Of Silos and Constellations: Comparing Notions of Originality in Copyright Law

Originality is a central theme in the efforts to understand human evolution, thinking, innovation, and creativity. Artists strive to be original, however the term is understood by each of them. It is also one of the major concepts in copyright law. This paper considers the evolution of the notion of originality since 2002 (when one of the coauthors published an article entitled Feist Goes Global: A Comparative Analysis Of The Notion Of Originality In Copyright Law) and continues the analysis, in particular whether the notion of creative choices, which seems to have substantial normative heft in several jurisdictions, is optimal when measured in more operational terms. The paper considers the four traditional silo-like notions of originality used in national legal systems and looks at the major international treaties for guidance in defining the parameters of an international notion of originality. It analyzes the silos and suggests that they take the form of constellations which cannot be defined or compared hierarchically or indeed as completely separate notions; rather, they overlap in myriad ways

Rates of knee arthroplasty within one-year of undergoing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy in England:temporal trends, regional and age-group variation in conversion rates

Objective The aim of this study was to determine the proportion of patients undergoing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) then subsequently receiving a knee arthroplasty within one or two years, with focus on patients over the age of 60 years and regional variation. Methods Patients undergoing APM in England over 20-years (01-April-1997 to 31-March 2017) were identified in the national Hospital Episode Statistics (HES). The proportion of patients undergoing arthroplasty in the same knee within one or two years of APM was determined and trends were analysed over time nationally and by NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) region. Results 806,195 APM patients were eligible for analysis with at least one-year of follow up and 746,630 with two-years. The odds of arthroplasty conversion within one year increased over the study period (odds ratio [OR] 3.10 within 1-year in 2014 vs 2000; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.75–3.50). For patients undergoing APM aged 60 years or older in 2015–16, 9.9% (1689/17,043; 95% CI 9.5–10.4) underwent arthroplasty within 1-year and, in 2014–15, 16.6% (3100/18,734; 95% CI 16.0–17.1) underwent arthroplasty within 2-years. There was greater than 10-fold variation by CCG. Conclusions Over the study period, the proportion of patients undergoing arthroplasty within one-year of APM increased. In 2015–16, of patients aged 60 years or older who underwent APM, 10% subsequently underwent knee arthroplasty within one year (17% within two years in 2014–15) and there was a high level of regional variation in this outcome. The development and adoption of national treatment guidance is recommended to improve and standardise treatment selection.</p

Sphinx measurements of the 2009 solar minimum x-ray emission

The SphinX X-ray spectrophotometer on the CORONAS-PHOTON spacecraft measured soft X-ray emission in the 1-15 keV energy range during the deep solar minimum of 2009 with a sensitivity much greater than GOES. Several intervals are identified when the X-ray flux was exceptionally low, and the flux and solar X-ray luminosity are estimated. Spectral fits to the emission at these times give temperatures of 1.7-1.9 MK and emission measures between 4 x 10^47 cm^-3 and 1.1 x 10^48 cm^-3. Comparing SphinX emission with that from the Hinode X-ray Telescope, we deduce that most of the emission is from general coronal structures rather than confined features like bright points. For one of 27 intervals of exceptionally low activity identified in the SphinX data, the Sun's X-ray luminosity in an energy range roughly extrapolated to that of ROSAT (0.1-2.4 keV) was less than most nearby K and M dwarfs.Comment: Astrophysical Journal, in press. 14 pp, 3 figure

Prospective memory deficits in illicit polydrug users are associated with the average long term typical dose of ecstasy typically consumed in a single session

Rationale Neuroimaging evidence suggests that ecstasy-related reductions in SERT densities relate more closely to the number of tablets typically consumed per session rather than estimated total lifetime use. In order to better understand the basis of drug related deficits in prospective memory (PM) we explored the association between PM and average long-term typical dose and long-term frequency of use. Method Study 1: Sixty five ecstasy/polydrug users and 85 non-ecstasy users completed an event based, a short-term and a long-term time based PM task. Study 2: Study 1 data were merged with outcomes on the same PM measures from a previous study creating a combined sample of 103 ecstasy/polydrug users, 38 cannabis-only users and 65 nonusers of illicit drugs. Results Study 1: Ecstasy/polydrug users had significant impairments on all PM outcomes compared to non-ecstasy users. Study 2: Ecstasy/polydrug users were impaired in event based PM compared to both other groups and in long-term time based PM compared to non illicit drug users. Both drug using groups did worse on the short-term time based PM task compared to nonusers. Higher long-term average typical dose of ecstasy was associated with poorer performance on the event and short-term time based PM tasks and accounted for unique variance in the two PM measures over and above the variance associated with cannabis and cocaine use. Conclusions The typical ecstasy dose consumed in a single session is an important predictor of PM impairments with higher doses reflecting increasing tolerance giving rise to greater PM impairment

The X-ray cycle in the solar-type star HD 81809

(abridged) Our long-term XMM-Newton program of long-term monitoring of a solar-like star with a well-studied chromospheric cycle, HD 81809 aims to study whether an X-ray cycle is present, along with studying its characteristics and its relation to the chromospheric cycle. Regular observations of HD 81809 were performed with XMM-Newton, spaced by 6 months from 2001 to 2007. We studied the variations in the resulting coronal luminosity and temperature, and compared them with the chromospheric CaII variations. We also modeled the observations in terms of a mixture of active regions, using a methodology originally developed to study the solar corona. Our observations show a well-defined cycle with an amplitude exceeding 1 dex and an average luminosity approximately one order of magnitude higher than in the Sun. The behavior of the corona of HD 81809 can be modeled well in terms of varying coverage of solar-like active regions, with a larger coverage than for the Sun, showing it to be compatible with a simple extension of the solar case.Comment: In press, Astronomy & Astrophysic

Canonically conjugate pairs and phase operators

For quantum mechanics on a lattice the position (``particle number'') operator and the quasi-momentum (``phase'') operator obey canonical commutation relations (CCR) only on a dense set of the Hilbert space. We compare exact numerical results for a particle in simple potentials on the lattice with the expectations, when the CCR are assumed to be strictly obeyed. Only for sufficiently smooth eigenfunctions this leads to reasonable results. In the long time limit the use of the CCR can lead to a qualitativel wrong dynamics even if the initial state is in the dense set.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Phys. Rev. A, in pres

Tip-Leakage Vortex Inception on a Ducted Rotor

The tip-leakage vortex occurring on a ducted rotor was examined using both three component Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) and planar Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV). The vortex strength and core size were examined for different vortex cross sections downstream of the blade trailing edge. The variability of these quantities are observed with PIV and the average quantities are compared between LDV and PIV. Developed cavitation is also examined for the leakage vortex. The implication of vortex variability on cavitation inception is discussed

Coronal activity cycles in nearby G and K stars - XMM-Newton monitoring of 61 Cygni and Alpha Centauri

We use X-ray observations of the nearby binaries 61 Cyg A/B (K5V and K7V) and Alpha Cen A/B (G2V and K1V) to study the long-term evolution of magnetic activity in weakly to moderately active G + K dwarfs over nearly a decade. Specifically we search for X-ray activity cycles and related coronal changes and compare them to the solar behavior. For 61 Cyg A we find a regular coronal activity cycle analog to its 7.3 yr chromospheric cycle. The X-ray brightness variations are with a factor of three significantly lower than on the Sun, yet the changes of coronal properties resemble the solar behavior with larger variations occurring in the respective hotter plasma components. 61 Cyg B does not show a clear cyclic coronal trend so far, but the X-ray data matches the more irregular chromospheric cycle. Both Alpha Cen stars exhibit significant long-term X-ray variability. Alpha Cen A shows indications for cyclic variability of an order of magnitude with a period of about 12-15 years; the Alpha Cen B data suggests an X-ray cycle with an amplitude of about six to eight and a period of 8-9 years. The sample stars exhibit X-ray luminosities ranging between Lx < 1x10^26 - 3x10^27 erg s^-1 in the 0.2-2.0 keV band and have coronae dominated by cool plasma with variable average temperatures of around 1.0-2.5 MK. We find that coronal activity cycles are apparently a common phenomenon in older, slowly rotating G and K stars. The spectral changes of the coronal X-ray emission over the cycles are solar-like in all studied targets.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic