A Note on the History of European Law and Economics: Wertheim's Dissertation

In 1930 a young Dutch scholar named W.F. Wertheim published his J.D.-dissertation Aansprakelijkheid voor schade buiten overeenkomst (Extra-contractual liability for damage). This dissertation did not attract much attention, and the author himself hardly did any further research on its topic. Taking in mind the development of law-and-economics some decades later, however, the book is highly remarkable. Long before the modern economic analysis of law was to be developed in the United States, attention was paid to the preventive effects of liability law and its influence on the welfare of society. In the first paragraph of this paper, Wertheims theory will be explained. The second paragraph is devoted to the reception of the book by the legal community and to the second thoughts the author himself had about it. In the third paragraph a comparison is made between method and application of Wertheim's theory and contemporary law-and-economics. The fourth paragraph offers a conclusion.

A Note on the History of European Law and Economics: Wertheim's Dissertation

In 1930 a young Dutch scholar namend W.F. Wertheim publlished his J.D.-dissertation Aansprakelijkheid voor schade buiten overeenkomst (Extra-contractual liability for damage). This dissertation dis not attract much attention, and rge author himself hardly did any further research on its topic. Taking in mind the development of law-and-economics some decades later, however, the book is highly remarkable. Long before the modern economic analysis of law was to be developed in the United States, attention was paid to the preventive effects of liability law and its influence on the welfare of society. In the first paragraph of this paper Wertheims theory will be explained. The second paragraph is devoted to the reception of the book by the legal community and to the second thoughts the author himself had bout it. In the third paragraph a comparison is made between method and application of Wertheim's theory and contemporary law-and-economics. The fourth paragraph offers a conclusion

Learned Hand in Europe: a Study in the Comparative Law and Economics

When investigating the possibilities of uniform European private law, questions regarding unity and diversity of legal concepts emerge. Aim of this paper is to indicate how Law and Economics can contribute to the existing views on this matter, thereby focussing more on unity than on diversity. The branch of Law and Economics that deals with the comparison of legal systems and concepts is known as comparative Law and Economics. Researchers from this field have spent ample attention to the possibility that European unity of law can be reached through legal transplants, where courts transplant a concept from another legal system in their own legal system. A second approach within comparative Law and Economics is the common core approach, where Law and Economics helps in identifying legal concepts that might have different names or formal requisites in different legal systems, but that in practice solve a similar case in a similar manner. In section 2, the main differences between common law and civil law are discussed from a Law and Economics point of view. These differences are often regarded as the main obstacles in reaching uniform private law. In section 3, the comparative Law and Economics approach will be discussed in greater detail concept of negligence and the comparable concepts such as Fahrlässigkeit and onzorgvuldigheid will be presented as an example of a common core

Once More, with Feeling: Design Thinking and Embodied Cognition

While leaders in business and industry maintain their interest in design thinking, academic discussions of the concept have become less common. This article examines design thinking in relation to develop- ments in cognitive science and embodied cognition. We examine an influ- ential theory of metaphor as central to cognition, along with theoretical nuances of the body, perception, and feeling. We argue that some material design practices may augment the creative process. We propose a broad interdisciplinary account for the role that feeling plays in design and cogni- tion both

Safety of Vitrectomy for Floaters

PurposeTo assess the risks of vitrectomy for the removal of primary and secondary vitreous opacities.DesignRetrospective, nonrandomized, interventional case series.MethodsWe reviewed the results of 116 consecutive cases of vitrectomy for vitreous floaters. Eighty-six cases were primary and 30 cases were secondary floaters. Main outcome measures were the incidence of iatrogenic retinal breaks and postoperative rhegmatogenous retinal detachments.ResultsWe found iatrogenic retinal breaks in 16.4% of operations. There was no statistically significant difference in risk between cases of primary and secondary floaters. Intraoperative posterior vitreous detachment induction was found to increase significantly the risk of breaks. Retinal detachment occurred in 3 cases (2.5%), all after operations for primary floaters. One case of complicated retinal detachment ended with a low visual acuity of hand movements. Cataract occurred in 50% of phakic cases. Transient postoperative hypotony was found after 5.2% of our operations, and transient postoperative high intraocular pressure was encountered in 7.8%. An intraoperative choroidal hemorrhage occurred in 1 case, which resolved spontaneously. The mean visual acuity improved from 0.20 to 0.13 logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution units.ConclusionsThe risk profile of vitrectomy for floaters is comparable with that of vitrectomy for other elective indications. Retinal breaks are a common finding during surgery and treatment of these breaks is crucial for the prevention of postoperative retinal detachment. Patients considering surgery for floaters should be informed specifically about the risks involved

BiomarCaRE: rationale and design of the European BiomarCaRE project including 300,000 participants from 13 European countries

Biomarkers are considered as tools to enhance cardiovascular risk estimation. However, the value of biomarkers on risk estimation beyond European risk scores, their comparative impact among different European regions and their role towards personalised medicine remains uncertain. Biomarker for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in Europe (BiomarCaRE) is an European collaborative research project with the primary objective to assess the value of established and emerging biomarkers for cardiovascular risk prediction. BiomarCaRE integrates clinical and epidemiological biomarker research and commercial enterprises throughout Europe to combine innovation in biomarker discovery for cardiovascular disease prediction with consecutive validation of biomarker effectiveness in large, well-defined primary and secondary prevention cohorts including over 300,000 participants from 13 European countries. Results from this study will contribute to improved cardiovascular risk prediction across different European populations. The present publication describes the rationale and design of the BiomarCaRE project. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10654-014-9952-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users