text:
T 1318/18 (Dry granulated cell culture media/MERCK) of 21.10.2022
C12N 5/00
A61K 9/20
DRY GRANULATED CELL CULTURE MEDIA
Merck Patent GmbH
Hüttermann, Aloys
European Patent Convention Art 54
European Patent Convention Art 100(a)
European Patent Convention Art 100(b)
Rules of procedure of the Boards of Appeal Art 12(4)
"Main Request - requirements of the EPC met (yes)"
I. European patent No. 2 652 123 is based on European patent application No. 11 788 050.0, (published as WO 2012/079679 on the 21 June 2012). The patent, entitled "DRY GRANULATED CELL CULTURE MEDIA", was opposed on the grounds of Article 100(a) in conjunction with Articles 54 and 56 EPC, and of Article 100(b) EPC. An opposition division considered the patent as granted to fulfill the requirements of the EPC.
II. The opponent (appellant) lodged an appeal against the decision of the opposition division and submitted new documents E44 to E46.
III. The patent proprietor (respondent) replied to appellant's statement of grounds of appeal and submitted five auxiliary requests.
IV. Appellant submitted further observations in reply to the proprietor's submissions.
V. The appellant without making any substantive submissions, announced its intention not to attend oral proceedings.
VI. The board summoned the parties to oral proceedings and, in a communication sent in preparation of the oral proceedings, expressed its provisional opinion, inter alia on issues concerning Articles 83, 54 and 56 EPC.
VII. With a letter dated 22 July 2022, the respondent, without making any substantive submissions, announced its intention not to attend the oral proceedings in view of the preliminary opinion expressed in the board's communication.
VIII. Oral proceedings were cancelled.
IX. Claim 1 of the main request (granted claims) reads as follows:
"1. The use of a dry granulated cell culture medium which does not comprise peptones or tryptones preparable by
a) providing a cell culture medium comprising one or more saccharide components, one or more amino acids, one or more vitamins, one or more salts, one or more buffer components, one or more co-factors and one or more nucleic acid components, in form of a mixed powder of the medium components, whereby the medium does not comprise peptones or tryptones
b) compacting said mixed powder in a roll press,
characterized in that step b) is performed by
b1) compacting said mixed powder in a roll press
b2) reintroducing all parts of the compacted cell culture medium obtained in step b1) which have a particle size of smaller than 0.5 mm into the cell culture medium in form of a mixed powder of the medium components to be filled in the roll press
for culturing cells by:
a) dissolving the dry granulated cell culture medium which does not comprise peptones or tryptones in a solvent to form a liquid cell culture medium
b) contacting said liquid cell culture medium with said cells to be cultured".
Dependent claims 2 to 8 define specific embodiments of claim 1.
X. The following documents are referred to in this decision:
E1: WO 02/36735 A2, published on 10 May 2002;
E2: US 2008/0254119 Al, published on
16 October 2008;
E3: R. Fike et al. Cytotechnology, vol.36, pages
33-39, (2001);
E7: Wibowo C. and Ng K.M. AIChE Journal, vol.45 (8),
pages 1629-1648 (1999);
E8: Miller, R. W., Roller Compaction technology,
pages 159-190; in Handbook of Pharmaceutical
Granulation Technology, 2nd ed. 2005; (Parikh,
D.M., ed.);
E10: P. Kleinebudde, European Journal of
Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics vol.58,
pages 317-326, (2004);
E22: DE 2 220 065, published on 1973;
E29: Letter of Applicant/Proprietor dated 15 August
E32: Media formulation of 10x concentrated "Medium
199" retrieved from the internet in September
E33: Sigma Aldrich data sheet for MCDB 131 Medium,
E36: Handbuch der Mechanischen I Verfahrenstechnik,
H. Schubert, ed., Band 1, ISBN 3-527-30577-7,
pages 212-269, 434-437, 460-481, and
492-499 (2003);
E37: Handbuch der Agglomerationstechnik, G. Heinze,
ed., ISBN 3-527-29788-X, pages 28-35, 47-48,
57-58, 119-129, and 134-146, (2000);
E38: German Wikipedia entry "Hefeextrakt", retrieved
from the internet in September 2017;
E39: DSMZ, recipe for Glucose Yeast Extract Medium,
(2010);
E40: Remington, The Science and Practice of Pharmacy,
21st edition, ISBN 0-7817-4673-6, pages 891-892
E41: A. Salazar et al. Powder Technology, vol.301,
pages 110-117,(2016);
E42: Attachment 1 of E30;
E46: The internet archive WayBackMachine, website of
the DSMZ dated 18 March 2010;
E47: Composition of a cell culture medium according
to claim 1;
E48: Result of a compaction of a composition of a
cell culture medium according to claim 1.
XI. The submissions made by the appellant as far as relevant to this decision were essentially as follows:
Claim interpretation
Claim 1 used the expression "dry granulated cell culture medium". The "dry granulated cell culture medium" could be interpreted either as a cell culture medium which had been subjected to dry granulation or as a dry cell culture medium in granulated form. The latter medium was repeatedly compared to a dry powdered cell culture medium (see paragraphs [0012], [0014] (prior art section); [0016] (object of the invention); [0017] (solution claimed)). The dry cell culture medium in granulated form might be prepared by wet granulation or dry granulation. The dry cell culture medium obtained by dry granulation, preparable by applying a step of compacting said mixed powder in a roll press, could not be distinguished from a dry cell culture medium obtained by wet granulation.
Although the patent mentioned that dry granulation conditions were allegedly milder than wet granulation conditions and allowed for the direct and easy processing of media comprising heat- and/or oxidation sensitive substances like vitamins, glucose, thiamine, iron salts or components comprising disulfide bonds (see paragraphs [0014] to [0016] and [0076]), no experimental evidence demonstrated that this roller compacting step preserved these components from alteration or destruction. The advantage conferred by the compacting of said mixed powder in a roll press over wet granulation (document El) and/or tableting (document E22) was not credible based on the content of the patent application.
The step of compacting said mixed powder in a roll press in the product by process definition of claim 1 could not confer any property to the dry cell culture medium in granulated form and as such could not confer a technical character to the dry granulated cell culture medium. The breaking edges of the granules of the medium were due to the way it was prepared and had not been shown to have an effect on the culturing of the cells by a) dissolving the dry granulated cell culture medium and b) contacting said liquid cell culture medium with said cells to be cultured.
The reintroduction of all parts of the compacted cell culture medium obtained in step b1) which have a particle size of smaller than 0.5 mm into the cell culture medium in the form of a mixed powder of the medium components to be filled in the roll press might distinguish the method of preparing dry granulated media from dry powdered media. However, this step was not shown to confer any technical effect to dry cell culture media apart from an increase in the cost-efficiency of the process.
Dependent claim 5 clarified that the method of claim 1 could comprise a further step c), following step bl) and step b2), in which the material obtained from compacting said mixed powder in a roll press is further processed in a sieve mill. The process of preparing the dry granulated cell culture medium could therefore involve additional steps, which did not allow a final particle size for the dry granulated cell culture medium to be fixed.
Sufficiency of disclosure
The only example of the patent did not fall under the ambit of claim 1. The supplementary evidence submitted by the respondent to address the objection raised under Article 83 EPC during examination was provided with insufficient information to allow the skilled person to reliably and validly reproduce the tests made.
There was no indication of the process parameters, such as the milling degree, size of the rolls, roller speed and press force. The cell culture medium composition used in the supplementary experiments was not defined and thus not reproducible. It was furthermore unclear how the hydrates in salts, the percentage of the saccharides in the medium had to be calculated. It was unclear why the components in media D and E added up to a percentage value by weight above and below 100% going beyond a rounding error. The indication that nucleic acid compounds are ">0" was obscure. Finally, the presence of a cofactor in the cell culture medium was questioned.
Document E41 provided no evidence that the process defined in claim 1 was sufficient to prepare the dry-granulated cell culture medium used in claim 1. Besides, it was unknown whether the media used in document E41 contained saccharides and at least one cofactor.
The type and content of saccharide was essential as a binding agent for the invention to be carried out (see documents E8, page 160, middle of the page; E37, page 30, and E40, paragraph bridging pages 891 and 892). For this reason and based on documents E37 and E40, the technical effect could not be plausibly achieved over the whole scope of claim 1 and the invention therefore not carried out without undue burden across the entire claimed scope.
Document E48 was a representation of a compacted cell culture medium whose compaction was carried out according to the specifications of the patent. Document E47 defined the composition of the cell culture medium according to claim 1 that was compacted and represented in document E48. However, there was no indication of what "according to the specifications of the patent" had to mean. Under these circumstances, it was doubtful that the compaction shown in document E48 was reproducible.
Since the patent failed to provide at least one example of and sufficient information on how the invention could be put into practice over the entire breadth of the claims, there was only a weak presumption that the invention was sufficiently disclosed.
Under these circumstances appellant could discharge his burden of proof by plausibly arguing that the skilled person would not be able to put the invention into practice over the entire breadth of the claim using common general knowledge (see decision T 63/06, reasons points 3.1.1-3.2.2).
Neither the components of the medium nor the steps of preparing said medium or reintroducing particles of small size into the mixed powder could establish novelty.
Document E1 disclosed a method for producing a dry cell culture medium comprising the salt and buffering agent sodium bicarbonate (see page 51, line 12; page 53, lines 14 to 17; and page 57, lines 18 to 21 of document El). The cell culture medium was intended for culturing mammalian cells such as CHO cells, COS cells, VERO cells, BHK cells, AE-1 cells, SP2/0 cells, L5.1 cells, hybridomas cells or human cells (see page 10, lines 16 to 18). Typical media components were amino acids, salts, vitamins, sugars (i.e. saccharides), nucleic acids and sodium bicarbonate (see page 17, lines 18 to 19, and page 15, lines 16 to 24). Medium 199, MCDB 131 and MCDB 153 were without tryptone and peptone as shown in documents E32, E33 and E34 respectively (see page 21, lines 10 to 26). The combined use of a spray-drying apparatus and a fluid bed apparatus integrated within the drying chamber was used for the production of powders from heat-sensitive formulations of nutritive media. A spray-dried and agglomerated powdered nutritive medium was obtained (i.e. granulated cell culture media)(see Examples 5 and 6 and page 35, line 26 to page 36, line 3).
The step b2) of reintroducing all parts of the compacted cell culture medium obtained in step b1) of claim 1 did not confer a particular inherent property to the dry granulated cell culture medium, but implied that the dry granulated cell culture medium had a particle size larger than 0.5 mm and was dust-free (see page 32, lines 17 to 26).
Even if claim 1 was limited to the use of a dry-granulated cell culture medium obtained by roller compaction, there was no evidence on file that the physical appearance of the resulting granulates contributed to the technical character of the dry cell culture medium. The form of the granulates represented an aesthetic creation under Article 52 (b) EPC. Moreover, claim 1 included embodiments which due to additional downstream processing of the granules had lost said property (see claim 5). The breaking edges were smoothed and/or lost.
Although some of the components, such as salts, cysteine and iron salts, might be subjected to ion exchange and/or a change in their oxidative state, depending on the process used, claim 1 did not require a cell culture medium comprising cysteine or an iron salt, nor a cell culture medium comprising salts which might undergo an ion exchange. Independent of whether the dry cell culture medium in granulated form was prepared by dry granulation or wet granulation, the physical and/or chemical effects reported above would inevitably also occur after the dry cell culture medium in granulated form was dissolved in a solvent as required by claim 1. Moreover, no evidence was provided demonstrating a better dissolution behavior or a better performance during cell culture of a dry-granulated cell culture medium as compared to a wet-granulated cell culture medium.
The only compound dissolved and spray-dried in the examples of document El was sodium bicarbonate, and none of the above-described redox-effects could be ascribed to sodium bicarbonate. The aqueous solution functioned as a film forming binding agent (see document E37, page 30, section 3.7.2), which agglomerated the undissolved dry media particles.
Document E22 related to dry, solid culture media which were suitable for cell and tissue cultures in which the nutritive properties of the individual constituents remained essentially stable. The media could be in granulated form (see pages 4 and 9, last paragraph, respectively). The cell culture medium components of NCTC-109, which did not comprise peptone or tryptone, were disclosed (see pages 11 to 13). The dry cell culture medium was tabletted or pelleted or granulated. However, tablets and pellets could only be obtained by pressure-agglomeration techniques and eventually with roller compaction (see common general knowledge evidenced by E7, page 1632, Figure 2 (d), upper panel; and E36, page 472, section 6.2.2; and E37, pages 119-120). Tablets were redissolved in distilled or deionized water and used for culturing cells (see E22, page 9, lines 3 to 4 from the bottom; Example 1).
Document E39 disclosed a standard bacterial cell culture medium, in which yeast extract was formulated into a peptone- or tryptone-free buffered solution by addition of salts such as calcium carbonate, which further comprised a saccharide such as glucose. Yeast extract was known to encompass amino acids, vitamins, and cofactors, such as biotin and nucleic acids obtainable after yeast-autolysis (see document E38). This medium could be formulated into a dry granulate as reported in paragraph [0012] of the patent.
Inventive step
Document E1 or alternatively document E22 represented the closest prior art for the the subject-matter of claim 1.
Document E1 disclosed a method for producing a dry cell culture medium comprising the salt and buffering agent sodium bicarbonate. Typical media components were amino acids, salts, vitamins, sugars (i.e. saccharides), nucleic acids and sodium bicarbonate . The combined use of a spray-drying apparatus and a fluid bed apparatus integrated within the drying chamber was used for the production of powders from heat-sensitive formulations of nutritive media. A spray-dried and agglomerated powdered nutritive medium was obtained (i.e. granulated cell culture media).
The difference between document E1 and the subject-matter of claim 1 was that the dry granulated cell culture medium was preparable by a process defined in claim 1 comprising the step of compacting mixed dry powders in a roll press versus wet granulation in document E1. The dry granulation process using roller compaction defined in claim 1 resulted in flakes having breaking edges while wet granulation did not (see document E42).
There was no evidence in the patent that the preparation of dry-granulated cell culture medium avoided side reactions caused by wetting or heating in comparison to a granulated medium prepared by wet granulation methods.
Since the advantages referred to in paragraphs [0015] and [0016] of the patent, imparted to the dry-granulated cell culture medium compared to cell culture media prepared by wet granulation, lacked an adequate support, the technical problem needed to be formulated as the provision of an alternative cell culture medium in granulated form for use in cell culture.
The proposed solution was a cell culture medium in granulated form exhibiting breaking edges which was preparable by a dry-granulation method defined in claim 1.
Obviousness
The skilled person in this case was a team of a scientists working in the field of cell culturing and a process engineer in the field of chemical engineering who can be expected to look for suggestions in neighbouring fields if the same or similar problems arose in such fields.
The common general knowledge was represented by documents E36 and E37. The knowledge in the neighboring field pertaining to dry granulation was represented by documents E8 and E10. Document E37 related to problems and definitions of compacting by a practical example which used a roller compactor for pressure agglomeration. This process included a step of recycling of the fine particles (see page 144 and seq.). Hence, it formed part of the common general knowledge that different forms of a product could be achieved by applying different granulation techniques.
In consequence, starting from document El the claimed solution was obvious.
Document E22 described the provision of sterile, powder like culture media which were suitable for cell culture, in particular of mammalian cells (see page 4, second paragraph). The culture media were in any suitable form such as in the form of "trockenen Pulvern, Granulaten, Pellets" (engl. "dry powders, granulates, pellets") which could later on be redissolved in distilled water (see page 9, last paragraph). There was no deterioration of heat-sensitive substances in the medium as it exhibited the same "cloning efficiency" as "untreated" liquid medium.
Therefore, starting from document El and aiming at providing an alternative cell culture medium in granulated form for use in culturing cells, the skilled person would have been guided to a dry cell culture medium in granulated form prepared by dry granulation in light of common general knowledge such as documents E36, E37, and E40 and/or E22.
Alternatively, starting from document E22 as the closest prior art, the subject-matter of claim 1 differed from the tableted cell culture medium disclosed in document E22, in that it was prepared by compaction (i.e. dry granulation), e.g. by preparing pellets or tablets which were then crushed to form the dry granulates (see page 9). The method for preparing the cell culture medium in dry form was not shown to be associated with any effect. Hence, the objective problem resided in the provision of an alternative cell culture medium in dry form for use in a method for culturing cells. The solution of providing a dry cell culture medium in pelleted or granulated form was suggested in the last paragraph of page 9 of document E22. Thus, the skilled person confronted with the technical problem identified above would use his/her common general knowledge (see documents E7, E36, E37) to prepare another dry cell culture medium in granular form without the use of inventive activity.
XII. The submissions made by the respondent as far as relevant to this decision were essentially as follows:
There was no ambiguity in the expression "dry granulated cell culture medium" The use of dry granulated cell culture medium according to claim 1 was not only limited by its preamble but also by the step of compacting said mixed powder in a roll press set out in claim 1. This requirement defined that the dry granulated cell culture medium was clearly a "dry-granulated" cell culture medium, regardless of the presence or absence of a comma or hyphen between the terms "dry" and "granulated".
The "dry-granulated" cell culture medium, due to the pressure between the rolls required for compacting said mixed powder in a roll press, exhibited clod-like fragments or flakes with irregular edges (see document E42). On the other hand, wet granular media produced according to document El were shown to be made up of individual granulate berry-shaped particles (see document E3, Figure 2). A material prepared by a dry granulation process was different in its appearance to one which was prepared by a wet granulation. This was confirmed by document E47 (see page 48, section 4.3).
It was possible, if the composition of the original cell culture medium to be processed was known, to determine through chemical analysis of the cell culture medium whether granules were in contact with water or not during their preparation. The wet granulation process might act on the cell culture medium and modify several properties thereof. Water was indeed known to have an effect on some - more or less stable - components of the original cell culture medium. For example, cysteine might form a dimeric form upon contact with water -cystine. The water solubility of cystine was reduced compared to cysteine. Such modified composition would not be converted back to its original composition by a mere drying step. The same rationale applied to the concentrations of chemical salts which, on contact with water and being dried, would form partially substituted salts at different concentrations with different hydrates. Oxidation states of some metallic ions might change when contacted with dissolved ammonium citrate in water. Dry granulation of the cell culture medium prevented any of these changes.
An objection of lack of sufficiency of disclosure raised under Article 83 EPC presupposed serious doubts substantiated by verifiable facts . Even if the supplementary experimental evidence submitted during examination did not include all the experimental details about how the experiments were carried out (see documents E47 and E48) and none of the examples in the patent used a cell culture medium as defined in claim 1, appellant failed to raise serious doubts substantiated by verifiable facts that the invention could not be readily put into practice.
The granulates disclosed in document E1 were obtained by a manufacturing process different from that used in the prior art and had different technical properties. The different physical appearance and a potentially different chemical composition were granted by the different process used. The use of dry compacted cell culture media was not disclosed in document E1. Document E22 did not identify how the cell culture medium was produced. Even if it described to tablet the dry cell culture medium, to pellet same, or to provide it as a granulate, there was nowhere any reference to the use of a dry-granulation method. Document E39 related to a liquid medium and not a dry-granulated medium. Document E46 related to a glucose yeast extract agar. Due to this difference, document E46 could not establish that the medium in document E39 was prior art under Article 54(2) EPC. No document suggested that it was known to use these media as dry granulated media when read in combination with common general knowledge. Thus, claim 1 was novel.
Document E1 represented the closest prior art for the the subject-matter of claim 1.
Document E1 described the preparation and use of wet granulated cell culture media (see page 4, line 27 to page 6, line 19). The cell culture media were prepared in liquid or powder form. Liquid media as recited in document E1 were not stable in storage, whereas powdered media were more stable, but were difficult to handle, because they were often difficult to dissolve and were dusty. Thus, document E1 proposed wet granulation to optimise these media. Powdered media were contacted with liquid, granulated and then dried (page 32, line 27 to page 33, line 14).
Thus, starting from document El, the problem to be solved was to provide an at least alternative form of a cell culture medium for use in cell culture.
The solution to the problem was to use cell culture medium that was dry granulated using a roll press in accordance with claim 1.
Neither document El nor any other cited prior art document suggested a dry granulation performed by compacting said mixed powder in a roll press.
Although roller compaction was a well-known technology, it was never used in the field of cell culture media and was known not to be applicable to all powders. Document E1 contained no suggestion that it might be beneficial to replace wet granulation.
From documents E2, E8 and E10, belonging to the field of pharmacy, and documents E36 and E37, the skilled person was informed that dry compaction was neither easy nor applicable to all powders. Document E2 recommended the addition of so-called lubricants for the production of tablets. Documents E8, E10, E36 and E37 recommended the addition of binders for compaction to ensure that the powder held together.
The combination of document E1 with E22 failed also to suggest the present claimed invention. Document E22 disclosed that cell culture media could be sterilised in various forms, e.g. tablets, granules, powders, etc. Dry compaction was not mentioned.
Starting from document E22, which dealt with the sterilisation of any type of cell culture media, the skilled person without knowledge of the invention would develop this aspect rather than the method of manufacture of these media. There was no reason starting from document E22 to produce media in a particular way, and certainly not by means of dry compaction.
XIII. Appellant requested that the decision under appeal be set aside and the patent be revoked. It further requested that documents E44 to E46 be admitted into the proceedings.
XIV. The patent proprietor (respondent) requested that the appeal be dismissed or alternatively that the European patent be maintained on the basis of auxiliary requests 2-5. Auxiliary requests 2 to 4 were filed with patentee's submission dated 30 November 2017 during the opposition proceedings. Auxiliary request 5 was filed under cover of a letter dated 6 December 2018 with the patentee's reply to the statement of grounds of appeal. It further requested that documents E47 and E48 be admitted into the proceedings.
Procedural issues
Basis of the appeal proceedings
1. Appellant stated in its grounds of appeal inter alia: "Contrary to the Opposition Division (OD)'s finding in point 13.3 of the reasons, this ambiguity of claim 1 results in a lack of novelty over the prior art, as already argued in the Opponent's submission under Rule 116 EPC of 16 November 2017, and Opponent's further submission dated 19 December, 2017." (see statement of the grounds of appeal, page 4 last paragraph). Similarly, respondent stated: "Further, reference is made to the submissions of the patent proprietor dated 23.03.2017, 30.11.2017 and 18.01.2018, which are also to be considered for the appeal proceedings." (see respondent's reply to the statement of the grounds of appeal, page 2/9 first paragraph). Both appellants considered these submissions to form part of their appeal case.
1.1 Pursuant to Article 12(2) RPBA 2007, the content of which has remained substantially unamended in Article 12(3) RPBA 2020, the statement of grounds of appeal and the reply to the statement shall contain a party's complete case. This requirement is not fulfilled by a passing reference to the facts and evidence put forward in opposition proceedings (see also "Case Law of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO", 9th edition 2019, V.A.2.6.3.e), 1169, and V.A.2.6.4.a), 1173).
1.2 Appellant provided no reason why the decision of the opposition division under Article 54 EPC was incorrect in respect of some arguments raised in the opposition proceedings. However, it is for the appellant to put forward in its statement of grounds of appeal its line(s) of argument and each of the facts and evidence on which they want to rely in appeal proceedings. Hence, objections raised in the opposition proceedings which were not adequately substantiated in appeal proceedings are not considered under Article 12(3) RPBA 2020.
Admission of documents E44 to E48 into the appeal proceedings
(Article 12(4) RPBA 2007)
2. With the statement of grounds of appeal, appellant submitted new documents E44 to E46 and with its reply to the statement of grounds of appeal, respondent submitted new documents E47 and E48.
2.1 Since no objections were raised against the admission of documents E44 to E48, the board admits them all into the appeal proceedings (Article 12(4) RPBA 2007).
Main Request (claims 1-8 as granted)
Interpretation of claim 1
3. Appellant agued that the expression "dry granulated cell culture medium" in claim 1 was ambiguous. The "dry granulated cell culture medium" could be interpreted either as a cell culture medium which had been subjected to dry granulation or as a dry cell culture medium in granulated form. A dry cell culture medium in granulated form could be prepared by wet granulation as well as dry granulation. The resulting dry medium could not be distinguished.
3.1 The board disagrees with appellant's interpretation. The dry granulated cell culture medium according to claim 1 is not only defined by the preamble of the claim but also by the step of compacting said mixed powder in a roll press as set out in claim 1. The requirement that the dry granulated cell culture medium is preparable by the method steps a), b), b1) and b2) set out in claim 1 clearly defines the medium as a "dry-granulated" cell culture medium. The patent's teaching confirms this view (see patent paragraph [0027]).
3.2 The "dry-granulated" cell culture medium, due to the pressure between the rolls required for compacting said mixed powder in a roll press, exhibits clod-like fragments or flakes with irregular edges (see document E42). On the other hand, wet granular media produced according to document El were shown to be made up of individual granulate berry-shaped particles (see document E3, Figure 2). Thus, a material prepared by a dry granulation process is different in its appearance to one which was prepared by a wet granulated material. This is confirmed by document E47 (see page 48, section 4.3). Contrary to appellant's submissions, there is thus a structural feature sufficient to distinguish granules according to claim 1 from granules prepared by a wet-granulation method.
3.3 Even if this property were disregarded, the skilled person would nevertheless be capable of determining, if the composition of the original cell culture medium to be processed was known, through chemical analysis of the cell culture medium, whether granules were in contact with water or not during steps (b1) and (b2) of their preparation.
The wet granulation process may act on the cell culture medium and modify several properties thereof. Indeed, water is known to have an effect on some - more or less stable - components of the original cell culture medium. For example, cysteine may form a dimeric form of cysteine upon contact with water - cystine -. The water solubility of cystine is reduced compared to cysteine. Such modified composition will not be converted back to its original composition by a drying step. The same rationale applies to the concentrations of chemical salts which, on contact with water and then dried, will form partially substituted salts at different concentrations with different hydrates. Oxidation states of some metallic ions may change when they are contacted with dissolved ammonium citrate in water. Dry granulation of the cell culture medium prevents any of these changes.
Sufficiency of disclosure (Article 100(b) EPC)
4. Appellant argued that the only example of the patent did not fall under the ambit of claim 1. The supplementary evidence submitted by the respondent to address the objection raised under Article 83 EPC during examination was provided with insufficient information to allow the skilled person to reliably and validly reproduce the tests made. Similarly, the evidence submitted with documents E48 and E47 should be disregarded as they did not specify what "according to the specifications of the patent" means.
4.1 Document E41, submitted by the respondent, provided no evidence that the process defined in claim 1 was sufficient to prepare the dry-granulated cell culture medium used in claim 1. Besides, it was unknown whether the media used in document E41 contained saccharides and at least one cofactor.
4.2 Since the patent did not contain an example falling under claim 1 and did not provide sufficient information on how the invention could be put into practice over the entire breadth of the claims, there was only a weak presumption that the invention was sufficiently disclosed. Under these circumstances, it was sufficient for the appellant to show, by plausible arguments, that the skilled person could not put the invention into practice over the full scope of the claim.
4.3 As the composition of the cell culture media, analysed during examination procedure (see document E29 Table 1), always contained saccharides, appellant asserted that the type and content of saccharide was essential, as a binding agent, for the invention to be carried out (see documents E8, page 160, middle of the page; E37, page 30, and E40, paragraph bridging pages 891 and 892).
5. The board considers that the appellant has confined its submissions to mere allegations and has failed to cast serious doubts, substantiated by verifiable facts that the claimed subject matter could be carried out. First the different compositions of the mixtures used in document E29 could all be compacted "according to the method of the invention". Second, a subsequent experiment establishes that a dry cell culture medium with a low content of saccharide, despite the doubts raised by the appellant in its statement of grounds of appeal, could nevertheless be granulated by a process defined in claim 1 (see documents E48 and E47). Although it is accepted that the appellant could not exactly repeat the experiment submitted during the examination proceedings, this is not required.
Despite providing no example, the patent specification contains some information of how to put the invention into practice. Thus, there is more than only a weak presumption that the invention is sufficiently disclosed. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the information in the description, which may be supplemented by the common knowledge, is considered sufficient to enable the skilled person to carry out the invention without undue burden.
