231 research outputs found
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Fitting the Digital Markets Act in the existing legal framework: the myth of the “without prejudice” clause
The Digital Markets Act (DMA), an EU Regulation establishing obligations for gatekeeper platforms in order to protect fairness and contestability in digital markets, will soon start to apply. In addition to the DMA, other (EU and national) instruments regulate platform conduct. Though the DMA explicitly provides that it will apply without prejudice to those other instruments, it is doubted whether it will merely complement them. In certain cases, the DMA may qualify as lex specialis, thereby prevailing over other regulations. In other cases, based on the principle of supremacy, the DMA may override national instruments that pursue legitimate interests other than fairness and contestability. There may also be occasions where the DMA may render certain tools devoid of purpose when this was not the intention of the legislator. In all the above cases, the DMA would not complement (but could possibly endanger) the effectiveness of the existing regime. Given the avalanche of legislative proposals for platforms, addressing potential conflicts between the DMA and other rules is essential to protect legal certainty and to ensure that the regulatory regime that governs harmful platform conduct reaches its full potential
Recommended from our members
The regulation of cloud computing: why the European Union failed to get it right
Cloud computing brings important benefits and it is expected to play a key role in facilitating the uptake of emerging technologies and applications, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, and high-performance computing. Despite its potential to deliver cost and time-efficient services, the majority of businesses in the EU have still not implemented cloud computing. This illustrates the need for a more widespread adoption of the technology. Yet, recent regulatory initiatives may obstruct the uptake of cloud services. This is arguably because such initiatives do not reflect a proper understanding of the market, which our paper intends to provide. To that end, the paper examines what cloud computing is and how it works. It subsequently discusses the EU’s attempts to regulate cloud computing, including the Digital Markets Act, the Digital Services Act, and the Data Act proposal. Our analysis demonstrates that the logic of these instruments and the obligations they establish do not fit the characteristics and workings of cloud computing. The paper concludes by noting that future regulation must mirror the specificities of the cloud, which has a value chain and traits that differ significantly from other digital services, most notably online platforms
Effect of Neutrino Heating on Primordial Nucleosynthesis
We have modified the standard code for primordial nucleosynthesis to include
the effect of the slight heating of neutrinos by annihilations. There
is a small, systematic change in the He yield, , which is insensitive to the value of the baryon-to-photon ratio
for 10^{-10}\la \eta \la 10^{-9}. We also find that the
baryon-to-photon ratio decreases by about 0.5\% less than the canonical factor
of 4/11 because some of the entropy in pairs is transferred to
neutrinos. These results are in accord with recent analytical estimates.Comment: 14 pages/4 Figs (upon request
Constraining gamma-ray pulsar gap models with a simulated pulsar population
With the large sample of young gamma-ray pulsars discovered by the Fermi
Large Area Telescope (LAT), population synthesis has become a powerful tool for
comparing their collective properties with model predictions. We synthesised a
pulsar population based on a radio emission model and four gamma-ray gap models
(Polar Cap, Slot Gap, Outer Gap, and One Pole Caustic) normalizing to the
number of detected radio pulsars in select group of surveys. The luminosity and
the wide beams from the outer gaps can easily account for the number of Fermi
detections in 2 years of observations. The wide slot-gap beams requires an
increase by a factor of ~10 of the predicted luminosity to produce a reasonable
number of gamma-ray pulsars. Such large increases in the luminosity may be
accommodated by implementing offset polar caps. The narrow polar-cap beams
contribute at most only a handful of LAT pulsars. Standard distributions in
birth location and pulsar spin-down power (Edot) fail to reproduce the LAT
findings: all models under-predict the number of LAT pulsars with high Edot,
and they cannot explain the high probability of detecting both the radio and
gamma-ray beams at high Edot. The beaming factor remains close to 1 over 4
decades in Edot evolution for the slot gap whereas it significantly decreases
with increasing age for the outer gaps. The evolution of the slot-gap
luminosity with Edot is compatible with the large dispersion of gamma-ray
luminosity seen in the LAT data. The stronger evolution predicted for the outer
gap, which is linked to the polar cap heating by the return current, is
apparently not supported by the LAT data. The LAT sample of gamma-ray pulsars
therefore provides a fresh perspective on the early evolution of the luminosity
