DNA Fingerprinting
It is widely known that each individual has a DNA profile as unique as a fingerprint. Actually, over 99% of all 3 billion nucleotides in human DNA which we inherit from each parent are identical among all individuals. However, for every 1000 nucleotides that we inherit there is 1 site of variation or polymorphism, in the population. These DNA polymorphisms change the length of the DNA fragments produced by the digestion of restriction enzymes . The resulting fragments are called restriction fragments length polymorphisms. Gel electrophoresis can be used to separate and determine the size of the RFLPs. The exact number and size of fragments produced by a specific restriction enzyme digestion varies from individual to individual.
DNA fingerprinting has proved valuable, not only for convicting felons and exonerating the innocent, but also for establishing maternity or paternity and proving family relationships. More exotic uses include the identification of missing children in Argentina, soldiers killed in war, and even the body of Nazi physician Joseph Mengele, the so-called “Angel of Death.”
The way it started:
The fundamental techniques involved in genetic fingerprinting were discovered serendipitously in 1984 by geneticist Alec J. Jeffreys of the University of Leicester in Great Britain while he was studying the gene for myoglobin, a protein that stores oxygen in muscle cells. He found that the myoglobin gene contains many segments that vary in size and composition from individual to individual and that have no apparent function. Jeffrey called these segments minisatellites because they were small and they surround the part of the gene that actually serves as a genetic bluprint. The minisatellites accountsfor less than 1 percent of the total DNA of a human. Jeffreys isolated several of these minisatellite genes and inserted each into bacteria, which produced large amounts of the DNA segments. These segments could then be purified and labeled with radioactive isotopes to produce genetic probes that are the key tool in producing genetic fingerprints.
The Term Paper on Gene Expression
... form of gene regulation in producing a complex organism. Proteins that recognize a speci? DNA sequence do ... important point of control. The transcription of individual genes is switched on and off in cells ... cleaves the double-stranded RNA into short fragments (approximately 23 nucleotide pairs in length) called ... shows a duplication of the last three abdominal segments. A normal embryo (left) is shown for ...
Narco analysis
The two main accused in the Nithari serial killings Mohinder Singh Pandher and Surendra Kohli are undergoing Narco Analysis tests in Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
What exactly are these tests and how do they help investigators? And more importantly are the results of these tests admissible in court?
The Narco Analysis Test:
A person is able to lie by using his imagination. In the Narco Analysis Test, the subject’s imagination is neutralised by making him semi-conscious. In this state, it becomes difficult for him to lie and his answers would be restricted to facts he is already aware of.
Experts inject the subject with Sodium Pentothal or Sodium Amytal. The dose is dependent on the person’s sex, age, health and physical condition. A wrong dose can result in a person going into a coma, or even death.
The subject is not in a position to speak up on his own but can answer specific but simple questions. The answers are believed to be spontaneous as a semi-conscious person is unable to manipulate the answers.
P300 Test:
When the brain recognises a person or a sound, it generates a particular type of electric wave, which is called a P300.
Sensors are attached to the head of a person undergoing a P300 test and the subject is seated before a computer monitor. He is then shown certain images or made to hear certain sounds. The sensors monitor electrical activity in the brain and register P300 waves, which are generated only if the subject has some connection with the stimulus, in this case pictures or sounds.
The subject is not asked any question.
These test are used by investigators to cross check their findings, determine if a suspect is telling the truth or make him reveal facts pertaining to a case.
The Essay on Individual Assignment Court Issues Analysis Paper
· Discuss future management issues and trends regarding language interpretation services. · Assess the past, present, and future impact that victim rights laws have on court proceedings. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. You can go overseas with your kids. A lot of students do not think they can go overseas if they have kids. However, this may not be the case; schedule a meeting ...
Are these tests admissible in court
Lawyers are divided on whether the results of Narco Analysis and P300 tests are admissible as evidence in courts.
“Confessions made by a semi-conscious person is not admissible in court. A Narco Analysis Test report has some validity but is not totally admissible in court, which considers the circumstances under which it was obtained and assess its admissibility,” advocate P R Vakil told rediff.com.
“Under certain circumstance, a person may hold a certain belief. By repeatedly thinking about an issue in a particular way, he begins to believe that what he is thinking is right. But it need not necessarily be the truth,” Vakil explained.
“Results of such tests can be used to get admissible evidence, can be collaborated with other evidence or to support other evidence. But if the result of this test is not admitted in a court, it cannot be used to support any other evidence obtained the course of routine investigation.”
Criminal lawyer Majeed Memon said, “If the courts give permission to conduct these tests, then only it can decide the admissibility of the test results and other related evidence. Such reports can be used as evidence or to support other evidence.”
Another criminal lawyer Sham Keswani has a different view. “Such tests don’t have any legal validity. They can only assist the police investigation.
“But, in case a person is not affected by the chemical, he might take some wrong names (to mislead investigators).
The results of such tests can be used to support other evidence,” he said.
INTELLECUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Intellectual Property Rights are those rights of an inventor which protects his rights over a method or process for a limited time, from being copied or used by mother persons. These are exclusive rights to use, exercise or lend his inventions. Patient Rights, Trade mark; Copy Rights etc. come under the purview of Intellectual Property Rights.
The Patent Act is a law which is concerned with the rights of an inventor. He can use his inventions and its process, exclusively, to earn profit. He can exclude others from using his method which he has got patented under the Act.
The Essay on Legal Protections Of Intellectual Property
They are different types of and legal protections of intellectual property. There are Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks, and Trade Secrets. Copyrights protect original works of authorship, such as literature, music, artistic works, and computer software, for example plagiarism, or use of music with in a game or music without the owner’s permission. As the holder of a copyright you have the exclusive ...
In India, Patent Act comes into existence in 1970, under which many scientific process and procedures were patented by Agriculture Scientists and researchers, individually or by organisations. Medicines were also protected under this regimes.
But in India accepts the Patent provisions of the World Trade Organisation, it will have to change provisions of its patent Act-1970. This will again made Indian producers of agriculture seeds and other products, medicines and pharmaceutical products required to patent or register their inventions or research.
They will have to face some economical, legal and technological problems to compete against foreign producers if these provisions are implemented. Therefore, Indian scientists are concerned for the agricultural and pharmaceutical patents that they have got under the Indian Patent Act-1970 and now they have to face economical strokes. Then, prices of these products will rise very high. The charged patent law will also be not in favour to Indian companies and scientists.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS 2
Introduction:
At present, the international system for the protection of intellectual property rights is embodied in the legal framework provided by the World Intellectual Property Organization, but such existing laws are perceived to be inadequate by the West.
Therefore, the West has launched a strong pressure and campaign in the Uruguay Round negotiations to create more strict laws for international system for the protection of intellectual property rights, with provisions for dispute settlement and enforcement as part of the multilateral trading system.
Article 27.3 of the Trips agreement stipulates that the patent should be given to micro organisms, which will mean to patent life. It will have far reaching consequences for the developing countries.
Development of Thought:
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) particularly on product patents has been viewed by India as a barrier to foreign investment and an irritant in our trade relations with the USA. And other developed countries. Most countries have accepted stringent rules.
The Essay on Dumping of Products in Third World Countries
Made in the USA- Moral JudgmentFor years, the United States has been dumping export materials and goods that have been banned or found to be hazardous to the health of the people the United States. In the case Made in the U.S.A. – Dumped in Brazil, Africa, Iraq…, the case informs about how the United States dumped fire-retardant children’s pajamas, baby pacifiers, chemicals, etc. in ...
The laws in India, relating to copy right and trade marks are very strong, it is in the enforcement that there is a weakness. The major controversy relates to the product-process patenting. India allows process patent but not product patenting.
Indian companies therefore are legally in the right when they market international products, through slight modification in the process of manufacturing. This is what has been targeted by the USA. Product patenting can adversely affect the Indian Pharmaceutical scenario, but it is not long before. India too must comply with the world trend.
Conclusion:
It is time India stands on its own feet and gives leadership to the developing countries as we have been doing in the past.
The attitude towards Intellectual Property Rights adopted by any group or political formation will be the touchstone of its patriotism in the face of a serious attempt by US imperialists to decolonize us and take us back to the days of the British Viceroys and Governor Generals.
Like physical property, ideas can also belong to the people who conceived them. These ideas result in popular names for products, books and articles, films, music, processes for manufacturing products, and products themselves.
