The case of the missing royalty stacking in the world mobile wireless industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 827-853
Author(s):  
Alexander Galetovic ◽  
Kirti Gupta

Abstract We build an equilibrium royalty stacking model that links the number of standard-essential patent (SEP) holders with the equilibrium quantity, price and cumulative royalty. We show that all observable implications of the theory are inconsistent with the data from the world mobile wireless industry. In this industry, the number of SEP holders grew from 2 in 1994 to 130 in 2013. Royalty stacking theory predicts falling or stagnant output, rising selling prices, and rising or stagnant quality-adjusted prices. By contrast, between 1994 and 2013 worldwide yearly device sales grew 62-fold, at an average rate of 20.1% per year, and both selling and quality-adjusted prices fell fast over time. Controlling for technological generation, the real average selling price of a device fell between -11.4% and -24.8% per year. Similarly, under conservative parametrizations, royalty stacking theory predicts royalty yields, which are more than an order of magnitude larger than the observed average cumulative royalty yield charged by SEP holders in practice, which hovers between 3% and 3.5%. A theory based on Lerner and Tirole’s (2015, J. Political Econ., 123(3), 547–586) within-functionality competition yields observable implications consistent with the observed facts. If all the technologies protected by SEPs have meaningful substitutes that cap the royalty that any SEP holder can charge, then the cumulative royalty is independent of demand parameters in the downstream market and can be as low as the observed average cumulative royalty yield. Moreover, if the product market is competitive and technological progress is fast, then prices follow costs, quality-adjusted prices protractedly fall, and sales grow fast.

Genetics ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 166 (2) ◽  
pp. 797-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D Fry

Abstract High rates of deleterious mutations could severely reduce the fitness of populations, even endangering their persistence; these effects would be mitigated if mutations synergize each others’ effects. An experiment by Mukai in the 1960s gave evidence that in Drosophila melanogaster, viability-depressing mutations occur at the surprisingly high rate of around one per zygote and that the mutations interact synergistically. A later experiment by Ohnishi seemed to support the high mutation rate, but gave no evidence for synergistic epistasis. Both of these studies, however, were flawed by the lack of suitable controls for assessing viability declines of the mutation-accumulation (MA) lines. By comparing homozygous viability of the MA lines to simultaneously estimated heterozygous viability and using estimates of the dominance of mutations in the experiments, I estimate the viability declines relative to an appropriate control. This approach yields two unexpected conclusions. First, in Ohnishi’s experiment as well as in Mukai’s, MA lines showed faster-than-linear declines in viability, indicative of synergistic epistasis. Second, while Mukai’s estimate of the genomic mutation rate is supported, that from Ohnishi’s experiment is an order of magnitude lower. The different results of the experiments most likely resulted from differences in the starting genotypes; even within Mukai’s experiment, a subset of MA lines, which I argue probably resulted from a contamination event, showed much slower viability declines than did the majority of lines. Because different genotypes may show very different mutational behavior, only studies using many founding genotypes can determine the average rate and distribution of effects of mutations relevant to natural populations.


Author(s):  
Valeria Seidita ◽  
Francesco Lanza ◽  
Arianna Pipitone ◽  
Antonio Chella

Abstract Motivation The epidemic at the beginning of this year, due to a new virus in the coronavirus family, is causing many deaths and is bringing the world economy to its knees. Moreover, situations of this kind are historically cyclical. The symptoms and treatment of infected patients are, for better or worse even for new viruses, always the same: more or less severe flu symptoms, isolation and full hygiene. By now man has learned how to manage epidemic situations, but deaths and negative effects continue to occur. What about technology? What effect has the actual technological progress we have achieved? In this review, we wonder about the role of robotics in the fight against COVID. It presents the analysis of scientific articles, industrial initiatives and project calls for applications from March to now highlighting how much robotics was ready to face this situation, what is expected from robots and what remains to do. Results The analysis was made by focusing on what research groups offer as a means of support for therapies and prevention actions. We then reported some remarks on what we think is the state of maturity of robotics in dealing with situations like COVID-19.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3827
Author(s):  
David Baeza Moyano ◽  
Roberto Alonso González-Lezcano

The existence of a growing myopia pandemic is an unquestionable fact for health authorities around the world. Different possible causes have been put forward over the years, such as a possible genetic origin, the current excess of children’s close-up work compared to previous stages in history, insufficient natural light, or a multifactorial cause. Scientists are looking for different possible solutions to alleviate it, such as a reduction of time or a greater distance for children’s work, the use of drugs, optometric correction methods, surgical procedures, and spending more time outdoors. There is a growing number of articles suggesting insufficient natural light as a possible cause of the increasing levels of childhood myopia around the globe. Technological progress in the world of lighting is making it possible to have more monochromatic LED emission peaks, and because of this, it is possible to create spectral distributions of visible light that increasingly resemble natural light in the visible range. The possibility of creating indoor luminaires that emit throughout the visible spectrum from purple to infrared can now be a reality that could offer a new avenue of research to fight this pandemic.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-109
Author(s):  
Piotr Urbanowicz

Summary In this text, I argue that there are numerous affinities between 19th century messianism and testimonies of UFO sightings, both of which I regarded as forms of secular millennialism. The common denominator for the comparison was Max Weber’s concept of “disenchantment of the world” in the wake of the Industrial Revolution which initiated the era of the dominance of rational thinking and technological progress. However, the period’s counterfactual narratives of enchantment did not repudiate technology as the source of all social and political evil—on the contrary, they variously redefined its function, imagining a possibility of a new world order. In this context, I analysed the social projects put forward by Polish Romantics in the first half of the 19th century, with emphasis on the role of technology as an agent of social change. Similarly, the imaginary technology described by UFO contactees often has a redemptive function and is supposed to bring solution to humanity’s most dangerous problems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-60
Author(s):  
Ivan D. Matskulyak

The Object of the Study. Socioeconomic processes and phenomena characterized as an unsustainable employment and reflected in the collective monograph published in Rossiya among the first as well as its main provisions, conclusions and recommendations. The Subject of the Study is expressed by the combination of socioeconomic relations between market-based economic entities regarding the widespread development in recent years in the world, including the Rossiyskaya Federatsiya, the precarious employment of the population and the consequences of this process. The Purpose of the Study is to attract the notice of a wide range of management personnel of both state authorities and economic bodies, as well as employers, legislators, scientists, etc., to the problem of unsustainable employment, the need of its effectively solve, especially in conditions of intensification of transformation of the domestic economy. The Main Provisions of the Article cover all six sections, including 30 paragraphs of the monograph studied, authored by 41 specialist-scientists, professionally engaged in the designated research area. The author, on the basis of the actual content of the book, has tried to present all the aspects, to convey the variety of shades of the process of unsustainable employment reflected in the monographic research. It applies both the domestic experience and international practice. The problems of the unsustainable employment are revealed compared to decent work. Their dependence on the scientific and technological progress is considered. The domestic and foreign experience of the personnel reduction is summarized on the example of a flexible employment. Risks of unsustainable employment are identified and directions of their prevention are formulated. The characteristics of precarious employment of different groups of workers - women, pensioners and others working in similar conditions of specific industries - are characterized as well as the legal coverage of unsustainable workers is analyzed, and special attention is paid to external migrants and functioning numerous institutions in the investigated economy sectors.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 3883
Author(s):  
Megan Roux ◽  
Cristiano Varrone

It is widely accepted that plastic waste is one of the most urgent environmental concerns the world is currently facing. The emergence of bio-based plastics provides an opportunity to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and transition to a more circular plastics economy. For polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the most prevalent plastics in packaging and textiles, two bio-based alternatives exist that are similar or superior in terms of material properties and recyclability. These are polyethylene furanoate (PEF) and polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT). The overarching aim of this study was to examine the transition from fossil-based to renewable plastics, through the lens of PET upcycling into PEF and PTT. The process for the production of PEF and PTT from three waste feed streams was developed in the SuperPro Designer software and the economic viability assessed via a discounted cumulative cash flow (DCCF) analysis. A techno-economic analysis of the designed process revealed that the minimum selling price (MSP) of second generation-derived PEF and PTT is 3.13 USD/kg, and that utilities and the feedstock used for the production of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) needed in PEF synthesis contributed the most to the process operating costs. The effect of recycling PEF and PTT through the process at three recycling rates (42%, 50% and 55%) was investigated and it was revealed that increased recycling could reduce the MSP of the 2G bio-plastics (by 48.5%) to 1.61 USD/kg. This demonstrates that the plastic biorefinery, together with increasing recycling rates, would have a beneficial effect on the economic viability of upcycled plastics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 603-608
Author(s):  
Ivan M. Rogach ◽  
Gennady O. Slabkiy ◽  
Renata Y. Pogorilyak ◽  
Angelika O. Keretsman ◽  
Ivan I. Gadzhega

The aim of this article was to analyze the dynamics of perinatal mortality and mortality up to 1 year in the Transcarpathian region and Ukraine in comparison with other countries of Europe and the world. Materials and methods: The study is based on data from the Transcarpathian Regional Medical Information and Analytical Center, the Center for Medical Statistics of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the European database «Health for All» and the Center for Research of Health Services at the University of Kent, Kiev Economic Institute of the Kiev School of Economics (July 2017). Review: In 2016, mortality under the age of 1 year in Ukraine amounted to 7.4 per 1000 live births, which is 13.5% lower than the same indicator in 2012 (8.4). According to perinatal mortality, in Ukraine this indicator has a level of 8.59 ‰, while the average in the EU countries does not exceed 6.01 ‰. Conclusions: Perinatal and mortality rates up to 1 year in the Transcarpathian region, as in Ukraine as a whole, are an order of magnitude higher than the European average. The same negative trend in the survival of newborns in Transcarpathia and in Ukraine.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (Especial 2) ◽  
pp. 86-92
Author(s):  
Adriana Baker Goveia Araujo ◽  
Nyeda Yuri Santos Kiyota Dan

It is well known that technology has daily innovated the daily life of society, starting from the transformation of simple applications of mobile devices to their amplitude when gaining medicine and the judiciary. Not forgetting his most common intervention, that is, the virtual currency, which especially understands the financial world and the forensic environment. This time, with so many changes occurring in the daily lives of individuals, it is imperative that the legal system accompany this technological progress. Therefore, this study intends to cover the possibility of judicial attachment to the virtual currency during the execution, making a correlation between the right and the world wide computer network. Thus, this article was based on bibliographical surveys, readings of laws and electronic articles, where the informative elements were examined with the application of the hypothetical deductive method.


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