In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Hume Studies Volume 29, Number 2, November 2003, pp. 223-266 A Diplomatic Transcription of Hume's "volunteer pamphlet" for Archibald Stewart: Political Whigs, Religious Whigs, and Jacobites M. A. BOX, DAVID HARVEY, AND MICHAEL SILVERTHORNE Many scholars interested in David Hume will have encountered his defense of the beleaguered Archibald Stewart as it appears in an appendix in John Valdimir Price's The Ironic Hume (Austin: University of Texas Press, (...) 1965). Additionally they might know of Price's discussion for The Biblioteck of 1973 of a copy with manuscript markings. A reason for revisiting this pamphlet is that the National Library of Scotland has graciously given permission to reproduce a copy (shelfmark NE.10.e.4) featuring a preface and significant markings in manuscript not in the copy that Price reproduced in his book. As Hume assumes considerable familiarity with the events to which he alludes, we have annotated the text to make it fully intelligible to readers two and half centuries after its composition. The rudimentary bibliographic facts and mysteries are as follows. Two editions survive to us, an octavo (in fours) and a rare duodecimo. Although there is no reason to regard the duodecimo as a second edition correcting or augmenting a first edition, it probably was manufactured after, and was textually derivative from, the octavo. We know nothing of the publishing of M. A. Box is Associate Professor of English, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, PO Box 755720, Fairbanks, AK 99775-5720, USA. David Harvey is at the Classics Department, University of Exeter, Queen's Building, Queen's Drive, Exeter EX4 4QH, UK. Michael Silverthorne is Associate Professor of History, McGiIl University, Stephen Leacock Building, 855 Sherbrooke St. West, Montreal H3A 2T7, Canada, e-mail: [email protected] 224 M. A. Box, David Harvey, and Michael Silverthorne the duodecimo, and doubtless that is as its producers intended. Its title page indicates, like that of the octavo, that the printing was done "for M. Cooper" in 1748, but William Strahan's ledgers register the printing in December 1747 of only the octavo in an edition of 1000 copies.1 The job is listed under bookseller Andrew Millar's account, not Mary Cooper's, probably for the reason that Cooper was a front whose role was to screen the true producers. It is possible that Millar hired someone other than Strahan to print the duodecimo, but it is also possible that someone other than Millar had it printed to mimic the octavo and take the opportunity it offered for concealment.2 A different editorial judgment is evinced in the duodecimo in that cosmetic measures are taken in it to obscure the identities of two military men ridiculed. For example, "Fowke" is rendered as "F—" and "John Cope" as "J-C-----." A digression on Mary Cooper is in order. This remarkable woman (died 1761) took over her husband Thomas's business upon his death 9 February 1743. That business had a history of "publishing" pamphlets and therefore made a plausible front for Millar, who in at least thirty-six other instances, none requiring courage, was willing to have his name appear on a title page with "M. Cooper." (This figure derives from a search by imprints using the English Short-Title Catalogue.) Until Thomas Cooper died, his name appeared on editions of John Armstrong's The Oeconomy of Love (1736 and thereafter) though only Millar's name is listed in the Stationers' Register (Foxon, English Verse A303-A311), and Mary's name is on the title page of the 1753 edition for which Strahan charged Millar (Strahan Papers, Add. MS 48800, s.v. August 1753). It was perhaps in this pattern that the second edition of Hume's heterodox Philosophical Essays (1750) would be reissued in 1751 with a new title page replacing Millar's name with Cooper's. That book was made temporarily a more alarming property by the superstitious panic of the London populace following the winter earthquakes in 1750, presaged by a bloody cloud. Within that year Bishop Thomas Sherlock caused a stir with a pastoral letter (A Letter from the Lord Bishop of London) blaming the earthquakes on several iniquities, "particularly heretical books" (Walpole, Correspondence 20... (shrink)

This chapter talks about the symbols used in the diplomatic transcriptions that are described in the other chapters of the book. The symbols used are divided into three categories: corrections, deletion marks and underlinings. Some of the corrections that are made are insertion of a space between two words and text overwritten by hand on an erased typed text. The deletion marks like single deletion mark, double or multiple deletion mark are used. The underlines like dash, single, double, (...) wavy and double wavy underlines are used. (shrink)

This paper presents two hitherto unknown dream reports by Ludwig Wittgenstein, written down by him in October 1942. The two reports are introduced by the title “Ein Traum” and found in his Nachlass item Ms-126, pages 21–26. They are edited here in parallel diplomatic and linear, gently normalized transcription. Facsimiles of the pages containing the reports can be viewed on Wittgenstein Source where they were published in the spring of 2016.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The First (1996) Edition of the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre: A ReviewEdward ChamplinWerner Eck, Antonio Caballos, and Fernando Fernández, eds. Das Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre. Munich: C. H. Beck, 1996. xiv 1 329 pp. 20 pls. Cloth, DM 142. (Vestigia 48)Can a committee write a report? Yes and no. The question of authorship is relevant as much to the book under review as to the (...) extraordinary text which it presents.The document is a very long Latin inscription (176 lines) recording a decree of the Senate passed late in a.d. 20 after the trial, suicide, and posthumous condemnation of Cn. Calpurnius Piso, the former legate of Syria. Copies began to turn up, all within the boundaries of Roman Baetica, in the late 1980s, one virtually complete, one partial, and fragments of some four or five other versions. Appropriately, their first publication has appeared in two versions, the one under review here in German, the other in Spanish. Most of the material is shared by both volumes, but the German edition adds a concluding chapter on the political importance of the document, while the Spanish version has considerably more on the physical properties of the bronze tablets and on the Spanish historical context—and on it the authors’ names are offered in alphabetical order. The German text scrupulously presents itself throughout as having three authors, and no hint is given as to who was responsible for which section. Let us speculate. The first three chapters, on the origins of the texts, on their physical condition, along with diplomatic transcriptions of each copy, and on the reconstruction and translation of the original text as received in Baetica, may represent the work of a team, but the subsequent chapters (4, prosopographical information; 5, the date of the trial; 6, commentary; 7, the transmission of the text to and within Baetica; and 8, the senatus consultum as political document) all bear the clear imprint of Werner Eck. That is, the prose is lapidary (Eck seems incapable of ambiguity or ellipsis); the erudition is [End Page 117] formidable; the argumentation is thorough, balanced, and imaginative; and the relative rapidity of publication is astonishing. Above all, Eck has made the book a work of truly international collaboration: between 1991 and 1996 he discussed the text at colloquia and at seminars in 38 universities (“among others”); some 60 scholars are thanked for help and criticism; and the notes are replete with specific acknowledgments to these and yet others for written and verbal comments and for reviews of unpublished work. The result is a formidable edition, clearly setting out the terms for future debates. Thus, appropriately for a decree of the Senate, the book is the work of one author, or of three, or of scores: for convenience we will call the author(s) E.As word of the SCPP’s discovery spread, scholarly excitement grew, for two reasons, one historiographical, one historical. Here is a contemporary version of a dramatic crisis familiar from the riveting account in Tacitus (Ann. 2.41–3.19): the bitter enmity between Tiberius’ legate Piso and Tiberius’ nephew and adopted son Germanicus Caesar, the suspicious death of Germanicus in 19, Piso’s trial and suicide, the passions of the plebs, the tensions within the domus Augusta and the Senate, and the brooding ambiguity of the princeps. Hence we can perhaps peer over the shoulder of Rome’s greatest historian in his study as he selects and shapes his material. At the same time, we are also offered a posed, but vivid and detailed, snapshot of power and ideology in the new principate at a time when the roles of the partners in government—that is, the princeps, his colleague (if any), and the Senate—are still being defined and the threat of civil war is still a real terror. And beyond these the document is a trove of information, constitutional, administrative, legal (both private and criminal), economic, linguistic, religious, prosopographical, topographical. To take but one instance, light is cast on several words in the evolving vocabulary of power, for here we find the earliest use of the word donativum in the sense of... (shrink)

