A Whole-Person Model for Biblical Integration in Business

This paper presents a whole-person model for doing biblical integration in business with applications in the field of information systems. The proposed model consists of five questions arranged in a circular fashion, starting with the identification of an ethical issue and the secular worldview associated with it. The model then asks, “Who is God?” in the context of the ethical issue. This is followed by the question, “What biblical principles/commands apply?” Then, the model asks for a decision of whether we accept, reject, or redeem the secular worldview. The model then continues the process to bring the question back to “Who is God?”, but this time it asks the question in the light of who God is to me, and what I must change to become more like Him. This model allows the Christian to develop a greater love and respect for God, while arriving at a biblically based answer to an ethical dilemma, and then growing closer to God as life changes are made to conform to the newfound understanding of who God is

A Whole-Person Model for Biblical Integration in Business

This paper presents a whole-person model for doing biblical integration in business with applications in the field of information systems. The proposed model consists of five questions arranged in a circular fashion, starting with the identification of an ethical issue and the secular worldview associated with it. The model then asks, “Who is God?” in the context of the ethical issue. This is followed by the question, “What biblical principles/commands apply?” Then, the model asks for a decision of whether we accept, reject, or redeem the secular worldview. The model then continues the process to bring the question back to “Who is God?”, but this time it asks the question in the light of who God is to me, and what I must change to become more like Him. This model allows the Christian to develop a greater love and respect for God, while arriving at a biblically based answer to an ethical dilemma, and then growing closer to God as life changes are made to conform to the newfound understanding of who God is

Selection of Web Services Based on Opinion Mining of Free-Text User Reviews

When multiple web services exist that perform identical tasks, non-functional attributes must be considered in order to choose the best service. Quality-of-service (QoS) attributes are often used to differentiate functionally redundant web services. However, ranking services according to QoS attributes is a complex problem. Additionally, the use of test data to establish those QoS ratings does not always yield accurate results. Therefore, this paper proposes a method that utilizes opinion mining techniques to extract information about the QoS attributes of a web service based on free-text user reviews. This method not only has the advantage of using real-world data rather than test data, but it also ensures that a variety of use cases are tested that would be common in the everyday usage of that service

Creating a Repository for the Design and Delivery of Web Services

Existing web service repositories are not well suited to handle the multi-layered representation of web services, nor are they able to support multiple development methodologies. We describe the design and development of a repository called Web Service Crawler that supports both a traditional development methodology for the initial design of services, and an agile approach for the design of composite applications. Web Service Crawler is developed based on a set of theory-based design characteristics, and includes novel facets to represent multi-layered web services, such as workflow, composition, and layer. The positive evaluation results indicate that Web Service Crawler can be used to guide web service designers, as well as enable consumers to more easily find and use services

Correspondence

Presents letters to the editor referencing articles and topics discussed in previous issues. "Let Them Eat Stocks," which suggested that laid-off workers be given stock options in lieu of severance pay in the U.S.; "Huddled Excesses," which argued that immigration restriction laid the groundwork for labor's gains in 1920 to 1960 in the U.S.; "Econ 2," which offered views on the issue of minimum wage increase

A New Type of Proton Coordination in an F1Fo-ATP Synthase Rotor Ring

The high-resolution structure of the rotor ring from alkaliphilic Bacillus pseudofirmus OF4 reveals a new type of ion binding in F1Fo-ATP synthases

PIP2-Binding Site in Kir Channels: Definition by Multiscale Biomolecular Simulations†

Phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate (PIP(2)) is an activator of mammalian inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channels. Multiscale simulations, via a sequential combination of coarse-grained and atomistic molecular dynamics, enabled exploration of the interactions of PIP(2) molecules within the inner leaflet of a lipid bilayer membrane with possible binding sites on Kir channels. Three Kir channel structures were investigated: X-ray structures of KirBac1.1 and of a Kir3.1-KirBac1.3 chimera and a homology model of Kir6.2. Coarse-grained simulations of the Kir channels in PIP(2)-containing lipid bilayers identified the PIP(2)-binding site on each channel. These models of the PIP(2)-channel complexes were refined by conversion to an atomistic representation followed by molecular dynamics simulation in a lipid bilayer. All three channels were revealed to contain a conserved binding site at the N-terminal end of the slide (M0) helix, at the interface between adjacent subunits of the channel. This binding site agrees with mutagenesis data and is in the proximity of the site occupied by a detergent molecule in the Kir chimera channel crystal. Polar contacts in the coarse-grained simulations corresponded to long-lived electrostatic and H-bonding interactions between the channel and PIP(2) in the atomistic simulations, enabling identification of key side chains

Thy1+ Nk Cells from Vaccinia Virus-Primed Mice Confer Protection against Vaccinia Virus Challenge in the Absence of Adaptive Lymphocytes

While immunological memory has long been considered the province of T- and B- lymphocytes, it has recently been reported that innate cell populations are capable of mediating memory responses. We now show that an innate memory immune response is generated in mice following infection with vaccinia virus, a poxvirus for which no cognate germline-encoded receptor has been identified. This immune response results in viral clearance in the absence of classical adaptive T and B lymphocyte populations, and is mediated by a Thy1+ subset of natural killer (NK) cells. We demonstrate that immune protection against infection from a lethal dose of virus can be adoptively transferred with memory hepatic Thy1+ NK cells that were primed with live virus. Our results also indicate that, like classical immunological memory, stronger innate memory responses form in response to priming with live virus than a highly attenuated vector. These results demonstrate that a defined innate memory cell population alone can provide host protection against a lethal systemic infection through viral clearance

Structural Insights into the Evolution of a Non-Biological Protein: Importance of Surface Residues in Protein Fold Optimization

Phylogenetic profiling of amino acid substitution patterns in proteins has led many to conclude that most structural information is carried by interior core residues that are solvent inaccessible. This conclusion is based on the observation that buried residues generally tolerate only conserved sequence changes, while surface residues allow more diverse chemical substitutions. This notion is now changing as it has become apparent that both core and surface residues play important roles in protein folding and stability. Unfortunately, the ability to identify specific mutations that will lead to enhanced stability remains a challenging problem. Here we discuss two mutations that emerged from an in vitro selection experiment designed to improve the folding stability of a non-biological ATP binding protein. These mutations alter two solvent accessible residues, and dramatically enhance the expression, solubility, thermal stability, and ligand binding affinity of the protein. The significance of both mutations was investigated individually and together, and the X-ray crystal structures of the parent sequence and double mutant protein were solved to a resolution limit of 2.8 and 1.65 Å, respectively. Comparative structural analysis of the evolved protein to proteins found in nature reveals that our non-biological protein evolved certain structural features shared by many thermophilic proteins. This experimental result suggests that protein fold optimization by in vitro selection offers a viable approach to generating stable variants of many naturally occurring proteins whose structures and functions are otherwise difficult to study