and beam width of the gamma-ray emission from young pulsars, calling for thin
and more luminous gaps.Comment: 23 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in A&
The Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO)
AST/RO, a 1.7 m diameter telescope for astronomy and aeronomy studies at
wavelengths between 200 and 2000 microns, was installed at the South Pole
during the 1994-1995 Austral summer. The telescope operates continuously
through the Austral winter, and is being used primarily for spectroscopic
studies of neutral atomic carbon and carbon monoxide in the interstellar medium
of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. The South Pole environment is
unique among observatory sites for unusually low wind speeds, low absolute
humidity, and the consistent clarity of the submillimeter sky. Four heterodyne
receivers, an array receiver, three acousto-optical spectrometers, and an array
spectrometer are installed. A Fabry-Perot spectrometer using a bolometric array
and a Terahertz receiver are in development. Telescope pointing, focus, and
calibration methods as well as the unique working environment and logistical
requirements of the South Pole are described.Comment: 57 pages, 15 figures. Submitted to PAS
SuperWIMP Dark Matter Signals from the Early Universe
Cold dark matter may be made of superweakly-interacting massive particles,
superWIMPs, that naturally inherit the desired relic density from late decays
of metastable WIMPs. Well-motivated examples are weak-scale gravitinos in
supergravity and Kaluza-Klein gravitons from extra dimensions. These particles
are impossible to detect in all dark matter experiments. We find, however, that
superWIMP dark matter may be discovered through cosmological signatures from
the early universe. In particular, superWIMP dark matter has observable
consequences for Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background
(CMB), and may explain the observed underabundance of 7Li without upsetting the
concordance between deuterium and CMB baryometers. We discuss implications for
future probes of CMB black body distortions and collider searches for new
particles. In the course of this study, we also present a model-independent
analysis of entropy production from late-decaying particles in light of WMAP
data.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, typos correcte
Carbon Recombination Lines from the Galactic Plane at 34.5 & 328 MHz
We present results of a search for carbon recombination lines in the Galaxy
at 34.5 MHz (C) made using the dipole array at Gauribidanur near
Bangalore. Observations made towards 32 directions, led to detections of lines
in absorption at nine positions. Followup observations at 328 MHz
(C) using the Ooty Radio Telescope detected these lines in emission.
A VLA D-array observation of one of the positions at 330 MHz yielded no
detection implying a lower limit of 10' for the angular size of the line
forming region.
The longitude-velocity distribution of the observed carbon lines indicate
that the line forming region are located mainly between 4 kpc and 7 kpc from
the Galactic centre. Combining our results with published carbon recombination
line data near 76 MHz (\nocite{erickson:95} Erickson \et 1995) we obtain
constraints on the physical parameters of the line forming regions. We find
that if the angular size of the line forming regions is , then
the range of parameters that fit the data are: \Te K, \ne \cm3 and pathlengths pc which may correspond to thin
photo-dissociated regions around molecular clouds. On the other hand, if the
line forming regions are in extent, then warmer gas (\Te K) with lower electron densities (\ne \cm3) extending
over several tens of parsecs along the line of sight and possibly associated
with atomic \HI gas can fit the data. Based on the range of derived parameters,
we suggest that the carbon line regions are most likely associated with
photo-dissociation regions.Comment: To appear in Journal of Astrophysics & Astronomy, March 200
Star formation towards the Scutum tangent region and the effects of Galactic environment
By positional matching to the catalogue of Galactic Ring Survey molecular
clouds, we have derived distances to 793 Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey (BGPS)
sources out of a possible 806 located within the region defined by Galactic
longitudes l = 28.5 degr to 31.5 degr and latitudes |b| < 1 degr. This section
of the Galactic Plane contains several major features of Galactic structure at
different distances, mainly mid-arm sections of the Perseus and Sagittarius
spiral arms and the tangent of the Scutum-Centarus arm, which is coincident
with the end of the Galactic Long Bar. By utilising the catalogued cloud
distances plus new kinematic distance determinations, we are able to separate
the dense BGPS clumps into these three main line-of-sight components to look
for variations in star-formation properties that might be related to the
different Galactic environments. We find no evidence of any difference in
either the clump mass function or the average clump formation efficiency (CFE)
between these components that might be attributed to environmental effects on
scales comparable to Galactic-structure features.
