AAAI: an Argument Against Artificial Intelligence

The ethical concerns regarding the successful development of an Artificial Intelligence have received a lot of attention lately. The idea is that even if we have good reason to believe that it is very unlikely, the mere possibility of an AI causing extreme human suffering is important enough to warrant serious consideration. Others look at this problem from the opposite perspective, namely that of the AI itself. Here the idea is that even if we have good reason to believe that it is very unlikely, the mere possibility of humanity causing extreme suffering to an AI is important enough to warrant serious consideration. This paper starts from the observation that both concerns rely on problematic philosophical assumptions. Rather than tackling these assumptions directly, it proceeds to present an argument that if one takes these assumptions seriously, then one has a moral obligation to advocate for a ban on the development of a conscious AI

Parathyroid hormone 1-34 and skeletal anabolic action: The use of parathyroid hormone in bone formation

Intermittently administered parathyroid hormone (PTH 1-34) has been shown to promote bone formation in both human and animal studies. The hormone and its analogues stimulate both bone formation and resorption, and as such at low doses are now in clinical use for the treatment of severe osteoporosis. By varying the duration of exposure, parathyroid hormone can modulate genes leading to increased bone formation within a so-called ‘anabolic window’. The osteogenic mechanisms involved are multiple, affecting the stimulation of osteoprogenitor cells, osteoblasts, osteocytes and the stem cell niche, and ultimately leading to increased osteoblast activation, reduced osteoblast apoptosis, upregulation of Wnt/β-catenin signalling, increased stem cell mobilisation, and mediation of the RANKL/OPG pathway. Ongoing investigation into their effect on bone formation through ‘coupled’ and ‘uncoupled’ mechanisms further underlines the impact of intermittent PTH on both cortical and cancellous bone. Given the principally catabolic actions of continuous PTH, this article reviews the skeletal actions of intermittent PTH 1-34 and the mechanisms underlying its effect

Sequential Extensions of Causal and Evidential Decision Theory

Moving beyond the dualistic view in AI where agent and environment are separated incurs new challenges for decision making, as calculation of expected utility is no longer straightforward. The non-dualistic decision theory literature is split between causal decision theory and evidential decision theory. We extend these decision algorithms to the sequential setting where the agent alternates between taking actions and observing their consequences. We find that evidential decision theory has two natural extensions while causal decision theory only has one.Comment: ADT 201

The spherical probe electric field and wave experiment

The experiment is designed to measure the electric field and density fluctuations with sampling rates up to 40,000 samples/sec. The description includes Langmuir sweeps that can be made to determine the electron density and temperature, the study of nonlinear processes that result in acceleration of plasma, and the analysis of large scale phenomena where all four spacecraft are needed

Experts\u27 Advice to Information Systems Doctoral Students

This paper summarizes the results of a panel discussion offering advice to doctoral students in advancing through their programs and getting a start on their career. The panel was held at the 2003 Annual Conference of the Southern Association for Information Systems, and panelists included five senior MIS faculty members who, combined, have chaired over 80 dissertations. Topics included choosing a dissertation topic, dealing with the dissertation committee, completing the dissertation, the job hunt, marketability, building a publication record, and advice for new faculty

Delayed union of femoral fractures in older rats:decreased gene expression

BACKGROUND: Fracture healing slows with age. While 6-week-old rats regain normal bone biomechanics at 4 weeks after fracture, one-year-old rats require more than 26 weeks. The possible role of altered mRNA gene expression in this delayed union was studied. Closed mid-shaft femoral fractures were induced followed by euthanasia at 0 time (unfractured) or at 1, 2, 4 or 6 weeks after fracture in 6-week-old and 12-15-month-old Sprague-Dawley female rats. mRNA levels were measured for osteocalcin, type I collagen α1, type II collagen, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2, BMP-4 and the type IA BMP receptor. RESULTS: For all of the genes studied, the mRNA levels increased in both age groups to a peak at one to two weeks after fracture. All gene expression levels decreased to very low or undetectable levels at four and six weeks after fracture for both age groups. At four weeks after fracture, the younger rats were healed radiographically, but not the older rats. CONCLUSIONS: (1) All genes studied were up-regulated by fracture in both age groups. Thus, the failure of the older rats to heal promptly was not due to the lack of expression of any of the studied genes. (2) The return of the mRNA gene expression to baseline values in the older rats prior to healing may contribute to their delayed union. (3) No genes were overly up-regulated in the older rats. The slower healing response of the older rats did not stimulate a negative-feedback increase in the mRNA expression of stimulatory cytokines

Natural History of Meningioma Development in Mice Reveals: A Synergy of Nf2 and p16Ink4a Mutations

Meningiomas account for approximately 30% of all primary central nervous system tumors and are found in half of neurofibromatosis type 2 patients often causing significant morbidity. Although most meningiomas are benign, 10% are classified as atypical or anaplastic, displaying aggressive clinical behavior. Biallelic inactivation of the neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2) tumor suppressor is associated with meningioma formation in all NF2 patients and 60% of sporadic meningiomas. Deletion of the p16INK4a/p14ARF locus is found in both benign and malignant meningiomas, while mutation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene is uncommon. Previously, we inactivated Nf2 in homozygous conditional knockout mice by adenoviral Cre delivery and showed that Nf2 loss in arachnoid cells is rate-limiting for meningioma formation. Here, we report that additional nullizygosity for p16Ink4a increases the frequency of meningioma and meningothelial proliferation in these mice without modifying the tumor grade. In addition, by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to screen a large cohort of mutant mice, we were able to detect meningothelial proliferation and meningioma development opening the way to future studies in which therapeutic interventions can be tested as preclinical assessment of their potential clinical application

Immunological tumor status may predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and outcome after radical cystectomy in bladder cancer

Bladder cancer (BC) is the ninth most common cancer worldwide. Radical cystectomy (RC) with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is recommended for muscle-invasive BC. The challenge of the neoadjuvant approach relates to challenges in selection of patients to chemotherapy that are likely to respond to the treatment. To date, there are no validated molecular markers or baseline clinical characteristics to identify these patients. Different inflammatory markers, including tumor associated macrophages with their plastic pro-tumorigenic and anti-tumorigenic functions, have extensively been under interests as potential prognostic and predictive biomarkers in different cancer types. In this immunohistochemical study we evaluated the predictive roles of three immunological markers, CD68, MAC387, and CLEVER-1, in response to NAC and outcome of BC. 41% of the patients had a complete response (pT0N0) to NAC. Basic clinicopathological variables did not predict response to NAC. In contrast, MAC387(+) cells and CLEVER-1(+) macrophages associated with poor NAC response, while CLEVER-1(+) vessels associated with more favourable response to NAC. Higher counts of CLEVER-1+ macrophages associated with poorer overall survival and CD68(+) macrophages seem to have an independent prognostic value in BC patients treated with NAC. Our findings point out that CD68, MAC387, and CLEVER-1 may be useful prognostic and predictive markers in BC

Quantum key distribution in terms of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state: multi-key generation

In this paper, we develop a quantum key distribution protocol based on the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states (GHZs). The particles are exchanged among the users in blocks through two steps. In this protocol, for three-particle GHZs three keys can be simultaneously generated. The advantage of this is that the users can select the most suitable key for communication. The protocol can be generalized to $N$ users to provide $N$ keys. The protocol has two levels for checking the eavesdroppers. Moreover, we discuss the security of the protocol against different attacks.Comment: 10 Page, no figures. Comments are most welcom