Personalized Medicine, Genetic Exceptionalism, and the Rule of Law: An Analysis of the Prevailing Justification for Invalidating BRCA1/2 Patents in \u3ci\u3eAssociation of Molecular Pathology v. USPTO\u3c/i\u3e

As medicine advances toward a more personalized model, the significance of genetic information is growing exponentially. While unlocking the genetic code has advanced the state of medicine, it has also reinvigorated the debate over the boundaries of patentable subject matter. The potential clash between having access to state-of-the-art medicine and protecting intellectual property investments came to a head in the case, Association of Molecular Pathology v. USPTO (“Myriad”). This Article analyzes the legal opinion rendered by the district court through the unique lens of genetic exceptionalism—a concept previously reserved to social science and public policy. Then, this Article analyzes Judge Sweet’s unprecedented incorporation of genetic exceptionalism into the Patent Act by first tracing the historical roots of the exceptionalism doctrine and then dissecting the Myriad decision through that historical lens. As it stands at publication, it has yet to be seen whether the Supreme Court will similarly adopting a novel interpretation of the Patent Act that incorporates genetic exceptionalism into the Act’s subject matter restrictions

An Adaptive Computational Model for Predicting the Density Distribution of the Proximal Femur

A custom algorithm was developed to simulate adaptive boneremodeling. The process of adaptive bone remodeling can besimulated with a self-optimizing finite element method (FEM). Thebasic remodeling rule attempts to obtain a constant value for thestrain energy per unit bone mass, by adapting density. The precisesolution is dependent on the loads, initial conditions and theparameters in the remodeling rule. The aim of this study was toidentify how the bone density distribution of the proximal femurwas affected by parameters which govern the remodeling process.The forces at different phases of the gait cycle were applied asboundary conditions. The bone density distributions from theseforces were averaged to estimate the density distribution in theproximal femur. The effect of varying the spatial influencefunction, and the influence range on the converged solution wereinvestigated. It was shown that varying these parameters withinreasonable upper and lower bounds had very little impact on thequalitative form of the converged solution. In all cases, thesolutions obtained are comparable with the actual density in theproximal femur, as measured by DEXA scans

Fuselage shell and cavity response measurements on a DC-9 test section

A series of fuselage shell and cavity response measurements conducted on a DC-9 aircraft test section are described. The objectives of these measurements were to define the shell and cavity model characteristics of the fuselage, understand the structural-acoustic coupling characteristics of the fuselage, and measure the response of the fuselage to different types of acoustic and vibration excitation. The fuselage was excited with several combinations of acoustic and mechanical sources using interior and exterior loudspeakers and shakers, and the response to these inputs was measured with arrays of microphones and accelerometers. The data were analyzed to generate spatial plots of the shell acceleration and cabin acoustic pressure field, and corresponding acceleration and pressure wavenumber maps. Analysis and interpretation of the spatial plots and wavenumber maps provided the required information on modal characteristics, structural-acoustic coupling, and fuselage response

Validating the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) at a Research-Intensive University

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) has been used at universities across the U.S. and Canada to gather information about the quality of engagement of first-year students and graduating students. Institutions use NSSE’s five benchmarks of effective educational practice to compare themselves with other schools and to focus in on ways to improve the educational experiences of their students. However, studies indicate that these benchmarks may not be a valid way to convey NSSE information. This study was conducted to investigate whether or not NSSE’s five-factor model is the best fit for student engagement data collected at a large, public, research-intensive, land-grant university. The five-factor model did not fit the data for the 2008 sample of senior students at this university. Rather, a revised model using six factors instead of five and 21 of 42 items provided a more valid test blueprint. This new model was then tested and found to fit the 2011 sample of senior students at the same university. Discussion regarding use of a nationally collected data at an individual institution is provided

Space shuttle high pressure auxiliary propulsion system

Requirements review for space shuttle auxiliary propulsion syste

Effect of binary collisions on electron acceleration in magnetic reconnection

Context. The presence of energetic X-ray sources in the solar corona indicates there are additional transport effects in the acceleration region. A prime method of investigation is to add collisions into models of particle behaviour at the reconnection region.<p></p> Aims. We investigate electron test particle acceleration in a simple model of an X-type reconnection region. In particular, we explore the possibility that collisions will cause electrons to re-enter the acceleration more frequently, in turn causing particles to be accelerated to high energies.<p></p> Methods. The deterministic (Lorentz) description of particle gyration and acceleration has been coupled to a model for the effects of collisions. The resulting equations are solved numerically using Honeycutt’s extension of the RK4 method to stochastic differential equations. This approach ensures a correct description of collisional energy loss and pitch-angle scattering combined with a sufficiently precise description of gyro-motion and acceleration.<p></p> Results. Even with initially mono-energetic electrons, the competition between collisions and acceleration results in a distribution of electron energies. When realistic model parameters are used, electrons achieve X-ray energies. A possible model for coronal hard X-ray sources is indicated. Conclusions. Even in competition with energy losses, pitch-angle scattering results in a small proportion of electrons reaching higher energies than they would in a collisionless situation.<p></p&gt

Jmas: A Java-based Mobile Actor System for Heterogeneous Distributed Parallel Computing

Computer Scienc