502 research outputs found
Twenty years of ‘Law and Finance’: time to take law seriously
This ‘state of the art’ essay provides a comprehensive discussion of the Law and Finance School (LFS) literature. We show that the first two decades of the LFS have focused on empirically investigating the question ‘does law matter?’ Yet, despite the centrality of law to the LFS, it is based on an incoherent theory of law, which leads to shortcomings in the conceptualization and empirical testing of its hypotheses. We also observe that, rather than addressing this deficiency, the LFS has moved its focus to the contentious concept of ‘legal origin’. We argue that the LFS needs to take law more seriously by returning to its initial focus on the substance of legal rules and by addressing the theoretical question ‘how does law matter?’ We propose venues for future research to develop a solid theoretical framework that would put the empirical investigation of law’s impact on economic outcomes on a more solid footing
Formation of 4-hydroxynonenal and further aldehydic mediators of inflammation during bromotrichlorornethane treatment of rat liver cells
Bromotrichloromethane (CBrCl3) treatment is a model for studies on molecular mechanisms of haloalkane toxicity with some advantages compared with CCl4 treatment. The formation of 4-hydroxynonenal and similar aldehydic products of lipid peroxidation, which play a role as mediators of inflammatory processes, was clearly demonstrated in rat hepatocytes treated with CBrCl3. It may be assumed that haloalkane toxicity is connected with the biological effects of those inflammation mediatory aldehydic compounds
In Vitro Aging of Human Skin Fibroblasts: Age-Dependent Changes in 4-Hydroxynonenal Metabolism
Evidence suggests that the increased production of free radicals and reactive oxygen species lead to cellular aging. One of the consequences is lipid peroxidation generating reactive aldehydic products, such as 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) that modify proteins and form adducts with DNA bases. To prevent damage by HNE, it is metabolized. The primary metabolic products are the glutathione conjugate (GSH-HNE), the corresponding 4-hydroxynonenoic acid (HNA), and the alcohol 1,4-dihydroxynonene (DHN). Since HNE metabolism can potentially change during in vitro aging, cell cultures of primary human dermal fibroblasts from several donors were cultured until senescence. After different time points up to 30 min of incubation with 5 \ub5M HNE, the extracellular medium was analyzed for metabolites via liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS). The metabolites appeared in the extracellular medium 5 min after incubation followed by a time-dependent increase. But, the formation of GSH-HNL and GSH-DHN decreased with increasing in vitro age. As a consequence, the HNE levels in the cells increase and there is more protein modification observed. Furthermore, after 3 h of incubation with 5 \ub5M HNE, younger cells showed less proliferative capacity, while in older cells slight increase in the mitotic index was noticed
Geostationary aerosol retrievals of extreme biomass burning plumes during the 2019–2020 Australian bushfires
Extreme biomass burning (BB) events, such as those seen during the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season, are becoming more frequent and intense with climate change. Ground-based observations of these events can provide useful information on the macro-and micro-physical properties of the plumes, but these observations are sparse, especially in regions which are at risk of intense bushfire events. Satellite observations of extreme BB events provide a unique perspective, with the newest generation of geostationary imagers, such as the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI), observing entire continents at moderate spatial and high temporal resolution. However, current passive satellite retrieval methods struggle to capture the high values of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) seen during these BB events. Accurate retrievals are necessary for global and regional studies of shortwave radiation, air quality modelling and numerical weather prediction. To address these issues, the Optimal Retrieval of Aerosol and Cloud (ORAC) algorithm has used AHI data to measure extreme BB plumes from the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season. The sensitivity of the retrieval to the assumed optical properties of BB plumes is explored by comparing retrieved AOT with AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) level-1.5 data over the AERONET site at Tumbarumba, New South Wales, between 1 December 2019 at 00:00UTC and 3 January 2020 at 00:00UTC. The study shows that for AOT values >2, the sensitivity to the assumed optical properties is substantial. The ORAC retrievals and AERONET data are compared against the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Aerosol Retrieval Product (ARP), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Deep Blue over land, MODIS MAIAC, Sentinel-3 SYN and VIIRS Deep Blue products. The comparison shows the ORAC retrieval significantly improves coverage of optically thick plumes relative to the JAXA ARP, with approximately twice as many pixels retrieved and peak retrieved AOT values 1.4 times higher than the JAXA ARP. The ORAC retrievals have accuracy scores of 0.742-0.744 compared to the values of 0.718-0.833 for the polar-orbiting satellite products, despite successfully retrieving approximately 28 times as many pixels over the study period as the most successful polar-orbiting satellite product. The AHI and MODIS satellite products are compared for three case studies covering a range of BB plumes over Australia. The results show good agreement between all products for plumes with AOT values ≤2. For extreme BB plumes, the ORAC retrieval finds values of AOT >15, significantly higher than those seen in events classified as extreme by previous studies, although with high uncertainty. A combination of hard limits in the retrieval algorithms and misclassification of BB plumes as cloud prevents the JAXA and MODIS products from returning AOT values significantly greater than 5
Company ‘Emigration’ and EC Freedom of Establishment: Daily Mail Revisited
Following the ECJ’s recent case law on EC freedom of establishment (the Centros, Überseering and Inspire Art cases), regulatory competition for corporate law within the European Union takes place at an early stage of the incorporation of new companies. In contrast, as regards the ‘moving out’ of companies from the country of incorporation, the ECJ once considered a tax law restriction against the transfer abroad of a company’s administrative seat as compatible with EC freedom of establishment (the Daily Mail case). For years, this decision has been regarded as applicable to all restrictions imposed by countries of incorporation, even the forced liquidation of the ‘emigrating’ company. This paper addresses the question whether EC freedom of establishment really allows Member States to place any limit on the ‘emigration’ of nationally registered companies. It argues that EC freedom of establishment covers the transfer of the administrative seat as well as the transfer of the registered office and, therefore, that the country of incorporation cannot liquidate ‘emigrating’ companies. In addition, it addresses the question whether a new Directive is needed to allow the transfer of a com- pany’s registered office and the identity-preserving company law changes. It argues that such a Directive is necessary to avoid legal uncertainty and to protect the interests of employees, creditors and minority shareholders, among others, who could be detrimentally affected by the ‘emigration’ of national companies
Examining the potential for energy-positive bulk-water infrastructure to provide long-term urban water security: a systems approach
Urban centres are increasingly requiring more water than existing groundwater and surface water sources can supply. Water authorities must consider energy intensive supply alternatives such as recycling and desalination, leading to a water-energy-climate conundrum. In this study, a systems perspective of the water-energy-climate nexus is applied to South-East Queensland (SEQ), Australia. Under a changing climate, SEQ is predicted to experience reduced reservoir inflows and increased evaporation rates, which will consequently lead to reduced water availability. To exacerbate this issue, anticipated high population growth in SEQ will increase water demand, putting even more stress on the traditional water supply sources. Clearly, there is a strong incentive to pursue solutions that increase water security without contributing to anthropogenic climate change. Using a system dynamics model, the water balance of the bulk water supply system is evaluated over a 100-year life cycle. The outputs of the model are used to investigate potential management and infrastructure options available to SEQ for adapting to increased water scarcity. The historical rainfall patterns of SEQ requires significant contingency to be built into surface water capacity in order to mitigate low rainfall years, and provide adequate water security. In contrast, reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants do not require this excess capacity because they are rain-independent. However, RO has high energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions when operating and their potential long periods of redundancy due to periods of sufficient surface water supplies remain unresolved issues. The model demonstrates that dual purpose pressure retarded osmosis desalination plants offer a potential solution, by providing water security at a lower cost than surface water reservoir augmentation, while offsetting energy use through renewable energy generation when RO plants would otherwise be sitting idle. Potentially this technology represents a future sustainable solution to overcome water security concerns
The unidentified TeV source (TeVJ2032+4130) and surrounding field: Final HEGRA IACT-System results
The unidentified TeV source in Cygnus is now confirmed by follow-up
observations from 2002 with the HEGRA stereoscopic system of Cherenkov
Telescopes. Using all data (1999 to 2002) we confirm this new source as steady
in flux over the four years of data taking, extended with radius 6.2 arcmin
(+-1.2 arcmin (stat) +-0.9 arcmin (sys)) and exhibiting a hard spectrum with
photon index -1.9. It is located in the direction of the dense OB stellar
association, Cygnus OB2. Its integral flux above energies E>1 TeV amounts to
\~5% of the Crab assuming a Gaussian profile for the intrinsic source
morphology. There is no obvious counterpart at radio, optical nor X-ray
energies, leaving TeVJ2032+4130 presently unidentified. Observational
parameters of this source are updated here and some astrophysical discussion is
provided. Also included are upper limits for a number of other interesting
sources in the FoV, including the famous microquasar Cygnus X-3.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Simultaneous X-Ray and TeV Gamma-Ray Observations of the TeV Blazar Markarian 421 during February and May 2000
In this paper we present the results of simultaneous observations of the TeV
blazar Markarian 421 (Mrk 421) at X-ray and TeV Gamma-ray energies with the
Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and the stereoscopic Cherenkov Telescope
system of the HEGRA (High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy) experiment, respectively.
The source was monitored from February 2nd to February 16th and from May 3rd to
May 8th, 2000. We discuss in detail the temporal and spectral properties of the
source. Remarkably, the TeV observations of February 7th/8th showed
statistically significant evidence for substantial TeV flux variability on 30
min time scale. We show the results of modeling the data with a time dependent
homogeneous Synchrotron Self-Compton (SSC) model. The X-ray and TeV gamma-ray
emission strengths and energy spectra together with the rapid flux variability
strongly suggest that the emission volume is approaching the observer with a
Doppler factor of 50 or higher. The different flux variability time scales
observed at X-rays and TeV Gamma-rays indicate that a more detailed analysis
will require inhomogeneous models with several emission zones.Comment: Accepted for Publication in ApJ, 21 Pages, 5 Figure
Is the giant radio galaxy M 87 a TeV gamma-ray emitter?
For the first time an excess of photons above an energy threshold of 730 GeV from the giant radio galaxy M 87 has been measured at a significance level above 4 σ. The data have been taken during the years 1998 and 1999 with the HEGRA stereoscopic system of 5 imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The excess of 107.4 ± 26.8 events above 730 GeV corresponds to an integral flux of 3.3% of the Crab flux or Nγ (E > 730 GeV) = (0.96 ± 0.23) × 10-12 phot cm-2 s-1. M 87 is located at the center of the Virgo cluster of galaxies at a relatively small redshift of z = 0.00436 and is a promising candidate among the class of giant radio galaxies for the emission of TeV γ-radiation. The detection of TeV γ-rays from M 87 - if confirmed - would establish a new class of extragalactic source in this energy regime since all other AGN detected to date at TeV energies are BL Lac type objects.F. A. Aharonian ...G. P. Rowell...et al
- …