There is a tension between the original conceiver of the idea who wants to earn the maximum incentives for his invention and the desire of the public to have that invention at the lowest possible price at the earliest time.
Society feels it necessary to provide incentives to the inventors because without such incentives there is not sufficient idealism around for inventions to arise in all fields. A steady flow of inventions is essential for progress and a better quality of life for human beings.
At the same time, poor countries have difficulty in paying incentives, which become more expensive for more recent inventions. There is, therefore, a tendency in such countries for inventions to be copied and made available to the public at low prices.
Laws relating to copyright, trade marks and patents are intended to moderate this tension and to prevent copying without reward to the inventor.
The Essay on Is India Still Developing Country
Even after 66 years of independence, India is still labeled as a developing country. I think as a nation, we have miles to go. The question of whether or not India is a developed or developing country is not so simple. To understand the real India, we need to look at many other indicators, such as health and education too. I think the level of development in a country is directly proportionate to ...
They provide protection to the inventor for a given period of time and also enable propagation so that a larger section of the public is able to derive benefit from the invention. Ultimately, after a period of time, the invention becomes available to everybody without having to pay further incentives to the inventor.
The controversy between India and the U.S.A. which Ms. Carla Hills has symbolized relates of the Indian laws about intellectual property, the protection afforded to the inventors, and the ways in which these laws are administered and enforced.
India is not a country with much invention. This is evidenced by the far fewer number of patents filed in India, as against the number in many other countries, especially Japan and the U.S.A. Yet we also want our people to enjoy I the benefits of many of the inventions of other countries.
This has led to a considerable amount of copying through legal means, such as collaboration and licensing, and illegal means. Almost any film in the world is available op a copied video tape in India. Most recorded music is available on “pirated” audio tapes.
There are many printers who copy bestselling books. Sometimes new books are written and published in the names of bestselling authors, in which the authors had no hand many products manufactured abroad, are copied and sometimes have been sold under the trade mark name of the original product.
In the eyes of the USA and many other countries, this copying without the permission of the inventor amounts to theft of intellectual property. The Indian copiers and Indian customers enjoy the benefits of these inventions without any reward accruing to the original inventor.
The laws in India, relating to copyright and trade marks are very strong in protecting the original owner of the trade mark and the copyright. It is in the enforcement that there is weakness. The Indian administration, police and judiciary are overburdened with having to enforce a large number of laws.
They do not regard copying as a serious crime unlike the many other crimes they have to deal with. To the slowness of the Indian legal system is added the problem of easy corruption-the copier has so much to gain that he can offer a substantial sum to the law enforcer who sometimes succumbs to the temptation.
The Term Paper on Lactose Intolerance Products People Milk
Lactose Intolerance: Another Painful Reason For Growing Up Lactose intolerance (LI) is the inability of some humans to digest the lactose sugar contained in most dairy products and foods made with dairy products. LI has numerous readily apparent physical symptoms such as gas, cramps and diarrhea (Houts 110). More importantly, LI may lead to malnutrition in those people affected because of the loss ...
Yet there are many companies that have themselves established strong surveillance and taken the copiers to court. Their vigilance has to a large extent protected them from this kind of theft.
Prominent among these companies are the large multinationals. Those that are not able to protect themselves, suffer because others copy their inventions without any benefit to the owner.
The major controversy relates to the patenting of products vs. processes, the inventor can patent a final product or the route to make it. There could be other routes. In India, at present it is legal to search for discover, make and market, the product through a different route.
Our law does not provide for patenting of certain products. The USA. And others have argued that we must allow product patents and for a longer period than we even allow today lot process patents.
We are not for product patents because they prevent us far undertaking our own research and development to develop alternatives routes to reacts the same product.
After all, “imitative” inventions were the secret of the Japan’s success for a long time until recently. Many other countries, including Italy, Spain. Greece have amended their laws only in the last few years to permit product patents.
A poor country must have a long enough period in which it can “Imitate” the inventions and products of other countries and invent new processes to make them. This period of imitation is a prelude to original invention Thus, breathing time is essential and India must have it before India can all product patents.
The problem arises only for drugs, chemicals and agricultural product Agricultural products in India are in the public domain. Research is large conducted in governmental laboratories. The propagation of new seeds and methods quickly at low cost to the user has resulted in the substantial growth that has taken place in Indian agricultural production.
