Making Copyright Work for the Asian Pacific

This book provides a contemporary overview of developing areas of copyright law in the Asian Pacific region. While noting the tendency towards harmonisation through free trade agreements, the book takes the perspective that there is a significant amount of potential for the nations of the Asian Pacific region to work together, find common ground and shift international bargaining power. Moreover, in so doing, the region can tailor any regional agreements to suit local needs. The book addresses the development of norms in the region and the ways in which this can occur in light of the specific nature of the creator–owner–user paradigm in the region and the common interests of Indigenous peoples

A FRAME ANALYSIS OF NGO LITERATURE ON INTERNET CENSORSHIP IN CHINA: THE CASE OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, AND REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS

ABSTRACT This thesis critically examines the way in which Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) frame the issue of internet censorship in China. As three of the world’s leading non-governmental human rights organizations, how these NGOs frame this issue—i.e. what aspects they emphasize or neglect, whose actions they highlight or obscure, and what kinds of solutions they propose—can influence which institutions or actors might take up the issue, who will pay attention to it, and what kind of action is taken to address it. In order to investigate the respective framing strategies employed by these NGOs in their discussions about internet censorship in China, a content analysis involving both quantitative and qualitative research methods was conducted on relevant literature published by all three organizations between the years 2005 - 2010.1found that all three NGOs tended to emphasize certain issues, including internet blocking and filtering, cyber dissidents, and foreign corporate complicity, while ignoring other issues, including Chinese internet laws and regulations, government surveillance and propaganda, and the complicity of hardware and domestic internet companies. The collective lack of attention to these items is problematic insofar as it may influence how target audiences interpret and respond to the issue of internet censorship in China. Largely ignored by these organizations, the items listed above are therefore likely to remain ignored by other political actors, including governments and policymakers with the capacity to take action on this issue

Is Digital Text-Watermarking the Long-Desired User Friendly Digital Rights Management? Copyright and Fundamental Values from a Comparative Perspective

Many have argued that technologies used to protect copyrighted works usually go beyond the letter of the law and subsequently impinge on interests relating to freedom of information and expression, privacy and free choice. Classic examples are technologies that prevent CDs or DVDs from being accessed or copied under certain conditions, or that block or filter-out copyright-protected materials. This article assesses digital text-watermarking, which does not restrict users’ access to or use of works, but individualises every user’s copy by changing the formatting or words in a text (e.g. “not visible” for “invisible”). Every purchaser/user receives a unique version of the work, meaning that, if there is any illegal upload or usage, it is possible to determine which user the copy came from. The technology thereby allows legal (and illegal) use to be undertaken, but serves as a tool for enforcement when there is illegal use. This article assesses digital text-watermarking from a comparative law perspective, particularly the Civil Law and the Common Law traditions

In Consumer Protection We Trust? Re-Thinking the Legal Framework for Country of Origin Cases

Markets are becoming more complicated in an ever faster changing world. New findings pertaining to human behavior and consumer markets constantly challenge traditional legal and policy assumptions. Social science offers a myriad of insights into the ways trust, identity, ideology, and preferences interact and impact one another. Against this background, the need to advance a nuanced legal framework is increasingly vital. Consumer law policy requires an interdisciplinary and holistic approach. Recent scholarship has acknowledged this need, proposing novel ways to enrich the academic discourse and develop consumer law policy. Along these lines, a growing body of literature examines how notions of identity and trust affect consumer behavior and how the law should respond to these phenomena. However, this body of literature is under-developed and under-theorized. This article bridges some of this gap, proposing a well-rounded agenda that adopts a multi-dimensional approach to country of origin cases. As we illustrate throughout the article, there is more in country of origin cases than initially meets the eye. Such cases require integrating behavioral, economic, and social developments, such as people’s search for identity markers. This, in turn, yields a superior legal analysis that is applicable to the development of consumer law more generally

Strategic understanding of Malaysian online customers’ service quality preference through demographic customer profiling and e-product bundling

In order to stay competitive in the arena of e-commerce, conventional e-marketing research have provided solutions to online businesses and marketing practitioners by understanding online purchasing behavior and thereby proposing various determinants influencing online purchasing behavior. Little research has been done in order to assist marketing practitioners to identify the precise online customer segmentation, making market targeting and positioning and use of effective marketing campaigns complex. Hence, this study aims to identify the appropriate online customer segmentation (product bundles) based on three determinants of online purchasing behavior, i.e. e-service quality, demographic profiles and types of product purchased. 680 useful data was collected from existing online shoppers and data mining technique was employed to identify the product bundles and decision trees were used for customer profiling. Findings have identified Tickets, Clothing and Travel product bundles as the basis of segmentation. Result from this study will assist online marketing practitioners to be conscious of online customers needs and astutely create marketing campaigns aiming at their targeted online customers segment

The Use of Nanostructured Calcium Silicate in Solar Cells

Nanostructured calcium silicate (NCaSil) had previously been found to be photoactive and mildly semiconducting. Its use in solar cells was investigated in this project. Many different types of solar cells exist. Most common on the market are silicon-based cells, which generate charge separation through electric fields at p/n junctions. Over the last decade, dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) have been heavily researched. DSSCs depend on effective electron/hole separation at the dye and efficient transfer to the electron- and hole-conducting materials. An older and little-researched form of cells is the photogalvanic cell, of which there are two forms. One contains a semiconducting material, whereas the other comprises of either one or two redox couples, in which at least one species is photoactive. An example of the latter form of cell is the odide/triiodide redox couple, which is commonly the electrolyte of choice in DSSCs and semiconductor-containing photogalvanic cells. This project predominantly investigated the use of NCaSil in conjunction with the iodide/triiodide redox couple and its use in solar cells. The project ascertained that, when used with the iodide/triiodide, the NCaSil did not act as a semiconducting material (either as in a DSSC or semiconductor photogalvanic cell). Rather iodide/triiodide's photogalvanic process dominated the cell, despite the presence of NCaSil. Furthermore, the addition of the stable NCaSils to the iodide/triiodide (with 5 wt% CaCl2) created "soggy sand electrolytes". These electrolytes showed increased conductivities, despite their higher viscosities, due to a synergistic effect. Soggy sand electrolytes show great promise in the development of more solid-like DSSCs. Furthermore, the project observed that the performance of NCaSil cells was maximized with a 70 wt% ethanol (30 wt% water) solvated electrolyte, with 1.5 wt% CaCl2 added to this electrolyte (or 5 wt % CaCl2 in the water content). When used long-term in conjunction with Reinforced NCaSil, a gel was formed, which showed promising activity. This activity was attributed to the interaction of surface-bound Ca2+ to iodine. Similar gels formed from vanadium- and cerium-treated NCaSil also showed great cell performance. Cell performance was further enhanced by backing the cell with a reflective or light scattering material, such as Teflon tape

The Incidence of Breast Cancer among Disabled Kansans with Medicare

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer disparities by disability status are poorly understood. While previous studies have shown increased odds of late stage at diagnosis, it is unclear whether the incidence of breast cancer varies by disability status. METHODS: To assess cancer incidence and stage at diagnosis among disabled and nondisabled Medicare beneficiaries in Kansas, a retrospective cohort study was conducted using linked Medicare enrollment and Kansas Cancer Registry data from 2007 to 2009. Disability status was determined by the indicator for the original reason for Medicare eligibility. RESULTS: Among the 651,337 Medicare beneficiaries included in the cohort, there were 2,384 cases of breast cancer. The age-adjusted incidence was 313 per 100,000 among female beneficiaries with disabilities and 369 per 100,000 among nondisabled female beneficiaries. The adjusted incidence rate ratio was 0.93 (95% CI 0.73-1.18). When assessing stage at diagnosis, there was no difference in the odds of late stage at diagnosis by disability status (OR = 1.02; 95% CI 0.68-1.50). CONCLUSION: No significant difference in incidence or stage at diagnosis was identified among this cohort. The use of Medicare eligibility to define disability status presented a number of limitations. Future studies should seek alternate definitions of disability to assess disparities in breast cancer incidence, including definitions using Medicare claims data

Effects of ascorbic acid on PVS2 cryopreservation of dendrobium Bobby Messina’s PLBs supported with SEM analysis.

Regrowth of the cryopreserved protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) of Dendrobium Bobby Messina was assessed based on the plant vitrification solution 2 (PVS2) optimisation conditions. The optimized protocol obtained based on TTC spectrophotometrical analysis and growth recovery were 3–4 mm of PLBs size precultured in 0.2 M sucrose for 1 day, treated with a mixture of 2 M glycerol and 0.4 M sucrose supplemented with half-strength liquid MS media at 25 °C for 20 min and subsequently dehydrated with PVS2 at 0 °C for 20 min prior to storage in liquid nitrogen. Following rapid warming in a water bath at 40 °C for 90 s, PLBs were treated with unloading solution containing half-strength liquid MS media supplemented with 1.2 M sucrose. Subsequently, the PLBs were cultured on half-strength semi-solid MS media supplemented with 2 % (w/v) sucrose without any growth regulators and resulted in 40 % growth recovery. In addition, ascorbic acid treatment was used to evaluate the regeneration process of cryopreserved PLBs. However, growth recovery rates of non-cryopreserved and cryopreserved PLBs were 30 and 10 % when 0.6 mM ascorbic acid was added. Scanning electron microscopy analysis indicates that there are not much damages observed on both cryopreserved and non-cryopreserved PLBs in comparison to PLBs stock culture