Copyright Law: Legalizing Home Taping of Audio and Video Recordings

Various Members of Congress have proposed amendments to the Copyright Act that would provide a blanket exemption for noncommercial home audio and video off-air recording. The major thrust of the copyright owners' opposing position is if you cannot protect what you own, or at least receive some compensation for its use, you own nothing. This is countered by those who feel the purpose of the copyright law is to promote broad public availability of artistic products and when the copyright owners decide to use the distribution mechanism of the public airwaves, they have to accept the premises of the public airwaves

Coarse-graining microscopic strains in a harmonic, two-dimensional solid and its implications for elasticity: non-local susceptibilities and non-affine noise

In soft matter systems the local displacement field can be accessed directly by video microscopy enabling one to compute local strain fields and hence the elastic moduli using a coarse-graining procedure. We study this process for a simple triangular lattice of particles connected by harmonic springs in two-dimensions. Coarse-graining local strains obtained from particle configurations in a Monte Carlo simulation generates non-trivial, non-local strain correlations (susceptibilities), which may be understood within a generalized, Landau type elastic Hamiltonian containing up to quartic terms in strain gradients (K. Franzrahe et al., Phys. Rev. E 78, 026106 (2008)). In order to demonstrate the versatility of the analysis of these correlations and to make our calculations directly relevant for experiments on colloidal solids, we systematically study various parameters such as the choice of statistical ensemble, presence of external pressure and boundary conditions. We show that special care needs to be taken for an accurate application of our results to actual experiments, where the analyzed area is embedded within a larger system, to which it is mechanically coupled. Apart from the smooth, affine strain fields, the coarse-graining procedure also gives rise to a noise field made up of non-affine displacements. Several properties of this noise field may be rationalized for the harmonic solid using a simple "cell model" calculation. Furthermore the scaling behavior of the probability distribution of the noise field is studied and a master curve is obtained.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure

Rational modification of an HIV-1 gp120 results in enhanced neutralization breadth when used as a DNA prime

Background The identification of phenotypic features of the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein that correlate with neutralization breadth is an important goal of HIV vaccine research. Recently we compared the immunogenic potential of two gp120s differing in their ability to utilize CD4; B33 (highly macrophage topic) and LN40 (non-macrophage tropic). Using a DNA prime protein boost regimen in New Zealand White Rabbits, LN40-primed sera displayed enhanced breadth compared to the B33-primed group, with differences in immunogenicity between groups modulated by specific residues within and flanking the V3 loop and the CD4bs. To better understand the role of these residues in eliciting breadth, we introduced reciprocal mutations between LN40 and B33 at these critical positions. Methods Three groups of four rabbits were primed with one of three chimeric LN40/B33 gp120 DNAs, followed by a polyvalent protein boost. Time course and endpoint titers were determined via ELISA. Neutralization breadth was analyzed by Monogram against a panel of sixteen viruses using a Phenosense neutralization assay. Anti-gp120 serum specificities were determined using a set of overlapping peptides spanning the entire gp120 via ELISA. Results We found that sera primed with a B33 chimera containing specific LN40 residues within the V3 loop and the CD4 binding loop displayed enhanced neutralization breadth against a cross-clade panel of Tier 1 and 2 viruses compared to the B33-primed group. Interestingly, a second B33 chimera containing two additional LN40 substitutions (Stu-Bsu R373/N386) within C3/V4 primed the broadest response, being broader than even the LN40-primed group. Additionally, peptide ELISAs showed differences in reactivity between priming groups which were most pronounced for the C3/V4 region, suggesting an important role for these regions in modulating serum antibody responses against gp120

Perinatal complications and maximising lamb survival in an adolescent paradigm characterised by premature delivery and low birthweight

Acknowledgments Dr Anja Petrie provided supporting veterinary input in her role as Named Veterinary Surgeon. Funding acquisition: Jacqueline M. Wallace.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Facing Up to Unpalatable Evidence for the Sake of Our Patients

Paul Mullen discusses Seena Fazel and colleagues' paper on the association between violent behavior and having been diagnosed with a schizophrenic disorder, and its implications for care of these individuals

Genetic and Psychological Factors Interact to Predict Physical Impairment Phenotypes Following Exercise-Induced Shoulder Injury

Background: We investigated interactions between genetic and psychological factors in predicting shoulder impairment phenotypes. We hypothesized that pro-inflammatory genes would display stronger relationships compared with pain-related genes when combined with psychological factors for predicting phenotypic changes.Subjects and methods: Altogether, 190 participants completed a 5-day experimental protocol. An experimental shoulder injury model was used to induce physical impairment, and a priori selected genetic (pain-related, pro-inflammatory) and psychological (anxiety, depressive symptoms, pain catastrophizing, fear of pain, kinesiophobia) factors were included as predictors of interest. Impairment phenotypes were injury-induced deficits in range of motion (ROM) and strength. After controlling for age, sex, and race, genetic and psychological predictors were entered separately as main effects and interaction terms in regression models for each phenotype.Results: Strong statistical evidence was provided for interactions between: 1) IL-1β (rs1143634) and fear of pain for predicting loss of shoulder flexion and abduction, 2) IL-1β (rs1143634) and anxiety for predicting loss of flexion, and 3) IL-1β (rs1143634) and depressive symptoms for predicting loss of internal rotation. In addition, the interaction between OPRM1 (rs1799971) and fear of pain as well as COMT (rs4818) and pain catastrophizing provided strong statistical evidence for predicting strength loss.Conclusion: Pro-inflammatory gene variants contributed more to physical impairment with two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; IL-1β [rs1143634] and TNF/LTA [rs2229094]) interacting with psychological factors to predict six shoulder impairment phenotypes. In comparison, two pain-related gene SNPs (OPRM1 [rs1799971] and COMT [rs4818]) interacted with psychological factors to predict four shoulder impairment phenotypes (abduction: 5-day average loss; strength loss: 5-day average, peak, and relative loss)

Religion as practices of attachment and materiality: the making of Buddhism in contemporary London

This article aims to explore Buddhism’s often-overlooked presence on London’s urban landscape, showing how its quietness and subtlety of approach has allowed the faith to grow largely beneath the radar. It argues that Buddhism makes claims to urban space in much the same way as it produces its faith, being as much about the practices performed and the spaces where they are enacted as it is about faith or beliefs. The research across a number of Buddhist sites in London reveals that number of people declaring themselves as Buddhists has indeed risen in recent years, following the rise of other non-traditional religions in the UK; however, this research suggests that Buddhism differs from these in several ways. Drawing on Baumann’s (2002) distinction between traditionalist and modernist approaches to Buddhism, our research reveals a growth in each of these. Nevertheless, Buddhism remains largely invisible in the urban and suburban landscape of London, adapting buildings that are already in place, with little material impact on the built environment, and has thus been less subject to contestation than other religious movements and traditions. This research contributes to a growing literature which foregrounds the importance of religion in making contemporary urban and social worlds

How big is the elephant in the room? Estimated and actual IT costs in an online behaviour change trial

The practical and methodological challenges inherent in online behaviour change studies are both novel and complex. We relate our experiences of estimating and managing information technology (IT) research and intervention costs in an ongoing internet trial in the hope that others will find this information useful