Can Anybody Own the Internet? : Microsoft, Open-Source and the Debate About Intellectual Property

The Internet has become one of the most important mediums of communication and information in modem society. For many, the rapid adoption of these technologies into mainstream society has been combined with a reliance on commercial software, most notably the Microsoft Corporation\u27s Windows operating system. Question arise out of the commercial dominance in a realm that until recently was characterised by the collective sharing of information and ideas. Although there is a lack of established sociological literature in this field, established literature on ownership, global capital, political economy and social exclusion have been identified and drawn upon to fill this gap in research. The research process highlights both traditional theoretical concepts, mainly drawn from the work of Marx, and their implications in terms of the Internet, computers and other related topics

A New Approach to Unit Content: Using Interview Transcriptions in an Interactive Online Unit.

At Kurongkurl Katitjin, the School of Indigenous Australian Studies at Edith Cowan University, we have developed an online unit for pre-tertiary students which focuses on the processes of writing fictional text. The unit, ABB 1112: Journeys in Writing, is part of the Indigenous University Orientation Course and is delivered by using a combination of online, print and multimedia materials. Rather than basing this unit on a more traditional modularised content structure that has been used successfully in much distance education material, this unit has used interview transcriptions as the foundation of its content. Two Aboriginal authors, Dallas Winmar (dramatist) and Graeme Dixon (poet), were selected to form the focus of this innovative unit. By examining the way in which these two authors go about the process of writing fictional text, students come to discover and understand first-hand the processes involved in writing. Both authors were interviewed on audio and video tape. Transcriptions of these tapes were then recorded and categorised into various sections. This text then not only formed the content of the unit but also drove the entire manner in which the unit was presented to students. The learning and assessment activities of the unit were based around the transcripts and the whole structure of the unit reflected this content. Additionally, by collecting content anew, from authentic sources, the authors had a direct input into how their work was presented in this educational online context, one which is culturally appropriate as it allows Indigenous authors to connect with Indigenous students. Rather than basing this unit on a set of predetermined concepts, we have attempted to use a more flexible, authentic method providing students with relevant, culturally sensitive material. This paper examines the methods used to collect fresh content and how this content was used to create an interactive, online unit which reflects appropriate Indigenous ways of learning, as well as the principles of social constructivism and situational cognition. The unit uses current online technology in an attempt to cater for the diversity of the Indigenous student population

Student aspirations for higher education in Central Queensland : a survey of school students’ navigational capacities

In recent times, student aspiration for higher education has become the subject of Australian Government policy and school/university partnerships. A perceived shortfall in aspiration for higher education – particularly by under-represented groups – is seen to be frustrating the achievement of the Government’s targets for universities

The effect of active video gaming on children\u27s physical activity, behavior preferences and body composition

Active video game interventions typically provide children a single game that may become unappealing. A peripheral device (jOG) encourages step-powered gaming on multiple games. This trial evaluated the effect of jOG on children’s objectively measured PA, body fat and self-reported behaviors. 42 of 58 eligible children (8–10 y) randomly assigned to an intervention (jOG) or control (CON) completed the trial. Intervention children received two jOG devices for home use. Analyses of covariance compared the intervention effect at 6 and 12 weeks from baseline. No differences were found between groups for counts per minute (CPM; primary outcome) at 6 and 12 weeks (p &gt; .05). Active video gaming increased (adjusted change 0.95 (95% CI 0.25, 1.65) h·d−1, p&lt;.01) and sedentary video gaming decreased (-0.34 (-1.24, 0.56) h·d−1, p &gt; .05) at 6 weeks relative to CON. No body fat changes were observed between groups. Targeted changes in video game use did not positively affect PA. Larger trials are needed to verify the impact of active video games on children’s PA and health.</jats:p

Crime and Justice in Digital Society: Towards a ‘Digital Criminology’?

The opportunities afforded through digital and communications technologies, in particular social media, have inspired a diverse range of interdisciplinary perspectives exploring how such advancements influence the way we live. Rather than positioning technology as existing in a separate space to society more broadly, the ‘digital society’ is a concept that recognises such technologies as an embedded part of the larger social entity and acknowledges the incorporation of digital technologies, media, and networks in our everyday lives (Lupton 2014), including in crime perpetration, victimisation and justice. In this article, we explore potential for an interdisciplinary concept of digital society to expand and inspire innovative crime and justice scholarship within an emerging field of ‘digital criminology’

Opioid use trends in patients undergoing elective thoracic and lumbar spine surgery

© 2020 Joule Inc. or its licensors Background: Opioid use in North America has increased rapidly in recent years. Preoperative opioid use is associated with several negative outcomes. Our objectives were to assess patterns of opioid use over time in Canadian patients who undergo spine surgery and to determine the effect of spine surgery on 1year postoperative opioid use. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on prospectively collected data from the Canadian Spine Outcomes and Research Network for patients undergoing elective thoracic and lumbar surgery. Selfreported opioid use at baseline, before surgery and at 1 year after surgery was compared. Baseline opioid use was compared by age, sex, radiologic diagnosis and presenting complaint. All patients meeting eligibility criteria from 2008 to 2017 were included. Results: A total of 3134 patients provided baseline opioid use data. No significant change in the proportion of patients taking daily (range 32.3%–38.2%) or intermittent (range 13.7%–22.5%) opioids was found from pre2014 to 2017. Among patients who waited more than 6 weeks for surgery, the frequency of opioid use did not differ significantly between the baseline and preoperative time points. Significantly more patients using opioids had a chief complaint of back pain or radiculopathy than neurogenic claudication (p \u3c 0.001), and significantly more were under 65 years of age than aged 65 years or older (p \u3c 0.001). Approximately 41% of patients on daily opioids at baseline remained so at 1 year after surgery. Conclusion: These data suggest that additional opioid reduction strategies are needed in the population of patients undergoing elective thoracic and lumbar spine surgery. Spine surgeons can be involved in identifying patients taking opioids preoperatively, emphasizing the risks of continued opioid use and referring patients to appropriate evidencebased treatment programs

A Novel Adaptive Method for the Analysis of Next-Generation Sequencing Data to Detect Complex Trait Associations with Rare Variants Due to Gene Main Effects and Interactions

There is solid evidence that rare variants contribute to complex disease etiology. Next-generation sequencing technologies make it possible to uncover rare variants within candidate genes, exomes, and genomes. Working in a novel framework, the kernel-based adaptive cluster (KBAC) was developed to perform powerful gene/locus based rare variant association testing. The KBAC combines variant classification and association testing in a coherent framework. Covariates can also be incorporated in the analysis to control for potential confounders including age, sex, and population substructure. To evaluate the power of KBAC: 1) variant data was simulated using rigorous population genetic models for both Europeans and Africans, with parameters estimated from sequence data, and 2) phenotypes were generated using models motivated by complex diseases including breast cancer and Hirschsprung's disease. It is demonstrated that the KBAC has superior power compared to other rare variant analysis methods, such as the combined multivariate and collapsing and weight sum statistic. In the presence of variant misclassification and gene interaction, association testing using KBAC is particularly advantageous. The KBAC method was also applied to test for associations, using sequence data from the Dallas Heart Study, between energy metabolism traits and rare variants in ANGPTL 3,4,5 and 6 genes. A number of novel associations were identified, including the associations of high density lipoprotein and very low density lipoprotein with ANGPTL4. The KBAC method is implemented in a user-friendly R package