Towards advanced Intellectual property management - Events and stages during the development. Evidence from the biotech sector

During recent years the management of Intellectual Property (IP) underwent major changes. IP management systems became increasingly complex nowadays actively handling an integrated mix of intellectual assets rather than just administrating patents or trademarks as single, independently treated assets. Our paper describes and analyses the historic development of IP management in German and Swedish Dedicated Biotechnology Firms (DBFs) with our main focus on the following two issues: (1) Which events trigger the development towards an advanced IP management? (2) Can distinctive stages be identified in the development of IP management systems and if yes, how are they characterised? Our study draws primarily on 12 personal interviews with leading managers from six larger German and Swedish DBFs with rich experience in IP management that were founded between 1984 and 1997. During our study we found that shifts towards an advanced IP management were triggered by single crucial events (e.g. litigation) or an accumulated sum of incremental events, of either internal or external nature. Up to four different stages of IP management were found throughout the development of the case companies, while six criteria were identified that can be applied to characterize an IP management stage. --Intellectual Property Management,Dedicated Biotechnology Firm,Germany,Sweden

Random multigraphs and aggregated triads with fixed degrees

AbstractRandom multigraphs with fixed degrees are obtained by the configuration model or by so called random stub matching. New combinatorial results are given for the global probability distribution of edge multiplicities and its marginal local distributions of loops and edges. The number of multigraphs on triads is determined for arbitrary degrees, and aggregated triads are shown to be useful for analyzing regular and almost regular multigraphs. Relationships between entropy and complexity are given and numerically illustrated for multigraphs with different number of vertices and specified average and variance for the degrees.</jats:p

Composition and structure of social networks

Social networks representing one or more relationships between individuals and one or more categorical characteristics of the individuals exhibit both structure and composition. Probabilistic models of such networks can be used for analyzing the interrelations between structural and compositional variables, for instance in order to find how structure can be explained by composition or how structure explains composition. Different models are discussed and different statistical methods are employed to illustrate such interrelationships in network data.Les réseaux sociaux représentent une ou plusieurs relation entre des individus, et des informations sur ces individus eux-mêmes. Les réseaux sociaux montrent à la fois la structure du réseau et des informations sur les individus. Des modèles probabilistes peuvent être utilisés pour analyser les interrelations entre les variables structurelles et les variables individuelles ; par exemple pour expliquer comment la structure peut être interprétée par les informations dont on dispose sur les individus ou comment la composition de celles-ci peut être interprétée par la structure. L'auteur discute différents modèles et utilise diverses méthodes statistiques pour illustrer les interrelations entre des données concernant un réseau

Balance in stochastic signed graphs

Signed graphs provide models for investigating balance in connection with various kinds of social relations. Since empirical social networks always involve uncertainty because of errors due to measurement, imperfect observation or sampling, it is desirable to incorporate uncertainty into signed graph models. We introduce a stochastic signed graph and investigate the properties of some indices of balance involving triads. In particular we consider the balance properties of a graph which is randomly signed and of one which has been randomly sampled from a large population graph.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23685/1/0000654.pd

Identification of Pesticide Transformation Products in Surface Water Using Suspect Screening Combined with National Monitoring Data

Pesticides are widespread anthropogenic chemicals and well-known environmental contaminants of concern. Much less is known about transformation products (TPs) of pesticides and their presence in the environment. We developed a novel suspect screening approach for not well-explored pesticides (n = 16) and pesticide TPs (n = 242) by integrating knowledge from national monitoring with high-resolution mass spectrometry data. Weekly time-integrated samples were collected in two Swedish agricultural streams using the novel Time-Integrating, MicroFlow, In-line Extraction (TIMFIE) sampler. The integration of national monitoring data in the screening approach increased the number of prioritized compounds approximately twofold (from 23 to 42). Ultimately, 11 pesticide TPs were confirmed by reference standards and 12 TPs were considered tentatively identified with varying levels of confidence. Semiquantification of the newly confirmed TPs indicated higher concentrations than their corresponding parent pesticides in some cases, which highlights concerns related to (unknown) pesticide TPs in the environment. Some TPs were present in the environment without co-occurrence of their corresponding parent compounds, indicating higher persistency or mobility of the identified TPs. This study showcased the benefits of integrating monitoring knowledge in this type of studies, with advantages for suspect screening performance and the possibility to increase relevance of future monitoring programs

Tectonomorphic evolution of Marie Byrd Land - Implications for Cenozoic rifting activity and onset of West Antarctic glaciation

The West Antarctic Rift System is one of the largest continental rifts on Earth. Because it is obscured by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, its evolution is still poorly understood. Here we present the first low-temperature thermochronology data from eastern Marie Byrd Land, an area that stretches ~ 1000 km along the rift system, in order to shed light on its development. Furthermore, we petrographically analysed glacially transported detritus deposited in the marine realm, offshore Marie Byrd Land, to augment the data available from the limited terrestrial exposures. Our data provide information about the subglacial geology, and the tectonic and morphologic history of the rift system. Dominant lithologies of coastal Marie Byrd Land are igneous rocks that intruded (presumably early Paleozoic) low-grade meta-sedimentary rocks. No evidence was found for un-metamorphosed sedimentary rocks exposed beneath the ice. According to the thermochronology data, rifting occurred in two episodes. The earlier occurred between ~ 100 and 60 Ma and led to widespread tectonic denudation and block faulting over large areas of Marie Byrd Land. The later episode started during the Early Oligocene and was confined to western Pine Island Bay area. This Oligocene tectonic activity may be linked kinematically to previously described rift structures reaching into Bellingshausen Sea and beneath Pine Island Glacier, all assumed to be of Cenozoic age. However, our data provide the first direct evidence for Cenozoic tectonic activity along the rift system outside the Ross Sea area. Furthermore, we tentatively suggest that uplift of the Marie Byrd Land dome only started at ~ 20 Ma; that is, nearly 10 Ma later than previously assumed. The Marie Byrd Land dome is the only extensive part of continental West Antarctica elevated above sea level. Since the formation of a continental ice sheet requires a significant area of emergent land, our data, although only based on few samples, imply that extensive glaciation of this part of West Antarctica may have only started since the early Miocene

Scientific case for avoiding dangerous climate change to protect young people and nature

28 pages, 6 figures; version submitted to Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesPeer reviewe

Statistical analysis of arthroplasty data: I. Introduction and background

It is envisaged that guidelines for statistical analysis and presentation of results will improve the quality and value of research. The Nordic Arthroplasty Register Association (NARA) has therefore developed guidelines for the statistical analysis of arthroplasty register data. The guidelines are divided into two parts, this one with an introduction and a discussion of the background to the guidelines, and the second one with a more technical statistical discussion on how specific problems can be handled (Ranstam et al. 2011b, see pages x-y in this issue). This first part contains an overview of implant survival analysis and statistical methods used to evaluate factors with a potential influence on this outcome

The Nordic Arthroplasty Register Association: A unique collaboration between 3 national hip arthroplasty registries with 280,201 THRs

Background and purpose The possibility of comparing results and of pooling the data has been limited for the Nordic arthroplasty registries, because of different registration systems and questionnaires. We have established a common Nordic database, in order to compare demographics and the results of total hip replacement surgery between countries. In addition, we plan to study results in patient groups in which the numbers are too small to be studied in the individual countries