From the old Chinese songs, we know that "56 Chinese brothers and sisters" live together in a big family. This expression refers to the number of nationalities living in P.R. China. However, many Han Chinese live far away from the National Minorities and they get to know their brothers and sisters mainly through media books, newspapers or movies. As the function of media in China extended from politics to entertainment, it seems worthwhile to study the role which media serve in communicating knowledge (images) about National Minorities to the Han Chinese and what kind of images of the Minorities are actually transmitted. This paper tries to analyse the depiction of Yi Minority in Chinese media in particular Chinese movies from 1949 to the present. There are different phases of representations. Through a comparison of these phases, it can be analysed whether and in which way the depiction of National Minorities has been changed since 1949. The images of the Yi Minority transported through the media are of particular interest because they are a basis of communication and understanding but they also lead to misrepresentation and cliché.

Local governments in Japan account for about 80 per cent of general government spending when excluding social security expenditures. Therefore, for the implementation of fiscal policy it is important how local governments will behave. On the basis of the economic theories on fiscal federalism it is generally rational for local government entities, especially smaller ones, not to participate in the stabilisation policy of the central government and to take a free rider position. Such a behaviour would imply a substantial reduction or even an offsetting of the effects of a stabilisation policy of the central government. As for empirical evidence, a procyclical behaviour of local entities was observed in several countries, among them Germany. We show that in Japan this was not the case and that so far local governments do participate in the stabilisation efforts of the central government. In a second step we show the institutional arrangements that have enabled the central government to influence the fiscal beh baviour of the local governments accordingly. Will recent regulatory changes and the enourmous debt level have a significant impact? We argue that although from April 2000 some legal changes in the direction of decentralisation were enforced, many influence mechanisms remained intact and thus the changes weaken the established system, but did not break it up altogether.

Der vorliegende Task Force-Band beschäftigt sich mit drei aktuellen gesellschafts- und wirtschaftspolitischen Themen aus Ostasien: Arbeitsmarkt- und Beschäftigungspolitik in Japan vor dem Hintergrund einer alternden Gesellschaft; private Altersvorsorge in Singapur; und Sozialstandards in der VR China. Die AutorInnen analysieren die Gegebenheiten in Ostasien aus der Perspektive ihrer möglichen Modellwirkung für die Diskussion dieser Themen in Deutschland. Empfehlungen und Vorschläge dazu werden begründet und auf ihre Übertragbarkeit hin überprüft. Für potentielle Investoren in China stellt die Darlegung der reformierten chinesischen Sozialversicherungssysteme ein kleines "Nachschlagewerk" mit aktuellen Daten dar.

The paper starts from the assumption that a lasting recovery of Japans economy can only come about by a reform of economic policy decisive enough to re-establish confidence again. The adherence to the rule of law and the establishment of independent agencies might provide a solution, but these methods could well be jeopardised by cultural factors in the sense of the cognitive-evolutionary approach of economic policy theory. The influence of certain values and views is looked at, especially regarding a disposition towards so-called generalised exchange mechanisms, the prospects of a credible self-commitment via the rule of law as well as the employment of elements of direct democracy and federalism. By and large the paper is sceptical about the chances of a reform in accordance with the aims as set out above, even though there are in reality first signs of attempts at establishing the rule of law and agency independence.

In this thesis two classes of rational matrix differential resp. difference equations which contain the matrix Riccati equations of continuous- and discrete-time optimal control as particular cases are considered. Existence and convergence theorems for these equations are proved and conditions ensuring that the corresponding algebraic equations have a stabilizing solution are derived.

The scientific debate on systemic transition from a command-style to a market economy focused in the past mainly on the cases of former soviet countries and China (e. g. Heiduk, 1997). The case of Vietnam has been given little attention before the Asian crisis shed some light on the economic performance of that country. Vietnams role as an outsider is astonishing, taken into consideration that its economic development is with an average growth rate below 9 % and an inflation rate below 10 % impressive. That underlines the notion that Vietnam has coped with the transformation process much better than other (former) socialist countries in transition (see table 1). Also, the point that Vietnam has managed to survive the Asian Crisis much better than neighbouring countries (although rapid growth slowed down as a result of the turmoil in Asia to 6-7 %), turns it into an interesting study field for development economists

Eine der wichtigsten wirtschaftspolitischen Fragen des China der neunziger Jahre ist die Beziehung zwischen Zentrale und Regionen. Ursache ist die weit verbreitete Perzeption, daß zum einen sich die fiskalische Position des Zentralstaates stetig verschlechtert habe, und daß zum anderen die regionalen Disparitäten immer mehr zunähmen. Daraus leitet sich die Forderung ab, die redistributive Funktion der Zentralregierung wieder deutlich zu stärken und somit ihren Anteil am Sozialprodukt und an den gesamten fiskalischen Einnahmen spürbar zu erhöhen. Die Erfüllung dieser Forderung schien ein wesentliches Ziel der Steuerreform von 1994 gewesen zu sein, die ohne Zweifel eine der systematischsten und umfassendsten Reformmaßnahmen während des gesamten chinesischen Transformationsprozesses seit 1978 gewesen ist

This paper deals with the possibilities of using spark emission spectrometry to determine nitrogen contents in low-alloy steels. Several spectrometers, whose installation sites include two automatic laboratories at Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG in Duisburg, were used to carry out the practical work. Once the appropriate analysis line had been selected and the excitation conditions had been optimised, calibrations were carried out and spectral intereferences and analytic performance data were determined. Finally, the analysis results obtained from the production samples during manual and automatic operation were compared using the carrier gas hot extraction method, which is the standard reference method. Single spark spectrometry forms another focus. This makes it possible to register and evaluate the intensities of every single spark transfer. It also enables information to be obtained concerning the qualitative and quantitative composition of inclusions in steel, e.g. nitrides. The decomposition behaviour of inclus ons over time was analysed by spark discharges with the help of both SEM-EDX and single spark spectrometry.

<br>A recently developed two-stage Atomizer of I. L. Grinshtein was studied. His advantages and disadvantages were discussed. An attempt of the generalization of rapid chromatographical and non chromatographical fractionation of trace elements and sample matrix was carried out for ETAAS successfully. An Electrothermal Flow Fractionation Interface (EFFI) was designed as a development of the ETAAS analysis in order to allow sample preparation and measurement within the ETV system in a carrier gas. All main qualities of the new concept were studied both in theory and practically and compared with results of the conventional techniques as well as with the results of the Grinshtein Atomizer by conventional operation. A new transversally heated graphite atomizer was developed under conditions, that: 1) the lacks of the Grinshtein Atomizer are completely eliminated. 2) his construction is completely compatible to the commercial usual ones and considerably easier than ones of the commercial transversally heated graphite atomizers. 3) all functions of the usual operations such as stages of sample pyrolysis, sample atomization and cleaning of the Atomizer are supported. 4) fractionation of trace elements and sample matrix only due to the atomization process exceed in quality the properties of the usual atomizer operation (see point 3 above). Other numerous improvements of the ETAAS analysis were achieved to. For the first time in the ETAAS history undiluted and concentrated urine was analyzed even without pyrolysis and application of chemical modifiers.

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