Initial Occupation Research Articles

Witnessing the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in German Central Europe

Recent German historiography of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods has tended to focus upon particular regions, conceding the different conditions and experiences of people from north to south and east to west. It has also generally focused upon limited conceptions of the period under French influence (Franzosenzeit), such as its impact upon jurisprudence or constitutionalism or religious emancipation or language and so on. And historians have often drawn distinctions between the different periods of the Franzosenzeit, noting that the experiences of initial conquest or occupation differed from subsequent years under French administration, which differed again from the period of liberation and Restoration in 1813–14. Leighton James’s book is therefore ambitious in every way. It attempts to summarize, in less than 200 pages, the entire span of the years between 1789 and 1815 across all of the German-speaking lands. James’s stated intent is a broadly conceived ‘everyday history’ (Alltagsgeschichte): the ‘war of the little man’ (p. 2) as recorded in diaries and memoirs and lesser-known cultural production. His archival selections indicate an emphasis on southern Germany. Of the nine major German archival collections he uses, seven are located in the south. That said, he has drawn extensively from primary and secondary literature from all regions and an impressive breadth of topics.

Workers Beneath the Floodgates: The Impact of Removing Trade Quotas for China on Danish Workers

I analyze the impact of a low-wage trade shock on manufacturing workers in a high-wage country, Denmark, and their subsequent adjustment to the shock. Employing a comprehensive person-level panel dataset matched with workplace-level employer data for the period 1999 to 2010, I exploit the dismantling of import quotas on Chinese textile and clothing products in conjunction with China's accession to the WTO as a quasi-natural experiment and utilize within-industry heterogeneity in workers' exposure to this trade shock. Results reveal negative and significant impact of the low-wage import shock on workers' future earnings and employment trajectories. The main channels through which the trade shock affects workers are shortened employment at the firm that was exposed to the competition shock and subsequent difficulty in maintaining stable employment. The abolishment of quotas also leads to higher likelihood of unemployment. The service sector is the main absorber of exposed workers of all types, but the success of recovery from the shock in subsequent service sector jobs varies greatly across workers depending on initial occupation, education and age. Less-educated, older and workers who had occupations that require industry-specific skills at the exposed firms had the worst adjustment experience. The results show that trade-induced adjustment costs are substantial and heterogeneous across different types of workers and highlight the nature of adjustment frictions by showing that, for some, challenges remain even after transition to full-time jobs outside of manufacturing.

Diet and human mobility from the lapita to the early historic period on Uripiv island, Northeast Malakula, Vanuatu.

Vanuatu was first settled ca. 3000 years ago by populations associated with the Lapita culture. Models of diet, subsistence practices, and human interaction for the Lapita and subsequent occupation periods have been developed mainly using the available archaeological and paleoenvironmental data. We test these models using stable (carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur) and radiogenic (strontium) isotopes to assess the diet and childhood residency of past communities that lived on the small (<1 km2) island of Uripiv, located off the northeast coast of Malakula, Vanuatu. The burials are from the initial Lapita occupation of the island (ca. 2800–2600 BP), the subsequent later Lapita (LL, ca. 2600–2500 BP) and post-Lapita (PL, ca. 2500–2000 BP) occupations, in addition to a late prehistoric/historic (LPH, ca. 300–150 BP) occupation period. The human stable isotope results indicate a progressively more terrestrial diet over time, which supports the archaeological model of an intensification of horticultural and arboricultural systems as local resources were depleted, populations grew, and cultural situations changed. Pig diets were similar and included marine foods during the Lapita and PL periods but were highly terrestrial during the LPH period. This dietary pattern indicates that there was little variation in animal husbandry methods during the first 800 years of prehistory; however, there was a subsequent change as animal diets became more controlled in the LPH period. After comparison with the local bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr baseline, all of the Lapita and LPH individuals appeared to be ‘local’, but three of the PL individuals were identified as “non-local.” We suggest that these “non-locals” moved to the island after infancy or childhood from one of the larger islands, supporting the model of a high level of regional interaction during the post-Lapita period.

Occupational sorting of school graduates: The role of economic preferences

We relate risk attitudes and patience of young graduates from high-school, college and university, measured around the time that they start their labor market career in a large representative survey, to the riskiness and timing of earnings in the occupations they choose to work in. We find a systematic positive and significant relation between willingness to take risks and measures of occupational earnings risks and employment risk that we derive from a large administrative data set. Patient individuals are significantly more likely to choose for occupations with a steep earnings profile. Individuals whose economic preferences are not well aligned with the riskiness and timing of earnings in their initial occupation are more likely to change to an occupation that better matches their economic preferences.

Winners and Losers among a Refugee-Hosting Population

AbstractThe impact of a sudden, mass influx of forced migrants on the hosting economy is understudied and not well understood. Using a household panel data set for the Kagera region in Tanzania, we test the impact of the mass refugee presence on the welfare of the local population. Our identification strategy exploits variations in the timing of arrival as well as the spatial distribution of Rwandese and Burundi refugees. We find a positive and aggregate effect, but households are affected differently depending on their main initial occupation.

Initial study on the impact of thermal history on building occupants' thermal assessments in actual air-conditioned office buildings

This preliminary study examines the influence of longer thermal history on building occupants' thermal sensation, perceived air temperature and thermal acceptability during the initial period of occupancy and after an extended period of occupancy in actual air-conditioned office buildings. Each of the subjects' forty-eight-hour thermal history was assessed using measured air temperatures with a wireless chip, “iButton,” placed close to their skins. Subjects did thermal assessments of their offices through a web-based survey link while they had their “iButton” on them. In addition, the subjects were required to fill the survey 4 times in their offices: during initial occupancy, before lunch break, after lunch break and before they left their offices for the day. Subjects' thermal assessments followed typical transient perceptions during initial occupancy of their offices. However, subjects' thermal assessments followed typical steady-state perceptions after extended period of occupancy because of diminished influence of thermal history. Maximum thermal acceptability occurred around neutral point of rating scales of thermal sensation and perceived air temperature throughout occupancy periods. Additionally, gender and body mass index influenced building occupants' thermal assessments. These results provide understanding on how thermal history influences occupants' thermal sensation, perceived air temperature, and thermal acceptability should be accounted for in the design and operation of air-conditioned buildings where occupants spend considerable amount of time.

The early appearance of Shuidonggou core-and-blade technology in north China: Implications for the spread of Anatomically Modern Humans in northeast Asia?

The identification and dating of South Temple Canyon 1 (STC 1), an Early Upper Paleolihic (EUP) site in north-central China near Shuidonggou (SDG), helps confirm that SDG is one of the earliest EUP sites in northern Asia. Materials from STC 1 bear a strong resemblance to the early SDG core-and-blade lithic technology that includes flat-faced cores and elongate blades. We obtained a 14C age estimate of 41,070 ± 890 14C yr BP on the innermost lamina of a calcium carbonate pendant attached to one of the quartzite flakes from the site. The purity of the micrite lamina, the care taken in obtaining the carbonate sample for processing and dating, and the geomorphological setting from which the flake came suggest the age estimate represents a reasonable assessment of an accurate minimum age for STC 1. Together with recently derived age estimates of >35 14C ka for the initial EUP occupations at SDG 1 and 2, it appears that the EUP in the SDG area is as old as any of the handful of EUP sites in Mongolia and Siberia dating to about 40 14C ka, and brings into question a postulated north-to-south spread of the EUP lithic technology present at SDG. Whether or not the dispersal of this technology is associated with the spread of Anatomically Modern Humans remains unknown.

