This article criticises the new Dutch provisions (in force since 1 April 2014) that make it possible for a woman to become the second mother of the child of her female partner without having to go... Show moreThis article criticises the new Dutch provisions (in force since 1 April 2014) that make it possible for a woman to become the second mother of the child of her female partner without having to go through an adoption procedure. The author argues that it would have been better - and possible - to make no distinction at all between a child born to a woman with a female partner and a child born to a woman with a male partner. He proposes a new provision for the Civil Code that would be both gender neutral and orientation neutral. The married or registered partner of the birth mother should automatically become the second legal parent of the child, unless another person - with permission of both partners - will have formally acknowledged the child before its birth. When this article was included in this Liber Amicorum (online at rechtwijs.nl/jcvslxla), the editors left out the footnotes by mistake. A copy of the article including the footnotes is available in the Leiden University Repository. Show less
In this chapter we present a short overview of the application of bibliometric methods for the assessment of research performance and the mapping of scientific fields. The first method concerns the... Show moreIn this chapter we present a short overview of the application of bibliometric methods for the assessment of research performance and the mapping of scientific fields. The first method concerns the detailed analysis of the impact of research in an international perspective. These analyses can be used at different aggregation levels and in different contexts such as university research groups, institutes, R&D departments of companies, scientific organizations, research programs of charities, framework programs of the EC, or the research of an entire university or country. These bibliometric performance analyses are an indispensable element in evaluation procedures next to peer review. The second method focuses on the creation of science maps on the basis of word or citation similarity of publications. These science maps are unique tools to discover patterns in the structure of fields, the emergence of new research themes, and research related to important socio-economic issues. We describe these bibliometric methods with ‘real life' examples and discuss in brief current issues such as the h-index, the journal impact factor, webometrics and university rankings. Show less
Flint and amber artefacts from Dutch Funnelbeaker (3400-2900 cal BC) megaliths were examined from a biographical perspective, also involving microwear analysis. It is shown that both flint and... Show moreFlint and amber artefacts from Dutch Funnelbeaker (3400-2900 cal BC) megaliths were examined from a biographical perspective, also involving microwear analysis. It is shown that both flint and amber contributed to the materiality of Funnelbeaker burial practices, which above all stressed the collective identity of the local community. This is evident in the selection of agricultural tools for deposition. Agriculture was of course an important collective task. There are also indications that flint knapping took place around the tomb. A third observation concerns the enigmatic scratches on the transverse arrowheads and flakes, forming regular patterns that cannot have a post-depositional origin. Lastly, both the axes and the amber beads ended up in the grave in a used state, indicating a previous life. However, prior to deposition both items were reground, obliterating any traces of individual ownership before they could be deposited in the communal burial ground. Show less
Image and realism are recurrent topics in aesthetic, philosophic and political debates every time there is a concern about the contemporaneous, since their origins as well as their overlapped... Show moreImage and realism are recurrent topics in aesthetic, philosophic and political debates every time there is a concern about the contemporaneous, since their origins as well as their overlapped destinies share a common questioning of the present. Lukác’s distinction between narration and description can be read as the canonical formulation of an opposition—the image is the strategy of description and seeks the immediate seizure of the present, whereas the realist fiction orders the past, explains it and gives it an intelligible social coherence. The image is seen and the realist fiction sees, exercising a classificatory biopolitic. Show less
This article is available online at http://opil.ouplaw.com. International protection for same-sex partnership is a topic that has seen important developments recently, reflecting more extensive... Show moreThis article is available online at http://opil.ouplaw.com. International protection for same-sex partnership is a topic that has seen important developments recently, reflecting more extensive national developments in a growing number of countries. These national and international developments are likely to continue and to reinforce each other. The current state of international law seems to be quite clear on two points: discrimination between unmarried different-sex cohabitants and unmarried same-sex cohabitants is prohibited, and exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage is (probably) still permissible. In between those two points the field is less clear. There is growing support for the proposition that a registered partnership or same-sex marriage validly contracted in one country should be recognized by international organizations and — for certain purposes — also by other countries. And there are reasons to expect that international bodies will apply the prohibition of indirect discrimination to situations where same-sex partners are being excluded from certain legal benefits, because these are only available to married partners. This indirect discrimination argument, which focuses on providing specific benefits, rather than on obtaining status, has been accepted already in several domestic courts. In the short run, persuading international human rights courts and bodies to apply it will probably be the most effective way of increasing the international protection of same-sex partnership. Several countries have, in response to claims that marriage should be opened up to same-sex couples, introduced a form of registered partnership. Assuming that international human rights law will not soon require all countries in the world to open up marriage to same-sex couples, and assuming that many legislatures will be reluctant to attach all rights and obligations of marriage to non-registered cohabitation, it seems possible that some day international human rights courts and bodies will start to require that countries should introduce some alternative to marriage. Any claims in this field deserve serious attention, because, as the European Court of Human Rights has consistently put it, the right to respect for private life encompasses ‘the right to establish and develop relationships with other human beings’. Show less
This essay, based on the author’s work for the entry Gesetz in the Nietzsche-Wörterbuch, examines four key moments in the development of Nietzsche’s concept of necessity. The main thesis is that... Show moreThis essay, based on the author’s work for the entry Gesetz in the Nietzsche-Wörterbuch, examines four key moments in the development of Nietzsche’s concept of necessity. The main thesis is that Nietzsche’s concept of necessity needs to be understood in terms of his (largely critical) engagement with the scientific (mechanistic) concept of laws of nature (Naturgesetze). According to one established meaning, ‘necessity’ (1) expresses the so-sein-müssen (must-be-thus) or invariability of the processes described by laws of nature. This meaning is affirmed by the young Nietzsche. The middle Nietzsche, by contrast, criticises laws of nature for projecting moral categories onto nature (as if things or forces ‘followed’ laws out of obedience). In this context, ‘necessity’ (2) is sometimes detached from laws of nature and affirmed by Nietzsche, as that which remains after ‘subtracting’ laws and other anthropomorphisms from nature: a non-anthropomorphic, extra-moral Müssen that expresses the regularity (Berechenbarkeit) of processes of nature, but is logically independent of laws of nature. At other times ‘necessity’ (3) is used by Nietzsche for the false, moral constraint (Zwang), the so-sein-sollen (ought-to-be-thus) expressed by mechanistic laws of nature. ‘Necessity’ in this sense not only moralises nature, but also fails to explain the regularity of natural processes. Nietzsche’s criticisms of mechanistic laws of nature confront him with the task of rethinking ‘necessity’ in non-anthropomorphic, extra-moral terms in a way that offers an alternative, non-legalistic explanation of the regularity of natural processes. This task is engaged with the concepts of will to power and fate. Thinking away ‘necessity’ as false, moral constraint (meaning 3) leaves a minimal concept ‘necessity’ (4) as: so-sein (being-thus), so-und-nicht-anders-sein (being-thus-and-not-otherwise), so-beschaffen-sein: that something is as it is, as strong or as weak, as a function of relations of power and the degrees of power-over and resistance. This concept of necessity is proposed by Nietzsche as an alternative (non-legalistic, non-mechanistic, non-causal) explanation of the regularity of natural processes. But ‘necessity’, as being-thus (so-sein), also precludes the ‘could-have-been-otherwise’ (hätte-anders-sein-können) and thereby serves to exclude the moral concept of necessity (3) expressed by mechanistic laws of nature (ought-to-be-thus: so-sein-sollen). Nietzsche’s efforts to rethink ‘necessity’ beyond mechanistic causality are pursued with the concept of fate, especially in the domains of human morality and art. Show less
Light microscopy and electron microscopy are complementary techniques that in a correlative approach enable identification and targeting of fluorescently labeled structures in situ for three... Show moreLight microscopy and electron microscopy are complementary techniques that in a correlative approach enable identification and targeting of fluorescently labeled structures in situ for three-dimensional imaging at nanometer resolution. Correlative imaging allows electron microscopic images to be positioned in a broader temporal and spatial context. We employed cryo-correlative light and electron microscopy (cryo-CLEM), combining cryo-fluorescence light microscopy and cryo-electron tomography, on vitrified Streptomyces bacteria to study cell division. Streptomycetes are mycelial bacteria that grow as long hyphae and reproduce via sporulation. On solid media, Streptomyces subsequently form distinct aerial mycelia where cell division leads to the formation of unigenomic spores which separate and disperse to form new colonies. In liquid media, only vegetative hyphae are present divided by noncell separating crosswalls. Their multicellular life style makes them exciting model systems for the study of bacterial development and cell division. Complex intracellular structures have been visualized with transmission electron microscopy. Here, we describe the methods for cryo-CLEM that we applied for studying Streptomyces. These methods include cell growth, fluorescent labeling, cryo-fixation by vitrification, cryo-light microscopy using a Linkam cryo-stage, image overlay and relocation, cryo-electron tomography using a Titan Krios, and tomographic reconstruction. Additionally, methods for segmentation, volume rendering, and visualization of the correlative data are described. Show less
In 2005, the EU Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices was adopted. The UCP Directive has the ambitious aim of addressing unfair commercial practices directly related to distorting consumers'... Show moreIn 2005, the EU Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices was adopted. The UCP Directive has the ambitious aim of addressing unfair commercial practices directly related to distorting consumers' economic behaviour concerning transactional decisions. In this introductory chapter to the edited volume "The European Unfair Commercial Practices Directive - Impact, Enforcement Strategies and National Legal Systems" (Willem van Boom, Amandine Garde & Orkun Akseli (eds.); Ashgate 2014), we first give a brief overview of the main features of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. Secondly, we sketch three themes that seem to have a prominent presence in all discussions of the Directive: the tension between consumer autonomy, empowerment and protection; the problematic nature of the maximum harmonization principle; and finally the decentralized enforcement framework and the challenges this poses at Member State level. Finally, we introduce the contributions to the volume. Show less
