Is the Cell Really a Machine?

It has become customary to conceptualize the living cell as an intricate piece of machinery, different to a man-made machine only in terms of its superior complexity. This familiar understanding grounds the conviction that a cell's organization can be explained reductionistically, as well as the idea that its molecular pathways can be construed as deterministic circuits. The machine conception of the cell owes a great deal of its success to the methods traditionally used in molecular biology. However, the recent introduction of novel experimental techniques capable of tracking individual molecules within cells in real time is leading to the rapid accumulation of data that are inconsistent with an engineering view of the cell. This paper examines four major domains of current research in which the challenges to the machine conception of the cell are particularly pronounced: cellular architecture, protein complexes, intracellular transport, and cellular behaviour. It argues that a new theoretical understanding of the cell is emerging from the study of these phenomena which emphasizes the dynamic, self-organizing nature of its constitution, the fluidity and plasticity of its components, and the stochasticity and non-linearity of its underlying processes

Guatemala Holiday

Roll 6. Lodger's Picnic. Image 14 of 21. (18 May, 1952) [PHO 1.6.13]The Boleslaus Lukaszewski (Father Luke) Photographs contain more than 28,000 images of Saint Louis University people, activities, and events between 1951 and 1970. The photographs were taken by Boleslaus Lukaszewski (Father Luke), a Jesuit priest and member of the University's Philosophy Department faculty

Waiting for Leviathan: A Note on \u3cem\u3eModern Wo\u27er Trading Co Ltd v Ministry of Finance of the People\u27s Republic of China\u3c/em\u3e

This article analyzes a Chinese bid protest that has taken nearly seven years to adjudicate, yet as of this writing, no institution of the Chinese state has evaluated the substance of the protester’s bid challenge. Instead, the supplier’s complaint has been snared in a grey area between two of China’s multiple bid protest systems, burdening the supplier to push China’s administrative state to respond. The saga of Modern Wo’Er Trading Company Ltd. v The Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China raises compelling questions about the relationship of China’s 1999 Tender and Bidding Law and China’s 2002 Government Procurement Law, the nature of administrative power in China, and the ability of Chinese public procurement law to offer justice to aggrieved supplier

F-purity of hypersurfaces

In this note, we study F-purity of pairs, and show (as is the case with log canonicity) that F-purity is preserved at the F-pure threshold. We also characterize when F-purity is equivalent to sharp F-purity, an alternate notion of purity for pairs introduced in [Sch08]. These results on purity at the threshold generalize results appearing in [Har06, Sch08], and were expected to hold by many experts in the field. We conclude by extending results in [BMS09] on the set of all F-pure thresholds to the most general setting.Comment: Version 1: 12 pages, 1 figure. Comments welcome! Version 2: Minor revisions (as suggested by the referee) and updated references. To appear in Mathematical Research Letter

Would You Like that iPhone Locked or Unlocked?: Reconciling Apple's Anticircumvention Measures with the DMCA

When Apple's iPhone first hit the stores it was an epochal media event.2 Apple, long a leader in high-end computers and personal electronics, was poised to make its entry into a highly-competitive market with a new mobile phone that promised groundbreaking technological capabilities in a sleek, ergonomic package. Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, extolled the iPhone's virtues to an eager press, and, shortly thereafter, Apple's stock jumped dramatically.3 Apple's loyal devotees lined up in anticipation days before the phone's June 29, 2007 release.4 It took Apple a mere seventy-four days to sell one million handsets.5 But some time after the fanfare had settled down, public perception of the iPhone shifted. As consumers began to use the iPhone, the once-beloved phone began to acquire its share of discontents. Consumers expressed frustration in response to 300-page phone bills,6 expensive roaming charges,7 and, perhaps most vocally, to the technological methods Apple used to police its exclusive agreement with AT&T

Validation and type-species designation for the genus Janidera sensu Hüdepohl 1988 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Dejanirini)

Validation and type-species designation for the genus Janidera sensu Hüdepohl 1988 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Cerambycinae: Dejanirini

Under God : The Story of Gettysburg in India

At Gettysburg College, any student who strolls through Pennsylvania Hall, Musselman Library, and the College Union Building cannot help but notice the colorful retro-style posters highlighting the accomplished alumni of this historical institution. Some students dream and joke of being included among these men and women, a television star, a children’s author, and a Civil Rights activist among them. Sadly, for every pop culture icon and Nobel Prize winner, there are those who go unnoticed. Pictures of founders and theologians such as Samuel Simon Schmucker and Henry Baugher remain, but there could not be more of a general disinterest in their accomplishments or their lives. Since the mid-twentieth century, the Lutheran enrollment at Gettysburg has steadily withered, and people identified with denominations, sects, and religions (or none at all) have arrived to take their place. The founders are no longer honored as good Christian men, just some guys who wanted to build a liberal arts college in “the middle of nowhere,” Pennsylvania, and very few people know even that much. Is there one place on campus where the Lutheran heritage endures? That is the question on my mind as I walk up the steps, passed the pillars, and through the doors of Christ Chapel. [excerpt] Course Information: Course Title: HIST 300: Historical Method Academic Term: Spring 2010 Course Instructor: Dr. Michael J. Birkner \u2772 Hidden in Plain Sight is a collection of student papers on objects that are hidden in plain sight around the Gettysburg College campus. Topics range from the Glatfelter Hall gargoyles to the statue of Eisenhower and from historical markers to athletic accomplishments. You can download the paper in pdf format and click View Photo to see the image in greater detail.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/hiddenpapers/1036/thumbnail.jp