Trends of Developments in the Information Systems of the Soviet Union and the Comecon Countries

published or submitted for publicatio

Why Run a Million Regressions? Endogenous Policy and Cross-Country Growth Empirics

This paper analyses the link between growth and public policy when the latter depends on economically important fundamentals. When policy is endogenous the measured effects of policy on growth will generally be biased. Using a widely quoted theoretical model, the signs of the biases are derived. It is shown that the usually reported effects on growth of tax rate variables related to GDP, the ratio of public investment to total investment and the ratio of redistributive transfers to GDP are generally biased downwards. Based on these signed biases the paper discusses some empirical results that seem puzzling from a theoretical viewpoint.

On the politicization of intergovernmental fiscal relations in Germany after unification

A recent decision of the German Constitutional Court requires political decision makers to revise the system of intergovernmental transfers in order to limit free bargaining among state and federal government officials. The present paper provides empirical support for the thesis that political discretion has become increasingly important in the transfer negotiations after Unification. We attempt to show why political influences gained weight relative to economic considerations in the determination of net gains. This politicization of the fiscal transfer system appears to be a consequence of the inability of policy makers to agree on a fundamental reform in the early 1990's.

Simulation based evaluation of time-variant loadings acting on tunnel linings during mechanized tunnel construction

In the design of machine driven tunnels, the loadings acting on the segmental lining are often adopted according to simplified assumptions, which improperly reflect the actual loading on the linings developing during the construction of a bored tunnel. A coupled 3D Finite Element model of the tunnel advancement process including the ring-wise installation of the lining and the hardening process of the grouting material serves as the basis for the analysis of the actual spatiotemporal evolution of the loading on the lining during tunnel construction. The distribution of the loadings in the different construction phases is calculated using a modified surface-to-surface contact condition imposed between the solidifying grouting material in the tail gap and the lining elements. An extensive parametric study investigates the influence of the initial grouting pressure, the pressure gradient, the temporal stiffness evolution, the soil permeability as well as the interface conditions between the grouting material and the tunnel shell on the temporal evolution of the loading on linings

Adopting energy flow charts for the economic analysis of process innovations

Abstract In many industries, process innovations play a major role in securing long term profitability. Corresponding research and development resources must be used effectively, which requires comprehensive insight into both technological and managerial aspects of the processes concerned. This paper introduces so-called economic flow charts that combine technical and economic approaches and thus provide a means of overcoming communication barriers between engineers and managers. The flow charts illustrate the economic implications of an investment by adopting the widely accepted energy flow charts and by doing so, provide a clear picture of the profitability associated with a process and facilitate the identification of optimization potentials, respectively. An example from the field of biomass-based heat and power production is used to illustrate the economic flow charts' applicability to practical problems.

WaVPeak: picking NMR peaks through wavelet-based smoothing and volume-based filtering

Motivation: Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been widely used as a powerful tool to determine the 3D structures of proteins in vivo. However, the post-spectra processing stage of NMR structure determination usually involves a tremendous amount of time and expert knowledge, which includes peak picking, chemical shift assignment and structure calculation steps. Detecting accurate peaks from the NMR spectra is a prerequisite for all following steps, and thus remains a key problem in automatic NMR structure determination

Combined UHV and ambient pressure studies of 1,3-butadiene adsorption and reaction on Pd(1 1 1) by GC, IRAS and XPS

Abstract The hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene on Pd(1 1 1) at 300 K was studied at atmospheric pressure by infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) and gas chromatography (GC). Kinetic measurements showed 1-butene, trans-2-butene and cis-2-butene as primary products. Once 1,3-butadiene had been completely consumed, 1-butene was re-adsorbed on the surface producing trans-/cis-2-butene through isomerization and n-butane through hydrogenation. These results were corroborated by in situ IRAS spectroscopy. Post-reaction analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in the C1s region revealed a band at 284.2 eV, corresponding to adsorbed butadiene and/or carbonaceous deposits. Quantification of this peak revealed a total carbon coverage of 0.3 ML. Nevertheless, deactivation due to carbon deposition was a minor effect under our reaction conditions, as indicated by the kinetics of the subsequent butene hydrogenation reaction. Temperature-dependent XPS experiments after butadiene adsorption at 100 K indicated a high stability of the diene molecule with hardly any desorption and/or decomposition up to 500 K. Above this temperature, butadiene decomposed to carbon species that eventually dissolved in the Pd bulk above 700 K

Aplanochytrium kerguelensis gen. nov. spec. nov., a new phycomycete from subantarctic marine waters

A new monocentric marine fungus, Aplanochytrium kerguelensis gen. nov. spec. nov., was recovered from water samples taken in the vicinity of the Kerguelen Islands in the South Indian Ocean during a cruise of the research vessel USNS “Eltanin”. Aplanochytrium is very similar to Thraustochytrium Sparrow (1936) in having a chytrid-like thallus and in being able to utilize pine pollen as a substrate to which it establishes contact by well-developed rhizoids. At maturity, however, only aplanospores are formed, as in Dermocystidium sensu Goldstein and Moriber (1966).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46151/1/203_2004_Article_BF00715023.pd

How Preussag became TUI : kissing too many toads can make you a toad

In the period 1997-2004, Preussag, a diversified German conglomerate of old economy businesses, changed itself into TUI, a company focused almost entirely on tourism and logistics. This paper analyzes how this strategy was executed and how it contributed to Preussag’s underperformance of the stock market. We collect 417 announcements of acquisitions, financial disclosures and other news and disentangle the impact of different parts of the company’s strategy. We find that only the divestitures created value, that the strategy to invest in tourism destroyed value, and that the acquisition premiums Preussag paid were mostly unjustified. Bad luck like the events of September 11, 2001 cannot account for the poor performance of the stock. Poor management resulted from poor governance, combining a state-owned bank as the largest shareholder, board interlocks, and insufficient managerial incentives. The case shows how divestiture programs increase the liquid resources available to management beyond free operating cash flows and casts doubt on the positive governance role of institutional blockholders