bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Genetic and morphometric variation in populations of Partamona cupira and Partamona mulata, stingless bees endemic to the Cerrado biome in Brazil
Authors: Dessi Mariana C , Magri Lucas A , Franco Fernando F , Del Lama Marco Antonio
Published: August 2024

The Brazilian Cerrado biome stands out as a biodiversity hotspot, boasting a rich flora and endemic species. However, human activities have significantly altered nearly 80% of its area. Partamona cupira and Partamona mulata are stingless bees from the Cerrado that have received limited attention regarding their intraspecific variation. Our objective was to estimate the genetic and morphometric variation across the geographical distribution of these bees. We accomplished this by sequencing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) regions (COI and CytB genes) and obtaining phenotypic traits of wings using landmark-based approaches. Genetic analyses revealed a common pattern found in Partamona bees, characterized by high haplotype diversity, low nucleotide diversity, and the presence of exclusive low-frequency haplotypes. These characteristics support the hypothesis that stingless bees exhibit genetic structuring in their mtDNA due to their colony-dependent mode of reproduction. We observed an association between morphometric and geographical distances, suggesting that phenotypic gradients may be produced by environmental factors. The time to the most recent common ancestor for P. cupira and P. mulata was estimated at 147.8 and 284.0 kya, respectively. Demographic analyses suggested population equilibrium for both species, indicating that climatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene had no impact on the distributions of P. cupira and P. mulata.
Anti-ageing interventions for the treatment of cardiovascular disease
Authors: Abdellatif Mahmoud , Schmid Sophie T , Fuerlinger Alexander , Kroemer Guido
Published: August 2024

As the global demographic landscape continues to shift towards an aged population, so does the medical and socioeconomic burden of cardiovascular diseases. Indeed, ageing is one of, if not, the key risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases. However, there are currently no approved cardiovascular therapeutics that primarily target the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the ageing process itself. In this review, we present the potential of emerging anti-ageing strategies, including epigenetic rejuvenation, metabolic reprogramming, autophagy activation, as well as senolytic and anti-inflammatory therapies, in delaying or reversing the development of age-related cardiovascular disorders, while considering potential sex differences. In doing so, we implicate cellular ageing processes in the pathogenesis of several prevalent cardiovascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, various types of cardiomyopathies (including its hypertrophic, ischaemic, dilated, diabetic, and arrhythmogenic forms) and heart failure, particularly that with preserved ejection fraction. Finally, we outline future challenges and steps needed for the implementation of these novel anti-ageing strategies in the clinical setting, with the aim of challenging the long-held notion of ageing as a ‘non-modifiable’ risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
Longitudinal cardiac magnetic resonance imaging following clinical response to rilonacept and prior to recurrence upon treatment suspension: a RHAPSODY subgroup analysis
Authors: Cremer Paul C , Brucato Antonio , Insalaco Antonella , Lin David , Luis Sushil A , Kwon Deborah H , Jellis Christine L , Clair JoAnn , Curtis Allison , Wang Sheldon , Klein Allan L , Imazio Massimo , Paolini John F
Published: August 2024

Aims

In the Phase 3 trial, RHAPSODY, rilonacept effectively resolved active pericarditis recurrences, and long-term treatment led to sustained pericarditis recurrence risk reduction. Prior analysis suggested association between higher late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) at baseline and more rapid recurrence upon rilonacept suspension after 12 weeks of treatment. This subgroup analysis assessed the utility of longitudinal serial cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging for tracking clinical improvement and predicting post-treatment cessation outcomes to help guide clinical decision-making.

Methods and results

At an 18-month decision milestone (18MDM) in the RHAPSODY long-term extension, investigators decided if patients would continue rilonacept, suspend rilonacept for off-treatment observation, or discontinue the study. Pericardial thickness, pericardial oedema (T2-short tau inversion recovery, T2-STIR), and LGE were determined at baseline and 18MDM by an imaging core lab blinded to clinical data, and pericarditis recurrence was investigator-assessed. CMR results in patients with data at both baseline and 18MDM (n = 13) showed that pericardial thickness, T2-STIR, and LGE were reduced during rilonacept treatment. Among patients with CMR data who suspended rilonacept at the 18MDM (n = 7), five (71%) had a pericarditis recurrence within 1–4 months of rilonacept suspension, despite all having had none/trace LGE (n = 7) and negative T2-STIR (n = 7) at the 18MDM and two having received prophylactic colchicine.

