The International Trade Commission: Potential Bias, Hold-Up, and the Need for Reform

The International Trade Commission (ITC) is an alternate venue for holders of U.S. patents to pursue litigation against infringing products produced abroad and imported to the United States. Because the ITC may only grant injunctive relief, it has awarded injunctions in situations where there may have been better and more efficient remedies to the infringement available through litigation in federal district court. The increased likelihood of injunctive relief bolsters the position of patent holders against a wide range of producers in royalty negotiations and can harm the end consumers through a process known as patent hold-up. There are currently sweeping and aggressive proposed reforms to reduce this harm to consumers. This iBrief suggests that the optimal reforms would not change the overall structure or scope of the ITC or its jurisdiction. Rather it would harmonize the substantive law, available defenses for respondents, and requirements for injunctive relief between ITC proceedings and litigation in federal district court

Spatially-Explicit Agent-Based Modeling of Ecosystem Change and Epizootiological Impacts on Caribbean Spiny Lobster, \u3ci\u3ePanulirus argus\u3c/i\u3e

Agent-based models explicitly incorporate interactions and variation at the individual level, just as in the real world. As a result, agent-based models are realistic, intuitive, and generally less complex mathematically than their analytical counterparts. Their primary disadvantage is the large amount of detailed data required to construct and parameterize them. Although the use of agent-based simulation is increasing in ecology, they are highly specific, so are rarely used for development of theory. To demonstrate the flexibility and utility of this approach I developed a multi-species, agent-based, spatially-explicit model of the spiny lobster nursery of southern Florida that incorporates changing salinities, temperatures, and harmful algal blooms, and used it to evaluate the likely consequences of changes in hydrology due to the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program on the spiny lobster and associated hard-bottom communities. I found that water quality changes associated with the restoration effort will likely reduce lobster recruitment in Florida Bay 6–24% and will likely prevent the restoration of loggerhead sponges and vase sponges on which the lobster depends for shelter in Florida Bay. Then, I extended the model, incorporating disease dynamics appropriate to Panulirus argus Virus 1, including disease states, contact transmission, and two density-independent transmission mechanisms, to explore the effects of changes in host sociality on disease dynamics. I showed that when susceptible hosts avoid diseased conspecifics in a manner consistent with that demonstrated by P. argus in a system dominated by contact transmission, persistence of the disease requires an exogenous source. I also examined the effects of increased host aggregation on disease transmission. I found that in the absence of disease avoidance, outbreaks occurred rapidly, and by the end of the 10 year simulation, PaV1 was maintained continuously at unrealistically high levels. However, the disease avoidance behavior reduced simulated outbreak intensities and durations, and in the absence of other sources of PaV1, resulted in extinction of the disease within five years. Both the density independent infection of EBJs and the simulated arrival of infected cohorts of postlarvae maintained the disease in the larger population as a consequence of the long period between exposure and death

A systems biology approach to DNA damage repair

PhD ThesisThe presence of DNA double-stranded breaks in a mammalian cell typically activates the Non-Homologous End Joining (NHEJ) pathway to repair the damage and signal to downstream systems that govern cellular decisions such as apoptosis or senescence. The signalling system also stimulates effects such as the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which in turn feed back into the damage response. Although the overall process of NHEJ is well documented, and much is known about downstream processes that together constitute the DNA damage response (DDR), we know little of the dynamics and how the system operates as a whole. To further our understanding of this we have constructed computational models which integrate current knowledge of the DNA repair process and key downstream signalling systems. The models are coded in Systems Biology Mark-up Language and BioNetGen Language and are quantified as far as possible with experimental data generated within our own laboratories or otherwise gathered from the literature. They are designed to simulate the observed stochastic dynamics of repair by DNA Protein Kinase (DNA-PK) dependent NHEJ (D-NHEJ) and back-up NHEJ mechanisms (B-NHEJ) following damage induced by gamma irradiation in human fibroblasts and the response this causes in the p53-p21 senescence signalling pathway. We have used the models to investigate a number of issues relevant to the study of ageing cells. Our work suggests that this observed heterogeneity in the repair of DNA damage foci that is influenced by levels of damage cannot be explained solely by inherent stochasticity in the NHEJ system. We find that the presence of multiple repair mechanisms and the modulation of key repair factors by oxidation along with further damage inducing feedback triggered by p53 and changes brought about by cellular processes such as senescence all play a cumulative role in causing the differences between stressed and unstressed cells. Our model highlights the importance of Ku oxidation which leads to increased Ku dissociation rates from DNA damage foci and shifts in favour of the less efficient B-NHEJ system. Furthermore we have utilised the model to investigate the role that various levels of DNA damage and repair have on the maintenance of the important p53 oscillations in a cell. We find that, contrary to the current view, p53 levels are affected by temporal dynamics of DNA damage and have used our model to inform the design of further experimental work to investigate the effect of iii maintained low levels of DNA damage induced by frequent low pulses of γ irradiation on the p53 mediated DDR

