bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessment of targeted enrichment locus capture across time and museums using odonate specimens
Authors: Goodman Aaron , Tolman Ethan , Uche-Dike Rhema , Abbott John , Breinholt Jesse W , Bybee Seth , Frandsen Paul B , Gosnell J Stephen , Guralnick Rob , Kalkman Vincent J , Kohli Manpreet , Lontchi Judicael Fomekong , Lupiyaningdyah Pungki , Newton Lacie , Ware Jessica L
Published: June 2023

The use of gDNAs isolated from museum specimens for high throughput sequencing, especially targeted sequencing in the context of phylogenetics, is a common practice. Yet, little understanding has been focused on comparing the quality of DNA and results of sequencing museum DNAs. Dragonflies and damselflies are ubiquitous in freshwater ecosystems and are commonly collected and preserved insects in museum collections hence their use in this study. However, the history of odonate preservation across time and museums has resulted in wide variability in the success of viable DNA extraction, necessitating an assessment of their usefulness in genetic studies. Using Anchored Hybrid Enrichment probes, we sequenced DNA from samples at 2 museums, 48 from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in NYC, USA and 46 from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center (RMNH) in Leiden, Netherlands ranging from global collection localities and across a 120-year time span. We recovered at least 4 loci out of an >1,000 locus probe set for all samples, with the average capture being ~385 loci (539 loci on average when a clade of ambiguous taxa omitted). Neither specimen age nor size was a good predictor of locus capture, but recapture rates differed significantly between museums. Samples from the AMNH had lower overall locus capture than the RMNH, perhaps due to differences in specimen storage over time.
Combined supplementation with Lactobacillus sp. and Bifidobacterium thermacidophilum isolated from Tibetan pigs improves growth performance, immunity, and microbiota composition in weaned piglets
Authors: He Yiwen , Liang Jing , Liu Yonghui , Zhou Xihong , Peng Can , Long Ciming , Huang Pan , Feng Jie , Zhang Zhigang
Published: June 2023

Probiotics, such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, promote growth in piglets by modulating gut microbiota composition and improving the host immune system. A strain of Lactobacillus sp. and Bifidobacterium thermacidophilum were previously isolated from fresh feces of Tibetan pigs. The effects of these isolated strains on growth performance, intestinal morphology, immunity, microbiota composition, and their metabolites were evaluated in weaned piglets. Thirty crossbred piglets were selected and fed either a basal diet (CON), a basal diet supplemented with aureomycin (ANT), or a basal diet supplemented with Lactobacillus sp. and B. thermacidophilum (LB) for 28 d. The piglets in the ANT and LB groups had significantly higher body weight gain than those in the CON group (P < 0.05). Piglets in the ANT and LB groups had regularly arranged villi and microvilli in the small intestine. Furthermore, they had improved immune function, as indicated by decreased serum concentrations of inflammatory cytokines (P < 0.05), improved components of immune cells in the blood, mesenteric lymph nodes, and spleen. Additionally, metagenomic sequencing indicated a significant shift in cecal bacterial composition and alterations in microbiota functional profiles following Lactobacillus sp. and B. thermacidophilum supplementation. Metabolomic results revealed that the metabolites were also altered, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis revealed that several significantly altered metabolites were enriched in glycerophospholipid and cholesterol metabolism (P < 0.05). Furthermore, correlation analysis showed that several bacterial members were closely related to the alterations in metabolites, including Bacteroides sp., which were negatively correlated with triglyceride (16:0/18:0/20:4[5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z]), the metabolite that owned the highest variable importance of projection scores. Collectively, our findings suggest that combined supplementation with Lactobacillus sp. and B. thermacidophilum significantly improved the growth performance, immunity, and microbiota composition in weaned piglets, making them prospective alternatives to antibiotics in swine production.
Pre-egg hatch efficacy of dormant applications against Lymantria dispar (Lepidoptera: Erebidae)
Authors: Chase Kevin D , Frank Briana , Diss-Torrance Andrea , Rigsby Chad M
Published: June 2023

Lymantria dispar L. is an invasive, non-native defoliating Lepidopteran established in North America that feeds on forest and urban trees. While many products are available to manage L. dispar post-emergence, few exist to prevent egg hatch when applied to egg masses. Here, we present the results of 3 separate experiments aimed at determining the efficacy of pre-emergent insecticides against L. dispar egg hatch. We found that the labeled rate (1:1) of Golden Pest Spray Oil (GPSO; AI: 93% soybean oil) can prevent L. dispar larvae from emerging in both field and lab assays. In large public spaces, we found that this treatment was ineffective at preventing L. dispar emergence or defoliation. Acelepryn (AI: 18.4% chlorantraniliprole) resulted in some suppression of egg hatch at a very low rate (.06 ml/ 3.8 liter) in both lab and field settings and the efficacy of higher rates should be further investigated. We also tested GPSO against Lepitect (97.4% acephate) in a public area that also received a Foray 48B (12.65% Bacillus thuringiensis, subsp. kurstaki) aerial application. On large oak trees in public areas, GPSO and Lepitect were not effective at reducing defoliation. Dormant pesticide applications generally reduce the risk of affecting negatively predator and parasitoid communities and are therefore desirable. Lymantria dispar pre-egg hatch applications will not work in every situation but should be considered as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) strategy for individual homeowner trees where thorough coverage can be obtained.
Micromotives and macromoves: political preferences and internal migration in England and Wales
Authors: Efthyvoulou Georgios , Bove Vincenzo , Pickard Harry
Published: June 2023

When people migrate internally, do they tend to move to locations that reflect their political preferences? To address this question, we combine evidence from a unique panel dataset on population movements across local authority districts in England and Wales (2002–2015) with evidence stemming from individual survey-based data. Our results suggest that political similarity between two districts exerts an important positive effect on their bilateral migration flows. Our results also indicate that political alignment to the district of residence contributes to individuals’ sense of belonging and ‘fitting in’, consistent with the existence of a homophily mechanism.
Diols and sugar substitutes in attractive toxic sugar baits targeting Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) mosquitoes
Authors: Pullmann-Lindsley Heidi , Bartlett-Miller Ava , Pitts Ronald Jason
Published: June 2023

Around the world, mosquitoes continue to transmit disease-causing pathogens and develop resistance to insecticides. We previously discovered that a generally regarded as safe (GRAS) compound, 1,2-propanediol, reduces adult mosquito survivorship when ingested. In this study, we assess and compare 5 more chemically related compounds for mosquito lethality and 8 GRAS sugar substitutes to determine toxicity. We conducted a series of feeding assays to determine if ingesting the compounds influenced mosquito mean survivorship in locally collected lab-reared populations of Aedes aegypti (Diptera, Culicidae, Linnaeus, 1762) and Aedes albopictus (Diptera, Culicidae, Skuse, 1894) mosquitoes. Our results indicate that 1,2-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,5-pentanediol, 1,6-hexanediol, 2-methyl-1,3-propanediol, DL-dithiothreitol, acesulfame potassium, allulose, erythritol, sodium saccharin, stevia, and sucralose significantly reduced the mean survivorship of one or both species. Short-term trials with the most toxic compounds revealed that they could substantially affect survivorship after 24 h. We also found that there were different responses in the 2 species and that in several experimental conditions, male mosquitoes expired to a greater extent than female mosquitoes. These findings indicate that several of the compounds are toxic to mosquitoes. Further study is required to determine their effectiveness in attractive toxic sugar baits (ATSBs) as a potential component of population control strategies.
Preparedness for measles among Japanese travellers to India after the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Yamakawa Michiyo , Tanaka Yuko , Tokinobu Akiko , Tsuda Toshihide
Published: June 2023

After the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 pandemic, over half of Japanese budget travellers to India did not adequately prepare for measles. Most of those who visited a clinic for travel vaccination missed the opportunity to get vaccinated against measles. For the summer, urgent efforts to ensure travellers’ preparation for measles are required.
Two decades of harnessing standing genetic variation for physiological traits to improve drought tolerance in maize
Authors: Messina Carlos D , Gho Carla , Hammer Graeme L , Tang Tom , Cooper Mark
Published: June 2023

We review approaches to maize breeding for improved drought tolerance during flowering and grain filling in the central and western US corn belt and place our findings in the context of results from public breeding. Here we show that after two decades of dedicated breeding efforts, the rate of crop improvement under drought increased from 6.2 g m−2 year−1 to 7.5 g m−2 year−1, closing the genetic gain gap with respect to the 8.6 g m−2 year–1 observed under water-sufficient conditions. The improvement relative to the long-term genetic gain was possible by harnessing favourable alleles for physiological traits available in the reference population of genotypes. Experimentation in managed stress environments that maximized the genetic correlation with target environments was key for breeders to identify and select for these alleles. We also show that the embedding of physiological understanding within genomic selection methods via crop growth models can hasten genetic gain under drought. We estimate a prediction accuracy differential (Δr) above current prediction approaches of ~30% (Δr=0.11, r=0.38), which increases with increasing complexity of the trait environment system as estimated by Shannon information theory. We propose this framework to inform breeding strategies for drought stress across geographies and crops.
Relationship between the systemic immune-inflammatory index and the severity of acute bronchiolitis in children
Authors: Kızılsoy Ömer Furkan , Korkmaz Muhammet Furkan , Şenkan Gülsüm Elif , Bozdemir Şefika Elmas , Korkmaz Merve
Published: June 2023

Objective

Acute bronchiolitis (AB) is one of the most common respiratory diseases in early childhood and is still an important health problem worldwide. The systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) is thought to have potential to be a new-generation inflammatory biomarker. We sought to investigate the value of SII for severity assessment in children with AB.