Conclusion

Continued clinical improvement during prolonged rilonacept treatment corresponded with improvement on CMR, including reduced pericardial thickness, resolution of pericardial oedema, and resolution of LGE. However, none/trace LGE at 18MDM while on treatment did not predict absence of pericarditis recurrence upon subsequent rilonacept suspension in this size-limited subgroup.
Remote sensing for estimating genetic parameters of biomass accumulation and modeling stability of growth curves in alfalfa
Authors: Thapa Ranjita , Kunze Karl H , Hansen Julie , Pierce Christopher , Moore Virginia , Ray Ian , Wickes-Do Liam , Morales Nicolas , Sabadin Felipe , Santantonio Nicholas , Gore Michael A , Robbins Kelly
Published: August 2024

Multispectral imaging by unoccupied aerial vehicles provides a nondestructive, high-throughput approach to measure biomass accumulation over successive alfalfa (Medicago sativa L. subsp. sativa) harvests. Information from estimated growth curves can be used to infer harvest biomass and to gain insights into the relationship between growth dynamics and forage biomass stability across cuttings and years. In this study, multispectral imaging and several common vegetation indices were used to estimate genetic parameters and model growth of alfalfa cultivars to determine the longitudinal relationship between vegetation indices and forage biomass. Results showed moderate heritability for vegetation indices, with median plot level heritability ranging from 0.11 to 0.64, across multiple cuttings in three trials planted in Ithaca, NY, and Las Cruces, NM. Genetic correlations between the normalized difference vegetation index and forage biomass were moderate to high across trials, cuttings, and the timing of multispectral image capture. To evaluate the relationship between growth parameters and forage biomass stability across cuttings and environmental conditions, random regression modeling approaches were used to estimate the growth parameters of cultivars for each cutting and the variance in growth was compared to the variance in genetic estimates of forage biomass yield across cuttings. These analyses revealed high correspondence between stability in growth parameters and stability of forage yield. The results of this study indicate that vegetation indices are effective at modeling genetic components of biomass accumulation, presenting opportunities for more efficient screening of cultivars and new longitudinal modeling approaches that can provide insights into temporal factors influencing cultivar stability.
Complementary approaches to dissect late leaf rust resistance in an interspecific raspberry population
Authors: Prado Melina , da Silva Allison Vieira , Campos Gabriela Romêro , Borges Karina Lima Reis , Yassue Rafael Massahiro , Husein Gustavo , Akens Felix Frederik , Sposito Marcel Bellato , Amorim Lilian , Behrouzi Pariya , Bustos-Korts Daniela , Fritsche-Neto Roberto
Published: August 2024

Over the last 10 years, global raspberry production has increased by 47.89%, based mainly on the red raspberry species (Rubus idaeus). However, the black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), although less consumed, is resistant to one of the most important diseases for the crop, the late leaf rust caused by Acculeastrum americanum fungus. In this context, genetic resistance is the most sustainable way to control the disease, mainly because there are no registered fungicides for late leaf rust in Brazil. Therefore, the aim was to understand the genetic architecture that controls resistance to late leaf rust in raspberries. For that, we used an interspecific multiparental population using the species mentioned above as parents, 2 different statistical approaches to associate the phenotypes with markers [GWAS (genome-wide association studies) and copula graphical models], and 2 phenotyping methodologies from the first to the 17th day after inoculation (high-throughput phenotyping with a multispectral camera and traditional phenotyping by disease severity scores). Our findings indicate that a locus of higher effect, at position 13.3 Mb on chromosome 5, possibly controls late leaf rust resistance, as both GWAS and the network suggested the same marker. Of the 12 genes flanking its region, 4 were possible receptors, 3 were likely defense executors, 1 gene was likely part of signaling cascades, and 4 were classified as nondefense related. Although the network and GWAS indicated the same higher effect genomic region, the network identified other different candidate regions, potentially complementing the genetic control comprehension.
General
Authors: Hartley Trevor C
Published: August 2024

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the three legal instruments which constitute a package governing jurisdiction and the recognition of judgments in wide areas of civil and commercial litigation. These include Brussels 2012, Lugano 2007, and the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements. As far as courts in the United Kingdom and other EU countries are concerned, the three instruments constitute EU law. The final authority on their interpretation is the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). When Member-State courts interpret them, they must do so in the same way as the CJEU would: they must follow any relevant decisions of the CJEU; if there is no decision in point, they must adopt the same method of interpretation as the CJEU. The chapter then looks at the aims and objectives of the three legal instruments.
Update to Chapter 9: Multiple Parties and Multiple claims
Authors: Hartley Trevor C
Published: August 2024

This chapter explores jurisdictional problems caused by the existence of multiple parties or multiple claims in the same proceedings. Article 8 of Brussels 2012 and Article 6 of Lugano 2007 deal with these matters. Like the provisions discussed in the previous chapter, they concern special jurisdiction in that they apply only where a defendant domiciled in one Member State is sued in another Member State. Generally speaking, multiple claimants cause no jurisdictional problems. Subject to a small number of exceptions, the domicile or nationality of the claimant is irrelevant for jurisdictional purposes. However, where one of these exceptions applies, jurisdiction must exist independently for each claimant. The rules discussed in the chapter are all subject to an exception where the courts of another Member State have exclusive jurisdiction under an exclusive choice-of-court agreement or under Brussels 2012, Article 24. There are also exceptions in the case of protective jurisdiction.
The Anti-Suit Injunction
Authors: Raphael QC Thomas
Published: August 2024

