September 5, 2006 – Brian.Carnell.Com

Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (Introduced in Senate)

Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 (Introduced in Senate)

S 2695 IS

109th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 2695

<ttitle>To provide for Federal agencies to develop public access policies relating to research conducted by employees of that agency or from funds administered by that agency.</ttitle>

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

May 2, 2006

Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Mr. LIEBERMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

A BILL

<btitle>To provide for Federal agencies to develop public access policies relating to research conducted by employees of that agency or from funds administered by that agency.</btitle>

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006′.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds that–

(1) the Federal Government funds basic and applied research with the expectation that new ideas and discoveries that result from the research, if shared and effectively disseminated, will advance science and improve the lives and welfare of people of the United States and around the world; and

(2) the Internet makes it possible for this information to be promptly available to every scientist, physician, educator, and citizen at home, in school, or in a library.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION.

In this Act the term `Federal agency’ means an Executive agency defined under section 105 of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 4. FEDERAL RESEARCH PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY.

(a) In General- Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, each Federal agency with extramural research expenditures of over $100,000,000 shall develop a Federal research public access policy that is consistent with and advances purposes of the Federal agency.

(b) Content- Each Federal research public access policy shall provide for–

(1) submission to the Federal agency of an electronic version of the author’s final manuscript of original research papers that have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals and result from research supported, in whole or in part, from funding by the Federal Government;

(2) the incorporation of all changes resulting from the peer review publication process in the manuscript described under paragraph (1);

(3) the replacement of the final manuscript with the final published version if–

(A) the publisher consents to the replacement; and

(B) the goals of the Federal agency for functionality and interoperability are retained;

(4) free online public access to such final peer-reviewed manuscripts or published versions as soon as practicable, but not later than 6 months after publication in peer-reviewed journals;

(5) production of an online bibliography of all research papers that are publicly accessible under the policy, with each entry linking to the corresponding free online full text; and

(6) long-term preservation of, and free public access to, published research findings–

(A) in a stable digital repository maintained by the Federal agency; or

(B) if consistent with the purposes of the Federal agency, in any repository meeting conditions determined favorable by the Federal agency, including free public access, interoperability, and long-term preservation.

(1) apply to–

(A) researchers employed by the Federal agency whose works remain in the public domain; and

(B) researchers funded by the Federal agency;

(2) provide that works described under paragraph (1)(A) shall be–

(A) marked as being public domain material when published; and

(B) made immediately available under subsection (b)(4); and

(3) make effective use of any law or guidance relating to the creation and reservation of a Government license that provides for the reproduction, publication, release, or other uses of a final manuscript for Federal purposes.

(d) Exclusions- Each Federal research public access policy shall not apply to–

(1) laboratory notes, preliminary data analyses, notes of the author, phone logs, or other information used to produce final manuscripts;

(2) classified research, research resulting in works that generate revenue or royalties for authors (such as books) or patentable discoveries, to the extent necessary to protect a copyright or patent; or

(3) authors who do not submit their work to a journal or works that are rejected by journals.

(e) Patent or Copyright Law- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect any right under the provisions of title 17 or 35, United States Code.

(f) Report-

(1) IN GENERAL- Not later than October 1, of each year, the head of each Federal agency shall submit a report on the Federal research public access policy of that agency to–

(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate;

(B) the Committee on Government Reform of the House of Representatives; and

(2) CONTENT- Each report under this subsection shall include–

(A) a statement of the effectiveness of the Federal research public access policy in providing the public with free online access to papers on research funded by the Federal agency;

(B) a list of papers published in peer-reviewed journals that report on research funded by the Federal agency;

(C) a corresponding list of papers made available by the Federal agency as a result of the Federal research public access policy; and

(D) a summary of the periods of time between public availability of each paper in a journal and in the online repository of the Federal agency.

(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY- The Federal agency shall make the statement under paragraph (2)(A) and the lists of papers under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (2) available to the public by posting such statement and lists on the website of the Federal agency.

Datajunkie

Datajunkie is an excellent source for radio shows from the 1940s and 1950s, as well as for all thing pulp-related.

Enzymes and Quantum Tunneling

In April, Seed Magazine published a fascinating article about a group of researchers who discovered a bit more about how enzymes use quantum tunneling to speed up chemical reactions.

Researcher David Leys told Seed,

Our present understanding of the physical basis of enzyme catalysis is still unable to explain the many orders of magnitude by which a reaction is “speeded up” by enzymes, nor why attempts to create artificial enzymes have so far been disappointing. Our work reveals that not only active site structure, but also motions are an essential part of the enzyme’s repertoire.

Apparently, it had been previously believed that the enzyme used a more long-range motion to perform the quantum tunneling, but the new research found that instead the enzymes used very subtle, shorter-range actions to perform the quantum tunneling.

According to Seed,

This new discovery, announced in the April 14 issue of Science could have serious implications for medicine, as it may allow scientists to develop drugs that can target or mimic enzymes.

Source:

Researchers explain how enzymes use quantum tunneling to speed up reactions. Maggie Wittlin, Seed, April 18, 2006.

A Mike Warnke Halloween

I had to laugh a bit when I was surfing the web and came across audioblog Scar Stuff hosting Mike Warnke’s 1979 spoken world album, A Christian Perspective on Halloween.

In the 1973, Warnke co-authored a book called The Satan Seller in which he claimed that he had been a “high priest” in a satanic cult. Warnke followed that up with a number of spoken-word albums, typically recordings made from numerous live appearances that he made touring the country talking about his Satanic past and his conversion to Christianity.

In a very odd coincidence, I saw Mike Warnke perform at a 5,000 seat theater sometime in the early 1980s. At the time I was 16 or 17 and was attending a local church (I was still an atheist, but this chick I was trying to have sex with wasn’t, so . . .) I went to the show as part of some youth group affiliated with the church.

What I remember was that Warnke was very theatrical. He wasn’t good enough to be a professional actor or anything (though technically, I guess, he was), but good enough to probably scare your pants off with scary stories around a campfire.

He went on at length about all of the satantic rites that he had supposedly participated in. As he got more and more into his onstage personae, he got more and more graphic with the horrors that he had supposedly participated in. I didn’t find him at all believable, but clearly quite a few in the audience did — Warnke was, by all accounts, making quite a living off of the selling of his Satanic anecdotes.

The event was actually free (required ticket, but still free), and at the end of the event he had people pass buckets for donations.

It was a very very odd act.

What was odder still was that it wasn’t until 1992 that Cornerstone essentially ended Warnke’s career with its long expose, Selling Satan: The Tragic History of Mike Warnke. Warnke was a liar, of course, and since he had gotten away with his lies for almost two decades, he apparently didn’t even feel the need to bother with even the most tenuous link to reality. So Cornerstone was able to show very obvious lies.

For example, Warnke had claimed that Charles Manson was part of his cult at one point, but at a time when Manson was incarcerated. Cornerstone also interviewed more than 100 friends, relatives and acquaintances of Warnke’s who disputed key points of his accounts of his life while he was supposedly wrapped up in Satanic cults.

The Cornerstone article was devastating, putting an end to Warnke Ministries which closed just a few months after publication of the article. According to Wikipedia,

Warnke largely disappeared from the public scene. He suffered a heart attack in 1997, and in 2000 was attempting a comeback, limited to small churches around the Kentucky area. In 2002, he published Friendly Fire: A Recovery Guide for Believers Battered by Religion (ISBN 0-7684-2124-1), an unapologetic account of what he perceived as his unfair treatment by fellow Christians in the wake of the Cornerstone exposÃ©.

The Amazon.Com product page for Friendly Fire is revealing in how Warnke apparently describes himself today,

A comic by nature and an evangelist by calling, Mike Warnke reigned for 20 years in the 1970s and 80s as the #1 Christian comedian in America, appearing before sellout crowds all across the country.

Warnke, who did release a few Christian comedy albums in the 1970s, apparently forgot to tell the audiences who fell for his Satanic spiel that the joke was on them.