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Benchmarks 2008, July 25, The Rockefeller University

BenchMarks 2008

BenchMarks. Friday, July 25, 2008

The community newsletter of The Rockefeller University

BenchMarks is published monthly and is distributed on the campus of The Rockefeller University. It produced by the Office of Communications and Public Affairs

A Case Study Using Soft Systems Methodology In The Evolution Of A Mathematics Module, Jon Warwick

The Mathematics Enthusiast

This paper describes the application of Soft Systems Methodology as a tool for facilitating the review of a taught mathematics module so that the views of those engaged with the module could be captured and conflicting expectations and views highlighted. Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology is used since it enables the capture of stakeholder views and addresses both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ aspects of the learning experience. Stages in the application of Soft Systems Methodology are illustrated including the development of a rich picture and conceptual models and the work was conducted using a stakeholder group that included students taking the module …

Thomas Jefferson University-Annual Report-2008, Robert L. Barchi, Md, Phd, Brian G. Harrison

Thomas Jefferson University Administrative Documents and Reports

No abstract provided.

Radiation Torque Exerted On A Spheroid: Analytical Solution, Feng Xu, James A. Lock, Gérard Gouesbet, Cameron Tropea

Physics Faculty Publications

As a companion work to our previous study [F. Xu, , Phys. Rev. E. 75, 026613 (2007)] on radiation force prediction for a homogeneous spheroid, we provide in this paper the analytical solution to the radiation torque exerted by an arbitrarily shaped beam on a spheroid, which can be prolate or oblate, transparent or absorbing. Calculations based upon this theoretical development are performed for both linearly and circularly polarized incident beams, and the results are compared to those of a sphere. Stable orientations of spheroids inside a linearly and a circularly polarized Gaussian beam are predicted. We analyze two physical …

Biodegradable Fluorescent Polymers, Santosh Gautam

Bioengineering Theses - Archive

Most of the works done on fluorescent polymers are focused on their potential applications in lighting industries. Much less interest has been paid for their potential application in the field of biology and biomedical engineering. Although multiple biological uses of green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) have been addressed by different groups, their potential for biomedical applications is hampered by their tendency to photobleach rapidly and their short fluorescence lifetime. Quantum dots have emerged as a potential substitute for those applications, but their cytotoxicity and lack of biodegradability restrict their use in a biological system. An ideal fluorescent material that could be …

Phylogeography And Geographical Variation Of Behavioral And Morphological Characteristics In Paruroctonus Boreus, Abraham Miller

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Specimens of Paruroctonus boreus were collected from twenty-four sites to assess the geographic variation in behavioral, morphological and molecular traits. Statistical analyses showed males demonstrated a positive response to females from the same population but not females from different populations, and that males exhibit a negative response to males from the same population. Pectine morphology was measured with SEM and demonstrated sexual dimorphism among and within populations. This difference was most apparent in mature individuals. Sequence data from 16S and COI genes suggest there is structure among the populations but this structure does not support a north and south clades …

Shifting Ground To Address Climate Change: The Land Use Law Solution, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article conceives and describes a Land Use Stabilization Wedge: a strategy that aggregates these five wedges and further organizes strategic energies. This builds on Socolow’s optimistic assertion that “an excuse for inaction based on the world’s lack of technological readiness does not exist.” I assert that the existing legal authority of state and local governments to regulate and guide land use and building is a powerful “technology already deployed somewhere in the world.” The Land Use Stabilization Wedge aggregates several of Socolow’s initiatives and employs multiple mitigation techniques available to citizens in every locality in the country.

The Compatibility Of Intelligence Gathering, Interrogation, And Preventing Torture, Steven M. Kleinman

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cruel Distinctions Of The I.N.A.'S Material Support Bar, Courtney Schusheim

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Promoter Library Designed For Fine-Tuned Gene Expression In Pichia Pastoris, Franz S. Hartner, Claudia Ruth, David Langenegger, Sabrina N. Johnson, Petr Hyka, Geoff P. Lin-Cereghino, Joan Lin-Cereghino, Karin Kovar, James Cregg, Anton Glieder

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

Although frequently used as protein production host, there is only a limited set of promoters available to drive the expression of recombinant proteins in Pichia pastoris. Fine-tuning of gene expression is often needed to maximize product yield and quality. However, for efficient knowledge-based engineering, a better understanding of promoter function is indispensable. Consequently, we created a promoter library by deletion and duplication of putative transcription factor-binding sites within the AOX1 promoter (P_AOX1) sequence. This first library initially spanned an activity range between ∼6% and >160% of the wild-type promoter activity. After characterization of the promoter library employing …

A Possible Role For Spla2 In Oligodendrocyte Death And Spinal Cord Injury., William Lee Titsworth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Spinal cord injury (SCI) can be divided into two distinct stages, an initial mechanical impact and a later "secondary injury" resulting from a cascade of cytokines triggering a spreading demyelination and apoptosis of neurons and glia within the spinal cord. It is believed that blockade of this "secondary injury" could improve functional and histological recovery following SCI. Here we propose that sPLA2 might be one of the crucial mediators of the secondary injury. To test this possibility we first elucidated that the mRNA and protein of several isozymes of sPLA2 are present in the rodent spinal cord and that the …

What Counts As Discrimination In Ledbetter And The Implications For Sex Equality Law, Deborah L. Brake

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fall 2008 Nova Southeastern University Undergraduate Student Catalog, Nova Southeastern University

Undergraduate Programs Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Faculty, University Of Michigan Law School

Law Quadrangle (formerly Law Quad Notes)

New faculty: Deborah Burand; Susan Crawford; Monica Hakimi; Penelope Mathew; David Moran – Caminker reappointed as dean – Students will get hands-on international transactional experience – New Innocence Clinic will look beyond convictions – Istanbul seminar – Shedding a searching, year-long light on China – Conference participants: China’s rule of law will keep lurching ahead – Primus awarded inaugural Guggenheim Fellowship in constitutional studies – Hasen named IRS professor in residence – McCrudden’s Buying Social Justice wins ASIL top award – Croley examines interplay of regulation and public interests – A bittersweet celebration – Activities – In memoriam: Frank R. …

The Accelerator, Volume 1, Summer 2008, Christa Santos

The Accelerator

No abstract provided.

Creation Of Nanopatterns By Local Protonation Of P4vp Via Dip Pen Nanolithography, Carsten Maedler, S. Chada, Xiquan Cui, M. Taylor, Mingdi Yan, Andres H. La Rosa

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The elastic mechanical response of a poly(4-vinylpyridine) film is exploited to create nanostructures under ambient conditions via dip pen nanolithography. Using a pH 4 phosphate buffer solution as the "ink," a series of experimental results indicates that the nanometer-sized structures are due to local swelling of the film’s pyridyl groups upon their protonation with the hydronium ions delivered by the tip. Control over the structures’ height is gained by properly selecting the writing velocities or the dwell time, respectively.

The Model Interstate Water Compact, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law

Publications

No abstract provided.

Seminaphthofluorones Are A Family Of Water-Soluble, Low Molecular Weight, Nir-Emitting Fluorophores, Youjun Yang, Mark Lowry, Xiangyang Xu, Jorge O. Escobedo, Martha Sibrian-Vazquez, Lisa Wong, Corin M. Schowalter, Timothy J. Jensen, Frank R. Fronczek, Isiah M. Warner, Robert M. Strongin

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

A readily accessible new class of near infrared (NIR) molecular probes has been synthesized and evaluated. Specific fluorophores in this unique xanthene based regioisomeric seminaphthofluorone dye series exhibit a combination of desirable characteristics including (i) low molecular weight (339 amu), (ii) aqueous solubility, and (iii) dual excitation and emission from their fluorescent neutral and anionic forms. Importantly, systematic changes in the regiochemistry of benzannulation and the ionizable moieties afford (iv) tunable deep-red to NIR emission from anionic species and (v) enhanced Stokes shifts. Anionic SNAFR-6, exhibiting an unusually large Stokes …

Existence Of Multiple-Stable Equilibria For A Multi-Drug-Resistant Model Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Abba B. Gumel, Baojun Song

Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The resurgence of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis in some parts of Europe and North America calls for a mathematical study to assess the impact of the emergence and spread of such strain on the global effort to effectively control the burden of tuberculosis. This paper presents a deterministic compartmental model for the transmission dynamics of two strains of tuberculosis, a drug-sensitive (wild) one and a multi-drug-resistant strain. The model allows for the assessment of the treatment of people infected with the wild strain. The qualitative analysis of the model reveals the following. The model has a disease-free equilibrium, which is locally asymptotically …

The Synthesis And Luminescence Properties Of Lanthanide-Based Nanoparticles For Biological Application, Mingzhen Yao

Physics Theses - Archive

Lanthanide-doped nanoparticles have great potential as a new kind of luminescent material. In this thesis, we report the synthesis of Cerium-doped LaF3 nanoparticles in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) using chemical reaction at different temperatures. We found that the emission of nanoparticles in DMSO not only depends on reaction temperature but also reaction time. The emission of DMSO solution can be tuned by reaction time, from 490 nm to 650 nm. The formation of LaF3:Ce3+ nanoparticles has been identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The TEM results show that the average sizes of these nanoparticles are within 10 …

Species Limits And Phylogenetic Systematic Of The Diurnal Geckos Of The Genus Gonatodes (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae), Walter E. Schargel

Biology Dissertations - Archive

The genus Gonatodes (family Sphaerodactylidae) is a diverse of group of about 20 species currently recognized of mostly diurnal geckos that are collectively distributed from southern Mexico to Brazil and Bolivia, and also including most of the Caribbean Islands. The systematics of this group remains poorly studied with published contributions limited mostly to the original species descriptions, natural history notes, and a recent, yet largely incomplete, molecular phylogeny. In this work, several contributions to the systematics of this genus are made. The first chapter is a general introduction to the group. Chapter 2 is a phylogeographic study of the G. …

How Herbivores Affect Plant Growth, Community Structure And Litter Decomposition In Alaskan Tundra: Implications For Responses To Climate Change, David R. Johnson

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have caused higher air temperatures in the Arctic. Because arctic organisms are temperature limited, warmer conditions lead to higher decomposition and nutrient cycling rates by soil microorganisms resulting in positive feedbacks; more CO2 is released from warmer soils thus increasing global atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Higher decomposition and nutrient cycling rates increase soil nutrient availability for plants resulting in increased net primary productivity (NPP) and shifts in community structure. If these "warmer" communities contain more woody shrubs, they may store more carbon in plant tissue, potentially offsetting increases in CO2 from decomposition. However, little is …

Proteasomal Gene Duplications And Recruitment Of Testis Specific Expression In Drosophila, Mehran Sorourian

Biology Theses - Archive

Proteasome is a large multisubunit complex that degrades ubiquitinated proteins in a highly regulated manner in all eukaryotes. Two subcompartments of this subunit are the 19Scap and the 20S core particle with 19S acting as regulatory subunit, it attaches at both ends of the 20Score particle harboring the catalytic domains. In D. melanogaster one third of the genes encoding for this subunit were recognized to have many male specific duplicates. In this work, we make use of the new 12 genomes sequences and show that the majority of the genes encoding for the 20S particle gave rise to at least …

The Control Of Gene Expression By High Light Stress In Cyanobacteria Through The Apparent Two-Component Nbls-Rpab Signal Transduction Pair, Anthony David Kappell

Biology Dissertations - Archive

In nature photosynthetic organisms including cyanobacteria are dependent upon their ability to acclimate to changes in environmental conditions including light and nutrient levels. The NblS sensor kinase of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 regulates gene expression in response to a number of stress conditions including high-intensity light and nutrient limitation. NblS is known as DspA or Hik33 in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803. We determined that the high light-inducible hliA gene from S. elongatus is under negative control through NblS. We have identified the High Light Regulatory 1 (HLR1) sequence (two direct repeats of (G/T)TTACA(T/A)(T/A) separated by two nucleotides) …

X Is A Journey: Embodied Simulation In Metaphor Interpretation, L. David Ritchie

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay compares simulation-based accounts of metaphor processing recently proposed by Gibbs (2006a) and Ritchie (2006), using examples of metaphors based on the metaphor vehicle "journey" from four different texts. From analysis of these different examples, it is concluded that simulation may come into play at different levels, depending on the metaphor and the context in which it is used. Further, it is suggested that the imaginative simulation of the object or action named by a metaphor vehicle, proposed by Gibbs, incorporates a partial subset of detail-level perceptual simulators. This leads to the proposal that the two models describe cognitive …

Environmental Law, Travis M. Trimble

Mercer Law Review

In 2007 the Eleventh Circuit interpreted the United States Supreme Court's decision in Rapanos v. United States, regarding the federal government's jurisdiction over waters under the Clean Water Act ("CWA"), and held that in order for federal jurisdiction to exist over a water that is not navigable in fact, the water must have a "significant nexus" with a water that is navigable in fact. Also under the CWA, the court partially reversed a granting of summary judgment to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, holding that the department had improperly excluded some types of evidence in approving Florida's 2002 …

2008 Law Day Address, Jim Marshall

Mercer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hexapod Herald - Vol. 20, No. 3, July 2008

Hexapod Herald and Other Entomology Department Newsletters

Contents:
Congratulations
Welcome
Grants
Workshop News
Publications
Meet a Distance Student
Faculty News
Student News
From Gary’s Desk
Condolences
Travel
Blasts from the Pasts

Nanoengineered Templates For Controlled Delivery Of Bioactive Compounds, Nalinkanth Ghone Veerabadran

Doctoral Dissertations

The significance of any drugs, therapeutic proteins, or any bioactive compounds, is based not only on their effects on diseases but also on how specifically, how readily, how controllable and how prolonged their effects on the disease without having any side effects. Thus the techniques involved in the drug encapsulation and its controlled release for a longer duration of time form one of the important processes of drug reformulation. In recent years nanoparticles have created overwhelming attention for delivering drugs by nanoencapsulation. The smaller size of nanoparticles has longer circulation time and higher cellular uptake when compared with larger size …

A Simulation Of The Neural Action Potential Under The Influence Of Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors Modeled In The Neuromuscular Junction, Frank Jenkins

Doctoral Dissertations

The rise of terrorism has created an interest in better ways to detect when humans are exposed to neurotoxins, especially nerve gases developed for military use, most of which are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Many current methods of detection are based on mass spectrometry, a method that is cumbersome and not particularly robust when used as an early warning method. The detection of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors would benefit from a combined model of the processes occurring in the neuromuscular junction between the presynaptic action potential and the motor end-plate action potential that includes the kinetics of acetylcholine and acetylcholinesterase in the synaptic cleft. …