Enabling Inter-Repository Access Management between iRODS and Fedora

4th International Conference on Open RepositoriesThis presentation was part of the session : Conference PresentationsDate: 2009-06-04 08:30 AM – 10:00 AMMany digital repositories have been built using different technologies such as Fedora and the integrated Rule-Oriented Data System (iRODS). This paper analyzes both the Fedora and iRODS technologies to understand how to integrate the two systems to enable cross-repository data sharing. The areas considered include the digital object model, services, management of distributed storage, external data resources, and policy enforcement.National Science Foundatio

Building Open-Source Digital Curation Services and Repositories at Scale

The focus of this article is to share several in-progress research and development open-source approaches that seek to design, build, and test digital curation services and repositories that have the potential to scale (the IMLS-funded Fedora DRAS-TIC and the NSF-funded Brown Dog). We also discuss the creation of a big records testbed of justice, human rights, and cultural heritage collections (100 TB and 100 million records), the emergence of Computational Archival Science (CAS), and the resulting efforts at integrating digital curation education and research. We ultimately seek to develop a sustainable community of users and developers, with solutions that serve the international library, archives, and scientific data management communities. We are also focused on digital curation training and education in these innovative environments

Scattering and self-adjoint extensions of the Aharonov-Bohm hamiltonian

We consider the hamiltonian operator associated with planar sec- tions of infinitely long cylindrical solenoids and with a homogeneous magnetic field in their interior. First, in the Sobolev space $\mathcal H^2$, we characterize all generalized boundary conditions on the solenoid bor- der compatible with quantum mechanics, i.e., the boundary conditions so that the corresponding hamiltonian operators are self-adjoint. Then we study and compare the scattering of the most usual boundary con- ditions, that is, Dirichlet, Neumann and Robin.Comment: 40 pages, 5 figure

The Stau Neutralino Co-annihilation Region at an International Linear Collider

We probe the stau-neutralino co-annihilation domain of the parameter space allowed by the current experimental bounds on the light Higgs mass, the b-> s \gamma decay, and the amount of neutralino cold dark matter within the framework of minimal SUGRA models at a 500 GeV e+e- linear collider. The most favorable signals of SUSY are stau pair production and neutralino pair production where the small mass difference between the lighter stau and the lightest neutralino in the co-annihilation region is ~5-15 GeV and hence generates low-energy tau leptons in the final state. This small mass difference would be a striking signal of many SUGRA models. We find that a calorimeter covering down to 1^o from the beams is crucial to reduce the two-photon background and the mass difference could be measured at a level of 10% with 500 fb^-1 of data where an invariant mass of two-tau jets and missing energy is used as a discriminator.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Artemisone effective against murine cerebral malaria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Artemisinins are the newest class of drug approved for malaria treatment. Due to their unique mechanism of action, rapid effect on Plasmodium, and high efficacy in vivo, artemisinins have become essential components of malaria treatment. Administration of artemisinin derivatives in combination with other anti-plasmodials has become the first-line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria. However, their efficiency in cases of cerebral malaria (CM) remains to be determined.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The efficacy of several artemisinin derivatives for treatment of experimental CM was evaluated in ICR or C57BL/6 mice infected by <it>Plasmodium berghei </it>ANKA. Both mouse strains serve as murine models for CM.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Artemisone was the most efficient drug tested, and could prevent death even when administered at relatively late stages of cerebral pathogenesis. No parasite resistance to artemisone was detected in recrudescence. Co-administration of artemisone together with chloroquine was more effective than monotherapy with either drug, and led to complete cure. Artemiside was even more effective than artemisone, but this substance has yet to be submitted to preclinical toxicological evaluation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Altogether, the results support the use of artemisone for combined therapy of CM.</p

Lenalidomide and metronomic melphalan for CMML and higher risk MDS: A phase 2 clinical study with biomarkers of angiogenesis

AbstractMetronomic, low dose chemotherapy may have anti-angiogenic effects and augment the effects of lenalidomide in MDS and CMML. We evaluated the clinical efficacy, tolerability and anti-angiogenic effects of melphalan 2mg and lenalidomide 10mg for 21 days/28 in CMML (n=12) and higher risk MDS (n=8) patients in a prospective phase II study. The primary endpoint was overall response and secondary endpoints included survival, progression-free survival, toxicity and biomarkers of angiogenesis. The median age was 73 years, 55% were pretreated and transfusion dependent. The overall response rate was 3(15%) of 19 evaluable patients but 25% in CMML and 33% in pCMML. Dose reductions and/or delays were common due to myelosuppression. Transient spikes in circulating endothelial cells that declined below baseline were seen in responders and patients with CMML, suggesting anti-angiogenic activity. In conclusion, lenalidomide and metronomic low dose melphalan demonstrate signals of clinical and possible anti-angiogenic activity in patients with pCMML that require future validation. This trial was registered at clinicaltrial.gov under # NCT00744536

Protective Efficacy of H9N2 Avian Influenza Vaccines Inactivated by Ionizing Radiation Methods Administered by the Parenteral or Mucosal Routes

H9N2 viruses have become, over the last 20 years, one of the most diffused poultry pathogens and have reached a level of endemicity in several countries. Attempts to control the spread and reduce the circulation of H9N2 have relied mainly on vaccination in endemic countries. However, the high level of adaptation to poultry, testified by low minimum infectious doses, replication to high titers, and high transmissibility, has severely hampered the results of vaccination campaigns. Commercially available vaccines have demonstrated high efficacy in protecting against clinical disease, but variable results have also been observed in reducing the level of replication and viral shedding in domestic poultry species. Antigenic drift and increased chances of zoonotic infections are the results of incomplete protection offered by the currently available vaccines, of which the vast majority are based on formalin-inactivated whole virus antigens. In our work, we evaluated experimental vaccines based on an H9N2 virus, inactivated by irradiation treatment, in reducing viral shedding upon different challenge doses and compared their efficacy with formalin-inactivated vaccines. Moreover, we evaluated mucosal delivery of inactivated antigens as an alternative route to subcutaneous and intramuscular vaccination. The results showed complete protection and prevention of replication in subcutaneously vaccinated Specific Pathogen Free White Leghorn chickens at low-to-intermediate challenge doses but a limited reduction of shedding at a high challenge dose. Mucosally vaccinated chickens showed a more variable response to experimental infection at all tested challenge doses and the main effect of vaccination attained the reduction of infected birds in the early phase of infection. Concerning mucosal vaccination, the irradiated vaccine was the only one affording complete protection from infection at the lowest challenge dose. Vaccine formulations based on H9N2 inactivated by irradiation demonstrated a potential for better performances than vaccines based on the formalin-inactivated antigen in terms of reduction of shedding and prevention of infection

Recovery of a Digital Image Collection Through the SDSC/UMD/NARA Prototype Persistent Archive

The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), the University of Maryland, and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) are collaborating on building a pilot persistent archive using and extending data grid and digital library technologies. The current prototype consists of node servers at SDSC, University of Maryland, and NARA, connected through the Storage Request Broker (SRB) data grid middleware, and currently holds several terabytes of NARA selected collections. In particular, a historically important image collection that was on the verge of becoming inaccessible was fully restored and ingested into our pilot system. In this report, we describe the methodology behind our approach to fully restore this image collection and the process used to ingest it into the prototype persistent archive. (UMIACS-TR-2003-105