Variation in Environmental Risk Perceptions and Information Sources among Three Communities in El Paso

The authors report the results of a pilot study of environmental risk and sources of environmental information in three socio-economically and culturally distinct communities in Texas

What Indians think an Indian is : a study of personal and educational attitudes

This study, was conducted with four Indian groups: three of Portland and one in Whiteriver, Arizona. The purpose of the study was to identify attitudes about Indian identity and education through the use of a questionnaire on Indian stereotypes. Each group was unique in it’s response. Members of each group all had a different frame of reference for “who an Indian is.” Therefore, a conclusion could not be drawn because of the differences in attitudes between all four Indian groups

How Small Nations Fare in the Global War on Talent: The Case of Denmark

In light of the looming shortage of skilled professionals, companies are increasingly eager to recruit highly educated and competent employees, regardless of country of origin and nationality, in order to remain globally competitive. This paper seeks to shed light on how nations compete for the same talent pool by presenting the findings of two related studies on whether (a) Chinese students who are studying in Denmark choose to return to work in China; and (b) Danish students in Denmark are willing to work for Chinese companies in Denmark and/or China. Despite its population of 1.3 billion, China has a critical shortage of managerial talent. The vast majority of Chinese students in Denmark do not plan to remain in Denmark upon completion of their education, while many Danish students are receptive to working for Chinese companies, albeit more so in Denmark than in China. The findings of this study have implications on the plight of smaller nations, such as Denmark, in attracting and retaining human talent. These findings also have implications for small-sized companies in their competition with large firms for human talent

The Drosophila Caspase DRONC Cleaves following Glutamate or Aspartate and Is Regulated by DIAP1, HID, and GRIM

The caspase family of cysteine proteases plays important roles in bringing about apoptotic cell death. All caspases studied to date cleave substrates COOH-terminal to an aspartate. Here we show that the Drosophila caspase DRONC cleaves COOH-terminal to glutamate as well as aspartate. DRONC autoprocesses itself following a glutamate residue, but processes a second caspase, drICE, following an aspartate. DRONC prefers tetrapeptide substrates in which aliphatic amino acids are present at the P2 position, and the P1 residue can be either aspartate or glutamate. Expression of a dominant negative form of DRONC blocks cell death induced by the Drosophila cell death activators reaper, hid, and grim, and DRONC overexpression in flies promotes cell death. Furthermore, the Drosophila cell death inhibitor DIAP1 inhibits DRONC activity in yeast, and DIAP1's ability to inhibit DRONC-dependent yeast cell death is suppressed by HID and GRIM. These observations suggest that DRONC acts to promote cell death. However, DRONC activity is not suppressed by the caspase inhibitor and cell death suppressor baculovirus p35. We discuss possible models for DRONC function as a cell death inhibitor

Inexpensive Ultrahigh Vacuum Heatable/Coolable \u3cem\u3exyz\u3c/em\u3e-Rotary Motion Sample Manipulator

A simple design for a heatable, coolable, rotable sample manipulator, suitable for ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) applications, is described. Highlights of the design include using a combination power/thermocouple feedthrough for heating, cooling, and temperature measurement; and the use of primarily off-the-shelf components available from most UHV components vendors. The described manipulator is capable of sample cooling to ~100 K, sample heating to above 900 K, while maintaining 360o of rotary motion, ~1 in. of x and y motion, and 2 in. of z motion. The apparatus can be assembled for approximately $5500 (all new parts) and uses about 3 l of liquid N2 per day. © 1995 American Institute of Physics

A First Look at the Auriga-California Giant Molecular Cloud With Herschel and the CSO: Census of the Young Stellar Objects and the Dense Gas

We have mapped the Auriga/California molecular cloud with the Herschel PACS and SPIRE cameras and the Bolocam 1.1 mm camera on the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) with the eventual goal of quantifying the star formation and cloud structure in this Giant Molecular Cloud (GMC) that is comparable in size and mass to the Orion GMC, but which appears to be forming far fewer stars. We have tabulated 60 compact 70/160um sources that are likely pre-main-sequence objects and correlated those with Spitzer and WISE mid-IR sources. At 1.1 mm we find 18 cold, compact sources and discuss their properties. The most important result from this part of our study is that we find a modest number of additional compact young objects beyond those identified at shorter wavelengths with Spitzer. We also describe the dust column density and temperature structure derived from our photometric maps. The column density peaks at a few x 10^22 cm^-2 (N_H2) and is distributed in a clear filamentary structure along which nearly all the pre-main-sequence objects are found. We compare the YSO surface density to the gas column density and find a strong non-linear correlation between them. The dust temperature in the densest parts of the filaments drops to ~10K from values ~ 14--15K in the low density parts of the cloud. We also derive the cumulative mass fraction and probability density function of material in the cloud which we compare with similar data on other star-forming clouds.Comment: in press Astrophysical Journal, 201