5.1 Consequently, the ground for opposition of Article 100(b) EPC does not prejudice the maintenance of the patent.
Novelty (Article 100(a) in conjunction with Article 54 EPC)
6. Appellant asserted that any one of documents E1, E22 and E39 anticipated the subject-matter of claim 1.
6.1 The parties agreed that neither the composition of the medium, nor the step b2) of reintroducing particles of small size into the mixed powder nor how said medium is used could establish novelty (see decision under appeal, item 13.4.1).
6.1.1 Document E1 discloses a method for producing a dry cell culture medium comprising the salt and buffering agent sodium bicarbonate (see page 51, line 12; page 53, lines 14 to 17; and page 57, lines 18 to 21). The cell culture medium is intended for culturing mammalian cells (see page 10, lines 16 to 18). Typical media components are amino acids, salts, vitamins, sugars (i.e. saccharides), nucleic acids and sodium bicarbonate (see page 17, lines 18 to 19, and page 15, lines 16 to 24). Animal cell culture media are for example medium 199, MCDB 131 and MCDB 153. They are free of tryptone and peptone (see documents E32, E33 and E34, respectively) (see page 21, lines 10 to 26). The combined use of a spray-drying apparatus and a fluid bed apparatus integrated within the drying chamber is used to produce powders from heat-sensitive formulations of nutritive media. A spray-dried and agglomerated powdered nutritive medium is obtained (i.e. a granulated cell culture medium)(see Examples 5 and 6 and page 35, line 26 to page 36, line 3).
The step b2) of reintroducing all parts of the compacted cell culture medium obtained in step b1) of claim 1 does not confer a particular inherent property to the dry granulated cell culture medium, but implies that the dry granulated cell culture medium has a particle size larger than 0.5 mm and is dust-free.
6.1.2 Document E22 relates to a process for the sterilisation of culture media and "relates to a novel, sterile, essentially dry, solid culture medium which is suitable for cell and tissue cultures and in particular a sterile, dry, solid multicellular culture medium from animal cells and, in particular, from mammalian cells, in particular for in vitro cultures in which the activity and the nutritive properties of the individual constituents remain essentially stable." (see page 4, last paragraph). Although the sterilization of culture media by exposure to high energy radiation is applicable on any physical form such as solids, dry powders, granules, pellets and the like, irradiation is preferably applied on culture media in powder or tablet form (see claims 6 and 9; page 9, last paragraph).
6.1.3 Document E39 discloses a standard bacterial cell culture medium, in which yeast extract is formulated into a peptone- or tryptone-free buffered solution by addition of salts such as calcium carbonate, which further comprises a saccharide such as glucose.
Yeast extract was known to encompass amino acids, vitamins, and cofactors, such as biotin and nucleic acids obtainable after yeast-autolysis (see document E38).
6.2 The board considers that the expression "dry granulated cell culture medium" as used in claim 1 can only be interpreted as "dry-granulated" cell culture medium (see items 3.1 to 3.3 above).
6.3 The granulates disclosed in document E1 are obtained by a different manufacturing process from that used in claim 1. The process step of compacting "said mixed powder in a roll press" as set out in claim 1 provides granulates which can be distinguished by means of at least one structural or functional technical feature from the granulates obtained by the fluid bed technology used in document E1.
As stated above, the dry-granulated cell culture medium, which does not comprise peptones or tryptones, prepared according to claim 1, has breaking edges (see document E42; document E3, Figure 2) whereas wet granular media produced according to document El are made up of individual granulate berry-shaped particles.
Thus, a material prepared according to claim 1 differs at least in appearance from the wet granulated material as described in document E1. This is confirmed by document E37 (see page 48, section 4.3).
As further stated above, the dry cell culture medium obtainable by the process defined in claim 1 may also be chemically distinguishable from a medium obtained by wet granulation with respect to the concentrations of its chemical salts, its hydrates, the oxidation status of metallic ion in salts observed before and after solubilization and/or with respect to the concentration of heat- or solubilization-sensitive components in a different form detected before and after having been contacted with water and being dried.
6.4 Appellant contended that the breaking edges of the dry-granulated cell culture medium represented a non-technical feature, i.e. an aesthetic creation excluded from patentability under Article 52(1)(2) EPC. Reference was made to decision T 2050/07 of 19 February 2013 (reasons 9 to 13).
6.5 Decision T 2050/07 mentioned that if the distinguishing features are of a non-technical nature - a mathematical method or a method for performing mental activities - and, in accordance with established case law, do not contribute to the technical character of an invention and do not interact with the technical subject-matter of the claim for solving a technical problem, they should be ignored when assessing novelty.
6.6 The board considers that the different forms of the resulting granules directly preparable by the process of claim 1 or a wet granulation process represent a structural technical difference of the granules. This is a direct consequence of the technical process used. It is the process for preparing the dry granulated cell culture medium which contributes to the technical character of the invention and imparts to the dry granulated cell culture medium the technical properties necessary for solving the technical problem.
There is no indication that dry granulated cell culture medium prepared by the process of claim 1 including further milling steps would lose its technical properties. The shape of the dry granulated cell culture medium may act as an indicator of the process used.
Thus, the breaking edge of the dry granulates prepared by the method defined in claim 1 constitutes a distinguishing structural technical feature over the prior art that cannot be ignored. Decision T 2050/07 supports the board's findings.
6.7 Since document E22 does not describe how the dry cell culture media were obtained, it cannot anticipate the use of a dry-granulated cell culture medium preparable by the process defined in claim 1.
6.8 Document E39, whose publication date could not be ascertained, discloses a liquid medium. Document E46 relates to a glucose yeast extract agar. The content of document E39 which refers to a liquid medium, unlike a "dry-granulated" cell culture medium, can therefore not anticipate the use according to claim 1.
6.9 Thus, documents E1, E22 and E39 do not disclose the use of a dry granulated cell culture medium as defined in claim 1. The subject-matter of the main request is novel.
Inventive step (Article 100(a) in conjunction with Article 56 EPC)
The closest prior art
7. It was common ground between the parties that document E1 represents the closest prior art for the subject-matter of claim 1.
8. Document E1 discloses a method for producing a dry powder cell culture medium comprising the salt and buffering agent sodium bicarbonate. Typical media components are amino acids, salts, vitamins, sugars (i.e. saccharides), nucleic acids and sodium bicarbonate . A spray-drying apparatus and a fluid bed apparatus integrated within the drying chamber is used for the production of powders from heat-sensitive formulations of nutritive media. A spray-dried and agglomerated powdered nutritive medium is obtained (i.e. granulated cell culture media).
8.1 The difference between document E1 and the subject-matter of claim 1 is that the dry granulated cell culture medium is preparable by a process comprising the step of compacting mixed dry powders in a roll press versus wet granulation in document E1. The dry granulation process using roller compaction defined in claim 1 results in flakes having breaking edges while wet granulation does not (see document E42).
8.2 The technical problem must be determined on the basis of objectively established facts, which means that for the determination of the objective technical problem only the effects actually achieved vis-à-vis the closest prior art can be taken into account. Nor can any alleged advantage referred to in the patent be taken into account in determining the problem underlying the invention if the comparison with the closest prior art is not sufficiently demonstrated.
8.2.1 The board considers that there is no evidence in the patent that the preparation of dry-granulated cell culture medium avoids side reactions caused by wetting or heating in comparison to a granulated medium prepared by wet granulation methods (see paragraphs [0015] and [0016]). Document E1 discloses that instable components were admixed to powdered nutritive media for producing agglomerated nutritive media without being destroyed (see bridging paragraph on page 31 and 32). The use of an agglomerated powdered cell culture medium with water or serum provides evidence that the fluid bed technology (wet granulation) had no detectable adverse effect on the heat sensitive fetal bovine serum (see Example 11).
8.2.2 Since the advantages referred to in paragraphs [0015] and [0016] of the patent, imparted to the dry-granulated cell culture medium compared to the cell culture media prepared by wet granulation method, are not proven, they are not taken into account.
8.2.3 The difference in the form of the granulates produced by dry granulation versus wet granulation may be an indicator of a technical process allowing at best to identify the method by which said agglomerate was produced (see document E37). Nowhere was it demonstrated that the form of the granulate alone provides a technical effect.
8.2.4 In consequence the objective technical problem in view of document E1 may be formulated as the provision of an alternative cell culture medium in granulated form for use in cell culture.
8.3 The solution is a cell culture medium as defined in claim 1.
8.4 The question to be answered is whether, starting from the method for producing a dry powder cell culture medium disclosed in document E1, the skilled person, would have been motivated to solve the technical problem by providing a dry-granulated cell culture medium - which does not comprise peptones or tryptones- that is preparable by compacting a mixed powder using a roll press and including a step of reintroducing fine particulates.
8.5 The skilled person in this case is a team of a scientists working in the field of cell culturing and a process engineer in the field of chemical engineering who can be expected to look for suggestions in neighbouring fields if the same or similar problems arise in such fields (CLBA, I.D.8.1.1, of the 9**(th) ed. on page 203, second paragraph).
8.5.1 The common general knowledge is represented by documents E36 and E37. The knowledge in the neighboring field pertaining to dry granulation is represented by E8 and E10. Document E37, relates to problems and definitions of compacting by a practical example, which uses a roller compactor for pressure agglomeration. This process includes a step of recycling of the fine particles (see page 144 and seq.).
8.6 Appellant argued that starting from document El, the skilled person was guided to a dry cell culture medium in granulated form prepared by dry granulation in the light of common general knowledge such as documents E36, E37, and E40 and/or in light of document E22.
8.6.1 The board disagrees. Document E1 provides no incentive for the skilled person to turn to documents E2, E8, E10 or E37 and E36.
8.6.2 Document E2 refers to nutritional supplements and/or pharmaceutical compositions comprising an embedded lubrication matrix. Document E8 refers to a roller compaction technology among many other granulation technologies. Document E10 reviews the progress and the use of roll compaction/dry granulation in the production of directly compressible excipients, the compaction of drugs and drug formulations, the granulation of inorganic materials, the granulation of dry herbal material. Document E37 discloses under "Stoffzusammensetzung" ("Material composition") that the advantage of agglomeration can be cancelled out by certain techniques used in the agglomeration process. These adverse effects should be taken into account in the selection of the agglomeration process. Examples of this can be found in the food and animal feed industries. Document E36 with the title "Manual of mechanical process engineering" refers at best to mixed fertiliser (see Table 6.3). None of them suggests to use dry compaction of mixed powders in a roll press for the production of cell culture media.
8.6.3 On the other hand, the board observes that documents E2, E8, E10, E36 and E37 neither point to nor otherwise suggest that dry compaction using a roll press of mixed powders forming a peptone- or tryptone-free cell culture medium, was ever envisaged or proposed as an alternative to the wet-granulated agglomeration techniques, let alone that the use of this technique would result in a dry-granulated cell culture media for use in cell culture with a reasonable expectation of success. Even if the skilled person could have compacted the mixed powders using a roll press, there is no identifiable reason in any of these documents why he should have done so in the hope of solving the underlying technical problem.
8.7 The board considers that since neither the implementation nor the production of a dry-granulated cell culture medium preparable by the method defined in claim 1 was envisaged or suggested by any of the prior art documents, the skilled person was also never in a "try and see" situation.
8.8 Hence, the skilled person finds no motivation in any of documents E2, E8, E10 or E37 and E36 to combine their teaching with that of document E1 so as to arrive at the method of claim 1 in an obvious manner other than with hindsight.
8.9 The board disagrees that the skilled person starting from document E1 would have been guided to a dry cell culture medium in granulated form prepared by dry granulation in the light of document E22.
8.10 Document E22 relates to a process for sterilising culture media and to a novel, sterile, essentially dry, solid culture medium which is suitable for cell and tissue cultures (see page 4, last paragraph). Even if the culture media described in document E22 can be in any suitable form of "trockenen Pulvern, Granulaten, Pellets" (engl. "dry powders, granules, pellets"), where the pellets can later be redissolved in distilled water, document E22 does not describe how the dry culture media are obtained, and since no process of preparing dry cell culture media is mentioned in document E1, there can be no indication of how the dry culture media were obtained either.
9. The appellant considered document E22 to represent an alternative starting point for the assessment of inventive step.
9.1 Starting from document E22 the skilled person, faced with the technical problem of providing an alternative cell culture medium in dry form for use in cell cultivation, would have prepared a dry granulated cell culture medium according to the process defined in claim 1. This finding also applied to the combination of document E22 with documents E36, E37 and E40 and/or document E1.
9.2 The board disagrees. Even if the appellant was not aware of any other way of producing tablets than by pressure agglomeration and the opposition division provided no evidence for any further alternative way for preparing tablets, document E22 does not disclose that the tablets were inevitably compacted by a dry-granulation of mixed powders by the process defined in claim 1 using a roll press rather than by any other pressure agglomeration techniques.
9.3 Even if the skilled person could have prepared the dry granulated cell culture medium according to the process defined in claim 1, in the absence of any clear indication or suggestion in document E22, which does not even describe how the dry culture media were obtained, there is no reason why he/she would have done so.
9.4 Even if document E22 on page 9 describes "irradiation of dry powders, granules and pellets", it remains unclear why this statement should prompt the skilled person, trying to obtain a dry cell culture medium in granular form, to turn to pressure agglomeration techniques, in particular to dry-granulation compaction techniques using mixed powders in a roll press, rather than wet granulation techniques.
9.5 In view of the above considerations, the board concludes that the claimed subject-matter of claim 1 would not have been obvious to the skilled person and accordingly involves an inventive step. The same applies to the dependent claims. The subject-matter of the main request involves an inventive step.
10. Consequently, the ground for opposition of Article 100(a) in conjunction with Articles 54 and 56 EPC does not prejudice the maintenance of the patent.


What Christmas Present Do You Want, My Sweetlings?
But we don't have most of season four yet… I mean, if I had time travel, I would do it, I swear!
I will gleefully read any and all parodies you choose to write, but I am a sucker for having my heart ripped out, so I voted for the Lynburn Legacy short story. Obviously I am not alone =) Thank you for the Christmas prezzie!
…all of them, because you absolutely LOVE your little greedy shameless readers around the world*?
It's so hard to choose! But I gritted my teeth and chose. Really, though, any (or all!) of them would be brilliant.
Elementary parody? ^_~ Help me convince my friends that it's good!
A Rusty short story might be nice as long as the whole story doesn't revolve around naptime. He intrigues me for some reason and I want to know more about him.


text:
O acidente ferroviário de Eschede ocorreu em 3 de junho de 1998, perto da vila de Eschede, no distrito de Celle, Baixa Saxônia, Alemanha, quando um trem de alta velocidade descarrilou e colidiu com uma ponte rodoviária com 101 pessoas mortas e 88 feridas. Continua a ser o pior desastre ferroviário da história da Alemanha reunificada e o pior desastre ferroviário de alta velocidade em todo o mundo. A causa foi uma única rachadura de fadiga em uma das rodas que, quando falhou, fez com que uma parte da roda ficasse presa em um conjunto de pontos, alterando efetivamente a configuração dos pontos enquanto o trem passava sobre ela. Isso levou os carros do trem a descerem dois trilhos separados, fazendo com que o trem descarrilasse e colidisse com os pilares de uma ponte rodoviária de concreto, que então desabou e esmagou dois automóveis. Os carros de passageiros restantes e a locomotiva elétrica de força traseira colidiram com os destroços.

Cronologia dos eventos

Quebra da roda
A composição 51 do modelo ICE 1 estava viajando como Expresso ICE 884 "Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen" de Munique para Hamburgo; o trem estava programado para parar em Augsburgo, Nuremberg, Wurzburgo, Fulda, Kassel, Göttingen e Hannover antes de chegar a Hamburgo. Depois de parar em Hanôver às 10h30 UTC+2 (05:30 UTC-3; 08:30 UTC), o trem continuou a viagem para o norte. A cerca de 130 quilômetros (80 milhas) e quarenta minutos de Hamburgo  e seis quilômetros (3,7 milhas) ao sul do centro de Eschede, perto de Celle, o aro de aço em uma roda no terceiro eixo do primeiro carro, fatalmente enfraquecido pela fadiga do metal, partiu-se e se desprendeu da roda, cujo ímpeto o afundou e o lançou para cima, pelo que penetrou no piso do carro, onde permaneceu embutido.

O aro da roda foi visto por Jörg Dittmann, um dos passageiros do primeiro carro. O aro passou por um apoio de braço em seu compartimento, entre onde sua esposa e filho estavam sentados. Dittmann tirou a mulher e o filho do carro danificado e foi informar um condutor no terceiro carro. O condutor, que notou vibrações no trem, disse a Dittmann que a política da empresa exigia que ele investigasse as circunstâncias antes de puxar o freio de emergência. O condutor levou um minuto para chegar ao local que fica em uma das cabines do primeiro carro. De acordo com o passageiro, o trem começou a balançar de um lado para o outro a essa altura. O condutor não demonstrou vontade de parar o trem imediatamente naquele ponto e desejou investigar o incidente mais detalhadamente. Dittmann não conseguiu encontrar um freio de emergência no corredor e não percebeu que havia uma alavanca de freio de emergência em seu próprio compartimento. O acidente ocorreu no momento em que Dittmann estava prestes a mostrar o furo do apoio da poltrona ao condutor.

Descarrilamento
Quando o trem passou pelo primeiro dos dois pontos, o aro embutido bateu contra o trilho-guia do AMV, puxando-o dos dormentes da ferrovia. Este contra-trilho também penetrou no piso do carro, ficando embutido no veículo e levantando o truque dos trilhos. Às 10:59 hora local (05:59 UTC-3; 08:59 UTC), uma das rodas agora descarriladas atingiu a alavanca de pontos do segundo interruptor, alterando sua configuração. Os eixos traseiros do terceiro carro foram colocados em uma pista paralela, e o carro inteiro foi jogado lateralmente nos pilares que suportam um viaduto de 300 toneladas (300 toneladas de comprimento; 330 toneladas curtas), destruindo-os.

O quarto carro, igualmente descarrilado pelo violento desvio do terceiro e ainda viajando a 200 quilômetros por hora (125 mph), passou intacto sob a ponte e rolou no aterro imediatamente atrás dela, atingindo várias árvores antes de parar. Dois trabalhadores ferroviários da Deutsche Bahn que trabalhavam perto da ponte morreram instantaneamente quando o carro descarrilado os esmagou. A quebra dos engates dos carros fez com que os freios de emergência automáticos fossem acionados e os três primeiros carros, praticamente não danificados, parassem.

Colapso da ponte
A locomotiva de força dianteira e os dois primeiros carros passaram pela ponte. O terceiro carro atingiu a ponte, que começou a desmoronar, mas passou pela ponte. O quarto carro passou pela ponte, afastou-se dos trilhos para um aterro e atingiu um grupo de árvores antes de parar. Os pedaços da ponte esmagaram a metade traseira do quinto carro. O carro-restaurante, de seis anos, foi esmagado a uma altura de 15 centímetros. Com os trilhos agora completamente obstruídos pela ponte desmoronada, os carros restantes se chocaram contra os escombros em um padrão de ziguezague: o sétimo carro, o carro de serviço, os três carros de primeira classe numerados de 10 a 12 e a locomotiva de força traseira descarrilou e bateu na pilha de concreto.  A bagunça resultante foi comparada a uma régua dobrável parcialmente desmoronada. Um automóvel também foi encontrado nos destroços. Pertenceu aos dois técnicos ferroviários e provavelmente estava estacionado na ponte antes do acidente.

Separado do resto dos demais carros, a locomotiva de força dianteira deslocou-se por mais três quilômetros (duas milhas) até parar depois de passar pela estação ferroviária de Eschede.

O acidente produziu um som que testemunhas mais tarde descreveram como "surpreendente", "horrivelmente alto" e "como um acidente de avião". Os moradores próximos, alertados pelo som, foram os primeiros a chegar ao local. Erika Karl, a primeira testemunha a entrar no local do acidente, fotografou o local do desastre, que aconteceu perto de sua casa. Karl disse que, ao ouvir o barulho, seu marido acreditou inicialmente que o acidente foi um acidente de avião. Após o acidente, oito dos carros do trem expresso ocuparam uma área ligeiramente maior que o comprimento de um único carro.

Às 11h02 (06:02 UTC-3; 09:02 UTC), a polícia local declarou emergência; às 11:07 (06:07 UTC-3; 09:07 UTC), como a magnitude do desastre rapidamente se tornou aparente, este foi elevado a "grande emergência"; e às 12h30 o governo do distrito de Celle declarou uma "emergência catastrófica" (estado de emergência civil). Mais de 1.000 equipes de resgate de serviços de emergência regionais, bombeiros, serviços de resgate, polícia e exército foram enviados. Cerca de 37 médicos de emergência, que estavam participando de uma conferência profissional nas proximidades de Hanover, também prestaram assistência durante as primeiras horas do esforço de resgate, assim como unidades das Forças Britânicas da Alemanha.

Enquanto o maquinista e muitos passageiros na parte da frente do trem sobreviveram com ferimentos leves a moderados, havia muito poucos sobreviventes nos carros traseiros, que colidiram com a pilha de concreto da ponte a uma velocidade de 200 km/h (120 mph). Incluindo os dois trabalhadores ferroviários que estavam debaixo da ponte, 101 pessoas morreram. O ICE 787 havia passado por baixo da ponte indo na direção oposta (de Hamburgo a Hanover) apenas dois minutos antes.

Às 13h45 (08:45 UTC-3; 11:45 UTC), as autoridades deram tratamento de emergência a 87 pessoas. 27 dos passageiros feridos gravemente foram transportados de avião para hospitais.

Investigação e causas
Restos de um VW Golf Variant, pertencente aos dois trabalhadores ferroviários mortos no acidente, foram encontrados sob os escombros do ICE acidentado. A mídia especulou pela primeira vez que o trem havia descarrilado após uma colisão com o automóvel, uma circunstância que fez com que um trem se tornasse um canivete no acidente ferroviário de Ufton Nervet seis anos depois; esta teoria foi rapidamente descartada, no entanto, como a locomotiva elétrica de força dianteira não sofreu nenhum dano, ela continuou em movimento até passar pela próxima estação.

Projeto da roda
Os trens ICE 1 foram originalmente equipados com rodas de aço de uma só peça, conhecidas como rodas monobloco. Uma vez em serviço, logo ficou claro que esse projeto poderia, como resultado da fadiga do metal e condições fora do ar, resultar em ressonância e vibração em velocidade de cruzeiro. Os passageiros notaram isso particularmente no carro-restaurante, onde houve relatos de vibrações altas na louça e de copos "rastejando" pelas mesas.

Os gerentes da Deutsche Bahn experimentaram essas fortes vibrações em uma viagem e pediram para resolver o problema. Em resposta, os engenheiros decidiram que, para resolver o problema, as rodas dos carros do expresso ICE poderia ser melhorada com o uso de um anel de amortecimento de borracha entre o aro de aço em contato com o trilho e o corpo da roda de aço. Um projeto semelhante foi empregado com sucesso em bondes em todo o mundo (conhecidos como rodas resilientes), em velocidades significativamente mais baixas. Esse tipo de roda, apelidado de design de "pneu de roda", consistia em um corpo de roda cercado por um amortecedor de borracha de 20 milímetros (0,79 pol) de espessura e, em seguida, um pneu de metal relativamente fino. O novo design não foi testado em alta velocidade na Alemanha antes de se tornar operacional, mas foi bem-sucedido em resolver o problema de vibração em velocidades de cruzeiro. A experiência de uma década em alta velocidade adquirida por fabricantes de trens e empresas ferroviárias em outros países europeus e no Japão não foi considerada.

