Intellectual Property and Biodiversity: When and Where are Property Rights Important?

An important issue in the life sciences industries concerns the nature of the incentive mechanism that should govern the production of innovation within this R&D sector. We look at the specific problem of coordinating the supply of inputs across very different agents - North and South - that must each supply inputs in order to generate innovations from the industry. The current arrangement in this industry provides for a single property right at “end of the pipeline”, i.e. where marketing of the innovation occurs. This property rights scenario raises two problems, one of efficiency and one of equity. The key question asked here pertains to the number and placement of property rights that should be instituted to address this property rights failure. Should one establish new property rights in traditional knowledge alone; property rights in genetic information alone; or in both? We demonstrate that in a world in which traditional knowledge and genetic information are complements in the production of R&D, a resolution of the property rights failure in genetic information also may resolve the allocation failure in traditional knowledge even in the absence of a distinct property right. The reason is that traditional knowledge of the nature of private information is comparable to a trade secret. Traditional knowledge holders may use this informational advantage to improve their benefit by capturing some informational rent. A new property right is important to enable bargaining and coordination to occur across the industry, but a single property right is probably sufficient to enable coordination between the two agents.Biodiversity Prospecting, Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources, Intellectual Property Rights, Sequential R&D

Workload Characterization in a Large Distributed File System

Most prior studies of distributed file systems have focussed on relatively small communities of users, typically university computer science departments. At the Center for Information Technology Integration (CITI) we conjectured that these studies led to an excessively homogeneous view of the workload presented to servers. We therefore embarked on an effort to study the University of Michigan Institutional File System, a campus-wide system with a much more diverse user community. The results partially confirm our conjecture.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107942/1/citi-tr-94-3.pd

Inscripciones urbanas en el ecosistema binario de San Luis (Senegal)

La naturaleza del emplazamiento de San Luis marca lo urbano. El crecimiento de la ciudad de estos últimos años, marcadamente caracterizado por la modificación de las estructuras urbanas y por la ampliación de los espacios edificados, se inscribe en un ecosistema binario en el que la acción del agua determina las composiciones, recomposiciones y descomposiciones de los territorios urbanos. A este respecto, la gestión llevada a cabo por los poderes públicos, que altera los métodos de aprovechamiento del espacio, produce un efecto peculiar sobre la morfología de la ciudad, que constituye una marca de identidad de lo urbano en relación con la naturaleza. Las grandes ordenaciones del espacio y el nacimiento de los barrios de la ciudad se adecuan a las condiciones naturales, sin poder revocarse en numerosas situaciones, debido al control que ejerce, entre otros, el elemento hídrico. Sin embargo, parece que el ecosistema, en favor de su propio equilibrio, deja sus huellas en el urbanismo de la ciudad, al que merma en lo que se refiere a los valores urbanos. Palabras clave: emplazamiento, ....La naturalesa de l'emplaçament de Saint-Louis marca el que és urbà. El creixement de la ciutat d'aquests darrers anys, marcadament caracteritzat per la modificació de les estructures urbanes i per l'ampliació dels espais edificats, s'inscriu en un ecosistema binari en el qual l'acció de l'aigua determina les composicions, recomposicions i descomposicions dels territoris urbans. Pel que fa a aquesta qüestió, la gestió portada a terme pels poders públics, que altera els mètodes d'aprofitament de l'espai, produeix un efecte peculiar sobre la morfología de la ciutat, que constitueix una marca d'identitat del que és urbà en relació amb la natura. Les grans ordenacions del seu espai i el naixement dels barris s'adeqüen a les condicions naturals sense poder revocar-se en gaires situacions, atès el control que exerceix, entre d'altres, l'element hídric. No obstant això, sembla que l'ecosistema, a favor del seu propi equilibri, deixa les seves empremtes en l'urbanisme de la ciutat, que és minvat pel que fa als seus valors urbans.La nature du site de la ville de Saint-Louis marque l'urbain. La croissance urbaine de ces dernières années qui est fortement caractérisée par une modification des structures urbaines et par l'extension des espaces urbanisés, s'inscrit dans un écosystème binaire ou les incidences de l'eau règlent les compositions, recompositions et décompositions des territoires urbains. A cet effet, l'action des pouvoirs publics qui transforme les modes l'utilisation de l'espace joue sur les formes de la ville qui sont autant de marques identitaires de l'urbain par rapport à la nature. Les grands aménagements de l'espace et l'émergence des quartiers de la ville suivent une localisation calquée sur les conditions naturelles, sans être en mesure de s'en défaire dans de nombreuses situations, entre autres, par la maîtrise de l'élément hydrique. Mais, tout se passe comme si l'écosystème, pour son équilibre, inscrit ses empreintes sur l'urbanisme de la ville en le rendant médiocre eu égard aux valeurs urbaines.The nature of the site of the city of saint-louis marks iturban character. the urban growth of the recent years, heavily characterized by a modification of the urban structures and by the increase of urbanized spaces, is part of a binary ecosystem where water regulate the composition, recompositions and decompositions of urban territories. For this purpose, the action of autorities that transforms the mode of use of the space touches on form of the city, which are urban identity marks in relation to the nature, the important space planning and the emergence of the quarters of the city follow a localization copied on the natural conditions, without being able to get rid of a great deal of situations, such as, the control of the hydrous element. But, everything happens as if the ecosystem, for its equilibrum, put its marks on the town planning in making it mediocre in relation to urban values

