Promulgating Requirements for Admission to Prosecute Patent Applications

Among federal agencies, the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office is unique in its ability to require attorneys to submit to special requirements, such as passing a six hour examination, before being permitted to practice before it in patent cases. Indeed, the Supreme Court has held that an individual so admitted to practice before the PTO need not comply with state requirements otherwise applicable to those practicing law. The first part of this article discusses how this requirement came to be. It then discusses how the PTO determines whether an individual is fit to sit for the patent examination, focusing particularly on provisions contained in a bulletin mailed by its Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) to all would-be patent practitioners. It also briefly discusses rule-making requirements (and exceptions) generally applicable to federal agencies and examines the nature of the aforesaid provisions intended to affect admission to prosecute patent applications. This article concludes that the detailed provisions sent to applicants, fitting none of the rule-making exceptions, should be promulgated in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. It also concludes that, in the meantime, those provisions should not be regarded as binding on applicants to practice before the PTO in patent cases. Finally, the article contains an appendix that should be of particular interest to persons involved with software patents

Stormwater Drainage Manual 2008

This manual is a comprehensive catalog of procedures, design methods and criteria, and general background information which will enable the designer to quickly learn or review the basic principles of storm drainage design. Subjects included are precipitation and hydrological cycle, runoff and its estimation, open channels, flow in gutters and inlets, stormwater storage, storm sewer system design, computer applications for computing watershed runoff, and water quality. Included in the appendices are basics of statistical analysis, fundamentals of hydraulics, and a list of regulatory agencies and governmental bodies which may have jurisdiction over drainage projects

Detecting Malingering on the MMPI-2: An Examination of the Utility of Combining the Validity Scales in a Non-Compensatory Model

The MMPI-2 is the most commonly used self-report measure for the assessment of psychopathology in forensic and psychiatric disability assessments (Bacchiochi & Bagby, 2006; Bagby, Marshall, & Bacchiochi, 2005). The MMPI-2 includes a variety of validity scales designed to detect content responsive faking (e.g., faking good or faking bad) as well as content nonresponsivity (randomly responding). The present study was conducted to determine whether a combination of validity scales to detect malingering of a psychotic disorder in a non-compensatory model would be more or less effective than using only a select few of the validity scales in a compensatory model. The results supported the use of the specified validity scales (F, Fb, Fp, F – K, and FBS) in a non-compensatory model to identify correctly whether test takers faked their profiles. The results also supported the use of a smaller subset of the validity scales (Fp, F – K, and FBS) in a non-compensatory model to identify correctly whether test takers faked their profiles. The results, limitations of the current study, and future research considerations are then discussed

AN ANALYSIS OF ALBERTA\u27S FIRST NATIONS, METIS, AND INUIT SCHOOL-COMMUNITY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT PROJECT

The First Nations, Métis, and Inuit School-Community Learning Environment Project was one of the programs through which the Aboriginal Branch of Alberta Education attempted to increase the academic success rate of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students. Sixteen school jurisdictions in Alberta were asked to choose one school within their district on which to focus the resources offered by the Project. These resources included a large amount of money and print materials prepared by the Aboriginal Branch. The schools were asked to consult with the school community and area residents, including elders, to prepare strategies they believed would fulfill the goals of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit School-Community Learning Environment Project. The first goal of the Project, and the one this quantitative study examines, was to increase the number of students who obtained the acceptable standard on the Provincial Achievement Tests. The Project was initiated in the 2003-2004 school year and ended in 2004-2005. This study compares the means of the numbers of students who obtained the acceptable standard on the Provincial Achievement Tests in the two years before the Project began, 2001-2002 and 2002-2003; two years during the Project, 2003-2004 and 2004-2005; and two years after the Project ended, 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. This study also compares the strategies each school used to achieve the goal of increasing the numbers of students attaining the acceptable standard on the Provincial Achievement Tests. In addition, 12 schools were purposefully quota sampled that were not part of the Project; the numbers of students who obtained the acceptable standard on the Provincial Achievement Tests in these schools were compared with the numbers of students who obtained the acceptable standard in schools that were part of the Project. Analysis of the results indicated that, generally speaking, the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit School-Community Learning Environment Project resulted in only nominal improvements in increasing the academic success of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students attending schools that took part in the Project

The transformation of the aluminum-zinc eutectoid alloy at subcritical temperatures

Interest in the mechanism of the austenite eutectoid transformation in iron-carbon alloys, especially as produced by the isothermal sub-critical techniques introduced by Davenport and Bain, has resulted in the application of similar heat treatment studies to the eutectoid transformations in other alloy systems. The study of the eutectoid transformation is of both fundamental and industrial interest because past experience has shown that these studies yielded much information concerning the nature and mechanism of the changes in eutectoid alloys during the decomposition of the phase stable at high temperatures and has also contributed much toward the development of new properties to be attained by heat treatment methods never before attempted. The desire of the author to know more about the exact nature of eutectoid transformations, in general, and to study, in particular, the transformation in a system which had heretofore been only partially investigated has led to choice of this research topic. Therefore, the object of this investigation is to attempt to determine the rate of transformation of the aluminum - zinc eutectoid alloy (79.0% zinc) at several subcritical temperatures. A number of more or less reliable methods have been used for the study of the rate of transformation of austenite at subcritical temperatures. The author began this research with the intention of utilizing the technique of Davenport and Bain in which the progress of transformation is followed by metallographic examination. However, the method was discarded as impractical because of the nature of the transformation. In this particular eutectoid alloy, the decomposition of the solid solution which is stable at high temperatures is manifested by the evolution of heat. The author has attempted to establish the onset and completion of transformation by measurement of this heat evolution against time and, from this data, to construct a Time-Temperature-Transformation curve for the alloy --Introduction, pages 1-2

From the Courthouse to the Chalkboard

Reviewing Michael J. Klarman, From the Closet to the Altar: Courts, Backlash, and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage (2012)