The Reasons behind the Rules in the Law of Business Torts

I. Introduction II. The Goals of the Law and How They Are Pursued … A. Social Control … B. The Aims of Social Control … C. Achieving These Goals III. Law-Making in the Area of Business Torts … A. Free Enterprise—A Basic Assumption … B. The Right to Pursue a Profit IV. Balancing Interests in Typical Business Tort Cases V. Reflections of the Process of Balancing Interests … A. Privilege … B. Abuse of Privilege VI. Trademark and Trade Name Cases … A. Terminology Used … B. Principal Interests in Trademark and Trade Name Cases VII. The Trade Secret Cases VIII. Business Torts Based on Statute … A. Infringement of Patents … B. Infringements of Copyrights … C. Business Torts Based on Violations of the Antitrust Laws IX. Conclusio

First record of an Odontaspidid shark in Ascension Island waters

The occurrence of the poorly understood shark species Odontapsis ferox is reported at an oceanic seamount in the central south Atlantic, within the Exclusive Economic Zone of Ascension Island. The presence of the species at this location is confirmed by the discovery of a tooth embedded in scientific equipment, and footage of at least one animal on autonomous underwater video. The new record of this shark species at this location demonstrates the knowledge gaps which still exist at many remote, oceanic structures and their candidacy for status as important conservation areas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

COMMERCIALIZATION DEMONSTRATION OF MID-SIZED SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETIC ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGY FOR ELECTRIC UTILITYAPPLICATIONS

As an outgrowth of the Technology Reinvestment Program of the 1990’s, an Agreement was formed between BWXT and the DOE to promote the commercialization of Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) technology. Business and marketing studies showed that the performance of electric transmission lines could be improved with this SMES technology by stabilizing the line thereby allowing the reserved stability margin to be used. One main benefit sought was to double the capacity and the amount of energy flow on an existing transmission line by enabling the use of the reserved stability margin, thereby doubling revenue. Also, electrical disturbances, power swings, oscillations, cascading disturbances and brown/black-outs could be mitigated and rendered innocuous; thereby improving power quality and reliability. Additionally, construction of new transmission lines needed for increased capacity could be delayed or perhaps avoided (with significant savings) by enabling the use of the reserved stability margin of the existing lines. Two crucial technical aspects were required; first, a large, powerful, dynamic, economic and reliable superconducting magnet, capable of oscillating power flow was needed; and second, an electrical power interface and control to a transmission line for testing, demonstrating and verifying the benefits and features of the SMES system was needed. A project was formed with the goals of commercializing the technology by demonstrating SMES technology for utility applications and to establish a domestic capability for manufacturing large superconducting magnets for both commercial and defense applications. The magnet had very low AC losses to support the dynamic and oscillating nature of the stabilizing power flow. Moreover, to economically interface to the transmission line, the magnet had the largest operating voltage ever made. The manufacturing of that design was achieved by establishing a factory with newly designed and acquired equipment, tooling, methods and skilled personnel. The final magnet system measured 14 feet in diameter, 10 feet in height, and weighed about 35 tons. The superconducting magnet and design technology was successfully implemented and demonstrated. The project was not successfully concluded however; as the critical planned final demonstration was not achieved. The utilities could not understand or clarify their future business needs and the regulatory requirements, because of the deregulation policies and practices of the country. Much uncertainty existed which prevented utilities from defining business plans, including asset allocation and cost recovery. Despite the technical successes and achievements, the commercial development could not be implemented and achieved. Thus, the demonstration of this enhancement to the utility’s transmission system and to the reliability of the nation’s electrical grid was not achieved. The factory was ultimately discontinued and the technology, equipment and product were placed in storage

Equal Footing of Thermal Expansion and Electron–Phonon Interaction in the Temperature Dependence of Lead Halide Perovskite Band Gaps

