A Sea of Confusion: The Shipowner\u27s Limitation of Liability Act as an Independent Basis for Admiralty Jurisdiction

The Shipowner\u27s Limitation of Liability Act of 1851 allowed the owner of a vessel to limit his liability in the case of an accident to the value of the vessel and its cargo if he could show he had no knowledge of or participation in the negligent act that resulted in the loss. In 1911, the Supreme Court decided Richardson v. Harmon, a case which was interpreted for several decades to hold that the Limitation Act formed an independent basis for admiralty jurisdiction. In a 1990 case, the Supreme Court stated in a footnote that it would not reach the question of whether the Limitation Act was an independent basis for admiralty jurisdiction-which several Courts of Appeal took to mean that the Act\u27s continued vitality as a jurisdictional basis was an open question. Since that time, many Courts of Appeal have held that the Limitation Act is not, for a variety of reasons, an independent basis for admiralty jurisdiction. This Note argues that the Limitation Act continues to form an independent basis for admiralty jurisdiction. It examines the history of admiralty jurisdiction and the Limitation Act and explains why the Limitation Act should form an independent basis for admiralty jurisdiction even for cases in which the facts of the underlying tort claim might not otherwise come within the boundaries of admiralty

The effect of interaction anticipation and interaction context on impressions formed by high or low complexity individuals

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Kansas, Speech and Drama, 1975

Letter from Terry L. Medley to Henry Spira

We agree that there is an urgent need to focus on the causes and means of preventing food-borne illness from pathogens. Several agencies throughout the Department of Agriculture, including the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Extension Services, and the Food Safety and Inspection Service, are taking a new look at conditions on the farm to determine whether they could be factors in the spread of pathogenic contamination of food animals. Secretary Espy also is interested in reexamining issues that may relate to food safety

Old Regrowth Forest Patches as Habitat for the Conservation of Avian Diversity in a Southwest Ohio Landscape

Author Institution: Department of Geography, Miami UniversityLandscape fragmentation and chronic habitat loss are potentially profound obstacles to the protection of mature forest birds in the eastern deciduous forest of the Corn Belt agricultural region. Because of the general absence of large remnant forests, conservation efforts need to better understand the role of very small ‘regrowth’ patches for bird conservation. This study investigated how small old regrowth forests contribute to regional bird diversity and differ in composition in relation to their physical, ecological, and landscape attributes. From May to late June 2009, we measured forest composition and structure, and conducted avian point count surveys in nine regrowth patches, 0.9 - 11.2 ha, embedded in the Miami University Natural Areas, Butler County, Ohio. These small patches conserved 68 percent of the recorded regional birds, including 94 percent of mature forest breeders. Site differences among the nine patches explained the designation of avian community types as primarily upland, floodplain, and transitional between these settings. These findings demonstrate the conservation significance of small, old regrowth patches for mature forest birds and support the conservation of these forests across a range of physical, ecological, and landscape settings

A multispecies model for the transmission and control of mastitis in dairy cows

Mastitis in dairy cows is a significant economic and animal welfare issue in the dairy industry. The bacterial pathogens responsible for infection of the mammary gland may be split into two main categories: major and minor pathogens. Infection with major pathogens generally results in clinical illness or strong inflammatory responses and reduced milk yields, whereas minor pathogen infection is usually subclinical. Previous investigations have considered the transmission of these pathogens independently. Experimental evidence has shown cross-protection between species of pathogens. In this study a mathematical model for the coupled transmission of major and minor pathogens along with their interaction via the host was developed in order to consider various methods for controlling the incidence of major pathogen infection. A stability analysis of the model equilibria provides explanations for observed phenomena and previous decoupled modelling results. This multispecies model structure has provided a basis for quantifying the extent of cross-protection between species and assessing possible control strategies against the disease

Modelling the dynamics of intramammary E. coli infections in dairy cows: understanding mechanisms that distinguish transient from persistent infections

The majority of intramammary infections with Escherichia coli in dairy cows result in transient infections with duration of about 10 days or less, although more persistent infections (2 months or longer) have been identified. We apply a mathematical model to explore the role of an intracellular mammary epithelial cell reservoir in the dynamics of infection. We included biological knowledge of the bovine immune response and known characteristics of the bacterial population in both transient and persistent infections. The results indicate that varying the survival duration of the intracellular reservoir reproduces the data for both transient and persistent infections. Survival in an intracellular reservoir is the most likely mechanism that ensures persistence of E. coli infections in mammary glands. Knowledge of the pathogenesis of persistent infections is essential to develop preventive and treatment programmes for these important infections in dairy cows

The reinfection threshold

Thresholds in transmission are responsible for critical changes in infectious disease epidemiology. The epidemic threshold indicates whether infection invades a totally susceptible population. The reinfection threshold indicates whether self-sustained transmission occurs in a population that has developed a degree of partial immunity to the pathogen (by previous infection or vaccination). In models that combine susceptible and partially immune individuals, the reinfection threshold is technically not a bifurcation of equilibria as correctly pointed out by Breban and Blower. However, we show that a branch of equilibria to a reinfection submodel bifurcates from the disease-free equilibrium as transmission crosses this threshold. Consequently, the full model indicates that levels of infection increase by two orders of magnitude and the effect of mass vaccination becomes negligible as transmission increases across the reinfection threshold. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserve

Infection, reinfection, and vaccination under suboptimal immune protection: epidemiological perspectives

The SIR (susceptible-infectious-resistant) and SIS (susceptible-infectious-susceptible) frameworks for infectious disease have been extensively studied and successfully applied. They implicitly assume the upper and lower limits of the range of possibilities for host immune response. However, the majority of infections do not fall into either of these extreme categories. We combine two general avenues that straddle this range: temporary immune protection (immunity wanes over time since infection), and partial immune protection (immunity is not fully protective but reduces the risk of reinfection). We present a systematic analysis of the dynamics and equilibrium properties of these models in comparison to SIR and SIS, and analyse the outcome of vaccination programmes. We describe how the waning of immunity shortens inter-epidemic periods, and poses major difficulties to disease eradication. We identify a "reinfection threshold" in transmission when partial immunity is included. Below the reinfection threshold primary infection dominates, levels of infection are low, and vaccination is highly effective (approximately an SIR model). Above the reinfection threshold reinfection dominates, levels of infection are high, and vaccination fails to protect (approximately an SIS situation). This association between high prevalence of infection and vaccine failure emphasizes the problems of controlling recurrent infections in high-burden regions. However, vaccines that induce a better protection than natural infection have the potential to increase the reinfection threshold, and therefore constitute interventions with a surprisingly high capacity to reduce infection where reduction is most neede

Health-seeking behaviour, diagnostics and transmission dynamics in the control of visceral leishmaniasis in the Indian subcontinent

Countries in the Indian subcontinent have committed to reducing the incidence of kala-azar, a clinical manifestation of visceral leishmaniasis, to below 1 in 10,000 by 2020. We address the role of timing of use and accuracy of diagnostics in kala-azar control and elimination. We use empirical data on health-seeking behaviour and health-system performance from the Indian state of Bihar, Bangladesh and Nepal to parameterize a mathematical model. Diagnosis of cases is key to case management, control and surveillance. Treatment of cases prevents onward transmission, and we show that the differences in time to diagnosis in these three settings explain the observed differences in incidence. Shortening the time from health-care seeking to diagnosis is likely to lead to dramatic reductions in incidence in Bihar, bringing the incidence down to the levels seen in Bangladesh and Nepal. The results emphasize the importance of maintaining population and health-system awareness, particularly as transmission and disease incidence decline. We explore the possibility of diagnosing patients before the onset of clinical kala-azar (before 14 days fever), and show that this could have a marked impact on incidence, even for a moderately sensitive test. However, limited specificity (that results in false positives) is a major barrier to such a strategy. Diagnostic tests of high specificity used at an early stage of active infection, even if sensitivity is only moderate, could have a key role in the control of kala-azar, and prevent its resurgence when paired with the passive health-care system and tests of high sensitivity, such as the test for rK39 antibody response