Contracting on litigation

Two risk‐averse litigants with different subjective beliefs negotiate in the shadow of a pending trial. Through contingent contracts, the litigants can mitigate risk and/or speculate on the trial outcome. Contingent contracting decreases the settlement rate and increases the volume and costs of litigation. These contingent contracts mimic the services provided by third‐party investors, including litigation funders and insurance companies. The litigants (weakly) prefer to contract with risk‐neutral third parties when the capital market is transaction‐cost free. However, contracting with third parties further decreases the settlement rate, increases the costs of litigation, and may increase the aggregate cost of risk bearing.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149242/1/rand12274.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149242/2/rand12274_am.pd

The Prelude to the Deep Minimum between Solar Cycles 23 and 24: Interplanetary Scintillation Signatures in the Inner Heliosphere

Extensive interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations at 327 MHz obtained between 1983 and 2009 clearly show a steady and significant drop in the turbulence levels in the entire inner heliosphere starting from around ~1995. We believe that this large-scale IPS signature, in the inner heliosphere, coupled with the fact that solar polar fields have also been declining since ~1995, provide a consistent result showing that the buildup to the deepest minimum in 100 years actually began more than a decade earlier.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters on 28 September 201

A novel model for cyanobacteria bloom formation: the critical role of anoxia and ferrous iron

SUMMARY 1. A novel conceptual model linking anoxia, phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N), iron (Fe) and sulphate to the formation of noxious filamentous and colonial cyanobacteria blooms is presented that reconciles seemingly contradictory ideas about the roles of P, N and Fe in bloom formation. 2. The model has several critical concepts: (i) P regulates biomass and productivity in fresh waters until excessive loading renders a system N-limited or light-limited, but it is the availability of ferrous ions (Fe 2+ ) that regulates the ability of cyanobacteria to compete with its eukaryotic competitors; (ii) Fe 2+ diffusing from anoxic sediments is a major Fe source for cyanobacteria, which acquire it by migrating downwards into Fe 2+ -rich anoxic waters from oxygenated waters; and (iii) subsequent cyanobacterial siderophore production provides a supply of Fe 3+ for reduction at cyanobacteria cell membranes that leads to very low Fe 3+ concentrations in the mixing zone. 3. When light and temperature are physiologically suitable for cyanobacteria growth, bloom onset is regulated by the onset of internal Fe 2+ loading which in turn is controlled by anoxia, reducible Fe content of surface sediments and sulphate reduction rate. 4. This conceptual model provides the basis for improving the success of approaches to eutrophication management because of its far-reaching explanatory power over the wide range of conditions where noxious cyanobacteria blooms have been observed

The regional and global significance of nitrogen removal in lakes and reservoirs

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2008. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Biogeochemistry 93 (2009): 143-157, doi:10.1007/s10533-008-9272-x.Human activities have greatly increased the transport of biologically available N through watersheds to potentially sensitive coastal ecosystems. Lentic water bodies (lakes and reservoirs) have the potential to act as important sinks for this reactive N as it is transported across the landscape because they offer ideal conditions for N burial in sediments or permanent loss via denitrification. However, the patterns and controls on lentic N removal have not been explored in great detail at large regional to global scales. In this paper we describe, evaluate, and apply a new, spatially explicit, annual-scale, global model of lentic N removal called NiRReLa (Nitrogen Retention in Reservoirs and Lakes). The NiRReLa model incorporates small lakes and reservoirs than have been included in previous global analyses, and also allows for separate treatment and analysis of reservoirs and natural lakes. Model runs for the mid-1990s indicate that lentic systems are indeed important sinks for N and are conservatively estimated to remove 19.7 Tg N yr-1 from watersheds globally. Small lakes (< 50 km2) were critical in the analysis, retaining almost half (9.3 Tg N yr-1) of the global total. In model runs, capacity of lakes and reservoirs to remove watershed N varied substantially (0-100%) both as a function of climate and the density of lentic systems. Although reservoirs occupy just 6% of the global lentic surface area, we estimate they retain approximately 33% of the total N removed by lentic systems, due to a combination of higher drainage ratios (catchment surface area : lake or reservoir surface area), higher apparent settling velocities for N, and greater N loading rates in reservoirs than in lakes. Finally, a sensitivity analysis of NiRReLa suggests that, on-average, N removal within lentic systems will respond more strongly to changes in land use and N loading than to changes in climate at the global scale.The NSF26 Research Coordination Network on denitrification for support for collaboration (award number DEB0443439 to S.P. Seitzinger and E.A. Davidson). This project was also supported by grants to J.A. Harrison from California Sea Grant (award number RSF8) and from the U.S. Geological Survey 104b program and R. Maranger (FQRNT Strategic Professor)

