Ripple Effects: How In Re Ripple Labs Inc. Litigation Could Signal The Beginning of the End of the Payment Platform

Ripple Labs provides an international payment network that allows financial institutions to transfer money more cheaply and quickly than traditional international payments. Ripple’s native digital currency, XRP, supports global payments by acting as intermediate currency between different currencies, eliminating correspondent bank’s need to hold deposits in foreign currencies. In an ongoing class action lawsuit, XRP purchasers claim that the digital asset qualifies as a security under federal securities laws and that Ripple illegally offered and sold XRP as an unregistered security. Given Ripple’s rising prominence as a tool for financial institutions, this pending case will impact cryptocurrency markets and international payments. Because XRP is most likely a security subject to regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), this matter poses an existential threat to the Ripple network. This note examines the legal issues leading up to the Ripple litigation and explains why XRP is most likely a security. It concludes by discussing the SEC’s likely approach to Ripple’s unregistered Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

Effects of deposition temperature on the mechanical and structural properties of amorphous Al-Si-O thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering

Aluminosilicate (Al-Si-O) thin films containing up to 31 at. % Al and 23 at. % Si were prepared by reactive RF magnetron co-sputtering. Mechanical and structural properties were measured by indentation and specular reflectance infrared spectroscopy at varying Si sputtering target power and substrate temperature in the range 100 to 500 {\deg}C. It was found that an increased substrate temperature and Al/Si ratio give denser structure and consequently higher hardness (7.4 to 9.5 GPa) and reduced elastic modulus (85 to 93 GPa) while at the same time lower crack resistance (2.6 to 0.9 N). The intensity of the infrared Si-O-Si/Al asymmetric stretching vibrations shows a linear dependence with respect to Al concentration. The Al-O-Al vibrational band (at 1050 cm-1) shifts towards higher wavenumbers with increasing Al concentration which indicates a decrease of the bond length, evidencing denser structure and higher residual stress, which is supported by the increased hardness. The same Al-O-Al vibrational band (at 1050 cm-1) shifts towards lower wavenumber with increasing substrate temperature indicating an increase in the of the average coordination number of Al.Comment: Preprin

A spinning top model of formal structure and informal behaviour: dynamics of advice networks in a commercial court

The longitudinal study of advice networks among 240 judges at the Commercial Court of Paris permits the examination of learning as an interactive process. We argue that a spinning top model is a useful heuristic for intra-organizational learning in dynamic advice networks. This model proposes that a stabilized elite preserves accumulated knowledge in a community that overall experiences high turnover and systematic job rotation, and hence runs the danger of inadequately sharing knowledge among its members. We test the model by analyzing the structure and dynamics of advice networks among judges at the Commercial Court of Paris. This dynamic structure reflects the informal homophilous preferences among judges organized in a strong formal system, a high relational turnover in the selection of advisors, and the emergence of an elite of senior advisors that stabilizes the learning process - much like the behavior of a spinning top. This case study also identifies an endogenous process of increasing and then decreasing centralization of this network over time, raising questions about the maintenance of the stability of the pecking order and about the relationship between learning and seniority. Results illustrate the importance of dynamic over static network analysis and call for a renewed attention to formal structure in organizations

Посмертные изменения крови как показатель давности наступления смерти

ПОСМЕРТНЫЕ ИЗМЕНЕНИЯТРУПКРОВИ ОБРАЗЦОВ ВЗЯТИЕЛАБОРАТОРНЫЕ МЕТОДЫ И ПРОЦЕДУРЫСУДЕБНАЯ МЕДИЦИН

Медицинская или клиническая психология: концептуальные проблемы профессии и подготовки кадров

ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ МЕДИЦИНСКОЕМЕДИЦИНСКИЕ УЧЕБНЫЕ ЗАВЕДЕНИЯВУЗЫПОДГОТОВКА СПЕЦИАЛИСТОВПСИХОЛОГИКЛИНИЧЕСКАЯ ПСИХОЛОГИЯПОДГОТОВКА КАДРО

