Competitive Effects of Partial Ownership: Financial Interest and Corporate Control

In this article, we set up an economic framework for analyzing the competitive effects of partial ownership interests. We have three main goals. First, we conceptually derive and explain the competitive effects of partial ownership, explaining its key elements and drawing analogies to the key ideas behind the analysis of horizontal mergers. Second, we present a general framework for evaluating the competitive effects of partial ownership that is analogous to, but at the same time recognizes key differences in the standard analysis for evaluating horizontal mergers. Third, we examine several methods of quantifying these competitive effects

\u3ci\u3e King v Burwell\u3c/i\u3e: Subsidizing US Health Insurance for Low- and Middle-Income Individuals

In King v. Burwell, the U.S. Supreme Court once again saved the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by upholding subsidies (tax credits) offered to low- and middle-income individuals for insurance bought on federal exchanges. A contrary opinion would have put at risk health insurance for 6.4 million Americans and threatened to destabilize insurance markets for millions more. The ACA is supported by four interlocking reforms, each of which are necessary to realize its promise of expanding health care coverage: (1) guaranteed issue (prohibiting discrimination based on pre-existing conditions), (2) community rating (barring insurers from imposing higher premiums based on health status and prohibiting lifetime caps), (3) tax subsidies to offset the cost of premiums for low- and middle-income individuals, and (4) Medicaid expansion. King v. Burwell threatened to undermine the third pillar. Buried deep within the law, the ACA states that subsidies are available to “Exchange[s] established by the State.” Not imaging that their residents could be denied subsidies, 34 states chose to allow the federal government to run their exchanges. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government, recognizing that Congress would not have given states the option of having the federal government run their exchanges, while simultaneously dooming those exchanges to dysfunction. With the ACA now safe from its latest—and it is to be hoped last—existential judicial challenge, attention must now turn to the law’s unfinished business. First, a confluence of judicial interpretation and political impasse has created a new Medicaid “donut hole,” with many earning too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to receive ACA subsidies. States should close this hole, both to protect their most vulnerable citizens and to boost their own economies. Second, the law has left out approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants to the U.S. More than half are uninsured, leading to poor health outcomes, needlessly straining emergency services and safety-net hospitals, and endangering public health. Some localities have experimented with ways of expanding coverage, but national action is needed to guarantee universal health coverage

Macroscopic and microscopic studies of electrical properties of very thin silicon dioxide subject to electrical stress

The electrical characteristics of various size tunnel switch diode devices, composed of Al/SiO2/n-Si/p+-Si layers, which operate with a range of parameters (such as current densities in excess of 104 A/cm2) that stress the oxide layer far beyond the levels used in typical thin oxide metal-oxide semiconductor research have been examined. It is found that the first time a large current and electric field are applied to the device, a "forming" process enhances transport through the oxide in the vicinity of the edges of the gate electrode, but the oxide still retains its integrity as a tunnel barrier. The device operation is relatively stable to stresses of greater than 107 C/cm2 areally averaged, time-integrated charge injection. Duplication and characterization of these modified oxide tunneling properties was attempted using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to stress and probe the oxide. Electrical stressing with the STM tip creates regions of reduced conductivity, possibly resulting from trapped charge in the oxide. Lateral variations in the conductivity of the unstressed oxide over regions roughly 20–50 nm across were also found

Torque measurement in real time during mixing and kneading of bread dough with high content of resistant maize starch and enzymes

In this work, a methodology to measure torque during dough mixing in large scale was developed and the baking performance of bread dough formulated with resistant starch (RS) and enzymes was evaluated. Dough was formulated with 12.5 g/100 g of RS and 4 mg/100 g of a mixture of enzymes, glucose-oxidase (Gox), tranglutaminase (TG) and xylanase (HE) in proportions according to a three-component mixture design of experiments. Dough was mixed in a large-scale dynamic rheometer measuring instant torque and speed in real time through a personal computer (PC) interface. Maximum torque during mixing and parameters of the dough development curves obtained from rheofermentometer were fit to mathematical models within 95 % of confidence. Gox and TG showed positive effects on the maximum height of dough, while HE showed a negative one. Also, it was found that Gox and TG in the presence of HE could be important for reducing dough weakening.Fil: Altuna, Luz. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Romano, Roberto C. O.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Pileggi, Rafael G.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Ribotta, Pablo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos Córdoba. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Tadini, Carmen C.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasi