Is Strict Product Liability in Tort Identical to Implied Warranty in Contract in the Context of Personal Injuries

Product liability has evolved from a combination of contract and tort theories. Under current contract analysis a manufacturer is liable for injuries resulting from a product which is unmerchantable, while under strict liability in tort a manufacturer is liable for injuries resulting from a product which is defective.” The majority of legal scholars and jurisdictions have found that in the area of personal injury these two underlying tests are synonymous. This means, in effect, that all products found unmerchantable should also be found defective, and vice versa

Endogenous annexin A1 counter-regulates bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis

PMCID: PMC3212807This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Multifluid, Magnetohydrodynamic Shock Waves with Grain Dynamics II. Dust and the Critical Speed for C Shocks

This is the second in a series of papers on the effects of dust on multifluid, MHD shock waves in weakly ionized molecular gas. We investigate the influence of dust on the critical shock speed, v_crit, above which C shocks cease to exist. Chernoff showed that v_crit cannot exceed the grain magnetosound speed, v_gms, if dust grains are dynamically well coupled to the magnetic field. We present numerical simulations of steady shocks where the grains may be well- or poorly coupled to the field. We use a time-dependent, multifluid MHD code that models the plasma as a system of interacting fluids: neutral particles, ions, electrons, and various ``dust fluids'' comprised of grains with different sizes and charges. Our simulations include grain inertia and grain charge fluctuations but to highlight the essential physics we assume adiabatic flow, single-size grains, and neglect the effects of chemistry. We show that the existence of a phase speed v_phi does not necessarily mean that C shocks will form for all shock speeds v_s less than v_phi. When the grains are weakly coupled to the field, steady, adiabatic shocks resemble shocks with no dust: the transition to J type flow occurs at v_crit = 2.76 v_nA, where v_nA is the neutral Alfven speed, and steady shocks with v_s > 2.76 v_nA are J shocks with magnetic precursors in the ion-electron fluid. When the grains are strongly coupled to the field, v_crit = min(2.76 v_nA, v_gms). Shocks with v_crit < v_s < v_gms have magnetic precursors in the ion-electron-dust fluid. Shocks with v_s > v_gms have no magnetic precursor in any fluid. We present time-dependent calculations to study the formation of steady multifluid shocks. The dynamics differ qualitatively depending on whether or not the grains and field are well coupled.Comment: 43 pages with 17 figures, aastex, accepted by The Astrophysical Journa

On the hierarchical classification of G Protein-Coupled Receptors

Motivation: G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) play an important role in many physiological systems by transducing an extracellular signal into an intracellular response. Over 50% of all marketed drugs are targeted towards a GPCR. There is considerable interest in developing an algorithm that could effectively predict the function of a GPCR from its primary sequence. Such an algorithm is useful not only in identifying novel GPCR sequences but in characterizing the interrelationships between known GPCRs. Results: An alignment-free approach to GPCR classification has been developed using techniques drawn from data mining and proteochemometrics. A dataset of over 8000 sequences was constructed to train the algorithm. This represents one of the largest GPCR datasets currently available. A predictive algorithm was developed based upon the simplest reasonable numerical representation of the protein's physicochemical properties. A selective top-down approach was developed, which used a hierarchical classifier to assign sequences to subdivisions within the GPCR hierarchy. The predictive performance of the algorithm was assessed against several standard data mining classifiers and further validated against Support Vector Machine-based GPCR prediction servers. The selective top-down approach achieves significantly higher accuracy than standard data mining methods in almost all cases

H2 reformation in post-shock regions

H2 formation is an important process in post-shock regions, since H2 is an active participant in the cooling and shielding of the environment. The onset of H2 formation therefore has a strong effect on the temperature and chemical evolution in the post shock regions. We recently developed a model for H2 formation on a graphite surface in warm conditions. The graphite surface acts as a model system for grains containing large areas of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon structures. Here this model is used to obtain a new description of the H2 formation rate as a function of gas temperature that can be implemented in molecular shock models. The H2 formation rate is substantially higher at high gas temperatures as compared to the original implementation of this rate in shock models, because of the introduction of H atoms which are chemically bonded to the grain (chemisorption). Since H2 plays such a key role in the cooling, the increased rate is found to have a substantial effect on the predicted line fluxes of an important coolant in dissociative shocks [O I] at 63.2 and 145.5 micron. With the new model a better agreement between model and observations is obtained. Since one of the goals of Herschel/PACS will be to observe these lines with higher spatial resolution and sensitivity than the former observations by ISO-LWS, this more accurate model is very timely to help with the interpretation of these future results.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted in MNRAS Letter

Decreased gene expression from T7 promoters may be due to impaired production of active T7 RNA polymerase

BACKGROUND: Protein expression vectors that utilize the bacteriophage T7 polymerase/promoter system are capable of very high levels of protein production. Frequently, however, expression from these vectors does not reliably achieve optimal levels of protein production. Strategies have been proposed previously that successfully maintain high expression levels, however we sought to determine the cause of induction failure. RESULTS: We demonstrated that decreases in protein overproduction levels are not due to significant plasmid loss nor to mutations arising on the plasmid, but instead largely are attributable to chromosomal mutations that diminish the level of functional T7 RNA polymerase, resulting in decreased expression from the plasmid. Isolation of plasmid DNA from non-expressing strains and reintroduction of the plasmid into a T7 RNA polymerase-producing strain such as BL21(λDE3) reproducibly restored high level protein production. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that a major contributing factor to decreased expression levels in T7 based systems is chromosomal mutation resulting in loss of functional T7 RNA polymerase. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that optimal protein overproduction was obtained reproducibly from T7 promoters using freshly transformed cells that had not been subjected to outgrowth during which mutations could accumulate

Port Stanley Magnetic Observatory installation report 6 - 10 February 2003

This report describes the modifications made to the Port Stanley Geomagnetic Observatory during a visit to the Falkland Islands in February 2003. Since the report is intended as a technical reference for observatory operation, the instruments, computing equipment, software and cabling have been described in detail. The modifications were undertaken to ensure the continued supply of high quality geomagnetic data from this observatory, and to this end, there are some further recommendations for future visits listed in the final section of the report

H2_2D+^+ line emission in Proto-Planetary Disks

%Context: {Previous studies have indicated that the 372.4 GHz ground transition of ortho-H$_2$D$^+$ might be a powerful probe of Proto-Planetary Disks. The line could be especially suited for study of the disk mid-plane, where the bulk of the mass resides and where planet formation takes place.} %Aims: {Provide detailed theoretical predictions for the line intensity, profile and maps expected for representative disk models.} %Methods: {We determine the physical and chemical structure of the disks from the model developed by Ceccarelli & Dominik (2005). The line emission is computed with the new radiative transfer method developed recently by Elitzur & Asensio Ramos (2006).} %Results: {We present intensity maps convolved with the expected ALMA resolution, which delineate the origin of the H$_2$D$^+$ 372.4 GHz line. In the disk inner regions, the line probes the conditions in the mid-plane out to radial distances of a few tens of AU, where Solar-like planetary systems might form. In the disk outermost regions, the line originates from slightly above the mid-plane. When the disk is spatially resolved, the variation of line profile across the image provides important information about the velocity field. Spectral profiles of the entire disk flux show a double peak shape at most inclination angles.} %Conclusions: {Our study confirms that the 372.4 GHz H$_2$D$^+$ line provides powerful diagnostics of the mid-plane of Proto-Planetary Disks. Current submillimeter telescopes are capable of observing this line, though with some difficulties. The future ALMA interferometer will have the sensitivity to observe and even spatially resolve the H$_2$D$^+$ line emission.}Comment: To appear in A&