CORPORATIONS-RECEIVERSHIP OR DISSOLUTION OF SOLVENT CORPORATION AT SUIT OF MINORITY STOCKHOLDER-DISSENSION AS A GROUND FOR RELIEF

A and B owned 50 per cent of the stock in each of two solvent corporations, and Y and Z owned the remaining 50 per cent. Y was president and director of each company, Z was secretary and director, and B was vice-president and director. A\u27s testator had been treasurer and director until his death. A and B brought suit against Y and Z and the corporations, seeking an equity receivership and liquidation and distribution of corporate assets. The complaint alleged that the two factions had been in dispute for five years, that Y had assumed exclusive control of corporate management and declined to discuss business policy with A and B, and that Y had refused to allow A representation on the boards of directors. The trial judge dismissed the bills of complaint on defendants\u27 motion. Held, the complaints were properly dismissed. Equity has no power to administer a corporation or distribute its assets merely because of dissension among stockholders. Dorf v. Hill Bus Co., (N.J. Err. & App. 1947) 54 A. (2d) 761

WILLS-LETTERS AS HOLOGRAPHIC WILLS-TESTAMENTARY INTENT

A church trustee offered for probate as decedent\u27s will a letter wholly written, dated, and signed in the handwriting of decedent. The letter was addressed to proponent, and read: I am sending you a cashier\u27s check for the $5000.00 I wrote you about last week. Now as to my heirs-I have three nieces, and a husband who has had enough. I\u27m not interested in any of them. If I leave$5.00 or $5,000.00 I want the church to have it. Probate was denied, and proponent appealed. Held, the letter was entitled to probate. De Lapp v. Anderson, .(Ky. 1947) 203 S.W. (2d) 388

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--INVESTIGATORY POWER OF CONGRESS--VALIDITY OF THE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE INQUIRIES INTO PROFESSIONAL AND POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS

The recent probe into the motion picture industry by the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the resulting indictment of ten witnesses for contempt of Congress have served not only to keep this controversial committee in the publicity spotlight, but have also raised some constitutional questions which have long gone unanswered. The indictment of the ten recalcitrant witnesses under Title 2, section 192, of the United States Code followed their citation for contempt by the House of Representatives for refusal to give direct answers to the Committee\u27s questions: Are you a member of the Screen Writers Guild? and Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party? There is a good chance that some of these cases may reach the Supreme Court, but in any event the problems involved warrant study at this time, particularly in view of the growing boldness of the committee in projecting its inquiries into a field dangerously near the dividing line between private affairs and legitimate Congressional objectives

CORPORATIONS-EFFECT OF MERGER UPON APPARENT RIGHTS OF STOCKHOLDERS UNDER PREFERRED STOCK CONTRACTS

It is the purpose of this comment to examine the effect of merger upon some of the provisions of the preferred stock contract

Home country effects of offshoring. A critical survey on empirical literature.

The International fragmentation of production processes is of rising importance. One part of this fragmentation involves the relocation of a production process from a home- to a new host country. This literature survey deals with the effects of such relocations on the home country. First of all, we try to conceptualize the terms and definitions most frequently used in this context which are "outsourcing", "offshore outsourcing" and "offshoring". Despite the fact that there is little textual documentation dealing directly with the phenomena of offshoring and offshore outsourcing we try to give an overview of possible empirical literature to which one can regard to. Including FDI literature we try to cover empirical literature which can provide helpful insight on the effects of a relocation to foreign countries on the home country in connection with wages, skill upgrading, prices, profits, taxes and unions. (author's abstract)Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordinatio

QUASI-CONTRACTS-TAXATION-RESCISSION OF GIFTS WHERE GIFT FAILS TO ACHIEVE DONOR\u27S PURPOSE OF MINIMIZING FEDERAL INCOME TAXES

A recent Michigan case, Stone v. Stone, presents problems of complexity and far-reaching importance. The plaintiffs, husband and wife, each owned a one-half interest in a family business partnership, and each apparently reported a proportionate share of the partnership earnings for federal income tax purposes. For the purpose of further reducing taxes on the income of the family unit, each parent transferred a one-quarter interest in the partnership to one of their two minor children, and thereafter each parent and child filed separate income tax returns reporting one-fourth of the partnership earnings as individual income. Each parent, under a probate court appointment, acted as guardian for one of the children in accepting the transferred business interests. The United States Supreme Court then announced its decision in Commissioner v. Tower, and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue accordingly refunded the income taxes paid by the wife and children and ruled that since the father managed and controlled the business without any contribution of services by the wife and children, the entire partnership income for the year was taxable to the father. Because the total business income was then returnable by one person instead of four, the income came within a higher surtax bracket and greatly, increased the total tax, all payable by the father, who as an individual received only one-fourth of the total partnership income taxed to him. Conceding the correctness of the. commissioner\u27s determination, the plaintiffs brought action to set aside the gifts to the children. In the alternative, the father sought to recover from each guardianship estate the amount of the taxes refunded for the year, plus its pro rata share of the total increased tax. The guardian ad litem, who was a neutral guardian appointed in the instant proceeding, admitted the desirability of relief by way of rescission. The Supreme Court of Michigan affirmed a decree granting rescission of the transfers to the children, basing its decision on the premise that the plaintiffs had made the gifts under a mistake as to their antecedent and existing private legal rights

