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Biological materials, in addition to having remarkable physical properties, can also change shape and volume. These shape and volume changes allow organisms to form new tissue during growth and morphogenesis, as well as to repair and remodel old tissues. In addition shape or volume changes in an existing tissue can lead to useful motion or force generation (actuation) that may even still function in the dead organism, such as in the well known example of the hygroscopic opening or closing behaviour of the pine cone. Both growth and actuation of tissues are mediated, in addition to biochemical factors, by the physical constraints of the surrounding environment and the architecture of the underlying tissue. This habilitation thesis describes biophysical studies carried out over the past years on growth and swelling mediated shape changes in biological systems. These studies use a combination of theoretical and experimental tools to attempt to elucidate the physical mechanisms governing geometry controlled tissue growth and geometry constrained tissue swelling. It is hoped that in addition to helping understand fundamental processes of growth and morphogenesis, ideas stemming from such studies can also be used to design new materials for medicine and robotics.
Potentiality of nanosized materials has been largely proved but a closer look shows that a significant percentage of this research is related to oxides and metals, while the number drastically drops for metallic ceramics, namely transition metal nitrides and metal carbides. The lack of related publications do not reflect their potential but rather the difficulties related to their synthesis as dense and defect-free structures, fundamental prerequisites for advanced mechanical applications.
The present habilitation work aims to close the gap between preparation and processing, indicating novel synthetic pathways for a simpler and sustainable synthesis of transition metal nitride (MN) and carbide (MC) based nanostructures and easier processing thereafter. In spite of simplicity and reliability, the designed synthetic processes allow the production of functional materials, with the demanded size and morphology.
The goal was achieved exploiting classical and less-classical precursors, ranging from common metal salts and molecules (e.g. urea, gelatin, agar, etc), to more exotic materials, such as leafs, filter paper and even wood. It was found that the choice of precursors and reaction conditions makes it possible to control chemical composition (going for instance from metal oxides to metal oxy-nitrides to metal nitrides, or from metal nitrides to metal carbides, up to quaternary systems), size (from 5 to 50 nm) and morphology (going from mere spherical nanoparticles to rod-like shapes, fibers, layers, meso-porous and hierarchical structures, etc). The nature of the mixed precursors also allows the preparation of metal nitrides/carbides based nanocomposites, thus leading to multifunctional materials (e.g. MN/MC@C, MN/MC@PILs, etc) but also allowing dispersion in liquid media. Control over composition, size and morphology is obtained with simple adjustment of the main route, but also coupling it with processes such as electrospin, aerosol spray, bio-templating, etc. Last but not least, the nature of the precursor materials also allows easy processing, including printing, coating, casting, film and thin layers preparation, etc).
The designed routes are, concept-wise, similar and they all start by building up a secondary metal ion-N/C precursor network, which converts, upon heat treatment, into an intermediate “glass”. This glass stabilizes the nascent nanoparticles during their nucleation and impairs their uncontrolled growth during the heat treatment (scheme 1). This way, one of the main problems related to the synthesis of MN/MC, i.e. the need of very high temperature, could also be overcome (from up to 2000°C, for classical synthesis, down to 700°C in the present cases). The designed synthetic pathways are also conceived to allow usage of non-toxic compounds and to minimize (or even avoid) post-synthesis purification, still bringing to phase pure and well-defined (crystalline) nanoparticles.
This research aids to simplify the preparation of MN/MC, making these systems now readily available in suitable amounts both for fundamental and applied science. The prepared systems have been tested (in some cases for the first time) in many different fields, e.g. battery (MnN0.43@C shown a capacity stabilized at a value of 230 mAh/g, with coulombic efficiencies close to 100%), as alternative magnetic materials (Fe3C nanoparticles were prepared with different size and therefore different magnetic behavior, superparamagnetic or ferromagnetic, showing a saturation magnetization value up to 130 emu/g, i.e. similar to the value expected for the bulk material), as filters and for the degradation of organic dyes (outmatching the performance of carbon), as catalysts (both as active phase but also as active support, leading to high turnover rate and, more interesting, to tunable selectivity). Furthermore, with this route, it was possible to prepare for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, well-defined and crystalline MnN0.43, Fe3C and Zn1.7GeN1.8O nanoparticles via bottom-up approaches.
Once the synthesis of these materials can be made straightforward, any further modification, combination, manipulation, is in principle possible and new systems can be purposely conceived (e.g. hybrids, nanocomposites, ferrofluids, etc).
Biological materials have ever been used by humans because of their remarkable properties. This is surprising since the materials are formed under physiological conditions and with commonplace constituents. Nature thus not only provides us with inspiration for designing new materials but also teaches us how to use soft molecules to tune interparticle and external forces to structure and assemble simple building blocks into functional entities. Magnetotactic bacteria and their chain of magnetosomes represent a striking example of such an accomplishment where a very simple living organism controls the properties of inorganics via organics at the nanometer-scale to form a single magnetic dipole that orients the cell in the Earth magnetic field lines. My group has developed a biological and a bio-inspired research based on these bacteria. My research, at the interface between chemistry, materials science, physics, and biology focuses on how biological systems synthesize, organize and use minerals. We apply the design principles to sustainably form hierarchical materials with controlled properties that can be used e.g. as magnetically directed nanodevices towards applications in sensing, actuating, and transport. In this thesis, I thus first present how magnetotactic bacteria intracellularly form magnetosomes and assemble them in chains. I developed an assay, where cells can be switched from magnetic to non-magnetic states. This enabled to study the dynamics of magnetosome and magnetosome chain formation. We found that the magnetosomes nucleate within minutes whereas chains assembles within hours. Magnetosome formation necessitates iron uptake as ferrous or ferric ions. The transport of the ions within the cell leads to the formation of a ferritin-like intermediate, which subsequently is transported and transformed within the magnetosome organelle in a ferrihydrite-like precursor. Finally, magnetite crystals nucleate and grow toward their mature dimension. In addition, I show that the magnetosome assembly displays hierarchically ordered nano- and microstructures over several levels, enabling the coordinated alignment and motility of entire populations of cells. The magnetosomes are indeed composed of structurally pure magnetite. The organelles are partly composed of proteins, which role is crucial for the properties of the magnetosomes. As an example, we showed how the protein MmsF is involved in the control of magnetosome size and morphology. We have further shown by 2D X-ray diffraction that the magnetosome particles are aligned along the same direction in the magnetosome chain. We then show how magnetic properties of the nascent magnetosome influence the alignment of the particles, and how the proteins MamJ and MamK coordinate this assembly. We propose a theoretical approach, which suggests that biological forces are more important than physical ones for the chain formation. All these studies thus show how magnetosome formation and organization are under strict biological control, which is associated with unprecedented material properties. Finally, we show that the magnetosome chain enables the cells to find their preferred oxygen conditions if the magnetic field is present. The synthetic part of this work shows how the understanding of the design principles of magnetosome formation enabled me to perform biomimetic synthesis of magnetite particles within the highly desired size range of 25 to 100 nm. Nucleation and growth of such particles are based on aggregation of iron colloids termed primary particles as imaged by cryo-high resolution TEM. I show how additives influence magnetite formation and properties. In particular, MamP, a so-called magnetochrome proteins involved in the magnetosome formation in vivo, enables the in vitro formation of magnetite nanoparticles exclusively from ferrous iron by controlling the redox state of the process. Negatively charged additives, such as MamJ, retard magnetite nucleation in vitro, probably by interacting with the iron ions. Other additives such as e.g. polyarginine can be used to control the colloidal stability of stable-single domain sized nanoparticles. Finally, I show how we can “glue” magnetic nanoparticles to form propellers that can be actuated and swim with the help of external magnetic fields. We propose a simple theory to explain the observed movement. We can use the theoretical framework to design experimental conditions to sort out the propellers depending on their size and effectively confirm this prediction experimentally. Thereby, we could image propellers with size down to 290 nm in their longer dimension, much smaller than what perform so far.
Hydrothermal carbonisation
(2013)
The world’s appetite for energy is producing growing quantities of CO2, a pollutant that contributes to the warming of the planet and which currently cannot be removed or stored in any significant way. Other natural reserves are also being devoured at alarming rates and current assessments suggest that we will need to identify alternative sources in the near future. With the aid of materials chemistry it should be possible to create a world in which energy use needs not be limited and where usable energy can be produced and stored wherever it is needed, where we can minimize and remediate emissions as new consumer products are created, whilst healing the planet and preventing further disruptive and harmful depletion of valuable mineral assets. In achieving these aims, the creation of new and very importantly greener industries and new sustainable pathways are crucial. In all of the aforementioned applications, new materials based on carbon, ideally produced via inexpensive, low energy consumption methods, using renewable resources as precursors, with flexible morphologies, pore structures and functionalities, are increasingly viewed as ideal candidates to fulfill these goals. The resulting materials should be a feasible solution for the efficient storage of energy and gases. At the end of life, such materials ideally must act to improve soil quality and to act as potential CO2 storage sinks. This is exactly the subject of this habilitation thesis: an alternative technology to produce carbon materials from biomass in water using low carbonisation temperatures and self-generated pressures. This technology is called hydrothermal carbonisation. It has been developed during the past five years by a group of young and talented researchers working under the supervision of Dr. Titirici at the Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and it is now a well-recognised methodology to produce carbon materials with important application in our daily lives. These applications include electrodes for portable electronic devices, filters for water purification, catalysts for the production of important chemicals as well as drug delivery systems and sensors.
The habilitation thesis covers theoretical investigations on light-induced processes in molecules. The study is focussed on changes of the molecular electronic structure and geometry, caused either by photoexcitation in the event of a spectroscopic analysis, or by a selective control with shaped laser pulses. The applied and developed methods are predominantly based on quantum chemistry as well as on electron and nuclear quantum dynamics, and in parts on molecular dynamics. The studied scientific problems deal with stereoisomerism and the question of how to either switch or distinguish chiral molecules using laser pulses, and with the essentials for the simulation of the spectroscopic response of biochromophores, in order to unravel their photophysics. The accomplished findings not only explain experimental results and extend existing approaches, but also contribute significantly to the basic understanding of the investigated light-driven molecular processes. The main achievements can be divided in three parts: First, a quantum theory for an enantio- and diastereoselective or, in general, stereoselective laser pulse control was developed and successfully applied to influence the chirality of molecular switches. The proposed axially chiral molecules possess different numbers of "switchable" stable chiral conformations, with one particular switch featuring even a true achiral "off"-state which allows to enantioselectively "turn on" its chirality. Furthermore, surface mounted chiral molecular switches with several well-defined orientations were treated, where a newly devised highly flexible stochastic pulse optimization technique provides high stereoselectivity and efficiency at the same time, even for coupled chirality-changing degrees of freedom. Despite the model character of these studies, the proposed types of chiral molecular switches and, all the more, the developed basic concepts are generally applicable to design laser pulse controlled catalysts for asymmetric synthesis, or to achieve selective changes in the chirality of liquid crystals or in chiroptical nanodevices, implementable in information processing or as data storage. Second, laser-driven electron wavepacket dynamics based on ab initio calculations, namely time-dependent configuration interaction, was extended by the explicit inclusion of magnetic field-magnetic dipole interactions for the simulation of the qualitative and quantitative distinction of enantiomers in mass spectrometry by means of circularly polarized ultrashort laser pulses. The developed approach not only allows to explain the origin of the experimentally observed influence of the pulse duration on the detected circular dichroism in the ion yield, but also to predict laser pulse parameters for an optimal distinction of enantiomers by ultrashort shaped laser pulses. Moreover, these investigations in combination with the previous ones provide a fundamental understanding of the relevance of electric and magnetic interactions between linearly or non-linearly polarized laser pulses and (pro-)chiral molecules for either control by enantioselective excitation or distinction by enantiospecific excitation. Third, for selected light-sensitive biological systems of central importance, like e.g. antenna complexes of photosynthesis, simulations of processes which take place during and after photoexcitation of their chromophores were performed, in order to explain experimental (spectroscopic) findings as well as to understand the underlying photophysical and photochemical principles. In particular, aspects of normal mode mixing due to geometrical changes upon photoexcitation and their impact on (time-dependent) vibronic and resonance Raman spectra, as well as on intramolecular energy redistribution were addressed. In order to explain unresolved experimental findings, a simulation program for the calculation of vibronic and resonance Raman spectra, accounting for changes in both vibrational frequencies and normal modes, was created based on a time-dependent formalism. In addition, the influence of the biochemical environment on the electronic structure of the chromophores was studied by electrostatic interactions and mechanical embedding using hybrid quantum-classical methods. Environmental effects were found to be of importance, in particular, for the excitonic coupling of chromophores in light-harvesting complex II. Although the simulations for such highly complex systems are still restricted by various approximations, the improved approaches and obtained results have proven to be important contributions for a better understanding of light-induced processes in biosystems which also adds to efforts of their artificial reproduction.
Die Koloniale Karibik
(2012)
Werden nicht in der Karibik des 19. Jahrhunderts Phänomene und Prozesse vorweg-genommen, die heute erst ins Bewusstsein gelangen? Der Blick auf die kaleidoskopartige Welt der Karibik über literarische und kulturelle Transprozesse in jener Epoche erlaubt völlig neue Einsichten in die frühen Prozesse der kulturellen Globalisierung. Rassistische Diskurse, etablierte Modelle „weißer“ Abolitionisten, Erinnerungspolitiken und die bisher kaum wahrgenommene Rolle der haitianischen Revolution verbinden sich zu einem Amalgam, das unser gängiges Konzept einer genuin westlichen Moderne in Frage stellt.
The Sun is surrounded by a 10^6 K hot atmosphere, the corona. The corona and the solar wind are fully ionized, and therefore in the plasma state. Magnetic fields play an important role in a plasma, since they bind electrically charged particles to their field lines. EUV spectroscopes, like the SUMER instrument on-board the SOHO spacecraft, reveal a preferred heating of coronal ions and strong temperature anisotropies. Velocity distributions of electrons can be measured directly in the solar wind, e.g. with the 3DPlasma instrument on-board the WIND satellite. They show a thermal core, an anisotropic suprathermal halo, and an anti-solar, magnetic-field-aligned, beam or "strahl". For an understanding of the physical processes in the corona, an adequate description of the plasma is needed. Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) treats the plasma simply as an electrically conductive fluid. Multi-fluid models consider e.g. protons and electrons as separate fluids. They enable a description of many macroscopic plasma processes. However, fluid models are based on the assumption of a plasma near thermodynamic equilibrium. But the solar corona is far away from this. Furthermore, fluid models cannot describe processes like the interaction with electromagnetic waves on a microscopic scale. Kinetic models, which are based on particle velocity distributions, do not show these limitations, and are therefore well-suited for an explanation of the observations listed above. For the simplest kinetic models, the mirror force in the interplanetary magnetic field focuses solar wind electrons into an extremely narrow beam, which is contradicted by observations. Therefore, a scattering mechanism must exist that counteracts the mirror force. In this thesis, a kinetic model for electrons in the solar corona and wind is presented that provides electron scattering by resonant interaction with whistler waves. The kinetic model reproduces the observed components of solar wind electron distributions, i.e. core, halo, and a "strahl" with finite width. But the model is not only applicable on the quiet Sun. The propagation of energetic electrons from a solar flare is studied, and it is found that scattering in the direction of propagation and energy diffusion influence the arrival times of flare electrons at Earth approximately to the same degree. In the corona, the interaction of electrons with whistler waves does not only lead to scattering, but also to the formation of a suprathermal halo, as it is observed in interplanetary space. This effect is studied both for the solar wind as well as the closed volume of a coronal magnetic loop. The result is of fundamental importance for solar-stellar relations. The quiet solar corona always produces suprathermal electrons. This process is closely related to coronal heating, and can therefore be expected in any hot stellar corona. In the second part of this thesis it is detailed how to calculate growth or damping rates of plasma waves from electron velocity distributions. The emission and propagation of electron cyclotron waves in the quiet solar corona, and that of whistler waves during solar flares, is studied. The latter can be observed as so-called fiber bursts in dynamic radio spectra, and the results are in good agreement with observed bursts.
Gewässer werden traditionellerweise als abgeschlossene Ökosysteme gesehen, und insbeson¬dere das Zirkulieren von Wasser und Nährstoffen im Pelagial von Seen wird als Beispiel dafür angeführt. Allerdings wurden in der jüngeren Vergangenheit wichtige Verknüpfungen des Freiwasserkörpers von Gewässern aufgezeigt, die einerseits mit dem Benthal und andererseits mit dem Litoral, der terrestrischen Uferzone und ihrem Einzugsgebiet bestehen. Dadurch hat in den vergangen Jahren die horizontale und vertikale Konnektivität der Gewässerökosysteme erhöhtes wissenschaftliches Interesse auf sich gezogen, und damit auch die ökologischen Funktionen des Gewässergrunds (Benthal) und der Uferzonen (Litoral). Aus der neu beschriebenen Konnektivität innerhalb und zwischen diesen Lebensräumen ergeben sich weitreichende Konsequenzen für unser Bild von der Funktionalität der Gewässer. In der vorliegenden Habilitationsschrift wird am Beispiel von Fließgewässern und Seen des nordostdeutschen Flachlandes eine Reihe von internen und externen funktionalen Verknüpfungen in den horizontalen und vertikalen räumlichen Dimensionen aufgezeigt. Die zugrunde liegenden Untersuchungen umfassten zumeist sowohl abiotische als auch biologische Variablen, und umfassten thematisch, methodisch und hinsichtlich der Untersuchungsgewässer ein breites Spektrum. Dabei wurden in Labor- und Feldexperimenten sowie durch quantitative Feldmes¬sungen ökologischer Schlüsselprozesse wie Nährstoffretention, Kohlenstoffumsatz, extrazellu¬läre Enzymaktivität und Ressourcenweitergabe in Nahrungsnetzen (mittels Stabilisotopen¬methode) untersucht. In Bezug auf Fließgewässer wurden dadurch wesentliche Erkenntnisse hinsichtlich der Wirkung einer durch Konnekticität geprägten Hydromorphologie auf die die aquatische Biodiversität und die benthisch-pelagische Kopplung erbracht, die wiederum einen Schlüsselprozess darstellt für die Retention von in der fließenden Welle transportierten Stoffen, und damit letztlich für die Produktivität eines Flussabschnitts. Das Litoral von Seen wurde in Mitteleuropa jahrzehntelang kaum untersucht, so dass die durchgeführten Untersuchungen zur Gemeinschaftsstruktur, Habitatpräferenzen und Nahrungs¬netzverknüpfungen des eulitoralen Makrozoobenthos grundlegend neue Erkenntnisse erbrach¬ten, die auch unmittelbar in Ansätze zur ökologischen Bewertung von Seeufern gemäß EG-Wasserrahmenrichtlinie eingehen. Es konnte somit gezeigt werden, dass die Intensität sowohl die internen als auch der externen ökologischen Konnektivität durch die Hydrologie und Morphologie der Gewässer sowie durch die Verfügbarkeit von Nährstoffen wesentlich beeinflusst wird, die auf diese Weise vielfach die ökologische Funktionalität der Gewässer prägen. Dabei trägt die vertikale oder horizontale Konnektivität zur Stabilisierung der beteiligten Ökosysteme bei, indem sie den Austausch ermöglicht von Pflanzennährstoffen, von Biomasse sowie von migrierenden Organismen, wodurch Phasen des Ressourcenmangels überbrückt werden. Diese Ergebnisse können im Rahmen der Bewirtschaftung von Gewässern dahingehend genutzt werden, dass die Gewährleistung horizontaler und vertikaler Konnektivität in der Regel mit räumlich komplexeren, diverseren, zeitlich und strukturell resilienteren sowie leistungsfähi¬geren Ökosystemen einhergeht, die somit intensiver und sicherer nachhaltig genutzt werden können. Die Nutzung einer kleinen Auswahl von Ökosystemleistungen der Flüsse und Seen durch den Menschen hat oftmals zu einer starken Reduktion der ökologischen Konnektivität, und in der Folge zu starken Verlusten bei anderen Ökosystemleistungen geführt. Die Ergebnisse der dargestellten Forschungen zeigen auch, dass die Entwicklung und Implementierung von Strategien zum integrierten Management von komplexen sozial-ökologischen Systemen wesentlich unterstützt werden kann, wenn die horizontale und vertikale Konnektivität gezielt entwickelt wird.
Parsability approaches of several grammar formalisms generating also non-context-free languages are explored. Chomsky grammars, Lindenmayer systems, grammars with controlled derivations, and grammar systems are treated. Formal properties of these mechanisms are investigated, when they are used as language acceptors. Furthermore, cooperating distributed grammar systems are restricted so that efficient deterministic parsing without backtracking becomes possible. For this class of grammar systems, the parsing algorithm is presented and the feature of leftmost derivations is investigated in detail.
Die vorliegende Arbeit versammelt zwei einleitende Kapitel und zehn Essays, die sich als kritisch-konstruktive Beiträge zu einem "erlebenden Verstehen" (Buck) von Physik lesen lassen. Die traditionelle Anlage von Schulphysik zielt auf eine systematische Darstellung naturwissenschaftlichen Wissens, das dann an ausgewählten Beispielen angewendet wird: Schulexperimente beweisen die Aussagen der Systematik (oder machen sie wenigstens plausibel), ausgewählte Phänomene werden erklärt. In einem solchen Rahmen besteht jedoch leicht die Gefahr, den Bezug zur Lebenswirklichkeit oder den Interessen der Schüler zu verlieren. Diese Problematik ist seit mindestens 90 Jahren bekannt, didaktische Antworten - untersuchendes Lernen, Kontextualisierung, Schülerexperimente etc. - adressieren allerdings eher Symptome als Ursachen. Naturwissenschaft wird dadurch spannend, dass sie ein spezifisch investigatives Weltverhältnis stiftet: man müsste gleichsam nicht Wissen, sondern "Fragen lernen" (und natürlich auch, wie Antworten gefunden werden...). Doch wie kann dergleichen auf dem Niveau von Schulphysik aussehen, was für einen theoretischen Rahmen kann es hier geben? In den gesammelten Arbeiten wird einigen dieser Spuren nachgegangen: Der Absage an das zu modellhafte Denken in der phänomenologischen Optik, der Abgrenzung formal-mathematischen Denkens gegen wirklichkeitsnähere Formen naturwissenschaftlicher Denkbewegungen und Evidenz, dem Potential alternativer Interpretationen von "Physikunterricht", der Frage nach dem "Verstehen" u.a. Dabei werden nicht nur Bezüge zum modernen bildungstheoretischen Paradigma der Kompetenz sichtbar, sondern es wird auch versucht, eine ganze Reihe konkrete (schul-)physikalische Beispiele dafür zu geben, was passiert, wenn nicht schon gewusste Antworten Thema werden, sondern Expeditionen, die sich der physischen Welt widmen: Die Schlüsselbegriffe des Fachs, die Methoden der Datenerhebung und Interpretation, die Such- und Denkbewegungen kommen dabei auf eine Weise zur Sprache, die sich nicht auf die Fachsystematik abstützen möchte, sondern diese motivieren, konturieren und verständlich machen will.
Earthquake faults interact with each other in many different ways and hence earthquakes cannot be treated as individual independent events. Although earthquake interactions generally lead to a complex evolution of the crustal stress field, it does not necessarily mean that the earthquake occurrence becomes random and completely unpredictable. In particular, the interplay between earthquakes can rather explain the occurrence of pronounced characteristics such as periods of accelerated and depressed seismicity (seismic quiescence) as well as spatiotemporal earthquake clustering (swarms and aftershock sequences). Ignoring the time-dependence of the process by looking at time-averaged values – as largely done in standard procedures of seismic hazard assessment – can thus lead to erroneous estimations not only of the activity level of future earthquakes but also of their spatial distribution. Therefore, it exists an urgent need for applicable time-dependent models. In my work, I aimed at better understanding and characterization of the earthquake interactions in order to improve seismic hazard estimations. For this purpose, I studied seismicity patterns on spatial scales ranging from hydraulic fracture experiments (meter to kilometer) to fault system size (hundreds of kilometers), while the temporal scale of interest varied from the immediate aftershock activity (minutes to months) to seismic cycles (tens to thousands of years). My studies revealed a number of new characteristics of fluid-induced and stress-triggered earthquake clustering as well as precursory phenomena in earthquake cycles. Data analysis of earthquake and deformation data were accompanied by statistical and physics-based model simulations which allow a better understanding of the role of structural heterogeneities, stress changes, afterslip and fluid flow. Finally, new strategies and methods have been developed and tested which help to improve seismic hazard estimations by taking the time-dependence of the earthquake process appropriately into account.
This professorial dissertation thesis collects several empirical studies on tax distribution and tax reform in Germany. Chapter 2 deals with two studies on effective income taxation, based on representative micro data sets from tax statistics. The first study analyses the effective income taxation at the individual level, in particular with respect to the top incomes. It is based on an integrated micro data file of household survey data and income tax statistics, which captures the entire income distribution up to the very top. Despite substantial tax base erosion and reductions of top tax rates, the German personal income tax has remained effectively progressive. The distribution of the tax burden is highly concentrated and the German economic elite is still taxed relatively heavily, even though the effective tax rate for this group has significantly declined. The second study of Chapter 2 highlights the effective income taxation of functional income sources, such as labor income, business and capital income, etc. Using income tax micro data and microsimulation models, we allocate the individual income tax liability to the respective income sources, according to different apportionment schemes accounting for losses. We find that the choice of the apportionment scheme markedly affects the tax shares of income sources and implicit tax rates, in particular those of capital income. Income types without significant losses such as labor income or transfer incomes show higher tax shares and implicit tax rates if we account for losses. The opposite is true for capital income, in particular for income from renting and leasing. Chapter 3 presents two studies on business taxation, based on representative micro data sets from tax statistics and the microsimulation model BizTax. The first part provides a study on fundamental reform options for the German local business tax. We find that today’s high concentration of local business tax revenues on corporations with high profits decreases if the tax base is broadened by integrating more taxpayers and by including more elements of business value added. The reform scenarios with a broader tax base distribute the local business tax revenue per capita more equally across regional categories. The second study of Chapter 3 discusses the macroeconomic performance of business taxation against the background of corporate income. A comparison of the tax base reported in tax statistics with the macroeconomic corporate income from national accounts gives hints to considerable tax base erosion. The average implicit tax rate on corporate income was around 20 percent since 2001, and thus falling considerably short of statutory tax rates and effective tax rates discussed in the literature. For lack of detailed accounting data it is hard to give precise reasons for the presumptive tax base erosion. Chapter 4 deals with several assessment studies on the ecological tax reform implemented in Germany as of 1999. First, we describe the scientific, ideological, and political background of the ecological tax reform. Further, we present the main findings of a first systematic impact analysis. We employ two macroeconomic models, an econometric input-output model and a recursive-dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Both models show that Germany’s ecological tax reform helps to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions without having a substantial adverse effect on overall economic growth. It could have a slightly positive effect on employment. The reform’s impact on the business sector and the effects of special provisions granted to agriculture and the goods and materials sectors are outlined in a further study. The special provisions avoid higher tax burdens on the energy-intensive production. However, they widely reduce the marginal tax rates and thus the incentives to energy saving. Though the reform of special provisions 2003 increased the overall tax burden of the energy-intensive industry, the enlarged eligibility for tax rebates neutralizes the ecologic incentives. Based on the Income and Consumption Survey of 2003, we have analyzed the distributional impact of the ecological tax reform. The increased energy taxes show a clear regressive impact relative to disposable income. Families with children face a higher tax burden relative to household income. The reduction of pension contributions and the automatic adjustment of social security transfers widely mitigate this regressive impact. Households with low income or with many children nevertheless bear a slight increase in tax burden. Refunding the eco tax revenue by an eco bonus would make the reform clearly progressive.
Und der Zukunft abgewandt
(2010)
Seit dem Ende der DDR, das den Zusammenbruch des Ostblocks und damit die Beendigung des »Kalten Kriegs« einleitete, wird verstärkt versucht, das Wesen dieses Staates zu definieren und damit seine Folgen auf wirtschaftlicher, sozialer, psychologischer und bildungspolitischer Ebene zu verstehen und einzuordnen. Alexandra Budke analysiert in diesem Band das Schulfach Geographie, das neben der Staatsbürgerkunde und der Geschichte ein zentrales Fach war und in dem die in den Lehrplänen definierte »staatsbürgerliche, weltanschauliche oder ideologische Erziehung« auf der Grundlage des Marxismus-Leninismus stattfinden sollte. Sie klärt, inwiefern Geographieunterricht in der DDR genutzt wurde, um geopolitische Interessen des Staates zu kommunizieren und zu verbreiten. Damit lässt sich durch die detaillierte Analyse des Fachunterrichts auch die Frage beantworten, ob SchülerInnen im Unterricht politisch manipuliert wurden und welche Handlungsmöglichkeiten die zentralen Akteure des Unterrichts, die LehrerInnen und die SchülerInnen, im Rahmen der durch die Bildungspolitik gesetzten curricularen Vorgaben wahrgenommen haben.
Controlling interactions in synthetic polymers as precisely as in proteins would have a strong impact on polymer science. Advanced structural and functional control can lead to rational design of, integrated nano- and microstructures. To achieve this, properties of monomer sequence defined oligopeptides were exploited. Through their incorporation as monodisperse segments into synthetic polymers we learned in recent four years how to program the structure formation of polymers, to adjust and exploit interactions in such polymers, to control inorganic-organic interfaces in fiber composites and induce structure in Biomacromolecules like DNA for biomedical applications.
