Recent advances in directional statistics

Mainstream statistical methodology is generally applicable to data observed in Euclidean space. There are, however, numerous contexts of considerable scientific interest in which the natural supports for the data under consideration are Riemannian manifolds like the unit circle, torus, sphere and their extensions. Typically, such data can be represented using one or more directions, and directional statistics is the branch of statistics that deals with their analysis. In this paper we provide a review of the many recent developments in the field since the publication of Mardia and Jupp (1999), still the most comprehensive text on directional statistics. Many of those developments have been stimulated by interesting applications in fields as diverse as astronomy, medicine, genetics, neurology, aeronautics, acoustics, image analysis, text mining, environmetrics, and machine learning. We begin by considering developments for the exploratory analysis of directional data before progressing to distributional models, general approaches to inference, hypothesis testing, regression, nonparametric curve estimation, methods for dimension reduction, classification and clustering, and the modelling of time series, spatial and spatio-temporal data. An overview of currently available software for analysing directional data is also provided, and potential future developments discussed.Comment: 61 page

Opioids and Their Receptors

Few neurotransmitter systems have fascinated as much as the opioid system (i.e., opioid ligands and their receptors). Over the years, scientific studies of the endogenous opioid system have uncovered a complex and subtle system that exhibits impressive diversity, based on its critical role in modulating a large number of sensory, motivational, emotional and cognitive functions. Additionally, its important therapeutic value for the treatment of many human disorders, including pain, affective and addictive disorders, and gastrointestinal motility disorders, has been of persistent interest. This book specifically covers a broad area of the opioid research, offering up-to-date and new perspectives about opioid drug discovery. The diversity among the discussed topics ranging from medicinal chemistry to opioid pharmacology, from basic science to translational research, is a testimony to the complexity of the opioid system that results from the expression, regulation and functional role of opioid ligands and their receptors. This book will serve as a useful reference to scientists while also stimulating continuous research in the chemistry and pharmacology of the opioid system, with the prospective for finding improved therapies of human diseases where the opioid system plays a central role

James and Carol Busche v. Salt Lake County, an incorporated Utah county, Wallnet Investment, L.C., a Utah limited liability company, RBCSU Realty, L.L.C., a Utah limited liability corporation, Regence Bluecross Blueshield of Utah, a Utah corporation, Mill Pointe Associates, L.L.C., a Utah limited liability corporation, 2825 E Cottonwood Parkway, L.C., a Utah limited liability corporation, 2755 E Cottonwood Parkway, L.C., a Utah limited liability corporation, 2855 E Cottonwood Parkway, L.C., a Utah limited liability corporation: Brief of Appellee

APPEAL FROM AN ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS\u27 MOTION TO DISMISS OF THE THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, SALT LAKE COUNTY, STATE OF UTAH The Honorable Frank G. Noel, presidin

Development of innovative antimicrobials for cosmeceutical applications

As a physical and chemical barrier, the skin arrests pathogens invasion, thus preventing harmless or even potentially lethal infections. When this barrier is damaged, the spread of infections is usually treated by using traditional antibiotics, which are often ineffective on Multi-Drug resistant bacteria. Antibiotic resistance is predicted to become the leading cause of death in our society, thus justifying the search for novel antimicrobials derived from previously underexplored sources. In this context, promising molecules as the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represent an innovative alternative, since the evolution of resistance against these compounds generally does not occur. Encrypted peptides deriving from human proteome represent a yet unexplored source of a novel class of antibiotics. In this Research project, we report that peptides hidden within human plasma display broad-spectrum antibiotic properties. Specifically, three peptides [r(P)ApoBLPro, r(P)ApoBSPro and r(P)ApoBLAla] derived from human apolipoprotein B (residues 887-922) exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococci both in vitro and in animal models. These peptides were found to target bacteria by depolarizing their cytoplasmic membranes and to inhibit biofilm. Importantly, the peptides were found to potentiate the activity of conventional antibiotics against bacteria and did not select for bacterial resistance even after a prolonged exposure of bacterial cells. In addition to their direct antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities, ApoB encrypted peptides displayed excellent toxicity profiles. To ensure translatability of these molecules, a retro-inverso variant [(ri)-r(P)ApoBSPro] of the lead encrypted peptide was synthesized. The peptidomimetic here engineered was found to be resistant to proteases and demonstrated to preserve the bioactivities of the parental peptides with even stronger efficacy when tested in a pre-clinical mouse model. Finally, a hyaluronic acid-based hydrogel functionalized with (ri)-r(P)ApoBSPro was designed and characterized. The hydrogel system loaded with the retro-inverso variant of ApoB encrypted peptide was found to inhibit bacterial growth, to prevent pathogens migration and to stimulate cells viability. Altogether, obtained data open new avenues for the discovery of a novel generation of antibiotics from human blood and highlight the applicability of ApoB-derived peptides in the treatment of skin infections and diseases

The social reality of initiatives which pursue insight from data

While (big) data promises immense opportunity, initiatives focused on using data to pursue insight have mixed outcomes. The Management Support Systems (MSS) model summarises what we currently understand within Information Systems (IS) about the implementation and use of systems to improve organisations’ use of data. Adopting an ethnographic approach to observe how practitioners in two contrasting organisations actually generate insight from data, this research challenges the implicit information processing and implementation logics of the MMS model. The pragmatic messiness of pursuing insight is described in two monographs, which reveal the socially constructed nature of data in relation to phenomena, and the importance of data engagement to produce insight. Given that this PhD study also seeks to generate insight from data, it is compared and contrasted reflexively to the two cases observed. While the inquiry logic pursued in this study was made explicit, and was regularly reviewed and challenged, the two cases left this largely implicit. The use of tools is shown to facilitate and constrain inquiry, with related data acting as boundary objects between the different practitioner groups involved. An explanatory framework is presented and used to suggest various enhancements to the MSS model. First, the Problem Space is reframed to reflect the distinct, though interdependent logics involved in inquiry versus realising envisaged benefits from insights. Second, the MSS artefact itself is contextualised and Data Engagement rather than MSS or Tool Use is positioned as central. Third, Data are disentangled from the wider MSS artefact, as a critical, distinct construct. Fourth, an Alignment construct is introduced to address the boundary spanning nature of data initiatives. The thesis also highlights the value of using Wenger’s (1998) Communities of Practice (CoP) situated learning framework to study data initiatives, and the related value of mapping groups as a technique for further development. Some questions are provided for practitioners to gain a better understanding of data initiatives. Wider implications are also noted for the socio-material theorising of Data, and distinguishing between Data, Information and Knowledge concepts within the IS discipline

Integrated software architecture to support modern experimental biology

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-132).Over the past several years, the explosive growth of biological data generated by new high-throughput instruments has virtually begun to drown the biological community. There is no established infrastructure to deal with these data in a consistent and successful fashion. This thesis presents a new informatics platform capable of supporting a large subsection of the experimental methods found in modem biology. A consistent data definition strategy is outlined that can handle gel electrophoresis, microarray, fluorescence activated cell sorting, mass spectrometry, and microscopy within a single coherent set of information object definitions. A key issue for interoperability is that common attributes are made truly identical between the different methods. This dramatically decreases the overhead of separate and distinct classes for each method, and reserves the uniqueness for attributes that are different between the methods. Thus, at least one higher level of integration is obtained. The thesis shows that rich object-oriented modeling together with object-relational database features and the uniform treatment of data and metadata is an ideal candidate for complex experimental information integration tasks. This claim is substantiated by elaborating on the coherent set of information object definitions and testing the corresponded database using real experimental data. A first implementation of this work--ExperiBase--is an integrated software platform to store and query data generated by the leading experimental protocols used in biology within a single database. It provides: comprehensive database features for searching and classifying; web-based client interfaces; web services; data import and export capabilities to accommodate other data(cont.) repositories; and direct support for metadata produced by analysis programs. Using JDBC, Java Servlets and Java Server Pages, SOAP, XML, and IIOP/CORBA's technologies, the information architecture is portable and platform independent. The thesis develops an ExperiBase XML according to the single coherent set of information object definitions, and also presents a new way of database federation--translating heterogeneous database schemas into the common ExperiBase XML schema and then merging the output: XML messages to get data federated. ExperiBase has become a reference implementation of the I3C Life Science Object Ontologies group.by Shixin Zhang.Ph.D