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Social purposes and the interests of stakeholders are traditionally taken into account by German corporate law, in particular since codetermination for worker participants in supervisory councils has been introduced. Thus, this chapter describes how interests of stakeholders are considered leitmotiv in the business judgement rule in Germany. Moreover, the charter may contain clauses of nonprofit goals, making German corporate legal forms flexible to respect stakeholders’ interests. Finally, the new proposals for limited liability company in steward ownership are discussed briefly.

A unique data set derived from remote sensing, airborne, and ground-based in situ measurements is presented. This measurement report highlights the known complexity of comparing multiple aerosol optical parameters examined with different approaches considering different states of humidification and atmospheric aerosol concentrations. Mie-theory-based modeled aerosol optical properties are compared with the respective results of airborne and ground-based in situ measurements and remote sensing (lidar and photometer) performed at the rural central European observatory at Melpitz, Germany. Calculated extinction-to-backscatter ratios (lidar ratios) were in the range of previously reported values. However, the lidar ratio is a function of the aerosol type and the relative humidity. The particle lidar ratio (LR) dependence on relative humidity was quantified and followed the trend found in previous studies. We present a fit function for the lidar wavelengths of 355, 532, and 1064 nm with an underlying equation of fLR(RH, γ(λ))=fLR(RH=0,λ)×(1-RH)-γ(λ), with the derived estimates of γ(355 nm) = 0.29 (±0.01), γ(532 nm) = 0.48 (±0.01), and γ(1064 nm) = 0.31 (±0.01) for central European aerosol. This parameterization might be used in the data analysis of elastic-backscatter lidar observations or lidar-ratio-based aerosol typing efforts. Our study shows that the used aerosol model could reproduce the in situ measurements of the aerosol particle light extinction coefficients (measured at dry conditions) within 13 %. Although the model reproduced the in situ measured aerosol particle light absorption coefficients within a reasonable range, we identified many sources for significant uncertainties in the simulations, such as the unknown aerosol mixing state, brown carbon (organic material) fraction, and the unknown aerosol mixing state wavelength-dependent refractive index. The modeled ambient-state aerosol particle light extinction and backscatter coefficients were smaller than the measured ones. However, depending on the prevailing aerosol conditions, an overlap of the uncertainty ranges of both approaches was achieved.

An upgraded monitor for aerosols and gases in ambient air (MARGA) was applied for one year at the Central European TROPOS research site Melpitz investigating the gas- and particle-phase partitionin...

DeutschBlockchain-Technologien gelten als eine der grosten Chancen der Digitalisierung, erlauben sie doch falschungssichere Transaktionen ohne Intermediare. Dementsprechend sieht auch die Digitalisierungsstrategie der Bundesregierung vor, die Moglichkeiten des Einsatzes der Blockchain-Technologie im Gesellschaftsrecht auszuloten. Hierzu gehoren aber datenschutzrechtliche Anforderungen, die zum Teil mit der Blockchain-Technologie im Konflikt stehen. Der Beitrag untersucht die datenschutzrechtlichen Herausforderungen und pladiert fur den Einsatz einer privaten zulassungsbedingten Blockchain anstelle der Nutzung einer offentlich dezentralen Permissionless Blockchain. Schlieslich werden auch noch im Hinblick auf den Einsatz der Blockchain-Technologie Fragen der Haftung und des Regresses innerhalb der Blockchain, des Schutzes vor nachtraglichen Anderungen sowie kollisionsrechtliche Probleme erortert. EnglishBlockchain Technologies are considered to be one of the most promising chances in digitalization as they provide secure transactions without intermediaries. Hence, the digitalisation strategy of the German Government provides for expertises to check the opportunities for blockchain technology in corporate law as well. However, data protection provisions as enshrined in the General Date Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the EU may interfere with blockchain technology. The article analyzes these data protection challenges and argues that a private permissoned blockchain would be preferable for the use of blockchain technology in corporate law. Finally, issues of liability and regress within the blockchain as well as conflict of law problems are discussed.

Zusammenfassung Kronzeugen stellen eines der wichtigsten Beweismittel in Kartellverfahren dar und genießen daher besonderen Schutz. Allerdings setzen sich Kronzeugen mit der Preisgabe von Informationen, die oftmals vertraulich sind oder personenbezogene Daten enthalten, dem Risiko einer Haftung gegenüber den vom Geheimnisschutz oder Datenschutz geschützten Personen aus. Dies gilt erst recht, wenn der Kronzeugenantrag scheitert. Der Beitrag untersucht diese Konfliktlage vor dem Hintergrund des neuen Geheimnisschutzgesetzes sowie der noch in deutsches Recht umzusetzenden Whistleblowing-Richtlinie der EU und zeigt auf, dass mit diesen neuen Regelungen der Kronzeuge in aller Regel sich keiner Haftung mehr gegenüber sieht.

Mit dem ARUG II hat der deutsche Gesetzgeber die Vorgaben der neuen EU-Aktionarsrechte-RL umgesetzt, hier insbesondere das bis zuletzt umstrittene Vergutungssystem fur Vorstand und Aufsichtsrat einschlieslich des Votums der Hauptversammlung. Der Beitrag stellt die Neuerungen einschlieslich der noch im Parlament getroffenen Anderungen vor.

Daily concentrations of inorganic and organic compounds associated with PM10, i.e., atmospheric particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 µm, was determined at the south Mediterranean coastal area located in Bou Ismail, 40 km west of the Algiers city area in Algeria. From September 2011 to January 2012, chemical characterization of aerosol particles comprising water-soluble ions (WSI), trace metals, carbonaceous aerosols, the anhydrosugars levoglucosan and arabitol, dicarboxylic acids, and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC), i.e., alkanes, PAHs, and hopanes, was carried out by using a variety of analytical techniques. Overall, the concentrations of selected ionic species were similar to those reported at other Mediterranean sites, ranging from 3.62 µg m–3 to 5.20 µg m–3 for the monthly total WSI. Sulfate was the most abundant ion. The total concentrations of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) recorded in Bou Ismail ranged from 7.06 to 58.8 ng m–3 for n-alkanes, from 2.44 to 35.3 ng m–3 for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), from 0.14 to 1 ng m–3 for hopanes, and from 0.67 to 13.2 ng m–3 for n-alkan-2-one. In order to reconcile species concentrations and their emission sources, sampling days were grouped into two categories according to air mass origin. In the first group, the aerosol particles were mainly of a marine origin, while those of the second group originated in the dust sector. A source analysis of total contents organic compounds (PAHs, alkanes, hopanes, and alkanones) and individual inorganic compounds by spearman rank correlation illustrated that the principal sources consisted of sea salt, secondary aerosol, and biomass burning. Additionally, PM10 constituent diagnostic ratios and the carbon preference index (CPI) for n-alkanes indicated the importance of anthropogenic emissions.

Organic acids are ubiquitous compounds in the troposphere and can affect human health, the climate, air quality, and the linked ecosystems. Depending on their solubility and volatility, they can partition in both gas phase and in the particle phase. In the particle phase, organic acids partly represent about 10% of the water-soluble organic matter. However, their partitioning between different phases is not fully understood yet. Therefore, an upgraded monitor for aerosols and gases in ambient air (MARGA) was applied for one year at the Central European TROPOS research site Melpitz to study the gas- and particle-phase partitioning of formic, acetic, propionic, butyric, glycolic, pyruvic, oxalic, malonic, succinic, malic, and methanesulfonic acid (MSA). Measured gas- and PM10 particle-phase mean concentrations were 12−445 and 7−31 ng m-3 for monocarboxylic acids (MCAs), between 0.6−8 and 4−31 ng m-3 for dicarboxylic acids (DCAs), and 2 and 31 ng m-3 for MSA, respectively. Assuming full dissolution in nonideal aerosol solutions, empirical noneffective Henry’s law constants (Hemp) were calculated and compared with literature values (Hlit). Calculated mean Hemp were 4.5 × 109−2.2 × 1010 mol L−1 atm−1 for MCAs, 3.6 × 1010−7.5 × 1011 mol L−1 atm−1 for DCAs, and 7.5 × 107 mol L−1 atm−1 for MSA and, thus, factors of 5.1 × 103−9.1 × 105 and 2.5−20.3 higher than their corresponding Hlit for MCAs and DCAs, respectively, and 9.0 × 10−5 lower than Hlit,MSA. Data analyses and thermodynamic calculations implicate that the formation of chemical association complexes and organic salts inhibits the partitioning of organic acids toward the gas phase and, thus, at least partly explains higher Hemp values for both MCAs and summertime DCAs. Low Hemp,MSA are also unexpected because of the high MSA solubility and are reported for the first time in this study. Overall, the results of the present study implicate that processes responsible for the observed stronger partitioning of carboxylic acids toward the particle phase need to be further investigated and accounted for in complex multiphase chemistry models as they affect the contribution of organic acids to secondary organic aerosol mass, their chemical processing, and lifetime.

Summary This article analyses the core issues of the new digital content directive: the conformity criteria, liability of the trader and the remedies of the consumer for lack of conformity. The authors assess the directive as a welcome step in raising consumer protection on the Digital Single Market, especially as the initial primacy of subjective conformity criteria has been given up and mandatory objective criteria of the digital content/services have been introduced. This gives European consumers a mandatory protection regime shielding them from the widely used liability restriction clauses. The provisions on remedies have been improved and fine-tuned, starting from the flexible hierarchy of the remedies and ending with deletion of the much-criticized maximum harmonising damages provision. The new directive puts liability for the digital content to the retail sector: it is the traders, the contractual partners of the consumer who are liable for the supply and defects of the digital content even if the digital content is provided by third parties (usually the copyright holders). Whereas the directive is maximum harmonising in principle, several important questions such as the liability periods, obligations of the consumer as well as the remedies of the trader are still left to national law. Finally, as the directive is not based on standard contract typology, the transposition could turn out to be challenging for Member States with civil codes where rules on contractual remedies depend upon contract type.

After more than 3 years of discussions and negotiations the new contract law package consisting of the directive on the contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services and the new consumer sales directive have been finally adopted. The initial object-based regulatory approach has been kept, whereas the object of the contract now also encompasses digital services. The contract typology is still left within the discretion of the Member States and also the innovative concept of data as counter-performance is kept in the final version. The article discusses the scope of the digital content directive, including the complicated regulation on ancillary digital services (‘goods with digital elements’) as well as the trader’s main obligation – the obligation to supply. Conformity criteria, including the updating obligation, consumer’s remedies, trader’s liability as well as his right to make modifications will be dealt with in the follow-up article to be published in the next issue.

Digitalization revolutionizes all legal areas, including corporate law. The article deals with different impacts of digitalization on communication schemes in corporations, such as virtual general assemblies or communication patterns in board of directors, also encompassing communication with third parties, namely investors. The legal framework for these communication patterns refer not only to corporate but also to media regulations, data protections, as well as capital market law. Digitalization also has an impact on liability of directors: As Big Data and new algorithms improve the information base for decision making of directors they are at the same time obliged to make use of it. On the other hand, IT-security has become one of the main tasks for directors as digitalization of all work flows in enterprises requires necessary IT-security standards in order to avoid existential risks in case of attacks. Furthermore, Blockchain as a new technology enables the secure identification of all kind of transactions, including automatized contracts (so-called smart contracts) which could enhance procedures in corporations. New problems arise concerning the use of Blockchain as an investment form such as DAO Ethereum. Finally, the phenomenon of close cooperation between different partners by using digital work flows and semi-intelligent agents (so-called industry 4.0) is discussed.

Trans-boundary PM10 transport into eastern Germany was quantified by comparing mean PM10 concentrations during western and eastern air mass inflow under similar meteorological conditions and calculating an “increment East” as a proxy for the trans-boundary PM10 fraction. Data of 10 measurement stations located in Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony were used for winter 2016/17 and revealed trans-boundary PM10 increments of 0–30 μg m−3 on average, depending on meteorological conditions. On average over all days with positive increments, trans-boundary transport contributed 13 μg m−3 or 44% to the total PM10 concentration in the regional background. During pollution periods with elevated PM10 concentrations of >30 μg m−3 at rural background sites, this contribution lied between 44 and 62%, while it decreased to about 20% for moderate PM10 concentrations between 20 and 30 μg m−3 and was negligible for PM10 concentrations 80% of the trans-boundary PM10 fraction imported from eastern neighbouring countries can be explained by combustion emissions and formation of secondary particle mass, i.e. ammonium sulfate and organic matter, with the latter typically exceeding the contributions from combustion. Source contributions of these two PMF factors within the increment East were correlated, indicating combustion-related emissions of SO2 and volatile organic compounds leading to the observed secondary trans-boundary PM10 mass. Higher increment East values for cold than for warm days imply emissions from domestic heating in eastern European countries, presumably from the combustion of solid fuels such as wood and coal, as the dominant source for trans-boundary PM10 in eastern Germany. A case study for a traffic-impacted pollution hotspot in the city of Berlin showed an average contribution of about 30% from trans-boundary transport, while regional background, urban background and local traffic emissions explained about 40, 10, and 20% of PM10 mass concentrations during days with eastern air mass inflow where the increment East approach could be applied together with the incremental Lenschow approach. The results of this study reinforce the need of PM10 mitigation measures at different spatial scales, ranging from municipal to international levels.

Aerosol particles contribute to the climate forcing through their optical properties. Measuring these optical aerosol particle properties is still challenging, especially considering the hygroscopic growth of aerosol particles, which alters their optical properties. Lidar and in-situ techniques can derive a variety of aerosol optical properties, like aerosol particle light extinction, backscattering, and absorption. But these techniques are subject to some limitations and uncertainties. Within this study, we compared airborne in-situ based and, on Mie-theory based, modeled optical properties at dry state. At ambient state, modeled optical properties were compared with lidar-based estimates. Also, we examined the dependence of the aerosol particle light extinction-to-backscatter ratio, also lidar ratio, to relative humidity. The used model was fed with measured physicochemical aerosol properties and ambient atmospheric conditions. The model considered aerosol particles in an internal core-shell mixing state with constant volume fractions of the aerosol components over the entire observed aerosol particle size-range. The underlying set of measurements was conducted near the measurement site Melpitz, Germany, during two campaigns in summer, 2015, and winter, 2017, and represent Central European background aerosol conditions. Two airborne payloads deployed on a helicopter and a balloon provided measurements of microphysical and optical aerosol particle properties and were complemented by the polarization Raman lidar system PollyXT as well as by a holistic set of microphysical, chemical and optical aerosol measurements derived at ground level. Comparisons of calculated optical aerosol properties with ground-based in-situ measured aerosol optical properties at dry state showed an agreement of the model within 13 % (3 %) in terms of scattering at 450 nm wavelength during the winter (summer) campaign. The model also represented the aerosol particle light absorption at 637 nm within 8 % (18 %) during the winter (summer) campaign and agreed within 13 % with the airborne in-situ aerosol particle light extinction measurements during summer. During winter, in a comparatively clean case with equivalent black carbon mass-concentrations of around 0.2 µg m−3 the modeled airborne measurement-based aerosol particle light absorption, was up to 32–37 % larger than the measured values during a relatively clean period. However, during a high polluted case, with an equivalent black carbon mass concentration of around 4 µg m−3, the modeled aerosol particle light absorption coefficient was, depending on the wavelength, 13–32 % lower than the measured values. Spread and magnitude of the disagreement highlighted the importance of the aerosol mixing state used within the model, the requirement of the inclusion of brown carbon, and a wavelength-dependent complex refractive index of black and brown carbon when such kind of model is used to validate aerosol particle light absorption coefficient estimates of, e.g., lidar systems. Besides dry state comparisons, ambient modeled aerosol particle light extinction, as well as aerosol particle light backscattering, were compared with lidar estimates of these measures. During summer, on average, for four of the twelve conducted measurement flights, the model calculated lower aerosol particle light extinction (up to 29 % lower) as well as backscattering (up to 32 % lower) than derived with the lidar. In winter, the modeled aerosol particle light extinction coefficient was 17 %–41 % lower, the aerosol particle light backscattering coefficient 14 %–42 % lower than the lidar estimates. For both, the winter and summer cases, the Mie-model estimated reasonable extinction-to-backscatter (LR) ratios. Measurement-based Mie-modeling showed evidence of the dependence of the lidar ratio on relative humidity (RH). With this result, we presented a fit for lidar wavelengths of 355, 532, and 1064 nm with an underlying equation of fLR (RH,γ(λ)) = fLR (RH = 0,λ) × (1 − RH)(−γ(λ)) and estimates of γ(355 nm) = 0.29 (±0.01), γ(532 nm) = 0.48 (±0.01), and γ(1064 nm) = 0.31 (±0.01). However, further measurements are required to entangle the behavior of the lidar ratio with respect to different aerosol types, to set up a climatology, and to assess the influence of the aerosol mixing state. This comprehensive study combining airborne and ground-based in-situ and remote sensing measurements, which simulated multiple aerosol optical coefficients in the ambient and dry state, is with its complexity unique of its kind.

