Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Clusterin Is A Secreted Mammalian Chaperone, M. R. Wilson, S. B. Easterbrook-Smith

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

[Extract] By any criteria, clusterin is an interesting protein. It was first described in 1983 as a secreted glycoprotein in ram rete testis fluid that enhanced aggregation (“clustering”) of a variety of cells in vitro 1. Many homologues in other species were subsequently discovered. Typically, each “discovery” of clusterin in a different species or by a different research group led to it being assigned another name. By the early 1990s clusterin was known under many aliases 2, some of which persist in the literature. However, the inaugural international workshop on clusterin (Cambridge, 1992) agreed to the name clusterin, in deference …

Contribution To The Theory Of Scarpland Development From Observations In Central Queensland, Australia, R. W. Young, R. A. Wray

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Theories of scarpland geomorphology developed over the past century have been characterised by divergent conceptual frameworks and have been hindered by language barriers. Here, we review the main theories and assess them with reference to field evidence from central Queensland, Australia.

Desiccation Tolerance Of Three Moss Species From Continental Antarctica, Sharon A. Robinson, J. Wasley, M. Popp, C. E. Lovelock

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Tolerance of desiccation was examined in three species of moss, Grimmia antarctici Card., Ceratodon purpureus (Hedw.) Brid. and Bryum pseudotriquetrum (Hedw.) Gaertn., Meyer et Scherb. collected from two sites of contrasting water availability in the Windmill Islands, continental Antarctica. Physiological tolerance to desiccation was measured using chlorophyll fluorescence in plugs of moss during natural drying in the laboratory. Differences in relative water contents, rates of drying and the response of photosynthesis to desiccation were observed among the three species and between sites. Of the three species studied, G. antarctici showed the lowest capacity to sustain photosynthetic processes during desiccation, B. …

Tracing Beach Sand Provenance And Transport Using Foraminifera: Preliminary Examples From Northwest Europe And Southeast Australia, S. K. Haslett, Edward A. Bryant, R. H. Curr

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Foraminifera are marine Sarcodine Protozoa that possess tests (shells) that are preservable in the fossil record. These tests may either be constructed using organically cemented detritus (agglutinating or arenaceous forms), or secreted using calcium carbonate (calcareous forms). Their ecology embraces planktonic and benthonic modes, although planktonic forms generally inhabit the open ocean and seldom live in coastal waters in any abundance, while benthonic foraminifera exist on substrates from abyssal plains to high intertidal areas. There are many species of foraminifera that are niche-specific, making them ideal for palaeoenvironmental analysis (Boersma, 1978; Brasier, 1980; Murray, 1991; Culver, 1993).

Thermoregulation By Kangaroos From Mesic And Arid Habitats: Influence Of Temperature On Routes Of Heat Loss In Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus Giganteus) And Red Kangaroos (Macropus Rufus), Terence J. Dawson, Cyntina E. Blaney, Adam J. Munn, Andrew Krockenberger, Shane K. Maloney

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We examined thermoregulation in red kangaroos (Macropus rufus) from deserts and in eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) from mesic forests/woodlands. Desert kangaroos have complex evaporative heat loss mechanisms, but the relative importance of these mechanisms is unclear. Little is known of the abilities of grey kangaroos. Our detailed study of these kangaroos' thermoregulatory responses at air temperatures (T-a) From -5 degrees to 45 degrees C showed that, while some differences occur, their abilities are fundamentally similar. Both species show the basic marsupial characteristics of relatively low basal metabolism and body temperature (T-b). Within the thermoneutral zone, T-b was 36.3 degrees …

Ventilatory Accommodation Of Oxygen Demand And Respiratory Water Loss In Kangaroos From Mesic And Arid Environments, The Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus Giganteus) And The Red Kangaroo (Macropus Rufus), Terence J. Dawson, Adam J. Munn, Cyntina E. Blaney, Andrew Krockenberger, Shane K. Maloney

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We studied ventilation in kangaroos from mesic and arid environments, the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) and the red kangaroo (Macropus rufus), respectively, within the range of ambient temperatures (T-a) from -5 degrees to 45 degrees C. At thermoneutral temperatures (T-a = 25 degrees C), there were no differences between the species in respiratory frequency, tidal volume, total ventilation, or oxygen extraction. The ventilatory patterns of the kangaroos were markedly different from those predicted from the allometric equation derived for placentals. The kangaroos had low respiratory frequencies and higher tidal volumes, even when adjustment was made for their lower basal …

Enhanced Tumor Growth In Uv-Irradiated Skin Is Associated With An Influx Of Inflammatory Cells Into The Epidermis, Ronald Sluyter, Gary M. Halliday

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

UV radiation causes a number of cellular changes within the skin which play a role in tumor outgrowth, including immunosuppression and production of growth-enhancing cytokines, Both of these enable tumors to grow but their relative importance in carcinogenesis is poorly defined. In this study, C3H/HeN mice were exposed to a single inflammatory dose of 410 mJ/cm(2) UVB radiation (plus 100 mJ/cm2 UVA radiation) followed by the inoculation of a regressor squamous cell carcinoma into or the painting of oxazolone onto the treated skin. Tumors transplanted 2 or 3 but not 4 days after irradiation had a significantly higher growth rate …

Thyroid Hormones And Their Effects: A New Perspective, A. J. Hulbert

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The thyroid hormones are very hydrophobic and those that exhibit biological activity are 3',5',3,5-ltetraiodothyronine (T4), 3',5,3-l-triiodothyronine (T3), 3',5',3-l-triiodothyronine (rT3) and 3,5,-ldiiodothyronine (3,5-T2). At physiological pH, dissociation of the phenolic -OH group of these iodothyronines is an important determinant of their physical chemistry that impacts on their biological effects. When non-ionized these iodothyronines are strongly amphipathic. It is proposed that iodothyronines are normal constituents of biological membranes in vertebrates. In plasma of adult vertebrates, unbound T4 and T3 are regulated in the picomolar range whilst protein-bound T4 and T3 are maintained in the nanomolar range. The function of thyroid-hormone-binding plasma proteins …

Main Issues Rural Women Experience With Information & Communication Technology, Teresa Maiolo

All other publications

This brief report will outline the main issues rural women encountered with information and communications technology. This information was derived from interviewing twenty-one rural women from the South West, Eastern Goldfields, Murchison, Gascoyne, and Kimberley regions of Western Australia.

Managing Population-Environment Systems: Problems Of Institutional Design, Geoffrey Mcnicoll

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In population–environment systems human activity is inherently part of the system rather than something to be minimized in order to maintain or restore “natural” environmental conditions. Issues arising in managing such systems are discussed in this paper. The system’s boundaries must be identified, defining its human participants and its ecological content. Procedures for monitoring demographic and environmental change in the system must be set up and consensus must be reached on how to evaluate that change.

Evaluation Of Animal Model Research, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Experimentation Collection

It is argued that a concept of evaluation of animal models that is broader and more useful than validation is available. Productive generativity refers to the degree to which a model furthers understanding and leads to more-effective treatment interventions. Results of the application of this novel evaluative frame to several animal models of eating disorders show that this animal-based research has not been productive. The question of the relation between clinic and animal laboratory is discussed.

Optimization Techniques For Data Intensive Decision Flows, Richard Hull, Francois Llirbat, Bharat Kumar, Gang Zhou, Guozhu Dong, Jianwen Su

Kno.e.sis Publications

For an enterprise to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by electronic commerce it must be able to make decisions about business transactions in near-real-time. In the coming era of segment-of-one marketing, these decisions will be quite intricate, so that customer treatments can be highly personalized, reflecting customer preferences, the customer's history with the enterprise, and targeted business objectives. This paper describes a paradigm called “decision flows” for specifying a form of incremental decision-making that can combine diverse business factors in near-real-time.

This paper introduces and empirically analyzes a variety of optimization strategies for decision flows that are “data-intensive”, i.e. …

Separating Auxiliary Arity Hierarchy Of First-Order Incremental Evaluation Using (3+1)-Ary Input Relations, Guozhu Dong, Louxin Zhang

Kno.e.sis Publications

Presents a first-order incremental evaluation system that uses first-order queries to maintain a database view defined by a non-first-order query. Reduction of the arity of queries to understand the power of foies; Use of a key lemma for proving a query which encodes the multiple parity problem.

Imprecise Answers In Distributed Environments: Estimation Of Information Loss For Multi-Ontology Based Query Processing, Eduardo Mena, Vipul Kashyap, Arantza Illarramendi, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

The World Wide Web is fast becoming a ubiquitous computing environment. Prevalent keyword-based search techniques are scalable, but are incapable of accessing information based on concepts. We investigate the use of concepts from multiple, real-world pre-existing, domain ontologies to describe the underlying data content and support information access at a higher level of abstraction. It is not practical to have a single domain ontology to describe the vast amounts of data on the Web. In fact, we expect multiple ontologies to be used as different world views and present an approach to "browse" ontologies as a paradigm for information access. …

Designing Electronic Casebooks That Talk Back: The Cato Program, Kevin D. Ashley

Articles

Electronic casebooks offer important benefits of flexibility in control of presentation, connectivity, and interactivity. These additional degrees of freedom, however, also threaten to overwhelm students. If casebook authors and instructors are to achieve their pedagogical goals, they will need new methods for guiding students. This paper presents three such methods developed in an intelligent tutoring environment for engaging students in legal role-playing, making abstract concepts explicit and manipulable, and supporting pedagogical dialogues. This environment is built around a program known as CATO, which employs artificial intelligence techniques to teach first-year law students how to make basic legal arguments with cases. …

Vcu's My Library: Librarians Love It. . . . Users? Well, Maybe, Jimmy Ghaphery, Dan Ream

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Virginia Commonwealth University's My Library project (circa 1998-1999) has chosen "ease of use" as its primary design criteria. The development of this tool using Perl scripting is described, and reports derived from usage logs are analyzed here. My Library tends to appeal a great deal to a small number of users as a personal tool. Librarians have found it popular as a class teaching tool, with pages designed for specific classes in library instruction receiving the heaviest use.

Incentives To Settle Under Joint And Several Liability: An Empirical Analysis Of Superfund Litigation, Howard F. Chang, Hilary Sigman

All Faculty Scholarship

Congress may soon restrict joint and several liability for cleanup of contaminated sites under Superfund. We explore whether this change would discourage settlements and is therefore likely to increase the program 's already high litigation costs per site. Recent theoretical research by Kornhauser and Revesz finds that joint and several liability may either encourage or discourage settlement, depending on the correlation of outcomes at trial across defendants. We extend their two-defendant model to a richer framework with N defendants. This extension allows us to test the theoretical model empirically using data on Superfund litigation. We find that joint and several …