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Unique Place (unique + place)
Selected AbstractsGENOMICS IN THE LIGHT OF EVOLUTIONARY TRANSITIONSEVOLUTION, Issue 6 2010Pierre M. Durand Molecular biology has entrenched the gene as the basic hereditary unit and genomes are often considered little more than collections of genes. However, new concepts and genomic data have emerged, which suggest that the genome has a unique place in the hierarchy of life. Despite this, a framework for the genome as a major evolutionary transition has not been fully developed. Instead, genome origin and evolution are frequently considered as a series of neutral or nonadaptive events. In this article, we argue for a Darwinian multilevel selection interpretation for the origin of the genome. We base our arguments on the multilevel selection theory of hypercycles of cooperative interacting genes and predictions that gene-level trade-offs in viability and reproduction can help drive evolutionary transitions. We consider genomic data involving mobile genetic elements as a test case of our view. A new concept of the genome as a discrete evolutionary unit emerges and the gene,genome juncture is positioned as a major evolutionary transition in individuality. This framework offers a fresh perspective on the origin of macromolecular life and sets the scene for a new, emerging line of inquiry,the evolutionary ecology of the genome. [source] Organizations advocating for youth: The local advantageNEW DIRECTIONS FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, Issue 117 2008Sarah Deschenes Youth occupy a unique place in our democratic society. They must primarily rely on others to speak on their behalf as decisions are made about the allocation of resources within and across various youth-serving institutions. Advocacy organizations comprise crucial representational assets for all youth, but America's poorest children and youth especially need an effective voice to speak for and about them. Yet advocates for youth in urban areas face tough challenges since urban voters typically have few positive connections to youth. This article draws on three years of research focused on three organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area that have successfully advocated for better policies for youth. The authors explore the strategies that these organizations have employed to overcome the challenges they face, with particular attention to the advantages that follow from advocating at the local rather than at the state or federal level. [source] Protocols, particularities, and problematising Indigenous ,engagement' in community-based environmental management in settled AustraliaTHE GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2010JENNIFER CARTER Many Aboriginal Australians in regional and urban Australia hold attachments to their homelands that have been compromised by policies of removal and dispossession. Government agencies and community groups have ,protocols' for engaging with Aboriginal communities, but these protocols have been transferred from remote parts of Australia where land tenure and rights are relatively secure and people can readily claim their community of belonging. The efficacy and applicability of engagement protocols are rarely evaluated, and have not been evaluated with respect to the differing tenure regimes of settled Australia under which rights to land and its resources remain contested and unfolding. This paper describes research conducted in three study areas of regional Australia, where resource management practitioners apply projects according to engagement protocols transferred from remote Australia. Analysis of government and community-based documents, and interviews with agency staff and Aboriginal people, identifies that genuine participation, cultural awareness, agreement-making, appropriate representation and the unique place-based factors affecting engagement remain key barriers to effective engagement with Aboriginal people by institutions in urbanising Australia. In particular, appropriate representation and a need for place-based approaches emerge as critical to engagement in settled Australia. This paper recommends that engagement be considered as a multi-layered approach in which generic ,engagement' threads are selected and re-selected in different combinations to suit contexts, places and purposes. Thus each place-based engagement initiative is not readily typified at the local scale, but taken together, make up a regional mosaic of different engagement structures and processes. [source] Colored timed Petri nets for modeling and analysis of cluser tools,ASIAN JOURNAL OF CONTROL, Issue 3 2010NaiQi Wu Abstract In this paper, a colored timed resource-oriented Petri net (CTROPN) is developed to model the cluster tools in semiconductor fabrication. It is structurally simple and concise, since each module in a cluster tool corresponds to a unique place in CTROPN. It is also powerful in modeling the qualitative and temporal behavior of the cluster tools with a single-blade or dual-blade robot. The initial transient behavior, steady-state behavior and the final transient behavior can all be investigated through a single model. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society [source] Teaching of biochemistry in medical schoolBIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY EDUCATION, Issue 6 2008A well-trodden pathway? Abstract Biochemistry and molecular biology occupy a unique place in the medical school curriculum. They are frequently studied prior to medical school and are fundamental to the teaching of biomedical sciences in undergraduate medical education. These two circumstances, and the trend toward increased integration among the disciplines, have led to reconsideration of biochemistry instruction in many medical schools. We conducted a survey to explore the evolving trends in biochemistry education. A broad diversity was evident in parameters including course content, faculty, governance, prerequisites, and teaching methods. Notably, sharp differences were apparent between freestanding biochemistry courses and those in which biochemistry is integrated with other subjects. Furthermore, the data imply a likely trend toward increased integration of biochemistry with other disciplines in the medical school curriculum. [source] LIFE-CENTERED ETHICS, AND THE HUMAN FUTURE IN SPACEBIOETHICS, Issue 8 2009MICHAEL N. MAUTNER ABSTRACT In the future, human destiny may depend on our ethics. In particular, biotechnology and expansion in space can transform life, raising profound questions. Guidance may be found in Life-centered ethics, as biotic ethics that value the basic patterns of organic gene/protein life, and as panbiotic ethics that always seek to expand life. These life-centered principles can be based on scientific insights into the unique place of life in nature, and the biological unity of all life. Belonging to life then implies a human purpose: to safeguard and propagate life. Expansion in space will advance this purpose but will also raise basic questions. Should we expand all life or only intelligent life? Should we aim to create populations of trillions? Should we seed other solar systems? How far can we change but still preserve the human species, and life itself? The future of all life may be in our hands, and it can depend on our guiding ethics whether life will fulfil its full potentials. Given such profound powers, life-centered ethics can best secure future generations. Our descendants may then understand nature more deeply, and seek to extend life indefinitely. In that future, our human existence can find a cosmic purpose. [source] Lipase catalyzed synthesis of ester-based surfactants from biomass derivativesBIOFUELS, BIOPRODUCTS AND BIOREFINING, Issue 2 2008Sanjib Kumar Karmee Abstract Non-ionic surfactants find a unique place in pharmaceutical, detergent, food, and cosmetic industries because of their ready availability from biomass, low cost, and renewability. Generally these surfactants are esters obtained from the reaction of glycerol, L-ascorbic acid, and sugar, with long or medium chain fatty acids. Problems encountered during the synthesis of these surfactants are the immiscibility of highly polar substrates in organic solvents and non-regioselective reaction. Therefore, lipases as a catalyst and t -butanol or acetone, a mixture of solvent and ionic liquid as solvents, have been used for the synthesis of ester-based surfactants. This review focuses on the uses of lipases for the synthesis of surfactants obtained from biomass derivatives viz. fats and oils, sugar and vitamin-C. © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [source] | ||||||||||