On the rate of convergence in the entropic central limit theorem

We study the rate at which entropy is produced by linear combinations of independent random variables which satisfy a spectral gap condition.Mathematics Subjects Classification (2000):94A17; 60F05Supported in part by the EU Grant HPMT-CT-2000-00037, The Minkowski center for Geometry and the Israel Science Foundation.Supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-9796221.Supported in part by EPSRC Grant GR/R37210.Supported in part by the BSF, Clore Foundation and EU Grant HPMT-CT-2000-00037.     

Chemical Modification of a Bacterial Siderophore by a Competitor in Dual-Species Biofilms

Chemical communication between competing bacteria in multi-species environments often enables both species to adapt and survive, and perhaps even thrive. P. aeruginosa and S. aureus are two bacterial pathogens found in natural biofilms, especially in the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, where recent studies showed that there is often cooperation between the two species, leading to increased disease severity and antibiotic resistance. However, the mechanisms behind this cooperation are poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed co-cultured biofilms in various settings, and we applied untargeted mass spectrometry-based metabolomics analyses, combined with synthetic validation of candidate compounds. We unexpectedly discovered that S. aureus can convert pyochelin into pyochelin methyl ester, an analogue of pyochelin with reduced affinity for iron (III). This conversion allows S. aureus to coexist more readily with P. aeruginosa and unveils a mechanism underlying the formation of robust dual-species biofilms.     

Targeted Protein Surface Sensors as a Tool for Analyzing Small Populations of Proteins in Biological Mixtures

Optical cross‐reactive sensor arrays (the so‐called chemical “noses/tongues”) have recently been demonstrated as a powerful tool for high‐throughput protein detecting and analysis. Nevertheless, applying this technology to biomarker detection is complicated by the difficulty of non‐selective sensors to operate in biological mixtures. Herein we demonstrate a step toward circumventing this limitation by using self‐assembled fluorescent receptors consisting of two distinct recognition motifs: specific and non‐specific. When combined in an array, binding cooperatively between the specific and non‐specific protein binders enables the system to discriminate among closely related isoform biomarkers even in the presence of serum proteins or within human urine.     

Characterization of an orphan Ra–Be neutron source

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - An orphan radium-beryllium (Ra–Be) neutron source (Nuclear Chicago Corporation) detected inside a scrap metal shipping container, was seized...     

Targeting an Interaction Between Two Disordered Domains by Using a Designed Peptide

Intrinsically disordered regions in proteins (IDRs) mediate many disease-related protein–protein interactions. However, the unfolded character and continuous conformational changes of IDRs make them difficult to target for therapeutic purposes. Here, we show that a designed peptide based on the disordered p53 linker domain can be used to target a partner IDR from the anti-apoptotic iASPP protein, promoting apoptosis of cancer cells. The p53 linker forms a hairpin-like structure with its two termini in close proximity. We designed a peptide derived from the disordered termini without the hairpin, designated as p53 LinkTer. The LinkTer peptide binds the disordered RT loop of iASPP with the same affinity as the parent p53 linker peptide, and inhibits the p53–iASPP interaction in vitro. The LinkTer peptide shows increased stability to proteolysis, penetrates cancer cells, causes nuclei shrinkage, and compromises the viability of cells. We conclude that a designed peptide comprising only the IDR from a peptide sequence can serve as an improved inhibitor since it binds its target protein without the need for pre-folding, paving the way for therapeutic targeting of IDRs.     

Perfect Zero-Knowledge Arguments for NP Using Any One-Way Permutation

``Perfect zero-knowledge arguments' is a cryptographic primitive which allows one polynomial-time player to convince another polynomial-time player of the validity of an NP statement, without revealing any additional information (in the information-theoretic sense). Here the security achieved is on-line: in order to cheat and validate a false theorem, the prover must break a cryptographic assumption on-line during the conversation, while the verifier cannot find (ever) any information unconditionally. Despite their practical and theoretical importance, it was only known how to implement zero-knowledge arguments based on specific algebraic assumptions. In this paper we show a general construction which can be based on any one-way permutation. The result is obtained by a construction of an information-theoretic secure bit-commitment protocol. The protocol is efficient (both parties are polynomial time) and can be based on any one-way permutation. Received 5 September 1993 and revised 16 September 1997     

Computationally Secure Oblivious Transfer

We describe new computationally secure protocols of 1-out-of-N oblivious transfer, k-out-of-N oblivious transfer, and oblivious transfer with adaptive queries. The protocols are very efficient compared with solutions based on generic two-party computation or on information-theoretic security. The 1-out-of-N oblivious transfer protocol requires only log N executions of a 1-out-of-2 oblivious transfer protocol. The k-out-of-N protocol is considerably more efficient than k repetitions of 1-out-of-N oblivious transfer, as is the construction for oblivious transfer with adaptive queries. The efficiency of the new oblivious transfer protocols makes them useful for many applications. A direct corollary of the 1-out-of-N oblivious transfer protocol is an efficient transformation of any Private Information Retrieval protocol to a Symmetric PIR protocol.     

Fréchet Embeddings of Negative Type Metrics

We show that every n-point metric of negative type (in particular, every n-point subset of L ₁) admits a Fréchet embedding into Euclidean space with distortion , a result which is tight up to the O(log log n) factor, even for Euclidean metrics. This strengthens our recent work on the Euclidean distortion of metrics of negative into Euclidean space. S. Arora supported by David and Lucile Packard Fellowship and NSF grant CCR-0205594. J.R. Lee supported by NSF grant CCR-0121555, NSF 0514993, NSF 0528414 and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.     

Waiting and sojourn times in a multi-server queue with mixed priorities

We consider a multi-server queue with K priority classes. In this system, customers of the P highest priorities (P<K) can preempt customers with lower priorities, ejecting them from service and sending them back into the queue. Service times are assumed exponential with the same mean for all classes. The Laplace–Stieltjes transforms of waiting times are calculated explicitly and the Laplace–Stieltjes transforms of sojourn times are provided in an implicit form via a system of functional equations. In both cases, moments of any order can be easily calculated. Specifically, we provide formulae for the steady state means and the second moments of waiting times for all priority classes. We also study some approximations of sojourn-time distributions via their moments. In a practical part of our paper, we discuss the use of mixed priorities for different types of Service Level Agreements, including an example based on a real scheduling problem of IT support teams.