bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sequence and intramolecular distance scoring analyses of microbial rhodopsins
Authors: Asano Miki , Ide Shunta , Kamata Atsushi , Takahasi Kiyohiro , Okada Tetsuji
Published: April 2016

Recent accumulation of sequence and structural data, in conjunction with systematical classification into a set of families, has significantly advanced our understanding of diverse and specific protein functions. Analysis and interpretation of protein family data requires comprehensive sequence and structural alignments. Here, we present a simple scheme for analyzing a set of experimental structures of a given protein or family of proteins, using microbial rhodopsins as an example. For a data set comprised of around a dozen highly similar structures to each other (overall pairwise root-mean-squared deviation < 2.3 Å), intramolecular distance scoring analysis yielded valuable information with respect to structural properties, such as differences in the relative variability of transmembrane helices. Furthermore, a comparison with recent results for G protein-coupled receptors demonstrates how the results of the present analysis can be interpreted and effectively utilized for structural characterization of diverse protein families in general.
Detection of plasmids and curing analysis in copper resistant bacteria Acinetobacter sp. IrC1, Acinetobacter sp. IrC2, and Cupriavidus sp. IrC4
Authors: IRAWATI WAHYU , YUWONO TRIWIBOWO , RUSLI AMANDA
Published: April 2016

Irawati W, Yuwono T, Rusli A. 2016. Detection of plasmids and curing analysis in copper resistant bacteria Acinetobacter sp.Â IrC1, Acinetobacter sp. IrC2, and Cupriavidus sp. IrC4. Biodiversitas 17: 296-300. Acinetobacter sp. IrC1, Acinetobacter sp. IrC2, andÂ Cupriavidus sp. IrC4 were copper resistant bacteria. The aims of the study were to establish correlation between bacterial resistance anthe presence of plasmid and to prove the presence of gene that encodes resistance to copper in plasmid. Plasmid curing was carried outÂ by the addition of ethidium bromide, acridine orange, and SDS in Salt Base Solution broth medium. Detection of copper resistance geneÂ in plasmid was carried out by PCR method using CopA primer. The study showed that plasmid isolation has been successfullyÂ performed in Acinetobacter sp. IrC1, Acinetobacter sp. IrC2, and Cupriavidus sp. IrC4. The size of plasmid was approximately moreÂ than 21 kb. The most effective curing treatment in Acinetobacter sp. IrC1 was 600-700 Âµg/ml ethidium bromide that reduced up to threeÂ times of copper resistance after curing treatment. Meanwhile, copper resistance in Acinetobacter sp. IrC2 and Cupriadus sp. IrC4Â decreased four times after curing treatment using 150-200 Âµg/mL acridine orange and 3000-3500 Âµg/mL SDS, respectively. TheÂ decrease of copper resistance following plasmid curing treatment suggested that copper resistance gene was encoded by the plasmid.Â The amplification of CopA gene in the plasmid showed the presence of single band DNA with approximately 1.8 kb. The finding onÂ copper resistance present in the plasmid may open a wider application of bacteria as copper bioremediation agent.
The visual rhetorics of liberty: Towards the viewer as producer
Authors: Betts Janet
Published: April 2016

This article argues that our understanding of visual liberty is framed within a functionalist circumscription. It thereby sets out to map an enfranchising dynamic for the act of viewing that is initiated within the domain of art but imbricates beyond it, illuminating and undermining the functionalism of the image within the culture industry: a functionalism that facilitates the sedimentation of ideologies and renders them matters of first rather than second nature, thereby militating against social change. Its approach, shaped through Antonio Gramsci’s work on the agency of the organic intellectual, establishes the historical background of art and the viewer through a detailed inventory that focuses on how tutoring the act of viewing has serviced elite hegemonies, beginning with early mediaeval church art and artefacts and progressing through to mediations of art history, art criticism and art theory. It proposes that the peculiar strengths of art can be put to the service of social change by illuminating how the visual rhetoric of the image industry constrains and controls our subjectivities. Through a Benjaminite partnership, the artist and viewer, working as organic intellectuals, can reconfigure their historic functioning into a creative coalition that activates the agency of the latter to inhabit a new space for thought and action. This understands art as a modus operandi, working shoulder to shoulder with other disciplines that are engaged in an emancipatory project: one way amongst many of doing, rather than a discrete discipline with outreach workers in selected theoretical fields.
Multi-object Tracking in Aerial Image Sequences using Aerial Tracking Learning and Detection Algorithm
Authors: Malagi Vindhya P. , D.R. Ramesh Babu , Rangarajan Krishnan
Published: April 2016

Vison based tracking in aerial images has its own significance in the areas of both civil and defense applications.  A novel algorithm called aerial tracking learning detection which works on the basis of the popular tracking learning detection algorithm to effectively track single and multiple objects in aerial images is proposed in this study. Tracking learning detection (TLD) considers both appearance and motion features for tracking. It can handle occlusion to certain extent, and can work well on long duration video sequences. However, when objects are tracked in aerial images taken from platforms like unmanned air vehicle, the problems of frequent pose change, scale and illumination variations arise adding to low resolution, noise and jitter introduced by motion of the camera.  The proposed algorithm incorporates compensation for the camera movement, algorithmic modifications in combining appearance and motion cues for detection and tracking of multiple objects and enhancements in the form of inter object distance measure for improved performance of the tracker when there are many identical objects in proximity. This algorithm has been tested on a large number of aerial sequences including benchmark videos, TLD dataset and many classified unmanned air vehicle sequences and has shown better performance in comparison to TLD.

