Regulating CMOs by competition: an incomplete answer to the licensing problem?

While the three functions of Collective Management Organisations – to licence use, monitor use, and to collect and distribute the revenue – have traditionally been accepted as leading to a natural (national) monopoly, digital exploitation of music may no longer support such a conclusion. The European Commission has challenged the traditional structures through reforms that increase the degree of competition. This paper asks whether the reforms have had the desired effect and shows, through qualitative research, that at least as regards the streaming of music, competition has not delivered. Part of the reason for this may be that the services required by the now competing CMOs have changed.While the three functions of Collective Management Organisations – to licence use, monitor use, and to collect and distribute the revenue – have traditionally been accepted as leading to a natural (national) monopoly, digital exploitation of music may no longer support such a conclusion. The European Commission has challenged the traditional structures through reforms that increase the degree of competition. This paper asks whether the reforms have had the desired effect and shows, through qualitative research, that at least as regards the streaming of music, competition has not delivered. Part of the reason for this may be that the services required by the now competing CMOs have changed

Unraveling the Impact of Malaria Exposure Before Birth

Lars Hviid discusses a research article in PLoS Medicine that explores whether prenatal exposure to malaria is associated with increased susceptibility to malarial infection and anemia in infancy

The Beagle 2 optical microscope

Introduction to the Beagle2 optical microscope

Market concentration, supply, quality and prices paid by local authorities in the English care home market.

We investigate the impact of exogenous local conditions which favor high market concentration on supply, price and quality in local markets for care homes for older people in England. We extend the existing literature in: (i) considering supply capacity as a market outcome alongside price and quality; (ii) taking account of the chain structure of care home supply and differences between the nursing home and residential care home sectors; (iii) using an econometric approach based on reduced form relationships that treats market concentration as a jointly determined outcome of a complex market. We find that areas susceptible to a high degree of market concentration tend to have greatly restricted supply of care home places and (to a lesser extent) a higher average public cost, than areas susceptible to low degree of market concentration. There is no significant evidence that conditions favoring high market concentration affect average care home quality

The Beagle 2 microscope

The Beagle 2 microscope provides optical images of the Martian surface at a resolution 5x higher than any other experiment currently planned. By using a novel illumination system it images in three colors and can also detect fluorescent materials

Anoctamin 6 differs from VRAC and VSOAC but is involved in apoptosis and supports volume regulation in the presence of Ca²⁺

Anoctamin 6 (ANO6), also known as TMEM16F, has been shown to be a calcium-activated anion channel with delayed calcium activation. The cellular function of ANO6 is under debate, and different groups have come to different conclusions about ANO6’s physiological role. Although it is now quite well established that ANO6 is distinct from the volume-regulated anion channel, it is still unclear whether ANO6 or other anoctamins can be activated by cell swelling. In this study, we suggest that ANO1, ANO6, and ANO10 do not contribute to the volume-activated current in ANO-overexpressing HEK293 cells. Furthermore, knock-down of ANO6 in Ehrlich ascites tumor cells (EATC) and Ehrlich–Lettre ascites (ELA) did not decrease but instead significantly increased swelling-activated membrane currents. Knock-down of ANO6 in EATC did not reduce regulatory volume decrease (RVD) in the absence of extracellular calcium, whereas it significantly reduced RVD in the presence of calcium. Interestingly, we found that knock-down of ANO6 in ELA cells resulted in a decrease in cisplatin-induced caspase-3 activity, confirming earlier findings that ANO6 is involved in apoptosis. Finally, knock-down of ANO1 and ANO6 did not affect the volume-sensitive release of taurine in ELA cells. Thus, our data provide evidence that ANO6 cannot be activated directly by cell swelling unless Ca(2+) is present. We also conclude that ANO6 carries a current during RVD, provided extracellular calcium is present. Thus, swelling activation of ANO6 requires the presence of free calcium

FAMILIEKLASSER I HELSINGØR

Familieklassen i Helsingør er et projekt, der skaber bæredygtig forandring for elever, der ikke udnytter deres potentiale i skoleregi. Dette sker gennem opbygning af et fælles læringsrum, hvor forældrene er vigtige ressourcepersoner i skolens undervisning. Dette gør, at der kun er brug for to personaler i familieklassen. Endvidere er visitationen enkel, da der er tale om tilrettelæggelse af undervisning. Der stilles ikke krav om særlige faciliteter, blot et klasselokale. Udgangspunktet – og målet – tages i en konkret praksis, nemlig skolen, som man vil styrke og have til at fungere på en inkluderende måde, dvs. at den er et tilbud til alle – og at alle kan bidrage til, at den fungerer. Familieklassen søger at fremme forældreindflydelse gennem en åben dialog. Det er forældrenes kærlighed til børnene, der er den værdi, familieklassen bruger som kraft til at skabe forandring i barnets måde at gå i skole på. Familieklassen skaber meningsfuldhed for deltagerne mht. skolen; den giver alle mulighed for at være fælles med andre om problemerne; den skaber forandring gennem deltagelse, hvor alle ses som havende ressourcer; og der er klare mål for, hvad deltagerne vil opnå. Gennem det at skabe løsninger, der fremmer oplevelsen af at have muligheder og at have menneskelig værdighed hos alle deltagere, kan familieklassen ses som en praktisering af social ansvarlighed i et konkret felt, nemlig skolen

Market concentration, supply, quality and prices paid by local authorities in the English care home market

We investigate the impact of exogenous local conditions which favor high market concentration on supply, price and quality in local markets for care homes for older people in England. We extend the existing literature in: (i) considering supply capacity as a market outcome alongside price and quality; (ii) taking account of the chain structure of care home supply and differences between the nursing home and residential care home sectors; (iii) using an econometric approach based on reduced form relationships that treats market concentration as a jointly determined outcome of a complex market. We find that areas susceptible to a high degree of market concentration tend to have greatly restricted supply of care home places and (to a lesser extent) a higher average public cost, than areas susceptible to low degree of market concentration. There is no significant evidence that conditions favoring high market concentration affect average care home quality