Methods

A total of 74 AB patients were included in a prospective observational study. Patients were classified into 3 AB groups according to this classification: mild (1-5 points), moderate (6-10 points), and severe (11-12 points). Complete blood count, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin tests were carried out. Modified Tal score was evaluated to determine severity. The performance of parameters to predict the severity of AB was assessed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC).

Results

Whereas neutrophil count (P = .037), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (P = .030), and SII (P = .030) values increased significantly with disease severity, red cell distribution width (P = .048) values were higher in the moderate AB group. The SII was found to have the highest area under the curve in the comparison of the mild-moderate groups combination and the high group on ROC analysis (P = .009).

Conclusion

The SII values of pediatric patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of AB were significantly higher in the high-severity group. The SII may offer additional severity stratification in children with AB.
State crisis response versus transnational family living: An online ethnography among transnational families during the pandemic
Authors: Bell Justyna , Staver Anne Balke , Tolgensbakk Ida
Published: June 2023

Transnational family living refers to the situation of maintaining relationships across national borders. It is dependent on a certain degree of flexibility from the state. As part of the crisis response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this flexibility was revoked. As a result, existing mobility inequalities became more visible than ever: while travel restrictions came as a shock to many, they created an additional challenge to those who had been struggling in the past. All persons engaged in transnational family living had to find ways to navigate the new situation. Our project is based on policy review and online ethnography taking Norway as a case. We discuss how individuals tried to maintain cross-border and mixed-status family lives during the first year of the pandemic, reacted to the borders closing, and found solace and advice from others in similar situations. The COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that followed have exposed vulnerabilities associated with transnational living and revealed to those involved that their arrangements were conditioned by the non-interference of the state. Our article engages in the discussion on the complexity of transnational family living and uses the case of the pandemic and the sudden state intervention in mobility regulations to expose the hidden parts of the puzzle that sustain the contemporary attributes of transnationalism.
Long-read-based single sperm genome sequencing for chromosome-wide haplotype phasing of both SNPs and SVs
Authors: Xie Haoling , Li Wen , Guo Yuqing , Su Xinjie , Chen Kexuan , Wen Lu , Tang Fuchou
Published: June 2023

Although localized haploid phasing can be achieved using long read genome sequencing without parental data, reliable chromosome-scale phasing remains a great challenge. Given that sperm is a natural haploid cell, single-sperm genome sequencing can provide a chromosome-wide phase signal. Due to the limitation of read length, current short-read-based single-sperm genome sequencing methods can only achieve SNP haplotyping and come with difficulties in detecting and haplotyping structural variations (SVs) in complex genomic regions. To overcome these limitations, we developed a long-read-based single-sperm genome sequencing method and a corresponding data analysis pipeline that can accurately identify crossover events and chromosomal level aneuploidies in single sperm and efficiently detect SVs within individual sperm cells. Importantly, without parental genome information, our method can accurately conduct de novo phasing of heterozygous SVs as well as SNPs from male individuals at the whole chromosome scale. The accuracy for phasing of SVs was as high as 98.59% using 100 single sperm cells, and the accuracy for phasing of SNPs was as high as 99.95%. Additionally, our method reliably enabled deduction of the repeat expansions of haplotype-resolved STRs/VNTRs in single sperm cells. Our method provides a new opportunity for studying haplotype-related genetics in mammals.
Structural basis for high-affinity recognition of aflatoxin B1 by a DNA aptamer
Authors: Xu Guohua , Wang Chen , Yu Hao , Li Yapiao , Zhao Qiang , Zhou Xin , Li Conggang , Liu Maili
Published: June 2023

The 26-mer DNA aptamer (AF26) that specifically binds aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) with nM-level high affinity is rare among hundreds of aptamers for small molecules. Despite its predicted stem–loop structure, the molecular basis of its high-affinity recognition of AFB1 remains unknown. Here, we present the first high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance structure of AFB1–AF26 aptamer complex in solution. AFB1 binds to the 16-residue loop region of the aptamer, inducing it to fold into a compact structure through the assembly of two bulges and one hairpin structure. AFB1 is tightly enclosed within a cavity formed by the bulges and hairpin, held in a place between the G·C base pair, G·G·C triple and multiple T bases, mainly through strong π–π stacking, hydrophobic and donor atom–π interactions, respectively. We further revealed the mechanism of the aptamer in recognizing AFB1 and its analogue AFG1 with only one-atom difference and introduced a single base mutation at the binding site of the aptamer to increase the discrimination between AFB1 and AFG1 based on the structural insights. This research provides an important structural basis for understanding high-affinity recognition of the aptamer, and for further aptamer engineering, modification and applications.
The Supreme Court Weighs In: Calder v. Bull (1798)
Authors: Logan Wayne A.
Published: June 2023

This chapter examines the Supreme Court’s landmark decision Calder v. Bull (1798), which remains the authoritative exposition of the Ex Post Facto Clause. In Calder, the court held that the clause only prohibits retroactive criminal, not also civil laws, and identified four particular categories of laws as improper. In the decades since Calder was decided, both holdings have come into question, especially that the clause only prohibits retroactive criminal laws. The chapter begins with a brief discussion of a foundational question: whether the Supreme Court had the power of judicial review it exercised in Calder. Attention then turns to Calder itself, which provided a lengthy exegesis of what the court saw as the historical provenance of the criminal-centric view it adopted. Thereafter, the discussion focuses on the mass of historical evidence contradicting the court’s limited view of coverage, backing the view that both the technical and general public understanding of ex post facto laws during the Framing Era was inclusive of civil and criminal laws. The chapter concludes with a survey of the several provocative theories advanced by twentieth-century scholars explaining the potential motivations behind the court’s adoption of a narrow view in Calder, despite the historical evidence.
The Narrative of Double Death with Abject Agency
Authors: Jeong Seung-hoon
Published: June 2023

Abject agency is further theorized in Chapter 2 as central to the ‘double death’ narrative of global cinema. Protagonists undergo sociopolitical abjection as symbolic death and then become agents to recover their subjectivity or fulfill other missions until real death. The chapter’s case study moves the argument from Europe to Asia and highlights South Korean cinema while mapping its two transnational capital networks in narrative space. The North-West network depicts refugees or migrants whose mission renders them enslaved and abandoned like dogs (Poongsan, The Yellow Sea), whereas the South-East network stages professional outlaws like thieves as agents of neoliberal desires (The Thieves, Thirst). These ‘dogs’ and ‘thieves’ represent those circulated by capital and those circulating capital in the age of cognitive, financial, and emotional capitalism, leading to an ethical dilemma of today.
Alternative Ethics through the Paradox of the Gift
Authors: Jeong Seung-hoon
Published: June 2023

Part IV (“Gift and Atopia”) proposes a third way between communal totality and networked anarchy, an alternative ethics beyond the postpolitical stalemate. Chapter 10 sheds light on positive modes of abject agency as liberated from fixed subjectivity, beginning with artistic creativity and extending to ethical gift-giving. The crux of the argument is that one’s abject being itself can be an existential gift to the other, retaining the potential sanctity of life to relay without return, closure, or recognition as a gift. The chapter explores this paradoxical gift-giving beyond capitalist give and take through some gift theories and three notable films: Dogville, Gran Torino, and Life of Pi. Building on the motif of the gift, these films inspire us to develop the ethics of the gift in global cinema and revisit the issues of multiculturalism, terrorism, divine violence, sacrifice, catastrophe, and redemption.
Pavlov on the Conditional Reflex
Authors: Yokoyama Olga
Published: June 2023

Pavlov on the Conditional Reflex: Papers, 1903–1936 is a definitive translation of Ivan Petrovich Pavlov’s work on the conditional reflex. It presents a complete set of Pavlov’s papers and conference presentations on the topic, including one previously unpublished archival manuscript. A number of the chapters are presented in English translation for the first time. In addition to accurately conveying the content and correcting some entrenched translation errors that have plagued Pavlov’s legacy, translator Olga T. Yokoyama deliberately preserves Pavlov’s engaging, down-to-earth tone, and his reader-friendly speech style. The 67 translated papers are prefaced by three introductory essays: Yokoyama, linguist and translator, explains the need for this new translation, her approach to the task, and what Pavlov’s language reveals about his linguistic persona; Michael Fanselow, neurophysiologist, discusses how Pavlov’s thought and work are vitally relevant to modern neuroscience and psychology; Daniel P. Todes, historian of science and Pavlov biographer, sets the text within the context of Pavlov’s life and science, and explores his central concepts and terms. The introductory essays and translated papers are followed by reference materials; the glossary lets Pavlov speak for himself, with definitions of terms and concepts taken from their direct context in his papers; Pavlov’s original bibliography, listing works by his collaborators and students, is supplemented by an additional bibliography that includes works mentioned in the introductions and footnotes; an annotated name index compiles the personal names mentioned by Pavlov in these papers, defining the scope of his scientific universe on the subject.
“Internal inhibition” of the conditional reflexes and sleep are one and the same process
Authors: Yokoyama Olga T.
Published: June 2023

For a productive analysis of the work of any organ, it is necessary first of all to know its normal activity. Naturally, the same is true for the cerebral hemispheres as well. For the last 20 years I and my numerous collaborators worked precisely on this subject, using dogs. In order to capture the nervous activity in its totality, the total behavior of the higher animal, six sets of phenomena across the total nervous system need to be considered: (1) excitation, (2) inhibition, (3) the movement of both excitation and inhibition, (4) mutual induction: of inhibition by excitation (negative induction) and of excitation by inhibition (positive induction), (5) the phenomena of circuit closure and opening between various points in the system, and (6) the phenomena of analyzing, of decomposing, for the benefit of the organism, of the external world and the internal world (everything that takes place in the organism itself) into discrete entities.
Some problems in the physiology of the cerebral hemispheres
Authors: Yokoyama Olga T.
Published: June 2023

At this session, dedicated to the memory of a great Russian physician, I have been permitted to show my admiration for the talent, scientific achievements, and life of Nikola? Ivanovich Pirogov by presenting a report on the experimental work done by me jointly with my co-workers; although it is not specifically on surgery, it still is of a physiologic?-medical nature. Temperament is one of the most important components of constitution, and since constitution is currently at the very center of attention of the medical world, addressing my report to physicians will thus be justified. The physiological theory of temperaments is the fruit of new research on the higher nervous activity that is carried out using new methods.
A brief sketch of the higher nervous activity
Authors: Yokoyama Olga T.
Published: June 2023

It seems to me that by now physiology finally has at its disposal a general outline of the normal activity of the entire central nervous system, including the cerebral hemispheres, although, of course, it still lacks deep analysis and countless details of this activity. Evidently, its main function is to steadily maintain an equilibrium of the self-contained system of the organism within itself, i.e., among the elements that compose it, as well as between the system as a whole and the surrounding environment. Although in the higher animal, the lower parts of the central nervous system accomplish a lot in terms of coordinating the organism and its surroundings, in addition to their principal function of integrating the activity of the separate parts of the organism, the task of the most delicate and precise balancing of the organism and the environment falls on the cerebral hemispheres.
Experimental neuroses
Authors: Yokoyama Olga T.
Published: June 2023

Edwin Guthrie’s article “Conditioning as a principle of learning” represents, I believe, an especially interesting and basic and, in my view, completely justified intention to superimpose, so to speak, the phenomena of so-called psychic activity on physiological facts, to merge, to equate the physiological and the psychological, the subjective and the objective. This, I am convinced, is a most important task for science today. The author addresses the problem of learning in general, providing a characterization of this process by listing its basic features, and in doing so he indiscriminately uses psychologists’ material, as well as our physiological data obtained on animals by the method of conditional reflexes. Up to this point the psychologist and the physiologist walk side by side. But beyond this point, a sharp divergence between us emerges.
The Student's Research Companion
Authors: Aschari Omid , Berghaus Benjamin
Published: June 2023

Many students (and also supervisors) struggle with their final academic projects (and their supervisions). This struggle has taken away from the great potential of a learning experience the thesis, dissertation, or capstone project has to offer. We invite our readers to learn and reflect our thoughts on how a final academic project can turn into a purposeful journey of scientific entrepreneurs – and not just the final examination to be crossed off before finally being allowed into “the real world”. This book contains reflections on and suggestions how to tackle 50 common challenges that students tend to struggle with when working on the final academic projects of their bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral programmes. The presented mindsets are reflections by the co-founder and managing director and core faculty members of the twelve-year number-1-ranked (Financial Times Global Master’s of Management Ranking) Master in Strategy and International Management at University of St. Gallen. The mindsets are contextualized by the thoughts of 10 academic mentors from around the world and across disciplines. Our thoughts captured in this book do not deal with specific methodology, theory, and ways to cut corners, complete faster and easier. Instead, we focus on academic culture and a purposeful attitude for young, talented, and motivated human beings who seek to apply their academic skills to help solve problems. We instruct our readers to experience the process of their final academic project as a self-directed, productive, and healthy challenge and not a grinding overload.
Rigour suggests approach
Authors: Aschari Omid , Berghaus Benjamin
Published: June 2023

Rigour is the opposite of making things so complicated and occult that you as a researcher cannot handle them any more.
Deduce the research design
Authors: Aschari Omid , Berghaus Benjamin
Published: June 2023

What seems like a central, watershed decision is usually not yours to make, but is best derived from the state of your research field.
Strange birds
Authors: Aschari Omid , Berghaus Benjamin
Published: June 2023

Universities see their share of misconduct, regardless of rank. Train your ability to spot it, isolate from it, or, if need be, fight it skilfully.
The Earth's Magnetic Field
Authors: Lowrie William
Published: June 2023