ABSTRACT When examining Nietzsche's Nachlass from 1885–89, international Nietzsche scholarship still predominantly relies on the Colli/Montinari edition of these writings, even though a new historico-critical edition of the Nachlass that fulfills the standards of current textual criticism is being published since 2001: KGW IX. In this article we want to outline the philological considerations that led to this new critical edition with its “diplomatic transcription” of Nietzsche's late “manuscripts.” In a second step, we demonstrate the consequences of KGW IX (...) for the interpretation of Nietzsche's Nachlass and his late published writings. It is our aim to show that the complexity of Nietzsche's writing in his sketches and drafts from 1885–89 makes any philosophical approach untenable that ignores this complexity—at least under a philological perspective. (shrink)

A detailed study of a probably 10th century Tibetan tantric text, including critical editions, diplomatic transcriptions, introductory materials, and other historical analysis.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Social and Moral Aspects of the WarBertrand Russell and Introduced by Andrew G. BoneAmong nine loose-leaf folders of typed transcriptions of Russell's History of Western Philosophy lectures at the Barnes Foundation1 are two copies of a fourteen-page stenographic record of a political talk he gave there on 2 March 1941.2 The bulk of this significant new accrual to the Russell Archives, bearing as it does on Russell's most (...) successful philosophical work, could stimulate much further research and textual study. But his isolated Barnes lecture, about the politics of American neutrality, Nazi Germany's brutal and expansionist dictatorship, and the causes and possible consequences of the war against it, is also of considerable interest.The transcription reads more like detailed notes than a verbatim account, and there is no evidence that Russell approved this text.3 The stenographer initially recorded Russell in the third person, dispensed with this device before the second [End Page 52] paragraph, but then occasionally returned to it.4 There is also more enumeration of Russell's points than he would have supplied in a prepared script. Even the title may not be his: there is nothing in the text on any social changes wrought by the war. But this title has been retained in the absence of a more plausible alternative in a short report of the speech (quoting sixteen sentences) in the next day's Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.5 Russell's hour-long address on the "Social and Moral Aspects of the War" appears to have been the only occasion when he "laid philosophy aside"6 at the Barnes Foundation. It was delivered on a Sunday to an audience of 160 students (and possibly some invitees, although none are mentioned in the newspaper article), sandwiched between two of his weekly philosophical lectures (on Socrates and Sparta7) in the series scheduled for each Thursday.In opening his case for the United States joining the Allied war effort, Russell challenged the arguments for the "policy of conciliation" which, by his own recent admission in the New York Times,8 he had earlier endorsed. Published two weeks before Russell spoke on a similar topic at the Barnes Foundation, this 2,000-word letter to the editor served as a very detailed and public renunciation of the pacifist viewpoint—neutrality for national governments combined with non-resistance for individuals—which Russell had promoted in Which Way to Peace? (1936) and continued to condone after the Munich Agreement (September 1938) and even the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia (March 1939).Yet Russell the "relative political pacifist"9 also admitted in this most programmatic statement of his prewar position that "In other times and other circumstances, I should be prepared to consider gains and losses, and to concede that war might be worth while" (WWP, pp. 151–2).That moment had obviously arrived and may have done so already when on 15 October 1939 Russell confided to Constance Malleson that his passionate desire for a British victory made a "thorough-going pacifism difficult" (ra Rec. Acq. 596). But six months later he still did "not feel sufficiently sure of the opposite to say anything publicly by way of recantation"—before adding in this letter to Gilbert Murray that "it may come to that" (21 April 1940, ra Rec. Acq. 71g). It clearly did shortly afterwards—when the "phoney war" in Western Europe was dramatically ended by the invasion of France and the [End Page 53] Low Countries. On 13 May Russell asked the editor of the New Statesman and Nation to notify its readers that he had abandoned his once strongly held pacifist convictions.10In his lecture to the Barnes Foundation, Russell turned next to the defence of American non-intervention by Robert M. Hutchins (see n. 16 below)—which he had already critiqued in the New York Times. Although rather precariously situated as a resident alien in the United States, Russell was hardly circumspect about pushing a policy that so sharply divided American opinion.11 He also listed the faults of the League of Nations and the most grievous diplomatic mistakes made since the end of the last war and the fatally... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Social and Moral Aspects of the WarBertrand Russell and Introduced by Andrew G. BoneAmong nine loose-leaf folders of typed transcriptions of Russell's History of Western Philosophy lectures at the Barnes Foundation1 are two copies of a fourteen-page stenographic record of a political talk he gave there on 2 March 1941.2 The bulk of this significant new accrual to the Russell Archives, bearing as it does on Russell's most (...) successful philosophical work, could stimulate much further research and textual study. But his isolated Barnes lecture, about the politics of American neutrality, Nazi Germany's brutal and expansionist dictatorship, and the causes and possible consequences of the war against it, is also of considerable interest.The transcription reads more like detailed notes than a verbatim account, and there is no evidence that Russell approved this text.3 The stenographer initially recorded Russell in the third person, dispensed with this device before the second [End Page 52] paragraph, but then occasionally returned to it.4 There is also more enumeration of Russell's points than he would have supplied in a prepared script. Even the title may not be his: there is nothing in the text on any social changes wrought by the war. But this title has been retained in the absence of a more plausible alternative in a short report of the speech (quoting sixteen sentences) in the next day's Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.5 Russell's hour-long address on the "Social and Moral Aspects of the War" appears to have been the only occasion when he "laid philosophy aside"6 at the Barnes Foundation. It was delivered on a Sunday to an audience of 160 students (and possibly some invitees, although none are mentioned in the newspaper article), sandwiched between two of his weekly philosophical lectures (on Socrates and Sparta7) in the series scheduled for each Thursday.In opening his case for the United States joining the Allied war effort, Russell challenged the arguments for the "policy of conciliation" which, by his own recent admission in the New York Times,8 he had earlier endorsed. Published two weeks before Russell spoke on a similar topic at the Barnes Foundation, this 2,000-word letter to the editor served as a very detailed and public renunciation of the pacifist viewpoint—neutrality for national governments combined with non-resistance for individuals—which Russell had promoted in Which Way to Peace? (1936) and continued to condone after the Munich Agreement (September 1938) and even the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia (March 1939).Yet Russell the "relative political pacifist"9 also admitted in this most programmatic statement of his prewar position that "In other times and other circumstances, I should be prepared to consider gains and losses, and to concede that war might be worth while" (WWP, pp. 151–2).That moment had obviously arrived and may have done so already when on 15 October 1939 Russell confided to Constance Malleson that his passionate desire for a British victory made a "thorough-going pacifism difficult" (ra Rec. Acq. 596). But six months later he still did "not feel sufficiently sure of the opposite to say anything publicly by way of recantation"—before adding in this letter to Gilbert Murray that "it may come to that" (21 April 1940, ra Rec. Acq. 71g). It clearly did shortly afterwards—when the "phoney war" in Western Europe was dramatically ended by the invasion of France and the [End Page 53] Low Countries. On 13 May Russell asked the editor of the New Statesman and Nation to notify its readers that he had abandoned his once strongly held pacifist convictions.10In his lecture to the Barnes Foundation, Russell turned next to the defence of American non-intervention by Robert M. Hutchins (see n. 16 below)—which he had already critiqued in the New York Times. Although rather precariously situated as a resident alien in the United States, Russell was hardly circumspect about pushing a policy that so sharply divided American opinion.11 He also listed the faults of the League of Nations and the most grievous diplomatic mistakes made since the end of the last war and the fatally... (shrink)

