Statutory Prohibitions on the Negotiation of Insurance Agent Commissions: Substantive Due Process Review Under State Constitutions

In Part I, this Article examines and categorizes the state statutes that prohibit an insurance agent from returning a portion of his commission for the sale of the policy to the consumer. Part II discusses substantive due process\u27 in the state courts. After briefly summarizing the rise and fall of federal substantive due process, this part explores the use of state constitutions as independent constitutional authority in the area of economic regulation. This part concludes that two distinct models of substantive due process analysis exist in the state courts. Part III comments on two recent cases where the validity of a state anti-rebate statute was challenged, and evaluates these holdings in light of the models identified in Part II. Finally, in Part IV, this Article discusses the implication of the alternative substantive due process models for the anti-rebate statutes in other states

PHASE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT GASES IN HYDROCARBON AND AQUEOUS SOLVENTS

Under previous support from the Department of Energy, an experimental facility has been established and operated to measure valuable vapor-liquid equilibrium data for systems of interest in the production and processing of coal fluids. To facilitate the development and testing of models for prediction of the phase behavior for such systems, we have acquired substantial amounts of data on the equilibrium phase compositions for binary mixtures of heavy hydrocarbon solvents with a variety of supercritical solutes, including hydrogen, methane, ethane, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. The present project focuses on measuring the phase behavior of light gases and water in Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) type solvents at conditions encountered in indirect liquefaction processes and evaluating and developing theoretically-based correlating frameworks to predict the phase behavior of such systems. Specific goals of the proposed work include (a) developing a state-of-the-art experimental facility to permit highly accurate measurements of equilibrium phase compositions (solubilities) of challenging F-T systems, (b) measuring these properties for systematically-selected binary, ternary and molten F-T wax mixtures to provide critically needed input data for correlation development, (c) developing and testing models suitable for describing the phase behavior of such mixtures, and (d) presenting the modeling results in generalized, practical formats suitable for use in process engineering calculations. During the present period, the Park-Gasem-Robinson (PGR) equation of state (EOS) has been modified to improve its volumetric and equilibrium predictions. Specifically, the attractive term of the PGR equation was modified to enhance the flexibility of the model, and a new expression was developed for the temperature dependence of the attractive term in this segment-segment interaction model. The predictive capability of the modified PGR EOS for vapor pressure, and saturated liquid and vapor densities was evaluated for selected normal paraffins, normal alkenes, cyclo-paraffins, light aromatics, argon, carbon dioxide and water. The generalized EOS constants and substance-specific characteristic parameters in the modified PGR EOS were obtained from the pure component vapor pressures, and saturated liquid and vapor molar volumes. The calculated phase properties were compared to those of the Peng-Robinson (PR), the simplified-perturbed-hard-chain theory (SPHCT) and the original PGR equations. Generally, the performance of the proposed EOS was better than the PR, SPHCT and original PGR equations in predicting the pure fluid properties (%AAD of 1.3, 2.8 and 3.7 for vapor pressure, saturated liquid and vapor densities, respectively)

The Political Economy of Natural Resource Use: Lessons for Fisheries Reform

This report discusses key lessons drawn from reform experience in the wider natural resource sector that might inform successful reform in fisheries. This report is a compilation of 12 papers prepared by acknowledged international experts in the fields of fisheries and wider natural resource reform which were reviewed at a workshop convened by the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) in May 2009.The report forms an important initial input into an ongoing enquiry into the political economy of fisheries reform initiated by the World Bank in partnership with the Partnership for African Fisheries (a United Kingdom Department for International Development funded program of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD))

Momentum of an electromagnetic wave in dielectric media

Almost a hundred years ago, two different expressions were proposed for the energy--momentum tensor of an electromagnetic wave in a dielectric. Minkowski's tensor predicted an increase in the linear momentum of the wave on entering a dielectric medium, whereas Abraham's tensor predicted its decrease. Theoretical arguments were advanced in favour of both sides, and experiments proved incapable of distinguishing between the two. Yet more forms were proposed, each with their advocates who considered the form that they were proposing to be the one true tensor. This paper reviews the debate and its eventual conclusion: that no electromagnetic wave energy--momentum tensor is complete on its own. When the appropriate accompanying energy--momentum tensor for the material medium is also considered, experimental predictions of all the various proposed tensors will always be the same, and the preferred form is therefore effectively a matter of personal choice.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX 4. Removed erroneous factor of mu/mu_0 from Eq.(44

Exact Hypersurface-Homogeneous Solutions in Cosmology and Astrophysics

A framework is introduced which explains the existence and similarities of most exact solutions of the Einstein equations with a wide range of sources for the class of hypersurface-homogeneous spacetimes which admit a Hamiltonian formulation. This class includes the spatially homogeneous cosmological models and the astrophysically interesting static spherically symmetric models as well as the stationary cylindrically symmetric models. The framework involves methods for finding and exploiting hidden symmetries and invariant submanifolds of the Hamiltonian formulation of the field equations. It unifies, simplifies and extends most known work on hypersurface-homogeneous exact solutions. It is shown that the same framework is also relevant to gravitational theories with a similar structure, like Brans-Dicke or higher-dimensional theories.Comment: 41 pages, REVTEX/LaTeX 2.09 file (don't use LaTeX2e !!!) Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Rounding of low serum creatinine levels and consequent impact on accuracy of bedside estimates of renal function in cancer patients

To compare glomerular filtration rate measured by technetium-99m ([Tc(99m)]) DTPA clearance with estimated creatinine clearance (CrCl) (Cockcroft and Gault (C&G) method) in patients with serum creatinine (Scr) levels 100 ml min(-1). This work indicates that when bedside estimates of renal function are calculated using the C&G formula actual Scr should be used first to estimate CrCl. If the resultant CrCl is </=100 ml min(-1), then the Scr should be rounded up to 0.06 mmol l(-1) and CrCl recalculated. Further assessment of this approach is warranted in a larger cohort of patients

Heterologous Prime-Boost HIV-1 Vaccination Regimens in Pre-Clinical and Clinical Trials

Currently, there are more than 30 million people infected with HIV-1 and thousands more are infected each day. Vaccination is the single most effective mechanism for prevention of viral disease, and after more than 25 years of research, one vaccine has shown somewhat encouraging results in an advanced clinical efficacy trial. A modified intent-to-treat analysis of trial results showed that infection was approximately 30% lower in the vaccine group compared to the placebo group. The vaccine was administered using a heterologous prime-boost regimen in which both target antigens and delivery vehicles were changed during the course of inoculations. Here we examine the complexity of heterologous prime-boost immunizations. We show that the use of different delivery vehicles in prime and boost inoculations can help to avert the inhibitory effects caused by vector-specific immune responses. We also show that the introduction of new antigens into boost inoculations can be advantageous, demonstrating that the effect of ‘original antigenic sin’ is not absolute. Pre-clinical and clinical studies are reviewed, including our own work with a three-vector vaccination regimen using recombinant DNA, virus (Sendai virus or vaccinia virus) and protein. Promising preliminary results suggest that the heterologous prime-boost strategy may possibly provide a foundation for the future prevention of HIV-1 infections in humans

Fitting the integrated Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies

Fitting the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies is an almost universally used technique that has matured significantly in the last decade. Model predictions and fitting procedures have improved significantly over this time, attempting to keep up with the vastly increased volume and quality of available data. We review here the field of SED fitting, describing the modelling of ultraviolet to infrared galaxy SEDs, the creation of multiwavelength data sets, and the methods used to fit model SEDs to observed galaxy data sets. We touch upon the achievements and challenges in the major ingredients of SED fitting, with a special emphasis on describing the interplay between the quality of the available data, the quality of the available models, and the best fitting technique to use in order to obtain a realistic measurement as well as realistic uncertainties. We conclude that SED fitting can be used effectively to derive a range of physical properties of galaxies, such as redshift, stellar masses, star formation rates, dust masses, and metallicities, with care taken not to over-interpret the available data. Yet there still exist many issues such as estimating the age of the oldest stars in a galaxy, finer details ofdust properties and dust-star geometry, and the influences of poorly understood, luminous stellar types and phases. The challenge for the coming years will be to improve both the models and the observational data sets to resolve these uncertainties. The present review will be made available on an interactive, moderated web page (sedfitting.org), where the community can access and change the text. The intention is to expand the text and keep it up to date over the coming years.Comment: 54 pages, 26 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc