Roe v. Workman\u27s Compensation Appeals Board: Something Fishy in California Workers\u27 Compensation Law

In California an injured employee receives workers compensation from his employer and can also bring an action for damages against a third party tortfeasor. The Labor Code provides the employer with subrogation rights in order to avoid double recovery by the employee. In Roe v. WCAB, the California Supreme Court held that concurrent employer negligence will bar his credit rights and that the WCAB has jurisdiction to determine the issue of employer negligence. This note traces pre-Roe appellate decisions and then analyzes and criticizes the Roe opinion. Finally, the author proposes an alternative solution utilizing certain comparative negligence principles announced in Li v. Yellow Cab Co

Negotiating a Deal in Korea: Reflections of a Battle-Scarred Veteran

In 1996, for an international widget company focused on selling to the Japanese tourist and looking to expand its business, Korea was the Promised Land. Korea had a widget business well in excess of (U.S.) $500 million, and was the second most popular Japanese tourist destination. No foreign companies were in the market, and my client BWC (a world-renowned widget company), sought to change that. They did, for a while. This paper analyzes select aspects of the twelve months of Round One negotiations that led to the triumphant signing of a Joint Venture Agreement with SY, a leading Korean widget retailer. Space constraints permit only the briefest recap of Round Two of the negotiations, which was the not-so-triumphant dissolving of that joint venture ( JV ) eighteen months later-a victim of the intervening Asian financial crisis. We found that in this Promised Land the milk was not so fresh and the honey not so sweet. We also found that a carefully crafted agreement that plans for the worst-case scenario is essential to surviving the expected and unexpected risks of doing business in the often-volatile international business arena

Microarray image segmentation using spot morphological model

Abstract-The up-to-date segmentation techniques and software programs for microarray image segmentation require human intervention which in turn may detrimentally affect the biological conclusions reached during microarray experiments. In this paper, an automatic approach for segmenting microarray images, based on the morphological modeling of spots, is presented. The conducted experiments have shown that the proposed approach is very effective even when it is applied to noisy images as well as to images containing spots of various shapes and intensities. Index Terms- Microarrays, Image Analysis, Segmentation I

Distribution and abundance of elasmobranchs in the Indian EEZ

Elasmobranchs were present in 100 trawling stations of depth up to 170 m, along the Indian EEZ, where the FORV Sagar Sampada carried out fishing operations during her first hundred cruises. Abundance and distribution of sharks, skates and rays in the different latitudinal zones are discussed. The catchable potential of this resource up to the 50 m depth zone has been estimated as 64934 tonne. Elasmobranchs being on exploitable resource, the potential yield beyond 50 m in the EEZ is estimated as 88985 m tonne. Though the maximum catch was obtained from the southwest area, the maximum c.p.u of elasmobranchs was observed to be along the northwest region

Dorab fishery of Gulf of Mannar waters and population characteristics of the species Chirocentrus dorab (Forsskal, 1775) and Chirocentrus nudus Swainson, 1839

Dorab (wolf-herrings) fishery of Gulf of Mannar and species diversity, biology as well as population characteristics of the species, Chirocentrus dorab (Forsskal, 1775) and Chirocentrus nudus Swainson, 1839 were studied to understand the dynamics of the resource, evaluate extent of their exploitation and to propose appropriate strategies for sustaining the stock and yield. Almost all gears operating along the coast exploit dorabs. About 1,142 t dorabs were landed annually during the period. Fishery was supported by two species dominated by C. dorab. Growth estimates indicated that both species grow much faster than the earlier estimates from the same region. Stock assessment shows that both species were under heavy fishing pressure and subjected to overexploitation resulting in low production below the MSY level. Strategies for enhancing stock and yield are discussed

Shark fishery and conservation in Indian waters: need for a National Plan of Action

