Er der brug for sprog?

Unlike many other crimes involving wealth transfers, such as theft or fraud, there is no consensus on the morality of antitrust offenses. Some opine that antitrust offenses are: (i) immoral, (ii) amoral (being mala prohibitum rather than mala in se), or (iii) moral and consistent with natural human behavior so it is the federal antitrust laws that are immoral. But these differing viewpoints have not sparked any debate over the morality of antitrust violations. Under the continued influence of the Chicago-school’s neoclassical economic theories, antitrust analysis is primarily concerned with economic efficiency. Since terms like “morality” and “evil” are judgmental, not descriptive, they are deemed outside the discourse of economic theory’s self-described positivism. Reducing antitrust to normative morality judgments would represent, for Richard Posner and others, antitrust’s descent into “a weak field, a field in disarray, a field in which consensus is impossible to achieve in our society.” But antitrust analysis is not beyond the judgmental. One may question the need to address these moral issues. But over the past thirty years, while antitrust’s civil remedies have remained relatively unchanged, the criminal penalties for price fixing, bid rigging, and other Sherman Act antitrust violations have soared–from a misdemeanor to a felony punishable by up to ten years imprisonment. If the criminal laws reflect society’s moral judgments, then antitrust and morality ultimately are intertwined. Even if a utilitarian sought to divorce morality from antitrust, in asserting that antitrust’s criminal penalties have increased to ensure optimal deterrence, morality resurfaces in addressing the means of deterring such behavior and the degree to which criminal sanctions are employed. Inevitably moral issues will surface as the Sherman Act’s criminal penalties continue to escalate. A broader implication is that antitrust policy, to borrow Robert Bork’s phrase, may be at war with itself. If policy makers assume that the federal antitrust laws are concerned solely with allocative efficiency and are essentially amoral, then efforts to deter such conduct through criminal sanctions may be self-defeating. Criminal law, as many legal scholars have argued, reveals society’s moral opprobrium to certain conduct. That moral component (through internalizing the standard of conduct and the attendant guilt or fear of shame) can be effective in deterring socially unacceptable conduct. But to harness that moral component, antitrust policy makers should re-examine certain policies underlying antitrust law. To date, antitrust policymakers, enforcers, and scholars have largely encamped in utilitarianism and the economic theory of optimal deterrence, whereby general deterrence is achieved through the right mixture of financial penalty and incarceration to offset the profit-maximizer’s expected cartel gains. But it is unclear whether that alone will effectively deter cartel behavior. Instead, fostering a moral component to antitrust crimes may more effectively deter these violations at a lower social cost, encourage other nations to increase their prosecution of cartel behavior, and prevent antitrust from slipping into irrelevancy.

»Når bønderne har penge, har alle penge«, sagde man for mange år siden. Da var landbruget Danmarks hovederhverv. I løbet af 1950’erne overhalede industrien landbruget som vort største eksporterhverv, og så sagde vi: »Man kan ikke leve af at klippe hinanden«. Men også det er ved at være længe side. Nu lever vi faktisk af handel og service; det er under 15 procent af den danske arbejdsstyrke, der er beskæftiget i landbrug og industri. Det er altså meget længe siden, at landbrug, skovbrug og fiskeri var de erhverv, danskerne levede af. Det er der mange, der ikke rigtigt har opdaget. Axelborg og Dansk Industri er stadigt vore mest magtfulde erhvervsorganisationer, men de har jo også pustet sig op ved at medtage store områder uden for deres oprindelige interesseområde, »fødevareklyngen« og de store servicevirksomheder.

Reward self-reporting to deter corruption: An experiment on mitigating collusive bribery

'!he United states has been plagued with the problem of illicit dnlg use for many years. Dl'.ug abuse has continued to increase and is prevalent am:mg all races and social classes of people. '!he question is what efforts have been or are being made in order to deter the influx of dnlgs into the country along with stopping the suppliers of these dnlgs and what has hindered the effectiveness of these efforts. '!he theory of deterrence was applied to this problem because the :rra:iel prest.nneS that the punishment of criminal acts could deter potential offerrlers by making the negative consequences of crime greater than the rewards. '!he theory also assumes that people act, behave, or respond only after careful and rational consideration of the consequences of their actions. '!he Dl'.ug Enforcement Administration provided the data for the research. Statistics revealed that during the years 1975 through 1986, the arrests of dnlg offerrlers steadily increased. '!he Thlta showed increased efforts in arrests; however, inconsistency was shown when it came to the conviction of the offerrler. Prison sentences were imposed in many cases, but showed no i.rrpact on deterring the dnlg offender. It was detenni.I}ed that if punishment was certain the deterrent effect should work.

Plant trichomes constitute a first line of defence against insect herbivores. The pre- and post-ingestive defensive functions of glandular trichomes are well documented and include direct toxicity, adhesion, antinutrition and defence gene induction. By contrast, the defensive functions of non-glandular trichomes are less well characterized, although these structures are thought to serve as physical barriers that impede herbivore feeding and movement. We experimentally varied the density of stellate non-glandular trichomes in several ways to explore their pre- and post-ingestive effects on herbivores. Larvae of Manduca sexta (Sphingidae) initiated feeding faster and gained more weight on Solanum carolinense (Solanaceae) leaves having lower trichome densities (or experimentally removed trichomes) than on leaves having higher trichome densities. Adding trichomes to artificial diet also deterred feeding and adversely affected caterpillar growth relative to controls. Scanning electron and light microscopy revealed that the ingestion of stellate trichomes by M. sexta caterpillars caused extensive damage to the peritrophic membrane, a gut lining that is essential to digestion and pathogen isolation. These findings suggest that, in addition to acting as a physical barrier to deter feeding, trichomes can inhibit caterpillar growth and development via post-ingestive effects.

The European Commission has launched the so-called “milk package” in October 2012 that allows Member States to require compulsory written contracts between milk producers and investor-owned processors. We argue that compulsory contracts have anticompetitive effects when they are exclusive in the sense that they comprise the obligation to supply to the contractor only. The objective of this paper is to set up a game theoretic model to analyze imperfect competition on the raw milk market that may result from entry deterring effects of exclusive contracts between dairy producers and processors. Building on the antitrust literature, the model incorporates the specific characteristics of the milk market and considers the risk attitude of milk producers and uncertainty of a rival dairy’s market entry. Under certain combinations of probability of the rival’s market entry and risk aversion of the producer, an incumbent can deter market entry by offering an exclusive contract.

This paper tests the influence of aid from rich to developing economies on bilateral asylum inflows. Results show that aid effects on asylum applications are significant, but vary with the level of development of the recipient country. Aid to poor economies – especially in Sub-Saharan Africa – deters asylum inflows, while aid to medium-income developing countries attracts asylum seekers. Aid leads to negative spillovers on applications across donors. At the same time, foreign aid has no incidence on voluntary immigration. Overall, the deterring effects of aid on inflows from poor countries are stronger when transfers are coordinated across donors and are made conditional on economic and institutional improvements in the recipient economy.

The effectiveness of an acoustic barrier to deter the movement of silver carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, and bighead carp, H. noblis, was evaluated. A pond (10 m, x 5 m x 1.2 m) was divided in half by a concrete-block barrier with a channel (1 m across) allowing fish access to each side. Underwater speakers were placed on each side of the barrier opening and an outboard motor noise (broadband sound; 0.06 10 kHz) was broadcast to repel carp that approached within 1 m of the channel. Broadband sound was effective at reducing the number of successful crossings in schools of silver carp, bighead carp and a combined school. Repulsion rates were 82.5% (silver carp), 93.7% (bighead carp) and 90.5% (combined). This study demonstrates that broadband sound is effective in deterring carp and could be used as a barrier in an integrated pest management system.

This paper studies price-matching guarantees in a market where entrant does not have perfect information about incumbent’s cost. The low-cost incumbent can adopt price-matching guarantees as a signal to distinguish itself from the high-cost type and thus effectively deter entry. On the other hand, the high-cost incumbent can successfully fool the potential entrant under certain conditions. Compared with the equilibriums in situations where the option of offering a price guarantee is not available, the use of this instrument either makes it easier for the low-cost incumbent to signal its cost, or expands the range of parameters over which the high-cost incumbent is able to deter entry successfully.

This thesis deals with the treatment of Vietnamese asylum seekers in Hong Kong after 16 June 1988, when the colony unilaterally introduced a policy of screening new arrivals for refugee status. It argues that the vast majority of Vietnamese asylum seekers who arrived in Hong Kong after this date were treated unfairly and inhumanely during their detention in purpose-built centres. It shows they were deprived of a fair hearing of their refugee status because the screening process was flawed, and then were forcibly repatriated to Vietnam in contravention of the internationally accepted norm of non-refoulement. This thesis argues that the Hong Kong government condoned widespread corruption and hardship in the detention centres of Hong Kong in an effort to speed up the removal of those Vietnamese boat people who had reached its shores and to deter more from leaving Vietnam. Further, this thesis argues that the UNHCR, the Hong Kong government and the international community failed to adequately protect the human rights of this group of Vietnamese boat people because of the adoption of flawed processes to assess their refugee status, and detain and repatriate the asylum seekers. The thesis argues that the concern of the Hong Kong government to remove the boat people from its shores and deter more from coming was politically motivated and outweighed official UNHCR policy, international law and accepted thinking on refugees. At the same time, even though the UNHCR was mandated by the international community to protect the asylum seekers, it failed to serve as a protection agency for Vietnamese asylum seekers. The thesis argues that the UNHCR’s financial dependency on nation states, such as the United Kingdom and its colony Hong Kong, compromised the protection role of the refugee agency. The thesis also identifies the failings of the international governance system for human rights in Asia, and specifically highlights the absence of a regional Human Rights Commission and the consequent lack of enforcement of human rights treaties in the region. This thesis analyses an important and largely unscrutinized episode in refugee history. The reason it is important lies in the number of procedural precedents and human rights violations that occurred, resulting in tragic consequences for this group of individuals. This situation could have been avoided or handled in a more appropriate way that was in the best interests of the asylum seekers.

Headline TURKEY: Tightened security will not deter terrorists

Shading greenhouse may be an effective method to achieve a suitable environment for crop growth and to enhance crop yield and quality in places or seasons where there is high light intensity. Therefore, solar radiation levels may modify the biomass accumulation and bromatological composition. Different solar radiation levels (100%, 70% and 50% of available solar radiation) were simulated in order to determine crop responses to these factors in chicory ( Cichorium intybus L. var. foliosum ). A hydroponic experiment was conducted in an experimental greenhouse in the city of Frederico Westphalen, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Plants grown in lower solar radiation levels are more efficient in converting solar radiation into dry matter, had a higher lipid content, increased chlorophyll indices a , b and total, as well as reduced leaf thickness, acid deter- gent fiber, cellulose, and lignin content, presenting more attractive bromato- logical features for commercial production. In this study it was demonstrated that the use of shading screens is an effective method to attenuate the solar radiation, this is especially relevant in places or seasons where there is high light intensity, which contribute to achieve better characteristics of the chicory produced.

Headline HONG KONG: Convictions will not deter activists

Nano-textured interfaces between two media of different refractive indices scatter light. The angular distribution and the intensity of the scattered light are deter- mined by the geometry of the nano-textures and the difference of the refractive indices of the two media. Thin-film silicon solar cells (TFSSC), which convert sunlight directly into electricity, have nano-textured interfaces. These interfaces scatter the light incident on the solar cell. The scattering leads to a longer average path length of the photons in the absorber layer of the solar cell. Therefore more light can be absorbed and thus converted to electricity. To introduce nano-textured interfaces into the solar cells, usually transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers are used. Some TCO materials obtain nano-textured surfaces during the production process, while others are made rough by post processing, e.g. by etching. Nano-textures have been successfully implemented in TFSSC for almost 30 years by academia and industry; however, theoretical investigations on the relation between the nano-textures and the scattered electromagnetic fields have only been performed for about ten years. It is very important to investigate how the nano-textures can be optimized for scattering. In this thesis a scattering model is developed to tackle this important problem. The scattering model is based on the scalar scattering theory, i.e. it neglects the vector- character of the electromagnetic field and thus the light. Despite this strong assumption we have demonstrated that the model is suitable for simulating descriptive parameters of the scattered field in both reflection and transmission. The model is based on the fact that the transmitted field behind the nano-texture and the scattered field are related via Fourier transforms. By making simple assumptions for the transmitted field the model can be implemented using Fast Fourier trans- form algorithms, i.e. the model is very fast. The scattering model is formulated such that in principle it works for rough interfaces between arbitrary materials. We successfully evaluated it for several of these interfaces. We further showed that the model is also able to produce first predictions for the scattering parameters at oblique incidence. However, in this case the deviations between measured and simulated values are larger. Combining the scattering model with the ASA opto-electrical device simulator allows predicting how the nano-textures affect the performance of solar-cells. This combination can also be used to perform the major motivation for the development of scattering models: To investigate how the morphology of the nano- textures can be optimised. For this optimisation we use the “simulated annealing” optimisation algorithm. The optimisation and a subsequent evaluation reveal that the lateral feature size of the nano-textures is crucial for scattering into large angles: The smaller the lateral feature size, the more light is scattered into large angles. If, however, the lateral feature size becomes too small, less light is scattered since the nano texture then appears as effective medium. The vertical feature size hardly influences the shape of the scattered field. Nonetheless, it determines the fraction of the total light that is scattered away from the specular direction. If the rms-roughness, a measure for the vertical modulation of the texture, is kept constant, a nano- texture with the optimal lateral feature size is preferable to a texture that consists of a superposition of textures with different lateral feature sizes. However, due to the effect of the nano-textures on the electrical properties of the solar cells, a superposition of a texture consisting of large lateral and vertical features with another texture with small lateral and vertical features is preferable to a texture consisting of small lateral but large vertical features, i.e. sharp spikes. The results of our work give the direction to push absorption in solar cells towards the theoretical limits.

Headline SYRIA: Sanctions and insecurity will deter investors