7,559 research outputs found
Crime, Unemployment, and Xenophobia? An Ecological Analysis of Right-Wing Election Results in Hamburg, 1986−2005
This paper investigates the consequences of immigration, crime and socio-economic depriviation for the performance of right-wing extremist and populist parties in the German city state of Hamburg between 1986 and 2005. The ecological determinants of voting for right-wing parties on the district level are compared to those for mainstream and other protest parties. Parallels and differences in spatial characteristics between right-wing extremist and populist parties' performance are identified. Our empirical results tend to confirm the general contextual sociological theory of right-wing radicalization by general social deprivation and immigration. Nevertheless they indicate that one has to be very cautious when interpreting the unemployment/crime - right-winger nexus. Moreover, crime does not seem to have a strong significant effect on right-wing populist parties' election successes despite its importance for their programmes and campaigns.elections, political extremism, labor market policy, welfare policy, immigration
Does SEGUE/SDSS indicate a dual Galactic halo?
We re-examine recent claims of observational evidence for a dual Galactic
halo in SEGUE/SDSS data, and trace them back to improper error treatment and
neglect of selection effects. In particular, the detection of a vertical
abundance gradient in the halo can be explained as a metallicity bias in
distance. A similar bias, and the impact of disk contamination, affect the
sample of blue horizontal branch stars. These examples highlight why non-volume
complete samples require forward-modelling from theoretical models or extensive
bias-corrections. We also show how observational uncertainties produce the
specific non-Gaussianity in the observed azimuthal velocity distribution of
halo stars, which can be erroneously identified as two Gaussian components. A
single kinematic component yields an excellent fit to the observed data, when
we model the measurement process including distance uncertainties. Furthermore,
we show that sample differences in proper motion space are the direct
consequence of kinematic cuts, and are enhanced when distance estimates are
less accurate. Thus, their presence is neither a proof for a separate
population, nor a measure of reliability for the applied distances. We conclude
that currently there is no evidence from SEGUE/SDSS that would favour a dual
Galactic halo over a single halo full of substructure.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures accepted for publication in Ap
From Drivers to Athletes -- Modeling and Simulating Cross-Country Sking Marathons
Traffic flow of athletes in classic-style cross-country ski marathons, with
the Swedish Vasaloppet as prominent example, represents a non-vehicular system
of driven particles with many properties of vehicular traffic flow such as
unidirectional movement, the existence of lanes, and, moreover, severe traffic
jams. We propose a microscopic acceleration and track-changing model taking
into account different fitness levels, gradients, and interactions between the
athletes in all traffic situations. The model is calibrated on microscopic data
of the Using the multi-model open-source simulator
MovSim.org, we simulate all 15 000 participants of the Vasaloppet during the
first ten kilometers.Comment: 8 pages, contribution to the conference Traffic and Granular Flow '13
in Juelich. Will be included in the Conference proceedings (Springer
The detection and treatment of distance errors in kinematic analyses of stars
We present a new method for detecting and correcting systematic errors in the
distances to stars when both proper motions and line-of-sight velocities are
available. The method, which is applicable for samples of 200 or more stars
that have a significant extension on the sky, exploits correlations between the
measured U, V and W velocity components that are introduced by distance errors.
We deliver a formalism to describe and interpret the specific imprints of
distance errors including spurious velocity correlations and shifts of mean
motion in a sample. We take into account correlations introduced by measurement
errors, Galactic rotation and changes in the orientation of the velocity
ellipsoid with position in the Galaxy. Tests on pseudodata show that the method
is more robust and sensitive than traditional approaches to this problem. We
investigate approaches to characterising the probability distribution of
distance errors, in addition to the mean distance error, which is the main
theme of the paper. Stars with the most overestimated distances bias our
estimate of the overall distance scale, leading to the corrected distances
being slightly too small. We give a formula that can be used to correct for
this effect. We apply the method to samples of stars from the SEGUE survey,
exploring optimal gravity cuts, sample contamination, and correcting the used
distance relations.Comment: published in MNRAS 14 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, corrected eq.(35),
minor editin
Foreign banks and foreign currency lending in emerging Europe
Based on survey data from 193 banks in 20 countries we provide the first bank-level analysis of the relationship between bank ownership, bank funding and foreign currency (FX) lending across emerging Europe. Our results contradict the widespread view that foreign banks have been driving FX lending to retail clients as a result of easier access to foreign wholesale funding. Our cross-sectional analysis shows that foreign banks do lend more in FX to corporate clients but not to households. Moreover, we find no evidence that wholesale funding had a strong causal effect on FX lending for either foreign or domestic banks. Panel estimations show that the foreign acquisition of a domestic bank does lead to faster growth in FX lending to households. However, this is driven by faster growth in household lending in general not by a shift towards FX lending.Foreign banks; FX lending; financial integration; Emerging Europe
Foreign currency lending in emerging Europe: bank-level evidence
Based on survey data from 193 banks in 20 countries we provide the first bank-level analysis of the determinants of foreign currency (FX) lending in emerging Europe. We find that FX lending by all banks, regardless of their ownership structure, is strongly determined by the macroeconomic environment. We find no evidence of foreign banks ‘pushing’ FX loans indiscriminately because of easier access to wholesale funding in foreign currency. In fact, while foreign banks do lend more in FX to corporate clients, they do not do so to retail clients. We also find that after a take-over by a foreign bank, the acquired bank does not increase its FX lending any faster than a bank which remains in domestic hands.
New secondary batteries utilizing electronically conductive polymer cathodes
The objectives are to optimize the transport rates in electronically conductive polypyrrole films by controlling the morphology of the film and to assess the utility of these films as cathodes in a lithium/polypyrrole secondary battery. During this research period, a better understanding was gained of the fundamental electrochemical switching processes within the polypyrrole film. Three publications were submitted based on the work completed
Saliency-guided integration of multiple scans
we present a novel method..
Flight Dynamics Operations of the TanDEM-X Formation
Since end of 2010 the German TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X satellites are routinely operated as the first configurable single-pass Synthetic Aperture Radar interferometer in space. The two 1340 kg satellites fly in a 514 km sun-synchronous orbit. In order to collect sufficient measurements for the generation of a global digital elevation model and to demonstrate new interferometric SAR techniques and applications, more than three years of formation flying are foreseen with flexible baselines ranging from 150 m to few kilometers. As a prerequisite for the close formation flight an extensive flight dynamics system was established at DLR/GSOC, which comprises of GPS-based absolute and relative navigation and impulsive orbit and formation control. Daily formation maintenance maneuvers are performed by TanDEM-X to counterbalance natural and artificial disturbances. The paper elaborates on the routine flight dynamics operations and its interactions with mission planning and ground-station network. The navigation and formation control concepts and the achieved control accuracy are briefly outlined. Furthermore, the paper addresses non-routine operations experienced during formation acquisition, frequent formation reconfiguration, formation maintenance problems and space debris collision avoidance, which is even more challenging than for single-satellite operations. In particular two close approaches of debris are presented, which were experienced in March 2011 and April 2012. Finally, a formation break-up procedure is discussed which could be executed in case of severe onboard failures
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