Ancient Solutions Research Articles

Is H 2 S a Stinky Remedy for Atherosclerosis?

Atherosclerosis is a complex and chronic pathological state that adversely affects the structure of blood vessels. Vascular inflammation, endothelial damage, smooth muscle cell migration, foam cell accumulation, and lipid and cholesterol deposition contribute to different stages of plaque formation in large and medium-sized blood vessels. The consequential narrowing and stiffening of blood vessels restricts blood circulation and increases plaque thrombogenicity. Pathogenic causes that lead to these pathological changes in atherosclerosis have always been the center of attention, but we have not yet cleared the cloud on this issue. See accompanying article on page 173 An ancient problem may have an ancient solution. A disease older than the history of mankind, atherosclerosis affects the health of various species in a much more profound fashion than other types of cardiovascular problems. Taking the fish as a case in point, whereas heart failure and hypertension are nonissues with them, fishes spontaneously develop atherosclerosis in their natural habitat regardless of what are on their menu. Even more ancient than the origin of atherosclerosis, production of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas by living organisms can be traced far back before the evolvement of the vascular system. Bacteria and archaea produce and use H2S as the essential element for their survival and proliferation. In eukaryotes, H2S is produced under the enzymatic actions of 2 pyridoxal-5′-phosphate-dependent enzymes, cystathionine beta–synthase (CBS) and cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE).1 Importantly, CSE is a major H2S-producing enzyme in the cardiovascular system.2 Recent advance in our understanding of …

Ancient solutions of the affine normal flow

We construct noncompact solutions to the affine normal flow of hypersurfaces, and show that all ancient solutions must be either ellipsoids (shrinking solitons) or paraboloids (translating solitons). We also provide a new proof of the existence of a hyperbolic affine sphere asymptotic to the boundary of a convex cone containing no lines, which is originally due to Cheng-Yau. The main techniques are local second-derivative estimates for a parabolic Monge-Ampère equation modeled on those of Ben Andrews and Gutiérrez-Huang, a decay estimate for the cubic form under the affine normal flow due to Ben Andrews, and a hypersurface barrier due to Calabi.

Islam & Mammon

In this brilliant contribution, Timur Kuran weaves six chapters into asound critique of the assumptions and practices of Islamic economics. In essence, he attacks the very foundation of Islamic economics, the prohibitionof interest, and then extends his critique to whether Islam’s traditionalredistributive instruments in achieving contemporary economic goalis feasible. The author’s intention is not simply to critique Islamic economics,but to bring the ideas espoused by the discipline into the realm ofmainstream social sciences and encourage serious scholarly consideration.The first two chapters summarize the basic tenets of Islamic economicswhile grounding the discipline in two central claims: that existing economicsystems have failed and that Islamic history proves the Islamic system’ssuperiority over others. Kuran dismisses the latter by revealing thatmodern economic problems had historical counterparts, that many conceptsand methods utilized by Islamic economists originated outside theIslamic world, and that applying ancient solutions to present problems isan inadequate approach.Islamic economics’ material expression has been confined to Islamicbanking, for which prohibiting interest is the sine qua non, and redistributionefforts. Profit and loss sharing techniques, namely, mudarabah andmusharakah, have been derived from classical Islamic jurisprudence inorder to avoid interest. These terms refer to practices whereby an individualentrusts an entrepreneur or an investor with an amount of capital that willyield a specified return. Kuran attacks these practices, asserting that theyremain mechanisms for charging interest on the grounds that since modernbanking is based on profit and loss sharing, these classical methods simplyallow bankers to avoid using the term interest ...

Type II ancient solutions to the Ricci flow on surfaces

Type II (ancient) solutions to the Ricci flow on surfaces are not yet classified. It is conjectured that the Rosenau solution and the cigar are the only solutions, modulo scaling. In this paper, we mainly study the backward limit and the circumference at spatial infinity of Type II ancient solutions on noncompact surfaces.

An Ancient Solution to a Modern Problem

This article addresses the process of managing records and documents for medium and long-term retention periods. The major question that it addresses is: Is microfilm, which first came into use in the 1870’s, undergoing a rebirth some 130 years after its first application as a support media in a time of conflict? ESARBICA Journal Vol.23 2004: 106-108

SHARP GRADIENT ESTIMATE AND YAU'S LIOUVILLE THEOREM FOR THE HEAT EQUATION ON NONCOMPACT MANIFOLDS

We derive a sharp, localized version of elliptic type gradient estimates for positive solutions (bounded or not) to the heat equation. These estimates are related to the Cheng–Yau estimate for the Laplace equation and Hamilton's estimate for bounded solutions to the heat equation on compact manifolds. As applications, we generalize Yau's celebrated Liouville theorem for positive harmonic functions to positive ancient (including eternal) solutions of the heat equation, under certain growth conditions. Surprisingly this Liouville theorem for the heat equation does not hold even in Rn without such a condition. We also prove a sharpened long-time gradient estimate for the log of the heat kernel on noncompact manifolds. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification 35K05, 58J35.

Potassic salts in Phanerozoic evaporite basins and specific features of salt deposition at the final stage of halogenesis

The study of the final stage of halogenesis is one of the most topical problems of evaporite sedimentation and formation of fossil salt deposits. The spatiotemporal distribution of various sulfate, sulfate-chloride, and chloride mineral assemblages of the final stage of Phanerozoic halogenic basins and the compositional trends of marine sulfate and chloride solutions indicate that crystallization of minerals followed a stable trend, while the metastable (“solar”) trend was typical only when the composition of ancient marine solutions fitted that of the condensed oceanic water. The formation of potassic and potassic-magnesian deposits of the sulfate and chloride types is related to the final stage of halogenesis, whereas magnesian and calcium chlorides are deposited at the eutonic stage. The difference between mineral assemblages of potassic and potassic-magnesian deposits in the Phanerozoic section was controlled by the evolution of marine solutions and the heterogeneity of hydrochemical environment in each halogenic basin.

Mini-Workshop: Aspects of Ricci-Flow

The motion of a Riemannian metric along its Ricci curvature, \tfrac{d}{dt}g_{ij} = - 2R_{ij} (g(t)) was proposed in 1982 by Richard S. Hamilton as a geometric version of the heat equation suitable for uniformizing and smoothing the geometry of a given initial Riemannian manifold (M^3, g_0) . Hamilton's work has opened up the whole area of geometric evolution equations, leading to the discovery of new phenomena in these equations and to topological applications such as the classification of 3-manifolds of positive Ricci-curvature and certain 4-manifolds. Recent work of G. Perelman has indicated how to approach a proof of the Poincaé-conjecture and the Thurston Geometrization conjecture for 3-manifolds using Hamilton–Ricciflow. The mini workshop has concentrated on a thorough technical investigation of that part of the work of Perelman that is related to Hamilton–Ricciflow with surgeries on a finite time interval. Together with further work of Perelman and also Colding–Minicozzi this part of Perelman's work implies a proof of the Poincaré conjecture when confirmed. The efforts of the workshop were greatly helped by previous work of other mathematicians on Perelman's work., e.g. the notes of B. Kleiner and J. Lott. The workshop was able to confirm major sections in the two papers of G. Perelman including the entropy- and reduced volume estimates, the compactness properties of ancient solutions to the flow and the surgery construction. It was also able to reinterpret several arguments involving Alexandrov spaces from the viewpoint of smooth Differential Geometry. When the workshop had to come to an end, its participants agreed that it would be very desirable to establish self-contained expositions of the following points: (1) The boundedness of the curvature \sup_{B_\rho(x)} R \leq c(\rho) in the proof of the approximation theorem I.12.1 of Perelman's first paper. (2) The approximation of mini-max surfaces in the varifold distance for immersed surfaces in the paper of Colding–Minicozzi. (3) The survival of the reduced volume estimate past surgeries. (4) The uniform control of a fixed scale \rho > 0 past all surgeries on a finite time interval, below which the approximation theorem applies. It seems that detailed self-contained expositions of (3) and in particular (4) require more effort than (1) and (2).