Synthesis and binding studies of novel sigma receptor ligands

Abstract only availableSigma receptors are binding sites that are found in the brain, in the endocrine and immune systems, and also in the lungs, kidneys, intestines, muscles and especially the liver. They are classified into two subtypes, sigma1 and sigma2, both of which have unique characteristics. Sigma receptors in the central nervous system are thought to be involved in disorders such as psychoses, Alzheimer's disease, and schizophrenia. A number of human tumors also show high densities of sigma receptors. In this study, three novel compounds were synthesized with the intent of characterizing how their structural differences affect affinity for the sigma1 and sigma2 receptors. We investigated derivatives of a potent sigma1 selective agonist, 1-(3',4'-dimethoxyphenethyl)-4-(3''-phenyl propyl)piperazine, developed by Santen Pharmaceutical Co. Specifically, the 4'-methoxy moiety was replaced by benzyloxy, phenethyloxy and 3-phenylpropyloxy substituents. These were prepared by reaction of the corresponding 4'-phenol with base and treatment with phenethyl bromide, 3-phenylpropyl bromide or benzyl bromide. For the phenethyl and 3-phenylpropyl derivatives, a mixture of 40% KOH and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (1M in MeOH) was used as the base. Column chromatography provided these target compounds in 81 - 94% purified yields. The benzyl derivative proved difficult to obtain using this procedure, and different conditions were used to synthesize this compound. The 4'-phenol was reacted with benzyl bromide and potassium carbonate in ethanol to give the benzyl ether in 35% yield after purification by column chromatography. All three compounds were characterized by 1H NMR, and were analyzed by elemental analysis and HPLC. Currently, competition receptor binding studies are being run on the synthesized compounds to measure their affinities for sigma1 and sigma2 receptors.NSF-REU/NIH Program in Radiochemistr

Exploring Regional Differences In Social Work Pedagogy: Attitudes Toward Poverty

This study explores regional differences in student learning outcomes from pre and post-test surveys of undergraduate and first year graduate social work students (N = 373) enrolled in a social welfare policy class at six different CSWE accredited institutions. As expected, overall results showed a shift in student attitudes away from a personal deficiency explanation for poverty, a decline in stigmatization of poverty, and toward a more structural explanation for the causes of poverty, but significant differences were reported by geographical region. Future research should explore the instructor, pedagogical, and geographical factors that may help of hinder attitudinal preparation for practice social work students

The Spitzer Survey of Interstellar Clouds in the Gould Belt. VI. The Auriga-California Molecular Cloud observed with IRAC and MIPS

We present observations of the Auriga-California Molecular Cloud (AMC) at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8.0, 24, 70 and 160 micron observed with the IRAC and MIPS detectors as part of the Spitzer Gould Belt Legacy Survey. The total mapped areas are 2.5 sq-deg with IRAC and 10.47 sq-deg with MIPS. This giant molecular cloud is one of two in the nearby Gould Belt of star-forming regions, the other being the Orion A Molecular Cloud (OMC). We compare source counts, colors and magnitudes in our observed region to a subset of the SWIRE data that was processed through our pipeline. Using color-magnitude and color-color diagrams, we find evidence for a substantial population of 166 young stellar objects (YSOs) in the cloud, many of which were previously unknown. Most of this population is concentrated around the LkHalpha 101 cluster and the filament extending from it. We present a quantitative description of the degree of clustering and discuss the fraction of YSOs in the region with disks relative to an estimate of the diskless YSO population. Although the AMC is similar in mass, size and distance to the OMC, it is forming about 15 - 20 times fewer stars.Comment: (30 pages, 17 figures (2 multipage figures), accepted for publication in ApJ