Cook County State’s Attorney Forum: Anita Alvarez

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Chicago-Kent College of Law joined with the Chicago Council of Lawyers (CCL) and Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice to present two question-and-answer forums with the candidates for Cook County State’s Attorney, Republican candidate Tony Peraica and Democratic candidate Anita Alvarez. The discussions were moderated by IIT Chicago-Kent professor, criminal defense attorney, and CCL president Daniel T. Coyne. The Cook County State\u27s Attorney\u27s Office, the second largest prosecutor\u27s office in the United States, prosecutes all criminal cases involving misdemeanor and felony crimes committed in Cook County. The office also files legal actions to enforce child support orders, protect consumers and the elderly from exploitation, and assist thousands of victims of domestic violence every year. Both candidates were given an opportunity to present their positions and answer questions. In addition to taking questions from a panel of experts and the audience, the candidates addressed their positions on issues related to the Cook County Criminal Courts. “A Report on Chicago’s Felony Courts,” a research report on the Cook County Criminal Courts by the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and Chicago Council of Lawyers. With the cooperation of Cook County Criminal Division presiding judge Paul J. Biebel, Jr., State’s Attorney Richard A. Devine, and Public Defender Edwin A. Burnette, researchers conducted a two-year study of system-wide issues affecting the criminal courts. After interviewing more than 150 judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys; conducting surveys; spending hundreds of hours in the courts; and analyzing the literature, a report on problems and possible solutions was released. Runtime: 00:59:4

Cook County State’s Attorney Forum: Anthony Peraica

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Chicago-Kent College of Law joined with the Chicago Council of Lawyers (CCL) and Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice to present two question-and-answer forums with the candidates for Cook County State’s Attorney, Republican candidate Tony Peraica and Democratic candidate Anita Alvarez. The discussions were moderated by IIT Chicago-Kent professor, criminal defense attorney, and CCL president Daniel T. Coyne. The Cook County State\u27s Attorney\u27s Office, the second largest prosecutor\u27s office in the United States, prosecutes all criminal cases involving misdemeanor and felony crimes committed in Cook County. The office also files legal actions to enforce child support orders, protect consumers and the elderly from exploitation, and assist thousands of victims of domestic violence every year. Both candidates were given an opportunity to present their positions and answer questions. In addition to taking questions from a panel of experts and the audience, the candidates addressed their positions on issues related to the Cook County Criminal Courts. “A Report on Chicago’s Felony Courts,” a research report on the Cook County Criminal Courts by the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and Chicago Council of Lawyers. With the cooperation of Cook County Criminal Division presiding judge Paul J. Biebel, Jr., State’s Attorney Richard A. Devine, and Public Defender Edwin A. Burnette, researchers conducted a two-year study of system-wide issues affecting the criminal courts. After interviewing more than 150 judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys; conducting surveys; spending hundreds of hours in the courts; and analyzing the literature, a report on problems and possible solutions was released. Runtime: 00:59:4

Model for a Transnational BiomedicalLibrary Partnership in the Digital Age

In this paper we describe our experience working with Russian libraries in Petrozavodsk (Republic of Karelia) and St. Petersburg. The Dartmouth Medical School has collaborated with the Faculty of Medicine and teaching hospitals of Petrozavodsk State University since 1992. Between 1992 and 2000, in support of a medical exchange program, Dartmouth donated medical textbooks and journals to the National Library of the Republic of Karelia, created subject bibliographies on a variety of medical conditions, trained librarians in the use of the MEDLINE database, and provided full-text reprints of journal articles to faculty members at Petrozavodsk State University. In 2000, Dartmouth organized a symposium in St. Petersburg on the topic of digital information technology and resources in medicine (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~libnet/medlibnet/mln.html). The symposium brought together representatives from scientific and biomedical libraries and medical faculties based in Petrozavodsk, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the Dartmouth Medical School. The immediate outcome of the meeting was to shift information sharing from print materials to digital resources and electronic document delivery. Since 2000, the hallmarks of the collaboration, from our perspective, have been 1) the promotion of an activist library model that emphasizes education, outreach, and marketing; and 2) a focus on provisioning and effective use of digital information resources. The combination of long-standing personal relationships, collaboration with database providers, and an emphasis on meeting the needs of the Russian libraries and their users has proven to be an effective approach for this ongoing twelve year-old partnership

