Common heritage of mankind: when science challenges legal concepts

By demonstrating the role of marine organisms in the formation and composition of deep-sea mineral resources, the aim of this poster is to demonstrate that legal definitions can sometimes be relatively simplistic and limited. Considering that on the deep seafloor, the meaning of legal terms can determine the applicable legal regime, this study represents an important aspect of academic legal research. The overall goal is to introduce the interpretation methodology that will be used in the author’s PhD research project on the legal framework of deep-sea mining

Avian neural crest cell attachment to laminin: involvement of divalent cation dependent and independent integrins

The mechanisms of neural crest cell interaction with laminin were explored using a quantitative cell attachment assay. With increasing substratum concentrations, an increasing percentage of neural crest cells adhere to laminin. Cell adhesion at all substratum concentrations was inhibited by the CSAT antibody, which recognizes the chick β_1 subunit of integrin, suggesting that β_(1-)integrins mediate neural crest cell interactions with laminin. The HNK-1 antibody, which recognizes a carbohydrate epitope, inhibited neural crest cell attachment to laminin at low coating concentrations (>1 µg ml^(-1); Low-LM), but not at high coating concentration of laminin (10 µg ml^(-1); High-LM). Attachment to Low-LM occurred in the absence of divalent cations, whereas attachment to High-LM required >0.1 mM Ca^(2+) or Mn^(2+). Neural crest cell adherence to the E8 fragment of laminin, derived from its long arm, was similar to that on intact laminin at high and low coating concentrations, suggesting that this fragment contains the neural crest cell binding site(s). The HNK-1 antibody recognizes a protein of 165,000 Mr which is also found in immunoprecipitates using antibodies against the β_1 subunit of integrin and is likely to be an integrin alpha subunit or an integrin-associated protein. Our results suggest that the HNK-1 epitope on neural crest cells is present on or associated with a novel or differentially glycosylated form of β_(1-)integrin, which recognizes laminin in the apparent absence of divalent cations. We conclude that neural crest cells have at least two functionally independent means of attachment to laminin which are revealed at different substratum concentrations and/or conformations of laminin

Adaptations respiratoires des invertébrés inféodés aux sources hydrothermales profondes

En 1993, j'obtenais un poste de Maître de Conférences à Roscoff et, début 1994, suite à la nomination d'André Toulmond au poste de Directeur de l'Observatoire Océanologique de Roscoff, celui-ci me confiait la responsabilité de l'équipe de recherche d'Ecophysiologie. Issue du rapprochement d’un groupe de phycologie benthique et d’un groupe de physiologie comparée, cette équipe est structurée autour d'une thématique commune, l’étude des mécanismes d’échange de métabolites et de leurs adaptations. Ainsi, nos études portent sur des organismes vivant dans des milieux marins particulièrement contraignants, la zone intertidale en régime mégatidal et les sources hydrothermales profondes, et nous nous intéressons à des fonctions diverses, respiration et excrétion chez les animaux, respiration et photosynthèse chez les végétaux. Mais, au-delà de cette diversité de modèles et de milieux d'étude, nous partageons surtout une approche comparative et intégrée. Comparative, car les problèmes biologiques que nous cherchons à comprendre sont étudiés en utilisant la variété des réponses offertes par les différentes espèces modèles que nous sélectionnons. Et intégrée car dans l'étude d'un problème donné nous nous efforçons d'aborder différentes échelles d’organisation biologique. Le pivot central, à la fois point de départ et objectif ultime, c'est la compréhension du fonctionnement de l'organisme dans son milieu, véritable définition de l'écophysiologie. Mais pour arriver à cette compréhension nous nous efforçons de décortiquer les mécanismes sous-jacents, jusqu'à l'échelle moléculaire si cela s'avère possible et nécessaire, en essayant de dégager des processus généraux à partir des relations structure-fontion particulières que nous sommes amenés à décrire. Enfin, plus récemment, nous nous sommes intéressés à la dimension évolutive de ces problèmes en travaillant à l'échelle de la population ou de l'espèce, analysant notamment nos résultats en termes de phylogénie. La double signification du terme adaptation prend alors tout son sens, à la fois processus physiologique permettant à un organisme de moduler les propriétés de tel ou tel système de façon à s'accommoder des variations du milieu dans lequel il vit, mais également le résultat d'un processus évolutif associant mutations et sélection naturelle et ayant abouti à l'espèce considérée. Dans l'un ou l'autre cas, je suis persuadé que l'approche comparative peut se révéler extrêmement fructueuse, surtout lorsque l’on s’intéresse à des milieux « extrêmes » dans lesquels les adaptations, qu’elles soit physiologiques ou évolutives, sont exacerbées. Cette démarche se rapproche de celle, courante dans le domaine de la recherche médicale, qui consiste à étudier des cas pathologiques (donc « anormaux ») pour en inférer des règles physiologiques « normales ».Naturellement, une telle approche, aussi transversale, réclame un éventail de techniques très large qui dépasse largement les capacités d'un seul individu. La constitution d'une équipe de recherche polyvalente prend alors tout son sens et, à la suite d'André Toulmond, je m'efforce de maintenir et de développer ce potentiel au sein de l'équipe d'Ecophysiologie. Celle-ci réunit ainsi des collaborateurs aux compétences diverses ce qui nous permet de maitriser un certain nombre des techniques nécessaires à la réalisation des projets abordés : anatomie et histologie (techniques de microscopie), biochimie fonctionnelle et structurale (enzymologie, spectroscopie), biologie moléculaire (séquençage, phylogénie), etc. Mais il n'en demeure pas moins essentiel de nous appuyer sur des collaborations scientifiques nationales et internationales. D'une part avec des équipes ayant une vision plus large, plus écologique, des milieux que nous étudions tout en nous offrant un accès privilégié aux campagnes océanographiques . D’autre part, avec des équipes ayant une approche plus pointue, plus biophysique, et maîtrisant parfaitement l'une ou l'autre des techniques qui nous sont nécessaires .Dans le texte qui suit, j'essaierai d'illustrer les deux approches évoquées ci-dessus, en me limitant à deux grands projets dans lesquels je suis plus particulièrement impliqué : •l'approche intégrée pour comprendre les mécanismes de transport du dioxyde de carbone et de l'hydrogène sulfuré chez le vestimentifère Riftia pachyptila;•l'approche comparative de l'équilibre acide-base et du transport de l'oxygène chez les crustacés hydrothermaux. A la suite de chacune des présentations rédigées en français, on trouvera une copie des articles originaux correspondants. Mes autres travaux concernent l'étude du transport de l'oxygène chez deux annélides polychètes inféodées au milieu hydrothermal: Alvinella pompejana, le ver de Pompéï qui colonise les cheminées, et Branchipolynoe, polynoidé commensal des modioles. Ces travaux ont fait l'objet de la thèse de Stéphane Hourdez et des articles qui en sont issus. Enfin, je concluerai en essayant de répondre à une question qui m’est souvent posée : pourquoi diable aller chercher des modèles biologiques aussi loin que sur les sources hydrothermales profondes

\u27The Generations of Ant and Beavers\u27: Classical Economics and Animals in The Mill on the Floss

Before any named characters find their way into The Mill on the Floss, the narrator introduces us to two sets of animals (aside from a human driver): white ducks dipping their heads into the stream and horses pulling a covered wagon. The ducks are characterized as being \u27unmindful of the awkward appearance they make in the drier world above\u27 (24). This characterization serves a comic purpose, indicating a disparity between the mentality of the unreflective animals and the implicit judgement of the narrator\u27s gaze. By contrast, the horses seem to possess a surprisingly developed interiority (however conditioned by the narrator\u27s \u27fancy\u27), as we hear of the \u27mild reproach\u27 they feel for the driver\u27s unnecessary whipping and their energetic exertion at being \u27so near home\u27. The horses\u27 very bodies are endowed with interior attributes, from their \u27struggling haunches\u27 to their necks possessing \u27patient strength\u27. These horses even take precedence over their driver: while the driver is thinking of his dinner, he will first feed his horses, and the narrator anticipates the horses neighing \u27over their hardly earned feed of corn\u27, but leaves the driver\u27s dinner \u27getting sadly dry in the oven\u27. The implication that the horses are in the laborious process of earning their feed figures them as economic beings, driven by the same motivations that drive their driver. In this paper, I will argue that George Eliot\u27s use of animals in this text, both with reference to motivation and more generally in connecting human and animal realms, presents a challenge to the conceptions of animals and the distinctions drawn between animals and humans in classical economics. Although critics have shown significant interest in economics and animals in relation to George Eliot, there has been as of yet no major attempt to relate these two fields. Elsie Michie\u27s \u27Horses and Sexual/Social Dominance\u27 probably comes closest to such an attempt, relating horses in Eliot, Gaskell and Hardy to social class - and more particularly discussing the disruptive appearance of members of the \u27newly enriched\u27 commercial classes on horseback. Works by J. Hillis Miller on rhetoric and animals in Mill, and by Beryl Gray and Rosemary Ashton on Natural History in Mill are of particular interest with respect to this paper and will be returned to later.! I follow the work of critics like Deanna Kreisel and Kathleen Blake in reading economic import both in the overt content (like Bob Jaken\u27s shipping, Mr. Tulliver\u27s bankruptcy) and the less obvious content (Maggie\u27s romantic plots, narrative digressions about education). I will also be taking as a starting assumption Dermot Coleman\u27s argument that Eliot was highly knowledgeable of and engaged in the conflicts of classical economics, both from direct familiarity with the works of political economists as well as through her work with The Westminster Review.\u27 Before turning to Eliot\u27s engagement with animals in The Mill on the Floss, I want to sketch out a brief account of animals in classical economics, as an important background for understanding this engagement

