The Effect of Quadrature Errors in the Computation of L^2 Piecewise Polynomial Approximations

In this paper we investigate the L^2 piecewise polynomial approximation problem. L^2 bounds for the derivatives of the error in approximating sufficiently smooth functions by polynomial splines follow immediately from the analogous results for polynomial spline interpolation. We derive L^2 bounds for the errors introduced by the use of two types of quadrature rules for the numerical computation of L^2 piecewise polynomial approximations. These bounds enable us to present some asymptotic results and to examine the consistent convergence of appropriately chosen sequences of such approximations. Some numerical results are also included

Resource-Saving Technologies of Treatment of Polluted Washing Water for Transport Companies

Dedicated to the development of resource-saving polluted washing water treating technologies for transport companies. The article suggests methods of water purification with regard to scientifically grounded requirements to the quality of the water used and the required degree of purification and The article also considers the method of selecting efficient methods of sewage water treating, when a selective removal of individual polluting ingredients should be done. For this purpose we have conducted a simulation process of treating polluted washing water in the circulating water systems, and provided solutions for refining the process parameters

The Patent Quality Control Process: Can We Afford An (Rationally) Ignorant Patent Office?

This paper considers patent granting as a two-tiered process, which consists of patent office examination (public enforcement) and court challenges (private enforcement). It argues that, when the patent-holder has private information about the patent validity, (i) a weak patent is more likely to be settled and thus escape court challenges than a strong patent; and (ii) when the economy suffers from the low patent quality problem, a tighter examination by the patent office may strengthen private scrutiny over a weak patent. Both work against Lemley (2001)’s hypothesis of a “rationally ignorant” patent office

The Responsibility of the RuleMaker: Comparative Approaches to Patent Administration Reform

Patent administrators across the globe currently face the most challenging operating environment they have ever known. Soaring application rates, lean fiscal policies and an increasingly ambitious range of patentable subject matter are among the difficulties faced by the world\u27s leading patent offices. These trends have resulted in persistent concerns over the quality of issued patents. Responding to recent writings questioning the value of maintaining high levels of patent quality, Professor Jay Thomas asserts both that patent quality matters, and that increasing the responsibilities of patent applicants provides a fair and efficient mechanism for improving patent office work product. This Article then assesses recent reform agendas pursued by the European Patent Office, Japanese Patent Office and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that have elevated applicant obligations. After distilling broader policy trends from these distinct programs, Professor Thomas presents several proposals for patent administration reform

The Design of Post-Grant Patent Challenges

This paper proposes a patent challenge mechanism with partial patent rights previously granted to the patent-holder as the challenge reward. Transferring patent rights to a successful challenger raises the incentive to search for patent-defeating prior art, and, after the discovery of the information, helps deter collusion between the patent-holder and the challenger. It also reduces costly opportunistic patenting and therefore improves patent application quality. However, from an ex post point of view, over-search ensues when the collusion problem is severe. The optimal re-allocation of patent rights, then, calls for a careful balance between these costs and benefits

What’s So Special About Patent Law?

The widespread belief that patent law is special has shaped the development of patent law into one of the most specialized areas of the law today. The belief in patent law’s exceptionalism manifests itself as two related presumptions with respect to the judiciary: first, that generalist judges who do not have patent law expertise cannot effectively decide patent cases, and second, that judges can develop necessary expertise through repeated experience with patent cases. Congress showed that it acquiesced to both views when it created the Federal Circuit and the Patent Pilot Program. In recent years, however, the Supreme Court has reminded us that the judiciary’s difficulty with patent cases is not the law, but is instead that patent cases often involve difficult subject matter, which sometimes requires technical or scientific expertise. While Congress’s early attempts to deal with these difficulties focused on courts with legal―rather than technical―expertise, the Supreme Court’s recent pronouncements suggest that they should have been doing the reverse. Moreover, to the extent that it is the underlying technology that makes patent cases difficult, that commends the use of an administrative, rather than a judicial, solution. One potentially viable answer to the judiciary’s problem with patent law has already been partly implemented in the form of the recently created Patent Trial and Appeal Board. This Article proposes expansion of that solution by making that new entity the exclusive forum for deciding issues of patent validity