Pearl Millet and Grain Sorghum Yield Response to Water Supply in Nebraska

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is a drought-tolerant crop that may serve as an alternative summer crop in Nebraska. Field experiments were conducted in 2000 and 2001 near Sidney and Mead, NE, to determine the water use efficiency (WUE) and yield response to water supply at critical developmental stages of pearl millet and found grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench]. Four water regimes were used: (i) no irrigation, (ii) single irrigation at boot stage, (iii) single irrigation at mid–grain fill, and (iv) multiple irrigations. Pearl millet grain yields were 60 to 80% that of grain sorghum. Average grain yields at Mead were 5.1 Mg ha-1 for pearl millet and 6.1 Mg ha -1 for grain sorghum. At Sidney, average pearl millet yields were 1.9 and 3.9 Mg ha-1 in 2000 and 2001, respectively, and average grain sorghum yields were 4.1 and 5.0 Mg ha-1in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Both crops used a similar amount of water (336 and 330 mm in 2000 and 370 and 374 mm in 2001 for pearl millet and grain sorghum, respectively) and responded to irrigation with a linear increase in grain yield as water use increased. Grain sorghum had greater WUE than pearl millet (12.4–13.4 kg vs. 5.1–10.4 kg grain ha-1 mm-1). Pearl millet, with lower and less stable yields, does not currently have the potential to be a substitute crop for grain sorghum in Nebraska

Erratum: Corrigendum: Climate-smart agriculture for food security

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Peer-reviewed version Climate-smart agriculture for food security Climate-smart agriculture for food security

Abstract Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an approach for transforming and reorienting agricultural systems to support food security under the new realities of climate change. Widespread changes in rainfall and temperature patterns threaten agricultural production and increase the vulnerability of people dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, which includes most of the world's poor. Climate change disrupts food markets, posing population-wide risks to food supply. Threats can be reduced by increasing adaptive capacity of farmers as well as increasing resilience and resource use efficiency in agricultural production systems. CSA promotes coordinated actions by farmers, researchers, private sector, civil society and policymakers towards climate-resilient pathways through four main action areas: 1) building evidence; 2) increasing local institutional effectiveness; 3) fostering coherence between climate and agricultural policies; and 4) linking climate and agricultural financing. CSA differs from "business-as-usual" approaches by emphasizing the capacity to implement flexible, context-specific solutions, supported by innovative policy and financing actions

Effects of the Type III secreted Pseudomonal toxin Exos in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Pseudomonas aeruginosa secretes a number of toxins by a type III system, and these are important in virulence. One of them, ExoS, is a bifunctional toxin, with a GTPase-activating protein domain, as well as ADP ribosyltransferase (ADPRT) activity. These two domains have numerous potential cellular targets, but the overall mechanism of ExoS action remains unclear. The effects of ExoS in a simple eukaryotic system, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using a tetracycline-regulated expression system were studied. This system allowed controlled expression of ExoS in yeast, which was not possible using a galactose-induced system. ExoS was found to be an extremely potent inhibitor of yeast growth, and to be largely dependent on the activity of its ADPRT domain. ExoS produced a dramatic alteration in actin distribution, with the appearance of large aggregates of cortical actin, and thickened disorganized cables, entirely dependent on the ADPRT domain. This phenotype is suggestive of actin stabilization, which was verified by showing that the cortical aggregates of actin induced by ExoS were resistant to treatment with latrunculin A, an agent that prevents actin polymerization. ExoS increased the numbers of mating projections produced following growth arrest with mating pheromone, and prevented subsequent DNA replication, an effect that is again dependent on the ADPRT domain. Following pheromone removal, ExoS produced altered development of the mating projections, which became elongated with a swollen bud-like tip. These results suggest alternative pathways for ExoS action in eukaryotic cells that may result from activation of small GTPases, and this yeast expression system is well suited to explore these pathways