Thesis (LLD) -- Stellenbosch University, 1988. / Article 1 Section 8 Clause 8 of the Constitution of the United States of America empowers Congress "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries". This simple clause sums up in a few words the philosophy and underlying principles of modern copyright law. Copyright law, like other branches of intellectual property law (i.e. the laws of patents, trade marks and designs), seeks to create a system whereby the creator of original works or intellectual property is afforded a qualified monopoly in the use or exploitation of his work in order, first, to compensate and reward him for the effort, creativity and talent expended and utilized in the creation of his work, and secondly, to act as an incentive for him to use his talents and efforts to create more and better works or items of intellectual property. The qualified monopoly is limited in duration and after the expiry of the term the work falls into the public domain and can be freely used and reproduced by others. A balance is struck between the interests of the individual and the public interest. The rationale behind this philosophy is the establishment of a profit incentive for creators of intellectual property. The effectiveness of the profit motive is dependent upon the degree to which the creator of the intellectual property is able to maintain and enforce his qualified monopoly. If the law is not effective in enabling the creator of intellectual property to maintain and enforce his monopoly then the efficiency of the operation of the profit motive will be impaired. Consequently, the soundness and effectiveness of the law of copyright is a . significant factor in the promotion of the creation of intellectual property and ultimately• in enriching our culture and promoting our knowledge and well-being. Viewed from a different perspective, the purpose of copyright is to prevent one man from appropriating to himself what has been produced by the skill and labour of others1 . In broad terms, copyright may be described as the exclusive right in relation to a work embodying intellectual property (i.e. the product of the intellect) to do or to authorize others to do certain acts in relation to that work, which acts represent in the case of each type of work the manners in which that work can be exploited for personal gain or profit. Copyright is an immaterial property right. The subject of the right is a work of the intellect or spirit and thus an intangible. Copyright in a work is akin to ownership in a tangible article. The following analysis of the essential nature of copyright by Slomowitz AJ in Video Parktown North (Pty) Limited v Paramount Pictures Corporation is instructive: "It seems to me that when he who harbours an idea, by dint of his imagination, skill or labour, or some or all of them, brings it into being in tactile, visible or audible form, capable thereby of being communicated to others as a meaningful conception or apprehension of his mind, a right of property in that idea immediatelycomes into existence. The proprietary interest in that object of knowledge is the ownership of it and is called 'copyright'. It might just as well be called 'ownership', but we have chosen to call it by another name, reserving 'ownership' as the appellation for the proprietary interest in corporeal things, by way of semantic, but not, as I see it, legal, distinction. In this sense, copyright has sometimes been called 'intellectual property', as it indeed is. " Copyright subsists in the work of the intellect embodied in a material form which is a tangible article. The tangible or physical form of the work embodies two separate items of property, i.e. the copyright in the work of the intellect and the ownership of the tangible article. Ownership of the two items of property must be distinguished and can vest in different persons. Transfer of the ownership of one of the i terns of property does not necessarily affect transfer of the ownership of the other item of property.

Shadows in indoor scenarios are usually characterized with multiple light sources that produce complex shadow patterns of a single object. Without removing shadow, the foreground object tends to be erroneously segmented. The inconsistent hue and intensity of shadows make automatic removal a challenging task. In this thesis, a dynamic thresholding and transfer learning-based method for removing shadows is proposed. The method suppresses light shadows with a dynamically computed threshold and removes dark shadows using an online learning strategy that is built upon a base classifier trained with manually annotated examples and refined with the automatically identified examples in the new videos. Experimental results demonstrate that despite variation of lighting conditions in videos our proposed method is able to adapt to the videos and remove shadows effectively. The sensitivity of shadow detection changes slightly with different confidence levels used in example selection for classifier retraining and high confidence level usually yields better performance with less retraining iterations.

No description available.

