Synthetic Biology: Caught Between Property Rights, the Public Domain, and the Commons

Synthetic biologists aim to make biology a true engineering discipline. In the same way that electrical engineers rely on standard capacitors and resistors, or computer programmers rely on modular blocks of code, synthetic biologists wish to create an array of modular biological parts that can be readily synthesized and mixed together in different combinations. Synthetic biology has already produced important results, including more accurate AIDS tests and the possibility of unlimited supplies of previously scarce drugs for malaria. Proponents hope to use synthetic organisms to produce not only medically relevant chemicals but also a large variety of industrial materials, including ecologically friendly biofuels such as hydrogen and ethanol. The relationship of synthetic biology to intellectual property law has, however, been largely unexplored. Two key issues deserve further attention. First, synthetic biology, which operates at the confluence of biotechnology and computation, presents a particularly revealing example of a difficulty that the law has frequently faced over the last 30 years -- the assimilation of a new technology into the conceptual limits around existing intellectual property rights, with possible damage to both in the process. There is reason to fear that tendencies in the way that the law has handled software on the one hand and biotechnology on the other could come together in a perfect storm that will impede the potential of the technology. Second, synthetic biology raises with remarkable clarity an issue that has seemed of only theoretical interest until now. It points out a tension between different methods of creating openness. On the one hand, we have intellectual property law\u27s insistence that certain types of material remain in the public domain, outside the world of property. On the other, we have the attempt by individuals to use intellectual property rights to create a commons, just as developers of free and open source software use the leverage of software copyrights to impose requirements of openness on future programmers, requirements greater than those attaching to a public domain work

Understanding the development of professional identity in instrumental teachers

This study provides new insights concerning the development of professional identity in instrumental teachers working in a range of professional contexts in the UK. The analysis shows the extent to which musicians are embedded in the culture of instrumental music education, suggesting that aspects of the field, including high levels of autonomy, are more closely related to professional identity than notions of hierarchy and status. The understandings of instrumental teachers’ lives and identities revealed in this research could be used to inform and enhance existing approaches to careers in music and contribute to career preparation in undergraduate music students. Using an explanatory sequential research design to combine data from a national survey of instrumental teachers with findings from individual case study interviews and one focus group, the research prioritises the lived experience of participants in generating understanding of professional lives and identities in this context. An analysis using Bourdieu’s notions of habitus, field and capital examines the ways in which individuals negotiate the field of instrumental music education, revealing a complex and nuanced approach to professional identity developed through practical experience in this context. Instrumental teaching in the UK is characterised by a lack of regulation and curriculum, where individuals are able to teach with no training or qualification (Swanwick 1994, Woodford 2002). The literature suggests conflict in instrumental teacher identity where individuals prefer to identify as musicians or performers rather than teachers, attributing these choices to the lower professional status of instrumental teaching in the hierarchy of professional roles in music (Mills 2004b, Roberts 2007). This research however suggests that expressions of identity in this context relate to specific meanings associated with the role and identity of professional musician for individuals involved in portfolio careers involving teaching and highlights the need to revise existing notions of the professional musician to acknowledge contemporary careers in music

Observations of QSO J2233-606 in the Southern Hubble Deep Field

The Hubble Deep Field South (HDF-S) HST observations are expected to begin in October 1998. We present a composite spectrum of the QSO in the HDF-S field covering UV/optical/near IR wavelengths, obtained by combining data from the ANU 2.3m Telescope with STIS on the HST. This intermediate resolution spectrum covers the range 1600-10000A and allows us to derive some basic information on the intervening absorption systems which will be important in planning future higher resolution studies of this QSO.Comment: 9 pages and 2 figures, submitted to ApJ

Path methods for strong shift equivalence of positive matrices

In the early 1990's, Kim and Roush developed path methods for establishing strong shift equivalence (SSE) of positive matrices over a dense subring U of the real numbers R. This paper gives a detailed, unified and generalized presentation of these path methods. New arguments which address arbitrary dense subrings U of R are used to show that for any dense subring U of R, positive matrices over U which have just one nonzero eigenvalue and which are strong shift equivalent over U must be strong shift equivalent over U_+. In addition, we show positive real matrices on a path of shift equivalent positive real matrices are SSE over R_+; positive rational matrices which are SSE over R_+ must be SSE over Q_+; and for any dense subring U of R, within the set of positive matrices over U which are conjugate over U to a given matrix, there are only finitely many SSE-U_+ classes.Comment: This version adds a 3-part program for studying SEE over the reals. One part is handled by the arxiv post "Strong shift equivalence and algebraic K-theory". This version is the author version of the paper published in the Kim memorial volume. From that, my short lifestory of Kim (and more) is on my web page http://www.math.umd.edu/~mboyle/papers/index.htm

Identifying routes to remedy for violations of economic, social and cultural rights

This article examines the status of economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights in Scotland and identifies routes to remedy for violations of these rights. ESC rights relate to areas such as housing, education, employment, standard of living and health. Violations of ESC rights impact on the most vulnerable in society. The mapping of rights conducted by the Scottish Human Rights Commission before the publication of the Getting It Right report revealed a legal deficit in the protection of ESC rights in Scotland. The evidence identified that protection mechanisms for socio-economic rights in Scotland are either insufficient or non-existent. This article builds on the evidence by exploring the legal nature of ESC rights: how they are currently protected in Scotland and how they are protected in other jurisdictions. It then examines the concept of a ‘remedy’ in international human rights law and proposes models for the better protection of ESC rights for potential future implementation in Scotland. This includes an examination of the risks and benefits in constitutionalising or legislating for ESC rights. This will be of interest to an international audience in terms of identifying justiciability mechanisms and models of constitutionalisation for ESC rights in different constitutional contexts, including Scotland

High-resolution mapping of cancer cell networks using co-functional interactions.