This thesis deals with different aspects of flood risk in Germany. In twelve papers new scientific findings about flood hazards, factors that influence flood losses as well as effective private precautionary measures are presented. The seasonal distribution of flooding is shown for the whole of Germany. Furthermore, possible impacts of climate change on discharge and flood frequencies are estimated for the catchment of the river Rhine. Moreover, it is simulated at reaches of the Lower Rhine, which effects may result from levee breaches. Flood losses are the focus of the second part of the thesis: After the flood in August 2002 approximately 1700 households were interviewed by telephone. By this, it was possible to quantify the influence of different factors such as flood duration or the contamination of the flood water with oil on the extent of financial flood damage. On this basis, a new model was derived, by which flood losses can be calculated on a large scale. On the other hand, it was possible to derive recommendations for the improvement of private precaution. For example, the analysis revealed that insured households were compensated more quickly and to a better degree than uninsured. It became also clear that different groups like tenants and homeowners have different capabilities of performing precaution. This is to be considered in future risk communication. In 2005 and 2006, the rivers Elbe and Danube were again affected by flooding. A renewed pool among households and public authorities enabled us to investigate the improvement of flood risk management and the precaution in the City of Dresden. Several methods and finding of this thesis are applicable for water resources management issues and contribute to an improvement of flood risk analysis and management in Germany.
The uptake of nutrients and their subsequent chemical conversion by reactions which provide energy and building blocks for growth and propagation is a fundamental property of life. This property is termed metabolism. In the course of evolution life has been dependent on chemical reactions which generate molecules that are common and indispensable to all life forms. These molecules are the so-called primary metabolites. In addition, life has evolved highly diverse biochemical reactions. These reactions allow organisms to produce unique molecules, the so-called secondary metabolites, which provide a competitive advantage for survival. The sum of all metabolites produced by the complex network of reactions within an organism has since 1998 been called the metabolome. The size of the metabolome can only be estimated and may range from less than 1,000 metabolites in unicellular organisms to approximately 200,000 in the whole plant kingdom. In current biology, three additional types of molecules are thought to be important to the understanding of the phenomena of life: (1) the proteins, in other words the proteome, including enzymes which perform the metabolic reactions, (2) the ribonucleic acids (RNAs) which constitute the so-called transcriptome, and (3) all genes of the genome which are encoded within the double strands of desoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Investigations of each of these molecular levels of life require analytical technologies which should best enable the comprehensive analysis of all proteins, RNAs, et cetera. At the beginning of this thesis such analytical technologies were available for DNA, RNA and proteins, but not for metabolites. Therefore, this thesis was dedicated to the implementation of the gas chromatography – mass spectrometry technology, in short GC-MS, for the in-parallel analysis of as many metabolites as possible. Today GC-MS is one of the most widely applied technologies and indispensable for the efficient profiling of primary metabolites. The main achievements and research topics of this work can be divided into technological advances and novel insights into the metabolic mechanisms which allow plants to cope with environmental stresses. Firstly, the GC-MS profiling technology has been highly automated and standardized. The major technological achievements were (1) substantial contributions to the development of automated and, within the limits of GC-MS, comprehensive chemical analysis, (2) contributions to the implementation of time of flight mass spectrometry for GC-MS based metabolite profiling, (3) the creation of a software platform for reproducible GC-MS data processing, named TagFinder, and (4) the establishment of an internationally coordinated library of mass spectra which allows the identification of metabolites in diverse and complex biological samples. In addition, the Golm Metabolome Database (GMD) has been initiated to harbor this library and to cope with the increasing amount of generated profiling data. This database makes publicly available all chemical information essential for GC-MS profiling and has been extended to a global resource of GC-MS based metabolite profiles. Querying the concentration changes of hundreds of known and yet non-identified metabolites has recently been enabled by uploading standardized, TagFinder-processed data. Long-term technological aims have been pursued with the central aims (1) to enhance the precision of absolute and relative quantification and (2) to enable the combined analysis of metabolite concentrations and metabolic flux. In contrast to concentrations which provide information on metabolite amounts, flux analysis provides information on the speed of biochemical reactions or reaction sequences, for example on the rate of CO2 conversion into metabolites. This conversion is an essential function of plants which is the basis of life on earth. Secondly, GC-MS based metabolite profiling technology has been continuously applied to advance plant stress physiology. These efforts have yielded a detailed description of and new functional insights into metabolic changes in response to high and low temperatures as well as common and divergent responses to salt stress among higher plants, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, Lotus japonicus and rice (Oryza sativa). Time course analysis after temperature stress and investigations into salt dosage responses indicated that metabolism changed in a gradual manner rather than by stepwise transitions between fixed states. In agreement with these observations, metabolite profiles of the model plant Lotus japonicus, when exposed to increased soil salinity, were demonstrated to have a highly predictive power for both NaCl accumulation and plant biomass. Thus, it may be possible to use GC-MS based metabolite profiling as a breeding tool to support the selection of individual plants that cope best with salt stress or other environmental challenges.