Rationalizing Noneconomic Damages: A Health-Utilities Approach

Studdert et al examine why making compensation of noneconomic damages in personal-injury litigation more rational and predictable is socially valuable. Noneconomic-damages schedules as an alternative to caps are discussed, several potential approaches to construction of schedules are reviewed, and the use of a health-utilities approach as the most promising model is argued. An empirical analysis that combines health-utilities data created in a previous study with original empirical work is used to demonstrate how key steps in construction of a health-utilities-based schedule for noneconomic damages might proceed

Effect of Agricultural Activity on River Water Quality: A Case Study for the Lower Colorado River Basin

This case study investigates the effect of a change in cropping pattern involving expanded acres of crops for biofuel feedstock, on the discharge of nutrients to rivers. Annual data from 1968-2008 on stream flow, cropped acres, and precipitation for Wharton County, Texas are used. A positive impact of increased corn acreage over this period on river discharge is identified.Biofuels, Stream Flow, Discharge, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Seawater Desalination for Municipal Water Production

This paper examines the optimal allocation of several inputs in the context of seawater desalination by reverse osmosis (RO) as a source of municipal (or commercial or industrial) water. A cost-minimization model is developed, a production function is estimated, and sensitivity analyses are conducted using the optimization model to investigate the effect of environmental conditions and economic factors on the optimal input portfolio and the cost of operating a modeled seawater desalination facility. The objectives of this paper are to better understand the effect on the seawater desalination facility’s costs and input portfolio from changes in water quality, membrane lifespan, daily operations schedule, and energy prices. Findings include that lower total facility costs are associated with warm-weather water quality parameters, longer membrane life, and mid-range daily operations schedule (14.265 hours/day). Under most conditions, an interruptible power supply regime reduces facility costs. Exceptions include when the interruptible power supply regime implies significant reductions in operating hours and the associated reduction in energy price is very small.water, production, seawater desalination, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Incidence of Secondary Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis in Critically-Ill COVID-19 Patients.

Objective Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with diffuse lung injury that can progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome, multisystem-organ failure, and death. The inflammatory storm seen in many COVID-19 patients closely resembles secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (sHLH) which has been described in other virus-associated severe sepsis. We sought to describe the incidence of sHLH in COVID-19 infected patients. Design In this retrospective study, we reviewed the records of critically ill COVID-19 positive patients to determine the incidence of sHLH. An H-score for sHLH diagnosis was determined for each study participant, with a score greater than 169 points needed for diagnosis. Setting A quaternary referral center in suburban Pennsylvania, USA. Patients All study participants had a positive COVID-19 test, and were deemed critically ill defined as receiving invasive mechanical ventilation and/or who expired. Measurements and Main Results Of the 246 records identified, 242 records met inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Eighty five patients were excluded from analysis due to missing H-score data parameters. Overall, 32 of 157 (20.38%, 95% CI:14.38-27.54%) patients met diagnostic criteria for sHLH. The average age was 69.42 years (standard deviation (SD) 14.81). Patients diagnosed with sHLH were more likely to be younger (61.09 years vs 69.38 years

Scope for latitudinal extension of reef corals is species specific

In their recent paper, Muir et al. (Science, 2015, 348, 1135-1138) demonstrate that the maximum depths of staghorn coral assemblages are shallower at higher latitudes, a trend that correlates with winter light levels. Based on these findings, the authors hypothesize that light availability limits the current latitudinal extent of the group and will constrain future range expansion. Here we reanalyze their data and show that depth-latitude relationships vary substantially among species, and that most species show either no significant pattern or the opposite pattern. In so doing, our reanalysis highlights a common misinterpretation of mixed-effects models: the fallacy of the average. Our findings are also consistent with fossil and contemporary observations of coral range-shifts. The factors that limit the current range extent of corals remain elusive, but they are likely speciesspecific and will require much further research to elucidate

Photodetector Focal Plane Arrays Integrated with Silicon Micropyramidal Structures in MWIR

Light-concentrating truncated Si micropyramidal arrays with 54.7 degree sidewall angles were successfully integrated with PtSi Schottky barrier photodetectors. Four different devices consisting of 10 x 10 photodetectors with 60 um pitch combined in parallel were tested, where significant enhancement capability was demonstrated by the Si micropyramids. The device consisting of one hundred 22 um square detectors monolithically integrated with the light-concentrating micropyramidal array displayed signal enhancement of up to 4 times compared to the same size 22 um square photodetector device without the light concentrators.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, GOMACTech 202