The effects of copyright law on the supply of creative work : new evidence from the United States sound recording industry

While copyright law extensions have often been seen as having significant impacts towards the supply of creative work, the importance of economic factors should also be considered as they still play a crucial role in the United States sound recording industry. This paper thus investigates the issue of the implementation of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act as well as economic incentives towards the supply of new creative sound recording work in the U.S. context. Our empirical analysis considers a time-series dataset covering a period of 18 years from 1990-2007 to represent the supply of the U.S. commercial sound recordings. The dataset is extracted and compiled from third party sources, namely the U.S. Copyright Office and the CEIC database. The empirical evidence indicates that although the copyright law extension is found to have a positive impact on the supply of sound recordings, it is statistically insignificant. Conversely, other economic factors, the amount of money spent on audio and visual equipment in particular, appears to have a more significant impact on the supply of sound recordings. This leads us to conclude that economic incentives may have a more significant impact than copyright law extensions in influencing the U.S. supply of creative sound recordings.Bachelor of Art

Toward Comprehensive Modeling and Large-Angle Tracking Control of a Limited-Angle Torque Actuator With Cylindrical Halbach

The single-phase limited-angle torque (LAT) motor with cylindrical Halbach magnetic array provides a smaller form factor, lighter moving mass, and higher force throughput within +/- 60 degrees. angle range, compared with the three-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor. Due to the imperfect flux distribution within the air-gap of the Halbach array, as well as the inherent angular dependent characteristics, it is mainly used for point-to-point motion applications in prior literature. In this paper, we would like to deal with above issues, so that it can be extensively used for large-angle tracking applications. First, we derive the ideal model of this LAT actuator. Next, we propose to identify its nominal model parameters by the relay feedback with sufficiently small oscillations near the neutral position. Later, a robust output feedback control with high-gain observer is proposed to handle both model uncertainty and angular-dependent nonlinear current-torque relationship, so that the precision tracking of a defined smooth trajectory is achieved with only position sensing. The real-time experiment on a prototype validates the practical appeal of proposed methods

A Shared Vision on the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in Malaysia: Hazard Assessments, Post-Disaster Measures and Research

The tsunami is one of the deadliest natural disasters, responsible for more than 260,000 deaths and billions in economic losses over the last two decades. The footage of the devastating power of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami perhaps remains vivid in the memory of most survivors, and Malaysia was one of the countries affected by the unprecedented 2004 tsunami. It was the first time the Malaysian government had managed such a great disaster. This review, therefore, gathers the relevant literature pertaining to the efforts undertaken following the event of the 2004 tsunami from Malaysia’s perspective. A compilation of post-event observations regarding tsunami characteristics is first presented in the form of maps, followed by building damage, including damage modes of wall failure, total collapse, debris impact and tilting of structures. In addition, hazard assessments and projections regarding a hypothetical future tsunami towards vulnerable hazard zones in Malaysia are reviewed. It is observed that future tsunami risks may originate from the Indian/Burma Plate, Andaman Island, Sunda Trench, Manila Trench, Sulu Trench, Negro Trench, Sulawesi Trench, Cotabato Trench and Brunei slide. A rundown of post-2004 measures and tsunami research undertaken in the country is also included in this review, serving as a reference for disaster management globally. Overall, the outcomes of this review are important for understanding tsunami vulnerability and the resilience of coastal infrastructures, which will be crucial for continued progress in the future

Angiopoietin-like 4 Mediates Colonic Inflammation by Regulating Chemokine Transcript Stability via Tristetraprolin

Many gastrointestinal diseases exhibit a protracted and aggravated inflammatory response that can lead to hypercytokinaemia, culminating in extensive tissue damage. Recently, angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) has been implicated in many inflammation-associated diseases. However, how ANGPTL4 regulates colonic inflammation remains unclear. Herein, we show that ANGPTL4 deficiency in mice (ANGPTL4−/−) exacerbated colonic inflammation induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) or stearic acid. Microbiota was similar between the two genotypes prior DSS challenge. A microarray gene expression profile of the colon from DSS-treated ANGPTL4−/− mice was enriched for genes involved in leukocyte migration and infiltration, and showed a close association to inflamed ulcerative colitis (UC), whereas the profile from ANGPTL4+/+ littermates resembled that of non-inflamed UC biopsies. Bone marrow transplantation demonstrates the intrinsic role of colonic ANGPTL4 in regulating leukocyte infiltration during DSS-induced inflammation. Using immortalized human colon epithelial cells, we revealed that the ANGPTL4-mediated upregulation of tristetraprolin expression operates through CREB and NF-κB transcription factors, which in turn, regulates the stability of chemokines. Together, our findings suggest that ANGPTL4 protects against acute colonic inflammation and that its absence exacerbates the severity of inflammation. Our findings emphasize the importance of ANGPTL4 as a novel target for therapy in regulating and attenuating inflammation.MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore)Published versio