263134 research outputs found
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Jouer sa 'dernière carte': Transposition coloniale de l'Occupation dans Portrait de Grisélidis de Clara Malraux.
No full textstatus: Accepte
Towards a European Research Freedom Act: A Reform Agenda for Research Exceptions in the EU Copyright Acquis
No full textThis article explores the impact of EU copyright law on the use of protected knowledge resources in scientific research contexts. Surveying the current copyright/research interface, it becomes apparent that the existing legal framework fails to offer adequate balancing tools for the reconciliation of divergent interests of copyright holders and researchers. The analysis identifies structural deficiencies, such as fragmented and overly restrictive research exceptions, opaque lawful access provisions, outdated non-commercial use requirements, legal uncertainty arising from the three-step test in the EU copyright acquis, obstacles posed by the protection of paywalls and other technological measures, and exposure to contracts that override statutory research freedoms. Empirical data confirm that access barriers, use restrictions and the absence of harmonised rules for transnational research collaborations impede the work of researchers. Against this background, we advance proposals for legislative reform, in particular the introduction of a mandatory, open-ended research exemption that offers reliable breathing space for scientific research across EU Member States, the clarification of lawful access criteria, a more flexible approach to public-private partnerships, and additional rules that support modern research methods, such as text and data mining.status: Publishe
Data Secrets: The Data Act’s New Trade Secrets Framework
No full textThe recently adopted Data Act (DA) creates a complex system of data access, (re-)use and portability rights whose deeper implications are yet to be fully unpacked. Underpinning this sweeping intervention in data transactions is a general desire by the EU legislator to preserve and foster a competitive data market, favour fairness in data contracts, allow users of Internet of Things (IoT) products to have access to their co-generated data, and to empower public sector bodies, in certain special situations, to access privately held datasets. These are ambitious policy objectives that align well with the European Commission’s Data Strategy.
Naturally, as in every complex legal intervention aimed at regulating multifaceted dynamics, rules and rights are accompanied by exceptions and carve-outs. Trade secrets (TS), given their ability to cover situations that may escape the scope of (other) intellectual property rights, have attained a very distinctive place in the DA’s architecture. Not only TS feature quite prominently as a tool to mitigate and, one might say, undermine, some of the data access and sharing obligations of the DA. They are also the recipients of a very specific and unique set of regulatory interventions, including a duty to notify a competent authority which will be tasked with what can be arguably viewed as a prima-facie validity assessment of the trade secret claim. Furthermore, specific rules on technical protection measures could arguably equip TS with remedies that go beyond the traditional limits of this category. These two innovations are central to the present analysis and will be assessed in relation to the two specific data sharing regimes within which they are developed: Internet of Things (IoT) and Business-to-Government (B2G) data sharing obligations.
This paper, while building on previous scholar analysis, focuses specifically on information that has the simultaneous legal status of data and trade secret. It centres on the potentially conflicting obligations to protect, yet to share, such information as well as on the interfaces developed in the DA to address this conflict. It argues that the EU legislator may have effectively created a new (sub)category of TS, governed by their own subset of rules and procedures found in the DA, for those cases where TS are embedded in IoT or B2G data sharing obligations. The paper refers to this new category as data secrets. The analysis proceeds as follows: Section 2 examines the foundational principles and objectives underpinning the DA and the EU Trade Secrets Directive (TSD), identifying key challenges in uniting these separate approaches. Section 3 examines how the DA addresses TS protection while pursuing greater data access by focusing on the specific regimes for IoT and B2G data sharing. Section 4 highlights two key novel characteristics of data secrets that are relatively foreign to conventional notions of trade secrecy. The first is the decision-making powers of competent authorities as intermediate bodies in confirming trade secrecy. The second is the central role of technical protection measures as technological means for achieving trade secrecy and potentially expanding its effects. Section 5 concludes that data secrets manifestly supplement existing legal structures for trade secret protection in the EU data economy, but in doing so open up a number of theoretical and interpretative questions that seek proper systematization.status: Publishe
Relating to life and death a qualitative study of individuals with a long-lasting death wish related to unbearable psychiatric suffering
No full textOBJECTIVE: This study describes the lived experiences of persons with a long-lasting death wish related to unbearable psychiatric suffering (DWUPS) regarding their relationship to life and death. The findings are evaluated considering existing literature on suicidality and euthanasia, with a particular focus on the humanistic-existential perspective. METHOD: An open-ended data-gathering strategy was employed to elicit comprehensive descriptive information about the phenomenon from ten in-depth interviews, applying the method of generic descriptive-interpretative qualitative research. RESULTS: Persons with DWUPS experience difficulties in connection with others, with themselves, with the world and with life itself. Concurrently, they indicate new possibilities for nascent connection in relation to others by receiving support and being able to share their death wish. This can result in growth in relation to themselves, in allowing hope, meaning and new engagement in life. The desire to die manifests itself in a variety of ways, including a strong and persistent death wish, an ambivalent attitude, or a temporary suspension of their death wish. CONCLUSION: The process of exploring the death wish can assist persons with DWUPS in accessing potential ambivalence between life and death, in regulating emotional distress and in bearing existential concerns related to the life-and-death-questions.sponsorship: The work was supported by the Amici Foundation KU Leuven. (Amici Foundation KU Leuven)status: Publishe
