North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, and No Good Options? A Controlled Path to Peace

( Michael D Cohen ) 서울대학교 통일평화연구원 2013 Asian Journal of Peacebuilding Vol.1 No.2

How would North Korea’s development of the capability to target the United States with nuclear weapons influence its foreign policy? I argue that it would cause more dangerous crises than those of the last decade, and predict that these crises would eventually cause Kim Jong Un and his senior military associates to experience fear of imminent nuclear war or conventional regime change. I show that the effect of such fear would depend on whether or not Kim believes that he has control over the occurrence of these events. I argue that if he experiences fear and believes that he has some control over whether these extreme events actually happen, he will moderate his nuclear threats and behave more like other experienced nuclear powers. But if he experiences fear and believes that he has no control, he will likely pursue policies that could cause nuclear war. I use this insight to prescribe and proscribe policies for Washington, Seoul and the regional community.

North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, and No Good Options? A Controlled Path to Peace

Cohen, Michael D. 서울대학교 통일평화연구원 2013 Asian Journal of Peacebuilding Vol.1 No.2

How would North Korea's development of the capability to target the United States with nuclear weapons influence its foreign policy? I argue that it would cause more dangerous crises than those of the last decade, and predict that these crises would eventually cause Kim Jong Un and his senior military associates to experience fear of imminent nuclear war or conventional regime change. I show that the effect of such fear would depend on whether or not Kim believes that he has control over the occurrence of these events. I argue that if he experiences fear and believes that he has some control over whether these extreme events actually happen, he will moderate his nuclear threats and behave more like other experienced nuclear powers. But if he experiences fear and believes that he has no control, he will likely pursue policies that could cause nuclear war. I use this insight to prescribe and proscribe policies for Washington, Seoul and the regional community.

Improved Serum Leptin and Ghrelin Following Bariatric Surgery Predict Better Postoperative Cognitive Function

Michael L. Alosco,Mary Beth Spitznagel,Gladys Strain,Michael Devlin,Ronald Cohen,Ross D. Crosby,James E. Mitchell,John Gunstad 대한신경과학회 2015 Journal of Clinical Neurology Vol.11 No.1

Background and Purpose Bariatric surgery is associated with improved cognitive function,but the mechanisms underlying these gains remain poorly understood. Disturbed leptin andghrelin systems are common in obese individuals and are associated with impaired cognitivefunction in other samples. Bariatric surgery has been shown to improve serum leptin and ghrelinlevels, and these changes may underlie postoperative cognitive improvements. Methods Eighty-four patients completed a computerized cognitive test battery prior to bariatric surgery and at 12 months postoperatively. Participants also submitted to an 8-hour fastingblood draw to quantify serum leptin and ghrelin concentrations at these same time points. Results Baseline cognitive impairments and disturbed leptin and ghrelin levels improved atthe 12-month follow-up compared to presurgery. Higher leptin levels were associated withworse attention/executive function at baseline; no such findings emerged for ghrelin. Regressionanalyses controlling for baseline factors and demographic characteristics showed that both decreased leptin and increased ghrelin following surgery was associated with better attention/executive function at the 12-month follow-up. These effects diminished after controlling for the postoperative change in body mass index (BMI); however, BMI change did not predict 12-month cognitive function. Conclusions Improvements in leptin and ghrelin levels following bariatric surgery appear to contribute to postoperative cognitive benefits. These gains may involve multiple mechanisms, such as reduced inflammation and improved glycemic control. Future studies that employ neuroimaging are needed to clarify the underlying mechanisms and determine whether the effects of bariatric surgery on leptin and ghrelin levels can attenuate adverse brain changes and/or risk of dementia in severely obese individuals.

EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES AT INTERMEDIATE REDSHIFT OBSERVED WITH<i>HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE</i>WFC3: PERSPECTIVES ON RECENT STAR FORMATION

Rutkowski, Michael J.,Jeong, Hyunjin,Cohen, Seth H.,Kaviraj, Sugata,Windhorst, Rogier A.,Ryan Jr., Russell E.,Koekemoer, Anton,Yi, Sukyoung K.,Hathi, Nimish P.,Dopita, Michael A. IOP Publishing 2014 The Astrophysical journal Vol.796 No.2

<P>We present an analysis of the stellar populations of 102 visually selected early-type galaxies (ETGs) with spectroscopic redshifts (0.35 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 1.5) from observations in the Early Release Science program with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We fit one-and two-component synthetic stellar models to the ETGs UV-optical-near-IR spectral energy distributions and find that a large fraction (similar to 40%) are likely to have experienced a minor (f(YC) less than or similar to 10% of stellar mass) burst of recent (t(YC) less than or similar to 1 Gyr) star formation. The measured age and mass fraction of the young stellar populations do not strongly trend with measurements of galaxy morphology. We note that massive (M > 10(10.5) M-circle dot) recent star-forming ETGs appear to have larger sizes. Furthermore, high-mass, quiescent ETGs identified with likely companions populate a distinct region in the size-mass parameter space, in comparison with the distribution of massive ETGs with evidence of recent star formation (RSF). We conclude that both mechanisms of quenching star formation in disk-like ETGs and (gas-rich, minor) merger activity contribute to the formation of young stars and the size-mass evolution of intermediate redshift ETGs. The number of ETGs for which we have both HST WFC3 panchromatic (especially UV) imaging and spectroscopically confirmed redshifts is relatively small, therefore, a conclusion about the relative roles of both of these mechanisms remains an open question.</P>

Sputum Inflammatory Mediators Are Increased in Aspergillus fumigatus Culture-Positive Asthmatics

Michael A Ghebre,Dhananjay Desai,Amisha Singapuri,Joanne Woods,Laura Rapley,Suzanne Cohen,Athula Herath,Andrew J Wardlaw,Catherine H Pashley,Richard May,Chris E Brightling 대한천식알레르기학회 2017 Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research Vol.9 No.2

Aspergillus fumigatus sensitization and culture in asthma are associated with disease severity and lung function impairment, but their relationship with airway inflammation is poorly understood. We investigated the profile of 24 sputum inflammatory mediators in A. fumigatus culture-positive or-negative moderate-to-severe asthmatics. Fifty-two subjects were recruited from a single center. A. fumigatus was cultured from 19 asthmatics. Asthma control, symptom score, lung function, and sputum cell count were not significantly different between the asthmatics with and without a positive A. fumigatus culture. All of the sputum mediators were numerically increased in subjects with a positive versus negative sputum A. fumigatus culture. Sputum TNF-R2 was significantly elevated (P=0.03) and the mediator that best distinguished A. fumigatus culture-positive from culturenegative subjects (receiver-operator characteristic area under the curve 0.66 [95% CI: 0.51 to 0.82, P=0.045]). A. fumigates-positive culture in moderate- to-severe asthma is associated with increased inflammatory sputum mediators.

LysRS Serves as a Key Signaling Molecule in the Immune Response by Regulating Gene Expression

Yannay-Cohen, Nurit,Carmi-Levy, Irit,Kay, Gillian,Yang, Christopher Maolin,Han, Jung Min,Kemeny, D. Michael,Kim, Sunghoon,Nechushtan, Hovav,Razin, Ehud Elsevier 2009 Molecular cell Vol.34 No.5

<P><B>Summary</B></P><P>Lysyl-tRNA synthetase (LysRS) was found to produce diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap<SUB>4</SUB>A) in vitro more than two decades ago. Here, we used LysRS silencing in mast cells in combination with transfected normal and mutated LysRS to demonstrate in vivo the critical role played by LysRS in the production of Ap<SUB>4</SUB>A in response to immunological challenge. Upon such challenge, LysRS was phosphorylated on serine 207 in a MAPK-dependent manner, released from the multisynthetase complex, and translocated into the nucleus. We previously demonstrated that LysRS forms a complex with MITF and its repressor Hint-1, which is released from the complex by its binding to Ap<SUB>4</SUB>A, enabling MITF to transcribe its target genes. Here, silencing LysRS led to reduced Ap<SUB>4</SUB>A production in immunologically activated cells, which resulted in a lower level of MITF inducible genes. Our data demonstrate that specific LysRS serine 207 phosphorylation regulates Ap<SUB>4</SUB>A production in immunologically stimulated mast cells, thus implying that LysRS is a key mediator in gene regulation.</P>

