The view from elsewhere: perspectives on ALife Modeling

Many artificial life researchers stress the interdisciplinary character of the field. Against such a backdrop, this report reviews and discusses artificial life, as it is depicted in, and as it interfaces with, adjacent disciplines (in particular, philosophy, biology, and linguistics), and in the light of a specific historical example of interdisciplinary research (namely cybernetics) with which artificial life shares many features. This report grew out of a workshop held at the Sixth European Conference on Artificial Life in Prague and features individual contributions from the workshop's eight speakers, plus a section designed to reflect the debates that took place during the workshop's discussion sessions. The major theme that emerged during these sessions was the identity and status of artificial life as a scientific endeavor

LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES defines a new family of DNA-binding transcription factors and can interact with specific bHLH proteins

Conserved in a variety of evolutionarily divergent plant species, LOB DOMAIN (LBD) genes define a large, plant-specific family of largely unknown function. LBD genes have been implicated in a variety of developmental processes in plants, although to date, relatively few members have been assigned functions. LBD proteins have previously been predicted to be transcription factors, however supporting evidence has only been circumstantial. To address the biochemical function of LBD proteins, we identified a 6-bp consensus motif recognized by a wide cross-section of LBD proteins, and showed that LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES (LOB), the founding member of the family, is a transcriptional activator in yeast. Thus, the LBD genes encode a novel class of DNA-binding transcription factors. Post-translational regulation of transcription factors is often crucial for control of gene expression. In our study, we demonstrate that members of the basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH) family of transcription factors are capable of interacting with LOB. The expression patterns of bHLH048 and LOB overlap at lateral organ boundaries. Interestingly, the interaction of bHLH048 with LOB results in reduced affinity of LOB for the consensus DNA motif. Thus, our studies suggest that bHLH048 post-translationally regulates the function of LOB at lateral organ boundaries

Chaotic exploration and learning of locomotion behaviours

We present a general and fully dynamic neural system, which exploits intrinsic chaotic dynamics, for the real-time goal-directed exploration and learning of the possible locomotion patterns of an articulated robot of an arbitrary morphology in an unknown environment. The controller is modeled as a network of neural oscillators that are initially coupled only through physical embodiment, and goal-directed exploration of coordinated motor patterns is achieved by chaotic search using adaptive bifurcation. The phase space of the indirectly coupled neural-body-environment system contains multiple transient or permanent self-organized dynamics, each of which is a candidate for a locomotion behavior. The adaptive bifurcation enables the system orbit to wander through various phase-coordinated states, using its intrinsic chaotic dynamics as a driving force, and stabilizes on to one of the states matching the given goal criteria. In order to improve the sustainability of useful transient patterns, sensory homeostasis has been introduced, which results in an increased diversity of motor outputs, thus achieving multiscale exploration. A rhythmic pattern discovered by this process is memorized and sustained by changing the wiring between initially disconnected oscillators using an adaptive synchronization method. Our results show that the novel neurorobotic system is able to create and learn multiple locomotion behaviors for a wide range of body configurations and physical environments and can readapt in realtime after sustaining damage

The influence of neighborhood characteristics on police officers\u27 encounters with persons suspected to have a serious mental illness

Objective: Police officers\u27 decisions and behaviors are impacted by the neighborhood context in which police encounters occur. For example, officers may use greater force and be more likely to make arrests in disadvantaged neighborhoods. We examined whether neighborhood characteristics influence police encounters with individuals suspected to have a serious mental illness, addictive disorder, or developmental disability. Method: We obtained data on 916 encounters from 166 officers in six jurisdictions in Georgia, USA and abstracted geographical data pertaining to the location of these encounters from United States Decennial Census data. Encounters were nested within 163 census tracts. Officer-reported data covered general encounter characteristics, the officer\u27s perception of the subject\u27s condition, subject demographics, use of force, and disposition of the encounter (e.g., arrest v. referral or transport to treatment services). Geographical data included 17 variables representing population and housing characteristics of the census tracts, from which three indices pertaining to neighborhood income, stability, and immigration status were derived using factor-analytic techniques. We then examined associations of these indices with various encounter-related variables using multi-level analysis. Results: Encounters taking place in higher-income and higher-stability census tracts were more likely to be dispatch-initiated and take place in a private home compared to those in lower-income and lower-stability neighborhoods. In higher-income neighborhoods, encounters were more likely to involve a subject suspected to have a mental illness (as opposed to an addictive disorder or developmental disability) and less likely to involve a subject suspected to have alcohol problems. The officer\u27s level of force used was not associated with neighborhood factors. Regarding disposition, although the likelihood of arrest was unrelated to neighborhood characteristics, encounters taking place in higher-immigrant neighborhoods were more likely to result in referral or transport to services than those in lower-immigrant neighborhoods. Conclusion: Neighborhood characteristics are important to consider in research on police interactions with individuals with serious mental illnesses, addictive disorders, or developmental disabilities. Such research could inform departmental training policies and procedures based on the needs of the jurisdictions served. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Predictive validity of the UK clinical aptitude test in the final years of medical school:a prospective cohort study

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N HMBC, and ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopic characterisation of seized flephedrone, cut with benzocaine

AbstractFlephedrone (4-fluoromethcathinone, 4-FMC) was analysed using 1H, 13C, 15N HMBC, and 19F observe spectroscopy, gas chromatography-flame ionisation detection (GC-FID), and electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Analysis of four 4-FMC samples (from a Bristol nightclub in 2013) showed that they all contained benzocaine as the cutting agent present in different amounts from 5 to 12%. Using these methods, we successfully differentiated between flephedrone regioisomers and mephedrone in an analytical method validated for flephedrone as a substituted cathinone. The data show that these now illegal cathinone-derived stimulants (highs) are now being cut; users cannot be certain of the purity of the drug they are taking. Furthermore, there are risks from the pharmaceutically active cutting agents themselves

Is self-assessment in religious education unique?

This paper addresses the question: is self-assessment in religious education unique? It first presents an overview of some challenges for assessment from subject differences, and then reviews the generic literature on self-assessment. It builds on earlier empirical research on self-assessment in religious education, carried out in an English state secondary school (Fancourt 2010); this was used to propose a variant of self-assessment which is tailored to the demands of religious education – reflexive self-assessment. Its implications for more general understandings of the relationship between subject pedagogy and self-assessment are discussed, especially the recognition of values not only in religious education but in other subjects too, reinforcing the need to develop subject-specific variants of self-assessment that reflect the breadth of learning outcomes

'Foreigners are stealing our birth right': Moral panics and the discursive construction of Zimbabwean immigrants in South African media

We examine 575 randomly selected articles on Zimbabwean immigrants from the South African Media (SAM) database to expose discourses of exclusion and the production of the psycho-social condition - moral panic. We use critical discourse analysis, notions of remediation and immediacy to scrutinize discourse structures and other discursive strategies designed to conceal mediation and authorial prejudices, and to make the reader 'experience' the actual content. In addition to making the anti-immigrant rhetoric appear legitimate, and the danger immediate and real, we argue that the apparent seamless content is often biased by selection and structured in such a way as to deny voice to immigrants and their advocates. Among other things, we conclude that since the readers' interpretations are filtered through lenses of subjectivities defined by communicative contexts characterized by job scarcity, poverty, crime and wanting healthcare, the news content heightens anxiety and miseducates more than it enlightens readers on migration issues. Hence there is a danger of SAM becoming unwitting conveyors of the same vices they preach against.IS

Structural determinants of opioid and NOP receptor activity in derivatives of buprenorphine

The unique pharmacological profile of buprenorphine has led to its considerable success as an analgesic and as a treatment agent for drug abuse. Activation of nociceptin/orphanin FQ peptide (NOP) receptors has been postulated to account for certain aspects of buprenorphine’s behavioural profile. In order to investigate the role of NOP activation further, a series of buprenorphine analogues has been synthesised with the aim of increasing affinity for the NOP receptor. Binding and functional assay data on these new compounds indicate that the area around C20 in the orvinols is key to NOP receptor activity, with several compounds displaying higher affinity than buprenorphine. One compound, 1b, was found to be a mu opioid receptor partial agonist of comparable efficacy to buprenorphine, but with higher efficacy at NOP receptors

Warren McCulloch and the British cyberneticians

Warren McCulloch was a significant influence on a number of British cyberneticians, as some British pioneers in this area were on him. He interacted regularly with most of the main figures on the British cybernetics scene, forming close friendships and collaborations with several, as well as mentoring others. Many of these interactions stemmed from a 1949 visit to London during which he gave the opening talk at the inaugural meeting of the Ratio Club, a gathering of brilliant, mainly young, British scientists working in areas related to cybernetics. This paper traces some of these relationships and interaction