The sequence: Inside the race for the human genome

The human genome project was a grand scientific enterprise which attracted both hyperbole and ridicule alike. The project was lauded as “the moon shot of the life sciences”, the “holy grail of man”, “the code of codes”, and “the book of life”. Such rhetoric has also received scorn. President George Bush senior managed to deflate the pretensions of the project with the accidental slip that it was the “human gnome initiative”. In The Sequence, Kevin Davies seeks to go beyond such metaphors, and provide a candid and honest account of the race of the human genome project. The author is indebted to the authoritative book The Gene Wars, which considered the early struggles over the human genome project. Robert Cook-Deegan observes that there was initially much debate over whether there should be a Human Genome Project at all: The debate became one of “big” science versus “small” science. The reliance on systematic technology development and goal-directed gene-mapping efforts presaged a new style for biology, one that elicited excitement from those attracted to whiz-bang technologies but drew gasps of revulsion from those who aspired to cultivate biology on a more modest scale and with decentralized organisation. The battle was, among other things, over whose vision would control the budget and which scientific aesthetic would prevail.

The race to patent the SARS virus: The TRIPS agreement and access to essential medicines

This article considers the race to sequence the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus ('the SARS virus') in light of the debate over patent law and access to essential medicines. Part II evaluates the claims of public research institutions in Canada, the United States, and Hong Kong, and commercial companies, to patent rights in respect of the SARS virus. It highlights the dilemma of ’defensive patenting' - the tension between securing private patent rights and facilitating public disclosure of information and research. Part III considers the race to patent the SARS virus in light of wider policy debates over gene patents. It examines the application of such patent criteria as novelty, inventive step, utility, and secret use. It contends that there is a need to reform the patent system to accommodate the global nature of scientific inquiry, the unique nature of genetics, and the pace of technological change. Part IV examines the role played by the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization in dealing with patent law and access to essential medicines. The article contends that there is a need to ensure that the patent system is sufficiently flexible and adaptable to accommodate international research efforts on infectious diseases.

Critically deconstructing race through a multimodal analysis of iPad Tellagami videos

Drawing on multimodal texts produced by an Indigenous school community in Australia, I apply critical race theory and multimodal analysis (Jewitt, 2011) to decolonise digital heritage practices for Indigenous students. This study focuses on the particular ways in which students’ counter-narratives about race were embedded in multimodal and digital design in the development of a digital cultural heritage (Giaccardi, 2012). Data analysis involved applying multimodal analysis to the students’ Gamis, following social semiotic categories and principles theorised by Kress and Bezemer (2008), and Jewitt (2006, 2011). This includes attending to the following semiotic elements: visual design, movement and gesture, gaze, and recorded speech, and their interrelationships. The analysis also draws on critical race theory to interpret the students’ representations of race. In particular, the multimodal texts were analysed as a site for students’ views of Indigenous oppression in relation to the colonial powers and ownership of the land in Australian history (Ladson-Billings, 2009). Pedagogies that explore counter-narratives of cultural heritage in the official curriculum can encourage students to reframe their own racial identity, while challenging dominant white, historical narratives of colonial conquest, race, and power (Gutierrez, 2008). The children’s multimodal “Gami” videos, created with the iPad application, Tellagami, enabled the students to imagine hybrid, digital social identities and perspectives of Australian history that were tied to their Indigenous cultural heritage (Kamberelis, 2001).

From Iron Horse to Rauta-airot - a Semiotic View on the Domestication of Metaphors in Literary Translation

The thesis concentrates on two questions: the translation of metaphors in literary texts, and the use of semiotic models and tools in translation studies. The aim of the thesis is to present a semiotic, text based model designed to ease the translation of metaphors and to analyze translated metaphors. In the translation of metaphors I will concentrate on the central problem of metaphor translations: in addition to its denotation and connotation, a single metaphor may contain numerous culture or genre specific meanings. How can a translator ensure the translation of all meanings relevant to the text as a whole? I will approach the question from two directions. Umberto Eco's holistic text analysis model provides an opportunity to concentrate on the problematic nature of metaphor translation from the level of a text as a specific entity, while George Lakoff's and Mark Johnson's metaphor research makes it possible to approach the question from the level of individual metaphors. On the semiotic side, the model utilizes Eero Tarasti's existential semiotics supported by Algirdas Greimas' actant model and Yuri Lotman's theory of cultural semiotics. In the model introduced in the thesis, individual texts are deconstructed through Eco's model into elements. The textual roles and features of these elements are distilled further through Tarasti's model into their coexistent meaning levels. The priorization and analysis of these meaning levels provide an opportunity to consider the contents and significance of specific metaphors in relation to the needs of the text as a whole. As example texts, I will use Motörhead's hard rock classic Iron Horse/Born to Lose and its translation into Rauta-airot by Viikate. I will use the introduced model to analyze the metaphors in the source and target texts, and to consider the transfer of culture specific elements between the languages and cultural borders. In addition, I will use the analysis process to examine the validity of the model introduced in the thesis.

Towards the development of a Cavendish banana resistant to race 4 of fusarium wilt: gamma irradiation of micropropagated Dwarf Parfitt (Musa spp., AAA group, Cavendish subgroup)

'Dwarf parfitt', an extra-dwarf Cavendish cultivar with resistance to subtropical race 4 fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense 9Foc), was gamma irradiated at a dose of 20 Gy and putative mutants were recovered with improved agronomic characteristics. Further screening of putative mutants for improved yield and fruit size, as well as a degree of resistence to fusarium wilt, led to the selection of a line (DPM25) with improved productivity when grown on soils infested with subtropical race 4 Foc. DPM25 was equal to the industry standard, 'Williams', in every agronomic trait measured and it consistently showed a lower incidence of fusarium wilt. Further improvement of field resistance to race 4 Foc is needed in DPM25 and further cycles of mutation induction and selction is an option discussed.

Characterization of disease resistance gene candidates of the nucleotide binding site (NBS) type from banana and correlation of a transcriptional polymorphism with resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense race 4

Most plant disease resistance (R) genes encode proteins with a nucleotide binding site and leucine-rich repeat structure (NBS-LRR). In this study, degenerate primers were used to amplify genomic NBS-type sequences from wild banana (Musa acuminata ssp. malaccensis) plants resistant to the fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum formae specialis (f. sp.) cubense (FOC) race 4. Five different classes of NBS-type sequences were identified and designated as resistance gene candidates (RGCs). The deduced amino acid sequences of the RGCs revealed the presence of motifs characteristic of the majority of known plant NBS-LRR resistance genes. Structural and phylogenetic analyses grouped the banana RGCs within the non-TIR (homology to Toll/interleukin-1 receptors) subclass of NBS sequences. Southern hybridization showed that each banana RGC is present in low copy number. The expression of the RGCs was assessed by RT-PCR in leaf and root tissues of plants resistant or susceptible to FOC race 4. RGC1, 3 and 5 showed a constitutive expression profile in both resistant and susceptible plants whereas no expression was detected for RGC4. Interestingly, RGC2 expression was found to be associated only to FOC race 4 resistant lines. This finding could assist in the identification of a FOC race 4 resistance gene.

The politics of race, class and special education: The selected works of Sally Tomlinson

Upon reading this esteemed collection of Sally Tomlinson’s works, published in Routledge’s prestigious World Library of Educationalists series, I was struck by three things. First, Sally is one of only three women among the 26 scholars whose collections have been published in this series to date, and the only scholar researching questions relating to disability and special education. Second, her early work on the sociology of special education Tomlinson, 1982) is just as pertinent today as her most recent research on the political scapegoating of low-attainers in a global knowledge economy (Tomlinson, 2012). Third, I was reminded of the extent to which her research has both inspired and guided me as I now grapple with the same research problems, albeit in a different country and at a different time, but always from a similar sociological standpoint (Graham & Jahnukainen, 2011; Graham & Sweller, 2011; Graham, 2012; Graham, 2014; Graham, Van Bergen & Sweller, 2014). Not surprisingly, the phrase that kept echoing through my head as I read through the 11 chapters chronicling a rich and immensely productive academic career was: ‘history repeats’. And, throughout the book are numerous examples and observations as to why it does. To paraphrase, the answer is power, status and politics.

