Intellectual Property Rights and Biotechnology: How to Improve the Present Patent System

This paper discusses the problems related to assigning or denying intellectual property rights to biotechnological innovation, with particular reference to agro-biotechnologies and the relations between developed and developing countries. There are two types of problems to consider. First, the aim of protecting property rights on innovations is to create incentives towards research and innovation in general, which in some cases may be beneficial to society, in others not so. If the assignment of an intellectual property right does not guarantee the potential beneficial use of new knowledge, not assigning rights would not prevent its potentially dangerous utilization. Secondly, the holder of an intellectual property right has a power of exclusion which limits access by others to the newly produced knowledge. However, the production of new knowledge is very often a process which starts from a base of existing knowledge. Hence, discouraging access to existing knowledge also means discouraging the process of producing new knowledge. Paradoxically then, in protecting intellectual property we obtain the opposite result to the one expected and desired. Moreover, the holder of an intellectual property right may end up with excessive market power when commercializing the innovation. This paper will try to show that these problems cannot be solved, as sometimes is suggested, by denying protection of property rights on innovations, but by improving the procedures for awarding these rights and accompanying them with other measures such as liability rules governing potential damage and also antitrust measures.Intellectual property rights, Biotechnology, Patent system

Green Economy: great expectation or big illusion?

Simple growth accounting shows that the negative scale effect of economic growth on the environment can be compensated by a composition effect, increasing the weight of less polluting productions, and by a technical progress favorable to the environment, in order to make possible a sustainable growth path. To achieve this result a combination of environmental regulation and innovation policy is required. Revenues from economic instruments of environmental regulation can be earmarked to environmental friendly innovations; difficulties arise because of the trade off with using those revenues as redistributive means to compensate the usually regressive nature of environmental regulation. The “case study” of the energy and climate program of President Obama is an example of the complexity of the challenge to move towards the target of a “green economy”. A complementary essential role of social environmental responsibility both of consumers and firms is required.Economic Development, Innovation, Environmental Policies, Sustainable Development

Intellectual Property Rights and Biotechnology: How to improve the present patent system

The paper discusses two types of problems related to assigning or denying intellectual property rights to agro-biotechnological innovations in the relation between developed and developing countries. First, protecting property rights on innovations creates incentives towards further research and innovation, which in some cases may be beneficial to society, in others not so. If the assigning of the right does not guarantee the potential beneficial use of the innovation, not assigning rights would not prevent its potentially dangerous utilization. Secondly, the power of exclusion of the holder of an intellectual property right limits access to the newly produced knowledge: this may discourage the process of producing new knowledge, harming developing countries. Moreover the property right holder may end up with excessive market power when commercializing the innovation, which is also harmful to developing countries. It is shown that these problems cannot be solved by denying protection to property rights on innovations, but by improving procedures for awarding these rights and accompanying them with appropriate liability rules and antitrust measures.Intellectual property rights, Biotechnology, Patent system

Motore quattro tempi A.C. con iniezione diretta "spray guided": studio CFD di camera di combustione idonea alla stratificazione della carica.

Per analizzare il processo di formazione della miscela e la combustione in un motore A.C. ad iniezione diretta e carica stratificata si è fatto uso della simulazione numerica. Nello studio si è preso in considerazione un motore a quattro valvole, con iniezione diretta con sistema di stratificazione di tipo “spray guided”. La soluzione “spray guided” rappresenta il futuro del motore ad iniezione diretta, perché l’iniettore che viene utilizzato (di tipo pintle) permette di ottenere una rapida evaporazione del combustibile ed una nuvola di benzina stabile e ripetibile al momento dell’accensione. In questo lavoro di tesi è stato dimostrato che, con geometrie della camera di combustione tradizionali, i moti causati dalla combustione creano uno sparpagliamento della benzina che porta a distruggere la stratificazione che si era creata e quindi a combustioni incomplete, che si traducono in un elevate emissioni di idrocarburi incombusti. La necessità di mantenere la stratificazione della carica anche in fase di combustione è stata l’idea di base per il disegno di una camera di combustione innovativa che consente rispetto alle geometrie tradizionali sensibili vantaggi in termini di emissioni inquinanti

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2015

Our nation's schools should be safe havens for teaching and learning, free of crime and violence. Any instance of crime or violence at school not only affects the individuals involved, but also may disrupt the educational process and affect bystanders, the school itself, and the surrounding community (Brookmeyer, Fanti, and Henrich 2006; Goldstein, Young, and Boyd 2008).Establishing reliable indicators of the current state of school crime and safety across the nation and regularly updating and monitoring these indicators are important in ensuring the safety of our nation's students. This is the aim of Indicators of School Crime and Safety.This report is the 18th in a series of annual publications produced jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), in the U.S. Department of Education, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the U.S. Department of Justice. This report presents the most recent data available on school crime and student safety. The indicators in this report are based on information drawn from a variety of data sources, including national surveys of students, teachers, principals, and postsecondary institutions. Sources include results from the School-Associated Violent Deaths Study, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the Department of Justice, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the National Crime Victimization Survey and School Crime Supplement to that survey, sponsored by BJS and NCES, respectively; the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, sponsored by the CDC; the Schools and Staffing Survey, School Survey on Crime and Safety, Fast Response Survey System, ED Facts , and High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, all sponsored by NCES; the Supplementary Homicide Reports, sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Campus Safety and Security Survey and Civil Rights Data Collection, both sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education; and the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice. The most recent data collection for each indicator varied by survey, from 2009 to 2014. Each data source has an independent sample design, data collection method, and questionnaire design, or is the result of a universe data collection. Findings described in this report with comparative language (e.g., higher, lower, increase, and decrease) are statistically significant at the .05 level. Additional information about methodology and the datasets analyzed in this report may be found in appendix A.This report covers topics such as victimization, teacher injury, bullying and cyber-bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions. Indicators of crime and safety are compared across different population subgroups and over time. Data on crimes that occur away from school are offered as a point of comparison where available

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2014

A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring in schools and colleges. This report presents data on crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population from an array of sources--the National Crime Victimization Survey, the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the School Survey on Crime and Safety, the Schools and Staffing Survey, EDFacts, and the Campus Safety and Security Survey. The report covers topics such as victimization, bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, the presence of security staff at school, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions

Comparison of effects on immunity and autoimmunity of impairment of SH2B3 gene function in human and mice

Aim: The genetic and physiological similarities between mice and humans have led to dedicate a remarkable attention on murine models in the biomedical research. Our objective is to identify the molecular origins of autoimmunity diseases and immunosenescence by the analysis of a knock-out (KO) mouse model, SH2B3 deficient mouse, as model of autoimmunity. The study includes the comparison of SH2B3 KO mouse immune traits with those of human carriers of a specific genetic variant localized in the SH2B3 gene, the nsSNP rs3184504-T, that is associated with the significant increase of specific cell (Orrù, 2013) and with several autoimmune diseases; moreover the impact of ageing on immune trait levels is considered. To this aim we measured specific immune traits in SH2B3 KO mouse at 2/3, 6/7, 10/11, 14/15 and 18 months. Methods: To detect immune traits we examined SH2B3 KO and wild-type (WT) blood mice by flow cytometry, complete blood count and immunoassay. Results: At 2/3 and 6/7 months, we noted a significant increment of leukocytes, granulocytes, monocytes, platelets, immunoglobulins, B cells and subtypes, T cell and subtypes in SH2B3 KO mice compared to WT. At 10/11, 14/15 and 18 months, the increment in SH2B3 KO mice compared to WT mice was maintained for all immune traits, except for T cell and their subtypes. Conclusions: Considering the obtained data from mouse and the comparison with human data, we believe that the KO model helps us to define the role of the SH2B3 gene, but not to clarify the specific effect of the allelic variant rs3184504-T

Relationship between reservoir properties and NMR measurements : examples from Tirrawarra sandstone, Cooper Basin, South Australia

Thesis (M.Sc.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of National Centre of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics (NCPGG), 200

Intersections between Child Marriage and Climate Change: A Case Study of Malawi

Ultimately, this paper contributes to the discourse on safeguarding the rights and well-being of girls in Malawi and beyond, highlighting the imperative of addressing the converging challenges of climate change and child marriage on a global scale