Trusts - Resulting and Constructive Trusts - Rights of Third-Party Donee to Enforce Oral Trust of Land

Plaintiff alleged that her husband, having paid the purchase price on land intended as a: gift for her, caused title to be taken in the name of defendant to hold as trustee. There was, however, no written evidence to support these contentions. Plaintiff further alleged that she took possession and made valuable permanent improvements on the land with the approval of both her husband and defendant. One year after the husband\u27s death and three years after plaintiff\u27s entrance, defendant filed suit for possession. In the present action to enjoin that suit and to establish her ownership, the lower court held that plaintiff failed to state a claim. On appeal, held, reversed, one judge dissenting. If plaintiff\u27s allegations are accepted as true, her complaint sets out facts upon which relief could be granted. Either a resulting trust or a constructive trust might be imposed in plaintiff\u27s behalf. Binz v. Helvetia Florida Enterprises, (Fla. App. 1958) 104 S. (2d) 124

Evidence - Character Testimony - Impeachment Through Reference to Prior Specific Acts of Defendant

Defendant, on trial for arson, presented a character witness who testified that defendant\u27s reputation in the community was good. During cross-examination the prosecutor asked if the witness had heard that defendant had been arrested for or convicted of various specific crimes in other states. No objection was made by the defense, and the trial judge took no action. The witness answered no to each question, and subsequently a jury verdict of guilty was returned. On appeal, held, reversed and remanded, three judges dissenting. Failure of the trial judge, before allowing such cross-examination, to ascertain on his own motion and out of the presence of the jury the actuality of the arrests or convictions, the time of their occurrence and their relevance to the question of reputation, and the failure of the trial judge properly to instruct the jury to limit its consideration of the prosecutor\u27s questions solely to the weight of the character testimony deprived defendant of a fair trial. People v. Dorrikas, 354 Mich. 303, 92 N.W. (2d) 305 (1958)

The effect of training on reaction time

A visual enhancement training program utilizing the Eyespan was evaluated for its effect on reaction time (RT} and motor response time (MRT). The RT\u27s and MRT\u27s of 47 subjects were measured under identical conditions before and after a training program. Twenty four experimental subjects participated in a three week training program involving a minimum of 15 five minute sessions with the Eyespan. The other twenty three subjects served as the control for the study. After the training program, results indicated a significant improvement in RT\u27s and MRT\u27s of the experimental group in comparison to the control group. Since the effect of training with the Eyespan appears to be transferrable, it may be possible to improve athletic performance by improving RT\u27s and MRT\u27s through this type of visual enhancement therapy

Large Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebula Morphology: Probing Stellar Populations and Evolution

Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) offer the unique opportunity to study both the Population and evolution of low- and intermediate-mass stars, by means of the morphological type of the nebula. Using observations from our LMC PN morphological survey, and including images available in the HST Data Archive, and published chemical abundances, we find that asymmetry in PNe is strongly correlated with a younger stellar Population, as indicated by the abundance of elements that are unaltered by stellar evolution (Ne, Ar, S). While similar results have been obtained for Galactic PNe, this is the first demonstration of the relationship for extra-galactic PNe. We also examine the relation between morphology and abundance of the products of stellar evolution. We found that asymmetric PNe have higher nitrogen and lower carbon abundances than symmetric PNe. Our two main results are broadly consistent with the predictions of stellar evolution if the progenitors of asymmetric PNe have on average larger masses than the progenitors of symmetric PNe. The results bear on the question of formation mechanisms for asymmetric PNe, specifically, that the genesis of PNe structure should relate strongly to the Population type, and by inference the mass, of the progenitor star, and less strongly on whether the central star is a member of a close binary system.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, in press 4 figure

Ca II and Na I Quasar Absorption-Line Systems in an Emission-Selected Sample of SDSS DR7 Galaxy/Quasar Projections: I. Sample Selection

