Contract as Assumption and Consideration Theory: A Reassessment of Williams v Roffey Bros

This article considers various aspects of the doctrine of consideration in the light of Professor Coote's recent book "Contract as Assumption". Whilst a voluntary assumption of a legal duty is the essence of a contractual obligation, not every promise given in exchange for another promise with the intention to create legal obligations becomes enforceable in contract. Thus there is no contract where A promises to give property to B and B promises to accept it.  The Law discriminates between promises given for value and promises which are illusory or gratuitous. It does so by examining the content of the counter-promise (in the above example B's promise to accept) and requires that the performance of the obligation to be undertaken in the reciprocal promise confers a benefit on the promisor (in the example above A) or constitutes a detriment to the counter-party. It follows that whether a purported assumption of liability contained in a promise is enforceable is answered in our law by asking whether the promise is supported by consideration – for example whether what the counter-party has agreed to do is for the benefit of the promisor or to the detriment of the counter-party. It is also suggested that the concept of a practical benefit where an existing legal duty is sought to be modified has respectable historical antecedents which tend to support the reasoning in the controversial decision in Williams v Roffey Bros. Finally, Equity's traditional reluctance to enforce a covenant made under seal which is not exchanged for value is re-examined, and the significance of recent statutory reforms adverted to

Analysis of the energy harvesting performance of a piezoelectric bender outside its resonance

When the frequency of the source of vibration of a piezolectric generator is significantly different from its eigenfrequency, the dielectric power losses become prominent and decrease the amount of power which is practically harvested. For off-resonance vibrating frequencies, the optimal operating conditions can be obtained with a Maximum Power Point Tracking method. This paper introduces complex phasors in the study of power conversion for piezoelectric generators. These complex phasors are used to describe three strategies which help simplify the tracking of the optimal generator output power for vibration frequencies which are away from resonance. Experimental results obtained on a prototype illustrate and confirm the approach with the phasor approaches illustrate and confirm the success of the proposed optimal power tracking strategies. Finally, we show that the efficiency results of each strategy depend on whether they are used inside or outside a frequency bandwidth around the eigenfrequency, and that the length of this bandwidth depends on the excitation amplitude.IRCICA Stimtac Project, INRIA Mint Project

TTCPR: a PMC receiver for TTC

Abstract The TTCPR receiver is a mezzanine card intended for use in distributing TTC information to Data Acquisition and Trigger Crates in the ATLAS Prototype Integration activities. An original prototype run of these ~cards was built for testbeam and integration studies, implemented in both the PMC and PCI form factors, using the TTCrx chips from the previous manufacture. When the new TTCrx chips became available, the TTCPR was redesigned to take advantage of the availability and enhanced features of the new TTCRX(1), and a run of 20 PMC cards was manufactured, and has since been used in integration studies and the testbeam. The TTCPR uses the AMCC 5933(2) to manage the PCI port, an Altera 10K30A(3) to provide all the logic so that the functionality may be easily altered, and provides a 4K deep FIFO to retain TTC data for subsequent DMA through the PCI port. In addition to DMA's which are mastered by the Add On logic, communication through PCI is accomplished via mailboxes, interrupts, and the pass-through feature of the 5933. An interface to the I2C bus of the TTCRX is provided so that internal registers may be accessed, and the card supports reinitialization of the TTCRX from PCI. Software has been developed to support operation of the TTCPR under both LynxOS and Linux. I. History of the TTCPR The TTCPR was developed in response to a need for TTC(4) information in the Data Acquisition from TileCal Modules in the ATLAS Test Beam. Specifically, it was desired to have EventID, Bunch Counter, and Trigger Type available from TTC in the data records. It was useful to have the TTC information available to processors in the Data Acquisition crates through PCI ports, and to have the data transferred to the processor's address space via an externally mastered DMA. Accordingly, the TTCPR was designed as a mezzanine card in the PMC form factor. The original cards utilized the older nonradhard version of the TTCRX, because the new radhard version was not available at that time. When it became clear that the new TTCRX would be available soon and also that it would not be possible to obtain any more of the older TTCRX chips, the TTCPR was redesigned, and enhancements were added to take advantage of the features of the new TTCRX. This new TTCPR was produced and has been used successfully in data acquisition at the ATLAS Test Beam. The card has also been implemented in the PCI form factor. The TTCPR in the PMC version is shown in II. Architecture of the TTCPR A block diagram of the TTCPR is shown i

Sediment and particulate carbon removal by pipe erosion increase over time in blanket peatlands as a consequence of land drainage

Land drainage is common in peatlands. Artificially drained blanket peat catchments have been shown to have a significantly greater soil pipe density than intact catchments. This paper investigates the role of surface land drains in the enhancement of soil piping in blanket peats. The density of piping was found to significantly increase in a linear fashion with the age of the drainage. Thirty-five years after drains were cut, slopes would be expected to have twice the density of soil piping than would an undrained blanket peat catchment. The rate of pipe erosion increases exponentially over time, so that particulate carbon loss from subsurface pipes is greatest where drains are oldest

Effect of selective heart rate slowing in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

Background Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality but is currently refractory to therapy. Despite limited evidence, heart rate reduction has been advocated, on the basis of physiological considerations, as a therapeutic strategy in HFpEF. We tested the hypothesis that heart rate reduction improves exercise capacity in HFpEF. Methods and Results We conducted a randomized, crossover study comparing selective heart rate reduction with the If blocker ivabradine at 7.5 mg twice daily versus placebo for 2 weeks each in 22 symptomatic patients with HFpEF who had objective evidence of exercise limitation (peak oxygen consumption at maximal exercise [GraphicO2 peak] <80% predicted for age and sex). The result was compared with 22 similarly treated matched asymptomatic hypertensive volunteers. The primary end point was the change in GraphicO2 peak. Secondary outcomes included tissue Doppler–derived E/e′ at echocardiography, plasma brain natriuretic peptide, and quality-of-life scores. Ivabradine significantly reduced peak heart rate compared with placebo in the HFpEF (107 versus 129 bpm; P<0.0001) and hypertensive (127 versus 145 bpm; P=0.003) cohorts. Ivabradine compared with placebo significantly worsened the change in GraphicO2 peak in the HFpEF cohort (-2.1 versus 0.9 mL·kg−1·min−1; P=0.003) and significantly reduced submaximal exercise capacity, as determined by the oxygen uptake efficiency slope. No significant effects on the secondary end points were discernable. Conclusion Our observations bring into question the value of heart rate reduction with ivabradine for improving symptoms in a HFpEF population characterized by exercise limitation

Theory of linear sweep voltammetry with diffuse charge: Unsupported electrolytes, thin films, and leaky membranes

Linear sweep and cyclic voltammetry techniques are important tools for electrochemists and have a variety of applications in engineering. Voltammetry has classically been treated with the Randles-Sevcik equation, which assumes an electroneutral supported electrolyte. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive mathematical theory of voltammetry in electrochemical cells with unsupported electrolytes and for other situations where diffuse charge effects play a role, and present analytical and simulated solutions of the time-dependent Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations with generalized Frumkin-Butler-Volmer boundary conditions for a 1:1 electrolyte and a simple reaction. Using these solutions, we construct theoretical and simulated current-voltage curves for liquid and solid thin films, membranes with fixed background charge, and cells with blocking electrodes. The full range of dimensionless parameters is considered, including the dimensionless Debye screening length (scaled to the electrode separation), Damkohler number (ratio of characteristic diffusion and reaction times), and dimensionless sweep rate (scaled to the thermal voltage per diffusion time). The analysis focuses on the coupling of Faradaic reactions and diffuse charge dynamics, although capacitive charging of the electrical double layers is also studied, for early time transients at reactive electrodes and for nonreactive blocking electrodes. Our work highlights cases where diffuse charge effects are important in the context of voltammetry, and illustrates which regimes can be approximated using simple analytical expressions and which require more careful consideration

Pictures Not Homes

The project Pictures not Homes is the result of the partial excavation of Taplow House, a South East London estate block earmarked for renewal and ‘bettering’. This is a documentary project using contemporary archaeological recording practices; photogrammetry, reflectance transformation imaging [RTI] and 3D laser scanning. Pictures not Homes is material documentation of the urban regeneration process enabled by new-imaging technologies; the wreckage of place salvaged as file types. The title is a reversal of the slogan ‘HOMES NOT PICTURES’ daubed by protesters across ‘social’ artwork on a demolition site hoarding. This work wanders about appearance and dwelling, through pictures and homes, divisions and productions, data-sets and concrete abstractions. It is also a way to frame questions of what pictures do: questions of capacities, anxiety and ambivalence. It evokes an environment of barricades, sandbags, file types and data as ruin

Application and analysis of adjustable profile high frequency switchmode transformer having a U-shaped winding structure

金沢大学環日本海域環境研究センター生体機能計測研究部門This paper introduces a newly developed high frequency switchmode transformer consisting of a U-shaped winding and a multiple toroidal magnetic core element structure. The new transformer with adjustable profile structure exhibits a utilization of the core area which is better than a planar core but worse than a pot core. The coupling efficiency of the transformer is much higher than a planar core structure. The numerical results for the flux density and eddy current density have been compared with those of a planar and pot core transformer structure. The maximum normalized eddy current density of the new structure is 50% less than a pot core or a planar core. The experimental results at low current excitation indicate that the copper loss is lower at high frequency (10 MHz) when using the new winding structure. The core loss is primarily due to hysteresis and increases significantly if a MnZn based material such as TDK PC40 is used at frequencies above 2MHz. © 1998 IEEE