Governing Agricultural Biotechnologies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany: A Trans-decadal Study of Regulatory Cultures

Comparative studies of agricultural biotechnology regulation have highlighted differences in the roles that science and politics play in decision-making. Drawing on documentary and interview evidence in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, we consider how the "regulatory cultures" that guided national responses to earlier generations of agricultural biotechnology have developed, alongside the emergence of genome editing in food crops. We find that aspects of the "product-based" regulatory approach have largely been maintained in US biosafety frameworks and that the British and German approaches have at different stages combined "process-based" and "programmatic" elements that address the scientific and sociopolitical novelty of genome editing to varying degrees. We seek to explain these patterns of stability and change by exploring how changing opportunity structures in each jurisdiction have enabled or constrained public reasoning around emerging agricultural biotechnologies. By showing how opportunity structures and regulatory cultures interact over the long-term, we provide insights that help us to interpret current and evolving dynamics in the governance of genome editing and the longer-term development of agricultural biotechnology

Developing gender-transformative innovation packages for sustainable intensification: The case of maize leaf stripping in northern Ghana

Sustainable agricultural intensification (SI) seeks to address multiple development objectives at the same time, among them social aspects of sustainability. However, interest in gender norms as potential catalyzers or obstacles for achieving these objectives has remained low. In this article, we use a SI assessment framework as an analytical lens for the identification of social aspects—in particular inequitable norms—that could be targeted through gender-transformative innovation packages. We evaluate social science data from a maize-livestock intervention in Ghana. In a mixed methods study, data were collected from 60 farmers involved in experimentation. The analysis unearthed a number of overlapping norms that shape men’s and women’s actions and interact with the SI package to produce tangible inequalities. To promote gender equity, these norms need to be targeted. But it will not suffice to simply add gender-transformative components to technical packages, if the technical components are not redesigned to fit the same equity goal. We showcase this using the results. An important conclusion is that assessments of both social and technical components of interventions must be more consciously designed in transdisciplinary processes—with equitable arrangements in mind

Abyssal fauna of the UK-1 polymetallic nodule exploration area, Clarion-Clipperton Zone, central Pacific Ocean: Mollusca

The file attached is the Published/publisher’s pdf version of the article. This is an OpenAccess article.Copyright Helena Wiklund et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Patrones de interacción y grupos de discusión política en las redes personales de jóvenes colombianos

Structural analysis is applied in this research to evaluate the sociopolitical personal networks of 51 Colombians youths linked to student organizations at university level. Networks are cohesive, showing high levels of density (.53) and transitivity (.78), includes 4 clusters on average, are formed by friends (81%) and in a lesser degree by relatives (13%). Homophily based on sex, age and educative level seem to play a key role in shaping networks structure.</p

What we have learned from the framework for ocean observing: evolution of the global ocean observing system

The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and its partners have worked together over the past decade to break down barriers between open-ocean and coastal observing, between scientific disciplines, and between operational and research institutions. Here we discuss some GOOS successes and challenges from the past decade, and present ideas for moving forward, including highlights of the GOOS 2030 Strategy, published in 2019. The OceanObs’09 meeting in Venice in 2009 resulted in a remarkable consensus on the need for a common set of guidelines for the global ocean observing community. Work following the meeting led to development of the Framework for Ocean Observing (FOO) published in 2012 and adopted by GOOS as a foundational document that same year. The FOO provides guidelines for the setting of requirements, assessing technology readiness, and assessing the usefulness of data and products for users. Here we evaluate successes and challenges in FOO implementation and consider ways to ensure broader use of the FOO principles. The proliferation of ocean observing activities around the world is extremely diverse and not managed, or even overseen by, any one entity. The lack of coherent governance has resulted in duplication and varying degrees of clarity, responsibility, coordination and data sharing. GOOS has had considerable success over the past decade in encouraging voluntary collaboration across much of this broad community, including increased use of the FOO guidelines and partly effective governance, but much remains to be done. Here we outline and discuss several approaches for GOOS to deliver more effective governance to achieve our collective vision of fully meeting society’s needs. What would a more effective and well-structured governance arrangement look like? Can the existing system be modified? Do we need to rebuild it from scratch? We consider the case for evolution versus revolution. Community-wide consideration of these governance issues will be timely and important before, during and following the OceanObs’19 meeting in September 2019