À l’interface des neurosciences et de la psychologie sociale expérimentale, nos travaux explorent les bases neuronales de la « facilitation sociale » (effet facilitateur de la présence d’un congénère sur la performance) chez le singe à partir d'enregistrements électrophysiologiques unitaires dans le cortex préfrontal dorsolatéral et dans le cortex cingulaire antérieur. L'analyse de l’activité de 342 neurones liée au codage des résultats de l’action (signaux d'erreur et de succès) révèle que, dans leur grande majorité, les neurones de ces deux structures expriment une sensibilité différenciée à la présence du congénère. Trois populations de neurones sont découvertes: des neurones dits « sociaux », dont la décharge est plus ample en présence du congénère qu’en son absence, des neurones dits « asociaux », avec un pattern de décharge inverse, et une population plus minoritaire dite « neutre », dont l’amplitude de décharge est la même dans ces deux conditions. Il apparaît que les relations entre le comportement et l'activité neuronale lors du codage des signaux d’erreur dépendent de la nature plus ou moins compatible des populations neuronales identifiées avec les contextes de performance eux-mêmes. Nos résultats indiquent une implication majeure des neurones sociaux dans les effets de facilitation sociale étudiés depuis un siècle dans plusieurs espèces animales et offrent un nouveau regard sur le cerveau social. Sans nier l’idée de régions entières spécialisées dans le traitement des informations sociales, nos travaux suggèrent que des populations neuronales dotées d’une sensibilité plus ou moins sociale coexistent et probablement interagissent à l’échelle du cerveau entier. / At the interface of neuroscience and experimental social psychology, our work explores the neural bases of « social facilitation » (the facilitating effect of the presence of a conspecific on performance) in monkeys using single-unit electrophysiological recordings in the dorsolateral part of the prefrontal cortex (PFDL) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The analysis of the activity of 574 neurons coding for error signals and successes reveals that the vast majority of neurons in both structures express a differential sensitivity to social presence. Three populations of neurons are discovered : neurons called « social », exhibiting higher discharge rate in the presence of a conspecific than alone, neurons called « asocial », exhibiting a reverse discharge pattern, and neurons called « neutral », whose discharge magnitude is the same in both conditions. More importantly, it appears that the relationship between behavior and neural activity when encoding error feedback depends on whether the neuronal populations at stake are compatible or incompatible with the performance contexts themselves. Overall, our results indicate a major role of social neurons in social facilitation effects studied for a century in several animal species and offer a new look at the « social brain ». Without denying the idea of entire regions involved in the processing of social information, our work suggests that neuronal populations with varying degrees of social sensitivity actually coexist and probably interact across the whole brain.

From the mid nineteenth century onwards, musical form has primarily been defined in terms of predetermined paradigms, which ostensibly provide a framework for hierarchically ordered materials. Despite its pervasive presence in theoretical literature, however, this Formenlehre tradition is not universal in musical thought. Since antiquity, theorists have resorted to images of dynamism, change, process, energy, intensity, and narration to denote a more elastic conception of (musical) form. However, most of them – such as, for instance, Kurth, Asaf’yev, or Maus – have not recognised that it is ultimately performers – not composers – who individually shape musical materials on the basis of the structural relations that they perceive within the music and then project in performance. This dissertation explores how such apparent incompatibility between theory and practice might be bridged. To that aim, the first part discusses how ‘dynamic’ notions of musical form might realise their full explanatory potential by accounting for the reality of performance. It also reviews previous investigations of performers’ strategies to project their structural understandings of musical works, with a special focus on their handling of timing, dynamics, articulation, intonation, and timbre. Using recorded interpretations of Brahms’s Cello Sonatas as sources for three case studies, the second part evaluates dynamic ideas of musical form from an analytical viewpoint. Through their personal approaches to these works, I show how select performers create a wide range of structural connections, which are never alike across their different recordings. Likewise, these performers neither resort to the same parameters nor ‘shape’ the select movements in the same manner or with the same intensity. I ultimately posit that musical structure is inferred, created, and experienced in a unique way on every occasion a given piece is performed – and also whenever it is composed, analysed, or listened to. This research does not dismiss music theory as having no explanatory potential in the investigation of abstract notions such as musical structure as we sense them in performance. Rather, it aims to contribute to the dialogue between theory and practice by showing how, and why, music theory should reconceptualise musical form as a set of possibilities affording multiple choices and interpretations, that is to say, as a ‘multiverse’ that emerges across time and in sound.

Claude Debussy's Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune [Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun] opens with an unaccompanied flute solo that famously tests breath control, tone production, and capacity for musical expression. All aspiring flutists must master this solo, because it is frequently requested on orchestral and collegiate auditions. To aid flutists in their preparation, many notable pedagogues and performers have provided written and verbal commentary with suggestions for crafting a successful performance; however, it is unclear whether or not actual performances reflect these teachings. In other words, do the pedagogues practice what they preach? This study uses audio analysis to objectively analyze quantifiable aspects of ninety years of recordings of Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune and compares the results to current pedagogy. This study’s findings fall into four categories: (1) breath placement, (2) tempo and rubato, (3) vibrato, and (4) general expression. Because of the influence and historical significance of American flutist William Kincaid, a giant of twentieth-century performance and pedagogy, special consideration is given to specific recordings and teaching of Kincaid. The analysis that follows demonstrates disparity between performance practice and pedagogy and will allow flute students and teachers to make better-informed decisions interpreting Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune.

Abstract not available

The East African coastal basin of Tanzania, which is characterised by an extensional tectonic style, is located along the passive continental margin of the western Indian Ocean. The present study is concerned with the Mafia Island and the Mafia Channel which together form a subbasin within the north-south elongated coastal sedimentary basin of Tanzania. In the time interval from late Paleozoic to Recent, the passive margin of the region was subjected to a three-fold geological development, namely the Karoo rifting phase (1) which is characterised by extensional tectonics, the Gondwana break-up and opening of the Somali basin (2) which was contemporaneous with the movement of Madagascar off the east African coast in the Mesozoic, and the Cenozoic East African rift system (3). This structural framework made provision to the basin deposition history. The development started with the deposition of the continental, terrigenous, Karoo sequence in the Upper Permian to Lower Jurassic. The Karoo deposition was followed by a series of transgressions and regressions under full marine conditions which started in the Middle Jurassic and continued into the Tertiary. The deposits include marine marls, detrital limestones, fossiliferous shales and calcareous sandstones, reaching in places thicknesses of more than 4000 m of Mesozoic, and more than 6000 m of Cenozoic, sediments. Seismostratigraphic techniques applied in the Mafia Channel and Island identified five deposition sequences separated by regional unconformity surfaces i.e. sequence boundaries. Including the pre-Upper Cretaceous sequence they are; the Upper Cretaceous to Middle Eocene sequence (DS I), the Middle Eocene to Lower Miocene sequence (DS II), the Lower Miocene to Pliocene sequence (DS III), and the Pliocene to Recent sequence (DS IV). In the Mafia Channel up to 6000 m of sediments are present. Their ages range from Middle Eocene to Quaternary. The deposits start with marine shales which are overlain by carbonate rocks of Upper Eocene . These carbonates are in the present investigation regarded as the acoustic basement in the central and northern parts of the study area. On top of Upper Eocene carbonates, deltaic and shallow marine sediments are deposited. Southwards in the Channel, the sequences are located at shallower depths which makes it possible to trace also the Upper Cretaceous sequence with confidence. On the Mafia Island, the deposition on top of the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) acoustic basement mainly includes deltaic sandstones, followed by intercalations of carbonate and argillaceous rocks. The structural framework reflects the different tectonic regimes which prevailed in the area. Above the acoustic basement structural elements of Mafia Channel and Island are interpreted as originating from the superimposition of the Cenozoic East African rifting event, and from the uplifts of the mainland coast and Mafia Island during Late Eocene time. As a result the central part collapsed and formed an asymmetric sag structure in the channel. These elements are seismically identified and subdivided as (from northwest to southeast), the Dar-es-Salaam Platform Offshore, the Central Mafia Channel and the Mafia Island Rise. These domains are separated by respective NE-SW major faults (MF1, MF2 and MF3) and can be demonstrated in the profiles which run in a NW-SE direction. With respect to petroleum potential, the Mafia Channel and Island indicate a considerable content. Three hydrocarbon plays are introduced, namely; 1) the Neocomian regressive sands of Songosongo play 2) the Upper Eocene limestone and 3) the Upper Oligocene turbidites.

