The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Unbridled Enforcement and Flawed Culpability Standards Deter SMEs from Entering the Global Marketplace

In the wake of the Watergate Scandal, which exposed a variety of corporate as well as political abuses, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) discovered that a staggering number of large corporations had made questionable or illegal payments exceeding $300 million to foreign government officials, politicians, and political parties. In 1977, Congress passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to curb the negative impact of these corrupt payments on United States foreign policy objectives regarding the promotion of democracy and the free market system. In the decades since the passage of the FCPA, the government has expanded the use of the statute beyond its original target (large corporations) to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which often lack the resources and international business sophistication to guard against bribery and extortion in all its forms and thus avoid liability. Additionally, the government’s enforcement regime exists largely outside the courts. As a result, the investigative tactics and settlement agreements are overly harsh on SMEs, exceed statutorily proscribed penalties, and discourage utilization and litigation of a variety of statutory provisions designed to protect businesses from liability. This Comment argues that the FCPA should be amended to provide SMEs proper defenses against liability through the mental state provisions for domestic concerns and require more judicial oversight of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the SEC enforcement policies. These changes will encourage SMEs to enter the international marketplace and protect SMEs from investigative costs and settlement penalties that do serious harm to their financial situation and are often disproportionate to the alleged wrongdoing

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Unbridled Enforcement and Flawed Culpability Standards Deter SMEs from Entering the Global Marketplace

In the wake of the Watergate Scandal, which exposed a variety of corporate as well as political abuses, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) discovered that a staggering number of large corporations had made questionable or illegal payments exceeding $300 million to foreign government officials, politicians, and political parties. In 1977, Congress passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to curb the negative impact of these corrupt payments on United States foreign policy objectives regarding the promotion of democracy and the free market system. In the decades since the passage of the FCPA, the government has expanded the use of the statute beyond its original target (large corporations) to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which often lack the resources and international business sophistication to guard against bribery and extortion in all its forms and thus avoid liability. Additionally, the government’s enforcement regime exists largely outside the courts. As a result, the investigative tactics and settlement agreements are overly harsh on SMEs, exceed statutorily proscribed penalties, and discourage utilization and litigation of a variety of statutory provisions designed to protect businesses from liability. This Comment argues that the FCPA should be amended to provide SMEs proper defenses against liability through the mental state provisions for domestic concerns and require more judicial oversight of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the SEC enforcement policies. These changes will encourage SMEs to enter the international marketplace and protect SMEs from investigative costs and settlement penalties that do serious harm to their financial situation and are often disproportionate to the alleged wrongdoing

Designing a Graphene Coating-Based Supercapacitor with Lithium Ion Electrolyte: An Experimental and Computational Study via Multiscale Modeling

Graphene electrodes are investigated for electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLCs) with lithium ion electrolyte, the focus being the effect of the pore size distribution (PSD) of electrode with respect to the solvated and desolvated electrolyte ions. Two graphene electrode coatings are examined: a low specific surface area (SSA) xGNP-750 coating and a high SSA coating based on a-MWGO (activated microwave expanded graphene oxide). The study comprises an experimental and a computer modeling part. The experimental part includes fabrication, material characterization and electrochemical testing of an EDLC with xGNP-750 coating electrodes and electrolyte 1M LiPF6 in EC:DMC. The computational part includes simulations of the galvanostatic charge-discharge of each EDLC type, based on a continuum ion transport model taking into account the PSD of electrodes, as well as molecular modeling to determine the parameters of the solvated and desolvated electrolyte ions and their adsorption energies with each type of electrode pore surface material. Predictions, in agreement with the experimental data, yield a specific electrode capacitance of 110 F g−1 for xGNP-750 coating electrodes in electrolyte 1M LiPF6 in EC:DMC, which is three times higher than that of the high SSA a-MWGO coating electrodes in the same lithium ion electrolyte.</jats:p

Novel nuclear materials characterization workflows enabled by fs-laser milling

Research to support nuclear energy development faces many challenges. Understanding material microstructures is not only essential to predicting and understanding the in-service performance of materials used in nuclear energy production, but also in understanding aging and corrosion of these materials as they interact with their environment. However, microstructural characterization of nuclear materials poses unique obstacles. Unique materials and material combinations push traditional microstructural evaluation techniques to their limits. Radioactive samples make normally routine microstructural characterization tasks much more complex. Precious samples force rigorous, multi-scale analysis workflows. And, materials that face and must endure uniquely harsh operational environments increase the demands for deep microstructural understandings. In this context, multiscale characterization workflows and the technology that supports them play an integral role in advancing materials development for nuclear energy production. The advent of the femtosecond (fs) laser and its application to material ablation tasks has proven to be a game changer for materials research. With their extremely rapid milling rates (orders of magnitude faster than traditional ion beam approaches) and minimal heat affected zone (HAZ), the fs-laser has brought about a renaissance in advanced materials characterization capabilitie

Non-destructive Correlative 3D Characterization of Nuclear Graphite: From the Micro-scale to the Nano-scale

Graphite is a key material in the design and operation of a wide range of nuclear reactors because of its attractive combination of thermal, mechanical, and neutron interaction properties. In all its applications, the microstructural evolution of nuclear graphite under operating conditions will strongly influence reactor lifetime and performance. However, measuring the 3D microstructural characteristics of nuclear graphite has traditionally faced many challenges. X-ray tomographic techniques face limitations in achievable resolution on bulk (mm-sized) specimens while serial sectioning techniques like FIB-SEM struggle to achieve adequate milling rates for tomographic imaging over representative volumes. To address these shortcomings, we present here a multiscale, targeted, correlative microstructural characterization workflow for nuclear graphite employing micro-scale and nano-scale x-ray microscopy with a connected laser milling step in between the two modalities. We present details of the microstructure, including porosity analysis, spanning orders of magnitude in feature size for nuclear graphite samples including IG-110

Comparing Open Radical Cystectomy and Robot-assisted Laparoscopic Radical Cystectomy: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Open radical cystectomy (ORC) and urinary diversion in patients with bladder cancer (BCa) are associated with significant perioperative complication risk. Objective: To compare perioperative complications between robot-assisted radical cystectomy (RARC) and ORC techniques. Design, setting, and participants: A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted during 2010 and 2013 in BCa patients scheduled for definitive treatment by radical cystectomy (RC), pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND), and urinary diversion. Patients were randomized to ORC/PLND or RARC/PLND, both with open urinary diversion. Patients were followed for 90 d postoperatively. Intervention: Standard ORC or RARC with PLND; all urinary diversions were performed via an open approach. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: Primary outcomes were overall 90-d grade 2-5 complications defined by a modified Clavien system. Secondary outcomes included comparison of high-grade complications, estimated blood loss, operative time, pathologic outcomes, 3-and 6-mo patient-reported quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes, and total operative room and inpatient costs. Differences in binary outcomes were assessed with the chi-square test, with differences in continuous outcomes assessed by analysis of covariance with randomization group as covariate and, for QOL end points, baseline score. Results and limitations: The trial enrolled 124 patients, of whom 118 were randomized and underwent RC/PLND. Sixty were randomized to RARC and 58 to ORC. At 90 d, grade 2-5 complications were observed in 62% and 66% of RARC and ORC patients, respectively (95% confidence interval for difference, -21% to -13%; p = 0.7). The similar rates of grade 2-5 complications at our mandated interim analysis met futility criteria; thus, early closure of the trial occurred. The RARC group had lower mean intraoperative blood loss (p = 0.027) but significantly longer operative time than the ORC group (p \u3c 0.001). Pathologic variables including positive surgical margins and lymph node yields were similar. Mean hospital stay was 8 d in both arms (standard deviation, 3 and 5 d, respectively; p = 0.5). Three-and 6-mo QOL outcomes were similar between arms. Cost analysis demonstrated an advantage to ORC compared with RARC. A limitation is the setting at a single high-volume, referral center; our findings may not be generalizable to all settings. Conclusions: This trial failed to identify a large advantage for robot-assisted techniques over standard open surgery for patients undergoing RC/PLND and urinary diversion. Similar 90-d complication rates, hospital stay, pathologic outcomes, and 3-and 6-mo QOL outcomes were observed regardless of surgical technique. Patient summary: Of 118 patients with bladder cancer who underwent radical cystectomy, pelvic lymph node dissection, and urinary diversion, half were randomized to open surgery and half to robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery. We compared the rate of complications within 90 d after surgery for the open group versus the robotic group and found no significant difference between the two groups. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials. gov identifier NCT01076387, www.clinicaltrials.gov. (C) 2014 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Measurement and simulation of the effect of compaction on the pore structure and saturated hydraulic conductivity of grassland and arable soil

Measurements have been made of the effect of compaction on water retention, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and porosity of two English soils: North Wyke (NW) grassland clay topsoil and Broadbalk silty topsoil, fertilized inorganically (PKMg) or with farmyard manure (FYM). As expected, the FYM topsoil had greater porosity and greater water retention than PKMg topsoil, and the NW clay topsoil retained more water at each matric potential than the silty topsoils. Compaction had a clear effect on water retention at matric potentials wetter than -10 kPa for the PKMg and FYM soils, corresponding to voids greater than 30 mu m cylindrical diameter, whereas smaller voids appeared to be unaffected. The Pore-Cor void network model has been improved by including a Euler beta distribution to describe the sizes of the narrow interconnections, termed throats. The model revealed a change from bimodal to unimodal throat size distributions on compaction, as well as a reduction in sizes overall. It also matched the water retention curves more closely than van Genuchten fits and correctly predicted changes in saturated hydraulic conductivity better than those predicted by a prior statistical approach. However, the changes in hydraulic conductivity were masked by the stochastic variability of the model. Also, an artifact of the model, namely its inability to pack small features close together, caused incorrect increases in pore sizes on compaction. These deficiencies in the model demonstrate the need for an explicitly dual porous network model to account for the effects of compaction in soil

