Infringements on inventors’ and small enterprises’ patents Causes, effects and a possible cure

Individual inventors and small enterprises can rarely enforce their patents from infringement by large ent erprises. They are also vulnerable to aggressive takeovers, which often result in the loss of their patents and financial problems. In most of these cases, predominantly larger firms use their financial strength to avoid paying for patented technical solut ions, ultimately exhausting the individual inventor or SE. The main reason these two strategies work for large companies is that the inventor or SE does not have the financial means to sufficiently finance legal processes throughout appeals. This forces th e financially weaker actor to settle or accept the infringement. This causes problems, not only for individual inventors and small actors, but also for society as a whole. If inventors and small enterprises are unable to profit from their inventions, many of the incentives and conditions for inventing are removed. With fewer inventions and fewer start‐ups, the economy may suffer on many levels. It has been established in a study sponsored by the EU Commission that infringement on small firms’ patents is a f requent phenomenon. Therefore, the issue of frequency of the phenomenon is left out of this study. This is a qualitative study, investigating a phenomenon, its causes and effects, and suggesting a possible cure. Being a master’s thesis from a technological university, the thesis has a constructive approach, aiming not only to investigate the problem, but also to suggest a possible cure. The primary sources of information are scientific research and interviews with patent holders who have been affected by pa tent infringement and aggressive takeover. The case studies are primarily based on interviews with inventors. Since the study focuses on the problem that individual inventors and SEs experience, less emphasis has been given to the large corporations’ side of the story. The possible cure takes the form of a Patent Protection Initiative (PPI), where solid financial strength and organizational features makes it possible to enforce patents and deter large companies from infringing, thereby increasing the incent ives for successful licensing agreements. The PPI will select specific, valuable and enforceable patents, and assert those against predator firms. The operations will be financed through retaining a percentage of license fees from patents and damages awar ded in litigation cases

JIT-Based cost analysis for dynamic program transformations

Tracing JIT compilation generates units of compilation that are easy to analyse and are known to execute frequently. The AJITPar project investigates whether the information in JIT traces can be used to dynamically transform programs for a specific parallel architecture. Hence a lightweight cost model is required for JIT traces. This paper presents the design and implementation of a system for extracting JIT trace information from the Pycket JIT compiler. We define three increasingly parametric cost models for Pycket traces. We determine the best weights for the cost model parameters using linear regression. We evaluate the effectiveness of the cost models for predicting the relative costs of transformed programs

Metric based virtual simulation training for endovascular thrombectomy improves interventional neuroradiologists’ simulator performance

Objective Metric based virtual reality simulation training may enhance the capability of interventional neuroradiologists (INR) to perform endovascular thrombectomy. As pilot for a national simulation study we examined the feasibility and utility of simulated endovascular thrombectomy procedures on a virtual reality (VR) simulator. Methods Six INR and four residents participated in the thrombectomy skill training on a VR simulator (Mentice VIST 5G). Two different case-scenarios were defined as benchmark-cases, performed before and after VR simulator training. INR performing endovascular thrombectomy clinically were also asked to fill out a questionnaire analyzing their degree of expectation and general attitude towards VR simulator training. Results All participants improved in mean total procedure time for both benchmark-cases. Experts showed significant improvements in handling errors (case 2), a reduction in contrast volume used (case 1 and 2), and fluoroscopy time (case 1 and 2). Novices showed a significant improvement in steps finished (case 2), a reduction in fluoroscopy time (case 1), and radiation used (case 1). Both, before and after having performed simulation training the participating INR had a positive attitude towards VR simulation training. Conclusion VR simulation training enhances the capability of INR to perform endovascular thrombectomy on the VR simulator. INR have generally a positive attitude towards VR simulation training. Whether the VR simulation training translates to enhanced clinical performance will be evaluated in the ongoing Norwegian national simulation study.publishedVersio