An integrated approach for analysing and assessing the performance of virtual learning groups

Collaborative distance learning involves a variety of elements and factors that have to be considered and measured in order to analyse and assess group and individual performance more effectively and objectively. This paper presents an approach that integrates qualitative, social network analysis (SNA) and quantitative techniques for evaluating online collaborative learning interactions. Integration of various different data sources, tools and techniques provides a more complete and robust framework for group modelling and guarantees a more efficient evaluation of group effectiveness and individual competence. Our research relies on the analysis of a real, long-term, complex collaborative experience, which is initially evaluated in terms of principled criteria and a basic qualitative process. At the end of the experience, the coded student interactions are further analysed through the SNA technique to assess participatory aspects, identify the most effective groups and the most prominent actors. Finally, the approach is contrasted and completed through a statistical technique which sheds more light on the results obtained that far. The proposal draws a well-founded line toward the development of a principled framework for the monitoring and analysis of group interaction and group scaffolding which can be considered a major issue towards the actual application of the CSCL proposals to real classrooms.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Impact of hydrogen on the high cycle fatigue behaviour of Inconel 718 in asymmetric push–pull mode at room temperature

AbstractThe influence of hydrogen on the high cycle fatigue (HCF) behaviour of Inconel 718 has been studied at room temperature in asymmetric push–pull mode using an ultrasonic HCF test rig. Fatigue tests have been carried out in gaseous hydrogen (GH2) and in Ar at a pressure of 30MPa. Oscillating stresses with amplitudes (σa) up to 450MPa and mean stresses (σm) up to 600MPa have been applied. For a given σa and σm, the lifetime in Ar is generally longer than in GH2, which is explained by a hydrogen-induced embrittlement of the material. For a constant σa of 218MPa, the lifetime in Ar and in GH2 is very similar for high σm, but the difference in lifetime increases as the mean stress decreases. An approach is presented to describe the number of cycles to failure Nf as a function of σa and σm.Microstructural analysis has been performed on the specimens tested at σa=218MPa and two values of σm (300MPa and 600MPa). SEM analyses of the fracture surfaces of these samples indicate embrittlement of the material when tested in hydrogen atmosphere

Smart Medical Systems with Application to Nutrition and Fitness in Space

Smart medical systems are being developed to allow medical treatments to address alterations in chemical and physiological status in real time. In a smart medical system sensor arrays assess subject status, which are interpreted by computer processors which analyze multiple inputs and recommend treatment interventions. The response of the subject to the treatment is again assessed by the sensor arrays, closing the loop. An early form of "smart medicine" has been practiced in space to assess nutrition. Nutrient levels are assessed with food frequency questionnaires, which are interpreted by flight surgeons to recommend in-flight alterations in diet. In the future, sensor arrays will directly probe body chemistry. Near infrared spectroscopy can be used to noninvasively measure several blood and tissue parameters which are important in the assessment of nutrition and fitness. In particular, this technology can be used to measure blood hematocrit and interstitial fluid pH. The noninvasive measurement of interstitial pH is discussed as a surrogate for blood lactate measurement for the development and real-time assessment of exercise protocols in space. Earth-based application of these sensors are also described

Time-to-Fatigue and Intramuscular pH Measured via NIRS During Handgrip Exercise in Trained and Sedentary Individuals

In exercising muscles force production and muscular endurance are impaired by a decrease in intramuscular pH. The effects of aerobic training (AT) on preventing acidosis and prolonging exercise time in muscles not specifically targeted by the training are unknown. Purpose: To compare interstitial pH, measured non-invasively with near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), in the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) during rhythmic handgrip exercise in sedentary subjects and those who participate in AT activities that target the lower body. Methods: Maximal isometric force (MIF) was measured on three separate days in AT (n=5) and sedentary (n=8) subjects using a handgrip dynamometer (HGD). Isometric muscular endurance (IME) was measured during five trials, each separated by at least 48 hrs. For each IME trial subjects rhythmically squeezed (4 sec at 40% of MVC) and relaxed (2 sec) to fatigue or failure to reach the target force in three consecutive contractions or four non-consecutive contractions. Interstitial pH was derived from spectra collected using a NIRS sensor adhered to the skin over the FDP. The first four IME trials served to familiarize subjects with the protocol; the fifth trial was used for analysis. NIRS-derived pH was averaged in 30 sec increments. Between group differences in MIF and exercise time were tested using paired t-tests. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze effects of AT and exercise time on pH. Results: MIF was not different between groups (mean SD; aerobic=415.6 95.4 N vs. sedentary =505.1 107.4 N). Time to fatigue was greater in the AT than in the sedentary group (mean SD: 611 173 sec vs. 377 162 sec, p<0.05). pH was not different between groups at any time point. Average pH decreased (p<0.05) in both groups from rest (pH=7.4) through 90 sec of exercise (pH=6.9), but did not decrease further throughout the remainder of exercise. Conclusion: Although between group differences in pH were not detected, differences during the onset of exercise may exist with a more frequent sampling. AT individuals appear to better tolerate decreased interstitial pH and are able to continue submaximal muscular work, possibly due to psychological familiarization to muscular fatigue and/or systemic physiological benefits