Questions relating to anti-suit injunctions arise frequently in commercial practice, as commercial litigation is often disputed in several jurisdictions simultaneously. In these circumstances, a party preferring to conduct its litigation in England would need to determine whether it might be possible and effective to obtain an anti-suit injunction to restrain the other party from conducting its proceedings in another jurisdiction. This second edition provides a comprehensive update on all relevant changes in the law since the publication of the first edition. The book presents a thorough analysis of the anti-suit injunction in practice and principle, digesting all the case law and explaining the theoretical issues arising from it. Its scope is now extended to include an analysis of Commonwealth case law, which casts a new light on English law. This dedicated and in-depth analysis continues to be the only work to examine in detail the treatment of anti-suit injunctions, examine in detail those effects, and evaluate the case law as it has developed.
Singapore Law
Authors: Raphael Thomas
Published: August 2024

This chapter assesses Singapore law. The Singapore law on anti-suit injunctions follows the broad contours of English law and the jurisprudence of the Privy Council, with both the Singapore High Court and the Singapore Court of Appeal contributing to its development. There has been a steady stream of clams and applications for such injunctions since the Singapore courts first had the occasion to consider the question in 1993. Leaving aside the context of injunctions to protect arbitration, permanent and interim anti-suit injunctions are granted in Singapore under the broad powers conferred on the High Court by Section 18(2) and paragraph 14 of Schedule 1 of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act to grant ‘all reliefs and remedies at law and in equity’ and section 4(10) of the Civil Law Act.
Media and Communications
Authors: Bacon Kelyn
Published: August 2024

This chapter considers the application of State aid rules in relation to the broadcasting, broadband, postal services, and film/audiovisual sectors. In relation to each of the sectors, the chapter discusses the policy and legislative framework, the sector-specific Commission guidelines and communications, specific issues relating to the existence of aid, the applicability of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), and the avenues for authorisation under Article 106(2) or Article 107(2) and (3).
Agriculture and Fisheries
Authors: Bacon Kelyn
Published: August 2024

This chapter sets out the State aid rules applicable to the agriculture and fisheries sectors, placing them in the context of the specific Treaty rules and secondary legislation concerning support for these sectors. The chapter outlines the two pillars of the common agricultural policy and the overall framework for State aid rules in the agricultural sector, before considering in turn the application of State aid rules to agriculture, the agriculture de minimis exemption, the Agriculture Block Exemption Regulation, and the Agriculture Guidelines. In relation to fisheries, the chapter discusses the application of State aid rules to the sector, the de minimis exemption, the Fisheries Block Exemption Regulation, and the Fisheries Guidelines.
Fit and Proper Requirements in EU Financial Regulation
Authors: Busch Danny , Palm-Steyerberg Iris
Published: August 2024

This chapter provides a cross-sectoral analysis of the fit and proper requirements applicable to the different types of financial institutions which are the subject of EU financial regulation, such as credit institutions, investment firms, pension funds, and insurance undertakings. These requirements differ substantially across the different sectors. High standards — laid down in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV) and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) — were not followed up upon by EU rules in other sectors. Against this backdrop, the chapter poses the question whether these differences can be adequately explained or whether more cross-sectoral harmonisation is actually needed. Ultimately, fit and proper requirements in several sectors should be enhanced, taking into account the proportionality principle. This should lead to more cross-sectoral harmonisation, following the example of the Netherlands.
Risk, Risk Management, and Internal Controls
Authors: van Setten Lodewijk
Published: August 2024

This chapter studies risk, risk management, and internal controls. Risk denotes a set of potential outcomes assessed against a specific objective, such as market risk, liquidity risk, or operational risk. The concept of risk and risk management is intrinsic to the design of a firm’s governance system. The governance of a firm is commonly understood to refer to the system by which that firm is directed and controlled. In that context, the system by which a firm is controlled is referred to as ‘internal controls’. Risk management is part of the internal controls of a firm. The internal controls may be described as the framework of checks and balances that is embedded in the organisational structure that provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of the organisation’s objectives, both in terms of the execution of the business model and in reporting terms.
Capital
Authors: Collier Richard S , Andrus Joseph L
Published: August 2024

