Machine-or-transformation test

In United States patent law, the machine-or-transformation test is a test of patent eligibility under which a claim to a process qualifies for consideration if it (1) is implemented by a particular machine in a non-conventional and non-trivial manner or (2) transforms an article from one state to another.

The test was first articulated under its present form in the government's brief in Gottschalk v. Benson, In its reply brief on the merits in that case, the government said that “we submit that the cases follow such a rule––implicitly or explicitly––and that they cannot be rationalized otherwise.”. The court declined to adopt the proposed rule as categorical and as an exclusive test. It opined that future cases might present fact patterns calling for a different rule from that applicable to past cases, and therefore the machine-or-transformation test was just a "clue" to eligibility for a patent.

The test has been recently articulated in Bilski, but dates back to the nineteenth century. The test is articulated also in the patent-eligibility trilogy—Gottschalk v. Benson,Parker v. Flook, and Diamond v. Diehr. In the wake of the Supreme Court's opinion in Bilski v. Kappos, rejecting machine-or-transformation as the sole test of patent eligibility, and confirming that it is only a "useful clue," it is now clear that this test is only a way to measure whether the patent claim in issue preempts substantially all applications of the underlying idea or principle on which a patent is based—such preemption being a far more basic and general test of patent eligibility or ineligibility.

Alex Skolnick Trio

The Alex Skolnick Trio is an American jazz music trio comprising the guitarist Alex Skolnick, Matt Zebroski on drums, and Nathan Peck on bass. Previously, John Davis played bass for the group. The Trio is known for its inventive jazz take on hard rock and heavy metal "standards". Alex Skolnick himself is a member of thrash metal band Testament.

Lineup

Current members

Past members

Discography

Goodbye to Romance: Standards for a New Generation

Goodbye to Romance: Standards for a New Generation is the debut album by the Alex Skolnick Trio, released on September 14, 2002.

Transformation (genetics)

In molecular biology, transformation is the genetic alteration of a cell resulting from the direct uptake and incorporation of exogenous genetic material (exogenous DNA) from its surroundings through the cell membrane(s). Transformation occurs naturally in some species of bacteria, but it can also be effected by artificial means in other cells. For transformation to happen, bacteria must be in a state of competence, which might occur as a time-limited response to environmental conditions such as starvation and cell density.

Transformation is one of three processes by which exogenous genetic material may be introduced into a bacterial cell, the other two being conjugation (transfer of genetic material between two bacterial cells in direct contact) and transduction (injection of foreign DNA by a bacteriophage virus into the host bacterium).

"Transformation" may also be used to describe the insertion of new genetic material into nonbacterial cells, including animal and plant cells; however, because "transformation" has a special meaning in relation to animal cells, indicating progression to a cancerous state, the term should be avoided for animal cells when describing introduction of exogenous genetic material. Introduction of foreign DNA into eukaryotic cells is often called "transfection".

Saudia Flight 163

Saudia Flight 163 was a scheduled passenger flight of Saudia that caught fire after takeoff from Riyadh International Airport (now the Riyadh Air Base) on a flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, 19 August 1980. All 287 passengers and 14 crew on board the Lockheed L-1011-200 TriStar, registration HZ-AHK, died after the aircraft made an emergency landing back at the Riyadh airport.

At the time, the accident was the second deadliest single aircraft disaster in history, after Turkish Airlines Flight 981. It's the sixth deadliest aircraft disaster overall, after the Tenerife airport disaster, Japan Airlines Flight 123, the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, Turkish Airlines Flight 981, and Air India Flight 182. It was also the highest death toll of any aviation accident in Saudi Arabia and the highest death toll of any accident involving a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar anywhere in the world. It is also the deadliest aviation disaster that did not involve a crash on impact or mid-flight break up.

Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision

The Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision occurred on 12 November 1996 over the village of Charkhi Dadri, to the west of New Delhi, India. The aircraft involved were a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747-100B en route from Delhi to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 en route from Chimkent, Kazakhstan, to Delhi. The crash killed all 349 people on board both planes, making it the world's deadliest mid-air collision, the deadliest aviation accident to occur in India, and the third-deadliest aircraft accident in the history of aviation, behind only the Tenerife airport disaster and Japan Airlines Flight 123.

Collision

The Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) Boeing 747-168B, registration HZ-AIH, was due to operate the first leg of a scheduled international Delhi–Dhahran–Jeddah passenger service as Flight 763 (SVA763) with 312 occupants on board; the Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76TD, registration UN-76435, was on a charter service from Chimkent to Delhi as KZA1907. SVA763 departed Delhi at 18:32 local time. KZA1907 was, at the same time, descending to land at Delhi. Both flights were controlled by approach controller VK Dutta. The crew of SVA763 consisted of Captain Khalid Al Shubaily, First Officer Nazir Khan, and Flight Engineer Edris. On KZA1907, Gennadi Cherepanov served as the pilot and Egor Repp served as the radio operator.