Judicial Administration in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

The federal court system has experienced substantial growth in case filings during the last decade, and certainly the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is no exception. During the period from 1970 to 1978, the court experienced almost a one hundred percent increase in yearly filings while the number of judgeships remained constant at thirteen. It is thus understandable that each year since 1970, case filings have consistently exceeded case terminations. However, a dramatic change in court membership has taken place in the past eighteen months. As a result of the recent appointments made pursuant to the Omnibus Judgeship Act of 1978, the court has a larger complement of judges to address its ever-increasing caseload. Of the twenty-three active judges now sitting on the court, only ten were serving in September 1979. In addition to the change in court membership, numerous procedural and administrative programs have been undertaken to expedite the flow of cases through the court. This Article will focus in part upon these programs. The next section of this Article provides an outline of the court\u27s organization. The judicial and administrative role of the federal appellate judge is explained and the function of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council is outlined along with the upcoming changes in the composition of the Council. The relatively recent addition of the Circuit Executive\u27s office is described along with the expansion plans for the circuit court library. The expanding role of the Clerk of Court is described with emphasis on the Clerk\u27s case management responsibilities. An overview is also provided of the role of the central legal staff of the court and the important role it plays in improving court productivity. The third section of the Article describes the procedural innovations and new programs that have, in part, enabled the court to increase dramatically its disposition rate and that will enable it, hopefully, to become current within the next year

Judicial Administration in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

The federal court system has experienced substantial growth in case filings during the last decade, and certainly the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is no exception. During the period from 1970 to 1978, the court experienced almost a one hundred percent increase in yearly filings while the number of judgeships remained constant at thirteen. It is thus understandable that each year since 1970, case filings have consistently exceeded case terminations. However, a dramatic change in court membership has taken place in the past eighteen months. As a result of the recent appointments made pursuant to the Omnibus Judgeship Act of 1978, the court has a larger complement of judges to address its ever-increasing caseload. Of the twenty-three active judges now sitting on the court, only ten were serving in September 1979. In addition to the change in court membership, numerous procedural and administrative programs have been undertaken to expedite the flow of cases through the court. This Article will focus in part upon these programs. The next section of this Article provides an outline of the court\u27s organization. The judicial and administrative role of the federal appellate judge is explained and the function of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council is outlined along with the upcoming changes in the composition of the Council. The relatively recent addition of the Circuit Executive\u27s office is described along with the expansion plans for the circuit court library. The expanding role of the Clerk of Court is described with emphasis on the Clerk\u27s case management responsibilities. An overview is also provided of the role of the central legal staff of the court and the important role it plays in improving court productivity. The third section of the Article describes the procedural innovations and new programs that have, in part, enabled the court to increase dramatically its disposition rate and that will enable it, hopefully, to become current within the next year

Illustrating field emission theory by using Lauritsen plots of transmission probability and barrier strength

This technical note relates to the theory of cold field electron emission (CFE). It starts by suggesting that, to emphasize common properties in relation to CFE theory, the term 'Lauritsen plot' could be used to describe all graphical plots made with the reciprocal of barrier field (or the reciprocal of a quantity proportional to barrier field) on the horizontal axis. It then argues that Lauritsen plots related to barrier strength (G) and transmission probability (D) could play a useful role in discussion of CFE theory. Such plots would supplement conventional Fowler-Nordheim (FN) plots. All these plots would be regarded as particular types of Lauritsen plot. The Lauritsen plots of -G and lnD can be used to illustrate how basic aspects of FN tunnelling theory are influenced by the mathematical form of the tunnelling barrier. These, in turn, influence local emission current density and emission current. Illustrative applications used in this note relate to the well-known exact triangular and Schottky-Nordheim barriers, and to the Coulomb barrier (i.e., the electrostatic component of the electron potential energy barrier outside a model spherical emitter). For the Coulomb barrier, a good analytical series approximation has been found for the barrier-form correction factor; this can be used to predict the existence (and to some extent the properties) of related curvature in FN plots.Comment: Based on a poster presented at the 25th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference, Jeju, S. Korea, July 2012. Version 3 incorporates small changes made at proof stag

How to Cross-Examine Opposing Experts

Accomplished Georgia Law alumni Kay Deming (J.D.\u2778) and Rick Deane (J.D.\u2777) addressed how one should cross-examine opposing experts

Stimulation of the tibial nerve: a protocol for a multicentred randomised controlled trial for urinary problems associated with Parkinson’s disease—STARTUP

Introduction Parkinson’s disease is the second most common chronic neurodegenerative condition with bladder dysfunction affecting up to 71%. Symptoms affect quality of life and include urgency, frequency, hesitancy, nocturia and incontinence. Addressing urinary dysfunction is one of the top 10 priority research areas identified by the James Lind Alliance and Parkinson’s UK. Objectives Conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) targeting people with Parkinson’s disease (PwP) who have self-reported problematic lower urinary tract symptoms, investigating the effectiveness of transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (TTNS) compared with sham TTNS. Implement a standardised training approach and package for the correct application of TTNS. Conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis of TTNS compared with sham TTNS. Methods and analysis An RCT of 6 weeks with twice weekly TTNS or sham TTNS. Participants will be recruited in 12 National Health Service neurology/movement disorder services, using a web-based randomisation system, and will be shown how to apply TTNS or sham TTNS. Participants will receive a weekly telephone call from the researchers during the intervention period. The trial has two coprimary outcome measures: International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form and the International Prostate Symptom Score. Secondary outcomes include a 3-day bladder diary, quality of life, acceptability and fidelity and health economic evaluation. Outcomes will be measured at 0, 6 and 12 weeks. A sample size of 208 randomised in equal numbers to the two arms will provide 90% power to detect a clinically important difference of 2.52 points on the Internatioanl Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Short Form (ICIQ-SF) and of 3 points in the International Prostate Symptom Score total score at 12 weeks at 5% significance level, based on an SD of 4.7 in each arm and 20% attrition at 6 weeks. Analysis will be by intention to treat and pre defined in a statistical analysis plan Ethics and dissemination East of Scotland Research Ethics Service (EoSRES), 18/ES00042, obtained on 10 May 2018. The trial will allow us to determine effectiveness, safety, cost and acceptability of TTNS for bladder dysfunction in PWP. Results will be published in open access journals; lay reports will be posted to all participants and presented at conferences. Trial registration number ISRCTN12437878; Pre-results

Application of Random Matrix Theory to Biological Networks

We show that spectral fluctuation of interaction matrices of yeast a core protein interaction network and a metabolic network follows the description of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE) of random matrix theory (RMT). Furthermore, we demonstrate that while the global biological networks evaluated belong to GOE, removal of interactions between constituents transitions the networks to systems of isolated modules described by the Poisson statistics of RMT. Our results indicate that although biological networks are very different from other complex systems at the molecular level, they display the same statistical properties at large scale. The transition point provides a new objective approach for the identification of functional modules.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure

Is intrinsic lumbar spine shape associated with lumbar disc degeneration? An exploratory study

Acknowledgements Thank you to Lesley Honeyfield (Lead Research Radiographer, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London) for assisting with imaging optimisation and the acquisition of MR images and to all participants in this study. We also thank the University of Aberdeen Data Management Team for programming support for ‘Shape’ software. Funding JD would like to acknowledge the support of Versus Arthritis (Clinical Doctoral Fellowship award, grant number 20172) and the UKSSB and Society for Back Pain Research (Travel Fellowship award) for funding this research. Funders did not have a role in the design of the study, analysis or interpretation of the data.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Predicting the response of a long-distance migrant to changing environmental conditions in winter.

Access to high-quality food is critical for long-distance migrants to provide energy for migration and arrival at breeding grounds in good condition. We studied effects of changing abundance and availability of a marine food, common eelgrass (Zostera marina L.), on an arctic-breeding, migratory goose, black brant (Brant bernicla nigricans Lawrence 1846), at a key non-breeding site, Bahía San Quintín, Mexico. Eelgrass, the primary food of brant, is consumed when exposed by the tide or within reach from the water's surface. Using an individual-based model, we predicted effects of observed changes (1991-2013) in parameters influencing food abundance and availability: eelgrass biomass (abundance), eelgrass shoot length (availability, as longer shoots more within reach), brant population size (availability, as competition greater with more birds), and sea level (availability, as less food within reach when sea level higher). The model predicted that the ability to gain enough energy to migrate was most strongly influenced by eelgrass biomass (threshold January biomass for migration = 60 g m-2 dry mass). Conversely, annual variation in population size (except for 1998), was relatively low, and variation in eelgrass shoot length and sea level were not strongly related to ability to migrate. We used observed data on brant body mass at Bahía San Quintín and annual survival to test for effects of eelgrass biomass in the real system. The lowest observed values of body mass and survival were in years when biomass was below 60 g m-2, although in some years of low biomass body mass and/or survival was higher. This suggests that the real birds may have some capacity to compensate to meet their energy demands when eelgrass biomass is low. We discuss consequences for brant population trends and conservation