University of Konstanz

About: University of Konstanz is a education organization based out in Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Membrane. The organization has 12115 authors who have published 27401 publications receiving 951162 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Constance & Universität Konstanz.

Ultrafast insulator-metal phase transition in VO 2 studied by multiterahertz spectroscopy

Abstract: The ultrafast photoinduced insulator-metal transition in VO${}_{2}$ is studied at different temperatures and excitation fluences using multi-THz probe pulses. The spectrally resolved midinfrared response allows us to trace separately the dynamics of lattice and electronic degrees of freedom with a time resolution of 40 fs. The critical fluence of the optical pump pulse, which drives the system into a long-lived metallic state, is found to increase with decreasing temperature. Under all measurement conditions, we observe a modulation of the eigenfrequencies of the optical phonon modes induced by their anharmonic coupling to the coherent wave-packet motion of V-V dimers at 6.1 THz. Furthermore, we find a weak quadratic coupling of the electronic response to the coherent dimer oscillation resulting in a modulation of the electronic conductivity at twice the frequency of the wave-packet motion. The findings are discussed in the framework of a qualitative model based on an approximation of local photoexcitation of the vanadium dimers from the insulating state.

Annual rhythms that underlie phenology: biological time-keeping meets environmental change

Abstract: Seasonal recurrence of biological processes (phenology) and its relationship to environmental change is recognized as being of key scientific and public concern, but its current study largely overlooks the extent to which phenology is based on biological time-keeping mechanisms We highlight the relevance of physiological and neurobiological regulation for organisms’ responsiveness to environmental conditions Focusing on avian and mammalian examples, we describe circannual rhythmicity of reproduction, migration and hibernation, and address responses of animals to photic and thermal conditions Climate change and urbanization are used as urgent examples of anthropogenic influences that put biological timing systems under pressure We furthermore propose that consideration of Homo sapiens as principally a ‘seasonal animal’ can inspire new perspectives for understanding medical and psychological problems

The Political Economy of Collective Skill Formation

Abstract: FOREWORD Foreword INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction: The Comparative Political Economy of Collective Skill Formation SECTION I: COUNTRY STUDIES 2. Vocational Training and the Origins of Coordination: Specific Skills and the Politics of Collective Action 3. Institutional Change in German Vocational Training: From Collectivism towards Segmentalism 4. The Development of the Vocational Training System in the Netherlands 5. Educational Policy Actors as Stakeholders in the Development of the Collective Skills System: The Case of Switzerland 6. Austrian Corporatism and Institutional Change in the Relationship between Apprenticeship Training and School-Based VET 7. The Social Partners and the Social Democratic Party in the Continuation of a Collective Skill System in Denmark SECTION II: CROSSCUTTING TOPICS AND CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES 8. Collective Skill Systems, Wage Bargaining, and Labor Market Stratification 9. The Links between Vocational Training and Higher Education in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany 10. Gendered Consequences of Vocational Training 11. Europeanization and the Varying Responses in Collective Skill Systems CONCLUSION 12. Skills and Politics: General and Specific