Octave-tunable miniature RF resonators

The development and testing of a miniaturized, high-Q, broadly tunable resonator is described. An exemplary device, with a center frequency that is continuously tunable from 1.2 to 2.6 GHz, was tested in detail. Experimental results demonstrated a resonator Q of up to 380, and typical insertion loss of -1.9 dB for a 25 MHz 3-dB bandwidth. These resonators have been used to stabilize a broadly-tunable oscillator with phase noise of -132 dBc/Hz at 100-kHz offset, with a center frequency tunable from 1.2-2.6 GHz, and a tuning speed of 1 GHz/ms

NSF Fees

Overdraft fees now make up more than half of banks\u27 earnings on consumer checking accounts. In the past century, overdrafts have gone from the banker\u27s scourge to the banker\u27s profit center as bankers have learned that there is much to be made on these short term loans at breathtaking interest rates. I note that the federal agencies have been complicit in the growth of this form of lending. I propose that the banks and the agencies recognize the reality and attempt to mitigate these rates by encouraging the development of a competitive market

Representing the Low Income Consumer in Repossessions, Resales and Deficiency Judgment Cases

The goal of this article is to lend a helping hand to the debtor\u27s lawyer in his job of defending deficiency judgment suits brought following the repossession and resale of a debtor\u27s encumbered personal property. Although some of the following discussion is relevant to the defense of any creditor\u27s suit, and some applies to representation of the debtor prior to repossession or resale, the focal point of the discussion is the low-income consumer who has lost his automobile, television or some other hard good and has become a defendant in a suit brought by his secured creditor for a deficiency judgment. This focus has both controlled the selection of matter for discussion and shaped the analysis of the matter discussed. The reader will find the emphasis not upon the author\u27s notion of the proper interpretation of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), but rather upon the ways in which the debtor\u27s lawyer can distinquish unfavorable cases and upon the arguments he can make to capitalize upon favorable authority

Women in the Law

IN 1869 Belle A. Mansfield, reputedly the first female lawyer admitted to practice in the United States, was admitted to the state bar of Iowa. Others soon followed her and this dribble of women entering the legal profession has grown to a persistent and continuous trickle in the twentieth century, but it shows no signs of becoming a flood. At last count approximately 7,000 out of America\u27s 300,000 listed lawyers were women. Since the practice of law-even in the most masculine and aggressive Perry Mason style-does not require a strong back, large muscles, or any of the other peculiarly male characteristics, one might ask why women account for less than three per cent of all lawyers. That question is only part of a larger and equally puzzling inquiry about the status of women in medicine, engineering, business, and government, but this study cannot hope to answer the larger question and does not endeavor to do so; rather, its purpose is to investigate a ten-year segment of the small female contingent in the American bar

Absolute Priority and New Value

This paper is based on a lecture given on December 6, 1990 ast the Second Annual Robert E. Krinock Lecture. The absolute priority rule is a specific application of the broader doctrine that reorganization plans must be fair and equitable. Both have their origins in the railroad reorganization cases of the early 20th century. The general doctrine is now codified in section 1129(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code and the rule is codified in subsection 1129(b)(2)(B)(ii) which provides that the debtor must pay a nonconsenting class of unsecured creditors in full or the holder of any claim or interest that is junior to the claims of such class will not receive or retain under the plan on account of such junior claim or interest any property. At least when it is applied rigorously, this simple rule is a powerful brake on the debtor\u27s behavior and a strong influence on the negotiation that is likely to occur over-a reorganization plan

Article 5 - Recent Developments

I. Mitigation in Letter of Credit Transactions Assume a Buyer has procured a letter of credit to pay for contracted goods but no longer wants the goods. The Buyer and the Issuer would like to force the Beneficiary to mitigate. Assume that both the Issuer and Applicant repudiate their obligation or that the Applicant has failed and the Issuer repudiates its obligation to pay under the letter of credit. At the moment of repudiation the price for a gallon of the underlying oil that is the subject of the letter of credit is $.75 and that the letter of credit provides for payment at$1.00 per gallon. Seller off loads the oil, presents the proper documents and the documents are dishonored when the oil is worth $.75. The oil continues to decline in value to$.40 and the Beneficiary sues the Issuer and asks for the full amount of its draw. (Assume that to be $1 per gallon times 1 million gallons or a$1 million claim.) Can the Issuer reduce the Beneficiary\u27s claim by the amount that could have been saved by the Beneficiary\u27s mitigation--namely the difference between $.75 per gallon (the value of the oil at the time of repudiation) and$.40 per gallon (the value of the oil at the time of buyer\u27s later disposition)? The answer is no. One sentence in Section 5-11l(a) reads as follows: The claimant is not obligated to take action to avoid damages that might be due from the issuer under this section

Travelers Checks

A. Travelers Checks Defined 1. Courts have variously described travelers checks as certificates of deposit, negotiable instruments, securities, cash, and cashier\u27s checks. 2. The most persuasive analysis seems to treat travelers checks as cashier\u27s checks on which the issuer is both the drawer and the drawee, the purchaser once he has countersigned is the payee, and both the purchaser and the next recipient are indorsers

Default Rules in Sales and the Myth of Contracting Out

In this article, I trace the dispute in the courts and before the ALI and NCCUSL over the proper contract formation and interpretation default rules. In Part II, I consider the Gateway litigation. In Part III, I deal with UCITA and the revision to Article 2. In Part IV, I consider the merits of the competing default rules