Rustless translation

ATP binding cassette proteins are a large and diverse family of molecular machines and include transmembrane transporter, chromosome maintenance and DNA repair proteins, and translation factors. However, the function of the ABCE1, the only member of subfamily E of ABC proteins, remained mysterious for over a decade, even though it is perhaps the most conserved ABC protein in eukaryotes and archaea. Recent results have now identified ABCE1 as the ribosome-recycling factor of eukaryotes and archaea. Thus, two iron-sulfur clusters - the hallmark feature of ABCE1 - help catalyze an integral step of the translational cycle at the core of the protein synthesis machinery

Applications of Artificial Intelligence in the Treatment of Behavioral and Mental Health Conditions

Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) is the branch of science that studies and designs intelligent devices. For individuals unfamiliar with artificial intelligence, the concept of intelligent machines may bring up visions of attractive human-like computers or robots, like those described in science fiction. Others may consider AI technology to be mysterious machines limited to research facilities or a technical triumph that will come in the far future. Popular media accounts on the deployment of aerial drones, autonomous autos, or the potential dangers of developing super-intelligent technologies may have raised some broad awareness of the subject

The Evil of Banality: Moby Dick vs. the Extreme Machine

In this article I am suggesting that Feidelson’s approach be appropriated for the contemplation and understanding of extra-literary phenomena like the extreme machine. As Russell Reising points out, Feidelson’s “historical premise—that symbolism arose at a particular historical moment —could generate semiotic analyses of the relationships between cultural texts (literature, advertising, political discourses and so on) and social contexts, even though the texts themselves purport to transcend social determination” (180). One might extrapolate from this passage to ask the following questions: How do popular mass-produced objects and trends take on symbolic weight in American culture? What connections might we make between these commodities and American literary texts that represent historical events, debates, and individual psychology? And more specifically, if also more whimsically, is there a secret symbolic relationship between Melville’s Moby-Dick and the extreme machine

Phantom German Air Raids on Canada: War Hysteria in Quebec and Ontario during the First World War

In late August of 1914, Canada entered the First World War following the unanimous vote of a special session of Parliament. This event occurred amid great exuberance and unanimity, and was marked by parades, decorations, cheering crowds and patriotic speeches. Canada was situated far from the European front lines, and its distant, vast land mass and cold climate also contributed to a feeling of insulation from attack or invasion. However, despite a general feeling of distance from the war\u27s unfolding events, there was a rapidly growing realization that German sympathizers and enemy agents might pose a more immediate threat

Why Do We Believe in the Second Law?

Claims of exceptions to the second law of thermodynamics are generally met with extreme skepticism that is quite reasonable given the great confidence placed in the second law. But what specifically is the basis for that confidence? The perspective from which we approach experimental or theoretical results that call into question the absolute status of the second law depends greatly on our understanding of why it must be true. For example, a belief that there are solid theoretical arguments demonstrating that the second law must be true leads to a very different perspective than a belief that the law is simply a generalization of empirical observations. This paper will briefly survey and examine some of the basic arguments on which our confidence in the second law might be based, to help provide a well-informed perspective for evaluating the various claims presented at this conference.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in Proc. of "First International Conference on Quantum Limits to the Second Law," July 2002, editor D.P. Sheeha

Wittgenstein’s Remarks on Technology and Mental Mechanisms

This article provides a survey of Wittgenstein’s remarks in which he discusses various kinds of technology. I argue that throughout his career, his use of technological examples displays a thematic unity: technologies are invoked in order to illustrate a certain mechanical conception of the mind. I trace how his use of such examples evolved as his views on the mind and on meaning changed. I also discuss an important and somewhat radical anti-mechanistic strain in his later thought and suggest that Wittgenstein’s attitude to mechanistic explanations in psychology was ultimately quite ambivalent

On a Failed Defense of Factory Farming

Timothy Hsiao attempts to defend industrial animal farming by arguing that it is not inherently cruel. We raise three main objections to his defense. First, his argument rests on a misunderstanding of the nature of cruelty. Second, his conclusion, though technically true, is so weak as to be of virtually no moral significance or interest. Third, his contention that animals lack moral standing, and thus that mistreating them is wrong only insofar as it makes one more disposed to mistreat other humans, is untenable on both philosophical and biological grounds