Carrying a Good Joke Too Far

Contract is predicated on agreement, or so the story goes. Of course, the reality of the modern bank-customer transaction is not so straightforward. In those transactions, the contract law is confronted with an ostensible dilemma: Should the law find its goal in the efficiency to be gained by binding customers to terms which they neither read nor understand? Or should the law instead focus on classical conceptions of bargain and agreement, and refuse to enforce contract terms that do not exhibit these characteristics? Article 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code, which regulates bank-customer transactions, attempts to strike a balance between fairness and efficiency, but the success of its task is undermined by one provision, section 4-103, which permits banks and customers to circumvent the effect of the Article by agreement. The majority of the form terms that invade bank-customer agreements are not the subject of agreement in any meaningful sense; they are unilateral impositions of the stronger contracting party: the bank. Provisions such as waivers of a customer\u27s right to a jury trial and terms granting the bank the authority to alter the terms of the account agreement abound, and nobody—including the courts asked to enforce these provisions—seriously contends that these terms are the result of agreement in the sense of a bargained-for exchange. Instead, as the economic literature shows, these terms result from banks\u27 exploitation of their naïve customers. In the typical bank-customer transaction, banks, like all businesses, exploit the naïveté of their less-sophisticated customers by imposing on those customers terms to which the customers have not manifested real agreement. This exploitation, which occurs even at market equilibrium, is achieved by the use of shrouded terms, or terms whose meaning and effect are hidden from the customer. But the impact of this shrouding is more harmful than a simple exploitation of naive customers: Sophisticated consumers are complicit in the bank\u27s efforts to exploit naive customers, Indeed, because that exploitation redounds to their benefit, sophisticated customers seek out banks that exploit naive customers. A pernicious cross-subsidy results. The extant justifications of unilaterally-imposed form terms such as those in bank-customer agreements miss the mark because they fail to account for that cross-subsidy. Commentators have argued that courts are capable of weeding out those shrouded terms that result in an aggregate inefficiency, or that naive customers suffer no real detriment because they are shielded by a protective umbrella erected by the more sophisticated customers. One commentator has argued that shrouded terms are merely a prelude to later bargaining and negotiation that occurs when a customer disadvantaged by a term calls to complain about its effects. These varied attempts to craft a trust-the-market solution to the impact of shrouded terms fail because the very market that created these terms cannot be trusted to alleviate their pernicious effects. If we cannot trust the market to police the effects of shrouded terms, then we must find some other mechanism to accomplish that task. Article 4 attempted to provide such a mechanism in the form of a laundry list of acceptable terms that would prevent banks from gaining too much power over their customers. But for those transactors that would find it advantageous to circumvent Article 4\u27s effects, section 4-103 provided an escape clause. Now, the escape clause has become the rule rather than the exception, and a reexamination is due. The conclusion of this paper is that advertisement about the nature and impact of the terms contained in account agreements, and thus education of bank customers, can undo the harmful effects of shrouded terms. With the shroud lifted, bank-customer agreements, like any other contract, can be evaluated by reference to classical notions of bargain and agreement

Quasiperiodic Envelope Solitons

We analyse nonlinear wave propagation and cascaded self-focusing due to second-harmonic generation in Fibbonacci optical superlattices and introduce a novel concept of nonlinear physics, the quasiperiodic soliton, which describes spatially localized self-trapping of a quasiperiodic wave. We point out a link between the quasiperiodic soliton and partially incoherent spatial solitary waves recently generated experimentally.Comment: Submitted to PRL. 4 pages with 5 figure

Cyclotron resonance lineshape in a Wigner crystal

The cyclotron resonance absorption spectrum in a Wigner crystal is calculated. Effects of spin-splitting are modelled by substitutional disorder, and calculated in the coherent potential approximation. Due to the increasing strength of the dipole-dipole interaction, the results show a crossover from a double-peak spectrum at small filling factors to a single-peak spectrum at filling factors \agt 1/6. Radiation damping and magnetophonon scattering can also influence the cyclotron resonance. The results are in very good agreement with experiments.Comment: 4 pages REVTEX, attempt to append 3 figures that seem to have been lost last tim

Multi-component optical solitary waves

We discuss several novel types of multi-component (temporal and spatial) envelope solitary waves that appear in fiber and waveguide nonlinear optics. In particular, we describe multi-channel solitary waves in bit-parallel-wavelength fiber transmission systems for high performance computer networks, multi-colour parametric spatial solitary waves due to cascaded nonlinearities of quadratic materials, and quasiperiodic envelope solitons due to quasi-phase-matching in Fibonacci optical superlattices.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures; To be published in: Proceedings of the Dynamics Days Asia-Pacific: First International Conference on Nonlinear Science (Hong-Kong, 13-16 July, 1999), Editor: Bambi Hu (Elsevier Publishers, 2000

Identifying risk factors for progression to critical care admission and death among individuals with acute pancreatitis : a record linkage analysis of Scottish healthcare databases

This study was commissioned by GSK through the Farr Institute/SHIP/eDRIS single portal. DJM is a Clinician Scientist Fellow funded by the Health Foundation/Academy of Medical Sciences.Objectives: Acute pancreatitis (AP) can initiate systemic complications that require support in critical care (CC). Our objective was to use the unified national health record to define the epidemiology of AP in Scotland, with a specific focus on deterministic and prognostic factors for CC admission in AP. Setting: Health boards in Scotland (n=4). Participants: We included all individuals in a retrospective observational cohort with at least one episode of AP (ICD10 code K85) occurring in Scotland from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2012. 3340 individuals were coded as AP. Methods: Data from 16 sources, spanning general practice, community prescribing, Accident and Emergency attendances, hospital in-patient, CC and mortality registries, were linked by a unique patient identifier in a national safe haven. Logistic regression and gamma models were used to define independent predictive factors for severe AP (sAP) requiring CC admission or leading to death. Results: 2053 individuals (61.5% (95% CI 59.8% to 63.2%)) met the definition for true AP (tAP). 368 patients (17.9% of tAP (95% CI 16.2% to 19.6%)) were admitted to CC. Predictors of sAP were pre-existing angina or hypertension, hypocalcaemia and age 30-39 years, if type 2 diabetes mellitus was present. The risk of sAP was lower in patients with multiple previous episodes of AP. In-hospital mortality in tAP was 5.0% (95% CI 4.1% to 5.9%) overall and 21.7% (95% CI 19.9% to 23.5%) in those with tAP necessitating CC admission. Conclusions: National record-linkage analysis of routinely collected data constitutes a powerful resource to model CC admission and prognosticate death during AP. Mortality in patients with AP who require CC admission remains high.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

An imbalance in progenitor cell populations reflects tumour progression in breast cancer primary culture models

Many factors influence breast cancer progression, including the ability of progenitor cells to sustain or increase net tumour cell numbers. Our aim was to define whether alterations in putative progenitor populations could predict clinicopathological factors of prognostic importance for cancer progression.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Understanding Dwarf Galaxies in order to Understand Dark Matter

Much progress has been made in recent years by the galaxy simulation community in making realistic galaxies, mostly by more accurately capturing the effects of baryons on the structural evolution of dark matter halos at high resolutions. This progress has altered theoretical expectations for galaxy evolution within a Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model, reconciling many earlier discrepancies between theory and observations. Despite this reconciliation, CDM may not be an accurate model for our Universe. Much more work must be done to understand the predictions for galaxy formation within alternative dark matter models.Comment: Refereed contribution to the Proceedings of the Simons Symposium on Illuminating Dark Matter, to be published by Springe

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) pilot point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use

A standardised methodology for a combined point prevalence survey (PPS) on healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial use in European acute care hospitals developed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control was piloted across Europe. Variables were collected at national, hospital and patient level in 66 hospitals from 23 countries. A patient-based and a unit-based protocol were available. Feasibility was assessed via national and hospital questionnaires. Of 19,888 surveyed patients, 7.1% had an HAI and 34.6% were receiving at least one antimicrobial agent. Prevalence results were highest in intensive care units, with 28.1% patients with HAI, and 61.4% patients with antimicrobial use. Pneumonia and other lower respiratory tract infections (2.0% of patients; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.8-2.2%) represented the most common type (25.7%) of HAI. Surgical prophylaxis was the indication for 17.3% of used antimicrobials and exceeded one day in 60.7% of cases. Risk factors in the patient-based protocol were provided for 98% or more of the included patients and all were independently associated with both presence of HAI and receiving an antimicrobial agent. The patient-based protocol required more work than the unit-based protocol, but allowed collecting detailed data and analysis of risk factors for HAI and antimicrobial use.peer-reviewe

Revista de Vertebrados de la Estación Biológica de Doñana

Ritmo diario de actividad social en (Gambusia affinis)Sobre la herpetofauna de la Sierra de Estrella (Portugal) con especial referencia a Coronella austriaca austriaca y Vipera latastiNuevos datos sobre la distribución geográfica de los anfibios y reptiles ibéricosBiogeografía en la evolución de un grupo de formas de Coluber en el Paleártico OccidentalDatos sobre la alimentación de ofidiosEstructura de las galerías de nidificación del Abejaruco (Merops apiaster) en DoñanaComportamiento de la Perdiz Moruna ( Alectoris barbara) en cautividadEl paso otoñal de Sylvia borin y Sylvia conmmunis en la Reserva de DoñanaSobre el lirón Gris (Glis glis pyrenaicus Cabrera, 1908) en España.Sobre alimentación y biología de la Gineta (Genetta genetta lo) en EspañaEliomys quercinus valverdei, un nuevo lirón careto del noroeste de la Península IbéricaPeer reviewe

Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT-P): A Probe-Class Mission Concept Study

LOFT-P is a mission concept for a NASA Astrophysics Probe-Class (less than $1B) X-ray timing mission, based on the LOFT M-class concept originally proposed to ESA's M3 and M4 calls. LOFT-P requires very large collecting area, high time resolution, good spectral resolution, broadband spectral coverage (2-30 keV), highly flexible scheduling, and an ability to detect and respond promptly to time-critical targets of opportunity. Many of LOFTP's targets are bright, rapidly varying sources, so these measurements are synergistic to imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy instruments, addressing much smaller distance scales than are possible without very long baseline X-ray interferometry, and using complementary techniques to address the geometry and dynamics of emission regions. LOFT-P was presented as an example mission to the head of NASA's Astrophysics Division, to demonstrate the strong community support for creation of a probe-class, for missions costing between$500M and $1B. We submitted a white paper4 in response to NASA PhysPAG's call for white papers: Probe-class Mission Concepts, describing LOFT-P science and a simple extrapolation from the ESA study costs. The next step for probe-class missions will be input into the NASA Astrophysics Decadal Survey to encourage the creation of a probe-class opportunity. We report on a 2016 study by MSFC's Advanced Concepts Office of LOFT-P, a US-led probe-class LOFT concept