The Intersection of EU State Aid and U.S. Tax Deferral: A Spectacle of Fireworks, Smoke, and Mirrors

The Advance Pricing Agreements or transfer pricing rulings granted to U.S. multinationals by Ireland, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg were principally designed to achieve U.S. tax deferral and not EU tax avoidance. Adverse BEPS effects within the European Union would be immaterial in comparison to the deferral of U.S. tax on residual IP-related profits, and would have occurred primarily in countries other than those charged with the granting of unlawful State aid. The Irish, Dutch, and Luxembourgish treasuries have not foregone tax revenues in favor of the U.S. multinationals they allegedly aided, which is a requirement for a finding of prohibited State aid. However, the conduct of these low-tax EU States, which enables the deferral of U.S. tax and facilitates the accumulation of financial capital within the European Union may benefit such countries possibly at the expense of other EU Member States, and can therefore be viewed as a form of tax competition that is questionable in light of the EU Code of Conduct. Conversely, if the retroactive State aid charges were to prevail, the U.S. Treasury would forfeit its claim over unrepatriated earnings of U.S. multinationals. The significant tax policy implications for both Europe and the United States resulting from the State aid decisions by the EU Commission are explored here in detail

Política local y formación del estado: Procesos históricos de formación de espacios y sujetós sociales en un municipio rural Mexicano, 1914-1998

This dissertation deals with the participation of different social groups in unending historical processes of formation of a series of spaces of social relations of which they themselves are part —such as their rural villages and corporate landholding organisations. It focuses on the unequal and conflictive participation of diverse local groups in the founding, transformation and conservation of various specific social spaces that have been very important for their livelihoods during most of the twentieth century. In other words, we analyse how different local groups have engaged in historical processes of construction of a part of the specific social conditions of their social action anchored in —but not restricted to— a rural zone in western Mexico.This study takes on several analytical challenges that go beyond its ethnographic specificities. It centres on the relationship among the social practices of particular human groups, certain specific spaces of social relations, and the historical processes of formation and redefinition of those groups, practices, spaces and relationships among them —both in economic, political and identity terms. From a supplementary perspective, we propose an analysis of the historical processes of construction and redefinition of the shifting set of particular spaces of social relations ( social field ) with respect to which said groups, practices and institutions they rely upon become intelligible as socially produced and producing —constituent and constituting. Thus, neither the specific social spaces nor the social field are determined a priori .           What are the implications of this theoretical stance for pervasive notions of the State as an acting entity, agent, actor or organization distinct from other social actors, from "society" or from "civil society"? In order to answer this question, we had to weave an ethnographic study of the conflictive participation of social groups in historical processes of construction of specific social spaces of which they themselves are part with the elaboration of a concept of local politics and clarification of the concept ofMexicanStateformation. The determination of these two concepts had to be congruent with a focus on contentious historical processes of formation of those and other hierarchically interrelated social spaces. It is in terms of these processes that we come to understand how the groups, the social inequalities among them, their collective practices and identities, the institutions upon which they differently and contentiously rely are socially created or built as well as constituting or producing

Surface and capillary transitions in an associating binary mixture model

We investigate the phase diagram of a two-component associating fluid mixture in the presence of selectively adsorbing substrates. The mixture is characterized by a bulk phase diagram which displays peculiar features such as closed loops of immiscibility. The presence of the substrates may interfere the physical mechanism involved in the appearance of these phase diagrams, leading to an enhanced tendency to phase separate below the lower critical solution point. Three different cases are considered: a planar solid surface in contact with a bulk fluid, while the other two represent two models of porous systems, namely a slit and an array on infinitely long parallel cylinders. We confirm that surface transitions, as well as capillary transitions for a large area/volume ratio, are stabilized in the one-phase region. Applicability of our results to experiments reported in the literature is discussed.Comment: 12 two-column pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review E; corrected versio

High performance of symmetric micro supercapacitors based on silicon nanowires using N-methyl-N-propylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide as electrolyte

This work describes the development and performance of a symmetric microsupercapacitor made of nanostructured electrodes based on silicon nanowires (SiNWs) deposited using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on silicon substrates. The performance of the SiNWs micro-supercapacitor employing an aprotic ionic liquid (N-methyl-N-propylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide) (PYR13TFSI) as an electrolyte was able to deliver a maximal power density of 182 mW cm-2 and a specific energy of 190 µJ cm-2 operating at a wide cell voltage of 4V with a quasi-ideal capacitive behaviour. The lifetime of the device exhibited a remarkable electrochemical stability retaining 75 % of the initial capacitance after several million galvanostatic charge-discharge cycles at a high current density of 1 mA cm-2. Furthermore, a coulombic efficiency of approximately 99 % was obtained after galvanostatic cycling test without structural degradation on the morphology of SiNWs

Alexithymia and depression in elderly people that get directed physical activity

La relación entre la alexitimia y la depresión y los factores sociodemográficos ha sido estudiada en personas mayores. Sin embargo, el papel atenuador del ejercicio en estas afecciones aún debe ser determinado. En el presente estudio se mide el grado de alexitimia y depresión en adultos mayores, comparando una muestra sedentaria con una de practicantes de actividad física. Se utilizó un diseño descriptivo transversal con una muestra compuesta por 27 participantes, 9 hombres y 18 mujeres de más de 60 años (64 ± 5.1 años), con objeto de medir el grado de alexitimia y depresión que presentaban en el momento de la recogida de datos. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron la escala de depresión de Yesavage, la Escala de Alexitimia de Toronto (TAS-20) y el Cuestionario de Salud SF-12. Los resultados mostraron que los practicantes de actividad física presentaban puntuaciones más bajas en alexitimia y depresión que los sujetos sedentarios, sin que éstas variables estuvieran relacionadas en función del género y la edad. A tenor de los resultados, el ejercicio pudiera jugar algún papel en la modulación de las alteraciones psicológicas

Uhlmann's geometric phase in presence of isotropic decoherence

Uhlmann's mixed state geometric phase [Rep. Math. Phys. {\bf 24}, 229 (1986)] is analyzed in the case of a qubit affected by isotropic decoherence treated in the Markovian approximation. It is demonstrated that this phase decreases rapidly with increasing decoherence rate and that it is most fragile to weak decoherence for pure or nearly pure initial states. In the unitary case, we compare Uhlmann's geometric phase for mixed states with that occurring in standard Mach-Zehnder interferometry [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 85}, 2845 (2000)] and show that the latter is more robust to reduction in the length of the Bloch vector. We also describe how Uhlmann's geometric phase in the present case could in principle be realized experimentally.Comment: New ref added, refs updated, journal ref adde

Conserved Class of Queen Pheromones Stops Social Insect Worker Reproduction

Dissertação de mestrado em Gestão, apresentada à Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra, sob a orientação de Patrícia Pereira da SilvaEm 2011, a crise política e financeira de Portugal atingiu um nível crítico, levando à queda do governo, assim como ao pedido de ajuda à denominada Troika, constituída pelo (Fundo Monetário Internacional, Banco Central Europeu e Comunidade Europeia). As recomendações da Troika sobre a política energética Portuguesa basearam-se em torno de medidas que potenciem a eficiência energética, ou seja, medidas que permitam poupar e otimizar consumo de energia. No entanto, sobre as energias renováveis, foi pedida especial atenção, em particular, em tecnologias menos desenvolvidas (incluindo o fotovoltaico), nas quais se deverá efetuar uma análise rigorosa em termos de custos e consequências para o preço da energia. Outra das recomendações da Troika passou por uma revisão em baixo do preço pago pela tarifa (Feed-in tariff), com o intuito de que esse valor não produza compensações alegadamente excessivas para os investidores neste setor. Atendendo às novas constrições anteriormente apresentadas, e aos elevados custo de investimento que as Fontes de Energias Renováveis apresentam, nomeadamente, no setor fotovoltaico, a respetiva avaliação económica assume um papel primordial. É, assim, objetivo desta dissertação estimar da forma mais correta a rendibilidade do investimento, sendo, para tal, desenvolvida uma metodologia de análise de projetos de investimento, usando o método discounted cash flow (DCF) – Free Cash Flow to the firm, bem como, compreender e analisar quais os principais fatores que estão inerentes a um projeto de Fontes de Energia Renovável, nomeadamente, na análise do Levelized Cost Of Electricity (LCOE) e paridade com a rede elétrica. Deste modo, pretende-se uma reanálise do ponto de vista económico de projetos com origem em fontes de energia renovável

Three decades of advancements in osteoarthritis research: insights from transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic studies.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a complex disease involving contributions from both local joint tissues and systemic sources. Patient characteristics, encompassing sociodemographic and clinical variables, are intricately linked with OA rendering its understanding challenging. Technological advancements have allowed for a comprehensive analysis of transcripts, proteomes and metabolomes in OA tissues/fluids through omic analyses. The objective of this review is to highlight the advancements achieved by omic studies in enhancing our understanding of OA pathogenesis over the last three decades. We conducted an extensive literature search focusing on transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics within the context of OA. Specifically, we explore how these technologies have identified individual transcripts, proteins, and metabolites, as well as distinctive endotype signatures from various body tissues or fluids of OA patients, including insights at the single-cell level, to advance our understanding of this highly complex disease. Omic studies reveal the description of numerous individual molecules and molecular patterns within OA-associated tissues and fluids. This includes the identification of specific cell (sub)types and associated pathways that contribute to disease mechanisms. However, there remains a necessity to further advance these technologies to delineate the spatial organization of cellular subtypes and molecular patterns within OA-afflicted tissues. Leveraging a multi-omics approach that integrates datasets from diverse molecular detection technologies, combined with patients' clinical and sociodemographic features, and molecular and regulatory networks, holds promise for identifying unique patient endophenotypes. This holistic approach can illuminate the heterogeneity among OA patients and, in turn, facilitate the development of tailored therapeutic interventions