Powerful new technologies for perturbing genetic elements have recently expanded the study of genetic interactions in model systems ranging from yeast to human cell lines. However, technical artifacts can confound signal across genetic screens and limit the immense potential of parallel screening approaches. To address this problem, we devised a novel PCA-based method for correcting genome-wide screening data, bolstering the sensitivity and specificity of detection for genetic interactions. Applying this strategy to a set of 436 whole genome CRISPR screens, we report more than 1.5 million pairs of correlated "co-functional" genes that provide finer-scale information about cell compartments, biological pathways, and protein complexes than traditional gene sets. Lastly, we employed a gene community detection approach to implicate core genes for cancer growth and compress signal from functionally related genes in the same community into a single score. This work establishes new algorithms for probing cancer cell networks and motivates the acquisition of further CRISPR screen data across diverse genotypes and cell types to further resolve complex cellular processes

The Major Sources of the Cosmic Reionizing Background at z ~ 6

In this paper, we address which sources contributed most of the reionizing photons. Our argument assumes that the reionization ended around z ~ 6 and that it was a relatively quick process, i.e., that there was a non-negligible fraction of neutral hydrogen in the Universe at somewhat earlier epochs. Starting from our earlier estimate of the luminosity function (LF) of galaxies at z ~ 6, we quantitatively show that the major sources of reionization are most likely galaxies with L < L*. Our approach allows us to put stronger constraints to the LF of galaxies at z ~ 6. To have the Universe completely ionized at this redshift, the faint-end slope of the LF should be steeper than $\alpha=-1.6$, which is the value measured at lower redshifts (z ~ 3), unless either the normalization (Phi*) of the LF or the clumping factor of the ionized hydrogen has been significantly underestimated. If Phi* is actually lower than what we assumed by a factor of two, a steep slope close to $\alpha=-2.0$ is required. Our LF predicts a total of 50 -- 80 z ~ 6 galaxies in the HST Ultra Deep Field (UDF) to a depth of AB=28.4 mag, which can be used to constraint both Phi* and $\alpha$. We conclude that the least luminous galaxies existing at this redshift should reach as low as some critical luminosity in order to accumulate the entire reionizing photon budget. On the other hand, the existence of significant amounts of neutral hydrogen at slightly earlier epochs, e.g. z ~ 7, requires that the least luminous galaxies should not be fainter than another critical value (i.e., the LF should cut-off at this point).Comment: ApJL in press (Jan 1, 2004 issue

Is Sinupret (BNO 1016- Herbal Combination) an Effective Treatment for the Symptoms of Acute and Chronic Rhinosinusitis Compared to Non-treatment in Male and Female Adults Ages 18-75?

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not Sinupret (BNO 1016- herbal combination) is an effective treatment for the symptoms of acute and chronic rhinosinusitis compared to non-treatment in male and female adults ages 18-75? Study Design: This is a systematic review of three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding Sinupret treatment for sinonasal symptoms. All RCTs were published in the English language in peer-reviewed journals in 2011, 2015, and 2017. Data Sources: Three randomized controlled trials were found using PubMED and CINAHL databases. Outcomes Measured: Symptom relief of acute and chronic rhinosinusitis was measured via major symptom score (MSS) of rhinorrhea, post-nasal drip, congestion, headache, and facial pressure by participants (measured by mean change from baseline). Assessment of responders vs. non-responders to treatment as designated by “cured/improved” vs. “unchanged/deteriorated.” Improvement of olfactory function per phenylethanol odor testing as well as odor discrimination and identification testing. Results: Jund et al.3 showed a greater decrease in acute viral sinusitis symptoms (MSS decrease) with Sinupret treatment than with placebo-treated group (p\u3c0.0001) as well as a NNT of 10. Palm et al.6 showed similar reduction in MSS in the use of Sinupret for chronic sinusitis (p\u3c0.0015). Reden et al. 7 showed improvement in olfactory function in sinusitis patients withdrawing from prednisolone with the use of Sinupret, but failed to show statistical significance (p=0.67). Conclusions: Two of the three studies reviewed studies revealed that Sinupret, herbal combination, can be used as an effective treatment in adults 18-75 years old for decreasing the symptoms of acute viral and chronic sinusitis at a faster rate than no treatment at all. Multiple studies suggested expanding the study population beyond German participants

International Obligation to Prosecute Human Rights Violators: Spain\u27s Jurisdiction over Argentine Dirty War Participants

Many nations view the obligation of protecting human rights as worthy of relaxing the traditional deference to State sovereignty. They believe interference is necessary to prevent and punish human rights violators. In the 1970s and 8 b. Argentina was subject to an intense military rule. Disappearances, torture and extra-legal executions were the regime\u27s tools of oppression, and despite Argentina\u27s claim that those guilty of human rights violations were properly dealt with, the new democracy\u27s measures were insufficient to conform to Argentina\u27s legal obligations. Argentina\u27s inaction constitutes a violation of Argentine and international law. Hundreds of Spanish nationals were victims of the military regime in Argentina. This note argues that under Spanish, international treaty and customary law, Spain is justified, and in fact compelled, to try the Argentine war criminals in its national courts