Primary Dealer Systems in the European Union

States require money to function and therefore every government has to continuously raise new funds. On the financial markets, governments cannot be sure that auctions of their debt will be sufficiently attractive to financial investors, which is why governments usually enter into cooperative agreements with selected banks. The best known and most widespread form of cooperation is the primary dealer system. Primary dealers are banks that agree to participate regularly in government debt auctions and to act as formalized market makers on government debt markets. The article analyzes European primary dealer systems and asks why banks are willing to participate in these systems. I will show that both domestic and foreign banks use their status as primary dealers to build long-term relationships with one or more European governments and to gain an advantage on the global stage. In Bourdieu’s terms, primary dealer banks use their financial capital to accumulate social and symbolic capital.Pour couvrir le besoin de financement des États, les gouvernements doivent en permanence lever de nouveaux fonds. Mais les gouvernements ne sont pas sûrs qu’une mise aux enchères directe de leur dette sur les marchés financiers soit suffisamment attractive pour attirer des investisseurs. C’est pourquoi ils passent des accords de coopération avec des banques qu’ils sélectionnent. La forme de coopération la plus répandue est le système de négociant principal par lequel les banques acceptent de participer régulièrement aux enchères de la dette publique, comme teneurs de marché. Cet article analyse le système de négociant principal européen et interroge les motivations des banques qui y participent. J’y démontre que les banques nationales et étrangères utilisent leur condition de négociant principal pour établir des relations à long terme avec un ou plusieurs gouvernements et acquérir un avantage au niveau mondial. En termes boursieusiens, les banques agissant en tant que négociant principal utilisent leur capital financier pour accumuler du capital social et du capital symbolique.1 Introduction 2 Intermediary groups in primary dealer systems 3 The global financial market as a weakly institutionalized field 4 Research design 5 The trade-off between financial capital and social and symbolic capital 6 Different strategies among primary dealers: national experts, global players, and transnational specialists National experts Global players Transnational specialists 7 Conclusion Reference

Entering new areas in known fields: recombinant fusion protein linking recombinant factor VIIa with recombinant albumin (rVIIa-FP) – advancing the journey

ABSTRACTThe novel fusion protein linking recombinant factor VIIa with recombinant albumin (rVIIa-FP) is designed to extend the half-life of recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) and improve the care of hemophilia A or B patients with inhibitors. Preclinical studies in various animal models have demonstrated markedly improved pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties, as well as prolonged retention in the joint tissues, of rVIIa-FP compared with a commercially available rFVIIa (NovoSeven®). A phase I study in healthy volunteers – the first study in the PROLONG-7FP program – confirmed that rVIIa-FP has a good tolerability profile in doses of up to 1,000μg/kg and has demonstrated enhanced pharmacodynamic activity relative to rFVIIa. The half-life of rVIIa-FP at the highest dose investigated in the study was 8.5hours, which represents a 3- to 4-fold half-life extension compared with rFVIIa. Encouraging results from preclinical and phase I studies have led to the initiation of clinical studies of rVIIa-FP in patients with congenital hemophilia A or B and inhibitors, and in patients with confirmed factor VII deficiency. The results from these studies are awaited with interest by clinicians and patients alike

Die Krise in der Soziologie

Die Soziologie versteht sich als Krisenwissenschaft, doch was versteht sie unter  dem Begriff Krise? Und welche Relevanz hat er in der soziologischen Debatte? Diesen Fragen nähert sich der Beitrag in drei Schritten. Im ersten Schritt wird der Social Science Citation Index von 1960 bis 2010 ausgewertet und gefragt, wie oft der Begriff in den Titeln soziologischen Artikel verwendet wird. Im zweiten Schritt wird untersucht, wie Krise in soziologischen Standardlexika definiert und theoretisch gefasst wird. Im dritten Schritt wird das Krisenverständnis in fünfzehn soziologischen Journalen mit dem höchsten Impact-Faktor für den Zeitraum von 2006 bis 2011 analysiert.  The sociology defines itself as a ›crisis science‹ but what does the term crisis mean in a sociological sense? And how relevant is the term in the sociological debate? The contribution discusses these questions in three steps. First, the Social Science Citation Index between 1960 and 2010 is evaluated with respect to the frequency of the term in titles of sociological articles. Secondly, the definition and theoretical conceptualisation of the term crisis in sociological standard dictionaries is analyzed. And thirdly, the author has a closer look at the meaning as well as the discussion of crisis in those fifteen sociological journals with the highest impact factor from 2006 to 2011

Alles eine Frage der Einstellung? Rezension zu "Das gespaltene Europa: Eine politische Soziologie der Europäischen Union" von Christian Lahusen

Christian Lahusen: Das gespaltene Europa - Eine politische Soziologie der Europäischen Union. Frankfurt am Main u.a.: Campus Verlag 2019. 978-3-593-51046-

Atmospheric nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2) at Dome C, East Antarctica, during the OPALE campaign