Family firms and closed companies are the most widespread form of business organization in Germany and Spain. As a field of comparative research, however, they have long been neglected. This volume puts them in the legal limelight. Eleven contributions explore typical legal problems with which courts, legal scholars and practitioners struggle in this area. These include majority/minority conflicts over retention of profits, executive compensation and other related party transactions. Particular attention is also paid to shareholder agreements which often contain a second layer of regulation in addition to the articles of association.

To characterize the role of dew water for the ground surface HONO distribution, nitrous acid (HONO) measurements with a Monitor for AeRosols and Gases in ambient Air (MARGA) and a LOng Path Absorption Photometer (LOPAP) instrument were performed at the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) research site in Melpitz, Germany, from 19 to 29 April 2018. The dew water was also collected and analyzed from 8 to 14 May 2019 using a glass sampler. The high time resolution of HONO measurements showed characteristic diurnal variations that revealed that (i) vehicle emissions are a minor source of HONO at Melpitz station; (ii) the heterogeneous conversion of NO2 to HONO on the ground surface dominates HONO production at night; (iii) there is significant nighttime loss of HONO with a sink strength of 0.16±0.12 ppbv h−1; and (iv) dew water with mean NO2- of 7.91±2.14 µg m−2 could serve as a temporary HONO source in the morning when the dew droplets evaporate. The nocturnal observations of HONO and NO2 allowed the direct evaluation of the ground uptake coefficients for these species at night: γNO2→HONO=2.4×10-7 to 3.5×10-6, γHONO,ground=1.7×10-5 to 2.8×10-4. A chemical model demonstrated that HONO deposition to the ground surface at night was 90 %–100 % of the calculated unknown HONO source in the morning. These results suggest that dew water on the ground surface was controlling the temporal HONO distribution rather than straightforward NO2–HONO conversion. This can strongly enhance the OH reactivity throughout the morning time or in other planted areas that provide a large amount of ground surface based on the OH production rate calculation.

