Chemical comparison of spherules from the Ross Sea and glacial sediment of Antarctica: an SEM study

Four (about 100 ?m in diameter) clear spherules from seafloor sediments of the Ross Sea differ physically and chemically from three microscopic dark spherules of about the same size from glacial deposits in Antarctica and upper New York state. The major-element concentrations (determined by SEM) show that the clear spherules differ in composition from the dark spherules. The clear spherules were found to be similiar in composition to the continental crust, indicating a terrestrial origin. Based on their physical structure and chemical composition, they are likely a biogenically-produced form of opal. The composition of each dark spherule was compared to the compositions of the continental crust and CI chondrites. The results are inconclusive. Therefore, they may be either terrestrial or extraterrestrial in origin. In addition, the dark spherules differ markedly in composition amongst themselves

Fundamentals of Software Patent Protection at a University

Software protection by patents is an emerging field and thus is not completely understood by software developers, especially software developers in a university setting. University inventors have to balance their publication productivity and the desire of their university to license inventions that could be profitable. This balance stems from the one-year bar on filing a U.S. patent application after public disclosure such as publications of the invention. The research provides evidence supporting the hypothesis that a university inventor can improve the protection of his or her software patent by applying certain information about patent prosecution practices and the relevant prior art. Software inventors need to be concerned about fulfilling the requirements of patent laws. Some of the methods for fulfilling these requirements include using diagrams in patent applications such as functional block diagrams, flowchart diagrams, and state diagrams and ensuring that the patent application is understandable by non-technical people. The knowledge of prior art ensures that the inventor is not reinventing the wheel, not infringing on a patent, and understands the current state of the art. The knowledge of patent laws, diagrams, readability, and prior art enables a software inventor to take control of the protection of his or her invention to ensure that the application of this information leads to improvements during the application process

Medical Therapeutics Derived from Leeches (Phy. Annelida; Cl. Hirudinea)

Of all blood feeding invertebrates, few are more notorious than leeches. Throughout their existence as ectoparasites, leeches have evolved to release biological molecules in their saliva that act to counter the responses of the prey’s body to vascular trauma. Inadvertently, these very molecules have been used by humans for centuries for medicinal purposes; however, it is only recently that their cellular action has been elucidated. As a result, these compounds have been isolated and mass produced to treat a wide variety of conditions ranging from heart attack to Alzheimer’s disease and continued work suggests that these isolates will be an important future treatment for metastasis

Identification of WISE J000100.45+065259.6 as an M8.5+T5 Spectral Binary Candidate

[not part of RNAAS note] We report the discovery of WISE J000100.45+065259.6 as a very low mass star/brown dwarf spectral binary candidate, on the basis of low resolution near-infrared spectroscopy obtained with IRTF/SpeX. Decomposition of the spectrum indicates component types of M8.5+T5 with a predicted $\Delta{J}$ = 3.5. As the majority of confirmed spectral binary candidates to date are very closely-separated systems ($\rho$ $\lesssim$ 3 AU; $P$ $\lesssim$ 15~yr), this source may provide mass measurements across the hydrogen burning limit within the decade.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, accepted to Research Notes of the AA

Computational forms for binary particle interactions at different levels of anisotropy

Particle interactions are key elements of many dynamical systems. In the context of systems described by a Boltzmann equation, such interactions may be described by a collision integral, a multidimensional integral over the momentum-phase space of the interaction. This integral is often simplified by assuming isotropic particle distributions; however, such an assumption places constraints on the dynamics of the system. This paper presents computational forms of the collision integral for relativistic, binary interactions at three levels of anisotropy, including a novel form in the isotropic case. All these forms are split into two parts, an absorption and an emission spectrum, which may be pre-calculated via numerical integration for simulation purposes. We demonstrate the use of these forms by comparison with the analytically integrated, isotropic emission spectrum of electron–positron annihilation, which are shown to agree to numerical precision. The emission spectrum is then further extended to axisymmetric particle distributions, where two-dimensional spectral maps can be generated to provide new insight

Tic: a Methodology for the Improvement of DHCP

Linked lists must work. In fact, few biologists would disagree with the deployment of e-business, which embodies the private principles of artificial intelligence. Our focus in this paper is not on whether lambda calcu- lus can be made cacheable, event-driven, and pervasive, but rather on proposing a method- ology for the investigation of IPv6 (Tic) [4]

Risk-Informed Decision Making: Application to Technology Development Alternative Selection

NASA NPR 8000.4A, Agency Risk Management Procedural Requirements, defines risk management in terms of two complementary processes: Risk-informed Decision Making (RIDM) and Continuous Risk Management (CRM). The RIDM process is used to inform decision making by emphasizing proper use of risk analysis to make decisions that impact all mission execution domains (e.g., safety, technical, cost, and schedule) for program/projects and mission support organizations. The RIDM process supports the selection of an alternative prior to program commitment. The CRM process is used to manage risk associated with the implementation of the selected alternative. The two processes work together to foster proactive risk management at NASA. The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance at NASA Headquarters has developed a technical handbook to provide guidance for implementing the RIDM process in the context of NASA risk management and systems engineering. This paper summarizes the key concepts and procedures of the RIDM process as presented in the handbook, and also illustrates how the RIDM process can be applied to the selection of technology investments as NASA's new technology development programs are initiated

Secondary Enrichment of Copper at the Madison Gold Skarn Deposit, Silver Star District, Montana

Secondary Enrichment of Copper at the Madison Gold Skarn Deposit, Silver Star District, Montana. This paper focuses on the chemical reactions responsible for secondary enrichment of copper...we argue that most of the secondary Cu enrichment occurred during a late hydrothermal event that replaced the high temperature skarn mineral assemblage with hematitic jasperoid. Evidence favoring this hypogene Cu enrichment hypothesis is presented