An empirical inquiry of the efficiency of intergovernmental transfers for water projects based on the WRDA data

The aim of this paper is to check whether intergovernmental transfers for water projects accepted in 1986 can be rationalized by a simple efficiency criterion. The empirical Þndings support this conjecture only partially

An International-Comparative Perspective on Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing and Third Party Liability in Copyright Law

In the last decade, the phenomenon of peer-to-peer file-sharing and its various legal aspects have been dealt with extensively by legal scholarship. The purpose of this Article is to take a closer inspection of several particular legal aspects that are related to peer-to-peer file-sharing as a comparative, social, economic, and cultural phenomenon. The Article begins by providing critical comparative analysis of distinct paradigms that different legal systems have offered regarding the question of third party liability for copyright infringements that occur through peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms. The Article then presents three focal policy considerations that should serve as copyright law\u27s compass in the context of peer-to-peer file-sharing. (a) adopting a requirement of compliance between the legal liability of third parties and copyright law\u27s exemptions and limitations regime; (b) striking a socially desired allocation of risk between positive and negative externalities that peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms tend to generate; (c) understanding the unique distributional concerns that are raised by legal regulation of peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms, especially when taking into account the nature of such platforms as a novel emerging speech resource that society has to decide upon its allocation. The last part of the Article focuses on some of the next generation legal questions that peer-to-peer networks are already beginning to give rise to, including the legal liability of internet service providers for managing peer-to-peer traffic through active caching and routing applications

Beyond IP–The Cost of Free: Informational Capitalism in a Post IP Era

Critical copyright scholarship rightly emphasizes the social costs of ordering cultural production through proprietary intellectual property law regimes. This scholarship also celebrates the virtues of free content and free access, particularly in digital domains. The purpose of this article is to question this critique, which tends to pair proprietary intellectual property protection with informational capitalism and the commodification of culture. This article argues that the drawbacks of cultural commodification and informational capitalism are also apparent in market-oriented media environments that are based on free distribution of content. The article makes a novel contribution by untying the seemingly Gordian knot binding proprietary IP to capitalist structures of corporate media. Media environments based on free distribution of content are no less vulnerable to market powers. This analysis has significant normative implications for the desirability of contemporary approaches that advocate mobilization towards non-proprietary “beyond IP” legal regimes

Robotic Collective Memory

The various ways in which robots and AI will affect our future society are at the center of scholarly attention. This Commentary, conversely, concentrates on their possible impact on humanity’s past, or more accurately, on the ways societies will remember their joint past. We focus on the emerging use of technologies that combine AI, cutting-edge visualization techniques, and social robots, in order to store and communicate recollections of the past in an interactive human-like manner. We explore the use of these technologies by remembrance institutions and their potential impact on collective memory. Taking a close look at the case study of NDT (New Dimensions in Testimony)—a project that uses ‘virtual witnesses’ to convey memories from the Holocaust and other mass atrocities—we highlight the significant value, and the potential vulnerabilities, of this new mode of memory construction. Against this background, we propose a novel concept of memory fiduciaries that can form the basis for a policy framework for robotic collective memory. Drawing on Jack Balkin’s concept of ‘information fiduciaries’ on the one hand, and on studies of collective memory on the other, we explain the nature of and the justifications for memory fiduciaries. We then demonstrate, in broad strokes, the potential implications of this new conceptualization for various questions pertaining to collective memory constructed by AI and robots. By so doing, this Commentary aims to start a conversation on the policies that would allow algorithmic collective memory to fulfill its potential, while minimizing its social costs. On a more general level, it brings to the fore a series of important policy questions pertaining to the intersection of new technologies and intergenerational collective memory

Out of breath: GM-CSFRα mutations disrupt surfactant homeostasis

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare disorder in which surfactant homeostasis in the lung is impaired, causing respiratory distress and, in severe cases, respiratory failure. Most cases of PAP are associated with the formation of autoantibodies against the cytokine granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which is required for normal surfactant homeostasis and lung function. New studies now identify three patients in whom PAP was caused by mutations in the gene encoding the ligand-binding α chain of the GM-CSF receptor

