The Right to Say No: Customary Land Rights, Extractive Industries and the Need for Free, Prior and Informed Consent

Compared to the more “traditional” Civil or socio-economic rights, which are regarded as being held by individuals; the notion that communities can also be holders of particular rights is still relatively new. And yet, the suffering inflicted on customary communities by states, corporations and even individuals dates back to the colonial modes of production, wherein colonial authorities would extract raw materials from colonies. This being the case, it is important for any modern system for the protection of human rights – especially on the African continent - to take the unique circumstances of communities adversely affected by extractive industries into account. It is with this in mind, that my dissertation aims to offer an in depth analysis of the legal relationship between the interests of extractive projects and the rights of communities affected by such projects. As I am writing from a South African context, a significant percentage of my research is concerned with how this relationship plays out in South Africa – with particular attention being paid to the cases of: the Xolobeni Community1 in the rural Eastern Cape, the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela in the North West2 and the Somkhele Community in Kwa-Zulu Natal3 . However, I do also address the broader context by spending an entire chapter dealing with the international, regional and sub-regional mechanisms which can have an impact on the rights of mining affected communities. I also spend a significant part of my research arguing in favour of the standard of Free, Prior and Informed Consent as the minimum standard of community involvement in the decision making process relating to project that might affect them (colloquially known as “FPIC”). These arguments are based on the findings of a number of theorists and legal practitioners who have found that the lack of FPIC is one of the most significant stumbling blocks for the promotion and protection of the rights of mining affected and other marginalised communities. It is my hope that this research will serve as the basis for discussions around these issues in academia and practice with the end goal of advancing the rights of communities affected by mining or other extractive operation

Cluster J Mycobacteriophages: Intron Splicing in Capsid and Tail Genes

Bacteriophages isolated on Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155 represent many distinct genomes sharing little or no DNA sequence similarity. The genomes are architecturally mosaic and are replete with genes of unknown function. A new group of genomes sharing substantial nucleotide sequences constitute Cluster J. The six mycobacteriophages forming Cluster J are morphologically members of the Siphoviridae, but have unusually long genomes ranging from 106.3 to 117 kbp. Reconstruction of the capsid by cryo-electron microscopy of mycobacteriophage BAKA reveals an icosahedral structure with a triangulation number of 13. All six phages are temperate and homoimmune, and prophage establishment involves integration into a tRNA-Leu gene not previously identified as a mycobacterial attB site for phage integration. The Cluster J genomes provide two examples of intron splicing within the virion structural genes, one in a major capsid subunit gene, and one in a tail gene. These genomes also contain numerous free-standing HNH homing endonuclease, and comparative analysis reveals how these could contribute to genome mosaicism. The unusual Cluster J genomes provide new insights into phage genome architecture, gene function, capsid structure, gene mobility, intron splicing, and evolution. © 2013 Pope et al

Spatial and Spectral Coherent Control with Frequency Combs

Quantum coherent control (1-3) is a powerful tool for steering the outcome of quantum processes towards a desired final state, by accurate manipulation of quantum interference between multiple pathways. Although coherent control techniques have found applications in many fields of science (4-9), the possibilities for spatial and high-resolution frequency control have remained limited. Here, we show that the use of counter-propagating broadband pulses enables the generation of fully controlled spatial excitation patterns. This spatial control approach also provides decoherence reduction, which allows the use of the high frequency resolution of an optical frequency comb (10,11). We exploit the counter-propagating geometry to perform spatially selective excitation of individual species in a multi-component gas mixture, as well as frequency determination of hyperfine constants of atomic rubidium with unprecedented accuracy. The combination of spectral and spatial coherent control adds a new dimension to coherent control with applications in e.g nonlinear spectroscopy, microscopy and high-precision frequency metrology.Comment: 12 page

Versatile Aggressive Mimicry of Cicadas by an Australian Predatory Katydid

Background: In aggressive mimicry, a predator or parasite imitates a signal of another species in order to exploit the recipient of the signal. Some of the most remarkable examples of aggressive mimicry involve exploitation of a complex signal-response system by an unrelated predator species. Methodology/Principal Findings: We have found that predatory Chlorobalius leucoviridis katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) can attract male cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) by imitating the species-specific wing-flick replies of sexually receptive female cicadas. This aggressive mimicry is accomplished both acoustically, with tegminal clicks, and visually, with synchronized body jerks. Remarkably, the katydids respond effectively to a variety of complex, species-specific Cicadettini songs, including songs of many cicada species that the predator has never encountered. Conclusions/Significance: We propose that the versatility of aggressive mimicry in C. leucoviridis is accomplished by exploiting general design elements common to the songs of many acoustically signaling insects that use duets in pairformation. Consideration of the mechanism of versatile mimicry in C. leucoviridis may illuminate processes driving the evolution of insect acoustic signals, which play a central role in reproductive isolation of populations and the formation of species

Effects of Global Warming on Ancient Mammalian Communities and Their Environments

Current global warming affects the composition and dynamics of mammalian communities and can increase extinction risk; however, long-term effects of warming on mammals are less understood. Dietary reconstructions inferred from stable isotopes of fossil herbivorous mammalian tooth enamel document environmental and climatic changes in ancient ecosystems, including C(3)/C(4) transitions and relative seasonality.Here, we use stable carbon and oxygen isotopes preserved in fossil teeth to document the magnitude of mammalian dietary shifts and ancient floral change during geologically documented glacial and interglacial periods during the Pliocene (approximately 1.9 million years ago) and Pleistocene (approximately 1.3 million years ago) in Florida. Stable isotope data demonstrate increased aridity, increased C(4) grass consumption, inter-faunal dietary partitioning, increased isotopic niche breadth of mixed feeders, niche partitioning of phylogenetically similar taxa, and differences in relative seasonality with warming.Our data show that global warming resulted in dramatic vegetation and dietary changes even at lower latitudes (approximately 28 degrees N). Our results also question the use of models that predict the long term decline and extinction of species based on the assumption that niches are conserved over time. These findings have immediate relevance to clarifying possible biotic responses to current global warming in modern ecosystems

