Synthetic biology, as a research field, brings together molecular life scientists, computational biologists, and social scientists to engineer biological systems toward societally desired goals. Given the field’s broad multidisciplinarity and relatively young age, innovative educational methods are required to provide students with the needed background knowledge to push the field forward in the future. The international Genetically Engineered Machine competition is such an example where education and high-level research merge, providing the synthetic biology field with trained students, new ideas, and (...) novel results. In the 2021 edition alone, 343 teams from across the world completed the competition to tackle societal problems with synthetic biology. As Wageningen University & Research celebrates 10 years of participation in iGEM, we share our thoughts and experiences on supervising iGEM teams, which is especially relevant to organizers of current and new teams, and also others interested in the iGEM competition. (shrink)

It is demonstrated that neither the arguments leading to inconsistencies in the description of quantum-mechanical measurement nor those “explaining” the process of measurement by means of thermodynamical statistics are valid. Instead, it is argued that the probability interpretation is compatible with an objective interpretation of the wave function.

In the Frank (1988) model, a small increase in the number of cheaters will soon be reversed. It is not clear that this prediction holds for sociopathy. There are also many attractive evolutionary models that do not admit a small, stable proportion of cheaters. Hence, without definitive evidence about the character of early human society, we cannot conclude that sociopathy has an evolutionary origin.

In an era dominated by information and communication technologies, when science continues to amaze us with its discoveries and technological applications, and when social media are controlling part of our lives and social relationships, does philosophy still make sense? Is humanistic knowledge still necessary today as an indispensable part of our human world?

Les trente dernières années du XX e siècle ont été marquées par une très forte inflation des règles du droit du travail visant à protéger l’emploi. Ces règles encadrent notamment le licenciement et tentent d’endiguer le recours aux contrats précaires. Mais on s’aperçoit aujourd’hui qu’il n’existe pas de rapport mécanique entre les objectifs poursuivis (protéger l’emploi), leur traduction législative et les résultats produits qui sont décevants. Prenant acte de son impuissance le législateur entend désormais changer de paradigme en concentrant ses (...) efforts sur la protection des transitions professionnelles. Toutefois les lois les plus récentes qui s’inscrivent dans cette perspective connaissent de nombreux déboires, et pour l’instant il ne semble pas évident que la prospection sur ces nouvelles terres donne plus de résultats que ceux obtenus sur les anciennes. (shrink)

The economic crisis has been the main topic of all news resources in recent months. Today, Christian churches and other religious organizations, both in Ukraine and in the world, do not stand aside from this problem. We learn from various sources that financial difficulties have increased the number of parishioners of religious institutions by several times. In particular, people visit those religious institutions where they hold so-called "anti-crisis prayer services." One of the first places to pray for overcoming the crisis (...) was the Cathedral of St. Michael's Cathedral in Zhytomyr, where, according to Father Alexander Trofimlyuk, the number of people attending Sunday worship increased from 200-300 parishes to 500-600. (shrink)

Purpose of the study is to shed light on the role of psychophysiology in the creative process, namely, the style corrections connected with pathological changes in the artist’s organism, deviating from empirical-descriptive methods. Theoretical basis of the study implies the interpretation of the notions style and disease not in their narrow professional limitation but from the standpoint of expanding the parameters of these concepts to philosophical dimensions. Based on the principle of analogy, the research findings prove that non-mimetic creative process (...) manifests itself exclusively in connection with a human from a bodily viewpoint through anthropological mimesis, which can program the propensity to certain capabilities of the individual organism. C. G. Jung was the first who pointed to the productivity of this method in his work "Theoretical Reflections on the Nature of the Psyche". The creativity phenomenon reflects not only "pure" psychology and the intellectual and spiritual component but also its relation to the artist as a physical being. It, outside its belonging to and being conditioned by transcendent factors, includes a quantitative aspect related to the moment of intensity. The disease acts to some extent as a stimulator of the production/change of aesthetic enzyme. In this context, the dialectic method is also effective because the subject of study cannot be comprehensively argued using naturalistic approaches only and requires a semantic explanation too. The essence of it is the logic of contradictions. In this case, the antinomy of matter-spirit plays a conceptual role in the projection on the plane of word-formation. Originality of the research findings is in the expansion of the causal relationship range of the creative process, namely the inclusion of the factor of psycho-physiological pathology into the system artist-work. This factor performs important stylistic functions. Conclusions. In contrast to scientific studies, where 1) style is analyzed separately and 2) the figure of the artist, this study argues the need to correlate these issues, taking them beyond descriptiveness to avoid schematics and one-dimensionality. (shrink)

Branner, H.C. Humanismens krise.--Hansen, Martin A. Eneren og massen.

El estudio de la epigrafía votiva evidencia que la mezcla de elementos romanos e indígenas resulta característica de la religiosidad de las mujeres hispanorromanas del territorio castellano-leonés, como igualmente lo es de las estructuras onomásticas y sociales de todo el tercio norte peninsular, pero, en todo caso, estas manifiestan sus creencias a través de las formas religiosas locales que les son más familiares, preferentemente en un culto de tipo privado y familiar, a menudo ligado a medios rurales, que se inclina (...) por las divinidades salutíferas y protectoras. Las implicadas muestran un importante grado de latinización y romanización onomástica, que sin embargo no acaba de consolidarse como mayoritario o absoluto, y un nivel socioeconómico medio o modesto, con escasas excepciones. (shrink)

Guidelines for a model bride in Islam based on Islamic teachings; includes stories of six exemplary Muslim wives during Prophet Muhammad's time.