Patenting and licensing by Spanish firms: Available survey evidence

This paper presents the results of the OEPM (Spanish Patent and Trademark Office)/OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) survey on the economic and financial uses of patents carried out in 2008 among Spanish business applicants of OEPM patents. It also summarizes evidence from previous surveys. All available information indicates that only a few Spanish firms holding patents license them out. Results from the OEPM/OECD survey also reveal that obtaining public support is the first financial use of patents for Spanish firms. Responses to the same OECD questionnaire by EPO patent applicants from several European countries are quite different: licensing out is an extended practice among EPO patent holders from different countries, including Spain, and convincing venture capitalists and private investors are their two most important financial uses of patents. In our view this suggests that there are significant differences across European countries as regards the development of national technology markets and results from international surveys are driven by responses from the largest and more developed countries. The drivers and actors in markets for patents that only protect inventions nationally may be quite distinct from those in markets for patents that protect inventions regionally, such as EPO patents within Europe.     

Multi-source energy systems analysis using a multi-criteria decision aid methodology

In this article, an original multi-criteria approach is applied to multi-source systems used for the design and the choice of the optimal alternative. The high number of alternatives and potential solutions when dealing with multi-source systems require a decision support method to be implemented and easy to use. Information data on the economic variables, energy performance and impact on the environment of the systems are presently data which analysis and quantification is difficult. To deal with this high level of complexity and uncertainty, an evaluation approach is needed. The multi-criteria decision support methodology concept is described (ELECTRE III) and then applied for a case study. The decision support algorithm has its bases on the developed models and makes the outranking of possible solutions. It is also shown that multi-criteria analysis can provide a technical–scientific decision-making support that is capable to justify the clearly rank of the alternatives in the renewable energy sector. The use of multi-criteria decision aid for assessing the multi-source systems showed encouraging results and interesting insights.     

An Interpretation Model For The UV-VIS Spectra Of Microorganisms

Multiwavelength UV-vis spectra of microorganisms and cell suspensions contain quantitative information on their properties such as number, size, shape, chemical composition, and internal structure. These properties are essential for the identification and classification of cells. The complexity of microorganisms in terms of their chemical composition and internal structure makes the interpretation of their spectral signature a difficult task. In this article a model is proposed for the interpretation of the multiwavelength spectra of microorganisms. The proposed interpretation model is based on light scattering theory, spectral deconvolution techniques, and the approximation of the frequency-dependent optical properties of the basic constituents of living organisms. The optical properties as functions of wavelength and available literature data on the size and chemical composition of E. coli cells and Bacillus globigii spores were used to explore the sensitivity of the calculated spectra to the model parameters. It is shown that the proposed model can reproduce the features of experimentally measured spectra. The sensitivity of the spectra to the model parameters suggests that the proposed model can be used for the quantitative deconvolution of the UV-vis spectra in terms of critical information necessary for the detection and identification of microorganisms.     

Social context and perceived effects of drugs on sexual behavior among individuals who use both heroin and cocaine.

Researchers have identified the association between the use of cocaine and sexual behavior as an important risk factor for HIV infection and have attempted to elucidate the nature of this association. Several lines of research have suggested that facilitation of sexual behavior during intoxication with cocaine may be because of the direct pharmacological effects of the drug (e.g., increase in sexual desire), whereas others have pointed to the importance of factors related to the context of drug use (e.g., opportunities for sexual behavior, expectations about the effects of the drug, social norms). The present study explored the perceived effects of cocaine and heroin on sexual behavior, as well as the social context of drug use as a function of drug type (cocaine vs. heroin), among 46 inner-city drug users who reported a history of regular use of both crack cocaine and heroin. Results indicated that compared to heroin, cocaine had deleterious effects on participants' perceived sexual desire and performance. Despite such deleterious effects on sexual behavior, cocaine was more frequently used with an intimate partner than heroin. Furthermore, participants did not differ in the extent to which they used the two drugs in other social contexts (e.g., with friends, family, or neighbors). These preliminary results suggest that the relationship between cocaine and sexual behavior, especially among long-term cocaine users, may be facilitated by opportunities for sex that exist in the context of cocaine use, rather than by the pharmacological effects of the drug. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associations between management practices and within-pen prevalence of calf diarrhea and respiratory disease on dairy farms using automated milk feeders

