New EC Merger Regulation: A First Assessment of Its Practical Impact, The Symposium on European Competition Law

In the late evening of November 27, 2003, the Council of Ministers reached a political agreement on the amended text of the European Community Merger Regulation ( ECMR ), which is due to enter into force on May 1, 2004, the date for enlargement of the European Union. In the following article, the New ECMR will be assessed from a practitioner\u27s perspective. Since the new substantive test is being dealt with in another contribution to this Symposium, this analysis focuses on the jurisdictional and procedural issue

New EC Merger Regulation: A First Assessment of Its Practical Impact, The Symposium on European Competition Law

In the late evening of November 27, 2003, the Council of Ministers reached a political agreement on the amended text of the European Community Merger Regulation ( ECMR ), which is due to enter into force on May 1, 2004, the date for enlargement of the European Union. In the following article, the New ECMR will be assessed from a practitioner\u27s perspective. Since the new substantive test is being dealt with in another contribution to this Symposium, this analysis focuses on the jurisdictional and procedural issue

Phase transition and dynamical-parameter method in U(1) gauge theory

Monte Carlo simulations of the 4-dimensional compact U(1) lattice gauge theory in the neighborhood of the transition point are made difficult by the suppression of tunneling between the phases, which becomes very strong as soon as the volume of the lattice grows to any appreciable size. This problem can be avoided by making the monopole coupling a dynamical variable. In this manner one can circumvent the tunneling barrier by effectively riding on top of the peaks in the energy distribution which meet for sufficiently large monopole coupling. Here we present an efficient method for determining the parameters needed for this procedure, which can thus be implemented at low computational cost also on large lattices. This is particularly important for a reliable determination of the transition point. We demonstrate the working of our method on a 16^4 lattice. We obtain an equidistribution of configurations across the phase transition even for such a relatively large lattice size.Comment: 11 pages, latex, 2 figures included, uuencode

Conformal Loop Ensembles: The Markovian characterization and the loop-soup construction

For random collections of self-avoiding loops in two-dimensional domains, we define a simple and natural conformal restriction property that is conjecturally satisfied by the scaling limits of interfaces in models from statistical physics. This property is basically the combination of conformal invariance and the locality of the interaction in the model. Unlike the Markov property that Schramm used to characterize SLE curves (which involves conditioning on partially generated interfaces up to arbitrary stopping times), this property only involves conditioning on entire loops and thus appears at first glance to be weaker. Our first main result is that there exists exactly a one-dimensional family of random loop collections with this property---one for each k in (8/3,4]---and that the loops are forms of SLE(k). The proof proceeds in two steps. First, uniqueness is established by showing that every such loop ensemble can be generated by an "exploration" process based on SLE. Second, existence is obtained using the two-dimensional Brownian loop-soup, which is a Poissonian random collection of loops in a planar domain. When the intensity parameter c of the loop-soup is less than 1, we show that the outer boundaries of the loop clusters are disjoint simple loops (when c>1 there is almost surely only one cluster) that satisfy the conformal restriction axioms. We prove various results about loop-soups, cluster sizes, and the c=1 phase transition. Taken together, our results imply that the following families are equivalent: 1. The random loop ensembles traced by certain branching SLE(k) curves for k in (8/3, 4]. 2. The outer-cluster-boundary ensembles of Brownian loop-soups for c in (0, 1]. 3. The (only) random loop ensembles satisfying the conformal restriction axioms.Comment: This 91 page-long paper contains the previous versions (v2) of both papers arxiv:1006.2373 and arxiv:1006.2374 that correspond to Part I and Part II of the present paper. This merged longer paper is to appear in Annals of Mathematic

Simulated-tempering approach to spin-glass simulations

After developing an appropriate iteration procedure for the determination of the parameters, the method of simulated tempering has been successfully applied to the 2D Ising spin glass. The reduction of the slowing down is comparable to that of the multicanonical algorithm. Simulated tempering has, however, the advantages to allow full vectorization of the programs and to provide the canonical ensemble directly.Comment: 12 pages (LaTeX), 4 postscript figures, uufiles encoded, submitted to Physical Review

Validation of a spectral light scattering method to differentiate large from small particles in intraocular lenses.

