Transnational public policy in international arbitration

PhDArbitration tribunals rely on public policy principles to exclude or determine the applicable law. At times, the notion of public policy will contain fundamental yardsticks recognised by the world community at large. In such cases public policy may be called transnational or truly international. The thesis expounds the notion and content of transnational public policy as applied by international tribunals. This objective is met by exploring the method, functions and purpose of transnational public policy in international arbitration. The opening chapter sheds light on the origins and concept of public policy and the different levels it has been applied by international tribunals and national courts. It suggests a criteria for the distinction between domestic, domestic-international, regional and transnational public policy. The thesis then gives an in depth analysis of the origins and notion of transnational public policy. It suggests that international tribunals have relied on transnational public policy in their awards and proposes a method to determine its content and sources. Such method is then applied to deduct the content of transnational public policy from decided arbitration awards. The thesis shows that transnational public policy can be relevant at three different stages in international arbitration. At the outset of the proceeding, where the arbitrators determine their jurisdiction; during the arbitration, where it controls the procedure applicable in the arbitration; or at the stage of drafting the final award, where it determines fundamental substantive rules relied upon by the tribunal

The Dirichlet Obstruction in AdS/CFT

The obstruction for a perturbative reconstruction of the five-dimensional bulk metric starting from the four-dimensional metric at the boundary,that is, the Dirichlet problem, is computed in dimensions $6\leq d\leq 10$ and some comments are made on its general structure and, in particular, on its relationship with the conformal anomaly, which we compute in dimension $d=8$.Comment: 13 pages, references added (this paper supersedes hep-th/0206140, "A Note on the Bach Tensor in AdS/CFT", which has been withdrawn

Rudiments of Holography

An elementary introduction to Maldacena's AdS/CFT correspondence is given, with some emphasis in the Fefferman-Graham construction. This is based on lectures given by one of us (E.A.) at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.Comment: 60 pages, additional misprints corrected, references adde

The Holographic Dual of 2+1 Dimensional QFTs with N=1 SUSY and Massive Fundamental Flavours

The Maldacena Nastase solution is generalised to include massive fundamental matter through the addition of a flavour profile. This gives a holographic dual to N=1 SYM-CS with massive fundamental matter with a singularity free IR. We study this solution in some detail confirming confinement and asymptotic freedom. A recently proposed solution generating technique is then applied which results in a new type-IIA supergravity solution. In a certain limit the geometry of this solution is asymptotically AdS_4X Y, where Y is the metric at the base of the Bryant-Salamon G_2 cone, which has topology S^3XS^3.Comment: 31 pages plus appendices, 6 figures. v3: Typos corrected, version to appear in JHE

Photoluminescence Stokes shift and exciton fine structure in CdTe nanocrystals

The photoluminescence spectra of spherical CdTe nanocrystals with zincblende structure are studied by size-selective spectroscopic techniques. We observe a resonant Stokes shift of 15 meV when the excitation laser energy is tuned to the red side of the absorption band at 2.236 eV. The experimental data are analyzed within a symmetry-based tight-binding theory of the exciton spectrum, which is first shown to account for the size dependence of the fundamental gap reported previously in the literature. The theoretical Stokes shift presented as a function of the gap shows a good agreement with the experimental data, indicating that the measured Stokes shift indeed arises from the electron-hole exchange interaction.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, LaTe

Hints of the existence of Axion-Like-Particles from the gamma-ray spectra of cosmological sources

Axion Like Particles (ALPs) are predicted to couple with photons in the presence of magnetic fields. This effect may lead to a significant change in the observed spectra of gamma-ray sources such as AGNs. Here we carry out a detailed study that for the first time simultaneously considers in the same framework both the photon/axion mixing that takes place in the gamma-ray source and that one expected to occur in the intergalactic magnetic fields. An efficient photon/axion mixing in the source always means an attenuation in the photon flux, whereas the mixing in the intergalactic medium may result in a decrement and/or enhancement of the photon flux, depending on the distance of the source and the energy considered. Interestingly, we find that decreasing the value of the intergalactic magnetic field strength, which decreases the probability for photon/axion mixing, could result in an increase of the expected photon flux at Earth if the source is far enough. We also find a 30% attenuation in the intensity spectrum of distant sources, which occurs at an energy that only depends on the properties of the ALPs and the intensity of the intergalactic magnetic field, and thus independent of the AGN source being observed. Moreover, we show that this mechanism can easily explain recent puzzles in the spectra of distant gamma-ray sources... [ABRIDGED] The consequences that come from this work are testable with the current generation of gamma-ray instruments, namely Fermi (formerly known as GLAST) and imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes like CANGAROO, HESS, MAGIC and VERITAS.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. Replaced to match the published version in Phys. Rev. D. Minor changes with respect to v

COPD and cardiovascular disease

COPD is one of the major public health problems in people aged 40 years or above. It is currently the 4th leading cause of death in the world and projected to be the 3rd leading cause of death by 2020. COPD and cardiac comorbidities are frequently associated. They share common risk factors, pathophysiological processes, signs and symptoms, and act synergistically as negative prognostic factors. Cardiac disease includes a broad spectrum of entities with distinct pathophysiology, treatment and prognosis. From an epidemiological point of view, patients with COPD are particularly vulnerable to cardiac disease. Indeed, mortality due to cardiac disease in patients with moderate COPD is higher than mortality related to respiratory failure. Guidelines reinforce that the control of comorbidities in COPD has a clear benefit over the potential risk associated with the majority of the drugs utilized. On the other hand, the true survival benefits of aggressive treatment of cardiac disease and COPD in patients with both conditions have still not been clarified. Given their relevance in terms of prevalence and prognosis, we will focus in this paper on the management of COPD patients with ischemic coronary disease, heart failure and dysrhythmia.Novartis Portugal Novartisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Electronic structure and optical properties of ZnS/CdS nanoheterostructures

The electronic and optical properties of spherical nanoheterostructures are studied within the semi-empirical $sp^{3}s^{*}$ tight-binding model including the spin-orbit interaction. We use a symmetry-based approach previously applied to CdSe and CdTe quantum dots. The complete one-particle spectrum is obtained by using group-theoretical methods. The excitonic eigenstates are then deduced in the configuration-interaction approach by fully taking into account the Coulomb direct and exchange interactions. Here we focus on ZnS/CdS, ZnS/CdS/ZnS and CdS/ZnS nanocrystals with particular emphasis on recently reported experimental data. The degree of carrier localization in the CdS well layer is analyzed as a function of its thickness. We compute the excitonic fine structure, i.e., the relative intensities of low-energy optical transitions. The calculated values of the absorption gap show a good agreement with the experimental ones. Enhanced resonant photoluminescence Stokes shifts are predicted.Comment: 6 pages, 4 Figures, revtex

Versatile hybrid acoustic micromixer with demonstration of circulating cell-free DNA extraction from sub-ml plasma samples

A low-cost and easy to implement acoustic micromixer compatible with multiple fabrication technologies that can provide efficient and vigorous mixing