Fenja Rost with two unidentified men on a horse drawn cart working on a farm Portraits Groups

Digital Image

Erich Gustav Baum (on right) with undientified man (maybe his father-in-law David Dublon?) standing next to a narrow cobblestone street full of horse-drawn carriages Portraits Men

Digital Image

Fluorescence And Nmr-Studies Of The Binding Of Cholinergic Fluorescent-Probes To Horse Serum-Cholinesterase

The interaction of the cholinergic fluorescent probes, 1-(5-dimethyl-aminoaphthalene-1-sulfonamido) ethane-2-trimethylammonium perchlorate, 1-(5-dimethylaminonaphthalene-1-sulfonamido) pentane-5-trimethylammonium tartarate and 1-(5-dimethylaminonaphthalene-1-sulfonamido) decane-10- trimethylammonium tartarate with horse serum cholinesterase has been examined by fluorescence and n.m.r. methods. Fluorescence titrations show binding of the decane derivative to two sites on the protein whereas the lower homologs bind largely to one site. Active site inhibitors like curbamylcholine and decamethonium abolish binding of the decane derivative to the high affinity site. The inhibitors are largely without effect on the binding of the lower homologs. N.m.r. studies clearly establish immobilization of both ends of the molecule on binding in the case of the decane derivative, whereas in the lower homologs the dimethylamino group on the naphthalene ring is significantly more affected in the presence of enzyme. The probes are effective inhibitors of the enzyme with the decane derivative being two orders of magnitude more effective than its lower homologs. Based on the n.m.r., fluorescence and inhibition studies, a model for probe binding to the enzyme is advanced. It appears that the decane derivative binds with high affinity to the catalytic anionic site while the lower affinity site is assigned to a peripheral anionic site. The lower homologs probe only the peripheral site. A comparison of fluorescence, n.m.r. and inhibition studies with acetylcholinesterases from electric eel and bovine erythrocytes is presented.

Management objectives of Queensland fisheries: Putting the horse before the cart

A review of future management arrangements for the Queensland East Coast Trawl fishery was undertaken in 2010 to develop a management plan for the next 10 years. A key question raised at the start of the review process was: what should the management plan achieve? As with fisheries management in most countries, multiple management objectives were implicit in policy statements, but were poorly specified in some areas (particularly social objectives) and strongly identified in others (e.g., an objective of sustainability). As a start to the management review process, an analysis of what objectives the management system should aim to achieve was undertaken. A review of natural resource management objectives employed internationally was used to develop a candidate list, and the objectives most relevant to the fishery were short-listed by a scientific advisory group. Additional objectives specific to Queensland fisheries management, but not identified in the international review, were also identified and incorporated into the objective set. The relative importance of the different objectives to different stakeholder groups was assessed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. As with other studies, the relative importance of the different objectives varied both within and between the different stakeholder groups, although general trends in preferences were observed.

Confirmed case of encephalitis caused by Murray Valley encephalitis virus infection in a horse

A 5-year-old Australian stock horse in Monto, Queensland, Australia, developed neurological signs and was euthanized after a 6-day course of illness. Histological examination of the brain and spinal cord revealed moderate to severe subacute, nonsuppurative encephalomyelitis. Sections of spinal cord stained positively in immunohistochemistry with a flavivirus-specific monoclonal antibody. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay targeting the envelope gene of flavivirus yielded positive results from brain, spinal cord, cerebrospinal fluid, and facial nerve. A flavivirus was isolated from the cerebrum and spinal cord. Nucleotide sequences obtained from amplicons from both tissues and virus isolated in cell culture were compared with those in GenBank and had 96-98% identity with Murray Valley encephalitis virus. The partial envelope gene sequence of the viral isolate clustered into genotype 1 and was most closely related to a previous Queensland isolate.