65 research outputs found
The microbiome of otitis media with effusion in Indigenous Australian children
No full textAbstract not available.Jake Jervis-Bardy, Geraint B. Rogers, Peter S. Morris, Heidi C. Smith-Vaughan, Elizabeth Nosworthy, Lex E.X. Leong, Renee J. Smith , Laura S. Weyrich, Jacques De Haan, A. Simon Carney, Amanda J. Leach , Stephen O’Leary, Robyn L. Mars
Latini ex lege Aelia Sentia
No full textEnThe author examines some particularly controversial and discussed sources (especially Tit. Ulp. 1.12 and Gai. 1.41). They appear to be a clear evidence in favor of a latinitas based on the regulations of the lex Aelia Sentia. This latinitas was acquired by a manumissio testamento (for the slave less than thirty years of age) and by a manumissio inter amicos adprobata causa apud consilium (when performed by a dominus less than twenty years of age). Those acquiring the status of latini by these ways could become Roman citizens thanks to the ius adipiscendae civitatis introduced by the lex Aelia Sentia.EsEl autor examina algunas fuentes particularmente controvertidas y discutidas (especialmente Tit. Ulp. 1.12 y Gai. 1.41), que parecen ser una clara evidencia a favor de una latinitas ex lege Aelia Sentia. Esta latinitas se adquiría por manumissio testamento (para el esclavo menor de treinta años) y por manumissio inter amicos adprobata causa apud consilium (cuando la hacía un dominus menor de veinte años). Los que adquirían el estatus de latini por estas vías podían convertirse en ciudadanos romanos gracias al ius adipiscendae civitatis introducido por la lex Aelia Sentia
Early-life antibiotic-driven dysbiosis leads to dysregulated vaccine immune responses in mice
No full textLink to a related website: http://www.cell.com/article/S1931312818302063/pdf, Open Access via UnpaywallAntibody-mediated responses play a critical role in vaccine-mediated immunity. However, for reasons that are poorly understood, these responses are highly variable between individuals. Using a mouse model, we report that antibiotic-driven intestinal dysbiosis, specifically in early life, leads to significantly impaired antibody responses to five different adjuvanted and live vaccines. Restoration of the commensal microbiota following antibiotic exposure rescues these impaired responses. In contrast, antibiotic-treated adult mice do not exhibit impaired antibody responses to vaccination. Interestingly, in contrast to impaired antibody responses, immunized mice exposed to early-life antibiotics display significantly enhanced T cell cytokine recall responses upon ex vivo restimulation with the vaccine antigen. Our results demonstrate that, in mice, antibiotic-driven dysregulation of the gut microbiota in early life can modulate immune responses to vaccines that are routinely administered to infants worldwide.Miriam Anne Lynn, Damon John Tumes, Jocelyn Mei Choo, Anastasia Sribnaia, Stephen James Blake, Lex Ee Xiang Leong ... et al
Skin Stories: Charting and Mapping the Skin. Research using analogies of human skin tissue in relation to my textile practice.
No full textThe practice based research SKIN STORIES:: CHARTING AND MAPPING THE SKIN deals with issues across the fields of art, design, technology, biology and material science. In an attempt to bridge the gap between aesthetics and technology by investigating the potential of new and industrial materials, the epidermis is used as a metaphor for creating innovative textile surfaces which behave, look or feel like skin.
As a result of theoretical enquiry and practical experiments, interactive design solutions have been developed to a prototype stage for possible application in domestic environments and public spaces as well as for integration into body related design concepts. The development of such functional and interactive textile membranes will hopefully enable individuals to experience a polysensual and responsive environment and it is this aspect which is considered to be an original contribution to knowledge in the textiles field.
The aim of this written thesis is not only to illustrate the journeys and investigations made along the way and to demonstrate the outcome of the research, but also to situate the practical work in its cultural, critical and technological context. This thesis is accompanied by an interactive CD-ROM which is a visual representation of
my 'research map' and holds a record of the practical work carried out during the research project.
The ideas of the project SKIN STORIES:: CHARTING AND MAPPING THE SKIN have been developed and tested during a 3-year research programme towards a Ph. D. at The London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London
Copyright and the Regulation of Orphan Works: A Comparative Review of Seven Jurisdictions, and a Rights Clearance Simulation
No full textAbout
This report is a collaboration between the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy & Management (www.cippm.org.uk), Bournemouth University (BU), the Department for Human Resources & Organisational Behaviour, The Business School, BU, and CREATe, the RCUK Centre for Copyright & New Business Models (www.create.ac.uk).
The Hargreaves Review stated: “The problem of orphan works – works to which access is effectively barred because the copyright holder cannot be traced – represents the starkest failure of the copyright framework to adapt.” (Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth; London: Intellectual Property Office; 2011; p. 38).
This report was commissioned by the Intellectual Property Office to support the implementation of the Hargreaves Review. It aims to offer a clearer understanding of how orphan works are regulated and priced in other jurisdictions, and how a pricing system could be structured to ensure that “parents” are fairly remunerated if they re-appear, and users are incentivised to access and exploit registered orphan works.
Executive Summary
‘Orphan works’ are works in which copyright still subsists, but where the rightholder, whether it be the creator of the work or successor in title, cannot be located.
This report was commissioned to assist the UK government in evaluating policy options in the implementation of the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property & Growth (2011) to enable and price the use of orphan works.
The research proceeded in two stages. Study I undertook a comparative international review of actual or proposed orphan works legislation, and identified key characteristics of orphan works licensing schemes. Study II investigated the potential effects of such schemes by conducting a simulated rights clearance exercise for six scenarios (establishing licence terms and fees for specific commercial and non-commercial uses), and analysing the resulting dataset for effects of the characteristics identified in Study I.
I. Comparative Review
The comparative review relied on a close scrutiny of actual or proposed legislation and considered government reports, draft bills, publications and other commentaries on the orphan works issue. The countries reviewed included jurisdictions with operational orphan works regulations: Canada, Denmark, Hungary, India, and Japan; as well as provisions at the EU level and in the US (draft legislation and current practice). The purpose of the review was to identify key features of legal regimes with respect to factors such as – (i) categories of works covered; (ii) standards of diligent search; (iii) the mechanism for obtaining permission; (iv) the existence of a register or database of recording suspected orphan works; (v) the role of collecting societies;(vi) tariffs set by category of work; (vii) mechanisms for challenging tariffs; (viii) remedies for reappearing authors and case law, if any, on damages for infringing use.
Findings Study I:
(1) Two distinct approaches appear to be used for governing orphan works in the jurisdictions reviewed. The first may be labelled ‘ex-ante’, and involves rights clearing before a work is used, the second is ‘ex-post’ and typically involves the management of infringement risks by the user.
In the former an applicant is required to engage with an authorising body or collecting society in order to receive a licence to make use of an orphan work. In contrast, the latter involves either the creation of a statutory copyright exception, or a limitation of liability where an applicant makes use of an orphan work after having exerted some effort to identify the potential rightholder (e.g. diligent search, attribution). These regimes provide different levels of protection for authors and users.
The ex-ante approach is exemplified by Canada, Japan and India where a potential user has to discuss terms with a copyright board. In ex-post systems payment is only due in case an author reappears. This approach is exemplified by the US. The analysis shows a strong protection for rightholders, both ex ante and ex post, in India, and Japan; and a relatively lower protection in the US, and to a certain extent Denmark (under the system of Extended Collective Licensing). Canada and Hungary are intermediate cases (e.g. no advertising requirements prior to use, but public listing of granted licences).
(2) While most jurisdictions require a diligent search to be conducted by the applicant there is no uniform standard constituting a diligent search. Across jurisdictions the specifications for diligent search vary considerably. Requirements involving the preventive search of the author range from the weak provisions of Denmark (no search required), Canada (requiring “reasonable effort”), and the US (“reasonable search” required) to the strong provisions of India, Japan, Hungary and the EU (but not France) providing a duty for the user of performing a “diligent search” or “due diligence search” (India) accompanied by some form of record tracking of the steps performed. The EU lists minimum sources for a diligent search in the Annex to the Orphan Works Directive. Advertising requirements (in the national press or equivalent) are provided in Japan and India.
(3) The United States had proposed a “limited liability” approach, under which the use of orphan works is possible after a reasonable search. In the case of an infringement claim orphan users are liable only for a reasonable compensation. Denmark uses an Extended Collective Licensing system, which involves collective negotiation with users (normally for multiple licensing) valid also for non-represented authors. In turn, the EU leaves Member States free to choose their regulatory approach (for example, France has chosen a central licensing system in its forthcoming legislation). All the other countries reviewed implement the central licensing system, with a central public authority granting copyright licences on orphan works.
(4) Prices are set by central authorities in the countries that have a central licensing system, and by collecting societies in Denmark. Interestingly, national central authorities have claimed that although no official negotiation process is provided by law, the price of licences is set on a case by case basis, after considering the individual circumstances of the applicant. Set prices can be challenged mostly in an ordinary court of law in the examined countries, or alternatively before the licensing authority with a quasi-judicial procedure (e.g. Canada). Infringement claims are handled by ordinary courts in all countries (including the US) or by licensing authorities with quasi-judicial procedures (in Hungary). In Denmark, both prices and infringement claims are under the jurisdiction of a special tribunal (the Copyright Licensing Tribunal). The above rules on price, infringement, and legal remedies do not derive from EU law, which leaves these matters to Member States.
(5) In Canada, Japan, India, Denmark and France an upfront payment is normally required byte applicant in exchange for using orphan works. In Canada, payment is upfront in approximately two-thirds of cases, whilst it is contingent on the rightholder reappearing in the remaining third. See De Beer and Bouchard (2010). In Hungary the amount is identified but may not be deposited (for non-profit licensees). It will be paid directly to the rightholder, in the event that he or she reappears. In the US, no payment is made until a court decision is issued, following an infringement claim.
Particular roles are envisaged for collecting societies in Denmark, in which they handle the whole system, Hungary, where collecting societies retain unclaimed revenues after five years from expiry of licence, and Canada, where collecting societies are consulted during tariff setting, and hold collected fees (to be used as they see fit).
(6) In the US, in Hungary, and France a voluntary public online register for suspected orphan works is established. The EU is establishing a register at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM). In Japan, some institutions have their own register of orphan works. No register is envisaged in India, Canada or Denmark (prior to the Orphan Works Directive). However details of all licences granted are available on-line in Canada.
II. Rights Clearance Simulation
The “Rights Clearance Exercise” reported in Study II is a combination of various methods. In a first step a simulation approach is employed to collect a unique dataset on actual or potential licence fees for orphan works. Representatives of rights clearance authorities from countries covered in the comparative legal review (Canada, Denmark, France, Hungary, India, Japan, supplemented by some US data) were asked to provide a licence fee for each of six scenarios that are likely to occur in reality (from creating a small online resource to mass digitisation projects).
The identification of the various scenarios was the outcome of a rigorous methodological procedure. The six identified scenarios were:
Historical geographic maps for a video game for mobile phones (up to 50 maps
A vintage postcard collection for web publication and eventual sale of prints (up to50 cards)
National folk tune recordings for multimedia/teaching (DVD) (up to 50)
Re-issuing a 1960/70s TV series as part of a digital on-demand service (one series)
Mass digitisation of photographs (archives) by a public non-profit institution, with possible sale of prints (above 100,000 items)
Mass digitisation of books by a private for-profit institution, with possible sale of books (above 100,000 items)
Two rates for each scenario were sought, for commercial and non-commercial use. In a second step the dataset is subjected to various analytical techniques, including a regression approach and a comparison of collective licensing systems against others through the computation of effect sizes.
