The Pattern of Spatially Concentrated Industries in East Germany - A Contribution to the Discussion on Economic “Clusters“

Throughout the literature in regional economics, most authors agree that spatially concentrated industrial activities are important for regional economic growth. Agglomeration economies, which may occur in the context of spatial concentration and “clusters“, may lead to lower costs of production and may reduce transaction costs of all kind, e. g. information costs, including the costs for R&D activities. There is much less agreement on (and: knowledge about) the empirical identification of existing spatially concentrated economic activities in the real world. For the last decade, the discussion on spatial concentration has been dominated by praising the benefits of economic “clusters“. Many case studies on regions with economic “clusters“ are describing how the mechanisms of these specific “clusters“ work. But there have been only a few attempts, so far, to look at a greater region or even at an economy as a whole, in order to find out – with empirical data which allow to compare between the sub-regions – for all sub-regions what their specific „competences“ in the field of spatially concentrated industrial activities are and whether there is a typical spatial pattern of concentrated industrial activities. The proposed paper is presenting the empirical results of a study on spatially concentrated industries in the Eastern part of Germany, where the current regional policy scheme, which de facto follows the “watering can principle”, is under debate. In the first part of the paper, the possible dimensions and the “ingredients” of economic “clusters“ and industrial agglomerations will be discussed. One important dimension is the existence of intra-regional value-added chains for certain products. But, at the moment, it is not possible to identify such value-added chains by using existing empirical data at the more aggregated levels of an economy. Therefore, our study and the paper are concentrating on just three main dimensions of economic “clusters” and industrial agglomerations: (1.) Particular high spatial concentrations of certain industries are identified (based on employment data by NACE 2 digit level) for all East German counties. (2.) The existence of business networks (and their main characteristics, e. g. industry classification) in the East German regions is discovered by a broad exploration of internet sources and an inquiry among regional development agencies. (3.) Spatially concentrated innovation activities are recorded for each region by using data on patent applications (by IPC classes). It will be discussed in the paper what is implicated with these three dimensions and their operationalization with empirical data. Finally, the findings from the first three steps of research are synthesized for showing how sectoral concentration, business networking and innovation competencies in the individual regions are overlapping. The findings reveal that spatially concentrated industries are mainly located in and around the largest East German cities in Saxony and Thuringia, and in Berlin and its hinterland. In contrast, a number of less densely populated, rural or former industrialized areas in the northern and central parts of East Germany have no or only some elements of spatially concentrated industries. The presented method for identifying spatially concentrated industries could be applied to other regions and economies for bringing more light into the debate on economic “clusters“. With regard to regional policy in East Germany, one may conclude from our findings that the present use of the “watering can principle” had not been able to stimulate economic agglomerations in economically weak peripheral regions. It could be a better strategy to support the existing “clusters” and industrial agglomerations.

Creating a community of conscience: an analysis of the context and content of the American bishops' pastoral letter on war and peace

On May 3rd 1983, after a two-day meeting in Chicago, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a national pastoral letter on war and peace in the nuclear age. The pastoral bore the title The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and our Response. The bishops approved the final text by 283 votes to 9, setting the seal on a process of preparation which had lasted more than two years and according both the pastoral itself and the drafting committee a high measure of validation.The process had begun in November 1980 when individual bishops,against the background of a presidential campaign in which the theme of military preparedness had been prominent, requested the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the episcopal conference of the Catholic community in the United States, at its annual meeting, to reexamine its teaching on war and peace. The request met with widespread support and in January 1981 an ad hoc committee chaired by Archbishop Joseph Bernardin began its work.The committee's process of reflection was characterized by wide- ranging consultations at which theologians and political scientists, peace activists and government officials testified and answered questions. The committee issued drafts of the pastoral letter for their fellow bishops in June 1982, October 1982 and a third in April 1983. Throughout the process the committee's work was subject to the keen interest of lay Catholic opinion, of the Reagan Administration and the media. The committee's work was complemented by a high level of teaching activity by individual bishops, and was affected by the interest of other Catholic hierarchies and by the Holy See itself. This international dimension was most graphically expressed at an 'informal consultation' in Rome in January 1983. The impact of the American pastoral on key elements of NATO strategy was of particular concern to the bishops of West Germany. In the course of 1983 a wide range of episcopal conferences issued statements on war and peace questions.The issuing of The Challenge of Peace did not mark the end of the American hierarchy's engagement with war and peace. An ad hoc committee was established to promote the pastoral within the church. Subsequently another ad hoc committee was appointed to consider deterrence in the light of the pastoral's teaching.Chapter Gne of the present study, 'The American Context of the Pastoral', sets the letter in the context of American Catholicism. For the bishops to address Catholics was hardly novel, but here the bishops also address the wider polity of the United States, seeking to create a community of conscience. The chapter sets out in brief the historical development of the Catholic community, then goes on to examine the roots and significance of this teaching initiative in what has been called a 'new moment'.Chapter Two, 'The Making of a Pastoral Letter', sets out the process of the pastoral's formation and seeks to characterize it as one in which we see not simply the history of a document but signs of a new way for bishops to act as teachers at a national level. It suggests that the process is of intrinsic importance, and that it demonstrates the virtue of a teaching style marked by consultation, convergence and consensus.Chapter Three, 'The Content of the Pastoral Letter', gives an account of the shape and argument of this very long and complex document, attentive to the sources of tradition on which it drew and to the audiences it sought to address.In the conclusion we consider what lasting implications and benefits may accrue from the experience of the production and dissemination of the pastoral letter, within the life of the Catholic church, in its relations with other churches, and in its mission to the world.Chapter Four, 'Creating a Community of Conscience: the Ecclesial Context' examines the current debate about the teaching mission of the church, and in particular the teaching function of national episcopal conferences, a function which has aroused considerable controversy. It suggests that the American desire to develop a pastoral magisterium offers the whole church a renewed vision of what teaching can be