This chapter is devoted to the problems surrounding the transfer, use, and rewards to capital. It highlights the evolution of international tax planning by MNEs to include significant shifts of capital to low or no tax states. The chapter also discusses the limited relevance of the ALP to those developments. The scale and public profile of MNE tax planning using tax havens, coupled with the apparent inability of the international tax system to prevent these developments, increased the pressure for some form of response. In addition, the significant shift of capital to low-function companies in low or no tax states has led to increased concerns on the lack of guidance relating to the return to capital for transfer pricing purposes. The combination of these issues meant that, in the run-up to BEPS, there were mounting questions and pressures facing the ALP and the OECD.
Electronic Systems for Payment Processing
Authors: Goldby Miriam
Published: August 2024

This chapter discusses electronic systems set up for the performance of the payment obligation. It looks at the progress that is being made in achieving straight-through processing (STP) in the financial supply chain. STP would enable the flow of financial information to take place electronically. Foremost in the mind of the financial sector in recent decades has been the need to achieve a balance between security and efficiency in communication and transfer of financial data. To this end, the international banking community set up the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) in 1973. These developments are taking place at a time when a number of information technology (IT) service providers are seeking to harness the potential of electronic communications to achieve STP. Many of these solutions have sought to devise private law frameworks to address gaps and uncertainties that continue to persist in the laws of most jurisdictions.
Definitions Used in the IBA Rules on Evidence
Authors: Khodykin Roman , Mulcahy Carol , Fletcher Nicholas
Published: August 2024

This chapter examines the definitions used in the IBA Rules on Evidence. The definitions themselves do not provide any substantive rules of conduct or evidence. The ‘Definitions’ section of the IBA Rules sets out basic definitions to be applied when using the IBA Rules on Evidence. The chapter then presents each of the definitions provided in the ‘Definitions’ section of the IBA Rules. These definitions concern the terms arbitral tribunal, claimant, document, evidentiary hearing, expert report, General Rules, IBA Rules on Evidence, party, party-appointed expert, request to produce, respondent, tribunal-appointed expert, and witness statement as used in the IBA Rules.
Article 7: Inspection
Authors: Khodykin Roman , Mulcahy Carol , Fletcher Nicholas
Published: August 2024

This chapter studies Article 7 of the IBA Rules. Article 7 enables the tribunal, a tribunal-appointed expert, or a party-appointed expert to make an inspection of a relevant site or thing. The inspection should be one that ‘may help the decision-making process’. The making of an inspection may have value in a number of different situations. For members of the tribunal, as well as for counsel, an inspection of the piece of equipment, manufacturing process, layout of a half-built holiday complex, or scene of an incident can offer clarity to submissions and evidence that appear impenetrable on paper. For an expert witness, an inspection may be critical. Moreover, inspection of proprietary material related to the matter in dispute may provide additional insight.
CRD IV Framework for Banks’ Corporate Governance
Authors: Mülbert Peter O , Wilhelm Alexander
Published: August 2024

The EU Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV) has fundamentally transformed the legal framework for banks’ corporate governance. Against this backdrop, the chapter offers a comprehensive analysis of the Directive’s corporate governance framework, starting with an overview of EU banking structures and the history of corporate governance regulation in the EU financial sector. A subsequent more detailed description of the Directive’s corporate governance regime serves as the basis for an in-depth analysis of the various conceptual concerns raised by its framework. In addition, the chapter addresses functional concerns and raises the question whether the newly designed CRD IV standards are actually suitable to improve the quality of banks’ corporate governance, taking account of recent approaches to enhance proportionality in particular. It concludes with a number of critical remarks and an outlook to the future of corporate governance regulation in the EU, most notably in the light of developments such as Brexit and the ongoing digital transformation of the financial sector.
The Fate of the Award
Authors: Jensen J Ole
Published: August 2024

This chapter focuses on the fate of the award where tribunal secretaries are used impermissibly. It considers whether the ultimate threat to the efficient use of tribunal secretaries — that their participation provides grounds for an annulment of the arbitral award — has merit by reviewing different scenarios of an irregular secretary use. The chapter first examines the question of whether an ‘award’ that is entirely made by a tribunal secretary qualifies as an arbitral award at all, or whether it is a nullity, before discussing grounds for annulling the award or denying its enforcement (for example, the secretary did not possess the required impartiality and independence). It also analyses how the procedural impropriety affects the arbitral award, paying special attention to the ‘effect on the award’-requirement and forfeiture of right to rely on grounds for annulment and non-enforcement.
Corporations
Authors: Chong Adeline , Yip Man
Published: August 2024

This chapter covers the choice of law issues involving corporations. It looks into the provisions of the Companies Act 1967 which addresses foreign-incorporated companies and the re-domiciliation of foreign-incorporated companies under Singapore law. Lex incorporationis or the law of the place of incorporation governs questions such as whether the corporation exists or who has the right to sue in the name of the corporation. Moreover, this law also handles issues of corporate governance and the internal management of a company. The chapter also elaborates on the choice of law rule governing the piercing of the corporate veil.
The UK Supervisory Regime in the Post-Brexit Environment
Authors: Thomas Michael , Roslington James
Published: August 2024