 
Narrow Band Interference Elimination based on Compressed Sensing in UWB Energy Detector
Authors: Patil Priyanka G. , Birajdar Gajanan K.
Published: April 2016

Wireless communication applications with large signal bandwidth are developed tremendously in recent times. Due to large bandwidth the wide band communication causes huge power consumption and signal deterioration after addition of narrow band interference (NBI). The ultra wide band (UWB) energy detector, which is highly robust against NBI signal is presented. Compressed sensing is implemented to reduce the power consumption at the analog to digital converter with approximated message passing reconstruction. In addition to this, digital notch is employed to eliminate the NBI affected measurements from compressed version of the received signal before applying it to the energy detector. To analyze the efficiency of the detector, the energy detection and bit error probability of the detector in the absence of NBI and after mitigating NBI is compared. The simulation results are the evidence of effectiveness of the presented energy detector.

 
Effect of Noise on Practical Quantum Communication Systems
Authors: Sharma Vishal
Published: April 2016

Entanglement is an important resource for various applications of quantum computation. Another important endeavor is to establish the role of entanglement in practical implementation where system of interest is affected by various kinds of noisy channels. Here, a single classical bit is used to send information under the influence of a noisy quantum channel. The entanglement content of quantum states is computed under noisy channels such as amplitude damping, phase damping, squeesed generalised amplitude damping, Pauli channels and various collective noise models on the protocols of quantum key distribution.

 
Does Being Perceived as Global Pay Off? An Analysis of Leading Foreign and Domestic Multinational Corporations in India, Japan, and the United States
Authors: Swoboda Bernhard , Hirschmann Johannes
Published: April 2016

As global players, multinational product and corporate brands are known to have an advantage over local competitors. Although foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) increasingly compete against domestic MNCs, particularly in economically strong countries, little is known about (1) whether foreign MNCs can use their globalness to their advantage and (2) how the perceptions of foreign versus domestic MNCs drive consumer behavior. To examine this issue, the authors propose a framework based on accessibility-diagnosticity theory and test it using consumer data from countries in which leading foreign and domestic MNCs compete. The results show that perceived brand globalness enhances consumers’ intentional loyalty toward MNCs indirectly by affecting the functional and psychological value these MNCs offer. The value-creation routes change according to firms’ origins—that is, foreign MNCs translate globalness through functional and psychological value, while domestic MNCs translate globalness through psychological value. However, the benefits of being global and the value-creation routes for foreign (vs. domestic) MNCs differ between countries. Finally, high consumer ethnocentrism weakens—but does not completely erase—the effects of perceived brand globalness in all countries and interacts with MNCs’ origins.
Dynamics for Generalized Incompressible Navier--Stokes Equations in ℝ2
Authors: Guo Boling , Huang Daiwen , Li Qiaoxin , Sun Chunyou
Published: April 2016

In this paper, we consider the dynamics for damped generalized incompressible Navier–Stokes equations defined on

ℝ
2

${\mathbb{R}^{2}}$

. The generalized Navier–Stokes equations here refer to the equations obtained by replacing the Laplacian in the classical Navier–Stokes equations by the more general operator

(

-
Δ

)

α

${(-\Delta)^{\alpha}}$

with

α
∈

(

1
2

,
1
)

${\alpha\in(\frac{1}{2},1)}$

. We prove that the rate of dissipation of enstrophy vanishes as

ν
→

0
+

${\nu\to 0^{+}}$

, where ν is the viscosity parameter. Moreover, we prove the existence and finite dimensionality of a global attractor in

(

H
1

⁢

(

ℝ
2

)

)

2

${(H^{1}(\mathbb{R}^{2}))^{2}}$

as

ν
>
0

${\nu>0}$

is kept fixed for the generalized Navier–Stokes equations.
Holding Your Scream in Your Hand. 3D Printing as Inter-Dimensional Experience in Contemporary Artworks by Alicia Framis, Martin Erik Andersen and Hito Steyerl
Authors: Jakobsen Lise Skytte
Published: April 2016

During the last couple of years, 3D printing has been widely discussed as a technology with the potential to revolutionize production methods as we used to know them. However, hitherto not much has been written about the aesthetic| aspects of this new possibility of transferring bits to atoms. What kinds of (3D) images are awaiting us? This article focuses on how three contemporary artists are including 3D prints and the process of 3D printing in their work. The article offers a short introduction to the characteristics of 3D printing followed by indebt analysis of art works by Spanish installation artist Alicia Framis. Danish sculptor and professor at The Royal Danish Art Academy Martin Erik Andersen and German filmmaker and writer Hito Steyerl. The article points out how these, very different, works of art use 3D printing to offer the viewer a sense of inter-dimensionality. The central experience here lies somewhere between 2D and 3D.
Rhizomatic Narrative and Intermediality in Treme
Authors: Bene Adrián
Published: April 2016

In this paper, I study the narrative structure and the layers of meaning in the Treme (2010-2013), using the concept of rhizome introduced in A Thousand Plateaus by Deleuze and Guattari (1987) and the Hannerzian “root metaphor” of creole culture. As for New Orleans in the Treme, music makes the narrative structure not just multilinear but rhizomatic. Moreover, spontaneity and hybridity highlight dialogicity and poliphony as well as a strong ironic and subversive capacity concerning music and creole culture. On a narratological level, analysing the critical representation of social problems after the destruction of Hurricane Kathrina raises the problems of focalization and narratorial distance
Adapting the Medium: Dynamics of Intermedial Adaptation in Contemporary Japanese Popular Visual Culture
Authors: Pusztai Beáta
Published: April 2016

With respect to adaptation studies, contemporary Japanese popular culture signifies a unique case, as different types of media (be those textual, auditive, visual or audio-visual) are tightly intertwined through the “recycling” of successful characters and stories. As a result, a neatly woven net of intermedial adaptations has been formed - the core of this complex system being the manga-anime-live-action film “adaptational triangle.” On the one hand, the paper addresses the interplay of the various factors by which the very existence of this network is made possible, such as the distinctive cultural attitude to “originality,” the structure of the comics, animation and film industries, and finally, the role of fictitious genealogies of both traditional and contemporary media in the negotiation of national identity. On the other hand, the essay also considers some of the most significant thematic, narrative, and stylistic effects this close interconnectedness has on the individual medium. Special attention is being paid to the nascent trend of merging the adaptive medium with that of the original story (viewing adaptation as integration), apparent in contemporary manga-based live- action comedies, as the extreme case of intermedial adaptation. That is, when the aim of the adaptational process is no longer the transposition of the story but the adaptation (i.e. the incorporation) of the medium itself- elevating certain medium-specific devices into transmedial phenomena.
Travel Writing on the Edge: An Intermedial Approach to Travel Books and Travel Blogs
Authors: Calzati Stefano
Published: April 2016

After discussing the limits and potentialities of the definitions of travel writing proposed by Paul Fussell (1980). Patrick Holland and Graham Huggan (1998) and Jan Borm (2004), the article presents a characterization of travel writing both as a genre with a precise rhetorical status, as well as a praxis of knoivledge, which derives from the interplay between travelling and writing. Building on this, a comparison between two Italian travel books and two Italian travel blogs about China is proposed. Specifically, by considering these texts as “intermedial transpositions” (Wolf 2008) that realize the same generic and epistemological matrix (i.e. travel writing), a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) is conducted in order to assess: 1) how the book and the blog, as different medial formats, interpret the rhetorical features of the travel writing genre: and 2) to what extent the gnoseological and cross-cultural potentials of travel writing, as a praxis of knowledge, is affected by the process of transposition.
Digitalization and the Production of Feeling and Emotion: The Case of Words Cut into the Skin
Authors: Sternudd Hans T.
Published: April 2016

This article investigates one example of how affect is articulated in the self-cutting of words into the skin and how the meaning of this multimodal [statement is modified through remediation. According to Tomkins, affects are understood as intensities that are impossible to frame as feelings or emotions. A theoretical framework based on Laclau’s and Mouffe’s discourse theory and the multimodal categories developed by Kress and van Leeuwen is used. Photographs of self-cutting and statements from people who cut themselves are examined through content analyses. The results show that words that had been cut into the skin often referred to painful experiences, disgust directed against themselves, or social isolation. Further, the study shows that when the cut-in words are remediated through a photograph, digitalized and published online, other meanings appear. Inside internet communities for people who self-injure, the photographs were associated with a communal experience, identification and prescribed activity. The original self-oriented feelings about one’s shortcomings and isolation attached to self-cutting could be altered so that those connoted, instead, experiences of solidarity, identity and intimacy.
Elemental, microstructural, and mechanical characterization of high gold orthodontic brackets after intraoral aging
Authors: Hersche Sepp , Sifakakis Iosif , Zinelis Spiros , Eliades Theodore
Published: April 2016

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the elemental composition, the microstructure, and the selected mechanical properties of high gold orthodontic brackets after intraoral aging. Thirty Incognito™ (3M Unitek, Bad Essen, Germany) lingual brackets were studied, 15 brackets as received (control group) and 15 brackets retrieved from different patients after orthodontic treatment. The surface of the wing area was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Backscattered electron imaging (BEI) was performed, and the elemental composition was determined by X-ray EDS analysis (EDX). After appropriate metallographic preparation, the mechanical properties tested were Martens hardness (HM), indentation modulus (E
Spurious elevation of serum potassium concentration measured in samples with thrombocytosis
Authors: Roccaforte Vincenzo , Daves Massimo , Alfreijat Adawiya , Riva Monica , Leitner Maria , Filippi Stefania , Angaroni Giulio , Montani Franco , Platzgummer Stefan , Lippi Giuseppe
Published: April 2016

Background: Several factors that can lead to falsely elevated values of serum. Thrombocytosis is one of these factors, since breakage or activation of platelets during blood coagulation in vitro may lead to spurious release of potassium. The purpose of the study was to evaluate to which extent the platelet count may impact on potassium in both serum and plasma.

Methods: The study population consisted of 42 subjects with platelets values comprised between 20 and 750×109/L. In each sample potassium was measured in both serum and plasma using potentiometric indirect method on the analyzer Modular P800 (Roche, Milan, Italy). Platelet count was performed with the hematological analyzer Advia 120 (Siemens, Milano, Italy).

Results: Significant differences were found between potassium values in serum and in plasma. A significant correlation was also observed between serum potassium values and the platelet count in whole blood, but not with the age, sex, erythrocyte and leukocyte counts in whole blood. No similar correlation was noticed between plasma potassium and platelet count in whole blood. The frequency of hyperkalemia was also found to be higher in serum (20%) than in plasma (7%) in samples with a platelet count in whole blood >450×109/L.

Conclusions: The results of this study show that platelets in the biological samples may impact on potassium measurement when exceeding 450×109/L. We henceforth suggest that potassium measurement in plasma may be more accurate than in serum, especially in subjects with thrombocytosis.
A Novel Design of Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna for UWB Application
Authors: Yang Xiaolin , Yu Ziliang , Wu Zheng , Shen Huajiao
Published: April 2016

In this paper, we present a novel frequency reconfigurable antenna which could be easily operate in a single notched-band (WiMAX (3.3–3.6 GHz)) UWB frequency band, another single notched-band (WLAN (5–6 GHz)) UWB frequency band and the dual band-notched UWB frequency band (the stopband covers the WiMAX (3.3–3.6 GHz) and WLAN (5–6 GHz)). The reconfigurability is achieved by changing the states of PIN diodes. The simulated results are in agreement well with the measured results. And the measured patterns are slightly changed with antenna reconfiguration. The proposed antenna is a good candidate for various UWB applications.
High-Current Pulsed Electron Treatment of Hypoeutectic Al–10Si Alloy
Authors: Diankun Lu , Bo Gao , Guanglin Zhu , Jike Lv , Liang Hu
Published: April 2016

This paper reports, for the first time, an analysis of the effect of high-current pulsed electron beam (HCPEB) on a hypoeutectic Al–10Si alloy. The Al–10Si alloy was treated by HCPEB in order to see the potential of this fairly recent technique in modifying its wear resistance. For the beam energy density of 3 J/cm2 used in the present work, the melting mode was operative and led to the formation of a “wavy” surface and the absence of mass primary Si phase and eutectic microstructure. The surface nanocrystallization of primary and eutectic Si phases led to the increase in macro-hardness of the top surface layer, and the wear resistance was drastically improved with a factor of 4.
Geometry and Material Constraint Effects on Creep Crack Growth Behavior in Welded Joints
Authors: Li Y. , Wang G. Z. , Xuan F. Z. , Tu S. T.
Published: April 2016

In this work, the geometry and material constraint effects on creep crack growth (CCG) and behavior in welded joints were investigated. The CCG paths and rates of two kinds of specimen geometry (C(T) and M(T)) with initial cracks located at soft HAZ (heat-affected zone with lower creep strength) and different material mismatches were simulated. The effect of constraint on creep crack initiation (CCI) time was discussed. The results show that there exists interaction between geometry and material constraints in terms of their effects on CCG rate and CCI time of welded joints. Under the condition of low geometry constraint, the effect of material constraint on CCG rate and CCI time becomes more obvious. Higher material constraint can promote CCG due to the formation of higher stress triaxiality around crack tip. Higher geometry constraint can increase CCG rate and reduce CCI time of welded joints. Both geometry and material constraints should be considered in creep life assessment and design for high-temperature welded components.
In Situ Gasification Chemical Looping Combustion of Coal Using the Mixed Oxygen Carrier of Natural Anhydrite Ore and Calcined Limestone
Authors: Min Zheng , Laihong Shen
Published: April 2016

The utilization of CaSO4-based oxygen carrier suffers the deactivation problem caused by sulphur loss. To capture the gas sulphides and to improve the stability of CaSO4 oxygen carrier, calcined limestone was introduced into the fuel reactor of Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC). Kinetic behaviors and thermodynamics of the combined process of coal gasification and oxygen carrier reduction using the mixed oxygen carrier CaSO4-CaO under different atmospheres were investigated. The effects of reaction temperature, gasification intermediate, and molar ratio of CaO to CaSO4 on gas sulphide emissions, CO2 generation, and distribution of other gas emissions and characterization of solid products are taken into account. It is found the CaO-based additive evidently suppressed the sulphur emissions, and improved both chemical reaction rate and CO2 generation efficiency. The sulfation products, both CaS and CaSO4, can be used as oxygen carrier later. The optimum reaction parameters are evaluated and obtained in terms of gas sulphide emissions, CO2 capture, other gas releases and maintenance of oxygen transfer capability.
Reform der kommunalen Finanzbeziehungen: Kommunale Umsatzsteuerbeteiligung unter Gewerbesteuer-Wettbewerbselementen / Reform of Local Fiscal Relationships: Communal Share of German Value-added Tax with Elements of Interregional Business Tax Competition
Authors: Mudrack Tony
Published: April 2016

The Business tax in Germany (German: Gewerbesteuer) has remained a continuous problem in spite of the recent economic boom. There has been a dramatic resurgence of populist voices calling for the abolition of the German Business tax.

Regardless of these debates, the structural deficits of the business tax are undeniable. As one of the main sources of tax revenues for German local authority it is subject to tremendous economic cycle volatility, because it is widely perceived as being a tax on profit. A further problem is that many other problems concerning tax-based deficiencies within the German Business tax law are arising. Consequently, the number of business enterprises actually paying the business tax is negligible. A serious consequence of all these deficits is that the allocation of public investments becomes extremely hindered.

For this reason a completely unique plan for reforming the recent local fiscal relationships is presented in this paper. It explicitly argues for the preservation of the German Business tax while nevertheless sustainable stabilising the revenues of German local authorities by means of allowing them a share of the German Value-added tax (German: Umsatzsteuer). This share is distributed to local authorities by their individual share of local revenues of German business tax and total tax revenues of Business taxation.
Productivity and Size of the Export Market
Authors: Wagner Joachim
Published: April 2016

Using unique recently released nationally representative high-quality data at the plant level, this paper presents the first comprehensive evidence on the relationship between productivity and size of the export market for Germany, a leading actor on the world market for manufactured goods. It documents that firms that export to countries inside the euro-zone are more productive than firms that sell their products in Germany only, but less productive than firms that export to countries outside the euro-zone, too. This is in line with the hypothesis that export markets outside the euro-zone have higher entry costs that can only be paid by more productive firms.
Beitragssatz, Kassenwettbewerb und Gesundheitsreform / Premium Rates, Competition Among Health Insurance Funds and the Health Care Reform 2007
Authors: Andersen Hanfried H. , Grabka Markus M. , Schwarze Johannes
Published: April 2016

The premium rates paid for statutory health insurance in Germany play a key role in the competition among health care funds. With the most recent health care reform (GKV-Wettbewerbsstärkungsgesetz GKV-WSG), a range of new products have been introduced that could erode the advantageous selling proposition of the premium rates. In addition to the pure monetary incentive to change health insurance provider, the new products include aspects that are becoming increasingly important to insured persons, such as the assessment of their own morbidity and the level and quality of health care provision. We find that current morbidity, experiences in morbidity, and expectations about morbidity will gain in importance when choosing health care provider.

Using micro-data for the years 1999 to 2004 from the German Socio-Economic Panel study (SOEP), we investigate the willingness to change health provider in a multivariate setting. The SOEP data will be matched with register information about premium rates of all statutory health insurance funds in Germany. Applying a multinomial logit model, we show that there are two prototypes of insured people who change funds. The characteristics of those who changed funds can be used to evaluate the future developments in statutory health insurance in Germany, assuming that customer mobility will continue to increase.
Theorie und Praxis des Risikostrukturausgleichs / Risk Adjustment in Theory and Practice
Authors: Göpffarth Dirk
Published: April 2016

This article reviews the basic theoretical model of risk adjustment (Glazer/McGuire 2000) with a special focus on a coherent presentation of the main results. With adverse selection a regulator pursuing efficiency and solidarity objectives will need a risk adjustment scheme acting on a signal to accomplish both aims. With an imperfect signal this result will not hold. The regulator can react by trying to find more informative signals or by changing the calculation of the risk adjustment scheme (optimal risk adjustment). The model is then extended to derive results on the associated incentives regarding economic efficiency, manipulation of signals and innovation. The incentives will hold with perfect signals but may be violated in the imperfect signal setting. Optimal risk adjustment will most likely have a negative effect on these incentives. The results are contrasted with the empirical literature on the risk adjustment procedure in Germany which is centred on risk selection, the choice of risk adjustors and incentive effects. The paper concludes with an outlook on the ongoing reform of the German risk adjustment procedure.
Zur Dualität von GKV und PKV / The Future of Private and Public Health Insurance in Germany
Authors: Henke Klaus Dirk
Published: April 2016

The center of the article deals with the future of the public and private health insurance system in Germany. It analyses therefore both the statutory fund system and the private health insurers. Particular emphasis is put on the Social Health Insurance Competition Strengthening Act 2007 according to which Private Health Insurances will be more affordable for lower income individuals by requiring private insurers to offer a basic benefit package at lower premiums. The idea of managed care has gained momentum in German discussions on health care reform over the past years. Managed care and stronger patient guidance are believed to improve quality of care and to control costs by increasing coordination and the efficient use of health care ressources. In this new environment the question of a possible privatization of the Statutory Fund System arises, a development the Dutch health care system just accomplished. The core idea is to build up non-profit-organisations with integrated care models on the basis of private law. The cons and pros of a new legal framework for the German health insurance system are carefully discussed. Whereas new forms of care may result in less choice for patients, they enable payers to contract selectively and to become players responsible for quality and efficiency of services.
Unternehmenszusammenschlüsse auf Krankenhausmärkten aus sozialrechtlicher und kartellrechtlicher Sicht / Mergers on Hospital Markets from the Perspective of Social and Antitrust Law
Authors: Schwintowski Hans-Peter
Published: April 2016

For the first time in 2005 the Federal Cartel Office prohibited two concentrations of municipal and private hospitals because they were expected to create or strengthen a dominant position in the market. The High Court of Düsseldorf (OLG) confirmed this view. An appeal is pending with the Supreme Federal Court of Justice (BGH) and will likely be ruled on in early summer 2008. Parallel to this appeal process a petition for a ministerial authorisation was forwarded which was supported by the Monopolies Commission. The petition was refused by the Minster for economic affairs and technology (Michael Glos).

This article shows that the application of merger control regulations to hospital fusions is counterproductive. The intervention of the Federal Cartel Office means that not more but less competition will be generated. Moreover, the danger arises that the interdiction of hospital fusions will prevent the hospitals from fulfilling their services of general interest to a sufficient extent (Art. 86 II Treaty on European Union).

Furthermore, the article shows that the peremptory regulation in § 69 Social Security Code V (SGB V) allows no opportunity worth mentioning for the application of the regulations on merger controle in the act against Restraints on Competition (GWB). If however these rules should be applied to hospital fusions the product market and the geographical market will have to be defined differenty: Geographically in non urban regions the market cachement area extents between 250 and 300 km, in urban areas it dwindles to approximately 150 km.
Preisbildung bei ambulant und stationär erbrachten Gesundheitsleistungen / Pricing of Ambulatory and Stationary Health Services
Authors: Neubauer Günter , Pfister Florian
Published: April 2016

In all health care systems exists governmental regulation, as the market for health is unanimously regarded as imperfect. The German health care market is a good example for a strongly regulated market in nearly each submarket, partially the determination of prices. Reimbursement of health goods and services is overwhelmingly collectively contracted between the health insurers and healthcare providers. In this article, we begin with the description of central functions of prices in the health care sector and components of reimbursement systems. After the general thoughts follows an overview of the concrete reimbursement reality in Germany’s ambulatory and stationary care. We identify and discuss pro and contra the trend towards single prices for identical health services in all of Germany. Another, in someway opposite, trend is less collective bargaining between health insurers and associations of health providers, which gets increasingly substituted with selective contracting. Another issue we cover is the relationship between price competition and quality competition.
Medizinische Versorgungszentren / Ambulatory Health Care Centres
Authors: Amelung Volker , Cornelius Felix
Published: April 2016

The demographic, technological and economic changes in Germany require a profound reform of the health care system, especially concerning the ambulant medical care. For many years too strict legal regulations prohibited the development of adequate care structures; the major reform of 2004 has introduced new tools to be used by “entrepreneurial doctors’’; however, these tools are still in their experimental phase. The changing demands include an increasing specialisation of the ambulant medical care, lack of data and thus knowledge exchange between different doctors treating the same patient, and its insufficient cost effectiveness. In some regions of Germany there is also an alarming shortage of doctors and medical care. Another challenge lies in the increase and therefore growing impact of chronic diseases.

This article focuses on the weaknesses and challenges that public health professionals are facing in Germany today. One way of matching the diverse needs is to establish ambulatory health care centres and thereby to locally concentrate interdisciplinary expertise. The main objective of these policlinics is to create patient-oriented structures and to ensure flexibility and economic efficiency of integrated care as well as sustainability within the health sector.
Nach welchen ökonomischen Methoden sollten Gesundheitsleistungen in Deutschland evaluiert werden? / According to Which Economic Methods Should Health Care Services Become Evaluated in Germany?
Authors: Schulenburg J.-Matthias Graf von der , Vauth Christoph
Published: April 2016

The paper presents the methodological challenges of the introduction of cost-benefit assessment by the German legislative (Competition Enhancement Act). Based on the standards for health economic evaluation accepted by the international scientific health economic community, this paper provides a minimum catalogue of methods and criteria to meet the legal German requirements. The methodological framework presented in this paper discusses the perspective to be used to evaluate cost and benefits, lists the appropriate study form, names the usage of primary or secondary data, the description of the cost and benefit calculation, shows the specific need on modelling and how to handle uncertainties and calls for a disclosure of potential conflict of interests.

Further more, the paper contains detailed recommendations for the assessment-process in Germany. According to the new Competition Enhancement Act, the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (Institut für Qualität und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen, IQWiG) has to evaluate the cost-benefit ratio of pharmaceuticals in Germany. The process should be organised within two sequently parts: At first the development of a reporting plan that defines the comparative interventions to be included, the target criteria, assessment methods and the schedule to be observed, and secondly the implementation of the cost-benefit assessment.
Konjunktur und Generationenbilanz – eine Analyse anhand des HP-Filters / Business Cycle Effects on Generational Accounting – An Analysis using the HP-Filter
Authors: Benz Ulrich , Hagist Christian
Published: April 2016

Generational accounting is - given the future demographic developments in OECD countries - an established tool to quantify the fiscal situation of public coffers. However, as all economic methods dealing with future developments it has critical points. One in particular is the calibration on one base year which neglects business cycle effects on the generational accounts. This paper aims to analyze in which way and to which degree generational accounts and the associated sustainability indicators are biased due to the neglecting of business cycle effects. To do this we use the Hodrick-Prescott-Filter to estimate the business cycle effects for the German general government budgets from 1996 to 2005. We then calculate sustainability indicators based on all years given the actual and the business cycle adjusted budgets. It can be stated that the neglect of the business cycle definitively has an effect on the outcomes of the generational accounting framework. However the magnitude of this effect is rather small, at least for Germany. As a by-product of our analysis, we show that the German fiscal policy was rather pro-cyclical during the examined time frame and that the effects of these policies on the generational accounts are larger than the business cycle effects.
Agent-Based Simulations for Electricity Market Regulation Advice: Procedures and an Example
Authors: Weidlich Anke , Veit Daniel
Published: April 2016

This paper discusses the use of agent-based simulation models for regulatory advice in electricity market regulation. It briefly introduces the necessary procedures and the state-of-the-art of the methodology, and outlines its possible range of application. In a second part, the paper presents an agent-based simulation model developed by the authors. The model can be applied for analyzing different market designs and market structures in order to derive evidence for regulatory advice. This is exemplified through the analysis of two settlement rules in the balancing power market and of several divestiture scenarios of the German electricity sector.
Implementing a Dual Income Tax in Germany – Effects on Labor Supply and Income Distribution
Authors: Wagenhals Gerhard , Buck Jürgen
Published: April 2016

Existing quantitative studies on the impact of a dual income tax on the German economy usually are based on computable general equilibrium models. They assume one representative household. Their results are sensitive to one behavioral parameter, the labor supply elasticity, which is assumed to be given exogenously. This paper presents a microeconometric evaluation of the labor supply and distribution effects of a dual income tax in Germany based on a representative sample of the German population.We observe small positive effects on labor supply and a small increase in economic inequality.
Struktur und Ausmaß der intergenerationalen Einkommensmobilität in Deutschland / Structure and Extent of Intergenerational Income Mobility in Germany
Authors: Schnitzlein Daniel
Published: April 2016

The paper examines the structure and the extent of intergenerational income mobility in Germany. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel it is possible to look at both, father-son and father-daughter pairs. In the present case the intergenerational income elasticity is 0.26 for father-son pairs and 0.36 for father-daughter pairs. A more detailed analysis is carried out, applying a quantile regression approach. In a third step I estimate the transition matrices of sons. Although there is some persistence at both ends of the income distribution, the results show a high level of intergenerational mobility in Germany.
Wie lässt sich die Zulassungsinformation der Studieninteressenten verbessern? / How Can the Information About the Conditions for College Admission be Improved?
Authors: Müller Christoph
Published: April 2016

The politics of intensifying competition in higher education by deregulation and decentralisation caused in Germany problems in the field of college admissions. In the case of excess demand high transaction costs and inefficient allocation resulted from multiple applications. In a decentralized matching market the number of these applications could be reduced by increasing the number of those prospective applicants which are able to calculate their chance of admission as nearly certain or as almost without a prospect.Of special interest for this calculation are the percentage of accepted applicants and the cut off grades of the admissions procedures in the past. A cut off grade will be the more suitable for the purpose of prognosis as the applicant can foresee her or his own performance (e.g. assessed with points) in the admission procedure; and if it can be stated to which extent the cut off grade will react to varying numbers of applicants. The universities should be obliged to publish the relevant key figures, and they should abstain from selection procedures causing high uncertainty to the applicant‘s endea vours for prognosis.
Produktdifferenzierung in deutschen Industrieunternehmen 1995 – 2004: Ausmaß und Bestimmungsgründe / Product Diversification in German Manufacturing Enterprises 1995 – 2004: Extent and Determinants
Authors: Wagner Joachim
Published: April 2016

