The Hardship That is Internet Deprivation and What it Means for Sentencing: Development of the Internet Sanction and Connectivity for Prisoners

Twenty years ago, the internet was a novel tool. Now it is such an ingrained part of most people’s lives that they experience and exhibit signs of anxiety and stress if they cannot access it. Non-accessibility to the internet can also tangibly set back peoples’ social, educational, financial, and vocational pursuits and interests. In this Article, we argue that the sentencing law needs to be reformed to adapt to the fundamental changes in human behavior caused by the internet. We present three novel and major implications for the sentencing law and practice in the era of the internet. First, we argue that denial of access to the internet should be developed as a discrete sentencing sanction, which can be invoked for relatively minor offenses in much the same way that deprivation of other entitlements or privileges, such as the right to drive a motor vehicle, are currently imposed for certain crimes. Second, we argue that prisoners should have unfettered access to the internet. This would lessen the pain stemming from incarceration in a manner which does not undermine the principal objectives of imprisonment—community protection and infliction of a hardship—while at the same time providing prisoners with the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge, and relationships that will better equip them for a productive life once they are released. Previous arguments that have been made for denying internet access to prisoners are unsound. Technological advances can readily curb supposed risks associated with prisoners using the internet. Finally, if the second recommendation is not adopted, and prisoners continue to be denied access to the internet, there should be an acknowledgement that the burden of imprisonment is greater than is currently acknowledged. The internet is now such an ingrained and important aspect of people’s lives that prohibiting its use is a cause of considerable unpleasantness. This leads to our third proposal: continued denial of the internet to prisoners should result in a recalibration of the pain of imprisonment such that a sentencing reduction should be conferred to prisoners

Beliefs-Driven Price Association

In addition to being a function of traditional fundamentals such as cash-flow persistence and the discount rate, the equilibrium association between a security price and a value-relevant statistic can simply be a function of what rational investors believe the association will be. We refer to this phenomenon as beliefs-driven price association (BPA). By explicitly considering the phenomenon of BPA, we show that the price response to information releases can vary over time even if the risk-free interest rate and investor preferences are static and the earnings/cash flow generating process is stable. This observation suggests, for example, that price-to-earnings associations and price volatility can vary over time even if a stable pattern of economic fundamentals suggests otherwise. The possibility of BPA suggests that measures of the cost of capital, information content, and growth prospects inferred from observed market prices will be confounded. While we do not predict when periods of BPA will arise, we provide empirically testable predictions about how prices should behave during periods of BPA. In particular, we predict that, during sufficiently long periods of high (positive or negative) BPA, price volatility, price levels, and expected returns will be higher than would be implied by a fundamental valuation framework. Finally, while BPA in the pricing of one security does not cause BPA in the pricing of other securities, the price levels of those other securities will be affected if the securities with BPA are sufficiently large relative to the market as a whole

Improvement of Capture Compound Mass Spectrometry Technology (CCMS) for the Profiling of Human Kinases by Combination with 2D LC-MS/MS

An increasingly popular and promising field in functional proteomics is the isolation of proteome subsets based on small molecule-protein interactions. One platform approach in this field are Capture Compounds that contain a small molecule of interest to bind target proteins, a photo-activatable reactivity function to covalently trap bound proteins, and a sorting function to isolate captured protein conjugates from complex biological samples for direct protein identification by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (nLC-MS/MS). In this study we used staurosporine as a selectivity group for analysis in HepG2 cells derived from human liver. In the present study, we combined the functional isolation of kinases with different separation workflows of automated split-free nanoflow liquid chromatography prior to mass spectrometric analysis. Two different CCMS setups, CCMS technology combined with 1D LC-MS and 2D LC-MS, were compared regarding the total number of kinase identifications. By extending the chromatographic separation of the tryptic digested captured proteins from 1D LC linear gradients to 2D LC we were able to identify 97 kinases. This result is similar to the 1D LC setup we previously reported but this time 4 times less input material was needed. This makes CCMS of kinases an even more powerful tool for the proteomic profiling of this important protein family

Towards a Task Driven Approach Enabling Continuous User Requirements Engineering

Abstract. The digital transformation of traditional workflows challenges small and medium-sized and industrial enterprises likewise. Interactive systems have to be built to assist the people within their daily tasks as suitable as possible. Existing software engineering methods seems to be unsufficient because they don't consider end users in terms of active involvement during the development process and thus lack in the quality of the resulting product. In addition, digital transformation is an ongoing process and needs user participation as well as a continuous requirements refinement. Therefore, this paper describes an iterative task-driven approach to enable an incremental development based on a sustainable model that is continuously improved due to user reviews on runnable parts of the user interface

A stated preference investigation of household demand for illegally hunted bushmeat in the Serengeti, Tanzania

This paper originates in a research project “Hunting for Sustainability” supported by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, and the research has been co-funded by Frankfurt Zoological Society.Illegal hunting for bushmeat is regarded as an important cause of biodiversity decline in Africa. We use a ‘stated preferences’ method to obtain information on determinants of demand for bushmeat and two other protein sources, fish and chicken, in villages around the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Our study focuses particularly on the impact of price changes, as anticipating and understanding the impact of price changes (whether caused by conservation interventions or market changes) on demand for bushmeat enables effective responses to be planned. We estimate the effects of changes in the price of bushmeat and in the prices of two substitute protein sources – fish and chicken – on household demand for bushmeat. Results suggest that increasing the availability of lower priced protein substitutes would reduce demand for bushmeat, and therefore, potentially pressure on wildlife populations. However, raising the price of bushmeat (e.g. as a result of reducing illegal hunting) would reduce household demand to a greater degree than equivalent decreases in the price of alternative protein sources. In both cases, elasticity of demand parameters are reported, which summarize the relative response to households to these alternative interventions. A 10% rise in bushmeat prices would reduce demand by around 6–7%, while a 10% fall in chicken or fish prices would reduce bushmeat demand by around 3–4%. The response to price changes varied between ethnic groups, and also according to household size (with the direction of the effect depending on whether the substitute was chicken or fish), but was not significantly affected by wealth or income.PostprintPeer reviewe

SEDP-2014-07

Illegal hunting for bushmeat is regarded as an important cause of biodiversity decline in Africa. We use a stated preferences method to obtain information on determinants of demand for bushmeat in villages around the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. We estimate the effects of changes in the own price of bushmeat and in the prices of two substitute protein sources - fish and chicken. Promoting the availability of protein substitutes at lower prices would be effective at reducing pressures on wildlife. Supply-side measures that raise the price of bushmeat would also be effective

Abcb4 acts as multixenobiotic transporter and active barrier against chemical uptake in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos

BACKGROUND: In mammals, ABCB1 constitutes a cellular “first line of defense” against a wide array of chemicals and drugs conferring cellular multidrug or multixenobiotic resistance (MDR/MXR). We tested the hypothesis that an ABCB1 ortholog serves as protection for the sensitive developmental processes in zebrafish embryos against adverse compounds dissolved in the water. RESULTS: Indication for ABCB1-type efflux counteracting the accumulation of chemicals in zebrafish embryos comes from experiments with fluorescent and toxic transporter substrates and inhibitors. With inhibitors present, levels of fluorescent dyes in embryo tissue and sensitivity of embryos to toxic substrates were generally elevated. We verified two predicted sequences from zebrafish, previously annotated as abcb1, by cloning; our synteny analyses, however, identified them as abcb4 and abcb5, respectively. The abcb1 gene is absent in the zebrafish genome and we explored whether instead Abcb4 and/or Abcb5 show toxicant defense properties. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analyses showed the presence of transcripts of both genes throughout the first 48 hours of zebrafish development. Similar to transporter inhibitors, morpholino knock-down of Abcb4 increased accumulation of fluorescent substrates in embryo tissue and sensitivity of embryos toward toxic compounds. In contrast, morpholino knock-down of Abcb5 did not exert this effect. ATPase assays with recombinant protein obtained with the baculovirus expression system confirmed that dye and toxic compounds act as substrates of zebrafish Abcb4 and inhibitors block its function. The compounds tested comprised model substrates of human ABCB1, namely the fluorescent dyes rhodamine B and calcein-am and the toxic compounds vinblastine, vincristine and doxorubicin; cyclosporin A, PSC833, MK571 and verapamil were applied as inhibitors. Additionally, tests were performed with ecotoxicologically relevant compounds: phenanthrene (a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) and galaxolide and tonalide (two polycyclic musks). CONCLUSIONS: We show that zebrafish Abcb4 is a cellular toxicant transporter and provides protection of embryos against toxic chemicals dissolved in the water. Zebrafish Abcb4 thus is functionally similar to mammalian ABCB1, but differs from mammalian ABCB4, which is not involved in cellular resistance to chemicals but specifically transports phospholipids in the liver. Our data have important implications: Abcb4 could affect bioavailability - and thus toxicologic and pharmacologic potency - of chemicals to zebrafish embryos and inhibition of Abcb4 therefore causes chemosensitization, that is, enhanced sensitivity of embryos to toxicants. These aspects should be considered in (eco)toxicologic and pharmacologic chemical screens with the zebrafish embryo, a major vertebrate model

Fatal attraction of Caenorhabditis elegans to predatory fungi through 6-methyl-salicylic acid

Salicylic acid is a phenolic phytohormone which controls plant growth and development. A methyl ester (MSA) derivative thereof is volatile and involved in plant-insect or plant-plant communication. Here we show that the nematode-trapping fungus Duddingtonia flagrans uses a methyl-salicylic acid isomer, 6-MSA as morphogen for spatiotemporal control of trap formation and as chemoattractant to lure Caenorhabditis elegans into fungal colonies. 6-MSA is the product of a polyketide synthase and an intermediate in the biosynthesis of arthrosporols. The polyketide synthase (ArtA), produces 6-MSA in hyphal tips, and is uncoupled from other enzymes required for the conversion of 6-MSA to arthrosporols, which are produced in older hyphae. 6-MSA and arthrosporols both block trap formation. The presence of nematodes inhibits 6-MSA and arthrosporol biosyntheses and thereby enables trap formation. 6-MSA and arthrosporols are thus morphogens with some functions similar to quorum-sensing molecules. We show that 6-MSA is important in interkingdom communication between fungi and nematodes