Quantitative morphology of renal cortical structures during compensatory hypertrophy

The compensatory hypertrophy in different renal cortical structures was studied in rats 10 and 21 days after unilateral nephrectomy (UNX). Quantitative morphological/stereological analysis revealed significant increases in total renal cortical volume - 33% on day 10 and 48% on day 21 - after UNX. These changes were paralleled by significant increments in the volumes of proximal convoluted tubule (PCT, 55%), distal convoluted tubule (DCT, 114%), and cortical collecting duct (CCD, 106%) segments on day 10. The corresponding changes on day 21 were 76, 122, and 212%, respectively. These alterations were accompanied by increases in segment length; 3% PCT, 23% DCT, and 50% CCD on day 10 and 9% PCT, 30% DCT, and 142% CCD on day 21 after UNX. The total luminal and basolateral cell membrane surface areas also exhibited a time-dependent increase after UNX. The increments in both luminal and basolateral membrane domains in PCT and DCT after 10 days were not significant, but reached significance after 21 days (PCT: luminal membrane 21%, basolateral membrane 63%; DCT: luminal membrane 98%, basolateral membrane 63%). In contrast, CCD membrane areas had increased substantially already 10 days after UNX (luminal membrane 92%, basolateral membrane 71%). It declined subsequently by day 21 (luminal membrane 57%, basolateral membrane 32%). The cell rubidium concentration after a 30-second rubidium infusion, an index of Na-K-ATPase activity, as well as sodium concentrations were unaltered in cells of all nephron segments investigated. Altogether the stereological analysis shows that the compensatory increase in organ volume can be attributed primarily to an increase in nephron epithelial volume. The PCT responds with `radial' hypertrophy (thickening of the tubular epithelial wall), while the DCT undergoes `length' hypertrophy (increase of tubular length without thickening of the tubular wall and without an increase in number of cells). This type of hypertrophy is especially prominent on day 21 after UNX for the CCD which doubles in length. Only on day 10 does the CCD seem to respond with hyperplasia. Adaptive changes in response to UNX develop gradually. Only a few of the morphological parameters studied had completed their change by 10 days, the majority required longer

Interregionale Ausgleichspolitik auf dem Prüfstand: Die Geber- und Nehmerregionen und ihre Wirtschaftsleistung

The future of the interregional equalization policy in Germany is discussed intensively at present. While in the past the interest of equalization policy was focussed primarily on the regions which benefit from interregional equalization policy (beneficiary regions) and the effects obtained there, recently the view is directed also toward the regions which bear the fiscal burden of the equalisation policy (donor regions). Concerning the donor regions, a fear of growth-absorbing withdrawal effects exists, which gives reason in view of declining economic growth rates on the national level to think about the future of interregional equalization policy. The IWH contributed to this debate together with two project partners by an investigation, which was accomplished on behalf of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning. The following findings will show the economic performance of the donor regions (exclusively West German regions) and of the beneficiary regions (all East German regions and a few West German regions) and their changing economic growth patterns. Concerning the level of economic performance, measured by means of the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, as expected, the donor regions, consisting of West German regions, in the period 1992-2003 altogether show an above average GDP per capita. In contrast, the beneficiary regions, both the East German and (less strongly) the West German show a GDP per capita below average. Concerning the development of the economic performance, which was measured on the basis of the relative GDP per capita (GDP per capita of the region concerned in relation to the national average), the East German beneficiary regions could catch up in the first period (1992-1998) strongly. This catching up process, however, clearly slowed down in the second period 1998-2003. Like a mirror-image the lead of the donor regions regarding GDP per capita in relation to the national average became smaller. But after 1998 many West German donor regions regained their growth dynamics. Additionally the contributions of the regions to the absolute increase of the GDP in the period 1998-2003 were investigated: 30 of 271 regions have a share of around 50% in the overall GDP increase, 28 of them located in West Germany, and 21 of them donor regions. This in mind, the policy should further provide and secure favourable development conditions for those regions, which contribute at most to the increase of the overall economic performance and thus create the economic base for the interregional equalization policy.

Adjustments to the MODIS Terra Radiometric Calibration and Polarization Sensitivity in the 2010 Reprocessing

The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA s Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite Terra provides global coverage of top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiances that have been successfully used for terrestrial and atmospheric research. The MODIS Terra ocean color products, however, have been compromised by an inadequate radiometric calibration at the short wavelengths. The Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) at NASA has derived radiometric corrections using ocean color products from the SeaWiFS sensor as truth fields. In the R2010.0 reprocessing, these corrections have been applied to the whole mission life span of 10 years. This paper presents the corrections to the radiometric gains and to the instrument polarization sensitivity, demonstrates the improvement to the Terra ocean color products, and discusses issues that need further investigation. Although the global averages of MODIS Terra ocean color products are now in excellent agreement with those of SeaWiFS and MODIS Aqua, and image quality has been significantly improved, the large corrections applied to the radiometric calibration and polarization sensitivity require additional caution when using the data

Interregionale Ausgleichspolitik auf dem Prüfstand: Die Geber- und Nehmerregionen und ihre Wirtschaftsleistung

The future of the interregional equalization policy in Germany is discussed intensively at present. While in the past the interest of equalization policy was focussed primarily on the regions which benefit from interregional equalization policy (beneficiary regions) and the effects obtained there, recently the view is directed also toward the regions which bear the fiscal burden of the equalisation policy (donor regions). Concerning the donor regions, a fear of growth-absorbing withdrawal effects exists, which gives reason in view of declining economic growth rates on the national level to think about the future of interregional equalization policy. The IWH contributed to this debate together with two project partners by an investigation, which was accomplished on behalf of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning. The following findings will show the economic performance of the donor regions (exclusively West German regions) and of the beneficiary regions (all East German regions and a few West German regions) and their changing economic growth patterns. Concerning the level of economic performance, measured by means of the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, as expected, the donor regions, consisting of West German regions, in the period 1992-2003 altogether show an above average GDP per capita. In contrast, the beneficiary regions, both the East German and (less strongly) the West German show a GDP per capita below average. Concerning the development of the economic performance, which was measured on the basis of the relative GDP per capita (GDP per capita of the region concerned in relation to the national average), the East German beneficiary regions could catch up in the first period (1992-1998) strongly. This catching up process, however, clearly slowed down in the second period 1998-2003. Like a mirror-image the lead of the donor regions regarding GDP per capita in relation to the national average became smaller. But after 1998 many West German donor regions regained their growth dynamics. Additionally the contributions of the regions to the absolute increase of the GDP in the period 1998-2003 were investigated: 30 of 271 regions have a share of around 50% in the overall GDP increase, 28 of them located in West Germany, and 21 of them donor regions. This in mind, the policy should further provide and secure favourable development conditions for those regions, which contribute at most to the increase of the overall economic performance and thus create the economic base for the interregional equalization policy.

Grenzregionen im europäischen Integrationsprozess - Ergebnisse einer Tagung des IWH -

Den Folgen der Integration für die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung in Grenzregionen widmete sich eine Tagung des IWH am Beispiel der deutsch-polnischen Grenzregion, in der sich derzeit die Wirkungen der schrittweisen Grenzöffnung mit strukturellen Anpassungsproblemen im Zuge der Transformation überlagern. In der Regionalpolitik erweisen sich vor allem Maßnahmen als integrationsfördernd, die die Barrierewirkungen der Grenzlage beseitigen. Politikmaßnahmen, die dagegen auf Faktorpreisunterschieden und eingeschränkter Faktormobilität aufbauen, z.B. grenznahe oder grenzüberschreitende Gewerbeparks oder Sonderwirtschaftszonen, stehen eigentlich längerfristig dem Integrationsgedanken entgegen.

Mitochondrial protein import

Transport of nuclear-encoded precursor proteins into mitochondria includes proteolytic cleavage of aminoterminal targeting sequences in the mitochondrial matrix. We have isolated the processing activity from Neurospora crassa. The final preparation (enriched ca. 10,000-fold over cell extracts) consists of two proteins, the matrix processing peptidase (MPP, 57 kd) and a processing enhancing protein (PEP, 52 kd). The two components were isolated as monomers. PEP is about 15-fold more abundant in mitochondria than MPP. It is partly associated with the inner membrane, while MPP is soluble in the matrix. MPP alone has a low processing activity whereas PEP alone has no apparent activity. Upon recombining both, full processing activity is restored. Our data indicate that MPP contains the catalytic site and that PEP has an enhancing function. The mitochondrial processing enzyme appears to represent a new type of “signal peptidase,” different from the bacterial leader peptidase and the signal peptidase of the endoplasmic reticulum

Corrections to the MODIS Aqua Calibration Derived From MODIS Aqua Ocean Color Products

Ocean color products such as, e.g., chlorophyll-a concentration, can be derived from the top-of-atmosphere radiances measured by imaging sensors on earth-orbiting satellites. There are currently three National Aeronautics and Space Administration sensors in orbit capable of providing ocean color products. One of these sensors is the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite, whose ocean color products are currently the most widely used of the three. A recent improvement to the MODIS calibration methodology has used land targets to improve the calibration accuracy. This study evaluates the new calibration methodology and describes further calibration improvements that are built upon the new methodology by including ocean measurements in the form of global temporally averaged water-leaving reflectance measurements. The calibration improvements presented here mainly modify the calibration at the scan edges, taking advantage of the good performance of the land target trending in the center of the scan