Lead halide perovskites, which are causing a paradigm shift in photovoltaics, exhibit an atypical temperature dependence of the fundamental gap: it decreases in energy with decreasing temperature. Reports ascribe such a behavior to a strong electron–phonon renormalization of the gap, neglecting contributions from thermal expansion. However, high-pressure experiments performed on the archetypal perovskite MAPbI₃ (MA stands for methylammonium) yield a negative pressure coefficient for the gap of the tetragonal room-temperature phase, which speaks against the assumption of negligible thermal expansion effects. Here we show that for MAPbI₃ the temperature-induced gap renormalization due to electron–phonon interaction can only account for about 40% of the total energy shift, thus implying thermal expansion to be more if not as important as electron–phonon coupling. Furthermore, this result possesses general validity, holding also for the tetragonal or cubic phase, stable at ambient conditions, of most halide perovskite counterparts

Delayed evaluation of combat-related penetrating neck trauma

ObjectiveThe approach to penetrating trauma of the head and neck has undergone significant evolution and offers unique challenges during wartime. Military munitions produce complex injury patterns that challenge conventional diagnosis and management. Mass casualties may not allow for routine exploration of all stable cervical blast injuries. The objective of this study was to review the delayed evaluation of combat-related penetrating neck trauma in patients after evacuation to the United States.MethodFrom February 2003 through April 2005, a series of patients with military-associated penetrating cervical trauma were evacuated to a single institution, prospectively entered into a database, and retrospectively reviewed.ResultsSuspected vascular injury from penetrating neck trauma occurred in 63 patients. Injuries were to zone II in 33%, zone III in 33%, and zone I in 11%. The remaining injuries involved multiple zones, including the lower face or posterior neck. Explosive devices wounded 50 patients (79%), 13 (21%) had high-velocity gunshot wounds, and 19 (30%) had associated intracranial or cervical spine injury. Of the 39 patients (62%) who underwent emergent neck exploration in Iraq or Afghanistan, 21 had 24 injuries requiring ligation (18), vein interposition or primary repair (4), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) graft interposition (1), or patch angioplasty (1). Injuries occurred to the carotid, vertebral, or innominate arteries, or the jugular vein. After evacuation to the United States, all patients underwent radiologic evaluation of the head and neck vasculature. Computed tomography angiography was performed in 45 patients (71%), including six zone II injuries without prior exploration. Forty (63%) underwent diagnostic arteriography that detected pseudoaneurysms (5) or occlusions (8) of the carotid and vertebral arteries. No occult venous injuries were noted. Delayed evaluation resulted in the detection of 12 additional occult injuries and one graft thrombosis in 11 patients. Management included observation (5), vein or PTFE graft repair (3), coil embolization (2), or ligation (1).ConclusionsPenetrating multiple fragment injury to the head and neck is common during wartime. Computed tomography angiography is useful in the delayed evaluation of stable patients, but retained fragments produce suboptimal imaging in the zone of injury. Arteriography remains the imaging study of choice to evaluate for cervical vascular trauma, and its use should be liberalized for combat injuries. Stable injuries may not require immediate neck exploration; however, the high prevalence of occult injuries discovered in this review underscores the need for a complete re-evaluation upon return to the United States

Reduction of the Three Dimensional Schrodinger Equation for Multilayered Films

In this paper, we present a method for reducing the three dimensional Schrodinger equation to study confined metallic states, such as quantum well states, in a multilayer film geometry. While discussing some approximations that are employed when dealing with the three dimensionality of the problem, we derive a one dimensional equation suitable for studying such states using an envelope function approach. Some applications to the Cu/Co multilayer system with regard to spin tunneling/rotations and angle resolved photoemission are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur

Back to the future : the Arab uprisings and state (re)formation in the Arab world

This article contributes to debates that aim to go beyond the “democratization” and “post-democratization” paradigms to understand change and continuity in Arab politics. In tune with calls to focus on the actualities of political dynamics, the article shows that the literatures on State Formation and Contentious Politics provide useful theoretical tools to understand change/continuity in Arab politics. It does so by examining the impact of the latest Arab uprisings on state formation trajectories in Iraq and Syria. The uprisings have aggravated a process of regime erosion – which originated in post-colonial state-building attempts – by mobilizing sectarian and ethnic identities and exposing the counties to geo-political rivalries and intervention, giving rise to trans-border movements, such as ISIS. The resulting state fragmentation has obstructed democratic transition in Syria and constrained its consolidation in Iraq.PostprintPeer reviewe

Incidental findings on brain magnetic resonance imaging: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To quantify the prevalence of incidental findings on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain