[Insight-developers] FDA and Source Code in the Public Domain

[Luis Ibanez]

http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CDRH/CDRHTransparency/ucm228613.htm

CDRH’s Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories (OSEL) – Source
Code Sharing

"Source code developed by government employees is by definition
"public domain", and therefore should be free, open, and easily
available to all. To accomplish this goal, CDRH advocates that
developers publish and maintain source codes in web-accessible
software repositories. To promote the visibility and transparency of
CDRH's computational research, developers are also encouraged to
"release early and often" in accordance with open source software
development philosophy. This approach creates a tight feedback loop
between developers and testers or users, which results in higher
quality software being developed more readily."


There are currently two CDRH computational research projects where the
source code is available through external software repositories. They
are:

TheraPy12
http://matforge.org/redmine/projects/therapy/wiki

A collection of Python scripts developed to model the evolution of
chemical and physical inhomogeneities, i.e. microstructure, in
drug-polymer composites used as controlled drug release coatings. This
set of tools can reduce empiricism in materials selection and process
design, providing a facile and efficient means to tailor the
underlying microstructure and achieve a desired drug release behavior.


MC-GPU34
http://code.google.com/p/mcgpu/

X-ray imaging system simulation code implementing an accurate Monte
Carlo x-ray transport algorithm that can be efficiently executed in a
state-of-the-art Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). MC-GPU generates
clinically-realistic projection or tomographic images of the human
anatomy that can be used in the assessment and optimization of imaging
systems, as shown in Medical Physics 36, p. 4878-4880 (2009).

________________________________

"Disclaimer: This software and documentation (the "Software") were
developed at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by employees of
the Federal Government in the course of their official duties.
Pursuant to Title 17, Section 105 of the United States Code, this work
is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of the Software, to deal in the Software without restriction,
including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge,
publish, distribute, sublicense, or sell copies of the Software or
derivatives, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished
to do so. FDA assumes no responsibility whatsoever for use by other
parties of the Software, its source code, documentation or compiled
executables, and makes no guarantees, expressed or implied, about its
quality, reliability, or any other characteristic. Further, use of
this code in no way implies endorsement by the FDA or confers any
advantage in regulatory decisions. Although this software can be
redistributed and/or modified freely, we ask that any derivative works
bear some notice that they are derived from it, and any modified
versions bear some notice that they have been modified."


http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CDRH/CDRHTransparency/ucm228613.htm