Faster - Better Molds Through RSP Tooling New Research and Advancements

The recent developments in rapid production tooling have all but made the need for prototype tooling disappear. There are several approaches that are now as fast and inexpensive as prototype tooling, and after part approval can continue to run in high volume production applications. The newest of these approaches is an indirect spray forming process invented by Dr. Kevin McHugh of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratories (INEEL). The advantages of RSP Tooling can be found in its accuracy, finish, cost and speed compared to the other rapid tooling processes [1]. The commercialization effort for this spray forming process started in February of 2002. The beta production machine was operational in November, 2003, and started to produce production tooling in March, 2004. Since that time tooling has been manufactured and run for many forming applications. In all but the simplest tools the process has proven to be less expensive and faster than standard machining of tools or any other rapid production tooling process. Research and development of the process has continued both at INEEL and at RSP Tooling, LLC making the process faster, more accurate and less expensive to operate. This research has also generated a better understanding of the underlying metallurgy of the process.Mechanical Engineerin

Allowance for shareholder equity: implementing a neutral corporate income tax in the European Union

This paper proposes the introduction of a consumption-based corporate income tax in the European Union. Our proposal would guarantee neutrality regarding investment decisions and at the same time increase cost-efficiency. The proposal is based on the S-base cash flow tax, where transactions within the corporate sector are not at all taxable and only transactions be-tween shareholders and corporations are subject to tax. In contrast to existing S-base cash flow tax systems, tax deductibility of investments is deferred. Rather, the acquisition costs and capital endowments are compounded at the capital market rate and are set off against fu-ture capital gains. Dividends and withdrawals are fully taxable at the shareholder level. Be-cause of the similarities to the Allowance for Corporate Equity (ACE) tax our proposal is called Allowance for Shareholder Equity (ASE tax). The ASE tax exhibits the same neutrality properties as the traditional cash flow tax. More-over, the compounded inter-temporal credit method ensures that it is neutral with respect to the decision between domestic and foreign investment. To increase acceptance of the ASE tax, current taxpayers' documentation requirements will be reduced rather than extended. Our proposal is shaped in a way that it could be realized in a single EU country or in all member states of the EU. --

Lohnt sich eine detaillierte Steuerplanung für Unternehmen? Zur Ressourcenallokation bei der Investitionsplanung

Um die Antizipationsfehler der häufig in der Praxis angewandten Investitionsrechnung mit vereinfachter Steuerbemessungsgrundlage zu quantifizieren, wird in dieser Arbeit eine Unternehmenssimulation auf Basis empirischer Daten entwickelt. Mittels einer Monte Carlo-Simulation wird eine stochastische Unternehmensentwicklung abgebildet. Das Modell zeigt auf, dass eine vereinfacht antizipierte Steuerbemessungsgrundlage oftmals einen geringeren Planungsfehler verursacht als ein fehlerhaft eingeschätzter Zins- und Steuersatz. Daher sollte ein größeres Gewicht auf die Prognose von Zins- und Steuersätzen gelegt werden, während die Abbildung einer wesentlich detaillierteren Steuerbemessungsgrundlage wenig sinnvoll erscheint. --Investitionsrechnung,Unternehmensbesteuerung,Steuerplanung

Infective endocarditis in congenital heart disease

Congenital heart disease (CHD) has become the leading risk factor for pediatric infective endocarditis (IE) in developed countries after the decline of rheumatic heart disease. Advances in catheter- and surgery-based cardiac interventions have rendered almost all types of CHD amenable to complete correction or at least palliation. Patient survival has increased, and a new patient population, referred to as adult CHD (ACHD) patients, has emerged. Implanted prosthetic material paves the way for cardiovascular device-related infections, but studies on the management of CHD-associated IE in the era of cardiovascular devices are scarce. The types of heart malformation (unrepaired, repaired, palliated) substantially differ in their lifetime risks for IE. Streptococci and staphylococci are the predominant pathogens. Right-sided IE is more frequently seen in patients with CHD. Relevant comorbidity caused by cardiac and extracardiac episode-related complications is high. Transesophageal echocardiography is recommended for more precise visualization of vegetations, especially in complex type of CHD in ACHD patients. Antimicrobial therapy and surgical management of IE remain challenging, but outcome of CHD-associated IE from the neonate to the adult is better than in other forms of IE. Conclusion: Primary prevention of IE is vital and includes good dental health and skin hygiene; antibiotic prophylaxis is indicated only in high-risk patients undergoing oral mucosal procedure

