The Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998: The Sun Sets on California\u27s Blue Sky Laws

It is often said that California sets the pace for changes in America\u27s tastes. Trends established in California often find their way into the heartland, having a profound effect on our nation\u27s cultural scene. Nouvelle cuisine, the dialect of the Valley Girl and rollerblading all have their genesis on the West Coast. The most recent trend to emerge from California, instead of catching on in the rest of the country, has been stopped dead in its tracks by a legislative rebuke from Washington, D.C. California\u27s latest, albeit short-lived, contribution to the nation was a migration of securities fraud class actions from federal to state court. This migration had its origin in Washington, D.C., not Los Angeles. Less than three years ago, Congress passed the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (Reform Act, Act, or PSLRA. The corporate lobby and professionals who serve corporations persuaded Congress that companies and their managers were being harassed by class action lawyers more concerned with a case\u27s settlement value (and potential attorneys\u27 fees) than its merits. In response to that perceived abuse, Congress enacted the Reform Act, a series of primarily procedural measures making it more difficult to bring securities fraud class actions. Three years after its passage, the Act has greatly altered the course of securities litigation; however, its effect on capital formation and investor protection remains uncertain. One result of the Reform Act became clear soon after its passage although it seems not to have been anticipated by Congress. The Act\u27s sweeping reform, directed largely at securities fraud class actions brought in federal court, leaves state securities fraud actions untouched. Class action lawyers sought to avoid the restrictions imposed by the Reform Act by resorting to state law actions brought in state court. The majority of the state class actions filed since passage of the Reform Act have been filed in California. The first part of this Article assesses the evidence showing a migration to California state court. The authors conclude that claims regarding the magnitude of migration to state court were overblown, but that parallel state and federal cases were a serious problem for corporate issuers forced to defend such dual-track litigation and that state liability concerns threatened to undermine the Reform Act\u27s safe harbor for forward-looking statements

Contract Negotiation Skills: A Workshop for Women in Medicine

© 2020 Simone et al. Introduction: Contract negotiation is a high-stakes interaction, yet most physicians are never taught negotiation skills. Studies suggest that women, as compared with men, display a lower propensity to initiate negotiations and negotiate less competitively, highlighting a need for training to help level the playing field for female physicians. Methods: We devised a learner-centered workshop for female physicians that included a mini-didactic on negotiation principles, a question-and-answer time with a lawyer, an interactive role-play on contract negotiation style, and guided reflection. The workshop was intended for women in medicine from the level of medical student to full professor. The workshop was evaluated by pre- and postworkshop surveys with quantitative questions assessing perceived comfort with and knowledge of negotiation skills and strategies, as well as qualitative questions assessing lessons learned and areas for improvement. Results: After the workshop, participants (n = 34) reported significantly improved comfort with contract negotiation (p \u3c .01) and with negotiation skills and strategies (p \u3c .01). Through qualitative evaluation, we discovered that participants gained an appreciation for the self-advocacy in negotiation, as well as a better understanding of negotiation logistics. We also received positive feedback from participant comments, with most learners reporting that the topic was useful and worthwhile. Discussion: We believe that this workshop fills a gap in the literature regarding contract negotiation training for physicians while also helping to level the playing field with regard to female physicians and the gender pay gap

FGF18 is required for early chondrocyte proliferation, hypertrophy and vascular invasion of the growth plate

AbstractFibroblast growth factor 18 (FGF18) has been shown to regulate chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation by signaling through FGF receptor 3 (FGFR3) and to regulate osteogenesis by signaling through other FGFRs. Fgf18−/− mice have an apparent delay in skeletal mineralization that is not seen in Fgfr3−/− mice. However, this delay in mineralization could not be simply explained by FGF18 signaling to osteoblasts. Here we show that delayed mineralization in Fgf18−/− mice was closely associated with delayed initiation of chondrocyte hypertrophy, decreased proliferation at early stages of chondrogenesis, delayed skeletal vascularization and delayed osteoclast and osteoblast recruitment to the growth plate. We further show that FGF18 is necessary for Vegf expression in hypertrophic chondrocytes and the perichondrium and is sufficient to induce Vegf expression in skeletal explants. These findings support a model in which FGF18 regulates skeletal vascularization and subsequent recruitment of osteoblasts/osteoclasts through regulation of early stages of chondrogenesis and VEGF expression. FGF18 thus coordinates neovascularization of the growth plate with chondrocyte and osteoblast growth and differentiation

