A Fresh Look at Premises Liability as Affected by the Warranty of Habitability

This article will present the different positions that courts have taken during these recent years of experimentation in landlord premises liability, discuss how courts have become muddled in sorting out the various theories, and propose a system of liability that would be fair and soundly based on modem policy considerations. We shall first place the question in context by considering the traditional theories of liability. We will then discuss the statutory impact on landlord responsibility and consider the recent tort and warranty theories that set the stage for the period of experimentation. Our ultimate objective is to arrive at ,a proposal that we feel is workable, combining and reconciling various theories that courts have recently considered. Specifically, we shall propose a theory of liability that is not based solely on the question of who had control over the defective item causing the injury, but one that also considers the discoverability of the defect and whether the defect arose before or after the beginning of the lease. This will present a system of premises liability that is more rational and less arbitrary than the traditional view. It will be a step toward resolving the confusion that has arisen in recent years in this area of premises liability

Why small firms are different: Addressing varying needs from boards of directors

Board of director member diversity has an impact on the functions each director successfully provides. Appropriate and necessary board member capabilities differ between small and large firms. Although these differences seem apparent, current research has favored studies related to large firms and neglected those related to board member needs of small firms. Grounded in Agency Theory and Resource Dependence Theory, the following manuscript theoretically suggests that firm size moderates the relationship between board member diversity and the two primary functions (monitoring and the provision of resources) of board members. Furthermore, small firms can enhance performance through appropriate member composition in differing ways than large firms

Get What You Give? An Examination of Enlightened Self-Interest, Philanthropic Intent, and Engagement in Philanthropy for Small Firm Owners

Prior researchers agree that small businesses are important community contributors due to their active engagement in broader social responsibility activities, such as philanthropy. Despite their purported importance to charitable giving and philanthropy, little is known about the factors that motivate small business owners’ decisions to engage in philanthropic giving. We integrate enlightened self-interest theory and the theory of planned behavior to examine how enlightened self-interest influences intentions to engage in philanthropy during start-up, which in turn impacts current levels of engagement in philanthropic activities. Our results suggest that intentions to engage in philanthropy at start-up do partially mediate the relationship between enlightened self-interest and engagement in philanthropy behaviors; thus, suggesting that entrepreneurs’ motivations grounded in enlightened self-interest influence intentions to engage in philanthropy and subsequent engagement in such activities

Gene content and distribution in the nuclear genome of Fragaria vesca

Thirty fosmids were randomly selected from a library of Fragaria vesca subsp. americana (cv. Pawtuckaway) DNA. These fosmid clones were individually sheared, and ∼4- to 5-kb fragments were subcloned. Subclones on a single 384-well plate were sequenced bidirectionally for each fosmid. Assembly of these data yielded 12 fosmid inserts completely sequenced, 14 inserts as 2 to 3 contiguous sequences (contigs), and 4 inserts with 5 to 9 contigs. In most cases, a single unambiguous contig order and orientation was determined, so no further finishing was required to identify genes and their relative arrangement. One hundred fifty-eight genes were identified in the ∼1.0 Mb of nuclear genomic DNA that was assembled. Because these fosmids were randomly chosen, this allowed prediction of the genetic content of the entire ∼200 Mb F. vesca genome as about 30,500 protein-encoding genes, plus >4700 truncated gene fragments. The genes are mostly arranged in gene-rich regions, to a variable degree intermixed with transposable elements (TEs). The most abundant TEs in F. vesca were found to be long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons, and these comprised about 13% of the DNA analyzed. Over 30 new repeat families were discovered, mostly TEs, and the total TE content of F. vesca is predicted to be at least 16%.EEA BalcarceFil: Pontaroli, Ana Clara. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina. University of Georgia. Department of Genetics; Estados UnidosFil: Rogers, Rebekah L. Harvard University. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Estados Unidos. University of Georgia. Department of Genetics; Estados UnidosFil: Qian, Zhang. University of New Hampshire. Department of Biological Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Shields, Melanie E. University of New Hampshire. Department of Biological Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Davis, Thomas M. University of New Hampshire. Department of Biological Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Folta, Kevin M. University of Florida. Horticultural Sciences Department; Estados UnidosFil: SanMiguel, Phillip. Purdue University. Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture; Estados UnidosFil: Bennetzen, Jeffrey L. University of Georgia. Department of Genetics; Estados Unido

Carbon dioxide and ocean acidification observations in UK waters. Synthesis report with a focus on 2010–2015

Key messages: 1.1 The process of ocean acidification is now relatively well-documented at the global scale as a long-term trend in the open ocean. However, short-term and spatial variability can be high. 1.2 New datasets made available since Charting Progress 2 make it possible to greatly improve the characterisation of CO2 and ocean acidification in UK waters. 3.1 Recent UK cruise data contribute to large gaps in national and global datasets. 3.2 The new UK measurements confirm that pH is highly variable, therefore it is important to measure consistently to determine any long term trends. 3.3 Over the past 30 years, North Sea pH has decreased at 0.0035±0.0014 pH units per year. 3.4 Upper ocean pH values are highest in spring, lowest in autumn. These changes reflect the seasonal cycles in photosynthesis, respiration (decomposition) and water mixing. 3.5 Carbonate saturation states are minimal in the winter, and lower in 7 more northerly, colder waters. This temperature-dependence could have implications for future warming of the seas. 3.6 Over the annual cycle, North-west European seas are net sinks of CO2. However, during late summer to autumn months, some coastal waters may be significant sources. 3.7 In seasonally-stratified waters, sea-floor organisms naturally experience lower pH and saturation states; they may therefore be more vulnerable to threshold changes. 3.8 Large pH changes (0.5 - 1.0 units) can occur in the top 1 cm of sediment; however, such effects are not well-documented. 3.9 A coupled forecast model estimates the decrease in pH trend within the North Sea to be -0.0036±0.00034 pH units per year, under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario (RCP 8.5). 3.10 Seasonal estimates from the forecast model demonstrate areas of the North Sea that are particularly vulnerable to aragonite undersaturation

An examination of targeted gene neighborhoods in strawberry

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Strawberry (<it>Fragaria </it>spp.) is the familiar name of a group of economically important crop plants and wild relatives that also represent an emerging system for the study of gene and genome evolution. Its small stature, rapid seed-to-seed cycle, transformability and miniscule basic genome make strawberry an attractive system to study processes related to plant physiology, development and crop production; yet it lacks substantial genomics-level resources. This report addresses this deficiency by characterizing 0.71 Mbp of gene space from a diploid species (<it>F. vesca</it>). The twenty large genomic tracks (30-52 kb) captured as fosmid inserts comprise gene regions with roles in flowering, disease resistance, and metabolism.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A detailed description of the studied regions reveals 131 Blastx-supported gene sites and eight additional EST-supported gene sites. Only 15 genes have complete EST coverage, enabling gene modelling, while 76 lack EST support. Instances of microcolinearity with <it>Arabidopsis thaliana </it>were identified in twelve inserts. A relatively high portion (25%) of targeted genes were found in unanticipated tandem duplications. The effectiveness of six FGENESH training models was assessed via comparisons among <it>ab initio </it>predictions and homology-based gene and start/stop codon identifications. Fourteen transposable-element-related sequences and 158 simple sequence repeat loci were delineated.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This report details the structure and content of targeted regions of the strawberry genome. The data indicate that the strawberry genome is gene-dense, with an average of one protein-encoding gene or pseudogene per 5.9 kb. Current overall EST coverage is sparse. The unexpected gene duplications and their differential patterns of EST support suggest possible subfunctionalization or pseudogenization of these sequences. This report provides a high-resolution depiction of targeted gene neighborhoods that will aid whole-genome sequence assembly, provide valuable tools for plant breeders and advance the understanding of strawberry genome evolution.</p

Common Data Acquisition Systems (DAS) Software Development for Rocket Propulsion Test (RPT) Test Facilities - A General Overview

The advent of the commercial space launch industry and NASA's more recent resumption of operation of Stennis Space Center's large test facilities after thirty years of contractor control resulted in a need for a non-proprietary data acquisition system (DAS) software to support government and commercial testing. The software is designed for modularity and adaptability to minimize the software development effort for current and future data systems. An additional benefit of the software's architecture is its ability to easily migrate to other testing facilities thus providing future commonality across Stennis. Adapting the software to other Rocket Propulsion Test (RPT) Centers such as MSFC, White Sands, and Plumbrook Station would provide additional commonality and help reduce testing costs for NASA. Ultimately, the software provides the government with unlimited rights and guarantees privacy of data to commercial entities. The project engaged all RPT Centers and NASA's Independent Verification & Validation facility to enhance product quality. The design consists of a translation layer which provides the transparency of the software application layers to underlying hardware regardless of test facility location and a flexible and easily accessible database. This presentation addresses system technical design, issues encountered, and the status of Stennis' development and deployment

Pain and temperature processing in dementia: a clinical and neuroanatomical analysis

Symptoms suggesting altered processing of pain and temperature have been described in dementia diseases and may contribute importantly to clinical phenotypes, particularly in the frontotemporal lobar degeneration spectrum, but the basis for these symptoms has not been characterized in detail. Here we analysed pain and temperature symptoms using a semi-structured caregiver questionnaire recording altered behavioural responsiveness to pain or temperature for a cohort of patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (n = 58, 25 female, aged 52–84 years, representing the major clinical syndromes and representative pathogenic mutations in the C9orf72 and MAPT genes) and a comparison cohort of patients with amnestic Alzheimer’s disease (n = 20, eight female, aged 53–74 years). Neuroanatomical associations were assessed using blinded visual rating and voxel-based morphometry of patients’ brain magnetic resonance images. Certain syndromic signatures were identified: pain and temperature symptoms were particularly prevalent in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (71% of cases) and semantic dementia (65% of cases) and in association with C9orf72 mutations (6/6 cases), but also developed in Alzheimer’s disease (45% of cases) and progressive non-fluent aphasia (25% of cases). While altered temperature responsiveness was more common than altered pain responsiveness across syndromes, blunted responsiveness to pain and temperature was particularly associated with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (40% of symptomatic cases) and heightened responsiveness with semantic dementia (73% of symptomatic cases) and Alzheimer’s disease (78% of symptomatic cases). In the voxel-based morphometry analysis of the frontotemporal lobar degeneration cohort, pain and temperature symptoms were associated with grey matter loss in a right-lateralized network including insula (P < 0.05 corrected for multiple voxel-wise comparisons within the prespecified anatomical region of interest) and anterior temporal cortex (P < 0.001 uncorrected over whole brain) previously implicated in processing homeostatic signals. Pain and temperature symptoms accompanying C9orf72 mutations were specifically associated with posterior thalamic atrophy (P < 0.05 corrected for multiple voxel-wise comparisons within the prespecified anatomical region of interest). Together the findings suggest candidate cognitive and neuroanatomical bases for these salient but under-appreciated phenotypic features of the dementias, with wider implications for the homeostatic pathophysiology and clinical management of neurodegenerative diseases

Atopic dermatitis and food sensitization in South African toddlers: Role of fiber and gut microbiota

The pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD) is complex and related to allergic responses and defects in skin barrier function. In common with many atopic diseases, the prevalence of AD has been increasing across the world.1 One of the theories for this increase is increased hygiene and urbanization-related changes in the environment, which can affect the human microbiome.2 Previous studies have found associations between the composition of the early gut microbiome and development of atopic conditions, including AD.3 Although the rate of atopic conditions, including AD and food allergy, is increasing on all continents, the prevalence of these diseases is still lower in African countries.1 This is especially interesting because individuals of African origin who live in Western countries, such as African Americans, are at a higher risk for severe AD.4 This variation places Africa in a special position; studying African populations is necessary not only to find ways to prevent increases of allergy conditions in African countries but also to provide important clues to the causes of this global increasing of allergic conditions. Young children who have developed AD in African communities with a low incidence of atopic disease might be the transitional group. In the current study, we have, for the first time to our knowledge, analyzed the fecal microbiota composition of a group of young black African children aged 12 to 36 months old with and without AD living in the same community in Cape Town, South Africa. Our primary goal was to examine whether toddlers with AD and control toddlers from Cape Town have different microbiomes in terms of bacterial richness and diversity. We also aimed to investigate the differences in the relative abundance for different operational taxonomic units between these 2 groups. In our subgroup analyses, we further tested the effect of multiple environmental factors on the gut microbiome in these children