Magnitude and Timing of Leaf Damage Affect Seed Production in a Natural Population of Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae)

Background: The effect of herbivory on plant fitness varies widely. Understanding the causes of this variation is of considerable interest because of its implications for plant population dynamics and trait evolution. We experimentally defoliated the annual herb Arabidopsis thaliana in a natural population in Sweden to test the hypotheses that (a) plant fitness decreases with increasing damage, (b) tolerance to defoliation is lower before flowering than during flowering, and (c) defoliation before flowering reduces number of seeds more strongly than defoliation during flowering, but the opposite is true for effects on seed size. Methodology/Principal Findings: In a first experiment, between 0 and 75% of the leaf area was removed in May from plants that flowered or were about to start flowering. In a second experiment, 0, 25%, or 50% of the leaf area was removed from plants on one of two occasions, in mid April when plants were either in the vegetative rosette or bolting stage, or in mid May when plants were flowering. In the first experiment, seed production was negatively related to leaf area removed, and at the highest damage level, also mean seed size was reduced. In the second experiment, removal of 50% of the leaf area reduced seed production by 60% among plants defoliated early in the season at the vegetative rosettes, and by 22% among plants defoliated early in the season at the bolting stage, but did not reduce seed output of plants defoliated one month later. No seasonal shift in the effect of defoliation on seed size was detected. Conclusions/Significance: The results show that leaf damage may reduce the fitness of A. thaliana, and suggest that in this population leaf herbivores feeding on plants before flowering should exert stronger selection on defence traits than those feeding on plants during flowering, given similar damage levels

Genome-wide identification and expression profiling of auxin response factor (ARF) gene family in maize

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Auxin signaling is vital for plant growth and development, and plays important role in apical dominance, tropic response, lateral root formation, vascular differentiation, embryo patterning and shoot elongation. Auxin Response Factors (ARFs) are the transcription factors that regulate the expression of auxin responsive genes. The <it>ARF </it>genes are represented by a large multigene family in plants. The first draft of full maize genome assembly has recently been released, however, to our knowledge, the <it>ARF </it>gene family from maize (<it>ZmARF </it>genes) has not been characterized in detail.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, 31 maize (<it>Zea mays </it>L.) genes that encode ARF proteins were identified in maize genome. It was shown that maize <it>ARF </it>genes fall into related sister pairs and chromosomal mapping revealed that duplication of <it>ZmARFs </it>was associated with the chromosomal block duplications. As expected, duplication of some <it>ZmARFs </it>showed a conserved intron/exon structure, whereas some others were more divergent, suggesting the possibility of functional diversification for these genes. Out of these 31 <it>ZmARF </it>genes, 14 possess auxin-responsive element in their promoter region, among which 7 appear to show small or negligible response to exogenous auxin. The 18 <it>ZmARF </it>genes were predicted to be the potential targets of small RNAs. Transgenic analysis revealed that increased miR167 level could cause degradation of transcripts of six potential targets (<it>ZmARF3</it>, <it>9</it>, <it>16</it>, <it>18</it>, <it>22 </it>and <it>30</it>). The expressions of maize <it>ARF </it>genes are responsive to exogenous auxin treatment. Dynamic expression patterns of <it>ZmARF </it>genes were observed in different stages of embryo development.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Maize <it>ARF </it>gene family is expanded (31 genes) as compared to <it>Arabidopsis </it>(23 genes) and rice (25 genes). The expression of these genes in maize is regulated by auxin and small RNAs. Dynamic expression patterns of <it>ZmARF </it>genes in embryo at different stages were detected which suggest that maize <it>ARF </it>genes may be involved in seed development and germination.</p

How the Emotional Content of Discourse Affects Language Comprehension

Emotion effects on cognition have often been reported. However, only few studies investigated emotional effects on subsequent language processing, and in most cases these effects were induced by non-linguistic stimuli such as films, faces, or pictures. Here, we investigated how a paragraph of positive, negative, or neutral emotional valence affects the processing of a subsequent emotionally neutral sentence, which contained either semantic, syntactic, or no violation, respectively, by means of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Behavioral data revealed strong effects of emotion; error rates and reaction times increased significantly in sentences preceded by a positive paragraph relative to negative and neutral ones. In ERPs, the N400 to semantic violations was not affected by emotion. In the syntactic experiment, however, clear emotion effects were observed on ERPs. The left anterior negativity (LAN) to syntactic violations, which was not visible in the neutral condition, was present in the negative and positive conditions. This is interpreted as reflecting modulatory effects of prior emotions on syntactic processing, which is discussed in the light of three alternative or complementary explanations based on emotion-induced cognitive styles, working memory, and arousal models. The present effects of emotion on the LAN are especially remarkable considering that syntactic processing has often been regarded as encapsulated and autonomous

Iodine-125 brachytherapy for brain tumours - a review

Iodine-125 brachytherapy has been applied to brain tumours since 1979. Even though the physical and biological characteristics make these implants particularly attractive for minimal invasive treatment, the place for stereotactic brachytherapy is still poorly defined