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Increasing ocean temperatures have widespread consequences for coral reefs, one of which is coral bleaching. We analyzed a global network of associations between coral species and Symbiodiniaceae for resistance to temperature stress and robustness to perturbations. Null networks were created by changing either the physiological parameters of the nodes or the structures of the networks. We developed a bleaching model in which each link, association, is given a weight based on temperature thresholds for specific host–symbiont pairs and links are removed as temperature increases. Resistance to temperature stress was determined from the response of the networks to the bleaching model. Ecological robustness, defined by how much perturbation is needed to decrease the number of nodes by 50%, was determined for multiple removal models that considered traits of the hosts, symbionts, and their associations. Network resistance to bleaching and robustness to perturbations differed from the null networks and varied across spatial scales, supporting that thermal tolerances, local association patterns, and environment play an important role in network persistence. Networks were more robust to attacks on associations than to attacks on species. Although the global network was fairly robust to random link removals, when links are removed according to the bleaching model, robustness decreases by about 20%. Specific environmental attacks, in the form of increasing temperatures, destabilize the global network of coral species and Symbiodiniaceae. On a global scale, the network was more robust to removals of links with susceptible Symbiodiniaceae than it was to removals of links with susceptible hosts. Thus, the symbionts convey more stability to the symbiosis than the hosts when the system is under an environmental attack. However, our results also provide evidence that the environment of the networks affects robustness to link perturbations. Our work shows that ecological resistance and robustness can be assessed through network analysis that considers specific biological traits and functional weaknesses. The global network of associations between corals and Symbiodiniaceae and its distribution of thermal tolerances are non‐random, and the evolution of this architecture has led to higher sensitivity to environmental perturbations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information is crucial to the functioning of the patent system, as it is for other markets. Nevertheless, patent licensing terms are often subject to confidentiality agreements. On the one hand, this is not surprising: sellers and buyers do not normally publicize the details of their transactions. On the other hand, explicit confidentiality agreements are not common in other markets, and they may be particularly problematic for patents. Several United States Supreme Court cases have condemned agreements that suppress market information, and those cases could be applied to confidentiality agreements in the patent context. Of course, confidentiality may sometimes be pro-competitive, particularly when it involves only private negotiations. In other contexts, however, and notably in arbitration, which is a substitute for open court proceedings, the competitive balance is more problematic. Indeed, U.S. patent law mandates that patent arbitration awards be made public through the Patent and Trademark Office, though this requirement is generally ignored. Information about licensing terms is particularly important in one of today's most important patent licensing contexts. The standard-setting organizations that define the technologies used in products like smartphones typically require their members to commit to license patented technologies that are adopted in standards on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. The non-discriminatory element of this commitment is difficult for potential licensees to enforce without information about the licensing terms to which other licensees have agreed. This Article describes the value of patent licensing information and discusses the antitrust implications of agreements to keep that information confidential, particularly in the FRAND context and in arbitration. The Article also offers several ways in which parties, standard-setting organizations, and arbitration bodies could seek to avoid the anticompetitive effects of confidentiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on patent law and the uncertainties associated with intellectual property rights. It discusses the role played by uncertainty in cases involving reverse payment settlements, patent portfolios and package licensing. It states that patent law gives patentees the right to use and sell their inventions but provides no information regarding validity and existence. It explains patent validity and commercial value of patents significant in patent litigation.

Intellectual property owners often seek to provide access to their patented or copyrighted works while at the same time imposing restrictions on that access. One example of this approach is "field-of-use" licensing in patent law, which permits licensees to use the patented invention but only in certain ways. Another example is open-source licensing in copyright law, where copyright owners typically require licensees that incorporate open-source software in other products to license those other products on an open-source basis as well. Surprisingly, though, the legal requirements for granting restricted access are unclear. The source of this lack of clarity is the ill-defined nature of a "license," which is the usual means of granting access to intellectual property. Must a license be a contract? If so, then the imposition of restrictions presumably must satisfy the rules of contract formation. Or could a license be merely a unilateral commitment to allow limited access to intellectual property, as many open-source advocates contend? If so, then an intellectual property owner could grant access to its property while imposing restrictions to which a licensee has not consented, and of which the licensee might not even be aware. This Article argues that the weight of judicial authority and sound policy support a contractual approach. A requirement that license restrictions be imposed only by contract ensures that intellectual property owners obtain both the consent of licensees to the restrictions and consideration sufficient to make the contract enforceable. As in contract law more generally, these requirements facilitate certainty, predictability, and care in entering productive relationships. Consent is especially important as intellectual property is passed downstream through the distribution chain, because it ensures that downstream market participants are aware of the limitations on their use of intellectual property. Simple notice, which some have proposed as an alternative to contract, has shortcomings that make it a poor criterion for the establishment of infringement liability. This Article suggests, though, that in some circumstances notice of an upstream violation of a contractual license should indeed be sufficient to establish liability. Specifically, when a downstream user intentionally induces infringement by an upstream supplier, the downstream user should be liable. In such circumstances, the intent element serves as a substitute for the assent of contract law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Standard-form contracts are a common feature of commercial relationships because they offer the advantage of lower transaction costs. This advantage of standard contracts is increased when there is a second layer of standardization under which multiple firms agree on a standard contract. Trade associations and similar entities often effect standardization of this kind through collective agreement on a standard contract, sometimes under the aegis of state actors. Multifirm contract standardization can provide not only the usual transaction-cost advantages of standard-form contracts, but also increased competition among firms, because a standard contract makes comparison among firms' offerings easier. But standardization among firms also eliminates competition on the standardized terms, adding market power to bargaining power and making it less likely that the needs of all parties will be served. The collective formation of standard-form contracts has recently begun to receive academic attention. This attention, however, has for the most part focused on contract interpretation, emphasizing the fact of standardization and the nature of the standardizing entity. Less attention has been paid to issues of contractual fairness. Moreover, the competitive effects of contract standardization, which implicate primarily antitrust law, are distinct from those addressed by contract law. When sellers agree on contract terms, they eliminate competition among themselves on those terms. This sort of agreement can be undesirable even if the agreed-upon terms of the contract are fair and reasonable in themselves, because the standard contract can eliminate competition among reasonable terms. Fundamentally, the standardization of contracts is a standardization of the package offered to customers, in much the same way as is standardization of a product, and antitrust law has often been skeptical of such standardization. But contract standardization can also be viewed as altering not the product itself, but the legal background governing the purchase. Under that view, the contract simply standardizes the legal backdrop for what otherwise continues to be a competitive and vigorously bargained transaction. Which of these perspectives more accurately describes contract standardization likely differs from case to case, yet the courts generally have considered neither whether competition law should apply differently to standardization of contracts than to standardization of other "products" nor whether and how contract law should alter the competition analysis. This Article addresses the issue of contract standardization by exploring the interaction of antitrust and contract law in three basic respects. The first is substantive, focusing on product terms and considering standardization of terms both to reduce costs (interoperability standards) and to improve the contract (quality standards). This focus on terms is consistent with the antitrust approach of the Department of Justice, which has asked whether standardization involves "competitively significant" terms, but as the Article describes this standard is not well defined. The Article then moves to procedure, considering different contexts in which contract standardization occurs and discussing the implications of different means of negotiation. Third, the Article considers the possibilities both of voluntary adoption of contracts and of adoption incentives created by private organizations and by the state. The Article then draws on these discussions to suggest some analytical approaches to contract standardization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Water flow past corals may perform a number of functions during and following episodes of coral reef bleaching. Previous work has demonstrated that flow-modulated metabolism creates asymmetric bleaching patterns within a coral colony, but direct measurement of metabolic costs associated with bleaching have not been made at the level of the polyp. We examined the effects of flow on constitutive and regulated stress protein expression at the level of the polyp. We tested whether corals would exhibit a spatially asymmetric distribution of heat shock proteins 70 and 90 (hsp70 and hsp90) and the constitutive stress protein 70 (hsc70) related to velocity gradients (degree of mixing) across the coral colony. Flow manipulations were conducted from the NOAA underwater habitat Aquarius (FL, USA) on colonies of Montastrea annularis (Ellis and Solander, 1786), with controlled exposures to increased flow (ca. 40cms−1) and increased temperature (ca. 1.5–2°C above ambient) using in situ flow chambers. Single coral polyps were sampled, processed and analyzed for heat shock proteins using western blotting methods. The short term (daily) and medium term (9days) response within discrete locations of the coral colonies were examined. We probed for three different stress proteins, with only one exhibiting asymmetrical patterns of synthesis across a colony. Montastrea annularis colonies developed and sustained significant spatially asymmetric patterns of stress protein synthesis across the entire coral surface, with upstream sectors expressing more hsp70, at the same time that these upstream sectors developed and sustained a reduced photosynthetic efficiency or Quantum Yield (QY). The mechanism producing this pattern is unclear; we speculate that increased flow may lead to an initial up-regulation within the synthesis of heat shock protein (hsp70) by the entire colony, followed by a down-regulation in discrete areas through increased hydraulic stress or biochemical energy requirements and limitations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recent studies have determined that water flow may perform a number of roles during and following episodes of coral reef bleaching. Increased water flow has the potential to improve the capacity of some scleractinian corals to cope with high concentrations of oxygen in the boundary layer that are photosynthetically derived, and coral reef damage is often at its highest in areas where flow is restricted. Conversely, water motion has been shown to increase metabolic rate (both photosynthesis and respiration) and such flow-modulated metabolism may affect bleaching patterns asymmetrically within a coral colony. To broaden these earlier studies and to further examine the effects of flow on photosynthetic efficiency, we tested to determine whether or not corals would exhibit a spatially asymmetric distribution of photosynthetic efficiency related to velocity gradients (degree of mixing) across the coral colony. We conducted experiments from the NOAA underwater habitat Aquarius on colonies of Montastrea annularis (Ellis and Solander, 1786) with controlled exposures to increased flow (ca. 40 cm s−1, 1 cm above coral surface) and temperature (ca. 2 °C above ambient) using in situ flow chambers. We measured photosynthetic efficiency as a light-adapted quantum yield (F v′/ F m′) using Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) fluorometry to examine the short-term (daily) and medium term (≥9 days) response of patches of polyps within coral colonies. M. annularis colonies developed and sustained a significant spatially asymmetric pattern of photosynthetic yield across the entire coral surface, with the upstream side of the colonies exhibiting reduced quantum yield. The mechanism producing this pattern is unclear; we speculate that increased flow may lead to increased photosynthesis by upstream polyps through bicarbonate delivery accentuated by the Q10 effect. Local down-regulation of the photosynthetic response (decreased quantum yield) might then occur to keep tissue oxygen concentrations within tolerable limits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Patentees sometimes employ field-of-use licenses, under which they grant the right to use their inventions, but only in specified ways. Field-of-use licensing is often procompetitive, because the ability to provide different licensing terms for different users can encourage broader licensing of inventions. But in recent cases, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and several district courts have upheld field-of-use licenses that prohibited activities that would otherwise have been permitted by patent law, such as the repair and resale of patented products. By treating any violation of a license agreement as patent infringement, and by upholding license provisions that prohibited previously permitted activities, the courts have allowed patentees to expand the scope of patent infringement liability. This Article describes the dramatic expansion of patent law that has resulted, and it advocates a test that would require a patentee to show that the conduct it challenges would be infringe- ment in the absence of a license before it can seek to make it infringement by license. The Article also briefly compares these effects in patent law to the analogous effects of shrink-wrap licenses and the DMCA in copyright law, and it assesses the potential for similar expansion of patent infringement liability in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent development of the pop-up satellite archival tag (PSAT) has allowed the collection of information on a tagged animal, such as geolocation, pressure (depth), and ambient water temperature. The success of early studies, where PSATs were used on pelagic fishes, has spurred increasing interest in the use of these tags on a large variety of species and age groups. However, some species and age groups may not be suitable candidates for carrying a PSAT because of the relatively large size of the tag and the consequent energy cost to the study animal. We examined potential energetic costs to carrying a tag for the cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus). Two forces act on an animal tagged with a PSAT: lift from the PSATs buoyancy and drag as the tag is moved through the water column. In a freshwater flume, a spring scale measured the total force exerted by a PSAT at flume velocities from 0.00 to 0.60 m/s. By measuring the angle of deflection of the PSAT at each velocity, we separated total force into its constituent forces - lift and drag. The power required to carry a PSAT horizontally through the water was then calculated from the drag force and velocity. Using published metabolic rates, we calculated the power for a ray of a given size to swim at a specified velocity (i.e., its swimming power). For each velocity, the power required to carry a PSAT was compared to the swimming power expressed as a percentage, %TAX (Tag Altered eXertion). A %TAX greater than 5% was felt to be energetically significant. Our analysis indicated that a ray larger than 14.8 kg can carry a PSAT without exceeding this criterion. This method of estimating swimming power can be applied to other species and would allow a researcher to decide the suitability of a given study animal for tagging with a PSAT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the incorporation of a patented invention to industry standards in the U.S. Calculation of the amounts to which a patentee is entitled; Determination of the portion of the demand attributable to its invention; Negotiation of license fees with the patentee of an invention incorporated in the standard.

Focuses on the Sherman Act, which is a central position for market power that has been mandated neither by statute nor by the United States Supreme Court. Description on the limited place of market power in antitrust law as the Supreme Court has interpreted it; How market power has acquired a more expansive role in the lower courts; Comments on the theoretical justifications that have been offered for a market power requirement.

Proposes alterations in the treatment of scientific expert testimony in the United States. Analysis of the case Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Effect of bias on the reliability of evidence; Sources of bias in scientific expert testimonies; Application of scientific standards to admissibility decision; Peer review and general acceptance in the scientific community.

Because of the inherent inefficiency of jet propulsion, squid are considered to be at a competitive disadvantage compared with fishes, which generally depend on forms of undulatory/oscillatory locomotion. Some squid, such as the brief squid Lolliguncula brevis, swim at low speeds in shallow-water complex environments, relying heavily on fin activity. Consequently, their swimming costs may be lower than those of the faster, more pelagic squid studied previously and competitive with those of ecologically relevant fishes. To examine aerobic respiratory swimming costs, O[sub 2] consumption rates were measured for L. brevis of various sizes (2-9 cm dorsal mantle length, DML) swimming over a range of speeds (3-30 cm s[sup -1]) in swim tunnel respirometers, while their behavior was videotaped. Using kinematic data from swimming squid and force data from models, power curves were also generated. Many squid demonstrated partial (J-shaped) or full (U-shaped) parabolic patterns of O[sub 2] consumption rate as a function of swimming speed, with O[sub 2] consumption minima at 0.5-1.5 DML s[sup −1]. Power curves derived from hydrodynamic data plotted as a function of swimming speed were also parabolic, with power minima at 1.2-1.7 DML s[sup -1]. The parabolic relationship between O[sub 2] consumption rate/power and speed, which is also found in aerial flyers such as birds, bats and insects but rarely in aquatic swimmers because of the difficulties associated with low-speed respirometry, is the result of the high cost of generating lift and maintaining stability at low speeds and overcoming drag at high speeds. L. brevis has a lower rate of O[sub 2] consumption than the squid Illex illecebrosus and Loligo opalescens studied in swim tunnel respirometers and is energetically competitive (especially at O[sub 2] consumption minima) with fishes, such as striped bass, mullet and flounder. Therefore, the results of this study indicate that, like aerial flyers, some negati... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contains descriptions and specifications of the major mechanical systems of the Adaptive Suspension Vehicle. It also contains an overview of the computer software and hardware architectures. Experimental response curves for the principal servo systems are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]