What Kulch Accomplished, What Kulch Left Out

The general rule that an at-will employee can be discharged at any time for any or no reason is not the case in Ohio, because it has developed a wrongful discharge exception to the employment at-will doctrine. Under this doctrine, an employer who wrongfully discharges an employee in violation of clear public policy is subject to an action for damages. The Ohio legislature enacted the Whistleblower’s Statute, which allows the terminated whistleblower to maintain a cause of action against his employer. The Ohio Supreme Court has strengthened protection by allowing the terminated employee to bring common law action for wrongful discharge as well. However, the court failed to properly address what exact remedies the whistleblower may be entitled to recover, merely stating that recovery may be cumulative, but disallowing double recovery. Part II of this article discusses the factual background of the Kulch case, Part III outlines the potential causes of action, and Parts IV and V discuss available remedies and recovery options. The article concludes by summarizing what the court accomplished and what issues are left to be resolved

Antecedent flow conditions and nitrate concentrations in the Mississippi River basin

The relationship between antecedent flow conditions and nitrate concentrations was explored at eight sites in the 2.9 million square kilometers (km²) Mississippi River basin, USA. Antecedent flow conditions were quantified as the ratio between the mean daily flow of the previous year and the mean daily flow from the period of record (Qratio), and the Qratio was statistically related to nitrate anomalies (the unexplained variability in nitrate concentration after filtering out season, long-term trend, and contemporaneous flow effects) at each site. Nitrate anomaly and Qratio were negatively related at three of the four major tributary sites and upstream in the Mississippi River, indicating that when mean daily streamflow during the previous year was lower than average, nitrate concentrations were higher than expected. The strength of these relationships increased when data were subdivided by contemporaneous flow conditions. Five of the eight sites had significant negative relationships (<i>p</i> ≤ 0.05) at high or moderately high contemporaneous flows, suggesting nitrate that accumulates in these basins during a drought is flushed during subsequent high flows. At half of the sites, when mean daily flow during the previous year was 50 percent lower than average, nitrate concentration can be from 9 to 27 percent higher than nitrate concentrations that follow a year with average mean daily flow. Conversely, nitrate concentration can be from 8 to 21 percent lower than expected when flow during the previous year was 50 percent higher than average. Previously documented for small, relatively homogenous basins, our results suggest that relationships between antecedent flows and nitrate concentrations are also observable at a regional scale. Relationships were not observed (using all contemporaneous flow data together) for basins larger than 1 million km², suggesting that above this limit the overall size and diversity within these basins may necessitate the use of more complicated statistical approaches or that there may be no discernible basin-wide relationship with antecedent flow. The relationships between nitrate concentration and Qratio identified in this study serve as the basis for future studies that can better define specific hydrologic processes occurring during and after a drought (or high flow period) which influence nitrate concentration, such as the duration or magnitude of low flows, and the timing of low and high flows

Mars Telescopic Observations Workshop II

Mars Telescopic Observations Workshop E convened in Tucson, Arizona, in October 1997 by popular demand slightly over two years following the first successful Mars Telescopic Observations Workshop, held in Ithaca, New York, in August 1995. Experts on Mars from the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and the United States were present. Twenty-eight oral presentations were made and generous time allotted for useful discussions among participants. The goals of the workshop were to (1) summarize active groundbased observing programs and evaluate them in the context of current and future space missions to Mars, (2) discuss new technologies and instrumentation in the context of changing emphasis of observations and theory useful for groundbased observing, and (3) more fully understand capabilities of current and planned Mars missions to better judge which groundbased observations are and will continue to be of importance to our overall Mars program. In addition, the exciting new discoveries presented from the Pathfinder experiments and the progress report from the Mars Global Surveyor infused the participants with satisfaction for the successes achieved in the early stages of these missions. Just as exciting was the enthusiasm for new groundbased programs designed to address new challenges resulting from mission science results. We would like to thank the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as well as Dr. David Black, director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and the staff of the Institute's Publications and Program Services Department for providing logistical, administrative, and publication support services for this workshop

Spin susceptibility of the superfluid 3^{3}He-B in aerogel

The temperature dependence of paramagnetic susceptibility of the superfluid ^{3}He-B in aerogel is found. Calculations have been performed for an arbitrary phase shift of s-wave scattering in the framework of BCS weak coupling theory and the simplest model of aerogel as an aggregate of homogeneously distributed ordinary impurities. Both limiting cases of the Born and unitary scattering can be easily obtained from the general result. The existence of gapless superfluidity starting at the critical impurity concentration depending on the value of the scattering phase has been demonstrated. While larger than in the bulk liquid the calculated susceptibility of the B-phase in aerogel proves to be conspicuously smaller than that determined experimentally in the high pressure region.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, REVTe

Glass state of superfluid 3He-A in aerogel

Glass states formed in the superfluid $^3$He confined in aerogel are discussed. If the short range order corresponds to the A-phase state, the glass state is nonsuperfluid in the long wave length limit. The superfluidity can be restored by application of a small mass current. Transitions between the superfluid and nonsuperfluid glass states can be triggered by small magnetic field and by the change of the tipping angle of magnetization in NMR experiments.Comment: 6 pages, LaTeX file, no figures, submitted to JETP Letter

Concurrent engineering

The following subject areas are covered: issues (liquid rocket propulsion - current development approach, current certification process, and costs of engineering changes); state of the art (DICE information management system, key government participants, project development strategy, quality management, and numerical propulsion system simulation); needs identified; and proposed program

Calcium in Mercury's Exosphere: Modeling MESSENGER Data

Mercury is surrounded by a surface-bounded exosphere comprised of atomic species including hydrogen, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and likely oxygen. Because it is collisionless. the exosphere's composition represents a balance of the active source and loss processes. The Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) on the MErcury Surface. Space ENvironment. GEochemistry. and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft has made high spatial-resolution observations of sodium, calcium, and magnesium near Mercury's surface and in the extended, anti-sunward direction. The most striking feature of these data has been the substantial differences in the spatial distribution of each species, Our modeling demonstrates that these differences cannot be due to post-ejection dynamics such as differences in photo-ionization rate and radiation pressure. but instead point to differences in the source mechanisms and regions on the surface from which each is ejected. The observations of calcium have revealed a strong dawn/dusk asymmetry. with the abundance over the dawn hemisphere significantly greater than over the dusk. To understand this asymmetry, we use a Monte Carlo model of Mercury's exosphere that we developed to track the motions of exospheric neutrals under the influence of gravity and radiation pressure. Ca atoms can be ejected directly from the surface or produced in a molecular exosphere (e.g., one consisting of CaO). Particles are removed from the system if they stick to the surface or escape from the model region of interest (within 15 Mercury radii). Photoionization reduces the final weighting given to each particle when simulating the Ca radiance. Preliminary results suggest a high temperature ( I-2x 10(exp 4) K) source of atomic Ca concentrated over the dawn hemisphere. The high temperature is consistent with the dissociation of CaO in a near-surface exosphere with scale height <= 100 km, which imparts 2 eV to the freshly produced Ca atom. This source region and energy are consistent with data from the three MESSENGER flybys; whether this holds true for the data obtained in orbit is under investigation