Leveraging Uncertainty: Private gains at public cost by PMEs

Incidences of patent litigation have increased dramatically in recent years. A growing share of this activity is being taken by patent monetization entities (PMEs). Through descriptive statistics and case studies, this article explores the relationship between PMEs, patent litigation and market uncertainty. The lack of rigid judiciary structure within the field of software patenting has left it particularly susceptible to uncertainty. The goal is to incrementally advance the knowledge base around the subject and promote further research

Digitally enhanced quality management for Zero-Defect Manufacturing

Though the idea of Zero Defect Manufacturing is not new, it remains a disruptive concept that is able to entirely reshape the manufacturing ideology. Existing literature suggests that Zero Defect Manufacturing can be implemented in two different approaches – namely product- (defective parts) and / or process-oriented (defective equipment) approaches. The recent onset of Industry 4.0 presents organizations with a plethora of technologies that promise to further enhance the quality of both products and processes, but also adds a third dimension to Zero Defect Manufacturing - people. Therefore, in this paper, we add the people-oriented approach as a third dimension to Zero Defect Manufacturing and draw on practical insights to present a framework for digitally enhanced quality management.publishedVersio

David Irving vs. Penguin Books og Deborah Lipstadt: Bakgrunn, innhold og faghistorisk diskusjon

Masteroppgave i historie - Universitetet i Nordland, 201

Digitale utfordringer til litteraturen

Oppgaven ønsker å utforske hvordan litteratur og vår forståelse av den, påvirkes og eventuelt endres av digital teknologis inntreden både som det mediet litteratur oppstår i, samt det mediet litteraturen oppleves i. Oppgave ønsker å utforske grunnlagsproblemer som aura, verkkategorien, litteraturbegrepet og fortolkning ved å koble både gamle og nye teoretiske innfallsvinkler opp mot de utfordringene digital litteratur stiller litteraturforståelsen vår ovenfor.Teoretikere som vil bli brukt og diskutert i oppgaven er blant annet Walter Benjamin, Friedrich Kittler, Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, samt nyere teoretikere som Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, N. Katherine Hayles og Roberto Simanowski. Verk som diskuteres er Glas av Derrida, House of Leaves av Danielewski og Loss of Grasp av Serge Bouchardon og Vincent Volckaert

Checking Consistency of Pedigree Information is NP-complete (Preliminary Report)

Consistency checking is a fundamental computational problem in genetics. Given a pedigree and information on the genotypes of some of the individuals in it, the aim of consistency checking is to determine whether these data are consistent with the classic Mendelian laws of inheritance. This problem arose originally from the geneticists' need to filter their input data from erroneous information, and is well motivated from both a biological and a sociological viewpoint. This paper shows that consistency checking is NP-complete, even in the presence of three alleles. Several other results on the computational complexity of problems from genetics that are related to consistency checking are also offered. In particular, it is shown that checking the consistency of pedigrees over two alleles can be done in polynomial time

The role of formyl peptide receptor 1 (FPR1) in neuroblastoma tumorigenesis

Published version. Source at http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12885-016-2545-1 Background: Formyl peptide receptor 1 (FPR1) is a G protein-coupled receptor mainly expressed by the cells of myeloid origin, where it mediates the innate immune response to bacterial formylated peptides. High expression of FPR1 has been detected in various cancers but the function of FPR1 in tumorigenesis is poorly understood. Methods: Expression of FPR1 in neuroblastoma cell lines and primary tumors was studied using RT-PCR, western blotting, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. Calcium mobilization assays and western blots with phospho-specific antibodies were used to assess the functional activity of FPR1 in neuroblastoma. The tumorigenic capacity of FPR1 was assessed by xenografting of neuroblastoma cells expressing inducible FPR1 shRNA, FPR1 cDNA or control shRNA in nude mice. Results: FPR1 is expressed in neuroblastoma primary tumors and cell lines. High expression of FPR1 corresponds with high-risk disease and poor patient survival. Stimulation of FPR1 in neuroblastoma cells using fMLP, a selective FPR1 agonist, induced intracellular calcium mobilization and activation of MAPK/Erk, PI3K/Akt and P38-MAPK signal transduction pathways that were inhibited by using Cyclosporin H, a selective receptor antagonist for FPR1. shRNA knock-down of FPR1 in neuroblastoma cells conferred a delayed xenograft tumor development in nude mice, whereas an ectopic overexpression of FPR1 promoted augmented tumorigenesis in nude mice. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that FPR1 is involved in neuroblastoma development and could represent a therapy option for the treatment of neuroblastoma

A Formalization of Linkage Analysis

In this report a formalization of genetic linkage analysis is introduced. Linkage analysis is a computationally hard biomathematical method, which purpose is to locate genes on the human genome. It is rooted in the new area of bioinformatics and no formalization of the method has previously been established. Initially, the biological model is presented. On the basis of this biological model we establish a formalization that enables reasoning about algorithms used in linkage analysis. The formalization applies both for single and multi point linkage analysis. We illustrate the usage of the formalization in correctness proofs of central algorithms and optimisations for linkage analysis. A further use of the formalization is to reason about alternative methods for linkage analysis. We discuss the use of MTBDDs and PDGs in linkage analysis, since they have proven efficient for other computationally hard problems involving large state spaces. We conclude that none of the techniques discussed are directly applicable to linkage analysis, however further research is needed in order to investigated whether a modified version of one or more of these are applicable