Warren Johnson

Mr. Johnson retired from IWU after a 30 year career and most recently served in the position of Assistant Manager of Maintenance. In this interview he recounts his experiences before joining the IWU staff and relates some of the highlights he recalls from working on campus

The insanity plea: Issues and alternatives

Thesis (B.S.) in Political Science -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1988.Bibliography: leaves 50-51.Microfiche of typescript. [Urbana, Ill.]: Photographic Services, University of Illinois, U of I Library, [1988]. 2 microfiches (57 frames): negative

The insanity plea: Issues and alternatives

Thesis (B.S.) in Political Science -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1988.Bibliography: leaves 50-51.Microfiche of typescript. [Urbana, Ill.]: Photographic Services, University of Illinois, U of I Library, [1988]. 2 microfiches (57 frames): negative

Conserved small RNAs govern replication and incompatibility of a diverse new plasmid family from marine bacteria

Plasmids are autonomously replicating extrachromosomal DNA molecules that often impart key phenotypes to their bacterial hosts. Plasmids are abundant in marine bacteria, but there is scant knowledge of the mechanisms that control their replication in these hosts. Here, we identified and characterized the factors governing replication of a new family of plasmids from marine bacteria, typified by the virulence-linked plasmid pB1067 of Vibrio nigripulchritudo. Members of this family are prevalent among, yet restricted to, the Vibrionaceae. Unlike almost all plasmid families characterized to date, the ori regions of these plasmids do not encode a Rep protein to initiate DNA replication; instead, the ori regions encode two partially complementary RNAs. The smaller, termed RNA I, is ∼68-nt long and functions as a negative regulator and the key determinant of plasmid incompatibility. This Marine RNA-based (MRB) plasmid family is the first characterized family of replicons derived from marine bacteria. Only one other plasmid family (the ColE1 family) has previously been reported to rely on RNA-mediated replication initiation. However, since the sequences and structures of MRB RNA I transcripts are not related to those of ColE1 replicons, these two families of RNA-dependent replicons likely arose by convergent evolution

70% efficiency of bistate molecular machines explained by information theory, high dimensional geometry and evolutionary convergence

The relationship between information and energy is key to understanding biological systems. We can display the information in DNA sequences specifically bound by proteins by using sequence logos, and we can measure the corresponding binding energy. These can be compared by noting that one of the forms of the second law of thermodynamics defines the minimum energy dissipation required to gain one bit of information. Under the isothermal conditions that molecular machines function this is joules per bit ( is Boltzmann's constant and T is the absolute temperature). Then an efficiency of binding can be computed by dividing the information in a logo by the free energy of binding after it has been converted to bits. The isothermal efficiencies of not only genetic control systems, but also visual pigments are near 70%. From information and coding theory, the theoretical efficiency limit for bistate molecular machines is ln 2 = 0.6931. Evolutionary convergence to maximum efficiency is limited by the constraint that molecular states must be distinct from each other. The result indicates that natural molecular machines operate close to their information processing maximum (the channel capacity), and implies that nanotechnology can attain this goal

Improved specificity of gene silencing by siRNAs containing unlocked nucleobase analogs

siRNAs confer sequence specific and robust silencing of mRNA. By virtue of these properties, siRNAs have become therapeutic candidates for disease intervention. However, their use as therapeutic agents can be hampered by unintended off-target effects by either or both strands of the siRNA duplex. We report here that unlocked nucleobase analogs (UNAs) confer desirable properties to siRNAs. Addition of a single UNA at the 5′-terminus of the passenger strand blocks participation of the passenger strand in RISC-mediated target down-regulation with a concomitant increase in guide strand activity. Placement of a UNA in the seed region of the guide strand prevents miRNA-like off-target silencing without compromising siRNA activity. Most significantly, combined substitution of UNA at the 3′-termini of both strands, the addition of a UNA at the 5′-terminus of the passenger strand, and a single UNA in the seed region of the guide strand, reduced the global off-target events by more than 10-fold compared to unmodified siRNA. The reduction in off-target events was specific to UNA placement in the siRNA, with no apparent new off-target events. Taken together, these results indicate that when strategically placed, UNA substitutions have important implications for the design of safe and effective siRNA-based therapeutics

Modellierung und Simulation stochastischer, diskret-kontinuierlicher Systeme am Beispiel des dynamischen Flügelns für den Next Generation Train

Zur Steigerung der Leistungsfähigkeit des Schienenverkehrs wird am Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) das Verfahren des dynamischen Flügelns entwickelt. Dafür ist es beispielsweise notwendig, dass man vorhersagen kann, wie sich Ausfälle in der Kommunikation zwischen den Fahrzeugen auf das Fahrverhalten auswirken. Hierzu ist eine detaillierte Analyse komplexer hybrider Systeme erforderlich. Formale Beschreibungsmittel sowie Simulationstools sind dabei unverzichtbare Hilfsmittel, die den Entwurf und Auslegung des Gesamtsystems ermöglichen. Für eine gesamtheitliche Abbildung des betrachteten Systems müssen unter Berücksichtigung der jeweiligen Wechselwirkungen, verschiedenartige Systemklassen auf unterschiedlichen Abstraktionsebenen abgebildet werden. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird ein Modellierungsansatz gezeigt, der diesen Anforderungen genügt. Es wird eine Systemübersicht sowie die Anwendung des gewählten Ansatzes auf die wichtigsten Teilsysteme gezeigt. Anhand von Simulationen betrieblicher Grundszenarien wird die Eignung des Modellierungsansatzes veranschaulicht

Alien Registration- Polisky, Amelia (Lewiston, Androscoggin County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/27783/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Polisky, Joseph M. (Lewiston, Androscoggin County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/27784/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Polisky, Amelia (Lewiston, Androscoggin County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/27783/thumbnail.jp