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Research and development (R&D) consortia are specialized strategic alliances that shape the direction and scope of firm innovation activities. Little research exists on the performance consequences of participating in R& D consortia. We study the effect of patent pools, a unique form of R& D consortia, on firm performance in innovation. While prior research on alliances generally implies that patent pools enhance firm innovation, our study finds the opposite. Analyzing data on systemic innovation in the global optical disc industry, we find that patent pool formation substantially and significantly decreases both the quantity and quality of patents subsequently generated by licensors and licensees relative to the patenting activity of nonparticipants. Our empirical findings suggest that patent pools actually inhibit, rather than enhance, systemic innovation by participating firms.

Digital storage in five dimensions In the cause of cramming more and more data onto optical storage devices, materials scientists have sought to add extra dimensions to recording media, literally. Now a group from Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology has developed a five-dimensional optical recording technique with the potential to increase storage capacities by several orders of magnitude. The extra dimensions are the wavelength and polarization of light, which integrated with the familiar three spatial dimensions creates true five-dimensional recording within one volume. The result is a theoretical 1.6 terabytes capacity for a DVD-sized disk. The new system makes use of surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-mediated photothermal reshaping of a substrate of gold nanorods immersed in a polymer layer. Crosstalk-free readout is via two-photon luminescence. Immediate applications can be found in security patterning and multiplexed optical storage. By exploiting not only the three spatial dimensions but also other ways to record information, it is theoretically possible to store much more onto an optical device such as a DVD than has hitherto been possible. Here, a five-dimensional optical recording technique using polarization of light and its wavelength as the two additional dimensions, is demonstrated. The method consists of using a substrate of gold nanorods immersed in polymer. Multiplexed optical recording provides an unparalleled approach to increasing the information density beyond 10 12 bits per cm 3 (1 Tbit cm -3 ) by storing multiple, individually addressable patterns within the same recording volume. Although wavelength 1 , 2 , 3 , polarization 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 and spatial dimensions 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 have all been exploited for multiplexing, these approaches have never been integrated into a single technique that could ultimately increase the information capacity by orders of magnitude. The major hurdle is the lack of a suitable recording medium that is extremely selective in the domains of wavelength and polarization and in the three spatial domains, so as to provide orthogonality in all five dimensions. Here we show true five-dimensional optical recording by exploiting the unique properties of the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of gold nanorods. The longitudinal SPR exhibits an excellent wavelength and polarization sensitivity, whereas the distinct energy threshold required for the photothermal recording mechanism provides the axial selectivity. The recordings were detected using longitudinal SPR-mediated two-photon luminescence, which we demonstrate to possess an enhanced wavelength and angular selectivity compared to conventional linear detection mechanisms. Combined with the high cross-section of two-photon luminescence, this enabled non-destructive, crosstalk-free readout. This technique can be immediately applied to optical patterning, encryption and data storage, where higher data densities are pursued.

— The possibility of evaluating the quality of thermal diffusion welding of two yttrium aluminum garnet crystals in a composite optical disk has been studied using the optoacoustic method. To obtain acoustic images of thermal diffusion welding, an optoacoustic transducer connected through an optical fiber with a pulsed laser (wavelength of 532 nm, pulse duration of 10 ns) were used for scanning over the disk surface. The ultrasonic pulses in the frequency range up to 80 MHz are recorded simultaneously with movement of the transducer over an area of 16×16 mm with a step of 0.1 mm. Two ultrasonic scanning modes were used: forward and backward. The 15-mm-diameter composite disks with different quality of thermal diffusion welding were tested. The possibility of quantifying the quality of the diffusion layer using an optoacoustic method for objective comparison of the disks is discussed. The obtained data are confirmed by the results of measurements using an optical projection method.

We describe a method for storing sequences of optical data pulses by converting them into long-lived acoustic excitations in an optical fiber through the process of stimulated Brillouin scattering. These stored pulses can be retrieved later, after a time interval limited by the lifetime of the acoustic excitation. In the experiment reported here, smooth 2-nanosecond-long pulses are stored for up to 12 nanoseconds with good readout efficiency: 29% at 4-nanosecond storage time and 2% at 12 nanoseconds. This method thus can potentially store data packets that are many bits long. It can be implemented at any wavelength where the fiber is transparent and can be incorporated into existing telecommunication networks because it operates using only commercially available components at room temperature.

Little theory and research addresses the ways organizational context affects the demography of products. We examine this question here by focusing on an organization's mode of market entry. Specifically, we explore differences between firms entering a market de novo (start-up) and those entering de alio (diversification from another market). We analyze all products ever shipped in the worldwide optical disk drive (ODD) industry, 1983–1999. We find an almost paradoxical empirical pattern, whereby de novo firms typically introduce products with widely agreed upon \"better\" (that is, universally more appealing) technological characteristics. Yet these products generally stay on the market for a shorter time than those of de alio firms, whose products generally display less appealing technological features.

High-capacity storage technologies are needed to meet our ever-growing data demands 1 , 2 . However, data centres based on major storage technologies such as semiconductor flash devices and hard disk drives have high energy burdens, high operation costs and short lifespans 2 , 3 . Optical data storage (ODS) presents a promising solution for cost-effective long-term archival data storage. Nonetheless, ODS has been limited by its low capacity and the challenge of increasing its areal density 4 , 5 . Here, to address these issues, we increase the capacity of ODS to the petabit level by extending the planar recording architecture to three dimensions with hundreds of layers, meanwhile breaking the optical diffraction limit barrier of the recorded spots. We develop an optical recording medium based on a photoresist film doped with aggregation-induced emission dye, which can be optically stimulated by femtosecond laser beams. This film is highly transparent and uniform, and the aggregation-induced emission phenomenon provides the storage mechanism. It can also be inhibited by another deactivating beam, resulting in a recording spot with a super-resolution scale. This technology makes it possible to achieve exabit-level storage by stacking nanoscale disks into arrays, which is essential in big data centres with limited space. Optical nanoscale disk memory with petabit-level capacity is developed by extending the recording architecture to three dimensions with hundreds of layers, and exabit-level storage can be achieved by stacking the disks into arrays.

CD and DVD Forensics will take the reader through all facets of handling, examining, and processing CD and DVD evidence for computer forensics. At a time where data forensics is becoming a major part of law enforcement and prosecution in the public sector, and corporate and system security in the private sector, the interest in this subject has just begun to blossom.CD and DVD Forensics is a how to book that will give the reader tools to be able to open CDs and DVDs in an effort to identify evidence of a crime. These tools can be applied in both the public and private sectors. Armed with this information, law enforcement, corporate security, and private investigators will be able to be more effective in their evidence related tasks. To accomplish this the book is divided into four basic parts: (a) CD and DVD physics dealing with the history, construction and technology of CD and DVD media, (b) file systems present on CDs and DVDs and how these are different from that which is found on hard disks, floppy disks and other media, (c) considerations for handling CD and DVD evidence to both recover the maximum amount of information present on a disc and to do so without destroying or altering the disc in any way, and (d) using the InfinaDyne product CD/DVD Inspector to examine discs in detail and collect evidence.This is the first book addressing using the CD/DVD Inspector product in a hands-on manner with a complete step-by-step guide for examining evidence discsSee how to open CD's and DVD'd and extract all the crucial evidence they may contain

Phase-change materials are suitable for data storage because they exhibit reversible transitions between crystalline and amorphous states that have distinguishable electrical and optical properties. Consequently, these materials find applications in diverse memory devices ranging from conventional optical discs to emerging nanophotonic devices. Current research efforts are mostly devoted to phase-change random access memory, whereas the applications of phase-change materials in other types of memory devices are rarely reported. Here we review the physical principles of phase-change materials and devices aiming to help researchers understand the concept of phase-change memory. We classify phase-change memory devices into phase-change optical disc, phase-change scanning probe memory, phase-change random access memory, and phase-change nanophotonic device, according to their locations in memory hierarchy. For each device type we discuss the physical principles in conjunction with merits and weakness for data storage applications. We also outline state-of-the-art technologies and future prospects.

The rapid growth of streaming video entertainment has recently received attention as a possibly less energy intensive alternative to the manufacturing and transportation of digital video discs (DVDs). This study utilizes a life-cycle assessment approach to estimate the primary energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions associated with video viewing through both traditional DVD methods and online video streaming. Base-case estimates for 2011 video viewing energy and CO2(e) emission intensities indicate video streaming can be more efficient than DVDs, depending on DVD viewing method. Video streaming benefits from relatively more efficient end-user devices than DVD viewing, though much of that savings is lost when accounting for the additional energy from network data transmission. Video streaming appears distinctly favorable when compared against any DVD viewing that includes consumer driving, which significantly increases the energy and CO2(e) emissions per viewing hour. Total US 2011 video viewing required about 192 PJ of primary energy and emitted about 10.5 billion kg of CO2(e). Shifting all 2011 DVD viewing to video streaming reduces the total primary energy use to about 162 PJ and the CO2(e) emissions to about 8.6 billion kg, representing a savings equivalent to the primary energy used to meet the electricity demand of nearly 200 000 US households each year. Sensitivity analysis indicates that results are most influenced by the end-user DVD player power demand, data transmission energy, and consumer travel for store DVDs. Data center energy use-both operational and embodied within the IT equipment-account for <1% of the total video streaming energy use. Results from this study indicate that designers and policy makers should focus on the efficiency of end-user devices and network transmission energy to curb future increases in energy use from the proliferation of video streaming.

We review some recent work by Mannheim and O'Brien on the systematics of galactic rotation curves in the conformal gravity theory. In this work the conformal theory was applied to a comprehensive, high quality sample of spiral galaxies whose rotation curves extend well beyond the galactic optical disks. On galactic scales the conformal gravitational theory departs from the standard Newtonian theory in two distinct ways. One is a local way in which local matter sources within galaxies generate not just Newtonian potentials but linear potentials as well. The other is a global way in which two universal global potentials, one linear the other quadratic, are generated by the rest of the matter in the universe. The study involves a broad set of 138 spiral galaxies of differing luminosities and sizes, and is augmented here through the inclusion of an additional three tidal dwarf galaxies. With its linear and quadratic potentials the conformal theory can account for the systematics of an entire 141 galaxy sample without any need for galactic dark matter, doing so with only one free parameter per galaxy, namely the visible galactic mass to light ratio.