Tristram Shandy and the Limits of Copyright Law; Or, is a Blank Page an Idea?

Australian copyright law does not give copyright protection to ideas. However, depending on the analysis used, certain types of creative outputs can be treated as ideas, rather than the protectable expressions that are given the status of a copyright work. Denial of the status of work will affect the economic right of the creator, and they will also be denied moral rights. This paper explores copyright law's adoption of a Lockean conception of ideas through the 18th century literary property debates, but shows that in the 18th century, the concept of ideas had not hardened into the forms used now. Instead, the law accepted and acknowledged that 'books' or 'compositions' (in their conceptual sense as well as their physical sense) and compositions were literary property. Through the agency of Lawrence Sterne's digressive comic masterpiece, Tristram Shandy, a nine-volume novel published at the height of the 18th century literary property debates, the notion of Lockean ideas, textual sparcity and the concept of the creative process is juxtaposed against the oppositional categories of idea and expression now used in copyright law. It is suggested that the adoption of a concept like 'book' or 'composition' to frame textually or visually sparse creative outputs, could provide a legal recognition for creative outputs now refused copyright protection

Rethinking militarism in post-apartheid South Africa

This paper argues that contemporary South Africa is marked by a co-existence of both old and new forms of militarism. It tries to move beyond the statist conception of militarism in much of the scholarly literature in order to examine social relations more broadly, and the appropriation of the means and instruments of violence by non-state groups. The paper argues that a shallow and uneven process of state demilitarisation was underway in South Africa from 1990 in the form of reductions in military expenditure, weapons holdings, force levels, demobilisation, employment in arms production and base closures. However, this has had contradictory consequences. The failure to provide for the effective social integration of ex-combatants throughout the Southern African region, as well as ineffective disarmament in post-conflict peace building, has provided an impetus to a 'privatised militarism'. This is evident in three related processes: new forms of violence, the commoditisation of security, through the growth of private security firms and, most importantly, the proliferation of small arms. It is argued that small arms are highly racialised and linked to a militarised conception of citizenship. This feeds into a militarist nationalism, which claims a powerful army as an indicator of state power, which helps to explain a process of re-militarisation - evident in the R60 billion re-armament programme and increasing reliance on the military as an instrument of foreign policy since 1998. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for a regional approach to security as a further corrective to a narrow, statist focus on the South African National Defence Force

The effect of carburetor refurbishing on emissions, performance, and fuel economy in a classic pickup tested using real-world tests

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 28).This project investigated how refurbishing the carburetor of a 1952 Chevrolet Pickup would affect emissions, performance, and fuel economy. The test used were real-world tests that anyone, with or without access to a laboratory, can perform. The design of the real-world tests is important for ascertaining good results. Thought should go into how to perform the tests safely while still eliminating as many variables as possible. The emissions at idle improved by reducing the carbon monoxide percentage from 4-6% to 2- 3%. The hydrocarbon levels were reduced from 800-1000 ppm to 500-600 ppm. The results of the emissions test were unclear at cruise. The performance data showed that the vehicle had a slower acceleration after the refurbishing. The time to go from stopped to 100 feet in first gear was 5.46 s before refurbishing, and 6.48 s after refurbishing. It is possible that the vehicle was running lean at wide-open throttle after refurbishing. The fuel economy improved with the refurbished carburetor. The initial fuel economy was 10.7 mpg and the final fuel economy was 15.2 mpg. Once the results from the tests are collected, they need to be scrutinized to see if they are plausible using empirical data. Even with extreme care it is difficult to get precise measurements using real-world tests. The emissions data at cruise was not consistent with idle and could not be used. The fuel economy tests and emissions tests at idle show that the engine was running less fuel rich after refurbishing.by Jacklyn Holmes.S.B

Gateway to College: Lessons from Implementing a Rigorous Academic Program for At-Risk Young People

Despite efforts to improve the high school graduation rate in the United States, an estimated 7,200 students drop out of high school every day -- a staggering 1.3 million every year. Further, a recent report by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University projects that by 2020, nearly 65 percent of U.S. jobs will require at least some college education, out of reach for those who are unable to earn a high school diploma. Much more comprehensive alternative education programs are needed that put dropouts and students at risk of dropping out on a path to earn high school diplomas while also providing them with the academic skills and support necessary to be successful in their postsecondary pursuits

The sidereal semi-diurnal variation observed at high zenith angles at Mawson, 1968-1984, and the polarity of the solar main field

High zenith-angle North/South telescopes viewing equatorially and at midlatitudes through 40 MWE of atmosphere have been operating at Mawson since early 1968. It is evident that a sidereal semi-diurnal component of galactic origin has been observed, over and above a possible spurious component proposed by Nagashima, arising from a bi-directional component of the solar anisotropy. Although a very pronounced reduction in the semi-diurnal galactic response followed the reversal of polarity of the solar main field during 1969 to 1971, so far the observations indicate that there has been no recurrence of a larger galactic response following the reversal of polarity around 1981. The possible role of the latitudional extent lambda omicron of the wavy neutral sheet is discussed

Independent - Mar. 18, 2014

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