Trolling for Trolls: The Pitfalls of the Emerging Market Competition Requirement for Permanent Injunctions in Patent Cases Post-\u3cem\u3eeBay\u3c/em\u3e

In eBay v. MercExchange, a unanimous Supreme Court announced that a new four-factor test should be employed by district courts in determining whether to award an injunction or damages to an aggrieved party whose intellectual property has been infringed. In the context of permanent injunctions in patent cases, district courts have distorted the four-factor test resulting in a market competition requirement. Under the new market competition requirement, success at obtaining an injunction is contingent upon a party demonstrating that it is a market competitor After consistent application in the first twenty-five district court cases post-eBay, the market competition requirement is becoming an entrenched doctrine. However, the divergent legal standards used by district courts turning on market competition contravenes the Supreme Court\u27s holding that courts should not apply the four-factor test in a manner that makes the injunctive remedy unavailable based on broad classifications. The market competition requirement may solve some of the problems resulting from holdup by so-called patent trolls, but at a cost potentially too high to bear The market competition requirement may insulate inefficient markets from meaningful competition and decrease incentives to innovate for individual self-made inventors, who drive a large segment of patenting activity. Because the market competition requirement is without foundational support from eBay and is of questionable utility in incentivizing innovation, its continued use is a cause for serious concern

Distinct Properties Underlie Flavin-Based Electron Bifurcation in a Novel Electron Transfer Flavoprotein FixAB from \u3cem\u3eRhodopseudomonas palustris\u3c/em\u3e

A newly recognized third fundamental mechanism of energy conservation in biology, electron bifurcation, uses free energy from exergonic redox reactions to drive endergonic redox reactions. Flavin-based electron bifurcation furnishes low-potential electrons to demanding chemical reactions, such as reduction of dinitrogen to ammonia. We employed the heterodimeric flavoenzyme FixAB from the diazotrophic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris to elucidate unique properties that underpin flavin-based electron bifurcation. FixAB is distinguished from canonical electron transfer flavoproteins (ETFs) by a second FAD that replaces the AMP of canonical ETF. We exploited near-UV–visible CD spectroscopy to resolve signals from the different flavin sites in FixAB and to interrogate the putative bifurcating FAD. CD aided in assigning the measured reduction midpoint potentials (E° values) to individual flavins, and the E° values tested the accepted model regarding the redox properties required for bifurcation. We found that the higher-E° flavin displays sequential one-electron (1-e−) reductions to anionic semiquinone and then to hydroquinone, consistent with the reactivity seen in canonical ETFs. In contrast, the lower-E° flavin displayed a single two-electron (2-e−) reduction without detectable accumulation of semiquinone, consistent with unstable semiquinone states, as required for bifurcation. This is the first demonstration that a FixAB protein possesses the thermodynamic prerequisites for bifurcating activity, and the separation of distinct optical signatures for the two flavins lays a foundation for mechanistic studies to learn how electron flow can be directed in a protein environment. We propose that a novel optical signal observed at long wavelength may reflect electron delocalization between the two flavins

Edge and bulk effects in the Terahertz-photoconductivity of an antidot superlattice

We investigate the Terahertz(THz)-response of a square antidot superlattice by means of photoconductivity measurements using a Fourier-transform-spectrometer. We detect, spectrally resolved, the cyclotron resonance and the fundamental magnetoplasmon mode of the periodic superlattice. In the dissipative transport regime both resonances are observed in the photoresponse. In the adiabatic transport regime, at integer filling factor $\nu =2$, only the cyclotron resonance is observed. From this we infer that different mechanisms contribute to converting the absorption of THz-radiation into photoconductivity in the cyclotron and in the magnetoplasmon resonances, respectively.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Population based Ant Colony Optmization on FPGA

We propose to modify a type of ant algorithm called Population based Ant Colony Optimization (P-ACO) to allow implementation on an FPGA architecture. Ant algorithms are adapted from the natural behavior of ants and used to find good solutions to combinatorial optimization problems. General layout on the FPGA and algorithmic description are covered. The most notable achievements featured in this paper are a runtime reduction and including the approximation of the heuristic function by a small set of favored decisions which changes over time

The CUAVA-1 CubeSat—A Pathfinder Satellite for Remote Sensing and Earth Observation

In this paper we report a 3U CubeSat named CUAVA-1 designed by the ARC Training Centre for CubeSats, UAVs, and Their Applications (CUAVA). CUAVA, funded by the Australian Research Council, aims to train students, develop new instruments and technology to solve crucial problems, and help develop a world-class Australian industry in CubeSats, UAVs, and related products. The CUAVA-1 project is the Centre’s first CubeSat mission, following on from the 2 Australian satellites INSPIRE-2 and UNSW-EC0 CubeSats that launched in 2017. The mission is designed to serve as a precursor for a series of Earth observations missions and to demonstrate new technologies developed by our partners. We also intend to use the satellite to provide students hands-on experiences and to gain experience for our engineering, science and industry teams for future, more complex, missions

Dutch modality exclusivity norms : Simulating perceptual modality in space

Perceptual information is important for the meaning of nouns. We present modality exclusivity norms for 485 Dutch nouns rated on visual, auditory, haptic, gustatory, and olfactory associations. We found these nouns are highly multimodal. They were rated most dominant in vision, and least in olfaction. A factor analysis identified two main dimensions: one loaded strongly on olfaction and gustation (reflecting joint involvement in flavor), and a second loaded strongly on vision and touch (reflecting joint involvement in manipulable objects). In a second study, we validated the ratings with similarity judgments. As expected, words from the same dominant modality were rated more similar than words from different dominant modalities; but - more importantly - this effect was enhanced when word pairs had high modality strength ratings. We further demonstrated the utility of our ratings by investigating whether perceptual modalities are differentially experienced in space, in a third study. Nouns were categorized into their dominant modality and used in a lexical decision experiment where the spatial position of words was either in proximal or distal space. We found words dominant in olfaction were processed faster in proximal than distal space compared to the other modalities, suggesting olfactory information is mentally simulated as "close" to the body. Finally, we collected ratings of emotion (valence, dominance, and arousal) to assess its role in perceptual space simulation, but the valence did not explain the data. So, words are processed differently depending on their perceptual associations, and strength of association is captured by modality exclusivity ratings