Assessing the efficacy of structural merger remedies:choosing between theories of harm?

Previous empirical assessments of the effectiveness of structural merger remedies have focused mainly on the subsequent viability of the divested assets. Here, we take a different approach by examining how competitive are the market structures which result from the divestments. We employ a tightly specified sample of markets in which the European Commission (EC) has imposed structural merger remedies. It has two key features: (i) it includes all mergers in which the EC appears to have seriously considered, simultaneously, the possibility of collective dominance, as well as single dominance; (ii) in a previous paper, for the same sample, we estimated a model which proved very successful in predicting the Commission’s merger decisions, in terms of the market shares of the leading firms. The former allows us to explore the choices between alternative theories of harm, and the latter provides a yardstick for evaluating whether markets are competitive or not – at least in the eyes of the Commission. Running the hypothetical post-remedy market shares through the model, we can predict whether the EC would have judged the markets concerned to be competitive, had they been the result of a merger rather than a remedy. We find that a significant proportion were not competitive in this sense. One explanation is that the EC has simply been inconsistent – using different criteria for assessing remedies from those for assessing the mergers in the first place. However, a more sympathetic – and in our opinion, more likely – explanation is that the Commission is severely constrained by the pre-merger market structures in many markets. We show that, typically, divestment remedies return the market to the same structure as existed before the proposed merger. Indeed, one can argue that any competition authority should never do more than this. Crucially, however, we find that this pre-merger structure is often itself not competitive. We also observe an analogous picture in a number of markets where the Commission chose not to intervene: while the post-merger structure was not competitive, nor was the pre-merger structure. In those cases, however, the Commission preferred the former to the latter. In effect, in both scenarios, the EC was faced with a no-win decision. This immediately raises a follow-up question: why did the EC intervene for some, but not for others – given that in all these cases, some sort of anticompetitive structure would prevail? We show that, in this sample at least, the answer is often tied to the prospective rank of the merged firm post-merger. In particular, in those markets where the merged firm would not be the largest post-merger, we find a reluctance to intervene even where the resulting market structure is likely to be conducive to collective dominance. We explain this by a willingness to tolerate an outcome which may be conducive to tacit collusion if the alternative is the possibility of an enhanced position of single dominance by the market leader. Finally, because the sample is confined to cases brought under the ‘old’ EC Merger Regulation, we go on to consider how, if at all, these conclusions require qualification following the 2004 revisions, which, amongst other things, made interventions for non-coordinated behaviour possible without requiring that the merged firm be a dominant market leader. Our main conclusions here are that the Commission appears to have been less inclined to intervene in general, but particularly for Collective Dominance (or ‘coordinated effects’ as it is now known in Europe as well as the US.) Moreover, perhaps contrary to expectation, where the merged firm is #2, the Commission has to date rarely made a unilateral effects decision and never made a coordinated effects decision.

Tacit collusion, firm asymmetries and numbers:evidence from EC merger cases

The purpose of this paper is to identify empirically the implicit structural model, especially the roles of size asymmetries and concentration, used by the European Commission to identify mergers with coordinated effects (i.e. collective dominance). Apart from its obvious policy-relevance, the paper is designed to shed empirical light on the conditions under which tacit collusion is most likely. We construct a database relating to 62 candidate mergers and find that, in the eyes of the Commission, tacit collusion in this context virtually never involves more than two firms and requires close symmetry in the market shares of the two firms.

Organisational learning, climate change and the tragedy of the commons in China

This paper ends with a brief discussion of climate change and suggests that a practical solution would be to transfer much of the current air, sea and long-haul trucking of intercontinental freight between China and Europe (and the USA) to maglev systems. First we review the potential of Asian knowledge management and organisational learning and contrast this against Western precepts finding that there seems to be little incentive to 'look after one's fellows' in China (and perhaps across Asia) outside of tight personal guanxi networks. This is likely to be the case in the intense production regions of China where little time is allowed for 'organisational learning' by the staff and there is little incentive to initiate 'knowledge management' by senior managers. Thus the 'tragedy of the commons' will be enacted by individuals, township, and provincial leaders upwards to top ministers - no one will care for the climate or pollution, only for their own group and their wealth creation prospects. Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Incidentally Raised Cardiac Troponin I Has a Worse Prognosis in Older Patients Compared to Those with Normal Cardiac Troponin I and Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome : A Cohort Study

Acknowledgement J.H.B.-S. was supported by the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) Research and Development (R&D) research capability funds between July 2013 and December 2014.

Embodied Prayer: the practice of prayer as Christian theology

This dissertation attempts to retrieve the integration of prayer and theology in the life of the church. Prayer is a spiritual and bodily theological activity that forms Christian identity and virtuous character. The bodily dimension of Christian prayer plays an essential role in theological understanding and moral formation. However, the embodiment of prayer has been mostly neglected in modern academic theology. This study highlights the significance of the body at prayer in theological studies and spiritual formation.

Chapter 1 presents Karl Barth’s theology of prayer as a model of the integration of prayer, theology, and Christian life (lex orandi, lex credendi, lex agendi). However, Barth’s attempt to overcome the dichotomy between theory and practice in theology did not pay much attention to embodiment of prayer. Through ritual studies and phenomenology (Marcel Mauss, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Pierre Bourdieu), chapter 2 shows why the bodily dimension of the practice of prayer should be recovered in theology and ministry; then it explains how Christians in the early and medieval church actually prayed with the body, how their bodily actions were understood in their theological paradigms, and how their actions contributed to the formation of Christian character. Chapter 3 narrows the focus to the formation of the heart in the making of Christian character. The practice of prayer has been emphasized not only as an expression of the inner heart of pray-ers but also as a channel of grace that shapes their affections as enduring dispositions of the heart. Furthermore, historically the bodily practice of prayer gave theological authority to the devout Christians who were marginalized in academic theology or ecclesiastical hierarchy, and Chapter 4 presents the lex orandi of praying women who gained their theological knowledge, wisdom, and authority through their exemplary practices of prayer (Catherine of Siena, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, and Teresa of Avila). These historical examples reveal how Christian communities appreciated and celebrated the theological voices from the margins, which developed from theological embodiments in prayer.

This dissertation concludes that academic theology needs to heed these diverse theological voices, which are nurtured through everyday practice, as an integral part of theological studies. Therefore, it calls for a new paradigm for understanding the relationship between theory and practice in theological education. The integration between theory and bodily practice is necessary for both academic theology and spiritual formation. A more holistic understanding of Christian practices will not only enhance the training of scholars and clergy but also give the laity their own theological voices that will enrich academic theology.

Reproducción campesina y conocimiento local en contextos de fragilidad social y ambiental : Estrategias familiares y comunitarias en la cordillera del Tentzo, México

El artículo presenta resultados de investigación realizada en la localidad de San Antonio Juárez, municipio de Tzicatlacoyan, en el estado de Puebla, México. El objetivo fue conocer las estrategias de reproducción de los grupos domésticos campesinos, asentados en entornos ambientales adversos, que presentan restricciones severas para el desarrollo de la agricultura. A partir de técnicas cualitativas y cuantitativas, se pudo constatar la presencia de estrategias de reproducción distinta, a nivel de barrio, basada en el conocimiento local, la división genérica del trabajo y la organización a nivel de grupo doméstico y comunidad.

Reproducción campesina y conocimiento local en contextos de fragilidad social y ambiental : Estrategias familiares y comunitarias en la cordillera del Tentzo, México

El artículo presenta resultados de investigación realizada en la localidad de San Antonio Juárez, municipio de Tzicatlacoyan, en el estado de Puebla, México. El objetivo fue conocer las estrategias de reproducción de los grupos domésticos campesinos, asentados en entornos ambientales adversos, que presentan restricciones severas para el desarrollo de la agricultura. A partir de técnicas cualitativas y cuantitativas, se pudo constatar la presencia de estrategias de reproducción distinta, a nivel de barrio, basada en el conocimiento local, la división genérica del trabajo y la organización a nivel de grupo doméstico y comunidad.

Reproducción campesina y conocimiento local en contextos de fragilidad social y ambiental : Estrategias familiares y comunitarias en la cordillera del Tentzo, México

El artículo presenta resultados de investigación realizada en la localidad de San Antonio Juárez, municipio de Tzicatlacoyan, en el estado de Puebla, México. El objetivo fue conocer las estrategias de reproducción de los grupos domésticos campesinos, asentados en entornos ambientales adversos, que presentan restricciones severas para el desarrollo de la agricultura. A partir de técnicas cualitativas y cuantitativas, se pudo constatar la presencia de estrategias de reproducción distinta, a nivel de barrio, basada en el conocimiento local, la división genérica del trabajo y la organización a nivel de grupo doméstico y comunidad.

Education at last! Taiwanese grandmothers "go to school"

Language socialization is a life-long process in which individuals are continuously socialized into new roles, statuses, and practices. This process becomes more complex in multilingual contexts. However, we know little of the language socialization of older adults and we know even less of minority-speaking elders' experiences of linguistic marginalization in contemporary communicative milieus. In this ethnographic and discourse-analytic study, I examine the language socialization of non-Mandarin-speaking elderly Taiwanese women in senior adult education programs in a rural township in Taiwan. Through examining autobiographical narratives, master narratives about elders, and classroom discourses, this study explores the historical construction of their sociolinguistic marginalization and their negotiation and resistance of such marginalization. The majority of the elderly women were denied education when they were young. Some received Japanese education during the Japanese colonization period. While the uneducated and illiterate elders have a strong aspiration for learning, they are dismissed as "unable to learn" by their teachers, peer students, and community leaders. By contrast, the Japanese literate exhibit a strong learning identity associated with colonial modernity. These two groups, however, have to contend with the social stereotype associated with their non-Mandarin speaking status. Under a Mandarin-only ideology that links Mandarin with modernity, discourses that have actively mobilized the category of “illiterate” to reference the older population are part and parcel of Taiwan’s modern identity. By demonstrating how these women are treated, in official discourses and in classroom interactions, as children for their lack of Mandarin abilities, I argue that the literacy education that set out to “compensate” these women for their earlier lack of educational opportunity has paradoxically reinforced their marginalization. Further, in recent years, they have become even more marginalized as the government has prioritized the education of recent young female marriage immigrants from Southeast Asia, who are considered in charge of educating the “future sons and daughters of Taiwan.” This research demonstrates how language socialization is a contested and life-long process and calls attention to the effects of language ideologies on literacy and language education. The findings have policy implications for improving literacy and language education both within Taiwan and elsewhere in the world.

Aplicación Web para la Comercialización y Administración de la Asociación Cooperativa de Producción Pesquera y Servicios Múltiples “Bocana Lempa - Jaltepec de R.L”, en el Cantón Las Mesas del Municipio de Tecoluca del Departamento de San Vicente.

El trabajo de graduación describe el desarrollo de una Aplicación web desarrollada para la Asociación cooperativa de producción pesquera y servicios múltiples “Bocana Lempa - Jaltepec de R.L”, en el Cantón las Mesas del municipio de Tecoluca del departamento de San Vicente, con dicha aplicación se automatizaron los procesos de las áreas de comercialización y administración de la cooperativa, los cuales son, Activo fijo, Recursos Humanos, Facturación, Inventario y el desarrollo de una página web a la que accesan los clientes para la realización de pedidos. Con el desarrollo de dicha aplicación se ha obtenido una mayor agilización en los procesos, los cuales conllevan a adquirir mayores logros entre los cuales podemos mencionar: información detallada de los movimientos de inventario, presentación de informes, mejoras en el control de activo fijo, salarios, vacaciones, permisos de los empleados, registro de pedidos realizados desde la página web, impresión de facturas y la reducción del tiempo en el desarrollo de los procesos. SUMMARY The graduation work describes the development of a web application developed for the cooperative association of fish production and multiple services "Bocana Lempa - Jaltepec RL" in the Canton Tables Township Tecoluca the department of San Vicente, with such application they automated processes as the marketing and administration of the cooperative, which are, fixed Assets, Human Resources, Billing, Inventory and development of a website that access to customers for ordering. With the development of this application has gained greater streamlining processes, which lead to acquire greater achievements among which include: detailed information on inventory movements, reporting, improved control of fixed assets, wages holidays, permits employees record orders made from the website, print invoices and time reduction in development processes. Keywords : Online ordering , fixed assets, payroll employees , billing, control fishing. The graduation work describes the development of a web application developed for the cooperative association of fish production and multiple services "Bocana Lempa - Jaltepec RL" in the Canton Tables Township Tecoluca the department of San Vicente, with such application they automated processes as the marketing and administration of the cooperative, which are, fixed Assets, Human Resources, Billing, Inventory and development of a website that access to customers for ordering. With the development of this application has gained greater streamlining processes, which lead to acquire greater achievements among which include: detailed information on inventory movements, reporting, improved control of fixed assets, wages holidays, permits employees record orders made from the website, print invoices and time reduction in development processes.

Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in type II diabetic patients in a health facility in Karachi, Pakistan

Purpose: To study the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in known diabetic patients attending the diabetes outpatient department (OPD) of Sind Government Hospital (SGH), New Karachi Township (NKT), Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out at the diabetic OPD of SGH, NKT over the period of 17 months from March 2013 to August 2014. The selected patients were interviewed based on a questionnaire; laboratory investigations were performed and examination of the eye was conducted by a specialist ophthalmologist. One hundred and fifty four (154) subjects out of 305 patients contacted fully completed the study. Stratification of the data on gender basis was done, after which one-way ANOVA, χ2 test of correlation, binary logistic regression and relative risk analyses were carried out using SPSS-20. Results: It was found that 66 % men of normal weight (χ2 = 4.667, p < 0.05) and 60.7 % overweight women (χ2 = 5.143, p < 0.05) were more likely to present with diabetic retinopathy (DR). Prevalence of DR in this target population was 42.86 % (N = 66). Background DR (56 %) and maculopathy (23 %) were more prevalent than advanced conditions of the disease. There was no gender-based preponderance for the presentation of DR (χ2 = 0.663; p > 0.05), nor was this seen in different ethnic groups. Conclusion: DR is prevalent in the target population and, therefore, emphasis should be on the education of the local population of New Karachi Township on how to attain euglycemic state with regular medication, diet and exercise to avoid development and progress of DR.

The church bells of Norfolk : where, when, and by whom they were made, with the inscriptions on all the bells in the county /

Mode of access: Internet.

A pigeonpea gene confers resistance to Asian soybean rust in soybean.

Asian soybean rust (ASR), caused by the fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi, is one of the most economically important crop diseases, but is only treatable with fungicides, which are becoming less effective owing to the emergence of fungicide resistance. There are no commercial soybean cultivars with durable resistance to P. pachyrhizi, and although soybean resistance loci have been mapped, no resistance genes have been cloned. We report the cloning of a P. pachyrhizi resistance gene CcRpp1 (Cajanus cajan Resistance against Phakopsora pachyrhizi 1) from pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) and show that CcRpp1 confers full resistance to P. pachyrhizi in soybean. Our findings show that legume species related to soybean such as pigeonpea, cowpea, common bean and others could provide a valuable and diverse pool of resistance traits for crop improvement.

Intereses económicos y políticos versus identidad cultural del corregimiento de Belén de Bajirá

En Colombia, el ordenamiento territorial debe ser una política de estado, un instrumento estratégico para el desarrollo del país que debe tener una visión de largo plazo y debe tener como objetivos la sostenibilidad de recursos naturales, la preservación de la biodiversidad y reconocimiento de servicios eco sistémicos, la equidad en el acceso a los servicios e infraestructura, la preservación del patrimonio étnico y cultural además de incentivar la competitividad con perspectiva de responsabilidad territorial. Es precisamente en la zona de Urabá, entre el límite entre Chocó y Antioquia donde existe un corregimiento llamado Belén de Bajirá, el cual se encuentra en un conflicto territorial hace 16 años. Los dos departamentos se disputan la posesión de este corregimiento que tiene un censo de 16 mil habitantes, un inspector de policía, rector de colegio, recaudador de impuestos que no se pueden cobrar, asimilando un gobierno paralelo; este trabajo de grado busca explicar o dilucidar las causas por las cuales esta diferencia limítrofe ocurrió y dar posibles soluciones.