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Structural duration conveys stability but also resilience in central government and is therefore a key issue in the debate on the structure and organization of government. This paper discusses three core variants of structural duration to study the explanatory relevance of politics. We compare these durations across ministerialunits in four European democracies (Germany, France, The Netherlands, and Norway) from 1980 to 2013, totaling over 17,000 units. Our empirical analyses show that cabinets’ ideological turnover and extremism are the most significant predictors of all variants of duration, whereas polarization in parliament as well as new prime ministers without office experience yield the predicted significant negative effects for most models. We discuss these findings and avenues for futureresearch that acknowledge the definition and measures for structural change as well as temporal aspects of the empirical phenomenon more explicitly.
Any system at play in a data-driven project has a fundamental requirement: the ability to load data. The de-facto standard format to distribute and consume raw data is CSV. Yet, the plain text and flexible nature of this format make such files often difficult to parse and correctly load their content, requiring cumbersome data preparation steps. We propose a benchmark to assess the robustness of systems in loading data from non-standard CSV formats and with structural inconsistencies. First, we formalize a model to describe the issues that affect real-world files and use it to derive a systematic lpollutionz process to generate dialects for any given grammar. Our benchmark leverages the pollution framework for the csv format. To guide pollution, we have surveyed thousands of real-world, publicly available csv files, recording the problems we encountered. We demonstrate the applicability of our benchmark by testing and scoring 16 different systems: popular csv parsing frameworks, relational database tools, spreadsheet systems, and a data visualization tool.
The genetic structure of Bryde's whale (Balaenoptera brydei) on the central and western North Pacific feeding grounds was investigated using a total of 1195 mitochondrial control region sequences and 1182 microsatellite genotypes at 17 loci in specimens collected from three longitudinal areas, 1W (135 degrees E-165 degrees E), 1E (165 degrees E-180 degrees), and 2 (180 degrees-155 degrees W). Genetic diversities were similar among areas and a haplotype network did not show any geographic structure, while an analysis of molecular variance found evidence of genetic structure in this species. Pairwise FST and G'ST estimates and heterogeneity tests attributed this structure to weak but significant differentiation between areas 1W/1E and 2. A Mantel test and a high-resolution analysis of genetic diversity statistics showed a weak spatial cline of genetic differentiation. These findings could be reconciled by two possible stock structure scenarios: (1) a single population with kin-association affecting feeding ground preference and (2) two populations with feeding ground preference for either area 1W or area 2. An estimated dispersal rate between areas 1W and 2 indicates that both scenarios should be considered as a precautionary principle in stock assessments.
Portal Wissen = Excellence
(2023)
When something is not just good or very good, we often call it excellent. But what does that really mean? Coming from the Latin word “excellere,” it describes things, persons, or actions that are outstanding or superior and distinguish themselves from others. It cannot get any better. Excellence is the top choice for being the first or the best. Research is no exception.
At the university, you will find numerous exceptional researchers, outstanding projects, and, time and again, sensational findings, publications, and results. But is the University of Potsdam also excellent? A question that will certainly create a different stir in 2023 than it did perhaps 20 years ago. Since the launch of the Excellence Initiative in 2005, universities that succeed in winning the most comprehensive funding program for research in Germany have been considered – literally – excellent. Whether in the form of graduate schools, research clusters, or – since the program was continued in 2019 under the title “Excellence Strategy” – entire universities of excellence: Anyone who wants to be among the best research universities needs the seal of excellence.
The University of Potsdam is applying for funding with three cluster proposals in the recently launched new round of the “Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments.” One proposal comes from ecology and biodiversity research. The aim is to paint a comprehensive picture of ecological processes by examining the role of single individuals as well as the interactions among many species in an ecosystem to precisely determine the function of biodiversity. A second proposal has been submitted by the cognitive sciences. Here, the complex coexistence of language and cognition, development and learning, as well as motivation and behavior will be researched as a dynamic interrelation. The projects will include cooperation with the educational sciences to constantly consider linked learning and educational processes. The third proposal from the geo and environmental sciences concentrates on extreme and particularly devastating natural hazards and processes such as floods and droughts. The researchers examine these extreme events, focusing on their interaction with society, to be able to better assess the risks and damages they might involve and to initiate timely measures in the future.
“All three proposals highlight the excellence of our performance,” emphasizes University President Prof. Oliver Günther, Ph.D. “The outlines impressively document our commitment, existing research excellence, and the potential of the University of Potsdam as a whole. The fact that three powerful consortia have come together in different subject areas shows that we have taken a good step forward on our way to becoming one of the top German universities.”
In this issue, we are looking at what is in and behind these proposals: We talked to the researchers who wrote them. We asked them about their plans in case their proposals are successful and they bring a cluster of excellence to the university. But we also looked at the research that has led to the proposals, has long shaped the university’s profile, and earned it national and international recognition. We present a small selection of projects, methods, and researchers to illustrate why there really is excellent research in these proposals!
By the way, “excellence” is also not the end of the flagpole. After all, the adjective “excellent” even has a comparative and a superlative. With this in mind, I wish you the most excellent pleasure reading this issue!
Portal Wissen = Learning
(2023)
Changing through learning is one of the most important characteristics we humans have. We are born and can – it seems – do nothing. We have to comprehend, copy, and acquire everything: grasping and walking, eating and speaking. Of course, we also have to read and do number work. In the meantime, we know: We will never be able to finish this. At best, we learn for a lifetime. If we stop, it harms us. The Greek philosopher Plato said more than 2,400 years ago, “There is no shame in not knowing something. The shame is in not being willing to learn.”
As humans we are also capable of learning; thanks to more and more knowledge about the world around us, we have moved from the Stone Age into the digital age. That this development is not a finish line either, but that we still have a long way to go, is shown by man-made climate change – and above all by our inability as a global community to translate what research teaches us into appropriate actions. Let us dare to hope that we also comprehend this.
What we tend to ignore in the intensive discussion about the multi-layered levels of learning: We are by no means the only learners. Many, if not all, living beings on our planet learn, some more in a more purposeful and complex and more cognitive way than others. And for some time now, machines have also been able to learn more or less independently. Artificial intelligence sends its regards.
The significance of learning for human beings can hardly be overestimated. Science has also understood this and has discovered the learning processes and conditions in almost all contexts for itself, no matter whether it is about our own learning processes and conditions or those around us. We have investigated some of these for the current issue of “Portal Wissen”.
Psycholinguist Natalie Boll-Avetisyan has developed a box that can be used to detect language learning disorders already in young children. The behavioral biologists Jana Eccard and Valeria Mazza investigated the behavior of small rodents and found out that they do not only develop different personality traits but they also described how they learn to adapt them different environmental conditions. Computer linguist David Schlangen examines the question what machines have to learn so that our communication with them works even better.
Since research is ultimately always a learning process that strives to understand something yet unknown, this time all texts are somehow along the motto of the title theme: It is about what the history of past centuries reveals about “military cultures of violence” and the question of what lessons we should learn from natural hazards for the future.
We talked with a legal scholar who looks beyond the university’s backyard and wants to make law comprehensible to everyone. We also talked with a philosopher who analyzes why “having an opinion” means something different today than 100 years ago. We report about an AI-based genome analysis that can change healthcare sustainably. Furthermore, it is about the job profile “YouTuber”, minor cosmopolitanisms, and wildlife management in Africa. When you have finished reading, you will have learnt something. Promised! Enjoy your read!
Thermal electrons have gyroradii many orders of magnitude smaller than the finite width of a shock, thus need to be pre-accelerated before they can cross it and be accelerated by diffusive shock acceleration. One region where pre-acceleration may occur is the inner foreshock, which upstream electrons must pass through before any potential downstream crossing. In this paper, we perform a large-scale particle-in-cell simulation that generates a single shock with parameters motivated from supernova remnants. Within the foreshock, reflected electrons excite the oblique whistler instability and produce electromagnetic whistler waves, which comove with the upstream flow and as nonlinear structures eventually reach radii of up to 5 ion-gyroradii. We show that the inner electromagnetic configuration of the whistlers evolves into complex nonlinear structures bound by a strong magnetic field around four times the upstream value. Although these nonlinear structures do not in general interact with cospatial upstream electrons, they resonate with electrons that have been reflected at the shock. We show that they can scatter, or even trap, reflected electrons, confining around 0.8% of the total upstream electron population to the region close to the shock where they can undergo substantial pre-acceleration. This acceleration process is similar to, yet approximately three times more efficient than, stochastic shock drift acceleration.
Academia-industry collaborations are beneficial when both sides bring strengths to the partnership and the collaboration outcome is of mutual benefit. These types of collaboration projects are seen as a low-risk learning opportunity for both parties. In this paper, government initiatives that can change the business landscape and academia-industry collaborations that can provide upskilling opportunities to fill emerging business needs are discussed. In light of Japan’s push for next-level modernization, a Japanese software company took a positive stance towards building new capabilities outside what it had been offering its customers. Consequently, an academic research group is laying out infrastructure for learning analytics research. An existing learning analytics dashboard was modularized to allow the research group to focus on natural language processing experiments while the software company explores a development framework suitable for data visualization techniques and artificial intelligence development. The results of this endeavor demonstrate that companies working with academia can creatively explore collaborations outside typical university-supported avenues.
With the growing number of online learning resources, it becomes increasingly difficult and overwhelming to keep track of the latest developments and to find orientation in the plethora of offers. AI-driven services to recommend standalone learning resources or even complete learning paths are discussed as a possible solution for this challenge. To function properly, such services require a well-defined set of metadata provided by the learning resource. During the last few years, the so-called MOOChub metadata format has been established as a de-facto standard by a group of MOOC providers in German-speaking countries. This format, which is based on schema.org, already delivers a quite comprehensive set of metadata. So far, this set has been sufficient to list, display, sort, filter, and search for courses on several MOOC and open educational resources (OER) aggregators. AI recommendation services and further automated integration, beyond a plain listing, have special requirements, however. To optimize the format for proper support of such systems, several extensions and modifications have to be applied. We herein report on a set of suggested changes to prepare the format for this task.
Digital transformation fundamentally changes the way individuals conduct work in organisations. In accordance with this statement, prevalent literature understands digital workplace transformation as a second-order effect of implementing new information technology to increase organisational effectiveness or reach other strategic goals. This paper, in contrast, provides empirical evidence from two remote-first organisations that undergo a proactive rather than reactive digital workplace transformation. The analysis of these cases suggests that new ways of working can be the consequence of an identity change that is a precondition for introducing new information technology rather than its outcome. The resulting process model contributes a competing argument to the existing debate in digital transformation literature. Instead of issuing digital workplace transformation as a deliverable of technological progress and strategic goals, this paper supports a notion of digital workplace transformation that serves a desired identity based on work preferences.
The massive growth of MOOCs in 2011 laid the groundwork for the achievement of SDG 4. With the various benefits of MOOCs, there is also anticipation that online education should focus on more interactivity and global collaboration. In this context, the Global MOOC and Online Education Alliance (GMA) established a diverse group of 17 world-leading universities and three online education platforms from across 14 countries on all six continents in 2020. Through nearly three years of exploration, GMA has gained experience and achieved progress in fostering global cooperation in higher education. First, in joint teaching, GMA has promoted in-depth cooperation between members inside and outside the alliance. Examples include promoting the exchange of high-quality MOOCs, encouraging the creation of Global Hybrid Classroom, and launching Global Hybrid Classroom Certificate Programs. Second, in capacity building and knowledge sharing, GMA has launched Online Education Dialogues and the Global MOOC and Online Education Conference, inviting global experts to share best practices and attracting more than 10 million viewers around the world. Moreover, GMA is collaborating with international organizations to support teachers’ professional growth, create an online learning community, and serve as a resource for further development. Third, in public advocacy, GMA has launched the SDG Hackathon and Global Massive Open Online Challenge (GMOOC) and attracted global learners to acquire knowledge and incubate their innovative ideas within a cross-cultural community to solve real-world problems that all humans face and jointly create a better future. Based on past experiences and challenges, GMA will explore more diverse cooperation models with more partners utilizing advanced technology, provide more support for digital transformation in higher education, and further promote global cooperation towards building a human community with a shared future.