The identification of different sources of the carbonaceous aerosol (organics and black carbon) was investigated at a mountain forest site located in central Germany from September to October 2010 to characterize incoming air masses during the Hill Cap Cloud Thuringia 2010 (HCCT-2010) experiment. The near-PM1 chemical composition, as measured by a high-resolution time-offlight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS), was dominated by organic aerosol (OA; 41 %) followed by sulfate (19 %) and nitrate (18 %). Source apportionment of the OA fraction was performed using the multilinear engine (ME-2) approach, resulting in the identification of the following five factors: hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA; 3% of OA mass), biomass burning OA (BBOA; 13 %), semi-volatilelike OA (SV-OOA; 19 %), and two oxygenated OA (OOA) factors. The more oxidized OOA (MO-OOA, 28 %) was interpreted as being influenced by aged, polluted continental air masses, whereas the less oxidized OOA (LO-OOA, 37 %) was found to be more linked to aged biogenic sources. Equivalent black carbon (eBC), measured by a multi-angle absorption photometer (MAAP) represented 10% of the total particulate matter (PM). The eBC was clearly associated with HOA, BBOA, and MO-OOA factors (all together R-2=0 :83). Therefore, eBC's contribution to each factor was achieved using a multi-linear regression model. More than half of the eBC (52 %) was associated with long-range transport (i.e., MO-OOA), whereas liquid fuel eBC (35 %) and biomass burning eBC (13 %) were associated with local emissions, leading to a complete apportionment of the carbonaceous aerosol. The separation between local and transported eBC was well supported by the mass size distribution of elemental carbon (EC) from Berner impactor samples. Air masses with the strongest marine influence, based on back trajectory analysis, corresponded with a low particle mass concentration (6.4-7.5 mu gm(-3)/ and organic fraction (approximate to 30 %). However, they also had the largest contribution of primary OA (HOA approximate to 4% and BBOA 15 %-20 %), which was associated with local emissions. Continental air masses had the highest mass concentration (11.4-12.6 mu gm(-3)), and a larger fraction of oxygenated OA (approximate to 45 %) indicated highly processed OA. The present results emphasize the key role played by long-range transport processes not only in the OA fraction but also in the eBC mass concentration and the importance of improving our knowledge on the identification of eBC sources.

The mass concentration of black carbon (BC) particles in the atmosphere has traditionally been quantified with two methods: as elemental carbon (EC) concentrations measured by thermal-optical analysis and as equivalent black carbon (eBC) concentrations when BC mass is derived from particle light absorption coefficient measurements. Over the last decade, ambient measurements of refractory black carbon (rBC) mass concentrations based on laser-induced incandescence (LII) have become more common, mostly due to the development of the Single-Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) instrument. In this work, EC and rBC mass concentration measurements from field campaigns across several background European sites (Paris, Bologna, Cabauw and Melpitz) have been collated and examined to identify the similarities and differences between BC mass concentrations measured by the two techniques. All EC concentration measurements in PM2.5 were performed with the EUSAAR-2 thermal-optical protocol. All rBC concentration measurements were performed with SP2s calibrated with the same calibration material as recommended in the literature. The median ratio between observed rBC and EC mass concentrations was 0.92, when considering all data points from all five campaigns, and the corresponding geometric standard deviation (GSD) was 1.5. The minimal and maximal observed values of median rBC to EC mass concentration ratios on single campaign level were 0.53 and 1.29, respectively. This shows that substantial systematic bias between these two quantities occurred during some campaigns, which also contributes to the large overall GSD. On single campaign level, the relative spread of individual rBC to EC mass concentration ratios was typically between a factor of 1.2 and 1.3 (1 GSD), which indicates fairly good precision of both methods. Despite considerable variability of BC properties and sources across the whole data set, it was not possible to clearly assign reasons for discrepancies to one or the other method, both known to have their own specific limitations and uncertainties. However, differences in the particle size range covered by these two methods were identified as one likely reason for discrepancies. In particular, rBC to EC mass concentration ratios were found to be systematically less than unity, despite applying a correction for small BC cores that remain undetected by the SP2. This was observed when the rBC mass size distribution was shifted towards smaller modal diameter, which occurred during traffic emission dominated episodes. Overall, the high correlation between rBC and EC mass concentrations indicates that both methods essentially quantify the same property of atmospheric aerosols, whereas systematic differences in measured absolute values by up to a factor of 2 can occur. This finding for the level of agreement between two current state-of-the-art techniques has important implications for studies based on BC mass concentration measurements, for example for the interpretation of uncertainties of inferred BC mass absorption coefficient values, which are required for modelling the radiative forcing of BC. Homogeneity between BC mass determination techniques is very important also towards a routine BC mass measurement for air quality or human health regulations.