Conserving marine resources and managing fisheries have been put in an ecosystem perspective in many parts of the world for some time now. The Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) and its many variants as enunciated by the FAO differs from most fisheries or environmental policies, which tend to focus on single species or habitats, in that the interconnectedness of ecological, social, and economic parameters for developing local and regional management of an ecosystem is explicitly recognized. Despite the soundness of the concept of EAF, there are only a few successful examples of well managed fisheries using the approach. Even when EAF is ecologically and institutionally attainable, multiple problems can arise from competing interests among stakeholders, undeveloped or inappropriate governance structures, poor science, or lack of political will. The situation is perhaps more complex in the tropics due to the large number of co-occurring species, gears and fishers. In the developing world, this is compounded by the lack of a governance structure, and in places where they do exist, the lack of its implementation

Emergence of triggerfishes (Family: Balistidae) as an alternate lucrative target fishery for trawls along the Tuticorin coast in Gulf of Mannar

Fishes of the family Balistidae are commonly known as trigger fishes. Globally the family is represented by about 40 species belonging to 11 genera. The name triggerfish arose as the second dorsal spine act as a trigger to the first dorsal fin. Locally they are known as ‘Kilathi’ in Tamil. Though they used to occur in trawl catch of Tuticorin coast from time immemorial, they were thrown back into the sea by fishermen mainly due to lack of market demand and also for want of onboard storage space. Trawlers used to avoid areas of their congregation as they considered it a menace leading to wastage of energy and time

Comparing methods of assessing dog rabies vaccination coverage in rural and urban communities in Tanzania

Rabies can be eliminated by achieving comprehensive coverage of 70% of domestic dogs during annual mass vaccination campaigns. Estimates of vaccination coverage are, therefore, required to evaluate and manage mass dog vaccination programs; however, there is no specific guidance for the most accurate and efficient methods for estimating coverage in different settings. Here, we compare post-vaccination transects, school-based surveys, and household surveys across 28 districts in southeast Tanzania and Pemba island covering rural, urban, coastal and inland settings, and a range of different livelihoods and religious backgrounds. These approaches were explored in detail in a single district in northwest Tanzania (Serengeti), where their performance was compared with a complete dog population census that also recorded dog vaccination status. Post-vaccination transects involved counting marked (vaccinated) and unmarked (unvaccinated) dogs immediately after campaigns in 2,155 villages (24,721 dogs counted). School-based surveys were administered to 8,587 primary school pupils each representing a unique household, in 119 randomly selected schools approximately 2 months after campaigns. Household surveys were conducted in 160 randomly selected villages (4,488 households) in July/August 2011. Costs to implement these coverage assessments were $12.01,$66.12, and $155.70 per village for post-vaccination transects, school-based, and household surveys, respectively. Simulations were performed to assess the effect of sampling on the precision of coverage estimation. The sampling effort required to obtain reasonably precise estimates of coverage from household surveys is generally very high and probably prohibitively expensive for routine monitoring across large areas, particularly in communities with high human to dog ratios. School-based surveys partially overcame sampling constraints, however, were also costly to obtain reasonably precise estimates of coverage. Post-vaccination transects provided precise and timely estimates of community-level coverage that could be used to troubleshoot the performance of campaigns across large areas. However, transects typically overestimated coverage by around 10%, which therefore needs consideration when evaluating the impacts of campaigns. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these different methods and make recommendations for how vaccination campaigns can be better monitored and managed at different stages of rabies control and elimination programs

Complement Inhibition as a Proposed Neuroprotective Strategy following Cardiac Arrest

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a devastating disease process with neurological injury accounting for a disproportionate amount of the morbidity and mortality following return of spontaneous circulation. A dearth of effective treatment strategies exists for global cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (GCI/R) injury following successful resuscitation from OHCA. Emerging preclinical as well as recent human clinical evidence suggests that activation of the complement cascade plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of GCI/R injury following OHCA. In addition, it is well established that complement inhibition improves outcome in both global and focal models of brain ischemia. Due to the profound impact of GCI/R injury following OHCA, and the relative lack of effective neuroprotective strategies for this pathologic process, complement inhibition provides an exciting opportunity to augment existing treatments to improve patient outcomes. To this end, this paper will explore the pathophysiology of complement-mediated GCI/R injury following OHCA