Refusal to license: Abuse of dominant position and switching costs.

The question of this thesis is: "when is the rightholder's refusal to license a software interface an abuse of dominant position." Using the principles of law and economics, I will approach this question from the consumers' perspective. The critical themes of this thesis are the distinction between innovative/non-innovative markets and the role of indirect switching costs of consumers in anti-abuse cases. Developing the studies of Klemperer (1987) and other authors on switching costs, I hypothesise that a dominant software incumbent abuses his market power if he prejudices consumers without justification. The consumers will suffer a detriment when their switching costs (S) are higher than the maximum utility surplus brought to the consumers by an entrant's product, or when the incumbent intentionally raises switching costs without justification. To remedy this, the incumbent should grant the entrant a license to access any interfaces or data formats which could reduce S. A refusal to license may result in an abuse, unless it is justified on the grounds of sunk costs and free riding. The decision to grant should be made by striking a balance between the costs and the benefits of granting access, in a process whereby both the entrant and the incumbent share the burden of proof - the essentiality-justification mechanism. Cost-benefit analysis, case studies, information system study, game theory, expected utility and probability assessment are the toolkit in this research

Épidémiologie et pathologie des dermatopathies chez les bélugas (Delphinapterus leucas) de l’estuaire du Saint-Laurent

Les objectifs de cette étude étaient 1) de classifier les anomalies cutanées chez les bélugas de l’estuaire du Saint-Laurent (ESL) selon leur aspect macroscopique et 2) d’estimer la fréquence et d'explorer les causes possibles des catégories de lésions cutanées (CLC) au sein de cette population. La présence de 18 CLC fut recherchée sur 26 020 photographies prises de 2003 à 2014, représentant un échantillon aléatoire de 5 388 observations de béluga. Au moins une CLC était visible lors de la moitié des observations de nouveau-nés. Au moins une CLC était visible dans >90% des observations de bélugas gris et de bélugas blancs; deux à trois CLC étaient visibles dans >50%. Lors des observations de gris et de blancs, les « marques en dents de râteau » étaient la CLC la plus fréquemment observée, tandis qu’il s’agissait des « fissures linéaires uniques » lors des observations de nouveau-nés. Des phénomènes de mue saisonnière et post-natale furent suspectés chez les bélugas de l’ESL. Les lésions cutanées provenant de 111 carcasses échouées furent analysées microscopiquement. Mis à part la présence de corps étrangers dans certains cas de « dépressions en pointillé » ainsi qu'un gamma-herpèsvirus révélé par PCR au sein d’une plaie, la cause et la signification pour la santé de l’animal de la plupart des lésions cutanées reste incertaine. Cette étude est la première s’intéressant aux lésions cutanées chez les bélugas de l’ESL; elle fournit des données de référence pour l’utilisation des anomalies cutanées dans le suivi de la santé de la population.The objectives of this study were 1) to establish a classification system of skin lesions in belugas from the St. Lawrence Estuary based on macroscopic appearance, and 2) to estimate the frequency and causes of skin lesions categories (SLC) in this population. The presence of 18 SLC was assessed using 26,020 photographs, representing 5,388 randomly selected individual sightings of beluga, collected from 2003 to 2014. At least one SLC was seen in half of neonate sightings. At least one SLC was present in >90%, and two to three SLC were seen in >50% of gray and white beluga individual sightings. In individual sightings of gray and white belugas, “rake marks” were the most common SLC, while “single linear fissures” were most common in individual sightings of neonates. Seasonal and postnatal molting were suspected in St. Lawrence Estuary belugas. In addition, cutaneous lesions from 111 stranded belugas were characterized microscopically. Apart from needle-like foreign bodies found within some “pinhole erosions” and a gamma-herpesvirus found by PCR in a wound, the potential cause and significance of most SLC described here remain undetermined. This is the first study which investigates skin conditions in the St. Lawrence Estuary beluga population. It provides relevant baseline data for future use of skin lesions for evaluating the health of belugas

Enforcement of Contracts in Vietnam and the Risks of Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Disputes

The Constitution in force (1992) consists of 147 articles divided into twelve chapters after a preamble, embodying the policy and legislation of Doi Moi. As for the political system, it is stipulated that: “The State promotes a multi-component commodity economy functioning in accordance with market mechanisms under the management of the State and following a socialist orientation. The multi-component economic structure with various forms of organization of production and trading is based on a system of ownership by the entire people, by collectives, and by private individuals, of which ownership by the entire people and by collectives constitutes the foundation.” This article provides an acute analysis of the structural and procedural provisions of the frameworks for contract enforcement in Vietnam, addressing both domestic and foreign transactional disputes and the key issues associated with these. The link between Doi Moi, and consequential integration with the international economy and the influence of collective interests stipulated in the Constitution are discussed in this article, and we also consider examples from other jurisdictions to provide both insight and an understanding into this relationship that defines contract enforcement in Vietnam