An EIA process for deep sea mining in the Area: facing key issues in an international context

With the fast rising sector of deep seabed mining, and the increasing number of exploration contracts in the international area of the deep seabed (the Area), The International Seabed Authority is urged to produce a mining legislation addressing the exploitation phase. One of the major elements of the exploitation regulations under draft will be to design and operationalize a process for environmental impact assessment (EIA) prior, during and post mining activities. While trying to put in place such a mechanism, the ISA will be confronted with key issues due to its nature as an international organisation. Indeed, the ISA decision-making follows a diplomatic process. Member States meet annually to adopt regulations and approve contracts for exploration (and eventually exploitation). To design a review process for mining applications and further monitoring activities, one cannot ignore the specificities of the ISA structure and decision-making process. The three elements that will be presented in this paper can be identified as good practice in EIA in view of national and regional legislations, and of the 2014 stakeholder survey results. However, they are likely to pose issues in the drafting of an exploitation regulation. Can it be done in accordance with the Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC), which provides the legal basis for States to act? What guarantees are needed in such a regulation to ensure independence and transparency? How can the elements of a satisfactory EIA process be included in the time frames of the ISA’s meetings and decision-making procedure? • Independent Peer Review: As seabed minerals are the Common Heritage of Mankind (CHM), it is likely that the International Community will not find it acceptable if the evaluation of impacts relied exclusively on the ISA organs. However, we will see that setting up an ad hoc expert group for the review of contractors’ submissions, as suggested by the survey’s responses and which should be external to the ISA, might not be as easy as it sounds. • Public participation: Again, the CHM factor brings up the issue of publicity. Making a maximum of information publicly available online may not be sufficient, considering the practice of including a public consultation phase in evaluation processes, particularly in Europe. While organising an online consultation may not be too difficult as such, making sure that the inputs and concerns raised thereby will be taken into consideration in the decision-making process is likely to be much more challenging. • “EIA Committee”: Taking into account the expertise needed to evaluate the significance of impacts and to make its decisions accordingly, the creation of an additional organ within the ISA has been advised and should be considered. This organ should be representative of a multidisciplinary expertise to the service of stakeholders as an advisory body. It should make recommendations to both contractors during their EIA development, and to the ISA organs on their evaluation of applications and monitoring reports. However, to actually bring added value to the EIA process, this “EIA committee” has to be independent. Independence is one of the most challenging goals to be achieved in a context where States nominate and elect members of the ISA organs. This paper aims at pointing out key issues in the development of an EIA framework for exploitation in the Area, raising questions and proposing lines of approach for further thoughts. After a brief introduction reminding the ISA structure and the different stages of an EIA process, it will focus on the above-mentioned key issues by searching for the legal basis provided by the LOSC and the procedural guarantees needed in the coming Regulations to achieve an efficient and meaningful EIA process

Cranial and trunk neural crest cells use different mechanisms for attachment to extracellular matrices

