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During the twentieth century the financial sector became possibly the most regulated area of the economy in many advanced and developing countries. The interwar years represented the defining moment for the escalation of governments' intervention, turning the State into the core of financial systems in its capacity of regulator, supervisor or owner. The essays in this collection shed light on different aspects of the experience of financial regulation, ownership and deregulation in Europe and the USA from a secular historical perspective.\ud \ud The volume's chapters explore how the political economy of finance changed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and how such changes were related to shifting attitudes towards globalization. They also investigate how regulation responded to governance problems of financial intermediaries and markets, and how different legal frameworks and institutional architectures influenced such response.\ud \ud The collection engages with a set of issues as diverse as they are interrelated across countries and over time: the regulatory attitude of British authorities toward the banking system and the stock exchange market in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the comparative evolution of bankruptcy laws and procedures; the link between state, regulation and governance in the evolution of the US and French financial systems; the emergence of banking regulation and supervision by central banks; the regulation and supervision of international financial markets since the 1950s; and the connection between deregulation and banking crises at the end of the past century.\ud \ud Taken as a whole, the chapters offer an intriguing insight into the differing ways western countries approached and responded to the challenges of the international financial system, and the legacy of this on the modern world. In so doing the volume holds up to historical scrutiny the debate as to whether overt state regulation of financial markets always has a negative affect on economic growth, or whether it can be an essential tool for developing nations in their efforts to expand their economies.

This paper presents an analytic model for the calculation of circular high-vacuum compatible gas-bearing pads with arbitrary feedings. The algorithms afford the reliable dimensioning of load-bearing properties as well as the required seal structures and the exhaust equipment. Theoretical and experimental investigations on orifice-bearing pads with micro-channel structure and porous bearing pads identify differences of characteristics in a high-vacuum environment compared to ambient conditions. At vacuum conditions, stiffness and gas load of the bearing pads are significantly degraded and the operating point of the orifice-bearing pad is shifted to larger gap heights. Gap height and gas load are identified as essential impact parameters for the gas leakage flow. Thus, the bearing pad design parameters have to be adapted for application in vacuum. Both investigated bearing pad types are comparably suitable for application at vacuum conditions. The gas leakage flow is analysed depending on the number of exhaust stages. With a single-stage exhaust system, high vacuum is already maintained in the test chamber. A second exhaust stage further reduces the gas leakage flow by two orders of magnitude.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) was defined by the European Commission as a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. To be socially responsible means going beyond fulfilling the legal expectations, by also investing ‘more’ into human capital, the environment and the relations with stakeholders. A distinction is often made between three aspects of the social dimension of corporate social responsibility: 1. Internal aspects: human resource management, health and safety at work (OSH), business ethics, adaptation to change, and organisational learning ; 2. External local: local corporate citizenship; 3. External worldwide: human rights, global environmental concerns, safety and health in supply companies, corporate citizenship worldwide. This report explores the interactions between CSR and safety and health at work both at company and policy level. Eleven company cases from six EU countries (Germany, UK, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Finland) are presented as inspiring examples.