Interest in the theoretical and empirical analysis of multi-product enterprises is growing. This paper uses newly available representative longitudinal data covering the years 1995 to 2004 to document for the first time the extent of product diversification in German manufacturing enterprises and the role of single- and multi-product firms. In 2004 about 60 percent of all enterprises were multi-product firms, producing 4.4 products on average.Multi-product firms are more often found among the larger enterprises. In 2004 the share of multi-product enterprises in total sales and total exports was 81 percent and 84 percent, respectively. Enterprises producing a large number of products are a rare species - only about three percent of all firms produce more than ten different products. This extent of product diversification is rather stable over the time period under consideration. The empirical investigation demonstrates that compared to single-product firms multi-product firms are larger, have a higher productivity, and both a higher human capital intensity and research and development intensity. These characteristics of multi-product firms do exist before single-product enterprises turn to multi-product enterprises. Therefore, and in accordance with the resource view, they can be considered as determinants of product diversification at the firm level.
Documenting the Brain Drain of “La Crème de la Crème”
Authors: Docquier Frédéric , Rapoport Hillel
Published: April 2016

Most of the recent literature on the effects of the brain drain on source countries consists of theoretical papers and cross-country empirical studies. In this paper we complement the literature through three case studies on very different regional and professional contexts: the African medical brain drain, the exodus of European researchers to the United States, and the contribution of the Indian diaspora to the rise of the IT sector in India. While the three case studies concern the very upper tail of the skill and education distribution, their effects of source countries are contrasted: clearly negative in the case of the exodus of European researchers, clearly positive in the case of the Indian diaspora’s contribution to putting India on the IT global map, and mixed in the case of the medical brain drain out of Africa.
Wage Adjustment, Competitiveness and Unemployment – East Germany after Unification
Authors: Smolny Werner
Published: April 2016

Nearly 20 years after unification large differences of the labor market situation in East and West Germany persist. Wages are still considerably lower, the unemployment rate is about twice of the West German level, and the competitiveness of the East German economy seems to be low. This paper analyzes the process of (relative) wage adjustment in East Germany and the resulting development of competitiveness and unemployment differentials. We present estimates of the wage adjustment in East vs. West Germany based on wage convergence and effects of unemployment on wage growth. The central focus of the paper is the empirical analysis of the interaction of the development of competitiveness and the labor market situation. The results reveal large equilibrium gaps for wages and unemployment which are based on the wage-setting process, the behavior of competitiveness and the adjustment of unemployment.
Employment Adjustments on the Internal and External Labour Market – An Empirical Study with Personnel Records of a German Company
Authors: Gerlach Knut , Hübler Olaf
Published: April 2016

Firms are affected by the product demand. This leads to employment adjustments. In the literature we find only very few contributions investigating the issue whether internal adjustments are linked and which relationships exist with external adjustments. Are they of a complementary or substitutive nature? Furthermore, it is of interest to find out, whether we can observe an obvious trend and whether the adjustments are driven by cyclical movements.

For this study we have an extensive data set of a large German manufacturing company, which supplies innovative products for the domestic and international market, provided on amonthly base from January 1999 to December 2005. The empirical analysis starts with descriptive statistics. We find that the employment adjustment cycle coincides only to a certain degree with the macroeconomic cycle. Internal and external adjustments are more characterized by complementarity than by substitution. Over the observed period we cannot detect analogous wage adjustments. It is noticeable that in 2003 compared with the years before the number of employees is substantially reduced. The econometric investigation is based on a two-stage approach. We start with a bivariate probit estimation in order to extract the relationship between the probability of overtime and of promotion. Unobserved variables have opposite effects on the former and the latter adjustment instrument. Furthermore, we detect a negative trend of internal employment adjustments. Cyclical effects are ambiguous. The next step, the determination of external adjustments with respect to overtime and promotion adjustments, is split into two estimates. On the one hand we do not distinguish between the type of external employment adjustment and on the other hand we use this information separating between quits, layoffs, workers with a cancellation agreement and with a transition into a transfer organisation. The first approach demonstrates that a promotion reduces the probability to leave the firm while overtime is positively associated with an external job change. This pattern holds generally speaking in the second, more detailed estimates. Quits are the exception. In this case we observe opposite effects. Finally, we cannot detect any influences of promotions on cancellation agreements.
The Creative Class, Bohemians and Local Labor Market Performance
Authors: Möller Joachim , Tubadji Annie
Published: April 2016

The paper aims at testing Florida’s concept of the Creative Class using panel data for 323West German regions for the time period 1975-2004. Applying a dynamic system approach based on GMM, we find that the local concentration of the Creative Class has predictive power for the economic development of a region and tends to outperform traditional indicators of human capital. However, our results do not support Florida’s assertion that the creative workers flock where the Bohemians are. According to our findings, the Creative Class is attracted by favorable economic conditions as indicated by employment growth or an increasing wage bill.