Mesure de la production de beauté dans les collisions Pb-Pb centrales au LHC à l'aide du spectromètre à muons du détecteur ALICE

Stage Janus- responsable Rachid Guernan

School Access, Resources, and Learning Outcomes: Evidence from a Non-formal School Program in Bangladesh

This study reports evidence from an unusual policy intervention – The Reaching Out of School Children (ROSC) project – in Bangladesh where school grants and education allowances are offered to attract hard-to-reach children to schools comprised of a single teacher and a classroom. The operating unit cost of these schools is a fraction of that of formal primary schools. We use panel data to investigate whether ROSC schools are effective in raising enrolment and learning outcomes. Our findings suggest that there is a modest impact on school participation: ROSC schools increase enrolment probability between 9 and 18% for children in the two age cohorts 6-8 and 6-10. They perform as well as non-ROSC schools in terms of raising test scores, and even have positive impacts on academically stronger students. There is also strong evidence of positive externalities on non-ROSC schools in program areas. These results point to the effectiveness of a new model of non-formal primary schools that can be replicated in similar settings.non-formal school, impact evaluation, multiple treatments, learning outcomes

AFS Write Performance - A Campaign Paper

AFS writes are slow. Part of the reason they appear slow is that opportunities to overlap writing with computation are often not used. This paper describes some of these lost opportunities, and advocates (with some gestures toward objectivity) changes to the AFS cache manager to take advantage of them.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107963/1/citi-tr-92-7.pd

La Pharsale de Lucain dans la penseé de Saint Agustin

When Alaric invaded Rome, this event was considered as a considerable disillusion for the Romans. Emperors were thus considered as responsible for this catastrophy, as they had abandoned the antic religion for Christianism. They were however comforted in this great disillusion when they saw the corpses of the dead Christians, abandoned on the ground without being buried. They saw it as being gods’ revenge. Relying on pagan authors -especially on Lucain- Augustin demonstrates the responsibility of Rome in the conflicts which divide people, but also the inefficacy of pagan gods. Moreover, he demonstrates that the lack of burial-place can not be a proof of eternal condamnation.La prise de Rome par Alaric a été une grande désillusion pour les romains. La responsabilité de cette catastrophe, ils l’imputaient aux empereurs qui avaient abandonné l’antique religion pour le Christianisme. Toutefois, dans ce malheur, ils trouvaient un réconfort en voyant les cadavres des Chrétiens abandonnés sans sépulture, signe de la vengeance de leurs dieux. S’appuyant sur les auteurs païens, précisément sur Lucain, Augustin démontre la responsabilité de Rome dans les conflits qui déchirent les peuples de la cité terrestre, l’inefficacité des dieux païens et prouve que l’absence de sépulture ne peut être le gage d’une condamnation éternelle