Accounting for Intellectual Property: inconsistencies and challenges

The recognition of the rights attached to some forms of intellectual property is a contested domain in legal frameworks, such as the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement. The same can be said of economic frameworks, such as accounting which attempt to recognise and value intellectual property for the purposes of providing information for decision making. In this paper we explore the discourse of accounting in the recognition of intellectual property as an asset according to the new International Accounting Standards. We then contrast the legal and accounting discourses in which intellectual property rights are acknowledged, concluding that these discourses are not necessarily aligned. The effects and implications of the development of a global regime for accounting for intangibles may eventually harmonise the accounting treatment for intellectual property but does not resolve the contentious issue of the inconsistencies in the recognition of intellectual property rights under different frameworks and the implications for economic decision making

Imaging and manipulation of skyrmion lattice domains in Cu2OSeO3

Nanoscale chiral skyrmions in noncentrosymmetric helimagnets are promising binary state variables in high-density, low-energy nonvolatile memory. Skyrmions are ubiquitous as an ordered, single-domain lattice phase, which makes it difficult to write information unless they are spatially broken up into smaller units, each representing a bit. Thus, the formation and manipulation of skyrmion lattice domains is a prerequisite for memory applications. Here, using an imaging technique based on resonant magnetic x-ray diffraction, we demonstrate the mapping and manipulation of skyrmion lattice domains in Cu2OSeO3. The material is particularly interesting for applications owing to its insulating nature, allowing for electric field-driven domain manipulation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

The privacy calculus in the context of novel health technology for diagnosing and tracking infectious diseases:The role of disease severity and technology's evidence base for effectiveness in adoption and voluntary health data-sharing

In the past decades, accelerated by the recent COVID pandemic, the field of healthcare has faced technological advancements, such as wearables and mobile applications, that collect personal or health data. However, such tools are ineffective if they are not adopted by a large part of the population or if relevant health data, collected by the application, are not (voluntarily) shared. This study assessed the role of disease severity and evidence base for the effectiveness of the technology in the Privacy Calculus risk-benefit trade-off to contribute or hinder technology acceptance and data sharing. A large-scale 2 × 2 × 2 online vignette experiment (n = 822) was carried out, where participants were presented with a hypothetical scenario describing a novel health technology for diagnosing and tracking of infectious diseases. The results indicated that participants’ privacy concerns negatively affected their intention to use the technology and willingness to share data, and that a high severity of the disease weakened this relationship. None of the other expected effects on intentions to use, willingness to share data or privacy concerns, were significant. These findings highlight the role of privacy as a barrier to technology acceptance, and suggest disease severity plays a role in the Privacy Calculus risk-benefit trade off by weakening the negative effect of privacy concerns on adoption in contexts where disease severity is high.</p

Molecular gas in NUclei of GAlaxies (NUGA) XV. Molecular gas kinematics in the inner 3kpc of NGC6951

Within the NUclei of GAlaxies project we have obtained IRAM PdBI and 30m 12CO(1-0) and 12CO(2-1) observations of the spiral galaxy NGC 6951. Previous work shows that there is indirect evidence of gas inflow from 3 kpc down to small radii: a large-scale stellar bar, a prominent starburst ring (r~580 pc) and a LINER/Seyfert 2 nucleus. In this paper we study the gas kinematics as traced by the CO line emission in detail. We quantify the influence of the large-scale stellar bar by constructing an analytical model of the evolution of gas particles in a barred potential. From this model gravitational torques and mass accumulation rates are computed. We compare our model-based gravitational torque results with previous observationally-based ones. The model also shows that the large-scale stellar bar is indeed the dominant force for driving the gas inward, to the starburst ring. Inside the ring itself a nuclear stellar oval might play an important role. Detailed analysis of the CO gas kinematics there shows that emission arises from two co-spatial, but kinematically distinct components at several locations. The main emission component can always be related to the overall bar-driven gas kinematics. The second component exhibits velocities that are larger than expected for gas on stable orbits, has a molecular gas mass of 1.8x10^6Msun, is very likely connected to the nuclear stellar oval, and is consistent with inflowing motion towards the very center. This may form the last link in the chain of gas inflow towards the active galactic nucleus in NGC 6951.Comment: 17 pages, accepted by A&A (17 feb 2011