Capillary Origami with Atomically Thin Membranes

Reynolds, Michael F.,McGill, Kathryn L.,Wang, Maritha A.,Gao, Hui,Mujid, Fauzia,Kang, Kibum,Park, Jiwoong,Miskin, Marc Z.,Cohen, Itai,McEuen, Paul L. American Chemical Society 2019 NANO LETTERS Vol.19 No.9

<P>Small-scale optical and mechanical components and machines require control over three-dimensional structure at the microscale. Inspired by the analogy between paper and two-dimensional materials, origami-style folding of atomically thin materials offers a promising approach for making microscale structures from the thinnest possible sheets. In this Letter, we show that a monolayer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS<SUB>2</SUB>) can be folded into three-dimensional shapes by a technique called capillary origami, in which the surface tension of a droplet drives the folding of a thin sheet. We define shape nets by patterning rigid metal panels connected by MoS<SUB>2</SUB> hinges, allowing us to fold micron-scale polyhedrons. Finally, we demonstrate that these shapes can be folded in parallel without the use of micropipettes or microfluidics by means of a microemulsion of droplets that dissolves into the bulk solution to drive folding. These results demonstrate controllable folding of the thinnest possible materials using capillary origami and indicate a route forward for design and parallel fabrication of more complex three-dimensional micron-scale structures and machines.</P> [FIG OMISSION]</BR>

Treatment-Induced Blood Pressure Reduction and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction

Alderman, Michael H.,Ooi, Wee L.,Madhavan, Shantha,Cohen, Hillel MediMedia Korea 1989 JAMA-Korea Vol.4 No.11

Universal Perceptual Attributes for Perception of American English Vowels by English and Japanese Native Speakers and Implications for Language Typology

Marasinghe, Ashuboda,Lambacher, Stephen,Martens, William,Cohen, Michael,Giragama, Charith,Herath, Susantha,Molholt, Garry Institute for University Language Sejong Instituti 2003 Journal of Universal Language Vol.4 No.2

A universal perceptual space for 10 American English vowel sounds was derived for two groups of listeners-a group of native speakers of English and a group of native speakers of Japanese. Subsets of these two groups made ratings on 12 bipolar adjective scales for the same set of sounds, each of the two groups using anchoring adjectives taken from their native language. Although there was no evidence of any difference between the two groups in their INDSCAL-derived perceptual dimensions for these vowel sounds, the adjectives were sued differently in describing those same perceptual dimensions by the two groups. Though a few of the adjectives were used to describe similar perceptual variations, language typological implications of this investigation is that caution be exercised in generalizing semantic differential ratings obtained in one language, especially when those ratings are intended to aid in the interpretation of data from listeners speaking a different native language.

Real-time monocular image-based 6-DoF localization

Lim, Hyon,Sinha, Sudipta N.,Cohen, Michael F.,Uyttendaele, Matt,Kim, H. Jin SAGE Publications 2015 The International journal of robotics research Vol.34 No.4

<P>In this paper we present a new real-time image-based localization method for scenes that have been reconstructed offline using structure from motion. From input video, our method continuously computes six-degree-of-freedom camera pose estimates by efficiently tracking natural features and matching them to 3D points reconstructed by structure from motion. Our main contribution lies in efficiently interleaving a fast keypoint tracker that uses inexpensive binary feature descriptors with a new approach for direct 2D-to-3D matching. Our 2D-to-3D matching scheme avoids the need for online extraction of scale-invariant features. Instead, offline we construct an indexed database containing multiple DAISY descriptors per 3D point extracted at multiple scales. The key to the efficiency of our method is invoking DAISY descriptor extraction and matching sparingly during localization, and in distributing this computation over a temporal window of successive frames. This enables the system to run in real-time and achieve low per-frame latency over long durations. Our algorithm runs at over 30 Hz on a laptop and at 12 Hz on a low-power computer suitable for onboard computation on a mobile robot such as a micro-aerial vehicle. We have evaluated our method using ground truth and present results on several challenging indoor and outdoor sequences.</P>