This chapter addresses how the UK regulatory regime is changing in light of Brexit. In the months that followed the vote by the UK to leave the European Union, UK regulators had to grapple with the practicalities of ‘taking back control’. UK regulators essentially adopted a pragmatic, technical solution that did not initially result in any major shift towards deregulation. Equally, at the international level, there was no real impetus to deregulate. The regulatory direction of travel at international bodies such as IOSCO, IAIS, and the Basel Committee is towards regulatory convergence. Nevertheless, divergence between the UK and the EU may be more likely in the future. In particular, the appointment of Boris Johnson as prime minister in July of 2019 has led to increased calls for deregulation which may in time lead to a shift in government policy.
The UK’s Senior Managers, Certification and Conduct Regime
Authors: Henry Charlotte
Published: August 2024

The SMCR regime was first introduced in the UK for banks in March 2016 and is being rolled out to all other financial services firms with effect from 9 December 2019. This chapter focuses primarily on financial services firms that are banks covering the different layers of complexity that a no-deal Brexit will bring to the SMCR requirements. In particular, the chapter covers the difficult position firms may find themselves in when opting into the TPR where the PRA and FCA have adopted different approaches. When entering the TPR, these firms will need to implement a hybrid SMCR regime and implement the regime for third country bank branches on leaving the TPR. In addition, the chapter covers the key issues of responsibility for cross-border business into the UK, dual-hatting, outsourcing and enforcement issues against non-UK senior managers.
CRD Prudential Requirements on a Group Basis
Authors: Morris Charles H R
Published: August 2024

This chapter assesses the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) regime. The CRD regime is the principal UK and EU-wide regime for the prudential supervision of credit institutions and, for the time being, investment firms. It implements the general principles of the Basel Framework, and its primary framework legislation comprises the Capital Requirements Regulation and the Capital Requirements Directive. The chapter then looks at how to identify the existence and scope of a CRD consolidation group and how CRD prudential requirements are applied to groups in practice. It also discusses how capital resources at various locations within a group may be recognized as eligible group capital, and examines the relevant waivers and variations that may be available to a group to help it manage its capital and liquidity resources.
The UK Bank Ring-fencing Regime
Authors: Morris Charles H R
Published: August 2024

This chapter evaluates the new UK bank ring-fencing regime. At its simplest, the UK ring-fencing regime requires banks performing core retail banking activities—known as ring-fenced bodies or RFBs—to operate independently from, and to be shielded from the risks posed by, the wider financial services industry. Although the rules do not require the full separation of RFBs from other businesses, measures are imposed with the aim of ensuring the integrity and self-sufficiency of RFBs and their immediate sub-groups. The UK ring-fencing regime is therefore often described as comprising two elements: rules relating to the perimeter of the ring-fence and rules relating to the height of the ring-fence. The former refer to rules defining what must, can, and can only be done by a ring-fenced body or its sub-group. The latter refer to the degree and nature of the separation between ring-fenced bodies/sub-groups and other entities.
Practical Applications
Authors: Morris Charles H R
Published: August 2024

This concluding chapter addresses the themes discussed in this book through the lens of a number of transactions or scenarios that may be encountered in practice. It first considers the nature of financial services licenses, and how their grant and variation may impact the regulatory treatment of a group. The UK financial services licensing regime primarily derives from Part IV of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). An authorized person is, principally, a firm that is licensed by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and/or Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide regulated activities. However, not all PRA or FCA authorizations are equal: each is limited to the extent of the permissions to carry on specified regulated activities, in respect of certain types of clients and certain types of financial products and its activities may be further curtailed by other restrictions and limitations. Similar licensing regimes and procedures apply across the EU. The chapter then looks at mergers and acquisitions, as well as reorganizations and restructuring. It also examines how non-financial services groups are impacted by financial transactions conducted within and outside their financial services sub-groups.
General Questions on Procedure. Control of State Aid Compatibility. Council’s Decision-Making Power
Authors: Kapenne Jean Paul , Caviedes Carlos Urraca
Published: August 2024

abstracts and keywords to be supplied.
Habitual Residence
Authors: McParland Michael
Published: August 2024

This chapter explains Article 19 of the Rome I Regulation on habitual residence. It first explains how the concept of ‘habitual residence’ is a key connecting factor in the Rome I Regulation. It then covers the habitual residence of companies and other bodies, corporate or unincorporated; of a natural person acting in the course of his business activity; of a contracting party; of a private individual; and the ‘relevant point in time’ for locating the habitual residence of any person, legal or natural.
Multiple Liability
Authors: McParland Michael
Published: August 2024

This chapter explains Article 16 of the Rome I Regulation, which specifies the law that governs ‘the right to claim recourse’ between co-debtors to ‘the same claim’. This right arises where one co-debtor has satisfied the original creditor's claim (in whole or in part) and now seeks to recover some or all of their payment from their co-debtors.
Attribution of Cartel Liability
Authors: Wijckmans Frank , Bouquet André
Published: August 2024

The chapter discusses the attribution of liability in cartel cases from three angles: direct attribution of liability, parental liability, and successor liability. The first angle concerns questions such as the conditions under which the conduct of employees or consultants that are directly involved in a cartel can be imputed to a particular legal entity. The second angle deals with the extent to which legal entities that are not directly involved can assume liability for the cartel conduct of a related legal entity. The third angle concerns the attribution of liability in cases where corporate restructuring or corporate transactions have taken place between the time of the participation in the cartel and the date of the decision by the Commission. These topics are discussed by Frank Wijckmans (contrast, Brussels) from a private practitioner’s perspective and by André Bouquet (Legal Service, European Commission) from the angle of a public enforcer.
Information Exchanges among Competitors
Authors: Verouden Vincent , Boutin Aleksandra
Published: August 2024

The competition law analysis of information exchanges among competitors, a new section in the Horizontal Guidelines of the European Commission, is one of the most complex subjects in modern competition law. Vincent Verouden (E.CA Economics, Brussels/Berlin, former deputy chief economist, Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission) and Alexandra Boutin (European Commission, currently FNRS research scholar at the European Centre for Advanced Studies in Economics and Statistics) approach the topic from an economic angle. The chapter first identifies the key competition concerns (theories of harm) underlying the European Commission’s policy on information exchange. It continues with a discussion on the information exchanges that almost always harm competition. It then turns to information exchanges that make markets more efficient and to a structured discussion on the possible restrictive effects of information exchanges. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the scope of Article 101 TFEU as applied to information exchanges.
Panopticon, gaze, and rupture in the fantasy: The Syrian refugee experience in Turkey
Authors: Ozkaleli Umut , Ozkaleli F Murat
Published: August 2024

This article aims to study how ‘seeing’ and ‘being looked at’ (the gaze) interplay in constructing citizens’ idealized-self and the refugee-other in Turkey. The theoretical part of the article conceptualizes the lateral panopticon and ontological status of the gaze in the context of migration and refugee studies. By using field data, the empirical part of the article discusses how the objectifying gaze leads to othering and silencing practices. It further applies Lacanian concepts of object-petit-a, lack, and the split subject to identify how the Refugee Gaze leads to dual ruptures in nationalist and Islamist fantasies in Turkey. A crucial finding of this research is that while the gaze assigns Syrians an objectified position by naming them ‘refugee’, this very marginalization, in turn, punctures the receiving community fantasy. This finding could open new ways to better comprehend receiving community-migrant/refugee integration. Eventually, the article calls for further field studies that examine experience through the gaze in migration and refugee studies to understand deep-rooted causes of ‘othering’ and new ways to examine receiving community and migrant/refugee interactions.
Impact of Live Tissue Training on Provider Confidence for Operative Trauma Management
Authors: Liang Joy N , Ciampa Maeghan , Kobylarz Fred , Anklowitz Andrew J , Barzanji Natalia K , Sherman William , Faler Byron
Published: August 2024

Introduction

Readiness of military health care providers is essential to maintain a prepared fighting force and remains a central issue for today’s military. Maintaining skills regarding operative management of trauma is becoming more difficult if not located at an urban trauma center. Live tissue training may be used to practice skills in a facility that does not have exposure to high acuity trauma. The goal of our live tissue skills course is to train health care providers and ancillary staff in the management of various injury complexes and improve confidence and familiarity with management using a porcine model.

Materials and Methods

A live tissue skills course using a porcine model was offered to surgical residents, attendings, and operating room technicians. Before completing the course, each participant completed a survey assessing comfort level, previous training experiences, and deployments. Operative management was simulated with a standardized sequence of abdominal and thoracic injuries. After the course, each participant then completed a survey assessing comfort level, benefit of the course, and comparison to inanimate simulation training. Survey information was obtained via participant completion of a multiple-choice confidential questionnaire.

Results

Responses were collected from 34 participants at our institution. Average abdominal trauma comfort increased from 2.79 to 3.73, with no participants reporting feeling not comfortable at all post-lab. Average thoracic trauma comfort increased from 2.47 to 3.48, with one participant reporting feeling not comfortable at all post-lab. Overall, 85% of participants reported the course to be very beneficial in improving their knowledge, 83% reported the course to be very beneficial compared to inanimate simulators, and 92% reported high fidelity of the live tissue training course.

Conclusions

Perceived as highly beneficial, live tissue training increased comfort with operative trauma management by surgical residents, attendings, and technicians supporting continued utilization. Further evaluation of live tissue courses would be advantageous in assessing surgical skill improvement, including comparison with simulation training.
Introduction
Authors: Hardwick Lorna
Published: August 2024

The Introduction provides extensive material that illustrates and explains the aims of the book and the ideas and concepts used in it. It summarizes the historical and literary contexts that shaped the poetry of the First World War, discusses the choice of poets and poems, and explains the categories that are used in the detailed commentaries to analyse the range of connections between ancient and modern texts and their literary mediations in the centuries between. Key terms are glossed and the poetry of unease and the poetry of survival are identified as key themes. The discussion of the historical context includes examination of class, education, and social attitudes as well as the impact of war service. The place of religion in the literary language and cultural perspectives of the poets is considered, especially in relation to notions of suffering and sacrifice, as well as of conflict and vengeance. The various types of paramaterial that can inform analysis of texts, literary biographies, and life experience are discussed. The Introduction also sets out the relationship between the book and classical reception scholarship, including its potential for enhancing understanding of the place of war poetry in the development of the public imagination and the cultural memory and for contributing to ecocriticism and trauma studies.
Review of Scholarship
Authors: Balserak Jon
Published: August 2024

This chapter produces a detailed analysis of scholarship on John Calvin and, to a lesser degree, Theodore Beza, from the death of Calvin (in 1564) to the present day. It demonstrates that even before his death there were two diametrically opposed positions on Calvin, which took the form of defending or condemning his theology (i.e., Calvinism). It demonstrates that these two approaches continue for centuries, very rarely interacting with one another. The chapter then demonstrates that beginning in the early twentieth century, scholars like Heiko Oberman, William Bouwsma, and Richard Muller began to adopt a fundamentally different—and more objective—approach to Calvin. Their approach was a historical one which did not see him as either a saint or a devil, but which attempted to view him as a human being and to interpret him within his sixteenth-century context.
Pentatonic Space to Outer Space
Authors: Koozin Timothy
Published: August 2024

This chapter focuses on ensemble interaction in funk music, exploring how musicians utilize a contrapuntal framework of musical figures to create the rhythmic and melodic fabric of funk grooves as they establish cultural grounding in vocal idioms and rhetorical practices of the Black gospel church. The study examines how funk leverages its gospel heritage in expressing social critique and resistance. Engaging with musical gesture in funk music by a wide range of artists, the study explains how swing rhythms form an important, but often unrecognized, rhythmic layer in the metrical fabric of many funk songs. The chapter explores psychedelic funk by Sly and the Family Stone and Afrofuturistic music by George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic collective as works that engage the political and musical imagination, projecting communally experienced virtual spaces of autonomy and creativity. The chapter concludes with a study of Parliament’s 1977 album, Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome.
Temporality and Gesture in the Songs of Bob Dylan
Authors: Koozin Timothy
Published: August 2024

This chapter explores how Bob Dylan’s performance strategies in pairing voice with guitar mobilize connections to the past as a means to elevate personal stories to the level of myth. After examining Dylan’s unique approach to ritualized storytelling and pastoralism in early songs, the study focuses on embodied expression in Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks album, demonstrating how all the songs on the album can be related to one basic guitar move, a fundamental gesture that is elaborated differently in each song. The songs of Blood on the Tracks, each conceived by Dylan with the guitar in open-E tuning and recorded spontaneously with almost no rehearsal, powerfully celebrate the performing body viscerally engaged in a moment of heightened awareness.
Musical Topic and Ironic Gesture in the Songs of Steely Dan
Authors: Koozin Timothy
Published: August 2024

This chapter examines stylistic mixtures and ironic juxtapositions in the music of Steely Dan. Highlighting examples from the band’s many hit songs in the 1970s as well as their meticulous studio compositions from 2000 to 2003, the study explores how Steely Dan’s music is broadly ironic in its approach to musical genre, strategically positioning gestures laden with cultural meaning to create oppositions that support ironic expression and a comic narrative structure. The study addresses musical strategies that may cause a listener to doubt both the reliability of a song’s protagonist and the formal function of gestural repetitions, provoking an ironic listening stance. The analysis further explores how musical and social meanings are mediated through topical discourse in songs that enact a comic mythical archetype, projecting juxtapositions and figural incongruities that are comparable to topical relationships that have been examined in eighteenth-century opera buffa.
“When should we pull the plug?”
Authors: Klitzman Robert L.
Published: August 2024

