Music Copyright via the Internet

This thesis will ask if it is possible to use the Internet as a means of copyrighting music. At present, the Internet is not used for the copyrighting of music and furthermore no studies have been carried out to see if this is feasible. Digital technology is used in the composition, recording, playing and downloading and storage of music and the author will research if and how these existing technologies can work in conjunction with the Internet to create a music copyright system. This thesis will research existing copyright requirements, the current technologies used in music that have potential copyright implications, and how that technology could be harnessed for a system resulting in Music Copyright Via the Internet. A composer could connect to the internet, and subsequently could register their music immediately on a web site and receive a certification or statement of copyright all in one continuous transaction. The relationship between copyright and technology will be examined and the structure of a hypothetical website dedicated to music copyright will be formulated. Research will be presented by literary review, relevant website content, and by person interviews of music composers, producers, copyright solicitors, and information technology experts, the results will then be compiled. The core idea of such a system will be subject to an analysis within the parameters of feasibility, validity, and reliability, and an examination of the advantages and disadvantages of such an implementation will be carried out. Conclusions will be formulated on a subject breakdown basis as to what conditions must be met for the successful application of such a system. Finally, an overall conclusion will be reached on Music Copyright Via the Internet

Low temperatures impact species distributions of jumping spiders across a desert elevational cline.

Temperature is known to influence many aspects of organisms and is frequently linked to geographical species distributions. Despite the importance of a broad understanding of an animal's thermal biology, few studies incorporate more than one metric of thermal biology. Here we examined an elevational assemblage of Habronattus jumping spiders to measure different aspects of their thermal biology including thermal limits (CTmin, CTmax), thermal preference, V̇CO2 as proxy for metabolic rate, locomotor behavior and warming tolerance. We used these data to test whether thermal biology helped explain how species were distributed across elevation. Habronattus had high CTmax values, which did not differ among species across the elevational gradient. The highest-elevation species had a lower CTmin than any other species. All species had a strong thermal preference around 37 °C. With respect to performance, one of the middle elevation species was significantly less temperature-sensitive in metabolic rate. Differences between species with respect to locomotion (jump distance) were likely driven by differences in mass, with no differences in thermal performance across elevation. We suggest that Habronattus distributions follow Brett's rule, a rule that predicts more geographical variation in cold tolerance than heat. Additionally, we suggest that physiological tolerances interact with biotic factors, particularly those related to courtship and mate choice to influence species distributions. Habronattus also had very high warming tolerance values (> 20 °C, on average). Taken together, these data suggest that Habronattus are resilient in the face of climate-change related shifts in temperature

Check Your Tech – Considering the Provenance of Data Used to Build Digital Products and Services: Case Studies and an Ethical CheckSheet

Digital products and services are producing unprecedented amounts of data worldwide. These products and services have broad reach and include many users and consumers in the developing world. Once data is collected it is often used to create large and valuable datasets. A lack of data protection regulation in the developing world has led to concerns about digital colonization and a lack of control of their data on the part of citizens in the developing world. The authors of this paper are developing a new digital ethics curriculum for the instruction of computer science students. In this paper we present two case studies we have developed with a focus on data ethics in a developing world context. Each case study is accompanied by a list of specific questions to be used by the instructor to allow students to evaluate the implications of introducing new digital products and services in a developing world context as well as a generic case studies checksheet that allow deeper reflection on the intended and unintended consequences of introducing new technologies

Portwest’s future strategy: Achieving €1Billion Turnover – Portwest and the Global Workwear Market

Portwest is a global manufacturer and innovator of workwear, safetywear and PPE and one of the fastest growing workwear companies in the world. The company has pursed growth successfully for the last 20 years, successfully employing new market entry strategies along with strategic acquisitions to gain footholds in over 130 countries worldwide. The company has also maintained a vertically integrated supply chain, owning factories and distribution centres. Growth can come at a cost- increasingly complex operations, a growing product portfolio and an increased exposure to risk in terms of business continuity. Should Portwest continue to aggressively target growth through new territories, or consolidate existing markets and streamline existing operations

Portwest’s Future Strategy: Fashionising Workwear – Threading The Needle

Portwest- should they further pursue the leisurewear / workwear market or should they focus on expanding the current range? Portwest is a global manufacturer and innovator of workwear, safetywear and Personal protective equipment (PPE) and one of the fastest growing workwear companies in the world. Recently, the company launched an “Inspired Workwear” collection targeting the leisurewear/workwear market. It is a departure from their traditional markets where their acquisition strategy has seen Portwest rapidly gain market share. Management are concerned that this new departure may take resources from the core business of Workwear and dilute key resources

Criminal Justice Legitimacy in United States in the Light of Post-Conviction DNA Testing

Criminal justice system is an institution which ensures that the moral balance of the society is not disrupted by the malfeasance of any of its members. When an imbalance so feared is created, the system attempts to correct it by punishing the offender. But this punishment system has become a dragnet for both the guilty and the innocent. No one is sure how many innocent people are incarcerated in both federal and state prisons in the United States. This paper examines criminal justice in the light of post-conviction Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) testing and exoneration in the United States. The outcome is that post-conviction DNA testing has helped to exonerate not less than 438 convicted individuals in the United States who served an average of 15 years in prison between 1989 and 2016. This number casts doubt over the legitimacy of the criminal justice system in the country. As a result, this paper makes a case for mandatory post-conviction DNA testing in all crimes where human material samples are available and where accused persons claim innocence. Keywords: Criminal justice, DNA, Post-conviction, Exoneration, Credibilit

What\u27s in a Name?”: The Use of Instructional Design in Overcoming Terminology Barriers Associated with Dark Patterns

Many users experience a phenomena when they are shopping on-line where they feel they are being pressured to either spend more money than they had intended, or to share more personal data than they wanted. In academic circles we use the term “Dark Patterns” to describe these deceptive practices, and categorize them as being within the discipline of User Experience (Narayanan, 2020). As academics it is important to name phenomena, and to categorize them, so that we can discuss and analyze these issues. However, this particular topic is one that all users should be made aware of when interacting online, and therefore these ideas should be explained in a manner to ensure that the terminology does not prove to be a barrier to understanding these concepts (Gordon, et al., 2014). To overcome the terminological barriers, this research proposes the use of a model of instructional design called Elaboration Theory, developed by Charles Reigeluth (1999). Crucially this model proposes that when explaining a new concept, the last thing the instructor should do is to mention the name of the concept, they should first explain the concept, and at the very end of an instructional session, say “And by the way, this concept is called…”. This model also contends that the instructor should explain the concept in simple terms first, and then continue to elaborate on that explanation throughout the teaching process (adhering to the notion of a Spiral Curriculum). It also suggests that the content should be summarized at each level of explanation, and analogies should be used to help clarify concepts. Therefore, this research proposes the redevelopment of existing teaching content about Dark Patterns, where these patterns are retitled as “Online Shopping Tricks”, and the teaching content is redesigned to begin with a simple explanation of Dark Patterns and to elaborate with more complexity at a number of levels of explanation, and including summarizers and analogies at the end of each stage. This content will be subsequently piloted on a number of non-academic participants to determine whether or not this redesign process has been effective

The Development of Teaching Case Studies to Explore Ethical Issues Associated with Computer Programming

In the past decade software products have become pervasive in many aspects of people’s lives around the world. Unfortunately, the quality of the experience an individual has interacting with that software is dependent on the quality of the software itself, and it is becoming more and more evident that many large software products contain a range of issues and errors, and these issues are not known to the developers of these systems, and they are unaware of the deleterious impacts of those issues on the individuals who use these systems. The authors of this paper are developing a new digital ethics curriculum for the instruction of computer science students. In this paper we present case studies that were explored to demonstrate programming issues to First Year Computer Science students. Each case study outlines key issues associated with a particular scenario and is accompanied by specific questions to be used by the instructor to allow students to begin to reflect on, and evaluate, the implications of these issues. The objective of this teaching content is to ensure that the students are presented with, and engage with, ethical considerations early in their studies and well before they encounter them in an employment setting