Black Holes in Higher Dimensions (Black Strings and Black Rings)

The main focus of this session was the presentation of new higher-dimensional black hole solutions, including black rings, black strings, and multi black holes, and the study of their properties. Besides new asymptotically flat and locally asymptotically flat black objects also new black holes with anti-de Sitter asymptotics were reported. The studies of their properties included the investigation of their stability, their thermodynamics, their analyticity and their existence. Furthermore, the geodesics in such higher-dimensional space-times were investigated.Comment: Summary of session BH1 at MG13 in Stockholm, 14 page

Partial Dynamical Symmetry in a Fermionic Many-Body System

The concept of partial symmetry is introduced for an interacting fermion system. The associated Hamiltonians are shown to be closely related to a realistic nuclear quadrupole-quadrupole interaction. An application to $^{12}$C is presented.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Proc. Int. Conf. "Bologna 2000 - Structure of the Nucleus at the Dawn of the Century", Bologna, Italy, May 29 - June 3, 200

Technological capability of foreign and West German investors in East Germany

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays an important role for countries or regions in the process of economic catching-up since it is assumed – among other things – that FDI brings in new production technology and knowledge. This paper gives an overview about the development of FDI in East Germany based on official data provided by the Federal Bank of Germany. The investigation also includes a comparison of FDI in East Germany to Central East European countries. But the main focus of the paper is an analysis of the technological capability comparing majority foreign and West German owned firms to majority East German owned firms. It shows that foreign and West German subsidiaries in East Germany are indeed characterized by superior technological capability with respect to all indicators looked at (product innovation, research & development, organizational changes etc.).

The significance of FDI for innovation activities within domestic firms - The case of Central East European transition economies

Foreign direct investment is expected to play a significant role as a multiplier of modern production- and management-know-how in Central East European transition economies. The so-called technology-spillovers are explained through externalities or extra-marketlinkages. In practice they can take place via demonstration effects, labor mobility, supplier contacts, customer contacts or networking activities. However, the empirical study on the example of Hungarian industry shows that foreign owned and domestic firms – mainly due to their strong technological disparities – build virtually separate spheres within the industrial sector. Thus, technology-spillovers do hardly appear as an innovation-stimulating means for domestic companies.

MARKETING OF SAFE FOOD THROUGH LABELING

After a series of food safety crises during the 1990s, regulators, producers, and retailers alike are trying to regain consumer confidence by redesigning legislation and quality-assurance programs. These programs focus on process innovation, traceability, and identity preservation of products. This paper reviews current developments in the European food and retail industry. Hypotheses on the link between structural adjustments in the food production and marketing chain and the provision of safe food emerge. In addition, we report results from a survey on consumer perception of food-safety attributes and discuss the opportunities for and limits of marketing safe food through labels.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

Codling moth populations less susceptible to CpGV: What about higher concentrations?

In an organic orchard with a codling moth (CM) population less susceptible to CpGV it was tested, whether an increased dosage of CpGV by factor 10 would result in any increased efficacy. The applications were set in shorter than weekly intervals with 10 ml/ha Madex (low dosage plot) and 100 ml/ha Madex (high dosage plot). The higher dosage showed also a better efficacy, espe-cially on the “active damage” (live larvae). The orchard where the experiments were conducted was known to have a less susceptible CM population (2004) although there were no serious CM problems reported by the farmer despite the CM control was done only with CpGV. It was investigated, whether natural antagonists might have been a reason for the absence of serious problems in this orchard. No signs of a strong presence of other antagonists were found but CM the population was increasing very much in the year the ex-periment was conducted (2005). Thus, probably the reason for the absence of CM problems seems to be just a delayed increase of the CM population after the development of a lower susceptibility of CM against CpGV

Innovation cooperation in East Germany - only a half-way success?

The paper focuses on the question whether enterprises that engage in innovation cooperation with external partners are more innovative and thus more productive than non-cooperating firms. A comparison between East and West Germany is being made. It shows that cooperating enterprises in East and West Germany are indeed more innovative than non-cooperating firms, but there remains a clear productivity gap between East and West German cooperating firms. Furthermore, in East Germany - different from West Germany - non-cooperating firms are even more productive than cooperating firms.