A Need for Clearer Language About Patent Law, 11 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 457 (2012)

This article addresses the manner by which the principles and rules of United States ( U.S. ) patent law are addressed, especially those that are not controversial. We often seem driven to use labels that are misleading to external observers, making the subject seem more complex than it is. The principal misstatements addressed in this article are: (1) saying that under American Invents Act, the U.S. is moving to a first-to-file system; (2) reciting that U.S. patent law has no extraterritorial reach; (3) characterizing the term of a U.S. patent as twenty years from filing; (4) purporting in patent licenses to grant rights to do things, rather than immunities under the licensed patents; (5) mischaracterizing what falls into the public domain when a patent expires; and (6) abbreviating the types of knowledge required for inducement of infringement

Loading of a Bose-Einstein condensate in the boson-accumulation regime

We study the optical loading of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate by spontaneous emission of atoms in excited electronic state in the Boson-Accumulation Regime. We generalize the previous simplified analysis of ref. [Phys. Rev. A 53, 2466 (1996)], to a 3D case in which more than one trap level of the excited state trap is considered. By solving the corresponding quantum many-body master equation, we demonstrate that also for this general situation the photon reabsorption can help to increase the condensate fraction. Such effect could be employed to realize a continuous atom laser, and to overcome condensate losses.Comment: 7 pages, 5 eps figures, uses epl.st

Continuous optical loading of a Bose-Einstein Condensate in the Thomas-Fermi regime

We discuss the optical loading of a Bose-Einstein condensate in the Thomas-Fermi regime. The condensate is loaded via spontaneous emission from a reservoir of excited-state atoms. By means of a master equation formalism, we discuss the modification of the condensate temperature during the loading. We identify the threshold temperature, $T_{th}$, above (below) which the loading process leads to cooling (heating), respectively. The consequences of our analysis for the continuous loading of an atom laser are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Evaluating the impact of task demands and block resolution on the effectiveness of pixel-based visualization

Pixel-based visualization is a popular method of conveying large amounts of numerical data graphically. Application scenarios include business and finance, bioinformatics and remote sensing. In this work, we examined how the usability of such visual representations varied across different tasks and block resolutions. The main stimuli consisted of temporal pixel-based visualization with a white-red color map, simulating monthly temperature variation over a six-year period. In the first study, we included 5 separate tasks to exert different perceptual loads. We found that performance varied considerably as a function of task, ranging from 75% correct in low-load tasks to below 40% in high-load tasks. There was a small but consistent effect of resolution, with the uniform patch improving performance by around 6% relative to higher block resolution. In the second user study, we focused on a high-load task for evaluating month-to-month changes across different regions of the temperature range. We tested both CIE L*u*v* and RGB color spaces. We found that the nature of the change-evaluation errors related directly to the distance between the compared regions in the mapped color space. We were able to reduce such errors by using multiple color bands for the same data range. In a final study, we examined more fully the influence of block resolution on performance, and found block resolution had a limited impact on the effectiveness of pixel-based visualization.peer-reviewe

Continuous optical loading of a Bose-Einstein Condensate

The continuous pumping of atoms into a Bose-Einstein condensate via spontaneous emission from a thermal reservoir is analyzed. We consider the case of atoms with a three-level $\Lambda$ scheme, in which one of the atomic transitions has a very much shorter life-time than the other one. We found that in such scenario the photon reabsorption in dense clouds can be considered negligible. If in addition inelastic processes can be neglected, we find that optical pumping can be used to continuously load and refill Bose-Einstein condensates, i.e. provides a possible way to achieve a continuous atom laser.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Sick and grumpy: changes in social behaviour after a controlled immune stimulation in group-housed gilts

Poor health is associated with an increased risk of tail biting outbreaks in pigs. We propose that this is because illness changes social dynamics either by changing the behaviour of the sick pig towards its penmates, the behaviour of the healthy penmates towards the sick pig, or both. We tested the effect of immune stimulation (lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection: O111:B4; 1.5 mu g kg(-1) IV) on social behaviour in gilts housed in triplets in a cross-over experiment. Each pen was subjected to the control treatment (all three pigs injected with saline) and then LPS treatment (one pig injected with LPS, two injected with saline), or vice versa. LPS injected pigs had a shift in social motivation and performed more tail- and ear- directed behaviour than saline pigs two days after injection. They seemed to fit the description of 'sick and grumpy'. This change was seen about 40 h after the signs of acute illness dissipated and was not accompanied by a similar increase in activity. We discuss possible mechanisms for this behavioural change in light of changes in neurotransmitter levels at three days after LPS injection described in a previous experiment.Peer reviewe