The Semiotic Body

Most bodies in this world do not have brains and the minority of animal species that do have brained bodies are descendents from species with more distributed or decentralized nervous systems. Thus, bodies were here first, and only relatively late in evolution did the bodies of a few species grow supplementary organs, brains, sophisticated enough to support a psychological life. Psychological life therefore from the beginning was embedded in and served as a tool for corporeal life. This paper discusses the semiotically controlled dynamics of bodily existence that has allowed the evolution of these seemingly ‘unnatural’ mental and even linguistic kinds of species. It is shown how the skin, on the one hand, makes us belong in the world, and on the other hand, is part of the huge landscape of membranes across which the semiotic self incessantly must be reconstituted. The discussion moves on to the intracellular world of signal transduction through which the activity of single cells are put to service for bodily needs. The paper further considers the mechanisms behind homeostasis and the semiotics of the psycho-neuro-endocrine integration in the body. The concept of semiotic emergence is introduced and a holistic marker hypothesis for why some animals may have an experiential life is suggested.

Towards Solutions for State vs. Local Community Conflicts Over Forestland: The Impact of Formal Recognition of User Rights in Krui, Sumatra, Indonesia

In 1998, a decree issued by the Indonesian government enabled communities in Krui, Indonesia, to register for concession rights over the area of state forest land planted with their agroforests. Registration would provide farmers with the legal right to manage and benefit from these agroforests. In 2005, we found that even though none of the Krui communities has ever formally applied for their concession rights, the decree has been instrumental in stopping outsiders’ attempts to appropriate these agroforests. Farmers within the state forest zone felt secure enough to continue investing in their complex agroforestry systems, while planting trees reinforced their feeling of security. We conclude that it is not the legal status of tenure, but the perception of tenure security that is of significance in people’s land-use decisions. These results are considered in the wider context of state–community conflicts over forest land in the tropics.

The Other Abortion Myth—the Failure of the Common Law

The 2006 trial of Suman Sood put criminal abortion on the public agenda for the first time in 25 years in NSW. Response to the case highlights tenacious myths about abortion law in Australia; namely that the common law “is an ass” that allows for abortion only by way of a lack of application of the law. By briefly explaining the history of abortion in Australia, I argue that the Sood case does not represent a general failure of the common law to allow abortion, nor does it support the popular myth that abortion is “technically” illegal, or that doctors who perform abortions have historically been the target of the criminal law in Australia. I show that contrary to myths promoted particularly around the 1998 Western Australian reforms, abortion has long been lawful in Australia, and the common law has merit compared to other regulatory regimes. Hence, arguments for alternative abortion regimes should not depend on myths which are shown to be unrepresentative of the political and legal situation in Australia.

Finding “Space” for Comanagement of Forests within the Neoliberal Paradigm: Rights,Strategies, and Tools for Asserting a Local Agenda

As neoliberalism continues to influence environmental governance, it affects notions about the appropriate level of community involvement in resource management. Under more recent iterations, hybrid forms of governance are emphasized, including government–civil society partnerships and approaches geared towards harnessing the strengths of local communities. Here we explore the characteristics of different resource management rights, strategies, and tools through which communities can find political space to assert their own agendas within a neoliberalized policy environment. We examine the successful use of some of these approaches by communities during the initial development of community forests policy and practice in British Columbia, Canada. While we confirm the complex, contingent and case-specific nature of opportunities for comanagement created through neoliberal policy elements, we suggest that space does exist for community forest bodies to assert local values, goals and strategies, demonstrating the creativity, ingenuity and determination of communities to attain a real voice in management.

The Ethics of Birth and Death: Gender Infanticide in India

This paper discusses the persistent devaluation of the girl child in India and the link between the entrenched perception of female valuelessness and the actual practice of infanticide of girl babies or foetuses. It seeks to place female infanticide, or ‘gendercide,’ within the context of Western-derived conceptions of ethics, justice and rights. To date, current ethical theories and internationally purveyed moral frameworks, as well as legal and political declarations, have fallen short of an adequate moral appraisal of infanticide. This paper seeks to rethink the issue.

Why Folkbiology Matters: Resource Conflict Despite Shared Goals and Knowledge

There is a continuing controversy over Native American fishing and hunting rights. We show that Native American (Menominee) and European American fish experts have a common knowledge base and share values and attitudes associated with fishing practices (though organized around different ethical principles). Nonetheless, perceived group differences are dramatic (especially European American perceptions of Native Americans). Cultural differences in models of nature and associated inference processes appear to mediate these stereotypes and may hold the key to reducing intergroup conflict over resources.

Leitlinien zur molekulargenetischen Diagnostik: Fragiles-X und Fragiles-X assoziiertes Tremor/Ataxie Syndrom

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Donor Perspectives on Issues Associated with Donation of Genetic Samples and Information: An Australian Viewpoint

This paper provides a legal overview of key issues associated with donation of genetic samples and information from a donor perspective. In particular, it addresses the property status of samples as well as issues in respect of consent, privacy, commercialisation and benefit sharing. The paper highlights the need for appropriate protection and safeguards for individuals, but also, importantly, for understanding what donors actually think and want in terms of genetic research and the use of their samples and information. The paper seeks to emphasise the importance of transparency and accountability in the conduct of research in order to maximise donor participation and confidence and public trust in general.

Community Based Fisheries Management and Fisher Livelihoods: Bangladesh Case Studies

Poor fishers in Bangladesh have been disadvantaged by policies that favored powerful people leasing fishing rights. Community-based management was expected to improve fisher access, livelihoods, and the sustainability of fisheries. The impacts of community management in three floodplain waterbodies differed according to the environment and property rights. Where a set of fishers jointly held exclusive rights to a small enclosed lake they increased production by stocking fish and shared the returns. This strategy is productive but attracts competition for profits and fish consumption was unchanged. Access to capture fisheries in floodplain waterbodies enables the poor to catch diverse small fish for their consumption. Yet sustainability requires limits on fishing. Fish sanctuaries were respected, yet catches per day fell when more people from several villages increased fishing effort in a large wetland, while a tightly knit community restored the fishery in a smaller floodplain. Community organizations will need recognition of their long-term use rights to overcome future threats.

The Use of Human Tissue

The use of human tissue raises ethical issues of great concern to health care professionals, biomedical researchers, ethics committees, tissue banks and policy makers because of the heightened importance given to informed consent and patient autonomy. The debate has been intensified by high profile scandals such as the “baby hearts” debacle and revelations about the retention of human brains in neuropathology laboratories worldwide. Respect for patient’s rights seems, however, to impede research and development of clinical knowledge in contemporary health care. The Common clinical endeavour argument and a Presumption for beneficial use argument suggest that the use of tissues for research and teaching in contemporary health care can respect patients and their values in multicultural communities where there are provisions for oversight and for opting not to contribute, both of which should respect the diverse views of different ethnic or cultural groups.

Individual variability of behavioural responses by Wandering Albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) to human disturbance

Sub-Antarctic Marion Island has had a permanent research station for 50 years and the islands Wandering Albatrosses have been intensively studied for 20 years. The reactions of breeding birds to approaches by a human on foot were recorded. Three response variables were calculated: intensity of vocal reaction (IVR), intensity of non-vocal reaction (INR) and overall response index (ORI). At 5 m from the nest, twice as many birds stood and/or vocalised as at 15 m. Nearest neighbour distance, age and gender did not explain individual variability of responses. Study colony birds had higher IVR scores than non-study colony birds; birds at colonies closest to the station had the highest ORI scores. A better breeding record was associated with lower IVR and ORI scores, but a causative relationship remains to be demonstrated. A minimum viewing distance of 25 m is recommended for breeding Wandering Albatrosses.

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Does Tenure Matter? A Comparative Analysis of Agricultural Expansion in the Mosquitia Forest Corridor

This article compares how public protection of forests and common-property forest institutions serve to control outside encroachment into frontier forests in Honduras and Nicaragua. The article combines institutional analysis with ethnographically based fieldwork and analysis of land-cover images to evaluate how property-rights arrangements influence monitoring, enforcement, and compliance with rules to restrict agricultural expansion in two biosphere reserves in the Mosquitia Corridor. Findings show that territorial demarcation and common-property rights are important components for frontier forest conservation. In areas with weak enforcement mechanisms and heavy reliance on social norms over official regulatory measures, the findings suggest that the perceived legitimacy of tenure arrangements and their respective land-use rules are fundamental to controlling the agricultural frontier.

The connectionist framework for gene regulation

I show that gene regulation networks are qualitatively consistent and therefore sufficiently similar to linearly seperable connectionist networks to warrant that the connectionist framework be applied to gene regulation. On this view, natural selection designs gene regulation networks to overcome the difficulty of development. I offer some general lessons about their evolvability that can be learned by examining the generic features of connectionist networks.

“We are Zambians—Don’t Tell Us How to Fish!” Institutional Change,Power Relations and Conflicts in the Kafue Flats Fisheries in Zambia

Many scholars claim that open access due to the effective absence of state control is the major reason for the overuse of common-pool resources such as fisheries. Based on data from the Kafue Flats fisheries in Zambia, we argue that the main problem in open-access situations is the paradox of a state that is simultaneously absent and present: present in actions that dismantle local fishery institutions but absent when it comes to the ability to enforce the laws that might protect the resources. Thus, the state is present in the voice of immigrants from other parts of the country who use their Zambian citizenship to legitimize free access to the fisheries. But it is absent when the Department of Fisheries is not able to enforce its own formal rules or control these immigrants’ activities. Local groups are unable to act collectively to reinstall new institutions due to the absence of formal law enforcement. This paper analyses this historic process of institutional change within the theoretical framework of New Institutionalism. We test the hypothesis that the main reason for the lack of local collective action in the Kafue Flats is ideology (the notion of citizenship) strengthening the bargaining power of external actors, who profit most from open access constellations.

Hennigian Phylogenetic Systematics and the ‘Groundplan’ vs. ‘Post-Groundplan’ Approaches: A Reply to Kukalová-Peck

The recent contribution by Jarmila Kukalová-Peck on Hennigian phylogenetics and hexapod limb evolution is critically evaluated.

Consistency principle in biological dynamical systems

We propose a principle of consistency between different hierarchical levels of biological systems. Given a consistency between molecule replication and cell reproduction, universal statistical laws on cellular chemical abundances are derived and confirmed experimentally. They include a power law distribution of gene expressions, a lognormal distribution of cellular chemical abundances over cells, and embedding of the power law into the network connectivity distribution. Second, given a consistency between genotype and phenotype, a general relationship between phenotype fluctuations by genetic variation and isogenic phenotypic fluctuation by developmental noise is derived. Third, we discuss the chaos mechanism for stem cell differentiation with autonomous regulation, resulting from a consistency between cell reproduction and growth of the cell ensemble.

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