Findings Study II:
(1) There does not appear to be a standard price for licensing orphan works. In fact tariffs vary widely. For example, to clear 50 items from a folk tune archive for commercial use will cost the equivalent of £188 per year in Canada, and (under reasonable assumptions) £9,312 per year in France. In fact, the only consistent finding appears to be that in almost all cases commercial licence fees tend to exceed non-commercial ones.
(2) Licences were not available for all scenarios. Re-issuing orphaned broadcasts seems particularly problematic, with no licence offered in any of the countries investigated.
(3) There is no systematic recognition of what may constitute an appropriate duration for licences. Licences were very variable from country to country, ranging from a monthly to a five-year licence, without the provision of a permanent licence.
(4) We find high tariffs that discourage mass digitisation projects. Per item fees initially appearing very low and thus sustainable turn out to render mass-digitisation unviable for public and non-profit institutions when scaled up under reasonable assumptions. Mass digitisation projects involving 100,000 items may incur annual licensing fees exceeding £1 million per year.
(5) The average level of fees imposed on a potential user of an orphan work is similar in collective and individual licensing regimes. This is an interesting finding because it mitigates arguments that one of the regimes will lead to higher fees. The operating costs involved in running an orphan works scheme appear therefore an important factor when choosing between individual and collective approaches.
(6) A limited liability system seems to have advantages for archives and other non-profit institutions exposed to orphan works, enabling those organisations to share their stock of orphaned artefacts with the public. In contrast, the up-front rights clearing seems to provide more appropriate incentives for commercial uses of orphaned artefacts, guaranteeing that a reappearing rightholder will be compensated for the exploitation of any work.
Together, the findings from both studies indicate the need for a more structured and consistent approach in governing orphan works that is reflected in the pricing and duration of licences, and in the costs of running any licensing system
Quotients, Pure existential completions and arithmetic universes
No full textWe provide a new description of Joyal's arithmetic universes through a characterization of the exact and regular completions of pure existential completions.
We show that the regular and exact completions of the pure existential completion of an elementary doctrine Pare equivalent to the reg/lex and ex/lex-completions, respectively, of the category of predicates of P.
This result generalizes a previous one by the first author with F. Pasquali and G. Rosolini about doctrines equipped with Hilbert's ε-operators.
Thanks to this characterization, each arithmetic universe in the sense of Joyal can be seen as the exact completion of the pure existential completion of the doctrine of predicates of its Skolem theory.
In particular, the initial arithmetic universe in the standard category of ZFC-sets turns out to be the completion with exact quotients of the doctrine of recursively enumerable predicates
Quotients, pure existential completions and arithmetic universes
No full textWe provide a new description of Joyal's arithmetic universes through a
characterization of the exact and regular completions of pure existential
completions. We show that the regular and exact completions of the pure
existential completion of an elementary doctrine are equivalent to the
and -completions,
respectively, of the category of predicates of . This result generalizes a
previous one by the first author with F. Pasquali and G. Rosolini about
doctrines equipped with Hilbert's -operators. Thanks to this
characterization, each arithmetic universe in the sense of Joyal can be seen as
the exact completion of the pure existential completion of the doctrine of
predicates of its Skolem theory. In particular, the initial arithmetic universe
in the standard category of ZFC-sets turns out to be the completion with exact
quotients of the doctrine of recursively enumerable predicates
Piercing the Veil’s Effect on Corporate Human Rights Violations & International Corporate Crime (Human Trafficking, Slavery, etc)
