Engineering and the law: the Biomaterials Access Assurance Act of1998

Congress passed legislation protecting suppliers of bulk components and raw materials for implants from law-suits, The legislation is called the Biomaterials Access Assurance Act of 1998 (BAAA). The BAAA applies to all implant raw materials and components except the silicone gel and the silicone envelope utilized in a breast implant containing silicone gel. The new law supersedes otherwise applicable state laws and procedures by precluding any civil action, regardless of the legal theory upon which it is based, for harm, other than commercial loss or loss of or damage to an implant, caused by an implant. The BAAA was passed in response to a serious problem: the embargo by manufacturers of bulk biomaterials such as silicone gel and Teflon. This embargo arose from some legal decisions making the suppliers of bulk biomaterials liable for injuries allegedly caused by finished implants. Unfortunately, Congress and the President lost sight of the original goal in the flurry of lobbying by plaintiffs' lawyers and component-part manufacturers. The result is a bill that provides a much broader umbrella than is necessary to protect biomaterials suppliers, and no protection for suppliers of silicone gel, one of the bulk materials that led to the legislation     

工程索赔项目管理

介绍工程项目中索赔产生的原因、种类,解决索赔争端的方法,索赔的具体操作步骤以及索赔的管理。     

Engineering and the law: pillorying well-stocked scientists

Previously (ibid., March 1993, March 1994, May 1994) the authors discussed the conflict between headline-seeking reporters, and zealous scientists at the Office of Research Integrity seeking to convict high profile researchers of misconduct. The authors also discussed the rights of the researchers to a fair hearing on the charges against them. Here the following topics are discussed: responsibilities of the Director; responsibilities of the Policy and Education Division; responsibilities of the Research Investigations Division; misappropriation of NHS funds and the ALERT system; protecting whistleblowers; how to avoid trouble     

Engineering and the law. Science in the Supreme Court: round two

Since the United States Supreme Court's 1993 decision in the Daubert case, federal judges have been looking more carefully at the scientific basis of the expert testimony presented in their courtrooms. Medical-device litigation, especially that over the alleged harm caused by breast implants, has been at the center of this rethinking of the role of the court in assessing scientific evidence. Cases that were about to settle for a total of more than $4 billion are now being seen as potentially groundless. One judge in Oregon dismissed a group of breast-implant cases. Finding there was no scientific basis for the plaintiff's claims. Another court, overseeing a large group of cases, has appointed an independent panel of experts to determine if the plaintiff's experts will be allowed to testify. As in the Oregon breast-implant cases, the exclusion of a plaintiff's expert witness often means the court must also dismiss the plaintiff's case. Plaintiffs have appealed these decisions, arguing that since the trial court's exclusion of their expert's testimony ends their case, the appeals courts should strictly review the correctness of the trial court's decision. In GE vs. Joiner, decided December 1997, the United States Supreme Court established the proper standard for appellate review of decisions by trial courts to exclude evidence     

Engineering and the law [custodians of information]

The control of valuable technical information determines its beneficiaries. The “owner” may exploit the information for a profit or share it with colleagues and the general public. When used for a profit, benefits focus on monetary considerations and the narrower interests of the “owner” of the information. When information is in the public domain, benefits extend to everyone. Information, of course, exists whether there is an “owner” or not. Until discovered, information “belongs” to everyone but can be used by no one. After discovery, the ownership of the information does not change, but who can use it does. Thus, one who discovers information becomes its first custodian, but not its owner. In his thoughtful “GNU Manifesto” (1985), Professor Richard Stallman, a well-known computer scientist, points out that the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity does not justify depriving the world of that creativity, and that creativity is a social contribution only insofar as society is free to use the results. Indeed, if the initial custodians of valuable information deserve to be rewarded for their creativity, they also deserve to be punished if they restrict the use of it. Nevertheless, most legal systems recognize at least 3 methods for the control of information. Trade-secret law recognizes the right of the first custodian of information to keep the information secret and be protected from misappropriation by a subsequent custodian of the same information. The first custodian of information comprising a significant advance in a useful art is permitted to use the information as embodied in the specific advancement exclusively for a period of time in return for disclosing it promptly to the public in a patent     

Engineering and the law. Public policy and the preemption of statetort claims against medical device manufacturers

As the settlement of breast implant cases illustrate, the dynamics of the tort system are such that safe products can still be driven from the market by emotional pleas to juries. Given the importance of medical devices in modern medicine, it is critical that the legal system limit tort claims against medical device manufacturers. While it may ultimately be necessary for Congress to create a statutory compensation system for medical device injuries, the best short-term chance for relief of the pre-emption of tort claims is found in the MDA     

Engineering and the law. The Supreme Court rules on medical deviceliability-or does it?

In previous articles the author has discussed the evolution of federal preemption for state products-liability claims against medical-device manufacturers. This is a controversial approach, and federal district and appeals courts have made opposing rulings on cases that are legally identical. Some courts have refused to allow any products-liability claims for devices, some have limited claims against only some devices, and some courts refused to limit claims in any cases. The United States Supreme Court has now reviewed this law to resolve the conflicts between the lower courts. The Court rendered its decision in Medtronic, Inc., v. Lora Lohr, 116 S.Ct. 2240, June 26, 1996. The Court did not find preemption in the case it reviewed, but neither did it clearly eliminate the chance of preemption in other cases. Ruling in a split decision, it assured that confusion will still reign     

变压器假油位与正确注油方法

介绍变压器产生假油位的原因和危害,提出现场正确注油的方法.     

变压器假油位与正确注油方法

介绍变压器产生假油位的原因和危害,提出现场正确注油的方法。     

言语行为理论与虚构话语研究

在奥斯汀和塞尔的言语行为理论中,虚构的文学话语被认为是“不严肃”的。通过可以引入文学规约作为制度性语境,将所谓的“非正常”话语或虚构话语再语境化,从而使之正常化,解决虚构话语的本体问题。     

Litigating fear: electrical and magnetic fields (EMF) and the law

A large number of persons in the United States and Europe believe that EMF causes human illness. These illnesses include childhood leukemia, other cancers, high blood pressure, the aggravation of other diseases, and electrical sensitivity syndrome. EMF has become a legal issue as people seek compensation for alleged injuries and try to have power lines relocated away from their homes. This column discusses the problem of making good legal decisions about complex scientific problems such as EMF. Topics discussed include: the history; the Denver study; fear and the law; proving negatives and the law; economic consequences of fear; and fear and the public utility consequences. The author concludes that so far, the courts and most state public-utility regulatory commissions have acted reasonably when dealing with EMF. They have recognized that the potential risk is very small, if there is any risk at all, and that the potential harm from regulation is very high. This is a precarious balance, however, and it could easily be upset by either trial judges allowing EMF cases to be litigated or a state public-utility commission giving in to public pressure and declaring EMF a threat to health. Scientists and others who understand these problems should speak out and try to shape public opinion to diminish the suffering that comes from irrational fears and the social dislocations that follow bad policy choices     

Engineering the Future: Embedding Engineering Permanently Across the School–University Interface

This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of an educational program. Engineering the Future (EtF) sought to promote a permanent, informed awareness within the school community of high-level engineering by embedding key aspects of engineering within the education curriculum. The Scottish education system is used for a case study in which a range of pilot high schools worked in close partnership with two university engineering departments. The study focuses on electronic/electrical engineering (EEE), a technically challenging area, which reflects many of the problems that are intrinsic to modern society. In so doing, the work also sought to support and refine the transition from the school environment to higher education engineering courses. EtF is founded on research into transformational change and describes the findings of a three-year program that sought to develop sustainable and transferable means of encouraging school students to study engineering at university. The authors describe the conditions needed to support sustainable developments. They also provide an analysis of inevitable constraints and suggest strategies to address these issues. The paper concludes that sustainable long-term promotion of engineering within schools to support the transition to university is possible if certain conditions are fulfilled. These conditions include the use of a model that facilitates partnerships among researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners in all sectors. Building such essential linkages is often challenging, but this effort is necessary if changes in engineering education are to be realized and sustained.      

遥信误报信息的分析及处理

电网调度自动化系统是保证电网安全、可靠、稳定、经济运行,提高调度运行管理水平的重要环节。然而遥信误报的现象,却严重影响了调度值班员和集控人员对电力系统实时状况的监控,困扰了变电站无人值班工作的开展。铜川供电局技术人员经长期探索研究,通过采用双位置遥信、提高遥信输入电压等方法,有效地改善了遥信误报现象。     

遥信误报信息的分析及处理

电网调度自动化系统是保证电网安全、可靠、稳定、经济运行，提高调度运行管理水平的重要环节。然而遥信误报的现象，却严重影响了调度值班员和集控人员对电力系统实时状况的监控，困扰了变电站无人值班工作的开展。铜川供电局技术人员经长期探索研究，通过采用双位置遥信、提高遥信输入电压等方法，有效地改善了遥信误报现象。     

关于RCD的误动作和拒动

讨论了剩余电流装置在使用中误动和拒动的原因，并提出了解决这些问题的建议。     

Generation scheduling and the switching curve law

The switching curve law is an analytic procedure derived from the dual of the Lagrangian relaxation approach to the static unit commitment (SUC) problem. It is argued here that this analytic result provides a new understanding of the general unit commitment problem not otherwise possible from numerical methods. Moreover, the SUC problem and the analytic results presented here have direct applications in the scheduling of hydro generation in power plants and in the interpretation of the pricing rules of the England and Wales Power Pool