Does India need to harmonize the law of patent exhaustion and parallel imports?

The amendment of patent law of India in 2005 to fulfill her international obligation under the TRIPS Agreement (World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) was an outcome of an attempt to balance the competing interests of several stakeholders, including indigenous pharmaceutical companies, multi-national pharmaceutical companies, non-governmental organizations and civil society groups concerned with access to affordable drugs. The adverse consequence of this delicate balancing is introduction of some provisions in the Act whose compatibility with the TRIPS Agreement is questionable, and which therefore are prone to litigations. Section 107A(b) of the amended patent law dealing with parallel imports is one such provision, which, if interpreted word for word could have significant connotations for the rights of a patent owner. This article aims to examine the inconsistencies intrinsic in Section 107A(b) and discusses the divergences in the Indian patent law associated with the doctrine of exhaustion and parallel imports. This article also proposes legal amendments with a view to eliminate inconsistencies intrinsic in the section and enlarge the ambit of the exhaustion principle conceptualized therein, while concurrently remaining compliant with the TRIPS Agreement.     

蒙山景区生态旅游与可持续发展初探

本文从景观设计的角度,阐述了蒙山风景名胜区生态旅游的发展,分析了蒙山风景名胜区发展生态旅游的有利条件和存在的问题,并在此基础上提出生态旅游可持续发展的对策与建议。     

嵌入式软件中一种修正QoS值的构件选择方法

CBSD(Component-Based Software Development)已经成为嵌入式软件开发的主流技术。在嵌入式环境下,有大量功能相似的构件,在开发过程中基于QoS的构件选择已成为研究热点。然而这些构件的QoS声明与提供者给出的往往并不一致。为此,提出一种基于修正QoS值的构件选择方法,该方法将QoS信任度作为权重,修正QoS值,再结合模糊逻辑,推理出该构件的综合服务能力。通过嵌入式VOD仿真实验,验证了算法的有效性,保证了构件选择的客观性和准确性。     

Usability evaluation methods for the web: A systematic mapping study

Context

In recent years, many usability evaluation methods (UEMs) have been employed to evaluate Web applications. However, many of these applications still do not meet most customers’ usability expectations and many companies have folded as a result of not considering Web usability issues. No studies currently exist with regard to either the use of usability evaluation methods for the Web or the benefits they bring.

Objective

The objective of this paper is to summarize the current knowledge that is available as regards the usability evaluation methods (UEMs) that have been employed to evaluate Web applications over the last 14 years.

Method

A systematic mapping study was performed to assess the UEMs that have been used by researchers to evaluate Web applications and their relation to the Web development process. Systematic mapping studies are useful for categorizing and summarizing the existing information concerning a research question in an unbiased manner.

Results

The results show that around 39% of the papers reviewed reported the use of evaluation methods that had been specifically crafted for the Web. The results also show that the type of method most widely used was that of User Testing. The results identify several research gaps, such as the fact that around 90% of the studies applied evaluations during the implementation phase of the Web application development, which is the most costly phase in which to perform changes. A list of the UEMs that were found is also provided in order to guide novice usability practitioners.

Conclusions

From an initial set of 2703 papers, a total of 206 research papers were selected for the mapping study. The results obtained allowed us to reach conclusions concerning the state-of-the-art of UEMs for evaluating Web applications. This allowed us to identify several research gaps, which subsequently provided us with a framework in which new research activities can be more appropriately positioned, and from which useful information for novice usability practitioners can be extracted.     

Re-engineering of the design process for concurrent engineering

According to the requirements of concurrent engineering, three interdependency relationships (uncoupled relationship, coupled relationship and decoupled relationship) between design activities are presented in this paper. And the coupled relationship plays an important role in concurrent product design process. To represent the precedence relationships among design activities, a directed graph is used to describe the design process. And the interdependency relationship between activities is illustrated by a Design Structure Matrix which is the transpose of the accessibility matrix of the corresponding graph. Using the DSM, an algorithm of recognizing the coupled activities during the design process is presented. Moreover, an algorithm to figure out the order levels of activities during the design process is proposed. And both algorithms are illustrated with a die design example.     

Research and Implementation of Task Management Model in Product Development Process Management

The implementation of product development process management (PDPM) is an effective means of developing products with higher quality in shorter lead time. It is argued in this paper that product, data, person and activity are basic factors in PDPM With detailed analysis of these basic factors and their relations in product developmed process, all product development activities are considered as tasks and the management of product development process is regarded as the management of task execution A task decomposition based product development model is proposed with methods of constructing task relation matrix from layer model and constraint model resulted from task decomposition. An algorithm for constructing directed task graph is given and is used in the management of tasks. Finally, the usage and limitation of the proposed PDPM model is given with further work proposed.     

浅析建筑三维动画技术

在建筑方案设计阶段和工程完成后,三维动画为筛选、优化设计方案、评估城市景观、协调工程与环境的关系,都创造了有利条件。主要介绍建三维动画的简介,制作过程,及得到的启示,最后介绍了建筑三维动画的优势和广阔发展前景。     

The impact of cultural differences in offshore outsourcing—Case study results from German–Indian application development projects

Offshore outsourcing to vendors in foreign countries causes unique challenges which need to be understood and managed effectively. This paper explores cultural differences in IS offshoring arrangements involving German client organizations that outsource application development activities to Indian vendors. For this purpose, a research framework is developed based on both theoretical considerations and specific empirical observations from multiple case studies. The goal is to (1) explore the nature of cultural differences in offshore outsourcing arrangements in depth and to (2) analyze the relationship between those cultural differences and offshore outsourcing success. Based on the case findings, implications and practices for the management of offshore development projects are outlined. The results indicate that cultural differences in terms of power distance, IS designer values, and an active versus passive working attitude critically affect several dimensions of relationship quality, thereby influencing offshore outsourcing success. A clear definition of roles and mechanisms, strong leadership, and an active management of culture by adapting to either the client’s or the vendor’s national culture appeared to be effective ways to manage cultural differences.

展望21世纪新技术革命中的传感器

在回顾了以往产业革命中传感器的作用 ,比较工程传感器与人的感官的异同点之后 ,阐述了预计将于 2 1世纪爆发的新产业革命中传感器的使命及发展趋势     

《化学反应工程》多媒体课件的开发及应用

本文介绍用VB语言开发《化学反应工程》多媒体课件的性能特点,讨论实现中的一些主要技术及课件的使用情况。