Ehe- und familienbezogene Leistungen in der Alterssicherung: Wichtig für die wirtschaftliche Stabilität von Familien

Familienbedingte Erwerbsunterbrechungen führen in Zusammenhang mit der Alterssicherung insbesondere für Mütter oft zu niedrigeren gesetzlichen Rentenansprüchen. Vor diesem Hintergrund hat der Gesetzgeber ehe- und familienbezogene Leistungen konzipiert, die solche Defizite in der Altersversorgung ausgleichen sollen. Diese Leistungen mit unmittelbarem Bezug zur Alterssicherung haben eine wesentliche Bedeutung für die wirtschaftliche Stabilität von Familien im Alter. Das trifft insbesondere auf die Kindererziehungszeiten zu und in begrenztem Maß auch auf den Kinderzuschlag bei der Witwenrente, die Kinderberücksichtigungszeiten im Zusammenhang mit der Höherbewertung unterdurchschnittlicher Erwerbseinkommen sowie den Nachteilsausgleich bei Mehrfacherziehung und die Kinderzulage bei der Riester-Rente. Deutlich geringere Bedeutung haben hingegen die Kinderberücksichtigungszeiten für die Berechtigung zu einem Renteneintritt vor Erreichen des Regelrenteneintrittsalters.Family-related breaks in employment often lead to lower statutory pension entitlements, especially for retired mothers. Against this background, the legislation for marriage- and family-related payments has been designed to compensate for such deficits in old-age provision. These payments are directly related to old-age pensions and can be of relevant importance for the economic stability of families in retirement. This applies in particular to child-rearing periods and, to a limited degree, also to supplementary child allowance for widow's pensions and credited child-raising periods in relation to revaluation and bringing up several children. In contrast, credited child-raising periods have less relevance for the entitlements of those retiring before the default retirement age

Noise Characteristics of a Four-Jet Impingement Device Inside a Broadband Engine Noise Simulator

The noise generation mechanisms for four directly impinging supersonic jets are investigated employing implicit large eddy simulations with a higher-order accurate weighted essentially non-oscillatory shock-capturing scheme. Impinging jet devices are often used as an experimental apparatus to emulate a broadband noise source. Although such devices have been used in many experiments, a detailed investigation of the noise generation mechanisms has not been conducted before. Thus, the underlying physical mechanisms that are responsible for the generation of sound waves are not well understood. The flow field is highly complex and contains a wide range of temporal and spatial scales relevant for noise generation. Proper orthogonal decomposition of the flow field is utilized to characterize the unsteady nature of the flow field involving unsteady shock oscillations, large coherent turbulent flow structures, and the sporadic appearance of vortex tubes in the center of the impingement region. The causality method based on Lighthill's acoustic analogy is applied to link fluctuations of flow quantities inside the source region to the acoustic pressure in the far field. It will be demonstrated that the entropy fluctuation term in the Lighthill's stress tensor plays a vital role in the noise generation process. Consequently, the understanding of the noise generation mechanisms is employed to develop a reduced-order linear acoustic model of the four-jet impingement device. Finally, three linear acoustic FJID models are used as broadband noise sources inside an engine nacelle and the acoustic scattering results are validated against far-field acoustic experimental data

Engineering Support Systems for Industrial Machines and Plants

In the business of industrial machines and plants, rapid and detailed estimates for planning installation, replacement of equipment, or maintenance work are key requirements for meeting the demands for greater reliability, lower costs and for maintaining safe and secure operation. These demands have been addressed by developing technology driven by IT. When replacing equipment at complex building or plants with high equipment density, the existing state of the installation locations and transportation routes for old and new equipment need to be properly measured. We have met this need by developing parts recognition technology based on 3D measurement, and by developing high-speed calculation technology of optimal routes for installation parts. This chapter provides an overview of these development projects with some real business application results

Levy stable distribution and [0,2] power law dependence of acoustic absorption on frequency

The absorption of acoustic wave propagation in a broad variety of lossy media is characterized by an empirical power law function of frequency, w^y. It has long been noted that exponent y ranges from 0 to 2 for diverse media. Recently, the present author developed a fractional Laplacian wave equation to accurately model the power law dissipation, which can be further reduced to the fractional Laplacian diffusion equation. The latter is known underlying the Levy stable distribution theory. Consequently, the parameters y is found to be the Levy stability index, which is known bounded within 0<y\le2. This finding first provides a theoretical explanation of empirical observations 0<y<=2. Statistically, the frequency-dependent absorption can thus be understood a Levy stable process, where the parameter y describes the fractal nature of attenuative media.Comment: Welcome any comments to [email protected]

