The financing of small firms in Germany

In Germany, small firms are financed chiefly by small banks, which are grouped into two systems: the savings banks (Sparkassen) and the credit cooperatives. The government actively supports the financing of investments in small industry - especially business start-ups. The author explains how small firms are financed in Germany. The author contends that small and meduim-size firms contribute a lot to the German economy. Small firms are not subject to the control institutions - such as supervisory board seats, proxy voting and equity holdings - that shape the relationships between large firms and large banks. The author also points out that small banks, which are part of a decentralized market structure, over come imperfections in the financial market by building institutions that supersede the market mechanism. The savings bank and credit cooperatives systems have each developed an internal capital, not unlike those within large banks operating nationwide. Only central institutions participate in the domestic money market, to place the system's excess liquidity or to raise funds to cover the systems deficits. Also, the funding programs of the government banks can be seen as a refinancing mechanism that especially helps small banks. The same is true for rediscountable trade bills.Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Environmental Economics&Policies,Municipal Financial Management,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation

The relationship between German banks and large German firms

German banks are often criticized, or praised, depending on a person's viewpoint, for owning German industry and for playing an active part in corporate control. The author argues that this misrepresents German banking. First, the number of German firms a bank can own or control, although significant, is limited. Second, although most of the largest 100 firms have a bank member on their supervisory board, this does not imply effective bank control. Third, the role of the banker in the supervisory board has to be viewed in the light of the rigorous standards of corporate governance imposed on German public firms. fourth, bank ownership of industry is not pervasive, but is in fact limited to a few special cases. Fifth and last, proxy voting is more important than stock ownership as a potential means of control. The author argues that the German system of corporate governance represents an efficient attempt to minimize socially wasteful behavior. The negotiated consensus achieved in the board room provides better incentives to management to maximize firm value and social welfare than the factionalized U.S. system.Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Municipal Financial Management,Microfinance

Lunar Crater Identification in Digital Images

It is often necessary to identify a pattern of observed craters in a single image of the lunar surface and without any prior knowledge of the camera's location. This so-called "lost-in-space" crater identification problem is common in both crater-based terrain relative navigation (TRN) and in automatic registration of scientific imagery. Past work on crater identification has largely been based on heuristic schemes, with poor performance outside of a narrowly defined operating regime (e.g., nadir pointing images, small search areas). This work provides the first mathematically rigorous treatment of the general crater identification problem. It is shown when it is (and when it is not) possible to recognize a pattern of elliptical crater rims in an image formed by perspective projection. For the cases when it is possible to recognize a pattern, descriptors are developed using invariant theory that provably capture all of the viewpoint invariant information. These descriptors may be pre-computed for known crater patterns and placed in a searchable index for fast recognition. New techniques are also developed for computing pose from crater rim observations and for evaluating crater rim correspondences. These techniques are demonstrated on both synthetic and real images

Global, regional, and national burden of suicide mortality 1990 to 2016 : systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

OBJECTIVES To use the estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 to describe patterns of suicide mortality globally, regionally, and for 195 countries and territories by age, sex, and Socio-demographic index, and to describe temporal trends between 1990 and 2016. DESIGN Systematic analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Crude and age standardised rates from suicide mortality and years of life lost were compared across regions and countries, and by age, sex, and Sociodemographic index (a composite measure of fertility, income, and education). RESULTS The total number of deaths from suicide increased by 6.7% (95% uncertainty interval 0.4% to 15.6%) globally over the 27 year study period to 817000 (762000 to 884000) deaths in 2016. However, the age standardised mortality rate for suicide decreased by 32.7% (27.2% to 36.6%) worldwide between 1990 and 2016, similar to the decline in the global age standardised mortality rate of 30.6%. Suicide was the leading cause of age standardised years of life lost in the Global Burden of Disease region of high income Asia Pacific and was among the top 10 leading causes in eastern Europe, central Europe, western Europe, central Asia, Australasia, southern Latin America, and high income North America. Rates for men were higher than for women across regions, countries, and age groups, except for the 15 to 19 age group. There was variation in the female to male ratio, with higher ratios at lower levels of Socio-demographic index. Women experienced greater decreases in mortality rates (49.0%, 95% uncertainty interval 42.6% to 54.6%) than men (23.8%, 15.6% to 32.7%). CONCLUSIONS Age standardised mortality rates for suicide have greatly reduced since 1990, but suicide remains an important contributor to mortality worldwide. Suicide mortality was variable across locations, between sexes, and between age groups. Suicide prevention strategies can be targeted towards vulnerable populations if they are informed by variations in mortality rates

Finding the Right Blend: Interplay Between Structure and Sodium Ion Conductivity in the System Na5AlS4-Na4SiS4

The rational design of high performance sodium solid electrolytes is one of the key challenges in modern battery research. In this work, we identify new sodium ion conductors in the substitution series Na(5-x)Al(1-x)Si(x)S4 (0 <= x <= 1), which are entirely based on earth-abundant elements. These compounds exhibit conductivities ranging from 1.64 center dot 10(-7) for Na4SiS4 to 2.04 center dot 10(-5) for Na-8.5(AlS4)(0.5)(SiS4)(1.5) (x = 0.75). We determined the crystal structures of the Na+-ion conductors Na4SiS4 as well as hitherto unknown Na5AlS4 and Na-9(AlS4)(SiS4). Na+-ion conduction pathways were calculated by bond valence energy landscape (BVEL) calculations for all new structures highlighting the influence of the local coordination symmetry of sodium ions on the energy landscape within this family. Our findings show that the interplay of charge carrier concentration and low site symmetry of sodium ions can enhance the conductivity by several orders of magnitude

Structural characterization of the thermostable <i>Bradyrhizobium japonicum</i> D-sorbitol dehydrogenase

Bradyrhizobium japonicum sorbitol dehydrogenase is NADH-dependent and is active at elevated temperatures. The best substrate is d-glucitol (a synonym for d-sorbitol), although l-glucitol is also accepted, giving it particular potential in industrial applications. Crystallization led to a hexagonal crystal form, with crystals diffracting to 2.9 Å resolution. In attempts to phase the data, a molecular-replacement solution based upon PDB entry 4nbu (33% identical in sequence to the target) was found. The solution contained one molecule in the asymmetric unit, but a tetramer similar to that found in other short-chain dehydrogenases, including the search model, could be reconstructed by applying crystallographic symmetry operations. The active site contains electron density consistent with d-glucitol and phosphate, but there was not clear evidence for the binding of NADH. In a search for the features that determine the thermostability of the enzyme, the T (m) for the orthologue from Rhodobacter sphaeroides, for which the structure was already known, was also determined, and this enzyme proved to be considerably less thermostable. A continuous β-sheet is formed between two monomers in the tetramer of the B. japonicum enzyme, a feature not generally shared by short-chain dehydrogenases, and which may contribute to thermostability, as may an increased Pro/Gly ratio

Development and validation of the DIabetes Severity SCOre (DISSCO) in 139 626 individuals with type 2 diabetes: a retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: Clinically applicable diabetes severity measures are lacking, with no previous studies comparing their predictive value with glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). We developed and validated a type 2 diabetes severity score (the DIabetes Severity SCOre, DISSCO) and evaluated its association with risks of hospitalization and mortality, assessing its additional risk information to sociodemographic factors and HbA1c. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We used UK primary and secondary care data for 139 626 individuals with type 2 diabetes between 2007 and 2017, aged ≥35 years, and registered in general practices in England. The study cohort was randomly divided into a training cohort (n=111 748, 80%) to develop the severity tool and a validation cohort (n=27 878). We developed baseline and longitudinal severity scores using 34 diabetes-related domains. Cox regression models (adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity, deprivation, and HbA1c) were used for primary (all-cause mortality) and secondary (hospitalization due to any cause, diabetes, hypoglycemia, or cardiovascular disease or procedures) outcomes. Likelihood ratio (LR) tests were fitted to assess the significance of adding DISSCO to the sociodemographics and HbA1c models. RESULTS: A total of 139 626 patients registered in 400 general practices, aged 63±12 years were included, 45% of whom were women, 83% were White, and 18% were from deprived areas. The mean baseline severity score was 1.3±2.0. Overall, 27 362 (20%) people died and 99 951 (72%) had ≥1 hospitalization. In the training cohort, a one-unit increase in baseline DISSCO was associated with higher hazard of mortality (HR: 1.14, 95% CI 1.13 to 1.15, area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC)=0.76) and cardiovascular hospitalization (HR: 1.45, 95% CI 1.43 to 1.46, AUROC=0.73). The LR tests showed that adding DISSCO to sociodemographic variables significantly improved the predictive value of survival models, outperforming the added value of HbA1c for all outcomes. Findings were consistent in the validation cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of DISSCO are associated with higher risks for hospital admissions and mortality. The new severity score had higher predictive value than the proxy used in clinical practice, HbA1c. This reproducible algorithm can help practitioners stratify clinical care of patients with type 2 diabetes