Optical self-switching effects in Mach-Zehnder interferometers

Development of modern optical fiber networks puts an increasing demand on the optical hardware. All-optical signal processing components enable the highest switching rates and allow all-optical regeneration of pulse streams without converting the optical signal into electrical current. The subject of our research is self-switching in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and its applications in optical telecommunication networks. In this device, light injected in one of the input ports is unequally distributed over the two interferometer arms. Due to the intensity dependent refractive index in the interferometer arms, there can be a nonlinear phase shift induced between the optical signals of unequal intensities. The two signals therefore interfere destructively or constructively depending on the input power: in this way we obtain nonlinear self-switching. Two mechanisms of nonlinear phase shifting were considered: active, based on semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs), and passive, based on quantum dots (QDs). Interferometers of two types were developed: 2-to-2 (two input ports and two output ports) and 2-to-1 (two input ports and one output port). The 2-to-2 SOA-MZIs based on self-switching have been investigated for two applications. One of them is the pattern effect compensator. If SOAs are employed for all-optical signal amplification, e.g. in optical access networks, an unwanted pulse distortion (known also as the pattern effect) takes place, as a result of the SOA gain saturation. Our component allows pattern-free amplification of the optical signals at bitrates up to 20 Gb/s. At 10 Gb/s it shows an extended input power range (up to 7 dB improvement) and comparable gain, which makes it suitable to be used as an optical amplifier. Another application of the 2-to-2 SOA-MZI is a 2R-regenerator. Optical amplifiers used in long distance optical links add noise to the optical signal, causing signal degradation. The signal can be regenerated by passing it through an optical gate with a nonlinear transfer function. The 2-to-2 SOA-MZI has such a nonlinear transfer function. The regeneration capabilities were demonstrated at 2.5 Gb/s by an improvement of the receiver sensitivity of about 2.5 dB. The dynamic characterization of the chips was carried out in a close cooperation with the research group COM at the Technical University of Denmark within the ePIXnet "network of excellence". The 2-to-1 MZI based on self-switching can be used as a low-loss optical combiner. An essential function in optical fiber networks is the combining of optical signals. A serious disadvantage of the conventional type of combiners used in the networks is that they let only half of the power (3 dB) through. In order to compensate for this loss, passive optical combiners are often used in combination with an in-line SOA. The first realization of the low-loss optical combiner uses SOAs as active phase shifters. Such an active low-loss combiner shows an improvement of transmission of over 2 dB compared to a conventional combiner with an in-line SOA. It is therefore expected that the output optical signal-to-noise ratio of the self-switching SOA-MZI is more than 2 dB better than that of a conventional combiner with an in-line SOA. While for the pattern effect compensator and the 2R-regenerator SOAs are used not only for inducing the nonlinear phase shift, but also for sufficient amplification, for the low-loss optical combiner the preferred nonlinear effects should be passive: combination of the signal is a passive function. Therefore, the second realization is based on a novel material, quantum dots. QDs provide improved all-optical nonlinearities resulting in a very small switching energy and large refractive index changes. Such a passive 2-to-1 QD-MZI based on self-switching showed an improvement up to 1.7 dB with respect to a conventional combiner. These improvements have a huge effect on e.g. the power budget in passive optical networks, where a large number of splitting stages are required. The Mach-Zehnder interferometers were realized in the InP/InGaAsP semiconductor material system, which is perfectly suitable for the integration of the photonic integrated circuits for the telecommunication applications. In order to realize both active components (such as e.g. SOAs) and passive components (such as e.g. waveguides, couplers), an active-passive integration technique was applied. This integration was realized in a close cooperation between JDS Uniphase Eindhoven and the COBRA Research Institute. It employs a three-step metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy regrowth process. The quantum dot material was grown within the COBRA Research Institute. Our MZIs use a ridge waveguide design, for which a reactive ion etching process was developed in the COBRA cleanroom. As a result of photonic integration our integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometers have very small dimensions: less than a square millimeter

The Role of Trust Perceptions and Propensity to Trust in Applicants' Experience of Recruitment and Selection

The role of organisational trustworthiness, propensity to trust and distrust was examined in the context of recruitment and selection. Specifically this research aimed to explore applicant experiences of selection as a context for trust. Because there has previously been little work looking systematically at the factorial and construct validity of propensity to trust this study also analysed responses to nine previously published propensity-to-trust scales using a combination of factor analytic, regression and content analyses. Findings supported the idea that propensity to trust scales are multidimensional and reflect aspects of both personality and experience of different trust contexts. The implication of this is that while use of propensity to trust is theoretically justified, checks on dimensionality should be carried out to account for different facets of this construct. The second study used the NEO propensity to trust scale (Costa & McCrae, 1985) as part of a survey looking into research degree applicant's experience of the recruitment and selection process during the post application and post interview stage. In addition to propensity to trust and propensity to distrust playing different role during attraction, influencing the decision of applicants to pursue a vacancy, propensity to distrust also appeared to regulate the relationship between selection justice, organisational trustworthiness and outcome intentions. Evidence from template analysis suggested ways in which justice and trust are manifested during the selection process, but based on a triangulated view, questions about what or whom applicants trust may need further examination and consideration in future research

China Utility Model Patent Trash or Treasure - A Data-Based Analysis

The Chinese Utility Model Patent (CUMP) has existed since the implementation of China’s Patent Law in 1985. Previous studies on the CUMP focus on the patentability standards (subject matter, novelty, and non-obviousness), and the nature of the system itself. Data-based empirical studies are not often seen. This paper fills this gap by analyzing the CUMP from the data perspectives of citation, litigation, and finance. Derived conclusions show the growing importance of the CUMP, and its high value, as a treasure to CUMP holders, contrary to the traditional misconception that the CUMP is trash