On Biology and Technology: The Economics of Managing Biotechnologies

This paper considers those sectors of the economy that operate under the same regimes of rewarding private innovators as others, but differ in that they face recurring problems of resistance, as occur in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. This recurrence originates in the natural processes of selection and evolution among humanity’s biological competitors. The paper examines the capacity for decentralised patent-based incentive mechanisms to result in socially optimal outcomes in these sectors under scale- and speed-dependent evolution of pathogens. It demonstrates that there is a fundamental incompatibility between the dynamics of the patent system and the dynamics of the resistance problem under both types of evolution. Under scale-dependent evolution, the externalities within a patent-based system indicate that decentralised mechanisms will result in systematic underinvestment in R&D that decreases further with an increasing severity of the resistance problem. Under speed-dependent evolution, a patent-based system will fail to target socially optimal innovation size. The overall conclusion is that patent-based incentive mechanisms are incapable of sustaining society against a background of increasing resistance problems. The paper concludes with appropriate policy implications of these results.Biotechnology, R&D, Patents

The Residential Tenant\u27s Right to Freedom of Political Expression

This Article outlines the arguments to be made on behalf of residential tenants who display political signs and who encounter threats of eviction, rent increases, and other forms of landlord opposition. In Section II, the Article describes the development of the general principles of constitutional law applicable to disputes between property owners and tenants who wish to use the property owners’ premises as a forum for the expression of the tenants’ ideas and beliefs. Tracing the history of the United States Supreme Court rulings in this area, the authors analyze the waxing and waning of first amendment speech rights, the development of property-based first amendment speech rights, and the recognition of state constitutional free speech rights that are broader than their first amendment counterparts. Section III analyzes the application of freedom of speech principles to disputes between landlords and residential tenants, when the tenants wish to display political signs on the leased property. Section III also presents and analyzes the arguments frequently relied upon by landlords. For the benefit of those tenants residing in states where state constitutional free speech rights have not been liberally construed, the authors discuss the common law property rights of tenants, citing reasons why those rights are superior to the property rights of landlords in the context of disputes over tenant political expression. Finally, in Section IV, the Article concludes with an assessment of the public policy justifications for refusing to enforce contractual waivers (such as rule 13 of the lease in Paulsen v. Seamark) of a tenant’s right to freedom of political expression

The Residential Tenant\u27s Right to Freedom of Political Expression

This Article outlines the arguments to be made on behalf of residential tenants who display political signs and who encounter threats of eviction, rent increases, and other forms of landlord opposition. In Section II, the Article describes the development of the general principles of constitutional law applicable to disputes between property owners and tenants who wish to use the property owners’ premises as a forum for the expression of the tenants’ ideas and beliefs. Tracing the history of the United States Supreme Court rulings in this area, the authors analyze the waxing and waning of first amendment speech rights, the development of property-based first amendment speech rights, and the recognition of state constitutional free speech rights that are broader than their first amendment counterparts. Section III analyzes the application of freedom of speech principles to disputes between landlords and residential tenants, when the tenants wish to display political signs on the leased property. Section III also presents and analyzes the arguments frequently relied upon by landlords. For the benefit of those tenants residing in states where state constitutional free speech rights have not been liberally construed, the authors discuss the common law property rights of tenants, citing reasons why those rights are superior to the property rights of landlords in the context of disputes over tenant political expression. Finally, in Section IV, the Article concludes with an assessment of the public policy justifications for refusing to enforce contractual waivers (such as rule 13 of the lease in Paulsen v. Seamark) of a tenant’s right to freedom of political expression

Reply Brief. Frew v. Traylor, 136 S.Ct. 1159 (2016) (No. 15-483), 2016 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs LEXIS 256, 2016 WL 304615

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Litigation regarding the legal responsibilities of large institutions, such as schools or prisons, is frequently resolved by consent decree. The widespread use of such consent decrees regularly gives rise to inter-related disputes about how to interpret provisions of those decrees, and about when the decrees themselves have been satisfied and may thus be dissolved. In the instant case the Fifth Circuit, expressly disagreeing with the standards applied in the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, interpreted in a narrow manner, and then ordered dissolution of, key provisions earlier agreed to by Texas that protect the rights of millions of indigent children to medical care under the Medicaid law. The questions presented are: (1) In interpreting the provisions of a consent decree, and in deciding whether those provisions should be dissolved, should a court consider the purpose for which the provisions were adopted? (2) In interpreting the provisions of a consent decree, and in deciding whether those provisions should be dissolved, should a court give weight to the interpretation of the provisions by the judge who originally approved them

Petition for a Writ of Certiorari. Frew v. Traylor, 136 S.Ct. 1159 (2016) (No. 15-483), 2015 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs LEXIS 3632, 2015 WL 6083505

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Litigation regarding the legal responsibilities of large institutions, such as schools or prisons, is frequently resolved by consent decree. The widespread use of such consent decrees regularly gives rise to inter-related disputes about how to interpret provisions of those decrees, and about when the decrees themselves have been satisfied and may thus be dissolved. In the instant case the Fifth Circuit, expressly disagreeing with the standards applied in the Sixth and Ninth Circuits, interpreted in a narrow manner, and then ordered dissolution of, key provisions earlier agreed to by Texas that protect the rights of millions of indigent children to medical care under the Medicaid law. The questions presented are: (1) In interpreting the provisions of a consent decree, and in deciding whether those provisions should be dissolved, should a court consider the purpose for which the provisions were adopted? (2) In interpreting the provisions of a consent decree, and in deciding whether those provisions should be dissolved, should a court give weight to the interpretation of the provisions by the judge who originally approved them

The Relationship Between Attitudes Towards Exercise and Endorphin Release on Cognitive Performance Following Treadmill Running

Exercise is cost-effective and reliably suggested to rescue cognitive decline in aging populations (Gomez-Pinilla & Hillman, 2013; Karssemeijer et al., 2017). In addition, exercise enhances cognitive functioning across the lifespan (Ellemberg & St. Louis-Deschenes, 2010; Jentsch & Wolf, 2020; Roig et al., 2013), however the specific mechanisms of exercise that enhance cognition are still unclear. Because exercise is linked with the brain’s opioid system (Farrell et al., 1982), the purpose of this project is to determine how the opioid system is activated by exercise to affect cognitive functioning. Additionally, we know that acute exercise enhances cognitive function and releases beta-endorphins, but we do not fully understand the effect that endorphin release after running has on cognitive function, nor what mediates endorphin release on an individual level. Thus, a major emphasis we are also investigating is attitudes towards running. We analyzed a university population (n=51) for cognitive performance and beta-endorphin concentration before and after running on a treadmill. To analyze cognitive performance, we utilized a Trail Making Test to measure executive function and a 2-back Task to measure working memory (Kirchner, 1958; Reitan, 1956). A short survey was used to assess participant’s attitudes towards running and running frequency (Ogden et al., 1997). Treadmill running was enacted to maintain a runner’s ideal running heart rate according to their age. Saliva taken before and after running was analyzed by Peninsula Labs immunoassay kit. To analyze the relationship between working memory, executive function, and endorphin release, a correlation was run. A correlation was also run for relationship between running attitudes, running frequency, and endorphin release. We expect there to be a negative correlation between working memory, executive function, and endorphin release as well as between running attitudes, running frequency, and endorphin release

Concepts of Sliding and Lifting Tissue Movement in Flap Reconstruction

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94457/1/j.1524-4725.2000.09172.x.pd

Testing for the Best Instrument to Generate Sustainable Food Consumption

 The increase in the level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere in the last centuries, and the subsequent increase in temperature, has been a widely studied area in the last few decades. Climate change has become a key item on the political agenda due to concerns regarding the sustainability of current human consumption for future generations. Consumption of food and agricultural goods constitutes an important part of household based GHG emissions, and the relatively low costs associated with environmental improvements make it an interesting area of study to understand behavioural changes. Despite general agreement on the need to curb the amount of GHG emissions worldwide, little evidence exists regarding the best instruments policymakers can employ to stimulate changes toward more sustainable consumption. The present work explores which instruments are most effective in fostering change to more environmentally friendly food consumption. The instruments tested are CO2 labelling, GHG abatement subsidy and product-specific bans. We used a simulated online shopping trip in supermarkets in the Greater London area in the United Kingdom, where respondents shopped in four product categories: cola, milk, meat (chicken and beef), and butter/margarine. Consumer preferences reveal that, in the presence of these instruments, quantity instruments performed better than price incentives and labelling

The international regulation of extinction: An economic analysis of the forces causing and controlling the extinction of species.

This thesis explains the decline of biological diversity as the result of a particular form of dynamic externality inherent within the global development process. Agricultural technology and learning have become embedded within particular species, by reason of species-specific investments, and the diffusion of these technologies has implied the adoption of these particular species as well. The decline of biological diversity has been the consequence of this development process, which carries with it the by-product of a homogenised biosphere. This theory has important implications for the regulation of diverse biological resources, and especially their extinction. It implies that the fundamental force driving extinctions is relative underinvestment in these non-specialised resources and in their ancillary resources: base resources (land) and management requirements. When particular species do not attract investment, they are subject to disinvestment by reason of "mining" (for investment of rents elsewhere), "land use conversions" (for investment of base resources elsewhere), or "overexploitation" (for investment of management resources elsewhere). Decisions concerning the conversion of diverse resources made by individual states are necessarily suboptimal. The mere existence of a range of diversity in biological resources confers global benefits, specifically insurance and informational services. No single state will take these global benefits into consideration when making its disinvestment decisions. The internalisation of these benefits, through international environmental agreements to that effect, is the means by which the decline of biological diversity might be controlled. The international regulation of extinction may take three distinct forms: 1) the creation of dynamically consistent transfer systems to compensate for reduced rates of conversion of diverse resources ("international franchise agreements"); 2) the creation of rent enhancement systems to render nonconversion a more profitable alternative ("international wildlife trade regimes"); or, 3) the creation of appropriation mechanisms that render the nonappriable appropriable ("international intellectual property right regimes")

The anatomy of exhumed river-channel belts: Bedform to belt‐scale river kinematics of the Ruby Ranch Member, Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, USA

Many published interpretations of ancient fluvial systems have relied on observations of extensive outcrops of thick successions. This paper, in contrast, demonstrates that a regional understanding of palaeoriver kinematics, depositional setting and sedimentation rates can be interpreted from local sedimentological measurements of bedform and barform strata. Dune and bar strata, channel planform geometry and bed topography are measured within exhumed fluvial strata exposed as ridges in the Ruby Ranch Member of the Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, USA. The ridges are composed of lithified stacked channel belts, representing at least five or six re‐occupations of a single‐strand channel. Lateral sections reveal well‐preserved barforms constructed of subaqueous dune cross‐sets. The topography of palaeobarforms is preserved along the top surface of the outcrops. Comparisons of the channel‐belt centreline to local palaeotransport directions indicate that channel planform geometry was preserved through the re‐occupations, rather than being obscured by lateral migration. Rapid avulsions preserved the state of the active channel bed and its individual bars at the time of abandonment. Inferred minimum sedimentation durations for the preserved elements, inferred from cross‐set thickness distributions and assumed bedform migration rates, vary within a belt from one to ten days. Using only these local sedimentological measurements, the depositional setting is interpreted as a fluvial megafan, given the similarity in river kinematics. This paper provides a systematic methodology for the future synthesis of vertical and planview data, including the drone‐equipped 2020 Mars Rover mission, to exhumed fluvial and deltaic strata