TY - JOUR A1 - Tran, Duc Hung T1 - Multiple corporate governance attributes and the cost of capital – Evidence from Germany JF - The British Accounting Review N2 - This paper investigates the extent to which corporate governance affects the cost of debt and equity capital of German exchange-listed companies. I examine corporate governance along three dimensions: financial information quality, ownership structure and board structure. The results suggest that firms with high levels of financial transparency and bonus compensations face lower cost of equity. In addition, block ownership is negatively related to firms' cost of equity when the blockholders are other firms, managers or founding-family members. Consistent with the conjecture that agency costs increase with firm size, I find significant cost of debt effects only in the largest German companies. Here, the creditors demand lower cost of debt from firms with block ownerships held by corporations or banks. My findings demonstrate that a uniform set of governance attributes is unlikely to satisfy suppliers of debt and equity capital equally. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2014.02.003 SN - 0890-8389 VL - 46 IS - 2 SP - 179 EP - 197 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yang, Peng-Fei A1 - Kriechbaumer, Andreas A1 - Albracht, Kirsten A1 - Sanno, Maximilian A1 - Ganse, Bergita A1 - Koy, Timmo A1 - Shang, Peng A1 - brüggemann, Gert-Peter A1 - Müller, Lars Peter A1 - Rittweger, Jörn T1 - A novel optical approach for assessing in vivo bone segment deformation and its application in muscle-bone relationship studies in humans JF - Journal of Orthopaedic Translation Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jot.2014.07.078 SN - 2214-0328 SN - 2214-031X VL - 2 IS - 4 SP - 238 EP - 238 PB - Elsevier CY - Singapore ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schroeter, Rebecca A1 - Hoffmann, Tamara A1 - Voigt, Birgit A1 - Meyer, Hanna A1 - Bleisteiner, Monika A1 - Muntel, Jan A1 - Jürgen, Britta A1 - Albrecht, Dirk A1 - Becher, Dörte A1 - Lalk, Michael A1 - Evers, Stefan A1 - Bongaerts, Johannes A1 - Maurer, Karl-Heinz A1 - Putzer, Harald A1 - Hecker, Michael A1 - Schweder, Thomas A1 - Bremer, Erhard T1 - Stress responses of the industrial workhorse Bacillus licheniformis to osmotic challenges JF - PLoS ONE N2 - The Gram-positive endospore-forming bacterium Bacillus licheniformis can be found widely in nature and it is exploited in industrial processes for the manufacturing of antibiotics, specialty chemicals, and enzymes. Both in its varied natural habitats and in industrial settings, B. licheniformis cells will be exposed to increases in the external osmolarity, conditions that trigger water efflux, impair turgor, cause the cessation of growth, and negatively affect the productivity of cell factories in biotechnological processes. We have taken here both systems-wide and targeted physiological approaches to unravel the core of the osmostress responses of B. licheniformis. Cells were suddenly subjected to an osmotic upshift of considerable magnitude (with 1 M NaCl), and their transcriptional profile was then recorded in a time-resolved fashion on a genome-wide scale. A bioinformatics cluster analysis was used to group the osmotically up-regulated genes into categories that are functionally associated with the synthesis and import of osmostress-relieving compounds (compatible solutes), the SigB-controlled general stress response, and genes whose functional annotation suggests that salt stress triggers secondary oxidative stress responses in B. licheniformis. The data set focusing on the transcriptional profile of B. licheniformis was enriched by proteomics aimed at identifying those proteins that were accumulated by the cells through increased biosynthesis in response to osmotic stress. Furthermore, these global approaches were augmented by a set of experiments that addressed the synthesis of the compatible solutes proline and glycine betaine and assessed the growth-enhancing effects of various osmoprotectants. Combined, our data provide a blueprint of the cellular adjustment processes of B. licheniformis to both sudden and sustained osmotic stress. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080956 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 8 IS - 11 PB - PLOS CY - San Francisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Handtke, Stefan A1 - Volland, Sonja A1 - Methling, Karen A1 - Albrecht, Dirk A1 - Becher, Dörte A1 - Nehls, Jenny A1 - Bongaerts, Johannes A1 - Maurer, Karl-Heinz A1 - Lalk, Michael A1 - Liesegang, Heiko A1 - Voigt, Birgit A1 - Daniel, Rolf A1 - Hecker, Michael T1 - Cell physiology of the biotechnological relevant bacterium Bacillus pumilus - An omics-based approach JF - Journal of Biotechnology N2 - Members of the species Bacillus pumilus get more and more in focus of the biotechnological industry as potential new production strains. Based on exoproteome analysis, B. pumilus strain Jo2, possessing a high secretion capability, was chosen for an omics-based investigation. The proteome and metabolome of B. pumilus cells growing either in minimal or complex medium was analyzed. In total, 1542 proteins were identified in growing B. pumilus cells, among them 1182 cytosolic proteins, 297 membrane and lipoproteins and 63 secreted proteins. This accounts for about 43% of the 3616 proteins encoded in the B. pumilus Jo2 genome sequence. By using GC–MS, IP-LC/MS and H NMR methods numerous metabolites were analyzed and assigned to reconstructed metabolic pathways. In the genome sequence a functional secretion system including the components of the Sec- and Tat-secretion machinery was found. Analysis of the exoproteome revealed secretion of about 70 proteins with predicted secretion signals. In addition, selected production-relevant genome features such as restriction modification systems and NRPS clusters of B. pumilus Jo2 are discussed. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2014.08.028 SN - 1873-4863 (E-Journal); 0168-1656 (Print) IS - 192(A) SP - 204 EP - 214 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kluczka, Sven A1 - Eckstein, Julian A1 - Alexopoulos, Spiros A1 - Vaeßen, Christiane A1 - Roeb, Martin T1 - Process simulation for solar steam and dry reforming JF - Energy procedia : Proceedings of the SolarPACES 2013 International Conference N2 - In co-operation with the German Aerospace Center, the Solar-Institut Jülich has been analyzing the different technologies that are available for methanol production from CO2 using solar energy. The aim of the project is to extract CO2 from industrial exhaust gases or directly from the atmosphere to recycle it by use of solar energy. Part of the study was the modeling and simulating of a methane reformer for the production of synthesis gas, which can be operated by solar or hybrid heat sources. The reformer has been simplified in such a way that the model is accurate and enables fast calculations. The developed pseudo-homogeneous one- dimensional model can be regarded as a kind of counter-current heat exchanger and is able to incorporate a steam reforming reaction as well as a dry reforming reaction. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2014.03.092 SN - 1876-6102 (E-Journal) VL - 49 SP - 850 EP - 859 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schusser, Sebastian A1 - Bäcker, Matthias A1 - Krischer, M. A1 - Wenzel, L. A1 - Leinhos, Marcel A1 - Poghossian, Arshak A1 - Biselli, Manfred A1 - Wagner, P. A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef T1 - Enzymatically catalyzed degradation of biodegradable polymers investigated by means of a semiconductor-based field-effect sensor JF - Procedia Engineering N2 - A semiconductor field-effect device has been used for an enzymatically catalyzed degradation of biopolymers for the first time. This novel technique is capable to monitor the degradation process of multiple samples in situ and in real-time. As model system, the degradation of the biopolymer poly(D, L-lactic acid) has been monitored in the degradation medium containing the enzyme lipase from Rhizomucor miehei. The obtained results demonstrate the potential of capacitive field-effect sensors for degradation studies of biodegradable polymers. KW - Field-effect sensor KW - enzymatic (bio)degradation KW - poly(d, l-lactic acid) KW - in-situ monitoring KW - impedance spectroscopy Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2014.11.689 SN - 1877-7058 N1 - EUROSENSORS 2014 ; European Conference on Solid-State Transducers <28, 2014> VL - 87 SP - 1314 EP - 1317 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Poghossian, Arshak A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef T1 - Label-free sensing of biomolecules with field-effect devices for clinical applications JF - Electroanalysis N2 - Among the variety of transducer concepts proposed for label-free detection of biomolecules, the semiconductor field-effect device (FED) is one of the most attractive platforms. As medical techniques continue to progress towards diagnostic and therapies based on biomarkers, the ability of FEDs for a label-free, fast and real-time detection of multiple pathogenic and physiologically relevant molecules with high specificity and sensitivity offers very promising prospects for their application in point-of-care and personalized medicine for an early diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The presented paper reviews recent advances and current trends in research and development of different FEDs for label-free, direct electrical detection of charged biomolecules by their intrinsic molecular charge. The authors are mainly focusing on the detection of the DNA hybridization event, antibody-antigen affinity reaction as well as clinically relevant biomolecules such as cardiac and cancer biomarkers. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/elan.201400073 SN - 1521-4109 (E-Journal); 1040-0397 (Print) VL - 26 IS - 6 SP - 1197 EP - 1213 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Holtrup, S. A1 - Sadeghfam, Arash A1 - Heuermann, Holger A1 - Awakowicz, P. T1 - Characterization and optimization technique for microwave-driven high-intensity discharge lamps using hot S-parameters JF - IEEE transactions on microwave theories and techniques N2 - High-intensity discharge lamps can be driven by radio-frequency signals in the ISM frequency band at 2.45 GHz, using a matching network to transform the impedance of the plasma to the source impedance. To achieve an optimal operating condition, a good characterization of the lamp in terms of radio frequency equivalent circuits under operating conditions is necessary, enabling the design of an efficient matching network. This paper presents the characterization technique for such lamps and presents the design of the required matching network. For the characterization, a high-intensity discharge lamp was driven by a monofrequent large signal at 2.45 GHz, whereas a frequency sweep over 300 MHz was performed across this signal to measure so-called small-signal hot S-parameters using a vector network analyzer. These parameters are then used as an equivalent load in a circuit simulator to design an appropriate matching network. Using the measured data as a black-box model in the simulation results in a quick and efficient method to simulate and design efficient matching networks in spite of the complex plasma behavior. Furthermore, photometric analysis of high-intensity discharge lamps are carried out, comparing microwave operation to conventional operation. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2014.2342652 SN - 0018-9480 VL - 62 IS - 10 SP - 2471 EP - 2480 PB - IEEE CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Laack, Walter van T1 - Therefore Fermat is right JF - American journal of humanities and social sciences : AJHSS N2 - It was Fernat's idea to investigate how many numbers would fulfill the equation according to the Pythagorean Theorem if the exponent were increased to random, e.g. to a3 + b3 = c3. His question became therefore: are there two whole numbers the cubes of which add up to the volume of the cube of a third whole number? He posed this same question, of course, for all kinds of higher exponents, so that the equation could be generalized: is there an integral solution for the equation an + bn = cn, if the exponent n is higher than 2? Although in 1993, the English mathematician Andrew Wiles was able to produce an arithmetical proof for Fermat's famous theorem, I will show that there is a simple logical explanation which is also pragmatic and plausible and what is the result of a fundamental alternative idea how our world seems to be constructed. Y1 - 2014 SN - 2329-079X (E-Journal); 2329-0781 (Print) VL - 2 IS - 2 SP - 117 EP - 120 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Laack, Walter van T1 - Nature is much smarter than expected: the Genetic Code is not degenerate JF - American journal of humanities and social sciences N2 - In any books about genetics it can still today be read that our genetic code is called “degenerate” because it is still believed that 43 = 64 triplets encode the 20 essential amino acids. Indeed we have to assume the inverse law, what means that 34 = 81 exact code positions are really effective for our genetic code and encode the amino acids, compiled to proteins. This very important discovery leads to two completely new results that are limits-overlooking: 1) 34 (=81) genetic code positions mean exactly the same number as there are stable and naturally existing chemical elements in our universe. This famous argument should now lead to some alternative, as well as new fundamental conclusions about our existence. 2) A genetic code positioning system shows that nature is much smarter than expected: mutations are made less dangerous than believed, because they won't be that easily able any more to cause severe damages in the protein-synthesis. This should also lead to some alternative views upon evolution of life. Y1 - 2014 SN - 2329-0781 (Print) ; 2329-079X (Online) VL - Vol. 2 IS - No. 1 SP - 10 EP - 12 ER -