“Breaking Bad” Contracts: Bargaining for Masculinity in Popular Culture

This Article examines the award-winning television show, Breaking Bad, to illustrate how the idea of a contract in popular culture can become inflected with a style of retrograde masculinity. Deals in Breaking Bad take place in the classic contract imaginary, which resembles the classic Western shootout: two antagonists face each other down in a duel. The show interrogates the frontier thesis, with its links to the American Dream and dangerous masculinities, through the ruthless contracts of Walter White

STORYTELLING AND CONTRACTS: (CASEBOOK REVIEW ESSAY) Contracting Law, 2d ed. By Amy Hilsman Kastely, Deborah Waire Post, and Sharon Kang Hom. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2000.

Not one of my casebooks in law school was edited by a woman. I didn\u27t give that much thought at the time, viewing it as another given of the intimidating and masculine world of law school. Other givens included the fact that twothirds of the class were male and that women professors were scarce. (In three years I only had one female professor, who lectured to us on legal writing strategies as part of a pass/fail course.) But I still have my casebooks from law school, packed in an old cardboard box in the garage. I couldn\u27t part with them during law school, even though classmates had advised me to resell them quickly before they became outdated. I remember my first year casebooks, particularly. It was no easy task to lug them several blocks from the bookstore to the dorm, in a time before those ubiquitous little wheeled carts had gained popularity. I remember spreading them out on my desk. They were solid and thick, with dark covers embossed with gold lettering. They looked heavy with learning. Here was the Law. And if it had occurred to me to wonder why not one of the casebooks was edited by a woman, I probably reasoned that the gender of the editors couldn\u27t matter. The law was the law, and surely casebook editors were neutral in their selection and presentation of material

Determinants of Corporate Insolvency in Germany: An Empirical Analysis to Evaluate and Improve the Default Risk of Non-Financial Companies Listed in the CDAX.

Esta tesis contribuye al creciente cuerpo de literatura sobre insolvencias corporativas al desarrollar y aplicar una regresión semiparamétrica de riesgos proporcionales de Cox para covariables dependientes del tiempo con el fin de evaluar insolvencias de entidades no financieras incluidas en el índice bursátil CDAX alemán. La literatura sobre inestabilidad y probabilidad de insolvencia (PD) se ha apoyado en una variedad de enfoques para evaluar la insolvencia, como por ejemplo el análisis multivariado, la regresión logística estática, la distancia al incumplimiento o modelos de riesgo. Independientemente de la metodología de investigación, la mayoría de los estudios empíricos se realizan predominantemente con datos de EEUU. Por lo tanto, existe una escasa contribución académica a la literatura alemana sobre PD. La presente es una de las primeras contribuciones en aplicar modelos de regresión de Cox comparativos exhaustivos fuera de la muestra utilizando el proceso de recuento de Andersen-Gill (AG-CP) basado en un conjunto de datos único de empresas no financieras con respecto al Estatuto de Insolvencia de Alemania. En este contexto, se emplea la importancia de los indicadores de alerta temprana para las insolvencias, como los ratios contables y financieros. Los hallazgos sobre un mercado concreto (EEUU) no deben generalizarse necesariamente a otros países como Alemania. Por ello, el estudio propone un modelo de riesgos proporcionales de Cox con covariables dependientes del tiempo basadas en el conjunto predefinido de covariables seleccionadas. Se aplica un procedimiento de selección de variables escalonadas con iteraciones hacia adelante y hacia atrás para ajustar un modelo a medida para empresas no financieras en Alemania y para realizar pruebas fuera de la muestra. Por otra parte, esta disertación evalúa el efecto de incluir variables de la industria para mejorar el poder discriminatorio y la precisión predictiva de los modelos ajustados. En la literatura científica actual se ha otorgado muy poca importancia al impacto en la industria. Según Chava y Jarrow (2004), los modelos de PD complementados con discriminaciones por industrias mejoran el poder predictivo de los modelos ajustados debido a los diferentes niveles de competencia entre las industrias, las convenciones contables específicas de la industria y los diferentes requisitos reglamentarios. Finalmente, la muestra en la que se basa este estudio de doctorado está formada por empresas no financieras en activo e insolventes en el período 2000 a 2018, sujeto al inicio del primer estatuto concursal unificado en Alemania. Por lo tanto, este enfoque de muestreo permite informar resultados que no están sesgados por este importante cambio regulatorio de 1999. También examina los efectos de una ley que entró en vigor en 2012 para facilitar aún más la reestructuración de empresas (Gesetz zur weiteren Erleichterung der Sanierung von Unternehmen, conocido como “ESUG”). La introducción del ESUG no solo tiene como objetivo fortalecer los derechos de los acreedores, sino que también introdujo medidas para la apertura anticipada de procedimientos. En particular, se ha reforzado la autogestión, se han introducido procedimientos de protección y se ha simplificado el procedimiento del plan de insolvencia. Finalmente, esta disertación tiene como objetivo evaluar el impacto de la ESUG en las ratios de riesgo en el mercado de insolvencia alemán, ya que la evidencia empírica de este cambio legislativo es escasa.Administración y Dirección de Empresa

