基因编辑与人的尊严—关于基因技术革命的伦理学思考

生物技术革命所带来的基因编辑技术,使人类充当“上帝”的角色,成为自身的造物主,具有“设计生命”和“人的再造”的能力,但这一技术革命却带来了对人类尊严的存在论根基的严重挑战,引发了最深刻的伦理学新问题。当代自由主义优生学者提出,人类能够以“玩弄上帝”的方式去改变和重新创造人类自身,而这一再创造的存在论后果却是一个悖谬：人类在获得极度自由的同时,却摧毁了人之为人的尊严的根基,从而彻底失去生命存在的自由本性。按照康德的教诲,尊严是人之为人的最高伦理价值,尊严并不仅仅是出于个体自主性的“权利”和“自尊”,而是出于普遍道德自主性之上的“责任”和“敬重”,人的自由本性的道德自律才是人的尊严和崇高所在。后形而上学思想家进一步发展了康德的尊严观点,在他者和公共性维度上提出一种建立在承认、交互性和交往共同体基础之上的新尊严理论。面对生物技术的滥用和人类尊严受到的挑战,伦理学需要保卫和重建尊严概念,在“自由者的共在关系”中寻求尊严的基础和规范性的力量,从开放的“我们”推演出对“未来人”的责任。     

On the non-symmetric planar aligned NLC cell

The planar aligned nematic liquid crystal cell with different anchoring for the two substrates (i.e. a non-symmetric NLC cell) is investigated by an analytical method. We deduce the basic equations and the boundary conditions of the tilt angle θ of the LC director. Expressions for threshold and saturation magnetic field are obtained, and numerical results of these two quantities with variation in anchoring parameters of the two substrates are given. A symmetry breaking parameter Δ is introduced and the relations between Δ and applied field, as well as the two sets of anchoring parameters are discussed in detail. A feasible experimental plan for measurement of anchoring strengths of a series of different substrates is proposed.     

Study on the flow resistance of the dispersion system of deformable preformed particle gel in porous media using LBM-DEM-IMB method

After being injected into the porous media, the dispersion system of preformed particle gel (PPG) tends to enter high permeability regions and block water channeling passages, which forces the subsequent water to turn to the low permeability regions and thus increases sweep efficiency and enhances oil recovery. However, it is still unclear about the influence factors and the mechanisms how PPG increases water flow resistance, which limits the application of PPG in more oilfields. Therefore, the paper combines the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), the discrete element method (DEM) and the improved immersed moving boundary (IMB) method to simulate the migration of deformable PPG in porous media. On the basis, the paper quantitatively analyzes the variation law of displacement pressure across the porous media and discusses the influence factors such as the PPG diameter, elasticity modulus and the number concentration. Results indicate that, because of the friction and retention of PPG in pore-throat, the displacement pressure across the porous media during PPG flooding is much higher than that during water flooding. In other words, the existence of PPG increases the flow resistance of injected water. Besides, the displacement pressure is always fluctuant resulting from the continuous process of PPG migration, retention, deformation and remigration. Influence factor analysis shows that the incremental value and fluctuation degree of flow resistance increase with the PPG diameter, elasticity modulus and the number concentration. The study not only provides useful reference for future PPG flooding, but also benefits the development of deformable particle flow theory.     

Optimal Conditions for Existence of Vesicles Under Electric Field

Giant vesicles have been of intense interest as the model system for cell membranes. To bring numerous applications of the vesicles into full play, the existence time of the vesicles becomes particularly important. In this work, we explored the existence time of the vesicles in distilled water under four kinds of representative alternative current (AC) electric fields with different energizing time. When the application time of AC electric field reached 1 hour, the existence time of the vesicles reached the maximum value. As the applied electric field time increased, the existence time of the vesicles decreased. Thus, after obtaining the best vesicles on the carbon fiber electrode, disconnecting the external electric field is very necessary. Based on the in situ observation using inverted microscope, the disappearing phenomena of the vesicles were presented. In addition, it is found that vesicles in phosphate buffer solutions (PBSs) can last about 2–3 days when the electric field was applied for 1 hour, which was much longer than that in distilled water.     

Chiral and water‐soluble poly(2‐oxazoline)s

We describe the synthesis and characterization of the first water‐soluble and chiral poly(2,4‐disubstituted‐2‐oxazoline)s. While poly(2,4‐dimethyl‐2‐oxazoline)s are water soluble up to 100 °C, aqueous solutions of poly(2‐ethyl‐4‐methly‐2‐oxazoline) exhibit a lower critical solution temperature. This is discussed in context with its constitutional isomers poly(2‐oxazoline)s and poly(2‐oxazine)s. Circular dichroism spectroscopy revealed strong Cotton effects, which are also responsive to temperature in aqueous solution. It is therefore hypothesized that structures, comparable to polyproline helices, are formed in aqueous solution. In contrast to polyproline, poly(2,4‐disubstituted‐2‐oxazoline)s are highly water soluble and therefore represent very interesting pseudo‐polypeptides that may be useful to develop responsive biomimetic biomaterials. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013     

On the monitoring model of reference point of VLBI antenna

Some insights and analysis are presented concerning the monitoring model of the VLBI(Very Long Baseline Interferometry) antenna,settings of parameters and selection of constraints to the observation equation,which are verified via data simulation analysis to be reasonable and effective.The effects of the number of targets and antenna orientations,the precision of target positioning observations,the observation outliers detection and deletion on the determination precision of antenna parameters are also analyzed,and some preliminary conclusions are given.     

Coupled intramolecular/heterointerfacial electron transfer in polyelectrolyte-shielded Iso-type black phosphorus hetero-structure boosts oxygen reduction kinetics

Searching new structured black phosphorus (BP) and exploring intriguing functions and applications have become a hot topic so far.Here,we introduce a novel Iso-...     

Experimental and theoretical molecular and electronic structures of the N-oxides of pyridazine,pyrimidine and pyrazine

The structures of pyridazine N-oxide, pyrimidine N-oxide and pyrazine N-oxide have been determined by X-ray diffraction for the first time. Comparison with theoretical predictions of the equilibrium structures using the B3LYP method together with a cc-pVTZ basis set, show close agreement with the structural parameters observed, and experimental dipole moments, which suggests that the charge distribution is realistic. An ‘atoms in molecules’ (AIM) analysis of the computed wave-functions shows total electron densities rather different from the classical picture of a dative bond, whereas the same wave-functions subjected to Mulliken analysis show a more conventional view of the electron distribution. This latter procedure allows a bond dipole analysis of the N-oxide charge distribution.