The Story of a Character: Establishing the Limits of Independent Copyright Protection for Literary Characters

Copyright law provides writers with a way to protect their original works of authorship, but courts often disagree over the scope of this protection and how far it can be extended for the fictional characters appearing within literary works. Characters like Holden Caulfield and James Bond have become extremely valuable forms of intellectual property, but even for such iconic figures it can be difficult to separate the character from the story to determine where one work ends and the other begins. To address this issue, the Second Circuit follows the distinctly delineated test, which asks whether a character has been sufficiently developed within the author\u27s expression to merit independent copyright, while the Ninth Circuit has crafted the more exclusive story being told test, which only grants copyright protection to those characters embodying the story in which they appear. These inconsistent standards have resulted in unreliable protection that overly restricts the public domain and inhibits the creation of new works. This note examines the inherent goals of intellectual property protection and the historical treatment of literary characters, concluding that the story being told test is the better standard for the promotion of copyright interests

The Story of a Character: Establishing the Limits of Independent Copyright Protection for Literary Characters

Copyright law provides writers with a way to protect their original works of authorship, but courts often disagree over the scope of this protection and how far it can be extended for the fictional characters appearing within literary works. Characters like Holden Caulfield and James Bond have become extremely valuable forms of intellectual property, but even for such iconic figures it can be difficult to separate the character from the story to determine where one work ends and the other begins. To address this issue, the Second Circuit follows the distinctly delineated test, which asks whether a character has been sufficiently developed within the author\u27s expression to merit independent copyright, while the Ninth Circuit has crafted the more exclusive story being told test, which only grants copyright protection to those characters embodying the story in which they appear. These inconsistent standards have resulted in unreliable protection that overly restricts the public domain and inhibits the creation of new works. This note examines the inherent goals of intellectual property protection and the historical treatment of literary characters, concluding that the story being told test is the better standard for the promotion of copyright interests

Phyllostictine A ring assembly via ring closing metathesis

This thesis describes work focused on the chemical synthesis and herbicidal activity of the natural product phyllostictine A, a molecule of unique structure and unknown mode of action. Chapter 1 serves to introduce the natural product and describe the known activity of the natural product. Furthermore, it discusses literature methods for the construction of a-methylene-b-lactams, a key component of phyllostictine A. Chapter 2 describes work towards the construction of the macrocyclic rings found in phyllostictine A. As a result a-methylene-b-lactams have been shown, for the first time, to participate in RCM reactions. Formation of 11- and 12-membered trisubstituted membered rings was possible, however, the nature of the nitrogen substituent has a large impact. For example, 12-membered rings 124, 130 were formed in 37% yield when a para-methoxyphenyl group was utilised, while simple ethyl substitution could only achieve yields of 20%. Boc protected lactam 169 produced only linear dimer 170. The synthesis of tetrasubstituted alkenes via RCM was attempted with lactam 145, however, resulted in an unexpected rearrangement product. Not only was the RCM sensitive to the nitrogen substituent but also the size of ring being formed. For example, 11-membered rings produced significant amounts of the 22-membered dimers 89 and 87. Throughout the RCM reactions performed in this thesis held a preference for the Z-alkene. The trend was confirmed both by NMR shift analysis and X-ray crystallography. Chapter 3 describes work towards the synthesis of 4,4-disubstituted a-methylene-b-lactam subunit of phyllostictine A. Three methods: epoxide rearrangement, carbonylation of methyleneaziridines and carbonylation of 2-bromo-allyl-propenes were explored. Chapter 4 describes the herbicidal activity of phyllostictine A against the single celled algae C. reinhardtii. ED50 data was obtained for phyllostictine A against C. reinhardtii for the first time. Furthermore, it was shown to be comparable to the commercial herbicide glyphosate. Six novel a-methylene-b-lactams synthesised in Chapter 2 were tested for herbicidal activity against C. reinhardtii which has enabled us to develop preliminary structure-activity relationships

The deposition, characterisation and biocompatibility of hydroxyapatite and silicon doped hydroxyapatite thin film coatings for orthopaedic applications

Silicon doped hydroxyapatite (SiHA) could be used as a thin film coating on load bearing bone implants to provide a bioactive layer enabling bone to form a direct bond with the implant/bone interface thus increasing implant lifetime by lowering the chances of aseptic loosening. This study has been undertaken to investigate silicon additions to RF magnetron sputtered hydroxyapatite (HA) thin films. Detailed characterisation was carried out on SiHA thin films to establish the structural, chemical, mechanical and compositional properties. Silicon content was altered by adjusting the power density applied to silicon targets in a co-deposition process resulting in SiHA films containing 0.0, 1.8, 4.2 and 13.4 wt.% silicon. All as-deposited thin films were found to be amorphous. After annealing at 600˚C in flowing argon for 2 h, it was found that films exhibited a single phase HA structure. The addition of silicon inhibited HA crystallite growth and acted to lower the stability of HA films in aqueous solutions. The 13.4 wt.% SiHA thin film did not recrystallise until a heat treatment at 800˚C. From the work presented here, it is proposed that, in post-plasma-deposited heat treated films, silicon substitutes as silicate species into the HA lattice. Asdeposited silicon containing thin films were found to be amorphous and have a polymeric silicate configuration, suggesting that, silicate groups may be randomly distributed throughout the amorphous film. After post-deposition annealing silicon containing films were in a monomeric state suggesting silicate groups had substituted for phosphate tetrahedra in the HA lattice. Furthermore, an HA-like phase was found to be present. Contrary to these findings, FTIR analysis did not manifest any silicate-based bands. This may, however, be due to the fact that technique used only samples a very small amount of material and, due to the low doping quantities of silicon in the HA films. Furthermore, Ca/P ratios consistently differed from the stoichiometric value of HA (1.67). This combined evidence raises the question of whether the post-deposition heat-treated films have a true HA-like structure. More work is required in order to truly understand the structures present in heat-treated SiHA thin films. HA thin film composition is commonly measured in terms of the Ca/P ratio. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and XPS were evaluated in terms of accuracy in conjunction with Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) to measure the Ca/P ratio of HA thin films to establish the most appropriate technique for accurate compositional analysis. This was was found to the RBS, achieving an accuracy of within 2 %, with EDX averaging 8 % and XPS ranging from 25 - 42%. It was concluded that XPS gave such large differences in values because the top few atomic layers of thin films was of a different composition than the bulk of the coating. A Human osteoblast cell (HOB) model was used to establish the in vitro cellular response of SiHA thin films. Initially, HA and SiHA thin films annealed at 600˚C were compared. Cells attached and proliferated well on HA surfaces compared to SiHA surfaces, however, improved cell growth was seen with increasing silicon content. Dissolution studies showed that SiHA thin films were highly unstable in cell culture media and it is thought that the films dissolved, and where cell adhesion and growth did occur it was because cells adhered to the titanium substrates beneath the films. This was then compared with HA and SiHA thin films annealed at 700˚C. No significant difference was found between the two surfaces in terms of cell growth or protein expression indicating that silicon content and crystallinity play an important role in the cellular response of SiHA thin film

Pervasive remagnetization of detrital zircon host rocks in the Jack Hills, Western Australia and implications for records of the early geodynamo

It currently is unknown when Earth's dynamo magnetic field originated. Paleomagnetic studies indicate that a field with an intensity similar to that of the present day existed 3.5 billion years ago (Ga). Detrital zircon crystals found in the Jack Hills of Western Australia are some of the very few samples known to substantially predate this time. With crystallization ages ranging from 3.0–4.38 Ga, these zircons might preserve a record of the missing first billion years of Earth's magnetic field history. However, a key unknown is the age and origin of magnetization in the Jack Hills zircons. The identification of >3.9 Ga (i.e., Hadean) field records requires first establishing that the zircons have avoided remagnetization since being deposited in quartz-rich conglomerates at 2.65–3.05 Ga. To address this issue, we have conducted paleomagnetic conglomerate, baked contact, and fold tests in combination with U–Pb geochronology to establish the timing of the metamorphic and alteration events and the peak temperatures experienced by the zircon host rocks. These tests include the first conglomerate test directly on the Hadean-zircon bearing conglomerate at Erawandoo Hill. Although we observed little evidence for remagnetization by recent lightning strikes, we found that the Hadean zircon-bearing rocks and surrounding region have been pervasively remagnetized, with the final major overprinting likely due to thermal and/or aqueous effects from the emplacement of the Warakurna large igneous province at ∼1070 million years ago (Ma). Although localized regions of the Jack Hills might have escaped complete remagnetization, there currently is no robust evidence for pre-depositional (>3.0 Ga) magnetization in the Jack Hills detrital zircons

Production of High Silicon-Doped Hydroxyapatite Thin Film Coatings via Magnetron Sputtering: Deposition, Characterisation, and In Vitro Biocompatibility

In recent years, it has been found that small weight percent additions of silicon to HA can be used to enhance the initial response between bone tissue and HA. A large amount of research has been concerned with bulk materials, however, only recently has the attention moved to the use of these doped materials as coatings. This paper focusses on the development of a co-RF and pulsed DC magnetron sputtering methodology to produce a high percentage Si containing HA (SiHA) thin films (from1.8 to 13.4 wt. %; one of the highest recorded in the literature to date). As deposited thin films were found to be amorphous, but crystallised at different annealing temperatures employed, dependent on silicon content, which also lowered surface energy profiles destabilising the films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to explore the structure of silicon within the films which were found to be in a polymeric (SiO2; Q4) state. However, after annealing, the films transformed to a SiO44- Q0, state, indicating that silicon had substituted into the HA lattice at higher concentrations than previously reported. A loss of hydroxyl groups and the maintenance of a single-phase HA crystal structure further provided evidence for silicon substitution. Furthermore, a human osteoblast cell (HOB) model was used to explore the in vitro cellular response. The cells appeared to prefer the HA surfaces compared to SiHA surfaces, which was thought to be due to the higher solubility of SiHA surfaces inhibiting protein mediated cell attachment. The extent of this effect was found to be dependent on film crystallinity and silicon content

Plasma neurofilament light in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia compared to mood and psychotic disorders

OBJECTIVE: Blood biomarkers of neuronal injury such as neurofilament light (NfL) show promise to improve diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders and distinguish neurodegenerative from primary psychiatric disorders (PPD). This study investigated the diagnostic utility of plasma NfL to differentiate behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD, a neurodegenerative disorder commonly misdiagnosed initially as PPD), from PPD, and performance of large normative/reference data sets and models. METHODS: Plasma NfL was analysed in major depressive disorder (MDD, n = 42), bipolar affective disorder (BPAD, n = 121), treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS, n = 82), bvFTD (n = 22), and compared to the reference cohort (Control Group 2, n = 1926, using GAMLSS modelling), and age-matched controls (Control Group 1, n = 96, using general linear models). RESULTS: Large differences were seen between bvFTD (mean NfL 34.9 pg/mL) and all PPDs and controls (all < 11 pg/mL). NfL distinguished bvFTD from PPD with high accuracy, sensitivity (86%), and specificity (88%). GAMLSS models using reference Control Group 2 facilitated precision interpretation of individual levels, while performing equally to or outperforming models using local controls. Slightly higher NfL levels were found in BPAD, compared to controls and TRS. CONCLUSIONS: This study adds further evidence on the diagnostic utility of NfL to distinguish bvFTD from PPD of high clinical relevance to a bvFTD differential diagnosis, and includes the largest cohort of BPAD to date. Using large reference cohorts, GAMLSS modelling and the interactive Internet-based application we developed, may have important implications for future research and clinical translation. Studies are underway investigating utility of plasma NfL in diverse neurodegenerative and primary psychiatric conditions in real-world clinical settings

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty

Airborne measurements of fire emission factors for African biomass burning sampled during the MOYA campaign

Airborne sampling of methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrous oxide (N2O) mole fractions was conducted during field campaigns targeting fires over Senegal in February and March 2017 and Uganda in January 2019. The majority of fire plumes sampled were close to or directly over burning vegetation, with the exception of two longer-range flights over the West African Atlantic seaboard (100-300 km from source), where the continental outflow of biomass burning emissions from a wider area ofWest Africa was sampled. Fire emission factors (EFs) and modified combustion efficiencies (MCEs) were estimated from the enhancements in measured mole fractions. For the Senegalese fires, mean EFs and corresponding uncertainties in units of gram per kilogram of dry fuel were 1.8 ± 0.19 for CH4, 1633 ± 171.4 for CO2, and 67 ± 7.4 for CO, with a mean MCE of 0.94 ± 0.005. For the Ugandan fires, mean EFs were 3.1 ± 0.35 for CH4, 1610 ± 169.7 for CO2, and 78 ± 8.9 for CO, with a mean modified combustion efficiency of 0.93 ± 0.004. A mean N2O EF of 0.08 ± 0.002 gkg..1 is also reported for one flight over Uganda; issues with temperature control of the instrument optical bench prevented N2O EFs from being obtained for other flights over Uganda. This study has provided new datasets of African biomass burning EFs and MCEs for two distinct study regions, in which both have been studied little by aircraft measurement previously. These results highlight the important intracontinental variability of biomass burning trace gas emissions and can be used to better constrain future biomass burning emission budgets. More generally, these results highlight the importance of regional and fuel-type variability when attempting to spatially scale biomass burning emissions. Further work to constrain EFs at more local scales and for more specific (and quantifiable) fuel types will serve to improve global estimates of biomass burning emissions of climate-relevant gases