An Economic Model of Fair Use

The doctrine of fair use allows limited copying of creative works based on the rationale that copyright holders would consent to such uses if bargaining were possible. This paper develops a formal model of fair use in an effort to derive the efficient legal standard for applying the doctrine. The model interprets copies and originals as differentiated products and defines fair use as a threshold separating permissible copying from infringement. The analysis highlights the role of technology in shaping the efficient standard. Discussion of several key cases illustrates the applicability of the model.Fair use, Copyright law, Technological improvement

A Haptics Symposium Retrospective: 20 Years

The very first "Haptics Symposium" actually went by the name "Issues in the Development of Kinesthetic Displays of Teleoperation and Virtual environments." The word "Haptic" didn't make it into the name until the next year. Not only was the most important word absent but so were RFPs, journals and commercial markets. And yet, as we prepare for the 2012 symposium, haptics is a thriving and amazingly diverse field of endeavor. In this talk we'll reflect on the origins of this field and on its evolution over the past twenty years, as well as the evolution of the Haptics Symposium itself. We hope to share with you some of the excitement we've felt along the way, and that we continue to feel as we look toward the future of our field

A high performance two degree-of-freedom kinesthetic interface

This summary focuses on the kinesthetic interface of a virtual environment system that was developed at the Newman Laboratory for Biomechanics and Human Rehabilitation at M.I.T. for the study of manual control in both motorically impaired and able-bodied individuals

Surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy vs concurrent chemoradiotherapy in stage III/IV nonmetastatic squamous cell head and neck cancer: a randomised comparison

We compared concurrent combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy with surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy in patients with stage III/IV nonmetastatic squamous cell head and neck cancer. Patients with non-nasopharyngeal and nonsalivary resectable squamous cell head and neck cancer were randomised to receive either surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy (60 Gy over 30 fractions) or concurrent combination chemotherapy and radiotherapy (66 Gy in 33 fractions). Combination chemotherapy comprised two cycles of i.v. cisplatin 20 mg m− 2 day− 1 and i.v. 5-fluorouracil 1000 mg m− 2 day− 1, both to run over 96 h given on days 1 and 28 of the radiotherapy. A total of 119 patients were randomised. At a median follow-up of 6 years, there was no significant difference in the 3-year disease-free survival rate between the surgery and concurrent chemoradiotherapy (50 vs 40% respectively). The overall organ preservation rate or avoidance of surgery to primary site was 45%. Those with laryngeal/hypopharyngeal disease subsite had a higher organ-preservation rate than the rest (68 vs 30%). Combination chemotherapy and concurrent irradiation with salvage surgery was not superior to conventional surgery and postoperative radiotherapy for resectable advanced squamous cell head and neck cancer. However, this form of treatment schedule with a view to organ-preservation can be attempted especially for those with laryngeal/hypopharyngeal and possibly oropharyngeal disease subsites

Small PV Systems Performance Evaluation at NREL's Outdoor Test Facility Using the PVUSA Power Rating Method

The PV Systems Performance and Reliability R & D group currently has seven grid-tied 1-2 kilowatt PV systems deployed at NREL's Outdoor Test Facility (OTF) and two 6 kilowatt systems mounted on the roof of NREL's Solar Energy Research Facility (SERF). The systems, which employ several PV module technologies including crystalline silicon (c-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe), and copper indium diselenide (CIS), are being monitored to determine the long-term performance and reliability of the modules and arrays under actual field conditions. The length of observation ranges from 2 months for our newest system to 11 years for our oldest systems. The annual degradation and seasonal fluctuation of the systems' power output are calculated using the PV for Utility-Scale Applications (PVUSA) power rating regression model

Mortality of wives of men dying with cancer of the penis.

711 women were identified who in 1939 were married to men who died with cancer of the penis in England and Wales during the period 1964 to 1973. The records of women were traced through the National Health Service Central Register and, by January 1975, 378 (53%) were found to have died. Expected numbers of deaths from all causes, all cancers and from some specific cancers were calculated assuming the women to have the same mortality rates as the general population of England and Wales. The total number of deaths (378) was close to the number expected (366-8) but there was a slight excess of deaths from cancer (89 against 76.5 expected). Of the individual sites examined only cancer of the cervix showed a statistically significant excess (11 deaths against 3.9 expected, P = 0.002). This finding is similar to those reported in two other studies of the wives of men with cancer of the penis. On the basis of these studies it is suggested that some cases of cancer of the cervix and cancer of the penis may have a common aetiology. Other epidemiological characteristics of the two diseases do not show a marked similarity

Performance Evaluation of a 1.5-kWdc a-Si PV Array Using the PVUSA Power Rating Method at NREL's Outdoor Test Facility

As part of the work conducted in the PV Systems Reliability and Performance R&D Task, a 1.5-kWdc photovoltaic (PV) array consisting of 36 Solarex MST-43MV dual-junction a-Si modules was installed and its performance monitored for almost six years (September 1999 through May 2005) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Outdoor Test Facility (OTF). This paper describes the system and its performance based on the PV for Utility-Scale Applications (PVUSA) power rating method