Energy dependence of {\rm K}S0^0_{\rm S} and hyperon production at CERN SPS

Recent results on K$^0_{\rm S}$ and hyperon production in Pb-Pb collisions at 40 and 158 $A$ GeV/$c$ beam momentum from the NA57 experiment at CERN SPS are presented. Yields and ratios are compared with those measured by the NA49 experiment, where available. The centrality dependence of the yields and a comparison with the higher collision energy data from RHIC are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of QM2004 conferenc

Legal Uncertainty and Aberrant Contracts: The Choice of Law Clause

Legal uncertainty about the applicability of local consumer protection can destroy a consumer’s claim or defense within the consumer arbitration environment. What is worse, because the consumer arbitration system cannot accommodate either legal complexity or legal uncertainty, the tendency will be to resolve cases in the way the consumer’s form contract dictates, that is, in favor of the drafter. To demonstrate this effect and advocate statutory change, this article focuses on fee-shifting statutes in California and several other states. These statutes convert very common one-way fee-shifting terms (consumer pays business’s attorneys fees if business wins but not the other way around) into two-way fee-shifting provisions (loser pays winner’s fees in all cases). As written, these statutes level the lopsided playing field created by the drafter and, indeed, may give consumers access to lawyers in cases where their claims or defenses are strong. But choice of law provisions, found in the same consumer forms, introduce near-impenetrable uncertainty into the applicability of those same statutes, thereby reducing or eliminating the intended statutory benefits. Statutory change is needed to restore the intended benefits of the otherwise applicable fee-shifting statutes (and of other local consumer protection similarly degraded by drafters’ choice of law clauses); the article concludes by presenting a roadmap for state statutory reform

A Review of the Tools Used for Marine Monitoring in the UK: Combining Historic and Contemporary Methods with Modeling and Socioeconomics to Fulfill Legislative Needs and Scientific Ambitions

Marine environmental monitoring is undertaken to provide evidence that environmental management targets are being met. Moreover, monitoring also provides context to marine science and over the last century has allowed development of a critical scientific understanding of the marine environment and the impacts that humans are having on it. The seas around the UK are currently monitored by targeted, impact-driven, programmes (e.g., fishery or pollution based monitoring) often using traditional techniques, many of which have not changed significantly since the early 1900s. The advent of a new wave of automated technology, in combination with changing political and economic circumstances, means that there is currently a strong drive to move toward a more refined, efficient, and effective way of monitoring. We describe the policy and scientific rationale for monitoring our seas, alongside a comprehensive description of the types of equipment and methodology currently used and the technologies that are likely to be used in the future. We contextualize the way new technologies and methodologies may impact monitoring and discuss how whole ecosystems models can give an integrated, comprehensive approach to impact assessment. Furthermore, we discuss how an understanding of the value of each data point is crucial to assess the true costs and benefits to society of a marine monitoring programme

The angle variation trends of the stimulation points in the "Low", "Medium" and "High" groups.

<p>The results are expressed as the means (<i>n</i> = 8). *<i>p</i> < 0.05, as determined by one-way ANOVA.</p