Na época, não existiam instalações na Alemanha que pudessem testar o limite real de falha das rodas e, portanto, protótipos completos nunca foram testados fisicamente. O projeto e a especificação se basearam muito nos dados e na teoria dos materiais disponíveis. Os poucos testes laboratoriais e ferroviários que foram realizados não mediram o comportamento das rodas com condições de desgaste prolongado ou velocidades maiores do que o normal de cruzeiro. No entanto, ao longo dos anos, as rodas mostraram-se aparentemente confiáveis e, até o acidente, não causaram grandes problemas.

Em julho de 1997, quase um ano antes do desastre, a Üstra, empresa que opera a rede de bondes de Hanover, descobriu rachaduras de fadiga em rodas de bloco duplo (duas peças de aço) em bondes que circulavam a cerca de 24 km/h (15 mph). Começou a trocar as rodas antes que as rachaduras de fadiga pudessem se desenvolver, muito antes do que era legalmente exigido pela especificação. A empresa de bondes relatou suas descobertas em um aviso a todos os outros usuários de rodas construídas com projetos semelhantes, incluindo a Deutsche Bahn, no final de 1997. De acordo com a operadora dos bondes, a Deutsche Bahn respondeu afirmando que não havia notado problemas em seus trens.

O Instituto Fraunhofer para Durabilidade Estrutural e Confiabilidade do Sistema (LBF) em Darmstadt foi encarregado de determinar a causa do acidente. Foi revelado mais tarde que o instituto havia informado a administração da DB já em 1992 sobre suas preocupações sobre possíveis falhas nos pneus das rodas.

Logo ficou claro que as forças dinâmicas repetitivas não haviam sido consideradas na modelagem estatística de falhas feita durante a fase de projeto, e o projeto resultante carecia de uma margem de segurança adequada. Os seguintes fatores, negligenciados durante o projeto, foram observados:

 1 - Os pneus foram achatados em uma elipse à medida que a roda girava em cada revolução (aproximadamente 500.000 vezes durante um dia típico de serviço em um trem ICE), com efeitos de fadiga correspondentes;
 2 - Em contraste com o design da roda monobloco, rachaduras também podem se formar no interior do pneu;
 3 - À medida que o pneu se tornava mais fino devido ao desgaste, as forças dinâmicas eram exageradas, resultando no crescimento de trincas;
 4 - Pontos planos e sulcos ou inchaços no pneu aumentaram drasticamente as forças dinâmicas na montagem e aceleraram muito o desgaste.

Falha ao parar o trem
Não conseguir parar o trem resultou em uma série de eventos catastróficos. Se o trem tivesse parado imediatamente após a desintegração da roda, é improvável que os eventos subsequentes tivessem ocorrido.

Um tempo valioso foi perdido quando o gerente do trem se recusou a parar a composição até que ele mesmo investigasse o problema, dizendo que essa era a política da empresa. Esta decisão foi mantida em tribunal, absolvendo o gerente do trem de todas as acusações. Dado que ele era um funcionário de atendimento ao cliente e não um mantenedor ou engenheiro ferroviário, ele não tinha mais autoridade para fazer um julgamento de engenharia sobre parar ou não o trem do que qualquer passageiro.

Manutenção
Na época do desastre, os técnicos da oficina de manutenção da Deutsche Bahn em Munique usavam apenas lanternas padrão para inspeção visual das rodas, em vez de equipamentos de detecção de fadiga de metal. Anteriormente, máquinas de teste avançadas eram usadas; como o equipamento gerava muitas mensagens de erro falso positivo, no entanto, foi considerado não confiável e seu uso foi descontinuado. Durante a semana anterior ao desastre de Eschede, três verificações automatizadas separadas indicaram que uma roda estava com defeito. Os investigadores descobriram, a partir de um relatório de manutenção gerado pelo computador de bordo do trem, que dois meses antes do desastre de Eschede, condutores e outros funcionários do trem apresentaram oito reclamações separadas sobre os ruídos e vibrações gerados pelo truque com a roda defeituosa; a empresa não trocou a roda. A Deutsche Bahn disse que as inspeções foram adequadas na época e que os engenheiros não poderiam prever a fratura da roda.

Outros fatores
O desenho da ponte também pode ter contribuído para o acidente porque tinha dois pilares finos sustentando a ponte de cada lado, em vez de os vãos passarem de pilares sólidos para pilares sólidos. O desastre ferroviário de Granville de 1977 teve uma fraqueza semelhante em sua ponte. A ponte construída após o desastre é um projeto em balanço e não possui essa vulnerabilidade.

Outro fator que contribuiu para a taxa de acidentes foi o uso de soldas nas carrocerias do carro que "descompactaram" durante o acidente.

Em resumo, embora a roda resiliente desintegrada tenha sido a causa raiz do acidente, o dano foi tão grave quanto devido a vários fatores, incluindo a proximidade da ponte e do ponto de inversão, bem como a posição da roda no primeiro carro perto da frente do trem, levando a um grande número de carros descarrilando.

Consequências

Processo legal e indenização
Imediatamente após o acidente, a Deutsche Bahn pagou 30.000 marcos alemães (cerca de 19.000 dólares estadunidenses) para cada fatalidade às famílias aplicáveis. Mais tarde, a Deutsche Bahn estabeleceu-se com algumas vítimas. A companhia ferroviária do país europeu afirmou que pagou o equivalente a mais de 30 milhões de dólares americanos às famílias das vítimas e sobreviventes.

Em agosto de 2002, dois funcionários da Deutsche Bahn e um engenheiro foram acusados de homicídio culposo. O julgamento durou 53 dias com testemunhas especializadas de todo o mundo testemunhando.

O caso terminou com uma delação premiada em abril de 2003. De acordo com o código de processo penal alemão, se o réu não for considerado culpado substancial e se o procurador do Estado e o réu concordarem, o réu poderá pagar uma multa e o os processos criminais são julgados improcedentes e sem veredicto. Cada engenheiro pagou 10.000 euros (cerca de 12.000 USD).

Técnicas

Dentro de semanas, todas as rodas de design semelhante foram substituídas por rodas monobloco. Toda a rede ferroviária alemã foi verificada quanto a arranjos semelhantes de interruptores próximos a possíveis obstáculos.

Equipes de resgate no local do acidente enfrentaram dificuldades consideráveis em abrir caminho pelo trem para obter acesso às vítimas. Tanto a estrutura de alumínio quanto as janelas à prova de pressão ofereceram uma resistência inesperada ao equipamento de resgate. Como resultado, todos os trens foram reformados com janelas que quebram as costuras.

Memorial
Udo Bauch, um dos sobreviventes que ficou incapacitado pelo acidente, construiu seu próprio memorial com seu próprio dinheiro. Bauch disse que a capela recebia de 5.000 a 6.000 visitantes por ano. Um ano após a construção do memorial de Bauch, foi estabelecido um memorial oficial, financiado em parte pela Deutsche Bahn.

O memorial oficial foi inaugurado em 11 de maio de 2001 na presença de 400 parentes, bem como de muitos dignitários, socorristas e cidadãos de Eschede. O memorial consiste em 101 cerejeiras selvagens, cada uma representando uma fatalidade. As árvores foram plantadas ao longo dos trilhos perto da ponte e com o interruptor na frente. Do campo, uma escada leva até a rua e um portão; do outro lado da rua, uma série de escadas levava a lugar nenhum. Há uma inscrição na lateral do portão de pedra e uma inscrição em uma parede memorial que também lista os nomes das vítimas fatais colocadas no centro das árvores.

Reconstituição

O descarrilamento e acidente ferroviário de Eschede, bem como a investigação sobre o desastre por meio de computação gráfica, foi destaque no quinto episódio da primeira temporada da série de documentários da National Geographic Seconds from Disaster ("Segundos Fatais"), intitulada "Derailment at Eschede" ("Caminhos da Morte" no Brasil), que foi filmada no Ecclesbourne Valley Railway em Derbyshire, Reino Unido.

Acidente ferroviário de 1897

Cem anos antes, em 14 de agosto de 1897, ocorreu um acidente fatal de trem em Eschede; o trem expresso de Frankfurt para Hamburgo descarrilou causando três mortes e nove ferimentos graves.

Notas

Referências

Leitura adicional

 O'CONNOR, Bryan, (NASA), "Eschede Train Disaster", Leadership ViTS Meeting, 7 de maio de 2007 (em inglês).
 JOHNSTON, Howard; HOLLEY, Mel (17–30 de junho de 1998). "Europe stunned as freak German high speed crash kills 98". Rail. nº 333. EMAP Apex Publications. pp. 6–7.

Ligações externas

 InterCityExpress (ICE)/InterCity-NeiTech (ICT) (em inglês)
 Eschede – Zug 884("Eschede - Train 884") um documentário sobre o desastre dirigido por Raymond Ley (2008, 90 minutos) [em alemão]
 Sobre o acidente de Eschede no site da NDR (em alemão)

Acidentes e incidentes ferroviários na Alemanha
Desastres em 1998
1998 na Alemanha

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: How do I pass command line switches with double quotes to Process.run()? So I have this function, which I use to launch urls in Brave Browser. I would like to be able to use the --profile-directory switch to launch my urls in specific profiles, but Dart treats the quotes in my argument differently.
Here is the command I want to execute:
start brave --profile-directory="Profile 1" "https://example.com"

The Dart code is this:
Process.run(
  "start",
  [
    'brave',
    '--profile-directory="Profile 1"',
    url,
  ],
  runInShell: true,
);

However, it replaces my double quotes with a "\". I'm greeted with an error dialog that says "Windows cannot find 1\" ". Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.
I tried escaping them by using '\"Profile 1\"' but that didn't help either.
This was the case for a while, but now theres something unusual happening. The same command launches Brave in the Profile select window, asking me to choose a profile.
I also tried passing the arguments like this : ['brave', '--profile-directory', '"Profile 1"']. This command doesn't even launch brave.
How do I properly execute said command using Process.run()? I'm using Flutter for Windows.

A: Found solution:
Not using the start command and runInShell and using the direct exe reference to directly pass the argument in the executable fixed the issue.
Process.run(
    'C:\\Program Files\\BraveSoftware\\Brave-Browser\\Application\\brave.exe --profile-directory="Profile 1"',
    [url]);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
import epidag as dag
from .misc import *
from .dcore.fn import *
from .mcore import Simulator
import complexism.agentbased.statespace as ssa
import complexism.equationbased as ebm
import complexism.multimodel as mm

__author__ = 'TimeWz667'
__all__ = [
    'load_txt', 'load_json', 'save_json',
    'read_bn_script', 'read_bn_json', 'save_bn',
    'new_dbp', 'read_dbp_json', 'read_dbp_script', 'save_dbp',
    'new_mbp', # 'read_mbp_json', 'save_mbp',
    # 'new_lyo', 'read_lyo_json', 'save_lyo',
    'simulate', 'update'
]

def read_bn_script(script):
    """
    Read a Bayesian Network from a script
    :param script: script of pc
    :return: a blueprint of parameter core
    """
    return dag.bayes_net_from_script(script)

def read_bn_json(js):
    """
    Load a Bayesian Network from json format
    :param js: json object
    :return: a blueprint of parameter core
    """
    return dag.bayes_net_from_json(js)

def save_bn(bn, path):
    """
    Save a Bayesian Network
    :param bn: Bayesian Network
    :type bn: BayesianNetwork
    :param path: path of file
    """
    save_json(bn.to_json(), path)

def new_mbp(name, model_type='StSpABM'):
    """
    Generate a new blueprint of model
    :param name: name of blueprint
    :param model_type: type of model
    :return: blueprint of model
    """
    if model_type == 'StSpABM':
        return ssa.BlueprintStSpABM(name)
    elif model_type == 'ODEABM':
        pass
    elif model_type == 'ODEEBM':
        return ebm.BlueprintODEEBM(name)
    elif model_type == 'StSpODE':
        pass
    elif model_type == 'MultiModel':
        return mm.ModelLayout(name)
    else:
        pass

def read_mbp_json(js):
    """
    Read a model blueprint from a json file
    :param js: json formatted model blueprint
    :return: model blueprint
    """
    if js['Type'] == 'SSABM':
        return ssa.BlueprintStSpABM.from_json(js)
    elif js['Type'] == 'ODEEBM':
        return ebm.BlueprintODEEBM.from_json(js)
    elif js['Type'] == 'SSODE':
        pass
    elif js['Type'] == 'MultiModel':
        return mm.ModelLayout.from_json(js)
    else:
        pass

def save_mbp(mbp, path):
    """
    Output model layout to file system
    :param mbp: model blueprint
    :param path: file path
    """
    save_json(mbp.to_json(), path)

# def read_lyo_json(js):
#     """
#     Load model layout from json format
#     :param js: json
#     :return: model layout
#     """
#     return mm.ModelLayout.from_json(js)
#
#
# def new_lyo(name):
#     """
#     Generate a new blueprint of layout
#     :param name: name of blueprint
#     :return: blueprint of layout
#     """
#     return mm.ModelLayout(name)
#
#
# def save_lyo(layout, path):
#     """
#     Output model layout to file system
#     :param layout: model layout
#     :param path: file path
#     """
#     save_json(layout.to_json(), path)

def simulate(model, y0, fr, to, dt=1, seed=None, mid=False, log=True):
    """
    Simulate a dynamic model with initial values (y0)
    :param model: dynamic model
    :param y0: initial value
    :param fr: initial time point
    :param to: end time
    :param dt: observation interval
    :param seed: seed for random number generation
    :param mid: output middle point observation
    :param log: keep log or not
    :return: data of simulation
    """
    if model.TimeEnd:
        return model.output(mid=mid)
    sim = Simulator(model, seed=seed, keep_log=log)
    sim.simulate(y0, fr, to, dt)
    return model.output(mid=mid)

def update(model, to, dt=1, log=True):
    """
    Update a dynamic to a certain time point
    :param model: dynamic model which has been initialised
    :param to: end time
    :param dt: observation interval
    :param log: keep log or not
    :return: data of simulation
    """
    sim = Simulator(model, keep_log=log, new_log=False)
    sim.Time = model.TimeEnd
    if to > sim.Time:
        sim.update(to, dt)
    return model.output()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Alexei Vasilyevich Rebko - em russo: Алексе́й Васи́льевич Ребко (Moscou, 23 de abril de 1986), é um futebolista russo, que atua como atacante.

Carreira

Spartak Moscou
Rebko começou a carreira em 2001, pelo time reserva do Spartak, onde atuou até 2007. Na época, era considerado um dos mais promissores futebolistas da Rússia, tendo inclusive batido o recorde de atleta mais jovem a entrar em campo, pertencente a seu compatriota Aleksandr Pavlenko.

Rubin
Sem chances no Spartak, Rebko teve seu contrato anulado no fim de 2007, mas ficou pouco tempo sem emprego: o Rubin Kazan, até então uma equipe de nível médio do futebol russo, o contratou. Entretanto, foranm apenas três jogos pela equipe tártara.

FC Moscou

Após a frustrante passagem pelo Rubin, Rebko foi contratado pelo emergente FC Moscou, onde voltou a ter bons momentos no futebol russo, chegando inclusive a ser convocado para a Seleção Russa. Com o afastamento do Moscou em decorrência de problemas financeiros, Alexei acabou saindo do time e ficou novamente algum tempo longe da bola.

Dínamo de Moscou
Em 25 de fevereiro de 2010, Rebko é contratado pelo tradicional Dínamo de Moscou em uma transferência livre. Seu contrato com a equipe azul e branca vai até 2013.

Seleção Russa
Como já foi citado, Rebko estreou pela Seleção Russa quando atuava pelo Moscou. A estreia foi contra o Liechtenstein. Era presença certa para a Copa de 2010, caso a Rússia se classificasse.

Ligações externas

 Perfil de Aleksey Rebko  em Thefinalball

Futebolistas da Rússia
Futebolistas do Futbolniy Klub Dinamo Moskva


Dip your toe in the Sukha-water and enjoy a day of delicious, plant-based meals bursting with cleansing antioxidants, anti-aging, and nutrient-dense superfoods. Free of processed ingredients, gluten, dairy and soy. Each meal is designed to love your body and feed your mind, heart, and spirit.
If you are wanting to see what a whole week of Sukha feels like this is a chance to test and taste it.
Because this pack only contains 1 day worth of meals you can select either Sunday or Wednesday delivery.


From John Hardy, this sterling silver Bamboo Hook ring is handcrafted in Bali and exemplifies the brand's attention to detail and excellence in design. This style features two rows of artistically represented bamboo that come together with a hook style accent at the top. As a part of the John Hardy Bamboo Collection, this ring allows John Hardy to continue with its sustainability endeavors to give back by planting one bamboo seedling with every purchase. This ring is a size 7 and measures 8mm to 4.5mm in width.


With 82% of Clearwire's minority shares voting in favor of Sprint's offer, the last hurdle has been cleared and the network wholesaler can now be purchased by the mobile carrier, which already owned a majority of the company. Clearwire holders owe a great deal of gratitude to Dish Network and its outspoken CEO Charles Ergen. Back in December, Sprint tried to buy the rest of Clearwire that it didn't already own for $2.90 a share. Dish Network then put in a bid of $3.30 a share and the battle was on.
Hours before a stockholders vote was going to take place, one which Sprint was sure to lose, the latter came in with a $3.40 a share bid for Clearwire which topped Dish by a dime. But Ergen wanted Clearwire's spectrum to help Dish start a new wireless carrier. Dish raised its bid to $4.40 which topped Sprint by a full dollar. It looked like Dish had won until Sprint pulled out a $5 bid for the remaining shares. The company that Sprint said was worth no more than $2.90 in December, was all of a sudden worth 72% more.
And all of this occurred during SoftBank's ultimately successful purchase of 78% of Sprint for $21.6 billion, a deal that Dish Network was also involved in. Dish had offered $25.5 billion for all of Sprint, but came away a two-time loser. The stockholder's meeting took all of 12 minutes to complete and Clearwire says it will close the deal on July 9th, a day before the Sprint-SoftBank deal is set to close. Clearwire chairman John Stanton wrapped the whole deal up in a short comment. "This has been a very long journey," the executive noted.
Reason is Clearwire owns more spectrum than any other carrier by a long shot.


text:
Poll reveals face of Russian adulterer
Russian men seek affairs for new experience and due to lack of sex. Women do it for revenge and to shake off problems in the family. More than half Russia does not see cheating on spouses as a reason for divorce.
Sixteen per cent of the 4,200 people polled by a popular headhunting agency refused to discuss the issue of adultery right away. Among those who did, husbands were more likely to confess to having extramarital sex than wives. 28 per cent of men and 17 per cent of women said they had done it at least once.
Well-off, middle-aged and childless spouses are more likely to have an affair than struggling young mommies and daddies. They were also less likely to talk to the pollsters on the issues.
Fourteen per cent of disloyal husbands searched for a lover because they wanted to try something new. Another 10 per cent complained that they lack intimacy in the family.
For women, the most common reason for adultery is a desire to take revenge on their husbands, with 15 per cent of the ladies polled naming it. Another 10 per cent said their spouses left them emotionally starving.
However, a majority of both men (35 per cent) and women (22 per cent) could not put a finger on why exactly they cheated or refused to voice the reason.
Unfaithful Russians set forth several explanations, including "Polygamy is natural for men", "It was physical, not moral", "It was for the sake of career" and "I wanted to find the best, and the best one was next to me".
Having an affair is not catastrophic for a marriage, Russians believe. If faced with spouse's infidelity, 42 per cent would rather stick with it, as apposed to 34 per cent who would rather not. Among those with more extreme points of view the situation is the opposite. 15 per cent say a categorical "yes" and 9 per cent say a categorical "no" to a marriage compromised by adultery.
Wives and people with jobs are more forgiving than husbands and those living on welfare.
Police disperse gay pride parade
MI6 boss blames Russia for Iraq war
Russian schools edge their way towards tolerance
European Court decision on WWII veteran– attempt to rewrite history
"US is building secret bases in Afghanistan for war against Russia" – journalist
Valaam Island, the Orthodox retreat in Karelia
Police defends construction site from opposition
Disabled students given chance to study in Moscow schools
Stress relief found six feet under

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


MultiGrid is the key component in a Victron energy storing systems, providing the flexibility to combine with MPPT Solar Chargers or Grid-tie PV Inverters.
MultiGrid inverters significantly reduce the risk of grid instability and electricity costs by utilising energy storage and self-consumption. With Anti-Islanding built in, this makes it suitable for countries such as Germany, Austria and others. In the UK the MultiPlus is used, as it is approved to the standards required there.
In the event of a grid failure, or when shore or generator power is disconnected, the MultiGrid inverter/charger is automatically activated and takes over the supply to the connected loads. Since it happens in less than 20 milliseconds, computers and other electronic equipment will continue to work without disruption.
Up to 6 MultiGrid inverters/chargers can operate in parallel and achieve high power output. Three phase or split phase operations are possible as well.
It is easy to monitor and control MultiGrid systems locally (LAN) or remotely via the internet from anywhere in the world, using the free Victron app and website.
© 2017 SolaricaShop.com. All Rights Reserved.


Based on Disney's epic animated musical adventure and Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan of the Apes, TARZAN features heart-pumping music by rock legend Phil Collins. Academy Award winning hits like "You'll Be in My Heart" as well as "Son of Man" and "Two Worlds" make TARZAN an unforgettable theatrical experience.
When 20 or more tickets are purchased, we offer $5 off per Mezzanine ticket. Simply add 20 or more tickets to your order and the price will automatically be adjusted.
If you need to purchase wheelchair accessible and companion tickets, please call the box office directly at (714) 637-0186.
The taking of photographs and video recording is strictly prohibited during the performance.
No refunds or exchanges are offered for this event.
MTOC Open Mic Night featuring guest artist Chris Villian!


Last year, 69 women were killed violently across Australia. This brings the murdered women death toll in this country since 2012 to 506, according to Counting the Dead Women Australia project researchers from gender equality group Destroy the Joint.
And in the overwhelming majority of these cases, the perpetrators were men who were known to their victims.
The total number of women murdered nationally in 2018 points to the crisis of gender-based violence that exists in the community. And yet, for the most part, the individual deaths go unnoticed and there's nothing like the response one would see if the deaths were attributed to terrorism.
So, this very real homegrown terror continues behind closed doors in suburban neighbourhoods. In general, Australian police are called out to 5,000 domestic violence matters a week, which means officers are responding to one incident every two minutes.
And this violence pervades the entire community. One in three Australian women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15. One in five have experienced sexual violence. And one in six women have experienced one of these forms of violence at the hands of a current or former partner.
Our Watch recognises that the primary driver behind violence against women and family violence is gender inequality. This lack of equality leads to the condoning of such violence, men's control of decision-making, rigid gender roles, disrespect towards women and aggressive male peer relations.
The Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence made clear that family violence is a gendered crime and 75 percent of the victims are women. And the commissioners pointed to the importance of preventing gender inequality as a way of tackling this household violence.
In acknowledgement of the gender inequality underpinning this crisis, the Andrews government in December 2016 launched Safe and Strong: A Victorian Gender Equality Strategy, which seeks to redress inequality, sexism and violence against women in all forms.
The strategy includes reviewing gender-based hate speech laws, the creation of Respect Victoria – an agency charged with preventing family violence – gender audits across government and the public sector and the drafting of gender equality legislation, which is currently in the consultation process.
Girl Geek Academy is a private company that's seeking to reduce gender inequality in STEM industries – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – as a way of combating family violence. It's aiming to teach one million women and girls worldwide about technology by 2025.
Co-founder and chief executive of the company Sarah Moran has worked in the tech industry in both Australia and in the Silicon Valley, so she's experienced the issues women are facing in the industry firsthand. And she's also a member of the Victorian Ministerial Council on Women's Equality.
Sydney Criminal Lawyers spoke with Ms Moran about the impact the Royal Commission has had in her state, how the promotion of more women in the tech industry can reduce levels of gender-based violence, and how gender inequality needs to be tackled in the long-term.
Firstly, last year, 69 women were killed violently nationwide. Most of the perpetrators were men, who were known to their victims. Ms Moran, what would you say last year's death toll tells us about violence against women in this country?
That's more than one a week. What's really challenging is those women become a statistic. By the time it reaches number 69, we can't name all of them.
As a woman, it feels like a crisis. It's like it even has a brand now: violence against women. It's like, that's right, that violence against women thing.
But actually, 69 people died and the gravitas that we give to that is little. If it was road deaths or something else, we would be giving it a lot more attention. And as a young woman, it's one of the biggest crises that we're facing.
The Royal Commission into Family Violence tabled its report in March 2016. By all accounts it was a break through inquiry. In your opinion, what has its impact been?
There's the impact on the ground. And then there's the emotional impact that I've felt in speaking to other women. All of the recommendations in the report were accepted.
I was there in 2016, when the then minister for prevention of family violence announced what would be the foundations of the gender equality strategy, and I cried. It was such an emotional expression for women to see that level of leadership taken by anyone in the country.
It was a defining moment that I remember at the Arts Centre. And I thought, what we are doing here is world leading, seeing the government explore what it actually means on the ground.
I mean a strategy is great, but the proof is in the pudding and what happens when the rubber hits the road.
What has been really interesting to see is the leadership taken by government resonate across the private sector, the not-for-profit sector, and as I said, with my friends.
That's where you really see it, not in what government does, but what everyone does in response to the government calling it out.
Recommendation 187 of the Royal Commission was to implement a strategy to prevent family violence and all forms of violence against women.
This is to work in conjunction with the state government's gender equality strategy. And the result was the Free From Violence strategy that the Andrews government launched last year.
What do both of these strategies involve?
It's multi-dimensional. Basically, we have a gender equality strategy and the Free From Violence strategy.
The reason we have a gender equality strategy is when the policy makers were doing the research around what actually works to prevent family violence, they uncovered that countries that have higher levels of gender equality have lower levels of family violence.
So, its where we say how do we actually stop family violence, whereas what we've traditionally done is asked how do you fund the measures that respond to family violence. Because, it would be great if it just didn't exist at all.
The gender equality part of it is really important to me because it focuses on the prevention measures.
It is about what government does, but also, setting targets for public service and what gender equality baseline would look like. Because, if we haven't seen gender equality before, we don't know what it looks like.
You're the chief executive of Girl Geek Academy. It's currently running Miss Makes Code workshops from January through to March.
These are in collaboration with Women's Health East. And this is supported by the Victorian government as part of the Free From Violence strategy.
What do these workshops entail?
On a technical level, we're teaching women and girls how to code. A lot of the schools are running coding classes, but no one is bringing the parents along on that journey.
At the moment, there is not a high representation of women in STEM, and particularly, technology. And if you think about all of the devices in our lives, most of the technology has been built by men.
That lack of inclusion does have its consequences in the workplace for men and women.
We are definitely trying to address that in the long-term. To create a workforce that is solving the world's problems with technology, but making sure that everyone is part of building that solution.
In the actual workshops, we teach women and girls coding. And then we've partnered with Women's Health East, who are a health promotion agency that actually discuss gender equality. They do half hour workshops with the women, as role models for young girls in the home.
It deals with how they can be a great technology role model and why is it important that they do that.
We give them the tools to be able to go home and code together, much in the same way as when you're teaching someone to read. How do you support them? You read along with them. We want to do the same thing for women and girls with coding.
And what's the link between the courses and the violence prevention strategy?
In technology, we talk about having a pipeline problem with women. Not enough young girls are choosing to study technology, but then they're also not choosing to stay in technology roles.
So, we can't get to gender equality if we don't have enough women and girls choosing the technology industry, and when they do choose being able to stay within it.
That's what we're hoping to shift with these workshops, teaching as many girls as possible how to code and making sure that they have support and role modelling from the women in their lives, then we'll make sure they can be successful when times get tough.
As you've mentioned, the majority of people involved in STEM based industries are men. This means that most of these technologies have been designed by them.
Does that mean there's a gender bias aspect to the technologies and products being produced?
I would say so. There's a number of examples, and they're not all Australian. There are two levels of bias. One is that it's mostly men building our technologies. But, it's also most of our tech products come from the US. And so, there's two levels of bias that really happen there.
My co-founder worked in San Francisco and I have done so myself. We've experienced the absolute sexism that comes from the American technology industry. And I can tell you it's way worse than Australia. I have had some appalling experiences in my time working in America in terms of sexism.
So, what happens with these products is that if we don't have women engineers saying here is a problem that technology could solve, I'm going to put my hand up to build that, then the people who are building these technologies are solving problems that only they acknowledge and can identify.
There are definitely gender biases built into individual technology products, but also, with what products are being built. There are problems that technology could solve for women that we haven't seen funded and being created yet, because we need more women engineers to be able to do that.
You've just mentioned that you used to work in the Silicon Valley. And you've worked in tech industries here in Australia. What are some of the issues women face in the industry?
As I mentioned, one of the issues is the pipeline problem, so there's a lack of them coming into the industry. Again, this is different in Australia than it is in America.
In Australia, men are active learners, who know how to support women in the industry, by and large. If I was going to make a broad generalisation, I would say that men are welcoming to women in the industry and want to do everything they can do to support and retain women here.
In America, it is not entirely like that. One of my friends sued Uber for $10 million not long after one of their lead engineers left due to sexual harassment in the workplace.
So, their problems are far deeper and greater than what happens here. And a lot of our problems that exist in the technology industry are just because organically we have had an overrepresentation of men building tech. And most of the men that I've spoken to about that really want to change it.
We have a lot of men who help us with our programs. And that's something we're looking forward to seeing more of, because gender equality is a problem for men and women to be able to work together to solve.
And lastly, the Royal Commission is having a positive impact in Victoria, the gender equality legislation is in the consultation process and your company and others like it are making a difference, however gender-based violence is still rife in the community.
So, Ms Moran, how do you see this all developing from here?
It's not a short-term fix. This is a problem that has been occurring for a long period of time that we need to be able to make improvements to in the short, medium and long-term.
The passage of family violence leave in Victoria – and the leadership that the government has taken with that – has been a great step for people who are experiencing violence now. That is something that will hopefully be accessible to allow them to escape a terrible situation.
But, in the long-term, wouldn't it be great if family violence didn't exist. And that's the level that we're working at – what needs to change at a societal level to reduce family violence, so we don't even have to speak about that problem anymore.
One of the issues we're thinking about long-term is that we won't close the gender pay gap for many years. So, gender equality looks like it is one of those lofty dreams, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't work towards achieving it.
Otherwise, the 69 women will occur year after year and they're such unnecessary deaths that it would be wrong of us to not step up and try to be able to make that change, so we can prevent unnecessary deaths of women.