Extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) can conform and orient on the surface according to the applied aquatic conditions. While pH elevation usually removes EPSs from membranes, small changes in pH can change the adsorbed EPS conformation and orientation, resulting in a decrease in membrane permeability. Accordingly, EPS layers were tested with localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensing and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) using a hybrid sensor. A novel membrane-mimetic hybrid QCM-D–LSPR sensor was designed to indicate both “dry” mass and mechanical load (“wet” mass) of the adsorbed EPS. The effect of pH on the EPS layer’s viscoelastic properties and hydrated thickness analyzed by QCM-D corroborates with the shift in EPS areal concentration, ΓS, and the associated EPS conformation, analyzed by LSPR. As pH elevates, the processes of (i) elevation in EPS layer’s thickness (QCM-D) and (ii) decrease in the EPS areal density, ΓS (LSPR), provide a clear indication for changes in EPS conformation, which decrease the effective ultrafiltration (UF) membrane pore diameter. This decrease in the pore diameter together with the increase in surface hydrophobicity elevates UF membrane hydraulic resistance.

Este artículo examina las contribuciones de Hans Kelsen al establecimiento del primer Tribunal Constitucional en Austria, analizando las diferencias centrales entre el modelo kelseniano de tribunal constitucional y el modelo de su maestro alemán, el jurista Georg Jellinek, al tiempo en el que se enfoca en el trasfondo históricopolítico especifico de Austria que ejerció un influjo en la configuración e incluso en el colapso del Tribunal Constitucional. De manera distinta a la mayoría de trabajos dedicados a esta cuestión, este artículo le presta particular atención a la dimensión histórico-política tras los esfuerzos de Kelsen para crear un sistema serio de defensa jurídica de la Constitución Austríaca. En este sentido, el modelo kelseniano de tribunal constitucional se analiza en referencia al problema de proteger a la joven democracia austríaca, que surgió de las cenizas del Imperio Habsburgo, en contra de sus numerosos oponentes. Este problema se ubica en el centro de los trabajos de Kelsen sobre la democracia publicados en la década de 1920.

Automation has an important role in the reduction of human errors, but what about in case of losses caused by an automated vehicle? Who is liable? Th is paper addresses the issue of automation coverage for costs in the event of damage caused by an automated decision-making process. It will consider civil liability and insurance from the point of view of problems related to the proof of a causal nexus between wrongdoing and losses. Th e thesis that the paper proposes is that legal liability is not a suffi cient instrument to permit eff ective prevention and compensation in the case of damage caused by full algorithmic automation.