Supply Chains and Porous Boundaries: The Disaggregation of Legal Services

The economic downturn has had significant effects on law firms, and is causing many of them to rethink some basic assumptions about how they operate. In important respects, however, the downturn has simply intensified the effects of some deeper trends that preceded it, which are likely to continue after any recovery that may occur. This paper explores one of these trends, which is corporate client insistence that law firms “disaggregate” their services into discrete tasks that can be delegated to the least costly providers who can perform them. With advances in communications technology, there is increasing likelihood that some of these persons may be located outside the formal boundaries of the firm. This means that law firms may need increasingly to confront the make or buy decision that their corporate clients have regularly confronted for some time. The potential for vertical disintegration is a relatively recent development for legal services, but is well-established in other sectors of the global economy. Empirical work in several disciplines has identified a number of issues that arise for organizations as the make or buy decision becomes a potentially more salient feature of their operations. Much of this work has focused in particular on the implications of relying on outsourcing as an integral part of the production process. This paper discusses research on: (1) the challenges of ensuring that work performed outside the firm is fully integrated into the production process; (2) coordinating projects for which networks of organizations are responsible; (3) managing the transfer of knowledge inside and outside of firms that are participants in a supply chain; and (4) addressing the impact of using contingent workers on an organization’s workforce, structure, and culture. A review of this research suggests considerations that law firms will need to assess if they begin significantly to extend the process of providing services beyond their formal boundaries. Discussing the research also is intended to introduce concepts that may become increasingly relevant to law firms, but which currently are not commonly used to analyze their operations. Considering how these concepts are applicable to law firms may prompt us to rethink how to conceptualize these firms and what they do. This paper therefore is a preliminary attempt to explore: (1) the extent to which law firms may come to resemble the vertically disintegrated organizations that populate many other economic sectors and (2) the potential implications of this trend for the provision of legal services,the trajectory of legal careers, and lawyers’ sense of themselves as members of a distinct profession

Alternative strategies for space station financing

The attributes of the proposed space station program are oriented toward research activities and technologies which generate long term benefits for mankind. Unless such technologies are deemed of national interest and thus are government funded, they must stand on their own in the market place. Therefore, the objectives of a United States space station should be based on commercial criteria; otherwise, such a project attracts no long term funding. There is encouraging evidence that some potential space station activities should generate revenues from shuttle related projects within the decade. Materials processing concepts as well as remote sensing indicate substantial potential. Futhermore, the economics and thus the commercial feasibility of such projects will be improved by the operating efficiencies available with an ongoing space station program

Consumer Protection - The Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Insurance Code: Does Per Se Necessarily Preempt? - \u3cem\u3ePearce v. American Defender Life Insurance Co.\u3c/em\u3e

This Note will address two main issues. The first issue is whether a violation of the Insurance Code regulatory section entitled Unfair Trade Practices should be a per se unfair trade practice under the UTPA. The second is whether the Insurance Code preempts the UTPA in defining unfair insurance practices

Graceful Maneuvering: Corporate Avoidance of Liability through Bankruptcy and Corporate Law

Corporate Avoidance of Liability Through Bankruptcy and Corporate La

Developments in X-ray tomography characterization for electrochemical devices

Over the last century, X-ray imaging instruments and their accompanying tomographic reconstruction algorithms have developed considerably. With improved tomogram quality and resolution, voxel sizes down to tens of nanometers can now be achieved. Moreover, recent advancements in readily accessible lab-based X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) instruments have produced spatial resolutions comparable to specialist synchrotron facilities. Electrochemical energy conversion devices, such as fuel cells and batteries, have inherently complex electrode microstructures to achieve competitive power delivery for consideration as replacements for conventional sources. With resolution capabilities spanning tens of microns to tens of nanometers, X-ray CT has become widely employed in the three-dimensional (3D) characterization of electrochemical materials. The ability to perform multiscale imaging has enabled characterization from system-down to particle-level, with the ability to resolve critical features within device microstructures. X-ray characterization presents a favorable alternative to other 3D methods, such as focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy, due to its non-destructive nature, which allows four-dimensional (4D) studies, three spatial dimensions plus time, linking structural dynamics to device performance and lifetime. X-ray CT has accelerated research from fundamental understanding of the links between cell structure and performance, to the improvement in manufacturing and scale-up of full electrochemical cells. Furthermore, this has aided in the mitigation of degradation and cell-level failures, such as thermal runaway. This review presents recent developments in the use of X-ray CT as a characterization method and its role in the advancement of electrochemical materials engineering

Representative resolution analysis for X-ray CT: A Solid oxide fuel cell case study

A requirement to reduce dependency on high-carbon fuels has resulted in the rapid advancement of electrochemical devices. Considerable research has been applied to improve device performance and lifetime in order to compete with incumbent technologies. Of the portfolio of electrochemical conversion technologies, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) offer high fuel versatility and fast reaction kinetics without the requirement of expensive catalysts. However, degradation due to high temperature operation limits cell performance and lifetime, impeding widespread commercialisation. Due to the inherent link between microstructure and electrochemical performance, many three-dimensional (3D) characterisation techniques have been employed in the pursuit of the mitigation of degradation through rational electrode design. Instruments such as lab-based X-ray microscopes are now capable of imaging across multiple length scales, where the highest resolutions (i.e. smallest voxel lengths) are comparable to specialist synchrotron facilities. A widely used metric to describe electrode microstructure is the triple-phase boundary (TPB); the location where reactions occur within the SOFC electrode. The total TPB length is a vital metric in assessing the quality of an SOFC material, and thus many efforts have been made to determine accurate values. In order to map the TPB locations in 3D, the three constituent phases: metal, ceramic, and pore, need to be distinguished and segmented, requiring high resolutions. Although TPB values have been reported and compared extensively in the literature, the influence of the microscopic roughness is yet to be investigated. Using X-ray computed tomography (CT), here, for the first time, the effect of resolution is inspected for several key microstructural parameters. Moreover, the study is extended through the use of multiple instruments for a variety of sample structures. This work introduces the importance of the fractal properties of structures characterised using X-ray CT, which we expect to be influential across a broad range of materials. The choice of resolution when characterising a structure is important and determined by a variety of factors: instrument, feature size, image quality, etc., and should ultimately be chosen in order to efficaciously expose the features under investigation, in addition to this, metrics extracted should only be directly compared at the same resolution and, if possible, should be inspected for fractal properties via a representative resolution analysis. These conclusions are not restricted to SOFCs but should be applied to all fields of microstructural analysis

Data on the theoretical X-Ray attenuation and transmissions for lithium-ion battery cathodes

This article reports the data required for planning attenuation-based X-ray characterisation e.g. X-ray computed tomography (CT), of lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery cathodes. The data reported here is to accompany a co-submitted manuscript (10.1016/j.matdes.2020.108585 [1]) which compares two well-known X-ray attenuation data sources: Henke et al. and Hubbell et al., and applies methodology reported by Reiter et al. to extend this data towards the practical characterisation of prominent cathode materials. This data may be used to extend beyond the analysis reported in the accompanying manuscript, and may aid in the applications for other materials, not limited to Li-ion batteries

Theoretical transmissions for X-ray computed tomography studies of lithium-ion battery cathodes

X-ray computed tomography (CT) has emerged as a powerful tool for the 3D characterisation of materials. However, in order to obtain a useful tomogram, sufficient image quality should be achieved in the radiographs before reconstruction into a 3D dataset. The ratio of signal- and contrast-to-noise (SNR and CNR, respectively) quantify the image quality and are largely determined by the transmission and detection of photons that have undergone useful interactions with the sample. Theoretical transmission can be predicted if only a few variables are known: the material chemistry and penetrating thickness e.g. the particle diameter. This work discusses the calculations required to obtain transmission values for various Li(NiXMnYCoZ)O2 (NMC) lithium-ion battery cathodes. These calculations produce reference plots for quick assessment of beam parameters when designing an experiment. This is then extended to the theoretical material thicknesses for optimum image contrast. Finally, the theoretically predicted transmission is validated through comparison to experimentally determined values. These calculations are not exclusive to NMC, nor battery materials, but may be applied as a framework to calculate various sample transmissions and therefore may aid in the design and characterisation of numerous materials