Malthus

I've been more than a month without posting and although I would have liked to write something more about the MWC all the travels and social compromises refrained me to do so.
I would like to write, nevertheless, about something that appeared in a conversation in one of my last business trips. It was about the present financial crisis and its relationship with the energy crisis. The argument was that as our hunger for oil and other resources is so big and our wastes would need three planets to be naturally degradated, we are facing the end of our economic and technological progress.
My point was that this is actually what was pointed by Malthus: The catastrophe in front of a peak on demand and scarcity of resources. Malthusian theories demonstrated wrong because they did not take into account one endogenous factor, i.e. Technological progress.
It is right that we have a problem of scarcity with the present resources and that this trend is not sustainable in the long run, but the solution is not stopping the wheel from spinning, but invest in research and apply an economic rationallity to the resources and reflex in its price the actual costs of consuming these resources.

From a Physics perspective we have not reach in any way the limit of energy consumption nor of space occupied: Only a small fraction of the energy that comes from the sun would be necessary to supply the present energy needs and vast areas of the earth remain deserted.
This does not mean that things will get on track alone and we have to do nothing. We have a tough task in front of us, but if we realize of the importance of the problem and strongly believe that altogether we can find a solution, it will come.

New Apollo Program

Some days ago I read in the Time magazine that Obama is really committed to start a New Apollo Program related to achieving for the US energetic independence. This is a Kennedy's size program and I really agree that a superpower like the US must be involved in any big achievement regarding this topic in the present time.
Europeans are really committed to the ITER initiative to find an alternative to Oil in Nuclear Fusion. The US has also relationship with this project but I see the approach of the US more broad. I guess that several different approaches will be established in the first times, then select two or three of them, the most promising, and progress them to final stages. Just then will be a bet for only one of them, but once it is seen its final viability.

And all this in a 10 years time frame. I think that this is fairly possible and it could bring two things to the present world: An objective to fight for in turmoil times and a long term solution to Oil dependence. I am sure it will not mean ending with Oil, oil is useful for several applications, but it can reduce the widespread presence of it. An in times of economic crisis public investment and spend is capital to find the way out.

Related to this today I found an interesting video in youtube on conmuting in DC...



Bravo Obama!

UOC revisited

Some days ago I wrote about the UOC, this Open University that inspires me and leads me to get my MSc. in Knowledge and Information Society. I must say that I was totally wrong. What I interpreted from my tutor explanations and what he really meant had nothing to do. I thought as the university realized that a 12 week period for developing a MSc. Thesis work was to short time to do it when working full time and because that they gave us the opportunity to finish the thesis in a longer period without having to enroll again and pay the tuition fee.

I was wrong as I said. Not only I have to pay again the tuition fee but I have not been able to enroll and keep the access to the restricted contents of the library... really sad. Luckily I am member of the Old Students of the University of Barcelona, where I studied my degree in physics, and keep the access to the materials of this library.

So, after a year and a half of moderate satisfaction with the UOC, I am really disappointed because they bad way to manage this issue.

More on Thesis Sources

Patents, patents, patents!

I have been working a bit more on the patents side of my thesis. After the previous script that retrieved the data from the Wipo website on a patents query search, I have developed another script to import this data into a database. I have used a PostgreSQL DB although I have not been able to integrate it directly to Python, I have used ODBC connections instead. I guess that but the connection parameters it is suitable for any ODBC ready database.

It creates two tables. One with all the patents information and another one that relates this patents to the search terms that resulted on it. I paste here the definition of both tables:

-- Table: patents

-- DROP TABLE patents;

CREATE TABLE patents
(
p_id integer NOT NULL,
p_code character(20),
pub_dated date,
description character(512),
applicant character(1000),
intl_class character(15),
appl_number character(20),
url character(500),
abstract character(3000),
CONSTRAINT firstkey PRIMARY KEY (p_id)
)
WITH (OIDS=FALSE);
ALTER TABLE patents OWNER TO postgres;

-- Index: codeidx

-- DROP INDEX codeidx;

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX codeidx
ON patents
USING btree
(p_code);



-- Table: patent_query

-- DROP TABLE patent_query;

CREATE TABLE patent_query
(
recid integer NOT NULL,
pat_id integer,
query_terms character(256) NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT patent_query_pkey PRIMARY KEY (recid),
CONSTRAINT patent_query_pat_id_fkey FOREIGN KEY (pat_id)
REFERENCES patents (p_id) MATCH SIMPLE
ON UPDATE NO ACTION ON DELETE NO ACTION
)
WITH (OIDS=FALSE);
ALTER TABLE patent_query OWNER TO postgres;

-- Index: queryidx

-- DROP INDEX queryidx;

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX queryidx
ON patent_query
USING btree
(pat_id, query_terms);

I have uploaded the second script to the site and can be found here, along with the previous one.

WIPO Python document retriever

Working on the sources for my MSc. Thesis I started to have a look to the patent finder of the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). As it is the world database and the topic I am covering is quite globalised I think that it is the best IPR database to do the analysis. I need to do such an analysis of several searches on the Wipo database and I have not close the terms of the final search I have to do. So, I have to perform previous searches, analyze the number of records per year, applicant... and then decide if the terms are OK.

The point is that the way the records are retrieved is not useful enough. Thus I have written a Python script that retrieves the records that match the terms of search and stores them in a delimiter separated file. This file can be imported in a calc sheet and analyzed with the usual tools, or even exported to any database format to do advanced treatment of the information.

I put it in online under a Creative Commons license, as usual. I will update the code uploaded if I make further developments.

Here is a sample of what you would get if you execute:

C> wiposearchretrieve.py "Smartcard"

Query Params|Record Id.|Patent Code|Publication Date|Description|International Class|Application Number|Applicant Name|url|Abstract
SIM+Card|1|WO 2008/052205|02.05.2008|COMBINED ALGORITHMIC AND EDITORIAL-REVIEWED MOBILE CONTENT SEARCH RESULTS|G06Q 10/00|PCT/US2007/082754|JUMP TAP, INC.|http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/fetch.jsp?LANG=ENG&DBSELECT=PCT&SERVER_TYPE=19-10&SORT=41236014-KEY&TYPE_FIELD=256&IDB=0&IDOC=1451431&C=10&ELEMENT_SET=BASICHTML-ENG&RESULT=1&TOTAL=3280&START=1&DISP=500&FORM=SEP-0/HITNUM,B-ENG,DP,MC,AN,PA,ABSUM-ENG&SEARCH_IA=US2007082754&QUERY=%22SIM+Card%22|In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for reviewing mobile content to determine relevance such that presenting the reviewed content to a mobile communication facility may be based at least in part on the relevance. The reviewed content may be subject to an algorithmic review, an editorial review, or a combined algorithmic- editorial review. The reviewed content may be blacklisted and prevented from being presented, whitelisted and permitted to be presented to the mobile communication facility, or given a relevance score based at least in part on appropriateness of content. Portions of the reviewed content may be removed or replaced with appropriate content prior to presentation to the user.
SIM+Card|2|WO 2008/052100|02.05.2008|PORTABLE MULTIFUNCTION DEVICE, METHOD, AND GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR ADJUSTING AN INSERTION POINT MARKER|G06F 3/048|PCT/US2007/082486|APPLE INC.|http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/fetch.jsp?LANG=ENG&DBSELECT=PCT&SERVER_TYPE=19-10&SORT=41236014-KEY&TYPE_FIELD=256&IDB=0&IDOC=1451325&C=10&ELEMENT_SET=BASICHTML-ENG&RESULT=2&TOTAL=3280&START=1&DISP=500&FORM=SEP-0/HITNUM,B-ENG,DP,MC,AN,PA,ABSUM-ENG&SEARCH_IA=US2007082486&QUERY=%22SIM+Card%22|In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-implemented method is performed at a portable electronic device with a touch screen display. The method includes: displaying graphics and an insertion marker at a first location in the graphics on the touch screen display; detecting a finger contact with the touch screen display; and in response to the detected finger contact, expanding the insertion marker from a first size to a second size on the touch screen display and expanding a portion of the graphics on the touch screen display from an original size to an expanded size. The method further includes detecting movement of the finger contact on the touch screen display and moving the expanded insertion marker in accordance with the detecte...
SIM+Card|3|WO 2008/051718|02.05.2008|METHOD, SYSTEM, AND GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR MAKING CONFERENCE CALLS|H04M 1/247|PCT/US2007/080971|APPLE INC.|http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/fetch.jsp?LANG=ENG&DBSELECT=PCT&SERVER_TYPE=19-10&SORT=41236014-KEY&TYPE_FIELD=256&IDB=0&IDOC=1450639&C=10&ELEMENT_SET=BASICHTML-ENG&RESULT=3&TOTAL=3280&START=1&DISP=500&FORM=SEP-0/HITNUM,B-ENG,DP,MC,AN,PA,ABSUM-ENG&SEARCH_IA=US2007080971&QUERY=%22SIM+Card%22|A user interface for handling multiple calls includes displaying an image associated with a first party on a first call and an image associated with a second party on a second call. When one call is active and the other call is on hold, the image associated with the party that is on the active call is visually highlighted to make it more visually prominent relative to the other image. When both calls are joined into a conference call, both images are displayed adjacent to each other and neither is visually highlighted relative to the other.
...
...

Sources of information

It is interesting to see how hard is to get the right sources for developing a rigorous work on any subject. Let's say that sources are half of the final result. Of course, the effort is not half, just like buying good bricks is not half of the effort of building a house, but a bad election of bricks would have dramatic consequences in the final result.

In my work regarding the knowledge production on the SIM technology, I have found some databases that would help in the retrieving of records related with the research. I have mainly found in the UPC library page. I have also checked in the UB and UOC library, as I have remote access for this libraries only, and almost them all are accessible from them.

Additionally I have started using del.icio.us, the fantastic online bookmarks manager. I am not a fan of bookmarks thus the elementary possibilities provided by firefox sufficed my needs, but now that I have to look for interesting and locatable sources in the Internet, it is a very powerful tool.

One of the problem of creating a knowledge database is the format. First I started with MSWord, the I switched to BibTex, and finally I did it in Excel. I will combine the use of Excel with Python scripts to be able to convert between this format and the others... let's see how it works ;-)

Globalization and Inequality

Recently I had the opportunity to read a brief note on the results of a work of the International Monetary Fund that has two news. One of them is good and the other is bad. I know that the IMF is not an independent NPO that has no interests in globalization, but I want to think that the papers published are actual independent science.
The bad news is that globalization, and more specifically technology, has a negative consequence in the inqualities of the world. That is, as technology and direct foreign investment gets into a country, inequality rises. Notwithstanding increase global trading reduces it.
The good one is that although it is true that globalization negatively influences inequality, as the Gini coefficients show, the overall states of the population increases in absolute terms. That is, the poor are less poor and the rich get richer.

I have been always of the idea that globalization, the good one, is positive for the world. The conscience that we all are in the same planet. fight for the same things and have the same fears may save the planet from a final war. Additionally, global trade has given prosperity to the world in absolute terms. Never has been as many people as today living with the standard of living we have. Of course, never has been also so many poor people. Anyhow globalization, from my point of view, may take the solutions to some of the present problems of the world. Opening trade barriers in the developed countries, especially those that refer to farming and agricultural products, will increase the possibilities of poor countries to produce products for what they are competitive enough and that can profit. Of course, the process of globalization must change, but rising new trading barriers and strengthening the national borders will not get the solution. The possibility of killing 6 billion people in the world to go back to the eighteenth century is not acceptable.

Master Thesis Advisor

Looking for the Master Thesis advisor I have found a very interesting researcher. He has been tied to the UOC but nowadays he is working for the University of Birminghan. He is Max Boisot and although I didn?t heard anything about him in my previous studies, It has a book that seems very atracting: Knowledge Assets. I expect to have a look in it, try to figure out how it can be related with my work and make a brief review in these pages.

Also,I received a possitive answer from Victor Cavaller, a researcher from the IN3 interested in doing the advising job. Hope soon to have the opportunity to exchange impressions on the Thesis and let?s see how is it going!