Unfortunately, psychosis is not a myth.

Responds to J. E. Teahan's (1982) criticism of the present author's (1969, 1982) study of a schizophrenic woman and her Rorschach record. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Secure message transmission in mobile ad hoc networks

The vision of nomadic computing with its ubiquitous access has stimulated much interest in the mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) technology. However, its proliferation strongly depends on the availability of security provisions, among other factors. In the open, collaborative MANET environment, practically any node can maliciously or selfishly disrupt and deny communication of other nodes. In this paper, we propose the secure message transmission (SMT) protocol to safeguard the data transmission against arbitrary malicious behavior of network nodes. SMT is a lightweight, yet very effective, protocol that can operate solely in an end-to-end manner. It exploits the redundancy of multi-path routing and adapts its operation to remain efficient and effective even in highly adverse environments. SMT is capable of delivering up to 83% more data messages than a protocol that does not secure the data transmission. Moreover, SMT achieves up to 65% lower end-to-end delays and up to 80% lower delay variability, compared with an alternative single-path protocol––a secure data forwarding protocol, which we term secure single path (SSP) protocol. Thus, SMT is better suited to support quality of service for real-time communications in the ad hoc networking environment. The security of data transmission is achieved without restrictive assumptions on the network nodes’ trust and network membership, without the use of intrusion detection schemes, and at the expense of moderate multi-path transmission overhead only.     

Density-Independent,Scalable Search in Ad Hoc Networks

We analyze the asymptotic cost of discovering a route within a flat ad hoc network and we show that one can discover a route with cost that is proportional only to the area of the network, which is independent of the number of network nodes. Furthermore, we show that this is optimal and that bordercasting (a query propagation protocol where a node retransmits a query to a set of nodes at some hop-distance away) possesses this density-independence property. We present the design of bordercast and the associated maintenance protocols, and we evaluate their performance. In particular, we highlight that the aggregation of local information by bordercasting at each network node is a fundamental building block for the construction of scalable protocols in flat ad hoc networks.

The ATP-binding site of protein kinase CK2 holds a positive electrostatic area and conserved water molecules

CK2 is a highly pleiotropic Ser/Thr protein kinase that is able to promote cell survival and enhance the tumour phenotype under specific circumstances. We have determined the crystal structure of three new complexes with tetrabromobenzimidazole derivatives that display K(i) values between 0.15 and 0.30 microM. A comparative analysis of these data with those of four other inhibitors of the same family revealed the presence of some highly conserved water molecules in the ATP-binding site. These waters reside near Lys68, in an area with a positive electrostatic potential that is able to attract and orient negatively charged ligands. The presence of this positive region and two unique bulky residues that are typical of CK2, Ile66 and Ile174, play a critical role in determining the ligand orientation and binding selectivity.     

A dynamic packet reservation multiple access scheme for wireless ATM

The dynamic packet reservation multiple access (DPRMA) scheme, a medium access control protocol for wireless multimedia applications, is proposed and investigated. DPRMA allows the integration of multiple traffic types through a single access control mechanism that permits users to specify their immediate bandwidth requirements. The primary feature of DPRMA is the dynamic matching of the traffic source generation rates with the assigned portion of the channel capacity. This is accomplished by a control algorithm that regulates the actual amount of channel capacity assigned to users. To support multimedia communication, channel capacity assignments are prioritized by traffic type. The performance of the scheme is evaluated and the scheme is shown to perform well in a system with voice, video conferencing, and data users present. It is also shown to provide improved performance over a system with a modified version of the packet reservation multiple access (PRMA) scheme. Furthermore, several system parameters are studied and optimized.     

Biochemical and molecular biological characterization of a lipase produced by the fungus Rhizopus delemar

The results of a comprehensive biochemical and molecular biological investigation of the lipase produced by the mycelial fungus Rhizopus delemar are described. This enzyme cleaves and synthesizes primary esters and related bonds, exhibits 1,3-positional selectivity in its actions on glycerides, and is a member of a family of enzymes that have been widely used in applied biocatalysis. Use of glycerol as main carbon source rather than glucose or lipid supported mycelial growth and lipase production. The enzyme was purified to homogeneity and characterized. Pure lipase was crystallized and its three-dimensional structure determined. The enzyme was found to adopt a configuration similar to those of other members of its homologous family. The structural data also indicated that lipases possess greater configurational mobility than had been previously appreciated. A complementary DNA clone was isolated that contained the full length lipase gene. The nucleic acid sequence of this cDNA indicated that it was initially synthesized as a preproenzyme, and allowed determination of the complete predicted amino acid sequence of the lipase, and its comparison to the sequences of related enzymes. Truncated forms of the cloned cDNA were produced that encoded either mature or prepro-lipase. These DNAs were introduced into a tightly regulated E. coli expression system, overcoming the toxicity of the enzyme while also allowing overproduction of lipase. Molecular modelling was employed to guide the rational mutagenesis of the enzyme, identifying sites within the substrate binding region that regulated substrate selectivity. Mutant lipases were generated with altered substrate specificities, creating novel enzymes and beginning the definition of structure-function relationships in the lipolytic enzymes.     

Protein quality and amino acid profiles of fish products available in Poland

Chemical analyses were carried out on 18 of the most popular varieties of fish products in the Polish market (canned, smoked, salted and marinated fish of different species), produced by the largest manufacturers and distributors in the country. The contents of the nutritive substances in the fish products (proteins, amino acids, and fats) were determined. To assess the nutritional quality of proteins in these products, the protein digestibility was determined, which ranged from 77.0% to 98.7%, and the amino acid composition of each of these groups of products was compared with that of a standard protein recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, protein digestibility-corrected amino acid scores (PDCAAS) were calculated. Relative to the WHO protein standard, most of the fish products tested scored very high, with values ranging between 0.9 and 1.0. This study confirmed that in terms of both quantity and quality, fish products in the Polish market could serve as a significant source of essential amino acids and that the sulphur-containing essential amino acids and lysine present in fish products could supplement the corresponding deficiency in plant proteins. However, it was also indicated that drastic thermal processes, such as sterilisation, could influence the protein digestibility.