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Particular Function (particular + function)
Selected AbstractsGuilty Bodies, Productive Bodies, Destructive Bodies: Crossing the Biometric BordersINTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2007CHARLOTTE EPSTEIN This article examines the forms of power brought into play by the deployment of biometrics under the lenses of Foucault's notions of discipline and biopower. These developments are then analyzed from the perspective of governmentality, highlighting how the broader spread of biometrics throughout the social fabric owes not merely to the convergence of public and private surveillance, but rather to a deeper logic of power under the governmental state, orchestrated by the security function, which ultimately strengthens the state. It is associated with the rise of a new governmentality discourse, which operates on a binary logic of productive/destructive, and where, in fact, the very distinctions between private and public, guilty, and innocent,classic categories of sovereignty,find decreasing currency. However, biometric borders reveal a complicated game of renegotiations between sovereignty and governmentality, whereby sovereignty is colonized by governmentality on the one hand, but still functions as a counterweight to it on the other. Furthermore, they bring out a particular function of the "destructive body" for the governmental state: it is both the key figure ruling the whole design of security management, and the blind spot, the inconceivable, for a form of power geared toward producing productive bodies. [source] A SeqA hyperstructure and its interactions direct the replication and sequestration of DNAMOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2000V. Norris A level of explanation in biology intermediate between macromolecules and cells has recently been proposed. This level is that of hyperstructures. One class of hyperstructures comprises the genes, mRNA, proteins and lipids that assemble to fulfil a particular function and disassemble when no longer required. To reason in terms of hyperstructures, it is essential to understand the factors responsible for their formation. These include the local concentration of sites on DNA and their cognate DNA-binding proteins. In Escherichia coli, the formation of a SeqA hyperstructure via the phenomenon of local concentration may explain how the binding of SeqA to hemimethylated GATC sequences leads to the sequestration of newly replicated origins of replication. [source] On the importance of the negative selection effect for the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioningOIKOS, Issue 4 2008Lin Jiang Much of our knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning comes from studies examining the effects of biodiversity on biomass production within a trophic group. A large number of these studies have found that increasing biodiversity tends to increase biomass production, leading many ecologists to believe that there exists a general positive relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Here we argue that such a positive relationship may not be general, particularly for ecosystem functions other than biomass. Our argument centers on the potential importance of the negative selection effect, which operates where competitively dominant species do not contribute significantly to the function of interest. We suggest that negative selection effects may be potentially common for non-biomass functions, for which species competitive ability may often be a poor indictor of its functional impact. We conclude that diverse (positive, negative, and neutral) BEF relationships are possible for non-biomass functions and that for a particular function, the exact form of the BEF relationship may depend on how species functional impacts relate to their competitive abilities in the community. [source] Fatty acid composition and analysis of freshwater caridean shrimp Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan) during spermiogenesisAQUACULTURE RESEARCH, Issue 8 2010Da-Hui Wang Abstract We analysed fatty acids (FAs) composition and the potential functions of FAs in hepatopancreas and testis of freshwater caridean shrimp Macrobrachium nipponense during testis development. The hepatopancreas presented a high unsaturated FA content of about 40%, whereas the testis showed a high level of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) with a decreasing content of 97,86% of total FAs during maturation. Several specific FAs in testis showed significant changes throughout maturation. Among SFAs, C14:0 contributed with a relatively constant high proportion of about 22%, whereas C16:0 and C18:0 contents were also at high levels but showed significant increases during maturation. Representatives of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs), such as C18:1n-9, C18:2n-6, C20:5n-3 (EPA), C20:4n-6 (AA) and C22:6n-3 (DHA) showed significant increases despite their low proportion in the gonad. These results suggest that a high content of HUFAs in hepatopancreas may represent a reservoir for sperm production. The FA C14:0 may provide a particular function. The variations of the FA profile in testis at different developmental stages reveals that C18:1n-9, C18:2n-6, C20:5n-3, C20:4n-6 and