Design development post contract signing in New Zealand:Client's or contractor's cost?

By offering fixed-price contracts for designs supplied by clients, contractors legally warrant that they can build what has been designed and do so within their fixed price. Yet detailed drawings are often issued during construction in response to contractors' requests for information on the basis that they cannot otherwise build what has been designed. Claim-entitlement decisions are often made by construction professionals (architects, engineers and quantity surveyors) without legal training in contractual interpretation, potentially varying who pays for design development after contract signing, contractors or clients. Prior studies have addressed buildability obligations relating to ground conditions and foundations. This study applies key principles of contract law to consider who should pay for instructed drawing details post contract signing under the New Zealand standard NZS 3910:2013, 'Conditions of contract for building and civil engineering construction', in terms of (a) when a variation claim may be accepted; (b) the effect of contractor involvement on design development; and (c) the effect if claimed from a building subcontractor to a consultant manager (no head contractor). A claim-entitlement flow chart and a table comparing the head contractor's and consultant construction manager's obligations provide practical guides for contract administrators. Identifying terms prone to interpretation informs contract drafters towards reducing ambiguity for contract users and therefore the potential for dispute

Psychiatric assessment of suicide attempters in Japan: a pilot study at a critical emergency unit in an urban area

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The incidence of suicide has increased markedly in Japan since 1998. As psychological autopsy is not generally accepted in Japan, surveys of suicide attempts, an established risk factor of suicide, are highly regarded. We have carried out this study to gain insight into the psychiatric aspects of those attempting suicide in Japan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three hundred and twenty consecutive cases of attempted suicide who were admitted to an urban emergency department were interviewed, with the focus on psychosocial background and DSM-IV diagnosis. Moreover, they were divided into two groups according to the method of attempted suicide in terms of lethality, and the two groups were compared.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ninety-five percent of patients received a psychiatric diagnosis: 81% of subjects met the criteria for an axis I disorder. The most frequent diagnosis was mood disorder. The mean age was higher and living alone more common in the high-lethality group. Middle-aged men tended to have a higher prevalence of mood disorders.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first large-scale study of cases of attempted suicide since the dramatic increase in suicides began in Japan. The identification and introduction of treatments for psychiatric disorders at emergency departments has been indicated to be important in suicide prevention.</p

Characterisation of Pyroelectric Materials

Pyroelectrics form a very broad class of materials. Any material which has a crystal structure possessing a polar point symmetry—i.e. one which both lacks a centre of symmetry and has a unique axis of symmetry—will possess an intrinsic, or spontaneous, polarisation and show the pyroelectric effect. The pyroelectric effect is a change in that spontaneous polarisation caused by a change in temperature. It is manifested as the appearance of free charge at the surfaces of the material, or a flow of current in an external circuit connected to it. The effect is a simple one, but it has been used in a range of sensing devices, most notably uncooled pyroelectric infra-red (PIR) sensors, and has thus come to be of some engineering and economic significance, enabling a wide range of sensing systems, ranging from burglar alarms through FTIR spectroscopic instruments to thermal imagers