Migration needs different storytelling and tools to push for policy changes

Forced migration is on the rise globally. People flee their homes due to conflict, climate change and violence. The death of 53 people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador inside a truck in June is one of the deadliest cases of human smuggling across the US border with Mexico. In the documentary The Vertical Border, Sonja Wolf (LSE Latin America and Caribbean Centre, and Centre for Economic Teaching and Research, Mexico) explores the dangers of migrating and the lack of alternatives for those who try their luck

I\u27m a Little Treepot: Conceptual Separability and Affording Copyright Protection to Useful Articles

To determine if a useful article—generally ineligible for copyright protection—has pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that are copyrightable, the Copyright Act and the legislative intent expressed through the Act’s legislative history require that those artistic features be identified separately and capable of existing independently of the utilitarian function of the work. If the artistic features are either physically or conceptually separable from the utilitarian function of the work, then they are copyrightable. However, determining if artistic features are conceptually separable from the utilitarian function of the work has proven to be extremely difficult. Since Mazer v. Stein, the U.S. Supreme Court’s only decision in this area, courts and scholars have created more than eight different tests for conceptual separability. Some of these tests are entirely inconsistent with the Copyright Act and its purpose; others are overly abstract or difficult to apply; still others require judges to make subjective determinations of artistic worth. As a result, one court may find a work copyrightable, and another court may find the same work uncopyrightable depending on the test applied. To address these and other problems facing those seeking copyright protection for artistic features of useful articles, this Note proposes a test for conceptual separability that is based on an ordinary, reasonable observer standard and that provides factors to guide the fact-finder’s inquiry. This Note’s proposed test for conceptual separability is whether an ordinary, reasonable observer can perceive aesthetic features separate from the article’s utilitarian function. In performing this analysis, the factors that the fact-finder may consider fall into three main categories: (1) objective indicia of public perception; (2) use of the work separate from function; and (3) marketability information. This suggested test is consistent with the Copyright Act, simplifies conceptual separability analysis, and provides much needed clarity for copyrightability in the area of useful articles

I\u27m a Little Treepot: Conceptual Separability and Affording Copyright Protection to Useful Articles

To determine if a useful article—generally ineligible for copyright protection—has pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that are copyrightable, the Copyright Act and the legislative intent expressed through the Act’s legislative history require that those artistic features be identified separately and capable of existing independently of the utilitarian function of the work. If the artistic features are either physically or conceptually separable from the utilitarian function of the work, then they are copyrightable. However, determining if artistic features are conceptually separable from the utilitarian function of the work has proven to be extremely difficult. Since Mazer v. Stein, the U.S. Supreme Court’s only decision in this area, courts and scholars have created more than eight different tests for conceptual separability. Some of these tests are entirely inconsistent with the Copyright Act and its purpose; others are overly abstract or difficult to apply; still others require judges to make subjective determinations of artistic worth. As a result, one court may find a work copyrightable, and another court may find the same work uncopyrightable depending on the test applied. To address these and other problems facing those seeking copyright protection for artistic features of useful articles, this Note proposes a test for conceptual separability that is based on an ordinary, reasonable observer standard and that provides factors to guide the fact-finder’s inquiry. This Note’s proposed test for conceptual separability is whether an ordinary, reasonable observer can perceive aesthetic features separate from the article’s utilitarian function. In performing this analysis, the factors that the fact-finder may consider fall into three main categories: (1) objective indicia of public perception; (2) use of the work separate from function; and (3) marketability information. This suggested test is consistent with the Copyright Act, simplifies conceptual separability analysis, and provides much needed clarity for copyrightability in the area of useful articles

I\u27m a Little Treepot: Conceptual Separability and Affording Copyright Protection to Useful Articles

To determine if a useful article—generally ineligible for copyright protection—has pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that are copyrightable, the Copyright Act and the legislative intent expressed through the Act’s legislative history require that those artistic features be identified separately and capable of existing independently of the utilitarian function of the work. If the artistic features are either physically or conceptually separable from the utilitarian function of the work, then they are copyrightable. However, determining if artistic features are conceptually separable from the utilitarian function of the work has proven to be extremely difficult. Since Mazer v. Stein, the U.S. Supreme Court’s only decision in this area, courts and scholars have created more than eight different tests for conceptual separability. Some of these tests are entirely inconsistent with the Copyright Act and its purpose; others are overly abstract or difficult to apply; still others require judges to make subjective determinations of artistic worth. As a result, one court may find a work copyrightable, and another court may find the same work uncopyrightable depending on the test applied. To address these and other problems facing those seeking copyright protection for artistic features of useful articles, this Note proposes a test for conceptual separability that is based on an ordinary, reasonable observer standard and that provides factors to guide the fact-finder’s inquiry. This Note’s proposed test for conceptual separability is whether an ordinary, reasonable observer can perceive aesthetic features separate from the article’s utilitarian function. In performing this analysis, the factors that the fact-finder may consider fall into three main categories: (1) objective indicia of public perception; (2) use of the work separate from function; and (3) marketability information. This suggested test is consistent with the Copyright Act, simplifies conceptual separability analysis, and provides much needed clarity for copyrightability in the area of useful articles

Synthese saccharidhaltiger Substanzbibliotheken zur Darstellung neuartiger, wasserlöslicher Therapeutika

Es wurde eine saccharidhaltige Substanzbibliothek von 37 Verbindungen hergestellt und deren Wirkung auf Krebszellen mit unterschiedlichem p53 Status untersucht. Bekannt ist, dass niedermolekulare Moleküle in der Lage sind an mutiertes p53 zu binden und dessen Funktion wiederherzustellen [ Bykov et al., 2002a; Foster et al., 1999]. Des weiteren ist bekannt, dass durch die erhöhte biologische Aktivität in Tumorzellen glycosilierte Tumortherapeutika eine selektive Anreicherung der Cytostatika in Tumorzellen ermöglichen [Veyl et al., 1998; Brock et al., 2000]. Ziel der Arbeit war es durch den Einsatz von Parallelsynthese eine saccharidhaltige Substanzbibliothek herzustellen. Die Wirkung dieser Substanzen auf verschiedene Tumorzelllinien mit unterschiedlichem p53 Status sollte untersucht werden. Idealerweise sollten Subtanzen identifiziert werden, die Apoptose in Zelllinien mit mutiertem p53 einleiten. Alle Substanzen der Bibliothek wurden mittels der Diels-Alder Reaktion hergestellt. Als Diene wurden verschiedene, glycolisierte Furane synthetisiert und eingesetzt. Die Dienophile wurden ausgehend vom Maleinimid als Grundsubstanz hergestellt. Durch Kombination dieser Edukte wurde eine Substanzbibliothek dargestellt, die in einem Cytotoxizitätassay an Tumorzelllinien mit unterschiedlichen p53 Status getestet wurden. Dabei wurde gefunden, dass die Diels-Alder Addukte selbst nur wenig zytotoxisch sind. Es zeigte sich jedoch, dass die Maleinimide, abhängig von ihrer N-Substitution, Zytotoxizität zeigen und im Falle von N-(4-(Bis-(2-chloro-ethyl)-amino)-phenyl)-maleinimid (63) bei Saos-2 Zellen auch Apoptose einleiten können. Dieses Ergebnis ist unerwartet, da Maleinimide normalerweise (z.B. MIRA1 [Bykov et al. 2002-b]) die spezifische DNA Bindung von p53 wiederherstellen können. Da die Saos-2 Zelllinie kein p53 expremiert, kann die Apoptoseaktivität von (63) nicht auf die Regulation von mutiertem p53 zurückgeführt werden. Vermutet wird daher, dass die Zytotoxizität der Maleinimide durch einen anderen Wirkmechanismus bedingt ist. Spekuliert werden kann, dass die Apoptoseaktivität der Verbindung (63) über die N-lost Funktionalität, die eine Interkalation der Verbindung in DNA bewirken kann, eingeleitet wird

Las migraciones necesitan una narrativa distinta para impulsar cambios políticos

Los desplazamientos forzados van en aumento en todo el mundo y miles huyen de sus hogares debido a los conflictos, el cambio climático y la violencia. La muerte de 53 personas de México, Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador en el interior de un camión en junio es uno de los casos más mortíferos de tráfico de seres humanos en la frontera de Estados Unidos con México. En el documental The Vertical Border, Sonja Wolf (LSE Latin America and Caribbean Centre, and Centre for Economic Teaching and Research, Mexico) explora los peligros de la migración y la falta de alternativas para quienes tientan su suerte

Afforestation of Tropical Pasture Only Marginally Affects Ecosystem-Scale Evapotranspiration

Evapotranspiration (ET) from tropical ecosystems is a major constituent of the global land-atmosphere water flux and strongly influences the global hydrological cycle. Most previous studies of ecosystem ET have been conducted predominantly in tropical forests, and only few observations cover other tropical land-use types such as pastures, croplands, savannas or plantations. The objectives of our study were: (1) to estimate daily, monthly, and annual ET budgets in a tropical pasture and an adjacent afforestation site, (2) to assess diurnal and seasonal patterns of ET, (3) to investigate environmental controls of ET, and (4) to evaluate the soil infiltration potential. We performed eddy covariance measurements of ecosystem ET in Sardinilla (Panama) from 2007 to 2009. Daily ET (2.6±1.0mmday−1) was significantly lower in the pasture compared to the afforestation site (3.0±0.9mmday−1). The highest ET was observed during the wet-dry transition period in both ecosystems. However, differences in daily ET between sites were relatively small, particularly during the wet season. Radiation was the main environmental control of ET at both sites, however, we observed considerable seasonal variation in the strength of this control, which was stronger during the wet compared to the dry season. In 2008, total annual ET was only slightly higher for the afforestation (1114mmy−1) than the pasture site (1034mmy−1). Our results suggest that afforestation of pasture only marginally increases ecosystem-scale ET 6-8years after establishment. Differences in soil infiltration potentials between our sites seem to explain this patter

Saccade-Related Modulations of Neuronal Excitability Support Synchrony of Visually Elicited Spikes

During natural vision, primates perform frequent saccadic eye movements, allowing only a narrow time window for processing the visual information at each location. Individual neurons may contribute only with a few spikes to the visual processing during each fixation, suggesting precise spike timing as a relevant mechanism for information processing. We recently found in V1 of monkeys freely viewing natural images, that fixation-related spike synchronization occurs at the early phase of the rate response after fixation-onset, suggesting a specific role of the first response spikes in V1. Here, we show that there are strong local field potential (LFP) modulations locked to the onset of saccades, which continue into the successive fixation periods. Visually induced spikes, in particular the first spikes after the onset of a fixation, are locked to a specific epoch of the LFP modulation. We suggest that the modulation of neural excitability, which is reflected by the saccade-related LFP changes, serves as a corollary signal enabling precise timing of spikes in V1 and thereby providing a mechanism for spike synchronization