Discovery and Characterization of 2-Anilino-4- (Thiazol-5-yl)Pyrimidine Transcriptional CDK Inhibitors as Anticancer Agents

The main difficulty in the development of ATP antagonist kinase inhibitors is target specificity, since the ATP-binding motif is present in many proteins. We introduce a strategy that has allowed us to identify compounds from a kinase inhibitor library that block the cyclin-dependent kinases responsible for regulating transcription, i.e., CDK7 and especially CDK9. The screening cascade employs cellular phenotypic assays based on mitotic index and nuclear p53 protein accumulation. This permitted us to classify compounds into transcriptional, cell cycle, and mitotic inhibitor groups. We describe the characterization of the transcriptional inhibitor class in terms of kinase inhibition profile, cellular mode of action, and selectivity for transformed cells. A structural selectivity rationale was used to optimize potency and biopharmaceutical properties and led to the development of a transcriptional inhibitor, 3,4-dimethyl-5-[2-(4-piperazin-1-yl-phenylamino)-pyrimidin-4-yl]-3H-thiazol-2-one, with anticancer activity in animal models

Enhanced H2O formation through dust grain chemistry in X-ray exposed environments

The ULIRG Mrk 231 exhibits very strong water rotational lines between \lambda = 200-670\mu m, comparable to the strength of the CO rotational lines. High redshift quasars also show similar CO and H2O line properties, while starburst galaxies, such as M82, lack these very strong H2O lines in the same wavelength range, but do show strong CO lines. We explore the possibility of enhancing the gas phase H2O abundance in X-ray exposed environments, using bare interstellar carbonaceous dust grains as a catalyst. Cloud-cloud collisions cause C and J shocks, and strip the grains of their ice layers. The internal UV field created by X-rays from the accreting black hole does not allow to reform the ice. We determine formation rates of both OH and H2O on dust grains, having temperature T_dust=10-60 K, using both Monte Carlo as well as rate equation method simulations. The acquired formation rates are added to our X-ray chemistry code, that allows us to calculate the thermal and chemical structure of the interstellar medium near an active galactic nucleus. We derive analytic expressions for the formation of OH and H2O on bare dust grains as a catalyst. Oxygen atoms arriving on the dust are released into the gas phase under the form of OH and H2O. The efficiencies of this conversion due to the chemistry occurring on dust are of order 30 percent for oxygen converted into OH and 60 percent for oxygen converted into H_2O between T_dust=15-40 K. At higher temperatures, the efficiencies rapidly decline. When the gas is mostly atomic, molecule formation on dust is dominant over the gas-phase route, which is then quenched by the low H2 abundance. Here, it is possible to enhance the warm (T> 200 K) water abundance by an order of magnitude in X-ray exposed environments. This helps to explain the observed bright water lines in nearby and high-redshift ULIRGs and Quasars.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, accepted by A&

Nutrition for the prevention and treatment of injuries in track and field athletes

Injuries are an inevitable consequence of athletic performance with most athletes sustaining one or more during their athletic careers. As many as one in 12 athletes incur an injury during international competitions, many of which result in time lost from training and competition. Injuries to skeletal muscle account for over 40% of all injuries, with the lower leg being the predominant site of injury. Other common injuries include fractures, especially stress fractures in athletes with low energy availability, and injuries to tendons and ligaments, especially those involved in high-impact sports, such as jumping. Given the high prevalence of injury, it is not surprising that there has been a great deal of interest in factors that may reduce the risk of injury, or decrease the recovery time if an injury should occur: One of the main variables explored is nutrition. This review investigates the evidence around various nutrition strategies, including macro- and micronutrients, as well as total energy intake, to reduce the risk of injury and improve recovery time, focusing upon injuries to skeletal muscle, bone, tendons, and ligaments