Fear of Financial Investors Unjustified

In the midst of the international financial crisis, the German federal government passed the Risk Limitation Act in autumn 2007. In spring 2008 the Bundestag has finally decided on the law. The domestic private equity/buyout providers, which have not previously been subject to banking supervision, are among the main addressees of the act. Among others, "objectionable macroeconomic activities of financial investors" are to be hindered or prevented, without simultaneously "impairing efficient financial and corporate transactions". In short, the regulation of activities is intended to have a stabilizing effect in the midst of turbulent times. Private equity funds can particularly be regarded as a supplement to the traditional instruments of corporate financing. In a study recently presented by DIW Berlin, it was determined that private equity funds generally do not swarm in on German companies "like locusts". Their macroeconomic significance has so far tended to be minor. An expansion of commitment by private equity funds would be welcomed. Particularly SMEs can profit from it.Private equity, Leveraged buyouts, Corporate finance

Revenue-Based Auctions and Unbundling Infrastructure Franchises

This paper discusses privatization among investments in infrastructure. The goal of this paper is to present a new auction mechanism that solves many of the problems that have hindered the use of franchises. The first section of the paper discusses least present value of revenue (LPVR) auctions, where the regulator fixes user fees (according to some optimizing criterion) and asks for bids on the present value of revenue from user fees that franchise holders will accept in exchange for building, operating and maintaining the infrastructure. Section 2 of the paper classifies infrastructure projects according to their technological characteristics in order to establish conditions under which franchising is feasible and desirable. In Section 3, the authors discuss several conceptual issues that arise in franchising. Section 4 discusses the shortcomings of fixed-term mechanisms. Section 5 introduces and analyzes LPVR auctions. Section 6 discusses the unbundling of franchises. The authors' conclusions are presented in the final section.Infrastructure & Transport, Private Sector, least present value of revenue (LPVR) auctions, privatization, infrastructure sector

Codex Boernerianus A Textual Analysis of 1 Timothy

Fisher, Alexander, R “Codex Boernerianus: A Textual Analysis of 1 Timothy.” Master’s thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2019. Long associated with the monastery of St Gall, the ninth century bilingual manuscript Codex Boernerianus (G) has been studied by modern scholars since the sixteenth century. Over time, the relationship between the Latin and Greek texts of the codex gained interest as did the relationship of the codex to its known ancestors, Codices Claromontanus (D) and Augiensis (F). The scope of this thesis is limited to 1 Timothy, offering a textual analysis with comparison to D F, and a Latin and Greek transcription of G, along with a collation with D F. The study focuses on scribal phenomena of the Latin text in G categorically (letters, word breaks, omissions, additions, and various phrasal revisions), which demonstrate a close relationship between the Latin and Greek texts

Screening of energy efficient technologies for industrial buildings' retrofit

This chapter discusses screening of energy efficient technologies for industrial buildings' retrofit

“Fair” in the Future? Long-Term Limitations of the Supreme Court’s Use of Incrementalism in Fair Use Jurisprudence

April 2021 marked the most recent instance of the Supreme Court discussing copyright law, and more specifically fair use, in Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. The April 2021 decision notably resolved the case solely on fair use grounds, avoiding a difficult question as to the copyrightability of computer code that generates software user interfaces. By resolving this specific case in this manner, the Supreme Court’s actions seemingly confirm a pattern among fair use cases in which rulings made “narrowly” on the unique factual predicate often produce unclear applications within the “broader” context of fair use. Given the flexible, judge-made origins of the doctrine, each case acts as a guidepost within the “broader” doctrine. This Comment explores how the “narrow” rulings, likely made to account for the Court’s institutional ideals, including incrementalism, may lead to these later fair use limitations. By exploring three fair use cases, this Comment aims to opine on the purported pattern of limitations by highlighting both the soundness of the rulings at their then-present decisions, and within more modern contexts. This Comment also proposes how a conscious shift in an opinion’s scope to include more information on how to apply the then-present case as “broader” guideposts within fair use may solve the limitation issues. This Comment finally evaluates this expanding scope against other possible mechanisms of understanding both application of legal principles to novel scenarios and to other potential fair use solutions

A COMPUTER-BASED SIMULATION TO ACCELERATE MILITARY DECISION-MAKING USING A PLATOON TACTICAL DECISION GAME (TDG)

The Marine Corps has long used tactical decision games (TDG) to train and evaluate leadership and decision-making abilities. The antiquated process of using pencil and paper or dry erase boards requires a subject-matter expert to be present to evaluate and assess each individual Marine’s scheme of maneuver and provide immediate feedback of their maneuver plan. This process is time-consuming and does not allow Marines to conduct the reps and sets necessary to build their intuitive decision-making and gain experience in various situations. Regardless of the mission, the Marine Corps requires leaders to succeed in combat by being prepared to act as if, even when they're in a situation for the first time. A computer-based TDG was designed to allow Marines the ability to gain experience in a platoon maneuver through successive repetitions in a time-constrained environment in unknown terrain with varying enemy situations. This system allows Marines to get the repetitions they need to build their decision-making skills and supplement instructor-led training. Using a repeated measures design, the data suggest that using a computer-based TDG shortens the decision-making cycle time for Marines and shows an increase in accuracy of selecting the correct maneuver path through rapid repetition.Office of Naval Research (ONR)Captain, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

How international humanitarian law will constrain the use of autonomous weapon systems in the conduct of hostilities

This thesis will assess International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Additional Protocol 1 (AP 1) compliance issues that may arise in the use of Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWSs) in the conduct of hostilities. The focus of this assessment will be on the use of AWSs to launch kinetic attacks. The basis for an assessment of AWSs will be identical to that of conventional weapons. AP 1 requires weapon systems to first be found to be in compliance with IHL weapons law before being subject to targeting law. Novel compliance issues arise due to the use of autonomy in weapon systems. Algorithmically determined autonomy utilised to ‘decide’ to launch kinetic attacks raises questions of human control of a weapon system. AP 1 creates obligations on a human's decision to use force and the resulting kinetic attack. This is altered by the use of autonomy that controls the weapon system. The focus therefore of any IHL evaluation must necessarily be on the computer that uses algorithmically determined autonomy to control AWSs. The type of algorithm that runs the weapon systems that this thesis will focus on is machine learning. Machine learning uses heuristics to provide the capability to improve AWSs performance over time. Setting the conditions for a constructive dialogue on AWSs, an AP 1 assessment on the lawfulness of AWSs will discuss both general issues; and additional issues that might arise in the use of autonomous weapon systems that improve upon their performance over time. The use of algorithmically determined autonomy in kinetic attacks raises several controversies that must be assessed for weapons law and targeting law compliance. The use of Observe, Orient, Decide, Act Loop (OODA Loop) will be used to analyse whether human decision-making is being completely removed, or merely displaced from the targeting decision-making process. The operational context of how AWSs will be used will be assessed in temporal and geographic terms to better understand how technology has led to the displacement of human decision-making in weapon systems. Ultimately, this thesis will inform the reader of the legality and use of weapon systems that were once largely electro-mechanical platforms directly controlled by humans, to weapon systems that are increasingly cyber-physical controlled by algorithms

Experiments and Theory of Induced Optical Magnetization.

This thesis reports the results of light scattering experiments at moderate optical intensities (~10^8 W/cm^2) in which the magnetic component of light induces magnetic dipolar response of unprecedented intensity by a novel nonlinear mechanism. Both experimentally and theoretically the amplitude of induced magnetization is found to be as large as electric polarization (M=cP) at intensities above ~10^8 W/cm^2 in different materials, greatly exceeding the conventional bounds of the multipole expansion. The transverse nature of the magnetization, its frequency, and its quadratic dependence on incident light intensity are in agreement with an exact theory which identifies the importance of magnetically-induced torque in achieving 2-photon resonance of this ultrafast process. In this work we report and compare the intensity dependence of cross-polarized scattering in the transparent molecular liquids CCl_4, SiCl_4, SiBr_4, SnCl_4, C_6H_6, C_6D_6, C_6H_5NH_2, and C_6H_5CN and the crystalline solid Gd_3Ga_5O_{12}. Complete radiation patterns of co-polarized and cross-polarized light scattering were recorded as a function of intensity in these homogeneous media and subsequently decomposed into polarized and unpolarized components to provide a more complete picture of scattering dynamics than has been possible in past experiments. The cross-polarized scattering observed from spherical-top molecules CCl_4, SiCl_4, SiBr_4, and SnCl_4 and crystalline GGG is argued to originate from magnetic dipoles induced by a second-order optical nonlinearity driven jointly by the E and B fields of light. Among the spherical top molecular liquids, SnCl_4 developed more intense magnetic scattering at a fixed intensity than CCl_4, in agreement with the predicted dependence on rotational frequency and damping. Cross-polarized scattering in anisotropic molecules C_6H_6, C_6D_6, C_6H_5NH_2, and C_6H_5CN, on the other hand, is known to originate from optical orientation of permanent electric dipole moments in first-order or differential polarizability in third-order. The importance of rotational dynamics to depolarization in all the liquids studied is outlined and confirmed through observation of an isotopic effect in the scattering from C_6H_6 vs. C_6D_6. Finally, the new nonlinear optical process investigated here provides a method for generating oriented rotations of molecules.PhDApplied PhysicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/120880/1/alxfshr_1.pd