And the Robot Asked "What do you say I am?" Can Artificial Intelligence Help Theologians and Scientists Understand Free Moral Agency?

Concepts of human beings as free and morally responsible agents are shared culturally by scientists and Christian theologians. Accomiplishments of the "artificial intelligence" (AI) branch of computer science now suggest the possibility of an advanced robot mimicking behaviors associated with free and morally responsible agency. The author analyzes some specific features theology has expected of such agency, inquiring whether appropriate AI resources are available for incorporating the features in robots. Waiving questions of whether such extraordinary robots will be constructed, the analysis indicates that they could be, furnishing useful new scientific resources for understanding moral agency

Anomalous diffusion in correlated continuous time random walks

We demonstrate that continuous time random walks in which successive waiting times are correlated by Gaussian statistics lead to anomalous diffusion with mean squared displacement ~t^{2/3}. Long-ranged correlations of the waiting times with power-law exponent alpha (0<alpha<=2) give rise to subdiffusion of the form ~t^{alpha/(1+alpha)}. In contrast correlations in the jump lengths are shown to produce superdiffusion. We show that in both cases weak ergodicity breaking occurs. Our results are in excellent agreement with simulations.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Slightly revised version, accepted to J Phys A as a Fast Track Communicatio

Annotated List of Ontario Lepidoptera, by J. C. E. Riotte. 1992. Royal Ontario Museum, Publications in Life Sciences, Miscellaneous Publication. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen\u27s Park, Thronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C6. 208 pp. Soft cover, 15 x 22.5 cm. ISBN 0-88854-397-2. 19.95Canadian(about19.95 Canadian (about 16.00 U.S.)

(excerpt) I was eager to review this publication. When I was a young person, first starting the pursuit of Lepidoptera, any literature that increased my knowledge was as valuable as the specimens I collected. Checklists were especially welcome. A primary purpose for the formation of The Ohio Lepidopterists society was to record the occurrence of Lepidoptera in Ohio. My ardent commitment to document Ohio\u27s fauna over the past 20 years gives me insight into the work necessary to create and produce a publication of this type

Towards deterministic equations for Levy walks: the fractional material derivative

Levy walks are random processes with an underlying spatiotemporal coupling. This coupling penalizes long jumps, and therefore Levy walks give a proper stochastic description for a particle's motion with broad jump length distribution. We derive a generalized dynamical formulation for Levy walks in which the fractional equivalent of the material derivative occurs. Our approach will be useful for the dynamical formulation of Levy walks in an external force field or in phase space for which the description in terms of the continuous time random walk or its corresponding generalized master equation are less well suited

Two New Species of Cochylini (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae: Tortricinae) From the Eastern United States

Intensive collecting in prairie and oak barrens habitats in Ohio and Indiana revealed two undescribed species of Cochylini (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae): Aethes patricia new species and Cochylis ringsi new species. Illustrations of adults, male and female genitalia, and distribution maps are provided. Aethes patricia may be prairie remnant dependent in Ohio and Indiana

Signal focusing through active transport

In biological cells and novel diagnostic devices biochemical receptors need to be sensitive to extremely small concentration changes of signaling molecules. The accuracy of such molecular signaling is ultimately limited by the counting noise imposed by the thermal diffusion of molecules. Many macromolecules and organelles transiently bind to molecular motors and are then actively transported. We here show that a random albeit directed delivery of signaling molecules to within a typical diffusion distance to the receptor reduces the correlation time of the counting noise, effecting an improved sensing precision. The conditions for this active focusing are indeed compatible with observations in living cells. Our results are relevant for a better understanding of molecular cellular signaling and the design of novel diagnostic devices.Comment: 5 pages. 3 figures, includes supplementary material (2 pages