Ayush Pandhi, Bryan M. Gaensler, Ziggy Pleunis
et al.
We present 2-4 GHz observations of polarized radio galaxies towards eight fast radio bursts (FRBs), producing grids of Faraday rotation measure (RM) sources with sky densities of 9-28 polarized sources per square degree. Using a Bayesian interpolation framework, we constrain Galactic RM fluctuations below ~ 1 degree squared angular scales around the FRB positions. Despite the positions of all eight FRBs far from the Galactic plane, we constrain previously unresolved small-scale Galactic RM structures around six of the eight FRBs. In two of these fields, we find potential changes in the sign of the Galactic RM that are not captured by previous, sparsely sampled RM grid observations. Our Galactic RM estimate towards the FRBs differs between a few rad m^-2 up to ~ 40 rad m^-2 from the all-sky Galactic RM map of Hutschenreuter et al. (2022). Extrapolating our results to the known population of polarized FRB sources, we may be incorrectly interpreting the host galaxy RM for ~ 30% of the FRB source population with current RM grid observations. Measuring small-scale Galactic RM variations is crucial for identifying FRBs in low density and weakly magnetized environments, which in turn could serve as potent probes of cosmic magnetism. This framework of reconstructing continuous Galactic RM structure from RM grid observations can be readily applied to FRBs that fall in the sky coverage of upcoming large-sky radio polarization surveys of radio galaxies, such as the Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS) and the Polarization Sky Survey of the Universe's Magnetism (POSSUM).
As AI becomes more "agentic," it faces technical and socio-legal issues it must address if it is to fulfill its promise of increased economic productivity and efficiency. This paper uses technical and legal perspectives to explain how things change when AI systems start being able to directly execute tasks on behalf of a user. We show how technical conceptions of agents track some, but not all, socio-legal conceptions of agency. That is, both computer science and the law recognize the problems of under-specification for an agent, and both disciplines have robust conceptions of how to address ensuring an agent does what the programmer, or in the law, the principal desires and no more. However, to date, computer science has under-theorized issues related to questions of loyalty and to third parties that interact with an agent, both of which are central parts of the law of agency. First, we examine the correlations between implied authority in agency law and the principle of value-alignment in AI, wherein AI systems must operate under imperfect objective specification. Second, we reveal gaps in the current computer science view of agents pertaining to the legal concepts of disclosure and loyalty, and how failure to account for them can result in unintended effects in AI ecommerce agents. In surfacing these gaps, we show a path forward for responsible AI agent development and deployment.
Emmanuel A. Onwioduokit, Godwin E. Bassey, Ubong Edem Effiong
This study investigates the impact of commercial bank credit on the performance of the agricultural, industrial, and commercial sectors of the Nigerian economy from 1991 to 2023. The analysis employed the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) method and standardized regression analysis to evaluate the relationships. The FMOLS results reveal that in the agricultural sector, commercial bank credit exhibited a positive but statistically insignificant effect on sectoral performance, while the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund and agricultural employment had positive and statistically significant impacts. In the industrial sector, commercial bank credit demonstrated positive and significant effects on sectoral performance. Similarly, in the commercial sector, credit supply exerted positive and significant impacts, whereas the interest rate had a negative and significant effect on performance. The standardized regression analysis further highlighted that credit to the industrial sector had the greatest relative impact on Nigeria’s economic growth. Based on these findings, the study recommends prioritizing credit allocation to the industrial sector to enhance its contribution to the overall growth and development of the Nigerian economy.
Political institutions and public administration (General), Public law
This paper investigates the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in fostering economic growth within the ASEAN region, which is a dynamic area known for its fast-paced economic development in recent decades. The study's objective is to analyze the FDI situation in ASEAN and how it is distributed among key sectors such as manufacturing, finance, and trade, as well as to assess the challenges and opportunities that the region faces in attracting foreign capital. The study explores how ASEAN's policies, such as trade liberalization, agreements, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and other initiatives, have successfully positioned the region as a prime destination for FDI. The findings indicate that FDI has significantly contributed to economic growth, job creation, and technological advancement, though benefits remain unevenly distributed among the member states. The paper also highlights the growing importance of sustainable and high-tech investments, emphasizing that future economic progress will require addressing infrastructure gaps, enhancing human capital, and strengthening regulatory frameworks. The findings suggest that, while FDI remains a crucial driver of growth, ASEAN must focus on promoting inclusivity and sustainability in its investment strategies to maintain its competitive edge in the global market.
South Asia. Southeast Asia. East Asia, Bibliography. Library science. Information resources
The aim of the contribution is to focus on the conflicts arising between climate-related renewable energy goals vis-a-vis environmental protection interests. To this effect, the analysis will firstly investigate the origin of such types of conflicts, which may also be named intra-environmental conflicts, and define their main characteristics; secondly, the regulatory choices made by the RED II and the RED III Directives to manage these conflicts will be presented and compared, with a particular focus on the three key features of the recently approved RED III Directive; thirdly, an alternative approach to address such types of conflicts will be proposed. This is based on the principle of integration, to be interpreted with an ecological sustainability reading of the principle of sustainable development.
(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2024 9(2), 695-713 | Article | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. – II. How the EU and its Member States worked together. – III. Lessons from Opinion 2/13. – IV. State of play. – V. Conclusion. | (Abstract) This Article discusses three aspects of the negotiations on EU accession to the ECHR that took place between 2020 and 2023. First, it describes the way in which the EU and its Member States worked together during the negotiations. Second, it discusses Opinion 2/13 and argues that it reflects the Court of Justice’s profound attachment to the EU’s own constitutional space as a precondition for “the process of integration that is the raison d’être of the EU itself”. Third, it provides a short overview of the amendments to the accession instruments. It concludes that the negotiations were an exercise in collective problem solving and an essential step forward on the road towards EU accession to the Convention.
In recent years, the Energy Charter Treaty has come under immense scrutiny and criticism for allegedly protecting the fossil fuel industry and undercutting sovereignty. As a key stakeholder in the modernisation process, the EU has been determined to reform the investment protection standards and the investor–state dispute settlement mechanism to include new provisions on sustainable development and climate change. However, after three years of protracted negotiations, the proposed reform of the Energy Charter Treaty needs to appropriately address the escalating global challenges regarding climate action and sustainable development. With member states such as Poland, Spain and the Netherlands announcing their intention to withdraw, the future of the Charter is hanging in the balance. This article focuses on the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty and whether the reformed Charter is fit for purpose, from an EU perspective, to address the impacts of climate change. In the absence of meeting core EU objectives and alignment with the Paris Agreement, this article questions whether the EU can deviate from the only multilateral framework in the energy sector to address the EU’s climate policy goals. The extent to which the Charter is capable of a new lease of life, moving from the ashes of the Cold War as an instrument facilitating investment protection to a green treaty promoting sustainable development and climate change, remains to be seen.
Law of Europe, Comparative law. International uniform law
Предочени рад настао је као резултат ауторовог личног увјерења онеопходности законодавног регулисања института еутаназије, у смислубезрезервног поштовања основних људских права. С тим у вези, у даљем тексту бавимо се аргументацијом која поткрепљује заузети став, дилемом о (не)постојању права на смрт као пандан праву на живот,питањем релевантности квалитета живота у контексту еутаназије, тепојмовном објашњењу, ријетко помињаног института „пацијентов тестамент“ као нужно, пратећег сегмента легализације еутаназије. Аутор прави и кратак пресјек тренутног стања регулације „права на достојанствену смрт“ у Грађанском законику Републике Србије, који је још увијек у фази преднацрта.
Law in general. Comparative and uniform law. Jurisprudence, Law of Europe
Esaminando un caso indiano di habeas corpus del 1828, il saggio si focalizza sulle forme di manifestazione della sovranità in India britannica nel primo Ottocento e sul rapporto tra rule of law e costituzione coloniale, caratterizzato dalla continua ricerca in colonia di spazi politici eccezionali. Il caso, che vide contrapporsi i giudici coloniali al governo della East India Company rispetto all’operatività delle tradizionali garanzie di common law in favore dei sudditi indiani, contribuisce a mostrare il diverso grado di interesse da parte delle autorità coloniali relativamente al controllo della società locale e dei colonizzati.
The act of discrimination is a decision that affects the rights of third parties. Undoubtedly, its exercise and materialisation are disastrous. However, would it be possible to discriminate against a person without facing legal consequences? This work opens a space to explain that there are situations in which discrimination is carried out and validated, in which it is justified its usefulness to preserve a titled property considered as a fundamental right or safeguarding public order as a fundamental structure of the teleology of the state.
Even though public authorities, in particular the Government and the municipalities, may disturb effective competition by their exercise of public powers, the competition law does not apply to them, but for the specific and limited circumstances when it can be used in connection with other Treaty provisions. This article first explores the limits of applicability of EU competition law on public authorities; it concludes that even though EU competition law as such does not provide protection against conduct of public authorities distorting competition, its scope should not be expanded. The aim of competition law is to limit market power, not official authority. Instead, after discussing the legislation of selected countries from Central Europe, it is put forward that specific domestic legislation, applied by competition authorities, may provide an effective remedy to this problem. As comparative research of these issues has been rather limited so far, further elaboration of this topic is also suggested.
Political institutions and public administration (General), Public law
(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2021 6(2), 1193-1228 | Article | (Table of Contents) I. Preliminary remarks. - II. The increasing attractiveness of cartels in the age of big data analytics. - III. Collusion between rational algorithms: the relation between market transparency and artificial intelligence in a world of big data. - IV. Existing vs created market conditions: tacit collusion or algorithmic concerted practices? - V. The limited role played by intent and imputability in the antitrust realm: the case of parent company liability and its applicability by analogy to the relation undertakings vis-à-vis algorithms. - VI. Big data analytics does create competitive concerns: should the Commission and national competition authorities commit to tackling algorithmic collusion? - VII. Conclusions. | (Abstract) Due to digital markets' transparency, algorithmic collusion may occur even if algorithms are designed to maximize profits rather than to conspire. The literature suggests that competition rules may not cover algorithmic collusion, being the latter an example of tacit collusion: by monitoring market conditions, each algorithm unilaterally and rationally decides to maintain supra-competitive prices. Data analytics ease the monitoring and reaction to competitors' behaviours, increasing the number of markets subject to tacit collusion. Yet, intention to conspire seems absent. In this Article, it is submitted that algorithmic collusion is different from tacit collusion and can be tackled under EU competition law. In the traditional scenario, undertakings base their rational decisions on the existing markets conditions. While designing their algorithms to maximize profits, undertakings are contributing to create the conditions allowing "tacit" collusion to occur. Moreover, a quasi-strict liability regime applies to antitrust offences, so that intention and imputability play limited roles. As a consequence, if algorithms programmed to maximize profits end up colluding, a rebuttable presumption of the existence of a concerted practice should apply. The practice should be prohibited unless undertakings can prove that, in the specific case, a concerted practice did not occur or that art. 101(3) TFEU applies. Moreover, competition rules may be enforced even without ascertaining any antitrust infringement. Competitive concerns are enough to adopt commitment decisions. Here, the Commission (or a National Competition Authority) may negotiate with the concerned undertakings technical remedies to prevent algorithmic collusion by intervening on the way the algorithms work.
The article presents selected relationships between satisfaction with the financial situation and belonging of the state to the former socialist bloc, and selected labour market factors. Pearson's correlation coefficient, LOG and LOGIT modelling were used to show the European differentiation with labour market factors such as exposure to risk factors, work-related health problems, working in the evenings, number of usual weekly hours of work, employment rates, working at nights, working on Saturdays and long-term unemployment. Key in the differentiation of two groups of countries were the number of usual weekly hours of work, working at nights and working in the evenings. Further analysis of variables enabled the indication of factors such as long-term unemployment, the number of usual weekly hours of work and work-related health problems as determining the level of satisfaction with the financial situation in the countries studied.
We present the star cluster catalogues for 17 dwarf and irregular galaxies in the HST Treasury Program ‘Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey’ (LEGUS). Cluster identification and photometry in this sub-sample are similar to that of the entire LEGUS sample, but special methods were developed to provide robust catalogues with accurate fluxes due to low cluster statistics. The colours and ages are largely consistent for two widely used aperture corrections, but a significant fraction of the clusters are more compact than the average training cluster. However, the ensemble luminosity, mass, and age distributions are consistent suggesting that the systematics between the two methods are less than the random errors. When compared with the clusters from previous dwarf galaxy samples, we find that the LEGUS catalogues are more complete and provide more accurate total fluxes. Combining all clusters into a composite dwarf galaxy, we find that the luminosity and mass functions can be described by a power law with the canonical index of −2 independent of age and global SFR binning. The age distribution declines as a power law, with an index of ≈− 0.80 ± 0.15, independent of cluster mass and global SFR binning. This decline of clusters is dominated by cluster disruption since the combined star formation histories and integrated-light SFRs are both approximately constant over the last few hundred Myr. Finally, we find little evidence for an upper-mass cut-off (<2σ) in the composite cluster mass function, and can rule out a truncation mass below ≈104.5M⊙ but cannot rule out the existence of a truncation at higher masses.
The European Public Prosecutor's Office was established under enhanced cooperation in 2017, as a new body in the institutional system of the European Union. The establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office changes the EU criminal law in a significant way, as it is the first body of the European Union, which will undertake its own investigations of criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the EU, carry out acts of prosecution and exercise the functions of prosecutor in the competent courts of the Member States.