Blocking Copyrights Revisited

Copyright law’s constitutional mandate is to advance artistic progress for the public good by granting authors a set of exclusive rights. When considered in the context of creative endeavors that build upon preexisting, already copyrighted works, however, this seemingly straightforward objective becomes more complicated: in this situation, the law must balance the incentive to prepare the initial work with the incentive for improvement and continued progress in the form of derivative works, which can be inhibited by the rights conferred on the author of the preexisting work. Indeed, allowing individuals broad rights to exclude the public, for the benefit of the public, presents a contradiction in intellectual property law when those individual rights are invoked to prohibit absolutely the production of derivative works, as some courts have permitted copyright litigants to do. A blocking copyrights doctrine would help to relieve that uneasy and unnecessary result. Such a doctrine would be similar to the well-established blocking patents approach to overlapping inventions in intellectual property law, and would allow an unauthorized improver of a preexisting copyrighted work to practice, and retain rights to, the original contributions in her derivative work, subject to compensation for use of the preexisting work. In addition to looking to patent law for guidance, the law relating to improvers of tangible property is also instructive in addressing the dilemma of unauthorized derivative authors in the copyright system: that body of law offers even greater acceptance and encouragement of the efforts of subsequent users of property. Although copyright law, when compared to both patent law and the law of tangible property, presents equally, if not more, compelling reasons for granting an improver relief, a blocking doctrine has not been accepted by the courts in the copyright context. As this Article demonstrates, courts’ failure to accept the doctrine is in part due to a misunderstanding of the statutory provisions governing derivative works. In addition to correcting this misunderstanding, the Article points to recent decisions relating to remedies in copyright cases that further open the door to implementation of a doctrine of blocking copyrights. Taking this opportunity to incorporate the more favorable treatment of improvers seen in cases involving tangible property, this Article suggests that courts revisit copyright law’s treatment of unauthorized improvers and utilize key principles of a blocking copyrights doctrine in the remedies stage of an infringement action. Specifically, this Article argues that courts should use the relief granted to copyright plaintiffs as a vehicle to allow for a more nuanced, principled approach to infringement by unauthorized derivative authors. This Article suggests criteria for when and how courts should incorporate into their remedies determinations features of the law that more appropriately account for the contributions of improvers, thereby effecting important aspects of a blocking copyrights doctrine, if not wholesale adoption of it

Incidence By Area-Based Socioeconomic Indicators

Objective: To examine the relationship between area-based socioeconomic (SES) measures and incidence of all laboratory-confirmed influenza, laboratory-confirmed non-hospitalized influenza, influenza-associated hospitalizations, and influenza-associated deaths, in Connecticut. Methods: Laboratory-confirmed influenza cases in Connecticut from October 1, 2006 to April 30, 2012 were geocoded, and in accordance with the methods of Harvard\u27s Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project, linked to census tract measures of SES. Total and seasonal incidence rates were determined for each of the four influenza-associated health outcomes by SES measure. For each outcome, a relative rate ratio was calculated between the highest and the lowest percent quantile of each SES measure. For the poverty and crowding variables, this relative rate was then calculated by season for each of the four influenza outcomes, and compared to overall seasonal incidence. Results: When laboratory-confirmed influenza incidence is examined by measures of SES, there is a positive linear relationship between the four percent quantiles of each SES measure and incidence of each outcome. For all laboratory-confirmed influenza, within each season the quantiles of each SES measure are significantly linearly related to total incidence. However, it is not clear whether or not the change in poverty or crowding high versus low incidence rate ratios correlates with the seasonal fluctuations in overall incidence rates. Conclusions: Laboratory-confirmed influenza incidence varies by area-based SES. Continued evaluation of the relationship between influenza-associated health outcomes and census tract SES allows for public health interventions to more effectively target vulnerable populations. In addition, routine use of these methods may help elucidate previously unrecognized disparities in public health surveillance data

Influential Article Review - Maximizing Smart Home Energy Management With Geodesic Acceleration and LevMar

This paper examines using artificial neural networks to optimize energy management in smart homes. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: Home energy optimization is increasing in research interest as smart technologies in appliances and other home devices are increasing in popularity, particularly as manufacturers move to produce appliances and devices which work in conjunction with the Internet. Home energy optimization has the potential to reduce energy consumption through “smart energy management” of appliances. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) help achieve energy savings with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and attaining effective environmental protection in several contexts including electricity generation and distribution. This “smart energy management” is utilized at the residential customer level through “smart homes.” This paper compares two artificial neural networks (ANN) used to support home energy management (HEM) systems based on Bluetooth low energy, called BluHEMS. The purpose of the algorithms is to optimize energy use in a typical residential home. The first ANN uses the LevenbergMarquardt algorithm and the second uses the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm enhanced by a second order correction known as geodesic acceleration. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French and German

Identifying Strategies and Metrics for Measuring Success and Long-Term Impact in Downtown Lewiston\u27s Tree Streets Neighborhood

Our report provides a detailed explanation of our processes to determine metrics for measuring long-term and short-term success in Lewiston’s Maine, downtown Tree Street Neighborhood. The aim of our work was to assist The City of Lewiston and their efforts to secure the Housing and Urban Developments (HUD), Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grant. We worked closely with Lewiston’s Healthy Neighborhood Development Team, whose focus is targeted to the Neighborhood component of the Implementation Grant. Using the four strategies given to us by the Healthy Neighborhood Development Team, our work focused on establishing metrics to support these strategies. Our approach to developing metrics was heavily influenced by the Goals of Lewiston’s “Growing Our Tree Streets” Transformation Plan to represent the Tree Streets Neighborhood positively and accurately. We specifically foregrounded our approach to metrics in an asset-based mindset to align ourselves with the Healthy Neighborhoods Development Team and the Transformation Plan while remaining cognizant of HUD’s requirements for metrics. We identified 24 metrics that support the four strategies while also supporting the larger Goals from the Transformation Plan. Our established metrics indicate success across six Goals of the Transformation Plan and while dually supporting the four strategies. Of the 24 metrics, 14 specifically satisfied HUD requirements. All metrics are accompanied by information to support the location and collection of data

Intrinsic symmetry groups of links with 8 and fewer crossings

We present an elementary derivation of the "intrinsic" symmetry groups for knots and links of 8 or fewer crossings. The standard symmetry group for a link is the mapping class group \MCG(S^3,L) or \Sym(L) of the pair $(S^3,L)$. Elements in this symmetry group can (and often do) fix the link and act nontrivially only on its complement. We ignore such elements and focus on the "intrinsic" symmetry group of a link, defined to be the image $\Sigma(L)$ of the natural homomorphism \MCG(S^3,L) \rightarrow \MCG(S^3) \cross \MCG(L). This different symmetry group, first defined by Whitten in 1969, records directly whether $L$ is isotopic to a link $L'$ obtained from $L$ by permuting components or reversing orientations. For hyperbolic links both \Sym(L) and $\Sigma(L)$ can be obtained using the output of \texttt{SnapPea}, but this proof does not give any hints about how to actually construct isotopies realizing $\Sigma(L)$. We show that standard invariants are enough to rule out all the isotopies outside $\Sigma(L)$ for all links except $7^2_6$, $8^2_{13}$ and $8^3_5$ where an additional construction is needed to use the Jones polynomial to rule out "component exchange" symmetries. On the other hand, we present explicit isotopies starting with the positions in Cerf's table of oriented links which generate $\Sigma(L)$ for each link in our table. Our approach gives a constructive proof of the $\Sigma(L)$ groups.Comment: 72 pages, 66 figures. This version expands the original introduction into three sections; other minor changes made for improved readabilit

Hybrid dysgenesis in Drosophila virilis results in clusters of mitotic recombination and loss-of-heterozygosity but leaves meiotic recombination unaltered

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Background Transposable elements (TEs) are endogenous mutagens and their harmful effects are especially evident in syndromes of hybrid dysgenesis. In Drosophila virilis, hybrid dysgenesis is a syndrome of incomplete gonadal atrophy that occurs when males with multiple active TE families fertilize females that lack active copies of the same families. This has been demonstrated to cause the transposition of paternally inherited TE families, with gonadal atrophy driven by the death of germline stem cells. Because there are abundant, active TEs in the male inducer genome, that are not present in the female reactive genome, the D. virilis syndrome serves as an excellent model for understanding the effects of hybridization between individuals with asymmetric TE profiles. Results Using the D. virilis syndrome of hybrid dysgenesis as a model, we sought to determine how the landscape of germline recombination is affected by parental TE asymmetry. Using a genotyping-by-sequencing approach, we generated a high-resolution genetic map of D. virilis and show that recombination rate and TE density are negatively correlated in this species. We then contrast recombination events in the germline of dysgenic versus non-dysgenic F1 females to show that the landscape of meiotic recombination is hardly perturbed during hybrid dysgenesis. In contrast, hybrid dysgenesis in the female germline increases transmission of chromosomes with mitotic recombination. Using a de novo PacBio assembly of the D. virilis inducer genome we show that clusters of mitotic recombination events in dysgenic females are associated with genomic regions with transposons implicated in hybrid dysgenesis. Conclusions Overall, we conclude that increased mitotic recombination is likely the result of early TE activation in dysgenic progeny, but a stable landscape of meiotic recombination indicates that either transposition is ameliorated in the adult female germline or that regulation of meiotic recombination is robust to ongoing transposition. These results indicate that the effects of parental TE asymmetry on recombination are likely sensitive to the timing of transposition

Factors Related to Accelerometer-determined Patterns of Physical Activity in Adults: The Houston TRAIN Study

Meeting U.S. Physical Activity (PA) Guidelines has health benefits. Yet, little is known about the factors related to changes in PA over time, particularly among minority populations. PURPOSE: To examine sociodemographic, PA preferences, and health factors related to accelerometer-derived patterns of 1-year PA change in the Houston Travel Related Activity in Neighborhoods (TRAIN) Study, a majority-minority cohort. METHODS: Participants wore an ActiGraph wGT3X-BT monitor and completed self-report surveys at baseline and follow-up. Valid wear time was defined as ≥ 4 days, ≥ 10 hrs/day. PA was stratified by meeting Guidelines using total MVPA, defined by Freedson. Four PA patterns were defined: (i) ‘maintain high’ activity above Guidelines, (ii) ‘increased’ to meet Guidelines, (iii) ‘decreased’ from meet to not meet Guidelines, and (iv) ‘maintained low’ activity. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associations between studied factors and each PA pattern, with the ‘maintain high’ group as referent. RESULTS: Complete data were available for 153 adults (19% maintained high activity, 8.5% increased, 13% decreased, 59.5% maintained low activity). Controlling for all variables, males (OR = 0.3, 95% CI = 0.1, 0.9) had lower odds of being in the ‘maintain low’ group. Blacks (vs. whites, OR = 18.8, 95% CI = 2.6, 275.0), those liking biking (vs. strongly liking, OR = 4.6, 95% CI = 1.3, 15.6), and older participants (vs. younger, on continuous scale, OR = 1.1, 95% CI = 1.0, 1.1) had higher odds of being in the ‘maintain low’ group. Factors directly associated with being in the ‘increased’ group were being black (vs. white, OR = 17.9, 95% CI = 1.3, 120.9), strong dislike for biking (vs. strongly liking OR = 25.2, 95% CI = 1.6, 401.3), and having more chronic diseases (vs. less, on continuous scale, 95% CI = 1.5, 11.7). Having low educational attainment (vs. high, OR = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.0, 0.9) was inversely associated with being in the ‘increased’ group. No studied factors were significantly associated with being in the ‘decreased’ group. CONCLUSION: PA patterns are dynamic and suggest that sociodemographic, PA preferences, and health factors relate to change patterns over time. Future studies should examine the role of these factors over longer follow-up periods, and consider these factors when designing interventions

Kohlenwasserstoffverbrückte Metallkomplexe

Die Addition des in situ hergestellten Anions (OC)5W=C(NEt2)CH2CS2− und die metallorganischen Lewis-Säuren (OC) 5Re+ und Ph3PAu+ führt zu den ligandverbrückten Komplexen (OC)5W=C(NEt2)CH2C(S)S---Re(CO)5 (1) und (OC)5W=C(NEt2)CH2C-(S)S---AuPPh3 (2). Die Reaktion des Dianions (OC)5W=C(NEt2)CH22− mit MeI, Cl2M(PR3)2 (M = Pd, Pt) und (OC)5Re+ liefert die Komplexe (OC)4 Me)SMe (3), (OC)5W=C(NEt2)CH=CS2M(PR3)2 (4, 5) und (OC5W=C(NEt2)CH=CS2[Re (CO)5]2 (6). Das Anion (OC)5W=C(NEt2)CH2CS2− läßt sich an koordinierte Ethylen- und Allyl-Liganden in kationischen Komplexen unter Bildung der Kohlenwasserstoff-verbrückten Komplexe (OC)5W=C(NEt2)CH2C(S)SCH2CH2−W( CO)3Cp (7), (OC)5W=C(NEt2)CH2C(S)SCH2CH2−Re(CO)5 (8) und (OC5)W=C(NEt2)CH2C(S)SCH 2CH=CH2-η2-Mo(NO)(CO)Cp (9) addieren

Visualization of HIV-1 interactions with penile and foreskin epithelia: clues for female-to-male HIV transmission

To gain insight into female-to-male HIV sexual transmission and how male circumcision protects against this mode of transmission, we visualized HIV-1 interactions with foreskin and penile tissues in ex vivo tissue culture and in vivo rhesus macaque models utilizing epifluorescent microscopy. 12 foreskin and 14 cadaveric penile specimens were cultured with R5-tropic photoactivatable (PA)-GFP HIV-1 for 4 or 24 hours. Tissue cryosections were immunofluorescently imaged for epithelial and immune cell markers. Images were analyzed for total virions, proportion of penetrators, depth of virion penetration, as well as immune cell counts and depths in the tissue. We visualized individual PA virions breaching penile epithelial surfaces in the explant and macaque model. Using kernel density estimated probabilities of localizing a virion or immune cell at certain tissue depths revealed that interactions between virions and cells were more likely to occur in the inner foreskin or glans penis (from local or cadaveric donors, respectively). Using statistical models to account for repeated measures and zero-inflated datasets, we found no difference in total virions visualized at 4 hours between inner and outer foreskins from local donors. At 24 hours, there were more virions in inner as compared to outer foreskin (0.0495 +/- 0.0154 and 0.0171 +/- 0.0038 virions/image, p = 0.001). In the cadaveric specimens, we observed more virions in inner foreskin (0.0507 +/- 0.0079 virions/image) than glans tissue (0.0167 +/- 0.0033 virions/image, p<0.001), but a greater proportion was seen penetrating uncircumcised glans tissue (0.0458 +/- 0.0188 vs. 0.0151 +/- 0.0100 virions/image, p = 0.099) and to significantly greater mean depths (29.162 +/- 3.908 vs. 12.466 +/- 2.985 μm). Our in vivo macaque model confirmed that virions can breach penile squamous epithelia in a living model. In summary, these results suggest that the inner foreskin and glans epithelia may be important sites for HIV transmission in uncircumcised men