Under no circumstances can India permit product patents for agricultural products and specially for seeds since that will hit at the very base for the growth of agricultural production in India.
Some research in the USA shows that the original patented drug continues for many years after the expiry of the patent, to dominate the market through its trade mark name. Since Indian trade mark laws are strong, the patent owner in effect has a product patent through his trade mark.
If we allow product pate for drugs and chemicals only and for the same period as we now do proc patents, the owner of the patent will be able through his trade mark to enjoy dominance even after the expiry of the patent.
At the same time, it is essential that all such patents be filed in India and that there is a procedure to compel the owner to license the patent for Indian use,
India can, in the case of drugs and chemicals, permit product patents for a limited period. Our registration procedures could be speeded up from the present five years or so between application and granting of patent. If that cannot he done the patent period can be accounted from the date of registration and not from the date of application.
In this way, the patent owner can enjoy the benefit of the patent for the full period, which he is not able to do at present because of the long interval between filing and granting of patent. The controversy over IPR was avoidable. Unfortunately, it became politicized and issues of national sovereignty came up for debate.
It can be nobody’s case that India wants to progress merely by copying and without payment. Nor can anybody in the world argue that India should not enjoy similar benefits as other countries that are how rich but which were able to imitate and progress.
The Press- Its Functions and Responsibilities
The invention of the art of printing in the fifteenth century was in many respects much more important than the invention of gun-powder. The latter had served only to strengthen the sinews of war, but the former helped to liberate the human mind by lighting up and widening its horizons as never before. The advent of the printing press meant that from that hour, the brain and not the arm was to rule the world—revolutionary change in the fortunes of mankind.
The free propagation of the printed word not only helped to lift the clouds of ignorance, but also acted as a catalytic agent to promote freedom of inquiry and debate on an unprecedented scale. Perhaps the first revolution brought about by this new power was the reformation which shook the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century. As the immense capacity of the printed word to sway popular opinion began to make itself felt, the state naturally tried to bring the press under control by imposing censorship to make sure that no writing which tended to undermine temporal or spiritual authority was allowed to get into print.
Gradually a free press came to be recognized as an essential attribute of parliamentary democracy—the fourth estate of the realm after the Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal and the Commons. Votaries of democracy have since hailed the freedom of the press as “The palladium of all civil, political and religious rights”, “the mother of all our liberties, and of our progress under liberty”, “the chosen guardian of freedom, strong swordarm of justice, bright sunbeam of truth”.
It cannot be gainsaid that the press is primarily a medium of mass-communication. Therefore, obviously its true function is to inform the people, and the measure of freedom it enjoys, depends upon the way it discharges that function. The people have a right to be informed freely and fully, and for that the press is accountable neither to the sate, nor to the proprietor, but to the people. The newspapers keep the people informed of the international and national news and happenings. Any incident taking place in any corner of the country of the world is splashed by the press immediately.
In a democracy the newspapers play a very important role. They keep the people informed about the programme and policies of the Government. Similarly, they keep the government informed of the desires, wishes and grievances of the people. In this manner in a democracy newspapers play a dual role. They try to bridge the gap between the government and the people. On the other hand, in a dictatorship, newspapers are only one way media in the hands of the dictator. The dictator tries to promote only his personal interests through the press.
The newspapers can play a constructive role in a democratic society. By dissemination of information and correct reporting they can greatly help in the formation of a healthy public opinion among the people. But sometimes certain newspapers indulge in yellow journalism. They give highly sensational, biased and colored news just to create some sort of excitement among the people. They spread rumors and indulge in mud-slinging. Such like actions on the part of a press must be curbed. This inevitably has the effect of distorting the freedom of the press and thus undermining its social responsibility. As its basic purpose is to inform the people, the press has to be treated more as a public institution than as an industry. It has a definite social function to discharge. Its foremost and highest purpose is to make available to the people information which is as unbiased, as accurate and as full as possible so that the people should be able to judge and decide well. It can perform this duty in the right manner only when it seeks to justify its existence by popular approval only to the exclusion of every other consideration.
While a vigilant public is the custodian of the freedom of the press, its watchdogs are those who man it, and they have an even greater responsibility in preserving and defending that freedom. Wielding the power of the press in the realm of public affairs, the journalist is apt to find his path strewn with hazards and temptations He can steer clear of these only if he is imbued with a burning and uncompromising concern for truth, is courageous enough to risk displeasure of authority and strong enough to resist temptations. He has to be on his guard always against influences which can contaminate the free flow of news e.g., consideration of party or personal gain. He mast not allow himself to become subservient to power, whether political, economic, social or of any other sort, he must seek to be studied, criticized and judged by his readership, but must not neglect or compromise his professional integrity for the sake of popularity or circulation. All this presupposes rigorous self-regulation but there can be no let-up here because the first source of a threat to the freedom of the press is the journalists own lack of integrity.
Simultaneously, to discharge his function properly, he must have a balanced personality and the capacity and habit of introspection. Few journalists will be able to conform to the exacting standard set by Gandhiji, but the freedom of the press is not safe unless those who work for it, exercise this sort of self-discipline, to the extent they can.
Truly speaking, all outside control on the press, whether by political groups and parties, or by big money or by the state-militates against and restricts its freedom. But perhaps the most suffocating of these is slate control. The freedom of the press is enshrined in the constitutions of parliamentary democracies so that if the power of the state ever comes into conflict with the power of the press, the former should not be allowed to throttle the later.
The State can exercise control over the press mainly in two ways, i.e. negatively through censorship, reduction of paper-quotas, denial of advertisements, postal facilities etc., (as has been done in the case of the Express Group of newspapers); and secondly in a positive manner through giving liberal paper quotas, subsidies5 advertising support etc. Whichever of these and the numerous other forms it takes, it cannot be harmful because it prevents the press from coming out frankly and playing its rightful role in the economic and social transformation of the country.
The press can be used as a force on the side of liberty and progress only if it is kept free of all restraints except those which it voluntarily accepts as an earnest of its responsibility to the reading public. Only in that state can it inform and educate the people along the right lines and breed that tolerance of thought and expression which is the hall-mark of a democratic set-up.
Essay on Social Networking
By Prasad Nanda
Human beings by and large are social. They feel an inherent need to connect and expand their connections. There is a deep rooted need among humans to share.
In the past, due to geographical distances and economic concerns, connections between people were limited. A social network is made up of individuals that are connected to one another by a particular type of interdependency. It could be ideas, values, trade, anything.
Social networks operate on many levels. Initially social networking happened at family functions where all relative and friends would conglomerate under one roof.
Social networking has always been prevalent; it is just that in these times the face of social networking has changed. Where earlier the process was long drawn, involving a chain movement where in one person led to another through a web of social contacts, today the process is highly specialized.
Communication has been instrumental to a large extent to the growth of social networking. With the advent of Internet and the cell phone a lot of social interaction is captured through email and instant messaging.
Today there are a lot of online social networking sites where individuals volunteer information about themselves and their social networks. Social networking allows for like- minded people to interact with another.
An online social networking site is a place where a user can create a profile and build a personal network that connects the user to other users. What used to be just a niche activity has today taken the proportions of a global phenomenon that engages tens of millions of Internet users.
Online social networks are ideal for exchanging ideas, views, and garnering public opinion; although, these are restricted to the users of the social network. Popular social networking sites, like Orkut, MySpace and Face book are changing the Internet scene. Another social networking programme is that used by a company called Amway.
The company operates on the system of multi level marketing. Members make new members and get monetary benefits on the purchases made by down the line members. Members sell the company’s products through social networking.
And the members of the company itself constitute a large network, which members use for other businesses as well. The Amway model has been so effective that it has been copied by several other businesses.
Social networking sites have recorded phenomenal growth rates. These networks allow individuals to leverage the connections they establish within the social network to achieve a broader objective like job search, a real estate search, a holiday trip plan, etc.
A social network allows independent artists, music labels and video content owners to upload share and sell their content to a community of users with interests in the particular media. Users in turn benefit by being able to sample, hear, download and share songs with friends and other members.
Social network groups like Orkut help people get in touch with people they have lost touch with. They also help people to stay in touch despite their geographical distances. Social networking is important as far as an individual’s personal and professional development is concerned.
The social network sites have emerged as a powerful and effective means for people to not only link and get linked but to use these services as effectively as possible. The growing popularity of these networking sites only proves the simple truth – Social networking has arrived!
