Stefan Wellgraf: Hauptschüler. Zur gesellschaftlichen Produktion von Verachtung. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag 2012 (334 S.) [Rezension]

Rezension von: Stefan Wellgraf: Hauptschüler. Zur gesellschaftlichen Produktion von Verachtung. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag 2012 (334 S.; ISBN 978-3-8376-2053-5

“Start-Up Aid” for Low Cost Carriers– A Policy Perspective

On 7 February 2005, the European Commission published draft “Community guidelines on the financing of airports and start-up aid to airlines departing from regional airports” for consultation. This article focuses on the Draft Guidelines’ statements on “start-up aid,” which seek to integrate the Commission’s statements in last year’s Charleroi decision into a consistent state aid policy framework. It is submitted here that such an attempt is highly problematic, given the absence of a coherent and objective justification for start-up aid in its proposed form. The Commission should not depart from its long-standing hostility to operating aid for reasons of perceived political expediency. At the very least, the Commission should limit the distortive effects of such aid to the greatest possible extent, in particular by limiting it to routes to and from truly regional airports

Oracle in Brussels

It was hands across the water when both a U.S. district court and the European Commission cleared the $10.3 billion merger of Oracle and PeopleSoft. The Department of Justice, which had opposed the deal, had decided not to appeal its defeat in the San Francisco court, and it is thought that the Commission took this as a sign that U.S. regulators would not take it amiss if their European counterparts also let the merger proceed. In any event, there was none of the resentment and outrage that bubbled over not so long ago when U.S. antitrust authorities approved the GE/Honeywell deal and their European counterparts killed it. With Oracle/PeopleSoft, convergence was the word of the day. But a close look at the U.S. court decision and the European regulatory ruling in late 2004 reveals how often the San Francisco judge and the Brussels authorities took dramatically different approaches to important components of their decisions. Two lawyers representing Oracle before the European Commission, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr ’s Sven Völcker and Christian Duvernoy of the firm’s Brussels office, identify no fewer than six key issues on which the American court and the European Commission took diametrically opposed positions. Fielding a team led by former Director-General of DG Competition at the European Commission, Claus-Dieter Ehlermann, Wilmer was EU antitrust co-counsel to Oracle together with long-standing European antitrust2004 when the bidder announced that it had at last gained control of its target. Oracle CEO Lawrence Ellison had been reviewing strategic acquisitions for some time and PeopleSoft had been on his list of candidates. Larry Ellison has said publicly that software is due for consolidation and he clearly wanted to be a survivor

Implications of the Court of First Instance’s Microsoft Order

On 22 December 2004, the President of the European Court of First Instance issued an order rejecting Microsoft’s application for a suspension of the remedies imposed by the European Commission in its decision of 24 March 2004, effectively forcing Microsoft to provide interoperability information to rival server operating systems suppliers, and to offer an “unbundled” version of its Windows operating system without the Windows Media Player. The President found that, while Microsoft had established a prima facie case on the merits, it had not proved that it would suffer serious and irreparable harm from immediate implementation of the remedies ordered by the Commission (see CLI 18 January 2005, p.16). Microsoft has since announced that it will not appeal the CFI President’s order to the President of the European Court of Justice (Reuters, 24 January 2005). This article first discusses some of the procedural issues highlighted by the President’s order, and in particular examines the considerations that may have influenced Microsoft’s decision not to appeal. It then explores the potential significance of the President’s statements about Microsoft’s prima facie case for Microsoft’s pending main action for annulment (Case T-201/04)

On the Biology, Diversity and Evolution of Nucleariid Amoebae (Amorphea, Obazoa, Opisthokonta

Nucleariids are a small group of free-living heterotrophic amoebae. Although these organisms present a variety of cell sizes and cell coverings, they are mostly spherical cells with radiating filopodia, sometimes with several nuclei. Nuclearia, the genus that gives the name to the group, contains species that are opportunistic consumers of detritus, bacteria, and algae. The beautiful Pompholyxophrys is covered with endogenous siliceous pearls. Lithocolla covers itself with sand particles, or otherwise diatom frustules. The tiny Parvularia exclusively feeds on bacteria, and Fonticula is adapted to solid substrates and presents aggregative multicellular stages. Nucleariids belong to the Opisthokonta, which comprise animals, fungi, and their protist relatives and, form the earliest branch in the holomycotan clade (fungi and closest relatives). Hence, they are key for understanding the origin and diversification of Opisthokonta, an eukaryotic supergroup that contains organisms with different feeding modes, life-styles, and cell organizations. In this review, the reader will find an introduction to nucleariids, from their discovery in the 19th century until the most recent studies. It summarizes available information on their morphology, life history, cell organisation, ecology, diversity, systematics and evolution.The authors acknowledge all researchers who generated the knowledge on filose amoebae that has been introduced in this review, the Biodiversity Heritage Library for providing access to old references, and the reviewers for their thorough and constructive comments. T.G. received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, cofounded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) [grant number PGC2018-099921-B-I00]; from the Catalan Research Agency (AGAUR) [grant number SGR423]; from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [grant number ERC-2016-724173]; and from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation [grant number GBMF9742]. E.V. thanks Steffen Clauß for imaging. G.T. was supported by 2019 BP 00208, Beatriu de Pinós-3 Postdoctoral Programme (BP3) [grant number: 801370].Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft