Shear localization as a mesoscopic stress-relaxation mechanism in fused silica glass at high strain rates

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of fused silica glass deforming in pressure-shear, while revealing useful insights into processes unfolding at the atomic level, fail spectacularly in that they grossly overestimate the magnitude of the stresses relative to those observed, e. g., in plate-impact experiments. We interpret this gap as evidence of relaxation mechanisms that operate at mesoscopic lengthscales and which, therefore, are not taken into account in atomic-level calculations. We specifically hypothesize that the dominant mesoscopic relaxation mechanism is shear banding. We evaluate this hypothesis by first generating MD data over the relevant range of temperature and strain rate and then carrying out continuum shear-banding calculations in a plate-impact configuration using a critical-state plasticity model fitted to the MD data. The main outcome of the analysis is a knock-down factor due to shear banding that effectively brings the predicted level of stress into alignment with experimental observation, thus resolving the predictive gap of MD calculations

Tearing Down the Great Wall – the New Generation Investment Treaties of the People’s Republic of China

The People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) has emerged as the world’s prime destination of foreign investment in the developing world and is continuously strengthening its position as a source of outward foreign investment, notably in Asia and Africa. In this context, the PRC has concluded over 110 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) that grant protection against expropriation and establish other standards of treatment for foreign investors in China and Chinese investors abroad. While the PRC was originally hesitant regarding international investment protection, the country started, beginning in the late 1990’s, entering into new generation BITs that break with her long-standing reservations towards national treatment for foreign investments and comprehensive investor-State dispute settlement. Surprisingly, this change in treaty practice has so far only received little attention in international legal scholarship, although the conclusion of the new generation BITs constitutes a fundamental change in China’s foreign economic policy. The paper gives an account of the PRC’s investment treaty practice and shows how her new generation BITs provide novel mechanisms of protection for foreign investors. It is argued that these treaties help to transform China’s domestic legal system significantly, support her transition to a market economy and strengthen the country’s integration into the global economy. Ultimately, China’s new investment treaty practice is also an important indicator for the evaluation of international investment law by a developing country in the struggle about the appropriate level of investment protection in an increasingly global economy

The public law challenge: Killing or rethinking international investment law?

The current legitimacy crisis of international investment law results primarily from the friction investor-state arbitration creates with domestic public law values. As a response, arbitrators should enculturate public law thinking. They should draw on comparative public law when applying investment treaties and reconsider their role as public law adjudicators with concomitant responsibilities for the entire system of international investment protection

公法挑战：国际投资法走向反思还是消亡

当前国际投资法中的“合法性危机”，主要来源于现行体制中一次性的制定仲裁者--具有国内公法价值。作为回应，仲裁员应该培养公共法律思维。当务之急是仲裁者在应用和修订投资协议标准时应更广泛地援引比较公法概念，并重新认识自己的角色和职责--对于当前纠纷和整个国际投资保护体系都有影响的公法决裁者

Changing geography: prospects for Asian actors as global rule-makers in international investment law

The past years have witnessed a shift in the geography of international investment law from a transatlantic to a transpacific perspective. Asia has become the focal point in the field. This Perspective considers to which extent Asian actors can translate their new importance into global rule-making clout