Circuit Split or a Matter of Semantics? The Supreme Court\u27s Upcoming Decision on Rule 10b-5 Scheme Liability and Its Implications for Tax Shelter Fraud Litigation

After Internal Revenue Service investigations exposed widespread fraud among tax shelter promoters, angry investors sued for securities fraud under Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5, which provides a cause of action against “primary violators” of the Rule but not against mere “aiders and abettors.” This controversial distinction is further complicated by the recent introduction of “scheme liability” lawsuits under two previously obscure provisions of Rule 10b-5. This Note examines the circuit split over the “primary violator”/“aider and abettor” distinction in scheme liability claims, arguing that the circuits\u27 conflicting concepts of scheme liability actually cover similar conduct, and that tax shelter promoters likely will be considered primary violators under either concept

Long-Range Interaction between Heterogeneously Charged Membranes

Despite their neutrality, surfaces or membranes with equal amounts of positive and negative charge can exhibit long-range electrostatic interactions if the surface charge is heterogeneous; this can happen when the surface charges form finite-size domain structures. These domains can be formed in lipid membranes where the balance of the different ranges of strong but short-ranged hydrophobic interactions and longer-ranged electrostatic repulsion result in a finite, stable domain size. If the domain size is large enough, oppositely charged domains in two opposing surfaces or membranes can be strongly correlated by the elecrostatic interactions; these correlations give rise to an attractive interaction of the two membranes or surfaces over separations on the order of the domain size. We use numerical simulations to demonstrate the existence of strong attractions at separations of tens of nanometers. Large line tensions result in larger domains but also increase the charge density within the domain. This promotes correlations and, as a result, increases the intermembrane attraction. On the other hand, increasing the salt concentration increases both the domain size and degree of domain anticorrelation, but the interactions are ultimately reduced due to increased screening. The result is a decrease in the net attraction as salt concentration is increased

Singularity results for functional equations driven by linear fractional transformations

We consider functional equations driven by linear fractional transformations, which are special cases of de Rham's functional equations. We consider Hausdorff dimension of the measure whose distribution function is the solution. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for singularity. We also show that they have a relationship with stationary measures.Comment: 14 pages, Title changed, to appear in Journal of Theoretical Probabilit

Charge-Fluctuation-Induced Non-analytic Bending Rigidity

In this Letter, we consider a neutral system of mobile positive and negative charges confined on the surface of curved films. This may be an appropriate model for: i) a highly charged membrane whose counterions are confined to a sheath near its surface; ii) a membrane composed of an equimolar mixture of anionic and cationic surfactants in aqueous solution. We find that the charge fluctuations contribute a non-analytic term to the bending rigidity that varies logarithmically with the radius of curvature. This may lead to spontaneous vesicle formation, which is indeed observed in similar systems.Comment: Revtex, 9 pages, no figures, submitted to PR

Significance of the direct relaxation process in the low-energy spin dynamics of a one-dimensional ferrimagnet NiCu(C_7H_6N_2O_6)(H_2O)_3 2H_2O

In response to recent nuclear-magnetic-resonance measurements on a ferrimagnetic chain compound NiCu(C_7H_6N_2O_6)(H_2O)_3 2H_2O [Solid State Commun. {\bf 113} (2000) 433], we calculate the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T_1 in terms of a modified spin-wave theory. Emphasizing that the dominant relaxation mechanism arises from the direct (single-magnon) process rather than the Raman (two-magnon) one, we explain the observed temperature and applied-field dependences of 1/T_1. Ferrimagnetic relaxation phenomena are generally discussed and novel ferrimagnets with extremely slow dynamics are predicted.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures embedded, Solid State Commun. 117, No. 1 (2000