Pain and Suffering Damages in Wrongful Death Cases: An Empirical Study

Most jurisdictions in the United States award pain and suffering damages to spouses of victims in wrongful death cases. In several East Asian countries, spouses, parents, and children of the victim can all demand pain and suffering damages. Despite the prevalence of this type of damages, and the oft‐enormous amount of compensation, there has been no large‐scale empirical study on how judges achieve the difficult task of assessing pain and suffering damages. Using a unique data set containing hundreds of car accident cases rendered by the court of first instance in Taiwan, with single‐equation and structural‐equation models, we find the plaintiffs\u27 ad damnum has a statistically significant influence on the court‐adjudicated pain and suffering damages. That could be evidence for the anchoring effect. Nevertheless, courts are very sensitive to the possibility of pushing defendants into financial hardship. When defendants\u27 out‐of‐pocket payments of pecuniary damages, divided by defendants\u27 income, are positive, this amount has a negative effect on the amount of pain and suffering damages, whereas when they are negative (this could happen because the amount of compulsory insurance payment had to be deducted), the amount in absolute value has a positive effect. Not all next‐of‐kin received the same amount. Spouses of the victim received more than other next‐of‐kin, and adult children received the least among eligible relatives. Parents, however, tended to be awarded a high amount of pain and suffering damages when they were the only familial group suing the defendant

Pain and Suffering Damages in Wrongful Death Cases: An Empirical Study

Most jurisdictions in the United States award pain and suffering damages to spouses of victims in wrongful death cases. In several East Asian countries, spouses, parents, and children of the victim can all demand pain and suffering damages. Despite the prevalence of this type of damages, and the oft‐enormous amount of compensation, there has been no large‐scale empirical study on how judges achieve the difficult task of assessing pain and suffering damages. Using a unique data set containing hundreds of car accident cases rendered by the court of first instance in Taiwan, with single‐equation and structural‐equation models, we find the plaintiffs\u27 ad damnum has a statistically significant influence on the court‐adjudicated pain and suffering damages. That could be evidence for the anchoring effect. Nevertheless, courts are very sensitive to the possibility of pushing defendants into financial hardship. When defendants\u27 out‐of‐pocket payments of pecuniary damages, divided by defendants\u27 income, are positive, this amount has a negative effect on the amount of pain and suffering damages, whereas when they are negative (this could happen because the amount of compulsory insurance payment had to be deducted), the amount in absolute value has a positive effect. Not all next‐of‐kin received the same amount. Spouses of the victim received more than other next‐of‐kin, and adult children received the least among eligible relatives. Parents, however, tended to be awarded a high amount of pain and suffering damages when they were the only familial group suing the defendant

Development of Pd Alloy Hydrogen Separation Membranes with Dense/Porous Hybrid Structure for High Hydrogen Perm-Selectivity

For the commercial applications of hydrogen separation membranes, both high hydrogen selectivity and permeability (i.e., perm-selectivity) are required. However, it has been difficult to fabricate thin, dense Pd alloy composite membranes on porous metal support that have a pore-free surface and an open structure at the interface between the Pd alloy films and the metal support in order to obtain the required properties simultaneously. In this study, we fabricated Pd alloy hydrogen separation membranes with dense/porous hybrid structure for high hydrogen perm-selectivity. The hydrogen selectivity of this membrane increased owing to the dense and pore-free microstructure of the membrane surface. The hydrogen permeation flux also was remarkably improved by the formation of an open microstructure with numerous open voids at the interface and by an effective reduction in the membrane thickness as a result of the porous structure formed within the Pd alloy films

Focal foveal atrophy of unknown etiology: Clinical pictures and possible underlying causes

Background/PurposeFocal foveal atrophy is defined as the presence of a small, focal, ill-defined, hypopigmented foveal or juxtafoveal lesion, with the remaining retina unaffected. The purpose of this study was to report the clinical characteristics and optical coherence tomography (OCT) in patients with focal foveal atrophy of unknown etiology.MethodsThe study was a retrospective observational case series. Data collected included complete ocular examination results for best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), ophthalmoscopy, fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, color sense discrimination tests, visual field tests, and OCT examinations.ResultsTwenty-three eyes in 21 patients were examined. The mean patient age was 49.2 ± 15.4 years. The mean BCVA was 20/25. The 21 patients were divided into three groups according to OCT results. Group 1 eyes (n = 10) had intact inner and outer hyperreflective layers (HRLs), with the signal of the inner HRL corresponding to the junction between the inner and outer photoreceptor segments and the outer HRL corresponding to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Group 2 eyes (n = 9) had small hyporeflective defects with defects in the inner HRL at the fovea but an intact outer HRL. Group 3 eyes (n = 4) had small hyporeflective defects in both the inner and outer HRLs at the fovea. Groups 3 eyes had significantly lower visual acuity compared to Group 1 eyes and Group 2 eyes. There was no significant difference in visual acuity between Group 1 and Group 2 eyes. There were no significant differences among the groups with respect to color vision or foveal thickness.ConclusionThis is the first report of clinical presentations for patients with focal foveal atrophy of unknown etiology. OCT aided in the diagnosis and assessment of the degree of retinal structural abnormalities, but the real etiology of foveal atrophy remains unclear

Interfacility transport of critically ill children

Interfacility transport of critically ill children (transport) is a challenging component of pediatric critical care. The risk associated with the transport may be reduced by a specialized pediatric transport team, a screening tool for critically ill children, and a standardized handover between referring and referred physicians. Further research is necessary in Korea regarding the above measures for the safe and effective transport

Solid–liquid interface temperature measurement of evaporating droplet using thermoresponsive polymer aqueous solution

The present study aims to measure the solid–liquid interface temperature of an evaporating droplet on a heated surface using a thermoresponsive polymer. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) was used owing to its sensitive optical and mechanical properties to the temperature. We also measured the refractive index variation of the pNIPAM solution by using the surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi). In particular, the present study proposed a new method to measure the solid–liquid interface temperature using the correlation among reflectance, refractive index, and temperature. It was found that the reflectance of a pNIPAM solution decreased after the droplet deposition. The solid–liquid interface temperature, estimated from the reflectance, showed a lower value at the center of the droplet, and it gradually increased along the radial direction. The lowest temperature at the contact line region is present because of the maximum evaporative cooling. Moreover, the solid–liquid interface temperature deviation increased with the surface temperature, which means solid–liquid interface temperature should be considered at high temperature to predict the evaporation flux of the droplet accurately

Deer Antler Extract Improves Fatigue Effect through Altering the Expression of Genes Related to Muscle Strength in Skeletal Muscle of Mice

Deer antler is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine used in Asian countries for the tonic and the improvement of aging symptoms. The present study was designed to investigate the antifatigue effect and mechanism of Formosan sambar deer tip antler extract (FSDTAE). The swimming times to exhaustion of mice administered FSDTAE (8.2 mg/day) for 28 days were apparently longer than those of the vehicle-treated mice in forced swim test. However, the indicators of fatigue, such as the reduction in glucose level and the increases in blood urea nitrogen and lactic acid levels, were not significantly inhibited by FSDTAE. Therefore, microarray analysis was further used to examine the anti-fatigue mechanism of FSDTAE. We selected genes with fold changes >2 or <−2 in skeletal muscle for pathway analysis. FSDTAE-affected genes were involved in 9 different signaling pathways, such as GnRH signaling pathway and insulin signaling pathway. All of the significantly expressed genes were classified into 8 different categories by their functions. The most enriched category was muscular system, and 6 upregulated genes, such as troponin I, troponin T1, cysteine and glycine-rich protein 2, myosin heavy polypeptide 7, tropomyosin 2, and myomesin family member 3, were responsible for the development and contraction of muscle. Real-time PCR analysis indicated that FSDTAE increased troponins mRNA expression in skeletal muscle. In conclusion, our findings suggested that FSDTAE might increase the muscle strength through the upregulation of genes responsible for muscle contraction and consequently exhibited the anti-fatigue effect in mice

Eyelid Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a Dog

A 10-year-old, female, Yorkshire Terrier was presented with a left lower eyelid mass. No other abnormality was detected on affected eye in a general eye examination. The mass was surgically removed and histologically diagnosed as a squamous cell carcinoma. The advancement flap used in this case may be an appropriate therapeutic choice for eyelid squamous cell carcinoma in dogs

Confirmation of the Electrostatic Self-Assembly of Nanodiamonds

A reliable explanation for the underlying mechanism responsible for the persistent aggregation and self-assembly of colloidal 5 nm diamond nanoparticles is critical to the development of nanodiamond-based technologies. Although a number of mechanisms have been proposed, validation has been hindered by the inherent difficulty associated with the identification and characterisation of the inter-particle interfaces. In this paper we present results of high resolution aberration corrected electron microscopy and complementary computer simulations to explicate the features involved, and confirm the electrostatic interaction mechanism as the most probable cause for the formation of agglutinates and agglomerates of primary particles.Comment: 9 pages (including Supplementary Information), accepted for publication by Nanoscal