Incorporation of cytochrome oxidase into cardiolipin bilayers and induction of nonlamellar phases.

Cytochrome oxidase from beef heart has been lipid-substituted with beef heart cardiolipin. The lipid phase behavior and protein aggregation state of the reconstituted complexes have been studied with 31P NMR, freeze-fracture electron microscopy, and saturation-transfer ESR of the spin-labeled protein. In the absence of salt, the lipid has a lamellar arrangement, and the protein is integrated and uniformly distributed in the membrane vesicles and undergoes rapid rotational diffusion. The presence of the protein stabilizes the cardiolipin lamellar phase against salt-induced transitions to the inverted hexagonal phase. The threshold salt concentration becomes higher and the extent of conversion becomes lower with decreasing lipid:protein ratio. In high salt, lamellar-phase lipid with integrated protein coexists with hexagonal-phase lipid free of protein, and the rotational diffusion of the protein is drastically reduced as a result of the high packing density

1,6-Diazabicyclo[4.4.4]tetradecane and its lnside-protonated lon: Changes in Space Groups

The crystal structures of 1,6-diazabicyclo[4.4.4]tetradecane (1) and of its inside-protonated ion (2), which were originally described in space group C2/c, should be described instead in trigonal space groups, (1) in R3c and (2) in P31c; both moieties have crystallographically imposed point symmetry D_3 rather than C_2

The Effect of Milwaukee’s Parental Choice Program on Student Achievement in Milwaukee Public Schools

This paper examines evidence on the “systemic effects” of expanding school choice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee is home to one of the nation’s largest and longest-running school choice programs. If there are systemic effects from expanding school choice we should be able to see them in Milwaukee. This paper also introduces a novel method for analyzing systemic effects. Taking full advantage of student-level data, we develop a new measure of those effects based on the extent of voucher options that each student has each year. The idea behind this measure is that school systems face greater competitive pressure to serve students well when students have more options to leave. This type of measure might be useful for future analyses of systemic effects. Using this new approach, we find that students fare better academically when they have more options from Milwaukee’s voucher program. The effects are modest in magnitude, but they are robust to multiple specifications of the model

DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION: DO INSTITUTIONS MATTER? A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS IN RURAL INDIA

The paper examines the impact of local institutions on development and poverty in the rural areas of India. Recent research on the role of institutions on the path of economic development indicates the importance of both "macro" and "micro" institutions including local institutions. The study finds a large number of both formal and informal local institutions in the surveyed villages, and a substantial degree of interaction of the households with the institutions. These include both formal institutions such as service cooperatives and dairy cooperatives, as well as informal institutions such as savings groups, community associations and labour groups. The study finds that apart from the standard factors included such as land, capital and labour, the presence and membership in local institutions plays a significant role in explaining the variation in household incomes and gain in capital assets over time. Savings/ micro-credit groups, and dairy cooperatives are found to be particularly important. Further, membership in these institutions is not found to be related to high asset levels or high caste - it is often inversely so. This indicates a stronger developmental role. Recorded opinions of the households supports the findings on the impact and beneficial role of local institutions. The study confirms that institutions do matter, and that local institutions can and do make a significant contribution in helping development in the rural areas, especially so for the lower income groups.Institutions, development, poverty reduction, International Development,

Development and Poverty Reduction: Do Institutions Matter? A Study on the Impact of Local Institutions in Rural India

The paper examines the impact of local institutions on development and poverty in the rural areas of India. Recent research on the role of institutions on the path of economic development indicates the importance of both “macro” and “micro” institutions including local institutions. The study finds a large number of both formal and informal local institutions in the surveyed villages, and a substantial degree of interaction of the households with the institutions. These include both formal institutions such as service cooperatives and dairy cooperatives, as well as informal institutions such as savings groups, community associations and labour groups. The study finds that apart from the standard factors included such as land, capital and labour, the presence and membership in local institutions plays a significant role in explaining the variation in household incomes and gain in capital assets over time. Savings/ micro-credit groups, and dairy cooperatives are found to be particularly important. Further, membership in these institutions is not found to be related to high asset levels or high caste – it is often inversely so. This indicates a stronger developmental role. Recorded opinions of the households supports the findings on the impact and beneficial role of local institutions. The study confirms that institutions do matter, and that local institutions can and do make a significant contribution in helping development in the rural areas, especially so for the lower income groups.

Projected rotational velocities of WD1614+136 and WD1353+409 - implications for the rate of galactic Type Ia supernovae

The white dwarf stars WD1614+136 and WD1353+409 are not sufficiently massive to have formed through single star evolution. However, observations to date have not yet found any evidence for binarity. It has therefore been suggested that these stars are the result of a merger. In this paper we place an upper limit of approximately 50kms on the projected rotational velocities of both stars. This suggests that, if these stars are the results of a merger, efficient angular momentum loss with accompanying mass loss must have occurred. If the same process occurs following the merging of more massive white dwarf stars, the predicted rate of Type Ia supernovae due to merging white dwarfs may have been greatly over-estimated. Further observations to determine binarity in WD1614+136 and WD1353+409 are therefore encouraged.Comment: 3 pages. 1 figur

IPD - the Immuno Polymorphism Database

The Immuno Polymorphism Database (IPD) (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ipd/) is a set of specialist databases related to the study of polymorphic genes in the immune system. IPD currently consists of four databases: IPD-KIR, contains the allelic sequences of Killer-cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptors; IPD-MHC, a database of sequences of the Major Histocompatibility Complex of different species; IPD-HPA, alloantigens expressed only on platelets; and IPD-ESTAB, which provides access to the European Searchable Tumour Cell-Line Database, a cell bank of immunologically characterized melanoma cell lines. The IPD project works with specialist groups or nomenclature committees who provide and curate individual sections before they are submitted to IPD for online publication. The IPD project stores all the data in a set of related databases. Those sections with similar data, such as IPD-KIR and IPD-MHC share the same database structure. The sharing of a common database structure makes it easier to implement common tools for data submission and retrieval. The data are currently available online from the website and ftp directory; files will also be made available in different formats to download from the website and ftp server. The data will also be included in SRS, BLAST and FASTA search engines at the European Bioinformatics Institute

Behaviour and effects of fluorine in annealed n+ polycrystalline silicon layers on silicon wafers

A comprehensive study is made of the behaviour and effects of fluorine in n+ polysilicon layers. Sheet resistance, TEM and SIMS are used to obtain quantitative data for the breakup of the interfacial oxide, the epitaxial regrowth of the polysilicon and the fluorine and arsenic distributions. The fluorine significantly increases both the initial oxide breakup and the initial polysilicon regrowth. It also produces inclusions in the layer which can affect the subsequent polysilicon regrowth and the arsenic distributions. Three regrowth stages and two regrowth mechanisms are distinguished and interpreted and a value of approximately 6x1011cm2s-1 is deduced for the effective diffusivity of fluorine in polysilicon at 950°C