"Turbokapitalismus versus Soziale Marktwirtschaft" - Findet ein Ausverkauf deutscher Unternehmen durch ausländische Fonds statt?

Verhindern kurzfristige Gewinninteressen von Hedge- und Private-Equity-Fonds eine solide Unternehmensstrategie und gefährden die Existenz von Traditionsunternehmen? Zu diesen Fragen fand vom 20. bis 22. Oktober 2006 unter der Leitung von Dr. Wolfgang Quaisser in der Akademie für Politische Bildung Tutzing die Tagung "Dem Raubtier auf die Zähne gefühlt: Turbokapitalismus versus Soziale Marktwirtschaft" statt. Friedrich L. Sell, Universität der Bundeswehr München, äußerte sich dort zu den Möglichkeiten des IWF, zur Stabilisierung internationaler Finanzmärkte beizutragen. Martin Hüfner, ehemals HypoVereinsbank, München, analysierte die Situation der deutschen Banken im internationalen Wettbewerb. Rüdiger von Rosen, Deutsches Aktieninstitut, Frankfurt, unterstrich, dass funktionierende Kapitalmärkte für das Wachstum und die Beschäftigungsaussichten von Volkswirtschaften eine entscheidende Voraussetzung bilden, und fragte nach der Kapitalmarktakzeptanz und insbesondere der "Akzeptanz der Aktie" in Deutschland auf Seiten der Anleger, der Unternehmen und der Politik. Für Bernd Rudolph, Universität München, übernehmen Private-Equity-Gesellschaften ebenso wie Hedgefonds "wichtige Funktionen in einem Finanzsystem, die von anderen Finanzintermediären nicht in dieser Form und nicht mit dieser Effizienz erfüllt werden können. … Wenn man von einigen zum Teil beklagenswerten Einzelfällen absieht, dann lässt sich in der Umwälzung des Finanzsystems klar ausmachen, dass mit diesen neuen Investmentvehikeln der Kapitalmarkt vervollkommnet und vervollständigt werden kann." Peter Aiello und Dieter Wermuth, Wermuth Asset Management GmbH, gaben einen Überblick über die Funtionsweise von Hedgefonds und bewerteten deren Vor- und Nachteile. Alexandra Krieger, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf, setzte sich kritisch mit dem Geschäftsmodell der Private-Equity-Fonds auseinander. Und Christoph Lütge, Universität München, stellte einige grundsätzliche Überlegungen "zur Ethik in der Marktwirtschaft"Soziale Marktwirtschaft, Kapitalismus, Übernahme, Unternehmen, Fonds, Devisenmarkt, Internationaler Finanzmarkt, Internationaler Wettbewerb, Wirtschaftsethik, Deutschland

Ontogenetic Development of Weberian Ossicles and Hearing Abilities in the African Bullhead Catfish

BACKGROUND: The weberian apparatus of otophysine fishes facilitates sound transmission from the swimbladder to the inner ear to increase hearing sensitivity. It has been of great interest to biologists since the 19(th) century. No studies, however, are available on the development of the weberian ossicles and its effect on the development of hearing in catfishes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated the development of the weberian apparatus and auditory sensitivity in the catfish Lophiobagrus cyclurus. Specimens from 11.3 mm to 85.5 mm in standard length were studied. Morphology was assessed using sectioning, histology, and X-ray computed tomography, along with 3D reconstruction. Hearing thresholds were measured utilizing the auditory evoked potentials recording technique. Weberian ossicles and interossicular ligaments were fully developed in all stages investigated except in the smallest size group. In the smallest catfish, the intercalarium and the interossicular ligaments were still missing and the tripus was not yet fully developed. Smallest juveniles revealed lowest auditory sensitivity and were unable to detect frequencies higher than 2 or 3 kHz; sensitivity increased in larger specimens by up to 40 dB, and frequency detection up to 6 kHz. In the size groups capable of perceiving frequencies up to 6 kHz, larger individuals had better hearing abilities at low frequencies (0.05-2 kHz), whereas smaller individuals showed better hearing at the highest frequencies (4-6 kHz). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data indicate that the ability of otophysine fish to detect sounds at low levels and high frequencies largely depends on the development of the weberian apparatus. A significant increase in auditory sensitivity was observed as soon as all weberian ossicles and interossicular ligaments are present and the chain for transmitting sounds from the swimbladder to the inner ear is complete. This contrasts with findings in another otophysine, the zebrafish, where no threshold changes have been observed

Stratospheric aerosol - Observations, processes, and impact on climate

Interest in stratospheric aerosol and its role in climate have increased over the last decade due to the observed increase in stratospheric aerosol since 2000 and the potential for changes in the sulfur cycle induced by climate change. This review provides an overview about the advances in stratospheric aerosol research since the last comprehensive assessment of stratospheric aerosol was published in 2006. A crucial development since 2006 is the substantial improvement in the agreement between in situ and space-based inferences of stratospheric aerosol properties during volcanically quiescent periods. Furthermore, new measurement systems and techniques, both in situ and space based, have been developed for measuring physical aerosol properties with greater accuracy and for characterizing aerosol composition. However, these changes induce challenges to constructing a long-term stratospheric aerosol climatology. Currently, changes in stratospheric aerosol levels less than 20% cannot be confidently quantified. The volcanic signals tend to mask any nonvolcanically driven change, making them difficult to understand. While the role of carbonyl sulfide as a substantial and relatively constant source of stratospheric sulfur has been confirmed by new observations and model simulations, large uncertainties remain with respect to the contribution from anthropogenic sulfur dioxide emissions. New evidence has been provided that stratospheric aerosol can also contain small amounts of nonsulfate matter such as black carbon and organics. Chemistry-climate models have substantially increased in quantity and sophistication. In many models the implementation of stratospheric aerosol processes is coupled to radiation and/or stratospheric chemistry modules to account for relevant feedback processes

Reporting bias in medical research - a narrative review

Reporting bias represents a major problem in the assessment of health care interventions. Several prominent cases have been described in the literature, for example, in the reporting of trials of antidepressants, Class I anti-arrhythmic drugs, and selective COX-2 inhibitors. The aim of this narrative review is to gain an overview of reporting bias in the medical literature, focussing on publication bias and selective outcome reporting. We explore whether these types of bias have been shown in areas beyond the well-known cases noted above, in order to gain an impression of how widespread the problem is. For this purpose, we screened relevant articles on reporting bias that had previously been obtained by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care in the context of its health technology assessment reports and other research work, together with the reference lists of these articles

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion