An Introduction to the Patstat Database with Example Queries

This paper provides an introduction to the Patstat patent database. It offers guided examples of ten popular queries that are relevant for research purposes and that cover the most important data tables. It is targeted at academic researchers and practitioners willing to learn the basics of the database.Comment: To appear in the Australian Economic Revie

World Top R&D Investors: Industrial Property Strategies in the Digital Economy

The speed, scale and scope of the digital transformation and the widespread use of digital technologies in most aspects of our daily lives are changing the way we work, innovate, produce, interact and live. Knowledge flows almost instantaneously and digitalised information can be infinitely replicated, making the exploitation of knowledge a key factor for competitiveness. At the same time, changes at the local level may have global implications and innovation ecosystems become more and more global. These dynamics challenge policy making, and call for understanding the drivers of change, detecting trends in a timely fashion, and acting in a coordinated manner. The internet of things, digital manufacturing and 3D printing, industry 4.0 and big data are all components and drivers of the digital transformation, but the ways in which this new technological revolution will transform industries, countries and societies remain difficult to fully anticipate. As we become increasingly aware of the opportunities and the challenges of the digital economy, we also need to better understand how these technologies are forged and to identify the key players in such changes. The original data and statistics on the innovation output of the world's top corporate R&D investors presented in this report and its focus on digital technologies represent an important step towards this direction. It results from a long-term collaboration between the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and their joint efforts to provide up-to-date comparable data and state-of-the-art indicators and analysis. This report is directed at a number of stakeholders, including policy makers, industry representatives, practitioners and the scientific community. By exploiting information on patents, trademarks and designs, this work sheds light on the top R&D investors worldwide in the digital economy, their innovative and creative activities and their branding strategies. It is accompanied by a publicly available database that can be used for further analysis in support of evidence-based policy making.JRC.B.3-Territorial Developmen

Myths and lessons of liberal intervention: The British campaign for the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade to Brazil

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2012 Martinus NijhoffThis article takes issue with recent references to the British nineteenth century campaign for the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to Brazil that serve to bolster interventionist or imperialist agendas. In particular, such accounts reproduce two and a half myths about the campaign: that it can serve as a model for the present age; that the success of the campaign can be explained through the actions of the intervening party alone (with a corresponding neglect of those of the ‘target’ state); and the half-myth that the campaign’s success was due to military action (at the expense of institutional (legal) and normative factors and the capacity of the target state). I argue instead that this case – and interventions more generally – would benefit from an analysis that considers the role of force in relation to a series of residual institutional and cultural constraints within the liberal state and to political conditions in the target state. In light of the complexities and contingencies that these factors present the underlying lesson is that military force should be used sparingly, if at all

World Corporate Top R&D Investors: Innovation and IP bundles

Innovation and technological development are today main ingredients of countries' economic development strategies. This is based on evidence showing the importance of technical progress and innovation in increasing the efficiency in the use of labour and capital inputs (multi-factor productivity), one of the main drivers of GDP growth in most OECD countries for more than two decades. World regions and countries are competing to attract and retain those segments of the global value chains that most contribute to value and job creation. In a context of increasing globalisation and interdependence of knowledge generation and exploitation activities, policies aiming at reinforcing the scientific and technological competitiveness of economies need to rely on a wide range of science, technology and innovation indicators reflecting increasingly complex innovation systems. A main actor of innovation systems is the business sector. Evidence shows that a very large proportion of the R&D investments financed and executed by the business sector worldwide is concentrated in a relatively small number of world leading corporate innovators, in many cases large multinational groups. These companies also concentrate a significant proportion of the patents and trademarks filed in the most important intellectual property offices around the world. In this respect, the original data and statistics on the innovation output of world top corporate R&D investors presented in this report is extremely relevant for the support of evidence-based research and innovation policies. The report builds on the efforts to collect up-to-date, reliable and comparable company data on the top corporate R&D investors worldwide carried-out by the European Commission since 2004 (the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard publication) and on the solid knowledge and experience of the OECD in developing and providing robust and state of the art indicators on science, technology and industry (see for example OECD's STI Scoreboard publications). Essentially descriptive in nature, the company based data and statistics on the patents and trademarks portfolios of world top corporate investors open the door to further research and analysis about companies' global strategies for knowledge development and exploitation. The main target audience is the researcher community and policy analysts with an interest in supporting evidence-based policy making in the area of innovation and industrial policies. The underlying company data on patents and trademark will be made publicly available. The objective is to allow practitioners to make intensive use of this data to contribute to the advance of knowledge and empirical evidence on companies' innovative activities and performance.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Haitian Immigrants: Political Refugees or Economic Escapees?

The article examines the recent immigration of Haitians to the United States and their claims for political asylum. Pointing to the present political situation in Haiti, the author takes issue with the United States Government\u27s official position that these aliens are merely economic escapees, rather than refugees entitled by international agreement to political asylum. In analyzing the Haitian experience, the author also deals with the problems associated with deportation proceedings and the alien\u27s right to counsel, employment authorization for aliens, and fraudulent marriages. While these latter problems may not be unique to Haitian immigrants, they have become particularly salient in light of the Government\u27s contention that these aliens are economic escapees

Patient perspectives of managing fatigue in ankylosing spondylitis, and views on potential interventions: a qualitative study

<p>Background: Fatigue is a major component of living with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), though it has been largely over-looked, and currently there are no specific agreed management strategies.</p> <p>Methods: This qualitative exploratory study involved participants who are members of an existing population-based ankylosing spondylitis (PAS) cohort. Participants residing in South West Wales were invited to participate in a focus group to discuss; (1) effects of fatigue, (2) self-management strategies and (3) potential future interventions. The focus groups were audio-recorded and the transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.</p> <p>Results: Participants consisted of 3 males/4 females (group 1) and 4 males/3 females (group 2), aged between 35 and 73 years (mean age 53 years). Three main themes were identified: (1) The effects of fatigue were multi-dimensional with participants expressing feelings of being ‘drained’ (physical), ‘upset’ (emotional) and experiencing ‘low-mood’ (psychological); (2) The most commonly reported self-management strategy for fatigue was a balanced combination of activity (exercise) and rest. Medication was reluctantly taken due to side-effects and worries over dependency; (3) Participants expressed a preference for psychological therapies rather than pharmacological for managing fatigue. Information on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was received with interest, with recommendations for delivery in a group format with the option of distance-based delivery for people who were not able to attend a group course.</p> <p>Conclusions: Patients frequently try and manage their fatigue without any formal guidance or support. Our research indicates there is a need for future research to focus on psychological interventions to address the multi-faceted aspects of fatigue in AS.</p&gt

Thin-shell plastic lenses for space and laboratory applications

We have identified an inexpensive, readily available, mechanically stable, extremely smooth, elastic, and mechanically uniform plastic suitable for thin film X-ray optics. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is easily deformed without losing its elastic properties or surface smoothness. Most important, PET can be coated with mono- or multilayers that reflect X-rays at grazing incidence. We have used these properties to produce X-ray optics made either as a concentric nest of cylinders or as a spiral. We have produced accurately formed shells in precisely machined vacuum mandresl or used a pin and wheel structure to form a continuously wound spiral. The wide range of medical, industrial and scientific applications for our technology includes: a monochromatic X-ray collimater for medical diagnostics, a relay optic to transport an X-ray beam from the target in a scanning electron microscop0e to a lithium-drifted silicon and microcalorimeter detectors and a satellite mounted telescope to collect celestial X-rays. A wide variety of mono- and multilayer coatings allow X-rays up to ~100 keV to be reflected. Our paper presents data from a variety of diagnostic measurements on the properties of the PET foil and imaging results form single- and multi-shell lenses

La Blessure de l’Ange de Patrick Kermann

Dès ses premières œuvres, Patrick Kermann (1959-2000) a ancré son écriture dans un travail musical et sonore. En effet, La Mastication des morts écrit en 1995 porte comme sous-titre oratorio in progress : ce choix singulier manifeste que l’écriture est composée au sein d’une archi­tec­ture musicale et rythmique selon des jeux de contrepoints. L’écriture s’élabore ainsi à partir d’un travail de montage proche de la partition musicale. Le geste artistique s’est poursuivi vers une même recherche..

Hydrodynamic numerical simulation at the mouths of the Parana and Uruguay rivers and the upper Rio de la Plata estuary: A realistic boundary condition

A hydrodynamic numerical study at the mouths of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers and the upper Río de la Plata is presented in this paper. Water Quality Mapping numerical model was implemented and realistic and very simple boundary conditions were specially developed for this complex estuarial system. A set of numerical experiments were carried out using different constant discharges for the Paraná and Uruguay rivers but unrealistic currents were generated. In order to obtain more realistic results, a set of numerical simulations were carried out imposing water level timeseries at the open boundaries. M2, S2, K1 and O1 harmonic constants were used to generate water levels at Zárate (Paraná river), Nueva Palmira (Uruguay river) and the eastern boundary of the domain (La Plata-Colonia). A mean water level equal to zero was set between La Plata and Colonia. Positive mean water levels (0.3-0.4m) were imposed at Zárate and Nueva Palmira to simulate the hydraulic slope of both rivers and, consequently, to generate realistic and unsteady discharges. These boundary conditions, built by means of the addition of a mean water level and the astronomical tide, significantly improve the simulated currents at the northernmost region of the RDP estuary.Fil: Prario, Bárbara Elizabeth. Ministerio de Defensa. Armada Argentina. Servicio de Hidrografía Naval; ArgentinaFil: Dragani, Walter Cesar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Ministerio de Defensa. Armada Argentina. Servicio de Hidrografía Naval; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos; ArgentinaFil: Mediavilla, Dernis. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos; ArgentinaFil: D'Onofrio, Enrique. Ministerio de Defensa. Armada Argentina. Servicio de Hidrografía Naval; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos; Argentin