Elementary Surface Processes on Graphite and Aluminium

Molecular processes on solid surfaces are of fundamental and technological importance. This work focuses on various reactive processes on a carbon (graphite(0001)) surface, and on the initial oxygen interaction with an aluminium (Al(111)) surface. In the former case, the interaction of pure K and H₂O overlayers, and coadsorbed K+H₂O overlayers have been addressed, while in the latter case the energy dependent dissociation probability of O₂ has been investigated. The methods employed in these studies include high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS), thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS), work function mea-surements, and molecular beam techniques.<p /> At low cover-ages and low temperatures (T~83 K), potassium is found to adsorb in a two-dimensional overlayer that consists of mobile, ionic K adatoms. At higher coverages, K is forced to condense into 2x2 islands with metallic-like character at .THÄTA.#126;0.3. The bind-ing energy is estimated to be between 1-1.3 eV for the different K submonolayer phases. The data analysis is complicated by intercalation, even at low temperatures.<p /> Photon irradiation (hv>3 eV) of the K/graphite(0001) system leads to desorption and intercalation of K atoms. The wavelength, photon power and polarization dependencies indicate a substrate mediated des-orption process. The coverage dependence of the photodesorption shows that only the ionic (but not the metallic) K adatoms are photoactive. A model has been developed, which explains the observed K photodes-orption quantitatively. The key ingredients include photoexcitation of electrons in the graphite bulk by a pi.-pi.* interband transition. The primary photoexcited electrons are elastically or weakly inelastically scattered to-wards the surface and attach to the K 4s-derived resonance, which results in a neutralization of the K ions. The neutral K atoms are thereby repelled from the surface and may, during the excited state motion escape from the surface as neutrals, before they decay back to the ionic ground state. Recaptured K atoms may intercalate before the excitation energy is dissipated.<p /> Water adsorbs as low coordinated, two-dimensional clusters on graphite at low temperatures and low cov-erages, but transforms into three-dimensional structures by mild annealing. The bind-ing energy of the H₂O molecules is 0.45 eV per molecule, close to the sublimation energy of ice.<p /> Coadsorption of H₂O and K on graphite(0001) at low temperatures (T~83K) and low K coverages leads to disruption of the two-dimensional H₂O clusters, and to formation of hydrated-ion like complexes. Water dissociates at a K cov-erage threshold at .THÄTA.#126;0.3, which corresponds to the critical coverage for K condensation to a metallic phase on the bare graphite surface. At elevated temperatures, H₂O and K react to yield KH, KOH, and K-O com-plexes on the sur-face. H₂ and H₂O is released into vacuum, and successively more oxygen-rich surface complexes are formed, as identified by HREELS. The graphite surface itself gasifies at T?750 K, to yield carbon dioxide.<p /> The initial steps of aluminium oxidation has been studied in a newly constructed molecular beam apparatus. The O₂ sticking on Al(111) is found to be an activated event, which does not depend on the surface tem-perature. By preparing O₂ molecules with high translational energy, or in vibrationally excited states, an enhanced sticking is ob-served. The sticking coefficient shows a maximum at an incident angle of #126;25degree;. The results are in-terpreted as a direct sticking mechanism (no precursor), which depends sensitively on molecule-surface impact parameters and surface corrugation

Strain variations among Streptococcus pyogenes T1—a possible explanation for bacteremia epidemics?

ObjectiveTo study the genetic diversity among consecutive blood culture isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes T1, in order to examine the possibility of different bacterial clones being responsible for two epidemics during the period 1986-95.MethodsDNA-fingerprinting patterns were obtained by use of the following methods: macrorestriction of genomic DNA followed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis, and restriction fragment length polymorphism of the vir regulon (Vir-typing). Possession of the speA gene was investigated by use of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, and further characterization of the gene was done by sequencing of the PCR products from six strains.ResultsAll isolates contained the speA gene. Sequencing data from six isolates revealed the presence of the speA2 allele. Using RAPD analysis. it was possible to distinguish between DNA-fingerprnting patterns of the S. pyogenes T1 strains from the two epidemics.ConclusionsThe present study reveals different DNA-fingerprinting patterns from blood culture isolates of S. pyogenes T1 from two local epidemics, 1988-89 and 1994-95. Since the differences seen do not necessarily reflect different antigenic properties or changed virulence among the isolates, further studies addressing this question should be performed