C22:6n-3 may play important roles in spermiogenesis. [source] Pannexins, distant relatives of the connexin family with specific cellular functions?BIOESSAYS, Issue 9 2009Catheleyne D'hondt Abstract Intercellular communication (IC) is mediated by gap junctions (GJs) and hemichannels, which consist of proteins. This has been particularly well documented for the connexin (Cx) family. Initially, Cxs were thought to be the only proteins capable of GJ formation in vertebrates. About 10 years ago, however, a new GJ-forming protein family related to invertebrate innexins (Inxs) was discovered in vertebrates, and named the pannexin (Panx) family. Panxs, which are structurally similar to Cxs, but evolutionarily distinct, have been shown to be co-expressed with Cxs in vertebrates. Both protein families show distinct properties and have their own particular function. Identification of the mechanisms that control Panx channel gating is a major challenge for future work. In this review, we focus on the specific properties and role of Panxs in normal and pathological conditions. [source] Public authority liability in negligence: the continued search for coherenceLEGAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2006Stephen Bailey The liability of public authorities in negligence continues to be a problematic area of the law. Some of the difficulties have been caused by the adoption by the courts of unnecessary and unworkable tests, in addition to the ordinary principles of the law of negligence. This is normally done to restrict liability, as with the policy,operational dichotomy, and the propositions that no liability can arise in respect of an act that ,falls within the ambit of a statutory discretion' or where the matter is non-justiciable. Sometimes the intention seems to be to extend liability, as with the suggestion that, generally, a duty of care may arise where there is an irrational failure to exercise a statutory power. Recent cases have helpfully continued the process of removing these special rules, leaving matters to be dealt with by the ordinary principles of negligence. Those principles enable proper account to be taken of the particular functions and responsibilities of public authorities. However, the cases remain difficult and the outcomes can still give rise to debate and disagreement. Insofar as there is a good case for extending the range of situations in which compensation is available in respect of the careless or unlawful acts of public authorities, it would be better to develop ex gratia schemes and the provision of remedies through ombudsmen than to extend the law of tort. [source] Transitions in function at low Reynolds number: hair-bearing animal appendagesMATHEMATICAL METHODS IN THE APPLIED SCIENCES, Issue 17-18 2001M. A. R. Koehl Abstract Many types of animals use appendages bearing arrays of hair-like structures to capture molecules (e.g. olfactory antennae, gills) or particles (e.g. suspension-feeding appendages) from the surrounding water or air, and to locomote or move fluid past themselves. The performance of these functions depends on how much of the fluid encountered by the array of hairs flows through the gaps between the hairs rather than around the perimeter of the whole array. By modelling such arrays of hairs as rows of finite width of cylinders operating at low Reynolds numbers, the fluid velocity fields with respect to the hairs were calculated. Such models revealed a transition from non-leaky to leaky behaviour as Re was increased. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief review of the features of this transition as revealed by models, and then to describe examples of how animals use the transition in fluid flow to perform particular functions: rejection of captured material by copepods, and sniffing by lobsters. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Emmprin (basigin/CD147): Matrix metalloproteinase modulator and multifunctional cell recognition molecule that plays a critical role in cancer progressionPATHOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 7 2006Kazuki Nabeshima Emmprin (basigin, CD147) is a cell surface glycoprotein that belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily. It is highly expressed on the surface of tumor cells and stimulates adjacent fibroblasts or tumor cells to produce matrix metalloproteinases. Moreover, it has recently been shown that emmprin also stimulates expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and hyaluronan, which leads to angiogenesis and anchorage-independent growth/multidrug resistance, respectively. These findings have made emmprin an important molecule in tumor progression and, thus, more attractive as a target for antitumor treatment. However, other functions of emmprin, including as an activator of T cells, a chaperone for monocarboxylate transporters, a receptor for cyclophilin A and a neural recognition molecule, are also being identified in physiological and pathological conditions. Therefore, it is essential to develop specific means to control particular functions of emmprin, for which elucidation of each mechanism is crucial. This review will discuss the role of emmprin in tumor progression and recent advances in the molecular mechanisms of diverse phenomena regulated by emmprin. [source] | ||||||||||