Digital Commons Network^™

Competing With The “Patent Court”: A Newly Robust Ecosystem, Arti K. Rai

Faculty Scholarship

In a provocative address, Chief Judge Wood of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals suggests exposing the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, created in 1982 to hear all appeals from patent cases, to competition from sister appellate courts. This response, published as part of a Symposium on Chief Judge Wood's address, argues that competition is indeed desirable. Whether such competition is best provided by other appellate courts is unclear, however. The more tractable approach is to improve competitive input from sources that have already emerged. These include dissenting Federal Circuit judges, parties and amici who are not "patent …

Who Can’T Raise Capital? The Scylla And Charybdis Of Capital Formation, James D. Cox

Faculty Scholarship

There has long been complaints that the heavy regulatory hand of Blue Sky Law administrators prevents capital formation by small issuers. Using data recently collected by the SEC, the article reasons that the problems capital starved small issuers encounter is not the state regulator. The problems are elsewhere. The paper explores whether intermediation may ultimately enable more startups to raise needed funds. For this to occur, however, the paper explores the formidable obstacles the broker must overcome in meeting demanding suitability requirements.

Putting The Securities Laws To The Test: The Long-Standing Approach To Federal Securities Regulation Is Not Working, Elisabeth De Fontenay

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

State’S Rights, Last Rights, And Voting Rights, Guy-Uriel Charles, Luis Fuentes-Rohwer

Faculty Scholarship

There are two ways to read the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County Alabama v. Holder: as a minimalist decision or as a decision that undermines the basic infrastructure of voting rights policy, law, and jurisprudence. In this Article, we present the case for reading Shelby County as deeply destabilizing. We argue that Shelby County has undermined three assumptions that are foundational to voting rights policy, law, and jurisprudence. First, the Court has generally granted primacy of the federal government over the states. Second, the Court has deferred to Congress particularly where Congress is regulating at the intersection of race …

A Direct Test Of Agency Theories Of Debt, Yilin Huang, Taylor D. Nadauld

Faculty Publications

When a firm is facing default, equity holders have incentives to engage in asset substitution, underinvest, or directly transfer wealth. Few papers document investment distortions on account of debt-equity agency conflicts, only that the threat of distortions influence ex ante financing costs. A non-agency RMBS deal represents an entity that is highly leveraged where, ex ante, equity holders know they will face default. This provides an ideal laboratory for testing whether the threat of default creates any of the distortions predicted in theory. We estimate agency costs associated with direct wealth transfers to range between $.011 and $.025 per dollar.

Users Aren’T (Necessarily) Lazy: Using Neurois To Explain Habituation To Security Warnings, Bonnie Brinton Anderson, Anthony Vance, Brock Kirwan, David Eargle, Seth Howard

Faculty Publications

Warning messages are one of the last lines of defense in information security, and are fundamental to users’ security interactions with technology. Unfortunately, research shows that users routinely ignore security warnings. A key contributor to this disregard is habituation, the diminishing of attention through frequent exposure. However, previous research has examined habituation indirectly by observing its influence on security behavior, rather than measuring habituation itself.

We contribute by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to directly observe habituation as it occurs in the brain. Our results show that with repeated exposure to warnings, neural activity in the visual processing centers …

Exploring Configurations Of Affordances: The Case Of Software Development, Aron Lindberg, James Gaskin, Nicholas Berente, Kalle Lyytinen

Faculty Publications

Affordances have been increasingly used in the information systems literature to account for the usage and effects of information technology. However, a review of the literature shows that the construct has remained nebulously defined, rarely used in anything but singular forms and with little consideration of context. This has resulted in a lack of cumulative research on affordances. We propose that affordances need to be considered not only individually, but also as configurations of multiple affordances. Through a sociomaterial sequence analysis of two software development teams – one waterfall and one agile - we build a framework for the study …

The Effects Of Social Networking Site (Sns) Use On College Students’ Friendship And Well-Being, Jin-Liang Wang, Linda A. Jackson, James Gaskin, Hai-Zhen Wang

Faculty Publications

The present study was conducted with two goals in mind: (1) to examine the influence of using different types of SNS use on users’ well-being, and (2) to examine the mediating roles of online self-disclosure and friendship quality in the relationship between types of SNS use and well-being. Participants were from two large 4-year undergraduate universities in Southwestern China. The study was conducted during Spring semester, 2013, using advertisements that described the nature of the research and indicated that compensation for participation was U10 (about $1.5 U.S.). Of the 402 students approached, 337 completed the survey (i.e., response rate was …

