Copyright and cultural work: an exploration

This article first discusses the contemporary debate on cultural “creativity” and the economy. Second, it considers the current state of UK copyright law and how it relates to cultural work. Third, based on empirical research on British dancers and musicians, an analysis of precarious cultural work is presented. A major focus is how those who follow their art by way of “portfolio” work handle their rights in ways that diverge significantly from the current simplistic assumptions of law and cultural policy. Our conclusions underline the distance between present top-down conceptions of what drives production in the cultural field and the actual practice of dancers and musicians

Authenticity, empathy, and the creative imagination

This article reviews the changing beliefs about artistic integrity and aesthetic value that feed into judgements of rock authenticity, taking issue with scholarship that reduces authenticity to acts of misguided judgement, myths, conceits, and fakery. It argues that there is no consensus about the meaning of authenticity in rock music, as understandings change according to the varied experiences, perceptions, circumstances, and vocabularies of participants. Authenticity in rock should not be approached cynically as if based on deception, gullibility, and ideological illusions, but for the insights it can provide into the circumstances that afford imaginative acts of creative connection and experiential empathy

Protecting U.S. temporary waterways

International audienc

Effects of surface drainage on dryland salinity

Areas which are salt-affected are often also flooded. Although flooding is not the basic cause of salinity, surface drainage may improve conditions for plant growth, and this article describes suitable method

Variation in metapopulation dynamics of a wetland mammal: The effect of hydrology.

Key factors affecting metapopulation dynamics of animals include patch size, isolation, and patch quality. For wetland-associated species, hydrology can affect patch availability, connectivity, and potentially habitat quality; and therefore drive metapopulation dynamics. Wetlands occurring on natural river floodplains typically have more dynamic hydrology than anthropogenic wetlands. Our overall objective was to assess the multiyear spatial and temporal variation in occupancy and turnover rates of a semi-aquatic small mammal at two hydrologically distinct wetland complexes. We live-trapped marsh rice rats (Oryzomys palustris) for 3 yr and \u3e50 000 trap nights at nine wetland patches on the Mississippi River floodplain and 14 patches at a reclaimed surface mine in southern Illinois. We used dynamic occupancy modeling to estimate initial occupancy, detection, colonization, and extinction rates at each complex. Catch per unit effort (rice rats captured/1000 trap nights) was markedly higher at the floodplain site (28.1) than the mining site (8.1). We found no evidence that temperature, rainfall, or trapping effort affected detection probability. Probability of initial occupancy was similar between sites and positively related to patch size. Patch colonization probability at both sites was related negatively to total rainfall 3 weeks prior to trapping, and varied across years differently at each site. We found interacting effects of site and rainfall on extinction probability: extinction increased with total rainfall 3 months prior to trapping but markedly more at the floodplain site than at the mining site. These site-specific patterns of colonization and extinction are consistent with the rice rat metapopulation in the floodplain exhibiting a habitat-tracking dynamic (occupancy dynamics driven by fluctuating quality), whereas the mineland complex behaved more as a classic metapopulation (stochastic colonization & extinction). Our study supports previous work demonstrating metapopulation dynamics in wetland systems being driven by changes in patch quality (via hydrology) rather than solely area and isolation

Listening to ironically-enjoyed music: A self-regulatory perspective

This research examines adults’ reported motivations for listening to music that they enjoy ironically. In a pilot (N = 96) and main (N = 175) studies, open-ended responses from adults were analysed using Thematic Analysis. Based on the pilot study, ironically enjoyed music was defined as “Music that is enjoyed because of being bad, despite being bad, or for different reasons than intended.” Although many relevant self-regulatory functions of listening to music in general were also relevant to ironically- enjoyed music, it also emerged that ironic enjoyment of music has characteristics that are unique to it: the additional role of mocking, ridiculing, and laughing at the music, and the social benefit that this provides. Music that was listened to “because of” its negative features had a variety of musical features, and the listening usually served functions unique to ironic enjoyment of music, such as mockery. When music was listened to “despite” negative qualities, the music itself was often described as having attractive rhythm, melody or lyrics, while the irony protected the listener from conflicting values associated with the music, helping the listener communicate to others that they did not identify with the music on a higher level. Unfamiliar music mainly played a social role, whereas familiar music related to nostalgia as well as most other functions

Deletion of the GABAA α2-subunit does not alter self dministration of cocaine or reinstatement of cocaine seeking

Rationale GABAA receptors containing α2-subunits are highly represented in brain areas that are involved in motivation and reward, and have been associated with addiction to several drugs, including cocaine. We have shown previously that a deletion of the α2-subunit results in an absence of sensitisation to cocaine. Objective We investigated the reinforcing properties of cocaine in GABAA α2-subunit knockout (KO) mice using an intravenous self-administration procedure. Methods α2-subunit wildtype (WT), heterozygous (HT) and KO mice were trained to lever press for a 30 % condensed milk solution. After implantation with a jugular catheter, mice were trained to lever press for cocaine (0.5 mg/kg/infusion) during ten daily sessions. Responding was extinguished and the mice tested for cue- and cocaine-primed reinstatement. Separate groups of mice were trained to respond for decreasing doses of cocaine (0.25, 0.125, 0.06 and 0.03 mg/kg). Results No differences were found in acquisition of lever pressing for milk. All genotypes acquired self-administration of cocaine and did not differ in rates of self-administration, dose dependency or reinstatement. However, whilst WT and HT mice showed a dose-dependent increase in lever pressing during the cue presentation, KO mice did not. Conclusions Despite a reported absence of sensitisation, motivation to obtain cocaine remains unchanged in KO and HT mice. Reinstatement of cocaine seeking by cocaine and cocaine-paired cues is also unaffected. We postulate that whilst not directly involved in reward perception, the α2-subunit may be involved in modulating the “energising” aspect of cocaine’s effects on reward-seeking

Search for supersymmetry with a dominant R-parity violating LQDbar couplings in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130GeV to 172 GeV

A search for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption that R-parity is violated via a dominant LQDbar coupling has been performed using the data collected by ALEPH at centre-of-mass energies of 130-172 GeV. The observed candidate events in the data are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. This result is translated into lower limits on the masses of charginos, neutralinos, sleptons, sneutrinos and squarks. For instance, for m_0=500 GeV/c^2 and tan(beta)=sqrt(2) charginos with masses smaller than 81 GeV/c^2 and neutralinos with masses smaller than 29 GeV/c^2 are excluded at the 95% confidence level for any generation structure of the LQDbar coupling.Comment: 32 pages, 30 figure