French and British corporate political strategies in the case of the European Merger Control Regime: national or European?

Has the construction of a European level playing field in terms of policy solutions in the merger control field led to a de facto standardisation of European corporate modes of representation? This study challenges scholars who have predicted the development of a European mode of representation that would accompany the shift of competences from the national to the European level of governance. Following the establishment of a generic framework of design of corporate political strategies “ based on the management literature “ and adapted to the European merger control regime context, French and British firms corporate political strategies are thoroughly analysed. The comparison refines the original analytical framework. Moreover the conclusions of the comparative study show differences in corporate political strategies along national lines, although a certain degree of convergence can be identified. There are traditional tendencies in choosing strategies “ although the efficiency of strategies can be assessed case-by-case. These conclusions are, in turn, analysed in terms of Europeanization. The latter concept is defined as a horizontal and vertical process related to the existence of the European level of governance. Unlike current conclusions of the Europeanization literature this research project highlights five main themes of differences between French and British corporate political strategies. In light of these themes the extent to which the Europeanization process affects interest intermediation needs to be qualified. Both the horizontal and vertical flows have an impact on corporate political activity. However, this impact should not be over stated. National constructs and traditions still matter in the design of corporate political strategies

Density Matrix Renormalization Group study on incommensurate quantum Frenkel-Kontorova model

By using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) technique, the incommensurate quantum Frenkel-Kontorova model is investigated numerically. It is found that when the quantum fluctuation is strong enough, the \emph{g}-function featured by a saw-tooth map in the depinned state will show a different kind of behavior, similar to a standard map, but with reduced magnitude. The related position correlations are studied in details, which leads to a potentially interesting application to the recently well-explored phase transitions in cold atoms loaded in optical lattices.Comment: 11 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Fractal Spin Glass Properties of Low Energy Configurations in the Frenkel-Kontorova chain

We study numerically and analytically the classical one-dimensional Frenkel-Kontorova chain in the regime of pinned phase characterized by phonon gap. Our results show the existence of exponentially many static equilibrium configurations which are exponentially close to the energy of the ground state. The energies of these configurations form a fractal quasi-degenerate band structure which is described on the basis of elementary excitations. Contrary to the ground state, the configurations inside these bands are disordered.Comment: revtex, 9 pages, 9 figure

Wave interactions in localizing media - a coin with many faces

A variety of heterogeneous potentials are capable of localizing linear non-interacting waves. In this work, we review different examples of heterogeneous localizing potentials which were realized in experiments. We then discuss the impact of nonlinearity induced by wave interactions, in particular its destructive effect on the localizing properties of the heterogeneous potentials.Comment: Review submitted to Intl. Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos Special Issue edited by G. Nicolis, M. Robnik, V. Rothos and Ch. Skokos 21 Pages, 8 Figure

Hypercalcemia upon denosumab withdrawal in primary hyperparathyroidism: a case report and literature review.

Denosumab discontinuation is associated with a rapid increase in bone resorption and a decrease in bone mineral density. Spontaneous vertebral fractures may occur as a side effect of the rebound of bone resorption. Cases of rebound-linked hypercalcemia have also been described, moderate in women with osteoporosis and breast cancer and severe in children receiving oncological doses of denosumab. We report the case of an adult woman with primary hyperparathyroidism and moderate hypercalcemia, treated with denosumab for osteoporosis, who developed severe hypercalcemia and spontaneous vertebral fractures (SVFs) after denosumab discontinuation. An 86-year-old woman with densitometric osteoporosis was treated for 3 years with 60 mg of subcutaneous denosumab every 6 months. She was known to have primary hyperparathyroidism, with a serum albumin-corrected calcium of 2.82 mmol/l (NV 2.15-2.5) at the end of denosumab effect. Nine months after the last denosumab injection, she was hospitalized due to worsening overall health. Clinical evaluation revealed severe hypercalcemia (calcium 3.35 mmol/l). Very high values of bone turnover markers (BTMs) suggested a rebound effect due to denosumab discontinuation. An X-ray showed multiple new SVFs. After injection of denosumab 60 mg, serum calcium rapidly decreased and BTMs were dramatically reduced. A surgical approach by minimally invasive parathyroidectomy allowed for definite resolution of hyperparathyroidism and hypercalcemia. This case suggests that hypercalcemia can be a side consequence of denosumab discontinuation, which can become severe when other causes of hypercalcemia, such as primary hyperparathyroidism, are present

Yukawa particles confined in a channel and subject to a periodic potential: ground state and normal modes

We consider a classical system of two-dimensional (2D) charged particles, which interact through a repulsive Yukawa potential $exp(-r/\lambda)/r$, confined in a parabolic channel which limits the motion of the particles in the $y$-direction. Along the $x$-direction, the particles are also subject to a periodic potential substrate. The ground state configurations and the normal mode spectra of the system are obtained as function of the periodicity and strength of the periodic potential ($V_0$), and density. An interesting set of tunable ground state configurations are found, with first and second order structural transitions between them. A magic configuration with particles aligned in each minimum of the periodic potential is obtained for V_0 larger than some critical value which has a power law dependence on the density. The phonon spectrum of different configurations were also calculated. A localization of the modes into a small frequency interval is observed for a sufficient strength of the periodic potential. A tunable band-gap is found as a function of $V_0$. This model system can be viewed as a generalization of the Frenkel and Kontorova model.Comment: Submmited to PR

Frenkel-Kontorova model with cold trapped ions

We study analytically and numerically the properties of one-dimensional chain of cold ions placed in a periodic potential of optical lattice and global harmonic potential of a trap. In close similarity with the Frenkel-Kontorova model, a transition from sliding to pinned phase takes place with the increase of the optical lattice potential for the density of ions incommensurate with the lattice period. Quantum fluctuations lead to a quantum phase transition and melting of pinned instanton glass phase at large values of dimensional Planck constant. The obtained results are also relevant for a Wigner crystal placed in a periodic potential.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages, 11 figures, research at http://www.quantware.ups-tlse.f

On the driven Frenkel-Kontorova model: I. Uniform sliding states and dynamical domains of different particle densities

The dynamical behavior of a harmonic chain in a spatially periodic potential (Frenkel-Kontorova model, discrete sine-Gordon equation) under the influence of an external force and a velocity proportional damping is investigated. We do this at zero temperature for long chains in a regime where inertia and damping as well as the nearest-neighbor interaction and the potential are of the same order. There are two types of regular sliding states: Uniform sliding states, which are periodic solutions where all particles perform the same motion shifted in time, and nonuniform sliding states, which are quasi-periodic solutions where the system forms patterns of domains of different uniform sliding states. We discuss the properties of this kind of pattern formation and derive equations of motion for the slowly varying average particle density and velocity. To observe these dynamical domains we suggest experiments with a discrete ring of at least fifty Josephson junctions.Comment: Written in RevTeX, 9 figures in PostScrip

Dynamical transitions in correlated driven diffusion in a periodic potential

The diffusion of a two-dimensional array of particles driven by a constant force in the presence of a periodic external potential exhibits a hierarchy of dynamical phase transitions when the driving force is varied. This behavior can be explained by a simple phenomenological approach which reduces the system of strongly interacting particles to weakly interacting quasi-particles (kinks). The richness of the strongly coupled system is however not lost because, contrary to a single-Brownian particle, the array shows an hysteretic behavior even at non-zero temperature. The present investigation can be viewed as a first step toward understanding nanotribology.Comment: 4 pages, 3 pictures, revtex to appear in Phys Rev. Let