Recently, in the multidistrict breast implant litigation, Judge Pointer entered a series of orders relating to the establishment of a Federal Evidence Rule 706 science panel. In re: Silicone Gel ...Breast Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL 926, CV92-P-10000-S (N.D. Ala.). Judge Pointer's Order No. 31 specifies that appointments are to be made on a national basis for potential use in all federal courts and as permitted in state courts. Federal Evidence Rule 706 gives a district court the authority to appoint experts to provide helpful testimony. The policy justification behind Rule 706 is to guarantee that the trier of fact has access to impartial experts. The parties to the litigation, however, must be informed of the court appointed experts' opinions in advance and be given the opportunity to depose and cross-examine any expert. Once those requirements are satisfied, all other aspects of appointing the experts are left to the sound discretion of the trial judge. In fact, bias or qualification of experts may not be considered when the Court appoints experts. Bias or qualification may affect not only the weight of the experts' opinions but also the admissibility of their testimony. Parties confronted with harmful testimony presented by court appointed experts may want to challenge the admissibility of that testimony. This is particularly true in multidistrict proceedings where the opinions issued by a science panel could affect multiple cases. Although Rule 706 has notbeen used with any frequency in the past, that could be changing as Rule 706 and court appointed experts are playing important roles in a number of recent high profile cases. Furthermore, when used properly Rule 706 poses little threat to the American trial system and the adversarial process. This article discusses Federal Evidence Rule 706, its history and structure, and several recent cases involving court appointed experts to demonstrate the development and impact that experts, particularly scientific experts, are having in modern courts.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
L'objet de cette thèse est l'étude des amalgames de Hrushovski dans le contexte relatif. D'abord, la fusion libre de deux théories simples de rang 1 T(1) et T(2) est construite, au-dessus d'un réduit ...commun T(0) qui est supposé fortement minimal et omega-catégorique. Dans bien des cas, il est montré que ses complétions sont simples. Si les T(i) sont fortement minimales et si une condition géométrique est satisfaite - par exemple si le réduit commun est un espace vectoriel sur un corps fini - la fusion libre est complète et omega-stable. En supposant de plus que les multiplicités sont définissables dans T(i), le collapse de
la fusion libre sur une fusion fortement minimale est effectuée. Puis, des variations sur le thème de la fusion sont étudiées (courbe générique et structures bicolores). À titre d'exemple, il suit des résultats que l'on peut donner un sens à la notion d'une courbe générique dans un corps pseudofini. Enfin, l'axiomatisabilité de l'automorphisme générique est démontrée dans certains contextes issus d'une amalgamation à la Hrushovski dont la fusion libre et les théories des différents corps bicolores de Poizat (noir, rouge et vert).
In 68 patients the DNA content of tumor cells was measured by image cytometry after resection of the rectum because of cancer. In the DNA histogram a differentiation between diploid (n = 19), ...polyploid (n = 24), hypotriploid (n = 17), and hypertriploid (n = 8) tumors was possible. The best relapse-free survival time was found in patients with diploid tumors. The prognosis worsened from polyploid to hypotriploid and was worse in hypertriploid tumors. Testing for a prognostic advantage of diploid over aneuploid tumors without adjustment for additional factors simply by means of the log-rank statistic gave a (one-sided) P of 0.1013. In a multivariate analysis the degree of differentiation turned out most important. Again, an appropriate test for prognostic relevance of DNA content failed to be significant (P = 0.3264).
Cytological events in Zea mays root meristem were followed during 26 hr of anaerobic treatment. From 8 to 14 hr, mitochondria swelled drastically, Golgi apparatus actively produced vesicles, ...endoplasmic reticulum proliferated, and chromatin strongly condensed. Plastids appeared normal. By 26 hr, however, Golgi activity receded, mitochondria assumed long, polymorphic shapes, chromatin partly dispersed, and plastids swelled. ER remained prominent, and the cytoplasm contained long fibrous inclusions. This preliminary study emphasizes the need to examine quantitatively all cellular organelles periodically for longer periods when following events of stress or pathology. Our observations corroborate scattered reports in the literature for single organelles under anaerobic stress and represent the first set of correlated observations on the entire spectrum of cellular events.
We report on the simulation of a terahertz optics setup with the commercial, optic-design software package Zemax. We show that the analysis of both diffraction and abberation effects are well ...corroborated by the experimental results.
Vegetative and reproductive anatomy and morphology are described for the first time for Tetracarpaea tasmannica Hook., a small shrub endemic to Tasmania. Tetracarpaea, a monotypic genus, has many ...characteristics of other woody Saxifragaceae, such as wood with solitary pores, scalariform perforation plates, sparse axial xylem parenchyma, tracheids, spiral thickenings in tracheary elements, and perforated ray cells. The tracheary elements of Tetracarpaea are much smaller than those characteristic of the Escallonioideae, a feature probably related to its montane forest habitat. Other features of Tetracarpaea inconsistent with most Escallonioideae include dark-staining deposits in the ray cells; a unilacunar, one-trace nodal pattern; lack of unicellular foliar trichomes; simple craspedodromous venation; areole development that is lacking or incomplete; straight and tapered veinlets; abaxial fibers associated with the foliar vascular bundles; and lack of bundle sheaths. The genus is further characterized by complete, hypogynous, tetramerous flowers. The essentially apocarpous gynoecium has multiovulate carpels, each supplied by three veins that reach the stigma. Ovules are anatropous, bitegmic, and crassinucellate. Lateral sepal bundles are derived either from the sepal midrib or from the petal-plane bundles; stamens are supplied by independent traces or by bundles originating from compound traces in both sepal- and petal-planes. The follicular fruits possess a sclerenchymatous endocarp and contain winged seeds that have a membranous testa, a ridged surface, and a cellular endosperm. Reproductive morphological and anatomical features are more consistent with features of the Saxifragoideae than with the Escallonioideae or the Cunoniaceae, although the essentially apocarpous gynoecium with multiovulate carpels is not found in these groups. Vegetative and reproductive characteristics indicate that Tetracarpaea is more closely related to Saxifragaceae than to Cunoniaceae. It is possible this isolated genus should have separate familial status.
We report on the realization of an active fully electronic THz camera operating at 645 GHz and room temperature. It currently acquires images with about 9000 pixels in 10 seconds. Each pixel contains ...the amplitude as well as the phase information of the reflected THz signal. Frequency modulation allows to select a specific working distance and to suppress spurious reflections. The typical image size is in the order of hundreds of cm 2 .