2,927 research outputs found
Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation: Evidence from Health Care Markets
No full textA long theoretical literature has analyzed optimal patent policy design, yet there is very little empirical evidence on a key parameter needed to apply these models in practice: the relationship between patent strength and research investments. I argue that the dearth of empirical evidence on this question reflects two key challenges: the difficulty of measuring specific research investments and the fact that finding variation in patent protection is difficult. I then summarize the findings of two recent studies that have made progress in starting to overcome these empirical challenges by combining new data sets measuring biomedical research investments with novel sources of variation in the effective intellectual property protection provided to different inventions. The first study, Budish, Roin, and Williams (2015a), documents evidence consistent with patents affecting the rate and direction of research investments in the context of cancer drug development. The second study, Williams (2013), documents evidence that one form of intellectual property rights on the human genome had quantitatively important impacts on follow-on scientific research and commercial development. I discuss the relevance of both studies for patent policy and discuss directions for future research.National Institute on AgingNational Institutes of Health (U.S.
Heidi Louise Williams, piano
No full textLudwig van BeethovenDaniel CrozierChen YiFrederic ChopinFranz Lisz
Larval responses to turbulence and temperature in a tidal inlet: Habitat selection by dispersing gastropods?
No full textAuthor Posting. © Sears Foundation for Marine Research, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of Sears Foundation for Marine Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Marine Research 68 (2010): 153-188, doi:10.1357/002224010793079013.Marine larval dispersal is affected by hydrodynamic transport and larval behavior, but little is known about how behavior affects large-scale patterns of dispersal and recruitment. Intertidal habitats are characterized by strong and variable turbulence relative to shelf and pelagic waters, so larval responses to turbulence may affect both dispersal and habitat selection. This study combined observations and theoretical approaches to model gastropod larval responses to multiple physical variables in a well-mixed tidal inlet. Physical measurements and larvae were collected in July 2004 in Barnstable Harbor, Massachusetts (USA). Physical measurements were incorporated in an advection-diffusion model where larval vertical velocity is a function of turbulence dissipation rate, temperature, and the temperature gradient. Modeled larval distributions were fitted to observed concentration profiles by maximum likelihood to estimate larval behavioral velocity (swimming or sinking) as a function of environmental conditions. These quantitative behavior estimates were used to test hypotheses about behavioral differences among groups and to assess the relative impact of different cues on overall larval behavior. Larvae of five common gastropod species from different coastal habitats reacted most strongly to turbulence but had genus-specific responses to environmental cues. Larvae of a species from tidal inlets (the mud snail Nassarius obsoletus) had near-zero velocities under calmer conditions and sank in strong turbulence. In contrast, larvae from exposed beach habitats (Crepidula spp. and Anachis spp.) sank in weak turbulence and swam up in strong turbulence, with additional responses to temperature and temperature gradient. Larval responses also differed between small and large size classes and between flood and ebb tides. Behavior of mud snail larvae would contribute to retention inside the inlet and near adult habitats, whereas behavior of beach snail larvae would contribute to rapid export from muddy inlets lacking suitable adult habitats.This work was funded by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Coastal Ocean
Institute, the WHOI Rinehart Coastal Research Center, the National Science Foundation (NSF OCE-
0326734), NSF and US Office of Naval Research grants to S. Elgar and B. Raubenheimer, and the
WHOI Sea Grant (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Grant No. NA16RG2273,
project no. R/O-38-PD). Analyses were completed while HLF was a postdoctoral scholar at Scripps
Institution of Oceanography (SIO), supported by the California Current Ecosystem Long-Term Ecological
Research program (NSF OCE-0417616) and by SIO funding to P. Franks
Mussel larval responses to turbulence are unaltered by larvalage or light condition
No full textLarval responses to hydromechanical cues potentially have important effects on larval dispersal and settlement. This study examined the behavior of mussel larvae (Mytilus edulis) in laboratory-generated turbulence representative of nearshore currents. We video recorded the behavior of early- and late-stage veligers in a grid-stirred tank at five turbulence levels under light and dark conditions. Water velocities and kinetic energy dissipation rates were measured using particle image velocimetry and acoustic Doppler velocimetry. We characterized the vertical velocity distributions for sinking, hovering, and swimming modes in still water and calculated the average larval behavioral velocity in turbulence. In still water, young larvae had more positive (upward) velocities than old larvae, and both stages had more positive velocities in light than in dark. In turbulence, the mean larval vertical velocity varied from positive at low dissipation rates to negative at dissipation rates above a threshold of 8.3 £ 1022 cm2 s23. At this threshold, the Kolmogorov length scale (h ¼ 590mm) was two to three times the mean larval shell lengths (171–256mm), implying that turbulence is detectable even by larvae that are smaller than the smallest eddies. Responses to turbulence were unaffected by larval age or light conditions and contributed substantial behavioral variation. By sinking in strong turbulence, mussel larvae could increase their flux to the bed in energetic coastal flows, particularly over rough substrates like mussel beds. The response to turbulence by early-stage larvae will also affect their dispersal and may help larvae remain near coastal populations.Peer reviewedOriginally published in Limnology and Oceanography: Fluids & Environments (2011) and available via this link: http://lofe.dukejournals.org/content/1/120.full.pdfCopyright 2011 by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc
Innovation Inducement Prizes: Connecting Research to Policy
No full textInnovation inducement prizes have been used for centuries. In the United States, a recent federal policy change—the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010—clarified and simplified a path by which all federal agencies can offer innovation inducement prizes, thus intensifying interest in how government agencies can most effectively design and apply such prizes. This paper aims to review and synthesize the academic literature on innovation inducement prizes, to clarify what has been learned that is relevant to current policy discussions, and to highlight unresolved questions that would be fruitful areas for future academic research and policy experimentation. Relative to the existing literature, this paper aims to bridge two gaps. First, I synthesize the academic literature in this area with an eye toward drawing lessons for the types of innovation inducement prizes under consideration by federal agencies under the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act. Second, I discuss the problem of how to evaluate the success or failure of innovation inducement prizes, arguing that careful empirical evaluations of innovation inducement prizes are needed in order to provide guidance to federal agencies (and others) on how to most effectively apply and design innovation inducement prizes.National Institute on Aging (Grant Number: T32-AG000186
Sourcing Southerne: origins of the tragic plot in Thomas Southerne's Oroonoko
No full textAlthough certainly indebted to Aphra Behn’s novella of the same name, Thomas Southerne’s Oroonoko draws inspiration for its Restoration hero, as well as additional characters and themes, from Marc Antony as depicted in John Dryden’s All for Love and Nathaniel Bacon as in Behn’s The Widdow Ranter.M.A.Includes bibliographical referencesby Heidi Duga
Recommended from our members
Heidi
No full textEarly edition of Heidi by Johanna Spyri. The cover is made of a plain red cloth and on the spine is the title of the book, the face of a goat, and the names of the author and illustrator
Recommended from our members
Heidi
No full textEarly edition of Heidi by Johanna Spyri. The cover of the book is red with white and black printed illustrations on it. The title and author's name are in gold. The illustration is over Heidi sitting across from a boy with her arm wrapped around a goat. In the background is a mountain with some trees and the sun peeking over the edge. On the inner cover is a illustrated print in bright green. In the illustration is Heidi standing in a forest with her arms held out above her head. On the cover page is a box which has some decorative motifs and contains the title and the names of the author, translator, author of the introduction, and the illustrator. Below that is a seal for the publishing company and then the locations and name of the publishing company. On the opposite page is an illustration of Heidi having a picnic with an older boy. They are sitting in a field holding bread and cheese. Behind them are several goats grazing on the mountainside. In the background is a forest of evergreens and more mountains
How Do Patents Affect Research Investments?
No full textAlthough patent systems have been widely used both historically and internationally, there is nonetheless a tremendous amount of controversy over whether patent systems, in practice, improve the alignment between private returns and social contributions. In this article, I describe three parameters—how the disclosure function affects research investments, how patent strength affects research investments in new technologies, and how patents on existing technologies affect follow-on innovation—needed to inform the question of how patents affect research investments, and review the available evidence that has attempted to empirically estimate these parameters.National Institute on AgingNational Institutes of Health (U.S.). Office of the Director (grant U01-AG046708_National Bureau of Economic Researc
Recommended from our members
Heidi
No full textEarly edition of Heidi by Johanna Spyri. Front cover is a yellow-aged white with green borders around the cover and illustration. The faded illustration on the cover shows two girls, one being Heidi, and a boy arm in arm walking through a grassy field. In the background are mountains and evergreen trees. On the title page is a light green printed illustration of two columns holding up a roof with vines and flowers. The title of the collection and book, and names of the author, illustrator, and publishing company are in black ink. In the middle of the page is an illustration of a castle on a cliff with a cloud in the background. On the opposite page is a full color illustration of Heidi sitting in a grassy field with a boy taking a nap. In her lap are purple blossoms. She is looking to the sky at a bird flying by. Behind her is a boy lying on his stomach with one of his arms pillowing his head as he takes a nap. In the background are mountains against a partly cloudy sky. The next colored illustration is of Heidi kneeling next to girl sitting in a plush chair, Clara, playing with two kittens. The final colored illustration included is of Heidi teaching a boy, Peter, how to read at a table. On the other end of the table is Heidi's grandfather smoking a pipe
- …