This chapter examines how end-of-life decisions frequently strain doctors, patients, and families, and how chaplains assist. Recently, the use of palliative and hospice care (so-called comfort care) has spread, enhancing the quality rather than the quantity of a patient’s remaining life, and emphasizing holistic, spiritual, existential, and religious, not just medical, issues. Yet, countless patients and families reject such an approach, seeing it as “giving up” or feeling that their religion forbids it, since only God gives and should therefore be able to end life. Many patients end up receiving futile care because they incorrectly assume their faith dictates it. However, their religion may also in fact advocate alleviation of suffering, which can mean withholding or withdrawing painful unnecessary interventions. Chaplains frequently work to shift such views among families, playing critical roles, grasping “where patients are coming from,” and aiding medical staff in understanding.
Apostrophes
Authors: Barton Jill
Published: August 2024

Apostrophes, invented in 1509 to create an absence or a pause, are much abused and stir so much debate and anguish that grammarians founded the “Apostrophe Protection Society” in 2001. The Supreme Court justices disagree on how—or even whether—to use apostrophes. The majority rules on how to use apostrophes for possessives and contractions just might shock traditionalists. Apostrophes can turn a regular word into a possessive or a contraction, and many legal writers avoid the latter because of its informality. Justice Antonin Scalia was vehemently opposed to contractions. But writers who steer clear of these two-word combos nowadays are failing to follow the majority rule among current Supreme Court justices. And for possessives, the justices split on whether to write Congress’ or Congress’s.
Commas
Authors: Barton Jill
Published: August 2024

Comma disagreements and errors have led to several legal cases that have cost parties millions of dollars. Back in 1872, a misplaced comma in a tariff law between two simple words—“fruit” and “plants”—cost the government the equivalent of $40 million. The justices stick with a handful of tried-and-true rules. All use the serial comma. All use commas before a short conjunction combining two independent clauses. All use commas to separate elements in locations and complete dates. And finally, all use commas around parenthetical phrases and nonrestrictive clauses. But from there, the justices use commas in what might seem a haphazard fashion. In short, the justices use a comma when they need to pause. The justices take care with the cadence of their writing, and their nonconformity to some traditional comma rules shows this.
Parentheses
Authors: Barton Jill
Published: August 2024

Parentheses can surround a word, phrase, or clause at the middle or end of the sentence. Commas call on the reader to take note, em-dashes shout, but parentheses whisper. All the justices occasionally use parentheses to inject some detail as an aside. They also, like all lawyers, regularly include parentheticals within citations. This chapter details how and why the legal writer uses parentheses. Justice Ginsburg credited her European literature professor, Vladimir Nabokov, for changing “the way I read and the way I write. Words could paint pictures, I learned from him. Choosing the right word, and the right word order, he illustrated, could make an enormous difference in conveying an image or an idea.” Ginsburg took cues from her professor on how punctuation influences the cadence of writing, like how Nabokov used parentheses to slip in some digressions in the opening of Lolita.
Alliteration and Repetition
Authors: Barton Jill
Published: August 2024

Poetic devices—alliteration, assonance, consonance, and repetition—have a place in legal writing. Good writing has a rhythm, just like good music. Readers, in a sense, hear the words they see as their eyes move down the page, so repeated sounds make the lines stand out because they are more lyrical. All the justices use a touch of alliteration, assonance, and consonance in their writing to infuse a beat into their sentences. Alliteration is the repetition of sounds at the start of words, as with the d sounds in “Disruptive dinnertime calls, downright deceit . . . .” Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds, as with the short i sounds in disruptive and dinnertime. Consonance is the repetition of consonants. The trick is keeping it subtle, not jumping off the page but nearly imperceptibly compelling the reader onward.
Because vs. Since
Authors: Barton Jill
Published: August 2024

“Because” and “since” are words that many people use interchangeably in casual conversation. But in legal writing, the precise meaning of each word can be significant. Grammarians have insisted that since, which technically means “from the time that,” should be used to show only a temporal relation. Meanwhile, because, defined as “for the reason that,” should show only cause. Eight of the justices use since to mean because during oral arguments, but only a very slim majority has done so in their written opinions—and rarely at that. They also unanimously ignore the common misconception that writers should not start sentences with because or since. In practice, the distinction between since and because typically matters only when confusion would result. It also can matter when the legal writer needs to pinpoint causation.
Modifiers
Authors: Barton Jill
Published: August 2024

Modifiers, more than any other grammar topic, stand accused of sentence gymnastics. A modifier is any word, phrase, or clause that alters a sentence’s meaning. The Supreme Court justices do not aimlessly leave modifiers dangling, out-of-place, or unclear. On rare occasions, though, some justices push the limits of old-school modifier rules to follow conversational conventions over timeworn grammar guidelines. Trouble can arise when readers need to interpret what a modifying phrase in a sentence actually modifies. And three recent cases have turned on that precise question. Only one resulted in a unanimous judgment, and even then, Justice Alito concurred to warn that “rigid” and “arcane” grammar rules “can lead us astray.” In another case, Justice Gorsuch argued that a “clause that leaps over its nearest referent to modify every other term would defy grammatical gravity and common sense alike.”