This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article published in SocioEconomic Review.

The pre-crisis rise and post-crisis resilience of European repo and securitisation markets represent political victories for the interests of large banks. To explain when and how finance wins, the literature emphasises lobbying capacity (instrumental power) and the financial sector’s central position in the economy (structural power). Increasingly, however, finance also enjoys infrastructural power, which stems from entanglements between specific financial markets and public-sector actors, such as treasuries and central banks, that govern by transacting in those markets. To demonstrate the analytical value of this perspective, the article traces how the European Central Bank, motivated by monetary policy considerations, has shaped post-crisis financial policymaking in the EU. It shows that the ECB has played a key part in fending off a financial transaction tax on repos and in shoring up and rebuilding the securitisation market. With market-based forms of state agency on the rise, infrastructural entanglement and power shed new light on the politics of finance.

No abstract

The quantum well solar cell is an alternative to more conventional multiband gap approaches to higher cell efficiency. Preliminary studies have shown that the insertion of a series of quantum wells into the depletion region of a GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs p-i-n solar cell can significantly enhance the cell’s short-circuit current. We present here a model for the spectral response of GaAs and AlxGa1−xAs p-n and p-i-n solar cells, with and without quantum wells, based on a standard solution of the minority-carrier equations. Particular emphasis is placed on modeling the absorption coefficient of the AlxGa1−xAs and of the quantum wells. We find that our model can accurately predict the spectral response of a wide variety of cells: both conventional p-n junctions in GaAs and AlxGa1−xAs, and various geometries of quantum well solar cell in AlxGa1−xAs/GaAs (x∼0.3). We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the model and its underlying assumptions, and conclude by using the model to design p-i-n quantum well solar cells with higher short-circuit current outputs.

We have studied the forward bias behavior of AlGaAs/GaAs p-i-n multiquantum well (MQW) photodiodes. In samples with low background impurity levels in the intrinsic region the high quantum efficiency observed in reverse bias is maintained into forward bias even for carriers photoexcited in the wells. We compare our MQW devices with structures which are identical apart from having AlGaAs intrinsic regions without quantum wells. The short-circuit currents in the MQW structures are much higher than in the control samples though the open-circuit voltages are somewhat smaller. In one case the energy conversion efficiency of the MQW device in white light is 110% higher than the control. We discuss the implications of our results for the development of low-dimensional structure solar cells.

Capital Markets Union is a large-scale political project to strengthen and further integrate European market-based finance. An initiative of the European Commission under Jean-Claude Juncker’s leadership, Capital Markets Union seeks to realize a long-standing goal of European policy makers: a financial system in which capital markets will absorb more of citizens’ savings and play a greater role in corporate finance. Market-based banking, too, is set to benefit from Capital Markets Union, which includes measures to revive the European securitization market. Given that market-based finance – or shadow banking – shouldered much of the blame for the financial crisis of 2007–2008, its resurgence as a policy priority of the European Union constitutes a puzzle. The present article lays the theoretical groundwork for a special issue that tackles this puzzle. It argues that rather than an end in itself, Capital Markets Union represents an exercise in ‘governing through financial markets’. Pioneered in the United States, governing through financial markets is a political strategy adopted by state actors in pursuit of policy goals that exceed their institutional capacity.

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Orthopedic implant-associated bacterial infection presents a major health threat due to tendency for periprosthetic bacterial colonization/biofilm formation that protects bacteria from host immune response and conventional antibiotic treatment. Using surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization and copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), alkynylated vancomycin is conjugated to azido-functionalized side chains of polymethacrylates grafted from Ti6Al4V. High-efficiency CuAAC across the substrate is confirmed by complete surface conversion of azides by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and elemental mapping of changing characteristic elements. The vancomycin-modified surface (Ti-pVAN) significantly reduces in vitro adhesion and colonization of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), a main bacterial pathogen responsible for periprosthetic infection and osteomyelitis, compared to untreated Ti6Al4V, supporting retained antibacterial properties of the covalently conjugated antibiotics. When the surface-modified intramedullary Ti-pVAN pins are inserted into mouse femoral canals infected by bioluminescent Xen29 S. aureus, significantly reduced local bioluminescence along with mitigated blood markers for infection are detected compared to untreated Ti6Al4V pins over 21 days. Ti-pVAN pins retrieved after 21 days are confirmed with ∼20-fold reduction in adherent bacteria counts compared to untreated control, supporting the ability of surface-conjugated vancomycin in inhibiting periprosthetic S. aureus adhesion and colonization.