The aim of this article is to elucidate on the role of Georg Kopp, the Bishop of Fulda and later the Bishop of Wrocław, in ending the Kulturkampf, which was the conflict between the German government and the Holy See. The source material is drawn from the German Bishops’ Conferences files, the transcripts of the Sessions of the House of Lords of Prussia and the evaluation materials of Bishop Kopp by his contemporaries. The West German historians dealt with the subject (...) of Kulturkampf after 1945. Also, Polish historians, including Jerzy Krasuski, discussed the issue in the light of its influence on the Polish territories. Despite Hans-Georg Aschoff’ biography, Bishop Kopp’s role in the Kulturkampf has not been sufficiently present, especially in Polish historiography. This article aims to fill that gap. General conclusions were formulated based on the source analysis and the literature on the subject. At the end of the 1870s, Otto von Bismarck, the German Chancellor, decided to put an end to the conflict with the Church. The negotiations on lifting the anti-Church Kulturkampf legislation occurred through the diplomatic channels between the government in Berlin and the Roman Curia. In 1882, there was a conflict in the Prussian bishopric because Georg Kopp turned out to be a supporter of concessions to the government. After this experience, he became involved in the negotiations in Rome. In 1880, 1882 and 1883, the so-called “mitigating laws” were passed to end the Kulturkampf policy. After the third law had been passed, there was an impasse in the relations between Berlin and the Holy See, as a result of which both sides had to make concessions. Kopp continued his diplomatic mission without the knowledge of other bishops and politicians from the Centre Party. However, his attempt to negotiate in the House of Lords was unsuccessful. The initiative was then taken over by Otto von Bismarck and due to his efforts the so-called First Peace Act was passed in May 1886. Some bishops criticized Bishop Kopp for his involvement. Yet, under the pressure from the Pope, the Center Party supported the Bismarck project. Thanks to Kopp’s efforts, who took responsibility for the decisions unpopular in the Church circles, Bismarck managed to end up the Kulturkampf policy. (shrink)

Commodore Perry’s expedition to Japan in 1853–1854 was more than just a diplomatic mission: it also had scientific objectives and for the officers and crews it was in addition an opportunity to do some shopping. Among the goods bought in Japan were various books, some of which were donated to the American Oriental Society. In 1855 the Lippincott Company of Philadelphia published a facsimile of a Japanese illustrated book, which had first been published in 1740, with accompanying transcription and (...) partial translation. This was the work of Joseph Wilson MD, a naval surgeon who served on one of the ships that took part in the Perry Expedition. In this article I consider why this facsimile was published, how Wilson managed to learn sufficient Japanese to undertake the translation, and what its reception was. Why did it sell so few copies, why did the reviewers focus on botany, and why did it not stimulate an interest in the academic study of Japan? Why, for that matter, were no articles on Japan published in JAOS between 1855 and 1910? This article explores the hesitant start to American japanology by examining the fate of the first Japanese book printed anywhere in the world outside Japan. (shrink)

Current Wittgenstein scholarship is marked by a striking discrepancy. The Bergen electronic edition, which has been published starting in 1998, is now completed and has dramatically changed the field of Wittgenstein philology. Wittgenstein's entire writings are available in easily accessible facsimiles as well as in carefully prepared diplomatic and normalized transcriptions. This is nothing less than a quantum leap for anyone involved in going beyond the surface of the volumes published from the "Nachlass" by the Trustees, some of (...) which have been shown to require philological revision. The search facilities included in the Bergen edition are unique in providing almost instant access to all the data parsed by arbitrary queries. The very scope of the enterprise, offering a comprehensive, multi-layered digital rendition of the Wittgenstein corpus goes far beyond anything we can expect from traditional editions, including Michael Nedo's "WienerAusgabe", in our lifetime. And yet -- this is the discrepancy alluded to -- a significant number of recent books on Wittgenstein does not even mention the Bergen edition. "The New Wittgenstein", a collection of essays published in 2000 contains a bibliography faithfully reproducing all "primary sources", but lacking any reference to the digitized Nachlass. "Wittgenstein in America", a prestigious collection from 2001 -- ironically published by Oxford University Press -- does not do better and the same situation holds for the German language literature. To pick just two examples: neither Eike von Savigny's reader on the "Philosophische Untersuchungen", nor Wilhelm Vossenkuhl's corresponding volume on the "Tractatus" contain any pointer to the Bergen project. Something strange is, clearly, going on here. (shrink)

Ever since the publication of the third edition of Rudolph Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica (BHK3) to the present gradual production of the Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ) so-called editiones criticae minores of the Hebrew Bible are diplomatic editions. The Codex Leningradensis, dating from 1008/9 CE, is used as the base text, and the Biblia Hebraica text editors note significant variants in other Hebrew manuscripts and/or the ancient versions in eclectic fashion in a text-critical apparatus. The Hebrew University Bible Project (HUPB) also (...) publishes a diplomatic text based on the Codex Aleppo but with a more detailed text-critical apparatus. The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Editio n (HBCE) follows a different route, traditionally more familiar in the production of critical editions of the Septuagint and New Testament, namely to publish an eclectic edition. The text editors produce a theoretical, reconstructed text of what they regard as the ‘correct’ reading after careful consideration and weighing of variants in all available textual witnesses. I argue that critical editions of the Hebrew at the disposal of Hebrew Bible scholars, whether based on a diplomatic or eclectic text, have two inherent weaknesses, namely eclecticism and lack of context. Taken together, these shortcomings might be classified as subjectivism. I propose at least considering the alternative of a synoptic text-critical approach beyond the diplomatic-eclectic dichotomy. Contribution: This research critically reviews the current diplomatic/eclectic approaches in the production of scholarly Hebrew Bibles and proposes at least considering a third alternative, namely a synoptic approach. (shrink)

Transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) on the DNA are generally accepted as the key nodes of gene control. However, the multitudes of TFBSs identified in genome‐wide studies, some of them seemingly unconstrained in evolution, have prompted the view that in many cases TF binding may serve no biological function. Yet, insights from transcriptional biochemistry, population genetics and functional genomics suggest that rather than segregating into ‘functional’ or ‘non‐functional’, TFBS inputs to their target genes may be generally cumulative, with varying degrees (...) of potency and redundancy. As TFBS redundancy can be diminished by mutations and environmental stress, some of the apparently ‘spurious’ sites may turn out to be important for maintaining adequate transcriptional regulation under these conditions. This has significant implications for interpreting the phenotypic effects of TFBS mutations, particularly in the context of genome‐wide association studies for complex traits. (shrink)

The central aim of this thesis is to deconstruct and reconstruct the dominant theoretical perceptions of diplomacy, by reworking radically existing theories of diplomacy. This thesis achieves reconceptualisation of diplomatic theory by critiquing the thoughts and ideas of theorists postulating on modern diplomacy. Consequently, this thesis is concerned (largely) with the theoretical terrain of diplomacy studies. The purpose of this intended deconstruction and reconstruction is to introduce and construct three lucid types of diplomatic theory. These three types or (...) categories introduced in this thesis are Traditional, Nascent and Innovative Diplomatic Theory. By categorising these three distinct types of theories, it is hoped that the diplomatic scholar will have a choice of lenses through which to interpret the complexities of the modern diplomatic environment. Ultimately, this thesis aims to strengthen Traditional Diplomatic Theory (TDT) and introduce/construct two alternate forms of diplomatic theory, Nascent Diplomatic Theory (NDT) and Innovative Diplomatic Theory (IDT). (shrink)

Hittite Diplomatics: Studies in Ancient Document Format and Record Management. By WillemiJn J. I. Waal. Studien zu den Boğazköy-Texten, vol. 57. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2015. Pp. xxi + 620, illus. €98.

Recent evidence indicates that transcriptional bursts are intrinsically amplified by messenger RNA cytoplasmic processing to generate large stochastic fluctuations in protein levels. These fluctuations can be exploited by cells to enable probabilistic bet‐hedging decisions. But large fluctuations in gene expression can also destabilize cell‐fate commitment. Thus, it is unclear if cells temporally switch from high to low noise, and what mechanisms enable this switch. Here, the discovery of a post‐transcriptional mechanism that attenuates noise in HIV is reviewed. Early in its (...) life cycle, HIV amplifies transcriptional fluctuations to probabilistically select alternate fates, whereas at late times, HIV utilizes a post‐transcriptional feedback mechanism to commit to a specific fate. Reanalyzing various reported post‐transcriptional negative feedback architectures reveals that they attenuate noise more efficiently than classic transcriptional autorepression, leading to the derivation of an assay to detect post‐transcriptional motifs. It is hypothesized that coupling transcriptional and post‐transcriptional autoregulation enables efficient temporal noise control to benefit developmental bet‐hedging decisions. (shrink)

Succession of states regains its importance in current geopolitical situation as now we are witnessing a possible new wave of state succession: South Sudan has been accepted to the United Nations, Kosovo’s independence has been recognized by many countries, Palestine has gained new status in the United Nations, etc. This would lead to the necessity to resolve questions related to succession of states, which might, among other subjects, include issues of diplomatic protection which was subject to international legislation – (...) International Law Commission has prepared the Draft Articles on Diplomatic Protection. However, General Assembly is still not ready to adopt this document as a convention, therefore the term to consider possible ways of handling the issues on diplomatic protection within the UN was extended till 2013. Draft articles give the definition of diplomatic protection, indicating the main features of this institute. However, sometimes the difference among the institutes being called the same name with diplomatic protection might cause misunderstandings when analyzing the issue both in general and in the context of succession of states. One of the main prerequisites for diplomatic protection recognized in the jurisprudence of International Court of Justice is the Mavrommatis rule, which indicates that when protecting the citizen’s rights, state in reality is asserting its own right. This rule has been cited in other cases, however, especially now, when individuals already have quite a number of measures to protect their individual rights independently from the actions of state, it has been acknowledged that the rule is fictitious. This recognition, reflected in the Draft Articles and indicated in the commentary of it, is most welcomed as it helps to resolve questions related to the succession of states. There is a need to understand that there is a difference between international obligations under which state is entitled to diplomatic protection and those under which it really asserts its own rights, despite the fact that the latter might also be related to the rights of individuals. This difference is also important in the context of the succession of states, as the consequences arising out of the breach of these obligations in the context of state succession might differ. The last but not least issue addressed in the article is the question of the succession to treaties, which indicate individual rights, but does not form a customary international law. The question is whether the successor state is entitled to diplomatic protection on behalf of its succeeded citizen in a case of a breach of international treaty which was not subject to succession by the successor state. Taking everything into account, there are issues which are not addressed in the Draft Articles on Diplomatic Protection. Herewith there are issues of diplomatic protection which should be addressed in a case of state succession. Nonetheless, it should be reminded that diplomatic protection is always subject to the decision of the state itself, it is just important that newly created states understand and know the possibility to invoke international responsibility of the third state using the means of diplomatic protection, even if the injury was made to its national before the moment of state succession. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This article examines Torquato Tasso’s Il Messaggiero [The Messenger], by focusing on the political subject matter, as discussed in the final part of the text through an imaginary dialogue, that is, the figure of the ambassador, the framework of his office and its relationship with power. Tasso’s dialogue features the nature of the ambassador as a figure incarnating his own ‘self’, while simultaneously representing his prince and acting on his own behalf within a specific political context, an external dimension, (...) namely, the ‘international’. Such a condition of alienation is one of the origins of the office’s ‘conflicting obligations’ toward the prince and toward its conciliatory function. We should indeed discuss the diplomatic personae or a divided persona. Tasso rejects the concept of the ambassador as a mere executor of policy, which is a striking departure from the previous general conception of the ambassador. The paradoxical conclusion that emerges is that the messenger, or the ambassador, is not a simple messenger. Tasso’s text and its context is the article’s epicentre. However, this article concerns the possible links between certain ideas and discourses regarding the ambassador’s persona and the growth of diplomacy as a part of the rise of the ‘international’. (shrink)

Establishment of cell lineage identity from multipotent progenitors is controlled by cooperative actions of lineage‐specific and stably expressed transcription factors, combined with input from environmental signals. Lineage‐specific master transcription factors activate and repress gene expression by recruiting consistently expressed transcription factors and chromatin modifiers to their target loci. Recent technical advances in genome‐wide and multi‐omics analysis have shed light on unexpected mechanisms that underlie more complicated actions of transcription factors in cell fate decisions. In this review, we discuss functional dynamics (...) of stably expressed and continuously required factors, Notch and Runx family members, throughout developmental stages of early T cell development in the thymus. Pre‐ and post‐commitment stage‐specific transcription factors induce dynamic redeployment of Notch and Runx binding genomic regions. Thus, together with stage‐specific transcription factors, shared transcription factors across distinct developmental stages regulate acquisition of T lineage identity. (shrink)

Numerous accessory factors modulate RNA polymerase response to regulatory signals and cellular cues and establish communications with co‐transcriptional RNA processing. Transcription regulators are astonishingly diverse, with similar mechanisms arising via convergent evolution. NusG/Spt5 elongation factors comprise the only universally conserved and ancient family of regulators. They bind to the conserved clamp helices domain of RNA polymerase, which also interacts with non‐homologous initiation factors in all domains of life, and reach across the DNA channel to form processivity clamps that enable uninterrupted (...) RNA chain synthesis. In addition to this ubiquitous function, NusG homologs exert diverse, and sometimes opposite, effects on gene expression by competing with each other and other regulators for binding to the clamp helices and by recruiting auxiliary factors that facilitate termination, antitermination, splicing, translation, etc. This surprisingly diverse range of activities and the underlying unprecedented structural changes make studies of these “transformer” proteins both challenging and rewarding. (shrink)

The germ lineage has been studied for a long time because of its crucial role in the propagation and survival of a species. While this lineage, in contrast to the soma, is clearly unique in its totipotent ability to produce a new organism, it has now been found also to have specific features at the cellular level. One feature, a period of transcriptional quiescence in the early germ cell precursors, has been observed in both Drosophila and C. elegans, where it (...) is essential for the formation and the survival of the germline. In addition, there are numerous instances where these early germ cells are reliant on translational regulation, especially in Drosophila. The genes that are important for these two functions, the mechanisms of their action, and studies in vertebrate organisms that reveal similarities as well as some potential differences in early germ cell development are discussed. BioEssays 25:326–335, 2003. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

In eukaryotes, the messenger RNA (mRNA), the blueprint of a protein‐coding gene, is processed and packaged into a messenger ribonucleoprotein particle (mRNP) by mRNA‐binding proteins in the nucleus. The steps of mRNP formation – transcription, processing, packaging, and the orchestrated release of the export‐competent mRNP from the site of transcription for nuclear mRNA export – are tightly coupled to ensure a highly efficient and regulated process. The importance of highly accurate nuclear mRNP formation is illustrated by the fact that mutations (...) in components of this pathway lead to cellular inviability or to severe diseases in metazoans. We hypothesize that efficient mRNP formation is realized by a molecular mRNP packaging station, which is built by several recruitment platforms and coordinates the individual steps of mRNP formation. (shrink)

In this theoretical and explorative essay, two issues are discussed, which are based on personal experiences of teaching ethics. The first is what educational purpose does it serve to challenge students as ethical subjects while teaching a class? This issue is mainly discussed through an analysis of Gert Biesta’s works. He argues that an essential purpose for teachers is to enable students to appear as subjects. For this to happen, the teacher must “interrupt” the students by presenting that which challenges (...) his or her basic ethical preconceptions, which in turn forces the student to choose as a subject. However, if the teacher gives priority to such interruptions, s/he risks a conflict with his or her students. That gives rise to the second issue raised in the essay, whether the teacher should express his or her ethical perspectives while teaching ethics. The issue is discussed by analyzing Bruno Latour’s political philosophy. He argues that conflict is an essential feature in any democratic society where everyone’s concerns are presented. For that reason, he argues for the need of public “diplomats,” whose function is to enable an endeavor for peace. As diplomats, both their ethical agency and ability to judge what is worth highlighting is recognized. Thus, the essay concludes that a diplomatic teacher is someone who has the judgement to decide whether his or her ethical perspectives should be highlighted while teaching a class, or if it would disrupt an endeavor for peace. (shrink)