Reciprocal Share-Alike Exemptions in Copyright Law

This article introduces a novel element to copyright law\u27s exemptions\u27 scheme, and particularly the fair use doctrine - a reciprocal share-alike requirement. I argue that beneficiaries of a copyright exemption should comply with a complementary set of ex-post reciprocal share-alike obligations that come on top of the exemption that they benefit from. Among other aspects, reciprocal share-alike obligations may trump contractual limitations and technological protection measures that are imposed by parties who relied on a copyright exemption in the course of their own use of copyrighted materials. Thus, fair use beneficiaries should be obliged to treat alike subsequent third parties who wish to access and use copyrighted materials - now located in their new hosting institution - for additional legitimate uses. For example, if Google argues that its Book Project\u27s scanning of entire copyrighted works are fair use, a similar exemption should apply to the benefit of future third parties who wish to use, for similar socially valuable purposes and under similar limitations, digital copies of books from Google\u27s databases and applications. Google should also be prohibited from imposing technological protection measures and contractual obligations that revoke its reciprocal share-alike obligations. Similar quid-pro-quo schemes may apply in the context of content-sharing platforms that initially rely on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act\u27s (DMCA\u27s) safe harbor for hosting services providers but later on impose proprietary restrictions on third parties who wish to reproduce and further use materials that were uploaded on the platform by end-users (e.g. as in the case of YouTube.com). And one could go on and apply this basic logic of a reciprocal share-alike quid-pro-quo on many other elements in copyright law\u27s scheme of exemptions and limitations. I argue that the making of copyright\u27s exemptions reciprocal corresponds well and improves the economics of copyright and public-welfare considerations. Overall, reciprocal share-alike exemptions structure copyright law in a manner that strikes a better balance between copyright\u27s contribution (incentive) to cultural production and copyright\u27s social cost-the burdens it imposes on future creators. As long as a reciprocal share-alike requirement is structured in a scope that maintains enough incentives to produce secondary works, it represents a social benefit that copyright law should capture. In addition, the article argues that reciprocal share-alike exemptions further enhance democratic, autonomy and distributive values that underlie a public-oriented vision of copyright law

Photoprotection practices, knowledge and sun-related skin damage in Spanish beach handball players

Background. Outdoor sports are a risk activity for skin cancer, especially if adequate sun protection measures are not used. The aim of this study is to examine the photoprotection habits of outdoor (beach) handball players, and to determine the relation between duration of sports practice, photoprotection behaviour and sunrelated damage to the skin. Methods. This cross-sectional study is based on a health survey of sun exposure and protection habits and practices conducted among beach handball players in southern Spain. This survey provided data for a descriptive and comparative analysis, by groups and gender, of photoprotection and skin self-examination practices. Results. Among the whole sample, 76.9% had suffered at least one sunburn event during the last year. By groups, 73.97% of the older participants (Group I, University students) and 81.25% of the younger ones (Group II, youngers players) reported this outcome, and the difference was statistically significant (p D 0:003). With respect to photoprotection, 68.5% of the players in group I and 66.7% of those in group II used sun cream with a protection factor of 30 or higher, although 52.1% of group I and 35.4% of group II did not reapply it. As concerns self-examination, 94.5% of group I and 87.5% of group II had not examined their body for skin damage during the previous year. Medical examination revealed the presence of lentigines and freckles among many players, with no significant differences between the two groups. Conclusions. Beach handball players are highly exposed to the effects of ultraviolet radiation and often take insufficient measures of sun protection. Programmes should be designed and implemented to raise awareness among adolescent and young adult sport competitors of the risks of skin cancer associated with their sports activity and to encourage them to improve their photoprotection and skin monitoring practices

Impaired intrinsic immunity to HSV-1 in human iPSC-derived TLR3-deficient CNS cells

In the course of primary infection with herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), children with inborn errors of TLR3 immunity are prone to HSV-1 encephalitis (HSE) 1–3. We tested the hypothesis that the pathogenesis of HSE involves non hematopoietic central nervous system (CNS)-resident cells. We derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from the dermal fibroblasts of TLR3- and UNC-93B-deficient patients and from controls. These iPSCs were differentiated into highly purified populations of neural stem cells (NSCs), neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The induction of IFN-β and/or IFN-γ1 in response to poly(I:C) stimulation was dependent on TLR3 and UNC-93B in all cells tested. However, the induction of IFN-β and IFN-γ1 in response to HSV-1 infection was impaired selectively in UNC-93B-deficient neurons and oligodendrocytes. These cells were also much more susceptible to HSV-1 infection than control cells, whereas UNC-93B-deficient NSCs and astrocytes were not. TLR3-deficient neurons were also found to be susceptible to HSV-1 infection. The rescue of UNC-93B- and TLR3-deficient cells with the corresponding wild-type allele demonstrated that the genetic defect was the cause of the poly(I:C) and HSV-1 phenotypes. The viral infection phenotype was further rescued by treatment with exogenous IFN-α/β, but not IFN-γ1.Thus, impaired TLR3- and UNC-93B-dependent IFN-α/β intrinsic immunity to HSV-1 in the CNS, in neurons and oligodendrocytes in particular, may underlie the pathogenesis of HSE in children with TLR3 pathway deficiencies