Explaining two circumnuclear star forming rings in NGC5248

The distribution of gas in the central kiloparsec of a galaxy has a dynamically rapid evolution. Nonaxisymmetries in the gravitational potential of the galactic disk, such as a large scale stellar bar or spiral, can lead to significant radial motion of gaseous material from larger radii to the central region. The large influx of gas and the subsequent star formation keep the central region constantly changing. However, the ability of gas to reach the nucleus proper to fuel an AGN phase is not guaranteed. Gas inflow can be halted at a circumnuclear star forming ring several hundred parsec away. The nearby galaxy NGC5248 is especially interesting in this sense since it is said to host 2 circumnuclear star forming rings at 100pc and 370pc from its quiescent nucleus. Here we present new subarcsecond PdBI+30m CO(2-1) emission line observations of the central region. For the first time the molecular gas distribution at the smallest stellar ring is resolved into a gas ring, consistent with the presence of a quiescent nucleus. However, the molecular gas shows no ring structure at the larger ring. We combine analyses of the gaseous and stellar content in the central kiloparsec of this galaxy to understand the gas distribution and dynamics of this star forming central region. We discuss the probability of two scenarios leading to the current observations, given our full understanding of this system, and discuss whether there are really two circumnuclear star forming rings in this galaxy.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 14pages + long tabl

Causal Inference in Epidemiological Studies with Strong Confounding

One of the identifiabilty assumptions of causal effects defined by marginal structural model (MSM) parameters is the experimental treatment assignment (ETA) assumption. Practical violations of this assumption frequently occur in data analysis, when certain exposures are rarely observed within some strata of the population. The inverse probability of treatment weighted (IPTW) estimator is particularly sensitive to violations of this assumption, however, we demonstrate that this is a problem for all estimators of causal effects. This is due to the fact that the ETA assumption is about information (or lack thereof) in the data. A new class of causal models, causal models for realistic individualized exposure rules (CMRIER), introduced in van der Laan and Petersen (2007), is based on dynamic interventions. CMRIER generalize MSM, and their parameters remain fully identifiable from the observed data, even when the ETA assumption is violated, if the dynamic interventions are set to be realistic. Examples of such realistic interventions are provided. We argue that causal effects defined by CMRIER may be more appropriate in many situations, particularly those with policy considerations. Through simulation studies, we examine the performance of the IPTW estimator of the CMRIER parameters in contrast to that of the MSM parameters. We also apply the methodology to a real data analysis in air pollution epidemiology to illustrate the interpretation of the causal effects defined by CMRIER

Strain in epitaxial MnSi films on Si(111) in the thick film limit studied by polarization-dependent extended x-ray absorption fine structure

We report a study of the strain state of epitaxial MnSi films on Si(111) substrates in the thick film limit (100-500~\AA) as a function of film thickness using polarization-dependent extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS). All films investigated are phase-pure and of high quality with a sharp interface between MnSi and Si. The investigated MnSi films are in a thickness regime where the magnetic transition temperature $T_\mathrm{c}$ assumes a thickness-independent enhanced value of $\geq$43~K as compared with that of bulk MnSi, where $T_\mathrm{c} \approx 29~{\rm K}$. A detailed refinement of the EXAFS data reveals that the Mn positions are unchanged, whereas the Si positions vary along the out-of-plane [111]-direction, alternating in orientation from unit cell to unit cell. Thus, for thick MnSi films, the unit cell volume is essentially that of bulk MnSi --- except in the vicinity of the interface with the Si substrate (thin film limit). In view of the enhanced magnetic transition temperature we conclude that the mere presence of the interface, and its specific characteristics, strongly affects the magnetic properties of the entire MnSi film, even far from the interface. Our analysis provides invaluable information about the local strain at the MnSi/Si(111) interface. The presented methodology of polarization dependent EXAFS can also be employed to investigate the local structure of other interesting interfaces.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure