QC 351 A7 no. 69 / The history of modern wide -field, high-speed catadioptric lenses is reviewed. One system comprising only spherical curves and representative of the current art for low-light-level systems is evaluated and used as a baseline design in a weight-reduction study. Five aspheric designs are computed and evaluated. It is found that the use of aspherics will permit weight reduction only in certain instances, i.e., if one element of an all-spherical design can be eliminated or if a fundamentally different configuration that is possible only with aspherics is substituted for the all-spherical configuration. Of these possibilities, the elimination of an element is the best replacement for the baseline design. The case of a highly constrained, purely refractive triplet is studied in some detail. Four designs are computed -from the all-spherical case to the most complex polynomial aspheric. It is found that, if only conic aspherics are employed, significant improvement can be obtained and the problems involved are sensibly the same as those in all-spherical designs. When complex aspherics are applied, the problem becomes surprisingly difficult, and there is some indication that a computer can deal with it better than can a human lens designer.

‘Additive’ goods and services are defined as those that improve with use. They are not naturally rival, or even non-rival, but are “anti-rival.” Information is an example. Information can be made excludable through the use of patents and copyrights, however this does not necessarily lead to socially optimal production and allocation. A more flexible, open access, and decentralized process for the production and allocation of information could improve social welfare. This dissertation describes the challenges and problems with privatizing and restricting access to information and reviews alternative mechanisms for its allocation. Two particular issues at opposite ends of the access spectrum are: (1) strict barriers to private industry databases and (2) quality perception and control of open access information. The first chapter discusses our current system of producing and distributing information and potential ways to stimulate the transition to a new regime. This paper concludes that some of the ideas to seed such a transition include: (1) redefining wellbeing metrics; (2) ensuring the wellbeing of populations during the transition; (3) reducing complexity and increase resilience within institutions; (4) expanding the “commons sector”; and (4) using the internet to remove communication barriers and improve democracy. The second chapter discusses our current system of determining which information to produce, which resources to allocate towards the production of information, and how to distribute that information once produced. The paper concludes that alternative incentive methods, both inside and outside of the market, of producing information and new methods for distributing it to those that can make best use of it, would improve social welfare. These include: (1) prizes; (2) non-monetary incentives; (3) capping salaries; (4) research consortium; and (5) publicly funded research. Chapter 3 explores the difficulty in determining basic energy information under the current proprietary information system using an analysis of the energy return on investment (EROI) of wind energy. It utilizes a meta-analysis of the energy return on investment (EROI) to obtain basic information about the energy inputs and outputs necessary for the manufacturing, installing, operating, and decommissioning of wind turbines. This analysis shows an average EROI for all studies (operational and conceptual) of 25.2 (n=114; std. dev.=22.3). It concludes that making information proprietary severely limits the accuracy of EROI estimates and increases the difficulty of making the best social choices. Chapter 4 explores the perceived credibility of web-based information using an experiment with Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia, and the Encyclopedia of Earth. Compared to Encyclopedia Britannica, both Encyclopedia of Earth and Wikipedia were found to provide a statistically negative perception of credibility. The other factors analyzed (presence or absence of an author, references, a biased sponsor, or an award) contribute to “brand equity” a composite characteristic that takes significant time to develop. The relatively new Encyclopedia of Earth has not yet developed enough brand recognition to affect credibility one-way or the other, but its positive characteristics should help build the brand and credibility over time.

The work presented in this thesis explores the investigation and development of programmable modular synthesis. A computer-controlled system has been used to navigate through a network of organic reactions. In particular, this decision making system was developed in order to navigate reaction networks according to the reaction diversity. Finally, the potentiality of increasing the versatility of this platform is demonstrated by developing novel flow architectures including in-line analytics, which exploits three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies.

Annotation Innovations have been accompanying the human society during the whole era of its development. The concerns in stimulation of the innovations have lead to efforts for legal protection. Time limitation of patent owner's rights to an exclusive use of a technical solution has been raising opinion disputes during the whole period of its evolution. Even nowadays, in Czech as well as in European context, there are still many questions open in range of the patent protection and to contribute to its better understanding and clarification has been the main goal of this publication. From the point of view of the Czech milieu we have been living in a period of a growing attention paid to innovations while at the same time it has been a period filled with many substantial changes in range of the protection of technical solutions. The Czech Republic's access to the European Patent Convention has within the scope of this international agreement enabled validity of the European patents granted by the decision of the European Patent Office in the Czech territory for the first time. In addition, our country had became a member of the European Communities what has resulted in important changes in legislation regarding the industrial property rights protection and partially regarding the solutions protected by patents as well. These facts have had a considerable impact on the business environment in the Czech Republic, giving the Czech Republic the role of an active player on the European patent playground. This writing deals in particular with the matters of legal protection of inventions and their economic impact, while in some parts of this work, somewhat unsystematically; it swings into contemplations about the industrial property itself. This happens willfully and with an intention to analyze some of the issues in broader context and therewith contribute to better understanding of the complicated and in some cases distinctively contradictory or controversially manifesting relationships. First part of this book characterizes elementary issues of the patent law, thus not only historically but as regards the contemporary European and Czech legal milieu as well. European patent system is represented by the activities of the European Patent Organization and national patent offices. The Community patent system, despite the effort put in during the past 50 years, is still does not exist. However, this does not mean that current system does not provide us with numerous issues enough to contemplate about and analyze. The decisions of the European Patent Office are influenced by the diversity of the historic evolution of the patent systems in various parts of Europe; therefore they can be used as an interesting inspiration and study material for the expert public. That is the reason why there is often referred to them in this work. On the other hand, the legal relations originated from the European patents, after the European patent protection had been granted, are a subject to a review according to the national legislation, therefore it is not surprising that the decisions and results of similar disputes not seldom bring different results. It is therefore worth to analyze them thoroughly. The extent of this work has only allowed me to concentrate only on some of the above mentioned issues, such are the possibility of legal protection of computer2 implemented inventions, issues connected with the extent of the patent protection and basic ideas on financial assessment of technical solutions, primarily of the patents. Some more detailed considerations were included too, such as about the debates and their progress in European level. Herewith I mean the matters concerning the translations of European and possibly Community patents, patent protection quality and in long term, thought until now unsuccessful debates regarding the creation of the European patent judiciary.

A biotecnologia tem como uma de suas principais aplicações a área agrícola, especialmente no contexto da geração de sementes geneticamente modificadas (GM). Apesar da importância econômica dos produtos dessa natureza, poucas fontes trazem informações a fundo sobre a gestão de projetos, desenvolvimento de produtos, e geração de inovações a partir de cooperação tecnológica entre empresas. Esse estudo visa mitigar esta lacuna apresentando, informações relativas aos temas citados, com um mapeamento dos stakeholders de empresas de sementes GM pela ótica das mesmas, além de estudar a cooperação tecnológica dessas empresas com base em dados de patentes. Entre as ferramentas metodológicas utilizadas nesse estudo, se optou por entrevistas semi-estruturadas para a parte de projetos e stakeholders, e análise de redes sociais na parte de stakeholders e de cooperação tecnológica. Os resultados obtidos, além de enriquecer o arcabouço teórico do tema ligado a essa indústria, indicam que, em relação ao gerenciamento dos projetos, a definição de objetivos em um projeto é tanto um recurso crítico como um dos principais problemas encontrados pelos entrevistados, sendo que má comunicação e falta de recursos também entraram na lista de problemas encontrados neste tipo de projeto. A análise de stakeholders mapeou os relacionamentos quanto aos critérios de urgência, legitimidade, poder, e as demandas dos stakeholders entre os critérios de simplicidade e compatibilidade, sendo que ao final em um modelo de redes indicou que possíveis alterações nos relacionamentos poderiam ser positivas para o relacionamento das empresas com os clientes. Por fim, a análise de inovações e cooperações indicou que a rede de cooperações tem ficado progressivamente mais centralizada, com novas iniciativas partindo de empresas menores, institutos e universidades, de países de origem asiática / Genetically modified (GM) seeds are among of the main applications related to agricultural biotechnology. Despite the economic importance of products of this nature, few sources provide in-depth information on project management, product development, and the generation of innovations through technological cooperation between companies. This study aims to mitigate this gap by presenting, in addition to information related to the themes mentioned, a multi-approach mapping of the stakeholders of GM seed companies. Among the tools used in this study, for the projects and stakeholders were chosen semi-structured interviews, and also for the stakeholders analysis and for study of innovation in the form of joint patenting network analysis were chosen. The results obtained, besides enriching the theoretical framework of this industry, indicate that the definition of objectives is both a critical resource and one of the main problems encountered by the interviewees, as well as poor communication and lack of resources, which also entered the list of problems encountered in this type of project. Stakeholder analysis mapped relationships relating to the criteria of urgency, legitimacy, power, to the stakeholder demands which were classified through their simplicity and compatibility to the company´s. Then, a stakeholder network indicated which possible change in the relationships could be positive for the relationship with customers. Finally, through the analysis of innovations and cooperation, it was indicated that the cooperation network became progressively more centralized, with new initiatives from smaller companies, institutes and universities, from countries of Asian origin