Experimental Tests Of Intellectual Property Laws' Creativity Thresholds, Christopher Buccafusco, Zachary C. Burns, Jeanne C. Fromer, Christopher Jon Sprigman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Retaining Color, Veronica Root

Faculty Scholarship

It is no secret that large law firms are struggling in their efforts to retain attorneys of color. This is despite two decades of aggressive tracking of demographic rates, mandates from clients to improve demographic diversity, and the implementation of a variety of diversity efforts within large law firms. In part, law firm retention efforts are stymied by the reality that elite, large law firms require some level of attrition to function properly under the predominant business model. This reality, however, does not explain why firms have so much difficulty retaining attorneys of color—in particular black and Hispanic attorneys.

And …

The Monitor-Client Relationship, Veronica Root

Faculty Scholarship

After the government discovers wrongdoing by a corporation, the corporation and the government often enter into an agreement stating that the corporation will retain a “monitor.” A corporate compliance monitor, unlike the gatekeeper, is not charged with “monitoring” the corporation in an attempt to detect and prevent wrongdoing. A monitor, unlike the probation officer, is not solely charged with ensuring that the corporation complies with a previously determined set of requirements. Instead, a corporate compliance monitor is responsible for (i) investigating the extent of the wrongdoing already detected and reported to the government, (ii) discovering the cause of the corporation’s …

Housing Regulation, Externalities And Residential Property Prices, Henry J. Munneke, C. F. Sirmans, Barrett A. Slade, Geoffrey K. Turnbull

Faculty Publications

This article examines the effects of quantity restrictions on residential property prices in the presence of neighborhood externalities. A Brigham Young University policy limiting students’ location choices provides a natural experiment for studying the externality and quantity restriction effects on property values. A flexible hedonic model is used to control for nonstudent population spatial sorting by type. The estimates show significant positive quantity restriction and student agglomeration effects on student housing prices. There are also significant differences in the negative student externality across nonstudent neighborhoods, with the quantity restriction reinforcing (offsetting) the student price premium (discount) at the boundary.

Who Uses The Roth 401(K), And How Do They Use It?, John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Using administrative data from twelve companies that added a Roth 401(k) option between 2006 and 2010, we describe the characteristics of Roth contributions. Approximately one year after the Roth is introduced, 9% of 401(k) participants have positive Roth balances. Roth participation is more than twice as high among 401(k) participants who were hired after the Roth introduction than among 401(k) participants who were hired before the Roth introduction. In essence, once an employee joins a 401(k) she becomes passive/inattentive, thereby reducing the likelihood of reacting to the introduction of a new Roth option. Conditional on contributing to the Roth, 66% …

Event Flyer

MLK 2014 Event Information

Flyer promoting the 2014 Martin Luther King, Jr. lecture featuring Bill Lann Lee

A Stakeholder–Human Capital Perspective On The Link Between Social Performance And Executive Compensation, Peter M. Madsen, John B. Bingham

Faculty Publications

The link between firm corporate social performance (CSP) and executive compensation could be driven by a sorting effect (a firm’s CSP is related to the initial levels of compensation of newly hired executives), or by an incentive effect (incumbent executives are rewarded for past firm CSP). Existing empirical work focuses exclusively on the incentive effect. In contrast, in this paper we explore the sorting effect of firm CSP on the initial compensation of newly hired executives. In doing so, we develop a novel theoretical approach based on an integration of stakeholder theory and human capital theory, suggesting a positive association …

Common Sense And The Rhetoric Of Technology, Joshua Welsh

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Arts and Humanities

This article investigates rhetorical methods for establishing notions of common sense, especially the common sense that makes technological choices take on an aura of inevitability. I rely on a rhetorical framework drawn from Aristotle and Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca, as well as the philosophers Charles Taylor and Andrew Feenberg.

Immigration, Diversity, And Broadcasting In The United States 1990—2001, Vibert C. Cambridge

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

The last decade of the twentieth century brought a maturing of the new racial and ethnic communities in the United States and the emergence of diversity and multiculturalism as dominant fields of discourse in legal, educational, and cultural contexts. Immigration, Diversity, and Broadcasting in the United States, 1990—2001 is a contribution to our understanding of the web of relationships that existed at the intersection of immigration, race, ethnicity, and broadcasting in America during this period.

Professor Vibert C. Cambridge investigates and questions how broadcasting in the United States responded to the changing racial and ethnic composition of the society. What …

The Emergence Of The Moundbuilders: The Archaeology Of Tribal Societies In Southeastern Ohio, Elliot Marc Abrams, Anncorinne Freter

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Native American societies, often viewed as unchanging, in fact experienced a rich process of cultural innovation in the millennia prior to recorded history. Societies of the Hocking River Valley in southeastern Ohio, part of the Ohio River Valley, created a tribal organization beginning about 2000 bc.

Edited by Elliot M. Abrams and AnnCorinne Freter, The Emergence of the Moundbuilders: The Archaeology of Tribal Societies in Southeastern Ohio presents the process of tribal formation and change in the region based on analyses of all available archaeological data from the Hocking River Valley. Drawing on the work of scholars in archaeology, anthropology, …

In Idi Amin’S Shadow: Women, Gender, And Militarism In Uganda, Alicia C. Decker

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

In Idi Amin’s Shadow is a rich social history examining Ugandan women’s complex and sometimes paradoxical relationship to Amin’s military state. Based on more than one hundred interviews with women who survived the regime, as well as a wide range of primary sources, this book reveals how the violence of Amin’s militarism resulted in both opportunities and challenges for women. Some assumed positions of political power or became successful entrepreneurs, while others endured sexual assault or experienced the trauma of watching their brothers, husbands, or sons “disappeared” by the state’s security forces. In Idi Amin’s Shadow considers the crucial ways …

Richmond Law Magazine: Winter 2014

Richmond Law Magazine

Features:

Cracking Down on Exported Corruption

The Little Sisters Who Sued

Professional Plaintiffs

Think Like A Lawyer, Write Like A Lawyer

Lightweight Data Compression In Wireless Sensor Networks Using Huffman Coding, Henry P. Medeiros, Marcos C. Maciel, Richard D. Souza, Marcelo E. Pellenz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This paper presents a lightweight data compression method for wireless sensor networks monitoring environmental parameters with low resolution sensors. Instead of attempting to devise novel ad hoc algorithms, we show that, given general knowledge of the parameters that must be monitored, it is possible to efficiently employ conventional Huffman coding to represent the same parameter when measured at different locations and time periods. When the data collected by the sensor nodes consists of integer measurements, the Huffman dictionary computed using statistics inferred from public datasets often approaches the entropy of the data. Results using temperature and relative humidity measurements show …

Evaluation Of Upper Extremity Movement Characteristics During Standardized Pediatric Functional Assessment With A Kinect®-Based Markerless Motion Analysis System, Jacob R. Rammer, Joseph J. Krzak, Susan A. Riedel, Gerald F. Harris

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

A recently developed and evaluated upper extremity (UE) markerless motion analysis system based on the Microsoft® Kinect® has potential for improving functional assessment of patients with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. 12 typically-developing adolescents ages 12-17 were evaluated using both the Kinect-based system and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation (SHUEE), a validated measure of UE motion. The study established population means of UE kinematic parameters for each activity. Statistical correlation analysis was used to identify key kinematic metrics used to develop automatic scoring algorithms. The Kinect motion analysis platform is technically sound and can be applied to standardized task-based …

Age-Related Differentiation Of Sensorimotor Control Strategies During Pursuit And Compensatory Tracking, Megan L. Heenan, Robert A. Scheidt, Scott A. Beardsley

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Motor control deficits during aging have been well-documented. Various causes of neuromotor decline, including both peripheral and central neurological deficits, have been hypothesized. Here, we use a model of closed-loop sensorimotor control to examine the functional causes of motor control deficits during aging. We recruited 14 subjects aged 19-61 years old to participate in a study in which they performed single-joint compensatory and pursuit tracking tasks with their dominant hand. We found that visual response delay and visual noise increased with age, while reliance on visual feedback, especially during compensatory tracking decreased. Increases in visual noise were also positively correlated …

Submovements During Reaching Movements After Stroke, Lucia S. Simo, Davide Piovesan, Jozsef Laczko, Claude Ghez, Robert A. Scheidt

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Neurological deficits after cerebrovascular accidents very frequently disrupt the kinematics of voluntary movements with the consequent impact in daily life activities. Robotic methodologies enable the quantitative characterization of specific control deficits needed to understand the basis of functional impairments and to design effective rehabilitation therapies. In a group of right handed chronic stroke survivors (SS) with right side hemiparesis, intact proprioception, and differing levels of motor impairment, we used a robotic manipulandum to study right arm function during discrete point-to-point reaching movements and reciprocal out-and-back movements to visual targets. We compared these movements with those of neurologically intact individuals (NI). …

A Modular Low-Clearance Wrist Orthosis For Improving Wrist Motion In Children With Cerebral Palsy, Devon Holley, Michelle Johnson, Gerald F. Harris, Scott A. Beardsley

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) often exhibit impairments in the coordination of the grip and lift phases of arm movements that directly impact their ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). The application of assistive robotic therapy to children with spastic hemiplegic CP has shown that augmented movement training can lead to improved functional outcomes and improved arm kinematics. Assistive robotic therapy of the wrist has been shown to help improve motor skills in stroke patients, but the devices employed are often large and obtrusive, focusing on a repeated motion rather than a task-based itinerary. Here, we propose a …

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Of The Spinal Cord: Insights From Animal And Human Studies, Aditya Vedantam, Michael B. Jirjis, Brian D. Schmit, Marjorie C. Wang, John L. Ulmer, Shekar N. Kurpad

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provides a measure of the directional diffusion of water molecules in tissues. The measurement of DTI indexes within the spinal cord provides a quantitative assessment of neural damage in various spinal cord pathologies. DTI studies in animal models of spinal cord injury indicate that DTI is a reliable imaging technique with important histological and functional correlates. These studies demonstrate that DTI is a noninvasive marker of microstructural change within the spinal cord. In human studies, spinal cord DTI shows definite changes in subjects with acute and chronic spinal cord injury, as well as cervical spondylotic myelopathy. …

Benefits Of Industry Involvement In Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Courses, Jay R. Goldberg, Vikram Cariapa, George Corliss, Kate Kaiser

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Opportunities for industry involvement in capstone design courses go beyond industry sponsorship of capstone design projects. Representatives from industry can serve as guest lecturers, curriculum advisors, and design project sponsors and team mentors. Since 2000, industry participation has been a core part of the capstone design course at Marquette University. Practicing engineers provide a relevant, practical real-world perspective of their topic, reinforcing its importance to professional engineering practice. Students and faculty benefit from the up-to-date treatment of the topic provided by guest speakers from industry who have expertise in the topic and are willing to share their experiences with students. …

Simultaneous Robotic Manipulation And Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Feasibility In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Nicole M.G. Salowitz, Bridget Dolan, Rheanna Remmel, Amy V. Van Hecke, Kristine M. Mosier, Lucia Simo, Robert A. Scheidt

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

An unanswered question concerning the neural basis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is how sensorimotor deficits in individuals with ASD are related to abnormalities of brain function. We previously described a robotic joystick and video game system that allows us to record functional magnetic resonance images (FMRI) while adult humans make goal-directed wrist motions. We anticipated several challenges in extending this approach to studying goal-directed behaviors in children with ASD and in typically developing (TYP) children. In particular we were concerned that children with autism may express increased levels of anxiety as compared to typically developing children due to the …

How Effects Of Local Labor Demand Shocks Vary With Local Labor Market Conditions, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper estimates how effects of shocks to local labor demand on local labor market outcomes vary with initial local economic conditions. The data are on U.S. metro areas from 1979 to 2011. The paper finds that demand shocks to local job growth have greater effects in reducing local unemployment rates if the local economy is initially depressed than if the local economy is booming. Demand shocks have greater effects on local wage rates if the local unemployment rate is initially low, but lesser effects if local job growth is initially high. These different effects of local demand shocks imply …

Social Security And Divorce, Marcus Dillender

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

People who have divorced are entitled to Social Security spousal benefits if their marriages lasted at least ten years. This paper uses 1985–1995 Vital Statistics data and the 2008–2011 American Community Surveys to analyze how this rule affects divorce decisions. I find evidence that the ten-year rule results in a small increase in divorces for the general population; however, the effects vary greatly by age. Divorce decisions change very little for people under the age of 35. For people 55 and older, however, divorces increase by approximately 20 percent around the ten-year cutoff, which leads to an increase in the …