Autonomous Systems as Legal Agents: Directly by the Recognition of Personhood or Indirectly by the Alchemy of Algorithmic Entities

The clinical manifestations of platelet dense (δ) granule defects are easy bruising, as well as epistaxis and bleeding after delivery, tooth extractions and surgical procedures. The observed symptoms may be explained either by a decreased number of granules or by a defect in the uptake/release of granule contents. We have developed a method to study platelet dense granule storage and release. The uptake of the fluorescent marker, mepacrine, into the platelet dense granule was measured using flow cytometry. The platelet population was identified by the size and binding of a phycoerythrin-conjugated antibody against GPIb. Cells within the discrimination frame were analysed for green (mepacrine) fluorescence. Both resting platelets and platelets previously stimulated with collagen and the thrombin receptor agonist peptide SFLLRN was analysed for mepacrine uptake. By subtracting the value for mepacrine uptake after stimulation from the value for uptake without stimulation for each individual, the platelet dense granule release capacity could be estimated. Whole blood samples from 22 healthy individuals were analysed. Mepacrine incubation without previous stimulation gave mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) values of 83±6 (mean ± 1 SD, range 69–91). The difference in MFI between resting and stimulated platelets was 28±7 (range 17–40). Six members of a family, of whom one had a known δ-storage pool disease, were analysed. The two members (mother and son) who had prolonged bleeding times also had MFI values disparate from the normal population in this analysis. The values of one daughter with mild bleeding problems but a normal bleeding time were in the lower part of the reference interval

The New Law of Squeeze-Out Mergers

In response to the United States Supreme Court\u27s decision in Santa Fe Industries, Inc. v. Green, which sharply limited the role of federal securities law in redressing acts of corporate malfeasance, the Delaware Supreme Court, in Singer v. Magnavox Co. and its progeny, expanded the protection available to investors in the context of squeeze-out mergers. According to some proponents of corporate accountability, however, the Delaware Supreme Court\u27s decision in Weinberger v. UOP, Inc. indicates a return to the race for the bottom in state corporate law. The Weinberger decision limited the scope of protection available to minority shareholders under Delaware law. Significantly, in order to obtain relief in most instances, minority stockholders are required to perfect their rights under the cumbersome procedural requirements of the Delaware appraisal statute. After canvassing Delaware law prior to Weinberger, the Article addresses the implications of this important decision. Weinberger’s application of the entire fairness test as the sole standard to scrutinize squeeze-out mergers raises a number of intriguing issues, which the Article examines. In addition, significant developments in other jurisdictions are discussed where appropriate. Thereafter, the Article analyzes the role of the investment banker in rendering a fairness opinion pursuant to a freeze-out merger, focusing on the fiduciary duties an investment banker may owe to minority shareholders when the banker is appraising the value of the minority\u27s interest. The last section of the Article discusses Weinberger’s impact on the federal securities laws, and in particular, SEC rules 13e-3 and l0b-5

Anharmonicity and self-similarity of the free energy landscape of protein G

The near-native free energy landscape of protein G is investigated through 0.4 microseconds-long atomistic molecular dynamics simulations in explicit solvent. A theoretical and computational framework is used to assess the time-dependence of salient thermodynamical features. While the quasi-harmonic character of the free energy is found to degrade in a few ns, the slow modes display a very mild dependence on the trajectory duration. This property originates from a striking self-similarity of the free energy landscape embodied by the consistency of the principal directions of the local minima, where the system dwells for several ns, and of the virtual jumps connecting them.Comment: revtex, 6 pages, 5 figure

Metastability of life

The physical idea of the natural origin of diseases and deaths has been presented. The fundamental microscopical reason is the destruction of any metastable state by thermal activation of a nucleus of a nonreversable change. On the basis of this idea the quantitative theory of age dependence of death probability has been constructed. The obtained simple Death Laws are very accurately fulfilled almost for all known diseases.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure

Weighted‐selective aggregated majority‐OWA operator and its application in linguistic group decision making

This paper focuses on the aggregation operations in the group decision-making model based on the concept of majority opinion. The weighted-selective aggregated majority-OWA (WSAM-OWA) operator is proposed as an extension of the SAM-OWA operator, where the reliability of information sources is considered in the formulation. The WSAM-OWA operator is generalized to the quanti- fied WSAM-OWA operator by including the concept of linguistic quantifier, mainly for the group fusion strategy. The QWSAM-IOWA operator, with an ordering step, is introduced to the individual fusion strategy. The proposed aggregation operators are then implemented for the case of alternative scheme of heterogeneous group decision analysis. The heterogeneous group includes the consensus of experts with respect to each specific criterion. The exhaustive multicriteria group decision-making model under the linguistic domain, which consists of two-stage aggregation processes, is developed in order to fuse the experts' judgments and to aggregate the criteria. The model provides greater flexibility when analyzing the decision alternatives with a tolerance that considers the majority of experts and the attitudinal character of experts. A selection of investment problem is given to demonstrate the applicability of the developed model

Simulation, Experiment, and Evolution: Understanding Nucleation in Protein S6 Folding

In this study, we explore nucleation and the transition state ensemble of the ribosomal protein S6 using a Monte Carlo Go model in conjunction with restraints from experiment. The results are analyzed in the context of extensive experimental and evolutionary data. The roles of individual residues in the folding nucleus are identified and the order of events in the S6 folding mechanism is explored in detail. Interpretation of our results agrees with, and extends the utility of, experiments that shift f-values by modulating denaturant concentration and presents strong evidence for the realism of the mechanistic details in our Monte Carlo Go model and the structural interpretation of experimental f-values. We also observe plasticity in the contacts of the hydrophobic core that support the specific nucleus. For S6, which binds to RNA and protein after folding, this plasticity may result from the conformational flexibility required to achieve biological function. These results present a theoretical and conceptual picture that is relevant in understanding the mechanism of nucleation in protein folding.Comment: PNAS in pres

Aflatoxins in dairy cattle feed in Senegal

Aflatoxins are toxic byproducts from moulds, especially Aspergillus flavus. These moulds grow on crops, and in particular maize and ground nuts are often contaminated. In humans, aflatoxins cause rare, high case fatality outbreaks (acute aflatoxicosis) while long term consumption leads to hepatocellular cancer (globally, around 20,000 deaths annually). Aflatoxins are also associated with childhood stunting, although a causal relation is not yet proven. Humans are exposed through the consumption of contaminated foods, including cereals, legumes and human and animal milk (as aflatoxins are excreted in milk). Similarly in livestock, aflatoxins cause hepatic disease, immunosuppression and reduced productivity. In tropical and sub-tropical developing countries, aflatoxins are common and 4.5 billion people are chronically exposed. In addition to the burden of this exposure, the reduction in livestock productivity impacts food security and trade and hence increases aflatoxins' total burden. Knowledge about aflatoxins in Senegal is scarce, especially in relation to the dairy cattle value chain. In this pilot project we measured aflatoxin B1 levels in dairy cattle feeds. Feed samples were obtained from low-input cattle farms in two regions in Senegal (the Thies and Diourbel regions) in August 2015, with between 16 and 36 samples per feed type. Aflatoxin levels were determined by a commercial competitive ELISA. Feeds with the highest levels of aflatoxin were purchased concentrate (with an average of 50 ppb, and a range of 0 to 305 ppb), ground-nut cake (45ppb, 0 to 187ppb) and millet bran (37ppb, 0 to186 ppb). A number of other feeds tested contained aflatoxins at lower levels, namely cornmeal (18ppb, 0 to 104 ppb), wheat bran (9ppb, 0 to 41 ppb) and rice bran (7ppb, 0 to 58ppb). The percentage of feed samples that were above the World Health Organisation's recommended limit for aflatoxin in animal feed (of 5ppb) was high, for example 96% for ground-nut cake, 80% for millet bran, and 69% for concentrate. Although, the aflatoxin levels reported may not significantly affect herd productivity, their impacts on susceptible livestock and carry-over to animal source food may be problematic. Overall, these results suggest the need for further investigation on aflatoxin in Senegal dairy

Trans-phonon effects in ultrafast nano-devices

We report a novel phenomenon in carbon nanotube (CNT) based devices, the transphonon effects, which resemble the transonic effects in aerodynamics. It is caused by dissipative resonance of nanotube phonons similar to the radial breathing mode, and subsequent drastic surge of the dragging force on the sliding tube, and multiple phonon barriers are encountered as the intertube sliding velocity reaches critical values. It is found that the transphonon effects can be tuned by applying geometric constraints or varying chirality combinations of the nanotubes

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Associated with Brucellosis in Livestock Owners in Jordan

We evaluated livestock owners' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding brucellosis in Jordan. A questionnaire was administered and biological samples were examined to verify the serological status of animals. Seroprevalence estimates indicated that 18.1% (95% CI: 11–25.3) of cattle herds and 34.3% (95% CI: 28.4–40.4) of small ruminant flocks were seropositive. The results showed that 100% of the interviewed livestock keepers were aware of brucellosis: 87% indicated a high risk of infection if unpasteurized milk is consumed and 75% indicated a high risk if unpasteurized dairy products are consumed. Awareness of the risk of infection through direct contact with fetal membranes or via physical contact with infected livestock is considerably lower, 19% and 13%, respectively. These knowledge gaps manifest in a high frequency of high-risk practices such as assisting in animal parturition (62%), disposing aborted fetuses without protective gloves (71.2%) or masks (65%), and not boiling milk before preparation of dairy products (60%). When brucellosis is suspected, basic hygiene practices are often disregarded and suspect animals are freely traded. Public health education should be enhanced as the disease is likely to remain endemic in the ruminant reservoir as long as a suitable compensation program is not established and trust on available vaccines is regained