Behold, she stands at the door: Reentry, black women and the black church

This paper examines the African American church’s response to the special problems of African American women who reenter the community post-incarceration. The first portion of the paper examines the impact of criminal justice policies on women of color and the attending problems of reentry which resulted. It then surveys the black church’s response to returning citizens, especially women. It concludes by proposing shifts in perspectives and theologies which create barriers to successful reintegration into the community at large, and the church in particular. The intended audience is individuals and faith communities who seek to work effectively with returning women

Identifying the protein folding nucleus using molecular dynamics

Molecular dynamics simulations of folding in an off-lattice protein model reveal a nucleation scenario, in which a few well-defined contacts are formed with high probability in the transition state ensemble of conformations. Their appearance determines folding cooperativity and drives the model protein into its folded conformation. Amino acid residues participating in those contacts may serve as “accelerator pedals” used by molecular evolution to control protein folding rate.R01-52126 - PHS HHS; GM20251-01 - NIGMS NIH HHS; GM08291-09 - NIGMS NIH HHSAccepted manuscrip

Discrete molecular dynamics studies of the folding of a protein-like model

Background: Many attempts have been made to resolve in time the folding of model proteins in computer simulations. Different computational approaches have emerged. Some of these approaches suffer from the insensitivity to the geometrical properties of the proteins (lattice models), while others are computationally heavy (traditional MD). Results: We use a recently-proposed approach of Zhou and Karplus to study the folding of the protein model based on the discrete time molecular dynamics algorithm. We show that this algorithm resolves with respect to time the folding --- unfolding transition. In addition, we demonstrate the ability to study the coreof the model protein. Conclusion: The algorithm along with the model of inter-residue interactions can serve as a tool to study the thermodynamics and kinetics of protein models.Comment: 15 pages including 20 figures (Folding & Design in press

Keys and Notes on the Buprestidae (Coleoptera) of Michigan

The distribution and dates of adult activity for Michigan buprestids are discussed. Keys to the genera and species, as well as host information are presented for 116 species and one subspecies. Information on collecting techniques, illustrations of genitalia of 14 species, and scanning electron micrographs of certain structures useful in species identification are presented and discussed. In addition, Pachyschelus confusus, a new species, is described from bush clover

Structural Order for One-Scale and Two-Scale Potentials

We perform molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the relationship between structural order and water-like dynamic and thermodynamic anomalies in spherically-symmetric potentials having either one or two characteristic length scales. %The first potential has only one length scale which is the diameter of the ramp %without the hard core, and the second potential has two length scales: one is the %diameter of a ramp(softcore) and another one is the diameter of a %hard core with a ratio of 1.76. Structural order is characterized by translational and orientational order parameters. %analogous to those used in previous cases for water and %silica.Only the two-scale ramp potential exhibits properties %remarkably similar to those found for water and silica regarding the %relationship between structural order, dynamic anomalies, and thermodynamic %anomalies. We find that (i) dynamic and thermodynamic anomalies exist for both one-scale and two-scale ramp potentials, and (ii) water-like structural order anomalies exist only for the two-scale ramp potential. Our findings suggest that the water-like relationship between structural order and anomalies is related to the presence of two different length scales in the potential.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure