What Happened to Unjust Enrichment in California - The Deterioration of Equity in the California Courts

Under common law, the principles ofequity have always demanded the recognition of the right of individuals to seek recovery under the theory of unjust enrichment. Recovery under this doctrine is so deeply embedded into Western Society that it continues to be a core element in legal education and is codified in the Restatement Third of Contracts. Despite this rich tradition, an alarming divergence in decisions among California courts is deteriorating unjust enrichment as an independent cause- of-action, leaving many Californians who have been taken advantage of, unprotected. This Article examines the historical underpinnings of unjust enrichment and the confusion among California courts surrounding the doctrine. To resolve this confusion and provide a fair sense of justice, the California Supreme Court must interject in the discussion to solidify unjust enrichment as a stand-alone cause-of-action

Near-threshold fatigue crack growth in bulk metallic glass composites

A major drawback in using bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) as structural materials is their extremely poor fatigue performance. One way to alleviate this problem is through the composite route, in which second phases are introduced into the glass to arrest crack growth. In this paper, the fatigue crack growth behavior of in situ reinforced BMGs with crystalline dendrites, which are tailored to impart significant ductility and toughness to the BMG, was investigated. Three composites, all with equal volume fraction of dendrite phases, were examined to assess the influence of chemical composition on the near-threshold fatigue crack growth characteristics. While the ductility is enhanced at the cost of yield strength vis-à-vis that of the fully amorphous BMG, the threshold stress intensity factor range for fatigue crack initiation in composites was found to be enhanced by more than 100%. Crack blunting and trapping by the dendritic phases and constraining of the shear bands within the interdendritic regions are the micromechanisms responsible for this enhanced fatigue crack growth resistance

Discrimination of Individual Tigers (\u3cem\u3ePanthera tigris\u3c/em\u3e) from Long Distance Roars

This paper investigates the extent of tiger (Panthera tigris) vocal individuality through both qualitative and quantitative approaches using long distance roars from six individual tigers at Omaha\u27s Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE. The framework for comparison across individuals includes statistical and discriminant function analysis across whole vocalization measures and statistical pattern classification using a hidden Markov model (HMM) with frame-based spectral features comprised of Greenwood frequency cepstral coefficients. Individual discrimination accuracy is evaluated as a function of spectral model complexity, represented by the number of mixtures in the underlying Gaussian mixture model (GMM), and temporal model complexity, represented by the number of sequential states in the HMM. Results indicate that the temporal pattern of the vocalization is the most significant factor in accurate discrimination. Overall baseline discrimination accuracy for this data set is about 70% using high level features without complex spectral or temporal models. Accuracy increases to about 80% when more complex spectral models (multiple mixture GMMs) are incorporated, and increases to a final accuracy of 90% when more detailed temporal models (10-state HMMs) are used. Classification accuracy is stable across a relatively wide range of configurations in terms of spectral and temporal model resolution

A theoretical and numerical approach to "magic angle" of stone skipping

We investigate oblique impacts of a circular disk and water surface. An experiment [ Clanet, C., Hersen, F. and Bocquet, L., Nature 427, 29 (2004) ] revealed that there exists a "magic angle" of 20 [deg.] between a disk face and water surface which minimize the required speed for ricochet. We perform 3-dimensional simulation of the water impacts using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and analyze the results with an ordinal differential equation (ODE) model. Our simulation is in good agreement with the experiment. The analysis with the ODE model give us a theoretical insight for the ``magic angle" of stone skipping.Comment: 4 pages, 4figure

Conditioning of Sandhill Cranes During Fall Migration

Body mass of adult female and male sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) increased an average of 17 and 20%, respectively, from early September to late October on staging areas in central North Dakota and varied by year. Increases in body mass averaged 550 and 681 g among female and male G. c. canadensis, respectively, and 616 and 836 g among female and male G. c. rowani. Adult and juvenile G. c. rowani were lean at arrival, averaging 177 and 83 g of fat, respectively, and fat reserves increased to 677 and 482 g by mid-October. Fat-free dry mass increased by 12% among juveniles, reflecting substantial growth, but remained constant among adults. The importance of fall staging areas as conditioning sites for sandhill cranes, annual variation in body mass, and vulnerability of cranes to habitat loss underscore the need to monitor status of fall staging habitat in the northern plains region and to take steps to maintain suitable habitat where necessary

Electronic Device Incorporating Memristor Made From Metallic Nanowire

An electronic device includes a first electrode, a second electrode and a nanowire connected between the first and second electrodes to allow electric current flow. The nanowire is made from a conductive material exhibiting a variable resistance due to electromigration. The nanowire is repeatably switchable between two states. A voltage clamp operates through feedback control to maintain the voltage across the nanowire and prevent thermal runaway

Effect Of Shock Tunnel Geometry On Shockwave And Vortex Ring Formation, Propagation, And Head On Collision

Vortex ring research primarily focuses on the formation from circular openings. Consequently, the role of tunnel geometry is less understood, despite there being numerous research studies using noncircular shock tunnels. This experimental study investigated shockwaves and vortex rings from different geometry shock tunnels from formation at the tunnel opening to head on collision with another similarly formed vortex ring using schlieren imaging and statistical analysis. The velocity of the incident shockwave was found to be consistent across all four shock tunnel geometries, which include circle, hexagon, square, and triangle of the same cross-sectional area. The velocity was 1.2 ± 0.007 Mach and was independent of the tunnel geometry. However, the velocities of the resulting vortex rings differed between the shapes, with statistical analysis indicating significant differences between the triangle and hexagon vortex velocities compared to the circle. Vortex rings from the square and circle shock tunnels were found to have statistically similar velocities. All vortex rings slowed as they traveled due to corner inversion and air drag. All shock tunnels with corners produce a wobble in the vortex rings. Vortex rings interact with opposing incident shockwaves prior to colliding with each other. Vortex velocity before and after shock-vortex interaction was measured and evaluated, showing statistically similar results. Shock-vortex interaction slows the shockwave upon interaction, while the shock-shock interaction resulted in no change in shock velocity. Although the vortex rings travel at different velocities, all head-on vortex ring collisions produce a perpendicular shockwave that travels at 1.04 ± 0.005 Mach

771-3 Direct Characterization of F1ecalnide Binding Rates from Use-Dependent Conduction Delay In Canine Purkinje Fibers

To quantitatively characterize flecainide-induced channel blockade from usedependent conduction delay (CD), 12 canine purkinje fibers were studied using a dual microelectrode technique. During 60 sec of pacing at interstimulus intervals (ISI) of 1.25–0.4 sec with 2μM flecainide (FLEC), incremental CD followed a monoexponential time course, the rates of which were linearly related to the interpulse recovery interval (tr=ISI — action potential duration). Steady state block was an exponential function of the recovery rates. Use-dependent block derived from incremental CD and decremental squared conduction velocity (θ2) was characterized by the forward (k) and reverse (I) rate constants for the activated (a) and resting (r) states:ka (× 106) (mol-1 s-1)la (s-1)kr (× 102) (mol-1 s-1)Ir (s-1)CD7.0±2.612.0±4.40.6±1.74.01±1.63θ210.0±3.414.7±2.52.8±5.73.66±1.40Vmax(prox)6.8±2.315.9±5.05.1±10.34.22±1.11These rates reflect marked open state Na+ channel block and closed channel trapping at resting membrane potentials with FLEC. The addition of 1μM isoproterenol (ISO) to FLEC-superfused fibers reversed the FLEC-induced reduction of θ2 from 1.79±0.7 to 1.89±0.89 (m/s)2 (p=0.017) without changing V˙max. The rate constants for FLEC binding and unbinding were not altered by ISO. Thus FLEC's apparent binding rates can be quantified from its use-{jependent effects on conduction. Both ISO's selective reversal of FLEC effect on θ2 but not V˙max and the absence of changes in the rate constants suggest that the modulation of FLEC effect is due to an alteration in passive membrane properties. These characterizations will facilitate subsequent comparisons of FLEC interactions in pathologic and hyperadrenergic states in vivo

Influences of Management Regimes on Breeding Bird Densities and Habitat in Mixed-Grass Prairie: An Example from North Dakota

It is well known that North American grassland bird populations appear to be declining (Igl and Johnson 1997, Sauer et al. 2004). Most of these birds breed and winter in North America, so declines are likely associated with continental processes (Knopf 1994). Scientists have also observed parallel declines among species that have overlapping breeding ranges but disparate wintering distributions (Igl and Johnson 1997). These patterns suggest declines may be linked to problems on the breeding grounds