Guanxi networks as business and investment advantage of Overseas Chinese in Mainland China

Guanxi has been a fundamental element of the Chinese culture for centuries and its significance in modern day China should not be underestimated. Guanxi is considered to be an essential means for business and corporate success in China. It can inter alia facilitate the access to top-level decision-makers, reduce information and transaction costs, and improve the overall competitive positioning of a firm. The dissertation aims to analyse guanxi in the context of ethnical Chinese investment in China. It is analysed whether guanxi constitutes a unique investment advantage that ethnical Chinese possess over Western companies. A case study analysis of Robert Kuok’s business operations provides practical insight into the benefits of guanxi and its implications for Western companies using the example of Coca Cola in China

Guanxi networks as business and investment advantage of Overseas Chinese in Mainland China

Guanxi has been a fundamental element of the Chinese culture for centuries and its significance in modern day China should not be underestimated. Guanxi is considered to be an essential means for business and corporate success in China. It can inter alia facilitate the access to top-level decision-makers, reduce information and transaction costs, and improve the overall competitive positioning of a firm. The dissertation aims to analyse guanxi in the context of ethnical Chinese investment in China. It is analysed whether guanxi constitutes a unique investment advantage that ethnical Chinese possess over Western companies. A case study analysis of Robert Kuok’s business operations provides practical insight into the benefits of guanxi and its implications for Western companies using the example of Coca Cola in China

The Local Governance of Arrival in Leipzig: Housing of Asylum-Seeking Persons as a Contested Field

The article examines how the German city of Leipzig governs the housing of asylum seekers. Leipzig was a frontrunner in organizing the decentralized accommodation of asylum seekers when adopting its accommodation concept in 2012. This concept aimed at integrating asylum-seeking persons in the regular housing market at an early stage of arrival. However, since then, the city of Leipzig faces more and more challenges in implementing the concept. This is particularly due to the increasingly tight situation on the housing market while the number of people seeking protection increased and partly due to discriminating and xenophobic attitudes on the side of house owners and managers. Therefore, we argue that the so-called refugee crisis of 2015–2016 has to be seen in close interaction with a growing general housing shortage in Leipzig like in many other large European cities. Furthermore, we understand the municipal governing of housing as a contested field regarding its entanglement of diverse federal levels and policy scales, the diversity of stakeholders involved, and its dynamic change over the last years. We analyze this contested field set against the current context of arrival and dynamic urban growth on a local level. Based on empirical qualitative research that was conducted by us in 2016, Leipzig’s local specifics will be investigated under the umbrella of our conceptual framework of Governance of Arrival. The issues of a strained housing market and the integration of asylum seekers in it do not apply only to Leipzig, but shed light on similar developments in other European Cities

Phytochrome Mediated Responses in Agrobacterium fabrum: Growth, Motility and Plant Infection

The soil bacterium and plant pathogen Agrobacterium fabrum C58 has two phytochrome photoreceptors, Agp1 and Agp2. We found that plant infection and tumor induction by A. fabrum is down-regulated by light and that phytochrome knockout mutants of A. fabrum have diminished infection rates. The regulation pattern of infection matches with that of bacterial conjugation reported earlier, suggesting similar regulatory mechanisms. In the regulation of conjugation and plant infection, phytochromes are active in darkness. This is a major difference to plant phytochromes, which are typically active after irradiation. We also found that propagation and motility were affected in agp1− and agp2− knockout mutants, although propagation was not always affected by light. The regulatory patterns can partially but not completely be explained by modulated histidine kinase activities of Agp1 and Agp2. In a mass spectrometry-based proteomic study, 24 proteins were different between light and dark grown A. fabrum, whereas 382 proteins differed between wild type and phytochrome knockout mutants, pointing again to light independent roles of Agp1 and Agp2

The Local Governance of Arrival in Leipzig: Housing of Asylum-Seeking Persons as a Contested Field

The article examines how the German city of Leipzig governs the housing of asylum seekers. Leipzig was a frontrunner in organizing the decentralized accommodation of asylum seekers when adopting its accommodation concept in 2012. This concept aimed at integrating asylum-seeking persons in the regular housing market at an early stage of arrival. However, since then, the city of Leipzig faces more and more challenges in implementing the concept. This is particularly due to the increasingly tight situation on the housing market while the number of people seeking protection increased and partly due to discriminating and xenophobic attitudes on the side of house owners and managers. Therefore, we argue that the so-called refugee crisis of 2015–2016 has to be seen in close interaction with a growing general housing shortage in Leipzig like in many other large European cities. Furthermore, we understand the municipal governing of housing as a contested field regarding its entanglement of diverse federal levels and policy scales, the diversity of stakeholders involved, and its dynamic change over the last years. We analyze this contested field set against the current context of arrival and dynamic urban growth on a local level. Based on empirical qualitative research that was conducted by us in 2016, Leipzig’s local specifics will be investigated under the umbrella of our conceptual framework of Governance of Arrival. The issues of a strained housing market and the integration of asylum seekers in it do not apply only to Leipzig, but shed light on similar developments in other European Cities

Verfahrenstechnische Grundlagen für das epitaxiale Rissschweißen in einkristallinen Nickelbasis-Superlegierungen

Basierend auf der Hypothese, dass ein gerichteter Temperaturgradient das epitaxiale Rissschweißen ermöglicht, konnten im Rahmen dieser Abhandlung sowohl die Voraussetzungen für das Laser-Pulver-Auftragschweißen sowie das laserbasierte Rissschweißen dargestellt werden. Auf Basis einer theoretischen Betrachtung der Prozessbedingungen und der vorliegenden Prozesstechnik konnte die epitaxiale Erstarrung am Beispiel der verwendeten Nickelbasis-Superlegierung der 2. Generation CMSX-4 dargestellt werden. Es ist bekannt, dass oberflächennahe Risse mittels Laserumschmelzen direkt ohne Einsatz zusätzlichen Materials über einen Laser-Umschmelzprozess entfernt werden können. Bei der Betrachtung tiefliegender Risse wurde der Zugang zu den beeinflussten Bereichen diskutiert. Es konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass unter Verwendung einer kontrollierten Aufwärmung des Grundmaterials und Einbringung eines Temperaturgradienten sowohl die Bildung von Rissen vermieden wie auch eine gerichtete Erstarrung des eingebrachten Materials erreicht werden konnte.Based on the hypothesis that a directional temperature gradient enables epitaxial crack cladding, the prerequisites for both laser cladding and laser-based crack welding were presented in this report. Based on a theoretical consideration of the process conditions and the present process technology, epitaxial solidification could be demonstrated using the 2nd generation CMSX-4 nickel-based superalloy as an example. It is known that cracks close to the surface can be removed directly by laser remelting without using additional material. When deep cracks were considered, access to the affected areas was discussed. It was demonstrated that using controlled heating of the base material and introduction of a temperature gradient, both the formation of cracks could be avoided and directional solidification of the introduced material could be achieved

Bathy Phytochromes in Rhizobial Soil Bacteria▿ †

Phytochromes are biliprotein photoreceptors that are found in plants, bacteria, and fungi. Prototypical phytochromes have a Pr ground state that absorbs in the red spectral range and is converted by light into the Pfr form, which absorbs longer-wavelength, far-red light. Recently, some bacterial phytochromes have been described that undergo dark conversion of Pr to Pfr and thus have a Pfr ground state. We show here that such so-called bathy phytochromes are widely distributed among bacteria that belong to the order Rhizobiales. We measured in vivo spectral properties and the direction of dark conversion for species which have either one or two phytochrome genes. Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 contains one bathy phytochrome and a second phytochrome which undergoes dark conversion of Pfr to Pr in vivo. The related species Agrobacterium vitis S4 contains also one bathy phytochrome and another phytochrome with novel spectral properties. Rhizobium leguminosarum 3841, Rhizobium etli CIAT652, and Azorhizobium caulinodans ORS571 contain a single phytochrome of the bathy type, whereas Xanthobacter autotrophicus Py2 contains a single phytochrome with dark conversion of Pfr to Pr. We propose that bathy phytochromes are adaptations to the light regime in the soil. Most bacterial phytochromes are light-regulated histidine kinases, some of which have a C-terminal response regulator subunit on the same protein. According to our phylogenetic studies, the group of phytochromes with this domain arrangement has evolved from a bathy phytochrome progenitor

Crack repair of single crystal turbine blades using laser cladding technology

The formation of cracks in single crystal (SX) turbine blades is a common problem for aero-engines. To repair cracks, which are located under the tip-area, a new method is to clad with single-crystal-technology. This technology use multi-layer cladding to replace the single crystal material. To regenerate cracked material it is necessary to remove the crack affected material. The used notch geometries to remove the crackaffected area must be weldable and also permit the material solidification in the same oriented plane as the original microstructure. To solidify in the original structure a thermal gradient has to be introduced in order to guide the grain growth. This required gradient can be established by inductive heating. To reduce the thermal effected zone, a laser source is used. In addition, it is also an efficient process to fill the notch. Also the small local heat input and controlled material supply support the epitaxial growth. However, there are requirements to achieve a SX structure without cracks and pores. Current achievements and further challenges are presented in this paper