Legendary anecdotes relate how Greco-Roman and Chinese societies may have first become aware of magnetism. For centuries it was thought to be a celestial power, but scientists learned through experimental investigations how magnetism is related to electrical currents. Its origin is now well understood at both large-scale and atomic levels. Deep within the Earth, it has a liquid iron core, where fluid motions and electrical currents are driven by the planet’s internal heat and modified by its rotation. They form a self-sustaining generator for the Earth’s magnetic field. For centuries, mariners have used the field to navigate across the world’s oceans. Their meticulous records now provide valuable information about changes in the field and related conditions in the Earth’s core. Surveys of the modern magnetic field—on land, at sea, and from satellites—provide information for geologists and geophysicists that helps them to explore the mineral wealth of unknown territories. The weak magnetism of rocks, acquired in the magnetic field at the time they formed, can be used to reconstruct the positions of continents in the distant geological past, thus enabling scientists to understand the planet’s history. In space, the Earth’s magnetic field interacts with the solar wind, a dangerous stream of electrically charged particles emitted by the Sun, and deflects it around the planet. Continuous records of changes in the magnetic field enable scientists to advise governments on measures to protect society against solar radiation, especially the violent electromagnetic events known as space weather.
What is Magnetism?
Authors: Lowrie William
Published: June 2023

The experimental method of acquiring scientific knowledge became widespread beginning in the 17th century. Empirical investigations by European scientists into the nature of magnetic fields established that they are produced by moving electrical charges. Conversely, a changing magnetic field is found to induce an electrical current in a conductor. Electrical and magnetic fields that oscillate in conjunction with each other form electromagnetic waves, a type of radiation that includes visible light but that can have wavelengths ranging from ultra-short, harmful gamma rays to very long radio waves. The physical laws that govern electricity and magnetism apply even at the atomic level. At atomic scale, the energy of an electron is found to be quantized in discrete units, so that the electrons orbiting an atomic nucleus do so in distinct shells. The quantized nature of energy allows electromagnetic radiation to exist at the subatomic level as both particles and waves.
IP and Evidence—A Twenty-Year Journey to the Mainstream
Authors: Humphries David
Published: June 2023

IP has moved from being a niche area of policy to sitting at the heart of the UK government’s Innovation Strategy. This chapter discusses how an evidence-driven approach to formulating IP policy has been central to this journey, and the role of evidence-based research in developing a balanced IP framework. As the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) seeks to lead global conversations on some of the most important IP-related challenges of today, the chapter shows how this approach remains at the core of the UK IPO’s activities, and will help ensure that the UK’s IP framework remains fit to embrace the opportunities of the future.
Intellectual Property Teaching and Research: How Has the Academy Changed in the Past Two Decades?
Authors: Calboli Irene
Published: June 2023

This chapter analyses the developments that have characterized the Intellectual Property (IP) academy—intended as activities carried on by academics in institutions of higher education—as part of the celebratory volume for the twentieth anniversary of The IPKat blog. In particular, this chapter recounts and reflects on the history and changes of the IP academy from the mid-1990s until the present time, with specific attention to two primary areas: IP teaching and IP research. In particular, the chapter highlights that IP teaching and research rose to prominence towards the end of the 1990s following the growing economic importance of IP in the late 1980s and early 1990s. From being relegated to a peripheral field, the rise of globalization, the diffusion of the internet, and the growth of information-based industries all contributed to increasing the prominence of IP. At first, the new cohort of IP academics focused on the analysis of the legal texts and their application, including case law analysis. Shortly thereafter, they started to tackle larger issues and applied innovative and interdisciplinary methods in their teaching and research. In recent years, the breadth of the topics addressed has continued to increase. This chapter reviews these developments and the new trends that characterize the IP academy today.
Sixty Years of International Performers’ Rights: Time for a Performers’ Copyright?
Authors: Pavis Mathilde
Published: June 2023

This chapter reflects on recent developments in international performers’ rights. In doing so, the discussion reveals a key tension: while performers’ rights are now well established under international laws, the relevance of the framework is threatened by new technologies, notably Artificial Intelligence (AI). The chapter describes how AI can produce faithful reproductions of performances without triggering infringement under the law. This is due to fact that performers’ rights protect recordings of a performance but not the performance itself. This leaves performers unprotected against unauthorized imitations of their interpretations. When AI creates new performance using pre-existing recordings, it does not reproduce the recordings but imitates them through data synthetization. As such, this use of performances falls outside the scope of protection granted by performers’ rights. This begs the question whether performers’ rights are still fit for purpose. Should performers’ rights be reformed, and importantly, has time come for a performers’ copyright?
Music Copyright Infringement Cases in the US and UK: Building a House Upon the Sand or the Rock?
Authors: Bosher Hayleigh
Published: June 2023

Since the case against Robin Thick and Pharrell Williams over their song Blurred Lines, which found that there had been unlawful copying of Marvin Gaye’s song Got to Give it Up, there have been an increasing number of disputes around copying of music. This trend is clearly seen in US case law and has perhaps influenced rightholders to bring similar claims in the UK. This chapter provides an overview of the key music copyright infringement cases in the US and UK over the past decade. In doing so, it argues that the application of the legal test, particularly in relation to questions of access and taking of a substantial part, needs to be reconsidered in view of both digital music consumption and production practices.
Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) Technologies: A Copyright Management Tool for Content-Sharing Platforms
Authors: Luceri Giorgio
Published: June 2023

The increasing possibilities of the internet and the rise of the so-called Web 2.0 have led to a debate about the growing challenges related to the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights in digital environments. If technology has been one of the causes of legislative response, it has also been an essential tool for monitoring the distribution and management of copyright-protected works online and improving protection in digital contexts. Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology provides a content-monitoring system useful for managing the distribution, detection, and even misuse of copyright-protected works, and has also helped users and intermediaries meet obligations and responsibilities to rightholders. This chapter discusses the advent of the internet and its implications for copyright, the ability of technologies to recognize content, the use of ACR technologies by certain types of intermediaries such as content-sharing platforms for copyright management on the internet, and whether content monitoring might raise concerns about the balance between the rights of creators, the liability regime for intermediaries, and the freedom of expression of users.
Retromark: The Last Twenty Years of Trade Marks
Authors: Meale Darren
Published: June 2023

Retromark posts have looked back on major trade mark cases, with each volume considering up to ten decisions from the six months before publication. This chapter packs twenty years of developments into ten topics, each with a focus on a particularly significant case from the past two decades. Topics include targeting, which started with Euromarket Designs; functions, featuring a whole host of major cases including Arsenal v Reed and L’Oréal v Bellure; the issue of bad faith in several forms such as those central to the SkyKick and Monopoly cases; the ‘theoretical’ nature of dilution in UK trade mark practice; and the development of the blocking injunction jurisdiction by the UK courts which culminated in the UK Supreme Court’s judgment in Cartier.
Revaluing Periods of Concurrent Use in Likelihood of Confusion Analyses
Authors: Michels Lucas S
Published: June 2023

In 2014, the original Utah, US-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the ‘LDS Church’) filed a Canadian trade mark infringement lawsuit against a fundamentalist offshoot sect, known as the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints Inc, headed by Winston Blackmore (the ‘Blackmore Sect’), who had maintained an insular sect in Bountiful, rural British Columbia. While the LDS Church had operated in Canada before this Blackmore Sect, and registered marks for variations of its name before any attempts by the Blackmore Sect, the Blackmore Sect had registered its corporate name in British Columbia prior to the lawsuit and had maintained its Bountiful settlement under variations of the LDS Church name since 1946. Despite the Blackmore Sect having lost this case, the case highlighted discrepancies in trade mark law across jurisdictions concerning the evaluation of evidence of periods of concurrent use in likelihood of confusion analyses. While the internet has profoundly changed how prospective consumers become aware of marks, allowing public recognition of marks well beyond the locales of where their goods and services may originate or be provided, the legal determination of the value of evidence of periods of concurrent use in likelihood of confusion analyses in major jurisdictions still largely focused on geographical proximity of the territories of use and trade channels. This chapter evaluates discrepancies in such existing legal frameworks and suggests factors to be adopted to more adequately assess and value evidence of prolonged periods of concurrent use in likelihood of confusion analyses.
Intellectual Property and Sustainability
Authors: Lagarde Laetitia
Published: June 2023

One of the emerging trends that cuts across all sectors in terms of legal and business issues is that brands are facing huge sustainability challenges. Consumers are looking to companies to be more transparent about their supply chains, including with regard to human rights, plastic pollution, treatment of workers, or how they source raw materials. All of this desire for authenticity and sustainability has been increased with the Covid-19 health crisis. IP lawyers certainly know how to attribute and protect the value of intangible assets (from protecting R&D, technology, through patents or tech transfer, as well as trade mark portfolios) and that those intangible assets are vital to driving economic growth and brand value. The brand value of sustainability and sustainable business practices should be considered essential to a long-term strategy for brand owners. Indeed, sustainability policies help drive sales and consumer confidence, as long as they avoid initiatives like ‘greenwashing’. In this decisive decade to achieve real progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, and as sustainability is becoming more embedded in consumer culture, both brands and their lawyers still have a lot to learn about sustainability.
The Changing Impact of IP on Individuals and Small Businesses and the Importance of Pro Bono Services
Authors: Jones Stephen , Bosher Hayleigh
Published: June 2023

The IPKat blog itself started out as an educational resource. Whilst it now serves a wider audience and broader purposes, education and the sharing of information and best practices remain at the heart of the blog. This chapter draws on Stephen and Hayleigh’s experience of pro bono services in the IP field to highlight its growing importance in legal education, and to present reflections on some of the lessons learnt and benefits from the IP Pro Bono service offered by the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, and other professional bodies in the UK.
The Russian Imaginary of Robots, Cyborgs, and Intelligent Machines
Authors: Solovyeva Anzhelika , Hynek Nik
Published: June 2023