Dice Questions Answered

Superstitious discussion of fair and unfair dice has pervaded the tabletop gaming industry since its inception. Many of these are not based on any quantitative data or studies. Consequently, misconceptions have been spread widely. One dice float test video on Youtube currently has 925,000 views (Fisher, 2015a). To combat the flood of misconceptions we investigated the following questions: 1) Are dice cursed? 2) Are D20s (20-sided dice) less fair than D6s (6-sided dice)? 3) Do float tests tell anything about the fairness of dice? 4) Are some dice systems inherently fairer than others? 5) Are density differences or dimensions more critical to dice fairness? 6) What is the best way to test your dice for fairness? 7) How many rolls are needed to detect unfair dice? 8) Are metal dice fairer than plastic dice? Based on tens of thousands of physical dice rolls, billions of simulated dice rolls, and analysis our answer to these questions are as follows. 1) Probably plastic dice are cursed. 2) Yes, D6s are fairer than D20s. 3) Float tests tell you nothing about which side of a die will come up more often. 4) Yes, some dice systems are fairer. 5) Usually dimensions are more important except for large, off-center bubbles. 6) The running chi square goodness of fit test is the best way to test dice that we found. 7) 100 rolls are not enough except possible for loaded dice. 8) Our preliminary conclusion based on limited tests is that metal dice are not fairer than plastic dice

The Justice of the Peace in Nebraska

I. Introduction … A. History … B. Jurisdiction … C. Selection and Number II. Active Justices of the Peace … A. Education … B. Justice Courtrooms … C. Other Occupations … D. Lack of Control … E. Plaintiff’s Courts … F. Number of Justices and Their Fees … G. Arguments Given by Justices for Retention of the Present System III. Township Justices of the Peace IV. Approaches to Solving the Justice of the Peace Problem … A. The Kansas Approach … B. Comment on the Kansas Approach … C. The Colorado Approach … D. Comment on the Colorado Approach … E. The Illinois Approach … F. Comment on the Illinois Approach V. Conclusio

The Justice of the Peace in Nebraska

I. Introduction … A. History … B. Jurisdiction … C. Selection and Number II. Active Justices of the Peace … A. Education … B. Justice Courtrooms … C. Other Occupations … D. Lack of Control … E. Plaintiff’s Courts … F. Number of Justices and Their Fees … G. Arguments Given by Justices for Retention of the Present System III. Township Justices of the Peace IV. Approaches to Solving the Justice of the Peace Problem … A. The Kansas Approach … B. Comment on the Kansas Approach … C. The Colorado Approach … D. Comment on the Colorado Approach … E. The Illinois Approach … F. Comment on the Illinois Approach V. Conclusio

Electrical Anomalies Observed During DC3

The primary scientific goals of DC3 involved improving our understanding of the chemical impacts of thunderstorms and their anvils. However, the Colorado domain provided opportunities to study other interesting phenomena, including the potential impacts of smoke ingestion on convection and thunderstorms, electrification processes in smoke plumes and pyrocumulonimbus clouds, and the production of sprites by unconventional thunderstorm

Polarimetric and Multi-Doppler Radar Observations of Electrified and Unelectrified Wildfire Smoke Plumes

Pyrocumulus clouds above three Colorado wildfires (Hewlett Gulch, High Park, and Waldo Canyon; all occurred during summer 2012) electrified and produced small intracloud discharges whenever the smoke plumes grew to high altitudes (over 10 km above mean sea level, or MSL). This occurred during periods of rapid wildfire growth, as indicated by the shortwave infrared channel on a geostationary satellite, as well as by incident reports. In the Hewlett Gulch case, the fire growth led to increased updrafts within the plume, as inferred by multiple Doppler radar syntheses, which led to the vertical development and subsequent electrification a life cycle as short as 30 minutes. The lightning, detected by a threedimensional lightning mapping network, was favored in highaltitude regions (~10 km MSL) containing modest reflectivities (25 dBZ and lower), ~0 dB differential reflectivity, and reduced correlation coefficient (~0.60.7). This indicated the likely presence of ice particles (crystals and aggregates, possibly rimed) mixed with ash. Though neither multipleDoppler nor polarimetric observations were available during the electrification of the High Park and Waldo Canyon plumes, their NEXRAD observations showed reflectivity structures consistent with Hewlett Gulch. In addition, polarimetric and multipleDoppler scanning of unelectrified High Park plumes indicated only irregularly shaped ash, and not ice, was present (i.e., reflectivities 5 dB, correlation < 0.4), and there was no broaching of the 10 km altitude. Based on these results, the electrification likely was caused by icebased processes that did not involve significant amounts of graupel. The results demonstrate the scientific value of multipleDoppler and polarimetric radar observations of wildfire smoke plumes including the ability to distinguish between regions of pure hydrometeors, regions of pure ash, and mixtures of both and also suggest a possible new application for lightning data in monitoring wildfires

Vector Competence of Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae) for Three Genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi

The vector competence of 2 tick species, Ixodes ricinus (L.) and Ixodes scapularis Say, was determined and compared for 3 genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi. The 3 genospecies of B. burgdorferi used in the following experiments were Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (B-31 and B-31.D1 clone), Borrelia afzelii (strain Pgau.C3), and Borrelia garinii (strain VS286 and VSBP). Spirochetes from all 5 strains were inoculated intradermally into outbred mice; larval ticks of both species were subsequently fed on those mice and replete larvae were assayed for infection by culture in BSK-H media every 7 d for 4 wk. Infection frequencies in I. scapularis exposed to the 5 strains were as follows: B-31 (90%), B-31.D1 (83%), Pgau.C3 (87%), VS286 (10%), and VSBP (5%). The comparable infection frequencies for /. ricinus were B-31 (3%), B-31.D1 (3%), Pgau.C3 (90%), VS286 (5%), and VSBP (3%). Resultant nymphal /. scapularis successfully transmitted B-31, B-31.D1, Pgau.C3, and VS286 to outbred mice. /. ricinus nymphs transmitted Pgau.C3 and VS286. Both species failed to transmit strain VSB