Bacteria have evolved advanced strategies for surviving during nutritional stress, including expression of specialized enzyme systems that allow them to grow on unusual nutrient sources. Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is limiting in most ecosystems, hence organisms have developed a sophisticated, enzymatic machinery known as carbon‐phosphorus (C‐P) lyase, allowing them to extract phosphate from a wide range of phosphonate compounds. These are characterized by a stable covalent bond between carbon and phosphorus making them very hard to break down. Despite the challenges involved (...) in both synthesizing and catabolizing phosphonates, they are widespread in nature. The enzymes required for the bacterial C‐P lyase pathway have been identified and for the most part structurally characterized. Nevertheless, the mechanistic principles governing breakdown of phosphonate compounds remain enigmatic. In this review, an overview of the C‐P lyase pathway is provided and structural aspects of the involved enzyme complexes are discussed with a special emphasis on the role of ATP‐binding cassette (ABC) proteins. (shrink)

Bacteria have evolved advanced strategies for surviving during nutritional stress, including expression of specialized enzyme systems that allow them to grow on unusual nutrient sources. Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is limiting in most ecosystems, hence organisms have developed a sophisticated, enzymatic machinery known as carbon‐phosphorus (C‐P) lyase, allowing them to extract phosphate from a wide range of phosphonate compounds. These are characterized by a stable covalent bond between carbon and phosphorus making them very hard to break down. Despite the challenges involved (...) in both synthesizing and catabolizing phosphonates, they are widespread in nature. The enzymes required for the bacterial C‐P lyase pathway have been identified and for the most part structurally characterized. Nevertheless, the mechanistic principles governing breakdown of phosphonate compounds remain enigmatic. In this review, an overview of the C‐P lyase pathway is provided and structural aspects of the involved enzyme complexes are discussed with a special emphasis on the role of ATP‐binding cassette (ABC) proteins. (shrink)

How does man find himself in a society that cannot offer clear answers to the fundamental question: What is the meaning of existence? This introduction to Søren Kierkegaard's psychological thinking may provide part of the answer. For those interested in psychology and philosophy and anyone else interested in existential dilemmas.

Die Weltchronik des Symeon Logothetes scheint eine der populärsten Chroniken in Byzanz gewesen zu sein. Während viele Exponenten dieses Genres durch nur eine oder wenige Hss. bekannt sind, begegnet die Logothetenchronik in mehr als 40 Hss. und kann handschriftlich verfolgt werden vom 11. Jh. bis in die Renaissance. Dies bedeutet, dass ein reiches Material zu unserer Verfügung steht, wenn es darum geht, Änderungsprozesse zu beobachten, denen ein solcher Text ausgesetzt ist. Wir sind ferner in der glücklichen Lage, dass wesentliche Quellen (...) des Logotheten bewahrt sind. Diese Quellen erlauben uns Erkenntnisse über das Zustandekommen des Werkes. (shrink)

Listening to the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D-major by Brahms takes twenty-two minutes. It varies a few minutes depending of the soloist and conductor, but the duration is fairly constant. Reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy takes many hours. The duration varies a lot depending on the reader's pace, but reading literature, just as listening to music, takes a considerable amount of time. Looking at a work of visual art, on the other hand, typically takes less than a (...) minute. This may be an exaggeration, but museum studies show that visitors to an art museum usually spend only a few moments in front of the individual work of art. Jeffrey K. Smith and Lisa F. Smith found that visitors to the Metropolitan... (shrink)

This book provides an analysis of the development which has lead up to the formation of a joint field of artificial intelligence and law. It discusses the basic foundations and also addresses the future prospects of the discipline. The author formulates a design approach for advanced Artificial Intelligence systems for law, and concludes with a discussion about the potentialities and the consequences of future development.

Although Denmark managed to stay neutral throughout World War I, it nevertheless generated a heated debate in the country; most people took a clear stand for one side or the other. After the traumatic Danish defeat in the 1864 war with Prussia and Austria, Germany was regarded as the arch enemy and not unexpectedly mostDanes sided against the Central Powers in the public debate. This was not least the case amongst the national-conservative politicians, intellectuals and artists. They form the focus (...) of my article, and the questions I address are: how did the national-conservatives experience the mental watershed of the war? Was it as a blessing or a curse? (shrink)

La philosophie du droit a pour fonction d’assister la réflexion sur le monde du juridique, sur « le droit qui se fait », sur la doctrine juridique et notre façon de l’écrire, et sur l’appréciation (ou l’indifférence, l’hostilité, etc.) qu’un individu distancié peut éprouver à l’égard du droit et des juristes. Elle assiste et elle participe en examinant notre façon d’opérationnaliser les sources du droit, de forger des arguments pouvant être juridiques, d’évaluer les narrations qui se présentent au droit, d’examiner (...) la pertinence de la doctrine, notre façon de pratiquer le droit et de faire des jugements judiciaires. Elle ne réside de toute évidence pas « en haut » et elle ne « surplombe » pas l’écriture de la doctrine. Elle ne se glorifie pas en distribuant (en toute incompétence) l’étiquette de « scientificité » au bon candidat, que celui-ci soit auteur d’un article, d’un livre ou d’une théorie. Admettons plutôt lucidement que la philosophie du droit ne donne pas de certificat de « scientificité » et que toute revendication en ce « sens » n’a pas de « sens ». (shrink)

Quels sont les horizons de la philosophie du Droit? Quelle place occupe-t-elle dans notre modernité juridique? Quels sont ses enjeux? L'euthanasie, les droits des minorités et l'écologie sont des thèmes qui s'inscrivent naturellement dans le contexte contemporain de la philosophie du droit. Les essais présentés dans cet ouvrage expliquent les enjeux des domaines de réflexion qui divisent notre modernité juridique et nous révèlent comment le droit contemporain se construit à partir de présupposés théoriques. Par une réflexion qui invite au dialogue (...) et à la production d'arguments réfléchis, l'auteur cherche à démontrer que la philosophie du droit peut combler certaines lacunes du positivisme juridique qui marque notre modernité. (shrink)

The psychological effects of aesthetic education have often been discussed, and major studies such as Michael Parsons’s inquiry into art understanding show that the development of understanding works of visual art is influenced by education.1 His findings show that the way people talk about art can be structured in five stages of development according to the model of Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. He believes that the understanding of art, just like general cognition, is based on mental maturation but (...) that some kind of education is necessary to acquire the different skills of the understanding of art at each stage of development. Parsons’s study does not include educational strategies, but his .. (shrink)

Bjarne Melkevik, docteur s droit de Paris II, est professeur titulaire la Facult de droit de l'Universit Laval (Qubec) et professeur associ au Dpartement de droit et Justice, Universit Laurentienne (Ontario).

RÉSUMÉ Dans ce texte, l'auteur analyse et réfléchit sur la critique posée par le philosophe allemand Jürgen Habermas à l'encontre du libéralisme politique de son homologue américain John Rawls. Insistant sur quelques thèmes clés, l'auteur se penche, dans un premier temps, sur la critique formulée à l'encontre du modèle d'autonomie politique et individuelle développé par Rawls. Dans un deuxième temps, il examine la position habermasienne à l'égard du discours deformation des normes élaboré par Rawls. Cette étude fait ressortir certaines lacunes (...) de la théorie rawlsienne au regard du monde contemporain et propose une approche alternative tenant davantage compte de Vintersubjectivité et de la démocratie. ABSTRACT In this text, the author analyses and considers the critic of German philosopher Jürgen Habermas over the political liberalism of his american homologue John Rawls. The author first looks at the critics formulated against Rawls's model of political and individual autonomy. The author then proceeds to examine Habermas's position regarding Rawls's discourse on norm formation. This study shows certain lacunas in Rawls's theory in regard of today's society and proposes an alternative approach which would take into account democracy and inter subjectivity. (shrink)

L'espace public est aujourd'hui devenu le lieu même du droit !

In this text, the author analyses and considers the critic of German philosopher Jürgen Habermas over the political liberalism of his american homologue John Rawls. The author first looks at the critics formulated against Rawls's model of political and individual autonomy. The author then proceeds to examine Habermas's position regarding Rawls's discourse on norm formation. This study shows certain lacunas in Rawls's theory in regard of today's society and proposes an alternative approach which would take into account democracy and inter (...) subjectivity. (shrink)

In this text, the author analyses and considers the critic of German philosopher Jürgen Habermas over the political liberalism of his american homologue John Rawls. The author first looks at the critics formulated against Rawls's model of political and individual autonomy. The author then proceeds to examine Habermas's position regarding Rawls's discourse on norm formation. This study shows certain lacunas in Rawls's theory in regard of today's society and proposes an alternative approach which would take into account democracy and inter (...) subjectivity. (shrink)

logique. Dans la société moderne et pluraliste, l'identité des sujets est en fait une combinaison de ces identités. Ainsi, la pluralité n'est pas extérieure ...

In this chapter, we argue that trust can be better understood in relation to people’s attempts to deal with vulnerability in social interactions. Different situations afford different forms of adaptation that correspond to different forms of trust. We describe three forms of trust: trust as a decision, trust as a performance and trust as an uncontrollable force. We show how these different types of trust differ with respect to assumptions about trust, trustworthiness and agency as well as with respect to (...) the accompanying emotions and outline a tentative process model of trust. We conclude the chapter by reviewing the contribution of the suggested framework as well as indicating questions for further research. (shrink)