BILLS AND NOTES-LIMITATION OF ACTIONS-RUNNING OF THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS AGAINST THE HOLDER OF A CHECK

Defendant issued a check to plaintiff\u27s intestate on July 1, 1942 for services rendered. On April 21, 1943, the payee deposited the check in her bank, but it was returned to her uncollected because the bank on which it was drawn refused to make payment on account of its stale date. Nothing further was done to enforce payment of the check during the payee\u27s lifetime, and she died on September 20, 1948. This action on the check was brought by her administrator on July 28, 1949. On appeal from a judgment for plaintiff, held, the action is barred by the statute of limitations. Being a demand instrument, the action should have been commenced within six years from the date of issue, by July 1, 1948. Farrell v. City of New York, (N.Y. 1950) 98 N.Y.S. (2d) 56

CONTRACTS-ILLEGALITY-EFFECT OF VIOLATION OF ASSUMED NAME STATUTE

ln response to a subpoena, petitioner appeared as a witness before a United States district court grand jury. Several questions concerning· her knowledge and association with the Communist Party were put to her. In each case, she refused to answer the questions, claiming the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination. For refusal to answer these same questions when brought before the district court, petitioner was adjudged to be in contempt of court. The court of appeals affirmed the holdings, and certiorari was granted by the Supreme Court. Held, judgment reversed. The Smith Act makes it unlawful to advocate knowingly the desirability of the overthrow of the government by force or violence, to organize or help to organize any society which teaches, advocates, or encourages such overthrow of the government, or to be or become a member of such a group with knowledge of its purposes. In view of that act, answers to the questions propounded might have furnished a link in the chain of evidence needed in a prosecution of the petitioner for violation of, or conspiracy to violate, said act. Under these circumstances, the Constitution gave the petitioner the privilege of remaining silent. Blau v. United States,/em\u3e, 340 U.S.· 159, 71 S.Ct. 223 (1950)

CITIZENSHIP-EXPATRIATION-DISTINCTION BETWEEN NATURALIZED AND NATURAL BORN CITIZENS

Plaintiff\u27s father, a native of Germany, was naturalized in the United States in 1896. In 1901, he returned to Germany with his American wife, and plaintiff was born in that country in 1905. Plaintiff made occasional visits to the United States, but was at all times domiciled in Germany. He served in the German army during World War II. In 1947, upon refusal of his application for a passport as a citizen of the United States, he came to this country on a temporary visa and brought a declaratory judgment action for adjudication that he was a citizen. The trial court refused to believe his testimony that he did not take the oath of allegiance to Germany and concluded that he expatriated himself when he took such an oath. On appeal, held, affirmed. (1) The refusal of the trial court to believe plaintiff\u27s testimony was justified. (2) As plaintiff\u27s citizenship at birth was by virtue of the Act of 1855, he was a naturalized citizen, and therefore subject to the expatriation provision for naturalized citizens in the Act of 1907. He has failed to overcome the presumption of cessation of citizenship that arises thereunder from prolonged residence in a foreign country. Zimmer v. Acheson, (10th Cir. 1951) 191 F. (2d) 209

FEDERAL PROCEDURE-REMOVAL OF CAUSES-MEANING OF RECEIPT BY DEFENDANT WHEN SERVICE IS ON A NONRESIDENT MOTORIST

As a result of an automobile accident in Missouri, the plaintiff, a resident of Missouri, brought a damage action in Missouri against the defendant, a resident of Illinois. Service was had on the defendant by serving the Secretary of State of Missouri and sending notice by registered mail to the defendant, pursuant to the Missouri nonresident motorist statute. Service was received by the Secretary of State on January 13, 1951, and notice was received by the defendant on January 20, 1951. The defendant removed the cause to the federal district court on February 9, 1951. The plaintiff moved to remand on the ground that the petition for removal was untimely, having been made after the twenty day period allowed for removal by section 1446(b) of Title 28 U.S.C. Held, the petition was timely as the twenty day period is to be measured from receipt by the defendant of the notice, and not from the time of service on the Secretary of State. Welker v. Hefner, (D.C. Mo. 1951) 97 F. Supp. 630

Layered XY-Models, Anyon Superconductors, and Spin-Liquids

The partition function of the double-layer $XY$ model in the (dual) Villain form is computed exactly in the limit of weak coupling between layers. Both layers are found to be locked together through the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, while they become decoupled well inside the normal phase. These results are recovered in the general case of a finite number of such layers. When re-interpreted in terms of the dual problems of lattice anyon superconductivity and of spin-liquids, they also indicate that the essential nature of the transition into the normal state found in two dimensions persists in the case of a finite number of weakly coupled layers.Comment: 10 pgs, TeX, LA-UR-94-394

A RIAM/lamellipodin-talin-integrin complex forms the tip of sticky fingers that guide cell migration.

The leading edge of migrating cells contains rapidly translocating activated integrins associated with growing actin filaments that form 'sticky fingers' to sense extracellular matrix and guide cell migration. Here we utilized indirect bimolecular fluorescence complementation to visualize a molecular complex containing a Mig-10/RIAM/lamellipodin (MRL) protein (Rap1-GTP-interacting adaptor molecule (RIAM) or lamellipodin), talin and activated integrins in living cells. This complex localizes at the tips of growing actin filaments in lamellipodial and filopodial protrusions, thus corresponding to the tips of the 'sticky fingers.' Formation of the complex requires talin to form a bridge between the MRL protein and the integrins. Moreover, disruption of the MRL protein-integrin-talin (MIT) complex markedly impairs cell protrusion. These data reveal the molecular basis of the formation of 'sticky fingers' at the leading edge of migrating cells and show that an MIT complex drives these protrusions

Comparative Analysis of Distribution and Abundance of West Nile and Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis Virus Vectors in Suffolk County, New York, Using Human Population Density and Land Use/Cover Data

Five years of CDC light trap data from Suffolk County, NY, were analyzed to compare the applicability of human population density (HPD) and land use/cover (LUC) classification systems to describe mosquito abundance and to determine whether certain mosquito species of medical importance tend to be more common in urban (defined by HPD) or residential (defined by LUC) areas. Eleven study sites were categorized as urban or rural using U.S. Census Bureau data and by LUC types using geographic information systems (GISs). Abundance and percent composition of nine mosquito taxa, all known or potential vectors of arboviruses, were analyzed to determine spatial patterns. By HPD definitions, three mosquito species, Aedes canadensis (Theobald), Coquillettidia perturbans (Walker), and Culiseta melanura (Coquillett), differed significantly between habitat types, with higher abundance and percent composition in rural areas. Abundance and percent composition of these three species also increased with freshwater wetland, natural vegetation areas, or a combination when using LUC definitions. Additionally, two species, Ae. canadensis and Cs. melanura, were negatively affected by increased residential area. One species, Aedes vexans (Meigen), had higher percent composition in urban areas. Two medically important taxa, Culex spp. and Aedes triseriatus (Say), were proportionally more prevalent in residential areas by LUC classification, as was Aedes trivittatus (Coquillett). Although HPD classification was readily available and had some predictive value, LUC classification resulted in higher spatial resolution and better ability to develop location specific predictive models