Museums’ claims of copyrights in digital reproductions of public domain works of art – a conflict with the right to access culture?

Sammanfattning Modern teknologi har medfört helt nya möjligheter för museum att nå ut till en global marknad. Museum har tagit sig an omfattande digitaliseringsprojekt och lanserar numera sina konstkollektioner online. Digitaliseringen omfattar även konstverk som tillhör public domain, vilket betyder att vem som helst är tillåten att mångfaldiga och sprida verken. Problematik uppstår när museum hävdar att deras reproduktioner av konstverk tillhörande public domain är upphovsrättsligt skyddade. Det underliggande konstverket är fritt. Har digitaliseringsprocessen skapat exklusiva rättigheter i ett egentligen fritt verk? Framställningen syftar initialt till att undersöka huruvida museums anspråk i digitala reproduktioner av konstverk tillhörande public domain kan rättfärdigas utifrån ett upphovsrättsligt perspektiv. Det finns praxis som tyder på att rena avbildningar av verk inte kan åtnjuta upphovsrättsligt skydd. Museum försöker dock särskilja sig från det fallet och hävdar att fallet inte kan generell tillämpning. Svaret på huruvida anspråket kan rättfärdigas är osäkert där olika faktorer avgör. Rättsområdet, om det nu går att kalla för ett rättsområde, är relativt nytt. Teknologin har inte funnits länge, och därmed inte heller de problem som uppstått. Problematiken har blivit överlägset mest uppmärksammad i USA. Både amerikansk praxis och doktrin behandlar och diskuterar museums eventuella upphovsrätt i digitala reproduktioner av konstverk tillhörande public domain, och redogörs för i undersökningen. Fördelaktigt är att det material som finns på området är uppdaterat, om än begränsat. Vidare är museums mission är att bevara och förmedla kultur. Att återinföra konstverk tillhörande public domain i en upphovsrättslig sfär kan diskuteras om det stämmer överens med deras mission. Istället för att göra kulturen tillgänglig utgör en sådan verksamhet en begränsning av tillgänglig kultur. Vidare så tillämpar museum ofta licensavtal med begränsande verkan. Intressant är att undersöka hur museums begränsande verksamhet, antingen genom upphovsrätt eller kontrakt, förhåller sig till rätten att ta del av kultur, vilket utgör en fortsatt del av framställningen ifråga. Avslutningsvis innehåller rätten att ta del av kultur vissa skyldigheter för en stat. Ett visst mått av konkreta möjligheter att på lika villkor ta del och dra nytta av det ska tillförsäkras den enskilde individen. Om museums verksamhet inte kan anses vara kompatibelt med rätten att ta del av kultur, finns det ett behov av att staten vidtar åtgärder i form av lagliga reformer för att kunna tillgodose fortsatt möjlighet att ta del av digitaliserade konstkollektioner? Frågan diskuteras utifrån relevanta internationella dokument och doktrin som ställer upp olika skyldigheter respektive förslag på hur public domain kan stärkas gentemot exklusiva anspråk. Indikationer tyder på ett behov. Hur det behovet ska tillfredsställas är dock en annan fråga.Summary Modern technology offer entirely new possibilities for museums to reach out on a global market. Museums have undertaken far-reaching mass digitisation projects of their art collections and have established online collections. The digitisation comprises both copyrighted and public domain works of art. Public domain works of art are free for everyone to distribute and reproduce. Problems arise when museums claim copyright in the reproductions of public domain works of art. The underlying work of art is free. Has the digitisation created exclusive rights in public works of art? The examination initially investigates whether museums’ claims in digital reproductions of public domain works of art can be justified from a copyright perspective. Case law indicate that exact reproductions of works of art do not enjoy copyright protection. Museums, however, try to distinguish them from the specific case, meaning that the single case cannot be applied in general. The answer to whether the claim is valid is uncertain. The legal field, if one can call it a legal field, is relatively new. The technology is modern, which is also the case for the problems related. Most attention to the problematic has been paid in the U.S. Both American case law and legal scholars have recognised the problems and discuss museums’ potential copyright in digital reproductions of public domain works of art. The fact that it is a new legal field limits the material available. The advantage is that the material is up-to-date. Furthermore, the examination deals with museums and their mission to preserve and purvey culture to the public. Returning public domain works of art into the copyright sphere may be questioned from that perspective. Instead of making the art accessible, such activity functions as a limitation on accessible works of art. The museums also adopt restrictive policies and license agreements. Museums’ limiting activities is interesting in relation to the right to access culture, which is a further part of the investigation. Finally, the right to access culture puts different levels of legal obligations on a State member. The State is obliged to guarantee at least some minimum amount of concrete possibilities for the individual to access culture on equal terms. If museums’ activity cannot be regarded as compatible with the right to access culture, is there a need of legal reforms in order to ensure continued access to digitised art collections? International instruments and doctrine indicate that there is a need. The most proper solution in order to satisfy that need is, however, another question

Variability in synovial inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis investigated by microarray technology

In recent years microarray technology has been used increasingly to acquire knowledge about the pathogenic processes involved in rheumatoid arthritis. The present study investigated variations in gene expression in synovial tissues within and between patients with rheumatoid arthritis. This was done by applying microarray technology on multiple synovial biopsies obtained from the same knee joints. In this way the relative levels of intra-patient and inter-patient variation could be assessed. The biopsies were obtained from 13 different patients: 7 by orthopedic surgery and 6 by rheumatic arthroscopy. The data show that levels of heterogeneity varied substantially between the biopsies, because the number of genes found to be differentially expressed between pairs of biopsies from the same knee ranged from 6 to 2,133. Both arthroscopic and orthopedic biopsies were examined, allowing us to compare the two sampling methods. We found that the average number of differentially expressed genes between biopsies from the same patient was about three times larger in orthopedic than in arthroscopic biopsies. Using a parallel analysis of the tissues by immunohistochemistry, we also identified orthopedic biopsies that were unsuitable for gene expression analysis of synovial inflammation due to sampling of non-inflamed parts of the tissue. Removing these biopsies reduced the average number of differentially expressed genes between the orthopedic biopsies from 455 to 171, in comparison with 143 for the arthroscopic biopsies. Hierarchical clustering analysis showed that the remaining orthopedic and arthroscopic biopsies had gene expression signatures that were unique for each patient, apparently reflecting patient variation rather than tissue heterogeneity. Subsets of genes found to vary between biopsies were investigated for overrepresentation of biological processes by using gene ontology. This revealed representative 'themes' likely to vary between synovial biopsies affected by inflammatory disease

Quantitative Genetic Effects of Bottlenecks: Experimental Evidence from a Wild Plant Species, Nigella degenii

Understanding the genetic consequences of changes in population size is fundamental in a variety of contexts, such as adaptation and conservation biology. In the study presented here, we have performed a replicated experiment with the plant Nigella degenii to explore the quantitative genetic effects of a single-founder bottleneck. In agreement with additive theory, the bottleneck reduced the mean (co)variance within lines and caused stochastic, line-specific changes in the genetic (co)variance structure. However, a significant portion of the (co)variance structure was conserved, and 2 characters—leaf and flower (sepal) size—turned out to be positively correlated in all data sets, indicating a potential for correlated evolution in these characters, even after a severe bottleneck. The hierarchical partitioning of genetic variance for flower size was in good agreement with predictions from additive theory, whereas the remaining characters showed an excess of within-line variance and a deficiency of among-line variance. The latter discrepancies were most likely a result of selection, given the small proportion of lines (23%) that remained viable until the end of the experiment. Our results suggest that bottlenecked populations of N. degenii generally have a lower adaptive potential than the ancestral population but also highlight the idiosyncratic nature of bottleneck effects

The ABCC4 gene is associated with pyometra in golden retriever dogs

Pyometra is one of the most common diseases in female dogs, presenting as purulent inflammation and bacterial infection of the uterus. On average 20% of intact female dogs are affected before 10 years of age, a proportion that varies greatly between breeds (3-66%). The clear breed predisposition suggests that genetic risk factors are involved in disease development. To identify genetic risk factors associated with the disease, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in golden retrievers, a breed with increased risk of developing pyometra (risk ratio: 3.3). We applied a mixed model approach comparing 98 cases, and 96 healthy controls and identified an associated locus on chromosome 22 (p = 1.2 x 10(-6), passing Bonferroni corrected significance). This locus contained five significantly associated SNPs positioned within introns of the ATP-binding cassette transporter 4 (ABCC4) gene. This gene encodes a transmembrane transporter that is important for prostaglandin transport. Next generation sequencing and genotyping of cases and controls subsequently identified four missense SNPs within the ABCC4 gene. One missense SNP at chr22:45,893,198 (p.Met787Val) showed complete linkage disequilibrium with the associated GWAS SNPs suggesting a potential role in disease development. Another locus on chromosome 18 overlapping the TESMIN gene, is also potentially implicated in the development of the disease

Формирование механических характеристик тонкой углеродистой латунированной проволоки в процессе тонкого волочения

Материалы XIII Междунар. науч.-техн. конф. студентов, магистрантов и молодых ученых, Гомель, 25–26 апр. 2013 г

Patient-reported outcomes one year after positive sentinel lymph node biopsy with or without axillary lymph node dissection in the randomized SENOMAC trial

Introduction: This report evaluates whether health related quality of life (HRQoL) and patient-reported arm morbidity one year after axillary surgery are affected by the omission of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). Methods: The ongoing international non-inferiority SENOMAC trial randomizes clinically node-negative breast cancer patients (T1-T3) with 1-2 sentinel lymph node (SLN) macrometastases to completion ALND or no further axillary surgery. For this analysis, the first 1181 patients enrolled in Sweden and Denmark between March 2015, and June 2019, were eligible. Data extraction from the trial database was on November 2020. This report covers the secondary outcomes of the SENOMAC trial: HRQoL and patient-reported arm morbidity. The EORTC QLQC30, EORTC QLQ-BR23 and Lymph-ICF questionnaires were completed in the early postoperative phase and at one-year follow-up. Adjusted one-year mean scores and mean differences between the groups are presented corrected for multiple testing.Peer reviewe

The generalisability of randomised clinical trials : an interim external validity analysis of the ongoing SENOMAC trial in sentinel lymph node-positive breast cancer

Purpose None of the key randomised trials on the omission of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in sentinel lymph-positive breast cancer have reported external validity, even though results indicate selection bias. Our aim was to assess the external validity of the ongoing randomised SENOMAC trial by comparing characteristics of Swedish SENOMAC trial participants with non-included eligible patients registered in the Swedish National Breast Cancer Register (NKBC). Methods In the ongoing non-inferiority European SENOMAC trial, clinically node-negative cT1-T3 breast cancer patients with up to two sentinel lymph node macrometastases are randomised to undergo completion ALND or not. Both breast-conserving surgery and mastectomy are eligible interventions. Data from NKBC were extracted for the years 2016 and 2017, and patient and tumour characteristics compared with Swedish trial participants from the same years. Results Overall, 306 NKBC cases from non-participating and 847 NKBC cases from participating sites (excluding SENOMAC participants) were compared with 463 SENOMAC trial participants. Patients belonging to the middle age groups (p = 0.015), with smaller tumours (p = 0.013) treated by breast-conserving therapy (50.3 versus 47.1 versus 65.2%, p < 0.001) and less nodal tumour burden (only 1 macrometastasis in 78.8 versus 79.9 versus 87.3%, p = 0.001) were over-represented in the trial population. Time trends indicated, however, that differences may be mitigated over time. Conclusions This interim external validity analysis specifically addresses selection mechanisms during an ongoing trial, potentially increasing generalisability by the time full accrual is reached. Similar validity checks should be an integral part of prospective clinical trials. Trial registration: NCT 02240472, retrospective registration date September 14, 2015 after trial initiation on January 31, 2015Peer reviewe

Discovery of the thallium, lead, bismuth, and polonium isotopes

Currently, forty-two thallium, forty-two lead, forty-one bismuth, and forty-two polonium isotopes have so far been observed; the discovery of these isotopes is discussed. For each isotope a brief summary of the first refereed publication, including the production and identification method, is presented.Comment: to be published in At. Data Nucl. Data Table