The Many State Doctrines of Forum Non Conveniens

Forum non conveniens is not as ancient or monolithic as U.S. courts often assume. The doctrine, which permits judges to decline to hear cases they believe would more appropriately be heard in another sovereign’s courts, was only adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court for use in nonadmiralty cases in 1947; the doctrine’s “deep roots in the common law” are thought instead to have grown in the states. This Article tests that account by surveying the forum non conveniens doctrines of all fifty states and the District of Columbia. What we found should change how judges, practitioners, and scholars view the doctrine. First, forum non conveniens in the states does not have a “long history”—it is a twentieth-century phenomenon. Second, before the 1950s, no states permitted dismissal of claims brought against local defendants. Third, state experience with forum non conveniens has been and continues to be highly variable. Most states adopted a forum non conveniens doctrine only after the Supreme Court did; many initially rejected it, and half a dozen still prohibit its use in cases involving in-state plaintiffs or in-state causes of action. Idaho has yet to adopt the doctrine. In addition to these doctrinal lessons, the states’ experience with forum non conveniens provides a useful case study for examining what we term “procedural federalism,” meaning the interactions between state and federal institutions that affect procedural development. Procedural federalism reminds us that the procedure we have is not necessarily the “best” procedure we could conceive while simultaneously drawing our attention to pockets of divergence that may offer promising reforms. More broadly, it suggests a different approach to history than the one currently ascendant in federal courts and commentary. The iterative nature of procedural federalism makes clear that doctrines like forum non conveniens do not have perfect pasts, needing only to be rediscovered to be understood properly. Rather, procedural history is useful because it can help us understand how we ended up with the doctrines we have today, in order to better evaluate where we should go next

Observational review and analysis of concussion : a method for conducting a standardized video analysis of concussion in rugby league

Background: Several professional contact and collision sports have recently introduced the use of sideline video review for club medical staff to help identify and manage concussions. As such, reviewing video footage on the sideline has become increasingly relied upon to assist with improving the identification of possible injury. However, as yet, a standardized method for reviewing such video footage in rugby league has not been published. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether independent raters reliably agreed on the injury characterization when using a standardized observational instrument to record video footage of National Rugby League (NRL) concussions. Methods: Video footage of 25 concussions were randomly selected from a pool of 80 medically diagnosed concussions from the 2013–2014 NRL seasons. Four raters (two naive and two expert) independently viewed video footage of 25 NRL concussions and completed the Observational Review and Analysis of Concussion form for the purpose of this inter-rater reliability study. The inter-rater reliability was calculated using Cohen’s kappa (κ) and intra-class correlation (ICC) statistics. The two naive raters and the two expert raters were compared with one another separately. Results: A considerable number of components for the naive and expert raters had almost perfect agreement (κ or ICC value ≥ 0.9), 9 of 22 (41%) components for naive raters and 21 of 22 (95%) components for expert raters. For the concussion signs, however, the majority of the rating agreement was moderate (κ value 0.6–0.79); both the naive and expert raters had 4 of 6 (67%) concussion signs with moderate agreement. The most difficult concussion sign to achieve agreement on was blank or vacant stare, which had weak (κ value 0.4–0.59) agreement for both naive and expert raters. Conclusions: There appears to be value in expert raters, but less value for naive raters, in using the new Observational Review and Analysis of Concussion (ORAC) Form. The ORAC Form has high inter-rater agreement for most data elements, and it can be used by expert raters evaluating video footage of possible concussion in the NRL

Seasonal variation and impact of waste-water lagoons as larval habitat on the population dynamics of Culicoides sonorensis (Diptera:Ceratpogonidae) at two dairy farms in northern California.

The Sacramento (northern Central) Valley of California (CA) has a hot Mediterranean climate and a diverse ecological landscape that is impacted extensively by human activities, which include the intensive farming of crops and livestock. Waste-water ponds, marshes, and irrigated fields associated with these agricultural activities provide abundant larval habitats for C. sonorensis midges, in addition to those sites that exist in the natural environment. Within this region, C. sonorensis is an important vector of bluetongue (BTV) and related viruses that adversely affect the international trade and movement of livestock, the economics of livestock production, and animal welfare. To characterize the seasonal dynamics of immature and adult C. sonorensis populations, abundance was monitored intensively on two dairy farms in the Sacramento Valley from August 2012- to July 2013. Adults were sampled every two weeks for 52 weeks by trapping (CDC style traps without light and baited with dry-ice) along N-S and E-W transects on each farm. One farm had large operational waste-water lagoons, whereas the lagoon on the other farm was drained and remained dry during the study. Spring emergence and seasonal abundance of adult C. sonorensis on both farms coincided with rising vernal temperature. Paradoxically, the abundance of midges on the farm without a functioning waste-water lagoon was increased as compared to abundance on the farm with a waste-water lagoon system, indicating that this infrastructure may not serve as the sole, or even the primary larval habitat. Adult midges disappeared from both farms from late November until May; however, low numbers of parous female midges were detected in traps set during daylight in the inter-seasonal winter period. This latter finding is especially critical as it provides a potential mechanism for the "overwintering" of BTV in temperate regions such as northern CA. Precise documentation of temporal changes in the annual abundance and dispersal of Culicoides midges is essential for the creation of models to predict BTV infection of livestock and to develop sound abatement strategies

