Initial Exploration of Cross-Generational Attitudes Towards Piracy of Chinese Online Literature

This chapter seeks to provide initial evidence and provide a baseline for further exploration of Chinese cross-generational audiences' attitude differences towards online literature and digital piracy. Globalization has complicated the many disparate cultural, generational, and national perspectives on intellectual property (IP) protection. IP and IP protection continue to grow in importance in global commerce and international relations. How attitudes towards IP and online content, in particular, evolve generationally is an area of relative under exploration. Data was gathered through an online survey and indicates a trend towards increased awareness and acceptance of IP value and protection. This study provides insight into cross-generational audiences in the important market of China. It may be helpful to those interested in commerce in the areas of online publishing or related industries to help make business decisions in targeting and marketing, to those interested in global commerce and international relations, or those who are researchers in the areas of IP and IP protection.

An Attempt to Study Natural H2 Resources across an Oceanic Ridge Penetrating a Continent: The Asal–Ghoubbet Rift (Republic of Djibouti)

Dihydrogen (H2) is generated by fluid–rock interactions along mid-ocean ridges (MORs) and was not, until recently, considered as a resource. However, in the context of worldwide efforts to decarbonize the energy mix, clean hydrogen is now highly sought after, and the production of natural H2 is considered to be a powerful alternative to electrolysis. The Afar Rift System has many geological features in common with MORs and offers potential in terms of natural H2 resources. Here, we present data acquired during initial exploration in this region. H2 contents in soil and within fumaroles were measured along a 200 km section across the Asal–Ghoubbet rift and the various intervening grabens, extending from Obock to Lake Abhe. These newly acquired data have been synthesized with existing data, including those from the geothermal prospect area of the Asal–Ghoubbet rift zone. Our results demonstrate that basalt alteration with oxidation of iron-rich facies and simultaneous reduction in water is the likely the source of the hydrogen, although H2S reduction cannot be ruled out. However, H2 volumes at the surface within fumaroles were found to be low, reaching only a few percent. These values are considerably lower than those found in MORs. This discrepancy may be attributed to bias introduced by surface sampling; for example, microorganisms may be preferentially consuming H2 near the surface in this environment. However, the low H2 generation rates found in the study area could also be due to a lack of reactants, such as fayalite (i.e., owing to the presence of low-olivine basalts with predominantly magnesian olivines), or to the limited volume and slow circulation of water. In future, access to additional subsurface data acquired through the ongoing geothermal drilling campaign will bring new insight to help answer these questions.

Feigned ADHD Associated Cognitive Impairment: Utility of Integrating an Eye-trAcker and the MOXO-dCPT

Objective: The current study assessed the utility of eye-movements measures, gathered while participants performed a commercially available Continuous Performance Test (CPT), to detect feigned ADHD-associated cognitive impairment. Method: Healthy simulators ( n = 37), ADHD patients ( n = 33), and healthy controls ( n = 36) performed an eye-tracker integrated MOXO-dCPT and a stand-alone validity indicator. Results: Simulators gazed significantly longer at regions that were irrelevant for successful MOXO-dCPT performance compared to ADHD patients and healthy controls. This eye-movement measure, however, had lower sensitivity than traditional MOXO-dCPT indices. Discussion: Gaze direction measures, gathered while performing a CPT, show initial promise as validity indicators. Traditional CPT measures, however, are more sensitive and therefore offer a more promising path for the establishment of CPT-based validity indicators. The current study is an initial exploration of the issue and further evaluation of both theoretical and practical aspects is mandated.

Diversity of Human-Associated Bifidobacterial Prophage Sequences

Members of Bifidobacterium play an important role in the development of the immature gut and are associated with positive long-term health outcomes for their human host. It has previously been shown that intestinal bacteriophages are detected within hours of birth, and that induced prophages constitute a significant source of such gut phages. The gut phageome can be vertically transmitted from mother to newborn and is believed to exert considerable selective pressure on target prokaryotic hosts affecting abundance levels, microbiota composition, and host characteristics. The objective of the current study was to investigate prophage-like elements and predicted CRISPR-Cas viral immune systems present in publicly available, human-associated Bifidobacterium genomes. Analysis of 585 fully sequenced bifidobacterial genomes identified 480 prophage-like elements with an occurrence of 0.82 prophages per genome. Interestingly, we also detected the presence of very similar bifidobacterial prophages and corresponding CRISPR spacers across different strains and species, thus providing an initial exploration of the human-associated bifidobacterial phageome. Our analyses show that closely related and likely functional prophages are commonly present across four different species of human-associated Bifidobacterium. Further comparative analysis of the CRISPR-Cas spacer arrays against the predicted prophages provided evidence of historical interactions between prophages and different strains at an intra- and inter-species level. Clear evidence of CRISPR-Cas acquired immunity against infection by bifidobacterial prophages across several bifidobacterial strains and species was obtained. Notably, a spacer representing a putative major capsid head protein was found on different genomes representing multiple strains across B. adolescentis, B. breve, and B. bifidum, suggesting that this gene is a preferred target to provide bifidobacterial phage immunity.

The Impact of Overbalanced Drilling From Exploration/Appraisal Wells to Field Development Plan

During well planning, drillers and petrophysicists have different principle objectives. The petrophysicist’s aim is to acquire critical well data, but this can lead to increased operational risk. The driller is focused on optimizing the well design, which can result in compromised data quality. In extreme cases, the impact of well design on petrophysical data can lead to erroneous post-well results that impact the entire value-chain assessment and decision making toward field development. This paper presents a case study from an Upper Jurassic reservoir in the Norwegian Sea where well design significantly impacted reservoir characterization. Three wells (exploration, appraisal, and geopilot) are compared to demonstrate the impact of overbalanced drilling on both log and core data. Implications for reservoir quality assessment and volume estimates are discussed. Extensive data collection was initially carried out in both exploration and appraisal wells, including full sets of logging while drilling (LWD), wireline logging, fluid sampling, and extensive coring. Both wells were drilled with considerable overbalanced mud weights due to the risk of overpressured reservoirs in the region. The log data were subsequently corrected for significant mud-filtration and fines invasion, with calibration to core measurements guiding the interpretation. A thorough investigation of core material raised suspicion that there could also be significant adverse effects on core properties resulting from overbalanced drilling. The implications were so significant for the reservoir volume that a strategic decision was made to drill a geopilot well close to the initial exploration well prior to field development drilling. The well was drilled 6 years after the initial exploration phase with considerably lower overbalance. Extensive well data, including one core, were acquired. The recovered core was crucial in order to compare the reservoir properties for comparable facies between all three wells. The results from the core demonstrate distinctly different rock quality characteristics, especially at the high end of the reservoir quality spectrum. Results of the core study confirmed the initial hypothesis that overbalanced drilling had significantly impacted the properties of the core and well logs. This study shows how well design adversely affected petrophysical measurements and how errors in these data compromised geological and reservoir models, leading to a suboptimal field development plan that eroded significant value. This example provides a case study that can be used to improve well designs so that petrophysicists and drillers can both be part of the same value creation result.

Aesthetics, Medium, and Method: An Introduction to the Differences and Similarities Between Arts and Non-arts Entrepreneurs

A topic not often addressed in entrepreneurship literature is the broader similarities and differences between arts and non-arts entrepreneurs and the implications these analogous distinctions have in the classroom. This article is an initial exploration of the topic and outlines a minimal, broad-based hierarchy of the artistic process. Further, we attempt to identify the fundamental similarities of the two entrepreneurs and suggest they both engage not only in an analogous process, they are somewhat distinct in the “meta” materials used. Through comparison, we posit that the “meta” process used by artists is also used by non-arts entrepreneurs. By drawing attention to these analogies, educators will likely discover components applicable to traditional entrepreneurship courses; the inverse is already occurring within the medium of creative and arts entrepreneurship.