What will be the risk-free rate and benchmark yield curve following European monetary union?

Using a linear factor model, we study the behaviour of French, Germany, Italian and British sovereign yield curves in the run up to EMU. This allows us to determine which of these yield curves might best approximate a benchmark yield curve post EMU. We find that the best approximation for the risk free yield is the UK three month T-bill yield, followed by the German three month T-bill yield. As no one sovereign yield curve dominates all others, we find that a composite yield curve, consisting of French, Italian and UK bonds at different maturity points along the yield curve should be the benchmark post EMU.

Robot free will

We introduce the perspex machine which unifies projective geometry and Turing computation and results in a supra-Turing machine. We show two ways in which the perspex machine unifies symbolic and non-symbolic AI. Firstly, we describe concrete geometrical models that map perspexes onto neural networks, some of which perform only symbolic operations. Secondly, we describe an abstract continuum of perspex logics that includes both symbolic logics and a new class of continuous logics. We argue that an axiom in symbolic logic can be the conclusion of a perspex theorem. That is, the atoms of symbolic logic can be the conclusions of sub-atomic theorems. We argue that perspex space can be mapped onto the spacetime of the universe we inhabit. This allows us to discuss how a robot might be conscious, feel, and have free will in a deterministic, or semi-deterministic, universe. We ground the reality of our universe in existence. On a theistic point, we argue that preordination and free will are compatible. On a theological point, we argue that it is not heretical for us to give robots free will. Finally, we give a pragmatic warning as to the double-edged risks of creating robots that do, or alternatively do not, have free will.

Progress report from the strategic sanctuary for the destruction of free will

Progress Report from the Strategic Sanctuary for the Destruction of Free Will presents a new work combining film, music and installation that juxtaposes the setting of the institution with the aesthetics of psychedelia.Progress Report from the Strategic Sanctuary for the Destruction of Free Will is an installation, film and sound work that takes over the gallery. Using plain white card, it distorts the structure of the gallery’s architecture, producing a paranoid shrunken space. Inside this space, performers in cardboard costumes re-enact abstracted, broken gestures drawn from video documentation of acid trips, psychedelic dancing, rehab sessions and radical psychotherapy workshops. Progress Report from the Strategic Sanctuary for the Destruction of Free Will has been formed through Pil and Galia Kollectiv’s research into the anti-psychiatry movement, their interests in counter cultural movements and their studies around biopolitics and the proliferation of societal medication. In 1958, having had a life changing experience with LSD, former alcoholic Charles Dederich founded Synanon, a drug rehabilitation program based on residential care and an aggressive form of group therapy called ‘The Game’. The organisation gradually evolved into a controversial alternative community, described in a critical pamphlet as creating Strategic Sanctuaries for the Destruction of Free Will, “a subversive program for mixing delinquents and lefties”. In 1984, anti-psychiatrist R. D. Laing described tranquillizers as chemical straight jackets. With our growing understanding of the plasticity of the brain and the potential to shape it, the tension between liberation and control in the struggle over the mind continues to define our relationship to labour, culture and production. Interrogating these ideas, the exhibition poses the question of whether a collective body can overcome the solipsism of the incommunicable experience of the individual mind.

The unpatriotism of the economic constitution? Rights to free movement and their impact on national and European identity

Abstract: Instead of the political reading of the EU Constitution adopted by advocates of constitutional patriotism, this article examines the European economic constitution. The four single market freedoms can be used by the Court of Justice to strike down Member State laws which represent deeply held aspects of national cultural identity. The article examines whether the court does in fact act in this way and proceeds to argue that the issue of identity protection does not stop with the court. In those policy areas where the court is more interventionist, and its case-law is perceived as an identity threat, one is likely to find binding Treaty-based derogations. Where, in contrast, the effect of the court's case-law poses less of a threat, one is more likely to see non-binding declarations. The article examines a number of policy areas in which specific cultural derogations and declarations are to be found, including abortion, property acquisition, football and alcohol control.

Zea mays annexins modulate cytosolic free Ca2+ and generate a Ca2+-permeable conductance

Regulation of reactive oxygen species and cytosolic free calcium ([Ca2+](cyt)) is central to plant function. Annexins are small proteins capable of Ca2+-dependent membrane binding or membrane insertion. They possess structural motifs that could support both peroxidase activity and calcium transport. Here, a Zea mays annexin preparation caused increases in [Ca2+] cyt when added to protoplasts of Arabidopsis thaliana roots expressing aequorin. The pharmacological profile was consistent with annexin activation (at the extracellular plasma membrane face) of Arabidopsis Ca2+-permeable nonselective cation channels. Secreted annexins could therefore modulate Ca2+ influx. As maize annexins occur in the cytosol and plasma membrane, they were incorporated at the intracellular face of lipid bilayers designed to mimic the plasma membrane. Here, they generated an instantaneously activating Ca2+-permeable conductance at mildly acidic pH that was sensitive to verapamil and Gd3+ and had a Ca2+-to-K+ permeability ratio of 0.36. These results suggest that cytosolic annexins create a Ca2+ influx pathway directly, particularly during stress responses involving acidosis. A maize annexin preparation also demonstrated in vitro peroxidase activity that appeared independent of heme association. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated that plant annexins create Ca2+-permeable transport pathways, regulate [Ca2+] cyt, and may function as peroxidases in vitro.

Threshold-free object and ground point separation in LIDAR data

Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) is an important modality in terrain and land surveying for many environmental, engineering and civil applications. This paper presents the framework for a recently developed unsupervised classification algorithm called Skewness Balancing for object and ground point separation in airborne LIDAR data. The main advantages of the algorithm are threshold-freedom and independence from LIDAR data format and resolution, while preserving object and terrain details. The framework for Skewness Balancing has been built in this contribution with a prediction model in which unknown LIDAR tiles can be categorised as “hilly” or “moderate” terrains. Accuracy assessment of the model is carried out using cross-validation with an overall accuracy of 95%. An extension to the algorithm is developed to address the overclassification issue for hilly terrain. For moderate terrain, the results show that from the classified tiles detached objects (buildings and vegetation) and attached objects (bridges and motorway junctions) are separated from bare earth (ground, roads and yards) which makes Skewness Balancing ideal to be integrated into geographic information system (GIS) software packages.

Changes in fat, fat-free mass and body water in human normal pregnancy

Measurements of body weight, total body water and total body potassium (40K) were made serially on three occasions during pregnancy and once post partum in 27 normal pregnant women. Skinfold thickness and fat cell diameter were also measured. A model of body composition was formulated to permit the estimation of changes in fat, lean tissue and water content of the maternal body. Total maternal body fat increased during pregnancy, reaching a peak towards the end of the second trimester before diminishing. Serial measurements of fat cell diameter showed poor correlation, whilst total body fat calculated from skinfold thickness correlated well with our estimated values for total body fat in pregnancy.

Assessment of the anthelmintic activity of medicinal plant extracts and purified condensed tannins against free-living and parasitic stages of Oesophagostomum dentatum

Background: Plant-derived condensed tannins (CT) show promise as a complementary option to treat gastrointestinal helminth infections, thus reducing reliance on synthetic anthelmintic drugs. Most studies on the anthelmintic effects of CT have been conducted on parasites of ruminant livestock. Oesophagostomum dentatum is an economically important parasite of pigs, as well as serving as a useful laboratory model of helminth parasites due to the ability to culture it in vitro for long periods through several life-cycle stages. Here, we investigated the anthelmintic effects of CT on multiple life-cycles stages of O. dentatum. Methods: Extracts and purified fractions were prepared from five plants containing CT and analysed by HPLC-MS. Anthelmintic activity was assessed at five different stages of the O. dentatum life cycle; the development of eggs to infective third-stage larvae (L3), the parasitic L3 stage, the moult from L3 to fourth-stage larvae (L4), the L4 stage and the adult stage. Results: Free-living larvae of O. dentatum were highly susceptible to all five plant extracts. In contrast, only two of the five extracts had activity against L3, as evidenced by migration inhibition assays, whilst three of the five extracts inhibited the moulting of L3 to L4. All five extracts reduced the motility of L4, and the motility of adult worms exposed to a CT-rich extract derived from hazelnut skins was strongly inhibited, with electron microscopy demonstrating direct damage to the worm cuticle and hypodermis. Purified CT fractions retained anthelmintic activity, and depletion of CT from extracts by pre-incubation in polyvinylpolypyrrolidone removed anthelmintic effects, strongly suggesting CT as the active molecules. Conclusions: These results suggest that CT may have promise as an alternative parasite control option for O. dentatum in pigs, particularly against adult stages. Moreover, our results demonstrate a varied susceptibility of different life-cycle stages of the same parasite to CT, which may offer an insight into the anthelmintic mechanisms of these commonly found plant compounds.

Why compatibilist intuitions are not mistaken: a reply to Feltz and Millan

In the past decade, a number of empirical researchers have suggested that laypeople have compatibilist intuitions. In a recent paper, Feltz and Millan (2015) have challenged this conclusion by claiming that most laypeople are only compatibilists in appearance and are in fact willing to attribute free will to people no matter what. As evidence for this claim, they have shown that an important proportion of laypeople still attribute free will to agents in fatalistic universes. In this paper, we first argue that Feltz and Millan’s error-theory rests on a conceptual confusion: it is perfectly acceptable for a certain brand of compatibilist to judge free will and fatalism to be compatible, as long as fatalism does not prevent agents from being the source of their actions. We then present the results of two studies showing that laypeople’s intuitions are best understood as following a certain brand of source compatibilism rather than a “free-will-no-matter-what” strategy.