The aim of this project is to identify low-redshift host galaxies of quasar absorption-line systems by selecting galaxies which are seen in projection onto quasar sightlines. To this end, we use the Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR7) to construct a parent sample of 97489 galaxy/quasar projections at impact parameters of up to 100 kpc to the foreground galaxy. We then search the quasar spectra for absorption line systems of Ca II and Na I within +- 500 km/s of the galaxy's velocity. This yields 92 Ca II and 16 Na I absorption systems. We find that most of the Ca II and Na I systems are sightlines through the Galactic disk, through High Velocity Cloud complexes in our halo, or Virgo cluster sightlines. Placing constraints on the absorption line rest equivalent width significance (>=3.0 sigma), the Local Standard of Rest velocity along the sightline (>= 345 km/s), and the ratio of the impact parameter to the galaxy optical radius (<=5.0), we identify 4 absorption line systems that are associated with low-redshift galaxies at high confidence, consisting of two Ca II systems (one of which also shows Na I), and two Na I systems. These 4 systems arise in blue, L_r^* galaxies. Tables of the 108 absorption systems are provided to facilitate future follow up.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 6 tables; online data included in electronic version as 1 FITS table and 2 machine readable tables; to be published in The Astronomical Journa

Search for Interstellar Water in the Translucent Molecular Cloud toward HD 154368

We report an upper limit of 9 x 10^{12} cm-2 on the column density of water in the translucent cloud along the line of sight toward HD 154368. This result is based upon a search for the C-X band of water near 1240 \AA carried out using the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph of the Hubble Space Telescope. Our observational limit on the water abundance together with detailed chemical models of translucent clouds and previous measurements of OH along the line of sight constrain the branching ratio in the dissociative recombination of H_3O+ to form water. We find at the $3\sigma$ level that no more than 30% of dissociative recombinations of H_3O+ can lead to H_2O. The observed spectrum also yielded high-resolution observations of the Mg II doublet at 1239.9 \AA and 1240.4 \AA, allowing the velocity structure of the dominant ionization state of magnesium to be studied along the line of sight. The Mg II spectrum is consistent with GHRS observations at lower spectral resolution that were obtained previously but allow an additional velocity component to be identified.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, uses aasp

National Launch System cycle 1 loads and models data book

This document contains preliminary cycle 1 loads for the National Launch System (NLS) 1 and 2 vehicles. The loads provided and recommended as design loads represent the maximum load expected during prelaunch and flight regimes, i.e., limit loads, except that propellant tank ullage pressure has not been included. Ullage pressure should be added to the loads book values for cases where the addition results in higher loads. The loads must be multiplied by the appropriate factors of safety to determine the ultimate loads for which the structure must be capable

Interstellar and Circumstellar Optical & Ultraviolet Lines Towards SN1998S

We have observed SN1998S which exploded in NGC3877, with the UES at the WHT and with the E230M echelle of STIS aboard HST. Both data sets were obtained at two seperate epochs. From our own Galaxy we detect interstellar absorption lines of CaII, FeII, MgI, and probably MnII from the edge of the HVC Complex M. We derive gas-phase abundances which are very similar to warm disk clouds in the local ISM, which we believe argues against the HVC material having an extragalactic origin. At the velocity of NGC3877 we detect interstellar MgI, MgII, MnII, CaII, & NaI. Surprisingly, one component is seen to increase by a factor of ~1 dex in N(NaI) and N(MgI) between the two epochs over which the data were taken. Unusually, our data also show narrow Balmer, HeI, and metastable FeII P-Cygni profiles, with a narrow absorption component superimposed on the bottom of the profile's absorption trough. Both the broad and narrow components of the optical lines are seen to increase substantially in strength between the two epochs. Most of the low-ionization absorption can be understood in terms of gas co-rotating with the disk of NGC 3877, providing the SN is at the back of an HI disk with a similar thickness to that of our own Galaxy. However, the variable absorption components, and the classic P-Cygni emission profiles, most likely arise in slow-moving circumstellar outflows originating from the red supergiant progenitor of SN1998S. [Abridged.]Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 26 pages including 9 figure