La mobilisation de la ressource forestière aujourd’hui et demain

La demande croissante en bois énergie pourrait entraîner une mobilisation fortement accrue de la ressource forestière et mettre en cause la durabilité de la gestion forestière. Pour évaluer ce risque, il faut déterminer précisément les disponibilités en bois en forêt. Les méthodes mises en oeuvre pour évaluer la ressource et la disponibilité forestière se sont améliorées, mais, paradoxalement, des incompréhensions sont nées du fait que les résultats publiés varient selon les méthodes, ce qui nécessite une grande attention aux explications données à l’appui des chiffres publiés dans les différentes études. Actuellement, la récolte est encore loin de la disponibilité totale en bois forestier, même si on ne considère que la part techniquement et économiquement récoltable. Néanmoins, les objectifs fixés à la forêt, s’ils sont réalisés, conduiraient à une exploitation beaucoup plus intensive des forêts, ce qui pose la question du maintien de la fertilité des sols forestiers. La recherche doit donc travailler à des solutions qui permettent l’exploitation des produits forestiers tout en maintenant un haut niveau de productivité

Drinking until Intoxication:A Qualitative Study among Underage Adolescents Admitted to the Emergency Room

This study explored factors that contribute to an alcohol intoxication resulting in Emergency Room (ER) admission among underage adolescents. We conducted qualitative interviews with 14 adolescents (14–18 years old) who experienced an alcohol intoxication requiring ER admission. Motivations for drinking were individual (e.g. curiosity) or social (e.g. having fun). While circumstances and motivations were comparable with other studies among (binge) drinking youth in general, most adolescents in this study did not drink with the intention to get drunk. They often unknowingly and unintentionally crossed their limits because they had not enough knowledge or experience to foresee the consequences

Antibody landscapes after influenza virus infection or vaccination.

We introduce the antibody landscape, a method for the quantitative analysis of antibody-mediated immunity to antigenically variable pathogens, achieved by accounting for antigenic variation among pathogen strains. We generated antibody landscapes to study immune profiles covering 43 years of influenza A/H3N2 virus evolution for 69 individuals monitored for infection over 6 years and for 225 individuals pre- and postvaccination. Upon infection and vaccination, titers increased broadly, including previously encountered viruses far beyond the extent of cross-reactivity observed after a primary infection. We explored implications for vaccination and found that the use of an antigenically advanced virus had the dual benefit of inducing antibodies against both advanced and previous antigenic clusters. These results indicate that preemptive vaccine updates may improve influenza vaccine efficacy in previously exposed individuals.This is the author’s version of the work. It will be under embargo for 6 months following publication. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The final version is available from AAAS in Science at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/346/6212/996.long

Electricity portfolio innovation for energy security: the case of carbon constrained China

China’s energy sector is under pressure to achieve secure and affordable supply and a clear decarbonisation path. We examine the longitudinal trajectory of the Chinese electricity supply security and model the near future supply security based on the 12th 5 year plan. Our deterministic approach combines Shannon-Wiener, Herfindahl-Hirschman and electricity import dependence indices for supply security appraisal. We find that electricity portfolio innovation allows China to provide secure energy supply despite increasing import dependence. It is argued that long-term aggressive deployment of renewable energy will unblock China’s coal-biased technological lock-in and increase supply security in all fronts. However, reduced supply diversity in China during the 1990s will not recover until after 2020s due to the long-term coal lock-in that can threaten to hold China’s back from realising its full potential

From Disease Association to Risk Assessment: An Optimistic View from Genome-Wide Association Studies on Type 1 Diabetes

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been fruitful in identifying disease susceptibility loci for common and complex diseases. A remaining question is whether we can quantify individual disease risk based on genotype data, in order to facilitate personalized prevention and treatment for complex diseases. Previous studies have typically failed to achieve satisfactory performance, primarily due to the use of only a limited number of confirmed susceptibility loci. Here we propose that sophisticated machine-learning approaches with a large ensemble of markers may improve the performance of disease risk assessment. We applied a Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm on a GWAS dataset generated on the Affymetrix genotyping platform for type 1 diabetes (T1D) and optimized a risk assessment model with hundreds of markers. We subsequently tested this model on an independent Illumina-genotyped dataset with imputed genotypes (1,008 cases and 1,000 controls), as well as a separate Affymetrix-genotyped dataset (1,529 cases and 1,458 controls), resulting in area under ROC curve (AUC) of ∼0.84 in both datasets. In contrast, poor performance was achieved when limited to dozens of known susceptibility loci in the SVM model or logistic regression model. Our study suggests that improved disease risk assessment can be achieved by using algorithms that take into account interactions between a large ensemble of markers. We are optimistic that genotype-based disease risk assessment may be feasible for diseases where a notable proportion of the risk has already been captured by SNP arrays

The ThomX project status

Work supported by the French Agence Nationale de la recherche as part of the program EQUIPEX under reference ANR-10-EQPX-51, the Ile de France region, CNRS-IN2P3 and Université Paris Sud XI - http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/AccelConf/IPAC2014/papers/wepro052.pdfA collaboration of seven research institutes and an industry has been set up for the ThomX project, a compact Compton Backscattering Source (CBS) based in Orsay - France. After a period of study and definition of the machine performance, a full description of all the systems has been provided. The infrastructure work has been started and the main systems are in the call for tender phase. In this paper we will illustrate the definitive machine parameters and components characteristics. We will also update the results of the different technical and experimental activities on optical resonators, RF power supplies and on the electron gun