Speech-to-Text applications have made dazzling progress in recent years (e.g. Whisper). However, since they are usually intended to generate texts conform to written standards, they tend to blur marks of an oral nature (e.g. repetitions, pauses in the stream of words, phatics like er…). Thus, even if such applications suggest huge benefits in terms of working time as well as transcription accuracy, they remain inadequate for verbal exchanges analysis. Relying on a sample of transcripts from medical consultations anticipating an awake (...) brain-surgery (a research now in progress), this study aims at three goals: (i) drawing up an inventory of difficulties revealed by the use of Whisper from a speech analyst perspective; (ii) clarifying the origins of these difficulties; (iii) suggesting ways to overcome them. (shrink)

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia that gradually disrupts the brain network to impair memory, language and cognition. While the amyloid hypothesis remains the leading proposed mechanism to explain AD pathophysiology, anti-amyloid therapeutic strategies have yet to translate into useful therapies, suggesting that amyloid β-protein and its precursor, the amyloid precursor protein are but a part of the disease cascade. Further, risk of AD can be modulated by a number of factors, the most impactful being the ɛ4 (...) isoform of apolipoprotein E. A recent study reported a novel isoform-dependent transcriptional regulation of APP by apoE. These interesting new results add to the myriad of mechanisms that have been proposed to explain how apoE4 enhances AD risk, highlighting the complexities of not only apoE and AD pathophysiology, but also of disease itself. Also see the video abstract here: https://youtu.be/yd14MBdPkCY APP transcription is differentially modulated by apoE and its isoforms: how does this novel mechanism fit with the existing hypotheses? (shrink)

The proteins that are implicated in the basal transcription of protein coding genes have now been identified. Although little is known about their function, recent data demonstrate the ability of these proteins, previously called class II transcription factors, to participate in other reactions: TBP, the TATA‐box binding factor, is involved in class I and III transcription, while TFIIH has been shown to possess components that are involved in the DNA repair mechanism. The involvement of some if not all of the (...) TFIIH subunits in transcription and repair may explain the heterogeneity of the various and sometimes completely unrelated symptoms observed in xeroderma pigmentosum, Cockayne Syndrome and trichothiodystrophy disorders. (shrink)

Transcription phonétique des grands corpus littéraires. Les règles du jeu Le perfectionnement des phonétiseurs permet aujourd'hui d'envisager la transcription phonétique de grands ensembles textuels et, par conséquent, de doter la stylométrie de nouvelles capacités dans le domaine de l'analyse des effets sonores. Cet article montre, sur l'exemple d'une étude de La Règle du jeu de Michel Leiris menée à l'aide de LAIPTTS-SpeechMill (Université de Lausanne) et Mbrola (Faculté Polytechnique de Mons), quelles procédures et quelles précautions on se doit d'associer à (...) de telles entreprises. Le repérage et l’étude des allitérations et des assonances, des homophones, la détermination de la tonalité phonique d’une partie du texte montrent tout à la fois les perspectives et les limites de ce type d'approche du texte littéraire. (shrink)

Seed development in this paper has been classified into the three landmark stages of cell division, organ initiation and maturation, based on morphological changes, and the available literature. The entire process proceeds at the behest of an interplay of various specific and general transcription factors (TFs). Monocots and dicots utilize overlapping, as well as distinct, TF networks during the process of seed development. The known TFs in rice and Arabidopsis have been chronologically categorized into the three stages. The main regulators (...) of seed development contain B3 or HAP3 domains. These interact with bZIP and AP2 TFs. Other TFs that play an indispensable role during the process contain homeobox‐, NAC‐, MYB‐, or ARF‐domains. This paper is a comprehensive analysis of the TFs essential for seed development and their interactions. An understanding of this interplay will not only help unravel an integrated developmental process, but will also pave the way for biotechnological applications. (shrink)

Genome‐wide identification of transcription factor binding sites with the ChIP‐seq method is an extremely important scientific endeavor − one that should ideally be performed for every transcription factor in as many cell types as possible. A major hurdle on the way to this goal is the necessity for a specific, ChIP‐grade antibody for each transcription factor of interest, which is often not available. Here, we describe CETCh‐seq, a recently published method utilizing genome engineering with the CRISPR/Cas9 system to circumvent the (...) need for a specific antibody. Using the CETCh‐seq method, targeted genomic editing results in an epitope‐tagged transcription factor, which is recognized by a well‐characterized, standard antibody, efficacious for ChIP‐seq. We have used CETCh‐seq in human cancer cell lines as well as mouse embryonic stem cells. We find that roughly 60% of transcription factors tagged using CETCh‐seq produce a high quality ChIP‐seq map, a significant improvement over traditional antibody‐based methods. (shrink)

Transcriptional networks regulate cell fate decisions, which occur at the level of individual cells. However, much of what we know about their structure and function comes from studies averaging measurements over large populations of cells, many of which are functionally heterogeneous. Such studies conceal the variability between cells and so prevent us from determining the nature of heterogeneity at the molecular level. In recent years, many protocols and platforms have been developed that allow the high throughput analysis of gene expression (...) in single cells, opening the door to a new era of biology. Here, we discuss the need for single cell gene expression analysis to gain deeper insights into the transcriptional control of cell fate decisions, and consider the insights it has provided so far into transcriptional regulatory networks in development. (shrink)

Scientists from both sides of the Iron Curtain met in Geneva in 1958 and 1959 to create the technical basis for monitoring a future nuclear test ban treaty. Despite their scientific veneer, these meetings were politically motivated and the scientists tried to forward U.S. or Soviet objectives through their technical discussions. Seismographic data was a cornerstone of the proposed monitoring regime, but when the discussions became political, so too did the instruments that produced the scientific data. Thus, seismographs became (...) class='Hi'>diplomatic objects used to support or challenge foreign policy objectives. After the collapse of the scientific meetings, the US distributed seismographs as diplomatic gifts to create a worldwide, U.S.-controlled nuclear-detection network in 1960. To exploit data from the network without supporting U.S. policy objectives, the USSR in 1961 proposed to exchange U.S. seismographs for Soviet ones, as two objects of equal value. That allowed each superpower to access the other's technology without creating bonds of mutual obligations. However, this type of inverted, object-based diplomacy also gave scientists from international scientific organisations or small, non-nuclear nations like Denmark a way to engage in nuclear diplomacy. When Danish scientists offered to create a connection station between the U.S. and Soviet seismic networks, they did so in full agreement with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to strengthen their policy of nuclear disarmament independently of U.S. objectives. (shrink)

Recent debates within broadly considered posthumanities have been populated by various conceptual personae. One such figure is the diplomat. First proposed in this context by Isabelle Stengers in her Cosmopolitics series, the diplomat has been subsequently taken up and further developed by Bruno Latour, particularly in his AIME project, and most recently by Baptiste Morizot in Les Diplomates. This article traces the metamorphosis of this conceptual character in the work of Stengers, Latour and Morizot. As all three versions are relatively (...) close to each other, this article proposes three companion figures: the heretic (for Stengers), the designer (for Latour) and the amateur (for Morizot) that allow us to carefully examine the differences between, and the specific stakes of, each iteration of the diplomat. Furthermore, the article critically evaluates the theoretical pertinence of the diplomat figure for each philosopher’s project and considers its potential for thinking about the future of our more-than-human worlds. (shrink)

Transcriptional enhancer sequences have been shown to play a pivotal role in the regulation of some highly expressed genes. First described in eukaryotic viruses, the discovery of enhancers has augmented the previously defined control‐sequence motifs to give a more complete understanding of eukaryotic transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. Some properties of enhancers that distinguish them from other regulatory sequences include their ability to function in a position‐ and orientation‐independent manner. Furthermore, the observation that some enhancers and transcriptional promoters exhibit tissue specificity in (...) their activity has generated considerable interest. Enhancer activation is thought to involve sequence‐specific DNA‐binding proteins but the process by which this leads to an increase in the initiation of transcription remains obscure. Although viral enhancers are more fully characterized, several cellular enhancers have recently been identified. One such enhancer sequence has been detected in a 3′ flanking region of a highly expressed human placental lactogen gene. This enhancer can increase the transcriptional rate of an adjacent gene by at least 50‐fold. (shrink)

Transcriptional silencing may not necessarily depend on the continuous residence of a sequence‐specific repressor at a control element and may act via a “hit and run” mechanism. Due to limitations in assays that detect transcription factor (TF) binding, such as chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high‐throughput sequencing (ChIP‐seq), this phenomenon may be challenging to detect and therefore its prevalence may be underappreciated. To explore this possibility, erythroid gene promoters that are regulated directly by GATA1 in an inducible system are analyzed. It (...) is found that many regulated genes are bound immediately after induction of GATA1 but the residency of GATA1 decreases over time, particularly at repressed genes. Furthermore, it is shown that the repressive mark H3K27me3 is seldom associated with bound repressors, whereas, in contrast, the active (H3K4me3) histone mark is overwhelmingly associated with TF binding. It is hypothesized that during cellular differentiation and development, certain genes are silenced by repressive TFs that subsequently vacate the region. Catching such repressor TFs in the act of silencing via assays such as ChIP‐seq is thus a temporally challenging prospect. The use of inducible systems, epitope tags, and alternative techniques may provide opportunities for detecting elusive “hit and run” transcriptional silencing. Also see the video abstract here https://youtu.be/vgrsoP_HF3g. (shrink)

Measurements of open chromatin in specific cell types are widely used to infer the spatiotemporal activity of transcriptional enhancers. How reliable are these predictions? In this review, it is argued that the relationship between the accessibility and activity of an enhancer is insufficiently described by simply considering open versus closed chromatin, or active versus inactive enhancers. Instead, recent studies focusing on the quantitative nature of accessibility signal reveal subtle differences between active enhancers and their different inactive counterparts: the closed silenced (...) state and the accessible primed and repressed states. While the open structure as such is not a specific indicator of enhancer activity, active enhancers display a higher degree of accessibility than the primed and repressed states. Molecular mechanisms that may account for these quantitative differences are discussed. A model that relates molecular events at an enhancer to changes in its activity and accessibility in a developing tissue is also proposed. (shrink)

(2000). Full transcript of inaugural AARST Science Policy Forum, New York Hilton, Friday 20 November 1998, 7?9 pm. Social Epistemology: Vol. 14, No. 2-3, pp. 131-180.

In this paper, I examine the views of contemporary aesthetician of music Stephen Davies about musical transcriptions as special forms of classical music and try to apply his theoretical views to remixing as a musical practice that is primarily related to contemporary electronic music. Using the theoretical approaches of Davies’ aesthetics of music, I point out the similarities between the creative attitudes of a musician in transcribing and remixing, similarities that can be found in the way these musical forms (...) relate to the original composition on which transcriptions or remixes are based. Comparisons between transcription and remix are further investigated by considering the various roles that these musical practices fulfil in various cultural contexts. (shrink)

Many nuclear proteins have been found recently to interact with short conserved sequences which are involved in regulating the transcription of various genes. Nuclear transcription factors may be arbitrarily subdivided into two groups, ubiquitous and tissue‐specific. The transcription of one gene is usually regulated by several factors which interact with different sequences located either in the promoter region of the gene or outside it. The appearance or disappearance of transcription factors for some genes corresponds to certain phases of cell differentiation (...) or dedifferentiation and even to individual stages of the cell cycle. (shrink)

This response picks up on the four key points developed in `Variation in Transcription'. The focus is on how transcription practices are implicated in extended histories of data processing by arguing for a wider take on the `dyad' of researcher and represented voice. The article addresses the relevance of historically specific contexts of `hearing' and interpretative-analytical appropriation, the practical exigencies of publication and how these have shifted over time, the contemporary challenges posed by transcription-in-translation, as well as the affordances and (...) constraints of past and current technologies. (shrink)

One of the central issue of developmental biology concerns the molecular mechanisms whereby a multipotent cell gives rise to distinct differentiated progeny. Differences between specialised cell types reflect variations in their patterns of gene expression. The regulation of transcription initiation is an important control point for gene expression and it is, therefore, not surprising that transcription factors play a pivotal role in mammalian development and differentiation.Haemopoiesis offers a uniquely tractable system for the study of lineage commitment and differentiation. The importance (...) of transcription factor in the normal regulation of haemopoiesis is underlined by the frequency with which transcription factors are targeted by leukaemogenic mutations. Studies of the function and regulation of haemopoietic transcription factors, especially those expressed in lineage‐restricted patterns, should greatly increase our understanding of the molecular control of haemopoiesis. In this review we have focused on insights provided by recent studies of the GATA and SCL proteins. (shrink)

