Introducing fuzziness in object models and database interfaces through aspects

Imperfection in information can be considered a crosscutting concern that manifests itself in diverse kinds of imprecision, uncertainty, or inconsistency in the data models of a software system. The extension of existing programming and querying interfaces for the different aspects of information imperfection requires a proper modularization of the different concerns of numerical imprecision handling, so that the extensions do not interfere with existing programming practices and do not obscure the original design. Aspect‐oriented design (AOD) enables such a form of nonintrusive extensions to be added to existing software libraries, clearly separating fuzziness or other imperfections in data as a differentiated concern that can be considered from the early phases of development. In this article, a general framework for aspect‐based extension of data models and fuzzy databases is described, and some design and implementation issues of such AOD‐based extensions on OJB database libraries are described as a case study. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 21: 1199–1216, 2006.     

Embryonal metabolism

It is very difficult to have a clear and homogeneous idea of the embryo metabolism. In fact it may vary from one species to another and also according to the embryonic stage: i.e. before and after genomic activation. Basic compounds such as glucose may be toxic, but obviously, it is more the problem of the quantity introduced in the culture media and an unsuitable balance between the metabolites which may impair the embryonic development. At low concentration glucose is actively metabolised by embryos. High levels of amino acids are deleterious (due to release of ammonia), but they are necessary at low concentrations. Addition of serum or other biological fluids is generally useless. Further knowledge on embryo metabolism is necessary to avoid culture medium related delay or developmental blocks. Sequential media are at least partly the answer.     

Effects of Ajoene on lymphocyte and macrophage membrane-dependent functions

An increasing flow of evidences collected on elementary forms of learning processes in selected animal models evidentiates some mechanisms which can represent the basic cellular principles underlying plastic changes: 1. 5HT and second messengers of nucleotide type (like cAMP) have a pivotal role in the learning process. 2. In almost all short-term learning processes the modifications are subserved by a mechanism of protein phosphorylation. 3. In various animal models the modulation of K+ and Ca2+ channels is the molecular mechanism for learning. Experiments performed in sensory T neuron of the leech indicate that the modulation of Na+/K+ electrogenic pump is one of the fundamental mechanism for learning. 4. In long-term plastic changes, the most important finding is that newly synthesized proteins are formed. 5. In addition to what has been observed in the Aplysia model, where changes in synaptic efficacy represent the basic principles of memory storage, in the leech it has been demonstrated that a molecular machinery present in a single neuron can adapt the activity of the cell to environmental stimuli.     

Threshold cryptography based on Asmuth-Bloom secret sharing

In this paper, we investigate how threshold cryptography can be conducted with the Asmuth-Bloom secret sharing scheme and present three novel function sharing schemes for RSA, ElGamal and Paillier cryptosystems. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first provably secure threshold cryptosystems realized using the Asmuth-Bloom secret sharing. Proposed schemes are comparable in performance to earlier proposals in threshold cryptography.     

Estimates by computer simulation of genetic distances from comparisons of RNAse A mismatch cleavage patterns

The RNAse A mismatch cleavage method was used to analyze genomic variability in RNA and DNA systems. However, there is no method which relates the digestion patterns observed to the extent of genetic variation. Here we report computer simulations which provide a simple estimator of genetic distances from the comparison of RNAse A digestion patterns. The results show that the number of non-shared fragments is proportional to the number of mutations between each pair of sequences compared. This prediction is supported by the comparison of the RNAse A mismatch patterns and the nucleotide sequences of a set of influenza A (H3N2) hemagglutinin genes. The procedure allows a quantitative and reliable use of the RNAse A mismatch cleavage method.     

Spontaneous mutation for a quantitative trait in Drosophila melanogaster. II. Distribution of mutant effects on the trait and fitness

Exposure of the Chinese hamster ovarian AuxB1 cell line in vitro to fractionated X-irradiation generated sublines designated DXR-10, which proved resistant to multiple drugs and overexpressed P-glycoprotein (Pgp), as judged by Western blotting using the C219 monoclonal antibody. Further characterization of these irradiated DXR-10 sublines has provided evidence for: (i) the expression of cross-resistance to gramacidin D, taxol, puromycin and Navelbine, but not to daunomycin or mitoxantrone; (ii) overexpression of the class I Pgp, as judged by Western blotting using the C494 monoclonal antibody; (iii) decreased accumulation of 3H-vincristine, which could be enhanced by verapamil addition; (iv) unaltered accumulation and subcellular distribution of adriamycin; (v) significantly increased rhodamine 123 accumulation in the presence of verapamil; (vi) plasma-membrane ultrastructural modifications resulting in a significantly increased surface area; (vii) numerous clonal karyotypic alterations, with abnormalities involving the long arm of chromosome 1 being consistently identified; (viii) a lack of overexpression of sorcin; (ix) increased total glutathione levels and overexpression of glutathione S-transferase pi. The fact that only certain of these features are considered characteristic of the 'classic' multidrug-resistant CHRC5 cell line supports our earlier proposal that exposure to fractionated X-irradiation results in the expression of a unique drug-resistance phenotype.