Engaging First Year Students with Intellectual Property

Since intellectual property is so important to engineers, creating enthusiasm from the beginning of their engineering studies is imperative. Since first year students have not learned how to apply technological concepts to real life, demonstrating intellectual property could be a challenge. To engage first year engineering students in the concept and the value of intellectual property, students were introduced to basic concepts and applications. Different concepts were applied to real life examples allowing them to interface with technology from an intellectual property perspective. This paper highlights not only patents, but also trademarks and trade secrets

Innovation for the Engaged Librarian

As librarians, we constantly innovate to meet the needs of our users and to utilize new technology. Discovery is an important part of this process. When we discover our patrons’ pain points, we can more easily adapt to their needs. As the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps program is implemented in more and more universities, engineering and patent librarians facilitate faculty and scientists in using the Business Model Canvas. Librarians can help faculty and scientists with familiarizing themselves with library resources to fill key parts of the Canvas. Additionally, this canvas is often implemented in innovation centers across campuses, and becoming familiar with this canvas can assist students as well. Understanding the innovation ecosystem at one’s university is fundamentally important, since intellectual property plays an important role in innovation. This Business Model Canvas, as well as understanding the innovation ecosystem, can provide librarians with useful tools to engage with innovators and entrepreneurs

From Creativity to Classification: A Logical Approach to Patent Searching

Engineering students and professors need to understand and search intellectual property. In the past, librarians have instructed them on using the United States Patent Classification (USPC). In 2015, after a period of transition, the United States Patent and Trademark Office phased out the USPC and began exclusively classifying in the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC). This adoption presented librarians a challenge of instructing students and professors in the easiest and most effective patent search. By tying patent searching to an example and presenting classification in an understandable fashion using CPC in conjunction with USPC, this writer presents a logical directed search module

SECA Phase 1 Validation Testing/Coal Gas Impurities

None provided. Presentation only - PDF of slide presentation attached

Oxidation of Low Calorific Value Gases-Applying Optimization Techniques to Combustor Design

The design of an optimal air-staged combustor for the oxidation of a low calorific value gas mixture is presented. The focus is on the residual fuel emitted from the anode of a molten carbonate fuel cell. Both experimental and numerical results are presented. The simplified numerical model considers a series of plug-flow-reactor sections, with the possible addition of a perfectly-stirred reactor. The parameter used for optimization, Z, is the sum of fuel-component molar flow rates leaving a particular combustor section. An optimized air injection profile is one that minimizes Z for a given combustor length and inlet condition. Since a mathematical proof describing the significance of global interactions remains lacking; the numerical model employs both a ''Local'' optimization procedure and a ''Global'' optimization procedure. The sensitivity of Z to variations in the air injection profile and inlet temperature is also examined. The results show that oxidation of the anode exhaust gas is possible with low pollutant emissions

DNA looping by two-site restriction endonucleases: heterogeneous probability distributions for loop size and unbinding force

Proteins interacting at multiple sites on DNA via looping play an important role in many fundamental biochemical processes. Restriction endonucleases that must bind at two recognition sites for efficient activity are a useful model system for studying such interactions. Here we used single DNA manipulation to study sixteen known or suspected two-site endonucleases. In eleven cases (BpmI, BsgI, BspMI, Cfr10I, Eco57I, EcoRII, FokI, HpaII, NarI, Sau3AI and SgrAI) we found that substitution of Ca(2+) for Mg(2+) blocked cleavage and enabled us to observe stable DNA looping. Forced disruption of these loops allowed us to measure the frequency of looping and probability distributions for loop size and unbinding force for each enzyme. In four cases we observed bimodal unbinding force distributions, indicating conformational heterogeneity and/or complex binding energy landscapes. Measured unlooping events ranged in size from 7 to 7500 bp and the most probable size ranged from less than 75 bp to nearly 500 bp, depending on the enzyme. In most cases the size distributions were in much closer agreement with theoretical models that postulate sharp DNA kinking than with classical models of DNA elasticity. Our findings indicate that DNA looping is highly variable depending on the specific protein and does not depend solely on the mechanical properties of DNA

Optimized air staged injection for the oxidation of low calorific value gases

This paper describes a simplified numerical model used for predicting an optimized air staged plug-flow combustor for low calorific value gas mixtures. The parameter used for optimization, Z, is the summed flow rates of fuel components leaving the combustor. An optimized combustor is one of a given length and input mass flux that minimizes Z. Since a mathematical proof describing the importance of global interactions remains lacking, the model employs both a ``local optimization`` procedure and a ``global optimization`` procedure. By exercising and comparing both procedures, the model shows that ``local optimization`` is sufficient to provide an optimized solution. Sensitivity of Z to deviations in air injection profile and inlet temperature is also examined