Managing Intellectual Property to Foster Agricultural Development

Over the past decades, consideration of IPRs has become increasingly important in many areas of agricultural development, including foreign direct investment, technology transfer, trade, investment in innovation, access to genetic resources, and the protection of traditional knowledge. The widening role of IPRs in governing the ownership of—and access to—innovation, information, and knowledge makes them particularly critical in ensuring that developing countries benefit from the introduction of new technologies that could radically alter the welfare of the poor. Failing to improve IPR policies and practices to support the needs of developing countries will eliminate significant development opportunities. The discussion in this note moves away from policy prescriptions to focus on investments to improve how IPRs are used in practice in agricultural development. These investments must be seen as complementary to other investments in agricultural development. IPRs are woven into the context of innovation and R&D. They can enable entrepreneurship and allow the leveraging of private resources for resolving the problems of poverty. Conversely, IPRs issues can delay important scientific advancements, deter investment in products for the poor, and impose crippling transaction costs on organizations if the wrong tools are used or tools are badly applied. The central benefit of pursuing the investments outlined in this note is to build into the system a more robust capacity for strategic and flexible use of IPRs tailored to development goals

Orbital debris research at NASA Johnson Space Center, 1986-1988

Research on orbital debris has intensified in recent years as the number of debris objects in orbit has grown. The population of small debris has now reached the level that orbital debris has become an important design factor for the Space Station. The most active center of research in this field has been the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Work is being done on the measurement of orbital debris, development of models of the debris population, and development of improved shielding against hypervelocity impacts. Significant advances have been made in these areas. The purpose of this document is to summarize these results and provide references for further study

Rare Material in Academic Libraries

Purpose – This paper summarizes the importance of rare materials for academic libraries including developments since the arrival of the Internet and the effects of declining library budgets. Design/methodology/approach – The authors reviewed the literature on the subject coupled with their experiences with collection development. Findings – Collecting rare materials remains important for scholarly research though harder to justify during a period of budget stringency. Academic libraries should discover creative ways to discover and add rare materials to their collections. Rare materials require special expertise in their acquisition, processing, storage, and use. Digitization is making rare materials more accessible but cannot substitute for the use of the originals in all cases. Practical implications – The authors provide a summary of recent thought on the status of rare materials in academic libraries for libraries that include such collections or for those interested in increasing their holdings of rare materials. Originality/value – The paper provides a summary of recent trends in collecting rare materials in academic libraries

BIS Working Papers No 453 The FRBNY Staff Underlying Inflation Gauge: UIG

Department of the Bank for International Settlements, and from time to time by other economists, and are published by the Bank. The papers are on subjects of topical interest and are technical in character. The views expressed in them are those of their authors and not necessarily the views of the BIS. This publication is available on the BIS website (www.bis.org)

A 100-Element MESFET Grid Oscillator

A planar grid oscillator which combines the outputs of 100 devices quasi-optically is presented. The planar configuration is attractive because it is compatible with present-day IC fabrication techniques. In addition, the grid's structure leads to a transmission-line model that can readily be applied to the design of larger grids in the future. This approach is particularly attractive for wafer-scale integration at millimeter wavelengths. The grid oscillates near 5 GHz and can be frequency tuned with mirror spacing from 4.8 GHz to 5.2 GHz. The far-field radiation patterns for the grid are shown. From the pattern, the directivity is calculated to be 16 dB. The ERP is measured to be 25 W. The DC input power is 3 W, and the power radiated from the grid is calculated to be 0.625 W. This gives a DC-to-RF efficiency of 20%

Bar-grid oscillators

Grid oscillators are an attractive way of obtaining high power levels from the solid-state devices, since potentially the output powers of thousands of individual devices can be combined. The active devices do not require an external locking signal, and the power combining is done in free space. Thirty-six transistors were mounted on parallel brass bars, which provide a stable bias and have a low thermal resistance. The output power degraded gradually when the devices failed. The grid gave an effective radiated power of 3 W at 3 GHz. The directivity was 11.3 dB, and the DC-to-RF efficiency was 22%. Modulation capabilities of the grid were demonstrated. An equivalent circuit model for the grid is derived, and comparison with experimental results is shown

Methods for counting quail on your property (2010)

New 9/10/1M

The curious effects of integrating bimetallic active centres within nanoporous architectures for acid-catalysed transformations

The resourceful combination of distinct Mg, Zn and Si active-sites within a single aluminophosphate framework, via simultaneous isomorphous substitution, has afforded unique bimetallic nanoporous heterogeneous catalysts. Unique site-specific interactions have been engineered, at the molecular level, to facilitate catalytic modifications and optimize product yield. By the dextrous incorporation of individual transition-metal active centres, we are able to intricately control the precise nature of the Brønsted acid sites, thereby influencing their catalytic behaviour for the industrially relevant acid-catalysed Beckmann rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime and isopropylation of benzene

Proposed Changes to Social Security: An Analysis

Some 48 million Americans are expected to collect around $518 billion in Social Security benefits during 2005.  Of these, about 70 percent are retired workers.  The ratio of workers covered by Social Security to retirees is approximately three to one but will decrease to about two to one in the next generation.  Furthermore, at present, there are significantly more Social Security taxes collected than benefits paid; the excess is spent to help fund other government programs.  With the Baby Boomers starting to collect benefits in 2008 and large federal deficits already threatening to push interest rates higher, providing for future Social Security funding is being addressed.  This paper explores existing and future demands expected to be placed on Social Security and possible changes that may be implemented to ensure its long-term viability

Adverse Changes In Faculty Behavior Resulting From Use Of Student Evaluations Of Teaching: A Case Study

Based on a detailed literature review and longitudinal analysis, this paper explores the possible underlying causes of the decline in the number of hours per week graduating business seniors indicated they studied during their senior year. The study was conducted at an AACSB accredited college of business at a regional university.  The study indicates that the decline in hours studied was likely an unintended result of using a process designed to demonstrate continuous improvement in teaching. The process utilized the Educational Testing Service’s SIR II student evaluation instrument as the only measure of teaching quality/effectiveness. The study concludes that the process may have pressured some instructors to sacrifice teaching rigor in an attempt to obtain more favorable student evaluations, thereby precipitating the decline in hours studied