Public Policy Considerations in Competition Enforcement: Merger Control in South Africa

Adopting mixed policy objectives (economic and non-economic) introduces a divergence to the current competition (antitrust) law models in most developed countries. It is however a model some developing countries are opting for. One area of competition law where the divergence is prominently featured is merger control. South Africa is a leading example of a regime of mixed objectives of competition law and a diffusor of this deferential model among other developing countries. In this paper, we look at competition law enforcement in South Africa focusing on large mergers in the past fifteen years. The paper goes beyond the conceptual, pros & cons discussion of the inclusion of public interest considerations in competition law to identify the analytical process followed in a merger situation and empirically examines the impact these considerations have on the final decision, as opposed to the other considerations usually taken into account, i.e., efficiencies/consumer welfare. The paper also addresses administrability issues and challenges arising from this model and their implications for developing countries. This should, in turn, engage the academia in critical examination of this model, assist policymakers in making an informed policy choice and benefit practitioners in understanding how this deferential merger analysis functions

September Roundtable: The Syrian Spring and Human Rights, Introduction

An annotation of: “The UN Security Council\u27s Pro-Syrian \u27Defiance Coalition\u27 Crumbles”. By Raghida Dergham. Huffington Post, August 2011

Empirical Essays on Risk Taking by Banks and Households

This thesis consists of three empirical chapters that explore contemporary topics related to risk. Specifically, this thesis aims to contribute to the literature relating to the risk-taking channel of monetary policy and the literature relating to the household sector's risk profile by examining three distinct but related topics. The initial empirical chapter examines the link between monetary policy and banks' appetite for risk in the U.S.. Specifically, the risk-taking channel of monetary policy is examined by scrutinizing the response of banks' nonperforming loans to total loans ratios to an identified monetary policy shock. The chapter also investigates if there is any type of systematic heterogeneity in the way banks react to monetary policy shocks. Furthermore, the chapter examines the presence of spillover effects as a result of a shock originating from a specific bank. The results show that in the medium run, banks' nonperforming loans ratios increase, providing evidence in support of the presence of an active risk-taking channel in the U.S. banking system. A bank's characteristics play an important role in the way they react to a policy rate shock. The results also indicate that shocks originating from larger and riskier banks have lasting effects on the whole system, while shocks from smaller and less risky banks do not. The subsequent chapter presents empirical analysis of the determinants of risky asset holdings by Japanese households. Four different econometric methodologies are used to assess whether the methodological approach employed affects the estimated parameter coefficients. Furthermore, key explanatory variables that capture household trust in the stock market; household trust in the government; and household perception of risk are used to provide further insight into the determinants of risky asset holdings in Japan. The results indicate significant impacts from these key explanatory variables, revealing new channels which influence Japanese households' financial decisions. Moreover, the four alternative methodological approaches employed in the analysis reinforce the robustness of the impact of the variables considered in this chapter and also reveal considerable heterogeneity in the effects of some variables. The final chapter provides an empirical comparison of the determinants of risk attitudes in Japan and the U.S.. This chapter also tests if the risk attitudes measures used in the analysis explain individuals' actual choices in a variety of contexts to ensure that these measures are valid proxies for actual risk taking behaviours. Furthermore, it is crucial to examine the stability of individuals' attitudes towards risk, since exogenous shocks, such as experiencing natural disasters, can cause a permanent change in an individual's risk attitudes. Therefore, the final chapter also assesses the impact of experiencing natural disasters on individuals' attitudes towards risk. The results indicate that a number of variables have a statistically significant impact on individuals' risk attitudes and the impact of some of these variables differ across Japan and the U.S.. The exposure to natural disasters influences the risk attitudes of Japanese male individuals and this impact is robust to the use of a number of different measures of the risk of natural disasters

Sovereignty and Intervention in the Middle East: From the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Arab Spring

This research provides an institutional explanation of the practices of external intervention in the Arab state system from the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 to the Arab Spring. My explanation consists of two institutional variables: sovereignty and inter-state borders. I examine the changes in regional and international norms of sovereignty and their impact on the practices of external intervention in the Arab state system. I also examine the impact of the level of institutionalization of inter-state borders in the Arab World on the practices of external intervention. I argue that changes in regional and international norms of sovereignty and changes in the level of institutionalization of inter-state borders have constituted the significant variation over time in both the frequency and type of external intervention in the Arab state system from 1922 to the present. My institutional explanation and findings seriously challenge the traditional accounts of sovereignty and intervention in the Arab World, including the cultural perspectives that emphasize the conflict between sovereignty, Arabism, and Islam, the constructivist accounts that emphasize the regional norm of pan-Arabism, the comparative politics explanations that focus on the domestic material power of the Arab state, the post-colonial perspectives that emphasize the artificiality of the Arab state, and the realist accounts that focus on great powers and the regional distribution of power in the Middle East. This research also contributes to International Relations Theory. I construct a new analytical framework to study the relations between sovereignty, borders, and intervention, combining theoretical elements from the fields of Role Theory, Social Constructivism, and Institutionalization. Methodologically, this research includes both quantitative and qualitative analysis. I conduct content analysis of official documents of Arab states and the Arab League, Arabic press documents, and Arab political thought. I also utilize quantitative data sets on international intervention

Characterisation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate/protein kinase A signalling networks in blood platelets

Platelet activation is a critical physiological event, whose main role is to prevent excessive blood loss and repair vessel wall injuries. However, platelet activation must be controlled to prevent unwanted and exaggerated responses leading to the occlusion of the blood vessel. The endothelial-derived inhibitors prostacyclin (PGI2) and nitric oxide (NO) are known to play a critical role in the control of platelet activity, although the mechanism underlying their actions remains unclear beyond the triggering of cyclic nucleotides signaling pathways. The aim of this study was to improve our understanding of platelet regulation by cAMP signaling networks.We observed differences in cAMP signaling depending on the agonists used. Using phosphorylation of PKA substrates as a marker of PKA activity, it was observed that PKA substrates were phosphorylated and dephosphorylated at different time points in a unique temporal pattern. Consistent with this observation we found that individual PKA isoforms, PKA I and II, were localized in distinct subcellular compartments, with PKA I being identified as a lipid raft protein. Our experimental data suggest that the localization of PKA I to lipid rafts is mediated by interaction with A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs). Additionally, PKA signaling events were reversed when potential PKA type I interactions with AKAPs were disrupted with competitive peptides. Using this approach we found that the redistribution of PKA I to lipid rafts facilitated the phosphorylation of GPIbβ and the inhibition of von-Willebrand factor-mediated aggregation.Our data also demonstrated for the first time that the chemical disruption of lipid rafts increased platelet sensitivity to PGI₂, through increased cAMP production and PKA activity. The mechanism by which this occurs may involve sequestering a population of adenylyl cyclase 5/6 to a location remote from Gαs.In conclusion, data presented in this thesis suggest differential roles of PKA subtypes in the regulation of platelet activity. This involves, at least in part, the localisation of PKA I into specific subcellular compartments through an interaction with AKAPs. The potential presence of PKAII-AKAP interactions and the identification of specific AKAPs will be the main aim of future work

Introduction: Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

The wave of revolutions and popular uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at the dawn of 2011 highlights the inescapable relevance and impact of human rights on the region’s politics and security. The Arab regimes’ violations of human rights and lack of respect to the human dignity of their citizens are in fact the seeds of the Jasmine revolution in Tunisia, the rebellion of the Egyptian people against Mubarak regime, as well as the ongoing uprisings across the rest of MENA. The women and men who are protesting in the streets of Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Jordan and Algeria are not driven by international concerns such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, the relations between Islam and the West, or the United States policy in the region; instead, they are driven by domestic concerns, particularly unemployment, poverty, inequality, political oppression and corruption. They are protesting against the violations of their human rights by the domestic regimes, demanding a new social contract based on human rights rather than oppression; human security rather than fear; and human dignity rather than humiliation

Image findings of cranial nerve pathology on [18F]-2- deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography with computerized tomography (PET/CT): a pictorial essay.

This article aims to increase awareness about the utility of (18)F -FDG-PET/CT in the evaluation of cranial nerve (CN) pathology. We discuss the clinical implication of detecting perineural tumor spread, emphasize the primary and secondary (18)F -FDG-PET/CT findings of CN pathology, and illustrate the individual (18)F -FDG-PET/CT CN anatomy and pathology of 11 of the 12 CNs