Prenatal consequences of ­congenital heart disease on brain development

In fetuses with complex congenital heart disease (CHD), impaired brain growth and brain development starts in utero. A complex interplay between heart, brain, body and placenta takes place in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Altered fetal cardiovascular hemodynamics due to differnt types of CHD lead to altered cerebral, body and placental perfusion, all factors contributing to maturational delay of body and brain development. Impaired cerebral perfusion, oxygenation and nutritive energy supply affects brain growth and leads to a brain developmental delay of 3–4 weeks until birth. Comparable to the altered brain development in preterm infants, similar pathogenic mechanisms lead to an encephalopathy of CHD on a micro- and macrostructural level. After birth palliative or corrective cardiac surgery is needed, which further contributes to the brain maturational delay with consequences on the neurodevelopmental outcom

Analytic discs in the boundary and compactness of Hankel operators with essentially bounded symbols

AbstractWe derive conditions for compactness of Hankel operators Hf:A2(Ω)→L2(Ω) (Hf(g):=(I−P)(f¯g)) with bounded, holomorphic symbols f for a large class of convex and bounded domains Ω with Ω⊆Dk

Modeling Agent Systems with Distributed Transformation Units

AbstractAgent systems have become more and more important in computer science. They allow to implement complex distributed systems composed of communicating autonomous entities. Transformation units constitute a structuring principle for graph transformation systems which split up large sets of rules, but still graphs are transformed as a whole. Recently, distributed transformation units have been introduced as an extension of transformation units to distributed graphs and distributed graph transformation. In this paper it is illustrated how different features of agent systems can be smoothly modeled in a uniform way by distributed graph transformation systems. For this purpose an agent system case study with simple agents communicating via blackboards and message passing is presented

Steuerreformen durch Tarif- oder Zeiteffekte? Eine Analyse am Beispiel der Thesaurierungsbegünstigung für Personengesellschaften

Der Beitrag diskutiert Tarif- und Zinseffekte anhand der begünstigten Besteuerung nicht entnommener Gewinne von Personengesellschaften, die 2008 in Deutschland eingeführt wurde. Bei Eigenfinanzierung und Betrachtung von Grenzsteuersätzen zeigt der Beitrag, dass die Thesaurierungsbegünstigung stets nachteilig ist, wenn eine abgeltend besteuerte private Kapitalmarktanlage die Alternativanlage darstellt. Müssen Gewinne thesauriert werden, weil Mittel im Unternehmen benötigt werden, so entfällt die private Alternativanlage und die Thesaurierungsbegünstigung kann bei hohen Zins- und Steuersätzen vorteilhaft sein. Wird die Einkommensteuerprogression berücksichtigt, zeigt der Beitrag, dass bei schwankenden Gewinnen die Thesaurierungsbegünstigung oftmals vorteilhaft ist, auch gegenüber der Abgeltungsteuer. Bei fremdfinanzierten Investitionen kann die Inanspruchnahme der Thesaurierungsbegünstigung sehr vorteilhaft sein, da die geringere Steuerzahlung bei Gewinnanfall den Umfang des benötigten Fremdkapitals mindert. Insgesamt zeigt sich, dass sich Reformen von Steuertarifen wesentlich stärker auf die Vorteilhaftigkeit von Investitionen auswirken als Zinseffekte. --