If It Looks Like a Vessel: The Supreme Court’s “Reasonable Observer” Test for Vessel Status

What is a vessel? In maritime law, important rights and duties turn on whether something is a vessel. For example, the owner of a vessel can limit his liability for damages caused by the vessel under the Limitation of Shipowners’ Liability Act, and an injured seaman who is a member of the crew of a vessel can claim remedies under the Jones Act. Under the general maritime law, a vendor who repairs or supplies a vessel may acquire a maritime lien over the vessel. In these and other areas, vessel status plays a crucial role in setting the limits of admiralty jurisdiction. Clear boundaries are important because with admiralty jurisdiction comes the application of substantive maritime law—the specialized body of statutory and judge-made law that governs maritime commerce and navigation

Structure of glassy lithium sulfate films sputtered in nitrogen (LISON): Insight from Raman spectroscopy and ab initio calculations

Raman spectra of thin solid electrolyte films obtained by sputtering a lithium sulfate target in nitrogen plasma are measured and compared to ab initio electronic structure calculations for clusters composed of 28 atoms. Agreement between measured and calculated spectra is obtained when oxygen atoms are replaced by nitrogen atoms and when the nitrogen atoms form bonds with each other. This suggests that the incorporation of nitrogen during the sputtering process leads to structures in the film, which prevent crystallization of these thin film salt glasses.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

African vegetable diversity in the limelight: project activities by ProNIVA.

Poster presented at Botanical Congress. Hamburg (Germany), 3-7 Sep 200