Technical Disclosure Research Articles

The Disclosure Requirements of Software Patents: Suggestions for Developing Countries

This is a research study of available options of Intellectual Property (IP) protections for software in the present IP systems, in most of the countries including copyright and patent protection. Each type of IP protection has its own advantages and limitations like enablement of subject matter for registration requirements, scope of rights conferred and period of protection etc. The trends and demands of software industry for the grant of patents protection for Computer Implemented Inventions (CIIs) were also discussed. The present research paper discusses a best mode of technical disclosure, more than an algorithm, of software patents and additional recommendations are also given as a solution to the technical problem of a suitable IP protection for software. A sui generis IP protection was suggested as a best option for a composite IP protection covering all aspects of advanced software inventions.

Comprehensive application system of BIM technology in MULTIBAY project

With the rapid development of urbanization, the number of super high-rise buildings with increased building volume and scale is gradually increasing. At present, there are still problems such as inconsistent engineering information transmission and low efficiency of collaborative management among various participants in the construction of international super high-rise buildings. Because of this, based on engineering practice, using the advantages of BIM technology such as visualization, simulation, and collaboration, this article explores the application process of BIM technology in the design stage of super high-rise buildings, such as multi-disciplinary detailed design and drawing collision inspection, as well as in the construction stage, such as visual technical disclosure and scheme selection. It also constructs a BIM whole process management system, enabling BIM technology to better participate in the whole process of project construction, improving the level of project information technology, and providing engineering reference for the application of BIM technology in similar super high-rise buildings.

Exploring the Acceptance of the Technical Disclosure Method Based on 3D Digital Technological Process by Construction Workers through the Perspective of TAM

Effective pre-control methods for construction workers during the construction phase are important means to ensure the final quality of the construction product. The 3D digital technological process introduces model-based definition (MBD) to the construction industry and enhances construction process management to some extent by combining it with building information modeling (BIM). However, the proper application of the 3D digital technological process requires a good knowledge of the factors associated with its acceptance. This study introduced the 3D digital technological process into technical disclosure and further explored the factors that may influence its acceptance among the construction worker population. Several new extrinsic variables, cognitive level, subjective norms, technology anxiety, and enjoyment, were added and evaluated in the technology acceptance model (TAM), and a total of 314 data samples were collected to verify the hypothesized paths. The results showed that the proposed model was effective in predicting the attitude of the worker population towards this method.

An automatic text generation algorithm of technical disclosure for catenary construction based on knowledge element model

Preparing technical disclosure documents has always been a labor-intensive task in the site management practice of current OCS (Overhead Contact System) project construction, and the overall information level of construction management is not high. As a result, the technical disclosure documents are of poor quality, which significantly affects the effective play of technical documents in guiding construction activities. In view of the above limitations, this paper proposes a text-generation method for OCS engineering technical disclosure based on a knowledge element model. By investigating the characteristics of OCS engineering technical knowledge, a representation model is established to model the technical knowledge from multiple sources, such as case data, standard specifications, and design data. As OCS engineering is highly standardized, we propose a case-rule hybrid reasoning model for the reuse of OCS engineering case knowledge. The mining and utilization of earlier engineering technical knowledge are made possible by similar retrieval of precedent situations and adaptive rules modification. Finally, we suggest an automatic text-generating technique based on a configuration template for new building projects. The knowledge element model is converted into a technical disclosure document expressed in natural language using a two-level mapping process. The cantilever installation project is used as an illustration for empirical research, and relevant practitioners are invited to carry out a manual review by questionnaire from the perspectives of topic relevance, topic integrity, topic word implication, sentence smoothness, sentence continuity, and information volume. At the same time, standard assessment metrics such as BLEU and ROUGE are employed to compare with the neural network-based text generation approach. The outcomes demonstrate that the strategy suggested in this paper can generate technical disclosure text that performs well. Overall, its text integrity and readability may satisfy on-site management's demands and help on-site management lessen the workload of technical management staff.

Explorations on the use of lived experiences by psychiatrists: facilitators and barriers

PurposeThis study aims to explore the perspectives of psychiatrists with lived experiences and what their considerations are upon integrating the personal into the professional realm.Design/methodology/approachAs part of a qualitative participatory research approach, participant observations during two years in peer supervision sessions (15 sessions with 8 psychiatrists with lived experiences), additional interviews as part of member feedback and a focus group were thematically analysed.FindingsAlthough the decision to become a psychiatrist was often related to personal experiences with mental distress and some feel the need to integrate the personal into the professional, the actual use of lived experiences appears still in its early stages of development. Findings reveal three main considerations related to the personal (3.1), professionality (3.2) and clinical relevance (3.3) comprising 11 facilitators and 9 barriers to harness lived experiences.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was conducted locally and there are no similar comparable studies known. It was small in its size due to its qualitative nature and with a homogeneous group and therefore may lack generalisability.Practical implicationsFuture directions to further overcome shame and stigma and discover the potential of lived experiences are directed to practice, education and research.Originality/valuePsychiatrists with lived experiences valued the integration of experiential knowledge into the professional realm, even though being still under development. The peer supervision setting in this study was experienced as a safe space to share personal experiences with vulnerability and suffering rather than a technical disclosure. It re-sensitised participants to their personal narratives, unleashing its demystifying, destigmatising and humanising potential.

