Chasing Perfection: Collateral Indications and Ambiguous Debtor Names on Financing Statements Under Article 9

Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code sought to create consistent commercial laws governing secured transactions across the United States. One of its principal tenets is that secured lenders must provide notice to other lenders of their stake in a debtor’s personal property or fixtures. Secured lenders do so by filing a financing statement, a form that third parties can access to see who has a security interest in what. Two important aspects of the financing statement are the collateral indication and the debtor name. This Note will explore the nuances of the collateral indication and debtor name in light of In re Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico and In re I80 Equipment, LLC, cases arising out of the First and Seventh Circuits, respectively. This Note argues that Article 9’s collateral indication requirements on the financing statement must not be construed to require third parties to search outside a secured lender’s filings to determine what collateral may be subject to a security interest. Requiring would-be creditors to do so is against the express purposes of the Uniform Commercial Code and creates uncertainty and an unnecessary burden for such creditors when conducting their diligence. This Note further argues that the First Circuit was wrong in its determination that the financing statement did refer to the debtor in question because when a novel issue arises under Article 9, an interpretation that promotes one or more of the Code’s stated purposes should be preferred

Coherent Excitation of the 6S1/2 to 5D3/2 Electric Quadrupole Transition in 138Ba+

The electric dipole-forbidden, quadrupole 6S1/2 5D3/2 transition in Ba+ near 2051 nm, with a natural linewidth of 13 mHz, is attractive for potential observation of parity non-conservation, and also as a clock transition for a barium ion optical frequency standard. This transition also offers a direct means of populating the metastable 5D3/2 state to measure the nuclear magnetic octupole moment in the odd barium isotopes. Light from a diode-pumped, solid state Tm,Ho:YLF laser operating at 2051 nm is used to coherently drive this transition between resolved Zeeman levels in a single trapped 138Ba+ ion. The frequency of the laser is stabilized to a high finesse Fabry Perot cavity at 1025 nm after being frequency doubled. Rabi oscillations on this transition indicate a laser-ion coherence time of 3 ms, most likely limited by ambient magnetic field fluctuations.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Paperless policy: digital filing system benefits to DoD contracting organizations

MBA Professional ReportThe year 2000 was the cutoff date for the Department of Defense (DoD) to have paperless processes in place. Since then, advances in computer technology have led to such paperless contracting processes as the DoD wide Standard Procurement System (SPS), Wide Area Work Flow, and other department specific major weapon procurement information systems. Although great strides were made by the DoD to implement paperless contracting processes, there still exists substantial room for improvement. Despite the use of all of the paperless system processes, now, seven years beyond the paperless cutoff date, many organizations still use a paper based filing system. This thesis will explore the policy and benefits of implementing a paperless contracting filing system using a software program such as Adobe Acrobat, provide a brief assessment of current Air Force and Navy/Marine contract filing systems, and include a real-world case study of the implementation of a paperless policy change at the Los Angeles Air Force Base (LAAFB).http://archive.org/details/paperlesspolicyd1094510172Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Implant Treatment in the Predoctoral Clinic: A Retrospective Database Study of 1091 Patients

