Hadronic Structure Functions of the Photon Measured at LEP

The measurements of hadronic structure functions of the photon based on the reaction ee --> ee gamma^(*)(P^2) gamma^*(Q^2)--> ee hadrons are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, Conference contribution to DIS 2000, 25-30 April 2000, Liverpool, England, to appear in the Proceeding

What determines banks’ customer choice? Evidence from transition countries

This paper explores how bank characteristics and the institutional environment influence the composition of banks’ loan portfolios. Using a new data set based on the recent EBRD Banking Environment and Performance Survey (BEPS), which was conducted in 2005 for 220 banks in 20 transition countries, we show that bank characteristics such as ownership and size are important determinants of bank customer focus. In particular, we find that foreign banks are relatively strongly involved in mortgage lending and lending to subsidiaries of foreign companies, while lending relatively less to large domestic firms. We also find that small banks lend relatively more to SMEs than large banks do, while large banks appear to have a comparative advantage in lending to large customers. We do not find much evidence for the hypothesis that better legal credit protection changes bank portfolio composition. An exception is that banks that perceive pledge and mortgage laws to be of high quality focus more on mortgage lending.banking, portfolio composition

The Politics of Selection: Towards a Transformative Model of Environmental Innovation

As a purposive sustainability transition requires environmental innovation and innovation policy, we discuss potentials and limitations of three dominant strands of literature in this field, namely the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions (MLP), the innovation systems approach (IS), and the long-wave theory of techno-economic paradigm shifts (LWT). All three are epistemologically rooted in an evolutionary understanding of socio-technical change. While these approaches are appropriate to understand market-driven processes of change, they may be deficient as analytical tools for exploring and designing processes of purposive societal transformation. In particular, we argue that the evolutionary mechanism of selection is the key to introducing the strong directionality required for purposive transformative change. In all three innovation theories, we find that the prime selection environment is constituted by the market and, thus, normative societal goals like sustainability are sidelined. Consequently, selection is depoliticised and neither strong directionality nor incumbent regime destabilisation are societally steered. Finally, we offer an analytical framework that builds upon a more political conception of selection and retention and calls for new political institutions to make normatively guided selections. Institutions for transformative innovation need to improve the capacities of complex societies to make binding decisions in politically contested fields

Tractable Simulation of Error Correction with Honest Approximations to Realistic Fault Models

In previous work, we proposed a method for leveraging efficient classical simulation algorithms to aid in the analysis of large-scale fault tolerant circuits implemented on hypothetical quantum information processors. Here, we extend those results by numerically studying the efficacy of this proposal as a tool for understanding the performance of an error-correction gadget implemented with fault models derived from physical simulations. Our approach is to approximate the arbitrary error maps that arise from realistic physical models with errors that are amenable to a particular classical simulation algorithm in an "honest" way; that is, such that we do not underestimate the faults introduced by our physical models. In all cases, our approximations provide an "honest representation" of the performance of the circuit composed of the original errors. This numerical evidence supports the use of our method as a way to understand the feasibility of an implementation of quantum information processing given a characterization of the underlying physical processes in experimentally accessible examples.Comment: 34 pages, 9 tables, 4 figure

Immobilienkreditfonds: Systemisches Risiko oder Ergänzung zur Bankfinanzierung?

Kreditfonds und insbesondere Immobilienkreditfonds haben in den letzten Jahren zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen. Dieser Trend beruht zum einen darauf, dass diese Fonds im aktuellen Niedrigzinsumfeld für Investoren attraktive und stabile Cash-Flows generieren können. Auch für Banken und Versicherungen sind sie interessante Anlageobjekte. Zusätzlich ermöglicht der Einsatz von Kreditfonds Banken, Kredite zu veräußern und somit Risiken zu steuern und regulatorisches Eigenkapital freizusetzen. Da sich der europäische Verbriefungsmarkt noch nicht ausreichend von der Globalen Finanzkrise aus dem Jahr 2008 erholt hat, stellen Kreditfonds zunehmend eine interessante Ergänzung dar. Vor dem Hintergrund, dass das europäische Bankensystem die kriseninduzierte Bilanzrezession noch nicht hinreichend überwunden hat und die Banken vor allem in den Peripherieländern nur zögerlich Kredite vergeben, können Kreditfonds jedoch auch zu Konkurrenten von Banken werden. Im Rahmen dieses Policy Papers werden deshalb (i) die Vorteile der direkten Kreditvergabe durch Fonds analysiert, (ii) die Implikationen für die Finanzstabilität, Wettbewerb und den Investorenschutz aus dem zunehmenden Wachstum der Fonds hergeleitet und bewertet sowie (iii) die direkten Risiken, die durch Kreditfonds entstehen könnten, analysiert und Regulierungsmaßnahmen diskutiert. Es zeigt sich, dass Fonds Banken bei der Kreditvergabe unterstützen können. Dies gilt für die Finanzierung und Teilfinanzierung von Segmenten, für die Banken sehr viel Eigenkapital aufwenden müssten. Kreditfonds sind aber anfällig für einen plötzlichen und unerwarteten Abzug der Einlagen. Aus diesem Grund ist es unerlässlich, sie als geschlossene Fonds aufzulegen. Der Investorenkreis sollte sich zudem auf Institutionelle Investoren konzentrieren, da Kreditfonds in illiquide Kredite investieren und sehr stark dem Kreditzyklus ausgesetzt sind