Class of {varphi}X174 Mutants Relatively Deficient in Synthesis of Viral RNA

Nonpermissive cells infected with {varphi}X174 gene D amber mutants synthesized some sixfold less viral RNA than permissive cells. The decrease was unaffected by increasing the multiplicity of infection and was a consequence of an overall decrease in all viral RNA species. It is suggested that the gene D product may function in replicative form DNA unwinding to expose the template for transcription

HACking at Non-linearity: Evidence from Stocks and Bonds

The implicit assumption of linearity is an important element in empirical finance. This study presents a hypothesis testing approach which examines the linear behaviour of the conditional mean between stock and bond returns. Conventional tests detect spurious non-linearity in the conditional mean caused by heteroskedasticity and/or autocorrelation. This study re-states these tests in a heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation consistent (HAC) framework and we find that stock and bond returns are indeed linear-in-the-mean in both univariate and bivariate settings. This study contends that previous research may have detected spurious non-linearity due to size distortions caused by heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation, rather than the presence of genuine non-linearity.linearity, nonlinear, heteroskedasticity-robust tests, autocorrelation-robust tests

Recent Decisions

Comments on recent decisions by Carl F. Eiberger, Donald W. Bebenek, Walter C. Clements, Robert J. Hepler, Norman H. McNeil, John P. Coyne, Mark S. Tolle, Robert D. LeMense, Michael C. Dionise, and John W. Houck

Promoting Community Engagement: A Campus-Wide Approach to Applied Learning

Applied learning pedagogy has gained momentum in recent decades. Simultaneously, a call for universities to respond to the needs of local and global communities has prompted a focus on community engagement in higher education. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of the Applied Learning and Teaching Community (ALTC), an initiative designed to further integrate applied learning—including community engagement— into the identity, practice, and teaching ethos of the university. With a focus on sustainability, the ALTC has evolved into an expansive model that involves faculty, staff, students, and other supporters across campus. A discussion of the ALTC’s relevance in the context of current trends in higher education is included

Empowering the Next Generation of Tropical Forage Researchers: A New e-Journal for the 21\u3csup\u3est\u3c/sup\u3e Century

Grassland researchers in the 21st Century need 21st Century publication opportunities. A new, open-access online journal, Tropical Grasslands–Forrajes Tropicales, to continue the tradition of the former Tropical Grasslands (published by the Tropical Grassland Society of Australia Inc. during 1967-2010) and the former CIAT journal Pasturas Tropicales (1984-2006), is presented. It is published by CIAT in Cali, Colombia, and sponsored by CATAS, China, and ACIAR, Australia. Articles appear in English or Spanish with abstracts in both languages, and include research papers, short communications, review papers and farmer communications

First Constraints on Source Counts at 350 Microns

We have imaged a $\sim$6 arcminute$^2$ region in the Bo\"otes Deep Field using the 350 $\mu$m-optimised second generation Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Camera (SHARC II), achieving a peak 1$\sigma$ sensitivity of $\sim$5 mJy. We detect three sources above 3$\sigma$, and determine a spurious source detection rate of 1.09 in our maps. In the absence of $5\sigma$ detections, we rely on deep 24 $\mu$m and 20 cm imaging to deduce which sources are most likely to be genuine, giving two real sources. From this we derive an integral source count of 0.84$^{+1.39}_{-0.61}$ sources arcmin$^{-2}$ at $S>13$ mJy, which is consistent with 350 $\mu$m source count models that have an IR-luminous galaxy population evolving with redshift. We use these constraints to consider the future for ground-based short-submillimetre surveys.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Supersymmetric Electroweak Corrections to Charged Higgs Boson Production in Association with a Top Quark at Hadron Colliders

We calculate the $O(\alpha_{ew}m_{t(b)}^{2}/m_{W}^{2})$ and $O(\alpha_{ew} m_{t(b)}^4/m_W^4)$ supersymmetric electroweak corrections to the cross section for the charged Higgs boson production in association with a top quark at the Tevatron and the LHC. These corrections arise from the quantum effects which are induced by potentially large Yukawa couplings from the Higgs sector and the chargino-top(bottom)-sbottom(stop) couplings, neutralino-top(bottom)-stop(sbottom) couplings and charged Higgs-stop-sbottom couplings. They can decrease or increase the cross section depending on $\tan\beta$ but are not very sensitive to the mass of the charged Higgs boson for high $\tan\beta$. At low $\tan\beta(=2)$ the corrections decrease the total cross sections significantly, which exceed -12% for $m_{H^{\pm}}$ below $300GeV$ at both the Tevatron and the LHC, but for $m_{H^{\pm}}>300GeV$ the corrections can become very small at the LHC. For high $\tan\beta(=10,30)$ these corrections can decrease or increase the total cross sections, and the magnitude of the corrections are at most a few percent at both the Tevatron and the LHC.Comment: 28 pages including 4 eps figure

A Comparative Study of the Spatial Distribution of Schistosomiasis in Mali in 1984–1989 and 2004–2006

Geostatistical maps are increasingly being used to plan neglected tropical disease control programmes. We investigated the spatial distribution of schistosomiasis in Mali prior to implementation of national donor-funded mass chemotherapy programmes using data from 1984–1989 and 2004–2006. The 2004–2006 dataset was collected after 10 years of schistosomiasis control followed by 12 years of no control. We found that national prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium and S. mansoni was not significantly different in 2004–2006 compared to 1984–1989 and that the spatial distribution of both infections was similar in both time periods, to the extent that models built on data from one time period could accurately predict the spatial distribution of prevalence of infection in the other time period. This has two main implications: that historic data can be used, in the first instance, to plan contemporary control programmes due to the stability of the spatial distribution of schistosomiasis; and that a decade of donor-funded mass distribution of praziquantel has had no discernable impact on the burden of schistosomiasis in subsequent generations of Malians, probably due to rapid reinfection