We have used a quantitative cell attachment assay to compare the interactions of cranial and trunk neural crest cells with the extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules fibronectin, laminin and collagen types I and IV. Antibodies to the β_1 subunit of integrin inhibited attachment under all conditions tested, suggesting that integrins mediate neural crest cell interactions with these ECM molecules. The HNK-1 antibody against a surface carbohydrate epitope under certain conditions inhibited both cranial and trunk neural crest cell attachment to laminin, but not to fibronectin. An antiserum to α_1 intergrin inhibited attachment of trunk, but not cranial, neural crest cells to laminin and collagen type I, though interactions with fibronectin or collagen type IV were unaffected. The surface properties of trunk and cranial neural crest cells differed in several ways. First, trunk neural crest cells attached to collagen types I and IV, but cranial neural crest cells did not. Second, their divalent cation requirements for attachment to ECM molecules differed. For fibronectin substrata, trunk neural crest cells required divalent cations for attachment, whereas cranial neural crest cells bound in the absence of divalent cations. However, cranial neural crest cells lost this cation-independent attachment after a few days of culture. For laminin substrata, trunk cells used two integrins, one divalent cation-dependent and the other divalent cation-independent (Lallier, T. E. and Bronner-Fraser, M. (1991) Development 113, 1069–1081). In contrast, cranial neural crest cells attached to laminin using a single, divalent cation-dependent receptor system. Immunoprecipitations and immunoblots of surface labelled neural crest cells with HNK-1, α_1 integrin and β_1 integrin antibodies suggest that cranial and trunk neural crest cells possess biochemically distinct integrins. Our results demonstrate that cranial and trunk cells differ in their mechanisms of adhesion to selected ECM components, suggesting that they are non-overlapping populations of cells with regard to their adhesive properties

Sketches, Impressions and Confessions: Literature as Experiment in the Nineteenth Century

In this dissertation, I argue for the existence and critical relevance of a program of experimental literature in the long nineteenth century, developed in the aesthetics of German Romanticism and adapted in a set of texts by Thomas De Quincey, Charles Dickens and George Eliot. My introduction positions this argument in context of larger debates concerning form, theory and literary capacity, provides points of connection between these authors, and outlines the most prominent features of experimental literature. In the first chapter, I present an unorthodox reading of Kant’s Critique of Judgment, accompanied by a brief account of the literary-critical practice of the Athenaeum circle in Germany, as a means of establishing the philosophical values and theoretical underpinnings of the project of experimental literature. As Kant, Schlegel and cohort upheld ideals of beauty and literature grounded in unpredictable productivity and experimentation, De Quincey, Dickens and Eliot produced texts that seek to realize unanticipated connections in thought and sensation, following lines of association and speculation. Next, I argue that De Quincey’s depiction of Kant as producer of accumulative sentences and texts can provide a useful means of reading the literary experiments of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and for complicating critical accounts of De Quincey’s hostility to Kant. In the third chapter, I read Dickens’s less-known Sketches by Boz and Mudfog Papers as instances of social, scientific and speculative experimentation that deserve to be read in their own light, rather than as anticipations of his novels. In the last chapter, I again offer experimental literature as a means of theorizing literary significance in the eccentric works of a novelist, with Eliot’s “The Legend of Jubal” and Impressions of Theophrastus Such. Far from reproducing an image of a natural and sympathetic realist, in these texts Eliot pursues vagrant lines of literary speculation and cultivates critical difficulty. Taken together, these literary and philosophical texts present an ideal and practice of experimental literature that prioritizes speculation over didacticism, the play of thought and language over their habitual use, and the exercise of criticism, analysis and humor over the veneration of the received and familiar

Mid-infrared resonant ablation of PMMA

Laser ablation proved to be a reliable micro-fabrication technique for patterning and structuring of both thin film and bulk polymer materials. In most of the industrial applications ultra-violet (UV) laser sources are employed, however they have limitations such as maintenance costs and practical issues. As an alternative and promising approach, mid-infrared resonant laser ablation (RIA) has been introduced, in which the laser wavelength is tuned to one of the molecular vibrational transi-tions of the polymer to be ablated. Consequently, the technique is selective in respect of processing a diversity of polymers which usually have different infrared absorption bands. In this paper, we present mid-infrared resonant ablation of PolyMethyl MethAcrylate (PMMA), employing nanosec-ond laser pulses tunable between 3 and 4 microns. This RIA nanosecond laser set-up is based on a commercial laser at 1064 nm pumping a singly resonant Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) built around a Periodically-Poled Lithium Niobate (PPLN) crystal with several Quasi-Phase Matching (QPM) periods. RIA has been successfully demonstrated for structuring bulk PMMA, and selective patterning of PMMA thin films on a glass substrate has been implemented