On the Super-computational Background of the Research Centre Jülich

KFA Jülich is one of the largest big-science research centres in Europe; its scientific and engineering activities are ranging from fundamental research to applied science and technology. KFA's Central Institute for Applied Mathematics (ZAM) is running the large-scale computing facilities and network systems at KFA and is providing communication services, general-purpose and supercomputer capacity also for the HLRZ ("Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum") established in 1987 in order to further enhance and promote computational science in Germany. Thus, at KFA - and in particular enforced by ZAM - supercomputing has received high priority since more than ten years. What particle accelerators mean to experimental physics, supercomputers mean to Computational Science and Engineering: Supercomputers are the accelerators of theory

Toxic Leadership

This study is on toxic leadership, focusing on what it is, and how to either stop or prevent toxic environments. This topic was chosen because the author is about to assume command of a military unit and wanted a good understanding of how to deal with toxic environments if they exist in his new role. Methods of research focused on the command climate surveys, which is a requirement for a commander to initiate every two years, and upon assumption of command. Research was focused on results and if the results could be tied to if a toxic environment exists. Results concluded that the climate survey targets areas that directly correlate to toxic environments. It also concludes that toxic behaviors can spread rapidly. Even organizations with positive climate, can rapidly become toxic, which is why it is a continuing process to prevent and stop toxic behaviors from spreading

Information financière sur le risque de liquidité des banques

Cet article essaie de répondre aux questions suivantes concernant l'information financière sur le risque de liquidité publiée par les banques : • les informations requises par IFRS 7 sont-elles utiles pour les lecteurs des états financiers pour apprécier le risque de liquidité d'une banque ? • les obligations d'IFRS 7 sont-elles cohérentes avec celles du Comité de Bâle au niveau international ?Risque de liquidité ; annexe ; IFRS et Banques ; IFRS 7

L'APPLICATION DES NORMES IAS PAR LES BANQUES - L'EXEMPLE DES BANQUES ALLEMANDES

Parmi les publications actuelles concernant les IAS, très peu traitent des spécificités bancaires. Pour remédier (partiellement) à cette situation, cette communication examine la présentation du bilan, du compte de résultat et du tableau des flux de trésorerie, publiés par les banques allemandes utilisant les normes IAS. Ces présentations sont comparées à la réglementation allemande en la matière. Par ailleurs, les questions suivantes sont entre autres étudiées : Quels sont les modèles (du bilan, compte de résultat, tableau des flux) prescrits ? Pour les notions importantes (ex : titres, intérêts), quelles définitions ont été retenues ? De cette façon, les convergences et les divergences entre les deux référentiels apparaissent. Leur connaissance n'est pas seulement pertinente pour les banques, mais aussi pour les utilisateurs des informations financières des banques.harmonisation comptable ; états financiers des banques allemandes ; bilan IAS de banques ; compte de résultat IAS de banques ; tableau des flux de trésorerie IAS de banques

Are NBA Fans Becoming Indifferent to Race? Evidence from the 1990s

Previous studies, using data from the 1980s, found that racial composition of NBA teams is positively correlated with racial composition of the metropolitan markets in which the teams are located. Researchers have interpreted this evidence as consistent with a "customer discrimination" hypothesis. We reconsider this hypothesis by examining evidence from the 1990s and generate three principal findings. First, based on player performance statistics, we find no evidence of discrimination at the league level--that is, the best players appear to be playing in the league regardless of race. Second, players, categorized by race, are not randomly distributed across teams. Instead, the relationship between team racial composition and metropolitan area racial composition, while weaker than in the 1980s, persists in the NBA in the 1990s. Hence, teams located in areas with greater concentration of white population may find it revenue enhancing to cater to customer demand for viewing teams that include white players. Our third finding, based on revenue from home game attendance, is that as the number of white players declined significantly over the decade, the revenue product of a white player increased on the margin. This effect appears to be more pronounced for teams located in cities with larger white populations. We also find evidence that, in recent years, the top-performing white players in the NBA tend to locate in cities with larger white populations, suggesting that teams in these cities place a higher marginal value on such players.Customer Discrimination; Race; Sports; National Basketball Association

Equilibrium Real Effective Exchange Rates and Real Exchange Rate Misalignments: Time Series vs. Panel Estimates

We follow the behavioral equilibrium exchange rate approach by Clark and MacDonald (1998) to derive equilibrium real effective exchange rates and currency misalignments for the US and its 16 major trading partners. We apply cointegration and panel cointegration techniques to derive fully countryspecific measures of misalignment and measures based on panel estimates. We formally test the forecast performance of pooled vs. heterogeneous estimators over a hold-back period and find that pooling the data delivers more accurate forecasts in the vast majority of cases although the implicit long-run homogeneity restriction is statistically rejected. This is especially remarkable, since we have given the heterogeneous estimator an ’unfair’ advantage by choosing the country-specific model (of up to 21 possible ones) with the best out-of-sample performance prior to comparing it to two final panel specifications. Robustness of the results is supported by recently introduced cross-sectionally augmented panel unit root tests by Pesaran (2007) and bootstrapped error correction-based panel cointegration tests by Westerlund (2007), as well as different estimators. While we find strong evidence for the Balassa-Samuelson-effect, the evidence for other commonly hypothesized fundamentals is weak.behavioral equilibrium exchange rate, real exchange rate misalignment, panel cointegration, CIPS test, cross-sectional dependence, exchange rate forecasts, exchange rate fundamentals

Physiological phytopathology: Origin and evolution of a scientific discipline

In 1860, the German biologist Anton de Bary (1831-1888) elucidated the life cycle of the pathogenic oomycete Phytophthora infestans, which causes late blight in potatoes and was responsible for severe famines during the 1840s. In a book on this topic published 150 years ago, DE BARY (1861) established the scientific discipline of physiological plant pathology. Here we summarize the life and scientific achievements of Anton de Bary, who coined the terms “symbiosis” and “parasitism”, with reference to Charles Darwin’s (1809-1882) principle of descent with modification by means of natural selection. Then, we outline de Bary’s discovery of the cause of the wheat stem rust disease, which is attributable to infections with the fungus Puccinia graminis. Since ongoing pathogen-host plant co-evolution is well documented in nature, we conclude that “Nothing in phytopathology makes sense except in the light of Darwinian evolution”. Finally, we describe the value of basic research in the plant sciences with reference to practical applications, such as the maintenance and enhancement of crop yields and food quality

Informations financières sur la performance des entreprises allemandes et françaises

Dans leur rapport annuel, les entreprises ne communiquent pas seulement l'indicateur principal de performance : le résultat net mais également et de plus en plus d'autres indicateurs, considérés comme plus " modernes ". L'objectif de ce papier est de vérifier empiriquement comment des entreprises allemandes et françaises utilisent ces nouveaux indicateurs dans leurs états financiersrésultat net; indicateurs " modernes " de performance; états financiers; entreprises allemandes et françaises