Beta-Testing the “Particular Machine”: The Machine-or-Transformation Test in Peril and Its Impact on Cloud Computing

This Issue Brief examines recent cases addressing the patent eligibility of computer-implemented method claims and their implications for the development of cloud computing technologies. Despite the Supreme Court’s refusal to endorse the machine-or-transformation test as the exclusive patent eligibility inquiry, lower courts have continued to invalidate method claims using a stringent “particular machine” requirement alongside the requisite abstract ideas analysis. This Issue Brief argues that 1) post-Bilski v. Kappos cases have failed to elucidate what constitutes a particular machine for computer-implemented methods; 2) in light of substantial variance among Federal Circuit judges’ Section 101 jurisprudence, the application of the particular machine requirement has become subject to a high degree of panel-dependency, such that its relevance for analyzing software method claims has come under question; 3) notwithstanding the unease expressed by practitioners and scholars for the future of cloud computing patents, the courts’ hardening stance toward computer-implemented method claims will do little to deter patenting in the cloud computing context. Instead, clouds delivering platform and software services will remain capable of satisfying the particular machine requirement and supporting patent eligibility, especially given the possible dilution of the particular machine requirement itself

Mining for Meaning in Michigan's Data Book

Describes one principal's leadership in utilizing student data -- not only on current test scores but also longitudinal trends -- to identify problems early, devise instructional strategies to address them, and meet school improvement goals

Boundary detection in disease mapping studies

In disease mapping, the aim is to estimate the spatial pattern in disease risk over an extended geographical region, so that areas with elevated risks can be identified. A Bayesian hierarchical approach is typically used to produce such maps, which models the risk surface with a set of spatially smooth random effects. However, in complex urban settings there are likely to be boundaries in the risk surface, which separate populations that are geographically adjacent but have very different risk profiles. Therefore this paper proposes an approach for detecting such risk boundaries, and tests its effectiveness by simulation. Finally, the model is applied to lung cancer incidence data in Greater Glasgow, Scotland, between 2001 and 2005

Analysing Cultural Impacts of Compouter-Mediated Communication in Organisations

In our research in progress, we study how CMC affects culture in office life. By culture we mean here our way of life in general and thus our way of working in work places. We will investigate impacts of CMC on the way we work in offices. In the next section we will explain the meaning of culture used in this research in detail and present evaluation framing (Stamper, 1988) as a conceptual framework

Current Medical Research: Summer/Fall 2017

This issue of Current Medical Research (CMR) includes studies that provide evidence that use of natural family planning (NFP) can be helpful for subfertile couples wishing to achieve a pregnancy, the effectiveness of a method of NFP during breastfeeding, and the effects of using NFP on marital relationships. This review also includes evidence on predicting the sex of a baby by timing intercourse, evidence that brain injuries can be reflected in changes in the menstrual cycle, and that women prefer methods of family planning that have no side effects. The issue ends with an in-depth review of new technologies that aid in the use of NFP. Topics covered include subfertile couples, breastfeeding, marriage, predicting the sex of a baby, brain injuries, and new technologies

A Lens-Calibrated Active Marker Metrology System

This paper presents a prototypical marker tracking system, MT, which is capable of recording multiple mobile robot trajectories in parallel for offline analysis. The system is also capable of providing trajectory data in realtime to agents (such as robots in an arena) and implements several multi-agent operators to simplify agent-based perception. The latter characteristic provides an ability to minimise the normally expensive process of implementing agent-centric perceptual mechanisms and provides a means for multiagent "global knowledge" (Parker 1993)

Leadership and Learning: A Hechinger Institute Primer for Journalists

Outlines the role of leaders in improving schools and the issues they face, as a guide for education reporters. Includes examples of questions to ask, excerpts from articles, findings from Wallace Foundation studies, statistics, and a list of resources

Dynamic Organizations: Achieving Marketplace and Organizational Agility with People

Driven by dynamic competitive conditions, an increasing number of firms are experimenting with new, and what they hope will be, more dynamic organizational forms. This development has opened up exciting theoretical and empirical venues for students of leadership, business strategy, organizational theory, and the like. One domain that has yet to catch the wave, however, is strategic human resource management (SHRM). In an effort to catch up, we here draw on the dynamic organization (DO) and human resource strategy (HRS) literatures to delineate both a process for uncovering and the key features of a carefully crafted HRS for DOs. The logic is as follows. DOs compete through marketplace agility. Marketplace agility requires that employees at all levels engage in proactive, adaptive, and generative behaviors, bolstered by a supportive mindset. Under the right conditions, the essential mindset and behaviors, although highly dynamic, are fostered by a HRS centered on a relatively small number of dialectical, yet paradoxically stable, guiding principles and anchored in a supportive organizational infrastructure. This line of reasoning, however, rests on a rather modest empirical base and, thus, is offered less as a definitive statement than as a spur for much needed additional research

Basal Body Temperature Assessment: Is It Useful to Couples Seeking Pregnancy?

Advanced practice nurses in primary care settings are often asked to give appropriate advice to couples seeking pregnancy. This article examines the issue of basal body temperature (BBT), a time-honored way to establish the presence of ovulatory cycles, and asks if BBT is an outdated recommendation. The article also reviews the benefits and limitations of recommending BBT to couples seeking pregnancy in light of recent fecundity research