Este trabalho tem por objetivo analisar os determinantes locais da inovação no Brasil e avaliar sua dinâmica espacial. Especificamente, avalia-se como a P&D das empresas locais, a pesquisa universitária da região, o nível de adensamento urbano e a relativa especialização ou diversificação do sistema produtivo local afetam a inovação regional. Para isso, foi realizada uma Análise Exploratória de Dados Espaciais e a estimação de um modelo econométrico utilizando como medida do resultado de inovação o número de patentes por habitante das microrregiões. É possível notar que a inovação está desigualmente distribuída pelo espaço geográfico e se concentra especialmente nas Regiões Sul e Sudeste, onde se encontram os principais clusters inovativos. O modelo empírico adotado se baseia na Função de Produção de Conhecimento aplicada às regiões e é estimado por meio de um Tobit Espacial Autorregressivo (SAR-Tobit). O uso de um modelo SAR-Tobit permite lidar de modo mais adequado com um grande número de regiões sem patentes, além disso, foram feitos diversos testes adicionais que buscam assegurar a qualidade dos resultados inferenciais. A estimação do modelo desse trabalho indica que maiores níveis regionais de P&D industrial e da pesquisa universitária implicam em maior inovação, medida pelas patentes. Ao mesmo tempo, as regiões adensadas e diversificadas tendem a apresentar um melhor desempenho inovativo, o que aponta para existência de vantagens de caráter jacobiano no país. Por fim, a inovação local é afetada positivamente pela proximidade de microrregiões mais inovadoras, o que corrobora a existência de transbordamentos de conhecimento inter-regionais da inovação. / The aim of this thesis is to analyze determinants of local innovation in Brazil and assess their spatial dynamic. Specifically, it evaluates how the R&D of local firms, regional university research, urban density and specialization or diversification of local industrial system affects regional innovation. This purpose is achieved by means of an Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis and the estimation of an econometric model using the number of patents per capita as a measure of local innovative outputs. The results shows that innovation is not homogeneously distributed in the Brazilian geographic area and is especially concentrated in South and Southeast Regions, where the main innovation clusters are located. The empirical model adopted is based on the Knowledge Production Function applied to regions and is estimated using a Tobit Spatial Autoregressive (SAR-Tobit). The use of a SAR-Tobit model allows to deal more appropriately with a large number of regions without patents. Moreover, several additional tests were performed to ensure the quality of inferential results. The estimation of the model of this work indicates that higher levels of regional industrial R&D and university research imply greater innovation, measured by patents. At the same time, denser and diverse regions tend to present a better innovative performance, pointing to the existence of Jacobian advantages. Finally, local innovation is positively affected by the proximity of the most innovative micro-regions, which confirms the existence of interregional knowledge spillovers for innovation.

São inegáveis o caráter universal e a importância dos avanços tecnológicos e científicos originados das pesquisas genéticas. O sequenciamento do genoma humano, a identificação das principais sequências de DNA contidas nos seus genes e suas respectivas funções biológicas, bem como suas possíveis aplicações biomédicas, são de incalculável importância. Os genes, muito embora possam ser biologicamente caracterizados como compostos químicos, possuem um conteúdo informacional que se revela indispensável ao desenvolvimento da engenharia genética, figurando como elemento básico e central de suporte às inovações biotecnológicas. Desta forma, importante analisar a relevância da aplicação de mecanismos jurídicos como forma de fomento à contínua evolução biotecnológica sob a ótica do desenvolvimento econômico e social do país, princípios constitucionais justificadores da proteção de referidos desenvolvimentos técnicos por meio do intelecto e intervenção humanos na natureza. Para tanto, deve-se levar em consideração que a inexistência de tutela jurídica específica pode gerar desincentivo aos investimentos capazes de possibilitar o desenvolvimento de tais tecnologias, ao passo que uma tutela jurídica muito ampla poderá ocasionar indevida restrição ao acesso a tais insumos biológicos, de modo a gerar um efeito adverso àquele buscado. Assim, deve-se compatibilizar a proteção dos resultados obtidos através do desenvolvimento biotecnológico em relação à potencial dificuldade originada de uma eventual restrição ao acesso a tais elementos fundamentais à pesquisa e desenvolvimento genéticos. É neste contexto que se procura um balizamento entre os diferentes interesses e posicionamentos a respeito da patenteabilidade dos genes humanos, visando solução jurídica que permita um ambiente seguro e propício ao desenvolvimento da engenharia genética, e dos inúmeros benefícios que poderão daí se originar. O presente estudo se voltará, portanto, à análise da necessidade, condições, suficiência e extensão da tutela jurídica a ser conferida pela outorga de direitos patentários aos genes humanos. / The importance and universal character of the scientific and technologic development in connection with research and development in the field of genetic engineering are unquestionable. The human genome sequencing, the identification and marking of important DNA sequences within their respective genes, as well as their biological functions and features are of utmost importance not to mention the possible biomedical uses and applications. Although the genes can be biologically defined as chemical compounds, it is the genetic information carried by them that reveals their relevance in the development of the genetic engineering, for it plays a key role of basic research tool for biotechnological innovation. In this background arises the discussion regarding the importance of implementing legal mechanisms aiming at fostering the continuous development of the biotechnology in view of the social and economic growth, which are the grounds to legitimate the protection of such forms of innovations brought up by the human intervention in the nature. For the purposes thereof, on one hand it must be taken into account that a scenario where no rules governing such protection are applied could discourage new investments, while, on the other hand, a broad legal protection could lead to an unjustified restriction to the access of basic biological elements that would enable new gene-based biotechnical developments, in which case there might be an adverse effect in relation to the one originally sought. As a result, it is important to analyze the possibility to accommodate the protection of the results obtained from biotechnological developments in view of the possible difficulties that may arise from the restriction of the fundamental elements required for forthcoming developments. In view of the aforementioned scenario, the present study seeks to find a balance among the different interests and opinions with respect to the human genes patenting in order to find the most efficient and secure legal framework to enable genetic engineering development due to the numerous benefits that are expected to arise therefrom. In short, this dissertation will focus on the analysis of the necessity, conditions, sufficiency and length of patent protection to human genes.

Although citation counts are widely used to support research evaluation, they can only reflect academic impacts, whereas research can also be useful outside academia. There is therefore a need for alternative indicators and empirical studies to evaluate them. Whilst many previous studies have investigated alternative indicators for journal articles and books, this thesis explores the importance and suitability of four web indicators for conference papers. These are readership counts from the online reference manager Mendeley and citation counts from Google Patents, Wikipedia and Google Books. To help evaluate these indicators for conference papers, correlations with Scopus citations were evaluated for each alternative indicator and compared with corresponding correlations between alternative indicators and citation counts for journal articles. Four subject areas that value conferences were chosen for the analysis: Computer Science Applications; Computer Software Engineering; Building & Construction Engineering; and Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering. There were moderate correlations between Mendeley readership counts and Scopus citation counts for both journal articles and conference papers in Computer Science Applications and Computer Software. For conference papers in Building & Construction Engineering and Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering, the correlations between Mendeley readers and citation counts are much lower than for journal articles. Thus, in fields where conferences are important, Mendeley readership counts are reasonable impact indicators for conference papers although they are better impact indicators for journal articles. Google Patent citations had low positive correlations with citation counts for both conference papers and journal articles in Software Engineering and Computer Science Applications. There were negative correlations for both conference papers and journal articles in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. However, conference papers in Building and Construction Engineering attracted no Google Patent citations. This suggests that there are disciplinary differences but little overall value for Google Patent citations as impact indicators in engineering fields valuing conferences. Wikipedia citations had correlations with Scopus citations that were statistically significantly positive only in Computer Science Applications, whereas the correlations were not statistically significantly different from zero in Building & Construction Engineering, Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering and Software Engineering. Conference papers were less likely to be cited in Wikipedia than journal articles were in all fields, although the difference was minor in Software Engineering. Thus, Wikipedia citations seem to have little value in engineering fields valuing conferences. Google Books citations had positive significant correlations with Scopus-indexed citations for conference papers in all fields except Building & Construction Engineering, where the correlations were not statistically significantly different from zero. Google Books citations seemed to be most valuable impact indicators in Computer Science Applications and Software Engineering, where the correlations were moderate, than in Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering, where the correlations were low. This means that Google Book citations are valuable indicators for conference papers in engineering fields valuing conferences. Although evidence from correlation tests alone is insufficient to judge the value of alternative indicators, the results suggest that Mendeley readers and Google Books citations may be useful for both journal articles and conference papers in engineering fields that value conferences, but not Wikipedia citations or Google Patent citations.

Nos últimos anos, a discussão a respeito do patenteamento de invenções de segundo uso tem gerado muitas discussões técnicas e acadêmicas. Dentre as partes divergentes, destacam-se o Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial, autarquia responsável pela concessão de patentes favorável ao instituto -, e a Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária ANVISA, agência cuja função é anuir previamente na concessão de patentes relacionadas à área farmacêutica - contrária a este tipo de privilégio de invenção. Na doutrina não é diferente. Alguns autores defendem a completa possibilidade de concessão dessas patentes, ao passo que outros apontam, desde o não preenchimento dos requisitos legais, até a incidência direta em impedimentos legais. O objetivo do presente trabalho é examinar tais requisitos e restrições e verificar se essas patentes podem ou não ser concedidas. Para tanto, analisaremos a história do sistema de patentes, sua natureza e funções. Em seguida, discorreremos sobre os aspectos constitucionais, concorrenciais e internacionais do sistema. Logo após, examinaremos os requisitos gerais da concessão de patentes e os impedimentos legais, a regulação do tema no Brasil, a doutrina contrária ao instituto e a possibilidade do patenteamento de segundos usos à luz dos requisitos e impedimentos legais. Abordaremos, ainda, projetos de lei, jurisprudência, direito comparado e discutiremos se os novos usos constituem ou não contrafação de patentes anteriores ainda em vigor. Em conclusão, questionaremos se as patentes de segundo uso atendem às funções do sistema de patentes. Nossa proposta é discutir a questão de forma técnica e desprovida de ideologias, procurando contribuir para a discussão do tema sob à luz dos sistema de patentes, que, em nosso entendimento, possui todas as ferramentas necessárias para o correto balanceamento dos interesses envolvidos e, caso corretamente aplicado, pode não só impedir eventuais abusos oriundos das patentes de segundo uso, como também transformá-las em um instrumento de incentivo tecnológico / Over the last years, the patentability of second use inventions has stirred extensive technical and academic debates. Conflicting parties include the Brazilian Industrial Property Institute - INPI (the Brazilian body in charge of granting patents), which advocates the patentability of second use inventions, and the National Public Health Agency - ANVISA (the regulatory agency in charge of giving prior consent to granting of patents in the pharmaceutical area), which stands against such privilege. And this also goes for legal writings. Some scholars defend that second use inventions are generally patentable, while others allege that second use inventions do not meet legal requirements and are even subject to legal impairments. This work examines these requirements and impairments to check whether second use inventions are patentable or not. To that end, this work will address the history of the patent system, its nature and functions. It will then turn to the constitutional, competition and international aspects underlying this system. Subsequently, this work will examine the general requirements and legal impairments attaching to patents, how this issue is regulated in Brazil, the legal writings contrary to such patentability, and the possibility of obtaining \"second use invention\" patents vis-à-vis the existing requirements and legal impairments. We will also look into bills, past court rulings and comparative law to discuss whether new uses should be viewed as a counterfeit to past patents still in force. In conclusion, we will question whether second use patents meet the patent system objectives. Our proposal is to give a technical and unbiased contribution to this matter and to the patent system as a whole, which apparently has the tools necessary for proper balancing of the interests involved and, if adequately applied, may not only avoid the abuse of second use patents but also turn them into a valuable instrument to foster technological improvements.

Using a comparative methodology the thesis analyses the patentability of pharmaceutical and related inventions in the UK and South Africa. The viewpoint adopted is that of the industry actors, who are engaged in the conception through to the commercialisation of inventions, although this perspective is measured against the concerns of wider stakeholders. Drawing, in particular, on the classical justifications of the patent system, the research identifies the attributes of an optimal patentability standard which can be adjusted as technology and the legislative landscape changes. Framing an optimal patentability benchmark as one that both promote and protect the invention, the thesis considers the elements that ground the judicial patentability decision-making process. As pharmaceutical patenting tends to be an emotive and contentious area, the interplay between the international and respective domestic patentability frameworks is also evaluated in its impact on the inventor within the pharmaceutical chain. The research then turns to investigate four individual patentability limbs as applied in the two jurisdictions. The definition of the invention and excluded subject matter is evaluated in mapping out the pharmaceutical activity and the associated research output that falls within patentable subject matter. The novelty, non-obviousness and industrial application limbs to patentability are then examined, giving particular attention to the tests used by the courts in evaluating whether an invention meets the requisite criteria. The argument is made that the courts in interpreting patentability must apply principles advancing the purpose of the patent system in arriving at decisions. A systematic and robust approach is advanced that improves repeatability and precision in arriving at patentability decisions whilst preventing subjective application of the criteria. It is suggested that the application of the tests whilst aligning with the rationale and policy of the patent system, have to make sense to the scientist working in inventive pharmaceutical activities.