A review of the biological effects of very low magnetic fields

Biological effects of very low magnetic field

Demographic and psychological variables affecting test subject evaluations of ride quality

Ride-quality experiments similar in objectives, design, and procedure were conducted, one using the U.S. Air Force Total In-Flight Simulator and the other using the Langley Passenger Ride Quality Apparatus to provide the motion environments. Large samples (80 or more per experiment) of test subjects were recruited from the Tidewater Virginia area and asked to rate the comfort (on a 7-point scale) of random aircraft motion typical of that encountered during STOL flights. Test subject characteristics of age, sex, and previous flying history (number of previous airplane flights) were studied in a two by three by three factorial design. Correlations were computed between one dependent measure, the subject's mean comfort rating, and various demographic characteristics, attitudinal variables, and the scores on Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. An effect of sex was found in one of the studies. Males made higher (more uncomfortable) ratings of the ride than females. Age and number of previous flights were not significantly related to comfort ratings. No significant interactions between the variables of age, sex, or previous number of flights were observed

SimDialog: A visual game dialog editor

SimDialog is a visual editor for dialog in computer games. This paper presents the design of SimDialog, illustrating how script writers and non-programmers can easily create dialog for video games with complex branching structures and dynamic response characteristics. The system creates dialog as a directed graph. This allows for play using the dialog with a state-based cause and effect system that controls selection of non-player character responses and can provide a basic scoring mechanism for games

Malaria ecology, child mortality & fertility.

The broad determinants of fertility are thought to be reasonably well identified by demographers, though the detailed quantitative drivers of fertility levels and changes are less well understood. This paper uses a novel ecological index of malaria transmission to study the effect of child mortality on fertility. We find that temporal variation in the ecology of the disease is well-correlated to mortality, and pernicious malaria conditions lead to higher fertility rates. We then argue that most of this effect occurs through child mortality, and estimate the effect of child mortality changes on fertility. Our findings add to the literature on disease and fertility, and contribute to the suggestive evidence that child mortality reductions have a causal effect on fertility changes

Africa's Lagging Demographic Transition: Evidence from Exogenous Impacts of Malaria Ecology and Agricultural Technology

Much of Africa has not yet gone through a "demographic transition" to reduced mortality and fertility rates. The fact that the continent's countries remain mired in a Malthusian crisis of high mortality, high fertility, and rapid population growth (with an accompanying state of chronic extreme poverty) has been attributed to many factors ranging from the status of women, pro-natalist policies, poverty itself, and social institutions. There remains, however, a large degree of uncertainty among demographers as to the relative importance of these factors on a comparative or historical basis. Moreover, econometric estimation is complicated by endogeneity among fertility and other variables of interest. We attempt to improve estimation (particularly of the effect of the child mortality variable) by deploying exogenous variation in the ecology of malaria transmission and in agricultural productivity through the staggered introduction of Green Revolution, high-yield seed varieties. Results show that child mortality (proxied by infant mortality) is by far the most important factor among those explaining aggregate total fertility rates, followed by farm productivity. Female literacy (or schooling) and aggregate income do not seem to matter as much, comparatively.

Federal Tort Claims Act - Waiver of Sovereign Immunity

The United States Supreme Court held that the Federal Tort Claims Act\u27s exception to its waiver of sovereign immunity for claims arising in a foreign country includes claims arising on the continent of Antarctica. Smith v. United States, 113 S. Ct. 1178 (1993)

\u3cem\u3eSocial Capital and Welfare Reform: Organizations, Congregations and Community.\u3c/em\u3e Jo Ann Schneider.

Book note for Jo Ann Schneider, Social Capital and Welfare Reform: Organizations, Congregations, and Community. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. $69.50 hardcover,$29.50 papercover

Characterization of Lipid-Anchored Inhibitor Rulers as a Measure of Enzyme Topography in Coagulation Enzyme Factor Xa

The blood coagulation cascade is activated under various circumstances such as an injury. This system involves a tightly regulated series of events. The enzymes involved assemble with their respective cofactors on lipid membranes to reach their full procoagulant complex potential. The coagulation cascade is divided into intrinsic and extrinsic portions, both of which converge into a common pathway with the activation of factor X (FXa). FXa is a very important part of the blood coagulation cascade because its activation is primarily responsible for thrombin generation. Activation of FXa alone is, however, insufficient to produce a fully active thrombin. For this to occur, FXa must form a complex with its protein cofactor Factor Va and its protein substrate prothrombin on a phospholipid surface. This suggests that the topography of the enzyme on the lipid surface changes when in a fully pro-coagulant state. However, the topography of FXa alone and in complex with these cofactors is poorly understood. Kunitz-type protein inhibitors, such as basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), are globular proteins, which inhibit serine proteases such as FXa. These small protein inhibitors fit just inside the active site of the enzyme, making them ideal candidates with which to study the active site of FXa. The goal of this project is to gain understanding of the topography of fully active FXa by using lipid-anchored BPTI with linkers that act as molecular rulers to measure the range of reactive heights of the active site of FXa in its pro-coagulant complex on a phospholipid surface