Characterization and recharacterization of rights to use
No full textCharacterization plays an important role in our legal system. If X wants to grant a right to use to Y, the Belgian legal system provides for a variety of different characterizations. Parties could opt for a personal right (e.g. lease, commodatum, etc.) or for a property right (usufruct, emphyteusis, superficies, an easement). Their choice is not only determines the civil legal consequences (rights and obligations, duration, etc.), but also the tax consequences (applicable tax regime). The numerus clausus principle in property law (Typenzwang and Typenfixierung) seems to provide for a clear demarcation between property rights and personal rights, but also between the different property rights. However, within the framework of the different property rights to use, there is only a small number of mandatory rules in Belgian law. Moreover, it is not always that ease to tell the difference between property and personal rights to use (e.g. between an emphyteusis and a lease). Parties enjoy a large freedom to 'shape' the (property) right to use according to their needs. The different (property and personal) rights to use are even used as alternatives for each other. The question arises how far parties kan deviate from the legal framework that is created by the legislator, without the judge concluding that the parties' common intention (which is the determining fractor for (re)characterization) requires the judge to conclude to a recharacterization of the right to use in question. Which provision and elements are parties free to deviate from within the framework of their right to use, withou the judge having to conclude that the parties' common intention better matches with another right to use, another characterization, than the characterization chosen by the parties themselves? That question arises, specifically with the context of rights to use, not only from a property law point of view (civil (property law) recharacterization), but also from a tax law point of view (tax recharacterization).status: Publishe
Plattelandslevensonderhoud en duurzaam landbeheer in de Mount Elgon regio, Oost-Oeganda
No full textMy doctoral research aims at understanding the livelihoods of rural households in the Mount Elgon region and the consequences of some key socio-economic aspects in these livelihoods - namely income diversification, tenure (in)security and fertility decisions - for land use, farm performance, agricultural intensification and sustainable land management. Ultimately, I aim at contributing to the identification of priority actions and policies for more sustainable land management and improved rural livelihoods in the Mount Elgon region in Eastern Uganda.status: Publishe
The Perfect Li(f)e: a Longitudinal Study on Positive Social Media Content and European Adolescents’ Perfectionism
No full textsponsorship: European Research Council|852317, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|11G2725Nstatus: Published onlin
Exploring attitudes toward discrimination: The role of news media consumption, news media trust, discriminatory experiences, and intergroup contact
No full textsponsorship: KU Leuven Research Council|C24M/22/007status: Published onlin
Continuous Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Increases Long-Latency Neural Processing in Multiple Sensory Modalities
No full textTranscutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is a noninvasive technique stimulating vagal afferent fibers, showing promise in treating neurological and mental disorders. taVNS is believed to activate the locus coeruleus (LC), promoting noradrenergic activation (NA), which enhances arousal and attention. However, evidence for the LC-NA hypothesis is mixed, and investigations in different sensory modalities are lacking. This study investigated whether continuous taVNS enhances standard NA markers along with neural processing in three sensory modalities (auditory, respiratory, and somatosensory). In a 2-day Sham-controlled crossover protocol, 45 healthy adults received taVNS at the cymba concha and Sham stimulation at the earlobe. During stimulation, participants experienced paired auditory clicks, inspiratory occlusions, and electrocutaneous stimuli, while EEG was acquired. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) and subjective experienced arousal were measured at pre-/end-stimulation. Resting-state EEG was measured pre-/poststimulation to assess alpha-band (8-13 Hz) oscillation power, and participants rated the intensity and unpleasantness of all stimuli. Auditory-, respiratory-related-, and somatosensory evoked potentials were measured, specifically P50, N1, and P2 components, as well as the P50/N1 amplitude difference of the second and the first stimulus in the pair (neural gating; S2-S1). Although no effects in P50 or N1 amplitudes were observed, P2 amplitudes in auditory and somatosensory blocks increased during taVNS. Self-reported arousal increased in the taVNS condition, with no effects on neural gating, sAA concentration, or resting-state alpha power. taVNS had no effect on self-reported intensity/unpleasantness of stimuli. These results highlight certain limitations posed by combining taVNS and EEG and underline the need for further mechanistic taVNS research.sponsorship: The authors would like to thank Dr. Mathijs Franssen for his assistance with setting up the experimental and taVNS protocols. (Onderzoeksraad, KU Leuven)status: Publishe
