Taxation of risky investment and paradoxical investor behavior

Under uncertainty and irreversibility, real option-based models are widely accepted for assessing investment projects. So far the existing post-tax analyses do not provide a general analytical description of investor reactions towards profit tax rate changes. This paper sets out to fill part of the void. We implement a simple tax system and focus on risky capital market investment and an option to wait. Taxes affect risk-free and risky capital market investment asymmetrically and hence cause distortions. We analytically identify a set of neutral tax rates (tax regimes) that preserve the critical post-tax investment threshold in case of tax rate changes as well as general normal and paradoxical settings. Unlike for other tax paradoxa neither depreciation rules nor loss offset restrictions are responsible for the observed paradoxical reaction. Identifying normal and paradoxical tax regimes can be regarded as a first step to a generalized description of tax effects under uncertainty, both for individual project evaluation as well as for understanding tax effects on an aggregate level. --investment decision,real options,tax paradox,uncertainty

Strömungsuntersuchungen an künstlichen Herzklappen

In dieser Arbeit werden Methoden vorgestellt, um in vitro die Strömungseigenschaften von künstlichen Herzklappen zu untersuchen und um die Eigenschaften verschiedener künstlicher Herzklappen untereinander vergleichen zu können. Diese Prothesen belasten das menschliche Herz unterschiedlich stark, genauso führen sie zu unterschiedlichen Strömungsstörungen wie Totwassergebieten und Turbulenzen. Deshalb wurden Testanlagen konstruiert, die die Strömungseigenschaften sehr präzise und reproduzierbar erfassen können. Ebenfalls werden neben den gesetzlich vorgeschriebenen Verfahren auch darüber hinausgehende Methoden entwickelt beziehungsweise weiterentwickelt. Damit lassen sich sowohl herkömmliche künstliche Herzklappen untersuchen als auch die Verbesserung von Prototypen unterstützen

Age-related efficiency loss of household refrigeration appliances: Development of an approach to measure the degradation of insulation properties

Despite the omnipresence of household refrigeration appliances, there is still a lack of knowledge about their age-related efficiency loss over time. Past studies provide basic evidence for increasing electricity consumption of cooling appliances with ageing but fail to investigate the associated technical wear. Concentrating on the degradation of the thermal insulation, we first determined the ageing process of sealed samples of polyurethane rigid foam by investigating changes in cell gas composition and thermal conductivity over time. Simultaneously, the main challenge was to develop an approach that investigates the age-related efficiency loss of the insulation without its destruction. This testing procedure is referred to as the Bonn method. The non-destructive Bonn method was applied to varying refrigerator models in a series of successive experiments to evaluate the insulation degradation over time. Subsequently, the physical relationship between the test value of the Bonn method and the heat transfer through the multi-layered compartment walls of domestic refrigeration appliances was established, ultimately characterising the degrading insulation in terms of increasing heat transfer. Our results give substantiated evidence that the efficiency loss of cooling appliances is greatly influenced by insulation degradation over time. The ageing of sealed samples of polyurethane rigid foam indicates a large initial increase of thermal conductivity by 15% within the first year, corresponding to a change in cell gas composition. These results are in line with those of the Bonn method, emphasising an increasing heat flow through the multi-layered compartment walls of domestic refrigerators with ageing. Therewith, the present study is of significance to a wide range of stakeholders and forms the basis for future research.BMWi, 03ET1544, ALGE: Alterungsmechanismen von Haushaltskältegeräte

Determining the heat flow through the cabinet walls of household refrigerating appliances

The increase of the thermal conductivity of PUR foam in the insulation of the cabinet is an important cause for aging processes of household refrigerating appliances. To determine the influence of the PUR foam aging on energy consumption, the development of a new measurement method is necessary because current methods influence the aging behavior of household refrigerators and are therefore not applicable in general. Based on a latent heat sink, constructed as an ice water bucket, a new measurement method is developed to determine the k · A value over time. With this method, the k · A value of four household refrigerating appliances was determined over an interval of 14 months. The k · A value increased between 3.6 % and 11.5 % during this period.BMWi, 03ET1544A, Verbundvorhaben ALGE: Alterungsmechanismen von Haushaltskältegeräte

A Lightweight NoC for the NOVA Packet Processing Plattform

Sauer C, Gries M, Dirk S, Niemann J-C, Porrmann M, Rückert U. A Lightweight NoC for the NOVA Packet Processing Plattform. In: Design, Automation and Test in Europe DATE, Future Interconnect and Network-on-Chip (NoC) Workshop. Munich, Germany; 2006