BIM-based solution of management optimization and inspection during construction of a Stadium

The construction of sports venues has the characteristics of large-scale in construction, complex structure and long construction period, which has a high requirement for construction scheme, technology, process and coordination management. Taking an Olympic Sports center as an example, this paper introduces the application of BIM technology in stadium project in details. Planning the overall application and implementation, as well as the technical disclosure of complex nodes and construction process in visual have been conducted with BIM technology which improve the construction quality. Moreover, the project cloud computing platform is established, and the material tracking system, progress control system, safety monitoring system are completed by applying the BIM technology which improve the construction environment of safety and civilization in site and the information management. And simultaneously, by simulating technical scheme of key and complex parts, steel structure hoisting scheme has been adjusted to reduce the structure deformation and ensure the high safety and accuracy. Finally, aims of ensuring the quality of the project, reducing the cost, shortening the construction period and saving materials are achieved.

Do Analysts and Investors Efficiently Respond to Managerial Linguistic Complexity on Conference Calls?

This paper examines whether analysts and investors efficiently incorporate the informational signals from managerial linguistic complexity (e.g. Fog) on conference calls into their forecasts and trading decisions. We predict that managerial linguistic complexity provides a signal of the manager’s private information through their willingness to engage with analyst questions. We find that managerial linguistic complexity related to informative technical disclosure provides a positive signal of future earnings growth, whereas obfuscatory linguistic complexity predicts lower future earnings growth. We also find that, as active call participants, analysts efficiently revise their forecasts to incorporate the positive (negative) signal in informative (obfuscatory) Fog. However, as passive participants, investors only correctly interpret the negative signal of obfuscation during the call; we find a delayed price reaction to informative Fog. When we examine calls during which buy-side investors ask questions, we then find a significant contemporary association between stock returns and informative Fog, with no delayed price reaction. This finding underlines the importance of call participation for efficiently incorporating the positive signal of informative linguistic complexity.

Linguistic Complexity in Firm Disclosures: Obfuscation or Information?

ABSTRACTPrior research generally interprets complex language in firms’ disclosures as indicative of managerial obfuscation. However, complex language can also reflect the provision of complex information; for example, informative technical disclosure. As a consequence, linguistic complexity commingles two latent components—obfuscation and information—that are related to information asymmetry in opposite directions. We develop a novel empirical approach to estimate these two latent components within the context of quarterly earnings conference calls. We validate our estimates of these two latent components by examining their relation to information asymmetry. Consistent with our predictions, we find that our estimate of the information component is negatively associated with information asymmetry while our estimate of the obfuscation component is positively associated with information asymmetry. Our findings suggest that future research on linguistic complexity can construct more powerful tests by separately examining these two latent components of linguistic complexity.

How Analysts Process Information: Technical and Financial Disclosures in the Microprocessor Industry

Following Bradshaw (‘Analyst information processing, financial regulation, and academic research’ [2009], and Analysts' forecasts: What do we know after decades of work? [2011]), this paper examines how analysts process information, particularly in an information environment characterised by multiple and potentially complementary information sources. The setting is the microprocessor industry, one in which technical information is particularly significant and complex to digest. Based on 3837 analyst earnings-forecast revisions, issued by 134 analysts, we examine quantitatively the speed, magnitude, and information content of the reactions of individual analysts and subgroups of analysts to both periodic and timely technical disclosures, and as a complement to periodic financial disclosure. We find that analysts are much slower to react to timely technical disclosures than they are to periodic financial disclosures. We find also that technical and financial disclosures complement each other. Furthermore, we find that there is a ‘hierarchy’ of analysts in this particular industry, as evidenced through the strength of reaction to timely technical disclosures. Finally, we find that lower speed in reacting to timely technical disclosures and a higher intensity in the use of timely technical disclosure (in conjunction with periodic financial disclosure) result in greater accuracy, and that more experienced analysts tend to be less accurate. We suggest that the findings may have implications for other industries such as Bio-Tech Pharma.

SUDARSHAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES LTD v CLARIANT PRODUKTE (DEUTSCHLAND) GMBH

H1 Patent – European patent – Revocation – Organic pigments – Obviousness – Whether combining teaching of earlier patent and sample of patentee’s product acquired after priority date an impermissible mosaic – Added matter – Disclaimer – Whether uncertain in scope – Whether adding to the technical disclosure – Threats – Whether actionable where threat to sue retailers only communicated to manufacturer – Whether threat made knowing patent invalid – Whether knowledge of patent attorney the relevant knowledge for this purpose – Appeal to Court of Appeal

Linguistic Complexity in Firm Disclosures: Obfuscation or Information?

Prior research generally interprets complex language in firms’ disclosures as indicative of managerial obfuscation. However, complex language can also reflect the provision of complex information, e.g., informative technical disclosure. As a consequence, linguistic complexity commingles two latent components — obfuscation and information — that are related to information asymmetry in opposite directions. We develop a novel empirical approach to estimate these two latent components within the context of quarterly earnings conference calls. We validate our estimates of these two latent components by examining their relation to information asymmetry following the call. Consistent with our predictions, we find that our estimate of the information component of managerial linguistic complexity is negatively associated with information asymmetry and our estimate of the obfuscation component is positively associated with information asymmetry. Our findings suggest that future research on linguistic complexity can construct more powerful tests by separately examining these two latent components of linguistic complexity.

Study on Technical Disclosure in Construction Based on BIM

The importance of technical disclosure in construction of project is described and the necessity of application of BIM (Building Information Modeling) technology used in technical disclosure is analyzed correspondingly. Many actual cases of technical disclosure in construction used BIM technology in our company with its application are discussed subsequently. The results show that the BIM technology can simplify the procedures of technical disclosure on the construction phase, and multi-software work together based on BIM provides a guidance for different types of projects. Many advantages of BIM such as construction simulation, 3D roaming can improve the quality of technical disclosure. Finally, recommendations and requirements for the specific implementation of BIM on the construction phase are proposed: the BIM model for technical disclosure is the most unique model in the entire life cycle; the locally refined extent is much more than the final completion model, which should be paid more attention to in the whole process of program development when BIM implemented.

Toward a Comprehensive Disclosure Control Framework for Shared Data

Although the goal of pervasive data sharing has persisted for over a decade, most large-scale efforts fail to reach the critical mass of participation necessary to sustain it due to the excessive costs involved. These costs often stem from the lack of standardized methodology and tools to implement disclosure controls that address data sharing risks. We present a framework that addresses the problem comprehensively by considering policy level risk (e.g., NDAs) and technical (e.g., data anonymization) disclosure control issues in concert. Doing so facilitates a superior balance of utility and risk mitigation by ensuring that policy and technical approaches complement one another. Moreover, the framework is driven by the pragmatic utility goals of the data release rather than general risk factors, which helps to focus the effort on exactly those parts of the data necessary to achieve desired goals. The output of the framework is a standardized audit trail and description of the data sharing scenario, which enables the reuse of key components in other data sharing efforts. The framework greatly decreases the data publisher’s overall costs while simultaneously enabling a more evolved and effective balance between utility and risk management in data sharing.

AUDIO DIRECTIONALITY CONTROL FOR A MULTI-DISPLAY SWITCHED VIDEO CONFERENCING SYSTEM

In one embodiment, a method includes setting a target value for each audio source received from a plurality of remote participants to a telepresence conference, the gain coefficient array feeding a mixer associated with a loudspeaker associated with a display. A gain increment value is then set for each audio source, the gain increment value being equal to a difference between the target value and a current gain coefficient, the difference being divided by N, where N is an integer greater than one that represents a number of increments. Then, for each audio source, and for each of N iterations, the gain increment value is added to a current gain coefficient to produce a new current gain coefficient that is loaded into the mixer, such that after the N iterations the new current gain coefficient is equal to the target value. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure.

FRS36 and post‐transition compliance quality among Singapore firms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contemplate the degree to which Singaporean firms comply with the highly technical disclosure requirements required under International Accounting Standards (IAS) IAS 36 specific to goodwill impairment testing.Design/methodology/approachThe adoption of IAS in Singapore from 1 July 2004 introduced a highly technical standard (financial reporting standards – FRS 36) which has challenged many preparers. While it is generally accepted that accounting compliance may be suboptimal in transition periods as preparers accommodate change, it is assumed compliance quality improves with the passage of time. This study examines compliance of the largest 168 Singaporean goodwill‐intensive firms over a three year period, 2005‐2007, to interrogate compliance quality post‐transition.FindingsThe paper reports distinctly poor compliance systemically over the three years across many facets of goodwill impairment testing disclosures including cash‐generating unit (CGU) definition and goodwill allocation, and key input variables used in estimating CGU recoverable amounts.Practical implicationsThe results raise questions about the quality of accounting information among goodwill‐intensive firms in Singapore and the robustness of regulatory oversight institutions operating within Singapore.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates a novel approach to examining the issue of accounting quality under IFRS by examining compliance quality through large sample time‐series analysis focusing on note‐form disclosures.