No full textCorporate limited liability laws (CLL) [the corporate veil (tCV)] is a major obstacle for implementation of UN and other covenants’ prevention and jurisprudence ex ante and ex post facto Corporate Human Rights Violations (CHRV) and International Corporate Crime (ICrC). I.d. aggregates the inability of States and International Bodies to farther establish unified e.g., Lex Non Scripta common law with adjudicative and prescriptive jurisdiction and to apply the Lex Scripta civil and criminal laws to reduce infringements of the human rights and impunity in cases of corporate violations and criminal acts. In this paper is argued that the change from Corporate Limited Liability (referred to as tCV) to Corporate Unlimited Liability (referred as PtCV) laws and thus criminalizing and adjudicating breaches of HR covenants and civil and criminal laws by corporate individuals, at prima facie should have a substantial preventative and sanctioning affect on reducing such CHRV and ICrC. I.d., the unambiguous correlation between CHRV and ICrC, (which in many occasions includes Human Trafficking, Slavery, Sex Trade, Child Labor, ext), which are accelerated by the 2001-2007 Recessions through expanding global poverty and inequality. Piercing the Corporate Veil (PtCV) and Enhancing Business & Contract Laws (eBCL) would raise the market security thus needed to establish fair market competition benefiting Small and Medium Enterprises and Investors, which have become major global employers: action that would have a general positive market effect. Id. Anyway with the current judicial practice, in most cases where there are grave personal injuries the court is willing to impute negligence to the parent company – especially where the subsidiary is thinly capitalized or appears to have been formed precisely to avoid liability. In contrast, courts are extremely reluctant to pierce the corporate veil in cases of purely pecuniary losses, namely where the creditors of a bankrupt corporation seek to reach the personal assets of the shareholders of the corporation. Eric Engle (2006). This is for the obvious reason that general financial liability of shareholders for all debts of a corporation would discourage investment in stocks with deleterious economic consequences. See, e.g. Krivo Indus. Supply Co. v. National Distillers & Chem. Corp., 483 F.2d 1098, 1102 (5th Cir. 1973)business laws, limited liability, corporate contracts, economics, human trafficking, international crime, white collar crime
Deriving accurate microbiota profiles from human samples with low bacterial content through post-sequencing processing of Illumina MiSeq data
No full textPublished: 5 May 2015Background: The rapid expansion of 16S rRNA gene sequencing in challenging clinical contexts has resulted in a growing body of literature of variable quality. To a large extent, this is due to a failure to address spurious signal that is characteristic of samples with low levels of bacteria and high levels of non-bacterial DNA. We have developed a workflow based on the paired-end read Illumina MiSeq-based approach, which enables significant improvement in data quality, post-sequencing. We demonstrate the efficacy of this methodology through its application to paediatric upper-respiratory samples from several anatomical sites. Results: A workflow for processing sequence data was developed based on commonly available tools. Data generated from different sample types showed a marked variation in levels of non-bacterial signal and ‘contaminant’ bacterial reads. Significant differences in the ability of reference databases to accurately assign identity to operational taxonomic units (OTU) were observed. Three OTU-picking strategies were trialled as follows: de novo, open-reference and closed-reference, with open-reference performing substantially better. Relative abundance of OTUs identified as potential reagent contamination showed a strong inverse correlation with amplicon concentration allowing their objective removal. The removal of the spurious signal showed the greatest improvement in sample types typically containing low levels of bacteria and high levels of human DNA. A substantial impact of pre-filtering data and spurious signal removal was demonstrated by principal coordinate and co-occurrence analysis. For example, analysis of taxon co-occurrence in adenoid swab and middle ear fluid samples indicated that failure to remove the spurious signal resulted in the inclusion of six out of eleven bacterial genera that accounted for 80% of similarity between the sample types. Conclusions: The application of the presented workflow to a set of challenging clinical samples demonstrates its utility in removing the spurious signal from the dataset, allowing clinical insight to be derived from what would otherwise be highly misleading output. While other approaches could potentially achieve similar improvements, the methodology employed here represents an accessible means to exclude the signal from contamination and other artefacts.Jake Jervis-Bardy, Lex E X Leong, Shashikanth Marri, Renee J Smith, Jocelyn M Choo, Heidi C Smith-Vaughan, Elizabeth Nosworthy, Peter S Morris, Stephen O'Leary, Geraint B Rogers and Robyn L Mars
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