Further study of a simple {PDE}

This essentially self-contained paper continues the study of a simple PDE in which an unorthodox sign in the spacial boundary condition destroys the usual Minimum Principle. The long-term behavior of solutions with time-parameter set $(0,\infty)$ is established, and this clarifies in analytic terms the characterization of non-negative solutions which had been obtained previously by probabilistic methods. The paper then studies by direct methods bounded 'ancient' solutions in which the time-parameter set is $(-\infty,0)$. In the final section, Martin-boundary theory is used to describe all non-negative ancient solutions in the most interesting case. The relevant Green kernel density behaves rather strangely, exhibiting two types of behavior in relation to scaling of its arguments. The Martin kernel density, a ratio of Green kernel densities, behaves more sensibly. Doob $h$-transforms illuminate the structure. As a somewhat surprising consequence of our Martin-boundary analysis, we find that non-negative solutions to our parabolic-looking equation satisfy an elliptic-type Harnack principle.

Bounding dimension of ambient space by density for mean curvature flow

For an ancient solution of the mean curvature flow, we show that each time slice M t is contained in an affine subspace with dimension bounded in terms of the density and the dimension of the evolving submanifold. Recall that an ancient solution is a family M t that evolves under mean curvature flow for all negative time t.

On the Asymptotic Scalar Curvature Ratio of Complete Type I-like Ancient Solutions to the Ricci Flow on Noncompact 3-manifolds

On the Asymptotic Scalar Curvature Ratio of Complete Type I-like Ancient Solutions to the Ricci Flow on Noncompact 3-manifolds

A company of citizens: what the world's first democracy teaches leaders about creating great organizations

The knowledge is widely accepted, but strategic leaders now talk of the logical next step: the human capital revolution and the need to manage knowledgeable people in an entirely different way. The organization of the future must be not only nimble and flexible but also self-governing and values-driven. But what will this future organization look like? And how will it be led? In this thoughtful book, organizational expert Brook Manville and Princeton classics professor Josiah Ober suggest that the model for building the future organization may lie deep in the past. The authors argue that ancient Athenian democracy was an ingenious solution to organizing human capital through the practice of citizenship. That ancient solution holds profound lessons for today's forward-thinking managers: They must reconceive today's employees as citizens. Through this provocative case study of innovation and excellence lasting two hundred years, Manville and Ober describe a surprising democratic organization that empowered tens of thousands of individuals to work together for both noble purpose and hard-edged performance. Their book offers timeless guiding principles for organizing and leading a self-governing enterprise. A unique and compelling think piece, A Company of Citizens will change the way managers envision the leadership, values, and structure of tomorrow's people-centered organizations.

Protein targeting and translocation; a comparative survey.

The last few years has seen enormous progress in understanding of protein targeting and translocation across biological membranes. Many of the key molecules involved have been identified, isolated, and the corresponding genes cloned, opening up the way for detailed analysis of the structure and function of these molecular machines. It has become clear that the protein translocation machinery of the endoplasmic reticulum is very closely related to that of bacteria, and probably represents an ancient solution to the problem of how to get a protein across a membrane. One of the thylakoid translocation systems looks as if it will also be very similar, and probably represents a pathway inherited from the ancestral endosymbiont. It is interesting that, so far, there is a perfect correlation between thylakoid proteins which are present in photosynthetic prokaryotes and those which use the sec pathway in chloroplasts; conversely, OE16 and 23 which use the delta pH pathway are not found in cyanobacteria. To date, no Sec-related proteins have been found in mitochondria, although these organelles also arose as a result of endosymbiotic events. However, virtually nothing is known about the insertion of mitochondrially encoded proteins into the inner membrane. Is the inner membrane machinery which translocates cytoplasmically synthesized proteins capable of operating in reverse to export proteins from the matrix, or is there a separate system? Alternatively, do membrane proteins encoded by mitochondrial DNA insert independently of accessory proteins? Unlike nuclear-encoded proteins, proteins encoded by mtDNA are not faced with a choice of membrane and, in principle, could simply partition into the inner membrane. The ancestors of mitochondria almost certainly had a Sec system; has this been lost along with many of the proteins once encoded in the endosymbiont genome, or is there still such a system waiting to be discovered? The answer to this question may also shed light on the controversy concerning the sorting of the inter-membrane space proteins cytochrome c1 and cytochrome b2, as the conservative-sorting hypothesis would predict re-export of matrix intermediates via an ancestral (possibly Sec-type) pathway. Whereas the ER and bacterial systems clearly share homologous proteins, the protein import machineries of mitochondria and chloroplasts appear to be analogous rather than homologous. In both cases, import occurs through contact sites and there are separate translocation complexes in each membrane, however, with the exception of some of the chaperone molecules, the individual protein components do not appear to be related. Their similarities may be a case of convergent rather than divergent evolution, and may reflect what appear to be common requirements for translocation, namely unfolding, a receptor, a pore complex and refolding. There are also important differences. Translocation across the mitochondrial inner membrane is absolutely dependent upon delta psi, but no GTP requirement has been identified. In chloroplasts the reverse is the case. The roles of delta psi and GTP, respectively, remain uncertain, but it is tempting to speculate that they may play a role in regulating the import process, perhaps by controlling the assembly of a functional translocation complex. In the case of peroxisomes, much still remains to be learned. Many genes involved in peroxisome biogenesis have been identified but, in most cases, the biochemical function remains to be elucidated. In this respect, understanding of peroxisome biogenesis is at a similar stage to that of the ER 10 years ago. The coming together of genetic and biochemical approaches, as with the other organelles, should provide many of the answers.

Ancient solutions to today??s problems

Ancient solutions to today??s problems

The Deception of Jacob: A New Perspective on an Ancient Solution to the Problem

The Deception of Jacob: A New Perspective on an Ancient Solution to the Problem

The Deception of Jacob: a New Perspective On an Ancient Solution To the Problem

The Deception of Jacob: a New Perspective On an Ancient Solution To the Problem

Dolostone Reservoirs in Horquilla Formation (Pennsylvanian-Permian), Big Hatchet Peak Section, Hidalgo County, New Mexico: ABSTRACT

Dolostone reservoirs with net thickness of 484 ft (148 m) in upper Horquilla, are exposed in the Big Hatchet Peak section of southwestern New Mexico and constitute the best petroleum objective demonstrated to date in the Pedregosa basin. This shallow-marine carbonate section includes uppermost Paradise Formation (Chesterian) and 3,230 ft (985 m) of Horquilla (Morrowan-Wolfcampian). The lower member of the Horquilla consists of limestone and chert; a disconformity at the top formed during the Desmoinesian. The upper member is at least 1,867 ft (569 m) thick; limestones contain phylloid-algal biostromes and ancient solution cavities; alternating laterally extensive dolostones are 54 to 148 ft (16.5 to 45 m) thick and exhibit much vuggy porosity. Petrographic evidence demonstrates that the limestones were stabilized within freshwater diagenetic environments, that they contained much primary or secondary porosity, and that practically all of it was occluded by marine or freshwater cements. Dolostones also contained much secondary intercrystalline and moldic porosity that was partly occluded by epitaxial cements and coarse recrystallization of initial neomorphic rhombs. Anhydrite porphyroblasts were emplaced by hypersaline waters and were dissolved later by fresh ground waters to form molds with distinctive stairstep outlines; this tertiary (third stage) porosity in dolostones was partly filled by gravitational cements, and some microstalactite tips were dolomitized paramorphically. Dark Horquilla limestones are rated as fair petroleum-source units. Land-derived kerogens indicate sources of gas; alteration indices of 3 to 3+ indicate moderate thermal history. Dolostones in the upper member are rated as fair to good reservoir units. Matrix porosity and permeability are poor but should improve farther south along the shelf edge and on the slope into Alamo Hueco basin. End_of_Article - Last_Page 571------------

Ecclesia Docens: Structures of Doctrinal Authority in Tertullian and Vincent

ECCLES/A DOCENS: STRUCTURES OF DOCTRINAL AUTHORITY INTERTULLIAN AND VINCENT IN THE CONTROVERSY following the publication of the encyclical Humanae Vitae, the discussion concerning ecclesiastical doctrinal authority occupied much more time than the arguments over the moral issues more directly involved. The prohibition and condemnation of contraception had to be upheld, it was maintained, because to do otherwise would mean introducing an element of serious discontinuity with previous Catholic teaching.1 It has been claimed that this preoccupation with continuity is a trait of the modern Church, especially of the modern Papacy. It is intriguing to consider whether the remark of Tertullian in Adversus Praxean referred to similar concern for continuity c. 200 A. D. The bishop of Rome, according to Tertullian, was on the verge of granting some sort of recognition and approval to the Montanist movement in Asia Minor, when the Modalist heretic, Praxeas, dissuaded him with lies and"... by (his) insistence on the decisions of the bishop's predecessors." 2 Continuity, in one form or another, has been a constant concern of the Church. In earlier centuries, this concern could be summed up in the word" apostolicity." As the first generation of Christian gentile converts began to pass from the scene and increasingly discordant versions of the Christian message were preached, the need for verification of the link with the past became evident. Irenaeus could speak proudly of his direct connection with the Apostle John through Polycarp of Smyrna. Yet Florinus had had the same experience and Irenaeus con1 H. Kling, Infallible? An Inquiry. (Trans. E. Quinn, Garden City, 1971) 54. 2 Adversus Praxean. 1 (CC ~.1159 Kroymann & Evans). 96 " ECCLESIA DOCENS " 97 sidered him a heretic.a Papias could proclaim his preference for the living voice of tradition. Yet his own beliefs, e.g. millenarianism , demonstrated the unreliability of this approach. Eusebius deemed Papias " a man of exceedingly small intelligence ." 4' The growing dilemma led to increasing pressure for a practical solution. This practical solution was found in combining the argument from succession, formulated succinctly in Clement of Rome, with the ever more important office of the monarchical episcopate.5 Gnostics also claimed that their teaching took its origin from the teaching of the Apostles. As Ptolemy wrote to Flora: "For with God's help you will learn ... if you are deemed worthy of knowing the apostolic tradition which we too have received from a succession ..." 6 The answer to the Gnostic challenge was formulated by Irenaeus and Tertullian.7 The basic argument has not changed greatly since that day. Immutability is the hallmark of Catholic doctrine; variation, the characteristic of heresy. Bossuet in the 17th century, like Tertullian in the third, could still pursue this reasoning.8 As historical knowledge increased and, more important, the historical mentality took deeper root in the 18th and 19th centuries , this view became untenable. Evolutionary and developmental theories became the fashion of the time. Yet, when it was a question of Catholic doctrine, only a homogeneous development was acceptable. Catholic doctrine did change, it was recognized, but always in the sense of progress, always in the direction of greater clarity and explicitation. As Jossua has observed, homogeneity came to play in historically aware • Eus. H. E. V. 20. 4-8. (GCS text (E. Schwartz) in K. Lake, Loeb edition. Vol. 1 496-8.) • Eusebius H. E. III. 39.13 (LCL 1.296). 5 Clement of Rome. 42. 1-2 (K. Lake, Loeb edition 78-80.). The Letters of Ignatius of Antioch (LCL 172 ff) . 6 Letter of Ptolemy to Flora (SC 24.68 Quispe!) (Paris, 1949). • Irenaeus Adversus Haereses III. 3 (SC 211. 30£ Rousseau & Doutreleau) (Paris, 1974). Tertullian De Praescriptione Haereticorum 36 (CC 1.216-7 Refoule). 8 0. Chadwick From Bossuet to Newman Ch. 1 "Semper Eadem" (Cambridge 1957). 98 ROBERT B. ENO circles the role that fixity and perenniality had for more conservative minds.9 Today's problematic is considerably more complex than this. Even a recent Roman document like Mysterium Ecclesiae (sect. 5) admits the problem of the historicity of doctrines but then gives it short shrift. One's view of the ancient solution of apostolic succession seems highly colored by one's basic ecclesial presuppositions...

Complete ancient solutions to the Ricci flow with pinched curvature

Complete ancient solutions to the Ricci flow with pinched curvature

Ancient solutions to Kähler-Ricci flow

Ancient solutions to Kähler-Ricci flow