The Deceptive Dyad: How Falseness Structures International Law

Public International Law (PIL) is portrayed as an autonomous and tolerably just legal system. A determinable system of rules and principles, deployed by professionals to evaluate and constrain the global machinations of power politics. Law as an authoritative structure through which global justice can be pursued. This entrenches a comforting, but false, progress narrative; and obscures the limitations of pursuing progressive change through international law. PIL is structured by false necessity and false contingency. These interact to create the Deceptive Dyad, which disguises the radical indeterminacy of PIL. PIL’s purported demands, however meticulously crafted, do not effect change in the real world. Emancipatory change at the global level faces systemic obstructions. These obstructions, and the implausibility of PIL overcoming them, reveal a global normative architecture bifurcated between two competing systems: PIL and the Global Legal Order (GLO). The GLO, possesses coercive authority, and deploys it in a legal-rational manner. Characterised by its capacity to enforce its will and the widespread obedience this commands, it imposes a coherent set of policies in a consistent manner, producing identifiable legal norms. PIL mimics the rituals of law, but lacks the capacity to enforce its demands. The two systems function to define and correct “delinquents”, but they do so in incompatible ways. The GLO’s coercively imposed policy prescriptions immiserate populations, culminating in “human rights abuses”. The suppression of delinquency by the GLO produces delinquency in PIL. The two systems work in tandem, regulating and disguising our neocolonial present: producing and condemning human rights abuses

Harry Potter and the Gluttonous Machine

In this paper, I outline the colonial structure of international law, and examine the short decline or suppression of its coloniality in the so-called ‘era of decolonisation’, then illustrate its resurgence in the modern neo-colonial order. PIL has split into two separate systems. One includes, and is justified by, the heroic tales of human rights and ‘Humanity’s Law’. The other is the actualised system of International Economic Law (IEL), an order driven by the need of the over-developed states to plunder the under-developed states’ resources and labour, to subsidise the luxury to which we have grown accustomed. One purports to be noble and just, but is ostentatiously weak; the other is ignoble and exploitative, but quietly powerful. They work in tandem with one another; the first functions by appearing to fail, the second operates so quietly that its very functioning is overlooked — hidden behind the spectacular failure of its partner. These are usually analysed as PIL and IEL, respectively. I call them Harry Potter and the Gluttonous Machine

The end of customary international law? : A purposive analysis of structural indeterminacy

Where CLS, and other critical discourses, seek to “uncover” and “explode” the ideologies and biases of law, to demonstrate its inability to fulfil its promises, the present work is intended to initiate the task of demanding that law, and especially CIL, live up to those very promises. But first, the nature of these promises, and the structure and purpose of law must be examined, analysed, and where necessary contested and decided, or rather, defined. In this regard, the hidden assumptions of legal theory must be uncovered and problematised; the debates over law must be disaggregated, before law itself can be properly determined. Only after these tasks have been completed can the nihilist challenges of NAIL be met. This thesis argues that CIL is best understood as an independent system of rules, against which state conduct may be assessed; rather than as a necessarily authoritative institutional reality. This highlights the distinction between law-creative, and merely legally evaluable, state actions. The theory presented in the final chapter - which is developed from the methodology outlined in the preceding four chapters - acts as a lens through which those actions of states which alter or develop CIL may be distinguished from those actions which ought, merely, to be judged in the light of CIL. This allows us to distinguish legal from illegal state conduct, regardless of the absence or presence of enforcement. This distinction between the legal and the illegal is distinct from, analytically prior to, and more important than, the enforcement of legal commands

Microwaving Dreams? Why There is No Point in Reheating the Hart-Dworkin Debate for International Law

A critique of attempts to transpose Hart and Dworkin\u27s legal theories to international law. I demonstrate why neither approach can provide insights into international law. Hart and Dworkin are institutional theorists, their methodologies are anchored by the need to justify the exercise of socially centralised violence. International law lacks both institutions and centralised violence, and the stabilising force these bring; it is radically indeterminate. Attempts to suppress this indeterminacy have resulted in international lawyers fragmenting into communities of practice, united by their eschatological faith in the international community. I challenge this faith.https://fount.aucegypt.edu/faculty_book_chapters/2220/thumbnail.jp

Imported Case of Poliomyelitis, Melbourne, Australia, 2007

Wild poliovirus–associated paralytic poliomyelitis has not been reported in Australia since 1977. We report type 1 wild poliovirus infection in a man who had traveled from Pakistan to Australia in 2007. Poliomyelitis should be considered for patients with acute flaccid paralysis or unexplained fever who have been to poliomyelitis-endemic countries

Hepatitis B Seroprevalence in the U.S. Military and its Impact on Potential Screening Strategies

INTRODUCTION: Knowledge of the contemporary epidemiology of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among military personnel can inform potential Department of Defense (DoD) screening policy and infection and disease control strategies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HBV infection status at accession and following deployment was determined by evaluating reposed serum from 10,000 service members recently deployed to combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the period from 2007 to 2010. A cost model was developed from the perspective of the Department of Defense for a program to integrate HBV infection screening of applicants for military service into the existing screening program of screening new accessions for vaccine-preventable infections. RESULTS: The prevalence of chronic HBV infection at accession was 2.3/1,000 (95% CI: 1.4, 3.2); most cases (16/21, 76%) identified after deployment were present at accession. There were 110 military service-related HBV infections identified. Screening accessions who are identified as HBV susceptible with HBV surface antigen followed by HBV surface antigen neutralization for confirmation offered no cost advantage over not screening and resulted in a net annual increase in cost of $5.78 million. However, screening would exclude as many as 514 HBV cases each year from accession. CONCLUSIONS: Screening for HBV infection at service entry would potentially reduce chronic HBV infection in the force, decrease the threat of transfusion-transmitted HBV infection in the battlefield blood supply, and lead to earlier diagnosis and linkage to care; however, applicant screening is not cost saving. Service-related incident infections indicate a durable threat, the need for improved laboratory-based surveillance tools, and mandate review of immunization policy and practice

Combinatorial CRISPR-Cas9 screens for de novo mapping of genetic interactions.

We developed a systematic approach to map human genetic networks by combinatorial CRISPR-Cas9 perturbations coupled to robust analysis of growth kinetics. We targeted all pairs of 73 cancer genes with dual guide RNAs in three cell lines, comprising 141,912 tests of interaction. Numerous therapeutically relevant interactions were identified, and these patterns replicated with combinatorial drugs at 75% precision. From these results, we anticipate that cellular context will be critical to synthetic-lethal therapies

Costs and Consequences: Hepatitis C Seroprevalence in the Military and Its Impact on Potential Screening Strategies

UNLABELLED: Knowledge of the contemporary epidemiology of hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection among military personnel can inform potential Department of Defense screening policy. HCV infection status at the time of accession and following deployment was determined by evaluating reposed serum from 10,000 service members recently deployed to combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the period 2007-2010. A cost model was developed from the perspective of the Department of Defense for a military applicant screening program. Return on investment was based on comparison between screening program costs and potential treatment costs avoided. The prevalence of HCV antibody-positive and chronic HCV infection at accession among younger recently deployed military personnel born after 1965 was 0.98/1000 (95% confidence interval 0.45-1.85) and 0.43/1000 (95% confidence interval 0.12-1.11), respectively. Among these, service-related incidence was low; 64% of infections were present at the time of accession. With no screening, the cost to the Department of Defense of treating the estimated 93 cases of chronic HCV cases from a single year\u27s accession cohort was $9.3 million. Screening with the HCV antibody test followed by the nucleic acid test for confirmation yielded a net annual savings and a$3.1 million dollar advantage over not screening. CONCLUSIONS: Applicant screening will reduce chronic HCV infection in the force, result in a small system costs savings, and decrease the threat of transfusion-transmitted HCV infection in the battlefield blood supply and may lead to earlier diagnosis and linkage to care; initiation of an applicant screening program will require ongoing evaluation that considers changes in the treatment cost and practice landscape, screening options, and the epidemiology of HCV in the applicant/accession and overall force populations

Shiga toxin sub-type 2a increases the efficiency of Escherichia coli O157 transmission between animals and restricts epithelial regeneration in bovine enteroids

Specific Escherichia coli isolates lysogenised with prophages that express Shiga toxin (Stx) can be a threat to human health, with cattle being an important natural reservoir. In many countries the most severe pathology is associated with enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) serogroups that express Stx subtype 2a. In the United Kingdom, phage type (PT) 21/28 O157 strains have emerged as the predominant cause of life-threatening EHEC infections and this phage type commonly encodes both Stx2a and Stx2c toxin types. PT21/28 is also epidemiologically linked to super-shedding (>103 cfu/g of faeces) which is significant for inter-animal transmission and human infection as demonstrated using modelling studies. We demonstrate that Stx2a is the main toxin produced by stx2a+/stx2c+ PT21/28 strains induced with mitomycin C and this is associated with more rapid induction of gene expression from the Stx2a-encoding prophage compared to that from the Stx2c-encoding prophage. Bacterial supernatants containing either Stx2a and/or Stx2c were demonstrated to restrict growth of bovine gastrointestinal organoids with no restriction when toxin production was not induced or prevented by mutation. Isogenic strains that differed in their capacity to produce Stx2a were selected for experimental oral colonisation of calves to assess the significance of Stx2a for both super-shedding and transmission between animals. Restoration of Stx2a expression in a PT21/28 background significantly increased animal-to-animal transmission and the number of sentinel animals that became super-shedders. We propose that while both Stx2a and Stx2c can restrict regeneration of the epithelium, it is the relatively rapid and higher levels of Stx2a induction, compared to Stx2c, that have contributed to the successful emergence of Stx2a+ E. coli isolates in cattle in the last 40 years. We propose a model in which Stx2a enhances E. coli O157 colonisation of in-contact animals by restricting regeneration and turnover of the colonised gastrointestinal epithelium

NeXML: Rich, Extensible, and Verifiable Representation of Comparative Data and Metadata

In scientific research, integration and synthesis require a common understanding of where data come from, how much they can be trusted, and what they may be used for. To make such an understanding computer-accessible requires standards for exchanging richly annotated data. The challenges of conveying reusable data are particularly acute in regard to evolutionary comparative analysis, which comprises an ever-expanding list of data types, methods, research aims, and subdisciplines. To facilitate interoperability in evolutionary comparative analysis, we present NeXML, an XML standard (inspired by the current standard, NEXUS) that supports exchange of richly annotated comparative data. NeXML defines syntax for operational taxonomic units, character-state matrices, and phylogenetic trees and networks. Documents can be validated unambiguously. Importantly, any data element can be annotated, to an arbitrary degree of richness, using a system that is both flexible and rigorous. We describe how the use of NeXML by the TreeBASE and Phenoscape projects satisfies user needs that cannot be satisfied with other available file formats. By relying on XML Schema Definition, the design of NeXML facilitates the development and deployment of software for processing, transforming, and querying documents. The adoption of NeXML for practical use is facilitated by the availability of (1) an online manual with code samples and a reference to all defined elements and attributes, (2) programming toolkits in most of the languages used commonly in evolutionary informatics, and (3) input–output support in several widely used software applications. An active, open, community-based development process enables future revision and expansion of NeXML