Kernel Intensity Estimation of 2-Dimensional Spatial Poisson Point Processes From k-Tree Sampling

To estimate the spatial intensity (density) of plants and animals, ecologists often sample populations by prespecifing a spatial array of points, then measuring the distance from each point to the k nearest organisms, a so-called k-tree sampling method. A variety of ad hoc methods are available for estimating intensity from k-tree sampling data, but they assume that two distinct points of the array do not share nearest neighbors. However, nearest neighbors are likely to be shared when the population intensity is low, as it is in our application. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (a) to derive and use for estimation the likelihood function for a k-tree sample under an inhomogeneous Poisson point-process model and (b) to estimate spatial intensity when nearest neighbors are shared. We derive the likelihood function for an inhomogeneous Poisson point-process with intensity λ(x,y) and propose a likelihood-based, kernel-smoothed estimator $\hat{\lambda}(x,y)$. Performance of the method for k=1 is tested on four types of simulated populations: two homogeneous populations with low and high intensity, a population simulated from a bivariate normal distribution of intensity, and a “cliff” population in which the region is divided into high- and low-intensity subregions. The method correctly detected spatial variation in intensity across different subregions of the simulated populations. Application to 1-tree samples of carnivorous pitcher plants populations in four New England peat bogs suggests that the method adequately captures empirical patterns of spatial intensity. However, our method suffers from two evident sources of bias. First, like other kernel smoothers, it underestimates peaks and overestimates valleys. Second, it has positive bias analogous to that of the MLE for the rate parameter of exponential random variables.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

New global stability estimates for monochromatic inverse acoustic scattering

We give new global stability estimates for monochromatic inverse acoustic scattering. These estimates essentially improve estimates of [P. Hahner, T. Hohage, SIAM J. Math. Anal., 33(3), 2001, 670-685] and can be considered as a solution of an open problem formulated in the aforementioned work

Building a foundation: land-use history and dendrochronology reveal temporal dynamics of a Tsuga canadensis (Pinaceae) forest

Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

Infrared Observations of the Candidate LBV 1806-20 & Nearby Cluster Stars

We report near-infrared photometry, spectroscopy, and speckle imaging of the hot, luminous star we identify as candidate LBV 1806-20. We also present photometry and spectroscopy of 3 nearby stars, which are members of the same star cluster containing LBV 1806-20 and SGR 1806-20. The spectroscopy and photometry show that LBV 1806-20 is similar in many respects to the luminous ``Pistol Star'', albeit with some important differences. They also provide estimates of the effective temperature and reddening of LBV 1806-20, and confirm distance estimates, leading to a best estimate for the luminosity of this star of $> 5 \times 10^6 L_{\odot}$. The nearby cluster stars have spectral types and inferred absolute magnitudes which confirm the distance (and thus luminosity) estimate for LBV 1806-20. If we drop kinematic measurements of the distance ($15.1 ^{+1.8}_{-1.3}$ kpc), we have a lower limit on the distance of $>9.5$ kpc, and on the luminosity of $>2 \times 10^6 L_{\odot}$, based on the cluster stars. If we drop both the kinematic and cluster star indicators for distance, an ammonia absorption feature sets yet another lower limit to the distance of $>5.7$ kpc, with a corresponding luminosity estimate of $>7 \times 10^5 L_{\odot}$ for the candidate LBV 1806-20. Furthermore, based on very high angular-resolution speckle images, we determine that LBV 1806-20 is not a cluster of stars, but is rather a single star or binary system. Simple arguments based on the Eddington luminosity lead to an estimate of the total mass of LBV 1806-20 (single or binary) exceeding $190 M_{\odot}$. We discuss the possible uncertainties in these results, and their implications for the star formation history of this cluster.Comment: 36 pages, including 8 figures (Figures 1 and 7 in JPG format due to space); Accepted for publication in Ap