A baseline study of the occurrence of non-indigenous species in Danish harbours

Project Manager/Main Author Jesper H. AndersenWe report the first ever nation-wide study of the occurrence of non-indigenous species in Danish harbours. The sampling was car-ried out using both conventional and biomolecular methods (eDNA). In total, 16 harbours were covered – Esbjerg and Aarhus, the two largest harbours in Denmark, with intensive sampling and 14 harbours with a reduced programme. 26 non-indigenous species were recorded using conventional sampling and 13 species were recorded using eDNA-based methods. Excluding overlapping rec-ords, we have recorded a total of 34 non-indigenous species in the 16 harbours studied. Based on the results, we conclude the following: 1) more non-indigenous species are found in the western parts of Denmark (North Sea region) then in the eastern parts (Baltic Sea), and 2) a few species previously unseen in Danish marine waters were recorded, i.e. the two bristle worms Eteone het-eropoda (fam. Phyllodocidae) and Streblospio benedicti (fam. Spionidae). Further, we provide a proof-of-concept regarding the overarching objectives of the MONIS 1-3 projects and the eDNA-based test systems developed. The results constitute a baseline for future studies in Danish ports and other hotspot areas.publishedVersio

EUROCarbDB: An open-access platform for glycoinformatics

The EUROCarbDB project is a design study for a technical framework, which provides sophisticated, freely accessible, open-source informatics tools and databases to support glycobiology and glycomic research. EUROCarbDB is a relational database containing glycan structures, their biological context and, when available, primary and interpreted analytical data from high-performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. Database content can be accessed via a web-based user interface. The database is complemented by a suite of glycoinformatics tools, specifically designed to assist the elucidation and submission of glycan structure and experimental data when used in conjunction with contemporary carbohydrate research workflows. All software tools and source code are licensed under the terms of the Lesser General Public License, and publicly contributed structures and data are freely accessible. The public test version of the web interface to the EUROCarbDB can be found at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/eurocar

Central versus Peripheral Postcardiotomy Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: Systematic Review and Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis

Background: It is unclear whether peripheral arterial cannulation is superior to central arterial cannulation for postcardiotomy veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO). Methods: A systematic review was conducted using PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar to identify studies on postcardiotomy VA-ECMO for the present individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis. Analysis was performed according to the intention-to-treat principle. Results: The investigators of 10 studies agreed to participate in the present IPD meta-analysis. Overall, 1269 patients were included in the analysis. Crude rates of in-hospital mortality after central versus peripheral arterial cannulation for VA-ECMO were 70.7% vs. 63.7%, respectively (adjusted OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.08–1.75). Propensity score matching yielded 538 pairs of patients with balanced baseline characteristics and operative variables. Among these matched cohorts, central arterial cannulation VA-ECMO was associated with significantly higher in-hospital mortality compared to peripheral arterial cannulation VA-ECMO (64.5% vs. 70.8%, p = 0.027). These findings were confirmed by aggregate data meta-analysis, which showed that central arterial cannulation was associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality compared to peripheral arterial cannulation (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.04–1.76, I2 21%). Conclusions: Among patients requiring postcardiotomy VA-ECMO, central arterial cannulation was associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality compared to peripheral arterial cannulation. This increased risk is of limited magnitude, and further studies are needed to confirm the present findings and to identify the mechanisms underlying the potential beneficial effects of peripheral VA-ECMO

EUROCarbDB: An open-access platform for glycoinformatics

The EUROCarbDB project is a design study for a technical framework, which provides sophisticated, freely accessible, open-source informatics tools and databases to support glycobiology and glycomic research. EUROCarbDB is a relational database containing glycan structures, their biological context and, when available, primary and interpreted analytical data from high-performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. Database content can be accessed via a web-based user interface. The database is complemented by a suite of glycoinformatics tools, specifically designed to assist the elucidation and submission of glycan structure and experimental data when used in conjunction with contemporary carbohydrate research workflows. All software tools and source code are licensed under the terms of the Lesser General Public License, and publicly contributed structures and data are freely accessible. The public test version of the web interface to the EUROCarbDB can be found at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/eurocarb