The concept and legal consequences of excessive self-defense and necessity The topic of presented diploma thesis deals with criminal law institutes of self-defense and necessity and the consequences of exceeding their limits provided by the Criminal Code. Both of the above-mentioned institutes belong to the conditions precluding illegality of an act, i.e. specific circumstances in presence which of and subject to conditions any sanction is excluded under effective law. The purpose of these institutions is to make it possible for people to act with impunity in cases they protect the interests of their own or interests of the whole society when these interests are violated or endangered. In principle, these institutes replace the absence of a public authorities at the moment, whose task is to protect these interests. However, on the other side the legislation does have certain limits to prevent from any misuse of these institutes. The key passages of this thesis are therefore focused on situations where the conditions of necessity or self-defense are not fully met and examines the legal consequences of such actions. The presented thesis is divided into six parts. A brief introduction is followed by the first chapter, which deals with the general view of the conditions precluding illegality of an act,...

As obesity becomes a growing concern in the United States, bariatric surgery is also growing in popularity, leading patients to regain control of their health and resolve many chronic conditions associated with morbid obesity, such as Type II diabetes mellitus (DM II), heart disease, and hypertension (HTN)[1–7]. On average, bariatric surgery patients lose 50% excess weight within the first two years following a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, or laparoscopic gastric banding[4–6,8–11], leading to problematic excess skin, most commonly located at the abdomen, but also found on the arms, thighs, buttocks, groin, and other areas of the body[12]. While survey-based studies have found approximately 90% of bariatric surgery patients develop excess skin[13], other studies have shown only 11-12% of patients undergo excess skin removal following bariatric surgery[14,15]. This study conducted a retrospective review of patients undergoing massive weight loss (MWL) (defined as at least 50% excess weight loss or 100 lb weight loss) at one year follow up after bariatric surgery at one large academic medical center in Massachusetts. The goal was to identify which step in the pursuit of excess skin removal created the largest barrier to entry and whether patient demographics (age, sex, type of bariatric surgery, payor, weight loss at one year, and highest level of education) played a role in creating a healthcare disparity in the patients undergoing excess skin removal. Patients were identified through the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) database. Through chart review, patients were followed from bariatric surgery to first complaint of excess skin to plastic surgery consultation for excess skin removal to undergoing excess skin removal. Of 370 patients who experienced a MWL within the first year after bariatric surgery, 36.2% (134) of patients complained of excess skin at bariatric surgery follow up and were referred to a plastic surgeon at the same academic institution for a plastic surgery consultation. Of patients who complained of excess skin, 37.3% (50) attended a plastic surgery consultation. Finally, 48% (24) of patients who attended a plastic surgery consultation underwent excess skin removal at the same academic institution. Of patients who complained of excess skin, 17.9% of patients underwent excess skin removal. Demographics of patients were tracked to determine whether certain demographics had a higher barrier to entry in pursuing excess skin removal. No healthcare disparity based on: patient age at time of bariatric surgery, race, highest level of education, type of bariatric surgery, or payor was found. It is important to note that this study was performed at a single Massachusetts academic institution, and the final number of patients undergoing excess skin removal was relatively small (n=24). A higher-powered study with a larger group of patients from multiple bariatric surgery programs could be more telling in identifying whether a healthcare disparity exists. Regardless of patient demographic, 82.1% of patients who complained of excess skin did not undergo excess skin removal, so there may be a societal or insurance-driven gap in understanding the importance and need for these procedures in bariatric surgery patients that should be studied further.

The influence of a chiral surfactant and a polymer-supported chiral additive on reduction of ketones using sodium borohydride will be described. Initial preparations involved methylation of (S)-leucinol to give (2S)-N,N-dimethyl-2-amino-4-methyl-1-pentanol (1) (67%). The chiral surfactant (2) was synthesized by reacting (1) with bromohexadecane (71%). The functionalized styrene for the polymer-supported chiral additive (5) was synthesized by reacting (1) with 4-vinylbenzyl chloride. Polymerization was carried out with 10% of the functionalized monomer (4), 5% cross-linking agent divinylbenzene, and 85% styrene with AIBN as the initiator. The activity of the chiral surfactant and polymeric additive were examined by using them as additives in a standard reduction of 2-pentanone with sodium borohydride to yield (R)- and (S)-2-pentanol (3) (20%). The resulting alcohol was analyzed by polarimetry (ee 9.5%) and also esterified with (2S)-methylbutyric acid prior to characterization by NMR. 13C NMR indicated an enantiomeric excess of 5.2% when the chiral surfactant was used, and 7% when the polymeric additive was used.

Since 2000, the Chinese securities market has introduced private placement refinancing programs from foreign markets. Private placement has gradually emerged as an important refinancing method for domestic listed companies in China. However, any emerging financing means has some drawbacks. In the case of the newly introduced private placements, its manifestation in the Chinese market is the significant fluctuations of stock prices before and after the expiration dates of the lockup periods for stocks issued through private placement and announcements of private placement plans (disclosure plans, receiving approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, etc.) and even significant declines, resulting in most investors suffering unexpected losses. Scholars abroad have conducted several systematic and extensive studies on private placement. However, owing to the short history of private placement practice in China and its unique features, research on this subject is limited. With its gradual maturity, the private placement practice has gradually emerged as important means of financing consideration for listed companies in China. Therefore, in-depth research on the effects of private placements becomes essential.From 2013 to 2016, the domestic private placement market was wisely popular. By the end of 2016, the number of private placement projects, the amount of investment, and number of unlocked stocks had reached the peak. The release of large amounts of money significantly impacted the market. Investors observed the impact of the unlocked stocks on excess returns. Moreover, the company’s announcement before and after the lock-in period expiration has a psychological effect on investors, thus affecting their investment behaviors. Therefore, this empirical study focuses on the two types of impacts: excess returns and announcement effects. This study selected the data of unlocking through private placement of A shares in 2013–2016 as the sample and adopted statistical methods to analyze changes in excess return over the Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index of 10 days before and after the lock-in period expiration date of private placements. It is found that the negative impact of unlocking on the stock price is mainly reflected before unlocking, especially in the 5 trading days before unlocking. The negative impact is not significant after unlocking. Then, by grouping comparison, it is shown that for stocks with different market capitalizations, company ownership structures, and percentages of unlocked stocks over total shares outstanding, there are significant differences in the cumulative excess returns before and after the lock-in period expiration dates. For further verification, this study applies multiple regressions on the influencing factors of the cumulative excess return of stocks before, during, and after unlocking, indicating that the level of market capitalization of the stock, company ownership structure, and the percentage of unlocked stock indeed exert a negative impact. Therefore, it is confirmed that investors can formulate the best trading strategy before and after unlocking, based on factors such as market capitalization, company ownership structure, and percentages of unlocked stock. Finally, a case study of Huangshan Tourism is carried out to further support the conclusion of the empirical analysis. / Business Administration/Finance

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Yes / When ocean waves propagate over porous seabed, they cause variations of the pore pressure within seabed, leading to the possible wave attenuation and soil liquefaction. In order to advance and improve our understanding of the process of wave-induced seabed liquefaction and its impact on wave propagation, systematical experiments are carried out in a wave flume with a soil basin filled with silt. Both the pore pressures and water surface elevations are measured simultaneously, while the seabed liquefaction is videotaped using a high-speed camera. Laboratory measurements show that the pore pressure in surface layer mainly oscillates over time, while the wave period averaged pore pressure has little change. In the deep layer, however, the wave period averaged value of the pore pressure builds up dramatically. The results show that the wave height decreases rapidly along the direction of wave propagation when seabed liquefaction occurs. Such a wave attenuation is greatly enhanced when the liquefaction depth further increases. The experiments also demonstrate that the conditions (wave height and wave period) of incident waves have significant impacts on the wave-induced pore pressures, liquefaction depth and wave attenuation in a silt bed. / National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51479053), the 111 Project (Grant No. B12032), the marine renewable energy research project of State Oceanic Administration (GHME2015GC01), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University, China (Grant No. 2013B31614), the Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province Plans to Graduate Research and Innovation (Grant No. B1504708), and Open Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University (Grant No: 2016491011).

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Contested interactions between social acoustic spaces and the appropriate methods of listening within them are pervasive in everyday life. This dissertation answers two questions within this expanding field of inquiry. How are sounds phenomenologically interpreted into perceptual categories? Why are these private categories reflected in shared acoustic space, configuring the possible conditions for future sounds? For the first, I propose a phenomenology of audition within which sounds are categorized into three modes: affective, symbolic, and excessive. This classification technique enables the perceptive listener to objectify, parse, interpret, and respond to the sounding world. Second, I argue that these categories are projected and reflected in the socio-political concept of "acoustic orders". Organizations of sound in social space emerge from the tensions between interpretive agents and pre-existing acoustic configurations; in return, the habits and techniques of auditors are fundamentally influenced by these acoustic orders. Henri Lefebvre's spatial theory will be utilized to develop this descriptive framework. The reciprocity outlined between listener and context suggests dual theoretical revisions. In the first part, phenomenology is shown to benefit from the inclusion of its socially generated influences. Alternately, I argue that acoustic orders exist in part because of spatial actions intended to resolve excessive perceptions into a unified experience. / Ph. D.