This thesis examines the concepts of reliability, authenticity and documentary form as defined by archival diplomatics and their relation to moving image records, for the purpose of exploring the possibility of using them to develop a method for the preservation of the moving image's intellectual integrity over time. To achieve this purpose, the study establishes a correspondence between the tenriinology and the theories used to express these concepts in the two fields through an examination of archival diplomatics and moving images glossaries, dictionaries and literature. Notwithstanding the different understandings of the concepts examined, the thesis finds that when moving images can be regarded as records - that is, as contextual mediated visual and aural representations compiled for the purpose.of.entering into communication - it is possible to use archival diplomatics methodology to analyze them successfully. On the strength of this finding, the thesis proceeds to establish a correspondence between the diplomatic elements of documentary form and the components of an ideal moving image record, demonstrating parallels and explaining and reconciling differences, in order to build a template for the analysis of all kinds of moving image records. This diplomatic instrument is to be used for the identification of the formal elements of a moving image that allow for the maintenance, verification and preservation of its reliability and authenticity over the long term. The necessity of such an instrument derives from the fact that the use of digital technologies for the making, exhibiting and storing of moving images will render the ability to prove their integrity and their preservation increasingly more difficult. The thesis is concluded by a discussion relating the effects of the pervasive use of digital technologies in the field of moving images, and a demonstration of the substantial threat they present for the continuing reliability and authenticity of moving images. This discussion shows the advantages of a close cooperative effort by archivists and moving image theorists in developing interdisciplinary methods for addressing such threats that are rooted in archival diplomatics and fully respect the nature of the moving image record.

Η ακουστική οικολογία είναι το επιστημονικό πεδίο το οποίο μελετά την επίδραση διαφόρων παραγόντων, όπως η ανθρώπινη δραστηριότητα, σε συγκεκριμένα οικοσυστήματα μέσω επιλεγμένων ηχογραφήσεων των γεωγραφικών περιοχών των ηχοτοπίων. Εδώ παρουσιάζεται μελέτη αυτόματης ανάλυσης, αναγνώρισης και κατηγοριοποίησης από τέτοιες ηχογραφήσεις. Δοκιμάζονται διάφοροι αλγόριθμοι και επιλέγεται μέθοδος που βασίζεται στην επεξεργασία του ηχητικού φάσματος, μέσω των Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MfCC) του φάσματος του ηχητικού σήματος. Τα ομαδοποιημένα δεδομένα που προέκυψαν, μελετήθηκαν ως προς το ποσοστό επιτυχούς αναγνώρισης της προέλευσης των ήχων που διακρίνονται στις ηχογραφήσεις. Η κατηγοριοποίηση και ταξινόμηση αυτή έγινε με τη δοκιμή διαφόρων αλγορίθμων ταξινόμησης. Επιπλέον πραγματοποιείται σύγκριση των αλγορίθμων αυτών με βάση το ποσοστό επιτυχούς αναγνώρισης αλλά και της ταχύτητας ταξινόμησης των ηχογραφημένων δειγμάτων η οποία οδηγεί σε συμπεράσματα για τη βελτιστοποίηση της συγκεκριμένης διαδικασίας / Acoustic ecology is the scientific field which studies the effect of human activity and other factors to ecosystems via the recording of soundscapes which constitute a database of selected recordings of geographic regions. The parameters that are examined are based on the processing of the sound spectrum, they are named Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MfCC) and represent factors of the signal spectrum. The rate of the successful recognition of the origin of sounds distinguished in the set of the soundscape recordings is estimated. Various classification algorithms are tested for the sound data classification. Moreover a comparison among the algorithms is realised based both on the ratio of successful recognition and the classification speed of the recorded samples which leads to conclusions on the optimisation of this particular process.