Primary Treatment Results in Patients with Ovarian, Fallopian or Peritoneal Cancer—Results of a Clinical Cancer Registry Database Analysis in Germany

Simple Summary: Diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancers has changed significantly over the last years. However, the role of primary surgery and chemotherapy remain important parts of the multimodal treatment. Furthermore, real life data are often lacking but are very important for improving quality indicators and for hypothesis generation for future trials. The present work represents the first major analysis of federal cancer registry data of OC patients in Germany. Overall, 2771 primary OC cases were included. The results clearly elucidate quality measurements and treatment results and show good treatment outcomes in patients with primary OC compared to other internationally reported outcomes. Abstract: Background: The current therapy of ovarian cancer is based on the so-called "Three-Pillar-Model", consisting of surgery, chemotherapy and maintenance therapy. This study represents the first major analysis of a federal cancer database of OC patients from the states Berlin/Brandenburg in Germany. The primary objective was to evaluate the prevailing established quality indicators surgical outcome, adjuvant chemotherapy and integrity of surgical staging in early stages. Methods: Data from the Clinical Cancer Registry for Brandenburg and Berlin of the years 2009-2019 were analyzed. Objectives were defined by a working group of selected physicians. Descriptive statistics were performed, as well as survival analysis. Results: A total of 2771 primary OC cases were included. Results regarding histological subtype met the suspected allocation with predominantly high-grade serous OC in advanced stage. The rate of complete surgical staging in FIGO stages I-IIA was 57%, and the rate of macroscopic complete resection in >FIGO III was 53%. Five-year survival rate varied from 79% (FIGO I) to 40% (FIGO III). Rate of adjuvant chemotherapy was above 50%. Conclusion: The results elucidate quality measurements and treatment results and show good treatment outcomes in patients with primary diagnosis. However, they also indicate deficits and can help to establish new quality indicators to further improve the treatment

The role of structural and electronic factors in shaping the ambipolar properties of donor-acceptor polymers of thiophene and benzothiadiazole

The influence of different thiophene donor units on electrochemical and spectroscopic properties of benzothiadiazole based donor–acceptor π-conjugated organic materials is studied. Two different structure modification vectors of the donor units are being considered – one addressing the intermolecular interactions through off-conjugation side chain architecture, and the other focusing on intramolecular interactions tuned by in-conjugation substituents. Electrochemical and simultaneous in situ EPR-UV-Vis-NIR spectroelectrochemical studies of the oxidative (p-) and reductive (n-) doping processes, which are responsible for the optoelectronic properties of these materials, revealed their disparate course and dissimilar effects of redox reactions of the conjugated π-bond. While p-doping prevalent species were found to comprise intensively interacting spin bearing and spinless charge carriers, the n-doping state was found to involve only one type of negatively charged carrier, with spin carrying species being selectively generated at due cathodic potentials. No spin pairing of these negative polarons was observed with their increasing population behaving like a collection of localised charge carriers. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons between the p- and n-doping carrier populations provided independent support for the spin pairing phenomena of positive charge carriers. Steric effects of varying alkyl side chain substitution have demonstrated predominant impact on the electrochemical properties of investigated polymers, and, thereto related, stability of n-doped state, while mesomeric effects of different 3,4-ethylenechalcogenide thiophene functionalities have been found to shape the energy level related spectral properties of these polymers, with particular reference to p-doping induced charged states. These findings provide new insights into the factors requiring attention during structure tailoring of donor–acceptor assemblies for organic optoelectronic applications