UV photochemistry of the L-cystine disulfide bridge in aqueous solution investigated by femtosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy

The photolysis of disulfide bonds is implicated in denaturation of proteins exposed to ultraviolet light. Despite this biological relevance in stabilizing the structure of many proteins, the mechanisms of disulfide photolysis are still contested after decades of research. Herein, we report new insight into the photochemistry of L-cystine in aqueous solution by femtosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the sulfur K-edge. We observe homolytic bond cleavage upon ultraviolet irradiation and the formation of thiyl radicals as the single primary photoproduct. Ultrafast thiyl decay due to geminate recombination proceeds at a quantum yield of >80 % within 20 ps. These dynamics coincide with the emergence of a secondary product, attributed to the generation of perthiyl radicals. From these findings, we suggest a mechanism of perthiyl radical generation from a vibrationally excited parent molecule that asymmetrically fragments along a carbon-sulfur bond. Our results point toward a dynamic photostability of the disulfide bridge in condensed-phase

Documentation FiFoSiM: Integrated Tax Benefit Microsimulation and CGE Model

ABSTRACT: This paper describes FiFoSiM, the integrated tax benefit microsimulation and computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Center of Public Economics at the University of Cologne. FiFoSiM consists of three main parts. The first part is a static tax benefit microsimulation module. The second part adds a behavioural component to the model: an econometrically estimated labour supply model. The third module is a CGE model which allows the user of FiFoSiM to assess the global economic effects of policy measures. Two specific features distinguish FiFoSiM from other tax benefit models: First, the simultaneous use of two databases for the tax benefit module and second, the linkage of the tax benefit model to a CGE model

Estimating a Consumer Demand System of Energy, Mobility and Leisure: A Microdata Approach for Germany

This paper investigates empirically the consumer demand of environmentally relevant goods for Germany, as well as their relationship to the demand for leisure. Higher prices for energy goods like gas, electricity or fuel oil due to higher indirect taxation amongst others may have serious welfare and distributional effects for households. Also, there is very little evidence of the labor market implications of environmental taxation, as there is e.g. no quantification of labor supply effects, respectively leisure demand effects for Germany. Using a demand system to estimate the price, cross-price and income effects of the goods mobility, electricity, heating and leisure from microdata, there will also be accounted for the extensive demand for leisure, which is the not negligible labor market participation. Additionally, the extensive and intensive leisure demand is combined to total leisure demand elasticities, which can then be used for welfare and behavior analyses

Differential Income Taxation and Household Asset Allocation

This paper empirically investigates the effects of differential income taxation on households' portfolio choice and asset allocation applying a two-stage budgeting model of asset demand to German survey data. The model is structured into the discrete asset choice and the continuous asset choice, and the marginal income tax rate is simulated in a module of income taxation. Households that face relatively higher tax rates are found to have relatively greater demand for tax-privileged assets than households in the lower tax brackets. The higher the marginal tax rate the greater demand is for non-owner-occupied housing, for mortgage repayments, for building society deposits, for stocks, for insurances, and for consumer credits, whereas demand is lower for owner-occupied housing, bank deposits, and bonds

Drivers of Health Care Expenditure: Does Baumol's Cost Disease Loom Large?

According to Baumol (1993) health care epitomises Baumol's cost disease. Sectors that suffer from Baumol's cost disease are characterised by slow productivity growth due to a high labour coefficient. As a result, unit costs of these sectors rise inexorably if the respective wages increase with productivity growth of the progressive industries such as manufacturing. Thus, according to Baumol (1993) the secular rise in health-care expenditure has been unavoidable. This present paper demonstrates that health care is contracted by Baumol's cost disease, but only to a minor extent. Consequently, policy-makers have more leeway to curbever-increasing health-care expenditure than is suggested by Baumol (1993) and other authors. In addition, we test the implications of Baumol's cost disease for health care by avoiding the well-known flaws in constructing medical price indices. Therefore, the adjusted Baumol variable derived in this paper is also extremely appropriate to test the validity of Baumol's cost diseases of other service industries such as education or the live performing arts. Additionally, our analysis suggests that health care is rather a necessity than a luxury at the national level, which conflicts with macroeconomic evidence provided in the relevant literature