A psychophysical approach has been designed to measure straylight from intraocular lenses (IOLs) in vitro. This approach uses a clinical straylight meter (C-Quant) and an observer's eye as optical detector. Based on this, we introduced a method for study of straylight-wavelength dependency for IOLs. This dependency can be used to distinguish between 2 types of scattering particles (small and large) as defined by Mie theory. Validation was performed using a turbidity standard and scattering filters. Several IOLs were analyzed to identify potential scattering sources. Large particles were found to predominate in scattering from the studied lenses. This was confirmed by straylight-angular dependency found in these IOLs

Quality of Life After Bilateral Adrenalectomy in MEN 2

Pheochromocytoma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN 2) syndrome. For the physician, surgical treatment seems well justified even though bilateral adrenalectomy will induce iatrogenically complete loss of adrenocortical function. For the patient this treatment may be a cause of medical problems as well as worry. We have evaluated quality of life after bilateral adrenalectomy in 27 MEN 2 patients through a combined oral and written approach. Mortality was low (one of 27), as was serious morbidity. Most patients had adapted well to the postadrenalectomy state. However, fatigue, worry, and noncompliance with daily medication often caused problems

Was kosten Eurobonds?

Aus Sicht der bonitätsschwachen Länder des Euroraums ist die Forderung nach Eurobonds verständlich. Denn die damit verbundene nominale Zinskonvergenz hätte den Effekt, dass die Zinsen der unsolideren Länder merklich sinken. Im Gegenzug müsste Deutschland, würde es in Zukunft Eurobonds statt z.B. Bundesanleihen begeben, mit deutlich höheren Zinskosten als bisher rechnen. Das ifo Ins­titut rät angesichts der zu erwartenden Mehrkosten von der Einführung von Eurobonds ab.Öffentliche Schulden, Krise, Zinspolitik, Euro-Anleihe, Euro-Raum, Europäische Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion

Burgerville: Instilling a Sustainable Culture

From a single store to a regional chain, Burgerville has differentiated from other national chains by maintaining a strong relationship with its customers, supply partners, employees and the community. A case study from PSU\u27s School of Business delves deeper into Burgerville\u27s commitment to instilling a sustainability culture by assessing the impact of the company\u27s mission to Serve with Love. The analysis in this study covers Burgerville’s strategic changes in: Product development – BV\u27s commitment in using locally and seasonally sourced ingredients throughout its menu Supply chain management – BV\u27s approach to maintaining strong relationships with suppliers, and preferentially purchasing from Food Alliance certified producers. Use of renewable energy – BV\u27s purchase of wind power credits equal to 100% energy use in its restaurants and corporate headquarters. Recycling and composting – BV\u27s commitment to providing recycling and composting stations. In addition, nearly all of BV’s packaging materials come from 100% renewable materials. Employee relations – BV\u27s commitment to offering healthcare benefits to any employee working more than 20 hours per week. Training – BV’s commitment to training employees at all levels to convey its core beliefs in sustainability and community. Transparency – BV’s commitment to educating customers about exactly what they are eating by providing specific nutritional information on each receipt Burgerville\u27s commitment in implementing these strategic changes has shaped its reputation as the alternative place to go for quality, local, fast food

Agricultural Water Management in Brandenburg

The present study explores whether regional water resources can be used more efficiently by Brandenburg’s farming systems. A description of agriculture in Brandenburg today is followed by a systematic analysis of measures to raise the water efficiency. Brandenburg’s agricultural systems are divided into three sections: soil, plant production and livestock farming. Within these sections measures to increase water efficiency are listed and analysed with reference to five objective criteria for raising water use efficiency. In view of the complexity of farming systems in Brandenburg, general measures to raise water use efficiency could not be derived. Site-specific tillage practices and crop patterns adjusted to recent weather conditions may reflect the specific diversity of Brandenburg more efficiently