Data on management practices used with automated milk feeders (AMF) are needed to identify factors associated with calf health in these systems. The objectives of this observational, longitudinal, cross-sectional study were to estimate the prevalence of calf diarrhea (CD) and bovine respiratory disease (BRD), and to identify factors associated with prevalence of these diseases at the pen level on dairy farms feeding milk to group-housed calves with AMF. Seventeen dairy farms with AMF in Ontario, Canada, were visited 4 times, seasonally, over 1 yr. The clinical health of all calves (n = 1,488) in pens (n = 35) with AMF was scored to identify the number of calves with CD and BRD. Data on calf, feeder, and pen management practices were analyzed using generalized linear mixed regression models for each disease. Overall calf-level prevalence of CD and BRD were 23 and 17%, respectively. Median (interquartile range, IQR) within-pen prevalence of CD and BRD were 17% (7 to 37%) and 11% (0 to 28%), respectively. Median age (IQR) for diarrheic calves was 25 d (16 to 42 d), and for calves with BRD was 43 d (29 to 60 d). Factors associated with lower within-pen prevalence of CD were the administration of vitamin E and selenium at birth [odds ratio (OR) = 0.56; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.32 to 0.99], feeding of probiotics (OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.93), and adding fresh bedding every 2 to 3 d (OR = 0.43; 95% CI: 0.24 to 0.76) compared with every 7 or more days. In contrast, sharing air with older cattle (>9 mo old) was associated with increased within-pen prevalence of CD (OR = 4.54, 95% CI: 1.88 to 10.52). Additionally, total bacteria counts ≥100,000 cfu/mL in milk samples taken from the AMF mixing jar were associated with increased within-pen prevalence of CD during the summer visit (OR = 3.34; 95% CI: 1.31 to 8.54). Increased total solids in milk or milk replacer (OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.27 to 0.85) and feeding whole milk versus milk replacer (OR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.75) were associated with lower within-pen prevalence of BRD. Factors associated with greater within-pen prevalence of BRD were sharing air with weaned cattle up to 8 mo old (OR = 3.21, 95% CI: 1.26 to 8.16), and greater depth of the wet bedding pack. The use of maternity pens for reasons other than just calving was associated with increased prevalence of both CD and BRD (OR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.03 to 3.33; OR = 2.61, 95% CI: 1.21 to 5.58, respectively). These results suggest that isolation from older animals and frequent cleaning of the feeder and pen may help to reduce disease prevalence in group-housed calves fed with an AMF.     

A unified approach to modelling the performance of concurrent systems

Quantitative design is crucial to ICT and it is therefore important to integrate performance modelling techniques into support environments that facilitate the correct construction of computer systems. We consider Performance Modelling Interchange Formats (PMIFs), which allow models to be specified in a uniform way and ported to a number of tools that solve them. We focus on extending the class of models describable in a PMIF that can be solved analytically – specifically, yielding a product-form solution for their equilibrium state probabilities. We use an extension of an established theorem, called the ‘reversed compound agent theorem’ (RCAT) as the basis of the analytical modelling tool into which the extended PMIF feeds models. We describe the RCAT methodology in practical terms, how it is integrated into an extended PMIF, and illustrate our methodology with three examples.     

Does place of publication influence citation behavior?

Two separate studies have looked at the question of whether or not the sources cited by scientists when they publish in their own national journals differ somewhat from the sources they cite when they publish outside their own country. Data derived from studies of Philippine scientists and Korean mathematicians do suggest that place of publication may exert some influence on citation behavior. In particular, a scientist is more likely to cite national sources when publishing in a national journal than when publishing internationally.     

Identifying author–inventors from Spain: methods and a first insight into results

The purpose of this paper is twofold: methodological and empirical. Methodologically, we describe a matching and disambiguation procedure for the identification of author–inventors (researchers who publish and patent) located in the same country. Our methodology aims to maximize precision and recall rates by taking into account national name writing customs and country-specific dictionaries for person and institution names (academic and non-academic) in the name matching stage and by including a recursive validation step in the person disambiguation stage. An application of this methodology to the identification of Spanish author–inventors is described in detail. Empirically, we present the first results of applying the described methodology to the matching of all SCOPUS 2003–2008 publications of Spanish authors to all 1978–2009 EPO applications with Spanish inventors. Using this data, we identify 4,194 Spanish author–inventors. A first look at their patenting and publication patterns reveals that they make quite a significant contribution to the country’s overall scientific and technological production in the time period considered: 27 % of all EPO patent applications invented in Spain and 15 % of all SCOPUS publications authored in Spain, excluding non-technological disciplines. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a large scale identification of author–inventors from Spain has been done, with no limitation in terms of fields, regions or types of institutions. We also make available online for scientific use an anonymized subset of the database (patent applications invented by authors affiliated to Spanish public universities).