8,287 research outputs found
Interdisciplinary Legal Scholarship in Search of a Paradigm
A āmatureā science, according to Thomas Kuhn, can afford to be uncritical. It has finally answered to its practitioners\u27 satisfaction the fundamental, foundational questions of their field. It finally rests (āfor a time,ā at least) on an established scientific achievement that epitomizes the accomplished, collective wisdom of an age and defines the terms, conditions, directions, and limits of further refining research. With this āparadigmā in place, researchers are spared the incessant and distracting reexamination of first principles, the extravagant costs of intellectual retooling; they can proceed with confidence, effectiveness, and efficiency to do what they do best: articulating and specifying the received paradigm in more depth and detail, extending and applying it to new areas of interest. Because a paradigm āprovides rules that tell the practitioner of a mature specialty what both the world and his science are like,ā the practitioner ācan concentrate with assurance upon the esoteric problems that these rules and existing knowledge define for him.ā
Postmodern legal theory appropriates and assimilates Kuhn\u27s insights in ways and to an extent that have not, I think, yet been fully recognized. In describing the development of legal scholarship in Kuhnian terms, I am thus merely elaborating assumptions integral to contemporary intellectual discourse. In particular, interdisciplinary legal scholarship regularly proceeds on the assumption that it possesses a stable, accepted, and uncontroversial paradigm for further research-in other words, that it constitutes a āmature science.ā But beneath the institutional trappings of interdisciplinary legal scholarship I detect not a scholarly tradition that has finally resolved to general acclaim all its basic, foundational, methodological problems, but rather one that has never really confronted them. As a result, the attempt to apply the supposed paradigm of interdisciplinary legal scholarship to its subject matter reveals significant āanomaliesā in the application. In what follows I shall first analyze and discuss these anomalies and then consider in some detail a specific example of contemporary interdisciplinary legal scholarship
Augmenting Agent Platforms to Facilitate Conversation Reasoning
Within Multi Agent Systems, communication by means of Agent Communication
Languages (ACLs) has a key role to play in the co-operation, co-ordination and
knowledge-sharing between agents. Despite this, complex reasoning about agent
messaging, and specifically about conversations between agents, tends not to
have widespread support amongst general-purpose agent programming languages.
ACRE (Agent Communication Reasoning Engine) aims to complement the existing
logical reasoning capabilities of agent programming languages with the
capability of reasoning about complex interaction protocols in order to
facilitate conversations between agents. This paper outlines the aims of the
ACRE project and gives details of the functioning of a prototype implementation
within the Agent Factory multi agent framework
Induction of endothelial cell proliferation by recombinant and microparticle-tissue factor involves Ī²1-integrin and extracellular signal regulated kinase activation
Objective: Increased levels of circulating tissue factor (TF) in the form of microparticles increase the risk of thrombosis. However, any direct influence of microparticle-associated TF on vascular endothelial cell proliferation is not known. In this study, the influence of recombinant and microparticle- associated TF on endothelial cell proliferation and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling mechanisms was examined. Methods and Results: Incubation of human coronary artery endothelial cells with lipidated recombinant full-length TF, or TF-containing microparticles (50 to 200 pmol/L TF), increased the rate of cell proliferation and induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal regulated kinase 1 in a TF-dependent manner. Inhibition of extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 using PD98059 or extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 antisense oligonucleotides or inhibition of c-Jun N-terminal kinase reduced recombinant TF-mediated cell proliferation. PD98059 also reduced cell proliferation in response to TF-containing microparticles. Inclusion of FVIIa (5 nmol/L) and FXa (10 nmol/L) or preincubation of cells with an inhibitory anti-FVIIa antibody had no additional influence on TF-mediated cell proliferation. However, preincubation of exogenous TF with a Ī²1-integrin peptide (amino acids 579 to 799) reduced TF-mediated proliferation. Conclusion: High concentrations of recombinant or microparticle-associated TF stimulate endothelial cell proliferation through activation of the extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 pathway, mediated through a novel mechanism requiring the interaction of exogenous TF with cell surface Ī²1-integrin and independent of FVIIa. Ā© 2010 American Heart Association, Inc
Filamin-A is required for the incorporation of tissue factor into cell-derived microvesicles
We previously reported that the incorporation of tissue factor (TF) into cell-derived microvesicles (MVs) is regulated by the phosphorylation of the cytoplasmic domain of TF. Since the cytoskeletal protein filamin-A is known to bind to the cytoplasmic domain of TF in a phosphorylation-dependent manner, the involvement of filamin-A in the incorporation of TF into MVs was examined. Endothelial cells were transfected to express TF, whereas MDA-MB-231 cells were used to examine endogenously expressed TF. MV release was induced by activating protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR2). Partial suppression of filamin-A expression using two different filamin-A siRNA sequences resulted in significant reductions in the incorporation of TF antigen into MVs as determined by TF-ELISA and western blot analysis, and was reflected in reduced thrombin-generation and FXa-generation capacities of these MVs. Deletion of the cytoplasmic domain of TF also resulted in reduced incorporation of TF into MVs, whereas the suppression of filamin-A expression had no additional effect on the incorporation of truncated TF into MVs. Partial suppression of filamin-A expression had no effect on the number and size distribution of the released MVs. However, >90 % suppression of filamin-A expression resulted in increased MV release, possibly as a result of increased instability of the plasma membrane and underlying cytoskeleton. In conclusion, the presence of filamin-A appears to be essential for the incorporation of TF into MVs following PAR2 activation, but is not required for the process of MV formation and release following PAR2 activation
A new substrate for sampling deep river macroinvertebrates
We compared macroinvertebrate communities colonising multiplate samplers constructed from perspex or tempered hardboard (wood) with an alternative artificial substrate constructed from folded coconut fibre matting (coir) enclosed in nylon netting. Substrates were incubated for 62 days over January to March 2007 at six sites over 240 km along the Waikato River. The three substrates supported similar numbers of invertebrate taxa (27 - 29 taxa), but coir samples contained 71% of total invertebrate numbers from all substrates combined, compared with <17% for each type of multiplate sampler. Coir faunas were heavily dominated by the hydrobiid snail Potamopyrgus (84 % of numbers), and this taxon along with the amphipod Paracalliope comprised 58 - 66 % of invertebrates on both types of multiplate samplers. Analysis of a Bray-Curtis matrix suggested statistically significant differences in percent community composition between coir samplers and each type of multiplate sampler over the late summer study period. Densities per cm3 of Oligochaeta, Mollusca, and "other worms" (Platyhelminthes, Rhabdocoela, Nemertea and Hirudinea combined) were significantly higher in coir samples than one or both of the multiplate samplers. Results suggest coir samplers may provide a useful supplement to multiplate samplers for deep river invertebrate studies by collecting a different range of taxa, including those favouring cover and characteristic of depositional environments
Terms of Endearment and Articles of Impeachment
It is a long-established principle that presidential impeachment is an appropriate remedy only for āhigh Crimes and Misdemeanorsā of a public nature (with the possible exception of private crimes so heinous that the President ācannot be permitted to remain at largeā). The crux of this Essay\u27s argument is that the President\u27s affair with Monica Lewinsky was a private matter that was not rendered āpublicā simply because Mr. Clinton lied about it. With its vote against removing the President, the Senate seemed to agree
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