Abraham Drassinower (University of Toronto - Faculty of Law) has posted Copyright is Not About Copying (125 Harvard Law Review Forum 108 (2012)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This comment was prepared for the Harvard Law Review ?The New Private Law? Symposium (October 2011) as a response to Shyamkrishna Balganesh?s ?The Obligatory Structure of Copyright Law: Unbundling the Wrong of Copying,? 125 Harvard Law Review 1664 (2012). Balganesh?s article makes three inter-related claims: (1) copyright law has a bilateral structure mirroring the correlativity of a private law action; (2) the bilateral structure of copyright law is organized around the centrality in copyright law of the defendant?s obligation not to copy (that is, of the wrong of copying); (3) the internal structure of copyright law can accommodate external plural values, such that attentiveness to this internal structure is in the final analysis compatible with instrumentalist construals of copyright law.
My purpose in this comment is to develop a single point: because it misunderstands the bilateral structure it seeks to identify (Part I ? ?Bilaterality?), Balganesh?s paper misconstrues both the mischief or ?wrong? that copyright law targets (Part II ? ?Wrong?), and the way in which the relation between copyright and other ?values? is to be juridically understood (Part III ? ?Plurality?). The comment concludes with some remarks on the theory of the public domain in copyright, and on the role of copyright theory in the critique of existing copyright law (Part IV ? ?Private Law as Critical Theory?).
In essence, the comment points out that the fundamental import of private law concepts in copyright analysis is not to affirm the centrality of the wrong of copying, but ? quite the contrary - to anchor analytically and normatively the irretrievable immanence of the public domain in copyright law.
May 25th is Beijing city lives build appoint ?published on the city rental housing per capita residential area standards related issues notice (Draft for Soliciting Opinions)? deadline, the ?opinions? published in the time specified rental housing structure and per capita living area. ?Economic reference Daily News? reporter recently interview discovery, the imbalance between supply and demand of Beijing housing rental market, ?segmentation rental? and other illegal phenomenon still exists.?Not division, the per capita area of not less than five square meters?In May 9th, Beijing city lives build appoint jointly with city planning, public security, health and other departments, drafting and published the ?published on the city rental housing per capita residential area standards related issues notice?. Which clearly: rental housing in each room housing a number not more than two people; the per capita living area shall not be less than five square meters.In addition, ?opinions? stressed out, ?the city rental housing, should be based on plan design for living space for the smallest room rental units, housing may change the internal structure segmentation rental, not in accordance with room for rent. Kitchen, toilet, balcony and underground storage room shall not be leased for staff housing?.Chain of home real estate market research department of Chen Xue analysis, the published ?draft?, can be regarded as the Beijing municipal leasing market in previous management provisions added, and some defining standards of refinement. ?If every room living population, per capita living area and how to calculate actual living area?.Chen Xue told the ?Economic Information Daily? reporter, the last year Beijing city hall on the ?Beijing housing lease management a number of provisions? content adjustment did not mention. ?The announcement of the? opinions ?have been relatively perfect. Only the actual execution, still need other measures.?According to the Beijing city lives build appoint relevant responsible person said, according to the ?draft? in the regulations, and personnel engaged in real estate intermediary Housing leasing brokerage business, if the violation of rental housing conditions, change the interior structural segmentation rental, will be strictly. At the same time, real estate intermediary to release information, release false advertisement or false information, to comply with the terms of the transaction of low-income housing and the prohibition of trading houses to provide brokerage services, to deceive both earn price difference, also will be strictly.Leasing market did not appear to change significantlyHowever, ?the draft? in residential construction site published since the first half, did not cause the market intermediary organization and the tenants of the attention. This reporter recently discovered, according to ?opinions? on the number of living area, per capita, forbidden to divide the rental limit standard, intermediary institutions has not appear relevant adjustment measures.Xiang in Beijing to purchase real estate brokers Limited a broker told reporters, in Chaoyang District east tetracylie nearby, ?partition? generally in the month hires 500 yuan to 1000 yuan, the area is six square metres to 10 square metres, but this housing has no lack of tenants.According to another brokerage agencies to ?economic reference Daily News? reporter provides a statistical data, from the traditional lease season from February to May, Beijing housing rental market, the average daily turnover growth were 215%, -33.8%, -17.9%, -1.6%, a monthly downward trend. And the price, only in the rental season February annulus rises to 2.6%, 3, keep balance basically April, 6985 rose 1% since May.The in-house personage tells a reporter, Beijing city the announcement of the ?draft? did not significantly alter the market expectations, in trading volume and price at present do not see obvious effect.Chain of home real estate also said, Beijing rental market situation still obvious flat-share trend. The first quarter of this year, more than 90 square meters of small-sized apartment accounted for 30%, compared with a quarter of last year rose 5 percentage points, the proportion of rented to reach 40%. ?Small-sized apartment demand increased, mean flat-share scale is gradually expanding?.Standard rent existsIn fact, Beijing part area rental market dwelling phenomenon has been very serious. The sources told reporters, individual dwelling house, living room area or even less than 3 square meters, a 90 square meters of housing is often divided into seven or eight rooms, the tenant is in above of 10 person. ?These do not meet the standard rent, in addition to the internal structure was changed in the obscure, actual living area also can accurately measure, safety course.?"Moreover, in view of these banned? segmentation rental ?phenomenon, did not see the city lives build appoint relevant punishment measures.? The sources said. ?Against housing rental market rectify management has not obvious effect.? In fact, as early as in 2011 FebruaryDepartment of housing and urbanRelease a new version of ?commodity housing rental management approach?, the housing rental market partition, partition group hire behavior once banned, ?hit him? for the maximum fine of 30000 yuan.Chen Xue told the ?Economic Information Daily? reporter, Beijing rental market and the second city in the imbalance situation very prominent. Even in the off-season supply ratio in 1:2 about.6, this fact makes flat-share real prevalence become inevitable. In addition, the leasing market itself characteristic, to contract proportion he also increased the superintendency difficulty. These factors caused the rental market of some problems difficult to solve, therefore ?draft? specific fulfil still need some supporting measures. Among them, the leasing market requires a relatively open, uniform and convenient registration platform.
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A premier online community may be difficult to describe, since this phrase appears to be a self-proclaimed description of a number of different websites where people get together to discuss common interests. The idea of Internet communities has actually been around for a long time, yet its potential and its popularity has not really been fully realized until the recent phenomenon known as the social networking craze surfaced. With the advent of such websites as Facebook and MySpace and many others that followed in their wake, people have discovered the power of gathering people who have an expressed interest in a particular issue or activity. In the case of the large social networking sites, that common interest would be to meet and stay in touch with others, often for the express purpose of dating or socializing. But the power of Internet communities is now realized by the users of the World Wide Web in new and powerful ways. The ability to gather people with a common interest and perhaps purpose from around the world has never been possible as it is today , and the result has been the proliferation of millions of websites, many of them joined together by some theme. So with so many like-minded networking type websites, there will bound to be those that begin to declare themselves the premier online community for such and such a cause.
Internet communities may be made up of people who have never met one another in person, or of people who have certainly met and just want to keep in touch in spite of distance. Internet communities can be made up of very superficial contacts, or be comprised of very close knit members. These communities may be closed, allowing only membership by invitation, or they may be quite public, desirous of as many new members as possible. Internet communities may be comprised only of chat rooms and messages boards, or they may also contain blogs and the ability to instant message. Businesses have recognized the power of online communities to reach out and gain new relationships both in search of customers, but also to build affinity with like-minded business persons. So how does one decide what a premier online community really is? Here might be some ways to judge such a claim:
The most obvious claim to being a premier online community would be the size of the traffic numbers to the website. Facebook or MySpace might easily claim to be the premier online community for social networking because of the millions of visitors that they have coming to their sites every month. Their claim may have nothing to do with ease of navigating around the site or even the number of dates or new relationships the sites have created. Businesses that start an Internet networking site so customers can talk about their product, both good and bad may only use traffic numbers as their standard for success. In that vein, the claim to be the premier online community discussion website for a particular product would seem to be in order.
But many companies and non-profits or other conscious raising sites might try and control the language and the tone of discussion in their Internet social networking communities. After all, who wants to have disparaging comments about one's social issue or product or beliefs on an online networking website? But the fact is the best websites would be those that open up all discussion and welcome all comments, both supporters and dissenters. Certainly a foremost or leading online community ought to be a place where contributors enjoy an unbiased freedom to share their thoughts. Is a premier online community a place where discussion is monitored and censored is a question only the reader can decide. Can you pray this prayer? "Search me, O God and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139: 23, 24) God loves for us to utter these words to Him when we are sincere.
The word premier means best, leading, primary or foremost and assigning such lofty descriptions to an online community may only be able to be assigned legitimately to an online community that has great influence to affect public opinion or bring about significant social change. It would seem that a premier online community could only make the claim of being the best or the leading or foremost website if it is able to affect or even shape society in new directions. For example, if an online community that is dedicated to bringing together scientists, politicians, and grassroots leaders to influence and can even pressure Congress to enact certain legislation regarding, for example, the harnessing of wind power, then it would appear that this particular Internet community may earn the title of the best or leading Internet community for wind energy interests. The fact that the Internet is an unregulated platform for free speech enables any claim to be made, no matter whether it is true or not. Labeling something as premier doesn't necessarily make the claim true, but certainly the amount of visitors a community has, the openness of the community for all sides of a discussion and its influence on buyers, the culture and/or public policy may allow a website to make the claim of being foremost in its arena. It is up to the billion or so users of the Internet to make the final decision about a website's claims.
JSQM, SUP and SNM deplore coach attack near Nawabshah Pakistan Daily Times KARACHI: Sindhi nationalist parties ? Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), Sindh United Party (SUP) and Sindh Nationalist Movement (SNM) ? have strongly condemned the firing on a coach near Nawabshah that left eight passengers dead.
So, just for fun, I signed up Fabodylous for the OMY.sg 2012 Singapore Blog Awards a month ago and just last week, a friend of mine messaged me ?Congratulations Wee Kiat! You got into the top ten!?. Yay! I guess to me, that?s already an achievement because there were like, about a hundred bloggers who signed up for the category I got shortlisted for.
BUT this is just the beginning! From now until 31st June, you guys can help me nab the top spot for my category, ?Best Individual Blog?!
All you have to do is to go to the link below
>> Click here <<
sign up for an OMY.sg account and vote for me! Currently, I?m leading in votes. But it?s a long way to go until voting period ends. So help me stay on top!
For those who are curious, what do I stand to win, it?s a 4D3N trip to Macau! *excited*
OMY.sg also sent me an e-interview, and here it goes.
How do you feel about being one of finalists in Singapore Blog Awards 2012?
Well, I feel a little sense of achievement already being in the top ten and beating so many bloggers to it. And it?s motivating cause I take blogging pretty seriously (I plan to use it as a medium to teach and motivate others). This is one of those things which shows me that I?m doing things right. And lastly, since I?ve gotten this far, I guess I?ll go all the way to try to win it!
When did you start blogging and what drew you to it? Where do you get inspiration for your blog content?
I started blogging in January 2010, because I thought it would help me progress as a person. I thought that, by blogging, I could test out my writing and Internet Marketing skills, spread some knowledge around and also make new friends and expand my network, especially with people who are also into bodybuilding and fitness (and it did). My inspiration comes from everywhere. I could be sharing my current diet and training plan or perhaps even just the thought-provoking debate I had with a friend earlier in the day.
How do you feel about the other finalists in your category this year? How do you think you will fare compared to them?
Haha. Here?s the truth ? ?I did not take a single glance at the other finalists? blogs until I came upon this question. And when I did, my first thought was, ?Wow! How did I get into this crowd??. Every other blogger seem to lead a very amazing and different life journey.
There?s a Singaporean living in Hong Kong, and I love his short snippets and photos of the Hong Kong lifestyle, from a Singaporean perspective.
We have an senior blogging about his younger days, which really makes me wish that there was a time machine, so I could experience life in the 60s to the 80s, and how people got by with the technology available those days (I had the same wish after watching the movie ?Hot Tub Time Machine?).
Even the blog of an everyday girl-next-door amuses me, cause from her blog, I see how different my lifestyle is from someone else my age.
And then it struck me. These guys got chosen into the top ten because they stand out in one way or another and probably so did I. I wonder how did I stand out? Perhaps the judges read my blog and thought, ?Damn! This guy eats six meals a day and trains like, every day! What a weirdo. Hmm? I wonder how will it be like to have a bodybuilder in the top ten. Alright, he?s through.? Haha.
How do I think I fair against these guys? I guess I have an equal chance with everyone else. I?m ok if any of these guys win. I think they deserve it. I wouldn?t mind at all honestly.
Give a reason why readers should visit your blog and vote for you?
The reason I blog now is to inspire and motivate people. I have lots of personal principles and life lessons, mainly focusing on success, self-improvement, work ethics, self-actualization and motivation. I?m pretty conservative at openly sharing all of them right now because one thing I believe in is that people should lead by example, and I?m always trying to improve myself so that I could be that example. Once I?ve reached that state, I want to show that through the principles I?ve believed in and applied in my life, I have made it. And that most people in most situation, if they do the same, they can achieve their life goals too.
I hope by winning this contest, I?ll be able to garner and motivate more readers. So if you?re with me, vote for me!
The vast majority of adults in the UK will own something worth insuring; whether it is a domestic property, a family pet or an expensive mobile phone, you need to know the things that matter to you are fully protected. In this challenging economic climate, many are searching to cut corners without reducing the quality of the service received, especially when it comes to their insurance policies. This article has been composed to help you make smart decisions when it comes to insurance.
Car Insurance
Once you have found a provider that offers the level of cover you want at a reasonable price, we tend to forget about it for the next 12 months and simply either pay the premium up front or divvy it up into monthly repayments. The letter then arrives to offer a renewal; if the price seems fair then the cover just continues and this is where you could be going wrong. Take a moment to use a search comparison site and you could find the same type of insurance for a much better price, don?t be sucked in to the simplicity offered by your current insurer.
Home Insurance
Whether its buildings and contents or contents insurance only, home insurance can be pricy. To make sure you are getting the very best deal, be sure to shop around and remember that? you can save money by using the same insurer for multiple areas, so of your insurer offers car and home cover, ask them what sort of discount they can offer. Many customer service advisors will be told to retain customers by any means possible, so if you don?t think what is offered is fair then don?t be afraid of saying so.
Mobile Insurance
It is important to remember that the majority of home insurers will only cover mobile phones in very specific circumstances and will charge a hefty sum. An efficient and cost effective way to insure your phone is through specialist mobile insurance companies; a quick online search will show you the high level of cover available for miniscule prices and cover can start from the moment you make the enquiry.
If you are looking for a way to make the monthly income stretch a little bit further, consider assessing your various insurance policies and see how much you could save by making the switch to more affordable alternatives. By making just a few online enquiries you could find the savings are significant, giving you a little more space to breathe at the end of each month
Sophie was spending a small fortune on insuring the necessities each month, but by spending a little time researching online, she managed to halve the amount spent on insurance through choosing specific mobile insurance and combining her home and car cover with the same company.
There are two opposing sides; Angelic and Demonic. You, as one of either side, suddenly fall in unrequited love. Is your lover really who you think they are? [OPEN]
Owner:
Game Masters:
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?My Only You?. Anything posted here will also show up there.
Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup. This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "My Only ?"
You may edit this first post as you see fit.
I love everybody. Some I love to be around. Some I love to avoid. Some I'd love to punch in the face.
angel51897
Member for 0 years
May I reserve a demon female?
"Forbidden love is said to be the sweetest, and yet, if you've experienced it, you curse the very day Shakespeare ever penned the words "Star crossed lovers"..."
Auroria
Member for 0 years
I'd like to reserve a female angel if I could please!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh, yes, and pickles with that
gperry88
Member for 0 years
I'd like to put a reservation on a female demon, if that's alright. One question though, are there any restrictions regarding lore? Are they traditional 'horns and pitchfork' types, or can we be a bit more diverse?
VitaminHeart
Scholar
Member for 2 years
Post a reply
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If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.
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?It is just a place in which features continued technology as well as purchase of the most up-to-date technological innovation, types of procedures, products as well as remedies with cosmetic and also rebuilding surgical treatment.It is a put wherever affected individuals can certainly unhampered examine their particular options to deal with their person issues, by making use of your proficient cosmetic surgeons who are professionals within their picked out job areas.Learn all of our a variety of assistance solutions.
cirugia estetica is usually a health care niche with surgical treatment which involves this modification, renovation or perhaps refurbishment of your kind in addition to purpose of impaired dermis as well as structure. The term ?plastic? in Surgical Treatment originates from your Traditional term ?plastikos,? meaning ?to mold? as well as ?to design.?
Not to possibly be confused because the same as Plastic Surgery, A Surgical Procedure principally aims in order to or estimated, for you to as near to normalcy as it can be, your purpose of dermis and flesh which were harmed by simply numerous reasons, as well as congenital health conditions, injury as well as illnesses of which develop after in daily life. Second simply to repairing function, increasing the appearance with the destroyed pores and skin is a second objective with cosmetic surgery.
Scenario, Surgical Treatment, a subset regarding Cosmetic Surgery, discounts extra with visual reconstruction as being a treatment method so that you can issues that might or might not impede using the bodies usual purpose. Nonetheless, correcting these conditions and achieving your needed result gives people that have your self-confidence booster and an superior actual health and fitness.
Cosmetic Plastic Surgery pertaining to each facial and also reconstructive requirements should be performed exclusively by properly trained plus accredited cosmetic surgeons. Also, folks in need of or even intending to undergo any sort of cosmetic or rebuilding surgical treatment should totally learn of which course of action as well as repercussions.
The perfect prospect pertaining to artistic surgical procedures is definitely an person who acknowledges a selected location through which her / his appearance may just be improved upon and contains a solid private want to make a change. This personal motivation might be stimulated to some extent from the persons part with culture. For the reason that the west will be youth-oriented, individuals find approaches to counter-top the end results connected with ageing on their own look. Lots of decide surgery treatment to look as early as they feel, to create confidence following a change your lifestyle or maintain their own border versus younger competition.
Anything your advantages of selecting visual medical procedures, you must currently have realistic anticipation. Enhancing a characteristic of the deal with and also entire body may give you more significant self-confidence along with put in more a sense well-being, yet it?s not much of an ensure regarding pleasure or much better associations web-sites. Surgical procedures can certainly improve your appearance; the others can be people.
Recognized cirujano plastico consultant, Generate. Scott seriously isn?t convinced that medical doctors usually are sharing with ladies to run clear of IUI and use a lot more hi-tech, higher priced IVF. Although this individual furthermore would not feel that women of all ages would likely decide on an infertility therapy that has a success rate of less than 10% simply because it can be more cost-effective.
Your first scheduled appointment having a plastic surgeon? Check out this first.
By Paulino Lansing
?Locating a proper plastic surgeon could make a difference inside just how content that you are while using outcomes and also whether the procedure can be useful. The functional first step once you have decided you want to alter a feature within your body is looking into most effective cirugia estetica barcelona
You have taken the very first steps that will get makeup cosmetic plastic surgery and it?s also time to go to your initial appointment.
You can expect one factor involving things to occur, when you go to your current very first pay a visit to pertaining to analyzing your family needs along with makeup plastic surgery. This will assist in planning you for your surgical procedure all of which will ensure that you are generally skilled. First thing will likely be done by the actual plastic surgeon that you?ve decided on is to ask many questions on what you?re ready for with all your makeup cosmetic plastic surgery as well as your purpose in getting hired completed.
It needs to be standard procedure for these phones likewise talk to you concerning the history. Beauty a surgical procedure might not be as useful when there were a great number of healthcare issues. From this point, your doctor can move into more distinct requires for the surgical procedure.
This plastic surgeon will be necessary to start a bodily test following your right connection in addition to examination is produced. That typical procedure enables the crooks to review of your figure and make sure your health-related circumstances is safe ample to complete the aesthetic plastic surgery.
Plastic plastic surgeon of choice could decide which you are unable to obtain the beauty cosmetic plastic surgery, if perhaps you can find difficulties with your operating in the part of your whole body.They could further examine that will certain part of the body using an x-ray or perhaps frequent exam, in case you have by now made a decision the location the place you would like the actual surgical procedures carried out. It will permit them to even more review if your medical procedures will probably be protected. They?re going to after that go on a side as well as front photo in the place that you want to get the surgical treatment with, following your surgeon offers considered and established that will aesthetic plastic surgery suits you.
It will allow them have the needed modifications by way of very first testing modifications which is to be manufactured. Many plastic surgeons uses technology so that you can show you how the improvements will appear with the size that they have created.
This technique will let you throughout figuring out regardless of if the beauty cosmetic plastic surgery will vary the way you look into a variety which fits you better. Then place, it will be easy to schedule a moment with the cosmetic surgeon to produce the particular function.
This will sometimes be up to and including a short while upfront, based on the plan associated with you and also the cosmetic surgeon. Involving the 1st check out and the surgical treatment, you may make the correct formulations in order to make without doubt you are ready to have the improvements performed.
Being ready for that evaluations will assist you to attractive your surgeon?s office and know very well what to expect from them. This will help throughout moving forward to find the cosmetic cosmetic plastic surgery carried out.
Aestethic specialists within a well-known clinic, together with great status health professionals as well as individualized attention. You will discover additional information here cirugia plastica barcelona
Moving On with Plastic Surgery: Jacksonville Surgeons Encourage, but Caution
By Craige Jones
?Jacksonville plastic surgeons Dr. Phillip Garcia and Dr. Roberto Garcia say a divorce or breakup of a long-term relationship, childbirth or a child leaving home for college, a job loss or a move to a new city all are frequent contributing factors in the decision to undergo facial plastic surgery.
?A life change, whether excruciating or exhilarating, very often brings about a desire to change one?s looks,? says Dr. Phillip Garcia. ?What better way to start a new life than with a new look??
When a plastic surgery overhaul follows a divorce or breakup, it?s often called ?revenge plastic surgery.? Jacksonville?s Drs. Garcia caution the use of that term, preferring to call it ?moving-on surgery.? And some colleagues say that approach is spot on. Medical professionals are increasingly convinced that depression may be alleviated with injections of Botox.
Botox smoothes wrinkles by delivering neurotoxins that block the nerve signals that cause muscles to contract. Depending on the amount of Botox injected, a patient may have trouble frowning or may not be able to frown at all. Since facial expressions are strongly linked to emotions, frowning less may contribute to feeling happier, some say. Many note that frowning less may cause others to respond to a person more positively, fueling feelings of ease.
?There are so many ways to treat depression and of course the mainstay is antidepressants,? psychiatrist Norman Rosenthal of Capital Clinical Research Associates told reporters recently. ?Often times these are insufficient. There are still some people left feeling depressed. So we really do need novel, innovative ways to treat depressed people.?
?Of course, clinical depression should be addressed by doctors who specialize in depression treatment,? says Dr. Roberto Garcia. ?No one should ever attempt to treat or get treated for real depression with plastic surgery or cosmetic procedures. That said, the proven improvement in a patient?s self confidence, self esteem and level of happiness after a well-performed plastic surgery can be an effective part of a comprehensive approach to a better, happier lifestyle.?
If you?re considering plastic surgery, Jacksonville?s Garcia Facial Plastic Surgery can help you determine the right approach for you based upon your lifestyle, goals and expectations. Call 904-247-8522.
Article Source?:?Article King Pro ? Free Reprints and Distribution
As double Board Certified Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, Dr. Phillip and Roberto Garcia of Garcia Facial Plastic Surgery and Reviva Medical Spa are specialists in plastic reconstructive and cosmetic surgery for aging face procedures, rhinoplasty (nasal surgery), and eyelid plastic surgery.
plastic surgery
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In this image provided by Facebook, Facebook founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, applauds at the opening bell of the Nasdaq stock market, Friday, May 18, 2012, from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. The social media company priced its IPO on Thursday at $38 per share, and beginning Friday regular investors will have a chance to buy shares. (AP Photo/Nasdaq via Facebook, Zef Nikolla)
In this image provided by Facebook, Facebook founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, applauds at the opening bell of the Nasdaq stock market, Friday, May 18, 2012, from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. The social media company priced its IPO on Thursday at $38 per share, and beginning Friday regular investors will have a chance to buy shares. (AP Photo/Nasdaq via Facebook, Zef Nikolla)
A man stops to photograph Nasdaq in Times Square as Facebook has its IPO, Friday, May 18, 2012, in New York. The social media company priced its IPO on Thursday at $38 per share, and beginning Friday regular investors will have a chance to buy shares. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Matts and Maria Nedermam, tourists visiting from Sweden, view Nasdaq's giant monitor as it shows a welcome message for Facebook before the company began trading on the Nasdaq stock market, Friday, May 18, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Curious bystanders watch through the Nasdaq windows as Facebook shares begin trading, Friday, May 18, 2012 in New York. The social media company priced its IPO on Thursday at $38 per share, and beginning Friday regular investors will have a chance to buy shares. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The Chrysler Building is visible behind the animated facade of the Nasdaq MarketSite, welcoming the Facebook IPO, in New York's Times Square, Friday, May 18, 2012. Facebook's stock is trading up Friday, as investors seek to put a dollar value on the company that turned online social networking into a global cultural phenomenon. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) ? In the hours before Facebook's stock began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market for the first time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reminded the company's 3,500 employees not to get caught up in the hoopla surrounding its long-awaited initial public offering.
"Right now this all seems like a big deal," Zuckerberg said before he pushed a button that rang Nasdaq's opening bell from company headquarters at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park, Calif. "Going public is an important milestone in our history. But here's the thing, our mission isn't to be a public company. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected."
Facebook's IPO, it turns out, wasn't as big a deal as expected.
One of the most anticipated IPOs in Wall Street history ended on a flat note Friday, with Facebook's stock closing at $38.23, up 23 cents from Thursday night's pricing.
That means the company founded in 2004 in a Harvard dorm room has a market value of about $105 billion, more than Amazon.com, McDonald's and Silicon Valley icons Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.
It also gave 28-year-old Zuckerberg a stake worth $19,252,698,725.50.
But for many seeking a big first-day pop in Facebook's share price, the increase of six-tenths of one percent was a letdown.
"This is like kissing your sister," said John Fitzgibbon, founder of IPO Scoop, a research firm. "With all the drumbeats and hype, I don't think there'll be barroom bragging tonight."
Added Nick Einhorn, an analyst with IPO advisory firm Renaissance Capital: "It wasn't quite as exciting as it could have been. But I don't think we should view it as a failure."
Indeed, the small jump in price could be seen as an indication that Facebook and the investment banks that arranged the IPO priced the stock in an appropriate range.
It was also good for ordinary investors, who are mostly shut out from the IPO price and have to buy the stock in the open market on day one. They got a chance to buy all day at a price not much above $38.
And it was good for early investors in the company, who owned more than half the 421 million shares made available in the IPO. Had the stock shot to $60 Friday morning, those early investors would have felt they hadn't gotten enough money for their stakes.
The 421 million shares that were sold fetched $16 billion and represented 15 percent of the company's stock. Facebook got $7 billion, and the early investors $9 billion. The other 85 percent of Facebook's stock is owned by Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives, employees and early investors. In comparison, Google offered just 7.2 percent of its stock when it went public in 2004. Its stock rose 18 percent on day one.
Here was Facebook's "timeline" Friday, trading under the symbol "FB" on the Nasdaq Stock Market:
The stock opened at 11:30 a.m. at $42.05, but soon dipped to $38.01. It briefly traded as high as $45 and by noon was at $40.40. It fluttered throughout the afternoon and hugged the $38 mark for much of the final hour, before closing at $38.23.
By the end of the day, about 570 million shares had changed hands, a huge trading volume for any company.
TD Ameritrade reported that in the first 45 minutes of trading, Facebook accounted for a record 24 percent of trades executed by its customers.
By comparison, on its first day back on the stock market, in November 2010, General Motors represented 7 percent of trades on the online brokerage.
Steve Quirk, who oversees trading strategy at TD Ameritrade, said that about 60,000 orders were lined up before Facebook opened.
Technical glitches delayed the start of Facebook's trading by a half-hour. The Securities and Exchange Commission also is investigating problems traders encountered in changing and canceling their orders.
Other social media companies, most of which have gone public in the last year, saw their shares plummet when it became clear what kind of reception Facebook was getting in the public market. Shares of game-maker Zynga Inc. and reviews site Yelp Inc. both hit all-time lows.
The stock market will now begin assigning a dollar value to Facebook based primarily on its financial performance. If Facebook can continue to increase its revenue and profit at the rate it has the past few years, the stock should rise. Google reported strong earnings after it became a public company, and its stock price more than tripled the first year, from $85 to $280.
Facebook's stock price will also depend somewhat on broad economic forces, as well as the whims of investors.
Facebook is one of those rare companies whose IPO transcends Wall Street's money lust. Since its start as a scrappy network for college students, Facebook has come to define social networking by getting its 900 million users around the world to share everything from photos of their pets to their deepest thoughts.
Most tech companies going public want a big rise in their debut to show they're "strong, dynamic companies standing out in the crowd," said Francis Gaskins, president of researcher IPOdesktop, but Facebook already has that image, and so may not care.
Few of the Internet companies to go public recently have been profitable. But Facebook had net income of $205 million in the first three months of 2012, on revenue of $1.06 billion. In 2011, it earned $1 billion on revenue of $3.7 billion, up from earnings of $606 million and revenue of $2 billion a year earlier.
That's a far cry from 2007, when it posted a net loss of $138 million and had revenue of $153 million. The company makes most of its money from advertising. It also takes a cut from the money people spend on virtual items in Facebook games such as "FarmVille."
Facebook's public debut marked a milestone in the history of the Internet. In 1995, Netscape Communications' IPO gave people their first chance to invest in a company whose graphical Web browser made the Internet more engaging and easier to navigate. Its hotly anticipated IPO lit the fuse that ignited the dot-com boom. That explosion of entrepreneurial activity and investment culminated five years later in a devastating bust that obliterated the notion that the Internet had hatched a "new economy."
It took Google Inc.'s IPO in 2004 to prove that an Internet company with a revolutionary idea could be profitable. In the process, the Internet search leader is forcing other industries to adapt to a new order where people have come to expect to be able to find just about anything they want by entering a few words into a box on any device with an Internet connection.
Facebook's IPO almost certainly will enrich other up-and-coming entrepreneurs as Zuckerberg uses the company's cash and stock to buy other startups in an effort to bring in other talented engineers and promising technology. That's what Google has been doing for years. Since it went public in 2004, Google has spent $10.2 billion buying nearly 200 other companies. Those figures don't include Google's pending $12.5 billion acquisition of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which is still awaiting regulatory approval in China.
Zuckerberg's biggest deal so far came when he agreed to buy Instagram, a maker of a popular mobile app for photos, for $1 billion in April. Because most of the deal is being paid for in stock, Instagram is already getting richer. Based on Facebook's current share price, Instagram is in line to receive about $1.2 billion.
Friday's debut, though, resulted in deals worth much less.
Alper Aydinoglu, a DePaul University student who got 50 shares via Etrade at $38, said he was "disappointed with the first day of trading."
His gain on paper: $11.50, but that was before Etrade's standard commission of $9.99.
Aydinoglu still called it an excellent learning opportunity.
"On top of everything, I now have the bragging rights that I participated in one of the most popular IPOs of all time."
___
AP Technology Writers Michael Liedtke in San Francisco and Peter Svensson in New York, Associated Press Writer Marcus Wohlsen in Menlo Park, Calif., and AP Business Writers Bernard Condon, Pallavi Gogoi and Joseph Pisani in New York contributed to this story.
FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2012 file photo, Joseph Lawrence arrives at the People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles. The 36-year-old will be a celebrity guest star for the male erotic dancing troupe Chippendales in Las Vegas for three weeks in June. He?ll work as a singer, dancer and host in the male revue. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2012 file photo, Joseph Lawrence arrives at the People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles. The 36-year-old will be a celebrity guest star for the male erotic dancing troupe Chippendales in Las Vegas for three weeks in June. He?ll work as a singer, dancer and host in the male revue. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Joey Lawrence is shedding his clothes: The actor has joined the male erotic dancing troupe Chippendales.
The 36-year-old will work as a singer, dancer and host in the Las Vegas production for three weeks in June.
In a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday, Lawrence said screening Channing Tatum's upcoming film about being a stripper ? "Magic Mike" ? encouraged him to join the male revue.
Says Lawrence: "I found out that guys like Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem have also done stuff like this and being the fearless guy that I am, I said yes."
The married father of two stars as a male nanny in the ABC Family series "Melissa & Joey." He's best known for his role on the 1990s TV show "Blossom."
People with paralysis control robotic arms to reach and grasp using brain computer interfacePublic release date: 16-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Orenstein david_orenstein@brown.edu 401-527-2525 Brown University
[Providence, R.I.] -- On April 12, 2011, nearly fifteen years after she became paralyzed and unable to speak, a woman controlled a robotic arm by thinking about moving her arm and hand to lift a bottle of coffee to her mouth and take a drink. That achievement is one of the advances in brain-computer interfaces restorative neurotechnology and assistive robot technology described in the May 17 edition of the journal Nature by the BrainGate2 collaboration of researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Brown University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School., and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
A 58-year-old woman, "S3," and a 66-year-old man, "T2," participated in the study. They had each been paralyzed by a brainstem stroke years earlier which left them with no functional control of their limbs. In the research, the participants used neural activity to directly control two different robotic arms, one developed by the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics and the other by DEKA Research and Development Corp., to perform reaching and grasping tasks across a broad three-dimensional space. The BrainGate2 (www.braingate2.org) pilot clinical trial employs the investigational BrainGate system initially developed at Brown University, in which a baby aspirin-sized device with a grid of 96 tiny electrodes is implanted in the motor cortexa part of the brain that is involved in voluntary movement. The electrodes are close enough to individual neurons to record the neural activity associated with intended movement. An external computer translates the pattern of impulses across a population of neurons into commands to operate assistive devices, such as the DLR and DEKA robot arms used in the study now reported in Nature.
BrainGate participants have previously demonstrated neurally based two-dimensional point-and-click control of a cursor on a computer screen and rudimentary control of simple robotic devices.
The study represents the first demonstration and the first peer-reviewed report of people with tetraplegia using brain signals to control a robotic arm in three-dimensional space to complete a task usually performed by their arm. Specifically, S3 and T2 controlled the arms to reach for and grasp foam targets that were placed in front of them using flexible supports. In addition, S3 used the DLR robot to pick up a bottle of coffee, bring it to her mouth, issue a command to tip it, drink through a straw, and return the bottle to the table. Her BrainGate-enabled, robotic-arm control during the drinking task required a combination of two-dimensional movements across a table top plus a "grasp" command to either grasp and lift or tilt the robotic hand.
"Our goal in this research is to develop technology that will restore independence and mobility for people with paralysis or limb loss," said lead author Dr. Leigh Hochberg, a neuroengineer and critical care neurologist who holds appointments at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Brown University, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard. He is the Sponsor-Investigator for the BrainGate2 pilot clinical trial. "We have much more work to do, but the encouraging progress of this research is demonstrated not only in the reach-and-grasp data, but even more so in S3's smile when she served herself coffee of her own volition for the first time in almost 15 years."
Partial funding for this work comes from the VA, which is committed to improving the lives of injured Veterans. "VA is honored to have played a role in this exciting and promising area of research," said VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. "Today's announcement represents a great step forward toward improving the quality of life for Veterans and others who have either lost limbs or are paralyzed."
Hochberg adds that even after nearly 15 years, a part of the brain essentially "disconnected" from its original target by a brainstem stroke was still able to direct the complex, multidimensional movement of an external arm in this case, a robotic limb. The researchers also noted that S3 was able to perform the tasks more than five years after the investigational BrainGate electrode array was implanted. This sets a new benchmark for how long implanted brain-computer interface electrodes have remained viable and provided useful command signals.
John Donoghue, the VA and Brown neuroscientist who pioneered BrainGate more than a decade ago and who is co-senior author of the study, said the paper shows how far the field of brain-computer interfaces has come since the first demonstrations of computer control with BrainGate.
"This paper reports an important advance by rigorously demonstrating in more than one participant that precise three-dimensional neural control of robot arms is not only possible, but also repeatable," said Donoghue, who directs the Brown Institute for Brain Science. "We've moved significantly closer to returning everyday functions, like serving yourself a sip of coffee, usually performed effortlessly by the arm and hand, for people who are unable to move their own limbs. We are also encouraged to see useful control more than five years after implant of the BrainGate array in one of our participants. This work is a critical step toward realizing the long-term goal of creating a neurotechnology that will restore movement, control and independence to people with paralysis or limb loss."
In the research, the robots acted as a substitute for each participant's paralyzed arm. The robotic arms responded to the participants' intent to move as they imagined reaching for each foam target. The robot hand grasped the target when the participants imagined a hand squeeze. Because the diameter of the targets was more than half the width of the robot hand openings, the task required the participants to exert precise control. (Movies of these actions are also available on the Nature website.)
In 158 trials over four days, S3 was able to touch the target within an allotted time in 48.8 percent of the cases using the DLR robotic arm and hand and 69.2 percent of the cases with the DEKA arm and hand, which has the wider grasp. In 45 trials using the DEKA arm, T2 touched the target 95.6 percent of the time. Of the successful touches, S3 grasped the target 43.6 percent of the time with the DLR arm and 66.7 percent of the time with the DEKA arm. T2's grasp succeeded 62.2 percent of the time.
T2 performed the session in this study on his fourth day of interacting with the arm; the prior three sessions were focused on system development. Using his eyes to indicate each letter, he later described his control of the arm: "I just imagined moving my own arm and the [DEKA] arm moved where I wanted it to go."
The study used two advanced robotic arms: the DLR Light-Weight Robot III with DLR five-fingered hand and the DEKA Arm System. The DLR LWR-III, which is designed to assist in recreating actions like the human arm and hand and to interact with human users, could be valuable as an assistive robotic device for people with various disabilities. Patrick van der Smagt, head of bionics and assistive robotics at DLR, director of biomimetic robotics and machine learning labs at DLR and the Technische Universitt Mnchen, and a co-senior author on the paper said: "This is what we were hoping for with this arm. We wanted to create an arm that could be used intuitively by varying forms of control. The arm is already in use by numerous research labs around the world who use its unique interaction and safety capabilities. This is a compelling demonstration of the potential utility of the arm by a person with paralysis."
DEKA Research and Development developed the DEKA Arm System for amputees, through funding from the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dean Kamen, founder of DEKA said, "One of our dreams for the Luke Arm [as the DEKA Arm System is known informally] since its inception has been to provide a limb that could be operated not only by external sensors, but also by more directly thought-driven control. We're pleased about these results and for the continued research being done by the group at the VA, Brown and MGH." The research is aimed at learning how the DEKA arm might be controlled directly from the brain, potentially allowing amputees to more naturally control this prosthetic limb.
Over the past two years, VA has been conducting an optimization study of the DEKA prosthetic arm at several sites, with the cooperation of Veterans and active duty service members who have lost an arm. Feedback from the study is helping DEKA engineers to refine the artificial arm's design and function. "Brain-computer interfaces, such as BrainGate, have the potential to provide an unprecedented level of functional control over prosthetic arms of the future," said Joel Kupersmith, MD, VA Chief Research and Development Officer. "This innovation is an example of federal collaboration at its finest."
Story Landis, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which funded the work in part, noted: "This technology was made possible by decades of investment and research into how the brain controls movement. It's been thrilling to see the technology evolve from studies of basic neurophysiology and move into clinical trials, where it is showing significant promise for people with brain injuries and disorders."
###
Additional statements can be found at http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2012/05/brainquote.
The BrainGate2 study continues to enroll participants to take part in this research and recently added Stanford University as a member of the collaboration and a clinical trial site.
In addition to Hochberg, Donoghue, and van der Smagt, other authors on the paper are Daniel Bacher, Beata Jarosiewicz, Nicolas Masse, John Simeral, Joern Vogel, Sami Haddadin, Jie Liu, and Sydney Cash.
About the BrainGate collaboration
This advance is the result of the ongoing collaborative BrainGate research at Brown University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Providence VA Medical Center; researchers at Stanford University have recently joined the collaboration as well. The BrainGate research team is focused on developing and testing neuroscientifically inspired technologies to improve the communication, mobility, and independence of people with neurologic disorders, injury, or limb loss.
Funding for the study and its projects comes from the Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institutes of Health (some grants were funded all or in part through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (HD53403, HD100018, HD063931), the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS025074), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (EB007401), the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the MGH-Deane Institute for Integrated Research on Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke, Katie Samson Foundation, the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation and the
European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme through the project The Hand Embodied (grant 248587).
The contents do not represent the official views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.
The implanted microelectrode array and associated neural recording hardware used in the BrainGate research are manufactured by BlackRock Microsystems, LLC (Salt Lake City, Utah). The research prototype Gen2 DEKAarm was provided by DEKA Integrated Solutions, Inc, under contract from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).
The BrainGate pilot clinical trial was previously directed by Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc. Foxborough, Mass, (CKI). CKI ceased operations in 2009, before the collection of data reported in the Nature manuscript. The clinical trials of the BrainGate2 Neural Interface System are now administered by Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass. Donoghue is a former chief scientific officer and a former director of CKI; he held stocks and received compensation. Hochberg received research support from Massachusetts General and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospitals, which in turn received clinical trial support from Cyberkinetics.
CAUTION: Investigational Device. Limited by Federal Law to Investigational Use. The device is being studied under an IDE for the detection and transmission of neural signals from the cortex to externally powered communication systems, environmental control systems, and assistive devices by persons unable to use their hands due to physical impairment. The clinical trial is ongoing; results presented are thus preliminary. The safety and effectiveness of the device have not been established.
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People with paralysis control robotic arms to reach and grasp using brain computer interfacePublic release date: 16-May-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Orenstein david_orenstein@brown.edu 401-527-2525 Brown University
[Providence, R.I.] -- On April 12, 2011, nearly fifteen years after she became paralyzed and unable to speak, a woman controlled a robotic arm by thinking about moving her arm and hand to lift a bottle of coffee to her mouth and take a drink. That achievement is one of the advances in brain-computer interfaces restorative neurotechnology and assistive robot technology described in the May 17 edition of the journal Nature by the BrainGate2 collaboration of researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Brown University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School., and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
A 58-year-old woman, "S3," and a 66-year-old man, "T2," participated in the study. They had each been paralyzed by a brainstem stroke years earlier which left them with no functional control of their limbs. In the research, the participants used neural activity to directly control two different robotic arms, one developed by the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics and the other by DEKA Research and Development Corp., to perform reaching and grasping tasks across a broad three-dimensional space. The BrainGate2 (www.braingate2.org) pilot clinical trial employs the investigational BrainGate system initially developed at Brown University, in which a baby aspirin-sized device with a grid of 96 tiny electrodes is implanted in the motor cortexa part of the brain that is involved in voluntary movement. The electrodes are close enough to individual neurons to record the neural activity associated with intended movement. An external computer translates the pattern of impulses across a population of neurons into commands to operate assistive devices, such as the DLR and DEKA robot arms used in the study now reported in Nature.
BrainGate participants have previously demonstrated neurally based two-dimensional point-and-click control of a cursor on a computer screen and rudimentary control of simple robotic devices.
The study represents the first demonstration and the first peer-reviewed report of people with tetraplegia using brain signals to control a robotic arm in three-dimensional space to complete a task usually performed by their arm. Specifically, S3 and T2 controlled the arms to reach for and grasp foam targets that were placed in front of them using flexible supports. In addition, S3 used the DLR robot to pick up a bottle of coffee, bring it to her mouth, issue a command to tip it, drink through a straw, and return the bottle to the table. Her BrainGate-enabled, robotic-arm control during the drinking task required a combination of two-dimensional movements across a table top plus a "grasp" command to either grasp and lift or tilt the robotic hand.
"Our goal in this research is to develop technology that will restore independence and mobility for people with paralysis or limb loss," said lead author Dr. Leigh Hochberg, a neuroengineer and critical care neurologist who holds appointments at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Brown University, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard. He is the Sponsor-Investigator for the BrainGate2 pilot clinical trial. "We have much more work to do, but the encouraging progress of this research is demonstrated not only in the reach-and-grasp data, but even more so in S3's smile when she served herself coffee of her own volition for the first time in almost 15 years."
Partial funding for this work comes from the VA, which is committed to improving the lives of injured Veterans. "VA is honored to have played a role in this exciting and promising area of research," said VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. "Today's announcement represents a great step forward toward improving the quality of life for Veterans and others who have either lost limbs or are paralyzed."
Hochberg adds that even after nearly 15 years, a part of the brain essentially "disconnected" from its original target by a brainstem stroke was still able to direct the complex, multidimensional movement of an external arm in this case, a robotic limb. The researchers also noted that S3 was able to perform the tasks more than five years after the investigational BrainGate electrode array was implanted. This sets a new benchmark for how long implanted brain-computer interface electrodes have remained viable and provided useful command signals.
John Donoghue, the VA and Brown neuroscientist who pioneered BrainGate more than a decade ago and who is co-senior author of the study, said the paper shows how far the field of brain-computer interfaces has come since the first demonstrations of computer control with BrainGate.
"This paper reports an important advance by rigorously demonstrating in more than one participant that precise three-dimensional neural control of robot arms is not only possible, but also repeatable," said Donoghue, who directs the Brown Institute for Brain Science. "We've moved significantly closer to returning everyday functions, like serving yourself a sip of coffee, usually performed effortlessly by the arm and hand, for people who are unable to move their own limbs. We are also encouraged to see useful control more than five years after implant of the BrainGate array in one of our participants. This work is a critical step toward realizing the long-term goal of creating a neurotechnology that will restore movement, control and independence to people with paralysis or limb loss."
In the research, the robots acted as a substitute for each participant's paralyzed arm. The robotic arms responded to the participants' intent to move as they imagined reaching for each foam target. The robot hand grasped the target when the participants imagined a hand squeeze. Because the diameter of the targets was more than half the width of the robot hand openings, the task required the participants to exert precise control. (Movies of these actions are also available on the Nature website.)
In 158 trials over four days, S3 was able to touch the target within an allotted time in 48.8 percent of the cases using the DLR robotic arm and hand and 69.2 percent of the cases with the DEKA arm and hand, which has the wider grasp. In 45 trials using the DEKA arm, T2 touched the target 95.6 percent of the time. Of the successful touches, S3 grasped the target 43.6 percent of the time with the DLR arm and 66.7 percent of the time with the DEKA arm. T2's grasp succeeded 62.2 percent of the time.
T2 performed the session in this study on his fourth day of interacting with the arm; the prior three sessions were focused on system development. Using his eyes to indicate each letter, he later described his control of the arm: "I just imagined moving my own arm and the [DEKA] arm moved where I wanted it to go."
The study used two advanced robotic arms: the DLR Light-Weight Robot III with DLR five-fingered hand and the DEKA Arm System. The DLR LWR-III, which is designed to assist in recreating actions like the human arm and hand and to interact with human users, could be valuable as an assistive robotic device for people with various disabilities. Patrick van der Smagt, head of bionics and assistive robotics at DLR, director of biomimetic robotics and machine learning labs at DLR and the Technische Universitt Mnchen, and a co-senior author on the paper said: "This is what we were hoping for with this arm. We wanted to create an arm that could be used intuitively by varying forms of control. The arm is already in use by numerous research labs around the world who use its unique interaction and safety capabilities. This is a compelling demonstration of the potential utility of the arm by a person with paralysis."
DEKA Research and Development developed the DEKA Arm System for amputees, through funding from the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dean Kamen, founder of DEKA said, "One of our dreams for the Luke Arm [as the DEKA Arm System is known informally] since its inception has been to provide a limb that could be operated not only by external sensors, but also by more directly thought-driven control. We're pleased about these results and for the continued research being done by the group at the VA, Brown and MGH." The research is aimed at learning how the DEKA arm might be controlled directly from the brain, potentially allowing amputees to more naturally control this prosthetic limb.
Over the past two years, VA has been conducting an optimization study of the DEKA prosthetic arm at several sites, with the cooperation of Veterans and active duty service members who have lost an arm. Feedback from the study is helping DEKA engineers to refine the artificial arm's design and function. "Brain-computer interfaces, such as BrainGate, have the potential to provide an unprecedented level of functional control over prosthetic arms of the future," said Joel Kupersmith, MD, VA Chief Research and Development Officer. "This innovation is an example of federal collaboration at its finest."
Story Landis, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which funded the work in part, noted: "This technology was made possible by decades of investment and research into how the brain controls movement. It's been thrilling to see the technology evolve from studies of basic neurophysiology and move into clinical trials, where it is showing significant promise for people with brain injuries and disorders."
###
Additional statements can be found at http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2012/05/brainquote.
The BrainGate2 study continues to enroll participants to take part in this research and recently added Stanford University as a member of the collaboration and a clinical trial site.
In addition to Hochberg, Donoghue, and van der Smagt, other authors on the paper are Daniel Bacher, Beata Jarosiewicz, Nicolas Masse, John Simeral, Joern Vogel, Sami Haddadin, Jie Liu, and Sydney Cash.
About the BrainGate collaboration
This advance is the result of the ongoing collaborative BrainGate research at Brown University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Providence VA Medical Center; researchers at Stanford University have recently joined the collaboration as well. The BrainGate research team is focused on developing and testing neuroscientifically inspired technologies to improve the communication, mobility, and independence of people with neurologic disorders, injury, or limb loss.
Funding for the study and its projects comes from the Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institutes of Health (some grants were funded all or in part through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (HD53403, HD100018, HD063931), the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS025074), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (EB007401), the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the MGH-Deane Institute for Integrated Research on Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke, Katie Samson Foundation, the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation and the
European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme through the project The Hand Embodied (grant 248587).
The contents do not represent the official views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.
The implanted microelectrode array and associated neural recording hardware used in the BrainGate research are manufactured by BlackRock Microsystems, LLC (Salt Lake City, Utah). The research prototype Gen2 DEKAarm was provided by DEKA Integrated Solutions, Inc, under contract from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).
The BrainGate pilot clinical trial was previously directed by Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc. Foxborough, Mass, (CKI). CKI ceased operations in 2009, before the collection of data reported in the Nature manuscript. The clinical trials of the BrainGate2 Neural Interface System are now administered by Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass. Donoghue is a former chief scientific officer and a former director of CKI; he held stocks and received compensation. Hochberg received research support from Massachusetts General and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospitals, which in turn received clinical trial support from Cyberkinetics.
CAUTION: Investigational Device. Limited by Federal Law to Investigational Use. The device is being studied under an IDE for the detection and transmission of neural signals from the cortex to externally powered communication systems, environmental control systems, and assistive devices by persons unable to use their hands due to physical impairment. The clinical trial is ongoing; results presented are thus preliminary. The safety and effectiveness of the device have not been established.
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Public release date: 16-May-2012
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