Purpose: This retrospective study was conducted at the Marquette University School of Dentistry to (1) characterize the implant patient population in a predoctoral clinic, (2) describe the implants inserted, and (3) provide information on implant failures. Materials and Methods: The study cohort included 1091 patients who received 1918 dental implants between 2004 and 2012, and had their implants restored by a crown or a fixed dental prosthesis. Data were collected from patient records, entered in a database, and summarized in tables and figures. Contingency tables were prepared and analyzed by a chi-squared test. The cumulative survival probability of implants was described using a Kaplan-Meier survival curve. Univariate and multivariate frailty Cox regression models for clustered observations were computed to identify factors associated with implant failure. Results: Mean patient age (±1 SD) at implantation was 59.7 ± 15.3 years; 53.9% of patients were females, 73.5% were Caucasians. Noble Biocare was the most frequently used implant brand (65.0%). Most implants had a regular-size diameter (59.3%). More implants were inserted in posterior (79.0%) than in anterior jaw regions. Mandibular posterior was the most frequently restored site (43%); 87.8% of implants were restored using single implant crowns. The overall implant-based cumulative survival rate was 96.4%. The patient-based implant survival rate was 94.6%. Implant failure risk was greater among patients than within patients (p \u3c 0.05). Age (\u3e65 years; hazard ratio [HR] = 3.2, p = 0.02), implant staging (two-stage; HR = 4.0, p \u3c 0.001), and implant diameter (wide; HR = 0.4, p = 0.04) were statistically associated with implant failure. Conclusions: Treatment with dental implants in a supervised predoctoral clinic environment resulted in survival rates similar to published results obtained in private practice or research clinics. Older age and implant staging increased failure risk, while the selection of a wide implant diameter was associated with a lower failure risk

On the tear resistance of skin.

Tear resistance is of vital importance in the various functions of skin, especially protection from predatorial attack. Here, we mechanistically quantify the extreme tear resistance of skin and identify the underlying structural features, which lead to its sophisticated failure mechanisms. We explain why it is virtually impossible to propagate a tear in rabbit skin, chosen as a model material for the dermis of vertebrates. We express the deformation in terms of four mechanisms of collagen fibril activity in skin under tensile loading that virtually eliminate the possibility of tearing in pre-notched samples: fibril straightening, fibril reorientation towards the tensile direction, elastic stretching and interfibrillar sliding, all of which contribute to the redistribution of the stresses at the notch tip

Rehearsal: A Configuration Verification Tool for Puppet

Large-scale data centers and cloud computing have turned system configuration into a challenging problem. Several widely-publicized outages have been blamed not on software bugs, but on configuration bugs. To cope, thousands of organizations use system configuration languages to manage their computing infrastructure. Of these, Puppet is the most widely used with thousands of paying customers and many more open-source users. The heart of Puppet is a domain-specific language that describes the state of a system. Puppet already performs some basic static checks, but they only prevent a narrow range of errors. Furthermore, testing is ineffective because many errors are only triggered under specific machine states that are difficult to predict and reproduce. With several examples, we show that a key problem with Puppet is that configurations can be non-deterministic. This paper presents Rehearsal, a verification tool for Puppet configurations. Rehearsal implements a sound, complete, and scalable determinacy analysis for Puppet. To develop it, we (1) present a formal semantics for Puppet, (2) use several analyses to shrink our models to a tractable size, and (3) frame determinism-checking as decidable formulas for an SMT solver. Rehearsal then leverages the determinacy analysis to check other important properties, such as idempotency. Finally, we apply Rehearsal to several real-world Puppet configurations.Comment: In proceedings of ACM SIGPLAN Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation (PLDI) 201

A Microfluidic Temperature Gradient Device and Its Application to Uncovering Temporal Systems of Robustness in the Developing Embryo of the Nematode C. elegans

