Business Regulation in International Comparison – Aggregating World Bank “Doing Business” Data

Unternehmensregulierung, Management, Rangstatistik, Vergleich, Regulated firm, Comparison

Critical Parameter Values and Reconstruction Properties of Discrete Tomography: Application to Experimental Fluid Dynamics

We analyze representative ill-posed scenarios of tomographic PIV with a focus on conditions for unique volume reconstruction. Based on sparse random seedings of a region of interest with small particles, the corresponding systems of linear projection equations are probabilistically analyzed in order to determine (i) the ability of unique reconstruction in terms of the imaging geometry and the critical sparsity parameter, and (ii) sharpness of the transition to non-unique reconstruction with ghost particles when choosing the sparsity parameter improperly. The sparsity parameter directly relates to the seeding density used for PIV in experimental fluids dynamics that is chosen empirically to date. Our results provide a basic mathematical characterization of the PIV volume reconstruction problem that is an essential prerequisite for any algorithm used to actually compute the reconstruction. Moreover, we connect the sparse volume function reconstruction problem from few tomographic projections to major developments in compressed sensing.Comment: 22 pages, submitted to Fundamenta Informaticae. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1208.589

Social innovation and urban forests - The role of science and social movements to influence decision making about urban forest design.

Planning and management of urban green areas and particularly urban forests are part of a decisionmaking process that takes place at the local level of administration. Different urban planning priorities have an effect on the final design of these sp aces. Often, the decision making process is a top-down process without taking into account neither the citizens’ needs and opinions nor scientifc evidence of the benefits of urban forests nor best practices available at national or international level. The University of Málaga, together with the bottom-up initiative Bosque Urbano Málaga, gathered scientists, practitioners and citizens to evaluate the role of scientific evidence and the potential of social movements to influence the decision making about urban forest desing. Both diverse communication and the creation of an active citizenship were considered as key to influence the public opinion and build a solid gr ound for a bottom-up approach for the desing of urban green spaces.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Haircut size, haircut type and the probability of serial sovereign debt restructurings

This paper complements the empirical literature on sovereign debt restructurings by analyzing potential determinants of (near-term) follow-up restructurings after a re-structuring has taken place. The probability of follow-up restructurings is estimated by means of survival models using a unique dataset provided by Cruces and Trebesch (2013). I find that more comprehensive debt remissions decrease the probability of serial restructurings significantly. Moreover, reductions in net present value due to out-right face value haircuts reduce the probability of serial restructurings more strongly than equally sized reductions in net present value due to maturity extensions and/or interest rate reductions. One possible explanation may be found in the timing of debt remissions: While a cut in face value provides direct and instant relief, maturity exten-sions and/or lower interest rates only unburden a country slowly over time

Unguarded Recursion on Coinductive Resumptions

We study a model of side-effecting processes obtained by starting from a monad modelling base effects and adjoining free operations using a cofree coalgebra construction; one thus arrives at what one may think of as types of non-wellfounded side-effecting trees, generalizing the infinite resumption monad. Correspondingly, the arising monad transformer has been termed the coinductive generalized resumption transformer. Monads of this kind have received some attention in the recent literature; in particular, it has been shown that they admit guarded iteration. Here, we show that they also admit unguarded iteration, i.e. form complete Elgot monads, provided that the underlying base effect supports unguarded iteration. Moreover, we provide a universal characterization of the coinductive resumption monad transformer in terms of coproducts of complete Elgot monads.Comment: 47 pages, extended version of http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S157106611500079

A viable insolvency procedure for sovereigns (VIPS) in the euro area

A mechanism to restructure the debt of an insolvent euro country is a missing element in the emerging institutional architecture of the euro area. The introduction of an insolvency proce-dure for sovereigns faces a dilemma: In the foreseeable future, its introduction would risk pushing Europe back into acute crisis. But the indefinite postponement of reform would im-pair the credibility of a future regime change. Against this background, this paper reviews arguments and existing blueprints for sovereign insolvency procedures in the euro area and develops a “Viable Insolvency Procedure for Sovereigns” (VIPS). VIPS avoids any sudden measures which could destabilize the present fragile situation but carefully designs an irre-versible transition towards the new regime. The VIPS proposal comprises two pillars: An in-solvency procedure for the long run and a credible bridge towards that system

recent strides in new directions

Are they still electrifying? Electrochemically switchable rotaxanes are well known for their ability to efficiently undergo changes of (co-)conformation and properties under redox-control. Thus, these mechanically interlocked assemblies represent an auspicious liaison between the fields of molecular switches and molecular electronics. Since the first reported example of a redox-switchable molecular shuttle in 1994, improved tools of organic and supramolecular synthesis have enabled sophisticated new architectures, which provide precise control over properties and function. This perspective covers recent advances in the area of electrochemically active rotaxanes including novel molecular switches and machines, metal-containing rotaxanes, non-equilibrium systems and potential applications

Tetrathiafulvalene – a redox-switchable building block to control motion in mechanically interlocked molecules

With the rise of artificial molecular machines, control of motion on the nanoscale has become a major contemporary research challenge. Tetrathiafulvalenes (TTFs) are one of the most versatile and widely used molecular redox switches to generate and control molecular motion. TTF can easily be implemented as functional unit into molecular and supramolecular structures and can be reversibly oxidized to a stable radical cation or dication. For over 20 years, TTFs have been key building blocks for the construction of redox-switchable mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs) and their electrochemical operation has been thoroughly investigated. In this review, we provide an introduction into the field of TTF-based MIMs and their applications. A brief historical overview and a selection of important examples from the past until now are given. Furthermore, we will highlight our latest research on TTF-based rotaxanes