Central Bank Digital Currencies : Status quo, evolutions and possible variants of implementation

The development in payment behavior, especially the steady growth of electronic payments, by all economic actors as well as the emergence of alternative payment methods has pushed policy makers and central banks to react to this development. CBDCs are currently being conceptually developed in all major economies and the individual design options are being discussed. This paper presents the current status quo, possible forms of development and the possibilities of implementation

Analysis of a Valueâ Based Design Benefit for Rehabilitation Therapies

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147227/1/pmr2s313a.pd

Occurrence of phaeochromocytoma tumours in RET mutation carriers — a single-centre study

  Wstęp: Zespół mnogich nowotworów gruczołów dokrewnych typu 2 (MEN 2) jest schorzeniem uwarunkowanym genetycznie, dziedziczonym w sposób autosomalny dominujący, spowodowanym mutacją germinalną protoonkogenu RET. W 80% przypadków mutacje zlokalizowane są w kodonie 634. Guz chromochłonny rozwinie się u 50% pacjentów z zidentyfikowaną mutacją w protoonkogenie RET. Materiał i metody: 228 nosicieli mutacji w protonkogenie RET poddano monitorowaniu w kierunku rozwoju guza chromochłonnego. Nadzór obejmował okresowo wykonywane ocenę stanu klinicznego, wydalania metoksykatecholamin w dobowej zbiórce moczu komplementarnie z diagnostyką obrazową (CT, MR, scyntygrafia MIBG). Wyniki: Guz chromochłonny rozwinął się u 41 pacjentów (18% wszystkich pacjentów z ustaloną mutacją w protoonkogenie RET). Średni wiek rozpoznania wynosił 43 lata. W 8 przypadkach guz chromochłonny był pierwszą kliniczną manifestacją MEN 2. Tylko u 8 pacjentów (20%) w chwili rozpoznania obserwowano objawy kliniczne typowe dla guza chromochłonnego. Średnia wielkość guza wynosiła 4,3 cm. Nie stwierdzono poza nadnerczowej lokalizacji. W obserwacji autorów potwierdzono tylko jeden przypadek złośliwego guza chromochłonnego. Wnioski: Guzy wywodzące się z tkanki chromochłonnej rozwijające się w przebiegu zespołu MEN 2 mają zwykle nadnerczową lokalizację i łagodny charakter jednak z dużą częstością zmian obustronnych. Biorąc pod uwagę powyższe ryzyko, a także niespecyficzny obraz kliniczny istotnym jest monitorowanie wszystkich pacjentów z potwierdzoną mutacją w protoonkogenie RET w kierunku rozwoju guza chromochłonnego. (Endokrynol Pol 2016; 67 (1): 54–58)    Introduction: Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN 2) is an autosomal dominant genetic syndrome caused by germline mutation in RET proto-oncogene. The most common mutations are in a cysteine rich domain. Phaeochromocytoma will develop in approximately 50% of RET proto-oncogene carriers. Material and methods: The studied population consisted of 228 RET proto-oncogene mutation carriers. Monitoring for the diagnosis of phaeochromocytoma was carried out in all patients with established genetic status. Mean time of follow up was 138 months. Surveillance consisted of periodically performed clinical evaluation, 24-hour urinary determinations of total metanephrines complementary with imaging (CT, MR, MIBG scintigraphy). Results: Phaeochromocytoma developed in 41 patients (18% of all RET proto-oncogene mutations carriers). The mean age of diagnosis for the whole cohort was 43 years. In eight cases phaeochromocytoma was the first manifestation of the MEN 2 syndrome. Only eight (20%) patients were symptomatic at diagnosis of phaeochromocytoma. The mean size of the tumour was 4.3 cm. There was no extra-adrenal localisation. We observed one case of malignant phaeochromocytoma. Conclusions: In patients with MEN 2 syndrome phaeochromocytomas are usually benign adrenal tumours with high risk of bilateral development. Taking to account the latter risk and non-specific clinical manifestation of the neoplasm it is mandatory to screen all RET proto-oncogene mutations carriers for phaeochromocytoma. (Endokrynol Pol 2016; 67 (1): 54–58)