Politicians' Outside Earnings and Electoral Competition

This paper deals with the impact of electoral competition on politicians' outside earnings. We propose a simple theoretical model with politicians facing a tradeoff between allocating their time to political effort or to an alternative use generating outside earnings. The model has a testable implication stating that the amount of time spent on outside work is negatively related to the degree of electoral competition. We test this implication using a new dataset on outside earnings of members of the German federal assembly. Taking into account the potential endogeneity of measures of political competition that depend on past election outcomes, we find that politicians facing low competition have substantially higher outside earnings

On the energetics of information exchange

We consider the thermodynamic properties of systems in contact with an information source and focus on the consequences of energetic cost associated with the exchange of information. To this end we introduce the model of a thermal tape and derive a general bound for the efficiency of work extraction for systems in contact with such a tape. Depending on the perspective, the correlations between system and tape may either increase or reduce the efficiency of the device. We illustrate our general results with two exactly solvable models, one being an autonomous system, the other one involving measurement and feedback. We also define an ideal tape limit in which our findings reduce to known results.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Submission of content to a digital object repository using a configurable workflow system

The prototype of a workflow system for the submission of content to a digital object repository is here presented. It is based entirely on open-source standard components and features a service-oriented architecture. The front-end consists of Java Business Process Management (jBPM), Java Server Faces (JSF), and Java Server Pages (JSP). A Fedora Repository and a mySQL data base management system serve as a back-end. The communication between front-end and back-end uses a SOAP minimal binding stub. We describe the design principles and the construction of the prototype and discuss the possibilities and limitations of work ow creation by administrators. The code of the prototype is open-source and can be retrieved in the project escipub at http://sourceforge.ne

Marshall-Peierls sign rule in frustrated Heisenberg chains

We consider the frustrated antiferromagnetic s=1 Heisenberg quantum spin chain with regard to the Marshall-Peierls sign rule (MPSR). By using exact diagonalization data we investigate the breakdown of the MPSR in dependence on frustration and compare our findings with data for s=1/2. We calculate a critical value of frustration J_2(crit) where the MPSR is violated. The extrapolation of this value to the infinite chain limit holds J_2(crit) approx. 0.016, lower than in the case of s=1/2 (J_2(crit) approx. 0.027). This points to a stronger influence of frustration in the case of s=1. Nevertheless the calculation of the weight of the Ising-states violating the MPSR shows that the MPSR holds approximately even for quite large frustration and may be used for numerical techniques.Comment: 4 pages (Latex), 2 Postscript figures, to be published in acta physica polonica A (European Conference 'Physics of Magnetism 99'

On the Behaviour of Non--Singlet Structure Functions at Small xx

The resummation of $O(\alpha_s^{l+1} \ln^{2l} x)$ terms in the evolution kernels of non--singlet combinations of unpolarized and polarized structure functions is investigated. The agreement with complete calculations up to order $\alpha_s^2$ is demonstrated, and the leading small-$x$ contributions to the three--loop non--singlet splitting functions $P^{\pm}$ are derived. The additional contributions due to the resummed terms are studied numerically for the most important non--singlet structure functions. They are found to be about $1\,\%$ or smaller in the kinematical regions accessible at present and in the foreseeable future.Comment: 10 pages, encoded ps file using uufile

Politicians' outside earnings and electoral competition

This paper deals with the impact of electoral competition on politicians´ outside earnings. We propose a simple theoretical model with politicians facing a tradeoff between allocating their time to political effort or to an alternative use generating outside earnings. The model has a testable implication stating that the amount of time spent on outside work is negatively related to the degree of electoral competition. We test this implication using a new dataset on outside earnings of members of the German federal assembly. Taking into account the potential endogeneity of measures of political competition that depend on past election outcomes, we find that politicians facing low competition have substantially higher outside earnings. --Political competition,outside earnings,political rents

Politicians' Outside Earnings and Political Competition

This paper deals with the impact of electoral competition on politicians' outside earnings. In our framework, politicians face a tradeoff between allocating their time to political effort or to an alternative use generating outside earnings. The main hypothesis is that the amount of time spent on outside work is negatively related to the degree of electoral competition. We test this hypothesis using a new dataset on outside earnings of members of the German federal assembly. Taking into account the potential endogeneity of measures of political competition that depend on past election outcomes, we find that politicians facing low competition have substantially higher outside earnings.outside earnings, political competition, political rents

Components of cell-matrix linkage as potential new markers for prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the most common tumor diseases worldwide. Often being non-aggressive, prostate tumors in these cases do not need immediate treatment. However, about 20% of diagnosed prostate cancers tend to metastasize and require treatment. Existing diagnostic methods may fail to accurately recognize the transition of a dormant, non-aggressive tumor into highly malignant prostate cancer. Therefore, new diagnostic tools are needed to improve diagnosis and therapy of prostate carcinoma. This review evaluates existing methods to diagnose prostate carcinoma, such as the biochemical marker prostate-specific antigen (PSA), but also discusses the possibility to use the altered expression of integrins and laminin-332 in prostate carcinomas as diagnostic tools and therapeutic targets of prostate cancer

Interaction of the TNFR-receptor associated factor TRAF1 with I-kappa B kinase 2 (IKK2, IKK-beta, IKBKB) and TRAF2 indicating a dose dependent regulatory function of TRAF1 for NF-kappa B signaling

IKK2 is one of the most crucial signaling kinases for activation of the transcription factor NF-kappa B. Since many NF-kappa B activating pathways converge at the level of IKK2, we searched for interaction partners of this kinase using the C-terminal part (aa 466-756) as bait in a yeast two-hybrid system. We identified the N-terminal part (aa 1-228) of the TNF-receptor associated factor TRAF1 as putative interaction partner, which was subsequently confirmed in mammalian cells by coimmunoprecipitation experiments. However, this interaction seemed weaker than the interaction between TRAF1 and TRAF2, an important activating adapter molecule of NF-kappa B signaling indicating that relative levels of IKK2, TRAF1 and TRAF2 might be important for the final biological readout. Reporter gene and kinase assays using ectopic expression of TRAF1 indicated that it can have both activating and inhibiting functions for IKK2 and NF-kappa B. Co-expression of fluorescently tagged TRAF1 and TRAF2 at different ratios implied that TRAF1 can affect clustering and presumably the activating function of TRAF2 in a dose dependent manner