Investor protection through model case procedures – implementing collective goals and individual rights under the 2012 Amendment of the German Capital Markets Model Case Act (KapMuG)

The German Capital Markets Model Case Act (KapMuG) and its amendment of 2012 highlight some fundamentals of collective redress in civil law countries at the example of model case procedures in the field of investor protection. That is why a survey of the ongoing activities of the European Union in the area of collective redress and of its repercussions on the member state level forms a suitable basis for the following analysis of the 2012 amendment of the KapMuG. It clearly brings into focus a shift from sector-specific regulation with an emphasis on the cross-border aspect of protecting consumers towards a “coherent approach” strengthening the enforcement of EU law. As a result, regulatory policy and collective redress are two sides of the same coin today. With respect to the KapMuG such a development brings about some tension between its aim to aggregate small individual claims as efficiently as possible and the dominant role of individual procedural rights in German civil procedure. This conflict can be illustrated by some specific rules of the KapMuG: its scope of application, the three-tier procedure of a model case procedure, the newly introduced notification of claims and the new opt-out settlement under the amended §§ 17-19

Communicating Maritime Spatial Planning: The MSP Challenge approach

The MSP Challenge uses game technology and role-play to support communication and learning for Marine/Maritime Spatial Planning. Since 2011, a role-playing game, a board game and a digital interactive simulation platform have been developed. The MSP Challenge editions have been used in workshops, conferences, education, as well as for real life stakeholder engagement. The authors give an overview of the development of the MSP Challenge and reflect on the value of the approach as an engaging and ‘fun’ tool for building mutual understanding and communicating MSP

Depinning of three-dimensional drops from wettability defects

Substrate defects crucially influence the onset of sliding drop motion under lateral driving. A finite force is necessary to overcome the pinning influence even of microscale heterogeneities. The depinning dynamics of three-dimensional drops is studied for hydrophilic and hydrophobic wettability defects using a long-wave evolution equation for the film thickness profile. It is found that the nature of the depinning transition explains the experimentally observed stick-slip motion.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, submitted to ep

Discrete embedded solitons

We address the existence and properties of discrete embedded solitons (ESs), i.e., localized waves existing inside the phonon band in a nonlinear dynamical-lattice model. The model describes a one-dimensional array of optical waveguides with both the quadratic (second-harmonic generation) and cubic nonlinearities. A rich family of ESs was previously known in the continuum limit of the model. First, a simple motivating problem is considered, in which the cubic nonlinearity acts in a single waveguide. An explicit solution is constructed asymptotically in the large-wavenumber limit. The general problem is then shown to be equivalent to the existence of a homoclinic orbit in a four-dimensional reversible map. From properties of such maps, it is shown that (unlike ordinary gap solitons), discrete ESs have the same codimension as their continuum counterparts. A specific numerical method is developed to compute homoclinic solutions of the map, that are symmetric under a specific reversing transformation. Existence is then studied in the full parameter space of the problem. Numerical results agree with the asymptotic results in the appropriate limit and suggest that the discrete ESs may be semi-stable as in the continuous case.Comment: A revtex4 text file and 51 eps figure files. To appear in Nonlinearit

Coarse-grained dynamics of an activity bump in a neural field model

We study a stochastic nonlocal PDE, arising in the context of modelling spatially distributed neural activity, which is capable of sustaining stationary and moving spatially-localized ``activity bumps''. This system is known to undergo a pitchfork bifurcation in bump speed as a parameter (the strength of adaptation) is changed; yet increasing the noise intensity effectively slowed the motion of the bump. Here we revisit the system from the point of view of describing the high-dimensional stochastic dynamics in terms of the effective dynamics of a single scalar "coarse" variable. We show that such a reduced description in the form of an effective Langevin equation characterized by a double-well potential is quantitatively successful. The effective potential can be extracted using short, appropriately-initialized bursts of direct simulation. We demonstrate this approach in terms of (a) an experience-based "intelligent" choice of the coarse observable and (b) an observable obtained through data-mining direct simulation results, using a diffusion map approach.Comment: Corrected aknowledgement

Combining ecosystem modeling with serious gaming in support of transboundary maritime spatial planning

The Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Challenge simulation platform helps planners and stakeholders understand and manage the complexity of MSP. In the interactive simulation, different data layers covering an entire sea region can be viewed to make an assessment of the current status. Users can create scenarios for future uses of the marine space over a period of several decades. Changes in energy infrastructure, shipping, and the marine environment are then simulated, and the effects are visualized using indicators and heat maps. The platform is built with advanced game technology and uses aspects of role-play to create interactive sessions; it can thus be referred to as serious gaming. To calculate and visualize the effects of planning decisions on the marine ecology, we integrated the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) food web modeling approach into the platform. We demonstrate how EwE was connected to MSP, considering the range of constraints imposed by running scientific software in interactive serious gaming sessions while still providing cascading ecological feedback in response to planning actions. We explored the connection by adapting two published ecological models for use in MSP sessions. We conclude with lessons learned and identify future developments of the simulation platform

How taphonomic alteration affects the detection and imaging of striations in stab wounds

Stabbing with a kitchen knife is a common methodof homicide in Europe. Serrated knives may leave tool mark-ings (striations) in tissues. Documentation of striations is nec-essary for their use as forensic evidence. Traditional methods(physical casting and photography) have significant limita-tions, and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) has beentrialled in cartilage toBvirtually cast^wounds. Previous re-search has shown the proportion of striations in cartilage fallsfollowing decomposition. This project has investigated theeffects of taphonomic alteration and documentation methodsof striations in porcine skin. Fresh, decomposed, mummified,burnt and waterlogged stab wounds in a porcine analoguewere excised and imaged using photography, stereo-opticalmicroscopy and micro-CT. The proportion of striations ineach taphonomic group was determined from the images byindependent analysts. Striations were observed more frequent-ly in serrated blade wounds, although they were also identifiedin non-serrated blade wounds. The proportion of woundsshowing striations declined following decomposition. An in-versely proportional linear correlation between advancing de-composition and proportion of striations existed. Dehydration(mummification and burning) rendered serrated and non-serrated blade wounds indistinguishable. Water compositionaffected the preservation of striations. Identification ofstriations gradually declined after decomposition in tap water,but persisted to a point when left in brackish water. All threetechniques imaged striations; however, the optimum tech-nique was stereo-optical microscopy due to practical advan-tages and specific limitations affecting photography and mi-cro-CT. This study demonstrates the effects of taphonomicalteration on striations and suggests stereo-optical microscopyis the optimum method for their documentation