Justice: Greater Access, Lower Costs

Litigation imposes large costs on society; this justifies settlement considerations. In any case, access to justice is critical to socioeconomic development; as such, it needs to be balanced with litigation minimization. This study examines the tradeoff between litigation and access to justice and explicitly elucidates their relationship. In considering access issues, this study finds that the outcomes of policies that affect parties’ litigation decisions partially depart from those in the standard literature. For instance, increasing parties’ litigation costs does not necessarily promote settlement in the shadow of the court. Rather, effects depend on the elasticity of the demand for legal remedies. Furthermore, even while pushing litigation, enhancing access to justice is efficient as long as the claimant’s marginal propensity to litigate is smaller than the social opportunity-cost of access to justice. This finding offers further insight into the suitability of litigation subsidization through legal aid

Intérêt des racines transformées pour le maintien du pouvoir pathogène de quelques agents cryptogamiques

Trois champignons dont le pouvoir pathogène en culture artificielle ne se maintient pas de façon satisfaisante, ont été expérimentés : Pyrenochaeta lycopersici, Phytophthora infestans et Rhizoctonia violacea. Sauf pour P lycopersici, la conservation sous azote liquide est impossible ou très aléatoire; les techniques de maintien en condition anaérobie ne conviennent guère (et encore avec des réserves) qu'à P infestans. Pour les 3 parasites, nous avons utilisé avec succès la culture associée du champignon et de racines transformées. Cette technique permet, dans la majorité des cas, un léger gain d'agressivité. Plusieurs cultures de racines transformées ont été expérimentées : tomate, pomme de terre, carotte, betterave à sucre et endive. Après passages répétés sur ces cultures, nous n'avons observé ni préférence, ni adaptation parasitaire. L'intérêt des cultures associées en phytopathologie est discuté.Use of transformed roots to preserve the pathogenicity of fungal cultures. Alternative means were sought to preserve 3 fungi, Pyrenochaeta lycopersici (tab I), Phytophthora infestans (tab II) and Rhizoctonia violacea (tab III) the pathogenicity of which is not maintained satisfactorily in artificial culture. With the exception of P lycopersici, preservation in liquid nitrogen is either not possible or very uncertain; maintenance in anaerobic conditions may suit P infestans only if at all. We successfully maintained the 3 pathogens in culture on transformed roots; with this method, the aggressiveness of the strains is maintained, and nearly always slightly increased, and it is not necessary to inoculate and reisolate from host plants in the greenhouse. Several cultures of transformed roots have been tested : tomato, potato, carrot, sugar-beet and endive. After repeated transfers on these cultures, no parasitic specialization was observed. The interest of mixed cultures is discussed

Intérêt des racines transformées pour le maintien du pouvoir pathogène de quelques agents cryptogamiques

Trois champignons dont le pouvoir pathogène en culture artificielle ne se maintient pas de façon satisfaisante, ont été expérimentés : Pyrenochaeta lycopersici, Phytophthora infestans et Rhizoctonia violacea. Sauf pour P lycopersici, la conservation sous azote liquide est impossible ou très aléatoire; les techniques de maintien en condition anaérobie ne conviennent guère (et encore avec des réserves) qu'à P infestans. Pour les 3 parasites, nous avons utilisé avec succès la culture associée du champignon et de racines transformées. Cette technique permet, dans la majorité des cas, un léger gain d'agressivité. Plusieurs cultures de racines transformées ont été expérimentées : tomate, pomme de terre, carotte, betterave à sucre et endive. Après passages répétés sur ces cultures, nous n'avons observé ni préférence, ni adaptation parasitaire. L'intérêt des cultures associées en phytopathologie est discuté.Use of transformed roots to preserve the pathogenicity of fungal cultures. Alternative means were sought to preserve 3 fungi, Pyrenochaeta lycopersici (tab I), Phytophthora infestans (tab II) and Rhizoctonia violacea (tab III) the pathogenicity of which is not maintained satisfactorily in artificial culture. With the exception of P lycopersici, preservation in liquid nitrogen is either not possible or very uncertain; maintenance in anaerobic conditions may suit P infestans only if at all. We successfully maintained the 3 pathogens in culture on transformed roots; with this method, the aggressiveness of the strains is maintained, and nearly always slightly increased, and it is not necessary to inoculate and reisolate from host plants in the greenhouse. Several cultures of transformed roots have been tested : tomato, potato, carrot, sugar-beet and endive. After repeated transfers on these cultures, no parasitic specialization was observed. The interest of mixed cultures is discussed