14,542 research outputs found
Adam Smith and Three Theories of Altruism
Smith advanced a particular view of altruism that should prove to be relevant to the modem literature on the subject. It provided the back-bone of his critique of three different theories. These three theories have been reincarnated in three modem approaches : Robert Axelrod's "egoistic", Gary Becker's "egocentric", and George Herbert Mead and Robert Frank's "altercentric" views. Axelrod's approach repeats the failing, which Smith found in Mandeville's. Becker's theory echoes the shorteoming, which Smith identified in Hobbes'. Mead/Prank's view duplicates the fault, which Smith uncovered in the approach of Francis Hutcheson and other figures of the Scottish Enlightenment.Egoistic theory, egocentric theory, altercentric theory
Upper bounds on SUSY contributions to b to s transitions from B_s - B_sbar mixing
We study the constraints on supersymmetric contributions to b to s
transitions from the recent allowed range and measurement of Bs-Bsbar mixing
obtained by the D0 and CDF collaborations at the Tevatron. We compute the upper
bounds on the relevant off-diagonal squark mass terms and compare them with the
bounds coming from Delta F=1 decays. We find that the constraints on
chirality-flipping mass insertions are unaffected. Conversely, the measurement
of Bs-Bsbar mixing is effective in constraining chirality-conserving mass
insertions, and it has striking effects in the case in which left- and
right-handed insertions have similar size. Finally, we discuss the phase of the
Bs-Bsbar mixing amplitude in the presence of SUSY contributions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; v2: CDF measurement include
Information, Knowledge and the Close of Friedrich Hayek's System: A Comment
The paper argues that there are two separate orders implied in Hayek's open society: market order and liberal order. The distinction rests on a difference between, what is called here, information and knowledge. While information is about facts such as prices, knowledge expresses the agent's belief about the world. Hayek argues that market order is superior to planned order because information is inherently dispersed. He also argues that liberal order is superior to communal order because the development of knowledge is innately personal. The paper contends that Hayek's arguments cannot be conclusively derived from his theories of information and knowledge.Information; Knowledge; Friedrich Hayek
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Using a smartphone app to identify signs of pre-eclampsia and/or worsening blood pressure
Background
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy complicate 10% of pregnancies and can have serious consequences.
Aims
To explore the experiences of pregnant women with a history of hypertension using an innovative home blood pressure monitoring device.
Methods
A qualitative study using a grounded theory approach was undertaken. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Women were given a blood pressure machine to monitor their blood pressure daily. They inserted their blood pressure results on a smartphone app and answered questions for signs of pre-eclampsia. Participants were followed up every 2 weeks.
Findings
The results suggested that women wanted a holistic care pathway for the management of hypertension in pregnancy. Three subcategories (‘empowerment’, ‘comparison of care pathways’ and ‘continuity of care’) were also identified.
Conclusions
The traditional management of hypertension in pregnancy is not holistic. The home blood pressure service was accepted by women and incorporated elements of holistic care but more is required to meet the standard of care that women need
A possible supersymmetric solution to the discrepancy between B -> \phi K_S and B -> \eta' K_S CP asymmetries
We present a possible supersymmetric solution to the discrepancy between the
observed mixing CP asymmetries in B -> \phi K_S and B -> \eta' K_S. We show
that due to the different parity in the final states of these processes, their
supersymmetric contributions from the R-sector have an opposite sign, which
naturally explain the large deviation between S_{\phi K_S} and S_{\eta' K_S}.
We also consider the proposed mechanisms to solve the puzzle of the observed
large branching ratio of B -> \eta' K and study their impact on S_{eta' K_S}.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Irrigation and phytolith formation:an experimental study
It has been proposed that phytoliths from archaeological
sites can be indicators of water availability and hence
inform about past agricultural practices (Rosen and
Weiner, 1994; Madella et al., 2009). Rosen and Weiner
(1994) found that the number of conjoined phytoliths
fromcereal husks increased with irrigationwhile Madella
et al. (2009) demonstrated that the ratio of long-celled
phytoliths to short-celled phytoliths increased with
irrigation. In order to further explore these hypotheses,
wheat and barley were experimentally grown from 2005
to 2008 in three different crop growing stations in Jordan.
Four different irrigation regimes were initially employed:
0% (rainfall only), 80%, 100%and 120% of the optimum
crop water requirements, with a 40% plot being added in
the second and third growing seasons. Each plot
measured 5 m � 5 m and a drip irrigation system was
used. Environmental variables were measured on a daily
basis, and soil and water samples were taken and
analysed at the University of Reading. Phytoliths from
the husks of these experimentally grown plants were
extracted using the dry ashing method. Results
demonstrate that although the number of conjoined cells
increases with irrigation, there were considerable intersite
and inter-year differences suggesting that
environmental variables other than water availability
affect phytolith uptake and deposition. Furthermore,
analytical experiments demonstrated that conjoined
phytoliths are subject to change or breakage by external
factors, making this methodology problematic to apply to
archaeological phytolith assemblages that have an
unknown taphonomic history. The ratio of long cells
to short cells also responded to increased irrigation,
and these forms are not subject to break up as are
conjoined forms. Our results from the modern samples
of durum wheat and six-row barley show that if an
assemblage of single-celled phytoliths consists of over
60% dendritic long cells then this strongly suggests that
the crop received optimum levels of water. Further
research is needed to determine if this finding is
consistent in phytolith samples from the leaves and
stems, as suggested byMadella et al. (2009), and in other
species of cereals. If this is the case then phytoliths are a
valuble tool for assessing the level of past water
availability and, potentially, past irrigation
Optimization, Path Dependence and the Law: Can Judges Promote Efficiency?
The thesis that judges could (voluntarily or not) promote efficiency through their decisions has largely been discussed since Posner put it forward in the early 1970s. There nonetheless remains a methodological aspect that has never (to our knowledge) been analyzed and that we address in this paper. We thus show that both promoters and critics of the judge-and-efficiency thesis similarly use a definition of optimization in which history, constraints and path-dependency are viewed as obstacles that must be removed to reach the most efficient outcome. This is misleading. Efficiency cannot be defined in absolute terms, as a “global ideal” that would mean being free from any constraint, including historically deposited ones. That judges are obliged to refer to the past does not mean that they are unable to make the most efficient decision because constraints are part of the optimization process; or optimization is necessarily path- dependent. Thus, the output of legal systems cannot be efficient or inefficient per se. This is what we argue in this paper.Judicial decision making; Historical inertia; Inefficiency; Adaptationism; Spandrelism; Global ideal; Rationality; Lock-in institutions.
Universal dielectric loss in amorphous solids from simultaneous bias and microwave field
We derive the ac dielectric loss in glasses due to resonant processes created
by two-level systems and a swept electric field bias. It is shown that at
sufficiently large ac fields and bias sweep rates the nonequilibrium loss
tangent created by the two fields approaches a universal maximum determined by
the bare linear dielectric permittivity. In addition this nonequilibrium loss
tangent is derived for a range of bias sweep rates and ac amplitudes and show
that the loss tangent creates a predicted loss function that can be understood
in a Landau-Zener theory and which can be used to extract the TLS density,
dipole moment, and relaxation rate.Comment: To appear in Physical Review Letters, 4 pages, 3 figure
Reverse engineering of drug induced DNA damage response signalling pathway reveals dual outcomes of ATM kinase inhibition
The DNA Damage Response (DDR) pathway represents a signalling mechanism that is activated in eukaryotic cells following DNA damage and comprises of proteins involved in DNA damage detection, DNA repair, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. This pathway consists of an intricate network of signalling interactions driving the cellular ability to recognise DNA damage and recruit specialised proteins to take decisions between DNA repair or apoptosis. ATM and ATR are central components of the DDR pathway. The activities of these kinases are vital in DNA damage induced phosphorylational induction of DDR substrates. Here, firstly we have experimentally determined DDR signalling network surrounding the ATM/ATR pathway induced following double stranded DNA damage by monitoring and quantifying time dependent inductions of their phosphorylated forms and their key substrates. We next involved an automated inference of unsupervised predictive models of time series data to generate in silico (molecular) interaction maps. We characterized the complex signalling network through system analysis and gradual utilisation of small time series measurements of key substrates through a novel network inference algorithm. Furthermore, we demonstrate an application of an assumption-free reverse engineering of the intricate signalling network of the activated ATM/ATR pathway. We next studied the consequences of such drug induced inductions as well as of time dependent ATM kinase inhibition on cell survival through further biological experiments. Intermediate and temporal modelling outcomes revealed the distinct signaling profile associated with ATM kinase activity and inhibition and explained the underlying signalling mechanism for dual ATM functionality in cytotoxic and cytoprotective pathways
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