Let’s Play: A Walkthrough of Quarter-Century-Old Copyright Precedent as Applied to Modern Video Games

Looking to the copyright protection over the audiovisual displays of video games, current precedent—created by extensive litigation in the 1980s over early arcade games—may be a round hole into which the square peg of today’s highly complex video games would have difficulty fitting. This is an issue that has increasing importance as the market for the passive consumption of video game audiovisual displays through tournament streams, walk-throughs, etc., continues to balloon. If courts were to apply precedent from litigation in the 1980s to video games as they exist today, the idea that copyright protection automatically attaches to any and all audiovisual displays generated by a game may not hold true. It is uncertain to what extent the reasoning in early arcade game litigation regarding the issues of authorship, the idea/expression dichotomy, and fixation would yield similar holdings. Moreover, it appears similarly uncertain to what extent a retreat from earlier precedent may impact publishers’ rights in downstream uses of audiovisual displays. Even if potential defendants prevailed under either an idea/expression dichotomy theory or a fixation theory—meaning the copyright does not attach to audiovisuals at the outset—later-fixed audiovisuals may still be protectable. The strongest argument potential defendants have, therefore, is that their interaction with the game precludes copyrightability for the audiovisual displays due to a lack of “original authorship” on the part of the publishers

Method of planetary atmospheric investigation using a split-trajectory dual flyby mode Patent

Planetary atmospheric investigation using split trajectory dual flyby mod

Phonetic and Phonological Research Sharing Methods

This paper reviews the materials linguists use to compile and share research in the linguistic sub-fields of phonetics and phonology. It summarizes the content and purpose of major books, journal publications, and databases within these two fields, especially those with broad selections of data that have been collected for cross-linguistic study and research reference. This paper discusses the various uses of these materials and then analyzes how well equipped the linguistic research community is for compiling and sharing comprehensive-oriented language data

A Compartmental Model for Traffic Networks and its Dynamical Behavior

We propose a macroscopic traffic network flow model suitable for analysis as a dynamical system, and we qualitatively analyze equilibrium flows as well as convergence. Flows at a junction are determined by downstream supply of capacity as well as upstream demand of traffic wishing to flow through the junction. This approach is rooted in the celebrated Cell Transmission Model for freeway traffic flow. Unlike related results which rely on certain system cooperativity properties, our model generally does not possess these properties. We show that the lack of cooperativity is in fact a useful feature that allows traffic control methods, such as ramp metering, to be effective. Finally, we leverage the results of the paper to develop a linear program for optimal ramp metering

Transformation invariance in hand shape recognition

In hand shape recognition, transformation invariance is key for successful recognition. We propose a system that is invariant to small scale, translation and shape variations. This is achieved by using a-priori knowledge to create a transformation subspace for each hand shape. Transformation subspaces are created by performing principal component analysis (PCA) on images produced using computer animation. A method to increase the efficiency of the system is outlined. This is achieved using a technique of grouping subspaces based on their origin and then organising them into a hierarchical decision tree. We compare the accuracy of this technique with that of the tangent distance technique and display the result

The Rhetoric of Mass Incarceration

Professor David Coogan teaches rhetorical theory and criticism and composition, as well as service learning, for the VCU Department of English. For the last ten years, he has also taught and collaborated with writers in the Richmond City Jail, in a program called Open Minds. In his published and forthcoming work on the importance of writing for social and personal transformation – Electronic Writing Centers: Computing the Field of Composition, The Public Work of Rhetoric: Citizen Scholars and Community Engagement (co-edited with John Ackerman), Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail, and Memoirs of Mass Incarceration: The Rhetoric of Revolutionaries, Witnesses and Survivors (forthcoming in 2017) – Professor Coogan explores ways of finding oneself in the midst of extreme confusion, guilt, social injustice, and searing pain. From his work with writers in prison, he has gathered profound insights into the writing process for those who are often silenced, and has both taught with writers and learned from them as well. In this conversation, he expands on his experiences and describes the nature of this important work