A Procedural Approach to Remembering Personal Identification Numbers among Older Adults

This study investigated whether a motor skill learning intervention could provide better memory for personal identification numbers (PINs) as compared to a control group. Younger (ages 18 to 40) and older (ages 61 to 92) participants were randomly assigned to conditions. All participants received three days of training consisting of 12 blocks of 12 trials each. Participants were tested immediately after training, after four days, and after seven days. Dependent measures were errors, latencies, and number of correct responses per minute. Younger participants were less error prone, faster, and produced more correct responses than older participants. Training condition (motor skill-based versus control training) had no significant effect on any of the dependent variables. Testing time had a significant effect on latency, and the effect of testing time on latency interacted with age group. In a second study, six older individuals diagnosed as having mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were trained using the motor skill learning intervention. Their performance was compared with that of the younger and older motor skill groups from the first experiment. The results showed that the older MCI group was significantly slower, more error prone, and produced fewer correct responses per minute than the older, normal group. Thus the presence of diagnosed MCI significantly impairs memory for PINs beyond the impairment expected from normal aging

Visualizing the recovery of patients in Critical Care Units

The authors would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Patient for providing us with access to her data. The aim is to provide software support for the clinicians in critical care units. Testing software on artificial data is limited. Therefore, having access to real patient data has enabled this project to bridge the chasm between theory and practice. Thank you very much! This work was carried out as a collaboration between the University of Plymouth and University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Plymouth. The authors are grateful to both organizations for their support to carry out this research.Peer reviewe

Piles of scats for piles of DNA: deriving DNA of lizards from their faeces

Author version made available in accordance with the publisher's policySpecies identification and distribution; individual identity and relatedness; population history, structure, and diversity and more can be derived from faecal (scat) DNA. Although there are problems, such as contamination from prey DNA, in deriving donor DNA in this way, non-invasive genetic sampling using scats has a well established role in conservation biology. Using scats from captive and wild Egernia stokesii (Squamata, Scincidae) we evaluated two storage and four DNA extraction methods and assessed the reliability of assessing subsequent genotypes and sequences. Reliable genotypes and sequences were obtained from frozen and dried captive lizard scat DNA extracted using a QIAamp ® DNA Stool Mini Kit and a modified Gentra ®Puregene ® method; yet success rates deteriorated for wild lizard scats. Wild E. stokesii eat more plants than their captive counterparts; DNA extraction may be impeded by plant inhibitors present in scats of wild lizards . Notably, reliable genotypes and sequences were obtained from wild E. stokesii scat DNA extracted using a Qiagen DNeasy ® Plant Mini Kit, a method designed to remove plant inhibitors. Results highlight the opportunity for using scat derived DNA in lizard studies, particularly for species that deposit scats in piles

Ptychographic hyperspectral spectromicroscopy with an extreme ultraviolet high harmonic comb

We demonstrate a new scheme of spectromicroscopy in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectral range, where the spectral response of the sample at different wavelengths is imaged simultaneously. It is enabled by applying ptychographical information multiplexing (PIM) to a tabletop EUV source based on high harmonic generation, where four spectrally narrow harmonics near 30 nm form a spectral comb structure. Extending PIM from previously demonstrated visible wavelengths to the EUV/X-ray wavelengths promises much higher spatial resolution and more powerful spectral contrast mechanism, making PIM an attractive spectromicroscopy method in both the microscopy and the spectroscopy aspects. Besides the sample, the multicolor EUV beam is also imaged in situ, making our method a powerful beam characterization technique. No hardware is used to separate or narrow down the wavelengths, leading to efficient use of the EUV radiation

Drug repurposing: tolfenamic acid inactivates PrbP, a transcriptional accessory protein in liberibacter asiaticus

CLIBASIA_01510, PrbP, is a predicted RNA polymerase binding protein in Liberibacter asiaticus. PrbP was found to regulate expression of a small subset of ribosomal genes through interactions with the β-subunit of the RNA polymerase and a short, specific sequence on the promoter region. Molecular screening assays were performed to identify small molecules that interact with PrbP in vitro. Chemical hits were analyzed for therapeutic efficacy against L. asiaticus via an infected leaf assay, where the transcriptional activity of L. asiaticus was found to decrease significantly after exposure to tolfenamic acid. Similarly, tolfenamic acid was found to inhibit L. asiaticus infection in highly symptomatic citrus seedlings. Our results indicate that PrbP is an important transcriptional regulator for survival of L. asiaticus in planta, and the chemicals identified by molecular screening assays could be used as a therapeutic treatment for huanglongbing disease.Fil: Gardner, Christopher L.. University of Florida; Estados UnidosFil: Pagliai, Fernando A.. University of Florida; Estados UnidosFil: Pan, Lei. University of Florida; Estados UnidosFil: Bojilova, Lora. University of Florida; Estados UnidosFil: Torino, Maria Ines. University of Florida; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Lorca, Graciela L.. University of Florida; Estados UnidosFil: Gonzalez, Claudio F.. University of Florida; Estados Unido