The Pleistocene Peopling of the North: Paleolithic Milestones and Thresholds Horizons in Northern Eurasia: Part I: Lower Paleolithic Antecedents

Human occupation of northern Eurasia high latitudes entailed coping with severe bioclimatic circumstances and Ice Age cycle fluctuations. Resolving this “adaptability paradox” required depending on cultural, rather than biological means. Paleolithic evidence indicates culture historical developments of considerable time depth, long-term adaptive stages, and thresholds in the “peopling of the North.” It began with Lower Paleolithic populations expanding into temperate and continental Eurasia, becoming fully actualized during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. The Middle Paleolithic formative stage constituted a human biogeographic realm overlapping significantly with the Mammoth-Steppe Biome faunal complex. Part I identifies issues, time perspectivism, culture, foraging adaptation, and human biogeography concepts. Lower Paleolithic occurrences, initial occupation episodes are surveyed and discussed.

Occupational Sorting of School Graduates: The Role of Economic Preferences

We relate risk attitudes and patience of young graduates from high-school, college and university, measured around the time that they start their labor market career in a large representative survey, to the riskiness and timing of earnings in the occupations they choose to work in. We find a systematic positive and significant relation between willingness to take risks and measures of occupational earnings risks and employment risk that we derive from a large administrative data set. Patient individuals are significantly more likely to choose for occupations with a steep earnings profile. Individuals whose economic preferences are not well aligned with the riskiness and timing of earnings in their initial occupation are more likely to change to an occupation that better matches their economic preferences.

Impact of Random Telegraph Noise Profiles on Drain-Current Fluctuation During Dynamic Gate Bias

The influence of random telegraph noise (RTN) in MOSFETs on drain current (I <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">d</sub> ) during the rise/fall edges of the pulsed gate voltage (V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g</sub> ) cycle was investigated. We have revealed for the first time that the existence of RTN increases I <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">d</sub> fluctuations under dynamic V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g</sub> by making a comparison between FETs with and without RTN. The initial trap occupation states before varying V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g</sub> , which are governed by the RTN profiles, significantly affect the Id values during the rise/fall edges of V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g</sub> . The revealed effects of RTN with different profiles on I <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">d</sub> under dynamic V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">g</sub> will be useful for designing ultrahigh speed circuits.

Early Upper Paleolithic bone processing and insights into small-scale storage of fats at Vale Boi, southern Iberia

The Upper Paleolithic site of Vale Boi in coastal, southwestern Portugal currently represents one of the earliest known cases of grease-rendering in Eurasia, with initial occupation of the site occurring during the early Gravettian at ∼28,000 BP. Already by this time, Vale Boi foragers were intensively processing ungulate carcasses by rendering grease from their bones. Zooarchaeological evidence of grease rendering includes extensive fragmentation of red deer and equine remains, abundant evidence of impact features on specimens and a lower proportion of preserved grease-rich skeletal portions. Comparisons of red deer and horse bone portions with density assays and utility indices suggest that ungulates at Vale Boi were systematically processed for their marrow and bone grease. The early onset of grease-rendering at Vale Boi, in addition to heavy rabbit exploitation may have been spurred by ungulate communities unable to support human consumer-demand on their own. However, the continued practice of grease-rendering at Vale Boi over the course of the Upper Paleolithic may also be closely related to the significance of bone fats for mobile hunter–gatherers – as a highly valued, storable and easily-transportable resource.

Photon-photon interactions in a largely detuned optomechanical cavity

We propose to realize effective beam-splitter-like and two-mode-squeezing photon-photon interactions in a strong coupling optomechanical interface by exploiting detuned driving lasers. In this interface, the transitions between the optical system and the mechanical oscillator are suppressed by the large energy offsets, therefore protecting the photon-photon interactions from mechanical dissipations. Moreover, the destructive quantum interference between the eigenmodes of the interface is capable of further reducing the effects of initial mechanical thermal occupations. The interface can serve as a universal block for photon state engineering and hybrid quantum networks in high-temperature thermal bath and without the requirement of cooling the mechanical oscillator to the ground state.

Bayesian re-evaluation of Lapita settlement in Fiji: radiocarbon analysis of the Lapita occupation at Bourewa and nearby sites on the Rove Peninsula, Viti Levu Island

80 radiocarbon dates are presented for Lapita-era sites on the Rove Peninsula, southwest Viti Levu Island, Fiji. Of these, 67 are from the Bourewa site which is the largest and probably the earliest in the area. Of these, 10 are rejected as not being demonstrably associated with its Lapita occupation. Constraints on date interpretation arising from sample materials are highlighted. In particular, charcoals that have not been identified to short-lived tree species, twigs or seeds are evaluated according to observed contextual associations and established understanding of inbuilt age offsets using Bayesian outlier analysis. It is concluded that many of the dates on charcoal are imprecise indicators of settlement age and have an average offset of 150 years. Shell radiocarbon results are similarly evaluated and it is concluded that the majority have 14C values that are in equilibrium with the marine radiocarbon reservoir and therefore yield ages that are accurate indicators of Lapita occupation of Bourewa. Results suggest that initial occupation at Bourewa occurred 2814±25 calBP (2837-2786 calBP [68.2% prob.]; 2865-2770 [95.4% prob.]) and ended 2657±20 calBP (2677-2641 calBP [68.2% prob.]; 2690-2614 calBP [95.4% prob.]). Similar analyses applied to other dated Lapita sites in Fiji shows that, while Bourewa is among the earliest, the Matanamuani (VL 21/5) site on Naigani Island remains the earliest to be securely dated.

Competitive displacement of cofilin can promote actin filament severing

Cofilin is an essential actin filament severing protein that functions in the dynamic remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton. Filament severing activity is most efficient at sub-stoichiometric cofilin binding densities (i.e. <1cofilinperactin filament subunit), and peaks when the number density of boundaries (i.e. junctions) between bare and cofilin-decorated segments is maximal. A model in which local topological and mechanical discontinuities lead to preferential fragmentation at boundaries accounts for available experimental data, including direct visualization of cofilin and actin during real-time severing events. The boundary-severing model predicts that ligands (e.g. other actin-binding proteins) that compete with cofilin for actin filament binding and modulate cofilin occupancy on filaments will alter the bare-decorated segment boundary density, and thus, the filament severing activity of cofilin. Here, we directly test this model prediction by evaluating the effects of phalloidin and myosin, two ligands that compete with cofilin for filament binding, on the actin filament binding and severing activities of cofilin. Our experiments demonstrate that competitive displacement of cofilin lowers cofilin occupancy and promotes severing when initial cofilin occupancy is high (i.e. >50%). Even in the presence of competitive ligands, maximum severing activity occurs when cofilin-decorated boundary density is highest, consistent with preferential fragmentation at boundaries. We propose a general “severodyne” framework for the modulation of cofilin-mediated actin filament severing by small molecule or actin-binding protein ligands that compete with cofilin for actin filament binding.

Forecasting supply and demand in nursing professions: impacts of occupational flexibility and employment structure in Germany

BackgroundIn light of Germany's ageing society, demand for nursing professionals is expected to increase in the coming years. This will pose a challenge for policy makers to increase the supply of nursing professionals.MethodologyTo portray the different possible developments in the supply of nursing professionals, we projected the supply of formally trained nurses and the potential supply of persons who are able to work in a nursing profession. This potential supply of nursing professionals was calculated on the basis of empirical information on occupational mobility provided by the German Microcensus 2005 (Labour Force Survey). We also calculated how the supply of full-time equivalents (FTEs) will develop if current employment structures develop in the direction of employment behaviour in nursing professions in eastern and western Germany. We then compared these different supply scenarios with two demand projections ('status quo' and 'compression of morbidity' scenarios) from Germany's Federal Statistical Office.ResultsOur results show that, even as early as 2005, meeting demand for FTEs in nursing professions was not arithmetically possible when only persons with formal qualification in a nursing profession were taken into account on the supply side. When additional semi-skilled nursing professionals are included in the calculation, a shortage of labour in nursing professions can be expected in 2018 when the employment structure for all nursing professionals remains the same as the employment structure seen in Germany in 2005 (demand: 'status quo scenario'). Furthermore, given an employment structure as in eastern Germany, where more nursing professionals work on a full-time basis with longer working hours, a theoretical shortage of nursing professionals could be delayed until 2024.ConclusionsOur analysis of occupational flexibility in the nursing field indicates that additional potential supply could be generated by especially training more young people for a nursing profession as they tend to stay in their initial occupation. Furthermore, the number of FTEs in nursing professions could be increased by promoting more full-time contracts in Western Germany. Additionally, employment contracts for just a small number of weekly working hours (marginal employment) cannot be considered an adequate instrument for keeping formally trained nursing professionals employed in the nursing field.

Site occupancy and spatial co-occurrence of boreal small mammals are favoured by late-decay woody debris

Dwindling stocks of decaying coarse woody debris (CWD), as a result of forest management and growing interest for biofuels, may jeopardize the persistence of a broad spectrum of organisms such as small mammals. In this study, we quantified the effects of CWD in late-decay stages on the occupancy dynamics of small mammals in managed and unmanaged boreal forests. Probabilities of initial site occupancy, colonization, local extinction, and co-occurrence were modelled for five boreal small mammal species. Southern red-backed voles (Myodes gapperi Vigor) and southern bog lemmings (Synaptomys cooperi Baird) were more likely to occupy sites with high volumes of late-decay CWD early in the summer. The probability of local extinction for deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus Wagner) slightly decreased with an increasing volume of late-decay CWD in harvested sites. Southern red-backed voles and meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus Ord) co-occurred more often in old, uncut forests, as well as harvested sites with high volumes of late-decay CWD. These results suggest that cover provided by late-decay CWD benefited two small rodent species during early reproduction and increased persistence of deer mice later in the summer. Finally, we found that in addition to high live-tree basal areas, high late-decay CWD volume also favours local diversity of small mammals.

Pre- to Post-Migration Occupational Mobility of First Generation Immigrants to Sweden from 1970–1990: Examining the Influence of Linguistic Distance

The article examines the influence of linguistic distance on the labor market outcomes of a sample of 5,041 first generation immigrants in Sweden between 1970 and 1990. The article exploits register data from the Swedish Longitudinal Database, examining a population of individuals from 11 non-Nordic countries of origin. The analysis focuses on the transition to the Swedish labor market, comparing the last occupation before migration with the first occupation after, measured by the ISEI score. Using OLS regression, the results finds important differences in the initial labor market outcomes that are linked to the individual’s linguistic distance. More specifically, individuals proficient in languages belonging to the same language family as Swedish and familiar with the Latin alphabet are found to enjoy an advantage in the initial transition to the Swedish labor market. This finding exists net of the influence of the individual’s region of origin, and is particularly accentuated among formally highly skilled males. This appears to confirm the comparatively large demands for destination-specific skills in high-status occupations, favoring linguistically more proximate individuals. Among females, no consistent advantage among the linguistically most proximate can be observed among the formally highly skilled, potentially explained by differing selection mechanisms into the labor market. In general, however, the mechanisms through which linguistic distance affects the individual’s initial occupation in Sweden appear to operate similarly along gender lines.

Relationship between wildfire, salvage logging, and occupancy of nesting territories by northern spotted owls

AbstractThe northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) is one of the most intensively studied raptors in the world; however, little is known about the impacts of wildfire on the subspecies and how they use recently burned areas. Three large‐scale wildfires in southwest Oregon provided an opportunity to investigate the short‐term impacts of wildfire and salvage logging on site occupancy of spotted owls. We used Program MARK to develop single‐species, multiple‐season models of site occupancy using data collected during demographic surveys of spotted owl territories. In our first analysis, we compared occupancy dynamics of spotted owl nesting territories before (1992–2002) and after the Timbered Rock burn (2003–2006) to a reference area in the south Cascade Mountains that was not affected recently by wildfire. We found that the South Cascades had greater colonization probabilities than Timbered Rock before and after wildfire (${\rm {\hat {\beta }}} = 1.31$, 95% CI = 0.60–2.03), and colonization probabilities declined over time at both areas (${\rm {\hat {\beta }}} = - 0.06$, 95% CI = −0.12 to 0.00). Extinction probabilities were greater at South Cascades than at Timbered Rock prior to the burn (${\rm {\hat {\beta }}} = 0.69$, 95% CI = 0.23–2.62); however, Timbered Rock had greater extinction probabilities following wildfire (${\rm {\hat {\beta }}} = 1.46$, 95% CI = 0.29–2.62). The Timbered Rock and South Cascades study areas had similar patterns in site occupancy prior to the Timbered Rock burn (1992–2001). Furthermore, Timbered Rock had a 64% reduction in site occupancy following wildfire (2003–2006) in contrast to a 25% reduction in site occupancy at South Cascades during the same time period. This suggested that the combined effects of habitat disturbances due to wildfire and subsequent salvage logging on private lands negatively affected site occupancy by spotted owls. In our second analysis, we investigated the relationship between wildfire, salvage logging, and occupancy of spotted owl territories at the Biscuit, Quartz, and Timbered Rock burns from 2003 to 2006. Extinction probabilities increased as the combined area of early seral forests, high severity burn, and salvage logging increased within the core nesting areas (${\rm {\hat {\beta }}} = 1.88$, 95% CI = 0.10–3.66). We were unable to identify any relationships between initial occupancy or colonization probabilities and the habitat covariates that we considered in our analysis where the β coefficient did not overlap zero. We concluded that site occupancy of spotted owl nesting territories declined in the short‐term following wildfire, and habitat modification and loss due to past timber harvest, high severity fire, and salvage logging jointly contributed to declines in site occupancy. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.

A Sustainability Evaluation of Slum Rehabilitation Authority Housing Development at Nanapeth, Pune, India

This article presents a sustainability evaluation of the in-situ rehabilitation of Nanapeth’s slum-dwellers in Pune, India. The first Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project in the city has been visited five years after initial occupation to assess the impact of the new housing upon the residents and development planning policy. The influence and design of the private developer’s delivery model upon the upgrading sustainability has been investigated via stakeholder perception. The top down approach delivered at Nanapeth has resulted in a financially sustainable scheme which has also enabled urban regeneration in a previous slum area. The project could benefit from a more socially conscious design and implementation. Appropriate building design and building services supply &amp; management have been highlighted by stakeholders as areas for improvement. Residents have expressed disappointment with the impact the housing has had on community cohesion and lifestyle despite benefitting from being re-housed in-situ with no separation from livelihoods and amenities. The residents’ sense of ownership and pride has been limited due to a lack of participation, financial contribution and communication between the development team and residents. This early SRA project has resulted in positive lessons learned which have beneficially impacted newer housing projects in the city. The long term impact of Transfer Development Rights brought about by SRA private development schemes further enforces the need for coordinated infrastructure and master planning for Pune. [Formula: see text]

Long transient dynamics in the Anderson-Holstein model out of equilibrium

We calculate the time dependent nonequilibrium current through a single level quantum dot strongly coupled to a vibrational mode. The nonequilibrium real time dynamics caused by an instantaneous coupling of the leads to the quantum dot is discussed using an approximate method. The approach, which is specially designed for the strong polaronic regime, is based on the so-called polaron tunneling approximation. Considering different initial dot occupations, we show that a common steady state is reached after times much larger than the typical electron tunneling times due to a polaron blocking effect in the dot charge. A direct comparison is made with numerically exact data, showing good agreement for the time scales accessible by the diagrammatic Monte Carlo simulation method.