Cushioning device for use with a hearing aid

A cushioning device for use with a hearing aid instrument for positioning in the ear of a user is disclosed. The cushioning device comprises a ring volume that encircles a predetermined portion of a hearing aid housing and separates the hearing aid housing from an ear canal of a user. A pliant substances is disposed within the ring volume and a reservoir which is in fluid communication with the ring volume in a manner permitting bi-directional flow of the pliant substance between the reservoir and the ring volume. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope of meaning of the claims.

Marking the Software Patent Beast

The literature of software patents has thus far tried to directly address whether software patents increase innovation. The wholesale reform papers have persuaded neither the courts nor Congress, perhaps due to the unfortunate dearth of economic data. This paper starts from the proposition that software patents are, practically speaking, hidden away in the recesses of the patent office and practically impossible to find. It proceeds under the first economic principles of the patent system to argue that there can be no justification for patenting software when the public has no knowledge of the patents' scope or technical disclosure. It concludes by observing that patent law already provides a mechanism for disclosing patents to the public, the marking requirement, and proposes putting teeth into it so that holders of software patents would be required to play by the same rules as holders of other kinds of patents.

Towards Electronic Journal Articles: The Publisher's Technical Point of View: Implementation of Elsevier Science Electronic Subscriptions (EES) at the University of Tilburg

In this paper the implementation of Elsevier Science Electronic subscriptions at Tilburg University in the Netherlands is taken as a case reference point. The paper will discuss only the most important (of the many) technical standards/formats involved. (This paper will not go into the broad range of organisational and operational changes needed to build an electronic library.) Starting with the delivery of 1200 printed journal titles to external production, or document imaging processing, facilities, via an (internal) validation procedure, to a customised CD manufacturing for (in principle) every library-customer. The paper touches briefly upon the technical disclosure and dissemination solutions as well.

A comparison of the enhanced Good-Turing and deleted estimation methods for estimating probabilities of English bigrams

In principle, n-gram probabilities can be estimated from a large sample of text by counting the number of occurrences of each n-gram of interest and dividing by the size of the training sample. This method, which is known as maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), is very simple. However, it is unsuitable because n-grams which do not occur in the training sample are assigned zero probability. This is qualitatively wrong for use as a prior model, because it would never allow the n-gram, while clearly some of the unseen n-grams will occur in other texts. For non-zero frequencies, the MLE is quantitatively wrong. Moreover, at all frequencies, the MLE does not separate bigrams with the same frequency. We study two alternative methods. The first method is an enhanced version of the method due to Good and Turing (I. J. Good [1953]. Biometrika, 40, 237–264). Under the modest assumption that the distribution of each bigram is binomial, Good provided a theoretical result that increases estimation accuracy. The second method is an enhanced version of the deleted estimation method (F. Jelinek & R. Mercer [1985]. IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, 28, 2591–2594). It assumes even less, merely that the training and test corpora are generated by the same process. We emphasize three points about these methods. First, by using a second predictor of the probability in addition to the observed frequency, it is possible to estimate different probabilities for bigrams with the same frequency. We refer to this use of a second predictor as “enhancement.” With enhancement, we find 1200 significantly different probabilities (with a range of five orders of magnitude) for the group of bigrams not observed in the training text; the MLE method would not be able to distinguish any one of these bigrams from any other. The probabilities found by the enhanced methods agree quite closely in qualitative comparisons with the standard calculated from the test corpus. Second, the enhanced Good-Turing method provides accurate predictions of the variances of the standard probabilities estimated from the test corpus. Third, we introduce a refined testing method that enables us to measure the prediction errors directly and accurately and thus to study small differences between methods. We find that while the errors of both methods are small due to the large amount of data that we use, the enhanced Good-Turing method is three to four times as efficient in its use of data as the enhanced deleted estimate method. Good-Turing method is preferable to the enhanced deleted estimate method. Both methods are much better than MLE.

Ultrasonic pressure gauge for static pressure: Hoechli, U.T., Mueller, F., Nievergelt, H. IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin Vol 14 No 5 (October 1971) pp 1629–1630

Ultrasonic pressure gauge for static pressure: Hoechli, U.T., Mueller, F., Nievergelt, H. IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin Vol 14 No 5 (October 1971) pp 1629–1630