Mixing ratios of the atmospheric nitrogen oxides NO and NO2 were measured as part of the OPALE (Oxidant Production in Antarctic Lands & Export) campaign at Dome C, East Antarctica (75.1 degrees S, 123.3 degrees E, 3233 m), during December 2011 to January 2012. Profiles of NOx mixing ratios of the lower 100m of the atmosphere confirm that, in contrast to the South Pole, air chemistry at Dome C is strongly influenced by large diurnal cycles in solar irradiance and a sudden collapse of the atmospheric boundary layer in the early evening. Depth profiles of mixing ratios in firn air suggest that the upper snowpack at Dome C holds a significant reservoir of photolytically produced NO2 and is a sink of gas-phase ozone (O-3). First-time observations of bromine oxide (BrO) at Dome C show that mixing ratios of BrO near the ground are low, certainly less than 5 pptv, with higher levels in the free troposphere. Assuming steady state, observed mixing ratios of BrO and RO2 radicals are too low to explain the large NO2 : NO ratios found in ambient air, possibly indicating the existence of an unknown process contributing to the atmospheric chemistry of reactive nitrogen above the Antarctic Plateau. During 2011-2012, NOx mixing ratios and flux were larger than in 2009-2010, consistent with also larger surface O-3 mixing ratios resulting from increased net O-3 production. Large NOx mixing ratios at Dome C arise from a combination of continuous sunlight, shallow mixing height and significant NOx emissions by surface snow (F-NOx). During 23 December 2011-12 January 2012, median F-NOx was twice that during the same period in 20092010 due to significantly larger atmospheric turbulence and a slightly stronger snowpack source. A tripling of F-NOx in December 2011 was largely due to changes in snowpack source strength caused primarily by changes in NO3- concentrations in the snow skin layer, and only to a secondary order by decrease of total column O-3 and associated increase in NO3- photolysis rates. A source of uncertainty in model estimates of F-NOx is the quantum yield of NO3- photolysis in natural snow, which may change over time as the snow ages

Investigation of a cold-based ice apron on a high-mountain permafrost rock wall using ice texture analysis and micro-14C dating : a case study of the Triangle du Tacul ice apron (Mont Blanc massif, France)

This study is part of the ANR 14-CE03-0006 VIP Mont Blanc and the EU ALCOTRA AdaPT Mont Blanc project.The current paper studies the dynamics and age of the Triangle du Tacul (TDT) ice apron, a massive ice volume lying on a steep high-mountain rock wall in the French side of the Mont-Blanc massif at an altitude close to 3640 m a.s.l. Three 60 cm long ice cores were drilled to bedrock (i.e. the rock wall) in 2018 and 2019 at the TDT ice apron. Texture (microstructure and lattice-preferred orientation, LPO) analyses were performed on one core. The two remaining cores were used for radiocarbon dating of the particulate organic carbon fraction (three samples in total). Microstructure and LPO do not substantially vary with along the axis of the ice core. Throughout the core, irregularly shaped grains, associated with strain-induced grain boundary migration and strong single maximum LPO, were observed. Measurements indicate that at the TDT ice deforms under a low strain-rate simple shear regime, with a shear plane parallel to the surface slope of the ice apron. Dynamic recrystallization stands out as the major mechanism for grain growth. Micro-radiocarbon dating indicates that the TDT ice becomes older with depth perpendicular to the ice surface. We observed ice ages older than 600 year BP and at the base of the lowest 30 cm older than 3000 years.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Radiocarbon in global tropospheric carbon dioxide

Since the 1950s, observations of radiocarbon (14C) in tropospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) have been conducted in both hemispheres, documenting the so-called nuclear "bomb spike" and its transfer into the oceans and the terrestrial biosphere, the two compartments permanently exchanging carbon with the atmosphere. Results from the Heidelberg global network of 14C-CO2 observations are revisited here with respect to the insights and quantitative constraints they provided on these carbon exchange fluxes. The recent development of global and hemispheric trends of 14C-CO2 are further discussed in regard to their suitability to continue providing constraints for 14C-free fossil CO2 emission changes on the global and regional scale

Die Eurokrise: Konsequenzen der defizitären Institutionalisierung der gemeinsamen Währung

