Eigenkapitalausstattung in den Neuen Ländern teilweise höher als in Westdeutschland

Um der ostdeutschen Wirtschaft nach den Anfang der 1990er Jahre erlittenen Transformationsschocks wieder auf die Beine zu helfen, wurde der Unternehmenssektor in den Neuen Ländern durch vielfältige Förderinstrumente unterstützt. Begründet wurden diese Eingriffe unter anderem damit, dass die ostdeutschen Unternehmen – insbesondere im Mittelstand – nicht in der Lage waren, die Wiederherstellung ihres Kapitals und ihrer Wettbewerbsfähigkeit aus eigener Kraft zu stemmen – da sie wohl auch nur über sehr wenig Eigenkapital verfügten. Empirische Analysen finden heute keine Belege mehr für eine allgemeine Eigenkapitalschwäche bei den ostdeutschen Unternehmen im Mittelstand. Ganz im Gegenteil, die Eigenkapitalausstattung der kapitalintensiv produzierenden mittelständischen Industrieunternehmen ist dort sogar höher als in Westdeutschland. Dieser grundlegende Befund wird bestätigt durch die Analyse auf der Ebene der Länder, die in diesem Beitrag – unter Anwendung eines exklusiven Datensatzes des Deutschen Sparkassen- und Giroverbandes – erstmalig präsentiert wird. Hier zeigt sich, dass insbesondere die Unternehmen des Verarbeitenden Gewerbes in Thüringen und Sachsen sehr hohe Eigenkapitalquoten aufweisen. Vorsichtige Hinweise auf Lücken in der Eigenkapitalausstattung lassen sich allenfalls in ausgewählten Branchen des Verarbeitenden Gewerbes und nur in bestimmten Regionen finden, beispielsweise im Maschinenbau des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt.

Interpretation of biomechanical simulations of normal and chaotic vocal fold oscillations with empirical eigenfunctions

Empirical orthogonal eigenfunctions are extracted from biomechanical simulations of normal and chaotic vocal fold oscillations. For normal phonation, two dominant empirical eigenfunctions capture the vibration patterns of the folds and exhibit a 1:1 entrainment. The eigenfunctions show some correspondence to theoretical low‐order normal modes of a simplified, three‐dimensional elastic continuum, and to the normal modes of a linearized two‐mass model. The eigenfunctions also facilitate a physical interpretation of energy transfer mechanisms in vocal fold dynamics. Subharmonic regimes and chaotic oscillations are observed during simulations of a lax cover, in which case at least three empirical eigenfunctions are necessary to capture the resulting vocal fold oscillations. These chaotic oscillations might be understood in terms of a desynchronization of a few of the low‐order modes, and may be related to mechanisms of creaky voice or vocal fry. Furthermore, some of the empirical eigenfunctions captured during complex oscillations correspond to higher‐order normal modes described in earlier theoretical work. The empirical eigenfunctions may also be useful in the design of lower‐order models (valid over the range for which the empirical eigenfunctions remain more or less constant), and may help facilitate bifurcation analyses of the biomechanical simulation

Transfer ionization and its sensitivity to the ground-state wave function

We present kinematically complete theoretical calculations and experiments for transfer ionization in H$^++$He collisions at 630 keV/u. Experiment and theory are compared on the most detailed level of fully differential cross sections in the momentum space. This allows us to unambiguously identify contributions from the shake-off and two-step-2 mechanisms of the reaction. It is shown that the simultaneous electron transfer and ionization is highly sensitive to the quality of a trial initial-state wave function

Effects of frequency, intensity, duration and volume of walking interventions on CVD risk factors: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis of randomised controlled trials among inactive healthy adults

ObjectiveWalking interventions in healthy populations show clinically relevant improvements for many cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. We aimed to assess the changes in CVD risk factors and the dose–response relationship between frequency, intensity, duration and volume of walking and cardiovascular risk factors based on randomised controlled trials (RCTs).DesignA systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-regression.Data sourcesFour electronic databases searched from January 1971 to April 2017.Eligibility criteriaWalking RCTs reporting one or more CVD risk factor outcomes; trials including at least one group with walking intervention and a no-walking control group; duration ≥8 weeks; participants ≥18 years old, inactive but healthy; risk factors assessed preintervention and postintervention; English-language articles in peer-reviewed journals.ResultsThirty-seven RCTs, involving 2001 participants (81% women) and assessing 13 CVD risk factors, were identified. Pooled meta-analysis showed favourable effects (P≤0.05) of walking intervention for seven CVD risk factors (body mass, body mass index, body fat, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose and VO2max).There were no significant effects (P&gt;0.05) for waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio and four blood lipid variables.Despite testing 91 possible dose–response relationships, linear meta-regression analysis adjusted for age indicated just 7 (or 7.7%) statistically significant findings.Summary/conclusionWalking interventions benefit a number of CVD risk factors. Despite multiple studies and tested metrics, only a few dose–response relationships were identified and the possibility of chance findings cannot be ruled out. There is insufficient evidence to quantify the frequency, length, bout duration, intensity and volume of the walking required to improve CVD risk factors.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42016039409.</jats:sec

Ion impact induced Interatomic Coulombic Decay in neon and argon dimers

We investigate the contribution of Interatomic Coulombic Decay induced by ion impact in neon and argon dimers (Ne$_2$ and Ar$_2$) to the production of low energy electrons. Our experiments cover a broad range of perturbation strengths and reaction channels. We use 11.37 MeV/u S$^{14+}$, 0.125 MeV/u He$^{1+}$, 0.1625 MeV/u He$^{1+}$ and 0.150 MeV/u He$^{2+}$ as projectiles and study ionization, single and double electron transfer to the projectile as well as projectile electron loss processes. The application of a COLTRIMS reaction microscope enables us to retrieve the three-dimensional momentum vectors of the ion pairs of the fragmenting dimer into Ne$^{q+}$/Ne$^{1+}$ and Ar$^{q+}$/Ar$^{1+}$ (q = 1, 2, 3) in coincidence with at least one emitted electron

Interatomic Coulombic Decay following Photoionization of the Helium Dimer: Observation of Vibrational Structure

Using synchrotron radiation we simultaneously ionize and excite one helium atom of a helium dimer (He_2) in a shakeup process. The populated states of the dimer ion (i.e. He^[*+](n = 2; 3)-He) are found to deexcite via interatomic coulombic decay. This leads to the emission of a second electron from the neutral site and a subsequent coulomb explosion. In this letter we present a measurement of the momenta of fragments that are created during this reaction. The electron energy distribution and the kinetic energy release of the two He^+ ions show pronounced oscillations which we attribute to the structure of the vibrational wave function of the dimer ion.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure