Karen Sp?rck Jones (1935-2007) [In Memoriam]

In memory of Karen Sp?rck Jones, who contributed significantly to the information retrieval and natural language processing fields and, in her later years, was concerned with their relationship within general schemes of representation in AI. Also remembered is Jay Modi (1975-2007), an outstanding teacher and a rising star in the AI community.     

Wireless LAN Security: Things You Should Know about WLAN Security

Given the well-publicised security holes in baseline wireless LAN (WLAN) standards, just how should security-conscious network managers proceed with safeguarding their wireless environments?     

Moral reasoning and moral concerns: An alternative to Gilligan's gender based hypothesis.

Studied the differences in moral orientation in terms of gender specific modes of reasoning, in 2 experiments. In Exp 1, 32 Ss (aged 24–55 yrs) were read the "Heinz dilemma," and asked 3 questions regarding it. Deliberative and justificatory strategies were identified on the basis of the presence or absence of the higher level knowledge structures. In Exp 2, 40 undergraduates were presented with "Michael and Kohlberg Heinz dilemma," followed by a set of relevant questions. Male Ss preferred to apply a norm or rule in their solutions, while females rejected the application of a norm and sought alternative solutions. This was replicated in Exp 2, but the pattern was reversed with female Ss preferring to apply a norm. Males were divided in their use of either strategy indicating that although, genders differed in their judgments as to which norms or rules to apply; once adopted, norms and rules were used in similar ways. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Speeding up protein folding: mutations that increase the rate at which Rop folds and unfolds by over four orders of magnitude

The proteasome is a multi-subunit protease responsible for the production of peptides presented by major histocompatibility complex class I molecules. Accumulated evidence indicates that, upon stimulation with interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), three beta-type subunits, designated LMP2, LMP7, and PSMB10, are incorporated into the 20S proteasome by displacing the housekeeping beta-type subunits designated PSMB6, PSMB5, and PSMB7, respectively. These changes in the subunit composition appear to facilitate class I-mediated antigen presentation, presumably by altering the cleavage specificities of the proteasome. In the present study, we determined the organization of the mouse gene Psmb5, coding for the PSMB5 subunit. Psmb5 is made up of three exons, spanning approximately 5 kilobases. Its exon-intron organization differs radically from those of the other IFN-gamma-regulated, beta-type subunit genes including Lmp7 with which Psmb5 is believed to share an immediate common ancestor. The structure of the mouse Psmb5 gene is identical to that of its recently characterized human counterpart. Thus, the unique organization of the gene coding for the PSMB5 subunit appears to have been established before mammalian radiation. As well as the Psmb5 gene, the mouse genome contains a processed pseudogene designated Psmb5-ps. Interspecific backcross mapping showed that Psmb5 maps close to the Gtrgal2 locus on chromosome 14 and that Psmb5-ps is located in the vicinity of the Psme3 locus on chromosome 11. These results were confirmed by fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis that localized Psmb5 to band C2 to proximal D1 of chromosome 14 and Psmb5-ps to band D of chromosome 11.     

NMR Studies of Diffusion-Coherence Phenomena in Red Cell Suspensions: Current Status

Pulsed field-gradient spin-echo (PGSE) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) diffusion experiments conducted on some heterogeneous systems have been observed to show periodicities in the data. These “coherence patterns” are manifest in the normalized PGSE signal intensities as a function of the spatial wave vector q in so-called q-space plots. The sample that to our knowledge best reveals these coherence patterns is suspensions of red blood cells (RBC). The origin of these patterns and their mathematical and physical underpinnings are now well established. We have used computer simulations of molecular diffusion in lattices of RBC and other cells to aid in the interpretation and analysis of the corresponding experimental data. The aim of this review is to present the current status of NMR q-space studies of RBC suspensions that show the diffusion-coherence effect.     

The influence of breast size on late radiation effects and association with radiotherapy dose inhomogeneity

A prospective assessment of late changes in breast appearance in 559 patients after tumour excision and radiotherapy for early breast cancer noted a strong association with breast size. Only 3/48 (6%) patients with small breasts developed moderate or severe late changes compared with 94/423 (22%) with medium sized breasts and 34/88 (39%) patients with large breasts (p < 0.001). One possibility is that greater radiation changes are related to greater dose inhomogeneity in women with large breasts. To explore this hypothesis, radiation dose distributions were assessed in a separate group of 37 women in whom three-level transverse computer tomographic images of the breast in the treatment position were available. A significant correlation was found between breast size and dose inhomogeneity which may account for the marked changes in breast appearance reported in women with large breasts.     

Does expert psychological testimony inform or influence juror decision making? A social cognitive analysis.

The authors examined whether expert testimony serves an educational or a persuasive function. Participants watched a simulated sexual abuse trial in which the child witness had been prepared for her testimony (i.e., she was calm, composed, and confident) or unprepared (i.e., emotional, confused, and uncertain). The trial contained different levels of expert testimony: none, standard (i.e., a summary of the research), repetitive (i.e., standard testimony plus a 2nd summary of the research), or concrete (i.e., standard testimony plus a hypothetical scenario linking the research to the case facts) testimony. Repetitive testimony bolstered the child's testimony, whereas concrete and standard testimony did not. Concrete testimony sensitized jurors to behavioral correlates of sexual victimization; standard and repetitive testimony desensitized jurors to these correlates. Implications for the use of procedural innovations in sexual abuse trials are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does AI have a methodology which is different from software engineering?

This paper argues that the conventional methodology of software engineering is inappropriate to AI, but that the failure of many in AI to see this is producing a Kuhnian paradigm crisis. The key point is that classic software engineering methodology (which we call SPIV: Specify-Prove-Implement-Verify) requires that the problem be capable of being circumscribed or surveyed in a way that it is not, for areas of AI, like natural language processing. In addition, it also requires that a program be open to formal proof of correctness. We contrast this methodology with a weaker form complete Specification And Testability (SAT — where the last term is used in a strong sense: every execution of the program gives decidably correct/incorrect results) which captures both the essence of SPIV and the key assumptions in practical software engineering. We argue that failure to recognize the inability to apply the SAT methodology to areas of AI has prevented development of a disciplined methodology (which is unique to AI and which we call RUDE: Run-Understand-Debug-Edit) that will accommodate the peculiarities of AI and also yield robust, reliable, comprehensible, and hence maintainable AI software.