Efficient Remedies for Breach of Warranty

This article attempts to suggest valuable refinements and extensions of the economic theory of warranty by explicitly considering the choice of remedies for breach of warranty in conjunction with the choice of warranty protection itself. In particular, it offers explanations for the prevalence of replacement terms rather than refund terms in warranties. Economists studying the general issue of breach of contract have noted that the choice of remedy has important implications for risk sharing, renegotiation, transaction-specific investment, and the incentive to breach.5 This article derives much of its insight from the recognition that work on the economics of contract breach has much to say that is relevant to the economics of warranties

Channeling episodes of Kasei Valles, Mars, and the nature of ridged plains material

The geologic mapping compiled at 1:500,000 scale of the northern Kasei Valles area of Mars (MTMs 25062 and 25067) indicates (1) at least three periods of Kasei Valles channeling, (2) the development of Sacra Fossae (linear depressions on Tempe Terra and Lunae Planum) in relation to Kasei channeling episodes, and (3) the nature of ridged plains material dissected by Kasei Valles on northern Lunae Planum. (The three channeling periods consists of two flood events and a later, sapping related event). These findings suggest hydrologic conditions and processes that formed Kasei Valles and associated features and terrains. It is concluded that an early period of flooding, whose source is perhaps buried beneath lava flows of Tharsis Montes, may have eroded streamlined features in northern Lunae Planum. Also, later floods originating from Echus Chasma formed after the initial flooding and the mesas adjacent to the plateau. The Sacra Fossae formed after the initial flooding and during the second flooding by sapping, outbreak, scarp retreat, and collapse along joints and fractures in ridged plains materials

Structure and thermodynamics of a mixture of patchy and spherical colloids: a multi-body association theory with complete reference fluid information

A mixture of solvent particles with short-range, directional interactions and solute particles with short-range, isotropic interactions that can bond multiple times is of fundamental interest in understanding liquids and colloidal mixtures. Because of multi-body correlations predicting the structure and thermodynamics of such systems remains a challenge. Earlier Marshall and Chapman developed a theory wherein association effects due to interactions multiply the partition function for clustering of particles in a reference hard-sphere system. The multi-body effects are incorporated in the clustering process, which in their work was obtained in the absence of the bulk medium. The bulk solvent effects were then modeled approximately within a second order perturbation approach. However, their approach is inadequate at high densities and for large association strengths. Based on the idea that the clustering of solvent in a defined coordination volume around the solute is related to occupancy statistics in that defined coordination volume, we develop an approach to incorporate the complete information about hard-sphere clustering in a bulk solvent at the density of interest. The occupancy probabilities are obtained from enhanced sampling simulations but we also develop a concise parametric form to model these probabilities using the quasichemical theory of solutions. We show that incorporating the complete reference information results in an approach that can predict the bonding state and thermodynamics of the colloidal solute for a wide range of system conditions.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1601.0438

Programs for computing properties of coastal-trapped waves and wind-driven motions over the continental shelf and slope

2nd ed.Documentation and listings are presented for a sequence of computer programs to be used for problems in continental shelf dynamics. Three of the programs are to be used for computing properties of free and forced coastal-trapped waves. A final program may be used to compute wind-driven fluctuations over the continental shelf and slope. This second edition includes several minor revisions and corrections in the computer code and the documentation.Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant OCE-0856

Programs for computing properties of coastal-trapped waves and wind-driven motions over the continental shelf and slope

Documentation and listings are presented for a sequence of computer programs to be used for problems in continental shelf dynamics. Three of the programs are to be used for computing properties of free and forced coastal-trapped waves. A final program may be used to compute wind-driven fluctuations over the continental shelf and slope.Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation under grant Number OCE 84-08563

The Rise and Decline of Operative Obstetrics or, the Joys of a Peripatetic Obstetrician

I awoke and it was a dream. This has encouraged me to share with you the joys of a peripatetic obstetrician who spent more than 40 years practising obstetrics when obstetrics, particularly operative obstetrics, truly was an Art. Sadly this is no longer the case, although one could, if one had the necessary experience, still practise this kind of obstetrics in a developing country where the patient would bless you for having saved her child and for having preserved her from a feared Caesarean section. It is almost impossible to convey the sense of achievement, joy and wonder when, bathed in sweat, after a difficult rotational forceps or breach delivery, one stands gazing at a new creation and shares with the parents their varying emotions

Source and magnitude of error in an inexpensive image-based water level measurement system

Recent technological advances have opened the possibility to use webcams and images as part of the environmental monitoring arsenal. The potential sources and magnitude of uncertainties inherent to an image-based water level measurement system are evaluated in an experimental design in the laboratory. Sources of error investigated include image resolution, lighting effects, perspective, lens distortion and water meniscus. Image resolution and meniscus were found to weigh the most in the overall uncertainty of this system. Image distortion, although largely taken into account by the software developed, may also significantly add to uncertainty. Results suggest that ‘‘flat’’ images with little distortion are preferable. After correction for the water meniscus, images captured with a camera (12 mm or 16 mm focal lengths) positioned 4–7 m from the water level edge have the potential to yield water level measurements within ±3 mm when using this technique

Current thinking and new paradigm for COPD

AbstractDuring the 2015 European Respiratory Society Congress, a symposium was held on ‘Current thinking and new paradigm for COPD’. Through a combination of plenary lectures and interactive panel discussions, experts discussed the recent evidence for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment and how this evidence can be applied in clinical practice