Diversity in Shareholder Protection in Common Law Countries

Aktionär, Anlegerschutz, Common Law, Shareholders, Investor protection

The buckling of a thin plate due to the presence of an edge dislocation

lt is shown that an edge dislocation parallel to the surface of a thin foil causes buckling of this foil by an angle of about $\theta$ = b/t. (b = Burgers vector; t = thickness of the foil). The angle $\theta$ depends on the position of the dislocation. lt is maximum for a dislocation in the middle of the foil and it tends to zero as the dislocation approaches to the surface. lt is shown that the buckling is responsible for the discontinuous change in contrast along a dislocation as observed in transmission electron microscopy. The sense of buckling which can be determined by means of Kikuchi lines depends on the sign of the dislocation. The effect therefore provides an easy means to determine the sign of edge dislocations

Surface effects associated with dislocations in layer crystals

Dislocation configurations in thin foils cannot be accurately interpreted unless the effects of anisotropy and surfaces on the stresses and energies of edge and screw dislocations are known. Expressions for these effects are derived here for a semi-infinite hexagonal crystal with dislocations in the basal plane. lt is then shown that in plate-like crystals, as used in electron-microscopic investigations, the finite thickness of the specimen leads to observable effects on the dislocation patterns. In particular, the width of a ribbon decreases as it approaches the surface, due to the reduced repulsion between the partials, so that care is needed in deducing stacking fault energies from ribbon widths. Also the energy of a dislocation is a function of its distance from a surface, so that if it is crossed by a surface step it suffers a "refraction" which, in simple cases, follows Snell's law. lt is further shown that dislocations will tend tobe aligned with surface steps, artd the interaction energy between a step and a parallel dislocation line can thus be derived from experimental data. Finally, a method is suggested for obtaining information on the elastic constants from electron microscopic data

Die direkte Messung von Stapelfehlerenergien

Different methods for determining stacking fault energies from dislocation configurations observed in the electron microscope are discussed. Configurations discussed are simple, threefold, and fourfold ribbons, arrays of many parallel ribbons, and dislocation nodes. The latter are treated taking the mutual interaction of the partials approximately into account. Results are given for measurementsin graphite, MoS$_{2}$, AIN, and talc

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

Simple relations among E2 matrix elements of low-lying collective states

A method is developed to derive simple relations among the reduced matrix elements of the quadrupole operator between low-lying collective states. As an example, the fourth order scalars of Q are considered. The accuracy and validity of the proposed relations is checked for the ECQF Hamiltonian of the IBM-1 in the whole parameter space of the Casten triangle. Furthermore these relations are successfully tested for low-lying collective states in nuclei for which all relevant data is available.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, RevTeX preprint-styl

Singular Character of Critical Points in Nuclei

The concept of critical points in nuclear phase transitional regions is discussed from the standpoints of Q-invariants, simple observables and wave function entropy. It is shown that these critical points very closely coincide with the turning points of the discussed quantities, establishing the singular character of these points in nuclear phase transition regions between vibrational and rotational nuclei, with a finite number of particles.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, elsart, revised version, considerable changes and addition

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