Transcription factors (TFs) have to find their binding sites, which are distributed throughout the genome. Facilitated diffusion is currently the most widely accepted model for this search process. Based on this model the TF alternates between one‐dimensional sliding along the DNA, and three‐dimensional bulk diffusion. In this view, the non‐specific associations between the proteins and the DNA play a major role in the search dynamics. However, little is known about how the DNA properties around the motif contribute to the search. (...) Accumulating evidence showing that TF binding sites are embedded within a unique environment, specific to each TF, leads to the hypothesis that the search process is facilitated by favorable DNA features that help to improve the search efficiency. Here, we review the field and present the hypothesis that TF‐DNA recognition is dictated not only by the motif, but is also influenced by the environment in which the motif resides. (shrink)

The workings within the Holy See has one of the oldest diplomaticinstitutions. Unlike other states with their national interests the diplomaticrole of the Holy See within the international community is based on the moralauthority of the Pope in favour of the wellbeing of people. Malaysia is the 179thstate to have diplomatic relations with the Holy See. The relations are ratherunique because no economy and consular divisions are involved. In fact, thecore of the relations is based on the mutual interest (...) of promoting justice, peaceand tolerance. Although the diplomatic relations were established in 2011, thisarticle demonstrates that there were already cordial engagements between thePopes and local leaders. This article explores the relations between Malaysiaand the Holy See and analyses the reasons for Malaysia to establish relationswith the Holy See and the bilateral activities. (shrink)

Metazoan genomes contain thousands of protein‐coding and non‐coding RNA genes, most of which are differentially expressed, i.e., at different locations, at different times during development, or in response to environmental signals. Differential gene expression is achieved through complex regulatory networks that are controlled in part by two types of trans‐regulators: transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). TFs bind to cis‐regulatory DNA elements that are often located in or near their target genes, while miRNAs hybridize to cis‐regulatory RNA elements mostly located (...) in the 3′ untranslated region of their target mRNAs. Here, we describe how these trans‐regulators interact with each other in the context of gene regulatory networks to coordinate gene expression at the genome‐scale level, and discuss future challenges of integrating these networks with other types of functional networks. (shrink)

In this commentary, I consider variability as an ordinary and irremediable feature related to the indexicality not only of transcripts but first of all of transcribing. In this sense, it is not just a characteristic of transcripts as texts, which can be assessed in a kind of philological comparison comparing formal features of autonomous and fixed textual objects, but a characteristic of transcribing as a situated practice. Practices are irremediably indexical, reflexively tied to the context of their production and to (...) the practical purposes of their accomplishment. Thus, a transcript is an evolving flexible object; it changes as the transcriber engages in listening and looking again at the tape, endlessly checking, revising, reformatting it. Transcribing relies in a fundamental way not only on the possibility of fixing the relevant details in a complex multilayered representation but also on the possibility of manipulating them, playing them again and again, at different paces, positions, fragments, while transcribing their finely tuned coordination, their synchronization, the fine articulation between different projections and sequential implicativenesses. These manipulations are one of the ways in which transcribing is accomplished as a situated practice. (shrink)

_This article examined the accounts of diplomatic relations between Russia and Syria. It interrogated a significant aspect of global politics, where the interaction of geopolitical interests, ideological affinities, and regional influences played defining roles in shaping this diplomatic association from the height of the Cold War in the 1960s and 1970s to the Syrian Civil War that began in 2011. This scope allowed extensive research into the changing nature of Russo-Syrian relations, providing a diverse revelation into their historical (...) evolution. This article relies on a wide array of primary sources, including diplomatic records, as well as secondary sources offering useful context and perspective. The primary aim was to reveal the motivations and strategies that steered diplomatic exchanges between them and the real-political considerations that formed the basis of their engagement. Moreover, this article considered the ramifications of Russo-Syrian relations on the broader Middle East region and how partnership affected regional stability, conflict, and the distribution of power such as the Soviet Union's support for the Ba'athist regime in 1963, Syria's involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1967, and Russia's military intervention in the Syrian civil war in 2015. Through historical evaluation, this article contributes to an understanding of international relations and their implications for security and stability._. (shrink)

The small ubiquitin‐like modifier SUMO regulates many aspects of cellular physiology to maintain cell homeostasis, both under normal conditions and during cell stress. Components of the transcriptional apparatus and chromatin are among the most prominent SUMO substrates. The prevailing view is that SUMO serves to repress transcription. However, as we will discuss in this review, this model needs to be refined, because recent studies have revealed that SUMO can also have profound positive effects on transcription.

Two groups of plant viruses have DNA in their genomes. One group, the caulimoviruses, are non‐integrating retroviruses that package dsDNA in virions. The other group, the geminiviruses, package small circular ssDNA and include the only DNA viruses known with bipartite genomes. The regulation of transcription of these viruses is not well characterized, but recent work is beginning to yield interesting results. Regulatory sequences from these viruses function in cells of species that are not hosts of the virus and are finding (...) use in constitutive expression of chimeric genes in transformed plants. Development of vectors based on plant viruses requires further characterization at the molecular level of viral life cycles. (shrink)

The development of T cells and B cells from pluripotent hematopoietic precursors occurs through a stepwise narrowing of developmental potential that ends in lineage commitment. During this process, lineage-specific genes are activated asynchronously, and lineage-inappropriate genes, although initially expressed, are asynchronously turned off. These complex gene expression events are the outcome of the changes in expression of multiple transcription factors with partially overlapping roles in early lymphocyte and myeloid cell development. Key transcription factors promoting B-cell development and candidates for this (...) role in T-cell development are discussed in terms of their possible modes of action in fate determination. We discuss how a robust, stable, cell-type–specific gene expression pattern may be established in part by the interplay between endogenous transcription factors and signals transduced by cytokine receptors, and in part by the network of effects of particular transcription factors on each other. BioEssays 21:726–742, 1999. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (shrink)

The Tang period (618–907) stands out as one of the most important chapters of the history of early Inner Asia, where bilateral diplomatic interactions on the Chinese – Inner Asian frontier reached a high point. Since its establishment, the Tang pursued close relations with the neighboring Türk Qaghanate and various other Turkic and Mongolic speaking groups in the Inner Asian steppes. These relations, sometimes friendly, other times hostile, were to a great extent recorded in the official histories, a genre (...) of historical writing that was systematized with the establishment of Historiography Office at the Tang court. As political texts written with particular agendas, official histories present certain limitations. Recent archaeological research in both China and Inner Asia provide a different line of evidence for the study of diplomatic relations between China and Inner Asia. This paper aims to discuss the history of Pugu, a Turkic speaking Inner Asian group who had submitted to the Tang in the seventh century, through an analysis of the tomb inscription of Pugu Yitu, then leader of the Pugu, and an army general and court official of the Tang. (shrink)