An Examination of Company Law’s Deference to Directors’ Business Decisions: A New Perspective

The UK judges defer to company directors’ certain type of business decision and thereby, insulate them from excessive standard of judicial scrutiny. However, the definition of the type of executive discretion that qualifies for company law deference has long been uncertain. The UK judges take the view that, as judges, they are ‘ill-equipped’ (similar to the term – ‘that judges are not business experts’ used by the US courts in justifying their common law-derived business judgment rule) to second-guess those decisions, without a clear explanation as to the precise meaning of the term. The lack of clarity leads to the long-standing misconceptions amongst the academics and the practitioners citing the judges’ insufficient business expertise as a reason. This thesis sets out to map the relevant law. It offers some meaningful insights into how company law deference functions, by reviewing the types of business decisions through psychology, and to a lesser extent, economics. Case studies are undertaken to give an in-depth illustration, from a psychology perspective, on the types of business decisions eligible for company law deference. This thesis gives a critical evaluation of the customary view questioning judges’ business expertise as a justification for courts’ deference. It submits that, in practice, the judges focus on the dichotomy between directors’ business creativity and corporate governance functions. Showing contrast between the so-called ‘programmed’ and ‘non-programmed’ decisions in the context of courts’ deference to executive discretion. It is this taxonomy that is both doctrinally and normatively dispositive to the courts’ approach. This thesis also submits that the law plays an important role in yielding appositive impact on motivation of company directors’ business creativity. This interdisciplinary research involving the relevant law, psychology and economics leads to a useful mechanism, capable of identifying or predicting the types of business decisions for the application of the courts’ deference

Asymptomatic ratio for seasonal H1N1 influenza infection among schoolchildren in Taiwan

Studies indicate that asymptomatic infections do indeed occur frequently for both seasonal and pandemic influenza, accounting for about one-third of influenza infections. Studies carried out during the 2009 pH1N1 pandemic have found significant antibody response against seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 vaccine strains in schoolchildren receiving only pandemic H1N1 monovalent vaccine, yet reported either no symptoms or only mild symptoms

Associations between Aerosol Types and Chlorophyll-a Concentration over Coastal Area in East Asia from Satellite Observations

This study improved significantly the relationship between aerosol optical depth (AOD) and sea surface chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a), after considering the effects of sea surface temperature (SST), ocean surface current (OSC) and type of aerosols. The decadal satellite-retrieved Orbview-2/SeaWiFS Chl-a and Terra/MODIS AOD550nm data (from March 2000 to December 2010) were used to investigate the impact of atmospheric aerosols on the Chl-a concentration in the coastal water around the region of East Asia (equator to 75°N and from 100°E to 180°E). Two sets of sequential areas (A1 to A10 and B1 to B9) were selected for examining and excluding the influence of SST and OSC. After taking the potential location of aerosol deposition from OSC into account, an obvious correlation between AOD550nm and Chl-a concentration was demonstrated around the site of study area A. For aerosol partition, the Normalized Gradient Aerosol Index (NGAI) was applied to MODIS AOD products for aerosol type identification and mixed status determination. The results indicated that the type of mineral dust (DS) significantly increases the Chl-a while the biomass burning (BB) aerosols may restrain the Chl-a. This seems to be a non-impact of anthropogenic pollutant (AP) on Chl-a within the surface layer. The other area, B (B1 to B9), next to the region of area A, also shows similar results with high consistency; thus, the significant impact of DS aerosols on Chl-a production is suggested over the coastal region of East Asia

Efficacy of Femarelle for the treatment of climacteric syndrome in postmenopausal women: An open label trial

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the effects of 2 months of treatment with Femarelle for climacteric syndrome in Taiwanese postmenopausal women.Materials and methodsA multi-center, open-label trial of 260 postmenopausal women, age ≥ 45 years with vasomotor symptoms. Women were enrolled after obtaining a detailed medical history and a thorough physical examination. They then received Femarelle (640 mg/d) twice daily for 8 weeks. The primary outcome was the changes in the frequency and severity of hot flushes from baseline to 4 weeks (1 month) and 8 weeks (2 months). Changes of general climacteric syndrome were assessed using a modified climacteric scale designed by Greene.ResultsThe frequency and severity of hot flushes were significantly improved with Femarelle use (p < 0.001). After 8 weeks of treatment, the percentage of women with various climacteric syndromes was reduced (from 100% to 20.9% for hot flushes, from 97.7% to 87.9% for psychological symptoms, from 93.8% to 78.8% for somatic symptoms, and from 87.8% to 74.9% for sexual symptoms). General climacteric syndrome scores also significantly decreased, from 20.8 ± 0.7 at the time of enrollment to 12.9 ± 0.7 after 8 weeks of Femarelle treatment (p < 0.0001). Participants experienced improvement of various climacteric symptoms and signs after 8 weeks of treatment (75.1% for hot flushes, 68.7% for psychological symptoms, 70.6% for somatic symptoms, and 69.0% for sexual problems respectively). After 4 weeks and 8 weeks of treatment with Femarelle, patients showed statistically significant improvement in climacteric symptoms (p < 0.0001). Three women (1.2%) withdrew from the study after 4 weeks of treatment due to adverse effects.ConclusionFemarelle significantly improved climacteric symptoms in Taiwanese postmenopausal women. However, further evaluation is needed regarding the safety of long-term consumption

