Breaking Bad Law: Meth Lab Investigations Highlight Alaska\u27s Current Approach to Privacy

The right to privacy explicitly provided by the Alaska Constitution has long been broadly interpreted—even protecting Alaskan citizens\u27 right to personal home use and possession of marijuana. Though this right to privacy has been interpreted many times over the last few decades, Alaska currently lacks a coherent approach to application of its privacy laws. As the prevalence of methamphetamine production increases in homes across Alaska, the Alaskan courts\u27 approach to privacy must be reevaluated in light of its delicate interaction with search and seizure policies surrounding methamphetamine labs

Detector absorptivity measuring method and apparatus

A method and apparatus for measuring the absorptivity of a radiation detector by making the detector an integral part of a cavity radiometer are described. By substituting the detector for the surface of the cavity upon which the radiation first impinges a comparison is made between the quantity of radiation incident upon the detector and the quantity reflected from the detector. The difference between the two is a measurement of the amount of radiation absorbed by the detector

A Little Common Sense is a Dangerous Thing: The Inherent Inconsistency Between KSR and Current Official Notice Policy

[Excerpt] “The question of whether an invention is an obvious variation of existing technology is one that has troubled courts for decades. From its roots in nineteenth century case law to the recent Supreme Court decision KSR v. Teleflex, Inc., the doctrine of obviousness has waxed and waned—moving through a variety of judicially-created tests to a current state that is still far from perspicuous. This paper will examine obviousness through a particular lens: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO,” “PTO”) tool known as “official notice”—the practice of declaring a patent application’s claims unpatentable as obvious based on undocumented reasoning, such as the common sense or common knowledge of a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the application pertains. After KSR, using unsubstantiated common sense-based rationales for rejecting patent claims is considered a completely valid practice. However, a line of obviousness cases, including one from the United States Supreme Court, stands for the polar opposite position—that declaring a patent invalid as obvious without underlying prior art support does not comport with the standards of the Administrative Procedure Act. Unfortunately, this contradiction leaves patent practitioners and the federal district courts to reconcile diametrically opposed holdings, especially when a case involves official notice. Part II of this paper will give a brief history of general obviousness jurisprudence up to the Supreme Court’s KSR decision in 2007. Next, Part III will introduce the reader to the obviousness inquiry through the eyes of a USPTO examiner by presenting a hypothetical patent application scenario and defining various terms of art. Part IV will introduce the concept of formal official notice at the USPTO, including an examination of the official agency guidelines for the practice, and will present a judicial history of official notice. Part V will return to KSR, presenting more recent Federal Circuit obviousness cases and introducing the problems that the current jurisprudence brings about. Finally, Part VI will conclude with potential solutions to the issue, arguing that the judiciary should hold the USPTO to task in providing evidence that an invention is in fact obvious.

TRADITIONAL USES OF INPUT-OUTPUT MODELS IN WATERSHED PROGRAMS PLANNED UNDER PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES

This paper outlines the traditional uses of input-output (I/O) modeling in watershed programs planned under federal "Principles and Guidelines." Generally, the national economic development costs and benefits are analyzed, and the I/O model is used to track on regional economic development impacts. These regional impact estimates have little impact in project selection, but provide a selling tool to develop local support for project funding and implementation.IMPLAN, Input-Output, watershed analysis, water quality, NRCS, conservation, regional analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

On the record: facing financial troubles in an era of globalization: a conversation with Nathan Sheets

Economist Nathan Sheets, director of the Federal Reserve Board's Division of International Finance, puts a global perspective on the current economic crisis and the Fed's response to it.Globalization ; Financial crises ; International finance

Two Professionally Led Choir Programs: Empowering People with Dementia and Their Care Partners

Educational Objectives Identify the benefits of participation in a community-based choir for persons with dementia (PwD) and their care partners. 1. Describe the work of the choirs to show the potential of living well with dementia. 2. Identify the ways in which the choirs address stigma and social isolation. 3. Highlight lessons learne

Altered Excitability and Local Connectivity of mPFC-PAG Neurons in a Mouse Model of Neuropathic Pain

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays a major role in both sensory and affective aspects of pain. There is extensive evidence that chronic pain produces functional changes within the mPFC. However, our understanding of local circuit changes to defined subpopulations of mPFC neurons in chronic pain models remains unclear. A major subpopulation of mPFC neurons project to the periaqueductal gray (PAG), which is a key midbrain structure involved in endogenous pain suppression and facilitation. Here, we used laser scanning photostimulation of caged glutamate to map cortical circuits of retrogradely labeled cortico-PAG (CP) neurons in layer 5 (L5) of mPFC in brain slices prepared from male mice having undergone chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. Whole-cell recordings revealed a significant reduction in excitability for L5 CP neurons contralateral to CCI in the prelimbic (PL), but not infralimbic (IL), region of mPFC. Circuit mapping showed that excitatory inputs to L5 CP neurons in both PL and IL arose primarily from layer 2/3 (L2/3) and were significantly reduced in CCI mice. Glutamate stimulation of L2/3 and L5 elicited inhibitory inputs to CP neurons in both PL and IL, but only L2/3 input was significantly reduced in CP neurons of CCI mice. We also observed significant reduction in excitability and L2/3 inhibitory input to CP neurons ipsilateral to CCI. These results demonstrating region and laminar specific changes to mPFC-PAG neurons suggest that a unilateral CCI bilaterally alters cortical circuits upstream of the endogenous analgesic network, which may contribute to persistence of chronic pain