Analysis Of The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention And Consumer Protection Act Of 2005 (BAPCPA)

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) was signed into law on April 20, 2005. The new legislation is the largest overhaul of the bankruptcy system since its enactment in 1978. One main purpose of the new legislation is to prevent fraudulent bankruptcy filings as the new law makes filing chapter 7 bankruptcies more difficult. This analysis looks at the major amendments made to the bankruptcy system and the effects on the bankruptcy courts in the United States. A literature review was conducted and found that the new legislation is viewed as being creditor friendly. Many effects of the new legislation can be seen upon enactment of the bankruptcy reform act. However, it is too early to determine the effects of the new legislation on society as a whole until more research is conducted after the October 17, 2005 effective date of the act

Numerical investigation of photon creation in a three-dimensional resonantly vibrating cavity: TE-modes

The creation of TE-mode photons in a three-dimensional perfectly conducting cavity with one resonantly vibrating wall is studied numerically. We show that the creation of TE-mode photons in a rectangular cavity is related to the production of massive scalar particles on a time-dependent interval. The equations of motion are solved numerically which allows to take into account the intermode coupling. We compare the numerical results with analytical predictions and discuss the effects of the intermode coupling in detail. The numerical simulations reveal that photon creation in a three-dimensional resonantly vibrating cavity can be maximized by arranging the size of the cavity such that certain conditions are realized. In particular, the creation of TE-mode photons in the lowest frequency mode $(1,1,1)$ is most efficient in a non-cubic cavity where the size of the non-dynamical dimensions is roughly 11 times larger than the size of the dynamical dimension. We discuss this effect and its relation to the intermode coupling in detail.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures, revised version, typos corrected, references added, title changed with respect to older version, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Restricted Work Due to Workplace Injuries: A Historical Perspective

In anticipation of upcoming data on worker characteristics and on case circumstances surrounding workplace injuries that result in job transfer or restricted work, new tabulations look at trends in the outcome of workplace injuries over the past several decade

Saving the euro at all costs could lead to the hollowing out of European democracy

Since the financial crisis, a process of change has been underway which has seen a new model of technocratic financial and economic governance take hold across Europe. Alexander Ruser argues that these reforms, motivated by a desire to save the euro ‘at all costs’, could bring about the hollowing out of democracy, with the will of the people increasingly coming secondary to the demands of financial markets

Streik! Rollenspiel zu Interessenkonflikt und Sozialpartnerschaft

Das Rollenspiel „Streik! Arbeitskampf in der ABC AG“ simuliert Tarifverhandlungen in einem fiktiven deutschen/ internationalen Großkonzern. Am Beispiel der industriellen Beziehungen können somit Merkmale und Funktion des deutschen Tarifsystems, aber auch Mechanismen des Interessenausgleichs („collective bargainings“) insgesamt transparent gemacht und nachvollzogen werden. Das System der industriellen Beziehungen in der Bundesrepublik ist im Rahmen dieser Simulation insbesondere als spezifische Form „institutionalisierter sozialer Konflikte“ von Belang. Ein vorrangiges Lernziel besteht darin den Teilnehmern ein Gefühl für die Kanalisierung (und damit auch „Entschärfung“) gesellschaftlichen Konfliktpotenzials zu vermitteln

Numerical approach to the dynamical Casimir effect

The dynamical Casimir effect for a massless scalar field in 1+1-dimensions is studied numerically by solving a system of coupled first-order differential equations. The number of scalar particles created from vacuum is given by the solutions to this system which can be found by means of standard numerics. The formalism already used in a former work is derived in detail and is applied to resonant as well as off-resonant cavity oscillations.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. A (special issue: Proceedings of QFEXT05, Barcelona, Sept. 5-9, 2005

The Effects of Tripartite Self-Construal on Prosocial Behavior

The current study examined the effects of both primed and unprimed tripartite self-construal on real helping behavior offered in a laboratory setting. Additional variables commonly associated with prosocial behavior, namely empathy (Eisenberg & Miller, 1987) and agreeableness (Graziano, Hasbashi, Sheese & Tobin, 2007; Caprara, Alessandri & Eisenberg, 2912), were also assessed. Undergraduate students (N = 119) completed self-report measures of empathy, agreeableness, and chronic self-construal, then completed a self-construal prime before the experimenter requested help with a simple task. It was predicted that the independence prime would increase helping among participants, as seen in the work of Finlay and Trafimow (1998) and Wit and Kerr (2002). It was predicted that the relational prime would increase helping among female participants only; and that empathy and agreeableness would be associated with greater helping. Contrary to predictions, only chronic independence and empathy were statistically significant predictors of helping. Higher chronic independence scores predicted whether participants agreed to help, and greater empathy predicted greater lengths of time that help was offered. Potential improvements of the tripartite self-construal prime are discussed, as well as future directions for research on independent self-construal, empathy, and their potentially interactive influence on prosocial behavior

Setbacks in climate change negotiations may signal dire straits for ‘normative power Europe’

The European Union has often been portrayed as a ‘normative power’ on the international stage, in the sense that it exerts influence using ‘softer’ mechanisms such as leading by example. Alexander Ruser writes that this conception of EU power has increasingly come under strain due to deadlock over global climate change negotiations – an issue which has been central to the EU’s normative strategy. With the Eurozone crisis also reducing Europe’s economic weight in the international arena, the EU’s normative power may be waning

Saving the Euro at all costs could lead to an eventual hollowing out of European democracy

Since the global financial and Eurozone crises hit Western economies, a process of change has been underway which has seen a new model of technocratic financial and economic governance take hold across Europe. Alexander Ruser argues that these reforms – born of a desire to save the Euro “at all costs” could see democracy eventually hollowed out, as the will of the people increasingly begins to come secondary to the whims of markets and currency