term between EP and gender in the fully adjusted model in the pooled sample. My correlated random-effects models showed EP's negative and substantial 'effect' on self-perceived health for both men and women. Although nonsignificant, the evidence seems in line with previous cross-sectional literature. It supports the hypothesis that employment precariousness could be detrimental to workers' health. Further, my results showed the crucial role of unobserved heterogeneity in shaping the health consequences of precarious employment. This is particularly important as evidence accumulates, yet it is still mostly descriptive. Moreover, my results revealed a substantial difference among men and women in the relationship between EP and health: when EP increases, the risk of experiencing poor health increases much more for men than for women. This evidence falsifies previous theory according to whom the gender differential is contingent on the structurally disadvantaged position of women in western societies. In contrast, they seem to confirm the idea that men in precarious work could experience role conflict to a larger extent than women, as their self-standard is supposed to be the stereotypical breadwinner worker with a good and well-rewarded job. Finally, results from the multiple correspondence analysis contribute to the methodological debate on precariousness, showing that a multidimensional and continuous indicator can express a latent variable of EP. All in all, complementarities are revealed in the results of unemployment and employment precariousness, which have two implications: Policy-makers need to be aware that the total costs of unemployment and precariousness go far beyond the economic and material realm penetrating other fundamental life domains such as individual health. Moreover, they need to balance the trade-off between protecting adequately unemployed people and fostering high-quality employment in reaction to the highlighted market pressures. In this sense, the further development of a (universalistic) welfare state certainly helps mitigate the adverse health effects of unemployment and, therefore, the future costs of both individuals' health and welfare spending. In addition, the presence of a working partner is crucial for reducing the health consequences of employment instability. Therefore, policies aiming to increase female labor market participation should be promoted, especially in those contexts where the welfare state is less developed. Moreover, my results support the significance of taking account of a gender perspective in health research. The findings of the three articles show that job loss, unemployment, and precarious employment, in general, have adverse effects on men's health but less or absent consequences for women's health. Indeed, this suggests the importance of labor and health policies that consider and further distinguish the specific needs of the male and female labor force in Europe. Nevertheless, a further implication emerges: the health consequences of employment instability and de-standardization need to be investigated in light of the gender arrangements and the transforming gender relationships in specific cultural and institutional contexts. My results indeed seem to suggest that women's health advantage may be a transitory phenomenon, contingent on the predominant gendered institutional and cultural context. As the structural difference between men's and women's position in society is eroded, egalitarianism becomes the dominant normative status, so will probably be the gender difference in the health consequences of job loss and precariousness. Therefore, while gender equality in opportunities and roles is a desirable aspect for contemporary societies and a political goal that cannot be postponed further, this thesis raises a further and maybe more crucial question: What kind of equality should be pursued to provide men and women with both good life quality and equal chances in the public and private spheres? In this sense, I believe that social and labor policies aiming to reduce gender inequality in society should focus on improving women's integration into the labor market, implementing policies targeting men, and facilitating their involvement in the private sphere of life. Equal redistribution of social roles could activate a crucial transformation of gender roles and the cultural models that sustain and still legitimate gender inequality in Western societies. KW - unemployment KW - employment precariousness KW - self-rated health KW - gender KW - family KW - welfare and gender regimes Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-536723 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Masson, Michael E. J. A1 - Richter, Eike M. T1 - A linear mixed model analysis of masked repetition priming N2 - We examined individual differences in masked repetition priming by re-analyzing item-level response-time (RT) data from three experiments. Using a linear mixed model (LMM) with subjects and items specified as crossed random factors, the originally reported priming and word-frequency effects were recovered. In the same LMM, we estimated parameters describing the distributions of these effects across subjects. Subjects’ frequency and priming effects correlated positively with each other and negatively with mean RT. These correlation estimates, however, emerged only with a reciprocal transformation of RT (i.e., -1/RT), justified on the basis of distributional analyses. Different correlations, some with opposite sign, were obtained (1) for untransformed or logarithmic RTs or (2) when correlations were computed using within-subject analyses. We discuss the relevance of the new results for accounts of masked priming, implications of applying RT transformations, and the use of LMMs as a tool for the joint analysis of experimental effects and associated individual differences. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 247 Y1 - 2009 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-57073 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herold, Fabian A1 - Labott, Berit K. A1 - Grässler, Bernhard A1 - Halfpaap, Nicole A1 - Langhans, Corinna A1 - Müller, Patrick A1 - Ammar, Achraf A1 - Dordevic, Milos A1 - Hökelmann, Anita A1 - Müller, Notger Germar T1 - A Link between Handgrip Strength and Executive Functioning: A Cross-Sectional Study in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Healthy Controls JF - Healthcare : open access journal N2 - Older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) who in addition to their memory deficits also suffer from frontal-executive dysfunctions have a higher risk of developing dementia later in their lives than older adults with aMCI without executive deficits and older adults with non-amnestic MCI (naMCI). Handgrip strength (HGS) is also correlated with the risk of cognitive decline in the elderly. Hence, the current study aimed to investigate the associations between HGS and executive functioning in individuals with aMCI, naMCI and healthy controls. Older, right-handed adults with amnestic MCI (aMCI), non-amnestic MCI (naMCI), and healthy controls (HC) conducted a handgrip strength measurement via a handheld dynamometer. Executive functions were assessed with the Trail Making Test (TMT A&B). Normalized handgrip strength (nHGS, normalized to Body Mass Index (BMI)) was calculated and its associations with executive functions (operationalized through z-scores of TMT B/A ratio) were investigated through partial correlation analyses (i.e., accounting for age, sex, and severity of depressive symptoms). A positive and low-to-moderate correlation between right nHGS (rp (22) = 0.364; p = 0.063) and left nHGS (rp (22) = 0.420; p = 0.037) and executive functioning in older adults with aMCI but not in naMCI or HC was observed. Our results suggest that higher levels of nHGS are linked to better executive functioning in aMCI but not naMCI and HC. This relationship is perhaps driven by alterations in the integrity of the hippocampal-prefrontal network occurring in older adults with aMCI. Further research is needed to provide empirical evidence for this assumption. KW - MCI KW - hippocampal-prefrontal network KW - handgrip strength KW - exercise cognition KW - aging KW - brain health Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10020230 SN - 2227-9032 VL - 10 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz ET - 2 ER -