The Nonobviousness of Inventions: In Search of a Functional Standard

The Patent Act of 1952 introduced the nonobviousness requirement into patentability analysis. Historically vague, the nonobviousness requirement remains poorly defined. Courts currently use a variety of tests for nonobviousness, none of which correctly reflects the requirement\u27s constitutional and technical role. This Comment proposes a functional standard embodying four elements: constitutional policy, technical advance, logical analysis, and active perspective

Thermal Ecology of the Federally Endangered Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard

Recognizing how climate change will impact populations can aid in making decisions about approaches for conservation of endangered species. The Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard (Gambelia sila) is a federally endangered species that, despite protection, remains in extremely arid, hot areas and may be at risk of extirpation due to climate change. We collected data on the field-active body temperatures, preferred body temperatures, and upper thermal tolerance of G. sila. We then described available thermal habitat using biophysical models, which allowed us to (1) describe patterns in lizard body temperatures, microhabitat temperatures, and lizard microhabitat use, (2) quantify the lizards’ thermoregulatory accuracy, (3) calculate the number of hours they are currently thermally restricted in microhabitat use, (4) project how the number of restricted hours will change in the future as ambient temperatures rise, and (5) assess the importance of Giant Kangaroo Rat burrows and shade-providing shrubs in the current and projected future thermal ecology of G. sila. Lizards maintained fairly consistent daytime body temperatures over the course of the active season, and use of burrows and shrubs increased as the season progressed and ambient temperatures rose. During the hottest part of the year, lizards shuttled among kangaroo rat burrows, shrubs, and open habitat to maintain body temperatures below their upper thermal tolerance, but occasionally, higher than their preferred body temperature range. Lizards are restricted from staying in the open habitat for 75% of daylight hours and are forced to seek refuge under shrubs or burrows to avoid surpassing their upper thermal threshold. After applying climatic projections of 1 and 2˚C increases to 2018 ambient temperatures, G. sila will lose additional hours of activity time that could compound stressors faced by this population, potentially leading to extirpation. Finally, temperature-based activity estimation (TBAE) is an automated method for predicting surface activity and microhabitat use based on the temperature of an organism and its habitat. In an attempt to lessen impacts on sensitive species and costs, we assessed continuously logged field active body temperatures as a tool to predict the surface activity and microhabitat use of an endangered lizard (Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard, Gambelia sila). We found that TBAE accurately predicts whether a lizard is above or below ground 75.7% of the time when calculated using air temperature, and 60.5% of the time when calculated using biophysical models. While surface activity was correctly predicted about 93% of the time using either method, accuracy in predicting below ground (burrow) occupancy was 62% for air temperature and 51% for biophysical models. Using biophysical model data, TBAE accurately predicts microhabitat use in 79% of observations in which lizards are in the sun, 47% in the shade, and 51% in burrows. Heliotherms bask in the sun, and thus body temperatures can shift rapidly when the animal moves to a new microhabitat. This sensitivity, makes TBAE a promising means of remotely monitoring animal activity, particularly for specific variables like emergence time and surface activity

El bilingüismo literario y la verosimilitud.

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Individual Differences in Emotional Response to Music

Although emotional experiences with music have been enjoyed for millennia, research involving music has focused primarily on emotions perceived rather than felt, and not much research exists into differential emotional response to music as a function of individual differences. A recent study (Djikic, 2011) looked at the effect of music on personality, but it did not assess emotional state before or after listening. In an extension of that study, the present research explores how changes in emotion may be related to self-reported personality. Relationships between extraversion and neuroticism, emotional state before and after music listening, and liking the stimulus were examined. It was hypothesized that in predicting final emotional state, an interaction was expected between initial emotional state and liking the stimulus; personality was expected to moderate the relationship between liking the stimulus and its type; and greater change in affect would be found in music than in control conditions. A one-factor between-subjects experiment was conducted in which participants listened to one of four randomly-assigned sound conditions: choral music likely to be perceived as happy, instrumental music likely to be perceived as sad, Brownian noise, or a classroom lecture. Sixty students from a university located in the southeastern United States participated individually in a laboratory setting. Repeated measures assessed affect, extraversion and neuroticism, both before and after listening. Liking the stimulus was found to interact with initial negative affect in predicting negative affect after listening, but no similar interaction was found for positive affect. Highest levels of neuroticism were associated with liking the stimulus likely to be perceived as sad. Significantly greater reduction in negative affect was found in music conditions than control conditions. This study also found partial support for a surprising difference in neuroticism, which changed after exposure to all conditions except the Brownian noise control condition. These findings underscore the importance of individual differences in emotional response to music and the need to take them into account

Lenguaje y lucha social en «El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo», de José Maria Arguedas.

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Rotational dynamics of a superhelix towed in a Stokes fluid

Motivated by the intriguing motility of spirochetes (helically-shaped bacteria that screw through viscous fluids due to the action of internal periplasmic flagella), we examine the fundamental fluid dynamics of superhelices translating and rotating in a Stokes fluid. A superhelical structure may be thought of as a helix whose axial centerline is not straight, but also a helix. We examine the particular case where these two superimposed helices have different handedness, and employ a combination of experimental, analytic, and computational methods to determine the rotational velocity of superhelical bodies being towed through a very viscous fluid. We find that the direction and rate of the rotation of the body is a result of competition between the two superimposed helices; for small axial helix amplitude, the body dynamics is controlled by the short-pitched helix, while there is a cross-over at larger amplitude to control by the axial helix. We find far better, and excellent, agreement of our experimental results with numerical computations based upon the method of Regularized Stokeslets than upon the predictions of classical resistive force theory

Evolución y supervivencia del indigenismo (notas en torno a "Por qué se fueron las garzas)

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