This chapter distinguishes three formative phases in defining the Russian cultural perspective on AI. The earliest attempts to conceptualize the nexus between human beings and machines emerged during the Bolshevik Revolution. In the mid- to late twentieth century, Soviet progress in computer engineering, cybernetics, and AI facilitated fantasies about intelligent machines. Since the end of the Soviet Union, AI algorithms have become part of daily life and both research and popular culture envision machines that ever more accurately replicate lifeforms. Some trends have persisted across the phases: utopian hopes and dystopian fears; the alignment of technology with politics; interest in organic forms and the anthropomorphization of machines; the quest for human–technology integration (cyborg); and fascination with the cosmos. These patterns of continuity and change testify to how Russia’s history and politics influences how it imagines AI.
Maoli Intelligence
Authors: Arista Noelani
Published: June 2023

The chapter argues that indigenous data sovereignty is not new, but rather is rooted in the practices and protocols Indigenous communities developed to secure, verify, and maintain traditional and ancestral knowledge. Centring Hawai‘i, this chapter provides a comparative Indigenous epistemological framework for reconsidering artificial intelligence (AI) as Maoli Intelligence (real, indigenous, Hawaiian). It provides a mini example in the successful inter-Indigenous prototyping project called Hua Ki‘i, which produced a point-and-click Hawaiian language application. Because ʻIke Hawai‘i is instantiated in the largest indigenous language oral-to-textual archive in North America and the Polynesian Pacific, it provides sufficient materials to develop approaches that are scalable to other contexts. The author makes the case for using Maoli Intelligence to shape the computational architecture of our future digital technologies, asking what the future of computational science, AI, and an ethics based out of Indigenous concepts of relationality might become if Indigenous technological capacity is allowed to flourish.
Artificial Intelligence Elsewhere
Authors: Adams Rachel
Published: June 2023

This chapter contributes to scholarship on decolonization, and what it means and requires to decolonize AI, by exploring an alternate cultural perspective on nonhuman intelligence from that portrayed in the more well-known Western canon. It investigates how cultural and traditional systems outside the West have understood and narrated human relations with nonhuman intelligence and enchanted objects, and what this means in relation to global debates around AI and the future of humanity that have—to date—largely centred on Western experiences. The chapter focuses on the transgendered ogbanje—a changeling child or reincarnated spirit—of Nigerian Yoruba and Igbo cultural traditions. Through engagement with the works of Chinwe and Chinua Achebe and Akwaeke Emezi, it explores the role anthropomorphism, representation and gender play in making intelligence culturally identifiable, whether this offers an alternative imaginary for transcending the normative binaries that AI fortifies, and what kind of politics this requires.
Introduction
Authors: Dawson Grant
Published: June 2023

The book first identifies the international law that is applicable to sea-dumped chemical weapons and analyses dissonances in those legal regimes. The next step is an analysis of how any discovered lacunae in the applicable legal regimes can be remedied by legal strategies, such as the amendment of existing treaties, the adoption of new legal instruments, the interpretation of existing treaties or their modification through subsequent state practice, and the application of customary international law. Finally, based upon states’ responsibilities to protect and preserve the marine environment, the potential liability of states for damage caused by sea-dumped chemical weapons and for the costs of their cleanup will be investigated.
Responsibility for the Remediation of Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons and Possible Legal Liability
Authors: Dawson Grant
Published: June 2023

Attempts to hold states liable for the damage caused by sea-dumped chemical weapons may face significant legal, political, and practical obstacles. However, with the development of the law since the dumping took place, states, under the intertemporal rule of international law, may have to reassess the situation in relation to their past dumping and the effects that it is having in the present on the marine environment. There are current and ongoing legal obligations, which were voluntarily undertaken by states, that mandate the continual preservation and protection of the marine environment. Thus, both states that conducted the dumping and also states that have SDCWs under their jurisdiction or control have a legal obligation to protect the marine environment, as well as their neighbouring states, from the adverse environmental effects of degrading and submerged chemical munitions. Nevertheless, states have sought cooperative solutions to the problem of SDCWs, rather than casting the issue in terms of liability. Thus, despite the sound legal arguments that states can be held liable to remediate SDCWs that they dumped in the past and/or are currently within their jurisdiction or control, it is likely that the problem of SDCWs will continue to be dealt with in terms of voluntary state cooperation, rather than legal liability.
The Forge on Windmill Field Lane
Authors: Hindle Steve
Published: June 2023

A study of the village blacksmith Samuel Brown, the third of three generations of blacksmiths who had owned and worked in the smithy on Windmill Field Lane at the heart of the common field system; emphasizes the importance of metalworking in the community, especially where there was significant demand for tools in the coalmining industry developing in the southern part of the parish, but also notes the significance of the smith’s role in making and mending a wide range of domestic and agricultural equipment; identifies the client base of the smithy and discusses the significance of the site for the exchange of news and gossip amongst the customers; reconstructs the skills and techniques used by the blacksmith and the risks and rewards of the trade; concludes with Brown’s sudden death, speculates about what might have killed him, and outlines the subsequent fate of the shop in which he had worked and the tools which he had wielded.