Population Aging, Savings Behavior and Capital Markets

Population aging is just beginning to hit the industrialized countries in full force, and it will have a tremendous impact on capital markets. In this paper, we argue that the capital market effects of population aging are particularly strong in continental European economies such as Germany, France, and Italy, with their large and ailing pay-as-you-go public pension systems, relatively thin capital markets, and poor capital performance. The younger generations in these countries are quite aware of the need to provide for more retirement income through own private saving, and these effects will be accentuated by fundamental pension reforms that aim at more pre-funding. Population aging changes households' savings behavior and portfolio composition, and much more assets will be invested on the stock market. Capital markets will grow in size, and active institutional investors such as pension funds will become more important in continental European countries. These changes are likely to have beneficial side effects in terms of improved capital efficiency, total factor productivity, and growth. Looking at the effects of population aging on savings behavior and capital markets therefore adds a new dimension to the continuing debate about advantages and disadvantages of pay-as-you-go and fully funded pension systems.

Islets of Langerhans Are Protected from Inflammatory Cell Recruitment during Reperfusion of Rat Pancreas Grafts

Background: Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury plays a pivotal role in the development of graft pancreatitis, with ischemia time representing one of its crucial factors. However, it is unclear, whether exocrine and endocrine tissue experience similar inflammatory responses during pancreas transplantation (PTx). This study evaluated inflammatory susceptibilities of islets of Langerhans (ILH) and exocrine tissue after different preservation periods during early reperfusion. Methods: PTx was performed in rats following 2 h (2h-I) or 18 h (18h-I) preservation. Leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions (LEI) were analyzed in venules of acinar tissue and ILH in vivo over 2 h reperfusion. Nontransplanted animals served as controls. Tissue samples were analyzed by histomorphometry. Results: In exocrine venules leukocyte rolling predominated in the 2h-I group. In the 18h-I group, additionally, high numbers of adherent leukocytes were found. Histology revealed significant edema formation and leukocyte extravasation in the 18h-I group. Notably, LEI in postcapillary venules of ILH were significantly lower. Leukocyte rolling was only moderately enhanced and few leukocytes were found adherent. Histology revealed minor leukocyte extravasation. Conclusion: Ischemia time contributes decisively to the extent of the I/R-injury in PTx. However, ILH have a significantly lower susceptibility towards I/R, even when inflammatory reactions in adjacent exocrine tissue are evident. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Base

On the communication cost of entanglement transformations

We study the amount of communication needed for two parties to transform some given joint pure state into another one, either exactly or with some fidelity. Specifically, we present a method to lower bound this communication cost even when the amount of entanglement does not increase. Moreover, the bound applies even if the initial state is supplemented with unlimited entanglement in the form of EPR pairs, and the communication is allowed to be quantum mechanical. We then apply the method to the determination of the communication cost of asymptotic entanglement concentration and dilution. While concentration is known to require no communication whatsoever, the best known protocol for dilution, discovered by Lo and Popescu [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83(7):1459--1462, 1999], requires a number of bits to be exchanged which is of the order of the square root of the number of EPR pairs. Here we prove a matching lower bound of the same asymptotic order, demonstrating the optimality of the Lo-Popescu protocol up to a constant factor and establishing the existence of a fundamental asymmetry between the concentration and dilution tasks. We also discuss states for which the minimal communication cost is proportional to their entanglement, such as the states recently introduced in the context of ``embezzling entanglement'' [W. van Dam and P. Hayden, quant-ph/0201041].Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure. Added a reference and some further explanations. In v3 some arguments are given in more detai

On the fidelity of two pure states

The fidelity of two pure states (also known as transition probability) is a symmetric function of two operators, and well-founded operationally as an event probability in a certain preparation-test pair. Motivated by the idea that the fidelity is the continuous quantum extension of the combinatorial equality function, we enquire whether there exists a symmetric operational way of obtaining the fidelity. It is shown that this is impossible. Finally, we discuss the optimal universal approximation by a quantum operation.Comment: LaTeX2e, 8 pages, submitted to J. Phys. A: Math. and Ge

Stability of spikes in the shadow Gierer-Meinhardt system with Robin boundary conditions

We consider the shadow system of the Gierer-Meinhardt system in a smooth bounded domain RN,At=2A−A+,x, t>0, ||t=−||+Ardx, t>0 with the Robin boundary condition +aAA=0, x, where aA>0, the reaction rates (p,q,r,s) satisfy 1<p<()+, q>0, r>0, s0, 1<<+, the diffusion constant is chosen such that 1, and the time relaxation constant is such that 0. We rigorously prove the following results on the stability of one-spike solutions: (i) If r=2 and 1<p<1+4/N or if r=p+1 and 1<p<, then for aA>1 and sufficiently small the interior spike is stable. (ii) For N=1 if r=2 and 1<p3 or if r=p+1 and 1<p<, then for 0<aA<1 the near-boundary spike is stable. (iii) For N=1 if 3<p<5 and r=2, then there exist a0(0,1) and µ0>1 such that for a(a0,1) and µ=2q/(s+1)(p−1)(1,µ0) the near-boundary spike solution is unstable. This instability is not present for the Neumann boundary condition but only arises for the Robin boundary condition. Furthermore, we show that the corresponding eigenvalue is of order O(1) as 0. ©2007 American Institute of Physic

More on Strikes by Public Employees

We have two brief observations on the paper by Messrs. Burton and Krider. First, we suggest that society is not limited to a choice between their strike and no-strike alternatives. Our earlier article argued that the typical municipal political structure is vulnerable to strikes by wvell entrenched public employee unions, and that, given this existing political structure, the no-strike model is preferable to the strike model. We stated, however, that changes in the political structure which reduce the vulnerability of municipal employers to strikes by public employees can be made and that we intended (and we still do intend) to explore these possibilities in a future article. There is, therefore, a third model—one which permits some strikes in conjunction with various changes in municipal political structures. Second, we wish to define what seems to be the principal area of our disagreement with Messrs. Burton and Krider. All agree that the services performed by some public employees are in one way or another essential and that this essentiality is in some sense related to society\u27s ability to tolerate strikes. However, which employees under the Burton-Krider strike model are to have union activities limited depends very much on one\u27s view of essentiality. It is now clear that our vision is different from theirs

Complete genome sequence and construction of an infectious full-length cDNA clone of a cucumber vein yellowing virus (CVYV) isolate from Portugal

Cucumber vein yellowing virus (CVYV) is a member of the genus Ipomovirus in the family Potyviridae. In the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database, three complete genome sequences of CVYV isolates from Spain (NC_006941), Israel (KT276369), and Jordan (JF460793) are available. In this study, we report the complete sequence of an isolate of CVYV from Portugal (DSMZ PV-0776) along with the construction of an infectious full-length cDNA clone via Gibson assembly. The sequence of CVYV Portugal shows the closest relationship to a CVYV isolate from Spain (genome, 99.7% identity; polyprotein, 99.7% identity). The CVYV full-length cDNA clone was introduced by electroporation into Rhizobium radiobacter and infiltrated into the cotyledons of Cucumis sativus plantlets, resulting in symptoms resembling those of the wild-type virus. Transmission of the infectious CVYV full-length clone by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci was confirmed. This first report confirming the infectivity of a CVYV cDNA clone provides the opportunity to study gene functions in a consistent genomic background