Crystalline Ground States in Polyakov-loop extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio Models

Nambu--Jona-Lasinio-type models have been used extensively to study the dynamics of the theory of the strong interaction at finite temperature and quark chemical potential on a phenomenological level. In addition to these studies, which are often performed under the assumption that the ground state of the theory is homogeneous, searches for the existence of crystalline phases associated with inhomogeneous ground states have attracted a lot of interest in recent years. In this work, we study the Polyakov-loop extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model and find that the existence of a crystalline phase is stable against a variation of the parametrization of the underlying Polyakov loop potential. To this end, we adopt two prominent parametrizations. Moreover, we observe that the existence of a quarkyonic phase depends crucially on the parametrization, in particular in the regime of the phase diagram where inhomogeneous chiral condensation is favored.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Social and Racial Tolerance and Freedom of Expression in a Democratic Society: Friends or Foes? Regina v. Zundel

In Regina v. Zundel the Ontario Court of Appeal held that s. 177 of the Canadian Criminal Code, entitled Spreading false news, did not contravene the guarantee of freedom of expression under s. 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms3 and that even if it did, it constituted a permissible regulation under s. 1 of the Charter. Section 177 of the Code punishes everyone who wilfully publishes a statement, tale, or news that he knows is false and that causes or is likely to cause injury or mischief to a public interest. The defendant was charged under the section for publishing a tract denying that the Holocaust occured and alleging a Jewish conspiracy to cover-up the true historical facts in order to arouse world sympathy and promote pecuniary self-gain. In finding the impugned section of the Criminal Code constitutional, the Court held that the reference to a public interest embraced the public interest in social and racial tolerance. \u27 Significantly, it further found that the likelihood of harm occuring to that interest as a result of the dissemination of the impugned speech did not have to be established by the State in order to obtain a conviction

Efficacy and safety of TDF/FTC-containing first-line HAART in clinical practice – 2-year data from the German Outpatient Cohort

Poster presentation: Purpose of the study First-line HAART with tenofovir DF (TDF) and FTC in pivotal trials has been associated with high efficacy and good tolerability. However, real-life clinical practice often differs from clinical trials due to co-morbidities, co-infections, and less intensive clinical monitoring. To evaluate efficacy and safety of first-line HAART in a day-to-day setting, this Gilead-sponsored non-interventional cohort was established. Methods Between July 2005 and August 2006, 533 HIV-1 infected antiretroviral-naïve patients from 50 German centres enrolled in this non-interventional cohort. All patients were followed every 3 months for 3 years to monitor efficacy (viral load [VL], CD4), tolerability, renal safety, regimen changes and resistance profile. All patients received TDF+FTC as a single tablet (Truvada, TVD) in combination with either an NNRTI or PI/r as their first antiretroviral regimen. Summary of results As of June 2008, 2 years of therapy have been documented for 330/533 (62%) patients. At treatment initiation, 81% were male; median age was 39 years; clinical AIDS diagnosis was documented in 22%; 47% started therapy with CD4 <200 cells/mm3. TVD was combined with an NNRTI (43%) or a PI/r (57%). After 24 months, in an As-Treated (AT) analysis, 85% patients achieved a VL <50 copies/ml (VL <500 copies/ml: 97%), median CD4 count increased from 217 at baseline to 450 cells/mm3 (IQR: 325–608). Truvada showed a good safety profile; 76 adverse events (AEs) of any grade were reported in 66/533 patients (12%); six of these were judged serious. Fourteen (2.6%) patients discontinued TVD due to AEs. Renal abnormalities of any grade were reported in 10 patients (1.9%). Virological failure was documented in nine patients, of which eight were genotyped; M184V/I was detected in three, K65R in two patients. Conclusion During 2 years of follow-up, the overall safety of TVD was good; renal AEs of any grade were reported in 1.9% of patients. K65R was detected in two patients. First-line HAART with TVD plus an NNRTI or PI/r in clinical practice showed comparable efficacy to that observed in controlled clinical trials

Umwelt-, Beschäftigungs- und Wohlfahrtswirkungen einer ökologischen Steuerreform: eine dynamische Simulationsanalyse unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Anpassungsprozesse im Übergang

An Hand eines OLG-Modells vom Auerbach-Kotlikoff-Typ werden in dieser Arbeit die gesamtwirtschaftlichen Wirkungen einer ökologischen Steuerreform untersucht. Das Aufkommen aus einer indirekten Steuer auf den Umweltverbrauch wird zur Senkung der Beiträge zur Sozialversicherung verwendet. Es wird gezeigt, daß in der langen Frist zwar Wohlfahrtsverbesserungen zu erzielen sind, daß aber sowohl die Lenkungs- als auch die Beschäftigungswirkungen der Ökosteuerreform bescheiden sind. Im Rahmen einer dynamischen Simulationsanalyse werden insbesondere die Anpassungsprozesse im Übergang analysiert. Da in der kurzen Frist Wohlfahrtsverluste entstehen, wird überprüft, mit Hilfe welcher finanzpolitischer Maßnahmen pareto-optimale Übergänge erzeugt werden können. In einem Anhang wird die Maximierung einer genesteten Nutzenfunktion ausführlich dargestellt. --