Despite having a very high star-formation rate, and containing at least one
cloud with a very high CFE, the star formation associated with the
Scutum-Centarus tangent does not appear to be in any way abnormal or different
to that in the other two spiral-arm sections. Large variations in the CFE are
found on the scale of individual clouds, however, which may be due to local
triggering agents as opposed to the large-scale Galactic structure.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices
of the Royal Astronomical Societ
The Frequency of Mid-Infrared Excess Sources in Galactic Surveys
We have identified 230 Tycho-2 Spectral Catalog stars that exhibit 8 micron
mid-infrared extraphotospheric excesses in the MidCourse Space Experiment (MSX)
and Spitzer Space Telescope Galactic Legacy MidPlane Survey Extraordinaire
(GLIMPSE) surveys. Of these, 183 are either OB stars earlier than B8 in which
the excess plausibly arises from a thermal bremsstrahlung component or evolved
stars in which the excess may be explained by an atmospheric dust component.
The remaining 47 stars have spectral classifications B8 or later and appear to
be main sequence or late pre-main-sequence objects harboring circumstellar
disks. Six of the 47 stars exhibit multiple signatures characteristic of
pre-main-sequence circumstellar disks, including emission lines, near-infrared
K-band excesses, and X-ray emission. Approximately one-third of the remaining
41 sources have emission lines suggesting relative youth. Of the 25 GLIMPSE
stars with SST data at >24 microns, 20 also show an excess at 24 microns. Three
additional objects have 24 micron upper limits consistent with possible
excesses, and two objects have photospheric measurements at 24 microns. Six MSX
sources had a measurement at wavelengths >8 microns. We modeled the excesses in
26 stars having two or more measurements in excess of the expected photospheres
as single-component blackbodies. We determine probable disk temperatures and
fractional infrared luminosities in the range 191 < T < 787 and 3.9x10^-4 <
L_IR/L_* < 2.7x10^-1. We estimate a lower limit on the fraction of Tycho-2
Spectral Catalog main-sequence stars having mid-IR, but not near-IR, excesses
to be 1.0+-0.3%.Comment: Accepted to Ap
3-He in the Milky Way Interstellar Medium: Ionization Structure
The cosmic abundance of the 3-He isotope has important implications for many
fields of astrophysics. We are using the 8.665 GHz hyperfine transition of
3-He+ to determine the 3-He/H abundance in Milky Way HII regions and planetary
nebulae. This is one in a series of papers in which we discuss issues involved
in deriving accurate 3-He/H abundance ratios from the available measurements.
Here we describe the ionization correction we use to convert the 3-He+/H+
abundance, y3+, to the 3-He/H abundance, y3. In principle the nebular
ionization structure can significantly influence the y3 derived for individual
sources. We find that in general there is insufficient information available to
make a detailed ionization correction. Here we make a simple correction and
assess its validity. The correction is based on radio recombination line
measurements of H+ and 4-He+, together with simple core-halo source models. We
use these models to establish criteria that allow us to identify sources that
can be accurately corrected for ionization and those that cannot. We argue that
this effect cannot be very large for most of the sources in our observational
sample. For a wide range of models of nebular ionization structure we find that
the ionization correction factor varies from 1 to 1.8. Although large
corrections are possible, there would have to be a conspiracy between the
density and ionization structure for us to underestimate the ionization
correction by a substantial amount.Comment: 36 pages, 4 figures To appear Astrophysical Journal, 20 August 2007,
vol 665, no
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