Animal development is a complex process, shepherded by systems of robustness to ensure its success. To date, such systems that have been experimentally identified, largely have been found to ensure specific and correct cell identities in terms of gene and protein expression and spatial position. Little is known about systems that supervise, guide, and compensate for variability in the timing of events within development. The developing embryo of the nematode C. elegans follows a highly-stereotyped sequence of events starting at the two-cell stage where an asymmetric first division results in two cells differing in size, genetic and proteomic identity, and lineage dependent rates of division. These first two cells stereotypically divide at different times, with the larger dividing before the smaller. This sequence will later result in a number of key cell-cell interactions necessary for successful development. The rigid stereotype of this sequence and the critical nature of the dependent later events, suggests that the sequence itself may be under the influence of a system of robustness. At this stage such a system would necessarily include communication between the two cells to ensure their coordination in time. The work presented here establishes a method of challenging this system, by placing the C. elegans embryo in a temperature gradient sufficient to push the temperature dependent rate of division of the two cells away from their stereotyped temporal relationship. To achieve this we built and characterized a novel microfluidic temperature gradient device that can establish a 7.5 OC temperature gradient across the ~ 50 μm long developing embryo within biologically permissive temperatures. This temperature gradient establishes a condition that would be considered aberrant by the embryo at this stage, if and only if the two cells are monitoring each other's behavior. We have found that within a temperature gradient, the two cells of the embryo identify the existence of an aberrant condition and compensate for it by slowing their division rates. We find that the fold change in division timing of the two cells is dependent on their orientation in the temperature gradient, and that embryos that survive this condition to hatching generally slow down more than those that do not. We are able to reverse the sequence of divisions between the two cells and although they do not hatch, a surprising percentage undergo morphogenesis and result in a product that looks “wormlike” suggesting even later checkpoints and compensation. We also found that in a fraction of the embryos loaded into the gradient after the first division, the cleavage between the two cells reverses and the two nuclei of the two cells migrate back toward each other. The behavior of the two-cell embryos in the temperature gradient: 1) surviving a high percentage of time in lower gradients, and even a fraction of the time in higher gradients, 2) the slowing down of each cell relative to its expected behavior at the temperature it is experiencing with greater slowing resulting in a greater likelihood of survival, and 3) the entry of embryos into morphogenesis even after violation of the stereotypical sequence of division at the two-cell stage, constitutes evidence for one and possibly two previously unidentified compensation and coordination mechanisms that act to ensure robustness against variation in the timing of events in the development of the early C. elegans embryo

A role for glycolipid biosynthesis in severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus entry

A novel bunyavirus was recently found to cause severe febrile illness with high mortality in agricultural regions of China, Japan, and South Korea. This virus, named severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), represents a new group within the Phlebovirus genus of the Bunyaviridae. Little is known about the viral entry requirements beyond showing dependence on dynamin and endosomal acidification. A haploid forward genetic screen was performed to identify host cell requirements for SFTSV entry. The screen identified dependence on glucosylceramide synthase (ugcg), the enzyme responsible for initiating de novo glycosphingolipid biosynthesis. Genetic and pharmacological approaches confirmed that UGCG expression and enzymatic activity were required for efficient SFTSV entry. Furthermore, inhibition of UGCG affected a post-internalization stage of SFTSV entry, leading to the accumulation of virus particles in enlarged cytoplasmic structures, suggesting impaired trafficking and/or fusion of viral and host membranes. These findings specify a role for glucosylceramide in SFTSV entry and provide a novel target for antiviral therapies

Gold as an inflation hedge?

This paper attempts to reconcile an apparent contradiction between short-run and long-run movements in the price of gold. The theoretical model suggests a set of conditions under which the price of gold rises over time at the general rate of inflation and hence be an effective hedge against inflation. The model also demonstrates that short-run changes in the gold lease rate, the real interest rate, convenience yield, default risk, the covariance of gold returns with other assets and the dollar/world exchange rate can disturb this equilibrium relationship and generate short-run price volatility. Using monthly gold price data (1976-1999), and cointegration regression techniques, an empirical analysis confirms the central hypotheses of the theoretical model

An Investigation of Melodic Musical Modeling Using Homogeneous and Non-Homogeneous Markov Chains

As an actuarial science student, my observations have a different focus than the other composers. In the industry, actuaries aren\u27t interested in a probability model for its own sake. Rather, they want to use the model to analyze the ... impact of the events being modeled [Da]. This analysis focuses equally on the generation of the model as well as the results of the model. While other researchers have investigated many topics in the field of musical generation through mathematical means, no one has yet explored non-homogeneous and homogeneous models simultaneously. This study compares melodic material generated from both homogeneous and non-homogeneous models in an attempt to determine which model leads to a more accurate representation of the given melody