Serological Evidence of Subclinical Transmission of the 2009 Pandemic H1N1 Influenza Virus Outside of Mexico

Background: Relying on surveillance of clinical cases limits the ability to understand the full impact and severity of an epidemic, especially when subclinical cases are more likely to be present in the early stages. Little is known of the infection and transmissibility of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza (pH1N1) virus outside of Mexico prior to clinical cases being reported, and of the knowledge pertaining to immunity and incidence of infection during April-June, which is essential for understanding the nature of viral transmissibility as well as for planning surveillance and intervention of future pandemics. Methodology/Principal Findings: Starting in the fall of 2008, 306 persons from households with schoolchildren in central Taiwan were followed sequentially and serum samples were taken in three sampling periods for haemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay. Age-specific incidence rates were calculated based on seroconversion of antibodies to the pH1N1 virus with an HI titre of 1: 40 or more during two periods: April-June and September-October in 2009. The earliest time period with HI titer greater than 40, as well as a four-fold increase of the neutralization titer, was during April 26-May 3. The incidence rates during the pre-epidemic phase (April-June) and the first wave (July-October) of the pandemic were 14.1% and 29.7%, respectively. The transmissibility of the pH1N1 virus during the early phase of the epidemic, as measured by the effective reproductive number R(0), was 1.16 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.98-1.34). Conclusions: Approximately one in every ten persons was infected with the 2009 pH1N1 virus during the pre-epidemic phase in April-June. The lack of age-pattern in seropositivity is unexpected, perhaps highlighting the importance of children as asymptomatic transmitters of influenza in households. Although without virological confirmation, our data raise the question of whether there was substantial pH1N1 transmission in Taiwan before June, when clinical cases were first detected by the surveillance network

A side-by-side comparison of Daya Bay antineutrino detectors

The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment is designed to determine precisely the neutrino mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ with a sensitivity better than 0.01 in the parameter sin$^22\theta_{13}$ at the 90% confidence level. To achieve this goal, the collaboration will build eight functionally identical antineutrino detectors. The first two detectors have been constructed, installed and commissioned in Experimental Hall 1, with steady data-taking beginning September 23, 2011. A comparison of the data collected over the subsequent three months indicates that the detectors are functionally identical, and that detector-related systematic uncertainties exceed requirements.Comment: 24 pages, 36 figure

Dehydrocostuslactone Suppresses Angiogenesis In Vitro and In Vivo through Inhibition of Akt/GSK-3β and mTOR Signaling Pathways

The traditional Chinese medicine component dehydrocostuslactone (DHC) isolated from Saussurea costus (Falc.) Lipschitz, has been shown to have anti-cancer activity. Angiogenesis is an essential process in the growth and progression of cancer. In this study, we demonstrated, for the first time, the anti-angiogenic mechanism of action of DHC to be via the induction of cell cycle progression at the G0/G1 phase due to abrogation of the Akt/glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β)/cyclin D1 and mTOR signaling pathway. First, we demonstrated that DHC has an anti-angiogenic effect in the matrigel-plug nude mice model and an inhibitory effect on human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) proliferation and capillary-like tube formation in vitro. DHC caused G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, which was associated with the down-regulation of cyclin D1 expression, leading to the suppression of retinoblastoma protein phosphorylation and subsequent inhibition of cyclin A and cdk2 expression. With respect to the molecular mechanisms underlying the DHC-induced cyclin D1 down-regulation, this study demonstrated that DHC significantly inhibits Akt expression, resulting in the suppression of GSK-3β phosphorylation and mTOR expression. These effects are capable of regulating cyclin D1 degradation, but they were significantly reversed by constitutively active myristoylated (myr)-Akt. Furthermore, the abrogation of tube formation induced by DHC was also reversed by overexpression of Akt. And the co-treatment with LiCl and DHC significantly reversed the growth inhibition induced by DHC. Taken together, our study has identified Akt/GSK-3β and mTOR as important targets of DHC and has thus highlighted its potential application in angiogenesis-related diseases, such as cancer

Deciphering the pathogenesis of tendinopathy: a three-stages process

Our understanding of the pathogenesis of "tendinopathy" is based on fragmented evidences like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. We propose a "failed healing theory" to knit these fragments together, which can explain previous observations. We also propose that albeit "overuse injury" and other insidious "micro trauma" may well be primary triggers of the process, "tendinopathy" is not an "overuse injury" per se. The typical clinical, histological and biochemical presentation relates to a localized chronic pain condition which may lead to tendon rupture, the latter attributed to mechanical weakness. Characterization of pathological "tendinotic" tissues revealed coexistence of collagenolytic injuries and an active healing process, focal hypervascularity and tissue metaplasia. These observations suggest a failed healing process as response to a triggering injury. The pathogenesis of tendinopathy can be described as a three stage process: injury, failed healing and clinical presentation. It is likely that some of these "initial injuries" heal well and we speculate that predisposing intrinsic or extrinsic factors may be involved. The injury stage involves a progressive collagenolytic tendon injury. The failed healing stage mainly refers to prolonged activation and failed resolution of the normal healing process. Finally, the matrix disturbances, increased focal vascularity and abnormal cytokine profiles contribute to the clinical presentations of chronic tendon pain or rupture. With this integrative pathogenesis theory, we can relate the known manifestations of tendinopathy and point to the "missing links". This model may guide future research on tendinopathy, until we could ultimately decipher the complete pathogenesis process and provide better treatments