Feasibility study of a clinically-integrated randomized trial of modifications to radical prostatectomy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Numerous technical modifications to radical prostatectomy have been proposed. Such modifications are likely to lead to only slight improvements in outcomes. Although small differences would be worthwhile, an appropriately powered randomized trial would need to be very large, and thus of doubtful feasibility given the expense, complexity and regulatory burden of contemporary clinical trials. We have proposed a novel methodology, the clinically-integrated randomized trial, which dramatically streamlines trial procedures in order to reduce the marginal cost of an additional patient towards zero. We aimed to determine the feasibility of implementing such a trial for radical prostatectomy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients undergoing radical prostatectomy as initial treatment for prostate cancer were randomized in a factorial design to involvement of the fascia during placement of the anastomotic sutures, urethral irrigation, both or neither. Endpoint data were obtained from routine clinical documentation. Accrual and compliance rates were monitored to determine the feasibility of the trial.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From a total of 260 eligible patients, 154 (59%) consented; 56 patients declined to participate, 20 were not approached on recommendation of the treating surgeon, and 30 were not approached for logistical reasons. Although recording by surgeons of the procedure used was incomplete (~80%), compliance with randomization was excellent when it was recorded, with only 6% of procedures inconsistent with allocation. Outcomes data was received from 71% of patients at one year. This improved to 83% as the trial progressed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A clinically-integrated randomized trial was conducted at low cost, with excellent accrual, and acceptable compliance with treatment allocation and outcomes reporting. This demonstrates the feasibility of the methodology. Improved methods to ensure documentation of surgical procedures would be required before wider implementation.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00928850">NCT00928850</a></p

Improved Interpretation of Mercury Intrusion and Soil Water Retention Percolation Characteristics by Inverse Modelling and Void Cluster Analysis

This work addresses two continuing fallacies in the interpretation of percolation characteristics of porous solids. The first is that the first derivative (slope) of the intrusion characteristic of the non-wetting fluid or drainage characteristic of the wetting fluid corresponds to the void size distribution, and the second is that the sizes of all voids can be measured. The fallacies are illustrated with the aid of the PoreXpert® inversemodelling package.Anewvoid analysis method is then described, which is an add-on to the inverse modelling package and addresses the second fallacy. It is applied to three widely contrasting and challenging porous media. The first comprises two fine-grain graphites for use in the next-generation nuclear reactors. Their larger void sizes were measured by mercury intrusion, and the smallest by using a grand canonical Monte Carlo interpretation of surface area measurement down to nanometre scale. The second application is to the mercury intrusion of a series of mixtures of ground calcium carbonate with powdered microporous calcium carbonate known as functionalised calcium carbonate (FCC). The third is the water retention/drainage characteristic of a soil sample which undergoes naturally occurring hydrophilic/hydrophobic transitions. The first-derivative approximation is shown to be reasonable in the interpretation of the mercury intrusion porosimetry of the two graphites, which differ only at low mercury intrusion pressures, but false for FCC and the transiently hydrophobic soil. The findings are supported by other experimental characterisations, in particular electron and atomic force microscopy

A dual-porous, inverse model of water retention to study biological and hydrological interactions in soil

The deterministic modelling of bio-hydrological processes in soil requires a void structure model that is explicitly dual-porous containing fully and separately characterized macroporosity and microporosity. It should also contain information that relates the positioning of microporosity relative to macroporosity. An example of such a process is the production of nitrous oxide, in which bacteria in microporous hot-spots' are supplied with nutrients and gases through a macroporous pathway. We present a precision void-structure model that satisfies these two criteria, namely explicit macroporosity and microporosity, and their positional relationship. To demonstrate the construction of the model, we describe the modelling of a single soil, namely Warren soil from Rothamsted Research's Woburn Experimental Farm in Bedfordshire, UK, although the modelling approach is applicable to a wide range of soils and other dual porous solids. The model is capable of fitting several fundamental properties of soil, namely water retention, aggregate size distribution, and porosity of the microporous and macroporous zones. It comprises a dendritic critical percolation path, around which are clustered the microporous regions. The saturated hydraulic conductivity of the dual-porous network is of the correct order of magnitude for a soil of the same density and texture as the Warren sample. Finally, we demonstrate how the preferential flow pathway in the resulting structure differs from the critical percolation pathway, and that only 4.6% by volume of the unclogged macroporosity contributes to the fluid flow through the structure