Digital Commons Network^™

Special Funding Agenda 10-07-14, Abdool Aziz

Legislative Branch Publications

No abstract provided.

Harbouring The Enemy: Kelp Holdfasts Protect Juvenile Sea Urchins From Predatory Crabs, Colette Feehan, Fiona T Y Francis, Robert E. Scheibling

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Predation is an important agent of post-settlement mortality of sea urchins that is mediated by the availability and suitability of spatial refuges, particularly during the vulnerable juvenile stage. In laboratory and field caging experiments, we show that holdfasts of a dominant kelp, Saccharina latissima, provide a spatial refuge for juvenile sea urchins Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis (<20 mm, test diameter) from crabs Cancer borealis and C. irroratus, considered to be the dominant predators of sea urchins in kelp-bed ecosystems in the northwestern Atlantic. In treatments with individual crabs of either species, the presence of holdfasts reduced predation on juvenile sea urchins by 20 to 30% compared to treatments with no refuge. Crabs consumed juveniles (from 5 to 19 mm) in each of three 5 mm size classes in proportion to their abundance, regardless of treatment. In kelp beds in St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, the number of juvenile sea urchins per holdfast ranged from 0.3 to 0.9, with juveniles in holdfasts accounting for twothirds of the total urchin population density at one site. Up to 4 juveniles occurred within a single holdfast, and there was a significant positive relationship between juvenile size (but not number) and holdfast volume. Small adult sea urchins were not found within holdfasts in kelp beds and rarely occupied holdfasts presented to them in laboratory cages. Our findings indicate an ontogenetic shift in sea urchin-kelp interactions, whereby kelp facilitates recruitment of its major grazer.

The Honors Beacon, Issue 07, Winter 2014, Honors Program At Minnesota State University, Mankato

Honors Beacon

Winter 2014 newsletter of the Honors Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Undergraduate And Graduate Course Descriptions, 2014 Spring, Wright State University

Course Descriptions

Wright State University undergraduate and graduate course descriptions from Spring 2014.

News/Publicity: 2014-03-05, Maud Gordon Holmes Arboretum Collections The White Fir, Buffalo State College

Maud G. Holmes Arboretum

Folder: Arboretum_1

The Artificial Medium Laws Theory, Nachshon Goltz

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

This paper articulates the Artificial Medium Laws Theory. The theory is comprised of Perceived Psychological Dimensions, namely: sound, picture, moving picture, time and interaction. These dimensions are the building blocks of the theory’s five laws: 1) The Truth in the Medium is Context Dependent, 2) The Stronger Dimension Prevails, 3) Medium with Time Dimension Determines its Usage Length, 4) The More Dimensions the Medium Poses the Weaker the User’s Imagination, and 5) The User is Bound to All the Laws. The theory seeks to explain the artificial medium influence on human users and to suggest potential implications.

Justice As A Rounding Error? Evidence Of Subconscious Bias In Second-Degree Murder Sentences In Canada, Craig Jones, Micah B. Rankin

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

There are few areas of law that grant judges as much discretion as the sentencing of criminal offenders. This discretion necessarily leads to concerns about the influence of biases, including those that result from subconscious processes associated with human cognition; that is to say, “heuristics”. In this article, the authors explore one heuristic – “number preference” – through an examination of all reported second degree murder parole ineligibility decisions between 1990 and 2012. Number preference leads individuals to predictably “round off” measurements to certain favoured numbers. The authors identify a tendency for parole ineligibility decisions to “cluster” around even numbers …

Criminalization Of Polygamy In Canada: Historical, Legal And Sociological Analysis, Washi Ahmed

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

The Canadian Criminal Code criminalizes the act of polygamy pursuant to s.290, and bigamy (another act which is similar to polygamy) pursuant to s.293 under the assumption that such practices have an adverse impact on women and children. However, the history of the criminalization of polygamy in Canada suggests that it was enacted deliberately to marginalize a particular minority group. This paper is divided into four chapters. Chapter I discusses the historical background of polygamy and indicates that the criminalization of polygamy in Canada was an adoption of the American legal approach to Mormonism. Chapter II analyzes the provisions of …

Corporate Reporting Under The U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission's Diversity Disclosure Rule: A Mixed-Methods Content Analysis, Aaron A. Dhir

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

This is chapter 6 of Challenging Boardroom Homogeneity: Corporate Law, Governance, and Diversity (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming in 2015). In this chapter I investigate the disclosure-based approach to addressing diversity in corporate governance. In 2009, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a rule requiring publicly traded firms to report on whether they consider diversity in identifying director nominees and, if so, how. The rule also requires firms that have adopted a diversity policy to describe how they implement the policy and assess its effectiveness. The rule does not define “diversity,” however, leaving it to corporations to give this …

Out Of Tune: Why Copyright Law Needs Music Lessons, Carys J. Craig, Guillaume Laroche

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

This chapter offers a critical analysis of copyright law that integrates insights from music. The authors argue that the unique qualities of musical works magnify the mismatch between creative practices and copyright doctrine, and suggest that an interdisciplinary analysis can shine a revealing light on both the problem and potential paths to improvement. Beginning with an overview of copyright doctrine in Canada in respect of musical works and music infringement claims, the authors then borrow analytical concepts from the discipline of music theory to problematize copyright’s “reasonable listener” test for determining substantial copying. Using a specially-designed musical composition, the authors …

Feminist Aesthetics And Copyright Law: Genius, Value, And Gendered Visions Of The Creative Self, Carys J. Craig

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

Copyright law is fundamentally concerned with the value of cultural works — both the recognition and the creation of this value. Yet it is seldom acknowledged that copyright law makes or requires any value judgment in the sense of an aesthetic evaluation of copyright’s subject matter. Indeed, it is often emphasized that copyright protects original works of authorship regardless of their quality or merit. That copyright protection demands the satisfaction of only the most minimal of qualitative standards does not, however, dispose of the larger claim that forms the basis of this chapter: our copyright system is dominated by a …

Understanding The Use Of "Genetic Predisposition" In Canadian Legal Decisions, Lilith Finkler, Roxanne Mykitiuk, Jeff Nisker, Mark Pioro

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

Since the advent of the Human Genome Project in 1989, the ethical, legal, and social implications inherent in future genetic science and its applications have worried researchers and scholars in law and ethics. Concern that the results of genetic testing might be used to discriminate against particular individuals and groups of individuals has been paramount, prompting calls for specific legislation to protect against genetic discrimination. Against this backdrop we sought to investigate instances of genetic discrimination in Canadian legal decisions. We searched Canadian court and administrative tribunal decisions, using the key words “genetic predisposition” and its cognates, and found none …

The Comprador Complex: Africa's Iprs Elite, Neo-Colonialism And The Enduring Control Of African Iprs Agenda By External Interests, Ikechi Mgbeoji

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

Intellectual property rights (IPR) concern that branch of law dealing with the regulation of the creation, protection, ownership, transfer, use, and access to intangible and tangible creations of the human mind. From its modest origins in trademarks, IPRs today traverse the gamut of copyright, patents, industrial designs, trade secrets, integrated circuits and topography, plant breeders’ rights, geographic indications, and other emerging categories of IPR including folklore. The vast majority of countries across the world have IPR laws on their statute books. Beyond statutory provisions, states have also created administrative and institutional organs to deal with the manifold aspects of IPR. …

The Perils Of Ignoring (Or Misunderstanding) Politics And Organizing, David Johns

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Conservation scientists and advocates were surprised by the U.S. Congress stripping away protection for wolves in the US northern Rocky Mountains. If they had paid attention to earlier political lessons in which court victories had been undermined by determined political organizing they would not have been surprised and could have adopted strategies that would have given them much more leverage with elected officials. Instead conservationists were out-organized and elected officials normally supportive of the U.S. Endangered Species Act responded to anti-wolf groups because they brought more pressure to bear than conservationists. Although political lessons are specific to the system in …

The Ubix Decarboxylase Is Not Required For The Ubig O-Methyltransferase Activity, Usman Beg, Debarati Ghose, Carolyn Russie

Honors Capstones

An essential component of the respiratory chain of aerobic prokaryotes and eukaryotes is Conezyme Q (Ubiquinone, Q), which acts as an electron carrier thereby serving as a link between dehydrogenases and the subsequent electron acceptors in the respiratory chain. In Escherichia coli, during Q biosynthesis, the decarboxylation step is catalyzed by two isofuncational enzymes, UbiD and UbiX. UbiD carries out the decarboxylation of 80% of the substrate, 3-octaprenyl-4-hydroxybenzoate whereas UbiX is responsible for the remaining 20%. It has been reported that the loss of UbiX decreases UbiG O- methyltransferase activity by .36 fold and the growth in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth …

The Spread Of Exotic Plant Species At Mount St. Helens: The Roles Of A Road, Disturbance Type And Post-Disturbance Management, Lindsey Karr

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The landscape of Mount St Helens was dramatically transformed when it erupted on May 18, 1980, creating an outstanding opportunity for ecologists to study succession following a large, intense, natural disturbance. Within the expansive (600 km²) blast area there is varied ownership and a mix of management objectives for the post-eruption landscape. On lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service, there are portions of the blast area that have been designated as a National Volcanic Monument, where the primary management objective is to allow for natural succession to proceed substantially unimpeded. In other areas outside the Monument, salvage …

Functional Elements In Patent Claims, As Construed By The Patent Trial And Appeal Board (Ptab), 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 251 (2014), Tom Brody

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Claims in patents include both structural elements and functional elements. Functional elements occur in various categories: (1) Functional elements that mandate a particular range of structures that are able to perform the required function; (2) Functional elements that mandate a particular cooperation between structures; (3) Compound noun/function functional elements, (4) Active-type functional elements; (5) “Capable of”-type functional elements, (6) Single-word structural elements that are typical nouns, but that are also functional elements, e.g., “plasticizer,” and (7) Quasi-functional elements that lack any patentable weight. This article discloses which of these types of functional elements confers the broadest claim scope, and which …

Will Nanotechnology Products Be Impacted By The Federal Courts’ “Product Of Nature’ Exception To Subject-Matter Eligibility Under 35 U.S.C. 101?, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 397 (2014), Laura W. Smalley

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

In 2013, the Supreme Court in Myriad held that DNA is a “product of nature” that is not patentable merely because it is isolated from the human body. The year before, the Supreme Court in Prometheus held that diagnostic tests that incorporate little more than a “law of nature” is not patent eligible. These two decisions altered the landscape of patent eligible subject matter under Section 101 of the patent statute. They not only impact the patent eligibility of isolated DNA or diagnostic tests, but they may also have far wider-ranging impact on other technological fields, including biotechnology and nanotechnology. …

Hatch-Waxman’S Safe-Harbor Provision For Pharmaceutical Development: A Free Ride For Patent Infringers?, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 445 (2014), Kate Y. Jung

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The Safe-Harbor provision of the Hatch-Waxman Act allows generic drug manufacturers to use a patented invention during pre-market testing of generic drugs. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s recent interpretation of the Safe-Harbor provision in Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. created controversy when it extended the Safe-Harbor exemption to post-FDA approval. This extension was done in an unprecedented manner and would “allow almost all activity by pharmaceutical companies to constitute ‘submission’ and therefore justify a free license to trespass.” The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to settle this matter, and courts are now faced …

Adopting Pharmacogenomics And Parenting Repurposed Molecules Under The Orphan Drug Act: A Cost Dilemma?, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 667 (2014), David C. Babaian

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The business model under which the pharmaceutical industry has operated in the recent past has become untenable. The era that has seen a consistent pipeline of blockbuster medicines for common chronic diseases is waning. New paradigms for more efficient and more economical drug development are being sought and implemented. Recent growth both in the repurposing of existing drugs and in the orphan product market has signaled the new hope for success and profit. New technology and the promise of personalized medicine augment the sense of optimism in this time of complementary transition in the wider healthcare industry. Yet, are the …

Pinwheel Of Fortune, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 761 (2014), James Ming Chen

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

This paper examines public health law in the context of prospect theory, the leading behavioral account of risk aversion and risk-seeking. The paper first demonstrates how international environmental law can be mapped along prospect theory’s risk-seeking axis. It then completes this picture of prospect theory by examining National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, which upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”). Although Sebelius upheld the PPACA as an exercise of the federal government’s taxing authority, it reasoned that a directive aimed at uninsured individuals to buy health insurance lay beyond the power of Congress …

A Scientific Approach To Intellectual Property And Health: Innovation, Access, And A Forgotten Corner Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 794 (2014), Adam Houston

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

For years, there has been vigorous debate over the relationship between intellectual property and health, especially in the context of pharmaceutical patents. Despite numerous attempts to strike a balance between innovation and access, however, few have looked to Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for guidance. Article 27, and its further elaboration and codification under Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, explicitly address this balance by pairing the right of everyone “to share in scientific advancement and its benefits” with a similarly universal right of authors to “material interests resulting” from …

Protecting Traditional Knowledge In International Intellectual Property Law: Imperatives For Protection And Choice Of Modalities, 14 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 25 (2014), Tesh Dagne

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The need for protecting traditional knowledge (TK) has been acknowledged in discussion and negotiations under the umbrella of a number of inter-governmental organizations that deal with biodiversity, the environment, indigenous peoples’ rights, human rights, food and agriculture, among others. It has, however, proved difficult to arrive at a consensus on the proper modality that can serve the needs and desires of Indigenous and Local Communities (ILCs) in their economic and cultural participation. The article examines the imperatives for the protection of TK and explores the modalities of TK protection at the international level for regulating the control of, access to …

Institutional Roles Of Political Processes, Expert Governance, And Judicial Review In Environmental Impact Assessment: A Theoretical Framework And A Case Study Of Taiwan, Chung-Lin Chen

Natural Resources Journal

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is used by most countries and is widely recognized as an important instrument for infusing sustainable development considerations into governmental decision-making. However, studies show that EIA often falls short of that goal. This article explores the design and operation of EIA through the lens of comparative institutional analysis. It examines the pros and cons of various governmental institutions charged with implementing EIA, uses a case study of Taiwan to demonstrate the validity of this analytical framework, and provides suggestions for future practices and legal reforms. This article proposes that the core problem that EIA is meant …

Struggles On The Path To Renewable Energy: Lessons From Sunzia, Rachel Giron

Natural Resources Journal

The SunZia Southwest Transmission Project is a high-voltage transmission line under development in southern New Mexico and Arizona. The project was created to allow the expansion of the renewable energy production economy, and is also part of larger efforts at climate change mitigation. It has the support of federal and state governments, and has been fast-tracked by the Obama Administration. However, in spite of its potential to increase the availability of clean energy, conflicts between local environmental groups and government agencies over siting difficulties have impeded its development. Efforts to streamline the permitting process have been largely unsuccessful, as they …

Migrating Towards An Incidental Take Permit Program: Overhauling The Migratory Bird Treaty Act To Comport With Modern Industrial Operations, Alexander K. Obrecht

Natural Resources Journal

In 1918, Congress passed the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) to curb mass avian extermination caused by hunting and poaching. Despite Congress’s initial concern with these activities, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) expanded the scope of MBTA enforcement to include bird deaths caused by industrial activities. This created a glaring split of authority among U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, with one side applying strict liability under the MBTA for all deaths of protected birds caused by industrial activities and the other side refusing to apply the MBTA to indirect and unintentional bird deaths. This article argues that the …

An Environmental Conversation, William Murray Tabb

Natural Resources Journal

Federal environmental law and policy ambitiously purports to provide clean air and water, protect endangered and threatened species, clean-up hazardous and toxic waste sites, and infuse environmental considerations into the decision-making process of all federal agencies with respect to major proposals impacting the environment. Despite such lofty goals and an expansion of the regulatory state, certain types of activities and associated risks have eluded statutory coverage. Additionally, these uncoordinated federal environmental statutes typically embody a singular and sometimes myopic focus, leading to unpredictable or undesirable regulatory gaps, constraints, and inefficiencies. Further, limitations on standing and judicial review may significantly limit …

Solubility Enhancement And Precipitation Inhibition Of Poorly Water Soluble Compounds Utilizing Hot Melt Extrusion Technology, Jiannan Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Soluplus® (SOL), a graft amorphous copolymer, composed of polyethylene glycol, vinyl acetate and vinylcaprolactam in a ratio of 13: 30: 57, was utilized to prepare solid dispersions containing felodipine (FEL) or ketoconazole (KTZ) using hot-melt extrusion technology. The melting point depression approach was utilized to determine the miscibility and solubility of the model compounds within Soluplus® , of which felodipine demonstrated higher solubility when compared to ketoconazole (14% vs 4.3% w/w) at room temperature (298K). Moreover, the solubility parameters of FEL, KTZ and SOL were calculated as 21.76, 26.51 and 21.64, respectively.

Polarized light microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), …

The Effects Of Stress Hormones On Preferences For Acoustic Signals In Female Green Treefrogs (Hyla Cinerea) And Barking Treefrogs (Hyla Gratiosa), Anna Gabriell Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ecological stressors (i.e., high predator density, low food availability) are often associated with increased variation in mate choice by females. The association between environmental stressors and variation in mate choice suggests that circulating stress hormones (i.e., glucocorticoids) may mediate such effects, but this idea remains largely unexplored. I examined how circulating glucocorticoids affect preferences for male advertisement calls in female green treefrogs, Hyla cinerea, and barking treefrogs, Hyla gratiosa. Specifically, I examined whether administration of corticosterone (CORT) decreases preferences for call rate and/or call duration - two acoustic features that are highly variable and characteristically under directional selection via mate …

2013 Patent Law Decisions Of The Federal Circuit, Robert A. Pollock, Mark J. Feldstein, Barbara R. Rudolph, Joyce Craig, Elizabeth D. Ferrill, Corinne Miller Lagosh, Michelle Pacholec, Kara Specht, Michael A. Stramiello, Jonathan R. K. Stroud

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.