Ziel des Artikels ist, die Entwicklung der Eurokrise im Spannungsfeld von Institutionen und Handeln zu erklären. Dazu rekonstruieren wir im ersten Schritt die Krise in zwei Perspektiven, zum einen als Verkettung ökonomischer und politischer Funktionszusammenhänge, zum anderen als Arena von Verteilungskonflikten. Darauf aufbauend analysieren wir den Verlauf der Eurokrise, den wir in fünf Phasen unterteilen. Im Zentrum stehen dabei folgende Fragen: 1. Welche Akteure werden jeweils in die Problemkonstellation „Eurokrise“ hineingezogen? 2. Welche Relevanz haben die unterschiedlichen Akteure für das Funktionieren der gemeinsamen Währung und wie setzen sie diese Relevanz in den Verteilungskonflikten, die sich aus der Eurokrise ergeben, ein? Es geht also um die Entwicklung der Akteurskonstellation im Zuge der Eurokrise und um die Funktionsrelevanz dieser Akteure als Handlungsressource in den Konflikten um die Verteilung der Kosten der Krise. Im dritten Schritt der Untersuchung fassen wir unsere empirische Rekonstruktion der Eurokrise zusammen. Unser Fazit ist, dass die Eurokrise die defizitäre Institutionalisierung der gemeinsamen Währung manifest macht. Weiter gehende Regulierung, also zusätzliche Institutionenbildung steht aber vor dem schwierig auflösbaren Widerspruch zwischen funktionalen Erfordernissen und Interessen, bzw. zwischen Erwartungsstabilisierung und Interessenverfolgung.:Krise?; Ein institutionen- und handlungstheoretischer Rahmen; Folgen der Finanzkrise für die Eurozone; Konsequenz: Ergänzung der defizitären Institutionalisierun

Year-round records of bulk and size-segregated aerosol composition in central Antarctica (Concordia site) Part 1: Fractionation of sea-salt particles

Abstract. Multiple year-round records of bulk and size-segregated composition of aerosol were obtained at the inland site of Concordia located at Dome C in East Antarctica. In parallel, sampling of acidic gases on denuder tubes was carried out to quantify the concentrations of HCl and HNO3 present in the gas phase. These time-series are used to examine aerosol present over central Antarctica in terms of chloride depletion relative to sodium with respect to freshly emitted sea-salt aerosol as well as depletion of sulfate relative to sodium with respect to the composition of seawater. A depletion of chloride relative to sodium is observed over most of the year, reaching a maximum of ~ 20 ng m−3 in spring when there are still large sea-salt amounts and acidic components start to recover. The role of acidic sulfur aerosol and nitric acid in replacing chloride from sea-salt particles is here discussed. HCl is found to be around twice more abundant than the amount of chloride lost by sea-salt aerosol, suggesting that either HCl is more efficiently transported to Concordia than sea-salt aerosol or reemission from the snow pack over the Antarctic plateau represents an additional significant HCl source. The size-segregated composition of aerosol collected in winter (from 2006 to 2011) indicates a mean sulfate to sodium ratio of sea-salt aerosol present over central Antarctica of 0.16 ± 0.05, suggesting that, on average, the sea-ice and open ocean emissions equally contribute to sea-salt aerosol load of the inland Antarctic atmosphere. The temporal variability of the sulfate depletion relative to sodium was examined at the light of air mass backward trajectories, showing an overall decreasing trend of the ratio (i.e. a stronger sulfate depletion relative to sodium) when air masses arriving at Dome C had travelled a longer time over sea-ice than over open-ocean. The findings are shown to be useful to discuss sea-salt ice records extracted at deep drilling sites located inland Antarctica. </jats:p

Year-round record of bulk and size-segregated aerosol composition in central Antarctica (Concordia site) Part 2: Biogenic sulfur (sulfate and methanesulfonate) aerosol

Multiple year-round (2006-2015) records of the bulk and size-segregated composition of aerosol were obtained at 15 the inland site of Concordia located in East Antarctica. The well-marked maximum of non-sea-salt sulfate (nssSO4) in January (84 ± 25 ng m-3 against 4.4 ± 2.3 ng m-3 in July) is consistent with observations made at the coast (280 ± 78 ng m-3 in January against 16 ± 9 ng m-3 in July at Dumont d’Urville, for instance). In contrast, the well-marked maximum of MSA at the coast in January (60 ± 23 ng m-3 at Dumont d’Urville) is not observed at Concordia (4.6 ± 2.4 ng m-3 in January). Instead, the MSA level at Concordia peaks in October (5.6 ± 1.9 ng m-3) and March (13.2 ± 6.1 ng m-3). As a result, a surprisingly low MSA to nssSO4 ratio (RMSA) is observed at Concordia in mid-summer (0.05 ± 0.02 in January against 0.25 ± 0.09 in March). We find that the low value of RMSA in mid-summer at Concordia is mainly driven by a drop of MSA levels that takes place in submicron aerosol (0.3 μm diameter). The drop of MSA coincides with periods of high photochemical activity as indicated by high ozone levels, strongly suggesting the occurrence of an efficient chemical destruction of MSA over the Antarctic plateau in mid-summer. The relationship between MSA and nssSO4 levels is examined separately for each season and indicates that concentration of non-biogenic sulfate over the Antarctic plateau does not exceed 1 ng m-3 in fall and winter and remains below 5 ng m-3 in spring. This weak non-biogenic sulfate level is discussed in the light of radionuclides (210Pb, 10Be, and 7Be) also measured on bulk aerosol samples collected at Concordia. The findings highlight the complexity in using MSA in deep ice cores extracted from inland Antarctica as a proxy of past DMS emissions from the southern ocean